The Manifesto

"Whereas we are both introverts and do not care for small talk, finding it on the whole a trivial and demeaning pursuit; and

Whereas we have spent our lives feeling inadequate to the task of small talk when in reality we feel that small talk is simply stupid and unattractive and do not care to participate in it; and

Whereas rather than openly attack the majority for indulging in small talk we have patiently tried our best to imitate it, however unskillfully, and have never received our due for such selfless and humiliating attempts to make extroverts feel less uncomfortable with their shallow and meaningless lives; and

Whereas neither one of us really cares whether the other can skillfully imitate the small talk of others anyway; and

Whereas being highly intuitive we perceive plenty about the other person without having to go through the tedious process of a rote question-and-answer conversation, which moreover we would find nearly obscene in its deadly obtuseness; and

Whereas we are two free human beings freely choosing to associate in the manner that suits us both; and

Whereas we feel confident that if we spend some time together we will, being each of us intellectually nimble, in due time find ample ground for conversation;

Therefore be it resolved that, finding some initial interest in each other, we will commit to spending a sufficient amount of time together without either of us forcing upon the other any conventional, preconceived notions, with particular care not to assume any of the rote behaviors associated with the "dating" mode, and pledge moreover to give due consideration to any and all modes of togetherness including silent trips to the library, the viewing of movies without comment, mutual reading, meals taken in relative silence, long drives during which little is said, and, further, given that our thoughts, when voiced, often are of a complex and many-faceted variety requiring relatively lengthy elucidation, we pledge that should such thoughts begin to be voiced, the one who is listening will provide the one who is speaking ample and necessary time in which to complete such thoughts, and will provide such periodic promptings as might be necessary to reassure the other that in spite of the radically compressed norms of extroverted conversation he or she is not in fact going on too long but is actually enlarging on the subject in a manner that is exceedingly pleasing in its richness and detail."

[Cary Tennis - http://www.salon.com/mwt/col/tenn/2006/09/15/introverts/]

Catch-Up Post (Warning: Very Long Entry)

The months of July and August were plenty busy, there was not time nor inclination to post. Thankfully though, my internet and my brain seem to have connected again... So here is the past two months in relatively brief but technicolour glory. (Victoria/Celine - I am still waiting for the pictures!)

1. My Birthday

'Twas great. Everyone humoured me and watched "Infernal Affairs", although Sriram was in imminent danger of being bonked on the head by Sol at a few points. Despite the rather confusing email that came from my e-mail account but referred to me in the 3rd person, quite a large-ish number of people turned up at Archana's place that night. A healthy repast was provided by Archana and Peter (Hungarian Goulash no less). and the theme ('cos we are unable to grow up and still insist on "theme parties") was "Que Sera Sera". Ani came as Ali G. Saad and I came came as the "Slacker" and the "Bohemian Chick" respectively (OK OK we forgot about the theme). And Nitin wore his uniform 'cos member became what he always wanted to be.... an Aircraft Engineer no less. I got lots of lover-ly presents including my first Donaldson from Adam and "Endless Nights" the next day from Preeti. Thankfully though, there were no embarassing photos (it seems there was one of me blowing the gazillion candles, but it got deleted). The night ended with us playing drinking games which somehow ended up in Adam never drinking, so he was arbitrarily declared the loser by "GOD" (my birthday I am GODlar) several times.

2. Red Art-ing

Archana and I took this cool art class which provided us with an almost free flow of white wine while we painted under the starry skies. Peter and Nitin got sucked into the quicksand of many-hued paints as well and created a.... piece of pizza. It was not Peter's fault though.

Archana & her "Samundara", Peter working on his "Pizza"

Presenting...the Pizza!! You could flip it around and it would become a totally different painting...(the "clouds" were initially at the top). So the Cool

Continuing my obsession with Delirium (with lots of help from Archana). Presenting some close-ups below...

The Fishie...

The Fishie-Eye

Swirling Clouds of Blue and errr...Red? Vincent I am not.

3. Arpita's 26th Birthday

Good fun was had by all at Liberte. Was also nice to catch up with Sandy again. Of course, after that one could not be rid of the bugger....

With the Birthday Girl

Giving "Admiral Akhdar" the "eye"

Hot Chicks and I

Cheers Arpita!

4. Ira's Patriotic Party

Almost the whole world was there. I kid you not. She-of-the-Scary-Fake-Tan made her first appearance to the general viewing public. Nitin and Akhder had a "who-can-remove-their-shirt-the-fastest" competition which led to Ashwin being jealous that Nitin is scrawnier than he is (Ashwin : Skinny is MY thing!). Also, Ira's parties are the only ones where the food and alcohol actually finish.

The Twirling Orange - Sol

Talk to Anjeli's hand

The Hostest with the Mostest & Natalia

Some Random Cool Dudes

Sohni the Tigress

Nitin & Karl Survey the Spread While She-Of-The-Scary-Fake-Tan Watches From Afar

Soon-To-Be-Roadkill Caught in Headlights

Ira Knew Roughly Half The People at her Party....

5. The Campaign to Confer The Public Star On JBJ

Singapore's National Day found us (all 14 of us!) at the above-mentioned play by Eleanor Wong (My Law Professor and also-playwright of the lesbian trilogy - INVITATION TO TREAT) . By now, I have complete respect for Ivan Heng And W!ld Rice. He had me at "An Occasional Orchid". Wow, I saw that with Abe and Bea. How time doth flyeth and changeth things. For a review of the play please goeth here http://inkpot.com/theatre/06reviews/0812,campconfpublserv,ny.html.

Personally I thought it was great, but of course it still could not hold a candle to 2nd Link which Sandy, Cyn, Nitin and I saw the same weekend. Had to miss Venk's "See The Fireworks Party" for the Play but unbeknowst to me another Venk-Party (as drama-filled as any play) would soon roll along.

6. Womad

Cooly strolled in at 11pm (for free!) after Sze Kee's Barbecue, just in time for Jimmy Cliff and Sandy's "living on the edge" chest hair. Yes, energy levels were a wee bit high and yes, Nitin managed to avoid the paparazzi.

Earlier Sane Crowd

Late-r In-Sane Crowd

Jimmy Cliff!

The Appearance of the Hand

Le Infamous Chest Hair

AWWWWWWwwww

We are Family!! [Muna : Errr Arch can please remove your finger from my nose]

'Twas A Good Night

7. At Venk's

Venk's Erudite Invite : "Dear Friends and Contemporaries,

On Saturday September 2nd, I’ll be throwing a small, intimate soiree to commemorate a year in Singapore. I would like you, the intelligent, attractive person that you are to come to my abode on this date and share witty repartees with the fellow intellectual elite of Singapore.

You might be discussing such topics as:

-U.S. Interest Rates and the China’s purchases of U.S.T bills.
- Wittgenstein and Bertrand Russel: Could they not come to terms over the Tractatus?
- Punctuated Equilibrium: Is S. Jay Gould’s posthumous treaty just glossing over the incomplete trilobite fossil record?

Now, for the rest of us:
-------------------------------------
It’s a pool party followed by a BBQ at my place. It’s going to start at 4pm at the pool, followed by the BBQ at my place. The BBQ and party will go on as long as there is stuff to cook and booze to drink, or until I get tired and kick everyone out.

It should be fun, all you need to do is bring is some booze, and a towel, swim trunks are optional but recommended. Please RSVP back so I can get an idea of how much food I should prep. As I don’t have everyone’s email, please feel free to invite anyone I have met and hopefully not alienated (yet).

The Wolfman Cometh

Pre-Drama and Blender-Breaking Civilised Behaviour

And The Madness Of Crowds

Gayathri Divides The Cakes for the Birthday Boy

Yum!

Ashwin - Have Some Cake!

Bhavish - Our Blood-Soaked Hero

Thiru Can Salsa Anywhere, Adarsh in Yet Another Swoon-Worthy Floral Concoction

It seems as if all the forces of the universe conspired against me in publishing this blog-post. I don't have the energy to resurrect the other "lost" blog-posts. So this will have to do until I recover from my ire against blogspot and deign to post in it again.