The change

You may wonder why i now call this blog "Speaking the thousand words". It's because of my name. You see, my name - it means picture. And you know what a picture does!

And in answer to many of your questions, the old name - "Fading dreams grow cold as ice.." is a line from Elton John's "Return to Paradise":

It's paradise here where the sun meets the sea
There's nothing to fear and so much to be
But soon I must go, say goodbye to it all
That homeland of mine is beginning to call

Goodbye doesn't mean this has to be the end
Fading dreams grow cold as ice
And I got a feeling we will meet again
When we return to paradise

The wind in our hair and the sun in our eyes
There's no need for tears and no time for lies
So reach out your hand and I'll reach out my heart
Remember me while we are apart

Goodbye doesn't mean this has to be the end
Fading dreams grow cold as ice
And I got a feeling we will meet again
When we return to paradise

I'm heading homeward
Leaving sunshine and heading for rain
But we'll return to paradise again

Goodbye doesn't mean this has to be the end
Fading dreams grow cold as ice
And I got a feeling we will meet again
When we return to paradise

Hold that thought!

A friend of mine (who begged to remain anonymous) said to me "when I was in school I decided to take up science - because by doing science you actually contribute to the total amount of human knowledge. With humanities, you don't - maybe to the beauty of the world or whatever, but not to knowledge, and with management, you contribute absolutely nothing!"

So, all you geeks out there surviving on phdcomics, now you know..

:-)

Cowardly Cops

A friend and I were travelling by 23C recently on our was to Besant Nagar. As we got into the bus at the IIT stop, two(obviously drunk) guys sped past the bus on a bike yelling and screaming at the bus driver. The driver kept trying to lose them - by either going slower or faster but these guys kept up with the bus and kept screaming. Apparently, this has been going on from Saidapet. Finally, the driver stopped the bus at the Madya Kailash signal.

There were 3 cops at signal - it was sunday evening and they were doing what cops do best on sunday evening - torture inncoent college students regarding lack of various papers and so make huge sums of money in the process. The driver stoped right next to them and tried telling them about the two guys. One cop was on the phone and didn't realise that the driver was talking to him until he caught me waving frantically to him he trotted over to see what was going on and when he found out he came back to his original place, a completely bored expression on his face. The second cop - an old cop, listen to the driver and then walked away, and the third cop was in the corner 'potty kadai' smoking!!!!!

They were completely unconcerned. Why should they listen to what the driver has to say, was their attitude? After all, the driver has no money to hand over as a bribe.. he has no influence, he can't get them a promotion! And helping him, would probably mean, they'll catch a lesser number of students and lesser bribes!

Yuck!

Recently, a friend of mine was caught "speeding" (read: 40 km/hr) at 11 in the night. The cops caught him and because there was a girl(another friend o mine) with him, they started giving him ahard time and demanded he pay them 8000Rs. They kept at it until the girl remarked, "this is ridiculous, lets call your dad". Then they backed off, since the dad was a respectable gentleman who's sure to be influential.

And this other friend of mine, who's doing journalism, tells me that even if he's caught breaking traffic rules (going the wrong way in a one way lane, for example), the cops don't do anything further. They just let him go. Which, if you ask me, is as cowardly as they can get!

This city's policemen disgust me no end!

I wonder if there's something I can do about it - at least the Madya Kailash incident since I witnessed it first hand. If you guys can think of anything, let me know..

Words! Words! Words!

Don't you love them? They way they sound when you say them out aloud? The taste they leave behind? The way they mean something different in every context? The power they give you?

Don't you love learning a new word? I remember the first time I chanced upon a new word. I must've been 8. Maybe 9. I was looking up something in our tattered Chambers' and I saw 'quintessence' on top. The word caught my eye and I looked it up. It was beautiful. Chambers also gives you the origin of the word - it's roots. I won't spoil it for you. Look it up yourself. In a dictionary - don't google it. Googling, for some reason takes away the beauty of words. You can never do the "on the way to the dictionary" thing.

My dad, when he is super bored, and had no new books to read, opens the dictionary and looks up words - their meaning, the story behind them.. It might sound geeky, but I can totally relate to that. I'd like to do that too!!

But, you know, at the end of the day, it's not the words you use that counts. It's how you use them that really matters. Sadly, few people get that.

Take Chicken Little for example. I believe (and I'm sure once you read her blog, you'll agree) that her language is extremely powerful! She doesn't write about anything powerful or deep, mind you. She writes about college, relationships, friends, studies - stuff everyone goes through. She doesn't use big words either. She uses simple, everyday, what you-and-i-will-use words. And yet, her posts are powerful. She has a way with them words.

Or take Roshan George. He has, by far, the biggest vocabulary among anyone I know. His vocabulary is even better than my dad's (yes appa, it is and you know it!), but you hardly find him flaunting his words. He learns these words and waits to use them. He threw this word at me the other day and I went all blank and he said "I've been waiting to use it ever since I was a kid. Try it somtime." I promptly forgot the word.

Me, I'm not so good with the vocabulary. I forget things. I don't remember words easily. They slip through my mind. I envy Roshan George very much. But I envy Chicken Little more. Because while Roshan knows the words, Chicken knows how to use them. And that's what really counts.

P.S: Roshan writes pretty well too. Much better than me at any rate. Loads better.

@ Roshan and Chicken: Sorry guys, the post isn't aimed at either of you. I just used you as examples.

This tag like thingy

It's Roshan's fault this time. Pass on the hate, he says. Very well, I shall.

"..too long; we've got to move on."

Here's how it works:

1.Grab the nearest book.
2.Open it to page 56.
3.Find the fifth sentence.
4.Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

I was at my desk with my bookshelf behind me. First book from the right, he said. I took the first book from the right. It happened to be Issac Asimov's The rest of the Robots. Collecion of short stories which never got published as a book. This one's from Victory Unintentional.

Apart from that, I apologize for my long absence. I had - you guessed it - exams! And app work. More exams and more app work beckon. Wish me luck, people!

Sabbath day

Well, since I liked the response I got when I told everyone, I thought I might as well post it:

Today, sunday the 19th october, I had my Atmoic and Molecular physics quiz.

There. I said it. The funny part being, we picked a sunday. The prof wasn't too happy with it. Why would he be? He has to come to work on a sunday!. But we clearly told him that we don't have another date to spare. It was now or never. So he picked now. He needs to grade us, you see.

Ah well, says something about wannabe nerds, doesn't it?

So morning I wrote the exam. Afternoon I slept. Tonight I will write record.

In other news, my Toefl results came out. Apparently, my english is good - I know how to read, understand, speak and write english. Well, that's what they said. If you have a problem with that, you may pick a fight with ETS.

As cute as it gets.

Got my first intro to 55 from Pseudo here.

Anyway, decided to write one myself. A '55' is a story which is written in less than 55 words. So here goes:

Her mind wandered as usual. She smiles to herself as she thinks of the previous evening. Dinner was perfect. Her phone suddenly vibrates. She checks it under the desk. A message - 'Stop thinking of me and concentrate on class :-) '. She couldn't help grinning as she continued copying down what was on the board.

Oh, I know that's so-cute-it-makes-you-puke-ish and who-does-that-anyway-ish, but hey, it's my first attempt, so be nice, okay?
Oh and you guys should try a 55 as well!

My third :-)

My little brother(nice chap - brought me baccarwadi's (which is all I could think of all day since I let myself have one. It's one of those Ruffles lays things -No one can eat just one fits right! :-) )) told me last week to expect a tag. Too bad for him I had been tagged simultaneously by the same person. I see he hasn't done his bit though.. Anyway, here I go:

The rules for the tag are:

RULE #1 People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs and replace any question that they dislike with a new question formulated by themselves.

RULE #2 Tag 6 people to do this quiz and those who are tagged cannot refuse. These people must state who they were tagged by and cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by continue this game by sending it to other people.

1. If your lover betrayed you, what will your reaction be?
Knowing me, denial.. Until someone kicks me nice and hard!

2. If you can have a dream come true, what would it be?
To be the queen of the world!! :-D

3. Whose butt would you like to kick?
A certain pumpkin's!

4. What would you do with a billion dollars?
Buy a yatch! Travel the world in style!

5. Will you fall in love with your best friend?
Ewwwwwww... No, really. If you know m best-friend, you won't even ask!

6. Which is more blessed: loving someone or being loved by someone?
Assuming, I'll have to choose, I'll say, being loved. The other hurts!

7. How long do you intend to wait for someone you love?
If they love me back - forever. If they don't - maybe a day! Maybe.

8. If the person you secretly like is attached, what will you do?
Sigh over his gtalk icon in secret! ;-)

9. If you could root for one social cause, what would it be?
Global warming! Though i dunno how 'social' that is!

10. What takes you down the fastest?
Cramps! A thousand times over. Literally!

11. Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?
10 years.. Um. Married? Kids? Oh, and a world reknown scientist waiting for the Nobel, of course!

12. What’s your fear?
Monsters under my bed!

13. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
A great kid! My fav. blogger friend!!

14. Would you rather be single and rich or married and poor?
Um. That would depend on who I'm married to, of course. What if I get to marry Prince William or something?

15. What’s the first thing you do wen you wake up?
Yell at whoever wakes me up! *sheepish grin* Sowwie!

16. If you fall in love with two people simultaneously who will you pick?
The one who loves me back. In case both do, I'll toss a coin! Coins don't lie! :-)

17. Would you give all in a relationship?
Depends on how old the relationship is and how serious it is!

18. Would you forgive and forget someone no matter how horrible a thing he has done?
Um. Yeah, I've been known (infamously) to be very forgiving.

19. Do you prefer being single or in a relationship?
Oh, it can be fun both ways! I don't really care. As long as I'm not in a love triangle or something, I guess!

20. List of 6 people to tag:
Aarti - cause she loves tags.
Mathika - cause she gave me my first ever tag.
Vinod - cause he needs a reson to blog.
Rabia, Roshan - cause I want to know their answers to a few of these questions.
Satyaki - cause if I don't think anyone else gives him tags.

Nsoy! :-)

Footnote: Aquila is a sweet kid as well, considering she showed Ajay where one might obtain the said baccarwadis and Sharmila is 'ze best' cause she introduced me to them!

The list

I had compiled a list of movies-to-watch-when-you're-feeling-bored-cause-you-gotta-watch-them-before-you-die-else-your-life-had-no-meaning sometime back, but never got around to posting it.. and then of course, I forgot all about it. Recently, Aquila had asked me to suggest a movie, and I remembered the list. I took it out, dusted it, and now i'm putting it up. I haven't seen some(say, 30%) of the movies myself, so dont blame me if you don't like it - just know that whoever recommended it did so strongly! All additions are always welcome. Happy watching! :-)

The serious ones

1.Mississipi burning
2.The deer hunter
3.Dead man walking
4.Scent of a woman
5.The bridges of Madison country
6.Flags of our fathers
7.Leaving las vegas
8.Syriana
9.Traffic
10.Cast away
11.Apocalypse now
12.The French connection
13.The swashank redemption
14.Lost in translation
15.Schindler’s list
16.Million dollar baby
17.Crash
18.Blood diamond
19.Arlington Road
20.One flew over the cuckoo’s nest
21.The aviator
22.Life is beautiful
23.Dangerous minds
24.Saving private Ryan
25.Road to Perdition
26.The deep end of ocean
27.A few good men


The not so serious ones

1.Good will hunting
2.Wag the dog
3.As good as it gets
4.Ocean’s eleven
5.My best friend’s wedding
6.Notting hill
7.Music and lyrics
8.Little Miss Sunshine
9. Seabiscuit
10.The greatest game ever played
11.Father of the bride
12.Starsky and Hutch
13.Hitch
14.Forrest gump
15.One fine day
16.Pretty woman
17.Pirates of the Carribeans
18.True lies
19.Erin Brochovich
20.The terminal
21.About a boy
22.August rush
23.Love actually



As kids

1.Finding Nemo
2.Ice Age 1 and 2
3.Madagascar
4.Parent trap
5.Lion king
6.Dunston Checks in
7.Liar Liar
8.Prince of Egypt
9.Baby’s day out


The classics

1.An American in Paris
2.Sound of music
3.Roman holiday
4.Star wars – the whole series
5.My fair lady
6.How to steal a million dollars
7.Sabrina
8.Charade
9.The good, the bad and the ugly
10.Benhur
11.For a few dollars more
12.for a fistful of dollars
13.Once upon a time in the west
14.Unforgiven
15.Mackenna's gold
16.Godfather
17.Casablanca
18.The bicycle thief

I'm a... WHAT?

Scene one(Temashek hall, NUS - my room): Aquila's gtalking and I'm sipping the Raspberry Vodka I split with her. The vodka's getting to me, I guess. I turn to her and go, "doesn't all this feel nice and grown-up. Sitting in a different country, chatting with your best friend and drinking pink-colour alcohol? Like your childhood dream?" She turns back and smiles.
Half and hour later:
Aquila: Do you still feel on top of the world?
Me: No!

Scene 2 (Fruit shop, Anna Nagar): I'm meeting two of my school friends - Banu and Archana - after four years. We haven't met or spoken since school, but we used to be pretty close then. I called them on an impulse and we decided to meet.
Archana: So, what you planning to do next?
Me: PhD, hopefully.
Banu: But won't that take a long time?
Me: 5 years, if I'm luck (yes, I think of Mike Slakenerny and smile!)
Archana: So, when you planning to get married??
Me: M-M-mmarried?
Banu: Yeah..
Me: After that I guess.. Why? When you guys planning to get married?
Archana: In another year or two I guess.. They're looking out.
Me: Looking out??? But that's so... grown up!

Scene 3 (I'm having a messaging conversation with a 'friend*'). Friend sends me a message "... so, we suspected my girlfriend was pregnant and I had to got her a test.."
Me: ??????????????????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

* I'm obviously not gonna tell you who I'm talking about, so don't even bother asking!


Scene 4 (Bakkiya's house): We're sipping juice and listening to her describe labour pains and how great it is (yeah, you heard me right the first time)! Sug is listening. Soumya and I look at each other. Um, but this is what adults - older women talk about! Not.. not us!!!

Scene 5 (On the phone): A friend is telling me about his taxes and arrears. I go "Ha, ha, you have arrears". I hear a frown which conveys 'grow up already'. I try to cover up with "It sounds so.. you know.. grown up. It's what parents do!!". It does!

Scene 6 (Suganya's wedding): Some dude goes "I welcome Mr.Allen and Mrs. Suganya Princess". Mrs???????

Scene 7 (In the car): Archana goes "do you know we are over age for all sports training camps in the city? Everyone tells us 'we'll let you know if we start a senior batch!'" We are??

Scene 8 (last night, outside my gate): We're returning from Soumya's sister's wedding. Divvya (for those of you who don't know, Divvya is my oldest friend. We've been 'best-friends' since 2nd standard) was dropping me home. It was around 11.30 in the night. I was the last one to be dropped, as usual (It's because I live the closest to her place. Plus I'm good with directions). I had to keep going 'turn left, go right, go straight' since Deena's house.
Finally we entered my colony. I said "you're supposed to know this place.. you grew up here!!"
She goes "yeah, I know"
But to irritate her I continued "take a right here".
"I know"
"Left"
"I know"
"Go straight."
I get a glare.
(At my road) "Turn right"
"Hello? I know!!!!"
"First house on the left."
"Oh, apadingala (Is that so)?? I didn't know.."

We both laughed as I got out of the car and she waited till I got into the house before leaving - like her dad and granddad used to do the many times they dropped me over the past 15 years. I thought of 15 years ago when I actually didn't know her house and went searching for it with my maid on Diwali day. She came back home with me that day and it's been 15 years since then. But it seems like just yesterday. Not that I mind the drop-you-off-post-11-and-make-sure-you're-in-before-i-take-off thing. It kinda feels nice.
(Who am I kidding?)
It feels real good and all.. well, grown up.

Maybe, just maybe, being grown up isn't so bad after all! :-)

Fling! BANG!... Ooops!

Everyone's done a post on LHC. Why should I be out of the loop??

Today, while walking down the down, I happened to overhear two girls talking about the LHC:
Girl 1: So, if this experiment went wrong, yesterday is the last day of earth.
Girl 2: (Shocked) Oh no!
Girl 1: But thankfully, the experiment didn't went wrong, so it's okay.

Anyway, apart from telling us what exactly our government spends half our education budget on, and the state of english in IIT (I told you so!), it also gives us a slight idea of exactly how uninformed the people around us are about the LHC!

My at.mol prof told us on tuesday "So, in the event that the rumour about micro blackholes being created and sucking us all in is true, we shall not meet on monday. But I can pretty reasonably assure you that that will not happen. So, be on time."

One of those times, when you forgot your physics and wished for blackholes. Especially since we have an assignment due monday!

Ah, well, C'est la vie.

I sent this link to most of you. Got it from Ajay's status message. Apparently, most of you have already seen it. In case you haven't:

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=j50ZssEojtM

It's not completely true. But funny nevertheless.

Apparently, Hawking has a bet for $100 that the Higg's boson will not be discovered. Which is not so good, actually. The search for it will still be on, and they'll just end up building a bigger accelerator and spending more money. Starving millions, anyone?

The latest addiction!

Okay, I admit it. I really am addicted to phdcomics. Just that the strip is so damn funny!!! Take this one for example:




And this, strangely is not even one of the more popular ones.. But you must've seen the others. This one is just my personal favorite.

Anyway, I went into the archives and started reading all the ones written long ago - some 1000 odd strips and I'm proud to say that yesterday, I finally finished reading all of them! Now I'm an expert. Almost. :-)

P.S: Mike is my fav. character. Who's yours?

The poll

Just out of curiosity, how come no one's voting on the poll. Just wondering.. Just 3 votes so far and I - accd to sitemeter - have about 10 visitors a day. Oh, and does anyone know how to change the font colour. It is difficult to read, I agree. And this is also a 'I-just-wanted-to-post-but-didn't-know-what-to-post-on' post.

In other news, I have started swimming again - after 5 years. And it is true what they say - you can never forget how to swim!

Enga area.. ulla varadhae!

Before I begin,
Happy birthday, Madras!

A long promised post. I must say that the repeated requests for it flattered me no end and I wanted to do justice to it! Hence I took a long time and decided to post it on August 22nd - for what better day??

I’m not gonna give you people a list of reasons we love this place. Enough blogs have them. Or open the supplements today. All of them will carry popular opinions which will, I’m sure include filter kaapi, podimas, beach road, mount road, ranganathan street, spencers(for Gawd knows what reason), Anna nagar tower, etc.. I, however, am gonna merely state and refute or reinstate popular opinions, giving credit where it is due.

So what is so great about this place, you ask? After all, it has been voted as being the hottest, most conservative, boring, and most under-developed among the metros! A desert - in short. Chennai autos are infamous throughout the country and the city is definitely not known for its night-life, hot chicks or guys! There are exactly two big malls and Chennai people do not know how to dress and those who do, find it too expensive to maintain it! The city dwellers refuse to learn hindi, thus making it difficult for the rest of the country to come down for a visit and what's there by way of sight-seeing anyway? The city has a rainy season of two-weeks and is eternally on the verge of a water-shortage. The politicians are again infamous throughout the country (who doesn't know Jayalalitha? - who studied in Church Park, btw..)and the people are uninteresting and stupid. Most importantly, according to my friend, "It didn't even have a McD till 3 months ago, and Madrasi food sucks!" and the beach is of course, as dirty as it gets!

Okay, now that I've written all the points which people keep throwing at me, let me start by refuting them one by one.

First of all, this place is not a desert. As my sister put it 'The only thing you don't get in T.Nagar is an aeroplane'.

Yes it is hot, I'm sorry about that - but has anyone ever noticed that it is hot for precisely 3 months a year? The rest of the year, I am cursing the hostel administrators every morning for not having a geyser!

And yup, most people are conservative, but that is just about the way they live their lives and the way their children live theirs! They let everyone else be. Chennites are among those who do not pass judgement easily, believe it or not. We're more open minded than B'loreans or Delhites in the sense that, in either of those places, you need to be 'cool' and 'hep'. You can't be who you are the way you want to be. You need to fake it and pretend just to fit in - something neither I, nor anyone I know had to do in Chennai. It's a city of extremes and weirdly, the extremes get along very well. Here, it is common to find a pardha cladding muslim be best friends with one who sports the minis and halters.

The autos are irritating, but be a sport about it, won't you? Walk! Nothing feels as good as a long walk. Just trust me on this one. And if you hate your feet, take the public transport. Apparently, Chennai is one of the few cities which is very wll connected by public transport! (If anyone has a contention here, they can contact Mr. Ipe Job, who, by the way, spent his entire childhood elsewhere).

And as for the nightlife, we do have our fair share of clubs and discos and pubs. What we also have is more than our fair share of Sabhas and Concert halls and Theatre/Rock fests! *Allow me a huge grin here, will you?*

Two big malls and one McD – forgive me, but I’m kinda proud we haven’t yet succumbed to the US based MNCs who drive our men out of business!

The hindi bit, again something I’m proud of, but that has a whole post dedicated to it. Besides, did you know that you didn’t need to know Tamil at all to survive here? Ask my friend Anisha – she was born in Chennai, lived here all her life, her mother-tongue is tamil, she studied tamil in school till the 8th and she still can’t frame a proper sentence in it! Why? Because she doesn’t need to!
In fact, apart from her, I have exactly, *counts* 5 tamilian friends. No, 6, but the 6th is the same as Anisha - can’t speak tam for nuts! I’m talking about people born and brought up in Chennai, of course. It is expected I should know many more… but weirdly I don’t! *grins* Cosmopolitan, eh?

The city, though has always been on the verge of water-shortage, never actually was! 5 successive years of failed monsoon and I didn’t have to miss a single bath. Compare this with the west, where one failed monsoon and they’re already worried to death!

I dunno what they mean when they say ‘Madarasi food’, but I’ll say one thing – we make the best god dammed sandwiches EVER! (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, please please go to Alsa mall the next time you’re free!
Oh, and one thing non-south Indians should know – idly doesn’t taste the least bit like how you get it in restaurants – I dunno why, but home idlys feel and taste very different!

Hot chicks, dreamy guys – well, you got me there. Er.. * scratches head*. All I can say is Madhavan, Siddharth, Shriya, anyone?? *sheepish grin*

Oh, the sight-seeing bit *chuckles* (bet no one else got the joke anyway!), well.. apart from the beaches (check ‘em all out!), I have on my platter Dakshin Chitra, 3 amusement parks, Mahabs, Crocodile bank (it’s really cool, trust you me!), Vandalur zoo (It’s almost as good as the Singapore one. Almost), etc.. (Remind me to put up a long list at some point of time in life.

As for the uninteresting and stupid people bit, well.. off the top of my head – Indira Nooyi, A.R Rahman, Kalam (well, he studied in MIT – that counts), C.V.Raman, Chandrashekar, Vishvanathan Anand, etc..

So yes, there I refute all the statements ever thrown. If you have anymore, bring ‘em on!

Oh, and also, let me mention that no one can stay in this city for more than 4 years without falling in love with it, apparently. Ask my MCC friends – Unni Nair, Sai Krishna, Satyaki Roy, Prashant Ipe Job, Shannon Peter to name a few..
They constantly surprise me with they proclaimations! Stuff even I wouldn’t dream of saying. Like Unni saying he’ll do anything to settle down in Chennai! Or Satyaki (this guy swore he would never return to Chennai once he was done with MCC) pinging me to let me know that he was returning to ‘his favourite city’ the next day. And Pipe (dude could never stop talking about UP when he landed here) having an argument with me – ME – about the afore mentioned transport thing. And Shannon (sigh, you gotta meet him – no word would do justice here) calling me up the night before an exam to argue about how Chennai is the safest city on the planet. Yes, I said argue. I didn’t agree with him of course!


Last year, same day, I sent a message to all my friends wishing them. I don't have a copy of the message, so I can't quote it verbatim, but here's what I remember of it: "I'm looking out of my window and all I can see is a vast expanse of green trees and shrubs against a light blue and pink and purple sky dotted with white clouds. A few coconut trees are popping out of the green mass and swaying to the wind. In a distance is a solitary building - the tidal park with it's lights coming on! And all this, bang in the centre of the city! Where else, but here?”

That message still holds.

We love you, Madras!!!! :-)

With friends like this...

Have you ever come across a pair of friends you envy - envy, cause you never had a friend like that? A pair who make you wanna lean against the door and smile? A pair you're not a part of, and though you'd love to be, you do not want to even peep into their world in case you destroy the balance? The kind of friends you read about in books, and are talked about in movies - and all this while you thought that that kind did not exist and when you realise they do, you suddenly feel lonely - lonely like never before.. and happy - happy, cause, to re-quote Aquila's blog title "it's a wonderful world indeed which contains something so beautiful!

( To answer your questions, yes I am thinking of certain two people, and no, I'm not gonna tell you who it is!)

My second tag

So soumya tagged me.. Visit her blog page sometime. She updates it more regularly than anyone else i know. The tag itself is simple. You just answer some 30-3 questions. Here goes:

1. What's your latest addiction?
Coffee. Can't live without it anymore!

2. What are you listening to?
Some stupid song which plays everytime I visit soumya's blog. (P.S: Girl, how do i turn it off??)

3. How late did you stay up last night and why?
Um. 3 o clock in the morning.(Dad, if you're reading this, DO NOT freak). We having having a heart to heart thingy follwed by two phone calls (I was returning them).

4. Who were you with last Friday night?
My classmates and my juniors (Dept. freshies!)

5. Do you think you will be in a relationship 3 months from now?
Well, one hopes.. :-)

6. When is the next time you'll see your close friends?
In a few mins.. Someone's sure to knock on my door, calling me for dinner!

7. What were you doing this morning at 7am?
Sleeping, of course!!

8. What radio station do you listen to the most?
104.8 F.M.

9. What was the reason you last cried?
Lemme see.. I guess it was when a friend of mine yelled at me in public.

10. Have you ever talked to someone when they were high?
Oh, yes!!!!

11. What's the fifth text in your inbox say?
It says "what happened". Go figure. :-)


12. Where was the last coffee shop you [went to]?
CCD, of course. One week ago.

13. What's your outfit right now?
PJs

[No 14 and 15]

16. What were you doing at 11pm last night?
Having the aforementioned heart-to-heart

17. Who was the last person you talked to last night before bed?
Um. Jenita and Shravini. Wished them goodnight.

18. Will you be driving in a year?
Unless I have an accident, yeah!

19. Is there anything that you are craving right now?
The beach. (No idea why..)

20. When did your last hug take place?
Last night. I burst into Ranjini's room saying "I need a hug" right after a horrible GRE test!

[No 21 either.]

22. Have you ever started a sentence with "No offense, but..."?
Of course... Many many times. But usually, as a semi-joke.

23. Do you drink tea?
Occasionally. When there's no coffee. [Coffee rocks! :-) ]

24. Have you ever been arrested?
Nope.

25. Have you rode in someone else's car today?
Didn't leave the hostel today (yeah, yeah.. I know. Sad life et al.)

26. Have you made a mistake this past week?
Maybe. I wouldn't know yet.

27. Who was the last person you texted?
Vinod, I think.

28. Are you happy with your life right now?
With GRE next week, how could I be?? ;-(

29. In the past 72 hours have you been under the influence?
Um. "The" influence? Nope.

30. What's the connection between you and the last person you texted?
I'll stick with the "best friend's best friend". It's more interesting than 'friend' at any rate.


So I tag everyone who's on my blog roll!

One jobless optics class..

So yesterday we were studying the Drude model in Cond. Mat. (I can see all of you going "eh? what?") and in the next class - which happened to be optics - Debo and I came up with a poem which is bokka (to know the meaning of the word ask a bong near you) to say the least!

This is what Debo had to say:

Drude the dude,
See, i don't mean to be rude,
But your model is so crude,
For mankind it's no good,
Cv and are wearing a hood,
I'm sorry to say that this'll be definitely be rejected by Sarika's Sood*!

So I replied with:

Hey Debo, this is Drude,
Just wanna tell you that I'm in no mood,
To listen to you be so prude,
I think your humour is better when it's lewd,
So stop putting pseud!

Now you know what IITians do in class! :-)


* Sood is a prof in IISc. under whom Sarika did her summer internship.

And once again - goodbye!

The following is an excerpt from a mail I meant to send a year ago(31/5/07 to be exact), but never did! I found it in the drafts today, while looking for something else, and I just thought I'll put it in. It describes a feeling I was to experience many times over in the following year:


You know that feeling you get when you see a friend off? You see her getting into the bus and take up a seat. She looks out at you from the window and smiles and waves. You smile back and keep waving till the bus turns around the corner. Then you turn around and start walking. The road suddenly looks both beautiful and empty. You have a smile on your face but you feel lonely.. Why am i typing this? Because i just saw Madhu off on her JNC shuttle and I wanted to get the feeling while it still was there. Sure there's another shuttle I can catch in another two hours but life - my work would've caught up with me by then. I would no longer want to get into the bus.. I'll meet her, maybe, this weekend, but the moment would be long gone. But, years later when I look back and ponder upon what our friendship was all about, it is this moment that i will think of. It is that feeling - a sudden loss of safety, a sense of loneliness - that I will remember.

And now, a year later, I've done that over and over again. Endless times. Now-a-days, it's with a "I dunno when I'll see you next, so I'll see you when I'll see you" - to close/best friends from school going abroad, to cousins leaving to different places, to classmates from college who work in different parts of the world, to friends I met during the summer during my internship... the list is endless!

There is no escape of course - the goodbyes must be said, the hugs must be given and you must watch them as they turn and disappear out of sight - perhaps forever!

For Thine is the Kingdom

God - Possibly the most discussed topic ever. No, that would be food (three times a day per person min.). Well, alright, the second most discussed topic ever..

The fact that I'm an atheist has invited it's share of shocked expressions as I grew up. I still remember our valedictory lunch when all of us were sitting around a table in Mainland China - dressed in our saris and feeling all grown up - when Rabia suddenly remarked "Oh, but Chitra doesn't believe in God!".
"What?" - A general cry and shocked expressions all around followed by a discussion on God and Religion where everyone else agreed that 'God invented man but man invented religion'(quite profound for a 16 yr old, come to think of it).

That being the first time I had openly admitted to being an atheist, it was also the first time I had to put up with such a reaction. Also I came from a very Christiany Christian school - you know, prayers 4 times a day, teacher making fun of Durga's multiple hands during a history lesson, Darwin bashing during a bio lesson, scripture verses competitions, no bangles/bindi, plain sari for the valedictory(though, I have to admit, that looks very pretty), arguments on the big bang theory, the choir singing only religious songs - heck! the rock band played only religious songs!, etc.. you get the picture.
At the end of it all, I was sick of the whole thing. Sick of having a religion being pushed upon me and having to defend my beliefs.

I was also a very confused kid as I grew up. I don't come from a particularly religious family. There was the usual temple visits every birthday and every summer and pray to God on religious holidays thing, but I wasn't brought up on stories of Hindu mythology(things I pester my classmates at IIT for now!) - my dad used to tell me stories of the wars and the rise and fall of civilisations and dynasties - facts, not fiction, mind you.

Maybe that was what got me interested in Science - it dealt with hardcore facts. You got to verify everything. In religion on the other hand, you gotta trust blindly - something which never appealed to me. It was tempting, mind you. I mean, imagine putting all your trust and troubles and burdens and duties on someone else and believing that it'll all be taken care of! I would give a lot to be able to do that, but I know I never can.

It, somehow, doesn't seem right!

When my sister and I had our little accident, my mom prayed to some temple somewhere down south and said she'll do an 'archanai' there if we get better. We did and now she wants to go. She thinks my dad and I were sniggering at her when she told us this, but we weren't. Well, I can't speak for him, but I, for one, have never been against anyone else's blind faith. Just because I like to lead a life where I believe I and I alone am responsible for everything I do, doesn't mean I expect everyone else to do the same! Which is why it irritates me when others come and try to convince me that there does exist a God. Why do they do that? If they can accept that Hindus believe in Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, the Muslims in Allah and the Christians in Jesus Christ, why can't they let me believe in none? Why is it impertinent that I believe in someone whoever he/she be?

Though I'm being a tad unfair in making the previous statement. People accept the other religions because of religious harmony but they don't stop trying to convince the others to accept their own. I can understand that. What I can't stand is when someone pushes their beliefs upon you. Like Mrs. Rajan in school who made fun of Kali when we were studying about Durga Pooja in Social studies (I was 8 and I wasn't pleased with what was happening - if I had been older, I guess I would've protested, but then again she wouldn't have made such a statement to a bunch of 16 year olds - which just makes me lose all respect for her, but that's besides the point..). Or that lady who came home and gave my mom, who politely asked her what she did, a nice long lecture on how Christianity is the best and my mom should come for some meeting somewhere (I couldn't control my laughter and walked out of the room soon enough), or my aunt(who I love a lot and would die for her and so shouldn't put her name along with the others, but, hey, it's just an example) who tries to convince me to attend 'Art of living classes' - something, Chicken Little will assure you I don't need, since acc. to her I can be happy in a jail - whatever that means!

Another thing which always struck me as strange was the way girls are usually either firm believers or atheist. They dislike being an 'agnostic' for a long time, while that seems the popular choice with guys!! Of course, I will discount the masses who claim they are an agnostic because "they believe in God - some God, no name, but a supreme power" (to such people, I would suggest that they please go look up the dictionary meaning of the word and not be ashamed of believing in a supreme power. Trust me, there's nothing 'cool' about being an agnostic or a atheist!).

There's another category of people - my favorite - the ones who believe in God thanks to Pascal's wager argument ! Smart people, they are.. but it does seem like cheating, doesn't it? And if there is a God who knows all and controls all, won't he know exactly what these people are getting at? Ah, well..

Whatever works for them!

The night before the wedding.

One evening Marilla, coming in from the orchard with a basket of apples, found Anne sitting along by the east window in the twilight, crying bitterly.

"Whatever's the matter now, Anne?" she asked.

"It's about Diana," sobbed Anne luxuriously. "I love Diana so, Marilla. I cannot ever live without her. But I know very well when we grow up that Diana will get married and go away and leave me. And oh, what shall I do? I hate her husband--I just hate him furiously. I've been imagining it all out--the wedding and everything--Diana dressed in snowy garments, with a veil, and looking as beautiful and regal as a queen; and me the bridesmaid, with a lovely dress too, and puffed sleeves, but with a breaking heart hid beneath my smiling face. And then bidding Diana goodbye-e-e--" Here Anne broke down entirely and wept with increasing bitterness.

- Anne(12) in Anne of Green Gables


"It's all pretty much as I used to imagine it long ago, when I wept over your inevitable marriage and our consequent parting," she laughed. "You are the bride of my dreams, Diana, with the `lovely misty veil'; and I am YOUR bridesmaid. But, alas! I haven't the puffed sleeves -- though these short lace ones are even prettier. Neither is my heart wholly breaking nor do I exactly hate Fred."

- Anne(21) in Anne of the Island

The narrative - Part 1

Here is a very brief (by my standards) report of my recent trip to Singapore. Popular demands et al..

Characters you will meet during the course of this narative:

1) Ranjini: (a.k.a assie) She's a classmate of mine. A total nutcase/genius/idiot/sweetheart - you get the picture. She denies the obvious very vehemently. Both of us travelled to and fro together. She can be fun when she's not scared of the little beetle on my head or a water tank or, i dunno.. the skyline!

2) Aquila: My soulmate ;-) Well, the only other girl in India to be doing a master's in physics, have a blog, 2 friends from col., go through a make-over, read the way books should be read, etc.. If you know any other, we'll be happy if you could let us know!

3)Sharmila: Aquila's classmate (they're from Pune university). A complete sweetheart. The only sensible and responsible person among the lot of us - hence she gets stuck with handling our finances, tickets and p.o.a wherever we go. Oh and she knows moonwalking! But that's a tale of it's own..

4) Tanya: A girl from Delhi. One of those who remind you not to go by first impressions. Sweet, cheerful, bubbling with life, confidant, etc.. - a typical Delhi girl! Except she's smart too!

5,6,7) Siddharth, Soumalya, Veeresh: Three guys from my class. I will say no more. Read on and form your own opinions :-)

8) Sandip: Aquila's classmate. Obbessed with photography. Has been known to take a minimum of 1000 photographs in one day. And no, I'm not exaggerating. Oh, Veeresh like taking photos too, but Sandip takes the cake.

9) Rakhi: A PhD student from IIT-M. Helped us settle in and gave us murruku everytime we visited her. :-)

10) Sharon, Minrui, Binni, Yilin, Zhi Han: People in my lab. But more about them as the tale proceeds.

11) Dr.Sow: My guide. (Yeah, I admit his name should've been first conventionally, but heck, you guys don't wanna hear about my work in the lab, do you??)



The story:

Ranjini and I arrive at the Changi airport and are picked up by my brother. I guess he convinced the taxi driver that he knows the town well, cause we had to pay barely $20, while my friends paid $35! Guess the autos in B'lore and the taxis there don't really differ much!

We reached Temashek hall (our home for 6 weeks) at 9 in the morning. We went to the chap who was incharge of giving us the keys(correction: transponder) to our rooms only to be told by this lady (maid? wife? daughter?) that he was still sleeping!! We insisted that he be woken up, and he came out all grumpy and grouchy (it was only later that we found out that that's how he normally looks; even when he's telling jokes about how there are two sesons in S'pore: hot and very hot (you can roll your eyes all you want - i was forced to laugh politely)). He gave us the transponder and explained how it works. I never did get why they had to use something like that! What's wrong with a normal key?? Esp since they made us pay 42$ if anything happened to it!

To be continued..

Wherever I roam..

Last night it rained hard in Chennai. A sudden burst of thunder followed by heavy rain which lasted for many hours. A strange occurence in itself. Many wondered why - it was so out of the blue. It seemed like a clear evening.

Not those who knew me of course! The city was in tears with happiness. The princess had returned to her kingdom! :-)

The streets were muddy. The roads - flooded. Even the new bridge over the Katipara junction had stagnated water all over it. It was 12 in the night and the traffic was still chaotic. We got splashed and sprayed as the call taxis and guys in their shining pulsars over-took us as they raced past, breaking a million traffic rules on their way. As i looked out, many people huddled close, holding a plastic sheet over their head. A thin old man, walked past us near nungambakkam, with a walking stick to hold him up and a towel to protect him from the lashing rain. A transformer sent out a shower of sparks before immering the area in darkness. We drove past old forgotten buildings, construction sites, half-broken walls, huts with the roofs letting through the water, buildings with the paint peeling off..

And i smiled to myself. I was home.

:-)

The Great Cross Country Walk

Before I begin, lemme give credit where credit is due and thank Roshan for this tres brilliante idea! "Thanks, dude!" :-)

Well, now that that's over... Yup, as the name suggests, I did a cross country walk. Literally. One end of Singapore to the other.

We measured out the shortest distance and figured 8 kms wasn't too far. Of course, we forgot that it was 8 kms as the crow flies.. and since we had also forgotten to use google map, we ended up walking nearly 12-13. We(alright, I!) forgot to set our alarm the previous night and woke up really late and after a late brunch, finally set out at 4.30. We hadn't also taken into account that the ride to our starting point will take us an hour and a half of travel by bus and metro. And another half an hour to find out starting point. This:



Originally, everyone was enthusiastic about joining us. But laziness gets to one soon. So finally, it was just me and Sharmila. And i guess the main reason she came was because we had told everyone in the lab that we were gonna go! Anyway, we started from pasir Ris park. The previous picture was taken from the end of Pasir Ris park. What you see up ahead is the sea. Here's proof that it was indeed the Pasir Ris park:



The park was one of the pleasant suprised during our walk. one of the prettiest places we've come across in S'pore, it's a place which we otherwise would've never visited. It was complete with a swamp, a bird-lookout, cycling lanes, people playing football, a maze and benches facing the sea.

Anyway, we started walking down Pasir Ris Drive 3 which went along the north coast, i.e, perpendicular to the direction in which we had to walk, but we had no choice thanks to the aforementioned failure to use google maps.

We finally rached Lovang avenue.Now the stupid map we carried showed only higways and expressways. One isnt allowed to walk on expressways, so we got completely lost and had to ask random people for directions to Simei avenue - our next destination. The thing about S'pore is, people here have no imagination. They pick one name for a locality and every place there is 'that name + a number'. Like you had Pasir Ris drive 1, 2,3,4, Pasir Ris street 1,2,3.. etc.. Similarly, we had Simei street 1-5, Simei road 1,2,3,4.. and finally a Simei Avenue not to mntion the Simei metro station. So of course, each person we asked showed us a different direction. They all of course very sweetly suggested that we take a cab/bus since it was too far to walk. We gave various reasons to various people for wanting to walk. The real explaination would've been too long an explaination in broken English.

Anyway, it was soon 8.15. We were tired and hungry and in desperate need of food. Oh, not to mention lost. we were down Simei 3rd street when we stumbled upon the metro. This was when thoughts of "we should just go back was crossing out minds". Finally Sharmila said, we'll eat something and then decide.

Do you have any idea how much of a difference food can make to you? Just one hotdog + one cup of coke? We set out again, determined this time, not to give up till 10.30. 10.30 we knew we had to rush to the nearest metro station cause otherwise we had no way of getting home. We walked down the 3rd street and reached Simei avenue! Ah, bliss.. here's the snap.



Anyway, after that we walked down to Upper Changi Road. short walk actually, but the walk down upper Changi road - not so short.




We were crossing a busstop and I asked Sharmila to take a look and see if a bus goes to the golf course - our final destination (Beyond the golf course was the sea) - but she stumbled upon a bus - bus no.10 which stops right behind out hostel.Talk about luck! Especially since we were halfway across town! We decided to come back and take that bus since the last bus was at 11.15. It gave us slightly more time. From that time onwards, everytime we passed a busstop we peeped in to see if there was a no.10 bus going from there.

We stupidly decided to take a detour through unknown territory - i dunno why - we just did and entered Beedox road. We came across an indian family and asked them for the way to the Golf Country club. They starred at us.
"At this time? Why?"
"Well, we need to get somewhere nearby.."
"But there's nothing nearby!!"
"Okay.. But could you tell us the direction, please?"
* More suspiciously * "Why?"
"Okay, how do we get to the metro station (this was another metro.. the map told us how to get from the metro to the golf club)?"
" You go straight and take a right. Take a bus.. it's too far"
"It's okay, we'll walk."
"But the busstop is right behind you. and the bus is approaching. Go take it go!"
"No really, we'll walk. Thanks a lot."
"okay.." * more suspicious looks *

Anyway, we walked. Reached the metro and were fumbling with the map when some random Malay guy offered to help us. He was very helpful alright, but sadly he sent us off in the exact opposite direction. We walked and we walked and we walked. No golf course. Finally, we asked two Chinese girls. They informed us of our grave mistake. We asked them what happens if we walk straight ahead. And they replied, " you reach a bunch of private residential appartments, beyond which is the sea". Yipeee!!!! We had reached the sea! Or, well, one can't go across the residential appartments, so we reached the East Coast Road! Good enough! Now please don't ask me why the road along the Southern coast is called the East Coast Road.. i told you the Singaporeans, although nice people, have no imagination!!

Anyway, here's the final pic! :-)




Anyway, now the problem was getting back. Both the Metro station as well as the last no.10 busstop we had seen were far away and we were feeling too tired. We were considering a cab, when sharmila said, "lets just walk down this road and see if we can see the sea (no jokes intended)". And guess what we found? A no.10 bus stop, no less. And a no.10 bus approaching it! We scrambled in and had one of the best rides back to the hall. Along the East Coast Road and a long one hour drive. Lovely.

Oh, we treated ourselves to sugar doughnuts as a reward!

Now I have a story i can tell my great-grand kids! :-P

Personal jinx!

Lately, I have a feeling that I'm cursed! Any IPL team I support seems to be losing! It started of course, with CSK. I admit it,it was me who was in the way of all their defeats! Took me long enough to realise what the problem was..

It started last saturday. CSK lost against RR. My status message was "Go CSK go!" And they promptly lost the match! There was a match after that - Mumbai indians vs Delhi Daredevils. I was told to "pray that Mumbai wins, cause if they do, CSk goes to the semis". So obviously, my status was "Go Mumbai!". Guess what? They lost the match too!

Coincidence? That's what I thought too, until there was a Mumbai vs RR match.

Jaipur needed 35 runs from 2 overs! Everyone assumed that Mumbai will sail to a finish, but sadly they didn't know that I had just joined the Mumbai cheering squad! Just to irritate a friend I said "Mumbai rocks. Go Mumbai Indians!". The next ball, jaipur hit a six and went on to win the match!!!

It finally dawned on me what I had to do! Switch loyalities! CSK vs Deccan Chargers. CSK's final chance to get into the semis. My status message: "Go Deccan". And guess what? It worked! CSK won! There was much celebration afterwards. Though my team (DC) lost, I was kind hearted enough to be happy for my friends... ;-)

Now I switch my loyalities again:

"Go Punjab! Go Delhi! Go Jaipur! Go Go Go!! Lets kick some CSK ass!!!"

:-)

A racey post!

Recently, Aquila accused "tams" of taking a lot of pride in their race. "Second in the line", she claims,"right after the bongs"! A statement which caught me completely off-guard! Do we really?? The fact is, this is the first such accusation I've faced in the past 21 years..

It all started off with me correcting the way she pronounced "Madras". It's Med(as in short for Medical)-raas. That's the way we pronounce it. Truth be told, I dunno if that's the right way of doing it, but that's the way the localites fondly refer to it as and that's what stays. She insists on "Ma(as in mother)-da-raas". I correct her and she says that's how they write it in Marati and then goes on to accuse me of acting like a bong! * Huh? *

Lemme clear a few things right now. It's not my race/language/culture I'm proud of. They're as good as any other (except maybe America). No better. No worse. But when it comes to my city, it's a whole new story.

Most people assume yhat the 45 degree temperature which forces everyone to flee and the obvious conservative and traditional lifestyle which the people there are so scared to come out of doesnt leave much to be proud of. And now, a cricket team which insists on losing all it's matches doesnt add much!

There is much more to the city than that, but i don't wanna get started on why I love my city again. I promise I'll dedicate a whole post to that when i come back. For now, lemme just state that I love that place and can bear no criticism of chennai or it's people. I mean, will you be quiet if you family is being criticised? :-)

Coming back to the accusation. Yes, if you accuse me of standing up for my city, I shall bow and admit that it is true. So shall every other fellow Chennaite I know. But we do not claim that tamil food is the best. Dosa's are alright, but we can survive on naan just as well. And yes, we crib and crib about not having the perfect filter kaapi, but it doesn't take us too long to realise that Bru is a good substitute - it has a slight chocolatey taste to it too!

But that wasn't her accusation. Her accusation was about how we're proud of being Tamil. Are we, really? It's easy to see why one would think so. Our absolute refusal to accept Hindi as our National language, for starters. For the record, I'm completely with my state government on this. I think it's ridiculous for the Central govt. to force a language upon me. I agree we need a unifying language et al, but why Hindi? It's bullshit to argue that the majority speaks it, cause majority of what? Majority of the people I know don't speak the language! And i live in a Metro!! Why not English? Please don't reply with "English is a foreign language", because Hindi is just as foreign to me as English is. Plus if I learn English, I'll actually be able to communicate with people all around the world. In fact, knowing Tamil, will probably help people much more in Singapore and Sri lanka - where Tamil is a national language. The only reason I see for me to learn Hindi is so that I can watch Shah Rukh Khan movies! But hey, I'd like to learn Chinese so I can watch Bruce Lee too!!

The august before last, we had gone to Nainital on a college trip. We had to buy a few curios and stuff and had to bargain with the peddlers there. We had to speak to them in broken Hindi and every single one of them made it a point to scold us for our lack of knowledge of Hindi. One of them even said "Hindi is an international language - everyone should know"(!!!). We meekly heard them out, took our shopping bags and came home. After all, their territory, their language. We were the outsiders. What can we say? Back home, on the other hand, my North Indian friends crib all the time about how the auto-karans here speak only Tamil. No meekness there. No acknowledgement of how it's okay for a person to speak their mother tongue in their part of the world!!

How can we be full of pride after all this? After not being able to speak our language in our own cities? After being imposed upon from all sides to learn a language we don't want to?

The central govt. has imposed a new rule that everyone working in a Central govt. academic institution must pass a basic test in Hindi. To read and write it. Not enought to know your physics/chemistry/math/mechanis. Nope, one's gotta know her/his hindi! No matter where the institute is. IISc and IIT-M come under this even though they're both in South Indian cities rebelling against imposition of Hindi. I, for one, will not pass such a test. I know exactly two letters in Hindi, and though once upon a time I wanted to learn the language, recent events like those stated above has put me off. It might be a fun thing to do - learn a new language, but I will not. Just because it is forced upon. "To take a stand", if I must use forceful statements. It probably sounds childish, but that's the way a whole state feels about it and the Central govt. doesn't seem to care.

I'm not saying my language is the best. I'm not claiming that Barathi was the best poet ever. I'm not saying that no one compares to Kris Srikant in cricket. I'm not saying that idlies are food of the Gods. I don't care how much you mutilate my name. I don't give a damn whether we're a pure Indian race or not. It really doesn't matter to me if Tamil is the oldest language. And I definitely don't wish to prove to you that we're the best.

All I'm saying is that, we're a nice bunch. Fun people doing their own thing. Let us be..

P.S: In retrospect, I realise I started talking about one thing and ended up somewhere else, but it all connects up in it's own way..

The lions vs the chargers (?)

Before I begin an "objective" description, lemme start off with a few sad smileys:
:-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-(

There. That felt good. Not really, but it feels good to say it felt good.

Anyway, lemme start off by saying Chennai people are sweet. Right from the guy who gave me his 4/6 card at the beginning of the match when I asked him where he got it from, to the audience who clapped for Gilly when he got out, they're nice people. One cannot deny that. I dare you to. We may not have the hottest chicks, we may not have the most happening malls, our night clubs may have sad curfews and our theatre may show more regional movies and we may hero worship our actors, but we're nice people. Nice people who love their team! So I want no CSK bashing on my comments okay?

I've never been to Chepauk before and when I got there, what struck me was how surreal the whole stadium seemed. The green green pitch. The bright lights. The smallness of it all. It was quite different from what i imagined. And that's an understatement.

We bought this yellow 'Chennai super kings' flag, but sadly, the cops at the entrance took off the stick and gave us only the cloth. The sticks probably went back to the peddlers, but whatever, at least we got the cloth! And after CSK's batting was over, we converted the 4/6 board into a stick.

Anyway, we entered the stadium wearing yellow, (what? it's not a crime to like yellow, is it), just as the toss was over. Chennai had decided to bat and Karthik came to the front singing "theradi veediyil..". All the songs he sang that night were very local songs. Good pick. He ended it with "we will rock you"! That, you see, was before the match started. Before Afridi and before Gilly.

Shivamani came on next. He got more cheers than the entire CSK team! He played a few beats. There was this one he did, where he plays three beats on the drum and the audience clap in accordance and he does three more and so on.. He kept increasing the speed till at one point, we were clapping with him, because it was so fast. Good stuff! :-)

Anyway, the match started. We were progressively 11/1, 22/2, 33/3, 44/4.. Didn't continue on that line, thankfully.. We got 144/7, you will know if you watched the match. I'm not gonna bore you with the details. What I am going to tell you about is the crazy guy next to us who kept yelling out to the CSK guys. He kept calling them fools and was asking Dhoni to hit a six. Top of his voice. I believe his exact words were "fool CSK. fool Dhoni.. hit a six.. come on". Then, towards the end, he just started mumbling and started calling them bananas.. Yellow bananas, chilly bananas, fool bananas, cool bananas, split bananas. They even got a "mutaal valapazham"! It was hilarious!!

Finally, 1st inning ended and after 10 mins of the cheerleaders dancing around - the DC cheerleaders had nice hair and a pretty outfit and one dance sequence and all they did was blow kisses into the camera. The CSK cheerleaders has 2 dance steps, an 'ok' outfit and no enthusiasm - though i don't blame them for that!

The second inning soon started and meanwhile the crazy guy had disappeared. The 1st two overs, they didn't score many runs but soon the downpour started. Dipika and I suddenly decided to start screaming "we want wickets.. we want wickets".. We were the only ones screaming (none of the other idiots joined it) and the next ball, the bowler bowled it, Gibbs hit it and suddenly I say the bowler throw the ball in the air and everyone running towards him!! I was so amazed that I dropped the 'flag' I was holding.

Sadly, the next time we tried doing that, Gilly hit a six! He got out too, eventually, and the game became a drag. It got so boring. Until Afridi came and finished it off in one over! :-(

The thing about a live game is, you forget to watch the ball. There are no commentators reminding you to. You see a four and you turn around to crib and by the time you look back, the next ball has already been bowled. And you turn to the big screen for replays and by the time that's done, the next ball has already been bowled. And so on.. But it was fun, all the same. Worth my 600, definitely!

The game was well organised. There were PTC buses waiting outside the stadium. A whole long line of 'em. Covering almost all the locations in Chennai. There was a parking lot which had a different entrance and a different exit. The car was triple parked, but we didn't have to wait for too long to take it out and the stadium lights lit up the whole area and made it easy for us to find our way.

It was our third loss in a row, but as my gtalk status message says: "We shall rise again!"

Teenage dirtbag! - The player told me to!

So my sister pings me for the first time ever to tell me that I've been tagged.

The last time she tagged me, I happily ignored it.. but this time, it seems fun. She puts up a bunch of questions and I'm supposed to leave my played on. At each question I'm supposed to press "shuffle" and type out the song with comes on as the answer (with comments - witty or otherwise). Well, here goes..


If someone says “is this okay?” You say?

It's my life (Bon jovi)


Whoa..



What would best describe your personality?

Why can't a woman.. - My fair lady


No comments :D



What do you like in a guy/girl?

Rock Bottom - Eminem


Ah.. the secret's out! ;-)



How do you feel today?

Ob la di, od la Da - Beatles


Just finished Quantum exam.. ob la di, ob la da.. life goes on.. though "rock bottom" would've fit better, me thinks..



What is your life’s purpose?

Unbreak my heart - Toni Braxton


How noble!



What is your motto?

Bed of roes - Bon jovi


Yup, that is exactly how I sign off my letters:
"Chitra Gautham
Bed of Roses"

Hail the roses!!



What do your friends think of you?

Lose yourself - eminem


:-( Really? :-(



What do you think of your parents?

Two princes - Spin doctors


Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttttt?




What do you think about very often?

Bebot - Black Eyed peas


Wow. I think in spanish!



What is 2+2?

Trumpets - flipsyde


I'm sure we just haven't understood the question properly. The mice will know..



What do you think of your best friend?

Flying - Beatles


Knowing my best friends, I'm sure!!!!! ;-P



What do you think of the person you like?

In your eyes - Kylie Minogue


Ah well.. * turns red *



What is your life story?

Losing grip - Avril Lavigne


This player is psychic!



What do you want to be when you grow up?

(I won't) do this anymore - Nickleback


Do what? Grow up? I guess not..



What do you think when you see the person you like?

Hey mama - Black Eyed Peas


Hee hee.. "So come on mama, dance to the drama"



What do your parents think of you?

Walnut tree - Keane


That's.. er.. nice.. - I think.



What will you dance to at your wedding?

Crash and Burn - savage Garden


I wonder how?



What will they play at your funeral?

Poprocks and Coke - Greenday


Right. That's it. I'm leaving everything to charity! Hmph!




What is your hobby/interest?

Happy Birthday - Flipsyde


Maybe that's a sign.. Maybe someone up there is trying to tell me to give up physics and take up event management. Maybe..



What is your biggest secret?

Basketcase - Green day


"I think I'm cracking up.."




What do you think of your friends?

Lust like a woman - Bob Dylan


I really do think that. Esp about the guys! :-)



What should you post this as?

Teenage Dirtbag - Wheatus


Ummm.. okay.. I will.



This was actually loads of fun!! You guys should try it too. I tag everyone who's commented on my blog!

Juno

I have no idea why I decided to watch the movie when I was bored and depressed after having screwed up my viva, but I'm glad I did! It really did cheer me up.

The story is about a 16 year old girl, Juno(named after the Greek goddess), who gets pregnant but decides not to get it aborted and gives it up for adoption instead. Period.

The best part of the movie is how light a serious subject is treated. Though, I think, a few parts are a little unrealistic. For example, the parent's reaction when she tells them. I can't imagine any parent taking it so well!

The movie, of course, has a happy ending. Juno seems to have no trouble at all coming back to her normal life (!!!!!) and playing in a band. Her acting, I must say, was terrific. Clueless, very teenagey and yet mature.

But my favorite part of the movie - apart from the lingo (it's the kinda stuff you can listen to for days) - is the background score. Good stuff. If anyone knows where I can get the soundtracks, please let me know. It's not avaiable on the LAN.

Definately a movie I would recommend.

Shades of Grey

My house is being painted in my absence, and my tasteless father came up with the brilliant idea of painting it grey and white.

Not that it looks bad, but isn't every other building in the city painted grey? My dad begs to disagree and says that every other building in the city is painted yellow - the color I wanted. Somehow that didn't make sense, so the next time I travelled the 12+2 kms from home to college, I started counting. And guess what? There were more yellow buildings than grey! Shades of yellow.. Bright, sunny - the colour that cheers you up just looking at it.. Deep, orange - makes me hungry for some reason.. Lemon yellow - intellectual (?) (Don't ask me why - you just relate different emotions to each colour and that's how I feel), and some people had painted heir house a shade of yellow which the mals, I'm sure, will brand as "pandi colours!"

Strange. But I don't blame them. Yellow has always been a colour which cheers me up. Green makes me feel at home, true.. But disaster resulted the last time we tried painting the house that (ever read Anne of Avonlea? The exact same thing happened!) So, I wanted yellow. But on account of how lazy I was to pick out the shades myself, my dad got his way, causing me to swear that I'll have it repainted the moment I get my first stipend! I talk too fast, sometimes.. Sigh..

But I'm deviating terribly from what I meant to say. The title, as you can imagine was a metaphorical one.

A person, one knows, is never black or white. But somehow we tend to classify them as if they are. Good people. Bad people. It's hard for us to accept that the good people might do bad things and vice versa. It goes against the ordering in our minds. And sometimes confuses us. Good people always do good things. So, if a good person does a bad thing, the bad thing becomes good, no? Of course. It's easier to say that, than to accept the fact that there is no 'hero' and 'villain'. Just people. Regular people, who lie, cheat, help the old lady cross the road, give some money to the poor, back stab their friend, buy their daughter a doll, copy in the exam, walk 3 miles on a hot day to help a friend out, do marijuana, turn down the a.c to conserve electricity, all in one day and one breadth.

Though we see this around us all the time, it's hard for us to accept that it could be so. Every movie has taught us it is not. There is a good guy who does the good things and a bad guy who does bad things. God forbid the bad guy from giving alms to the poor. If he does, he's only showing the world that he's got a lot of power!

And mentally, we like to classify things. We like to say 'this is right and this, wrong' and stick to it. It takes too much effort to think in every situation and a decision accordingly.

And it's not just with people that we are so. Reasons, excuses.. There is no one explanation for not turning up at a party, for liking a certain hobby, for disliking a certain person, for not wanting to go somewhere, for breaking up with someone, for wanting to go a place, for coming late, for studying what you're studying right now. Yet, that is what we look for. A clear reason, an answer: "I had an exam", "It stimulates me intellectually", "I'm running a fever", "she doesn't love you anymore", "I like the food there", "Traffic!", "I read this book by so-and-so which got me hooked to this".. Excuse and reasons - standard ones which we use. Black and white. Simple. Will convince anyone. And save us a lot of trouble.

I'm not gonna ask you to stop giving such reasons and excuses. I'm gonna tell you not to. No one will understand the truth - no one understands shades of grey. They're hazy and depressing. They make no sense, and take too much time to decipher. And even when we do, they're just lines of black and white superimposed. Never a pure milky grey - creamy like the paint being applied to the window sills even as I type this.

It can't be done. Our mind likes to organize our thoughts. Fight against it, if you will, but remember, not many others will.

Just another day..

She enters the room, eyes glinting with anger and.. and something else - could you call it hatred?

Her friend asks her to "relax".

"How can I?", she yells back, even as she knew she soon would. She knew that the next day, not only would she relax, but she would even be comfortable with the thought; a thought which made her quiver with rage; a thought which made her want to choke him with her bare hands. She knew that within a mere 24 hours, she would've gotten used to it.. Grudgingly, she would've accepted it as a part of the unfairness of life.

"Which him?", her friend asks her.

Which him, indeed!

Suddenly she realises (strange, how the thought hadn't occurred to her before) that all her current trouble could be attributed to guys!
The one who denied her her constitutional right to freedom of speech; the one who rejected her proposal because he didn't want to lose power; the one who threatened to destroy her world because she reported the truth like it was; the one who reduced her friend to tears everyday - they were all men!

"Is this what they call sexual discrimination?", she wonders aloud.

Oh, there were guys being affected by it as well.. but somehow she couldn't help feeling that she felt the impact more! maybe because she couldn't help believing the best of everyone - she couldn't help trusting..

"Don't worry about it", her friend tells her, "another year or so, and you needn't have anything to do with them ever again!"

She nods her head, though deep down she doesn't agree. She doesn't like what happened to her. She doesn't like the idea of being suppressed by people just because they feel threatened. She doesn't like being told what to do, what to write, what to say.. She wants to fight it, but doesn't know how! She thinks it's unfair, but sees no solution. She feels helpless.

She knows, deep down, that these people need to be taught to be fair. Yet, she nods her head. She knows she won't do the "teaching".

"I don't have the time", she tells herself.
After all, there are assignments to be submitted, tests to be written, records to be drawn, projects to be done..

She sighs..

She knows by next week all this will be forgotten and they - the people who inflicted all this pain - will be forgiven. Forgiven without heir their knowledge for something they did not know they did! Free to continue doing what they've been doing all along - making people's lives miserable, if only for a day!

Creationalism

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/FaithMatters/Story?id=4467337&page=1

Hee hee..

These guys will do anything to remain in the cozy shell. Reminds me of the matrix.

Mental note: Post on cozy shell and matrix.

P.S: I hope that this doesn't, in any way, hurt the sentiments of the creationalists(right!). It's just that as a scientist, i find it slightly on the amusing side..

Gimme red!

Ask any girl - any Indian girl, I mean.. She'll tell you about the magic that is mehendi (a.k.a maridani).

You usually get it done before a big event - a wedding, birthday, diwali, maybe.. even a cousin's engagement is excuse enough. Or during the holidays when you're jobless and have nothing better to do..

If you are lucky, you get to watch as the leaves are grounded and made into a nice paste (don't add too much water - it'll run; not too less, either - it won't flow; add a little lemon - it'll make your hand redder) and made into cute cones with the bottoms cut.

You watch as your mom/sister/neighbour/friend races patterns on your palm. The paste feels cool against your skin. You tell then to change the pattern here(you don't like mangoes), you ask them to draw some leaves just here.. But in the end it doesn't matter, because the design is so intricate that you find it hard to make out the original pattern..

You strech your hand out for an hour - two hours. You can't hold anything - can't read a book - can't use the mouse - cant study(!!!!:-)) - can't eat.. So you sit and watch tv. Or sleep - unless of course, your mom is very particular about mehendi stains on the covers.

Once every half an hour, you squeeze lemon over your palm to stop it from drying too fast, but it dries anyway and little pieces of the mehendi fall off and you try to peek at it from the sides to see how red it has become. You imagine it becoming really red and you picture you showing it off to all your friends who will "ooh" and "aah" over it. You wonder if it'll go with the dress you're gonna wear the next day (No jeans and tee for a week! Stick to the indian wear!)

Finally, it's time to take it off. You, of course, aren't supposed to use water. You scrub it off, dirtying the floor, but who cares! Your hand now has pretty red patterns on it!

Of course, you find it hard to eat for the rest of the week considering the smell takes off the flavour of anything your bring near the nose, but that's a small price to pay!

Lost in translation

I was really looking forward to watching this movie. Epecially since about 10 people kept urging me to. Which is why I reserved it for a thursday before a 3 day weekend. But at the end of the movie, my only reaction was "huh?"!

The movie didn't (and continues not to) make any sense. I didn't get the point the director was trying to make. If he was trying to make a point, that is.. I don't think it was "another episode in so and so's life" kind of a movie, either. It wasn't a depiction of life in Tokyo, either. Nor was it about forbidden love affair. It wasn't even a honest combination of the above!

The story's about a famous american actor, Bob Marley who goes to Tokyo to advertise a drink. He's also facing mid-life crises and part of the reason he comes here is because he wants to get away from home. He finds himself utterly bored in this new city where noone speaks his language. He shoots for the commercial in the mornings and hangs out in a bar all evening. That's where he meets Charlotte, a young american girl who's married (for 2 years) and is in Tokyo with her husband who is here on some project. She is really depressed. I never did understand the reason. Her husband leaves to another town for a few days and she gets friendly with Bob. The rest of the story is about how they manage to enjoy themselves in a city they both have come to hate.

But it didn't make any sense. Everyone hates a new city when they go there for the first time. Then you make friends and start loving it. Was this the point? Well, then it wasn't potrayed well. Especially since towards the end he doesn't love the city, but her. Yet he leaves the place and goes away. Not in a heroic way, either..

Another thing which sruck me about the movie was the way Charlotte's husband loves her. He's all over her and is stuck on her completely even though they've been married two years. Whcih guy does that, tell me?

Why am i obsessing over this movie? Because, i was told, by many, that it's a really great movie.. Yet, I can't see where the greatness lies.

Maybe I just don't understand movies.

Sigh..

On Spica the star

I did a wiki on Spica.. and this is what they had to say:

Spica (pronounced /ˈspaɪkə/) (also known as α Vir / α Virginis / Alpha Virginis) is the brightest star in the constellation Virgo, and the 15th brightest star in the nighttime sky. It is 260 light years distant from Earth. A blue giant, it is a variable of the Beta Cephei type.

So first of all, let me start off by apologising to those to whom i had given the wrong pronunciation, though if you ask me, I liked the old pronunciation much better.

Secondly, for the sake of those who still do not know, what I'm talking about, let me take you through the usual routine.

See, my name is Chitra. It means "picture" in Sanskrit. It is also a name of a star which is usually seen during April. The rest of the world calls the star "Spica". Hence, the title of the blog.

But there is more to it, as i recently discovered. Spica, wiki tells me, is a binary star. Which means, what we perceive as one star is in fact two stars.

Hmmm.. I wonder if my parents were psychic when they christened me!

Ouch.. that hurts!

You know when you lose a friend?

It is not when they move to another country.. It is not when they die.. It is not when you've lost their number.. It is not when you haven't spoken to them in many years.. It is not when parents or circumstances forbid you from speaking to them.. It is not even when you betray them or they betray you!

It is when you call them up and talk to them for a while and into your head pops a host of things which you would've confided in them in the ages past, but you dismiss them now with a wave of hand as unsuitable conversation and talk about the weather instead!

:-)

You replace live journal with blogspot and you get what I mean..

The ultimate plunge!

Last night we had a panel discussion on the increasing number of suicides in IIT. Frankly, i am not so suprised that there are so many. Not to soun cruel, but what is suprising is that there are not many more!

Consider a typical IIT student. All his/her life, (s)he has been at the top of the class. Probably first in school, with a NCERT schol. and an olympiad medal thrown in for good measure. Then the kid manages to crack the JEE/JAM/GATE. (S)he becomes an instant celebrity. They're paraded around town by their parents who are feeling indulgent and would sanction any wish (s)he has. (S)he is utterly pamered until it's time for him or her to leave for the insti.

Once here, the ragging - although mild now - starts. They find that all of a sudden, they aren't top of the class anymore and they are (horror of horrors) an average student!!They're still considered the best by their parents who believe they're doing great, but only they know the real truth. A feeling of guilt sweeps in. Not being at home anymore, they have no one to talk to.. Most of their friends are locked up in their own room watch pirated movies downloaded from the LAN. Of course, there's the Guidance and Counselling Unit (pop. known as GCU), but that's not a big help. How many people are willing to go talk to an utter stranger? Thus they becomes more and more depressed, friendless. Meanwhile, their parents and others at home continue to think that they're the best. They know better than that. Rather, they think they know better than that. The guilt intensifies and finally.. well, they decide to "end it all"!

The professors aren't much help, honestly. Some are brilliant and approachable but you also have a few who'll call a spade a spade, and don't mind telling you to your face that they think you're useless! Obviously you're not, but acc. to them, not being able to solve a gamma function is useless!

And the whole concept of relative grading does nothing to aleviate the situation!! But more on that later..

Last night during the panel discussion a person in the audiance asked the guy from suicide prevention society, a question on inferiority complex. That guy replyed saying "it's strange to hear the words 'inferiority complex' inside IIT, but we're all human beings, aren't we?". But if you ask me, there's more IC floating around in this 420 acres than anywhere else in the city.. Oh, don't get me wrong. All IITians think they're the best, la creme de la creme and all that jazz.. But only in comparision with the rest of the world. Inside IIT, there's always someone better than you at something. Most of the time, most people are better than you at most things. And since you think you're better than the rest of the world, you care more than the rest of the world does. The rest of the world don't have any false notions about their ability. They are honest to themselves about how good/bad they are. They don't have any false pride. But since the IITian does, (s)he cares much more about the fact that (s)he's not good at something. And as one can't be good at everything, everyone here has an inferiority complex w.r.t something and a very intense one at that!

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

Closure is a strong word, but I suspected that that's what I needed.. I had hoped that my convocation will give me that, and I guess in a way it did.

For many months now - since July, 2007, to be precise - I have been looking back on my life in MCC with a sigh. Nostalgically.. Wishing with all my heart that I was back there. Everytime, I go there, I'll make a note and start counting down to the day when I'll go there again. This time, though, I left not knowing when I'll go back again, and guess what? I'm perfectly fine with that thought.

I guess what it really required was wrapping up the personal ties - realising a few truths, restarting some old friendships, rekindling the ones which are dying out, and letting a few die for the sake of friendship itself. What it took was a look at what is popularly known as the "big picture" and realising that fights, elections, tears, love and friendship was all just a part of college life. A three year drama - a masala movie with every spice in it - equally proportioned.

With that para, my post stopped making sense, so let me recap for the sake of those who are still reading and more than that for my own sake.. As i said, i need to press "publish post" before it ends.

June 16th, 2004(I do have an uncany memory for dates), I step in to the portals of MCC big eyed and full of wonder. There are all those people on stage who we're told are "gen. sec." and "chairman" and "convenors". Little do I know how I'll come to lose all respect for those post. The post, mind you, not the people. I still remember the first three days - the first day was the campus walk (I still can't, for the life of me, remember where they took us that day!). College ended at 12. The second day was dept orientation - college ended at 10.30. The third day was class orientation, college ended at 9.30. "This is too much", I remember complaining to Soumya.

The rest of the semester is just a haze.. I remember Nirupa, the triangle, Nirupa leaving, Subhashini's birthday party(the day she told us she was leaving), my first crushes in college, and my very first deep-dark-carry-to-the-grave secret(s). Oh yes, and of course the Goa trip.. But that's a post of it's own..

The second semester was even hazier.. Let me see.. The hall days (for some reason, I remember those!), Amandeep's arrival and all the guys going nuts, the girl gang, Yi and the drama club - which never really started, but yet led to other things which will not be mentioned in this post except to state that that is all I remember of the third and fourth semesters.. Well, almost all..

Third semester was also when the "cafe gang" was closest. Something happened in the 3rd sem which caused it to start breaking up.. I never figured what. I remember my and Sai's suprise parties, the trip to coorg and french classes.

Fourth semester: More hall days (wait, I think I went for only one that year).. Oh, yes and the elections. That is something I'll never forget - the year I came face up with hardcore politics and realised that there are things in this world I will never understand. The semester I lost all respect for the politician in a (wo)man - cause that's the worst in a person coming out - it's all about the self. The semester, when, suprisingly, my respect for Naren tripled - no, quadrupled and my respect for every other person involved fell into an abyss. The deeds were mended and made up for in other ways,but the respect never returned and I don't think it ever will.

Fifth semester: I was in depression. End of story. Oh, yes, depressed Nanital trip. And of course, Woodstock comes into existance (ta-da!).

Sixth semester: I stop hanging out with my batchmates because I had something to tell them which i didn't want to tell them and they kinda guessed it and i knew they had guessed it, so basically, It Was A Mess. Sixth semester was also Deepwoods 2006 third day and the week that followed. Sixth semester was also the time when life in MCC got really good. Almost as good as my first month there. Note how I said, almost. Not quite, 'cause I had JAM hanging over my head, but otherwise.. I made the kinda friends I had given up all hope of finding in MCC - I found people who I was proud to say I knew. For once, I didn't care about what the world thought and I became really close with my classmates. That was when I started loving my train rides. That was when I, for the first time in my life, did exactly what I wanted to. And realised, that that's all it took to be happy. Not happy happy. Just happy.

Yup, apart from the first one month, the sixth semester was the best of them all. Which is why, I found it so damn hard to get over the place. Which is why I needed a closure. I called up a few friends and cleared things out. I came to terms with the fact that some people just will not change. I accepted that a few of them make new "aquaitances" and I realise why they need to - silly, though the reason be. They're still my friends inspite of their silliness and that's what matters.

But most important of all, on my convocation day, I tried to reconnect with the whole lot of them and I realised that, save a hand picked few (the ones I can see have - and will continue to - survive the test of time) I couldn't relate to anyone else.

I had moved on.

I now know what I really got out of my 3 years - courage, freedom, a sense of independance, open-mindedness (I'll put important marks here, only my keyboard doesn't support it) and about 10 friends.

I need no more.

And so, as the title says "Goodbye, and thanks for all the fish!" :-)

Everywhere

In layman terms, according to quantum mechanics, ever electron/proton/neutron in your body is delocalised all over the universe. So essentialy, I'm everywhere.. In Paris, Venice, Spain, North Pole, the Sun, the andromeda galaxy.. everywhere.. Omnipresent.

So, if I every miss another wedding/birthday party/baptism/engagement/etc.. Just remember, I was there! Or a part of me, at any rate..

Summer's here...

You know summer's here when:
~you cannot stay in a room without a fan for more than 5 secs.
~you are once again thinking of chopping your hair short!
~the only thought running through your mind is "bath.. bath.. bath.."
~you kick away your bedsheets in the night!
~you don't care if the monkeys come in, you keep the window open anyway..
~you look at your full sleeved dress and you wonder what made you buy them!
~your face starts resembling as oil field!
~you drink more water than the food you take in!
~blue skies no longer make you happy!
~for the first time, you don't care that the solar water heater has conked!