1/1/'11

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:

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

Sad things?

1. More people got married and drifting away
2. Friends and friends' family getting abused, cheated upon and divorced. =(
3. Read lesser books cos of lack of time SLASH lack of time management.
4. And another favorite girlfriend moves out o town. =( But she's doing really fine, so- w00t!
5. .Deaths, suicides.
6. Most of my Eids and my Christmas this year were ruined thanks to effing-aptly timed exams. Dang!
7. 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

The year after the Beginning, and before the Ending

This one's a look-back at my past academic year. The fun year! This might be rather long, you are warned!

June- Second year begins, on a rather sullen note for me since I was still melancholic with my cousin's death. But my friends helped me recover soon. Vaikhari moved into Vinaya's home. My favorite surrogate brother calls! Admitted that I have more surrogate relationships than anyone else around me. But he's my blue-eyed boy! The felicitation thingy. Doesn't help much that our dept always bags ranks as a habit. And we have to always do speeches and organise events. Sound of Music rules. I share my S.o.M cd with friends and we're singing High on a hill was a lonely goatherd, Maria, the Farewell Song etc.. Last year's crush still flickerin' from somewhere within. New lecturers, we get prejudices against some, but that changes soon. Begin- the Cognitions workshop. Kinda ok with that since my pack always happen to be together in everything, adventure/misadventure. Got new friends bcos of those Communicative Skills classes. Me and Vinaya get seriously bitching abt irresponsibility of our dept with....our teachers Prof Babu&Efthikar! Actually we bitch abt everything with our teachers, they're all more informal than any other dept. I have the best deptmental family in here!! Books,books and more of 'em. New ma'am for journalism, she roxx! By now we bgin bunking Cognition classes.They were gettin too bawring. Singing songs all over the place, "like the gypsies", Anil sir quips! Some teachers are taking 3month leaves. So thoughtful of them..
27 June- Prajisha's b'day. Gift her bag, bookmark and card.

July-Novel summary assignment. These classes when Leena ma'am make us summarise novels is fun. We get to ask the person questions and make 'em sweat, (obviously they havent read the whole thing yaar!) Windsurfing on the buses to college and from college as always. Wimbledon matches. Federer equals Borg's record of 5 Wimbledon titles!!!!!Love ya Fed! Some Union workshop at college, since me and Vinaya are Joint Convenors we HAD to sit down for the revolutionary speeches(which were kind ok).Vaika joins in later, she too a joint convenor. We bgin talking thru paper chits and gestures.Starved thru the 3 hour long programme. The next week witnessed a fight at college. We watched it all! Rain hols declared. Interviews for admission begin. Lots of rain walks and runs!!! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.Me and Vaik deathly worried,"will JKR finish off Harry?" J class- me as Pratibha Patil,prez candidate in meet-the-press. Cool me fended off questions thrown esp by Nami and Vinaya.

August- Literary association of department inaugurated in style.And I'm chosen as Secretary!! Reaching college drenched is becoming a habit for us now.And in Kerala it's raining from June to December virtually! Lunch times are mostly turning into Mad-Hatter's tea-parties.Me and Nimisha arguing passionately(with witnesses-mostly threatened into saying so;)that Idiputtu and Idiyappam are 2 different food items. Others argue as heatedly that they 2 are one and the same.Onam. Welcome party for freshers. Soft-core ragging.Just silly kid stuff. Namitha's birthday-Aug15. Gift her watch and card. 18-Thanzeela's b'day. Riph sweet is back home!Both of us spend quality time together going for shopping and eating out.
Nimisha is all sweetness.For she's the only one who wants to listen me sing Avril,Linkin Park, and anything english. I enacted Iago in Shakespeare hour!!

September- Nami n me verbal duel.Well,all of us do! Began Orkut account! Wild singing sessions continue.We were born-entertainers who force our vocal skills on others, *chuckle! Everyone else begin Orkutting as well. Bunkings continue. Strikes n fights. Footloose,settle down near green-house. Vrinda and I race down to Portico.I win! But my footwear wears out=( // Sporty's damn cool-dumps boyfriend and still happy-no heart breaks and tears. Sooraj n Fenrir Greyback distribute toffees to celebrate T20WC Indian win. Bad communications day.Written words hurt deep. Soothing balm from N.But everything's sorta changed.I can forgive,but can't forget. But all's fine now.

October-My big day!!Thanks to Orkut I get my long-lost neighbours and school pals. I invent a story out of Nokia ringtones, Bollywood style!Everyone loved it! Vinaya and Vaikhari get a TV break to dance for their college.EID. Busy times, overloaded with assignments. Jashn-e-Debates season begins.A new dimension of me comes out bcos of this.

November-Debate season begins. finally the impossible has happened.I fall out of luv with the Union's attitude with the rest of my pack.But I still idealise them sort-of.Sajla (popular singer of Kerala, plus our friend,she's my class mate.), Vrinda,Nimisha and me go bag shopping for Sajla after classes.Fun.//22nd is a remarkably awesome day.We all set off for wedding gift shopping for Prajisha's big sis.Vaik was in foul mood from ruck with Achayan.To cheer her we go to a tourist spot near Sports Academy local branch.Vri's friends live there.Me,Nimisha and Namitha ended up fighting over umbrella instead. Off shopping for gift.But all do shopping for themselves, and now we're late.Uff! I bought a cool black bead bracelet.Finally we resolve and buy a pretty dress for her.Vaik-Nimisha fight.Foul moods again.
25th- Prajisha's sister's wedding.What's even more special is that I'm attending my very first Hindu wedding and I'm gonna eat my very first "Sadya" all veg and rice.Fun at wedding,witnessed "thalikkettu" and I made a dumbass of me trying to drink the "rasam" with my hand. Impossible!! After cool wedding, we skip off to Namitha's home.Fun time there too.She's got a parrot couple[Chinnu-Minnu] and a single parrot[Rooney, ya reference to Wayne Rooney!] plus a late dog[Jimmi]. Back home late evening,I'm dead tired. 4th b'day of Harmony!

December- I began "Pieces of Me"-my bloggie pet!! 7th-Ragi's b'day. Sajla buys a Scooty Pep. I learnt "Stone-Paper-Scissor" from my young cousin. Association Inauguration and Film Screening. Can you believe it?Instead of watching TZP with my school buddies Baju&Shamnas( yay, the 3Smashers rollicked all over town that day!), we get sorta trapped in the theatre and hadta watch a stupid B grade Malayalam slapstick comedy cos
TZP was over there.=( Nonetheless, enjoyd the time spent togetha and did laff at some one liners.. I did get to watch TZP later on though.

January 2008- . I can actually argue patiently and bring rivals down to their knees (as long as they aren't cheating, that is.) My first year's results came finally after 7 months. I met an Orkut friend. Attended class mate's wedding.A first!

February 2008- In semi-finals of debate, won against the odds, beat the Business dept! Are we dark-horse league or what?! GA fractures leg. Namitha and me are crazy abt debates as a whole now, actually hunted down the whole college for juniors' debate! Our winning streak didnt last long.Lost out in the finals, but we still feel something foul in the air.
College day-mega fun, but it ended with me getting a sore throat which later on developed into a full-fledged bad cold. Z is actually me. i crush'd.

March 2008- Vinaya sprains leg. Bunking spree is very much fun! Friends ho to mere friends jaisa honi chahiye. They motivate crushes and once it is achieved, they will pull u back bfore hings get too complicated!Luv u darlings! Power-packed singing session today.Max fun and croaky throats at the end.Back to back Bolly and spriklings of regional stuff and English.Totally.Rocked.The.Place. Shopping in town,myself bought a cute,chunky bag.=D Tug wars,tributes, crushes-here me and Nami are totally hopeless cases!Happy Feet last edition. Dusk begins blog. Fling and Flirt donno what to do with themselves,can't even call quits, grf!
Official last day of second academic year-Farewell party went smooth,no hitches and much fun. And on a happier note, smoke has died down!
Then the exams.
The End of a very happy year. happys ending!
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Books I read in the second academic year:
English,August-Upamanyu Chatterjee/ Goddess Abides-Pearl S.Buck/Writer's Diary-Virginia Woolf/Villette-Charlotte Bronte/The Bridge Across Forever-Richard Bach/Secret Garden-Frances Hodgson Burnett/Wuthering Heights-Emily Bronte/To Kill A Mocking Bird-Harper Lee/French Lieutenant's Woman-John Fowles/Harry Potter&the Deathly Hallows-JKR/Nanny-Charlotte Bingham/Jonathan Livingston Seagull-Bach/Prophet-Kahlil Gibran/Poems-Matthew Arnold/Rubaiyat-Omar Khaiyyam>Fitzgerald/Disgrace-JM Coetzee/Journey to Ithaca-Anita Desai/Istanbul'Memories of a city-Orhan Pamuk/Unbearable Lightness of Being-Milan Kundera/Clandestine in Chile-Gabriel Garcia Marquez/Persuasion-Jane Austen/Inheritance of Loss-Kiran Desai/Chetan Bhagat/Othello-Shakespeare/Collected Stories-GGM/Hundred Years of Solitude-GGM(man,u need some kind of tough stomach for this book.Weir.D!)/Interpreter of Maladies and other stories-Jhumpa Lahiri/Queen's Confession-Victoria Holt(again and again)

Movies I watched:
Salaam-e-Ishq/Don/Omkara/Khosla ka Ghosla/Bheja Fry/Shrek3/Metro/TaRa RumPum/Chak De!! India/Taare Zameen Par/Dil Hain Ke Maanta Nahi/Music and Lyrics/Pride&Prejudice and In Her Shoes for the Nth time/Om Shanti Om/Race/

One sad poem

I wrote this piece for my college level versification. Topic was "That rainy night".
Though me and Vinaya goofed and played around,at the end, I wrote about my cousin who left too soon after getting seriously injured in a bike accident. So you could understand that this poem is rather personal. I felt satisfied at having written it. Though I couldn't bag the first prize, I felt so much at peace. I mean, I had meant to do it all along, yet something held me back..like the feeling that I wouldn't be able to do justice to his memory,his adventurous life and everything about him. Anyway..This is kind of my way of paying tribute to my brother-
a good friend, helpful, caring, naughty and loving. I regret the fact that I warmed up to him rather late. He used to be soooo irritating when I was younger!
But I really miss you bruv,now that you're gone..I really really miss you.

Here's the poem-
And tonight I relive
Every moment of that day.
That fatal news,
That tear-streaked night
That dug up earth where you were to lie.

After all these months,
I can still remember
Those drawn up faces
The hushed up cries
The talking in whispers.

In this rain-
All those tear stained memories
Have come back to life
Wrapped in this pitch black night.
And it feels like it was all just yeasterday.

I walked through that melancholic rain
Drenched, with a burdened heart.

In that loneliness that only death could bring;

I screamed my agony to an inky black night..

But the night was crying too.

I realised then that,
After you, nothing remains.
One crash was all it took
To bring about a world of sadness.
"Were you really gone?"

My tear are wasted
They just bring back sadness.
And my prayers are wasted.
You left all too suddenly-
Never to return.

I cry not because you left
But because you left too soon.
And in the silence that prevails
Everything is finished
All that remains is that one rainy night...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The final parting was on May 6th,2007.

Death

Yet another death.Yet another acquaintance I know.
When mom hung up on the phone and told me what had happened and asked me who had died,well,what can I tell you?
I felt knocked out,breathless.
I knew her from college.Sometimes travelled together even.
Apparently her dupatta(shawl) got caught when trying to cross the rails.They somehow didn't notice the train that rushed past a second later,which left her dead.

Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi rajioon.

Mom was worried I might get too worried.But for me it was just another reminder that death is always sharp in front of you.
For me it was Shani's death all over again.
[My cousin,my dear brother, left us last year May6th.Praying to Allah,that we shall all meet again in happy circumstances in the Hereafter.Ameen]

Couldnt help crying.