100th!

PrePost Note- Formatting has gone crazy, AGAIN! Someone HELP! 

This is the 100th post on this blog! I'm not sure of blogger counts the drafts which haven't been published, but well, I had 99 posts until this one. So. 

What's been up?

There are about 30 things on my to-do list (I am a compulsive list maker) and my schedule for the last week (when I was supposed to have struck off at least 8 of those) went completely OFF  because, well, I chose to be lazy and not do anything. So I have now officially hit the panic button. Must regain calm and composure. Ok. 

On the shopping front, the most important bits of shopping are yet to happen. I must get myself an LBD and shoes, which I am happily procrastinating in the hopes of magically becoming super hot in like a week and therefore get a dress which fits better. I ALSO have to, have to, have to, have to buy 2 pairs of jeans which I have procrastinated since ONE YEAR for the same reason. My mom yelled at me today for NOT buying something. Can you believe that? Someone being cross with me for NOT shopping for a particular thing? 

Oh talking about shopping, I have shopped a bit. Bought myself two cloth material thingies from Dilli Haat (out of which I intend to make kurtas). Whee! They're absolutely gorgeous. I LOVE. 

I NEED to get a haircut. Before that, however, I need to ask reliable Delhi friends where I should get my haircut from. Reliable Smimp has suggested a couple of places. Will refresh memory. I like the fact that I'm getting to know this place. As in, I like knowing about places- what's good where, having favourite places etc. Apart from the coolness factor (think of me in a conversation where I go, "Oooh, yea I know, that place is amazing. But you should also try this one." and "Yep I've been there! But I liked [   ] more.") it's in someway... me. Moving around and exploring different places is how I've grown up. I've moved around a LOT and have been in 7 schools (that I can remember) and one junior college. While variety could be the spice of life, at times I regret not having known people for a long time, or not having "childhood friends" with whom I'm still in touch with, or for that matter a place I can call "home" with all my heart. I really don't have a "home". They're all houses, all over the country. And the fact that the four of us (Mom, Dad, S and I) live in four different cities/towns, doesn't make it any better. I can't meet my "family" when I go "home". So when I go back to college, I won't be saying "Home was good. Yea, had an awesome time with family", but "Yea, Delhi was fun and it was good spending time with Mom." Not that I'm complaining, but this is how it just is. It's one of those things that I guess most people take for granted- having a place to call "home". I think the closest that any place comes to being home to me (consistent with the saying "Home is where the heart is"), it would be Bombay. I love Bombay. I love everything about it. It's the place I've spent the maximum number of years of my life (6 years). Those were my formative years. I can't say I made "many good friends for life" during my years there, but at least one, may be a couple. Whenever I go to Bombay, I feel elated. And somehow, it feels like I'm wanted there. It's that warm, fuzzy feeling of familiarity. Yes, that's right, Bombay seems to be the place I'm most familiar with. Bombay has MKG, the awesomest colony in the world; where Latika and I would go skating ALL OVER THE PLACE, would play badminton,  go cycling early in the morning during holidays, play hide and seek with the rest of the kids and I was always a "kachha nimbu", where we'd have SBI v. IDBI cricket and football matches, where Latika and I spent numerous afternoons playing house-house in the park, on the slides (the steeper, longer slide was my 'house' and the shorter one was hers), where we used to act like models on this rock fountain between G bldg and H bldg and pretend we're being photographed by papparazi, where all of us went for fun art-and-craft classes conducted by Kalyani Aunty. Bombay has Elite, the place where I bought all my clothes from, even my famous "paper pants" :)  It has Bombay Blues, the place where I went often with friends; where my standard order was nachos and lemon/peach iced tea. It has Bandstand where Dad, S and I would go on drives at night with Saathiya playing on full volume in my green Santro (which is now gone). It has Society, where I bought Lindt chocolate from. It has Archies right in front of MKG where I bought all my letter paper sets from. It has Amardeep where the whole of MKG bought every-damn-thing from. It has Juhu Beach which I could see from our terrace, from where (the terrace) I'd often watch the most beautiful sunsets ever with Latika. It has BEST, which I used a couple of times even as a 10 year old, all on my own (without having anybody to show me how to and take a zillion precautionary measures like I have to here in this, no offence meant, unfriendly city). It has autos which use the meter- ALWAYS. And autowallahs who're nice. And people who're friendly. It has monsoons. It has ICSE schools all over the place. It has Fort, where you can get books for like Rs. 20. It has LINKING ROAD! It has Juhu Road and Carter Road and BANDRA and Santa Cruz and all the places I was so used to and loved.  So yes, that way, those few places in Bombay seem like home to me and deeeeeep inside,  I am a Bombay Girl. At least, I want to be a Bombay Girl. 

On the other hand, probably Bhubaneswar (Bbsr, henceforth) should be home since I ethnically belong to that place, was born in Bbsr, both my houses are there and my Mom lives there now, though I've spent only 4 years of my life-when-i-can-sense-things there. Most things about those four years, I don't want to recount. What I do want to remember and celebrate are the two friends-for-life that I have taken back :) One is supremely protective of me and the other, well, I share a lot in common with the other (wink, wink). I love them both soooooooo much. Thank you, girls. They are the ones responsible for making 11th and 12th enjoyable for me. The funny thing is, most of the people I know in my Bbsr school, called me "Mumbai Matinee" in jest. I was the new girl who'd come from Bombay. The snobbish what-does-she-think-of-herself big city girl who spoke English all the time. Some of them still call me "Matinee" when we meet :) Somehow, I really like it :) Makes me feel like I'm from somewhere, that I belong somewhere. 

Well, anyhow, now Bangalore is "home" to me because I spend 9 months a year there. Delhi has become my "vacation home" because it's convenient for me to intern here. Bombay is still home in my heart and I do all that I can to keep it that way :) The only entity(thing/human/place) I have wept so much for is Bombay. Hence the fondness. 

AND S is now in Bombay. There. That just DOES it. How can Bombay not be my favourite place? 

P.S.- Turns out blogger does count unpublished drafts. But well, I don't care. This is 100th! Hmph. 

Facebook

Not enough social networking? See this :) 

I live a quarter of my life online and of late, a lot more than a quarter. 

Facebook is more than social networking. It's bonding with people, in  so many ways :) Comments on pictures, notes, ridiculous tests, status updates... all in all, FB is a prime source of goss imussay!  

BlogOwner’s Guide to Soul Satisfaction, Part II- Blogging

Now, now, different people talk about different things on different blogs on different themes. However, the one thing that connects all of them in terms of soul satisfaction of the blogger, is that of feeling that you are keeping something alive, feeding something, that there is someone listening- if no other human being, then at least your blog listens to you. 

Sigh.

This is how it all started with this blog, and it may so happen that the story is not so unique .

One fine day BO decided she needed to own a blog and become BO so that she can just say some things OUT LOUD. SHOUT OUT LOUD, without really shouting out loud. So she said- hey, let’s blog! No one will know it’s me me. So I can bitch about anything I want, make fun of whoever I want and nobody will ever know! But, well, she got a comment on her first post and she realised that some people may know. But that did not perturb her because even though some people may know, they don’t know me and that I am me. You know. Semi-anonymous. SO. Lot of bitching happened. Lot of fun-making happened. Whatever boring events highlighted BO’s day, she would go back home and turn it into a funny story for her and people to laugh at. So ANYHOW. There came a point when BO couldn’t go through life’s gifts, good and bad, without thinking “OMG I MUST blog about this!” or “I am SO blogging about this!” or “What should I title this post?” or “What should this person’s moniker be?” or “Haha. You are so paying for it on my blog.”

How to derive maximum utility out of this activity:

Pre-conditions- OBVIOUSLY get a blog, set your template, all that jazz. I’m not turning into google’s Help page here. Love you too!

Step I: Write, Vent, Make It Fun and Funny
Well, what I do is make it all seem funny. You could make it angsty or mean or sarcastic or whatever makes you feel most content. The joy of turning a mundane incident into something funny is that when you read it over, you not only laugh at how mundane it really is and how it actually is something funny (because everything has potential to be funny if you laugh at it), but also makes you all philosophical and you realise that there’s no objectivity in anything. Everything is subjective. One thing can seem serious and life threatening, but if you turn it around, it may sound stupid and silly. It also makes me very, very happy if I can make someone, anyone, laugh. Everybody has their own troubles. But such few entertainers, no? So I shall be funny girl. I volunteer! And more than anything else, it makes ME laugh out loud when I go back and read these very posts. It’s like reading your old journal and getting embarrassed. Or thinking about your old school crushes and going “OMG how could I EVER have had a crush on him? Ewww.” 

Step II: Soak-it-in. The Glory The Printed Word Brings
So, when you hit the publish button, it’s out there. It’s out. Everyone can read it. Not that everyone is reading it, but lets be positive. Hee. It’s technically not printed, but it’s out there. It’s been published. So it counts, ok?! When you see your piece up there, no matter how trashy, how silly, how poorly drafted, how badly edited, it’s still yours. And you are the author. The fact that something could empower me to call myself an author - of whatever bull it may be, of whatever little significance and consequence it may be, but it’s mine – makes me feel so so so powerful (and you know how much BO loves power *evil, manic laughter*). It’s almost analogous to the joy that gardeners get out of watching their plants grow. The joy pet-owners get out of watching their pets grow. The joy parents get out of watching their children grow (or not, well, if the kids are brats, but umm, you get the point don’t you? Or may be even they get the same amount of joy. Not that BO would know.) *Continues with the same poise and wonder-filled eyes as before the slight interruption in thought flow* The joy designers and artists get after completing a piece (you go, S! and Suk, for that matter!) The joy lawyers get after resting their case (*giggles wildly* That was for fun.) Such is the joy a blogger gets after hitting the ‘publish’ button. You’re published, yeay!

Step III: What Others Think
Some people may write only for themselves, but I write so that I’m read. I DO like having my words read, no matter how trashy, how silly, how inconsequential. SO. The aftermath is… almost the best part…. Comments. Wheeeee! This is where seeing that one email saying someone had something to say about what you said brings much joy to you. Therefore, I say this form of therapy is prolonged therapy. You keep getting the returns for a couple of days or so. Then there are oral comments. People you talk to, tell you they agree/don’t agree (in my case they just laugh and go “haha ya” since most of my posts are not like opinions or anything. Bleh.). This way, there is also the illusion that your blog is read by more people than what you seem to think. So you can, as someone put it, you can pick a happy figure for yourself :)

So that ladies and gentlemen, is blogging, at least to BO. It’s not just writing something and posting and then writing some more and posting. BO must confess though, that she had once launched another blog where she jotted down her dreams as and when they came to her. There was one who was a magnificent interpreter of those dreams because those interpretations made complete sense. Of course, then BO realised she shouldn’t be putting her dreams out in public like that. Too scary to think of putting so much of yourself out there. So then blog was removed. But BO continued to consult said interpreter when something was bothering her particularly much much. 

Coming back to the point, blogging is a marvellous way to satisfy your soul, kind readers. Well, of course, for materialistic BO, it is about the publishing and the knowing you’re being heard and the getting comments and being read bit which is most therapeutic, but yes, she also does write for herself at times :) More on that in the next part to Guide to Soul Satisfaction. Pwomise.

Mood Indicators

1. Us and Them (or anything on The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd)- Content, bored, want to get high on something, but since Jimi Hendrix said music is the safe kind of high, self chose music.

2. Quad party type music (basically club music, or really “shady” music which one must be ashamed of listening to Eg. Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Britney, Bebot and Promiscuous Girl type songs)- Stressed. Need to relieve all the tension with some mindless music. Head would simply explode if subjected self to Floyd or suchlike when stressed. Imagine listening to Time when you’re stressing over having wasted the past 2 hours zoning out and being totally unproductive! Need some mindless whee-whaa-wham-jam type music at such a point.

3. Pussycat Dolls- VERY stressed. VERY. If watching the video on youtube then even more stressed than “VERY stressed”. This is exam time, project submission time music.

4. Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield- Love the world and want to live life properly and reminding self that must do that. This is generally followed by manic list making.

5. Kya Mujhe Pyar Hai (Remix)- In love with something/someone/someidea/somesuch.

6. Cry by Faith Hill (or Going Under by Evanescence, though nothing beats Cry for me :))- Time for revenge. Plotting, basically. And very very angsty.

7. Anne of Green Gables OST- Very very very pleased or want to be very very very pleased.

8. Enigma- Working seriously, but there’s too much distraction, so I need to put earphones and music on, but I get distracted with songs which have words, especially words I know (which is most of the songs I like) so must listen to instrumental music.

9. Beatles- Happy :)

10. A.R. Rehman- Want to concentrate on the music and feeling okayish but want to be cheered up.

11. Sultans of Swing+Lady Writer+Romeo and Juliet+Tunnel of Love- Something exciting is going to happen after 30 minutes, but I can’t wait. I’m very, very restless so must spend that much time some way and try to keep my mind off said exciting thing. Listen to these 4 in a row :)

12. Led Zep- At peace. Not restless. So can happily listen to and fully appreciate 10 minute long songs.

13. Euphoria- Full joy is coming. Obviously.

14. Standing Still by Jewel or Love Will Come Through by Travis- Frustrated (but I so so so so so so so totally love Standing Still. It’s been one of my all time favourites since like 5.5 years.)

15. Hands by Jewel- Must not quit. Must persevere!

“If I could tell the world just one thing, it would be that we’re all okay” :)

16. Murder on the Dance Floor by Sophie Ellis Bextor- Need inspiration (don’t ask me why).

17. Rest unclassified- Nice mood. Peace ho!

Also, songs keep getting added to/taken off this list obviously. It’s rather fluid.

Character

This post is about a Sag friend of mine (read: delightful little creature. Not little really. Rather tall and wiry) (Do not kill me, said person) who has been mentioned in passing and only in passing on this blog so far. It is ridiculous that he has not been written about at length, primarily because of the character that he is. Must not deprive blog of such great fodder, therefore this post. ALSO, must formally introduce blog to said character. First thing, what must character be called? I say Character. I have several vewy interesting names for Character, but I have been strictly forbidden from using them in public :( Censored! BO has been asked to censor said names. SO. Character is a Sag, so obviously BO hearts said character. Character ALSO happens to be a number 6 which is a great thing, in BO's considered opinion. Also, it's funny because BO knows Character through this blog. They were introduced through this blog so blog must be thanked. Further, Character has several eccentricities, like most characters.

So anyway, one funny thing about Character. In the recent past, he was madly in love with Deepika Padukone. And thought she would want to want him. And that she was gettable. So he'd try every way possible to get to know her. For instance, this once, while catching up with old friends, Character got damn kicked to learn that P's driver was also Deepika's driver. Much joy came. But soon subsided.

Ok I can't do this! It's really difficult to write funny things about Character. It JUST doesn't sound as funny as it really is. I'm failing at this. Not a good thing. SO, instead of trying to make fun of Character, I will write nice things about Character.

a) Taught me how to like proper music, i.e. NOT Britney Spears (which is now purely for stress-relief)(I love crazy quad-party music like The Way I Are and Bebot etc.). So now I like proper un-embarrassing music.

b) BO also gave fabulous names to Character but cannot reveal on public forum. Argh. Most entertaining I tell you.

c) Is Sag, so obviously BO must adore. I have started noticing patterns in my life. It is getting increasingly difficult to think of anybody in a positive way these days. BO has tried to sit down and shortlist some signs which she likes and she found major flaws in everyone. Not a good thing. But thankfully, Sags have fewer serious flaws. OBVIOUSLY librans are flawless, almost.

d) Character likes physics much much and BO feels slightly intellectually challenged in that regard, but yours truly makes up for it in much knowledge and expertise in other fields, thank you very much.

e) Character falls "in love with" (which BO suspects is only mere infatuation, the sort a 14 year old would probably feel) random people all the time. Many people, at the same time. And rings up BO for advice and the like. Obviously BO gives excellent advice. So Character thinks BO must write for a newspaper/magazine... "Ask BO".

f) Character can read 1000 page ebooks in one day.

g) Character once made fun of BO when she asked him how he stays up so long. Character said he clips his eyes with drying line clips. BO actually believed statement for a moment. Then realised stupidity and laughed at C (Character is too long.).

So there is C for you, mighty old readers. NOT the kind of post that this was supposed to be. Sounds more like a Facebook testimonial or something, but still. At LEAST C is now on the blog. BO was most upset to learn that C HADN'T been written about. How strange, considering what humour and entertainment he brings to BO. Most of all, all Sags must be written about- S's (is that right? Or is it S'?? I don't much care.) command.