The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face
from 'Visions of Johanna' by Bob Dylan
in my opinion this has got to be one of the best sentences ever thought up by man. it is unique, timeless and self-sufficiently meaningless. besides conveying meaning in the interest of communication, ingenious use of words can transcend meaning and evoke an image in the mind of otherworldly beauty. something that hints at an alternative and hopefully better world, tantalizing only because it is unachievable.
electricity is something that we cannot see but holds great sway over us. it creates and can destroy. what is the first thing that comes to mind with the word 'ghost'? fear. this lends a menacing undertone to the line. this woman must be undoubtedly stunning to look at and at the same time holds a fearsome power over the author. she possesses an ironclad will and an indomitable spirit which she flaunts with great aplomb. she is beauty and power personified.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Saturday, November 04, 2006
mojave
about 7 years ago i found myself thousands of miles away from home looking out across the wide expanse of the mojave desert. every where i looked there was just sand, rocks, desert fauna and sky. i realised then that it was the very first time i have seen such a wide open space without a single man made structure in sight.for the most part of my life i have lived on an island and during my student days in a cosmopolitan city. nothing in my past experience had prepared me for the physical sense of space that i was swimming in. travelling in a bus a few hours later, i suddenly noticed that there were actually people making their homes amidst the barren landscape. dotted across the sands were little wooden structures with largely redundant fences marking out imaginary boundaries. i imagine territories are pretty much a vague concept around these parts although looking at the maps available i realise that 4 states actually saw fit to mark their borders across this hostile but beautiful land.
i wonder how it would be to get lost in this arid land without hope of getting to civilisation. would it be the perfect end?
Friday, November 03, 2006
wingdings hoax
as a follow up to my last entry, i did some research on the net and found out that the last bit of the email is probably not accurate as the two planes that smashed into the twin towers bore the flight numbers 11 ( N334AA) and 175 ( N612UA) respectively. there was never any flight Q33NY which came remotely close to crashing into anything. the desired effect in wingdings for this fictitious number is
this article on wingdings prophecies has the details.
planned?
just got this in my mailbox. an interesting coincidence or are we seeing part of a divine plan?
Read to the bottom. Try it out. I did. I got goose bumps.
IF YOU'RE A CRITICAL PERSON STILL READ ON AS IT'S ACTUALLY VERY INTERESTING! !
This is actually really freaky!! (mainly the end part, but read it all first)
1) New York City has 11 letters
2) Afghanistan has 11 letters.
3) Ramsin Yuseb (The terrorist who threatened to destroy the Twin Towers in 1993) has 11 letters.
4) George W Bush has 11 letters.
This could be a mere coincidence, but this gets more interesting:
1) New York is the 11th state.
2) The first plane crashing against the Twin Towers was flight number 11.
3) Flight 11 was carrying 92 passengers. 9 + 2 = 11
4) Flight 77 which also hit Twin Towers , was carrying 65 passengers. 6+5 = 11
5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11 as it is now known. 9 + 1+ 1 =11
6) The date is equal to the US emergency services telephone number 911. 9 +1 + 1 = 11
Sheer coincidence. .?! Read on and make up your own mind:
1) The total number of victims inside all the hi-jacked planes was 254. 2 +5 + 4 = 11.
2) September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year. Again 2 + 5 + 4 =11.
3) The Madridbombing took place on 3/11/2004 . 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 11.
4) The tragedy of Madrid happened 911 days after the Twin Towers incident.
Now this is where things get totally eerie: The most recognized symbol for the US , after the Stars & Stripes, is the Eagle. The following verse is taken from the Quran, the Islamic holy book: "For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle. The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced: for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah and there was peace." That verse is number 9.11 of the Quran. unconvinced about all of this Still ..?! Try this and see how you feel afterwards, it made my hair stand on end:
Open Microsoft Word and do the following:
1. Type in capitals Q33 NY. This is the flight number of the first plane to hit one of the Twin Towers .
2. Highlight the Q33 NY.
3. Change the font size to 48.
4. Change the actual font to the WINGDINGS
NOW WHAT DO YOU THINK…………
Read to the bottom. Try it out. I did. I got goose bumps.
IF YOU'RE A CRITICAL PERSON STILL READ ON AS IT'S ACTUALLY VERY INTERESTING! !
This is actually really freaky!! (mainly the end part, but read it all first)
1) New York City has 11 letters
2) Afghanistan has 11 letters.
3) Ramsin Yuseb (The terrorist who threatened to destroy the Twin Towers in 1993) has 11 letters.
4) George W Bush has 11 letters.
This could be a mere coincidence, but this gets more interesting:
1) New York is the 11th state.
2) The first plane crashing against the Twin Towers was flight number 11.
3) Flight 11 was carrying 92 passengers. 9 + 2 = 11
4) Flight 77 which also hit Twin Towers , was carrying 65 passengers. 6+5 = 11
5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11 as it is now known. 9 + 1+ 1 =11
6) The date is equal to the US emergency services telephone number 911. 9 +1 + 1 = 11
Sheer coincidence. .?! Read on and make up your own mind:
1) The total number of victims inside all the hi-jacked planes was 254. 2 +5 + 4 = 11.
2) September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year. Again 2 + 5 + 4 =11.
3) The Madridbombing took place on 3/11/2004 . 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 11.
4) The tragedy of Madrid happened 911 days after the Twin Towers incident.
Now this is where things get totally eerie: The most recognized symbol for the US , after the Stars & Stripes, is the Eagle. The following verse is taken from the Quran, the Islamic holy book: "For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle. The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced: for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah and there was peace." That verse is number 9.11 of the Quran. unconvinced about all of this Still ..?! Try this and see how you feel afterwards, it made my hair stand on end:
Open Microsoft Word and do the following:
1. Type in capitals Q33 NY. This is the flight number of the first plane to hit one of the Twin Towers .
2. Highlight the Q33 NY.
3. Change the font size to 48.
4. Change the actual font to the WINGDINGS
NOW WHAT DO YOU THINK…………
shatterday
years ago i watched an episode of the 1985 reincarnation of 'the twilight zone' which told of a man (played by a young bruce willis) who accidentally calls his own home number by mistake but then finds another version of himself picking up the phone. i still can remember the title as if it was yesterday - SHATTERDAY
the episode actually counts down to the final day of the title starting from someday, duesday, woundsday, freeday and shatterday. each day sees the alternative version of the guy going about righting the wrongs that the other half have committed in his lifetime and on shatterday the original protagonist disappears and we are left with the much improved alter ego.
if only we could renew ourselves this way. like a snake moulting to accomodate growth and maturation. rewriting all the wrong decisions that we have made thus far. changing lives for the better as we go along.
the episode actually counts down to the final day of the title starting from someday, duesday, woundsday, freeday and shatterday. each day sees the alternative version of the guy going about righting the wrongs that the other half have committed in his lifetime and on shatterday the original protagonist disappears and we are left with the much improved alter ego.
if only we could renew ourselves this way. like a snake moulting to accomodate growth and maturation. rewriting all the wrong decisions that we have made thus far. changing lives for the better as we go along.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
hypochondriasis is a 15 letter word
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary
Main Entry: hypochondriac
Function: noun
: an individual affected with hypochondria or hypochondriasis - a person can be said to be a hypochondriac when his or her preoccupation with health or disease is so intense that it disrupts normal living habits —People
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
i know someone who can be best described as a hypochondriac. living a privileged life off the fat of his family's enormous fortune, he has never put in an honest day's work. the quest for self-improvement via financial gains has never figured in his earthly existence. lacking this focus, his mind naturally wanders and for the past few years he has been beguiling doctors all over town with a series of vague, ill-defined bodily annoyances which he terms 'big problems' . he never seems to be in too much of distress and yet he talks about nothing else. he has had recurrent throat infections for which he has been treated with an avalanche of antibiotics. he admitted that he has sent his phlegm in for microscopic examinations at least 50 times and each time they find some innocuous micro-organism, he will be duly prescribed antibiotics. he swallows these religiously but every few months his symptoms will recur and the cycle repeats itself.
he has a long history of mysterious chest symptoms for which he has undergone numerous threadmill tests. not surprisingly the tests have amounted to squat except to line the pocket of the attending doctor. to his credit someone did finally find some kidney stones and he went for a procedure to get rid of them. at the end of the treatment he collected tiny fragments the stones in his urine and demanded that the doctor run tests to see what minerals the stones were made out of! he is convinced that this piece of information will unlock the secrets of the universe and hence it is as significant as the holy grail.
god knows that i have tried to feel sorry for him but this is usually replaced in a split second by mirth and a keen sense of the ridiculous. if via some divine intervention he happens to read this, here is my advice : don't be so preoccupied with dying that you forget to live! (i actually read this quote from an old copy of reader's digest - oh the shame!).
Main Entry: hypochondriac
Function: noun
: an individual affected with hypochondria or hypochondriasis - a person can be said to be a hypochondriac when his or her preoccupation with health or disease is so intense that it disrupts normal living habits —People
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
i know someone who can be best described as a hypochondriac. living a privileged life off the fat of his family's enormous fortune, he has never put in an honest day's work. the quest for self-improvement via financial gains has never figured in his earthly existence. lacking this focus, his mind naturally wanders and for the past few years he has been beguiling doctors all over town with a series of vague, ill-defined bodily annoyances which he terms 'big problems' . he never seems to be in too much of distress and yet he talks about nothing else. he has had recurrent throat infections for which he has been treated with an avalanche of antibiotics. he admitted that he has sent his phlegm in for microscopic examinations at least 50 times and each time they find some innocuous micro-organism, he will be duly prescribed antibiotics. he swallows these religiously but every few months his symptoms will recur and the cycle repeats itself.
he has a long history of mysterious chest symptoms for which he has undergone numerous threadmill tests. not surprisingly the tests have amounted to squat except to line the pocket of the attending doctor. to his credit someone did finally find some kidney stones and he went for a procedure to get rid of them. at the end of the treatment he collected tiny fragments the stones in his urine and demanded that the doctor run tests to see what minerals the stones were made out of! he is convinced that this piece of information will unlock the secrets of the universe and hence it is as significant as the holy grail.
god knows that i have tried to feel sorry for him but this is usually replaced in a split second by mirth and a keen sense of the ridiculous. if via some divine intervention he happens to read this, here is my advice : don't be so preoccupied with dying that you forget to live! (i actually read this quote from an old copy of reader's digest - oh the shame!).
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
all talk
things that i talk about (or will talk about) with friends at the age of .........
10 - comic books, action figures, cartoons
30 - career, promotion, future, life partners, money
40 - disease, dead or dying parents, divorce
50 - dead or dying friends, children and more disease
60 - loss of libido and ways to regain it, hair transplant
70 - life transplant
10 - comic books, action figures, cartoons
20 - fashion, music, movies, how big the galaxy really is and what the hell we are doing here
30 - career, promotion, future, life partners, money
40 - disease, dead or dying parents, divorce
50 - dead or dying friends, children and more disease
60 - loss of libido and ways to regain it, hair transplant
70 - life transplant
Monday, October 30, 2006
the friendly enemy
after many years i bumped into an old school mate of mine. believe me when i say there is no love lost between the both of us. in fact for sometime we were mortal enemies. ok i have to come clean with myself; he punched me once in the stomach over some adolescent argument. the world is such a small place. this time the table has turned some what. this time he needed my help.
in a movie this guy would have received his just comeuppance but this being the real world we had to put on pretences and conform to social norms and graces. and so we carried on as if nothing had happened. i don't even know if he remembers the incident and even if he did he was not telling.
looking at the 2 of us you would have thought we were the best of pals. it would have been easy for me to bring up the fact and then rubbed his face in it. however against my baser instinct i proceeded instead to explain to him what needed to be done for his present predicament and even threw him an offer that i would help him in all my capacity. is it because i am a nice person? i do not think that is even half the story.
we are social creatures and we above all crave human contact. if i were to go around making enemies and propagating hate, i would probably die a lonesome death. at least there is the remote possibility that he may even attend my funeral. that wisp of hope is enough to stay my tongue and there lies the magnitude of my need for human interaction. even in death i need the assurance that the idea of me as a living person lives on and continue to touch other humans.
in a movie this guy would have received his just comeuppance but this being the real world we had to put on pretences and conform to social norms and graces. and so we carried on as if nothing had happened. i don't even know if he remembers the incident and even if he did he was not telling.
looking at the 2 of us you would have thought we were the best of pals. it would have been easy for me to bring up the fact and then rubbed his face in it. however against my baser instinct i proceeded instead to explain to him what needed to be done for his present predicament and even threw him an offer that i would help him in all my capacity. is it because i am a nice person? i do not think that is even half the story.
we are social creatures and we above all crave human contact. if i were to go around making enemies and propagating hate, i would probably die a lonesome death. at least there is the remote possibility that he may even attend my funeral. that wisp of hope is enough to stay my tongue and there lies the magnitude of my need for human interaction. even in death i need the assurance that the idea of me as a living person lives on and continue to touch other humans.
PimpZilla
check out this bitchin' firefox theme!
PimpZilla, the theme with bling
install the beta version if you are using firefox 2.0
PimpZilla, the theme with bling
install the beta version if you are using firefox 2.0
Sunday, October 29, 2006
modern ghosts
the 'law' must rank as one of the most important human invention ever. this is more astonishing for the fact that something so abstract and intangible can be so intertwined with everyday life and society as we know it. nations have been built and fell by it.
perhaps the beauty of it all is its inbuilt promise of prosecution if ever the means or urge arise to break it. i hazard to guess that without anarchy there would be no law bringing to mind the idea that god exists solely because of the devil.
a short few minutes ago i was waiting in my car at a traffic light. it was at a normally busy T junction but due to the fact that it was early and a sunday there was hardly any traffic to speak of. at the 3 o'clock position from me i noticed another row of motorists waiting patiently for the lights to turn green. the only light that was green out of the 3 was the one with no commuters. the seconds ticked away as both our lines waited. if i was an alien looking down on us from my spaceship overhead, i would have laughed my head off. still we idled until my light went green and off we putted away.
why do we do that? why do we still stick to the rules when its clearly benefiting no one in particular at this junction of time? of course if our 2 rows of cars had decided to throw caution to the wind and pushed ahead there would have a massive pile of twisted metal. that is just physics and thats not what i am talking about here. no one actually took the bait or rather no one dared. its interesting to see how ingrained the law is in the human psyche.
the lifeless traffic light consisting of a few bits of wiring, plastic and circuits framed within some very tough metal cowed us all. its awe-inspiring to see this soulless and mindless edifice exert such great power over the very species that gave birth to it in the 1st place. it embodies the law and the law will make life very uncomfortable if it is messed with. everyone knows that and everyone will tell their offspring. like folk tales passed on through generations it is the ghost of modern society, barely discernible from the djinns and imps that haunted people in the past. cautionary tales of our times told to keep wayward children in check.
perhaps the beauty of it all is its inbuilt promise of prosecution if ever the means or urge arise to break it. i hazard to guess that without anarchy there would be no law bringing to mind the idea that god exists solely because of the devil.
a short few minutes ago i was waiting in my car at a traffic light. it was at a normally busy T junction but due to the fact that it was early and a sunday there was hardly any traffic to speak of. at the 3 o'clock position from me i noticed another row of motorists waiting patiently for the lights to turn green. the only light that was green out of the 3 was the one with no commuters. the seconds ticked away as both our lines waited. if i was an alien looking down on us from my spaceship overhead, i would have laughed my head off. still we idled until my light went green and off we putted away.
why do we do that? why do we still stick to the rules when its clearly benefiting no one in particular at this junction of time? of course if our 2 rows of cars had decided to throw caution to the wind and pushed ahead there would have a massive pile of twisted metal. that is just physics and thats not what i am talking about here. no one actually took the bait or rather no one dared. its interesting to see how ingrained the law is in the human psyche.
the lifeless traffic light consisting of a few bits of wiring, plastic and circuits framed within some very tough metal cowed us all. its awe-inspiring to see this soulless and mindless edifice exert such great power over the very species that gave birth to it in the 1st place. it embodies the law and the law will make life very uncomfortable if it is messed with. everyone knows that and everyone will tell their offspring. like folk tales passed on through generations it is the ghost of modern society, barely discernible from the djinns and imps that haunted people in the past. cautionary tales of our times told to keep wayward children in check.
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