25 things (x-posted from Facebook)
1. Lyrics are important to me - if I like a song, I’ll likely learn its lyrics too. I must know the lyrics of hundreds, possibly over a thousand, songs in Hindi and English. There was a time when people singing the wrong lyrics used to pain me quite a bit. But I’ve grown up :-)
2. I also play around with lyrics, often changing a few lines and occasionally coming up with more detailed parodies. Sometime one can simply exchange lines between stanzas to hilarious effect, eg:
Main agar kahoon, humsafar meri
Hain nahi kahin, na hogi kabhi
3. There was a time when I used to cycle in a “hands free” manner - the most interesting part of this phase was when the brakes weren’t working. I came to my senses when I nearly crashed into two innocent bystanders. This period also saw one of the most hilarious moments with my family when a loving elder cousin chided me for me being so reckless and promised that in case I had an accident, she would come to the hospital and beat me up :-p
4. I turned a vegetarian (of the “Ovo lacto” kind) in my late twenties after a slow process which started with witnessing the butcher killing chicken by simply twisting their necks. Ironically, in less than 8 months I was in Europe - talk about bad timing! But then, C’est la vie ……
5. Possibly because of having lived away from home for a long long time, I’ve reached a stage where I usually don’t know what I’m missing, until it’s brought to my attention by some chance event, e.g. being mentioned by someone.
6. I’m quite the geek when it comes to some things, e.g. loving numbers. I inherited this from my parents, especially my Ma. We love prime numbers, and my favourite number is 7. I usually wash my eyes 7 times each morning!
7. On the other hand, I can’t be bothered with a lot of supposedly geeky stuff. For example, I’m not particularly into electronic gadgets, and I can barely remember which model my mobile phone is. Works properly, is rugged enough to not conk out too soon, and looking at it doesn’t make me wince - enough.
8. I learned playing the Tabla for a brief period when I was around 10 years old. My Guru was very pleased with my aptitude, but my attitude was another matter. Playing 3 different taals for 15 minutes each would have been fine by me, but playing the same one for 45, that too while my friends played outside …….. looking back, it would’ve been nice if I had persisted, but it was natural not to.
9. Chandrashekhar Azad was my big hero during my childhood. At one stage I even wanted to change my surname to Azad, but was persuaded by the school authorities that it wasn’t possible. I did burn an entire box of matches once, though :-)
10. As a kid, I was overzealous about greeting people everytime I met them, even if multiple times during the same day. My grandfather said “jaise Namaste phenk ke maarna”!
11. I was also super sincere about bowing to every picture or statue of any god/goddess - a rickshaw ride through the markets in Varanasi meant little Riju bobbing up and down, registering with all the gods in all the calendars in all the shops!
12. And yet by the time I was a teenager, it was hard to believe that there could be any supreme deity responsible for everything, and looking out for us. I’ve been a non-believer ever since.
13. I love sports, but especially cricket. As a kid, I could play all day long, and on holidays, used to as well. Even on schooldays, we’d always play in the evenings, not stopping even after it got dark - playing improvised versions on the verandahs instead.
14. When it comes to being impressed and having favourites, I tend to have a broad range. I’m loathe to absolutely rubbish something, but equally loathe to use superlatives - I rarely find anyone ugly, but it’s also very rare for me to think of anyone as an absolute stunner.
15. I have a strong tendency to be precise/exact about things, even if I’ve managed to tone it down a bit. I can understand why it bothers people in some cases, but hey - I have no idea what you mean when you ask me for “2 heaped teaspoons” of sugar in your coffee. Tell me “about 2.5 level teaspoons” (or 2.75, if that be the case), and you’ll get the right thing.
16. This tendency, along with the accompanying one of debating/arguing, meant that elders often used to say “bada ho ke vakeel banega” (He’ll be lawyer when he grows up). But I was uncomfortable with the idea that my goal should be to save my client even if he/she may be guilty, and other such aspects, which is why I ruled that career out. Things are so much easier while you’re still thinking mostly in black and white :-p
17. I have a strange record when it comes to public performances. As a shy kid, I wasn’t that keen on them but was often pushed onto the stage by teachers who either were fond of me or needed someone to represent their “house”. Then came a period where I was the one making the decisions, so I stayed at a comfortable distance from the stage until my mid-20s, when I started singing, and by some strange mechanism, I’d worked out how to avoid the dreaded stage-fear that I used to have. But after several performances in a short space in IISc/B’lore, I came away to Europe, and taking to the stage became a sporadic event once again.
18. The aforementioned geekiness with numbers is also manifested as a fondness for mental arithmetic. There was a time when shopkeepers who knew me well used to just ask me for the total, and accept that amount, instead of adding up the numbers.
19. Given the love for numbers as well as cricket, it is hardly surprising that I also developed a fondness for cricket statistics which continues to this day. It isn’t as strong as it used to be, though - there was a time when you could have bet serious money on me knowing all sorts of arcane stuff like the number of ducks Gavaskar had “scored” in his test career (Off the top of my head, I reckon he played 212 innings in 125 tests, remaining not out in 14 of them, scoring 10,122 runs, which would give him an average of 51.12. 34 tons, 45 fifties. But I wouldn’t bet on the number of ducks anymore).
20. Reciprocity in relationships is very important to me. Give and take, it’s got to be. I’m usually quite conscious of keeping my end of any friendship or relationship, and also don’t really fuss over the small things, but at the end of the day, if it’s a bit one-sided, you just know it. And then something’s got to give.
21. When it comes to sharing secrets, I don’t. As I once told someone “Jinke raazdaar bahut se hote hain, unke raaz bahut kam hote hain” (The more the keepers of the secrets, the lesser the secrets you have). This even led to quarrels with an ex-girlfriend, who took it to mean that I didn’t trust her enough!
22. Batman was always my favourite superhero, because he had no superpowers and was a “self made” superhero. But I liked a lot of the others, too - possibly the quickest bath I’ve ever had was when I was told that an unbathed boy would not be allowed to watch the episode of Spiderman which was just about begin.
23. I tend to let my hair grow for a long time. Nowadays it’s also for other reasons, such as covering bald patches (as long it isn’t windy!), but the main reason has always been that I get bored of seeing the same image in the mirror. Even if I get compliments for a newly neat appearance, they’re outweighed by the sheer boredom of looking exactly the same. So I let it grow, and then the hair often decides what it’s gonna do today.
24. Another reason for delaying haircuts is that I’m bad at saying goodbye. Always have been. I’m exactly the sort that has never-ending conversations at the gate.
25. Family is very important to me. I keep in regular touch with my immediate family via phone, email, Skype etc., and even a lot of my extended family, and of course my “family of choice”, that is my closest friends. I also go home at least once every 1-1.5 years - I can’t relate to people going home once in 5 years or even longer. I can be fiercely individualistic, but my family does mean a lot to me.
2. I also play around with lyrics, often changing a few lines and occasionally coming up with more detailed parodies. Sometime one can simply exchange lines between stanzas to hilarious effect, eg:
Main agar kahoon, humsafar meri
Hain nahi kahin, na hogi kabhi
3. There was a time when I used to cycle in a “hands free” manner - the most interesting part of this phase was when the brakes weren’t working. I came to my senses when I nearly crashed into two innocent bystanders. This period also saw one of the most hilarious moments with my family when a loving elder cousin chided me for me being so reckless and promised that in case I had an accident, she would come to the hospital and beat me up :-p
4. I turned a vegetarian (of the “Ovo lacto” kind) in my late twenties after a slow process which started with witnessing the butcher killing chicken by simply twisting their necks. Ironically, in less than 8 months I was in Europe - talk about bad timing! But then, C’est la vie ……
5. Possibly because of having lived away from home for a long long time, I’ve reached a stage where I usually don’t know what I’m missing, until it’s brought to my attention by some chance event, e.g. being mentioned by someone.
6. I’m quite the geek when it comes to some things, e.g. loving numbers. I inherited this from my parents, especially my Ma. We love prime numbers, and my favourite number is 7. I usually wash my eyes 7 times each morning!
7. On the other hand, I can’t be bothered with a lot of supposedly geeky stuff. For example, I’m not particularly into electronic gadgets, and I can barely remember which model my mobile phone is. Works properly, is rugged enough to not conk out too soon, and looking at it doesn’t make me wince - enough.
8. I learned playing the Tabla for a brief period when I was around 10 years old. My Guru was very pleased with my aptitude, but my attitude was another matter. Playing 3 different taals for 15 minutes each would have been fine by me, but playing the same one for 45, that too while my friends played outside …….. looking back, it would’ve been nice if I had persisted, but it was natural not to.
9. Chandrashekhar Azad was my big hero during my childhood. At one stage I even wanted to change my surname to Azad, but was persuaded by the school authorities that it wasn’t possible. I did burn an entire box of matches once, though :-)
10. As a kid, I was overzealous about greeting people everytime I met them, even if multiple times during the same day. My grandfather said “jaise Namaste phenk ke maarna”!
11. I was also super sincere about bowing to every picture or statue of any god/goddess - a rickshaw ride through the markets in Varanasi meant little Riju bobbing up and down, registering with all the gods in all the calendars in all the shops!
12. And yet by the time I was a teenager, it was hard to believe that there could be any supreme deity responsible for everything, and looking out for us. I’ve been a non-believer ever since.
13. I love sports, but especially cricket. As a kid, I could play all day long, and on holidays, used to as well. Even on schooldays, we’d always play in the evenings, not stopping even after it got dark - playing improvised versions on the verandahs instead.
14. When it comes to being impressed and having favourites, I tend to have a broad range. I’m loathe to absolutely rubbish something, but equally loathe to use superlatives - I rarely find anyone ugly, but it’s also very rare for me to think of anyone as an absolute stunner.
15. I have a strong tendency to be precise/exact about things, even if I’ve managed to tone it down a bit. I can understand why it bothers people in some cases, but hey - I have no idea what you mean when you ask me for “2 heaped teaspoons” of sugar in your coffee. Tell me “about 2.5 level teaspoons” (or 2.75, if that be the case), and you’ll get the right thing.
16. This tendency, along with the accompanying one of debating/arguing, meant that elders often used to say “bada ho ke vakeel banega” (He’ll be lawyer when he grows up). But I was uncomfortable with the idea that my goal should be to save my client even if he/she may be guilty, and other such aspects, which is why I ruled that career out. Things are so much easier while you’re still thinking mostly in black and white :-p
17. I have a strange record when it comes to public performances. As a shy kid, I wasn’t that keen on them but was often pushed onto the stage by teachers who either were fond of me or needed someone to represent their “house”. Then came a period where I was the one making the decisions, so I stayed at a comfortable distance from the stage until my mid-20s, when I started singing, and by some strange mechanism, I’d worked out how to avoid the dreaded stage-fear that I used to have. But after several performances in a short space in IISc/B’lore, I came away to Europe, and taking to the stage became a sporadic event once again.
18. The aforementioned geekiness with numbers is also manifested as a fondness for mental arithmetic. There was a time when shopkeepers who knew me well used to just ask me for the total, and accept that amount, instead of adding up the numbers.
19. Given the love for numbers as well as cricket, it is hardly surprising that I also developed a fondness for cricket statistics which continues to this day. It isn’t as strong as it used to be, though - there was a time when you could have bet serious money on me knowing all sorts of arcane stuff like the number of ducks Gavaskar had “scored” in his test career (Off the top of my head, I reckon he played 212 innings in 125 tests, remaining not out in 14 of them, scoring 10,122 runs, which would give him an average of 51.12. 34 tons, 45 fifties. But I wouldn’t bet on the number of ducks anymore).
20. Reciprocity in relationships is very important to me. Give and take, it’s got to be. I’m usually quite conscious of keeping my end of any friendship or relationship, and also don’t really fuss over the small things, but at the end of the day, if it’s a bit one-sided, you just know it. And then something’s got to give.
21. When it comes to sharing secrets, I don’t. As I once told someone “Jinke raazdaar bahut se hote hain, unke raaz bahut kam hote hain” (The more the keepers of the secrets, the lesser the secrets you have). This even led to quarrels with an ex-girlfriend, who took it to mean that I didn’t trust her enough!
22. Batman was always my favourite superhero, because he had no superpowers and was a “self made” superhero. But I liked a lot of the others, too - possibly the quickest bath I’ve ever had was when I was told that an unbathed boy would not be allowed to watch the episode of Spiderman which was just about begin.
23. I tend to let my hair grow for a long time. Nowadays it’s also for other reasons, such as covering bald patches (as long it isn’t windy!), but the main reason has always been that I get bored of seeing the same image in the mirror. Even if I get compliments for a newly neat appearance, they’re outweighed by the sheer boredom of looking exactly the same. So I let it grow, and then the hair often decides what it’s gonna do today.
24. Another reason for delaying haircuts is that I’m bad at saying goodbye. Always have been. I’m exactly the sort that has never-ending conversations at the gate.
25. Family is very important to me. I keep in regular touch with my immediate family via phone, email, Skype etc., and even a lot of my extended family, and of course my “family of choice”, that is my closest friends. I also go home at least once every 1-1.5 years - I can’t relate to people going home once in 5 years or even longer. I can be fiercely individualistic, but my family does mean a lot to me.