Life As I Know It

A lot has happened since I last blogged and yes, this space here went through a dry spell which will hopefully not happen again. Some of the things I have managed to do this past month is to finally make it to Tirpathi. Yup, I had been there when I was 4 months old. In order to create a retain-able memory I had to go there. Hiking up the 7 hills is brilliant because it made me feel like a Lilliputian in the land of Giant Broccoli. The way the place has been maintained and the amount of care taken to ensure that the greenery is abundant is brilliant. I haven’t seen any place in India that is so green, so beautiful and the simple secret behind this is that the government has no say in what happens atop the hills. Yeah! If the government was so much as allowed to sneak its roachy whisker we wouldn’t have had the joy of experiencing nature. Next week this time I’ll be home packing to go to Mangalore for my cousin’s wedding. She has decided to take a step towards joining the dark forces. I ...

It is very amusing when boys try to understand girls. When I say understand I don’t mean the emotional fluctuation which seems absolutely normal for my gender but instead the basic female quirks like clutch purse, impulsive PDA and tampons. Once my friend and I went gift hunting. While looking through things I noticed my friend had gone missing. I found him near the hand bag section holding a clutch and staring at his image in the mirror. [Honestly: I thought my friend was switching teams.] “How do you girls hold on to these things? I feel like throwing it. Don’t you like having your hands free?” [Some times it is best to shrug off the question and not reply.] I personally prefer my backpack which I think is very handy and accommodates everything I need. But I do understand that there are certain social occasions that ban faithful bags. In such situations I am compromising enough to carry the appropriate accessory with me. When I listened to my friend’s millionth...

Hey do you believe the world will really end in 2012? Wouldn’t it be rather awesome if it did? But there is so much to do. Do it now. I want more time. Narcissist asks the question I give my answer. This whole 'will the world end' seems to bother him a lot. I personally think it’ll be awesome if all of us die together. As a specie we have over stayed our invitation. We pretty much have hogged the planet thinking we are the only living creatures with needs. Thanks to us, animals have gone extinct or are on the brink of extinction. We seem to have multiplied like Rabbits and have been living like rats abandoning all things that need to be nurtured and preserved. If 2 years more is all we have on the planet, so be it. I’d say even that time slot is too long. P.S: Apparently the movie[2012] is bad. P.P.S: I don’t really think the world will end in 2012. But it gives me immense sadistic joy in pointing out buildings to the narcissist, asking hi...

[Listening to “Trouble is a friend” by Lenka hence the title.] The general theme of my blog is my obvious dislike for people and the underlying anger towards “people”. I dislike a lot of people [I know] but I won’t deny that there are some [even if it is just a few.] that I like a lot. I think I may even love some that I like. So, I am going to explain the dislike part. Fact- I am not a person who can tolerate people for too long. This definitely puts me directly in other people’s “Don’t like” list, which is absolutely fine by me. I don’t like people who are hypocrites, thoughtless, unoriginal, cunning, conniving, cruel, clingers… [It is a very extensive list which need not necessarily be exhaustive.] Since I can go on grouping them I have divided people into two groups – the ones I like and the ones I don’t like. It is simple and clean. Basically everyone I know makes it to one of the two lists. The rest of the people on this planet go under the category of pe...

" There is no prosthetic for a broken spirit " - Lt.Col. Frank Slade (Al Pacino in Scent of a woman) I know I can never erase some things that I have done in the past. I always believed that coping with the bad times, to overcome the hurdles and surviving makes a person. Till last night I believed that people will see how far ahead you have come in spite of all the mistakes and mess that one makes of their life. That is what people told me when I was having a rough patch a few years back and being the idiot that I am I believed them. I told myself people make mistakes- that is a part of living one’s life. Everyone makes mistakes and they move on. I messed up my life at one point but did not let it affect my future. But last night I realized that irrespective of all that I did and will do in future NOTHING will erase all the mistakes. They will always remain. People will always remind me of them. I don’t see why people like living in the past. People have a way of su...

My friend is going to present a rendition of Elton John’s – Your song to his girl friend. According to him E.J knew the easiest way to impress a girl and this ought to do it. Apparently he is low on cash and hence making his audience bleed is his best option. This song is supposed to be one of the most romantic songs ever. O_o But pay attention to the lyrics, the guy doesn’t know the color of the girl’s eyes. I’d say that is pretty tragic. My friend is going to change “if they’re green or are they blue” to “Are they brown or eh dark brown?” Why do I end up having to listen to such pakutish conversation? So I put all my sufferings on the blog and spread the suffering. :) Also a few Sundays back the Narcissist and I went to Gomatgiri. While climbing up the steps to the temple he was happily singing the “Alabama Song” I’d say that borders on blasphemy. I stared at the guy and he responded with ‘Ooooo moon of Alabama we now must say goodbye, we lost our good old mama…” This while heading ...

The last time I saw my Great Grandmother was on 3.07.1999. Exactly a week later she passed away. The last time I saw Mukta Ajji was on 12. 10.2003. Exactly a week later she passed away. I saw Jojo last Sunday and today she is gone. I knew my Ajjamma was old, Mukta ajji was 101 but even after knowing that their age is catching up with them, it in no way comforted me when I knew that I wouldn’t be seeing them again. Because these two ladies were the nicest people I knew. I could talk to them, tell them all my secrets. I knew they loved me and I enjoyed many liberties with them. They also happen to be the only 2 adults who have never scolded me EVER. =) Hari never came to meet either Ajjamma or Mukta Ajji. He told me that he wanted to preserve a picture of them when they were well and fine and not frail and bed ridden. But every time I look back I see Ma and my Ajjamma sitting together and me diving in between them to get some attention and to tell Ajjamma that I love h...

The Black thumb has cast its shadow over the peaceful existence of my computer again. But no this time it wasn’t a virus attack. Instead my computer just keeps booting and I have to reset the configuration every time I switch it on. I decided to restore the system by creating a restore point – that didn’t work. Then I decided to manually tinker with the configuration which was decently helpful. Now while I was cursing my thumb and the computer I couldn’t help but wonder why I am so attached to this machine. Granted that it helps me keep in touch with my friends, I get a lot of work done sitting in one place. The whole concept of everything being a click away is also not lost on me. But I like interacting with people when I “see” them. The whole chatting with people creates a block when I finally meet these friends of mine face to face. It is not just me even they feel the need to break the ice. The whole idea of actually talking to person face to face is soon becoming a faded memory ...

Diwali is definitely one of my favorite festivals. This is purely because of the amount of joy it involves and the fact that ma makes some of the yummiest food EVER! For us as a rule Gowri Puja is supposed to be the most awaited festival. But nothing can beat rows of diyas, fire crackers [As long as they certify that it does not involve child labour], the sweets, the food, and the aromas and of course the people. Yes, this is that time of the year when I am at my forgiving best :P I love the fact that at least once a year I can overlook many things :D It is hard not to be cheerful. The bonus is that Fenny is not scared of the loud fire crackers. She just sits beside me and looks out and sees the fireworks. When there is a loud blast I tell Fenny “That is god farting.” Just like I tell her, “That is god peeing.” when it is raining. She probably thinks the sky is god and wouldn’t understand what “sky” is. She probably wonders why the sky never poops. =) H A P P Y ...

Event: The Indian Journal of Constitutional Law, Online Symposium to Volume 3 Start Time: Tomorrow, October 11 at 12:05am End Time: Sunday, October 18 at 3:05am Click here to participate. Hosted by NALSAR.

Today I saw a bird come right at my window. Unfortunately the window was closed. I was just about to open the window to find the hurt bird but before I opened it, the bird came crashing into the window again. This time I opened the window immediately. The bird came back flew right in, looked startled and then flew out. For some reason it reminded me of the rat . I can’t recall why I did not continue posting on the same lines. Then later in the day a bee sat on my finger but did not sting me. Wise bee. I can’t find my wallet. I have had this wallet for over a decade now. I love it and can’t replace it. I learnt a new concept called “One Degree of separation”[Definitely not an experiment.]. Apparently us lawyers form a close knit community where everyone knows everyone. That is why it is not good to be opinionated especially about politics and ahem a certain old man that this country supposedly loves. That lawyer people take offense very easily. So I should probably delete some of my pos...

Obama got the peace prize? He did! He indeed did. He most certainly did. Am I surprised? Nah… If they could give Kissinger one... P.S: I feel I deserve one too.

These past few days have been very hard on me and people around me. Till one of my friends told me – “You are slipping into a perpetual phase of PMS get out of it!” As much as I hate to admit it I have been a major pain to many in the recent days. Without getting into too many details it would suffice to say that I have played the role of the understanding agony aunt on many occasions but that hasn’t exempted me from having my own rant sessions. During one such mutual sharing of problems, my friend and I had a moment of enlightenment and for some reason that day this idea that I am about to unleash seemed to be a solution for all problems. Without much ado I present to you the “Deal With It Theory”. The basics of the theory are as follows : 1. Everyone has problems. 2. Every individual is unique unfortunately everybody’s problem is not unique. Everybody has the same set of problems. [Yes, we all wish we were the first ones to over come our “exceptionally unique” p...

Pakistan : Ok look lets not fool around. We know you want to rule the world. We can help you. USA : How? Pakistan : We’ll breed terrorists and we’ll cause unrest in our subcontinent. Our brother countries Iraq , Iran and Afghanistan are more than happy to assist us in spilling blood all over the land. It’s a game we have been playing since we were children. It’s called Jihad. USA : Hey you played the game in our country 8 years back. Pakistan : Yeah, Laden forgot the specified boundary he wanted the whole world to play the game. USA : He left a terrible mess once he was done playing. How about you guys stick to just your continent for a while? Pakistan : We can do that. But what is in it for us? USA : Well we have no problem if you breed terrorists or kill civilians or rape women or nuke your neighbors. So in order to keep your little play group happy we’ll give you weapons so that you can take your game to a whole new level. How about that? Pakistan : WOW! A...

Eve teasing, inappropriately brushing past, “Accidentally” bumping, staring and lewd behavior are things that girls face quite often. The fact is that we vocally express our feelings about these incidents and vent at the fact that men are scum and blame the gender as a whole and curse their very existence. Eventually we find ourselves questioning our part in these incidents. Like, “Did I do something?”, “Why not anyone else from all the other girls there?” The fact is we find ourselves wishing it hadn’t happened to us. We start feeling the guilt of having probably led to the whole incident. Fact remains that perverts are perverts. You could be clad in a sari/burqa/ chudidhar and yet faced any of the above and you will still be left wondering if you were not dressed properly. This whole episode pretty much leaves one feeling extremely vulnerable and wishing to dear god that they were a boy. I have always wondered if the woman were the one behaving inappropriately and a man was to...

Adulthood in other words is responsibility. What does one who doesn’t want any responsibility do once they hit their 20’s? It's very scary when people plainly assume that plans post ones graduation will and should and must include marriage. When conversations with friends reach a point where we start talking about marriage and babies is scarier. I don’t expect people in their 50’s to think beyond matrimony. According to them that is the best thing that can happen to anyone. [Gives them cheap pleasure in seeing more people suffer.] But when my own friends start talking about it, it makes me feel like we are growing up too fast and that there are so many things that I still want to do and haven't done yet. * High Alert For Crankiness * I don’t want to be responsible for another individual. I don’t want babies unless by the time I hit 30 they come in a customized manner which meets my satisfaction. I have a friend who said that love is being and wanting to be responsible for anoth...

A Story Once upon a time in a land far far away people were busy figuring out how to survive a major economical crisis called Recession. People panicked and there was undeniably chaos all over the land. But people are people, after a while they accept things as they are and continue with life. But it wasn’t to be so. These people faced another crisis - Swine Flu. People again panicked. People always seem to panic at the slightest tipping of the scale. They enjoy equilibrium so much that going slightly off balance is a catastrophe. Anyway in this land that I am talking about there were certain parts that were soon seeing people dropping dead because of afore mentioned flu. Soon the flu spread to every part of the land. More panic, more stupidity surfaced. People are stupid. It is the universal truth. One person reads something. Narrates the same to another and the chain progresses from there. By the time every living being has heard the story you will find different versions of ...

Last weekend was amazing. It began by me traveling solo from Mysore to Madras. I plonked my bags at my best friend's place. Her roomie, she and I headed to Mahabalipuram where we saw the famed sculptures carved out of single boulders. The carvings are pretty intricate and the sight is very pretty but the highlight of the visit was a monkey. While we were leaving the place we saw a troop of monkeys and one of them immediately took a fancy to my friend’s roomie. Now this girl is scared of almost every animal. It became very obvious to her that the monkey was eying the bottle in her hand. She threw it at the monkey. The monkey picked it opened the bottle and gulped the juice and looked so pleased! It was a sight. It does not seem hilarious in print but it was incredibly funny. But before going to Mahablipuram we stopped at the Crocodile Park where I learnt to hold a baby crocodile and also a python. I actually felt the crocodile gulp when I was holding it. The place ...

--> Every year the first Sunday of august is celebrated as friendship's day. This day brings me some really baffling memories of fights that need not really have happened but I was at the same time gladdened by the fact that they did. I am not a believer in keeping just one day to celebrate friendship, love etc… Why should we have specific days for telling someone you care for them or love them? These “special days” include mother’s day, father’s day and all the other days. The reason for designating a particular day is to make the consumer fish take the bait. Consumer fish is so blinded by materialism that feelings are given no consideration whatsoever. The key ingredient of these “special days” is the extravagant gifts that are exchanged. As pathetic as this is and as a common occurrence around the globe it sometimes makes me wonder if being shallow is the only way to get by in this world. If it is so, I think I’ll have to start off with pretence of being extremely caring...