Yoga-tta be kidding

I recently picked up my Yoga sessions at home, and I think I got a little too enthusiastic with these stretches last night. My sides are sore, but at least in a good way.

Fruit of my family's loom

My dad's family was never very rich. They were 10 children, the parents, and the household help in Lucknow in the 1950s. My father was the eldest, and took care of a lot of his family's needs once he got his job at 20 (he's been working non-stop for 48 years now). I once asked him what he did with his first paycheck. He said that he gave it to his mother and she excitedly splurged some of it on apples. Apples? Apples. Apples were expensive. My father was very happy that his mother was able to buy apples for his family with his first paycheck.

Made me think of when I was put up at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills this January as part of a Film Festival prize. They used 3 apples as decoration in every room, and they changed out the apples everyday. My guest and I felt guilty about their throwing the apples away everyday so we asked them not to.

Apples were expensive in the 50s.

I love Pofak

Check out the video I made of my trip from February 2008 - I'm so proud of myself. :D

Limerick time

This one was knocking about my head since last evening, hence had to give it form:

There once was a boy called Rudy
Who thought he looked young in a hoody
He bought more than enough
On a mission to look tough
But HR still had him down as thirty.

Can't get enough of the deewangi

Dayyum, I need to go purchase me a soundtrack CD...

Ladies, this one's for you

I watched LifeTime TV the other day after a very long time. Suffice to say that I started boo-hooing and cheering and man-hating within 15 minutes of the movie I tuned into...

...and I loved 'Beauty Shop' (not the original movie I tuned into, but the 3rd back-to-back); I don't care what you say, Rudy.

Little girls cry too

No
I see it
I see the hope
I see the message
I will not let the sickness that plagues me
Make me believe that this is all there is
That God has left me
That God does not listen
That God is not talking
To me
Talking to me all the time
Telling me to hold on
Hold on, little girl
Almost there, my little child
I'm here, don't give up
You cannot if you believe
That I am listening
That I am answering
Your prayers
In time
With compound interest
At the daily rate of tears
Divided by hundred
Multiplied by what you put in
Don't forget me, little girl
I am proud of your strength
For it is of me
The strength and the sight
The wisdom and heart
I whispered to you
The day you were delivered
Don't give up, little girl
You're almost there
You were never alone
I was there when you thought
You had been abandoned
Each time.

This Morning

I claw at ghouls
In the dark
Tangled in wires
Machine and circuits
Unforgiving and bleeding
Help me breathe
In desperate hiccups
I forgot my dance
I can't see what I could
Shroud upon shroud
Let me bite through the screams
Silently in space
Fly through the sky
Oatmeal and sugar
My jaws are tight
Anger and outrage
Not interested
In anything
Let's go find me.

Looks like 1971

Such a cutie pie picture. That's Amma and Irfan Bhai in Lucknow.

Cathartic paintings 'o mine

Urdu is sexy once more

I'm sorry but everytime Dard-e-Disco comes up on my iPod at work, I take a quick break to some obscure corner like, say, a stall in the ladies restrooom, to bust out a few moves. I cannot resist, it puts me in dance mode.

Let's take care of our parents

Someone passed this on to me as an email forward:

Blessed are they who understand
My faltering steps and palsied hand
Blessed are they who know my ears today
Must strain to catch the things they say
Blessed are they who seem to know
My eyes are dim and my wits are slow
Blessed are they who looked away
When coffee spilled at breakfast today
Blessed are they with a cheery smile
Who stop to chat for a little while
Blessed are they who never say
“You told that story twice today”
Blessed are they who know the way
To bring back memories of yesterday
Blessed are they who make it known
That I am loved, respected and not alone
Blessed are they who ease the days
Of my journey home in loving ways

Have 4 minutes and 56 seconds?

Behold my film class project

Severe virtual makeover

No, that's not me and my better groomed twin. It's just the result of my messing around with a free airbrushing software that I downloaded today. Now I know most images you see nowadays are airbrushed and all that, but manipulating my own image really blew me out of the water. You can do anything with this kind of software! Making a bunch of small changes here and there (shortening my forehead, lifting my eyebrows, opening up my eyes, defining my nose and jawline, clearing away pores and spots, lowering my upper lip, whitening my teeth, changing my eye colour, sharpening my eyes, and giving myself a jaundiced tan among other things) really adds up. It's like I made myself undergo cosmetic surgery and various other chemical procedures! What a reality check. I feel exhausted but more secure already.