A-B-C(Part 4)

Here is the fourth and final part in my A-B-C series. Do read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 before you proceed. Hope you enjoy reading as much as I did writing :)

SJB: SJB or Silver Jubilee Hall(I know I know...the acronym doesn't make sense if it's Hall but that's how we roll)...many evenings were spent in this place. Almost all clubs would hold meetings here. Hardly any work would be done though! You could always hear giggles from Tamizh Mandram, scary techie terms from RMI, some lecture from E-cell, and a whole lot of sarcasm from the Writers' Circle. This boring concrete structure would transform into a lively venue by evening, giving the Barn competition at times.

P.S.: The abundance of bushes and insufficient lighting in front made it a popular lovers' spot.

Trichy: This series would be incomplete if I didn't mention the city that welcomed young, pure, pampered souls like us and spat out slightly older, "experienced" survivors. We didn't just have tests on technical subjects. The city, Trichy herself was an endurance test for us.

• Can you survive a 9 to 5 power cut on a Sunday when the temperature is lingering in the 40 degree range? 
• Will you take the risk of eating in Maghai(the best place for jalebis and other north-Indian delicacies) when you know very well that you will end up with food poisoning?
• Can you survive the Elephant's Kiss(the craziest cocktail served by Wild West, a cowboy theme bar in, that's right, Trichy!)?
• Will you travel all the way to Meridien just for a measly cheese omelette or Sangam for the much-celebrated Sangam breakfast(the round trip is about 5-6 hours+Trichy heat will kill you)?
• Are you ready to travel to the Rockfort temple and climb the never-ending stairs just to get a glimpse of the idol for a split second? (You promised you'd go if you passed in the lab exam.)

By the end of the first year, the answer to all these questions will be an arrogant "Yes"!

Uprisings: We had a million of them. Against the mess food, against the admin, against particular members of particular gangs, against professors, against wardens, against boys. Before the uprising begins, you have the best feeling in the world. It's anger mixed with the desire to do something. You convince other people to join. You rebel. And of course, you lose. There is the occasional win, here and there though.

Vasantham: Who wouldn't miss this temple of good food? It cropped up in our third year, in a brilliant location. By then, everyone was bored of finding insects in their food(Buhari canteen), costly crap(Snacky) and insubstantial food(Icy/Juicy). And of course, messes. So people fell back on Vasantham. Cheap and good food served by akkas who flirted with the boys and scowled at the girls - that's the dream, isn't it? :P

P.S.: All is well with Vasantham. The only problem is its proximity to my department. So while I scoffed down vadas and bitched about how the microprocessor hated me and it was plotting my downfall, the lab attendant would be 2 metres away. Ah luck.

Walking/Winter: The evenings in Trichy were heavenly to say the least. Our campus was so huge. There was quite a bit of greenery so our campus stayed relatively cool compared to the rest of the city. And the climate would be perfect to take a long walk with just an iPod for company!
I also had to mention the winter season in Trichy. It's brilliant and if that was the weather allround the year I would never want to go back home.

Clearly, I didn't think this series through before I started. I had to think for quite a long time before I came up with:
Xerox shop: This is where the action is before CTs and exams. The class topper's notes would be stuck here for an entire week. Entire semester's portions would be inked over and over again. Chants of "Anna, exam tomorrow, please anna, fast anna" and "Anna, roll call anna, please copy now anna" would be screamt over rows of students. This was probably the most profitable shop in the campus.

Yearly fests: Like all colleges, we had cultural and technical fests. Festember was our cultural fest and I never worked for it because I decided that a fest like this deserved to be enjoyed. So instead of working for it, I spent my time walking around with my friends, attending all the events and tasting food at all the food stalls. It was awesome :)
Pragyan, our techfest was the total opposite. I thought to myself "Anyway I am not intelligent enough to actually participate or enjoy any event as such. Might as well help organize it!". My association was quite eventful. That's all I'll say!
And of course, my favourite Nittfest. It was the inter-departmental fest. Somehow, how much ever you bitch about your dept when Nittfest time comes, all is forgotten and everyone will defend the honour of their dept. Our dept enjoyed working and though we were competitive, we never let it come in the way of us having fun. In fact, the farther we were from the trophy the more fun we had.

Zoo: Our campus has two zoos - one in the Lecture Hall Complex or CLC and one outside it. The one in CLC was full of artificial animals scattered in the lawn. It was pretty funny, the variety of animals we had. Deer, Peacocks, Monkeys and even a few Penguins. Penguins in South India! After a few unfortunate graffiti exhibits on these animals, students were fined for even looking at them. I know.
The one outside was more realistic, keeping in sync with the climate and all. We had cows all over the place. In the Shopping Centre, in the hostels, in the basketball ground...hell, this one time a guy found a cow sitting in his room! We also had dogs, cats, rats(the one in Opal was called Ernie), frogs and other insects. So if you are ever in your room alone, you can be sure that there will be a few insects to give you company!

P.S.: We constantly complained about the cows in the SC. Finally some action was taken and they decided to build metal dividers so that the cows cannot enter. The best part? They actually did put up those metal dividers. The worst part? The distance between any two metal dividers is the width of one cow. I know. Genius.

NITT - for all the good and bad times, you shall be missed!

Ero*ica

She stands last in the line,
Unassuming, looking so damn fine,
No one else gives her a look-see,
And so by default, she belonged to me.

I walked up to her, feeling quite unsure,
What if she turned out to be a big bore?
I picked her up and we went to a quiet place,
I could not stop staring at her face.

She looked pristine, brittle and mellow,
Dressed in white and a subtle yellow,
With specks of black here and there,
I had to handle her with tender care.

I dared to slowly caress her,
She liked it, she did not deter,
Her soft exterior blew my mind,
Her body took shapes, undefined.

And as I bent down to take a taste,
My inane thoughts were replaced,
And I knew there was only one thing to do,
Scream out in ecstasy, "Pongal, I love you"!

P.S.: Pongal is an extremely delicious rice preparation. No one really likes it because it is over-shadowed by popular dishes such as dosa or vada. Although after reading something so weird, I don't think anyone would ever want to eat pongal again...ever :P
Btw my love affair with pongal began in college. And I still love it.

The Big Five Oh!

This is my 50th post at The Pursuit Of Normalcy.

OMFG! I AM SUCH A BIG FAN AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Could I please get an interview and a bite mark on my neck?
Interview? Ok. But bite mark...dude! Seriously?

ZOMG! This is the biggest day of my life! Tell me all about your blogging history, oh mighty one!
Shush mortal, shush! I have been blogging for about 4 years, although I seriously started blogging only since last year...I think the numbers prove that! It started of as something I wanted to do because everyone was doing it. But now it has become something much more. It has become an excuse to not work.

So what do you blog about, lovely lovey dove?
So many many things.

• I review useless movies such as Singham. Also, books that I cannot stand like the Twilight Saga. In fact, I started this blog with a review.
• I also write about my family. They're totally lovable. And crazy. Thank god they're crazy. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to write about life lessons such as Get Pregnant Before 25 Or DIE!, Movies Guaranteed To Make Your Parents Paranoid(more than they already are), and Wedding Drama.
• I write about my college life, crazy friends and of course a beautiful thing called love.

A to the MAZING! So your most popular posts are?
I have noticed people seem to like it when I am frustrated. No wonder posts like this and this became big hits.


Where else do you grace your amazing presence?
Everyone has their hobbies. And my latest one is photography. Check out the pictures here. They were all taken by me *collar-liftings* :)


Although I totally know the answer(and it is "Because I am awesome!!!" which you totally are), why should people continue reading your blog?
Well, I think I am somewhat funny. And other people seem to agree. This blog's readers have grown from 2 to a whooping 22. So thank you, readers. Thank you for reading the random scribblings of a maniac. Big louwes for you.

---

Is this interview over? Because I'd like the 100 bucks you promised me right about now.
Ahem.

A-B-C(Part 3)

Ola! Do read Part 1 and Part 2 before you read any further!

Mess: I know...you must think I am mental. I miss the mess more than anything else. Everything other than eating used to take place...

-> Fighting with the akkas for more food
P.S.: The akkas were extremely smart. While serving chutney, they'd take a ladle-full, pour half back into the container and spread the remaining chutney on your plate so that it looks like a lot.
P.P.S.: I had this friend A who was amazing at fighting with the akkas. Once when the akka put 2 "barely there" cutlets on her plate, A slyly said "Akka, the cutlets are still visible...make sure you make them smaller next time". We all died laughing in the mess!

-> Talking
Everyone will be talking about everything under the sun. The best part? You can tune into as many conversations as you want and ultimately the entire table will end up discussing about something as trivial as the lack of gentlemen and the abundance of cow dung in the college.

-> "Under the table" deals
Sounds weird? It's simple. A likes Gobi and hates Paneer. B likes Paneer and hates Gobi. Exchange and voila! A has 2 Gobi. B has 2 Paneer. Sigh, Math should have been taught like that.


Night outs: Such an integral part of an engineer's life...this. Basically, you stay awake all night. My parents always asked me why I did night outs when there were 24 hrs in a day! The question is best answered by the following pie chart(Click on it to view the font!).

Outings: Trichy's close proximity to Kodai, Pondi, Coorg resulted in a lot of trips to these places. I still remember the time R and I went to Kodai on an impromptu trip. We were bored in hostel and we decided to just get up and go to Kodai. I still remember that weekend as one consisting of excessive good food, lots of chocolate, bike rides around the lake and fun!
And with R and S I went to Pondi. We sat on the beach for hours and watched the sunrise while hot chocolate provided warmth to our hands, providing amazing business to Choco La and talking nineteen to dozen!
Another noteworthy trip was with R and R to Coorg. Fighting with the waiters at Sangeethas, fighting with the guys in the train, laughing till our stomachs hurt...


Parties: I miss the late-night "parties" we had in hostel. Hurried transportation of breakable items, looking out for the warden, adjustment of light fixtures, setting up the music for the mood, lots of dancing and ultimately chugging, screaming, confessing, laughing, crying. Ah memories :P


Quadrangle: This strip of land was the one thing that was used by Opalites for all kinds of phony purposes. This is where girls would walk around and talk to their boyfriends/"just friend" all night. This is where we would give our friends The Placement Treatment. This is where we would regress and run around, chasing a friend. This is where we, as a batch, would assert our dominance during Opal week. This is where we'd fight with the warden to shift roll call. This is where it all happened :)



Ragging: I know people make a big deal of this, but my first year was so much fun because of ragging! Wacky seniors who gave us even wackier things to do made it an exciting experience. Showing emotion in a sine wave manner(you cry first and then gradually build up to a guffaw and then go back to crying...innovative huh?), proposing to random guys, sneaking(behind their backs) to go to the forbidden places, writing assignments for them, guessing names based on their faces...all part of the fun! Although I will add, I did not rag any juniors...at least not badly(I think the worst thing I have done is make a junior sing "Kabhi Kabhi Aditi" in English while dancing around like a snake). And even if I did, I always apologized profusely later :P

A-B-C(Part 2)

If haven't read Part 1 already, you can find it here.

Gossip: "Guess what X and Y are going out!", "What!?! They were canoodling outside the library?", "And then she puked all over your room? Gross!"...and many more! Who doesn't love mindless ramblings of no importance at all? They were exchanged in hushed whispers in the class and they always began with "Oh my god...I have to tell you something. But swear that you won't tell ANYONE!". After 2-3 days, you were sure to hear the same item from another friend!

P.S.: It's a misconception that only girls gossip. Guys do it too.


Hostel Life: Hostel was what made college infinitely better. Every room, corridor, terrace had a story to tell.
-> Late night chats on the stairs
-> Walking in the corridor and talking to every single person on the way till you remember that the tingling feeling is actually an indicator that you wanted to go to the bathroom an hour back
-> Telling ghost stories during power cuts and stifling a scream at the sight of a basketball on top of the cupboard(it looked like a cut-off head, okay!)
-> A cappella performances in the bathroom at 8:15 A.M. even though class begins at 8:30 A.M.
-> Locking yourself in while having Maggi so that no one smells the aroma
-> Reserving bathrooms by leaving a minuscule soap
And, last but not the least, stupid politics. Ah it was fun while it lasted and I still miss it :)


Icy(Ice-cream parlour): Kadalai and Gujaals place! Basically, major flirting used to take place there. There have been many incidents where I'd forget all about the chocolate ice-cream slowly inching its way down the cone just to fall on my sparkly white dress. Why? Because, I'd be staring(shamelessly, I admit) at the couple on the corner sharing one ice-cream. And they won't have spoons. Can it get more interesting than that?

P.S.: Yes, I am cheap.

P.P.S.: I came to know in my pre-final year that our Icy was actually called Mt. Zion!


Juicy: Yes I miss Juicy. I had my first taste of ragging there. I skipped meals to have juice there. We knew the prices by heart and the lady at the place(fondly christened "Juicy akka") knew our orders by heart! Easy on the pocket and the exact opposite on the stomach, this was the hangout for people frustrated from classes. We learnt a lot from this place. For example, tyres apart from being used in vehicles, can also be used to carry ice. And, never stand under the tube light, unless you want little black insects to have a swimming race in your juice. And, never listen to the little boy at the Juicy. He is one sly guy and he will do anything to sell you a juice.


Kaycees: Sometime during our third year, we came to know about Kaycees. It was 30 minutes away from our college. They had decent food. They had amazing juices. I know it doesn't sound very awesome. But here comes their selling point. They had beanbags! Beanbags, you guys! Do you know how rare those are in Trichy? What about Beanbags in an Air-Conditioned room? Kaycees FTW! Although I never got to sit in them because another NIT group would always be there. Always.

P.S.: Their french fries are the best in the world(even better than McDonalds'). Just ignore the flies fried with the fries(Hey, tongue twister!).


Library: Our uses for the library deteriorated and degraded with each passing year. In my first year(first semester rather), I used to go there to study. But I'd sleep off. So I took S along once. That was a disaster. We spotted this guy staring at us, so we gave him a horrendous time by staring back, pointing and laughing, making fun of his electric blue pants, etc. Good news: we stayed awake the whole time. Bad news: Turned out EBP(or Electric Blue Pants) was the lab guide for us that entire semester.
After that disaster we never went to the library. Slowly, the library became lonely but it was frequented by the not-so-lonely. Now, that library has morphed into IIM Trichy. A new library that looks like a cross between a temple and a castle came up right across the old one. But it just doesn't have the charm(read dimly lit areas) to pull in a crowd.

Part 3 is here!

A-B-C(Part 1)

I am a sentimental person. I get attached to things/people/places. So it surprised me that when we were leaving college, I cried for a grand total of 10 minutes. That is it. A guy later on told me that his friends and he had cried for 2 hours! And I thought to myself: Am I not sentimental about college? About my friends? About my experiences...that I could not cry for more than 10 minutes about them? Let me add here that I know crying isn't the definitive sign of sadness/sentimentality. But the thing is apart from those 10 minutes, I did not for a minute think about/reflect back upon my life in college. Till now that is. So I have decided to compile from A-Z the things I miss about not only NIT, but also the beautiful(I realize it now) city it was located in, Trichy.

Anna/Akka: Those were the magic words. You prefix or suffix them to any sentence and lo behold! Your word will be their command! So accustomed we all were to this word that when I went to Bombay once and I called an auto rickshaw driver Anna he responded with a spiteful "Anna hoga tera baap!"(Your father must be the big brother)...sorry, the meaning is really lost in translation!

Birthdays: Birthdays were celebrated in Opal(the girls' hostel) in a grand fashion. The friends of the birthday girl would go around the hostel inviting everyone to the terrace/stage. Cake would be stored in a room where the birthday girl would never venture. Once the clock strikes 12, cake would be transported hurriedly, matches would be begged for to light the candles, and the birthday girl would be lured to the venue using a phony excuse(In most cases, she WILL know about the party). The strength of the crowd at the celebration depends on the cake. Chocolate Truffle attracts everyone! And of course, once the cake cutting is done, if any cake is left, face-beautifying and hair-nourishing happens. Let's not forget the bumps as well. Close to 12 :30, one can see the birthday girl rushing to take a bath complaining about how she had washed her hair just that morning. With a smile on her face of course!

Class: I miss class. A lot. I miss walking in late to class. I miss sitting in class and passing chits. I miss pretending to take notes in class when the professor looks in my direction. I miss talking away to glory. I miss getting caught by the professor and back answering thus forcing said person to unceremoniously kick me out of class. I miss walking out of class, almost with a slight arrogance, after being kicked out. I miss slipping out of class(conspicuously I may add) when the professor enters. I miss concentrating and actually taking notes(spectacular ones I may add :P) in the very few classes where I actually respect and enjoy the professor's teachings.

Dhaba: The saviour! Bamboos was our(R's and my) favourite. We never experimented. Our order was always the same: 1 Gobi 65(copious amounts of Gobi fried to a crisp), Malai Kofta(spicy with real vegetables...not just stalks and stems and leaves like in the mess) and 8 parottas. With another clique, I used to go to D3. That was where I discovered the joy of kalakki(a messy egg preparation), aloo fry(the desi french fries!) and 90(a delightful concoction of Miranda, Pepsi and Mountain Dew along with some lime juice served in dirty glasses). And of course, the one and only time I went to Sam Fox and had two delightful dosas(the specialty) and chutney laced with insects thanks to the tube light right above our heads. Ah fun times!

Exams: I know it's a weird thing to miss but I miss it nonetheless! I never really prepared for them well unless I liked the subject/professor. I would fool around the entire day spending time making timetables to study. They would change every hour owing to me watching episode after episode of some sitcom. Let's put it this way - people came to me to feel better about how much they had studied. I will always be the last person to come in and the first person to go out of the exam hall. And my scale for grading my performance was "Two digit, good. One digit, bad."! I somehow got out of that with a degree...so yay me!

Friends: An indispensable addition to the list. I made so many friends. I can say proudly that I belonged to many cliques. There was of course R-my closest friend ever, a work of art like me. Another R who I loved and enjoyed with. And there was R, who is the complete opposite of me. I am surprised and I feel blessed to be her close friend! There was S and R who I became friends with later on. I became extremely close to S, who surprisingly was like a twin. And there was A, A, A, K and S. And there was crazy S and M(Haha sounds bad I know :D). Amazing friends and amazing moments with all of them...deep conversations about life, confessions after "parties", laughing for no reason at all, dissection of characters, friendly banter, heated arguments, silent treatments, reconciliations, movie nights, food weekends...the list goes on!

Since this post is going to be a long long one, I will come up with a Part 2 and Part 3 soon :)

Note: Part 2 and Part 3 is here!

Growing Up or Growing Old?

Recently, one of my very good friends, L, told me that I had changed a lot since first year(for the uninitiated, I'm a final year student). I asked her in what way. And her reply just sent me into a spiral of despair; she said I had become more serious, more mature and I laughed a lot less. And, everyone else seems to agree, including me.

I remember the kind of person I was in school. My friends and me were wee bit mental, but that was the fun of it! I mean, we used to laugh at almost everything. We never took anything seriously. Even exams :D

I remember this one time, when we all had hardly studied except Jinx(nerd of our group). I think it was Chemistry and we had like 21 lessons or something. Most of us had studied just 5-6. And that's the truth. So, we are all sitting silently in the class with 10 minutes to go to the exam and suddenly, if I remember correctly, Jass started humming the first line of the song Right Here Right Now from the movie Bluffmaster. And the effect of what followed was almost magical because each one of us - Munch, Jass, Pri and me- started singing, producing a very very good version of the original. Obviously, Jinx was staring at us like we had gone bonkers because we were interrupting her third revision.

Now, my gang loved this song for many reasons:

1) Even the bad singers could take part in the song, that is the Abhishek Bachchan part.

2) We all LOVED imitating Priyanka Chopra and her trying-to-be-sexy-but-failing-miserably act.

3) Pretty models in skimpy clothes + a bed still equals a very very effeminate Abhishek. Only possible in his case :D

Sigh...good times!

Anyways, I have decided to stop mopping around like the entire world is on my shoulders and just be happy!

By the way, the reason this post came up is because last night my brother T and me were laughing till we had tears in our eyes. It has been really long since that happened! Oh, and we were laughing over Malcolm in the Middle...it's awesome. Highly recommended!

The Placement Treatment

So, I haven't told my readers yet...I'm placed :) *applause* Yes, keep sending me those lovely bouquets! It was a huge surprise actually...my tests were 2 days away and the moment I came to know that I got placed, my books somehow repelled my eyes(not that I was inclined to pick them up earlier but whatever). I finally feel I've accomplished something after 3 years of doing almost nothing :) Life has been good, people.

Anyway, the fun part is what comes after someone gets placed. In my hostel(Opal), we have a wide range of options to choose from...weather-dependent and what's-in-the-mess-dependent of course.

Rainy Weather

Pick up the placed person and throw her mercilessly into the extremely dirty puddles that crowd our quadrangle. Note that these puddles are a party venue for bacteria and red ants. You think it's over? Not so fast! Surround the placed girl and start kicking her, brutally. What about the girls whose boyfriends got placed? Throw them in as well! Someone's feeling left out...jump right in!!! I got this treatment, and boy, it was fun!

Thayir Saadham Day

Thayir Saadham/Congealed Goo lying solitarily in the mess? No problemo! Just ladle generous amounts onto the plate. Lure the placed girl out of her room stating some phony excuse. Surround her like a bunch of vultures around a baby harp seal. Scream...Aim...Fire! Combine this baby with eggs and she's bound to stink for a week!

Bumps!!!

The classic bumps treatment...no introduction required. Just wear your strongest shoes and kick the placed girl non-stop. She will be walking sideways for a week...guaranteed ;)

These are some of the decent things that I could put up for public viewing :D Geez, I'm gonna miss hostel :)

You have to push boundaries to make discoveries!

Well, the title of this post was the 5th and final question in my Creative Writing paper. I had to write an original story revolving around this title. Now, you've to know something about me. I hate writing in exams. I keep my answers short. Very short, in fact. Whilst people complain about taking only four extra sheets in addition to the 18-sheet booklet that they already have, I rejoice after filling up 12 sheets with crap that no one cares about. Also, I love looking at the ceiling during exams. Somehow, the answers just drop into my head. This is, however, time-consuming and suspicion-inducing. So, I had about 5 minutes left to complete a 5 mark question. No time to look at the ceiling. And then I thought about my trip to Delhi-Jaipur-Fatehpur Sikri-Gurgaon and I decided to write the following original story...of course, I toned down the language in the paper :)

Jaipur was hot. It was hot, stuffy, and full of people. And forts. Every fort was a stone's throw away from another fort. And as it turns out, I couldn't care less for forts. I don't see the difference in the architecture of a fort built in 1800 and a fort built in 1810!

And the tour guides were just irritating. They claimed to take us "phree of coast" and give us "ejclujive tour" of the forts. While they gave us facts that were too unbelievable to be facts, we stood around drinking water, juice, kulfi(it melted)..pretty much anything to keep ourselves hydrated. By the end of the second day, we were too tired to lift a finger.

So on our drive back to the hotel, it was with great difficulty that we decided to see one more fort. And that, my friends, was one of the best decisions ever. When I walked into the fort, it noticed that it was empty, with the exception of a jolly old man sitting in a corner. He told me to look around; he didn't insist on giving me a tour. I liked him for that :)

I noticed a wide staircase and started climbing it. The walls were lined with faded paintings, but there was something so beautiful about the paintings. The paintings were so lonely, but so very expressive.

As I reached to top of the staircase, I saw a circular room. The walls were almost reduced to rubble. But they left a window that stretched on for half of the room's perimeter. And as I looked out of the window, I saw something that I'd never seen in Jaipur before. The dwindling streets, the quaint houses, the colourful shops - it was such a breathtaking view. I felt like I was in Utopia. I was glad that I decided to visit that fort. If I hadn't I wouldn't have believed that Jaipur was truly a beautiful city :)

18 things to do before I hit 25 :)

It has taken me quite some time to think about the things I want to do before I turn 25 (This post has been a draft for more than a month!). In fact, it was initially "25 things to do before I turn 25", but I fell short of 7 :P


I would be happy if I did at least a few! Some of the things on the list don't make sense. It's just crazy stuff that I would like to do to have fun! Some of the things on the list are wee bit sensible. Here's to hoping I manage to do atleast half on the things in the list :)

• Go Bungee Jumping!




• Get blue highlights(and shock parents out of their wits).





• Watch Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag. Must. Watch. It.

• Learn juggling!







• Somehow convey to George Clooney that I'm in love with him. Sigh!

• Get a pet turtle or pet tortoise.








• Learn the difference between turtle and tortoise.

• See the Dead Sea!

• Watch a cricket match live. Preferably Aussies against England.

• Win a pani puri eating contest.

• Visit Machu Picchu. It just looks so beautiful in pictures!
  



• Go on an all-expenses-paid-by-me trip to USA with Appa, Amma and Tarun :) Oh and I hope that Tarun doesn't get food poisoning and ruin the trip (like he did when we went to Singapore in 2000...first and last time we ever went on a trip...)

• Watch all the James Bond movies. Especially the Roger Moore ones. My god, he is awesome!







• Say either one or all of the following: "How do you like me now, bitch?", "Oh no she di'int!","Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn!" :D

• Buy an Audi R8. *drool*

• Get a tattoo! Maybe some sexy arabic calligraphy or a dragon.




• Pick up a cockroach -wait for it-with my bare hands -here's the kicker- without screaming.
  
  



• Plant saplings. Go the Captain Planet way.

Happy Birthday...to me :)

Yes yes, it's my birthday today :) My 21st. So legally, I'm allowed to get married, get drunk, get laid. But I will not do any of those things, no siree! I shall spend my time at home, eating all my favorite dishes that were made by mom...ah, homemade food! I love this kind of "good girl"celebration too, mind you!

So, last night, I was on the brink of Dream-land when my friends started calling in succession. It was so nice to speak to them...though there was more of slurring as opposed to speaking on my part. And there were few messages that made me smile so so wide. It was amazing. I'm so glad to know I've such wonderful friends :) Love you guys!

And this morning, I was treated to so many notifications in Facebook. Man, it was so nice that people remembered my birthday, although I tend to forget everyone's birthday :P
And this afternoon, my sweet, amazing brother ordered a pizza and played "Happy Birthday" on the keyboard, while I substituted a cake cutting ceremony with a pizza-cutting ceremony :D

All in all, an amazing birthday! Here's too an amazing 21. Hope I do something worthwhile this year!

OMG :)

OMG I've 6 followers :D Actually I've never had the guts to go public with my blog. I don't know why. Truth be told, I'm my worst critic. But recently, I felt something: why am I writing these things if I do not have the guts to share it with people? And that's the exact feeling that prompted me to go ahead and say "Oh yes I have a blog and you can read all of it at http colon backslash backslash blah blah blah". Do keep reading. I will blog more often :)

Oh, and I rarely use the abbreviation OMG. I just don't like it. And I know it sounds irrational but when guys use "OMG", it just seems so gay.

Guess who's back :)

Yep...it's me, your friend, philosopher and guide...well probably not but what the heck?! Wanted to introduce myself with a flourish.

Now, back from where, you wonder?

The answer is: back from the deepest of the deepest chambers of hell, back from the place where hope and happiness cease to exist, back from NIT, Trichy. Don't smirk and raise your eyebrows....I know I'm being a drama queen. Truth be told, it ain't that bad. What makes it bearable is friends; what makes it unbearable is, well, everything else actually! Somehow sitting and eating shrivelled slivers of what we can only describe as "cabbage pakoda" in the mess with friends almost seems fun :)

So what am I doing right now?

Well, I'm surfing the waves of joblessness, I'm walking the path of uselessness - in simple words, I'm doing nothing. While many of my batchmates are doing projects in various IITs, and still many others pursuing internships in companies, I'm sitting at home wondering if I should re-read(for the 6th time) the Harry Potter series or watch Star Movies. Decisions, decisions, decisions. Sigh.

So what have I been upto since my vacations started?

Well I've mainatained a balance between reading and movies. I've already read the first 5 Harry Potter books and currently I'm nearing the end of the 6th one. As far as movies go, I watched August Rush(good movie, great music), Flash of Genius(great acting by Greg Kinnear), Badmaash Company(I liked it; word of advice though..do not watch with family. Watching Shahid and Anushka smooch is pretty embarassing when your grandparents and parents are on either side of you. My head was buried in the popcorn for quite a long time.) and Hot Fuzz(I watched it for the umpteenth time. It's so funny :D). And I also finished watching 1 and a half seasons of 2 and a half men :)

What plans for the rest of the summer?

Well, I really would like to get some studying done. You see, next semester is when I'll hopefully get placed and I can't really say that all I know about programming is that it has got 2 'm's :P

I will blog more often so look forward to a lot of posts :)

PT!

I was going through my blog and I was so surprised that I haven't posted about Porcupine Tree yet. So here goes.


My romance or obsession, whatever you call it doesn't really matter, with Porcupine Tree started in the my 3rd semester. Porcupine Tree is a progressive rock band from England. The front man is Steven Wilson. He's the lead vocalist and he also doubles up as lead guitarist. Oh did I mention that he writes most of the songs?! In short, he is insanely awesome. I love PT. Why?

• Every song of PT is unique and different. It's really hard to believe that the band that gave us Lazarus, was the same one that did a Blackest Eyes.
• For me, each song of PT is like a person. It has moods. Beautiful, melancholic, nostalgic.
• Their live performances are just A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I remember watching their concert on my laptop throughout the 3rd semester, to the point that I knew it by heart. Sigh, if only I concentrated this much on academics.
• The drummer, Gavin Harrison, is kick ass!

Naturally, when I came to know that they were coming to IIT Bombay for Mood Indigo, I was out of my mind. I knew that if I didn't go for the concert, I'll never forgive myself. So for about a month or so, I kept checking online if they had opened for booking. It was luck that I got tickets for their concert. I mean, frankly I've never really wished for something and got it, ya know. So I was happy that the tide was changing. Finally, mera number aa gaya!

Oops! Spoke too soon. I didn't get train tickets to go to Bombay and I fell sick. Ah, here's where lady luck brings me back to square one. I thought that all hope was lost, but my mom was not one who takes such things lying down. She convinced my dad to get me a flight ticket to Bombay. Of course, that's my birthday gift in advance but what the heck! Hopefully, my dad will forget about this teeny weeny gift. The probability of that happening is the same as that of Love Ishtory(Himesh Reshammiya's upcoming movie) becoming a super hit.

Anyways, by hook or crook, I reached Bombay. I reached on time for the concert and I was so super duper psyched. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I had seized it. But life is never so easy. I thought I was done with getting myself to Bombay. I did not realize that there would be a line as long as the Great Wall Of China just to get myself into the Open Air Theatre(OAT). While I tried to get entertained by the gentlemen standing behind me, who were talking about how Splitsvilla should be renamed Slutsvilla, a girl came up to me and said "Hey! There's a separate girls' queue so if you have come alone(which meant without a guy, judging by the funny looks she kept giving me like I'm a lesbian or something) you can join there". What's going on in my mind: Thank goodness I'm single and I'm a girl. And guess what? The girls' queue was empty, except for the mosquitoes though. And as you know, only female mosquitoes suck blood. But I reached the OAT with time and blood to spare. I found a few college mates and I got enough space to keep my big toe on the floor.

The concert started. It was amazing. When they came out on the stage, it was like this surreal experience. His first words on stage were "Namastey". So cute! They played some really popular songs like Trains, Halo, Hatesong, Lazarus, Open Car, Time Flies, Blackest Eyes, The Sound Of Muzak and a few lesser known ones like Start Of Something Beautiful, Way Out Of Here, Occam's Razor. It was even better to watch them live. Steven Wilson kept the crowd on their feet, which meant I got more place to sit! The band gave a stellar performance. I liked the fact that they had a good mix from older tracks and more recent ones. The crowd was kinda the type you have in cricket stadiums. Lots of whistling and all, ya know. But once the music started they thankfully stopped the irritating whistling. I was just really bummed out when they didn't play Arriving Somewhere and they played only for 2 hours. But as people say, all good things must come to an end. The experience is still fresh in my mind. It's something I'll never forget. And hopefully, I'll get to attend another one of their concerts :)