This blog is so NOT dead!

Erm......Hi....been a while since you and I met.....How's it goin' ??......sigh....Alrite, I know I know. I haven't written in quite a while( a year, to be precise) and I've just shamefully neglected this blog. But, to be fair( to me), I have a valid reason.

I started blogging in Manipal and blogging just didn't seem the same after I left Manipal. I mean this blog was born there and I was just so used to sitting on my bed and looking out of the window which was right at the foot of my bed when I would loose track of things while blogging. Manipal, the place and its people, were, in a way, the inspiration. I had just so much to say back then......I still have a lot to say.....I just couldn't find the right words(sounds cliched, right??)

I left Manipal to transfer to a University in the United States and its been nearly a year since I left India. Technically, I did come back during the Winter and I'm also here for the Summer( 3 months. Awesome, right??). But its just not the same as actually living here, you know?? I mean, its not like I don't like it there....its a decent enough place..the people are really friendly and I especially like their brand of humor..maybe, because I get it as opposed to some people that I know.....Its just that its not India( Duh!) And, I miss all things inherently Indian...like the authentic cutting chai. Starbucks tries to pull off a fairly decent imitation...they call it the Chai Tea Latte ( Random thought: If you translate it in Hindi, they're calling it the chai chai latte. Which is kinda absurd. Coz they're mentioning chai twice. Which is kinda absurd. Did I already say that?? Sorry. I mean, we get that it is chai if you mention it once. You'd trust me to ponder about something like that, right??)

Anyway, I'll have to leave in nearly a month and my heart bleeds at the thought. Everytime, I leave India, dramatic as it may sound ( but then, noone ever accused me of not being dramatic, right??), its like my heart breaks in a million pieces. And, every time I come back, I go down on my knees devoutly and kiss the Indian soil.......Erm.....ok, so I don't really do that but I would if it weren't for the scores of people all around me at the airport, who would get the impression that I need to be admitted to an institution for the mentally challenged.

Ok...So, I think I've blabbed enough already. This should keep you satisfied for a while. More about where I'm right now and what I've been upto lately in my next post.

Also, FYI, this blog is NOT dead. It was just dormant for some time but its totally alive and kicking. We're back in business, baby!! :D

We've Come A Full Circle

I shall miss you ,Manipal. I know I cribbed about you and bitched about you ( a LOT.) and
everything but in the process, you kinda grew on me....I remember the first time I saw you. Two years ago, I was quite the young and impressionable child. Oh...and also extremely imaginative and this was my big adventure- staying so very far away from home, living among people whom I barely know,making my own decision and, well, in general, doing my own thing. But then ,all the aforementioned plans went haywire (Did I ever mention that I was homesick in a major way for a large part of my first semester here ?) and I kinda retreated in my own shell. Which also worked out fine for me in a way, except when that bout (to put it in delicate terms) of homesickness subsided, I found that I was quite alone. Oh sure, I talked to people and we hung out(is that even a word ?) together but we weren't FRIENDS friends, you know ? Having said that, I've met a lot of people who've given me some very good memories.

I have to say that I was quite set in my ways when I came here....In a way, I still am but I have learned to accept people just as they are. As a very wise soul once told me, people are not made to order. And , so I've lived through it all and dare I say, even enjoyed it all. Manipal has taught me that you don't need a crowd to be happy, you can just do your own thing and still be a part of the system. I've met such characters in the two years too !! I really didn't know that such people existed on the face of the planet. I've judged people and they've probably judged me to so I'm not gonna apologize for that. I've learned that you shouldn't take things at their face value and everyone should be given a second chance so that you've not left with any of those what-if's. I've had some awesome times with people that I only just started interacting with and to be honest ,it made me knock my head and ask myself where were these people all this time and what the hell was I doing in the meantime ? I've learned that friendship is spontaneous. When you look at a person , you just know that you want to be friends with him/her. Making friends should be the easiest thing, you don't need to make that extra "effort" because then it'll be trying too hard.And if you're trying too hard then its just not the real thing. I've realized that you don't need to do something just to be a part of the crowd or just because everyone's doing it. Its OK to not follow the crowd once in a while if it doesn't feel right.I've learned that people's opinions are not that important. In fact, there are many people who are in a habit of giving you their unwanted opinion and in general, making you feel like an insect and I've learned to just look through them .I know I'm awesome and I think I've pretty much proved what I'm capable of (Now, there's a trace of the ol' flighty me ;) Manipal has given me all of that and much more. It has given me an identity (one that I'm proud of) and it has made me a much more confident person. At the risk of sounding like Oprah, I think I've grown as a person.

Oh....how I'll miss this place !!I'm gonna miss going to the 2nd Block and sitting in that small room there which is connected to my present block through a narrow path and where we once spotted a snake (shudder) . Hell, I'm gonna miss the 2nd block, even if I don't live there anymore because that was my very first experience of what hostel life is like . I'm gonna miss that small stall near the 1st block(Fresh and Honest....really, what a name for a coffee shop...they could have been a lil' imaginative there.) which sells those slightly bitter cappuccinos(ground coffee, basically) and cup-noodles .I'm gonna miss Campus-Stores which was the answer to anything and everything (Class Notes Xerox ?? Campus Stores...Airtel Recharge ?? Campus Stores...Food ?? Campus Stores...Tea/Coffee ?? Campus Stores....That's right..EVERYTHING.) I think I'll even miss that irritating guy behind the counter there. I'm gonna miss walking down to K.C. and hanging out there right in front of the B'Ball Court (with the legendary cows...lolz..). Oh, and I'm so gonna miss the Hostel Library !! I'm gonna miss taking that winding path to the Temple and the Children's' Park there where we used to hang out a lot during the 2nd Sem. I'm gonna miss going to the Frustration Point and sitting on the fence even though I was shit scared of falling (Ya ya....I know its silly. ) Oh, and how could I forget the rains ?? Manipal is magical during the monsoons. Its the kind of weather that makes you want to curl up with a good bookwith a cup of steaming coffee , listen to the pitter-patter of the rain and watch the rain from your window(Although it was a lil' annoying reaching the lectures soaked from head to toe !!) But then, they're a part of this place and I really can't imagine Manipal without the rains during this part of the year.I'm gonna miss running down to the Canteen in the 10-10:30 break where everything was so very cheap.I'm gonna miss haunting the hostel during exams, looking for places where I could concentrate for those Theory Papers. I'm gonna miss having fellow haunters and cribbing with them about "the amount that they make us study !!" I'm gonna miss coming out of the Innovation Center after the exams and our collective sighs (" Whew !! That was tough but its finally over !!") and sitting on the steps. I'm gonna miss my lecture hall where the A.C. never worked and where we spent hours sweating it out over complex problems (literally and figuratively !!) I'm gonna miss my class because every single one of them became a part of my life for such a long time. But, one thing that I don't think I'll miss is the endless amount of tests that we took....Oh well, maybe they were just an indicator of what lies ahead.

Yes, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna miss Manipal. I never knew it would become so very dear to me. Even now, when people ask me about this place , I can't help gushing about it in pride. It's been raining non-stop for 2 days. I leave tomorrow and I guess it'll be raining then too. I remember that it was raining the day I first landed in Manipal and I'd like to take a rainy picture of Manipal when I leave.That's just the way I want it to be. I think Manipal and I have come a full circle.

Can't Think of a Suitable Title ,So make one up , Will Ya ??

*creeps into the room like a guilty, albeit, harmless thief, and hopes (in vain, i may add) that her absence will have gone unnoticed...... realizes (not so quickly, i may add) that she is the object of quite a few narrow-eyed, piercing and not so-very-friendly stares (oh well....staring is considered to be rude anyway) , tries to crawl away into oblivion....yet creeps back in (bravely, i may add) , wringing her hands in nervousness*

Ok, Ok....So, I've neglected this blog shamelessly.But , I've been busy doing...er...how do I put this delicately ??....nothing....But ,in all fairness,I am back and I've got plenty to tell y'all. So, Friends , Romans and Countrymen (and any other jobless soul who may be reading this blog) , lend me your ears !! ( This is about the only sentence that I can quote from Shakespeare....Oooh, and also the one by Shylock- "Come prepare"....And, no, I am NOT a sadist.)

Well, to start with, I finally went to Goa....Yes, you heard it right, and there is absolutely no need to gasp....Hmph. Last Saturday, 13 of us traveled to the Land of the Glorious Sun and returned with a Not-So-Glorious tan. Well, anyway, we returned on Monday morning and it was a short trip, really ,but trust me when I say this, we squeezed in as much as we could and it was totally worth it !! Of course, the fact that we almost went without sleep may have had something to do with it ;) The water-sports was kinda jinxed for us though ,as all the people were involved in some kind of accident or the other , including yours truly. However, the brave souls that we are , we survived, thank you very much . Much fun was had and many a legs were pulled in the process and all of us enjoyed ourselves muchly.

So, besides that , we've had a pretty eventful week here owing to the 3 and a half days holiday that we had towards the end of the week. Also, the Annual Day happened ,which ,by the way, sucked. We don't have much to say about it except that we think its totally unfair that the girls are supposed to dress up in saris and heels ,to go with it ,and watch every step that they take unless they want to end up falling flat on their faces and making utter fools of themselves in front of the whole lot ,while the guys can just throw on any old shirt and trousers that they can lay their hands on. So, we(at least the grace-less ones) are stuck in a corner throughout the evening while they(i.e. , the guys) glide about as if they own the place. That, my dear friends, is certainly not how it works. We are supposed to glide while they are supposed to.....you know....not glide (okay, so I couldn't come up with a better word. Sue me :P ) The only fun part of that evening was when all of us went to a disc afterwards. Seriously, the look on peoples' faces when a bunch of us entered in saris and formals....Priceless..!!

Ok....what else am I missing here ??...Holi !! Right. Except that there is nothing much to say about that, either. We got up late, were cooped up in our room the entire day. Plus, it was raining and very chilly and depressing. Plus, no one dragged us out of our room ,kicking and screaming, like last time. So. Basically, Holi was quite uneventful unless we count the two movies that we watched on You Tube , back to back (Did we ever mention that You Tube and Ashton Kutcher totally ROCK !!) and the pizza (which was quite cold by the time it reached us) that we hogged on later. Speaking of which , we are haunted by this song that we heard in one of the movies (by Aqualung) and it absolutely refuses to be downloaded. Apparently, the net-walas have blocked every Godforsaken site in our block. Hmph.

So, it was a pretty sucky week. But , the high point of this week occurred sometime ,earlier this evening. We was sick of being holed up in our room and the glorious weather outside (according to some misguided souls...Tsk Tsk) beckoned us .So , we ventured out in the rain (slight exaggeration...it was drizzling , really) and walked towards the Temple and who should we see there but our very own CS professor( who has been the bane of our measly existence this semester and who looks at us as if we have brains the size of a glorified amoeba or ,better still, none at all), looking extremely uncomfortable and , may we mention, undignified in a pair of orange shorts (quite unlike his usual,dignified self, we can assure you.) We came away with a self-satisfied , smug smile and a lighter heart. Ah.....sweet revenge :)

Angels or Demons ??

I saw this really interesting picture of Adam and Eve in Blue Waters yesterday.....It showed that Adam was high and slumped on the bench and Eve (who was sitting next to him) was kissing an angel under the Apple tree.........Hmmm.....very insightful ;)

The one where I'm all nice and charitable

Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens
Bright Copper Kettles and Warm Woollen Mittens
Brown Paper Packages tied up with Strings
These are a few of my Favourite Things !!!

Julie Andrews and I are quite similar ,you know. We kinda like the same things. Actually, focus on the second last line , would you ??? "Brown Paper Packages tied up with Strings" It has such a nice ring to it , no ?? Um....so I'm sure that you may have realised that this has got to be leading up to something. But, dudes ( and dudettes) , be patient. Give it some time and stay with me on this one. I promise you this is not a completely pointless post , written out of sheer and unadulterated boredom. This post is a means by which I will present my case before Santa ( and other Santa-types ;)

Well, so ok. Let me start from the beginning.This year, I've really been a really good girl. No , seriously . Don't laugh. Or snigger. Or make a face . Or roll your eyes. Those action or thoughts are so not appreciated on this blog. *gives them a cool , appraising look which sends them scurrying for cover or atleast bow down before her Mighty presence*

Yeah. That's better. So , where was I ?? Ooh Yes, I've been a good girl. Almost 6 months ago, I went back to college like a good girl and buried myself into those lovely things which are called books. I then proceeded to slowly,yet steadily , dissect those intricate circuits( i.e., if circuits can be dissected) and find out their excitation as well as response and study the fine nuances of Laplace Transforms ( yeah, that was good fun.) . I also attended those awesome labs with my awesomer lab partners and the whole experience was totally ....ah , what's the word ?? Awesome !! I then took my semester exams like the good girl that I am and finally booked my tickets home like, I repeat, a good girl. To top it all, I didn't make anyone cry( child or adult). In short, I've been an absolute Angel.
Q.E.D

Therefore, I'm pretty sure that by now, most of you will agree that since I've been such a " Good Girl", I do deserve the goodies that one gets for Christmas. So, well, here's my oh-so-humble list. No , wait. Keeping with the trend of my being such a good girl, I hereby announce that there shall be no list. Yeah, that's right. Isn't that awesome ?? Your presents , big or small ( preferably big) , will be accepted with a gracious tilt of my head. Don't be shy !! Come one , come all. Be nice and generous to me and you might just come away with a huge smile and a teeny-weeny piece of my legendery chocolate cake (And , you need not worry about the well being of your stomach. Tis' a tested and tried recipe. No casaulties so far.)

So , spread the good cheer , people. And do not go all Ebenizer Scrooge on me("Bah"..."Humbug" and all that crap). Be charitable , folks...its Christmas !!

Gimme a break, People !!!

Yes, Yes and Yes... You heard right .I need a break. Desperately.Period.

I've been bullied, forced, coerced, manipulated, gagged , choked(er....are there any words that I've left out ???) into doing something that I would never have done if I hadn't been bullied, forced, coerced, manipulated, gagged , choked etc. I've been taking endless ( and by endless, I mean Endless {no kidding , there !!}) number of tests for the past month. If I sit down to count the exact number for your benefit(and I might just do that ,considering the fact that I'm a very, very considerate person.), there is a major possibility that I'll fall asleep, right here, with my over-saturated head on top of the keyboard and then all you'd get to read would be GFHTRYNB34556vfdgtrggfv{}|JKHDSD!@#@$%%*&*&$(**(!$$!#$%^GVVVVFGFfhjhdjdnmc or some such crap like that , and then when my roomie would come back , she'd bang on the door atleast a dozen times and yet, I wouldn't wake up. She'd call me on my cell and I would just :-
A) Get up , say hello and promptly go off to sleep.
B) Switch off my cell and go off to sleep.
C) Ignore it completely and go on sleeping.

(By the way , if that happens, I think option (C) will work just fine.)
She might even bang her head on the door or bring the dreaded matron. But ,I wouldn't wake up. And finally, when she wouldn't be left with any other option (poor, poor roomie !!) , she would have to get that God awful electrician-who-thinks-he's-some-kinda-an-engineer to break the door down. And....................

I wouldn't wake up !!!!!

Ahem, Ok, I think you get the picture now. But ,see, here's the thing. I'm very, very,very exhausted. I haven't slept properly for days. Sleep seems to be the last and the first thing on my mind (last because, hello !!! I can't afford to sleep right now. And first, because, ....ahem , a good night's/day's/afternoon's/morning's/mid-morning's sleep always has been my top priority . Also, when you know you can't sleep, you'll find yourself hallucinating about sleeping all the more. Its bloody uncanny, no ??? Also, I think its high time that I ended this bracket.)

To top it all, I'm having a cold-war with my brain for the past few weeks owing to the fact that I've been forcing all sorts of unknown knowledge and unheard of gyan into it. We have to reach a consensus or some sort of a compromise. We need to work on it together (my brain and I).I mean , I can't remain in conflict with my brain forever. Its not that I don't understand. But , hey, I'm not the enemy here. They are. They've pushed us way beyond our breaking point. They've made us sit and do (copy) assignments when we could have been watching a movie or surfing the net or....sigh....sleeping. They've made us do things that we would have avoided till the end. Its a conspiracy and we are the victims and they are the predators. They are to blame.
*points an accusing finger at them*

So, I've been thinking and weird things come out of my head (understandably so) when I sit down and "think". I think that I should rise above the mohs and mayas of the world and seek shelter in the Himalayas. I should totally take up Sansyas. Just imagine . People would be inspired. They'd talk about me in hushed and revered tones -" Oh, you know, she's the one who gave up engineering and took up Sansyas". I mean , how cool is that ??? Of course, the possibility that my parents would totally disown me and I could get kicked outta home and I could die of the cold unheard and unsung way up, in the Himalayas , is a dampener but still, its a thought. Other disgruntled souls can feel free to join in. Just gimme a buzz and we'll plan it out if nothing else works out.

So back to the real world now.The good news is that I've finally finished off with my lab sessionals today and I'm not gonna touch a single book even with the edge of my finger nail for quite some time..............

Oh wait !!! I have two assignments due tomorrow.....Damn !!


P.S- Having re-read the post , methinks that i may have exaggerated a wee bit ;)

Of Delightful Semi-Half Days and Other Lucid Moments

So, I'm free today and I've come online at 9 in the morning. For those of you who don't find this fact singularly exciting , here's the catch...I'm generally never (and by never, I mean NEVER) free in the mornings due to some obligation or the other (labs, classes....you know,the usual). So, today, I have one class in the morning and an assignment class in the afternoon but since the assignment is supposed to be.......ahem...cough....cough....a "fun" thing, today qualifies to be an ideal Semi-Half Day.

Well, November, my favorite month of the year(er....well, one of the favorite) is finally here but it doesn't feel like November here. I know, that back home it must have started to get a lil' chilly during the evenings and early mornings and my Mother must've started unpacking the woolens and those warm , soft blankets(the kind that make you want to sleep for the entire day)....and in other parts of India , early morning fog will have become a daily phenomenon...sigh...I miss all that.

But not here !! Manipal is blessed with disgustingly good weather. Its sunny here all the year round. Not that I mind that much . Oh well........I'll get to sample the real winter in less than a month and a half and so, I'll be diplomatic about it and enjoy the good weather while I can.

November also reminds me of the days gone by......idyllic moments spent with friends and family when I was a kid. The three weeks Christmas holidays that I used to get because I studied in a Catholic school for the better part of my school-life. The times when my Mother and my Aunts were virtually run off their feel while dealing with truant kids( because we never sat down to finish our holiday-homework till the very last moment......"Homework is for nerds !!") and coughs and colds. The fun that all the six cousins had until the seventh came along...and then the fun increased by a notch as all of us sat around her , vying for her elusive attention and well, basically, worshiping her.

Yes, November does remind me of the good times that I've had with my cousins and the riot that we created .

The Brats are growing up , though..........
Happy Birthday, Sunny Boy !!! May you grow up to become whatever you've aspired to......Have fun growing up, kiddo :)