Like

Just look at this word. If it hasn't become strange already, just try saying it out loud ten times. Now that you've experienced what I think they call Semantic Satiation, we can move on to what I had to say.

'Like' has got to be one of the most abused/overused words of the English language. It started innocently enough.

"I like ice cream."
"They don't like you."
"She likes to dance barefoot in the rain."
"She does not like catching a cold."
"He likes men."
 But then..
"You mean he likes likes them?" Yeah, likes likes.

Like-like used to be a phrase that described affection beyond the platonic realm. I like-like you means I like you more than, say chocolate. Okay, maybe that's a bit too much, I like you more than I like Mad Men, more than I like coffee, more than myself, but I can't call it love yet. I don't just like you, I like-like you. *Blush*

That was then, and what is now is 'like!' and 'super-like!'. Not 'I like this'. Not 'I really like this'. Those have been permanently replaced by the like button, 'like!' (for when the like button is not there: g+ I look at thee) and 'super-like' (for when the like button is just not enough to express how much you like)

I mean, FB's great and all. It keeps me updated with what everyone around the world is up to. I will know that that girl from college got married. I know who's got married to whom. I know who's going to which city to study what. I know who ran what marathon.

But this 'like' has again changed in meaning. I feel like it has become less of a tool of appreciation, and more of an ACK signal - I looked at your photograph. I'm in touch with you. Yay. Very often, I feel obligated to 'like'. To be part of a social circle, you cannot just play the role of the passive observer. So if you like your privacy and don't want to put that out for the world, then you like. Even though in most cases, I do generally like it, 'like' has lost its sheen and now I think I'm just playing catch up.

What do you think?

What I think I was doing

In the long long time that I haven't written or blogged, I've often thought about what it was that
(a) reduced my sense of wonder at things, and/or
(b) stopped me from penning it down when I did have something to say

A part of it is married life. Well, actually not married life, it is independent life that actually happened to me. I'd lived with parents earlier, when I got married, I suddenly started managing my own house. While it is split responsibility, it is still more than I was used to. And then when you're someone like me, who is not very good with time management, the result is a mess.

Obviously, this is not all of it. Of course I have free time. There are things that you have to do and there is the idling that you have to do. A friend says that the lack of things to put on the blog is probably because I now have one immediate outlet to share a thought with (my husband, in case you are wondering) while earlier that wasn't there. You thought of something, it waited, and you shared it on the blog. Maybe. Maybe not.

Another part of me thinks that there are things I think of now, but which I don't consider worthy enough to blog about now. In the sense that what seemed worthy then, seems obvious-to-everyone now.

Maybe I was just lazy. Maybe since I got busier than usual, I thought I needed to laze.

Well, whatever the reason be, I know I want to write. I was going through earlier posts, and I honestly enjoyed reading them. There's so much history associated with each and every one of them. Just from these last few lines, I realize that this feeling of penning down one's thoughts is incomparable to anything else. So I'm going to make an effort and I'm going to write regularly.

My sincere gratitude to all the people who used to read what I wrote, who would comment, who would appreciate, who would argue, even those who would nit-pick. I hope at least a few of you are still around. You are what made it fun!

Change

People never change, they just very slowly reveal who they actually are.

Read this somewhere once, and found it quite enlightening and even refreshing.

I have often met people who have difficulty coping with change in the people around them. It angers them, it hurts them, that the template that had been created for a person dear to them, no longer matches the reality.

I may not be immune to this; but I do think it only natural that people never stay the same, because change is an inevitable truth of life, and change is growth. And without growth, one would feel stagnant, out-of-place and lost. But this truth doesn't really console a mind disappointed or let down by change, unless you think of it the way it is quoted above.

Karthik comes from South India..

..as do AnitHa, ShrutHi, AnantH and NitHin..

What's with the extra H that South Indians add to all their names? I've heard countless non South Indians ask with so much shock it amazes me. And then they say that if you spell it AnitHa it's actually A-ni-thhha (you know, thhh of thhhumb, or thhhirst). Its supposed to be Anita.

First, what warrants so much surprise?

Second, supposed to be ??

Third, .... so???

I'd like to clear this up here on this space: It's just the way we spell! So there! Say, how do you pronounce water? Tomato? Terrace? Tamatar?

So is it OK to use the single 't' for the sound of t from tea? Well, we think so too! :)

Then we add an extra H to soften that hard T.

Its as simple as that.

UPDATE/EDIT/DISCLAIMER (a side effect of being surrounded by too many north Indians :P): I'm NOT saying this is the correct way to spell. I'm saying it's not incorrect. I'm saying its OK either way. I'm saying what's the big deal??

Logic.

Traffic congestion at a railway track crossing.
Recognize the need for a road over bridge at the railway track.
Plan to spend Rupees 15 crores and 18 months on building it.
Actually spend 20 crores and 5 years.
Complete it.
Wait a month.
Wait another month.
Paint (??) the walls on either sides of the ROB beautifully.
Make the Chief Minister inaugurate the ROB.
When it is time to finally use it to alleviate traffic:
-* Yesterday *-
Block routes all around the area because the CM is coming.
-* Today *-
All routes around the flyover are jammed. The bottleneck shifts to the next junction.

Sigh. I wish I had a picture.