The ovarian lottery!

I recently came across a blog post which revolved around the thought process of a dreamer…one who is not straitjacketed into one primary goal in life..one who has the hunger to explore different facets which interest and stimulate the mental faculties. I have always belonged to this genre of people. I love getting involved in multiple activities. It stretches to reading as well. At any point in time, I am reading 3-4 books for sure. As much as I try giving my undisturbed attention to a particular task or a book for that matter, when I come across an exciting job to do or a book which makes me want to bring everything around me to a standstill and gobble it down, my will power goes haywire. It gives me some kind of an uncanny kick and more importantly makes me happy.

For the last few weeks, I have been writing a lot…for magazines, newspapers and the first book in the pipeline. The reading has gone up a few notches higher too. The exciting part is, the reading has spread its tentacles into Odia Literature too. Until the past few months, I had an aversion towards reading in Odia. There was no particular reason. Blame it on westernization or on the vehement stress that our society places on usage of English Language. Whatever it might be, it never happened.

The journey begun when I was given the task to write about venerable Odia women. It involved a lot of research into their background and since all of it was written in the regional language, I was almost forced to read it. I found it rather irritating, more so because it took me a while to fathom and figure out the coherency in statements, primarily because of lack of practice over the last few years. In due course however, I started liking it. I also started to understand the truth behind the statement when people say that a translated text loses its charm in more ways than one. At this point, after reading many such autobiographies, I am very open to reading in any regional language that I come across, to taste the freshness of language and of perspective, in a society which was very different from ours.

In fact the excitement reached a crescendo when I figured that I would love to read original works of Tagore, which would mean that I would have to pick up Bengali, right from scratch. I called up a friend of mine in Kolkata and asked him to mail a copy of “Shahoj Path”, penned by Tagore and published by Shantiniketan, for beginners in Bengali. This being a Saturday night, he was almost sloshed and thankfully the network saved me of the string of choicest comments (an euphemism), I would have otherwise received.

I hope the peaks continue. I hope the excitement does not wane. I hope I am well versed with Bengali Literature a few years down the line.

Stringing the post to a new note, I shift to one of the current books I am reading titled “Wise and Otherwise”, by Sudha Murty, the Chairperson of the Infosys Foundation. I picked it up after ten minutes of subtle coerciveness by the owner of my favorite book shop, lined on the street, near the railway station, in the capital city of Odissa. I disregarded this lady, not in a very dismissing manner, but for the simple fact that I had the impression that she finds publishers at her doorstep only because she is the better half of an IT icon. After reading the book, I still feel the same, though the respect for her as a person, has increased tremendously. She has picked up 50 everyday occurrences, which salute life; instances which make you stop and ponder about how sensitive or scheming people are. There is a particular part to the book where she talks about recognizing one’s limitations, which touched me. She says that one always starts out with an idealistic perspective that you can change the world. But ideally, one should stress on lighting a single candle as well you can and then move on to lighting as many candles as you can. That might not change the whole world but it certainly changes somebody’s world! How seemingly simple and realistic is the thought behind it!

The book is very lucidly written and makes a decent read. I still think that had she not been associated with Infosys, this book would not have been published. There are scores of bloggers and writers who are much better versed with the language and have a superior might of the elbow.

Ummm…writer’s block! 😀

(An excuse to abruptly shift to another topic 😀 )

I and a couple of friends..we are making a docu-fiction on incest. The last week has been one crazy ride. Visiting film makers, writing and reviewing the script, auditioning for actors and getting the technical part of it in place, meeting tons of possible funding agencies and the like.

An excerpt from a recent conversation with the Senior Security Officer(SSO) at Infosys:

Me: Sir, we want to meet someone from the CSR team. We are making a documentary on incest and would like to talk to them about funding it.

SSO: Hmm…incest!

Me: Yes Sir, its based on male relatives exploiting girls within the family. We want to create awareness about it through a documentary,

SSO: Lemme talk to the HR.

(Wondering what on earth has the HR gotta do with this!)

SSO: Sir, a couple of students have come and are making a film on INSECTS.

Me(Hurriedly Interrupts) : Sir, its INCEST.

SSO: Haan haan.  Sir, its INSECTS. Should I send them over?

(Almost tear my head in frustration)

(Conversation ends. Meeting stalled)

P.S: This post is as randomly connected as it can ever be! Blame the sleeplessness and the blurry eyed, drowsy me…typing out the post, because its been long since I’d updated my blog and also because, Indiblogger will review my site in the next week or so 😀

And why should you read it?

Maybe because I won the ovarian lottery! 🙂