On board wifi on the norwegian air flight from Stockholm Arlanda to Barcelona did sound quite a luxury to have while flying. But after trying to connect to twitter, skype, google+, instagram, and even facebook for the last hour or so, I have found it more of an annoyance. As a last resort I decided to post a quick piece here if this one gets uploaded that is. So far the signs are not so good to say the least. In any case, I’ll now return to reading lonely planet guide to Barcelona 
Adios!
Just found this on my e-diary while clearing/cleaning up some old files. Its a musing from some two years ago (written on 2 September 2010 at 11:07 to be precise), I don’t recall what prompted me to jot these lines down then, but when I saw these this morning, I thought I might have written these last week or the week before. If you follow the news and happenings from the sub-continent then you’d know why!
When I was growing up in a traditional, yet fairly liberal Bramhin household, I might have looked like a God-fearing child growing up to to be a God-fearing adult. By high-school, most of the religious beliefs instilled in me had washed away. By the time I went to study intermediate in science, and came out of it, I was probably not an atheist, but certainly an agnostic. By the time I finished my undergraduate, I was an atheist too, and have been since. When I think of growing up, hearing about Krishna’s Leela, his misdemeanours since childhood, be it stealing, harassing girls, or later being polygamous, causing war between brothers and what not, it was rather strange to see people worshipping him as a God, a role model. Thankfully I didn’t take that literally, imagine where I would be now if I had! The question that boggles my mind is this: why do we still revere mythical characters like Krishna? What does it say about our own cultural mindset? That it is OK to engage in misdemeanours as long as you also do some good? Although I fail to find what good that mythical character Krishna really did! The most popular caricature of the character still revolves around stealing butter and chasing young pretty girls. So what was the real message his story gave to our societies. That it’s OK to hang out in every gallis and chowks and tease young girls passing by? That minor theft is not to be taken seriously and that its part of growing up?
I was searching for a contact on my gmail archive earlier today, someone I knew some 10 years ago, and my hope was that I had forwarded the email from that person to my gmail account as I left the university after my undergrad degree in 2002. Unfortunately I couldn’t find the person or the email I was hoping to find, although it was not important at all. I just wanted to see if I had an email address, I might have fired a “hello” email if I had found the address, thats all. The reason was that I just happen to think about this person suddenly today while I was having a conversation with a colleague about mental conditions/stress. This person I knew had a serious mental breakdown while working towards a masters degree, and even though wanted to pursue a doctorate programme, couldn’t even complete the masters degree properly I think. Anyway, what I ended up finding was something completely different, a piece of poem-of-sorts that I wrote as a reply to a friend who had sent me a supposedly well-known/popular poem. So here is a challenge for you all: below is the piece I had written in reply to my friend, now try to find the original poem related, which is supposed to be popular on the internet, might even be a song now, but I’m not sure. My dear friend who sent me that poem in the first place, you know who you are so you can only be an observer here 
can’t decide whether you are complaining
or giving me the compliment undeserved
clinging onto the old days old ways
a trait i had in me always
i thought you knew me too well
to complain about my stubbornness though
i don’t believe it’s silly, but it is true
i don’t need autumn and the falling leaves…
to think of you
Even in this era of social networks and real-time interaction options with friends faraway, I still find myself struggling to keep in touch with those I would really like to. It’s either email OR the (often hopeless) hope that they follow you on twitter and respond. The first option I’m not very well known for making good use of, while the second many of my friends don’t seem to be making use of! There is something called Facebook but that seems to be for those with lots of time for such things. Anyway, in a long-winded way, what I am trying to say is I am not particularly good at keeping in touch or at using the most populous social network. Nonetheless, once in a while I do think of friends, particularly those who live faraway and with whom the only way of communicating is via these online technologies.
As the title of this post suggests, the Witts are in my thought tonight, and the first part of the title gives you the clue as to what triggered it! In fact I even googled the recipe for my own red kidney beans with garlic and ginger (which I remember the Witts had on their website) to make it exactly the way i used to when I was living in Vancouver. Sadly, I couldn’t find it, or should I say the mighty google couldn’t locate it, not even on its cache! Anyway, although it might have varied slightly from my Vancouver version, I am preparing red kidney beans with garlic and ginger tonight, and hoping it goes nicely with whole wheat chapatis (or tortilla if you will). And of course I’ll be thinking of the Witts and the potlucks we used to have at theirs in my Vancouver era living! This one to you Mr Witt & family, I hope all is well across the pond and beyond the mountains!
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