WHY?

I am in awe of the human mind and the way the world functions. It is beyond comprehension at times and I wonder if I ever will be equipped to at least understand it if not do anything to contribute positively towards it. And I wonder how so many things seem simplistic to the mind. Is it just me or that's how it is with everybody? What is it that is so complex? Why is the rat race given so much importance? I know I am one of those who do give it importance but today I cannot address a WHY. Why does the world system function the way it does? What difference does it make if it is Keynes who is being followed or Patnaiks of the world who are talking about a different world? There will always be questions that remain unanswered and that is what the job of a question is but there must be solutions too, right?
And if it is affecting not just people whom we feel disconnected from but also our peers, then who really is gaining? But there is an argument that can be put forth for our micro society where people have a degree of freedom and understanding of things - at least we can think and decide for ourselves. So maybe it is only the less privileged who need a system that works for them. But at the same time, how many of us really have the capability to think for ourselves and decide what is right or wrong? Sure it is all relative but do we not need to understand ourselves before questioning the existence of anything else in the world? Or for that matter even taking for granted things that are easily available to us?

If we are all suffering then maybe it is time for social change. But what will the current world give way to? Something more brutal? Need not be, but could be. Would officially be the kalyug and end of the world then, is it?

Waiting for a day when there are more thoughts that answer all these questions. If you can enlighten, please do.

Lazy Updates

Bhaiya's happy to you.
Avan's happy to you.

Faff club started after the test today.

Finally decided to go ahead and study world politics and cultures. Will do slowly with time.

Room is super-duper clean.

Friends ditched and did not turn up for my pyjama party. Therefore, Forrest Gump tonight. Yes, no immediate submissions. :D :D



Missed home a lot today.

Extremism

Your dearest Aarbee has pan stains on a white salwaar and a white dupatta. She did it herself. No expertise in spitting, you know.
Colour sense in creatives' class makes people say I am orange. The pan stains are orange too.
Wondering what to do now.

Nothing beats the joy of sweaty, stinky self after a good session of badminton. Nothing!

And nothing beats the pain of inflammation and ulcers in the mouth either. Forced fasting is what I am doing for the past two days. Sucks.
Sansani khes: while some more desi ilaaj was on in this videshi land, yours truly coughed out some more colourful stuff that she was chewing. The target? This LCD screen through which I pretend to talk to you. It looks a little yellow after an attempt at cleaning now. Wonder if Dell will want to replace it. :-/

The pain is too unbearable. And it is the beginning of a weekend which has test prep on the agenda. Non-nice thoughts to sleep with. Will see you soon.

Adios!

I Take Offence

Today we had a session on social change communication jazz by a man whose looks and first few words spoke of fundamentalist and idealist views. Very close to a typical JNU person, if I may say so. Nothing wrong with that - my patience levels are growing, and I can respect your opinion if you are making even a tiny bit of sense. But what do I do with people who major in subjects like politics, work on civil society agendas, and are involved in a lot of advocacy but do not know what economics is! How do I listen to them go on for 90 minutes!
I would expect such a person to at least have a holistic view of what all economics entails. For god's sake, at least not assume that economics is limited to stocks and GDP growth!! And be so narrow in thinking that anyone using terms like 'inclusive growth' must be from an economics background. Or talk about the Human Development Index and not even know its components. It is not 1,2,3, and a few other such components! It is an INDEX - it is defined! And you are working in the social sector, blasting the state and corporates even for their mere existence, quoting dramatic figures from unknown reports, and then do not know your basics!! If I quote some of batchmates here, there will be too many profanities to handle. But I SO wanted to give him a piece of my mind. Maybe he will respond to some emails.

But it is not just him. Majority of the people equate economics with the stock market. Most of these do it out of mere ignorance, but I never understand how people's worldview is based on so many assumptions and simplistic ideas. I do not assume anything about things I do not know. Or at least am open to what others have to say about those things. People!

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Apart from that, please put your hands together for the new official creative brain on the blog. Second ad creative assignment in a row which was much appreciated! Yours truly obviously works only on the copy. Art work is still ART. :P

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Oh, some more people are a major piss-off -- those who believe that they can talk all day and get away by not doing any work. Unfortunately, but obviously, I am working closely with a few such people. I cannot believe the kind of fancy shit they produce to impress some more mortals who have a dimmer wit.

HMPH!

Who all are sending me flowers next week?

Act II

# I have been having cold coffee every night for a few nights now.

# I tried my hand at table tennis. Will learn in the coming months.

# Buying a badminton racket tomorrow.

# Still suck at carrom. I remember never enjoying it because I am terrible at striking that thing!

# Went for a walk uphill and lay on the road midway to enjoy the moon.

# Also checked out the moon early morning from my window recently. Super pretty!

# Irritated by a couple of things.

# Somebody tell those Bongs to shut up or I'll end up hating them all.

# Missing Economics like mad for some reason. Caught a classmate today and forcefully explained inflation to her. :P

# Nobody ever managed to hurt my ego more.

# I am alone in this room again. And shall be so till the end of the semester. :-)

# Lots of travel scheduled for October. I am looking forward to it.

# Sick friends made me utter the 'chu' word twice in one day! And then got strange kicks out of it.

# Dilli is known for all the wrong reasons, man! And unfortunately, along with people like me, the stereotypes have also come here.

# Talked to Neha and Tarun, both today. :)

# Listening to a lot of Indian Ocean instrumental and Zakir Hussain nowadays. The tabla rocks!

# Fungus is growing on everything in my room. And in the entire girls hostel. EVERYWHERE!

# The gym is almost ready. I shall meet the treadmill soon. :D

# I watched a real art film (parallel cinema is the correct description =)) yesterday - Bhumika by Shyam Benegal. I do not know if it is coincidence, but the more I am thinking about gray, the more I am experiencing or seeing it. And so the cycle is continuing.

# I am back to clicking, and am focusing on manual only. A little difficult, but funn!! :-)

Now I need to sleep. So see you soon.

P.S. Belated wishes for World Photography Day! :-)

Tonight - on the road - Swetha, Debby, Akshay and I

Ping Pong :D

Carrom :-/

Amrah (left) is holding my ad creative assignment in which we (Priyam, my partner and I - so called non creative minds) got a star. :D :D

In the mess - tasty chhole day :D

I want to be rich

Two uber hot bags at Kudos today. One of them the happiest form of green. It was a degree hotter than what your imagination tells you. The other is what was gifted to me. I wanted both. BOTH!!
Someday I shall buy the functional AND the fashionable things together.

Store the gyaan for some other post, please.

Today I was on a flight that had a female pilot. I got some strange kick out of the situation. Yes, I AM still straight.
And does Air India have leg room or what! Loved it. The old air hostess aunty was a shock as well.
Btw, Terminal 1A at IGI will probably remember me for a while now. I am their Mortein girl. Yes, my buddies in my room need a heavy dose of it and I had decided to carry it from home. Authorities decided to not let me carry it in my hand luggage. So I was made to go out and put it in my other baggage. Yes, that bag had gone for boarding. So I went with a Mr Sharma - on the way explained to ten different uncles and aunties that I live in a jungle and Mortein is important - and finally succeeded. Then a new boarding pass, security check again, and a complete round of conversations with more security fellows who all had some distant relative or the other studying in Pune. One recently got placed with Birla. Incredible, innit? :) But I am just glad I had enough time to go through the entire drama.

Also, I have not had such a sore throat in ages! I sound like a duck and my throat has barbed wires inside. Not nice. :-/

I watched Singh in Kinng and was it fun or what! Go watch it if you can appreciate raw and loudPunjabi way of things. Or simply for the love of Akshay Kumar, man. He is just brilliant. And may I please inform you - PVR Cinemas are making truckloads of money from this movie. 45 minutes of screening ads between the scheduled beginning and actual beginning of the show. Beat it.

I had also watched Jaane Tu.. (yes, finally) last week. Dunno what the hype was about. Really don't.

Ok now I need to go. Another frikkin test to study for. Tada!

P.S. - This post was originally to contain only the first para. Therefore the title. But of course.

Lavale Times - Any Given Day

Jealous of a).
Insecure about b).
Irritated by c).

Happy to see the handful.
Time is flying as usual.

Rain and chill.
Rain and humidity.

iTunes and Skype are back,
And Akshay Kumar still rules.

Flickr might remain dead.
Branding will cause fire.

Diwali is pretty far.
2:00 p.m. is much closer.

Don't ask why and what.
I don't know the how either.

Nature Camp

I am little pissed at the current situation because there was a lot that I had to write in the past couple of days but bad connectivity and mismanagement of time led to... you know what.

I went trekking with two of my friends this past Sunday. Everybody around us had been going on treks ALL this while, but somehow we didn't like the idea of walking uphill after dinner while it is raining. So on Sunday evening, we got free early and decided to walk down to a small temple by a water body that we had been noticing for a while now. People underestimate my sense of direction and so we started walking in the exact opposite direction. With my sneakers out for the first time and knees being exposed for the first time too, AND a waterproof jacket for the first time... I didn't mind it even if we were going the wrong way. :)
I am so much better than what I thought I would be at this stuff! Marshy soil, slight drizzle, and rocks all over... I was having fun!! Of course, water seeped into my socks within the first two minutes, but it was all goood!
Walked and walked, and then we cursed the entire male species. That, because three of their characters started following us. Yea, we were three women walking down a deserted hill. We had to turn back without reaching our destination. Sucked.
But we walked about 5 or so kms. Decent for a first, I say. Of course, Swetha is strong.. she could have gone on for another 5 without any problems. :)
I really really reeeaaaally wanted to click pictures of ourselves because Ridhima's purple raincoat and Swetha's fluorescent green one were just too cute. But of course, rain said no when we left. And when we got back, the mess had laddoos (Sunday sweetdish), so we just rushed there forgetting all about this tiny wish.
But we will go down again soon, and then I will make sure I click pictures.

By the way, I am living in a place where the sun came out today after ages and I automatically broke into, 'kaun aaya ki nigahon mein chamak jaag uthi' because the sun rays hitting the skin felt good. I was beginning to think even I will grow fungus soon. The sunshine made me happy. This place has had rains non-stop forever now! But our stint with the sun was shortlived. It has again been raining for several hours now.
But one real awesome thing is that I also feel that I am living in a dream sequence of a Yashraj film. Remember that scene (in all movies) when the hero/heroine breaks into a dream sequence where one of them is running down a hill and there are clouds moving on top? In my case, only the hero is missing. All of the rest is in place. In fact, the clouds have been so low and close that buildings within the campus have not been visible. The other night, even the open area inside the hostel was filled with clouds. Damn pretty it was!

But, our campus does not have water otherwise. The flooding has resulted in some lame, idiotic, bad planning issue, and so we have not had water in our bathrooms for two days now. So yes, I am also carrying buckets of water from the big tank outside. Aren't you happy that I live at the minus one level and don't have to climb up with all the weight? Or are you getting kicks out of the lower back being fucked more? Be nice, I will be in Delhi when you read this - can come and beat you up! :D :D
Yo baby, I am coming home!!!!!

I Made Friends

I completed a month here on campus today. And what a day to celebrate! Firstly, thankfully, it was the weekly off. With no test scheduled for the next day. It is ironic that I am going to say the next set of words - I do not care if I get a couple of hours less of sleep (!) now. So without bothering about the few hours that I'd get even on a Wednesday night (which is Saturday night here), I ventured out for a walk with friends in the rain. Following that was a loooong chat session with Priyam in the common area. Also got to see a hyper security woman trying to get girls back in after the in-time. Funny!
For the next day (our Sunday) was planned a trip to the city. We were going to board the first bus out at 11:00 a.m. and have a nice breakfast with everybody before that. But my roommate (!) used the bathroom for 45 minutes. For the Sunday joy, I believe. So I could not go for breakfast at all. Yes, bad habits are going. Baths happen in the morning. Unless I wake at 8:25 for the 9:00 a.m. class. :P
Coming back - everybody had some work in different parts of the city, so we first dispersed in different directions. I was alone for the first time in a month. Walked a little to Deccan. This place has ALL the banks. I saw Axis. And a queue of at least a hundred people outside - second last day for purchase of CAT forms. I was only a little too amused. And then I started looking for the Vodafone gallery. Too too far. So I walked at least 3-4 kms (in the rain again). Shopped for fruits [:)] and bought a plant too with a terracotta pot!!! It is now sitting pretty outside my room.

Friends wanted non-veg food for lunch, and I went for a dosa close-by. Alone again. But that was nice. I ended up sharing a table with a dental surgeon settled in the US visiting family here in Pune. Had a nice, pleasant conversation with her and joined friends back. Pushed off to Barista from there. Everybody was going to meet up again there. About 10 of us. The session there was going to last about 2 hours and what 2 hours we had! Lots of fun, people losing it, talking shit, laughing, not cribbing, and enjoying to the core. The pictures might talk...

Adding today's pictures and a few from all the past days.

One of the inhabitants here

Debanjana, Ruhi, Vrinda, Swetha and Ridhima on Darpan's birthday

Puppy in the centre

:P

Akshay

many more photographers around me

He was around too today

Everybody! :-)

Venky taught me "aipaddi irke" and "nalle irke". He is normal.

This was during a session with my photography club president, Prakash. That zoom burst thingi. I did! :D

Exactly a month ago with the cupboard's rod by my window

Tickle is universal. Hasn't left me in Pune either.

Shoi rarely smiles. And that night we were all in fits of laughter. You can see the reason.

Hostel and the fitness club from the top floor.

Inside the hostel.

Shagun and Priyam talking and watching MTV at 1:00 a.m.

Hostel again

And somebody is being missed on an anniversary. :(

A few, brief thoughts

Contemplations, confusions, and regrets.
Opportunities, threats, and drama.

Eventful days' drama

I had my freshers party on the 30th night. Friends say I was drunk. Pictures suggest I was, but I was just happy. I knew what was happening. In fact, it helped me dance to that non-stop progressive electronic stuff tha the damn DJ played all night. Bloody! Of course, I was enjoying it later, but initially it was annoying. Anyway. So we had fun. Came back to the hostel dead at 3:00 a.m. Slept for EIGHT hours! :D :D Studied on Thursday for a regular Friday feature - test. I might just not flunk this one. I was happy, counting down days for my trip home. And then came a bomb! Meeting and elections for a club. Yours truly stood for the VP's post, and got elected! Event on 15th August, tickets to be cancelled. Cried and cried.. now I won't get to see anyone till almost end of November. It's not even funny! Thankfully, Priyam came to my room and distracted the bloody mind. I don't even feel like celebrating. But now I am okay. Just posting some pictures from the 30th night. No, I was not drunk. :P

Amrah, Swetha, Nidhi, Ridhima and Vindy - All sober before leaving campus

With Maria and Priyam
Ridhima and Swetha - make up still fresh

Ridhima and Akshay; hee hee - me too :P

Swetha, Akshay and Shagun. I wanted drama - spot me! :D


Priyam!

Venky and dearest Sahil!

Yep, Vindy lost it too!