Pieces of Me

This one goes out to you. And you. And her. And him.

2012-01-21T14:47:00.000+05:30

This one's for those friends of mine,

rare finds
who stand out in any crowd.
The ones who've stood up for me,
Held me when I cried,
Hugged me while I died inside.

Made my day
when it was otherwise so mundane.
Loved me and reminded me
of all the awesomeness I'd forgotten about me.

Yeah,
This post is for those amazing friends
who made my day, week, month and the year.
And off we start 2012.
Belated happy new year fellow-wookies!

Because I love you,

And will stay so,

Things are easy.

Questions are answered to,

Problems solved.

Because I am so,

and can't be helped otherwise,

I'd rather the world understand.

Let me be,

Let me rise.

And now that I know you're hurt the same,

Please don't protest, deny or blame.

Good feelings grow,

They will finally show-

The world's not such a bad place afterall.

Life's worth living,

Hugs happily shared

and smiles easily passed on.

So we'll hold hands,

Roll the roads and rivers

that keep us apart

into nothingness;

and I'll hold your hand tighter-

'cos friends like you

are godsends,

one of a kind,

and were custom-made for me!

Be sad and rich or be happy and footloose?

2011-11-05T13:04:00.000+05:30

The things people do and seek out, try out.. all the sake for that very elusive drug called happiness. Really, in the end, when you're asked, "why do you study?"
-"to get a job."
"why do you need a job?"
-"to earn money and fend for myself, stand up on my own feet."
"and after that, what?"

Well what follows is that either you haven't planned that far out into the future, and you're not that into philosophy and the baggage it comes with.

I was just doing a bit of introspection [which really means lotsa thinking when you're bored with nothing better to do, really!] and how I'm faring- now that I'm settled down as a trainee/intern/whateveryouwannacallem- and very happy too-- but with the meagre stipend only. And since I'm lucky enough not to be worried about matters of more gravity like having to substantially provide for family etc, I have the freedom to live off on my own.

And I wondered.

If I were offered a well-paid job as guest lecturer at my former college under that very scary boss. Would I pick that up stat? Or would I rather live light-hearted on a measly stipend off on my own?

Funnily enough, as much as I'd like all the extra moolah I could possibly earn- I would choose the second option. I get the experience of working under one of the awesomest, known-across-library scenario-in the world, nicest boss/Chief at one of the awesomest campus around India. Hey, it's not every day you get to work for a whole year at a campus that resembles a hill station dammit!

YOU check the previous post and THEN you check out the campus I'm at. AND you decide.

Happiness? Or money?

Waving goodbyes, trying not to cry, trying to blot out misery

2011-09-29T10:49:00.002+05:30

Omg.
I must have totally lost my mojo. How else do I explain spending over 2 months away from blogging, and still not regretting that?
I've been the laziest bum that ever was let astray on the face of earth and I've been watching; NAY; marathoning dramas, series and movies like the world's ending the very next day. well, it might. but that wasn't my point anyway.

So..
I'm done with my post-grad years. I'm still contemplating research, but not gonna go down that road for a couple o' years anyway.

Thinking back to these last 2 years still makes me feel awfully queasy. or specifically, that week. Uh, yeah i get it that i'm not exactly making sense- but it will when you read on.

All these years as a student- be it at elementary school, high school, college and beyond- i've been one of those goody-two-shoes kind of student. May not have come out first place during school- but I was always loved by teachers. Never exactly did anything wrong, and i was favorite student for quite a lot of my teachers. I'm not kidding when i say that even after all these years, some of them still talk about me with a smile on their face to their current students. ACCEPT IT! I WAS THAT NICE!

Why am I ranting on when it's obviously making lesser and lesser sense?

Hm, let's just say there's someone who feels that way. Ok, i'll just refer to him/her as Someone in this post for now. Someone is temperamental to begin with. Volatile emotions and highly oscillating mood-swings. So one moment Someone is being nice and talking well with me. Next thing I know, I'd called up Someone to confirm stuff about a job offer s/he made to me. Let's just say s/he was planning on making me and another classmate low paid guest lecturers. Like, real dirt cheap. Which was also probably why the call never went the way it should have.

I has said just one sentence to Someone, in English, to keep it polite and formal, unless s/he found me to being rude to their face. Yeah, one has to keep literally a million things in mind before saying a word to this person. I swear. S blows up right in my face (ear) about how I'm being rude (cos allegedly i spoke throughout the call in English, being distant [WTH? are u kidding me?]), mean, disgusting and to just refuse the job offer if I weren't interested.

Truth is, I'm interested. And S is my teacher. But S didn't even bother answering whether S would be covering for my travel expenses even. Youch. #worstphonecallever
and since he blew out in a rage w/o answering on the pay, my family guesses they weren't gonna pay me much. probably lesser than less.
i cried.

So next time I went with classmates to collect certificates and get the hell outta that place, I knew i'd be facing the wrath of something I knew I didnt deserve. Boy, was I right.

Things said to me:

I'm the worst student ever in S's entire life.
I'm mercenary (not the exact word, but all the paragraphs worth of ranting s/he spewed in my face amounts to that word I'd say)
I should get the hell outta here if i'm expecting same pay scale as guest lecturers.
etc etc etc painful stuff.

I kind of cried again right there. Yeah, call me out on being softie, but I can't handle allegations that maketh no sense. I know S can be angry and then go back to nice real quick. Not in my case. Not yet anyway. I also know S regularly abuses every subordinate and hurls fierce insults at them in public. Yeah, not exactly a well-loved person in there I'd say.

Good to have finally gotten out of there. There were great friends, good teachers, beautiful memories.. But why did the ending have to be so messy ?

Anyway,
goodbye my pg years, and dept

adieu,

alvida,

annyeong,

and every other way to finally sever ties with that horrid memory.

Waving goodbyes,
I'll Trying to keep from crying
Closing a chapter of life,
Blotted by black memories and white.

{o my! that was so spontaneous! *must work on it}

PS- Gilsha, you're an amazing friend whom I never want to lose. Sorry for all the times I may have been mean to you. Forgive me =)

PPS- and no, i didn't take up that job offer. in case you were wondering. not worth the insults i'd've to face anyway.

And Stanley is a leftie!

2011-07-12T07:04:00.002+05:30

How can a story be THIS beautiful, and be heart-warming and

heart-breaking all at the same time?

Oh Stanley and your elusive dabba. You had me, my soul, my all, from the opening credits itself. (Yes adorable mini cartoon, I'm talkin' abt you!)

Stanley ka dabba is one of those rare, Rare, Very rare movies where you get to see the child being-well, a child. I'd grown tired of all those hundreds of movies out there where kids behave prissy, with aggravating know-it-all teen sass. *Points accusing finger especially at the kid in Cheeni Kam who wanted to watch porn {granted she was terminal, but what's with the double-entendre laced inappropriate crushing on your sixty-plus neighbour? Weeeeeeeeird and uncomfortable.} and her ilk.
On the other hand, the nicer ones include the friends in Paa, Taare Zameen Par and company. But yeah, TZP is practically an Amole Gupte product, so the normal children characters are expected.So, Stanley and his friends are such good hearted darlings like kids normally are, that it's a pure delight just to watch them interact on-screen.

Ooh, and for once, we get to see a deep-rooted stereotype squished. About time too. The rich, fat boy is actually nice and the kind who shares his tiffin!

And coming to the titular tiffin.. There's actually a parallel to Stanley's absent tiffin. Stanley meanie Hindi teacher, of the voracious apetite, Verma sir (Amole Gupte) who doesn't seem to have a tiffin either and shamelessly digs into everyone else's tiffins- students and teachers alike. Thumbs up for such a believable performance Amole Gupte! More so for the utter lack of vanity with which he essays the role. You'll totally want to pull out his hair out cos that's how believable he makes the character.

Coming to one of my personal favorite moments in the movie. Every frame of it is a personal favorite for me, but this one's all the more dear cos:
How not to love the fact that Stanley is a leftie, with all the mundane leftie problems lefties face every day of our lives. Your left elbow constantly hitting your right handed neighbour's elbow just one of the many problems you face in a right-dominated, right-biased world. I'm so familiar with that happening like ALL the time at school. But what's more personal is how effectively the director captures each teacher's reaction to this problem. Must, must, MUST gush about how much I love him for including this detail into the story. So trivial,
and yet so true!
My sister and myself have this fetish for finding out lefties among celebs. So when we do find one eventually, it's always a thrill and squee when you note a compatriot. "omg, i didn't realize he/she's one of us!!"

To say more would be to kill the fun for ya. But I must say, the first time around I sniffed like a little girl by the end of the movie. The second time round? I bawled my eyes out. Apart from the explicit storyline, Stanely ka Dabba mainly is concerning a universal problem. But i'd be a spoilsport if I were to spill more beans. Considering how this is the core of this heavenly fare.

Alright, happy movie watching everyone. Love you Stanley and all Stanley-friends!

About The Gods of Headbangs

2011-05-15T12:06:00.002+05:30

The DownTroddence/ The Adiyalans

The six piece metal band's current line-up boasts of some of the finest talent in metal hereabouts. No kidding.
They have won headbangs everytime they do a gig,without fail. Plus the accolades, cheers, critical praise- the popularity rising, and the prizes that keep pouring in, everytime. Every f***king time. See? I tolja, their rhythm make me use expletives in the best ways possible.
Last I know, they won 'Amplified' at the NIT-C(alicut) annual fest Raaga, beating every other competitor from across the country.
So if you find yourself screaming hoarse for their signed albums one day in the (hopefully) recent future, remember that you heard of them from me. *smug
Or you probably know them perfectly already.

(damn i'm slow. Was planning to do this post exactly one year back, can't believed it stayed a draft for so long)

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to go to any gig of theirs. Wish as I might, it won’t happen. Gah, who heard of petite, headscarf wearing girls at metal concerts?? Not that I care, but I don’t have anyone close-by for company anyway.

So how would you like this post to actually start off? Intro on the kings or their music? I self-voted and decided to introduce their music first to the uninitiated:

THE METAL THEY CREATED

Death Vanity- the first single. I'll change my name, my ways, my whole life if you can NOT headbang to this one. Seriously, from the first strings itself the song takes a hold onto you with a death grip and makes sure you have fallen for it, hook, line and sinker. It's so sophisticated, polished and perfect, you wouldn't guess it's Downtroddence's very first creation. Their perfect first child.

Then there's Vengeance, their cover of a band called Evergreen. Though I'm addicted to Death Vanity, can't say the same for Vengeance. But I'm not an authority on metal, so you should decide how amazing this song is for yourself.

Who can forget Hell within hell?

And there is Shiva(!!!!!)- awesomely head-bang-y. And THE BIG NEWS IS THAT, IT'S OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO IS OUT ON YOUTUBE. Released this 14th of May, 2011. Hells yeah!

Another work of theirs that I really, truly, deeply love is known by the very attention-grabbing name Ortniavis which had me going all, what the...? But really the meaning in within the name itself. This song has quite the back story going for it, but that would be for the next post.
Anyways, talking about this track, Ortniavis is different from their other works in that, it is not hard core metal, and more of an experimental thingamagus. (Wot? That word's in the dictionary. Which one? My own.) Gorgeous and appealing to the senses. Period.

Guess I have your attention now! The next post is more of an interview-metamorphed into a blog post about the evil metal geniuses who are behind The Downtroddence. The concerts they have done, the stories behind their works and all that jazz.
Oops.
All that metal.
=D

Their Facebook official page
Their YouTube official channel

Gettin high

2011-03-30T07:19:00.002+05:30

The more the ecstatic people, the more the creeped-out factor

Reason # 1 why I'm blogging now
Lol. Looks like the blog's still being pissy about the forced starvation part. Well, it had piss anyone off if they were put off fodder too. So here I am trying to fend off dissertation deadlines and the impending exam season by blogging. Or trying to blog.

Reason # 2 why I'm blogging
But why am I actually blogging now? Things really nice and heart warmingly sweet have been happening to me. Mostly so since I don't usually feel like there's any reason people not in direct proximity of me would remember me with love. Not that I'm a nightmare to be around or anything remotely that kind. But still. Everytime someone mentions me with love, I go all; me? You're actually talking about me? You happen to like me a lot?- and that happy mentioning of me by a friend/ good friend/ girlfriend is enough to place me on cloud # 10 in a helium filled state for a looooong time. And recently, a couple of friends; friends whose opinions reaaaaalllly, reaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllyyyyyyyy matter to my happiness and overall peace even have been saying such good things about me [not in my face, mind you. I never take in-my-face compliments seriously even when they are sincerely made] and helping me even if it tires them, that I'm the happiest girl in the world for now,
Yay! Keep me this way please! And thank you dearest Lord for all the unexpected love showers I'm receiving.

Reason # 3 why I'm blogging
And on the other hand, I have recently noticed that I have become a sort of Addiction Initiator-SLASH-Addiction Catalyser-SLASH-Addiction Facilitator for quite a lot of classmates. Lol. It all began with this semester, which is our last, and so, fateful semester as regards our future. Yet, as we have become such experts in procrastination, everyone just slouches all over the place and day dreams until the tests and then do one-night-stands with notes. Thanks to lack of faculty, things have pretty much boiled down to self-teaching.

So as i was blathering, we slouched a lot for the last few months. Everyone has their own way of killing time. Mine was playing "QuadraPop" on buddy Gilsha's SonyEricsson. And boy was I addicted to that game. I had play it for hours on end, even killing all the phone battery at some instances. Then another friend asked for my Nokia and got hooked to "Bounce" for time killing purposes. And before I knew it, things came to the scenario where practically everyone was playing games on everyone else's phone. I had step in the classroom and get asked for my phone before even getting a Good Morning. Oh well!
Life moves on and everyone kind of was de-addicted to phone games. Not all though. I'm still stuck with QuadraPop.
Anyway, THAT was when i started playing Mahjjong on our Ubuntu system. And behold! Sue and Gi get addicted as well!

And here comes the mother of all addictions I spurred-that beats all the other addictions i ever brought:
Korean dramas.

For the last three semesters that we were in post graduation together, my classmates all just scoffed at this weird love i had. Then this semester, I gave the last drama I watched to Bhavya who wanted to know what the noise I made was all about, and,
BEHOLD!
Bhavya is the first one to fall And she fell so damned hard that even I'm surprised and the impact it has left on her. Now she even beats me in talking non-stop about the dramas, the actors, the celeb gossips even. I drew a lot of flak from friends for this. Lots of annoyed curses even. Heh. And funniest thing? I didn't even have to bother to deflect them. Bhavya did all that PR talk for me and even did story telling for the rest. Just.Plain.Awesome.
So I decided to take it a step further and when we girls were all together, Bhavya and yours truly kinda kidnapped and hijacked everyone for full measure, and did a speshul private screening of the first few awesome episodes of that awesome drama. Wadduyuknow? Quite a lot of people fell hard for the drama. And everyone wants a bit of the Korean magic now.

And the ones who didn't fall for the magic?
They are still iffy and giving me baleful stares straight from their closed hearts. I don't mind at all. I have completely converted Bhavya into a full-on faithful ally to the point where-
she and I re-enact our favorite parts with Korean dialogues to boot and
squeal in utter joy when our actor crush breaks up with his girlfriend,
and together we have gotten more addicted.

Life's gooooooooooooooooooood!

The constant push-and-pull I engage you in..

2011-03-17T20:24:00.000+05:30

So things have come to a point where every heart-to-heart I try to have with Blog boils down to the Awkward category. This one was no different..

Blog [who's in an aggravated mood thanks to my frequent absence]: Oh lookie lookie, who's come along now after ignoring me blatantly all this month and more?
Me [feeling ashamed]: Yeah love, you have every right to feel that way. Punish me as much as you want, but please don't leave me!
Blog [not as yet in a forgiving mood]: Why the hell are you back though? Exam season approacheth i bet!
Me[feeling cornered and caught]: Riiiiiiiiight. What else but deadlines could bring me running back into your arms these horrid days?
Blog [depressed,yet happy to have me back]: Dayum. You could've at least tried to sound romantic about the running back into my arms/wings/side bars part.

Back!

Why I used to heart PostSecret part II- and still do

2011-02-15T06:51:00.001+05:30

***

The last 3 are from Feb 14/2011

But the gems like these seem to be lesser and lesser in frequency nowadays and it's more about pervy sex habits and infidelity that I get to see whenever I give the site a visit. But still, the last 3 were from yesterday's post. And I especially heart the last one since it's just so beautiful! I mean, the maturity in that relationship.

Have a lovely day y'all!
Spread the joy =)

Why I used to heart Potsecret a lot

2011-02-15T06:34:00.000+05:30

Now playing (forever playing): Walking Far From Home- Iron and Wine
Found this slice-of-heaven of a song from a blog I stalk day and night.Iron and Wine make insanely beautiful music, and in case you haven't ever tried them out, try now!
You could try the above song, plus their Each Coming Night which is so soothing that I can't even put the feeling into words!

Since I don't seem to have the time to actually post anything regular these days, I'm posting my favorite Valentine-related postsecrets in the last three years. here goes!
Starting with the older ones

The week that was

2011-01-22T06:12:00.000+05:30

It was the kind of week where a friend would go on a sneak-date and would find it necessary to hide when almost-spotted by me. Why'd she run away when she saw me? Beats me. Since I'm neither her mom or ex. Maybe it's got a lot to do with my goody-two-shoes image. How the hell do I tell you that's just an image and nothing more? =P so next time, don't try hiding.

And it was the kind of week where I finally conquered my inferiority complex [temporarily though] and got on stage and sang. =D That was fun!

It was also the week where I finally actually made an effort and called people that matter, and matter beyond std call rates. The kind that are so close, where we're comfortable enough with the distance and time in between, knowing nothing will change how we feel for the other. But I resolved that no matter how much they love me, we'll still make calls back and forth. Even if it may be just to wish good night even! I love my girlfriends soooo very much!

And also, it's been the week where my current drama-crack ended. Also the week that saw my jump in joy at a probably false rumor about the break up of my actor crush from his gf. How I wished it was true though! Just stay single dude! lol- Sometimes I can be so teenage-girly silly, I surprise myself!

hyun bin- and it's sad, but ok if you don't find him as good looking as i do

*Speaking of the crush, Rahul made me a doodle on the palette of his amazing gtalk app- Xscribble. He knows just how crazily crushed I can get over actors who can actually act. And this guy acts like he's actually living that character.

anyway, here's the doodle-

only the squee and clouds were drawn by me.

Can't keep my eyes off of you

2011-01-08T07:28:00.000+05:30


Alexander Wang Donna Leather Hobo Spring/Summer 2009

I'm extremely picky when it comes to bags and footwear. Which means it sometimes takes me months and even a year before I find something that I like enough to buy. Which is also why I haven't bought a new bag even if the one I'm using is getting worse off by the day. But I have finally found The Bag. Has anyone found a cheaper replica of this designer hottie??

I don't know what you make of this image, but I'm seriously smitten. It's not too fancy, but has a crumpled hobo feel to it, the sort that i like.
Black? check.
Silver zippers? check.
Hobo plus boho? check!
I love when a bag isn't too in-your-face, yet awesome enough.Nothing too uptight and formal and maybe even a bit cheeky. I like it through and through.

We had make such a great couple. It my bag and I its person. Love! Go for walks, go shopping, go everywhere with this!

Ever since I've seen this bag, I haven't been able to unsee it. I look at this image like 20 times a day on my desktop and swoon. That's right. Look and swoon. Look and swoon. On repeat!

1/1/'11

2011-01-01T07:22:00.001+05:30

exactly my plan for coming year. NO!! it's not any obvious hint towards running away or something as idiotic.
What am I? 15??
I just want to travel more! See more places, find the peace, bring in more creativity and joy.

1/1/'11 is here finally!

As for new year wishes,

Not much to say, 'cept wish everyone a happy, happy, REALLY happy year ahead.I never was much into ceremonies. I'm unceremonious even in the required times.
Which is why new years do't mean much, neither do resolutions.But sometimes you totally have to promise yourself some stuff.

My resolution #1 [and the only one really] as regards my blog: Less comebacks and more posts.

Yes! Cheer for me so that I don't end up breaking this word!

***
What was 2010 for me?
Apart from being extremely busy, over-straining myself and breaking down in the process;
I went places,
Learnt more stuff,
Have gotten much more patient [or so methinks]
and watched tonnes of Korean stuff.

The good:

Samsung died on me and I switched to Nokia ExpressMusic.
Had several meetups with the Girlfriends-of-the-{add several, several} millenia. Last one was yesterday. Awesome!
Uncle's housewarming.
Subscribed to the awesomest Indian magazine out there-The Tehelka.
Almost forgot- lots happening for The Downtroddence [will post on them soon. real soon!]!!

Sad things?

More people got married and drifting away
Friends and friends' family getting abused, cheated upon and divorced. =(
Read lesser books cos of lack of time SLASH lack of time management.
And another favorite girlfriend moves out o town. =( But she's doing really fine, so- w00t!
.Deaths, suicides.
Most of my Eids and my Christmas this year were ruined thanks to effing-aptly timed exams. Dang!
The kitten I saw getting killed by some stray dog. Could do absolutely nothing to save it. Had to watch it die.

Another to-do for 2011-
Meet at least ONE blogger buddy. We'll see how that turns out. =/

PS- and don't forget! 2010 was The year of Rajni! ynna rascala...! ;) I don't know about you, but I think he's one of the humblest actors out there in all of Indian tinseltown

Try to Remember

2010-12-13T05:48:00.004+05:30

Even after hundreds of movies with pichle janam ka pyaar and the like, people never get bored of 'em, do we?

Maybe you do, but this movie in here is inspired from a historical artifact that was unearthed in South Korea, famously known as "Letter to Won's Father". Man, I don't know whether the movie will be great, but the trailer is fine, the music used in it is…just right, and most importantly? The crux of the movie, the letter itself. Just had to share it!

In 1998 a 16th-century mummy of Eung-tae, a member of Korea's ancient Goseong Yi clan was found in a construction site, as they unwrap the mummy a letter written by his wife was found laying on the chest of the mummy, below its translation of the letter.
*
To Won's Father
June 1, 1586
You always said, "Dear, let's live together until our hair turns gray and die on the same day. How could you pass away without me? Who should I and our little boy listen to and how should we live? How could you go ahead of me?
How did you bring your heart to me and how did I bring my heart to you? Whenever we lay down together you always told me, "Dear, do other people cherish and love each other like we do? Are they really like us?" How could you leave all that behind and go ahead of me?
I just cannot live without you. I just want to go to you. Please take me to where you are. My feelings toward you I cannot forget in this world and my sorrow knows no limit. Where would I put my heart in now and how can I live with the child missing you?
Please look at this letter and tell me in detail in my dreams. Because I want to listen to your saying in detail in my dreams I write this letter and put it in. Look closely and talk to me.
When I give birth to the child in me, who should it call father? Can anyone fathom how I feel? There is no tragedy like this under the sky.
You are just in another place, and not in such a deep grief as I am. There is no limit and end [to my sorrows] that I write roughly. Please look closely at this letter and come to me in my dreams and show yourself in detail and tell me. I believe I can see you in my dreams. Come to me secretly and show yourself. There is no limit to what I want to say and I stop here.
http://www.archaeology.org/1003/abstracts/images/korea1.gif
(Courtesy Andong National
University)
*

See? I knew it was worth posting! Makes even cold me melt. The protagonists meet, and the guy gets the déjà vu feeling that he might have met her somewhere before. As the movie progresses, they both see the news of the letter separately, and on a strange impulse go there and well, things start falling into place. =)

For some strange reason, I can't upload the trailer. So here's the link instead. Take care y'all.

This is what happens when I'm forced to study

2010-12-02T06:20:00.002+05:30

More like,even the simplest things can distract you. You get lots of ideas for multiple posts for your blog. You remember the old friend who'll be back in town this week. You start making up fun, crazy, wack stories in your head- which would be totally worthy of becoming a script- in your own head and your very own dramaland.

But sometimes, there are reaaaaaaally, reaaaaaaaally prettier and better things to distract you. I was supposed to be studying for the exams [which are thankfully over now. Huzzah!] but Nature wasn't in the mood to cooperate. After sending blissfully lengthy showers by way, God sent me a perfect, perfect, PERFECT rainbow. I swear, it doesn't get better than this.
And I happily clicked away, swooned over the rainbow and texted to see if anyone else had my luck. Nope. It's just me. =)

...now all I need are some unicorns and marshmallows to get going with my own fairy tale. But I'd prefer a chocolate factory instead of that marshmallow element. Hm.

Where I go blah blah blah

2010-11-03T07:05:00.002+05:30

And the quest for the black beaded bracelet thus comes to an end. Yay! I finally found a shop where they sell 'em, so bought 2 while I was at it [what if I lost it again?? *shudder] here to jog your memory.

So I'm pretty much super happy and pleased with myself.

And then I realize that I haven't really blogged what's going on with me for quite a long time. Not that life is dull, but more like too jammed with tests, assignments and the academic damnedness. So much so that I'm almost losing my motivation to blog about myself. Which explains the long gaps between posts.

Second realization is that I never blog about my current classmates or course. Not much anyway. And definitely not much when compared with the frequency and intensity with which I used to blog about MY GIRLS. The ones from my under grad days. Those were great times...

Anyways, snaps myself back to the present and I tell you that these people are fun too. Not like the Offbeat girlfriends of mine, but nice and sweet anyway. Damn, we are like one big family these days ever since living together during the internship. Oh I love 'em. There's this film-crazy duo who keeps spouting apt one-liners from Malayalam movies every five minutes, and another duo that just leave the campus as soon as classes are over. Unfortunately, I've joined them since this semester. So I've pretty much forfeited my rights to criticizing them!

Oh! I'm trying to get my uncle to buy me that new book "Love in a headscarf". The title did sound something like that.. What? It's not every day that you get chick-lit from the Muslim woman's angle. And that too about someone who's educated and independent and NOT oppressed. Quite a refreshing change!

By the by, there were quite a lot of blank stares for my "selective amnesic" post. That post was about a friend who used to be real close, but now we have totally grown apart, thanks to X ignoring me. That ha never happened to be before, so, it pretty much hurt.

Changing topics; I'm about to come out with a secret almost everyone knows by now. I'm addicted to South Korean stuff. Well, except for their diet, I'm fascinated by their culture, the gorgeous celebs, their uber-awesome dramas and music, the hilarious-I-can't-stop-laughing kind of celeb reality shows, the picturesque outdoors and weather. Nowadays, I can understand half of the things they say. Ahhhhhh. Normally, there are two reactions when I start talking on the topic:

1. everyone rolls their eyes and runs away from me when I come dangerously close to starting to gush;

2. OR they listen patiently with amusement heavily wrought all over their face.

This girl here is THE bet actress I've ever, ever seen. Love her range!

And there is a third kind- and this angel assured me that I'm not crazy. That, "it's [the obsession] just being you. It's just an Azra thing!" If I hadn't already loved her, I would've started loving her unconditionally for that one sentence. =)

Errr…Has everyone already left the place?

Knock knock??

PS- I'm being reckless with music and been discovering lots of good stuff [and some bad stuff too]. So will probably share that in the next post.

And currently reading "Pride and Prejudice and the Zombies". Delightful!

Adorkabl-est movie of the year

2010-10-23T06:52:00.002+05:30

Seriously, from my opinions about the movies whose teasers I reviewed in this post, I think only this movie has been true. Everything else was heart-breakingly pretentious and cheated on me. Yes, I'm talking to you- backstabber I Hate Luv Storys and Aisha. I don't think I can ever trust you with a movie again Imran. But then again, maybe I took this long to reach that conclusion only cos I didn't dare watch your dreck movies Luck and Kidnap.

Anyways, presenting to you Tere Bin Ladan, starring good ol' Ali Zafar, Pak pop singer. Sigh… I've missed you, boy. I fell in love with him years back after watching his music videos "Channo" and "Sunre Sajaniya". He was adorkable back then and still adorkable now. And this movie makes full use of his dorky-ness.

Though it's barely one and half hour long, it's not too overloaded with plots. There's one plot, and the movie does perfect justice to it. Btw, I had to clutch my sides and stuff my fist in my mouth to stop from laughing too hard. It's a riot.

Once more for emphasis: It is a R-I-O-T.

And lordy, I missed you so, so, so very, very much Shaleen meri Kaleen!! Great comeback, girl! [rememb the tomboy from JTYJN? she's in here! And I did see her in the trailer itself! {and I gotta stop being hyper. Control Raphe, control.}]

Movie makes fun of many things in a happy, whimsy, mischievous, playful manner. Like, the American paranoia about terrorists, the Asian dream of making it big in America, the futility of the War on Terror, among other things. One lovely thing you'd notice upon watching the movie is that, even though it's about a Pakistani's story set in Pakistan- you can totally relate with it. Entirely. I especially love how everyone talks in Punjabi. After all, Pakistanis and Indians were all one and the same until that bloody Partition came down on us and dragged everything along with it. You don't really even remember that the movie's supposedly Pakistani, until the characters mention it. Long-lost siblings we both, like I said.

The tone is hilarious, soft political satire, great cast, and a fast moving, tightly packaged script. Everyone already knows the premise of the story, so I won't repeat it. Zafar [gah, even thinking about him makes me want to swoooooon] is the slick guy who's got the gift of the gab and can totally convince anyone to join his wacky plan. Sigh, I loved every single character. I have got this massive crush on the whole movie, the story, the script, the direction, the cast [Qureishi!! Zoya! Lateef! Majeed! Gul! Usman! Ali! And of course, the real star- Noora! And the superstar- Sikander!!]

Confused? Don't worry, you'll find out once you watch the movie.

And why oh why did they ban this gem?

I fell all over in love again with that catchy "He's a good looking Ulloo da Pattha". Kudos to everyone's favorite trio Shanker-Ehsaan-Loy for the music.

My rating? 12 on 10. A must-must-MUST watch for the weekend. Go buy the CD already!

Oh, and one last thing to do before I wrap up the post:

*gets down on one knee, and;

"Tere Bin Ladan, will you marry me??"

Karma's a bitch and i should've known

2010-10-15T06:41:00.002+05:30

And hey you,

No-

I didn't die.

I didn't disappear either.

I'm just wondering what happened to you-

Selective amnesia?

P.S. - serves me right though. Usually I'm the one pulling disappearing acts on others.

Grazie!

2010-10-13T06:48:00.001+05:30

Thanks for the overwhelmingly positive response people!It's funnier since I'm more of a pessimist and don't exactly believe in love and the kind. Anyway, this is post was meant to show my gratefulness for the encouragement etc everyone has showered my way PLUS so that I don't have to do YET another comeback post. lol ;)
I can just imagine everyone coming with weapons to thwack me if I dared!

And yes Jean, I wish I could turn it into a light tune too!

Love me, but with care

2010-09-24T06:25:00.003+05:30

If you love me,

Buy me gifts of jazz, indie and rock music;

Not roses and cards.

[Though chocolates are allowed]

If you love me,

Don't dare laugh at my thoughts, dreams, plans.

Just point out when I go stray,

You don't need to drag me away.

If you love me,

(for real)

Say you like me-

Don't add more than that.

If you love me,

Know that I hate when you try keeping tabs on me.

If you love me,

Be ok when I cut your call short

To be with friends.

They're like my own blood, skin, life.

You came along just now.

If you love me,

Know that silence says lots more;

Sometimes.

If you love me,

You might take one step towards me,

But find that I took one step away from-

If you love me,

Treat me right.

Smile when I'm in a funk,

An understanding nod when you know I'm repenting,

Holding my hand and not my wrist,

Surprise me with that innate goodness only you have,

A single ticket for me to have my share of

solitude,

cups of coffee,

rain

and jazz-

If you love me,

Know that saying life without me is torment,

Is the best way

To make me try to cut loose.

When you insist it's true,

Know that I'm planning escape routes in my head already.

Know that to love me,

Means to let me be,

To let me breathe.

And I'll love you the way I can,

Without saying so,

Like this-

Through poetry,

Or a good deed,

Or a sudden hug,

Or in the many other little things I do for you.

I'll love you as only I can,

I'll love you with a silent fire.

*image courtesy- Rockstar Diaries

PS- i know i've been away for ages. AGES! but was suffering from a multiple pronged case of pending assignments at college, procrastination + the notorious blogger's block. hoping to make a comeback with this post!

untitled-part II

2010-08-23T05:57:00.000+05:30

[this was the first draft. the last post was the polished one. or vice versa. not sure anymore!]

My insides are cold

I'm snowed in

I'm freezing within

It's all black rain, black snow,

Dark and cold.

I'm freezing in the dark

Crying, all alone

Where's that warm fire

That kindled my hopes and made me feel whole?

Where did I lose my soul?

I'm stumbling, walking on my own

Without you beside,

I'm pitched against the dark.

Could've screamed_

Should've yelled_

Must've told you_

Don't let go,

I was cold before you came,

I'm cold again where I can't see your sun.

I'm frozen without your smiles

Patch me up and save me

Wake me before I go crazy.

Hurts me that you didn't know

Who I am and how I was before you.

Say it's not over yet,

Please don't give up.

I won't beg for you to stay,

But know I care and remain.

A doomed love

2010-08-04T05:48:00.002+05:30

Like I always warn beforehand when I publish poems; this is just figments of idle imagination, so make no further assumption!

Silence.

Unsaid words and unscreamed blames.

Silence loud as anything.

You wouldn't even look my way,

Yet I could feel my world falling apart.

[My world fell apart, like this]:

Everyone went on living,

Breathing,

Laughing.

I was the lone change.

Nothing would make sense to me.

Sort of like the sense had left everything.

And everything became one whole cold meaningless entity.

I lost my fire,

I lost my soul,

Your absence

Sure has taken its toll.

Soulless, I wandered in the black rain.

Freezing, I stumbled in the black snow.

Don't remind me to cry

Don't remind me of my broken heart

It's hard enough, bad enough, sad enough

Without wasting tears on a doomed love.

~~I couldn't even cry;~~

With you gone,

Life's just about breathing in, breathing out.

The kind of chaos I like

2010-07-18T06:12:00.000+05:30

Well, I have always preferred chaos when the other choice is order. So very unlike my mom.
Anyway, this wasn't the kind of chaos I was about to talk about:

After waiting for a very long month [boy, was June long or what] I've finally gotten my first issue of my favorite magazine in the entire universe; The Tehelka by mail.

Oui, aaj se har hafta [i hope the postal deliveries don't snail it] Tehelka machega, Tehelka!
I know I'm being absurdly happy over a simple thing. Yday, drove everyone at home crazy with my mono-celebration when I got it in my hands. Honestly, I don't think I will see another magazine of its kind, ever. No other editorial board would have allowed such sincerity in bringing out the truth all the time. With everyone else, it's all about sensationalizing and bitching.

So here's to Tehelka and the symbolic crow that's eternally perched on top of its header-

May the truth always reign supreme and jhoot bole, kauva kaate!

The Post where i avoid the fluff and talk serious things that have been niggling me for some time

2010-07-09T07:02:00.001+05:30

I usually don't blog about issues that leave people with sadness as to where the whole world is headed. Not this time though. Last week there was a horrible incident in Kerala that jolted us all.

On one hand you have the namesake teacher who deliberately and viciously insulted the Prophet in a question paper with words like "dog" etc.
On the other hand you have the worthy of emulation Prophet himself who never raised violence against his enemies even after they threw animal intestines on him while he was prostrating in prayer; toasted death threats his way all the time and even tried to work them out on a daily basis.
And you have some crazies who don't know the first thing about Islam and chop off this teacher's right hand as if they are doing the right thing in the name of Islam. You idiots! You are the reason why Islam has a bad name all across the world.

But thankfully, there are sane Muslim out there too. This teacher T J Joseph's sister called upon Solidarity; [a group of sane moderate Muslims,as i like to call 'em] for blood for her brother. And they did. =) They were at the hospital donating blood when required. While the crazies helped give Islam a bad name, these dudes were the saving grace. Phew!

This is what I had to pour out. Thanks for listening me out. Love ye all!

PS- working on a poem. But i just can't finish it!

New Template =)

2010-07-03T06:38:00.000+05:30

Yessirs and ma'ams, that's all I wanted to say. I still want to change the colors a bit if that's possible. Gotta call in the in-house geek! 'Cos blue's my color. Nothing else ever feels right or suits me.

Will be back with some poetry.

For now, ciao!

Teaser reviewing

2010-06-25T06:32:00.002+05:30

The best movie of the year 2008 for me was Rock On!!

And the best movie of the year 2009 for me was Wake Up Sid!

What's it gonna be like this year?

Teaser season's back on track!

Let's get down to business and get the dud potential movies outta the way. Even better, let's vote for which could be the dumbest movie and make a dartboard of it. Cheesy smiles all across the room. =D

Tight competition's on to make it to the potentially crappiest movie list. I'm not even sure which one's worse.

Kajra re- I thought everyone had at least a tiny brain to KNOW that Himesh Reshammiya ain't hot property. Hell, he isn't ANY sort of property. I used to love Pooja Bhatt. Not anymore, people. Love died the moment she signed that idiot. He can't act. He can't compose music. He can't even get a single tune straight to croon. And you make him lead actor? I wouldn't have given him the hopes to make it to back-up dancer status in my movie [if I ever get around to it, ever]. And deserts? Is that Udita Goswami trying to pretend to look all mysterious and princessy? Ugh!!

Krantiveer- Deshdrohi level I'm thinking.

Milenge Milenge- I was barely a teen when I first heard of this project. Now I'm nowhere near my late teens even and NOW they're promoting the movie?? WTH?

Ladies and Gentlemen: presenting to you the very worst project of the millennia. Concept lifted [as always] by The-Man-Who-Just-Doesn't-Get-The-Hints-When-To-Stop; Priyadarsan. Who else? He's here with two movies and I wish God would be ok if I'm having all these very angry emotions at him. He's lifted from one of Malayalam's classy comic movies of all times and made it into a laughable [and not in a positive way] affair called Khatta Meetha. And I can't think of enough mean things to call him. Help?

Then the *&%&(())@@#%^^ lifts THE MOST BEAUTIFUL, PURE MOVIE I've seen in quite some time- "Children of Heaven" and makes it into "Bum Bum Bole". I wanna throw really heavy things at a wall right now. I'm just so annoyed! Why doesn't anyone ban him from making more movies? He used to be so talented and creative a decade back? Why's he so desperately pressing onto the Self-Destruct button? Why, oh why??

Was that tiring or what?

Now let's get on to the good movies list.

I Hate Luv Storys. No need for words! I'm not usually the cutesy-movie lover, but once in a while, I let myself be so. And this one deserves all my love. Yay for Imran and Sonam!

Aisha- whoa, have I been waiting for this one to hit the screens or what. Ever since I heard that a project on Jane Austen's vivacious Emma was in the talks and that the father-daighter duo of Anil-Sonam Kapoor would be taking up the plum roles; I was all HUZZAH! No Anil Kapoor to be seen, but I'm still hyper excited after watching the teaser. There's the indie movie prince Abhay Deol [more Huzzah!], Sonam Kapoor lookin' all superbly single and you-can't-get-me hotness oozing, good soundtrack used for teaser, great teaser itself!

There's Udaan that seems interesting from the promos and Lamha from acclaimed director Dholakia to look forward to too.

Almost forgot Once Upon A Time In Mumbai. Is it good? Bad? Can't be sure from the teasers as yet. Music seems pretty good though!

Tere Bin Laden- . This one promises to be hilarious, and teaser itself put me in stitches Everyone listen up, presenting the BEST TEASER OF THE SEASON. Loved it to bits, shreds and every tiny-teensy-weensy pieces of it. Palindrome of a sentence eh? The concept had me at hello. It looks the kind of movie which would nicely fit into the shelf along with Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye and the likes. Only, this one seems a political satire, while the former was a social satire. And the first song Ulloo Da Pattha was veryy peppy. Visuals were fantastic and I give kudos to [was it?] Ali Zafar guy [is it?] for his honest-to-goodness Ulloo da Pattha portrayal. But the biggest cheer is reserved for the Osama Bin Laden doppelganger.

Cheers!!!

Oh Alice!

2010-06-18T06:02:00.002+05:30

I'd been waiting for the release of "Alice in Wonderland" by Tim Burton ever since that first trailer last year. Many reasons for the anticipation:

Directed by Tim Burton! 'nuf said.
If the trailer looks this amazing; how much more amazing will the movie be? Obvious answer!
Most important reason; Johnny Depp
The 'muchness' factor, of course!

Johnny Depp is hot in whatever avatar he takes on. How the hell was I to know I'd get a crazy, absurdly massive crush on Mad Hatter? of all characters in the whole story??!

I don't have to gush about Tim Burton's direction since it's a universally known fact that he is sui generis. And all the three movies of his that I've watched include Johnny Depp. Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and now Alice in Wonderland. Maybe I'm not the only one with infatuations…

Warning: Anyone who hasn't watched the movie, and thus detests spoilers ought to run now when there still is the opportunity. You stand warned: This post is spoiler-rich!

Synopsis: The movie deals with Alice post her trip to the what-she-calls "Wonderland". She's now all of 20 and about to be proposed by a lousy, spineless Lord. The girl has one, single recurring nightmare; she's falling down, and down and down a hole with no end…and the rest-as-you-know.

So was that trip to Wonderland just a dream? [or nightmare, if you please] Or reality? What if Alice returned to that place after a long time? As in, now?

General Gushing: The movie is story-telling at its best. Just anyone can re-tell a well known fairy-tale. But it takes a really good imagination to unravel the story's fabric and sew it in a new manner, starting from the basics. Lovely. If this movie were a human, I'd have proposed marriage to it by now. Of course, kidding. But just so that I can tell you how much I loved the movie in its entirety. The direction, script, cinematography, lighting, animation, casting…the Everythingness of it! Or should I say, the muchness!

Things I loved:

So at long last we get it. A reluctant heroine! All the movies we have been through so far, have had reluctant men transforming into heroes. And here comes along imaginative, reluctant, "I'm-not-that-Alice!"-Alice who finally realizes that this isn't a dream after all.
The reading in-between the lines done by the movie.
There are quite a lot of parallels drawn across people in her "real world" and "that other world". I'm not even that mean as to chalk 'em all out and ruin the fun for ya. Watch the movie closely and discover for yourself. Mind you, you won't hate doing that.
And you won't hate observing this movie closely because there are possibly hundreds of subtle hints, truths, facts strewn across it. The movie is wonderfully chiseled and very subtle in telling us things. Subtlety is one of its strong points.
The innocent touch of humor in almost every frame. It's not slapstick, though some may argue about Mad Hatter being Mad Hatter being slapstick. And I say, Not!
How could you not love the cast? From little Alice to the adult Alice, from Mad Hatter [miiiiiine!] to the Cheshire Cat, everyone's perfect for their role. Or maybe, that's because of the flexibility of all these actors. I didn't mention the Queens since they need separate gushing. Johnny Depp/ Mad Hatter would demand a whole post on my part; but I'll skip that.
Helen Bonham Carter is so honest to her character that at times you forget that she's actually quite a good-looking actress and not bulbous-headed dictator of a Queen as she's portraying. She was so good as Bellatrix in HP5 that I couldn't help hating her with all my heart. She is that good. Here, the way she simpers at Knave and frequently yells "Off with her/his/their head/s!!!" in that characteristic style, just blows me. Every time she does it, it blows me.
Anne Hathaway is the antithesis White Queen to her elder sister Red Queen Carter is just equally amazing. but while the Red Queen blows us with her freaky super ego and inferiority/ superiority complex, the White Queen makes us swoon with her sweetness, daintiness, innocence, goodness and a whole lot of positive "–nesses". Even the way she walks. If it had been done by some one else, we had be saying "hypocrite". Here, you say, "awwwwww….she's so lovely and pure" Or maybe I'm just being partial to her because I was earlier on mind-blown by her acting prowess as displayed in the movie "Rachel Getting Married" [a must watch people].
The Futterwack!
Mad Hatter! Mad Hatter! Mad Hatter!! And on a different, less star-struck note, is Mad Hatter shown as a father-figure [but in reverse] to Alice as I think it is? I'll stick to this belief anyway. I don't need unnecessary competition from Alice!
I dig the British accent. And when they talk, all I can say is "MOAR, gimme MOAR!"
And how can I forget the scene where Hatter had to get all Captain Sparrrowesque and with just a little amount of smooth talk and swishing about, escapes execution by Red Queen, with Dormouse and all, very much unhurt. I couldn't help thinking- looks totally like a tribute to the loving memory of POTC!
So much more things I love and things I must have missed out to mention here. Forgive me.

For now, fairfarren y'all. Love ye!

Once Upon a time I was tagged..

2010-06-17T06:35:00.002+05:30

Exactly, Bobby tagged me like, AGES back and I never got around to actually doing it. Now I've done it [phew!], and it ain't lookin' brief. It definitely looks more like an epic rather than a simple, fun tag. Whatev, here we go:

I want to write a book and getitpublished. Yeah! No idea what I'll write about though.
I like to sleep with my feet outside the bed. Call it acquired weirdness people, but during some recent phase of life I find that my feet hurt when they are IN bed.
Sleep answering the phone and sleep deleting messages.
I'm a scaredy-cat. I act strong but truth is, all it takes to give me the heebie-jeebies is the silliest tiny horror piece ever.
A rejection phoebe. Most of my decisions regarding relationships come from this fear. I play safe. I just…can't…handle anyone saying anything that even remotely feels like rejection. It hurts like hell even after 10 years.
The only reason why I'm still in orkut is the testimonial factor. And a certain Pinocchio who won't move to facebook. ;) [not yet!]
Traveling.
I wish I'd an elder brother.
I'm all about jazz and indie music
I…..eat……real……slow. freaks out family and friends every time. Without. Fail.
I normally read my newspaper from back to front.
One thing I have absolutely ZERO patience for is matters of heart. Of course, I'm sort of heartless bitch. No sympathy for heartbroken people, and when I have to console in the name of civilized society, I always overdo and make it look as if someone just died. Chances of me laughing at break ups are rather hiiiiiiiigh. If I were to be honest with you, I'd actually say, "s/he left? Good riddance!" tolja!
..and ZERO patience to cheating in exams when u could have studied. So DON'T you dare think I'm cool with you cheating. It's massively uncool.
can't smile like normal people do. It always looks like a vampire fighting his urge to fly and murder [the photographer in this case]. I'm cool to smiling with friends for camera, but otherwise…
Have given up swooning at guys unlike the rest of girls. There's so much more to do!
I fantasize about what The Perfect Birthday Gifts should be.
I've this thing for Darcy and Sirius Black. No, no Cullens though they're freakin' beautiful.
I wish I could just live single my whole life. [wishful thinking, yeah, I know]. [and I guess I just repeated myself in the same tag]
Two places and cultures I'm currently crazy about are Dilli and South Korea.
Kind of on the un-feminine side. Yep, hates jewellery, fancy family events, can't stand love-sick people OR love-sick movies/ TV dramas etc etc. Didn't enjoy Twilight series once the initial attraction wore out.
I wish to one day be a script writer. At least write one, absolutely beautiful script. The kind that India is yet to see. Yip, great ambitions bottled up in here!
I mostly love to give up on family functions whenever possible because (i) almost everyone assembled is a hypocrite. (ii and most important) their lives revolve around marriages, upcoming marriages, and people who're yet to get married- which includes yours truly. And I can't stand to smile when I'd rather be swearing. Cousins are fun. Distant aunts et al suck!
I oscillate between extremes. So much for being a supposedly balanced Libran!
BTW, I don't believe in any sort of superstitious stuff. Though I think cracking knuckles to ward off "evil eye" is kinda cool!
I seem to like kid stuff MORE than my kid sister even! Gah!

I'm sure that ONCE I've posted it, I'll remember a 100 other things I could've added. Those who liked the post ought to do it! No pressures, and oui, I'm breaking the tag-ritual.

Things that caught my eye-

2010-06-12T07:45:00.001+05:30

- while I was trippin' about with classmates in the capital city, when I was doing my internship and bleh.

The tree-top house behind the hostel where we stayed during internship. Wheee! I'm kinda a scaredy kitteh, so I stayed back and snapped pictures of the brave ones instead.

Crow makes for a more picturesque shot-somehow

Kovalam beach- evening- drizzling in the backdrop-and there were ice creams to go with the whole awesomeness.

Say it's pretty!

I wish I had photophopped that guy outta the pic- but too lazy. Anyways, I liked this sculpture like- a lot. Day dreamy,very.

Comback #999999111101 or something

2010-06-11T06:31:00.000+05:30

Lord, do I make the highest number of comebacks or what? Anyway, here's what's been keeping me busy for the last 2 months: a departmental tour that lasted a week, internship in a no-internet zone for 3 weeks and then the bane of all students: The exams.

But now everything's over!!!!! I'm freeeeeeeeeee! and hold your breath, here it comes: I'm back!!!!!!!!!! [I can almost read the thoughts on the reader's mind: yeah, back again! and then everyone rolls their eyes at me]

Planning an avalanche of posts, so this post is more like a warning prior to the avalanche.

And have I told you? I love ye all! I've taken 4 books from library, and hopes to perform a much required CPR on my other blog. I know it's probably too late, but perhaps a miracle will help?

*Cheers \m/

Thanks to you...

2010-05-09T09:59:00.002+05:30

Thanks to you,

There is a lot of music I can't

Listen to happily anymore.

Damn.

That was the way it was for quite some time after graduation. I couldn't listen to any of the music we sang and shared during those three years.

So, there was this whole folder worth of music from that period that I couldn't listen to without having to fight the urge to just run away.

Away as in anywhere.

I couldn't move on if I clung to memories.

And I couldn't listen to several of my favorites without getting all whimsical and moony.

So, now there is this new me who's been shaping up over the past year who is always experimenting with the new genres and styles.

And it has done me good. Real good!

I discovered

Death Cab For Cutie,
Carolina Liar,
Sondre Lerche,
Fray,
Emma Lee,
Iron& Wine,
Sara Bareilles,

Ryuichi Sakamoto,
M.I.A [yeah, I know she's been around like for ages, but I had never checked her out earlier. And man, what a costly mistake! She's awesome!]
Joss Stone [but I haven't gotten the hang of her yet. Any help?]
Katie Melua
And I'm very much and sincerely, in love with Malayalam folk songs. I guess the folk-crossover-rock band "Avial" did it for me.
Kings of Leon
Elisa
Azure Ray
Dixie Chicks had made a great impression on me when they'd come out yelling anti-war and anti-Bush and were boo-ed for that since everyone was pro Bush back then. They are not just any random bimbos. Na ha. And their music? I'd never really cared for country. Until I checked these ladies out. They are sooooooo good at this!

And a helluva lot much more. But the thing is, I'm showing a definite leaning towards mellower stuff. That's because I'm rooting for the Jazz and Indie camp, of course. But can anyone please yank me back to the Rock camp. I'm dying to return to the time when I was all about head bangin'. =)

*Thanks to my beautiful, out-of-this-world amazing 7 friends and all the other great friendships I've been carrying with me since my Brennen days. I love you all soooooo much that my heart breaks. In a good way. =)

When I was at my geek-awesome mode [yes, there IS such a mode]

2010-05-01T08:49:00.003+05:30

Apologies for taking soooooo long in a blog update. Was away from internet, was away from home. Spent a week in a new city [specifically speaking, 12 hours or so away by train] as part of field trip, spent most of that time visiting libraries. Yeah well, you thought library and information science courses would be tedious and geeky. But you didn't realize there were so many uber cool and rad libraries in one city itself right?

BUTTING IN BETWEEN: Lordy, if I say I got a tan from there, that'd be an understatement. I got practically sun-burnt! No gorgeous bronzed look for me. I just look like my favorite comic-cameo star at the moment.

ok... maybe I was exaggerating a leeeetle bit. = p

AND BACK TO WHAT I'M SAYING: Trivandrum rocks for all the right reasons for me honey.

The cleanliness of the city, the i-don't-give-a-damn-about-you-even-if-you-are-weird attitude of the people; parks; fantastic architecture of most of the buildings and structures I came across; finally being able to visit one of my favorite family friends after years; and of course- at the expense of a remark that will make me look absurdly like a geek- I loved most of the libraries I visited while I was there.

*********

But the best were- in order of their awesomeness for me-

Numero uno is IIITMK. Freakin' awesome! While we were there, listening to everything the head told us on the library, the trainee blogged about it right then and there. Talk about live blogging!

Kerala Legislative Library. Probably the library which really makes you strain your brain cells a lot. The legislators call you up for data that will help back up their arguments in the legislative assembly all the time. Which means you gotta find both pros and cons of same topic for both the opposition and ruling party. You gotta feed them with the right kind of info if you don't want to face upset legislators- which I'm pretty sure can be scary.

CDS library which specializes in research of Economics. And man, do they have the best landscape and architecture or what?!! Laurie Baker is the coolest architect when it comes to economizing resources. Way cool.

University of Kerala Library is hot property too. Though it ain't looking so very hot at the moment thanks to the huge scale renovation going on. And that's where my mom's best friend works. =)

*******

I loved staying with my batch mates and friends at a hostel for a week. Yelling at each other while taking showers over the cubicles, moaning about the food, doing some reckless, idiotic shopping for pipes and blowing them in the middle of the town and being pleased [and a tad sad] that no one gives a hoot that you and your girlfriend are over 20 and blowing pipes.

I loved the last night of the trip where we stayed up all night playing antakshari and the afternoon I spent shopping with my partner-in-craziness Shesly in Kanyakumari. Like any trip, there were fun parts and lousy parts. And some fun-cum-lousy parts. Like the Kovalam beach thing we did in the middle of a drizzle. Gah. Would've been fun if I hadn't been wearing one of my favorite clothes and my favorite footwear-that-shouldn't-be-wet-too-much. In the end of all the sand and sea, I emerge from the beach complete with very black-looking bare feet- courtesy the sand. Urgh. Definitely not my idea of fun.

Anyways, to cut all of it short, I'm off for internship, which means- more of less online presence. Which is exactly why I'm planning some posts to be published while I'm away so you guys won't totally forget me. =|

Love,

Raphael.

PS- which reminds me, I'm giving out my real name from now on since too many rellys read my blog anyway. No privacy people. :\ damn. But I'd prefer if you just call me Raphael, since that's the name I had name myself had I had the opportunity. Yes, that's the cue to say "weeeeeeiiiiiiiird" and close this page. Ciao for now everyone!

PPS- Or shouldn't I?

Of heartbreaks and the Heartless

2010-03-27T20:17:00.003+05:30

For some, Heartless may remind them of that really popular number by Kanye West, plus the equally amazing Fray cover and makes-me-wanna-swoon cover by Kris Allen.

But, I meant Heartless as in, me. All me.

Last week or the previous one- not sure when; I find it hard to track which day I'm breathing in; anyway, some time back, there was a flurry of break ups, anticipated break ups and all. Good ol' Eddie [Edward] got dumped by his girlfriend. Serves him right, maybe now he'll try to remain single for at least 7 whole days, ha! Then, the same day another friend buzzed about what looked like his break-up related misery. But later it turns out he wasn't even dating in the first place to have been dumped. Or so he says.

Anyhoo, this love is takin' its toll on me.

I just can't stand listening to break ups without laughing at inappropriate grave parts of the "heart-rending" story. When I'm forced to console someone with love failure, I end up overdoing the consoling part, making it seem like someone died.

I never can empathize much with a dumpee. You took the risk and fell in love; you should have been ready for this consequence too! In short, I'm what people call Heartless, all cold-logic, mean. But I'm what I call, self-preserving and practical.

So, don't I ever feel love? Yeah sure, I fall in love, crush and burn every other day. But that's all. All you have to do is show an ion of interest back, and I skitter to the remotest planet possible. Why?

Because I have least possible faith in myself and don't think it possible that I might actually be likeable to people other than friends.But then there are times when I think, hey, I'm too good to be anyone's girl!

I just have crushes on people. Ranging from Sirius Black and Darcy to Keira Knightley. Yes, even Keira. She tops my list of straight, same-sex crushes.

I'm mostly a "So What" and "I Will Survive" kind of person, though thanks to my love for indie and jazz music, I find I'm turning into quite the mellow, laidback romantic.

But right now?

I'm in a very dreamy state thanks to a South Korean novel "Coffee Prince" and the hit drama which followed [same name].

Pause.

I don't and can't read Korean. I'm reading an English translation of the book and have watched a couple o' episodes of the drama which was loosely translated off the book.

End of Pause.

Clickie here in case you had like to check it out. It unintentionally raises a lot of questions as regards homosexuality, which I loved about it. Apart from the unique love story line.

For now I have succeeded in getting dahlings Gilsha and Remya interested in the story.

And here's something I penned down when I was in a mellow and dejected mood. [sure, the 2 emotions can blend together]

Even if I walk away,

Even if I don't turn back,

Even if didn't smile

Or look your way.

Please don't leave.

I'm scared of a lot of things,

About myself,

About you,

About relationships.

Things that make me run away

Every time I fall for you,

Again and again.

So stay.

Hold me tight,

Lock your fingers with mine.

Pull me back

No matter how hard I may try to run.

It's still in the draft mode, so grin and bear.

French Connection

2010-03-14T18:13:00.000+05:30

All thanks and love to Vaika for turning my otherwise possibly mundane Sunday into a much, much nicer affair.

Because, the darling came home with her current classmates, plus our ex-senior from college, PLUS his cousin. So basically, a car with 6 hep people pulled in front of my place this morning. What's the big deal?

Well, the deal is that her classmates are not Indian. The 3 gorgeous ladies are exchange students from France. In short, veryyyyyyy cool! I'm not even able to decide whom I liked better- Maud? Alice? Or Suzanne? Though they are so alien to Indian culture and everything- I don't think our usual Indian guests could have been this nice, sweet and easy to talk with.

Reason why they dropped in at my place is the French Connection. I live kinda close to Mahe- which by the way, was a colony of the French and still has some traces of French culture lingering all over the place. It's not as explicitly obvious about its French Connection as Pondicherry is. But still, the exotic-ness is always in the air. Though not so visible and is mostly limited to shops and streets with French names.

They loved the sweet dishes mom had prepared [with just the teensiest bit of assistance thrown in by me]. Unfortunately sweetheart Vaika had to grin and bear it. She HATES sweetness. Ok, Hate is too strong a word. More like, can't handle, can't stand. We had opted out spicy dishes since Alice, Maud and Suzanne may not like the strong spicy stuff.

After the food, some snaps and general chat on how they feel and what they like about Kerala, do they watch Indian movies? [yes- last one was MNIK and it was ok-dokey. They're still trying to get the subbed version of Water [or was it Fire?] and no luck with that.

So if you happen to know a link or anything that might help, gimme a shout! I'd to turn on comment moderation because of incessant, irritating spam. Looks like the spam king is out to get me. Aaaaaaargh.

Within the one hour or so that they were here, and I'm already in love with all three of them. I guess it's the French charm.

Hope they had a good time altogether in India!

Weird=Beautiful

2010-03-04T20:29:00.001+05:30

Especially when the people who are being so outrageously weird like you happen to be best friends. Ha! This monday yours truly and friends Vinaya, Vaikhari, Namitha and Prajisha strutted around our old college as part of a tiny meet-up. Was worth the wacked-out lie I had to dish out to my teacher. Totally worth it. =)
Juniors were real sweet on seeing us back, with our ice lollies in hand. And when you are crazy, and a guy you know from old times comments that you lot haven't matured EVEN after graduating [points at the ice lollies] - you smile and nod approvingly- "Yeah! we are immature, weird and we love the fact!"

Weirdness part II:
I think I'm the only person who has "Pray for me brother" of A R Rahman as ringtone. I think I'm the only one who's noticed that it's prelude makes for "The Perfect Ringtone Ever". [sure, i was awfully arrogant]. But all these notions got drowned when I heard my cousin's phone ring. Yeah, you already guessed it- he's got "Pray for me brother" as ringtone too! freaky-freaky ditto!

Must say- it is such a gorgeous song guys. Try using it as ringtone and I'm pretty sure you won't want to change it-ever. I tried, but here I am, still using the same ringtone as 8 months back. { with minor exceptions of "pichle saat dino mein" from "Rock On!!" for the Brennen buddies and a brother and "That's not my Name!" from Ting Tings for the best friends}

Weirdness Part III:
Listened to classmate J relate her love story.Strong ol' Raphael turned into a nonsensical mess of mush and goo. I usually am pretty cold and detached and even downright insulting to love stories, but this one was so sweet and true.... Youch!
I thought she had managed to melt the ice in me with that story of hers. Which was really impressive by the way.
But-
The sugar-effect clung to me for just 2 hours. Phew! I'm back to being happily single and anti-love and all that jazz people! Doncha guys love me for that?

right, ciao for now.

PS- Uber huge hugs and kisses to Vaika for adding one more reader to my blog. Love ye sweet Vaiks! and warm welcome to you too- silent-reader-from-MGU. Thanks for the silent support. Much appreciate it.

=)
cheers!!

=)

2010-02-26T19:51:00.000+05:30

If unreasonable dislike is prejudice,
What is unreasonable like?

Lost... and still lost.

2010-02-10T20:24:00.000+05:30

Of all the things I lost,
I miss these the most.

Kinda!

The friend I lost to misunderstandings. This is actually a 3 month old post I had drafted. So the fifth thing is no longer valid. I made up with my buddy after 4 years of silence and misunderstandings. Phew! You ought to know broken and unsettled relationships are something I avoid like the plague. So cheers to myself on this victory!
My college days as under-grad. Those were the days. Irresponsible, weirdness and spontaneity at its best. Kya din the! Kya zamaana tha! Everyone from Brennen I was friends with were of the same wavelength and eerily similar mind sets as me. In that sense, life sort of sucks at the moment.
THE poetry book. The one with all manuscript poems of mine; Lost. I'd be insane to hope it would somehow, miraculously land back into my hands. :(
KBS!! The Korean Broadcasting Service. The channel which blew my mind and forever changed my idea about South Korea. It was the only thing worth watching on my stingy Doordarshan DTH set. Last year March, they removed the channel 'cos apparently they couldn't pay the contractual fees because of the financial crisis. Daaaaammnnnnnnnn!! Don't they know there are at least 500 crazy nuts like myself in India who love everything about South Korea now thanks to KBS? Which other country has such an admirable number of hotties, great movies and tv shows and amazing music whcih gets lifted by the likes of Pritam? If you can hear me now, South Koreans, PLEAAAAAAASE make KBS come back on my telly!!!
My black beaded bracelet- Can't decide which one I miss most. KBS? or the black bead bracelet which has remained on my mind so much especially since I haven't found another of it's kind. Here's snap I took ages before I lost it.

And here's for everyone's notice- If anyone can find me the very same kind of bracelet- I'm yours sir [or ma'am!]. I'll be yours forever, no strings attached; signed, sealed, delivered, totally yours! With all the annoying habits of mine, I'm yours for life. ok, if that sounds too daunting, at least this Valentine. Buy me that very bracelet people, I'm desperate!

Back and it's trailer time!

2010-02-01T19:38:00.002+05:30

did intend what I wrote in last post.>

Back from my long-period of enforced internet-abstinence. And it feels real good!

It was fun; and ironic to see that the 2 lines I typed in last, attracted 7 comments. That post must have been exceptionally good if it made Jindal-ji comment. He rarely ever does! Apart from that, new readers!! Warm, huuuuge welcome to Pan. I will take up your advice on shit-blogging. Thank you. Another unexpected comment was a bit of philosophy from some porn site. Whoa! Plus lots of love from my darling blogging-neighbors.

But the funniest thing of all was, none of you deduced my actual meaning behind the lines. I was in fact, talking about how I sometimes have to sit through lectures where everything they say is so obvious and the doubts my classmates ask is even more obvious-- so much that I never utter a word in some classes! Not because I'm a dunce [hardly that], but because I already can see 10 miles ahead of what is being taught. I'm not being self-flattering, but it feels weird when I have nothing to say because I have no doubts and everything is clear as crystal to me already. Sigh..

On the other side, let's get on to more pressing topics- Trailer reviews!!!
THE DUDS
Veer- From the first sight on my instincts told me this-is-so-going-to-crash-and-burn at the BO. I was right. And the heroine is major dud. The only scene where I thought her pretty was where she sheds a tear in the promo. Gah!
Dulha Mil Gaya- I definitely can't understand what's going on in this trailer, sorry.
Bolo Raam- The lead guy looks stoned through most of the trailer. But the concept seemed interesting..

THE SERIOUSLY-MIGHT-BE-DUD
Show Time [or whatever the name was]- Tacky movie name, scenes seem ripped straight from Matrix or Krrish even. Vivek Oberoi ain't a real asset nowadays. In fact, only plus point I see is that it's an Abbas-Mustan movie.
3 Patti- I thought the days where unnecessary item numbers ruled the screen were over. No????????????? I hate vulgarity of every kind. And this movie has me feeling sick.

LOOKING FORWARD TOs
My Name is Khan- obviously! Kajol looks Gorgeous with a capital G! Such pretty eyes! Sheesh, she will always remain my favorite actress.
Rann- Very timely and much debated topic- mainstream media and the way it keeps stooping to new lows in the name of TRPs. I just wish RGV could have added some light bulbs here and there. And Gul Panag would have made an amazing Alice Cullen with her pixie hair. =)
Karthik Calling Karthik- First, I'm interested. Then, not so much.. then, back to interested mode. I'm not yet sure if I really am interested in this movie or not. The music's real peppy [Uff Teri Ada], pepper-mint kind [Hey Na]. But the lead pair doesn't seem to have any chemistry going on between them. They seem real detached and awkward.. And for another thing, my interest in anything Deepika Padukone is at an all-time low. All her fault! The only reason I'm interested in this movie is 'cos of my faith in everything Farhan Akhtar. Hey, but idea seems cool. I'll give you that.
Rajneeti- At the moment, this is the movie I'm really looking forward to. Looks good, and my instincts tell me it's going to be worth watching out for.
Athithi Tum Kab Jaoge- My instincts tell me just one thing- Hilarious! Very Very interesting trailer. Tries to spook you before having you crash back down to earth. Unwelcome guests make for a good movie watch, the trailer has me believe. And I take the bait.
Ishqiya- Amazing music. Interesting storyline possibly. I'm in!
Striker- Because I've always liked Siddharth!

2010-01-15T20:13:00.002+05:30

You ask, "Why the silence?"
I say, "What do I speak about when everything is already obvious?"

2009- The year that rocked

2010-01-02T15:41:00.000+05:30

2009?

Graduated with flying colors, stepped into post graduation. Chose a stream the majority of my friends and family disapproved.

Made friends, strengthened relationships with old ones, got de-addicted to one crush, got crushed on something new. Found my soul-twin. Best friends and myself- all move on to new paths.

Read loads of books, watched several real-good movies, discovered quite a wide range of amazing music.
Had cable tv for 4 months [yeah, aside those months-I'm living sans-cable tv life] during which fell in love with "So You Think You Can Dance". and "90210" and many other series.

Launched a new blog. Learnt driving cars. Photograph collection of friends crossed the 5000 mark. =)

Got my first phone, about to celebrate the first b'day of it!

Went on a brother-sister road trip.

Had my 21st birthday, which I didn't make a big deal of. Had the second bloggiversary.

Friends got married, another had her first baby, I remain SINGLE and EXTREMELY HAPPY for that reason! Some of my best girl-friends go double. ;)

Might do a post on the best movies, books and music I came across in 2009 in next post.
'Til then, have fun, live, laugh and make others laugh.

Happy new year!!!!!

Un-straightened

2009-12-23T20:49:00.000+05:30

As you can see below, yet another web comic. This idea was just one compartment of the whole train of thought I had on the topic. I even came up with a micro-story concept relating with GLEE [Glee? you know, right?!]
More on that later.

Here though, I was frustrated with the trouble my very pretty best-friend was having, shaking off an irritatingly persistent flirt. Even the mean swear words she used wasn't much. Thus this idea was born. I'm not sure it was helpful in her case, but I'm hoping it will help someone else with a similar situation!

Concept and words mine,
Graphics as always by Rahul. =)

Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahaani- review and [warning!] spoilers

2009-12-16T19:22:00.048+05:30

@ Bobby- buddy, I don't know if you will enjoy this movie here, but I'm working on a list of must-watch Indian movies. So watch this space!
First off, this movie is meant only for those who have a wholesome appetite for absurd comedy.

Moving on to more serious stuff; this movie is just so Ridiculously Cute!!
The cast itself is enough reason to watch the movie. Serious eye-candy. Everyone's [me included] sweetheart Katrina Kaif in a fitting role as an Anglo-Indian. Which means, you get to hear her great English instead of dubbed Hindi. And Ranbir Kapoor [squeeeeeeaaaaaaaal!!!!!!!] as Prem. I loved the actor who plays his father.

Honestly, the movie in itself is no good. Cliche story, mischief-maker boy, pretty-as-a-princess/ damsel-in-distress girl and all that. But what saves it is in part the cute cast, the fun elements and a crazy script. There are way too many loop-holes in the story than you had allow. The boy falls in love way too quickly. Mood of the movie shifts every now and then. But who the hell cares? Let's get jumping into the main plot!

A strange coincidence is how both Jenny and Prem stammer when they get upset.
Well, another coincidence would have been how both are vegetarians as well. If only his friends hadn't coaxed him into becoming a non-vegetarian to have something in common with her. How was he to know that she was a pure veg!

One big deal I noticed was that Jenny is a librarian! w00t!! Erm.. in case no one can understand why this is a big deal-- well, I'm studying for Master in Library and Information Science. Well! I think librarianship may just have got a brand ambassador! :P

I like the frankness with which he tells her that he sneaked into her room the previous night to place the thank-you bouquet, and that's how he came to realise she;s an orphan. Usually Bolly heroes tend to lie or at least leave such stuff un-said.

His heart is in bits, but plucky young Prem goes all-out to rescue Jenny from an unsavory-forced marriage with the weirdo Tony. This sequence involves a kidnapped train. What the...!!! No, no, I'm NOT complaining. I'm way too carried away with this movie to raise eye brows even if they planned to show Prem flying a-la-Mohabbat man.

The Underworld guys were cool. How come no other film director, or anyone for that matter, ever wondered how come the dons always seemed to have their phones perpetually recharged without actually doing that? That happens here. The Don is in a veryy awkward situation when he finds out his phone has run out of credit!! I'm clutching my tummy, shaking with laughter in pity for this predicament facing the don. May no filmy don have to face this situation. Amen. ;)

AND did anyone else feel the almost-"Mast" situation where he comes sneaky with Jenny as her beau Rahul disappeared at the last moment?

The final action scene is beyond words- [if u take me in the right sense!] Bubbles float around during the "tension packed" sequences where ransom is exchanged for Jenny. What could easily have become a worn-out emotional cliche scene becomes a fantastically corny-funny sequence:
Prem's dad comes out to fight the big-bad people.
Prem is surprised,
Dad responds with a melodramatic dialogue complete with sad violins playing in the background.
And Prem loves the line so much, he asks daddy to repeat it once more.
Dad complies with the exact same line, complete with the same melodrama and music!

6 stars out of 6!

And don't forget the Jesus-in-guise-of-theatre-actor-who-is-actually-Jesus-anyway. =)

PS- I know my review may be lacking, but I took sooo long to finish it, that the attempt became half hearted. :(

Pft

2009-12-12T19:27:00.005+05:30

Back! And it feels real good too, [even though no one seems to have noticed that I haven't blogged in a while. =( ]

So what's going on in my life now?

Aunt gives birth to the prettiest tiny baby girl. Mom, myself and a lot of people are really cooing around it, but there were a couple of weirdos who think baby boy would have been better. I don't get it! Baby girls are prettier any day!
Exams over. I officially am a second semester student this coming Monday onwards.
This blog of mine just became 2 years old on November 30th, and I didn't even have time to notice. Heartfelt apologies baby! Love you!
I'm in crush. Again.
Began a NEW BLOG. FOR DISCUSSING ALL THE AMAZING BOOKS I READ, THANKS TO MY AMAZING-AMAZING LIBRARY AT UNIVERSITY CENTRE!

And the link is judging-book-by-cover
Hey, if anyone is interested in the venture, put in a comment. I'd love the company. :)

I'm pretty hyped about it, since it's been a long time plan and I got time just now.
Reading Twilight and some other books simultaneously.
I realize I'm a pretty good Music-Suggester. Literally everyone who has got a taste of my recommendations, have loved it so far. Yay to me!
Started going for a Qur'an study class today. Weekly once thing. And no. They don't teach ANYTHING even remotely related to bombs or anything violence.Funny how such a peaceful religion got misconstrued as something so scary. I had like to learn about Islam, then jump on to understand more about Hinduism, Christianity, Zen Buddhism and on and on if possible.
Wish I had time and money to take piano classes. :(
Rahul has awarded me some awards and tags. Yippee!! Apparently he's doing a wholesale thingy of awards. I got three so.

So as per rules, I have to award deserving bloggers that I know.
Here we go:
"Ladies and gentlemen, and the "I love your blog" award goes tooooooooo.........
Nishi and Mohua!!"

*applause all around

And the Kreative blog award goes to:
Blue Butterfly and Truth!!!!
*bigger applause

And the One Lovely blog award goes to
Jean!!!! [though i should admit the more appropriate award would be "Best Resurrection of the year award"]

And Rahul, will do your tag next post, or the post after that, or the one after that, or after that..... :P

Some time!

Randomness

2009-11-02T20:05:00.004+05:30

Last year, when I was livin' it up as an Under-Grad, Life Was Beautiful, amazing, and most importantly; IRRESPONSIBLE.

not anymore. I don't think I'm being able to get away with any of my normal goofy-ness or lousy behavior thanks to the in-house dictator at my new place. Yep everyone, I'm doing my Masters currently, as y'all might have already noticed. And unfortunately for me, I spend my time under an uber-strict disciplinarian. Ouch. That hurts essentially. Even more when you remember that I'm too much a bohemian to put up with demands for perfection. Anyways, enuf!
Let's talk about nicer stuff.

*Previous years' regulars on my blog; my beautiful girlfriends are all scattered around the state, away from me. [*one long sigh, and then getting back my act together] Missing them all!
The coolest thing though? NONE of us chose our direct Master's course. As in, apart from Vaika[who's an Economics grad], everyone of my gang is a Functional English grad [DYSfunctional if you please].

I chose Master in Library and Information Science [doesn't sound posh or swanky, but is quite a good choice] {MLISc}
Namitha chose Masters in Journalism. {MCJ}
Vinaya chose PG in Social Work.{MSW}
Vaikhari dahling is doing Master in International Relations. [DEFINITELY swanky!]
Ragitha is doing her MBA
Oh! Prajisha got married! Might take up Bachelor in Edu next year,hopefully.
Nimisha is in her Master of Hospital Administration, and loving it. [actually, everyone's loving what they chose!]
And our very sporty Vrindha is ready for some literal jet-settin' with her IATA studies.

See? I absolutely LOVE how different we are from the normal lot. =)

*Next bit of randomness is something quite big.
MY COUSIN BRO'S WIFE DEAR HAS BAGGED THE SECOND RANK IN HER UNIVERSITY FOR PG STATISTICS!! yippeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!

*I'm soooo proud of the people I love!
Another of the people I really really adore and love is gearing up for her UGC NET exam in English Literature. Aw, I love her sooo much! =)

*I've officially fallen in love with my all-new,shorter hair. I don't exactly flaunt it at college, but I do at home, much to mom dear's chagrin. ;)

*Waiting for December to come save me, 'cos by end of first week of December my semester exams will be O.V.E.R. Then I can go and kill myself over the amazing books at my University library, plus watch the tonnes of good movies in my system.

*Again waiting for the time of December, to have a real, looooooong chat with my wonderful online neighbours. Plus do some quality blogging.

*I would soooooo love to drive up and down to college on my own. But then, I would miss out on the daily chaos I get from public transport!

*I'm working on this imaginary script where I'm settled in Delhi as a librarian with a BIG salary. Single, and friends strewn all over the metro. Niiiiice. I grab an occassional pani-puri once in a while during the story [somethin I don't get here in South India much]

*Probably forgotten the better bits of randomness. But hell, I'm late for college! Byyyyye!!

Listen up if you live on the third planet

2009-10-16T20:06:00.002+05:30

[Absolutely had to help in spreading the word that 350 bloggers are working on. Please read the whole of the article! They sent this mail to me, and I re-post their mail for you]

Dear 350 Challenge Bloggers,

This December, world leaders are meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark
to draft a new global climate treaty -- one that has the
potential to turn the tide on global warming and get our planet
back on a brighter path. The problem is, most world leaders and
their negotiators aren't getting it. They're not planning to do
enough to to avert the climate crisis. But we can change that --
with one number, and one day. Sound implausible? Take a minute
to hear us out.

The number is 350, and it's now the most important number on the
planet. 350 is the number that leading scientists say is the
safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, measured
in parts per million. Since we're at 390 ppm now, it's a tough
number, and getting back to it will require remarkable efforts.
The good news is that people all around the world are mobilizing
around 350 in a unique and beautiful movement to solve the
climate crisis.

On Oct. 24th, the International Day of Climate Action, people
from over 150 nations will come together in creative climate
actions to take a stand for 350 and a safe climate future. There
will be 1000s of creative on-the-ground actions everywhere from
the slopes of Mt. Everest to the underwater reefs of the Maldive
Islands to the streets of our biggest cities. All designed to
drive the 350 message into the human imagination -- and help our
leaders realize we need a real solution that pays attention to
the science.

With 10 days to go until Oct. 24th, we need to take action now
to make this day truly count.

Below are two crucial tasks you can take (and they're coming up
fast!):

1) Participate in Blog Action Day tomorrow, October 15th -- this
year's theme is climate change. On that day thousands of
bloggers will be doing what they do best; spreading vital
information to every corner of the planet, efficiently and
passionately. You don't have to be a green blogger or climate
blogger to take part. Everyone from the celebrity watchers at
TMZ.com to the techies at Google Blog to individuals like you
will be participating. Since you've taken part in Brighter
Planet's global warming work in the past, we know you understand
the issue and the urgency. Register your site for Blog Action
Day here.

2) Use your posts to help build the viral wave behind 350.org's
October 24th Global Day of Action. This looks as if it will be
the most widespread day of climate action ever; there will be
thousands of creative climate actions in more than 150 nations,
all designed to take the most important number in the world and
make it the most well-known. (Watch our animation) Sign up to
participate in an event near you and encourage your readers to
do the same. If you want to start an event yourself we have a
quick and easy guide.

It's the combination of in-the-flesh activism and online
organizing that will carry the day here. On Oct. 24, activists
will be uploading images of their events in real-time and we'll
be displaying them on 350.org and on the giant screens of Times
Square. By day's end, we'll have an unprecedented global gallery
of images and stories, enough to make both old media and new
ring out with this crucial number.

We need to make this viral movement go double viral (think Panda
sneezing) -- and so we need your help. In the last 18 months,
350 has moved from the pages of a scientific paper to the center
of a global movement. Now it's time to make that number...
count. We have a whole series of tools at http://350.org and
http://350.org/bloggers that you can use to spread the word, and
we're enormously grateful to you for doing so!

Onward,

Bill McKibben, co-founder, 350.org

***

Get started with 350 and the Oct 24th Day of Action at
http://350.org

Blogger resource hub: http://350.org/bloggers

350.org is the first large-scale grassroots global campaign
against climate change. Its supporters include leading
scientists, the governments of 92 countries, and a huge variety
of environmental, health, development and religious NGOs. All
agree that current atmospheric levels of CO2 -- 390 parts per
million -- are causing damage to the planet and to its most
vulnerable people, and that government action at the United
Nations Copenhagen climate conference is required to bring the
earth's carbon level swiftly down to 350 ppm.

What is 350? 350 is the number that leading scientists say is
the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.
Scientists measure carbon dioxide in "parts per million" (ppm),
so 350 ppm is the number humanity needs to get below as soon as
possible to avoid runaway climate change. To get there, we need
a different kind of PPM -- a "people powered movement" that is
made of of people like you in every corner of the planet

Posted-only-to-confess-my never-dying love-for-the-movie

2009-10-11T19:06:00.004+05:30

There was music,
There was Magik,
and there was you...

One year and more of loving this amazing celluloid phenomenon. Probably the only movie that I fell in love with from the day its first promo rocked my tv screen.I loved everything about it,the cast, the story, the friendship, the music and the conversations it triggered among my friends and the way it entered relationships. Both on-screen and off-screen..

Loved it, still loves it, and always will love it!

Rock On for.ever!!!

Gandhiji has left the building

2009-10-02T17:15:00.007+05:30

I had wanted to talk about yesterday actually;my birthday. That was my plan until I watched "Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Maara" today. [pure coincidence, in fact I didn't notice that we were happening to watch a movie related with Gandhiji until it kinda struck me in the face]
{by the way, Vaikhari is reading Tushar Gandhi's "Let's kill Gandhi", though I don't know if that's a coincidental occurring like my watching Jahnu Barua's amazing movie today itself without even realizing it}

On the surface, and for a huge part of the movie, the focus is on how dementia affects people, no matter how intelligent and even brilliant they used to be. And how Anupam Kher [OMG, what a talented actor he is! actually, everyone from a theater background is a natural at acting. anyways...] keeps insisting he didn't kill Gandhi. This guilt of his that he killed Gandhi has its roots from a childhood incident that subconsciously still was on his mind,after all these years.

But honestly, this movie is about how each of us have a share in the daily murdering of Gandhi. Almost everything we do is yet another knife into his ideas, his visions, him.
Like Anupam Kher's character says,

" Did he fight for freedom to see this? This situation of our country where he is remembered only on two situations. The day he was born, and the day he died."

That's exactly why I am not too high on celebrating any sort of special day. Even Independence day has a ring of hypocrisy and phony-ness to it. Everyone is all smiles and waving flags one day, and go back to India-bashing the next. Gandhi wasn't celebrating on August 14th,1947. Nay, he was trying to find a solution to the murderous communal riots and the problem of hunger in his country. What a man. Such honesty, sincerity and courage in such a simple man, the Father of the nation.

Like Einstein said,

"Generations to come, it may be, will scarce believe that such one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth"

True.

Here's to the endearing memory of Gandhi and to those who still follow his chosen path of life. May they increase in number. May we have the strength to be one of them.

I'm proud of what my country has come through,
ashamed of what it has come to.

[music coming to mind right now is- "Waiting on the world to change"-John Mayer. striking lyrics]

Awful haircuts come in handy when blogger's block strikes!

2009-09-23T18:56:00.002+05:30

Thanks to my stinginess, I lose all of my long curly locks! :P
Not that I'm hating the new short hair, still...!

Webcomic concept is thus mine, graphics by ET

Something that smells like sadness

2009-09-16T15:02:00.004+05:30

A soul dies,

A happy bubble just burst,

Someone just stepped into the dark.

The rain poured on me.

Which are my tears,
which are the nightmares that slip down my face

and which are the rain drops?

Wrote this ages ago when tragedy struck my friend.

Be Awesome!

2009-09-11T15:34:00.001+05:30

This is why I lurve Barney [How I Met Your Mother]!!

The Sach ka saamna tag

2009-09-05T15:37:00.005+05:30

J does this fun tag. I nicked it! :)

The rules are thus…
RULE 1
You can only say Guilty or Innocent

[I skip the second rule. :D]

Here it begins...!
Ever kissed someone of the same sex?
-guilty twice! But this means nothing! I'm straight!!!!

Asked someone to marry you?
-Innocent. I'm a hard core fan of singledom

Ever told a lie?
-Guilty, guilty, guilty!

Had feelings for someone whom you can’t have back?
-guilty. :(

Kissed a picture?
-innocent. i'm not crazy!

Slept in until 5 PM?
-innocent. I'm not much of a sleep person. :|

Danced on a table in a bar?
-innocent. never been to a bar!

Fallen asleep at work/school?
-guilty to the core. ye bhi koi poochnewali baat hain? ;)

Been suspended from school?
-innocent. got kicked out of class a couple of times. that's the highest i got near to suspension. I'm known for my "squeaky-clean" image yaar!

Worked at a fast food restaurant?
-innocent. in fact, I'm yet to begin earning on my own!

Stolen from a store?
-innocent. but i steal chocolates from kids almost all the time. :) sweet ol' me!

Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose?
-guilty. ohhh yes.

Caught a snowflake on your tongue?
-innocent. :( sob sob. I live in Kerala, a snow-free zone.

Kissed in the rain?
-innocent. ask about dancing in the rain!

Sat on a roof top?
-guilty. once

Sang in the shower?
-guilty enough to be executed

Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on?
guilty. uncle pushed me into a pool at some water-theme park when i refused to try out any of the rides. [i used to be a completely spoilt, ruined snob of a kid. didn't like playing with anyone in those days]

Made a girlfriend/boyfriend cry?
-innocent. i'm single! but i used to make my sister cry a lot.

Shot a gun?
-guilty. The water guns were soooo much fun!

Donated Blood?
-innocent. Wish I could. But the authorities concerned would possibly try to give me blood!

Eaten alligator meat?

-Innocent. Haven't even tried crab meat!

Still love someone you shouldn't?

-Guilty. No comments. :|

Liked someone, but will never tell who?

-Guilty. Liked a lot of people at random phases of life and I just let that be. :)

Been too honest?
-Guilty. Can't lie to mom. Not 'cos she can see thru me, but just so. 'Cos she's The Mom.

Kissed someone you shouldn't?

-Innocent. Naah, just kissed friends, cousins, babies and teddy bears. Bleh. Blae.

Ruined a surprise?

-Guilty. Several times. I told almost all my friends, the ending to New York before anyone had a chance to watch it! It gave me a wholesome sense of achievement. :)

Ate in a restaurant and got really bloated that you couldn't walk afterwards?

-Innocent. I'm one of those endangered species who never eat properly or enough. Just a bad habit of mine. I somehow like not eating much. Which is oh-so obvious once you see me.

Erased someone in your friends list?

-Guilty. Very,very guilty! But I don't think they have noticed that yet! They are those boring ppl who add friends like some trend or whatever.

Dressed in a woman's clothes [if you're a guy] or guy's clothes [if you're a girl]?

-Guilty. I think the answer had be more fun if I were a guy in drag.

Been told that you're handsome or beautiful by someone who totally meant what they said?

-Guilty. Only partially though.

Had communication with your ex?

-Innocent. No exes! And hey, that doesn't mean I'm playing the field, ok?

Got totally drunk on the night before your exam?

-Guilty. Only, it was caffeine in my case, no alcohol.

-----------

Everyone's tagged!

And I chose the path less travelled..

2009-09-01T11:32:00.002+05:30

..and it makes all the difference.

I chose the less sought after path,
The more prejudiced path,
the more misunderstood path.

Torn between choices

2009-08-09T07:17:00.003+05:30

Sometimes, very rarely, God showers extra blessings on individuals. 'Cos he trusts them to do well, maybe 'cos he wants to see how graciously they accept His gifts.

So- question is,did I do well? He made me first rank holder and now when I'm kind of getting settled into my chosen course, Master of Library and Information Science[more on that later], He decided to bless me some more to see how awfully confused I can get!

I'd written the Master of Communication and Journalism entrance test of another University. Since seats are tough to get at the University, I never thought I'd pass and went ahead and joined M.L.ISc.

And wanna know what happened?
From all the 300 odd grads, working journalists and everyone who appeared-I'm the topper!

Honestly,I don't know whether I should cry or laugh or what.

and thus the long awaited brother-sister road trip finally happened

2009-07-20T17:35:00.010+05:30

Everything else took a back seat for these past 7 days.

Yes, all you jealous ppl, I had a fantastic brother-sister-road-trip-of-sorts. The destination wasn't fancy by any means, but there was a comfy house tucked away in a suburb of Tamil Nadu. my uncle's place. our favorite vacation retreat.

My favorite parts from the trip?
*EVERYTHING! EVERY SINGLE MOMENT!

*the lure of the train. [you know i love them!There's a gypsy in me that LOVES roads,wheels,winds,traveling and the whole package about road trips]

*my favorite cousin/brother for company.

*sharing the music [Than ta naaaa!!!!!!!!{kaminey} for one]

*Kite Runner. [my choice for on-the-move read. Bro had "The Broker"-John Grisham] i swear i almost cried thru several parts of it.

*making acquaintances on the train. i chose not to ask their names though, what's the fun if you can't add some imagination to all those friendships you made?!

*all those late-night movies and laughing at tacky old Tamil movies. [no offense meant!]and throw in the bits where we fought over the remote like we were kids.[never mind that we are both way past the age to fight like kids!!]

*and add to that the fact that we two bought a whole box of chocolates to go with the tv watching. munch,munch,munch.

*THE Shopping. ohhhhhhhh, the shop-all-day at Coimbatore!

*Uncle lent me a book of his, the one which he hadn't parted with in all of the 20 odd years of owning it, yet. And I'm the lucky girl who gets her hands on it. The book?
Between Ourselves: letters between mothers and daughters.
*Him saying that I was going to be his heiress. No, not money. But to his VAST collection of books. Think of every masterpiece, memorable books and all those good books- he's got 'em all in his shelves.
And I'm going to inherit them all!!!!!!!
-------------
I don't care if I don't actually get those books. Just the idea that he thought me important enough to leave his precious books with... that's the best part of it.

*The food. We dined out virtually every day. Went to many of the well known South Indian restaurants around there.And I have tasted some of the best veg food, plus discovered how spicy the "dragon chicken" dish was. Yum!

And the best-best part of all? That bonding time. With the best uncle in the world and my aunt and,most importantly-
with the best cousin in the whole wide world.

Beyond sharing music,books,movies,chocolates and some sizable portions of good television watching [which would include NDTV, Nat Geo as well-IF you're wondering what i meant by good television watching]
and some dumb fights,
and 'fessing up on past relationships [read-ruined relationships],
our shady records of shady vices,sins and our dealings with:
Stuff-considered-taboo-in-our-family;

i know I have a wonderful brother of a lifetime.
He's always been so good; despite me being one big jerk of a sister to him. :D

The part I didn't like-

*Eating prior to long journeys makes me queasy, for some mysterious reason. On the other hand, when I travel on an almost empty stomach, I'm so good!

Maybe I'm just being psycho.

-this shot taken from Flickr

Uber happyness! [with some streaks of anger]

2009-07-01T07:14:00.005+05:30

I'm back, I'm back, I'm soooooooooooo back! And awesomely happy too! :)just got my results out and guess what?
I'm a winner!
a champeen'!!!

First rank of my university!

I'm just so pleased I made it thru,since we had a hard time with this course.So, if that was the best feeling, things get euphoric now,cos my closest friends both bagged the second and third ranks!!

Congrats Namitha(2nd) and Vinaya(3rd)!!!!!!!!
talk abt keepin' it within the family! *chuckle!

felt better than best with the flood of congratulatory phone calls and gifts- add to that, dad's wish granting,"Ask for whatever you want, thou shalt get it!"[not so Shakespearean when he asked what I wanted, but u get the point!]

so where do the angry streak come in? for one thing-our result has come hell late. plus the last dates for admission to SEVERAL, no, almost ALL possible universities has closed down already. since one needs their mark list for applying for admission to just anywhere, the Big News got dimmed just by some watts or volts (sorry, I loved my Physics classes, but can't remember which is what now). So there's all this frustration and irritation cos they [*gasp] HAVE NOT YET PUBLISHED OUR RESULTS. me and my frnds got prior info abt our results thanks to our ranks.

damn my university for playing with everyone's results.
and all praises and thanks to God for such happy news! :D
even better feeling since it's been raining non-stop here.

ps- anyone got ideas what I should ask dad to get for me? I'm thinking abt a jazz cd. suggest some good artistes. or suggest a nicer gift!

Ain't I awfully happy to be back in bloggersville?
Aye!

The beautiful and the secular

2009-06-10T09:17:00.004+05:30

I begin with the beautiful aspect of last week. And it feels bizarre to say that that good, wholesome peaceful feeling in me and a lot of other Keralites, was created in the first place by a death.

And not just some usual death. Last week, one of Kerala's finest bi-lingual writer died.
Kamala Surayya. A strong woman, and the epitome for secularism. She was born into one of Kerala's most established families. One that was amongst the founders of a leading newspaper. She was born into an upper caste Hindu family and later on in life converted to Islam. That created a huge chaos back then in Kerala. She was under tremendous pressure from several to take back her decision and got infinite threat calls and all.

Anyway, that's not the point. The charm of all this was how gracefully her children accepted her decision. So there she was. A converted pious Muslim living under the same roof with Hindus. No ill-will, no bitterness.

And when she died. All her family, her Hindu children and her2 adopted Muslim sons. all of them together offering prayers together, shoulder-to-shoulder, praying for her.

Isn't it beautiful?

That this happened at the very time when there is so much fights happening in the name of religion?

So what if I'm Muslim and you happen to be a Hindu or Christian or Parsi or heathen or anything?

As long as we understand that beneath all this difference, we are all just the same. What matters?

So what if there are all those fanatics imagining themselves to be oh-so secular? We can show them the way and show them what true secularism is. Like this one incident.

All we have to do is put some effort into reaching out and being there for others. Don't bother what their race is, what their religion is or anything. Because in the end, nothing else matters, ya know?

Reaching out, with lots of hope for a much more happier,stronger,safer and secular India,
Raphael. I dont give a damn what god you believe in, I just love you all!

Entre nous

2009-05-24T11:48:00.006+05:30

There comes a point in my life once in a while, when I doubt the things I'm passionate about, and sincerely care for. Like blogging.
You might have noticed that I haven't blogged for almost a month now. And you will DEFINITELY notice that this is a looooooong post,so either you bear with me or well, you always have the option of not reading. [oh,sad, poor me!]

And who would have thought I had end up NOT blogging with so much free time?! There was so much happening with me after all. Loneliness;
facing the imminent future;
understanding how much friends mean to me;
how much materialism counts in my life-but I can do without;
trying to detach myself from cluttered and complicated emotions;
trying to make sense of relationships- the conventional,traditional ones AND the unconventional, free-styled ones-the ones to which you can't give a name but are significant anyway.

So what happened to me? Guess all too much of me-time I got didn't exactly translate to constructive blogging or even make me a better person. hell, I don't even have much of a tolerance yet for things I don't like.

All that I did was waste my time, almost. Cos the one good thing I did do was start to take driving lessons. I feel sooooo goood abt it! Plus I watched a lot of good movies and dramas thanks to cable tv. yay!

RELATIONSHIPS

Anyways, I wanted to make sense of my myriad relationships. as in- family, friends, non-friends, everything. I have done a teeny post on how I wanted to trade some junk members in my family for friends instead. Seriously, am I supposed to really like you just because you happen to be my relation? No!

Just the same with friends, I can't exactly say how much I love one friend more than another because in one way or another they are all important to me.
This one brings wisdom and sense to my life[vi].
Then there's my singing/ harry potter maniac partner-[vai].
another darling brings out the nastiness in me to the surface-in a sane way, yep-that's my soul-sister-in-mean-thoughts [N].
Then there are the innocence, sweetness, feminity, freakiness elements.
And there's her, without whom I'm practically lost. She helps me with numbers,-if i'm more specific-money matters. cos trust me, I'm kinda bad with numbers.

Funny thing is- I'm in awe of numbers. They're fascinating and I love them-from a distance. The closer I get to them, the more mysterious and complicated they become to me.Just can't handle 'em!

Then there are these fascinating relationships totally based on one aspect of life alone. Sometimes it's music, it's movies, travel, my Korean-drama-obsession, people, books, etc.

Do I have to give names to each and every relationship in my life? Is it necessary that I have to give expression to how I feel about people I love? Isn't it enough that we understand each other, we share something in common or maybe something in difference, and that we complement each other in the weirdest ways?

why should we go with the convention of giving words to every single emotion we feel? sometimes isn't it easy to just let things get tangled up and complicated? why handle things? whoever wanted us to handle things? maybe these things were supposed to remain like this, entangled in knots and knots of incomprehension!

but when you let things be the way they are, there's always the danger of relationships becoming static and un-living. which is why, it's always better that you reach out to people who are different from you,whom you can't understand- then there is always a challenge, every conversation is an excitement, every moment together is full of life.

related to this, I will quote part of a narration i heard on a korean drama. it goes like this,

"It's strange. Even a few days ago, the words 'I can't understand you' carried a negative meaning. But now holding her, whom i can't understand a bit, I find those words appealing. Because we can't understand, we can talk more.
Because we can't understand, all our senses stand on end.
Just because we understand, doesn't mean we love.
We learn one by one.

It has been too much for a post, so I'll save up the rest of my ideas for the next post. Yes everyone who might have noticed that I haven't been blogging in ages,

I'm back!

Let it rain on me!

2009-04-27T17:32:00.004+05:30

It has been several posts since I posted a poem. This one given here was actually written during last year's summer rains. [Those were beautiful, by the way] The reason why I didn't post it all this time was because I thought it would make into the college mag. which is didn't.
:(
Well, so what? I have you people!

This one's dedicated to all those rain-lovers out there. I love you all so much!
This was written for my long-term best friend and published for my best friends.The Offbeats and the Smash.

btw-Hey, set the mood first by listening to some good music. imagine that wet, nice, comfy feeling rain brings [since not everyone gets a good rain in the summer]

if it were me, I'd listen to some jazz, piano stuff, ARR in the lonely spot to bring on the mood.

When it rains
When it rains
I'm hoping you are thinking of me
--------------(more than anything else)
-out on the road, or
by the window side,
or wherever else.
You watch the rain
coloring up the world around you_
The coolness, freshness
And that aroma of damp earth
the sensation rain evokes in you
the mood it sets,
and the magic and intimacy...
Do you think of me then?

When it rains,
I hope the feelings it stirs up in you
Are the same feelings (i hope) I cause in you.

Is my fragrance in the moist breeze?
--------------(which whips up memories long forgotten)
Do the drizzles that softly kiss your cheek
--------------(remind you of our walks in the rain?)
Those drops slipping down your arms to your hands (your hands...)
---------------do you find me in them?
When a wind blew off your umbrella
---------------did you remember the times I dragged you into the downpour??
Does the soft music of the monsoons
---------------echo with my voice

Guess I should just let go of it all.

Because,
Instead of you thinking of me (when it rains)
It's me thinking of you.
-Not the other way round
Which is actually what I want.

Now
Together
Only
In the lines of my poems.

And the distance between
filled by
rains,
the music we shared
and
those coffee cups.

Can you see me,
The way I see you
Standing there
Just beyond the shimmering veil
of falling rain drops.
With a small smile.
(Yes, even your smallest smile will do)

Moi very first blog-award!

2009-04-21T20:53:00.003+05:30

This "My Choice Blogger Award" was awarded to me by e.t.
Pass this on to 3 bloggers whom I think deserve this award? now that's kinda difficult because there are more than 3 deserving bloggers I know out there.
[sigh]
And thi award goes tooooooooooooooooo...

Nishi!!!!!!!! just back from a major phase of life, facing it head-on with courage that shines through her blog. And her blogs always are radiant with wisdom, thoughtfulness and beauty of life.

J!!!- for his unique ideas and fantastic writings.

A.R Rahmaniac- because when it comes to music, I'm an AR Rahmaniac first, everything else comes next!

Hey everyone else, this list doesn't mean you people are not good enough according to me. No way! in fact, i had half an idea of squeezing all my favourite bloggers [mohua, thoughtful,blue, matangi,sally,jean,mag as different sets of my choice 3 bloggers along with the first list!] and given the way i am, i almost implemented that idea too!

Bam! and my head hurt! :(

2009-04-18T09:20:00.005+05:30

I think a better title for this post would be "my first REAL injury". Definitely. Yesterday would have been a perfectly normal, even boring day...hadn't it been for that head-wound.

You guys all know that cliche joke? The one that goes like this...
"How did you hurt your head?"
-"you saw that post?"
"yeah."
-"well, i didn't".

That kind of thing! Namitha walks straight in front of me, gets past the broken post that hung perpendicularly right above our heads just fine. I didn't. I was too busy watching the ground so that I didn't fall into one of those slab-broken pavements which are so much characteristic of TLY. I hit the post head-on and it's youch!

I was like, ok, that really hurt. I rub my head, blood oozes out.
"ok, Nami..check this out yaar.."

Some passer-by notices, he tells me to find some water and wash it off. But where the hell is water around that place?? Since I'm practically dripping with blood, I couldn't be particularly helpful. Nami was freaked out too.

I would really like to thank the Helpful-Crowd that formed immediately after they realized what was happening. Those strangers helped tie my scarf round the wound to stop the profuse bleeding, brought me water, helped us catch an auto to the nearest hospital.

And you thought Tellicherry people were narrow minded??!!

Once the first aid at the hospital was over, we were stepping out and some construction dude was throwing his materials down from the terrace.
ALMOST GOT HIT! AGAIN!!

Neither we, nor the nurse could stop laughing.

This whole situation was just so downright ridunculous!!! [yeah, sure, i knowingly mispelled it]

By the time my uncles came rushing all worried to the hospital, my only regret was that I had washed off most of the blood from my clothes,so i wasn't looking exactly tragic. Or like some survivor. Oh well, this is the problem with us. Both me and Nami were being completely weird. I'm supposed to feel shocked, hurt, scared and all.

None of the above feelings within me.

Remember I told you guys once that I was entirely shock-proof? Here's the evidence now!
And seeing all that blood gushing forth didn't daze me either. Good.

I realize that I am indeed really really good at keeping my cool, to the Point of Complete Detachment. Heck, this blood was mine, the wound was mine, all that pain was mine. Why am I being so emotionally cold? I was more like, "Nami, can you hold these specs? My hands are too bloody to hold em. So is my face."

I never was one for melodrama. But it did make me realize that I wasn't immune to injuries after all. I gotta be careful.
Earlier I was only accident-prone-but-safe. Now I'm accident-prone and unsafe!

Things that hit me after the incident:
Learn first-aid.
Be careful.
I'm emotionally cold. More like, I'm all about cold logic.
I know people do care about me after all! Friends all called up worried.
How unexpected life can be. I never thought I'd be bleeding like hell even when I got hit.

Sache ko chune, acche ko chune. Vote for the right one

2009-04-15T11:40:00.002+05:30

This is an extremely small post. I just wanted to express my liking for the Bolly celebs' deeds.

I like the fact that such popular actors like Aamir, John, plus a handful of the fresh Bolly talents like Asin, Abhishek, Imran all are campaigning actively on the necessity of exercising your power through voting for the right person.

So tomorrow when you go and make your decision,
make sure you've made the vote for a better and more united India. Make sure you didn't vote for goons.

PS- There was this suggestion made by a reader to the "Letters to the Editor" in "The Hindu".

Why not include a "none of the above" option along with the names of the candidates, so that if the number of "none of the above"s is very high, we can have a re-election with new candidates since none of the early candidates have any desired qualities.

Do you agree with me?

Why can't I choose my family!?

2009-04-10T20:55:00.004+05:30

this one's my ALL-TIME favourite fridge magnet. totally expresses the way i feel. -almost!

That's the million-dollar question for me right now. Even though I know the answer already. Can't get the bugging thought outta my head.

We can choose who should be our friends. [though i personally believe my friends were not exactly chosen. they were meant to be my friends from the very beginning!]
Then WHY-OH-WHYYYY can't I choose who should be my family and who shouldn't be family? I could have done away with all the pathetic hypocrites infesting my family circle that way.
I wouldn't ever mind trading the whole lot of them for my friends instead. That way, my family would definitely qualify for an ideal-tv-sit.com-material family. Yep. The weirdest and looniest and the funniest in one and the same family. Only if I could get rid of the unwanted elements and put in my friends instead.

But things never were meant to be that easy, were they?
God never wants life to be a drag. He adds just the right amount of drama, tension, happiness and surprises and the end result is-Life. That incongruous mix of Everything.

Life was NEVER meant to be perfect. It needs its balance. And balance doesn't mean perfection! Balance includes all those bad stuff [loss, unexpected unpleasant stuff, not having things your way, well, everything that's not nice], good stuff [unexpected simple joys, chocolate gifts, music, me-time, blah-blah] and the extraordinarily good stuff and really ugly stuff.

Life was never a straight line of moderate good news. It's all about ups and downs, bumps and shocks. Innit?

So, if I were allowed to choose my family as well, I had probably put in the nice people in and keep out the bad 'uns, THUS messing up the Balance of Life.

That means, I'm just stuck in here with the people I'm not exactly enjoying being around. While the people I lurve with my whole heart can't be my blood ties ad the undeserving ones are related to me. Ugh!

Then again, that's how the world works! And I don't think i had EVER be happy with PERFECT HAPPINESS in this life on earth!

25 unexpected things about me

2009-04-05T08:27:00.004+05:30

...which I don't think you will EVER comprehend. But still, you ought to know, since I was tagged to do this list long time back.
[See Jean? i keep promises, even if I do delay them by years at times!]

Shall we begin?

1. I believe in "15 till I die!"[doesn't make much sense since I'm no more even a teen]

2. I bought a cell phone only this January. It's weird that I have been phone-less for so long when everyone 13+ now seems to have a phone to boot.

3. I'm the mastermind who comes up with the zaniest and most impractical plans for my group. Never mind that we never try to actually work them out.

4. I'm insanely in love with, and proud of my pet name. You probably could only find people who are ashamed of their pet names. Not me!

5. And I love my real name just as much.

6. I like my blogger name too! [okay, that's it. I'm gonna stop gushing over my own names. makes me look like I have a totally inflated ego]

7. I STILL fantasize that I have this long-lost twin brother/elder brother whose name matches mine-Azhar! Now all I gotta do is find him,maybe he's in S.Korea? Or Spain? Papua New Guinea?

8. I'm sliiightly claustrophobic. I can bear closed spaces but they freak me out. Like, I could be sitting in the aircraft, and all that I can think of is that I'm stuck in here, can't simply walk out of this craft, what if it crashes, etc etc... Which is why I TOTALLY heart the desi autorickshaws. Yeah! completely desi girl!

9. I'm having a non-stop craving for pani-puris which aren't available anywhere within 1000 miles of where I live. Will anyone ship them to me??

10. I hate Roadies and Splitsvilla. Roadies used to be okay until the fourth season, then they lost it. Splitsvilla? you watch it, and I have a valid reason ow to hate you. Ugh!

11. I'm not exactly ur idea of healthy girl. in fact, i look positively anorexic. and i'm not interested enuf to eat a lot. but it ain't bcos I wanna stay skinny. it's just that i never was a foodie.

12. i enjoy cartoons much more than my kid sis. she likes hindi serials [OMG!] ...nah, just kidding!

13. I'm messy. And my mom's a cleanliness-freak.

14. I'm friggingly awesome at annoying people. My guru who kick started that passion in me is Alden Nusser whose book "French Fries Up your Nose" inspired me and has changed me into a "better" person forever. Hats off to you dude, you are the ultimate star!

15. have got wild, untameably curly hair. but i still love it sooo much!

16. I don't sweat much, even if i do, i don't turn on the fan. it's all about conserving energy bud.

17. my IDEAL PLAN FOR THE MOMENT is, save up money, hire an RV-trailer sort of bus/van[the kind rock stars travel in during tours], and go on the trip of a life-time across India with my Offbeat girlfriends,all the other People-I-Love. W.o.w! We'll have a video-cam and I'll keep on blogging to let you into the details.

18. I'm an obsessive kind of person. I get crushes and obsessions quickie.

19. I never had cable tv ever at my home. The first time came now, for this 2 month vaca. We are DD Direct DTH subscribers.

20. I smell my food before eating it. If it smells right, it tastes right!

21. I'm downright obsessed with the Korean channel on my DD DTH network. So much that I'm a complete die-hard fan of South Korean pop culture and now I know more about South Korean stars than I ever was interested in Bolly stars.

22. In fact, the reason WHY I'm a cable tv subscriber now is because DD DTH has removed my Korean channel from the network.

23. Even now I hound Korean entertainment blogs and websites for the latest info about what's going on there. I'm a major fan of South Korean music nowadays.

24. My choice of speaking vocab is plain weird and outta-this-world.

25. My former obsessions include F.R.I.E.N.D.S [sane enuf], Rajeev Khandelwal [bored now], Harry Potter [I even have HP game cards and a Marauder's map of my college i created myself], and there are obsessions that still prevail, like brothers, Keira Knightley etc. I'm guessing my craziest obsession to date must be This S.Korean one though.

My current celebrity crushes are two Korean stars, Lee Minho and Kang Ji Hwan. Two very wow personalities.

I tag anyone who is interested enough.

What I REALLY wanted to say

2009-03-30T19:16:00.004+05:30

It was farewell time at college [finally! them juniors took looooooong enuf to throw us a farewel party.] In fact, they have taken so long that we kind of feel emotionally drained now. No tears, choked up voices or anything. Not even too many teary hugs. [In fact, I gave out the only hug that happened today. And it wasn't even teary. Damn conventional behaviours! The farewell seems so incomplete since no one really cried. Nimisha and Vrinda did. They got all teary watching our PG final year crying.
Myself, Vinaya and Namitha are like laughing, getting bored, sweating [it's summer!], slinking down our seats hiding from view whenever it seemed like we might be called up to give a nostalgia-induced teary speech...and doing literally EVERYTHING we normally do. NO TEARS. In fact, watching the other 2 tear up, we were more like, "what the....!?"

Which is why, when I was called up to talk, I couldn't say all the things I'd wanted to say. Instead, I ranted about random stuff.

SO TO ALL MY WONDERFULLY UNIQUE GURUS AND MY JUNIORS AND MY SENIORS,
THIS IS WHAT I REALLY, REALLY WANTED TO SAY-

"First off, I want to tell everyone that I know I haven't been a perfect, ideal student. If anything, I was less-than-perfect. I got into dumb fights with my teachers, I bunked classes and would jump in front of them with the least sense of shame and what not..
I'm really really heartfelt sorry for all the wrong things I did and sorry for the things I didn't do.
I'm lucky that I got a family here who still loves me completely-with my flaws, with my imperfection. Brennen is a home I never thought I could find here, and you people have been like the best family I could ever hope for. Thank you all for taking me in.

Like Supriya said, even I feel sort of orphaned just by thinking that, "hey, there's no more Brennen in your life. No more hanging around, hiding from teachers when you ought to have sat for their hours in class, falling in and out of crushes, finding happiness in the simplest things of life. There's no more of this world for you from now on. Gosh! And now I suddenly feel all small and abandoned. No more of Brennen. But that seems the same as saying "I'm homeless!"

And there were so many beautiful moments from my life here. it's been beautiful living here, and it's come to a beautiful end. Ya sure, there are regrets, there's still a long list of things I wanted to do from here. I found a totally unlikely friendship with Leena ma'am and Sarita ma'am, thanks to the debate fever last year. I got a brother from my very first year. I had a kind of "discovered-then-lost-then-found" friendship with Supri. Seriously yaar, how come we lost that great relationship last year and thankfully found it back this year?! and i learnt so much about things I never knew existed.

Thanks to Brennen and all of you, I can say that, "yes, I had a beautiful life treasured away in a beautiful world called Brennen."

you can't ever take that away from me!
[hand on heart] I loved it here,
but that doesn't mean I'm returning here!!

Bang!

2009-03-27T20:37:00.000+05:30

And I'm back!
Exams [almost] over!

Paper Planes in the time of Intonation

2009-02-26T17:26:00.007+05:30

This is a li'l post about ''Pen Planes''[not to be confused with the "Paper Planes" track from the SDM soundtrack, which, btw, was a really nice piece] that got transfigured into Fighter Planes when things got unbearably monotonous and dragging in the class. 5 straight hours of accent classes. Come on now! Human mind cannot concentrate for more than 45 minutes at a length, how are we poor souls supposed to keep our minds on intonation, rhythm, stress, supra segmental features and all that jazz for FIVE STRAIGHT HOURS???

Namitha and Vrinda had opted to stay away from class all morning, while me [usually superbly lazy to get my ass off the Main Entrance stone benches and walk up for classes] donned on the "studious" attitude for a change and stepped into class, along with the always-in-class darlings Vinaya, Ragitha and Prajisha.

One hour went along with Vinaya sneakily taking pictures of the class without the sir knowing. And by the third hour our back bench was behaving like a bunch of elementary brats.
Y'know that noise kids make while driving an imaginary car? With the lips they go all
BRRRRR-RR-RRR!
Well, apart from me the other 3 could make the noise puhfectly well. I couldn't admit that I wasn't good at stuff, could I?
So, here I was saying, yeah, you people drive cars and all, but I'm used to flying planes, which is why I made the noise "BWWWWW-WW-WWW!!!"

What followed later was put into a short "war report" by me in the next hour of mundane accenting.
Here it is! Along with the pictures we sneakily snapped when the sir wasn't watching.
*Chuckle!
************************************
PLANES IN THE TIME OF INTONATION
Lieutenant Raphael's missile

that's my missile (Vinaya argued logically that a refill was a missile, it couldn't be a fighter plane)
Lieutenant Raphael's missile has been hijacked by Flight Commander Vinaya. Captain Prajisha has provided Lt. Raphael with a passenger plane to take revenge on Ft Comm Vinaya. The fighter plane pilot Raphael is using the passenger plane at supersonic speed to bombard Ft Commando Ragitha's unsuspecting jet. I had forgotten that my original motive was to attack Vinaya's pen, oooops- fighter plane! All the while Flight Commander Vinaya is texting to Trainee pilot Namitha not to enter war zone III year Functional English. Namitha probably had second thoughts and wanted to attend class. but me and Vinaya felt that it was better to stay away from this mundane and advised her so thru text messages. span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">M>Trainee pilot Vrindha is accompanying her.
Content of the message; "Terrorist English attacking us. Do not approach".

But Trainee Pilot Namitha seems eager to approach despite warnings.
The war seems near an end, but the enemy was holding us hostage. Ft Lt Raphael grew impatient and, as Ft Commander Vinaya reports,
"there is lack of ammunition and the enemy is holding us prisoners."
We pleaded and begged with sir to let us go with all sorts of reasons and excuses, but our teacher is way
smarter than us, sigh!

After an hour more of weary fighting, the soldiers got a brief respite. After consuming their rations [read, food] the attack resumes. After an initial "rat-a-tat-a-tat!!" soldiers settled into routine fighting. The trainee pilots who hadn't been at the war zone all morning, along with a relative newcomer Faheem have also entered the fight. Though our army is stronger in number, the enemy has the final authority. Which makes a potential rebellion near at hand.

my passenger plane-cum-fighter plane.
or was it Vinaya's?

Was it worth all that hype?

2009-02-24T10:56:00.004+05:30

first off,
HURRAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Frankly,
I'm in high spirits since ARR won the Oscar and I'm a long time self-confessed ARRahmaniac. Plus the Oscar for Resul Pookutty was the icing on the cake. As he's just as much a Malayali as me.

But was Slumdog worth all that hype and Oscars?
I didn't think so. Not because they showed a poor India, but the story is just another typical bollywood trash. All that lost-and-found-and-lost again love story, rags-to-riches element... and there were glaring flaws too. i can't believe a quiz master could be so rude to a chai-walla on a TV show. That's sort of impossible.

like Vinaya said, "Bollywood story made by Hollywood".
Well put!

And music?
ARR has made music million times better than this soundtrack for sure.

Why didn't Rang De basanti get the oscars?story-wise, music-wise, directionwise and in every other sense that was such a perfect movie.

It deserved the golden statuette but doesn't get it 'cos it was not made by a Western guy?

But I gotta say that technically it was fantastic, even though there wasn't much logic in the whole movie, the cinematography was perfect.
Best Motion Picture Award?

Please.....

But like my friends said, the movie is not to be blamed, it's the jury that needs a spanking.

BUT FOR THE TIME BEING, I'M GONNA FORGET ALL THAT.

WHO CARES WHEN WE HAVE GOTTEN HOME THREE OSCARS!!

3 CHEERS FOR ARR AND RESUL POOKUTTY!

i had a hell lot more to say but i'm darned busy with exam preparations. catcha later!

and has anyone heard from Nishi? she seems to have disappeared- just.like.that.

Meet The Pets

2009-02-08T12:18:00.000+05:30

This one was meant to be posted ages,ages ago. Sorry for the delay--
Hope you enjoy meeting my family!

Meet my pets for today.
I had them all set for a photo session, and by the end of it, a story "happened" quite accidentally!

That's The Family.
The snow white one is my eldest. Snuffles. ain't he like smouldering???

And this would be Darcy, the cutest and my darling! 5 years old, and this will probably be my last one I thought, because dad was growing tired of my obsession with soft toys. And I wasn't showing too many signs of stopping my liking for them.

Then three years ago, this gorgeous strut down all the way from China-via-Muscat down to India!! Lacking a better choice in names, I finally named her "Harajuku". Obviously inspired from Gwen Stefani's single "Rich Girl". Don't remember? Then I shouldn't have reminded you!

Yes! Harajuku and Darcy are very much together and happy too, as you can see. Don't they look adorable?

But look at who is approaching this friendly gathering, will you.

That's Padfoot, Harajuku's jealous ex.

The confrontation scene.
Darcy: Leave my girl aloooooooneeeeee!
Padfoot:(ever the bad boy) She's miiiiiine.......
[lots of tension going on with Harajuku clinging on to Darcy.]
{doubt- she doesn't seem to have any hands, how is she to cling onto him??}

That'd be little Yellow [the youngest member. my kid sis gifted it to me when I wouldn't stop whining] watching the whole drama from his house.

I got bored and left. by the time I returned only Snuffles was there being goofy and rolling on the sofa. Turns out Padfoot made Harajuku cry and stormed out.

p.s- you noticed that I'm a Sirius obsessed person, huh?
Ah well, I'm the person who still cries her eyes out every time she reads about Sirius and his death scene especially.

Not meant to be read, not meant to be seen

2009-02-08T11:35:00.005+05:30

Exactly.
This one is just about giving vent. Otherwise I might just suffocate.
And since I'm entirely sure that the people concerned with this issue are NEVER going to read my blog, I don't have to worry about what they will think either. This is better this way.

About that debate thing. And how I spoilt it all up. What was the reason?
Supri insists that I was on empty stomach and that was why.
Nay, I disagree. I could go and ace a test on an empty stomach [if i wanted to, that is].
I was entirely stressed and I wasn't prepared well enough. and we had been waiting hours at a stretch. But that reason seems unreasonable as my debate partner had been waiting just as much.
Whatever the reason, one week or more after that and I'm still feeling bad, ashamed, depressed and most of all--guilty.
Right.
I let down a lot of expectations. We could have actually won that competition. As easy as anything. If I hadn't muddled it all up. Well, my friend was quite perfect. But I fumbled and didn't fire back properly and forgot how much good I'd been at this and even reached the finals last year........before THAT controversy and we couldn't make it as the winners.

Anyways, what's most important is that I haven't gotten over it, even though my team mate was so generous and forgiving. Crap! I can't help feeling ashamed for that fiasco.

Wannabe do-gooder

2009-02-06T19:53:00.002+05:30

Everyone wants to do good. Most remain dreamers hoping to do something right, but never really doing anything.
And some take that courageous step ahead and shout out their protest,
"No! What's happening in my country just isn't right. I love my country and I just won't let anyone abuse my land. I just can't bear seeing all the wrong and remain silent."

And what happens?
Impediments all the way through.
Everyone's out and about to stop you from doing any sort of honest service to the country.

twisted.torn.exasperated.depressed

2009-02-01T09:34:00.004+05:30

[continuing on the last post]
...And what happens when none of your hard work shows?
You end up not being your usual best,
Disappoint everyone who had lots of expectations pinned on you,
/because-
[either the long wait took a toll on you,
or
you were just too confident and didn't bother to be better prepared]/

And all that's left are broken expectations, hopes, mortification.
None of that bombarding with rhetoric you'd hoped to cash in on.
* * * * * *

Neither do you win for the film review which you wrote so well.

A thanks and about working too hard

2009-01-27T07:02:00.002+05:30

This is to thank that very delightful friend, Nishi for that gorgeous header image.
Thank you! a helluva lot!!

On the other side, I'm having a mad time. Got chosen along with a friend to represent the college at the inter university level debate competition. Ah! I'm not that bad then,huh?
Problem is, whenever I'm assigned to work on something, I overdo it. The hard work I mean.

Here I am, the lazy bum who won't move from her place if she can help it-goes into transition mode whenever the moment calls for it.
Like when it was time to work on the research paper, I overexerted myself to the point of depression and fatigue.
Pssst, that's a secret I've guarded from the family and friends as a whole. Who would want a maniac around them?
I give up on sleep, fun and everything then and oscillate between extreme slothing and over-exerting. To the point of depression. It hurts, people. Like, one point comes when you are completely exhausted and you just sit and- cry or do weird things that's totally unlike me. Definitely embarrassing to be airing these facts in here, but I just needed to get this secret out of me.

But in the end, no matter what the end result is, I like the satisfaction I get from the perseverance and hard work I put in.
Sounds mighty weird coming from a uber-lazy person like me.
But it just goes to show I'm not what I seem!

The Year of the Korean

2009-01-20T18:00:00.010+05:30

I know that wishing you all a cheery belated happy new year on the 20th day of the new year sounds extraordinarily lame and weird, to say the least.
So instead, I'll just have my new year today. Whassay?
This is probably the first time I've stayed the longest away from my blog.
Primary reason was that I was a bit adamant that I'd begin my new year with an awesome new swishy-swashy template. Unfortunately, I'm yet to find the perfect one, one month into the search. Ah me!
Maybe you darlings could help me:
Searching for-
Three column template swathed in lots of white and blue.
Not that I've anything against black, but it's just that. Black.

The year of the Korean
2008 was the year when I totally, deeply, helplessly, desperately fell in love with the Korean entertainment sphere. I came across this channel called KBS World in September or so. And thus began a whirlwind obsessed affair. Gosh! The celebs looked so cute! The dramas were so... hatke! The reality shows were, for a change, totally unscripted! Can ya believe that???
Us Indians sure have trouble believing that reality shows can be real. Like really real.
Anyways, I'll shorten down on the gushings. but check my favourite dramas and actors.
[ Kang! Ji! Hwan!!!] Well that's the SRK (or bigger than that) of Korean film industry.-- Kang ji Hwan!

And that's the drama I totally went ga-ga over. Hong Gildong.
And the girls too!
And did you know that Pritam's "Pehli Nazar Mein" was a complete theft from a famous Korean serial's OST?
And you probably don't know how many times I am called crazy because I watch Korean stuff all time and don't even glimpse at the Hindi serials!!!
********************************************
What else happened in 2008?
*Multiple crushes at the same time took a sliiight toll on my sanity. At least that's what my friends prefer to believe.
*Plus lots of bike rides with Vrinda and Saju.
*By today, 2700 and more photographs taken of the gang.
*This year so the entry of gadgets (in a modest way) in our gang. Phones existed already. I owned the first camera, then Vinaya. Then Nimisha buys a better phone. And I'm finally the owner of a phone too now! Shocking that I went through college life without a mobile and still had a fun time?
*Bookwise it was a bare desert like year. Not much intelligence or reading. Doh!
*Made lots of online constant companions and friends. J was the constant commentator on my blog. The Nishi, J, Mohu were the intelligent lot of friends. Then there is the wonderful AR Rahmaniac buddy. Blue, Truthful, Matangi, Muscat's Insomniac and Vee gave me company through blogspot. And very, very, very rarely I caught a glimpse of Sid's streaks of genius too.
And you can't simply forget the delightful pair Jean and Maggie!
Sorry if I left out anyone.
*There were the wonderful movies and awesome music. [mostly from the unnaturally perfect genius called A.R.R. and also the very much likable Vishal-Shekhar duo]
Who didn't love Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na and the still favourite "Kabhi Kabhi Aditi"? Way too much of good music. Can't even list 'em all in here.
updated later on-
*hits myself in the head for forgetting my favorite movie of 2008-Rock on
* Seriously when you think of the year, there were so many bad moments. The mindnumbing Mumbai terror seige....

That's all for this post.
I know this post is incomplete, but well,
incomplete blog post is better than a NO post!

Expect better things tomorrow!
Ciao!

The weirdest trailor review [possibly]

2008-12-25T08:02:00.005+05:30

Merry Christmas and it is trailor review time!!!
Instead of one-by-one reviewing, I'm doing a list thing.

The-Way-Too-much-Awaited Trailor Award goes to....
Dilli 6- much awaited with good reason. I so wanna see more from this space!

The I-really-am-interested-in-this list
Luck by Chance- Reason is obvious. The Jawed Akhtar family has proved its versatility in the movie industry. Brother Farhan acts, sister Zoya Akhtar directs!
Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!- The makers of Khosla ka Ghosla, that's enuf reason to get interested.
President is Coming- Sounds like some serious fun coming with the Mr Prez's arrival. The frames look docu-fictional satire, and the sound track is dark and humorous too.
Chandni Chowk To China- The ubiquitous infectious charm of Akshay Kumar at work. Plus Ramesh Sippy as prducer and Nikhil Advani (whose style I like despite his disastrous Salaam-e-Ishq). Music -Though the title track by Shanker-Ehsaan-Loy failed to catch my attention, my attention is definitely caught by the other song by the alternative composer trio-Kailash-Naresh-Paresh: more specifically; S.I.D.H.U!!! Cool trailor, fun element in correct proportions.
Gajini- Yep- I'm not bothered that it's a copy, I'm totally in for this movie. Storyline is interesting&uniq, music is excellent, casting is perfect [Asin is from my state-Kerala!!!], cinematography is damn good [again a Keralite!].

The Attenshun-is-caught-for-uniq-reasons list
Dev D- Tauba tera jalwa, tauba tera pyaaaar...
Tera emotional atyachaaar! My attenshun was initially caught on by this weird song. Count me in the interested ppl! Patna ke Presleys, I'm ur faaaaan!!!
[unfortunately, this is the only name in this list]

Trailor-I-Liked-Because-of-Music
Gajini can be here too.
But, Raaz-The Mystery Continues gets the vote.Emraan Hashmi's phenomenal luck in music continues. how come even if his movies bomb, they've always got a memorable soundtrack??
Maahi is haunting.

The-I'm-Not-Bothered Trailor
Billu Barber- honestly, SRK isn't reason enuf for me to be interested in this movie.
Victory- Harman Baweja? No thanks. Cricket? I never was a fanatic.

The-Trailor-I-Ought-to-Have-Been-Interested-In-But-Seriously-I'm-Not
Rab Ne Banadi Jodi- I can almost imagine the hordes of Indians and non Indian SRK fans coming for my neck. I wish I were interested in this movie, but somehow, i'm not. Maybe after watching it, I might change opinion. Haule Haule did interest me. But the promos after that didn't interest me AT ALL. Honest.

The-Trailor-That-Should-Be-Punished-For-Making-it-to-the-tv set
Desh Drohi- Indeed, a terrible trailor. I positively cringe whenever it comes on TV. Too bad the remote won't work

Random scrawls from memory

2008-12-20T20:59:00.006+05:30

Thanks to the bloggerhood for telling me that I'm not horrible at all! And if I still think I'm horrible, there are several others as horrible as me, as testified in the comments to my last post!
And Bobby, I've bushy eyebrows too! =(

Eid-
Unlike usual Eids where I go wild with friends all day along, this time around I wasn't with them. Unlike earlier Eids, I spent the better part of Eid with cousins. And was it fun!
************
With luck, me or Vinaya will get first prize for film review in English, 'cos we 2 were the only participants!!
************
Fine Arts Day 1-
Ragitha's birthday!!!

Fine Arts Day 2-
I lost my poetry collections book. Strangely enough, I'm not too angry or depressed. I'm more worried that someone will read it and think, "this is poetry??? you call this poetry???"

Exams-
Freakiest exams ever. Totally dumbstruck at the number of classmates involved in "group activity" [as Prof Prathiba call it!]. Me and Namitha were like, what were we working hard
and preparing for, then? if it's so easy to copy in exams, doesn't that make all our hard work go down the drain?
Almost all the exams were tough stuff, with the exception of Conversational Skills. It's a bit like the exam Prof RJ Lupin would have formatted had he been our professor. It wasn't all about throwing up what you mugged up from your notes earlier onto the papers. It was more about examining how good your communication skills were. We had an awesome time especially when sir made each of us to do a self intro. Me, Namitha and Vinaya especially went wild and imaginative. Me was the French famous blogger on her second trip to India which she thought was exotic. Namitha was the famous fashion designer who designed for Parvati Omanakkuttan and of course "you've probably seen my designs on TV and at the Lakme fashion week" she added quite haughtily. Vinaya was the supermodel who turned down an earnest Aamir Khan's acting offer in Gajini 'cos she was "just not interested" and oh yes, "I came here because my dear designer friend Namitha asked me to". and all that! Akhil posed as this famous singer and hoped for our prayers for him. Sir made him sing a song as well!
Uber cool examination hall, if anything, I say!

Goodbyes-
Last exam done with. A pervading sense of satisfaction affects me and Namitha since we got through with our hard work and didn't cheat. We couldn't ask the rest of the team how they felt to have completed the exams sans any cheating since everyone was enjoying the last day before Christmas vacation began. Nami and I watched this totally funny handmade videos the boys had made of an "action comedy enactment". Everyone was rolling all over the place laughing.

Oh yes! We went up the stairs for lunchtime to our classroom walking backwards. Nimisha totally cheated by blatantly looking backwards.

Then it was time for Vinaya&Vaikhari to leave. They're going to Kottayam, lucky people. I'll probably stuck in the same place I am for the whole vacation mostly. When I hugged our adorable Vaika, she's like crying! That made Nami ask, "hey, are you being wedded off or something? what's with the tears??" Lols.
But she made me sliiightly emo too. =(
They took such a long time in actually leaving that it made Vinaya quip, "guess we should say "get lost!" instead of "goodbyes" from now on!
N and I were having a small chat together when she got a msg from Vrinda&Nimisha, [it was in romanized malayalam, but for your sake I'm translating it]
" your boyfriend is in our custody, if you want him back come with a crore. don't try to act smart and call the cops. in that case, we will have to finish this guy off..."
Totally crazy! she happily texts back,
"I know you girls will never do a good thing even by accident. i'm sure you won't finish him off, even if that'd make me happy."
Went back to the department where Vri&Nimisha were holding him hostage. He had probably reached the department searching for N. Thankfully N didn't have to fight to get her hostage boyfriend back. Vri had probably gotten bored by him!

Thursday was the final episode of "Hong Gildong". heartbreaking ending. =(

Horrible realisations of self

2008-12-09T11:28:00.002+05:30

1. Cousin probably had a difficult time thinking of how to describe me in the nicest manner to a friend of hers. Well, she settles to say how I have fine eyebrows. Guess that means eyebrows are the only part of me worth ANY kind of praise??

2. Remember how I told you guys once of how I had a clean mouth and I never really spewed toxic jargon? wipe out that memory. 'Cos when Vaikhari was kinda shocked when I said ****, and Vinaya was like no-big-deal,-it-happens-ALL-the-time. I realise that I actually do say quite a lot of words and phrases that ought to be censored, when I'm like so totally annoyed and angry and worked up.

3. I'm mega wicked, mean and nasty when it comes to sharing chocolate. I might even have been lying when I told you that there were NO chocolates left. Ahah!

First Bloggiversary!

2008-12-02T21:13:00.006+05:30

Kinda weird that I have made it along to a year!
Dear Pieces of Me, you have been a cool companion through all these 365 days I shared with you. I'm happy to note that the "bad day" label wasn't used much by me. Good!
I made a lot of really wonderful blogger friends (and some non-blogger friends too!) on this blog.
Wanna hear a really weird fact?
My grandmum had been pretty sick and hospitalised around the time I began this blog. She got well in a week and had been back home.
Yesterday was my first bloggiversary and she's sick at the same time of year and in hospital again! :(
Not a fun coincidence. I agree.

Not much to say right now. Take care y'all!
I'm already 3 days late in publishing this post, sorry!

The saddest

2008-11-27T07:32:00.003+05:30

Not missing dads or being alone.

The saddest is when extremists attack and bring blame to a whole community who have got nothing to do with violence.

Another saddest is when they bring hate and suspicion among people who live in harmony and peace.

The hope is alive when we come together as a nation holding hands and show the evil-doers how much we love each other and that love is too strong to be broken by heinous crimes.

The prayer is that we can make it through the bad phases of the country and have a future as one single,united nation.

The happiness is when we believe in each other, no matter which God we may believe in.

Hoping to spread the love,
Raphael.

What's saddest...?

2008-11-22T11:03:00.004+05:30

What's saddest about having an expat dad?
He leaves for Hajj (pilgrimage) and you can't even hug him goodbye.
:(

He's having a birthday on this coming 3rd of December, and you can't throw a simple party for him.
:(

You miss those dad-daughter times you spent together, and wish it were that time of year again.
:(

Ah well, I'm getting too bluesy.
Anyways, to all those who are on pilgrimage:
Hope you have a makbool (accepted by God) and mabroor (blessed) pilgrimage.
Have a safe journey!

Vignettes of the tour

2008-11-13T10:18:00.016+05:30

Day 1:Crossing the Kabani river, leaving the idyllic Kuruva Island behind. Scaredy cat Nauman watches from distance, all the while smoking his hundredth cigarette.

The Kabani River. Fantastic clicking from Prof Efthikar.

Pretending to call evil spirits in the candle light. Ouija Board thing. [Power cut follows us all the way to a small tea shop in Wyanad, Sulthan Bathery]

On the left side you see the street-fast-food-joint. It's not everyday that we girls get to eat off from a street food joint at night!

Day 2:At the Wildlife Sanctuary at Wyanad, Kerala, India. Beautiful. Us Offbeats were like ready to give up everything and live somewhere like here.

Heading for the Edakkal caves. The caves were worth all that huffing and trudging we had to do to climb up there.

Feet lapping in the Kara River, watching the sunset with best friends. Only thing that pissed me off? The jeans I wore got wet and thus muddy after all that wading in the water.

Prof Babu [left] and Prof Efthikar returning to bus after some cigarettes. Shot is foggy 'cos we took it through the rear window of the bus.

Suicide Point, Ooty. [Only thing I can't undertsand is, why'd anyone trudge all the way up here just to die??? It's a sin in itself to die from such a gorgeous, breathtaking place. Moodspoiling!]
ps- the wind was so strong that everyone was worried that I might get blown off! point to be noted since I'm the skinniest. :\

The last flames of the camp fire. Kind of symbolic even. Shucks, things are getting too sad!

The tour that felt like a lifetime

2008-11-12T19:47:00.006+05:30

Sun burnt, freckled, a 9000 times more happier than before...
That's me, post the MUCH awaited trip!
Though it lasted a 3 days, the tour sure felt like a lifetime in itself. An experience! Adventure!
And might not happen ever again... :(
Unless the promise of our cool professors happens, that is! They loved the time spent with us sooo helluva much, that they want another one with us! Wow!!
17 students and 3 uber cool professors.
Day 1:
We just made it to one place. But, as we always say-
it's the people and the time we spent together that matters in the end. Not the destination.
Same here. We just grooved to a lot of music and screamed our throats out for the most part.
Went to Kuruva Island in Wyanad. Mother Nature never fails to blow my mind! Crossing the river in old fashioned boats (with boatmen!) and bravely waded halfway across a fiercely flowing Kabani river. Thanks to our heroes of the day, the boys, we made it through without too many mishaps. Especially Prajeesh. So so so strongg!
erm... I slipped and fell quite a few times. Sheesh!
Came across elephant footprints and a monkey. Prof. Efthikar tried scaring it, but our simian dude wasn't impressed at all by sir's antics! ha ha!!
Night we reached our dorms where we had be staying the night. The person who organised our accommodation in Wyanad was Prof Babu's friend Eldo. Namitha and Vrinda had an instant crush on him. (Which lasted the evening only. Both were disillusioned after seeing him in broad daylight the next day.)
Dinner was street food. Everyone was actually demanding that the dinner be from some street food joint. Finger-lickin' gooood... Welcome to the original fast food makers! They whipped us up our dinner so cracking fast!

Day 2:
Wyanad again.
Morning was real cold. So cold that we breath out and mist comes off!
Wildlife sanctuary visited. Which meant, everyone was staring at the monkeys and calling them by our names. Like, Akhil: "Look, Namitha is up there!!"
See?
Saw monkeys, deers, foxes etc etc. Tall trees. Unpolluted cool climate. Verdant landscape. Streams, rivers...
I am in a happy dream. Friends, myself, great place, cool profs...
Had fun teasing Prof Efthikar about his age which is 38 as per Prof Babu and 33 as per Efthikar Sir.
Edakkal Caves archaeological importance. plus hill climbing. multiply the fun involved!
Vinaya, Nimisha, Praveen made it almost to the topmost. Vrinda,Akhil,Prajeesh made it to the topmost. You can see all 4 states from up there! Kerala,Tamil Nadu,Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh!! ain't that wickedly!
River Kara a bath and a lot of fun. Well, most of us couldn't swim, so we just let our feet lap the water. The rest did swim. Caught a glimpse of Prajeesh's 6pack body. Vinaya&I are so much in awe!
We wanted to do Pookod Lake too. But time restriction.. so had to give up on that idea.
Dinner was excellent. Not street food though. Posh hotel and all.

Day 3 is already here! @%$^%$*&^(!!:
Off to Ooty. Way so cold. Jumped off at tea estates, sang Pehla Nasha, Chale Jaise Hawayein.. Ooh-ed and aah-ed at breathtaking scenes all the way round the scary hair-pin bends. Touched sheep. Off to Botanical Garden and Lake. Vrinda gets instant crush on a cute guy at the Garden. Prof Babu allows her to look back at him. finally we had trouble shaking him off from following her! Arre!! How could I forget those awesome pani puris and good bhel puris we ate at the lake. You don't get them in Kerala, y'see. Vinaya,I,Ragitha loved 'em!
We got on to the mini train and sang "Aditi" and "Kaataadi" a Malayalam song. Cheesy to the core! Shopping session upto night. Camp fire in the freezing cold midnight in Gudallore or somewhere's woods. Pretty emo feeling riding all over. now that the thing is almost over.
Wrapped up the night with a crappy comedy movie before finally falling asleep inside the bus.

Day 4:
Goodbye, Au Revoir, Auf Weidersehen, Alvida etc... Everyone hops off at their places in the morning. Things have changed. We are hell more closer and attached than when we began the tour. The tears aren't rolling yet though. I don't wanna prick the happy bubble in me now.

Photos to follow up soon in next post!
Ciao!

Trains one day. Stranded the other day.Bollywood Hero saves me!

2008-10-26T18:56:00.005+05:30

Considering that I had a 5 minute train journey on Thursday (duh!) and got stranded with a broken slipper in town on Friday, this week wasn't uneventful,right?

Thursday and my whining on not being able to get a train journey in ages has gotten so intolerable that Nimisha decides to board one from the stop near our college to the town. I'm as happy as a kid! Wasn't much,since I was more engrossed in filming the whole thing onto my cam and it was over too soon. We stood by the door and I was ooh-aah-ing the picturesque vignettes of greens and rivers.
Loves it! Loves Nimisha even mo' for taking the initiative. She's probably relieved that I won't be nagging her about trains anymore. But I'm still hankering for a full-fledged train trip to somewhere Far Beyond. Guess the craving for trains grew stronger post-Jab We Met!

Friday was a completely mad-mad day.
But first off- Vrinda,Nilla,Vinaya and Vaikhari get selected for university competition in gymnastics!! Congratulations girls!!!
Torrid rains which had us freezing and brrrrr-ing AND walking in hug-mode. It WAS so cold that I felt like I had stepped into a huge freezer that looked like a college. We are already half-frozen when a mega-cold wind blows by, and the 6 of us (rest were absent) go "brrrrrr..." together.
It's cold,wet and quite a happy day.
How was I to know I'd be wrapping up the day with a sorta-adventure??
Nimisha and I are the only ones who have to go to town for our next destination. The others travel the opposite route. BIG TRAFFIC JAM. we two walk miles, making pit stops to let me mend my slipper which keeps breakin' and have to walk carefully on top of a fence through a demolished site, then jump off 'cos the number of people walking by the fence is toooo much too. We take the difficult path [read-mucky path], and by the end of it, we know we have probably waddled our way through all sorts of dirt on our way. I can't muster up courage to even mend my slipper again. So I kind of swagger through the place in broken slippers.
NOT the end of the Sorta Adventure!
Just about to heave a relief that we have finally made it to the town, we are in for a worse shock. No mode of conveyance AT ALL to any place. Nimisha has better luck. One Bus for her place. Me? None.
Totally stranded in town. No one I know. No phone. No vehicle. And it's getting freaking late and daaaark.
It's already dark and my fertile imagination is thinking of all scary possibilities and hoping for the hero to "come and save me!"
The hero does come. Though pretty much a lot late. My brother finally came to pick me up on his motorbike. Just like the typical Bollywood Hero.
God bless the two wheelers! The only vehicle that can evade most traffic jams.
So my Bollywood Hero arrives late on his motorbike and saves me. Phew! Thanks bruv, you are a life-saver!

EndOfStory.

A "waah-some"/awesome week

2008-10-08T17:34:00.007+05:30

Waah! Kya Birthday Thi!, Waah! Kya Birthday Thi!!
October 1- Dozens of text messages, even more phone calls,cards, tearful- "I miss you" letter from a friend, hugs in person, one mom-made chocolate cake, add an almost surprise landing from Daddy, meet-up with old school friends.. Everything about the day was fantastic! In fact it was birthday celebratory mood for 3 days straight!
Thank y'all!

Waah! Kya Eid Thi!, Waah! Kya Eid Thi!!
I'd an extra speshul day 'cos Eid was on the same day as my Birthday. Mehndi on hands, family and friends all day, I loved it!
The hand with blue bracelet is mine. The one to my right is Barjis'. Below that is Shamnas'. AND the hand remaining is Thanzeela's!

Waah! Kya post-Eid/Birthday meet up thi!
Waah Kya post-Eid/Birthday meet up thi!!
Ah yes, high school best friends get together for some ice creams and catching up on each others' lives. We got to talk on phone to the love interests of 2 friends as well. Yup, except for me,MC and BS, everyone's been thru relationships.

And a 'not-so-waah Union Day' and a "Waah-Kya-Belated-Birthday-Celebration-Thi!"
Union Day was pretty boring. Thanks to DJ, we had fun grooving to good music. BUT there were dumbass pseudo-singers who spoilt the mood with stupid songs. AND Gymnast is having separation agonies. BF going away for a year.
Who cares? Definitely not me!
BUT, on the other side, we celebrated my birthday and I got 10 cute dolls, representing us 10 girls. Sothatslikecementinghefactthatwearenolongerlessthaneight. Anyways, I had a lovely gift to show off. That's fun!

Waah Kya Niqah Thi! Waah Kya Niqah Thi!!
My cousin gets married. And his wife is a perfect darling! I was part of the official Cousins-Photographers crew. Me, plus four or five or more cousins were like taking shots of celebs at the Cannes or something of the sort. So, we were confident that we hadn't missed out a single moment of the special day.

Almost forgot!!
Waah Kya Movie Thi! Waah Kya Movie Thi!!
Rock On rocks to the core. A really good movie sans the usual rona dhona and melodrama and item numbers and yet superb. The kind of movie Farhan himself makes. I wanted to write more on this movie, but that'd make this post longer than it already is.

Ciao for now!

Really back to blog-land this time around!

2008-09-24T12:19:00.006+05:30

Eeps. That wasn't a fun way to make a comeback. But the questions were kind of bugging me since yesterday. I deleted that post, cos it went completely against this happy place I'm trying to make up in here.

I'm pretty much really enjoying the Ramzan month. Y'know, all that fasting is actually good for you!Totally detoxifies the bod and soul. Make you come out clean. Mmm..

And at beloved college?
Excellenta!
This week has been especially earthly-heavenly!!

Some random day of this week:
We meet up with Gymnast's boyfriend. And he looks utterly toy-boy despite his almost brutal looking, breath taking muscles.

Y'day:
Lots of free hours. Had hard time convincing everyone that we weren't bunking at all. In fact, we haven't bunked at ALL for a long-long time. AND there was a sorta-spat between Phon.E and Frizz. It ended with Phon.E crying and Vinaya had to console her.
Post everyone else's lunch, we goof around the grand stairs, finally settling down for a game of reverse-quizzing. Un-understandable??? You think of someone we all know, I shoot max 21 questions at you to try to find out who it is. We split into pairs. Me and My-Girl weren't scoring at all, so finally when we DID manage to come up with a person the others couldn't guess, we were so happy. Hugh and Mad tried to madden us by saying we cheated, blah-blah. In the end, MG cried and I was almost out of breath with anger. The fire-coming-from-nose type anger.
One among the many things i can't, simply can't bear?
-False accusations. Even though they were just joking, we got all too messed up.
Anyways, Vinaya consoled MG. The Agony-Aunt back in action.

That done with. We realise that Namitha and Yours Truly are the only ones who haven't cried in college. Yet. The others have cried in random places within the campus. Dusk tops the list.

Got hold of K gang's shades. Very cool and Armani and all. We all take turns wearing it and taking photos in it, mimicking K gang's style. [=P]

To top it all, Hugh, Mad and me were sitting on the steps of the Grand Stairs as well. Quite unashamed, of course!
***********************
Today:
Free hours all morn. So we pack off to town to shop for my dress. Cool Uncle gave me money for that! Then zipping back to college on Singer's bike. Post everyone else's lunch, I slouch with loosened wild,untamed hair.
i love my hair. totally. truly. deeply. madly.
And then, Mad, Z and Frizz bunketh class and sit outside, listening to songs on CJ's phone.
Hey! Mad and Dusk are already crushed on him, proposing him back and forth. Now, it seems Z is a big fan of his as well!
Mad and Z lean on to each others' back. Then both mistake 2 strangers to be our professors and scramble for cover. Dumbo!
Ah well,
Lip-Syncing to "My LOve"-Westlife with Vinaya. Loved it sooo much! Both were squealing with delight, we couldn't really sing along since we wanted to enjoy Westlife's angelic voices.
Where the skies are blue, see you once again my love.
==========================
So addicted to college now, that we fantasise of setting up a tree-top house on the tree over Main Entrance and staying there for.ever.
***
Music-wise
*Namitha and I listen to "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"-Nirvana
I'm awestruck. So much passion and so intense. I could almost feel it in me.
*They try in vain to make me like some Malayalam romantic song. Un-impressive.
*Rock On is so wow.
*Everyone, everywhere is everytime listening to a new Tamil song "Kankal Irundaay" from movie "Santhosh Puram". Or something like that. I like it too!
* Jal new song "Ye Mera Pakistan" [at least, new to me] sounds good. real good. I sing with corrected lyrics "Ye mera Hindustan", :)
*Someone's got hair all Bob-Marley-in-the-making this monday! Turns out the yaar was pretty sick then. Dishevelled hair thus explained.

Dusk is missing out on a Lot. A helluva lot.

And Raphael's birthday is coming up!! Only 4 days to go!! Yeah!!

The last 3 weeks and y'day when we became angry young ladies

2008-09-06T14:49:00.010+05:30

Starting from yesterday and moving backwards, I got a lot to blog.
Y'day was our Onam celebration. Floral carpeting, tug-of-war, musical chairs and lounging (well, the last one was what we were doing primarily. It isn't a game). Who would have thought it had end like this? Vri always has had fights with the U. She mostly voices her disagreements. Which was why, though we were damned shocked, we knew why her tyres had been flattened. So pathetic, ugly, disgusting of them! Though I'm prone to cussing, it has never been too sharp. This time, I couldn't stop the downpour of expletives and curses. "How dare they?" Is this the way you had react to criticism?
So we wrote down a complaint to the Principal and went to the nearest police station and filed a complaint against the people Vri suspected.
Let's see what happens next. Too bad it's a 10 day hols now. Slows down the action a lot.
***
On the lighter side, everyone except me were dressed in traditional saris and looking pretty. And ZC was being close and chatty. Plus a lot of photos happened.
*******************Before that day
*Vi has bought a camera!
*Inspirational speech from our district collector. Makes me wanna take an IAS!
*Making paper rockets with Sanjoop. The cool dude definitely knows how to make 'em fly. I don't. =(
* We'd sat around the Grand Stairs and having fun when... Ragitha spotted a creepy black caterpillar on Nimisha's lap. That has everyone screaming like scaredy cats. Aaaaaaargh!!!!
*We have maxo fun at Ragitha's place. Even though I was running a slight fever and kept hush and Vinaya was the only one to find out. She's got an uncannily good observation.
All dance and jive. Arm wrestling after lunch. Namitha was beating everyone by cheating. She scratched and used the other arm as well to beat Vaikhari and Sajla. So when she tried to beat me up, I cheated for a change and tickled her. Yeah! I won!
Moral of story: Cheating is what cheating gets. Vaikhari's and Namitha's arms. Vinaya made them pose for my blog! The silly pair was smiling and Vinaya had to remind them that only their arms would be appearing.

*Freshers' Party cold have been more fun. sigh On the other side of the Abandoned Building, the Business Administration dept gets together and enjoy a traditional Onam luncheon. Forget a luncheon, we Functional English people don't even seem to have the unity to come up with a decent Freshers' party. BUT. the party WE threw last year for our direst juniors had been fantastic. This year, we let our juniors do the work, and it is disastrous. ugh.
*That Korean drama "Sassy Girl" which I talked about in my tag? It ended last week. And I'm literally crawling the web for more on them. And Nishi, i don't know Korean language except for a "yes", "what" and "why" in Korean. The dramas have English subtitles. That's how!
*We trudged up our college's own Forbidden Forest. Yeah!
*Namitha's birthday was celebrated on the college election day. Clinking glasses of water and raising toast for the girl and kissing her till she got tired. Phew!
*Got shortlisted in our very first campus recruitment interview.
*AND memory games where I lost out after Namitha,Vrinda and Vinaya. Vaikhari,Sajla and Ragitha survived.

Have I forgotten to write out anything? My girls had better tell me.

Comeback with a tag

2008-08-24T07:25:00.005+05:30

Been weeks since I blogged anything. Urk.
First off, it's a tag which I have kept pending for quite a long time. So my misadventures' post will follow only after this one.
I have been tagged by the very elusive Pirate Phoenix!!
Without further fussing, off we go!

1.What have you realised recently?
That I'm completely,totally, overwhelmingly crushed on a Korean drama, "Sassy Girl". So much, that I'm crawling the web for all sorts of info on it. Yes,you read right, no need to rub eyes. I.am.watching Korean serials now. The Pehli Nazar Mein was actually lifted from this drama's BGM!
2.Have you given your first kiss away?
To babies, teddy bears and the like. And friends. Nothing of the sort you intended when asking this qweshun.
3. If you were to be stranded on a deserted island, who are the 11 blog buddies you would take?
For one thing,I don't think I have 11 blog buddies either (just like you PP).
The ones I will take however would be;
The Nishi, AJ &Mohu---My 3 North blog buddies
Jean & PP- my South blog buddies
Blue Butterfly- though she ain't ecjactly a friend-friend,and our communication is strictly only thru comments on each others' blogs, I sure would like to have her around.
I feel like I've grown up with all of you guys! Thanks to your blogs.
AR Rahmaniac- Hope he brings his music system too so that the whole blogger circus that are-going-to-be-on-the-island don't get bored.
I had like Aamir Khan too!Though he's not a buddy, he's got a cool blog nah?
But on the other hand,I have always wanted to be stranded with my friends. Too bad they don't have blogs. Dusk does. But she hasn't blogged for 3 months.
4.Where is the place you want to go the most?
The Shire and Hogsmeade-fictionwise/
A lot of places-non fictionwise/
Like Kashmir,Coorg,Nainital, Agra, Delhi, England(because of the downpours they get), Austria(because of all the one million odd romantic Bollywood songs picturised there), Seychelles....
Why,why,WHY this qwestun??? I s.i.m.p.l.y don't know which place I want to go most!
5.If you have one dream to come true,what would it be?
Freeze time. Keep it frozen so that I don't have to leave college and my friends ever. So that I'm not required to grow up.
6.Do you believe in seeing the rainbow after the rain?
I get too busy enjoying the rain to notice any rainbows unless someone points it out. What's this about believing? It's not as if I believe in leprechauns and flabby devils!
7.What are you afraid of losing the most now?
Faith in God and confidence in myself. [I know it sounds like pre-rehearsed lines pouted by some empty-headed celeb]
But when I think more, actually I'm more afraid of losing weight now. I'm already skinny, if I lose anymore weight I'd be looking practically anorexic! Gak!
8.If you win $1 million, what would you do?
Shell a quarter of it on a week-long all-girls dream trip to... well, that's a secret!
Buy a swanky apartment so I get to live with my friends for.Ever, spend the rest on chocolates. Come to think of it, I will rent out the swanky apartment so that I can keep getting money for the chocolates. And no. I'm not sharing the chocolates with AnyOne.
But can I do all this with one million dollars???
9.If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her?
I'm not very expressive, so I'm not sure if that will ever happen.
10.List out 3 good points about the person who tagged you
Whoever came up with this tag is sure cunning!
Well, 3 good points on PP?
* She's sweet
*She's got a pretty thoughtful blog out there.
*And she's erm,sweet again. Sorry PP, I'm pretty bad on this!
11.What are the requirements that you wish from your other half?
Good one! He must be tolerant of my singing. I sing all time though I know I suck at it. Should be intelligent, witty, and at least sliiightly insane and bizarre. AND we should have similar taste in music. Is ok if he hates my tastes, but should bite his tongue and bear it. Should be protective of me. =)
So my Romeo, where fore art thou?
12.What type of people do you hate the most?
Liars, hypocrites and naggy old aunts and naggy-old-aunt types.
13.What is the one thing you can't live without?
Right now, I can't live without the Korean channel KBS. Good soaps and better reality shows. I have even given up watching Hindi channels altogether for this one! Weird!
14. If you have faults, would you rather the people around you point out to you or would you rather they keep quiet?
Depends on who's telling me. Its ok if my mad pals are pointing out my mistakes. I might get venomous and vicious if anyone else criticised me.
15. PP's tag shows that this qwestun is missing. What do I do?

16.Are you a shopaholic or not?
I can control myself. Since I don't earn. If I were earning,I'm afraid I'd go broke by day 2 itself.
17.Find a word to describe the person who tagged you
Sweet.
18.If you have a chance, which part of your character you would like to change?
My inferiority complex.
19.What’s the last shocking thing you've seen or heard?
I am shock-proof. No,I'm not a Fastrack watch. Nothing shocks me, is all.
20.Would you rather have love but no money or money but no love?
It's like the name of that dismal movie "Money hain to Honey hain".

Lastly, I tag:
Nishi, AJ, Mohua, Dusk, Amrita, Matangi and Blue Butterfly. Jean's been already tagged.

Celebrate the Day!!!

2008-08-11T18:41:00.003+05:30

Yes!!!!!!!!!!
Finally India has achieved the seemingly impossible feat of winning a GOLD in Olympics!!
The hero of the day(but the euphoria of his win will remain for 4 years,I guess!) Abhinav Bhindra beat even the invincible Chinese! Way to go!!

We couldn't stop cheering and whooping in delight,when we got the news from college.
After all, we were praying for at least a bronze, and India gets a G.O.L.D!!!!!
And it has been ages since India got gold, nah?