Zebra Feet

• I'd like to call it the season of the gulmohar...
• I'd like to call it the season when peepal trees seem to be on fire...red leaves...and the same red leaves miraculously turn green overnight...and leave you yearning to see the red ones again!
• I'd like to call it the watermelon and mango season...when you eat with so much love that you don't realise the watermelon/mango juice has found its way down the length of your arm, touched your elbow, and fallen to the ground...while the vicinity of your mouth remains essentially sticky, and watery! and your fingers too!
• I'd like to call it the season when tendrils appear on trees that i didn't bother noticing at any other time of the year...passing it off as 'just another tree'.
• I'd like to call it the time of the when 'yelaneer'(tender coconut water) seems like the elixir of life!
• I'd like to call it the season when there's a reason to use hill-stations as retreat...
  
  SUMMER...in chennai.Sounds beautiful right? All close to nature, and so poetic, and so healthy with all the fruits and yelaneer and all...but...but...here's what i end up calling it...

• The season of spine-wrecking HEAT!
• The season when you don't know how you lose all the water that you drink!
• The season when anything you wear, sticks to you...and that kind of sticking can give the fevicol guys a run for their money!
• The season when air-conditioners are synonymous with - paradise, life, and my fave - HEAVEN!
• The season when you realise how much of a 'stink' you can become!
• My thatha's fave - the season when you can 'puzhunjufy' (squeez) the sweat out of your banniyan (vest)!
• The season when I (ME....of all people in the world...) am awakened by the first rays of dawn filtering through my curtains (actually, largely by the heat they radiate)! Me...who fails to wake up to the sound of 2 alarms...grandmom's shouts...and cousin's too.;-)
• My fave - the season of 'sweet-summer-sweat' (if The Eagles ever find out i've been misusing their lyrics so much, aah!)
• And the last...the season of TANS - and zebra feet :D And for evidence.... the pic below ;-)
  
  
  
  
  

Feel free to add on to the list dear readers!

i do prefer this anyday to the 'floods' we had...terrible thing that...

yours "doesn't the sun ever get tired of being "hot" and generating sweat?"ly

Signing off.....

Blabberations

Blabberation 1 - The big M
Do you know how lord krishna died? After He witnessed his people (of dwaraka) destroy each other and bring themselves to their pre-destined end (due to the curse of the rishis), and after he saw the passing of his elder brother Balarama, Lord Krishna wandered in the wilderness...he lay on the ground and slept. A hunter, prowling for game, mistook him, among the shrubs, to be a wild animal and shot an arrow right through his infoot (or the sole of his foot) and it pierced through his whole body, causing him to depart the world of men.
I hope you havent come to the conclusion that this post is about Lord Krishna, or Mahabarata or death or something! But the account mentioned above is something i think of in the semi-awake state every night, before drifting into the bliss of slumber, and in the process of thinking so, involuntarily make sure my blanket covers each part of my body, neck down....and why, you may ask. Ha...we here in chennai, live in an era where mosquitoes disturb sleep more than power-cuts do!( i mean the intensity, and not the frequency) These are the days when 'odomos'- THE mosquito repelant of all times (which is no longer yellow, and has a more pleasant smell and tube than before! shit, i sound like i'm trying to market it...), is applied at the 'soles' of the feet, which have been declared (from experience) - the "sweet spot" for a mosquito's feast... and thus, the relation to Lord Krishna's death! There are times that can be worse...and those times are the one's where you end up covering your ears (and in the process, most part of your face) to prevent yourself from being entertained by the monotonic singing of these insects which control the fate of your sound sleep! Covering your ears not only cuts off the 'oh!so pleasant!' sound, but also gives you the assurance of the sacred passage into your ear being shut-off to the wandering m's! You can't apply odomos on your ears can you?! Perhaps i should give it a try...! One of the worst combinations in the world is found right here, in the city that harbours one of the longest beaches in the world. The combination being sweet-sweet-summer and
mosquitoes! You don't want to cover yourself because its so hot, but if you dont, there are always the m's...and you'll understand that sweating is way better than looking at a pink, swollen arm/leg first thing in the morning. And that to, only if you manage to sleep! ok, i'll stop! :p

Blabberation 2 -...and Partitran....means protection
Its election time in chennai...and we've all heard of Lok paritran (am so glad this phenomenon began in chennai!)...i saw this interview of Santhanagopal vasudev, the guy constituting from mylapore...and damn the U.S educated guy, he talked so well! What attitude! There was this article abt them in the metroplus (here), and looking at that photo...i thought 'wow...' - all so well dressed (they're so not in white veshti sattai!), and the minute you look at them you know they're educated! While we have other local parties promising 10kg of rice and sugar with door delivery (yeah, like this is saravana bhavan!) and free cable tv (pah! they cud just lift the set top box system...that'd do!), Paritran promises good governance, transparency, accessibility and freedom from corruption! They even talked about simplifying the process of attaining a ration card, school admissions, and said bureaucracy and corruption are the reasons simple procedures become complicated! (i hope they'd added college admission to that list!) Some things they call 'the basics'. Doesn't that bring out the difference? So, to Lok Partitran - We salute your spirit! And we hope you bring about the right changes...Good luck in the lands untrodden by the educated!
If you wish to show your solidarity...there's a meeting at Nageshwara rao park, mylapore, at 2.30pm on 24/4/06.

Blabberation 3 - Ads
I'm not an ardent fan of Hrithik...but sometimes, i just cant help but appreciate a few things. Very recently, i saw a 'john players' ad and a 'hide n seek' ad... i just came to the conclusion that there are some people who are so unfairly handsome! And talented... you should see him dance in the Hide n seek ad...damn!

Blabberation 4 - baah (dont know what to name it!)
There was something in today's paper about the book, 'the catcher in the rye'...just made me realise how much i enjoyed that book...and i just thought i'd put this quote from the book...(The character's answer to what he'd be doing later in life)
"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be."
One crazy book...!

I think i've blabbered enough...i saved you guys the trouble of reading more of it - each of the blabberations was supposed to be a different post! Complied it :D Thankyou for your patient reading...

Yours 'its 11.41pm and i haven't applied odomos and the M's are feasting on me'ly
Signing off.....

A revelation

I know i use alot of 'sometimes' and 'some things' in the first line of my posts...for reference, you can check out the 2 posts before this one! I don't know why that happens... and i've resolved not to use either in the first line of this post (which officially starts only from the next line!)

Have you ever experienced the feeling people call 'revelation'? That sudden astonishingly enlightening feeling of having finally found what you were looking for...like the act was one of final disclosure...nothing within, nothing beyond. A feeling that imparts so much satisfaction...you could go mad with the knowledge of what has been revealed...like a brainstorm. The beauty of the word 'revelation' - it can be considered an apocalypse or also an eye-opener...almost opposites. Perhaps that's the reason the last book of the 'New Testament' of the Holy bible is named 'revelation'. Aah, i've jumped from the meaning of the word, to the beauty of the word, to the holy bible! God save me and my direction that seems fond of diverting! Now, this post is not about the word itself...but the 'feeling'.

Sometimes, we come across a set of words, which, even if not truly understood, seem so beautiful, lyrically, or just simply. Or seem appealing because of some sort of enigmatic quotient they hold. Those words hit me over 6 months back...and i marvelled at their beauty...felt drunken with the mystique they conveyed...unable to unravel the inner meaning. Maybe i didn't try hard enough to find out what they meant...maybe the heavenly feeling of the mysterious ingredient in them kept me from wanting to know what they actually coneveyed, and where they came from. Maybe curiosity unsatisfied here, was the beauty of it all... A little voice within me, tells the bigger part of me that had i 'read' those lines and not 'heard' them in the context that i did, they'd probably sound less magical...i don't know if i'm convinced with that... the words that i've been talking about, were written by Alexander Pope, in what is called "old poetry"...but i would have never been hit by them if it weren't for Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman...the people who wrote (the first one directed) the movie 'Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind'. The words tumble out of Kirsten Dunst's mouth... a sound that is so flamboyant, yet so fragile...lost in transition between the two...and the scene itself is so out of place from the movie...its like poetry in motion...and i'm sure you'll never understand what i mean unless you've watched the movie... so don't blame me if the words seem bland to you! Here goes...

"How happy is the blameless Vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot:
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each prayer accepted, and each wish resign'd".

For the benefit of those who want to interpret those words... you may find something useful here (almost towards the end of the page). But i do suggest you ponder a little! :D I don't think i would have ever made an attempt to understand those words...but it happened, by chance...i was just reading the quote for the 'i don't know how many'eth time, and a friend/senior came online...and this post was made possible. Thankyou, Anish.

and...Caulagi - i succeeded in posting about this before you! Though i thought you'd do it as soon as i gave the quote to you :p

Yours 'May revelations last'ly

Signing off....

E U P H O R I A

There are some things in life that are relished more when done in a group....the moments you want to freeze...and see over and over again. When you can see white flashy teeth on every face, hands high up in the air, mouths screaming, handshakes, hugs, camera flashes, the shield...victory...thats what i call EUPHORIA.

Our college celebrated its 5th college day yesterday....12th april. Its supposed to be a big deal...a day filled with 'fun'.... but let me tell you what you'll actually end up getting...

A mokkai speech early in the morning by chairman dear (with a gel-ed bald head!)
Exploding music...you'll go deaf by the end of the day...and you'll still feel like you're vibrating with the beats long after your step out of the place...!
Chief guests who they'll make you wait for....who'll end up being people you definitely don't want to see (actually, this time was slightly better than last time when we had paarthiban!)
A dehydrated body...and a lost voice (screeeeaaaam)
Terrible lunch, but good gulab jamuns!
Students dancing to the same 'dabaankoothu' songs over and over again.
The smell of 'sweet-summer-sweat' !!!

Well, there's more....but i really don't want to make it sound exaggeratedly bad...because i was a part of it, and had my side of the fun... the tension back-stage, decked up in costumes...praying...cracking last minute tension jokes...Then onstage! Trying to smile hard...getting the steps right...trying to look like everything's so perfectly normal....trying to turn a deaf ear to all the whistles and screams and cheers....waiting for every minute to pass, so that i could get out of the sight of hundreds of fellow students.... That was the feeling....after a week of practice, and vetti-ness, and experiencing the joy of music, and the beauty of dance (by select few dancers from my class.....definitely not me!). And when it was over, that feeling of relief could only be equalled by the feeling one gets after a last exam! Ha... Divine!

If that was divine... i dont know what i'd call the next feeling. Seated in our chairs, hair tied up into a kondais (bun), shoes off, energy-drained, sour throats, voices lost... awaiting the results.... And the biotech dept had to come first!!!! AAAAAAHHH i screamed... we were a part of that show! We were...! All our mistakes, and droopiness faded away in a second...and we were running towards the pordium....it was teamwork! We all screamed....unbelievable euphoria... somehow i just felt like i could keep screaming for the rest of my life...and hold the moment, live in it, with all those who were a part of the feeling, jump, smile....just hoped it could go on forever...nothing else seemed important! Ofcourse we all came back to reality in a while...i'm still wandering up there...on cloud no.9...drunk with euphoria! Thats the word of the day...and this should go into my 'heaven' list!

Still up there!

And...Happy new year! Inia tamil puthandu nal vazhthukal!


Signing off....

Heaven

HA...finally! Sometimes we get caught so miserably in what people call the 'web of life' that we're unable to do some things we really badly want to do. And in my case 2 things come under this category
a) UPDATE
b) READ

Well, its not like i'm overflowing with ideas for a post...but i'm obviously aware that we hardly have posts that make sense...And those 74 comments in the prev post...aah! Can't believe it touched so far!! Yooo hoooo! so, here's for updating!

First...3/4/06 - Nidhee's birthday! I know am late...but, better late than never. Nidhee, happppeeeeee birthdayyy!!!! We had great fun that evening di ;-) But next time, be prepared for a heavier bill!!! Best wishes for the coming year.

Right from the time i was a kid with two plaits, a handkerchief pinned to my dress, my eyes filled with 'kajal' that came out beyond the corner of my eye as an extended line, missing front teeth and a belted frock, or even before that, The idea of heaven and hell has been imposed onto me... the idea was planted into my brain, like it was into yours i presume, that heaven is haven for the Gods and hell, for the devil...I think its this kind of spell that's cast on us when we're kids, because things u learn when you're young, you remember for life. I always thought that heaven was up there...among the clouds...where angels float, and dance, and people just smile all the time. And hell, is down under...where you have this extra-large pot of steaming red liquid which people fall into (typical tom and jerry depiction!). But i guess thoughts do change! There was a time when my teacher in school said she believed that heaven's just a place on earth... just invisible to mortals...and i believed in that for a while. But you know, there are certain situations where you voluntarily end up saying 'heaven' without realising why...here are a few instances in my experience...

• Draining a glass of cold orange juice after walking for 1/2 hour on the roads of chennai during peak summer, after an exam!
• Walking into a room chilled by the AC after getting roasted in the sun.
• The feeling you get when you're drifting to slumber-land...
• The peaceful expression on a baby's face...as he/she falls asleep on your lap...
• Satisfaction
• The sound of a bell indicating the last hour of the day in college...
• Hunger satisfied by thair sadam and manga thokku!
• When someone understands what you've been trying to teach them...
• MARS chocolate...in the quasi-awake, puffy eyed, carbohydrate-craving state after an afternoon siesta!
• Old photographs...the laughs...the happiness...the whacki-ness
• A warm, furry blanket, a pair of socks on a cold bed...
• A hot cup of coffee and mild music as it drizzles...
• Drunken laughter...
• Team work, cheering, victory, the euphoria!
• Music that speaks your state of mind.
• A crowd cheering after a goal is scored...and the player being hugged by his team mates.
• A surprise...
• A smile through a crowd of strangers.
• FAMILY

I cant think of more at the moment...am very sure there are more. I would like you, dear readers, to add on to the list!!

Yours 'yippee i finally update'ly
Signing off...