Updates.....

Post started: 5th Nov,09
Post Published:6th Nov,09



I should REALLY feel guilty of actually dedicating a whole new blog post on “updates” on me coz that’s something I should be doing regularly on the blog , but *gulps* I have developed this whole new things where I let things just bounce off me. You know, like stay in a total zombie like state and actually not think too much (or even lil) bout wats going on. Its MUCH easier on the mind. Trust me! So, iam just gonna plow ahead with answering the “wassup??” question bout my life.

1.Firstly I am totally totally irritated coz I haven’t been able to watch a good hindi movie. Okay fine, let alone a good one, I haven’t even watched a stupid hindi movie for so long now!! Some movies on my list-to-be-seen:
a.Wake up Sid
b.Do knot disturb
c.Life partner
d.Blue (optional :P)
e.Alladin
f.Tum mile (releasing right between my end sem examz :X)
g.Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (Ive been waiting for this movie since the tym I went to ooty and just missd seeing the shooting of this movie by a day near the Destiny Farmstay :( )

(Yeah… iam big bollywood fanatic :P)

2.My laptop is SO screwed up that I ve already got it formatted 4 times in a month and a half and will be going the 5th time today.

3.The internet connection is SO pathetic that half the time I am unaware whether I appear online or offline to my friends. Its actually ridiculous to wait for 5 minutes expecting a reply, follow it up with words like “U der??”, “Anybody home??”, “U alive or dead??” to get back similar phrases in response. Yesterday, while chatting with Dave, i actually asked him "Am i online??" :P

4.Iam reading a lot these days. Finished this AMAZING book “If You could see me now” by Cicelia Ahern. Damn touching and totally the “awww….” –types . And now I ve moved on to “Quantum Leap Thinking” by James Mapes. (Yeah, there is a quantum difference between the two books :P). Next on the list is “Twilight” and Chetan Bhagat’s new one -“Two States”.

5.Iam going through this totally I-wanna-do-something-in-life phase. Its basically a retrospective and analytical phase and Iam not complaining. Its actually fun to try and think of different possibilities. Its exciting! Ive been trying to attend SO many seminars and talks… it good.
6. Ive been totally hooked on to Sudoku these days.

7. Ive been making a whole list of things-to-do in my vacations. Yeah… okay… I do this before each vacation so this exactly isn’t something new :P Cant wait to get back home now.

8.And now... the best one. Me a V went totally crazy two days back (i.e on Wednesday). We made an impromptu plan to just hang out since we both had been quite busy and unable to meet each other. So basically, we took a walk down our fav path to greens (Greens is this really nice garden kinda place with a waterfall and all. Awesome place to just sit and talk especially when the weather is great). We went to “our” spot and must have sat there for almost 45 minutes talking about now-come-to-think-of-it nothing specific , just a lil bout this and a lil bout dat :P Then V (who is supremely hungry ALL the time) made me go to CCD with her (well… not dat I didn’t want to, but still :P)( I must mention that this CCD is in the EDU building which all houses the KMC library which also *ahem* implies that it’s the most conducive place to treat your eyes to loads of CGs :D) After eating-sitting-gossiping-giggling (and repeating this routine for more than an hour) we (finally!) decided to leave. But, the best was yet to come. I somehow spotted this Jealous 21 store right next to CCD (which I had surprisingly never bothered about before) and me and V decided to check it out (Basically I wanted to check it out and dragged V into it :P ) But keeping up with the already-unexpected flow of events, we pulled out almost every top off the shelf, tried it on and posed around in it and ended up buying two very very pretty tops :D Never been this impulsive while shopping!! *Amazed*

Well… I guess dats all that’s been going on, i.e apart from the usual lab examz, Byju cat classes, and some other cant-avoid-as-much-as-i-want things.


p.s The latest three songs on my playlist: Tera Hone Laga Hoon (APKGK)
Tum mile (Tum mile)
Iktara (Wake up Sid)

Rains and me

Yesterday, i was irritated!! My maths paper went terribly horrid. Nothing seemed to be going the way i wanted it to go. I was irritated with the computer science faculty, with examz, with the stupid auto-walas who never have change, with the pathetic food, with food-court (Iam SO not going there again this sem), with the conversation we were having, with the silly jokes, with the total male-freternity and in general, i was irritated with life. At night, I went to sleep, with the thoughts of the vast syllabus stretching out like a runway in front of me. I had made up my mind to get up early (i.e. as soon as my eyes opened) and get to work. But nature seemed to have other plans. In the morning, as I groggily asked my roomie the time (she was already up with her notes in her hand), my semi-conscious mind registered sound of thunder and rain pattering on the window. I sat up, looked outside the window, confirmed that I was not dreaming and went back to sleep with a smile. I woke up an hour later, yawing and stretching, I began to hum the song “It’s a new day….” :)
So, yes! Such a sea change from my mood in the evening. No wonder I LOVE rains! They leave me all dreamy and moody. They fill my being with a new sense of frredom, joy and hope. The sound of it, the smell before it rains, the view after it rains, the cool breeze…. They make my heart soar!! All I like to do is lie on my bed and hear the sound of water falling on the window panes.
Everything looks so pristine and clear and pure and magical! *Dreamy eyed* . Technically, Manipal seems to the most apt place for me (for actually more than one reasons) considering the fact that it literally pours here in the odd sem. Even though that gets a tad bit irritating at times because of the wet shoes and all… I love rains nonetheless:D
The view from the balcony on my floor, after it had rained, is priceless!!! Today, as I stood there taking in the view (and yes, forgetting all about the impending examz) I was reminded of that Nescafe ad in which the girl (in a red pullover) leans out of her window, with a cup of steaming coffee in her hand, enjoying the rain :D Hehehe! Such a bliss!! Those few hours in the balcony seemed to erase everything not-so-pleasant that happened this sem, or over my last two years here, and made me again fall in love with the place. I felt the same way as I had when I was on my way to Manipal, in a taxi, from Mangalore. The same excitement, the same enthusiasm to try out something new, and the same feeling of hope that every new adventure brings with it. I sat there, thinking about all those things on my wish-list when I came here, and tallied them with all that I had managed to do so far. Not bad I must say. In fact it has been a lot better than what I had imagined.
Now, I want to go back home even more desperately, and now I cant wait to start a another sem, afresh. Putting everything behind me. And yes, this time I mean everthing....

p.s this is the first time that I am kinda writing a concluding post to my sem here in Manipal, and I am actually ending it by looking forward to another new sem!! *disbelief* Well… things do change.

Iam back!

After some 7 serious drafts and 2 and a half months behind me since my last post, I am finally up with a new one. During this time, I have laughed whenever I enjoyed something, cried when I felt low, was nostalgic when I missed home and “friends”, worked whenever I could, studied during exams and basically filled up more pages in this chapter of my college life. Each time things happened I penned down my thoughts (have I mentioned I have started maintaining a diary, which I started more than a year and a half back :P ) or typed them on word (Thank Goodness we have MS Office!). But something held me back from posting them on my blog and it is something that has been troubling me. As ironical as it may sound, the only solution to this problem that I could think of was to start blogging again! So here iam…

“Life never leaves you empty. It always replaces everything you have lost. If it has asked you to put something down, it’s because it wants you to pick up something better.”

Philosophical, yet true! This is one saying that has kept me going a lot of times since I started my college life (my life of independence and self-dependence will be a better way to put it). Yet a lot of things that I have had to put down still remain very close to my heart and I wish I had not lost them. Be it certain friends, dance or a part of me. By the latter, I refer to the changes that have come in me. I am definitely very glad about most of them and they sure are for the better, but in the entire process I feel I have become an even bigger introvert as far as my feelings are concerned and a lot more cautious. It’s almost as if cocooned myself, in the fear of being hurt. (“Friends have the power of hurting you the most”) This makes me come across as “fake” (as certain people have put it) while others think I live a doubled faced life. *Sigh* I really dunno how to overcome this change. Is it good to be this cautious? Should I simply let people assume whatever they want? Maybe the ones who really wanna know me will break the “wall” and try and know better. What if that never happens? *Phew!* Such confusing and contradictory thoughts swarming through my head! No wonder I am going mad! A couple of days back my roomie was telling me in the morning that apparently at night I was giggling hysterically in my sleep for almost 10 minutes and when she woke me up I said I had gone to Disneyland or some such stupid crap :P God save me! Help! :)

Anyways, I have seen a lot of more of Karnataka this sem (I have seen a lot more of life this sem aswell!) I went to Gokarna with friends. (It was surreal. I could not fathom what had happened on the trip after I came back from it. I was almost in a trance :S and no I certainly don’t drink or dope etc !! There had been such extensive rounds of self-analysis!!*shakes her head*) I also went to Davangere, Kemmangundi and Hanumangundi. There are still millions of places I wanna go to. I really wanna go on a bike trip. I mean I know I cant ride the bike but I can always sit behind someone :P
My monthly expenditure has risen exponentially and my mom tries her best to hide he surprise and apprehensions each time I ask her to put money in my account. I do feel guilty, but I seriously cant help it:P
Anyways… I hope I will be more regular with my blog, now that I feel much better. And my apologies to all my blog readers whose blog I haven’t been visiting since quite some time.



p.s : A friend had sent me this sms almost a year back and I still have it saved in my inbox.
“2 teardrops were flowing down the river. 1 said to the other,”Iam the teardrop of the guy who loved and never expressed. Who r u?”
“Um the teardrop of the girl who was waiting for him.”

11 to 1

11:00 pm (room)[ have just come back after spending the whole (almost whole) day at the library (aka ISH)]

I can’t sleep. No way! *nods her head* It’s too early. I have loads of do. According to my plan this chapter has to be finished today. Actually I am pretty feeling happy and quite satisfied with my work. So far I have managed to stick to my schedule. Well, that may also be because I do not make unrealistic schedules (or plans) in the first place. *smug look* Just this one chapter and I am off to bed.

11:15 pm

Still feeling restless. I know I have to study. No other way out o it. Exam starts day after tomorrow. Get up and rearrange my desk. Take out the notes. Just then roomie remembers something that she had to tell me. Talk to her for 5-10 mins. Just then another friend comes into the room. Realizing I wont be able to study in my room any longer (and hence wont be able to sleep sooner) I pick up my notes, a rough copy, a pencil, my mp3 player, my cell, wear my slippers and go out hoping to study in the balcony (silently praying that its pleasant and windy there and also peaceful).

11:30 pm

Walk into the balcony. See another girl sitting on “my” chair (my=chair that I like sitting on). Sit on the other empty chair. (The compromising self that I am). Plug the ear phones to my ears. Comfortably put my leg up on the railing and open the page to be studied. “my” chair gets emptied. Almost jump and grab it before anyone else can. Make myself comfortable again and actually, finally start studying.

11:35pm

I realize that I have been the reading the same lines over and over again. Give myself a shake and get back to get some actual effective studying done. Study 4-5 pages, actually understanding every word. Feel happy with myself. Count the number of pages left to be read. Heart sinks as the count gets incremented by 1 with each page that I turn. 13 pages left. Involuntarily thoughts drift into how poor “13” is considered to be unlucky. Feel a wave of sympathy towards it. Just then a couple of junies pass by. A series of “hi ma’am” follows. I smile. It felt good to be a senior.

12:10 am

*panic* OMG! It’s past midnight! I am jolted back to reality. Again start studying. An utterly nasal voise breaks my concentration. There was this junie complaining and cribbing to her dad because her branch got upgraded. *roll my eyes* Talk about being satisfied!!

12:45 am

Almost done with the chapter! Gleefully look around. The corridor is almost deserted. Just then a friend comes up. Sit and chat with her for 5-10 minutes. Then I start reading the chapter again, while she talks to her boyfriend on the phone. Just then, another junie, comes to the balcony and starts talking to her boyfriend aswell. That chick was extremely annoying. Shoot angry and annoyed looks at her each time she raises her voice beyond human tolerance level.

1:05 am

Finally finish the chapter. Sit just staring out towards the road. Can’t help but feel philosophical. Make up my mind to blog and then immediately give up the idea recalling the recent few events where I took out my lappy, starting working on word to put up a post and then gave up. Decide not to waste time. Listen to what was going on around me. (No. this is not called eavesdropping. Not when the volume of the conversation is high enough for anybody within a km to hear :P ). Feel amazed at how different people look at the same things. For example, the area I call balcony was called connector by my friend and corridor by the other girl. While one of them spoke so nicely and softly with her boyfriend, the other used all possible swear-words on him, simultaneously demanding imported chocolates and the 4^th season of “how I met your mother”

1:20am

I collect my notes, pick up my pencil, unplug the earphones from my ear, slip my cell into the pocket of my nite-suite, wear my slippers and humming the song "kuch kam" from dostana (luv the music of the movieand the movie), come back to the room, smiling :)

p.s. examz from tomorrow...!!!!! :O :O !!!!

.

The COORG TRIP (an organiser's point of view ;) )

PHEW!! Today, after almost a month and a half, I have finally taken out time to do nothing! If I was asked to sum up the past one a half months, I would probably not know from where to start and what all to say, because there was SO much happening, that I barely got time to sit and ponder over it (and that’s saying something). But yes, the most significant thing that happened during this time is that I have finally been able to tick off something from my list of to-do’s, which can also be called my dream or my ardent wish.

As a school girl, I had these vivid imaginations where I would see myself in this nice college, doing a lot of “important” “official” work like organizing stuff, or working for an organization. I would inevitable imagine myself running around, getting things done. I had no idea which college I would land up in or how my dreams would metamorphosis into reality. But that’s why I say law of attraction works.

My dreams kind of turned into reality! Yes! I got a chance to be one of the organizers for the REDX trip to Coorg, for the first years. The amount I have learnt during the course of this trip, is seriously not a joke. For those of you unaware of what exactly the job of an organizer is, let me clear your doubts. As far as my understanding of this post goes, an organizer (there are four of them) is responsible for almost everything that happens or is going to happen on the trip. Though whatever they do does require a nod of the head from the executive committee people, still, right from planning the trip to the execution of it, it’s the organizers who are grinded in the mill. Given below are some pre-requisites that an organizer must possess:

(in no particular order)

1. Patience (abundance of it): without this the organizer is sure to go bald with the n number of “ready to tear ur hair out” situations that arise.
2. Self-control- A must for all those people who don’t wanna go sore shouting at all the other people who should be working but are not, and don’t wanna land up with a sever headache at the end of the day, after shouting ,abusing and swearing along with their fellow organizers (and sometimes at their fellow organizers) :P
3. Sense of humor- this is your lifeline. To let the steam off your head, go in for some witty one-liners (which might just turn into pjs if u r not careful) or better still, make music your best companion.
4. Stamina- Yes! A couple of packets of glucose ought to become a part of your daily diet. (unless of course you are use to such a stressful and tiring routine (read- doing bhangra :P))
5. Quick thinking- Ah! This one is needed to dodge your teachers and their suspicious stares when you sit in the last bench, sms-ing your fellow organizers and discussing important stuff like “setting up of info desks, putting up posters, getting the man-com to work” and the likes. And I am not exaggerating when I say that we would be so engrossed in doing all this that by the time we finally looked up from the screen of the cell, the class would be almost over.
6. Insomnia- If you are already an insomniac, it is going to be a cake-walk for you. If you are not one, well… then dude… tough times ahead! Stealing 4-5 hours of sleep per day is an achievement!
7. self-confidence- This is needed when you have people come and take out their anger on you, for no rhyme or reason, and you have no other option but to give them a patient hearing, calm them down and pacify them. In such a situation, you have to be sure of your actions and know that you are not wrong.

I dunno if I possessed any of the above mentioned “qualities”, but I do know that I have matured quite a bit in the past few weeks. My understanding of a lot of things has increased significantly. I have had to deal with SO many different kinds of people that now iam pretty confident of facing any situation that may arise. On a more serious note, this trip has been a totally enriching experience for me. I have discovered lots of things about myself which I probably wouldn’t have otherwise. There are so many responsibilities of an organizer. Before the trip and during it, it’s like you are representing the club before everyone else. You are totally responsible for your actions and your words.

The event is like your own baby. You see is grow before you. And finally, when you see the event being concluded successfully, and have people praising you for your efforts, it feels divine. All the hard feelings, anger and frustration simply melts. All the effort seems worth it.

I dunno when next such an opportunity is gonna come to me again, but I sure am already looking forward to it J Life is weird… u never know when and what its gonna haul at u next. Yes, I use the word haul coz for me, nothing seems to slowly and steadily come in… it’s always….with a boom and a bang!

The Manipal Our Parents Dreamt Of ! !

Yes people! I have some very bad news for the all the future “wannabe”-MITians. (where MIT stands for Manipal Institute Of Technology :P ). This place, under the influence of our esteem director, has metamorphosed from the ultimately cool and chilled out Manipal, to something thats well… not so cool and chilled out. The badnaam galli is no longer so badnaam. The freshies have to pay Rs. 50 as fine, for each class that they bunk. (yes, I know you r shocked. So were we. Not tto he forget the plight of the freshies!! ). The anti-ragging sqaud is functioning quite effectively. The various clubs and dance groups (and all the seniors in general) are forbidden from having any kind of interaction with the freshies. The freshies with whom one manages to interact, try and act so ultra-cool and wanna-be smart, that you end up following the director’s orders. (a freshie who had come into my room to take some last year books, sits on my bed, happily narrates an incident when she shouted “fuck you” in the presence of our chief warden (unintentionally), asks me the city I come from and then has the gall to say “oh! So you are one of those smart chicks from a small city eh??? * with proper hand movement and facial expressions et al* :I )

The latest and the funniest thing to be started on campus is the anti-couples squad. As the name suggests, this particular group of people move in jeeps after 10:30 pm and their main aim is to part couples and groups consisting of both boys and girls. So folks, don’t blame me if iam not able to post something on “manipal couples” from now on. ( if u don’t know what iam talking about, read this.)

This is not it. Each day, something new keeps cropping up. Now, even the hostel timings have to be strictly adhered to. If the present trend continues, Manipal will no longer remain every student’s dream. *sob sob*. In fact, it’s soon transforming into the manipal our parents dreamt of :(

A Trip To heaven....

Looking out of the window has never been more beautiful and enrapturing… Trust me! I may sound like a total dreamer (which I am, in a certain way) but the only way I can define Kerela is by saying- “Heavens all here!”
This trip to Kerela had been organized by RedX, the socio-adventure club of Manipal and for a nature-lover like me, this was a total not-to-be-missed opportunity. More so, because this time I went for the trip not as an outsider, but as a part of the RedX family.
We left Manipal on the 9th at around 11:30. After thoroughly enjoying ourselves in the bus, singing (in voices, sure to give any “bathroom singer” contestant, a complex :P) for almost 2 and a half hours, our vocal cords finally got a bit of respite when we had to stop at the check post on the Karnataka- Kerela state border. We were stuck there for almost 2 hours (due to some document problem, as I was told about, later on.). But no issues, because standing there on the highway, in no man’s land, in the dead of the night, was a totally ultimate experience. Due to the rain, it had become a lil chilly or may be I was shivering because of the strange amalgamation of feelings of excitement, anticipation and apprehension that had taken control of my being, in such an atypical situation.
Finally, at around quarter to 4, we received the much awaited green signal to proceed towards our destination. The next couple of hours were followed by deep slumber, to recharge our batteries for what lay ahead.
The advantage of sitting beside the window on such trips is that, the first sight that greets one’s eyes when one is woken up by a sudden jolt of the bus, is a misty window and beyond that, an array of rapidly passing, freshly bathed, green trees (and I mean totally GREEN trees), after which one does not curse the roads for spoiling one’s beauty sleep. After I had enough time to satiate my eyes with such a treat, we finally pulled over at a small place, on the way, to freshen up.
For the next leg of the journey, I sat in the last row of the bus, with my friends. We had a photograph session (yes, I lurv taking snaps :D ) and another round of India’s most favorite any-occasion-any-location game - Antakshari. After a quick breakfast at a "Mallu" hotel (where chutney was served in a big steel bucket, the kind used for bathing :P), our next stoppage was at Paithalmala.
I had the time of my life there. Mentioning how stunning the view was, will be stating the obvious and repeating a very clichéd line. As the four jeeps, overflowing with the previous occupants of the bus, climbed the hills further, all we could do was hold our breaths at the sight that greeted our eyes. Once on top, we got an astounding view of a miniature waterfall. Though I was initially quite reluctant to get my shoes and jeans wet in the icy cold waters (which I swear, had nothing to do with the leeches that were supposed to be present there *involuntarily shivers*) , the adventurous streak in me finally took over and I braved the fall (and the leeches :p).
We decided to walk back to the foot of the mountain instead of taking the jeep. I really wished I could have stood there longer and taken in the view, but as we were already running behind schedule, we all had to hurry up. On the way back, I also went leech hunting. (I couldn’t help it! I really wanted to see a real one, having heard SO much about them. Good or bad? Well, lets leave that out of the discussion :P). And yes! I finally did see a leech. Not on the way, under some rock, but on a friend’s hand, in the bus !! (see… I told u. The law of attraction never fails to work :D ). Traveling down the mountain, hanging on the bars behind the jeep, was an experience Iam gonna take long to forget :D
Our next stop was St Angelo’s Fort. On the way, I and my MP3 player gave each other company. You know, it’s really surprising how slow, romantic numbers sound so wonderful in such situations! ;) The multitude of random thoughts that keep romping about, all over one’s cerebrum, just adds to the feel.
Set by the sea, St’ Angelo’s Fort looked beautiful. Rains have this weird kind of magic. They can make everything look so serene and pure; even a century old fort that had mosses and algae growing all over it (and loos which had locks that looked as if they had been last used when the king was alive and nobody has bothered to open them ever since :P)
Since by then, the Rain-God had turned quite hostile towards us, we could stop for just half n hour at the next and also the last place on our itinerary- Payambalam Beach Garden (sheesh! The names of these places are tough!).
At 12:15, we finally reached home-sweet-home (I mean Manipal:P ), all wet and shivering.
After such an awesome time, the repercussions (read- sore throat and mild fever) seem very insignificant. Instead, such exhilarating display of nature’s bounty, leave one vying for more .

The "pink" tale.

This has to be THE most obnoxious comment I’ve heard in my entire life! It is so utterly wrong to type cast people because of their actions on one particular day. And yes, this time also, it was the poor blog owner who is the victim of such ruthless behavior.

Without confusing you people further, let me divulge the details.

It so happened that on this one fine day, when the sun was playing peek-a-boo behind the dark threatening clouds (yep, here this phenomenon happens very regularly), Abhu set out with two of her friends Sun, and V (the new entrant into Abhu’s Mad-dome) to shop for some essential commodities and then basically just hang out. Luck and all the kindness in the world seemed to have turned their back towards Abhu that day. Those of you unaware of V’s antics aught to be enlightened with the fact that she can be THE most irritating person on earth (Iam SO gonna be dead today). The fact that she and Abhu are as opposite as the poles, seemed to add more ‘masala’ to what was gonna follow. So basically, it so happened that Abhu was wearing a ‘pink’ (and white) T-shirt that day. V was in one of her ‘those’ moods and was hell-bent on irritating Abhu to the core. Hence, her new-found- keen sense of observation soon observed the fact that Abhu was also carrying a ‘pink’ umbrella, and her key chain was made of ‘pink’ colored hearts. Trust me, it was all pure coincidence. But, no! What further added fuel to the fire, was that Abhu’s bed sheet also happened to be in ‘pink’ and so was her new soft toy. That it! V needed no further nudging. Within seconds Abhu was nicknamed “Pinku” for apparently very stupid reasons. No body seemed to notice the other colors that formed a part of her as well. The blues, the yellows, the blacks, the peaches, the greens , the violets all seemed to fade into oblivion. And this can be very infuriating! Trust me! Not to forget, completely inhuman. *sob sob* .

It just not about being called “pinku”. I still cant understand why ‘pink’ is considered to be such a “kiddish” color; why this biased opinion as far as the color ‘pink’ is concerned. The general perception is that only lil girls can have things in pink. I genuinely think pink looks good on everyone and suits everything, irrespective of one’s gender and age. Yep! U read me right. I think pink, when worn in the right way, looks good on guys too. I’ am sure, there is gonna be difference of opinion on this one, but I still stand by my dear “pink”. ‘Pinku’ or no ‘pinku.’

p.s. Do you know why people have this weird tendency of ignoring friends when they are with their bf or gf??? Are they like ashamed of their partner or something? Does waving a hi! make them devoid of a few nano-seconds of being with one another??? :S

Hostel & weight loss...... naaah!

As a child, I had heard from practically EVERYONE (I wud have used a larger font size but this is the max size that will look decent on this post :P) that hostel life is synonymous with oodles and oodles of weight loss. I had been conditioned to think that one is meant to starve and live in such atrocious living conditions in a hostel, that one inevitable ends up losing a lot of weight. Hence, when my turn came, I was fully prepared for the worse and was kinda happy that I will be finally doing something I long wanted to, without much effort. *sly grin*. Infact, one of the prime reasons I was adamant to experience the life of a hostler was that, I would get a chance to test myself and see if I am actually up to all that I think I am. You know, many times people have these preconceived notions about what they can do and stuff and how they will handle themselves in a particular situation ?? Well, it wont be wrong to say that I wanted to test myself, and see whether I was at par with the standards I had set for myself, or had been living in a fantasy world all through. (okay, I know I sound too capricorn-ish :P )

*giggles* you know, I actually use to imagine myself coming back from college, and surprising people with my all-new avatar and all that.

BUT!!! No sooner did I land in a land called MANIPAL, all such dreams were shattered into million pieces. I was forced to rethink my definition of “a hostel life”. Life there was SO chilled out, and the food was SO amazing that soon I realized nothing was gonna be the way I though it would be :D

So basically, this was just meant to tell all my blog readers, please, do not think staying in a hostel makes you loose weight, and next time u see a hostel-returned student, who has not managed to lose weight please do not subject him/her to torturous comments like “Now atleast you should have lost weight!! What are you doing there???” and the likes. Similarly, if you see a hostler who has managed to shed a few pounds, then kindly do not shrug it off with clichéd lines like “it had to happens, now that he/she stays in a hostel ”, rather, kindly acknowledge the fact that the poor student has had to go through tremendous mental torture, and it has taken a considerable amount of self-control on the part of the student to ignore all those yum brownies and sundaes and pastas in order to lose those few kilos and hence, the poor victim of such ruthless torture should be endowed with generous praises, rather than those snide remarks.

(p.s. kindly pardon me for giving this post such a ridiculous title. But trust me, my creativity is on a holiday. i could think on nothn better than this :P)

The "manipalites"

Today, I was just pondering over (Okay… I agree that I like observing things very keenly and think too much :P) the new and different elements (read “people” ) that I’ve come in contact with, in Manipal. I just felt like posting something bout them. So here I go! :D

1. My physics teacher( fondly called “correcta”)- No prizes for guessing why we call him “correcta”. Each time he says a sentence and end it with “correcta???”, the entire class answers in a chorus- “correcta!!!” :D Also, another prominent quality of this great personality is that he rarely loses his cool. I mean, the amount of rubbish we do in his class is unimaginable. But each time the noise gets intolerable, he turns around, looks at us as if he is gonna lose his cool, big time, but then suddenly changes his mind, turns towards the blackboard and starts teaching again.
2. My second physics teacher- (yes, we have two of them to tolerate) She scurries into the classroom (I hope u can imagine a rat, can u? *hopeful look*) with her laptop in her hand, takes 10 mins to adjust her saree (and keeps doing this throughout the class) and to pin the mike onto it. Also, she keeps throwing in praises for our class, once in every 15 mins of her lecture, because she knows that befriending us and being in our good books is the best way to keep us in limits and allow her to teach peacefully:P She then goes to the next class and bitches about us. *nods her head in disgust*. Today, while calling out the attendance, she called a guy “Rachit” as “Rachita” (do all people in south India, have a fetish for the letter “a”, coz they seem to love to attach it after every word ? :P) and when the whole class sniggered and giggled (yes, the giggling was done by the girls), she spent the next 25 minutes trying to convince us, that in Sanskrit even “Ram” is written as “Rama”. So much for hating to be wrong! :P
3. The famous (or rather infamous) workshop teacher- he luurrves to tell tales about his grandfather, who seems to find place in everything we do in the workshop, from our behavior in there, to our workshop models. According to this “gentleman” (he, btw, uses this word very often), everything we do, right from breathing to sweating it out in the workshop, is somehow connected to engineering.
4. My Maths teacher- Dude! He should seriously try modeling for one of the south Indian versions of Baywatch (if there exists one). The poses that he marofies in class and the classy expressions that he gives, the way he talks and the way he carries himself... *shakes her head in amazement*.
5. My SOM teacher- Now that she has finally got use to “entering into the zoo” and teaching its inmates (:P these are her words, btw) (I wonder what she considers herself to be then??? *looks thoughfully*), she has now actually started making sarcastic remarks on us, whenever she can. ( see, we do have positive influence on people you know ;)) And, I must not forget that its because of her that 14 martyrs of our class, happily sacrificed 3 days of classes. (:P) Ma’am, we would like to request you to be a teeny-weeny bit more considerate about you 'lil' students and not drag the civil HOD and the honorable director of the college, into meager issues like throwing of 200 + paper balls in class.
6. The English-translator of the movies screened at movie dome- (movie dome is one of the two sad movie halls that we have in manipal, where movies are screened through projectors.) Sir, iam sure that iam not as competent in English as you are, but still, I cannot digest the fact that the English translation of “yeh toh Ram- Laxman ki jodi hai” is “both of them were like “Humpty- Dumpty” (: I)
7. The local-bus conductors- The way they say “uduppi…uduppi…uduppi…” and “mandipal…mandipal…mandipal….” Is kinda funnily cute :D
8. The manipal couples- They don’t even need an occasion to get started! Be it in front of 13^thth block, “badnaam gali” (yes, there is such a place in our college) or in front of NLH (our air-conditioned classrooms :D). Hehee! For all of the people who linger outside the 13 block (that’s the most famous girls hostel block in MIT) at night, for innocent reasons (:P), it can become quite “embracing” at times. (:P)
9. This one “filmy” couple (who deserves a special m ention here)- okay, I have been a witness to a number of sad partings that take place outside my block each night, but this one takes the cake. This couple stood hand in hand, facing each other. Then, I think it was time to part (or so it seemed to be) cause they started moving backwards (blog readers, kindly use your imagination and knowledge of bollywood movies to perfectly picturize this scene :P), their arms out stretched till the point that their fingertips could also no longer meet. Then, both of them dramatically turn back, their backs facing each other, and start walking in opposite directions. On the approximate count of three, they again turn to face each other, run towards one another with their arms outstretched, and hug. Lol! Guys, believe me, this is not a made-up story! :P
10. Our block matron- whenever you are dressed for a party (specially on Saturdays ;)) and innocently try to sneak out of the block after signing, she keeps staring suspiciously, over her spectacles, and asks in her high-pitched voice- “kidhar jane ka hai? Sign karne ke baad bahar nahin jane ka. Pata hai na?” hehee! Sorry akka (kannad for sister), kya Karein, control hi nahin hota :P. she is very upset over the fact that I have an official perm till 12 (of which I make most use of) and don’t have to sign the late register :D *devilish grin*
11. I dunno how i forgot to mention this before, but thanks to all my teachers "circuits" have now become "sir- cutes" for me :P
    

There are new additions to this list practically everyday, and Iam sure that by the end of 4 years, I will have loads of new people who will make a place for themselves in this esteem list :D

p.s. 1)- the above post is not meant to harm the sentiments of any teacher or couple (:P), or “akka” or the “translator” and should be taken in good humor.

2)- i just got a scrap on orkut which says " hi how r u friendship". can someone please help me to decipher the message it wants to convey??? (:P)

CYBER AURA

Last night, as me and Sun sat munching on something that was supposed to be our dinner and Shi tried her best to study (which ofcourse, she miserably failed to do) we generally started discussing bout ‘destiny’ and how we meet people in our life who later get connected to it in some way and how all of us met each other when things were actually supposed to be quite different. As I have already mentioned in my post- ‘college..’, I first met Shi through ‘Orkut’ (Need i say anything bout this site??) Had we not decided to become roomies then, then most probably Shi would have been sharing a room with Sun now. Soon our conversation drifted towards what our initial impression bout each other was.

Shi- ‘u remember when I asked you if you wanted to share a room with me? You were like, “yeah! Sure” Had we not spoken back then, I would have been sharing room space with Sun or probably with some complete stranger!’

Me- ‘ Yeah…. I swear! But u know… initially, i thought you that you had oodles of attitude. I mean, after seeing your scraps and stuff . You are quite a different person in reality. A much better one. ’

Shi- *laughs* ‘ Dats weird, coz initially even I thought that you had an attitude problem. (Me?? And Attitude??? *aghast* NO! NOT possible…I am sure u guys will vouch for that. *hopeful look* ) Infact when my mom saw your pic, she was like ‘ your roomie looks pretty smart. Iam sure she must be pretty popular wherever she goes’

(I would have been floating in air on having received this compliment, had the previous remark bout me having an attitude *sob sob* not punctured my bubble of happiness, even before it blew up.)

Sun- (who had thoughtfully been listening to our convo) ‘ you know, I would call it CYBER AURA.’

Both me and Shi stared at her. Infact Sun herself sat there trying to comprehend what she meant by that, so that she could answer our questioning looks.

Sun -‘What??!! Don’t look at me like that!! I simply made this word up, right now. ‘

( Didn’t I mention anything bout our madhouse and its inhabitants anywhere on this blog?? :P)

But you know what? This word- 'Cyber Aura' and the fact that it actually defines something which does exist (though we are pretty oblivious of it), did set my mind ticking....

(p.s. looks like I’ll havta now include ‘shi’ and ‘sun’ in my label list coz they seem to be giving me loads to blog bout ;)

@suk- yes...i have removed word verifiation from my comment pg (:P) so now u can leave comments without grumbling :P)

BHOOKAD CLUB-1

With the mess food sucking big time, exams causing a nightmare and the thought of sitting and thinking yet again about where to have dinner that night , being enough to drive one’s voracious pangs of hunger away, Abhu, shi, sun and mek (check the post titled “college…” to figure out these abbreviations) decided to MAKE dinner that night.

It all started with Abhu smsing Shi to buy some fruits on her way back from the reading room, because that night she felt like having fruit salad for dinner. At 8:30 Abhu gets an anxious message from Shi, asking her if she was feeling alright. Shi couldn’t believe that Abhu wanted to have FRUIT salad for dinner. (huh! See what a wrong impression people have about Abhu?? Agreed she is not too fond of fruits but does that mean she cant ,for a change, decide to have em??)

So, Shi returns to the room at 10, with fruits, veggies , mek and sun accompanying her. Mek had a packet of Knorr Hot n Sour soup and some kinda mixture that was supposed to be added to the veggie salad. Before they knew a full fledged menu had been planned for a special and healthy dinner.

Menu:
1. Hot n sour soup (with some kinda noodles added to it which ultimately made it taste like manchow)
2. Doritos with cheese ('Bahrain ki cheese ' if i may add. again, refer to the post- 'college...' for clarification)
3. Veggie salad with some kinda mixture in it :P
4. Fruit salad

Now came the most important part of it all- cutting the fruits and veggies. They sent Sun to fetch Doritos and cheese from mek’s room (her room is filled with all these yum things from Bahrain). Abhu was on her laptop, quickly saying a bye to all the 5 people with whom she was chatting at a time ( Tn- her very very good friend from skul , Suk, and 3 other friends from MIT ). Meanwhile, Shi ( who is good at cutting fruits and veggies started peeling off the cucumber and cutting it. Shi unaware of Abhu’s poor cutting and chopping skills handed her an apple to cut. Abhu tried to do her best, but she must have looked extremely comical trying to gingerly cut the apple into two, cause Mek and Shi coulnot control their giggles. As soon as the apple was cut into two, Abhu jumped to do an impromptu jig, elated at finally having cut a fruit into half with a knife. Heheee! Though she abandoned any attempt to cut the fruit into smaller pieces, she then took up the work of adding chat masala to the fruit salad.(u can see the pic above :P) Meanwhile, Mek prepared the soup adding noodles and other ingredients which she thought would make it yum.

With loud music playing in the room, sun cutting onions, all of them sniffing and removing tears from their eyes, thanks to the onions, they had an amazing time preparing this meal!

College...

Sheesh!!!! Its been 4 whole months since i blogged!!!! Well....its been 4 months since i joined college too. Life has been SO busy that ive barely had time to sit and gather my thoughts. I have to admit that there have been loads of instances when i’ve wanted to blog but i just couldn’t due to many reasons :P and yes...i would like to partly blame it on the unavailability of WIFI in our block. Now that we have FINALLY ( yes...i hope iam able to convey the sense of relief i experience, through my words) got wifi, i promise to try my best to be as regular as possible with my blog.
So, lemme first introduce to you the members of our madhouse (its really surprising how iam able to find crazy people like me where ever i go. I must not be DAT crazy you know...*thoughtful look*).
1> Shi- (my roomie)- well....this is one thing i HAVE to thank orkut for. She was the first girl from my college whom i met online, and since we kinda had similar choices and didn’t want to be stuck with a complete stranger in our first sem in college, we decided to become roommates. And am i not glad for that!!!! We seem to be SO similar!! There is loads we have in common, from our past experiences to our liking for dance, our choice of movies and music, etc etc. So basically, though she can be VERY careless at times and irritates me with her endless talks on the phone (she can be on the phone for hours!!)...um happy sharing a room with her.
2> Sun-(my neighbour)- the three of us, i.e sun, shi and myself, bonded from the time we were in the 7th block (our temporary hostel block which its own stories and incidents, about which i shall blog some other day;) ) man!!! She is such a hypochondriac!!!! We are really dreading the day when she might fall sick (though i hope it never happens)coz if that happens then she’ll either drive us mad, or herself become insane.We keep pulling her leg and she too get back at us whenever she can. Its almost like the three of us share a room . Another very “prominent feature” of sun is that she has this very irritating habit of dropping almost everything she holds (sheesh!!!she’s definitely gonna throttle me if she ever comes across this post :P) and you HAVE to keep your food drawer locked when she’s around coz if you don’t you find anything left in it with her “only one bite”. But jokes apart, she’s a sweetheart. We can bitch bout anything and everything under the sun and both of us love gossiping and eating ;)
3> Mek- Dunno where to start writing bout her from. She can be a lil baby and and at the same time one of the most mature person for her age , if she wants to. I love pulling her leg because of her fetish for “Bahrain ki coke”, “Bahrain ki coffee”, “Bahrain ka pizza” etc etc... She’s one person you can bank upon to accompany you, whenever you wanna go somewhere or do something. This chick can’t say no! And guess what??? She too is crazy bout astro related stuff!!! Man!!! I was so glad to find someone with whom i could discuss bout all this.
4> Sho- she’s the intellectual one in our group. Loves to go deep into philosophical stuff. You should see her belly dance!!! She’s awesome! A gem of a person. By the way, mek and sho are also roomies and since their room falls on the way to our’s , we always end up stopping by their room whenever we pass that way, and once we do that nothing can stop us from gossiping for hours (unless sho gives her “enough-lets-study-now” looks during exam time:P)

Um seriously very glad to have found such a wonderful group of friends here so soon. Oh yeah...i must tell you bout our “bhookad club” headed by mek and sun. All of us are big foodies and love to visit the night canteen or the “coffee dabba” in our block just 5 minutes before 12 (coz the canteen closes at 12 and so does our hostel door.) We love to give the matron “we-r-feeling-very-very-hungry-plz-let-us-out” looks just before 12 and leave her grumbling bout how she cant even go to sleep peacefully at 12. Wicked...aint it *devilish look* .Thank goodness, all of us love hanging out, going to the disc and doing “bakchodi”:P . in short, we rock!!!