The Truth About Me-self

Ah! I had my much awaited review of my official performance today. I've been waiting for this since the past two weeks. Today I just walked into my boss' room and said I need to be given a feed back on my performance till date. He said ok and asked me to bring the copies of everything I did till date. I had to my credit 7 print ads, three invites, one brochure and a few odd and other write-ups, the copies of which he splayed on the desk in front of him. A few minutes of going through it and he said just what I long expected to hear -  "not good". He said the work that I've done since I joined this company in June is nothing short of "zilch". And I couldn't agree with him more. I have been reviewing my own work and found out that I have got nothing substantial to my credit yet! Now, isn't that bad? Yes it is, and very much so. And why couldn't I give my best till now? The reasons are umpteen and yet, they're only reasons. The fact rema...

My last post was about me-self getting enchanted by Celtic music and the magical voice of Loreena McKennitt. And I was honest in telling you all that I found it difficult to concentrate on anything else including my work. Whenever I get a minute's break or whenever I forcefully pulled me-self out of the routine events in my life, I found listening to her songs over and over again. But most of your responses rather confuse me. There were many of you who said, I'm "in love"! Yes. That's true. I fell in love with Celtic music and Loreena's voice. Is that what all of you were referring to? Or were you telling me about something else? The more people who commented that I was in Love, I got more and more confused. And now, I've reached a point where all my thoughts are getting mixed up! Am I in love? I mean, am I really in love with something, someone else and I didn't realise it? Did that Stupid, Careless Cupid send another one of his god forsaken arrows ...

Oh! This is unbelievable. 3 days back I stumbled upon a piece of music in Joanne May's blog . It was the video of a live performance by Loreena McKennitt. And... And... I've been listening to her songs ever since then! I simply can't get the music out of my head. Her enchanting voice and the utter magic of Celtic music has caught me in a spell! I'm unable to think about anything else; unable to concentrate on my work; unable to do just anything. I FELL IN LOVE WITH IT!!! My ears are always plugged and with the music playing inside my head. Oh! The rumbling timbrels, the haunting pipes, the mournful violin, the harp, the tabala... The experience is just haunting and so enchanting! And Loreena... Oh! She just sounds like an enchantress invoking a 1000 ghosts from their graves with her songs... Besides all this I observe an uncanny similarity between Celtic music and Indian Hindustani music. But as I realize it now, though the Hindustani music is pursued largely in In...

Hi folks, I just finished giving the final touches to a short story that I've been trying to write since I was in college. I did write it then and got it published in our department's manuscript magazine. But it never got the response I expected and I knew why. 'coz it was too obscure and full of personal elements and could never reach to the reader. Ever since then I wanted to improvise it and give it one more shot. And after almost 6 years, I got the old manuscript out of my shelf and dusted it and went through it again. I sat staring at the ceiling of my room and listening to Loreena McKennitt's 'Mummer's Dance'. Maybe that her magical and mystical voice and the pipes and timbrels of the Scandinavian music inspired me, I sat down and reworked on the whole story and there I'm, I could finally give it a form and shape that could take it to a reader! The story is titled 'Silhouette'. I request everyone of your attention to that story and leav...

Ahem! This is funny, I know. But here onwards you'll find this regular but very irregular column in my blog. I think the name has it all - 'Ekan dabbles with cooking'. Ye! "Dabbles with cooking". And that's 'coz I have no more than a passing fancy for cooking. To say that I'm "no good at it" would be an exaggeration. I'm bad, really bad at it!!! Having said that, I do get into the kitchen and try my luck at cooking once in a blue moon day. The result? God's grace, I've still not been sued of setting ablaze a kitchen! The best dish I've made so far is the Egg-Noodles and (hi!) I'm an expert in that! Anyone who has had the misadventure of sharing my culinary skills has agreed to that! In fact, when I was living with room mates (12 of us) in Bangalore, it was almost a routine to have Egg-Noodles prepared by Master Chef Ekan and Chicken Curry made by a less popular but my assistant Chef Sadique Ali for dinners on Satu...

I know, I said I'd be taking a "short non-commercial break" for a few days. But I have to share this with you. This is extra ordinary! I don't know what came over me today. Never have I experienced such a thing before in my life. The day had been very hectic at the office. But I was this super human finishing one task after another. Usually it takes me at least two days to figure out a good line for an ad or half a day to conceptualise an invite or other stuff. But today turned out to be something extra ordinary. I churned up lines for two ads and was done with other lighter tasks like copy correction and stuff. Whether the lines for the ads would get a green signal from the client is something yet to be seen. But the good sport I'm, I'm not too bothered about the result as long as I'm satisfied with my attempt. Besides these nerve crunching and hair pulling jobs, I found time to pen down three poems, one in Malayalam (my mother tongue), which I also t...

Dear all, I'm taking a short non-commercial break for a few days from blogging. I may not be able to post on a regular basis or visit your blogs. No. I've got no brain tumour or anything and I'm not being rushed to the hospital. Neither am I leaving you all to go for a honeymoon to  Mauritius so un-announced. I've two major things coming my way this week and I need to put in my maximum effort in there. 1. My Creative Director said he'd review me on all the work that I've done do far. And that means I might be confirmed and given a pay-hike this month. It also means, he's going to screw my happiness and say I'm not creative enough or worse even, worthy enough to continue working, which in other words means, I'll have to continue as a trainee Copy Writer for another few months. My knees are going weak and I feel a lump in my throat. Am I falling sick? 2. This is something more important - I've been contemplating on raising a social issue t...