A little kingdom I possess,
Where thoughts and feelings dwell;
And very hard the task I find
Of governing it well.
~ Louisa May Alcott

...that more or less describes my situation!

 
I can't believe I will complete six months in Hong Kong on July 31st. Exactly six months! That is the day I was scheduled to travel back to India too, but plans have changed, and I'm going to be here till end of December.

I still remember my first day here and how utterly miserable and longing-for-home I was. How I tried but couldn't imagine how I would spend six long months (as it seemed to me then) here. How I wished there was some way I could fly back home...and look at me now, six months up and still counting!

In this interim, I have grown to like this place, grown to appreciate the pleasures of living on one's own, grown to enjoy cooking, grown to love and value the people at home more (yes, absence does make the heart fonder!), grown to see what difference in the quality of life of an individual is possible when the country as a whole functions smoothly, grown to ...well, grown as a person, I guess...

So...these six months have been mostly full of good things, except for a small piece of hard luck, that may actually be what we call "a cloud with a silver lining". I will be moving to a new apartment this weekend. I loved the current one and would have loved to continue, and was expecting to continue till the end of my term. But as things are, I will have to move. The silver lining is that this shift will shake me from that comfort zone that I usually settle into over a period of time, and force me to resume afresh in new surroundings. For a person who dislikes "change" and adapting to it, being pushed into the water is the only way to practice...
posted by Sylvia D'souza at 3:06 pm 0 comments

 

Was reading a short article 'A Telephonic Conversation' by Mark Twain. The concluding words:
"A man delivers a single brutal "Good-bye," and that is the end of it. Not so with the gentle sex - I say it in their praise; they cannot abide abruptness."

I must say I agree!

I usually get this feeling of "incompleteness" if I cannot end a telephonic conversation (for that matter any communication!) in, what shall I say, a "proper good-bye", and a proper good-bye doesn't just consist of saying a "good-bye", but few more words and sentences with it and after it, that prolong and temper the good-bye. I find that most women share this delicateness when it comes to a good-bye and hence a good-bye between two women can last quite long, considering both have as much to say, after the actual good-bye has been said.

This is well as it is, but when a man and a woman have to say a good-bye and the poor man not aware of a woman's sensitivities in this matter...well...

The woman says a good-bye, and is just warming up to say more on those lines, when she is shocked to note the line is gone dead. There is no one at the other end. The man, having said a good bye and assuming the conversation over, has hung up, the beast! The woman is naturally hurt and displeased with the man for parting without so much as a "proper goodbye", and when next comes upon this unsuspecting male, is ready to burst, but holds her peace, and at the first opportunity of confrontation, tells him of his wrong-doing. The man does not 'get it', but next time you might hear him ask hesitatingly after one of those good-byes, "May I keep the phone now?"

Sometimes I do wonder if men are from Mars and women from Venus!

posted by Sylvia D'souza at 8:56 am 0 comments

 
umm...I have been 'tagged', if that's the correct way of putting it. :) I am not much of a list person...so without much ado or preamble, here are my answers to the questions ...

Number of Books I Own
Never thought of counting them...must be not more than 100, I think... I usually do not buy books if I can borrow them from a library...or unless I want to particularly own them...

Last Book I Read
Currently reading The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens...

Last Book(s) I Bought
Mein Kamph by Adolf Hitler ...

Books that Mean(t) a Lot to Me
*in no order and not exhaustive*

Pride and Prejudice -- Jane Austen
Jane Eyre -- Charlotte Bronte
Great Expectations -- Charles Dickens
Wuthering Heights -- Anne Bronte
Collective Works of Shakespeare
The Demon-Haunted World -- Carl Sagan

Books I Wish I had Finished
*Books I had to give up half-way and looking forward to taking up again*

The Pickwick Papers -- Charles Dickens
Don Quixote -- Miquel Des Cervantes

I understand that the norm is to pass this tag on to other blogger friends ...I will not name anyone; all those who love books are welcome to take this up! :)
posted by Sylvia D'souza at 1:49 pm 0 comments