Hitting 7 Billion.

The world's population hit 7 billion today. A number that lasted exactly one second.
The 7 billionth kid is an Indian. Apropos, I think. Gosh, this runaway population growth needs to be stopped in Mr.Plod stopping traffic in Noddy episodes fashion.

FYI: I am number 5, 513,802,182 on this planet.
And here's your number.

'Books' by Dorianne Laux

You're standing on the high school steps,
the double doors swung closed behind you
for the last time, not the last time you'll ever

be damned or praised by your peers, spoken of
in whispers, but the last time you'll lock your locker,
zip up your gym bag, put on your out-of-style jacket,

your too-tight shoes. You're about to be
done with it: the gum, the gossip, the worship
of a boy in the back row, histories of wheat and war,

cheat sheets, tardies, the science of water,
negative numbers and compound fractions.
You don't know it yet but what you'll miss

is the books, heavy and fragrant and frayed,
the pages greasy, almost transparent, thinned
at the edges by hundreds of licked thumbs.

What you'll remember is the dumb joy
of stumbling across a passage so perfect
it drums in your head, drowns out

the teacher and the lunch bell's ring. You've stolen
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn from the library.
Lingering on the steps, you dig into your bag

to touch its heat: stolen goods, willfully taken,
in full knowledge of right and wrong.
You call yourself a thief. There are worse things,

you think, fingering the cover, tracing
the embossed letters like someone blind.
This is all you need as you take your first step

toward the street, joining characters whose lives
might unfold at your touch. You follow them into
the blur of the world. Into whoever you're going to be.

This poem just seems right on this blog. I identify with it on so many levels. Beautiful. :)

Click here if you can't see it.  Comments welcome :)

Happy Diwali, Folks :D

I'm sure I'll be busy eating laddoos on Diwali morning, but I wish all of you a very very very Happy Diwali! :)
Light up your houses and your lives, guys. Stay happy. Stay awesome. (Awesome loosely translates to be eco-friendly).

My man, \Rajni/, says it best. :D 

This One's for the Word-Crazy. :)

It is common knowledge to readers of this blog that I am absolutely, legitimately word-crazy. I admit my knowledge of words is mainly superficial, I am often unaware of their origin. So I'd best classify myself as a word-scavenger owing to my never-ending fascination with all words beautiful. With a word being added to the English language every 98 minutes, English remains a personal favorite for its resilience and flexibility. What interests me are words from languages around the world that are seemingly untranslatable into English. Here are a few I loved :

Pana Po'o-  To scratch your head in order to remember something.
(from the land of hula dances)


Tartle (Scottish)- The act of hesitating when introducing someone because you've forgotten their name.
(Reminds me of my absent-minded dad)


Gummuservi (Turkish)-  Moonlight shining on water. 
(This made me smile :) )

Esprit d' Escalier- The witty comeback that you think of moments after leaving the situation in which you might have been able to use it.
(We've all been there, haven't we?)


Katahara Itai (Japanese)- Laughing so much your stomach hurts. :D


Zhaghzhagh (Persian)- The chattering of teeth from cold or rage. 

Kyoikumama - A mother who relentlessly pushes her children towards academic achievement.
The word originates from Japan. Befitting, I say. :P


Meraki (Greek)- Doing something with soul, creativity and love. 


Luftmench- An impractical dreamer with no business sense.

Plimpplamppletteren (Dutch)- The skimming of a flat stone as many times as possible across the surface of the water.
(There is a word for this. Yes. :O)


Mencolek- You know that trick where you tap someone lightly on the opposite shoulder from behind to fool them? The Indonesians have a word for it. :D
A similar word is Vybafnout of Czech origin, which is to jump out from behind and say boo!


And the most offensive but the one that cracked me up the most IS:


Bakku-Shan (Japanese)- A girl who looks pretty from behind but ugly from the front. 
Hahahahahahahahahaha!


Share your favourites with me :)

That Awkward Moment.

^^ This just happened. And yes, it did freak me out a bit. Happened to you yet?

I also just made this. I'm cool like that. Turning into one of those creative Tumblr-ish people, I am. ^_^

For Life's Not A Paragraph. :')

14th October marked the 49th death anniversary of e.e.cummings. These lines of poetry from 'Since Feeling is First' are breathtakingly beautiful .

"...we are for each other: then

laugh, leaning back in my arms

for life’s not a paragraph

And death i think is no parenthesis."

Gosh, I love those lines. 
Another favourite of mine is his poem, 'who are you, little i,' which goes like this-

who are you,little i

(five or six years old)

peering from some high

window;at the gold

of november sunset

(and feeling:that if day

has to become night

this is a beautiful way)

The innocent sense of wonder and incredulity at natural beauty is stunning. I love his poems, as virginal and unassuming as they are, I love them. :)

Here's To The Crazy Ones.

I don't own a single Apple product, never have, and that's probably why I didn't feel the vacuum created in the wake of Steve Jobs' death. Yet, I've read about him in papers and magazines since I first entered my teens, and unarguably, he was a genius. He was not ahead of his time as much as just right for his time.

This commercial first aired in 1997 was part of the dramatic ad campaign 'Think Different'. What aired on TV was a version facing Richard Dreyfuss, no slouch of a narrator. This, on the other hand, has Steve Jobs essaying the role of narrator and personally, think it's considerably more poignant.

Watch. :)

Spot the Arrow.

Am I the only person who didn't see this instantly?

*eyes wide in amazement*

Old Book Smell :)

Now this explains my favourite smell ^_^

Found on (the harpy)