My Black Friday...

It made me feel so bad when blogging was banned in this country.... made me feel like i'd lost some integral part of me. But well, it all came back... and somehow, i still didn't feel like updating. Partly because the previous post is so close to my heart...and partly because our blogging network is suffering from a lack of activity. Where is everyone! Anyway... am so glad i still have this blog!

There's nothing much thats been happening... nothing worth a mention. So i'll get down to writing about friday, 21st of july, when i thought the whole wide world was conspiring against my happiness... and for 3 good reasons. First, my blog, ad any other blog just refused to open! And then i found out abt the whole ban... and hell, i was upset... I whined and complained...and that passed. And then sukanya told me that Cannavaro (italy football captain who slept holding the world cup the night they won it!) was bought by the money pit called Real madrid! The club i loathe... because i believe they just keep buying the world's best looking players, who do play well, but go there to lose form...i was so upset! Ocourse we all knew abt the match fixing problem in juventus... but did he have to get bought into REAL MADRID? ok fine... yeah then that came and went. And then, the biggest hit for the day! Chennai city has this annoying history of releasing movies later than any other city in the country... simply because of i dont know what! And this time, this got onto my nerves like hell... i for one, have been waiting for 'pirates of the caribbean - dead man's chest' from the minute i finished seeing the first one! And inspite of having that friday off, i couldnt watch the movie simply because they didn't release it! Arrggghhh...

Anyway.... as of now, i say - Captain Jack sparrow, Where are you! Show yourself!!!!! Am waiting... we're waiting... chennai's waiting for your swaggering drunken walk, and your slurred speech, and 'kohl'ed eyes...and your slender lady-like fingers that u got a stunt for, your whacky expressions and that roller coaster ride type action! and lastly, but never ever the least - those high high high cheek bones that define you - Johnny depp - Pirate of all pirates!! Keep signing those autographs (polls show that he signs the most no.of autograohs in hollywood!), i hope to get one someday!

Well... i'll get back with a solid post later...

Yours " waiting for jack sparrow"ly
Signing off....

The taste, smell, touch, vision, feeling.....of victory!

Do i need to describe the feeling? The euphoria? The tears.... My italy!!!!!!!!! woo hooo!! They got out of that jinx... that 'we never win a match that goes to the penalty shoot-outs' jinx. But everything else, sticks to history. The power of history sort of dawned upon me last night... 1982 repeated. And i sat and cried in jubiliation...i jumped...i screamed.... Italy reach the finals once in 12 years, and they win alternately. Thats history. Italy lost out on penalty shoot outs, but definitely not in this one! Thats history broken! Its hats off to Cannavaro (the best defender i know), and Pirlo (who has such style in midfield), and Gattuso (mr.agrressive), And Del piero(here's class), And toni (record striker, and one hell of a smile, but didn do too well), and Camoranesi(rough!!), and Grosso(the man who scored that winning goal), and Matterazzi(the man who made dear Zidane let his team down,and the one who scored that first goal), and De Rossi(one more penalty), and the wall - Buffon!(world's most expensive goalie...in Nil's words, he counts money with those hands...he better save the goals! And he did... a great job!) And lastly, but not the least, coach Lippi. His startegy clicked... wow. And to the others... totti, iaqinta, perotta, zamborotta, and whoever's name that must have just slipped.... :D

The extent to which people around you believe in your team sometimes makes so much of a difference. And the people who made me believe italy were going to lift that cup... Nilesh (with all his flashnews and his own startegies to how italy are goin to play!), Sathya (who actually told me that i might have been azzurri by birth for one of my comments! That made me smile like hell), Nitya (who kept saying, just wait and see, they're going to win. Relax...), Sandhya (who made me call her and scream each time italy scored!), my dad (who sent sms' from kenya to say 'fantastic goal divs' like i'm the one who trained the team!)and sathya uncle (who again, sent sms' from kenya sayin go italy! and reminded me that kenya's always italy crazy)....Its been great watching the world cup with each of you guys! Thanks a million for making this fever work.... and thanks to Nik, tsb and anu who always kept the comments section of the blogs alive with football fever!! And ofcourse, Sukanya, for being as excited as me, and sincerely discussing each and every match we watched over the phone, during half time and after full time! You've been great company suk! :D

Its over.... and how much i've loved this past month, i cannot tell. Football's been in me since kenya... where it is like what cricket is to india. I grew up playing football, dirtying my white uniform with red sand, and watching it too... coming to chennai sort of stole that away from me... but i love espn for telecasting the worldcup this year... thats maybe the best thing thats ever going to happen to me this year! The month of june, and the first 9 days of july... magic. Football magic, azzurri magic. I'm going to miss it so terribly.... And its been so easy making conversation with anyone under the sun this one month! All one had to do was say 'hey did u watch yesterday's match....' blah, and the rest would follow! No more of that :( well... we all have to move on i guess! Heaven knows where i'll be and what i'll be doing when this happens again... but i'll watch it. South Africa calling!

The Azzurris worked their magic.... and i still remain charmed :D

Yours "ITALY WON THE FIFA WORLDCUP 2006 and it feels euphoric"ly
Signing off...

Frozen

UPDATE 6/7/06 - Happy birthday Caulagi!!!!! Have a great day man, and enjoy that tour! You're such a lucky bum... have a wonderful year to come! Good luck.


My college reopened today. After a whole month of vacation. And very strangely, i didn't blog about the 'holiday' feeling. Nonetheless, it felt so lousy to go back to college... but hell, not like i had a choice. But i guess it all got back normal today. We cracked up so royally in the lab and laughed so much, that i almost felt like i'd missed the feeling :) Feels like the past month just breezed past...with my parents here (which again, i did not mention). It was one of those rare times when we were all vetti...and at the same time...so we made something worthwhile come out of the vettiness... and yesterday was a perfect example.

We were 8 of us, 3 so called 'children' and 5 proper 'adults' adanjufied (dumped/squeezed) in one room...the entertainment box switched on, with super loud volume. 8 pairs of eyes screwed up in concentration...and 3 noses sniffing and running, attributed to the recent attack of cold and cough...3 pairs of hands holding tissue paper, thanks to the 'running' noses! We were watching a tamil film. Something i call a classic, for there hasn't been another of its kind till date...so entertaining and funny. The kind of 'funny' that can be understood by anyone, no matter the age (infants obviously not included ;-)). The movie - Michael madana kamarajan! What a movie... we all rolled with laughter in all the 'kaameshwaran' scenes...lol. One of kamal hasaan's best entertainers. He plays a rich businessman, a palghat cook, a criminal and a fire saver... and how fate brings them all together is such a hilarious tale. One that can be watched over and over again, and can be laughed over, even when you know the dialogues word to word (which most of us did!). It was some moment...one of those i'd like to 'freeze'. We were 3 generations in that room... my grandparents, my parents and aunt, my cousins and i. Frozen moments.

Well... i guess thats it. Somehow, i don't want to write about the turn the worldcup's taken. Just that its made me...(well, yes, i love using the word) euphoric. Just got to wait and see...God be with them.

Yours "Only berlin stands between them and the fated cup"ly
Signing off....

Dwell among the clouds

When you have too many things to post about, the post either becomes a blabberation, or becomes too long. I don't know which of the 2 this one is going to become, but i suggest you prepare yourself to face the consequences, whatever the genre ;-) Now... to Ooty, and Kerala.

When your eyes are being subjected to a feast, it feels like your mind is lost in a dream. A mid-day reverie that you don't want to snap out of. And i found that happening to me way too often in the land of mist and rain... of flowers and peaks...of never-ending greenery. Where you live among th clouds...and walk among them, and yet you cant see yourself within them, and thus find it difficult to believe so... but end up feeling it somewhere in your heart, that it becomes true, and makes you believe. Pine forests to arrest your attention, and make your eyes prisoner....In my opinion, not a single pair of eyes would mind an exile there. You just cant stop looking...The rows of softwood...like symmetry came naturally to them!The trees beckon you to them, but the slippery soils warn you of some unexpected fate you might meet if you succumb to the temptations of the pines whose trunks seem like a stairway to heaven... for the sole reason that their highest branches and tips are lost in the mist, and blend with the sky...giving you the feeling that if you manage to climb up and have a little peek, you'll be in a world far away from ours. So here finally, is the place where the land and the sky meet in total peaceful white-ness... unlike the sea and the sky that meet in rich blue, the colour of the world. Its like living in a dream.

And then there are the winds...whose main aim it would seem, is to push you off the nearest cliff, as quickly and forcefully as possible. The wind and the drops of rain get into a conspiracy to slap your cheeks, and every exposed part of your skin so hard that its like anasthesia...makes you numb with cold. And then the chill becomes painful...Like a thousand needles are piercing your skin from nowhere...and you feel white. You feel like if you try to open your mouth, your jaw might just break away from the rest of the skeletal structure and take a nice holiday... :D But, its a great feeling(only if it happens once in a while). Struggling against that wind very simply draws a similarity to life itself... And when you reach your destination against the wind, and the view from the top is breath taking, nothing else matters. And life too, follows a similar pattern...

And the tale that Ooty has to tell moves on... from deep valleys, that seem as bottomless as an abyss, to tea gardens, to flowers of paradise, to lakes and to home-made chocolate (that i regret not tasting!). But we move on... to kerala. You get so drunken with the greenery that you start seeing everything as green...ok, that maybe an exaggeration, but the place is really green...I don't really know about the cities, but the road to kerala was wow. My mother bought something called 'pazham pori' at some tea shop on the way, which was, i think, banana fried in bajji style! It was sweet...and had 'welcome to kerala' written all over it! And then there was guruvayur...with all the lamps and the elephants...the place humbles you so much. Was beautiful. Temples.... :) Nik, you live in a beautiful state.

Thanks to the trip, i had my first tryst with a fireplace ;-) was super cool... i just kept staring at the flame and lugging more wood... And looking at the reflection of the fire in someone's eyes gives you such an eerie feeling! My aunt's eyes literally looked like they were on fire... lol. And we also had this 5.5hour train journey climbing up to ooty... it was the cheapest travel we made i guess. 11 bucks a ticket for such a long journey in a cute little chuc chuc train that kept stopping and whistling and crying its chucchucs...and that is an antique piece that runs on coal! Some experience... :)

The trip cost my dad money...but cost me... some football matches that i very badly wanted to see... but well, now that am back, i can have it all :)

Yours 'Italy into the quarters' ly
Signing off....

When Jose makes your day...

Adidas just made my day... or rather, my brother just did, indirectly. I was supposed to buy something with the money he'd given me for my birthday...still remember his great piece of advice "Don't save it, please spend it, all of it!" And i did just that... spent it on something i've been considering ownership of for quite sometime :D A good pair of sneakers...SHOES! Branded. I don't know why i happened to pick adidas, but i do know now that it was the right decision! I
think it started because there's an 'upto 50% off' sale...and there's such football ambience in that place!!

I stepped in to find David Beckham staring right into my face! Woo hoo! A HUGE poster...2 actually. And rows of football jerseys and shoes and so much more... and the last shelf had... football studs! I stared at them for so long am sure the guy helping us around would have thought i was charmed or hypnotised or something! Well... it wasn't too tough to pick the shoes. Love them :D And my mom picked some t-shirt for my bro and me( and as usual, i ended up pickin my t from the men's section! Never like the ladies secn...i dont think things like this ever change!)... normal stuff. But the big surprise came later...

We were billing...and they had this stand filled with post cards... again, the 'big names' in football... Ballack, Beckham, Kaka, Raul, Riquelme...for free. GRABBED some! LOL! And the guy smiled and walked away... i was stuck in this 'slightly embarassed' state but hell, the quotient of excitement and joy exceeded that of embarassment by a huge margin! And just as we were about to leave... the guy came back, with a poster!!! A poster Goddamit! Of Jose's team! Anyone who's seen the latest 'impossible is nothing' adidas ad on tv with thefootballers would know jose's team... 36 footballers + Jose in the poster! I almost screamed! It felt GREAT! And he smiled again... and with my 'Oh damn am goin to scream' expression, i said 'thanks so much'! And once we got into the car, i DID scream!!!! Loudly... much to the annoyance of my dad who does not
approve of posters because they apparently contribute to peeling of paint from walls :D.... But hell!! We were just leaving... and i spotted the same poster that was in my bag, but a blown up version, as a hoarding outside the adidas showroom. *broad smile*

Thats it i guess... still feels great!

sandhya - You've already made me brand ambassador for odomos, mangoes and helmets.... hope you won't deny me te honour of being brand ambassador for adidas, or better, football itself!!!:D :D

Nil - put up the poster for u... :D its not too clear... but i really couldn do more at 2.00am...do see the full size! :D hope u get one too!

NOTE : I have come to realise that no matter where you go eat in chennai, the best place for south indian dosai, vadai, idli, pongal etc... is Saravanabhavan! No matter how crowded, noisy, dirty...You go there to eat, and you eat among a thousand mamaas and maamis and their kids, and spend the least time you'd spend at a restaurant, and come out happy and full...the taste of sambar still lingering on some part of your tongue :D No wonder my thatha refuses to eat out
anywhere else!

NOTICE : This blog will lack the writer's participation for the next 5 days, as she will be out of town. But please do leave your valuable comments :D Will get back to you on the 27th! Will definitely miss my blog, and your comments ;-) But i'll hopefully come back with a story! And some nice pics i'm hoping...actually, i think am goin to miss the matches more than this!! Damn...nil, u better keep me updated man! Messages free within tamilnadu :)

Yours "I so hope I was Jose"ly
Signing off...

Thumb - Letter - Trap !

The kind of ridiculous beliefs that people have can sometimes get onto your nerves, but there are times, when they can be extremely amusing. Especially if they're being discussed in a group. They're the kind that could bug you to your bones when mentioned by someone like your grandmother, but can make you laugh no end when mentioned by a peer. One such thing is what i'd very truthfully like to call -'The thumb-letter-trap'. There is a higher probablity that girls have heard about this, and have done a thorough check up of their friends' thumbs! For those guys who still dwell in the vacuoles of darkness, here's what it is.

Apparently nature has a way of letting girls know something about their future spouses ( i was thinking its spouse and spice, like mouse n mice or something!). Something that neither a crystal ball, nor the 'jakkamma jaathagam' paati who tries to cunningly get you to show her your palm in marina/besi beach... with this huge pottu on her forehead and something that looks like a chapatti rolling pin in her hand nor the josiar (astrologer) staying in some dumpy old room in a painfully far away corner of the city can tell you! That being... the letter the 'man''s name starts with! Can you beat that. Ridiculous though it may sound, it can be an essentially entertaining time pass to a group of girls who are quite bored, and are crazy enough to make each other drunken with the craziness.

The task of hunting down THE letter between the intricate lines on my left thumb was taken up by 2 friends...Quite a search it turned out to be! From previous experience, it has been discovered that the letter 'H' notoriously appears on every girl's thumb, and thus, the letter H was very conviniently ignored.(H guys, i feel sorry for u!) Any letter beside H would be THE one! After a few minutes of examination, they both came to the conclusion that the letter to which my fate was tied was 'Y'! Sad, but true! Any guys with a name starting from Y? That was the next thing to think about... difficult! After a series of words like Yamma, Yappa, Yes, Yorker, Yorkshire, Yellow, Yogibear,Yuck, Young, Yesterday, Yttrium and other very amusing words, we settled for real names...
The proper names

• YASSAR ARAFAT! (well, am not realy interested in politicians, so OUT!)
• Yuvraj ( he'll be married by the time i decide on marriage, thus, OUT.plus, am not too fond of punjabis)
• Yash (Well, that went back to yash raichand of karan johar's K3G - too old for me ;-))
• Yunis (aah pakistani bowler... am sure he's already married. Am not for breakin happy marriages!)
• Yadav (He happened to be my friend's watchman... well, NO!)
• Yogesh (Name sounds terrible, OUT!)
• Yogendran/Yoganadan (Sounds like a saamiyaar....AAAAAAH)
• Yoshimo (or some kinda crap like that which was a japanese name...Snails not my type of cuisine - reject!)
• Yeman ( i don think am for marryin lord of death n all ;-)!)

Well i guess thats it... but i think they missed one name that just struck me now - YOKOZUNA!(of wrestling fame) Lol...and i am DEFINITELY not ok with him...
Which brings us to the conclusion that there are probablities that am not ever goin to get married ;-) Unless you guys could suggest more Y names ;-)!! Pl do!

NOTE - This has been tested on married women.I personally did it... and well, its turned out right!!!!! So, BEWARE!

UPDATE18/6/06 - Dearest appa... and all the other dads in the world - HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! You're the best!

Yours 'why am i stuck with y'ly

Signing off...

Bend it Like.....

Second time lucky. I can't believe myself. There was this time i chucked David Beckham out of 'favourites' list because he left Man U... he left it for money. He resigned as 'darling' of the club and become 'just another player' at Real (which i have never considered a team. Just a bottomless money pit with a collection of freshly bought good lookin players, who go there to lose form!)...and, he had to change his jersey number from 7, because Raul, the darling of Real, was 7. Then he went out of form for a while... some scandals in his personal life...just lost any interest in him. But today... after watching 2 england matches (in which england as a team didn't play too well)... i can't not like him anymore. I think he has class.... Such accurate crosses! Strikes right on target...and ofcourse, he still looks good :D He's still the King of free kicks and side kicks, the architect of goals, and a brilliant mid-fielder. And if he has proper coordination from his fellow team mates, the strikers in particular, england can do much much better. Its hats off to david beckham, and it feels great to be crazy about with him again! :D Yaaaaaayyyyy!!!!
Dear captain, may you lead england to some good victories, and get back to Man U!
(well this does not mean england's my team for the worldcup...I'm stuck to the azzurris this time! Italy...Yaay! but I think England, a team with such good looking players, should go some decent distance towards the cup!!! ;-))

And... the guy has his wife's name tattoed on the under side of his left arm, in HINDI! beat that! Ain't that so cute? awww....here's proof.

and the commentator today had this super cute commment before he took the free kick...he said "come on david, bend it like Beckham!" Lol...

NOTE : No offence to Johnny Depp...Johnny, You'll always be on the list ;-) Just that its Beckham season now! You'll rule from july 7th! Pirate of pirates... :D

I LOVE FOOTBALL. Next to food ofcourse... :D

UPDATE 16/6/06 - Its so cool that i get to do this on this post... it being a football post, a Beckham post. This is for my Bro....Who i've watched every world cup with, screamed and jumped...cheered for italy... and the photo you see at the beginning of the post, is me in his beckham jersey... So, dear Bro - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!! Ofcourse i am not in a position to give you money for your gift like you did ;-) or rather, not yet! But... you'll get something i can afford!!! Have a great day... :D 3 cheers to football!!!

Yours "In love with Beck all over again"ly
Signing offfffff.............

Ironies in life 2

We take life for granted. We take our health for granted. We take Nature's mechanism of correcting flaws and being almost perfect for granted. At times there are things that wake you up from your trance of 'taking for granted' and show you the real plight that you may go through. Some sort of self realisation...some sort of enlightenment. A feeling that makes you ask yourself whether you're worth this existence... It all happened to me in a single day...

We hardly compare hospitals to indian railway stations. But you will when you see this one. Hundreds of people - with stickers holding numbers stuck to their shirts - sitting, sleeping, standing in a single room...their faces unknown to you, unknown to each other. Yet, they are bound by a single cause - survival. The love to live, to see another sunrise, to see their families extend through generations, to make the best use of their days before the ugly truth of mortality dawns upon them, to distance themselves from wasted mortality - a fate none escape. The Madras Cancer Institute. The battleground for a war between life and death, between hope and despair, between Darkness and light. Strange, how people dedicate their lives to a cause. Strange, how you visit a place for an entirely different reasons from those hundreds of unknown faces. Strange, how the phrase 'We are just a mutation or two away from a disease' can have such an impact on you...like the distance between a disease and your own self, is smaller than an angstrom in your body...just one wrong step in your DNA base pairs, and its gone. And you or me could be the 11 year old girl who walked into the lab today with blood cancer, leukemia, half her hair missing, a mask tied to her face, her parents weeping for the mercy of the Lord, not knowing what to blame this unexpectedly painful fate on. Destiny.

A few hours later, a heavy heart, ghosts of those faces flashing through my mind, the wind whistling secrets of time, vehicles tearing past, the sun fulfilling the only cause it exists for - blazing sincerely - a new feeling slapped my heart. Shaking the heaviness...like a source of turbulence. People moving towards destinations far and high, moving on with life, unaware of the 'faces' that could haunt...its so difficult to believe that there are people who don't know, don't care, about the ones fighting for life...The truth of the world. It seems so ridiculous, so impossible, for a kid to cry about the wrong flavour of chips, when someone may not know what chips means, and someone else may never taste it ever again. The unfortunate truth that you and me are a part of. Its some sort of race that is impossible to win. Its a rat race. Vehicles descending the bridge on that hot afternoon gave me the feel of that rat race. The metaphors we draw out of life could be unbelievably numerous, and sometimes, unexpectedly apt.

Further down the road...that seemed more that of life, than of traffic signals and endless traffic...a little boy skipping happily, singing some tune, walking alone, smiling. He must have had a nice day. And somewhere close by, a long haired old man, talks to himself, or to somone only his eyes have the priviledge of seeing. No smile, no song, no happiness. Just a hollowness in those eyes, a face looking so consumed. The difference...one full of life, the other, a mere existence. This brought into my head 2 words that may hold no connection to the people, but have some vague link - Alone-ness and loneliness. Often confused. One can enjoy alone-ness. One should experience it once in a while, to rejuvenate the spirit and spend time with one's own mind...But loneliness, is more often the companion. Loneliness, that can surround you like a cocoon, and with reference to this post, grow on you like a cancer...loneliness a word that differs by just one letter from loveliness, but has a world of a difference in reality.

Nothing in life is permanent, except change. I've read that a million times...And it somehow paved its way into my head a few hours later...when i watched aeroplanes fly past me, every 4 minutes, on a starless, moon-less night...just a light breeze, and the smell of hot summer in the air. We make the best of things that come our way, and we enjoy the company of a few people. They come, they go, but they are given a little space in some corner of our minds, so full of thoughts. am still waiting for the day they'll report an over-flow! Sometimes i feel like we're all used by one another in a way. Its all the need of the moment...all for a purpose. Nothing in life is purpose-less, nothing in life is insignificant. Everything in life ultimately has a place, an impact and a meaning. And thats what the words on my blog title says...

But there's something beyond people...beyond the words we utter, beyond the beauty of language, beyond mundane routine, beyond the things we do and don't do, and the reasons for that. I'd like to believe there is something beyond that. Some purpose to this existence? A reason to why we are this way...The inner person. Fake.True. Depending on situations...Locked.Open. Depending on the people. Hideous. Beautiful. Depending on the conscience. Disconnected. Involved. Depending on the state of mind. Hurt. Pacified. Depending on the reasons...reasons that are born within, dwell within, and die within...reasons, that never come out. Reasons that stay unrevealed for a reason. The irony that is called life. The irony greater than any... Irony.

Quite a long post. Vinay, dono if its the one you ordered. but if it is even close to that, the bill comes up to - a)person to comment most no.of times on the post. b)Not showing a hint of a smile or a 'feel-good' feeling. c)updating your blog with a decent post regularly!!!

Yours truly
Signing off....

On orbs and wishes and goodbyes

UPDATE BELOW

I thought i won't post so soon... but i wont be doing justice to my loyalty! Its FINALLY 9th of june!!!!!! YAAAAAAYYYY!!!! The world cup is finally here...You know, the feeling you get when you're watching a football match just doesnt happen with anything else! You're running with the players... you're cursing them for a wrong pass and wrong strike and an offside...and it goes on. This post is just to mark the beginning of this event that has been long awaited and that is going to be an international phenomenon...Can't wait!:D :D Waiting for the adrenalin rush!!!! And the JOSH!!! AAAAAAAH!!!

Now that i just finished writing about a round thing thats going to be kicked around and watched by loads of people, there's something else, that may not be equally round,but round all the same, and that may not be watched by the whole world, but has become a part of my eventless life...my new HELMET!!!
Black and shiny and says 'pretty' on both sides - ARGGH! I would like to list out the advantages of wearing a helmet:-

• You get to experience LITERALLY what people call 'whistling of the wind'. Damn the wind really WHISTLES into your ears through the small gaps!
• The noises of singara chennai are very beautifully subdued :D the honks and the curses that are better off not reaching the blessed ear :)
• You get to look all cool and give this 'how can you not wear a helmet' look to the people with bare heads on the road!
• For those of us who can never become astronauts, this is the best chance to look like one ;-) though u don't really get white helmets around the place. Black should do! Be happy with what u have!
• There's no way a crow can shit right on your head :D :D ( i realised this when i saw a shadow of a crow on wind shield of the car infront of me. The crow was flying right above my head!)
• You know a closed helmet is like some kinda enclosed entity...where if you sing, you can hear yourself! So that should help you judge your own voice ;-) and maybe you can be more careful when singing next time! Its a good sign if the helmet doesnt crack!
• The HEAT of the sweet sun never gets to your head directly! Thus, no one can say i got crazy because of the sun... so thats one reason out to 'why divya is so crazy'!
• Lastly, the boring reason people always give - its safe! ;-)

disadavantages - It ruffles your hair up and makes it look like you just got up and rushed to wherever!
Well... so thats abt the 2 'orbs' in my life :D though the former definitely has a more solid ground and is a greater influence, the latter can save my life :) HA! ok...bad one!

Next... to my cousin Visu, whoz having a jolly time in dubai - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Have fun drinking semiya payasam da ;-) and carrot kheer!And its so convinient that our kurtha sizes are the same da - am flicking the one we just bought you the minute u get to chennai! :D and to Sathya uncle, in kenya, enjoying the lovely rains, happy birthday to you too!

To karthik and anish - Goodbye, adios, adieu, kwaheri and whatever else! oh, tata ofcourse! Kar, have a nice time at dubai and get back soon!...and anish, good luck with the 'missions' u have in mind for B'lore! Hope it doesnt become mission impossible or something! :D

Just a ferw more hours to that first match!! Go GERMANY!!!!AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE - Forgot one very important thing... the king of pirates celebrates his birthday today too! Damn my cousin and uncle are so lucky to be sharing birthdays with him! To the king of high cheek bones and drunken dialogue, the captain so talented and handsome. To JOHNNY DEPP!! HAPPPYYYY BIRTHDAYYY TO YOU! Cant u treat us on your birthday with the shantaram movie?! Lol... may u act more, and blow me away each time i watch u on screen :D

Yours ' Football = euphoria'ly

Signing offff...........

Crazy Mokkais

There are times when you think there can't be any other person who could get crazier than yourself...but there are other times, when you know that it is true! Maybe i'll just let you guys decide for yourselves after reading this post which is nothing but a collection of text messages i typed out.

I dedicate this post to 3 people.
Firstly, to Vinay. There was this time when he told me "You're getting all mokkai like nil, and nil's getting all philo like you these days..." and i said " All the wrong things are rubbing on...i hope his sense of humour could rub on a bit!" This post will prove that...!
Secondly, to Nil... who has been an influence for the blessed words that came out of my mouth....actually, fingers.
Thirdly, sandhya, who has been the sole victim of those messages at the nick of time, and laughed over them, cuz we shared the same plight! But she was decent enough to refrain from sending such sms'...

There are 3...each one, for the last 3 papers i had - CBT (chemical thermodynamics and biothermodynamics - ignoramus i do agree that long name papers suck!), IMA (Instrumental methods of analysis) and Mol b (molecular biology)...

Here goes - as crazy as crazy can get.

SM1 : IMA
Wow! Am studying with such style,
my liver has no bile,
IMA is as long as river Nile,
Do you remember how to smile?
Am going to open a flunking-record file,
and its going to be a huge pile,
Oh God! Save me from this fate so vile!

SMS 2 : CBT
Hey pal,
What's your haal,
Duniya kitna hai kaal,
CBT is like bitter daal,
yeh padenge hum kitne saal,
kitna bekaraar yeh haal!

SMS 3 : Mol b (personal fave)
Life is an endless chain of xerox,
My brain cells are out of stock,
Mol b stinks like freshly removed socks,
Feels like DNA's giving me the mocks,
Episomes trying the sweet talks,
Feel like changing my door locks,
Lest the microbes come in and change the time in my clocks,
At this rate I'm getting mol-bio-pox!

Even if i want to torture you for longer, i cant...cuz that'd mean i'll have to make up more stuff like that, and it wont happen cuz my exams are done :D Some super natural force definitely saved you!
Can't stop myself from saying this... Look what my poetry's come too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know i'm deviating...but there's something else. You know there are not-so-good things we would have done at some point in life... but not every one of them ashames us, except maybe one or two (yes, for the shantaram readers, Didier said that!)...I promised my mom i'd cook her dinner by the time she comes back home... it was this hot-shot deal and i was so happy about it and all... and when she came back, there was nothing on the table... her daughter had just ran to pick up veggies, cuz she totally FORGOT that she had to cook... beat that? How does someone forget to make dinner? SHIT! i told my mom that there will be days when my kids are going to sleep hungry... :D

Yours "Crazy mokkais are fun"ly
Signing offffff......

Vegetarian turns herbivore

First things first.

To the sweetest and most patient woman i know....my paati HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! May you live to blow 1001 candles, and make more kothamalli thogayal (or however its spelt! any spelling suggestions are welcome!), thenga thogayal, arachu vitta sambar and lovely (perungaayam thookal, puli jaasthi) Rasam for me! And may we have more endless discussions on how the urlai (potato) curry could have been roasted more, and how potatoes are getting sweeter by the day :D, and how i refuse to drink milk every night, and how good its supposed to be for my health! Love you!

I had a typical herbivore experience today. My grandmother approched me with something that looked like a petal-less flower in her hand...something she claimed was a lotus a minute before she brought it to me in that poor state of stamen, stigma and stalk! She very skillfully removed a seed-like structure from the centre of the soft, spotted, bulk of the remains of the lotus...and spread her palm out to me...after seeing the questioning look on my face, she said "saapdu ma!"(eat it!) Well, see...am not really used to eating stuff like this :D But i didn't want to refuse to anything on her b'day....and besides, she said its supposed to be good for health, and half of me was curious to see how it felt like to eat a hidden portion of a flower!! So... prayin that nothing happens, i put it in my mouth....and i realised that there couldn't be anything else in the world that would suit the meaning of the word 'tasteless' better! Ignorant as i was, i asked her if i could eat the other parts of the remains... and she gave me a half-frown, half-laugh and said NO! So i started extracting those seed-like un-opened petals... and it was a deligthful experience. We divided the 12-15 seeds between us and ate them...! Maybe that was my grandmom's way of giving me a treat for her birthday! ;-) aww what a royal treat! Ha... vegetarian turns herbivore!

I've heard of people eating rose petals... but lotus un-opened petals that look like seeds?And are hidden in some interior and cannot be found without prior knowledge of their existence?!

I have 2 more papers to go. All till all now have been so miserably pathetic... :(

Am goin crazier everyday... today i called my comb an ass cuz it toppled out of my hand and almost fell inside the toilet! I've started talking even to combs! and i thought it was limited to my football... *sigh*

Yours "exams suck"ly
(actually, that sounds really bad when read aloud...lol)

Signing off....

Exam Fever...or have i got used to it?

Its exam time. Its been so terrible.... Well, just imagine the only person who mails you is Editor Bob!! ;-) I hope you understood that... and half the time, u end up sleeping on your book...and end up taking 20 minute naps after 5 minute study sessions... well, i could go on forever. But, on the eve of this exam... of my 4th semester....I would like to post something that has remained in my mind despite the amount of time that has run since i read it... It came to me as an sms... and i laughed so much after reading it and remember sending it to my friends after my second sem maths exam...

I guess we all know the famous 'devuda devuda' song from rajnikanth's Chandramukhi... so, the words below, are to be sung in that tune....

To the exams coming up...

Devuda devuda, yezhumalai devuda
Govinda govinda, inniku exam govinda
Yenoda markugal, yelaame muttaigal
Nee vanthu omlett podu da!
Sabhaaaashe!

Its in blue for the exam blues!

Thats it... God save me.

Signing off....

The Mango Connection!

Its been happening for 6 days now, if i'm not wrong. It was six days back that a polythene cover of yellow, juicy, yummy fruits were humbly sitting near the dining table at home. Well, the Mangoes. And the only reason i remember that they got home 6 days back, is that i've been cutting one mango every evening for the past six days :D and i cut the last of the lot today! Mangoes are THE issue in summer...the sweetness, and the not-so-sweet-ness and the criticism they receive for being extremes of either of those categories! And then there are the varieties...there are so many of them! I don't think any other part of the world can ever have so many authentic names for their varieties of mangoes...banganapalli, malgova, rumani, alphonso, blahhh!!! And obviously people have their favourites :D With the right amount of sweetness and bitterness and sourness...ok, i'll stop! I really didn't want to do a post on mangoes and all....but some things have been coming to my mind every time i cut a mango, which lead to a series of other thoughts...

When i was cutting out the peel of the first mango, i had this urge to TASTE the mango!! At that very moment...when the oval-ness of the mango filled the inside of my palm, and the fingers of my other hand were engaged in the art of holding a knife...and the small mind that is mine, ran into the ripples of that past. I remember, when we were in kenya, mangoes were a big deal. They wouldn't swarm every street and vegetable shop during the summer. So, whenever mangoes were bought, and my mom decided the auspicious hour to slice them, my brother and i would gather around the table...eyes popping out expectantly, tongues watering (and watever other expression that can be added!) and she'd start peeling...and we'd have this craving to
see if it was the sweet type or the sour type... and we'd pick that first peel, take its inside part...and rip off the little mango that would have come out with the peel with our 4 front teeth...the mousy incisors! ( i didn't have braces then, and i was feeling so bad that i couldn't do it this time! arggh, the things braces do to u...!) And the satisfaction in eating the little mango that sticks to that first peel...aah! :D

Then...there was this time once...when i offered to cut mangoes at a family get-together at an aunt's place. And she obviously obliged, with all the work she had. And i began peeling them...one thing abt my uncle's that i find very cute, is that they cut fruits RELIGIOUSLY everyday...if not all of them, atleast 2 of them...So i started peeling...and one of those 2 uncles came and stood next to me. And he very sweetly criticised the way my peels were very small, in a way that nobody would realise it was criticism... I was just smiling at him, looking at my amateur mango-peeling skills!! And for a demonstration, he picked up the 2nd of the 4 mangoes, and peeled the whole thing in one cut of the knife! Meaning, the whole peel came out as one long stretch of skin...it was beautifully done. Some sort of an art...and i've been practising that method ever since! But am never able to do it fully! The max being 3/4th of the peel.... but thats long enough to satisfy me :D

And small things like this led me to think abt how i used to lick the uncooked contents of a cake...before it was shoved into the oven for baking. Note that the cake at that time contains RAW eggs, and how many ever times my mom would point that out to me, i'd give her one huge grimace for a moment, and then get back to licking it! And i also went back to how we'd always
want to eat the 'roasted' part of the potato curry that sticks to the illipa chatti (kadai) after the curry is cooked and done with!! And, there are alot more.... but, some other time.

I, as of now, live in the not-so-blissful period of what people here like to call 'study holidays' when one is able to do anything but study... And this is not the first time study hols have ben mentioned on this blog...So, i am doing exactly what my previous Study holidays post said i was doing...and for those of you who didn't see it then...'what study holidays can do to you'...

Yours "Mangoes are just about the only good part of summer'ly
Signing off.......

Nostalgia 2

UPDATE 12/5/06 - To the man of many names... call him Ram, call him shantaram, call him ramji... i still go with the original ;-) HAPPY BIRTHDAY VINAY!!!! Have a blast! And damn you're 20! Nitya'd say "Old age's catching on"! lol... and yes, we await the treat :D Good luck for the year to come...and beyond.

I voted today. I'm so proud of that purple line running across one digit of the index finger of my left hand. I'd like to think it makes a difference. This post is not about poilitics, or voting, or the elections. I just realised that the sentences i've typed are so disconnected. But i like it this way. Because sometimes, things do seem so disconnected....until that 'connection' is made. I'm blabbering. I didn't mean to. I want to stop. But its not stopping. It's just tumbling out of me. My fingers just cant stop typing. aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!

Ok, sorry abt that.

Besi. The word synonymous with the 'oh my God i don't know how many people i'm going to bump into this time!' feeling...Beaches can do crazy things to people...or maybe it just depends on the people you go there with. I for one, was among a group of the craziest people i've ever met...the whackiest. And well, ofcourse we cracked up. Alot. We didn't waste more than a minute being awed by the beauty of the water and te beckoning breeze. Our topic of interest shifted to the bill boards of rahul dravid that used to be there a while back and how the present ones make no sense at all. Aah, how important. Our odyssey to reach the edge of the sands and see the water was very expectedly disturbed by a detour taken by 2 among us. A tempting detour indeed. To the hand-operated merry-go-round! My dear pal nitya and I went in search of a dustbin to discard the uncooked contents of a transparent polythene cover while lavanya and nidhee were very busy getting excited to sit on the 'oh-i-am-waiting-to-be-broken' wooden seats of the merry-go-round. And the world became one big circle. Too bored of watching the two merry-go-round-ers scream and laugh and sway, we took to observing our footwear! And Nitya, the architect, decided a photograph of our footwear would do the world good :D

The odyssey continued. Through the sticky sands and non-stop comments. And there was this 'moment' when we reached the waters...somehow, the receding waves always have this particular 'effect' on the mind....like it can hold your attention forever...like you'll never get bored of staring into the abyss...and out of nowhere, the song 'alaipayuthe' plays in the mind...that always happens. But that moment, was short enough...quickly pushed out of the mind by a photography session! And there my metallic smile comes into the picture! Literally metallic... :D We sat, stood, smiled, made faces....and results of such disastrous acts are yet to be seen! The long stretch back to the road leading home had to be taken...

Nitya puts her hand (which it must be noted, is nothing more than the thinnest bone in the world covered by a little flesh) ;-), around my shoulder...like we're going ot have the most senti conversation in whole wild world because we met after so long...u should read this...

Me : Lavanya's going to have two dogs later in life.
Her: ya me too
Me : two?
Her : No, one. Those really furry ones! The lassie types!
Me : *laughter*
Her: But i'm going to have twins
Me : Oh... yeah?
Her : Yeah...before i used to want a boy and a girl. But now, i'm settled for two boys.
Me : *suppressing laughter* (facing difficulty closing mouth cuz of braces!!) ok... then if i have a boy and you have a girl, can we exchange?
Her : Yeah totally!I already have that deal with so many people!
Me : *burst out laughing*

at this juncture, lav and nidhee enter the convo. And i very gracefully explain what we've been discussing....

Nid: But if you exchange, your twins wont be identical anymore!
Nitya: No that deal's only when i have a single child!
Lav : but how can u be sure u'll have twins!
Nid: Oh that's simple. You just have to practice ART.
*all stares and eyebrows raised at the word*
Nid : *quickly realising where devious minds run to* Oh ART is just assisted reproductive techonology!!!!
*burst out laughing again*

There ends the topic of twin babies and the way nidhee always has to prove that she's doing medicine... nj, we understand the insecurity!

Some days just keep you laughing... i was laughing about that conversation even 3 hours after it happened. And about the merry go round, and all the crazy snaps....and the bill boards...and the discarded packet of kadalai...we walked abt 100 metres in search of a dustbin! Nostalgia, yet again. A feeling that's always bitter-sweet. A feeling that sometime's seems to overflow from the mind...pouring into each cell of your body...taking control. *sigh*
Nidhee, nitya, lav - thanx !! Great day!

PS: Am not really in the 'sequel mood' or anything....all '2's comin out... or maybe i am ;-) considering pirates of the carribean 2 is coming out!! wooo hooooo!!!

Yours ' Crazy days end up tickling dormant nostalgia'ly
Signing off........

Somethings 2

(update below)
Some words are just meant to be frozen in time....in the mind. There wouldn't be a meaning to this blog if i didn't put this up... (though am sure most of u wud prefer to continue commenting on the prev post after wat nil started!)

Sometimes we love with nothing more than hope.
Sometimes we cry with everything except tears.
In the end, that's all there is : Love and its duty, sorrow and its truth.
In the end, that's all we have - to hold on tight until the dawn.

--Gregory David Roberts ( in Shantaram)

UPDATE 6/5/06 : Happy birthday Anu!!!!!!!!!!!!!! May u live to blow a 1001 candles and bug your great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren!! May the best come your way this year...good luck. Have a rocking day!

UPDATE 2 : The pallis (geckos/lizards) in chennai have become so fearless these days....they walk right across the floor when you're walking....argh! Bloody reptiles....they look terrible without the tails! not like they look great otherwise....but still!

Signing off.....

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...