Exam Time Joy

It’s exam time. It’s fun!

Things I like about exam time:

1. I get to buy and stock up on interesting looking and highly functional (and some not) stationery goodies. I love it all- purple, pink and orange post-it prompts, multi-coloured plastic flags, highlighters, highlighter refills, different coloured pens for underlining and making margin notes, special marker for plastic flags, yellow legal pads filled with notes, exercises and ASP notes, stapling sheets of freshly photocopied notes and articles, lots of spiral bound bundles of articles which have that distinct new-paper smell. All of it.

2. I like studying in what is called the ‘new mess’ in my hostel. It was meant to be an extension of our mess, but it turns into this study hall when exams are close. There are approximately 12-13 tables. Each one is rectangular slab of granite or something of the sort surrounded by 6 chairs. One such table is usually occupied by a single person. When there are too many people, 2 share a table. The table is usually covered with prep material- heaps and heaps of photocopied stuff and notes- and accompanied by stationery *slurp*. (I tend to get like that around stationery- lustfully long for stationery and admire new and rare stationery.) I love the mess in this state. It reminds me of the Gryffindor common room under similar circumstances. I often compare life around me with life in Harry Potter and it’s soooooooooo much fun. It really makes the dullest of things seem so much more fun. I only wish I had a cushiony armchair like the one in the Gryffindor common room. It would then be perfect. Well, I do have a soft cushion which is often dressed in a silk cover. I just pretend that it’s my own cushiony armchair *giggles* The new mess is comfortable, people are silent and look like they’re engrossed in their prep, there’s a cooler around so water is not a problem, there’s also a loo nearby so that’s taken care of, and of course, no wifi signal. Perfect study conditions. When you feel you’re slacking off, you look at the others around and draw inspiration from them and buck up. In case you’re turning into crazy human and are studying excessively, there will be people to calm you down.

3. I enjoy making schedules and to-do lists. So I make these lists on the last page of my yellow legal pad and strike things off as and when I’m done with them! It almost reminds me of Hermione making a colour coded study schedule for Ron and Harry (which they did not follow). And when there’s too much to do and I don’t have the requisite material to study for one course, I tell myself that “On the brighter side, you can study for Course II!” This reminds me of the time when Harry and Ron couldn’t write their essay for some professor when Hermione brightly pointed out that “On the brighter side, you can work on your essay for Snape (or someone else!)!” and they pondered on the thought whether that really was the “brighter side”. *sigh* I love the series.

4. At times, I enjoy the anticipation before exams. Everybody is curious to know how much other people have done, whether they’re doing as much as them, etc. While it can get quite vile in the real world, I try to think of the time Harry and gang took their OWL. When you think about it, it’s more or less the same, except it tends to get to us in real world. So the 5^th book is like a note to self at such moments.

5. I feel productive during exams because this when we really learn our courses. Sadly, there usually isn’t enough time during the term to read for class on a regular basis. In a way this makes us fast learners- or that’s what we tell ourselves.

Now I shall whiz off and get back to studying.

Making Someone's Day

The fact that someone's day was made because I emailed them, makes my day :) And getting an email from them makes my day any day :)

Kate Winslet and Places to Eat

I adore Kate Winslet.

1. She's multi-talented and is awesome at everything she does.
2. She doesn't live on a piece of lettuce a day.
3. She is normal and just SEEMS so happy (obviously, nobody but her knows whether she really is. But at least she LOOKS more than content.)
4. She's a libran. Hee.
5. She's almost never on gofugyourself.com and when she is, it's under the "Well Played" tag (of course gofugyourself matters *sniggers*).
6. I love this song of hers.

What if



Here I stand alone
With this weight upon my heart
And it will not go away
In my head I keep on looking back
Right back to the start
Wondering what it was that made you change

Well I tried
But I had to draw the line
And still this question keeps on spinning in my mind

What if I had never let you go
Would you be the man I used to know
If I'd stayed
If you'd tried
If we could only turn back time
But I guess we'll never know

Many roads to take
Some to joy
Some to heart-ache
Anyone can lose their way
And if I said that we could turn it back
Right back to the start
Would you take the chance and make the change

Do you think how it would have been sometimes
Do you pray that I'd never left your side

What if I had never let you go
Would you be the man I used to know
If I'd stayed
If you'd tried
If we could only turn back time
But I guess we'll never know

If only we could turn the hands of time
If I could take you back would you still be mine

'Cos I tried
But I had to draw the line
And still this question keep on spinning in my mind

What if I had never let you go
Would you be the man I used to know
What if I had never walked away
'Cos I still love you more than I can say
If I'd stayed
If you'd tried
If we could only turn back time
But I guess we'll never know
We'll never know

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Among other things, I have tons of work to do (as usual) but have gone out to town twice in three days (not so usual). I think I should review restaurants that I've been to. I have a mental checklist and every time I go somewhere new, I tick it off my list!

Places I've been to in Bangalore (in no particular order):

1. Casa Picola (Residency Road)- I've been here 3 times and it's AWESOME. I absolutely love the cuisine. Mediterranean (obviously Indianised). It's not too expensive and the portions are great. Fish and I have always ordered this thing called "Chicken Parmigiana" (Sorry, I'm TERRIBLE and uncultured etc wrt exotic names) and Chicken Tettrazini or some such thing and split. They're both amazing and now they're our standard order at Casa. There's this creamy mango drink which is superb.

2. Casa Del Sol (Residency Road)- It's right above Casa Picola and is this classy, jazzy place with an open air part too. Decent food but not great. QUITE expensive, but amazing ambience. You can there with the girls and relax and talk and just unwind.

3. Oye Amritsar (Churchstreet)- Very popular place. Very good Punjabi food (not excellent, though). The lassi which they serve in horribly HUGE glasses are to die for. The place is designed to look like this typical roadside dhaba in Punjab. Fun. But there's no air conditioning (or there was none the 2/3 times I've been there). Portions are quite big, so it's good for like a huge bunch of people going out for lunch.

4. Saigon (Churchstreet)- Right under Oye Amritsar. Good food, nice ambience. I don't really have many comments about this place. It's a nice place to have dinner. Quite expensive though.

5. Shezan (somewhere in town!)- Good, semi-cheap Chinese food. I liked. If you don't want to spend a fortune but hang out at a nice, comfortable place, this is a good pick.

6. Bamboo Shoots (town!)- NICE lunch buffet for 150 bucks. Really good. The dessert is yum. ambience isn't to die for but hey, it's good enough for a 150 bucks!

7. Three Quarter Chinese (a.k.a. 3QC) (Churchstreet)- Really Indian and Chinese food. I was there for the "Christmas buffet" and it was great, though buffets are wasted on me because I can't eat that much in one go. It's a charming place with great food. I'd recommend!

8. The Only Place (Museum Road)- Stunning Cheese Fries. You give me fries and cheese and I'm happy. I loved the food. The Chicken Burger is also quite good. I loved the service because those guys are really prompt and they have special order-takers who know the menu well. So, that's a plus. It's this quaint little place with good Mediterranean food (even though I've only tried their chicken schnitzel and it was good, but I hear most other things are good as well) and happy people all around so it scored with me.

9. Oye Shaava (Churchstreet)- The food is just like Oye Amritsar's, except, it's got this classy ambience thing going on. So I like this more. Really really good lunch buffet.

10. Hotel Empire (Churchstreet, I think)- I've heard the lunch buffet is GREAT with lots of chicken stuff and it's only for 99 bucks. I have had this thali thing for dinner for a 100 bucks and that was great as well. So I'd recommend this place for when you're really hungry, want chicken, are short of cash and still want good food (obv the ambience isn't to die for, but it doesn't really matter).

11. Boca Grande (Koramangala)- NICE place. Neat. Good Mediterranean food. Excellent portions (I couldn't finish my maincourse thingy). You MUST try the Cake Shake that they serve. Happy place, nice decor, they also have games that you can play alongwith tv screens etc. I also hear their mud-pie is really good though I haven't tried it.

12. Gelato place (I don't remember the exact name!) (somewhere in town!)- NICE dessert. Cozy interiors. Nice dessert, again.

13. Corner House!- Everyone knows about Corner House. Dessert place! Confession: I've been to one only ONCE.

14. Cafe Fresco's (Cunningham Road)- REALLY REALLY nice dessert. Honestly. LOVELY place. Sigh. I could LIVE there.

15. Chungs (Cunningham Road)- Nice, cheap Chinese food! It's really close to Fresco's so doing both is a good idea.

16. Reliance Cafe place in Forum (Koramangala)- Nice granitas! At least the one I had was nice. It was yellow on top and green towards the bottom. Charming! If you're in Forum and are bored, you can go there for a break.

17. Donut Baker (Brigade Road)- Cute. Awesome donuts.

18. Couch (MG Road)- Really nice place to hang out. Expensive, though. They have this mango drink which is SINFUL. So is the oreo cheesecake. Really nice. I like lots. There are racks of books, couches (obv), nice loud music, and decent food.

19. Pecos (town!)- Law school fav. It's a pub where they play EXCELLENT music. MUST MUST go there. I like the dosa+chicken curry combo. Yum. I pilfer popcorn which comes with the beer which my friends order. Nice place. However, it's quite dingy so if you don't drink AND you don't like the music there, then you're doomed (I LOVE the music there so I like the place). I hear the pork ghee roast there is amazing (I don't eat pork so I don't know).

20. Mojos (town!)- Owned by the same people who own Pecos. Similar place with similar food. I LOVE the chilly chicken there. However, this is much less dingy, with better circulation, space and places to sit. TV screens all over so it's quite nice. But the music isn't as great as Pecos'.

21. Koshy's (town!)- I went there with a bunch of friends for breakfast. Nice food, cute place. Nothing exceptional though. Good, nonetheless.

22. Indi Joe's Sizzlers (MG Brigade Churchstreet)- Nice nice. I like much much. Awesome portions. Good place to hang out with friends, though it's quite expensive.

23. French Loaf (Churchstreet)- Nice bakery type place with yummy desserts. Not very expensive. I'd strongly recommend for their desserts. I obviously had this chocolate thing which was SINFUL. Very cute little place and it's right across Blossoms so a book-shopping trip + dessert at French Loaf sounds good!

I can't remember any more of the places I've been to, though there are definitely more. 2 years in Bangalore, have got to have gone out to more than 23 places! But 22 is not bad by my standards. I rarely go to town! I am obviously not going to write about the McDonalds, KFCs, Coffee Days and Baristas of the world.

Rapidex English Speaking Class

First, Fish:

Contact
Fishspeak-(true blue dally punju way) cun-tackt
It's almost like The Bin's pruh-jeckts (projects), papsi(pepsi), eye-run(iron) and cun-trackt(contract). But then again, she IS dally so she's forgiven.

Second, Woogs:

Year
Woogspeak- eee-ur

Available
Woogspeak- Avaaalabul

Via
Woogspeak- Veeeyah

Third, Purple:

Cabin
Purplespeak- Cay-bin (He's going to object to this and say that he himself admitted he was wrong and therefore isn't really embarrassing etc. HOWEVER, he still said it, even though just once (and God knows how many times before that :) *giggles*)

Excess
Purplespeak- Excass (in true blue dally punju style, but then again, he is :) *runs for cover*)
Now, now. He may object once again and say that he never said it, BUT (and Fish would testify) he said it once while saying something angstily.

Now that I have sufficiently anticipated and countered all objections that Purple may come up with, I may safely proceed to next human.

Fourth, Hotness (This was shocking given how pseudobrit she is :) *much love*)

Piracy
Hotnesspeak- Pee-rah-see
*laughs hysterically*

Fifth, BO (ONLY because the above would KILL me if I didn't admit own mistakes, which are rather numerous. DO NOT JUDGE ME.)

Photo
BOspeak- Phaw-toe
*blushes red and crimson*
And I'd pronounced it this way ALL my life.

Drawer
BOspeak- draw-yer
This isn't that bad.

----------UNDER DURESS-----------

Altruistic
BOspeak- Al (as in Cal)-truistic instead of Al (as in All)-truistic

---------END OF DURESS------------

*shoots nasty glance at Fish for making me write what SHE wants on MY blog*

POINT TO BE NOTED is that all of us have however LEARNT and corrected ourselves, (almost all with the possible exception of Woogs, hahaha) though during moments of angst and anguish, true ganwaarness surfaces. At times. Very rarely.

I Want

This is a post where I cleanse my system (for now) by talking about some of the things I've always always always wanted to do but haven't YET got the chance. Certainly, will happen sometime. Soon, hopefully.

I've always wanted to take proper dance lessons. Salsa, jazz, ballet, and general shiamak davar type dance. I guess I LOVE pilates (during those rare phases when I'm really into it for more than a month) because it makes me feel like a dancer. Hee.

I've never taken part in any official dance competition type thing (except the ones you do at school or rep school etc.) but I clearly remember my favourite compositions.

O Humdum Suniyo Re (Saathiya)- We did this for our school annual day in my 8th. I STILL remember the steps!

Bootylicious (by Destiny's Child)- This was for a competition where we were representing school. Was SO much fun. The boys in the dance could NOT dance to save their life but I guess the girls saved the day.

Korean Dance to a Telugu Song- Yes. That's right. We did a beautiful beautiful beautiful Korean style dance in nice pink and lavender gowns with lovely feathery (and rather huge) fans (which, btw, we had sat down for HOURS and made. Had stuck one feather at a time on the skeleton!) to a telugu track which was a welcome song. This was the first piece during our school annual day in my 10th. There was this amazingggg fan-ripple-effect sequence which was truly awesome. Sigh. Ooh, also, being one of the tiniest and quite lithe (sigh, those days), I also got to be up front and do nice spin type things (which left me extremely dizzy) in the middle of the dance. I wish I could go back and do this again.

Me Against the Music (Britney Spears- I LOVE her music, ok?)- I think this is one of the very few songs which I had entirely choreographed on my own and taught the group. Yeay! Ok, well, in all fairness I had tons of help from S who is an awesome dancer (her "I'm a Barbie Girl" in 7th Std was SOOOOOOOO cute :)), but still. We did this in 9th and it was for the farewell party for those in 10th. It was reallllllllllllllly good and everyone loved it and thought it was very well done etc.

I remember dancing to Larger Than Life, LOTS of hindi songs like It's Magic, Dil Dooba, (this was fab fab fab) Chudi Jo Khanki, Bole Chudiyan, Chandu ke Chacha ne (by that band called Asma) etc. Tons of medleys. The credit for choreo-ing most of these songs goes to AG and SD :) Both were superb.

11th and 12th were 2 years when I couldn't dance because, well, I was in this junior college where no one ever did anything.

Then came law school :)

We did this medley- Mahi Ve, Sajna de vari, Nach Baliye for EMD last year.

Then we danced to Dholi Taro for one of the social events for this International Client Counselling event that our university was hosting. It went down really well with the crowd. Almost everyone had something to give to the choreography but it was mostly the hard, hard work of K, G, and C :) I think the super shiny (due to the gazillion little mirrors stitched on) lehengas had a LOTTT to contribute to the effect. In FACT, I have found a video on youtube which has a part of the dance! Look! Oh and there are two people in blue. The first blue person who has her back towards the camera when the video begins is M, an adorable, adorable girl. who's a trained dancer. I'm the other blue in the circle. See if you can spot me :D



(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgzFX4IL3nY)


We danced to Love is a Crime (Anastacia, Chicago OST) for WMD! It was soooooooo much fun. Aq and C must be given full credit for the stunning choreography, which was mostly easy jazz which people who weren't trained in it could pick up in 3 days (that's usually the maximum amount of time we can get here to prep for a dance thing! An hour or a couple for 2-3 days, MAX). Our outfits were highly cool. Black pants, white shirts and RED ties. Very smooth. We used chairs as props for about a minute and then pushed them off the stage.

Please, someone send me off to just dance and get lost in it? It's so therapeutic. Sigh.

Ok, now I'm tired of typing and MUST get some work done so I will stop.

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. 

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.

Libran Feels Like a Gemini- but there's more too!

I was going through posts labelled ‘Self’ and bumped into this. And I spiralled into self conversation.

BO1: How marvellously interesting!

BO2: I know! What was I thinking while putting some of those things in? I mean, seriously, now *blushes red and crimson*

BO1: Haha. Well, it’s great that I’ve done 2.5 of those things. I never thought that time that I’d really be touring Tuscany so soon.

BO2: Yea, and while I was there, I didn’t even realise it was on my list. That I even had a list.

BO1: And come to think of it, another one would have been ticked off had I not had school in May this year. The Egypt trip.

BO2: Right! S and I used to dream up our Egypt trip with much enthu! Which brings me to this. Remember S’ crazy, old archaeology days? When she was obsessed with Egypt and archaeology and how she wanted to become an archaeologist and wear those hot short khaki pants and go around touring and excavating in Egypt with intellectually hot co-archaelogists?

BO1: Haha yea. She almost sounds like Ross.

BO2: S will SO kill me for this.

BO1: No, not really. She LOVES being featured on this blog, remember? S would keep asking “When is the next post coming? Am I on it? Please put me in there somewhere!”

BO2: I know! Adorable she was. So much love for this blog and stardom.

BO1: Ok, getting back to the point…. I should like totally update that list!

BO2: Yes! It would be soo much fun to see how what I really, really want to do may have changed a wee bit.

BO1: But look, most of the things on that list would still go up on my 2009 list.

BO2: This, ladies and gentlemen, is why I LOVE blogging.

BO1: I know! *kisses Azureline in the abstract*

Talk about having both sides of the conversation *giggles stupidly* So now there’s two of me for you to handle, o patient and most intelligent reader. I almost feel like a Gemini.

When Stressed, Here's What BO Does....

When I’m stressed, I do one or more of the following:

1. Clean my room. Clean everything.

2. Put facepack/peel off type thing. Mmm. Pleasure.

3. Work out. Manically.

4. EAT. A lot. Whatever I can lay my hands on.

5. Blog.

6. Write un-bloggable material furiously.

7. Shop (but that’s really rare because I need a lot of cash for that).

I’m not sure whether I should put this on the list because I anyway do this all the time- talk to myself. A lot. For hours. It’s most fun! I mostly just imagine one person I know in real in some imaginary situation talking to me, and I talk. It’s amazingly therapeutic. You should try it.

Right now, I’m doing 4, 5 and thinking of 2 and almost 3. I’m too lazy to do 1. 1 would do me some good though. I should consider 1.

Then I just tell myself, stop being so stressed, silly! The world is good and so are you. Cheer up and be awesome. And then I see all the magic all around :) (DO NOT LAUGH).

PS: My template is still messed up. Help!

Really.

They may say Gil doesn’t exist, but well, he does. They may say Diana doesn’t exist, but she does. They may say they’re only fictional characters, but this fiction is that fictional character’s reality. So if one person could imagine this to be real, it can be and is real. Probably only Gil and Diana realise that they exist in someone’s reality. I’m sure at least one person would agree with me and another smile and say, “Very magical indeed”. Weaving fiction into reality is most enjoyable. Thank you very much.

And she comes. Again.

Since this is the only place where I can talk and nobody interrupts me, I shall indulge in a little gloating. But well, even though I know it would be absolutely delightful for you to read volumes on how awesome I am, I shall act pricey and not write one long epic on it. You ought to wait for it and it comes… bit by bit :) (that almost rhymed!)(I should like totally become a poet. See?! I’m so multitalented (1) )

So anyway, things have been up. Exactly what, cannot be divulged on a public forum (sidenote: and this is where people start paying attention to this post for hidden messages. *grins*). The point is that poor old BO’s life is no longer as dull as it used to be. Well, she can always say (like Anne did *sigh*) she lived it all out in her imagination, but it’s more than imagination. That reminds me, BO has been watching a LOT of Anne. Remember? That miniseries on Hallmark? Anne of Green Gables, The Sequel, The Continuing Story? Road to Avonlea on Kermit where Gus Pike, Felicity’s beau (gosh, I love that word. It’s so… elegant! Much classier than ‘boyfriend’. Yurgh.) goes away and meets with a tragedy but they’re reunited again when they just die of all that lowe? Well, nevermind. You MUST watch these on youtube or some such place. Absolutely worth it. It’s based in Prince Edward Island in Canada.OR, you could read the books! Easy peasy.

So when BO and the fam were out holidaying in Italy (yea bay-beh. Envy me.) (2) S and BO met two sisters who were taking a trip together. One was 59 and from Ohio and the other, 8 years younger (the ‘baby’ as described by the older one. really cute.) from Florida. They decided to go on a holiday with each other and spend some quality time. So, over dinner in Innsbruck (oh, there’s more, I promise) (3) they told S (the sis-tah, remember? The coolest of them all) and BO that someday, we’d also go on such a trip. BO and S looked at each other and just knew where they’d go together. *sigh*. Of COURSE. Prince Edward Island!

Visit this link for more information, now would you?

http://prince-edward-island-travel.suite101.com/article.cfm/avonlea_and_anne_of_green_gables

Prince Edward Island, Anne, her imagination and world, her strength and ideas, Gil, her bosom friend and kindred spirit Diana, Mathew and Marilla and even the annoying Rachel (AND Josie for that matter, but we would rather focus on the bright side, that you very much) are so very inspiring. I have never been touched to this extent by any work of fiction. *sigh*. BO’s all emotional now! BO and S are head over heels in love with the series and the feelings it inspires in them. Oh, and the soundtrack. Gorgeous. Never has any other piece of music uplifted my spirits to this extent. *sigh*. So. If you want to feel such immense joy, inspiration and the will to imagine your way through everything good and bad to make some extra magic happen, watch/read (I suggest watch! Because of the visual pleasure that the setting brings. It's warm, fragrant and delicious) Anne :)

Until next time!

Peace!

Now you know I have made it a point to do all the fun things that I like doing and doing new things, etc and all that jazz which makes people happy and which makes you want to run around singing ‘aaj main upar, aasman neeche’ type songs. You must know, dear intelligent and in-touch-with-your-soul reader, that we must not let what other people think is good or desirable affect what we want for ourselves. This becomes especially important if you’re marooned, somewhat, in a place full of 500 people who were very, very bright, interesting and had crazy different unique dreams in their heads before they landed up here. Now what happens to most people in my place of study, o discerning reader, is this. Some of them get ultra enthu to ‘kill the system’ and become all ‘studly’ and ‘awesome’ and worshippable by doing the things that most such worshippable people have done before. Follow precedent, basically, regardless of whether this is in unison with their crazy unique dream. Some think the system ‘sucks’, that it’s absolutely unfair and they don’t need to give a damn because that’s cool and they any way don’t care about their grades. They’re assured of a good job when they graduate from this place. Then there are some who’re just… there. They study, do their thing. Work when it’s time to work, chill when it’s time to chill. Form the bulk, basically. So there are the studs (including the almost-there studs) the theres and the this-place-sucks-so-I’m-going-to-dope-my-way-out-of-its. Now, there are also some people who’re in touch with their subconscious and so happily live happy lives dreaming about wonderful things and making them happen and do make them happen, etc.. Now, the best part is that these are some people who could’ve easily been a part of the theres but because they truly love their life, they vibrate at such a high frequency that people stop and take note of them. Well, most people do, barring some perhaps who’re so obsessed with doing the right stuff that they just forget to live their life.

So. Now, I’m not passing any value judgment or saying one is better than the other. All I’m saying is this. Why should we let other people’s dreams become our dreams? Why should A’s dreams be better than my dreams? Why should I care about whether people think I’m doing a better job of my life? Think about the enlightened ones I mentioned in the previous paragraph. We do take note and salute them in our minds and hope we could be as happy as them.

Then there are some cliquish people who think that the ‘best thing is do is ____’. Excuse me? Please add a ‘for me’ in there somewhere. You can’t decide what the best thing for XYZ to do is. And even if you think activity A is better than activity B, it’s only what you think and that perception is based on what your experience has been with activities A and B. Right? Right. So you don’t go around crowing one thing the most ‘studly’ thing to do, because honestly, it’s not that tough and doesn’t take an Einstein. And would only Einstein-ish things be worthwhile? Everything one does requires a certain kind of Einstein. Why should one type of Einstein be better than the other? Those who know what I’m talking about also know that when you portray yourself to others, you shouldn’t come across as a someone obsessed with one kind of Einstein. Einstein himself was not obsessed with one thing! Nor was Leo, nor was Newton, nor was or is anybody at all who is worth knowing and learning things from. If everyone just let themselves be and did everything for the kicks of it, without really thinking about how awesome it makes them in others’ eyes, then everyone would be studly. So status quo is this. Everyone here is still very very bright, except, some have progressed to being tube lights who’re in series resistance and glow very brightly when the voltage is high and because the voltage is high; and there are some very few who’re in parallel connection who glow brightly regardless of whether the others in the connection glow brightly or not. They really don’t care. And they’re the happiest of them all.

It’s just that you learn about the best and the worst in people only in certain circumstances, and the happy enlightened ones don’t really care about how well others are doing. You can’t keep measuring yourself against this scale which consists of the achievements/failures of others. It’s incredibly difficult for us to do that here, but I think that’s why we’ve all come to this place. I guess most of us are in the ‘temperance’ phase of our tarot-story-lives. You’ve got to keep going through it, till you learn the lesson :)

So just do your thing and don’t measure yourself against any such scale, alright? Please. Because you’re a lovely, beautiful, intelligent, creative and happy person. And X’s doing cool things doesn’t make you uncool. You’re cool yourself if you just do your thing. And I’m telling myself all of this more than anyone else, so PEACE! And yes, some of it is directed towards the general universe at large. Thank you very much, and PEACE, again!

On Popular Demand- The Loons Part II and the Answer to "Wassup dude?"

Hottie- Hottie is well, hottie. She was the resident hottie of my floor when we were on the same floor. BlogOwner now sorely misses going to her room, going through the 500 books that she’d be reading at the same time and telling her how hot she is. Hottie was BO’s most special person because they used to work out together. However, Hottie ditched her for speed walking every walking with other workout buddies. Fine *in that tone* But BO still loves Hottie!

Kan Kan- Can Can is actually the name of a move which cabaret performers do. It’s also the name of a specific exercise in pilates (which, by the way, totally rocks). But that’s not why Kan Kan is called Kan Kan. Kan Kan, quite uncannily (heh) has the same ring to it as Bam Bam. Kan Kan is a sweet little Aquarian who has been debating much too much of late and gives BO a complex! Kan Kan can cannily canter around acad. Actually it’s not a matter of can. She does it. I just wanted to play around with the cans *giggles*

Bin- Bin is the lover of pink and orange. When she falls asleep in class, Fish and BO look at each other and mentally decide that it’s now legitimate to fall asleep because The Bin is asleep. Guess who this is. Clue: She loves papsi and writes pruhjeckts.

BlogOwner has been feeling rather important of late. She is actually a senior in college. That’s just it. People now come to her for gyaan. She is helping people with project writing- not that that’s a great thing, but still! Ok, this is not interesting. My dreams of being a top class carrom player some day are probably more entertaining. Nay. What would I want to read in this post after, say, 2 years when I’m looking back? I’d want to recall fun moments.

It’s generally difficult to record them these days because there are just too many. A lot of those moments involve Funtan and BO calling each other ‘funny’ (the most common message sent by/to them is “you’re too funny” even though it may be out of context, because that statement is always true) and breaking into peals of laughter. Some were spent having nice long gtalk conversations with Guru on the most interesting things that people generally don’t know about either of them. Some of these moments also include Bam Bam cracking mean jokes on poor little BO, who takes it all too well and doesn’t say a thing. They’re funny but at times BO certainly wishes she could like propel Bam Bam at a velocity greater than escape velocity and send him off! For good! Fish and BO are almost always together which implies that Fish is automatically a part of all this. However, at times BO likes spending zen-alone-time when she only listens to her favourite music and thinks about nothing at all. She also talks to herself, but that she has always been doing. This once, ORPAR caught her talking to herself in class and messaged her to notify her of the fact that it is very noticeable! BO has often been caught off-guard when she’s happily walking towards her room, thinking she’s the only one around, when suddenly she notices one of the ammas or a senior around. BO could just evaporate at that instant. It’s that embarrassing! But it can’t be helped.

BO is too cool and has bought shiny (not really, it’s plastic) new pink earphones which have this funky clip-on utility. She still doesn’t know what the point of being able to clip the two earphones to each other could be, but she’s still excited. And they do NOT look like an eight year old’s property. They are very matured and funky. Thank you very much.

Oh, and BO bought a new phone! With golden thingies! With cute little concentric semi circular stuff! Yeay! But for some strange reason, she’s feeling bad about leaving her old phone which had an excellent camera and never broke even after being dropped like some 3897064 times. Good phone.

Ok, that’s it. Off you go!

Talk To Me

…. But not on the phone!

You see, I have this thing against talking on phone. Especially when I’m talking to someone for the first time, I’d rather talk face to face. You see, it becomes very difficult (or so I assume) to imagine what I must be looking like in real if you talk to me on phone. I, erm, sound like a 2 year old. Okay. So, I’ve said it. Whew. My voice. There is something in my voice that makes me sound sooooooooo… young, almost kiddish! When I was in 7^th Std, someone, who had ONLY heard me over the telephone, had offered me a dubbing role in one cartoon. He thought I was in 2^nd Std or something and my Dad had a tough time convincing him that I really WAS 5 years older than what he thought. When he showed our Kullu-Manali trip pictures to everyone in his office (in the same year), all those who had heard my voice (I was a regular caller, “ May I talk to blah blah, pleeeaaasee” I literally used to sing this line out. Okay, this once when I was in 3^rd Std, I had called my Mom’s office and the convo went something like this… “May I talk to my mother, please” “ Who is this?” “I’m my mother’s daughter” “Hahahahh. And who is your mother?” “Oh! Erm.. she’s [name]” *blushing red and crimson*) were expecting to see a toddler or something perhaps because they were shocked to see such a grown up 11 year-old!

This voice problem of mine (which at times turns out to be a good thing as well. S says she and others find it hard to believe that I can ever be rude (even when I AM rude) because no matter what I say, it sounds very ‘sweet’. Right. Now THAT must be a surprise to you all. Acidic BlogOwner isn’t REALLY that acidic, then. Hah!) has been thoroughly tested by me. I was always the voice on the answering machine at home, so, *sigh*, I have heard it many, MANY times. I have even recorded my own conversations with TC and Abhu, where I’ve purposely thrown in all sorts of voice maneuvers or whatever (like giggles, expressions of indignation, horror, etc) just to hear what I sound like. Was I shocked! I do sound…. Cute, may be. But erm.. I sound like a very, very, VERY smart, intelligent and discerning 6 year old.

(The above is applicable only when I’m in a normal frame of mind and body and I’m not down with cold or fever or hysteria or something.)

My second problem with phone conversation is that there is no facility to ‘pause’. One has to keep talking. Blank phases make you sound stupid. You can’t multitask or talk to 5 people at once or pretend to be absorbed by the beauty of the lettuce sandwich kept on the table when you’re on the phone. You just HAVE to……talk.

Problem number three is that if the line is *bleep*ed up then you have to keep going like “Pardon?” “Sorry?” “er.. WHAT?” and pretend that you’ve heard what they’re saying and feign a “Er.. Okay..” or “Hmm..” or better yet, a little “Hmehemmehe” which is “Hmm” in a giggly way, so that works at all times, in all situations, except when the other person is asking you a question.

So. Yes. Don't call me, okay? IMing is SO much fun! You can send smileys and winks and nudges and whatnot. We should take advantage of such technological advances, innit?

P.S.: Okay so half the post has been written within pairs of parentheses. I had no other place to fit those!

P.S.2: My voice isn't THAT kiddish, also. I think I've exagerrated a little, but who cares?! Same thing!

And The BlogOwner Rambles On...And On.....And On.....

~So today is Mother’s day. Happy Mother’s Day to those 2 or may be 3 moms who might be reading this! Y’all are the best, no, The Best!!

~S and I are grandmoms! How cool is that? The egg(s) (I think there was just one egg) has hatched. I was neatly perched on the sofa next to the window in my hall, reading something, when Papa Pigy makes a sudden dash for the window. My, was I petrified! I thought the pigeon was trying to attack! Since when have pigeons become birds of prey?! So anyway, that wasn’t the case. PP swiftly carried Baby Pigy (BP) out the window and most probably to Momma Pigy. Where else would he go? So once again, the egg has successfully hatched at our place but the BP has been carried off to some tree house perhaps. S and I already miss having a cute little ready-to-hatch egg in the house *sniff* Weren’t we entitled to at least ONE good look at the adorable little birdie, you wretched parent pigeons? Answer me, you!

~I was down with a sore throat on Thursday which rapidly gave rise to full fledged fever on Friday. Of course, the fever subsided by Saturday but I still have traces of cold. I chanced upon this wonder gharelu-upaaye for sore throat at this site. I tried the honey-ginger drink. Of course, I knew honey and ginger are both good for relieving cold etc, but I had never tried out this recipe. Here is a shot! (These days whenever I run to get the camera, S runs to the kitchen. She KNOWS I’ve been cooking (or doing anything which is remotely connected to cooking) when I look for the cam!)

This drink was not only uber delicious, but totally moisturised (or whatever) my dry, sore throat and 2 such cups (one Thursday evening, one Friday morning) were enough to completely get rid of the sore throat. I got my voice back so easily, all thanks to this drink from the heavens. Amen. And Awomen.

~I was doing my usual astro-friend-check tally# last night and I realised that I was indeed very weird. I get along with everyone! Yay! Now THAT’s a cause to celebrate. Well, of course, one can attribute it to my Social & Lovely$ Libra nature. Of course, I always maintain that I absolutely adore the fire signs especially sags, moreso, because S is a sag too. How perfect are we!

~Isn’t this new way of bulleting cute?

# Hello-oww. Don’t you know what an AFCT (Astro-Friend-Check Tally) is? You just count the number of aries, taurean, gemini, etc friends you’ve got. As simple as that. It can bring some things into perspective, you know. Don’t you do it? Well, if not, then you absolutely must. No, I insist, you must do it!

$ That, in some creepy way, sounds SO Fair & Lovely-ish. YUCK! I am very sorry, dear reader, that it does, but believe me, it is NOT intentional. We, at A Pot of Thoughts, absolutely loathe those idiotic F&L sorts. Thank you very much.

'Back' is the word

Yoo hoo!

I am SO back. It pains me to see that I’ve been missing out on so much fun in Blogosphere.

Hmm.

It’s strange. I can’t find anything to write about! God. Is this the dreaded ‘writer’s block’? I hope not. May be it’s just the ‘writers’(who-haven’t-written-since-a-mighty-long-time) block ?

Well, there IS one thing that I do want to talk about- The Beatles. My current ultimate-favourite band *sigh* I simply cannot find a Beatles song that I don’t adore. It’s weird!

*thinks*

*keeps thinking*

Okay. Nothing more to say. Well, there are tons of Abhu, S and TC related stories, extremely entertaining ones, mind you. The problem is that I’m still thinking which one of those to recount in these holy pages. So until I figure that out, I’ll do the tag that Isha has sent my way!

The Three Things Tag (hee, I named it myself!)

3 things that scare me: Fear, fear and fear

3 people who make me laugh: S (max!), Abhu & TC (BIG time), Suk & Raghu (erm.. I’ve mentioned 5 people, but you see, they must be mentioned in groups)

3 things I love: travelling & shopping(THAT, is the motivation behind travelling, you see), Belgian chocolates (the ones that look like seashells), cool, breezy evenings

3 things I hate: bad table manners (I CANNOT eat with people who make funny food-noises. Yuck!), sugar boiled candies getting passed as ‘chocolate’, bad breath

3 things I don’t understand: there are a hell of a lot of things I don’t understand

3 things on my desk: random papers, ipods, watches, calci, books, pens and their holders.. my desk is in a perpetual mess!

3 things I’m doing right now: listening to The Doors, typing, breathing..?

3 things I want to do before I die: 3 is too less a number!!

3 things I can do: forgive (I am the shockingly non-grudge-holding type) and forget, crack pjs at any given time, give long lectures!! P (remember, soul sister Sag?) calls me Grandma!

3 things you should listen to:







Songs apart, you must listen to your Mom!

Okay. Now these are only THREE. There are tons of other songs that I think you should listen to :D

3 things you should never listen to: anything that makes you feel unhappy or morbid

3 things I’d like to learn: I did a whole post on this one! Well, for starters, I’m learning Mandarin this summer :D Don’t laugh!

3 favourite foods: Does chocolate qualify as ‘food’? Well, absolutely anything my Mom makes, mint chocolate chip ice cream from Baskin Robbins, Samosas from Vineeth, BJB Chaat :)

3 beverages I drink regularly: since water doesn’t qualify as a beverage, I’d say Bournvita and Tropicana Mango Nectar (do these qualify as beverages?)

3 TV shows/Books I watched/read as a kid: Barbie Book, Newshouse, Famous Five and all those thick, hard cover Enid Blyton books

I tag…. Hmmm.. Raghu boy, Suk, TC and Abhu (4 people will do? Please?)

I also did this video DNA thing that I spotted at Isha’s. Here’s my VDNA!

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

P.S.: Any comments on the new template? Please say it’s nice! No pressure or anything though ;)

Famous People Crush-es

I know this is weird and illogical but I am getting an urge to chronicle all my famous-people-crushes :) It’ll be hard since I don’t remember many, but the ones that I do remember are incredibly incredible (ie. How could I EVER have a crush on THEM!?!)!!

1. Hee hee.. Shoaib Akhtar. I know I know. Disgusting choice you would say. I agree! However, during the India-Pak test series back in 2004 I was a crazy 14 year old. I had collected like millions of snaps of his but was totally annoyed when I found out he used to like SONALI BENDRE. I DO NOT like her. He has bad choice. Just like me. Hehe.
2. Orlando Bloom. Do I need to elaborate? But yes, it was a very short-lived crush :)
3. Mel gibson. I was totally crazy about Mel Gibson for like 3 days. But they were 3 crazy days. (This was after watching What Women Want) (I like Helen Hunt) (I loved the scene where they were dancing around in her new house)(Awwww)
   
4. Michael Ballack!!!!!!!!! One of the few FPCs (Famous Person Crush) of whom I am not ashamed! He is totally adorable, plays football (and is HOT at it)(and the captain of the german team) AND a libran. How perfect is that? Longest FPC this was. Sigh. About 2 weeks. Sigh.
5. Kunal Kapoor. Who wouldn’t have a crush on him? He is totally cute AND a libran AND a number 9!! Brilliant!
6. Shiney Ahuja. Actually, it would be more appropriate to say I had a crush on his character Daya in Gangster. Totally adorable character.
7. Erm.. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. I have no idea why I kind of had a crush on him and still sigh when I see him on TV. :S It was after I saw an interview of his on this channel and felt he was very genuine and very much like a Mr.Perfect.
8. Okay. This is the strangest of them all. Salman Rushdie. I am reading ‘Midinght’s Children’ and for no apparent reason have taken a liking for the author. Oh, by the way I just found out he is a Gemini. Now I know why he gets bored so easily ;)!

Crazy or what?!

When O when.

One more day to go. Urgh. Can’t wait for this year to end. One more day and I’ll be free! Yeay!

My plans for New Years? Well, nothing, really. Most probably I’ll be reading something, listening to music or simply be asleep at midnight. Well, what else do you expect? No, I don’t write down resolutions. I don’t need a new year to resolve to do something or refrain from doing something. I do that everyday. Lessons are taken everyday :)

How was 2006? Frustrating would be the best word. I did, however, learn a couple of things and unlearned some others. Well, I did have my good, bad and ugly this year as well. It wasn't really “bad” as such, but not even a good year to remember. Oh, I read all of Linda’s astro related books a gazillion times this year. Woo hoo!! I started listening to a different genre of music which I am so very in love with now. What else did I do this year? Hmm. I can’t seem to remember. Well, lets let this year just pass. Whew. It’s over and I am happy that I am done with it. Almost done. Whatever.

Hope the next year is good for all of you! Well, I guess it should be, since lucky Jupiter is returning to its own house of Sag after like 12 years. So, that’s good. Do whatever “you’ve always wanted to do” this year. It should be a good time to make changes too. :)

Happy New Year.

P.s.- Yes yes, I KNOW I am not some astrologer or anyone, but hey, any normal person who knows even a teeny-weeny bit about the star signs would know what Jup in Sag means in general!

It's been long week!

NOTE: None of the beach pictures have been photoshopped or edited in any way (apart from being resized). The others have only been edited to adjust the contrast and lighting. That is it. They are REAL pictures. The beach pictures are straight from the cam! Enjoy!


I am back, folks! I am back! Okay, calm down, take a deep breath. Hmm. Yes. Better.

The trip was great and the reunion was pure fun. Whenever I was in the middle of something exciting, I would keep thinking- “I just HAVE to blog about this. This is crazy fun!”. Now, however, I am almost at a loss of words. I don’t quite know what all to say. There’s just so much that it would be unfair to say some and leave some. Saying it ALL isn’t feasible, considering the condition of my fingers after eating 75 billion hot-hot-fried-in-ghee-samosas and playing 11342 carrom matches and infinite rounds of Bluff and Rummy and eating cotton candy at the beach after eons and what not. So I’ll just post some pictures and say something about them. Fair enough or what?

Panchlingeshwar

Credit: Me and only me :)

This is 'Panchlingeshwar' which is about 1.5 hours from Balasore. This temple-type-thing is up on the rocks of a certain hill. We lost our way while driving to this spot and spent about 45 minutes going round and round in some tiny villages. That was.. erm... some experience. The walk up the hill was enjoyable though. It felt a lot like Manali. Dad and I were quite fit (hey! I do pilates, okay?) and could walk up without getting very worn out, but S and Mom were, *ahem* a little slow and resembled zombies by the time we reached the actual spot.

Credit: S, edited by me

This is a shot of the hillside taken by S while we were on our way down. Pretty, isn't it?

Khi Ching

Credit: S (or Dad.. don't remember!), edited by me

This is the Khi Ching Temple which is about 5 hours from Balasore. So that day, we travelled for about 11 hours (including breaks) by car and spent about 40 minutes at the actual place. It was worth it though. We did see some interesting sites.



Credit: S, edited by me

This is the top most part of a buried temple. Why aren't they excavating and digging this place up?! Ridiculous! A temple is buried right there and no one bothers to unearth it. Shame on the Archaelogy Department.

There was a heavy metal (no, this isn't the 'heavy metal' effect. heh) rod out there. Folklore has it that it belonged to Bhima and has been there since ages and if you pick it up and take 3 rounds around the temple-top then your wishes are fulfilled. Dad and I did that together and gosh that was fun! It was back-breakingly heavy (if at all there is such an expression), but then again, I had my pilates techniques of pulling belly button to spine and activating the power-house working for me!


Credit: S, edited by me

There was this little museum at there where we saw this very fascinating statue. Prosthetic legs are nice :) Khi Ching was built in 940 A.D. out of pure granite rock (I suppose).
Why were our ancestors so fascinated by busty ladies? I saw them in every carving I saw on every temple! Our culture... sigh! (srcoll down and check the Updates for more!)




Credit: S, edited by me

Another one. All very pretty and intricate work, but even more intewesting poses.

Chandipur



Credit: S

Sunrise. Shot taken from our room. Absolutely NO photoshopping. It was really this wonderful.



Credit: Dad

The blue sky and the waters. This is a gem of a picture. One rarely finds such clean, blue water in India.

Puri Beach- My favourite beach in India.



Credit: S

Fishermen! We saw many interesting sights at 6 in the morning at our very own beach. The beach, the Jagannath temple and the swing in the second floor of my grandma's place are the regulars where all of us hung out when we were little.



Credit: S



Credit: Cousin

Isn't this place just awesome? (did you notice how clean the water is?)

My ipod(s)!!!



Credit: Me and me!!

Yes! I now have not one, not two, but THREE ipods (2 gifted by my aunt(mami))!! Isn't that just the ultimate? Well, i listened to a lot of music on my trip and even found a topic to talk about with my younger cousin (bro)- Floyd and psychedelic rock in general :) He plays the guitar, the sitar and what not. AND he's got this awesome hair which fascinated all the other cousins :) Yea, we cousins and uncles and aunts had truckloads of fun this time.



Credit: Me

I just could NOT leave out the lovely sarees that my aunt(masi) got for S and me. They have special Lucknowi work done and the colours are the most beautiful ones!


We even went to the Sun Temple, Konark. I thought everyone must already be knowing about it and would've seen pictures and blah blah, so didn't post anything on that.

Well, anyway, that was MY holiday. One helluva week. Loved every bit of it.


UPDATE!!!!

So yes, on being asked by S, I am doing this update.

1) The statue up there has 'prosthetic legs' because this legendary person called 'Kala Pahad' (which literally means black mountain) had gone all over Orissa destroying the famous heritage sites. So the 'legs' have been put to support the statue.

2) So, okay I WILL after all this fuss post some pictures from Konark since S believes her photography at it's best has been manifested perfectly in those pictures. Right-ho.
So here they are.



Credit: Dear old S

(FYI, none of them out there are family)



Credit: The Missy (S)

This is a shot of the marvellous carvings on the temple. These carvings depict the various poses in some Indian Dance. I am not sure if it was Odissi or Bharatnatyam... er.. but yea it's one of the two!



Credit: The Sag. S.

This is a shot of one of the wheels of the chariot which is also a sundial. It was very interesting to watch the guide tell us the exact time using this sundial. There are little beads which tell you the EXACT minute. How cool is that?