Posted by: astrodominie on: November 10, 2009
I feel ashamed of not updating more, especially after reading the nice things SG had to say about me on her super blog. However I’ll think of something more entertaining to post about in a day or two.
I love it when I find the song that most suits what’s in my head but it’s also a little weird. Especially the thought that what you find so special is felt by over 80 per cent of the people you know. Both depressing and oddly comforting.
I think you subconsciously always know the people who are on your side. There might be no contact for months, you may not have seen them in years, but that doesn’t matter. There’s no pseudo-affection, no flurry of omg-i-miss-you-so-muches, just the comfortable slipping into a routine that you fell into so long ago. The ability to pick up right where you left off, and the security that even the stupidest things you might say won’t be mocked or paraphrased to a third party.
It’s the happy little offline messages when you don’t expect them, the greeting that you look forward to when you sign into Google Talk to commence another inane day at work, the email exchanges that may not have more than ten words each but which make you laugh, the phone calls when you want them the most, the Facebook updates that reflect exactly what you think.
It’s good to be connected. Where would we be without technology?
And this song is for you in particular. From start to finish.
Title Source: Head Over Feet by Alanis Morissette
P.S. I’ve just realised how much work has taken its toll on me. I finished this post and then I scrolled upwards to insert the drop caps and the head deck. I think I need a holiday.
Posted by: astrodominie on: October 1, 2009
Twenty years from now, I will look back at my days in Hyderabad and I’m pretty sure that the sharpest memories I’ll have will be of me sitting in my room with my laptop, headphones stuffed in my ears and watching TV shows till about 2 a.m. To the point where I’ve been unable to stop even though my eyes are watering and I know getting up in the morning will be murderous.
Shows I’m currently watching:
Shows I used to watch:
All this apart from the occasional addictions like South Park and co. Must also start following shows like Rome, Dexter and Greek.
Lyrics: Teenage Wasteland/Baba O’Riley by The Who
Posted by: astrodominie on: September 30, 2009
In memory of an amazing person who didn’t deserve what destiny chose for him.
http://rememberingnikhil.blogspot.com

Beyond all towers strong and high,
Beyond all mountains steep,
Above all shadows rides the sun
And stars for ever dwell:
I will not say the day is done,
Nor bid the stars farewell.
– Tolkien
We try to realise the essential unity of the world
with the conscious soul of man;
we learn to perceive the unity held together
by the one Eternal Spirit,whose power creates the earth,
the sky, and the stars,
and at the same time irradiates our minds with
the light of a consciousness
that moves and exits in unbroken continuity with the outer world
– Tagore
Photo courtesy Ravikiran Vissa.
Title Source: Crystal Ship by The Doors
Posted by: astrodominie on: September 8, 2009
This is a day too late but still.

Happy birthday, The Thick Plottens! It’s been five long years and I’m quite disappointed that I haven’t blogged more, given the time period, but I never really thought it would go so far. I can see the writing change as I did. WordPress has been good for me, and I’m glad I made the switch.
And I’m sorry if you disagree, but the musical titles is a super idea.
Title Source: A Kind of Magic by Queen
Posted by: astrodominie on: September 5, 2009
Ganesh Chaturthi is finally over, with an outburst of drumbeats, middle-aged dancing and a flurry of orange flags. A parade of trucks meandered their way through the city, old and new, to confluence at one point and proceed to Hussain Sagar, where they are tipped-slipped-slid into the stormy grey water with the help of cranes.
Now as boats chug across the water towards the beatific figure of the Buddha, there’s something poetic in thinking about the hundreds of rotund Ganapati statues lying at the bottom of the lake.
Title Source: Untitled by Interpol
Posted by: astrodominie on: September 3, 2009
Sitting in the office on a Thursday afternoon. Thursday is always a slow day — Friday Review is done and MPTB work will start soon — and usually left open for field work but today, the combination of Ganesh Chaturthi immersion and the now larger issue of YSR’s death keeps most of us indoors.
It’s eerily quiet, which is very unusual in the office even though the city bureau people come in only in the evening. The power keeps tripping so we sit in the flickering black and white of the room.
To break the stillness and sate our curiosity, we go for a walk down the road towards YSR’s house, barely twenty steps away. The road is too quiet, even with people lining it, the occasional Bolero roaring towards the tall black gates, TV correspondents shouting back updates to their bureaus, police vans lumbering past us loaded with personnel. The flyover is being hurriedly swept clean for Sonia Gandhi’s arrival and the members of a church choir arrive to pray.
It feels very anticlimatic.
3.23 p.m. One more hour to go.
Title Source: Echoes by Pink Floyd