The Happy Gardener

Today, as I was walking past one part of our office that is being renovated, I suddenly got a whiff of this real strong smell. Immediately, I realized that I knew this smell - knew it well. And then it came to me - it was the smell of the white shoe polish that we used on our canvas shoes for school when I was younger. It's a very distinct and strong smell. What was amazing was the line of images it brought to my mind. Lazy and still Sunday afternoons when we ( my brother and I) would polish our shoes, the sports uniform that went with those shoes and how some kids would frantically rub chalk on their shoes in a last-ditch attempt to make their shoes look white enough for the occasional inspection at the assembly. The image that really stayed was that of the pair of shoes leaning against a wall in the verandah where they would dry. I know - all this poetry around a smell that apparently is very close to the smell of white out. Nostalgia is a very powerful force. And finally, after ...

So I was working on my tax returns a few days ago. I have this software that I use - it asks me a bunch of questions that I answer and once I've keyed in every significant thing that has ever happened in my whole life - information about my ancestors, my pocket money when I was 7, the couple of bucks I had borrowed from my friend in undergrad, the mileage on my car and my blood group - this software eventually tells me that I owe the feds a little over one grand. The questions change a little every year but the end result is the same. I never learn and I always hope that this time will be different. Anyways, I was in the process of answering the multitude of questions this software generates when it asked me for some information regarding some shares and fair market value. Fair Market Value was defined as something like the price a willing, knowledgeable buyer would pay a willing, knowledgeable seller when neither has to buy or sell anything and both understand the conditions of th...

Got the go ahead for my India vacation today!!! This is awesome. It's been more than 2 years since I went to India and I am excited about this. Will need to start planning soon. Just wanted to add an entry for today. I was talking abt Gulzar recently, right? One of his amazing songs: Humne dekhi hain un aankhon ki mehekti khusbhoo haath se choo ke ise rishto ka ilzaam na do sirf ehsaas hain yeh rooh se mehsoos karo pyaar ko pyaar hi rehno do koi naam na do Such beautiful, such sublime lyrics. But of course, he has to start it with the line "Hum ne dekhi hain un aankhon ki mehekti khusboo " !! Craziness, I tell you.

What does Gulzar mean half the time anyways? He drives me crazy, that man. The thing that gets me is that I actually understand parts of his lyrics. I would be at peace if I didn't understand a word of what he says. But no, I kinda get the meaning of a few phrases but when I put them all together, I am not really sure. Like that solution to a problem that you get in your dream, it stops just short of making full sense. After years of struggling with this, I have decided that this is precisely his intent. Oh well. They still sound beautiful and make me feel deep so I shall continue to enjoy them. Imagery, that's how he gets us. He can just create the most amazing and simple images in our heads without our brains fully understanding the lyrics. He has found the shortcut, bless his soul. In other news, I almost scalded my hands doing the dishes just now. I always do this. Somehow I believe that only by washing my dishes in near boiling water can I ensure that they are clean and di...

Had a blessed evening. Came back home after a good day of work and a pleasantly exhausting workout. After a surprsingly early dinner, I just lazed abt the couch watching tv and listening to songs. I didn't need to log in to work in the evening and chose not to cook. So, after a busy bunch of days, I had a fully relaxed evening. I love relaxed evenings. Couches are one of god's finest creations. A couple of calls to friends later, I called home and spent close to an hour telling them abt all the little things in my day and listening to their day in detail. Such conversations are wonderful. You can tell I am in a happy mood :-) Am listening to Mukesh croon " Aa laut ke aaja mere meet". I've picked out a nice playlist to put me to sleep. Life is beautiful. I thought I'd close out with a poem I'd written a while ago after a conversation with my parents, but lucky you - I can't find it. Well, Good night and God Bless. Tomorrow,I will find the poem (evil s...

I've figured out my call sign or call phrase or whatever it is. If there is a huge war in the future, and I enlist and am sent deep into enemy territory and need to pass a coded message to the base station, that message will be "The crocus is wilting". To get the full picture, you must imagine this message on a radio with a lot of static - "The crocus ..... is wilting. I repeat, ... crocus is wilt... ". Don't fear for my sanity, my darling readers - the bean is safe. I just happen to have a crocus plant in my living room and, in conversation with P just now, I mentioned that it was wilting. And once I said that, I knew it instantaneously, that this would be my call sign. Anyways, I probably am still not all here. The thing is, I am sleepy. And I can't go to sleep 'cause that darned David Letterman show doesn't air until 11.30 pm ( I actually like the Letterman show a lot - that man is insane ). No, I'm not addicted to that show but tonight,...

You are the ones The Gods of the field, unbesmirched by the ground, The living legends, favored by the crown. Relentless pursuit and prodigous fate in happy circumstance do meet. You are the golden bar that drives you are the end to which they strive. You are out of reach, beyond compare. The shimmering mirage, you are the dare. you are the perfection I admire. you are the dream, you inspire. You are the others The stumbling mortals, the rallying warriors the cursed children, the doubted wonders. A painful grit and the will to persevere shine through in your every hard won endeavor. You are the heart that dares to reach, the cheer of spirit in which I exalt. You are my sanguine belief that in each lies the power to rise beyond thought. The mirror in which I search for my redemption The whisper of hope that confounds reason And now this day as the curtain falls on humbled gods and hallowed Men I wish that victory and glory's call may yet beckon you both again So each may toil to ris...