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| Tuesday, February 28, 2006 |
| My most Favoritest Book ever !! |
Once upon a time, long long ago.... i was in college, and at that time, i had this amazing english teacher named Mrs.Paranjpe. she was bloody brilliant in many ways, she carried herself brilliantly, she spoke like an english woman, and if it werent for her impeccable sarees, she wouldve looked like one too ... dont get me wrong .. i aint in awe of any gora wannabe ... but this lady ... now ... she had class!!!
to get to the point .. she made me write a book review once.. of which i am rather proud .. for 2 distinct reasons ...
1 - cos the book was the best piece of literature i hav ever read -- it was the first book that ever made me cry .. no actually i SOBBED... mostly cos i read the book when i was 13-14 odd and by that age .. the girl in the book - anne frank - was battling so many problems.
2- cos i wrote it damn well dammit !!!
and so it goes ...
Having inherited a love of books from my elder sister, I have had a lot of favorite books like Little women by Louisa May Alcott, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen etc. But, I was now very impressed by words like..
"An empty day, though clear and bright, Is just as dark as any night."- Anne M.Frank
This book is based upom Anne's diary; a Jewish girl who lived during the oppressive Nazi regime. She started keeping this diary - initially for herself- when she was gifted a diary for her thirteenth birthday. She wrote about her daily aches and pains, her trails and tribulations, about run-ins with her mother (Edith Frank) and about fall-outs with her sister (Margot Frank). She also wrote about her flirtations and her horde of admirers. In short, she wrote about the usual daily battles of a smart, level-headed teenager.
But, on Sunday the 5th of July 1942, everything changed. Anne's sister got a call-up notice from the Gestapo. They wish to send young Jews to camps were they could help the Nazi force thereby acceding to Nazi ideology. Otto Frank, Anne's father had been fearing this and he turned to their last resort, "The Secret annexe" or 263, Prisengracht which Otto, Edith, Margot and Anne Frank would call home along with another family, the Van Pels; and here it was that they waited..."All we can do here is wait, as calmly as possible, for it to end. Jews and Christians alike are waiting, the whole world is waiting and many are waiting for death."
Anne writes about her life in hiding, alienated from the outside world. All this must have upset the highly imaginative girl who basked in the attention of her many friends and 'beaus'. She was very lonely and so she turned to Kitty, this diary as her friend and confidante.She wrote on about her daily schedules, the in-fighting among the 2 families about child-rearing practices and the diminishing food supply. It seems as if writing was her form of therapy.
While life in the annexe went on we can sense her loneliness increasing with time. We can actually see her growing up as the book progresses...She needed someone to turn to and for this she chose Peter, the teenaged son of the Van Pels'.They talked about sex, their parents, their hopes and aspirations and what they would do after the war - though she had big dreams about getting a new cycle and publishing her own book initially, with time Anne just hopes for the war to end so that she can have a nice, long bubble-bath.
"I have the feeling that Peter and I share a secret." What was this secret .. I don't think anyone will ever know. But one can surmise that it might be the all-pervasive sense of loneliness and and helplessness that was a continous part of their lives. Thrown together as they were, a feeling of oneness was expected. They shared the same frustations and eventually, they went on to depend on each other completely with a feeling they called 'love'.
Aided by close helpers, they kept on living through scares like burglaries, curious labourers who pried too much, numerous terrifying sirens and air raids. Finally, all this ended after her last entry on the 1st of August 1944. On the 4th, a SS sergeant and atleast 4 Security Police arrested the people living in the annexe alongwith 2 of their helpers, Viktor Kugler and Johannes Kleiman.
The prisoners were now going to live out their nightmares as they were separated and taken from camp to camp , from a prison in amsterdam to Westerbok, a Jewish transit camp and finally to Auschwitz. Anne and Margot Frank were killed in a typhus epidemic because of the unhygienic conditions at the camp of Bergen-Belsen in 1944, only a few days before Anne's 15th birthday.
Otto was the only survivor as he escaped while being transferred. He found this diary, and sensing that Anne wanted this diary to published; he passed this book down to us...
A Book?
A Wound .... |
posted by Ipshi @ 5:34 pm   |
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| Regression Therapy!!! |
My blog's been read over 200 times !!!!!!!
iv joined the esteemed company of double centenarions like tendly and gavaskar and god knows how many more ... but bachcha log its alllllllll cos of u good ppl !! well ... mostly cos ur the ppl who've refreshed the page again an again so that the hit counter increased every time!!
today I read about past life regression, apparently it really helps in many ways ... u understand the karmic cycle which in turn helps u understand why ur going thro the probs that u r going thro now .. it can b any kinda problems .... emotional, physical, anything !!!
the book also says that at the time of death, the soul which is eternal ... chooses the next body to inhabit and mostly ppl who r close in one life are also close in another one ... for ex. a guy and his daughter in the present life were lovers in the past where he lost her due to a turn of events ... and in this life, the daughter has cancer and he comes for the therapy cos he cant handle the thot of losing her now ... bottomline.. cos of the therapy everything became fine ... the girl was ok.. the family was happy .. blah blah and more blah
now my questions are... doesnt the concept of using past lives to learn lessons bout ur present life go against the system of karma, what if these r lessons we were never meant to learn.... maybe in that guys case, losing his daughter was an endless cycle which had to happen in every life, now that shes not gonna die doesnt it affect the whole concept of what the future was supposed to be like?
i know that there is one school of thought which says that "destiny is what we make of it" but seriously can v change the future so easily .. by going in for the supposedly right kinda therapy at the supposedly right time??
i find this even more funny cos theres a part in the therapy where the guy is "progressed" into future lives, where he talks about long vehicles which move in the air and freeways that exist at sky level and pigs that fly (ok i made that last part up)... anyways in the progression, he talks about his future lives where hes again gonna lose his daughter who is now his son and hes the mother and then the doc says that since hes learned his karmic lesson in this life itself, he need not go thro the pain and loss again!!
now this is unexplainable on so many different levels that its almost funny !!
no1. firstly, i thot the souls decided which body to inhabit at the time of death ... bzzzzzzzzz... wrong, all the souls already know all the bodies they r ever gonna inhabit!!! very very hard to believe !!
no2. souls of family members and friends always travel in packs and they always find bodies in the same family??
no3. future lives can b changed very simply by learning ur lessons now.. but if u were not meant to learn ur lessons now .. how did u???
confusion .... confusion.... confusion .... can anyone help me ??? |
| posted by Ipshi @ 5:09 pm |
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| Matheran.... here I come !!! |
and so i go on ... when the decision to leave crossword was made i knew there was no turning back .. i was even havin problems with my health which somehow all seemed stress related .. argh never mind that
so i put up my bio online and more importantly ... i also put up my profile on goingsolo .. an online group which works on the backing of go 9.25 fm... they organise trips and parties that u can attend if u wanna meet new ppl and hang out an stuff ...
and thats where i heard bout a matheran trip they were plannin over a weekend ... at first i didnt think i cud make it cos i had an interview the same day .. but finally i ended up finishin it off just in time to b able to get my stuff and meet the group i was to travel with !! well .. it actually wasnt quite in time cos i made them wait over 3 hrs !! lol !!
but thats when i met them ... Aparna , Bhaskar and Kim, some of the the best accidental friends anybody cud ever hav made !! We all got along right from the start ... i felt specially blessed cos i went along for the trip with a lot of nervousness cos i didnt really know ppl there ... but everythin just went amazing... well... most of it atleast ... except for mr.jaju (the beast in this tale)
we reached matheran after a train journey till Neral of about 2 hrs and then v travelled further up to matheran by van ... our group consisted of appi, bhaskar, kim, jaju, medha and the great, wonderful MEEEEE
we threw our things together in our room at the mtdc resort and started walkin towards the market at around 5 or so ... it was a beautiful hike ... we walked and walked and walked.... it was beautiful. we were walkin along the toy-train tracks cos its stopped during the monsoons as it gets dangerous and slippy then and then this was the "july 26" monsoon!!
but we werent scared of rains then.. and we walked on and reached the market when it was already gettin dark we sat down and had garam garam vada pav and tea when it was slightly drizzling....... o it was bliss !!!
then we started our walk back and then the fun began !!! THE LIGHTS OF THE ENTIRE HILL STATION WENT OUT !! one of us went and got a torch and we started walkin back along the train track in the COMPLETE darkness !!
appi and kim were busy with horror stories ... mr jaju kept tryin to make us fall off the steep cliff we were walking along by givin us wrong directions and i ... poor me was getting mauled by miss medha's long long talons !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
but finally we reached the resort and i ended up having the time of my life on that trip and i hav definitely made friends that will last forever !!
so bottomline ... do take a chance once in a while ... life just might surprise u wit the kinda surprises it has to offer ... 3rd part of B&B coming up morrow
ps sorry tmitu ... tryin my best to update it as an when i can ... thanks for the support tho .. love u lots ... ladies and gentlemen ... all rise for Smita ... best friend throughout the years ... has been tolerating me since the 4th std !!!! |
| posted by Ipshi @ 5:01 pm |
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| Bold and the Beastly... part 1 |
 Anusha Darling in my comments has made the interesting point that ... u can always meet ur kinda ppl in and around mumbai ..
its true and i shud know .. i met the freakiest kinda ppl and also the nicest ... lemme tell u this story ... i used to work for Crossword, the book store .. and it basically killed every kind of social life i cud've had after college. why...?
simple answer ... i worked weekends ... yep .. saturday and sunday when "normal" ppl slept and yawned and took an hour just to stretch ... i had to arrange books, look after my stocking levels .. manage my manager and handle the goings and comings of 15 odd "bachchas" who worked wit me ..
not so say there werent any perks .. i got to read books all for free .. and it was a great life.i worked there for 2 years and in that time i was effectively cut off from the real world, cos when i had my chutti (thursdays) the rest of the world worked .. and as mentioned before ... i worked while they slept.
so no hanging out wit friends, no movies, no dinners, no lunches, no time for long fone calls either... and therefore, whence and thereby.. no close friends except those who worked wit me ... and consequently ... not much to talk bout in our free time except about work!!! argh !!! it was tragic!!!
the worst part was missin out on my niece's childhood ... cliched only cos its o, so true !!.. i never got to go to their open houses .. i never went to any of their school functions or sports days .. i even missed my youngest niece's first birthday!!
that was what made me decided i needed much more out of my life!! and then finally i left crossword and entered the wonderful, beautiful world of WEEKENDS OFF and offices that work from 9-5 !!!!
for a person who hardly ever got to see her parents cos she came home only when they were asleep ie.after 12 ... this was a whole new world ... i cud meet my nieces atleast once or twice a week, i cud visit their school functions once in a while .. i cud actually meet my friends whenever i wanted !!!
but now i saw an even bleaker picture in my future ... wanna know why ... read more in the next episode of The Bold and the Beastly !!!! |
| posted by Ipshi @ 4:33 pm |
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| Mumbai meri jaan (cliched maybe but true!!) |
When i went to delhi a lot of the ppl i met there asked me wat was so great about mumbai that every mumbaiite was so very passionate bout it ?!?! most of the questionin happened cos of the following incident ...
one of the trainin sessions was just over and just possibly to make a mediocre session somewhat interestin - in her assumption only - this lady says "jai hind" and me like a true blue mumbaiker whose atleast heard a thousand shiv sena rallies ... i end up mouthing "jai maharastra" right after her.
like any other north indian ( i was the ONLY mumbaiite there) .. everyone around me was incensed that i dared to put state pride over nation pride.. but it aint like that see .. i love india .. i truly do .. but its just that mumbai is HOME.
i know its got traffic snarls and horrible roads .. but it also has long winding lanes where u can just keep walkin and walkin witout ppl starin at u and tryin to mentally undress u no matter how hideous u look!!!
mumbai has pollution and chokeups but it also has amazing ppl who go on helpin each other no matter what kinda swinger god throws at them ... floods, riots, bombs ?? name one city thats endured the same within a space of a decade and come through so brilliantly?!? -- ok ok so delhi has had thousands of rulers attack them and theyv had had riots to .. but y didnt i put in the "decade ka clause" in .. so everybody shut up !
mumbai does hav a lot of crime .. but it also has policemen who help u wit directions, who help u push ur car to the nearest gas station, this city has nurses who adopt babies that hav been thrown away by "mothers", it has ppl who drive around on winter nights and throw khadi shawls on sleeping pavement dwellers and go away witout being named.
granted it needs a lathi charge to control ppl during big bazar's sale here ... but it also has hill road at bandra where u can get exotic whathavus to wear at max to max 100 a pop and linking road where u can shod urself in whichever way u fancy... mumbai .. also has lokhandwala where the starlets shop for "sexy" stuff .. and normal ppl like us (well atleast appi, anu, eishu and me) .. well we just laugh !!! -- i promise appi .. by the time u finally come around to reading this .. we will have gone there!!
yes mumbai is over crowded but thats only cos of the politicians who refuse to let other areas of maharashtra develop .. see that happenin and then maybe mumbai will become the star it truly is ... or atleast make it a city-state like delhi .. mumbai deserves royal treatment!!
o and if the above arguments dont make u think mumbai is one of the best (if not the best) cities then i bring forth the best .. v hav the big b and the chota b and the 2 khans ... AND U CANT TOP THAT !! (even tho v do hav salman khan but u cant really blame someone who is mentally challenged)
moral of the story ... hate it or love it .. mumbai is an experience that has to be explored ... it has a bit of everything ... and im only realisin the true meanin of that today .. when i see it through the eyes of ppl whov come here for the first time ...thanks and bye for now !! |
| posted by Ipshi @ 4:00 pm |
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| Delhi Rocks ... at times !! |
hey there ppl ... sorry i didnt write in anythin for a while.. i cant really say i was real busy .. well actually i cant say that at all !! cos i still hadnt nothing to do .. it was just that someone really imp is going out of town for a while and i just didnt feel very creatively inclined .. does that garner a sympathy vote? i wish !! lol
now for an explanation for the song ... im a member at this site called POPOMUNDO which is an online role-playing game where u can live the life of a virtual pop star and its amazing .. so anyways ... for that i wrote this song and frankly tho its very morbid, morose and depressing .. I LOVE IT !!
i know i know .. i aint expecting the same reaction from u .. but any reaction at all wud b velcome !! iv never written a song before so i dont really know bout meters, or tempos or whathavus .. just writin as i go along u know ...
lets make this blog a bit interactive ... tell me if im alone in this .. but im simply unable to brood !! u know the ability to go over a fight or argument over and over an over again ..i simply cant do it .. i hav a fite and get over it and laugh and joke and get on wit my life as well .. while i see ppl festerin over issues that r long gone and forgotten... well.. atleast forgotten by me !!
now i ask u this .. am i right or am i really superficial?
review for the day ...travel to a place uv never been before all alone .. (book a hotel in advance tho) .. my office sent me on this trip to delhi for training ..i was terrified cos of the foll -
1. never travelled alone before,
2. Never been to delhi before,
3. Didnt know anyone at all over there
But lemme also add this ... it was the best 3 weeks of my life !! iv made friendships that will last a lifetime and bought stuff which will last long too.. i really hope anyways. |
| posted by Ipshi @ 3:54 pm |
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| I Wrote a Song !!!! |
Chorus - Why do i feel so lost?
everything is passing me by ..
i stand and watch the seasons change
and i just know .. i know the world is ending today
birds gettin killed cos we need space to live
and paradise has been paved over today..
love is but a word on a greeting card
and everyone is walking the same angry way..(chorus)
theres only pesticide and wars..
no more ozone and no more trees,
only beauty contestants care about world peace..
everywhere i look theres only death and disease.(chorus)
loneliness and AIDS r killing ppl everyday,
but nobody cares .. we just wave them by
no money for cures cos all the money is with too few..
people buyin bentleys while children die(chorus)
the land we walk on shakes with anger..
the faithful and the devouts pray ..
the water we drink drowns half the world..
isnt it obvious.. He's giving up on us today(chorus*2 FADE) |
| posted by Ipshi @ 3:49 pm |
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| About meeeeeeeeeeee |
I HAVE 3 COMMENTS !!
one by a complete stranger who i did not co-erce into seeing this blog !!! i promise !!
sincere request to everyone who reads this cos iv forced u to .. plz plz plz add in a comment !!
and now .. lemme tell u bout me ...
im ipshita .. and i am 23 and i love my life .. i hav great parents who let me do wat i want ... most of the time anyways !!
i have a great sister whos an actual supermom and 2 wonderful and amazing nieces!! i also hav lotsa great friends who i never hav to prove myself to .. who like me just the way i am (tho they r tryin to make me lose weight which they say is good for me)
but for the most part as u can see .. i am blessed :) TOUCH WOOD !!
now review for the day ...Chronicles of Narnia both the movie and book !! it talks about the amazing adventures that 4 kids hav in a magical land .. its beautiful and for once not that bad on film !!
i was pretty much let down by the filmed harry potter series (especially the 1st and 2nd ones) .. but this one is worth it .. watch it in a theatre once ..
the other review is for the gold class seats in cinemax (andheri) .. try them out .. use this M.O. .. buy tickets for the silver class of a relatively not-so-hot movie and then go seat urself in the gold class seats (thats wat i did .. shhhh).. trust me .. it is truly an experience.. ur butt will thank u !!
and then u can come thank me .. plz remember to b the go-between .. i do not wish to hav butt-oriented convos !!
and in deference to wodehouse ..... ta for now chappies !! |
| posted by Ipshi @ 3:41 pm |
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| Wanna know Why?? |
"here i am" says i to the commentless blog !! but no matter .. i shall venture forth ... putting my creation out there .. for no one to read .. as yet ... maybe .. some day ......
lemme quantify the reasons why i've started blogging..
1. because i have nothing substantial to do wit my time.. actually scrap that .. I HAV NOTHIN TO DO .. tho if anyone from work is reading .. i hav some testin comin up .. i promise !!
2. because i have a lot to be thankful for, i hav a happy family life, i have great friends, and much more important .. i hav amazing possibilities for the future. like losing weight??
3. because i just had a very terrible break up wit my cell fone which inspired me to finally venture out to long-procastinated areas. *sob sob* don't ask .. too painful right now
4. because i wanna know what ppl think of my writing style so 10 yrs later when i win the booker.. i know whom to laugh at !!
5. because i wanna do something new everyday and i want to be able to relive it again and again ..
so the review of the day is ....*drum roll*even a 3 day weekend far away from ur city can help dust ur shoulders of the crap ur carrying .. and no .. the world will surprisingly not collapse and wonder of wonders ... life will go on !! try it !!
Heraclitus (i studied western philosophy once nanananana) once said that v cant step in the same river twice ....... in the same vein i solemnly proclaim that no kid is 1 yr old twice and if u miss ur kid's or ur nephew/niece's childhood for a job .. then u just aint with it man !!happiness is truly in a kid's smile .. and to believe this ... just make a kid smile once ... try it !!
and now .. i sign off .. |
| posted by Ipshi @ 3:32 pm |
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| Disguised Unemployment |
Monday, January 30th, 2006
as i write this, i shud tell u that i am getting paid for it!!
wanna know how? cos my bosses havent given me any work to do *as usual* yea yea it sounds heaven sent to many ppl but it is actually pretty brain numbing.
i can feel my brain cells die .. one by one by one.
i hav finally succumbed to the pressure of being blog-friendly simply cos i hav abso nothing to do. im gonna use this space to give everyone who reads this.. actually the 1 or 2 who mite read it a chance to see the world from my very distorted viewpoint.. i will also try out various things and tell u what they r like so that u may decide for urself whether they r worth ur time or not ..
first up Wine tasting at Sula Vineyards (nasik) -- definitely a thumbs up .. give it a try.. especially if its complimentary like mine was !! HAH!! eat ur heart out !!
Rang De Basanti - duh !! watch!! over and out for now .. will definitely keep writin everyday .. pinky's swear!!
for the ppl who used to read my blog at rediff and are wondering why im shifting here ... its cos that bloody site keeps disappearin every once in a while !!!! REDIFF SUCKS !! |
| posted by Ipshi @ 2:49 pm |
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| about me |
 - Name: Ipshi
- Location: Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
It is only in my 30s that I have realised I will never be the elegant lady who can wear white without spilling something on it. I recognise my blessings like my family, my friends & my job & I am letting go of my fears of writing & just jumping in. I love my job. It has given me the opportunity to live in a city where I am surrounded by the most amazing friends in the world & the most surreal experiences. It also gives me the opportunity to read great books & travel to fascinating new countries. Join me as I share these with the world.
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