Pinto!!

Hmmm, I really think Freida Pinto is going to make a career for herself in Hollywood. Not even Aishwarya Rai has made proper inroads in so many years and Freida has already been on all the needed-to-be-on shows including Jay Leno, David Letterman, Oprah etal. Plus she looks awesome on the red carpet!

I just hope we don't have to ever say - "Afraid Pinto didn't make it" :P

Contact - Part Deux

One such night, Xanthippe's parents got up because of the hue and cry, Xanthippe was creating. It was way past the retirement hour and concerned they rushed to the terrace. Xanthippe was shouting excitedly over something she had observed in the sky. She was too excited to speak for a while. They calmed her down with difficulty.

"Mom! You won't believe my probability stars today. A space window opened for exactly 10 seconds, i saw some weird creatures in that window. Mom, they were really peculiar. Oddly symmetric to say the least, they had a pair of legs, pair of arms, a pair of eyes and a pair of ears too!! Very much against the much-proved odd-organ evolution thesis dont you think Mom?" Xanthippe's mother looked indulgently at her precocious daughter. She took in her ruffled body hair, sleepless three eyes brimming with excitement, one central arm pointing in the general direction of the sky and smiled. "Come now Xanthippe dear, its very late girl. You must definitely have had a dream. I am sure ALIENS dont look so oddly symmetric!! Lets go back to sleep honey"

Contact - Part 1

Xanthippe was a precocious girl. She liked all things bright and wonderful. But then, she liked the skies too, not the dark sulky ones, but the ones adorned with a thousand stars. She would spend hours looking at them, getting excited over a shooting star and going into raptures over a passing comet. Her doting parents recognized Xanthippe's love. The onset of her tenth temporal eon was welcomed by a gift so precious that she was literally over the numerous Lunar Planets over it.

Thus began her sojourns into the skies. The UltraPhotoTelescopic Amplifier that her parents gifted to her was the most advanced machine available for personal use in those times. Equipped with stochastic capabilities, to people with time and probability on their hands, it was a peek into the Universe in its entire vastness. Xanthippe would spend hours with it, adjusting probability variables, spatial coordinates and contrast parameters. The sky was her best friend now.

Affection!

So I am driving down to office and a teenage girl is driving along-side on a two-wheeler with her granddad riding on the pillion. All of a sudden her hair gets loose and starts going helter-skelter in the wind. Like any respectable teenager she seems concerned because of the disarray in her appearance. Granddad to the rescue! With one hand he balances himself lest he falls down and the other hand lovingly forms a temporary hair band to keep it in place! Ah, so much affection.Pretty sweet, aint it :)

The Kid - Part II

Story continued...
===========
His perennially moist eyes would shine with the yearning that he felt to be a part of them. I would try to grab his attention with confectionary, but he wouldn't blink an eye. Every now and then, he would look up to his mother, who accompanied him without fail, and longingly point out a finger towards the kids. His mother would hold him close to her heart and soothe him.

I, on my own had tried to reason to the other kids about him. But they would not have anything to do with him. He scared them.

I didn't blame them. After all, who wouldn't be afraid of a mentally retarded 40 year old? Still, he was my favourite kid....

The Kid - Part 1

So I submitted this short story of mine to our company's internal newsletter last week. Had written it some 4-5 years ago when I still had some creative juices flowing within me. Am putting it up here for hopefully a bigger audience ;) Personally I think it is a pretty juvenile piece, but here goes..

The Kid - Part 1
=========
Another Sunday morning. But yet, unlike any other which had passed. This was a routine, which well was not a routine. How I loved to get up early morning and dress up for the occasion. Get into my morning gear and get ready to tread that path which I had beaten down no ends. How I loved to gaze at the Sun's rays dancing silkenly on the flowers adorning my path. How I loved to take in the only amount of fresh air that could be offered to me in these times. As you would have guessed by now, this was not just a walk in the park for an old guy like me. The walk would precipitate with a stop at the Children's Park. It was a joy to behold the sight of children playing to their hearts content. My old ears would strain to get a piece of their joyful banter. How I enjoyed their talk about their favourite heroes and idols. The way this messy world meant so little to them.

My eyes would then search around for my favourite kid. He would be there every time. Huddled up in a corner, he would longingly eye the other kids playing. He did not talk much. My attempts to become friendly with him were always greeted with a scared stare. All he wanted to do was to play with the other kids. He wanted to be one of them. He wanted to jostle and mingle with them. But the other kids wanted nothing whatsoever to do with him...

The Man From Earth!

What if you are older than history itself? What if you helped create and shape history? What if you needed someone to name a species something to identify yourself as belonging to that species? What if you are so old that you have outlived multiple generations and centuries? What if you had the opportunity to shape religion itself?

Scientifically, if someone's body is able to regenerate all the critical organs periodically, it should be possible to live long.

Would you want to be such a person? Will it be FUN to be such a person? Check out "The Man From Earth" to see for yourself.