Happiness

I was talking to M one of these days, and we were on an unusual subject for us, Writing. I told her how I write, rewrite and abandon posts because I don’t feel I’m writing good enough. I also told her about Heinlein’s rules of writing which I’m blatantly violating. She replied, “Whoever this guy is, he’s my God” – or something in a similar vein. And how she starts writing something only if she’s sure she’ll finish it. How to just write and get it out of your system and not worry about constructing sentences and replacing words and getting THAT word you’re looking for.

So I just went along to her blog and found this post. On what makes her happy. She got the inspiration to write it , quoting her, from “sucking on a lollipop, sitting in my veranda and watching it rain cats and dogs”. So, I decide to have a shot at it, the way she does it. Write, write and write without thinking too much about it. I am lying on my bed, listening to Noel Gallagher serenely belting out Don’t Look Back in Anger and pounding on my keyboard, with an open copy of ‘A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian’ lying beside me. I’ve promised to help 2 people with 2 different things tonight – to write an SoP for Sandhu and to read through a PDF on Air Law for V, both of which are open and half done on 2 windows.

Now, the song has switched to Engine Driver by The Decemberists. I’m still happy, it’s a song I’ve recently loved.

SO, here goes, the things which make me happy.

Aasiya – For being a cute sister who make me look forward to going home every time, from Bangalore of all places. For calling the purdah-clad extremist who teaches her Quran a crackpot.

Vaappa – For bringing me up mostly by himself when I was a toddler, and for realising the benefits of the hands-off approach when it was time for it.

Umma – For worrying about me.

Oh fuck. There is a Light That Never Goes Out. Not the happiest of songs.

Quizzing – For the thrill of – quoting the supreme authority – random, half-forgotten details combining to offer a ‘Eureka!’ moment.

Liverpool FC – For giving me something to be unabashedly passionate about.

Football – For giving me the some of the highest of highs and some of the lowest of lows in my life. For a lot of intelligent friends online.

V – For being the other source of highest of highs and the lowest of lows. For being the most random incredible piece of luck ever.

Friends – In particular, 2 from school, 4 from college, 2 from the interwebz and 1 from quizzing for being generally awesome company.

Now it’s Long as I can see the Light . Hope. Happiness. Good shit. Thanks to Arun & Raju for introducing me to CCR.

Bangalore Pubs – For being the scene of some of the most illuminating discussions I’ve sat through in my life. Honorable mention to Hotel Prince in Trivandrum and Venugopal Sir.

Spotify – For being a simply brilliant app which knows what to play, when. Thanks again to Raju for more awesomeness.

Accenture – For being generally cool with me. I would rather slave for you American bastards than country Indians like TCS or Infy.

Books & the WWW – For helping me stay the pseudo-intellectual I am, through the years.

100% Good human beings – For Anand and Kiran for restoring my faith in humanity, that humans can be wholly unselfish and good.

Chicken, Beef & Fish – For survival.

Why am I thinking about happy things? Because I spent nearly 6 hours on the phone today and it made me happy. Sad, I know, but I needed it, somehow.

Raindrops are Falling on my Head. How fitting.