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Different people, and their totally different eating styles -Observations

2011-12-09T23:28:00.001+05:30

The same kind of food; the same kind of mouth; the same kind of hands -but gosh! there are a hundred and one different ways of making the food reach the mouth!

This is one of the observations that I have made during the past few months in S'pore. Many gadgets have been discovered over the centuries to aid people in this 'laborious task' of making the food reach its destination. With varying latitudes and longitudes, the permutation&combinations of different tools used varies -fork&spoon, knife&fork, fork,knife&spoon, chop-sticks&spoon and so on. However, from what I have observed, whatever be the kind of food they are dealing with, people generally prefer to eat it the way they have been taught at home by their mom, during their 'table manners' course. So that means, be it rice, noodles, yong tau foo, the Chinese can tackle anything that comes across their way with the help of two puny sticks. Likewise, the Europeans equip themselves with fork&knife. Singaporeans -fork and spoon and occasionally a pair of chopsticks too. And we Indians...well we don't usually require any eating aids. Why bother when God has given us awesome hands!! (But still most of the people, all over the world are taught that eating with bare hands is ill-mannered!! [sigh])

Rice and curry, I can eat with a pair of spoon and fork; noodles and the like, I can manage with a pair of chopsticks(my latest achievement :D ) but when it comes to chicken and other such dead animals which have bones, I need my hands desperately.

I realized this truth when I was lunching with some of my European and Singaporean friends.
It was the Dutch guy's birthday, and the birthday co-ordinator selected this fancy Indonesian restaurant to celebrate his b'day. Browsing throug the menu card made me 'gulp'. The starting price for the main-course was10S$. I ordered roasted chicken rice for myself since it was the only comprehensible item in the menu that suited my budget. (My brain was calculating: 10S$ = Rs 400. I recollected those days in my UG college when one month's canteen fee was around Rs. 1200 = 30S$ . I gulped again.)

Our food arrived in no time,and all of us geared ourselves with fork and spoon to attack the food.
'Uh Oh'... The chicken had bones, unlike the usual chicken rice. I so totally don't know how to tear the flesh out from the bones using fork and spoon. The Dutch guy was complaining too -he wanted a knife instead of the fork. I sat there wondering what in the world to do with the two metal pieces in my hand. My hands longed to reach out to the morsel.

Nevertheless, I dug in. With all my might and skill, I managed to finish off the first piece fairly decently. Hmmm...Unlike most of the other times when the chicken was half cooked that made me gag, this one was especially tasty. Yumm...I was into my second piece trying to do the flesh-bone-separating act, when, the spoon slipped and the chicken and the fork went flying away in opposite directions. I sat there stupefied, while the others burst into laughter. Needless to say, I was embarassed to the core:| And I was sad, and guilty too -sad for the chicken who sacrificed its life for nothing, and guilty for wasting money...that chicken piece would have cost atleast 2 S$. Sigh!

My so polite friends(Europeans are always nice) bent down to take the spoon for me, and I deftly used the time to grab the next chicken piece and have a bite ;)
..
..

Weeks later, I was lunching again with my international friends. This time, I played safe by sticking to vegetarian food.

Our random conversations reached the Indian boundaries, and the Singaporean friend suddenly remarked: "The way Indians eat their food is so cool. They have special skills to eat their food. They not only eat rice with hands but can even tear dosa and pratas with one hand easily. The way they maneuver their fingers dexterously to take food and push it inside the mouth is amazing."

Well what can I say? I beamed at my 'awesome dexterous skillful hands' and ever since I have a special regard for my hand whenever they 'maneuver their way to get food into my mouth'. ;)

Bleed Blue!

2011-03-31T00:50:00.000+05:30

I had sworn that if India won the Semi-Finals, I would blog right away(after a lull of 4 months). And hence the post!

I’m neither a cricket fan, nor do I watch cricket matches often. I don’t even understand the game very well for that matter. And I can hardly name a handful of cricketers!! 11 fools playing and 11,000 fools watching....Bah!

As a rule, I pay a visit to the sports channel only when there is either Cricket -World Cup Finals, or Football -World Cup Finals, or Tennis -when Federer plays.

But the Mohali match last Wednesday had this bewitching, enchanting effect that made not just me, but millions of ‘laymen’ who are hardly acquainted with the game, feel the THRILL!!! Fingers were crossed, butterflies played their own cricket match in the stomach, heartbeats got paced up, lips kept murmuring prayers, the whole body tensed up–I know I was not the only one who went throught this experience.

I happened to watch the India-Aus quarter finals, thanks to my cricket crazy roommates. Thought of watching the match as a time-pass while preparing my dinner. But hardly a few minutes into the match, the dinner was forgotten and the half cut onions were crying for attention, while we were shouting and cheering for India. Though the match started with everyone anticipating the thrice world cup champs repeating history, our tigers eventually hunted down the kangaroos moving on to gun down the ‘terrorists’.

The hype created over the Mohali match was humongous. The high security alert, the terrorists threat, the No-Fly zone over Mohali, the Gilani visit, all just kept the tension at the pinnacle.

I was eagerly waiting for it to be Wednesday.

And sure enough Wednesday came, after Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday dragged by.

From morning, there was an incessant inflow of the World Cup forwards which kept chocking up my inbox. Many private companies had given half day leave to their employees also. I was cursing and bitching my ‘mokka’ company for not being 'patriotic' enough. K

There were very few people in my department. Some were on leave. Some took half day off. Both my bosses had gone for ‘site visit’. (But I have my doubts as to whether these 'site visits' are just code names for ‘watching World Cup’). The rest few who stayed back, were rooted infront of the Samsung LCD in the lobby.

However the bickering later turned to praise and adoration for my 'super-cool' company when I came to know that the match was being telecasted at our Convention Centre. It was awesome!. The lights were off –only the skylight seeping in through the small opening of the dome shaped roof lit the auditorium. The sound system was amazing –had the feel of watching a Hollywood thriller in a theater. The crowd was in full form –I never thought I would get a chance to howl and scream again after college.

Like someone rightly tweeted, very little activity happened in the Indian subcontinent in the afternoon of the March 30^th- the day when India took on Pakistan!

It was not just a game. It was some sort of a battle, an epic event that will be etched in the pages of history!

The volume of the crowd in the Convention Centre kept on varying, depending on who was batting. Half the crowd disappeared after Sachin got out. I was bugging the hapless colleague who happened to sit next to me with all kinds of doubts – Who is batting? Who is bowling? What’s a power play? Is that a wide? What is a wide?........

At the same time I was 'sms'ing updates to my unfortunate friends who were restrained to their workplace.

After India’s batting got over by 6 o' clock, we hurried for home. Like I said, very few things happened in the country that day -the roads had a deserted look, the shops closed early, people were huddled around roadside TV shops. However the fast food home deliveries jumped 50% on that big day.

Sure enough my other roomies were glued to the TV by the time I reached home. We had only DD National, that too the picture quality was very poor and it was full of 'grains' most of the time. But that wasn't enough to diminish our spirits. Though we could hardly make out where the ball was going, or barely comprehend the Hindi commentary, I cheered along whenever I heard cheering from my roomies and from the neighboring houses ;)

The whole country was in jubilation after the match. It looked like Diwali came a bit too early this year.

It was one heck of a match worth watching... Tomorrow's 'Lankadahanam' is gonna turn out to be an even greater spine-tingler. And I just pray that our Bosses have yet another of those 'site visits' tomorrow. ;)

There's a dress code for office tomorrow -Blue! Yeah! We're gonna Bleed Blue!

67. Short-‘lived’ relationships

2010-12-01T01:11:00.002+05:30

I have got into many relationships…have had quite a number of people in my life! But unfortunately (or fortunately??) they don’t last long –they come…but as soon as I start getting to know them, they leave and disappear…Life’s so not fair!!!

The latest one came to my life quite unexpectedly…

It all happened last Sunday, when I was buying flowers at the florist’s after church…(I love red roses!) I was haggling over the price with the florist lady. That’s when I noticed ‘him’ –medium built, strong firm arms, long slender legs…..He was sitting there alone…But it was the bluish-green colour that appealed me the most! It was love at first sight...I knew he was the one for me (but so have I thought with the rest of ‘em too..sigh!!)

But I wanted him sooo badly…I was determined to take him to my home…

Suddenly, I stopped my row with the florist over the price, ditched my red rose, and quickly picked the pink one on which he was perching, eagerly awaiting for me. He’s all mine now!! :D

A rose and a bug...hmm….not a bad buy for 7 bucks!

Christened him Chow Chow (well that was the weird looking vegetable that we cooked for lunch that day) But I liked to call him Chitti…that was his pet name.

Speaking of Chitti, my mind now drifts to yet another relationship I had…back in college days…That too was a short-lived one.(though much longer than this one)…There were four of them –cute tiny fishes –Chanku, Manku, Chinky, Minky. Everything was going fine…just perfect… until the day when I noticed the water in the make-shift cookie-box aquarium, turned murky all of a sudden. The fishes were behaving a little strange –lethargic and sluggish. I became a little suspicious. I was wondering what to do, when a friend suggested changing water. But I wasn’t convinced. What if??....I googled(what would I have done without Larry and Sergey?)…and my suspicion was confirmed! My joy knew no bounds! Yes... it’s breeding time!yaay!! Am gonna have kids..er..my fishes are gonna have kids!! I dared not touch the water lest I should disturb the eggs. That night my dreams were filled with little fishes playing about in my room and I was one of them…

Next morning I woke up to find all 4 of my fishes DEAD. Dead like dead fishes!!!... Now I know what I would have done if not for Larry and Sergey –I would have changed the water and my Chanku-Manku-Chinky-Minky would have been alive nowK

Back to the present...

We had a nice time together –Chitti and me. He was crawling and groping all over my body. We were playing ‘hide and seek’ and ‘police and robber’ –he kept running away and hiding here and there. So, like a good mate, I played along and kept running after him and brought him back. I let it use my rose as a make-shift house. But once it darted straight out of the kitchen window. It was with great difficulty that found him outside on the cloth-line…

My roommate suggested that I should keep him in a plastic cover for sometime while we cook. This time I thought of heading my friend’s words. So I kept it in a plastic bag and gave him rose leaf, coriander leaves, curry leaves and some water for lunch…

Lunch was yummy. I meant mine…(cos roommate cooked). I bet Chitti had a feast too. After that I let Chitti enjoy his afternoon siesta while I got engrossed in the Sunday evening mallu movie(some weird ghost story where an aborted ‘kid’ comes to haunt its parents)…

After the movie and a hot-water bath, I decided to make Chitti a comfy home. I emptied my ‘jewel’ box and furnished it with a water-pool, plenty of green leaves and some rice…

It was time for Chitti boy to move in to his new house. I placed Chitti onto the leaf bed. I knew he was thrilled by the awesome new sanctuary I made for him. I knew he was waiting to explore the whole area. He took a few hesitant unsteady steps…and then suddenly, without any warning, he flipped onto his back, his legs crumbling up together -It was DEAD. Dead like a dead bug!!!

I don’t know whether he was overwhelmed by the awesomeness of the new house I prepared for him, or it was the desperation of missing me for 4 hrs(the commercials in between the movies take up more time than the movie itself!!)

I will miss him dearly…Hope he will rest in peace and not come and haunt me… (Sheesh! I should stop watching those dumb scary movies K)…

Dedicating this post to my latest true-love.RIP. Love you forever.<3

Getting OLD! :O

2010-08-12T23:56:00.052+05:30

Ahh! Those were the days! ...When thanks to Captain Planet your day was saved, and Dexter used to be your alter ego and Didi bore a striking resemblance to your annoying siblings, and Tintin used to be your only true love....

I honestly never thought that I would ever grow up enough to give up Cartoon Network. I was Razor and my brother T-bone of Swat Kats.In The Centurions, I was Ace McCloud while my cousins were Jake Rockwell and Max Ray. Jonny Quest used to be my long term crush, until I ditched him for Tintin......The stoy goes on.... I used to pity mom and dad and all those unfortunate souls out there who were deprived of the pleasures of the world of cartoons.... I’m not sure when HBO, Star Movies and NDTV took the place of my CN domain..but it did, and so completely that now I seriously don’t know whether the good ol’ CN still exists!! :O

Gone are the days when Tinkle and Balarama used to be the ultimate encyclopaedias. A transition from those comics to more ‘serious’ books were not surprising...but I used to think of storing up Archies comic strips to last me till I turned 60! Alas! even Juggy has now become bland, vapid and insipid! (Barrons’ wordlist :P )

World wars used to erupt frequently at our house when someone got us(me and bro) chocolates. I used to be such a chocolate freak! Along with Philately (collection of stamps), Numismatics (collection of coins) my hobbies also used to include ‘Candytely’ ( collection of candies) and ‘Chocomatics’( collection of chocolates). But lately chocolates rarely interest me, save for a few favourite ones( Snickers, Twix, Toblerone....)

What do all these omens portend? Am I really getting older?? Am I also becoming one of those ‘boring adults’ ???

A couple of hours back, I turned 22. And I feel soooo old already.....(But thankfully I haven’t spotted a grey hair yet!:O ) But soon I will have to hear kids calling me ‘aunty’(YUCK).(Thanks to my unique stature I have escaped this so far ;) ) Also I would not be able to get away with taking half-tickets much longer (believe me, I still do that ;) )....

Sigh! why do time travel so fast?!!

PS: I still have a thing for roses, cushions and balloons.....in case if you are wondering what to get me for my bday :P..and recently I also happen to develop a thing for N97, fastrack watches and shades, and sony HDR ;)

Do you like often like like saying 'like'?

2010-08-09T01:42:00.009+05:30

Click on the pic and read

Like the plethora of the uninvited things that had entered into our lives and have taken roots, like those large ugly pimples, 'like' has become a part and parcel of our lingo. It has now got stuck to our tongues like leeches. Though it proves to be a convenient filler to the speaker, it is just like an irrrrritant gad fly to the listeners. Some of the other common fillers are 'means', 'mathlab' and 'you know'. You know....they just like spoil the beauty of the language....means they just destroy it!!

Hurt

2010-08-05T11:11:00.003+05:30

People can hurt you only if (and only as long as) they matter to you!

-Blah

(Un)Welcome showers

2010-07-23T18:02:00.003+05:30

Sweltering heat or shivering cold -that was what Delhi has always been to me. So this time around, when I had to make a trip to Delhi, I went dreading the wrath of the scorching sun. But what awaited me there was......

Courtesy: somewhere on the net

Yes...a raining delhi...The first time I am getting to see a drenched Dilli. The weather was perfect, though rainy. The rain was sporadic and intermittent, but the roads got flooded in no time( It is proving to be a stiff competition to Mumbai and our very own Tampanoor). The Delhi Corporation doesnt seem to care much for the drainage system, maybe because rain is only a 'visiting proffesor' there. But something definitely needs to be done, asap! Look at the roads!!!!

Got stranded in a little old street shop for 2-3 hours due to the rain. We pretended to be interested in their jackets and gloves, and kept trying on various clothes and asking their prices until the shopkeeper realising that we had no intention of buying anything from him, kicked us outta the shop.(These hindi people can be rude at times! hmph!)

Though the rain abated soon, the roads were flooded. We couldnt even wade through the water cos it was so dirty and the garbage was strewn all over, like little fishing boats out at the sea.

So we continued waiting, as Sanjay, Kunal and Bipasha looked on and smirked at the hapless people stranded in the rain.

The already ******-up traffic jam only aggravates once the sky opens.

Our car could move only at snail's pace. My shopping day got ruined. But I guess it was worth it, to be out in the rain in the capital city ;)

The purse

2010-06-25T23:23:00.001+05:30

Last year she refused to let me borrow the purse because it was gifted to her by him......
..... today she gave me the purse, insisting that I keep it for myself because it was a gift from him.

It takes all kinds to make this world-III

2010-05-16T01:41:00.000+05:30

New guy on the net:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
New guy: Hey Nee, I think my flirting skills are getting better and better day by day!
Me: Oh really?! How do you know? :P
New guy: Abhay am serious. Gals out there are crazy about me!!
Me: really? :P :P
New guy: Yeah! they not only like me, but even keep expressing their fondness towards me!!!
Me: really? how?:P :P :P
New guy: whenever i say something over the chat, they keep saying Lots Of Love....they even use have short form for that -'LOL' !!!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yup! welcome to the club ;)

60. It takes all kinds to make this world-II

2010-04-02T09:04:00.005+05:30

The final sem is nearing to its end. We were browsing through the academic calender searching for holidays to go home for the last time, as b-tech students...Someone suggested Easter hols. The others nodded their heads in agreement.
Suddenly #/\/\@ jumps up excitedly(as usual) and says:

"Hey wow! this time Good Friday comes together with Saturday and Sunday. We'll get 3 days holidays :D"

Yes indeed, it takes all kinds...... ;)

It takes all kinds to make this world-I

2010-03-25T01:32:00.009+05:30

During the tech round of PI(personal interview) by a leading software company... hmmm....lets call it \/\/||?%@

------------------------------------

Interviewer: So Mr X, what all languages do you know?

Mr X(ComSci student): Sir. English, Malayalam, Hindi.

------------------------------------

The guy got the job!

Well what can I say...it definitely takes all kinds to make this world!

58. Being Inspired...

2010-01-16T01:42:00.021+05:30

Do one thing everyday that scares you!

That is one of the lines from the video clip that Ziddi gave me when I was in one of those depressions and lows which usually cause heavy downpours.(It's apparently a sunscreen Ad, but I have no clue as to how it is related to the product!) Well anyways, guess what? I got inspired!

Maybe way too 'inspired'....Exams are among the things that scare me. I bet I am not the sole person belonging to this category. During the exam times, I take special care, to be extra careful as to not to waste my 'precious' time, indulging in any kind of fun. So exams are those times during which, I confine myself to self-room-imprisonment -No outings, No gossiping, No 'TV'ing, No blogging/orkutting/facebooking/tweeting/chatting -although all that I may do is sit in my room and sleep all day, or day-dream all day, or explore my lappy all day, or a combination of all!

Well, our exams are just 4 days away(gulp!)...and I haven't even laid my hands on any of the books. I was returning from the college, when I saw many of my classmates, all dressed-up, leaving for 'Backwaters'(IIMK). My heart longed to join them, but instead, I gave them a pitiful sigh, as they would be wasting their time over there, while I can use the time and mug in my room. But just then it struck me, that it was my last year in college, and why the heck should I sit and slog here, when I can as well give myself a break(from what???:P) and go have some fun.

The 'nerd-me' and the 'non-nerd-me' had a great inconclusive debate, which can be compared to our parliament sessions, and finally one decision making phone call made to my parents, confirmed that I was infact going![Sigh! I might be probably the only 21 year old who still have to seek parental permission even for such cases..:( ]

By the time the rest of the group had already got into the TATA Sumo and were about to leave. I was in CM's room, eating Aloo Parathas that somebody flicked from the mess. I quickly changed there(I wonder how many saw me strip) grabbed somebody's handbag and dashed off. I wasn't even dressed decently -my hair uncombed, no earrings or chain or any kind of jewelery on - I looked like a runaway Pentecost. As i reached the main gate, Appu came running behind me, swearing -I had accidentally run off with her phone :|

It is really cool to travel through the Calicut roads at night! We reached the IIMK campus and was stopped at the security gate to check our IDs. Damn! I had forgotten to take mine. I had made it till here. Don't tell me I have to go all the way back again! I started cursing myself. But soon enough I found out that being invisible has its own advantages. They didn't seem to have seen me. I got in without any of those darned IDs!

The campus was really awesome. It is situated on the top of a hill. The ride uphill reminded me of one of those trips to the holiday hill stations.

Once we got out of the car, we went on a photo taking spree. We didn't spare any nook or corner. We wanted to get it across to those 'nerdos' mugging back in hostels that we were indeed having fun. We were behaved like a bunch of drunk hooligans. We didn't want any of them to know that we were from NITC, so in all our 'loud conversations', we mentioned Medical college and KMCT more than a few times. ;)

We didn't even spare the toilets(gents'!) or the random statue or the random tree or the random lawn

There were very few programs, and very few participants. The crowd was also less, especially compared to the stampede-level crowd in the NITC OAT during ProShows! So we were um...pretty much bored, which might explain our new found fondness for the camera.

Our dance team did a wonderful job though.

The other event was fashion show. It still remains a mystery, the purpose of these FS. I wonder why people go gaga over FS. Oh yea there are hot guys and girls on the ramp to ogle at, but I really dont get the point. The other day I was watching some FTV programme and I realized how people can 'adapt themselves' to survive with minimal clothing during these hard times of recession.

The Medical college team had an interesting show. Their theme was one that gave a message -AIDS- and there were HIV viruses, gays, guys with inflated condoms on their heads(Yea I saw it for the first time!;) ), walking down the ramp!

It was past midnight when we got back, and we returned with not much of memories, but lots of snapshots.

God! Reality strikes again -I've got exams in a couple of days(gulp!). Hope I don't screw them up!(gulp!gulp!)

57.I saw it too..:D

2010-01-15T23:26:00.000+05:30

Yea, I too witnessed the much hyped, once-in-1033-years 'solar feast' -First a projected image in the Physics department, then a more clearer view through NDTV, CNN etc, then through an X-ray film in LH, and then finally i caught it with my very own k750i...a very crude image though!

[Sheesh! Imagine if I had missed it...I would have had to live upto 1054 years of age to see it again!:P]

PS: Contrary to the popular myths, I didn't find birds acting weird(they were shitting,as usual, the whole of the 'rajpath'), or any snakes running about the place. Did you notice anything weird?

I wanna grow up once again...

2010-01-09T08:29:00.008+05:30

Give me some sunshine,

Give me some rain,

Give me another chance,

I wanna grow up once again...

Haven’t you ever felt like rewinding your whole life (atleast some part of it), travel back in time, and do it all over once again? Haven’t you ever wondered what would have happened if you had taken the other road? Haven't you wondered what if that sperm had lost its way and hadn't reached that egg? Haven’t you wished that you could have said the right thing at the right time? Haven’t you ever been curious to find out what would have happened if you gave a NO instead of a YES? Haven’t you wished if life had ‘Undo’ options and ‘Backspace’ keys? Haven’t you longed for second chances?........
PS: Yea I watched 3 idiots –all by myself- with no subtitles or a human/google translator![I know I’m growing up! :P]
A must watch for every Indian parents, teachers and students especially, who have been ensnared by this rotten education system, which steals many from a life, which could have been driven by their own dreams and passions, but instead have been snubbed by the stereotype doctor-engineer fawning society!

55.Just millimetres separated her from a 3 storey fall!

2010-01-04T02:11:00.012+05:30

The year barely started and it’s already filled with action. Happening things are happening everyday, except for studying and this is really freaking me out.(my status is still unemployed-and-dunno-what-lies-ahead K) Now to my account of the suicide attempt that kept the LH on th edge....

It was at about 9.30 while I was returning from Chacko’s room, after a futile attempt to crack the geo assignment, that I noticed a little commotion going on outside my room. Some girls were leaning over the balcony parapet. Fear and horror were written on their faces! I feared the worst –a suicide attempt?No it can't be.... I was shocked to find that my worst of the wildest imaginations was being materialised right before my very eyes!

She was standing on the edge of the sunshade. A chill ran down my spine! I froze! My whole body became numb. My throat had gone dry. I couldn’t even give out a scream..... just millimetres separated her from a 3 storey fall!

We tried using hangers, broomsticks and ropes, but the feline seemed to find them more life-threatening than a fatal fall.....After about half an hour of cajoling, coaxing and trying to lure her to safety, she finally jumped to the relatively flatter and broader part of the sunshade, where the inclined shades came to a stop. From there, many interconnecting sunshades and pipes could serve as her route to safety. Phew! We returned to our rooms. At least no bloodsheds on the 3d day of the year!

An hour later I heard voices and hurried footsteps outside my room. I opened it to find nearly the whole wing gathered in front of the room. I followed their transfixed gaze down the balcony. The paranoid suicidal kitten had returned to the suicide point!

We held our breaths –sure to witness a tragic free fall. Some weak souls turned their faces away. Some said ’tch tch’. A few tear drops were shed.....(okay that was a long shot! :P)

What are we to do?

Suddenly, our hero –The Che-Kkan-enters the scene. Under the frenzy to save the kitty, Chekkan tried to jump over the parapet and save her.

But we were in no mood to witness multiple murders on the same day. We pulled Chekkan back in.

Come on, think something smart!...and quick!....someone suggested a bucket(Gee!was that me?:D)

I volunteered to give my bucket. So now I will have an excuse for not taking a bath tomorrow! ;) The bucket was brought and lowered in.

Look at her! What Jaada! What Ahangaaram! She wouldn’t get in. Guess she was rather enjoying the limelight.

Come on again...think something smarter! Someone suggested a bait (Gee! Was that me too? :P)

Saliny(now Tintu Mol :P) brought a piece of cake from her room and threw it inside the bucket.(I made a mental note to pay her a visit soon). The cat fell for it. It was inside the bucket, and Swoosh! Kitty was bucket-lifted to safety. Somehow, the cat reminded me of Joey( I told you I am watching too much of F.R.I.E.N.D.S these days!)

So thanks to Che-Kkan and the piece of cake(and my bucket too!), the day is saved!

PS: This incident made Che-Kkan to go down the long list of the legendary Khans(Shahrukh-Khan,Aamir-Khan,Salman- Khan,Ghengi- Khan,Sher-Khan,Moor-Kkan ......:P)

54. The ‘perfect’ first day!

2010-01-02T01:18:00.004+05:30

A new year, a new beginning –a time to set things right, learn from mistakes, start over again, hope for the year to turn out to be good. I doubt if there is any other single day hyped so much all around the world, as the New Year day!-a day of resolutions and new determinations, everyone wants the day to turn out to be PERFECT.

I certainly am not superstitious! But I always want my Jan 1 to be a perfect day, as it sort of sets the pace for the entire year. So even though I may not follow it regularly at any other part of the year, I’m particular that on this particular day, I should pray properly, dress up properly, behave nicely to everyone, flip through the pages of (long forgotten) books and learn something.....In short, Jan 1 = the complete day(since 1988 :P)

I woke up cursing the girl banging at the door threatening to break it. The cursing transformed into an alarmed shriek in an instant, when my phone blinked 7:29am at me. God! I had exactly 31 minutes to ‘prepare’ for my ‘perfect’ day and hit to the class. Ran to the bathroom with my bucket –had a ‘quick’ bath and brush which consumed more than half of my total available time.

I realised I hadn’t completed the seminar ppt I was supposed to present that day. I had left the finishing touches for the morning. You see, my perfect day was supposed to start at 5:30am. But I don’t even remember when I fell asleep last night. All I remember was that I wanted to do the last post of 2009 before hitting the sack....but then it was total blackout...Hangover?!!

Call comes from home. I hadn’t wished Mom Happy New Year yet. She starts to wish me, when I cut her short and hangs up the phone quickly shouting over to her “I WOKE UP LATE!”. Apparently she had tried calling me at midnight, but remember? I don’t remember anything! K

No time to have breakfast either. Attending first day first class on an empty stomach! Noooo!...this is not at all my ideal day! Little did I realize then, that my fist meal of the year wasn’t until 8.00pm....I stuffed the ppt file into a pendrive, and ran to the class. I didn’t even iron my clothes...Later in class I noticed that my umm.....zipper(pant) was undone and the price tag of my new top still dangling from the back collar. Thankfully(hopefully) my top and my hair was long enough, and nobody else noticed....Reached class in time, but sweating and panting –at least I didn’t get kicked out on the first day. I thanked God. Then I realized, that I forgot to pray! K

I knew then and there, that the day will turn out to be a blog material.

HP’s sandals broke on the way to the class...Phew! atleast I was not the only ‘chosen one’![I know I can be a bitch at times:P]

In the steel design class, I forgot to bring the code book, which is like an indispensable part of the course. I realized that my bench-mate and I shared more things in common, than the totally lost and frustrated look on our faces. I was too proud to borrow codes from others on ‘my perfect 1^st day’. So was she. Once a borrower, always a borrower. So the rest of the class, I was scribbling this post at the back of my notebook. So much for the atleast-first-day-listen-attentively-in-class resolution.

I felt really bad when our group had to shun away from presenting the seminar ppt (it was an optional course, but we spent hours searching for the materials). Said NO to a task assigned on the first day itself. L The meeting with our project guide, and the proceedings at the PAN card mela took so much time that I barely had enough time to go back to hostel and have lunch. I was hoping to have lunch from outside, with a friend, but one shouldn’t hope/expect/assume too much. It really hurts when people close to you hurts you –intentionally or unintentionally. It really does! I wanted my eyes to remain dry atleast on day 1........

As luck would have it, the coffee shop too was closed. K I had to attend the afternoon extra class on an empty grumbling stomach. Grrr.....(not me, my stomach!)

After class,a quick decision was made to pay Calicut city a visit, as a phone call informed us that our stitched blouses are awaiting us. The bus journey to city was as horrible as ever. The newly inaugurated fly-over did little to improve the traffic condition. Felt thoroughly exhausted and pukish by the time we reached Westlife. Thankfully, the saree and the blouse had escaped the ‘NewYear curse’ that was cast on the whole day. We bought parcels for dinner. Was dying to get back to hostel asap and lay hands on it. The empty, grumbling stomach, started growling now.

If you are an LH inmate, or an NITC student, or atleast faintly acquainted with the college, and if you exercise your brains a little, you can easily guess the next part of the day. It was 7.25pm when we reached the hostel, and the hostel guards made a fuss for about 15 minutes before we were let in. We weren’t disappointed, nor pissed –atleast we have food to look forward to. Ate (read gobbled) like 3 hungry beggars who are seeing food for the first time in the year.

The moon looked big, round and orange.

The juniors had arranged a NewYear party at the basketball court(LH) in which they got us all drenched to the core! :| The rest of the night was spent in chatting and discussing about the coming farewell....and it was by midnight, that I got back to my room. The things-to-do list was lying on the corner of the bed –all the to-do-things, remained as ‘to-do’! I didn’t study even a single word on day 1. Hope the rest of the year, doesn’t turn out to be as ‘perfect’ as this.

53.Another year to look forward to....

2009-12-31T20:42:00.001+05:30

Another year goes by, and yet another year comes...Just had my last supper(er..of the year) now-(got it parcelled from Broast :D). I so badly wanted to see the last sunset of the year –Sigh! only if the beach had been a bit closer to the campus :( .....

Talking about the sun, did you notice the sky today? It was so gloomy, the entire day. The sun looked like a 40 watt bulb!!:O Apparently there is gonna be/ there was a lunar eclipse tonight. But, why did the sun look sad if the moon was going into hiding for some time?:O

As the last few minutes of 2009 tick away, I look forward, wishfully, to what 2010 has in store...

On a personal level,

· * I’ll be shifting to a new house next month, leaving the house where I had lived for the past 21 years. (Should I be happy or sad? I’m confused!)

· *My cousin will have her surname changed....hope my brother too gets married soon!!( i so badly wanna do some extravagant shopping!)

· *My underweight evil twin will start earning. She’s gonna work in some ‘Boasting and Consulting’ company :P

· *As for me....I’ll have earned my very first degree....but...Ah! a future all so bleak awaits me. Neither have I a university to boast about, nor a job to fall back on,yet. Never did my life seem so ...so...uncertain..undefined...

On a global level,

*Spain will take over the Presidency of the council of the European union from Sweden on January 1

*The Burj Dubai, UAE, will be completed in January. It is already the tallest manmade structure ever built.

*The longest annular eclipse of the 21st century will occur on January 15·

*The Harbin international Snow and Ice festival, in China during, January

*Winter Olympics Vancouver, Canada in February

*Winter Paralympics Vancouver, Canada in March·

*The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, during June- July.

*The First world YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES 14 - 26 August 2010

* The 2010 commonwealth games, Delhi in October

* General Motors is expected to produce a commercially viable model of its
hydrogen-fueled drive.

* The East African community will implement a common currency called the East African shilling

Looking forward to it? HAPPY NEWYEAR!!

52. Another random post

2009-12-27T23:17:00.000+05:30

I never really didn’t want to write this post, until she made the remark, “You are gonna blog about this aren’t you”...”Well not really” was my clichéd remark...but here I am!

Last week we had this school-reunion, wherein I met up with friends from school, after almost 4 years. Though I couldn’t spend much time doing ‘reunioning’ with everyone present, I had a fun time there! I was taken aback when many of them asked me why I hadn’t updated my blog for a long time. Wow! That was unexpected –people who barely are in touch with me, gets updates on me through my blog.

(Mental Note: I should censor future posts)

(Mental wish: i wish they would leave a comment when the read!)

Anyways, just knowing that there are people who read and enjoy my crappy posts, and giving feedbacks(er... that I have a ‘weird sense of humour’) itself was kinda thrilling. I didn’t need to explain them that 4 years in college have changed me a lot(except my hindi speaking skills) –the blog did that job too. They even asked me to consider writing a book. Yea right! LoL! (But seriously i wish i would one day....sigh!)

Later, I was horrified to realize that I had forgotten the names of atleast a dozen of my batch-mates!! I had to resort to asking awkward questions like, “Hi, what was your full name? I kinda forgot your surname.”, “I think I lost your e-mail id...what was it again?”...But I guess that’s not as bad compared to the situation in college where even after 4 years, I don’t know even the names of half of the guys in our batch. (Sheesh!..Neethu, you need to socialise!)

The journey back home in a friend’s car was..umm...interesting, I experienced Einstein’s time-dilation. ;) –a 5-minutes journey turned out to be a half an hour journey (No insults intended Neeta, I know you are a careful driver, and the traffic was horrible ;)

The day was good... it is good to know that friendships span time and distances J

(Note to the friends: Hope to meet you all again for Ragam ’10 .You better come!!)

51. The final phase

2009-12-17T18:06:00.001+05:30

The final phase began today. Can’t really believe that 4 years could have gone past so fast. Time flies indeed!

So as I was saying, classes started today, after what could hardly be called a vacation of a couple of days. Our counterparts in other NITs and IITs are enjoying their month long vacation. Hmph! But no complaints though –hardly 4 more months in the campus –I bet we’re gonna cherish each and every day of this sem(we better do!).

As usual the registration day was one heck of a day. Every year, the registration –a process which though it could be completed in a matter of minutes almost always eats up an entire day -is just an indication of how the rest of the sem is going to be! This year was no different and the day saw confused, frustrated, people running helter-skelter, shuttling between the Academic block, the bank and the department building, standing in long queues which move at snail’s pace, fighting over course electives.......At the end of the day, all that one can look forward to is exhaustion, frustration, exasperation and cursing of the whole damn system! No matter how much technology develops, no matter what new sophisticated computerised facilities they implement, the registration day continues to be a bedevilled day.

And my registration especially, invariably turns out to be doubly jinxed. This time, I lost the ATM slip of the fee payment and I learnt the hard way, the value of the puny little piece of paper. Last time, I had lost my college ID card and the year before, I had lost the password to my internet banking -each leading to enduring the yelling of N number of people from inside the college as well as outside... “You cant even remember a password, and you have come to study engineering?”... “Can’t you be responsible enough to atleast keep your ID card safe”... “You won’t be able to register unless you get a written permisson from the registrar”... Man! The people here can be really mean! All said and done, the last registration in this campus is over. Sigh! That’s a little sad..... :(

The first day was ‘perfect’ too. As usual I timed myself to get ready by 7.50am so that I can have a 5-minute breakfast and make it to the class at sharp 8. I count on my ‘Cruiser’ (ladybird cycle :P) for my last minute escapades. And guess what awaited me today? –A drenched cycle with a flat tyre! The gardener chechi always asks me to keep the cycle away from her garden and this time I got her message loud and clear...and a little wet too:|. I had no time to wipe off the water and rode on the wet cycle. On my way to the classroom, I had to carry my bag quite low, lest people should talk about my ‘wet back’, behind by back. I noticed the flat tyre only when my ‘cruising’ became unusually tedious; I decided to pedal the rest of the way, anyway. My calf muscles were cursing me the whole day.

Luckily we had only intro classes, but we are already loaded with assignments and seminars. What’s more, we have every day, afternoon classes too! So much for the no-study-just-chill-out final year myth! But hope we have a blast of a sem! keeping fingers crossed! :)

50. SIGH!

2009-11-28T23:47:00.004+05:30

The sun sets down on yet another sem....a semester marked with so many defining moments, so many first-timers, so many eventful events...yet as I stand at the fag end of it, and look back, it seems so bleak –nothing tangible was achieved out of the semester...Just a sigh!

Like a deep sigh –involving so many complex co-ordinated actions of the diaphragm muscle, the intercoastal muscles, the rib cage and the lungs –yet seen as nothing more than a simple sigh...a longing for something...a desperate grasping at the invisible air...

PS: Btw...this is my 50th post.Sigh!

The Chicken?...or The Egg?...

2009-09-26T02:20:00.000+05:30

This infinite-loop question was brought once again to the surface by Bro during one of our casual chit-chatters.(Well…Umm…er…not a casual talk exactly –Bro was actually trying to ‘train’ me for GD(group discussion), which I’ll be inevitably facing in the very near future…as hopefully companies might soon start plying the campus).

That got me into thinking…(yea I do think at times)… and imagining…and googling…

I wonder if the chickens would be as interested in tracing their family trees as we humans are! :P

If you are a staunch believer of the Bible, then you can easily conclude that chickens came first –It was on the Fifth Day of Creation Week that He created every winged creature (Genesis 1:21) complete with the DNA to reproduce that kind. Then He blessed them, saying,” Be fruitful, and multiply" (using that DNA). For the chickens, this meant lay chicken eggs. Problem solved! :)

However big shots like Stephen Hawking and Christopher Langan along with Darwin argue that the egg came before the chicken.

While ol’ Aristotle seemed to be unable to come up with a definite solution and played it safe. He was quite puzzled by the idea that there could be a first bird or egg and concluded that both the bird and egg must have always existed.

Another popular theory holds that genetic material does not alter during an animal's life. It does however change in the egg. Therefore the first bird that evolved into what we would call a chicken, probably in the era when dinosaurs roamed around at large, must have first existed as an embryo inside an egg. Confused??? To put it in simple terms, two non-chickens mated, they may have been the same species of another bird, but some mutation happens. It mutates in the cells that created the egg. Thus, the egg hatches the first chicken.Voila! :D

In this light, both the egg and the chicken evolved simultaneously from birds who weren't chickens and didn't lay chicken eggs but gradually became more and more like chickens over time. Hmmm…..

But if the dinosaurs came first, who laid the dinosaur egg?... And again, it is no easy path from dinosaur to bird either, as legs must become wings, scales must become feathers, solid bones should turn hollow, cold-blooded should heat up to warm-blooded. :O

"The origin of birds is still up in the air.";)

So the question now becomes: Is a "chicken egg" an egg laid by chicken or an egg that will hatch into a chicken? Any "eggsperts" out there who can explain??

Wiki says, an equivalent situation arise in engineering and science known as circular reference, in which a parameter is required to calculate that parameter itself(van der Walls equation, Colebrook equation). To fella civil engineers, another example is calculation of thickness of roof of a tank or structure. To calculate the thickness requirement, we need to know the self weight of the roof, which is possible only by already knowing the thickness. This situation is solved by initailly assuming the parameter and by repeated iterations converging towards finer values…Alright that’s too much of tech!!!

I come up excitedly with all these facts and findings and blabber them to Bro, only to hear from him, “Whichever was ordered first, came first” .…(Argh! Talk about IIT level PJs! :)

Disclaimer: the post contains a lot of stuff from the web and a lot of my bullshitting too. So if anyone feels like suing me, go ahead :P

No more a teen :(

2009-08-12T23:59:00.001+05:30

Around 262 months back(ie. 1048 weeks to be precise), an army of Spermies entered the territory of Ms. Eggy. One brave li’l Spermy, fighting against all odds, succeeded in conquering Ms. Eggy, and so was I conceived!

Days passed and months passed; and my mommy kept growing fatter and fatter( so much so that the docs even thought that she was gonna have twins). After days of practicing kung fu and martial arts inside my comfy abode, I was forced to come into this world(harsh, wicked and cruel). My cries of protest was mistakenly taken as a ‘good omen’ by the docs, as they started shaking and spanking me(yea, I was already subjected to the brutality of the world!)

Days passed and months passed yet again; and I kept growing and growing…(er…though the process wasn’t really a fast paced one!) And today, here I am, turning 21 –though some think that I’ve got the units and tens placed mixed up!(How rude!)

Alright! Disclaimer: I do not have a growth retardation nor do I have any genetic disorder –though some people think so. If anybody thinks so, all I have to tell them is that, I was just grooming myself for doing the ‘Santoor’ Ad. (But only that ...um…now they might give me the role of the girl who comes running, calling “MUMMY!” )

And one heck of a B’day did I have today. No, I did not have a B’day blast. But I did indeed have a nice day spending time with my loved ones and reflecting on the wonderful life that God has given me, and the ways in which He has led me throughout

“For you created my inmost being;

You knit me together in my mother’s womb

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Your works are wonderful,

I know that fully well.”

-Psalms 139:14

And there were surprises in store for me! Loads of ‘em.

I got a domain, MY OWN DOMAIN! all for myself. Thank you so much Mr Red Pill! I seriously never thought that you were serious about the gift!

Thank you MultiMamma, for the ‘BLAH’sphemy! I was expecting a post from you, but you gave me a whole blog. Wow!

Well, the list doesn’t end there(but my day does.Sigh!). I’m so grateful to have been blessed with a wonderful set of parents, bro, kith and kin, who have made my life so wonderful in this world(yea the same harsh, wicked and cruel one!)

The thread of love

2009-08-05T23:11:00.000+05:30

In this era when sibling rivalry is a more heard of term than sibling love, it’s good to take one day off to reflect on how our siblings influence our lives, how much they are a part of our lives, and how much love they deserve from us.

It’s funny that our siblings are the only ones whom we can hate as much as we love them. It’s amazing, how the first rival of our childhood, over the years, transforms into the one we love, admire and adore. Differences, how many there may be, our siblings are made of the same stuff as we are, and has been at our side, (whether figuratively or literally)from the beginning.

One needn’t necessarily be a blood relation to be your brother or sister. There are so many wonderful brothers and sisters out there, who makes life so marvelous for us.

Today, is that special occasion to celebrate this wonderful relationship –by tying the holy thread which ‘pulsates with sisterly love and sublime sentiments’. And indeed I'm elated to, have ‘tied the knot’ today.

HAPPY RAKHI BROTHER!

45. ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS.

2009-06-27T00:34:00.005+05:30

The compartment was empty when we entered it. Phew thank God! We have the place all for ourselves! The sun was fading behind the horizon, as the train slowly gathered speed. Each of us(She I, She II & Me) was in a rather contemplative mood, and therefore the empty seats by the window side helped us much. Time passed by, and we were lost in our own world (And of course, we have a whole lot of things to think about –life, studies, future, guys, films, dresses, friends, politics, world peace, economic crisis…yea, the earth would stop spinning if we stopped thinking:P) when all of a sudden, a little commotion at the door woke us up from our reverie.

It was a couple with two small kids, who had just boarded the train.Alas! We had to bid goodbye to the comforts of the lavish empty seats (and to our privacy) and resign ourselves to the side seats.

Back to the contemplative mood……nah! The two pesky kids were making too much of a rattle for us to engage in any ‘serious’ thinking. Hardly half a dozen year old, the kiddos were chattering away to glory(Perhaps they too must have thought that the earth would stop spinning if they shut their mouth!)

The ‘Grown ups’ –(yea the 3 of us again) –try to engage in some ‘serious’ ‘grown up’ talks throwing irritated skeptical glances at the kids every now and then. They had now started playing ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’…

The compartment echoed with their – ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’… ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’…chant.

Having exhausted our topics to talk, we next sought refuge in one of our lappys to evade boredom…listened to some songs, watched some video clips…

Rock, Paper, Scissors’… Rock, Paper, Scissors’…the kids kept on chanting.

The kids just wouldn’t go to sleep! Don’t they have anything better to do? Isn’t that a dumb old worn out game? Come on kiddos, grow up!!!... The ‘grown ups’ smirked.

Time ticked by. The lappy ran out of charge. Once again, we found ourselves having nothing to do.

‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’…‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’…

We threw meaningful glance at each other. We badly wanted the children to go to sleep. Come on! Stop it! Go sleep! We waited…

Rock, Paper, Scissors’… Rock, Paper, Scissors’…

Finally…finally…after tiring us out(rather than tiring themselves…)they settled themselves down, pulled the sheets over them…and went to sleep for good! Phew!

The lights were turned off…only the dim glow of the night lamp lighted the compartment..

The watch displayed the Titan Ad.

Out of the darkness, silhouetted against the dim light, appeared three hands and in the silence of the night, in almost muffled whispers, there could be heard, a faint chant… ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’

Two tiny heads popped out from under the sheets, and gave the ‘grown-ups’ a meaningful smirk.

Author’s note: This happened when RAC, Crazy and I were going home for Easter. The kids were actually very adorable, though quite annoying.

44. Life’s like that! –A few snippets from the campus

2009-06-25T00:46:00.006+05:30

They say that the best way to keep oneself awake in the class is to keep a watch on the rest of the lot who are sleeping –might be true. I tried to experiment this and see for myself! Couldn’t help take a pic, when this guy dozed off and finally banged his head on the table

Spotted the ‘red head’?

When they said that the mess menu was gonna be upgraded, I never thought they’d go this far...

New item in the mess menu?

Don’t mistake this for a haunted house…it’s one of the rooms in the LH…good thing that our mothers seldom pay a visit to our hostels!

Haunted house?

. Gee..dats ma room(the day when I cleaned it;))…

Yea I know… I should grow up!

This is the instruction sheet that one of our sirs gave us, the day b4 the exam! No wonder I ended up getting an A in the exam

All that matters!

When animals and humans share the same seat…(notice how the feline family have carefully chosen the best chair for themselves..)

Feline Recline!

Ah! This is the view that we get from our LH top floor…I always love to gaze at the evening sky. It’s so amazingly beautiful…Each day, at dusk, the sky turns itself into a new canvas, playing with different hues n shades!! I bet the morning sky would be equally beautiful (sheesh! only if I had the habit of waking up early)

Nature’s treat!

Classes need'nt necessarily be restricted to the classroom alone...

And there’s more!

Oh yea…you will get to see such sights too! No need to rub your eyes; it’s Mr. Chettan Bhagat himself! Thanks to the various clubs which try to out-do each other, such people set foot on our campus.

One night @ NITC!

Uncanny things seem to find their way into the trash box…

Out here, Lilies grow out of the trash box …

More things find their way to the dump place…

That’s all trash!

PS: Courtsey images:k750i

43. Through the classroom window…….

2009-03-20T00:34:00.002+05:30

The picturesque backdrop of the stark blue skies, which seem to be intricately woven with patches of fragile white clouds; the encompassing lush green vegetation; the flame-of-the-forest, or the bright orange gulmohars that bedeck the greenery…amidst all this Nature’s splendour, stands majestically, the Wayanad hill ranges….

….View from our classroom(DB 308), captured during one of those lectures that force us to witness daybreak. A breath-taking sight indeed! Thanks to the spectacular view, boring lectures can be easily evaded. A proper seat if taken, you can be seen looking straight at the faculty, pretending to be wide awake and listening to him/her, while you can be actually miles away, lost in thoughts, admiring Nature

Take care however, that the guy sitting next to the window doesn’t mistake you for ogling at him!

42. Of Turmeric and Neem

2009-03-17T04:40:00.002+05:30

-The Last Phase of chicken pox: The good-news is, you are finally allowed to take a bath, but before heaving a sigh of relief, the bad news is, you are not allowed to use soap!!! Apparently, that comes as a part of the ‘Neem and Turmeric’ treatment!

It’s not one of the pleasantest experiences, I’ll tell you….and Neem-leaf paste is definitely not the ‘fragrantest’ substitute for soap either. Neither is it, for shampoo. Yea, the paste is even applied on the hair. And getting these infinite tiny bits of leaves out of your hair is no easy task, due to which, once the hair gets dried, you’ll look as though you had just been in a hurricane, while passing through a Neem-forest! Add to this, all your clothes get freely dyed bright yellow!

Today is the last day of my CP vacs, and boy! am I glad to get back to normalcy. Now I’ve got a new friend who’ll stay with me for life –Varcy, aka Varcilla Zoster Virus(lurking somewhere inside of me….)

and also the CP memories –the days survived on

fluid diet, the taste of Aciclovir tablets, the fragrance of burning myrrh, the Neem, the Turmeric, the Love, the Care…

A Tribute to BLAH!

2009-03-16T00:12:00.003+05:30

Do you know what tops the list of the world's ten most overrated things? Do you know what’s the world’s longest book/novel(which apparently contains the world’s longest word, sentence, poem and drama!Woah!!!)? Do you know the next gen name for ‘BLOG’, which is likely to replace the term ‘BLOG’ in the near future? Do you know, what is the most searched topic for a book, in the Amazon.com?

.....Well….It’s all Blah! Won’t believe me? There you go!(click the link)

PS: Lachoo, that an appetizing treat to me! Would make up for your never-ending leg-pulling

CHICKEN POX- for a STRESSED SOUL!

2009-03-08T05:05:00.004+05:30

Red itchy rashes of fluid filled blisters, high fever, unbearable body aches, nausea, loss of appetite, flu-like symptoms…all these loom large in the mind, by the very mention of the term chicken pox(CP)…don’t they?

So when the possibility of a chicken pox first struck me, these fears crept in,and I was scared shit, dreading the days ahead… Little did I know what was in store for me though! As soon as I was positively diagnosed CP, the scardy cats in the hostel didn’t allow me to stay there a moment longer, and hence I was soon expatriated from the hostel. And…..

……And well, nothing happened! Oh yea! I did suffer for the first two days…I had this extremely bad body ache+ joint ache+ head ache which can be described as just excruciating. But other than that none of the afore-mentioned fears were actually realized. A few small harmless spots appeared here and there(thankfully none on my face and hands!), which scaled off after around a week. No itch; no pain; and no yucky fluid-filled blisters….Nothing really happened, and this even made some of my friends ask me to double check if it really is CP!

Therefore I came to the conclusion that God allowed this CP just to give a break to this ‘stressed’ soul. Now, I really am having a good time at home –having gladly missed the interim exams, and being pampered by my parents and grand-parents, and of course friends too who despite of their busy acads, find time to check often whether I’m doing alright,!! Thanks a looot guys

Nevertheless, I have my rants too…. I have been robbed off my rights to take a proper bath for the past 1 week. Imagine having to resort to taking hot-water sponge bath in this sweltering heat!! And I still am subjected to isolation of sorts, and am not allowed to roam around the house( my parents haven’t had CP yet!). Hmph!.....maybe it’s time I get back to normal and head back to college.
Sheesh! I hate to think of the loads of work awaiting me there!!

An uncanny way out!

2009-03-05T16:04:00.001+05:30

Those of you who had read my previous post, didn’t you feel that I needed a break (well atleast I did…infact I was yearning for one), and looks like even God did. And so did I receive my break that was rightly due. Two whole weeks free from classes, assignments and deadlines of what-so-ever form. Two blissful weeks at home, where I can sleep round the clock, oblivious to all the cares in the world; hog on, as and when and what I want; watch ‘n’ number of movies in the lappy;……the list goes on. The only hitch being that, I have to do all this in isolation(Ah!as if I care!). Yea, certain maladies can come in handy at times. Chicken pox rox!

Stressed!

2009-02-28T23:27:00.009+05:30

Alright! Maybe I had talked a li'l too much in the last post. Was vaunting away to glory that I was having the time of my life, and all was well and blissful so much so that life seemed to be a bed of roses...Well nothing could be as contrary to it, as was proved by the last few weeks or rather the whole month...Sessionals, lab tests, assignment, submissions, project work, drawing, seminars all kept coming in one by one ceaselessly!!!Man, S6 is hectic. Period.

Miniproject work(mipro) is literally eating away the whole of our time, including the weekends. Even a single set of experiments often leaves us completely drained of all our energy and thoroughly exhausted, rendering us useless for the rest of the day! Add to the physical exhaustion, we get mentally exhausted too, as we are supposed to come up with certain numerical models, wherein we concoct some relation between seemingly unrelated stuff….And imagine, if added to that comes financial exhaustion too!!! Yea, we break this 250 ml borosil measuring jar in the SM lab, and the next day saw us hunting the shops for a similar jar ….Yea, and that caused our pockets to weigh less by 505 bucks. But every cloud has a silver lining…and so did this. I had been searching for a flower vase to keep my money plant …A Fanta bottle was acting as its makeshift home, and there comes this black cloud! On extricating the silver lining, I made a beautiful home for my plant, that has a ‘techy’ edge to it…yea a ‘calibrated measuring vase’!(Those stones are also the souvenirs from civil lab;)

....Howdy?

The mipro even robbed me of my Valentines’ day. Spent the whole day in the lab grr...!@$@!%Oh btw..Nikhil had gifted me this bouquent of white roses through his Valentine’s day post. Thankzzz!! atleast something to mark the day!

Anyways…looking forward, I can see only even more hectic days, as the next set of sessioanls are just round the corner. Added to that we have our interim mipro evaluation coming up soon…As though my hands are not yet full, I have the responsibility to keep updating the ragam blog too –which I have royally neglected so far…my Muse isn’t helping either.(Keep visiting the ragam blog for updates and try to make it for the event!)

Thus far...This way...

2009-01-11T23:11:00.007+05:30

Nearly half a month into the new-year…hmm…and so far, it has been not all that bad. Classes haven’t really started in full swing yet, and assignments haven’t started piling up.(Thanks to the Muharam holiday which came on the right day, we saved ourselves from a drawing class + submition of 3 drawings next week. )Have been running around for a mini-project topic past two weeks; and voila, our project guide came up with this really nice project on ‘Liquefaction’(er… I dun have much idea about it as of now, but atleast those who know,testify that it’s a really ‘stud’ topic) Great weekend coming up ahead –a two-day class trip to Idukki(dam),Thekkadi and Athirapalli!yay!

And there was a pleasant surprise for me in the blogosphere as well! I have been awarded as the best blogger of the year by the CEO of the blospot… Okay, I know, that went a li’l overboard. But seriously, I did get something of the sort…I got a ‘200% awesome blogger’ credit…all thanks to Nikhil(MM) who seems to have been on an awarding spree right at the beginging of the year(superb way to start the year MM, …thanks a ton…)….

Anyways dunno whether it was due to this, or out of no reason at all, I’m in this writing mood these days. Boring classes are becoming my blogging classes now.…Hopefully I'll be able to blog more frequently(fingers crossed!) So thanks again MM…and apologies for taking this long to come up with this post(you know my close alliance with laziness…I am infact surprised that you didn’t give me the lazy blogger award instead )

A prayer for 2009

2009-01-07T19:07:00.000+05:30

Dear God, thank you for the year 2008 you gave us,

Wherein we had moments of joy n laughter amidst sorrow n fear.

Thank you for all the good and the seemingly bad

That had transpired during the past one year.

Let the new year be one that will dispel

All feelings of hatred among humanity;

So that, there will be no more attacks

Against the Hindu, Muslim or Christian community.

Let the new year be one which will witness

People rising above petty divisions,

Based on caste, creed and class so that,

There won’t be any more Gujjar agitations.

Let the new year be one in which the political parties

Do for the nation, something utile;

Rather than engage themselves

In petty fights and strikes futile.

Let the new year be such that there won’t be

Any suicide attacks on the Indian embassies;

Or any terrorist-strikes at the Indian heritage hotels,

Which aggravates man’s agonies.

Let the new year be one in which the countries

Cease to fight over a piece of land,

Which leads to nothing but,

Shattering man’s peace of mind.

Let the new year be one in which the players

Stop hitting and slapping each other,

Instead focus more on hitting the ball,

Sending it to a four or a sixer.

Let the new year be one that will bring

Happy tidings to the world economy.

So that people won’t find themselves

Thrown out of their jobs, abruptly.

Instead Lord, give mankind

A new vision and a mission,

That will enable us to broaden our horizon

And use our potential to send more space missions.

Let the year bring forth more Adigas

To enrich our casket of literature,

And more Bindras and Parvathys

On the world stage to venture.

Let the new year behold India –

An emerging super power;

Whom the US takes pride in calling its ‘staunchest ally’,

And the EU states her, its ‘strategic partner.’

Above all dear Lord, help us to stand

Together as one –both men and women;

And enable us to see your glory,

Each moment of the year! Amen.

Author’s note: I wanted to write a new-year post(well that was one week before)…and I started writing a post(prose), however it ended as a 'poem'. This is my second attempt at writing a poem. (Must be inspired by reading too much of CRAZY poems!!!for some reason or the other she never publishes her poems in her blog.sad!)

30 years down the lane….

2008-12-28T00:20:00.007+05:30

Yay! vacation again after a long sem! But that also implies 3 weeks of utter joblessness!! As usual, hardly had the holidays started, when boredom started settling in. With no jobless sibling or friends to hang out with, I was once again confronted with nothing but boring, uninteresting days to look forward to(sigh!)

Therefore I wasn’t surprised when dad announced one dull morning that the next day he had his 30th reunion of his civil ’78 batch.(yaawwn…) Dad assured us that we would have an awesome experience, and to top it all he said that there would be a Gazzal concert. Go(yaaaawn...)d Noooo! And now I should go there and listen to those old songs composed ages before I was born?And what am I going to do there among the dozens of 50+ old people?

Having exhausted my reserves of excuses for not going out along with my parents, I was forced to tag along for the reunion. The food at the 5-star hotel being the only thing to look forward to…

I deliberately delayed my folks so that we would have to spend only less time there. But on reaching there, we found that people had just started flocking in. I was elated to see one of my college-mates there. Apparently my dad and her mom were classmates, now working in the same firm. But soon I realized that even 2 college-girls can run out of topics to speak.

We had the intro session first –one by one, each alumnus had to introduce themselves and their spouse and children, starting with my dad! Half way through the session, it was heartening to learn that all of them were in respectable positions and were well placed in their life. However I was surprised to note that more than 95% of them had their children in the same field (UG, PG, or employed in some software/core firms). Only a few of them had children who pursued medical field, and there were 2 law students as well. That’s all!! Does this country produce only engineers and doctors? Are people oblivious of the scores of other opportunities around? Has the outlook of both the parent and the child been narrowed down to this extent? …or do the children by nature inherit their parents’ taste? (I know, that includes me as well…and I frankly admit that, I still am not sure whether engineering is really my thing!)

The session was however punctuated with slap-stick humour, which they cracked at each other every now and then. The ‘gen gap’ dint prevent us ‘new age folks’ from roaring with laughter along with the people of the 70’s. I never really thought I could laugh at the jokes of my dad’s gen. Damn! I wish my mom had studied in the same college too…could have heard some of their classified stories

The concert wasn’t all that boring either… Gradually my mind drifted to my 30 yrs down the lane…How would it be like? This reunion started by paying homage to 2 of their batch mates who were taken from this world in a span of 30 years.…We’ll definitely have that part, because hardly 3 yrs into the course, and we’ve already lost 2 of our batch mates……..Coming to the brighter side…How many of the ‘college-couples’ will remain couples for life? Will our old pranks which we played on each other be remembered then? Will our children too, have the narrow vision which confines them to the engg/med field?…Wont we let them venture and explore the world of fashion, literature, art and philosophy? Will our children say the same thing about us as we do? Will our current hip songs which we consider with high regards be dumped and labeled as ‘BORING’ by the next gen? Little surprise in that, even if they do…cos that’s how it has been, that’s how it is now, that’s how it will be.

Or wham! Will nothing sort of this ever happen? Will we be too busy with our own selfish lives and be shrouded from the outside world, that we wouldn’t even be able to chip in enough time for such reunions?

To all 3rd yrs…....Four years of fun and joyful college life comes to an end next year. There after no silly jokes in the middle of classes, no stupid fights, no sleeping in the class, no roaming about in the campus …so friends, forget the little fights and misunderstandings and enjoy the next 3 sems! We came with the fear of not knowing anybody …but we will go with tears after knowing everybody…that’s college life

PS:This post was written a few weeks back when vacations started. Now at the fag end of the holidays, I quite regret what I had said about the vacations, for soon I will be longing for those blissful boring days once the sem starts