Standards

It's incredible how people expect others to be proper, but jump to obscenity at the first opportunity they get! And then they say that they know how to handle situations. Truth is that they do not even look the other way to see what is happening. Sure, obscenity also has layers. It is always offfensive, but when it is relative in nature it is more mucky. And I do not understand why people don't get it. I may have indulged in it at some point too, and I am genuinely sorry if I did it because the point remains that it sucks.

Unstable

My stomach is stupid and slightly twisted in the head.

I was born and brought up in Delhi. Lived there for 21 years. But my stomach never got used to the food in the city. Last six months spent in the city were particularly awful. I was worried what would happen when I'd come to Pune (a new place with new food).

I moved to Pune a little over a year ago. My stomach was the happiest living being on earth. I could eat whatever the heck I wanted to. There wasn't the slightest cry from in there. And now? After all these months here... one little new thing I eat, and bam! There it goes for a toss. Just like it used to be in Delhi. It does not matter whether I eat from the streets or at a fancy restaurant. It's all equally painful.

So tell me, some enlightened soul! How does immunity reduce instead of rising?

Everyone Seems to Remember Green Day

I am slightly bored, slightly irritated, and slightly angry. The boredom initiates this post.

I am finally placed for the internship. It is a big relief. It looks like the kind of organisation I'll enjoy working for. Hoping for the best!

Most of this month got spent with crazy illnesses. I'm quite tired of it now.

The weather has been extreme for the past few weeks. Mad heat in the first half of the day, and stormy rains in the second half. My kids will really not see the tiger na? Or even winters?

Classes are already over for this term. And exams are still two weeks away. I do have projects to complete, but this is a long time span to kill. People are planning Goa. I am SO tempted!

I listened to Radio Mirchi's Tapas Sen and Big FM's Tarun Katial talk about branding. And they were plain brilliant! I also bought a tee that reads, 'It's not true that I had nothing on... I had the RADIO on!' And it has Marilyn Monroe's picture on it. :D

I also attended a concert of Rahul Sharma's. He was great with the santoor. But his team member who was on the tabla was even better. I can't believe I cannot recall his name. He was trained by Ustad Alla Rakha and Ustad Zakir Hussain. Out of the world!

The relationship with Sahil has evolved a bit. We've grown up. It's nice to have him around.

My roommate is going crazy. As of now she is in South Africa. Hope she's having a good time. She's the biggest jugaadu girl I know.

Oh, I did finally write a story for that culture studies assignment. Who was I kidding when I said I'd paint? :) That assignment was fun. The man's classes were fun too.

And half the time I am ill because I do not sleep! BYE!

Fuchsia

:-)

Memory of a Memory of a Memory

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Memory!

I was just listening to fm and heard that song rang rang mere rang rang mein from the movie Bollywood Hollywood.
It reminded me of this one thing that happened in school. I got to dance with an ultra hot guy on this song. He was from St. Thomas, Dehradun. That school had come to mine for a sports meet. The dance was at the social we had with their team.

Boy! Were all the girls of my batch jealous? Or was it envious? And did i forget to mention that he asked me for the dance. :P

The best part was that it ended at 9 in the night and next day it was news!! And was I enjoying the attention or what?!!

I swear, that guy was very very handsome and smelled great too. I remember, before leaving he came up to get a picture clicked with me. Aaah...there were more eyes staring at us. Lol!!

He turned out to be bastard but then who cares!! I had a great time. Plus, a break from the fact that I was not one of the 'sought after' girls in school ( in this context) was welcome. :D :D

It's Just a Wonderland

The sky had the most beautiful, most mesmerising golden hues. The sun's rays falling on my face made me feel beautiful. But I became alien in my own little world. Nobody knew me, or my thoughts.

No Updates

The fall internship is due in a month's time. Somebody damn the systems (or the lack of them) because I still do not know where I will be going. And I am f r e a k i n g out! I know it is the beginning of the horror called final placements, but it kills. :-/

There isn't really much happening these days for me to update this space. Except that I have no money on my phone. Or no hot water in the shower. Or no peaceful sleep in the nights. Except that I suddenly lost weight and fell sick. Except that I never thought I was capable of choosing to paint over writing for a culture studies assignment. That I have not read the newspaper in more than a week.
But I have bought a hot cushion cover with lotsa colours in it. Fuchsia too. :D

But one of the many things that are on my mind is the Delhi Diwali air. I cannot wait for a whiff of that smell. I know there's a month left for this too and I'm probably living ahead of times (no pun intended) but I am excited about it. I am! See.. there still are things that excite me!

Last year, I was busy winding up assignments, celebrating an anniversary, and gearing up for my first tryst with an NGO.
The year before that, I was busy falling in love, and healthily losing weight. Mad CAT stuff was happening on top of it all.
And the year before that, Pa was going for a surgery, I broke my back, and I was at the threshold of some losses too.
The year before that? I only remember my rangoli. I make one every year. Bad back or not.. the floral rangoli has become a religion. I love doing it. Every single year.

Yes, all the girly stuff is very much there.

I think this is about it for now. I shall let you know the moment somebody decides to give me temporary employment.

Did I Mention?

Adobe Flash sucks.

I'd rather study research all day.

Anchored

I need to count a few things, and therefore:

It took me two weeks to finally respond to the 7:00 a.m. alarm, but I did! I went for a run with one of the dogs on campus after that. I know I have no stamina whatsoever, but whatever gets the heart pumping and sweat going... works!

One of the zillion assignments' evaluation came in today. Somebody from the industry spent time on assessing it, and that's why it matters. Why it matters more is the fact that my team scored the highest. I know you think it's trivial, but there are few academic things here that have any sense or value to them.

Last week's was my team's first presentation in Dr. Sastry's class. "This group has put some thought into it. Very good." We always rock!

The balloons and the flowers from last week are still alive.

It took more than one year, but the garden promised is finally under way. The view from my window will soon be pretty too.

I managed to install Adobe Flash on my system after a lot of struggle. Now the struggle to understand it and complete the assignment begins.


See you with some more news soon!

9/11

It's the mad boy's birthday today. Geek-o-Boy turns 22.

He's the most adorable, sweet, warm, corny, crass, intelligent, charming, funny, supportive, and BLAH! guy I know today. He's so kiddish that you feel like slapping him half the time. And then you see those deep thoughts surface and surprise you at times. A recent conversation with him snatched away from me something that was always considered intrinsic to my personality (by me and others). He was not wrong. But he said it so matter-of-factly and nonchalantly that I did not even realise what happened. Changed my idea of me to quite an extent.

He's the typical mad, obsessive Virgo that many people find hard to deal with. But he's also the most efficient, warm, and sensitive person that you'd only be too lucky to have as a friend.

Today my life and my days are incomplete without him. My happiness is incomplete without his. And I'm wishing for LOTS of happiness and luck for him in the coming year. And above all, I wish peace for him.

He calls me Bageera boy. :-| That comes from Bageecha. Which comes from my original name. Talk about left-handed boys' creative products!

Clairessence

I have a sensitive nose. Not just in terms of it being in pain even if you touch it, but also because of the fact that I have an extremely strong sense of smell. And that has two aspects to it.
1. I can smell things from a distance.
2. I associate people, places, and time with smell.

If you are close to me, I can even sense your moods according to the smell I get from you. Yes, I can smell beyond your litres full of perfume too.

I have fond memories of a lot of people defined by an unexplainable smell.

But then there are also moments when I am suddenly caught off-guard by a smell from the past. Then I don't know how to handle the reactions it tries to trigger. They are not necessarily happy or sad smells, I just know they're extremely strong and result in that gush of emotions that make me pine for all the things they represent (especially because I do not have most of them now).

It's a funny phenomenon, and I have still not got a complete hang of how it works. But I enjoy it in spite of the unsettling feelings attached with it.

My Gods

I have remembered too late in the day that it's Teachers' Day. I cannot call anyone now, so thought I'd just mention a few of my favourite teachers' names here. The ones who genuinely made a difference in my life.

Mrs. Peterson for being my first dose of a strict environment.
Mrs. Simon for teaching me how not to cheat.
Mrs. Mehta for being the coolest Hindi teacher ever.
Ms. Jayshree Chatterjee, the only teacher I ever got personally close to.
Mrs. Rozario for her super-pleasant smiles!
Mrs. Pannu, who made maths classes fun for me!
Mrs. David, for drilling F=MxA into my head.
Ms. Duggal for being the perfect disciplinarian. Her words, 'you don't demand respect, you command it' are etched perfectly in my head.
Mr. Raut for being the best teacher I had in school. And also for wearing the hottest ties everyday. :P
John sir, not for teaching me, 'you bloody swine!', but also for being one of the most friendly teachers around.
Mrs. Munjal for boosting my confidence.
Mrs. Goodwin for being the most perfect English teacher ever!
Mrs. Dillon for ALLLLLL the sweetness she had to offer.
Mrs. Sen for being the feel good factor through 11th and 12th.
Mrs. Shourie, because she is somehow representative of all school memories.
Mrs. Khetarpal for encourgaing me to go national with my debates.
Mr. Aviet, for thankfully changing his image from being the scariest face in school to being the most pleasant gentleman around.

Kunal sir, for making me believe that I could do well in Maths.

Mittal sir for making Maths sound like the easiest thing in the world.

Rajiv Jha for making me miserable in the first two years of college.
Mr. A.J.C. Bose for being lively and interactive in a place where faculty didn't bother much.

Dr. Vivek Sane, who added UNBELIEVABLE amount of value to my tiny, little pool of knowledge.
Dr. V.V.R. Sastry for being the god of marketing.
Ms. Pooja Verma who was one of the most vibrant and dynamic teachers I had here in Lavale.
Sujay Madhok, for the inspirer that he is.
Dharam sir for being patient with people like me who can't do design for nuts!
Ms. Milinda Natu for the colours she brought with her in creative planning classes.
Azhar Khan for sarcastic economics.
Kavitha Iyer for making consumer behaviour one of the most interesting things.

And all the teachers who I may have missed out here but have made a difference in my life. A very happy Teachers' Day!! :-)

The Orange Mirrors*

As it often happens in big groups, you can never find a time/moment when everybody would be willing to do the same thing together. Reasons are mostly valid.
Our plan to set out to Kashid/Murud/Panchgani/Lonavala/ANYWHERE on 2nd evening got cancelled. The rigid me spoilt her mood even though I understood why we could not go. We could not even have gone partying for the same reasons.

Through the early hours of that night, I looked up places close to Pune where I could go myself the next morning. I liked Wai, but dropped the idea because of Anant Chaturdashi on the 3rd. Tamhini Ghat was next. The pictures looked good. The distance didn't seem too much either. And so I knew what I was going to do on my 23rd! Away from the black cat who was crying non-stop in the hostel that night!!

We maintain the standard midnight cake culture here on campus. But I was not expecting it to happen because of last minute changes in plans, and also because of the fact that we had classes till late on the 2nd which would have meant that nobody could have gone to the city to get the cake. I forgot that Priyam was missing from the last class.

Ridhima came to invite me at 11:55 p.m. Yumm chocolate truffle was waiting. With some 18 people. The damn mood finally behaved.



Lots of people, lots of smiles, LOTS of cake on my face, cake horns, a few phone calls, flowers, hugs, pictures, and a cold water head bath on a kinda chilly night, and it was 1:00 a.m.!

Retarded kid with papa who's afraid of getting cream on his tee

She came licking!!!

Everybody! Priyam clicked.

The girls - Ridhima, Swetha, Priyam, Ruhi, and Vrinda - had more plans for the night. There were balloons, alcohol (minus the soft drinks), and music. My room: Swetha's speakers connected, lights dimmed, and the floor had Ruhi beginning the dance-y bull shit of the night. :D
How the next couple of hours went by, maybe Priyam can tell best because she captured every single moment on her camera. The obscene dances, the mad laughters, the yuck whisky with kaam chalau iced tea that everybody still had, and the non-publishable pictures made for my typical birthday night in a girls' hostel.

Ahem.

Ye kali kaudiyali raaat :D

I was also informed that I needn't go to the Ghat alone the next morning. Everybody will come along. :D

Swetha's injuries from an accident the previous week had put her in too much pain the next morning. She could not have afforded to exert through the day. I hated leaving her behind! But the rest of us did carry on. Add Robin and Sahil to the list of girls mentioned above, and we were ready to drive out!
It was a much longer drive than we expected. The waterfalls were nothing like the pictures Google threw at me. But the drive was superb! It was raining, and the view was brilliant! We sang along with the Pune radio and just laughed through the two hours of the journey. Sahil sat with a long face through most part of the journey, but he improved over his long face of exactly a year ago. So we have to give him the benefit of doubt here, especially because he got perfectly okay once we reached the waterfall.

Our Liril girl

The girls!!

The Liril girls with a lucky boy

The water was a little cold, it was still raining, none of us had a change of clothes (even though we all knew where we were going), but what the heck! We HAD to climb up the slippery rocks and play with the water. AND we forced Priyam to let us use Mr. 1000D for the pictures too! Who knew that Robin, the creep had his digicam nicely packed in his bag! Ridhima was the only one dressed for the occasion (as always). A combination of her shorts and Vrinda's green made for the perfect Liril (la..lalalala....) moment! Sahil just enjoyed the moment.

The sweet driver offered to click

Once the tryst with little black worms (who WERE there in spite of running water) and all the slipping on the rocks was done, we began the journey back. The radio stations' frequencies were getting mingled and we got to hear some of the worst remixes of our lives. It was still hilarious because mindlessness was the order of the day. Being completely wet and sitting in the car was a tad bit uncomfortable in the beginning, and the lack of washrooms in the wilderness on this cold rainy day made it extremely uncomfortable by the end of it! To beat the cold (or not), we took out a bottle of Old Monk that was left over from last night. We had Coke on us this time! But the ones sitting in the back of the Tavera put neat alcohol in the Coke bottle, said it out loud too, but Priyam ignored (read never heard) the disclaimer and had a huge sip of the same. She was a sight after that! Uff!! She was the entertainment factor for the next half hour.

Priyam!

:P

Robin Bobbin

Pizza Hut is becoming my birthday lunch ritual. I have lost count of the number of birthdays I have gone to that place to eat on. This time the reason was exactly the same as last year. Last time it was Ganesh Chaturthi, this time Anant Chaturdashi - most roads were blocked because of the processions and celebrations. Pizza Hut comes closest to good food in the accessible areas.
The wet us started shivering the moment we entered the air-conditioned restaurant; that was funny too. And then we started hogging!

Nanu called..

While we were there, one of the many processions were passing by on the road outside. It was a group of young boys in white kurtas and red stoles with huge drums. The rhythm with which they played those drums was to die for! I swear I generally don't find these things too entertaining, but this group was plain BRILLIANT! I stood outside and thoroughly enjoyed the whole process. The beats, the symmetry, the ambience, the frolic... it was all out of the world! I especially liked the fact that they were not dancing to filmy numbers, and were instead doing it in an authentic style.

A moment anything but blurred

Exhausted, we got back to campus in the evening. I took a little nap, attended a few more phone calls, and quietly closed the birthday with four Muskeeters from Rohini. :D

__

I had not had time do this year's birthday shopping until today. And what did I buy? An expensive, girly dress!
With lotsa green in it!! :D
And now I am completely broke. But completely satiated. :-)

*It somehow translates into 'My 23rd!' in my head. :D