Tuesday, February 28, 2006

one of those days

Its one of those days

when I completely hate the human race

when i completely hate the human race an ounce more than my last statement......

when I am not trying to do a oh-so-cute blog coz i just dont feel like it....

Dont you think the human beings are weird....Sometimes you cant do without them and sometimes you just dont want to be anywhere near them......

one of those days when my creative juices aint flowing thanx to the rotten human being(s)

One of those days i feel obstinate....

one of those days when i blog when i have a research thesis submission the next day....

one of those days when two people in a row thought i was trying to be funny with my blog( last straw that broke my heart)

one of those days when i am searching for music to soothe my brain and cant find anything that sounds just rite...........

one of those days when you feel the whole world has ganged up against you

one of those days when you feel that paulo coelho kinda thing...the whole universe conspiring against you.....thats rite conspiring against me......

one of those days which you think should pass soon and good things happen to you immediately.....

one of those days when i crib too much......

I think Rudyard kipling must have felt like this when he wrote :

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you.......
with(out) his permission i change it to

If only neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you

Friday, February 24, 2006

things 2 do b4 i leave Mumbai!

Things to do before I leave Mumbai……

Pack my books and send them home….(how uninteresting)
Shop for down rightly cheap skirts and tops
Do a night out in marine drive
Do another night out at band stand
Do yet another night out in town area
Get someone to buy me breakfast at taj lands end…(koachie…….)
Do every Sunday morning breakfast at le cafĂ©….(hmmm all the muffins, toast…yummmm juice)
Eat as much pani puri as I can…(oh ya jhama sweets too and drink dubey dughdalaya buttermilk…!!!!)
Make noise in the hostel in the no noise time….
Jam sessions with sanju, shiva to irritate every1….
Night time chai….no sutta !!
Tell my hostel warden that hostel meetings are the biggest waste of time on earth…
Go to my local guardians house and tell them am alive and kicking and leaving
Keep up my promise of going to cravings in ghatkopar
Say no to a eunuch when he/she asks me money….(am shit scared of them)
Get back to reading the books I have left half way( gerald durrel is funny…)
Get up everyday at 6:30 ….not going to waste my last few days in mumbai sleeping….
Irritate all my social work friends by doing all this!!!!

go goa!

Been wanting to write this for a long time... dint shape up too well...!!! but herez to our goa trip! Go GOA!!!!!!!!!!will upload the pics with the blog sometime soon.....
GO GOA:

It was a lazy Sunday morning when Anu and me were taking a walk to the shop peeche.

All of a sudden anu started budgeting for our forever-in-the-pipeline Goa trip. The beaches, sand, the paragliding…all the fun…..how many times me and anu had had this conversation. I was sick. We needed to do something. We decided to just go. We went to the girls hostel only to be greeted by maddy. I said “ want to go to goa?”. She was blown away…Goa..(In the typical maddy way) I think it didn’t strike her till we actually boarded the bus…!!!!

The next victim was Vini who threw a small tantrum saying she wanted to get her parents permission( hmmmmmm…..). Then anu sent an sms to adi(the charming guy of our class according to sarla rao) which went like” planning a trip to goa…plz say yes” and we got an equally smart reply---”yes”….how much we cheered. Adi joined us shortly reasoning that he wanted to come to Goa was because it was in his KRA s for the fourth sem. The next round of sms-es went to Vinay and gang. We roped in Sandy who tried to resist by giving reasons like research…but we got the better of her. So off we went to book tickets.

When we returned , Anu suddenly realized that the two day trip we had planned would be too short. But I had my Rem Mgmt ppt on Monday….devil and the deep sea…(quite literally…tissians would know what I meanJ) Finally we decided to just have max fun in 2 days at Goa. We counted days till 26th jan. We prepared like never before, dresses to wear, sunglasses, moisturizer, bags, money…the endless list….

But unfortunately vini had to drop out…we missed you vini….

So the jing bang of AKILA, ANU, MADDY, SANDY, DIVI, SANGHA, VINAY, HEMANT, ADI, ANIKET set out for GOA!

We waited eagerly…hmmmmm actually just whiled away our time till the day arrived;)!
Boarded the Volvo and reached panjim.


Anu naturally glided into the troop leader’s role thanks to her innumerable visits to Goa. While she went to get some bikes(yes we rode all over goa in bikes) me, maddy, sandy, divi, sangha waited for them in the bus stop. And of course we had the women’s man hemant to give us company. We picked up the bikes and off we went to Calangute. Did I mention we had no place in mind to stay…we just followed the road and our hearts….

Once in Calangute we luckily got a nice resort to stay in. We quickly changed into our beach wear;)(esp sandy). Sandy showcased a completely different side of her personality in Goa. Sandy is a very classy person who doesn’t indulge in juvenile acts(like many of us) and dresses to the same taste. But that day sandy turned pinky with her pink scarf and wait….best of all…..pink bangles….But she remained sexy as ever!!!! And she didn’t stop with that…she roped in maddy for her hunt for a sarong…so me and anu took the wise route…We ditched them!!!!!!!!
We found this really nice breakfast place….had brunch and set out for the calangute beach…..Now now where r the guys we suddenly thought…..they had taken the easy way out and gone to the beach on their own….(never mind !)

Had a rollicking time in the beach…hemant did his Baywatch moves in the water with his glasses and floaters on, anu refused to get out of the water except for once to have a breezer, sandy was too busy taking snaps, sangha gave anu company, divi in the water with her cap and full sleeve on lest she lose her hair and complexion!!! adi aniket vinay maddy played Frisbee and where was i…??! I was lost……lost in my thoughts, in knee deep water, thoroughly enjoying myself, shrieking like I had lost my marbles, having fun like no one else was watching…..went on the water scooter(refer previous entries;))!

It was around 2:30 we realized we had spent half a day doing almost nothing…so we decided to get back , get dressed and explore Goa….I couldn’t wait to get onto the ACTIVAS we had rented…so off we went….

We reached Baga and took a de tour to Vagator and by the time we reached the DCH fort , it was too late….so we ditched the attempt and went back to baga beach……

In baga I tasted my full fledged alcohol laced drink- breezer!!!:)) I know….i know…breezer aint alcohol, you need 16 breezers to get high….but whos bothered….

We went to brittos for dinner…..some awesome Italian food, stomachz full, hearts contented with the day we decided to head back…..

While the guys got up next morning and claimed to have gone jogging….we woke up just in time to make full use of our last day in Goa…we decided to head towards the DCH fort again….i was already scared….i hate anything that is even remotely inclined, slightly slippery but nevertheless……the ride was awesome….maddy and me were biking partners…adi tried to take as many pictures as possible with his mean biker look but he dint look remotely mean from any angle I looked at!!! Maddy and me got lost and when we got back on track we saw our very own angels adi and hemant waiting at the turn for us…..and the ingrates we were, we zoomed by waving a bye to them…..adi later remarked “ the gals looked so happy getting lost!!” reached the fort…a small trek and the fort was there in all its….ahem…..okie ….glory….

Well when I saw the shot of the fort in the movie Dil Chahta Hai… I was blown….actually am just exaggerating…It looked good…. But in real it wasn’t so gr8….we met these two guys who were selling cool drinks in the fort, overpriced cool drinks I should say….we took walks along the fort…I stayed on the ground while rest of them walked on the wall…..( I am such a coward….but blimey on a rickety wall for thrills…..no I’d rather stay on ground!!!!) saw some downright cheap guys who lived up to their reputation, reminded me of my KCT days( my engg college) ….Hemant and divi were on their own trip making portfolios of themselves by taking turns posing for the photographs…While the whole crowd opted to climb down the hill to the beach me and maddy chose to drive down….!!!! So we went back, picked up the vehicle to meet the crowd at vagator beach…..On the way maddy caught up some awesome breakfast at this place called the mango tree which had a huge flat screen and played movies every night!
While maddy ate her beans and toast I did a bit of shopping….haggled for a set of 5-6 hairbands…..was very pleased with the deal I got and caught with the gang at the beach….We ate some of the best food in a shack…..awesome French toast, pan cakes….juice….I think breakfast is the best meal of the day…hate lunch, hate dinner love breakfast though it was almost lunch time by the time we had food!!

The guys decided to take to the water again…frolicked…wrote my name on the sand….tasted prawn sandwich(just a bite)….


We then decided to get back to calangute beach….4 guess what?? Parasailing…..

Oh God I had been watching the junta parasailing the other day….it looked so good from far off but when I got near those gigantic things I was shit scared…..I am not afraid of heights…just inclined things make me go hay wire…..But I thought…IF NOT NOW…WHEN??! so 6 of us signed up….me and adi….sangha and hemant…..maddy and sandy…..sangha and hemant made purfffect landing…..and next was my turn……I was shocked when I saw the form I was signing….i paid 500 bucks and signed a form which said I knew swimming perfectly well and could save myself….!!!ya rite…..i cant walk straight let alone swim and save myself…..!! nevertheless…..

We got ourselves strapped and off we went………

…………………………………………………………………………….

I think those moments in air single handedly takes the pride of place amongst my most cherished moments ever……me and adi just shut up….it’s strange….you cant hear a word... you are there……the sun on ur face…..the water below you…..I didn’t close my eyes lest I miss any moment…..and before you know its all over…and your back to the cacophony….but you can never forget that moment when you were with just yourself……up in the air…..

The beauty of physics strikes you when you are done with it…..junta plz do this…itz just awesome….

Headed back to panjim….tanned to the core….sun burnt…..but very happy…..

As usual we promised to do this once every year…in the back of our minds we all knew it might never happen……..

As I sat in the bus….i just thought…Its all over…..my days as a student….all the careless fun filled days….living off parents and brothers money……but this goa trip I let myself loose……my assignments took a back seat….research was forgotten….and I had done a lot of things that I would have never done otherwise….tasted prawns….drank what is remotely alcohol….. ……played in the water like there aint no tomorrow(double negative…..i cant help it….just once!!) got lost and felt happy for as tolkien said “ not all who wander are lost”

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

i cant take it anymore!

Just when i was thinking that no one reads my blog.... ppl pop up with comments...hallelujah!!!!thanx guys....!!!

Was kind of flattering to hear junta say nice things abt me(rather my blog...!) so was just thinking what were the nicest compliments i have got in sometime now......

Me was never the kind who felt nice when someone complimented me on my looks(which was one of those rare occassions when i cared to dress nicely) But i would feel on top of the world when some1 said something close to me being intelligent, or easy to talk to etc etc.... so here are my most cherished compliments......

1) When Ashwin calls up asking my opinion on which books he should be buying with his gift vouchers...(thanx ash;)!)

2) When rajesh said i was easy to talk to....in downrite local tamil!!!!

3) When Dinup said talking to me was easy....as easy as talking to a male friend of his....!(thanx D but stop swearing at me when i call)!!!

4) When my 5th std science teacher sanjana tells me I havent changed.....(is that good or bad i wonder)(btw sanju is one of my best friends)!!!!

5)When my classmates pronounced me funny enough to write something on my own for the year book!!!

6) When my roommates made a crown for me reading"queen of brats" for my birthday(Thanx payal arpit lakyn ruby divi and mishra!!)


PS: notice gals never compliment much!!!!! Probably this is what Seinfeld meant when he told Elaine that she was a "Man's woman"!! Still not sure if thatz a compliment or not..!!!!

Thursday, February 09, 2006

the happy nut

Just thought I should pen down my feelings of the past few days. Have you ever been on a water scooter? I think it is an amazing feeling. You are right there in the front. The trainer sits behind you and your partner sits behind him. The trainer holds the steering and brakes very often to scare you. But when you go i think it is just an awesome moment. The vast expanse of the ocean staring at you. Nothing but water for as far as you can see……just plain greenish blue and the sun…..You have nothing to fear….the wind on your face…..exhilarating…..

And for the past few days I have been feeling just the same…. Happy with me as a person….enjoying the last few days of my college life….just plain fun…..

One of my guys remarked” gal you are taking up a job in a few months time…when the hell are you going to change”….well should I?!!! isn’t it nice being like this…

He calls me “nut”….ya thatz what I am – the happy nut….

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

bc suttah to u all!

I was listening to this song “ BC Suttah” by a Pakistani band called Zeest. Hmmmmm what should I say. Well I am a person who doesn’t swear. Bloody being the max I get…. I don’t smoke, the max I have got with alcohol with is cranberry breezer and taking occasional sips of drinks from others. Ya..yaya….i know definition of a complete tam gal!!! do I regret it? No…. am I looking forward to changing myself to a cool yo types!!! Definitely not!!! But when I heard this song I just couldn’t help enjoying myself. I just couldn’t get enough of it….the song is all about how a guy gave up smoking first due to parents then next to girlfriend and finally because of marriage. It ends with a liberal sprinking of BC MC!!!! PPL u have to listen to this song….. So when my friend saw me enjoy this song so much…..he just remarked…” Gal, there is a person in you who wants to break free and just swear at every1!!!” I think he just caught a glimpse of me….actually each one of us who just wants to break free from the mundane stuff, just thoroughly soak ourselves in all the arbit stuff in the world, doing just the things that which we enjoy…no HR, no marketing no assignments, just plain life…listen to music, read…..and of course endless campus fun….. I cant help but remember the eagles say…”hate growing up so fast!!!”

that lucky dress

The stuff in life which is so normal that people have stopped noticing it.
Now now...letz see one issue...-lucky dresses!!!
all U girls out there I am sure there must be atleast a couple of going "OH ya!!!"
well I started thinking about it this morning.Why the thought?! well I had my project presentation.so whatz my fave dress got to do with my project presentation?!well just that I didnt have a clue as to what my project was.So i left my logical side of the brain home and thought " Well if nothing is going to get me past this ppt atleast this dress will!!!" so there i go with favourite salwar.(Ya thatz ite we can wear only salwar to college...but letz consider that issue for another day)!My lucky dress happens to be a green salwar which i bought in my first year of college...Ya Ya it still fits me.I stopped growing long back.The dress is now faded and is crying it's heart out.My mom sees me come downstairs and realises that I am in a do or die situation the do standing for my salwar;)!
So off I go with my dress least bothered about the project.
But how long can i keep my brain from working.So it popps out once in a while and reminds me "Gal this is just a dress...it wont u answer ur questions on Microcontrollers...." i shut it back in and continue with my various useless activities in college.
I enter college expecting to be blasted my project mates..LO! they are late!!!Good going i think to myself.
Just when i think that there arrives Ms.B and Ms.L...they are my project mates and are not exactly my favourite things currently!
So I go about the usual stuff until my project time!!!!
But is theluck running out....lets see...Looks like coz i heard my HOD was the main examiner!!!OOps....My confidence took a nose dive. But i put on my brave face and think "HERE I COME PPL"!
me enters hall:

I see my friend BOO presenting her project wearing her lucky salwar.From the far end my friend VR waves to me wearing her lucky salwar which she claims got her into WIPRO!!!!
I turn to my right to find my batch mate Ms.K wearing her blue salwar which she claims has got her short listed in every damn aptitude test she wrote wearing that!
Now what has my salwar done for me.I can still remember that balmy day.Oh crap...i mean one of those horrible afternoons where I amwaiting outside My dept.Headz room waiting for him to sign my leave letter(I know I am in college:(((()))
So he calls me in and says congrats and I go." what??!"! Guess what I got a prize in the District level essay competition.So he grants me half a day off for the awards function.Hurray!!!!I am back after a 3 day vacation and here he is giving me another day off...Ya thatz rite I was wearing my green salwar for the first time!!!!
Engg.mechanics exams,lab exams, class tests, competitions, the salwar has always been there to save me..
So now back to my project presentation!
Enter Project presentation hall.!!my project ppt gets advanced by almost half an hour,Is my darn luck running out?!
or is the salwar losing it's charm.Letz wait and watch.
Next team on stage "B& co" goes the announcer with my heart thumping!
And as we rise i envisaged a miracle.I saw my HOD rise and leave for his class.Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!
So we rush through our presentation lest my Hod comes back! and with such great going i was positive that no one was going to question us!and as i turn around to the audience I see a million hands in air...( u know i mean a handful)!
My batchmates cower in fear. Me the braveless picks up the mic and answers the questions...Future advancements in my project---well if someone could tell me what my current project is i would be grateful
what are the disadvantages? ya rite duh!!!
and the best question... my project deals with remote data entry and a person asks me when it is going to be implemented in the urban area...DUHHHHH!!!!!
Anyways my brains thinks overtime(Thanx to my friend hari's useless gyan) I cook up a story abt a gsm chip, a sms and motor control!!!!!!!surprise surprise people are pleased.I passed.I am happy!!!!OOps...Thanx to my lucky dress!!!

every dress has itz bad day and mine was the XAT and CAT this year!!!!!
Whatever!!!!

kanyakumari

KANYAKUMARI.KANYAKUMARI-The southern most tip of India(technically it is Indira point. in Nicobar islands),from kashmir to kanyakumari.The euphemisms for Kanyakumari are endless.But to me it is simple-The closest thing i ever had to a native place)I really dont remeber my first trip but the one i consider my first is the time when my dad sent me and my brother for a vacation during my cousin Sundar's upanayanam function.I had never been out my house until then on my own.The family at Kanyakumari welcomed us and treated us as their own.It was the first time i was spending time with so many people at a time.We have always been a small family.I dont really have any cousins neither have i been a part of any boisterous giant family.I have never seen my paternal grandparents.So initially it was kind of a rude shock to see so many people but i blended in gardually.Since then kanyakumari has been really special to me.Our house(my grandmother's younger sis's house;)!) is located right on the main road leading to the famous kanyakumari temple.I proudly used to say that we have an ocean at the back of the house.It was a fairly large building.One of the very few houses left unsold on the SANNADHI STREET.My relatives owned a couple of handi crafts shop.My periappa (dad's cousin bro)used to stay in the adjacent house.It was the month of may and the scene almost looks like a stolen scene from one of RK NARAYAN'S fictional place -malgudi. Except that it was flooded with tourists.My cousins arrived one by one.Got acquainted with them slowly.Day began slowly in kanyakumari.It seemed almost in slow motion in the early morning.Getting up late was almost a unsaid rule.My brother the kumbhakarnan of the family would seem rooted to his bed.Breakfast was always sumptous with my auntz and thevu akka(thatz my grand momz sis) churning out one delicacy after the other.This would be only till around 930 when the shops open and the tourists start pouring in.My uncle owned a book shop so we kids used to go and sit there and read up every comic we could lay hands.We gobbled as many books as we could(we cudnt afford archies then...we still cant;)!))Mornings used to be pretty hot.We used to stay indoors and read mostly or just play around aimlessly.My relatives owned a house which was situated on the top floor of the handi crafts shop.Almost always strewn around with books and handi crafts it had a musty smell to it but neverthless seemed very creepy because no one really used it.We played our endless games there.Lunch was a thorough south indian affair with avial kootu there almost everyday!!!!!An afternoon siesta after a bit of reading lead us to the most fun part of the day-the evening.Evenings are interesting and very colorful.With endless tourists ambling in and out of the shops the atmosphere was almost festive.My uncles used to take us (the children) to the beach and there we would all have BEACH BATH.....well it was never really a bath we used to frolick in the beach for hours together.The beach was a very dirty place but we had our fun.Gandhi statue,,,,endless beach kadlai.......it was on our agenda everyday.The salt of the water darkened the complexion of all the kids..The walk back home used to be fun.All of us completely drenched and careless...On reaching home we all rushed to bathrooms to wash the salt off our skin.With just two bathrooms we used to end up with two bathrooms in one bathrooms(oh come on we were kids and we did stupid things)!)The trips to vattakottai and manalkunnu are almost frozen in memory.As the evening wore on the fun never stopped.We used to sit on the doorstep of the shop watching the various people enter and leave....reading our books sometimes.In the night our MURALI CHITAPPA used to tell us scary stories of how families committed suicide and and how the neighbouring hotel was haunted.It was the time when people were not corrupted by soap operas on tv.Dinner was slow and enjoyed by one and all...and we went to bed reading our books.My favourite spot in the whole of kanyakumari is a spot in the terrace under the water tank.I used to climb the wall of the house to and reach there with a book in hand.Once i was there reading"man woman and child" when i fell asleep with the book in hand lulled by the breeze.In the night the spot was almost unblemished.It gave a full view of the ocean.With just the star lit sky above your head and the whole arabian sea indian ocean and bay of bengal ocean in front of you ,you feel humbled.The Vivekananda rock stares at you from one end..and now a thiruvalluvar statue does too.....You cant help but think of Swami Vivekanda who must have swam the very ocean in front of you and must have sat on the very rock that stares at you.The moon plays a game with the waves by shifting in and out of the clouds.And my brother used to tell me tales about his dead classmate and how his spirit haunted his hostel and to think i got scared by all that.I can still remember how my brother explained about the ghost which came and told my brother of all people "vaaaaaaa"( cooommmmeeee with all the sound effects)!!!!It was chilling with all the sea and moon in front of you!!!!But these days i grow very depressed when i go to Kanyakumari.The family u now know is no longer ur own.They are not my grandparents.It is not my house and neither they are my own cousins....I leave there with a longing for a family of my own.Somebody i could call my grandparents.Someone who spoils with me gifts.Never does a trip go by without the mention of my grandparents.How i resemble my grandmother---how my grandfather would speak for hours together on shakespeare....But Kanyakumari still holds it s charm and gave me something close to my childhood memories in my native place.....So the next time you go down to kanyakumari remember that room no 101 in Hotel SAMUDRA is haunted!!!!!!!!!!!!!