We're Moving!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Hello there!


This blog has now moved to....


http://www.freshtales.blogspot.com


I thought, now that we've moved into new room, why not move blog location as well?!


See you there!

Hello, intelligent readers. The new term has begun and everything is going so fast! I really don't have much to say. Story for the day is how Wash has now been renamed as Foosh. I think Foosh is cuter, but she thinks Wash is cuter. BTW, the much anticipated moving into new room has been done. The manual labour bit was bone-breaking and muscle-ripping. The post-move arrangement of goods was also quite boring but the END result is fab. Fab. We love our room. It's spacey, has way roomier cupboards AND wifi! It's truly a blessing to finally be a part of the majority of students who enjoy the fruits of wifi in their room. We often ask people to drop by and check out the newly done room. Yes it's all for the compliments. And the compliments are rather copious because most people are astonished at the spacey-ness of our new room compared to the mess that our old room was. But not any more! Foosh (wow, it goes with Fish. Fish-Foosh. Cute!) and I now have Woogs and Aats as neighbour who devour that Rakhi show and enact funny scenes for us. So you're in the middle of this boring article when Woogs enters swiftly (almost like a mouse- very realistic description. She's TINY.) and is there in front of you. Immediate reaction is to start laughing at the very sight of Woogs. Then she starts her one man performance and has Foosh and me in peals of laughter. And is laughing herself. It's crazy.

Also, turns out I'm not the only one who obsessively followed hindi TV serials during the break. Woogs is secret (not any more) partner in crime! So is Gurgles, who is the official authority on things TV related.

Among happy news which involve acquisition (*eyes light up*), Purple has got me very pretty earrings from Stonehenge. You see I really want to go to Stonehenge (especially because of something Linda has written about :)) so I'm all the more excited. It's basically mini trithilon earrings. Have also acquired new nikes! This is relatively old news. But new news is that have finally purchased weights to get a complete workout.

Foosh is very compliant with regard to working out regularly. The only thing is she needs to be woken up but she can be surprisingly obedient and disciplined. Very astonishing for her roommate (read: BlogOwner). However, target #2 of fitness-attack is Purple who is like Rock of Gibraltar. Nothing works. Nothing. Very upsetting, but shall figure way out soon. Suggestions? Out of the Loons and the Girls, Woogs is most diligent at being fitness devotee. Last term she stuck on to her workout video for a good number of days and also saw good results! Should take tips from her on diligence.

I feel proud. I finally have a "fitness and workout" label. Whoopee. But the chicken burgers must stop. MUST.

One thing that annoys me:
"Why are you going to the lib? It's only the beginning of the term."
"What are you doing? Why are you doing? How are you doing? Are you doing ? Are you doing ?"
"Why are you on jstor?"
"What are you reading?" (when NOT with a book but in front of laptop)

I think every single person in law school gets quizzed in a similar way and every single person dislikes it, then why do we do it to each other? Let's stop!

Things I'm Looking Forward to Most

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

When I return, I get to:

1. Shift to new room.
2. Therefore, declutter, arrange everything in a new way, add new things, throw out (yes, this time, I promise to throw out old stuff that I don't need anymore but keep hoarding thinking "what if I need it some day...?"), use all my new bedsheets and pillow cases (esctatic) and do up my wardrobe again.
3. Meet and catch up with Purple, Fish, Woogs, Aats and everyone else. So much fun! I haven't really been in touch with most of them and vaguely been updated on the others, but going back and listening to their stories first hand should be great as always.
4. Take notes in class in my new pretty notebook (yes, this is why #4 excites me).
5. Make Secret Thing with Fish happen! *evil grin*
6. Borrow that book from Pengy and get to hear her screech happily!
7. Look at (and analyse) people's new clothes and haircuts with Fish and pay compliments.
8. Get a haircut at Groovy or Mystique and a pedi at Fee Chu.
9. Watch Love Aaj Kal when it releases and Ice Age 3!!!!! (Which reminds me, I have a girl crush on Deepika Padukone and celeb crush on Imtiaz Ali)
10. Give Fish her Sambalpuri kurta and Secret Gift and watch her scream in joy (hopefully).

Wow, three posts in an hour is good.

Ideas!

Clearly BlogOwner is not the most regular blogger on blogosphere. But she wants to be!

So intelligent and innovative reader, tell me, should I go weekly? That is, post every, say, Sunday? But will that be sufficient? What if something really exciting happens on Monday and I must talk about it, then must I wait an entire WEEK to be able to post on my own blog?
On the brighter side, a weekly blog will make it a routine. I might look forward to publishing every Sunday and won't feel guilty the rest of the week for not posting. But then again, what if I allow myself to post a "Quick-Non-Sunday Post" on a non-Sunday so that I can prove to myself that I can post whenever I want because it's my blog for goddake. Is that a good enough solution? What if then most of my posts become such "quick" posts? It's almost like cheating on Sunday.

What about a bi-weekly? Say, Sunday and Wednesday? If something really exciting happens on Monday, then I possibly can wait 2 extra days to publish it. But what if I forget about it? As in, the essence of blogging on a personal blog is in reporting events fresh from your life (or other people's lives for that matter). Also, what if I have an opinion on something (event X) that is happening in the world. Say X happened on Monday. I may come across as a tubelight commenting on it on Wednesday. Actually, I won't. Because everyone knows it's a bi-weekly blog, so it's not like I didn't know about X, it's just that you gotta wait to read it. That sounds good :)

But EIGHT posts a month.... I don't like 8. Let's make it 9. End of Month Post would be like a quick extra. A round up of sorts.

But what if I want to post everyday? Or every night, for that matter. A sort of roundup of the day's events? But is my life that eventful? Heh, actually it is. It's just that most of it isn't bloggable. May be I could find more bloggable things and blog everyday?

For now, I like the bi-weekly and a-post-a-day ideas the most.

Declutter

I am not one who has all her things organised all the time. I do have a sense of organisation, though, because I like my things in order (not in a crazyvirgo way though) and I keep putting them back in that order from time to time. But there are times of... disarray. I have noticed that when the folders on my laptop, my table, my wardrobe (my side of the steel almirah which I like to call "my wardrobe") and my room in general are in a mess, my work and work related areas in my life seem to be in a messy state as well. By messy, I only mean disorganised and therefore not producing optimal results.

So far, I have successfully re-organised the folders on my laptop and CCleaned it! CCleaner is my new favourite software. It really makes a difference. :)

When I get back to Bangalore, I shall clear out all clutter and this should be easy because Fish and I are moving into a new room. Woogs and Aats are also moving into the same hostel and we're neighbours! Fun times ahead!

Yes, this was a pointless post.

Bring Ba Back

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Have been very wedding-y these hols primarily because of the non-stop supply of TV serials where someone or the other is getting married or has just got married or doesn't want to get married or is actually not getting married because she's already (secretly) married but everyone else wants her to get married. Of late, there has been a transition (rather exchange, in terms of character) in the roles of the eldermost woman in the family and the youngest adult generation of women (bahus). During the Kyunki era, Ba was the quintessential warm and caring woman who showered her motherly affection on every child, grandchild, great grandchild....and so on. Her desecndents confided in her and she tried to help them out. She was the understanding go-to person in the family. That's when the Ba's of the world were in vogue. Gujju families were in. A couple of bahus out some 10 were the rotten apples, and these were the vamps.

Now, however, evil Rajasthani Ammajis seem to be popular. The prototype Ammaji is this strong and mean character who is the all-powerful decision maker of the family/village community. The setting has moved from Urban Bombay Rich Gujju joint family to rural/semi-rural (mostly) rich Rajasthani joint family. Today, the bahus and daughters are the embodiment of "values" and "Indian Culture", but these Ammajis torment them, forcing their own sense of morality which is (mostly) an even more patriarchal and orthodox version of the bahu's sense of morality.

Talking about "indian cultulre", here's a piece by Pratap Bhanu Mehta on the recent Delhi High Court judgment which decriminalised consensual, adult and private homosexual acts.

Absolutely daft criticsms of the judgment can be found here.
Their quotes show just how ignorant they are of what the judgment really says and what it does not and the implications thereof.
Banjrang Dal's response is hilarious, really. They (along with the Maulana) clearly don't know how judgments are delivered. It's a function of the judiciary and not the "centre", which is the executive. Further, the Maulana has completely ignored the fact that the judgment only decriminalises adult and consensual homosexual acts. This means sex-related crimes against minors are STILL crimes.

And really now, is homosexuality a thing of the "West" as Baba Ramdev (for whom I have obviously lost most of the respect I once had) states? Not, is the answer. A brief response consisting the very basic arguments can be found here- http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/chandnichowktochicago/entry/gay-rights-not-a-western
This book by Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwai also sounds very interesting- http://www.amazon.com/Same-Sex-Love-India-Readings-Literature/dp/0312293240/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246681651&sr=8-1 (Same-Sex Love in India: Readings from Literature and History).
I don't have much of an opinion on the matter except that people should stop forcing their own sense of morality on others (and therefore, obviously in favour of gay rights because they're as much human as you and me and as much citizens of this country as you and me and pay as much taxes that a heterosexual person in their position would pay). Unfortunately TV Serials like the ones which are on all the time just continue to enforce this paternalistic attitude of fundamentalists and this needs to stop.

The response of Ammajis to their bahus' allegedly immoral behaviour is shockingly similar to that of these religious groups to progressive laws. The castigation, the bold statement of what is "indian culture" and "indian tradition", how one is expected to behave, the unequivocal subjugation of an entire segment's rights for the benefit of others is common with Ammajis and the Bajrang Dals of the world. What I find blood-boiling-ly annoying is the certainty and authority with which these groups decide what others must do.

At most, these can only be "self-appointed custodians of tradition" (as Pratap Bhanu Mehta puts it and several others have as well) and we all know how much real weight lies in the opinion of any person/group which is completely "self appointed" (read: zero).