Photo-happy in Mumbai

This bag-lady with upwardly mobile aspirations has my imagination whizzing on overdrive. Questions of the "I wonder ... " type keep bubling up in my mind every time I see this photo. I wonder why she chose that car to snooze on. And this was in quite a posh neighbourhood, armed to the teeth with security-men who delight in exercising their powers so I wonder why no one turned up to shoo her off.
Or maybe they recognised a kindred soul ... overworked, tired and just aching for a quick shut-eye.
But on that car ...? The way she's scrunched up, it doesn't even look very comfortable .

The streets of Mumbai are such a perfect source for the most interesting stories! I've been tucking a camera into my bag almost every time I go out, to be whipped out whenever I see something interesting (much to the embarassment of my children). Which is just about every other minute. Most of those photos will never see the light of day because travelling at high speed on potholed roads almost always result in blurred photos.

I wonder when I'll be stopped by some suspicious soul to be quizzed on why I'm photographing some structure or monument or whatever. Imagine trying to explain blogging to someone who isn't very familiar with computers in the first place!

Write like a Booker winner?

I write like Margaret Atwood?
Whoa! .... before anyone thinks I've got delusions of grandeur take a look at this.

There's this fun new analytical tool out there specially for all of us bloggers and writers who may have pangs of doubt about the quality of our writing. Go to I Write Like and Copy-Paste a sample of your writing. It could be an excerpt from your blog or your diary or a few lines of doggerel .... just make sure its not your shopping list (though some of us are pretty creative with that too). The site analyses it and draws comparisons to famous writers.
So I copied out a few paras from one of my blog-posts and this the result I got. And since I'm the suspicious sort, I copied some paras from another blog-post ... and, same result. Time to celebrate?

Try it out, it's the greatest ego-boost ever.
Fun? Definitely!
Inspiring? When your writing is compared to that of a Booker winner (and winner/finalist/ nominee of just about every literary award there is) .... are you kidding me?!

I hope my publisher is reading this!

I write like
Margaret Atwood

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

(Absolutely no guarantees on the accuracy of the results but it's sure to make you feel good)

Perfectly delicious blogs

Guess what I'm smiling about today? I found this perfectly delicious blog. Take a deep breath, sink back into a cushion and look at 1000 Awesome Things !

I particularly like #430 "Eating perfectly ridiculous things for breakfast" . Oh yeah! this is a blog after my own heart! mmmmhmm!
Now here's a very uncomfortable secret... I was almost named Sabrina by my father who was fresh from an 8-year stint in Edinburough! Now I have nothing against that name and I'm sure it sounds lovely on many girls, but it just isn't Me, if you know what I mean. I absolutely glory in my Indian-ness (though I like to think of myself as a citizen of the world!) and can't imagine not having an Indian name. So I identified oh so well with Awesome Thing #438 "Your Almost Name"!
So which Awesome Thing did you like best? It's perfectly okay (in fact, it's expected) to have more than one favourite.

And here's another blog which I just discovered. I think Broken Secrets is awesome! Professing to reveal the deepest, best-kept secrets on earth, each post is a revelation.

Where else can you find out how to get the most out of your printer ink cartridge just by twiddling around around with its memory?
Or that there is actually a prescribed etiquette for hot dogs ?
Or ... and this one I really needed to know ... how to increase mobile phone battery life when you're far from a charger?
But the one I loved the most was finding out a new keyboard shortcut. I spend hours surfing the Net and after some time I prefer to lean back on the cushions on my chair. Which is not the most comfortable way to surf as any Net addict can tell you. But here's the gem ... all you have to do is hit the Space Bar to scroll your browser down one page.
Old hat? Aaah, but I didn't know that. And I'm quite sure that there are at least a few of us surfers out there who didn't either.

Now here's the super-duper frosting on top and why I love the internet so much... I was tying myself into knots over how I could get a screenshot of the sites I mentioned above. I searched for instructions and found a whole lot of freeware and applications to download and since I'm a bit wary of downloading such stuff, I continued looking. Then, up popped Microsoft with the answer !

I'm feeling so extremely pleased with myself today. Truly AWESOME!

Sign of the times

The first sign that Summer is dancing a most violent tandav on Mumbai !
Every footpath sprouts mountainous heaps of watermelons promising cool relief from the ever-increasing heat.
But I love the movie poster providing the perfect background ... classic advertising!

Mothers' anthem

Hmmmm. .... now where have I heard this before? Take a look and listen close, maybe you can tell me why it sounds so familiar?

In a Moonshadow mood

I'm in a Cat Stevens mood right now. Okay, call him Yusuf Islam if you want but his music is still the same.
Soulful, soothing, beautiful and sheer poetry!
Bitter-sweet at times with a tinge of pain, but his songs all reach in and tug at the right heart-strings. Songs from decades ago, but I love the sound and the poetry of the lyrics!

The pure, fresh sounds of 'Morning has broken' makes me tingle right down to my toe-tips.

And I love the quirky logic of Moonshadow and the very mind-picture of someone "leaping and hopping on a Moonshadow" . I love the optimism ringing through the lyrics.

I found this very Dr. Seuss-y video of 'Where do the children play?' on YouTube but the childrens-book treatment doesn't take away the sensitivity of the song. It just adds to it.

I spent a good hour or 2 browsing through YouTube, listening to 'Peace Train', 'Wind', 'Maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong' and more. (Thank you, YouTube!)
But right through my YouTube searches for Cat Stevens' music today, I was disturbed to find a lot of slash-and-burn comments on his videos, based not on his music but on his choice of religion.
Whaaat?!
It's such a wild world!

Must go! Must have!

Time to break those piggy banks and dig out the emergency cash, ladies! There's a lot happening in Mumbai these days.

First, there's Sanjay Garg's delectable, super-delicious collection of sarees, stoles and dupattas starring at Good Earth (March 15 - 24, '10).
I took one look at that fabric in the photo and fell in love! Just look at it ... light as a whisper, cool as a monsoon breeze, watermelon-fresh ... doesn't it make you yearn to slide it over your shoulder?

And, don't miss the BLISS flea market coming up next weekend (March 27 - 28, '10). If the regular stuff at BLISS is anything to go by, the bric à brac here has to be the most enticing ever!
And I'm intrigued by the organic products mentioned. I'm always on the lookout for those.
Oh! And did you notice that they have wine tasting planned too? Now what're the odds that the guys are not going to reach there before you?