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Thursday, November 01, 2007

Happiness is only grin deep

CAUTION:Roller Coaster ride ahead. Make sure your seatbelts are fastened.

Phew! The Financial Accounting mid sem is finally over. I had a satisfactory test except that I could have done with some more time.

Prof Novak is out on a tour, so no Mgt650 class today and that gives me an extended weekend with no real course load. Except brushing up on the case study due next Thursday, making a team presentation for Wednesday and reading M-1 for Accounting on Monday. Also, I have a report due in another 2 weeks.And I'm seriously trying to give my patented Indian style of working at the 11th hour.

Wow! Infinite possibilities. I can shop for utilities at Target at South Bay Center, go treasure-hunting in Victoria's Secrets at Cambridge side Galleria Mall near Lechmere station or sleuthing for a reasonably priced beauty salon in Quincy Center. The one I went to in Downtown had charges for waxing like:
Legs: One Leg
Arms: One Arm
Full Body: A new born
Supercuts at Massachusetts Avenue, Central Square gave me a decent hair cut but they suck at waxing and my eyebrows look like a wild assortment of herbs, shrubs and trees now :D (Not anymore. Yahoo)

I always feel hyperactive after a major test. Maybe that's why I woke up at 5:20 am . Called up an old friend in India. Cooked two dishes. Talked to Mom ( which I usually reserve the 10 pm slot for) And decided to go bloghopping for a while. It was great to see some really awesome blogs on my way.

Yesterday, I made a pact with myself. I am going to be happy no matter what. Why? Don't really know, other than the obvious reason that it will save me energy. (Claim:It takes greater number of muscles to frown than to smile)

I was climbing the stairs leading to the entrance of McCormack Hall when a couple of students passing by, smiled at me. Then a professor whom I had never met before nodded and smiled too. Before I could realize why they were doing so, a couple of undergrad boys who were clicking photographs, called out to me and said: Hey! Pretty smile girl ! ". And while I walked away confused, I realized that I was smiling without even my realizing it.

When I was a kid, I read in one of my Moral Science lessons that the world is like an echo. It says back to you what you say to it. I'd say it's also like a mirror, it reflects back what you show to it.

Some days back, I was not so happy. There was a lot of confusion in my mind and I wanted answers to questions that troubled me. But I knew I had to wait. Impatience gave rise to anger and to a certain amount of indifference. But I realized that wrath, like any other emotion is ephemeral. I should not give it permanency by showing it to someone else. And that cooled me down.

I am thinking of channelizing the energy I have into doing something more constructive.
To do list:
1. James Franco
2. Robert Pattinson

Oops.. sorry.. Oxford Dictionary for Difficult Words :D

Recently, I have a crush on the word "ensorcell", which means "to enchant". Though it's more of a romantic word, one practical usage can be:"I have been a manager for too long now to be ensorcelled by company policies."

Or to brush up my German. I haven't taken any online test since last week.

Or catch a flick online recommended by a friend. That's really not constructive, specially if it's a Kareena- Shahid starrer. I like Shahid Kapoor's smile. But Kareena mostly overdoes things. I'm glad about their alleged break up. So, all those rumors about Rosa's claims of Saif and Kareena seeing each other were true! (Saif admits dating Kareena) Hmmm . Hope Shahid gets along with Amrita Rao. They look really cute together.

OMG I know more about Bollywood celebrities than I know about my own cousins! But that's probably coz I don't to get to read about their personal lives in newspapers and magazines.

And yeah, I will listen to the CD Ben gave me last week. Couldn't manage time till now. He's the guitarist for a rock group called Full Tilt. And looks quite different from his pictures on the site coz he has cropped his hair and beard now.

Prof Marc Fournier gave us dark chocolates in class yesterday as Halloween treat. By the time, I was over with my 90 min -long and harrowing Accounting test, 2 hrs of guest lecture and 1 hour of discussion about the upcoming team presentations, I didn't have the strength to go to the ballroom and check out the Halloween party in the university. Though I caught glimpses of guys dressed in skeleton outfits.

Maybe next year, I will go out somewhere dressed as a vampire. It's one of my wishes. I have been always fascinated by those creatures and the Gothic romance of Bram Stroker's Dracula by Francis Ford Coppola. It's a refreshing change to see a classy romance laced with horror than the usual B grade movies with hardly any horror but guaranteed meaningless sex and gory scenes ( Yeah, and I still think Hostel was gross. And after hearing about a scene of Hostel 2, I'm not going to try and watch it even if you give me a million dollars)

All in all, I am feeling very content today. But I shouldn't let it get me too far coz it's 2:35 pm by my watch now and I have to grab my lunch.

Btw, here's a version of "Somewhere over the rainbow", a favorite song of mine originally from the the 1939 classic Wizard of Oz.

Also view the one by Connie Talbot from BGT Finals. The innocence of the child's voice can drive anyone to tears.

15 comments:

Vinesh said...

first time to your blog - nice one you have here, jukebox and all :-)
quite ensorcelled!

Aparna Ganguly said...

:D Glad to have you here Vinesh. Gladder that you used that word :)

Occasional Brilliance said...

relly cool blog... n love dis post... i hv crushes on words 2!!! my current is - ginormous

Aparna Ganguly said...

Just looked it up: it means "extremely large" A portmanteau of giant and enormous. Super cool!

passer by said...

wow..ur blog took me for a ride..i began with some accounting test..by the time i came to bollywood, ur cousins en route the bad haircut, the new word, the multitude who smiled at you (btw i am sure u were their photography subject)..i was lost..

then i remembered the smiley, recalled the smile..read a sms from "kaki-ma"..who prayed for best things in my life..

i beg to differ ma'm..life is too beautiful and the title is just a pasquinade mockery over another statement that i do not understand either..

Aparna Ganguly said...

@passer by
LOl.. u shud have guessed it from the label"total bakwaas" :D
Btw, I'm so glad that u wished Ma on her b'day :) I too hope that you get the :best things " in life coz I know your taste- it's simple. You want ONLY the best :D
About the title- let me explain what perspective I had when I was scribbling it. I used to believe that happiness is in reaching a place or a position. But what was to me yesterday a coveted state of well being, today it has been attained and yet I feel it's not perfect bliss. What I mean to imply is that- happiness is here, right now. And it's as simple as your smiling unknowingly to a bunch of strangers and their smiling back at you....

Aparna Ganguly said...

P.S for passser by
Pasquinade ? Hmmm.. look up sciolism , the word of the day today at dictionary.com. Maybe you will like it.

Abhinav said...

I've just come across tasseography, but I'm addicted to tea bigtime so no tasseomancing fr me ; )
Another one in today's askoxford mail was farandole. A nice one.
I started keeping a wordbook a few months back in which I would record the words I loved alongwith their meanings and mandatory etymological dissections. A lot of fun. But it has been gathering dust for sometime now. After exams probably. sigh,sigh...
Love your blog. You write prose a lot. But I know a poet when I see one ;)

Aparna Ganguly said...

@Abhinav
Yeah! I read about that concept when Harry Potter was attending Divination class in his third year at Hogwarts :D ( Prizoner of Azkaban happens to be one of my most fav HP books. 3 of my fav characters got introduced here :D- Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Buckbeak/Witherwings the Hippogriff :P )

Great to see people who love words too. The surest way to soothe my senses is to browse through a wordlist :))

Btw, it's good that you read my first post Someone like mefirst. ( I usually suggets that who visit my blog for the first time) I guess you got introduced to the poet in me there. Coz recently I have taken to write more often in a narrative style than my preferred way of reflecting on things. Not that I am doing it consciously all the time but good to see that I can change my perspective at will. :)

All the best for your exams and drop by to introduce me to some of the new words you happen to become friends with.TC

Keshi said...

u hv a great blog!

**that the world is like an echo. It says back to you what you say to it. I'd say it's also like a mirror, it reflects back what you show to it.

so true! love wut u said there.


Keshi.

Aparna Ganguly said...

@ Keshi
Thanks :) I am so glad that u liked my page. But I was wondering the other day where my old blogger pals have gone (I commented the same in one of the blogs I came across) and I realized- one got married, a second is filing for a divorce, a third has a crush on two girls simultaneously, a fourth has developed a severe case of blogo-phobia , a fifth is getting grilled for his Phd and a sixth is wondering why did he decide to work at all :D It's so good to see new people and their ideas. Reading is always traveling without going to places :) See ya around in the blogosphere. TC

Saurav said...

I always wondered when the original 'Somewhere over the rainbow' came out... I mean 1st I heard Norah Jones, then heard the Israel KIMONODRAGNWAHTEVERHISNAME version, which was absolutely beautiful. Then I heard the Ray Charles version & kindof resolved that that must be the original, & now u tell me its from a 1939 movie! Woah! I mean at least Anu Malik doesnt sing the SAME songs, he just gets inspired by them!

Anyway, on your main topic... being happy is a state of mind. I had read somewhere, probably even mentioned it in one of my blog comments to u long back... this is very true:

'Not happy now, will never be'

Think about it.. its very true!

sangram said...

to quote:
"It's a refreshing change to see a classy romance laced with horror than the usual B grade movies with hardly any horror but guaranteed meaningless sex and gory scenes ( Yeah, and I still think Hostel was gross. And after hearing about a scene of Hostel 2, I'm not going to try and watch it even if you give me a million dollars)"---

That really upsets me because hostel (and other movies alike) is definitely not a B-grade movie. The gory scenes and the chilling suspense will rip your brains off. So, first of all you need a trifle amount of courage to watch those movies, which i know you wont. (remember: you say something with conviction only when you experience it, otherwise leave it alone. There are other people who are expert in certain areas). Second of all, you need the artist's mind framework in visualizing the gory scenes. Movies like hostel, high tension, house of wax, saw, texas chainsaw massacre, etc, portray the innate "creative" instincts of sin and evil in all dimensions. Appreciate the true effort put behind creating those sound effects and the bloody thrills. I will definitely be a somniac seeing the classy romantic horror movies which delivers nothing but long black attire, huge dimensionless teeth, at times blood succulent moments (growling like a monster) followed up with tender kissing scenes. Those movies portray no-existence in being. Go for it lady :)

Aparna Ganguly said...

@sangram
Ae rey! Esey Geche. Tarantino'r advocate. You opened my comment box after 100 years just to defend Hostel and the likes!?
My apologies if I made it sound like that I have labeled Hostel as a B-grade movie but it was an independent statement all together. For me, horror is not about ripping heads with a chainsaw or plucking eyeballs or making a guy sit on his own puke and wonder what made him land up there in the first place. It's about subtleties like seeing your loved one turning into a complete stranger and monstrosity doesn't necessarily mean a pair of extra canines for sucking blood. And you have to admit, a sound track has to be much more effective for a sophomoric ( to borrow your idea) Gothic romance than a broad stroke grotesque orgy.
Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion and choice of taste. You can't say I lack courage if I abhor watching a movie like Hostel and it disgusts me and sickens me and throws me into a fit. About "saying something with conviction only when you experience it, otherwise leave it alone", I don't think you are free from that vice either. You, for instance, haven't read a single Harry Potter book and go on to say you don't know what people find in a wizard kid flying on a broom and casting spells around. So, my piece of advice is- practice BEFORE you preach. And you are welcome to defend your beloved flicks anytime. I just can't submit to your argument. That's it:)

Aparna Ganguly said...

@saurav
Couldn't agree more. My mother often tells me that most people feel unhappy throughout their lives because they keep looking for it in the wrong places.
It's about being happy RIGHT NOW. Not the future which is veiled by uncertainty. Not the past which we can not change. But NOW- the present- the only time when we have the power to do anything. And more than anything else- the power to exercise our right to CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY.