Unisex

Another few months have passed by since I have made something here.
Running is quite a popular activity, and gaining more popularity in India. I am passionate about medium distance running myself ... so it's usually a wonder why I haven't made more than one tee on running at Toubé Bäs.
Here's the thing: I have a lot of friends who run, but it's very rare that I find a true runner. Let me explain.
When somebody tells me something like, "I am a runner! I ran my first half marathon at the SC in Mumbai!", I quickly ask them, "So how often do you run now?"
Usually, they don't. This is what turns the sceptical-in-me off.
I sing in the bathroom almost daily. I wonder if that makes me a "Hey, I am a singer!" guy. Probably not. Neither does shooting a couple of photographs through my mobile phone now and then makes me a photographer.
I, especially because I have been running a 5K almost every week fr the past 16 years, feel that for someone to call or tag themselves as a "runner", one has to have the need for running. I know several people who feel an emptiness when they go without a run for a week.
This t-shirt is for those kinds. If you are a one-time-did-a-marathon person, this t-shirt won't fit you, really.
If you have been to an ultra-marathon ages ago, stopped running since, you are just not a runner. If all you do is practice for 7 weeks before an SCMM or a Kaveri Trail, you are just not a runner. You probably were, but not any more. So sorry. True story.
But if you are someone for whom running is just a necessity ... like Kripa Sagar (who inspired me to make this tee), or the Doc ... you are my hero! This t-shirt is for you.
But for practical reasons, I would have gifted you this tee.
To the others, I would encourage them to run more, and run safe. It's brilliant that you took to running, now do it (though, don't overdo it!)

For the past many months, all I have been creating for Toubé Bäs is a string of 'Passion' based t-shirts. Have been waiting to do a 'Cause' tee for some time now! Here's the thing, though: no matter how much I long for it at times, I can't force myself to just make one just for the heck of it. That would be a tad pretentious.

However, about a month ago, Bijay Nair connected with me through the website, telling me about his plans of running 2012km till the 12-12-2012. While this itself is a gutsy attempt, he told me that through his run, he also plans to generate funds for children suffering of cancer. Kudos!!

He asked me if I could design a tee for this - and I was like, "Yah haan ... of course!!"

So, this tee happened.

Hmm ... child cancer ...

These two words, at least in my head, paint a very depressing, a very serious picture. I had no idea about the somberness of pediatric cancer until I came in touch with the noble team at the Mumbai-based NGO, Jana Rakshita, that supports cancer patients (especially pediatric). Even the superficial bit of knowledge that I derived from them about the gravity of the state-of-affairs was pretty enlightening. Thought-provoking too.

I can't get into explaining the seriousness of child cancer - that is probably out of the scope of this page, or this website (but you should jump to www.janarakshita.org if you feel like knowing more about the child-cancer scene in India), but the one piece of information that, now when I think about it, always gives me a 'kick' is this: 80% of the times child cancer is curable!

The word, 'curable' brings so much hope to this, otherwise, gloomy situation. Poora equation hi change ho jaata hai. While "Child" + "Cancer" = Despair, 'Child' + 'Cancer' + 'Curable' = Hope.

Here's the basic nitty-gritty: those young pediatric-cancer patients have an 80% probability to get healed COMPLETELY. To rediscover life, to revitalise, to get rid of the terrible pain and the horrible experiences of putting their tiny and fragile minds and bodies through repeated chemotherapical, surgical and radiative sessions. 80%!

The only things they require are: support, funding, and guidance. A combination of all three. "Pick-Any-Two" doesn't work here.

So while Bijay will be wearing this t-shirt design as he runs, I decided that I would sell this tee here on Toubé Bäs, and guide all the proceeds to Jana Rakshita to be used by/for pediatric cancer patients. Like my Gita-inspired father says ... if you can make any contribiution towards the society, choosing to not make it is a sin. Once in a while, I would like to follow his ideologies.

Being a 'cause' tee, it's an 'unlimited edition' t-shirt. It's also slightly cheaper than the 'passion' tee's here (though I've compromised nowhere - 10 colors have been printed on the tee, and the quality remains the same).

Btw, do share the link if you can. That would help.

(I have been doing cause t-shirts on and off ... some work, some do not ... may be we are still to warm-up to the idea of using t-shirts to make a prolific statement in the society. It's quite a culture in the many countires. Learning ... learning!!)

I don't want to tom-tom a lot about the design ... but I can easily say that is was such a fun experience to sit down with this design! The concept came to me pretty early ... but to convert that concept into something tangible was a task - and all thanks to the one who rendered it (who else?) - the dashing Asha Patel! Quite a lot of input came in from Archana Srikanth (who says she is the critique, not the creator)!. Thanks to botufdem!

Like the earlier US Open t-shirt, I have put in a good deal of text on the back - it talks about the tee, about Bijay, and about JanaRakshita.

I bet people you show this t-shirt to will be turning you around and reading it with intent. Or people behind you in a queue, an escalator, or the elevator :)

Damn ... I was supposed to release this t-shirt on July 13th - which was a Friday :( Missed it ...

See, that's what happens with people like me - brilliant, but damn lazy!

I have always been a Mirza Ghalib fan - not the hardcore type who understand each and every word the great man has uttered, but a passionate 'liker' ... and this liking for Mirza Ghalib, for me, perhaps began when doordarshan was the only channel we could watch (thank gawd!) and mom and dad allowed us to watch the serials at 9pm. Yeps, I am referring to Gulzar's televised tribute to the dramatic poet ...

A month ago, I had an urge to revisit Ghalib's "Unke dekhe se jo aa jaati hai moonh par raunak" ... did some youtube-giri, and landed on this. What followed was a lazy, lazy Sunday afternoon with Praveen Kumar Gill (my pilot batchmate) at his Hyderabad abode (where else would you want to be to feel more Ghalibish - except for Ballimaran??) checking video after video and ghor-dissection of his sher-o-shayri and ghazals at http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ghalib/ghazal_index.html ...

Of course, I shared a link on FB, and unsurprisingly ... a good chunk of people responded to that post. There's not a lawwwwt of people who take the time off to appreciate Ghalib, but the one's who do ... are almost devotees!

And that passion is what drives me to do any t-shirt here - no wonder I instantly decided to do a Ghalib t-shirt.

Initially, I decided to do this t-shirt with the ever-dashing Neha Celly ... we discussed a few things ... but she got busier (Celly ... we'll do some other tee soon!).

However, grrrrrreat friend (and what a woman!!) Asha Patel did everything that you see here - and hats off to her!

Like always, I scratched the first thought of creativity that came to my head. I have this habit of ignoring the first line of thoughts ... for some weird reason! While doing this tee, the first thought was to do a grungy portrait of Ghalib, mention something in Urdu, and add some trivia about Ghalib.

I felt that would have been a nice t-shirt, but ... may be too predictable. Plus, I needed something more contemporary ... more stylish ...

So we decided to still do a graphic of Ghalib ... but instead of the portrait version, we would do it as if we are making a stylish logo ... symbol for his 'brand'. No sketchy lines ... no random backgrounds ... no wrinkles on the face ... Instead, I decided to go for solid colors, solid lines, proper shapes. Infact, we went ahead and made the entire face-graphic symmetrical. Easier said than done ... but when Asha says she will do it - she always does.

Why this thought? Well, all I wanted to achieve was a symbolic representation of Ghalib - a different way of making him look contemporarily cool too. We also pondered over the size of the graphic on the t-shirt. A smaller graphic looks subtle, sophisticated ... while a larger one attracts attention, is loud and vehement. I went for the latter one in this print - may be i might do a smaller print the next time.

It did not take me long to find the font used to write down one of Ghalib's shers (my favorite ever ... but more importantly ... there must have been a reason why Gulzar sahab chose that one sher in the introduction to his TV serial). We could have done it in Urdu ... but I went for English because eventually, it makes sense if people end up deciphering it with minimum effort. They ought to know what's written, right?

Very, very luckily ... only those people who knew the sher in advance can decipher the writing on the back. It's only fair ... since I really think that anyone who doesn't know this sher of Ghalib doesn't even deserve to wear or own this t-shirt. It really is that simple.

So here's the Ghalib tee. Again ... not more than 501 copies of this tee will be sold ... ever. Plus, what better color to do a Ghalib on ... than a 'Regal' blue?!

Another thirteenth, and this time, it's a Friday too! Yexciting day for Toubé Bäs! :)

The concept of this t-shirt had been playing on my mind for the past year and a half (yes!). Infact, last year, there was an opportunity to do this tee for the "Hindi Divas" (September 14th), but at Toubé Bäs I am always wary of making event-specific t-shirts. Somehow, event-specific t-shirts remain just that: event-specific. They lose the bigger context ... the larger perspective.

Hence, this year, I decided not to wait for September to arrive! Just went ahead, and made this t-shirt ... for lovers of Hindi, and Hindi Literature! A couple of weeks back, Ashfaq Hussain (who prints all the t-shirts done here, and without whom I would be so lost!) showed me this sleek, classy wine colored fabric. That very instant I knew that the next t-shirt on Toubé Bäs had to be a wine colored one. The minimalistic design in this tee, thankfully, let's the fabric color do a lot of talking.

Some yada-yada about the t-shirt design ...

I feel that people of my generation, and generations before that, are quite fortunate ... to have spent their growing-up years in a much less information-bombarded zone, in a much more peaceful ambience. Like, all we could watch on the TV was Doordarshan and, in hindsight, it feels awesome to realise that we were shown some cherry-picked, carefully selected tv programs that added a great deal of value to our growing-up years. If I start blah-ing out a list, it will take me forever ... (but one of my favorites was 'Stone Boy', and the afternoon session during vacations)!

One day, I would do a t-shirt on Doordarshan, and those good ol' days.

Similarly, I am grateful that I had a great deal of exposure to the richness of 'Indian' literature too. I can go on and on about Hindi literature and how dear it is to me, how fond I am of it, and how I find so many people in my age zone who feel nostalgic about it ... but I'll do one thing: I'll throw some names at you. If you know these names, and are fond of them, you would know what emotions are running in my head at the moment, and may be this t-shirt is 'made for you'. If not, don't even bother ... really.

Here you go ...

1) "कृष्ण की चेतावनी!" - रामधारी सिंघ 'दिनकर'

I still get goosebumps when I recite these lines,

"हरि ने भीषण हुँकार किया, अपना स्वरूप विस्तार किया
डगमग डगमग दिग्गज डोले, भगवान कुपित हो कर बोले
ज़ंजीर बढ़ा अब साध मुझे,हाँ-हाँ दुर्यौधन! बाँध मुझे!
जब नाश मनुज पे छाता है, पहले विवेक मर जाता है!
याचना नहीं अब रण होगा, जीवन जय या की मरण होगा!
दुर्योधन रण ऐसा होगा, फिर कभी नहीं वैसा होगा!"

2) "झाँसी की रानी" - सुभद्रा कुमारी चौहान

Oh! I am getting nostalgic already ... "बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी, खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी" ... I may forget my name, but can't forget these two sentences. Nevah Evah!

There are so many other names ... Maithili Sharan Gupt (I still am looking for someone who can explain 'Saket' to me), Premchand, Harivanshrai Bachchan, Acharya Chatursen, Jaishankar Prasad, Mahadevi Varma, Mohan Rakesh (oh boy!), Rahi Masoom Raza ... oh so many more names. I thought I would be able to take a few names and do justice to my, and may be yours too, passion and love for Hindi literature! How dumb is that :)

I guess I would rather stop my blah-blah here ... Hindi literature can speak for itself.

The great realization I had when I started thinking about a tee for Hindi, apart from the common realisation that the letters 'ल' and 'व' lie next to each other in the Hindi alphabet, was that the letters 'आ' and 'इ' appear together too! It took me months of random pondering to somehow spot this out ... but the moment I did, I knew I had a lovely, witty t-shirt in the making! A t-shirt that, true to Toubé Bäs' philosophy, is certain to start a conversation about Hindi, and your love for it.

I think I should be grateful to the Hindi alphabet ... and to whoever came up with this sequence of lettering! I am!

If you are an ardent lover of Hindi literature, I am glad you arrived at this page ... not to buy the t-shirt (that's not the top-most priority for me at Toubé Bäs), but it feels good to know people who still have that thing for Hindi books. Do get in touch with me, especially if you can take me through the mystical, "Saket" ... the first time I read what the book is about, I knew I had to give it its due respect and understand it carefully.

Yeah! Another thirteenth, and another tee-shirt!

The planning for this t-shirt happened much earlier ... much much earlier - around May 2011. I am so excited to finally have it up here :))

One unique thing about this t-shirt design is that I never sat down thinking, "Hey, let me think about a t-shirt for Delhi". With the other t-shirts on Toubé Bäs, I think about the context first, and then the design. For this tee, though, the design happened first, and I thought, "Why not! It would be awesome to have a t-shirt about a city ... and a city like Delhi, why not!"

I have been planning a t-shirt about a state (we, unlike the Americans, take much more pride in the state we belong to than the city. It's the opposite with the Americans, I have observed). It might well be Rajasthan ... who knows!!

But yeah, I didn't think I would be doing a city t-shirt so soon. But here it is ...

When I was watching the media coverage of Anna Hazare's fast at the Jantar Mantar, I liked the way the central design of the Jantar Mantar lent iself to resemble an inverted heart. The entire concept started ringing a lot of familiar bells. Yess, I am referring to the Mummy T-shirt that we did ... and, of course, Milton Glaser's how-so-original-and-so-so-stylish design for NY City that the world can't get enough of!

I knew I had to come out with this t-shirt, then. For me, the Red Fort, the Qutub Minar, and other such landmarks in India hold significance only at the historic level, but the Jantar Mantar is both historic, as well as so, so contemporary. I remember when dad too us to a tour of New Delhi some twenty years ago, I was amazed at how the structures here would continue to demonstrate the beauty of science, and astronomy!

I don't really know if a typical Delhite feels this way about Jantar Mantar ... but Toubé Bäs has never really cared much about the typical, has it!? I love this design (rendered beautifully by Asha Patel), and there's no way this concept could have stayed in the closet.

I tried to play with some other colors, but black seems to be the best bet for this design. I know the summer's approaching, but ... well ... what can I say. Black is ... afterall ... black!

Disclaimer: I will be able to ship these t-shirts only after the 25th ... these will be under production till then.

It's been a while since I've done a t-shirt here! The OMNI (as Kalpana, Asha, and me have been fondly calling this design) was made in December, and after a lot of waiting and procrastinating, I found the motivation to (finally) upload the t-shirt here ... and here it is: it's the 13th of February, and I really needed to celebrate this third anniversary of Toubé Bäs with you with a new tee!!

Around 6 months ago, Kalpana (great friend who owns the 'Kaps' brand) suggested I should come up with a t-shirt about meditation ... and her motive was to let the young, t-shirt-wearing generation wear something meaningful about spiritualism too. If nothing else, at least they would understand the significance of meditation.

I loved the idea so much ... that all I could think for the following 4 weeks (in spare time, of course) was a classy concept for this tee ... something that's straightforward, that's youthful, and that's eye-catchy.

However, I could figure out much. Like I always do, I rejected the first idea that came to my mind (I do this always ... the first idea is sweetly rejected ... usually, the first idea that comes to my mind is a cliche one ... that anyone walking on the street could think of) ... which was a meditating Buddha-ish face, with eyes closed, a slight smile, and some circles to show the meditative halo blah blah blah. That would have been too lame!

The idea for this t-shirt dawned upon me the same way as it happened with the RD Burman t-shirt: I kept thinking about the problem for weeks, and one fine day when I was calmly relaxing at Gloria Jeans (Hiranandani, Powai) with a cuppa, words and curves just started flowing out. I quickly jotted them down on a piece of tissue paper, and made the design within 20 minutes!

The power of a calm mind, I think!

Here's the blah-blah-yada-yada behind the t-shirt design: I poked Kalpana several times on the phone to understand what meditation means to her. Thanks to my father, I have been a spiritual person and meditating quite a lot myself since childhood (irregularly, though), and I introspected about the true significance of meditating. Even when I am running, or playing football, or volley ball (my first love), it's like meditation to me ... though I never thought about it this way consciously.

I poked dad too ... we had lengthy conversations about mediation, about jnana yoga, and about things that the Gita says about meditation (dad is an ardent follower of the Gita).

Eventually, this is what I figured out ... that meditation is a simple practice, a simple process which unites the self ... to the Self. I will explain ...

The self is us, our materialistic wants, needs, our bodies ... collectively call, "Maya" ... walls of illusion that we keep strengthening as we live each moment. That renders us tiny, small, and little when we compare ourselves to the Supreme.

Meditation (with peaceful chants of, "Om") helps us break those walls. Meditation connects us with the omnipotent, omni present Self ... the Supreme Subconsciousness. Meditation makes us realise that we, ourselves, are 'God', that all we need to do is dig deeper and 'find ourselves' beneath the superficial layer of our daily awareness (conscious).

To convey this message, I played around with the words, "Om", and "I" ... suggesting that when "Om" and "I" meet (that is, when I meditate chanting the "Om" mantra), they become "Omni" ("Om" n "I) ... that is, the Supreme. I must have repeated the words "Om and "I" a thousand times before realising that they connect so well with the word, "Omni". The is of 'n' in place of 'and' makes it more cool/youthful ... just the way Kaps wanted it to be. Things began to fall in place :)

For the graphic, I decided to depict that the human body (self), really, is made up of the same elements as the Cosmos, the Universe, or the Supreme (Self): the five elements, and the soul. The only difference being that with the human body, these elements exist together in a shape, within the confines of a distinct chassis (Maya) that separates the self from the Self. Meditation helps us break free from this confinement!

The back of the t-shirt prounces, "Aham Sarvam" ... meaning, "I am all" ...

I knew I had the t-shirt's concept with me, and I was thrilled about it. I discussed this concept with Kaps - who was overwhelmed, with dad, and with a few other friends. The only thing that remained was for Asha Patel (another great friend, and the Toubé Bäs Head Chef ... who does almost all the digital creative work here) to do her artistic stuff.

Not surprisingly, she's done what she does always: create magic!

Oh yeah ... FC Barcelona plays beautiful football. Oh, and yes, they are the best football team in the world ... not just in geography, probably in history too. Yeps ... the best football playing team in x, y, z, and t ... the four dimensions. Greater than Johan Cryuff and Michels' Ajax, greater than the great Brazilian teams of the 60's ... and greater than the self-destructive Dutch national teams of the 70's.

May be that's true ... (I'll still take come more convincing, though), but here's what is a blatant truth about this current (2009-2012, at least) Barca team: they are a bunch of delicate and sissy thugs.

For a passionate football player, fan, observant, consumer and whatnot like me ... it really hurts to see the ultra-super-talented Barca players resorting to diving skill and play acting - almost every time things start going the other way. While I love to see Xavi and Iniesta play football with their silk-like grace and elegance, and I love (very jealously) to see Messi score those beautiful chips and control the ball with the outside of his left foot (seriously ... how does he do that!), everytime someone mentions "Barca" to me, I am reminded of the dirty tricks that Alaves, Pedro, Busquets and the likes have resorted to ... bringing shame to not just the club, but to the philosophy of playing football.
The worse part is ... whenever they do this cheap nautanki, the Xavi's and Iniesta's and the Messi's and the Pique's and Puyol's seem to find an additional spring in their steps and converge towards the referee like bees to honey.
I hate that. I don't use the word 'hate' very often, but I hate this. Outright.
And that's why I came up with this t-shirt.
I can go on, and on, and on ... but let me share some links with you so you can 'visualise' the hypocrisy ...
The Peeping Tom
"A Joke." - Robbie van Persie
"A Fucking Disgrace" - Dider Drogba (1)
"A Fucking Disgrace" - Dider Drogba (2)

Reason
When Parle (Prateek Mehta), a great guy and one of my silliest friends (which means one of my best'est' friends) planned on laying the foundations of the Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation (in Bangalore), I got excited with the idea of contributing with a t-shirt. Apart from writing ... t-shirts are the one way in which I love expressing ... and no one was going to buy my writings - I write like a sucker! Hence, this t-shirt.

Rs. 150/- Donation
The idea right from the start was to have Rs. 150/- (per sold t-shirt) donated to the SMCF ... this way, buyers of this t-shirt can do their bit (albeit a very little bit - but even that's something).

The Design Like with other t-shirts on Toubé Bäs, sitting on the drawing board (actually, most of the ideas come when I am sitting on the pot ... but can't be explicit about it always, can we?!) for this one was one helluva time. Parle said he wanted to express hope and fight against cancer - exactly expressing what a cancer patient should have within her/him. Plus, he was sure he wanted something for breast cancer for the moment.

I don't know how it happened, but after hours of wasting tissue papers (no no ... not what you're thinking ... it's not about the pot! I make all my designs on a tissue paper first ... as I sip on coffee in a lavish cafe watching people!), the word, 'B-E-A-T' started appearing out of the word, 'B-R-E-A-S-T' ... and the idea was born! I decided to give this t-shirt a sporty look ... representing 'fight' (hence, the sporty font on the front that says, "BEAT") ... and the hope comes from the "crossed fingers" graphic on back.

Adding the pink ribbon within the crossed fingers was a straightforward, simple idea ... doing what it should simply do ... convey hope against cancer.

Isn't it frustrating, sometimes? Almost the entire world knows Pele as a legend, and Maradona as an incarnation of God ... but thanks to I-don't-know-whom-to-blame, almost nothing is known about an equal player ever to take the hockey field - Dhyanchand.

Even today, it's a handful of people who know when Dhyanchand was born - and why the 29th of August is celebrated (really, celebrated??) as the National Sports Day.

And how many know about "Jhansi Heroes" ... or about why Dhyanchand was really called "Dhyan-Chand"!

Well, here's a suggestion from us ... that will hit Toube Bas in the shin as far as the sales is concerned: if you didn't know about these things already, please refrain from buying this t-shirt. It surely won't look good on you :(

If you did, though, we are certain you will carry this t-shirt with as much aplomb as those Magicians carried their medals! For you, we are sure, the magic of "The Magic Sticks" still ... sticks!!

Pfoooof! Designing this t-shirt was one of the most dangerous tasks of my entire time at Toubé Bäs - and I am not exaggerating.

To some ... no ... to many, Panchamda is no less than bhagwan - and this thought gave me the jitters as I was half-way through the conceptualization. In my heart, I was dead certain that I'll be using the following three elements to bring out the retro feel of the 70's and the 80's (the RD Era!):

1) Linchtenstein Pop Art - like in Archies comics, with pixels showing in the prints ... check an example
2) Fonts with shadows ... like those many Bollywood posters of the old, including Sholay's!
3) The Superman diamond (which, btw, seems to be coming back in vogue in various colors)!

Designer friend, and IDC-ian, Aditi Babel suggest that any retro concept should have loud colors in the t-shirt ... so I went for a crimson red fabric! Of course, she followed this up with a very minute touch of god-giri - gave RD's shades on the front a green tinge - that instantly remind us of the fantastic disco-pop setting of Panchamda's music videos! Classic, Babel!

However, back to the jitters! As usual, the first thought that came to my mind (which was to make an RD silhouette a.k.a Che Guevara and paste it on the front of the t-shirt and make merry) was eliminated - downright! I mean, how lame is that (we seriously need to get over Che Guevara) ... !

Somehow, the superhero and '-man' idea dawned, and I knew what the t-shirt was going to look like ... but the challenge was, if the graphic wasn't going to be respectful, people would kill me. Worse - it was easy to loosen the grip with the Lichtenstein art ... tricky affair ...

Thanks to Asha Patel (great graphic artist, greater friend), everything now seems bang on the spot!

While sitting for this t-shirt, I realised that it would be difficult to show the love for everything that Panchamda gave us ... classicals, semi-classicals, melodies, westerns etc. etc. Hence, I went for the western tunes - probably that was Pancham's niche-value-add to the Bollymusic industry too. Come to think about it ... how sorry life would be without his innovations like, "Vakow!" ...

That's why, in a fit of jotting down his innovative words, I went through two days of continuous listening of Pancham's numbers (mostly on www.bombayproductions.com) and jotted as many as I could possibly have done ... from "Tabak Tabak" to "Gilli Gilli Akkha" ..! These words and phrases form the back of the t-shirt and, following a suggestion from friend Bharat Garg, we haven't went berserkly bold with it. We want people to think of this as a t-shirt, not a graffiti board, you see! Plus, when your friend goes behind you to carefully read what all is written on the back, you can eat all the bhaav in the world that you crave for :)

Oh, and like always, what a classic work by Ashfaq and his team of screen-printing fellows at DashnDots, Banglaore- the t-shirts look and feel classy!

Like all of the t-shirts on Toubé Bäs, you will either like this one in 2 seconds flat, or just won't like it. No second thoughts - so probably you wouldn't have paid much attention to my blah blah (above) as well!