Poetry Picks-I

Okay, you've probably never heard of this one....... This one is by Wislawa Szymborska. She is a Polish Nobel Laureate..... This one's a very touching poem, close to my heart. This is how it goes

One Small star

My apologies to chance for calling it necessity
My apologies to necessity if I'm mistaken, after all.
Please, don't be angry, happiness, that I take you as my due.
May my dead be patient with the way my memories fade.
My apologies to time for all the world I overlook each second.
My apologies to past loves for thinking that the latest is the first.
Forgive me, distant wars, for bringing flowers home.
Forgive me, open wounds, for pricking my finger.
I apologise for my record of minuets to those who cry from the depths.
I apologise to those who wait in railway stations for being asleep today
at five a.m.
Pardon me, hounded hope, for laughing from time to time.
Pardon me, deserts, that I don't rush to you bearing a spoonful of water.
And you, falcon, unchanging year after year, always in the same cage,
you gaze always fixed on the same point in space,
forgive me, even if it turns out you were stuffed.
My apologies to the felled tree for the table's four legs.
My apologies to great questions for small answers.
Truth, please don't pay me much attention.
Dignity please be magnanimous.
Bear with me, O mystery of existence, as I pluck the occasional thread from
your train.
Soul, don't take offense that I've only got you now and then.
My apologies to everyone that I can't be everywhere at once.
My apologies to everyone that I can't be each woman and each man.
I know that I won't be justified as long as I live,since I myself stand in my own way.
Don't bear me ill will, speech, that I borrow weighty words,
then labor heavily so that they may seem light.

The Ten Best Songs Ever

As with any list, we need to start off with a few ground rules
1. The selection and the ordering of these songs a purely a matter of personal taste. Basically, mine is the only opinion that counts
2. I have included only the songs that were released in the last 60-70 years
3. I'm restricting this list to the western and more specifically the Anglo-American canon.
4. I've restricted the number of songs per artist to 1.

Okay here it goes

1. Bob Dylan- Visions of Johanna
2.The Beatles- Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
2. Led Zeppelin - The Battle of Evermore
4. Pink Floyd- Comfortably Numb
5. The Doors- The End
6. Aretha Franklin - Respect
7. David Bowie- Ashes to Ashes
8. Red Hot Chilli Peppers- By the Way
9. Nirvana- My girl
10. Steppenwolf- The Pusher

http://laughlines.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/hallelujah-im-a-bum/

Okay.... I am not going to say anything about the obvious Salary disparities .... My question is, how in heaven's name did it connect a continuous improvement engineer to a Bum?

Crash and Burn

Have you ever seen your life crumble in your hands? I have seen my career crashland in extended slow motion over the last two months. I seem to be under a constant state of misery for atleast half a day! I dont think I will last long here. It's true you know- Murphy's law. Especially when things are not working for you! I am ready to give up, now.

It has been two months since I wrote anything! Oh, and the last thing I wrote was a two linecomment on a Nytimes article.
You know, one makes these small compromises every day. From "Hey.. just one burger. How can that change anything?" to, "Big deal, so I am in a crappy job. But, it's a means to an end! I will write over the weekends". You never notice how they snowball in to this huge boulder around you neck, and you realize, you hate your work. Your body, why? Your entire life! I have been living in this state of absolute, unremitting anxiety for the last two months! I've had enough of it! May be it's time I made a choice!

NO MORE COMPROMISES!

Sex Life of a Tyranosaurus

I had to blog this. I saw this on NY times. I wonder how the dinosaurian gossip columns would look like. Okay... I am not the only person with a crummy job
http://judson.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/a-tyrannical-romance/index.html

Paradise Lost....

I am going to read atleast one book everyday and try and churn out atleast a 1000 words. Let's see how long I stick to this. I am starting off with Paradise Lost.......

I am going to be reading a lot of poetry. Why? because they are readily available with lots of resources.

After Paradise Lost, I will do Kubla Khan and Rime of the Ancient Mariner, then William Blake, Tennyson, Baudelaire, Dryden, Shelly, Byron, Hyperion and Endimiyon then TS Eliot, Bukowski and so forth

My literary jaunts will be appearing at
http://hariprasadsrinivasan.googlepages.com/

Redeye to San Franciso

I'm now at the KLIA..... I'm actually on a Redeye to teh US.... More on everything Later.... Just didnt want to miss out on this opportunity!

My Ticket

After days of frustration nay despair, I finally got my Tickets!!!Yippee! I am leaving on the 21st.... I will reach home on the 22nd. I get to spend a night and a day in Ranipet before I go down to Bangalore! Yay!

Next on my reading list

Right now, I'm reading Hadrian the VII. I' m done with about half of it. But, the best is still to come. I was shopping in Oxford circus for things to take home to India, when I spied Borders near the station and absolutely had to go in. So, I finished shopping with Manu(my cuz) in a hurry, sent her off ( She had to go to a party anyway, and I bought lunch. So, stop looking at me like that) with a considerable amount of relief and sauntered in to Borders. Once in, I just couldn't let the crowd, the sheer number of people or the huge queue in the cash counter deter me. I was looking for something special. Something I couldn't get in India. Then it struck me. There is no chance I am going to lay my hands on anything by Alexander Theroux. So, I went looking for Darconville's Cat, an Adultery or Laura Warholic. Nothing! I guess we'll have to wait until January to lay my hands on one of those babies. However, I did manage to sight Sot-weed Factor by John Barth (I was looking for 'Letters'). How could I not buy it? I've had an eye on that one for months , now. Oh, I spotted the paperback for 'Against the Day' too. But, I will check that out later. First, I am going fo try and get something by William Gaddis. I was put off intially after glancing at the covers of 'Recognitions' and 'JR' because I confused the former with the movie 'Awakenings' , starring Robin Williams & Robert di Niro (In my defence the book cover looked remarkably like the expression Di Niro wore throughout the movie). I definitely did not want to read another book on the 'indomitability' ( Is that a word?) of the human spirit. I did some reading later and discovered that was not the case. Thank God!So, it is going to be Hadrian the VII first, then the Sot weed Factor, Recognitions, JR and then Against the day/V