Heartfelt

Home is...

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 23:10:00 +0530

Home is the place where you have divine adrak ki chai in the morning which can give Starbucks a run for its money. It’s that one place where coffee and tea are both made perfectly. Even the best cafes in town are an expert at brewing only one of these (if any at all).

Home is where you skip the entire main newspaper and start reading the supplement Bombay Times. Somewhere else, I usually bother myself with neither.

Home is the place where you grow plants. And then have discussions about which one is growing in what way and which one needs more sunlight and hence must be moved to another place.

Home is the place where your mom gives you a relaxing head massage with a concoction of oil which smells both of countryside Kerala and an expensive spa at the same time. It is also the place where you braid your hair into plaids and have no issues with staying that way the entire day.

Home is where you never have to think about what you want to eat and when. Because your mom can’t stop finding things to feed you. First the fruit, then the breakfast, then the post breakfast, then the juice, then some kovil prasad right before it is time for lunch, all served with the unparalleled taste from my mom’s kitchen. Home is where you sit down with your entire family for meals and in my case, eat them with your hands with no hassles of spoons or forks unless it’s chowmein.

Home is the place where you get fresh, clean towels and sheets all the time. And you never have to wait for your queue at the washing machine, in fact you never have to face the washing machine directly. You just throw your clothes in some place and they magically appear washed and ironed in your shelf later.

Home is a place where you know more about your maid’s family more than I will ever know about my dorm neighbour. It is also where you are updated even about your uncle’s sister-in-law’s fourth cousin. You know all about who is getting married and who is planning to buy a house. No other place are you so sure about people’s immediate agenda in life.

Home is where the kids from your building turn up after play, tired and thirsty to drink a glass of water because your house is on the ground floor. Because they dare not go to their own house before the deadline for playtime placed by their parents.

Home is where you accompany your mom to the vegetable market and feel proud of her excellent negotiation skills. Where you see complete logic in demanding discount on green chillies and free curry leaves because you just bought a bundle of coriander.

Home is where you keep shifting furniture and forever keep trying to change the way the curtain flies into the living room. Somehow, they never fly as gracefully as in Karan Johar’s movies and it makes my heart sink a little and my hair get all messy every time I try.

Home is where you find your childhood preserved. All the good parts like the school drawings, the trophy you won for elocution, your Tinkle comic books and sometimes even the bad parts like the skipping rope, your exam writing pad or those weird photographs in retro spectacles!

Home is where shopping is truly an experience. My entire family shops for my clothes and it is a grand exercise in eating pani puri, mosambi juice, vada pav, dinner, ice cream all interspersed with some shopping in between.

Home is the place where you cannot open your laptop first thing in the morning and you definitely don’t get to watch vampire diaries. Yet I like it, because home is where the phone or the email doesn’t haunt you. Where you know that things can wait. It’s a place where you go beyond all the electronic beings in your life and start paying attention to actual living beings around. Like the stray dog below my building who thinks it’s his right to relieve himself on top of my car tyres.

Home is where you watch serials with your parents and listen about its story which either barely moves from the last time you saw it or takes leaps and reaches 20 years later. It is where you change channels on the slightest anticipation of an on screen kiss. Where it is totally acceptable to have had a crush on Shah Rukh Khan for the biggest part of your childhood years.

Home is where your parents quarrel about pettiest of things like the place to park the car or the whether to eat an ice cream during winter. And somehow you are the person deciding who is right in all such complicated decisions.

Home is where you sleep with your spectacles on top of an open book and wake up to see yourself sleeping with a pillow and sheets over you, spectacles removed and kept to your side. As a kid, I would sleep on the couch itself several times, and I would be proud of my teleporting skills when I magically woke up on the bed.

Home is where festivals mean a lot more to you than they actually might anywhere else in the world. Diwali, Ganesh Utsav, Pongal, Christmas they all mean a lot more. You dare not miss the early morning oil massage cum hot water bath during Diwali or not go visit all the Ganesha mandaps, especially the cricket inspired ones in your locality and beyond.

But most importantly, the biggest thing which makes it home is the people you share it with. They love you unconditionally and never judge you no matter what. If you promised to go jogging early in the morning and slept through the morning, it’s probably because you are tired and need rest. If you decided you won’t eat rice and crumbled completely at the sight of lemon rice, it’s because you don’t get enough home food. There is something nice in every fault of yours and home teaches you that it’s ok to not be perfect. Its ok to not able to achieve what you want, as long as you have the intent and try. All that is important in life, is to be you, because YOU are all that matters when you are home :)

“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a...

Sat, 28 Jul 2012 08:34:00 +0530

“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you’re there. It doesn’t matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that’s like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.”

—Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Of rains and memories...

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 05:10:00 +0530

This is definitely the longest gap I have ever had on my blog! I won’t say first year of MBA does that to you. I definitely had the time to jot down some of my thoughts and I indeed wrote things in my diary but was never inspired enough to put up on my blog. Or maybe I was just very lazy! Either ways, I am definitely not doing justice to Prakhar, he re-designed the blog for me ages ago! And so, I am back to the blog-o-sphere and I promise to be more regular henceforth.

It is something about the first rain showers that makes me so vulnerable and nostalgic! It reminds me the re-opening of school where I would flaunt my new rainy sandals. It reminds me of plastic covered books in my school bag. Of sticky raincoats that I disliked from the bottom of my heart! It reminds me of paper boats and muddy puddles. Reminds me of the times in school when I would be overjoyed if it rained heavily causing the school to declare holiday.

It reminds me of all the deep conversations with my mom over cups of coffee. It reminds me of sitting with her listening to music and listening to her stories. The beautiful memories of going on long night rides in the new car we bought. Of weekend getaways to Lonavala with my parents where we devoured sweetcorn cobs and came back with packets of Maganlal Chikki.

It reminds me of my bicycle which would get dressed just before the rains with all the bronze coating. It reminds me of buses that would drive too close to the road and splash water all over you! It reminds me of my native where the waterfalls would overflow wildly due to the rains.

It reminds me of my grandmother’s house whose garden walls turned green with all the moss. The creepers in the garden which grew wildly during the monsoons. It reminds me of staying at home and watching Tamil movies with my grandparents. It reminds me of getting drenched on purpose. And alas the bitter concoction my grandmother fed me to cure my cold.

It reminds me of wet sand on beaches and empty shacks. It reminds me of love and warm hugs. It reminds me of lightnings, blackouts and stolen kisses. It reminds me of singing with friends in the darkness with no care in the world. It reminds me of night walks with the moon alone watching you.

Rains remind me of the good life. Of the life where I wasn’t trying to fit into something I am not. Of the life where it was ok to not be familiar with a lot of things. Of the world where laughter and conversations came before schedules and plans. The world where my biggest decision involved which book to read. Where life was much more than trying to achieve something. Life should be about living and being ecstatic. About making your days count and being at peace with yourself and I thank the rain gods tonight for precisely helping me do that! :)

The commercial isn’t real, neither are society’s...

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 01:04:37 +0530

The commercial isn’t real, neither are society’s standards of beauty.

Things that matter...

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 02:32:00 +0530

More than 5 months ago, I joined Business School right after 4 blissful merry years in Goa (where I also studied my engineering). I oppose the whole I-am-suffering-so-much and I-have-no-time-to-follow-news-on-Aishwarya’s-baby ramblings that somehow every person in a B-school feels entitled to. Those special meltdowns are chosen and reserved for my friends who know me well or wish they hadn’t.

So, this post is about those things I wish someone had told me long before I got here. Things like which subjects to focus on, the importance of sports and how you must absolutely read the newspapers. So, frankly, a good part of this post will be most useful for parents who have paid the advance in JEE coaching classes for their kids in standard four. Recently heard, mothers are reading out Resnick Halliday to their unborn child.

There are some subjects that are absolutely essential in life no matter what you decide to do. Alright, maybe not everything. But if you belong to the majority of our country who become engineers without knowing the difference between electronics and electrical and want to escape everything by pursuing an MBA, you should pay attention to a few subjects more than you would normally do.

Probability and Statistics tops the charts of subjects that haunt you throughout your life. It is like the staple milk that we are forced to drink as kids. You either devour it with greed or be strongly disgusted by it, but you can never ever escape it! If you don’t have a good professor, take efforts to understand it with basics, it is always around the corner waiting for you when you think its almost done. Same holds for optimization and linear programming. Grab every opportunity to learn Accounting whenever you can. Take the elective, or attend extra classes or beg that elder brother to teach you, do anything to get familiar with it. Grasp the basics of Economics with or without the desire to do an MBA. It is a delightful subject that everyone should study at least once. Guess who else arrives as an uninvited guest! Queuing models in Operations that are taught with the most painful details. If you are lucky enough to have studied this King of Dry Subjects, Operations, try studying them by connecting to the applications. The internet is a great tool to do this and one of my regrets from engineering is that I didn’t use it too well to gain more knowledge and clarity. Students in this age are blessed with this enormous gift and barring facebook and the whole social brouhaha, this can be your best friend at times.

Engineering is unique because it gives us so much time to explore different things. Get into clubs you are interested in and do justice to the clubs you are a part of. The experiences are brilliant and I personally had some of the best times in college while working for them. It lets you work with people and develop skills you cannot otherwise. Be pro active in anything that requires you to understand people, work with them, negotiate and achieve results together. Keep challenging yourself and take different tasks everytime. If you organized once, try doing the logistics another time. Compere for an event, grab opportunities which improve your communication and presentation skills, get nervous and overcome all your inhibitions.

You’re the same today as you’ll be in five years except for the people you meet and the books you read - Charlie Jones

This is true irrespective of the subjects you choose and the career choices you make. Read like a mad person. And don’t stay with fiction or what you find enjoyable and comfortable. Keep challenging yourself and read on new topics by good authors. And make it a habit to read the newspapers beyond the page 3 news. Be actively aware of what is happening in the world. The benefits are immense and it takes time to make it a habit, so start early!

Play a sport. It is one of my biggest regret in life to not have played any active sport. It is the best way to destress no matter where you are and what you do. It keeps you mentally strong and helps you develop that attitude where you don’t give too much importance to any particular thing beyond what it deserves. Trust me, it is one of the best gifts that you can give yourself. Play a sport and follow sports actively. People have the best conversations and bonding over sports where I feel like a complete bonehead. I have put it on my list to achieve this sometime in my second year.

Last but not the least, make good friends in your undergrad years. And stay in touch with them! They know you like no one else and keep you grounded. They pull you out when you are knee deep in troubles and make you see the silver lining in every dark cloud. Live your undergraduate years to the fullest. Study well, stay active, crack bad jokes, laugh a lot, have silly crushes and cry your hearts out over them. Sometime, somewhere, when you sit absolutely dejected by what you planned and what actually happens, the memories never fail to put a smile and comfort you no matter which side of the brick wall you stand.

Of classrooms and crushes...

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 14:06:00 +0530

After dwelling in an atmosphere bustling with the post-lunch enthusiasm seen in Goa for the past one week, this Saturday morning, I was thinking about the really important things changing the future of my nation’s youth. Like the kolaveri which has gone viral or the slapfest on sugar daddy or the release of Breaking Dawn! Instead, I decided to give my valued attention to an even more pressing situation at hand. Blame it on the bruise caused to my brain after I heard the touching investment banker-to-escorts storyline of Desi Boyz, I was ruminating over the recent hullabaloo in my class caused by a friend adorably smitten by a certain doe-eyed err.. professor teaching us!

Teacher crushes are as common as Sachin getting out in 90s! Kindergarten boys know all about falling in love with their teachers. It’s funny how most young boys fall for matured women and then as grown-ups, they swoon for girls who can’t think to save their lives like Kristen Stewart in twilight! Luckily for me, I learnt early in life that the world is a tough place to live in since you can’t keep elephants as pets. Every girl has a phase in her school life when her entire group sincerely believes that guys are stupid and dating them is impossible while they all secretly swoon over the craziest bad boys in class. As teenagers, they have crushes on their young teachers who are fresh IIT graduates and teach them Physics in coaching classes. Okay, maybe not all of you. But I believe every girl has had a crush on her physics professor at some point in her life. (Quick tip from my side to all the boys trying to impress the fairer sex. Be excellent in Physics. You have no idea how many girls have a crush on Sheldon!)

So, he is fair and adequately tall with the proverbial chocolate face. He also seems very well rehearsed in the class. And he doesn’t teach physics. And there is my friend! Blushing, giggling and forever answering questions bounced at anyone but her in the class! You bet the scene is familiar! So here I am, searching the internet wisdom to solve one of the most profound questions faced by mankind. Why do you develop a crush on a teacher?

The urban dictionary defines crush as the burning desire to be with someone who you find very attractive. I have always dreaded studying and the thought of spending an evening with a professor is as exciting as watching Ashmit Patel in the eleventh season of Big Boss. So despite browsing through communities with 500 plus members with stories about their “educational” crushes, the closest I got was an old axiom in pop psychology stating we don’t just get crushes on people whom we want, we get crushes on people whom we want to be like! I have had crushes in the past because the person wore a nice shirt and frankly, I haven’t figured out who I want to be like yet! But I guess this could explain some of the crushes out there. In any case, I thought I would present my very own theory on the subject at hand.

It’s called the attraction due to control! Most human beings are attracted to people who are in control of their surroundings. This obviously excludes people who want vampires to control them to an uncomfortable degree. While men hate to be with a girl who would boss them around, there is hardly a man who isn’t attracted to his smart female boss. She controls him as well, but so does she everyone around. As a student, seeing a teacher who is marginally better looking than the rest of your class control all of them with his words and teachings is what attracts towards a professor the most. You are free to disagree with my theory and trust me I care about it as much as a Hyderabadi cares about using the right gender while talking. That’s all for now, my folks. Will ramble more when I get free from helping the lizard leave my room. Seriously, it’s too old to move on its own!

7 things I am thankful for this week

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 01:54:00 +0530

As I go along this part of my life where I am trying to balance happiness and character with ambitions and competition, I am going to start writing about the things I am thankful for. It’s something I was inspired from another blogger friend. You need not necessarily pray to someone above, you just need to be aware of your blessings and be thankful for them. Even if you think you deserved whatever you got in life, I think you should be thankful for whatever makes you think you deserved it. So, here goes my first list

Getting some clarity on what I would like to do with my career - at least on a short term basis
Mom recovering after feeling under the weather for quite some days
Parents who support me no matter what I decide or think I can decide
Wise words from an experienced soul on lessons about life, work and the choices we make (Will write more on this soon)
The brilliant people in my life who keep me going no matter how cracked up I feel at times
Starting to write again after so long!
A nice break at the end of which I feel ready for the entire ordeal to follow soon.

Steve Jobs passed away today. Although, my life has been touched by him in just one of those gazillion pink shuffles he created, I have always been surrounded by friends who proudly owned, desperately wanted to own or strongly believed in owning an apple creation. Magical as his work was, the truth remains that we shant see anymore of him. It’s astonishing the number of lives he has touched! I don’t remember anything else recently that has grieved so many people together at the same time. He lived every day as if it were his last and I am sure he died peaceful of all. A few lines from one of my favourite poems, to the man who will be dearly missed

Live not for battles won

Live not for the-end-of-the-song

Live in the along

Give me faith...

Sun, 02 Oct 2011 05:49:00 +0530

Off late there has been too much negativity in my life. From too many quarters. The part where I am so uncertain about what I want to do. The part where I am not working hard enough to do what is expected of me. The part where I am wasting too much time. And I thought what exactly is going wrong. Because I am NOT this person I am trying so hard to be. I am not the person who counts the number of hours spent on a nice meal with friends. I don’t feel guilty after sleeping and waking up feeling fresh. I have never met people I ‘should’ be meeting trying to strike a good, impressive conversation. I have never gone for days without listening to music or reading a book. I have never missed home so hard.

My only aim to write this post is to remind myself what is to become of me if I continued the same way. Yes, I am afraid of the implications. As much as I enjoy the entire growing up phase at the end of which I am supposed to be emerging as a professional trying to solve some problem in the world, I am afraid I am not getting approved by myself.

Change is constant. And happiness is not. You have a goal, you work your heart and soul out for it and you achieve it. The feeling is exhilarating! Well guess what? It doesn’t last that long! You soon realize that there is something else you want and that starts to take your mind and energy and before you know it, you are consumed by the whole idea of ‘What IF?’ But that way, you would just never stop. Is that all there is to life? Trying to pursue one achievement after the other. Moreover, an achievement that is approved by the people around you. How long would you lead your life just planning for the future?

I don’t want to be reminded how important it is for me to know what I want from life. I can lead my life letting it unfold without so many conditions. Always have. Some of the best things happened to me when I didn’t plan for them. And that is how I want it to be. Faith is all I have and I am afraid I might be losing it if I continued the same way. If there be one thing I pray for tonight from the heavens above, is give me faith. Faith in myself, in life, the surprises and the simple joys.

A charcoal sketch after a really really long time! The first one...

Tue, 24 May 2011 23:22:43 +0530

A charcoal sketch after a really really long time! The first one on my blog :D

Only nature can make pink and green look so good together! ©...

Tue, 24 May 2011 13:55:00 +0530

Only nature can make pink and green look so good together!

Of DC and farewell...

Fri, 20 May 2011 15:08:00 +0530

So I am back from my trip to campus. Meeting my wonderful friends for the one last time in my beautiful campus in Goa. The campus seems as different as I had expected it to be. There are far less people I know who are visible. Too many junior faces I have never seen before. Some of my batch mates have made up their mind to try every single reckless thing possible before they passed out. So many different, wild stories about people I thought I knew, I am almost sure I can’t be surprised anymore ever now. Anyway, nobody is a teenager anymore and hoping that people realize what they are making of their lives, I am no one to judge about the way things are going.

A trip to campus cannot be complete without checking the new downloads on DC. So I went online on DC++ after a really long time! Not too many familiar nick names. My seniors left and practically half of my batch isn’t there. I don’t get the topics they are talking about. All I can relate to is a certain guy helplessly asking how much of an Avg plus is required to get a certain grade in a certain subject. The woes of college life! A look at the DC topics and I almost saw my life of past four years on campus in a flash. I know it may seem stupid and too far-fetched for most of you. But I couldn’t ignore the uncanny resemblance. Maybe everything hasn’t changed. Probably it’s just newer younger people facing the same detest for mess food, enjoying the same jokes about couples in libraries and the same cribbing for marks which made you feel ‘safe’ in the B or C or in rare cases the A zone. I will just enlist a few topics here alongwith the memories it sparked :

Entire Chemical CDC 3-1 and 3-2 books for sale including consys and numal! PM xyz fast! I cannot forget all the books buying and selling hoopla around the start and end of every sem! I have never kept books with me with the fear that the dreaded subjects will haunt me even when I am done with the courses. I cannot underestimate the joy of striking a seemingly good business deal!

Check !r to check new downloads for vacation! Special bonanza for vacations! This no one can ever forget. All the movies, the series, the songs, the trailers, the stupid videos and occasionally the educational stuff. The two hub giants ready to slit each other’s throats which frankly helped all the others on campus in general. I personally believe people who download and maintain these giant hubs are the most selfless people on campus.

Department of creative media is inducting. People interested in working for college fest’s websites, videos, posters and more contact xyz@gmail.com It reminds me of all the wonderful college festivals I have witnessed. All the crazy work in making the brilliant festivals. The really silly auditions I gave, the clubs I worked with, the election I stood for, the brilliant nites we saw, the lovely food we ate and the wonderful memories of them all.

Current Affairs students who haven’t collected their compree papers can collect them and also verify post compree totals in IC’s chamber tomorrow before 5. The countless papers I have collected. The closed books, the open books, the semi-open books, the one-page open books, phew! All the calculations with averages, the mental histograms and the fighting for few marks here and there in the name of justice!

Anyone going to Madgaon tomorrow at 6 pm and willing to share a cab PM abc. The wonderful outings with friends in Goa. The sultry beaches, the sumptuous sea-food, the shopping at Palolim, the friend’s treat, the club outings, the endless number of times I just got up and left for Vasco with my friend, the mad Zari bus rides and complaining for the zillionth time about the cab prices being more than the food I ate!

ASCII sweatshirts arriving on 15th..those who won’t be in campus next sem fill this form. I cannot remember a single time I have been fully happy with the t-shirt. They either don’t come at the right time or in the right colour and for girls definitely not in the right size. In spite of all this, I order every single time and flaunt it beyond my mother’s approval when at home. Last updated, she hid my Quark tshirt somewhere because she was tired of seeing me wear oversize black tshirts all the time!

Placement Team Notice for 2008 Batch ——> magnet:abc.pdf This reminds me of all the serious part of my life in campus. The tests, the interviews, the final selections, the anxiety, the screams, the sobbing, the hopes and the relief. The last semester of my campus life which involved the proving myself part from placements to CAT preparations. A friend once told me ‘you cannot live life just planning for the future’ True to his words, most of us seemed drained with all the preparations and the uncertainty.

I was jolted out of my thoughts, as my DC connection went kaput. And then my friend guessed maybe it was because of the MAC address conflict. Save to say, my computer was no longer a part of the campus. I was but a guest now and it seemed like a sign about how it was time to leave.

Everyone seemed to be asking everyone the same question, a question all were expected to have an answer to - What plans ahead? It’s as if the whole batch grew up overnight becoming individuals who should all be equipped with the right plans about where they will work or study next! I remember times not long ago when all I worried about was my next meal. Or that next episode of the really stupid How I Met Your Mother! Or being awake for a certain tut lest I missed a test.

I didn’t get too sentimental about leaving college and you can call me a stone for all I care. It was a bit painful to see my friends leave realizing that times will never come back. You can not afford the carefree years anymore. You could not afford to not know what you will do in the next few years. Sad as that may sound, the whole essence of human life is to grow and meet new people and learn more. If you refuse to leave the first place you learnt so much, how do you expect to know all that is there outside! To learn and be able to teach someone. To see for yourself everything you heard and beyond. To find your real call in life! To explore, to experience and to see your dreams come true!

Wishing all my batchmates a brilliant journey ahead full of all the good things they expect and more! Cheers!

P.S:Thank you Dushyant for the wonderful photo :)

A writer’s heaven. Good stationery!

Mon, 09 May 2011 16:35:00 +0530

A writer’s heaven. Good stationery!

Kids and fashion : Lessons for us!

Thu, 05 May 2011 14:44:00 +0530

So the other day I stepped into McDonalds(yes I still like to eat there) and bumped into this extremely enthusiastic bunch of 5 year olds. I am assuming it was some kid’s birthday party since I could see just one adult member placing their orders, bringing them extra ketchup, showing how to keep the coke glass straight lest it spoil their beautiful party wears and telling them not to throw french fries at each other. My birthday parties used to be in my house where my whole family served my friends potato chips, giant pieces of cake and coke(all cold drinks even orange coloured ones were called coke) following which we all danced to Bollywood songs trying to imitate the gyrating steps of our revered actors. I assume the fries have substituted the chips, the burger substituted the cake but the coke has remained the coke. Anyway, this is not the point of my post here. We all know how the kids now know much more then we did as kids. Today’s 10 year olds have ipods, laptops, facebook accounts when all I had as a kid was pokemon cards!

The kids here demanded my attention because they were dressed so aptly for the birthday party. My eyes caught this particular little girl dressed in a aqua green cocktail dress fit to be worn by Deepika Padukone. Only the little girl was accessorized better. Adorned with the perfect pearl neckpiece, tiny pearl dangling and snow white sandals, she could have taught Vidya Balan the art to get it just right! It reminded me of this verbal tiff I had with my mom where at the end she threw her hands in despair and told me to go ahead and wear whatever ‘guy clothes’ (read t-shirt and jeans) I wanted to. Seeing this pretty yound lady looking so comfortable in her girliness and the mischief in her big pearly eyes, I was jolted of my seat. Was my mother right all along? That maybe I dressed better when my mom picked my clothes for me. That maybe I was indeed trapped in trying to wear guy clothes among the other things that are inflicted on girls who pursue the male-dominated engineering. This young lady had reminded me how lovely it feels to wear great clothes that made you stand out. So, I set about seeing what are the main differences I have imbibed in myself since I left the (merry) fiefdom of childhood under my mother.

As a kid, all girls like their hair to be tied. In all sorts of fancy ways with all types of bright shiny clips. With clips, the thumb rule is the more the better! The beads were a big rage sometime, so were the ribbons. Well, as a grownup I want to do anything with my hair but tie them up. The best haircut has to be flaunted! I washed my hair today, it absolutely has to be kept open! Me thinks the culprit is our very own Bollywood for constantly showing the alpha female’s hair being blown spectacularly by the wind. Truth is your hair never sways perfectly. They only make you feel like you almost invited a bad hair day upon yourself.

There is no reason for the boys to feel left out. All these changes apply to them as well. I recently met my cousin Aarush who is just going to turn three. I was bowled over by how badly he wanted to wear the jeans at all times. The sweltering heat of Chennai doesn’t deter him from wearing the heavy denim. He absolutely refuses to wear the shorts which are ‘too kiddish for him’. I could see the pride in my aunt’s face as she showed me the latest ‘slim-fit’ jeans she bought for my 3 year old brother! He insists on wearing his t-shirts neatly tucked in and can’t absolutely leave the home without his belt! Now, this wouldn’t be so funny if I hadn’t lived in a campus for four years where most of the guys practically lived in shorts and capris(three fourths for the purists) through the year. Be it regular classes, exams, functions, they made no exception for anything. Except for maybe the labs, the placements and Independence Day! How else do you look at this except that kids are more fashion conscious than we are!

Lets come to the last bit of essential: the footwear. All kids like to have more than one sandal, most of them complicated with straps and buckles apart from the usual glitter they are covered in. As grownups, given a chance most of us would slip into the homey slippers. There is something about the open feet that we yearn and kids detest. Even if I didn’t have the tubby feet that I do now, I would still trade my stilettos for a pair of osho chappals anyday!

The attention to detail given by kids to what they wear and how they look is almost unbelievable. The truth is, they take pleasure in all the small things in life. The small lace, the extra collar, the tucked in shirt, the new ribbon these are the things that keep them happy. While it’s good to no longer harass your parents to change your dresses just because it got drenched by the water you drank, it is also necessary to let go of yourself a bit, take some time out for yourself and look into the mirror once in a while with the pride of a 3 year old boy who feels ready to flaunt himself to the whole world outside.

Eat,Pray,Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:16:16 +0530

It took me by surprise when my friend insisted so hard on me reading this book. Now this friend has impeccable taste in books and I thought this one was more of (how to say it politely) an airport read! After craning my neck and inhaling considerable dust in the very brilliant Blossoms bookstore in Bangalore and doing a bit of a calculation of my account status nearing the end of a month, I finally gave in and bought the book anyway!

Are you the girl who doesn’t count the sugar cubes in her tea. Who devours gelatos and loves the way cheddar melts in your mouth the moment you take that first bite off the first sector of that ample delicate warm pizza. Who yearns the warmth that good food exudes as much as that by a loved one’s tight hug. Are you the woman who is jaded by all the luxuries of this world and wants something more beyond. Spiritual or not, are you open to the whole realm of new experiences and people and are willing to endure everything in your journey awaiting that encounter with the ultimate truth. Do you yearn to calm your restless mind with the continual bombardments it gives to your already helpless soul. Are you the lady who wants an experience of everything in her life and yet maintain the right balance. Not willing to sacrifice the material pleasures but yet yearning to be close to God at all moments. To possess and be detached at the same time. If you agreed to any of the questions posed above, I strongly recommend you to grab a copy of the book and get ready to witness the journey Elizabeth embarks on in search of everything.

As for me, I lived every bit of the book with Elizabeth. I walked the Roman streets full of fountains and the public displays of affection. I tasted the Naples Pizza. I experienced the dolce far niente! I learnt the Italian words especially the abuses. I experienced the melancholic Venice with her. I consoled her for her relationship losses. I welcomed her to India. I acknowledged her trouble of meditating, her wandering mind, her pain to sit through the gurugita and the fact that she couldn’t still accept the events of her life. I cheered her when she learnt the art, when she taught her mind, when she forgave herself. I congratulated her on the realization that ”God dwells within you as you.” I drifted with her to Indonesia, Bali to be precise. I took pleasure in her new found relationship with Felipe, her good friends in the healer Wayan and the medicine man Ketut. And I almost cried when she struck the balance in her life like a perfect yogi and made her heart strong for all the new love in her life.

In the beginning of the book, Ketut shows a picture to Elizabeth showing how she must lead her life. It is a creature with four legs on the ground implying how important it is to stay firmly grounded. The head is made of foliage showing you must have a light head through success and failure. And a smiling face drawn in place of the heart asking us to see the world through our heart. The journey that ensues later made her essentially the person she started in search of.

As a completely pleasant surprise, I got my most valuable lesson out of the book towards the end. This will not help you elaborate anymore on the book’s central theme. Nevertheless, it is definitely worth sharing with all of you. Liz helps her poor friend Wayan raise a very big amount of money to buy her own house. With the help of all her generous friends, she helps the divorcee Wayan to finally be able to give her daughter a secure home. Everything goes fine when suddenly Liz finds Wayan showing some irregularities in her demands, indicating subtly how she needs to buy a bigger piece of land thus asking for more money. A furious Liz realizes Wayan is simply taking advantage of her. Felipe however explains her that this was Wayan’s survival tactic. That even though she is a fabulous person and loves Liz immensely, this was her natural instinct and it doesn’t imply that she must severe all bonds with her. Instead he suggests Liz to make a plan in order to talk her out of her further demands which she promptly does. Wayan realizes her mistake and buys her house immediately. Had Liz lost her trust and started hating her, she would have lost a wonderful friend for life apart from all the ill feelings she would have developed for the Balinese in general.

I shall remember this little thing about the human mind. Every time I felt someone is taking advantage of me, I have gone on the furious defensive and lost many a good friends because of it. However, I shall now remember that it is our survival instinct and I shall apply my own to play smarter. After all, its a small life we all live and every single hatred bred is too dear to us! It is better to stay alert and just play along, what are friends for anyway!

I also had the chance to watch the movie after I finished reading. But unfortunately, the movie turned out to be disappointing in spite of the terrific Julia Roberts. It could have been much better only if they had taken pains to show some more background to all of her emotions but alas how much do you portray in just two hours. Lets just remember instead, never to judge a book by it’s movie!

I shall never underestimate the power of...

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:00:00 +0530

The spoken word - It is impossible to reverse the effects.
Clear pleasant weather when I don’t feel like wearing my eye shades.
The happiness of a meal with the entire family together.
Polka Dots.
Reading from a hard cover book.
A good hair day - Even if you don’t get to flaunt it.
Gifts when you don’t expect!
Coffee that is made perfectly to your taste.
Owning beautiful journals even though you don’t use them currently.
Clean bedcovers that smell of laundry done by my mother.
A table with a lamp! I shall henceforth always ensure I have one even if I live in a stable.

I haven’t written in a really long time. This has been the worst hiatus since I started writing my blog. However, I am happy I read a lot of books. And spent some very good time with my family. Now that I am back, I shall get back to writing all about what I read, learnt and dreamt about.

Meaghan Smith : Here Comes Your Man The more I hear, the...

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 22:49:00 +0530

Meaghan Smith : Here Comes Your Man

The more I hear, the better it gets. No wonder I am such a romantic. Also I listen to music in loops. This one’s been giving a high recently <3

A Goan Weekend...

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 15:06:00 +0530

I wish I could put in words how ecstatic I am about leaving for Goa tonight. Having studied there for the past three and a half years, I am feeling all nostalgic about going campus after a good three and half months which is the longest that has been. I am going to meet all my rad friends, feel the sultry Goan weather, watch the sand pull my feet and the ocean cool my toes, eat some of my favourite seafood and bask in the glory of just being Goan!

A really long-awaited perfect weekend break, also truly deserved after my office routine and interview grilling since January. Besides, watching the epic final World Cup match with the entire college in the auditorium is truly the icing on the cake. Hopefully, this time I shall remember to take pictures and also post a few if possible.

My current theme background perfectly shows what is running in my head right now. It’s taken from this beautiful blog and I personally love all the pictures here. If you love good photography and by that I mean not lame reblogged geometric figures, you cannot afford to miss this one!

A coming of age story that is bound to make your heart swell...

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 23:17:00 +0530

A coming of age story that is bound to make your heart swell with all the love, innocence and heartbreak. An intoxicating soundtrack and a storyline right out of our own lives. 500 Days of Summer. One movie I can watch over and over again. Also Zooey Deschanel is the only reason in the world I would ever want to be born as a man!

Three types of people in Bangalore...

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 23:11:00 +0530

Almost three months in Bangalore, I have had some hilarious encounters with different types of people, this I believe is my best souvenir from Bangalore. After observing for three months, I can safely say all the people living here can be divided into three broad types. The bold, the indifferent and the confused. By people here I mean the young working population in the age of 20-30 in Bangalore who are not married and don’t live with their families. If you live in Bangalore and belong to the domain described above and can’t fit yourself in one of these types, I believe you should give yourself a pat on the back for being so unique!

The BOLD

So, they work hard through the week like all the other types. But the big difference is how they will spend their time while they are not working. On a tiring weekday, a visit to the nearest pub with a buddy is just obvious. When it comes to the weekends, a grand plan is always on the way. They don’t mind going to the most happening, expensive and loudest of places almost every single weekend. This set includes the girl in the mall who had four Levis jeans in her billing cart.The guy who is willing to pay for the girl at the discos and the authentic ristorantes. And also those who due to peer expectations are forced to ‘live life to the fullest’.

The INDIFFERENT

My respect for this set is immense for their sheer determination. Come what may, they are not bothered with what ‘new thing’ their friends are experiencing. Be it the next door pub, or the fancy disco or the new mall, it is impossible to budge them from their decisions. Sometimes, due to childhood beliefs inbuilt by your family or at times because of their indifference to the entire social circuit. This includes the boy who won’t go to the movies because the prices are ridiculous . Or the girl who wouldn’t go to the pub because she doesn’t drink and has her point. Also includes the girl who wouldn’t go to the disco because it isn’t the ‘right’ thing to do. But the majority of this set take their staunch stand because they are simply not curious!

The CONFUSED

Now comes the most widest of all sets. This encompasses maximum number of people, or so I believe. They do not wish to be locked away from whatever is going around. They have their own moral lists handed from their respective homes which they would never want to breach. But they are constantly nagged by their innate curiosity. At times, it is the post-guilt of having blown away so much money that bogs them down. They appreciate the differences between the world they are seeing and the one they belong to. Nevertheless, they do not have the nerve to actually go beyond and do anything. If they ever were to, they soon realize that the experience is just not worth the guilt cycle it ensues later.

I have some great friends in each of the set mentioned above. Some like it loud with their peers, some like to be seen having fun-that is where Zuckerberg is raking in all the money. Whereas some like it within the confines of their private life, with their closely knit small group, someone’s idea of happiness is with their pet, or their favorite book and a cup of coffee or just an old movie that reminds them of their home and family. And you will always meet the ‘What the heck! Life is short. Enjoy it while you can!’ kinds.

Somehow, time for oneself has taken a back seat amidst all the work, deadlines, admissions and partying that my friends or peers are engulfed in. Introspection and time-alone have unfortunately become things of the past. Everyone needs to have a plan! ‘The weekend plan!’ The broader plan of human life is no longer the concern. It has become an abstruse thing that only obscure people ponder over. I personally need a break from all that the city life has to offer. I need to get back to my sketching and writing, I need to start completing my old wish list of books and I need to have a ‘PLAN’ for myself.

As far as the different sets mentioned above, as long as they know they are doing what they feel is their business on earth, following ‘their’ rights and wrongs, and not hurting anyone in the way of their enjoyment or whatever it is they call, it’s great to be alive!

The complex world of cosmetics...

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 17:34:00 +0530

Stylish apparel, pretty accessories, petite shoes, smart watches and some chic phone to yap away to glory. These are probably the things you would note when you see a totally rad girl. I will tell you what comes to my mind. I am almost always pondering over how the girl got to know the exact secret of the exact amounts of the exact types in the vast ocean called cosmetics.

How often do you see a lady you think would look much prettier without the extra dollop of heavy lipstick. Or the girl who would look brilliant only if her eyes were a bit less exaggerated by mascara. Or the teenage nerd who would look extremely fabulous with just a smarter haircut. Chances are you witness these people almost everyday. For a person like me who is utmost confused with what to be done, how and in what amount when it comes to the use of cosmetics, respect for flawless groomed beauty is only natural.

How many of you are confused about whether your skin needs a moisturizer or a milk lotion. About whether a face scrub is better than your grandmother’s home-made pack. Well for me, the confusion doesn’t end here. My mother got me these exclusive face lotions which happen to be ‘just right for me’. There is the face moisturizer and then there is the sun block cream! So if we rehearse the sequence, I wash my face with the face wash. Oh no wait, wasn’t I supposed to use the scrub? Fine, so here we go, again. Scrub comes first. Then the face wash? And finally the face moisturizer or the sun block cream(i.e if I somehow remember not to smear body lotion which is another ‘essential’!).

Probably, just probably, the world could have been fine if this was all that existed. Call it the civilization progress, or the ever increasing demands of women or the advancement in marketing fields, there are a whole myriad of other products available. If only you ever tried to understand each one of them, you will realize that life is all but an illusion. An illusion that we have the power to differentiate between what we need and what we don’t.

So, apart from all the usual scrubs and packs and face washes and moisturizers, they have a whole family with their ‘anti-acne’, ‘anti-oil’, ‘anti-dryness’ relatives. We also have the cleanser, the deep cleanser, the pore cleanser, all with apparently different scientific systems of action. Even when it comes to haircare, gone are the days of just the humble shampoo. A conditioner and a serum are an absolute must so says the saleslady. Even if I overlooked all of that, I have still not been able to come to terms with the nail and hands moisturizer. If you thought that was all, wait till you know about the highly effective, miraculous ‘night creams’, all of which are priced so ridiculously, my grandmother would have thought it best to invest in gold instead!

So, here I am in my room amidst all the chaos, trying to make some sense of what to use and what not. I don’t even dare think about any of the makeup or products. Currently, my brain wouldn’t be able to process so much at once. As a sudden inner self realization, I have respect for all the womenfolk who manage to handle all of this so effortlessly or at least make it seem so. If only I could learn about all this. Maybe I should make a plan about what all to apply and when and follow it for once. Maybe I should consult my friends who seem to have this arcane knowledge. Or what the heck, I will just roll up my warm ankle socks and curl up on my bed with my favorite book :)