Meaningful Randomness?

A Letter of Complaint

2010-09-06T11:16:00.002+05:30

Dear Rude People,

Imagine you’ve been standing in line for the past ten minutes, to sign the attendance sheet. You’re suffering from some serious sleep deprivation, and you were running late so you skipped breakfast and ran to school. And then I come by, cut in front of you without a word or a second glance (consequently nudging you sharply), sign in, and leave, but not before shoving you out of the way. How does that make you feel? Not very nice, I’ll bet. Because, behaviour like that? It’s just plain rude.

Similarly, reaching over me to place your order at the kadai? Not cool. I’m not too big on rules myself, but sometimes, following them just makes life easier. As I mentioned before, cutting across a line is impolite. Didn’t your mother tech you anything? It won’t kill you to stand in a queue, trust me. Besides, all those people ahead of you have been waiting themselves. And they hate waiting as much as you do. Yes, really.

See, I know that it’s difficult to resist inserting a swear word between every alternate
word you say, but it’s equally difficult to listen to you. Is it really necessary that your language should put a sailor to shame?

Basically, what I’m trying to say is, I get it. You have problems. You’re cranky and mad at the world. That is perfectly understandable. But please, don’t take it out on me. I don’t care how bad your week has been, because it’s just not an excuse for being rude or snappy. I have problems too, but I don’t yell at you just because you’re standing right there. Try to maintain the same level of courtesy. Rant to someone who cares. Because just in case you didn’t know, I’m not here to deal with your bullshit.

Yours,
Taarika Ravi John

Islamophobia...what is our world coming to?

2010-09-06T11:16:00.001+05:30

Open a newspaper, or switch on your television, and you will find several stories of death and violence competing for your attention. So much destruction everywhere you look. Terrorists should be held accountable for their actions for terrorism is a terrible thing. But categorising people is a terrible thing too.
In today’s society, when we boast about “tolerance” and being “open minded”, the very idea that a term like “Islamophobic” exists is just plain shocking. The thought of categorising people based merely on their faith is wrong. A recent analysis released by Gallup World Religion Survey showed that Americans are twice as likely to experience prejudice towards Muslims as compared to Jews, Christians and Buddhists, and a shocking 43% of Americans admitted to feel “a little hostility” towards Muslims.
Imagine being detained at an airport because of your surname, or simply being discriminated against because of your faith. Put aside the fact that those held accountable for almost all recent terror attacks are Muslims. Every individual is unique in his values and beliefs, and belonging to a particular community has absolutely nothing to do with the decisions you make. Causing harm to another person is a wholly personal choice. Put aside religious motives, because only a percentage of the Muslim community utilise and interpret this perspective.
Listening to my own friends express their views on the Muslim community, making categorical statements like “These Muslims are all terrorists” and “I hate Muslims” make me fear the state of our society. To be blatantly derogatory against ones fellow brothers and sisters, categorising them because of the actions of some, speaks poorly about our mindset.
How can we come together as a community if we are prejudiced? It is necessary that we put aside such ideas, so that we can fight the real problem, which is terrorism. Ideas and terms like Islamophobic need to be exterminated.
What we need to keep in mind is that just because 99% of terrorists today are Muslim, does not mean that 99% of Muslims today are terrorists.

Excerpts from the Diary of Rani Laxmi Bai

2010-09-06T11:15:00.002+05:30

May 1851
My son is dead.
I look at this sheet of paper, and a thousand different are swirling through my mind. But words fail me. All I can think about is holding his delicate little body in my arms, not wanting to let him go.
Gangadhar is shattered. He lies on his bed all day as though he has nothing left to live for. He does not eat, and he does not speak to anyone. Not even me.
It is a struggle to get up and go about my duties every day, but with Gangadhar being the way he is, it is up to me to look after our people.

September 1853
Gangadhar insists on fasting for Navaratri. Since we lost the baby, he has been neglecting his health. He is weak, and I fear his body cannot withstand the strains of fasting. Father and I have tried reasoning with him, but he is a stubborn man. During the “Crossing the Border” ceremony, he had to be carried across to Datia on a palanquin.
Ever since Dalhousie implemented the Doctrine of Lapse, we have been thinking of adopting a child. Without an heir, we will lose our kingdom to the British.
I have asked him to write to Major Ellis. I long to hold a child in my arms.

November 1853
Gangadhar is growing weaker by the day. We have decided to adopt a child. His name is *Damodar Rao. He is five years old and he is a beautiful child. Gangadhar has extended a special invitation to Major Ellis and Captain Martin. I must oversee preparation for the ceremony. It is to be a big affair, but Gangadhar is too weak to leave his bed, therefore special arrangements need to be made.

November 1853
I am a widow. I have lost first my child, and now my husband. Life hands me one blow after another. I can hardly bear to wake up every morning. If it were not for the child, I would not leave my bed.
Gangadhar is gone. He is dead, and I am left alone. It pains me to think that he could not even get to know his son.
He clung to his stubbornness till the very end, refusing to accept Dr Allen’s medicine, calling him “an untouchable foreigner”, refusing to abandon his dharma.
What has come of that? He is dead now.

A Description

2010-09-06T11:15:00.001+05:30

Stretch my legs out, dipping my toes in the water. The sun beats down on me, harsh golden light, burning my skin. Beads of sweat trickle down my neck. Humidity is a part of every single day in my city; you become immune to air so heavy it feels like you could slice through it with a knife. It is quiet. I wiggle my toes, suddenly mesmerized by the sheer brightness of red nail paint.
Palms thump against my shoulder blades, forcefully. Loud cackles of laughter. I scream as I feel myself being pushed. My body comes in contact with water, and for a moment I feel a sharp stab of pain sear across my skin, before I welcome the cold. I go down, down, down. I take in the fuzzy outline of my palms as I hold them in front of my face, feel soft wisps of hair floating across my forehead. I breathe out deeply, pushing past the water, and lean my head back as I break through to the surface. I close my eyes for a moment, feeling the sun on my face. Just for a moment, I allow myself to enjoy the blinding red hot light glaring beneath my closed eyelids.
“I’m going to kill you,” I yell. Then I laugh, swimming my way over to the edge of the pool. I reach out and grab her foot, she squeals. I climb out of the water.
I lay on my back, along the edge of the pool, feelings little puddles of water beneath me, both hot and cold, and the sun beating down on me again. I reach for my sunglasses. The world turns sepia. She settles down next to me.
College sounds exciting, but right now, at this very moment, I do not want to leave. I don’t want to leave the comfort of home, and familiar faces. This roof, these people, this feeling of belonging. Of being wanted.
He rubs the sleep from his eyes, dragging the chair behind him. It scrapes noisily across the cement floor, and then comes to a stop. I watch as he arranges himself in it, legs stretched outwards, shoulders slumped. She makes her way towards him, weaving in and out of the maze of chairs and tables, stirring her coffee rhythmically. I imagine swirls of smoke escaping the brim of her Styrofoam cup.
I hear laughter. Several voices overlap each other. Everybody is eager to get their own word in. There is always so much to say. Faces all around me. Voices. They are loud. They are familiar. Some smile at me, some stop to say hello. I know these people. I study with them.
They are friendly.
It’s cold here. I miss the sun. Sometimes, I even miss the humidity. I pull my jacket on. It’s made of black leather. People identify me by it. Sometimes I consider getting rid of it.
It is 9 30; its time for class.
I stand up; the chair scrapes along the ground. How I hate this sound.
I miss home.

A Day in the Life

2010-09-06T11:14:00.000+05:30

Rub the sleep from my eyes. I wish I could capture this moment, right here. Those few seconds when you’re waking up, perfectly trapped in a state of sub consciousness. Dream like.
Some mornings, as I wake up, I feel fear. Wispy strands of fear weaving their way around me, gently. I feel them brush across my face. Tendrils twirling around my fingers, down my neck, stretching across my chest, they hold me.
Stretch out; make my way through my blankets. My bed is a tomb. The curtains are drawn. The room is dark. Sunlight streams in through the cracks, feeble. It is a new day. Will I embrace it?
But of course, I do. I am taking part in a play. It is my play. I direct it. I am playing the lead role. There is no stage. Or rather, the world is my stage. My cast is everyone around me. But I am the only one who knows we are performing. There is no script. We do not practise. Everything is unpredictable. Everything changes constantly.
Every morning, I choose a new role for myself. I pick a mask from my shelf. Who will I be today?
Splash water across my face. It’s like cold sweat, trickling down my neck. Button my shirt, twirling them between my thumbs. It is a green shirt. Green plaid. I like this shirt, I like to feel the soft flannel against my skin. It is comforting. It is bright. People will notice me. This could be a problem. Today I will play The Invisible Man. No one will see me, I will sit next to them, and they will not know I am there. They will not know I am there, not unless I want them to. I like to be invisible, it allows me to observe. This green shirt could be a problem. Or it could be a challenge.
Can I be invisible when my appearance screams for attention? I will try.
I reach out for my camera. I hold it in my hands, the familiar weight of it, and the smooth plastic under my fingers. I love this camera. My little box of plastic. Is it wrong that I can experience more love for an inanimate object than I feel for living breathing people around me?
But how can I not love it? I am capturing a moment, freezing time. They are mine. They belong to me, completely. My pictures. They are beautiful, they are hideous, but they are mine.
Suddenly I no longer want to leave the house. I am scared to step outside my door. I feel alone. I crave attention. I want someone to understand me. But I don’t want to let anyone in.
They say stress makes you walk in your sleep. Why don’t I sleepwalk then? Maybe its because I do not experience stress. Maybe because all my experiences are devoid of any emotion. All my emotions are devoid of emotion. I believe that emotions are something to be felt. But I think too much about the emotion I am feeling, therefore I am convinced that I am not really experiencing the emotion. At least, not honestly. Emotions fascinate me. Sometimes I force an emotion upon myself, just to remember what it feels like. I want to record it. Use it later, for reference. But then I am not really experiencing that emotion in the true sense, am I?
I put down my mask. Today, I will not play The Invisible Man. I will not play Depression, nor will I play the role of happiness. Being Normal is my favourite role, purely because it fascinates me. The idea of Normal. Who decides when something is normal and something is not? But today, I will not even play Normal.
Instead, I will play myself.
Now I feel excitement surging through my chest.
Is it possible that I have never played myself before? How could I have missed it?
I will play myself. But who am I? I don not know myself. I am confused between my multiple identities. I am caught beneath my overgrown tree of lies. I am none of these roles, yet I am all of them. Even when I am being you, I am being me. Simply put, I am being.
I take off my shirt, I hang it across the back of my chair. Slip under my covers. Down, down under. Pull the sheet over my head. Enveloped in soft darkness. The fan whirs slowly. I listen to the blades cut through the air. I close my eyes. There will be no play today.

The Personal Manifesto of a Design Student

2010-09-06T11:13:00.000+05:30

Wide eyes, blinking up at you. Hair clamped over sweaty foreheads. Bare feet, chubby hands, a protruding belly, and an expression of complete innocence. As they approach you, their eyes twinkle, and they reach out towards you. Instead of stretching out your arms to hold them, your stomach sinks and you shrink away. Fish in your purse for loose change, then change your mind at the last minute and drop candy into their outstretched palms.

You are faced with poverty and hunger. The absolute lack of treatment for the mentally ill among the poor. Pot holes cover more surface area than the actual road. Politicians rant and rave across your television sets about putting an end to terrorism, while they silently(and sometimes not so silently) generate new ways to exploit the country, corrupt the government and loot you blind, in reality practising a form of terrorism themselves. Vast stretches of slums. Despite the abolition of the caste system, discrimination is rampant even today. Desperate poverty leads to selling young children as domestic help or factory workers, child trafficking and the sex trade. They are begging on the streets. Sifting through piles of trash. Turning pavements into makeshift playgrounds.

These are everyday events in the life of an Indian. You are exposed to these horror stories almost every minute of every day. You see it wherever you go, whatever you do. There is no hiding from the horrific face of India’s monsters

And what do you do about it?

You turn your face away. You hear, but you do not listen. You train yourself to push undesirable images into the background. You are used to it. You know that it’s okay. You make excuses. You ignore it. You stop noticing altogether. You stop caring.

Sometimes you are angry. Sometimes it makes you sad. Yet you do nothing. You live your own life, too wrapped up in your own selfish little world to spare a thought for anyone but yourself. If there is nothing to gain from it, it is not worth doing.

You join a design school. You feel a smug sense of self satisfaction. You will learn new things, gain knowledge and become successful. You will be different. Yes, indeed, you will make a difference. The world will sit up and notice you.

Right now, at this very moment, as you gather these thoughts to yourself, you feel another wave of self satisfaction was over you. You will help people. The world will appreciate you.

But I tell you, stop.

You call yourself a design student. From the very first moment, you have been told to observe. You have been told to open your eyes and see. You have been told to be sensitive to your surroundings. You think that noticing the finer details in the environment, finding a new perspective, or capturing the sadness in your subject’s eyes means you are doing everything right. You are on the right path to success and achievement. You are sensitive. You care.

But let me tell you once again, stop.

You are wrong. You do not see. You do not observe. And you are not sensitive.

Now you shake your head at me. You disagree. You find me to be accusatory and irrational. But I know I am right. We as a generation are unfeeling, selfish and insensitive.

Yes, we feel bad for the unfortunate. We want to change things. We do see the unfairness of society.

And that is not enough.

It is not enough to notice sometimes. It is not enough to put a few coins in the Collection Box.

We may give them money. But do we give them time?

As students of design and the future, we must pledge to:

1. Open our eyes and our hearts, so that we can truly see. Listen. To the sounds of people talking, their stories, their hopes and beliefs, their values, and to the song of their soul.
2. Be understanding. There is no quality more important in a human being and especially a designer than compassion for others.
3. Be critical. We do not have to accept everything. We have rights as citizens, and we must observe every civil service with a critical mind.
4. Be just. We must exercise a keen sense of ethics morality.. We must know what is right and what is wrong.
5. Evaluate. We must draw all our resources and our thoughts, so that we may generate ideas and solutions.
6. Take action. It is not enough to complain about the government, or fume in silence at poor public service. Use that passion to make a difference.
7. Care. About people. About your country. About the world. Because if you truly care about yourself, you will understand the need to care.

You are a designer. You are an artist. Through your work, you can influence people to think like you. You can convince them that you are right. You can make them see, but in order to show them, you must first see yourself.

And when you hold such power, you must ensure that you use it to right at least some of the wrong.

Therefore, I end this personal manifesto of a design student with a call for sensitivity, compassion and most importantly, true observation of the world around you.

Making the most of the sunshine...

2010-06-06T20:03:00.003+05:30

Yet again, I am forced to begin a post with, its been so very very long since my last post.

I've been wanting to get back here. But somehow, I just don't. Maybe I will start a new blog. This one doesnt inspire me anymore. Not that I was sprouting pearls of wisdom up here before.

Its been summer for a very very long time. Ive been just travelling all over the place, with all this college nonsense. But I guess it was okay. I mean, I made so many new friends. I got back in touch with people I haven't spoken to in years.

I'm going to Srishti this year. College. Its finally here.

I'm excited.

But at the same time, I kind of wish I could freeze this moment right here.

Infinite summer.

Making the most of these last days of sunshine.

Endless days of sleep and good books and people I love. Long phone conversations. Laughing uncontrollably. Nowhere to be. Nothing to do. Parents to take care of you. Joggers Park. Laughing at random people. Pretending to be from out of town(Yes, I'm a law student from Bombay)

"Would you like a beedi?"

Late nights and television reruns. The Simpsons. Texting marathons. Party planning.

Pulling all nighters every weekend and watching the sun rise. Followed by long walks on Thevara Bridge in our chappals and shorts, pretending to be on our morning jog.

Lemonade at 5AM.

Shinai's house. Starving at 4 in the morning and hunting for food. Trying to bake cookies with soy flour and no sugar and throwing the mess in the garbage.

The roof. Lying on our backs looking at the stars and the moon. Making shapes out of night clouds. Feeling so small under the vast emptiness of the sky. Thinking thoughts we push away all our lives. Feeling small and insignificant, but at the same time, feeling so big and powerful and able to do anything and everything and nothing at all.

I don't want to say goodbye. I don't want to stop feeling this way.

But I figure, I move away. This is the beginning of the rest of my life. I don't have to stop feeling this way.

Maybe its not infinite summer.

Maybe its just me.

Random Random Random

2009-12-20T21:43:00.003+05:30

I honestly dont know why I'm such a slacker about blogging lately. I dunno, stress? Or just pure lazyness? Haha

Life's been. Well, the usual. I guess.

Lots of big stuff, but honestly, I really dont want to go there right now. I mean, its bad enough that we have to deal with it. Why spend more time over it than absolutely necessary?

I figure maybe I dont blog so often because I just dont want to think about so many things.

Besties :)

2009-11-01T19:06:00.003+05:30

Its been unbelievably long since I blogged.

Blah. I cant even think of anything meaningful to blog about.

Oh, wait. Viv was here :) He came down for a week. It was like an early birthday present, cause he only ever comes down for the summer. He called sometime in September, and goes, "I'm coming in October!!!!" It really kept me going, cause whenever I got all fogged up, I'd be like, "Viveks' coming!"

It was pretty random that we got ONE DAY, rather a few hours, together in the end. But whatever. What I really love about Viv is, its just so easy. It really is. We dont see each other the whole year. But every summer he comes home, and we fall back to how we just are from the very first moment. We never have the awkward first meeting or superficial conversation. From the very first moment I meet him, its like we were never apart. We just fit together like peices in a puzzle.

This time, I actually ended up feeling like we may have a lot of issues to resolve when he finally got here. I had a lot on my mind, and I was so sure we were going to end up having the biggest fight. But we dont. We just. Well, everything always works out :)

I remember, back in third grade. When I had NO friends, and everybody just picked on me all the time cause I was the Fat Kid. I remember coming home and crying. I remember hating school, and not going to class half the time because I was so effing miserable. And I remember how Vivek was the ONLY person who stood up for me. The only person who cared. The only person who was my Friend.

I love that we never every run out of things to talk about. I love that it's always good with us. And that when its not, we can fix things. I love that I never have to feel insecure about us. I love that it always feels so right. And when we're together, I feel like I'm home.

I mean, that one day we got together during his brief and totally random surprise visit. Well, it was so last minute and hurried so we ended up on a roof, of all the places. Aesthetics get, well, a negative score considering that the view was, well, fantastic. Honestly, I'll spare you. And thats just it. A random stranger's rooftop, Vivek, me and our little entourage :) Patel and Bryan. Just sitting there, talking. It feels so right. Okay, honestly, I'm sounding way too corny and well, cliche?

Ahaha, I'm taking that as a signal for me to stop. :)

Later peeps! :)

2009-08-22T11:37:00.003+05:30

This is just a photograph of Veli and me. I keep it on my desk.
At one point, I was working on black and whites of older people, because doing wrinkles is a really good exercise. So I'm working on this one picture, and I'm thinking about how you really get to know a person when you draw them, because every line, every shadow, every fold is scrutinised. And then I got to thinking, why am I wasting my time getting to know the face of some random old lady?
Drawing Veli was ... nice. It allowed me a few hours of just thinking about her. Going over every single detail of her face with my charcoal, smoothing out each strand of her hair, the folds of skin on her neck, the lines around her eyes. It sounds so weird, but it was like getting to know her all over again. Just thinking about her. :)
I miss you Veli.

This old lady I found in an old issue of National Geographic. The stagger ring number of lines on her face were literally screaming a challenge to me. So I grabbed my pencils and conquered them! Ha!

2009-05-20T21:55:00.003+05:30

Ya'll know I'm obsessive when it comes to my charcoal sticks, right?! I just find it so darn hard to let them go and try my hand at another medium. My charcoals are what I am most comfortable with. Surprising when you think about how much I hated charcoals when I first started out, and how clueless I was when I picked up my first piece of charcoal. How do you work when you have only one colour?! But I determined not to take up Amma's offer of classes, and well, I don't think I did too badly.
So a recent issue of Time (Style) had these fantastic photographs of this gorgeous African model wearing beautiful ethnic-fusion clothes. Flipping through the magazine, and my fingers were already itching for my charcoal sticks. I wanted to do my own version of the photograph and this is what I came up with.

I thought this one came out okay. Not one of my best, but not my worst either.Maybe I just got lazy half way through eh?

I am definitely not happy with this one. I hate the way her mouth looks. This picture definitely screams "Scope For Improvement!"

But my next picture, well, this I am happy with. I found this when I was going through some of Amma's old travel magazines. I thought it was so beautiful, this young man with the smooth skin and beautiful features and that absolutely intense expression.

I think I did a pretty good job! I'm pretty smug and satisfied with this one. Ha! :)

2009-05-20T21:49:00.004+05:30

Okay. So the picture on the left is a letter I wrote to Niran. He graduated last month with really fantastic grades and since we couldn't all be with him in Canada on his big day, Mia asked us to please write to him, 'cause Niran Mojo is everybody's favourite pavam uncle/cousin/big brother.

Niran's always been a great big brother. Even though he's so far away, he's always been understanding and supportive and ready to listen whenever I've needed him.

Has it ever mattered that he is actually my uncle and not really my cousin?! Not really!!!

Since he's always been the quiet and serious type, I made his letter really bright with lots of happy people and colours.

Mojo graduated on the 16th (?) and was suitably surprised with all our letters and notes. Congratulations Niran Achacha! I love you! <3

Okay. The second picture is just a little something I came up with for Appa's birthday. We were still at Pondi and we were having this big dinner thing in the evening. So its a few hours before our little dinner party and Amma, Sunita aunty and Michael uncle go shopping. Appa's fast asleep and everyone else is talking over their coffee. Kripa, Deepak and I are just hanging around and talking, and suddenly it hits me. "Oh crap! I don't have anything for Appa!"

What kind of present could I possibly get him?! I mean, I was definitely not going to venture back into town to buy him something. So I did the next best thing ... I made him something! :)

I tore out a page from my sketch book and flipped through the pictures on my phone until I found a really nice photo of this little French house-gate I'd seen earlier that evening on a walk through town. I grabbed my pencils and got to work, and by the time Amma got back from her shopping, I'd come up with something iwas pretty happy with!

2009-05-20T21:27:00.002+05:30

Okay, so if you can ignore the spiral from my sketch pad, and look past the crappy picture quality after scanning, maybe you can believe that this picture isn't so bad. Yeah?

This was actually a photograph that Michael Uncle took when we went for a walk one evening in Pondicherry. It's a beautiful photograph and I really wanted to draw it. I actually think I did a pretty decent job of it too. I know the scan looks absolutely awful, and the face is scratchy and two dimensional, but it look so much better on paper.

Anyway, let me know what you think!

2009-05-20T21:16:00.002+05:30

2009-05-12T20:53:00.005+05:30

Long time, eh?

Summer is officially over and school has officially begun. How much does it suck being in the twelfth grade?!

School. Gah.

Baby Pictures!!! :D

2009-03-16T18:16:00.017+05:30

My baby pictures! Stuff I did when I was five or six. :)

2009-03-16T13:08:00.001+05:30

Marari

2009-03-16T13:08:00.000+05:30

Marari

2009-03-16T13:01:00.000+05:30

Impulse sketches

2009-03-16T11:23:00.007+05:30

I did a couple of charcoal sketches for reference during Impulse. Since the theme was "Echoes of the Dark" the sketches are also pretty ... dark(?)

Anyway, since I dont generally do "Dark" pictures, I had to search online, and I found soem stuff I actually liked and wanted to reproduce.

Ah! I love this one! Its actually some excellent graffiti someone did somewhere in Japan. And even though mine doesnt come anywhere near the orginal, I'm still pretty happy with it!

I liked this one 'cause its so Ed Hardy! And I love Ed Hardy!

I loved this picture. I love the dark contrasting with the flashes of colour.

Honestly, these two really creeped me out. But they were great to draw, because the focus is on the fullness of the lip, and I think I actually caught that. :)

Riana

2009-03-16T11:08:00.002+05:30

This is the first picture I did of Riana. It's an oil pastel sketch of her trying on my sunglasses.

I did this picture mcuh later, after I started working with charcoal. I had taken a photograph of her drawing, and did this one looking at the photograph.

2009-03-15T19:43:00.002+05:30

Remember my "One morning at Art School..." posts? Way back when Amma made me go for those Water Colour classes? And Skinny Guy, Good Guy teacher, Boss lady and the Green Girl?

http://confessions006.blogspot.com/search/label/One%20morning%20at%20art%20school

So, remember how I hated it when the Skinny Guy teacher would come over and ruin what I thought was a perfectly nice painting of a pot/kettle/mug/bowl with assorted fruits/vegetables/cutlery?

I would spend ages getting my lemon just right. It would take forever, but iw ould finally be happy with the results. I'd be sitting there, grinning at my latest attempt, when Skinny would coem along and peer over my shoulder, "Hmmmm"ing and "Aahh"ing at me. Then he would prise the brush from between my fingers, dip it in brown or black paint and paint all over my perfect lemon so it ended up looking over ripe. I hated it, and I hated him for "ruining" my pictures!

BUT. I did manage to save two whole pictures from him!

This is my last, and favourite picture from art class. I loved the idea of bright colours contrasting the black background. I hate the cherries. I thing the light reflecting off them looks very amateur and almost cartooney. But I am pretty pleased with the oranges. Actually I'm pretty happy with this one. Well, except for the cherries. And the patchy background. And the too pale pot thing. :)

Okay. This is one bunch of lemons I managed to save! Yes!
But apart from that, I dont really like this one either. (Yeah, I tend to hate my own work. *weirdness*) I mean, the teapot is out of whack. But I guess this is pretty fine otherwise.

Feedback please!

Art!

2009-03-15T18:40:00.012+05:30

I finally finished my Web Design course! What should've been a 3 month course dragged out over 6 months. I had so many activities at school that kept me from attending class regularly, and hence the delay.

Nevertheless, I completed my course, Diploma in Wed Design and am now learned in the art of Photoshop, Flash and Dream Weaver!

Yay!

Anyway, I've been working on my Photoshop. It's fun. Just thought I'd put up some of my stuff.

Comment please!

I crave feedback!

This is my first piece. I'm so excited about getting my stupid ugly braces off. It's been months now, but I just cant get over my teeth. (Yes, I'm obsessive) So I thought this would be fun. My hideous braceface pictures contrast my new teeth, and I love it!

Farewell was a bore. But we did get some pretty good pictures. :)

I really love the photo in this layout.

Everybody looks so young and happy. And noone is fake smiling for a change.

Top step, from left: Sana, Karishma, Shruthi and Elsa.

Bottom step: Joe and me.

I'm not sure if the black circles contrast badly with the rest of this piece. Should I change them to the same colour as the FAREWELL lettering?

Sana and I are so jobless, we hav countless mad photos like these two.

2008-12-23T19:37:00.003+05:30

There are three stages of a man's life. He believes in Santa Clause, he doesn't believe in Santa Clause, he is Santa Clause. - Anonymous.

A long ago Christmas in Vizag. Aki, Rohan, Mihir and I are snoring away on mattresses spread out on the living room floor. Our parents sneak in to play Santa and stack presents under the tree. Somebody comes up with the bright idea of taking pictures of them as they do this. Appa shows us the pictures after they've been developed, and I laugh silently at him playing Santa Clause (I already knew the truth about Santa by then, so don't worry people, I didn't suffer personal trauma at discovering a cherished part of my childhood was a lie)

He didn't tell me how to live. He lived and let me watch him do it.

The first person I thought of when I read this quote was my father. My Appa has always been my hero. The only person I have ever wanted to model myself after. He is and has always been my role model and my hero. His honesty, generosity, determination, perseverance are qualities I incessantly wish I had.

But what i probably admire the most about my father is the way he is around other people. His ability to make friends with anyone and everyone, the way people light up when they see him, how he makes conversation with anyone and everybody so obviously loves him and wants to be around him, and the way he can laugh at anything. You know that good feeling you get when everybody loves somebody you love? Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

My father is my strength and my hero. He is who I look up to and his approval is the only one I try to win. Merry Christmas Appa! Love you! <3

2008-12-23T12:37:00.006+05:30

School's out people!!! Yaaaaay!

Shinai left for Bali last night. Since Sook aunty and Priya had some last minute shopping to do before they left, Shinai and I tagged along. We went to Oberon and basically just hung around.

Just as we were leaving, Shinai decided she wanted to step into Archies. So we all go in and pull out a dozen or so Christmas cards from the stands. Then Shinai spots this green headband with red antlers and she tries it on. She coaxes me into wearing one too. So there we are, in the middle of Archies, both of donning green and red antlers and laughing. The store people thought we were crazy, I guess.

Then Sook aunty starts trying on hats. We had so much fun. She tried on this black one and went all, "Yo. I'm a gangsta!" on us.

It was fun. :)

I love Christmas!

More later people!!!

2008-11-15T17:42:00.003+05:30

God, This blog is so dead.

I just haven't really taken the time or effort to blog about anything for almost 2 months(?)

What's been happening? Well, Choice Cup is over and done with. It was okay. Occassionally pretty fun. I even managed a couple of good times which I can look back and smile about. I think, rather than the whole experience being a chance to make new friends from other places, it just gave me a chance to become closer to people I already know. I got to know a whole buncha people a whole lot better. :)

Well, we had a week after Choice Cup to gear up for stupid Mid Terms. But I really feel good about my exams this time round. I'm pretty sure I nailed all my papers except Home Science.

Amma went to see Appa and London on the 5th. They're flying back on 25th morning. Mihir and I are staying at home with Ammachi. We're managing okay, except for the "No TV or Internet unless it's the Weekend" thing.

I'm staying at Ammachu's place right now. Ammachi and Mihir have gone to Allapuzha 'cause Mihir has a TT Tournament. I came here on Thursday, and I'll probably go home tomorrow. We've been managing just fine here. Rohan and me went movie crazy thsi weekend. On Thursday evening we watched Cinderella Man. Yesterday, we watched Zohan, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl and Mamma Mia.

We went out last night since Ammachu had a Rotary meeting. I had fun 'cause I knew (and liked) pretty much all the kids there - Marita, Abraham, JJ, Ajay, Suzanna, Apoorva ...

Today we took it easy and slept late, squeezed in a movie before lunch (Chapter 27) and then lazed most of the afternoon away in our room, alternating between sleeping, listening to music, reading(me) and studying(him).

Now we're planning to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 2 : Dead Man's Chest.

So catch ya'll later!

:)

My Country, My Vision

2008-10-19T19:03:00.002+05:30

My Country, My Vision.

Bharat,

India

My country.

My home.

The soil I was born from.

The ground to which I will return.

Colours, music, dance, movement.

Trees so green, waters so blue.

Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Jew,

Parsi, Sikh and Jains too.

I see my country,

my people,

my brothers and sisters,

holding hands,

religion, caste, creed forgotten,

no matter what stands.

Bound together by the ties of their motherland.

Unity in diversity.

Spice in variety.

I see my country as a peaceful land,

where violence is long forgotten,

and terrorism is a thing of the past.

Where meaningless killings never occur,

and mothers holding their dead children

are confined to scenes in a movie.

I see my country as a developed nation,

where high rise buildings,

and multinational corporations

exist alongside nature's beauty.

Where the hungry are fed,

the naked are clothed.

Where women are respected,

and every man can walk with his head held high

no matter what his religion, caste or social status is.

Where poverty is unheard of.

Where children laugh and sing.

Where noone is harassed,

no person is harmed.

Where every citizen lives together in harmony.

This is my dream,

my vision,

the future I see,

for Bharat,

India,

my country,

my home.

2008-09-25T21:58:00.002+05:30

Yellow Blogger Peeps!
Wow, it's been ages since I blogged huh?
So what's been happening?
Well, the class is busy practising for our assembly next week. We have to do something on Gandhi Jayanthi and Eid.
The Choice Cup has been postponed! ... since the court isn't ready yet, plus a whole bunch of schools are pulling out because it was going to be held during the Pooja holidays. So basically, they've moved it to the end of the month. No! I was so looking forward to 13 whole days off from school!
God, school is such a drag now. I mean, I wake up at 6:00 every morning. I travel for half an hour in a sucky little school bus that resembles a matchbox, and there is nobody in my bus I can hang with. Seriously. I mean, apart from Arjun and Anjolie, the other Arjun, and Malini. But they're my juniors. I love my juniors and eveyrthing, but how long am I gonna hang out with 'em? Plus, how long are they gonna put up with me hanging around them anyway? The highlight of my entire morning is listening to music in the car for ten minutes while waiting for the bus. Assemblies at school are getting longer and suckier and more boring than ever. I hate standing around!
Class is okay, I guess. Shinai and I hang out and make stupid jokes in between classes. Jeena miss actually gave me a seat next to Hanee, so I have someone to hang with during class. Hanee, Shinai and I have awesome fun during assembly practise cause the thre of us go sit in the back and watch our classmates. Seriously, if you watch all of 'em for ten minutes, you will laugh so hard you think you're gonna pee your pants. They all act so demented! It's effin hilarious! God, Shinai, Hanee and I are literally falling off our desks laughing, and they're looking at us like, "Dude! What's so funny?!"
A standard day in XI D:
One girl sits in a corner, having quiet sob sessions. Every fifteen minutes or so you see her shaking. There's no point trying to comfort her. We've all only tried a million times before.
A bunch of the students are having a loud, colourful discussion about cartoons. Occasionally they erupt into song and dance routines, and you're left wondering "Huh?" Some zoom around the classroom pretending to be superheroes.
Another student satnds alone by the window. She paces up and down with a text book in her arms. Every ten minutes, she looks up, shoots dissaproving glares at the other kids who are pretending to be cartoon characters and mutters irritably to herself.
One student suddenly decides he wants to sing an ancient number, "Sha la la la la" but unfortunately cant remember the words. So he drags two of his helpless classmates (Shinai and me) over, and insists that they help him recollect the lyrcis. When we have gathered a rough idea of how the song goes, he wanst to dance, so he jumps around by the wall sing and straining his arms to the music, and begs us to join in. ("Sha la la la la, sha la la in teh morninnnnng! - arms outstretched to symbolise the rising sun - Sha la la, sha la la in the sunshine!")
A student from another class who had dropped in to talk for a minute (Hiral) hastily returns to her own class, not wishing to stay amidst these psycho freaks a moment longer than she must.
LOL.
But, no, seriously, this is what my class is like.
Anyways, more later.
Peace.

La di da

2008-09-08T12:05:00.002+05:30

Ah well, exams are finally over! Holidays have started. We have a week off from school.
God, I'm so bored.
Shinai left this morning, for Bangalore. She will probably be gone the whole week, but with luck, earlier. So I'm all alone here, no one to hang out with!
Hmm, well, maybe I'll go hang out with Pratik and Naveen for a bit, after Appa leaves. I haven't seen either of them for so long!
Seriously, I'm so bored I don't even have anything to blog about. So until I coem up with something, I guess it's ciao!
Later folks!
Peace.

Poster Making!

2008-08-29T21:22:00.002+05:30

Ah well ... it's been a while.

Exams are going on. We had Economics yesterday. It was a good paper, but way too long. I couldn't finish writing. I left 12 marks worth of questions completely blank. *sigh* I'm really bummed about that.

We had English today. A pretty good paper. We had to draft a poster about vigilance against the recent terrorist attacks and I was completely clueless. I mean, I was trying to come up with something thoughtful and creative and cool, and I was just totally blank! I left the poster for last, and worked through the rest of my paper. But when I came back to my poster, well, you guessed it ... blank again. *sigh* But I had to do this poster, so I picked up my pen and started. And what proceeded was the corniest and most lmao poster in history!

We start with a nice big heading: LET US FIGHT TERROR IN KOCHI!!! followed by pearls of wisdom like "Don't let the terrorists bring you down!" and "Terrorists want to create terror among the people! Don't let them get you down! Don't worry, be happy! But be careful!" I managed to get a couple of sane points in, stuff about not picking up abandoned items and refusing to carry luggage for strangers. Then came the illustration part. I really couldn't come up with anything even remotely innovative, so I quickly sketched out a little terrorist man - a cute little fella in black, wearing a black mask and screaming stuff like, "I am evil! I hate people! I will kill you! I will kill everybody! Muahahahahaha - *cough* ahahaha!" and "Don't be happy! Don't smile! I will destroy you!!!" Under him was a girl looking up and going, "OMG! A terrorist!" and an arrow pointing from her showed the same girl on the phone saying, "Hello?! Police? There's a suspicious looking guy outside my house! Come quickly!" along with the message, "If you see someone/something suspicious, dial 100 immediately!"

God, recalling the details of this poster is painful. It is so retarded! I can't believe I did this! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Anyways, I'm really sleepy now, so later.

For Him.

2008-08-12T21:27:00.002+05:30

You've been there

when noone else cared.

You've been there

to keep every secret I shared.

I can tell you anything,

because you listen.

When you say,

"I'll keep it to myself"

I know you will.

When I'm down,

when I'm feeling low,

I know just have to give you a call,

and you'll be there,

time, place and circumstance never comes in the way.

You've made me laugh

when I thought I couldn't.

Your corny joke

put a smile on my face.

When I need a shoulder to cry on

you're there.

When I need someone to just listen

you're there.

When no one else gives a damn

you're there.

I know I can count on you

no matter what.

When I do something wrong

you get mad

you yell

you scream

you scold.

You fight until you're certain I wont do it again.

Sometimes you yell so much, I feel bad.

But I know it's only because you care.

When people let me down,

you tell me:

"Nobody, no guy, no girl, in this world,

is worth your tears

(except me of course)"

When I want to cry

you can make laugh,

until I snort,

(which only makes me laugh harder)

When you say,

"I'll call you,"

you always do.

You sing along to the music thats playing,

and your singing really sucks, :)

but I always sing along with you anyway.

You're my best friend.

Thank you,

for everything.

I love you.

And

I really, really

really

miss you.

I can't wait to see you for Diwali. :)

*hearts* LOL!

This is just a little something for Nihaal. My Ni. My bestest friend. I just want to say Thank You. I really miss you today. More than usual. Love you bro. :)

I thought you cared...

2008-08-12T21:22:00.003+05:30

I can't believe

I thought you cared

Can't believe

I thought we shared

Something more,

something special.

I thought you were different.

I thought maybe this time

everything would be different.

Now I know,

you don't really care.

The love (I thought) we had

we never really shared.

I was hurt at first,

but now I know

that you don't really care

and it's time to let go...

So do what you want,

I've had enough.

I'm done with trying,

so sick of crying.

Everybody goes on about how much they hurt,

they talk like I never hurt.

Well, I do.

I have feelings too.

I think, and breathe, and feel,

I cry, and laugh, and scream,

I've been let down,

stabbed in the back,

I've been alone,

(sometimes I still am)

I've had bad days, sad days,

I've been through it all,

just like you.

I'm sick of pretending to be happy,

sick of flashing fake smiles at you,

when I feel like screaming inside.

If you didn't care, why did you lead me on?

You pretended.

You made me believe we were close.

I trusted you.

And you let me down.

But this is the last time.

Live your life,

and let me live mine.

I effin hate you,

I despise you,

you make me retch.

You're a fake,

you're a phoney.

Stay out of my life.

I would never wish something bad on you,

but I don't wish you well.

I hope someday

you realize what you did to me.

But in the meanwhile,

just stay away.

I give up. Take it all.

2008-08-11T18:19:00.002+05:30

I give up.

I don't give a damn. No, not anymore.

Think what you want,

say what you want, 'cause I give up.

Yeah I'm talking to you.

You win, hands down.

Take what you want,

Yeah, take what you want from me.

Take it all, take everything,

'Cause I'm sick of trying, done with explaining.

This is the best I can do,

And obviously it's just not good enough for you.

Well, that's okay then, really, it's fine.

That's what you want.

I don't mind.

You seem to think that you're the only one who hurts,

the only one whose been let down,

stabbed in the back, left in the mud, kicked where it hurts.

Well, let me just tell you that you're not the only one.

I've been there, done that,

I've seen it all too.

I have troubles too,

Sometimes it feels like

the whole world has turned on me,

and that's when I count on you to be there.

Sometimes when you really love someone,

you don't have to call everyday,

you don't have to talk,

or write,

or say anything at all,

because the love you share is deep enough to conquer it all.

I love you,

so much that I don't let the distance

get in between.

And I thought you loved me

enough to do the same.

Maybe you're ideas are different,

maybe you think I don't care.

Well, that's what you think,

and I'm done with trying.

I'm not going to try and change your mind.

So it's okay if you don't want to talk.

I don't want to talk either.

I give up.

You win.

You can have it all, take everything.

I'll let you say and think as you please,

because that's waht you need.

Just one more thing, before I go,

I've been working on something,

for me to show,

you on your birthday

(No, I didn't forget)

It's a picture of the two of us,

in a time when everything was so easy.

I've made four or five attempts now,

but I've never been able to get it just right.

Maybe because everything is different now.

I'm still trying though.

Maybe you'll get it on your birthday.

But anyway, I better get going now.

Good luck with everything.

2008-07-26T17:17:00.002+05:30

Finally. A day off!

Well, not really. We had school today. I was in a really bad mood in the morning. I was sleepy, tired and just plain cranky.

The end of the day was fun though. Since we've been banished from the Bio Lab, the Decoration Committee is left stranded. Vinitha Miss has kindly permitted us to still store our material there but she said Absolutely Not! when we asked if we could continue working there 'cause the paint stains on the floor are getting to be a permanent fixture and Chechi has enough work already.

Nevertheless, we couldn't possibly not do ANY work today, so we decided to bring the Dec Committee into my classroom. Everybody landed up there and we had a fun time painting and stuff!!! :) P.S: Thanks Shilpa, George, Anjali! You guys helped a lot! :)

Hmmm...

Nikkita, Hanee and I hung out at dispersal. Talking. :)

And I refused to stay back this afternoon for Impulse. Elizabeth asks me to stay back today. I was like, Eh? I didn't come prepared to stay back. I didn't have any money to buy lunch, I haven't told Amma, Mihir isn't even in school so I can't send a message through him, I'm exhausted, I need a break. I can't do this anymore. So for once, I said NO.

Me: "You know what? I can't stay back today"
Elizabeth: "I can arrange for you to call home and tell your Mum. And I'll buy you lunch."
Me: "Thanks Beth. But I just don't feel like staying back today."

LOL.

Whatever.

More later.

Stressed!

2008-07-24T19:02:00.002+05:30

I've been busy busy busy with Impulse. We have just eight days left. EIGHT!!!

My corner is so not finished! We've only finished around half of the brick wall. We couldn't do any yesterday because we ran out of white paint! Argh! We did some of the graffiti. But today, I couldn't work at all during the day. I've been missing classs all week. I was determined to go for Economics today. I haven't gone to an Economics class in ages. I'm really lagging behind.

I stayed in class during the last two periods, instead of going in for Dec, 'cause I had to study Psychology. Gina Miss agreed to let me take a retest with the absentess during stayback so I could try and improve my score. Shinai and I did some kickass revision. I got 13 0n 15! Yes! :)

Since I had to write the Psych test during stayback this afternoon, I was late to report for afternoon Dec as well. And today, we were all feeling so lazy and tired and bleh, so we really didn't get much work done. Argh!

I'm so stressed right now.

I miss loads of class working on Impulse, so I spend most of my breaks completing notes and catching up on my work. Almost every class I stay in these days, I'm rushing through my work, trying to complete it fast so I can put in maybe 15 or 20 minutes on Dec. I'm running around school frantically, trying to collect all my Test marks and convincing teachers to give me retests, a mark or two here ... I stayback after school every single afternoon. I have to eat lame school lunches. I kneel on the floor for several hours in a day, painting many many metres of cloth, or sketching out pictures I need for my corner. I've spent ages on my hands and knees on the Bio lab floor, newspaper, turpentine and scarp cloth in hand, scrubbing off stubborn paint stains. The skin on my knee is splitting open from all the time I spend kneeling on hard floors. It's bleeding. :( I get home by 5:30PM if I'm lucky, 6:00PM if I'm not. :S Once I get home, I shower and then I spend an hour or two doing nothing. After dinner, I study and catch up on pending school work. When I'm done, I hit the sack. And wake up at 6:00 AM the next morning to start all over again.

Stressed!!!

2008-07-17T20:45:00.002+05:30

Argh, school tomorrow!!!

We had two days off. In honour of Choice Day! We've never had two days off for Choice Day before, but I guess the teachers need their rest. LOL!

Hmmm... didn't do much anyway.

Yesterday ... woke up pretty late. I watched a lot of TV. Wasted a lot of time online. Oh, and I did a few more sketches for Impulse. I did this really cool picture of three skulls, with three red roses in between ... very Ed Hardy. Oh, and I also did the classic Ed Hardy skull and roses - Love Kills Slowly. I love that pic!

Hmm...I'll scan and put up the pics soon. :)

Aaaah, I'm bored.

I don't really feel like writing.

Feeling very ... bleh. (what else?!)

Sowwy!

Later.

Peace.

2008-07-15T20:07:00.002+05:30

Today was a fun day!

Nikkita, Hanee, Mitha and Mariam didn't come to school today. But everyone else did. And we had a super fun day! Yaaay!

So I show up in class a little late, since my bus was late. Turns out our class teacher didn't come! We were like, Yes!!! Teacher Amma(LOL!) made Parvathy read Business Line. Argh! Boring! So we made her laugh while reading until Teacher Amma gave up and let her sit down.

Shinai, Maria and I tried our hand at reading out loud from some Malayalam fliers from a grocery store. Wow! I can read pretty good! Why couldn't I read this well when I still had to study Malayalam, huh?! Y'know, I never understood why, when I can speak Malayalam fluently(well, duh, it's my mother tongue, aint it?) I have always been so sucky when it comes to reading and writing it. Aaah well.

We spent the rest of Zero Hour goofing off in class. We were all talking about the lame cartoons we used to watch. All of us really got into it, and there was absolute chaos in class. Rizwana, Ritu and Annie were rushing around class pretending to be the Powerpuff Girls, with Issac singing the Powerpuff theme song. Maria was laughing like Mandork from Dexter's Laboratory. Shinai and me were singing the Captain Planet theme song and making fun of it (how we used to love that show!) We all spent ages trying to remember the sing from The Lulu Show(gasp! My favourite!!!) but all any of us could remember was the part that went, "Little Lulu! Little Lulu!" LOL! My class in insane!

What I really love about my class is that there are only eighteen of us. So we've all really bonded. All of us are really good friends. It feels like one little family! Free classes are so much fun because we all pull our desks together in a circle and play silly games and act like mad people.

We had double Sociology first thing in the morning. We were supposed to have a test today, but we begged off. So she didn't take the test, and we got a free period. Ha! Hanee and Nikkita! Suckers!!!! She didn't even take the test! You shuda come!

After the first Break, we had Psychology. But since GM didn't come, SM came for substitution. I went over to the Bio Lab to help Sagel with decoration for Impulse. Time is running out!

Hmm... we had English afterwards, where she just made us read some lesson. That was okay.

Double Info was okay. Mostly Fancy just yelled at everyone. We didn't do much.

We ended with Double Economics. Shinai and me just goofed off as usual. We didn't really study because we all begged off class, coming up with crappy excuses.

We had a fun day!!!

2008-07-13T11:35:00.004+05:30

It's been ages since I blogged properly.

I've just been so tied up with everything. Y'know?

School's been okay. I was sick most of the time, down with a fever as a result of an awful cough which I got after my latest bought of puking. Bettter now though. :)

We're all busy with Impulse now. It's on August 2nd this year.

Impulse is an inter-school event that our school holds every year. The 11th and 12th graders host it. This year's theme is "Echoes of the Dark" (whatever that means) I'm in the Decor committee!!! Yay!!!

Lately, we've been freaking out 'cause we suddenly figured that we really don't have much time left. Just two weeks. And we've barely started. Plans for the foyer are fixed, and two of the four corners. My corner was supposed to be The Dark Woods, but R (our 12th grade supervisor) says we can't have any more trees since we already have trees in the foyer. Since we're already strained for ideas, I told her to come up with a fancy idea then. She says I should get my little team to build a pumpkin. Yeah, a scary pumpkin. Hello? How old are we? Five? To find huge pumpkins with scary faces painted on them scary?! Whatever. Seriously.

There is no way in hell that I am going to build a pumpkin of all things. I mean, how lame would that be? On Impulse, when hundreds of kids from all over Cochin show up, and I'm socialising and go, "Yeah, so did you check out my corner? I had my own team, and we built that. Yeah, that's the one. The corner with the pumpkin." Whoooo, scary!!! Not!!!

Shinai, Anna, Hiral and me went for Hancock yesterday. Awes movie. I liked it!!! :) But it was really short. Just an hour and a half. Afterwards, we went to the mall, but the Food Court and Barista's were full, so we walked around a bit, but promptly got bored and left. Bay Pride is so boring. There's nothing to do.

We stopped at Coffee Beanz for lunch. The food isn't that great anymore. Shinai and I had Kati Rolls, which were pretty nice, but very small. And of course, it doesn't even come close to the Kati Rolls Ramesh uncle serves in Dal Roti, Fort Kochi. Anna had a Mango Slush, which was too sweet, and my Choco Iceberg was too milky, so that I had a desperate Coke craving afterwards. Shinai and Hiral ordered Iced Teas which were okay. Plus, our seat was smelling like puke, so we were dying to get out of there.

After Coffee Beanz, we decided to give the Food Court at Bay Pride one more try, because we had such a crappy lunch at Coffee Beanz. We were still hungry 'cause our servings were either too small, or inedible. Hiral had to go home 'cause she had to go somewhere with her Mum. After she left, the thee of us had a sudden craving for Dragon Chicken and ice cold Cokes, so we waited for a table to empty at the Food Court and satisfied our gastronomical cravings. :)

Once our tummies had us smiling, Anna and Shinai decided to keep me company while I went shopping in Broadway. I had brought home Rs 2000 from our Impulse funds to pick up some supplies for Decor. Since the school is giving the Decoration committee such measly funds, I have to search for the cheapest stuff available on the market.

The three of us ran all around numerous stores in Broadway and managed to pick up 4 half litre tins of paint, and many many sheets of chart and cellophane paper, all for under Rs 400, which is a fantastic deal. We went back home feeling quite satisfied with ourselves. All I needed now was 50m of rope, which my driver picked up later in the evening. I spent less than 600 bucks. Wow. I'm proud of myself. :)

That's about all for now.

Toodles!

:)

Bleh

2008-07-06T21:22:00.002+05:30

Aaaah, another weekend.

And I feel so ... bleh.

Y'know?

Okay, maybe not. :)

The problem with being so ... bleh ... is that I end up feeling so crummy. 'Cause I'm just feeling so ... bleh. (?)

Okay, forget it. Don't try to understand. I'm just venting.

Plus, right now, I'm not in the greatest mood. I hate it when people mislead me. Y'know? they act like they mean something else, and lead you on, and you're thinking, Wow, they're so nice and I'm so happy, I can't believe it. But then it turns out, they were just playing with you or something. 'Cause they're thinking on a whole different level, and you're left feeling like, Huh?!

So yeah ... I'm pissed.

Whatever.

Peace.

2008-06-29T17:59:00.002+05:30

Not much that's been happening.

Impulse is on August 2nd. So we're finally starting to work on it. I'm on Decor!!! Yaaaaaay!

Hmmm ...

Class is fun. The new kids are really settling in. My class is great 'cause there are only eighteen of us ... so we've all bonded really well and have a great time. :) Hanee is awes fun!!! Haha.

Hmmm ... that's about it.

Pointless post.

Lawl!

Later.

Peace.

Tag Eight!

2008-06-28T19:51:00.004+05:30

New Tag!!!

Eight Things I'm Passionate About:
1. My Family: I admit it, I am insanely crazy about my family. This includes everyone from Appa, Amma, Mihir and Ammachi, to all my uncles and aunts, cousins, random relatives ... in short, anyone who shares blood ties with me.
2. Music: Aaaa! Where do I begin? I am obsessive when it comes to music! I eat, sleep, breathe, drink, dream music. I dunno where to start or where to stop.
3. My Friends: My second family!!!
4. My Art: I loooooove art. This was something I did incessantly when I was younger, but as I grew older, I just quit drawing. But the last couple of years, my fingers have been itching again. Lately, I've been trying my hand at charcoal. I didn't want to go for classes, so I decided to teach myself. And I love it! I think I've found my medium! It's hard to describe the freedom I feel when I sit down in front of a blank piece of paper, with music playing in the background, and a piece of charcoal between my fingers ... when I draw, I am in control, I decide what goes where, and what it's going to look like in the end. I'm obsessed!
5. Writing: This is my other obsession. Writing is like thinking!!!
6. Books: I can't remember a time when I didn't love books. When I was little, I got picked on a lot. Third grade was hell; I hated school, I cried incessantly and my only friends were Nihaal and Vivek. Viv and Ni were the only people who were always there. That was the year i got more attached to books than ever, I never left home without a book. They were a way to block out everything else. Once I start reading, you have to shake me and yell really loud to get my attention. :)
7. Love: All you need is love! All you need is love All you need is love, love ... love is all you need! - The Beatles.
8. Food! - Yaaaaaay!!!

Eight Things I want to do before I die:
1. Travel... see the world
2. Work with little kids in Africa: Yeah, me. Me who generally can't stand little kids (I dislike most from the age of 5 - when they start talking, to 13 - when they learn to shut up) really, really, really want to want to work with kids in Africa. Poor kids, sick kids, old people, dying people, injured people, hungry people, HIV/AIDS victims ... I don't know how much I can do, I can administer First Aid, I guess. But mostly, I want to be there to just hold their hand and talk, listen to them, motivate them, and just love them. Isn't that what they really need? This is something i really want to do.
3. Get a great job that I love doing.
4. Prove myself: Prove to all those people, teachers, kids, everyone who didn't and doesn't believe in me, everyone who said I wasn't worth it, and wasn't capable ... that I AM worth it, and that I CAN do great things. Everybody who discouraged me, and looked down their noses at me .. all those teachers who made fun of me, and insulted me and told me I was crap ... I wanna show 'em all! And believe me, I will!
5. Produce a music album. Not sing ... but produce... oh, and write the lyrics too!
6. Meet Kanye West!!!
7. Write a book!!!
8. Be happy and content, and know that I lived my life the way God planned for it to be.

Eight Things I Say Often:
1. Whatever.
2. Huh?
3. Dawg.
4. Yeah.
5. That's so retarded/gay!
6. Uh huh.
7. Bleh.
8. Like.

Eight Books I Read Recently:
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K.Rowling.
2. The Bronze Horseman - Paulina Simons.
3. The Queen of Dreams - Chitra Banerji.
4. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Gold. (excellent book!)
5. One Hundred Shades of White - Preeti Nair.
6. The Painted House - John Grisham.
7. The Namesake.
8. Born Confused - Tanuja Desai Hidier. (I've read this one about a million times, but I never get sick of it.)

Eight Songs I Can Listen To Over And Over Again:
1. Cotton Fields - CCR
2. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
3. I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
4. Good Life - Kanye West f/ T-Pain.
5. Love Song - Sara Barielles
6. We Belong Together - Mariah Carey.
7. Over My Head - The Fray
8. I'll Be There For You - The Remembrandts.

2008-06-22T20:04:00.003+05:30

New tag people!!!!

I am: different, messy, unorganised, excitable, enthusiastic, sensitive, emo.

I want: an end to world hunger, everybody to be happy, world peace, to stop getting into so much trouble, to meet Kanye West, to be able to let out my anger instead of keeping it inside, a new pair of Chucks (hightops please), an iPhone.

I have: too much raw energy, too many emotions ... too much sensitivity(?)

I think: too much.

I wish: life wasn't so complicated.

I hate: backstabbers, stinky people, fakes, liars, ladies finger (yuck!)

I miss: Nihaal, Vivek, Sidharth, Gaurav, Apoorv, Aki, those cute plaid shoes that are too small for me, my favourite denim shorts that chechi stole and used to wipe the kitchen floor, being little so that when I throw a tantrum nobody would look at me like I was a freak.

I fear: being alone.

I hear: the voices in my head. (I talk to myself a lot)

I smell: like The Body Shop's new Body Splash, which smells delish just FYI!

I crave: lots and lots of chocolate!

I wonder: if I will ever be calm, satisfied, peaceful, and happy - all at the same time.

I regret: trusting some !@#$%$%^ because I was too young, and too inexperienced to know any better.

I love: My family, my friends, music, God, chocolate, coffee! my new Tom Taylor jeans(yeah, baby!!!), my Chucks, doggies, bubbles! glittery stuff, dancing, playing/walking in the rain, acting stupid with Aastik in class, glittery stuff, shopping, books, my dumb moods (though no one else seems to even remotely enjoy them...hmm, I wonder why?!) ... bottom line, I love ... a lot!!! Love is a good thing, it makes you happy. And I love too many things/people/places to write here!

I ache: inside.

I am not: like everybody else, and I'm proud of it! Finally!

I dance: A lot! I love to dance!

I sing: A lot! Again, I love singing, even though I'm not good at it!

I cry: a lot. Mostly for really stupid reasons. I used to be ashamed and embarassed to cry in front of people, but now, I've decided if I want to cry, if I feel like crying ... well, then I'm just gonna cry! Call me whatever, but i'm not gonna hold it in anymore.

I dont always: do what I should, or listen when I'm told.

I fight: Mostly for stupid reasons. Sometimes for fun.

I write: Everything that comes to my mind.

I lose: At sports that involve balls.

I never: give someone a hard time if I can help it. I try to be nice whenever I can. Just because people have been just plain evil to me for the better part of my life doesn't mean I have to be a bitch.

I always: love the people I love!

I confuse: everyone who meets me.

I listen: to music! to myself, to my instincts, when someone says something I feel makes sense, I try to listen to what Amma says ...

I can usually be found: Sleeping for hours at vague times, on teh floor of my bedroom listening to music, in the veranda talking on the phone, in front of teh computer/TV

I need: attention. Lots and lots of attention and love. I need to be constantly reassured by people that tehy care about me and that tehy love me, and aren't going to walk away and leave me alone.

I am happy about: the way I am handling my life right now.

I imagine: "there's no heaven. It's easy if you try. No hell below us, above us only sky. Imagine all the people, living for today ... imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or die form, and no religion too. Imagine all the people, living life in peace. You may say I'ma dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one. Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people, sharing all the world...You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will live as one" (Yeah, I'm a Lennon fan!)

Hey! I like this tag!

2008-06-21T18:16:00.002+05:30

Aaah, the weekend is upon us once again!

Hmmm...it was Michael uncle's birthday yesterday, so we all went over to his place for dinner. Mmmm...good cake! :)

It's been an okay week at school. Pretty uneventful. Well, except for the part where Susan Koshy chucked me out of class, for no good reason may I add. But whatever.

I went to Pampakuda on Thursday, for swimming team trials since the school's new pool isn't ready yet. The bus drive there was long, and the road was full of twists and turns and sudden swerves, so that I was about ready to barf up my lunch by the time we got there. The pool was dirty, and what seemed like all of Pampakuda was assembled around it to watch us, which was kinda creepy. It is not a nice feeling to stand around in your shorts, with hundreds of people gawking at you. And it was worse when we changed into our swimsuits. Aaah! Freaky! I felt like an alien, the way they all kept staring!

Hmmm... oh, by the way, I saw Gaurav!!!

Yeah, I was waiting outside the pool after workout on Friday, my head buried in a book as usual (Reading Memoirs of a Geisha, and so far, it's excellent) when someone yanks the book outta my hand. I look up and I see Guarav! Yay!

So we hung out on the pool's shoe rack, making fun of lmao people just like 'ol times. It was pretty fun. Anyways, he's going to Loyola. Leaving on Monday.

Aaaaah.

That's about it.

Anyways more later.

Peace.

Birthdayyyy! :)

2008-06-15T20:43:00.002+05:30

Aaaah, and the weekend comes to a close.

It's been an okay week at school. I'm getting settled into my new routine, new class, new teachers ... everything is so different this year.

The weekend's been okay. Appa left for London again Saturday morning. He's going for six weeks this time, he's never gone for such a long period of time before. Or wait, yeah, he has, like 5 years ago. Whatever. Mihir and I made him Father's Day cards and snuck them into his suitcase so that he'd find a nice surprise when he opened his suitcase in dreary gray London on Father's Day morning. :)

Today was okay. Vineetha aunty and Anjolie came over in the morning to bake Arjun's birthday cake. He had his party today, and their oven wasn't working.

In the evening, I changed and Sanjay uncle came over to pick me up. He dropped Arjun, me and two huge chocolate cakes off at Coffee Beanz where the party was being held. Arjun had booked the Loft upstairs so we could dance.

Both of us hung around, going over the playlist I'd made on my iPod to play for the party. Kids started showing up. i was starting to feel a little weird. I mean, I know Arjun's friends, I get along with them, but today I actually felt ... gasp ... old. And even the kids were looking me over like, "Umm..what are you doing here? Aren't you, like, a senior?!" and I was wishing one of my friends were there. That's when Abu walked in with a big smile, saying he'd brought me some company , and behind him, grinning broadly was Naveen. Nav!!! I was so happy to see him!!! Yaaay! My Naveeno!!! :)

So Nav and me hung out, messing around with the music. When the kids decided to hit the dance floor, they insisted that Nav and I dance together since we were the "old people" but whatever! Towards the end of the party, I played some old Swing music for the kids - Elvis' "Shake, Rattle, Roll", "Jailhouse Rock", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "Hound Sog" I wasn't sure if tehy would like dancing to this, since they were really digging the Hip Hop and House I was playing, plus this dancing required a partner. I tentatively played "Jailhouse Rock" but the kids really dug it. They shook, they jumped, they swung, they twirled in circles ... man! they had a good time. And then they insisted that Nav and I get out from behind the speakers and join them on the floor.

So we joined them, secretly happy because we loved this music. The two of us got into it, jumping and twirling and the waiters thought we were crazy. We couldn't stop laughing, it was just so much fun!

The party was pretty good. After dancing, we ate a lot. :P Mmmm, Vineetha aunty's yummy chocolate cake! Yaaay! :)

2008-06-12T20:44:00.002+05:30

School was okay today. I guess.

I wore my bling shoes!!!! :) They're so hawt. I picked them up in Hong Kong. They're slim sneakers, and they're silver. And they have little silver sequins on the sides. Oh, and they have shimmery laces! They're so bling! I saw them, and I was like, "Amma!!! I want them!!!!"

Hmmm.

Oh, I saw Malu today!! Yaaay! I'd called Arya yesterday, and Mals picked up the phone and she's complaining about how she hasn't seen me in soo long, and I promise her I would come down and see her. So during break, Kanika and I make our way down the corridor and we stop to make chit chat with Ket, who is teasing us because he's taller than us seniors, and I'm asking him where Malu is, and suddenly I hear someone screaming, "Taaaaarikaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!" and next thing I know, Mals is running towards me with her arms outstretched and throws herself bodily on me, toppling me backwards. Haha, very Bollywood, but that's my Mals. :) It was fun hanging with Malu and Ket, the love triangle - reunited again! :) I showed off my bling shoes, which I promised Mals she could borrow whenever and we reluctantly separated ten minutes after Break got over, when we made our way back to our respective classes. I love my juniors!!! they're so much fun! :)

Hmm...what else did I do today? Oh, yeah...I got chucked out of Guitar class, so I took Drums instead. Shinai, Hiral, Achu, Anna and me. :) It's fun. We learnt three whole notes today!!! Yaaay! :)

Dispersal was fun. I got to hang out with Joji and Arya. We're all miserable 'cause we miss our last year's class and each other. It's weird that Joji and Arya and Kani and Achu and Jimmy aren't in my class anymore. I miss them. :*(

I came home, had lunch, studied (yes, me!!! studying every day!!!! wow!!) and then went swimming. Killer workout today. Sir had a field day. Our main workout was twenty 50m Freestyle prints within 60 seconds. Each. Ouch. Not fun, I assure you. And then we had a bunch of other sprint workouts. Aiyo, I'm dying. I can't get out of bed in the mornings because not only am I sleepy, but I'm sore all over. I'm dying a slow and painful death. *sigh*

That's about it for today.

Toodles!

SCHOOL!

2008-06-11T21:11:00.002+05:30

Aaah, so school's started.

It's been three days. We started on Monday. The first day was okay. Well, I had a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. First off, I'm not used to waking up so early, and secondly I'd gone out the night before, so I'd hit the sack pretty late as well.

I've taken fourth group, which is Humanities. My subjects are Psychology, Sociology, English, Economics/Home Science and Info/Math. I opted for Eco and Info. I can't take any more Math.

Our class teacher is Gina miss. She's okay. I think. She teaches Psychology.

Sunita miss, (one of the vice principals) is teaching Sociology. We didn't start off on such a good note, since I fell asleep in her first ever class on the second day. She had to keep yelling, "Wake up!" at me, and then I would wake up with a start and look at her sheepishly. I can't help it. Sociology is boring. Yuck. Finally she made me read out loud from some boring printed notes she had handed out. I hate reading out loud. Well, on the bright side, she didn't make me stand up and read out loud, which is even worse. I got to sit. :)

Susan Koshy miss is taking English, She's okay, I had her last year. She can't stand it that she can't yell at me when I act out in class since I do well in her subject. Last year, when we had nothing else to do, she would make us play hangman with her. Only, she wouldn't give us any letters or clues, she would just draw blanks and tell us what the word meant. She hated my guts 'cause I always guessed out her "hard" words on first call. I found the whole thing fairly hilarious. Especially the day I guessed Cul de Sac. Man, was she mad at me. :)

Fancy miss is taking Info. Yaaaaay! She's my all time favourite teacher, and that's not just because her name is Fancy Johnsy (I kid you not) I had her last year too. She's awesome. And she actually likes me. It's such a nice feeling when a teacher actually likes me, I haven't met many of those. Info class is extra fun, because I have Aastik there too, and we have loads of fun going insane in the Lab just like last year. :) Yaaaay!

Padma miss takes Eco. Woah. First off, she is SCARY man. Like, I'm scared of her. I've never been scared of a teacher before, but she's just like ... Woah. She look at you, and you freeze in your pants. She walks into class, and everybody just shuts up. It's weird. It's like she has powers or something. Aaaa! And secondly, Economics is TOUGH this year. I was GOOD at it last year, but this year ... blank. We have to do Statistics. That's MATH. I thought I didn't have to do Math anymore. Plus, she went on and on about some weird scary sounding definition full of fancy words and I didn't understand a thing. "Statistics is defined as .... la la la .. aggregates of something or the other ... numerically expressed ... estimated or enumerated by la di da ... bla!" It's huge. Like five lines long, and that's in my teeny weeny handwriting. *Freaking Out*

So, the new kids in our class are :

1. Nikita: Well, she's my third cousin, but I didn't even know she existed until two weeks ago. But she's nice. We have fun and stuff. :)
2. Mitha: Nikita's best friend from her old school. I haven't talked to her much, but she seems pretty nice.
3. Parvathy: Again, haven't really talked to her, but seems nice.
4. Rachel: No clue. I haven't spoken to her at all. But she seems really nice. Quiet, but nice.
5. Mariam: I dunno, I haven;t talked to her at all.
6. Hanee: The Korean guy. He seems nice too. I kinda feel bad for him 'cause no one can say his name right. All the teachers keep calling him Honey. Ewww!

And today we got one more new kid.

7. Jabel: I dunno, he seems okay.

Hmmm..new kids galore in my class this year. There are a couple of others in the other divisions, I haven't really met them yet.

My class is okay. It's pretty small though, only twenty kids (that's a record for Humanities by the way) and I'm used to a bigger classroom with more people. I know all the kids in my class, and I'm pretty friendly with them too, but I'm not really close tot any of them. My one consolation is Shinai. Thank God she's in my class, I dunno what i would have done otherwise.

Hmm...so basically, school is going pretty okay. Impulse is coming up (August 2nd...yaaaaay!!!) and eleventh is supposed to be a fun year ... so yaaaay!

Later.

Peace out.

Bake Day!

2008-06-05T12:29:00.003+05:30

So yesterday I was online, IMing Bilal, when Amma comes up to me and says, "Get up, go bake a cake!" And I'm like, "Umm...wa?!" I mean, cooking and me, well...let's not dwell on it.

Anyhow, I offered to bake cookies instead, but Amma insisted I bake a cake. So I opened a cookbook, and thought, "Hey! Maybe I'll make Cheese Cake!! Mmm..." but oh no, Amma wanted me to make Carrot Cake. I like Carrot Cake and everything, I was just too lazy to make one since I hate grating carrots.

Anyways, I baked a Carrot Cake, and it went okay, except for the part where I put ground cloves in the batter where I was supposed to put ground cinnamon. But it's all good 'cause the cake turned out pretty nice. :)

And then I baked Peanut Butter n' Chocolate Chip cookies. Yaaaay!

So yeah, lots of cooking yesterday. Or baking. Whatever.

So I guess if I don't become a successful writer/artist/journalist, I can always turn to cooking!

I don't want!

2008-06-04T13:04:00.004+05:30

I don't want to go back to school.

I don't want summer to end.

I don't want to start going to bed earlier so I can wake up at 6:00.

I don't want to wake up at 6:00 at all.

I don't want to stop watching TV or IMing people at any time just because I can.

I don't want to get new textbooks and notebooks that I have to cover with brown paper, knowing fully well that very soon the paper covers will be gone, the labels will be a thing of the past and the best I can hope for is my name scribbled across the cover in black marker.

I don't want to start taking notes in class, starting out writing them as neatly as I can with my minuscule, pointy, illegible scrawl, and following up with endless pages of ... scribble ... that even I sometimes have trouble deciphering.

I don't want to do homework. Okay, I can't really say that. I have never done my homework since the seventh grade. The number of times I have actually done by homework since then can be counted on my two hands.

I don't want to go to a school without Ni. I hate the idea of going there and knowing that there is no Ni to laugh with during breaks, walk around school with. No Ni to sneak off between class with so that we can go pick on our juniors. No Ni with whom I can climb up into the roof. We always planned to do that together as soon we were in the eleventh, it's the perfect place to share secrets in. Of course, I can sneak up into the roof with everyone else, but I'll still feel sad every time I go knowing that Ni and me will never be able to do that together.

I don't want to start studying again.

I don't want to go back to swimming again. I joined back to coaching yesterday, and everything HURTS. I got cramps in my FEET yesterday during workout, and I couldn't even do anything about it because Sir was in a foul mood and would probably have bitten my head off if I complained. We have to do Nationals training because Maria and Isha got qualified for open Nationals. I don't see why the rest of us have to do their training, we're not going for Open Nationals this year are we? So yesterday, after almost a year of not swimming, I had to do a 5km workout. I am dying. And as if that weren't bad enough, all my swimming buddies are gone. The only person left was Gaurav, and now he too has passed out of school. Who is going to tell em stupid jokes in between workout now?!

Gaurav: Wanna hear a joke?!
Me: No! Not your jokes anyway.
Gaurav: C'mon! This is a good one!
Me: Gaurav, shut up and swim!

...later...

Gaurav: You wanna hear the joke now?
Me: Ok, fine..let me have it.
Gaurav: What would people say if I hit you over the head with a guitar?
Me: I dunno.
Gaurav: Violins and Guitar, get it? VIOLENCE and guitar!!!
Me: Whatever!

Who would have thought I would actually miss that?!

Anyways, I think I am done being a spoilt, self centered brat for now.

Later.

Party Music

2008-06-03T22:15:00.002+05:30

Is anybody planning to have a party?! Hmm..I want to have one!

Anyways, this is a good playlist to get moving to. :) If you're not having a party, you can just play it and dance in your room. :)

My personal dance favourites:

1. Whateva - OST Take the Lead
2. Like That (Stop) - OST Take the Lead
3. Ya Ya - OST Take the Lead
4. New Shoes - Paolo Nutini
5. Four Minutes to Save the World - Madonna f/ Justin Timberlake
6. Sexyback Remix - Justin Timberlake
7. Give it to me - Nelly Furtado f/ Timbaland & Justin Timberlake
8. Promiscuous - Nelly Furtado f/ Timbaland
9. Wait a Minute - PCD f/ Timbaland
10. Can I Have It Like That - Pharell Williams f/ Gwen Stefani
11. Ayo Technology - 50 Cent f/ Timbaland & Justin Timberlake
12. I got it from my Momma - Will.i.am
13. Lose Control - Missy Elliot f/ Ciara & Fatman Scoop
14. Pump it up - OST Step Up
15. Disco Club - Black Eyed Peas
16. Elephunk Theme - Black Eyed Peas
17. Good Golly Miss Molly - Little Richard
18. Jailhouse Rock - Elvis
19. No Me Dejes Solo - Daddy Yankee
20. Like That - Black Eyed Peas

On My Playlist!!!

2008-06-03T20:33:00.002+05:30

1. Roxanne - Sting
Why: Because it's a classic.

2. Almost - Bowling for Soup
Why: Because the music is good, the vocals are good, and the lyrics are kickass.

3. Be Mine- Robyn
Why: Because it fuses sad why-did-you-leave-me? lyrics with cool electro beats.

4. Mrs Robinson - The Beatles
Why: It's a Beatles' song, duh! What other reason do you need?!

5. Bubbly - Colbie Caillot
Why: Because she's new, has amazing vocals and she sings a way soppy love song without making you wanna barf. Plus, she has nice hair. :)

5. Blue Magic - Jay Z
Why: Because Jay Z's the man. Plus this track has a cool video with fun dancing. Oh, and everything Jay Z releases is always fantastic, and The American Gangster is a great album. I should know, I have a copy and I've only listened to it about five million times.

6. California - Phantom Planet
Why: Because it's the OC theme song. The vocals are amazingly smooth, and this is the song that you'd play, sitting in a red convertible with your best friend and driving into the sunset. Well, I don't have a red convertible, I can't drive anyway and I have too many best friends, so they wouldn't all fit into the car. Possibly, I would have to get out to make space for them, which wouldnt be such a fancy idea since most of my best friends don't get along that well with each other. Also, I don't know any place nearby where I could drive into the sunset. Adding to that the fact that roads here suck, so that if I did end up driving into the sunset with a best friend in a red convertible,playing California, we would be rattling and shaking and bouncing in and out of potholes. So I doubt that I will be doing this in the near future, nevertheless, it's a good song. And there's always dreaming. :)

7. Carry You Home - James Blunt
Why: Because it puts me in my peaceful mood, and I feel all content. Even though this is kinda a sad song, James Blunt's voice is so soothing, it puts you to sleep. :)

8. Clumsy - Fergie
Why: Hmm, fun lyrcis. Check. Fun video. Check. Cool clothes. Check. Cute guys. Check. Good music. Check. Dance-able. Check. What's not to love on this one?!

9. Delilah - Tom Jones
Why: The lyrics can creep you out! Plus, I've spent my entire childhood listening to Sanjay uncle sing this one as loud as he can everywhere from dinner at Avenue Regent to parties at Casino to the veranda at his house. I grew up listening to this one everywhere I went, or, more like everywhere I went with Sanjay uncle which was a lot of places. :) Maybe I will record him singing it and put it up here. He has a good voice, his version is a lot more powerful than the original.

10. Cotton Fields - CCR
Why: Listen to it. Just listen to this one. And then you will know for yourself why it's on this list.

11. Radio Nowhere and Girls in Their Summer Clothes - Bruce Springsteen
Why: Umm...hello? Bruce Springsteen isn't a legend for nothing.

12. Jailhouse Rock - Elvis
Why: Because it's a fun song. Also, it makes you want to dance. I always picture myself in a dress with a flared skirt, dancing around with a guy wearing suspenders (this is notT lame okay? I like suspenders, they're soO cool!) swinging and jumping on a wooden floor with a bunch of other people. Doesn't that sound like fun?! C'mon, deep inside you know you wanna dance to this one! I'm definitely playing this at the next party I host. :)

13. I Like That(Stop) - OST Take the Lead
Why: Because it's a fun hiphop dance track. And because Take the Lead is a fun dancing movie!!!

14. Wanna Ride - OST Take the Lead
Why: Ditto.

15. Jesus Take the Wheel - Carrie Underwood
Why: Because she's the best American Idol ever! (Well, I think David Cook might turn out better, but we'll have to wait for his album) and because the lyrics are strong, her voice is stronger, and everything comes together and gives you goosebumps.

16. Come as you Are - Nirvana
Why: Because it's my first Nirvana song. It will always always always be on my playlist.

17. All Apologies - Nirvana
Why: Because his voice sounds so sexy on it.

18. She hates me - Nirvana
Why: Because it makes me smile. Finally, a guy who can take a hint! I like, I like!

19. Iris - Goo Goo Dolls
Why: Because it's the most amazing song in the world! And I'm obsessed with it. I love the smooth vocals, I love the video, I love the lyrics ...

20. I'm yours - Jason Mraz
Why: Because it's the cutest, sweetest song ever, and his vocals are amazingly smooth on it! Whee!

21. I'll be there for you - The Remembrandts
Why: Because everybody knows this song, it's the F.R.I.E.N.D.S theme song, hello! And because it's the ultimate best friends forever song!

22. Aint no mountain high - Dixie Chicks
Why: Because it's fun to sing along to, and it's even more fun to sing along to with your friends if you put in dance moves and exaggerated arm waving and facial expressions to match. Because the lyrics are cute and it makes you laugh and cry at the same time on Stepmom(the movie)

23. Like you'll never see me again - Alicia Keys
Why: Because she's beautiful, because her voice is even more beautiful, and the lyrics are sad and sweet.

24. Liverpool 8 - Ringo Starr
Why: Because it's way way better than anything Paul McCartney came up with Post-Beatles. Tthe video is reminiscent, the lyrics are cute, it sounds like something the Beatles made and it puts a smile on your face rather than making you cringe like I do everytime I listen to one of Paul McCartney's lame attempts at fame solo. Give it up old man, you're no good if you try doing your own thing. Stick to the Beatles' theme, they're a legend for a reason, you know.

25. Over my head - The Fray
Why: I'm a huge Fray fan, but this one tops the list. I love the vocals, I love the lyrics, I love the music, I love everything about this song. I know it like the back of my hand, okay, maybe even better than that because I don't look at the back of my hand much. :)

26. Roxanne -Blake Lewis
Why: Because he took a one of my favourite songs, a song I love inside and out, and made it even cooler with beat boxing, R&B sounds and techno beats.

27. Stop & stare - One Republic
Why: Because I love the band. I've loved them even before Timbaland made them famous, I've been a faithful fan since their My Space days, and this is my favourite song. Well, it's my favourite song except when Nihaal is singing it really loudly, trying (and failing) to hit the high notes, and making a complete mess of it.

28. The Pretender - Foo Fighters
Why: Because it's the coolest song ever! Have you listened to this yet? It's so cool ... it starts off really slow and mellow, and then slowly the beat picks up, faster and faster, the drums get louder and then BAM! Ultimate rock song!

29. The Great Escape - Boys Like Girls
Why: Because it's fun!

30. This Aint A Love Song - Lakisha Jones on American Idol Season 6
Why: Because her voice is so powerful, and because the lyrics are cool. :)

31. I write Sins, Not Tragedies - Panic! At the Disco
Why: Because Panic! At the Disco is my all-time favourite emo-punk band. I'm obsessed with 'em!

Fun Newbies To Listen To!!! :)

2008-06-01T21:48:00.004+05:30

It's been a while since I blogged about my music obsession. And that's funny because never has there been a time when music has preoccupied me as much as it has this summer. I've always been obsessive when it comes to my music, to a point that my mother gets a little upset (okay, more than a little) I will decide to update my iPod and then it turns into a three hour session with me glued to the computer, editing music, deleting tracks, messing around with the beat, and finally Amma will come in and shoo me away.

guess I've been so preoccupied I didn't have the time to blog about it as well. Whatever. So today I'm gonna put in my list of my favourite (relatively) newbies.

1. Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis: Okay, so everyone has seen her on some AXN show that I've heard off, but have never watched. I can't even remember the name. Does anybody have a clue what it was called? She wasn't on Amazing Race was she?! Anyways, back to Leona. Bleeding Love is a pretty good track, with strong vocals. The lyrics are a little on the soppy side, but not irritatingly so. After listening to this track, and her rendition of Dolly Parton's I Will Always Love You she's found a fan in me! You could actually call Leona the new Whitney Houston, because she has the kind of vocal power that new artists seem to be lacking. Of course, Whitney's a whole different league on her on, but Ms Lewis can be safely compared.

2. Four Minutes to Save the World - Madonna ft. Justin Timberlake: Since I'm already a die-hard Madonna and Justin fan, I definitely loved this one featured on Madonna's new album Hard Candy. Four Minutes... has a fun R&B sound, it's toe tapping, catchy, and I love the mix of electronica and R&B. Plus, you can dance to this one. Yay! Fun new song to dance to!!! :)

3. New Shoes - Paolo Nutini: This is a fantastic debut by new comer Paolo. With the good looks, brown curls, cool clothes, even cooler shoes, a fun video and single, it's like he was tailor made for stardom! I love New Shoes. It's a very upbeat track. Very dance-able! You'll find yourself humming this under your breath after the first listen. New Shoes is definitely on my list of favourites right now.

4. Love is free - Sheryl Crow: Another fun song with a fun video to match! It's very happy-happy, makes you feel good, and leaves you with that peaceful "Oh, I love the world! I love everybody" feeling. Love is free is a feel good, lets-all-sing-along track, which is what all tracks should be!

5. I got it from my Momma - Will.i.am: Now, I've always been a Will fan, even in his Black Eyed Peas days he was always my favourite. He always picked his solo projects with exactly the right artists, so he built up a good solo fan base. I loved every solo project he did, working with everyone from Santana to Sting to PCD. I got it from...is beachy, again dance-able and mostly just a fun track.

6. Beautiful Girls - Sean Kingston: His debut single! I love the R&B, Reggae feel to it. Beautiful Girls makes you think of long strips of white sand, palm trees, blue waters and a hammock. But the rest of the album sucks, by the way. I was fairly disappointed after listening to it. I expected a really fun, Reggae inspired album, but Sean's gone in for as more hip hop/rap feel which doesn't really work for me.

7. The Pretender - Foo Fighters: Ultimate Rock Song Award! This is an excellent alternative rock track. Ah, the angst, the yelling, the drums, the guitar ... everything just comes together and fills you up with that much needed energy. A good listen for those I-don't-want-to-get-out-of-bed-for-no-particular-reason days, when you just don't want to do anything and feel dreary and tired. It's a good pick-me-up. :)

8. Friday - Goldpsot: Now there are many reasons why I love this new band that don't have anything to do without the hottie Indian lead singer. Like the fact that they have amazing vocals(okay, that does have something to do with him, but wait, I can think of other stuff They make great music. The video for Friday is adorable! Oh, and it's a fantastic track. They also have another really good track called Float On. Definitely a band worth checking out.

9. Carry you Home: James Blunt: I love it because even though it's sad and depressing, it's peaceful. Blunt's strong soothing voice is like balm on your wounds. Try listening to this when you're going to bed. Put on your earphones, switch off the lights, play Carry You Home and close your eyes. Aaah, bliss. It's a great way to end your day.

10. Stronger - Kanye West: You didn't really expect me to make a list of great music that didn't have something from my man Kanye in it did you?!? Okay, Graduation is a great album, as is every other album Mr west ever brought out. But I love what he's done with Stronger, jazzing up his R&B beats with some electronica. Oh, and the lyrics, as always, are awe inspiring. "Tha-tha-taht that don' kill me, can only make me stronger"

11. Good Life - Kanye West ft. T-Pain: Please let me add one more from Kanye!!! Good Life is my favourite track right now. It has everything required to make it the topper on my list(even though it's at the bottom :P) Great lyrics, great artists performing, a fun video, very dance-able, makes you sing along and feel good...is anything lacking?! This one, you just HAVE to listen to. Look no further than to your right on my blog. Click Play and lend a ear!

TAGGED!!!

2008-05-31T22:59:00.005+05:30

OK, so I got Tagged. I've never done this before.

So apparently, the rules are:

1. Mention the rules on your blog.
2. Link the person who tagged you.
3. Write about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged bloggers' blogs letting them know you've tagged them.

Hmm....

* I mentioned the rules.
* I dunno how to link the person who tagged me, but Aki tagged me, so I guess that's as good as done.
* Unspectacular Quirks?! Okay, this is gonna take some thinking. I think. :)
* SIX bloggers?! I'm sorry, but I dont know that many. Ok, this is going to be harder than I thought. Mmm... I tag - Aki, Akhilesh, and G-Man. That's the best I can do. I'm three short.
* Leave a comment. Okay, I can do that too.

Hmmm.. unspectacular quirks...!?

MY 6 UNSPECTACULAR QUIRKS!

1. I talk endlessly. :) I'm not sure that's even a quirk. But I'm serious, I talk forever and after. I can never shut up. My mouth is way too big. Most of the time, I'm too darn straightforward for my own good. I'll tell someone exactly what I think of them, and everybody ends up mad at me. Okay, there are some times when I don't talk. Like, sometimes I'm in this terrible mood, and then I just turn off and don't say a word, and people get really freaked out because they're so used to hearing my constant nonsensical chatter. Talking is somewhat of a let out for me. Most of the time, if I'm feeling low, I'll talk so much my throat is parched. I'll act insanely happy, chattering about any peice of rubbish that comes to my mind, blabbing to anyone and everyone who is willing to listen, because that helps me to block out everyrthing thats been getting to me. Even when I write, I can't stop talking. Incase anyone hasn't noticed yet, I write exactly the way I talk. If you met me, this is exactly how I sound. Constant nonsensical psycho chatter. :)

2. I make huge messes. I don't mean to, I really don't. I try and try and try to clean up after myself. I just cant keep things that way. Now my mother would tell you that it's because I'm lazy. But aaah, what can I do?! One fine day, I will wake up with the desire to clean up. And I'll work like crazy, cleaning my room from head to toe, pulling out everything in my wardrobe, hanging up clothes I use and throwing away what I don't. I dust my desk, throw away hoards of paper that's been stacking up over time, and even put my shoes away in the huge huge shoe rack my parents had built for me. (I have a lot of shoes, okay?! I need a big rack. Last time I counted, I had thirty four pairs, including my high tops) I untangle the wires of my surround speakers(these are awesome when you want your music to be loud, but the wires can be a bit of a bother. Just FYI :) ), put away my CDs, make my bed...even lay my bed spread. And it's great. My room looks fantastic, I can find anything I need whenever because I know exactly where it's kept. For the next few days, I am extremely careful, putting away stuff when I'm done with it, hanging up clothes when I come home, and my room stays the same. But then one day, I'll need to go somewhere in a hurry, and I wont be able to find anything satisfactory to wear. Or I'll need to find that little black skirt right away because I couldn't possibly step out of the house taht ay wearing anything else (It's a girl thing), or I just cant do without the pink socks with little hearts all over it, and then I pull things out, shove them around, and everything is back in a huge mess, until the next time I feel like cleaning up. (I guess another thing that adds to the huge mess of a room I live in is that when I'm irritated or just frustrated, I have a habit of flinging things around. Oops!)

3. I have a music obsession. Music is my answer to everything. Music is what I turn to when I'm lonely, or scared, or angry, or just plain bored. My tastes are wide and varied. I listen to everything from Amma's favourites (Simon & Garfunkle, Kenny Rogers, Everley Brothers, Lionel Richie, The Beatles) to Old School Hiphop (Big Daddy Kane, The Notorious B.I.G, The New Jack Swing) to R&B to Appa's obsessions (Dylan, Bob Marley, Pink Floyd, Nirvana) to Emo-Punk bands like Fallout Boy, Panic! At The Disco, Arctic Monkeys and Kaiser Chiefs. I love hiphop. Kanye West is ma man! Jay Z, Leona Lewis, Beyonce, Bone Thugs n' Harmony, Talib Kweli, The Roots...It's just that, music is one thing that can never be taken away from me. Whatever happens, no matter what goes wrong, or who hates me or who loves me, I will always have my music. You can take away the surround speakers, my iPod, my CDs, my discman, the WorldSpace ... take it all away, but you can never take my music from me. Music is in my blood, my flesh, my soul. (Yeah, I told you I can be obsessive)

4. I hate people who pretend to be something they're not. I hate people who backstab. I hate people who lie for no good reason. And I absolutely hate hate hate people who pretend they know me. I mean, know me. There are countless people who I would call acquaintances at best. I know too many people to call everyone a friend. Friends are people who are there for you, who listen, who support, who dont judge, and who know you. And I hate it when people I don't even know go on and on about something I did, or somewhere I went to someone else, like we're best mates. It's worse when they come up to me and tell me what they think is wrong with my life, and why they think I should do something differently, and I always want to yell, "Step back nigga, you don't know me like that!" (yeah, quoting the Ludacris song) Call me whatever, I can be overly un necessarily sensitive, but that's me! :)

5. I say the word "like" a lot. Okay, that is typical of almost every person in my generation, but I think I have it a little worse than others. Everywhere I go, I am constantly hounded my adults who tease me mercilessly about this habit of mine. "Like! Like! Like! Say it again! Can you go five minutes without saying that?! Heck! Can you say anything at all without saying that?!?!" Heck, I'm sorry. I just need to say the word "like" It just happens. Half the time, I don't even realize I'm saying it, and then half way through whatever I'm babbling about, I stop because I realize all the adults are smirking at me.

6. And my last unspectacular quirk! Whee! I'm kinda relieved I'm done. This was hard. I had to...think. :) Lol. It's just, six unspectacular quirks of mine are nothing I've ever bothered to take the time to think about. I don't think I've done a very good job either. Anyway, back to my last quirk. I have anger issues. Well, I don't blow up every two minutes. It's different with me. People piss me off, and I shut up, absorb it, don' respond, don't yell back. I just take it in. I fume silently, but I never do anything. I let myself get pissed off for days, weeks, months without blowing up at anyone. I keep it all inside...and then one fine day, someone will say one little sentence that is just wrong, and all those months of fuelled up rage will explode out of me. Then, I am angry. I am so angry, I scare myslef a little. I flush, I turn red, I grow warm all over, my arms and legs shake. Every word I utter, my voice is shaking. When I explode like that, I'm very uncontrolled. I say any damn thing I want to, giving no thought to the consequences. Afterwards I find myself alone, in tons of trouble and miserable. Then I cry alone in my room. Yeah, I'm a big baby. :) Amma says I should control thissi anger thing of mine, because it is very scary when I get this angry, even I am scared of myself a little, because that's just not teh normal me. Not many people have sen me angry either. You might see me pissed, snapping at you. But hardly ever angry. I blow up around once or twice a year, that's all. :) I think the last time was towards the end of ninth grade, when I totally exploded at Gee Su, my class teacher. I had been taking so much crap from her all year, and I just couldn't take it anymore. I screamed and yelled and shook my fists and banged on my desk, and in the end she just gave in and sat quietly at her desk. I think my class was stunned into silence. If you look at me, you wouldnt think I was capable of exlpoding like that. Tiny, just-about-five-feet-tall me having uncontrolled fits of anger?! Naw!!! But I'm improving! I went all year without exploding like that! Yay me!

Okay, I'm done! Yay!!!! :)

Later all.

2008-05-28T12:27:00.003+05:30

And the results are here.

So yesterday I logged onto my MSN to IM my friends while I waited for 5:00PM. As expected, pretty much the whole world was online, so as always, I appeared offline. Bilal (aka Lala! But only I can call him that) and I were determined not to talk about the results, so we turned to our all-time favourite topic for conversation - how we're going to take over the world and become rich and famous, and then move to some secluded beautiful island (preferable Bangaram or somewhere in Puerto Rico or Costa Rica) and live there happily ever after. See, Lala's gonna plan everything and then we're just gonna be rich and famous, and be supreme rulers of the universe! Muahahaha! ---> evil laugh. :) Call me whatever, but the pressure does this to you. Oh yeah, a lot of chocolate/sugar/coffee too.

Anyways, in the midst of our intellectually stimulating conversation (yeah, right) Hiral pops up in a window and says the results are out. And I'm thinking, No way, it's only 4:45. But she insists, and I thought she was just messing with me, so finally, to convince me, she copy pastes her results into the chat window. That's when I totally panic and Lala and I put aside all plans to take over the universe for the moment to check our results. I didnt even wake my Mum up. I wanted to see this on my own.

And...well, they're not that great. 73%. Ew. I wanted 80 something. But stupid French really pulled me down, only 55% whcih is so freakin' low! And I thought I did really well for French, well, really well for me, 'cause I really suck at it. I was still expecting atleats 70% for French though.

Anyhow, everyone was pretty cool about it. We all expected 90s for my English paper though, and I only got 83. And that sucks. I dont understand! It was a GOOD paper, English is MY subject. I ALWAYS get 90s for English. Ah well, I guess my examiner wasnt impressed with my essay on Garbage Disposal or whatever. (Gawd, WHY do they always give us such lame topics in the writing section?! I cant even remember what teh topic was.)

Ah, anyways, lets not talk about this anymore. It's over and done with. Finally.

I spoke to Shinai. We decided we should hang out, so i went and picked her up. We hung out at her place for a bit, and then we came back to my place and hung out there. Amma had made cookies and Gajar ka Halwa. Yay! So we gorged on that. Then we went out to dinner. And then we were pretty pooped so we went home to bed. :)

We thought we'de drop in at school this morning, tell the teachers the marks and get it over with, but it turns out that there's some workshop for the teachers at 10:30, and we were planning to get there by 10:00. So we cancelled for today and decided to do it another day.

Hmmm...

Well, I had to go to church with Ammachi early in the morning today.

Amma was meeting Nandana aunty for lunch and Nihaal and I decided to tag along. It was fun, yeah. We talked a lot, laughed a whole lot more. Nihaal was telling us how a friend of his dad's told him that their neighbour used to be a CBSE board corrector, and that once, frustrated by the vast number of papers she had to correct, she gave them some of the papers and an aswer key so they could help her with her work. So he insisted that the reason we got such shitty grades for English (him --> 81%, me -->83% Yay! I beat Ni! Haha!) was because someone's watchman must have corrected our papers. Haha, I'm so sure.

Lunch was good. Hanging out with Ni is always fun. But when we all left, and I hugged Nandana aunty goodbye, I realized I probably wont get to see her again for ages. She's flying to Bombay on Tuesday, Ni is leaving even earlier on Saturday. And it just sucks. 'Cause time's up. They're leaving. For good.

Now it's gonna be emails, and STD phone calls. Maybe we'll be able to hang out during the holidays, if they come home to Cochin, or if I visit Bombay. But it's never gonna be like it used to be. Used to be. Past tense. Sigh. I hate when people I love move away. It sucks.

Jeez, I havent seen Niharika either. She couldnt make it to lunch today, she was busy filling up college applications. The last time we hung out was in Singapore, that night we went out for ice cream, andthe Haagen-Dazs guy had to kick us out finally because we stayed past 1:00 AM which is their closing time, and the poor guy wanted to go home already. :) That's the night Nihaal went on and on to Aki about college courses and scholarships and school applications, and Niharika and I made fun of him for being such a loser. :) Haha, that's the night Ni decided to get himself a Lemon Sorbet AFTER his Tiramisu and Coffee ice cream. And he hated his sorbet, so I tried it, and I hated it too. And so we made faces at it and then chucked it in the trash.

Aaah! Good times with Ni.

His birthday parties. I would be the lone girl (with the exception of Niharika) among twenty boys, and they would play football, and I would try. :) And finally I would give up and just watch. And then we would go swimming and splash around a bit. And finally, we would cut the cake, and nibble at finger food while we sat around talking and making stupid jokes. But I admit, Ni has improved. At his ninth grade party, he invited more girls. His sixteenth birthday doesnt count because we had a surprise dinner party for him, and that too at Taj, so the credit for an excellent evening goes to Niharika who organised everything.

Nights at Yacht Club. Countless times when I've been in a bad mood, and everybody would go do their thing, but Ni would tag along wherever I went, alternating between coaxing and making really stupid jokes until I spared a smile, and then we would go have fun. Haha, sitting in that stupid little bedroom at the Club and laughing while Nikhil and Ni would have retarded slow motion fights with sound effects and facial expressions and everything. Dance nights at the club where I would be busy dancing, and then suddenly realize that Ni had slunk off to a corner (he hates dancing) so I would go drag him to the floor. Depending on his mood, he would either stand there, shifting from one foot to the other, drink in hand, whining about how he hates dancing and wouldnt I please come and "talk or somethin'" Or he would sing along with whatever music was playing, even if he didnt know the words(then he would sing gibberish to the tune), and with ridiculous dance moves to match, so that I would end up laughing so hard I would forget to dance, whcih means he could pull me away from the floor so we could go talk somewhere. Heh. I'm grinning from ear to ear now. I remember one night where Ni made me laugh so bad, I sat down on the dance floor and everyone thought I was insane.

:) What a huge baby he is. By 8:00PM, he's cranky and wants to go to bed. If he has to stay up later than that, he just whines and acts like he's five. On most days he's in bed and fast asleep by 9:30PM max. I remember one night, Elsa and Jacob's birthday party, and I was going back to Nihaal's place after the party. So we get to his place, and we hang around telling Nandana aunty and Niharika about teh party, and suddenly Ni says he's going for a bath. So I'm hanging out with Niharika, but around an hour later I start wondering where Ni is. Niharika and I go searching for him and find him, good boy that he is, in his PJs slumped fast asleep in bed with TV remote in hand, some music video blaring loudly from the TV. So Niharika grabs the remote from Ni's hand and switches of the television, grumbling loudly about how immature he is and and about switching off the TV when you're sleeping, when Ni wakes with a start and asks for the remote back, insisting that he was not sleeping, just "resting his eyes" and Nih and me are cracking up because Nihaal can barely keep his eyes open.

Breaks at school. Ni hates to just stand somwhere, so he would insist that we walked. And we would cover the entire school, walking around, but it was all just so fun.

I think what I will miss the most about Ni is how he could always, no, CAN always make me laugh. Through the years. No matter what.

Aww, I'm gonna miss you Ni!

Argh!

I hate this!

I'm going to bed.

Night all.

Peace out.

Sick!

2008-05-26T20:01:00.002+05:30

Me ---> been sick.

So I spent all day Saturday puking into a basin, and unable to eat anything. Not fun, I assure you.

Right now, all I wanna do is sleep. All day. And that's pretty much all I do anyway. I sleep all night, and all morning. I wake up for a a few hours, but I cant eat anything. Right now, I hate food. Who food have thought that I of all people could hate food?!

But yeah, I do. I hate food. I have no appetite. I never want to eat again. I don't wanna see another piece of chicken or fish. The only food I can keep down without retching is Amma's rice and dal.

Today I had to go see my Doc again. He made me take a blood test. (I hate getting poked! And to make things worse, the first time they poked me, they didn't get the vein, so they poked me again!!!!!) And I had to take an X-Ray of my head, so he can see my yucky clogged sinuses. Ew! I am never gonna be a doctor.

Now I have to go see him again tomorrow.

But I like this Doc. I mean, all this time, I was whining 'cause I didn't wanna go see some strange "adult doctor" I wanted to go see Jeeson Uncle, my old pediatrician. Jeeson uncle is nice, okay?! And he makes jokes and stuff, and always makes you feel better when you're sick. Plus, he makes you feel all safe and warm, and like a little kid. Okay, I sound like such a loser now. So I'm a big baby. So I throw tantrums and whine and act like an absolute brat despite the fact that I'm going to turn sixteen in a few months. So sue me.

Anyways, I was begging Amma to take me to Jeeson uncle when she said I had to go see a doctor, and she was saying that I'm almost sixteen and that I am now way too old for a pediatrician yada yada ya. So we had to go see this new Doc, Dr. Sujit. But he's nice. He looks kinda like Jeeson uncle too, well, kinda like Jeeson uncle when he grows even older. But whatever. He's nice.

Hmm.

I hate being sick.

And to top off how lousy everything has been, my stupid results are coming out tomorrow at 5:00PM. Why cant they give it to us first thing in the morning and get it over with? Now I get to spend the whole day listening to everyone go, "OMG! You're results are coming today!!!! What are you expecting?!?"

Whatever.

I'm tired now.

Later.

Peace out.

Blah!

2008-05-23T14:00:00.003+05:30

Well. Back home once again.

Results are coming. Soon. Monday, I think.

*Sigh*

I hope I get at least 80% yeah. That sounds good. I definitely wont get 90% plus, I know I didn't work hard enough for that. But I really want 80 something. 70's are sad. They sound bad when you tell people.

I hate this business of having to tell the whole world how much you got. Results day, and the whole friggin world will call to find out what your percentage is, so they can compare it to their kids', or niece's', or nephews', or brother-in-law's cousin's daughter's. What's the big deal about Tenth Board Results anyway? Do people call to find out how much you scored after each exam?1 No! But these results, the whole world wants to know.

*Sigh*

But, y'know what? Who cares? I mean, now it's definitely way too late to do anything about it. I wrote my exams, and the results are fixed no matter what they are. So why bother hyperventilating and worrying about it now anyway?

Aah.

Later.

Peace.

Picture Book ... Part One!

2008-05-22T22:06:00.009+05:30

Everybody on the boat in Vietnam. From left: Roshan uncle, Radhika aunty, Raghu uncle, Attu, Sreekant, Sanjana, Mihir, Amma, Rhea, Kripa, Beena aunty, Appa, Sunita aunty and Michael uncle. Hey! Wait a minute! You cant see me in this picture!!! I was sitting behind Kripa! Why am I not visible in this pciture!?!?! Okay, it's decided. This photo sucks!

At the Ocean Terminal. From left, Sreekant, Radhika aunty, Sanjana, Mihir, Appa, Rhea, Michael uncle, Attu and Sunita aunty.

All our handsome hunks! The onboard hotties aboard SuperStar Virgo, all smiling for the camera with those beer bellies pulled in!

From left, Michael uncle, Raghu uncle, Roshan uncle and Appa.

And Michael uncle says Cheese! Don;t miss the sign behind him!

I dunno how long it's gonna take you to figure out what this actually says. It's the sign at the Coconut Factory we visited in China and all of us spent ten minutes staring at it, trying to figure out exactly what demons and coconuts had to do with each other. That is, until we realized that it's SUPPOSSED to read "Coconut Palm DEMONSTRATION Park" Whatever!!!

And here you have all the beautiful ladies after a hard day's shopping in Sanya, China! From left, Radhika aunty, Amma, Sunita aunty and Beena aunty!

Appa and me!!!

Summer Trip DAY 1

2008-05-22T19:11:00.000+05:30

After showering and changing into clean jeans, I was pretty restless. I had already eaten, and had even pulled on the brand new black denim Levi’s high tops that Viv had sent me from Bangalore, and that I was totally in love with (I have a major weakness for high tops. They are the coolest shoes ever!).

We finally left for the airport, and I have never hated the half hour ride there more, expect maybe the time we went to Bangaram. Why cant the damn Cochin airport actually be in town rather than Nedumbaserry?

Whatever. So we finally reached the airport, and hung around for ages. Everybody was pretty restless. The kids were excited beyond reason and couldn’t sit still. Oh, by the way, just FYI, we were a huge group of four families, there were fifteen of us in all – Appa, Amma, Mihir, Michael uncle, Sunita aunty, Deepak, Rhea, Raghu uncle, Radhika aunty, Sanjana, Sreekant, Roshan uncle, Beena aunty, Kripa … and of course, fabulous moi!

Anyway, we finally boarded the flight. I was sitting with Amma and Mihir, but later exchanged seats with Roshan uncle so he could sit with Amma and I could sit with Kripa. We talked, ate dinner, drank a helluva lot of Coke and listened to music. ‘Course, after an hour or so, I turned to my all time favourite activity – sleep. I slept the rest of the way despite Kripa whining and grumbling because I refused to stay up and talk all night.

Summer Trip DAY 2

2008-05-22T19:02:00.001+05:30

We landed in Singapore around six in the morning and spent an hour or so browsing through stores in Changi airport. We had coffee and stuff from one of the cafés and then I called Aki from one of the local call phone booths.

After boarding the flight to Hong Kong I slept a little, and then surfed through the in-flight movies. I’d been dying to watch The Bucket List for ages, so I did. Excellent movie. You should definitely watch it. I watched the first half hour of 27 Dresses too, but then I had to stop because we were landing.

At the Baggage Claim, we realized that Radhika aunty was missing her big black suitcase which had most of their clothes. We all looked around, and when we figured it definitely wasn’t on the conveyor belt, we checked with the airport and discovered that the suitcase hadn’t even boarded the flight to Hong Kong, so they said they would send it to our hotel.

A bus was waiting for us at the airport and it took around 40 minutes to reach the hotel. We stayed at Holiday Inn Golden Mile on Nathan Road. It’s an excellent hotel with a fantastic location. Nathan Road is where all the action is. There’s an MRT station a minute’s walk away, you can find the usual Mac and Starbucks right next door, and when it comes to shopping, Nathan Road ensures that you’re spoilt for choice. Everything from big name designer labels like Prada and Versace to uber cool urban clothing from Bossini to malls.

You’ll also find a countless number of small boutiques with really cute stuff – there’s everything from shoes to bags to clothes. My favourites were Sun & Moon, a cramped little store with everything the diehard shopper could want. They have everything from designer jeans to cool clothes by local brands. You’ll also find a lotta quirky hair accessories and jewellery, and they have a great collection of crazy dresses. Some of the clothes are priced at unbelievably reasonable rates, but some of the stuff is pretty expensive.

Over the course of my visit in Hong Kong, I shopped the most in this store, where I picked up a few dresses, a couple of little skirts by a local brand called Downtown, an adorable polka dotted hair band, some basic tees and a pair of washed Tom Tailor jeans. The skirts were all considerably cheap, the shirts were reasonably priced but the dresses and the jeans were pretty expensive. But this store is definitely a must see for all shopaholics, especially if you’re into the whole indie/eclectic/emo punk scene.

To find Sun & Moon, cross the road from Holiday Inn Golden Mile and walk straight ahead, and keep your eyes to the right. There’s also a fantastic shoe and bag store a few meters before Sun & Moon, where I picked up a few pairs.

Anyway, checking into our rooms took about half an hour or so, but after that it was fine. Our rooms were large and spacious with a reasonably large bathroom, two double beds, a sofa and TV. The staff were all very cheerful and warm, and make you feel right at home. The only drawback was the really pathetic view from the room. All you can see is the back of dirt apartment buildings and heaps of litter. It reminds you of India and home J

After changing, we decided to just stop at the closest Mac for lunch because we were all really starving. A couple of burgers, some fries and a few glasses of Coke later, we split into two groups. Sunita aunty, Amma, Roshan uncle, Kripa and I decided to go exploring, while all the others headed back to the hotel for a nap.

We stepped into an Espirit store, but I was pretty disappointed with the clothes there. They stocked all your essential; wardrobe basics – jeans, denim half pants, tank tops and tees in solid colours, basic skirts – nice stuff, but very ordinary stuff. And a person like me who can’t stand to wear something that somebody else already has, and who also hates spending money on basic stuff you can get at half price elsewhere, this was not the store for me.

Then we found a little mall ‘round a block away from our hotel with a number of little boutiques. Now THIS was my scene. They all had really cute stuff, nothing like you’d find back home, which is Number One on my list of priorities. I found an adorable pair of white patent leather heels, with a bright sunshine yellow heel and band in the front. They cost 100HKD, so I wasn’t sure if I was going to buy them. At another store, I found a shimmery black tunic with a band of sequined lace at the bottom, and a black bubble top with pink polka dots and puff sleeves. They were super adorable and again a 100HKD each, so I decided I would look around a little more before I finalized on buying them.

After looking around some more, we went back to the hotel and rested. Later in the evening we took the MRT to visit the Ladies’ Market.

I found a cute little white hat for $59, and had took my first shot at bargaining. I bought it for $50, which isn’t such a great deal according to my Mum, but whatever, I still think it’s not bad for my first try okay. I also picked up a purple top made of chiffon or something similar, and a super cute pair of pale pink hacouba shorts.

Roshan uncle, Beena aunty, Kripa, Amma, Mihir and I went for dinner at a nearby restaurant called The Spaghetti House, where I had my first encounter with racism. It started out with us arriving there. Michael uncle and family were already having dinner there, so we were peering through the glass doors to see if we could spot them when two chinky little waitresses popped up and go,. “Yes? Can I help you?”

So Roshan uncle tells them that our friends were already eating here and that we would like to join them. She takes one look at us and goes, “your friends sir? I think you’ve made a mistake. Your friends are not here.” So Amma points through the glass door where we can see Michael uncle eating, and tells her that those are our friends. So she very reluctantly lets us in.

We get seated in a corner of the restaurant, and it takes forever before our order gets taken. When our pitcher of Coke is finally brought to the table, the waitress bangs it down on the table…hard…thus spilling ice cold Coke all over the table and also onto my jeans. That had me pretty pissed. I mean, those were one of my favourite jeans, I’m pretty attached to them. Plus, I don’t take kindly to people spilling anything on my clothes, no matter what the circumstances.

So I gave her a dirty look, and went, “Well, why the hell did she spill Coke all over me dammit?!?!” both of which she chose to ignore, but whatever. And then came dinner, which was excellent by the way. The classic spaghetti and meatballs was fantastic, there was a very nice pasta and salmon too. But the absolutely atrocious behavior by the waitresses and rubbish service really got to me.

Yeah, I’m touchy. I just don’t like racism. Just experiencing a small little encounter with it like this one made me feel like there was no hope for humanity. How can we possibly come together as one and fix all that’s wrong with this world we live in, if we are constantly discriminating each other on the grounds of skin colour, race, religion or sex? It just hurts me to know that racism is still alive and kicking even today. I guess this just shows what a sheltered little world I seem to have been living in. Jeez.

Summer Trip DAY 3

2008-05-22T18:52:00.007+05:30

(Ma and Appa!)

Well, I woke up that morning with an awful cold. My sinuses were all blocked, and I should be used to it by now, but I guess I’m still a huge baby who cries and whines when I’m sick. Get used to it. Well, anyway, after a largely satisfying breakfast I hit the covers for a nap. (FYI, by the way, Golden Mile has an excellent breakfast buffet with everything from the traditional English breakfast, to Chinese Congee, Rice Dumplings and Dimsum. I had a soft corner for their waffles with lots of chocolate sauce and whipped cream. The cold chocolate milk is excellent, as are the eggs. But the sausages just plain suck.)
(A very bored me at Evacuation Drill)

Yeah, so anyway, I took a long nap while Appa, Amma and Mihir went shopping. They picked up the black tunic and the bubble top I’d been eyeing the day before. When I woke up, we did some last minute packing and changed, and then we were off with Chris, our tour guide on a bus to the Ocean Terminal to board Superstar Virgo.

The Ocean Terminal has got tons of stores, but unfortunately they’re all for kids. I mean, there were Dior Junior, Espirit Junior, Guess Junior…why the hell would people wanna spend money on designer labels for little kids?!? C’mon, they’re just gonna outgrow them in like, an effin month! Plus, it’s not like they have any clue what they’re wearing, or like they even care. Jeez.

(Me and my after dinner coffee!)

Checking into the ship took literally forever. The queue was long, and it took ages. While waiting, we made friends with this little three year old girl, Peya or Pela or something (OK, I kinda suck at Chinese sounding names, they confuse me), from the Philippines. The kid’s pretty entertaining. She tap dances, and learns ballet. She likes to sing, and not has a soft spot for Beatles’ classics, so she sure won me over.

Anyway, the ship was way friggin’ huge! OMG! You take one look, and you go, “WOW” We were all hanging around in our rooms, when we hear this announcement telling us to grab lifejackets from the wardrobe and head out to the deck for “Mandatory Evacuation Drill”

So we run out to the deck, and go through half an hour of standing in the cold, in very uncomfortable life jackets (yeah, they made us put the blasted things on!!!) After the Drill, Deepak and I went exploring a little, and then we joined the others on the deck by the pool. But the sea was pretty rough that evening, and there was a strong cold wind outside. I’m already Miss Sensitivity who feels cold even in ordinary weather, so the dry winds were killing little me in my teeny tiny shorts and open toed sandals.

(Me in bed, absolutely exhausted! Sanjana, Kripa and Rhea)

I rushed back inside to escape the cold, right into freezing air conditioning. Jeez! So I went to my room, and changed into warm jeans, a black tunic and black ballet flats. Warmth. Excellent. J Then I settled onto my little stool at the dressing table and went full on dress-up mode. Kripa had come down with me, so we had some fun girls-only time. We gave each other new hairstyles, and experimented with every piece of make up in my vanity case, from mascara to eye pencils to eyeliners to gloss and bronze body shimmer, so that when we finally left my room for dinner, we were all glam and made up.

(The girls beating Mihir up! Lawl!)

Summer Trip DAY 4

2008-05-22T18:49:00.008+05:30

(All of us! I'm the one in the checked shirt with white shorts!)

We hung out all morning on the ship. It took forever to leave the room for breakfast anyway. I had to share my room with Deepak and we slept really late. So getting out of bed was hell, and on top of that, he hogged the bathroom forever! Jeez!!! I’m convinced that he went back to sleep in there!

Anyway, we passed the morning at the pool, swimming and splashing around. I came out and sunbathe don the deck for a few hours and ended up sleeping on my deck chair. The kids were running around the ship, exploring, and Deepak and Mihir played Mini Golf.

(The kiddos at the pool! From left: Rhea, Sanjana, Mihir and Sreekant)

We disembarked at Sanya, China after lunch. We spent at least an hour in endlessly long lines at immigration, and it wasn’t even worth it. I found Sanya just plain boring boring boring. We went to some Coconut factory (like I haven’t seen coconuts before!!! Hello?!? I live in Kerala…its friggin Coconut Land! I wanna see coconut trees; I look out my bedroom window! I have like, five coconut trees in my own yard!!!!) Afterwards we went to a department store, which was again, nothing great. So yeah, Sanya was a disappointment!

(Mihir, Sreekant, Sanjana and one little glass of Coke!)
Back on board Star Cruise Virgo, we decided to go for one of the Las Vegas shows at The Lido that night, called Street Life. It was really good. I loved it because it had everything I love - lots of great dancing, good music and cute guys!

After the show, we headed for dinner to find that most of the restaurants were closed already. The Bella Vista was open, but you had to be fifteen or older to dine there, so the little kids couldn’t go. So everyone decided to go to another restaurant for dinner, but Deepak and I weren’t really hungry so we decided we’d stay up and go for the Midnight Supper.

(A very very cranky me!)

So the little kids went off for dinner, and Deepak and I went to our room. We climbed under the covers (it’s so friggin’ COLD!) and I read, while Deepak watched some idiotic TV show called Chuck. We got pretty hungry by around 11:45, so we headed out to see if supper had started yet, but tough luck, we had to hold out a little longer. So we took a walk by the poolside, but, you guessed it, I was feeling cold as usual so I had to skip occasionally to keep the blood circulation going.

(Me just before I took the kids to the pool. From left: Me, Mihir, Attu, Rhea and Sreekant!)

Supper finally opened, so we shoveled some food down our throats, barely tasting anything we put in our mouths and headed for bed.

Summer Trip DAY 5

2008-05-22T18:36:00.008+05:30

Well, we had to wake up extra early so we could catch some breakfast before it closed and disembark at Ha Long Bay, Vietnam.

Ha Long Bay is extremely beautiful. It’s a UN Natural Heritage sight. But I was sick again that morning so I fell asleep on the sight seeing boat, and was grumpy when I woke up. So you can say I didn’t enjoy Vietnam much either.

But we did stop for lunch at some hotel there, and the food was fantastic. J That probably made my day. We had pork and shrimp soup (yes, pork and shrimp together, but it was good!), sticky rice, squid on sugarcane, pork ribs, tofu, prawn … the list goes on.

(Ha Long Bay!)
When we got back on board the ship, we basically just lazed around. Deepak, Mihir and I went swimming. The girls went off to the beauty parlor for like an hour or so. After swimming, the guys and I hit Café Gelato for huge ice cream sundaes. J I loooove ice cream!

That night, all the adults were going for a show at The Lido, so I volunteered to baby sit the kids. (Since when have I been so nice?) So, anyways, all the kids insisted that I play with them, and I was like, “Dude, I don’t play. I’m too old to play. Plus, I don’t even know how to play” But they were like, whatever, we don’t care, you just gotta play with us.

(Me and Kripa! Yes! I'm really smiling!!!!)
They wanted to play some House-House game, so I decided I would be the aunt or whatever, and that I was sick and on my deathbed. I figured this was a real smart move, thinking I would just get to lie in bed and sleep, pretending to be a dying aunt. But the kiddos were one up on me.

I crawl under the covers and I’m just dozing off when I hear this horrible wailing sound, and I open my eyes to find all the kids screaming and wailing and beating their chests. Next thing I know, they’re lying over me, crying and stuff, and beating me with their little fists, and I’m like, “Y’ow!!! Watchya’ll doin’?!?!” And they look at me real calm and cool and tell me they’re mourning. And I’m just like, “WTF?!?”
(Moi!!!!)

I figured this whole playing thing was gonna be dangerous, and I dint wanna spend the night getting beaten up by little kids. So I managed to convince them that it would be a much better idea to just crawl under the covers together and, you know, talk or whatever. They didn’t really like the idea, but they finally agreed.

I was wondering what the hell I was gonna talk about to a buncha kids in the age group of seven to twelve. But it wasn’t all that bad. They can actually eb kinda entertaining, so yeah, it was okay. Except that Sreekant, who is seven, had crawled under the dressing table, directly under the A/C vent, and nobody noticed ‘cause we were all talking and laughing and stuff.

(All of us sleeping. From left: Attu, Kripa, Rhea, Mihir and me!)

But half an hour later, we finally hear Sreekant whimpering and find him half frozen under the dressing table. After much coaxing, he finally crawls out from under there, but his nose is blocked and he’s freezing and sniffling and grumpy. And I am clueless as to how to look after a cranky seven year old.

So I manage to get him under the covers of the sofa bed, but the kid refuses to go to sleep. So finally, I climb into the sofa bed with him, which was a tight fit, and pat him to sleep. When he’s asleep, I get out of the sofa bed, only to find my charges for the night, who had insisted that they wanted to stay up all evening, fast asleep, all curled up together in bed. I crawl into bed in between Rhea and Mihir and fall into deep sleep, finally. What a night. (Shopping with Ma in Vietnam!)

Summer Trip DAY 6

2008-05-22T18:29:00.006+05:30

(me behind, and Appa!)

Our last morning on the ship.

As usual, Deepak hogged the bathroom all morning. Jeez. Anyways, Michael uncle agreed to take all us young ‘uns to Neptune’s Wet & Wild. Neptune’s is this little pool with a buncha little water slides. Its fun and everything, if you’re like ten. I mean, hey, I like water slides okay, but I felt like an absolute loser once I got to Neptune’s.

(Amma and me!)

There was little pool, with water that came up to my knees, and it was full of little itsy bitsy kids splashing around. And then there was me, five foot somethin’ standing there in my white shorts and black tunic, with my over sized sunglasses and cute little heels, all of which had looked so cool in the morning when I looked in the mirror. And stepping out of my clothes and standing on the deck in my swimsuit, suddenly I just felt so big and awkward and gawky.

(moi!)

The kids insisted I get into the pool with them, and go on the water slides and stuff. I went a few times, and I admit, they were fun. But I got out in like ten minutes, because the Lifeguard and all the parents at Neptune’s were looking at me as if to say, “Eww freak. What the hell are YOU doing in the kids’ pool anyway? Go over to the other pool and sunbathe or somethin’”

So anyway, after getting out and changing back into my clothes and feeling all cool and older again, I went for lunch and then hit the deck at the “adult” pool where I fell asleep sunbathing. Again. That’s all I ever seem to do. J

(Rhea steering the ship!)

We arrived in Hong Kong that evening and did some shopping. Mostly we were just planning for the next day.

Summer Trip DAY 7

2008-05-22T18:17:00.006+05:30

(Appa, Amma and me!)

Our tour guide for the morning, Warner Chan, was a nice guy so it was pretty fun going on a City Tour with him because he told us a lot about Hong Kong, and it was pretty interesting, so yeah.

(Showdown: Roshan uncle vs. Bruce Lee!)
We first hit Victoria Peak, where we got a spectacular view of Hong Kong. We also visited a jewellery factory where everyone picked up gold and diamond pendants of their Chinese Zodiac Sign. I decided not to get one ‘cause it turns out I was born in the Chinese Year of the Monkey. Yeah, MONKEY. Why couldn’t I get something cool like the Tiger or the Dragon? But NO, I get to be a MONKEY of all things. Jeez. And I sure as hell don’t wanna walk around with a monkey pendant around my neck. Who cares if it’s made of diamonds and gold? I don’t even like monkeys. They freak me out. Argh!

(Attu, me and Roshan ucnle in deep conversation about Roller Coasters!)

Warner took us to a local restaurant for some good Chinese food, so we had a really good meal. I really like authentic Chinese food. Well, except for the fact that they have a habit of cooking everything with the head still on it. I am NOT kidding you. We got served a whole chicken with it’s head and beak still intact. Same goes for the braised duck. I was reaching out for this big piece that I thought was its leg, only to realize that it was the head, with this HUGE beak and I was like, “OMG! WTF?”

(Us gurlies! From left: Sanjana, Kripa, me! and Rhea)

That afternoon we went to Oceanarium. The Giant Pandas were super cute. The Underwater World was pretty okay, but I wasn’t particularly awestruck by it, maybe because I got to see all that underwater life in Bangaram while diving.

(PANDA! SO cute!)

Summer Trip DAY 8

2008-05-22T18:09:00.008+05:30

(Sanjana and Mihir goofing off in Tarzan's treehouse!)

Disney Land day! Yay!

Well, taking the MRT from Tsim Sha Tsui where we stayed, to Disney Land Hong Kong will take you around 40 minutes. From Tsim Sha Tsui, you take the MRT and get off at Edward King station. You change to another line and then get off at Sunny Bay station. From Sunny Bay station, a Disney Land train shows up to take you there. Using the MRT is really easy, even for tourists. Everything is layed out for you, all you have to do is know where you want to go, and then read.

The first thing that hits you in Disney Land is that there’s all this happy music playing everywhere. You actually feel like skipping down the streets, you just feel all young and easy going. It’s pretty great.

(Rhea sure loves taking turns at the sprinklers!!!)

Hong Kong Disney Land is split into four parts – Adventure Land, Tomorrow Land, Fantasy Land and Mainstreet USA. We hit Adventure Land first, where we took a raft across the river to Tarzan’s Treehouse. It’s done really well, and the Treehouse looks fantastic, but there really isn’t anything to do there. You just climb up the stairs through the treehouse, look through rooms, and then come back down.

We also went on the Jungle River Cruise, which was fun, in a goofy sort of way. I mean, I’m just too old to fall for the scares. You cant really believe the ride unless you’re ten or somethin’.

On our way to Tomorrow Land, we passed through Fantasy Land, where Kripa, Deepak, Mihir and I decided to go on this Elephant Cart ride, where you sit inside little carts shaped like baby elephants, and the carts go around and around high in the air. Kinda kiddish, but we were like, Why pass up a ride? so we went.

(Beena aunty and Sunita aunty...space women?!)

We also decided to go on the Cinderella Carousal, which we were definitely WAY too old for, but whatever, ‘cause Appa, Michael uncle and Amma decided to ride on the Carousal too. Woah! Talk about finding your inner child. I mean, I fail to understand why fully grown forty plus adults would want to sit on pink plastic horses and go ‘round and ‘round. But call me whatever. It was still fun!

Tomorrow Lan was really fun. We went on this roller coaster called Space Mountain which was definitely the best ride in Disney Land. The whole coaster ride is in the dark, so you cant see where you’re going, and there are tons of sharp turns, and big drops. No loop de loop’s though. L But Space Mountain still rocked. We went twice ‘cause it was so much fun. I love roller coasters!

(Sreeknat and me. Yeah! I'm reading!)

After that we went on this car ride, where you get little cars that you can drive around for fifteen minutes or so. Deepak went alone; Sanjana and Mihir went together in the car behind him. Behind them, were Kripa and Sreekant, then Rhea and me, and finally Michael uncle and Sunita aunty. The car in front of Deepak was really slow, so he had to slow down, and hence all of us had to go really slow. So when the drive is over, we all get out of our cars, and I’m standing next to Mihir when suddenly Sreekant comes barreling from behind, gets right up in Mihir’s face and shouts, “What’s wrong with you?! What stupid driving, man!” and punches him, POW! And all of us are like, OMG. Especially me, ‘cause even though Mihir is older, and Sreekant is only seven, he’s a whole lot bigger than Mihir is. Plus, it was so totally random. But next thing you know, Mihir is shoving Sreekant, and then I had to get in there, and pull ‘em apart. Talk about road rage. :) I should’ve seen that coming, ‘cause I for one definitely know that my lil bro never ever backs down. *sigh* Boys…

After lunch, all of us, even the old people, decided to go on this ride called the Astro Blaster. Basically, you just sit in these little carts and it takes you around in this dark cave full of evil creatures or whatever. And you have to shoot at them with your little guns or something. And every time you hit someone on the veil side, you get points. It took me a while to figure out exactly what I was supposed to do, but once I did, I was really into it.

(Attu and me!)

We stopped at Fantasy Land again, and went on the Winnie-the-pooh ride. I’m a fan, so I loved it. Pooh bear is so cute! Yay! J We went through all the gift shops, and I actually found something I would actually wear – a white V-neck tee-shirt with an abstract silver print on it. I also picked up a pink leather bound diary since my old one is almost over (Yeah, I keep a diary. Writing is like breathing. I’ve been keeping a diary since 3rd grade. I have almost 35 diaries now)

When we finally decided to head home, we got stuck because there was this High School Musical show going on, and they wouldn’t let us pass through. The show sucked big time. There was really bad music, a bunch of teenagers jumping around in cheerleader costumes and basketball uniforms singing and prancing about. I found it all very annoying. We finally managed to squeeze through the crowds and catch the MRT back to the hotel.

Summer Trip DAY 9

2008-05-22T18:08:00.000+05:30

We finished packing and then Amma took me to this cute little store she had found the night before when she was out with the other ladies. It’s called In Fashion and is a five minute walk from the hotel. I picked up five tops for me and a cute tee for Aki as well. The lady behind the counter was pretty peeved with us because Amma wanted to finish off her left over change. We had around 133 HKD in loose change and used it as well as notes to pay our $392 bill, and boy was she glad to see us leave her store.

When we brought back our latest acquisitions to the hotel room, Appa totally freaked out. He was like, “OMG! You went shopping again! We already finished packing! Where are we gonna put al these new clothes?!” We managed to calm him down and packed up all our new buys and left for the airport. Lawl. Fathers!

On the flight back to Singapore, I went through back to back episodes of all my favourite shows. I watched My Name Is Earl, Ugly Betty, F.R.I.E.N.D.S and The Simpsons. Then I watched half of Juno.

A bus was waiting to take us to the hotel and Aki met us there soon after we arrived. We stayed at Orchard Parade, which is right on Orchard Road, but the room was definitely cramped. We took a triple room, but it was way too small. We were definitely cramped for space.

It was pretty late and all of us were tired and hungry, so we just walked over to a food court in one of the nearby malls for a quick bite before hitting the sack.

Summer Trup DAY 10

2008-05-22T18:01:00.007+05:30

(From left: Me, Mihir and Aki at the Science Center)

(From left: Rhea, Sanjana, Amma and me waiting for our Singapore flight at Hong Kong airport)

We went to Jurong Bird Park, which was okay and all, but you get pretty sick of birds after a while. I think we had the most fun with the talking birds. Each bird has a board beneath its cage which tells you its name, what words it can say and what else it can do.

So we found this one bird named Sammy-Boy and his board said he could cackle like a chicken, and I’m not kidding you. I look him in the eye and go, “So, can you cackle like a chicken?” but Sammy-Boy just stares at me like I’m insane, so I turn away from him to look at the next bird, when suddenly, he cackles like a chicken! Loud! It was so totally funny, and Aki and I cracked up right there and couldn’t stop laughing.

(From left: Me, Aki, Appa, Roshan uncle, Beena aunty and Kripa at Jurong Bird Park)
We also went on the Singapore Wheel which is the highest observation wheel in the world. It give syou a great view and everything, but I had had such a long day, and I was so exhausted, I wasn’t in the mood. So yeah, you guessed it, I was pretty grumpy. J

(Appa and me!) Aki, Mihir and I had a quick dinner at Mac (I am so sick of Mac. I never wanna see another McChicken again. But hey! The McFlurry is good! So yeah!) while Appa and Amma went to Clarke Quay. At Mac we just wanted to shovel some food down our throats and get back to the hotel, but Mihir had other plans. He decided to imitate Simon in the Simpsons vs. American Idol video and starts singing “Doncha wish your boyfriend was hot like me? Doncha wish your boyfriend was a freak like me? Doncha? Doncha baby? Docnha?’ with dance moves to match. It was so effin hilarious and embarrassing, and Aki and I were just looking at each other like, “WTF!?”

(Us ladies sure do love Ben and Jerry! From left: Rhea, me and Aki slurping away at Ben & Jerry's ice cream)

After Mac, the three of us came back to the hotel and Mihir watched TV while Aki and I sat in outside in the corridor talking. It was a good night, but we turned in pretty soon. It had been a pretty long day.

Summer Trip DAY 11

2008-05-22T17:55:00.005+05:30

(Aki, me and Mihir goofin' off in the hotel room)

We went to China Town that morning, and then we stopped at Tang’s. But yeah, once again I was sick. My sinuses were all blocked up again, so I went back to the hotel ‘cause the pain was really getting to me.

Aki and I watched this idiotic movie in our room called The Difference between Cats and Dogs. It was pretty stupid but we had nothing better to do.

That night Appa and Amma were going to dinner with the other old people at Raffles, so they got all dressed up and everything, while we watched. As soon as they’de left, Aki and I went over to Mac, picked up a McChicken, Coke and fries for Mihir, and dropped it off at the room, where he happily munched away in front of the television.

(Amma and Appa all dressed up before dinner at Raffles)

Then we changed for dinner. Well, okay, I changed into a skirt, and we went to Angus Steak House for dinner. The food was excellent, but we were short of cash, and they didn’t accept Aki’s Netts card there, so she went outside to find a Netts machine and withdraw some money.

Dinner was fun; we had Caesar salad, Garlic Bread, Grilled Chicken Teriyaki, Coleslaw and Coke. Afterwards, we went for a walk down Orchard. We stopped at Haagen Dazs since we wanted some ice cream, but not just then. The ice cream guy at Haagen Dazs who was our friend now since we went there every single day told us they were open till 1:00 AM so we could take our time. We walked on a little further, and then picked up some ice cream and hung around there slurping away.

We went back to the hotel and hung around in the lobby again until my ‘rents came back from dinner. Amma said she had spoken to Nandana aunty (Nihaal, Niharika, Nandana aunty and Sanjay uncle were in Singapore too. They had just landed a few hours ago) and that aunty wanted me to give them a call so we could meet up.

So I gave Nandana aunty a call, and spoke to Ni for a bit. We were making plans for the next day and hung up after a bit. But ten minutes later, Ni calls asking if I was doing anything in particular and if it was okay if Niharika and he came over to our hotel and hung out with us a bit. I said Yeah sure. So we went down to the lobby, and waited for Ni and Niharika. We all hung around talking for a bit an then decided to go out fro ice cream.
(Me and Aki in the lobby talking. Yeah, we were pretty sleepy)

We walked over to the Haagen Dazs place and sat there slurping ice cream till 1:00AM when they closed for the night. Then Ni walked Aki and me back to our hotel and we went up to bed.

It was really great getting to hang with Ni that night. I’d been pretty down throughout the Singapore trip. I was just in a lousy mood, not for any particular reason. But taking a walk with my BFF and just talking really made my day. Ni can always make me laugh.

Summer Trip DAY 12

2008-05-22T17:48:00.005+05:30

(haha! On the way to Orange Julius!)

Our last day.

We went to Vivo City Mall, which is huge!

We were browsing through a few stores, but I just wasn’t finding anything that made me go, “Oh wow! I really want that!”

Ni called me like fifteen times that morning. Niharika and Ni wanted to take me for Buddhist Vegetarian food and they were waiting for me to leave Vivo and come back to Orchard. But we stayed at Vivo pretty late and so we stopped for lunch at The Chicken Rice Shop. Yummy! J

When we got back to Orchard, I gave Ni a call. He was shopping in Takashimaya, and after talking a bit, we decided to forget about meeting up since we didn’t have much time anyway. I had to leave for the airport in an hour or so, so we decided to cancel and just meet up in Cochin. I was disappointed, but c’est la vie! I guess it’s just that, with Ni moving away to Bombay this year, we both just wanna spend as much time together as possible. Especially now that our time is almost up. Summer is almost over.

(Aki, me and Amma goofing off in the lobby before we left for the airport)

It sucks when your best friends move away. I’m gonna miss you Ni. I’m gonna miss you a whole lot. With Ni gone, there’s gonna be no one to tell me stupid jokes and crack me up, nobody who can always make me laugh no matter how low I’m feeling, nobody to take me on long walks through school corridors during Break. No Ni means nobody who will put up with my endless tantrums and who will let me be the spoilt brat I am. Nobody to talk to me during those insanely boring group coffee sessions we have in Cocoa Tree where no one really talks to us anyway. No Ni means no more BFF, no more stupid phone conversations and no more Ni’s idiotic jokes that I never understand but that still make me laugh. No Ni just plain sucks and I don’t like it one bit. Love you Best Friend! I wish you didn’t have to go! :*(

(Appa at the Ferari store at Changi airport)

Well, anyway, back to our last day in Singapore. We finished packing and stuff and went down to the lobby. Amma, Mihir, Aki and I walked over to Orange Julius for ice cream and smoothies Yay!

At the airport, I picked up this adorable gold and white bag from Nike. Why are Nike stores at home so ORDINARY? You get such way cool stuff at the Nike stores there!

The flight was okay. Pretty long. And I was exhausted so I didn’t like it much. But whatever. We got home safe, and it was a good trip.

(Amma, Mihir and me at the airport. Yeah, I was cranky)

Bon Voyage!

2008-05-08T21:54:00.002+05:30

We're leaving tomorrow. On holiday. Finally.

We've been planning this since January.

So we leave tomorrow, on the 11:00PM flight, four hours to Singapore, and then change flights and two hours to Hong Kong. I hate long flights. I could barely tolerate the one hour flight from Cochin to Agatti.

On Sunday, we're going on the cruise. The Star Cruise Virgo. It's supposed to be an amazing ship.

We're back in Hong Kong on Wednesday. And then we're flying to Singapore on Sunday the 17th.

We head home on the 20th.

Hm...long trip. Kinda.

OK, sad blog. I sound like somebody died. This post is so Today-I-will-go-here-and-tomorrow-I-will-come-back-and-then-that-evening-I-will-go-shopping. So...bleh. Matter of fact. Boring. Plain.

So let me try to rescue this absolute trash if I can.

What has been happening here?

Well, Pratik and Shinai were in Bangalore. They left on Saturday, and I've been just moping around at home since. I mean, there's no one else in town that I'd want to hang with if I had a choice.

Well, Rohit got home two weeks ago, finally, from Gujarat. But I lost his number, and so I haven't spoken to him in a month.

Kary was in Calcutta, and now she'll be in Hyderabad. She's going to Egypt on the 26th.

Nihaal. Well, I really dunno where my Ni is half the time. I mean, he flies up and down between Bombay and Cochin every two days, I've lost track of where he is right now.

Dilip C. Well, since he's having such a "rough time" with I have no clue what, so much that he refuses to call me, or answer my calls or messages, I really haven't heard from him all summer. I mean, how can you keep in touch with a guy who refuses to pick up the damn phone. I've given up for now. When he's ready, he'll call me.

Naveen is in town too. But we just never got down to going out this week.

So when Pat and Shinai went to Bangalore, well, I decided I'd just stay home. Shinai got home yesterday. I spoke to her this morning, she was filling me in on Bangalore and how she ended up tearing Partik's shirt at the mall(Poor Pat, the crap the two of us put him through, I'm surprised he isn't sick of us yet) and various other mishaps that are better left unrevealed. Pratik is back tomorrow.

Yes, it's true. I only have a handful of friends. Pratik. Shinai. Naveen. Dilip C. Nihaal. Rohit. Kary. OK, I do have some more friends - Viv, Zeba, Sid, but all three are in Bangalore so we don't really get to hang out much do we?

Sure, I know hundreds of kids all over town, and even from outside, but these ten are my friends in the true meaning of the world. People I trust, people I'm comfortable, people I like to be with. They accept me for who I am, they love me and I love them. So isn't that enough?

Well, anyways, Zeba happens to be in town. She flew in yesterday. So on Tuesday, finally, Liz caught hold of me online after chasing em for weeks (I've not been picking up any of her calls on my cell or land line. I really cant go through any dramatic phone conversations right now. Ah! the joys of Caller ID)

She informed me that Zeba would be arriving the next day, which I assured her I was already aware of. Then she told me that "the gang" would be meeting for coffee at Cocoa Tree around 3:30 or so, and would I come? I readily agreed, even though I had no intention of going. I really wanted to Zee, it's true, but no way was I going to endure a few hours inside Cocoa Tree with a bunch of people I really couldn't stand, and who I knew didn't really like me anyway.

I could already see myself sitting on one of the pale yellow sofas, drinking endless cups of very strong coffee to survive what I knew would be a mind numbingly boring coffee and chat. I had no desire at all to put myself through such torture as this. Why go through something that you could avoid altogether?

Sure, I knew Zee would be upset. But for this once, I was going to be selfish. I knew, if I showed up for coffee, they would all work tirelessly to force me to make up with them, which I already knew I would not do. I do not want to go back to being best mats with those people, and I have no mind to.

So yeah, today, at 3:30, I lay sprawled across the divan in the family room, reading and yes, it was time far better spent.

Zee called me from Liz's place today. I knew if I spoke to her there would be tears and tantrums and anger. Thanks to Caller ID, and a sympathetic mother, I was able to avoid such a conversation altogether.

I know, I know. One day i will no longer be able to avoid them. That day will probably be the first day of school. But whatever, I can put off these troublesome duties until it becomes absolutely necessary to deal with them.

I really don't know why we are going through this whole melodrama. We used to be friends. i liked them a lot. I trusted them. Until I found out that they obviously didn't give a damn, were just using me and to top it off were also talking shit about me behind my back. I was hurt. I got over it. I started hanging out with my real friends. I am now happy. They were happy, they did not have any particular use for me at that point. Now, in the last month, suddenly they have come up with something which they seem to require my assistance for. I am not aware what it is, but they are tirelessly calling me day after day for the last three weeks or so. I have avoided them so far. This whole situation is so pointless.

I wish they would just leave me alone. I am quite happy with my life the way it is. I have some great friends, and we have a really good time together. But I guess you cant have everything huh? I had to have some annoying ex-BFFs annoying me continuously so that I am incapable of completely enjoying my newfound happiness. But whatever. I can live with it.

Aaaah, I wonder who invented Caller ID. Such a wonderful invention, that. Hats off to whoever did invent it. I owe you one!

Bangaram Trip Day One

2008-05-01T20:48:00.005+05:30

I left home for Shinai’s place at around 11:00 and hung around there for a bit. We were so excited, we could barely wait. Finally, after saying a short prayer, we were on our way to the airport where we met Rosie aunty, Pratik (Pat) and Deepak (Attu)

After check –in (I got beeped throughout the security check because of my braces and the buttons on my pants which was very embarrassing!) we discovered the flight was delayed! Thankfully, the airport had a CCD, so we ordered a couple of drinks and hung around watching various people board and get off air crafts, and making “observations” about them. We laughed a helluva lot, so that by the time we boarded our flight, pretty much everyone at the airport thought we were a bunch of absolute lunatics.

Oh, and before we got on board, we saw none other than Achumamma – the Chief Minister of Kerala himself. He was walking out followed by around twenty or so armed policemen (they were skinny, feeble looking young fellows. A couple of large, beefy men in dark suits and shades with a couple of rifles thrown in would have been SO much more impressive), and Attu screams, “Oh, my Gawd! The Chief Minister!!!!” and so everyone sits up to look, and Pat, Shinai and me are laughing so hard we almost peed our pants.

Honestly, I don’t really think our Chief Minister is very entertaining. I’ve been fairly disgruntled ever since the day he won the elections, and they interviewed him at home, where he was sitting on an armchair wearing nothing but an old lungi and a banyan. I mean, c'mon man! You just became Chief Minister of the state! Get a shirt on! For the love of God, get a shirt! Nobody wants to see tufts of curly gray chest hair springing out through your vest. Maybe he was trying to appear relaxed and approachable, trying to say, “Hey! I’m just like you guys, you can come to me with your troubles” or something, but whatever, you can look presentable and still be approachable. So yeah, you could say I’m not a fan.

So anyways, we got on board, where we met Rani aunty who had come from Bangalore. Before getting on board, we had made bets on what we would be served for lunch. Pratik won for lunch – rice and chicken, and Attu won dessert – payasam. Shinai and I were sure we would be served some fruits and soufflé, but tough luck.

Landing at Agatti was amazing. The water was so blue, and we were dying to get to Bangaram so we could go in for a swim. Some Bangaram staff were waiting to take us to Bangaram by boat – the Falcon! It was a really long ride, almost 2 hours, but we enjoyed it because the water was just so breathtakingly beautiful. Nihaal called me while I was on the boat (hats off to BSNL, you get all 5 bars of range in the middle of the friggin ocean!) to say he was in Cochin and we should go out before he left for Bombay again.

After talking to Ni for a bit, we went up to the front of the boat, in front of the captain, and sat down with our legs out through the railings. We were out of Agatti lagoon, and in the open sea, so the water was a little rough, and the ride was rocky. We got totally drenched(we looked like we peed our pants) and Shinai and I have classified the Falcon boat ride from Agatti to Bangaram Island way WAY better than ANY of the rides at Veegaland.

When we finally arrived at Bangaram, we found that the staff were holding up a huge banner that read WELCOME BACK. It was really sweet and we all got a picture in front of it before we made for our rooms. We were desperate to change so we could go for a swim(especially me because it was pretty embarrassing walking around looking like I wet my pants) Pratik, Deepak, Shinai and I wee sharing a Deluxe Cottage. It was pretty cool because we had a living room, a dining room and two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

We were changed into our swimsuits and shorts in two minutes flat, and headed for the Duive Centre where we met Mohammed(one of the diving instructors) and he gave us snorkels and masks. Then we got two double-seater kayaks and four paddles and we were off. Pat knew how to kayak, and Attu could manage, so they went off in one kayak, leaving two clueless girls behind (Shinai and me).

We got in, and some of the staff pushed us off, but we were pretty pathetic at paddling, so finally I jumped into Pat’s boat, and Attu got into ours. Pratik is good at kayaking, and he’s good at teaching too, so thanks to him, I soon got the hang of it, and we hit a good rhythm. We were moving at a good speed and paddled out pretty far, but Shinai and Attu still hadn’t made much progress. Shinai soon got restless, so they went back to shore.

Pratik steered us over to a site with some great corals, according to him. So I go into the water, and put my snorkel and mask on and held on to the back of the kayak while Pat steered me over. Then suddenly he goes “Taarika, look down now! It’s beautiful!” so I put my face in the water, and I see this HUGE slimy, bumpy thing floating in my face, and it freaked me out, so I put my head out and scream. I was all, “OMG! PRATIIIIIIIIIIIK! Get me outta here! WTF is that? Pratiiiik! Help!!!!”

Needless to say, Pratik was completely bewildered. Here he was trying to show me my first corals, and I was screaming and throwing a fit. He tried to convince me to look under, but it didn’t work, so he tried getting me back in the kayak, but I flatly refused to do that too. I was convinced that if I moved, which I needed to do to get into the kayak again, the creepy living creatures in the water would sense me and attack or whatever (hey! C’mon! It was my FIRST day!) So finally, sweetheart that he is, Pratik paddled me back to shore while I clung onto the back of the kayak. Mwa! Thanks a ton!

After a shower and dinner, we were pretty pooped, so we made for our room where we took a couple of crazy pictures and then talked about meaningful random topics till 3:00 AM. It was an amazing first day.

Bangaram Trip Day Two

2008-05-01T20:37:00.009+05:30

We woke up at around 7:30, and lay in bed talking for some time. I called Appa to wish him since it was his birthday. Then we went back to sleep for a bit. By around 8:00, Attu and I went outside and splashed around in the water a little. I hung around on the beach for a half or so, listening to music and then met the others for breakfast.

Pratik and Priya had their diving freshers that morning, so we saw them off at the Dive Centre. Before they left, Subin (one of the diving instructors) made us try on fins and we picked a pair each for ourselves. I got a pair of black booties to go along with my fins too, but that’s probably because I impressed Subin with the fact that I had used fins before(at swim team practice) and knew how to use them right. Ha ha.

(Wanna-be Charlie's Angels?)

Anyways, Pat, Priya and Subin went their way, and Shinai, Attu and I went ours. We snorkeled a bit, but we kept surfacing and screaming and paddling back to shore. Every rope we saw was a sea snake, every dark shadow some heinous turtle or fish (for the record, turtles are cute and fish are peaceful, we were letting our imaginations run wild) I think the three of us were very insecure without Pat around. His knowledge of the Bangaram Lagoon was far larger than all three of ours combined, and having him around gave us all a reassuring feeling of knowing that at least HE knew what he was doing, well, kind of.
(hermit crab!)

So we headed for shore, picked up a single kayak for Attu, and a double for us, and went out pretty deep. After kayaking for an hour or so, we saw that Pat and the others were back, and waving to us from the Beach Shack, so we went back to shore for a quick drink. Pat wanted to go kayaking again, so we did.

Shinai was feeling lazy, so she just sat there in the kayak, and I had to do all the paddling myself. We stayed out on the water for almost three hours, and when finally came back to shore for lunch, man! I was pooped! A well deserved nap was due after lunch, and we conked off before our heads even touched the pillow.

Priya’s friend, Rosemary was arriving that day, and we woke up just in time to greet her. We decided to go kayaking (yes, again) since Rose had never tried it. Priya and me, Rose and Pat, and Shinai and Attu. We wanted to kayak all the way to the next island, Tinnakara, but half way there, we got tired and gave up, so we just splashed around a bit. After a while, Priya and I thought it would be fun to swim all the way back to shore. So after getting Pratik to promise that he would bring our kayak back with him, we started swimming. T was really long, and kinda tiring. But when we finally reached the shore and got out of the water, there was that burn, that rush of blood, and it makes you feel so good.

After a quick shower, Pat, Attu, Shinai and I decided to go for a walk up to the end of the island. We saw a dead porcupine fish on the way. It was lying on its back, totally puffed up with all its spikes sticking out, its eyes popping and mouth open. It was fascinating in a really gross way. Yeah, I know. While on our walk, we decided to draw on the sand, and we took some photos of our amazing works of art. We took loads of crazy photos, and finally headed back for a drink.

When we got back, we found Rani Aunty insisting that we go take a few photos with the celebrities. Two models turned Bollywood stars, Dino Morea and Lara Dutta (who was apparently also Miss World or Miss Universe or something) were at Bangaram, and frankly, I’ve never seen a single movie with them in it. Oh, yeah, I know they’re famous, but whatever, I don’t really watch Hindi movie son account of how my Hindi speaking skills are a shade better than my fluency in Zulu. But anyway, we (upon Rani Aunty’s insistence) tormented the poor souls to stand for a few photos with us. But they were really nice people, so yeah. (Lara Dutta, me and Dino Morea)

After the photo shoot, we hung out in the Rec Room playing Carom (which I am embarrassingly bad at) and Subin came played with us for a bit, but after a half hour, everyone realized how pointless it was having me play because I was so bad at it. So Subin taught us how to play Perudo. Unfortunately, I was just as bad at Perudo. =) Then we headed for dinner. It was Rosie aunty’s birthday as well, and they were bringing her a cake. After dinner, we played some more Perudo and then some Jenga (which I am much better at)

After a couple of games, it was time to go up to one of the neighbouring islands. Turtles lay their eggs around this time, and we were going to watch. We picked up a few beach towels from the room, and were soon off on the boat. When we reached the next island, we discovered that there wasn’t a turtle in sight. There were a ton of hermit crabs all over the sand though. We settled down on our beach blankest and waited. I was pretty pooped, so I took a nap.

Finally, someone woke me up and said it was time to go look for turtles. We went through a bunch of trees and scratchy bushes (Shinai and I were totally freaked out) and finally reached a clearing. But tough luck, no turtles. Not even one! I was starting to get kinda bugged.

After a half hour or so, we finally spotted one. It took forever for the turtle to scrabble into the sand pit, and once it got there, it had to dig a hole to lay eggs in! But this Mama Turtle, she was taking t nice and easy, she sure wasn’t in a hurry, and she just lay there and took her time. We moved onto another part of the beach where we found one more turtle just lying there. So we went back to the sandpit turtle.

The guy who brought us told us this could take a while, so he told us to go and sleep or whatever until the turtles were ready. At first I was like, OK, cool I can do that. But umm, hello, waiting for three whole friggin hours in the cold sea breeze, with a coconut tree branch for seat, and nowhere comfortable to fall asleep even though your eyes are half shut … so not fun, I can assure you.

(Turtle!)

We made friends with a young Indian couple form UK – Mohan and Rakhi. They were really friendly and good fun, so we managed to stay alive those three hours, until finally, out sandpit turtle decided to start laying its stupid eggs. So we all crowded around and took photographs, but after like 45 minutes, it was getting kinda boring. I mean, how many pictures of a huge turtle laying eggs can you take?

It was almost 2:00 AM, and we were exhausted, cranky and ready to throw a huge tantrum, but thankfully, we headed back. We all slept on the boat, except Shinai, and when we reached the room, we were so tired we could barely make it to bed. But before we fell asleep, we vowed that we would never ever ever go watch turtles lay eggs. Nu uh.

Bangaram Trip Day Three

2008-05-01T20:21:00.004+05:30

(Me and Shinai at the Dive Centre in our Scuba gear)

Rose, Shinai and I had our first Scuba lesson. We went over to the Dive Centre where Subin made us fill out some Health History sheets. The moment he saw mine, he was like, “Girl! I dunno how much you can dive!” What with my sinuses, ability to catch a cold every two days and history of asthma (which I strongly reassured him I had recovered from) my future in diving wasn’t looking too bright.

Anyhow, we kitted up, pulled on our wetsuits (I despise wetsuits because they had only the men’s kind which sagged and clung in all the wrong places) and got into the water. We started out with some breathing. As soon as Subin was convinced we all knew how to breathe under water, it was time to go under. I went first because I was the one who most probably wouldn’t be able to dive. We went down, and my ears hurt like mad, but thanks to val salva/equalizing which I had learned only ten minutes earlier, I managed to stay down. After ten minutes, we came back up, and Rose went in.

(From left: me, Subin, Rose and Shinai just before our first ever dive)

After each of us got ten minutes under alone, we went in together. When we came back up, and finally got out of the water, we were pretty tired. I was looking forward to a nice long nap, but Subi Saar had other plans. Our first theory session was at 4:30! No!

Theory wasn’t so bad. Well, at least not for us. I don’t think Subin had such a great time though because we all kept cracking up and making jokes, which made what was supposed to be a one-hour class a two-hour session. This only worked because Subin was our teacher. If it was Scary Sumer it definitely wouldn’t be happening. No way man!

Anyway, we didn’t really do much after that. We played more games of Perudo and Jenga, and then spent hours talking in our room before going to bed. We were settling into a comfortable routine in Bangaram, and we were loving it!

Bangaram Trip Day Four

2008-05-01T20:11:00.010+05:30

(me working on Pat)

We had our second dive lesson. The first session started okay. Shyam (one of the diving assistants) was my Buddy, and Rose and Shinai were Buddies with Subin (quoting Subin and Sumer: Scuba diving is a Buddy Sport. You can’t do it without a Buddy)

We went down and practiced everything we had learned. Mask clearing, mask removal, Mouth piece removal and retrieval … all that jazz. I had a little trouble with my sinuses again and we had to keep ascending and descending so I wasn’t in pain.

Suddenly, Shinai, Rose and Subin were gone. It was just Shyam and me. I was like, “Huh? Where did they go?” but Shyam motions for me to follow him, and suddenly I find myself at this HUGE coral reef. It was around 6 sq. m and it was BEAUTIFUL, Most of the corals in Bangaram are dead, but at this site, most of them were alive. There were blue and pink corals, and more fish than I’ve ever seen. It was beautiful, it was breathtaking, and I was mesmerized. I just floated around and LOOKED, trying to take it all in, absorb it, and preserve it in my mind forever.

(Pratik...OMG, I looove this picture!)
After another ten minutes, Subin shows up, and we follow him back up. When I surfaced, I found a very worried looking Shinai and Rose, and Shinai goes “Are you guys okay?”

Me: (confused) “Um yeah…but where were you guys? Weren’t those corals amazing?!?! They blew my mind!”
Shinai: “Huh? What corals? We didn’t se any corals today…”
Me: “What are you talking about? What about all the pretty fish?!?!”
Shinai: “What fish? Are you okay?”
Subin: (shoots me a look that says SHUT UP, NOW!) Hey! Girls, are you ready for your second session? Put your masks back on and lest get going!”

I later learned that Subin kinda figured out I wouldn’t be able to do my deep sea dives because of my sinuses, so he told Shyam to take me alone the pretty coral reef so I could at least get a taste of what lay under the surface. Aww!

(Pat: Oooh Sexy Mama!)

The second session was AWFUL. I couldn’t even descend half way. Shyam kept giving me the “I’m OK. Are you OK?” sign and I kept giving him the “No! I’m Not OK” sign. I tried equalizing, but it just wasn’t working. And then suddenly, I felt this pain shoot up through my spine and into my forehead and my ears, and I thought my head was going to burst open. The pain was so intense and throbbing; I doubled over and clutched my head in my hands. Next thing I know, Subin is giving me the “Are You OK?” sign, and when I didn’t respond, I got the “We’re going up” signal, and they pulled me up to the surface.

It was pretty embarrassing. Everyone was looking at me like I might explode, and going, “Are you OK? Where does it hurt?” I didn’t say much, I just closed my eyes, ad clutched my head in my hands, so finally Subin tells me to go and de-kit, and take a hot shower and go sleep or something because he didn’t think I could dive anymore until I cleared my sinuses.

So I went back to the Dive Centre, de kitted my tank, washed my wet suit, hung up my jacket and did everything I was supposed to. I felt like a bit of a loser, but the hot shower made up for it. I listened to some music (Bob Marley…thanks for that one Nav *wink* *wink*) and felt way better. (Pretty pretty Pat and me!)

That night we had another theory session, and afterwards, we were all hanging around in our room. Shinai had just gone in for a shower when Pat comes over to me holding a tube of her mascara and asking me what it was for. When I told him, he asked me to put some on for him, so I did. Then, while I was having a shower, Priya and Rose thought it would be fun to put some blush and lip gloss on him, and Pat willingly went along with it. (Pat: Strike a pose!)

By the time I came out of my second shower, I found Pat pulling on Rosemary’s pink halter top. After a few photos, we made him change into Shinai’s blue T-back tunic, and her little white and black polka dotted skirt. He was looking pretty adorable already but we made him hold my white “It’s All About Me!” bag, drew his eyes with black kajal, tied Rose’s pink scarf around his head, and as a finishing touch, made him wear my HUGE sunglasses, and voila! Pat was a pretty pretty girl!

Next was Shinai. Pat drew on a beard and moustache with my black eye pencil, and then she pulled on a pair of his baggy Army fatigue shorts and a shirt, and his sunglasses, and there you have it, she was a man! She really freaked though, when she first saw herself in the mirror. She clutched my arm and went, “OMG! Taarika! I look like a man!”

Pat really got into the act then, he was prancing and skipping and dancing. He fluttered his lashes at us, pouted, made kissy faces, laughed and shrieked. It was amazing! He would have fit in with any of the unnamed, pouty, whiny, bitchy girls at school. Even Shinai got into the mood, and we had a really fun night. Rosie aunty and Sook aunty were thrilled with the transformation, and it was a helluva lotta fun!!!

Bangaram Trip Day Five

2008-05-01T19:37:00.005+05:30

(Shinai and Rose on the boat)

Our first open sea dive. Well, their first open sea dive, since I wasn’t going to be able to dive anymore. Nevertheless, I tagged along on the boat, because it was better than staying back on the island alone!

While everyone else dived, I sat on the boat. It wasn’t so bad, really. I sketched a bit, listened to music, read my latest Grisham book. And after a while, I took a nice long nap. So yeah, it was pretty good.

We were all pretty tired that day. But after dinner, while playing our routine game of Perudo and Jenga in the Rec Room, Tosha asked us to teach them how to play Perudo. I had met Tosha earlier that evening in the Cloak Room while waiting for Shinai. She was in Bangaram with her family, and they were leaving the next morning. There were a couple of ‘em – Tosha, Sanaa (who was our age), Ishitha (a cute little ten year old who really seemed to take a fancy to the three of us) and a buncha little kids. We spent a happy hour or so in the Rec Room talking and laughing. It was nice getting to know them, they were a nice set of kids. (from left:Rose, Shinai, me and Pratik)

(from left: Shinai, me, Pratik and Deepak) When the others went to bed, we decided to leave the Rec Room too. It was almost midnight, and the staff really wanted to close up the Rec Room. None of us really felt like going to bed, so Pat suggested we just sit on the beach for a while. We got a few beach towels from our room and settled down on the sand. In a half hour, we decided that lying on the sand was so much fun, we should just sleep on the beach that night. So we went back to the room, picked up pillows, cushions and even a thick curtain or something for a blanket (Shinai’s idea. She didn’t want to take the blankets on the bed because they were white) On the beach, we dragged down the thin rubber mattresses on the beach chairs, covered them with our beach towels, propped up a few pillows, and voila! Our bed for the night!

The curtain was big enough to cover all four of us, so we settled down … Pratik, then me, then Shinai, and then Deepak. Shinai and I got first dibs on being in the middle because we were both scared to lie on the ends despite Pat’s constant reassurances that there was nothing on the island that could harm us, apart from Sumer’s creepy cat Lakshmi. Anyways, we lay back, and talked into the night, gazing up at the stars. There was no moon that night, so we could see way more stars, and it was just so overwhelming. The sky looked so big, and it makes you feel like nothing, like a little speck of dust floating by.

(Shinai in the water!)

Halfway through the conversation, Shinai suddenly springs up and goes, “Oh, my God. Pratik…what is that?” We all prop ourselves up on our elbows to get a better look, and see a thick dark shadow of something, it was long and curved and lay peacefully on the sand just three feet away from Pratik. “I think it’s a snake” piped up Attu. Then Pratik goes in hushed tones, “You know what, you guys…I think it’s a snake too. Is it?” We all edge forward to get a better look, and next thing you know all four of us were scrambling over each other, shrieking and screaming and trying to get as far away from the freaky snake thing. We ran a few meters away from it, clutched each other and screamed some more. Finally, Pratik (brave man, he) edges forward saying he’s gonna touch it and see what it is. Shinai and I scream for him to come back, we were so sure he was going to die. But he edges forward slowly, nudges the shadow with his toe, and discovered that it was … a piece of room.

During our theory session that day, Subin had told us that if you screamed YES as loudly as you could when mosquitoes bit you, they would go away and leave you alone. We of course, didn’t believe him. But that night, without the shelter of the four walls of our cottage, we were desperate enough to even try Subin’s crazy theories, especially since we were convinced that no one else would be awake at two in the morning to hear us screaming YES, least of all Subin. Much to our embarrassment, we learned during breakfast the next morning that both Sumer and Subin had been awake and had seen all four of us on the beach, flapping around and screaming YES at the air.

Our next shrieking session was half an hour later, when a hermit crab scuttled across Shinai’s toe. This time, we all screamed so loud, Sook aunty came out of her room to find out whether it was us who were making some much noise or someone else. When she realized it was us, she went back to bed, saying she knew that if we were the ones screaming, nothing could possibly be really wrong. =)

After a while, Shinai and Attu went to sleep, but Pratik and me stayed up and talked about the most random stuff. We covered Roald Dahl, his autobiographies, John Grisham, Michael Crichton’s Timeline, Physics, God, Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, Birthdays and Family. After saying it was a pity Shinai didn’t partake in this intellectually stimulating conversation (the next morning we found out that she had been awake the whole time and pretending to be asleep, silently making fun of us) we decided to call it a night. It was almost 3:30 AM.

We pulled our white blankets over our heads (somewhere in the middle, we had exchanged the curtain for the white sheets, even Shinai didn’t protest because it was so hot) and closed our eyes, waiting for the peace of slumber to wash over us. Yeah, right. That’s when the mosquitoes decided to attack us full on and in half an hour, we gave up. Pratik was the first one to quit. He jumped up, grabbed a pillow and said he couldn’t take it anymore and marched off to the room, despite Shinai and me telling him to stay since we’d toughed it out so long and we had only a few hours left, and how it would be a shame to give up now. Attu promptly followed. Shinai and I lay awake for another ten minutes muttering about what spoilsports boys were, but pretty soon, we gave up too.

Clambering into bed at close to four in the morning, we ignored Pat’s snickers of “I told you so!” and fell asleep…finally.

Bangaram Trip Day Six

2008-05-01T17:47:00.008+05:30

( from the top: Proya, Attu, me, Rose, Pratik and Shinai)

It was the same old routine of diving in the morning, except Subin let us off an early theory class and told us we could come in at 5:30. I woke up a little earlier that afternoon since Priya and I were planning to go swimming together. So Priya, Attu, Rosie Aunty, Sook aunty, Rose and I were sitting on the beach and talking. I had everyone in splits because I was telling them about my lost booty.

See, the day before, Subin had asked me if I had both my booties. I was pretty sure I did, so I said yes. Later in the day, he again asked me if I was sure I had both booties with me. While leaving the cottage on my way for lunch, I had seen one black booty sticking out from under my fins, so I was convinced the other one was under there somewhere too. So when Subin asked, I insisted that he was mistaken and even put him on the guilt trip.

I didn’t really think about it after that until I left the cottage today to go swimming with Priya. Thinking I would lean my fins against the wall so the sand wouldn’t dry up in them, I picked up one to find that there was only one booty beneath it. Oh no! Subin had been right! He really did have one of my booties!

So while sitting on the beach with the others, we were all having a good time laughing and plotting various ways to save me from my dilemma. The only solution I could think of was to steal the booty from the Dive Centre now, since both Subin and Sumer were asleep. Priya volunteered to help e steal it, so the two of us dramatically tip toed to the Dive Centre, encouraged by everybody’s catcalls and cheers.

(Sumer: "Say wa?")
At the Dive Centre, we were confronted by Shyam who asked us if he could be of assistance. We let him in on the plan, so he got my lone black booty out for us and gave it to me. After making him promise not to tell Subin or Sumer, I sprinted over to be cottage, dumped the booty there and ran back. When I got back, all of us were laughing so hard we could barely breathe.

(The Captain!)

And that’s when Sook aunty spots Subin coming out of his room and towards us. So she starts singing the Pink Panther theme, and Rose joins in, and everyone else is laughing and having such a good time. Rosie aunty suggested that I pull on my shades and act supremely unconcerned so that Subin wouldn’t guess anything was up. Ha! As if! It was pretty obvious we were all up to something from the way we would all turn around, look at poor approaching Subin and then burst into hysterical peals of laughter.

I pulled on my shades anyway and tried to look all calm and collected but kept giggling, and finally Subin reaches us and goes “Hey guys! What’s up?” and all of us were screaming with laughter like that was the funniest line in history. Poor Subin. After another five minutes, where he tried to make conversation, and all of us hysterical females shook with laughter, he finally gave up and went off to do his thing. Priya and I went for a swim.

When we came out of the water, dripping wet and feeling all pumped up, Rosie aunty tells me, “Taarika … Sumer wants to talk to you. He says you should go to his room as soon as you come out of the water.” I was like, “Oh, my God! What did I do? Did he find out about the booty? I am SO dead.” I wasn’t really scared of Subin, he was nice, and he wouldn’t really say anything if he found out about the booty. But Sumer, he’s a completely different story. I was sacred of Sumer. He yelled a lot. True, as soon as he yelled, he would feel bad and then get all happy and nice, but still, the yelling wasn’t really fun. (Shinai, Proya and Subin during theory class)

After ten anxious minutes, which included me asking Shyam if he had spilled the beans on me, (which he insisted he didn’t) I finally worked up the nerve to go to Sumer’s room. Standing at the open door, I could see Mohammed inside. I asked him if Sumer was in, and then I hear Sumer go, “Yeah? Who is it?”

Me: “Umm, it’s Taarika…”
Sumer: “Okay, come on in…”
Me: (steps inside, thinking he doesn’t really sound angry, but maybe that was just a ruse) “Um…Sumer, you wanted to talk to me…?”
Sumer: (sitting in front of his laptop with eyes glued to screen) “No…why would you think that?”
Me: “Rosemary said you asked me to come to your room ‘cause you wanted to talk to em about something…”
Sumer: (still looking at laptop screen) “No, I didn’t say that…why? Is there something you did that would make we want to talk to you?”
Me: “No! Naaa! But anyways, you didn’t ask to see me…?”
Sumer: (finally looks at me, looks faintly amused) “Nope”
Me: “So they were kidding???”
Sumer: “Yep…I guess so.”
Me: “Oh…OK. Anyways, nice talking to ya, Sumer. Gotta go! Byee!” (run out of room chasing a laughing Rose and Attu screaming, “I’m gonna kill you guys!!!!!!!”)

(Sumer being Superman, and Subin in the back)

Oh man, my Booty story was all we talked about for the rest of the day.

Bangaram Trip Day Seven

2008-05-01T17:25:00.011+05:30

It was Pat’s birthday so everyone was in a really good mood, even though Priya, Rose and Shinai had their One Star test that day.

(from left: Rose, me, Pratik, Shinai and Priya)

We had to move out of our Deluxe Cottage that day, since another family was coming in. So the four of us got moved to a much smaller single room, but we didn’t really care because we hardly spent any time in the room anyway, except when we were taking a nap. Plus, our new room had a couple of hammocks right outside.

After the day’s dive, we came back and settled into our new room. It was okay, really, except for the fact that the water here had a really strong smell of Hydrogen Sulphide. All the water available from the well in Bangaram had Hydrogen Sulphide in it, but the water in our old room didn’t really have the smell. Here, it was super strong, and made you feel a little nauseous, so we sat outside.

After goofing off on the hammocks for a while we came back inside because the flies were getting to us. We were lying on the bed – Attu just staring at the ceiling, Pratik composing a new song on my phone, me reading and Shinai trying to do some revision for her test. Shinai soon got pretty bored, so she asked me if she could draw on my leg. Since I didn’t really care, she pulled out a ballpoint pen and started doodling all over my right calf and foot.

In ten minutes or so, my fingers were itching for a pen. I wanted to doodle too. By then, Pratik was also sitting up. Finally, we pulled out my water colours and brushes and started painting in the designs that Shinai had drawn on my calf.

Soon, we moved out to our veranda so we wouldn’t get paint on the white sheets. Pat lay flat on his back, and this soon resulted in Shinai and me turning our attentions to his face. He let us paint all over his face, and that kept us occupied till it was time for the One Star test.

So we packed up the paints and made our way to the Beach Shack, Pat with his faced painted so he was barely recognizable, me with my entire right leg painted so it looked diseased and Shinai with paint all over her.

When the test started, for the first time ever, Subin banished Pat, Deepak and me from the Rec Room so we wouldn’t disturb the others. We were walking aimlessly on the beach; tossing Pat’s football to each other when I remembered that the Man U vs. Chelsea match was on right then. We decided to go ask Sumer if we could watch the match on his TV. Sumer was watching the IPL match but agreed to let us in so we could watch the match during his commercials.

He rubbed Pat off right from the start by banishing us to a corner of his room floor where we could hardly see the TV. Pat was pretty hurt I think. But all that was okay, until two of Sumer’s friends showed up. These two girls from Bombay (where Sumer is from) who had arrived in Bangaram that day. So they walk into the room, and totally ignore us. It’s not like we expect them to talk to us or anything, but an acknowledging smile would have been nice. Or at least a glance, to show they knew we existed. But no such luck, they acted like we were part of the wall. Sumer didn’t introduce us either, but I didn’t really care.

But after another ten minutes, one of the girls kept shooting us looks which were clearly said, “Why don’t you little ones run along and play and leave the adults to themselves” I started nudging Pat and telling him that we should leave since we so obviously were in the way and completely not wanted. He didn’t say anything, but after a bit, one of the girls looks at us and goes, “Hmph…so cute!”

We were both like, Hey! I mean, c’mon! I’m fifteen and Pat just turned seventeen! We both failed to see exactly what was so cute about us. I was nudging Pat like mad, trying to convince him to leave. What was the point hanging around? Nobody wanted us there, and we got to see two seconds of the footy match every ten minutes.

Suddenly, Pat jumps up and then bends down to help me up. He grabs me by the arm and drags me out of the room, calling a “Bye Sumer…” after him. I called back a “Thank you Sumer!” too, just for good measure. But Pat was really hurt. I guess he didn’t think Sumer would totally shun him after having known him for so long.

I was feeling bad for the guy. It was his birthday after all, and he loved football. So we went and asked Shenoy, the manager, if we could watch on his TV, and he said, “Sure! Go ahead!” We watched the match for 20 minutes or so, but then, we all got pretty restless so we went kayaking. Well, the guys went kayaking, and I went swimming. Attu went back to shore soon, but Pat and I went out pretty far. When we decided to come back to shore, Pat let me hold on to the back oh his kayak since I was a little tired, and he paddled us both back to shore.

(from left: Priya, Shinai, me, Pratik, Attu and Rose)

We talked a lot on the way back to shore, and when we reached, I helped Pat put away his kayak and then we just floated around. We kept laughing because Pat is so negatively buoyant, he just can’t float on his back, or even just float in water. All of us could bob up and down in the water without trying, but every time Pat tried, he sank like stone. Pat would lower himself onto his back hesitantly, and then I would hold him up lightly with my feet while floating on my back. After a few minutes, he would tense up and start sinking again, taking my feet down with him, and we would crack yup and swallow large amounts of water.

Later Shinai showed up, telling us she had passed her One Star test. So we all whooped and screamed and cheered, and forced her to get into the water with us. Then Priya and Rose, who had both passed, joined us and we all splashed around for an hour. Since it was Pat’s birthday, we gave him his Birthday Bumps in the water, it was all so much fun.

Finally, we got out of the water and went in for a shower. Shinai and I took the longest as usual, and when we finally arrived at the Beach Shack, we discovered that Sook aunty, Rosie aunty, Sumer, Subin, Priya, Rose, Pratik and Attu had been waiting for us for an hour so they could give away the One Star certificates. After giving away the certificates, and admiring the calligraphy on them (at Sumer’s insistence since he had done it himself) and taking a bunch of photos, we went for dinner.

(from left: Pratik, Priya, Sumer, me, Shinai, Attu and Rosemary)

After dinner, we all said a small prayer together, and then everybody sat on the beach for half an hour. We saw THREE shooting stars, what are the chances of three shooting stars on one night? They were way cool!

Everyone was pretty upset since it was our last night. When we finally went back to our room, we forced ourselves to stay up even though we were pretty exhausted. Finally we went inside, where Shinai and Attu fell asleep, but Pat and I had our usual late night chat before turning in.

(Rosie aunty and Sook aunty at dinner)

Bangaram Trip Day Eight

2008-05-01T17:19:00.006+05:30

Our last day. We planned to wake up early so we could say goodbye to Sumer and Subin since they would go for the dive at 8:30. I managed to drag myself out of bed by 8:30, but by the time I stumbled out onto the veranda, I could see the Falcon moving away from the shore. Since it was way too late to go say goodbye, I went back inside and fell asleep again.

Rose and Priya came an hour later to wake us up, insisting that it was our last day and that we should make the most of it. We were leaving at 11:00. After half an hour of coaxing, they managed to drag ME out of bed, so I brushed my teeth and followed them outside. We wandered around for a bit until Pat, Shinai and Attu joined us. Then the four of us went in for breakfast since everyone else had already eaten.

After breakfast, we decided to just go back to bed since we were really tired, AND we had to pack our bags since all our stuff was strewn across the room. After packing, we just lay on the bed, talking and just chilling for a bit until it was time to leave.

After saying goodbye to all the staff, we clambered onto the boat and we were of to Agatti. All of us were so depressed that we were leaving, that when we climbed onto our usual place at the front of the boat, we were really quiet. But on the way to Agatti, we saw SEVEN turtles, and two of them put their heads out and looked at us.

At Agatti, we found out that our flight was delayed so we watched TV after check-in Thank GOD they had a TV) Landing at Cochin was so depressing. We couldn’t believe we were home. After a lotta hugs and promises to meet up soon, and make more Bangaram trips, we were finally home.

2008-04-16T20:51:00.002+05:30

So what have I been upto the last ten or so days?

I met Pratik, Deepak, and Shinai for lunch on Saturday. Mihir came along. We went down to Coffee Beanz, but the place was packed, so we crossed the road to Bay Pride. We thought we'd just pick up sandwiches from Barista's and then sit outside on Marine Drive and eat. But Barista's was packed as well. So we moved into the equally packed Food Court and thankfully, we found a table. We ordered up our eternal favourite, Dragon Chicken!!! While we were ordering our food, some people had the nerve to come sit at our table, even though we had left my bag, and Shinai's cell phone on it! But not to worry. Pratik went over to them and asked them nicely to move it. So they did.

After lunch, (which wasn't much of a lunch but we liked it!) we went to Barista's. We ordered some chocolate cake and brownies, and sat outside and ate it. Pratik had to go after that. So after he left, the four of us roamed around the mall, but it is so way boring, we finally decided going home would be waaaaay more fun. So we went home. But it was a nice afternoon. :)

On Sunday evening, I went for Kanika's Sweet Sixteen party. It was at the Coffee Beanz' Loft. We had a really good time. Basically we danced the whole time. Sunny played us some reallllllllly good House music. So yeah, the party was fun, except for a few minor incidents from a few people, which kinda annoyed me. I mean, c'mon!

All this time, none of you gave a damn...ya'll didn't call me, or keep in touch at all. I know ya'll got together a lot over the summer, and you sure didn't invite me along. Not that I care anymore. Maybe six months ago, I would have cared. But not anymore. I know who my real friends are now(Yeah, Bhavya, I'm talking to you) And then, suddenly, just because Zee brings it up, you decide to react. Liz goes all I'm so hurt you would think I'm like that on me. But I think Bhavya pisses me off the most. All her fake shit is getting me so mad. This is exactly what I told Zee. No matter what happens, in the end, according to all if them, it's my fault, I'm the b****, the mean one, the one who is causing all the trouble.

But you know what? I don't care anymore. I honestly don't. I don't know why I ever put up with any of you in the first place. I can't believe I took all that crap from you, and let you walk all over me. I can't believe I thought you actually cared. And admitted, at first, I was hurt. I thought we were friends. But I got over it. And now I know who my real friends are. And it doesn't matter what any of you say or do anymore, because I couldn't give a damn. And yeah, I used your names here. Even though you might read it. But I don't care, in fact, I wouldn't mind sending you the link so everyone does read it. You know what amazes me? That after all this, you have the guts to come up to me and act hurt and insulted and angry, like it's my fault. Amazing. Ya'll never cease to surprise me with the amount of hypocritical shit you can come up with. But whatever, I haven't got the time, and none of you are worth the time and energy involved anyway.

So yeah, the point of this whole two paragraphs was to say, I'm Done. With all of you. I've said what I have to say. I wont bring it up again. I needed to vent a little, so I did. But I'm done now. =) So yeah, nice knowing you. Not!!! Have a nice life(because I reallllllllly care)

(Attention Other Readers, Ignore me. I am just venting. I really need to get this off my chest.)

Wow. That was kinda rude. But you know what? Today, right now, I don't care. I'm usually against being openly rude to people when you can help it, but today i think I will make an exception.

Whatever.

I am feeling way smiley now that I got all that out. =)

So yeah, Kani's party. Well, Naveen, Sunny, Arya, Sana, Kanika, Suhail and I had an awesome time dancing. And Ni was there. And he let me play with his iPhone, even though I'm so careless(but I sure was careful with that!) Oh, and by the way, the iPhone is the world's coolest gadget, ever! So now ya'll know what to get me for my sixteenth birthday right?

So yeah, I had fun.

:D

More later.

Peace.

Bangaram Island ... here I come!

2008-04-16T18:17:00.003+05:30

Guess where I'm going on Sunday????

Pratik, Naveen, Shinai, Deepak and me are going to Bangaram!!!!!!!!!!

Yaaaaay! :D

I still can't believe we're going!

It's gonna be so much fun!

Bangaram Island makes me think of ... Sun. Sand. Surf. Snorkeling. Sunbathing. Sunglasses. Scuba diving. Palm trees. Swimming. Dancing. Sleeping. Tan. Sea shells. Long walks. Bob Marley(:P) Good books. Hammocks. Music. Beach chairs. Sunblock. Beach Balls. Shorts.

I'm excited!

Can't wait!

Three days to go!

2008-04-03T13:31:00.003+05:30

Gawd, I'm bored outta my mind.

Mihir and I started tennis classes at the club on Tuesday. It's six days a week from 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM and I really suck at bouncing the ball with my racket. Hey, I can play backhand and forehand, so I can basically play tennis, so why does it even matter if I can bounce the ball up and down? Apparently, it's to improve my hand-eye coordination. Jeez, my hand-eye coordination is zero.

And on top of that, Nihaal and Niharika are in Bombay, and they're only coming back on Saturday! They left on Tuesday, while I was trying to improve my hand-eye coordination or whatever. *rolls eyes*

I have nothing to do, so i just watch TV all day. Oh, and I started drawing again. It's been soooo long. I dunno why i stopped because it is so fun! I guess I could never find the time.

Other than that, I download a lotta music. Right now I'm into Blake Lewis, Leona Lewis, Colbie Caillot, One Republic, Timbaland, Fallout Boy, Foo Fighters, Jason Mraz, Amy Winehouse, Sean Kingston, Danity Kane, Jay Z, Will.i.am, Robin Thicke, Pharell Williams, Wyclef Jean...

Oh, and I love the OST for Take The Lead. It's one of my favourite movies, and it has awesome Soundtracks!

I'm really digging Blake Lewis' album, Audio Day Dream. I didn't know he had made an album, but it's really good. I think it deserves a review! His vocals are uber amazing!

Colbie Caillot's single, Bubbly is pretty good. I love her voice, and she's got a kinda simple sincerity about her. I also love Jason Mraz's I'm Yours. I love Timbaland's album, Shock Value, it's a wholesome CD, chockful of great tracks. And he did an amazing job with One Republic, they're coming out with some seriously interesting sounds.

I'm also really into the Punk/Emo scene with Fallout Boy, Blink 182.etc etc

So yeah, I guess my music keeps me sane.

Peace out.

Features of American Socety in the south during the 30's...

2008-03-31T20:23:00.005+05:30

To Kill A Mockingbird gives you an open window on American society in the 30's.

It was common for most white families to keep a black nurse to look after the children, if they could afford it. The nurse was a child’s first experience with a black person. The nurse played a very important role in the life of the child/children she looked after, as is evident from the relationship between Calpurnia and Scout. But Cal did not fuss over Jem and Scout like other nurses did. She looked after them like they were her own children, imparting her values to them, rewarding them when they did well, and disciplining them when necessary. Cal takes on the position of a mother in the children’s lives, and was harsh when necessary, she loved the children and she showed it.

First Purchase African M.E. Church is the black church in Maycomb, and was an old shabby frame building. Most black churches in that period were in broken down buildings and were rarely painted. Tombstones in cemeteries were rare because they wee expensive, but blacks often outlined their graves with brightly coloured glass and broken coca-cola bottles.
Fits Purchase is a good example to give us a general idea of black churches. They did not have a ceiling and was not painted. Kerosene lamps were used for lighting, and there were rarely pews to sit on. Instead people sat on pine benches. Church programs, hymn books, a piano and organ – familiar features of a white church, were non existent in black churches because they were expensive. Hymn books, even if they were affordable, would have been a pointless purchase since very few black people knew how to read.

On Sundays, people did not play cards or go to movies. Sunday was a day for formal afternoon visiting, ladies wore corsets and men wore coats. The Radleys’ were considered strange firstly because they kept their doors closed even on Sundays and did not venture out for Sunday afternoon socializing. In his youth, Arthur “Boo” Radley befriended a group of young men of his age group and their activities were severely disapproved of. They did little, but enough to be discussed by the town and publicly warned. They hung around the barbershop, rode the bus to Abbots Ville on Sundays to watch movies; they attended dances at the county’s riverside gambling hell and experimented with stump hole whisky. These activities may not appear too harmful or unexpected today, but at the time, it was taboo.

Aunt Alexandra was obsessed with “good families,” but her idea of good families seemed to be people who had lived on the same plot of land for several generations. But there was some sensibility in her beliefs, for in 1930’s southern Alabama, good families were families were the fathers had a decent job, where the mothers stayed home and the family had a few maids, a cook, a nurse and a yard man. But “good” families did not necessarily mean you were a wealthy family. Good families were basically educated people who grew up learning good values and practiced them.

Mrs. Dubose and Aunt Alexandra provide us plenty of insight on how young girls were expected to behave. Girls were brought up to be ladies which meant they were not allowed to be coarse and rude.

Aunt Alexandra, Mrs. Dubose, Ms Stephanie Crawford and Ms Maudie Atkinson are a few examples of the average white women. They dressed well, were active members in the missionary circle, came from reputed families and had good manners and a good upbringing. These factors were essential in respectable white women from the south.

Scout was often chided by Aunt Alexandra and others for being clad in her overalls when, in there opinion, she should be wearing “a nice dress.”

Little girls were expected to engage in activities like skating, jump rope and jacks, but it is evident in the book that Scout found such activities dull, and would rather be tagging along behind Jem, doing whatever he happened to be doing. Often, little girls got dressed up in the afternoons and were taken to the park or to town. They wore dresses, except in the summer when they wore sunsuits. But it is evident that Scout did not partake in any such outings, perhaps because she had no interest in them and Atticus did not have the time to do so either.
It was alright for boys to fight, but girls weren't supposed to. But that’s not to say little girls didn’t get into fist fights, for most of them, like Scout for example, often did. But normally, little girls didn’t resort to violence. Good speech was a must, and correct grammar usage was extremely important. White children were forbidden to speak like their black playmates. They were not allowed to swear, and their parents set the example for them. Nevertheless, children did go through the “bad language” phase as we saw in Scout, and were reprimanded as was in her case.

Though there was no taboo against little girls wearing trousers, they were usually dressed in dresses as that was considered proper and was generally preferred. This would explain why Scout and her overalls were constantly disapproved off. Wearing pants to school was pretty much forbidden.

Hence we learn that Scout was not really a typical southern girl for she did not find joy in any of the activities that were expected of a young girl like dressing up and playing with dolls, but was a head strong independent and outspoken young person.

Scout!

2008-03-31T20:20:00.001+05:30

Jean Louise Finch, better known as Scout, is my favorite character in the book To Kill A Mockingbird. What I love about Scout is that she is so outspoken, and she isn’t scared to be different. She lives her life smack in the middle of conservative Maycomb, in 1930’s southern Alabama, where little girls were expected to wear little dresses and play with tea sets. Regardless of these social expectations, Scout is running around in overalls (and this in a period, where trousers for girls was almost taboo, and rarely seen), getting into fights with her male classmates, climbing trees, following Jem and Dill about, partaking in whatever rowdy activities they happened to be doing and getting into all kinds of scrapes. In general, Scout is having a good time, despite the fact that none of her activities are acceptable in the society she lives in. None of the standards set for young girls came anywhere near what Scout was. She did not seem to have any girl friends either, with the exception of her neighbour Miss Maudie Atkinson.

I would believe that Scout is the way she is because of the way Atticus has raised her. He has nurtured her mind, conscience and individuality and let her be her own person. Instead of expecting her to live by the rules and common beliefs of the society they live in, Atticus allows her to be her herself, and stand up for what she believes in.

While Scout does not always grasp social niceties, (like when she tells her teacher that Walter Cunningham would not accept her quarter because he was too poor to pay her back), and human behavior often baffles her (as when one of her teachers criticizes Hitler’s prejudice against Jews while indulging in her own prejudice against blacks), Atticus’ protection of Scout from hypocrisy and social pressure has made her open, forthright and well meaning.

Scout has a combative streak and a basic faith in the goodness of the people of her community. As the novel progresses, this faith is tested by the hatred and prejudice that emerge during Tom Robinson’s trial. Scout eventually develops a more grown-up perspective that enables her to appreciate human goodness without ignoring human evil.

At the beginning of the novel Scout is an innocent 5 year old child, clueless when it came to the dark side of the world. As the novel progresses, she has her first contact with evil in the form of racial prejudice, but she is able to emerge from the troubles she is subjected to, with her conscience and optimism intact.

She learns that though humanity has a great capacity for evil, it also has a great capacity for good.

Scout’s development into a person capable of assuming that outlook marks the culmination of the novel and indicates that, whatever evil she encounters, she will retain her conscience without becoming cynical or jaded. Though she is still a child at the end of the book, Scout’s perspective on life develops from that of an innocent child into that of a near grown-up.