Showing posts with label My Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label My Life. Show all posts

Hues of Holi

Posted by Flyaway Mind comments (5)

The Holi celebration last week turned out to be a bonding time for all girls in our flat. Till then, me and RT shared a kinda hi-bye relationship with the rest of the girls. And on Holi, we just let down our guard and celebrated like a band of hooligans. I had almost lost hopes of celebrating Holi this year, since my Mom had come to stay with me for a week. My mom being the paranoid Mom that she is, warns me and RT about the colourful toxic chemicals choking our larynx, trachea, bronchi and all possible organs and about the deadly dermatological conditions that we may develop in the aftermath of Holi.

On the night of Holi, RT could no longer resist herself and returned from office wearing an evil grin and saches of colours overflowing her arms. She opened the door in a dramatic gesture and screamed, "Let 's play Holi girls !!!!!" I turned around to Mom and saw the ghastly expression on her face.



Mom: Are these natural colours or artificial? Where did you buy them from?
RT: Oh Aunty.. These are from roadside..Obviously some chemical...I got it cheap for 20 Rs
Mom had a priceless expression on her face
Mom: Heyyy!!!!! I will buy you natural colours tomorrow and you can play Holi then...
RT: But Aunty Holi is TODAY !!!!

By then the rest of the girls had joined in, all ready to celebrate. Mom couldn't tell anything and I took the silence for an Yes. (mounam sammatham) It was around 11 pm in the night. We debated on whether to celebrate on the roadside or on the terrace. Finally, taking into consideration our poor neighbourhood souls, we decided on terrace.. We created quite a ruckus on the terrace, screaming and attacking each other. I could feel the weird taste of colours stuffed into my mouth and even my ears were plugged with it.It was midnight and our laughter and screams reverberated the silent peaceful neighbourhood..A pack of street dogs were ferociously barking in front of our gate. Even our neighbour's friendly Alsation dog Tyson was going wild. We got phone calls from our worried house owner. Well, who had time to answer his calls. I must say our house owner is a cool dude. He didn't later enquire or make a fuss about our midnight escapade and we went on as if nothing had happened. And to add brownie points, the Holi brought all of us girls more close. We are bossom buddies now.

Two hours later, we were downstairs and pestering Mom.
RT: Aunty, can you click our pics pleaseeee????
Mom: NOOOO.. I will die of heart attack if I keep watching you
Me: Amma, can I hug you?????
Mom: @##$%%

At midnight, 3 baths and several scrubs later, I finally looked presentable.

Holi has always given me memorable moments. Two years before, in our office they arranged for celebrations at the rooftop cafeteria. Heaps of natural colours were kept at the counter along with sweets, snacks and unbelievably a vessel full of Bhang. We had a whale of a time. But there were a few scared lot, who went and locked themselves in the cafeteria restrooms.. Well, how long can they stay there.. When they ultimately came out, the tumultuous attack that awaited made them repent for being over-smart.

That year, at our PG, there was this this drama queen (DQ) who took bath and washed clothes only once in a blue moon. She shoves her dirty clothes into the cupboard and wears the same two days later after lavishly spraying the deodorant. At our wits end, when we enquire about this, the standard reply used to be "Oh, I took bath when you went out". Exasperated, I and N went on to plot a naughty scheme to break DQ's nonbathing spree. On the day of Holi, we thought it was the perfect time to execute our plan. We went and bought all possible colour saches. But at midnight we felt sorry for poor DQ and decided we won't drench her in coloured water but just smear the powder on her face and dress so that she is forced to take a bath. We attacked DQ with the powders at midnight and awaited with our fingers crossed. To our utter dismay, DQ just dusted off the powder from her clothes and went to the wash basin to wash off the colours from her face!!! "I will take bath tomorrow", she proclaimed. That was the final straw. We just went ahead and dissolved the colours in big jars of water and poured it directly over her head. For DQ, there was no option but to sulkingly go and take bath at midnight.. Phew...What a satisfying way to celebrate Holi!!!!

Last weekend I was at IIT to meet hubby. It was the perfect time to be there since Saarang, the annual Cultural fest of IIT was on.

I reached Chennai at around 5am. One thing that surprises me about Chennai is that even at the wee hours of morning, when it's still dark, you will find womenfolk out in public. Old grandmas going to temple, the flower sellers busy with their day's work, women jogging near the beach, college girls going for tuition. It's a relief for the lone woman travelers. For me, the progressiveness of a city depends on how safe it's for a woman to travel alone there. In Bangalore, you will see lots of young crowd(girls) out in public even at midnight. But early mornings, the streets are almost deserted. In Chennai, you can see lots of ordinary women, the lower and middle class women out in public space, come midnight or dawn. That's what I love about Chennai..

IIT is carved out of Guindy National forest and hence is a botanist's delight. It's like a campus inside forest, with the canopy of gigantic trees, lakes and mangroves sprawling the campus. Spotted deers, black bucks, monkeys and migratory birds throng the place, unhindered by human presence.

The campus is an enchanting place. I love cycling through the campus roads sheltered by dense canopy of age-old trees on either side, stopping occasionally to watch out for a deer or black buck.. I love taking a night stroll in the huge windy stadium with M, chattering away under starry skies, watching fitness freaks jogging and sweating it out, kids playing in the sand as their parents keep a watchful eye. I love going to the Open Air theater on weekends, watch the movie/show being screened, sitting in the open air gallery cosily hugging M. I love sitting at campus Cafe Coffee Day at midnight, sip a hot cuppa of coffee, devour a slice of yummy walnut brownie, relax and chat with M till 1 am when they finally close down CCD.

But this time, IIT was looking different, all decked up for Saarang 2010, bustling with the young crowd, all colourful, vibrant and noisy. I had already missed the 1st day of Saarang. On the 2nd day, we went to watch hip-hop and rock contests. Watched hip-hop for some time and it looked like something straight out of a 'Step Up' movie. At the rock show, it was a totally freaked out, bizarre crowd, guys with long hair, tattoos and few foreigners all head banging to the groovy beats. I was watching headbanging live for the first time. All this while, I had thought, headbanging was just a literal term.. hehee..I feel so outdated.. And my neck hurts  just by watching them bang their heads at such high frequency. Then we ventured out to the food stall to have mouth melting homemade kulfis. We missed out on the music show, since both of us were tired and returned to M's quarters.

On 3rd day, I attended pottery workshop and tried my hands at clay art. The instructor taught me how to knead the clay, place it on potters wheel and shape it out. Even tried making concentric ring design to my pot using a stick..HURRAYYY!!!! And here it is..







 I tried modeling a human face out of clay, but that was a total disaster, with people misinterpreting it for a devil with popped out eyes and crooked nose...Sigh...The face painting contest was going on. We watched the burst of colours for a while and then moved on to Fashion Show, which had brilliant shows from NIFT and few others. I guess NIFT was inspired by Priyanka Chopras "What's your Rashee". They had designed dresses for 12 girls each of a different sunsign and 3 guys who formed the trinity (Brahma,Vishnu,Siva).

 That night, it was the much awaited Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy show at the Open Air Amphitheater. The place was tightly packed with over 10,000 enthusiastic fans. Sat in the crowded theater with M's friends and had a rocking time, dancing and screaming to Shankar Mahadevan's pulsating music. The whole stadium turned frenzy with Koi Kahe, Pretty Woman, Rock On, Mitwaa and many others.. At one stage when Shankar sang Taare Zameen Par, the whole crowd switched on their mobile and started waving it in the dark stadium which gave the feeling that the star studded sky was down on earth.. Really taare zameen par. I had an adrenaline blast after a really long time!!!! The final day we didn't attend much other than the Salsa workshop, which me and M enjoyed to the core.

That was an eventful weekend. It rekindled the dormant memories of my college days, the cultural fest, catcalls, screaming and the frenzied dancing...Hats off Saarang 2010!!!!

Chamba

Posted by Flyaway Mind comments (5)

I first met Chamba in the PG, where I used to stay 3 years back. She was always draped in a maroon robe, had a close shaved head, and wore an innocent smile. Chamba is a Buddhist monk. If you enquire something to her, pat comes the reply "Yes Yes" in a queer accent. Because, "Yes" was the only English word she knew for a long time. She is a Tibetan monk, who lives in a monastery near Hubli and had come to Bangalore to learn English.

She stayed in our PG for a month. Initially we had a tough time, rather fun time, communicating using sign language like cave men. Once when she was back from her English coaching class, flaunting my great acting skills, I enquired "So what did you learn today?". Her blank face suddenly lit up, she smiled her toothy smile and replied "Chappathi". Gosh!! She thought I had asked her about what she ate. She had a note book, scribbled with English words and basic sentences. It resembled a first standard kids notebook. Every night, I and N used to read out to her from the book and ask her questions. After a few weeks, she was able to decently communicate to us through broken sentences and sign language.

Sometimes,I feel she acts like a school girl, who has just broken a few rules. She explains to me in a hushed tone, how she and her friends occasionally used to sneak out of the monastery to devour some delicious chicken fry. Who said monks are supposed to be vegetarians?? She is the most happy soul, when they serve egg and chicken once in a week in our PG. I and N loves taking her out, just to see the sheer joy on her face. She has never came out of the enclosed walls of her monastery since the last 30 years and gets excited and happy when she comes out with us to a nearby bakery to snack on egg puffs or for our occasional junk-jewellery shopping. But the only problem is that people out on the streets stare seeing a monk . But she seems quite unaware. I have never seen anybody feeling so happy to just come out of the house except maybe for my niece. But absolutely no grownups. And that's exactly why I love taking her out and I feel like I am taking her out on a special date.

She had left her home in Tibet as a teenager, to join the monastery. And that was 30 years back and she has never once gone back home since then. She gets letters from her brothers once in a blue moon and that's the only ties with the family who lives thousands of miles away. I listened in awe and finally asked her, "So do you love India? Don't you miss Tibet?" She replies, "India peace peace... Tibet no peace" She breaks away without getting the right words to continue and then started using her sign language. She explains that Chinese people come, fight and kill innocent Tibetans and hence it's very unsafe living out there. I really don't know whether the situation is same now, but maybe 30 years back this was Tibetan way of life. "India peace peace" was the proudest and most patriotic thing I have ever heard about India.

She went back to her monastery after a month, promising to come back next year. A year later, I had already moved out of that place. N called me up one day and told that Chamba was back and wanted to see me. I was getting engaged the next weekend. I came and broke the news of my engagement to Chamba. She was happy and asked me "He good?" I laughed and replied, "Yeah, he very good". She pressed a brown cover into my palm telling that it's a small gift. There were a few colourful ginger candies, sacred thread and a small craft work. She told me, "Tie the the sacred thread on his hands." She doesn't have any money, all the things I got were handmade by her. It felt so precious...

This year, she called me from a public phone booth. I wonder where she got the money from. But I was out of Bangalore that month. I don't know if I can ever see her again.. Maybe she will come next year too.. Maybe she will have money to call from a phone booth too..

Hope too see you sometime Chamba. And this Christmas season, I am remembering you, your innocent toothy smile, the good will and the cheer you brought.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Rajasthan had long been in my list of dream travel destinations and this Dussehra holidays the trip just happened. Jaipur is five hours journey from Delhi. We (me, M, AP & parents) started off early morning from Noida where my sis stays. It was not the best time to visit Jaipur. Well, for that matter it was not a bad time either. The weather forecast reported was at 36 degrees and Rajasthan was in news for all bad reasons. The Indian Army had accidentally dropped bomb at Bikaner and there was sand storm in Jaiselmer. Well, but nothing could deter our trip to the Pink City.



Rajasthan of my imagination was a dry treeless arid dessert. In fact I was quite surprised to see the sprawling hills covered with shrubs all around the city. Jaipur is a colourful city. People wear bright clothes, the men in turbans and the women in colourful saris modestly covering their face. We walked through the City Palace complex. On both sides of the street were shops selling puppets, ethnic jewellery, shoes, elaborately embroidered dresses,and the famous blue pottery. We reached Hawa Mahal. This palace is shaped like Lord Krishna's crown and has an array of countless windows on all sides, which accounts for the heavy breeze inside and hence the name. During the Rajput reign, these windows gave the women folk of the palace a view of the street life outside. In AP's words, the lovesick princesses waited at these windows for their prince to come and whisk them off on gallant horses :)

Next we decided to check in at our Hotel Umaid Mahal. We had a tough time locating the hotel, because whenever we asked for direction, we were pointed to a different route. Wherever we stopped, there were eager tour guides waiting to pounce, offering to accompany us to our destination. It looked as if Jaipur is teeming with travel guides.

And Umaid Mahal was very much worth all the trouble. It far exceeded my wildest imagination of a hotel. As soon as you enter the Mahal, you get transformed to a magical palatial world. Every inch of the wall and ceiling were covered with exuberant mural paintings. Oil paintings of old Rajput empire adorned the walls. The intricately carved silver furniture, wooden sculptures and grand chandeliers that hung from the ceiling coupled with the golden glow of the lamps added to it's magnificence. I would highly recommend this hotel to anybody visiting Jaipur.

After having a late lunch, we proceeded to Chowki Dhani which is a modelled Rajasthani village. It is a rustic hamlet comprising of mud huts with thatched roofs, panchayat and forest with Rajasthani tribal. It has a carnival with performance by folk dancers, puppet show, tight rope walking, magicians, fortune tellers, potter dancers, camel and bullock cart rides. You can sit comfortably on coir cots in the huts, sip camel-milk tea from earthen pots and smoke the hookahs. Btw, camel milk tastes yuck. There were craft bazaars for shopping and I bought a beautiful Rajasthani jootha and a jewel box. There were entertainment stalls, where M tried his hands on shooting with bow and arrows and AP at shooting with a gun. Well,the mention of Chowki Dhani is incomplete without the elaborate full course Rajasthani dinner served on leaf plates. I almost lost count of the number of dishes on my overflowing platter. I guess it was around 20-25 dishes. I couldn't comprehend the ingredients of most of the dishes, which left me at awe about how much varied are the cuisines when you travel from one part of India to another!!! Truly incredible!!!

Since we went to Chowki Dhani during Dussehra season, I for the first time witnessed the tradition of "Burning the Ravan". A gigantic effigy of Ravan was erected on the open court supported by ropes on all sides. We were told that the ceremony will start at 9pm. There was a huge crowd gathered. Soon all the performers of Chowki Dhani- the folk dancers,acrobats, magicians and tribal folks came together singing, dancing and blowing trumpets. They danced around the roaring Ravan and made merry.. Crackers exploded and fireworks illuminated the night sky. Ravana had chains of crackers and fireworks enclosing his body. After the merrymaking, it was set to fire. The illumination and cacophony that followed temporarily rendered us blind and deaf. I was really excited to watch this event despite the amount of air and sound pollution it created. After this, we left Chowki Dhani and returned to the hotel.

Next day after having complimentary buffet breakfast from hotel, we set off to indulge in some shopping extravaganza. Jaipur is famous for quilts/rajais. So we bought two of those along with blue pottery for our future home :) Also got some bandhini dress materials and Jaipuri bangles for cousins and friends.

It was in the scorching hot mid day sun that we went to see Jal Mahal, as a result of which I got a bad splitting headache. From there, we went on to see Jaigarh fort which is situated on hill-top. The fort must have well protected the city from the enemies during the reign of Mugals. Jaigarh fort gives a good view of the entire Jaipur city. There is a museum out there showcasing all the weapons, armour and shields used during war. I was surprised to see many of them exactly replicated in the movie 'Jodha Akbar', when I viewed it last weekend. As we were leaving the fort, I spotted a few hoopoe birds with their beautiful crowns spread out and a couple of peacocks in the wild. I guess the bird watcher in me has not died yet. I was excited to spot the hoopoe birds, though it's quite common in this part of India. Hubby dear on seeing the peacocks stopped the vehicle, ran and vanished off into the wild with his camera.

We left Jaipur by sunset, when the setting sun painted the Pink City into a dark hue of red.

The view outside

Posted by Flyaway Mind comments (2)

I often look down through the glasspane of the restroom at my office. After a tiring time infront of the monitor, it is a comfort to see the bright sunny view outside. It is not by any means a pleasing view, with an eerie looking cemetery, an empty plot dumped with garbage and monotonous array of rectangular buildings.




On a particular frustrating day at work, as I entered the restroom with a furrowed brow, just chanced to look outside and behold, there is a perfect beautiful rainbow arched out wide across the expanse of the sky. I have seen rainbows countless times. But never have I been happy to see one since my chidhood. The sight made me happy. Maybe the frustration and stress of that day made me appreciate the simple pleasure of seeing a rainbow. It gave a hope to my otherwise hopeless day.

And today morning the life outside that window was all different. As I looked down, I could see a mob gathered
inside the cemetery. Obviously someone had died.. Few men were digging the earth to bury the corpse. I could see wailing women, garlands of flowers, the body wrapped in a white cloth and cows grazing inside the cemetery. It caught me by surprise since I had least expected to see such a view outside. In the afternoon I was expecting to see an abandoned cemetery again with an added tombstone. And what I saw shook me. There was a man lying over the grave and weeping uncontrollably. He was all alone and seemed unpacifiable.. There was nobody around to share his grief, nobody to support or comfort him.. He was a lone man. He looked like daily wager in shabby clothes and shaved head... Maybe it was his loving wife who died ..or maybe it was his beloved child.. or maybe his very own parent..An immense loss for him.. I stood there speculating for a few minutes and then moved on...

The view outside the window, I guess, will keep changing. And I on the other-side of the window has nothing much to do, but watch.

When I think green, I remember my father's ancestral house nestled in the interiors of a remote village in Thrissur. The small tiled roof house enclosed by a dense courtyard, lined with coconut, mango, jack fruit and arecanut trees. You name the trees and it will be there.. Where the faint scent from nutmeg and tamarind trees waft in the air.. Where the cows and hens rule the haven..Where the courtyard wall is never concrete or cement but a dense row of thorny bushes... Where the summer vacation were spent climbing guava trees, munching juicy red cashew fruit and slightly sour roseapples (chambakka)..





















Image:wwwsoulreflectionsinartcom-colleen.blogspot.com


 The small house stands proudly, with a neat garden in the front. At a corner of the yard stands the cowshed and hencoops. Right next to the cowshed, there are pyramidal haystacks mounted after the harvest, which ultimately feeds the cows. There is an old well with moss covered stone walls near the house. Pigeons used to build nests between the creeks of it's wall and we used to scare these birds by splashing the water with well-aimed stones, that makes them noisily flutter out of their cosy nests. The well water was used to irrigate the fruit trees in the courtyard. Water was initially pumped up into a small tank, from where it flowed through a channel and then cascaded down forming a waterfall. As kids, all of us cousins used to take bath here. Few will plunge into the tank, few will be in the water channel, and others frolic under the manmade waterfall. It used to be an awesome experience playing and bathing in the pure, ice cold water coming deep from within the earth. This water will ultimately flow through mud structures made into a canal (kayyani) that irrigate the whole land. I used to love playing in kayyani. Whenever water was being pumped, I used to run through this mud canal happily splashing the water all over. During monsoon, when irrigation was not required, I would eagerly watch out the kayyani for those green tadpoles and eggs floating on staggered rain water..

There is a long wooden bench and desk in the house, where we six cousins used to sit together and have food. Pet cats used to walk under our desk, rubbing their furry bodies against our legs, eating tidbits of fishfry and pappad that fell from our hands or are deliberately dropped when we didn't like the food. There used to be atleast 5-6 cats anytime. As a kid, I used to hate milk. Drinking milk was a chore which I used to escalate to the cats. So after carefully ensuring that my Mom was not looking, I will pour out my share of milk to a coconut shell and secretly offer the cats, who used to lap it up all gleefully.

In the evening at dusk, we used to visit our family temple. When I think about that time, I remember everybody freshening up to visit temple and I can still feel the scent of Cuticura powder mingled with sandalwood paste lingering in the air.. We used to take oil bottles and wicks to lighten the stone lamps around the temple. I love the sight of these coal black stone lamps darkened by years of exposure to oil and fumes. I feel, it's the fresh feeling of evening bath and the heavenly glow of stone lamps in the dark that gives a spiritual aura to my childhood temple memories.. Even when I visit temples nowadays, which happens rarely, I don't feel particularly religious, rather I feel spiritual..I feel light..

When I took hubby dear after wedding to the ancestral house, I was looking forward to recreate those wonderful memories. Showing him the old house, the well, the cowshed and hen coops, the kayyani and temple..The cowshed is uninhabited and wild creepers have grown all over it... There is no trace of the hencoops.. The old well and the tank still remain as testimonies of good times.. In the evening, it was drizzling but we still decided to go to the temple. My parents, sis, brotherinlaw and little niece were also there.. We had to walk through the dark village path for a short while to reach the temple. It was pitch dark and cloudy with no street lamps. As we walked under the umbrella, M's arms wrapped around my shoulder, the cold breeze making us quiver, I longed to see the glowing stone lamps and fill myself once again with the spiritual aura of my childhood. As I looked ahead, I could see the rest all walking ahead. My Achan and Amma under the umbrella leading the way.. My Chechi and Chettan with vava in arms closely following them.. And we both behind.. As I pointed out to M, how my Achan holding Amma under the umbrella is the same way in which Chettan is holding Chechi & it's the same way M's arms wrapped around me, we couldn't help smiling.. Three generation walking toward the temple in the rain... Three generation seeking spirituality and solace in the age old dieties of the temple, where generations of people have thronged.. Life seems to have come to a full circle...

It had been a long time since I lost those keys, the keys to the wooden cupboard upstairs at home. Out of blue, my Mom found it out last weekend. It had been years since I had opened the cupboard. It was stuffed with old school books, magazines, few greeting cards, a dead spider and few cockroach eggs among other stuff.

I flipped the pages of my history text book.The papers have turned into a dull yellow with rusty brown spots scattered around. History used to be one of my favourite subjects,unlike most of my classmates who perpetually cribbed about mugging up boring events and insignificant dates. For me, History classes were never boring. Rather they triggered my imagination. I used to imagine myself living in the Harappan civilisation, fighting in Bolshevik Revolution, praying to the Inca gods and travelling through Amazon rainforests. As for exams, I am sure I gave vent to my poor suppressed imagination on the exam sheet.

There were my school note books wrapped in brown paper with those colourful name-slips glued on them. The brown paper must be a product of the yesteryear's school-going generation. I wonder if brown papers are still available around in our stores. Inside the book, the blue fountain pen ink had started fading away..

My handwriting looked so unsteady & childish, so very different from what it is now. When we initially started using fountain pens in school, I remember the trademark blue ink smears on our fingers, where the fountain pens used to leak. During lunch break, you will find a gang of kids ritually rubbing their fingers against the stone wall near the wash area to get rid of those blue spots.

On the lower deck of the cupboard, there were a collection of Balarama (kid's magazine) & a bunch of greeting cards belonging to my sis. She had collected it over her school & college days. It was an era when Bday cards & Christmas cards were a rage among the college goers. It must be the time when Archies cards started invading the Indian gift shops following economic liberlisation.

Then I found my old school magazine where I had written a small article. It was weird reading through it. The words which I had penned a decade back sounded so strange..It was like rediscovering the old self and realising how much a decade has changed me..Maybe years from now, when I read this blog I might get a similar feeling.. Maybe I will feel good.. Or maybe I will feel it's all so silly...

I absolutely love this feel of finding old stuff unexpectedly...the feel of the memories associated with it..It's always nice to find an old friend in a crowded bus rather than at an Alumini meet..It 's nice to find an age-old photograph while flipping an old book rather than seeing a newer pic on Flickr or Picassa..

I remember the time when I opened my Grandfather's wooden chest many years back. I got two coins, one dating back to as far as 1897. It was only a quarter anna coin or so, with the head of a British King. It was a real treasure for me. I feel like hiding some of my stuff now, so that many years later when I accidentally discover it, it will feel extra special.

My New Roommate

Posted by Flyaway Mind comments (6)

It's been terribly long since I have updated this space. Somehow, whenever I tried putting down something, words just stopped at my finger tips. Lots have happened since my last post. The most important being, I got my new roomie M. Well, I mean, a roommate for a lifetime ;) But the sad part is since M is yet to complete his research, we stay apart. So am back to my PG and will continue to write bachelor-life-like stories ;)



















This pic was taken by a dear friend B. He had attended the function, clicked lots of pics and surprised us with an album, which he sent by courier. A truly personalised gift which we treasure.. Thanks a ton B !!!

Tag time

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A tag after a long time... Preeti has tagged me. Hope this tag is going to breathe some life into my poor dead creative cells...

Last movie seen in a theatre?
Tare zameen par. I am not a movie buff and very rarely go out to watch movies.

What book are you reading?
None.The last one I read was The Man-eater of Malgudi
All my books are getting dusty in the cupboard these days.
The bookworm is slowly dying..woaaaa…

Favorite board game:
Scrabble, as long as I am winning ;)

Favorite magazine:
Magazines kept at my office breakout-area: Outlook, Week, India Today

Favorite smells:
Smell of jasmine and tube rose, aroma of food when hungry,
nail polish, paint…

Favorite sound:
Amma’s voice over the phone when I am sick or depressed,
Rumble of waterfall, while trekking.

Worst feeling in the world:
Feeling of being alone, the feeling that nobody is there in this world for you..!!

What is the first thing you think of when you wake up?
Is it Friday yet???

Favorite fast food place:
Brewhaha.That’s our favourite hang out place. We sit on the floor with carpets and lotsa pillows, relax, sip a coffee and play a board game (they provide all that)

Future child’s name:
No clue…Maybe I will outsource this job.
I took 3 months to zero in on a name for my niece!!!

Finish this statement, “If I had a lot of money I’d…”
Travel to exotic places, shop, shop and shop till I drop :D

Do you drive fast?
I dont drive.

Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?
Yep.. my life-size teddy bear gifted by M.

Favourite drink
Hot chocolate

Do you eat the stem of broccoli?
I have never eaten broccoli.

Storms - Cool or Scary?
Cool and romantic. I would love to watch the sea on a stormy day

If you could dye your hair any color, what would be your choice?
Black with burgundy streaks. I tried this on my own once
when I was utterly bored. But it didnt turn out well :(

Name all the different cities/towns you have lived in:
Cochin, Tanjore, Bangalore

Favorite sports to watch:
Table tennis...I impatiently watch it while waiting for my turn to play..

One nice thing about the person who sent this to you:
A genuine & down-to-earth person. And a bit naughty too..

What’s under your bed?
Dust....the maid didn’t clean it properly ;)

Would you like to be born as yourself again?
Yes… a thousand times again.

Morning person or night owl?
Night owl definitely. I rarely sleep before 1 am and never get up before 9am.

Over easy or sunny side up?
Both..I wont mind as long as it’s egg.
Over easy bcoz my mom thinks it has germs if not fully cooked.

Favorite place to relax:
Home sweet home..
Or maybe on a tree house in a dense forest, with brooks & streams running beside...

Favorite pie:
I don’t like pies

Favorite ice cream flavor:
Vanilla & chocolate anytime..
Now, the mere thought of ‘death-by-chocolate’ is making my mouth melt.. mmmm…

You pass this tag to:
Rechit, Ajay, Aths, Minu

Of all the people you tagged this to, who’s most likely to respond first?
Rechit the lime soda guy.

Last Sunday was a lazy Sunday. I slept till around 11’0 clock, then got up and fixed myself a quick brunch of upma & tea. The sky was overcast and it was a perfect day to snooze off. I was lying on the bed, propped up against the pillows, trying to read the book “Snow” by Orhan Pamuk , when it started raining heavily. I could hear the faint thud thud against the glass windows.

My roomie was screaming from balcony at the top of her lungs. I rushed out thinking that her clothes might be outside on the lane to dry… ‘Hailstones’, she screamed on seeing me. The ice cubes on her outstretched palm were already melting. I could hardly believe this. It was actually raining hailstones in Bangalore!!! I collected a few hailstones from the balcony and tried catching a few as it pelted down… Many people in our seven storied apartment had come out to their balconies to watch. The kids were excitedly scampering around. And on the ground floor, few people were out drenching in the rain and collecting hailstones in a bucket.

My room mate usually stocks up eatables for the rainy days. She loves preparing hot soup or making banana fritters when it rains.. So we go out to the balcony, sit on the steps, watch the rain and sip the hot soup or munch the fritters. I remember the first time when we bought Knorr instant soup mix. It almost ran out of it’s expiry date because it was summer and it didn’t rain for a long time in Bangalore.

Boca Grande is the newly opened restaurant near my house. Boca Grande is a Spanish word meaning “big mouth”. And I had won their puzzle contest which earned me free-dinner-for-two. I was planning to go along with my friend for a lavish dinner on Friday. But severe hunger pangs propelled us to hit the place on Tuesday itself. The handsome owner welcomed us, showed us around the place & told us that as the sole winner, we are entitled to eat to our hearts content.. kewllll..For once, I could devour all the delicacies without having to worry about the ultimate BILL. We scanned through the menu card and started off right from starters. Smart as we are, we ordered the highest priced items in each category and items referred as ‘BC special’.. heheee ;) Food was yummy but the problem was with our appetite. By the time we had the starters and cake-shake, we were almost stomach full. Half way through our main course we felt we couldn’t hog any more. We decided to take a break, chat a while and then try to finish it off. But it was of no avail.. Thus with a broken heart, we left many of those special items untouched :( And I was disappointed that I couldn’t have those tempting mouth melting desserts. Nevertheless, we packed off scoops of Belgium chocolate ice cream with lotsa nutties for my roomie.


I like dancing away to glory. That is if I am dancing to my own tunes and dancing to my own specially copyrighted dance moves. I joined free style dance classes this week. Yesterday was my first day. Initially I was enjoying every bit of it. The instructor was teaching us random steps and we were following it. Later it turned to aerobics and finally to Bollywood dance. The music was “soni de nakhre sone lagade”. I started imagining myself as Govinda and suddenly I couldn’t dance anymore ;) I found it difficult to get along with the ‘continuation of steps’. Hope it gets better in the coming classes. And to add to the insult, two girls in my class are dancing even better than the instructor. They need to see the steps only once and they can dance like some divas. Well, yours truly is feeling really J :)

 During my growing up years, I used to love going to my grandmother’s house. It was in Vypeen island, a sleepy little town, separated from the mainland of Kochi by a wide expanse of backwaters and Arabian sea.














The boat journey from Kochi to Vypeen island used to instigate my childhood fantasies… The fleet of majestic ship at the Cochin shipyard and the brightly lighted sea-port gave it a magical aura. As the ferryboat move away from the mainland, I used to watch out for those innumerable green islands that dot the Arabian sea and the Chinese fishing-nets yonder in the horizon. It used to look enchantingly beautiful during sunset. Seagulls and cormorants used to hover over the fishing boats, trying to snatch off few fish from the boat’s deck. And an intermittent beacon of light flashing from the light house use to guide the boats and ship in the dark.

My grandma’s house was a ten minute walk from the boat jetty. The backyard of the house directly opened to the backwaters. I have never seen any house so near to such a wide-stretch of water. In those days, I used to wake up early, to watch the sunrise and the backwaters being painted in colorful hues by the rising sun.

My GM had a pet dog and a small flock of ducks at her house. I used to entrust upon myself the job of opening their coop in the mornings, let the ducks out and likewise chase them back to their home in the evenings. Sometimes the notorious dog Titto, used to chase the ducks and the terrified creatures used to jump into the water , paddle away and ultimately lose their way. And in such cases, my poor uncle had to go all the way to the nearby Mulagukadu island, where they ultimately used to land up and bring them safely back home. On special occasions when VIP guests come home, one of those ducks used to be killed and it would eventually reappear as duck roast on the dining table :)

I used to be awed seeing the variety of seafood, she used to serve us for lunch and dinner. The fishing boats harboured at our backyard and the ice-company nextdoor ensured that we got a lot of absolutely-free seafood at our doorsteps. The crabs, shrimps, lobsters, shell fish all seemed to be a part of our ‘ordinary meals’ during those days. Long gone are those days... No longer is anything free and no longer is anything so readily available. And I stopped eating fish many years ago.

Rainy days used to be li’l wild out here, due to the proximity to Arabian sea. I remember those stormy nights when heavy winds blowing out of the sea, uprooted mango trees and breadfruit (kadachakka) trees in our orchard. The mango trees used to be close to the house and hence their branches occasionally bent and fell on the tiled roof. And once it damaged the roof that it started leaking and flooding the room. There are some images that got framed in my mindscape. One such image is the whole family having dinner under the dimly lit oil lamp, while the storms raged outside.

It was on one of those stormy afternoons that, a lost baby turtle found it’s way through the water and landed up on our backyard. I found out this ‘jem of a beauty’ and instantly fell in love with it. But the turtle on the other hand showed utterly no interest and instantly withdrew it’s pretty head into the shell. I cautiously picked up my ‘shy’ turtle and dropped it into a bucket of water. I decided instantly that this turtle and I are gonna be friends forever.Afterall I have learnt in my GK textbook that turtles live for over a 100 years. After a while, Titto found out this intruder in our house and stood near the bucket barking and growling. I bet he was jealous about all the attention directed at this ‘intruder’. But all my hopes of having a pet-turtle was brought to an abrupt end by my GM, who warned me sternly that sea turtles are poisonous. I threw a tantrum, but in vain. Finally, I sadly placed the baby turtle back into the water. And it swam away , to where it ultimately belonged…

Times have changed...Inevitably, the old tiled house has been remodeled into a more sturdy house. There are no quacking ducks flocking the backyard anymore. And now, there is a wall separating the house and the backwater. The wall that separates my nostalgic yesteryears from today....

















Yesterday I woke up to the voice of my roomie, “Today is not Sunday. Wake upppp...It’s already 9’o clock.” I could hardly open my eyes & felt too tired. So I decided to pamper and lavish myself with a corporate extravagance termed as ‘sick leave’. I quickly sent sms to my colleague & went back to catch up my beauty sleep.

I woke up around 11.30 & quickly made myself some elaichi tea & omelet. I had a quick brunch and was relaxing in my bed watching tv, when the door bell rang. I and another girl N were the only ones in my PG .We are around 10 girls staying in our apartment on the 3rd floor. All the other girls had long back left for work.

I wondered who might be at the door, at this time of the day, when usually nobody will be around at home. I assumed it might be the lady who comes everyday to collect the garbage. Feeling too lazy I didn’t bother to get up from my bed. I heard N answering the door & talking to somebody. After few minutes, the bell rang again, and this time a long ring. I got out of my room & found N lingering around the door. She looked tensed.

Me: What happened? Who’s there at the door?
N: (in whispers) There are two guys at the door. They were asking for S. I told them S is not here.(S is another girl in our PG) Then they called somebody on the phone & told, “Sir, she is not here. And even her cell phone is switched off. What should we do now?”
Me: (all suspicious) do they look troublesome???
N : (in a dramatic gesture) They look like some gundas..Big & gruff-looking men
Me : uh-ohhh
N: And later they changed their tactics. They told she has some courier. But they were no papers in their hand..
Me: If they are really courier people why do they ring the bell again & again... Let’s lock the front door properly.

Immediately N went inside and got the key. We locked the door and secured the latch. Then we tip-toed into the kitchen & peered through the window curtains. They were two bulky men. One in red t-shirt & another one in a check shirt…They surely looked a bit too aggressive and resembled those villains in suspense thriller movies.I remembered the previous night, while I was walking across S’s room. I sensed cigarette smell. She never used to smoke inside the room. And I made a mental note that she might be really tensed about something. I put two & two together and suddenly felt scared for poor S.

Me: Let us not bother. They will get fed up & leave soon..
N: Hope so..

Suddenly the bell rang. This time terribly long and persistently. We heard somebody trying the door knob & pushing against the door. I thanked my good-karma that we locked it with key.Then there was the sound of key being inserted & turned .. We both looked terrorized at each other.The door would have unlocked now, had it not been for the inside latch. They were pushing hard with all the might from outside.. The thud sound from the door sent shivers up my spine..This must be some maniacs on run...

N screamed out, “Let’s call the security”..She ran to the bedroom windows..I ran to my room to get my mobile in case of emergency.I grabbed it, ran to N’s bedroom & latched the door from inside. I was almost sure they were going to break open the front door anytime. My heart was pounding…We opened the window. From there, we could see the two security guys in the opposite apartment building. We started calling out to them & waving our hands. They looked, but didn’t seem to bother.. I mentally cursed whoever appointed these irresponsible security guards...From our 3rd floor, we saw one guy down..We called out to him about the two guys at our doors.. He looked clearly confused & finally shouted back, “kannada kannada”…Eeekkk..what wrong timings!!!!!!! Luckily the ironing-guy came to check the matter.. We told him our door no: & about the two guys trying to break open our home.

At that time, the land phone started ringing in the living room. What the hell now..Everything was a total pandemonium.Finally, I carefully unlatched the bedroom door & went to attend the call. Suddenly with a final thud the front door came open……………………

S was standing there with a heavy carton. I couldn’t believe my eyes. She was supposed to be in big danger.Those nasty-looking guys were supposed to be after her....

Me: Youuu..you are supposed to be in office!!!!!!!!!!
S: Why the hell didn’t you girls’s open the door? My new laptop is getting delivered today. When I came in, those guys were waiting…

I & N were standing speechless. Our faces embarassed & pale after all this mental trauma...

“I tried the keys. But you had latched it from inside. At last I had the security to come and push the door open”

Me & N were on the verge of fainting……..water please……….

PS: She got herself a brand new pink laptop :-)

Gone Crazy

Posted by Flyaway Mind comments (8)


 












Phew...I need a break. Wish I could sit back, relax , reflect & dream…. Even the weekends had been quite busy these days. I had been literally banging my head on impossible ‘deadlines’ since last 1 month. Everyday I come back late at night, eat & hit the bed. After a long, I had a relaxing day today. So might as well utilize it before I get assigned with my next work. And as my friend tells, “You have completed disappeared from e-world.” Hmmmph!!! No orkutting, mailing, blogging indeed. It seems like I have gone back to Stone Age communication. Am out of contact with my friends :( woaaaaaaaaa…

  I am desperately waiting for the project tapeout in December. Have a list of  stuff I wanna do after that. Joining salsa classes & charcoal painting sessions hits the top list. I was at office on Saturday & contrary to the usual, I finished my tasks much earlier than the deadline. Was so happy that I could relax on Sunday. And I celebrated this by going out & having a ‘big dinner’. And relax I did the next day being down with ‘food poisoning’ & a resulting foul mood :) After popping a few pills, felt enough energized by evening to go out to Forum mall with my roomie. Met a few friends there & proceeded to have a strictly vegetarian dinner at Transit. When we finished & came out of the restaurant, it was almost 10 pm..

Roomie: I’m dying to watch ‘Jab We Met’. And all because of your
dumb work, we were not able to watch it this weekend
me: hmmmph…!!!
Roomie: why don’t we book it for next weekend????
me: hmmm…
Roomie: what ‘hmmm’?????
me: I cant wait till next weekend!!!!

We were standing in the queue at Cinema Europa to book tickets for the coming weekend.The movie availability status kept flashing in front of the counter…And there it was blinking right in front of us “Jab We Met - tonight 10 pm show available”

I looked at her…Hurrrayyy…It was 2 minutes to 10 pm.

“Let’z gooooo” , I screamed.
“Yeahhhhhhhhhh”, she screamed back
“My goodness!!! It gets over at midnight 1 am. How will we get back home????”
“Does it really matter???” came the crazy reply
“Not really!!!”, I was equally crazy…
“We will get prepaid autos down forum”

Yeahhhh.And we rushed to get the tickets and raced to the movie hall. We were lucky that the movie had not started yet. I looked around to see the crowd. Most of them were families. And right in front of us was another girl’s gang, just like us..Crazy girls..Crazy Bangalore!!! Hurrayyy!!!!

I must say say, the movie was worth the risk. Though not a big time fan of Kareena, I found her acting really good in this movie. And Shahid too is looking all cutey cutey.

The prepaid counter was opened but the guy refused to issue the tickets.. Since we girlz didn't want a street-fight at midnight 1 am, we found an autowalla who took us for the 1 km joy-ride back home for 50 bucks!!! That was indeed a crazy Sunday…

Canine Lovers

Posted by Flyaway Mind comments (7)

These days I find myself surrounded by dog lovers. Lotsa friends are screaming the war-cry PFA (People for Animals).Not that I have anything against them. But curiously, I had a history of ‘dog phobia’ as a kid.



 I must have been six or seven years old then. I remember that day when the twin chechis in my neighbourhood house came to pick me up, to play at their home. Those days, there were three ferocious looking Alsatian dogs in their house, which as far as I can remember always used to remain caged… The moment I entered the gate , one massive dog came pouncing upon me. I froze for few seconds…. Then my childish instincts told me “run”. And run I did, for my dear life. Soon the second dog also followed the wild chase. I was screaming and running … I remember vividly that I ran & almost reached their backyard. From the opposite end I could see the third dog closing in on me. Amidst all the pandemonium , I fell down ….I scraped my arms and knees.. The rest of the story I can’t remember. I remember only a tiger-look-alike-dog’s tongue wagging close to my face.. Thankfully, uncle (the twin’s father)came as my rescue ranger and somehow managed to control those terrible beasts…

Later, for months I used to have night mares about large dogs chasing me & tearing me apart. I used to wake up in the middle of the night all scared. I even used to be afraid to go to school , since on the way to bus stop there were many street dogs…I developed a perennial fear of dogs. Later I started to make a conscious effort to get rid of the phobia.. Gradually as I grew up, the fear faded away.. I am in perfect harmony with street dogs now. As for the pet ones, I like to admire them preferably from a distance and might even venture to stroke their silky smooth hair. But the moment they try to be friendly , climb all over me and decide to give me a face wash with their loving tongue, I will die of heart attack!!!!

There is this colleague of mine with whom I was discussing about my weekend trip to home..
He: I wish my home was close by..
Me: missing mummy..huh?
He: hmm..I miss my baby!!!
Me: eh? oh..i didn’t knew you were married **evil grin**
He: my baby is my Labrador Leo… He even sleeps with me on my bed…
Me: I see.. So the baby is your cute little puppy
He: hmm...my baby is just 12 yrs old
Me: duh!!!

I have this buddy of mine who is into the business of exporting injured little street puppies from Bangalore to Kerala..hehee.. The brave heroine once rescued a hairless, half-eared little puppy from the streets of Bangalore . She christened him as Chesko & they were happily living together ever after until that fatal day when her evil landlady found him out & screamed, “Either you are out or that hairless creature!!!” .So after much thought, a clever plan was devised to smuggle Chesko from Bangalore to her home in Cochin. Chesko was sedated with a pack of sleeping pills. Then he was carefully packed up in a box with lotsa holes to breathe in ..Thus the heroine boarded the bus “Kallada Travels” to Kerala. Everything went on peacefully till midnight until Chesko woke up & decided he had enough of the caged life. He started whining & fidgeting around… The heroine thought Chesko was suffocating & opened the cover a wee bit so that Chesko can breathe better.. And out jumped smart Chesko!!! Happy at the new found freedom, he gave loud barks & started running in between the seats. Imagine the surprise on fellow passengers’s face …And the funny story ended with the heroine having to pay fine to “kallada travels” for illegally smuggling dogs to Kerala & spoiling their carpet by having the dog pee on it!!!! :)

And there is this bloggie dude who is clicking away to glory his doggie Sparky's pics.I saw a heap of them in his flicker album...


I was feeling very blue at office yesterday. It usually happens when I don’t have much work to do & I feel dumb. And one interesting thing I have noticed is that I enjoy chatting , orkutting & blogging only when I have lots of work to do. So while I am banging my head on some deadlines, I will sneak out in between, to scrap a buddy or chat with a long-time-no-see friend or indulge in bloghopping. Otherwise I don’t even feel like effectively utilizing my free time for such ‘productive’ work... Sigh!!!

By evening I was feeling so mad that I jumped out early from office & decided to make my otherwise boring life colourful. So I went for a bit of shopping and later proceeded to have a haircut which was absolutely not necessary. I must say shopping is a wonderful form of art that cheers me up from my deep blues..heehee.. I know gals are gonna support me in this hands down. And of late, I got to do lots of ‘Onam shopping’ for the whole family!!!

By the time I reached back home, it was around 8 pm..My roomie was not back yet.And I hate being the home-alone heroine when I’m not in my moods. So I went and washed all my dirty clothes accumulated, multiplied & exponentiated over a week’s time :) And , washing dirty clothes give me some sort of mental satisfaction that I did something productive & fruitful. Now whenever I tell this, my well-wisher friends have always cheerfully offered to outsource their laundry stuff to me…No, I am not taking any of your chweet offers.

I finished all these hard work, but still my roomie was not back.. So I went out for a relaxing night walk in the park, listening to the soothing music on Fever-104. And for the zillionth time , the music playing is “cash meri aankhon mein..” I want to bang my head on the wall if I hear this stupid song one more time.. Later something caught my interest. The chatterbox RJ is talking crap on some topic called “Midweek crisis”

Hurray!!! Now I know what is actually the root cause behind my blue feelings. heeheee..Yesterday was afterall wednesday. On a more serious note, there seems to so many complex terminologies these days for simple crisis that we go through in our everyday life.. Mid-life crisis, mid week-crisis, insomnia, PMS, exam blues, anxiety disorder & what not. All these seems to be a part of our everyday vocabulary…You are welcome to add to this terminology-list & on your own ways of effective midweek crisis management :)

In a place far away from the maddening crowd, set in the tranquil interiors of a quaint little village in Kolar district, enclosed with hills on all sides and dotted with green fields of corn & vegetables.. This is the place where we packed off for an outward bound training program from office. There were no proper roads connecting this place & during the last half an hour of the bumpy, jerky journey , we didn't even come across a single bmtc bus. Muddy tracks led us to the camp where we stayed, in the tents..it seemed to be so far away from civilization...

It was a unique experience living in the tent & having campfire dinner every night. In the nights, we had friendly visitors inside our tent in the forms of beetles & centipedes, who found their way inside our cozy blankets for a nap.. Once in the middle of night, it rained very heavily & our tent got almost flooded.Well, but as usual nothing could hinder my beauty sleep.

In the evenings after the training, we were free birds. And the team was out in fields playing football, cricket & volley ball. I tried my hands at playing cricket. The word 'tried playing' will be an understatement, considering the way I excelled. Because the only time my bat hit the ball, it went for a direct catch :( I guess, it's time to start our all girls team :D One evening, a few of us enthusiasts, decided to explore the wild country side. We trekked to a nearby hill. While trekking up, at a high altitude, we were taken up by surprise when we hit upon a plain, which was segmented into cultivated vegetable fields . Yes, a farm right in the middle of the hill, in the middle of nowhere. I guess it is the concept of 'step-farming'. And when we hit the top, the sun had almost set at the horizon.The panoramic view of the fields & hills was breathtaking in the mellowing evening light. Next day,we went for yet another expedition. We conquered another adjacent hill & hoisted our flag there (ok..not flag, but our office logoed cap propped up on a stick).

And the best part of camping was saved up for the last. It was rafting. We had to build our own rafts using bamboo poles, ropes & lifebuoys. Yes, and we built our dilapidated looking Noah's Ark , by tying the bamboo poles together using figure-of-eight-knot & appropriately fitting the lifebuoys to keep the raft afloat. Phew.. So I mastered the art of tying the figure-of-eight-knot so well that, now I can even tie a ferocious bull safely to the pole. So here is our hard work...














And what to say, we rafted in the lake in our Titanic.. No..It was not a tragic Titanic!!!! We the proud sailors rowed hard to reach our destination at the other end of the lake. And in the middle of the lake, the sailors momentarily lost their sense of direction, abandoned their oars & started splashing the muddy water on each other. Thankfully, we had life jackets on & hence I am still alive to write this crap post.











With this ended our three days of frolic & adventure....

The Weirdo Tag

Posted by Flyaway Mind comments (10)

I was on hibernation for quite a while & hence guilty of abandoning my little bloggie.I was awakened from my sleepy mode by this IIMBian & told to write 8 weird / arbit things about myself. So here I bare my soul ….

1.) I have this weird habit of talking in my sleep sometimes .And there were times when I had screamed out in my dreams & hence scared the living daylights out of my poor roomies :)This was much prevalent during my college days. While, I used to sleep peacefully throughout these episodes, my roomies had tough time getting back their beauty sleep :D

During BTech, at hostel, my bed used to be right next to the windows. Once I dreamt about a hand extending through the open windows & trying to strangle me. I screamed out … A few weeks later, this incident actually took place in the adjacent room, where a guy actually put his hands through the window & tried to flick the purse..


2.) Though I love hearing music, I don’t have an ear for English music especially the heavy metal kind. With a roommate addicted to Vh1 channel, I don’t have much of a choice. I call some of those songs utter “NOISE POLLUTION” :) Music lovers, don’t throw stones at me!!!

3.) I have very good memory about people & incidents. Recently, I got introduced to a colleague from another branch of our office. I instantly recognized her as my classmate in 4th standard. She was there in my class only for 2 years. And she didn’t even remember having heard my name, let alone my face :(

4.) I hate hypocrisy. Am allergic & repellant to people whose words and actions don’t compliment each other. I understand that a little hypocrisy is necessary to survive in this world. But I have seen some extreme cases. I can’t stand these people…

5.) I derive sadistic pleasure out of killing mosquitoes with the mosquito bat. I like chasing them with the bat & watch them attain nirvana…

6.) I take some time to trust people. Trust is not something that blooms instantly for me. So I take time to make friends, but once friendship is formed, it’s there to stay. I have friends right from my kinder garden onwards, with whom I still maintain good contacts with.

7.) I am an “attention seeker”, as far as my mother is concerned. So when I have a cold & headache, I like to exaggerate it & inform my mother that I have fever :) After all, nobody dies from all the extra care, attention & love showered on them.. hehee..

8.) Last weird habit about me is “I-won’t-ever-acknowledge-I-am-weirdo” hahaa….


People tagged to write 8 weird things about themselves:
-The attention seeker
-Toothless wonder
-Aths
-Minu
-Pophabhi

It rained heavily in Bangalore on friday. We were having Ethnic Day celebrations at office terrace, when the menacing thunderous clouds rolled up and it began raining cats & dogs.Heavy pellets splashed on us from the tarpaulin sheet overhead. I was traveling home that night. And in Kerala the monsoon was setting in with all its ferocity .

My growing up years were closely associated with monsoon. It was the season I used to love as a kid, the season which used to irritate me when I grew up, the season that arouses waves of nostalgia when I think of it now. I used to hate it because, I could no longer go out anywhere and had to stay back at home. Hence my moods used to be as cloudy as the overcast monsoon sky. There was a persistent damp feeling everywhere & dresses took forever to dry up.

My home is on the banks of river Periyar and it's mesmerizing to watch the river when it is raining. The rain lashing on the gentle river and creating turbulent whirlpools is something I love watching .During my childhood, it was usual for Periyar to flood up during monsoon & threateningly encroach on it's banks. It was something much awaited by us, to play on the swollen river banks swarming with fish, crabs and an occasional water snake. And when the flood gates of Boothathankettu Dam were opened up due to overloading, the rain swollen river used to look menacingly beautiful.

Once when I was 7 years old, I went to play in the river accompanied by my mother. I started playing on the flooded stone steps leading to the river. As a child, I used to behave exactly opposite of what I was told to do .So when my mother shouted, 'Dont go further', I had this sudden inner urge to step forth. Involuntarily I took a few paces ahead . But there were no more steps... I fell into a deep gorge and was helplessly drowning in the river. My mother who never swam in her entire life time was forced to jump into the water and drag me out. Now the moment I was confirmed alive I got a good doze of scolding. Thus ended my trysts with the river. Never again during my childhood was I taken anywhere 1 km radius from the river. Even the mention of the word 'river' resulted in terrible outbursts in the form of scolding & threats!!! But then unknown to my family , I had eloped several times with my best friend to the river banks & plucked those tempting water lilies. That's entirely another story.

I remember the time when we went for Goa trip from college. That was one of our best tours. We stayed in a beautiful beach resort , which ensured that we spent a whole day on the sun-kissed sandy beaches of Goa. But the only kill-joy was our Sir who screamed at us, every time we attempted anything adventurous. So in the afternoon, we locked his door from outside when we went out :) We were frolicking in the sea, when out of blue, it started raining. It was not an ordinary drizzle; it was a heavy thunderous outpour.. And we delightfully stayed in the sea, while the heavens poured itself out. It was simply blissful...And the best part was, we were so far away from the shore, even crossing the danger zone, where a red pole was hoisted as warning.

These incidents surface my mind when I think about monsoon. Between, I am planning to buy the book 'Where the rain is born' compiled by Anitha Nair.It's a collection of stories about Kerala. The title of the book itself is too tempting for me...

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