The Manicured Life
It isn't just a hobby. It's a painstaking one. Attention to detail. Analysing the past, forecasting the future growth. Each lop planned, and then inspected for results. Carefully crafted to look natural, shaped to look untouched by hand. Bonsai.
A wild, fetid landscape of competing, unrestrained life. Towering trees, spreading brooding canopies that seek to smother, deny lifegiving sunlight. In the humid dampness below, wild creepers, deceptvely fragile. Twisting, sucking the very ichor of their supports, clinging, strangling. Wild grass, tenacious, meek, enduring. Mosses, soft, ubiquitious. The sweet cloying smell of the decay of those who lost the battle, covered with the squishy headstones of mushrooms. Weeds, noxious, plastic in brilliance. Proclaiming defiance at a world that considers them unwanted.
Which is why we each treat our passions differently, yours becoming a trophy to be admired in elegant drawing-rooms with colour-matched furnishings. Mine banished to a different planet, to be visited when this one lets go for a while.
So each can continue with the eatworkdrinkfucksleep routine that is life, as everyone else sees it.
Hmmm.
'As I try to make my way,
thru the ordinary world,
I will learn to survive....'
Posted by Anonymous | January 22, 2006 1:22 PM
Is that how you feel ? All wearied down and morose ?
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 8:41 PM
Both of you :
Let's head on down the road
There's somewhere I gotta go
And you don't know how it feels
You don't know how it feels to be me
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 8:42 PM
I am me. Me isn't. I mean, tres obvious.
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 8:43 PM
(Leave the fauv Francaise alone).
To amplify, friend, we are more than full of indecent cheer. We are presently going through work pressures with the correct stand-up-comic-at-funeral kind of inappropriate exuberance. These are but passing winds carrying with them the dampness of the Slough of Despond
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 8:46 PM
( It's faux).
Just to clarify, since your recidivist proclivities are as well known as your descent into despair.
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 8:48 PM
Doan use polysyllabic pompous words to prove you aint drunk.
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 8:49 PM
Neither does usage of a bastardized ebonic Cockney prove that you are hep.
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 8:50 PM
It's Hip.
And it was Hip to be Square a decade or more ago.
So wake up, now it's hiphop.
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 8:51 PM
But a decade ago, I think you were reading Lawrence Block and wallowing then too ?
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 8:59 PM
That is about the best idea you gave. Googling this is becoming more difficult each time. Let's copy this down once and for all.
LAST CALL (Dave Van Ronk)
And so we've had another night
of poetry and poses,
and each man knows he'll be alone
when the sacred ginmill closes.
And so we'll drink the final glass
each to his joy and sorrow
and hope the numbing drink will last
til opening tomorrow.
And when we stumble back again
like paralytic dancers
each knows the question he must ask
and each man knows the answer.
And so we'll drink the final drink
that cuts the brain in sections
where answers do not signify
and there aren't any questions.
I broke my heart the other day.
It will mend again tomorrow.
If I'd been drunk when I was born
I'd be ignorant of sorrow.
And so we'll drink the final toast
that never can be spoken:
Here's to the heart that is wise enough
to know when it's better off broken.
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 9:00 PM
Break for the nonce!
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 9:04 PM
Hmmm. I see we're at it again. Much as I would LURVE to have a tete-a-tete with the both of you, I have to keep up the sleep part of my bargain.
And hon, you forgot the foreplay part in the eatworkdrinkfucksleep routine. Men!! No wonder there are more men coming out of the closet now!
Like Grace says to Will, it ain't as easy as saying 'Ok, it's your turn' :-P.
Skyrockets in flight this ain't anyway.
Good night, I gots to get me some shut-eye.
Lay-tah!!
Posted by Anonymous | January 22, 2006 10:09 PM
Why would people leave anonymous comments?
Hmmm. Mebbe it's because they think I would know them
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 10:17 PM
If you don't know me by now
You will never ever really know me
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 10:18 PM
Better dead than Simply Red
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 10:18 PM
You think you know Me, but you ain't really sure, are you ?
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 10:19 PM
Kai din se mujhe, koi sapnon mein
awaaz deta tha, har pal bulaata tha
achcha toh woh tum ho, tum ho, tum ho
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 10:20 PM
Sigh, back to Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se again.
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 10:41 PM
So what's the problem ? Too desi for you ?
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 10:41 PM
(a) Too weepy
(b) Too old n faded
(c) As said before, tres weepie.
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 10:44 PM
Mmm. Weepy yes. But Dave Van Ronk is not exactly flavour of the week either. Neither do I exactly recall The Last Call being a cheerleaders' chorus. So it comes down to being desi.
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 10:46 PM
Mmm. To change the topic, seen the profile views page?
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 10:50 PM
Yep. Surprising how many here na ?
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 10:50 PM
No comments though. See, they are struck dumb!
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 10:51 PM
Mmm. More likely they escape ASAP.
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 10:52 PM
Self deprecation was cool a COUPLE of decades ago. Right here, right now, it is thein your face self promotion thingie.
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 10:53 PM
Right here right now is a stoopid song sung by rick drivers wanting to appear with it. You better find something else.
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 11:01 PM
You still haven't found what you're lookin for ?
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 11:06 PM
Nope, but then, unlike you, I haven't run through the fields, and I haven't climbed highest mountains
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 11:07 PM
The day you get out of this habit of searching, you'll find it.
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 11:08 PM
Oooh, how profound. But I am not searching. I don't have this happiness hangup
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 11:11 PM
It's wrong to search for happiness?
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 11:12 PM
(a) Which rulebook defines happy ?
(b) Which rulebook says you gotta be happy ?
Answers to these might help.
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 11:13 PM
There isn't a rulebook. And isn't that part of life ? A quest for happiness?
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 11:14 PM
There isn't a rulebook for being happy. Proves there isn't any happy state to really wish for
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 11:15 PM
So then life is aimless ?
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 11:16 PM
Pal, life isn't a ffing bow n arrow game. You don't have to have an aim
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 11:17 PM
Nother break.
sleeps, which blah blah the brow of ravelled care etc
Posted by ?! | January 22, 2006 11:24 PM
Gah, you been hitting the bottle again last night. One notes that the last quote is wrong too. It's the ravelled sleeve of care that is knit up.
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 7:29 AM
Seeking answers
I knocked at your door
Your reply : "Who are you?"
Posted by Asmita | January 23, 2006 1:33 PM
Mmm. So life need not have an aim.
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 8:00 PM
Yep. As in it can be just enjoyed for the moment.
Just for the chance
Just for the moment
Should the moment pass us by
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 8:03 PM
(Sheesh, you'll like DESTROY any chance of being thought of as hip).
If the moment doesn't ?
You'll spend your life waiting for a moment ? That *might* not happen ?
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 8:05 PM
Well, I believe that eventually, the moment will. But more than that, every moment is potentially THE moment. Of your life.
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 8:06 PM
Sheesh. The Chicken Soup for the Pot bellied perv again.
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 8:07 PM
Not at all. Every moment could be the moment. Cept of course, that I spend some with you. To inject some sanity into a wildly rich, hyperbole filled life.
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 8:14 PM
Mmm. Remember that gent who said that in a crazy world, the sanest are those listen to voices in their heads.
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 8:14 PM
But we digress. Are we to spend a life in anticipation of that moment that may just be possibly vouchsafed to us ?
Umr-e-daraaz maangkar laaye the zindagi ke chaar din
Do din kat gaye aarzoo mein, baaki intezaar mein!
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 8:16 PM
Yeah, the point being that you don't KNOW that the aarzoo is granted. (That's where hope comes in)
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 8:18 PM
Gent, I have a prescription for you.
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 8:18 PM
Yeah, I bet one that invokes the medicinal properties of Kremnaya, no doubt.
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 8:23 PM
LOL. This is by far the most interesting blog I have come across! MPD was never such fun, no?
Posted by Anonymous | January 23, 2006 8:31 PM
OK, you asked for that. Am a Spl_IT Personality.
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 8:43 PM
Gah, you were WAITING for that cue.
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 8:44 PM
Yep, else I have to always wait for you to give the straight lines.
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 8:45 PM
TO get back, has the alcohol helped ?
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 8:46 PM
Ducky, alkyhall doesna help as in help. It isn't like an assist. It more like changes the playin field.
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 8:47 PM
Mmm. Recorder or human, every head could do with an occasional cleaning with alcohol.
The emphasis, of course, on occasional.
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 8:48 PM
You are here. I am here. Isn't it an occasion ?
Khoob jamegi mehfil jab mil baithenge hum tum aur Bagpiper.
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 8:49 PM
You've taken to addressing yourself with endearments now, eh? Ah, the joys of self-love!
Posted by Anonymous | January 23, 2006 8:55 PM
Jahaan kahin mil baithe hum tum
wohin kahin ho Madhushala
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 8:57 PM
But I had a prescription.
Which was, stop mooning about and sneering about the eatsrinksleepfuckwork life.
Because that IS life. And you can either go through it with a smile or not. It isn't going to change much.
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 9:00 PM
Me : You don't know how it feels to be me.
And so loved :)
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 9:01 PM
In reply to comment 63: Please don't tell me that is life. I have much to see and much to do before I think along those lines.
In reply to comment 64: :). Good for you.
Posted by Anonymous | January 23, 2006 9:03 PM
"And that inverted chicken coop thou callest the sky
Look not to it for help;it rolls on
as impotently as thou or I"
Fatalist==loserwimp.
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 9:05 PM
I can see we are on a roll here. Let's not discount the good parts. Yet.
Tom Petty. For example. Where does he fit in?
Eat?
Work?
Drink?
Fuck?
or Sleep?
Posted by Anonymous | January 23, 2006 9:07 PM
Me :
Le mere tajurbon se sabak
Ae mere raqeeb
Do chaar saal umr mein
tujhse bada hoon main
(Lekin yeh sochta hoon, ab tera kyaa hoon main)
And it is neither fatalistic nor wimpy. It is realistic and bopfatheadedgentwithbeermugistic.
A fatalist is resigned to fate. Why can't you just embrace it ?
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 9:08 PM
Pliss to clarify.
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 9:12 PM
Look, LIFE as everyone sees it : isn't a coincidence that everyone sees it. It is LIFE.
What you have here, is the product of a hormones, alcohol and an overactive imagination. Not to mention typingspeedthatcouldbemuchmoreusefullyemployedinbecomingabiztycoon.
Life does not recognize happysadfuckedupeuphoric. If it did, all the slum dwellers would've queued up for euthanasia. It just carries on. Labelling it does not work.
On the other hand, this stuff: it does. Guess what ? It also comes with its own magical property : the bottle is blank. Label it happy and you are. Label it fucked up and you are. So out here, and right here, right now, as you say, you gotta choice to say wowee, me happy or me sad.
Neither of which, incidentally, makes the fuck of a diff to Life.
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 9:18 PM
You're no fun when you go into this cynical mode. I think you just want someone younger to say 'I have 'x' years on you, so listen to me when I say...'
Pfft!
Posted by Anonymous | January 23, 2006 9:19 PM
( Right, now, the bottle is not only blank, but the Life aseverybodyseesit has a bot that is empty)
When you want to use an adjectival clause, put it in quotes. Like, Life "as everybody sees it".
Not using the space bar only makes it unreadable.
But OK. We shall ponder over the thought.
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 9:21 PM
Me, to quote a very favourite saying of ours, "Aadmi aur achaar mein yahi farak hai".
Means age n maturity doan necessarily mix.
" think you just want someone younger..."
Stop RIGHT there and you have the EXACT idea.
Young wimmin, sigh. BOCTAOE.
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 9:23 PM
==> Is shy in company. Am not a people person. Gwan, catcher later.
(Gulluck with me.
And ya didn't say Hi to Asmita).
Posted by ?! | January 23, 2006 9:25 PM
Listened to this today. Maybe you both can sing it to yourselves tonight...
'Raah veeraan sahi,
Raat sunsaan sahi,
Har ghadi saath rahe,
Kitne gham saath sahe...
Thode gham aur sahi,
Do kadam aur sahi,.
Do kadam aur sahi...
Posted by Anonymous | January 24, 2006 7:16 PM
Love ya :)
Major entertainment LOL
Posted by Anonymous | January 26, 2006 2:54 AM
Boy! You exhaust my intelligence and give me a serious inferiority complex. Amazing, the things you have read and the way stream of your consciousness meanders and creates a beautiful pattern. Keep it up!
Posted by Anonymous | January 26, 2006 9:59 AM
I got so distracted by your chatter that I forgot to type what I had originally wanted to comment on when I visited last.
I wanted to thank you for introducing two beautiful words to me today through your post... 'lop' and 'ichor'. I think this is the first time a blog made me look up the dictionary.
Posted by Anonymous | January 26, 2006 4:11 PM
Somewhere up there you mentioned that mush-fest - akhiyon ke jharokon se. A couple of lines that we love from it (although we wouldn't admit to it in most company) -
kuchh bolke khaamoshiyaan taDpaane lagii hain
chup rehne se majbooriyaan yaad aane lagii hain
tu bhii merii tarah hans le, aansoo palkon pe thaam le
jitnii hai khushii ye bhii ashqon mein naa beh jaaye ..
Posted by Anonymous | January 27, 2006 7:45 PM
STOP RIGHT THERE!!!!
who is ?! and who is ME and who is ?! ?????
God... I am dumb, impatient and dumb. Please make me clever!
Posted by anantha | January 27, 2006 9:37 PM
I am ?!. ?! is also me.
Conversations inside.
Me isn't me.
Errr. One hopes that clarifies things, sorta.
:)
(also on your post)
Posted by ?! | January 27, 2006 9:46 PM
We just realized the folly of our ways. Sanity is a no-no. What were we thinking quoting serious song lyrics and all. Tchah! I need to find myself a cliff now.
Posted by Anonymous | January 27, 2006 11:59 PM
Sigh, ONE person actually likes the songs and you have to drive her away.
Posted by ?! | January 28, 2006 12:06 AM
Not at all@ drive her away. You'd be spouting " baithe hOn tassavur mein kisike aur aise mein koi cham se aa jaye" and all and THAT would actually drive her away.
Posted by ?! | January 28, 2006 12:08 AM
(mebbe she knows Raakh ke dher ne sholon ko daba rakha hai too ?)
Posted by ?! | January 28, 2006 12:09 AM
Well, don't get your hopes up. And stop singing Ek Nazar.
Posted by ?! | January 28, 2006 12:10 AM
Well, she DID get the one stanza that isn't usually associated with the song.
Posted by ?! | January 28, 2006 12:11 AM
Psst. She knows both. Hum ne tanhaai ko mehboob banaa rakha hai is such a lovely line, no? Reminds one of meri tanhaaiyon tum hi lagaa lo also. And she likes the slow versions more than the regular one, so she quoted. And Ek Nazar? Ek Baar Kaho, no? She goes now.
Posted by Anonymous | January 28, 2006 3:06 AM
Hey, aNTi, ?! knows me. And ?! knows me, too :-)).
As for you, precious...
Raakh ke dher mein shola hain na chingari hain.
Heard that one?
Posted by Anonymous | January 28, 2006 10:18 AM
Jaane kya dhoondhti rehti hai ye aankhein mujh mein
Raakh ke dher mein shola hai na chingaarii hai
From the fine pen of Kaifi Azmi.
And who knew! He converses with the masses. Hallelujah!
Posted by Anonymous | January 28, 2006 10:54 AM
Oh wait a minute. Is Me not you?
Posted by Anonymous | January 28, 2006 10:56 AM
Me is not me. As I said.
And I was wrong. Of course Me is me.
It isn't I though. (Was only gramatically wrong).
And I know Me. ( If what I think is right).
In which case,
I've been to Paradise
But I've never been to me.
(Dramatickle, no ? But I love this song too).
:))
And when you say He converses with the masses ... I thought the masses crucified the last one ? Hmmm. He may still be at it though.
What if God was one of us ? Just a stranger on the bus ?
Sigh. And this started as SUCh a dignified post.
Posted by ?! | January 28, 2006 11:54 AM
This is turning out to be the most interesting conversation since post coital silence!
Nope, Megha, I am Me.
Posted by Anonymous | January 28, 2006 11:55 AM
And to answer your q much earlier, Me, Tom Petty and Bachchan H, and Bachchan A and Omar K all fit in. They form the bridge that connects the two planets.
:))
Posted by ?! | January 28, 2006 11:56 AM
The masses crucified Him, but were remarkably nice to me. Not Me and not me either. Remember, this is me we are talkng about. Interesting yesh. And did I ask a question? I no longer remember. Sigh. I am going to retire to my commentspace now. *yaaawn*
Posted by Anonymous | January 28, 2006 12:40 PM
And perhaps we should speak lesser so as to retain the dignity of this space and all that. Ahem. We actually managed to say that with a straight face. Heh.
Posted by Anonymous | January 28, 2006 12:44 PM
We stopped by to say why our commentspace is easier - No word verification! And ignore the decent folks. I usually do ;)
Do you have any idea how hard it is to convince seventeen people to go on a road-trip? Tsk tsk.
Posted by Anonymous | January 28, 2006 3:21 PM
This is too high faluting for me. I will stick to Rajinikanth, Chiranjeevi and cricket! Tom Petty and Omar Khayyam are as far away from me as the distance between virginity and Pamela Bordes!
Posted by anantha | February 01, 2006 10:56 PM