A natural flow ...

      One of my friends pointed out that something about my previous post was not natural and it looked like as if I had just written for the sake of writing.Well, though these were things that I wanted to write about , I could see that there was the essentially something missing.

       Looking back at the post, it does look somewhat soulless, probably because I was groping for even simple adjectives and words even though the topic was dear to my heart. Also, the cobwebs of writing infrequently added to the stunted flow of sentences. And after reading the comments, I knew I missed out some of the more interesting patterns. The other thing that was persistently on the back of my mind was "Don't write such long sentences and useless information!". 

           My natural flow of writing is usually haphazard and random . I need to write , prune , cut and re-arrange my ideas and sentences in such a way it looks readable to me to begin with. Also , I had to constantly fight the lethargy of not writing :) So many interesting things float around in your thoughts, but when you try to put it in a blog , disperses away into vague , meaningless, half dead sentences. It's not about the infamous writer's block I am talking about, but rather about my own style of writing blogs. Also, reading a lot doesn't help me when I sit down to write blogs. I am so saturated with the words and ideas of others, I often think I only repeat what I have already read.

            Sometimes interestingly , few ideas do escape this mesh of confusion and land up in a logical format. There were some interesting topics I started with , but they never saw the light of blog-sphere.

Let's see if I can at least put a one-liner for those (for now)

1) The realm of mind - How Inception, Shutter Island and other such movies brought the world of psychology so successfully into movies.

2) The world of HP

3) The art of criticism or rather world of critics:)

4) Toy Story - how a simple story can make your day

              With this post (and incidentally the previous post), I have tried to take of the cynical edge off my posts. Hope I will start writing in my natural way, as I have tried in this post :)

Two years and some...

Since it's customary to write the experience after a visit away from home , here's a post on my two years of stay in the US.
It's usually the small and the seemingly insignificant things that leaves behind lasting impressions on me.Nevertheless,here they are... 

Dallas sky - One might argue that the sky looks the same everywhere. But in my eyes, Dallas sky had the most to offer. It brings forth such an array of hues, tints, shades, colors and shapes ,one can but wonder at such a marvelous display.The soft pinks , the steely grays , the stormy purples , the golden yellows with an occasional rainbow had that unique personal flavor which never failed to touch me even in my darkest moments.

License plates - License plates?? Come on, really... Well , these were the first things that I noticed in the States. Most car license plates carry the state name and the state's nickname . What better way to show off the specialty of  your state ?

Just to name a few , 

Florida - "The Sunshine state " 

Texas -"The Lone star state"

New York - "The Empire state" 
California  - "The Golden state" 
          Doesn't these lines take you,even if just for a few seconds, to an afternoon on a sunny beach ; to a starry night in a wild western desert ; to the soaring skylines of Manhattan; to the golden palms of Cal ? It  does for me every time.I wish that this trend starts in India also. (A Porsche with "Enchanting Tamilnadu" on it.Perfect.)

Refrigerator magnets - these make truly delightful souvenirs !!! The beauty of these magnets is that they depict the attractions of the place in a very concise and creative way.  A simple piece of rock which spells Colorado , a map of California with the its attractions marked, a dried up Cacti in a pot for Arizona, a doodle of Disney characters in "Disney World" might be all that you need to remember the memorable trips u took :)

A solitary  walk, a park and a wooden swing  ... 
                One way to realize the true meaning of a solitary walk is just by venturing out on a cold November night... Though these were by no means nature walks , there is something quite comforting in the thought of walking in the midst of brightly lit ,cheerful homes and not having to meet a living soul for miles around. Though one might question the prudence of walking alone in the night , these walks provided me with the perfect refuge to sort out my jumble of thoughts.
                 In one of my such rambles , i found this quaint neighborhood park. Anonymity is a gift,rarely appreciated . I could sit for hours together just watching (not staring at) the people as they walked their health walks , exercised their pets ,  played a game of football without having to join in ,nod a occasional smile with a perfectly blissful feeling towards the entire world.
                My apartment complex boasted a small creek(if you can call it that) running through its entire length. A few wooden swings are placed along its embankments at discrete distances. To my great surprise , I was the only one who took advantage of these lovely spots. One wooden swing came to be my personal favorite, as it offered a shaded spot dappled by the rays of the setting sun with the additional thrill of swinging away to your heart's content.

A bus 
               ... all for myself!!! Can you believe it ? As an unlicensed car driver , i chose to travel by bus to office. One evening , as I got on the bus , to my great astonishment, I realized that I was the only passenger in the bus.I sincerely believed that the driver would ask me to step down and not waste his precious time. However no such thing happened and I settled down for an exclusive and enjoyable ride back home. Probably , you can appreciate this more, only if you have traveled in the foot board of a Chennai city bus hanging on for dear life ... (it does have its own beauty though.)
                   Though I seem to have picked up a few precious shells in this land of pearls,  they do have some interesting patterns. Don't you think so? :)

The spectator

          I feel a slowdown in my thoughts , a poison of lethargy passing through my veins , an inertia to break out of the infinite loop of my day-to-day existence.
          I am neither a monk nor a cynic.I locked myself inside a glass cube and life just rushes around in a whirlwind of emotions and colors. I see all the wonder and the beauty in every second of it, but feel no urge to join the fray. There are moments when the drama moves me, but the deeper it moves, the more  I retreat into my glass cage.
          There are quite a few times when I did venture out to learn if I could add a little to the scene , but I end up being in the wrong role or just fumbling through my lines. As I drop out of the scene, the drama settles down into its natural rhythm. Time and again , Destiny patiently sets me in my place ... out in the spectator box. :)
          So has been my life. When people ask me , why is that I am content to watch rather than do , I have no rational answer to the question. Why do I feel that the people out there are already a doing better job and I satisfy myself with a glance at it? Why is it that I am content to just wet my feet , but never let myself swim through the currents? Why doesn't my mind think of competing against someone or doing better or even doing something? Is it plain laziness, a lack of confidence/motivation or a fear of failure? Whether it's a simple video game or a complex algorithm , I love watch it being played or solved rather than play or solve it :). It's probably because I grew up with words swirling through me , that I am not able to relate to actions.
        What would you call someone who loves to see and learn , not to participate , who has too much of data but not enough logic to judge (a dumb system ,eh? ), who weeps and laughs along with the things around her but not exert herself too much to change it for fear of tipping the balance, who realises her faults and others' in the bargain ? (I can hear you people crying mad hatter !! ). 

I would simply call her "a spectator".

"I am not gonna fall"

                    These truly inspiring words were spoken by none other than a spunky 4 year old, balancing herself on top of a seat in a precariously driven bus with nothing else to hold on to, other than a thin rod and her mother's loving arms.

                       This set me thinking. As we grow up, there are so many things that we gain , but there are some precious little things that we lose as well. What does a child have that which I have lost?

                       A clear eyed perception of the world where even the smallest thing is fascinating and and so refreshingly new...

                       An implicit faith that people are there not to hurt you but be there ready to hold you...

                       A simplistically selfish world with no consciousness of other's opinions or feelings...

                       A world of whites and blacks and no grays, a story of lessons learnt but of neither victories nor defeats, a dimension of infinite space and no limitations.

                       As we grow up,fears manifest, doubts creep through and a consciousness of being accepted, recognized and liked , starts guiding our actions and thoughts. The world starts shrinking to adapt to the limits of the mind.The child in us waits patiently for those lucid moments when a new thought breaks through, when there is an wonderful awareness of the world around us and  for the precious few days when we live for ourselves and as ourselves. 

                        Even today,I can't resist being fascinated by kids for the simple reason that they represent a delightful picture of how we all started out in this quest of life, without guiles , vices  with an eagerness to face all that was offered and learn the biggest lesson of all called 'Life'.

P.S. This post shows only the downside of growing up and has taken the honor of completely digressing from the title :)

Namesake

                    "A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet" - Thus sayeth the great Shakespeare.If rose had been called whatchamacallit, will we still have the same feel when we see it?
                    Whenever I hear a name, I associate a mental image with it.I find that for some people  their names are a perfect fit.  The pronunciation ,meaning or even the way they spell it clicks right with the person and you cannot imagine the person with any other name.As someone who shares her name with quite a handful of the South Indian woman population(no offense to my parents, I do love my name), I have often wondered if I would have turned out any different if my name had been Srishti or Neha or something like that. :) 

                    My pseudonym was mainly adapted for a practical reason.When I say Archana, most people are tempted to ask , which Archana? And I am forced to give some qualifiers like "Archana from first bench" , "Roll no.12345", "Archana the forgetful" and so on and so forth. Thus to provide a little sense of uniqueness , Srishti was born. (Srishti - Creation, used in higher sense)

                   It is delightful to see the present generation taking the art of naming quite ardently. Most of my single friends have already decided on exotic names for their yet to be born babies.Even though we are progressing quite fast in other aspects, we seem to be returning back  to our roots to come up with classic names which are exotic and modern(Dhruthi, Nephele , Tanisha , Srishti, Rhea to name quite a few).But I somehow feel that it is a great responsibility to label a person with a name ;) As everything else, this art is evolving.

                   With all that said,it's better to live so as to give meaning to our names than to have a meaningful name(As L.M.M says). So what kind of an image is created for your name? Think about it. :) 


P.S.
My image is that of a slightly crazed , mildly idealistic, terribly forgetful book worm, I guess :)

Nothing matters

                               How did you read the title of this post? "Nothing matters" or "Nothing" matters.?
                               Sometimes in life , we get so wrapped up in small things which,when looking back at a stretch of a lifetime fades into the inconsequential. The irony is that these small things actually add meaning to those moments in life. So where do you strike a balance between being rooted to the moment and looking at the bigger picture ? (As Calvin would say)
                                 Recently , I heard/read this thought somewhere ... Imagine your life to be a long straight line. When you take a closer look , you will find that this line is actually a ragged line of ups and downs which get normalized over time.So on a law of average, most of the things in life does even out.                             
                                So when you are really stuck in a quagmire of everyday issues, close your eyes, take a step back, relax and plunge ahead.Just as in a Bungee jump, life is all about crossing that one moment of hesitation to take a plunge.
                                Just because I have put these thoughts into words does not make me an expert practitioner of these philosphies in life.Like everyone else out there , I am an eternal student and still learning ...

P.S. If you ask me what point I made this post , it amounts to nothing. It is just a collection of  totally random thoughts to clear out the clogs and kinks in my thinking process..