Procrastination

Maybe, i will write about it tomorrow...

Hahaha, that's the quintessential me. How can i not make a mention of my sheer urge to put off everything to tomorrow. I am big time fan of the modern mix of Kabeer's doha - Aaj kare so kal kar, kal kare so parson; itni bhi kya jaldi hai abhi jab umar padi hai barson. How very convenient to shroud my laziness. It takes many forms.

The 5min syndrome 7.25 AM? Just 5 min more. 8AM.. 8.30AM... 9.10AM... Oh, $&#%@, a meeting at 10AM. Then everything is a blur. Many a world records might be broken every day enroute to finally making it for the meeting 15 minutes late.

Meetings Little do we realise, these are probably the most professionally accepted mode of postponing things that could otherwise have been done within the time a committee meets up to debate on why it is the other party's responsibility to do it. Who said the corporates are better than the kindergarteners?

Busy status messages Bless the genius who invented the Away or Busy status messages in office instant message communicators. What better way to show the boss you are really engrossed in work and thus delay responding to the email that he/she is waiting for.

Telly melee What would hapless husbands have done if not for the late evening football matches? "Darling, can you come over for a minute", comes the sweet call from the kitchen. "Wait, Maradona is going to score a goal just now!!!". Seeing the way the animated guy is running around the sidelines while the other 11 Argentines are battling it out, poor wifey has no way to know that the so-called mortal with Almighty's Hand is actually not even playing. How can she ask the hubby to go out to throw the trash in such a critical situation? And voila, this one task is also kept aside for later. You bet the sharp-witted wife has her own way to get back and this time the lesser-half has to wait for an hour to get dinner while the wife keeps saying "just a minute". In the meanwhile he bears through the four drops of tears trickling down the eyes of the oh-so-sweet bahu in TV. Damn, which stone-age wife do they show in these silly soaps?

Weekend couch slouch This is probably a very familiar scene in a bachelors's accommodation in the IT Capital where the smart software engineer (wasn't that an oxymoron?) is lying all day on the worn-out beanbag sweating profusely on a hot summer afternoon but watching endless routines of a stupid swayamvar on TV. And when the other roomie enters tired in the evening, requests in an innocent and begging tone, "Could you please switch on the fan? It is such a hot day today?". When would someone invent a remote for a ceiling fan as well so that the poor guy does not have to wait for the roomie to walk in to the room again late in the evening after a movie and ask him to switch off the fan then as the rains has got the weather to be chilling?

Pauls, Parakeets & Prayers There would be those you see around a dime a dozen who would time their ablutions to a later hour just because the unaware little cat did the unpardonable by walkiing across. Holding back on getting your hands on the sleek new car you have been so eager to buy just because it is not a "good" day. Delaying the plans of the long pending romantic getaway because you did not see the correct number of mynahs in the tree during your evening stroll. Waiting for months for casting the protagonists for your dream movie project untill someone come along with three succesive 'A's in the name. Last heard some of the disgraced exit-makers in the recent soccer world cup are seriously contemplating swapping their coach with Paul the Octopus.

Ideal idyllic idleness Then there are those esteemed ones who do it for the sheer pride of indolence. Nothing beats their joy of joblessnes and thus propagate procrastination.

Dance before the melody is over

(Inspired by a lovely poem called Slow Dance - http://www.davidlweatherford.com/slowdance.html)

When was the last
You stopped to smell a lovely rose
Read your kid a long fantasy prose
Watched the sun dip into ocean and douse
Shared time with parents without a grouse
Smiled at a stranger for no real reason
Cherished subtle changes in the season
Lied down on the terrace and gazed the stars
Really wept for the victims of the stupid wars
Watched a funny movie and laughed out loud
Helped an old lady in the bustling city crowd
Visited a neighbour's home and felt at ease
Took an evening stroll swinging in the breeze
Cycled in the open with pure childlike glee
Plucked a mango straight from the tree
Admired the myriad colours of butterflies
Woke up early just to see the blue skies
Did something good for no motive or fee
Sat on the beach and let your feet kiss the sea
Enjoyed the first drops of pleasant rain
Tended a bird limping in cruel pain
Wished to walk till the end of a rainbow
Remembered to live life soaking in the flow...

In the endless struggle to win the race
The competition to create your own space
Don't forget to hear life's sweet music
Or to soak in the Nature ever so scenic
Enjoy the little things, dance a trifle slower
Have fun before the melody is over...

Knowing me

Now that is one question that has bewildered me for all the years i have been treading along. I have been a rolling stone (but contrary to the old adage, i indeed have gathered quite a bit of mass), with no absolute affinity or utter dislike to anything. I am agnostic, but then again i do enjoy the peace and tranquility of some temples or churches or monasteries, or for that matter blurt out a Thank God occasionally. I am kind-of emotionally challenged, autistic like or more so like the Khan-from-the-epiglottis Rizwan, who has a challenge showing the right emotion (i can not remember when i ever really cried). Or always fail to understand people fully apart from what they say or show directly. Interpreting implicit things has never been my cup of tea. I fail miserably at expressing my emotions or stating what i want. Communication has always been my Achilles heel. Taking things at the face value is my way. One thing that would more or less summarize my approach is: status quo. Wow, that is actually a cool word to shroud my laziness. I just can not pull myself to change the way things are. Just let it be. How very convenient. But then there are many good fallouts of that. I am happy with anything. Be it food, clothing, job, weather, or even loneliness. For all the inaction, i am notorious to make up for it in verbal duels. I hold on unabashedly to my opinions during discussions (i should rather say arguments because with me that is what it turns out to be). Nevertheless, for all the banter and disagreements, in the end comply with anything people around me do or ask me to do. I am an absolute do-gooder. I hate to say no to anyone and go to any lengths to do anything for friends or even others when they ask me for something. I get along with all kind of people. Did i mention about food? How could i miss that!! All varieties of cuisines suit me perfectly. Yeah, i am absolutely non-fussy about grub. And it shows. My needs are simple. So though i spend impulsively and foolishly many a times, i can live in deprivation without any grouse. My memory, well that is a perplexing thing. For certain things, i am myself stunned by things which i can recall with ease. Names of the characters in some of my favourite novels. Or the authors of some of the poems or stories in the English text books. Numbers I have a special liking for. Like my Class X and XII Board Exam hall-ticket number (how boring!). Phone numbers which i want stick on my head for a long long time. But on the other extreme i keep forgetting a lot of things to the extent that i sometimes worry about Alzheimer's. My perennial inability to remember faces and names and relations have landed me in quite a few tight spots and embarrassments. I still manage to escape by maintaining a smile in those umpteen family functions where everyone seems to know you and you really fail to place someone who you are supposed to know. Anyway, in my life, i do try to be nice to people, keeping an egalitarian view and open for different cultures, languages, etc. I am quite nerd-like. Boring demeanour, asking too many questions, not a conversationlist or socialite. However, contrary to what people initially consider me to be, i am all game for tagging along. One bad thing in me that i would surely single out is my short-temper. And that ties back to the umpteen arguments. But then those bursts are only momentary. I do not carry back any bad feelings. People who have known me can vouch that i do not mind anything that anyone tells me (apart from the momentary show of anger at times). There are many more intriguing things to list out, but save that for later. If there is one treasure that i cherish in life, it is the absolute trust, respect and affection i get from many of the people close to me. That is my pillar of strength, that is what keeps me ticking. For now, signing off.