Alice In Wonderland

Throughout my life I have been concentrating intensely on studies (so they say…), music, books, or even on an activity like, coming up with something really mean and horrible to say to my loved ones so that they feel horrible for next 100 years..... or sleep.People are amazed by the deep concentration levels which I attain during slumber( slumber somehow sounds more respectable than sleep ;)).Anyways, a few days back I was surfing the Internet (with high levels of concentration and determination) for some dose of Java (not coffee beans but programming language)…One thing led to another and finally I found myself reading about Aldous Huxley and LSD. Just for trivia’s sake , Jim Morrison’s band was named ‘The Doors’ because of Huxley’s book named “The Doors of Perception”.The title comes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell:

"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man
as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things
through narrow chinks of his cavern."

I got really contemplative and tried to refine my thoughts in search of Jim Morrison’s inspiration. After lot of thinking I finally concluded that I couldn’t understand the head or tail of it.
But then LSD….Why do people prefer it over sleep?
Google tells me that latest rate for LSD is 3000$ per gram.
Sleep….you can have it for free… Any genre of entertainment you want it you can have it.For months I was watching a rerun of an episode where I was failing in my final Hindi examination and sweating profusely...it was a real thriller...sending shivers down my spine.(Just for the record...Hindi exam did send shivers down my spine...it is not a dreams "special effect")
When I was young and had high fever, I was hallucinating about large round “pebbeles” falling over me.My mother tried to bring me out of the stupor but no avail…the dream was an extension of reality for me…it was awfully convincing!Last month I dreamt that I was idling in the Swiss Alps.The scenic quaint shot was complete with lush green meadows and snow-capped peaks tinged with the amber hue of the setting sun.Of course I realized that I was viewing the Himalayas(Because that’s the closest I have come to the Swiss Alps in reality) in the backdrop instead of Swiss Alps after I was catapulted to reality by a mosquito bite.Considering the fact that these days I get no time to watch TV , leave aside National Geographic channel, this sojourn was invigorating. Who knows… if I am as lucky as Paul McCartney someday my dream will turn into a money-minting device by coming up with a song as popular as ‘Yesterday’ in my reverie. Or maybe I can try offering my dreams to people in instead of materialistic things as Yeats did.

"For I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread upon my dreams."

P.S. : Kudos to my concentration! Java to LSD to Dreams! :P

P.P.S. : :D Excuse the shoddy layout of the post...I am high on dreams!

Intellectuality Litmus : Part 1

I recently read an article from NY Times titled It’s Not You, It’s Your Books.

I wanted to comment on it.

Warning: Pride and prejudice ahead!

So, here it goes…

At the risk of sounding pretentious, let me declare that I do have low opinion of people whose favourite “book” is Archie comic-book and those who feel that it is unfair of Nobel committee to have not honoured Sidney Sheldon on account of his literary brilliance!

But can this be a true yardstick for gauging emotional compatibility?

My answer is YES.

I suppose my outlook is parochial but I can’t see how I can spend my life with a person whose only diet is Mills and Boons or some other publication to that effect (including Jeffery Archer, Sidney Sheldon’s etc.). I don’t mind people who read Somerset Maugham and Mills and Boons with equal interest…at least they have gone through a been-there-done-that stage.

The article says that,

The author (a person named as Augusten Burroughs) recalled a date with one Michael, a “robust blond from Germany.” As he walked to meet him outside Dean & DeLuca, “I saw, to my horror, an artfully worn, older-than-me copy of ‘Proust’ by Samuel Beckett.” That, Burroughs claims, was a deal breaker. “If there existed a more hackneyed, achingly obvious method of telegraphing one’s education, literary standards and general intelligence, I couldn’t imagine it.”

Well, some people do like Proust especially an artfully worn, ancient copy…you can’t hold that against somebody!… So what if the copy is beautifully worn out?! I think the message it gives out is “Hey I like Samuel Beckett's work…Would love to discuss it with you. ”

Bottomline: It attracts people of same kind to interact.

I would respect a person's wish to not to interact with me because of the books I read...perfectly understandable.My distaste to Archer or Sheldon books may not make a favourable impression on him/her.

Someone did point it out to me that there is more to life than Marquez, Camus, William Blake or Hemingway. But fortunately or unfortunately I end up sleeping with Orwell, Marquez, Pamuk or Chekhov etc. tightly clutched my hands.It is not how it sounds though… :P. After one or two hours of togetherness usually the book falls from my hand on the floor. The experience of reading that genre is thoroughly relaxing.

Jokes apart….. for me books are an indication of a person’s intellect…language of books is of course immaterial…A person reading Yugant by Iravati Karve in Marathi is equally interesting as a person reading books by George Orwell in English.

All said and done Iravati Karve or George Orwell are not the only indicator of a person’s intellect. Don’t get me started on music! (That is Part 2 in the making.)

My Guitar

Finally bought a guitar! :)