Guess what??

Sharath got linked to by Marginal Revolution , a popular Economics blog. That’s pretty cool, he's one of the first blogdom celebrities I know !!! Keep it going mate…
I just wish that Delhi Road wasn’t so congested !!!

Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of all time

Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of all time…. (November 2004)…an old list, a controversial list ..but I like lists !! I've marked some that I like . Which ones do you love????

1 Like a Rolling Stone Bob Dylan 1965
2 (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction The Rolling Stones 1965
3 Imagine John Lennon 1971
4 What's Going On Marvin Gaye 1971
5 Respect Aretha Franklin 1967
6 Good Vibrations The Beach Boys 1966
7 Johnny B. Goode Chuck Berry 1958
8 Hey Jude The Beatles 1968
9 Smells Like Teen Spirit Nirvana 1991
10 What'd I Say Ray Charles 1959
11 My Generation The Who 1965
12 A Change Is Gonna Come Sam Cooke 1964
13 Yesterday The Beatles 1965
14 Blowin' in the Wind Bob Dylan 1963
15 London Calling The Clash 1980
16 I Want to Hold Your Hand The Beatles 1963
17 Purple Haze Jimi Hendrix 1967
18 Maybellene Chuck Berry 1955
19 Hound Dog Elvis Presley 1956
20 Let It Be The Beatles 1970
21 Born to Run Bruce Springsteen 1975
22 Be My Baby The Ronettes 1963
23 In My Life The Beatles 1965
24 People Get Ready The Impressions 1965
25 God Only Knows The Beach Boys 1966
26 A Day in the Life The Beatles 1967
27 Layla Derek and the Dominos 1970
28 (Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay Otis Redding 1968
29 Help! The Beatles 1965
30 I Walk the Line Johnny Cash 1956
31 Stairway to Heaven Led Zeppelin 1971
32 Sympathy for the Devil The Rolling Stones 1968
33 River Deep, Mountain High Tina Turner 1966
34 You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling The Righteous Brothers 1964
35 Light My Fire The Doors 1967
36 One U2 1991
37 No Woman, No Cry Bob Marley 1975
38 Gimme Shelter The Rolling Stones 1969
39 That'll Be the Day Buddy Holly 1957
40 Dancin' in the Streets Martha and the Vandellas 1964
41 The Weight The Band 1968
42 Waterloo Sunset The Kinks 1968
43 Tutti Frutti Little Richard 1956
44 Georgia on My Mind Ray Charles 1960
45 Heartbreak Hotel Elvis Presley 1956
46 Heroes David Bowie 1977
47 Bridge Over Troubled Water Simon & Garfunkel 1970
48 All Along the Watchtower Jimi Hendrix 1968
49 Hotel California The Eagles 1976
50 The Tracks of My Tears Smokey Robinson 1965
51 The Message Grandmaster Flash 1982
52 When Doves Cry Prince 1984
53 Anarchy in the U.K. The Sex Pistols 1977
54 When a Man Loves a Woman Percy Sledge 1966
55 Louie Louie The Kingsmen 1963
56 Long Tall Sally Little Richard 1956
57 A Whiter Shade of Pale Procol Harum 1967
58 Billie Jean Michael Jackson 1983
59 The Times They Are A-Changin' Bob Dylan 1964
60 Let's Stay Together Al Green 1971

61 Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On Jerry Lee Lewis 1957
62 Bo Diddley Bo Diddley 1955
63 For What It's Worth Buffalo Springfield 1967
64 She Loves You The Beatles 1963
65 Sunshine of Your Love Cream 1968
66 Redemption Song Bob Marley 1980
67 Jailhouse Rock Elvis Presley 1957
68 Tangled Up in Blue Bob Dylan 1975
69 Crying Roy Orbison 1961
70 Walk On By Dionne Warwick 1964

71 California Girls The Beach Boys 1965
72 Papa's Got a Brand New Bag James Brown 1966
73 Summertime Blues Eddie Cochran 1958
74 Superstition Stevie Wonder 1972
75 Whole Lotta Love Led Zeppelin 1969
76 Strawberry Fields Forever The Beatles 1967
77 Mystery Train Elvis Presley 1955
78 I Got You (I Feel Good) James Brown 1965
79 Mr. Tambourine Man The Byrds 1965
80 I Heard It Through the Grapevine Marvin Gaye 1968

81 Blueberry Hill Fats Domino 1956
82 You Really Got Me The Kinks 1964
83 Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) The Beatles 1965
84 Every Breath You Take The Police 1983
85 Crazy Patsy Cline 1961
86 Thunder Road Bruce Springsteen 1975
87 Ring of Fire Johnny Cash 1963
88 My Girl The Temptations 1965
89 California Dreamin' The Mamas & The Papas 1965
90 In the Still of the Night The Five Satins 1956

91 Suspicious Minds Elvis Presley 1969
92 Blitzkrieg Bop The Ramones 1976
93 I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For U2 1987
94 Good Golly, Miss Molly Little Richard 1958
95 Blue Suede Shoes Carl Perkins 1956
96 Great Balls of Fire Jerry Lee Lewis 1957
97 Roll Over Beethoven Chuck Berry 1956
98 Love and Happiness Al Green 1972
99 Fortunate Son Creedence Clearwater Revival 1969
100 You Can't Always Get What You Want The Rolling Stones 1969
101 Voodoo Child (Slight Return) Jimi Hendrix 1968
102 Be-Bop-A-Lula Gene Vincent 1956
103 Hot Stuff Donna Summer 1979
104 Living for the City Stevie Wonder 1973
105 The Boxer Simon & Garfunkel 1969
106 Mr. Tambourine Man Bob Dylan 1965
107 Not Fade Away Buddy Holly 1957
108 Little Red Corvette Prince 1983
109 Brown Eyed Girl Van Morrison 1967
110 I've Been Loving You Too Long Otis Redding 1965

111 I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry Hank Williams 1949
112 That's All Right Elvis Presley 1954
113 Up on the Roof The Drifters 1962
114 Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home) The Crystals 1963
115 You Send Me Sam Cooke 1957
116 Honky Tonk Women The Rolling Stones 1969
117 Take Me to the River Al Green 1974
118 Shout (Parts 1 and 2) The Isley Brothers 1959
119 Go Your Own Way Fleetwood Mac 1977
120 I Want You Back The Jackson 5 1969

121 Stand By Me Ben E. King 1961
122 House of the Rising Sun The Animals 1964
123 It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World James Brown 1966
124 Jumpin' Jack Flash The Rolling Stones 1968
125 Will You Love Me Tomorrow The Shirelles 1960
126 Shake, Rattle & Roll Big Joe Turner 1954
127 Changes David Bowie 1971
128 Rock And Roll Music Chuck Berry 1957
129 Born To Be Wild Steppenwolf 1968
130 Maggie May Rod Stewart 1971

131 With or Without You U2 1987
132 Who Do You Love? Bo Diddley 1957
133 Won't Get Fooled Again The Who 1971
134 In the Midnight Hour Wilson Pickett 1965
135 While My Guitar Gently Weeps The Beatles 1968
136 Your Song Elton John 1970
137 Eleanor Rigby The Beatles 1966
138 Family Affair Sly & the Family Stone 1971
139 I Saw Her Standing There The Beatles 1964
140 Kashmir Led Zeppelin 1975

141 All I Have to Do Is Dream The Everly Brothers 1958
142 Please, Please, Please James Brown 1956
143 Purple Rain Prince 1984
144 I Wanna Be Sedated The Ramones 1978
145 Everyday People Sly & the Family Stone 1968
146 Rock Lobster The B-52's 1979
147 Lust for Life Iggy Pop 1977
148 Me and Bobby McGee Janis Joplin 1971
149 Cathy's Clown The Everly Brothers 1960
150 Eight Miles High The Byrds 1966
151 Earth Angel The Penguins 1954
152 Foxey Lady Jimi Hendrix 1965
153 A Hard Day's Night The Beatles 1964
154 Rave On Buddy Holly 1958
155 Proud Mary Creedence Clearwater Revival 1969
156 The Sound of Silence Simon & Garfunkel 1965
157 I Only Have Eyes for You The Flamingos 1959
158 Rock Around the Clock Bill Haley & the Comets 1954
159 I'm Waiting for the Man The Velvet Underground 1967
160 Bring the Noise Public Enemy 1988

161 I Can't Stop Loving You Ray Charles 1962
162 Nothing Compares 2 U Sinead O'Connor 1990
163 Bohemian Rhapsody Queen 1975
164 Folsom Prison Blues Johnny Cash 1956
165 Fast Car Tracy Chapman 1988
166 Lose Yourself Eminem 2002
167 Let's Get It On Marvin Gaye 1973
168 Papa Was a Rollin' Stone The Temptations 1972
169 Losing My Religion R.E.M. 1991
170 Both Sides Now Joni Mitchell 1969

171 Dancing Queen Abba 1976
172 Dream On Aerosmith 1973
173 God Save the Queen The Sex Pistols 1977
174 Paint It, Black The Rolling Stones 1966
175 I Fought The Law Bobby Fuller Four 1966
176 Don't Worry Baby The Beach Boys 1964
177 Free Fallin' Tom Petty 1989
178 September Gurls Big Star 1974
179 Love Will Tear Us Apart Joy Division 1980
180 Hey Ya! Outkast 2003

181 Green Onions Booker T. and the MG's 1962
182 Save the Last Dance for Me The Drifters 1960
183 The Thrill Is Gone B.B. King 1969
184 Please Please Me The Beatles 1964
185 Desolation Row Bob Dylan 1965
186 I Never Loved a Man Aretha Franklin 1967
187 Back in Black AC/DC 1980
188 Who'll Stop the Rain Creedence Clearwater Revival 1970
189 Stayin' Alive The Bee Gees 1977
190 Knocking on Heaven's Door Bob Dylan 1973

191 Free Bird Lynyrd Skynyrd 1973
192 Wichita Lineman Glen Campbell 1968
193 There Goes My Baby The Drifters 1959
194 Peggy Sue Buddy Holly 1957
195 Maybe The Chantels 1957
196 Sweet Child O' Mine Guns N' Roses 1987
197 Don't Be Cruel Elvis Presley 1956
198 Hey Joe Jimi Hendrix 1966
199 Flash Light Parliament 1977
200 Loser Beck 1993
201 Bizarre Love Triangle New Order 1986
202 Come Together The Beatles 1969
203 Positively 4th Street Bob Dylan 1965
204 Try a Little Tenderness Otis Redding 1966
205 Lean On Me Bill Withers 1972
206 Reach Out, I'll Be There The Four Tops 1966
207 Bye Bye Love The Everly Brothers 1957
208 Gloria Them 1965
209 In My Room The Beach Boys 1963
210 96 Tears ? & the Mysterians 1966
211 Caroline, No The Beach Boys 1966
212 1999 Prince 1982
213 Your Cheatin' Heart Hank Williams 1953
214 Rockin' in the Free World Neil Young 1989
215 Sh-Boom The Chords 1954
216 Do You Believe in Magic The Lovin' Spoonful 1965
217 Jolene Dolly Parton 1974
218 Boom Boom John Lee Hooker 1962
219 Spoonful Howlin' Wolf 1960
220 Walk Away Renee The Left Banke 1966
221 Walk on the Wild Side Lou Reed 1972
222 Oh, Pretty Woman Roy Orbison 1964
223 Dance to the Music Sly & the Family Stone 1968
224 Good Times Chic 1979
225 Hoochie Coochie Man Muddy Waters 1954
226 Moondance Van Morrison 1970
227 Fire and Rain James Taylor 1970
228 Should I Stay or Should I Go The Clash 1982
229 Mannish Boy Muddy Waters 1955
230 Just Like a Woman Bob Dylan 1966

231 Sexual Healing Marvin Gaye 1982
232 Only the Lonely Roy Orbison 1960
233 We Gotta Get Out of This Place The Animals 1965
234 I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better The Byrds 1965
235 I Got a Woman Ray Charles 1954
236 Everyday Buddy Holly 1957
237 Planet Rock Afrika Bambaataa 1982
238 I Fall to Pieces Patsy Cline 1961
239 The Wanderer Dion 1961
240 Son of a Preacher Man Dusty Springfield 1968

241 Stand! Sly & the Family Stone 1969
242 Rocket Man Elton John 1972
243 Love Shack The B-52's 1989
244 Gimme Some Lovin' The Spencer Davis Group 1966
245 The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down The Band 1969
246 Higher and Higher Jackie Wilson 1967
247 Hot Fun in the Summertime Sly & the Family Stone 1969
248 Rappers Delight The Sugarhill Gang 1979
249 Chain of Fools Aretha Franklin 1967
250 Paranoid Black Sabbath 1970

251 Mack the Knife Bobby Darin 1959
252 Money Honey The Drifters 1953
253 All the Young Dudes Mott the Hoople 1972
254 Highway to Hell AC/DC 1979
255 Heart of Glass Blondie 1978
256 Paranoid Android Radiohead 1997
257 Wild Thing The Troggs 1966
258 I Can See for Miles The Who 1967
259 Hallelujah Jeff Buckley 1994
260 Oh, What a Night The Dells 1969
261 Higher Ground Stevie Wonder 1973
262 Ooo Baby Baby Smokey Robinson 1965
263 He's a Rebel The Crystals 1962
264 Sail Away Randy Newman 1972
265 Tighten Up Archie Bell & the Drells 1968
266 Walking in the Rain The Ronettes 1964
267 Personality Crisis New York Dolls 1973
268 Sunday Bloody Sunday U2 1983
269 Roadrunner The Modern Lovers 1976
270 He Stopped Loving Her Today George Jones 1980
271 Sloop John B The Beach Boys 1966
272 Sweet Little Sixteen Chuck Berry 1958
273 Something The Beatles 1969
274 Somebody to Love Jefferson Airplane 1967
275 Born in the U.S.A. Bruce Springsteen 1984
276 I'll Take You There The Staple Singers 1972
277 Ziggy Stardust David Bowie 1972
278 Pictures of You The Cure 1989
279 Chapel of Love The Dixie Cups 1964
280 Ain't No Sunshine Bill Withers 1971
281 You Are the Sunshine of My Life Stevie Wonder 1972
282 Help Me Joni Mitchell 1974
283 Call Me Blondie 1980
284 Peace, Love and Understanding Elvis Costello 1979
285 Smoke Stack Lightning Howlin' Wolf 1956
286 Summer Babe Pavement 1992
287 Walk This Way Run-D.M.C. 1986
288 Money (That's What I Want) Barrett Strong 1960
289 Can't Buy Me Love The Beatles 1964
290 Stan Eminem 2000

291 She's Not There The Zombies 1964
292 Train in Vain The Clash 1979
293 Tired of Being Alone Al Green 1971
294 Black Dog Led Zeppelin 1971
295 Street Fighting Man The Rolling Stones 1968
296 Get Up, Stand Up Bob Marley 1975
297 Heart of Gold Neil Young 1972
298 One Way or Another Blondie 1978
299 Sign O' the Times Prince 1987
300 Like a Prayer Madonna 1989
301 Da Ya Think I'm Sexy? Rod Stewart 1978
302 Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain Willie Nelson 1975
303 Ruby Tuesday The Rolling Stones 1967
304 With a Little Help From My Friends The Beatles 1967
305 Say It Loud -- I'm Black and I'm Proud James Brown 1968
306 That's Entertainment The Jam 1980
307 Why Do Fools Fall in Love Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers 1956
308 Lonely Teardrops Jackie Wilson 1958
309 What's Love Got To Do With It Tina Turner 1984
310 Iron Man Black Sabbath 1971

311 Wake Up Little Susie The Everly Brothers 1957
312 In Dreams Roy Orbison 1963
313 I Put a Spell on You Screamin' Jay Hawkins 1956
314 Comfortably Numb Pink Floyd 1979
315 Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood The Animals 1965
316 Wish You Were Here Pink Floyd 1975
317 Many Rivers to Cross Jimmy Cliff 1969
318 Alison Elvis Costello 1977
319 School's Out Alice Cooper 1972
320 Heartbreaker Led Zeppelin 1969
321 Cortez the Killer Neil Young 1975
322 Fight the Power Public Enemy 1989
323 Dancing Barefoot Patti Smith 1979
324 Baby Love Diana Ross 1964
325 Good Lovin' The Rascals 1966
326 Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine James Brown 1970
327 For Your Precious Love Jerry Butler 1958
328 The End The Doors 1967
329 That's The Way of the World Earth, Wind & Fire 1975
330 We Will Rock You Queen 1977

331 I Can't Make You Love Me Bonnie Raitt 1991
332 Subterranean Homesick Blues Bob Dylan 1965
333 Spirit in the Sky Norman Greenbaum 1970
334 Wild Horses The Rolling Stones 1971
335 Sweet Jane The Velvet Underground 1970
336 Walk This Way Aerosmith 1976
337 Beat It Michael Jackson 1982
338 Maybe I'm Amazed Paul McCartney 1970
339 You Keep Me Hangin' On Diana Ross 1966
340 Baba O'Riley The Who 1971

341 The Harder They Come Jimmy Cliff 1975
342 Runaround Sue Dion 1961
343 Jim Dandy Lavern Baker 1956
344 Piece of My Heart Janis Joplin 1968
345 La Bamba Ritchie Valens 1958
346 California Love Tupac Shakur 1996
347 Candle in the Wind Elton John 1973
348 That Lady (Part 1 and 2) The Isley Brothers 1973
349 Spanish Harlem Ben E. King 1960
350 The Loco-Motion Little Eva 1962
351 The Great Pretender The Platters 1955
352 All Shook Up Elvis Presley 1957
353 Tears in Heaven Eric Clapton 1992
354 Watching the Detectives Elvis Costello 1977
355 Bad Moon Rising Creedence Clearwater Revival 1969
356 Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) Eurythmics 1983
357 Little Wing Jimi Hendrix 1968
358 Nowhere to Run Martha and the Vandellas 1965
359 Got My Mojo Working Muddy Waters 1957
360 Killing Me Softly With His Song Roberta Flack 1973

361 Complete Control The Clash 1979
362 All You Need Is Love The Beatles 1967
363 The Letter The Box Tops 1967
364 Highway 61 Revisited Bob Dylan 1965
365 Unchained Melody The Righteous Brothers 1965
366 How Deep is Your Love The Bee Gees 1977
367 White Room Cream 1968
368 Personal Jesus Depeche Mode 1989
369 I'm a Man Bo Diddley 1955
370 The Wind Cries Mary Jimi Hendrix 1967
371 I Can't Explain The Who 1965
372 Marquee Moon Television 1977
373 Wonderful World Sam Cooke 1960
374 Brown Eyed Handsome Man Chuck Berry 1956
375 Another Brick in the Wall Part 2 Pink Floyd 1979
376 Fake Plastic Trees Radiohead 1995
377 Hit the Road Jack Ray Charles 1961
378 Pride (In the Name of Love) U2 1984
379 Radio Free Europe R.E.M. 1983
380 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Elton John 1973

381 Tell It Like It Is Aaron Neville 1966
382 Bitter Sweet Symphony The Verve 1997
383 Whipping Post The Allman Brothers Band 1969
384 Ticket to Ride The Beatles 1965
385 Ohio Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young 1970
386 I Know You Got Soul Eric B and Rakim 1987
387 Tiny Dancer Elton John 1971
388 Roxanne The Police 1979
389 Just My Imagination The Temptations 1971
390 Baby I Need Your Loving The Four Tops 1964

391 Band of Gold Freda Payne 1970
392 O-o-h Child The Five Stairsteps 1970
393 Summer in the City The Lovin' Spoonful 1966
394 Can't Help Falling In Love Elvis Presley 1961
395 Remember (Walkin' in The Sand) The Shangri-Las 1964
396 Thirteen Big Star 1972
397 (Don't Fear) the Reaper Blue Oyster Cult 1976
398 Sweet Home Alabama Lynyrd Skynyrd 1974
399 Enter Sandman Metallica 1991
400 Kicks Paul Revere & the Raiders 1966

401 Tonight's the Night The Shirelles 1960
402 Thank You Sly & the Family Stone 1970
403 C'mon Everybody Eddie Cochran 1958
404 Visions of Johanna Bob Dylan 1966
405 We've Only Just Begun The Carpenters 1970
406 I Believe I Can Fly R. Kelly 1996
407 In Bloom Nirvana 1991
408 Sweet Emotion Aerosmith 1975
409 Crossroads Cream 1968
410 Monkey Gone to Heaven Pixies 1989
411 I Feel Love Donna Summer 1977
412 Ode to Billie Joe Bobbie Gentry 1967
413 The Girl Can't Help It Little Richard 1957
414 Young Blood The Coasters 1957
415 I Can't Help Myself The Four Tops 1965
416 The Boys of Summer Don Henley 1984
417 Fuck tha Police N.W.A. 1989
418 Suite: Judy Blue Eyes Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young 1969
419 Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang Dr. Dre 1993
420 It's Your Thing The Isley Brothers 1969
421 Piano Man Billy Joel 1973
422 Lola The Kinks 1970
423 Blue Suede Shoes Elvis Presley 1956
424 Tumbling Dice The Rolling Stones 1972
425 William, It Was Really Nothing The Smiths 1984
426 Smoke on the Water Deep Purple 1973
427 New Year's Day U2 1983
428 Devil With a Blue Dress On/Good Golly Miss Molly
Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels 1966
429 Everybody Needs Somebody to Love Solomon Burke 1964
430 White Man in Hammersmith Palais The Clash 1979

431 Ain't It a Shame Fats Domino 1955
432 Midnight Train to Georgia Gladys Knight 1973
433 Ramble On Led Zeppelin 1969
434 Mustang Sally Wilson Pickett 1966
435 Beast of Burden The Rolling Stones 1978
436 Alone Again Or Love 1968
437 Love Me Tender Elvis Presley 1956
438 I Wanna Be Your Dog The Stooges 1969
439 Pink Houses John Mellencamp 1983
440 Push It Salt-n-Pepa 1987
441 Come Go With Me The Del-Vikings 1957
442 Keep a Knockin' Little Richard 1957
443 I Shot the Sheriff Bob Marley 1973
444 I Got You Babe Sonny and Cher 1965
445 Come As You Are Nirvana 1991
446 Pressure Drop Toots and the Maytals 1973
447 Leader of the Pack The Shangri-Las 1964
448 Heroin The Velvet Underground 1967
449 Penny Lane The Beatles 1967
450 By the Time I Get to Phoenix Glen Campbell 1967
451 The Twist Chubby Checker 1960
452 Cupid Sam Cooke 1961
453 Paradise City Guns N' Roses 1987
454 My Sweet Lord George Harrison 1970
455 All Apologies Nirvana 1993
456 Stagger Lee Lloyd Price 1958
457 Sheena Is a Punk Rocker The Ramones 1977
458 Soul Man Sam and Dave 1967
459 Rollin' Stone Muddy Waters 1948
460 One Fine Day The Chiffons 1963

461 Kiss Prince 1986
462 Respect Yourself The Staple Singers 1971
463 Rain The Beatles 1966
464 Standing in the Shadows of Love The Four Tops 1966
465 Surrender Cheap Trick 1978
466 Runaway Del Shannon 1961
467 Welcome to the Jungle Guns N' Roses 1987
468 Search and Destroy The Stooges 1973
469 It's Too Late Carole King 1970
470 Free Man in Paris Joni Mitchell 1974

471 On the Road Again Willie Nelson 1980
472 Where Did Our Love Go Diana Ross 1964
473 Do Right Woman -- Do Right Man Aretha Franklin 1967
474 One Nation Under a Groove -- Part 1 Funkadelic 1978
475 Sabotage Beastie Boys 1994
476 I Want to Know What Love Is Foreigner 1984
477 Super Freak Rick James 1981
478 White Rabbit Jefferson Airplane 1967
479 Lady Marmalade Labelle 1975
480 Into the Mystic Van Morrison 1970

481 Young Americans David Bowie 1975
482 I'm Eighteen Alice Cooper 1971
483 Just Like Heaven The Cure 1987
484 I Love Rock 'N Roll Joan Jett 1982
485 Graceland Paul Simon 1986
486 How Soon Is Now? The Smiths 1985
487 Under the Boardwalk The Drifters 1964
488 Rhiannon Fleetwood Mac 1975
489 I Will Survive Gloria Gaynor 1978
490 Brown Sugar The Rolling Stones 1971

491 You Don't Have to Say You Love Me Dusty Springfield 1966
492 Running On Empty Jackson Browne 1977
493 Then He Kissed Me The Crystals 1963
494 Desperado The Eagles 1973
495 Shop Around Smokey Robinson 1960
496 Miss You The Rolling Stones 1978
497 Buddy Holly Weezer 1994
498 Rainy Night in Georgia Brook Benton 1970
499 The Boys are Back in Town Thin Lizzy 1976
500 More Than a Feeling Boston 1976

Goodbye

From PostSecret



*sniff*

Busted....

Ok , so the Times of India has tried to put a damper on one of my more favored fancies , Oh well!! I agree with the quality of links argument made in the article , but the fact that 95% of the letters weren’t sent out could be attributed to the fact that some people in the network were just too plain lazy to send them out!!!

Publication:Times Of India Mumbai; Date:Jul 18, 2006; Section:International; Page Number:13


BUNK BUSTERS
WHERE WE EXPLORE POPULAR MYTHS

Can everyone in the world be connected in six steps?

One of the most famous claims is that anyone can reach anyone else through a chain of acquaintances no more than six people long. This idea, known as “six degrees of separation”, is a measure of our social networks.

The phrase was coined by an American academic, Stanley Milgram, after experiments in which he asked people to pass a letter only to others they knew by name. The aim was to get it, eventually, to a named person they did not know living in another city. The average number of times it was passed on, he said, was six. Hence, the six degrees of separation.

It is a seductive idea. Films have been made about it and mathematics has begun to propose theories for why it should be true. But is it?

Judith Kleinfeld, a professor psychology at Alaska Fairbanks University, went back to Milgram’s original research notes and found something surprising. It turned out, she told us, that 95% of the letters sent out had failed to reach the target. Not only did they fail to get there in six steps, they failed to get there at all. Milgram was a giant figure in his world of research, but here was evidence the claim he was famously associated with was not supported by his experiments. “I was shocked,” she said.

And when she looked for other studies, none of those matched up to the claim either. In the most recent, two years ago, only 3% of letters reached their target. “If 95 or 97 letters out of 100 never reached their target, would you say it was proof of six degrees of separation? So why do we want to believe this? The pleasing idea that we live in a ‘small world’ where people are connected by ‘six degrees of separation’ may be the academic equivalent of an urban myth,” she says.

Kleinfeld argues that what is more important is not the number of links, but the quality. Even if you were able to say you could get to the Queen in three steps, it would tell you little about how well you are really connected with her. We like the idea of six degrees of separation, she says, because it makes the world feel more intimate. THE BOTTOM LINE: The belief that it has been proved that we live in a world of six degrees of separation does not seem to be true.

AGENCIES

Blogspot banned in India

Yes Indian government thank you for doing the needful, this is exactly what we
were wating for…who says they weren’t fast to act on terrorist attacks… NOW how will my sister and parents and friends in India read this blog??HOW will bloggers in India continue to blog..i for one hope it's a rumor or something... darn Government Dinosaurs, seems they follow the policy of if you can't beat repressive regimes ..Join Them

Monday, July 17, 2006
Report: Indian government blocking all Blogspot blogs
BoingBoing reader Jace says,
India's Department of Telecommunications (DoT) passed an order to ISPs Friday to block several websites. The list is confidential. Indian ISPs have been slowly coming into compliance. SpectraNet, MTNL, Reliance, and as of Monday afternoon, Airtel. State-backed BSNL and VSNL have not started yet but likely will soon. The known list of blocked domains is *.blogspot.com, *.typepad.com and geocities.com/*.

Links
India Censors Blogspot
Sepia Mutiny
Rediff

A story

Ok wanted to pen this down earlier, but decided not too, it was personal, there’s only so much you can blog about ..Well, actually that was only part of the reason… this piece involved the effort of writing from scratch …..Bah, I’m just too lazy to do that …, but I have been reading and writing rather long comments about the same thing , so I’ll add some more perspective…..( please bear with me I’m sure you all know I’m not an English major , the last time I took a writing class was way back, I do worst in the writing section of standardized tests..yada,yada,yada…. This is going to look disjointed at times, and is definitely long winded and overly dramatic and boring but I couldn’t help myself …)


…

A couple of years ago , a girl moved from a long stay in her home country to start a new life in a place at the other side of the world, she didn’t know anyone in this new place, except for an old college friend …. She was eager to make new friends in town .

“Who do you hang out with?”, she asked her friend , “Not too much with Desis”, he replied, “ I have Sri Lankan friends .”

“Cool” ,she thought , she had met Sinhalese people before , they were nice.. “ They speak Tamil”, he continued , “they are just like Indians …”.

Oops , alarm bells started ringing in the girl’s ears, she liked her friend , but at times she used to wonder about his choice of friends, this was one of those times ,.

She didn’t say anything though … but her mind went back to 13 years earlier , she was out with her parents on a sunny middle eastern evening , when suddenly on the Radio they announced that the ex Prime Minister of her home country had been assassinated , it was pretty shocking ,he was a youthful prime minister , held the aspirations of her parents generation and he had just visited the city she lived in a few months earlier.

Because people from the subcontinent dominated this Arab city ,newspapers were quick to print out a special edition on the assassination, (this was before the days of CNN and cable) so the family watched their local channel for news and the gruesome details unfolded, it was pretty much all anyone spoke about that day.Personal political affinities weren’t discussed much at home ,the girl knew her mother was so disgusted with politics and politicians and India and as a principle preferred not to vote, Father though a traditionalist , had seen enough of he world and interacted with enough people outside his community , to warrant feelings that he supported Congress, and didn’t approve of the BJP .

The school day immediately following; the largest Indian school, which both the assassinated PM and his late mother had visited in their life time ; bid a somber adieu and the girl observed five minutes silence and after which classes were adjourned , personally the girl was glad to get out of school and classes for a day, but the sight of her social studies teacher crying and saying that he was really a young PM and had kids who just a few years older than the little girls in class , warranted the girl feeling that yes this was a tragedy and who were those criminals who could do such a wicked crime, she couldn’t believe that people who were so similar to the ex-PM had killed him. In years later those people killed more people in Sri Lanka and got labeled terrorists , the girls only contact with Sri Lankans had been Sinhalese Catholics and Buddhists.

Just the month before the girl landed in the new country , she and her dad had passed the memorial for the slain PM on their bus ride from Chennai to Mangalore , and her dad made it a point to see it and show it to her . It was a magnificent memorial.

Cut to the new country, the girl made desi and a non desi friends and eventually she met the Sri Lankans, they were pretty cool guys, and she realized maybe she was wrong just because they were Sri Lankan Tamil didn’t mean they were linked in anyway to those people who had committed those criminal acts, just a case of a few bad people spoiling the name of the rest ,she decided, at this point she also had Sinhalese catholic classmate, Curiosity got the better of her and she asked her friend what all the fighting and animosity was about anyway . It seemed that the majority ,who were indigenous, discriminated against the centuries old migrants from India .When Sinhalese girl was in school in Sri Lanka , the two groups were taught separately and kept separate from ach other ; a beginning of a life time of segregation, in higher education , where Sri Lankan Tamils were denied seats and on to jobs, this in addition to being considered outsiders in a country they thought of as their own (later after moving to the American south the Indian girl realized that African Americans had successfully removed a large chunk of the barriers of segregation using non-violence, MKG’s teachings were definitely not overrated).

Well, the girls Sinhalese friend had described it well , and it did leave an impression on the Indian girl , but she reminded her self her friends were not LTTE anyway.

School term ended and the Indian girl who’d pretty much slogged her ass of the whole term now had some free time , unfortunately her closest friend lived in a distant suburb with her boyfriend ,so she was a bit stuck about who to hang out with the rest of the summer . One Friday night returning after her part time job , she met a girl she was only acquainted with , through the Sri Lankan guys, the Sri Lankan Tamil girl was getting off work ,they both said Hi and started talking both didn’t feel like getting back home on a Friday night, and surprisingly they were dressed for a night out in the city, and so over hot chocolate , Archers, Doner kebab and chatting up Iraqi Christian guys and walking back home at 6 am in the morning , Indian girl realized that the Singapore born Sri Lankan Tamil girl and she had pretty much a lot of the same heartaches and life issues as she … eventually they started hanging out more often ,soon enough Indian girl visited her pals swanky apartment, it was downtown and tastefully done , Indian girl noticed lots of family photographs posted on a wall, and went closer to see the pictures, it was full of photos of the university prom, friends and family of the Sri Lankan /Singaporean/Tamil girl and there smack in the middle of the photos , was what looked like a grassy hill, but on it in white , possibly made up of flowers were the letters LTTE. The Indian girl was a bit shocked , her friend supported the LTTE, te same group that killed Rajiv Gandhi?? “There goes my theory” , she thought to herself…. Indian girl never really asked her friend about the photo or the LTTE, it was personal she decided , and she kept it in the back of her mind ,another dimension in her friends personality ..well time moved on Indian Girl left that city, Sri Lankan Tamil Girl gave her the coolest send off ever, and helped Indian girl choose a really cool place in which to invite her friends before the Indian left forever the place that had been home for a year .

More than that Indian girl held on to memories of one of the more enriching friendships she had made towards the end of her stay there, she was glad she let go of her prejudices and had been given a chance to realize that human relationships and allegiances are so much more complicated than black or white.


I guess the point of the story is that preconceptions are bad, its all a matter of perspective , one of my favorite subjects has been Systems thinking in a gist it is to think of the whole picture rather than parts of it individually and separately from each other . What happened last week was unforgivable, no one did anything to deserve it, but threatening to nuke Pakistan isn’t going to help… many of your future friends may be the ones that you plan on hurting

There are so many crazy people out there who sadly kill people, and they will continue doing so no matter what limitations you put on normal decent peoples liberty. Rather than sow the seeds of resentment ,we have to put our systems in our country in place so that when such an incident occurs again ,the first to help aren’t kindly slum dwellers ,but the people assigned to do it in the first place, in that sense at least we must emulate America .
Here’s a poem ,from here that I first wanted to use as a comment in this posting .

First they came for the Muslims
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Muslim.
Then they came for the immigrants detaining them indefinitely solely upon the certification of the Attorney General
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't an immigrant.
Then they came to eavesdrop on suspects consulting with their attorneys
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a suspect.
Then they came to prosecute non-citizens before secret military commissions,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a non-citizen.
Then they came to enter homes and offices for unannounced "sneak and peek" searches
and I didn't speak up because I had nothing to hide.
Then they came to reinstate Cointelpro and resume the infiltration and surveillance of domestic religious and political groups
and I didn't speak up because I no longer participated in any groups.
Then they came to arrest American citizens and hold them indefinitely without any charges and without access to lawyers,
and I didn't speak up because I would never be arrested.
Then they came to institute TIPS, the " Terrorism Information and Prevention System," recruiting citizens to spy on other citizens,
and I didn't speak up because I was afraid.
Then they came to institute Total Information Awareness, collecting private data on every man, woman and child in America,
and I didn't speak up because I couldn't do anything about it.
Then they came for immigrants and students from selective countries luring them under the requirement of "special registration" as a ruse to seize them and detain them,
and I didn't speak up because I was not required to register.
Then they came for anyone who objected to government policy because it only aided the terrorists and gave ammunition to America's enemies
and I didn't speak up . . . because I didn't speak up.
Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.
-Steve Rohde
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came...

Confidant Crisis

To my friends… Thanks for being there….

The New York Times
July 16, 2006
THE WAY WE LIVE NOW
Confidant Crisis
By ANN HULBERT

By now, I bet almost everybody knows somebody who has joined a social networking Web site like MySpace.com, with more than 90 million members, or Facebook.com, a college-based Web site that has become a high-school favorite, too. That means most people probably also know that “friend” is no longer just a noun, but a verb, one that entails minimal exertion: “to friend” a person involves an exchange of mouse clicks, one to request a spot on someone’s (often very lengthy) list of people granted access to his or her online profile, and a click in response to accept the petitioner. If you’re too old and busy to be logging on obsessively to this Internet social scene, you’re doubtless enmeshed in your own way, e-mailing far-flung acquaintances or anticipating the spread of free Internet telephone service.
Americans, in other words, aren’t exactly suffering from anomie. If anything, a surfeit of connectivity is the curse of the moment. (Take a trip in a nonquiet Amtrak car if you want vivid evidence.) No wonder a recent study, “Social Isolation in America: Changes in Core Discussion Networks Over Two Decades,” published in the latest American Sociological Review, made it into the headlines and onto “Good Morning America.” Here was surprising news that touched a nerve. Who would have guessed, in our gabby tell-all culture, that people interviewed in the 2004 General Social Survey would report an average of only two “core” confidants with whom they “discuss important matters,” down from the mean of three close ties elicited by the same question in 1985? Just as startling, given an ever more interwoven world, was the decline in the percentage of Americans — to 57 percent from 80 percent — who named at least one non-kin person as part of this inner circle.
The media, predictably enough, were spooked by the specter of “social isolation”: though we may bowl alone, we’re always ready to join a chorus of concern about fraying communities. But before rushing to conclude that Americans have simply gotten lonelier and more insular, why not consider another possibility? Perhaps, as the study’s authors themselves hint at one point, we’ve also gotten better at demarcating what constitutes truly intimate communing — expecting more of our confidants, we have, in effect, defined intimacy up. That is not exactly what you would expect in an era of constant communicating. Yet could it be precisely because we’re more plugged in to a disparate array of people who supply us with information when we need it, offer advice and keep us intermittent company, that our standard of genuine closeness has become more exacting? It’s not just that we’re too busy for more than a select few confidants. We may be choosier too.
Look at Aristotle’s “Nicomachean Ethics,” or at junior-high-school cliques, and it’s clear that discriminating among degrees of friendship can be a daunting task. The most tenacious of taxonomists, Aristotle thought pleasure and utility counted for less than the rare commingling of virtuous character as the basis for friendship. Centuries of varying ideals and fears ensued. Are our close ties becoming shallower and more instrumental? How many are too many, and what is enough? Is friendship a matter of spontaneous sincerity, heartfelt reciprocity, mutual understanding, deep loyalty, moral obligation or shared passion — and can it last? In his new book, “Friendship: An Exposé,” Joseph Epstein quotes the German sociologist Georg Simmel already worrying a century ago that we moderns are destined to drift among “differentiated friendships,” missing out on an all-encompassing connection.
Turn from philosophizers to recent empirical surveys, and it’s clear the challenge of categorizing confidants remains as complex as ever. In January, just five months before the General Social Survey appeared, a phone survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project set out to assess the impact of Web involvement on real-world social networks. The study emerged with a notably big figure for what it termed “core ties”: a median number of 15 people with whom respondents said they had discussed important matters, with whom they were in frequent touch or from whom they got substantial help. Here was a three-pronged conception of core ties that roped in friendships across the Aristotelian spectrum, from the useful to the pleasurable and beyond, rather than distilling out just soul mates. Add in the median number of 16 weaker yet still “significant ties” that the Pew survey also counted, and the findings left Americans looking anything but socially isolated.
And now consider the fact that the General Social Survey finds that on average, individuals have only two close confidants. As we puzzle over what the decline means, perhaps we should be reassured that Americans seem clear-eyed about their connections. The study’s low figures may be stark testament that we value a deep bond when we find it and aren’t fooled when we don’t. When one-dimensional, functional relationships are ever more accessible, the desire to be known and to know another from all sides and from inside out may be lodged even deeper — and may thrive closer to home. A century ago, another philosopher surveying a modernizing world, George Santayana, had already concluded that “the tie that in contemporary society most nearly resembles the ancient ideal of friendship is a well-assorted marriage.” The General Social Survey data suggest an inner core that isn’t oppressively clannish but invites rising equality and diversity, narrow though it is. The percentage of people who include a spouse in their circle of closest confidants went from 30 percent in 1985 to almost 40 percent two decades later. And in 2004, 15 percent reported at least one confidant of another race, up from 9 percent in 1985. While to friend has become a frivolous verb, to bond might prove to be one that Americans are taking, if anything, more to heart than ever.

Ann Hulbert, a contributing writer, is the author of “Raising America: Experts, Parents and a Century of Advice About Children.”

Song for the summer

This song takes me back…it’s from 97-98, gets a lot of radio airplay nowadays…. It one of those songs that when it plays I know the lyrics…but when its not on ( which is pretty often) I cant to seem to remember the words or the tune even… anyway it’s got a catchy summer beat and I think its been done again by the Brit band Blue.. I finally figured out the name and band when it played today on Backtrax USA with Kid Kelly.

BTW the song is Too Close by Next...

Questions....

If you are left liberal and are Indian, which Indian political party should you support???

My parents think India should become like Israel when it comes to handling terrorists, also that India’s become a dangerous place to stay , that even Mangalore may be a target and that the unofficial number of people who lost their lives last week might be around 1000…..

My next question ..has the world become a worse place to be in recent years?I guess not; some terrorism prone areas have quietened down, may be this time because it hit closer to home it feels like our world's changing for the worse ….

Spooky Tuscaloosa

Thanks to a conversation I had with Shweta , I found out about the Gorgas Library ghost….. So here’s some info about ghosts in Tuscaloosa.Of particular interest are University of Alabama ghosts…hmm wonder if I’m going to walk late night in the quad , now??!??Anyway I don’t go to Gorgas library much :)


Around Campus..

Legend has it that, once upon a time in a house on Thomas Street, a man axed his daughter to death and buried her in the walls. Her name was LaDonna. Chi Phi Fraternity later moved into the house; doors mysteriously slammed shut, chairs moved, and members encountered apparitions. LaDonna followed the Chi Phis to their second house, which is now the Student Publications building, and later to their house on New Row.
According to popular belief, LaDonna has plenty of haunting company.

The Quad -
Located between the armed forces & library buildings, it’s said to be haunted by the ghosts of four civil war union soldiers who were killed here. It’s believed that they still haunt the area.

The guard shack next to Amelia Gorgas library is haunted by a man who hanged himself there.

Mrs. Amelia Gayle Gorgas is said to haunt the library which bears her name. Dr. Jerry Oldshue, The University Historian, said that the elevators can be locked so that they don't stop at the fourth floor, which houses W. S. Hoole Special Collections. He says that there is a solitary elevator that comes and goes as it pleases. The door opens, and there's no one in it. Then it closes and moves on its way. Dr. Oldshue believes that it isAmelia Gayle coming to check on things, make sure everything is in order.

Her husband, General Josiah Gorgas, can sometimes be heard walking up the stairs of the Gorgas house, his sword banging against the wall. The Chief of Confederate Ordinance during the Civil War, Gorgas also served as president of the university in 1878 and died in the home named after him.

The University's oldest ghost inhabits the Observatory, which was built in the 1840's. A nineteenth-century professor whose house stood near the Observatory was seen sitting on the Observatory steps the day after his death.

Around town….

The Old Bryce Mental Institution and Hospital -
The ghost of mental patients that were tortured, beaten, and killed in the institution are still said to be roaming the halls. Considering the history of this facility, it would be more surprising if it wasn't haunted. There have been reports of strange noises being heard, cold spots & telephones ringing, and writings on the walls. This building was abandoned in the mid-60's after being used for more than 100 yrs.

Drish Mansion - The Drish Mansion is an old plantation home now in the midst of Tuscaloosa. It was built by Dr. John Drish for his wife Sarah. When Dr. Drish died, Sarah burned candles while he lay in state. After the ceremony, Sarah locked away the candles and asked that they be burned at her funeral. As Sarah’s health declined, she became somewhat obsessed with the candle burning. Then after her death, her friends and family were too busy to look for the candles, and Sarah was buried without the ceremony. Shortly after, the tower where the Sarah burned the candles for her husband, caught fire. But as fire crews arrived, the fire was gone. There was no evidence of burned wood, not even a wisp of smoke. The ghostly fire happened a few times more and people began wondering who was starting the ghostly fires. Then one night after one of the fires mysteriously vanished, the ghost of Sarah Drish appeared.

Maxwell Crossing - Confederate soldiers still roam there.

Old Public Library on Greensboro Ave –“ Presence felt in round room on left side of building as if watching over you and protecting you. Upstairs leading to top turret, black evil presence felt as if trying to make one fall down the stairs, felt sensation of something against (narrators) back and the feeling that whatever was up there wanted to do (narrator) harm. Another presence felt in main room at window, sensation of someone looking out and waiting. In lower basement level there were tunnels where soldiers hid during Civil War, presences can be felt there as well.”
Stillman College - Hay Hall - In Hay Hall on the 2nd floor on the left side there have been reports of one of rooms being haunted by the a girl who use to live there. Also you can hear voices and loud sounds coming from the 3rd floor of this hall…..it kind of strange that the noises are there cause nobody has gone on the 3rd floor in years.

Compiled from the internet
http://www.psychosylum.info/content-64.html
http://www.geocities.com/parapsyse_agrs/
whats_haunted_t_list.html
http://www.juiceenewsdaily.com

CalviN: Whats it like to fall in love???

When it rains forwards, it pours …I can’t believe I almost missed this one …thanks to my sis for sending …..

FYI -Cooties ( because i had to look it up )

So Happy You Are Mine

First looked up this article forwarded by Sharath from the India Uncut blog..

SO HAPPY YOU ARE MINE

Reader Shyam Nunley writes me a mail regarding my post on freedom and feminism, in which she explains why she chose to change her name after marriage. She writes:

When I became engaged several years ago I had several people ask me why I would ever take another person's name. My answer was and always will be: "My maiden name is not my own. It is my father's father's father's name. My first and middle name are not my own either, they were given to me by my parents. What difference does it make whether I keep the patriarchal name I received at birth or I choose to take the legal name of the person I now share an address with? Everyone has been given someone else's name. Wives are the only ones given an option of changing our names or not. Men are saddled with a name which carries all the weight of their fathers since the beginning of the family. Seems to me I am the one with more social options than my love.",

My personal stance , I’ve got a rare surname , my dad’s the last male in our line having the surname , so yeah I’m attached to it .. might hold on to it , might hyphenate it or ... might just change it !!!!

And just at the time when I begin to wonder how a lady can have a name like 'Shyam,' she explains:


As a post script I feel inclined to say that my real first name is Shyam, however it is not an Indian name. I only mention this because others have been confused and on occasion insulted when they find out I am an American. My parents were "free spirits" and when my father had to join the military to support his pregnant wife he often wrote to her while away. Every letter he signed S.H.Y.A.M. This stood for So Happy You Are Mine. When I was born my mother graced me with that name never having heard it before. It was not until years later, when my circle of friends widened, that I started to hear it as an Indian name.Wow.

Then saw the latest post in the blog linking to this :
Top 10 pick-up lines in the WORLD!!

My personal favourite from the article…..( I just like it ; not that I get it a lot!!)
"You must be tired because you've been running through my mind all day."
LOLLOLLOL!!! :))

Back to Love...

A friend forwarded this …I’m reading it about 5 years too late..but it’s a good read ..has a lot of insight and funny too …(and you would expect that from the guy who wrote Munnabai MBBS..) I admit I had to read it twice, only because I read it too late in the night and second of all because I’m one of the more dopey Madhumathi types ;)

Groping with Love
by Abbas Tyrewala

For those who came in late…

Pentaxial Gropings is based on a simple metaphysical
theorem, which states that: "[The] Truth is nothing but a point: a set of co-ordinates on a pentaxial configuration -- the five axes being the three of Space, one of Time and one of Perspective."

Pentaxial Gropings is (whenever I get down to writing it) an ad hoc attempt to arrive at my personal, subjective truth of any random matter that seizes my arbitrary fancy, and is based upon the highly suspect assumption that someone gives a damn. (For further explanation and more adjectives, kindly refer to Pentaxial Gropings: "There's Something About Shiv.")



Today, I'm groping with love.

Actually, I groped with it last night -- not in any manner that Italians might find imperative, the French imaginative and the British irksome -- and woke up with a "Eureka!" at four in the morning. Actually I woke up with an expression I learnt from my new Sardar friend Raman, viz. "Fuck lag gayee!" But then, I'm pretty certain Archimedes must have yelled something like, "Told you NOT to fill it to the brim, you bitch!" and reverent students and/or kindly historians subsequently adapted the expression.
The reason I exulted in aforementioned Eureka-like manner was because inspite of (because of?) a number of practical failures, I had the theory cracked.

Love made sense. Not in any manner that's going to ensure happy relationships henceforth. If that's what you're hoping to find, I suggest you stop wasting time and read the Kama Sutra, or better still, What do you do after she says, "That's all?" I'm talking theory here. Pure, pristine, sanguine theory, unsullied by pedestrian notions of 'applicability' and 'point'. Before going on, let me quote a poem that my dear friend Ronnie Patel once dedicated to me.

"Oh vanishing moon,
There's much enchantment left
Beneath your ceaseless coursing…
…something, something…
…tire not then of romancing the youth
Its swoons, its sighs
The fickle promises of love
Ever doomed to be broken
For your charm is still a token
Of all that is good and well
And ravishing are the wounds
Of your aphrodisiac spells."

Why was a 63-year-old Parsi dedicating poems to me? Well, I guess he liked me. Also, he was probably the only man who understood what I was going through at the time. The head of the department at my then job, he had noticed subtle changes in my behaviour,a concept a week to nothing, and an intense desire to win staring contestswith the office wall. The poem was his way of saying cheer up little buddy it'll be all right.
,
Why did it need to be all right? What was wrong? All that had happened was that things hadn't worked out with someone, a classic case of love gone wrong.


Now, my trusty Webster's informs me that
love (luv), n., v., loved, lov·ing. -n. [is:]
1. a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.
2. a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent,
child, or friend.
3. sexual passion or desire.

After this it goes off into soft corn, including love for neighbor and love for dog but we'll leave the kinks out of it.

Looking at the understood meaning of love, there was absolutely no reason why I should have been feeling as devastated as I was in early '97. The first two contain no suggestion of the imperative correlation between love and the desire for reciprocation. The last in no manner explains why the loss of love generates the kind of monomania it does. Frankly, one would expect relief at having the functional domain of "sexual passion or desire" suddenly extended from Madhumati (not her real name) to the entire female species. The Reptilian Complex at the core of the brain -- repressed and catharticallynted in dreams but by no means dead -- should be waving primordial pom-poms and flashing its scaly green backside in glee. But no. We go unhappy. Extremely very unhappy. Something very disturbing happened in that winter of my discontent. A cousin of mine developed a sketchy idea of what was going on. He laughed and said, "Dekh yaar, har admi ki life mein yeh ek baar hota hai. Usske baad sab naatak chhod ke paise ke peechhe padte hai." Translated, that reads, "Buddy, every man goes through this once. After this, you cut the crap and concentrate on money."

And I remain perturbed by the sentiment. Not because it was pathetic, not because it was loser 'guy' bromide that I wouldn't even consider before discarding in disgust. This is a fellow whose idea of fun involved shooting at streetlights with an air rifle from a speeding van after downing what a six-pack meant before it meant an ugly stomach (ha! guess who doesn't
work out). I was disturbed because somewhere, somehow, in some perverse corner of my frightened mind, it made sense. It rung true and gave me hope.

Why? What possible obversality could conjoin love gone wrong and the ruthless pursuit of money? The answer is very simple. Money is a measure: the simplest possible parameter by which to gauge a person's value. Money becomes a standard of self-worth, an alternative standard of self worth. Money is a desperate.Plan B in the self-worth sweepstakes.
And thus I reached an a posteriori conscious awareness of an instinctive a priori knowledge. Love is when an individual ascertains that which all of life is a struggle to ascertain: self-worth. Who am I? What am I? What is my value? What am I worth? The key questions. Problem is, there is no existing scale, no existing parameter tocalculate self worth.

However, we live in an analogue world. ("Digital is for wimps" -- God.)* Everything is approximate, nebulous, comprehended largely via analogy. Things are understood not in absolute but in relative terms. All great religious texts are allegoric or metaphoric in nature. The closer a question gets to
being 'really important', the more difficult it is to obtain an absolute answer.

[* The world goes digitalish when you descend to quantum exactitudes, but then Heisenberg coughs politely and tells you exactly where you can shove your exactitudes. Cool tangent for a later column: raving fundamentalists who oppose science on the premise that some arcane knowledge is a necessary barrier between God and man can chill thanks to the Uncertainty Principle, which ensures that we can never completely know the Mind of God. "God moves in mysterious ways" can be easily modified to "God moves in electrons."]

And so we grope with indescribables, grasp at concepts by relating their essential dimensions to quasi-absolute standards. As tall as a mountain.Faster than the eye can see. As pure as a virgin. As alarmingly banal as Reader's Digest.

"Who am I" and "What am I worth?" are questions for which we don't really have satisfying standards, no parameters that would make Sartre's soul burp in contentment. These are akin to The Ultimate Question that Deep Thought
couldn't solve (Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and no one's about to accept "I'm worth forty-two" for an answer.

Love is the only answer we'll accept. Love is when we find a human standard that reflects our unconscious
awareness of our own self-worth. It is the rampaging amplitude of a soul that has discovered its naturally vibrating partner, and all 'really important questions' are answered -- cryptically but satisfyingly -- in a majestic surge of resonance.Love is the cognizance of standard. Reciprocation is the confirmation. Noticed how people tend to find partners of largely comparable social,financial and intellectual stature? More importantly, it will be the defining trait of a person for which he or she will naturally seek the greatest compatibility. A social animal will lay the greatest emphasis on social stature, a genius on intelligence, a celebrity on image. (Unless of course, their core defining traits are diverse from their observable traits.)

Each one of us is equipped with an innate awareness of 'a suitable match'. Our internal signal receivers are naturally unresponsive to transmissions at marked variance from a critical range. The greatest disasters in love occur when the ego sets up its own receiving station in blatant conflict with the id's; when one chooses a partner in accordance with conscious considerations (money, status, "Mummy said," etc.) rather than resonance. Sooner or later, the quest for self-worth will violently revolt. Or worse still, it may quietly die, leaving unhappy shadows where once were people. Consider the passion, the intensity of a first love…the first impact, the firstawakening of a sense of self. Given that impact helps define the edges (a thought loosely adapted from Le Carre's The Naïve and Sentimental Lover), first love defines the shape of the soul.

This is why young love threatened is more prone to the extremities of suicide and crimes of passion -- reflexive responses to the nascent awareness of'self' being threatened. The greatest legends of love tell the story of daemonic society trying to tear a young couple apart. The anticipation of this loss is agonising: if the mirror is confiscated, will my image remain? Without harmony, will I remember my rhythm? Without impact, can I define my shape?

If the quest for love is the quest for self-worth, then sex is the culmination,the celebration of a successful quest. Sexual habits, then, offer interesting glimpses into the soul. Consider promiscuity. Impact defines, but impact also erodes. Repeated impact denotes a frantic search for self-worth (absent, then, by obversion --the search for something denotes its own absence). Every subsequent impact corrodes and dulls; obscuring the edges, sapping vibrancy and vitality until the soul loses shape.

The absence of love is another extreme. No impact, no definition, no erosion. Only a loveless life: the atrophy of the soul. And the act of buying love may be seen as the final dropping of arms. It is the almost irrevocable surrender of The Quest, accompanied by the complete acceptance of an alternative standard. Sex, then, is no longer the celebration of souls in harmony. Reduced to a physical need, a minor irritant, it is to be dealt with quickly, cleanly (in a manner of speaking) and painlessly.


(ditto). Why does the memory of a first love remain almost palpable through life? It is a tribute to a worth once felt -- the person I once was -- that keeps one going through compromise and cynicism. It eases the dull ache of disappointment with alternative yardsticks like money, social prolicacy, and 'the score'.

Imagine, then -- if you haven't already experienced -- the anguish of love gone wrong. It is the rejection of self-worth. It is the complete breakdown ofan individual who has just discovered that he is not, or is no longer, whom he thought he was. It is the profound loss of person who has found -- and then lost -- his idea of self.

Why does this happen? For one, human beings are not consistent. We often play at whom we wanto be, or have to be. Roll playing, charades, masks and most importantly
phases characterise our behaviour -- our 'signals' -- at any given point. We are not always vibrating at our intrinsic natural frequency. This often tends to cause the illusion of a naturally vibrating partner (think pendulum --pendulums! This is scientific! God!)

Gradually the awareness of discord sets in, destructive interference of wave patterns replace the myth of harmony, and one of the partners mumbles in an adequately guilty (or vicious, depending) tone, "It's over. I'm sorry." ("It's not you, it's me." -- optional.)

Sometimes, people grow discordant. Sure, there was resonance once. But thing changed in the pendulum of the soul. Perhaps the materials were dissimilar. One string had the greater elasticity, one sphere the greater affinity for atmospheric oxygen -- whatever! -- and the specifications changed. Partners then part: sometimes gracefully, sometimes violently. Energies depleted, passions spent, they wander off in reluctant search of a new harmony, a new resonance, which must necessarily be of a loweribrancy.

And so I search. A slower, wiser, pendulous soul, not yet having replaced the quest for my analogue soulmate with the crude, discrete digitality of money. Oh string of corresponding tension, oh orb of matching metal, I know you're out there. Wait for me, my mirror in search of a mirror. Keep transmitting, keep receiving, and keep an eye on the red light. I love you.

This is so totally NOT what we should be doing...

I haven’t watched much TV coverage of the Mumbai blasts, just was constantly updating myself on the internet searching for news the whole day yesterday, but the whole time I was worried about friends and relatives who could have been on any of those trains, more than thinking about what the affiliation of the people who caused this could be , I do fervently hope that things like this don’t happen again, but I find this article disturbing
This is so totally NOT what we should be doing!!!

…. The people who were killed in the blasts were innocents from all faiths.. if you want a reason about why no one's been put in prison for the 1993 bombings, well when has anything happened in time in India ? I would honestly blame politicians (WORLD OVER!!!)…I seriously don’t want India to be a soft target but all this Jingoism is seriously STUPID!!! I wonder who calls for vengeance ; relatives who are grieving for a lost loved one or bystanders who seriously could damage what could be better border relations with all this rhetoric…

Six Degrees of Seperation

I’ve always been interested in this concept, at least ever since I’ve heard of the movie.

Six degrees of separation is the theory that anyone on the planet can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances that has no more than five intermediaries. The theory was first proposed in 1929 by the Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy in a short story called "Chains."

Of course when I joined Orkut the coolest thing for me was that I could see how people were connected to me as distant as three to four connections away.. nowadays I think we can just see the link between friends of friends ….

I can imagine being connected to everyone in Mangalore by six degrees .. India even I guess ,but everyone in the world?

"I read somewhere that everybody on this planet is separated by only six other people. Six degrees of separation between us and everyone else on this planet. The President of the United States, a gondolier in Venice, just fill in the names. I find that extremely comforting, that we're so close, but I also find it like Chinese water torture that we're so close because you have to find the right six people to make the connection. It's not just big names -- it's anyone. A native in a rain forest, a Tiero del Fuegan, an Eskimo. I am bound -- you are bound -- to everyone on this planet by a trail of six people. It's a profound thought -- how Paul found us, how to find the man whose son he claims to be, or perhaps is, although I doubt it. How everyone is a new door, opening into other worlds."

-Character Ouisa Kittredge from the movie Six Degrees of Separation

It’s the interconnectedness aspect of The small world phenomenon that appeals to me , the fact that you are only a few people away from anyone else on the planet!! The theory has its uses as well, it seems scientists can use this sociological experiment to track the spread of infectious diseases…( if I remember right from the movie 'And The Band Played on' ( I love HBO and HBO movies, this one's good!!), Patient Zero, vilified controversially as the mass spreader of AIDS in New York, was an Air steward who singly infected people in his network, and onwards to the rest of America, and then to the rest of the world ??!!!!, )

I guess at a subconscious level we should all know that we are connected … how quick we are to claim only six degrees of separation from George Bush , but imagine that we are several times removed from the peace loving Indian mullah in Ahmedabad..( I seriously don’t believe this is happening , it's so totally wrong ,and to the folks that propogate this ,(the few and far between that you are) Stop the HATE !!!

Thanks Yo!!!

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again , Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read the blog and thanks to those who take the time to comment on it!

All the comments are more insightful and have significantly more depth than the author of this blog could possibly muster …

Cheers mates….

Modern Love

Ok, inspired by a comment made by Vivek on why had I not included a Wiki Definition in my previous post on marriage ? , Well the answer is I assume EVERYONE knew what the definition of marriage is !! Just Kidding , I did look up Marriage and Arranged Marriage out of curiosity, any way a link on the arranged marriage Wiki, lead me to this Modern Love article in the New York Times ( I really like this section of the NYT , the few times I get to read it…. usually if someone send me a link to an article:))
I think I’ll just copy/paste the story…( I hope a few people out there haven't read it already !!!).

May 28, 2006
Modern Love
Mom, Dad, Let Me Find My Own Husband
By SARITA JAMES


MY Suitable Boy was seven years older than I with a gentle Superman wave of hair at his forehead and broad shoulders that defied the reedy build of our South Indian heritage. The son of a family friend, he often visited us in our northeast Indiana town, a few miles east of the Dan Quayle museum. Affable with dinner guests and handy with sports scores, he was adored by my parents. And I realized quickly, despite my parents' denials, that they wanted me to marry him.
"Did you see what a fine job he's done dicing my tomatoes?" my mother would say, tilting the cutting board until the juice began to drip.
"Suitable boy" is a term used by Indian families to describe a strong marriage candidate — someone who comes from the right religion, region, community and family background. Within my circle of American-born cousins, however, we used the term only to tease each other about our parents' marriage schemes.
Our family was both Indian and Catholic, which was a rarity anywhere, much less in the American Middle West. I was still in high school but, given the scarcity of suitable boys, my parents wanted to start their search. And yet, rare as my suitable boy may have been, I did not want to marry him. I found him to be boring and close-minded — he read very little, claimed he could never have a gay friend and did not see why Indian wedding dowries were problematic. Because I felt my family's quiet pressure in his presence, I questioned his perennial attendance at our gatherings.
Do you think we could have just the family visit for Thanksgiving this year?" I asked my mother after two years of his visits.
"But he's a bachelor," she said. "It's our duty to host him." And again he came.
When I was a sophomore in college, I happened to be home when my suitable boy called with big news: he was leaving for India in a month to get married. His parents had located two young women for him — an engineer and a fashion designer — and had booked the church hall to celebrate the union of his choice.
AFTER the call, I began skipping around my mother's bedroom with the thrill of emancipation.
"If you had been friendlier on his last visit, he might have married you!" my mother scolded. "You should have come tobogganing with us! You're such a foolish girl."
My mother's resentment made me stop skipping. When my father came home from work, he also looked disappointed.
Were they right? Had I thrown away my future by studying for final exams instead of tobogganing with my suitable boy? I did find him immediately more likable once my parents broke their lengthy silence on their intentions for us. And it was true that he had adapted well to my family over the years, cheerfully participating in our misguided activities.
One summer weekend he had come along with us on a fishing derby. It was a hot afternoon, and we waded through muddy, mosquito-infested waters to reel in hundreds of little fish. We realized only at the awards ceremony that prizes were given based on the total weight, not the number, of fish. While my mother continued to look wistfully at the first-prize motorboat, my suitable boy and I laughed and released our little catches.
"I imagine I would like to move back to India someday," he said to me as we were walking back to the car. "Could you see yourself ever living there?"
"I'm not sure," I said. From my summer visits there, I remembered first my grandparents' friendly faces, but then also the pollution and the helpless feeling of being a foreigner. I looked at his eager face. "Perhaps."
At Harvard, men were starting to ask me out on dates but I demurely refused. My parents had warned me that the dating scene was full of bad men who would marry and then divorce me. I doubted that the situation was really that grim but was unsure of myself. And now the only eligible Indian Catholic in the Midwest was getting married to someone else.
The next week we unexpectedly saw him at a graduation party for one of my Ohio cousins, and he confided his anxieties surrounding his upcoming wedding. When I walked into the kitchen, my aunts were discussing his marriage plans and bemoaning their daughters' lost opportunities.
As we were leaving, I ate one last chocolate-covered strawberry and looked up to notice him watching me attentively. I smiled back. Before we climbed into the car, I saw my father put his hand on my suitable boy's shoulder, and I experienced a sudden regret.
When we arrived home, I told my parents that I would marry him. My parents were startled and pleased by my announcement but concerned that it was too late. I felt confident; after all, the wedding invitations could not have been sent without the name of his selected bride.
My parents called my suitable boy that night to propose, and, after quickly checking with his parents, he gave me his answer: he would love to marry me. His parents asked only that he see the other two women, as a formality to avoid offending their families. In the meantime we could start getting to know each other and planning for our future.
I called him every day from a pay phone outside the cafeteria at Caltech, where I had begun a summer research internship. It was the start of our relationship. He was 26 and I was 19.
"I should tell you about this girl I once liked," he began tentatively. He had bought a college classmate gifts and lent her money, but she had turned him away.
"I've been kissed before," I volunteered.
"You?" he teased. "Who did you find in Indiana?"
I told him about Paul, who had kissed me good-bye on the rooftop of the San Francisco Hilton after a high school science convention. I explained that I'd been too surprised by Paul's French kiss to move my own tongue. I suspected my suitable boy wasn't zealously conservative, but I hadn't been sure; I was relieved when he laughed.
After a week of daily calls, I began to imagine our married life together. Would I be ready to trade in a graduate degree for motherhood if required?
On a more pressing note, would we really sleep with each other for the first time on our wedding night? It seemed quite drastic for two people who barely knew each other, although I knew my parents had met on the day of their arranged marriage and that my brother had been born within the year.
Before my suitable boy left for India, he promised to give me a call when he arrived. As I warned him to be careful riding his motorcycle through Bangalore's dangerous traffic, I felt the thrill of playing the romantic lead in a school play.
I anticipated introducing him to Matt, one of my witty gay friends in Cambridge, and thought how they would become instant pals before I revealed Matt's sexual orientation. At that point, my suitable boy would feel deep shame and admit in a rousing soliloquy that his homophobia had been wrong. I was excited and poised to fall in love.
But my suitable boy didn't call me when he arrived. In fact, neither my parents nor I heard from him or his family until a week later, when his parents notified us by phone that he was engaged to the engineer. I was stunned. Instead of calling me to explain, he e-mailed me:
Dear Sarita,
I am so sorry for what happened. I wish I had gotten married to you. Matters were taken out of my control. I want to apologize profusely both to you and your family. Unfortunately, I can never explain what happened.
A second e-mail message, posted five minutes later, read:
Dear Sarita,
I regret my indiscretion in that first e-mail. Could you please delete it? Please trust that my apologies are sincere.
I FELT a deep emptiness that I had difficulty explaining. I cared about him but I had not been in love. I knew my vision for our shared future had been naïvely optimistic. What hurt most, I realized, was my broken trust in my parents' guidance.
A few years later, I learned that a large dowry had been exchanged as part of his wedding. Most of it had been passed along to his sister's bridegroom when she was married the same year. Not only had the suitable boy let me down, he had also perpetuated the injustices of the dowry system.
"If only his parents had known we would have gladly paid a dowry," my mother lamented, to my irritation.
Over time our two families, which had been close for generations in India, began an awkward reconciliation. One year, my suitable boy's father sent a Christmas card. The next year, my father sent one without receiving a reply. But I never saw my suitable boy again.
My junior and senior years of college passed quietly. Immersed in my academics and extracurricular activities, I chose not to explore relationships with the men I met, and my parents, too, left it alone.
Once I graduated, however, my marriage returned as a family priority.
"I met this recruiter from Microsoft who's going to call you," my mother said one evening.
"Recruiter? But I already have a job, Mom."
"Well, you may have a job but you don't have a husband! He's Indian Catholic, so please just have a career chat and see where it goes."
My parents continued their husband hunt for another year, culminating in a marital ad they secretly ran in a major Indian newspaper. It included my vital statistics — "5-foot-6, 22 years old, slim, pretty, Ivy League-educated girl" — along with their personal e-mail address for responses.
When one of my cousins recognized the e-mail address and tipped me off, I called my mother in frustration. I was impressed by my parents' audacity, but I asked my mother to take down the ad and call off the search.
I couldn't let my parents arrange my Indian marriage from Indiana. I would have to find my own suitable boy. Or perhaps even an unsuitable one.


Sarita James is a freelance writer and strategy consultant in New York.

On Marriage

Because a lot of work is due this weekend, and because I blog only when I have piles of other work to be done… I thought it would be a good time to post……

I’ve made a conscious attempt not to post on marriage, I have to look back ;but I’m quite sure I haven’t posted, I post on love often ,yea, but not marriage( or rather the state of possible impending marriage ), the reasons being :
1) It’s the single most depressing topic I think I can blog about.
2) So many other folks I know have written much better about it than I possibly could…

Anyway ever since I graduated from under grad , the topic of marriage was always ominously looming , but I think I fully got into all this matrimonial ickyness only recently , maybe I’m in the race too late, but that’s totally my fault because I wasn’t open to getting married till about six months ago, and I think my parents were chill because I was , but when seven of my friends got hitched in the same week ,it was a bit too much to take ( you know all that peer pressure stuff).

Anyway so I was thinking, there’s so much pressure to get married , not so much from my parents , but we get it on all sides from family and friends .

Let me clear at the outset that a vast majority of the marriages I know off are very happy ones ,that's precisely the problem for me as a girl , because , in the pool of eligible matches ,all the good guys are taken or Gay, but in India , even the Gay guys are taken !

I’m the first admit it’s not as if I have a long line of guys waiting outside my door waiting to get married to me!!! But all this marketing stuff really gets to me , I mean who was that who said the ratio of women to men in India was low ,sure doesn’t seem like that!!!

So what are the marketing strategies I’ve personally had to deal with in search of that “one proposal that works!!”,( as an aside isn’t it the scariest thing in the world getting married to a stranger…I mean parents do background check and all , but I’ve seen some real loons get married , poor girl!!):

1) Being able to pay heaploads of dowry, if you can do that the rest of the stuff below doesn’t matter .

2) I don’t know what happened to chivalry, it certainly is dead amongst some Indian men , I mean when my parents ask if a certain guy who they’ve passed on my number to, who I’m not extremely interested in but my parents are fixated on, has called and I tell them he hasn’t ,they suggest that maybe I should email him, suggesting that the guys mum says that “He’s shy and cant really call up girls” ..well first of all I certainly don’t buy that , and second of all, “OK Aunty ,your son is shy, even I am shy”, I don’t know who the onus goes to in our supposed “male dominated society”, to make that call ..ofcourse it is another thing if he doesn’t want to call…


3) I don’t have much of a past, but it seems having one certainly brings down your chances of getting married , I don’t know when India will reach a point where you marry a person for who they are and not for what you think is their lack of life experiences, of course if you satisfy the dowry criteria all this really doesn’t matter, (seriously dowry, the fact that parents have to save their entire lives to marry of their daughters , I really don’t wonder why the status of women is what it is .)

4) See I’m a traditionalist , I don’t use the internet to date guys , I prefer to meet them or use traditional sources, so when people who personally haven’t used the internet to marry off their kids suggest that I should use the internet, I get more than a little irritated , why didn’t they start the revolution and marry off their kids that way?


5) I don’t know how guys can scope out so many girls , like they are buying a car or something ..this is what makes me sad , I mean really sad , like literally my heart is weeping, because in essence the same thing is going to happen to me ….so I hear of this guy , that after rejecting a dozen or so girls because she was (insert suitable adjective) too ( short, tall, dark ,fair , fat , thin , uneducated, educated , fast, slow, astrologically incompatible…..), the guy sees me fit for consideration, at the end of this ploy to promote a guys “popularity” , should I be happy for being bestowed such an honor , feel bad for the girls who have a total strangers sympathy for not getting married to some one, or feel like punching the said guy in the face!!!


And in the end what is all this for ???

Even after people get married they’re happy 95% of the time but for 5% of the time the keep groaning for the rest off their lives over there “fate” , all this lamenting seriously puts me off marriage all together…..who told them to get married in the first place , no way I want to end up like that, people should hold some responsibility for how their lives are!!!

I guess the problem lies because we Indians are conditioned to believe that marriage is the end of all your problems , the way I see it , I have my own set of problems , a guy has his, if we get married that just doubles the number of problems in life , unless you have something strong to pull you through all this , it’s a bad situation to get into..

Well that’s my analysis so far, more as I get further into the process .I’m 'for' marriage no one wants to be alone….. but i'm also for being happily single forever if the other option was to get married to a totally wrong person.Gosh these problems are so uniquely indian , my Kiwi friends would probably think i'm mad for even considering these things, i'm not saying Alabama, because they are more tradional and "Indianlike" to some extent in the South.


To quote something my nineteen year old girl cousin posted in an Orkut forum:
" in desperate need of "decent,intellectually stimulating, non conservative!!! "enter community/caste name "!.. d only ---- guys i know hwo can keep up a good interesting ,, stimulatin n witty conversation in normal ENGLISH(no corny one liners pls) besides being decently good lookin( yes ,, ill admit .. i am a lilllll superficial..hehe) are my own cusin brothers!!!! anyone here or anywhere! who cud prove me worng???"

Not entirely true..but not entirely false either.....


I know lots of people who have it good , God bless them!!Their arranged marriage was the best thing that happened to them , but I’m sure many people have to go through this irritating stuff as well …

I’ve read that chick based blogs are the least frequently read, and I guess I do a lot of male bashing , hopefully should post more positive stuff later!!!

Recommended reading :These posts by Meghna:
Horoscopes
Holy Matrimony

Quotes 3

This should have been a part of the previous post, I like this a lot, it’s not from the site I linked to in the previous post ..anyway its by Rumi , and Unbearably romantic, day by day the cynic in me gets stronger and stronger….. anyway here it is

“The minute I heard my first love story I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along.”

AAh this practically gave me goosebumps the first time I read it , this won’t happen in real life , but its good to have an ideal to compare with!!!

Note to self to be referenced in the future : NOT at ALL KEEN on getting MARRIED, especially getting married to a MORON!!!( YEEEEEEEEESH)!!!! Want to stay SINGLE for atleast two more years …Relatives and friends reading this please keep this in mind and tell my PARENTS!!!!!

What if prospective Moron’s read this entry…. Hmmm… that’s a small price I have to pay for not keeping my thoughts to myself

Not that i've met a lot of Morons, but have got to know of a few!!!

Open question to the world: I wonder if a few years down the line I’ll end up deleting posts?

Wisdom

This is a long one , also preachy, but you know…. Whatever!!!!
Most of these are REALLY profound, so take your time reading this post, maybe it’s too much for one sitting….…
You might have seen most of these before ….. and I hope I’m not repeating myself!! Some of these I can relate to, some of these I think others can relate to……


On the view of earth from 3.7 billion miles away:
"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home, That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every 'superstar,' every 'supreme leader,' every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. [...] There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."
Carl Sagan, "Pale Blue Dot"


It happens so suddenly. We are going about our own mundane tasks when - a phrase of music, a shaft of sunlight on a snowy roof, a handful of yellow butterflies, or the arc of a bird diving to the earth, pierces us. For one brief moment, we are lifted out of our daily routine into the untold realms of light and beauty. Then the moment is gone. We are back on Earth - but we are not the same.
-Unknown


You are part of my existence, part of myself. You have been in every line I have ever read. You have been in every prospect I have ever seen - on the river, on the sails of the ships, on the marshes, in the clouds, in the light, in the darkness, in the wind, in the woods, in the sea in the streets. You have been the embodiment of every graceful fancy that my mind has ever become acquainted with. The stones of which the strongest London buildings are made are not more real, or more impossible to be displaced by your hands, than your presence and influence have been to me, there and everywhere, and will be. To the last hour of my life, you cannot choose but remain part of my character, part of the little good in me, part of the evil. But in this separation, I associate you only with the good, and I will faithfully hold you to that always, for you must have done me far more good than harm. Let me feel now what sharp distress I may."
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens


When your day is long,
and the night is yours alone,
when you're sure you've had enough
of this life,
then hang on.
Don't let yourself go,
because everybody cries.
Everybody hurts sometimes...
so hold on, hold on, hold on.
Everybody hurts.

REM, Everybody Hurts


He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much; who has enjoyed the trust of pure women, the respect of intelligent men, and the love of small children; who has filled his niche, and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty , or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others, and given them the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction.
- - - Bessie Anderson Stanley (Prize-winning definition in a contest sponsored by Brown Book Magazine, Boston, 1904)


It doesn't take a talent to be mean, your words can crush things that are unseen. So please be careful with me, I'm sensitive and I'd like to stay that way.
Jewel, "Sensitive"

"Life"
Sitting.
Staring.
Thinking.
Pondering.
Hoping.
Dreaming.
Wishing.
Trying.
Realizing.
Crashing.
Running.
Crying.
Concealing.
Faking.
Smiling.
Repeating.
~unknown

The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn like fabulous roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars..."
Jack Kerouac, On the Road


My life has a wonderful cast, I just can't figure out the plot.
Mat Crompton - Poet 19th century



Don't you ever wonder, maybe if you took a left turn instead of a right ,you could be somebody different.
Dave Matthews Band

And I don't want the world to see me, cause I don't think that they'd understand. When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am.
Goo Goo Dolls

The love I seek is so deep, so faithful and true, I wonder if I will ever find someone that will love me in the way I desire. It goes deeper than passion, but as simple as politeness. I desire understanding, and an unfaltering trust. Someone that other than my Father, that I can run to when the world is cruel. Someone who will warm my heart with kindness and firmly speak truth to me in love. Someone that will sit and read with me but will also dance in the rain with me. Love is a funny thing. So often "found" and not kept. Why? Well it is because it was never found, for if it was it would be like a treasure, held tightly and never let go, valued above other things.
A. Steele


I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean, whenever one door closes I hope one more opens. Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance, and when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance.
Lee Ann Womack, I hope you dance


Imagine
Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...
Imagine there's no countries,
It isn’t hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...
Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
You may say Im a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.
John Lennon

My Declaration of Self Esteem
I am Me. In all the world, there is no one else exactly like me. Everything that comes out of me is authentically mine, because I alone chose it -- I own everything about me: my body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, all my actions, whether they be to others or myself. I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears. I own my triumphs and successes, all my failures and mistakes. Because I own all of me, I can become intimately acquainted with me. By so doing, I can love me and be friendly with all my parts. I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me, and other aspects that I do not know -- but as long as I am friendly and loving to myself, I can courageously and hopefully look for solutions to the puzzles and ways to find out more about me. However I look and sound, whatever I say and do, and whatever I think and feel at a given moment in time is authentically me. If later some parts of how I looked, sounded, thought, and felt turn out to be unfitting, I can discard that which is unfitting, keep the rest, and invent something new for that which I discarded. I can see, hear, feel, think, say, and do. I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive, and to make sense and order out of the world of people and things outside of me. I own me, and therefore, I can engineer me. I am me, and I am Okay.
Virginia Satir

We are the music makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea breakers, And sitting by desolate streams. World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams: Yet we are the movers and the shakers Of the world forever, it seems.
Arthur O' Shaughnessy


The time has come, the Walrus said, to speak of many things. Of ships and shoes and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings. Of why the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wings.
Lewis Caroll


Sometimes we put up walls, not to block people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.
~Unknown


Out there things happen, and frequently do, to people as brainy and footsy as you. And when things start to happen, dont worry. Dont stew, just go right along. You'll start happening too.
Dr. Seuss


If I could tell the world just one thing it would be that we're all OK. And not to worry 'cause worry is wasteful and useless in times like these. I won't be made useless, I won't be idle with despair. I will gather myself around my faith, for light does the darkness most fear
Jewel -Hands

I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I hate plants.
A. Whitney Brown

I'd explain it to you, but your brain would explode.
Frequently used e-mail signature


1.That ball went so high it could have got an airhostess down with it. 2.There is light at the end of the tunnel for India, but it's that of an incoming train which will run them over. 3.Experience is like a comb that life gives you when you are bald. 4.Sri Lankan score is running like an Indian taximeter. 5.Wickets are like wives - you never know which way they will turn! 6.He is like Indian three-wheeler, which will suck a lot of diesel but cannot go beyond 30! 7.The Indians are going to beat the Kiwis! Let me tell you, my friend, that the Kiwi is the only bird in the whole world, which does not have wings! 8.As uncomfortable as a bum on a porcupine. 9.The ball whizzes past like a bumblebee and the Indians are in the sea. 10.The Indians are finding the gaps like a pin in a haystack. 11.The pitch is as dead as a dodo. 12.Deep Dasgupta is as confused as a child is in a topless bar! 13.The way Indian wickets are falling reminds of the cycle stand at Rajendra Talkies in Patiala..! one falls and everything else falls! 14.Indian team without Sachin is like giving a Kiss without a Squeeze. 15.You cannot make Omelets without breaking the eggs. 16.Deep Dasgupta is not a Wicket Keeper, he is a goalkeeper. He must be given a free transfer to Manchester United. 17.He will fight a rattlesnake and give it the first two bites too. 18.One, who doesn't throw the dice, can never expect to score a six. 19.Anybody can pilot a ship when the sea is calm. 20.Nobody travels on the road to success without a puncture or two. 21.You got to choose between tightening your belt or losing your pants.
Navjot Siddhu's Cricket Wisdom


I just think that sometimes things happen between people that you don't really expect. And sometimes the things that are important are the ones that seem the weirdest or the most wrong. And those are the ones that change your life.
From Once and Again


Michelangelo said the best way to judge the essential elements of a sculpture is to throw it down a hill and the unimportant pieces will break away. Sometimes life is like that. It tosses us down a hill. But when we reach the bottom and only the important things are left, that's when our vision clears. That's when we hold on tight to what we know, while hope stirs inside us. It's all a matter of perspective.
From Everwood


At this moment there are six billion four hundred seventy million eight hundred eighteen thousand six hundred seventy one people in the world. Some are running scared. Some are coming home. Some tell lies to make it through the day. Others are just now facing the truth. Some are evil men at war with good. And some are good, struggling with evil. Six billion people in the world, six billion souls. And sometimes... all you need is one.
From One Tree Hill


Growing up sucks. Not all kisses are magic, and most boys do not live up to your expectations, but there are those times when everything, I mean love, romance, relationships, it all falls together perfectly and it's incredible. It's those moments, no matter how depressingly few and far between, that make growing up worth it.
Joey, Dawson's Creek


Whoever you are, there is a younger person who thinks you are perfect. There is some work that will never be done if you don't do it. There is someone who would miss you if you were gone. There is a good reason for becoming better than you are. There is a place that you alone can fill.
Unknown


Do more than exist, live. Do more than touch, feel. Do more than look, observe. Do more than read, absorb. Do more than hear, listen. Do more than listen, understand. Do more than think, ponder. Do more than talk, say something.
John H Rhoades

Perhaps only people who are capable of real togetherness have that look of being alone in the universe. The others have a certain stickiness, they stick to the mass.
DH Lawrence - Lady Chatterley's Lover


"Find a guy who calls you beautiful instead of hot, who calls you back when you hang up, who will stay awake just to watch you sleep. Wait for the boy who kisses you on your forehead, who wants to show you off to the world when you're in sweats, who holds your hand in front of his friends, who thinks you're just as pretty without makeup on. Wait for the one who is constantly reminding you of how much he cares about you and how lucky he is to have you. Wait for the one who turns to his friends and says, ''...that's her' and smiles"
~Unknown


Voici mon secret. Il est très simple : on ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux. (Here is my secret. It is very simple : it is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.)
~The Little Prince


In your life, you meet people. Some you never think about again. Some, you wonder what happened to them. There are some that you wonder if they ever think about you. And then there are some you wish you never had to think about again. But you do.
Anonymous


I beg you, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.
Rainer Maria Rilke, 1903; in Letters to a Young Poet


You cannot see what I see because you see what you see. You cannot know what I know because you know what you know. What I see and what I know cannot be added to what you se and what you know because they are not of the same kind. Neither can it replace what you see and what you know, because that would be to replace you yourself.
Douglas Adams


Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to a new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom, and make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. Some people stay in our lives awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same.
~unknown

You do not set the standard. You have not walked in my footsteps, danced in my shoes, or lived in my world. Do not judge me, point your fingers at me, or become experts on my life. Instead, celebrate with me in times of joy and cry with me in times of pain. Only then will we begin to understand each other.
Kate Baker


Friendship isn't partying with a group of people to get drunk or chatting with him/her once a week, it's exactly the opposite. Friends make sure you get home safely and they help you when you need it, no matter the scenario. They don't care about what clothes you wear or what you look like, and they don't last for a day. Real friends are more interested in what direction your life is headed rather than your popularity. They care about what you have to say and how you feel, and once you meet this person you'll know it without having to think twice.
Morgan Tang


The world needs men and women... who cannot be bought; whose word is their bond; who put character above wealth; who possess opinions and a strong will; who are larger than their vocations; who do not hesitate to take risks; who will not lose their individuality in a crowd; who will be as honest in small affairs as in greater; who will make no compromise with wrong; whose ambitions are not confined to their own selfish desires; who will not say they do it "because everybody else does it;" who are true to their friends through good and bad, in adversity as well as in prosperity; who do not believe that shrewdness, cunning, and hardheadedness are the best qualities for winning success; who are not ashamed or afraid to stand for the truth when it is unpopular; who can say "no" with emphasis, although all the rest of the world says "yes".
Anonymous

"Quarter-life Crisis"
It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are a lot of things about yourself that you didn't know and may or may not like.
You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now.
You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones.
What you do not realize is that they are realizing that too and are not really cold or catty or mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you.
You look at your job. It is not even close to what you thought you would be doing or maybe you are looking for one and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and are scared.
You miss the comforts of college, of groups, of socializing with the same people on a constant basis. But then you realize that maybe they weren't so great after all.
You are insecure and then secure. You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life; You feel alone and scared and confused; Suddenly change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward.
You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you or you lay in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough to get to know better; All this while you had been convincing yourself that you didn't want to be tied down to any person; Now suddenly you have moments of self-doubt when you wonder if you waited too long and let someone special get away. You love someone but maybe love someone else too, and cannot figure out why you are doing this because you are not a bad person! Random hook ups start to look cheap and getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic;
You want to be independent but suddenly, the idea of having the stability of a special someone to trust and lean on doesn't seem all that bad. You want to be your own person and yet be taken care of at the same time.
You go through the same emotions and questions over and over and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision.
You worry about loans and money and the future and making a life for yourself and while winning the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender.
We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out.
~unknown


Being grown up isn't half as fun as growing up, these are the best days of our lives. The only thing that matters is just following your heart, and eventually you'll finally get it right.
The Ataris, In This Diary


Don't let anyone, even your parents, break you. Find good people who care about you and surround yourself with just them. If you can't find them at first, find good music and fall into it, let it hold you until they come.
Davey Havok

Just remember, there is no true shining knight, not in the sense that women look for. What comes riding along is more like Don Quixote. His armor is battered, misshapen, scratched, he wears a shaving basin for a helmet; however, it is his spirit that shines like a true knight.
John Rabon

All that is gold does not glitter. Not all those who wander are lost. The old who are strong do not whither. Deep roots are not touched by the frost.
J.R.R. Tolkein


All our young lives we search for someone to love. Someone who makes us complete. We choose partners and change partners. We dance to a song of heartbreak and hope, all the while wondering if somewhere, somehow, there's someone perfect who might be searching for us.
The Wonder Years

I think we're alone here, you and I. I think we're alone left wondering why. I think we're alone here, you and I. I think we're alone in the universe tonight.
David Usher, "Alone in the Universe"


And as we wind on down the road our shadows taller than our soul there walks a lady we all know who shines white light and wants to show how everything still turns to gold and if you listen very hard the tune will come to you at last when all are one and one is all to be a rock and not to roll.
Led Zeppelin-Stairway to Heaven

You do not have to be your mother unless she is who you want to be. You do not have to be your mother's mother or even your mother's mother's mother. You may inherit their chins or their hips or their eyes, but you are not destined to become the women who came before you. So if you inherit something, inherit their strength. If you inherit something, inherit their resilience. Because the only person you are destined to be is the person you decide to be.
~Unknown


Yes. I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.
Oscar Wilde


Never judge a man till you have walked two moons in his moccasins.
Native American

I do my thing, and you do your thing. I am not in this world to live up to your expectations, and you are not in this world to live up to mine. You are you, and I am I, and if by chance we find each other, it's beautiful.
Frederick E. Perls (hippy-type 60's saying found everywhere)


Oh really?
~Wiseman


"What's more important? Your goal, or other's opinions of your goal?"
~Unknown


Fashion is for people without personal taste.
Itamar Gilad


"Only when the last tree has been felled, the last river poisoned and the last fish caught, man will know, that he cannot eat money."
Old indian chief somewhere in the U.S.

Linda Emery: A philosophy major? Now, what can you do with a philosophy major?
Bruce Lee: You can think deep thoughts about being unemployed.
Dragon, the Bruce Lee Story




It is estimated that there are one billion stars, like ours, and in all the universe, there are one billion, billion, planets capable of supporting life, like ours. And in all of that, and maybe even more, there is only one of each of us. Don't destroy the one named Kirk.
McCoy to Kirk, Star Trek

From CoolQuotes Collection!!!