Sale

I saw a hoarding yesterdayfor pantaloons which proclaimed "End of season sale - 70%off". Inviting, definately. But it did lead me to wonder what they meant by "end of season" in Chennai. Chennai has only one season - HOT.

And if you wanna argue that no, there was 'rainy', 'pleasant', i guess, then 'rainy' starts sometime mid-june and ends in the begining of december. So what the hell did they mean by "end of season sale"?!

Mind you, i'm not complaining.

The road

A friend of mine once remarked about MCC: “Call this a college??!! It’s more like a holiday resort.. quiet.. green.. peaceful...” Of course there are more analogies, but we will not dwell on those, for this is not an article on MCC, but on how unfortunate it is that the road in front of the college (the Velachery Main road) is not the same.

Every person who enters college through the main gate in the morning will agree that I am not exaggerating when I compare crossing the road to an obstacle race. A little worse than an obstacle race because apart from jumping over auto headlamps and medians, squeezing between cars, tripping over cycle stands, and praying you don’t go deaf with all the honking going on around you, you also have vehicles creeping towards you from all points on the compass, ultimately leaving you with so little space that the larger of our species are sometimes forced to climb on top on the vehicle itself. Let us also not forget that the regular latecomers will also be busily messaging to find out if the professor has come to class yet, while running through this obstacle course.
As for those who come to college by bike, it’s a wonder that they manage to reach their classes before 8.30!!

The opposite occurs rest of the day. Now, the students are unable to cross the road because the vehicles, though few, are travelling fast. The Chennai municipality, out of concern for the MCCians has installed a speed breaker near the main gate. (I distinctly remember there were two last year!). However, that does not seem to be nearly enough, because though it smoothens the traffic on the MCC side of the road, while crossing the other side, one just closes her eyes, holds her friend’s hand, runs, and hopes for the best.

The situation is more serious than most realise. Apart from a countless accidents - both minor as well as major ones, there have also been many causualities. Two of our non-teaching staff fell prey to it in recent years.

The crossing, you will notice, is strangely aligned. It isn’t a crossroad, though one tends to think so. You just have the Velachery main road and a small side road leading to the station. Diagonally opposite is the main gate of MCC. If the MCC main gate had been directly opposite, or conversely, fifty meters down the road much trouble would’ve been saved. Unfortunately, since it’s just a few meters away, people tend to go on the wrong side of the road to get into college, not wanting to waste petrol going one kilometre down the road before being able to turn back. On the right side (while facing the main gate) is the East Tambaram bus stand, which takes up half the road leaving the other half only for both lanes. Thus, the traffic towards Selaiyur makes another diagonal near Palimar before they get into the proper lane. Also, the PTC buses insist on making MCC main a regular bus stop, which (though convinient for the MCCians who use tat particular mode of transport) does nothing to lessen the chaotic situation present. Of course, there is an occasional policeman sent over to man the traffic, but the situation, if you ask me, is beyond human control.
The solution also, isn’t all that simple. One can’t really move MCC main gate, can we? Nor can the path to the station be shifted without causing discomfort to many. The median can be extended, blocking traffic to the station from the left side of the road, with a U-turn further along and a zebra crossing installed for those who travel by foot, with a couple of speed bumps thrown in for good measure, but, unless I’m much mistaken, that will invite a lot of murmers from the east Tambaram residents who use the Chennai metro. Of course, one can hope that an over head bridge be installed connecting the two sides of the road, but that seems closer to day dreaming…

Of Bikes and Fairies

So once again, my mind wanders as I sit in class. Instead of stopping it, this time I actually ure it to run as far away as possible. A screechy voice shouting “thus we prove this equation” brings me back to reality. I glance at the blackboard and shudder. All I could see are Greek symbols. I sigh and pull a paper close to me. Just as I’m positioned to copy down what is written on the board, the girl next to me whispers “I’m bored.. Write me something. I’ll take down the notes”.
Glad that I can do something else, I begin ‘this piece’..

So the next question: What do I write on? For a long time, I’ve been wanting to write my observation of guys – men, as they prefer being called. Boys – if you ask me. Babies – will be closer to the truth.

Don’t get me wrong - I have nothing against babies. I love them and I cannot imagine a world without them. Even when they’re being whiny, they have a certain charm and are utterly lovable. They need to be pampered, hugged, coaxed and loved and yet be treated as if they are all grown up. It is a challenge and we women love a good challenge, so we take it up with glee!

But you have to give it to them – each man (boy) is different and unique. Of course, who have more men who would be willing to discuss the torque (term understood by them as ‘power’ ;-) ) of the latest harley Davidson rather that explain to me the difference between a nymph and an elf, but that does not mean that the latter type does not exist! Of course, you have the rare (very, very rare) exception where you’ll find a man who can discuss the details of the bike to the last nut, knows what torque means and can explain the difference between different mythical creatures, but such men, I repeat, are rare..

Guys, when you come down to it, aren’t all that hard to understand – not as hard as girls, at any rate. They’re like Ferro Rocher – hard and full of peanuts on the outside (colloquial pun intended), soft and creamy on the inside and a nut right at the centre!

Of course the thickness of the outer shell varies from guy to guy – some have it waffer thin, and others hae it as hard as coconut. But remember, it is always a shell. Based on this, they can broadly be categorised thus:

First are the set of guys who allow anyone at all to break through – any family member or friend. This kind is boring and we shall say no more about them. May they rest in peace.

Second are the ones who allow only members of the same sex to break through. They are usually distrustful of the women around. They will learn one day.

The third are those who disrust anyone new. They trust only their family and their old friends. These are the sensible ones.

The fourth – and my favorite – kind are those who pick and choose . They ones who allows a best friend, maybe – or a girlfriend (both are hand picked). The remarkable thing about this kind are that they’re emotionally very very strong.
There are other differences of course, such as whether they are straight or not, party animal or bookworn (or both), sensitive or hard hearted, stubborn or ..- there’s no ‘or’, actually, top dog or door mat, Robert Ludlum or Charles Dickens, humble or proud (strangely, there is both), atheist or theist (weird observation: more men believe, or are willing to believe in God than women), orthodox or broad minded, etc.. But such differences are there in women as well, so I will not dwell on it, but conclude in the hope that the bell will ring soon..

Hee hee.. Couldn't resist putting this in.

As he hurries to class, Prasad glances at his watch for the 10th time, quietly wondering what excuse he should give his professor – should he blame it on the Aquaguard man, or should he claim to have had a meeting or should he just stick to the plain and simple truth – that he woke up late! As he stands in the doorway of his classroom, with a sheepish grin on his face, his classmates smirk. The person who had come five minutes before him had got blasted and shooed off. The professor won’t do the same thing to the chairman, would she? The professor turns around and sees him standing there. She opens her mouth to say something, but the cries of “chairman sir” daunt her. She gives in with a small nod. Prasad, the Chairman of Madras Christian College walks in amidst cheering!

The above is a daily occurance. While it goes to show how his position influences his activities, Prasad is, essentially, a 3rd year Physics student – right from sneaking into the lab an hour late, having his cell phone confiscated, forging spectrometer readings to having a nickname for every single one of his classmates!

It all started, he says, with his wish to be “involved in college activities”. To satisfy it, in the first year, he joined the college ball badminton team. He practiced everyday from 3 - 6.30. Unfortunately, come the first tournament, he was not-so-politely asked to leave the team. Undaunted, he joined the NCC. There, due to his physical stature, he wasn’t allowed to do “drills”. They trained him intead to climb obstacles(literally) and shoot (again, literally). At his first camp he was the only MCCian to be selected. However, he didn’t get through the second. “All this taught me not to get dejected when you lose what you’re aiming at”, he says. “Oh, and also punctuality” he adds with a wink.

Thus he stood for the post of department representative. Once selected, he wanted to give the Physics dept ‘a voice’. So, he stood for chairman. Contarary to popular belief, one doesn’t have to know the big shots or the “annas” to become chairman, he says. All one has to do is contact the many hundred people who do not even know that an election is happening and convince them to vote – for him.

Now that he has become chairman, he insists that he is “one among the students”. “After two years of enjoying without responsibility, I have begun to enjoy with responsibility”, he muses. He also claims that his professors are understanding and he takes care not to miss a single practical class(even if all he does there is blink at the sodium vapour lamp). Theory class, on the other hand, are a different story…

He also says that he has had to learn to deal with different people during his tenure and one of the issues he is sensitive about is the name of the college getting tarnished due to improper behavior of the students.

“As a chairman I learnt not to simply give promises but to be honest and be fair so that no one can point to you”, he concludes.

An MBA asapirant, Prasad has recently been placed in CTS, but whether he will take up the job or not will depend on his performance in CAT.

In desperation

The link to my blog page was on scroll down thingy of my IE7, and my dad chanced across it. Thankfully I had deleted the incriminated blog only the previous day (Muhahahaha, Dad!) :-P Anyway, he commented on how there was nothing there, so I wondered what to put in.

As a general rule I love writing stuff - recording events of the past. I send e-mails which go on for pages and pages. My style of writing, I have been told, is very conversational. That is perfectly fine by me. After all, I ain't trying for the booker.

Anyway, with regard to my blog page, I wondered what to put it. I wanted to fill it in, so I can format the page (I love formatting - don't ask me why!). So I clicked "new post". The box opened. I looked at the cursor. It blinked at me. Wanting to be polite, I blinked back at it. But the cursor, politer than me, blinked again. This went on for sometime. Finally, I minimized the window and opened my google chat. RG was online.
"Ah", I thought, "RG has a blog, he'll know".
The following conversation ensued:
me: i've started a blog!
RG: Cute
let me read it
me: er..
i haven't written anything yet..
RG: Oh brilliant
me: actually i wrote something.
RG: I'm definitely going to sleep now.
me: then i deleted it.
anyway..
sleep
'night
but answer this..
what does one write in a blog?
RG: Ha ha
okay
Anything
Whatever you want.
me: see..
it's gonna be read by everyone no?
RG: Yes.
me: so it can't be personal stuff..
RG: And there'll probably be an archive that'll never die
Depends on whether you want people to know
me: No!
duh!
like, it isn't a diary..
RG: You can write stuff like about your trip and shit
It's cool.
Actually depends on you.
me: i usually don't like too many people knowing too many things about me.
ah.. trip
good
wait.
wat trip?
RG: Or like, about IISc.
Or stuff like that
me: but tat'll go for pages and pages
remb the mails i sent?
tat was only half of it!
so it'll be really long..
RG: Ah, that's good
me: which no one will read anyway..
RG: Long stuff is cool
me: so wats the point?
RG: Just split it up to multiple days.
Yeah, that's the point.
me: the point is no one reads?
RG: Exactly
me: ah.
so no one reads your blog?
RG: Ron Weasley dies.

Like that helped! Like I said, I don't want to write personal stuff, cause I wouldn't want anyone to read it, and my day-to-day activities are just too long. Too many things happen, no? So, for starters, I've decided to upload a few articles I wrote.. Most of them were wrtten in class due to desperation. (Desperate to have something to do which'll prevent the prof's dulect tones from reaching you..). A few are copyrite Woodstock.

Boredom

Ah.. boredom! How we long for those golden days when we have absolutely nothing to do... those summer mornings which are spent with the sandman... the brunches at 1 in the afternoon (can it even be called a 'brunch'?).. the slow afternoons which are spend in front of the TV watching a rented movie.. those long long baths... the many books on the 'pending' list we manage to read.. the siesta.. the evenings online, browsing, chatting, emailing.. the jealous looks from friends who have college/work/school.. the chocolates.. the shopping trips.. the music.. the cleaning of the room which lasts a whole week.. the evening rain.. Sigh..

It's pretty amazing how much a 'bored' person actually gets done!