I Kinda Killed A Dog..

Was returning home with my parents last weekend's night. No sooner did I walk along the road near my home than I heard howls of a dog. Realised it was coming from a municipal dustbin nearby. The jet-black dog was lying on a heap of hay. It wasn't able to move I guess and was mildly howling for help. It wasn't moving an inch, just gathering up as much energy as possible and shreiking. I stood there coldly for about 30seconds even after knowing why it was behaving so (learnt from a man walking down that he had seen the same dog having some stale fish in the afternoon and probably that might be the reason for it to be so uneasy). I, honestly could have atleast tried to get that dog out of that heap and kept aside or give some water. Something to do was better than standing there like a stiff upperlipped officer and sneaking out when the situation turns worse. That's what I did. Walked away with my parents to my CHS. I could hear the dog's cries as I walked up the staircase. Don't know why but I was walking stealthily without making any noise just to hear its cries, in a hope that they will stop soon. And they did, not because the dog overcame its pain but I had already reached my home. Slept on the pillow of this guilt of mine that night. No sooner did the guilt subdue the next morning than I saw the dead dog with flies all over while on my way to get an auto to station. It might have died that night crying all the way to its death. And then I realised I could have really tried to save it. It wouldn't have cost me anything to get it out of the heap make it comfortable with some water. And I did nothing. Why did I behave like this? To avoid getting my hands dirty? Well, I had a handkerchief and the dog was lying on hay which wasn't that dirty. In a fear of my parents scolding me not to do so? Naah..I don't think so.

Sounds harsh to me but that was just mere ignorance from my side.

Will I behave like this with humans too who might need a few hands of help and I don't even react? I hope not.

T-Shirt Painting! Part 3

Hey that's an unexpected hattrick! A couple of friends doubted if I've joined any workshop on t-painting. Nothin' like that guys, its just a matter of fact that I painted a couple (rather triple) of T shirts for myself, which I had wished to do since a year, apart from blogging (which I, don't know how and why, was completely off my track last year)

Painted the following T shirt on 25th of this month. Had efficiently utilized an hour during the dawn for studies and Boing! went my brain to draw the outline of my right hand with my left. Had bought a plain T shirt beforehand simply because I was pretty sure I will paint randomly some day! So painted 'The Hand' in the evening. It took an hour. The tagline took much of my time, since I had to paint it without the help of the ring which I normally use for fabric painting. Gave final touches on 26th and Lo! Here is the pic:

My Favorite Toons

Following are my favorite cartoon characters and the respective toons(in alphabetical order) :

Arnold                                                                 Hey Arnold

Bubbles, Mojo Jojo                                           Powerpuff Girls

Chacha Chaudhary                                           Chacha Chaudhary

Courage                                                              Courage the Cowardly Dog

Dexter                                                                 Dexter's Laboratory

Elmo, Big Bird                                                    123 Sesame Street

Goofy                                                                   Goofy's Movies

Jhonny Bravo                                                     Jhonny Bravo

Jhonny Quest                                                     Jhonny Quest

Lighting McQueen, Sally                                  Cars

Linka                                                                   Captain Planet

Molu                                                                    Molu

Mowgli, Pappu, Sherkhan                                The Jungle Book

Muttley                                                               Dastardly and Flying Machines

Pingu                                                                    Pingu

Richie Rich                                                          Richie Rich

Scrooge McDuck, Launchpad McQuack         Ducktales

Sherkhan, Kit                                                     Talespin

The Hand, Uncle Fester                                   The Adams Family

The Penguins, King Julian                                Madagascar 2

Tigress                                                                Kung Fu Panda

Tom and Jerry                                                  Tom and Jerry

Top Cat, Benny the Ball                                    Top Cat

Wall-E, Eva                                                         Wall-E

26/11/2008

Cannot say anything other than this -

May the souls of all those non-terrorists Rest In Peace..May the souls(if any) of the terrorists, too, Rest In Peace. Atleast they will not continue haunting Mumbai after that.

111 not out!!

111..that's the 'official' number of poems I've penned down since standard VIth the recent one penned down the day before yesterday, exactly 32hours ago, to be precise :) Well I neither have any details as to when and where each poem was written but have noted down as to what inspired me to write a particular one down or how much time did I take to compose some. However, all of them are serially numbered and written down in two diaries of mine (they're notebooks but I prefer to call them my diaries! :p) Following are some 'interesting' statistics (they might not be interesting for you but they do for me!) I don't expect you to go ga-ga over my 111 (like I am)..Nonetheless I wanted to have this 111 as a part of my blog..

Language       Completed      Incomplete        With title      Without title
English                  86                   04^                              36                   54
Hindi                     13                   00                                05                   08
Marathi                08                   00                                02                   06
Total                   107*#              04*#
Thus,
^Incomplete due to one incomplete stanza per poem
*Total 'official' poems = 107+04 = 111!
#Inclusive of poems with and without title.

Out of the Hindi poems, a good 50% were written during std IX and X era (probably cuz the teachers were good enough to introduce a few good words in Hindi that helped me pen down some stuff)
Out of the Marathi poems, a good 50% were written during std XI era(probably cuz I took Marathi as my second language and was desperate to improve it for the sake of marks!)
Out of all the poems, I guess, almost 30% might sound silly..Wonder how did I manage to write so many!
Honestly speaking, really don't care about what I write provided atleast some of the stuff I write makes sense (the whole stuff might not be full of sense at times so!) That doesn't mean I don't accept suggestions/comments. I normally ask a few pals of mine about their 'criticisms and comments'. Helps me in improving a lot. Sometimes, they go ga-ga and sometimes..oh well not everyday is a sunday right?!

In any case, I'm happy!

vocab for the week 25

Is it okay to say ‘prepare the vegetables’? 

I understand this is an expression commonly found in recipe books. When you ask someone to prepare the vegetables, what you would like the person to do is to wash them, clean them, peel them, and cut them. In other words, the person ensures that the vegetables are ready to be used.
*Maya, you’ll have to prepare the potatoes. I want you to peel them and then cut them into thin slices.

Children's Day Doodle!

I'm sure you spotted this doodle on Google's homepage. Google had a Doodle competition for school kids from all over India, the winning entry will be the doodle for one whole Children's day. And the winner - none other than an Indian!! Master Puru Pratap Singh, a Std IV student from Gurgaon! Really liked it. Check out the other equally cool doodles (final entries) : http://www.google.co.in/intl/en/doodle4google/vote.html#d=d2-8 

Here is the winning entry:

Though (officially) an adult, wishing maself (and those who are reading this!)

hApPeEE ChIlDrenZ daE!!

vocab for the week 24

How is the word ‘masquerade’ pronounced? 

The first syllable is pronounced like the word ‘mask’, and the ‘ue’ in the second syllable is like the ‘a’ in ‘china’. The final syllable sounds like the word ‘raid’. The word is pronounced ‘mask-e-RAID’ with the stress on the final syllable. Some people drop the vowel in the second syllable, and pronounce the word ‘mask-RAID’.
The word comes from the Italian ‘mascarata’ meaning ‘a ball at which masks are worn’. People generally wear a mask when they wish to hide their identity. When you masquerade as being someone else, you are pretending to be someone that you are not.
*Terrorists masquerading as policemen managed to enter the Minister’s house.
The word can also be used to mean ‘to put on a show’ or to cover up; you act in a way which prevents others from knowing the truth about something unpleasant.
*For the sake of her parents, Gayathri kept up a masquerade of being happily married. 

November Rain

Yeah, its November and its raining out here!!

Enjoyed every bit of the cold rains while on my way to home some time ago. Had healthy-hot snacks and switched to blogging mode to make the best of the hour before I spare some time for my studies! Nothing like enjoyin a hot cuppa, enjoying the silky breeze off the window and unwinding to 'November Rain by the band Guns n Roses' in the not-at-all-cozy plastic chair! No doubt me listening to it while cherishing the 'november rain'! Just blackled (aka searched) for the same on Wikipedia; the frontman and lyricist Axl Rose had been working on the song since 1983 (it got released in June 1992!). A great 'rock-ballad' I say. Its got a long, almost a 3 minute music strip in the end. Ruled the charts in the latter half of 1992 and swept away with the best music, best video, best ballad awards - Refer the Wiki for more. Here are the lyrics and the video link:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VX6gMudhCU

When I look into your eyes
I can see a love restrained
But darlin' when I hold you
Don't you know I feel the same

'Cause nothin' lasts forever
And we both know hearts can change
And it's hard to hold a candle
In the cold November rain

We've been through this such a long long time
Just tryin' to kill the pain

But lovers always come and lovers always go
An no one's really sure who's lettin' go today
Walking away

If we could take the time
to lay it on the line
I could rest my head
Just knowin' that you were mine
All mine
So if you want to love me
then darlin' don't refrain
Or I'll just end up walkin'
In the cold November rain

Do you need some time..on your own
Do you need some time..all alone
Everybody needs some time..on their own
Don't you know you need some time..all alone

I know it's hard to keep an open heart
When even friends seem out to harm you
But if you could heal a broken heart
Wouldn't time be out to charm you

Sometimes I need some time..on my own
Sometimes I need some time..all alone
Everybody needs some time..on their own
Don't you know you need some time..all alone

And when your fears subside
And shadows still remain
I know that you can love me
When there's no one left to blame
So never mind the darkness
We still can find a way
'Cause nothin' lasts forever
Even cold November rain

Don't ya think that you need somebody
Don't ya think that you need someone
Everybody needs somebody
You're not the only one
You're not the only one

Sesame Street - Celebrating 40 years of fun

Well I had almost forgotten about this little TV series that taught a few English words to me in Kindergarten. Sesame Street. I remember my father had taken me to his office specially to show a 10mins clip on this Sesame Street on his colleague's computer (having a PC per employee was an unattainable dream during those times). I was struggling to pronounce 'sesame', was going see-sam-ee n sy-se-same and ultimately sa-sa-se-me-eeee!!

I don't remember which words I learnt but, yeah, I had played a fun-with-alphabets game and recited a poetry along with that Big Bird. I remember a reddish monster named Elmo who was very talkative and another green monster named Oscar. Don't actually remember the other characters..Will check it out off the internet soon. Anyway, before I forget why I started this post (writing just a few words wont 'look good' so bored you a bit with the above!) let me finish:

Happy Birthday Sesame Street!!

vocab for the week 23

What is the difference between ‘believe in’ and ‘believe’? 

When we are young, we believe in a lot of things: we believe in monsters, Santa Claus, ghosts, green witches, giants, etc. As children, we think that these people/things are real; that they actually exist. When you ‘believe in’ something, you feel rather strongly that it exists. If you ‘believe in some idea’, you support it because you think it is the right thing to do.

*I believe in capital punishment, but my father doesn’t.

When you believe someone, you trust the person. You are willing to accept what he says as being true.

*The problem with Bala is he doesn’t believe anyone.