Disoriented Neurons

The Gym and its turbanators!

2011-12-09T00:53:00.000-08:00

After writing the previous post, every time I entered the Gym, I noticed atleast one thing that I totally HAD to share with you guys! And also because the last post was so well received, here comes another gym story! :P

For a little background..
My gym has 4 trainers. Lets call them, M, S, R and V.

M is sweeeet! He is around all day and also is my trainer and hence, I have this extra special respect for him :)

S is the floor-manager. Everyone listens to him. He pushes people way too much and is slightly biased towards people who can pick up weights above 60 lbs at once :-/ Sometimes, he just unwraps a candy-bar, gulps the whole thing in 2 bites and then tells anyone who would listen, "Want it? Deserve it first!!!" :-/

R is the jallaaaad! He is devil in a track-suit! He came to overlook my exercises on my 2nd day at Gym and practically made me regret my decision to join in the first place!

V is a pig. He is a sleazy pig-man! I despise the way he looks at people and his smirk makes me want to pick up the heaviest dumb-bell and bang it right on his head! He is around only in the evenings and yes, I don't even walk the roads of my gym at that time.

Getting back to the entire point of the turbanator post.

I am a morning person. Evenings are for indulgence and not for workouts. But then, there was this one day when I went to Gym at 6pm; And, I saw him.
He was this absolutely gorgeous man with the perfect body, lifting weights by himself. His aura drained the presence of every other soul in the room, it felt like summer breeze. The features, the glow, the body language; everything about him just screamed “PERFECT”! Yes, he wore a black turban, but who cared about his religion when he had that super-awesome body! After 1 whole minute of mindlessly staring at him, I got back to reality and sprinted away with a big blush on my face :P

I couldn’t help but just notice that one man throughout my session. I don’t think I have ever had a more dumbfounded episode in my entire life. When he left, I felt like someone had just ripped off my heart and sent it along with him. But then V prove that he is the biggest pig on the face of the earth and I decided never to go back there in the evening.

Next day, when I walked in at my usual 10am slot, the atmosphere was different. The glee was in the very air and everyone seemed to be eagerly waiting for something to happen. I asked M for updates.
Me: Is something wrong?
M: No. Yesterday we had a new member join us. That's all.
Me: So? something happened yesterday?
M: (Big grin) He is a sardarji.

My heart skipped a beat! It was almost like God had planned this for us! Today I shall be reunited with the man of my dreams. The cycling equipment showed a much higher heart-rate than it normally would and I just couldn't help it. As I paddled away, all I could think about were conversation starters: His arms; No, the mark on his forehead; No, how does one become Sikh; No, dammmit!

And then he walked in the room.

My world started spinning and I was short for breath. This guy wasn't even close to that guy! Firstly, He was short. Even shorter than me.. and that is saying something! Then, he was wearing 10s of rings and 4-5 gold-chains. He probably weighed 100 kilos and sported a blue-white spotted turban. I stared at him open-mouthedly for 1 whole minute (just like I had looked at the other man), but this time, it was out of amusement. If that guy was sex on a stick; this guy was a small barrel, barrel with a colorful turban.

M heartily welcomed him with a hug. Turns out, R was sardarji's trainer and made his life miserable. This was what everyone derived enjoyment out of :-/

I finished my aerobics and moved towards the treadmill as the man changed into his gym-outfit in the men's room. I was obviously disappointed but chose to ignore the event and concentrate on my purpose. "Today I would run the fastest I ever have", I told myself before taking off. After a quick warm-up, R headed Sardarji towards the center for stretching exercises. Then, I couldn't believe what my ears heard. The man was practically screaming out sex-noises! I had to hit the *stop* button to prevent myself from falling off the tracks and everyone was heartily laughing their lungs out.

I couldn't stop myself from peeking in their direction and the scene was not very different from a sex position. They were on the floor with R on top and Sardarji screaming out, "Oh God, stop!!!" I was too shocked to react. I scanned the room to search for someone to take inspiration from, someone who was ignoring the incident; but even the trainers found it too amusing to overlook! After 2 whole minutes of entertainment, S asked everyone to get back to work with his candy-bar stunt. I restarted the treadmill and began walking. BB walked passed by me and whispered in my ear, "This is only the beginning."

After stretching, R assigned the treadmill right beside me to Sardarji [SD]. I could practically feel everyone's eyes on our corner. It made me super uncomfortable.
SD: R sir, My stamina has considerably increased!
R: In one day?
SD: Its not about number of days, its about the amount of effort I put in yesterday.
R: Anyway, walk while you talk!
SD: Also, my diet-chart is very strict.
R: You have a problem with that?
SD: Yes. I am not allowed to eat anything!!
R: What nonsense. You aren't allowed to eat just a few things.
SD: Don't tell me what I shouldn't eat. Tell me what I should eat!
R: You should eat everything apart from the things mentioned on your list. Avoid junk, rice and non-veg particularly.
SD: Give me examples.
R: You can eat leafy vegetables!
SD: Something nice..?
R: No, nothing 'nice'. No sweets, no fried and no spicy food.
SD: Then what should I eat everyday?
R: You should eat "lauki"! (bottle-gourd). It is healthy, it is cooling and good for weight-loss.
SD: Sir, how does one eat spice-less lauki everyday?
R: Well, you should have thought about this before gaining 40 kilos of extra weight!! Now shut-up and run!

At that point, It had just gotten too much for me to take! I hit the *stop* button.

R: (to me) You have 10 more minutes to go!
Me: I would rather run those in the courtyard.
R: Why?
Me: Nothing, fresh air.

So yea, my gym is way too action-packed!! It is the highlight of my day and now with Sardarji coming at my time, it is one of the things I actually look forward to :P

P.S. Turns out, BB is the new star of the Gym. He lost some 12 kilos in 2 months. He attributes his success to his "protein shake" and "Co-operation of the trainers".. BUT, you and I might just know the *real* reason behind it ;)

The Gym, the guys and the water-cooler..

2011-12-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

Yes, I finally agreed that I don't like what I see in the mirror and resolved to change it. When I was new to it, I hated it. But well, you have to get used to some things in life and so did I. What I did not realize was that, going to the gym can be very dangerous. With all the eye-candy around, It is like walking on a highway's yellow line. A little toe here or there can get you killed :-/

You ask me how? I will tell you.
You can never make out a guy's age at the gym.

Doesn't sound horrifying enough? You wait till you hear the stories!

So I am 22, right? So ideally, guys I would consider would be 22-26, right? All this while in a college set-up, it was very easy to choose guys to chase; considering that your batch kinda gives away your age. But at a gym, no-one looks their age!

The guy who started talking to me first turned out to be 19! Children these days! They start gyming from school days and puff-up their bodies to look 10 years elder!
He asked me what I did and called me "Didi" to burn down all my emotions :(

There was this one exercise that I was doing wrong and this gym-member corrected me. So that led to a very interesting conversation about muscle tone and yes, interesting conversations are always a turn ON! But, my bad luck soon caught-up and he asked me, "Which standard are you in, Beta?"
At first I thought he wasn't talking to me. But then, to my horror, he pointed and repeated the question. I knew he was much elder than me and I guessed 30ish. What I didn't know was that he was a 42 year old 6-pack obsessed uncle.

Now you see why I said that about gym and men!?

Well, My initial days at the gym were spent lusting a tall-fair-chubby guy who always wore blue clothes. I'll call him Blue-boy (BB) :P. So, after 1 whole week of eye-contact and timid smiles, we have a dialogue. He was skipping in the courtyard and I was sent there for jogging-rounds.
BB: (stops hastily) You need the rope?
Me: What!?
BB: Rope, skipping rope! (with animated actions)
Me: Oh! I heard something totally bizarre!
BB: What did you hear?
Me: Dope. (sly smile :P)
BB: Haha! Wow. I can use some of that right now! God knows that losing weight the straight way is tough!
Me: Err.. I should get started on those rounds..
BB: Listen, I don't do drugs ha!
Me: Huh?
BB: I mentioned needing pot right? I don't do it.
Me: Good for you. (tightening my shoe-laces to take off)
BB: No, believe me. I'm very much against all vices. I have even stopped talking to my friends who began smoking.
Me: OK. (straight-face)
BB: I don't befriend smokers or dopers or alcoholics or arts students because they are usually smokers or dopers or alcoholics. You aren't a student of arts, right?
Me: No, but..
BB: I knew it! And you are not Marathi either! I'm not very fond of Marathi-people.
Me: Hmm. You know what? I need to be running now and you should jump. So I guess we can talk later..
BB: Aree no, Why you getting into formality?! I'm taking a break anyway. So, where was I? Yes, I don't like Marathis or Punjabis. I might look like a Punjabi, but I'm actually a Sindhi. You are not a Sindhi, are you?
Me: Nope. But I need to run now. So, bye!

Since that day, every time I see him, he comes to gym wearing a white tee which says "No Smoking". This has been on since so long that now, I can openly judge him to be someone worth avoiding forever.

So yea, there was sweaty-sweeterson, adidas-ganji-guy, smug-face, black-gloved knight, Garfield-butt, lifts-like-a-girl, stares-at-the-wrong-place, Tom-cruise-lookalike, brown-eyes-chin-dimple etc etc; but they don't come at my time, so who cares!

And now the mystery of the water-cooler! Tan-tana!!

So while one works out, one takes a water break. So, in 1 hour, I drink water about 3-4 times. The time-out at the cooler is a perfect opportunity for one to make conversation with others. So, being the observant person I am, I have noticed that during crowded hours, when a hot girl makes her way towards the cooler, guys choose to take time-outs and rush there :P

I noticed that this one person, [lets call him Creepy-eyes (CE)] started coming to the cooler when I was there. I found it so weird that I started carrying my own bottle to the gym :-/

Such stuff happens everywhere, It depends how you choose to react to them. I have decided that gym-guys are not for me. They are just good to look at; but when you interact with them, you wish the earth would tear apart and swallow them whole! Or they are taken and you wouldn't want them to think of you as a cling-on.

So, Gym is strictly for nirmal anand (mild entertainment) and for other stuff, we have the blogs ;) :P

Grayscale

2011-11-10T13:21:00.000-08:00

Love. The chase. The madness.
Essence of Life. Hyped concept.
The lust for more and more of Love.

Honesty. Frank open-mouthed-ness.
Clears the air. Guilt-free.
or Honesty which is abrasive, Raw.

Abuse. Inappropriate, unconventional.
The vices. Indulgence,
or Exploitation of another's space / property.

Want. Desire.
To let the urges take over the whole of you.
To not regret anything, Ever.

Religion. To worship and how.
Wash brains, cleanse souls, follow rituals.
To believe or make-believe.

Respect. Or the sheer absence of it.
Towards something that is available for free.
For someone's feelings.

Resilience. Intolerance. Frustration. Envy.
Calculation. Reasoning. Brainstorming all Pros and Cons.
Emotion. Heart. Flowing with the heart.

Pain.
Or Happiness in else's pain.

Nothing is wrong. And Nothing is right.
It's just a frame of one's mind.

Spontaneous Funtaneous!

2011-10-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

Before I go ahead with the post, I would solemnly agree that I don't swim in money like Scrooge McDuck does. I am not a poor person's daughter/sister, but being a student, I'm perpetually WBPL.. yes, Way Below Poverty Line.

But that does not restrict me from making plans with my friends. Plans for 2-3 day trips or even a random 1 day visit to a nearby landmark. The thing is, in my small way, I try to make the best of places and time available to me. If my parents permit, the budget is higher.. if they don't, the luxuries need to be laid off.

Somehow, all I have learned is that, The less money I spend, the more fun I have!
Ironic, isn't it?

Don't get me wrong.. I love it when I have luxurious vacations with my parents. Traveling in big cars, beach-facing suites, no shopping budget what-so-ever, everything pre-planned and all you need to do is: 'stick to the plan'!
But there is just so much of 'paneer makkhanwala + naan' that you can eat!!

In the last 3 years, I have immensely experimented with cuisine and people. Hence, a little more enlightened Shatabdi confesses that she has had a VERY good time!
Done a lot of crazy things.. But I am enlisting My most favorite 11.

*!* Ordering food at a road-side dhaba by saying "Jo hai, le aao" (Bring whatever is available). Eating 1 plate of everything among 5 people and paying 200 bucks.

*!* Changing in a disgusting loo where normal people would never even set a foot. And then after wards describing the feces to gross people out :P

*!* Getting out of home without knowing the means of travel. Break-journeying in auto 5 times! and later laughing about the fucked up backside.

*!* Celebrating a birthday party at an unknown person's rooftop.

*!* Drinking 4 kinds of unidentified (non-alcoholic :P) liquids just for experimentation. Further, mixing those drinks to make a Grey liquid and drinking that. All of this in a ultra-posh mumbai cafe. Yes, the kinds where film stars walk in :P

*!* Commuting for 23 minutes with 8 people in a 3 seater auto-rickshaw.
*!* Sleeping with 7 people (non-sexually) on 2 mattresses in a friend's friend's friend's boyfriend's house :D

*!* Playing a beach ball game with absolute strangers and terribly losing it :P

*!* Living for 3 days in a room with moss green dripping walls, 1 bulb and Giant insects. AC didn't work and fan showered dust. Thank-god it was in a hill-station!

*!* Traveling in a public bus that was literally about to fall apart.

*!* Getting lost and then mugged and finally, spending the night at Lonavala Bus depot!

Been there, done that! :D

All I am trying to say is that, to get to know a place one has to wander the streets. I lived in a fantastic city like Hyderabad for 2 odd years and did everything that was there to do. Next, I intend to check out some foreign country where language and cash isn't the barrier. OR even a trip just-by-myself sounds fun, but I am not sure if I am mature enough to handle that.

Also, I do not click pictures. Other people do and I choose and collect them. That way, I can absorb a lot more than worrying about "the perfect angle." No offense to the photographer-types, but well, that is just not something for me.

The intention of this post is not to brag about the unusual things that I have done. It was in fact to try and break the stereotype that 'fancier trips are more fun trips'. Call me crazy, but if I take a mountain-top trek, I drink the naturally precipitated water! That is something that makes me feel real close to mother nature.

I would really love it if my partner chooses to go to a national park for our honeymoon. Because all said and done, the best way of doing it, is the way nomads did it :P :P
So, what was your most memorable trip?

P.S. I do not want to encourage kids to run away from home, just to try and have some fun. My parents always knew where I was and how to reach me. Keeping a toe beyond the line once in a while is okay, but we must always be responsible.

Bachao!

2011-10-16T13:53:00.000-07:00

I have been a good girl for so long now. Since the massive fiasco in school, I've managed to act perfect in front of you. You know me as the girl who behaves herself with all your friends, the girl who doesn't mind cooking and cleaning once in a while, the girl who used to go to lab and come straight to the hostel at 10pm.

Then, Why do you want to dig deeper and know 'me'? Why do you want to make me super conscious on a website where I was supposed to be 'myself'? Why can't you continue being the same ignorant and normal mother like you used to be in the past.
WHY?!

Yes children, she caught the facebook bug. She has been asking me to sign her up since a week and I successfully changed the topic. But now, she is officially, the newest member on my friend-list!

DAY1
Ma: (while I was watching TV)I want to be on facebook.
Me: Aree.. you saw Bade Ache Lagte Hai's this week's promo?
Ma: Yea. They are going on honeymoon!!
Me: (victory dance in my head and innocent smile on my face.)

DAY2
Me: I saw (some cousin's) pictures. She has lost some weight now. Looks cool!
Ma: Yea? That's because they are trying to get her married off..
Me: Oh. Still, its good to see that people are having fun.
Ma: She sent those photos to you?
Me: No. She just uploaded them.
Ma: Facebook? If I was a member, I would have seen it too.
Me: err.. the dal is very tasty today! Extra garlic?
Ma: No, the trick is to fry the dal with the onion and garlic before adding water..
Me: (victory dance in my head and innocent smile on my face.)

DAY3
Ma: (while I was on the computer) Open an account for me on facebook.
Me: Did you see the new features on yahoo msgr! You can talk to bhaiya in US much more effectively!
Ma: yea?! connect it now!!!!!
Me: (victory dance in my head and innocent smile on my face.)

DAY4
Ma: (while I was facebooking on the computer) I also want to use facebook like you do.
Me: Mom, its not for you.
Ma: Why? Because I hadn't seen a computer right when I was born? If your brother was here, he would have been happy because I want to share your fun. But you? you just don't want to keep me updated! (blah..blah..blah..)
Me: Mom, its very complicated! I took 2 months to learn it myself!
Ma: And if you teach me, I can learn it in 2 months too!!
Me: But you have to leave for Kolkata next week! There are so many things we need to do before that!
Ma: I simply forgot!! There is so much to do... Diwali shopping, cleaning, cooking, packing gifts.. lonnng list!
Me: (victory dance in my head and innocent smile on my face.)

DAY5
Ma: I told you so many times but you just don't listen to me!
Me: What did I do now?
Ma: You didn't water the plants!
Me: Oh. Give me a minute. I'll get to that.
Ma: You didn't make me a facebook account.
Me: Mom! this plant has a new bud and 2 new leaves!
Ma: Great! I'll take the flower in the flight to Kolkata.
Me: (grin) For dad?
Ma: (blush) For the goddess!
Me: (victory dance in my head and innocent smile on my face.)

DAY6
Ma: Every time I talk about my facebook profile, you make a scared face!
Me: I don't!! Ma, this window is so dirty! Can you fetch me the bottle of Easy off bang?
Ma: This bai is good for nothing. I won't give her diwali bonus.
Me: (victory dance in my head and innocent smile on my face.)

DAY7
Ma: My 4 friends are on facebook now.
Me: Mom, today is the tailor's delivery date nah?
Ma: No, its tomorrow. I want to see how many more of my friends are on facebook.
Me: Aree, i doubt you will find many people. But will you please make fish for dinner?
Ma: I made rotis and you don't eat fish with roti so, I'm making your favorite cauliflower... after I sign up for facebook.
Me: But I am hungry now!
Ma: Its 6pm. Eat biscuits and drink water while you make my facebook id.
Me: My laptop is out of charge.
Ma: Use the power-cord.
Me: The neighbor borrowed it.
Ma: Use my laptop.
Me: (with sad puppy face) My eyes hurt! I worked for 3 hours straight on a PC just now...
Ma: You chatted y'day for 4 hours. Splash some water and teach me facebook for 1 hour. NOW.
Me: Grr.. Why do you want it anyway?
Ma: To keep in touch with friends and find some old friends.
Me: ok. So, you sign up by giving a primary email id.
Ma: gmail? but that expired.. so we have to make a new id.. hmm.. lets think of some name...
Me: NO! Lets use ur existing yahoo one.
Ma: Why yahoo for everything?
Me: Because that takes less time. Now, let me type to show u the 1st time...
Ma: How will I learn if you do everything?
Me: How will I live if you type like a snail?
Ma: You will sit patiently and watch me do it. Like when I watched you draw the alphabets 18 years ago.
Me: (with a desire to tear my head off) OK. So type in your details here.
Ma: (after 10 minutes) done!
Me: Stop rejoicing, its only the start. 5 more forms to go.
Ma: Make tea while I read the policy of the website.
Me: No-one in the history of the universe has ever read them! Just click on agree.
Ma: (Looking at me as if I asked her to throw all her gold in the dustbin) What if I don't?
Me: Then you can't be on the site!
Ma: This is wrong!
Me: I clicked on agree and am standing 1 piece in front of you. 100 million people across the world clicked on agree and made facebook the biggest social networking site ever. NONE of them have gotten into trouble. So please, for the love of god, click on agree.
Ma: Fine. But you made me do it.
Me: OK!!

*frustration continues for another 1 hour*

Me: Now, all we need to do is get you some friends!
Ma: Search for xyz, abc, lmn and pqr!
Me: Done! Now all we have to do is wait for them to respond.
Ma: Wait! They all have 40-50 friends! I need more.
Me: Mom, you have to start small no. Eventually you will get there.
Ma: But everyone who knows me should know that I am on facebook now.
Me: Alright! you can add (some cousin)
Ma: Of course!
(I open my profile and go to the friend list)
Ma: (Pointing at the 'add friend' tab and a sly smile) click on that!
Me: (Mahabharat in my head and an innocent smile on my face.) Of course!

*frustration continues for another 1 hour*

Ma: After my friends add me, how does this change?
Me: You can see their walls, msg them, chat with them, share info with them..
Ma: But how?
Me: Ill login from my id, accept your request. Then you can login from your id and see for yourself.
Ma: Yes. Do that!
(Changes are made. Mom is successfully taught how to login.)
Ma: 300 photos!
Me: I've been here for about 3 years now! So that's not even 10 photos a month!
Ma: Hmm.. Your status message..
Me: What about that now?
Ma: I don't get it.
Me: Its just something random. No-one gets it.
Ma: Still, 12 people liked it.
Me: Aree, people go on liking everything on facebook. You let be.
Ma: (scrolling down) there is so much here..
Me: I told you, its complicated..

(and just when I thought it was done and I could start relaxing..)

Ma: You went on a mid-night road trip with some boys when you were in Pune last month?!?!?

and hence, my facebook account is currently deactivated. :-/

Critical Connection

2011-09-28T11:54:00.000-07:00

I travel a lot. No, I don't go to 'explore new places' or 'meet new people', I just travel between two cities 790 kms away from each other. You see, one of them is where my heart belongs (Mumbai) and well, the other is where I am trapped since last 2 years (Hyderabad). 17 hours far away by train. And I would just reiterate that, My love for railways has nothing to do with my name!

I run home-wards, almost every chance I get. It is not a VERY long journey, so if I plan it well, I can manage to meet the most important people to me, every couple months. But that is not what this post is about.

Because of the frequency of my travel and my insistence to experiment with different kinds of people, I choose to usually travel by the 2nd class sleeper coaches. And invariable of the route, or the time, or the season, or my seat number, I end up sitting at the compartment that has one of these,

yes, The emergency window!!

Sometimes I feel as if these things follow me whenever I travel. I have had them in ac coaches, in chair-cars, at seat number 1, at air planes.. sometimes even at private buses. Its almost like god is asking me to take a safe exit from my current plans in life and take up safer assignments.

Another thing that I have noticed is that, these windows manage to not catch up with me when I am traveling with my mother. Does this mean that she is my safety cover?

Have I totally gone crazy?

All for the little glow :P

2011-09-05T00:48:00.000-07:00

This is the most hilarious conversation I've ever had. Adult content: Unsuitable for children.

So, I was spending the night at a good friend's place and both of us were neither sleepy nor at the loss of conversation-starters. Hence, began random chatter that took the most ridiculous turns and finally lead to explosive laughter.

Me: The best way of Contraception? Condoms right?
She: Yea, but there are so many kinds! How does one know which type is best?
Me: Well, to keep the fun alive, I guess all people can do is 'experiment'..
She : Yea! So, there is dotted, and flavored, and lubricated, and?
Me: I dunno the regular things, but I do know that Kamasutra was trying to pull off something called 'glowing condoms' :P

*roar of laughter*

She: Huh? Really now!
Me: Yea, it never got through the quality checks I think. But some friend's friend was an auditor and could lay his hands on some complimentary ones. I don't know how effective they are, but sound quite entertaining..
She: Haha!
Me: Yea man! They had 2 colours as far as I remember. Green and Red. It reminds me of the signal lights :P
She: Only 2 colours? They should have experimented more re!
Me: Aree, green for husband and red for secret lover. So that she would know whose name to scream :D The Promotional ad makers should totally take our idea! :D
She: LOL! But if the husband was to return while the extra-marital action was on, the curtains is the most obvious place to hide right? But he would get caught because of the glowing thing man! Then whats the fun?
Me: Yea! Ad cancel. We have to come up with more convincing ideas that appeal to more people...

*Brain-storming begins*

She: We need more variety!
Me: Yea! Shocking pink for girly gurls..
She: Grey with a little shine for smart professional chics!
Me: Yeahh.. black would be hot too! But then whats the point of all the illumination... :-/
She: Haha! Oh, we need something for the elderly. Ah! White glow for senior citizens!
Me: Abbe, woh cfl k tarah jalega!

*roar of laughter*

She: The advertisement for this thing would be damn appealing. Electricity chali jaati hai and then the wife cooks for her dear husband in the brightness of his thing :P
Me: Dude, so, if they use a glass top dining table....
She: Instead of candle light dinner... they would have d*ck-light dinner!!!

*roar of laughter*

Me: One solid colour will get boring after a while nah.. If we could have varied patterns and designs the trend is more likely to stay sustained.
She: Oh! There should be alternate lighting, like the diwali LED lights!
Me: Cool stuff!! But a fluorescent dye won't be able to do that! We will need a power source. Battery would be cumbersome re..
She: Yea.. and electricity laya bhi toh power cord kaha se niklega?
Me: Butt se niklega

*roar of laughter*

Me: Uska bhi ad hona chahiye!!
She: Yea.. so after a long hard day when a couple goes to sleep.. husband pyar se bolega, "Darling, light off kar do.. and mera d*ck on kar do!!"

*roar of laughter*

Me: Dude! That will be a revolution! We should really contact some companies and sell them our multi-million dollar ideas!
She: Of course! But then we are supposed to be 'GOOD' girls who don't really know about all these things :D Plus, it is too much effort!
Me: Yea.. But we had the idea first! So, we should have some proof..

*Brain-storming continues*

*Laziness and sleep take over*

*Followed by a very bizarre dream and drowsy morning where we couldn't really look each other in the eye*

:P

BUT,
we would all agree, Glow toh chahiye boss! :D :D

Fury, fright and failure

2011-07-13T10:59:00.000-07:00

I have always respected the city I belong to. Always loved every bit wholeheartedly.
Some say I ain't a Mumbaikar coz I reside at the other side of a bridge,
Some say I can't be one coz Marathi isn't my mother-tongue,
Some say that being born on this land plays a role in belonging here..

I've never cared about such trivial things and always been passionate about the awesomeness of An Awesome city.

But today, my heart cries.

I've already expressed whatever I felt like saying about the attacks on My city. Today, I just want us all to take a minute and analyze all that we are losing in this never-ending war for peace. I am saddened by the fact that innocent college/office-goers pay the price for loop-holes in the administration.

Dear Terrorists,
I admire your ways of planning and execution. Next time, please bomb the good-for-nothing politicians. You shall make your point with a greater impact and the ones at fault shall be penalized.

Sincerely,
An average Mumbaikar.

A piece of my own!

2011-07-09T13:49:00.000-07:00

Sharing.
A perfectly beautiful word.
Every relationship has this word in the very definition.

In difficult times, it gives courage to power through it. In times of happiness, it multiplies the fun. And well literally speaking, It reduces the load, makes it manageable.

But there are some things in life that one cannot share away with everyone they know!
For instance,

Confusion.
Yea! The more people we discuss it with, the more confusing it gets! And then the soup leads to us making the wrong decision. End result: the situation gets even more confusing than it originally was!

Secrets.
Obviously. If you blabber it all away, it isn't a secret to start with.

Your ace card.
No, I am not a vixen. But who doesn't enjoy some mild mind games? :P Well, in a tight spot, discussion helps, but either never disclose your brilliantly thought-out next move or, discuss it with someone who doesn't exactly know what you are upto ;) :P

Your bedroom stories.
Seriously. I for one don't need to know how many times you did it :-/

Irrelevant things that happened gazillion years ago.
Need I say anything else?

and Most importantly,
The teeniest tiniest detail about your relationship!
I have always believed that every relationship is different and things that work in some relationships don't need to work for other ones. Every couple has to form their own rhythm and develop their own symphony that requires a lot of effort.

And despite knowing everything, one (read I) know(s) nothing.

Problematic, Beautiful, fucked up, out-of-a-fairy-tale, absolute-delight! Whatever your relationship is, that's your doing. Deal with it.

And let me deal with some real problems.

The gush of hope

2011-04-16T23:16:00.000-07:00

I'm glad it rained last night..
The earth's heat needed cooling off
coz summer was being unbearable,
not like winter's mild cold and cough.

I'm glad it rained last night..
washing off all despair with it.
The clouds cried as they rejoiced,
called friends and foes up for a meet!

I'm glad it rained last night..
It brightened up the morning of today.
With smiling faces and happy souls
finding both their will and their way.

I'm glad it rained last night..
for otherwise, I wouldn't have met him.
Two strangers, a cup of tea,
and chats with the light, oh-so dim ;)

Life is too simple if you don't complicate it!

2011-01-30T09:00:00.000-08:00

Academics, love-life, hygiene, image, popularity, impression on elders, rapport with teachers, statement of purpose, short-term goals of life, Long term goals of life, keeping parents content, denying distant relatives a reason to pick on you, phone bills, random friend's birthday present contribution share, boyfriend/girlfriend trouble, heart-aches, deadlines, interviews, books to read, things to do, movies to watch, etc etc.. There are so much stuff that an average young adult is responsible for.

Every single time when I think that I have gained expertise in one aspect, other ones start falling apart. Managing ones’ life effectively is more difficult than probably managing a multi-national company! Just that a lot is on stake in case of the so called 'managers', but all of us do manage by, don't we?

Thinking about how one can change their life into something better is probably the world's favorite way of passing time. What we fail to realize is that, at some point of time, we have to loosen the strain on improvement and care about making the best of what we have. Cribbing about life doesn't make it better, it only creates negativity which is very difficult to get rid of.

There has to be a simpler way of living. More richer, more fulfilling..

Appreciate; yourself, others, their efforts.. Understand; what the universe is trying to tell you.. Realize; that it's never too late to make a fresh start. Try; to like the choices available to you.. and choose, the one choice that makes me most happy.

Easy to talk and difficult to walk?

I am going to try. There is everything to gain.

Stuck at the cross-roads of life

2010-12-18T01:55:00.000-08:00

I am at a state when I just want life to stop questioning me how I want it to change. A decision that would determine where I shall belong, what I shall become.. Everytime I come up with an answer to this crucial question; people ask me, "really?" And well, everything I planned and re-planned goes down the drain. When even I am not completely convinced, how the hell should I convince them?

People usually think about this when they are 15 years old. They realise what they want to become and then they try and chase it.. A pilot, a teacher, a chef, a doctor, a model, an actress or even a photographer! Passion develops, chase begins, chase ends, life begins. If they get what they really want, they settle for it. If they don't get it, well, they settle for the next best thing. During the tryst of career-chase, atleast people find out what they don't want to do. And then, they can carve their paths from there.

With me, it was nothing like that.

I knew science was my "thing". And now after completing my bachelor's and (almost) my master's degree, I am not sure. It is plain ridiculous. My classmates are busy applying for PhD or job or fellowship or interview or matrimonial!; and I don't have any motivation towards any of these because none of these are things that I am looking forward to.

Then what am I looking forward to? Well, honestly, I do not know.

I studied till now according to how fate wanted things to turn. Bachelor's in biochemistry was not a concious decision, but I enjoyed it. Then, I did master's in the same subject from a very good university because the tiny research aspirant in me deserved a genuine chance. But here in Unversity of Hyderabad, the last 2 years have just gone by in the rat race to score a face-saving CGPA. And now the research aspirant in me is afraid that she is not good enough. Call me crazy, but I hate coursework, even if I don't suck at it, i still hate it.

What is wrong with me? Honestly, I have tried a lot to figure that out. But, I have failed miserably. You are welcome to try though..

I think I am way too immature to make a huge decision of moving to another country. Plus, I neither have solid research experience, nor killing motivation to make it happen for me. This confusion started with average GRE marks and now I dont know how to set everything right.

To add to my confusion, my area of interest changes everyday; No kidding. I have read loads of books, tons of research papaers, and still am as lost as ever. I really like the way my life is right now and do not want anything to change. I am trying with all my might to postpone the decision, at least till the time when I have the courage to deal with it, till I find the answer to my primary question.

I am going to make a sound decision. And this time, fate shall not triumph.
For the last time, I need more time to look into my crooked brain.
I need time to set my ambitions straight.
I need time to dream and achieve things that I deserve.
I need time to know, what do I want to become...

I wish that next year brings me a little more focus and insight. Any other gifts that want to tag along are most welcome :P Happy holidays everyone! :)

I need to be me tonight

2010-09-18T10:24:00.000-07:00

I need a recap tonight
a recap of all mistakes I've done
of all the people I've hurt
and all the disasters, just for fun

I need a car tonight
to run me down memory lane
to make me realise how much time I wasted
all the partial effort, down the drain

I need a new friend tonight
who'd just listen to me go on and on
would neither judge me, nor advice
He'd just leave me on my own

I need to do the right thing tonight
because I've always done what's wrong
never listened, have always imposed
always tried to show, I'm strong

I need to lose myself tonight
so that I can find me again
one day when the sun shall rise
There will be no chance of any rain.

When 'Thanks' doesn't seem enough..

2010-07-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

I have had a rough couple of months. Academically, emotionally, and even health-wise. I had just one week to get back to Hyderabad and most of it was going to be dedicated to my TOEFL. I did not get a chance to meet most of my friends here, back home, and worse, GRE got screwed up as expected because you see, I wasn't well.

Just when nothing seemed to work well for me, My 21st birthday arrived and set everything straight :)

Birthdays for me have always been a huge celebration. Well, till the 19th one. 20th birthday saw me stepping out of teenage and also out of home to pursue my Master's in University of Hyderabad. So, it was a mixed box of feelings. 21st one was my official entry to adulthood and I wasn't quite sure how grand I wanted to make it. But, my awesome friends and super-mom made sure they made it the best birthday ever!

I got 4 birthday Cakes; and 2 more are pending in Hyd..
I was gifted lots of stuff and all of it is something I needed.
Read 2 most awesome birthday cards that made me cry :')
Met some new people and visited some pending eat-outs in Mumbai.
Literally, shopped till I dropped.
Slept for only 3 n 1/2 hours of the 24 :)
went 1/2 hour late to my own birthday party coz I was busy on the phone
Met most of my favorite people on the planet.
Spoke to everyone for whom my heart reaches out.

My phone got jammed at 00:00 am on 18th because of the number of messages that were delivered at the same time :P

I was so overwhelmed with all the love being showered that I had a wide smile on my face when I knocked off at the night after all the celebration. I really needed this high and my friends made sure they made the best out of it :)

I just LOVE my birthdays :)

Dreams

2010-04-03T01:59:00.000-07:00

When you hear the word 'Dream', what is the first thought that comes to your mind?
A recurring nightmare?
Something you always wanted to be?
Someplace you always wanted to visit?
Someone you always wanted to be with?
An absolute feeling of elation or that of downright misery..

What do these visions mean? Do they show you some things about yourself that are hidden so deep down, yet are so strong that they have to surface in some way or the other? Something you are, something you want to be, something you actually CAN be.

If not in sleep, we dream while we are awake. Then try to achieve them. Succeed, fail or fail miserably. Then dream some more. A dreamer will always be a dreamer; how easy or difficult his dreams might be.

Visualization is the key to achieving. Till you don’t see yourself winning, there is no-way you will work for it, and until you do work, nothing can be achieved. Not my words, some-one wise once said these to me.

I meanwhile have been a pessimist all along. Aim low, if you get more, it’s a happy surprise! No expectations = no disappointments; Always worked for me. Ignorant as I was, did not realize that achieving the goals is the whole point of aiming and till you are going to be satisfied with what you have, how are you ever going to get what you deserve?

So then the journey began, of fantasy, of vividness, of ecstasy, of beauty.. :-)

Here I am,
the way I like myself to be;
with the visions in my eyes
dreams for today in my heart..
Rustling past the slow world
Towards the me I want to be.

So, dream on honey
Of the bright days, blue skies,
Of pretty birds and soulful meadows
Of us, tomorrow and today

And if you simply cannot
However hard you try,
Unable to see yourself there, amongst the not real?
I’ll do the dreaming for the two of us.

P.S. This was my 100th published post. Milestone in a beautiful journey. Thanks for being a part of it. :)

The saga of the whining victor

2010-03-20T11:02:00.000-07:00

Antakshari and I are old buddies. I chase it, it chases me; I win it and sometimes if I don’t, it wins me. Where-ever I go, I invariably end up participating in it and hence the chase continues.
So it did, even here in Hyderabad.

On the 30th of Jan ’10, after a whole drama, I managed to make a random team of three and won, yea, came 2nd without doing too much effort and had a gala time. BUT, I had no idea that the last bit of my association with this contest would be the most frustrating one, requiring maximum amount of patience from my side; the part where I collect my prize.

First, they don’t give the prize-money / vouchers on the prescribed day because it is supposed to be centralized. So, hang on, it will come to you. We play safe, ask one of the organizers to collect and then pass it on to us. What I do-not know is that he is an ass who will continuously call me in the middle of a test [after telling him repeatedly that I’m busy till 5pm]. Whatever happened to ‘dropping a text message?!’ Flustered, I decide to deal with the other guy, choose to call him up and explain. Well, he turns out to be the sane choice; let’s call him A. By this time, it is 1st Feb. ’10. A gave me a date after inquiry, 7th Feb, Sunday, official prize distribution day.
Turns out it wasn’t.

I’m sure they had their reasons, but the postponing continued for quite some-time. One of these days, he managed to lay his hands on the cheque and the vouchers, but failed to pass them on to me. Then A and I played I’m busy-You are busy for another couple of weeks, had another blood-boiling experience with the 1st organizer guy and finally, on one of the worst days of my life, 8th March, I collected the glorious prize. Hang on, doesn’t end here.

First of all, the vouchers were bogus. I have an awesome hair-style, and they give me 200/- discount at Habib’s. I don’t wear jewellery, they give me 1000 bucks off, If I shop for 12,000 bucks. Are you kidding me?! There is more to it…
The cheque was an account payee, which I obviously knew would go in my account that might be in any bank under the sky; BUT while giving the cheque to me, A asked me to go to this prescribed bank’s distal branch and en-cash the money. Blind me didn’t read the cheque and took his word for it.

After this, begins the most annoying part. I am running around all day in the campus with the cheque in my wallet and when I get free in the evenings at 5, the bank is shut already! On the 13th Mar, it is second Saturday, the bank won’t even open. Unbelievable frustration

FINALLY, today, 2 days prior to my super-huge ultra-important presentation, I take time out to go all the way to Madhapur in this scorching heat, only to get a joke made out of me. The banker asked me to go back to my campus branch of SBI and deposit the cheque in my account and then, withdraw the money from my regular everyday atm. I insist on withdrawal, but as I’m not his customer, he is free to not entertain me.

Current status is that my cheque is dropped in the box. It will en-cash after 3 working days and then I get the money. If I was in US now, I would be filing defamation against the fest-organizers for being the sole reason behind absolute nuisance, tanning me 2 shades down, causing deep inconvenience and inefficient transfer of deserved currency. But I’m in India, and this happens every day here.

It gets on my nerves more because back home in Bombay, every time we had a fest, the winners got their prizes less than ½ an hour after they won, and here, the cheque was dated 22nd Feb. I still don’t have the money, but I’m ready to ignore all the drama that followed.

You might wonder what were the 2 of my group mates [one of them a guy] doing all this while. Nothing. I couldn’t face them because it was like I owed them money and yet, I didn’t! Of the Rs 500/- of my share, I have already blown about Rs 250/- in making phone calls, travelling, eating ice-creams to turn down frustration and the likes. Another grand would be spent in PARTYYY and treat-treat-treat chants. Grr.

A few good things that came out of the whole thing are that I won against someone I really wanted to show the ground, made another decent friend in Hyderabad and understood the value of a not-so-petty 500 rupee note.

Take home messages.

1. If you organize a fest, it is just not about the 3 days, it is about everything that happens before and after it. Act responsible.

2. If you have an enemy, ask them to participate in Felicity, organized by IIIT Hyd; and make absolutely sure that they win.

Blah.

This love-hate thing..

2010-03-16T06:38:00.000-07:00

When they like you, you don't like them;
when they don't, you lurrvveee them.
When you talk to them, you are on cloud nine,
when you don't, probably they are on cloud seventeen :D

And then all this while,
there is this person
who stares at you while you work in the library,
dreams of you, day and night,
tries a lot to talk to you,
smiles a lot while talking to you.

And you keep hoping to talk to the person who doesn't care what you want to talk about, making several blows to the feelings of the one who does care.

This funny thing about liking someone, you sometimes forget that you need to be liked back.

You settle for whatever comes along. You want to eat a fruit, who cares if it is lemon or strawberry? Humour yourself that all is going to end well; but knowing very well deep down that this ain't going nowhere. Hurting someone elses feelings because this one particular person isn't paying enought attention to you.

This funny thing about loving someone and they not loving you back, someone ends up getting hurt for no fault.

Then, there are your friends. They sympathise with your situation, but 'HAVE GOTTA TELL YOU SOMETHING NOW!' They, their respective relationships and their funny tales. You have to go like, 'You 've gotta be kidding me!!' or 'Awww, I'm so happy for you :)'; when deep down telling yourself, 'Get out of this room before you explode!'

This funny thing about wanting to be friends with only those people who have identical relationship status as you.

Just when the sea in your heart calmed down, why does the tornado strike?
When you were busy playing neutral, why do all the positives and negatives in you start attracting and repulsing with each other?
This sudden rush of feelings for this one person, all goes well and then suddenly,
*Boom*

The bubble bursts!

WHY?

Love, is it?

2010-02-14T08:03:00.000-08:00

The favorite topic of discussion?

Dream-partner, dream-romance, dream-dates, dream-kisses, dream-love-making, dream-wedding!

I personally (still) do not believe in love. I (still) do not see why other people do, AND (still) don't think I would ever be able to. All I had to say about love is this.

My last year's valentine's day post was just an attempt to change the whole topic to other forms of love, but well, this weekend I'm saddened.

Every-one's concern is absolutely different.

Shahrukh Khan wants Paki players to play in IPL
Shiv-sena + Ma-na-se don't want call him a traitor instead
Mumbaikars want to see 'My name is Khan'
Rest of india wants to either like it or not-like it
Terrorists wanna bomb one of my favorite bakeries
City-police wants to sleep
Pune-kars want to act like nothing happened
Hyderabadies want Telengana
Students want to study and nail GATE
My hostel-mates want to smoke in the wash-rooms
My classmates want placement
My mum wants me to wear a saree
My bro wants me to study hardER

I meanwhile, want a break!

One weekend, just one weekend surpasses all others as a mighty huge disaster. And what's best? Its just the beginning of the year / term / career, and I'm freaking out already.

Funny how I had to read a quote on Valentine's day. Says,
Since we tend to see ourselves primarily in the light of our intentions, which are invisible to others; while we see others mainly in the light of their actions, which are visible to us; we have a situation in which misunderstanding and injustice are the order of the day.
Interesting, very interesting.

Where is the will? Is there any way?

2010-01-30T01:53:00.000-08:00

Winter would mean different things to different people; to me it is like a Black Hole. This winter I seem to have lost all feeling of feeling at all. Forget romance, winter is just a lousy season because:
I’m drained out of everything! Interest, Energy, Thought-process, Motivation; even regular bodily Sensation! Numbness all around; in the periphery, in the limbs, heart, head, every part!

Initially I was looking forward to the “real” winters. In Mumbai temperatures do not fall below 15 degrees usually. Now, being in the jungles of the south, I knew the temperatures would definitely be cooler than back home. What I did not expect was freezing myself to numbness. And well, everything in and around me is now, frozen. Fondness became Apathy, Warmth is now cooled off and the heart? It feels like an ice-cube. Sigh.

Making an attempt needs motivation, Motivation comes from experience, for experience you have to experiment, to experiment you should innovate, Innovation is a product of thought process and for the process to trigger you have to make an attempt. So, we are back to square one, the circle of trying, of attempting. If you are of the opinion that you are the master of this circle, think again; You might just be humoring yourself.
I used to think I am. But, I am not.

For survival there is a constant need to attempt; for which I’m either too de-motivated or simply lost at majority times. When I do try, at times, I fail. I muster courage, and try several times, sometimes it gets done, some other times I lose interest and give up. How justified is it, I do not know and honestly, I’ve started to stop caring; It is almost like I am asexual, non-productive by both feelings and ideas.

To deal with it is tricky, to care about it is saddening, to not care about it is the reason for failure and failing in life is equal to choosing to end it; yes, the ‘will’ is missing. I thought just hanging on would help me figure ways out of it. But that is just waiting, waiting for calamity to strike, for my inevitable end to set me free. So, I have to deal with it now, but how? That also needs to be self-figured out. It is almost like jumping in the sea with neither swimming skills nor a life-jacket. Sink, float, sink more, float some more; when you try to float, you sink; when you try to sink, you float. Suffocation, Derangement, Disorientation, Losing sanity, losing everything, Panic!

*beep*

And then one breeze comes by and sweeps all despair beyond me, this one is called ‘Hope’, to survive, to clear well, to sail through. In the end, the real world is still two shores away and I am busy building my own fresh new world.

P.S. I'm writing after almost 2 months. Feels good :)

Do I not belong here anymore?

2009-11-27T08:37:00.000-08:00

It smells a little different in here
not like it did when I had left
the fresh calm is no more in the air
Now it is stale, almost suffocating.

The furniture has been moved, I notice
The lock to the main-door is changed,
A gleaming new washing-machine has replaced
the cabinet that held my belongings.

I can't figure out the keys
Neither the switches to the fan or light
There are marks on the wall that did not exist
New frames that I have never seen before.

My room looks familiar though
Nothing has been touched since four months ago
Still somehow I feel like i'm sleeping on someone else's bed
Hogging on someone else's space.

This someone else is me that I was back then
Carefree, Teenager, Thoughtless, Easy;
The someone that I have become now
Nomadic, Over-Planned, Measured, Mystery.

Both are strangers to each other.
She belonged, I don't feel the strings attached,
She just spoke, never thought,
I think and sometimes, never speak;
She flew, she wrote, she laughed a lot
She trusted, I don't;
She loved, I won't.

It's almost like I don't belong here;
I hate to admit but I'm jealous of her
Not very long ago, she was me
And now, I am someone I don't want to be.

Mamma-Papa are the same though;
some wrinkles are new, some kilos here and there
But its the same warmth that I used to feel
when I was she.

I'll always be their princess maybe
Always, the little one
So coming to them will always be like
coming home, whichever house it might be.

We didn't start the fire

2009-11-07T01:51:00.000-08:00

We just took a burning match and dropped it in the bottle full of alcohol.

Never. We will never take responsibility of our wrong doing; And even if something good happens and we were not even remotely involved in it, all we try to do is 'gain some credit'!

Well that's human tendency and we humans tend to do many things.
Generalize
Judge someone
Not smile often
not reply back 'hellos'
cut phone calls coz we are bored
just be bored
just be lazy
Miss the wrong people
blame others
Not accept change

all human tendencies
and all irrelevant.
Or is it so?

Food for thought: Treat others the way you want to be treated back.

Different cities, different ways..

2009-08-30T11:19:00.000-07:00

I always heard that India is 'diverse'; Now I finally know what that means..

Moved from,

to

It took me about more than a month to get used to the ways of the new city. Considering the fact that both the cities have very different history, this was expected. What makes it complicated is that the concepts that are just normal here are considered hilarious there and ways of life there are plain weird here. 'I' meanwhile am stuck between the places and trying to hunt for a midway.

Like, if you named a part of the city as 'High-tech city' in mumbai, people would either die laughing or simply change the name; and the same thing in Hyderabad is, 'cool' :-| I'm yet to know what is so high-tech about the high-tech city, the rocks are pretty authentic though..

The kinds of clothes I wear were never a matter of concern for me back home. Here, if i leave the room wearing shorts, the amount of staring is unbelievable! I try and wear 'full' clothes and even a scarf [for the sun] to just complete the burkha effect! My normal hairstyles are now 'fancy' and my sense of style is 'fashionable'. I get compliments thrown at all the time and more than making me happy, it ends up making me uncomfortable. Weird, very weird.

Oh, another thing..
If I come across a random guy in Mumbai, like the auto-walah / shopkeeper types, and call him 'bhaiya' it is supposedto be very offensive! I've called such people as 'uncle' all my life; and now if I call them uncle, I get a sly smile quipped with "Main aapko uncle lagta kya madam?" :-| Yeah, thats Hyderabadi hindi for you :-|

The local trains are replaced by MMTS, which suck
The Vada Pav is replaced by Dal wada;
The Cutting chai became 'Special tea';
Running to catch train has become cycling to class;
Super heavy showers shrunk into occasional drizzles;
DPs Restaurant has become Gopal shop;
Mom-made food is now putrid mess food;
Shivaji Park beach is now Peacock lake side;
The Biggest party ever called 'college' is over..
and campus life just happened!

Am I not happy?
No. There is not much to be unhappy about. The University is the best, facilities are bestest ever, people are kinda decent, my faculty is super-sexy and I've decent number of friends..

Then why am I whining?
I have my first internal exam this week :'(

P.S. Bharath is the only person in the university whom I knew before I came here; and as always, its FUN to meet blog-mates! :D

Eerie Hostel Tendencies :P

2009-08-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

Hostel life exposes us to whatever other people’s good/bad/ugly habits are and well, even you can’t actually hide yours’. Even if you become all isolated and tight-lipped, there is no escaping intrusion on your privacy :D

So, so.. having faced about 3 weeks of life in girl’s hostel, having seen quite a bit [:D], having had quite some words; an enlightened Shatabdi shall have her say..
*clears throat*
A girl’s hostel is the most uncivilized place on the planet.

Don’t believe me? Visit any! Okay, guys have to take my word for it :D

I shall just mention what all I saw than leaving it on your imagination.
[Stop thinking about it, girls do NOT make out in the corridors of my hostel!]

So, back to what all I saw with respect to clothing, hmm..
Girl walking around without major clothing, yes
Girl walking into the washrooms, holding her towel, yes
Towel slipping off, oh yes :-|
Girl having bucket full of clothes and none on her body, yes
Girl changing in the corridor, yes :-|
Girl wearing just a translucent top and running in the corridor, yes
Did I want to see any of it? Hell no!
So you get the hang of it, plain disgusting.

I was going around the rooms of my hostel for a survey and for some reason girls seem to run to change clothes just after I knocked the door! Not once, not twice but more than ten times! What were they doing all the while, no, I didn't need to ask :-|

Now that I’ve started talking about disgusting things, lets go one step lower..

Bathroom Quirks :D
Now, we have a Bathrooms with have one side of baths and the other of WC with the central part lined up with wash basins and one clothes-washing enclosure. Once I had the whole of my wardrobe for wash and also the bedsheets and curtains; so, I just decided to get them washed than die. Also, I’m an absolute laundry fanatic and there is only a particular way my clothes are to be washed, starched etc, thus I had to supervise the woman. This meant a good one hour in the washroom with no good work to do.

Quick question, what should people ideally take along with them to the loos?
Soap, mug, toilet paper [if necessary] and errmm towel?
I’ve seen people emerging out with all kinds of things..
Bucket, Books, Music player, Newspaper, Glasses, Make-up kit, Toothbrush + Paste, Hair oil + comb, Mirror, Eye-lens box + solution, washed socks + washing brush, A soiled plate + cutlery set!
What is it? Don’t people have 2 minutes to spare for essential activities! Or they have the skill of time-saving that I don’t possess! Why have you gotto eat while taking a dump?! Or is it some simultaneous input-output mechanism that one needs to master!
I can’t even eat while people are talking about it, how do these girls manage to eat while doing it! How?

I’m just gonna stop typing or I’ll get nauseous!

Until next weekend, BYE!

The Sambhar Rice and the Coconut chutney

2009-08-01T09:19:00.000-07:00

Well, so I am in South India. Not the first time, but definitely the first time for more than a week and with another year and a half lined up. So this is it, Welcome to Hyderabad!

With my Bengali lineage and Maharashtrian upbringing, I have eaten quite an assortment of food. So much variety that a restaurant menu would not suffice; But since the last 10 days, I have had almost all meals of Sambhar-rice! Bland food, so bland that I carry chaat masala with me to eat; And oh no no, this is not the worst part, these local girls went and complained that the food is ‘spicy’ and what I expect next is boiled vegetables!!

Food the way I’ve never had before
Vegetables that I don’t identify
Tamarind in everything
Cutlery = absent
Rice rice everywhere
Water straight from the oceans
No ‘daal’ in the daal
No tea, they serve morning sugar syrup
LONG queue for bath and longer for breakfast
Cycling across the 2300 acres called ‘campus’
No cellular network in the jungles

I asked for college life, not Jail life!

Ahem. So well, you get the hang of it, don’t you?

The TV channel doesn’t change. If you want to change, you use your stick / pen / clip, because there is no knob you see.. So it plays telegu stuff and I don’t even cross that corridor.

My room-mate’s possibly the best I could ever have! She is from Pune, so it’s like having someone from back-home live with me :-) Plus we like a lot of common things and don’t like a lot of other common things; in short, great! *thumbs up*
Very few guys from Mumbai; I made some decent amount of friends and we set off exploring the university every now and then :-) So, life doesn’t actually suck :P

Hyderabad is a funny place. They have cheesy parts of the city called Cyberabad, Telecom-nagar, hi-tech city n all; which by my view is funny :D The language is funny too. I’m not talking about telegu, any south Indian language is the same for me; here, I talk about the hyderabadi hindi :-| Oh, you’ve gotta hear it to know what I’m talking about.

I came alone to the city :-) I mostly travel alone and well, I kinda settled by myself too; so that’s prolly good.. The cycling is settled, even the room with my personal touches :-)

This is different from the place I grew up in
Very different
Maybe that means that life has a lot in store for me here
I don’t know, time will tell..

My Profs have a very sexy profile though. They are all visiting faculty in BIG schools like IISc, BARC, TIFR, MIT, some German and UK schools.. Even seniors have a great set up, so well, I have that much pressure on me to perform well..

I will write often now. I can’t believe that I didn’t write on my birthday. I had a nice one, but it was kinda sad coz I left for Hyd the next day. It is ok, the month-long birthday celebrations had gotta stop someday.. So, 20th year of life it is :-)

Oh, about the coconut chutney..

I dunno why but these south Indians love that one man!
It is served with everything! Idli, rice, puri, pakoda, samosa, upma, OKAY!
But they served it with aloo ka paratha! Beat that now..
Goodbye to good food..
*sigh*

Perfect things never come to an end!

2009-07-07T10:04:00.000-07:00

There's one sad truth in life I've found
While journeying east and west -
The only folks we really wound
Are those we love the best.
We flatter those we scarcely know,
We please the fleeting guest,
And deal full many a thoughtless blow
To those who love us best.
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox

People are not wrong! It's the striking of chords amongst two souls that makes things hard. No matter how bad you may find someone, there would always be someone to love that one and no matter how good you are, a certain set, a certain amount of souls hate you.. for something may or may not been done by you! So true, “People are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges.”. I've learned in my lifetime so far that you can't help who you fall for and no matter how hard you try and how much it hurts you every day that you just want to be with them or just talk to them you never stop trying to make them happy by the little things you say or do because that’s what makes your life worth going on for.
You meet people, believe in them..talk to them, know them..and term them as friends. With days passing by, friends become good and better. Feelings grow along with humans. You discover love; you realize the importance of relationship. You become better friends and try naming it. Not always lovers, may be best friends...may be siblings...
Those who are rich in their friendship seem to be those who believe in lifelong relationship, who stay with their companions through thick and thin ,who weather the dry spells.
People find it hard to understand but with passing time you stop explaining. You know it's beautiful and precious. You put in your faith and trust. You start believing in its existence and work upon making it never ending. At times, you may fall for a relation that is weak enough that time or distance may separate it. You lose! But don't lose your heart. This was never a complete relationship. If it was, you shall cross paths.
"If you want something, you get it. If you don't get it, you really didn't want it at all."
That’s why I say, perfect things never come to an end.

P.S. To Shatab,
Being friends with you was the second best thing in this world. Finding you was the first!

P. P.S. Thank you for letting me write the 100th post :-)

It feels good =)

2009-06-29T11:12:00.000-07:00

Life feels good.
The freshness of the winds, the chill of the rain,
feels new.
The dance of the leaves; no sorrow, no grieves,
feels calm.
The twitter of the birds, music to my ears,
feels free.
Buds opening, rain pouring, green spreading..
Bliss in the very air,
Monsoons are here
and that feels good :)

Finally all the running around halts. No, it didn't halt, I put a halt to it. I say so because technically I have another exam on the 8th but I'm too fed up to actually bother about it. 4th, 6th, 15th are the days of orientation of courses I'm selected into. So before my birthday, DEFINITELY majority of the drama would end. *ecstatic grin* *happy dance*

Now Baroda. A lot of you have been asking about it and I feel so great about all the concern :) So here's it.
I cleared for the interview. [Results awaited in a couplea weeks.] Which was a big shock after the sucky written test. But then everyone had a sucky paper so prolly mine sucked less :P Which means I was in top 22 among about 300+ candidates outside Gujrat. Which is good.
But the interview wasn't all that good.

Most of which wasn't my fault coz I was taught wrong stuff. [See? THIS is why I don't wanna do pure biochemistry in Mumbai!]
But the fact that I met those big-shot scientist guys, faced them interview me, slept on the hostel beds, roamed all around Baroda with good friends, planned the trip, traveled, accommodation hunting, everything by myself..gives me a high. :)

Then I had one last exam which incidentally was my third option and went pretty well.. so, I'm happy any-which-way :)

I had thought I'd give scene by scene analysis of my life in Baroda, but well.. not relevant. But, I had a guest home last morning..

Birdie came home through the terrace. Mommy reckons Birdie must have lost direction coz of the monsoon winds. I tried to shoo Birdie away, but Birdie wouldn't go. So, I fed Birdie instead! :D and then by the night Birdie flew away happily! :)

Yes, good days are back again :)

My blog world

2009-06-23T08:32:00.000-07:00

In my blogger world....

There are 8 8 posts in my archive;

Ranter Shrav SHALL survive :D

Arv is now my most favorite reader

I and Samby graduated together!!!

Aditi uses her blog, now for assignments;

Gunj’s talligiri is beyond confinements :D

Anindita’s new template is dull

Alok’s updates are equal to null

Bhai’s blog-break doesn’t end :(

Misanthropist is a good friend =)

Disguise bid blogging goodbye (?) :(

Laya selected NIFT Chennai!

Ishaan's blog is great; but needs some readers

Deluded needs a bunch of real hot cheer-leaders :D

Riversoul is still the best poet of the lot

Crasiezt is still the most hot :D

Urv got through for an MBA!

Trinaa, without meeting went away :(

Rajesh is busy writing his book

Anurag’s blog is pretty good to look

Ki’s confessions is one of my favorite

Pixie’s Gryphon-muesli is busy to waver it

Bharat’s musings need to be read since an age

I’m waiting for Diu’s writers block to disengage

Swayam and my tastes have kinda match

The private blogs are awesome! A must catch

Mistiquespeak is a recent addition on blog-roll

Crystal’s writings move our heart n soul

Soham is having his life’s last vacation

I and Sachi are the world’s best combination!

:D

Yes, I'm back to my pointless poetry :P :P
excess padhai does this to people :(

I leave for Baroda in a day. This weekend could make it or break it. See you soon people, I love you all! Thanks for hanging in there :)

Walking away

2009-06-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

Something I wrote off the hook..
Post dedicated to all the wonderful memories of the last 3 years of my life

Graduation days are the best I ever had
Graduating just makes me so sad
For I shall have to depart
Away from the place that is so close to my heart
Ruia, Miss me

My pals from all around the city
Of Various courses offered by Mumbai University
Moving on to make careers bright
Facing the world without doubt or fright
People, Miss me

Friends who were lot more than ‘classmates’
With virtues that make the greatest of greats
3 years together brought close and free
Love simply deepened for Biochemistry
TYs, Miss me

Teachers..
The professors, nah, more like friends
Who shall continue in there, for them no ends
They shall have a brand new ‘TY’ to worry about
To teach them all the concepts, to clear their doubts

Vora Ma’am faced it all with that brave grin
I’m glad; we are all as good as her kin
Mona Ma’am, her smile made all worry fade away
One conversation with Shohini Ma’am, made our day

Sneha Ma’am’s persistent backing-up with scolding
Prashant sir, always OHP transparency holding
Dhvani Ma’am, the reason why our FY bliss-ed
Padma Ma’am will always be max missed :-(

However bad or good students we were,
I hope you are content by the state of affair
But, you will agree that our was that batch
With traits that no other can ever match ;-)

Us..
We, the nine nautankies
The best from the rest, we the junkies
I am so close to you rest eight,
Our meet-ups are a definite bait..

Surabhi, the tallest of us all
Mau Manik’s late night missed call
Rohit’s jokes no better than a fart
Navjyot’s dancing = true work of art

Malamaal Prerna! Our Reserve Bank
Shweet Sayali, always so blank
Tejas Dada’s bayako [wife], his guitar
Late comer Bhate lives oh so far!

Life without you all, feels so empty
I shall miss N-219, memories plenty
DP’s corner table for six
All kinds of food in a random mix

The pictures clicked on the triangle
Career discussions from the canteen angle
Birthday celebrations and pending treats
Planning and canceling full group meets

It makes me look into the future’s eyes
Big hope that this friendship never dies
Big wish that we reach out might
But I sure shall miss all the petty fights

Miss me my dear friends, and please keep in touch
A random mail, one message is not asking for much
A missed call, even a passing thought
Would let me know that my feelings are not alone to rot…

Here, I shall call it just the road’s bend
Because this definitely is not the end
Hoping that you guys are doing just fine
Closing curtains with the clichéd Remembrants’ line,
I’ll be there for you..
Coz you’re there for me too :-)

GRADUATE!

2009-06-12T20:04:00.000-07:00

I'm not happy, I'm contented.

My Third year of graduation was the one in which my world literally turned upside down. I did many things and many other things happened in this one year. I had 4 proper vacations, worked, blogged, scaled the entire city every weekend, spoke on the phone for an average of 4-5 hours a day, supposedly 'fell in love', ailed my heart for 7 months, attended my cousin sister's wedding 1 week before the pre-boards and lost her 2 days before my main theory..

What I did not write here was that I messed up 2 major papers.

messed up big-time. Didn't-study-a-thing-and-walk-into-the-exam-hall-to-look-@-other-people-fiercely-writing mess up. And I didn't care. I just wanted a face-saving 1st class and decent marks in practical and I got that.

I got the highest marks of my graduation years, a 1st class and a bonus distinction :) At the age of 19 :) :) There are gonna be no celebrations yet, the main motto of all this jazz, to get a MSc admission, has not been achieved; so anxiety gets postponed for another month.

For some reason I've gotten very numb. Maybe because of the exam marathon session since the last week of January... Things don't affect me anymore. My very good friend topped the college, probably univ even. I'm happy for both of us but like my parents I'm not sitting and comparing our marks, i don't even give a damn if anyone gets in their favorite course.

All I see is the next 2 weeks. The decisive weeks of my career. I have all other options planned and I know what i will do if nothing happens, but I don't wanna mess this one up; and I'm not going to.

I seriously wanna thank all of you for being by my side in all ups and downs. :)

P.S. Anindita, I was so much in chaos y'day! The result anxiety, exam tension and so many things on my head; and you, magical mistress, in one hour you made my day! :) Thanks for putting up with me through all of it Lady Santa, I love you :)

I WANT!

2009-06-06T07:22:00.000-07:00

I don't want to lose the dream that I chased for over a year

I don't want to be the girl who screeches if her hair touches the dusty leaves of the tree standing in the middle of the road

I don't want to regret the being their for near ones,
the lending of shoulder for my mother to cry, when she missed her favorite kid.

I don't want to end up with a guy who doesn't know how to behave

I don't want to understand someone who cannot appreciate me for who I am

I don't want to have fake living friends,
just coz we have spent ages together.

I don't want to not be able to tell my best friend how much I love him

I don't want to see the shot pigeon die a worm's death

I don't want to celebrate World Environment Day
and not do anything about the dying planet and its life-forms.

I don't want to forcefully take something
because all other options were shut.

I want to live
my life
the way I WANT!

P.S. Another Blog break :-) 28th June is the last day when it all ends. Meanwhile I shall visit my dream university. Wish me luck :-)

Gyan Share: Being nice to people isn't expensive. It just costs a little bit of compassion and understanding for a big award of happiness. :-)

Telephonic conversations

2009-06-02T09:46:00.001-07:00

When boredom is difficult to cope
when one gives up all his hope;
The telephone rings with the dear one's call
Leaving you behind in telepathy's enthrall.

When he gives you that first sparkling ring
You are just assured that this is no fling thing...
Dial that number, let all buddies know
That You-Him-and the Ring, make the perfect combo!

However busy we all might be...
We can never thank Graham Bell enough for his discovery
That little device in your pocket mister
Is the result of some-one's sweat's glister

Happy? Sad? Dying? Flying? or.. Broken?
Bugged of carrying along life's burden?
Fikar not, we are all down the same lane
and just to remain sane,
Keep it ringing!

:D

Post dedicated to all the heart-to-heart conversations with Sachi, Deluded, Anindita, Aditi, Samby, Ridhiman, Trinaa, Diu, Soham, Ki and Laya :) :)

Gyan Share: Love is not something that happens to you. It is a conscious decision that you take. So, take it wisely than just being blind. - Misanthropist

Home Alone III

2009-05-29T11:38:00.000-07:00

I thought I would not need to write further about this. I planned to put up some poem or recipe or tag or any random jazz. BUT I NEED to write about this! [loonnggg post]

The penultimate day into the exciting term turned out to be WOA! Its not like I’ve not had days out with friends, but today involved no sleep, total excitement, a fabulous phone call, unexpected money, an old friend coming back.. whom I missed so much, all the negativity eliminated and most importantly, CRAP FOOD!

I have given up junk food, errmm.. had actually *sheepish grin*
Ok, relaxed the resolution for one day, today :D

Day started last night at 12 when I was errmm.. trying very hard to study and not succeeding. I was online and wanted to talk badly to someone, anyone. I have a few very good friends who’ve been there with me throughout. I don’t know how much of a good friend I have been to them, but well, I’ve tried :-) Last night however I did not want to call up any of them, I wanted to stay isolated; something VERY rare for whom I am.

And then tears leaked out of my eyes.

I am not someone who cries, I so am not! I didn’t cry when my cousin sister left.. Not because I am this tough girl or something, it is coz I can’t cry. But last night, I felt as if the burden of over 2 months, the losses, betrayal, defeat, crash of a dream, losing a person.. it all came back, I succumbed and then, came out victorious. Washing away all sin, all bitterness, all hopelessness, all of it. Someone helped me do that, didn’t flinch when I wailed like a little child who was deprived from his favorite toy.

I know you are reading, but, you don’t know how much it means to me.
How important the last sleepless night was for me. It was not just about what you thought it was about, but many other things interlaced. But well, I am a complex creature :D I am out of the guy I was so crazily in love with, to whom it didn't matter. Argh, Loves MAKES you lame!

Anyway, so 5:30 am, final phone call cut, I lay sleepless on my bed and so? I start making dessert for my parents, who come 2mrw nite! Then an hour of good soulful music and 7 a.m. maid’s arrival :-|

Later in the morning, sorting of things with the friend I was talking about, more sigh of relief. Then later in the day, bhag-daud of getting ready, I was going to my favorite place in the world, College! To meet Aditi! To get the last salary for quite some time, sigh.. yes, I quit writing for campusjunkie.
Even heart-to-heart talks with you made my day gal, you [21] made me see many things that we 19 yr olds ignore :P

Anyway, both of us, non-foodies, ended up having all possible kinds of foods and drinks during the day. Dosas, Parathas, Fruit beer with lemonade in round 1 and then despite being full upto the brim, A Belgian waffle, some slush and coke in round 2 :D If you thought that was it for 2day's food, hang on.

Further, my eating spree menu included, Pani-puri, a pineapple pastry, Nimbooz, gum-loads of chewing gum, 2 ice-creams-one cornetto n the other butterscotch! The icing on the cake was the pizza in the night courtesy Domino’s.. yea, they suck, but what the hell, an entire pizza all by myself?! And I could finish it mister, I could. The chicken, the corn and extra cheese, oh la la.
OK, I feel fat.
But whatever.

As it ticks 12 in the clock, I'm here doing something I love to, blogging :-)

What is important is that I realized that hanging out with friends is as important as being there for them. Sometimes it is not possible, sometimes you have to depend on that phone because of the physical distances. But when it is possible, make it happen :-)

Oh, why is this called ‘home alone’?
As I could be the way I was, because I was home alone :-) No continuous influx of phone calls, no time limit, no money expenditure limit, no emotional expenditure limit :-)

Tonight is the last night I shall be alone at home,
And so, I shall make the most of it ;-)

Gyan Share: The phone kills your brain cells! It is not about the convenience, it is the amount of energy you expend into it, to only feel sluggish later. – Aditi Gupta.

Home Alone II

2009-05-26T07:14:00.000-07:00

As days are going by, I'm getting more used to the concept of being [stuck] at home :P
The maid seems to be 'on-time',
the chores seem to be 'just fine'
and that was one sucky rhyme..

ahem. whatever.

What I was saying is, even the plants seem so much more nicer now! And sorry for the wrong information previously, they are not 70, but 56 :-) and watering the roots first and then sprinkling the leaves is just being nice to them, because well, in my mum's absence, they are MY responsibility :-) The roses bore buds and so I am super happy! actually even a new leaf is being noticed and that is making my day! :-)

I'm enjoying the cooking bit so much that I ended up inventing my very own recipe! Hold your breath ladies n gentlemen, it is called..
*drum rolls*
FIERY BHINDI :D
and I like it because it literally puts the mouth on fire :-P

Among other things, this living alone at home is turning out to be a major learning experience. And well, all the things learnt are about ME. Here's a some of it in a jiffy..

*!* I love Capsicum and Tomatoes so much that I add them in almost everything I make! :P

*!* I can manage perfectly well without television. Yes, TV or No TV, same difference.

*!* Laundry STILL is the besht stress-reliever :-)

*!* I will actually die if my phone is taken away. Plus majorly my STD calls are my life savers :-)

*!* Praying makes me feel good :-) And if you even sincerely think of god once in a while, the entire atmosphere becomes so positive; this is what they mean by 'aura cleansing' maybe :P

*!* I CAN take bath once in two days, BUT I take bath everyday just because I have to pray :D

*!* Google Earth is FUN!

*!* If I sleep well in the night, that is 5 hours, [before the bell rings @ 7]; I'm calm and happy, in other words, in good mood, for the whole day! And 'that' IS important.

*!* I NEED a lotta juices and liquids at any given time. A bottle of water accompanies me where-ever I go. And I had never noticed this! argh!

*!* I am a decent enough cook. But mumma still is the best! I might just get a little more appreciative of the effort my mum takes to make nice delicious food despite all the work on her head. Thank you ma, for being so awesomely consistent!

Well, I made custard for breakfast and it turned out very well. Thanks to Ki's early morning msg :-) For the lunch, I wanted something Indian and mum suggested Khichdi [over the phone] and I instantaneously concurred. I made it well even, just that it is made, errmm, enough for 5 people :-| and I am too bored to eat it for 5 meals straight.. so do YOU guys mind joining me for breakfast or lunch tomorrow? :P

I went for home utility shopping today, here's the list :-D
1. Mangoes
2. Eggs
3. Milk
4. Curd
5. Shampoo
6. Ready-to-eat Dal Makhni
7. Lemon
8. Eye-drops
9. Orbit
10.Juices-any
:) :) :)

and yeah, considering the stupendous response to the gyan sharing bit [:P], that shall be part of the post as and when possible :-P People have P.S. I shall have G.S. :D
So until later, Take care guys! and give your mum a Tight Hug from my side! :-)

Gyan Share: Don't try very hard to open unknown phone handsets. It might just be one click and that dear nail might have to be sacrificed for nothing.. *mourn*

Home Alone

2009-05-24T06:30:00.000-07:00

Ah yes, You read right.

No-one at my place, barring the plants for company.. Why I specifically mention them? Because watering my mother's 70 odd pots each day, is a pain in the wrong place :-| It's times like these for which I keep asking my parents for a Pet Dog, or a Gold fish even.

But then, ah, yes.. I'm not complaining!

I've lived by myself in pune, but that's NOTHING when compared to staying at your place without constant parental scrutiny. I can cook my own food, do my own thing, talk on phone for hours together; in short, be my own self! There is a long list of things that I can't do, but I'm not getting into all that.

There was this long list of 'instructions' that my mum had to deliver [and continues delivering over the phone] that initially were funny, then the same lines started sounding out of concern, but now they are plain annoying.

*!* Put the milk in the refrigerator. [Who drinks milk when you are away?]

*!* Water the plants. [Yes mumma]

*!* Don't open the door to strangers. [I'm almost 20!]

*!* Water the plants. [Oh yes]

*!* Don't keep the kitchen messy. [Like you'd know, ha!]

*!* Water the plants. [:-|]

*!* You can identify chloroform, right? [Till I identify, I'll be in Switzerland, At least in the dream! ]

*!* Water the plants. [Heard of drip irrigation?]

*!* Puja karna, roz, subah sham. [?]

*!* Water the plants. [Why couldn't you just keep 10, favorite ones?]

*!* If you don't keep your bed crisp clean, bad omens will enter the house. [I never did that even when you were here. Additional work is cheating!]

*!* Water the plants. [Could I just throw them down the terrace? But then I'll have to throw 7-8 a day, they are SO MANY!]

*!* Computer lock karke jau kya? [how the hell do you do that?!? Plus, Oh hello! I'd DIE!]

*!* Water the plants. [Has some-one told you that you own a mini-jungle?]

*!* The house-maid comes at 7 a.m. every morning.

WHAT!
WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MINDS CALLS THE MAID @ 7!?!?
I don't mind 8, but 7, SEVEN?

And they call up @ 7 every morning [even sunday] to see how awake I am :-|

Parents... argh!
They always ruin ALL the fun! x-(

P.S. Its getting boring now. Drop me some tips no.

P.P.S. A lil bitta gyan sharing. Never ask a guy "What's up?" Unless you want weird answers :P

Disconnected!

2009-05-19T23:42:00.000-07:00

I have never been so long without being updated...
about whatever has been happening in everyone's life who means so much to me.

I have been juggling between Mumbai and Pune since more than a month and well, running all over both the cities. Have had my share of fun, but now, I'm just tired.
Tired of trying to figure what I have been doing for the past year,
Tired of giving exams and hoping to clear 'any one' of them,
Tired of having such frequent mood swings and giving un-necessary things so much importance.

Now, fullstop.

To ALL the crap.

I've decided, I'm just NOT going to be too hard on myself.

No, I'm not asking.. Its all done. So, I don't need your views about how I should live my life. [To that Mr. adviser]

Well, among other things.. I was left for almost half a week without a phone *sob*
It was sooo difficult to manage without one! Firstly, because it was the only thing that kept me connected to the rest of the world...and then, whenever I was out, my hand just kept going to the pocket and I had this constant feeling that I had forgotten something :-( No msgs, no calls, not even missed calls :-(
But then now, I have a back-up and shall have my new sony in a couplea days...so, life's GOOD :-)

And
I hate myself because
1. I've not read any of blogs since about a month!
2. I've not spoken to any of you guys since so long.. [Expect a call in a day or two people ;-)]
3. I have forgotten birthdays! so many :-(
I actually wished Ishaan FIFTEEN days later! Gosh! Any of you does that to me, I'm so going to issue the 'Hang to death' verdict! S-E-R-I-O-U-S-L-Y! And Ishaan was so cute to message back, "Hehe, its ok.. happens" :-| And hence, you are allowed to forget my birthday this year; do you even know what THAT means Mr metal militant?

Oh, Arv, I was sulking so much the day you messaged! It almost made my day! Thanks :-)

Well, so now that I am back, at least temporarily, I shall definitely make it a point to read all your blogs. Especially Pixie's. :-)

Yea, I know my blog template has changed too often.. But I'm annoyed coz nothing looks as good as the permanent one I used to have.. and I'm bored with that.. so, I'm gonna keep experimenting :-) You can drop in your comments, but well, I'm gonna continue doing what I feel like.. so in case I do-not implement your suggestions, do not be a cranky baby.. I've quit baby sitting, you see....

My previous post sucked, I hate it.

The person I missed most was Ki .. Trinaa, even :-(

and Aditi, babe, I LOVE you!

That's about it.

& Next two months are going to decide my life.
And this time, I am ready for them :-)

Giving up

2009-05-09T05:10:00.000-07:00

You wish, you dream, you want,
Life to be a certain way
And then one disappointment
Simply washes all hope away..

You fight, think positive, you deny
Raise your head; Oh! You want to fly
Reach that goal, show the world
Your worth, ability to reach that dream
Seen with open eyes and not, on your bed curled

But why does it have to make you suffer?
Make it more difficult, all of the queer?
More struggle, sweat, tears as exam nears
More night outs, perseverance, biggest fears..
Just to reach that illusion you saw
As your dream
As your desire
As your bloody need!

Maybe coz God just wants it
to taste it a little more sweet
When you succeed, reach that aim
Not tarnish your daddy’s fame
Be that daughter who did not give up
Despite that massive career blow-up..

I guess it’s just a phase
And 2 years later I would laugh at my craze
To type all emotional turmoil on my blog
When I should just study and slog
But I feel better and you would agree
It helps, makes you feel better, free.

:-D :-D

Still in Pune. Life sucks. Food sucks. Schedule sucks worse.
And as you just read,
I am lovin it!

:-D

WHAT-A-DAY!

2009-05-04T00:08:00.001-07:00

Phew!

I phewed last evening when IIT got done and was under the impression that at least for the next 2 weeks I have nothing as such to worry about [barring my mock tests @ Pune ofcourse]. But little was I aware of the absolute pandemonium that awaited me this morning.

On a good note, I made two brand new friends and spend some quality time with one of them :-)

Well, I was out with one of my good [;-)] friends last night and was helluva tired when I got back home. Then leaving for Pune early Monday morning with so many people coming back to work after a long weekend, I knew it could be tough. So well, I got up at the usual 6, did my basic packing and had one BIG bag full of books to accompany me on my way back. Left home at 7 am after that usual “beta ek bread piece aur le-lo”, “Yeh dudh kon khatam karega” jazz.

On the bus-stop, stranded! Shivneri-which is the MSRCT Govt Volvo was all booked till 8:30! And Jay [with whom I had come to Mumbai], had crossed my stop at 6:30 a.m. So, in short, I HAD to take any bus that came along. Neeta, private bus is my father’s call, because he wanted me to leave before he got too late for office. 7:30 bus is mostly full but luckily I get through with a ladies seat next to this girl who is engrossed in her novel.

So, we leave; both of us wave bye to our parents and I get in the journey mode. Me on radio n half dear sleep; she back to her book; intermittently talking on the phone. But then both of us get too bored and start talking :-) One thing leads to another and we begin to open up about the reason for the travel, our courses, her job, backgrounds, rickshaw drivers, doctors, parents and random blabber shit.

Me: And so I am applying to almost all corner of the country for an MSc seat!

K Didi: :-)

Me: Which city do you belong to actually?

K Didi: Oh! That’s some question! I work at Pune and my parents live at Mumbai. But then I have done my schooling from 2-3 parts of the country and graduation from Gujrat.

Me: That’s nice. I’ve been in Mumbai since I was very little. And thus the problem with getting accustomed to a new place; Pune is fine… Where in Gujrat are you from?

K Didi: Baroda.

Me: I’m even applying to universities over there! Such desperation for a seat, but then MSU is my dream university :-)

K Didi: Haha! I’m a student of MSU. Comps Engineering but, no Biochemistry-Biotechnology for me :-)

Me: Oh! I know some-one who belongs to your course, might be a couplea years senior or junior to you but.. His name is Urv..

K Didi: who? Urv Bhatt?

Me: Yea.. I know him through blogger :-)

K Didi: Urv is one of my very good friends from college!!

Me: Huh?

K Didi: Haha! How small IS my world!

Loads of smiles and laughter, and bitching about our very own You-are-we. :-D

K Didi: He put up some of our weird pictures on his blog!

Me: Yeah yeah, I remember that post!

K Didi: I follow his blog sometimes..

Me: Yeah, that’s a fun blog..

And then blogger details, facebook details, phone numbers, exchanged.

In short, one helluva meet, she n me spent such a good time that made one boring journey absolute fun; so, good in mama’s hood :-D

My stop came 1st nI got off, with my massive book bag and back-pack.. But then as this was the private bus, it didn’t have the usual stops. I had to get off at Aundh which is FAR from the main city, but then anyway we have to take rickshaws through Pune because of lack of infrastructure in the form of good public transport. But today of all days when I was alone and out of the main city, there had to be an
AUTO RICKSHAW STRIKE!

My bag was big, and my bag was heavy. Like VERY HEAVY! I couldn’t even walk straight with its load. Plus the other bag was pretty difficult to manage with. I had absolutely no idea about the bus routes or numbers or stops! I had never traveled by them you see..

But then somehow, this C didi helped me with my stuff and we changed 2 buses to get through. Took me about an hour extra and I walked on the sunny hot roads literally pulling my self and the bags on the roads. Plus I called all my friends to postpone their journey and not travel alone if they can manage. A good company in a bad journey can make a hell lotta difference you see.

So, now I am in pune and have tests n study schedule lined up for the rest of the month. Shall keep you guys posted!
And y’all keep in touch.

:-)

Come back

2009-05-01T02:01:00.000-07:00

He be my close pal
He n I, together through all
But one day he just walks out the hall
Between us there be an invisible wall
Does he not know?

That it hurts me bad
If a friend I always had
Suddenly becomes all lone and sad
Everything he does just makes me mad
Do I over-react?

Dear,
If things were not working out
Something was messy, there was doubt
There were speculations all about
All you did was ‘want to shout’
Can I not help?

Prolly I am too young for advice refined
Too frail, too out of my mind
But what about the forces which bind
Us much deeper than the rind
Do you not trust?

It simply hurts us,
Breaches us, bleeds us,
As if we just missed the bus
The feeling of an absolute Blunderbuss
What can we do?

Or
Is there nothing to do?
To work it out, to bid bad days adieu
Tell me what is wrong with you
Let me help you walk it through
What have I done?

If you don’t revert the frame
It shall never be the same.

P.S. Super-cool Most Awesome Dot Song re-vamped here :-)

P.P.S. Thanks Jay for a great journey back home. 3 hours, absolute fun! Don't you agree?

P.P.P.S. I shall write, but please pardon my absence from the networking communities and your blogs for a while.

The Dot Song

2009-04-26T09:42:00.000-07:00

Well, so one of my friends from college, Anisha, had this very interesting status message on Gtalk for ages, which read, A line is a dot that went for a walk. :-)

Then one fine day, alterations of this were made by various people on her friend-list and now it is an entire poem! :) :) :) It is so cool that not including it on my blog would be an absolute insult to this master-piece! And as I am one of the contributors, I shall take full liberty of that :-D

So, here it is!

THE DOT SONG

A line is a dot that went for a walk.

- Paul Klee (contributed by Bimal Bharath)

A curve is a dot that flew like a hawk.

- Rahul "Anonick" Dandekar

An icosahedron is a dot that didn't know where to stop.

- Madhura Rane

A scribble is a dot not knowing what it sought.

- Anisha "Anne" Zaveri

A circle is a dot that just goes round and round,

A coil is a dot that keeps getting wound.

-Adi Sengupta

An exclamation is a dot with an erection.

-Bimal Bharath

An asterisk is a dot with hair.

-Srikanth Viswanathan

A Buckyball is a dot that was out there to shop.

-Shatabdi "Express" Roy Chowdhury

A doodle is a dot that dances a lot.

-Rahul "Anonick" Dandekar

A colon is a dot who found true love.

-Siddharth "Sid" Joshi

A knot is a dot that lost it's path.

(disclaimer: in a closed space)

-Ravitej U.

A star is a dot that's really really hot.

-Adi Sengupta

A tittle is a dot.

-Anandi Rajan

Z is a dot after too many drinks.

-Shivam Gupta

A bot is a dot, out of silicon wrought.

-Preyas P.

A semicolon is a dot taking a dump.

-Ranaji Deb

A division sign is a dot looking at the mirror in vain,

A curl is a dot that had too much champagne.

-Anisha "Anne" Zaveri

A comet is a dot with a wild streak.

-Nikita Mehra

A shooting star is a dot that can't be caught.

-Shatabdi "Express" Roy Chowdhury

A squiggle is a dot that lost the plot

-Nikita Mehra

An O is a dot yawning.

-Bimal Bharath

A bulls eye is dot that is tough to spot.

-Preyas P.

A fuzzball is a dot with goosebumps.

-Rajani Rajan

A double helix is a dot that is entangled and can't get out.

-Anandi Rajan

A dot is not what you and I thought.

-Achal Agarwal

A dot is a dot is a dot.

-Nikhil Karthik (A Gertrude Stein reference)

:-) :-) :-)

P.S. The whole poem can be found here :-)

The Superchor Tag :-D

2009-04-20T06:24:00.000-07:00

Picked this one up from Bhai and even though some answers ARE similar, that only certifies my and her Kismat Connection :-P

1. What does your user name mean?
Express. Well, firstly for anyone who is not convinced, my name actually IS Shatabdi and for people who do not know, it is also a name of a set of trains which are known for their good service and for commuting between cities. So, whenever I introduce myself, I get a very standard reaction; “express? (With a nasty grin)” So, be it.

Another reason would be that it justifies my purpose of being there on blogger. [Miss India kind of answer :-P]

2. Elaborate on your user photo.
That is a Hope Diamond.
It was supposedly belonging to Mata Sita and is supposed to be authentic and all. Look it up on google, and save me the trouble :-D

3. How many comments do you have?
As in, total from the time I started blogging? I am just not going to take that trouble man; plus, how does it matter?

4. What's your current relationship status?
Single and not ready to mingle.

5. What exactly are you wearing right now?
Clothes :-D
Grey tee and navy blue shorts.

6. What is your current problem?
That my entrance exams are never-ending. I am good at studies, but all this mad-work is making me go crazy. Can some-one tell these scientist people of a system called ‘centralization’?

7. What do you love the most?
Ah, my phone maybe, I’m on it so often. And if you expected people, Papa :-)

8. What makes you most happy?
My happiness doesn’t depend on anything. I am all-time jumpy and excited :-D There is a simple sensor; I’m talking = I’m happy :-P and facebook quizzes just certify that I’m a happy kid :-D

9. Are you musically inclined?
Absolutely! I listen to a wide variety of genres and always wanting to explore more :-)

10. What would you do if you woke up one morning and found out you were on cocaine?
How would I find out?

11. If you could go back in time and change something, what would it be?
I would like to keep in touch with all friends I used to have. I genuinely miss some of the people who used to be so close to me and just fell apart with time.

12. If you MUST be an animal for ONE day, what would you be?
I am an animal everyday. Duh! Wasn’t man a social animal? Plus bitches ARE animals!

13. Ever had a near-death experience?
Hmm, road accident. I was an atheist before that took place. Because I came off scratch less, I’m glad it happened :-)

14. Name an obvious quality you have.
Quality matlab good nah?
I can interact with people, many kinds of people ;-)

15. What's the name of the song that's stuck in your head right now?
Accidentally in love – Counting Crows.

16. Are you happy today?
Hmm. Like I said, refer to question no. 8 :-P

17. Who will cut and paste this first?
Kirti maybe. Actually there could be a case when no-one does it. And THAT is all good.

18. Name someone with the same birthday as you.
Priyanka Chopra :-D *smirk*
And a good friend, Shabarni Gupta, she was born in the same year too! 1989.. We ARE twins!

19. Do you have a secret crush on someone?
Haha! When do I not have secret crushes? :-D

20. Do you have a garbage disposal in your kitchen sink?
Yes. One in the kitchen, one in the terrace an d a small one in my room :-)
Even though I don’t look like; I am one tidy female.

21. Have you ever been in a fight?
I Love pointless arguments, so yes. Physical fights, mostly with brother in childhood :-D

22. Have you ever sung in front of a large audience?
Group, Often. Solo, Yes. As in, 500 people qualify as a ‘large’ audience right?
On phone, almost alternate days; To myself, all the time!

23. What's the first thing you notice about the OPPOSITE sex?
The way they look at me, or other people [read women] around.
Then, the presence, body language, linguistic skills, sense of humor, blah blah.. long list.

24. What's your biggest mistake?
Nothing so big to single out as ‘biggest’. Small big random mistakes are usually rectified :-)

25. Say something totally random about you.
This could take pages and ages. One thing everyone should know though, My on and offline persona are two different things. Oh, and yea, I love making lists. My blog is full of them. I even talk in that way, and its fun :-P

26. Has anyone ever said you looked like a celebrity?
Yes. But then, I don’t think he was serious :-D

27. Are you comfortable with your height?
Yea. But only with people around my height :-D Generally a couplea inches wouldn’t hurt.

28. What is the most romantic thing someone has ever done for you?
Typed a message saying 25 times that he was missing me when he was drunk and I was sleeping in my parent’s room.
Many other things actually, this was the first thing that came to my mind.

29. What are your favorite smells?
Fresh raw mango, Petrol, New notebooks, Old novels, Fa cherry blossom, any detergent’s smell, fresh cosmetics [especially kajal or khol powder], many chemical reagents smells [ethanol, acetone etc]; the list goes on and on…

30. What's something that really annoys you?
This list can be even longer than the previous one :-P
But I get pissed major when some-one is repeatedly telling me something that I already know.

31. What's something you really like?
Sitting and chatting for hours together..

32. Do you give random hugs and kisses?
No, not random.

33. What's the latest you have ever stayed up?
Overnight before an exam because I was scared that I would not wake up :-D

34. Have you ever been rushed to the emergency room?
No, and I thank god for that.

35. Whom would you tag?
Urv, Sachi, Swayam, Soham and Kirti :-)

I Regret the Invention of Science

2009-04-06T23:28:00.000-07:00

Uploaded Campusjunkie 16th Oct 2008

Apes evolved into humans, got themselves a better brain. Man started using the brain, started asking questions. And to answer these questions, science was invented.

Then they realized the importance of science for the progress of mankind and started research on it. Result, they introduced courses that taught science, and then I took it up!!!

I mean seriously, Today I equate sex with hormones, I think of food and complex structures of carbohydrates and proteins come rushing into the frame of my vision, When anybody sneezes in my vicinity I thank my antibodies, I blame Cadbury’s for not publishing ingredients and expiry dates on eclair’s!! aarrgghhh, in short, I L-I-V-E science.

And then things are expected out of us, science students. To sit in every lecture, pay attention, make notes, ask questions and also do “further reference”? Is it humane? To suck all life out of young adults by making them mug up complicated definitions and knotty formulae that make no sense what-so-ever? Leave them with no choice but look longingly out of the window towards BA and BMM kids playing in the rain, while they work in gloomy labs with handle-with-care Borosil glassware? Why can’t we be carefree for once? Chill out and not worry about free energy change of a spontaneous reaction?

We do homework; stay updated with advances in science; listen-think-understand-analyze-apply-remember every concept only to get criticized by 50 year olds who think we should “pull up our socks”. We begin giving final exams more than a month before rest of the college does; have stressful dates with deadly bacteria and toxic chemicals on Valentine’s Day; only to get tagged back as “nerds”. The question that I ask is,

How much of it do we finally end up applying in our lives?

We become better individuals. Punctual, aware, real, curious etc. but we end up in event management for the money. Make our graduation days living hell, just get the degree and change the field. Because we don’t want to die doing science. Then why get into it in the first place? Hype? Influence? Friends? I guess many of us like science for being “different” as kids, but when hit the hard-core ways in science, we get turned off. Also, the university system and point of view of teachers doesn’t help us much.

As of now, we have no choice but to live with it. But things better change fast if they want to keep the pure sciences alive in the near future.

And for you all, aspiring scientists out there, If you are ready to slog your ass off (literally) in lectures and practicals, have no on and off-campus life, do a 9-6 job for graduation, like other people dictating your life…This is the perfect place for you, Welcome aboard!

Notification

2009-04-01T21:43:00.000-07:00

To whomsoever it may concern

I, Shatabdi Roy Chowdhury, whould like to inform you with a heavy heart that 'examination-time sucks!'. I have been giving exams since last week January 2009 and have them till July 2009. Yes, I have nothing at all to look forward or backward to and am SICK of people testing my abilities, which are way above human perception.

My Univ exams end on the 15th of April so I shall continue blogging. My Facebook profile of the other hand has been deactivated to avoid wasting all the 'precious' time ON the days of examination. But it shall see phases of activation-deactivation often now.

Orkut account lies dead and Don't even ask me about Yahoo messenger, because that was given up eons ago to make way for my exhaustive list on Gtalk.

This is no attempt to cut people out following the recent incidents in my life. It is just a desperate step to keep me away from networking when I come for reference. Because cutting off the internet shall render me handicapped.

*ecstatic because SHE CAN WRITE FORMALLY!*

Anyway
I have personal messages, like always :)

*!* Trinaa: I have tried to call you 7 times in the last 2 days and your number is "switched off". Kuch hua hai kya?

*!* Crystal: Blogger is INCOMPLETE without you. Come back :-(

*!* Urv: Mental Man. But yea, Thanks for that pep talk. Motivated me immensely.

*!* Arv: I spoke to you!!! Yay! :-D And its just like Ne had said in her guest post on your blog! ;-) Thanks on the advice yea. :-)

*!* Aditi: Saath jiyenge, saath marenge. Ab toh exam center bhi ek hi aa gaya!! Haay dayya!

*!* Laya: yes, you are allowed to laugh. When you are about to graduate, I shall have the last [:P] laugh :-D

*!* Swayam: Padhai kar-le beta. Kabhi kabhi karna chaiye. Sehath ke liye acha hota hai :-P

*!* Ishaan: Ref to Aditi and Swayam's msgs :-D The kids say 'hi' and 'best of luck'.

*!* Divinediu : :((((((((((((((((( MISS YOU

*!* Deluded: You give exams all round the year and your course is lot tougher than mine. So? I'm not gonna cure/kill living people, Am I?

*!* Rajesh: Good luck with the book man. I know you needed feedback from me, I will gradually :-) Tc!

*!* Dita: :-) Milenge, soon! :-)

*!* Alok: Acha don't make face. I'm going back to study!

*!* Soham: :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D You know what :-D

*!* Sachi: Thanks to Graham Bell, my umbilical cord hold onto me :-D Opps, cell phones were chord-less no? :-D BUT, Vodafone vs Airtel rivalry bhi humko durr nahi rakh sakti :-P Love you sachi!

*!* Dishi: Happy holidays!! I know they are not on right now, but what-d-hell they will begin long before mine begin. + Advance Happy birthday :-)

*!* Anurag: Nahi, no Gtalk either. :-)

*!* Crazy: Punjab di kudi pumping padhai karne di energy in me on the phone. Best hai tu crazy! Simply the best! [HBO wala :P]

*!* Ki: Our exams start on the same day :-( which is just FOUR days away. SHIT.

*!* Bhai: Before you kill me. I be gone. :* [runs awayyy]

Love you guys and comments not allowed because I don't wanna get senti. Gmail is the best way to contact. I shall reply on a daily basis :-) Even a 'hi' would mean loads people :-)

BYE!

Goodbye

2009-03-22T00:44:00.000-07:00

So today, I fore-see
what tomorrow my world shall be
free from your ignorance
and all of my care,
the feelings can be buried
of which you weren't aware.

Free from the shackles
that would bind us through times of hell,
for the concern I had
were never perceived well.

I shall now let
the shallow painless night end;
forget the love,
you didn't even deserve to be my friend.
You walked
leaving behind the seasons Grey
And I kept sitting below the lone tree
while you partied away.

This is it, I see the end,
of the pretense, the heartless emotionless struggle
To get you back, to be yours
of togetherness, of snuggle..

At the end, I just regret
wishing for the time when we had met
hoping that you would be the one
to wipe my tears
hold me tight
say, "darling, it ll be alright"
stand by me when days were thin
no care about loss or win

Pack your bags, take off,
you've stayed here too long;
I, meanwhile shall dump the memories
that we cherished all along.
I shall no-more
look at the old oak door,
expect the phone to ring
or Gtalk to ping..
I'm happy we chose different ways
before the love deepened or stayed
for if it had been the other way round
I would have lost my soul, my sky, my ground.

Why is it so hard to let go,
If you ask so,
Only thing to be said by me
would be,
We don't give away our heart everyday,
do we?

Dear Mr. Chetan Bhagat

2009-03-15T02:34:00.000-07:00

Written in mid-sept.
Uoloaded 6th Oct @ Campusjunkie

Yes, you did it again. And Oh No, I did it again too! I will tell you what my mistake was. Your “3 mistakes of my life”

Let’s start from the starting. I have read all your books, like many of us have. Not because you are a phenomenal writer or anything, but because your books don’t leave me with any after-effects. I don’t have to bother my brain cells at all, because there is nothing to think about. Precisely, the reason why your books are popular is “the universal phenomenon of limited usage of the head.”

But no, then I realize that you are so smart that all I can do is sit back and appreciate. You sell big-time! But not because your “writing skills” are polished, because they clearly are not. This is because your “marketing skills” are refined.

They say you are “different”; now that is an absolutely unheard line. Ha ha! I want to ask what is different about you.
- The campus feel? We have been reading Nancy Drew since we were kids. And Judy blume is so much better a read.
- The ‘only’ Indian writer to have sold abroad? Kavya Vishwanathan, Arundhati Roy, Vikram Seth are American.
- You have done a brave attempt of covering riots? The read through those pages left me angry (on you) and later on realization, I had tears in my eyes, of laughing.
- Your books are cheap? Oh that they are, both monetarily and creatively. But still, I would prefer to hover on blogger-world and read the absolutely brilliant attempts to story-writing. And these folks could do with a little bit of encouragement. And that is not even for 95 bucks, it is for free.
- People “relate” to your books? Obviously, you write in the language we speak. But where is the depth sir?
- The characters are “realistic”? err...
- You are a best-seller? So I should read you?

What I fail to understand is, as a writer, how can you write the same thing over and over again? How can Rupa & co, as a publishing house, publish it in 3 different colored covers? How can you awaken before the release of your books and perform a publicity stunt by going to various colleges around the country and arrange ‘book signing sessions’? For you women are just “cute, pretty, well-dressed, long-nailed, chatter-boxes with white skinny hands for your heroes to grab”? You are an IIT/IIM-A graduate, very good sir, very pleased to meet you. Every-one wants to be you. But then why are you wasting your popularity and talents that could be used in the formulating methods of distance learning for Indian youth by over-rating an already over-hyped concept of sex? What a brilliant example to set……

But then I forget that you are here for the business. Thus, Hearty congratulations, your business has bloomed. Your haphazard hard-work has finally bore fruits Yes, India is shining and you are the rising star.

And yes, some suggestions that you always keep asking us “youth” for. Why don’t you share your skills by becoming a visiting faculty of any business school? If that is too difficult to manage, become a script writer for our fultu-filmy Bollywood, atleast you will do good justice to your work.

Never-the-less, Hail the drama king. *bows*

Signing off,
Shatabdi

Deep Insight

2009-03-15T01:11:00.000-07:00

Sometimes life takes us through such weird phases that we can't help but wait patiently for it to pass. Sometimes it is just out of our hands to change something that is happening to our dear ones. Sometimes it all seems to happen to the wrong people at the wrong time and what is saddening is, we can do nothing about it.

Some recent events unfolded in the past week that have made me see through and appreciate life for the way it is.

Meanwhile,
Our life is not just ours, our world is inter-laced with so many others that even if one thread breaks, the entire network crumbles like a castle of cards. We always imagine certain people to be instrumental in making us the way we are. Even if they are not physically present at all times, they affect us deeply.

You are always going to be loved Buru didi. My relationship with you will never change.

I have made grave mistakes in the past. Now it is time to correct them, because it is never too late to start. My blog shall not die a slow death. I shall not let that happen.

Break :-P

2009-03-06T07:25:00.000-08:00

So I have been on the run for a while :-P

I have been everywhere but on blogger. Now writing much, not commenting much, just reading a little.

I have done two guest post recently and both for absolutely brilliant blogs and both, stories.

Here they are,

The Journey of a woman for Ki's blog

and

Toothy Tales for Shrutilaya's.

And because I have quit campusjunkie and my Disoriented Neurons has been sadly dead, I shall upload my old articles on weekends.

Here's wishing love and luck to all students appearing for exams :-)

and thanking any-one else who bothers to read.

Signing off,
Shatabdi aka express.

The urgent call for MOTIVATION

2009-02-20T18:23:00.000-08:00

So I’ve always been a smart-ass; or at-least I’ve always been told that I was one. The problem was reciprocating that “smartness” in mark sheets. And I now know what the actual issue with me is.

I am too lazy to write the answers down in the answer book!

We have a lot of 4-6 mark questions and which ever I choose to attempt, I start well into that [1-1 n ½ page essay type] and then get bored halfway. I am all in the mode, I can go with the flow, but no; I want to write my favorite answers first, Even if they belong to different sections!

So I leave that page, promise myself that “this shall be taken care of in the half hour” and move onto the next answer and do the same thing to that! Finally I am left with too many half answers [almost half the paper] for the bloody last half hour, getting into the frame of mind for the new question takes time, hello; AND I am already too bored to write! So what? Scribble some points and leave it that way, draw some rough diagrams, at-least I will get 2 on 4 attitude sets in and soooo many 2s on 4s n 6s leaves me with actually not too many marks…

I presume too many things;

*~*The teacher knows that I know.

*~*The diagram carries max weight-age. So draw color-full diagrams taking whole 10 minutes allotted for that question.

*~*4 points will get me 2 marks.

*~*Difference between, examples not necessary,

*~*Who ‘reads’ our answers?

*~*Why sit for the whole THREE hours?

*~*No-one must’ve studied enough.

*~*Whole knowledge is important, marks are just some numbers.

*~*Attempted 70 on 100 is okayish

Arrgghhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After 3 years of slogging and punching myself after each exams, I have come to one consensus.

Graduation study is not about the knowledge. It is about remembering the mountainous portion, studying it and writing the whole shit down in that much time!

I don’t mess up the exams involving objective questions! My gut feel helps me there because *one of the given answers is the RIGHT answer*.

Subjective ones Kill me.

I don’t do enough justification to myself.

And the most important subjective sets of exams for the entire career in science are in 1 month’s time, April 2^nd week.

Dates got out a few days ago and they’ve hit me hard because I am done studying like the 15% of the portion, mark you, only my favorite chapters!

All these years it was okay. Doing 3 chapters among 10 was fine. But in the university level they set kinda tough question papers; so we need to be through with at-least the portion and out of portion questions can be left in option. But with me the case is poles apart. I read books and don’t pay attention to teacher’s notes, complete knowledge is important you see; so I usually have a rough idea about the out of portion stuff and go to write that and by which usually mess up major.

I know that I should study, but I some-how don’t.

When there are so many better things to do, who will? Amazing friends on the phone; gmail chat, iPod, camera, paints, cell phone games, facebook applications and the likes; Plus, I am bored, tired, bored, hungry, bored, sleepy; most of the day!

BUT

THIS IS NO EXCUSE.

Only I can save/prove myself.

So people, pump in the impetus, get me going towards the final exams. Study tips, wishes, black-mailing [even abusing], tried and tested formulae; Come up with anything that can help me in the long run. Make me realize of my wrong-doings now than sympathizing with my grief later.

P.S. Engineers! And as I see too many of them on my blog-roll; last minute study tips please; 4 weeks 42 chapters; not humanly impossible I know, but I should keep sitting on that study table of mine. Needless-to-say, I should get back right now!

The Most important People in My life.

2009-02-14T00:52:00.000-08:00

Okay so I am on a blog-break. Unexpected, not of a fixed duration either. So, I have a lot of apologies to ask for and a lot of tales to narrate. But that is not what I am here for.

I am here for another dedication post! This time on valentine’s day :-)
What I used to think of love last year is here. [which was also my claim to fame on blogger-world :-D]. But well, I’ve come a long way.

Dedicated to the 55 most important and influencing people in 19 years of my life

Important because they supported me when I could see no friendly face around;
Important because I can’t imagine my life without them
Important because I care about them, in the same way that they care about me.
Important because I love them and I know I don’t say it enough.

So here they are; the most influential and imperative set of people to me.

Aditi Gupta: The intersection of the web and real worlds for me. Ruia college would be different if you were not around. Keep in touch.

Aishwarya Shevade: One of my pune PG room-mates and one friend I wanna treasure for life. You made the schedule in Pune easy, Thank-you.

Akshay Pai: One of the sweetest guys I know. You are a gr8 friend, please stay the same way.

Alisha Iyer: :-) I don’t have enough words, but yea, you do come in this list :-) Thanks for being there when I needed you.

Alok Meshram: One of my very good friends and definitely one person I am proud of. I am sorry if I have ever hurt you. You mean a lot to me, always remember that.

Alpana Mallick: I miss you when I see pairs of girls on the roads of sec-17. You will always remain my favorite company for mini-sea-shore. Always.

Amruta Bhate: The beginning of our friendship was an edventure by itself and well, it has been an absolute delight knowing you :-). [Yea, you are not the only one who can lie well :-P]

Anindita Debnath: You are the best, you know that. I just regret one thing; not hugging you when we met.

Annsu Joseph: Please forgive me for not keeping in touch. Losing a friend like you would break my heart. Thinking of you will always bring a smile to my face.

Anurag Chatterjee: Yea, you. Take good care and the next time you annoy me, I ll take your case, again :-P

Apurva Shinde: JC would have been hell without people like you around. Be a good doc man and yea, don’t let Priyanka take the same specialization as you; we need variety in the family :-P

Ashish Mehta: You rock! And we as a pair rock! We killed in antakshari finally! Thanks gal, for giving me that joy and a wonderful final year college festival.

Bhagyashree Kaduskar: Thanks to you I had a great time in Pakhnikar’s. You stuck to me as your bench partner despite my weirdness and I value that.

Bhai with Chai: I remember how our posts used to collide and how we used to be the first people to comment. Kyu gayab ho jati ho? Kyu? :-(

Bhaiya: :-) I hated you, loved you, missed you, idolized you, learnt so much from you. The blood bond did work for us, no? I am glad that I am a sister of a guy like you.

Buru Didi: Oh, you got married :-( But still you are my elder sister whom I look up to :-) Your Mumbai trip was such an amazing experience that I want you to come back with Jiju, again :-)

Dhvani Desai: Ma’am, I miss you. You are so far away but the amino acids always remind us of you. We always talk of you and how FY was so much fun with you. Please take care ma’am.

Divya Rao: Diu: I think of you and my heart sinks. Diu, baby, you are so sweet that I couldn’t help but learn so many things from you. You are the only person whom I said the love words in the first meet and well, I still mean it.

Ishaan Kumar: My guide through metal music and someone who continues to remind me that I have a long way to go in your kinda music :-P Me still the female version? Eh?

Jay Unni: You are mentally retarded. But you give good advice at midnight.

Jyotsna Nambiar: Joey: You are a gr8 friend gal. I fondly remember all the fun times I had with you. I hope you feel the same way about me, tc!

Ketki Deshpande: Yea, Happy Valentine’s Day sweetheart! If not in school, after school you are one of the people I fondly remember of childhood days.

Kirti Aparajita Kumar: I ve prolly not said too many time, but yes, you matter to me. We have not spent ages together, thanks to the final year, but I value our friendship.

Komal Pawar: I hope you read this and thus I hope you know that I consider you as a friend that I value. May you reach all heights and may our friendship blossom.

Krutika Phalnikar: Kuku: You are one of the friendliest people I have come across till date. I love your spirit gal. Plus you taught me so much about animals and birds that I can’t stop myself from trying to recognize them and check it on the net next :-P

Ma: I am the worst daughter there is. But I am proud of the way you are. I love you ma, Happy Valentine’s Day.

Madhura Rane: All the advices and all the chatting; I miss you as one of the first friends I made in Ruia. You are cute, and I like you just the way you are. No matter what, stay the same.

Maity Kaku: The person who makes me realize that we are sent to the world to appreciate others, not hurt. Your survival instinct makes me fight back, always.

Manik: The cutest cranky kid ever. I am glad we made friends and you messages and missed calls mean so much to me, that words don’t do enough justice to describe the bond we share. Don’t be surprised if I cry on the farewell [with you].

Manjari Madanan: :-) We meet at the most unexpected places and ‘that’ is the special bond. Manj, you are a true rockstar. I have learnt so much from you that the testimonial I wrote is just not enough.

Mansi Gandhi: You are one person I wanna hold onto all my life for pep-talks. You always manage to show me sense in a directionless path and that makes you special. I have never felt of you as a senior, will never.

Munu: Rohini Chatterjee: My kid sis! My baby sista! I love you soo much! Don’t follow my footsteps, carve your own path and then, I shall be proud of you :-)

Navjyot Bandiwadekar: Navvy: You matter, you know. One of the people who chooses to be with me when others are invisible. You comfort me, reassure me that this is no end and my dear, if what I call, ‘a true friend’.

Papa: You are my favorite person in the world; nuff said. I love you!

Pooja Gudibanda: Our friendship has last so long that I have now begun to feel its magnificence. 14 years? Eh? Thanks for being around gal, your friendship has been a sheer delight!

Poorva Chavan: My golu polu baby! My partner in all the ups and downs in tunga! Without you, ‘that disastrous internship’ would have cost me with my life. You made it fun for me!

Prerna Chawla: The first friend I made in college and definitely the person who continues to understand me the best. You know what I want, you know what I should want :-P The chairperson of My advisory board. A friend I have for life.

Priya Titus: Talking to you calms me down. I love you because you are proud of the way you are. A gem of a friend, definitely!

Raghunath Prabhu: The only guy whom I felt like making my brother in the very first meet and well, that tastings meet is one of my fondest memories in Chembur. Keep in touch man and yea, you know the job setting :-D

Richa Palekar: You comment, I like it; just coz I know that you genuinely care. I hope it remains the same way, always :-)

Ridhiman Banerjee: Is my list of top 50 important people complete without you? I don’t think so.

Rucha Kamath: You are the coolest senior I know. I am glad you were mine! :-D

Sachi Mahajan: Okay, barring the last 1 month, shes always been around in the brightest and the darkest days. And which younger sister is never mad at her elder? Yes, that’s our bond. If you din already know, I love you like I would love my sister. Koi shak?

Sanyal Jethu: His words penetrate me like arrows, his encouragement actually makes me feel as if I can fly. He has been a constant source of motivation since god knows how many years and I value that.

Savita Pakhnikar: Influencial? Ofcourse. My course instructor and philosopher n guide. I take this opportunity 2 thank you ma’am, for constantly pumping in the required energy in all of us.

Sayali Churi: My best friend. As confused and directionless as me. But prolly the most lively and cute person on the face of the earth.

Shabarni Gupta: My identical in all respects twin.

Shubho dada: My favorite cousin brother, always. Support system and is like the magnetic pointer. I somehow know that I am gonna end up like him :-P

Sneha G: I know we don’t talk much now a days, but there was a phase when I used to wait all day to talk to you in the afternoon. I don’t know how much it made a difference to you, but on me, it had a very different kind of impact. You are a special friend sneha, yes, my rock guru :-P

Sneha Sansare: You made pune tolerable. Thanks for all the laughter and kidding.

Surabhi Rao: Now, You are one of the first people to know if I am upto anything. Don’t you think that means something? :-P Whatever anyone might say, I can trust you with my life. Period.

Surekha Rao: I have never looked at you as my friend’s sister. You have been a friend, cute and smart little friend dear. Hope it stays that way. :-)

Tejas Mukadam: Don’t be surprised if I ask you for advice even after I pass out :-P and yea, for record, you are gonna pay for the bike ride and ice-cream when I decide to suicide. I think of you and I am reminded of Mahabaleshwar. Thanks for the best vacation of my life man.

Trinaa: All the other kidding is fine, but I am glad that we are such special kind of friends. Superpoke mein kuch bacha hai toh who bhi kar de :-P

Vishal Ramrakhyani: I remember how you used to meet me everytime you dropped by Ruia. I am proud by the decisions you took in your life and really hope that it works for you :-)

I can never include every-one who matters, but then these are the ones who are like life-support systems to me.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

Treasure hunt!

2009-01-09T06:59:00.000-08:00

All of you know that I am majoring in biochemistry, which is very closely related to our body and how things can be all good with the body; thus closely related to food.

So, our annual fest is nothing but a food festival! Appetisers!

And as a ‘sincere’ final year student, I am actively involved in it. As in I have a stall to handle, setta juniors to bully, lotta planning to do, and make the fest successful.

My stall is called “Goodness of apple”. Basically all I and my team does is talk about how healthy apple is and how you should drink the juice that we are serving :-D
And it is prolly the only ‘drink’. So, we ought to sell :-P

Only one condition though, IF WE HAVE THE JUICE!

So options!
1. Make the juice.
FAILED. Because apples are expensive, juice from one apple is too little, waste is too much which cannot be used, and too much work for almost no profit.

2. Get concentrate, dilute and sell.
FAILED. Because there is no concentrate available in the market!
Haila! Oh my god! ‘This’ didn’t strike us!!! But this is true!
We have carefully scanned every possible shop of all wholesale, grocery, super, markets of Mumbai. Crawford, “no squash” ; APMC, “some brand called gold coin shut down 3 years ago..” [yea, I ll go get that opened again]; Thane, “Apple squash exists?”

And these very shops sell every other fruit-juice that you might not have even heard of!
Mango – yes; Pineapple – yes; Orange – YES; Lemon – YES; Guava – yes; Amla – yes; Khus – yes; Peach - yes; Strawberry – yes; Apricot – yes; Kesar – yes; kokum – yes; Black currants – yes; Pinacolada – yes; Kiwi – one full row of brands, yes yes yes; DRY FRUITS - YES!!!!
How? You can remove juice outta DRY fruits and sell that and one popular harmless apple has no market.
Sick, tired and bored; I give up. Change topic, hell no Ms. Incharge; Charts are already made!!!

So, option 3. Get ready made juice dilute and sell!
And that’s what I shall be doing. Got a brand that has buy one get one free offer on :-P. Buy in bulk and sell! Keeping fingers crossed so that no other hurdles come my way.

I know I have been busy, lots of things going on in my life and currently the food festival is the most prominent. This is to be held 12th and 13th, 9 am onwards in the Jr. College Reading Hall of Ramnarain Ruia College, Matunga, Mumbai. All of you are cordially invited with friends and family :-P

Learning lessons, Turning pages

2008-12-31T23:38:00.000-08:00

Scars of the past, in my head
Dissatisfied, yet fulfilling
Alone, without a breach
I gush to another destination.

2008.
A year full of surprises and shocks, utmost highs and deepest lows, so much planning and organizing.
And now, 2009, time to implement, time to act to achieve what I planned for.

Is it what I want? I do not know.
But should I not achieve, I shall let hearts down.
Which is not what I want. Thus the chase. My name has already been enrolled for the rat-race; all I have to do now is run the race, because if I don’t run, there is no-way I shall win.

So, I shall be the rat.
I shall chase my cheese
So that I feed my tummy later
And don’t have to beg or please.

The year where I shall graduate, 2009 shall be full of some more sweet sour memories. Leaving Ruia college will hurt, but finally having a degree and be called a graduate at the age of 19 should be unusual.

So, there you go, I am ready.

With me there is sufficient facility
Within me there is infinite capability
Before me there is endless possibility
Around me is boundless opportunity
Why should I fear?

7 Random things again

2008-12-27T06:25:00.000-08:00

I have done this one, actually this was my first tag ever.

But Disguise tagged me and I love her so much that I couldn't say no. So, here it is girl.
7 random facts about me.

1. I am going to the beach with my parents and some other families tomorrow! It should be a helluva experience! I can't wait to make a sand-castle. [that is why I am going :-D ]

2. My last annual festival in my college got done on 24th. I did not cry when it ended, because it did not sink in, but now even if I think of it, I feel all low :-( I don't want to leave Ruia :-(

3. People who read me are all lovely people, but it so sad to know that so many don't comment! My college friends come up here and message me their feed-back and do not click on that comment button! Why, I do not know. This is one chance to tell me. Also, I am not comment hungry, even if I get none, I shall be equally happy.

4. I hate treating blogger like a social networking site. I will be frank enough to tell that. There are just a few people with whom I socialise because we share that kind of bond. period.

5. I don't want 2009 to come. It is going to be decisive n difficult and I am not sure if I am ready.

6. I am a phone-keeda! I talk and talk and even if I wanna stop, continue talking! I just made a new record, maximum time on phone with a girl on STD, 1 hour 44 minutes with Sachi. I <3 you ladki! :-)

7. I don't like the number seven. And like I confessed in Diu's blog, I find 6 and 9 absolutely cute! My lucky number is 2 though.

So, there is it. I tag anyone who has not done this one or wants to do it again.

P.S. To know what women want, read what I wrote here.

:-(

2008-12-24T18:45:00.001-08:00

The celebrations of the arrival of lord in our world are very thanda this year. We can see people skipping the midnight mass and staying put, which is both good and bad as I see. Good, coz they are spending much time with family and valuing each others company. Bad, coz somehow it gives a feeling of surrendering to fear. Anyway, the events that happened in the country lately have had an effect on every celebration.

My annual college fest almost got called off. We had to plead to the princi so much for not losing out on it in our last year. Plus, we organized a peace concert instead of the usual gig; which was just what it should be, peaceful :-)

St. Paul’s cathedral, kolkata, had its usual mass yes, but they distributed black wrist bands to all devotees as a mark of protest against terrorism.

My own city has probably been worst hit, Christmas parties canceled, carols not sung, churches empty :-( city after 8pm empty, suspicion in everyone’s eyes, no Santa on the road, no massive list of Christmas shopping, no eating vodka cake coz Joe uncle called off his party :-(

We canceled our New Year party, coz it didn’t feel like celebrating and dancing all night.

Country mourning, we protesting, attending rallies, skipping parties, all our lives definitely affected.

And yet,

A software engineer was beaten to death because he refused to financially contribute in Mayawati’s birthday celebrations.

My question
Why do politicians exist in any state?
To introduce, reform, direct, re-direct, to voice ‘our’ opinions in the parliament, to represent us.

Very sad that it has reduced to birthday celebrations and election rallying with some disoriented young volunteers.

Almighty,
May peace be conferred upon this land
And
Please give sadh-buddhi to my country-men.

Praise the lord!

Disappointment

2008-12-18T00:36:00.000-08:00

I don’t usually deal with much document work. But today I had to collect my passport from the post-office. Postman uncle had come home twice and on both occasions left notes. No-one is home from 9-4, thus the non-availability. But, it was high time I went and collected my govt. authorized document that would enable me to fly overseas.

So, I left home at 9 and then began my hunt of the post-office. Weird how we college-goers ignore places of general importance. Anyway, I asked shopkeepers and random people on the road and everyone seemed pretty amused at the fact that a localite was lost :P Nevertheless, found it in one corner of the CIDCO office and walked in.

I spoke to the post-master, he called the man responsible for my area and then after some random formalities there it was the document for which I had waited for about a year, my belonging, my very own, passport! But something stood in middle of me and it,
Chai-paani.

My parents had warned me about this. And they had actually said that if there are any signals from the man; give up some-money; “because we don’t wanna lose out on important letters.”
“But why bribe? We are doing it all legally and have made all the payments!”
“They shouldn’t ask you because you are a student, but, you never know”
“What if I refuse to pay? He will still have to give my passport.”
“Don’t be stupid. Do as I say”
“But I don’t want to give money; that is his duty!”
“I know and I agree with what you are trying to say beta, but its our documents or other notifications that are on stake. Apart, it is hardly some money.”
“But is it about the amount?”
“Do you always have to argue?”
*grumpy face*
“See girl, this has happened to us before. Because we refused to give them diwali [reward money on a hindu festival] at our old house, they didn’t deliver something and because of that, some delay led to us paying a very heavy amount as fine. So, listen to me, give him this” said daddy slipping a note in my hands.

I stayed mum then. All those arguments came rushing back to me now. And as I stood across that table, I was reminded of my dad’s words. Postman's guilty eyes were penetrating me and my conscious just didn’t want to encourage something I have spoken so strongly against at various occasions.

There was a huge line behind me, of people wanting to talk to the post-master. Commotion was building up; everyone was looking at me and the postman. All I could think about was the gateway peace rally and how we had talked about being good citizens. It was cold and my palms were sweating.

I lost. I chose to be a good daughter.
Papa, are you happy now?

Now Showing - Taare Zameen Par

2008-12-14T11:00:00.000-08:00

People who know me in and out might be surprised to see me talking of movies. Well, I am not actually interested in the motion pictures, and the ‘craze’ associated with them is beyond me. But having seen this one movie n number of times, my opinion of movies has definitely seen a change. TZP is lot beyond just shooting, stating, singing, dancing, laughing, crying, drama, forcing fake emotions on people, celebrity fever or having multiple big names.

It is about understanding and making others understand, beyond the barriers of language. I recommended it to one non-Hindi speaking friend and she couldn’t find a version with captions and yet, understood the movie. There can possibly be no-one who hasn’t identified with any part, despite it having a complex theme [which is relevant among people of all age groups].

The beauty of colours,
The fact that every-one has something special,
Simple, relevant, elegantly carved dialogues,
And the inexplicable serene calm when you find that one person who understands you..

The Music is another ultimate stroke of brilliance.
When Kholo Kholo is a masterpiece; there is no one who can resist tears during ma,
Then there is Jame Raho’s panic and the title track’s splendor,
Mera Jahan is everyone’s dream song; Ishaan’s theme and the background scores just add to the radiance of the entire act.

With all of this, the ultra-sexy animations are just ‘wow’; they make you wonder about the scope of creative aptitude.

I know I am a little too late for a typical ‘review’, but I had to write on my appreciation for the script writer, director, actors and other crew. Just because this film has made me realize that movie-making is definitely not a kid’s job. I am currently watching its first television premier on Zee TV and I had watched it in its 1st week when my brother came down to India last time. Thus, extra added memories and more emotions attached to it.

Everyone has an Inu hidden in them. That’s what makes them relate to the concept.

Ending with one of the many dialogues that leave a mark on your minds,

ख्याल करना…बहुत ज़रूरी है Mr. Awasthi. इसमें इलाज की शक्ति हैं..एक मरहम हैं जिससे दर्द मिटता है..बच्चे को तस्सली हो जाती हें की कोई उसका ख्याल करता हें..एक आद झप्पी..प्यार भरी पप्पी..यह दिखने को की, 'मैं ख्याल करता हूँ…बेटा मैं तुमसे प्यार करता हूँ…अगर कोई फिकर हो तो मेरे पास आयो..क्या हुआ जो तुम फिसले, कोई गलती हुई तो मैं हूँ ना'…यह दिलासा…ख्याल करना… ख्याल करना इस्सी को कहते हैं ना Mr Awasthi? बहुत अच्चा लगा ये जानके के आप Ishaan का ख्याल रखते है.
:-)

This night that never ends...

2008-12-09T02:40:00.000-08:00

You like them
They don‘t like you back.
You need them
They don’t need you back
They leave
And all you do is
Wait.

For them to take notice
For them to call
Just cling onto all the memories, all the fun times
Force your needs upon them
They suffocate, they quit
And you still don’t stop haunting their lives.

They don’t wanna make things messy
But do they understand you?
Do they realise
What they mean to you?

And then realization strikes

And start your desperate attempts to act like you don’t care

But the truth remains

No matter how many girly parties you attend
how many vodka shots you gulp
No matter how much you bitch
you tell yourself that you ‘deserve better’
No matter how much you stare at the screen of your phone
And how many hours you stand at the door
No matter how much you wish with all your heart that you hear from them one last time..

They don’t trace their path back

And you continue your endless directionless wait
Every passing day....

P.S. To every girl that still waits,
Yes, patience is a virtue. But do you deserve being treated like that?
I have learnt
Love yourself
And the world will follow suit.

My City is burning

2008-11-26T19:24:00.000-08:00

And that makes me cry.

Never before in my whole life
Have people endlessly messaged me to "stay put"
Has an exam being canceled coz its NOT SAFE TO TRAVEL
Has the first local not run
Has the BSE be shut in the mid of the week
Has firing occurred at CST in the mid of the night
Has Times Now not delivered live news
Has My City waited patiently for all of it to end for fourteen hours
Have 11 locations under the arms of Mumbra ma been directly affected
Has The Taj breathed smoke
Has Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte, Vijay Salaskar and 8 other Mumbai police personnel not fought back
Have we seen people carrying hell lotta ammunition and shooting indiscriminately
Has the posh-est part of my city felt fright
Have people being butchered like animals
Have some 20 odd lads
affected the life of a regular mumbaikar

I have failed to understand
failed to find words
failed to calm down.

Why has My City being taken so much for granted?

How much do we have to pay?

When can we finally be free?

X-chromosomes, Sex-chromosomes..

2008-11-21T08:15:00.000-08:00

Loving
Caring
Angelic
Passionate
Reasonable
Kind
Chained

yet

Wild
Self-obsessed
Abusive
Laid-back
Absurd
Agressive
Free!

All these and there are many more shades of Us that are even beyond your frame of imagination.
And now these shades shall be let loose. For Ourselves.

No need to explain to any-one what we might be upto,
No 'moral policing'
No fake masks worn to
hide the scars that life makes onto our faces..

No use of asterisks to hide our cuss words,
No theme, its random!
No signs for you to map, the way our brain works..
No rhythm, no tandem.

We are the Satanic-bitches
On our genes we believe.
No fate, no god, no asumption-presumption buisiness
We carve the path we ought to lead.

Nuff said, there is nothing else you need to know,
Watch-out for us,
or
you shall sure miss something.

The place where all the action shall happen is contributed by,
Trinaa : The love of my life! :-P
Anindita : My Siamese Twin :-D
Aayushi : The Golden girl :-)

Ladies n [gentle] men,
Presenting to you, Our baby;

Poona Puna Poone Poonay Poohne PUNE!

2008-11-17T03:09:00.001-08:00

The city

where 75% population is under 30,
and accomodation is available plenty;
non-marathi speakers fall in trouble,
love stories shatter like a bubble;
Where education is ‘popular’,
Mango mastani simply spectacular!
And common-wealth games is called ‘Yuva krida mahotsav’....

Traffic rules do not exist,
People are absolutely not sexist;
Strange messages put up on puneri patya,
The yummiest varan-bhat, taak, bhakar-wadi and surdichya wadya;
Public transport is most low-geared,
If you don’t wear a scarf, you are considered weird;
Walk-in Plaza, KP, Camp, SB road, Law and FC,
People come to visit the university....

A little clean,
a little crowded,
a little pleasant,
a little comfortable,
sometimes very un-managable;
abundance and lack of sense
but a worthy experience.

Welcome to the city where dreams dwell

Welcome to Pune!
:-)

Yes, I am back. And apart from the food and hectic schedule, I loved this visit.
For people who did not understand; ask specific doubts :-D I will LOVE to explain :-P

Festival of...

2008-10-29T00:17:00.000-07:00

Diwali is festivals of lights, of life, of togetherness, of celebration, of shopping, of forgiving, of holidays, of meeting friends, of making friends, of victory of the good over the bad, of crackers and what not....

I would say, Diwali = Festival of FOOD! [snacks majorly]

and heres the reason why...

I am eating so much that I am surprized on my own eating capabilities :-D But who the hell looks at all this unlimited sexy food being at home!

I made a rangoli-alpana for my neighbour for my neighbour's entrance door [Photo on Facebook] and she gave me 10 Karanjies!!! I mean, Thank-you aunty, do you have a backdoor? :-P

I have had a brilliant Diwali and even-better Kali puja this season..

How is your's going?

Some more pictures,

Some of my self-made diya collection :-)

So, make the most of it.

And for people who are working, Skip work man, we do it all round the goddamn year!

Wishing you all, heartfelt,

HAPPY DIWALI!!!!

Gold

2008-10-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

Yes, the golden post done and now is the time to talk about you,
Disoriented Neurons.

I love you.
You have been there, always.
Despite me being irregular,
you have provided me with so much that I am in no position to actually acknowledge all of it.

A concise of the till date expedition of my blog.

My first post - the best first post ever! :-P My introduction to the blogger-world.

The best comment - I HAD 2 return to blogosphere after Alok's comments. And the friendship that happened after that is an Epic!

The other side of me... - The post which is most close to my heart.

actually the whole month of feb and march. But the one post I am proud of is,
Comfort is the key.

Namesake express - For any-one who still thinks that I am faking my name OR my name is not 'Shatabdi'.

The best tag I have done till date! - The Bucket List . Anyone who wants to take it up , please do.

Yes, we know - First article ever. The one I worked hardest on.

My crush confession - Which got all you guys so excited that I was super-amused! :-D

Being curious - My most appreciated work till date.

And, The post on one of my favorite festivals. Peek into a bengali's love towards being bengali! Ma aisheche.

Actually, My blog is so awesome up to down that it is practically impossible to digest the whole of it into just one post :-D
So, what do you think?

Also, tell me your favorite posts or special write ups on Disoriented Neurons.

P.S. Happy diwali greetings to you, your family and friends. Have a safe diwali :-)

50th!

2008-10-23T05:21:00.000-07:00

As a kid I was always into everything! Singing, drawing, elocution, craft, dancing, recitation, blah blah; but somehow when any-one suggested writing my own thing, I couldn’t gather the courage to even try. I knew I sucked, I knew no-one would care; but I did not know how good it felt to release all the pent up thoughts. And then the blog-thing happened! which is till date one of my favorite possessions.

And all you guys, who care to read. Thanks!
I know I wouldn’t have reached the 50th if you guys weren’t around :-)
So, cheers to you all!

Alok: Good friend no.1

The person who made me take up writing again. My favorite partner in heated discussions, my biggest critic. Idealistic, responsible, the story-teller! My editor, the one who completes my lines, knows exactly what I am thinking.

You know you are special, I don't need to mention that. Thanks for all the honesty and calm. Even if my blog-roll reaches 100 people, you will always be the person for whom I made the blog-roll in the first place.
Song that reminds me of him: Barandaay roddur – Bhoomi.

Sachi: The best sister

I dedicated my first poem on this blog to her, yes, she means that much. I love her; admire her, beyond the barriers of distance. Both of us believe that we live parallel lives, just that she lives it 2 years ahead of me :-D I am her baby sis; she is a piece of my heart.

Sachi, mera pura blog-roll ek taraf aur tu ek taraf hai baby! Your calls make my day; your laughter makes me laugh. I know it when you are sad, I feel it when you are disturbed; oh, I love you! Just hold on, we will make the best out of whatever shit life gives us.
Song that I would sing to her: Nothing else matters – Metallica

Ishaan: Mr. Metal militant

Congratulations on the first anniversary of our friendship!

Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting Ishaan Kumar Mukherjee, the only guy whose PJs I can tolerate, because well, they are witty. He is the militant of metal music and I think he is insanely maniac about it. But, if you understand even m of metal, his blog is a must-visit ;-) One of the very few people who manage to calm me down when I am mad, yes, it is that tough a job. This man is my guide through metal music and personal English grammar tutorial :-P

He once tagged me of being his female version :-P Now, I wish I get a very hot guy real soon :-D

Ishaan, I know you have put up with a lot of my crap; I mock you all the time, sign-out of chat on your face, criticize you, label you…but you know what, you are my support system and I love you! :-)

I was your first fan [rem?] and will always be one. You know what’s best? Absolutely nothing has changed since you got committed. You continue to be my Agony Uncle; plus I found a new friend in Kirti :-)
Song that reminds me of him: Metal militia – Metallica. No, anything metal :-D

Gunj: All time high [on life] :-D

One of the first people to recognize my presence on blogger :-) Gunj is just amazing!

Her blog is just a fragment of the brilliant personality that she has, hidden behind it. She inspired me to hover around the blogger-world and entering her blog-roll made me feel like I had achieved something :-D

Girl, your spirit rocks! And it is infectious! I mean, even if I am on the lowest of moods, just a small chat with you, gets me back on track! You are the best! muha!
Song that I would sing for her: Talli – Ugly aur Pagli :-P

Bhai: Chai aur gupshup

The third of us crazy crabs [me, bhai n sachi]. Bhai is just too much fun! I relate to every-word she says, her every idea is like straight outta my head. It is sometimes surprising and other times, so amusing! When she was around more often, she was always the first one to comment; and her blog is the one of the best on my list.

Aati Jati rehti hai, sab cheezein observe karke comment deti hai, dimakh se sochti hai, dil se bolti hai :-) Teen-char bloggers ki supari deni hai bhai, naak mein dum kar rakha hai, details bhejti hu. Hamesha ki tarah, iss baar bhi samhal lena :-P

One of my favorite people on blogger :-)
Song that reminds me of her: Ai bhai, zara dekh-ke chalo – Mera naam joker

Samby: The Paratrooper

This guy is like the constant source of inspiration for me. Even if he is not around, he continues to give me the strength to fulfill my dreams. Samby = Hardships with a smile. He has made me realize that life waits for no-one; you have to live it now or never!

You are one of the best writers I have read till-date and I am proud to have you among my friends. Our friendship dates pretty back and I miss talking to you Samby. You think I am impulsive and I think you are too much fun! Go delete and make 10 other new blogs and I shall still continue to read you, [if you invite me that is :-P] But you know what, My favorite is still Enduring Spirit version.1
Song that reminds me of him: Lakshya – title track

Anindita: The Indian Raven.

The meeting with her was like the most unexpected fun meet ever! She is so much like Raven that it made me wonder if the TV series was inspired from her :-P

Her write ups are the most innovative pieces I have seen on blogger. Best in dark poetry! The beauty in her writing reflects what she really is. I relate to her; the incidents she narrated, the amount she talks, the way she reacts to certain things! The moo of her blog, I love that! I go and wave to the one against my name every-time I publish something new :-P

I was a little low on life before I met you girl, and your positive thinking sessions snapped me back to what I usually am. Looking forward to more such fun meets baby!

That’s so dita! :-D

Song that reminds me of her: I’m like a bird – Nelly Furtado

Sutta: Our very own director in making

God writing and absolutely brilliant narrative skills; the first time I stumbled upon his blog, I was dumbfounded on the crisp writing and straight-from-the-heart views. His is the kind of blog your parents warned you against :-D Need depression? Visit him :-P

He gives the most honest comments and definitely is a reader I would like to please. Suffers from Himesh Syndrome [repeats everything he says at least thrice :-P ]
We have had a great rapport and absolutely comfort talks. You never know what is up his mind though, so, beware :-P
Song that reminds me of him: BC sutta [obviously] Also, a whole playlist that I shall mot get into.

Anurag: Fred Flintstone
Ok, don’t blame me; you do remind me of him! But I love them, Flintstones; so.. :-P

Anurag is my favorite fan! When I am absolutely convinced that I am the worst possible writer, he comes up like Santa clause and showers me with candies of the best praises! There is this particular level of decency that you expect from guys, you know; Anurag is like five notches above that :-P He is the ‘only’ person who reads all my work, keeps track of anything new on campusjunkie and makes sure I know what he thinks of my articles :-) Plus, his every post is out of a well thought theme and he portrays his ideas well.

I really value everything man; all the kidding, mindless laughter, your stupid jokes, interesting fact-o-file, sudden confrontations, renewed attempts of striking ‘conversations that lead us to something’ :-P Thanks for being around, seriously :-)
Song that reminds me of him: Kasauti zindagi kay – curtain raiser :-P

Rajesh: Craziest fan of Shreya Ghoshal

He doesn’t know what an awesome writer he is. The thoughts move about in tandem to yield such beautiful write-ups that make you wonder of the quality of introspection. No jazzy language, no need to shout about the skill; Rajesh stands out in the crowd, just by himself.

Unlike Anurag, Rajesh has seen both mature and kiddish sides of me. We have had deep discussions, honest improvement suggestions, worked on them together and result is a friendship that I would like to treasure :-) The best thing about this guy is that he manages to read the writers mind and contributes in anyway he can :-) Best achievement was when his favorite singer herself dropped a comment on his blog, what a glory!

I wish u the best man, in anything you do. Just come back soon, blogger needs you :-)
Song that reminds me of him: Main agar kahoon – Om shanti om – Shreya Ghoshal.

Alisha: Princess of Bleh-land

My self-proclaimed blog-god-mother! Oh well, okay she is; she told me how to make a blog :-P
Brilliant writer, makes most original stories, her brain runs faster than a computer! She has new ideas all the time, but is such a lazy ass to sit down and actually type them out onto her web-page! Her blog lies dead awaiting her to actually take notice :-o

We have one thousand common friends [and counting] which suddenly crop up new chords in our network; and that is not surprising any-more :-P Girl, Please write, any crap , just write!
Song that reminds me of her: Leaving on a jet plane Denver

Ki: Danza dancer :-P

Let’s face it, I met her through Ishaan; but I definitely relate more to her :-)
Kirti in her own stride is very famous; because what she writes is everyone’s story narrated beautifully :-) You visit her once and you know that she is a complete sweetheart. Currently she is celebrating Guest post month which has a bunch of killer posts on absolutely un-related themes. Check mine here.

You know what; I don’t usually gel well with my friend’s girl-friends. But thank-god, you didn’t remain as Ishaan’s girl and we made such awesome friends! Looking forward to more fun times with you gal! :-)
Song I would sing for her: Dancing queen – ABBA/U2

Arv: The Arian Ram

I don’t know Arvind through ages, but what comes across is this chilled out guy who lives life by his rules and makes the best out of it. I respect Arv, for he has the clearest heart and every-ones best interest in there.

And he writes great! Especially fiction on his other blog, definately deserves an applause. How-much-ever weird I might be, Arv atleast bothers to pay heed to the strange things I keep doing :-P

Let the road-trip happen buddy, you could do with a big break :-)
And someday, when I have my own money, Vegas shall be the sure call! :-D
Song that reminds me of him: Just my Imagination – The Cranberries

Akshay: The dude with[out] attitude

Akshay is exclusively on my bloroll to increase the sex appeal :-P
Whenever I think about this dude, I imagine this helluva hunk sitting in some beach in Hawaii with 5 bikini-clad females feeding him grapes! He either has an awesome life or makes crappy life awesome with his approach. Whatever fun he keeps having is fun to read, so that makes him a good writer.

Even though he is pretty elder than me, sometimes I wonder if he is younger mentally;
Maybe that is because of the writing style; maybe because I have personally not spoken with him. Still, the first ever poem that made me cry was his. I admire him, because he knows how to have fun and is simultaneously sensitive. Also because he makes loads of money :-P
Song that reminds me of him: Garam Masala – Title Track :-P

Craziest: chic who is hot and still super-cool :-P

Her first ever comment made me absolutely fall in love with her.
Every-one would love to be like her. Craziest is Crazy, wild, wacky, cute and fun all at the same time!

I think she is a sweet-heart and one person whose superb comments continue to come as pleasant surprises which make my day! And her hilariously unique style of poetry definitely is an eye-catcher. And she does Tags in the best possible way! I especially like the way she replies to our comments on her blog; you can even say that, my style of replying is influenced from hers :-)
I miss you sweetie, come back super-fast! :-(
Song I would sing for her: Teri shirt bhi sexy, teri pant bhi sexy, tere gaal bhi sexy, teri chal bhi saxy haaiiiii!! :-P – Karishma n Govinda ka magic – Dulaara [yes, I bothered 2 find out :-D]

Urv: F.R.I.E.N.D.S fanatic
You should read Urv because he transmits ‘coolness’. His is an ultra-fun blog with short killer posts that every-one relates to. Urv entertains himself and in the process, others get entertained. I love that!

Even better are his comments. How they highlight just the something that he noticed of your entire blabbering gets you smiling.

Be around man, you are being missed :-P
Song that reminds me of him: ‘Urv’ashi urvashi take it easy urvashi – Humse hai muqabla Prabhudeva istyle:-P

Trinaa – oh so simple

I can stand Ranbir Kapoor now!
Because he makes me think of you! Yay!

She likes love and talks a lot about it, so that makes her lovable! :-P And update! She is my most recent love-intrest. And why not, she is the most perfect partner for a wacky weirdo like me.

Anyway, she manages 2 keep the reader hooked onto the write-ups. Absurd endings to her stories get me stunned and what I am more shocked at is the amount sweet she manages to be to every-one. Her comments are like a 10 yr olds’ and her presence on my friend-list only makes me thank god that some genuinely sweet people are still there on the planet!

Yes, I love you; and I don’t care if the world doesn’t read your blog; I always will :-)
Song that reminds me of her: Bachna ai haseeno :-P [mil gaya birrday gift? ;-)]

Crystal – Chemerical thoughts indeed!

The latest addition to my blog-roll and definitely the most talented narrator ever! Aayushi sometimes makes me wonder how terrific can some-one write. I mean, when you read her, you either love her as a writer or are so deep in thought about what she wrote that you completely forget what you planned to do next.

Aayushi is beyond brilliant; and I don’t say it because she is young. See, I believe that thoughts and ideas don’t come by age and nor does ‘experience’ help much in wisdom; but the skill this girl writes with makes me wonder if I could ever match that. The themes are unique and the way of expression is the most innovative.

You provide my disoriented neurons with things to ponder on, if you give me the secret of your writing skills, I will officially do anything you want me to :-P
Song that reminds me of her : Stars - The Cranberries

There you go, all said and done; these are the people I declare to be the reason for my life as a blogger to be fun max!

Some other people who have been around and made their presence felt, deserve some thank-youing
Emaan – Cutest concept ever! He is a complete rockstar! Hail the prince Emaan! the fastest love making machine!

Scribbler’s Inc. – One blogger who should consider printing a book of his post compilations. Each one out-masters the other. *bow*

Big Omi – Comment king.

Vinz aka vinu – Ah! He reads, he understands and that makes him a great reader. Thanks! Plus, he writes awesome too, check him out.

Soham – Alok’s groupie, awesome vocalist, brilliant music writer and composer; check their music on his blog.

So, after this 50th, I am all set enter the new lap of more writing, knowing, analyzing, understanding, loving and being loved!
And
With a whole new addition 2 my set of friends!
Disguise [cute-heart!], Divinediu [I love you, and you are linked :-)], Shrutilaya [kickass writer], Xorkes [candidness personified] and Deluded [The Sarcastic Doctor]!

Did I forget to mention anybody?
Oh freak! Of course!

Jiggs: Aditi aka Fundo

[in red]

The person who acts like a bridge between my real and virtual life. Continues to be my most dear reader and favorite company in writing articles.
Everything I need to say about her is on the guest post on her blog.
And I would just repeat,
I love you ladki!

Song that reminds me of her : Kabhi kabhi Aditi - Jaane tu ya jaane na.
Song I would like to sing for her : Dil hai chota sa - Roza

So, now the 50th post finally comes to an end. Let the celebrations begin! :-P

P.S. I have been sweet enough, feel free to appreciate that :-P and write good things back for me :-P Also, you can dedicate songs or try and take my case if you wish to :-D

P.P.S. I had to flick some of your my favorite pictures from facebook. Heart-felt apologies.

Birthday wishes and Random updates

2008-10-16T09:10:00.000-07:00

To Ridhiman,

Happy 20, Three cheers to you boy, [my best male friend!]

Technically, I know you what, since nine years? Same skool we used to attend :-D But trust me man, the last two years with you have been a total roller-coaster ride!
You are special, I don't need to tell you that; here are the reasons why..

You have put up with all the crap I made you go through..
You have been the shield that protected me from any evil..
You support me into anything I believe in..
You snap me back to reality incase I get too drifted...
and continue to be the friend I never had..

You trust me with your life..
I trust you with my deepest darkest..
We speak everyday till "I" hang-up..
You read me songs from your entire music collection just because I need something new..
You stay up all night to calm me down..
You talk to me when I am lonely..
You are perpetually around,
to catch me when I am just about to fall..
to make me laugh when I am on the verge of tears..
to make me realise that I deserve the best..

to genuinely take care of someone as unpredictable as me..

I really hope
that I deserve all this.
and I don't ever do anything stupid to lose it.
and that you realise what you mean to me.

So,
Happy Birthday Mr. Banerjee :-)
May you get all that you deserve ;-)
and may I be able to feel the same way for you, another 20 yrz down the line.

Love,
Bitch ;-)

Did we get too senti?
Ah! Here are the things I was upto all the while I was away....

*~* Had a trip to Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani-Pratapgad; and by far, It was definately one of the most fun trips I have ever had! Love all u guys who made it possible! Teja, Manik, Bhate, Navvy; We five are the best! Fun, super-fun to the maxx!!!!!!

*~* Met Anindita! on the dussehra day! Awesome fun!! India's answer to Raven :-D; love ya baby!

*~* And the biggest news :-) underneath, 1st salary pay-cheque :-)
Oh, by the way, the place I write for is campusjunkie; check my college's home-page here
First salary and a visiting card at 19 is something, isn't it? :-) :-) :-)

Thanks to all you people who made it possible, who commented end-lessly on my work and helped me improve. This money goes to my dad, coz well, I have my own reasons :-)

Tag ' I '

2008-10-11T08:48:00.000-07:00

Picked this one from Jiggs.

I am : talkative :-P

I think : thinking is hard work :-P

I know : that knowing evokes understanding :-D

I want : cleaner air to breath in.

I have : 10 entrance exams lined up :-(

I wish : all my wishes get fulfilled :-P

I hate : the word 'hate'.

I miss : my brother :-( [lives in US]

I fear : snakes

I hear : my gtalk pinging :-P

I smell : nothing much, caught cold :-(

I crave : for variety.

I search : on google :-P

I wonder : If alice's wonderland actually exsists :-D

I regret : not keeping in touch with people I used to know..

I love : my blog and every-one on my blog-list :-)

I ache : when I see street puppies being beaten up for fun :-(

I was not : busy gossiping when god was distributing brains :-P

I am not : lazy.

I cry : alone, in the shower.

I believe : in god.

I dance : when I listen to pop music.

I sing : all the time, for myself :-)

I read : iGenetics by Peter Russel :-P

I don't always : argue

I fight : for no reason :-D

I write : to release pent up thoughts.

I win : hearts :-)

I lose : money easily :-(

I never : say never, coz you never know :-P

I always : talk in the night. [on phone, online, to myself :-P]

I confuse : with physics formulae :-(

I listen : to almost all genres of music.

I can usually be found : dreaming..

I am scared : of heights.

I need : a vacation!

I am happy : when people who matter are happy :-)

I imagine : The world to be a better place to live in.

I tag : Arv, Sachi, Ki, Anurag, Trinaa and Urv.

Ma aisheche!

2008-10-05T11:28:00.000-07:00

Today is Maha-shashti, marks the instigation of this year's Durga Puja :-) This is the Ma I will be praying to this year and like every-year, shes the prettiest Ma I have ever seen!

Ma comes back to her baabul ka aangan from shiv-ji's house alongwith her children but, doesn't enter the house as the tale goes. Now, what-how-where, I have no idea; But, durga puja as such holds a lot of importance to us bengalies coz well, it is our *main* festival.

That watching mahalaya before the puja commences,

That endless shopping of authentic clothes

The hunt for mum's matching blouse :-P

The food

The colours

The feel

The togetherness

The pushpanjali on the 7th, 8th n 9th day

The phul-bel-pata diye montro confusion

The staying hungry till you get the phal-prasad after pushpanjali

The race for shanti-jal

The line for bhog

THE BHOG [:-P]

The aunties and their gossips

The uncles and their chada

The kids and their drawing competition

The roaming all over mumbai to see all thakur protimas

The balika gauri

The aparajitar phul-o-gach

The sindur utsav

mithaiyo ka mela

The visarjan!

Ah! God please, make me have birth as a bengali each life! I love being a bong!!! majorly coz of durga puja, plus, the food rocks :-D

Oh! I can already hear the dhak, kongsha, shonkho n ullu!
*nostalgia* :-)

Happy Durgotsav! Bolo Durga mai ki jai!

Smile please

2008-10-01T07:17:00.001-07:00

A very insignificant, yet strangely cute incident happened with me yesterday in the train.

I was coming back home pretty early at noon and the trains at that time were empty. At Chembur, every-one else in my coach apart from me chose to depart and for one moment, I got uncertain whether or not to change my compartment. Well, this girl boarded the train the very next station, so I had company :-)

Now,
Yesterday was first day of navratra and for people who don't know, all the days of navratra are colour coded :-P As in, there is this pre-decieded colour of clothing, Amba-ma is made to wear a saree of that colour and all females are expected to wear that colour. I found it initially very amusing, but mum absolutely insisted that I wear "RED" and no other colour yesterday.

And [not so surprizingly], the girl who boarded my coach was wearing blood red too.

Vashi bridge came next and I, who needs to be as close to the sea as possible, chose to stand at the doors. And well, I had my music with me and the sea near me, bliss. Just then, I noticed that the girl was staring at me out of intrest. I gave her a stern look and she,
returned me the most wide-genuine smile ever!
Her entire face brightened, eyes twinkled; It was one, complete-friendly smile!

I couldn't help but smile back!
Just to strike a conversation, I went towards her and said,
"Do I know you through anything?"
She: [bemused] You do?
Me: I don't know. You look familiar.
She: [Takes a while, thinks, makes some faces, does some countings and finally with a confused look] Maybe through the train-travel..
Me: Huh? Oh...OK. Thats my station, Bye.
She: [another killer smile] Bye.

Thoughts started racing,
I guess I know her from classes, she was reading some bio book! Maybe through junior college! Market, boutique, friend's friend, or maybe she smiled because we wore Amba-ma's colour. How did it matter, maybe it was train!

And after I got off from the train, realization struck me!

Why has smiling become a formality?
Why can we literally count the number of times we smile each day?
And if some-one is being sweet enough to smile,
Why do we get appalled for a moment?

What is humanity heading towards?

Being curious

2008-09-27T06:54:00.000-07:00

If white symbolizes peace,
Why does it make me feel hollow inside?

If looks don’t matter,
Why do cosmetics sell?

If blondies are supposed to be dumb,
Why do we [dark skinned Indians] colour our hair blonde?

If they are not hygienic,
Why are beauty parlors so popular?

If friends are the support system,
Why do they betray?

If they don’t want to get hurt,
Why do people put-up sensitive content on public forum?

If we value our privacy,
Why is orkut more popular than Facebook?

If fuck [as a word] is part of ‘normal’ vocabulary,
Why do people mask it with asterisk?

If they want to keep the content clean,
Why use such words at-all?

If every-one has it,
Why is sex so hyped?

If green is the colour of envy,
Why do I wear it so often?

If I know he doesn’t care,
Why do I wait for his call?

If I don’t like her,
Why do I need to pretend?

If I can,
Why don’t I?

If it is now or never,
Why is not sinking in?

Ah! Such is life…

P.S. Nothing said here is meant for any person or organization. Suit yourself, I shall continue to do the same.

P.P.S. I don't need replies, I have them. I need views on the write up :-)

Late comer's manual

2008-09-20T21:44:00.000-07:00

Continued from Amchya mumbaichya local trains

As I said, I am usually 10-15 minutes late for each morning’s 1 hour toxic dose of studies called “lectures”. My teachers are co-operative nice people, so they understand. But like friends ask me, how can you expect it “every single day?” So questions come my way, “Oh! Shatabdi! Why late?!”

And then you have this millisecond to come up with a convincing reply. Sometimes when I know it for sure that I shall arrive long after the teacher, I call up my friends and give them a bana-banaya bahana. So, no spanking as such for being late, they already know :-D But, you can’t do this every-ruddy-day man! So, here are my tried-tested-best-working-universal-lies for being a regularly irregular student :-D

*~* Ma’am, I am not keeping well. [weak face coupled with a cough :-D]

*~* I am sooo sorry ma’am! Alarm clock ka batteries discharge ho gaya tha! I got up at 6:45 and I am here at 7:45; that is something ma’am! :-P

*~* While coming to the station my car broke down! Abhi high-way pe lift kaha se milta ma’am! [worried face, ruffled hair :-P]

*~* I was studying late night sir, aap hi ka chapter ;-)

*~* Watchman didn’t let me in! I-card nahi laya :-D

*~* It was raining in vashi :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

*~* I fell on the station and hurt my leg! [with a little sad face, sympathy follows instantly]

*~* I forgot something important at home and traced my way back, so, late [usually saying journals or home-assignment helps :-P and do NOT mention lunch-box here :-P]

*~* What!!! I am LATE??? Oh! My watch! My watch!!

And the reason that almost always saves my very sorry ass is……..

*~* Trains late!
[which they usually are not]

So, there you go. Ready made explanations for your delay. Also, talk as much as possible, so that the teacher takes you in just to shut you up :-P

And I really hope my teachers don’t find the way to get to my blog ;-)

P.S. Update. Campusjunkie has been kind. They have finally acknowledged my hard work and awarded me with tools to show-off :-D Visiting cards provided to all core-writers! Have a dekho on Jiggs's blog. Mine reads,
Shatabdi Roychowdhury
Core writer.

Wish you were here..

2008-09-14T01:03:00.000-07:00

Raindrops lash against my window;

my hair is wet

and so are my eyes...

A cuppa of coffee in my hands

A million things in my heart

I sigh!

I wish

you were here..

Distance parts us my baby

and words fail,

With no clue of where we are going

and no attempt to ease the pain,

With nothing else up my mind,

I really wish

you were here..

I think of you,

my heart bleeds

and I am out of ideas

of reunion, of togetherness , of being us.

I miss you,

I need you,

I love..

Oh! how I wish

you were here..

P.S. No, not in love. No infatuations or stupid fascinations; just a feeble attempt to poetry in this ultra-romantic weather :-)

Amchya Mumbaichya Local trains!

2008-09-09T08:38:00.000-07:00

I travel by them, oh sorry, the whole of Mumbai travels by them, the life-line of the city as they call them; fast, punctual, convenient, cheap, no traffic, special compartments, no pollution, reliable, the very spirit of the city, Mumbai local!

Now mind you, traveling in a local is not a kiddy’s job; and in second class during peak hours? Sorry boss, even I would avoid; and I am somebody who has had this as a part of her daily schedule since the last 4 years or so. Even-though traveling by First class isn’t all that big a deal, every journey is special for me. It is not like bus-routes don’t join my place of residence to my daily destination; I just prefer the rail-way better. [No! I am not saying so coz my name resembles that of a train!!]

Now, just a background for non-Mumbaikars :-) .There are three basic “lines” of local railway in Mumbai, yea, one doesn’t suffice :-P These are, the King Central line, the Glam-sham Western line and the Underdog Harbour line. These have various sub-routes and slow and fast types which I shall not get into. So, to reach my college, I have to change a train from Harbour line to Central at Kurla Junction; the most deadly railway station on planet earth!

Across this background, shall narrate my every-day ordeal…

I am late to college, every single day. To reach on time, I am supposed to catch the 6:43 local and I leave home at 6:40 whatever time I get up, Thus, obviously my train is gone. So, I am supposed to catch the next local come-what-may to reach 10 minutes late; and if I miss that, I reach at 8 o'clock for the 7:25 lecture *straight face*

Papa drops me to station; the drive takes 6 minutes, so it is 6:46 already. The walk ahead is that of 5 minutes and my local is that of 6:51, just enough time. During these whole five minutes probably the scariest and craziest thoughts come to my mind! What if the train’s one minute early? What if it’s canceled today? What if the timings have changed suddenly? Etc. You get the picture?

As I enter the station, the announcement of my due train is made. My sensors turn on, but I still don’t run. I walk down the staircase, look at people coming from the opposite direction, switch on my iPod and adjust the volume for the journey, and then! I hear it, yes I do! This is it! The train entering the platform! That is the time when my legs just don’t wait for my brain to give any signals and sprint towards platform no. 3! The train just halts when I board the stairs and my mental stop-watch switches on. “10 seconds”, I tell myself, 10 seconds is the time for which the train shall be there! 10, 9, 8 , first half of the stairs done, 7, 6, 5, yay! I am on the platform, 4, 3, 2, towards the Ladies 1st class coach, 1, 0, damn it… the train’s started, -1, -2, dive, boarded! :-D

Then begins the hunt for the seat, every-day a new trick works. And then I get my 15 minutes of peace before the second more-challenging half of my journey begins, remember? I change trains..

To get off at Kurla is no-job at all! You just have to stand amongst the fellow passengers; even if you don’t wanna get off, you shall find yourself on the platform. When my train has just stopped at the station, the other central line train is about to enter the station in just about a minute. So, I have to go through the over-bridge full of people from platform no. 7 to platform no. 3 in that much time, reach the ladies compartment and also board the fully crowded - over-flowing train! I put the volume of my player on full and run for my life, through the 1000 odd people coming from all direction! The only time ever when I regret being short is this. You see, my nose just reaches the arm-pits of majority men, ahem. Well, but there is also a bright side. I am also lucky for not having considerable height, I can act jerry and run through all these people just by a little excessive use of my elbows :-D

I get off the stairs while the train is still arriving, so yea, mental stop-watch ticks on all over again. I reach, the train stops and a sea of people land on the platform! I wait patiently for people to get in, coz I am supposed to get off just after a couplea stations, so prefer to be near the doors. Train blows its horn, “move inside people!” The train takes off, “make room! I have just some toes inside!” one leg, then both in the pair board in the train, as my wahan picks up speed.

Gradually as the train leaves the station behind, the whole of me is ‘in-side’. I hang my way to Dadar as I hear some-one calling my name, “Shatabdi!” I turn; try to locate the source among the whole lotta people. I notice; there is a little clearing in the surface mass near the wall. I see a hand waving towards me, and ah! I know who it was

Jiggs!

:-D

Us at blogger

2008-09-03T06:18:00.000-07:00

http://www.blogger.com/ ; yea, the thing that binds us together, blogger

How many of us open our blogs first thing when we switch on our computers?

*raises hand*

How many amongst us analyze the situations of every-day life like we would enter them on our little owned space on the web?

*raises hand*

Who get worried because some friend had a sad post put-up?

Who think about some comments and start laughing in the middle of a lecture?

Who are attached to blog-mates; laugh with them, cry with them, coz even if no-one else in the world does, they still do the same for us……

Love ya guys! This one is for you. To all my blog-buds and any-one else who bothers to read it all :-)

Well, every-one has their way of analyzing everything. I do, by categorizing; yes, even people. So heres something I cooked up for all those who live via blogger. Interested? Read on!

Kinds of people we come across all the time on blogger. Categories and traits

*~* the Wacky Weirdos [WWs]

You never know what to expect from their blog, because well, even they don’t know why in the first place did they turn up here :-P They write, because there is nothing else to do. Not that they write worthless, every-one has their own style; but you sometimes relate to them and sometimes you go, “whaaaaa?” They write for themselves, don’t think twice before uploading anything; But yea, their spirit simply rocks and others await their comments on their blogs coz well, you never know which new angle they might explore :-D

*~* the Reader Sustainers [RSs]

Diametrically opposites of the WWs. Their posts are consistent, that’s like the perfect way to describe them. Come what may, they manage to entertain the reader and make the best of fan-following. They are prolly the assets of blogger and people can never have enough of them. They don’t care if new readers come, if a good discussion happens, they are happy with even 5 comments.

*~* the Reader Gatherers [RGs]

Ah! They might not write for others, but need that constant buzz on their blog. They don’t post very often, coz they want people to digest each post before they throw a new lot of gossip on them. They hover around on blogger-world commenting on random blogs as they want them to come back and pass their opinions. In short, they are comment obsessive and do not post anything new till a particular number is attained. Nothing wrong, do as you please, but care for at least ‘some’ readers….

*~* the Daily Ranters [DRs]

With a new post almost everyday, their blog is a daily dairy. They cite incidents, pass-on experiences and provide lukkha people with something to read and think about. Their mood reflects on their blogs and well, you can easily relate to them. Nice, warm, realistic people; I like :-)

*~* the Popular chicks and chickoos [PCs]

Oh! They hit headlines for every small big thing they do! You want them to grace your blog by their presence and if you get an entry in their blog-roll, you have achieved that ambition of being on blogger :-P Not their fault, is it? Controversies, all the time; attention grabbing capacity, yea yea; comments ki barsaat, yea baby; :-D The celebrity blogs we come across now-a-days included.

*~* the Brain cell Activators [BAs]

They are different from RSs as they do not necessarily post stuff that other would keep others entertained, but they definitely write for others. They make us scratch our heads to give a worthy enough answer, giving us good enough reason to use our rusted brains. They are sane and smart and witty, awesome company for discussions. One problem with them though, they ask too many questions :-P

Well, I used to wonder, why do people come to a website and put out everything they have in their brain and hearts out in the open. Well, now I know. Because it feels good! Whatever be it, the spirit of blogging rocks and the current state of blog-world is perfect. I just hope all the hype doesn't spoil it.

Hail bloggers!

As far as 'I' am concerned,

I guess I have shades of all, but prominently am a WW :-D and yes, I agree with people who say that the content quality on my blog has deteriorated because of my professional writing ventures, but, is my blog about the quality of my content? It is about my mode of expression, period.

Are there any other categories that you can think of? Something distinct that has not been covered?

What category do you fall under?

P.S. Ganpati bappa has come home and I am ecstatic! Happy Ganesh Chathurti. :-)

The Savin' me Tag

2008-08-30T06:44:00.000-07:00

Sachi tagged me for this one and by far, its one of the most fun tags I have done. I will tag some people, but anybody who wants to take it up, please do so coz there is nothing to do in this tag, its all automatically awesomely done. Also, do this tag honestly; or-else all fun is lost.

I used my iPod, have been honest throughout *swear* and would describe it as Gunj did, just quoting her when I say that, Its a mind-reader! Had a laughter riot while doing it, hope some of it reaches to you guys.
Here I go.......

The rules:

1. Put Your iTunes/ music player on Shuffle
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER WHAT!!!
After you've answered all of the questions, tag 5 other people and then let them know they've been tagged.

# IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
I say -> Jeremy - Pearl Jam. [Wow! The very first song is by the band I am perennially in love with!]

# WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
It would be -> Chupke se - Saathiya. [?]

# WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL ?
I like -> The Memory Remains - Metallica. [Hehaha... Fortune, fame, mirror vain, gone insane; but the memory remains!]

# HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
I feel -> Goodbye to romance - Ozzy Osbourne. [:-| pehle shuru toh hone do yaar...]

# WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
It is -> If - Pink Floyd. [How I wish! Well, keeping jokes apart, please check this song out if you haven't already. Features is my top-ten 'priceless' list :-)]

# WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
They think -> Truly madly deeply - Savage Garden. [Awwww, simply love you guys!]

# WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?
I think -> Everytime I Die - Children of Bodom. [LOL! No no, I love them both. By the way, if any-one meets Alexi, just let him know that my parents call him "the screaming boy" :-D]

# WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
I think -> Touch Like An Angel Of Death - Children of Bodom. [What a paradox, I think about 'life' very often. Well, nevermind.]

# WHAT IS 2+2?
It is -> Title track - Bhool Bhoolaiyaa. [lol! This made me literally roll on the floor laughing! Of the 500 odd songs, why this?]

# WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
I think -> Khwaja mere Khwaja - Jodha Akhbar. [Haila! mere paas yeh gaana hai?]

# WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
I think -> Man on the Moon - R.E.M. [Yea, astronauts are sexy :-P]

# WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
It is -> Goodbye cruel world - Pink Floyd. [:-) , the song is from the album "the wall". *nostalgia*]

# WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
I want to be -> Hero - Mariah Carey. [:-D sure! I love her and I love this song.]

# WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
I would think -> Chaliya - Tashan. [Ha ha! something I would exactly NOT think :-P]

# WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
They think -> Ending Credits - Opeth. [:-)] [

#AT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
I would dance to -> Jame Raho - Taare Zameen Par. [God! how apt!]

# WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
They will play -> Someone that you're with - Nickelback. [Man! They would wanna be that 'someone' I lie with in my grave! this just made my day! :-)]

# WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
My interest is -> Fade to Black - Metallica. [Errr, no comments!]

# WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
It is -> The Happiest Days of Our Life - Pink Floyd. [Yea, that pretty much sums it all up :-P]

# WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
I think -> Haunted - Kelly Clarkson. [Ha ha, exactly! ek se bad-kar ek ghosts! They haunt me even at 3 the night! for various reasons :-P]

# WHAT SHOULD YOU POST THIS AS?
I should as -> Savin' me - Nickelback. [:-) as the tag nears completion, all my favorites turn up..]

# WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS TAG?
I think -> The Call of Ktulu - Metallica. [Ah! absolute delight!]

I tag:

1. Anindita [Do it, its awesome fun.]

2. Arv [coz you liked it great deal on Sachi's :-)]

3. Bhai with Chai [coz I wanna see your taste in music!]

4. Rajesh [Shreya Ghoshal maniac, go explore all you can, guaranteed fun.]

5. Urv [Do you do tags? do in leisure if you can :-)]

P.S. Sach! Thanks a ton for tagging me yaar! I always believed that tags play a role in blogger-bonding :-) This is such a great one, no wonder it is so popular! Cheers!

A lil bitta fascination doesn't hurt :-P

2008-08-23T08:36:00.000-07:00

Recently, one of these days, I was bored. Not just bored, in a horrible horrible mood.

One of the most prominent reasons for the same was that, I had just finished reading one of the poorest ever written books. "The 3 mistakes of my life" was definitely one of my mistakes. But then I don't usually give up things mid-way; so somehow finished reading it. Result, the previously mentioned awful mood.

Additionally, I had nothing to look forward to that day, apart from endless hours of journal writing. My assignments had fared badly, and I wasn't exactly happy with my presentation either. I had an argument with my mum first thing in the morning and first time ever, dad didn't support me!!!!!!

To add to it all, I was broke. The pune trip just sucked all money outta my wallet and left behind some moments of fun and the tickets n bills :- Top it up, biggest disaster, I had no balance in my phone, so couldn't wish one good friend on her birthday. Month ka quota finish, and no money, so no refill. All the bad times came rushing back to me. My mood was low. No, it was loowwww......

Nothing seemed to calm me down. Talking, floyd, painting, looking at old pictures, singing, cleaning, reading, writing, eating; nothing, absolutely nothing!

In short, it was a lousy, slow-moving, never-ending day!

And then,
He commented on my blog.

And my day was made!

Lousy day became day filled with surprises. Life was bliss.
Do I sound smitten? I guess I am.. :-P
Has this ever happened to you?

I D-O-N-T C-A-R-E

2008-08-18T10:33:00.000-07:00

How do we become whatever we are? We learn. From situations we tackle, from other people. But sometimes we have this one person amongst our relatives, who is our favorite teacher! No doubt my parents top my list, but another person who also does is my nani :-)

She has this wonderful habit of co-relating every situation/decision to those good old bengali sayings, the one which make no sense to you when you are young, but when you grow up, reminding yourself of them helps you regain faith in yourself. Heres a sample of the same,

"korite paarina kaaj,
sauda bhoy sauda laaj,
shongshoy sonkolpo sauda taule,
paache lokera kichu baule."

General Translation.
Unable to work,
always feared, always reluctant [shy],
we always procrastinate, (because)
people talk shit behind our back......

Literal meaning.
Don't give a fuck about what people say, they always have something discouraging to puke. Work, don't fear, don't shy away; just because of what-people-will-think. If you have made up your mind, go for it. Don't restrict yourself for the people-factor, coz that will never be in your favor.

Isn't it amazing how certain things which are tagged of being a part of the broad minded current society now, have always been there, and we conveniently ignore that. But grandparents are always there, to bring us back to the ground, and by that in-turn help us grow.
This is one of the teachings that my grandkids are surely getting from me :-P

Azaadi..

2008-08-14T22:08:00.000-07:00

Free,
Every-one of us relates to this word in different ways.
But there is a common chord.
Having free thoughts.

Dedicated to the fighters who enabled us to do whatever we wanted to do, to be whatever we wanted to be, to 60 years of this freedom.

Hamein aaj azaadi hai...
Mann ke bandhan todne ki,
kalpanao ki udaan bharne ki,
naye pragati ke marg sujhane ki,
aur unse sabke sapno ko saakar karne ki.

Rashtra-bhasha nirbhayta se bolne ki,
chamak-dhamak ke kaale chashme ko kholne ki,
kaam mein mann lagane ki,
sach or sahas ko mul-mantra banane ki.

Andhvishwas se mukt hone ki,
vicharo ko shabdo mein dhaalne ki,
shabdo ko prakashit karne ki,
kal se bada ban-ne ki.

zyada chahne ki, zyada paane ki,
aur paane ke baad, us-e baattne ki,
chehro pe muskaan laane ki,
sabko aaj aazadi hai.

Par kya hum is azaadi ka sahi istemaal kar rahe hai?

सभी देश-वासियो को स्वतंत्रता दिवस की हार्दिक सुभ-कामनाये
Jai Hind!

Happiness or contentment?

2008-08-09T10:23:00.000-07:00

A thought passed by my neurons sometime ago and it left me bemused.
So now a new opinion is made, [subject to change, conditions apply :-P]

Happiness is the most over-rated among the emotions.
No-one likes not having happiness. So, it comes and goes as it pleases and we wait longing for more of it to come by.

And then they say, happiness should be coupled with sadness in our lives; thats how we will know the "value" of being happy. But can we manage that? Give happiness the importance and it will be around rarer. When we are happy, we forget about the harsh realities around and choose to rejoice. Why do people do drugs? to get the high and feel at ease. Is that happiness? How do we define happiness? does happiness in certain things dominate other things?

I tag happiness of being over-rated because people choose to ignore that, it misleads us, too much happiness does. Happiness is not humour. If that was so, stand-up comedians would be the happiest people in the world. For me contentment is more important a virtue. Or when people say that they are happy, they actually mean that they are contented?

We always knew that "man is the most selfish amongst all beings", is this the reason why happiness is prefered above contentment? Or is the latter a very whole-concept and people prefer to look at things selectively, be happy about some of the things happening to them and forget about the rest of it, atleast momentarily.

I say I am happy....

*~* when I am full. Either with respect to food, or emotions, or relationships, or discussions, etc.

*~* when things are going my way, just the way I wanted them to be.

*~* when my questions are answered; [might be the same as 1 & 2, but is important to me.]

In other words, I am happy when there is contentment. So for me happiness is synonymous to contentment, and contentment comes by expecting less. They say, "when you smile, we know you are happy." I don't need a reason to smile. Call me a maniac, but if something is either funny, or cute, or reminds me of something, or makes me feel good, I smile :-) Not because I am happy, but because I considering smiling to be a part of being alive.

I came across an article on contentment recently and the jist of that write-up was, to be contented with what we have and not be contented with what we are. It made sense. Things we own, keep changing; they don't mean much. They bring joy for sometime and then we move on. But if we grow, as people; we learn, as appreciators; there is a zest to be better; we shall live better. When this is lost, the zeal to live will be lost. I can relate to this concept. Maybe somewhere we have to know our limitations and aim for what is achievable. But isn't it us who determine this "boundary" for our capabilities?

Dreaming leads to Aiming leads to Working leads to Succeeding leads to Contentment leads to Happiness.

Or did I get the very meanings of the terms incorrectly?
How do you define happiness?

The fire within!

2008-08-06T03:30:00.000-07:00

Each one of us has this something they are passionate about. Sometimes it is a talent, or maybe a hobby, even occupation. Sometimes it is "craze for sports", other times it is as tiny as "talking on the phone". Our passions determine us, mark our personality. Not that it means anything, but people who have passion for the same things, have a similar wavelength. And well, that is how I have made most of my friends, coz we share, in common, some or the other thing that we are passionate about.

Among many other things here and there, I always thought I was passionate about bio-sciences.

Always.

*As a kid, I first wanted to be Paleontologist! [If you think of Ross Geller ;-) , I don't blame you] Then, I began to hate history. So, plan cancelled.

*Gradually, as every kid at some point or another wants to, even I wanted to become a Doctor. MBBS with surgery - specialization, then join the Army. [Yea 'Samby' and his friends, you can smile :-P]
But then, 7 years of MBBS was declared, and it was such a turn off! I mean, who wants to stay stuck in graduation when the whole world has done masters and already is working. Plus, just MBBS has no value what-so-ever and post-graduation competition is horrible with reservation every-where. No, no... Mission aborted!

*Then my interest diverted towards plants. Yes, Horticulture was the call.
So, when I joined Science in junior college, I had this dream. To do BSc Botany, MSc horticulture and go through forests all over the world, find some rare plant species and name it after my name :-P [Centuria shatabdi-expressa? :-D]

But locha!
Fell accidentally in love with Chemistry!
So, now I am graduating in Biochemistry... ;-) and I am loving it!

Yes, I am an academically attached kid, who loves her college and wants to pursue Research and Development. And I sure am still passionate about it, science. I mean, I sit in lectures with a temme-something-I-dunno attitude. And when teachers do tell me something I didn't know, I am happy, my day is made. There is no desire to learn answers by-heart, who likes to do that? What I like to do is find answers to my questions; know more, a little more, till I am satisfied. My teachers actually have to tell me, "You are doing graduation and that in just one subject. Leave something for post-graduation, will you?"
I smile in front of them and come home to read something from the net or refer random books of my preference. If I don't get the answer, I ask more people. I get so restless, I don't get sleep. Yes, I know its weird :-D

Curiosity, enthusiasm, interest in wholistic knowledge. Not working too hard, but sincerity towards our work.
Is this what we call scientific aptitude?

Freaking Freaky!

2008-07-30T07:55:00.000-07:00

We meet them all the time, freaks!

I mean, Every-one is a freak, I always thought I was a freak, as in weirdo :-D
Weird because I have these little things I am too particular about.
Weird because, when I am expected to get angry, I may not even bother to react; and when I am expected to stay calm, I may get hyper no-end. Yes, I am moody.
Weird because I don't necessarily mean whatever I say.
Weird because I am different!
[Bloody hell I am.]

Very recently, I had this desire to know what exactly the word "freak" means. So, short-cut, googled it. Got to Thesaurus. Thats when I realised how multi-fauceted this word is!

They have 3 senses they define this word in and every synonym given in each of these 3 senses is, errmm, absolutely NOT synonymous to each other! So, when one says the particular word under question, they can mean so many things!

*~*In the first sense, Freak is synonymous to Curiosity.
Meanings used later in this sense are:- rarity, oddity, mutant, aberration, anomaly, one-off, unusual, irregular
Also, an abnormally formed, especially in a person or an animal, regarded as curiosity or monstrosity [evil grin*]

*~*Synonym in second sense: Enthusiastic.
Or else; fanatic, fiend, nut, lover, buff

*~*Need more variety? Third sense synonym here is Chance.
and; surprise, happenstance, accident, fluke, a sudden capricious turn of mind, a whim.

And if this wasn't enough, In a forth sense, [read slang] I came across a whole new bunch of words directly related!
*~*A drug user or addict: a speed freak.
*~*An eccentric or nonconformist person, especially a member of a counterculture.
*~*An enthusiast: rock music freaks.

So, now when I say, I am a freak I might mean, either that I am curious, or rare, or odd, or mutant, or irregular, or enthusiastic, or fanatic, or fanatic, or nut, or lover, or buff; phew!

Yes, I sure am a freak! :-P

Dumbfounded Episode - 2

2008-07-26T20:10:00.000-07:00

Going back to Navy-nagar always makes me bliss. I wasn't born there, haven't even spent major chunk of my life there, just two years effectively, 5th and 6th year of my life, but its weird how some places of your childhood play a role in the way you are, for-ever.

My parents have strong circuits there, too many people we know, actually, they know. I don't remember much of them, nor does it matter to me. Twelve years I have been in Vashi, renewed the very foundations of my life, very far from trivial bondages, but faded memories always remain. I go back sometimes, for some hours, but only to some specific places, meet those specific people. Remaining part of Navy nagar is stored only in form of moving pictures in the mind, pictures that sometimes I can't even make a head or tail of.

Yesterday I went to Navy Nagar again, to visit Dadu and chachu. Dropped by INCS, but it was closed for lunch break, a good half an hour of wait. It was drizzling slightly, the weather was too inviting, so I bought Ice-cream [mango candy!] and told my father that I would be around. Picked up my umbrella and walked off. Around the main gate some I saw some cadets at work, ah! my brain said, "the feast has already begun.."

Walked, absorbing the scene. Lush green tidily done lawns, absolute cleans roads, not one man around to interfere between me and the surrounding, the smell of the soil, and top it up, tiny droplets leaking from the sky. I walked through puddles, splashed water on my feet, felt heavenly, carefree. I drifted so much in the new-found freedom that I wasn't too aware where I was heading towards. Still, I was certain I would find the way back, cummon, it was Navy nagar! I suddenly saw the end of the road I was walking on, and surprizingly it looked very familiar. Excitement got the better of me, I almost ran towards the gates of that very known place. But the gates were closed, it was not time to open yet. As I peered through the gates, I felt warm, and happy.

Yes, I knew that place, have had some memories there. It was the shiv-mandir. We celebrated Durga puja in these very premises. I remember running around with my brother in the opening, offer pushp-anjali with entire family, eat sweets on sindur-utsav, bow to the mother. It is the best part of the year Durga puja! And just beyond the stage was the sea. Kids weren't allowed to go there, but the sound of the sea splashing on-to the shore was one thing I remember. It has been fenced now. Sigh....

I saw to my left, and just as I expected, The Commander's swimming club! Used to come here as a very little girl with chachu. This place marks the onset of my love for being in the water, yes, it is special. It has been renovated, good. But to it's right, parallel to shiv mandir, I saw an official looking gate, it read "Sea-view Park" and the gate was open. I walked into the park.

Man! Gorgeous!
It was one simple park, but it opened into the sea! the sea roared and so did my heart, with happiness! I walked straight to the very end, as close as I could get to the water. Stood there appreciating the beauty, of life, of nature. And then,

I felt a hand on my shoulder and almost instantly, an unknown voice said "Excuse-me",
I was taken aback! I turned around to find two guys standing very close to me, one of them was a sardarji, his hand was out-streched towards me. I was so stunned and enraged, took two steps behind, as far as I could get from them.
"What?"
"My name is.."
"I don't care." I turned my face, preparing to leave.
"Wait, do you need help with directions? you are not from here, are you?"
"Yes I am, mind your own buisness!" and then I began to walk off the garden.
The other guy came running rehind and held my hand.
I turned behind and smack! slapped him right on his face,
"Don't you dare touch me"
"Listen girl, we are just trying to help."
"I don't need any help."
"Stop acting stupid, you have lost your way."
"I have not, leave me alone"
and I ran, as fast as I could. I didn't know where I was going, but this road was surely not familiar. I was feeling absolutely stupid! It was raining heavily now. For few moments of timepass, I had landed in this unknown-unsafe-absolutely-empty-neighbourhood with two loafer-likes. It was my fault.

"Stop, its no-entry ahead! Its not safe, its high-tide! We are not here to hurt you, damn-it"
I stopped, had no choice but to, it was dead end.
I turned around to face them. Both of them, drenched.
"Please don't panic, we can explain ourselves."
"Don't come near me."
"Ok, we will not. We will stand just here, fine? Now will you talk to us?"
"Shoot"
"Hi. My name is Vishal." The first time the other guy spoke.
"So?"
"I was your friend in school."
"You were not, I remember all my friends, atleast their names."
"In Naval Public School. In your Second standard. I was a couplea years senior than you. We went to school, in bus together. You knew me."
"Oh, Maybe. Why scare me like this?"
"I saw you at INCS, recognised you, but couldn't gather the courage to talk to you in front of your dad. So, when you left the premises, we followed you."
"So now you done talking with me? I have to go."
"No, wait!"
"Now what?"
"You haven't changed much. The same little school girl you are, I realised this while following you. The same innocence. When you played with the dog and fed him you ice-cream at the end, you made me smile, just the way you did when we were kids."
"Huh?"
"Yea, I did not know then, but realised this after you left. You took a part of me with you. All these years I kept thinking of you. I always had a crush on you."
"See, I hardly know you. Do you really think I would entertain you?"
"I am not asking for anything. When I saw you looking at the sea, the look on your face, the brightness in your eyes, I just could'nt stop myself. And, the way you were walking, we knew that you had reached the park by chance, you had lost your way. Its not safe here you know."
"Yes, now I do. I am so sorry for slapping you, I misunderstood. Its too late, I have to get back, Papa must be waiting."
"Its OK, take a left and then walk straight. Third left will be INCS."
"Thank-you. Good-Bye"
"Wait. One last thing."
"Yea, what happened?"
"Can I touch you? "
"What!"
"To assure myself that I am not dreaming. Atleast let me shake you hand, please"
"Errmm, OK"
I streched my hand, he did'nt grab it. I felt like he was making a joke of me. But then he smiled, "Can I walk towards you now?"
"Huh? yea yea." and then we shook hands.
"This is it then?"
"I guess" I smiled back.
"Good to meet you, again."
"Bye."

I got back to INCS, and no, they didn't follow me this time. Did my shopping with dad. But the boys did'nt come back to INCS. I half-hoped to see them there again. Still....
When I was waiting outside for dad to get the car to load all our stuff, a small girl came to me and gave me a peice of paper. It was a note. It said,

You made my day, Thanks.
Keep Smiling always,
-Vishal.

I don't know why, but I kept the note in my pocket. Its always good to know that you have an admirer in some part of the world. :-)

That Balancing Act...

2008-07-21T10:46:00.000-07:00

A lot of us complain of being in the middle. Having to multitask and having too many options to choose from, too much work and the desire to do none of it. The act of maintaining the equilibrium is a part of the human nature, and that how it should be. Observation leads to realization, which in turn evokes understanding. Thus, to understand your-own-self, one needs to observe their traits and how knowingly or un-knowingly they perform that balancing act.

Too much of everything is not good. Yes, it is a generalization, but if we extrapolate it to everything we do, it sure is relevant. Reminding myself of this line constantly helps me restrict my preferences.
Similarly, Too little of anything is never enough. Both these statements sound like they are poles apart, but in the deeper sense, they mean the very same; we just need to know when to stop, how to strike that balance. The key to frictionless survival is, yes, that balancing act.

Activities that usually tend to lose that balance.

Friends
Having too many friends might work for certain people, but somewhere don’t we tend to side-line the people who are really important to us? We are expected to trust so many more people, confide to all of them, update them with regular happenings of our life; just coz they do!!! It sure is complicated, and a little assistance never hurts, why you think the social networking sites are such a boom! Then having too little friends leaves us with practically no options and not too many people to share our opinions with. The only way out of this is,
Strike that balance.

Friendliness
Especially, when we meet some-one new; when we have no idea how to behave to neither be unfriendly, nor over-friendly. We meet endless “doods” who are way too annoying, call you “sweetheart” in the very first talk or crack such pathetic PJs that a tight slap would be the ideal reply. Then there is the other extreme, guys who are more interested in their toe-nails than in the conversation you are trying to make. Why blame only boys? Even girls face this usually. Either they over-do the whole thing by hugging all possible people around, or end up sipping the epicenter of all their attention, their coffee! We either have to deal with it or
Strike that balance.

Food
Too much, :- ; too little :-
Then the balance between the constituents of the diet is another concept altogether. “Balanced diet”, is a cliché, and very correctly too! Yes, here a lot of us need to know before we try and
Strike that balance.

Faith (on god)
I am not saying that atheism or hard-core bhakti is wrong. Suit your own faith, but questioning the existence of god to the believer or expecting the almighty to be on our guard 24x7 is not done. Everyone has their own beliefs, sometimes depending on the way they are brought up. I belong to the class of people who believe in god and secretly want him to solve all problems. God helps me be carefree, gives me hope. It helps me because I think somewhere I manage to
Strike that balance.

Freedom
Be free, but not on anybody else’s cost. Express to be heard, not hurt. I strongly believe that freedom of thoughts is more crucial than freedom of speech, but then what is the use of having free thoughts if they are not expressed? A lot of thought has to be given to this before execution, thought that would probably help us to
Strike that balance

Blind Trust
Trust the trustworthy, but to what extent? We do need to analyze every situation and act accordingly, we need to
Strike that balance.

Talking
Too little gets us bottled, to much makes us talk non-sense. To voice opinions and also let others around you remain sane,
Strike that balance.

Smoking
I have nothing against them, smokers. But this one goes out to all human chimneys, please try and keep things in moderation, for your own good. Please
Strike that balance.

Competition
If it is healthy, all is good. But playing dirty games, trying to push the competitors down are matters that we dealt with in standard 4! And when it is not deserved, what good is that victory for? The call of the day is to
Strike that balance.

Luxuries
Need I say anything? Oh yea,
Strike that balance.

Blogging
Yes, for me. Third year just started, and I am already lagging behind the class in percent efficiency! Its high time I began taking things seriously, I absolutely have to,
Strike that balance.

P.S. Nature has its own ways of balancing things, of getting even with man. But this is not what this post is about. General bachche, ka general gyan showing off hai people! :-P

Being nine-TEEN

2008-07-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

Yes, Its my happy happy birrddaaayyy!!!!!!

The last night of my teen-age. Yes, this is an over-hyped concept. Still, each of my birthdays have been very close to my heart :-)

18th of July is My DAY! I am 19 years old! Out of teen finally [even though a lot of people have other things 2 say :-P]

Celebrations still on, the day has been amazing!!

Ilove all my friends who spent some money to get in touch with me to pass on their good wishes!

All orkut friends who burnt those ATPs to pass their wishes to me!

All blogger mates who will be posting wishes here!

Its you guys who make my day so special! :-)

P.S. Yes Jiggs, you come in all 3 lists! :-P

The Quirky Tag

2008-07-14T06:34:00.000-07:00

Tag courtesy Akshay. Again, thank-you, :-)
Now, a rule is that rules have to be mentioned :-D so, I ll better stick to the rules :-P

Rules
1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules on your blog. [Yayy! I did]
3. Tell 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs, letting them know that they have been tagged.

Here I go,

1. I love colours! In everything. All my notes have to be colour-coded [I re-write everything till I achieve the best notes], the clips that hold sheets together are according to specific colours for subjects, everything I own is of the perfect colour [according to me].

2. I need music while traveling every-day. While crossing the over-bridge at kurla station, if music doesn't flow into my ears, abuses flow outta my mouth. That can be kinda dangerous :-P

3. I am obsessed with my hair! I HAVE to change the way it is every 10 minutes. And now that I have cut them short, I have all the rights to keep touching them all the time!

4. I have to use smileys for each and everything when I chat. And when I have no comments, all I do is ":-|"

5. When I sit to study, My table has to be set in a particular way, considering my position to be center south; The book I am reading at the center, reference books to the north-west, scribbling pad to the south-east, water bottle/chewing gum reserves at the north-east, phone, just beside, south-west :-P
Needless to add, my entire room HAS to be set my me.

6. My laundry has to be done by me, just me! And, I have to use all the cool chemicals there are for laundry. Detergents [2 types], Vanish shakti O2 max, Ujala fabric whitener, Ujala stiff and shine, some stain remover; in that order!!!!!

Tagging 6 people,
Aditi
Bhai with chai
Craziest
Sachi
Samby
Sutta

Prolly some people must have done this before, well, my job is done..

Jokes that hurt.

2008-07-09T09:01:00.000-07:00

I am not the sensitive kind of people. Usually when random people blabber, I don't even bother to pay attention. If I barely know you, and you are talking crap and acting the PJ cracker, your jokes will not even penetrate my external ears, simply because I don't like pakau/popat/pathetic jokes. But when friends blabber, I join-in the blabbering. Their PJs, the most saddest jokes, make me roll on the floor laughing [not literally :-P] Maybe it is simply because of the fact that I appreciate their attempt to make things at ease and I like them, Of course I do, they are FRIENDS!

We all like laughing, don't we?
Its loads better than sitting in one corner and whining. If there is nothing genuinely funny around, its great to sit down with friends, exaggerate absolutely non-noticeable incidents, pull each others legs, and if we are still unable to extract a PJ, just simply sit back, look at each others futile attempts and laugh. Now I can't justify that, but there are certain friends whose mere sight is enough to get me giggling, a slight mention or even memory, brings a wide smile to my face. They are funny people and that is not what I wanna talk about right now.

Everyone seems to think that being funny is "in" and to be accepted in a group of friends, all one needs to do is crack jokes. I don't blame anyone, even I like to laugh. Plus, secretly I accept that I like people who make me laugh. But does that mean that everyone has to be humorous?

People don't know when to stop the whole act that was originally started for enjoyment, this is where they lack. They are all nice people with decent sense of humor, but they constantly cross that line and other people think its funny and you can't be a spoilt sport to take offense and at the end of the day they are your friends and it was just a joke and what will others think and aarrgghhhh......every possible aspect of the situation comes in front of you. Then its all up to you. Whether to object and ask them to shut the trash or laugh along and give them the benefit.

I personally believe, that if you can't tell them that you are uncomfortable, what good is your friendship for? Alright, they couldn't recognize the discomfort in your body-language, but never take home any incident that might have hurt you in any-way. Additionally, never pretend that life is all rosy, because by doing that, you will just be inviting another similar episode. It all boils down to the ability of laughing at one-self and comfort in tackling jokes to turn them into episodes of no offense and pure fun. More-over, when PJs are directed back to the person who initiated it all, that person in turn should not take offense, appreciate the joke and then the cycle can continue :-P

So PJ crackers, choose your victim well. If some-one objects, know when to stop. Your jokes might sound funny to you, for us they are traumatic. If all people laugh on things you say, they might even be laughing at you, think about it, think about it before opening your mouth, it is good friendship and trust at stake.

P.S. The post is directed towards a person from real-life and a particular set of people who are very dear to me. This strictly does not mean that I don't like jokes that are directed towards me or general PJs being cracked to derive fun.

Yes, we know.

2008-06-30T11:41:00.000-07:00

Typed it for a website called campusjunkie, not launched yet, will let you guys know once it is. Be prepared for this one, its lonngg...

Human Society has always been a dynamic system at the exterior. Times change, the way we live our lives change, philosophy becomes common sense, autocracy becomes democracy, spears become missiles, and Rebels become Prophets. What is it that keeps this ball rolling? You got that right. It is we, the Youth.

The youth of a society form the vanguard of its progress, of the dynamic nature of human existence. But amidst all this change, the spirit, the restlessness of youth is never lost. We humans never change.

Youth is the phase in our lives that we long for as kids, enjoy as young and recall as grownups. No-one ever stops being a part of youth, if the spirit lives in you, you live young-forever. And it is this spirit that keeps the world alive.

Let us make the world aware of what they are about to face! Here’s to the spirit.

WE DESIRE

1) A new life everyday!

2) Coffee.

3) Food, any type! Any quantity!

4) Equality, every kind.

5) Beds in Classrooms ;-)

6) Night College!

7) Unlimited pick-up lines :-P

8) Unlimited talk-time.

9) Unlimited Xerox!

10) Heavy mode downloading, all day long!

11) Crossword sale! :-D

12) More Smileys! :-)

13) A Hollywood in India.

14) Angelina Jolie.

15) Privacy for couples ;-)

16) ATM cards!

17) S*x

18) Pantaloons discounted rates, all round the year!

19) Independence.

20) Trust.

21) Respect for hard work.

22) Respect for women.

23) Value for fellow species.

24) Special local trains.

25) Better Infrastructure.

26) Limited notes. :-D

27) Easy exam question papers.

28) Even easier answer papers :-P

29) Printed Journals!

30) Good stationary :-

31) Memory, like a readily accessible database.

32) Energy!

33) Gossip!

34) Art.

35) Comfort.

36) Colours.

37) Awareness.

38) Knowledge, without any restrictions

39) Sex Education.

40) Better Quality of Life for everyone.

41) Quality Education and Educational institutes.

42) Respect for Cleanliness

43) Less hype, more substance.

44) Freedom of Expression.

45) Happier Farmers.

46) Sophisticated Technology.

47) AR Rehman concerts.

48) Theme Parks!

49) Better Health care.

50) COLLEGE! For the rest of our lives!

WE DESPISE

1) Dirty Politics.

2) Opinion-less leaders who provoke.

3) Religious Intolerance.

4) Riots.

5) Racism.

6) Being taken for granted.

7) Brain drain.

8) People who talk shit about our mother-land.

9) Confidentiality, which misleads us.

10) Reservations.

11) Saas-bahu serials.

12) Reality TV, "sting" operations.

13) Breaking news!!!!!!!!!

14) Stereotypes.

15) Entertainment, just for the sake of it.

16) Underestimating Mother Nature.

17) Hypocrisy.

18) Superstitions.

19) Male Dominance.

20) Body Odour

21) The way Sports is handled.

22) Global warming.

23) Adulteration, of any kind.

24) Over-Smartness.

25) "Opinion" Polls.

26) Fascism.

27) Child Labour.

28) Sexual Abuse.

29) Waking up early hours.

30) Lawsuits for PDA (Public Display of Affection).

31) Abuse of Public property.

32) Intolerance for Homosexuality.

33) Student Suicides.

34) Pessimism.

35) Female Infanticide.

36) Child Abuse.

37) Blaming everything on the system.

38) Pimples!

39) Hair Fall!

40) Misunderstandings.

41) Heartbreaks :-(

42) Inflation.

43) Being forced to work for what is "in".

44) Loneliness.

45) Conformism.

46) Ignorance.

47) Interference with our work.

48) Deadlines.

49) Fear.

50) Terrorism.

Because we are grown-ups now, and it's our turn to decide what that means!

P.S. The points mentioned above are strictly my opinions, but I represent a face amongst the youth, and there might be more who think alike, though not all. This does not represent public opinion.

P.P.S. Thanks a ton to alok for helping me figure certain ideas out and solve the complication of the introduction. This one dedicated to him :-)

The Ultimate Supremo..

2008-06-26T10:36:00.000-07:00

Humans are at the top-most of evolutionary ladder. Most evolved coz Brain is evolved yes, also the Immune system i.e. the defense mechanisms operating in the body are extremely sophisticated. And then there are other species, enormous variety that conveys to us the unbelievable diversity that exists in our eco-system. Then there is competition between them all. Inter-species, Intra-species, inside the organism with pathogens, outside the organism with the environment. The race towards survival.

We humans act smart here. We formulate methods for keeping other species under-control. We categorize them, give them bharry scientific names, randomly harm their parts, destroy them, blah blah. And while all the pandemonium is up, a non-living particle enters the cell, smartly forces the cell to do the reproduction for it, destroys the cell to go attack some more cells. Yes, I talk of viruses; Precisely what this post is all about.

The viral particle is like the most compact traveling kit! Either DNA or RNA with some associated basic proteins. It doesn't even have reproducing machinery, it uses the host's! We keep wondering here whether to club them in living or non-living things and meanwhile, it has already made several copies of its own and is all sett to kill the host cell. Our supreme friend doesn't even care about not being in the evolutionary ladder as it fails to fit in the definition of evolution. Ha ha, it fails to fit in the definition of living things.
Our high-class pharmacological research has yet not been able 2 find a remedy to any viral infection, and I am no bluff. All we do by medicines is subside symptoms and help body activate its own immune response to take care of them, the viral particles. And Immune cells are smart, just that virus is smarter.
How?
Well, cells recognize that thr is some jhol up with the body. They go identify the problem. Do all the mehnat, take 14 days and produce antibodies against them and when the antibodies come back to the site, they can't find the virus. Why? coz its changed! Its structure, conformation everything! Now antibodies are specific, so all the work is down the drain. And this happens too many number of times, depending on the genome of the virus of course. For HIV [Human Immuno-deficiency Virus], an HIV infected person can have as much has 100 types of viruses circulating in the body. But then, AIDS is all together a new story.

Not too long ago, in 1983, the first case of AIDS was reported. AIDS = Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome. The world got into tight spot and efforts of over-coming the virus began. But the virus spread, so far-wide that now its 25 years since its discovery and every part of the world has the same story. But, no-one dies of AIDS. Then why make so much noise? coz AIDS affects the very cells of the immune system. The defense mechanism of the whole body collapses, and body is susceptible to any attack. People can die of common cold in AIDS, coz body can't cure it, coz the cells who do the curing themselves are down with HIV. And this is the most-naive description :-|

Then efforts were concentrated on prevention. Now, all of us know that AIDS spread through 3 means. What we don't know is,
*~* The max amount of transmission of the virus in the world is via Homo-sexuality.
*~* Least cases of AIDS are seen in countries where prostitution is legal.
*~* Condoms are not a full-proof method to stop HIV transmission.
*~* Mother can transmit the virus into her child even after birth.
*~* Kissing can cause transmission of the virus.
*~* AIDS can be a cause of Cancer.
*~* Patients can live healthy life upto 7-8 years after detection. Under good medical guidance. But detection can take 5-10 years too, depending on strength of immune system.
*~* AIDS generated in Africa, went to Great Britain and US, which led to the scattering to the whole world.
*~* Blood once tested HIV negative, need not be so always. Prefer person-to-person transfusion.
*~* Use of needles, for tattooing, drug-abuse, even blood testing, has caused various cases of AIDS world-wide.

Shocked? Its better to be aware, don't you think?

P.S. This is an awareness post. For other detailed information, please refer to the comments. I am so glad that the comments have touched various aspects of the disease and some are more exhaustive than the post :-P
Yes, I am passionate about science. :-)

The Bucket list.

2008-06-19T09:12:00.000-07:00

Long, long time ago there was a tag. Not well known on blogger-land, not known rather, coz no-one did it :-| But I was tagged, by the person who invented it. And even she didn't do it :-0
So here I am doing this tag just coz I feel like doing it...

was tagged by alisha
Check the post related to the tag here

LIST OF THINGS I WANNA DO BEFORE I HIT THE BUCKET!

*~* Get married! Not a big wedding with 1000+ people, but, a ceremony; that too in Bengali ishtyle :-P. Even if the marriage doesn't work out, I am surely gonna give it a try.

*~* Go trekking. Yes, again. And if possible, over and over and over again. The rush you feel when you are on the top.........*nostalgia*

*~* Bungee jumping! Scuba diving! River rafting! Para gliding! Skydiving! All kinds of adventure sports. At least try them all once.

*~* I wanna learn how to play sitar. Its like the desire of my life!

*~* Get drunk and freak out at a public place. I am too well-behaved to do something that crazy when in normal senses :-P

*~* Get bald, at least once.

*~* Take the submarine trip to the Titanic.

*~* I wanna climb the great pyramid of Egypt. Actually wanna see all the seven wonders. No, all 25 things in the run to be the seven wonders, haha, list is never-ending.

*~* Kiss Rahul Bose!!!!!!! without making big news of course :-P Man, I love that guy!!!

*~* Grow a mango tree and eat the fruits :-)

*~* Fall in love with someone, crazy helpless unconditional love. Also, make love on the forest floor, the way nomads did it! :-P

*~* Produce a new life :-)

*~* Tell all the people who are important to me, how much my life is dependent on them and how much I love them. Make all of them realize that I am what I am only coz of them and I love my life the way it is only coz I have all of them.

I tag a lotta people, only coz I wanna see how well I did it :-D and it was so much fun doing it!!! and spread it around of course...
Alok
Alpana
Akshay
Craziest
Gunj
Ishaan
Nilesh
Emaan
Noelia
Sushmita

P.S. Jiggs and SambY were originally tagged, take this as an alarm people! :-D

To Daddy, with love.

2008-06-15T08:28:00.000-07:00

I was born in Visakhapatnam, where my father was posted via the Indian Navy. Yea, my father is an ex-service personnel. But then at the age of 3, we came to mumbai and ever-since, I have been here. I don't have too many memories of Vizag. One of my oldest memories is, early in the morning, prolly 5, going uphill with papa to get buffalo milk :-) . The path was muddy, among trees and bushes, and the journey, calm. The impact so steady that it has made a permanent mark on my mind.

And so is the bonding between me and papa.

We don't need a reason to like our fathers, do we? Everyone usually has one, depends on him, grows up wanting to be him, at some point or another is scared of him, sometimes confides in him. In my case, My father is the epicenter of the world for me. I have always tagged myself of being "Daddy's girl!" When I was about to leave for pune, I knew I would miss mom, but just didn't have a clue about life without daddy :-(
Needless to mention, I spoke with him every morning and he made sure he made a call every evening. Even if it was for a quick "hi" or "beta, kuch problem nahi ho rahi hai nah, kuch bhijwau" :-P
Two weeks before my stay was about to get over, my brother had come down to India, so the remainder of my family drove all the way to pay me a visit. My father was sitting beside the driver's seat, as soon as I climbed into the car, he turned back and said, "Chal yaar, bags pack kar aur ghar chal. Bore ho raha hai." :-P

My father is special. Coz he is MY father! Yea sure I share him with a sibling, but I never felt like I was sharing him, he is like 100% mine, and so he is for my brother. He makes sure he picks us up from either railway station or bus stop to home in the evenings. Not coz he wants us to depend on him, coz the mini chats we have then, make our day!

So multi-faceted my papa is, he surprises us all the time! He is Electrician cum software engineer cum experimental barber [lol] cum tailor cum plumber cum Party planner cum Teacher [physics!] cum Counselor cum part-time doctor [ahem] cum Secretary of the local Bengali association cum Chef [Dal expert and all fish dishes!] Event-manager cum Masseur cum Interior decorator cum Make-up artist! Phew! And obviously a brilliant dad and a very loving husband :-)

I guess Indian navy has helped incorporate these attributes in him. Not that he needs any of these to complete him as a person. Now that he has so many talents in him, I tend to expect so much more from boys I consider :-P But then, I secretly know that no-one can be like him. I rely on him for too many things and everything I do is aimed towards fulfilling his expectations out of me. In the grooming sessions with the psychologist in Pune, when she asked us to close our eyes and think of the biggest achievement of our life up till now, Papa's smiling face floated in the air and I couldn't even hear what she asked us to do next!!

There are numerous incidents that I would like to narrate, I have lived with him all my live you see. Just would to take this opportunity to say out loud,

Papa, I love you.

Back

2008-06-04T03:46:00.000-07:00

a little more learned,
a little more nasty,
a little more independent,
a little more aware,
a little more carefree,
a little more decisive,

and most importantly,
a little 'prepared' for what lies ahead.

Being in pune was a experience of its kind. First time ever, with people having similar age, wavelength and obviously, ambitions. Resultant, FUN!
But there was no scope of 'checking pune out' or the usual 'hanging-out'. The reason being the hectic schedule and the pressure to just live up to what is being expected out of you.

But would miss the life there.
The having food together, the playing dark room with room-mates, Rashmi's b'day card, unlimted hours of chatting, dancing sessions, PG aunty's lectures, Sinhgad trek, Katraj visit, Parvati in PMT bus [local transport in pune sucks], phone incident, late night music sessions, the first rains, the dripping ceiling, the loo booking, the looking at the birds from the balcony for hours together, the group study sessions, the short-circuit scene, the marathi learning attempts, all the video shooting sessions, the matka fights, the plucking raw mangoes from the PG aunty's tree, the personal interview sessions, Jyotisha's b'day planning-execution-party-mirchi kola-treasure hunt-everything!

Even though I have remained more or less the same, have learnt quite a few things. Just a sum-up.

*~* Always know the weather of the place you are going to. Pune needed us to apply a layer of moisturizer, covered by a layer of sun-screen lotion coupled with the head/face scarf to match upto the ruthless sun.

*~* Ketchup or any kind of sauce is only for flavour and is strictly not a side-dish.

*~* Trekking is the best possible physical activity. Going up the mountain tests your stamina, climbing down tests the balance. And when you are up there, nothing else matches the feeling of conquering something. Sinhgad isn't all that difficult a trek, but as a first-timer, it was fun.

*~* Laundry is the best thing to do when you are frustrated! :-P

*~* Ice-cream in Marathi is called "Dugdh sharkara yukta thand' gaar gol ghan-gattu" :-0

*~* Dabba wala's have taught me, dal necessarily need not contain dal. :-|

*~* Burnt soup has an intoxicating aroma! If no-one else realises, can easily be passed as a "new flavour" :-P

*~* Only certain areas in pune are good, if someone labels some place to be "happening", don't keep your hopes too high.

*~* Abusing yields nothing, just a couple of angry faces.

*~* Do not insert plugs to already loaded delicate electrical socket. Short circuits are shot to the brain.

*~* Being moody is good, but people who don't know how to talk should not be entertained.

*~* I love my blog 'Disoriented neurons' way too much. Couldn't stop thinking about you my blogey! Needless to say, friends of blogosphere came next on the list :-)

*~* I am not a television or movie freak, can comfortably live without these forms of entertainment.

*~* My first love, music. Second, chewing gum!! :-P

*~* I entertain myself and others quite efficiently.

*~* Mid-night b'day parties spill too much chocolate. But if scavengers as efficient as Pooja and kuku are around, no speck of anything shall be remained :-D

*~* I have learnt to respect silence.

*~* You can never have things done your way all the time. Just coz you are pampered at home, the world is not jobless enough to cover you with a blanket if out there its too cold.

*~* Some people sleep the night before their b'day :-0

*~* Skool friends do know you very well, never under-estimate their memory just coz its been too long. :-P

*~* Even though I love chicken, I need fish! If you are used to eating something day and night, you don't realize your attachment towards it. :-D

*~* The more the merrier is not always necessary. Too many cooks do spoil the maggi :-D

Missed mumbai, yes. There is nothing like being at home.......