220 Rocks!

There are two weird women who live in room number 220 on my floor. I quite like them. Their room has been the life of this floor (as far as I am concerned) through almost every single night in the last one year.
I don't remember when it began, but we almost have a routine where I would bore myself to death by around midnight, and then go over to their room to get a dose of laughter. This is one of those cases where even if you decide to spend only 5-10 minutes on something, you'd end up spending at least an hour or two. I might take off from my room at 12:45 a.m. thinking I'd just say hello and be back by 1:00 a.m. But I almost never come back before 2:30-3:00 a.m.
We've sung cheap songs, laughed, eaten Nutella, laughed, bitched about boys, laughed, missed boys, laughed, cribbed about work, laughed, blown condom balloons, laughed, danced, and laughed endlessly there.

These guys didn't want to come back to this room in the 2nd year, but as my luck would have it, they did not get a chance to move away. They were forced to say, '220 rocks!'. :P 220 doesn't give the pretty golf course view, but it gives them ME! :D

I like them girls. They're helping me build lots of memories of this place.



Oh, their names are Ruhi and Vrinda. Jhun and Vindu.


This is Itchy, with love.

A New Language

Remember I had mentioned once that I had done well enough in a design exam to score a B-? I scored an A in that. :P We're back to design classes. This time I'm learning HTML. So, I created a miniature Fuchsia in the lab today. Cannot express the joy each new tag and attribute was giving me! :P I think I will soon be equipped to play around with Fuchsia senior.
It also reminded me of a certain Mr. Burf who used to be a fellow blogger in the year 2005 and had helped me with the template of my blog once. I don't think he's active in the blogosphere anymore. But now I'm at cracking the code of his rocket science. :D
The only HTML thingi I knew in those days (when these templates did not have automatic things) was how to give a name to a link in an anchor href tag (Ha ha ... I am talking techie jargon! :D).

And now I also know of a few basic tricks for search engine optimisation. :D

These classes are fun. I'm enjoying. And it's also good to have Dharam sir back. He's an extremely pleasant and patient man. One of the few that I genuinely like.

A Drive in the Sahyadris

When Delhi airport's roof flew away on Friday evening and flights got cancelled I was pissed. Not just because it meant that we have a lame system in place, but also because it could have meant that my flight to Pune the next morning could be rescheduled/cancelled. And I was in no mood for yet another flight fuck-up. Missing flights always tops such fuck-ups. I indulged in that earlier in the month. But things at the airport were thankfully in control.

I landed here at 10:30 a.m., reached campus by 11:45 a.m., had a nice lunch in the mess (yes) with a couple of guys who were already here, and that's when we decided that we should go to the Mulshi Dam in the evening.

Nishant had Regil's car, so we were going to pool in for the fuel and drive down to this place which is about 50 kms from our campus (The taluka of the village I live in is Mulshi only). So, Venky, Kausik, Nishant, I, and my camera with the new lens (:D) took off around 4:30 p.m.

The almost empty campus before we left

Kausik at the petrol pump he helped us find

From the moment I sat in the car, it was fun non-stop. I had not laughed that much in ages!! So much so that I lost count of the number of times I lost my breath while laughing.

We never got to the Dam. Instead, we stopped at Mulshi Lake a few kms before the Dam. It was much prettier. And obviously more serene too. The water was absolutely clean and made the most musical sounds. We walked over a few slippery rocks to reach a perfect point to sit for the next hour or so. We enjoyed silence, and we talked a lot too. I clicked my pictures as well. :-)

I was having fun !! :)

Good I wore these. Those rocks weren't too easy to walk on.

Nissant aur main

On our way back, we first had bhuttas. Then we stopped at Pirangut (a small village) for vada pav and bhel. And then we headed straight to Dhole Patil Road in the city for dinner. These guys wanted to try something new, so we went to a place called Southern Spice which serves authentic Mallu food. Yours truly was obviously most apprehensive because she cannot try new food. But she was brave! Appam with veg khorma, and payesam. Not bad, I say. But that's only because of the company I had. :D Oh, I had to confirm with Venky that south Indians like to enjoy their food in peace because every time I burst out laughing, everybody in the restaurant turned around and looked at me. It was a little awkward, but I was too happy to bother. Our Tam-Bengali-Gujarati-Punjabi combo was also turning out to be fun. Venky ko sikhaya gaya 'kutte ki maut marna', and Kausik & I learnt 'vaa pollam'. :D Nishant is a Gujarati Shah, but has lived in Chennai for long. So non-stop 'machan' punctuated the entire drive too.
Then we heard stories about spirits from Nishant. He believes in them. Kausik does not. Uff! The sarcasm running through my blood felt alive yesterday.

The bhuttas we had

The place where we stopped for the corn

Got back to campus around midnight, and I closed the perfect day by going through the pictures twenty times. :-)

The side we felt kinda lazy to walk towards

We found a juvenile home for Venky and Kausik

Auto mode!! :-)

A trip of sorts was due considering that it's becoming a routine to do something like this every two months. I am so happy this happened. Especially because after a two-week break the college is going to fuck our happiness with all seven days working and LOADS of classes. :-|

PS - I watched Kaminey last week. The movie was good, but it is the music I am tripping on nowadays.
Meri dosti kameeni...
Mere yaar bhi kaminey...
Ik dil se dosti ki...
Ye huzoor bhi kaminey...

UFF! Gulzar!!!

Badalti Dilli?

I have been in Delhi for a quite a few days now, but I stepped out for a long distance outing for the first time today. There were a couple of things which seemed new.

1. People seemed mellow.
Everybody looked quieter. Sweeping generalisation, I know. But I could really not see the aggression. People seemed to mind their own business.

2. Way too many girls in casual shorts/dresses for me to think that they were exceptions.
Delhi males never let women wear that kind of stuff on the streets. I never saw them using public transport or be out in market places dressed like that. This is definitely new.

3. Delhi Metro has deliberately removed 'please' and 'कृपया' from all their announcements. I wonder why!
Even if we assume that people misbehave and DMRC is short-tempered like me, how can they just stop using the word? It is not polite like this!


Feverish nostalgia took over the moment I stepped inside a train today. I spent god-knows-how-many moments on the metro trains with Tarun through 2nd and 3rd year of college! It was insane. We were insane. Absolutely, purely mindless! (A lot of serious conversations too, but the mindlessness is always more memorable :)) So immediately a call went all the way to Bangalore. I adore that man so much!! Uff.

Front Page!

We thought we might be progressing, but there are many domains that steer clear of anything remotely controversial. And the ones that don't, look something like this!

The ad issued on day 1

The ad issued on day 2

I was a lot more than surprised when I saw the first ad in the papers yesterday. A lot of 'intellectual' discussions revolve around public opinion, and the mobilisation of it, but I don't remember seeing or hearing about anything like this in my not-so-old life.

I think it is brilliantly smart advertising. The deal affects the man's business, he got some smart heads together, and did an almost revolutionary thing while still managing to stay out of legal crap! At least for now. Some experts think that he'll manage to get away with it too. I think I want to agree with them.
I think it also makes sense. RIL's lobbying had reached a point where Anil knew he could never make any headway for his own benefit. So what's the point in even remaining diplomatic! Solid blow, I say. Even if it may not change things. RIL will need heavy-duty PR to influence public opinion in its favour.

For my peers at college: if RIL's PR (in future) works, it will be the perfect answer for those who think only ad or only PR can work.

And people thought I was kidding when I said that the oil industry is one of the most exciting things in current Indian business context!


*These are personal views of the blogger who has no association with either of the two parties involved.

Dhan Te Nan...

Somebody thinks that my blog has not seen a happy post in a while. And since I'm in a happy mood today, I shall give him something to be happy about. :-)

# This is not the right weather, I don't have my camera, but a trip to the Taj might work out this week. I am keeping my fingers crossed. After all, there should be some use of the holidays getting extended even further.

# I made up with a friend with whom things had been screwed for several days. Feels better.

# Things are looking happier on the family front too.

# I uploaded a few pictures from the school days to Facebook. Uff! Memories of the best days flowing through almost a 100+ comments.

# Of all the people who know that I cannot sing, Priyam has the worst impression of my talent. But recently her views changed a little when she heard me sing a Lata Mangeshkar number. :D Talk about taking up challenges!

# I watched Kaminey and quite liked it. I know Omkara and Maqbool were better, but this one was pretty incredible too!

# Of late I've been sleeping at least nine hours everyday. Advantages of being home! :-)

# I am also getting good food on demand. :D

# I am sleeping on my original bed.

# Oh, I totally forgot to mention! Sem II results came out last week. Yours truly cleared all papers, and her GPA rose by 0.2 over the previous semester. :D


These were my ten points. Give me at least three of your happy points when you leave a comment.

Coffee*

Some social gatherings can be a little more than awkward.

___

You die of glee (maybe like you die of embarrassment?; only in a much happier sense.)**when somebody uses the word 'diva' for anything associated with your looks. I mean, just imagine a non-fashionable, geeky, I'm-too-lazy-to-give-a-damn-about-my-looks woman being at the receiving end of that! Of course, this description is of the perception people have of me. I would look a lot worse if I did not give a damn. But while we're at it, I'd add that a second someone said that my hair looked like I was there for a shampoo commercial shoot.
So, fuck the single strand of gray. My hair still have it in them!

You must have figured, unless you're talking about my eyes or my smile, it's the hair that take me to cloud number 9.

___

Mind games suck. They just suck! I never knew that it was in your own hands to complicate things in life. If things moved my way, I'd keep it so much simpler. But then I am not an isolated homosapien. Wish I had like-minded people around (in this respect).

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Mera budday aa raha hai! :D And it's not a religious dry day this time. Ha!

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What is with people and their pointless attitude? Somebody enlighten me.

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I learned of a new misconception some close ones have about me. It's amusing, and at the same time it hurts a little to figure that someone who is really close also has an almost blasphemous misconception about you. But that's the price you pay for being so closed.

___

*Because it's the first word that came to Ruhi's mind when I asked her for one.
**I am unsure of the punctuations here. Help if you want to, please.

A stronger me

As of today, I am a bit of a hypocrite for I am anti almost everything America except for the companies which may hire me in the near future (and of course the things that have percolated into my lifestyle). However, their ideas give me the creeps! And by 'their' I mean the American State. I don't even know the people! So don't come and bite me.
So, I think I will be a more complete person the day I can say to myself that I do not need them for a complete life.
I know you might want to tell me that I'd be a more complete person when I can let go of biases. But I hate the bully so much that I'd only be happy the day power shifts in world politics and economics!!


Ha! And I didn't even know the Shah Rukh Khan thing when I wrote this.

Conflict & Paradox

I am unsure about how to word the thoughts that have been on my mind for almost a day now. But I'm still going to try, for I need to figure some things out for myself.

What do you do when someone is not quite behaving 'right' with you, and it affects you?
You may decide to put a stop to it by trying to not take whatever is being thrown at you.
But what if in the process you don't just stop taking it, but actually end up giving it back to the person concerned?
The difference being that the person is doing it unknowingly, and you are fully conscious about what you're doing.
Is it right then? Would it still be 'protecting yourself'? And anyway if you're aware of it and it is raising doubts in your mind... how is it protection? It's just causing further unrest. Isn't it? You're hurting the person back.

Isn't it bad karma?

But what happens if you feel sorry about it, and decide to apologise for it? Will it take things back to square one? Will you be the one at the receiving end of muted hurt?
Is letting this happen bad karma too?

Whatever happened to the line between me and the self? How do you maintain it without feeling bad about things?

Is putting self interest above all else really the only way to go? Even if it means compromising on loved ones' interest?
How do you balance the two? If two people love each other a lot, there must be way to ensure that neither tramples over the other one's emotions. No?


Added later:
Yes, self interest is most important. Because I need acknowledgment for things I do. I mostly do not get it. And none of you are my offspring that I'd not mind it.

Dilli Se Kuch Fun

Subhadip tagged me in the hope that I will most likely pick the tag. He was right. So here I am.

I need to use the first letter of my name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real - nothing made up. If the person before me had the same first initial (which it wasn't in my case), I must use different answers. I cannot use any word twice and I can't use my name for the boy/girl name question.


# What is your name: Richa

# A four-letter word: Rich
# A boy's name: Rajbir [oink!]
# A girl's name: Rochelle
# An occupation: Racer
# A colour: Red!
# Something you wear: Razor-back tops (I don't wear those. But people do.)
# A type of food: Rajma Chawal bhai!
# Something found in the bathroom: Ooops.. this was the space for razors. Never mind!
# A place: Ratnagiri (My next destination in Maha!)
# A reason for being late: Rattle of the roommate the previous night :P
# Something you shout: (ha)R**m khoRRR!
# A movie title: Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag
# Something you drink: Rum [looking for something better]
# A music group: R.E.M. [Mister R, aren't you proud of me? :D]
# An animal: Rat
# A street name: Rao Tula Ram Marg
# A type of car: Red Ferrari!
# Something scary: Rustigation
# Ice cream flavour: Rum Raisin :P

Kindly tag yourself if you're a blogger and haven't already done this post. :-)

Fragments

I might be over the obsession with zodiac signs that I often used to indulge in during teenage, but that doesn't change facts. The fact that I am a Virgo. I cannot take criticism. Especially if it pointless. And why is it so hard to get that I cannot take it because I am more than fully aware of the things you're pointing at? Not denying you your right to criticise, just hoping you'd do it if it entails any value addition.

And why, god why, do people not like to spell my name correctly! The other day I almost snapped at Dad for not having kept it the way the a@#%^&*! find it convenient. Really! How long does it take to check up someone's name if you do not know the spelling! Or even bother to think for a second that there could be another way of spelling the word. It's a proper noun for god's sake! And I thought there was nothing more painful than have people pronounce it wrong.

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This time when I went to Delhi I travelled in a local bus during peak hours after really long. I felt liberated in some sense. I could not help but remember the times when I used to be a timid thing scared of every man on the bus. I have really come a long way since then.

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Today was a uniform day on campus. And I chose to not follow the rule. It gave me an incredible kick! :P That is so because concepts like anarchy are vague bubbles in my head. I am a protocol person. An obedient follower. I enjoy rule books.

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Sometimes realisations take a little longer to be processed by the mind. Or maybe the processing happens till mid-way leading only to complicated thoughts but absolute inaction for improvement. And then you reach a point where you cannot take it any more. You think you'd change things from thereon. And then wait to see if you can do it. That is where I am today.

___

I am going to turn 23 soon. I am still waiting for the thing. The one thing.

We're inching towards 400

Delhi was good. It was brilliant. The weather sucked; but HOME.

I am imagining and visualising the red saree.

I am over being on this campus. Officially. April 2010, where are you?

The Jaipur Charm

I have never visited Jaipur even though it is pretty close to Delhi, and in spite of the fact that I have heard everybody finding something or the other that they love about the city. But guess what! I found something fun about the city without even visiting it.

This morning, I left campus much before the scheduled flight time. Went to Good Luck Cafe for my standard cheese omelette and ban maska. There I shared a table with an old lady who was originally from Jaipur, but had travelled all of India. Had a nice conversation with her, heard her speak pretty flawless Marathi, English, Hindi, and Punjabi, and figured that she was in the same line of work as me. And we thought it is a new field!

From there I moved straight to the airport. I was there less than four months ago. And they've constructed a whole floor ever since! It is quite possible that the observant me nicely overlooked the construction process last time, but I was pretty surprised to see the first floor today. But let's not digress. We're talking about Jaipur stuff.
In the lounge, two seats away, I saw a super-hot guy. I'd say, if ever there was a man who did justice to a big moustache in the contemporary, non-military context, it was him! Casual chappals, jeans, and a blue tee.. with the moustache! Oh man!!
Between his newspaper and my Kite Runner, we exchanged a smile. Overheard him speak on the phone - definite north Indian touch! There were four flights to Delhi scheduled over the next hour. My superfast, analytical brain immediately figured he must be on one of them. And how I hoped it was the same flight as mine. Next thing I knew, he turned to me, asked me to keep an eye on his bag as he excused himself to the men's room. I was having fun imagining things in my head when he came back and sat one seat closer to me! Ha! I SO saw a conversation following. :-) So I shut my book too. :P And there we were!
Hometown Jaipur, mechanical engineer, one month in Pune, had made a trip to Lonavala last week, and the works. He was on the Jet Airways flight to Delhi. Damn! It left 30 minutes before mine. If I had got those extra 30 minutes with him, I am sure I would have got a ten-digit number too. :P We were two polite people. Exchanging numbers would have been TOO quick a gesture. So I just said good bye to him, and shook his soft, warm hand. :D :P


"Nice talking to you!" :-)


P.S. - I am not sure if you know this, but I have a thing for certain names. They sound absolutely perfect in my head and have a charm associated with them. Moustachio's was one such name. :P

God Blessed

It were the happiest 24 hours in the longest time I can remember. Family made me happy. And this college's erratic bull shit worked in my favour for the first time ever. Or so it seems for now.

I can't believe a superbly filmy part of my life. I can't believe that I see it and feel as powerless about it as I do. Or maybe it's some sort of a subconscious-related masochistic pleasure.

There is somebody behind perspective. I am guessing it's god.

Whoever comes to my room, does not go without appreciating my wall. Makes me super happy!



I'll come back to loving you another day. I am meeting my mom today.

I'm Writing Too Frequently

**Offensive Material Follows

There is no woman on this earth who can say 'saali kutiya' the way Lynn does. It always remains in my list of top 10 most hilarious things in the world.

Her boyfriend's boss made me wait for 50 minutes. If you've ever made me wait, you would understand the gravity of this situation. But I was meeting her after SO long that I only sent two nasty SMSs to Avan, and didn't do anything else. :D
(Avan, Lynn, Priya and I are a 'gang' from a few years ago.)

I also got to sit in a brilliant class today. It doesn't happen too often now. We were addressed by the Chief Ethics Officer of the Tata Group. I didn't even know such designations existed! Very interesting session. I liked!

That'll be all.
Now I wanna watch Devil Wears Prada!! :-/

I never have interesting titles

Continuing with the popular...

# I have started reading The Kite Runner.
# I watched Love Aajkal.

Continuing with my usual...

# I spent some time at Costa and had my Earl Gray tea.
# Living with a leaky, sneezy nose again.

Doing something new...

# Had caramel popcorn. Terrible!
# Visited the popular German Bakery and Toons ( You could have put this point under the first one too. But I love symmetry more).


I wonder how some people here spend such a lot of time in the city. I've moved out of campus so many times this week that I am completely exhausted now. Different matter that I am going again tonight - Lynn is in town!! :D But this is it. I am not stepping out again for some time now! Will only be leaving the city for a few days. :D :D