So the time has come to find a final space for all my writing. Medium as a website has been the most accommodating.
So here we go to happier times. Come find me at https://medium.com/@titovarghese
Stephen King and Arrogance at 30
Roaming around a mall in suburban Perth gets boring after a while. First because the mall is pretty small and theres only so much to see. So after the routine groceries, dessert and general ooruchuttal including saying hello to Richie the Cockatoo and aawing over the puppies at the pet store one finds oneself with not much to do on a weekend.
For that is life my dearies, you know you are thirty when your weekends get boring. I have always been considered a little off the norm according to trusted sources, but then that is my norm. Which brings me to Stephen King. Bought book 1 and 2 of the Dark Tower series after a futile search for the Game of Throne books at a second hand store.
The first book, The Gunslinger, started of with King discussing about arrogance and life at 19. How we kind of stop aging from then. How age creeps on us without us knowing it. How a few grays appear in the Jet black, how lines suddenly appear around eyes that still havent lost their shine, how the pot belly slowly grows to a size that once was never even imagined, how suddenly all your friends are married and having kids (ok that last one is just me). 
Anyways thats my theme for the time being. Being 19 and Arrogant for as long as I can. Life in Perth is too boring otherwise.
Down Under Diaries.. The Beginning
Australia was that country I never gave a second thought about, like the second cousin that you barely know and try to avoid at family gatherings. You don’t know why, it just never seemed worth the effort.
But breaking two long held expectations of myself, I have now successfully moved down under (1. Never ever planned on Australia.) to join the woman who finally got stuck with me (2. I never imagined moving halfway across the world to join the lady. When you grow up in India, it usually goes without saying that the lady does the moving.)
Now that I am here and settling in (read as I have finally found a job), I have decided to dust off the old blog and add some masala to your hopefully-more-interesting-than-mine lives.
New countries and new people always hold new life lessons. I haven’t bothered to look but they will be updated in future posts as and when I learn them. The most important thing you need to know about Aussies and Australia is that everything is pretty laid back here. The people are generally always smiling and the much hyped racism hasn’t raised its ugly head once in the 3 months I have been here.
Western Australia, the state that I live in and so the most you guys are ever going to learn about from me, is a big, arid desert. Perth, its capital lies on the western coast and is the most remote capital city in the world. Its also one of the top 10 cities to live in apparently (According to this). The people here are super cool. The total population of WA is about 2.5 Million and the area of the state is 2.5 Million square kilometres (so roughly 1 sq.km per person :D)
Now that I have passed on my factoids and fed the blogging bug, I am off to get some cycling done (Yes, exercise and me have finally been introduced.) See ya all soon
From across the border, another woman stands her ground.. Witty writing and amazing doodles..
Since everyone’s coming up with their own manifesto for whatever reason they believe in, I’ve decided to put forth my own because I am, much to my disappointment and irritation, surrounded by rishta zombies. Now let’s clear one thing before I even start: It’s not just the aunties. I see tweets on Twitter and status updates on Facebook bashing elderly ladies and claiming that they’re the sole reason why our society is obsessed with marriage and other gimmicks but guess what? No, they’re not. It is very convenient to throw the blame on one single group for the intrusive madness found in our culture. It’s not just these elderly folks or even slightly young ones; it is also men who assert the flawed notion that a chaste, successful woman is the one who ties the knot early without having her hymen touched. It is also people – even “liberal feminists”…
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Author Unknown..
Courtesy: Chandni
The following belongs to “About me”. If there was ever a piece I could relate to, completely, its this. Just that I haven’t written it. And I don’t even know who has…all I know is I’ve had it on me for a long long time.It’s a tad long but read it. Trust me.
We lost ourselves the day we were born
Since then the search began
To find those of our family
We were confused
For we were given a family of birth
We had friends from our situation
In this funny place called “society”
We travelled
And felt the semblance of the primeval sensation of life
We wondered why we felt at home on the road
We were made to believe we were a little strange
For how many stay away from “home” for so long?
How many become the rebels we did?
We wandered on empty streets in…
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The blog 2011 in review
ROTFL. Had to post this just coz of the nice round number my visitors made in total – 1500 :D…
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,500 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 25 trips to carry that many people.
2011 – Bloody Awesome
2011- formed my own company with friends for partners, tried to run it and failed miserably, found friends that stood by me, visited Sri Lanka, lost more money than I can afford on the stock market, moved to Doha, fell in love with a girl I have met but never known, had to move on.. Was best man at my best friends wedding, drank myself to auto pilot mode, slapped a guy, fell asleep in the bathroom, spent 2 days without phone or internet in Coorg, started to like cats thanks to a spectacular male of the species, went to a Xmas sale, donated cookies to animal welfare, missed a flight to spend time with brother and cousin, had turtles for pets, celebrated biggest birthday bash ever, saw India win the World Cup, got 2 free cases of beer from Fosters. Had a road trip to Pondy, came back from Mahabalipuram, Drank till 6 in the morning, walked out and was pulled back in for “Otteorrenumkoode”, played poker and black jack in a real life casino, played poker, 3 patti and rummy with friends, made my own style of biriyani, watched a live performance inside one of the hugest malls in India, slept in a movie theatre, hugged a crying friend, got my shirt torn on Holi, kissed in the rain, was involved in an almost bar-fight, cycled again after ages, sold chai in a bakery and almost got bit by a dog..
Won a competition on facebook and got an author signed copy of “Life is What You Make it” by Preeti Shenoy..
Pack so much into 1 year.. Bloody Awesome I think..
To Kapil Sibal & to various supporters..
I know that i am a pretty low key blogger with an almost invisible presence but sometimes, just sometimes, some actions ask for an outcry and since I am no longer in India with my usual captive audience of roomies, this blog is going to become alive again.
I had read about Mr. Sibal’s vow here and laughed at it and thought it will pass. I loved some of the reactions across the blogosphere, particularly by aamjanata here ( Thanks Usha Chechi for the share on fb). Then I read the honorable ministers reaction here. CAnt help but reach now.
Just for the heck of it, I am going to use language that definitely is going to make it very very provocative and hopefully objectionable.
1. Mr. Sibal, Go fug yourself. If we ever meet in person, I would love to say that with perfect diction. But then you have the right to control that from ever happenng.
2. I am Indian, have a passport and a PAN card to prove it. But I am typing this from outside our borders. So your rules need to be very specific. Can I, a non-resident Indian of no particular political bias, use language like “Ghanta”, ” Laura”, etc.. etc.. on my blog when those words cant actually be blocked or ever screened from my blog. In fact I could write a whole lot of lines in Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil all in this one post making your bright idea a dud. For eg: Saale, ninte thullal ente oru mair tak nahi illakaan pattula.
3. If you cant get a song like ” Bhag D K Bose D K Bose ” censored. A new one even says Jhak maar ke and is gaining on the charts. What the hell can you do about Social Networking ? The internet and Social Networking is successful today on the idea of immediate, real time updation of information. By the time you block this entry at least a couple of my regulars will have read it. They might even move to aamjanata’s more serious open letter. You are screwed.
4. Accept defeat. Google and FB already do their job pretty well, weeding out the worst and also keeping the internet way better than our Indian roads ( We wont find someone holding his d*ck openly peeing on a wall in public).
5. All you m*therf*cking politicians are wasting precious time and money on nonsensical ideas like this and India is losing its patience. Ask Mr. Pawar.
6. This post is my very personal opinion and frankly you can do jack sh*t to stop me. I dont hate you, I pity you and i feel sorry for India. I feel ashamed to call you an educated Indian minister.
7. Lastly, if you didnt follow step 1. Go fug urself now.
Adios
I Won I Won I Won… Yay!!!!!
Ok before I get all arrogant and haughty. The following was a poem i submitted for a Flash Fiction competition by Preeti Shenoy, one of India’s bright new talents. Contestants had to submit a piece of writing insipred from three pictures (link here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=144704035595019&set=a.144703962261693.34327.133724803359609&type=1&theater)
and below is what I submitted. I have one the top prize which is autographed copies of Preeti’s two books :
34 Bubblegums and Candies and Life is What you Make of It
Below is the post i made, as always a poem
The long drive home on a weekend is due
A tradition of sorts and a yearning not new
Every journey has its end and its the road that matters
Life is what you make of it, no matter if each new dream shatters
Just the road makes for a nice long story
Happy or sad the ending, not to worry
There were plenty before you that went this way
And many more to follow the silent sentinels say
The old wise trees are witness to your travels, one and all
The will not judge you or tell you for whom the bells toll
A new world arises for us as for them another falls
We are but a flicker of a candle in times eternal halls
Every trip has an image etched in memory, faded but precious
Some of friends, of lovers, of stolen kisses and fights vicious
Some of strangers standing out in the maddening crowd
I hold them close, those places near, those smells familiar and those voices loud
I remember you most of all in all that went by
Of that one trip, just you and I
Of the hug that left me wanting to just be
Forever together, carved as in stone but absolutely free
This is the facebook page to the contest. http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=45&post=715&uid=133724803359609#post715
Bangalore Dairies -1
Being back in blore has always been sort of homecoming… 3 Days in the city and i am still high.
There is always someone around when u need them and always something to do.. I have already slept all the way to Nandi hills and back passed out cold, danced with some very pretty women i have never met and drank more alcohol in 3 days than i did in the last 1 year..
Now lets just hope and pray that i do the things i plan to do successfully and slowly and steadily get my act together. Somehow time has a way of catching up with people reminding them that you have to go forward. More responsibilities and more independence is looming right in front of me and the sight is scary. Living the life you want to and proving some things right and wrong sounds a lot easier on paper.
Anyways i am back in blore and somehow everything seems to be in place for now.. The weather has been swinging moods, the roads are still bad, the drivers still crazy, the people lovely and the memories flooding back.. Heres to Bangalore and to its lovely people.. Cheers !!!
Attempts at Prose and Poetry... 