Random Party

SHIFT

We, my blog and I, have officially moved.
It might take a while for us to make a complete comeback.
But, we will.
New face.
New place.

Now at larikamallier.wordpress.com

As for the Random Party...
I will always love it! It's more than just a piece of me. =)

Love,
Larika.

Goodbye Whitney!

This is such a sad, sad year for the music industry.
In her 2002 interview, Whitney was asked by Diane Sawyer what she envisioned for herself ten years down the line...
Her answer was along the lines of retired, at peace, watching her daughter grow and hopefully becoming a grandmum...
It's sad that it was such a far cry from reality.

No matter what, she was, is and always will be... just, legendary.
R.I.P. Whitney Houston!

Why the moment is not overrated

The moment is right here.
It's not making promises and it's not letting you down.
It turned up.
It's present.
You have it.
Therefore, by default, it is reliable.
The moment is giving you a choice.
To love it or let it go.
But it's letting you choose.
Which is definitely more than you can say for a whole lot of other things in life.
The moment lasts as long as you're aware of it.
It's flexible, that way.
Making itself available for anything you many conceive.
It is forgiving of the past and unafraid of the future;
unintentionally I think, by simply being singularly disconnected from them;
respecting their existence and the fact that they will never be it's friends.
The moment is as powerful as it is harmless,
as dangerous as it is safe.
It can morph into whatever you wish and are willing to make it.
The moment is often misunderstood.
Often used as an excuse.
Often blamed.
But, mostly, often your best and only friend.
Make it count.
I wouldn't say always.
Because that's a cliche, not to mention, humanly impossible.
But as often as you're able to.
A moment treated right, will last a lifetime.

Eddie Currents!

Finally in the spotlight again.
Eddie Redmayne!
Fell in love with him as Jack Jackson and can't wait to watch him as Colin Clark in "My week with Marilyn".
(Superfine ensemble too!)

Quick whip. New trip.

When misery came knocking,
Wish I'd turned my back;
Said I was busy.

Then bullshit came around.
Wouldn't have had him,
Had the dancing been making me dizzy.

Then reasons tried the door.
So sexy.
So tempting.

Wait up!
Last time I checked,
reasons left me. No score.

Quite simple then. Yes?
Misery. Bullshit. Reasons. Check.
All mine.

Shut down. Refuel.
Round two?
I'm sorry.
Haven't got the time.

The latest from OK Go

These guys are, and have always been, pure genius.

Goodbye to a bit of the Blues

1938 - 2012

Gotta love Sinead!

I love this song.
Had a brain infected with it back in 2003-2004 and since...
Happy reminder today.
Gotta love the video from 1990! =)
2008

1990

A New Year/Wish

No predictions.

No resolutions.

No expectations.

LOTS of dreams.

Some loosely thought of plans.

An end of a 5 year era!

Being love.
Beginning of ANYthing.

May your days be merry and bright.

And if not, may you be more resilient than ever before.

Love, laughter, peace, and luck
to you, your's and their's.

Travelling light to wide open spaces.

As usual..

So much has transpired in the year gone by, and the last month we're in, is looking to be like a year of experiences in itself. There has been much change and travelling. (As predicted, if I might add!)
It's almost like there's been a spiritual, emotional, mental and physical journey through change.
And I don't use any of those 4 words lightly; Just 'cause they generally "go together"...
I could, very well, attribute each one with a specific component/circumstance/situation in my life.
Not that I would, on a blog, though.

But, if there ever were the perfect way to travel, in every sense of the term,
I'd say, it was and is, to travel light.
The less baggage, the more stamina you have to enjoy your trip.
I'm going to call it a lesson learned.
I would've smilingly, rolled my eyes right about now and mumbled "like I have a choice", if I weren't spelling it out for you. But it's true.
As I moved from place to place in this year, whether on land, in my heart or in the random, confusing, strangely peaceful all the same, realms of my mind, I unwittingly became a wiser packer.
It almost escaped my realization entirely, how good I've become at discerning what really needs to be in the "suitcase" of my life. Don't mind the blatant self-appreciation going on.

Anyway, the best part is, that the contents of my 'bag' don't need to be fixed. I can keep coming home to get the gold I can't carry everywhere, or to enjoy a night out in my sexy leather high heels that are too bulky to take with!
And without trying to carry everything I already own to every new place I go, I suddenly have so much more room to bring back the real treasures I find on my way wherever it is I'm going.
When you travel light, automatically more care-free, you realize that what is important to you, will always be important to you. And whether you have it locked in a suitcase by your side every step of your way or instead, somewhere around in the world for you to keep visiting once in a while, it’s going to stay just as important.
That even makes it more valuable in a way, to know you’ve got goodies to go back to if ever the world isn’t being too kind. Kinda like, home?

If my giant metaphor has somehow evaded you and you’ve still not caught on, I guess what I’m getting at is, how much of our “baggage” really is OURS?
Are your beliefs really YOURS?
Are your friends really YOURS?
We all know that the knowledge we possess isn’t ours. We don’t really begin to “know” anything until a considerable amount of ‘life’ has passed us by. And even then, we’re not really sure! In fact, I think real freedom comes from accepting that we really know nothing at all!
And nothing but yourself is really your own. (ok! Maybe your family. I mean we really get stuck with those guys! =) I'm not complaining, believe me!)

It might sounds idealistic, the way I put my thoughts to word, but it’s a concept my mind has been swimming around and typing to myself like this helps me analyse my thoughts very often.
I think, we’re sometimes so attached to everything that we pick up along the way in our lives that we try to cling to it all, not recognizing how much it weighs us down, until the fatigue sets in leaving us confused, leading to an inevitable question:
I’m big on life! Then WHY am I tired?
Personally, I think it’s a combination of 3 particular things:
1. Failure to accept – that things change and that the only thing we really have any control over, is ourselves.
2. Imposing ideas/beliefs upon people who see things differently and aren’t willing to bend their ways to agree with yours.
3. Expectations (unreasonable, reasonable or otherwise)

I’m not saying that attacking each of these things would be ideal and life would be perfect. (Actually I would whole heartedly say that, that was impossible. We’re human! And we don’t have on/off switches. Although, that might’ve made things easier!)
But I think it’s important to be aware of how these things contribute to excess baggage.
Just accepting that all you’ve got is yourself in the driver’s seat, believing what you’ve got to, in order to keep YOU happy and going; not expecting the world to be fair all the time.
Or better yet, not expecting anything at all!

The way I see it, is that the world will always have it’s messy unfairness. And sh*t will always go down. But as an independent entity in the fabric of the universe, you get to choose not to be weighed down by what’s troubling and instead, hopefully be a source of joy/drive to someone who really needs it. It’s all highly debatable, possibly overly idealistic, but it’s the optimist in me that wishes I, we, you, could always make that brave choice to take life as it comes and make it do what I, we, you want; And just for that half ‘n hour of blogging, I suppose I truly want to ignore what’s real and believe it was easy.
Like most things, I’d agree it’s easier said than done.
But from my meager 22 years of experience, I’d say, no matter what it seems like,
get out there.
But,
keep it simple
&
travel light.

CHOOSE

I started re-reading this today!

Random Extract:

EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY,
CHOOSE!

Choose to do the right thing, the tough thing - not the familiar, easy thing.
Choose the way of the warrior or the way of the coward.
Make your choice out of love instead of fear.
Choose from the heart.
Choose to live fully, not to sleepwalk through your life.
Choose to respond with the way you really feel, not the way you're supposed to feel.
Choose the mineral water over the soda; choose the lemon juice and olive oil over the blue cheese; choose the walk in the park over the ride to the mall.
Choose simplicity over extravagance.
Choose conversation over the television.
Choose to talk things out rather than stew in your anger overnight.
Choose compassion and generosity.
Choose to smile instead of frown.
Make your own choices in your own time and choose to stick with them.

-Rachel Snyder.

Focusing Energy

We're only young once.

Then again, I suppose you could stay young till you die.

Depends on how you see things.

If you see it the second way, the till-you-die way, then I suppose your energies are focused rightly to begin with.

If not, what are you wasting your energy, or to give you the benefit of the doubt, focusing your energy on?

(I have to say that, although I might be dishing out benefits of doubts, I'm really none the wiser about where my energy is being wasted or correctly focused.

Ok! Actually, to be fair, I WAS none the wiser.

The introspective wardrobe, I've adorned myself with over the past few weeks, had a bit of a role to play in the change of tense.)

The apparent conclusion, after some collaborative situational analysis (with trusted, like-minded, equally introspective forces of nature), seems to be that for now, for our approximate age-group (plus-minus ten years.. ok maybe not minus!...) the right attitude is a selfish one.

Now don't be shocked and start recommending shrinks!

I don't mean selfish to the extent of converting yourself to a sour, cold rock that is bound to be extradited by society overall!

I mean selfish to the extent of making sure you're investing enough time in developing who you are and what you want to be!

If not now and always, then when? When you're older and dead?

Channeling energy into things you love doing and want to achieve has got to be more gratifying than spending it on pointless fretting over changes in relationships and insignificant events in the past!

(Again, I'm just guessing here!)

But of course, it's obvious anyone would want to be able to reap the returns of energy put into anything.

It's about being able to recognize when you're putting in more than you're getting back;

and having the strength to say, 'enough!'.

It doesn't matter how badly your energy tries to convince you that there's enough of it to keep giving where there's no getting, it's important to remember that you don't want to be many years down the line looking back and thinking, 'well, that was a waste of my time!'

If anything is true, it's that the heart can always see rightly. (Read The Little Prince!)

Even if you're not out there wasting your energy on un-watched displays of whatever, your heart always knows what you want and how you feel, even if the objects of your wasted energy do not.

So, in the spirit of some righteous selfishness, its ok to stop. In fact, it's better.

(These are all assumptions and deductions. Don't take my word for anything. I'm simply thinking through my fingers here!)

But I was good at theorems!

I have to suddenly abort this post now, or I could ramble on, endlessly!

I'll just say.

Stop wasting. Start focusing!

(If you want! :))

I'm going to try.

I found a picture titled "Rise of the Radiant Goddess" with Google Images!
Of course I had to use it! *rolls eyes*!

I'm back!

"Hold your own. Know your name. And go your own way."

Over the past few months I've touched down in four Indian states.
Eaten all kinds of weird new things; including a surprise bite into a brinjal, just when I was beginning to forget what the wretched things tasted like.
I've been paid for my services. Services that actually got sent to be executed on construction sites in Gujarat and Maharashtra! =O
I've discovered more new music and movies than ever before and have completely fallen in love with things I'd never even paid any attention to earlier.
(Yes, I'm being annoyingly vague and non-descriptive, I know. But, I'm feeling lazy.)
I've met so many new people. So many of whom were about as similar to me as red apples are to purple erasers! And I've discovered the joy of the anxious excitement in bonding with and getting to know people and things so far removed from my own place in the world.
I honestly believe that if you're willing to keep an open, willing-to-learn mind and an accepting attitude (even to things you aren't used to), you'd be able to find love and friendship in almost anyone.
You'd even be able to make a home wherever you are. Of course it could never compare to your actual home, but it would suffice to keep you going.
If there's one thing working in an office environment taught me, it's
not to judge a book by it's cover. Never. Don't do it. Because you can't.
Whatever preconceived notions you choose to come up with, if you give people a chance, they'll surprise you.
In good ways and bad.
I've come to realize how extremely unimportant things I've prioritized in the past really are.
I'm also suddenly acutely aware of the fact that, when it comes to my future, I don't know anything for certain.
Except maybe that, because I love to travel, I will never stop.
I'm finally upon the last 6 months of a 5 year painfully splendid journey through a bachelors in Architecture.
After this, the world in my playground. I could do, for the first time in a long time, pretty much anything!
I've never been more afraid of a bloody playground!
But, there's still 6 months of a sheltered student life to go before that.
So to jumbo sized thesis projects and whatnot... I'm back yo! Come n' get me.

Ok. On second thought,
hold on.
I'm coming to get YOU.

Update.

So, it's been a long blogging hiatus...
I have to admit, I really miss it.
But, a lot has been going down in the life of me.
I talked about 2011 being full of change earlier.
Who knew, I had no idea what I was talking about. =)
Change! And HOW!

What's important though, is that everything's good.
In fact everything's great.
Life and I surprise myself regularly these days.
And I'd love to go into details but time limits at net cafe's and a lack of the right number of words so as not to sound like a rambler, don't help.

So, until I have a regular net connection again and blogging is more convenient,
I leave you with happy thoughts and an anticipation for everything.
Stay cool.
La.

Just another emotional blogpost

This is my "listen to when sad" song.

I guess I am a little sad today.
I hate Goodbyes... That's why it's always "I'll see you later" with me.
This probably sounds over-dramatic for people who are used to travelling and being away from home...
I'm down with long gaps of travelling,
but, being away from home? Say for instance, work or education?
That's completely new.

I know for a fact I'm only going to be gone a few months. And we all know how time flies!
It's the possibility of so many other things changing at the same time that has me all shaken up inside.
I know that what I return to in a few months will not be exactly what I left behind.
I know that while some "I'll see you later"s will only last till I get back, others are indefinite.

We're at the biggest crossroad we've had to face to date, all our lights a-blazing and engines roaring to go. Just waiting for our respective signals to change. (Admit it, I have a way with these corny metaphors.)
Here's to stepping out of comfort zones or, as I'd like to look at it, expanding them.
May whatever it is to come, at least, make for some good photographs and writing.

Having said all that,
PUNE! I LOVE YOU!

Today, I'm me. Yesterday, I was her. Tomorrow? We'll see...

"And a lost pulse of feeling stirs again.
The eye sinks inward, and the heart lies plain,
And what we mean, we say, and what we would, we know.
A man becomes aware of his life's flow..."

From 'The Buried Life' by Matthew Arnold

That's how I ended the second post of this year..
I was thinking today about how I haven't 'really' blogged in a while..
Not that there's anything wrong with that. But, I feel like today...
I like my blog man. So, whatever. =P

It's funny looking back on the things you've written.
Especially when you can understand the person who wrote them and are suddenly, in a moment of breathless realization, made aware of the fact that this person no longer exists.
It's true, your yesterdays self is not the same you today.
You have new opinions. You've experienced some new things. You've questioned your beliefs. You're more sure. You're less sure. Your right leg has shrunk a little bit. Your right leg was always shorter you're just more aware. You're happier. You're as happy as you've ever been. You're not as happy as you want to be.
I know I had a point, and now I'm feeling like I've babbled myself into a bit of confusion and I can't remember the point.

But, going back to that post I wrote in the month of January, I'll say that I was right.
2011 is definitely the year of big change.
I'm still the same person, basically. But, so much as already changed that I finally understood what a sneaky lil' rat change can be. It just lurks around the corner. Creepily.
You'd think it would just pounce out of the shadow and shock the living mundaneness out of me. (I'm sure it does that in some cases) But, no. Not to me.
To me change came disguised as duty, friendly responsibility that smiled and stood next to me and whispered under her breath that if you don't step up now, I'm going to screw you over.
So of course, I obliged.
You don't turn down those threatening mob bosses who grin and say "you'll get that done, won't you?" in all their rhetorical glory.
For you know, failure to rise to the occasion and the job, will only end... simply put, badly.
So, yes, in my extremely wordy, beating around the bush fashion what I'm saying is, that change coaxed me into making it.

I went to assist a friend for her Psychology practicals, and she did something called the "value based test" on me.. (something to that effect, anyway)
It was supposed to turn up a result on the kind of person I am, based on my answering a whole bunch of random multiple choice questions, based on pretty much everything!
Before starting, she had to do what these Psycho people call, a case history...
All that means is that she asked questions to understand how I perceived myself.
This would later be compared to the actual test results.

I was pretty surprised to see, my perception of myself was suddenly way off what the test showed me to be. Of course, thoughts like "She's just a student, I'm sure she effed up somewhere." crossed my mind. (Sorry Tay, they did.)
But, my mind doesn't easily dismiss things like this and *dramatic music* -- of course! -- introspection.

So, the test result showed that I was high on the "theoretical". Sort of balanced out on the political, religious, etc. etc. and I scored lowest on "social".
*jaw drops* What? Nooo!!
Well, yes.
The case history showed that I thought of myself as an outgoing, social animal. Which quite frankly I really was. (Still am to certain extents...)
But, after thinking about my life the past few months, it finally makes sense.
I realize, the test might actually be right for some reasons I didn't even notice.
It's like change pulled a fast one on me.

This is how it happened, by my reasoning, anyway.
Today I'm free from the burden of education for a little while, but the build up to this point was laden with tonnes of work. So, I decided to prioritize.
My emotional disposition a few months ago, for reasons I'll keep to myself, was not helping the concentration I needed to get through the fourth year. And I figured the only way to get this stuff done and out of the way, was drastic measures.
Kidding myself in the past with, "I can handle everything" obviously didn't work too well...
So, *ta-daa* .. Isolation.
I literally cut off from everything.
Well, MOST things.
I still kept some things going, for fear of losing my mind, 'cause this was all so new to me.
(Trust me, it's hard for extremely socially active people to suddenly stop being that way)
But I forced myself.
I had lots of stuff to sort out in my filled-with-everything head AND I had the academic mumbo jumbo to deal with. (It's easy for me to ignore that, when I'm weak to social distractions)
But this time was different.
I took everything head on.
Hard as it was, once in a while, I got used to doing things on my own. To not having to have to call someone to talk to or chill with when I had some extra time. I slept regularly. Didn't push work to ridiculously odd hours 'cause of some extremely unimportant social engagement. I started reading lots of stuff online, informative stuff, and keeping up with the news! If you knew me you'd know I was always vague about the news. But, suddenly this whole interest in information developed. And not just pointlessly, but because I realized that there is so much going on out there that we know nothing about. That we NEED to know. It's good to be happy where you are, loving your life. But it's better when you're doing that, all the while acutely aware that you are part of something much bigger.
It felt good to be doing things and celebrating some of my capabilities.
It was humbling to see that I was no where close to being exceptionally good at anything.
It is scary to know that no matter how much I try, nothing I ever do to make anything better, will ever be enough.
And, it's empowering to know that the little I can do will still make a difference.
And the littlest of a positive difference matters just as much as the biggest.
It's all relative.

So, yeah. The test says "theoretical" over "social".
And it's something I am more than willing to accept.
I don't know what kind of person I will be tomorrow and what will have changed me.
I know that I'm alright for now.
And there's nothing really to ask for.
Doing my thing, whatever it is, and taking it as it comes works for me.
I'm happy.
I'm sure I could be happier and obviously I could be sadder but thinking about it like that just nullifies the happiness that exists. It's like it doesn't matter 'cause it's being compared.
And, happiness matters.
Happiness matters a lot.
If you're happy and you know it,
own it.

If you know who you are, I hope you love it.

If you don't, I hope you find it.
I'm at peace with being somewhere in the middle of those two, for now.

Karmin Covers

I should start off by thanking Eesa!

It's cos of something he posted on Facebook that I discovered this duo.

Amy and Nick. Together, a band called Karmin.

You can check out their stuff on

Karminmusic.com

Or their Youtube pages:

youtube.com/karmincovers

youtube.com/karmintube

I still haven't finished listening to it all, but from what I've heard, I really like these two.

It's safe to say that Amy is 'something else'!

A badass white chick who raps, has crazy vocals and plays guitar.

And like in this video, sometimes she does it all at the same time!

'I need a doctor' is one of my favourtite covers by them.

Check out, 'Written in the Stars', 'Someone Like You', 'Look at me now' and 'Forget you' too. I'm sure there are more, but these are some I've heard and liked. Still to check out the original stuff.

I should probably add, that while Amy kinda steals the show with all the talent (no need to mention she's the pretty girl!) I think Nick, who's a good singer himself, provides some solid support. I love the harmonies.

Enough said. This is more to tell you to check 'em out for yourselves.

I'm going to go COOKooo!

I have officially been informed that I will no longer be provided with breakfast.

* PANICS!*

OK. No.

Not REALLY panicking!

This benefit or luxury is being withdrawn by my wonderful father/breakfast maker, with a view to making me more self- ... what's the word? 'reliant'? 'sufficient'?

Independent?

Whatever man! (In the spirit of recent chain-messaging [for those who know what I'm talking about.])

But, reluctantly, I concede that this new change in circumstance is much required.

Especially considering, that in the near future, I will need to, at least, KNOW the basics of what goes on in a kitchen.

I have friends who will whole heartedly testify to my ignorance when it comes to all things - KITCHEN.

Well, save for the eating.

I'm freakin' ACE at the eating.

Anyway,

I've just never gotten down to cooking, or even experimenting with it.

And I've always lived off the comfort of having parents who are awesome at it, and a sister who GOT awesome at it only after she got married.

Well, I'm NO-where close to getting married and I'm going to leave my parents for a little while soon.

Yes, basically...

SCREWED!

(Eating out can happen only so much. *makes gesture that you can't see so this is pointless*)

For all these reasons,

even though the thought of not being provided with awesome-big-breakfasts from tomorrow makes me sad,

I'm kicked.

It is finally time (and THERE IS FINALLY TIME) to take on Food Production! =P

I am open to all kinds of tips and easy recipes.

EASY.

In case that didn't register.

Healthy also, but EASY first.

Let's see how this goes.

More Stuff

Began the mini-series 'The Pillars of the Earth' yesterday.

It may be a work of fiction, but I think it's superbly done and even works of fiction aren't entirely baseless.

Worth a watch/ read for sure!

I am also now in love with Eddie Redmayne.

Smiley face Marshmellows =)

(Tend to look a lil creepy if you don't squeeze them right.)

Remember that thing I was saying about big breakfasts?

Yes. Forever! =)

Today, I will do more studying than anything else.

Really.

Storytime

'Cause that's what it is.
This is our story.
Ok. This (as in, this blog) is mostly mine.
But these moments... they're ours.

(This is all stemming from one long epic conversation about everything and it all seems very out of context now, so never mind... Just think about YOUR story, later. I'm sure you'll pause and go "whoa!" for a moment. And with every fibre of my being, I hope the "whoa!" is one of good feeling.)

I'm finally done with the 'submissions' for the the fourth year of my course.
And for us, if you survive submissions and vivas, exams are quite a breeze.
(If you have enough of a gap in between, that is.)
But, stress levels are definitely a lot more in control.
Life seems FUN and full of positive energy again.
Not that it wasn't before,
but lets just say...
HUGE difference!

So, I've been up to a whole lot of uplifting things since the submissions got done...
which include peaceful studying for an upcoming paper.
Most (not all) of these things I could capture in a picture...
So, starting from the morning of my last submission to today,
this is my picture story.
(obviously I don't have evidence of everything, but this is what it is so far...)