The year that was mine.

Entirely mine.

So here's what was going on while I went on blog-hiatus. Gak, these days (months, more like), everytime I blog, the post is by default a comeback post.

• My IIMK life has come to an end. (Tragic sigh follows)
• Which also means that my hostel life is over. Phew!
• Niqah over (I know I make it sound like an army commander reporting about a completed mission. That's how I felt once the hullabaloo had died down.)
• My heart wants a sabbatical, my brain wants other stuff.

Yeah, I wanted to do this post couple of weeks back, but like everything else I plan, this one got pushed down the procrastinated-pipeline-of-things-I-totally-have-to-be-doing-already.

Living Alone
Fending for myself in a new city was daunting, sometimes even aggravating in the start. Especially when you are a lazy bum and a geographically retarded bum at that, like me. Fun nevertheless. I could make impulsive decisions and just go buy stuff when I fancied so. I could do crazy stuff and just be me, and not worry, since hey- no one cares! And the beauty of earning and spending it on my family and myself. I still remember receiving my first paycheck. Great day!

And haunting the second hand book store. It became my favorite haunt in all of Calicut after IIMK. Thanks to Rahul!

Roomie love
Sure this life came with its baggage. My colleague and I had joined together, and lived together. Boy was that mad. We're as unlike each other as possible. To the point where if I like something, I know she'll hate it, and vice versa. We couldn't stand each other's lifestyle. So when she moved out after getting a new job- the move practically saved our friendship. Ridunkulus as that may sound. See, some relationships are like that. It's better not to spend too much time together in such cases cos that will just ruin things.

Anyway, I made a truckload of friends at my hostel. A motley crowd in fact. They came and they went. Some stayed longer thanks to their respective exams or courses, some lasted only weeks before they ran from the crap food and kleptomaniacs that infest the hostel. But despite the number of days they spent there, I fell in love with all the girls who were unlucky/lucky? enough to be my roommates. Some were strong, intelligent and outspoken and awesome like my first roomie Amu. Some were whimsical like Luna Lovegood (Leah!). Some were mature and sametime crazy like Christie. Whichever way, all beautiful, all amazing.

Coming back, main point of the whole crazy hostel life:
I lasted a whole year!
It's definitely something to be proud of, kid. I survived bad food, consequent sicknesses, forthmentioned creepy kleptomaniacs and more.

Niqah-
ok, I'mma be brief about this cos ceremonies and social functions ain't my thing. And the Niqah just emphasised that fact. I love being around my family. Extended family included. I unconditionally love them all no matter how weird or flawed they may be. They're family. Everything's forgiven.
Anyway, my Niqah event was crazy fun thanks to this extended family. We came together as one single unit, had fun, goofed around and in general- had a great time. What I didn't love was the dress-up part. SO not me.

And the wedding songs that I usually am ok with when singing for someone else getting married. But when it's me they are singing to, I'm actually yawning! I can't stand the cheesier than cheesy lyrics (try this: "the girl blushed as they made her wear the pretty flowers". Gaaaaah. Seriously? Seriously? I'm supposed to not laugh at that??!)They're fun as long as you don't sing em to me!

 But it was fun watching my cousins and mom and dad and the photographer who came plead and beg me to Smile like a girl would smile dammit! All I could muster was my half-smile/smirk.
And here's proof that I've had the same smile ever since I was a wee bratty kid. (I was a brat. A spoilt one at that)

Le smirky face

They wanted something else. I tried a grin, but that was ruled out as unwholesome. How? Was it an alligator laugh? Or you find the girl seeming like she's on dope? Maybe it's the second. Or maybe it's just me. Siiiiiigh.

IIM aka Heaven aka Para-para-paradise

Saving the bias for last.
Like I mentioned, my IIM phase is over. And that's a huge void that will never get filled up. Ever. This is where I need a melodramatic emoticon to express all my melancholy and pain at departure from said heaven.
 
    This is where I got over the trauma I had received from my dept head from post grad years. ok, I really want to say awful things about him, but I realize I'll just be damaging myself, so I refrain.
     This is where I grew into a confident, self-assured, strong person. Most of that had gotten wiped off the slate from the above mentioned miserable black hole of a human.
     This is where I lived in an awesomely happy environment, great colleagues and superiors and had the luck to work under the Most Amazing, The Person I Respect Most, Perfection Personified, Frikkin' Amazing Guru - aka, my Boss. Or in simpler terms, the Chief Librarian & Information Officer plus a million other titles he works by. I'm still awed by his humility despite how genius he is. He could have been a mean pig, but he chose to be awesome. Respect.
    This is where I perfected my work ethic and realized I'm a quick learner and pretty sharp at my job. Yay! Major ego boost.
    And how can I forget! This is where I got the chance to meet greats like RBI Governor, ministers of Kerala Cabinet and all. 
    This is where I fell in love with the awesomeness of Tumblr too. And also found and fell irretrievably in love with The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

    This is where I fell in love over and over AND over again with a place. I don't think words can do justice to how unbelievably heavenly my work place is.

See what I'm going on an on about?
The clean, clean, cold air. The long walks downhill, the adorable workplace friends (I love you allllllll!), the everyday joy of going to work here!, and the fact that we get to work in a place where the work ethic mostly consists of 'do your work. no need to stress out. is all.'/ I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting the finer points.
But oh well, one can never explain beauty. Only attempt and fail.

I just made a point to take a mental snapshot of my paradise before I left. (cries into pillow)

   

The post about the fact that I've put a ring on it. Metaphorically =)

Yes ladies and gentlemen and the wookies all over who bother to check up on my blog. Back with apologies for not blogging so long and happy news!

I'm engaged.
Cue squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee and in case of friends you-gotto-be-kidding-me. (which i can totally understand considering what kind of weird nut I are.)


No seriously. I'm engaged. No longer single (that was awesome while it lasted =) ). Will be married next year and then moving to Mohali to boot. Lol.

Quite a huge much to take in i guess. Anyway, he's from the same profession as me (Libraries you nerds!), which means we've loads of common ground in between. But no, it's actually an old fashioned arranged marriage, even though everyone's second guessing considering we're both librarians. Gah. Doncha know I never was a romantic? Well, ok, sure that's going to change now though. *Giggles!

Righto then all. I'll be back with a more proper blog post later down the week.Otherwise I'll be getting killed by a dear friend who has promised to do the deed if I ever stop blogging. Where'd I be if not for such awesome friends?? And now, signing off. and taking my fiance with me. neener!

Annyeong! 

Good things ALWAYS follow up when bad things happen

Wheee!! *Does the happy dance*

Was kinda out of alignment from bloggerhood for a while, and now? It feels sooooooo good to be back! Gak, I'd really wanted the entire world to love the song I posted in my last post. Well, doesn't matter since I got two lovely ladies to fall in love with the craziness. Mission 2% success!

Anyhoo, I was having to rough it out for a while these past few weeks. Favorite cousin gone and settled away in Dilli, favorite torrent site for all my Korean tv-stuff being mean and banning me for God-knows-what-weird-reason. And to top all this? I fell sick thanks to hostel food and had to stay put at home for 8 whole days. On Leave from work. And now thanks to getting sick for so long, I've run out of all my Casual Leaves quote. Daaaaaayum. Worse was that my till-then darling hostel-warden not only doesn't give a care, she doesn't even bother asking where on Earth I was away for one whole week. Reason? She knows and doesn't care that lots of us hostel people have been falling sick and stuff. Duhhhhh.

Then I lose all my weight (as if I had any to start with. mph.) and get back to my workplace to find that the canteen has been relocated to the End of the World. Literally the remotest, further-most corner of the whole, wiiiiiiiiiiiiide campus. And even worse? The food has taken a turn for the worse. How am I supposed to get better when you dish out floopy food and give me hundreds of flights of stairs in between to reach the damned-canteen? It's as if the Universe is against me gaining weight. Thou shalt live stick thin and not ever gain even a gram beyond your 39kg self. Gah!

But since I firmly believed that good things always follow bad stuff (that's a tested-to-be-true Islamic saying). No matter even if they come in truck loads or Titanic loads. Here came the awesome news three days into unconcerned hostel authorities, trashy canteen food and the Flights of Horror and 3 days post-recovering:

Pay raise and new job designation!! 

Which means more yayy and that finally we're elevated off from our lowly trainee situation. Awesomeness! Awesome even if our superiors want us to throw them a party for this good news. Whatev, you need pizza, I'mma get you all a pizzeria! Happy mood reigns supreme,
and there came good news # 3:
I now have 3gb+ data to shell out on this month on my smart-ass phone/ Yippeeeeeeeee!!
and the other important good news:
IT'S FINALLY MY FAVORITE SEASON!! MONSOON is here!!!!

I'm sure I've forgotten some other random good stuff going on in my life, but well- all that matter is that nothing can bring me down/ Not mean people, hostels or 1000 steps to cross and reach lunch. Plus I'm happy my decision to stick on with current job went well.
Stay patient, be positive and good things will definitely come your way. =)

Anyone else got good news to share?

That negativity-inspiring-muse

 To you,
With loathing and
Wishful thinking
(Since I'll probably never say this aloud).

Time goes so slowly by
When I'm by your side.
And I just can't wait
for the moments together
to get over.

Every word you say is
-trash
Every thought of yours
-better off unsaid
And every single deed of yours
-makes you more tiresome for me.

Why did you have to happen to me?
Why you in my life?
The questions in my head
Annoy me like you.

Sick and tired of your faking
All I want is to stay away from your crazy.
What's the use of those smiles,
When every next word of yours is guaranteed to be lies.
        And when I see you be fake nice  again,
        I want the world to stop doing anything else...
And throw things at you.

You lie,
Don't even blink an eye,
Twist your words,
And not so much of guilt or regret in anyway.

Nothing about you works
the right way round.
You'd chat, lie, be mean
if that got you a win.

But when I try to bite back,
Not fight back,
Curb the bad feelings towards you?
     There you come shuffling in,
     with all that contagious negative vibes in tow-
              So immense they could ruin a whole continent
              So vile that I'm scared by mere proximity
              So manipulative that I want to scream and
                   want the world to know the truth of you.
              So false, it's bizarre no one notices.

I look at you,
and all I can think is
-bitchface.
Doesn't matter what others think you are,
I know you for what you are-
and that's:
    Awful through-and-through
    Shame to my gender,
    Hypocrite,
    Why, no principles whatsoever.

She thought you're just silly,
He thinks you're not much,
They think you're just a random normal somebody,
But only I can see that you're my personal nightmare-come-to-life.

What've you done to me,
Messing up a good girl's soul
Somehow trying to make me mean like you.
And I never hated on anyone,
Never ever badmouthed even the foulest person I knew.
   But you turned things round,
   Screwed my good life.

All I want is away from your drama
Exit-Stage-Left.

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

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!

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

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.

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

Karma's a bitch and i should've known

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.

Thanks to you...

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. =)

Of heartbreaks and the Heartless

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.

Pft

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

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].

1. I chose Master in Library and Information Science [doesn't sound posh or swanky, but is quite a good choice] {MLISc}
   
2. Namitha chose Masters in Journalism. {MCJ}
   
3. Vinaya chose PG in Social Work.{MSW}
4. Vaikhari dahling is doing Master in International Relations. [DEFINITELY swanky!]
5. Ragitha is doing her MBA
6. Oh! Prajisha got married! Might take up Bachelor in Edu next year,hopefully.
7. Nimisha is in her Master of Hospital Administration, and loving it. [actually, everyone's loving what they chose!]
8. 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!!

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

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

Entre nous

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!

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)

Why can't I choose my family!?

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!

The tour that felt like a lifetime

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!

Kabhi Kabhi Phon.E... & Trailor Review II & yak-yak

First off, I want to sing and cheer up my very heart-broken friend Phone.E who's having a rough time,thanks to her oppressive,suspicious boyfriend. All we have to do is to look at her,and we find ALL the reasons as to why-one-should-NOT-fall-in-love.
So,
"Kabhi kabhi Phon.E, zindagi mein yunhi koi apna lagta hain.
Kabhi kabhi Phon.E woh bichad jaye to ek sapna lagta hain.
aise mein koi kaise apna aansuon ko behna se roke,
aur kaise koi sochde, everything's gonna be ok?"
-And the rest of the wondehful song.

Break-up threatenings apart, everyone of our gang wants to really punch the senses out of her guy. He just blackmails her so much emotionally that it's God's Mercy she hasn't not fallen to pieces. Very strong gurl over there, people. For one thing,none of us would have even let a relationship with that idiot, if we could.
Maybe God knows we would have made messy situations even messier,
maybe that's why things are not in our control. Hm.
-----------------------------------

I'm having a bad time trying to convince Vaikhari that I'm actually very grown-up. Like,
Me:"Hey, I am mature and serious!"
Vaikhari:"Says who?"
Me:"Says me!"
Vaikhari: "Say that again with your green parrot pipe and teddy bears in hand."
Me: (inward groaning,since I know she's right there. changes tactics.) "At least I look serious!!"
Vaikhari: "Not a bit".
Me: "An atom?"
Vaik: "No"
Me: "A nano?"
Vaik: "Not even that much seriousness, you ARE too childish!!!!!!!"
Me: (gives up on pleading with small quantities. changes tactics again) "Says you? You are not childish??"
Vaik: (stumped. cos she didn't expect that.) "Huh?"
She's either worse than me or equal to me or a bit lesser than me when it comes to being immature. We give up on the stoopid fight.
*The olive greenish brownish text is fiction. I made that up. The rest of the conversation happened though.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trailer review time!!
And the best trailer award goes to........
ROCK ON!!!!!!- Obviously the best of the whole lot. Awesome rock music from Shanker-Ehsaan-Loy. The guys are looking very chilled and born rockstars. And Farhan actually sings quite well! "Socha Hain" and title track "Rock On" plus some other tracks were sung by himself.
The sepia tones give the movie a very stylish look. I'm soooooo looking forward to this one movie!
Ugly aur Pagli- The second trailor I'm really impressed by. And whatte catchy tagline;
"99 slaps, 1 kiss"
Ha ha!
Though Mallika Sherawat is far from what I like,but I love watching her do comedy. And her wardrobe for this movie is pretty cool. The fringe and casual clothes were stuff you find girls wear,unlike her otherwise gravity defying skimpy clothes. And Ranvir Shorey looks exactly like a frustrated,oppressed boyfriend. Music is extreme party genred. "Talli" is so much w.o.w!
And the funky-romantic "Ye nazar,aur ye adayein" is feet-tapping.
The way she keeps slapping him, had me wishing Phon.E had half the wits around her to slap her boyfriend when he asks for one.
Bachna Ae Haseeno- Good music from Vishal-Shekhar. The 3 chicks and the hunk( the wow hunk) look beautiful, great locales, and designer clothes. The movie has EVERYTHING. But does it have a story? plot?Guess that's not very important nowadays,huh?

Well, the other trailer I noticed but HATED was-God,Tussi Great Ho. If you didn't realise it was the Indian version of Bruce Almighty, buzz off! You've NO brains in you!
I didn't feel that any of the rest of the trailers were worth reviewing.

Ah yes,another movie I noticed was "Hijack". not much.Wannabe Hollywood if anything. Terrorists and all, the hero running,jumping and saving lives. Obviously the terrorists had to be with Muslim names who probably keep on saying Arabi once in a while in between their conversations. Pathetic,really. The fact that the movie industry thinks that all goons, terrorists, extremists and bad people are Muslims. Whereas the truth is violence knows no religion.
That's it. I'm taking off.
Bye for now, and keep coming back and responding. You don't know how much I love you people!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Post script- Just returned from a friend's wedding. Good food, but no excitement. ie-no wedding songs or anything of the sort.

Zi baby comes home/ Z's day out;literally

Apologies for the long disappearance. Anyways I had a lovely week. Wednesday my favorite cousins came home,and Zi came in tow! I got so excited by their arrival that I absented myself from classes the next day. Hey,they stayed for a mere 24 hours man!And its not always that u get cousins to stay. I spent the most of it zooming my lens in on darling-darling Zi, my cutie-pie niece and snapping shots of her. AND talking with my dear brother Mac and sister Zub. Late night, us 3 ended up spending some hours on a Mensa test. Bheja fry sample or what? Phew! But we did scrape a decent 15 marks though.
Anyways, friday was pretty exciting for Z. She got to talk smooth and lots with her Crush. Still flushing post that chat, she steps in for an extremely boring class. You cannot blame Z and her pals for playing an innocent game of Filmy Hangman. Well, her teacher caught them and kicked them outta class. And the idiots still can't stop laughing over it. They actually recorded and shot their fotos together in memory of the day they got kicked out.

Wipe out all that.
I got hold of all my recent wished for songs!!! JTYJN, Ada, Khuda Kayliye and Jal the band.
I simply can't get enough of the ARR songs! Every single one of them is just gorgeous!
Especially Meherban-Ada and Kahi to hogi-JTYJN. And Sajni from Jal,the Pak band. AND Bandya from Khuda kayliye. AND....
oh well, you better stop me or I will continue gushing on about my favourite composers and artists and all.

Ciao for now.

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/