Saturday, August 30, 2008

Reentry – 2 On Sabbaticals, superstitions and other things

It turns out I am superstitious. Before you yell at me and say “You are supposed to be a scientist damn it!”, let me explain. My poor little blog has been abandoned without any attention from me for more than two months. This is not the first such sabbatical I have taken from blogging. I have done this at various times in the past, because I fell in love with my brandy bottle, or with books or with some problem that was so all consuming that I had space in my mind for little else. And every time I come back from such a sabbatical I have a post that is so predictable that I might as well have used this to generate the post. Incidentally I tried and got this:

“Wholy smoke I just realised I have not updated this since they invented sliced bread... You would not believe how insane my life has become. Please don't abandon me!.

I am overwhelmed with sleeping my way to the top, commitments, just generally being asleep, dreaming and chancing to my employer, my day is full to overflowing from 4am to 11pm at which point I fall asleep on the couch. I am totally exhausted. but who cares.

I promise I will blog more regularly. Honestly! Don't hold your breath though, you're likely to turn blue..”

And then, I develop writer’s block and don’t blog regularly at all. And this latest sabbatical is the longest of them all. So, my superstition suggests that the fault lies in the nature of my “re-entry post”. So, this time my reentry should be different. No “Oh, I’ve been so busy”, and “Many post coming up” etc. This time, only action. First steps have been taken. Now all is going to be well from this time forward! [1]

[1] That is the comfort of a superstitious world view you know. You can make such outrageous statements and believe in it as well!

Friday, August 29, 2008

Reentry -1 Ode to my brother

Today is my brother’s birthday. He is a very special person to me. But, we are Indians and more than that, we are Tam Brams. So, to pick up the phone and say “I love you da” is completely unthinkable and totally unacceptable. So I am going to do something even more horrible. I am going to use this very public forum to express what should be some very private thoughts!

Dear AB baby [1],

Unlike you, I do not have any vivid memories of us together as children. If I try to think about it, I see a flash or two of unrelated things, when I was in sixth standard, you and I on our bicycles going to the shop near Adyar depot to buy a gift for our parents, and one of us (you or me?) falling of the bike at the signal, the time we went “hiking” in valparai and came back with leaches in our shoes….
I remember we fought like cats and dogs as long as we lived under the same roof. I remember thinking you were very different from me. I remember hating it when my friends would ooh and aah about how cute my brother is. But that’s it.

Today, I see that of all the people on earth, you are the one that is most similar to me. Given that we spent 24 hours of every day for 15-16 years together, I guess one should not be surprised. We have a special relationship. It is not like we tell each other everything. It is not like we do not get on each other’s nerves at all anymore. It is not like we are not sufficiently different from each other. We are, due to our respective unique experiences these last 10-15 years. But somehow, you are one of the few people in my world I can pick up the phone and call irrespective of how black a mood I am in. And that my dear, makes you one of my best friends. And my life would be that much bleaker if you were not in it.

So, the bottom line is I am glad our parents choose to put in the “effort” to make you and not just stop with me!

Happy Birthday!

[1] No, my brother is not Abhishek Bachchan, though he claims to look like a Hrithik Roshan, albeit with a Marathoner’s body, instead of the bench-press freak one.