Blood, sweat, tears.... we go live!

Hey, I'm so happy that my company's website has a spanking new look. www.cohezia.com : It is so difficult taking your own medicine and ensuring that your website has the same standards like you recommend.

As someone who has been completely immersed in this project of late, I do know the special kind of effort that is required to make this happen over and above all the work you do for your clients. Physician, heal thyself was our rallying cry, and we finally managed to do this.

Do take a look, let me have some kind words... it was a special joy to get a "we are live" sms at two in the morning from my team. Bravo.

Here's looking at you, grandpa!

My granddad died a couple of days ago. He died living a full life, with his dignity intact, and with minimal pain. He was near his loved ones when he passed away.

I feel extremely sad at seeing him go- he was a real funster who didnt have a single bad bone in his body. But I do feel happy that he didnt suffer much, and the end came before it got very bad.
I'll always remember the Frank Sinatra song that he used to sing/hum when he didnt know the words:

...It was on the isle of Capri
That he first saw her
underneath that old walnut tree..

I'll like to imagine he's singing some ditty like this up there. Here's looking at you, Grandpa!

Poem

Small Joys are Life's toys

Giving pleasure even in pain

When I get a small joy

I become childlike again.

Small joys are butterflies

everywhere yet out of hand

When I get a small joy

I've found Neverland.

Small Joys Unlimited

Access your soul and see

when you get even one

Life is momentarily free.

Indian Butter

Ok, Mr.Cholesterol Watcher, you aren't really going to like this one. Maybe I won't either soon enough. So here's a small joy beyond compare, while it lasts: Indian butter. I've never had better. Either the white variety, or "Amul". I miss my current fix- there's some kind of shortage in Pune- and any healthy substitute doesn't cut it. Sorry.

Nobody really talks about it much in India- we take the taste so much for granted. But anyone who's headed out or has just come back from a foreign land will definately know what I'm talking about. The salty, rich taste that is so peculiarly Indian. The way it works on toast, waffles, parathas, naans, and anywhere else- like butter chicken.

I like the white butter too- Loni- though this has fewer takers nowadays. It's a little sour but has an amazing, home-made taste. Try the Loni on hot toast, and dip it into a masala chai, when its raining outside. Yum.

Rear Classic

I saw Rear Window on DVD recently. What a wonderful movie, even after all these years. James Stewart leads the absolute idyll life(except of course that his leg is in a cast and someone tries to actively murder him during the movie).

He's got a rear window in his studio and can spy at real interesting neighbours with abandon. He gets regular massages from his nurse. He gets treated to fine wine and food by Grace Kelly (who looks picture perfect in cocktail dresses). He swills cognac and has a swell time.

It's a wonderful life (wasn't that the name of his other movie? hm. perhaps he specialises in this sort of thing). Watch the technicolor version, the mood, ambience and dialogue on a dark night . Savor this "Rear Classic". Couldn't resist the pun.

All you need is imagination

My kids tend to use me to prolong their time not nodding off to sleep through stories that I concoct. It is a lot of fun, even if you are dog tired, something about a goofy story ensures a child's giggle. Very infective.

One particular fun thing we end up doing is to "complete the story" with everyone pitching in one sentence before the baton goes to some other place. So a typical prince and princess story ends up at a mad scientist's lab with super heroes thrown in. Sometimes it gets so crazy that we cant continue.

I guess that's what they do in some cartoons, judging by the storylines that you see. As Spongebob Squarepants said, "All you need is imagination". Amen.

Atlas Atlast

I've been trying to get hold of a world atlas for a long time, a real good, updated one and stick it into the kid's room. Finally, I managed to nail one in and have been having a lot of fun poring over it. Doing so immediately makes me a kid, trying to know what the world is all about (like: where is Ougadougou and which country's capital is it- and where the Azores islands are).

World Maps are a curious fascination- in my mind's eye, I take a ship cruise that moves off from Mumbai, into the Red Sea, through Suez and into the Med- what a trip that must be.

I look at Tasmania and wonder whether its the same size as SriLanka, or whether the scale distorts size. I look at Chile and am fascinated by the way it looks.

I know I'm never going to visit all these places. But hey, I have visited them already, from my own home.