Thursday, October 11, 2007

An Attempt at Narcissism

And hereby, my comeback into the blog arena is being marred by a controversial self-obsessed post, itself inspired primarily by the Orkut profile of Suneet Kumar (well to put it into perspective - even he saw it on a friend's profile so I guess IPR is not much of an issue here).
So here goes my attempt at telling things about myself in a cute way - Its Just About Me :

* My favorite colour is light green. Don’t ask me why.

* I have about 30 friends who would hate me if I didn’t make it to their wedding. I can’t possibly make 30 trips to India in the next 4 years, though. Maaf karna, bhailog.

(Update 1 - 04/03/2009 - I've already missed those of Dhingra, Satrajit & Yash)

* I prefer co-operation to competition. In a competitive environment, I’ll be a dove. As a general rule, I dislike hawks.

* I measure time by minutes and not every 5 minutes. If the time is 4:24, I won’t say its 4:30 or even 4:25.

* I can be the most mature and responsible guy you have ever met, or the kiddiest. Depends on whether you are male or female.

* I prefer tea to coffee.

* The only virtual games I have played with any hint of proficiency are Snake III and RoadRash.

* My favourite novelist is P.G. Wodehouse. If you haven’t read him, you won’t understand me fully, ever.

* I think I’ll make a good boyfriend and an even better husband.

* I wait for Friday every week coz it’s the only day I can arrive in office in jeans.

* I want to do some kind of service to society some day. No clue how to go about it.

* I don’t dream big. Never have. Never will. Take life as it comes.

* I want people to appreciate me at work.

* I love kids. And I don’t like people who don’t.

* I derive much of my strength in life from Joydev. I won’t even begin to describe what this association means to me.

* Illumination and Controls are two of the best things to have happened in my life.

* I have really ever loved only two places – Durgapur and Kolkata. Surprisingly, I miss the cities more than the people I know there.

* I am a hopeless romantic optimist and spend much of my time thinking about non-existent females in my life.

* I have a very good memory when it comes to names, phone numbers, license plates, roads, directions, birthdays and the like. I could never memorize a poem for more than 2 days though.

* I'm a very good listener. Another way of saying that I’m not much of a conversationalist.

* I’m very good at 29. My father never taught me bridge.

* I am one of the few drinkers I know who used to like vodka and whisky equally. Now scotch is all I can tolerate. Never much a sucker for rum, though.

* I can flirt with girls effortlessly while chatting.

* I'm very bad at interviews and group discussions. Hopefully will not have to encounter too many of those in future

* I stayed awake for 61 hours once.

* I used to be a loner and liked it. Till DFE, Patel Hall happened.

* I am a big unabashed foodie. I am recently trying to master the art of filling my own stomach.

* I can play passable soccer, table tennis and badminton.

* I want to have a Fusball table in my house one day, a la Joey and Chandler.

* I have experienced wild weight swings. From 67 kg pre-IIT to 52 kg in 3rd year to 65 kg now.

* I like to dance when I am drunk. I only like to dance when I’m drunk, though. And not with girls.

* I'm usually superficially unfazed in all kinds of situations. As they say, mujhe kabhi load nahin hota.

* I like watching new Hindi releases and don’t much care about reviews.

* I hate chewing gum and bubble gum.

* My sleep is getting lighter these days. Still, do not expect me to pick up your call if I’m sleeping.

* I maintain that cigarettes are highly injurious to health. My health is deteriorating sharply.

* Thums Up is the only carbonated drink I’ve ever liked. Mountain Dew came close.

* Last but not the least, I’m not very innovative or creative, but I can write well. Proof of the pudding is in the eating :))



Okk I must admit - I was bribed one bottle of Jack Daniels to write this post ;)

12 comments:

Suvro Chatterjee said...

Dear Suvro:
It was delightful to read this blogpost. We apparently share several likes and dislikes: P.G. Wodehouse for one, hating chewing- and bubble gum, liking whisky and disliking rum, preferring cooperation to competition, loving kids, being a hopeless romantic optimist and a loner – though, given my age, I guess it is natural that I should be less optimistic and better adjusted to being a loner (one who hardly gets time to be alone with himself!) About Joydev, I didn’t get it: if you meant the medieval Bengali bhakti poet of Geetagovindam fame, I share that taste too.

On the other hand, I am an inveterate, heavy and unrepentant smoker (like Buddhadev Bhatacharjee, I point out that lots of smokers have lived past 90, lots of non-smokers I knew have kicked the bucket of strokes and cardiac arrests in their 30s and 40s, and World War II was won by smokers – including Stalin and Churchill). But I have never persuaded another human to smoke, and I never smoke where people might find it inconvenient. Also (alas?) I am not a foodie, though I like experimenting.

But why on earth should you call such an exercise an indulgence in narcissism? All the wisest sages have said that self-knowledge is the only knowledge that counts, and to acquire it needs years of reflection and thinking aloud: it must be a strange age indeed that one should feel faintly guilty about such a harmless and valuable effort! You might look up the essay titled ‘What sort of person am I?’ on my blog, especially the last few lines. If a lot of people can’t think and dislike people who do, all they need to do is keep off.

The really disgusting and worrisome thing, to my mind, is that these days most people can't write five straight, honest, articulate lines about themselves in modest language when required (as I have found on orkut). If such creatures call the likes of us 'narcissists', should we pay them the compliment of taking note?

Shilpi said...

This is an absolutely priceless post. Hilarious, amusing, and there’s a nice breezy, sunny, joyous feeling to it.

And of course I too can note the similarities (and the differences) - time for instance. This is the one that immediately leaps out! I will say it's 9.37, 2.38. I don't understanding the concept of 'rounding' time!
I've stayed awake for 72 hours on at least a couple of occasions! And yes, I do mean the ‘straight shot awake’ syndrome where there is NO sneaky sleeping...although I sincerely hope that it never happens again – and to no one.

Wodehouse is probably the only author (apart from the Calvin and Hobbes creator) who can sometimes get me smiling when nothing else in the world will! On one random occasion Marquez got me pealing out aloud, with his “Love in the Time of Cholera” – but I believe that was really just random.

I love kids (some I adore more than others) as long as I don’t go and have kids of my own.

Yes being a loner suits me. I've come to the brilliant conclusion that 'loneliness'/'aloneness' and 'solitude' miss me, and therefore come around to meet me.

Have always been fond of whisky but have now grown tremendously fond of army rum, and of course I'll never quit smoking nor do I have any intentions of doing thus. The other fantastic drink for summer is gin and tonic with a gentle dash of BOTH lemon and lime. It is an absolute corker of a drink.

Yes, and the ‘weight’ thing. I have swung wildly and widely over the last 11 years from 55 Kilos to a massive 64 kilos to a strange 49 Kilos at 32…and I can’t see that I’m really doing anything different.
I’m a foodie who LOVES talking about food but can really never eat too much – although I do admit that sometimes I do gorge if it's pizza, biryani, or Indian-Chinese, and sometimes dessert that's on the table...

Hey, anyway - I could go over all the interesting bits and pieces in this post of yours - but all in all it's one heck of a read, and I just feel happy knowing that there are people like you around somewhere on this planet.
Take care, best wishes, and keep writing. I'll be going over the rest of your posts by and by.
Shilpidi

Suvro Sarkar said...

Wow it feels very good to see this post commented upon...sadly, I'd written it at a point of time when my blogpage had been corrupted and was not accepting comments.

The fact that I dwelt upon the word "narcissism" is only to add some spice to the title of the post, a sin I am wont to commit pretty often. Apologies for the sensationalism but not for the "narcissism"!

And the phrase Joydev, I am afraid, has nothing to do with the Bengali poet (who was, incidentally born not far from Durgapur at a place called Kendubilo on the banks of the Ajay). Its just the name by which our group of 10 friends call ourselves, after the spot (the field of Joydev Boys School) where we have caught up regularly over the last 7-8 years whenever we have been in town.

And as to smoking, I must confess that while I maintain that it is injurious to health, I have not much cared for my health that much, if you know what I mean. Yes, but as Sir said, forcing someone to inhale, whether actively or passively, is something I don't take to kindly.

Lastly, thanks to Shilpi-di and Sir for all the encouragement!

ScrewDriver said...

I guess Office is leaving you with enough free time to come up with such posts.
Most of it , well I can vouch for, but surprisingly I never knew you were bad at memorizing poems... Your memory skills were something, (if not are).
And you say creative writing is not your forte ?????
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!
Modesty eh !!!

ScrewDriver said...

And I may add Illumination and Drama are the BEST thing that happened to me too

Suvro Sarkar said...

@Ayanangsha, let me clarify:
1) My short-term memory is very good. Long term, not so good. So, except for the occasional Ulysses, I don't remember any of the poems I memorised for the countless Elocution exams!
2) Writing is my forte, but not necessarily very "creative" - even this post was inspired, as I have elucidated at the beginning of the post. I guess I am too lazy for creativity.

sandeep said...

he he ...had fun while reading your post and remembering the past....
illumination and controls....

controls????

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Avik said...

I will be marrying after 4 years...hahahahaha

Unknown said...

hilarious!!
"I can flirt with girls effortlessly while chatting."
still remember cool_n_dashing2002!!

Unknown said...

you have a great flair for writing..............

Unknown said...

I just had a few pegs of vodka, and it really feels good to scroll through