So I’m back after a luxurious 5 days at home. Nowadays, five days have become an extravagance, which I can’t afford. Sigh!!! And I feel nostalgic about those long lost college days, when mass bunking was considered to be our birth-right.
Five days went much faster than a supersonic jet . But I did have an effervescent time when I met up with my high school dude , after long years. Felt I last met her in some prehistoric stone age in another world. We both were very excited, swapping news , catching up on each other & having a real tête-à-tête talk
We unearthed many of my old albums & autographs from the cupboard. How good it felt flipping through those old class photos. Some were real funny….
One of my kinder garden snaps showed me , with a wide opened mouth curled in a perfect `O' . During that day, I was down with fever & was not supposed to attend school. But I threw a big tantrum at home, screaming “I wanna be there in my class photo” . At last my parents relented. And there I was sitting quite pretty with a red bow , ready for the click. And it was that exact moment, an irritating cough decided to take a toll on me . I tried to control myself. But the itching cough grew unbearable & I finally let out a long “ coooough couuuugh ”… The camera flashed & it was caught forever. When the snap came out, there was a red faced embarrassed me, fuming at those telltale kids who giggled and proclaimed it was a perfect yawn.
Then there was another toothless smile photo of a 7 year old.. Hmm sort of cute.. And one cute guy was standing next to me :-)
And the school autograph was filled with some hilarious stuff
One went on “I still remember the big fight we had in 5th standard that day that year”Eh?
Another one ended “ mashi theeraraayi..nirthatte”(let me stop now.. ink is going to finish)
Another gal scribbled “ dated till I marry Afridi ” I guess, some die-hard Pak cricket fan!!!
SCHOOL DAYS ROCK!!!!
Many hobbies have entered gallantly & gone silently out of my life. At the budding stage, I will plunge head down into it & work till I drop.Gradually the interest will wane & it wont be long before the wonderful hobbies find themselves transferred to the museum, which is the attic in my home.
The ‘ feather collection ’ was introduced into my life , when I was 9. The mania started when me & my childhood buddy Sharon got hold of a couple of feathers of a poor,dead kingfisher. From then on, my evil eyes were always on the poor little birds, wishing it were dead ; so that it’s bright plumage will add another feather to my cap.When you really look out for something, you get it!!! I used to find numerous feathers from the courtyard, paddy fields, inside shrubs & bushes and some were even sneaked out of the bird’s own nest.I even remember chasing the poor ducks, in hope that the startled & alarmed creature will shed a few of it’s feathers , while fleeing for it’s dear life. i am really glad, there were no bird flus to scare me back then. Thus I had a large, unruly ,colourful collection of feathers of sparrows, woodpeckers, parrots, mynahs, bulbuls……etc.
The hobby lasted a long five years, & alas met an untimely ,early demise at the hands of my father . It so happened that, as time passed, insects & silverfish found out that my precious feathers were so tasty & started devouring it. One fine morning , my father found this out and my hardwork of five years flew out of the window, down to the foot of a coconut tree. There it breathed its last silent breath!!! I never forgave my father for this act of cruelty, which shattered my young budding heart!!!
I had many other countless hobbies. I'm sure ,anyone reading this wont last through another dose of my mindless hobbies. So I will blog it another time.
Going home has always been a much awaited occasion and coming back is indeed the most despised one. This is what happened to me 2 weeks back. I had to mentally prepare myself for a long tiresome journey ahead ; and coax & convince my stubborn mind of a “wonderful future” beckoning me from a not-so-far-away-land.
The big deal is not the long train journey. It infact can be quite interesting with the teaming crowd of people, booksellers, little kids singing & collecting what is their daily bread, vendors shrieking ”chai chai” . And if your fellow passengers are real specimens of character, you have all the more fun.
Now the real problem was , I reached my destination even before the sun god arose. It was pitch dark . Outside the station there are those autowallas, waiting there ,ready to pounce on their prey. I got into one auto. Travelling in auto alone through the half lit streets, even if it’s a so-called metropolitan city is great adventure. I looked at the autowalla. Now he really looks suspicious. His eyes looked disoriented, through the mirror & I mentally calculated he must be a drug addict. Though I never admitted, I’ve always had this “acute chronic suspicion syndrome” . All those forwarded emails depicting how people have been robbed , snatched , abused & murdered , surfaced my mind. Thanks to those well wisher friends who forwarded all these. Now my mind is total pandemonium of unfathomed doubts & fears. Wish I had obliged to my friend who once cajoled me to buy pepper spray. Mentally cursed my parents who never gave me training in martial arts for self defense.
Butterflies fluttered wildly in my stomach, till I reached my hostel. Now they always keep the big iron gates locked. I stood outside patiently , after buzzing the bell exactly once .Now if you ring more than once , the maid will turn wild & frenzy and decide to give you a piece of her mind via a verbal volley of unintelligible shouting in Tamil.
My patience is wearing off. The little doggie “Tommy” is apparently the only one happy to see me . It’s prancing & dancing around the grill whining. Now I can’t understand the over zeal & enthusiasm. Soon I heard a fierce growl & glanced back to see a pack of street dogs surrounding me, obviously attracted by the little devil inside. Now I clearly don’t mind Tommy having romantic indulgences. But I don’t entertain the idea of jeopardizing myself amidst a pack of wild street dogs, at the break of dawn.
I thanked my good luck, when the maid turned up with half closed eyes to open the gates. I rushed inside & Tommy taking it as a wonderful opportunity to freedom raced out like bullet. The maid shouted at me in bewilderment & anger. I, tired after the journey & all mental trauma hardly cared. I marched off, leaving the maid to tend to Tommy, who obviously thought it was some sort of ‘catch-me-if-you-can’ game……!!!!!
Five Point Someone- Chetan Bhagat:- A book review
[A national best seller by an ex-IITian on campus life @ IIT.The book tells you what NOT to do @ IIT]
My Rating:good[not excellent]
Since a long time, I had wanted to read this book. It is not often that one get to peek into the life & thoughts of the most elite & superior of our race - the IITians. I was dying to read about these Einsteins who in my wild imagination:
- were drowned in a tsunami of tech books;
- barely had time to breathe down , having to live at the cutting edge of technology & cutthroat competition;
- hardly ever spoke & opened their mouths only to mumble in technical jargon, unintelligible to the rest of the world.
Now the book had my imagination tumbling down. It goes on to tell the story of 3 friends Ryan, Alok & Hari. They are the five point somebody’s of IIT; somebody who scored a *GPA of 5 point something , which is below average according to IIT super standards. The story tells about the simple joys of campus life, right from ragging days to the convocation day. It makes a potpourri with all the right ingredients –intellect, friendship, romance & plots.
RYAN: He is smart, stylish, sporty & can be rightly termed as a daredevil and spoilt brat. He is the one who look at things in a different perspective. He comes up with innovative ideas like how to make boring classes interesting, what to gift Hari’s girlfriend, how to sneak out the question paper right under HOD’s nose etc etc…
ALOK: He is the sentimentalist amongst the three & dreams of making it high. He has a traumatized family background, with a father who is paralysed & a family looking forward to the day he gets campus selection. His character is exactly opposite to Ryan
HARI : He is the quite one,a passive onlooker. He is the one who gets all tongue tied during viva voce & the one who dances to all of Ryan’s whims & fancies. He balances the conflicting ideas of Alok & Ryan. But how he transforms into an entirely opposite character, when in company of his girlfriend Neha is really mind boggling.
They are the 3 protagonists of the story.The book comes down heavily on the relative grading system of IIT, that reduced an individual’s identity down to his/her GPA. The system with its overloaded schedules(exams,assignments & surprise quizzes), crams up the students’s lives & leave no space for open ideas or innovations
The narrative which is humorous, witty & hilarious , provides for light reading. But sometimes we wonder whether humour is a bit over done, especially when there are situations that call for atleast a grain of seriousness. Maybe that is why it is regarded as a book version of dil chahta hai.
*GPA- Grade Point Average
Last weekend I had planned to go shoe hunting. But all my buddies suddenly vanished during the weekend & I didn't want to go alone . It so happened, my last shoe hunting expedition turned out to be an utter failure...
In Bangalore, if you want to go shopping, you have 2 choices. One option is you can go to any shopping mall , those really happening places. If you are a shopping freak or a person with lot of black money looking forward to get rid of some, this is the perfect choice . Or if you are a real diplomat eager to display your negotiation (read bargaining)skills, you can go to those out stretched streets(not to mention those equally outstretched potholes)
Now I belong to the latter category minus the bargaining skills. Last time when we went shopping , we were strolling through the commercial street, window shopping. I think window shopping is a full fledged hobby & entertainment for majority of the Bangloreans. And Bangalore with its colourful streets brimming with youthful spirit & enthusiasm , doesn't disappoint its window shoppers. It was at that time when I saw those cream coloured sandals beckoning me from behind those gleaming glass panes. Now this platform heeled beauty really had me hooked .
So me and my buddies went inside the shop & asked for the price . Now this friendly faced guy gave a wicked smile and told "500/-" My dude was pinching on my arm & whispering the mantra "BARGAIN" . I thought this was a good opportunity to develop some useful skills . And instantaneously my great bargaining instincts uncovered itself " Do you really mean to say 500??? The quality of this stuff is surely not that worth.." blah blah !!! Finally I concluded, "250/- not a pie more ; not a pie less " . Now I really had it in my head that cutting down the price by half was an intelligent bargaining move :-)
Now a weird thing happened . This friendly faced guy is really nodding his head . This cant be happening . I cant believe this . Why did he agree so easily??? . He should at least have put up some fight . Stupid me . If I knew it, I would have told 150 !!!( this explains the fact that human beings are greedy by nature) .Once again , my intuitions have failed me .Now I am in dilemma : to buy or not to. Atlast I made up my mind & bought it . I was really proud of this shoe beauty.
One week passed by , and I was flaunting the sandals wherever I went .Then I noticed something peculiar . The pretty sandal has developed wrinkles on its creamy heels. Oh No.. And with each passing day, the grand platform heels shrank more & more .So did the no: of wrinkles . Though rather sad , I continued wearing it , until that tragic day, when suddenly the shoe straps without any prior warning gave away . To add to my embarrassment, I was on the way to my office & in the middle of road . And the rest became golden chapters in history as I started hopping towards my office.!!!!
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