(Copied from Bina's Blog!)

My name means: Girdhar Gopal A Hindi (generally Doodwala)name given to a Southie : as I was born in Sitapur UP within hailing distance of Mathura. Describes Krishna's exploit of lifting a mountain to prevent a flood

My favourite book is: Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco

My favourite author is:Charles Dickens, W.Scott,A  Dumas, Eco,Steinbeck,William Dalrymple,Amitav Ghosh

My favourite poem is: Francis Thompson's The Hound of Heaven, Tagore's Gitanjali

My favourite lines are: The Moving Finger writes and having writ moves on.....

My favourite song in English: Hey Jude

My favourite song in Hindi is: Dilka Haal Sune Dil Wala(it dates me does it not ?)

My favourite Malayalam song is: I wish I had heard some

My favourite movie is: Horse's Mouth(Alec Guinness)

My favourite smell is of:Early Morning in the Forest

My favourite dish: Thai Green Curry

My favourite second food is:Dal Bhath with a lot of ghee with Madras Potato Curry

My favourite colour is: Maroon

My favourite second colour: Red

My favourite friend is:  My mind, Books and my wife, not necessarily in that order

My favourite past time is: Was reading, now its writing and playing along with my wife with my grandchildren

My favourite dress is: T Shirts and jeans

My favourite quality in others is: Loyalty,Honesty,Selflessness

My favourite quality in myself is: My ability to stay focussed until I  achieve an objective

My favourite mantra is –Blood Relationships do not matter as much as human relationships

My favourite heros are:  My parents

My favourite dream is: To leave behind footsteps in the sands of time

My favourite memory is of the time: I was courting my wife Indira

My favourite 'Aa-ha' moment is when: I tell my wife' I told you so'

My favourite fantasy is about –I have too many fantasies to choose from being a veritable dreamer of dreams

My favourite lines penned by me are –

Memories

Memories are special when they choose to appear
They come unbidden, from the deep recesses of the mind
They are sometimes fleeting but often times simply adhere
Till the mind goes on to another memory or thought
They can be haunting and pleasant, with memory and thought entwined
Or they can be heavy with memories of incidents we had forgot
Those are incidents that were difficult, hard rending or just austere

But they are there with us, life's companions, and constant friends
That when we get them we lovingly clasp them to heart
Those memories that will not leave us, as true friends will not
These good one's so beautifully formed and remembered with joy
These are pleasant reminders that life's embers
Are not all sorrowful, laden with incidents with pain so fraught

The painful one's are harrowing reminders of man's victimhood
Of person's and events and happenstances, on which we brood
Of uncontrollable events and disasters of pernicious climes
They are drab and lack color when they depict painful times

Good Memories appear in bright colors in sharp contrast
To the drab colors of bad momories in our checkered past
But both are there and there they will be
Until this mind of ours decides to call it quits
When we follow our maker and cease to be,Or
Lose our minds to the ravages of mind's unknowable pits

Be not afraid and painstakingly but happily record
These memories, good and bad are precious glimpses of history
They should be recorded because they are a part of you
They are yours and yours alone, your peculiar lfe's story
That dies with you and only you can properly comprehend
Their future impact on foe and friend
Because by their recording you record that you WERE
That you breathed and lived, laughed and cried
And were no statistic, but a being with pride

Excerpt from my favourite Poem:
I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;

Current Location: Home

Current Mood: Equable

Last Music Heard: Beet Gaye Din Bhajan Binare
Contained in Sivaram's excellent blog on the mysticism of Kabir
sivaram56.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/06/me-kabir-aur-bhajans.htm

Reading: The Kite Runner

Cooking: : I make excellent Curries, Fried Rice , Rasams, Kozhambus and a special Habenero Sauce that will take off the roof of your mouth.

Weather: The rains have  begun

Observation: Think positive and positive things will happen.

This is cathartic stuff !

Ha! This was fun! I hope more people do this!!! :-) Amen !

Ok, I’d like to read the following people’s favourite things :-)


 Any of my friends NOT tagged yet I want to leave it open for anyone,everyone and no one to take on the baton.