The request.

I wonder if any of you have bothered to read what is written on the front page of an Indian passport. Wanting to do anything other than study for my quiz, I recently flipped it open and this is what it says:

"These are to request and require in the name of the president of the Republic of India all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance, and toafford him or her, every assistance and protection of which he or she may stand in need."

Isn't that sweet?

So, next time they refuse you a visa, remember, they aren't just refusing you. They're refusing the president's request. (I just realised president means Ms.Patil and there goes my vision of a strong leader heading our republic.)

Only I didn't know that we are called "Republic of India"! I mean, I knew we were a republic, of course, but I didn't know that was the name of our country. Why are we listed under 'I' then?

Also, does anyone know why all official sentences are so long without much punctuation?

The great divide.

Disclaimer: I am grossly generalising here and I know that each of you can think of thousands of examples countering what I am about to say! Also, thanks to The Girl for the idea.

Chennai, culturally, can be divided into two - the two sides of Mount road. The Tenampet/Poes Garden/Besant Nagar etc.. side(lets call them side A), which are more westernized than the Nungambakkam/Egmore/T Nagar/Kilpauk side(lets call them side B).

A person from side A would probably take life more casually and adopt a "life life one day at a time" attitude. They would be more open to casual relationships, pre-marital sex and the works. They are way more likely to take an arts/humanties course in college and adopt a variety of hobbies which potray that. They are more westenised in their way of dressing and thinking.

A person from side B on the other hand are way serious about their life and career choices. They stick to traditional choices such as engineering or science. They prefer long term relationships and dress more conservately (except for the oh-so-occasional night of clubbing). They derive more fun out of hanging out with small groups of friends or being along rather than wild large parties.

Which isn't weird at all when you thing about it. I know it's still just one city but the people of side A probably schooled together, just like side B did. And if you see the friends you grew up with doing something, you think it's okay for you to do it too and it becomes who you are, if you get my drift.

Anyway, it was just a thought and Ess said I should post it, so I am. He also pointed out that people in Kilpauk quite make up for the presence of a certain hospital by being super-serious and thinking many-a-time before they make any decisions - whether it be which college they attend or how much money they spend this weekend. I thought about it and realised that, weirdly, it isn't about schools anymore, because all my friends in school who weren't flighty weren't from Kilpauk!

Weirdness.

But, remember, both side A and side B worship thalaivar.

P.S: For those who do not know me or are not from the city and are curious about this fact, I'm from side B.

On friends and labels

One fine morning, between two classes, I had 45 mins to kill and so i sat and labelled all my posts. It tells you a lot, this labelling business. It tells you what you spend your time on mostly. Apparently, I spend the least anount of time on lists and romance. Which is a weird thing to say if you know me, but whatever. More romantic lists coming up! :-P Oh, I don't post much on the IPL either, but the 2nd seeason will open soon and then we shalt have more!

But that is not what this post will be about. This one will once again be dedicated to my friends. So here goes.

Note: If you are my friend, you're bound to be mentioned. If you can't spot yourself, shame on you! But ping/message/mail/call/scrap/wall/comment and I shall point you out.

Everyone, esp the dad, loves pointing out that I have too many friends. Too many "best friends", they say. 'You undermine the meaning of 'best'!', they reproach. What can I do? I love them all equally. I have no way of deciding!

And the strange part is, how little they all have in common. If you take a set of all my best/close friends, there wll be at least one person each one of them will not be able to get along with/will not approve of. I guess the only thing they have in common is that they are all judgemental! But then again, who isn't?

I have such a huge variety of friends. From the quiet types like Colla, Jen, RaG and RA to the tomboys like jude-the-dude. From the holy God-fearing people like Mopsi, Princess, Assie, Jan to agnostics like RG, MM to atheists like Tequila and Mutt. From geeks like Jij, MV, DC(!!!) to the I-haven't-touched-a-textbook-to-save-my-life like The girl, Row and Chai. From dancers like Jan, Shiny, Aru to singers like SC and well, most of the others! From the I-am-too-lazy-to-leave-my-room such as Mutt, Colla and De to enthu-for-anything like Samie, Muds, Kitty, Tequila and RG. From supremely helpful bordering on doormatedness like MM, Pumpkin, Assie, San to bossiness personified a la Mutt, Mopsi and CL. From the burka sporting CL and De to the mini-skirt sporting (that sentence sounds weird) Rad and Tequila. From friends who have made me feel like, well, a princess (no, I haven't forgotten) at a moment's notice like Pipe, The girl, MM, Chai to people who have made me cry(yes, they are still my close friends - ask me not why!) like CC, Cheapskate. From the tech-savy Arjie and Chai to the girl who asks me to configure her nokia settings - Sony. From the deathmetal addicts like Arjie and the The girl to Carnatic music fans like Assie, SC to hip-hop fans like Kitty(my love) to sad-80's hindustani music fans like Mutt, SC, Colla.

And this, my dears, is just the non-incriminating tip of the iceberg! There is loads hidden below the surface.

But none of it matters. Because I love them all (almost) the same. And I see no reason why people should have difficulty believing that!

Wordle

I made myself one. Loooooook:




If you want one, go to wordle.com. It's pretty neat.

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..

:-)

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

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!!!"

:-)

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!

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!

:-)

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

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!

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.

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.