Thursday, December 31, 2009

Happy New Year

There is always a lot of excitement surrounding ‘the New Year’. Everyone wishing one another greetings and wishes, loads of offers, HOLIDAYS, special TV shows… It’s truly a great time. The one thing that really beats me is the usual (ridiculous) question that usually follows the wishes, “So, partying tonight? Big plans?”

Seriously people! Help me out here! One thing I don’t understand is what their very idea behind the question is. I mean what DO people do ‘specially’ on the New Year’s night that they don’t do in the other nights or in other parties that the party-buffs may attend, other than probably wish one another “HAPPY NEW YEAR”? I think the whole thing has become too hyped-up.

This weekend, being a 3 day weekend, one more question follows- “What plans for the 3 days?”

This question is even more maddening! I live in Chennai with parents, friends’ living with parents too, in places that are quite far from one another, sick bored of travelling. The only places that one can think of is eat-outs and restaurants where families/hungry-hostel-people would go, or spencers/city-center which has become a little too clichéd, or beaches (that are toooo far for the only few friends living in Chennai) or some local shopping places like in T-Nagar where we have already met a little too often and have nothing left to do there.

Well, honestly, I can’t seem to think of any other place(s) to generally go out here in Chennai, probably coz though this is my native, the main high-school and college days of mine n my friends weren’t spent here! Plus when living with friends in Bangalore or in Pilani, going out for fun or for time-pass or for food and entertainment and to avoid loneliness made sense. But now, being at home with a TV and more importantly, parents, meeting every weekend just to eat, or for time-pass when work is tight, or to avoid being lonely when you always have company doesn’t make any sense, especially when we all (friends) get to happily talk about every small detail of our lives all over the day through mails n chats.

This is why, the very question is sad bcoz it has no answer from my side! And yet, every known-unknown person walking past asks “Hey! Happy New Year! So what plans for the 3-day weekend? I m gonna Pondy with my gang with some bottles n glasses! What about you?” And I dumbly say “Uhh.. I don’t know. No plans yet/can’t think of places to go/don’t have a huge gang here/living with parents well… I might just have a quite weekend at home, I think. Happy New Year to you too!”

As I entered the house, my parents were right there, drowned deep into Sudha Raghunathan’s concert on TV; and I said to myself, “Here starts my New Year weekend.”
Oh yeah… Happy New Year you all!! Hope you guys have a great weekend and a great year ahead!!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

The Wet And The Cold

Have I ever mentioned before that I hate wet and cold? Well, ordinarily, moisture would drive me atleast a mile away n cold would make me shiver and cuddle into warm clothes. But today neither affected me at all! No Sir, not one bit! All coz I was where I have always wanted to be! Nothing mattered!

The past couple of days have been a few of the most blessed most cheerful days. After shopping extravagantly for clothes n shoes n heavy dhaba lunch with friends n big time gossiping about nothing and everything, life seems all too colourful! I know.. shopping, beauty parlour and at times, gossiping are the best turn-ons for young women!

In addition to a new wardrobe, now that I have a new scooty pep+ with an awesome electric blue colour, my happiness seems to have no limits! I mean literally! Today, as I rode on the roads at 60 kmph, over taking heavy bikes without stopping at some red signals(though they weren’t intentionally done), the cool wind blew through my hair, slight shivers ran down my spine and chill rain drops started falling on my skin.

Now I had to stop coz I was wearing a white sal and if I continued driving in the rain that had now started pouring, I would be arrested for indecent exposure! :P So there I waited in the shade of a huge tree with a hundred others, and then it hit me! I had a rain coat! So what the hell was I waiting for?!?

So I wore the huge rain coat and with the rain splattering on my face, I rode home, all wet and cold, though with a wide smile on lips and peace at heart.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Ex

When people lie right on one’s face, I just don’t understand how easy it seems to them. Coz for me, lying, with or without a valid reason, is extremely difficult! I am as pathetic as Joe Tribbiani(FRIENDS-season 9 epi 8) in lying!! Giving false reasons in the right places and hiding the right amount of facts from the right person or manipulating the truth here and there to serve some useful purpose, is still, may be at some level, acceptable and understandable and forgivable. But again, lying blatantly and shamelessly thinking that the person listening doesn’t know or wouldn’t find out, is highly dumb and cheap!

There were a couple of guys on campus who were well known to lie about marks and grades and how they were the top of the course when the whole mark list was displayed on the notice board and they were in fact, one among the last, and about how girls went fida over them when all the girls ridiculed them big time, and even about some imaginary girl friend back home… but these guys portrayed their character as dumb idiotic weak insecure and with a very high inferiority complex, and got black listed! But hey, they were just students, and they were obviously trying to get a girl by showing off, and even though they miserably failed at their purpose, they did actually have one!

And here is this boss of mine, an ex-boss from tomorrow, who has the talent of lying and exaggerating and manipulating the facts even without a purpose, just because he can! Now that is not stupid, that is sadism! I can hardly understand how someone about 30 yrs old, who in reality hardly works at all (though pushes his subordinates work even without lunch or dinner), can act so cheap and earn the disrespect and hatred of everyone around, and still be ignorant of the fact that, well, his secret- that he is a sadist and an egoist and knows much lesser than a no of his subordinates- is not really a secret at all!! Well, whatever. From the list of lessons that I have learnt in the past 6 months, the entire sub-list of how-a-team-leader-shouldnot-be comes from him.

When a truck loaded with sand comes in the wrong direction, it is the bike that should leave way and stand aside, or simply take another route avoiding the sand truck. Instead if the bike tries to go head-on with the truck just coz it has only mud or coz the bike is in the right direction while the truck isn’t, the damage is entirely to the bike and the people on it. The sand truck would have no impact at all, right?

In any case, I am glad I have finally gotten the opportunity to leave the highly unorganized road and take a much better way,a whole new direction, thanks to God-who-finally-listened/Luck-that-changed-at-last/Good-time-that-has-arrived/Hardwork-and-sincerity-that-eventually-paid-off.


Saturday, November 28, 2009

One of Us... One of Them...


It’s been so long since I blogged, actually, since I wrote at all about anything or anyone. After all, life isn’t filled with sunshine and rainbows and butterflies and puppies, now is it?

The weekends seem to have huge ‘to-do’ lists and going out of towns and weddings (yeah.. awfully lot of them these days!! We’ll come to that one later.) and weekdays… umm.. well, what did I do on weekdays? Good grief! I really can’t even remember what I did on weekdays! They seem to have just flown away (nothing too pleasant though, I assure you!).

But amongst everything/nothing going on in the mundane life, one very special occasion that happened last weekend in Salem brought back wide smiles and sound laughter and back-in-the-past feelings.

It was our wingie’s wedding!!The first of us to enter into ‘the holy matrimony’, and all of us (well most of us) gathered in her home town Salem to attend the function and be there and wish her the best of luck.

Well, it all started way back in their psenti-sem, my fourth year, when one night at 1 am, the female called for a mid-night-wing-meeting and ushered us all into her room. Anxiously, we snuggled comfortably on her bed as she sat opposite to n told us about how she, one of us (happy singles) had had become one of them (committed ones), about how this guy from her PS station liked her n proposed to her and how she had taken her time to think about it and finally agreed the day before that night, while we all sat looking at her in total shock, with our mouths wide open. After all, she was the most sadhu-est most rational and level headed person in our wing and here she was, in love (no offence to the other lovers in the world)!! I mean it wasn’t rare to find girls ‘in love’ or going out with guys on campus, just that it was hard to imagine her there!

Far away seems those days when she would lie to us about her sleeping and hide into her room talking with him over phone and think we didn’t know what was going on. But they all came back when there she was, standing in her wedding sari, with all the bridal make up, blushing all over when the photographer asked the bride and the groom to stand in a variety of poses (please don’t imagine anything perverted.. they were cute pics taken all done under both parents’ supervision. :P) while me n data were standing in a side, commenting big time and making them all laugh.

All five years on campus, whenever it came to wing’s decking up session, I was the one who used to tie them all saris, helped them with eye liners and kajals, etc. (yeah.. and I loved it- and as I remember, the decking sessions used to be so much fun!!) Here in the wedding, though a couple of beauticians were onto her, it was really cool to look at, a girl being dressed and attended and pampered like a queen!! Complicate hair-dos, face makeup, kundan stones being stuck on hair to give a classy effect and even designs on hands with sparklers and stones stuck here and there, lots of bangles clattering on her arms, as she stepped out of her room in the Bengali-styled sari, gosh! She looked so pretty!:)


From about a month ago, us wingies had been brain storming about the best gift we could get, and loads of ideas were pooled in, and we finally, after a million email-threads, successfully decided and ordered one. For the wedding, since the gift itself was too huge to carry, we ordered it to be delivered at her home when she went back to Hyd, and gave her a huge greeting card in the reception, with each of us personally signed- with love, from wingies.:)

The Saturday night was in a hotel room with all of us sitting and gossiping away like old times, showing each other the dresses and accessories we had gotten for the wedding, telling each other’s stories, taking snaps.. wow! It was like having fallen into a fantasy pit of the past!

The wedding itself, was pretty simple, about an hour or so full of rituals n relatives gathering around the stage. After the wedding was over, she came and sat with us for some time, and her happiness and her peaceful mind and genuine smile said a lot about how much she had enjoyed every bit of the ceremonies and how much she loved this guy and the extent to which she was looking forward to this new lifestyle as a wife to someone she loved and someone who in turn cared a lot about her.

There have been loads of times when I have thought (actually all of us wingies have had discussions on), about how embarrassing the whole ordeal of bearing with our parents’ look-out-for-a-groom drama and how awkward it was going to be to be introduced in front of strangers, to a stranger, whom they would have supposedly chosen for us to move in with and live with when we didn’t even know if he, in the very least even respected us! I mean- a happy life starts with love, love starts with friendship, which begins with trust and understanding, the very basis of which is mutual respect and acknowledgement of each other’s likes and dislikes, attitudes and ideas, policies and beliefs. With none of these, with complete faith in just a small piece of paper called horoscope, when our (I refer to girls alone here) parents would get us married send us off to a stranger’s place (that too after spending completely for the wedding, as the groom’s side would, in most cases, hardly even open their purse!), it wouldn’t be just embarrassing or awkward, but much more.

Anyway, we were all glad about how our friend found love and trust in the hands of someone with whom she was a good friend first, got to know him well, and then fell in love and after an year of being a ‘girl friend’, got married to him, and escaped the-parents-pressure. For everything, there is a worst case and a best case and loads of cases in between, and hers, I would definitely classify amongst the best case.

On Sunday as we all started off in different directions after the wedding, there were a chain of thoughts haunting my mind, ”Damn! After the really awesome weekend, here I go back to reality, the @%@#$#&^*%^$ world that I live in, and back to office on Monday! Why-o-why does Monday have to come so soon?!? Why-o-why do good times end so fast?!? Oh the nooo… I don’t wanna go home now… I don’t wanna go to the damn office tomorrow, and to think about it, I don’t wanna go anywhere! The only place I wanna go is to the past, and that’s the one place I can’t go! AAAHHHHHH… #$%$&Y^%E$&*%^@$%@!!!!!”


Friday, September 25, 2009

Who the hell are you?!?

When 2 people meet, there are 3 possibilities:

1. Neither of them know one another, in which case they just walk away without any problems (mostly, I think..)!
2. Both of them know each other and wish/greet/acknowledge their familiarity.
3. One knows the other but the other way.

The third case, I believe, is very common these days, and frequent in my life. At such times when we get to meet or are obliged to make conversation with someone who happens to know us, and yet are strangers to us, what the hell are we supposed to say?

Usually if it’s a relative and I can roughly guess who they are looking at the people around them, I fake an all-knowing-and-understanding smile and talk about general stuff, politely inquire their health/wellbeing and before I get caught, I get the hell out of there. In such places, the words ‘aunty’ and ‘uncle’ helps loads!

However, what happens if they just call out of the blue and you happen to pick up the call up? Or they knock on your door when you are alone at home and you open the door?

In the first case, I usually just ask who they are and then if they mock at me about not knowing them, I just make up stories like poor transmission or voice not clear or instrument fault or simply say that I was sleeping before the call!

In the latter’s case, what I tend to do is give a non-committal smile and look at them with polite, yet mild surprise. Smart people who can actually tell that the poor dear standing opposite doesn’t recognize them, they introduce themselves and all will be fine.

Nevertheless, there are also some stupid people, who don’t understand the mind expressions or gestures, and wait for US to initiate. I try asking them very courteously, “Uh.. hmm..Sorry.. But who are you?” Again, people with even a little decency tell who they are, may be some identification, explain some relationship or from where they are. The others, I guess, are just too dumb take the cue. Some (idiots) pose riddles, while others (fools) demand, ”Why? Don’t you know me?”

Now wait a minute! What the F do they think? If I had known who they were, WHY THE HELL WOULD I EVEN ASK’M? Such dumb acts only lower their own dignity and self respect, I say! And to these half-wits, I just can’t help replying with fake-patience-plus-light-sarcasm, “No… No I don’t! So, again, Who are you?!?”

If they still refuse to answer the out-right question, the only possible thing that can be done, is shutting the door on their faces to show that they were definitely not recognized and their dumb-wits were certainly not entertained!!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Wrong Attitude?!?

Navaratri time, loads of relatives to visit. Since I am agnostic (more of an atheist these days), it doesn’t mean much to me. But I usually hate this time of the year.. the whole festival in general; though it’s a pretty vibrant atmosphere with hyper-active people buzzing around various colorful idols and all. There are two main reasons.

When I was young, I was sent to classical music lessons, probably right from when I was three. I used to learn it sincerely, practice it meticulously. As I grew up, so did my self-consciousness. But my parents, being ‘parents’, couldn’t see this, and continuously encouraged me to sing in public, in front of relatives and especially in ‘Navarathri/Dassara’ times when they all met up in everybody’s houses and young girls were made to sing to ‘God’ while they sat around staring at the poor embarrassed creature, commenting about her, her voice, her skills, compare it with every other ‘budding singer’ whom they had come across while the little singing girl would be secretly wishing to disapparate from there and apparate in the North Pole.

Years of experience in such singing-in-front-of-people embarrassment and hundreds of arguments and fights with parents and millions of curses from them, I quit classical music with a lot of hatred and aversion to both singing and Navarathri days and as a bitter disappointment to my parents since I had failed to fulfill their dream! But at least they don’t force me these days since I am much older and I tend not to stick around them much when the old ‘music’ topic is rekindled.

Second reason is stronger these days, which is being with curious gossipy ‘know-it-all’ relatives who judge anyone who thinks differently and bitch about everyone who does not follow their rules. Today’s get-together proved to be enjoyable mostly; until they all started discussing the topic I hate the most- marriages. They were discussing about how one of my cousins, 26 now, was weeping a whole day refusing to take a man’s hand, who was more than 7 yrs elder than her and who wanted her to leave her job here in India and move to US as his ‘house-wife’. Educated male chauvinistic bastard is what I would call him. Then when I started saying that it actually made sense, and that it was her call and people should mind their own business and not emotionally blackmail her, they all started targeting me!

There is a family friend, well educated girl, marrying an American colleague and so all of her relatives are abandoning her and her family. She fell in love with him and decided to tie the knot with him despite the hell of objections because she was so damn frustrated with her religion and caste’s pathetic ridiculous superstitious beliefs in horoscope and her birth-star being unpopular for girls and bringing ‘bad luck’ to the groom and his family and the grooms in her caste demanding 6 lakhs as dowry.

In fact another reason she is doing this is because her life is more comfortable with him than it probably would be with any South Indian, and especially, any guy of her caste. He, being an American, believes that his wife has her own life, understands concepts like ‘privacy’, and most importantly, in sharing daily chores like cooking, washing plates & clothes and cleaning and shopping, and takes equal part in it with pleasure, which most of the guys here would certainly fail to oblige!

To this, my paati(grandmom) went on about how women are responsible for all these and they shouldn’t trouble men with them and how women are born to cook and clean and serve men and how men should be manly and just earn, eat and sleep. When I said otherwise, I realized it was a mistake simply coz I had no one to back me up. I was a single person up against all the stereotype elders who now started sniggering at my ‘attitude’. Finally, I just gave it up when my mom was giving me murderous looks and they too ended with a conclusion that my parents were going to have a really difficult time in looking for ‘a suitable guy’ for me and that when they do find a ‘match’, they should probably not let me talk to him before marriage coz then, I might scare him away with my ‘equality attitude’ and ask him if he knows cooking or likes cleaning and might just never get married!!

And now I am so damn pissed with all this nonsense but decided that all I could do at present was avoid relatives when they start talking nonsense stuff, give up on trying to figure out a way to jump to Jupiter and not worry about my future and simply enjoy House MD!

Cameron: "Men should grow up."
House: "Yeah, and dogs should stop licking themselves. It's not going to happen."

Yeah... I do love him!

Friday, August 21, 2009

Did I Scare Him?

Yesterday I went to a departmental store to get some domestic supplies for mom. My mom usually writes me a huge list, and since I really don’t know the difference between dals (thoram paruppu, kadala paruppu, ullutham paruppu etc all baffle me big time!), I usually handover the list of groceries to a helper in the store.

It is there that I saw Him… a cute guy with a cool French beard, picking up some snacks. I just looked at Him for a second, and He looked back, I picked up a few chocolates, and we both moved on in opposite directions. Then I went to choose soaps and my ‘private’ stuff. There was a mother and a teenage girl, arguing over which brand was better while mom was insisting her daughter to take Whisper. Gosh! Thank God my mom wasn’t this fussy in public over these issues! I would have to kill myself if I were in that girl’s position!

I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I didn’t notice Him coming to the same place, to get His soaps and creams. Yes… creams. I saw Him take a ‘fair-n-handsome’ cream while I was holding my ‘girl-thing’, and before I could put it away, He saw me too, and blushed like a little girl, with cheeks all pink. I thought He might need His privacy and walked away to another section.

After collecting a few other things, I stopped near the razors to pick up one, and had the misfortune of running into Him again there as He was choosing a Gillette! Dear Lord! He turned so red on the sight of me with a pink razor, that I thought His face, neck even ears were just going to burst out! I have always thought that blushing guys look cute, but this was weird!
Before I carry on, let me tell you guys about a habit of mine. In places where I cannot talk or rather choose not to say things or voice out my opinions, I usually say it all inside my head, for my personal satisfaction.

So there He was, turning beetroot red, not knowing how to react, when I, without giving as much of a second glance, walked off without any botheration, telling Him off inside my head, ”Dude! Quit blushing! All women use Whisper and most of them use a razor to remove hair from hands n legs!! Did u really think movie stars were born hairless?!? Seriously, GROW UP! Having a good French beard is not enough, dude! You should also learn to act relaxed and at ease in public in such situations!!”

Finally, when I was standing in the queue in one of the counters with my trolley full, He came and stood behind me with His basket. The moment He saw me, He quickly shifted to a counter farthest from mine. Was He frightened?!? It certainly appeared so! But why? For having seen me buying a Whisper and a razor or for having been caught taking a fair-n-handsome?!? Or… did I actually say those things out loud? Oh NO! I didn’t! No I was sure I didn’t!

Well, I really have no idea what I did to scare the hell out of Him. But it sure was fun watching Him scoop His change and run out of the store clutching the bag like he was clinging to his life!!

Monday, August 17, 2009

A-Z Tag


Thanx a lot Varun, for the award. I am honored!
The rules for this tag are as follows:
1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Display award on your blog with these rules
3. Reply to the questions below

4. Tag 7 people deserving the award according to you

5. Come back to BLoGGiSTa iNFo CoRNeR (PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE THIS LINK) at http://bloggistame.blogspot.com/ and leave the URL of your Post in order for you/your Blog to be added to the Master List


1.The Person who tagged you : Varun
2. Award Displayed above.

3. Seven people I tag are :

Tag
A – Available/Single? Both :) :D
B – Best friend? Have tonnes n love'em all!
C – Cake or Pie? Cake.
D – Drink of choice? Hot Tea/Chololate/Complan, Cold Lomon Soda/Ice-tea, Coconut water.

E – Essential item you use every day? Mobile, Internet (other than Toothbrush/Soap/Comb etc).

F – Favorite colour? Black, Brown.
G – Gummy Bears Or Worms? Eww.. Neither.
H – Hometown? Chennai
I – Indulgence? fantacy stories (books, movies n series)

J – January or February? Makes no difference to me.
K – Kids & their names? None.
L – Life is incomplete without? Internet (for me).

M – Marriage date? LOLest!
N – Number of siblings? 1 Sister

O – Oranges or Apples? Apples

P – Phobias/Fears? None at large, but may be a little of Atelophobia n Soteriophobia

Q – Quote for today? Don't pity the dead... pity the living.
R – Reason to smile? Lots in general, mainly being with family and friends, cant think of anything else specific currently.
S – Season? Spring

T – Tag 7 People? See above.
U – Unknown fact about me? I love the idea of having pet dogs.
V – Vegetable you don't like? Brinjal, Tomatoes(conspicuous and/or raw)
W – Worst habit? Impatience? .. Cant think of anything specific.

X – X-rays you've had? Stupid Q.

Y – Your favorite food? North Indian, esp Aalu fry with rotis.

Z – Zodiac sign? Virgo

Monday, July 27, 2009

What the hell?!?

Yesterday, I had a very infuriating conversation with my parents. It all started with some stupid Tamil serial, where the parents weep and wail over a couple who run away to get married or something equally stupid.

Dad : This dowry system was so widely prevalent even now in the rural areas, that the girl’s father actually encourages his daughter to run off with a suitable guy, get married and return after a month or so. On their return, he would pretend to be abashed by their act along with the boy’s parents, and eventually both would accept the married couple without lakhs being spent by the bride’s family in wedding customs and dowry. Apparently such cheap and effective ways were used by the couples and/or the girl’s poor parents to avoid the wrath of dowry system.

Me : Well, as at some point, someone had to stop giving dowry one way or another, coz the ones who would get money mostly might not take the initiation. Why... even educated grooms of today still don’t spend a penny or offer to share the wedding expenses from the bride’s parents! A t least most of them don’t, unless it’s a love marriage and the girl has guts enough to make her guy see the right and the wrong and make him ‘be a man’ and share.

This was all I said, no double or triple meaning intended. To these words, my dad gave me a very sarcastic smile, something I had never seen before.

Me: what? You don’t think running away, as easy as it may sound, to be the right solution to dowry problem, is it?

Dad: no.. not that. Personally, I did not take a penny from your mother, and I don’t intend giving anything in your marriage either. But running away of my daughter is something I wouldn’t even think of. The very thought is extremely ridiculous and infact, its funny!

Again, a sarcastic laugh.

Me: Sure! Because you trust me that much, right?

Dad: Not that I don’t trust you, its just that I don’t think you can!

Mom : (giving dad a stern look) He is just joking dear. Just pulling your leg.

Me: WHAT? Why not?!? I could run away iff I wanted to! Not that I do want to…

Dad: naah.. you are not the kind of a girl who could, you know, have a boyfriend. That’s all.

Me: what nonsense! I don’t have one coz I didn’t want to break your trust and coz I chose not to. What makes you think that I ‘can’t’ have one? I just have to wave a hand or give a signal. You’ll have to eat your words then.

Mom(sitting upright): really?!? Why? Is there someone?

Dad : (openly laughing by now) yeah right!

Mom : Who is this boy you are referring to? Is he your college mate? Is he a Christian? Is that why you always, and more often these days, keep praising Christian weddings and how you love them?

Me: Alright! You guys have got to stop your wild imaginations for a sec and listen. No mom, there is no one like that!

Dad : (stops laughing and turns to mom) I am telling you. She is not like that. Now her sister… I wouldn’t put it past her! But she just can’t be like that!

Me: I can’t believe you don’t trust me! You have such a low opinion of me!

Mom : Nonsense! He says so because he trusts you and has a high opinion of you.

Me: Well, after I get a good job, I’ll get a guy too, whether you like it or not. Its not that difficult, you know? I’ll prove it to you that all these years I have been single only by choice and that too, for you guys only.

Mom : So there definitely is no one right now?

Dad : So you are ok with being with a guy and getting married and that sort of life. Our girl is growing!

Mom: (smiling with comprehension) That is such a relief!

Me :(Feeling cheated) Hey!! I didn’t say that. And NO! I am not interested, let alone ready for those things! What the hell!!

With that, I stormed out of the room with my fists balled and my back turned on my ROFLing parents. Parents these days, are becoming too smart for their own good! Hmph!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

The Master of Unforgivable Curses

Till sometime back, I used to very proudly believe in only and only logical reasons and scientific explanations, and I kind of overlooked things or issues that didn’t have tangible or explainable evidences or witnesses, and restrained(as much as possible) from indulging into common social practices that did not have logical and rational grounds.

I used to feel that miracles and fate don’t exist. Nothing can be achieved without fulfilling the requirements that included sincere efforts and hard work, and vice versa. But this goes against the existence of miracles, which are unnatural unexplainable occurrences, said to be supernatural acts of God. Similarly, I used to call ‘fate’, as the last reason claimed by the people filled with hopelessness, helplessness and despair, when in reality, it doesn’t exist. I would say that I prefer knowing and feeling that I control my own life, and not some unknown unaccounted factor called fate.

Here I am today, sitting at home without a job, praying to God, wishing for miracles and cursing fate, when nothing happening in my life seems rational and justifiable. Everyone I have spoken to in the past couple of months seem to feel that I was not at fault, and that I had done my level best at every step, and that I was not to blame myself for my present condition, and I was to wait patiently and pray God. Well, then if I weren’t to blame myself, who the hell am I supposed to blame? That is when everyone said in unison, “FATE!” That’s all! Wow. That was easy! Not remotely satisfying or helping my cause, but somehow, I felt the pieces fit together, with this illogical reason! This is what set me thinking.
While everyone praises God for his creation, everyone normally curses Fate for destruction. May be Fate is just another name for God- the wild and bad and sinister sadistic side of Him, just like the black-Spiderman. Fate, I guess, is the master of unforgivable curses- the Imperius Curse, the Cruciatus Curse, the Killing Curse.

When we plan something meticulously, work hard over it, yet meet an unexplained failure, we say, ”Man proposes, God disposes.” How very true. We think we are walking down a lane, when Fate hits us with an Imperius Curse, only to make us walk where we never thought of and do mortifying things we never intended to do. By the time we wake up from the curse, the damage is already done and though it looks like we did it, we really aren’t responsible for it, are we?

Similarly, let’s consider innocent people who happened to be grievously injured in some terrorist attacks or freak accidents or bomb blasts or natural calamities. This is Fate shouting, “Crucio!” Unbearable pain that could numb your senses, and sometimes lead one to painful death. After all, You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse!

Likewise is unnatural untimely death, which is when Fate points its wand and says, “Avada Kedavra!” As we all know, no one has ever survived it except the famous Harry Potter!

Anyway, what I meant is that seeing things this way does make believing in oneself easier, in a weird way. It makes one feel better knowing that it wasn’t his mistake. I haven’t yet seen any glimpses or snapshots of miracles to start believing in that too, but Fate, I guess I just cant ignore it anymore! Not that I can do anything about it, like anyone can do anything about God, simply coz Fate infact, is God’s darker side, and as I said, the Master of unforgivable curses.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Anchored to misfortune…


HOPELESSNESS(Band)- Broken Tears in Solitude(Album)- Anchored to A Past(Song)

Recently, came across this band (not a very popular one though), and checked out its album lyrics. The songs might not be brilliant in English, but they do manage to convey their meaning. I found the following lyrics very poignant and significantly meaningful.

….
….

The curse of solitude
The sentence of distress
Lost tears that crossed me
With mutilated senses
Of hopelessness

Anchored to misfortune
Sighs of pain resound
The waits that enclose you
In the train of confusion
Sorrow never comes alone

Hesitate false steps
On a cracked ground
Anchored to A Past
Anchored to misfortune.


Monday, June 15, 2009

Trial and Error

Yesterday, a few of us friends met after quite some time. It was really very invigorating, to roam on the T-Nagar streets aimlessly, to gen-enthu crash into Naidu Hall for water and AC there, generally sit in there gossiping and pretending to be looking at the skirt collection, make a friend try out utterly ridiculous clothes in the trial room and take snaps, sit on the iron bench on the platform licking softie and cracking jokes about strangers and their clothes n all, remembering and quoting funny n stupid nostalgic incidents. I realized that my life had come to a total standstill, a huge mundane meaningless void.

I waited for a really long time in the terminus for my bus thinking all of this. I felt really mad at myself for having landed there, where I was, and told myself that I was the only one who could save myself from sinking further into the emptiness, and I simply HAD to spice up my life, at least a little bit for the starters. There were other buses coming in and going out, with school/college punks making a huge racket and climbing on the running buses. There it was right in front of my eyes, something I could do, or atleast try. I was as good as any guy, not too fat, not too old, and not too stiff either. So, I finally found a bus to get on, and decided to wait till the bus started and get on after that! Afterall, I was alone; no parents/sis/friends with me, who would tense/freak/snigger at my attempt. Even if I embarrassed myself, I would be only in front of total strangers who I might never see, like ever again! So… I did it! I mean, tried getting on the running bus.

First attempt: total failure. The first step of the bus seemed to be too high for my legs to reach and the hold was slipping. People had spotted what I was trying. Some loki perverts were cheering, while some adults were keeping a what-the-hell-is-she-thinking face.

But then, I heard my own voice in my head. “ What the hell female?!? How difficult is this? If you are going to fail at this, then you clearly deserve to be in the boring mundane void space for the rest of your life and definitely deserve to be in called ‘anty’ by tat one-year-old-neighbor-kid.” That was it.

Second attempt: SUCCESS!! Ruling out the wild appreciating cheers by some and highly disapproving frowns by others and the throbbing pain in my arms and nicely hit legs & toes, I completely succeed in getting into tat running bus!! :D Now this was something I had never dared to risk or never been allowed to do by the accompanying person. There! My life was not as mundane as I thought afterall!!

I came home, smiling widely, much to the pleasure of my parents. But I become conscious of the blunder and the painful after-effects of my ‘enthued experimentation’ only today, and got appalling feedbacks from various parts of my body. Every time I walk, my damned head now groans and says, “Awww…. That damned bus!! You knew I was blabbering, having stayed in the scorching sun for a really long time! Why-o-why did you have to listen to me?”

So I have decided 3 things:
1. I might be as good as a guy in most of the stuff, but getting on running busses is definitely NOT one of them.
2. My brain doesn’t die like in stroke when exposed to scorching sun for a really long time; it just tries TO KILL ME!!!
3. No matter how many gimmicks I do, that kiddo next door is going to call me anty nevertheless!! So might as well accept it and never let it come near!! :P

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Difficult Love

Sometimes, just sometimes, love could be torturous. People you love, and mainly those who love you back, often tend to do things you hate and take you for granted to such an extent that you seriously wish you were on the peak of Himalayas wearing an orange dress with a chain of beads in hands, chanting gibberish stuff.


Right when you stomach is upset, they make you eat ‘the-food-they-made-outta-love’ even if you feel nauseous. Right when you have a bitter cold, they offer sweets and serve icecreams or grapes or cucumbers and complain if you don’t eat. Oh, and only when you request them to keep a secret, they gossip about it, claiming to be helping in spreading the word. And when you don’t appreciate being bought a new dress forcefully, you are considered to have an attitude problem; just like they brand you to be too headstrong and obstinate when they are the ones ‘trying to be there for you’ when the main thing you want is some time alone. The worst part is when one is expected to take it all with a wide smile on face, swallowing all the pain and grief of never getting what is wanted dearly, because it never feels great, not being able to control your own life!


Distance, speed, weight, time etc etc have respective global units to quantify. Love, is probably one of the very few attributes, that have no specific units. They are solely quantified based on the method of expression and NOT the amount showered. Being with your loved ones would be the most rewarding feeling if everyone expresses it in the way the other person wants or understands. Else, it equivalent to speaking in an alien language and doesn’t make sense, and after one point, leads to frustration and doubts. Love should be the easiest thing in the world. ,If it becomes extremely difficult and intolerable, then it either means that there is a HUGE communication gap and lack of understanding, or simply that the people are from India!!! It is here that even after 18 or even 21, men and women are still treated as children by adults, and their needs and wants overruled in the name of ‘love’ and ‘care’ of elders who ‘ALWAYS know-better’. Curiosity and joblessness of society and relatives and ‘loved ones’ overrides personal space and privacy. But the most important thing that people don’t realize is that one can retain water only in open and cupped hand. The minute fingers close upon it and try to clench it tightly, the water escapes, and is lost, just like love and respect.


And the sooner people understand this, the better it would be for everyone, else whole bonding might get ripped right from the foundation.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Girl Crushes if I were a Guy

Disclaimer: Male Chauvinist Guys and Anti feminists- Stay away from this post!!!! This post may contain a lot of exaggerated views, and is not meant to offend anyone.

Well, though this is a tag from Vimal/Vimala, Vimmu/Vimmi, I am definitely not entering any sort of a sex-transformation machine for this! As a girl its kind of easy to think from a guy's shoes, mainly coz- guys don’t think at all!! :P
Just kidding! But if I were a guy, then I would have been a Tambram guy! 8O!! Now that’s a disaster!!
Anyways, if I were a sensible tambram guy (again, paradoxical, as far as girls/sex/crushes/love-life is concerned.. I know!) But, Let me be the first of the kind, and think from a 'sensible Indian Tamil Brahmin Guy's' point of view.

Bipasha Basu- A tambram would mostly looove to gawk at such a girl on-screen only. He would blush and look down or look away and pretend that he just did not see her, if encountered with one in real life, and bitch about her attitude and exposure and 'slutty attitude' behind.
Priyanka Chopra-A Tambram would want the girl he has a crush on to be the ultimate hottie, wearing sexy traditional dresses, who is appreciated by all his friends, and who makes him proud even as an acquaintance.


Sania Mirza- a sportswoman, wearing short cute dresses, playing solo in front of raving audience, representing the country, lots of attitude.. Nothing more to say!

Genilia- Now this, I have no idea why! (Could give it to her cute bubbly looks though..) I haven’t come across even one tamil guy, who doesn't have fantasies about her! So if I were a tamil guy, I guess I too would fantasize her, probably because her characters are normally as dumb as a mcp and an antifeminist would like to think of a girl!

and 5th... gosh! I am running out of girls!! :P or may be I am just getting back to a-straight-girl-who-can't-have-girl-crushes girl again.. :D
Well, since I can't think of anyone specific, in general, I think a guy could and would have a crush on a career woman, in a suit, with loads of attitude and capability to knock him down and kick his ass, and yet smiles on his face and greets him with a charm! :P ( thought of this from a girl's shoes only, n not from a guy's perspective).

So, there you go Vimal.. your rescue card from my side!! :)

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

The World Needs a Super Hero!

The racist attacks in Aus on harmless Indian students whose only crime was to farewell in acads and in jobs, while the aussies weren’t as good, and were driven to this point merely by their own insecurities, is just shocking! I mean how lower could they fall? Feelings like these just don’t burst out suddenly! They must have been pent-up for ages! If they thought that Indians were such a competition, then why don’t they just work harder and prove that they are as good! How cheap is it to physically hurt an enemy (as if their feelings towards Indians aren’t obvious!), when he is, infact unarmed. But then I really cant help questioning the Indians either, as to why they still risk walking alone on Aus roads, or even don’t fight back(Oh no! I definitely did not mean the ‘Gandhian way’. See what happened? Even the Aus police are clearly against them.)
May be Indians should start going out in groups, be well armed and hurt the attacking racist mob back, so that they never dare hurt another Indian in their remaining life. I am definitely not suggesting starting a war. But walking away, beaten up by brainless jobless gits for no mistake of theirs is as shameful too, and does infact portray Indians as soft and easy targets as they claim! If we are not as soft and cowardly as they say, then SHOW THEM! If the Aus govt doesn’t see a problem arising at all, if they really are deaf and blind to the obviousness of the situation, then they are playing an active part in the racist movement too. Why don’t they just gather their balls and jus tell the Indians to leave their country alive, and outright?
And here are our dear politicians, walking, talking and thinking in slow motion! Well, obviously, if they take immediate steps, even though people would benefit, they’ll also forget it as fast. The men-in-power want the whole issue to blow up as much as possible so that when they actually do something, they will be able to flaunt it in next elections and gain votes. They are just making news and talking a lot, just like the post-26/11 attacks.
Now that issue is even more ridiculous. Kasab’s trial, his sneering jeering comments and smirks over the accusations, with our dear darling Indian police and military wiping his dribble and washing his poop and feeding him with nutritious diet, when people like him and the masterminds like Hafiz Mohammad Saeed who has actually been acquitted and freed of all charges, don’t deserve a fair/unfair trial at all! All they deserve is to be executed publicly, right on the Rajpath, in front of the India Gate. That would show the terrorists where they stand and what their fate will be if they even so much as set foot on Indian soil with any wrong ideas. But they know just as we do, that Indian politicians are spine-less useless softie-pants who would even bear seeing poor helpless Indians suffer, but never have the heart to give terrorists what they deserve. Even they know how corrupt the post-bearing people are, how corruption starts from the lowest levels and how high all these things run and how Indian politicians are highly predictable and over-ride the military, and can really be taken for-granted. They know that they can get away with anything, without as much as even a scratch on them!
The past few days, have been really horrid, not only in our country. Over 2,000 civilians massacred in Srilanka, even after the war was clearly over, suicide bombs in parts of Somalia and Pak, financial crisis all over the world; Yesterday and today kind of reaching the peak, in all parts of the world. A lot of people have suffered physically and mentally and psychologically. Air France crash taking down around 228 people along with it, their bodies never to be found, about 35 people dead in a bus crash, drowned in Chambal lake, over 400 teenagers taken hostage by the Taliban (who have now been released though, but imagine the plight of parents when their home-returning kinds are in the hands of the mercy-less terrorists!), GM going belly-up leading to a possible unemployment of over thousands, students protesting and suiciding over the smallest of issues like tests and marks.
My mom said that it was high time ‘Kalki’ came to the rescue of humans, or there might not be left any in the future. Kalki is the tenth avatar of Lord Vishnu, who is prophesied to come riding on a horse back, to the rescue of the innocent from the hands of modern-day asuras. Now when they had prophesied this, they might not have thought of predicted the emergence of sophisticated motorized vehicles. But you know what I think? I think ‘Kali’ is simply a super-hero, who could have fallen from a ‘Krypton’ or simply has billions of money and a brave heart to use it against criminals. Kali could emerge from a space-ship or a limousine or a horse-back (as predicted). But right now, the world could really use a Superman!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Out-of-Ordinary

Here is me, in this mundane world, hoping and wishing for titanic adventurous miracles to happen- for a Godzilla to walk through the streets (I know- a lot of people’s lives might be destroyed, but what the hell!), or a meteor shower with a space ship from Krypton (a lot of meteor freaks might emerge, but it could be good entertainment!), or a volcano to erupt somewhere close(I know- I am turning into a sadist!), or for me to by-mistake slip into the volcano’s crest to reach the center of the Earth (hey! I am not all that graceful, you see..), or find a car which would take me to the past/future at 88 Km/Hr (yeah yeah, highly unimaginable, but I can still hope, right?), or for me to walk through a closet into the monster world(alright! I am not as small or as cute, but I am not scared of ghosts either!), or the queen of Genovea declaring me to be the princess of genovea, the next heir to the thrown :P( I so wish even more for the handsome romantic duke), or for me to discover that I am actually a witch, and get an invite to attend schooling at Hogwarts( fine! I might be too old for school.. but it I can still learn to use a wand!), or fall in love with a vampire(then, life wouldn’t be more exciting!!) , or for me to discover that I had a special ability(may be the healing power :)), or for atleast Kolangal/Kalasam/Solla than nineikiren/Kasthuri to end(Like that’s gonna happen!!). Sigh.. There is no limit to what a person can dream, now is there?!? But hey! Don’t get me all wrong! I am not a terrorist, wanting to hurt people. Just think that I could use some real adventure and some excitement in the world! That’s all. :)

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Subtlety Issues

Now that I am home and pretty jobless, I seem to have loads of time to spend. Not too unusual as its just like any other vacation, in fact summer hols used to last for about 3 months! The only difference is that now, I know that I am definitely not returning back to campus, and have no sense of purpose, as of now. Disturbing though it may be, that doesn’t change the fact that I still have the entire days and sleepless nights to kill (I am mostly insomniac. I sleep only once in 2-3 days, that too during early mornings or noons only! :P Old habits die hard, I guess.). So, now I am into watching movies and a few dumb weepy illogical storyless tamil serials on TV. Well, living with 3 adults who could compromise anything but tamil serials for me, I don’t have much of a choice, considering the fact that I m kinda taking it slow in watching all the movies and series I got from d campus due to fear of running out of them. :D Nevertheless, I watch re-runs of a few of the old fantasy movies and Smallville now and then, when I get too sick of TV. Seriously, they hardly screen anything watchable. But occasionally, a few good ones do get shown, for which I fight for happily and watch.

But if there is anything that I have realized, it is that it is too damn hard to watch a good movie in a house with 3 adults!! One kissing scene and I HAVE TO CHANGE THE CHANNEL! Else THEY WILL!!! If no one does, then there will me my dad giving me looks of disapproval, my mom giving me shocked looks that say, ”Oh my! Why is she watching such movies? Doesn’t she have anything good left in her? Has Pilani taken them all away?!?” and then she would get up and walk away, careful not to make eye contact. But there would me my paati (grand mom), sitting with a smirk on her face, looking at me to check out my reaction. Now she would have loads to talk to the relatives!! You can actually see her hiding her wicked grin and turning away, shaking her head, and nonverbally exclaiming,” Oh!! So this is what she has been upto all these years away from home! Watching indecent movies! Kids these days! :D”. What would they even say if they had a son and they caught them watching porn! Sigh! After all this, anyone would just want to give up on them, switch the channel to some weepy tamil serial, and just LEAVE! Grr.

In our country, ‘falling in love’ with a fellow student/colleague itself is a sin in itself. Expressing it is a crime worth punishing! Absolutely unforgivable!! The whole world believes that marriage is a leap taken by two people in so much love with one another, who wish to spend their entire lives together, a celebration of bonding, a declaration of until-death-do-us-part. The whole world but ours! Here, the whole definition of marriage is different, bonding oneself to a stranger/acquaintance, chosen by one’s parents based on the words of a stranger who draws squares and ‘predicts the future’, so that the two married strangers can live a ‘happily-ever-after’. Outside world-“We are in love, eventually married”. Indian version-“We are married, hence in love”. Why are people here so afraid of expressing love? So uncomfortable of watching even movies that show a girl n a guy holding hands? I do understand the awkwardness in watching your close friends/relatives making out in front of you (have seen a few friends do and felt nauseated), but well, some of the current so-called subtlety rules over watching a nice-sweet-cute-romantic movie really bothers me! Hmph!

Monday, May 4, 2009

Kids These Days!!!

Recently, I was talking to a very very close friend of mine and we ended up having a heavy argument. I felt that she was a typical Hufflepuff, a lot like Phoebe. She was totally outraged and asked why I thought so! I told her that I thought she was just really nice and sweet and that she values hard work, loyalty, tolerance, and fair play (qualities of a Hufflepuff as given in wiki), and she tells nice interesting elaborate anecdotes of her earlier life (and a lot of other reasons too), that she could just fit into the character/House I had suggested. Her immediate response, ”That’s so condescending!! I can be a bitch too you know?!? I could take things light, not work hard, bark at people and lie a lot too!! How dare you judge me to be nice and sweet and all?” and BHAM! She swooped out of my room and went into hers and slammed the door!!! Then… then what? I had to stand outside her room, begging for forgiveness to have called her nice and sweet and assure her that she could be a bitch too if she wanted- Definitely!!! Kids these days!! Humph!! Just don’t know how to take a compliment!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Connecting the dots

Disclaimer: Heavy rambling below. Don’t tread if you have better work to do, and continue at your own risk only!
Sometimes, we fall… after all, accidents do happen. The fall though may be an accident or a deliberate sabotage by someone jealous of your grace, or even a harsh revenge, a means of showing contempt by someone who hates you, or a simple act of the disgraceful fate, that you fall in the wrong place, at the wrong time in the wrong position. Which ever the reason may be, the outcome remains independent of it, nevertheless, may vary in intensity, from a slight scratch to a broken limb bone or even severe skull injury and a few unlucky times, even death. The slight scratches vanish in time, replaced by new skin. There is absolutely no problem at all in case of death too! :P

Broken bones and skull fractures take a lot of time, energy and money, cause a lot of pain and stress not only to the injured, but also to the close ones, but they eventually do get mended, but done leave without leaving a scar, that keeps reminding you for the entire life, about the whole incident. The actual physical pain just vanishes away in some time. But the mental and psychological pain is that is the trace it leaves, that sometimes tends to be even more painful than the skull surgery itself!

As Steve Jobs had said in his Stanford speech( incase anyone hasn’t heard it before, I suggest you do.. or atleast read it, for its just really good. I listen to it pretty often. Not that its of much help, but it just makes me feel good and, well, it makes a lot of sense. That’s all.), the dots in life will connect one fine day, and they connect only by looking back and not forward. But the helplessness doesn’t really help, now does it? I have never been the one to believe in prophecies or predictions or horoscopes( which I usually call horror-scopes), and I still definitely don’t! But I guess I now understand why people do go to the seers or jyothishis who claim to foretell the future of even strangers. They hate being helpless and in the dark too. But hey, how can a stranger tell about your future, which even you, who have known yourself since you were born, cant tell? Atleast, that’s my main reason for not believing in them anyway.

In any case, the future will definitely unfold. May be not as one had planned, may be not as one had hoped and may be not as someone else had foreseen it for a payment, but it will fall right under our feet and we will walk through it, whether we like it or not, whether it hurts or not, whether it is pleasant or not. But what ever comes, it is not written on stone. The future is NOT WRITTEN ON STONE. Even Alice Cullen cant predict it right because it changes with each decision one makes, every choice one makes/ is made for him/her. It changes at every crossroad, every turn taken and every new move.

Hence, I guess, that is why it is impossible to join the dots looking forward in life, because they just aren’t there. If Mr. X takes a left to reach a palace and become a king, or goes straight to his wife and kids to live a happy peaceful middle-class life, or take a right to meet with an accident and loose his limbs forever(I wouldn’t say die coz I believe there are things worse than death in this world), and he is totally lost and really doesn’t know which to take, a psychic can tell only upto the point where he reaches the crossroad. It is his destiny that makes him choose a path, fate that leads him to whatever destination.

I guess at the end of a bad road, all a stressed person can do is ask “Why now?” or “Why this?” or “Why me?”. But I guess fate is just deaf and dumb! So it would be a much better use of time and energy, if instead of asking oneself/fate such idiotic unanswerable questions, one would just go back home and continue watching cute sweet romantic fantasy movies, dream one’s own happily ever after, yet live a real life without questions!

Monday, March 30, 2009

Toffee Issues

Life here is becoming more n more difficult, n well, may be, more expensive. Hey, I am not talking about some stupid inflation or some economics stuff. But well, the conversations normally exchanged in shops here are somewhat like these:
Student: One center-fresh pack.
Shop-Keeper(SK): 6 Rupees.
Student gives a 10 Rupees note. SK returns him 4 coffee-bites, or some unknown 1-Re toffees!
This happens almost always these days! I mean, most of the students have to give the SK the right change, up to even 1 Re coins. Where the hell do they all go? I mean, this is obviously, a stupid mass strategy for chocolate/toffee marketing, and a n effective business tactic for the SKs, coz they get them in a bulk, for way a lesser price, and I don’t know, throw away all the changes that they have (or just hide them) and refuse to sell the customers stuff if they don’t have change, unless they are ready to accept these toffees or simply buy more stuff till they get a round number, when in fact, they intentionally fix the prices at some odd value, just exceeding a round value, in-order to sell more of their toffees!
Today, a friend wanted maggi, and we went to the Nescafe stall inside the Girls Hostel. One plate of maggi is Rs 12, a coffee is Rs 6, Tomato Soup is Rs 7. But we all know that she takes 15 for maggi, 10 each for soup and coffee. If they don’t have changes then why not make the prices round, and just increase/decrease the quantities? Then no one has to lose, except these SKs would make lesser profit! They have gotten so used to bullying this extra unseen money from students, that they have become so damn arrogant now!
Friend: A plate maggi plz.
Gives Rs 15. SK gives back 3 melodies (which we all hate).
Friend: See... I really am not a chocolate person. I'll give you Rs 2. Gimme the five back.
Friend gives a 1Re coin and 2 50-paise coins.
SK: Sorry. We don’t accept anything other than 1/2/5 Rs coins. 50 paise and all doesn’t go in the market.
Friend: Then just note my name, ID and my room no and take 10 Rs, n I promise I'll get the change by tomorrow.
SK: See... I cant do that. But take these toffees. Don’t you know? Coins are not there anywhere in Pilani. The daily market works only with these toffees. They are really good! Just try them! And if they are not good, let me know.
Student: Why?
SK: Then I’ll change to some other toffee! :D
Then my friend had one of those damn toffees that was given a couple of days ago from the same SK. So she gave it in place of the 2 50 paise coins.
Friend: Well, since the market is running on these toffees, there you go!.
SK: Uh.. well, we only give toffees, not take them. Sorry. But then you can buy something else for 3 or 7 Rs, surely.
Friend: Nopes. Don’t want anything else either. But you know what? Forget the maggi. I am not hungry anymore! Your toffees just drove it away!
SK: Sure. That’s fine.
She then turns to another girl who shows a 100 Rs note for some 32 Rs purchase, and gives her back 8 toffees! The girl takes them with no complaint at all! Either the girl is just too dumb, or just very hungry and ok with being cheated! So much for education in a ‘prestigious institute’!!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

DIB(The Expansion will be Explained Subsequently)

1.15 am
BUMBRO BUMBRO, SHYAM RANG BUMBRO…
Me: (Yawn)
Knock Knock.. Door opens.
Me: Hi.. can you please reduce the volume? I am not able to sleep.
DIB: Oh! Ok.. I’ll reduce it.


1.35 am
Bumbro bumbro.. o…o… tummm…
Me: What the hell man? She just touched the volume control or what? I can still hear it well, loud enough and clear! You can hear it through the phone!!! Imagine listening to the same song for the past half an hour!! Whaa I want to sleep!!!
Friend-on-phone: Well.. good luck with that!! Anyways, goodnight!

Knock Knock.. Door opens.
DIB: Oh.. you can still hear?
Me: Yes. Very very clearly!
DIB: Oh.. k.. I’ll reduce it further. Sorry! :D

2.00 am
haira haira hairabba.. haira haira hairabba..
50 kg tajmahal enakke enakkagha..
Me: (Thinking) Oh that is considerate of her to put tamil song for my sake!! WHAT THE HELL?!?!? Doesnt she know how to reduce volume?

3.15 am
Phone rings.
Me: So the world is against my sleeping!
Number seen: +301
Me: Ohh! ISTD??
Hello?
A male voice: Hulloooo…. Aap kaun bol rahe hain?
Me: Huh? Aapne call kiya tha.. aap boliye? Kaun hai aap aur kya chaahiye?
The male voice: Aapka voice bada sweet hai… Aapka naam kya hai? Mere saath friendship karengi?
Me: urgh! (Cut the call.)

Phone rings again. Number seen: +301.
Me: (Thinking) If its not ISTD, it must be some VOIP or some thing like that! Hmph.(Switch it off.)
Aaye ho kis bagiya se..
Bumbro bumbro, oh oh tum..
Bumbro bumbro, oh oh tum….

Me: This is just not happening!! Deaf Insomniac Bitch(DIB)!!
(Switch the fan on.)
The noise of the fan drowns the bumbro music.
Me: Well, this noise is atleast bearable!
Cover myself with an extra blanket and finally fall asleep.


Monday, March 9, 2009

The unwelcomed guest

About an hour back, there was a really unbelievably huge and unexplainably ugly lizard in my wing that caused a huge chaos, and led to a not very new, yet a valuable realization, and a huge sigh of relief. The lizard was kinda playing hide-n-seek with the rooms and the wingies when all of them banged on my door and screamed out,” Hey.. A lizard is coming into your room!!!” I immediately, out of reflex, opened my door, and was immediately confronted by a few of my friends with their brooms held high! I realized that they were not joking, and tried to locate where the stupid homeless lizard had gone, when I sadly found that when I had opened my door, it had gotten stuck to the bottom of my door and was struggling to get into my room!!! I jumped and picked my own broom, and there we were, just staring at the obscenely huge struggling lizard, not really knowing how to tackle it, for none of us, especially me, fancied seeing a dead stinking lizard under my door. Since we were all delirious, NO- NOT SCARED, just you know… kinda panicky, I went to ask the didis for help, thinking they might have more experience and might tell us exactly what to do.

FYI, didis are the 24x7 helpers who stay in the girls hostel and their so-called-jobs are to be there for us in case of any required help. Well, as I was saying, they were all gathered in their own common room, knitting sweaters (Lord knows why considering the winter is long gone) and watching a really old Hindi movie. I went there in a delirious hasty state and pleaded and begged them for help. One out of the five maids looked up, and said she didn’t know what to do, and told me to take someone else. Others didn’t even bother to look up from their ‘knitting’ or their ‘fascinating movie scene’. So much for their presence in the hostel!!!

I walked back, and then the rest of the ‘friends-with-brooms’ were standing just where I had left them- right outside my door, keeping an eye on the lizard, though it seemed pretty still, and I was afraid it was dead where I didn’t want it dead!! Of all the places to get stuck! Urgh! Anyways, then we formed strategies, found that it was still alive, very much actually, and slowly maneuvered it out if its hole, into my room and out through the balcony, using a number of brooms and tracking it to its right path and all. Phew! What an exhaustingly nasty business! And ew! What a disgusting reptile!! Even more than the fright of it lying dead under my door, there was a disconcerting thought of it ripping its tail or a limb off and running away, leaving it in my room. The lizard would eventually grow it back. But my room would have been a mess!!

So the main lesson learnt- Didis here are so used to luxurious life of not working at all, and watching TV 24x7 and doing nothing, that these helpers are just not helpers anymore, except if them not helping leads to us learning to help ourselves is the help that they really are here for! And the huge sigh of relief was hence a mixture of the ugly lizard leaving my room whole and alive, and, me leaving this place for good, by the end of this sem, to a place where I hope to God, not to face such useless irritating unhelpful didis ever in my life. But oh well, at the end of it all, the unwanted guest left my room alive, when all the odds were pointing the other way, no thanks to the didis, but all thanks to the wingies-with-brooms!!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

An Irony of Life

Some time back, I had written about how boring life had become, so much that it was a type of killer. After all these months, nothing much seems to have changed in my belief. For the past few weeks, over and over again, I have lived with them and them and them and them and them and them and them and them and them and am going to further live with them and them and them and many others. Things always seem to happen in series! A person/character always gets what one wants in real life with so much ease. I mean, life in series seems much more exciting and much less boring, much more adventurous and much less monotonous, and life there seems much more invigorating and much less useless than the daily one. One would feel so important, so powerful,so confident, so extraordinary and successful in there. Well, all I have to say is that ordinary life sucks and I really really wish miracles would happen and fictions would be real though the only problem is that fictions are falsities, imaginary tales, fantasies, fairy tales- basically opposite of realities!! What an irony!!Sigh...

Thursday, February 19, 2009

The Man in Dhoti

We were in the library- oh yeah! I go there once in a while. Had to start working on thesis some time before the end of the sem! Well, as I was saying, we, as in a group of 5, had gone to library to ‘research’ on our topic. I had never even touched such huge books in my entire life! Well, the whole research expedition was more like a drill exercise assignment, but did it with enthu nonetheless. There was another girl, sitting in the only comp in that room, referring a number of journals and typing her report. At around 5 pm, a man in around late 50s, wearing a old shirt and a dhoti went to her and asked how much more time she was going to take. She assumed that he was the caretaker or possibly the librarian and said that she would take more than an hour more. He then asked her if he could use the comp just for 10 minutes to check his mails and scraps as he wouldn’t be able to wait for an hour, for his duty was over. We were all shocked!! I whispered to the girl sitting next to me about his guts to openly ask someone who was using it for academic purposes, to check mails, and how atrocious it was! Well, they guys who were sitting on the other site were sniggering! I gave them a quizzical look, n they asked, ”Did you see that? Its funny enough that that guy knows to read and write and type. But its funnier that he has an email account, an active one too, and an orkut account!! We were just wondering the people in his friend-list!” Well, though it was rude of them to think so, I couldn’t help join them, thinking of how important his mails/scraps could be if he had to check them in a ‘library’ and that too couldn’t even wait till the next day’s duty when the comp was empty, and actually borrowed it from a poor studious student!! But well, we shouldn’t be judging anyone by their looks/age/dress… right? ;)

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Does She Know?

I had gotten the idea from Mats about writing a 55 Fiction, a nice one too. i quite enjoyed writing this one and i might write a few more! Thanx Mats!


They wont know.

No they wont!

They’ll foil it.

Hope mom doesn’t know.

Hope she forgives.

Oh that she will!

I fear father.

Your father?

And hers.

And her brothers too!

They’ll never find out.

Hope they don’t!

Atleast not before!

Does she know?

OF COURSE SHE DOES! SHE IS THE ONE ELOPING WITH ME!!!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Dreams on fire!!

I am in so much love with this song that I'm just not able to get enough of it! Every bit of its music is just so enchanting and the lyrics is also equally magnificent. If a sensible soul in love(since a hopeless romantic would generally give out his heart n wanna sing this song to every opposite-sex walking across his/her path, I am not excluding them from this discussion), is really able to sing this song(or dedicate it :P) to his/her lover and really mean it from the bottom of his/her heart, then there could be nothing more romantic in this real world!


You are my waking dream
You're all that's real to me
You are the magic in the world I see
You are the prayer I sing
You brought me to my knees
You are the faith that made me believe

Dreams on fire
Higher n higher
Passions burning
Right on the pyre
Once for, forever yours
In me
All your heart
Dreams on fire
Higher n higher

You are my ocean waves
You are my thought each day
You are the laughter from childhood games
You are the spark of dawn
You are where I belong
You are the ache I feel in every song

Dreams on fire
Higher n higher
Passions burning
Right on the pyre
Once for, forever yours
In me
All your heart
Dreams on fire
Higher n higher

Monday, February 2, 2009

Whatever!


Pain.. is when some stranger standing in front of you gives some bloody bullshit reason popularly termed as RECESSION, but really tells you that you are just not good enough, after the 5 years of battle with huge books and numerous tests and useless assignments and meaningless projects. But what is even more depressing is when you have to tell yourself that may be he is darn right and that you ARE not good enough! Oh! Don’t give me that crap on optimism, confidence, hope and all that! It would be really easy for people to spill words of consolation to boost confidence and all, but its just not the same- standing in the battle field, and talking about it watching news on TV. Most of the times, the so called ‘great-people’s sayings’ n ‘motivational quotes’ don’t even make any sense. They just seem like Joey’s thesaurus words! These quotes irritate you so much when uttered at the wrong times, that you would want to kill the person who says them. Anesthesia is given before any painful invasive process to numb the sense organ(s). Pessimism is a type of anesthesia too. It is way easier to face a series of rejections shamelessly and digest the screams of one’s inner self with pessimism and negative attitude rather than hope and optimism. Damn all those right decisions that went wrong! Talking about wrong decisions, I wish I were born two years before or two years after! Being born when I actually did- man! What a disastrous decision(just not mine) that was!