Ajaan...

I am sitting here in my room. I didn't sleep the entire night because I had slept almost the entire day prior to that. I am done with all the arbit stuff that I can do on the net. I thought of studying French but doing something (especially the things which I associate some aesthetic value with) with an immediate purpose usually oozes out all the gumption in me. So French was out for tonight. I started reading a book which has diary entries by Sartre but then gave it up and took up another which I read almost as fetishly as a staunch catholic would read the bible. I was revelling in it when I heard this ajaan from some mosque nearby. My thoughts went to the person who would have got up at this hour for morning prayers and I just thought, " .....if only, I also had something like that to get up for...."

Why???

"When you discover something like that it’s like discovering a tooth with a missing filling. You can never leave it alone. You have to probe it, work around it, push on it, think about it, not because it’s enjoyable but because it’s on your mind and it won’t get off your mind."

Zor se ignore

Another completely innovative and "bang on the target" slang by one of my friends. Two of the people from our gang had just started seeing other. As they were walking hand to hand in some mall, they chanced upon a colleague and ex-collegemate (guy's). Explaining the encounter later, the guy from the couple said, "Usney humein dekha aur itna zor se ignore mara ki...."

Beautiful ironical slang. Kudos Stinky!!

My old book shop...

I went to my college time book shop after long. It is a place where I have spent many of my evenings sitting on a stool between the racks and reading, sipping the coffee which they used to serve as a gesture of hospitality. As always, it didn't disappoint me this time either.
I thought that I might find their collection small after my tryst with the OMs, Odysseys and Teksons in the NCR but then, there it was with the small yet enticing and beautifully organized collection of books. And the best part is, on asking about some particular book by say Galbraith, you get an informed suggestion about some other books by the same author ("JK Galbraith ki yeh book out of print hai, waise 1929 ke depression par unki book is topic pe likhi gai sabse easy read hai.") and also books by other authors along the same lines instead of awkward looks (read with no ideas whatsoever about the book or the author) with mipronunciations of the author's name. That's the kind of difference which comes to things when people care about the work that they do.