Flyaway Mind

So it has been exactly 1 month since I shifted to a new accomodation. It is a comfy place 5 minutes away from my office & most importantly near to the so-called-happening place in Bangalore - The Forum .Apart from that, it is the most boring-to-death place you can ever find. I live in that hole all alone.

Before I shifted, I was convinced that I am going to die of loneliness there. How can I survive there ,after having lived in an ear splitting ,high decibel environment of Ladies Hostel.On the first day, I was experiencing a feeling of "suddenly single" .I was convinced I am going to turn into a human island...Three days later, I was relaxing in my room listening to Radio Mirchi and reading my favorite novels. Nobody to disturb the peace. I have the whole room to myself. I can throw my whole stuff around- books,clothes & still get away with it .I can listen to music & dance(secretly of course) all the way around in the privacy of my room.(ya..burning the dance floor)I can lie down in my bed , hearing the rhythm of music, stare at the star studded skies through the window & drift in my flyaway thoughts.This's quite blissful.

Two week later, I was tired of this routine. Suddenly,the silence is deafening.I crave for another human presence.Or should I think of getting married ?? heheee.. I took my cell phone & started calling my friends in the list. Afterwards,I felt slightly better. Within the next 3 days,I have exhausted my whole currency & decided I have had enough.

The whole scenario changed last weekend.Finally a new gal came to my room : a student & a friendly looking gal. Appearances can be deceptive, I warned myself. I was indeed ecstaic, but outwardly kept a straight face. She introduced herself as S . Then she looked at me slyly "Hope you wont be offended by my preferences. I wear minimal clothes". Interesting indeed!!!I refrained myself from commenting.

Some time went by peacefully.I went as usual to my FM world. Then she dropped the next bomb
S: "Do you think there are gals in this PG who flicks stuff??"
me: eh??? not that I know of....
S: I have 3 lakhs bucks with me !!!

I looked passive.Did I mishear?? Then she repeated proudly, "I have 3 lakhs bucks with me". My thoughts were racing. 3 lakhs with a student??hmmm..Finally,I concluded her father must be into smuggling. And why the hell is she telling all this to me. With a sinking feeling, I thought of the consequences lest she loses her bucks. As her sole roommate, all suspicions will be directed at me.I looked at her as if I am hearing the most natural thing in the world, "Better take care of your stuff"

I have been waiting for a roomy all this while & now a smuggler lady has sailed in. I mentally cursed all my karma for this . I decided to ignore her and go my own way before she tries to disclose more about her possessions to me. That night went rather peacefully, while she slept like an angel with the loud, blaring hiphop music ON on her tape recorder.Since I am the kind of gal who continues to sleep, even if a tsunami rages in & swallows up the whole Bangalore, it is not a matter of much thought.

Next morning, by the time I got up, she was all ready to go out. Before she sailed out of the room, she announced , "I just left my ipod nano in your cupboard. Hope you don't mind"
I screamed, "Whaaaaaaaaat??????" But she was already gone.Ayyyo...Now the burden of 3 lakhs ,an iPod & the antics of a minimally dressed devil is on me.

By the time I came back in the evening, she told, "Bad news for you"... My heart skipped many beats.My stomach made a somersault. Then to my utter relief, she muttered "I am leaving the place. I am moving in with a friend"

I simply love being alone. By the way, ever heard of cases where people die of claustrophobia ????

 I was rummaging through the old drawer in search of a lost novel, when I hit  upon a neat stack of letters at the bottom. There were multi coloured envelopes, affixed with quaint little stamps of USA. It has almost been a decade now. I fell into a retrospective mood…

The letters were from my ex pen pal – Erin Noble hailing from Illinois, US.I was in high school, when I received the first letter of its kind. I was truly on cloud nine. In those days when getting a personal letter itself was a matter of much pride, receiving one from an alien friend from another part of the world, called for an extreme case of vanity.

This pen-pal ship was initiated through an exchange program by 'Young World'. The acquaintance soon blossomed into a wonderful friendship through a series of letters. Each letter was eagerly awaited; read & re read a zillion times; showcased around to poor buddies(poor = no pen pals) & finally a lengthy reply drafted.

Like many contemporaries, Erin Noble’s India represented a land of tigers & snake charmers. Probably, Americans watched too much of Discovery Channel. It must have been real hard on Erin’s part, to believe, that I didn’t live in a tree house , surrounded by dense rain forest, crawling with snakes & tigers

To make matters worst, I was unofficially declared as their mentor/guide for summer project, which involved a study of tigers. I didn’t have the heart to tell that, the only tigers I have seen are the ones in zoos & the only fact I know is they are India’s national animal. So the next 2 days, I sweated it out in the library, trying my hands on translation work of a Malayalam book “ tigers of India”.

We exchanged cards on all occasions. Once I received a pink envelope, scribbled with “don’t open before 14th ”. For an uninitiated gal to whom Valentines Day existed only in the pages of the novels she read, it was a pleasant surprise. Thus Erin Noble became my first ever Valentine at the tender age of 13.

Then, there were 2 other pals, rather e-pals: Heron El Khwaja from Egypt & Jung Hwa from Korea.

Heron El Khwaja is an engineer from Cairo, Egypt.. After exchanging a few mails , it suddenly dawned on me that El Khwaja rhymed with Al Quaida & timely ended what I believed was a disastrous friendship. Another result of my “ chronic suspicion syndrome”:)

Jung Hwa is a fiery young gal from Korea, pursuing her studies in medicine. Being a Korean, English language was never one of her finer points. But her communication skills were excellent to an extend, where I could imagine the beauty of her vivid descriptions. I still remember her descriptions of her winter music camp, where they huddled around a campfire in the picturesque woods singing, when gentle snowflakes danced all around them. She is an excellent example of how language can never be a barrier to effective communication

It was my roommates Bday. This time, contrary to usual, we hadn't equipped ourselves with eggs & tomatoes for the midnight bash. It all started at 12'o clock, with waking up the Bday Babe by bursting balloons right over her ears. She bounced out of her bed, yelling that her eardrums were no longer functional. Then we started singing..err.. howling bday wishes & hogging yummy yummy pastries.

Since eggs & tomatoes were not readily available for adorning the Bday babe, we decided to use whatever was available at hand. This included orange peels, pastries, jam & all sort of crap things. We pounced upon her, generously squeezing orange peels into those wide open , awe stuck eyes & smearing pastries & jam all over. It was big fun , until it started snowballing into a big battle. Yummy yummy pastries were rocketing in the air & gals running helter skelter. Somebody came up with a mug of water for self defense. Needless to say, my sparkling clean room soon transformed into a huge muddy puddle

OH NO!!! NOW WE HAD TO CLEAN OUR ROOM :-((

Bdays used to be memorable times, during my 4 years of engineering. At hostel we were a gang of spunky gals named 'QOOL GALS' (QG)

On one QG's Bday, we decided to decorate her with water colours. Each one of us took turns to paint her up. She made so much fuss that we were forced to tie her up in the chair..hee hee.. We even took snaps. Feels good to recollect all those long lost days

On my bday, I was drowned in heaps of glitter. Glitter had this unique property that , even if you take bath for the next 20 days, half of them will be still sticking to your hair. I was a living joke at college for next 3 weeks with people teasing me "Oh my God.. You still didn't take bath��"

Another time we went to a vegetable vendor to buy rotten tomatoes for the occasion

QG: you have tomatoes??
Vendor: yes mam
QG: Ok... Then get me some rotten ones..
Vendor: NOOOO. I never cheat my customers. I sell only real garden fresh ones here
QG: ????????

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!!!!