Entry: Four Years of Atticus! Friday, August 01, 2008



Four years ago, sheer boredom and an abundance of free internet bandwidth drove me start a blog. In a rather atypical deviation from my usual supercilious wise-cracking, I started a honest and intensely personal journal with this post:


The Short and Simple Annals of the Poor
Inside every man burns the primeval urge to reach out and communicate to his peers... To be heard... To be understood... To be remembered... And inside the very same men lie ensconced fear and hesitation about their fellowmen's opinion and acceptance. Blogging helps circumvent this tangle. So, in these pages, I shall elaborate my musings, diatribes, romances, phobias you name it under the cosy cover of anonymity.

Abe Lincoln once summarized his childhood in Thomas Gray's words - "The Short and Simple Annals of the Poor...". Strange how our seemingly simple lives take so many turns, take us through numerous ups and downs, and leave each of us with innumerable tales to tell. This blog shall be one filled with such simple tales - ... of my life .... of the wonderful people I have been priviledged to meet along the way... of books, movies, birds, stars, love & dreams!

And for those who chanced to stumble upon this little nook in Cyberdom, this I promise you - what I write shall turn out be boring... or laborious...or funny... or plain crazy.... but it shall all be true and heartfelt.

Four years - a mere speck in a lifetime. But these four years have stretched over B-Schooling, internships, marketing - finance - marketing again and a whole bunch of travel - Mumbai, Bangalore, New York, Montreal and more. Heck, four years is longer than my longest relationship :)

I don't think I have done justice to this space and its now fast disappearing readership. But one fact I take pride in is what I swore to do in my very first post - to write only when the heart demands truthful expression. As I read through these last few years of my life, I can't recognize anything that I didn't strongly identify with.

Atticus has become an alternate identity - though those looking for a Gregory Peck look-alike barely manage to hide their disappointment when they meet me in person. Now, with 130+ posts under my belt, I think it is time to pick a few personal favorites... There are some about my grandpa, mom and aunt which are special for very different reasons. But among the other, these are the ones I like the most...

1.  Avuncular Expatiations (or) Old Uncle Atticus
Easily my favorite... A day after I posted, a girl from Bangalore mailed in to check if I was really 6-ft-10 (I had made a typo)! Three and a half years later, I am married to her :)  Dhanya, my neice, is way taller now... But she remains as adorable as ever.

2. The Peregrine's Progress
As I read this post now, I can vividly recollect every image that flashed through my mind that day. At times, we can sense those watershed points in life - where the direction, scale and nature of things would never be the same again!

3. The Many Loves of Atticus - Vol I of CCXXI
What can I say about first love...?

4. Strangers in the Night
I've let go of a lot of friends. But this one would have really hurt! Thankfully, we survived this and now have taken our frequent shouting matches to a Trans-Atlantic tele-forum!

5. All My Bags are Packed...
Good-byes suck!  Montreal and  I  wait eagerly for Her Grace to move in this fall!

6. Riding With The King...   and  Taxi Number 2-3-5-4
These two are dedicated to India's taxi and auto drivers from whom I learnt valuable lessons in life!

7. From Small-Town Boy to Small-Town Boy
What I was, what I am and perhaps, what I'll always remain!

Alright then, enough of narcissistic reverie for the birthday blog... To anyone who has taken the time to read this space in the last four years and the numerous blog-acquanitances who have become good friends now, many thanks!

Love and Peace,
Atticus Finch
   16 comments

Sathya
November 8, 2008   02:45 PM PST
 
atticus,

vanakkam, nalla irukeengala?
romba naal aachu.. remember?
Dinesh
September 21, 2008   09:03 PM PDT
 
Sorry... I forgot your birthday... BELATED BIRTHDAY WISHES

Reason for leaving comments here is, however small it is, placing me in your life is happy for me.
Atticus
August 27, 2008   12:59 PM PDT
 
@Neelima:

Thanks! Meeting people like you has made blogging all the more worthwhile :)
Neelima
August 10, 2008   08:59 AM PDT
 
4 years, brought back so many memories, almost at the same time i started Akruti, and i still remember the first post i read here. Keep writing.
Atticus
August 7, 2008   01:24 PM PDT
 
@Maia:

Many Thanks, Maia! Do keep dropping by :)
Atticus
August 7, 2008   01:24 PM PDT
 
@Anu:

Many thanks :)
Atticus
August 7, 2008   01:23 PM PDT
 
@Thiyagu:

Yeah, the movie is pretty damn good!!! Easily Gregory Peck's best role ever!
Atticus
August 7, 2008   01:22 PM PDT
 
@Andy:

Thanks bro!
Atticus
August 7, 2008   01:22 PM PDT
 
@Udayan:

Junkyard was a significant upgrade for your room! And yeah right, you'll call!!!
Atticus
August 7, 2008   01:21 PM PDT
 
@B:

Thnx Ma'am!
Maia
August 5, 2008   08:15 AM PDT
 
Been a regular reader, not so regular with the comments. So many times, when it gets easy and tempting to slip into believing this world to be a sad, boring place, bereft of a place and time, for the small joys of life, your blog, among many things, serves as a reminder that it is not.
It is beautiful how you paint word-pictures, and how perfect they are, in their seeming imperfections! Keep writing...
Thiyagu
August 4, 2008   03:48 AM PDT
 
dei,
don't mind me posting this irrelevantly here :)
Saw the movie 'to kill a mocking bird' some weeks back.. few surprises
1. Movie is almost as good as the book itself..
2. After the movie felt Boo Radley is indeed the 'mocking bird' (more than Tim Robinson)

btw, thanks for your blog buddy.. keep going..

~ thiyagu
anu
August 4, 2008   03:25 AM PDT
 
hey Atticus,
congratulations on completing 4 years of blogging!
As always, lovely lovely writing! you take us on a fascinating journey with every post that you write!
Anand H
August 4, 2008   01:36 AM PDT
 
There is a certain freedom in being without the Seagull tag :) This should be the postscript ideally. But then let it come in first.

So short and yet it seems so long a time :) Yes, I can bear witness that you have written only when you heart has demanded truthful expression.

Keep writing and photoblogging :) Readers' time are like ephemera, its for the writer's expatiations to make the ephemera last a infinity of time...

Udayan
August 2, 2008   07:56 AM PDT
 
i realise its around 4 yrs since we met. t'was around 4 yrs back tht u took over my room n turned it into a junk yard. well nvr mind.... i forgive u.
Shall call ..... its been too long since i got to talk to the masked version of you.
B
August 2, 2008   03:15 AM PDT
 
Happy birthday sweetheart...
keep it up!!!

P.S: My eternal gratitude to you know what :D

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