Century

You may have noticed that I haven't written in a while. Perhaps you assumed that I was busy with school, or that I had nothing to write about. Although both assumptions are relatively correct, they are also a tad far from the truth.

This is my 100th post. I didn't think Selfistan would survive this long. But it has - amazingly.

I started this blog on a whim, one that was based on a friend's desire to get me Blogging. So it wasn't as if I really wanted to create a blog; I just did because she wanted me to. And even though, in hindsight, everything from the title to the first post that I ever wrote seem to project a well-thought-out blog, it happened really quickly - within 10 minutes.

Why Ramblings From Selfistan? Why not something like Weird Nabz' Weird Blog or Why Am I Blogging When I Don't Want To or This Is A Blog or Nabz' World? I've always liked rambling - and I had a series of short poems that had 'Ramblings' in the title. Also, I wanted the blog to be anything and everything - ramblings, rather than 'essays' fit much better.

Selfistan - hmm. Well, as I said in the first post, Salman Rushdie is a major source of inspiration for me. And when I read his 'Shalimar the Clown' the phrase about 'Selfistan' left an impression - the one that talks about drawing a circle around one's feet and claiming a piece of the Earth as one's own. Being the polisci nut that I am, it had major resonances with what I was reading and writing at that point.

So, Ramblings From Selfistan became an attempt to carve out my own small circle on the Internet and to claim a small portion of cyberspace as my own. Have I succeeded? Well, obviously it depends on how one measures success. But I think, in the entire scheme of things, writing 100 posts is a success of sorts. It speaks about a relative desire to write things in RFS and also about an impression that what I write actually gets read (refer to Sitemeter if you wish to confirm this point).

Looking back, I actually like the posts I've written on RFS. My favourite one? Hmm..hard question - a couple that I really liked were 'Game, Set, Match Mr. Federer', 'True Ramblings II', 'Stealing a Table...Nerd Style & Other Stories', 'Amusing Oneself in Selfistan', 'Books: your BF or GF???', and of course, 'Welcome to Selfistan'. More than a couple - but from 99 posts, it's hard to choose 3.

I hate conclusions - I'm just gonna not write one.

Ciao

Oh The Brilliance

Another gem from Mirza Ghalib...

Mere marne ki du’a maange voh but parh kar namaaz,

Kis taraf jaa kar karoon main sajda-e-shukraana aaj

I refuse to translate this into verse. Essentially, the poet is saying that his lover (remember the ghazal lover is always fickle and constantly leads on the poet) has asked for his death during prayer, and he's wondering which direction he should carry-out his sajda-e-shukraana (his bow of thanks) - towards Mecca (as is usual in Muslim prayer) or towards his 'lover'.

Much better in Urdu - but you knew that...

Sajni - Jal

My new music obsession - Sajni from Jal's new album. Here are the lyrics for the slow version.

Main teri aankhon mein rehtaa hoon
Tujhe pataa na chale
Tere har pal mein guzaraa hoon
Tujhe pataa na chale

Khafaa to hum bhi hai tum bhi ho
Humein pataa na chale
Judaai ka mujhe gham bhi hai
Koi aisi khataa na kare

Kare to phir kya kare
Tere bin kaise jiye
Aankhon mein pyaar liye
Bolon kahan kahan phire

Sajni paas bulaao na
Aaah
Saajana maan jaao na
Aaah

Kare to phir kya kare
Tere bin kaise jiye
Aankhon mein pyaar liye
Bolon kahan kahan phire

Humein dil se bhulaao na
Yahin ab kehna hai ab kehna na
Tum paas aao na...

Ramble Ramble Ramble (sung to the Hungry Hippoes song)

Ahh so I'm back at school for another term of papers, exams and readings. I've decided NOT to procrastinate and so I've been tryign to be as organized as possible. I have a big calendar that I made on my wall (its my monthly elementary school art class fix), have stuck important things on the shelves above my desk, my textbooks are in a specific place and my clothes are in the closet - rather than on the chair i'm currently sitting on. I have a ton of dishes in my room though - leftover from my tea (remember - I'm an addict), mini-banana bread, grapefruit juice and veggies and dip. Funny - usually its the food that's leftover, not the dishes.

Anyway so is there any point to this post? Not really. Having slept at two and woken up at two for the past three weeks, Ive been finding it multo difficulo (is that even a word?) to sleep at my self-professed bedtime (11pm - ya right eh?). I have to be in class in 9 hours - how horrible is that? I miss my 1pm starts - or the 4pm ones I had back in 2nd year. Sigh.

I'm taking 6 courses right now, am on 2 execs, 1 editorial board, a research intern, have a massive paper and a policy paper due on Monday. Does anyone think I'm overstretching myself a bit here? I've been debating whether or not to drop one of my courses - I really like all of them so far - but I think I'll have to drop my polisci seminar. It's on comparative politics of the Middle East so it should be amazingly interesting, but the amount of readings that there are for the course, plus the fact that I want to do well in it, and given the stuff i already have - I think I'll have to drop it. It's either that or my genetics for arts students course (I wanted to be a geneticist when I was younger) and which idiot would drop a course during which the prof said that it was possible for everyone to get an 'A' and actually meant it?? Not me...

12.18 - hmm, maybe I should try and get some sleep, considering how early I need to wake up. K. I think i'll stop it there and go brush my teeth. If i cant sleep, i'll count sheep or maybe read or do some sudoku...lol (nerd alert..yes)

That's it for now - and if you don't know the rest - go back and check...

N

ps- if you dont know the Hungry Hippoes song, shame on you - yes, you too Tibz...

With Sincere Apologies....

Heartfelt apologies to the one who forced me to start this blog, and without whom RFS would not have existed, for not mentioning you in the Dammit - I Forgot My Anniversary post...

Thanks Shy for making me start RFS. You rock!

(For Shy's blog, go to http://silenceofthestars89.blogspot.com/)

Happy New Year!