Its 2012!!!

The year we have all been dreading and waiting for has finally arrived!!! IT IS 2012!!
it is kind of sad that 2011 has gone by; it passed like a flash and click of a camera. it was a good year, 2011.

the year i shopped the most in my whole life.
the year i made the most number of friends.
the year I watched 'Brave Heart' and 'Big Bang Theory'
the year i attended my first concert and my wore my first 'press' ID card.
I was doing the 'countdown' on my laptop clock and when the seconds hand struck a straight 12, the calendar for December 2011 swiftly moved aside, making way for Jan 2012. made me want to pull back that December and give it one last kiss, and say Goodbye... *sniff!*

anyway from 2012 onward,
1. i will write/blog regularly
2. i will stop biting my nails, and
3. i'll stop sulking for silly things. and be happy!
this last one i recommend for everyone else too..! I hope this year turns out a hundred times better that the last! HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL!

It’s just Birthday luck….

Call me lucky and I’ll agree. Wholeheartedly. Because I’m committed to a man who is out-of-this-world head-in-the-clouds romantic. (Good thing he’s tall, so his feet can also touch the ground). But my parents don’t know about this yet; I have still not got the right moment to break it to them. And according to my horoscope in about six newspapers and four magazines, that moment is unlikely to come for the next few years.

Anyway, call me lucky again because my birthday last year was one of those very lucky days.

At the stroke of midnight I was in bed, phone in hand, waiting for Prince Charming to call and wish me. And as you know, a watched pot….. never rings (quoted by Monica in FRIENDS). Twenty minutes into my special day and the call never came. Just as those tears were ready to sneak out and party, he called, and answered my “Hello” with “What?? I can’t hear you!! There’s no network in your room.. come to your balcony…”

Of course I obeyed. I walked over to the balcony. Looked down on impulse, and there he was! With a rose in hand!! And a tiny box tied to it. !!!

While I stood there staring at him he slowly stepped up the gate, then on the wall next to it and pulled himself up. The next second he was in my balcony, kneeling, holding a rose and a beautiful ring.

As luck would have it, my Dad had chosen the exact same moment to sleepily get out of bed and get a glass of water. In the kitchen. Which is right next to the balcony. Oops!

So we’re standing there in the balcony, (my guy still kneeling), all speechless, and I realized that Dad is still a little sleepy. Quickly I turned to my guy and started singing “Main tumse kahungi.. is baat to agar tum, zara aur saja ke keh de.. toh achcha hota……..!!” did I act like Preity Zinta does while singing these lines in Lakshya? Of course I did! Anything to make my dad believe he’s dreaming! 

My boyfriend also joined in, “agarrr mai kahuuu……………..” lucky for me, Dad had seen this movie on TV just a few days back. He blinked, turned and went into the kitchen for water. In a span of those precious two minutes, I took the ring, said “yes!”, closed the balcony door and ran back to my room. The Hero jumped down, started his bike and rode off.

Next morning when I woke up Dad was sipping his coffee. He wished me Happy Birthday, stared at my face for an extra few seconds and went back to his coffee, deep in thought. When he got up to get the newspaper I thought I heard him muttering “Strange dreams…!”

Ufff!! Lucky me!!     






(this post is written for the "Sets you on Fire" contest on Indiblogger.) 

47 'new' reasons why I LOVE MY AMMA

It is my mother's birthday and I'm not with her :(

But I don't feel so bad any more that I am not with her. Here is my birthday card for Amma...


47 'new' reasons why I LOVE MY MOM

1.     My mom is the most beautiful woman I have seen. I can try all kinds of cosmetics and never see myself nearly as beautiful as her.

2.     For a small and petite woman she is capable of taking surprisingly heavy loads. For example, me.

3.     She makes the most delicious akki rotti-chutney in the world.

4.     I love the smile on her face when she gets a ‘white chocolate’ (Milky Bar)

5.     She can solve the very hard su-do-ku puzzle in minutes.

6.     She is the best teacher I have ever had; she taught me how to live and that’s why I love my mom.

7.     My mother writes amazing poetry; I love it that she has written one about me.

8.     When I have completely given up on everything she does everything to make me smile.

9.     She supports me ,more than four pillars can support a roof.

10.  I love the way she hugs me when I go home for the weekend.

11.  I love the way she laughs at all my jokes.

12.  I love the jokes she tells me, even if it is read out from magazines.

13.  I love the way she wonders how I turned out to be so perfect.

14.  I love the way she trusts my decision.

15.  I love it that she asks me for fashion tips.

16.  I love the innocence with which she watches Tom and Jerry

17.  I love the way she grumbles about school.

18.  I love the way she corrects her students’ papers and gives extra marks.

19.  I love the way she asks for help in the kitchen.

20.  I love how she asks if she can help with my project.

21.  I love the way she makes faces when I say ‘Chinese food’

22.  I love the way she can sit inside the house and feel it when dad is at the corner of the road.

23.  love the way she fusses over me before I go out.

24.  When she calls and asks me when I can bunk class and come home..

25.  I love it when people say ‘you look just like your mom’.

26.  When she doesn’t agree that I am taller than her.

27.  When she says, ‘what do I wear tomorrow? I have no sarees…’ like a teenager…

28.  I love it that when I was a kid she told me kiddish jokes and when I was a teenager she told me teenager jokes.

29.  I love the way she cooks

30.  I love the way she cleans up my room

31.  I love the way she pleads me to stop chatting so that she can play chess on my laptop.

32.  I love it that she can beat my computer in chess.

33.  When she watches serials on tv..

34.  When she chooses what she’s eating in a hotel

35.  When she ALWAYS asks for dosa.

36.  The way she always agrees to dad

37.  The way she always agrees with me

38.  The way she tells me; ‘don’t argue, I don’t know how to argue with you!’

39.  I love it that she is ALWAYS strong when I am weak.

40.  I love it that she never lets me down.

41.  I love it that she trusts my decisions, no matter what it is. I listen to her by my own choice.

42.  I love the way she passed her patience to me

43.  I love it that she thinks I am better than her, when I have always thought I want to be like my mom. It is true, I want to become like my mom.

44.  I simply love her ‘motherliness’.

45.  I love it when she says ‘it is so boring without you’!

46.  I love the way she makes fun of all the other grown-ups, as though she is one of the kids.

47.  I love my mother, for the obvious reason that I love my mother.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMMA!!

A writer's mantra

Something I read in my childhood.

These three simple sentences made me take writing as my profession.

Today i just felt like sharing it.....

Mantally the tired!!!

Now that I am dealing with piles of information from the internet and trying to condense it into one assignment… I truly understand the meaning of being the ‘mantal’. What with assignments and seminars and tests one after the other.. Only the mantally the sick can the do all this I say!!

First I have to collect a piece of news, shoot a video of it and make a news-bite out of it. Then I have to make a documentary (for 30 minutes!! Even if I did, would you sit through it??), then write like 4 assignments on very similar looking different topics! All this, along with attending regular classes. Because I simply do not have the talent of gathering all the notes one day before the exam and studying in one night!

But what really gets to me is that, after taking so much pain, I learnt only one thing. I can never finish an assignment even one day before the deadline! It has to be the last night before the deadline. Even if the assignment is given a month before, the last minute writing is always there. I don’t think it is just me.. It is like a students’ tradition I guess.

One month before the deadline we’re like “oh there’s time... Let me relax...”

Two weeks before the deadline we make up our mind to start the research before starting to write.

One week before the date, our Google search shows the assignment topics, among Facebook, images, YouTube, songs.pk, movie show timings and others.

Three days before the deadline, we read all the information collected, and fall asleep on the table.

Two days before, we start editing, typing, writing, texting about it, and worrying.

One day before, we realize that about 75% of the assignment is pending and forget to have dinner. We sit through the night, freak out, write or type the whole thing, finish it at around midnight and finally crash!

The next day is when we hand in the assignments, sit down, sigh loudly and feel ‘mantally the tired’!!

Am I right??

PS:my blog is now 21 posts old! that's almost as old as i am!!

For Dove.. With Love…

Smooth and silky, thick and bouncy,

And never frizzy here and there,

Feels beautiful from the roots today,

My long, shiny, black hair……………

All thanks to Dove oil care!

I know it is like a little kid’s poem but.. it just came into my head and I mean every word! A few more days of using Dove oil care products and my hair will look so beautiful I can apply for the next model in the Dove ads! Woohoo!

My mom was super excited when the package arrived home. She was waiting for me to open it. I asked her why she did not open it herself.. And she said “there was nothing written like confidential….!”

So I’ll just end this short girly post (like me!) by saying- thank you for the gift hamper IndiBlogger!

Letter to the future Me

Dated 11^th October 2050

Hey!

I mean hello.. Mam.. How are you? I hope your health is okay.. If you have BP due to all the needless tension you took in your youth, I’m terribly sorry. I am also sorry for not eating enough curry leaves to maintain your hair colour. But hey.. I never got addicted to make up or cosmetics.. So even now any time of the day you will look naturally beautiful (You’re welcome!).

I hope you are very busy completing your next book or designing your grand-daughter’s clothes. If you are still deciding on a climax for your first book then you are such a loser!! (I know I have to respect your age and all but this is unforgivable). I know you’re retired from the most recent job you had. Don’t sit and count your farewell gifts.. You’re 60 for heaven’s sake! Even if you worked there for just a few years you end up leaving a mark don’t you? I knew you had it in you! I know you never became a live reporter, I know you never reported politics and I am pretty sure you still can’t speak extempore. But that’s okay, you can do lots more like play the guitar and draw portraits in 10 minutes. So don’t worry about being insufficiently talented like I do now!

Here is a list of things you should have seen by now at any cost!!. If you are able to tick all then good for you.

·        Italy- Vatican city and Rome and all those places described in Angels and demons.

·        France- Effil tower with all those magical lightings.

·        Greece- all those greek temples from art history class.

·        Egypt- the pyramids..

·        Spain – for the Tomatina festival J and……

·        One Indian village where there is no mobile network, TV, internet connection and beauty parlour. 

      

      I am pretty sure those will be available for a long time from now… so if you can say “hey! I’ve been there” for all these places then I say “you have REALLY lived your life!!!” (I’m sure you would have gone to all these places with only one person)

I am sorry for all those days you spent as a college student, hanging out in college alone and stupidly crying because you’re always short of friends. Now that I’m reminding you, you’ll just say “don’t remind me of it! You were so dumb when it comes to choosing the right company!” yeah you’re right. But now you are fine with people, they all like you because you are nice to them all. I started that in you. So you’re welcome. ;)

I hope now you have realized that as long as you have your family, you’re just fine. As long as you get up every morning being wished by a 64 year old somebody, who still gets you roses and chocolates……. As long as you both are planning on how you both are going to meet in the next birth.. Everything is going great!! Keep up the good work on your life!

PS: you need not be formal and thank me for all those memories I preserved in a dozen diaries. But it took a lot of patience and time.

PPS: if time travel is possible then mail me one feature/article and a documentary script on 11^th October 2011, at 10:40 pm. (my assignment… please help….) :(

with lots of expectations..

Shruthi

Bring me back to life…

Don’t leave me out here in the sun,

The perfect twenty-five degrees burns my eyes.

The trees bend at the heavy breeze,

The freshly fallen flowers prick my feet.

Don’t let me bleed alone,

Of the injuries of missing you.

Raindrops so tiny drizzle down on my cheeks,

Etching it with tears-like scars, and

The soft smell of the quenched earth hurts my insides.

Like a burning that can only be doused

With your breath on my face.

Don’t leave me out here,

In the clutches of beautiful nature,

All alone like a flightless bird looking at the rainbow.

The birds that can fly up to it

Fly, chirping along, having their own

Pretty little conversation in the clouds…

The exquisiteness of it all will kill me.

Only you can kiss me back to life.

Come, bring me back to life.

How time flies!!

Day after day we spent writing ten assignments together, attending 6-hour classes and hoping for things to change. And all of a sudden voila! It is the day exactly one year after the first time we sat in this department, as students of mass communication and journalism. 20^th September 2010, the unforgettable, when it took me an hour to pick out the exactly right outfit and another hour to pack everything I might need for the adventure of first day at college. I remember clearly, I had never carried a heavier bag and never had a happier day….

This year was the most eventful one in my whole life, but there are some highlights. Like the day we all were made to introduce ourselves to our seniors. They tried ragging a little mildly but juniorism prevailed; the juniors ended up ragging the seniors. J

Or.. Like the day we went to a newspaper office at midnight to see the printing process! 

we were all so tired and sleepy....... waiting for the professor to come and guide us inside. but when we entered the place all the sleepiness has evaporated into the smell of newsprint sheets and inks..

hey remember the time we found one of the lecturers wearing two different kinds of sandals??? She did not notice the whole day and we could not take it anymore, so we simply pointed it out!!

Or the first time we noticed that out sir carried a white striped pen holder with him to class every day. 

It is made of cloth and has a small stuffed doggy attached, wearing a matching striped doggy-vest of some sort. It was so cute… When he left the class for a few minutes some of us grabbed the doggy and played with it ;)

There is so much more and I never want to forget any part of it. The last one year was the best in my life, thanks to every one of my classmates, my seniors and of course the professors. Happy anniversary guys!! Same time next year I hope all of us are nearer to our goals and doing something that makes us happy. I wish all my classmates the best of luck!

the girl in blue

Not being a dentist turned out to be a stroke of good luck for Jerry.

Amid the constant rage of Sindey Sheldons, Dan Brown’s and the other fast paced thrillers, I had hardly noticed dainty little book like ‘the girl in blue’ until a friend recommended it. This review is actually pointless; I just read it now does not mean nobody else has read it… so I’m just going to say what I felt about it. Pardon my long winding sentences, for P G Wodehouse is all over my speech and writing.

The comedy in ‘the girl in blue’ written by P G Wodehouse is entirely made up of clever wit and mild sarcasm; it is like actually having a conversation and finding a joke in the situation. The Girl in blue here is a painting that goes missing, believed stolen. Meanwhile Jerry finds himself falling in love with a girl while being engaged to another. To make his love story end well he must find the girl in blue, and return her to the owner. Dialogues like “I have one idea” “I have, too” “You have two ideas?” “Oh, I should have said ‘also’” and a hundred other lines bring some smiles. It was like watching a delightfully funny movie from the last century where chaos is not substituted for comedy and where the success of the film solely relies on the intellect of the viewer.

The story sails like a boat in the calmest of seas, through a few days from the life of Jerry, the love of his life Jane, his rich Uncle Scrope and poor Uncle Scrope (they are brothers). His romance with the lovely Jane can only be described adorable, like depicting a delicate dame holding a frilled hand-fan over face with a gloved hand, and coyly batting her lashes at the man she loves.

The diabolical ‘butler’ Chippendale’s impertinent wit makes me wonder how nobody hits him in the head with a table in the entire book. The girl in blue was a delightful read.

PS. If anyone finds another one from the same author, read it and pass it on! J

???????????????????

“Do you believe in your religion?” Well… it depends. On about a million things. After today’s religious ceremony I attended, one of the near-thousand festivals we celebrate in a year, the dilemma continues.

Today, after constant contemplation for several weeks, my parents coaxed me into attending the pooja for Anantha Padmanabha festival being celebrated in a mutt. For those who don’t know, it is a place where men who never went to gym in their entire lives make it obvious by wearing just a panche, (silk cloth draped around the waist) and insist that all ladies cover themselves head to toe. This is not about feminism and gender equality so I won’t dwell on that issue. I’ll just say frankly, I was terribly bored in that situation. Thankfully I had a book with me; it came to my rescue. Making myself comfortable in a corner of the big hall and stretching my legs, I had just begun to get engrossed when one of the bare-bodied bosses came to me and said, “Fold your legs!” and why? “It points towards God!”(He meant the idol of the deity sitting diagonally opposite about ten feet away).

This reminded me of the popular story almost every Hindu must have heard in their childhood, that of Kanakadasa. His teacher once gave all his disciples a banana each, and asked them all to eat it in a place where nobody is looking (this assignment sounds far more interesting than what we get now!). only Kanakadasa comes back the next day with the fruit intact, and gives the coolest excuse for not completing an assignment “I could not find a place where nobody is looking! God is everywhere!”
Makes sense right?

Maybe years of exposing skin has resulted in them losing this basic wisdom. And at the end of this thought along with being bored, confused and sleepy, I was hungry. Dad had insisted on not breaking the fast until the pooja was over and just decided to have two cups of coffee (“not counted as food”). Here he sat stiffly like he had a healthy meal of oats fruit and milk. My stomach growled. Quietly I slipped out, bought myself a coke and fries from good old McDonalds, sat in the car and munched away.

*sheepish smile*

By the time I returned it was lunch time and more people were undressing (why??.. I don’t get it either!). Some pious wife fished out a large box of pills from her bag and picked out the right ones with her frail, wrinkled hands and held it out for her husband. He obediently swallowed them. I tried hard to picture him stronger after all those pills but I failed. His pills, the bulky necklace of holy beads, smearing of Chandana and other stuff all over his body and the bulky mobile phone falling off his lap took up half of his weight. His wife bullied his from one side, and I sat there wondering, is this where God is? I can’t bring myself to trust religion to bring about anything positive. Yet, we follow.

Again, the dilemma continues……..

PS: this post is not opposing any religion. it is just a contemplation. no offence to believers!!

Baby blogger's day out.....

Shruthi ramachandra feels like a real blogger today, having just attended a bloggers’ meet for the first time.

After I reached home, half-soaked in the rain and decorated with the choicest particles of the Bangalore air pollution, sporting my new IndiBlogger t-shirt and typing a spontaneous post, I feel like.... The boy who stood in his shoes and wondered, and wondered. (not exactly how John Keats says.. a little similar.) I still wonder… about how many bloggers there are, how long they have been blogging and how young I am! (for the record I am only 3 months old! When you comment, pair it with a chocolate for the kid J)

I also wondered about the new Samsung Galaxy tab that was being showed off like a parent showing off his gifted child. Baby Samsung is like a super-baby. Along with singing, dancing, drawing, painting, chatting nonstop and things like that, it can show you the world on a flat screen, and how it does that, I wondered. 

To people who understand technology it may look simple; my skull has technology-barriers.  Moreover, I love my baby, Nokia, the most.

Organizers from IndiBlogger are doing a terrific job organizing these meets and I applaud them for the efforts. For New-comers like me who just jumped into the sea of blogging, it was a tremendous experience. Cheers to the IndiBlogger team!! J

PS: this post is one day late because I had no internet connection! I should probably get a baby Samsung!!

Solitude

It shows in the faceless eyes,

Its roots in the mind clawing deep;

to sing to yourself a lull-a-by

and still manage to fall asleep.

A trifle uneasy to smile alone..

a trifle uneasy to weep……

from beneath the un-held hands

the worms of solitude creep.........

PS: I have the awesomest friends and I an absolutely happy :) this is just a poem

A single kid’s lament

This post is a sad, gloomy one so before things get weepy let me wish everyone Happy Raksha Bandhan!
Today is all about brothers and sisters, colourful Rakhis and thoughtful gifts in return.
On a sibling’s fest, when the newspapers are filled with articles about the bonds between brothers and sisters, who will listen to a single child lament about how miserable life can get without a sibling at home?

Oh to hell with all the drama about how “I love being the single child” and “I get all the love and attention” crap. I don’t want all the attention; why do I need to be a celebrity in the family all my life? I need someone to share the lime light!
Seriously, there should be a day in the whole year of 365 days, dedicated to single children who don’t have an annoying brother or sister who occasionally tends to check their secret cupboards and read personal diaries. Kids who don’t have someone to tell all their fears to and have them laugh at you, though deep inside they’re concerned and constantly looking out for you. For all the single girls who run behind boys on Raksha Bandhan, genuinely wanting to share some sisterly love and have them run away like the Rakhi is a ticking time bomb…

because as happy as we are to have all of the parents’ undivided love and care showered over us, the fact of not having a sibling always remains like a hollow ache in the heart. It is like life is never complete without fighting over sharing a bedroom. Getting to keep a lot of secrets is never as much fun as telling it to a younger sibling and watching him threaten to let it slip when the grownups are around. I’m pretty sure there is much more to bonds between brothers and sisters than what I know.. how i wish.......................
well.. Happy Raksha Bandhan to one and all! 

Happy birthday poem

This poem is exclusively dedicated to Sandhya, my super awesome friend who celebrated her birthday yesterday.

On this very special day, I’ll just say,

that poems travel a long long way
that’s why this one was always ‘on the way’ J
but here it is today!!
Wishing you a happy happy birthday!

Of course I know that won’t do!
This verse is something old and new
of the last years that fleetingly flew
behind us, as we grudgingly grew;
reminding today, how much I miss you. L

Of all the memories that lay afloat
in my mind, it is hard to quote
the most memorable, hard to note
the funniest joke, for me to gloat
what an awesome person I got to know! ;)

I hope, Someday on your birthday,
A poem like this will travel a long way
and blink and beep on your new iPhone
while you’re listening to your favorite tune
driving on a highway in a Bugatti (or something!)
Off to a day of mountain climbing,
backpack full of chocolate bars… J
I wish you everything nice, earth to stars.

And Every year on this day
(might be late, I can’t say B))
my poem will travel a long way
Like it did today
to wish you a happy happy birthday!

The Auto Man

Similar to the Umbrella Man (Roald Dahl), the auto-man is also a con man. Even today he pulls off cheap tricks to pocket money that is not rightfully his. He is a common species and overshadows the honest auto drivers to such an extent that it makes me swear off auto rickshaws for the lifetime.

Now that’s a formal introduction. What I’m exactly trying to say is auto-drivers especially in Bangalore….. Huff!! I swear I'm never going to travel by an auto Ever EVER again!!

Today I thought I was lucky to find one who actually turned the meter down and drove without a word. I asked him direction to get to this place and he even offered to drive me closer to there. Lost in the delight I handed him a crisp Rs.100 note a minute before getting down. He happily pocketed it.  Being a wretched decent human being I expected him to hand me the change when we stopped. To my surprise the fellow claims I never gave him any money!! If he has so much of a financial crisis I don't mind helping him out.. But not when he thinks he can take me for a ride!  

I have come across drivers who demand three times the normal amount for short distances just because they “it’s an interior area” or “a one way” and “they don’t get anybody to drive back”. I have come across those who tamper with the meter so that it innocently clicks away to twice the normal amount because everybody believes the meter. I have even seen the egoistic type who simply shake their heads and drive off(that really gets onto my nerves! . But this, I think, crossed all limits. And we, the commuters, are helpless. We need them, and they know it. Which is why, on a rainy day the fare is higher. In terms of economics it works perfectly. Someone really needs to get these geniuses out of economics class and teach them moral science.

This time, again, I decided to forgive the auto-man. I hope there will not be a next time. i hope we all can start using bicycles instead of autos :) 

“EXAMS!!!”

Yesterday when I remembered about my blog my little voice was dancing inside my head saying “I told you so I told you so I told you so”. So here I am today………. J

Anyway I can’t believe tomorrow is my EXAM!! What I find even hard to believe is I don’t feel worried at all!! Before you jump into ghastly conclusions that I have studied everything let me clarify, I have not studied ANYTHING! So it is definitely not confidence. All I have done is staring at a few important pages in my book really hard. If there is a camera in my brain with enough resolution and all I might have captured some images which will help me pass.  Or else………. L

“You have a huge syllabus and you don’t even have enough notes!”

There it is… hello little voice. It yells at me so much but can’t make me study. I wish I could get that tension everyone gets the day before the exam. I even sat down and watched two movies in one go and called up some friends to rant about how terribly I’m preparing, hoping that in the last minute I might get tense and actually concentrate on studying. Unfortunately right now I suddenly love music, can’t live without my phone, feel like sketching something and get ideas for my blog post. L

When mom called up asking me what I’m doing, very seriously I said “yeah I’m studying for tomorrow” hoping that would set me off. But I STILL CAN’T CONCENTRATE!!!

So this is the last thing I’m going to try. If I still can’t concentrate I’m going to stop being a nerd and go attend that exam without studying a word. Let’s see what happens J

Stop dayy-drrrrreaamingggg.........and get to work!

“For heaven’s sake STOP DAY-DREAMING! I can’t take it anymore.. All you do is dream and dream all day long! You always want to be in someone else’s shoes and just keep forgetting that you have your own pair of shoes. Including the high heeled ones you can barely stand in... You still have it! Now again.. AGAIN! You’re thinking about blogging about this and I’m pretty sure you won’t.. STOP..!”

Sorry.. That was my little voice yelling at me. Sometimes it tells me what to do and and sometimes yells at me like that. I wonder why I call it ‘little’…..

OK. So finally I am so fed up of myself day dreaming about meaningless stuff, that I have even changed the name of my blog. Don’t ask how much of dreaming is behind this very post!

It came up when I was studying about feature writing. Not writing a feature, not reading it, but studying about it. I was reading something like... “Feature writing is creativity within limits….” And I’m already at this antique rosewood desk writing away to glory; then I’m in the editor’s office where the editor is very happy with my feature and my colleagues are all jealous Blah Blah Blah…

It’s a blur from there because my little voice started yelling again. “YOUR EXAMS ARE THREE DAYS AWAY! SIT AND STUDY! YOU NEVER COMPLETE ANY WORK! YOU DON’T EVEN POST ON YOU BLOG! “

Now that was something I did not want to hear. But some great soul has quoted that we must try to turn our weaknesses into strengths. Who said it?

I can’t remember. If you remember tell me. Although I prefer you don’t tell me so I can pass it off as my own ;)

So if all I know to do is day-dream, that’s what I will do. ON MY BLOG. J

“You won’t last a week”

We will see.

But you know what...

After travelling for nearly 6 hours in a government bus, now I say real beauty is the auto which carried me and my luggage safely home. and my messy room where i can finally dump those bags and stretch my hands. sitting on a vibrating seat for six hours with a fat guy next to me taking up three fourth of the seat is not easy. next time, i'm taking the train. uff.................

where to find beauty....

The thing called beauty is everywhere. Not only is it in real life that we can see, it is in the virtual reel that keeps playing in our heads, a movie called memories. They are always in the back of the mind, suddenly popping out on unexpected occasions with an awkward chuckle or a lump in the throat. It is not just a picturesque landscape complete with a perfectly still lake reflecting the moon; it is also the memory of looking at such a photograph with a loved one and saying “let’s go there sometime…” “Of course, when we’re married…..”

Beauty is in the undying love between a husband and wife, a promise to be there for one another through thick and thin; and it is also in the silly teenage crush that is remembered while going through old diaries and photographs. It is in the memory of finally having talked to that special someone and coming back home to jump around and call up a dozen friends.

Beauty is in those bestsellers on the stands that amaze readers with pure genius… But it does not stop there. It is also when I’m sitting up late night writing an assignment and doze off for a second, then wake up with a jolt suddenly remembering the time in school I dozed off writing my homework and mom spanked me on the head. The very feel of that little nostalgic smile is beauty.

Beauty somehow gets into everything we love, even dad’s faded grey t shirt that’s two sizes too big. Memories are beautiful; they are a personal marvel when they string themselves together to tell a whole story that is exclusively yours with all those hysterical laughing spells that bring about giggles out of nowhere and those tears that a special someone had always wiped off. Beauty is there.. everywhere.

Difficult day@ Easy Day!!

Yes! Mysore has a new shopping mall and people are sure excited about it. If anyone is not, it has to be the salesmen.

Easy Day, near BMH hospital, is complete with everything from groceries to clothes and accessories, kitchen ware to vegetables, fruits and even liquor, everything at discounts. Every product came with a special offer, even Lays cost 10ps less. I went on a weekday first and was thrilled by it. So I decided to take my friends there for the weekend, unknowing that I would see the whole of Mysore crowded into the ground floor of easy day mall on Sunday evening. Why would it not be? Great clothes at prices starting at Rs.99, it is a loot. Children and adults alike were pushing through the crowd steering huge trolleys and carrying baskets full to the brim, some with goods and some with passengers (kids). Some of us could not even find baskets to carry the stuff, we picked up buckets instead.

A dozen billing counters at the exit counter were swarming with people and their lengthy bills. People pushed around looking for a line at the billing counter that is less crowded and stood at the far ends tapping their feet in impatience, while at the other end a nervous salesman sweated trying to decode the bars on the products and finding small change for big notes. Some others with the big trolleys simply decided they had no patience to stand in the queue for 15 minutes, and threw away hours of shopping time saying “let’s go to More, it is the same stuff here, nothing special”. Sentences like this were punctuated by sudden cut down of lights or A/c, making the impatient shoppers sun out for fresh air and never come back. We might have an easy day here but it is always tough for the salesmen. One of them billing at the fruits section packed a kilo of pears for us and asked innocently “how do these taste madam?”

We did not buy much, so the billing process was quickly over and we walked out, silently wishing a good night’s sleep for all the salesmen so they can wake up tomorrow and be ready for one more day’s marathon run at Easy Day.

Shop-a-therapy………..:)

Cost of living has shot up guys! Laughter is only the second best medicine for everything. The first is the retail therapy- shopping. I have shopped three times in the past one week so trust me, I know. If I had a credit card it would probably be every day. Now I guess I am officially addicted to shopping, labeled a shopaholic. Every day I go back home and call a friend to say “I shopped!!” and I hear an exasperated “oh not again!!” 

If you are not a shopaholic or never met one in your life, you will think I am crazy. I mean, you might say that money does not grow on plants. Clothes are only to cover the skin and seven sets of them is enough, One for each day of the week. And accessories are a waste of money and space in the wardrobe. Yes, I hear it. The rational miss goody-goody part of me nods and turns to walk out of the store. But I have an alter ego, a shopaholic in me always wheels me around.. Closer and closer to the clothes… then the trial room.. The billing counters…. And before I know it I would have swiped a card and walked out with a bag full of guilty-pleasure goodies. 

It is not that a plan to buy when I enter a mall or any stores. Sometimes I go with friends to help them choose, and more often than not the friend is too choosy, too conscious or too stingy. They’re looking for clothes that are

 “…not too flashy..”

“…. Should be very pretty…”

“…should be fitting perfectly……”,

“….not too dull colour, not too short, not too long sleeved….”

 She makes the sales guy pull dress after dress and tries them on one by one. The clothes keep piling up on the counter  and all I can think about is that the poor sales guy has to fold them and put them back in the shelves; and my good friend is not even likely to buy anything. Maybe out of sympathy for the sales guy, or  just sheer addiction, the shopaholic takes over me. she makes me LIKE THEM ALL and then the spell begins.. shelf.. trial room.. billing… swipe… out with a hand full of bags.

 It is irresistible and when I walk out with those bags full of stuff I got at a discount I feel a satisfaction like I just topped the exam, like I graduated from college, like i won the nobel prize for shopping. Shopping heals all my worries, it takes my mind off the serious stuff. It is like my hobby. Now that it has turned into an addiction (and a damn expensive one at that!), I have planned to hide my cash and cards so that the shopaholic me does not find it.  A small part of me hopes she does find it………….

*evil smile*:)

Where is all the green??

The last time I travelled by air was a long time ago so I don’t remember anything except the air sickness. So this time I lost no time enjoying the view outside the window. Intently following the map on the LCD screen before me, I enjoyed guessing whose head we might be flying over. It was hard because all we could see was the clouds spread like whipped cream delicately nestling our gigantic air bus.

So back to the point, as we were nearing out destination, I peered outside to catch the landing process. At first it was vast stretches of brown, then a few specks of white and blue here and there.

It was then I noticed, my eyes shuttling from the monitor to the window. The screen showed a physical map of India and a tiny shape of airplane indicating our location. And the place where the tiny airplane was, was completely green. I looked outside- where was all the green??

The little white building block structures became larger and larger but the soothing colour of mother earth’s delicate drapes became untraceable.

At an altitude of 1000km, my heart grew heavy, sank to the ground and broke to pieces.