A father's feelings

Whoever said men can't express their feelings? Here is a mail I have got from a friend of mine who has just become a father.

-----------

I didn’t expect my daughter to change me as much as I have.

You get such a strong sense of responsibility. I mean even when holding her – you feel as if her life depends on you, so if I am holding her, I wont drink hot tea! There is no time left in the day. The 3 hour sleep cycles take their toll. We try to “over-feed” her at bed time so that maybe she can sleep for 4 hours and maybe it will be easier to get up, feed and calm her.

Its not going to make any sense to you right now but you probably will understand one day. I thought I knew, having seen my brother and few friends go thru the same, but I knew nothing. To give an example: I have seen kids sandwitched between their parents - probably to protet them from Wind and cold. I used to think it was stupid as the kid is anyway more heavily dressed than the parents, but I now think that is very logical and natural thing to do.

One day you will know.

She is back!

I today saw her setting a new world record for the longest voice message ever left. More than 3 minutes! Can anyone beat that?

And... she laughed a couple of times too! (please read the previous post to get the context)

Have you ever thought that someone you barely know can bring so much happiness in to your life? Well, I just discovered that.

There is this girl who sits next to me in office. I only know her for the past two weeks and all we say to each other is "Hello", "Good night" and occasional "wow, nice weather, isn't it?". Actually, I am not quite sure if should call her a girl. She must be in her late thirties and probably holds some specialization degree in talking.

"Hi, this is So and So. Hahahah"
Other End: ..............
"Oh, you were? hahahha"
Other End: ..............
"Yeah, I know! hahaha"
Other End: ..............
And then comes a long sentence, "I was just wondering, if it is not too much of a problem to you, when time permits..."

Imagine this at the loudest possible girl voice. Often she makes me believe that everyone she talks to, has an excellent sense of humour. At the same time she makes me curious about the other end's reaction for the silly and almost unbearable giggles. But not to deny, she makes me feel like screaming at the top of my voice. "Cut that crap, will you?"

Ok, now are you asking me how I derive happiness out of this situation? Let's say you have a neighbor like this and she disappears for a week on vacation, how will that be?

Please don't remind me that she will be back soon. That makes me shudder!

Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain

I just finished watching a French movie (English subtitles, of course) , "Amelie". In fact, a couple of times in as many days. To put it in a nutshell, this is one of those movies that will make you sit in silence for sometime and let the feeling sink in. A perfect combination of liveliness and lighthearted comedy. The photography is as good as any other aspects about the movie.


Best thing about the movie? The star of the movie - Amelie (Audrey Tautou). What can I say? Her smile is amazingly sweet and mesmeric!
The way the director chooses to build the characters is excellent. Gives you a feeling that you know them personally. Worth having in your personal collection.

Some hula for the soul

This is by far my best weekend in a long time. Yesterday I had a great opportunity to hear/watch a traditional Hawaiian concert at the Whittier College, Beverly hills. The performers were Cazimero brothers. Honestly I have no idea how popular they were. But most of the people who were present there seemed to recognize them.

This was my first ever time that had anything to do with Hawaii. I never even had a Hawaiian shirt before, believe me. As if to make things worse for me, most of the audience, including those who were with me, were in Hawaiian costumes, like those colorful shirts, garland around neck, the single big prominent flower etc. Well, I wasn't very far, actually. I was wearing one of my Filipino T-shirts. Hehe.. That probably was the closest I have every gotten to Hawaii. And interestingly, couple of people even asked me about my T-shirt I and the place that it had on its front (Tagaytay)

Anyways, the show started with few promises/points.
1. The costumes that the performers were wearing were indeed traditional Hawaiian ones, and not touched by Hollywood.
2. The Hula dance is not really for movements, but for expressions. So, one might find the movements a little boring and repetitive if you do not understand the words being spoken/sung. *Sigh*

The show started and I didn't realize that it was more than an hour since until they broke for the interval. I thoroughly enjoyed the music as well as dance. There are few things that I must mention. In one of the dances, the men who were performing (yes, there were male dancers too! But the good thing is there equal number of girls) were wearing a very interesting piece of outfit. It was like a kind of a basket attached to their waist and gave a feeling that the dancers indeed were suspended on them. Mostly, the men were just wearing a hawiian shirt and a regular trouser. And of course a garland around the neck to remind us that we were in a Hawaiian show.

But the best thing I liked was how the dancers made me feel that their smile/grin was natural. It certainly wasn't like those Air-hostess' smile. I hate it when those on-flight-stewards show their teeth, without bothering their cheeks or eyes. It is so unnatural and kind of puts me off. But these girls and boys, to my liking, really appeared to be enjoying what they were doing. I could see those smiles on their eyes and cheeks. Very nice!

Now about music - honestly I understood nothing, for most of the songs were in Hawaiian. There were a couple of them in English as well. Someone said that people in Hawaii don't really speak Hawaiian there. The language is only for music. May be, Aloha is the only word they use in conversations and rest is English. I don't really know. The music was nicely paced and was pleasant.

Someone tells me that Hawaii is only about 200$ away from LA. Now, isn't that a good news? Alright... I gotta go now. I have some work at google now.

Aloha!

If nights can wait...

I like it when my days are longer. Now don't jump to conclusions that I am a workaholic. Not yet. What I meant is I like it when the sun sets after 8 or 9 in the evening. I know there are people who do not particularly like it when they go to a country in the northern hemisphere. But I love it. People who live in a trffic-affected city like Bangalore can probably guess why.

I really hate it to find it already dark when I reach home. What is an evening if you have no time to sit at the balcony with a cup of coffee and a book. No time to enjoy the sunset either. What a lousy life! There are two hours in a normal day that are meant to be enjoyed. The first hour is morning 6 AM to 7 AM and second just before dusk, 5.30 PM to 6.30 PM. I spend the first one best hour trying to wake up and the second one trying to close my work for the day. I know I have myself to blame for the morning laziness. But you see, when I reach home at 7.30 in the evening, I need at least 3 hours for myself, to cook, to eat, to read something and watch TV. So, it's not all my fault, don't you agree with me?

I would not mind if there are only 8 or 9 hours of darkness in a day - Just about enough to sleep. This will give us the flexibility to start and end our day whenever we want. You can hang around in the office a bit longer, because you can go home at 7.30 in the evening and still sit out in the balcony and read, without having to turn on the bulbs, of course. And that will be the perfect way to end your day!