the name I call myself..

I dream, I feel, I express. Yes, that’s me. I love to EXPRESS. I have my doubts as to how good or bad I write..but I am never short of words or in loss of them..I am talkative, sufficiently sweet with words and opinions, subtly and tolerably rude if situation demands, blatantly and sometimes irritatingly honest, mostly politically inaccurate, outrageously independent, madly in love with life and what it provides, generally passionate about the things I do, a believer of ‘love and music will keep us alive’, a vehement  foodie, an obsessed movie-buff..

I love to paint, be it a canvas, a handerkerchief, a pocket of an apron, a door, a wall or Dreams.. (yes, the last part was filmy and statutory warning: I can be very dramatic at times, rather, most of the time).

I love animals..in the zoo, at home, on the fence and walls, on Animal Planet.

And, I love human beings..no, not exactly in a way Mother Teresa did..I am generally in love with “People”..I can pick up conversations with almost any living being at any point of time..be it a ricksaw-wala, fuchka-vendor, shop keeper, bus-conductor, traffic sergeant and it is an unending list..While travelling alone, I prefer sitting in the front seat of a taxi..just to chat with the taxi driver.Period.

I love to travel. I know it sounds clichéd. But for me traveling is like vaccination, like oxygen, like orgasms..Its life-saving and I just can’t do without it. And traveling does not have to be mountains, seas, forests or deserts.. I love travelling anywhere... in desolate alleys, least-known villages and hamlets, bustling cities, forgotten monuments, a lone river-side..simply anywhere..

I take a lot of pride in doing up my home, believe that making a home “home” is one of the most interesting and mood lifting activities life could offer, consider it majorly MY job and often selfishly enjoy the “pat-on-the-back” alone (while the “Significant other” can take his share of pride in disorienting and disorganizing the same).

Am gripped by the love for this city I live in..since whatever I say would be too little or too much, I would share my “lifetime achievement award” here..a friend, after watching Kahaani messaged me “the city is so you…mad, imperfect, restless and yet lovable”..this compliment is almost like your great grandmom’s rarest jewellery bestowed on you as an heirloom, treasured and felt proud of…forever..   

Speaking of jewellery, oh yes, I design jewellery and find a lot of happiness in doing the same.

I am a lawyer by profession and compulsion and yes, that’s the least interesting part of me..like Naseeruddin Shah said in Zindagi  Na Milegi Dobara “ galti hum sabi se ho jaate hein”..

the name...

On a lone lazy yesterday, I opened this very old book which Ma had given me to read…in between two pages, I found a dried leaf and some dried out petals…it gave me a thrill of a ten-year old…When I was small, I used to keep flowers, petals and leaves in fat books with the hope to find them years later and see what becomes of them…the thrill cannot be expressed in words..

I pulled the book towards my nose and took a deep breath…the fragrance filled my soul..the smell of old books can be doubly exciting than new ones, I realized. And I could sense my mother’s smell too..all mixed together…yes, the thrill cannot be expressed in words..

Feelings or fragrance cannot be clicked but the moment can..I took a picture. I have this weird habit of naming almost all pictures I click…like human beings, I feel they should also have a name…and the first thought that came to my mind was Potpourri, I don’t know why.. dried petals, dried leaf and an array of fragrance, may be…

And I wanted to write, about the simplest of things that made my day..

I have named my blog…Potpourri..

I looked for what exactly potpourri means..and found this..

“a mixture of dried petals of roses or other flowers with spices, kept in a jar for their fragrance..

a musical medley..

a collection of miscellaneous literary extracts….

any mixture, especially of unrelated objects, subjects, etc…”

What better name could I find for my blog…