Monday, July 30, 2007

Carry on Heaven

Sunday evening I went to see the play “Carry on Heaven” being played in Manik Sabhagriha, Bandra Kurla Complex. Written and directed by Bharat Dabholkar, the play is a musical comedy. Louis Banks has designed the music and the songs are comical take-off from popular numbers of Bollywood and Hollywood. I wouldn’t have gone to see it (ah don’t like replays of mythological stories), had not I heard about its popularity.
The two hour long play is a spoof that lampoons every aspect of life – from politics, cricket, films, languages, film stars, doctors, medical systems, mafia, music, demons and even Gods!
The King of Gods, Indra desires to see a 20th century man from earth but what he gets is much more than he has bargained for...in the form of an Indian minister (read Laloo Prasad Yadav) of considerable political clout.

What follows is a hilarious chain of events...with minister trying to woo the heavenly apsara Menaka, learning new ‘positions’ of Kamasutra; Yamraj, the God of death joining the new coalition party in heaven, the ‘hung parliament’ and so on.
The naughty witty dialogues are mainly in English with subtle touch of Hindi, Marathi & Gujarati. From wonderbra to
castration – it mentioned everything. Worth watching if one doesn’t mind a little of shh shh dialogues. And Bharat Dabholkar ? What shiny head he has ! I wonder what oil & shampoo he uses. ;)

The cast included Viju Khote, Kishore Pradhan, Atul Kale, Sameer Chougule, Mukesh Ahuja, Priyanka Khimani, Palash Dutt and Sarika Mishra.

This was my first visit to Manik Sabhagriha and in my opinion, the auditorium is much better than Prithvi theatre at Juhu; both in size and infrastructure.
On my way back while waiting for 11:06 PM train at Bandra station, one small incident happened that left me thinking. More on that later.

P.S.-The "Passing the Sentence" game is still on for the last sentence and I have asked something over there. Will you be kind enough to answer that ? Pulleeease..

Current song- Love Me Do – Beatles
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Friday, July 27, 2007

Passing the Sentence Game #2

Ok, as promised I am back with game #2. This time I don’t want any complaints of not being able to play. So, making it a bit longer.. that is 20 sentences for this story.

Once again here’s an open invitation. Can 20 different sentences – written by different bloggers across the globe – weave a good Horror story? Let us find out.
I’m going to write the first sentence and I invite you all to contribute the next sentence, in sequence. Yes, the sentence is passed onto the next blogger. Just leave your sentence as a comment, and I’ll keep updating this post to show you the flow of the story. Believe me it’s lots & lots of fun !

I want to see how long it takes to complete the task, so please don’t be reticent. Also, I am going to invite a guest judge (Surprise, surprise !!) – who is also a blogger – to critique our effort.

Ok now, first things first, as this petite Cuckoo always does … here are some rules of the game. Please read them carefully before playing.

Rules of the game :

1. No one blogger can participate more than once in a single game and no anonymous commenter please. I am dead scared of them ! Bhoooot...
2. The story has to finish in stipulated no. of sentences only (20 in this case). So choose your sentence carefully as to go with the flow.
3. If you write more than one sentence, I’ll take only the first one and the story will move from there.
4. Sentences can be as long or short as you wish them to be, use lots of comma & semi colons. Please refer to Game #1.

So, here goes my first sentence. Let us see who the next one is. Please remember we are trying to make a HORROR story.

She loved the mountains, unsullied greens and that chilly foggy weather.. that morning as she leisurely came out of her hotel room, rubbing her hands, mesmerized by the surroundings she stepped onto a road she wondered where that would lead her to, and then suddenly...

Now folks, the stage is all yours. Loosen the reins of your imagination and create the magic.

-----------------------

Ahaa !! The story has started moving within no time. Cuckoo khush hui.

1. She loved the mountains, unsullied greens and that chilly foggy weather.. that morning as she leisurely came out of her hotel room, rubbing her hands, mesmerized by the surroundings she stepped onto a road she wondered where that would lead her to, and then suddenly... from Cuckoo.

2. She heard a voice, stopped for a while and as she turned back, found a blurred figure from that foggy atmosphere gradually proceeding to her...wow, it was that lady.... from Sag_Nik.

3. Who was her friend and with whom she had lost touch; meeting old friends in new places is always refreshing and she expected this was the same but least did she know that wasn't the case. This was from Maverick.

Bravo Peter ! Nice twist. It actually fits well with my current song, as if someone is calling out that woman !
4. She felt something strange about it, but did not yet know that this "lady friend" actually was a disguised man. From Peter.

5. That lady proceeded with a wily smile as the rustling sound of leaves made her shiver, unaware of the disguised person she asked her to join her stroll. From Vaidya… a first timer here as far as I know.

Five sentences gone, 15 left. Now, what next ?

6. It was while strolling that she noticed that the shadows showed only one person... "this cannot be!!", she thought... with this creeping on in her mind, she walked on casting a nervous and scared glance at her companion. From Sam.

Now here comes the challenge for all of us to carry on further. What I could make out from a veryyy long sentence by Scanman is here…not verbatim exactly.

7. The word 'disguised' offers too literal an explanation for the fantastic and other-worldly transformations that have taken place in the body and psyche of the man after he was possessed by the spirit of the woman whose sudden disappearance is still shrouded in mystery after so many months and the case file remains open for the police who are increasingly inclined to classify it as an unsolved homicide.

A request to all of you. Please keep the sentences in flow, in the spirit of the game and simple.. in order to let the next person understand it, else you know what I am going to do. :)

Huh Beast ! You are always after poor petite Cuckoo. Nice continuation but lordess ?
8. Nothing about the case was simple, no wonder it couldn’t be solved; her parents narrated things that defied logic, prior to her disappearance, the woman had been possessed by a demon, the demon Cuckoola, lordess of all evil powers. From Beast

Ha Ha.. demons writing blogs ?? Very interesting.
9. People closely associated with the woman have seen her, late into the night, writing (blogging!!!) and tearing up parchments of paper in high quality blood; obviously, people speculated about the different sources of blood, leaving them all paralysed with fear, and then suddenly, one "fine" night when many people died, they saw her taking the road leading to a dense forest all alone... . From Praveen

10. And this was that very road but now it was morning.. SHE in the body of a HE wanted to be with Anita, this prettiest woman in the world who had earlier snatched her boyfriend and in a way was the reason for her death.. today she wanted to take revenge by being close to Anita.. she would definitely try to woo her and take her to the interiors of that forest... From Mayank, a very old fan of Cuckoo. Mayank, you still without a blog ?

Ok, so ten sentences are over and as I can see it now, it indeed is going to be a horror story.

11. So it was a lady demon hovering over the man, disguised as Anita's female friend Rozy and now trying to take Anita to the remotest place in the forest.. Anita in a pink flowery dress looked as awesome as always, oblivious of Rozy’s devilish plans, wanted to go back to the hotel since she was scared and found something amiss… she noticed Rozy’s hand on which there was a bracelet which resembled the one given to her by her boyfriend…how could Rozy have it ? This one is from Rohit.

The twelfth sentence came in from Lord Suicaine.
12. Her boyfriend John had given her the bracelet when they were on a romantic trip to Greece where within two days John was found murdered; on the same evening the bracelet was stolen from her bag under mysterious circumstances and now the same bracelet on Rozy’s hand.. Anita was now scared to death thinking of the unthinkable, her face became pale in spite of her pink dress.. is Rozy a ghost?

Oh la la, where are we heading to ? This indeed is a spine chilling thriller. Simpler and shorter sentences please. We still have 8 more to go and am quite sure that the story will finish in that.

Next sentence comes from Kalyan.
13. Or is it just Anita's doubting senses.. she has become suspecting of almost everyone since her boyfriend John's death. She was keeping a close look on the bracelet and trying to find the initials of their first names AJ which was embedded on it and her mind was preparing to run back if she found it out...

14. There it was, the initials AJ embedded beautifully together on the inner side of the bracelet and with a blood curdling scream, Anita fainted. From Deepti.

Ouch ! Never expected so much of bloody things out here on my blog. Ha Ha.. enjoying it immensely. Hmm.. some people just love the horrors of life. I must say, the fifteenth sentence from Ashutosh is a very good attempt.

15. She started dreaming almost immediately, wherein she heard Rozy mention about the 'Blood Bloggers Band', an association that collected blood and supplied to bloggers who wrote in high-quality blood, and then she saw Rozy and John engraved inside a heart on a tree trunk in the same forest, with the entire etching bleeding freshly; Rozy was trying to get her back to consciousness—penetrating even her subconscious—before she made her next move as she wanted Anita to see what was coming to her.

Five more to go. Let us see how it ends. As I said earlier the story is going to a spine chilling thriller ! Good Luck to all the five next bloggers for brining it to a thrilling end. Black King, be ready to wrap up the game again.

This one really had me puking. I don’t think I’ll ever ask people to make a horror story. :(
16. Her subconscious mind sent electric impulses through the nerves emitting pulses which would explode the nerves, the arteries and the veins, making her head grow larger in size, the veins and the nerves ripping apart from her skin spreading like roots of a tree and her head growing bigger than the tallest tree in the forest emanating shrieking sounds... From Prax.

And this was once again a nice turn. Thank you Adi for bringing me to senses again. And heyy I am NOT Anita. Ok ?
17. As Anita came to her senses, she saw a face bent over her, it was a smile... a benign, veiled smile on J's face...J! J? "J", she screamed and...

18. she screamed and... found no voice coming out of her which first surprised her.. and then forced her to think if it was all dream she was having.. but then her eyes fell upon something that froze her - it was her own dead body.. This came from a dear blogger SiD.

Ok, now only two sentences left. Let us see who those two brave ones are to bring the story to a respectable end. Come on guys, don’t be afraid. It is just a story we all are trying to weave.

19. .. lying next to John’s.. his left hand around her shoulder, both were smiling as if they were going for a romantic walk in that perfect romantic morning on that mysterious road and then suddenly... From Arun P.

Only last sentence left !! Who’s going to bring this story to a meaningful end ? Heyy guys, I’ll wait for another 12 hours and if no one is courageous enough to come forward then I’ll complete it. What do you say ??

Hurray !!! I asked for one and got two in bargain with a difference of 9 minutes only. Thank you both Iceman and Abhi. Nice try, guys. All the readers wanted a happy end and you both have tried to do the same.
However, I am taking Abhi’s sentence as the last one since it is more meaningful. It looks like he read the story carefully to bring in all the finer points to a conclusion. Also, Iceman’s version has multiple sentences.
So, here goes the last sentence.

20. she heard him calling her name...."Good Morning Honey", he said and there he was smiling at her, standing with a breakfast tray in his hand, specially made for her on a chilly Sunday morning,......this was just what she had always wanted....a romantic holiday to Greece....she took a look at the tray and there it was.....a lovely blue bracelet with the initials AJ embedded on it.

Now the story is going directly to the reviewer's desk. Let us see what he has to say.

Current song- Waadiyan Mera Daaman, Raaste Meri Bahen – Md Rafi
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Wednesday, July 25, 2007

इजाज़त

So, I am back. It feels good to be home... to be in familiar surroundings. :) Some stories, some pictures.. hmm it will take some time. At times it is difficult to balance between work, travel and (yes, you guessed it right !) blogging. Nothing more I want to say at this point except to enjoy these lines written by me sometime back.

My next post would hopefully be (Oh, you’ve guessed it again !) “Passing the Sentence”. Oh I am so much excited about that game. Keep watching. Don’t miss it this time.


तुमसे दूर जाने का ग़म ही तो है मुझे
जो पास आने की इजाज़त नहीं देता।

बिछड़ जाने का डर ही तो है मुझे
जो मिलने की इजाज़त नहीं देता।

पर ये कमबख्त दिल समझता नहीं,
भूल जाने की इजाज़त नहीं देता।

Permission

It is the sorrow of departing
that holds me back from reaching you.

It is the fear of separation
that restrains me from meeting you.

But oh! This wretched heart!
It does not permit me to forget you.

Current song- जुस्तजू जिसकी की थी, उसको तो न पाया हमने – आशा भोसले

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Friday, July 20, 2007

The Cracked Pot

Off late except for one or two, I have not been able to comment on any of your blogs. You could have judged that since I haven’t replied to your valued opinions on my blog as well, which I religiously do. Work and travel are keeping me busy and these short trips always keep me on my toes.
Nothing to grouse about, let me share
a beautiful story with you. I call it 'Cracked Friendship' story. I’ll come back shortly. Till then Tchao, Bye bye, Au revoir. Have a blasting happy weekend !

A water bearer had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole, which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the House, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For two full years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection. And miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you. I have been able to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw. So I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house??

Each of us has our own unique flaws. We are all cracked pots. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are, and look for the good in them. Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape. Remember to appreciate all the different people in your life.

When you choose your friends, don't be short-changed by choosing personality over character. Accept people as they are. Never expect anything, always try to give .. for, it is their wonderful friendship you are getting in return.

Current song- Khushboo Jaise Log Mile Afsaane Mein – Ghulam Ali

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Why ???

Scribbled this late last night. For true meaning, I can say… Try, try, try ;)

Why it happens whatever happens ?
Why I cry till eyes dry ?
Why scream, why not dream ?
Why it rains when it pains ?

Why I choose to lose ?
Why me caged, why you raged ?
Why a scare, why not dare ?
Why a veil when I wail ?

Why I whine, why not wine ?
Why not a fake smile for a while ?
Why affection, Why addiction, Why surrender ?
Why Why Why ??


Current song-
Lag Ja Gale Ki Phir Ye Haseen Raat Ho Na Ho – Lata Mangeshkar

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Saturday, July 14, 2007

Happy Birthday to Me !!!

Hi all… Today is my 1st birthday…I am one year old. I was born on this day last year. What ?? Don’t you know me ? Don’t you know Cuckoo ? She is my mom, err.. correction. She is my supermom.

Ohh thank you.. thank you.. for all your good wishes.

Well, my mother had panicked the day I was born. No, no. I wasn’t a creepy creature from some alien world. In fact, she was not able to see my face !! She ran helter-skelter asking everybody what had happened to her eyes, why she was not able to see me.
Apparently she came to know that I was hale & hearty in some other room called blogspot where she didn’t have access to see me. She went to enquiry; there some people could see me and they conveyed her that I am beautiful ! *Ishhh I am blushing now*

Yes, since I was born a few days after the Mumbai bomb blasts, the Indian govt. had banned all her network to see me. That strike was called Internet censorship.

Anyway, she kept feeding me & after four feeds she could see me. Oh my food ? You all humans know it by the name of posts and today my weight is 83 posts. In my world the weight is measured in posts instead of Kgs. Hmmm.. quite a fatso I have become.

My mom cooks a variety of nutritious wholesome food for me and that leaves you all often drooling, laughing and pondering. Sometimes you guys become emotional by seeing me eat a seriously yummy food. She calls it food for thought.
Recently she has started nurturing some poems to me, both in Hindi and English, which though I do not understand much, you people enjoy a lot.

Whenever she feeds me a new dish, you all come running to see what the food is all about and then you give me beautiful gifts. Oh, I love it when you give me gifts. In your world they are called Comments… SiD uncle’s son told me this. He is elder to me and taught me many things. We are good friends and visit each other regularly.

In this one year I have made many friends and my friend circle is increasing everyday. I am happy. Some of you come, pull my chubby cheeks, see me growing but don’t give me any gift :( and some of you don’t write your names while giving gifts. Tell me, how do you expect me to give you a return gift ?

On New Year day, my mom Cuckoo gave birth to my sibling. She is also very cute. Whenever my mom goes traveling, she brings a variety of food for both of us. My little sister likes picturesque colourful food more than the stories. That reminds me that mom is traveling again next weekend. What should I do? :( or :)

These are my top three most tasted (read in your language) dishes.

Mulgi Shikli Pragati Zhali – This meal has three courses namely Part I, II & III. Please go course by course if you want to taste it.
Cry Man, Cry
Tears of Joy

Cuckoo recently prepared a very fine delicacy named That was Indu which has become quite popular among you but still has not been tasted as many times as to come in top three. It has 84 gifts... maximum no. so far.

Fabio Cannavaro was the best side dish and
Kaash was the first dessert prepared by Cuckoo, my lovely mom.

Heyy wish me good luck and a very happy & healthy life ahead and I do hope to have your company along…

Thank you for coming here, adoring me, appreciating me, and giving me lovely gifts (oh, comments). Aah my mom Cuckoo gets excited by all these gifts and starts feeding me more delicacies. ;)

Current song- Jungle Jungle Baat Chali Hai, Pata Chala Hai - Jungle book

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Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Blogrolling – How important ?

Is blogrolling a favour to others or a convenience for ourselves ? Is collecting links from other blogs so important ?

Quite often I have been asked about my blogroll. People say they can not see my blogroll ! Many a times I am also asked by fellow bloggers to exchange links. i.e. if I blogroll them or in simple terms if I link them on my blog, they’ll also do me the ‘favour’.

My humble answer till now remains the same.. “No, I don’t have a blogroll for this blog and sorry, I can not have one here. Thank you very much”.

Of course, I know what a blogroll is and I do have one for my other blog but not here.

Well, there are several reasons why I say that.

First and foremost, I have well above 100 regular readers who come & often comment on my blog. To me, all of you readers are very dear and equally important. I DO NOT want to make any favourites among you though I might have some. I sincerely value your opinions on my blog and try to grow with them.
I agree, in the beginning when there were a few readers I had a blogroll; but now it is just not feasible for me to link your ever increasing list here on this blog just to get a link back in return.

Second, there are a few silent admirers of my blog who read ALL my posts including EACH & EVERY comment but refrain from commenting. I get their views through other means. Whether they are bloggers or not, is not a question here, but if I blogroll (read favour) others then why not these silent admirers as well (which in turn would hamper their privacy) ?? I would not want to do that at any cost.

Third, I have other better ways of tracking your blogs and updates. Tell me, don’t I come to your blog ? I even revisit to check your responses to my queries if I had one.

Fourth, but not any less important, I do not want to succumb to the greediness of this mad race.

However, I am very thankful to all of you who have blogrolled me without expecting a favour in return (Some of you have done so on your first visit itself !). Thank you very much. I am honoured; I value the gesture shown by each one of you. And don’t forget, I value your opinions on my blog.

Well, my way of linking your blog is slightly different. I link you through my posts, quizzes and tags wherever I find it appropriate. Tags are one of the nicer ways where one HAS to link the person as Tag rules demand that.
If for you, the purpose is to get a link from me.. well, you are getting one ! Not how you wanted it but the way I do it. :)
Also similarly, I do expect you to mention my blog if you happen to refer to it in any way.

Waitttt. That doesn’t mean I don’t read your blogs. Yes, I don’t browse but READ ALL your posts irrespective of whether I leave a comment or not. Come on, having so many blogs to read, you can not expect me to comment every time. There is a saying “Don’t say if you don’t have anything to say”. I don’t believe in leaving comments like “Great post” or “Nice pictures” just to show my presence on your blog. But sooner or later, the comments do come by. You all know it, right ?

And heyy you, all newcomers in the last one month... like Ansari, Aashi, Ashutosh, Ajith, Beast, claytonia, Sahil, Indicaspecies, Praveen, Kulpreet, Rads, Jarvarm, Edmund, Desh.. Ah and many more. Thanks for coming & bearing my rambling thoughts.
It doesn’t matter whether you blogroll me or not but I need you & your valued opinions here.

In the end, my sincere apologies once again if I am blunt in refusing or for not doing the favour of linking.

Current Song: Chaand Sifarish Jo Karta Hamari - Fanaa

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Sunday, July 08, 2007

Oh Buoy !


Oh Buoy !! I miss this lady very much. She is my fatso darling. Any guesses where I clicked her or where is she ?
I have enabled the comment moderation this time so you can not see other people's comments (Clever me). Answer Honestly .. ok ? And no cheating !!

Update:-

Ok, Ladies & Gentlemen,

Time is up. No more guessing.

People went from Switzerland, Paris, Australia, Amsterdam, Antwerp, even Delhi, Bangalore, Goa Carnival to Circus !! Ha Ha.. I could see the anxiety levels going up.

Was it so difficult ? I guess so, but I appreciate your efforts. A BIG thank you to all of you. Though there is no clear winner this time, I would like to mention two names.

I think Beast is the first most intelligent person to try it out. Hmmm.. I need to be more careful next time. :)

And Pijush’s guess was the most closest to the lady... err I meant to the clue. Also, I must appreciate where his eyes went straight to look into. LOL.. Guys are guys after all. ;)

Here is his comment ..

I think this is a rail station on the Germany-Swiss border, because part of the dress(left part of lady) holds the German flag and right circle contains a cross (opposite to Swiss flag in colour). But definitely a wild guess this one as I got no more clue.

Ok, so without wasting time I announce the place. It is Zurich Railway Station, a city in Switzerland but near to German border. The local language is Swiss-German. And yes, it is a landmark of the place, not a part of any carnival.

Hope you enjoyed this quiz as much as I did. ;)
Say yes now. Ok ?

Current song- Duggi Pe Duggi Ho, Ya Satte Pe Satta – Kishore & Asha

Friday, July 06, 2007

Review - Passing the Sentence Game #1

So, the first “Passing the Sentence” game got over within 23 hours with people participating from places like Arizona, Dubai, Isle of Man, Paris, Singapore, Sydney, and of course different cities of India and the USA. Thank you very much for quick responses. As expected it was fun with story moving from a pub to blogs, from love to murder plot..

Requests are pouring down to have another round… yes; I’ll have the game 2 very soon. Watch out this place and don’t miss the chance this time.
Here is the critique produced verbatim, by once again David Mcmahon himself. He also stuck to the record of 23 hours and I am publishing it within 23 hours !

Bravo, Cuckoo. And bravo, all of Cuckoo's readers. Completing a Passing sentence game in 23 hours is a great example of a participatory blog. The secret to a good blog, I think, is one that engages readers in more senses than one. To invite readers, as it were, to create and weave a story in any fashion they choose, is only just being explored.

The first time I introduced the concept on my own blog, I was amazed that the first two sentences came from different ends of the world, in the space of a few minutes. That, in a nutshell, is the level of engagement that is so important as the best blogs forge their way ahead. There is no vanity, no preening. There is no swaggering, no chest-beating. Most of all, there is a sense of fun, with no place for ego. Great hosts invite their guests into their homes and likewise, there can be no harm in inviting readers into one's process of creativity.

The best part of this game is its simplicity. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to participate. I really enjoyed the way you gave your readers the first serve and then it was back and forth like a serve-and-volley Wimbledon match as the sentences took the story on an entertaining and easy-to-follow roller-coaster ride.

The beginning is pure James Dean or Marlon Brando, then it becomes imbued with black comedy and suspense, all rolled into one. Underworld dons. Mysterious fruit. Yes, it takes many unexpected turns, but that is the essence of the game. As for the ending - it just proves that every story needs a poker phase!

Current song- Zara Zara Behkta Hai, Mehkta Hai – Bombay Jayashree

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Thursday, July 05, 2007

And This is How Cuckoo Croons..

“You are a writer of many moods - and that is a compliment. A blog is a mirror to the writer's soul and your site reflects many facets of your personality. I like the fact that you are willing to tackle a variety of issues and a variety of subjects.”
“There is a capricious nature to your blog and that, to me, is a very endearing quality. It's like reading a newspaper and flicking from the news pages to the opinion pages, to social commentary and then to the humour columns - all in one.

These are a few comments for my blog by none other than David Mcmahon who is a Melbourne based journalist, photographer and bestselling novelist.

Well, I am honoured & humbled. David, thank you very much. I know you, as a friend, are always there for me. Getting this from you is like an award for me.

Just felt like sharing with you all. You can read the full post here.

Current song- Another Brick in The Wall – Pink Floyd

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Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Passing The Sentence.. Game #1

Ok, enough of seriousness. Now let us play a game to cheer ourselves up. When I first played this game on David Mcmahon’s blog, it caught my fancy. And now, I want to play it again and I can not play without your active participation. Heyy, It is nice when you read my blog, it’ll be even nicer if you participate in it.

Here’s an open invitation. Can 15 different sentences – written by different bloggers across the globe – weave a good story? Let us find out.
I’m going to write the first sentence and I invite you all to contribute the next sentence, in sequence. Just leave your sentence as a comment, and I’ll keep updating this post to show you the flow of the story. Believe me it’s lots & lots of fun !

Since I have taken this game from David’s blog, I am calling it by the same name.. Passing the sentence. Yes, the sentence is passed onto the next blogger.

I want to see how long it takes to complete the task, so please don’t be reticent. Also, I am going to invite a guest judge (Surprise, surprise !!) – who is also a blogger – to critique our effort.

Ok now, first things first, as this Cuckoo always does … here are some rules of the game.

Rules of the game :

1. No one blogger can participate more than once in a single game.
2. The story has to finish in stipulated no. of sentences only (15 in this case). So make your sentence carefully as to go with the flow.
3. Sentences can be as long or short as you wish them to be, use lots of commas & semi colons. See
one of the examples where I had participated.

So, here goes my first sentence. Let us see who the next one is.

There he was in a black leather jacket sitting in a pub with a large beer and a cigarette, staring inquisitively at a lady sitting next to him wearing a short slinky dress .. Ah, his eyes go blink blink..

Now folks, the stage is all yours. Loosen the reins of your imagination and create the magic with a touch of humour.

------------------------------------------

Ahaa ! The story has started moving within no time.

Second sentence which gave me a scare in the beginning itself, is from Abhi of Mumbai, India. He gave a real humerous touch !! Here it goes ..
He took her home, and they lived hapilly ever after!!!

The third sentence is from Aditi.. again from Mumbai, India.
Or at least that is what he thought, that they would live happily ever after.

The fourth sentence came from Sam based in Pune, India.
Here it goes..

But then, fate has a weird way of playing with your fortunes and what you perceive to be reality never turns out to be so.... as it happened with him, when he found out the truth about her!!

Fifth sentence came from Iceman in Pune, India as…
“As this thought passed by his heart, she kept staring at the doorway in a somber mood.”

Sixth sentence is from Carol in Isle of Man
The fair lady had a large husband, six children, and a penchant for taking things that did not belong to her; hence her attraction to him in the first place - but yet still, he loved her, she had ways to please him which no other woman had ever found (mostly involving rubber masks and soft fruits) what on earth was he to do?

Rads in USA wrote the seventh sentence.
"Finishing off the husband seemed like a perfect plan except for one thing- he was half the size of that man's biceps and a whole foot smaller in any way you measure!

Ok, so eighth sentence comes from Dubai based Ansari.
“She finally decided to hire the underworld don Chemical Ali to kill her husband and to acquire all the assets but Ali had a condition, he was ready only on one condition that she has to marry him after he kills her husband, as he was secretly in love with her since his childhood days.”

The ninth sentence is from Ozlady in Singapore. Here it goes..
“Ah, those childhood days, when she used to throw soft fruit at him and make him scream with exquisite pain (or was that last night), perhaps he is daydreaming again!”

And here is the biggest challenge for the next blogger to bring back the story on track !! Beast from Sydney, Australia has put us back on Cuckoo's blog with Paris Hilton replacing the main characters !!
“But god has his mysterious ways and Chemical Ali one day runs into Cuckoo's blog while surfing the net; enlightened, then and there he decides that he will stop bloodshed and take up blogging and dedicate the blog to Paris Hilton as she cant sing, dance, act or do anything right, and miraculously remains in headlines!”

So, with 10 sentences gone, let us see who takes up this challenge.. Oh Oh ! Where this story is heading to ? The main characters.. That man, lady, leather jacket, beer, cigarette .. where are they ?

Eleventh sentence came from US based Praveen G K as..
“By a quirk of fate, her husband came across Chemical Ali's blog and came to know of his reason for transformation leaving him dumbfounded; he filed for divorce!!!”.

Ha Ha… I am amazed at the twist the story has taken ! Thanks Praveen !

Sentence no. 12 comes from Peter in Paris.
“But the divorce was refused, as Ali claimed that what was written in his blog was only part of a game some crazy blogger had invented.”

Thirteenth sentence is from US based Maverick.
“And she thought the story ended, but never she knew it wasn’t meant to end in a courtroom with three powerful men and all loving her, she felt weak by herself and that's when that college kid entered her life.”

Oh la la.. Where on earth that man from the first scene has gone ?? I guess he drank too much. ;)
Now, only two sentences left. Readers, be careful to bring it to an end.

The fourteenth sentence is from Expression! in USA. Here it goes..
Before the college kid would express his burning desire for her, Chemical Ali and her husband came forward with a dagger look on their face, putting the girl into troublesome situation.. what to do, whom to pick!

Here goes the last sentence by Black King from Bangalore, India..
"Finally, the gentlemen decided to settle it all in a game of poker: winner takes all!"

That is all. No more additions to the story. So, that’s how the gentleman thought of a win win situation !! Thank you all for participating and making it a story. Now, it goes directly to the reviewer’s desk. The review will get published here once it comes back to me.

Watch out for the next game. Till then… Tchao.


Ahaa ! I think my current song is very fitting for the opening scene.
Current song- Ajnabee Tum Jaane Pehchane Se Lagte Ho – Kishore Kumar

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