Veg. Puffs and Spring Rolls

Day 8- 24^th August, 2011

This is the second time I’m writing this article. Why? Because I did not save it the last time. Why? Because Venky INTERUPTED just when I was about to save my article.

Ooof. I’ve had such a hectic (not) week. I go to school and find out that we have school day practice the whole day. Since I’m not taking part, all I have to do is sing, sing, and sing some more. This is because the people who are not taking part in the play have to spend their time constructively (yeah, right) practicing for the class 12 invocation. The invocation is something like giving ourselves a farewell. We choose three songs and present it to the audience before the play starts. It’s somewhat like what we did back in 10^th grade; but this time some old grumpy Math teacher will not tell us what we’re supposed to sing.

So we chose to do a medley of three songs. I’m Yours by Jason Mraz (I am SICK of that song now), a Hindi song “Koi Kahe” from the movie Dil Chahta Hai (When I found out that we were doing this song, my first reaction was “GAY” with a straight face.) The last song is a Tamil song “Mustafa Mustafa”. I like it. Weird, we sing this song the best. Weird because a majority of the crowd in my class is not a very big fan of anything to do with Hindi/Tamil. They’ll all pretend to be cool with it, but when it comes to pronouncing the words, all you can do is look at them and laugh. (No offence)

Even though we spend the whole day doing nothing (literally), I got to spend some time with Nivikins. We both joined school together back in 8^th grade. Just yesterday, we were talking about how everything is coming towards an end in a few months. Before we know it, we’ll be on our own. Before we know it, everyone will be all grown-up. Everyone would have chosen their colleges; everyone would have sorted their lives. But one thing I’m sure of; no matter what, all my friends are going to be as crazy as they are now, even when they’re 80.

Nivikins and I were talking about how we got to experience SO much in Sishya. We laughed, we frowned, and we made friends that we won’t forget for the rest of our lives. I’ll miss all the madness, all the snubbing, all the screaming and shouting in the corridors, all the gossip, all the bullying we did (yeah, we make fun of the snobs around.) Everything. But hey, change is something inevitable, isn’t it? Life must move on. The end of this is only the beginning of something new and probably something better.

Oh and before I forget, I will miss our canteen the most. Especially Rebecca. I think I still owe her 50 bucks.

Dear Mrs. Visvanathan

Day 6- 14^th August, 2011

You know, it’s true when people say “Death is the greatest mystery”. I often think about what happens after one has left this world for a better place. It’s freaky, the thought; it gives me the chills. If I let my imaginations run wild, I won’t be able to sleep at night. And to add to it, I’m always the one to switch off the lights at night, and trust me, those 90 seconds I take to travel the distance between the switch and my bed is when I am at my athletic best.

I have to face it one day; it’s inevitable. Besides, we aren’t doing anyone a favor by being sad and mourning for those who aren’t anymore. I know you must be thinking it’s easy for me to say this, but I know it’s hard, very difficult in fact. However it’s a part of life. Somehow, I like the culture over here, in Chennai. When someone passes away, they dance and celebrate while taking the body to the crematorium. The reason- to ensure the soul leaves this world with peace and love and doesn’t have inhibitions. It was a little odd in the beginning, when I came here from Mumbai. The thought was revolting too, but then I realized how it makes so much more sense. Other than that, people here don’t believe in wearing White clothes while giving condolences to the family members. They find it pointless to do that, and I agree.

After all, “Life is made up of years that mean nothing and moments that mean everything.”

Rest In Peace, Mrs.Visvanthan.

Its STILL Monday.

Day 4: 8^th August, 2011

This morning, I wasn’t very sure if I wanted to go to school because of two reasons. First, it’s a Monday. Second, it’s a Monday. I don’t like Mondays; and I’m pretty sure I am not the first one to say that. We had a double period of all the science subjects—that’s a double Chemistry first thing in the morning, followed by double Physics and then double Math. If that wasn’t enough, we had double Biology, but since our school timings have been cut down by an hour to fit in time for school day practice, we missed one of the classes. So that was a relief.

At 12:45, we were done with all our classes. Only god knows how I sat through today, but I remember drooling through Physics. I dare not do something stupid like that in Math or Chemistry, because both the subject teachers are demons in disguise.

When I came downstairs, Akshita asked me if our names were put in for a dance item for the school play. I told her I didn’t know, so we both went and checked it up. We went into the library and asked Arti Ma’am, the coordinator of the play (and also our Principal’s daughter) if she knew about our participation. With the same old irritated expression, she told us to go and find out from another teacher who might know. That lady always manages to turn my mood off. I wonder what she thinks of herself just because she has to take care of certain responsibilities. I mean, I know other teachers who handle harder subjects (Arti takes Value Education, which I don’t consider a subject in the first place) and still maintain their cool; which is why they become popular amongst students. I hope someday she’ll realize that. Anyway, we approached Kothiyal Ma’am, my previous Hindi teacher. Now, though I had a pretty good grip on the language, I never really did well in my exams, and that was her reason to dislike me. One can imagine her as a typical north-Indian aunty, a nosy one. We walked up to her, and asked her if we were a part of the dance she was in charge of. Turns out Akshita’s name was in it, along with Anju and Haresha, two of my other close friends. When Kothiyal ma’am didn’t mention my name, I told her to check for “Devika”. She thought I taunted her, and told me that she knows my name and I don’t need to remind her. That was not needed, really. That made me agitated, and the rest of the day was even more (as me and my friends call it) BLAH.

I came back home at 2:45, and ate some good home made Gujarati Dal and Rice. Ever since I was a kid, I have been a great fan of my grandmother’s Dal. Not just her Dal, whatever she makes is purely delicious. It’s this thing about old people, especially grandparents. They make the best of traditional dishes, and you always compare what your mother makes with what they make. It’s sad because my mother tries so hard to match up to her level. But I guess it just comes with experience. After eating today’s Dal, I think she’s almost there. It was finger lickin’ good, literally.

As soon as I was done eating, the door-bell rang. Turns out it was my Chemistry tuition teacher. He is undoubtedly the most unique and bizarre person I’ve ever met in my entire life. But more on him in the next post. 

Hey, chubby cheeks!

Day 3: 7^th August, 2011

I am quite a sleep-loving person. I can sleep at any time of the day, provided I have a nice, soft, fluffy pillow to rest my head on, and I am not sweating because of power cut. This morning, I woke up at 8:30, after my mother screamed out my name five times. She hates it when I sleep beyond 8:45 in the morning; she thinks it’s a very bad habit. We get into intense arguments about it a number of times, my point being, if my friends’ parents don’t have a problem with it, why should she. She replies by saying “They don’t need to lose weight like you” and that is enough to shut me up.

I got up and pushed myself to brush, and then take bath. I did some Yoga. I really don’t like doing it, but there doesn’t seem to be any other way of shedding the weight. I am so busy throughout the week with tuitions and medical coaching classes that the only time I get is in the mornings; that too on weekends. A waste of weekend mornings, don’t you think? I had planned on losing some weight before my 17^th birthday which is in a few days, but I’m pretty sure, it’s going to be the same for a while.

I feel the worst for my mother who is more worried about my weight than I am. She desperately wants me to get into a good shape so that she can buy me cute dresses and shorts just like the other girls of my age wear. I don’t really bother much about it, personally. I’ve been quite a tomboy, and makeup only involves a little bit of Kohl occasionally, and probably some lip balm application. My mom feels pretty disappointed about it, but I tell her that as time passes by I will get conscious about my weight and lose it all. The day will come eventually, just not now.

Around two months back when we visited Express Avenue, I spotted this beautiful Guess dress that had been draped on a mannequin and put on display. My mother saw me admiring it and used it as an opportunity to get me to workout. She told me that she would buy me that dress (which was pretty expensive, or so I think.) if I lose 10 kgs. before 16^th August. I said yes to make her happy (and to convince myself that I could it); the rest of our window-shopping being a jolly good one.

It’s about 10 days to my birthday and I haven’t lost a single kilogram. I am kind of guilty and sad, but not as much as my mother or Anya. Anya has been pushing me to workout too, mainly so that she could borrow my Guess dress, if I got one. But knowing how much she loves me I’m pretty sure she wants to see me thin too. She keeps sending me links and refers websites that help you workout the right way. I look at it, not because I want to follow what is given on the sites, but because I want to respect and reciprocate her love for me. Hopefully some day, I would actually have a look at the websites and follow the instructions. Hopefully some day, I would look in the mirror and say to myself “Oh my God, is that really you?”

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara!

Day 2: 5^th August, 2011

“I could go back to every laugh,
But I don't wanna' go there anymore,
And I know all the steps up to your door,
But I don't wanna' go there anymore.

Talk to the wind, talk to the sky,
Talk to the man with the reasons why,
And let me know what you find.

I’ll leave my window open,
‘Cause I’m too tired at night to call your name.
Just know I’m right here hopin’,
That you’ll come in with the rain.”

Taylor Swift. That girl with a smooth, country voice, can make me feel good at any time of the day. I got back home and switched on the internet as soon as I came so I could listen to Taylor’s latest which my friends had been talking about at school. It was followed by a few words of anger by my mother. She has a problem with me using the internet, period. What’s weird is, I am on it all the time through HER phone. But I don’t blame her; she barely knows how to use her phone apart from calling. It’s cute to see her figure out how the whole world of messaging works, though it invariably happens that I am the one to type the message and send it. Just today, she wanted to tell the man from a nearby grocery store to send some groceries. 15 minutes. 15 minutes to type “Pls brng 2 kg dal nd 2 pckts milk”. I acted like the perfect mentor and refused help when she almost gave up. I said, quite sternly, “What’s the point if I do it now? You have already wasted 10 minutes; you might as well do the whole thing!” She gave me a smile and typed the message. That man came after an hour to deliver the groceries.

Today was a pretty dull day at school. After two weeks of no classes, it was a little odd to sit through 40 minutes of Chemistry and an hour of Math at a stretch. We got to leave only at 1:45, by the time we were completely exhausted.

Throughout the day, Aishwarya and Anya went on about how awesome Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara was and I felt even more tempted to watch it. I had planned on watching it first day first show, but the idea somehow got pushed to the back of my mind because of exams. I hate it when that happens; I hate it when exams come in between me and Hrithik Roshan/ Farhan Akhtar movies. Not that I’m a big fan, I just think they are really good at what they do.

Aishwarya sang “Senorita” the whole day as if to make me ask her how the movie was. So I finally asked her a more detailed description of it. “AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME! You cannot miss this one!” she said. I then asked her a rather icky question. “Are there any…uhm…scenes?” “No. Not really. Hrithik and Katrina kiss, though, but it’s only for 3 seconds.” She counted, I thought. I have to find out such details before I go for a movie with my mother, just so I don’t get into awkward situations. My mother is not very cool about this, and I understand.

But then I thought it would be stupid to ditch such a good movie for 3 seconds of discomfort. As soon as I got back, I switched on the internet and while I waited for Taylor’s song to load, I went on the Sathyam website to book tickets. The site was down for maintenance. Excellent timing.

I did book tickets though. For Monday. In Inox. That’s three days from now. Brilliant.

Let's get started :)

Day 1:  4^th August, 2011

So here we are. Everyone seems to be doing it, so let me try my hand at this. Blogging sounds pretty funky. I saw my friend doing it the other day so I got all inspired and decided to get my own after my exams got over. It got over today! 2 weeks of slogging and sleepless nights (almost). I have no clue how I did, hopefully not as bad as I think. Chemistry will always be a mystery, and Physics will be an even bigger one. But nevertheless, its what I’ve been wanting to do all my life. Wait, no, not really. I never knew wanting to be a doctor involves an equal amount of Physics and Chemistry as Biology back in ninth grade. But its okay, no point whining. Its what I’m going to do for the rest of my life. No turning back.

Besides, I always have a back up- photography. Its an interest I developed just recently (read- very recently). I’ve been clicking pictures about anything and everything, from a leaf to a dragonfly to an ant and even a lizard! Yeah, I must be gutsy. But I don’t find lizards disgusting. I really don’t. They eat butterflies. That’s why they’re so cool. Butterflies suck.

I plan on sharing some of my pictures with you. But before that I must covert it from RAW to JPG. My DSLR is so awesome; it changes its own settings. I must go figure out how it works. That’s going to be a task, alright.

The rest of the day was pretty normal, went for a lunch with Anya to Barista and had cold coffee. Never knew Barista had good stuff. Its actually better than CCD. Oh but on our way, we came across this Video Jockey from a local music channel who walked up to us thinking we were some extra-ordinary girls with an excellent sense of English and asked us with all his attitude “Would you please answer a few questions? We’re from SS Music and we are taking a survey on what the youth thinks about corruption.” I stared at Anya and she stared back, both looking dazed. Anya refused to speak, so I didn’t have much of a choice. I held the mic and blabbered something, I don’t remember. But then the V.J. asked me “And what do you think, how should we punish them?” I said, “Well, um, they have, um, done such nasty things to our country and used all the money for public use...er...I meant personal use. Um. Yeah. I think they should be hanged.” I’m pretty sure I saw a huge grin on his face. I don’t blame him, I was so nervous. But hey, I think I spoke like a total responsible citizen. I mean I really think they should be hanged. Its so easy for them to say “I am not corrupt.” The government gets into it, does some random investigation, and then it just dies out. It really gets on my nerves when I see politicians going on about how they are doing everything to stop corruption and how they plan on getting the money back from Swiss bank. ( Haha, what a coincidence; just when I typed the previous sentence “Shut Up” by Black Eyed Peas started playing on my iPod ). Least do they mean anything they say. If only our so-called “authorities” had the guts, if even one of the corrupt officials was giving a death sentence, it would serve as an example for the rest.

Anya and I entered Barista and ordered a three course meal. A cold coffee for me, and a Chicken Tikka Sandwich, Strawberry Milkshake, and Chocolate Cake for Anya. Ironic, I am way more huge than she is. She can be compared to the size of a stick. Its unfair. Life is unfair.

Well, enough of typing and philosophy for a day. See y’all later.