Feb 23, 2011

Tumblr-ing along.

Click on this link: ----> Linkage. It will take you to [daanish.tumblr.com/linkage]

Click on "Tumblr." It will take you here: [daanish.tumblr.com]

I blog there more often. It's a place for every tiny little thought that I have or want to put up on display in a sort of online notebook. Or a bookshelf filled with really tiny books. Enjoy it, will you?

Feb 20, 2011

They're just words.


Remember I talked about feeling like I’m leading two lives?
I’m in bed, and my very American girlfriend makes me coffee. She’s bringing it to me in bed, and I mumble:
“Udhr rakh do na…”
She gives me one of the most confused looks I’ve ever seen before I finally realize what I just did.
“Um, I meant - put it on the table there. Sorry.”
An honest drugged-up-by-sleep mistake, of course. It’s a bit difficult to be balancing two vocabularies at once, though, I’m not going to lie.
Especially if you take pride in the fact that you’ve managed to learn more words than the average person. In both languages.

Feb 2, 2011

Humans: 'Social Networking' Whores.



Aah, what us foolish sheep will do to get into a fucking social group that's somehow significant or special, in that it doesn't let just about anybody in.
We cry all the time against racism, and insist we're all just one. How hypocritical, when in actuality, we try so hard to find a group to join that's somehow exclusive.


Our cliques, our social groups in colleges and universities, even the fucking clubs you can or do join.


Blackberry Messaging Service is just one of those many services/social groups/clique/club.
This is the whole foundation, or philosophical concept, of the multi-million internet company - Facebook.


But not just. It's also what powers any 'social networking' website.


Our desire or irresistible need to 'break from tradition, flow against the current, not follow the norm.' Having some chance of standing out in a fucking room when you're with a group of people.


The Blackberry Messenger Service crowd. Once you're part of this group, some things that are automatically assumed or 'enabled' are:

  • You are a "professional." Period.
  • You have enough money to own a blackberry, and of course - have service.
  • You don't own just any other phone. It's a blackberry. Also see: ipods.
  • Only the cool people have the service. You're not missing out on the action if you have a bbpin. Because even if you know what Sally is bitching about Thomas on Facebook, she might be bitching about someone else on the Blackberry Messenger Service. You need to have this information, and now you can get it
I type this with a Blackberry in my pocket, and the thought of writing this came to me when I was contemplating whether I should get Blackberry Messaging enabled on mine.


Why did I get a Blackberry? I don't think I would see everything I just wrote about, as clearly - or in whatever way I see it now, if I didn't.


To know how sweet or sour the apple is, I wanted to take a bite out of it instead of listen to the Apple seller. Funny that I used an Apple for this analogy.

Curry.



I was recently asked on a quiz in Sociology class what my race and ethnicity were. Or what I considered them to be anyway.


I've always considered myself to be free from such social obligations and never really considered the question before. Association with a group of people that you were fortunate/unfortunate enough to be born into due to sheer chance and fate doesn't make much sense to me. Admittance into this 'club,' isn't really difficult, is it now? All I had to do was ... well, nothing really, it was my mum and dad and the doctor who pulled me out - that did all the real work. I probably just cried a lot and wet everything I got within peeing range of. I didn't make the choice here, do you see what I'm trying to get it? It just happened.


And so I can consider myself 'Indian.' Because Pakistan and India were pretty much just one country, not to forget Bangladesh. And I don't care what anybody says, Kashmir should just be left alone and given their independence. Territorial bullshit about a piece of dirt that we walk on (aka 'land',) just doesn't make any sense to me.


Besides, don't India and Pakistan pretty much speak the same language? We have the same old traditions and prejudices, the only differences have mere face value and just seem so on the different on the surface. We also hold the same old fashioned prejudices and notations about how the rest of the world works.


UPDATE: This, however, does not mean I want to be considered 'indian.'  I don't want to be associated or considered a part of anything that happened any time before i was born.  I deserve to have a life that starts with a clean slate, and to not be judged by what happened before I even started. 


I'm deviating from the main purpose of this blog post, however, which is: CURRY.
I love that shit. Whatever 'Asian' restaurant you take me to, as soon as I see Curry on the menu, the decision has already been made.


So, Belal and Frank are having a completely irrelevant conversation about Curry, when one of them (presumably Belal) starts adding 'Curry' to movie names.
We came up with quite a few, actually:
  • The Bourne Curry
  • Curry Hard
  • The Da Vinci Curry
  • Lock, Stock, and Two Smokin Curries
  • Curry with a Vengeance
  • Curry Hour
  • Curry Movie 1, 2, 3 and 4.
  • I know what Curry you ate last summer.
  • The Curious Case of Panang Curry
  • Curry Club (of which, Rule No 1 is, you do not talk about Curry. Rule No 5 is, if it's your first time at Curry Club, you must have some Curry.)
  • 127Curries
  • The Day After Curry
  • Curry is Forever
  • Curry, Actually
  • Deep Blue Curry
  • Curries of the Caribbean