Love this song

Original Song (in French): Quelqu´un m´a dit, by Carla Bruni

"Il vous aime, c'est secret...." 

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W8SrhLVl5U
 
English Translation:

They tell me that our lives are not worth much
They pass in an instant as roses wither
They tell me that time that slips by is a bastard,
That makes coats of our sorrows
However, someone told me...

That you still love me
Someone told me that you still love me
Could it be possible then?

They tell me that destiny makes fun of us,
That it gives us nothing and promises all
It seems that happiness is within reach,
so you reach out and find yourself crazy
However, someone told me... 

But who was it who told me that you still loved me?
I don't remember, it was late at night,
I can still hear the voice, but can't see the features any more,
"He loves you, it's a secret, don't tell him I told you!"
You see, someone told me...

That you still love me. Did someone really tell me...
That you still love me, so could it really be possible?

They tell me that our lives are not worth much,
They're over in an instant, as roses wither
Someone told me that time that slips by is a bastard,
that makes coats of our sorrows
However, someone told me...

My New E-Reader

I call myself 'technologically-challenged'. Not because I can't use the 'smart' stuff, but because it repels me. I simply don't have the patience to deal with those super-efficient gadgets that can do a million things at a time, but do nothing right. 

So when someone suggested the e-reader to me, I dismissed the idea without even giving it a thought. To suggest that I give up my books was nothing short of blasphemy. It was to get closer to reading, rather than getting away from it, I was politely corrected. My stubbornness stood in the way and the idea was trashed. 

Till I happened to watch an online review of the e-reader. To have thousands of books in one little device, that was so light and could be carried with you anywhere, was enticing. This could be my own little library. And it took just a few minutes to turn the 'could' into a 'would'. I purchased the Kindle online and before I knew it I was reading away nights and days like a hooked addict. I have fallen in love with my little library. 

Ofcourse, hard covers are still closer to my heart than anything else. But the beauty is, I can switch from one to another whenever I wish to. And when I miss the all-too-familiar scent of old pages from a library book, I can simply drive down to my local library and give the kindle a break.   

Sometimes having choices is a good thing.  

The Fact About Fiction

I prefer reading fiction. Facts bore me to death. Why choose the finite when you can choose to play with fantasies?

Fiction captures me with its sheer power of limitlessness. I can choose to be a Belgian sleuth investigating a murder one day, and a beautiful heroine jilted in love the next. Being me can get dreary sometimes. To live a whole new life in a brand new character and make a fresh new story can be nothing short of fascinating.

And yet, as aloof from reality fiction may seem, I sense a queer affinity between the two. In some strange way, our own natures are touched by these strange fantastic characters that we live through our imaginations. After all, aren't we living these lives in our mind? In our mind we have traveled to these eras and felt what these characters feel, except that our bodies still exist in the present. But an experience of the mind is an experience nevertheless.

Some years back I had read a story about this girl who needs to cross across a haunted bridge, all by herself, in the middle of the night, to reach her house at the other end. I do not remember now who wrote that story. But I distinctly remember the fear I felt when I read it, and how I lived every moment of that fear in my mind, while the girl crossed that bridge (in the story). As it happens, she successfully makes it across the bridge (so it wasn't haunted after all), only to get home to find her house haunted (eeks!). Now where would we be able to live anything like this in real life?

The good thing about fiction is that it stays fictional, so you don't have to face the consequences (you don't actually die when you enter your haunted house after all, even though the character does :)). When you finally put your book down, you are happy to be real. It helps appreciate the real world. 

Wilde has this to say about fiction “The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.” Now this is too good to pass!

"There seemed to him to be something tragic in a friendship so coloured by romance."

- Oscar Wilde, The Picture Of Dorian Gray

The Biology Of Love?

Very interesting video by Helen Fischer...

http://www.ted.com/talks/helen_fisher_tells_us_why_we_love_cheat.html

The seasons of my life

Winter greeted me as soon as I breathed my first
I cried my lungs out coz I missed being warm
In my ma's belly where I had stayed long
I was pushed out in the cold to say hello to the world.

Years went by and I met sweet spring
She was lovely, fresh, colorful and pleasing
I was besotted by her beauty and the promise of tomorrow
But she left me as quickly as she had found me.

Then I found love in summer
She was hot like the sun and mysterious like the sea
I learnt from her to love and to live
Amongst the sand-n-sun, I had found my summer to remember.

I am now one with the fall
Calm and quiet and introspective
Soon the winter will engulf me again
I will go to where I came from
But I  will carry with me memories of my seasons.

What are WE thinking? (About 'What Animals Think')

The TIME magazine (Aug 16, 2010 issue) recently published an article ('What Animals Think'), which talked about how 'studies' have 'now' shown that animals do have a conscience after all. All these studies (after all this time) are still not sure if smaller brained animals have a conscience (example, a spider they claim may just be breathing, reproducing, eating and surviving, without being much conscientious about its surrounding, as it has a small brain). But bigger animals might be smarter than we think.   

The article was no doubt in good taste. But it did not state anything we don't already know. Are there still people ignorant enough to believe that humans are the only ones with a conscience? (If you ask me, I'll say everything but humans have a conscience. Didn't we sell ours to the devil ages back?)

Spend ten minutes with a dog and you'll know he not only feels, he also understands you, much before you can fathom how he could possibly trust you so easily and completely. It really shouldn't take us 'studies' to prove animals think and feel too. That only goes to show our inefficiency in understanding the world around us. 

I am training to be a volunteer at an animal shelter near my town. I recently attended a 'cat orientation' where they taught us basic cat handling techniques. I have never interacted with a cat before and was a little skeptical if I will be able to do this. They introduced us to about 8-10 cats who were waiting to be adopted out of the shelter. Even though I'm a cat novice, it took me minutes to realize that each cat had a personality of its own. While one preferred being petted, another liked to be left alone. If some cats preferred being fed by you, others found a way to convey they were quite content with their morning feed; thank you. Some loved being stroked on their back, while others loved to play scratch. The only common trait was that they were all eager to accept you, and be accepted by you. Without intelligence and the ability to choose, how would each cat be so unique? 

I believe each living thing has intelligence. Perhaps the bigger-brained ones find a way to convey their personalities to us. How can survival instinct exist without a basic level of brain work? I have seen animals being capable of love, forgiveness, companionship, fear, grief, joy, anger, heck- even jealousy. 

To all those needing a study to prove animals can think, you're wasting time trying to prove the obvious.