More Reading And No Writing

It's been quite sometime since I made a post to my blog. My drive towards this post is to fulfill a requirement for one of the job recruiters for a writing sample. It is then I realize how little I wrote. As years passed, I found myself writing less and reading more. The more I fell in love with other writing styles, the more I became critical of my own writing. I try to find a common ground or an inspiration on a class that I could regularly write on but I find more interesting articles that I start reading and never have the drive to write.

As a young kid, I was gifted with journals, more of unused year diaries, by my dad who saw me writing for hours without inhibitions. It varied anything from Dear Diary entries to obituary writing for dead pets. I remember writing the vague sequel for Jurassic Park after I came back from the movie. It involved the grandchildren of the actors trying to save the park and an inevitable love story between them. When the sequel actually came out, I felt that mine was way better. It is always the way that your story seems the best when you are a kid.

I wonder how many kids even sit and write with pen and paper. I wonder whether the future generation would even have a handwriting competition. It would be more of 'Words-Per-Minute' on a keyboard competitions. I find several of my classmates complaining if the professor insists on a handwritten turn in of the homework. I personally find solving long algebraic and differential equations, pages long of theorems and equations in physics interesting with the page containing scratches and blotches of ink. It gives a geek finish than a boring print out with perfect alignment and font size. My professor mentioned that he bought a typewriter from a yard sale so that he could show what it looks like to his son. Soon kids would be taken to the museum to see paper, fountain pens and ink. It would be of no surprise if classes are conducted in future for hand writing.

There were several attempts by me to start writing on a hard journal than this blog. Vain. I have lost my handwriting which long back bought stars drawn on my face by my primary school teacher. The gleam on my face when I first bought a fountain pen is still considered an event by my mother. She would explain how I would check out pens in every stationary store I went into, write multiple versions of my name on the sample paper and would complain about the nib or color.

This blog spoilt me and twitter made me lazy. To me, Twitter is more of a window for great articles one could find to be posted. I post interesting articles, engadget videos, comic strips and interesting entries in blogs that I come across. I love reading long articles that is not delimited to 120 characters. This is my source : http://givemesomethingtoread.com/

I have been reading a lot these days, anything I get hold onto. College magazines, reddit, engadget, blogs by freelance writers, articles posted on twitter, mashable, etc via the Google Reader. A pool of resources and I cannot get enough of it. Recent novel reading has been 'Sea of Poppies' by Amitav Ghosh. An interesting book about the poppy trade in India in the early 1800's. A must read.

I wish I could write more and derive an inspiration within myself. A cheer for the writers.

My Thing

I never knew I could be so attached to a THING. I've heard about people who have good luck charms like a pen that they have with them forever even though it does not serve it's purpose anymore, a key chain, etc. I just discovered mine recently. I would not exactly call it is as a good luck charm but it is something that I miss dearly when I don't have it with me and disturbs me greatly thinking that something evil is going to happen if I don't have it.

It is the first piece of gold that I 'ASKED' for from my dad. I don't actually remember whether I asked for it or as usual, I told my mom and she mentioned it to dad. It was late evening during the monsoons in India. I clearly remember that my grandma(dad's mother)had come to stay with us for a few days. When my dad came to know that I wanted one, he gave my mom the money and asked her to get it for me immediately. It was around 8 pm. So, myself, mom and grandma go to Mehta Jewellers in R.S.Puram and after a lot of skimming and no's, I got my first gold chain. A small and thin one, just like what I wanted and my dad didn't. He is usually the heavy-chunky-jewelery types and I'm the small-yet-cute-and-pretty types. I came back home and showed it to dad and he goes(again as usual): "It's nice but you could've got a thicker and longer one".

It is a tradition in me that when I go shopping and buy something, I show it to my dad and ask for his opinion. He never says it is bad or he doesn't like it. (Something to be followed.) When I buy a salwar, he says "Next time go in for a BRIGHT color". When I buy something in cotton, which I love, he says "You could've bought in silk. It is much more grand" and I totally respect his opinions. When, we go out as a family even for dinner to a restaurant, he wants me to be very neatly dressed. He is always on the look out for me. After all, daughters are always the favorites for fathers. :)

So, that's the story of my gold chain. It has broken a couple of times, twisted and looks ragged like the Indian roads after monsoons but I love it. Even when I came to the US, my mom suggested that I sell this one and buy a new one. I gave her a satisfactory no and told her that according to my memory this is the first piece of jewelery that I ever asked my dad and it would remain with me forever.

My Dementor

I just realized that just by somebody's presence and looking at them can make me so angry and pissed off. Yes, it is 10:20 am and it is my roomie, Rachel. She walks in with a scorn on her face as though she just got beaten up by a bunch of girls and her being angry. How can somebody have that look on the face when they wake up? It is not what I want to see in the morning. Grrr.. It's bloody so pissing off and here I'm venting my anger. She is so cold that even the sun can lose a degree of temperature. She's like the dementor characters from the Harry Porter series.

This is what Remus Lupin tells Harry Potter about Dementors :

"Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them... Get too near a Dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you. If it can, the Dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself...soulless and evil. You will be left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life."

She not only just sucks out the happiness in me but also gets me pissed off. Oh yeah, Dementor sounds nice for her. Maybe I should rename her in my phone book as 'My Dementor'. LoL. :D She's my first Dementor and I guess I'll never forget her.

I wonder who or what my Patronus is !!??

My Roomies

It's been eight months since I've been living with Mandie, Rachel and Channah(names changed, but quite obvious if people know who I stay with). Anyway, the point is I don't like staying with two of them already. Initially, when I was looking for roomies to stay with, the first one I decided was Channah. We just chatted a couple of times online and we thought we could stay together. The other two were from the same place and hence we were two-two and decided we stay together. My first thought went wrong. I thought I will get along well with Mandie and very badly with Channah. It ended the other way around. Channah is the least at home because she spends a lot of time and literally stays at her boyfriend's place. Mandie and Rachel get along well because of their common friends. They are into so much gossip especially Rachel. But, Rachel is so much better than Mandie, at least she is not lazy. Mandie is such a couch potato, doesn't do a work extra. Channah is older to me by 3 years, acts kiddish sometimes but sometimes she makes so much sense and shows maturity in her talk. We get along well. She listens to me and takes interest in what I say to her.

Rachel is such a hypocrite. She bitches about how loud Channah is when her boyfriend comes home, but bloody hell, how loud her friends are and that too screaming in the middle of the night and laughing like hyenas. Grrr. Sometimes, I wake up because of their noise. And don't ever get me started on their new friend, Chevonne. Man, that female is so dumb. She has nothing to talk about than other females in college, comment on FB pics and talk about clothes and how sexy everything is. A typical dumb-blondie !!! Somehow, I just can't stand stupid girls. I think they should just shut up if they don't want people to lose opinion on them.

Mandie is way too rude sometimes and sooo lazy. Her clothes lie all over the place. Her socks are found even in the dining room. She doesn't clean anything except for one day when she'll get an enlightenment and clean her wardrobe and everything. I'm surprised how Rachel and Mandie get along with Chevonne.

I really wish I don't have to stay with these people anymore. I don't mind staying with Channah though. I'm honestly happy that Rachel will be leaving to India after this summer. In that case, I think Mandie will be much better.

From cooking for everybody else, we've gone to cooking for ourselves. Initially, I hated the idea but now,much satisfied. I get to eat what I like and much better food.

For all I wish it goes along well without any problems big time. Writing this post just made me vent my anger. Positive !

For now ..... Shanthi !

A Record

It has been quite sometime since my last post. This post is for myself to remember certain things. Recently, I've been hearing a lot of things, especially with the number of weddings that is happening this year and also the number of nieces and nephews expected this year. OMG !!!

The first expected was Manasa's baby. As I had predicted, it was a girl and they have named her Zara. Cutie pie. Next, within a week I hear that one of my sister-in-laws(Yamini'ka) is delivering a baby in weeks and another sister(Vinitha) who is pregnant. Another sister from Long Island(Sujini'ka) is pregnant with her second son. That makes 3 babies just for the first half of the year. :O

Then, one of my favorite cousins, Saranya'ka is getting married. I would be missing the wedding so much though. :( I love going to wedding so much. Getting all dressed up(initially hating it), meeting hundreds of people, pictures, FOOD,etc. I miss all those things so much. This has been a 'so much' paragraph ! LoL :D

Talking about weddings, my brother(sibling Shriram) is himself in the process of getting an arranged marriage done. Parents are frantically looking out for a bride for him. There is a proposal that is on a good track, hope it works out. Everybody wants it to work out.For my record, her name encoded:BOVTIB (Clue:ACP) :P

The online chat with Divakar Chithappa on this was hilarious. He is so funny! :P I still remember him telling about Priya'ka standing for the Velacheri ward councillor and her being named 'Pallikaranai Padma' and Chithappa going around Velacheri in white Scorpio, white veshti, white chappals, gold watch and a mini troop of his own side kicks. Can only imagine the scene. LoL. He says "We should be in politics. Education spoils us". LoL. Priya'ka and Chithappa are made for each other with a perfect daughter. A happy go lucky family, very straight forward unlike the other families in the circle. This generation aunt and uncle are they. He is all excited about BOVTIB's profile and wants it to work out as much as others want it to happen.

Meanwhile, before I forget, there is another wedding in the family. Vig'na's. Sometime in Jan 2011. My vadina's name is Ramya and she's from Australia. Love marriage. So happy for him. :) It is best for people like him, Pranesh and Anitha to get their own life partners. They are the worst candidates for an arranged marriage. :P

I'm myself looking forward for an arranged marriage very much. There are a lot of pros and cons involved but somehow prefer it. It would make my parents so happy and that is what I want. That's the least I can do for them. This sounds a bit old fashioned but I know they are going to look for a perfect guy for me.

A number of weddings from my college too. First is Cynthia's and Swathikha's, unexpected events. Story behind both of them drove me crazy. Next is the rapidly developing story of Shwetha's. Don't know what is going to happen.

ATB for all the expecting mothers,newly weds and engaged ones and for the one struggling hard to get her love worked out !

Peace!

-Shri

My Seven Hour Boring Flight

I have been wanting to post this since Thanksgiving '09 when I got so damn bored in the flight and started writing. So, here it goes...

I'm extremely bored, tired of sitting in a place for 3 hours and more pissed off thinking that I have nothing to do for another four hours. Yes, I'm in a flight to San Francisco from Philadelphia.

It is my thanksgiving/quarter break and my ultimately patient, sweet and lazy brother sends me tickets to come to his place. I'm all excited to meet him but this journey is way too much. The two seats next to me is empty and further two seats away, there are two people who are equally as bored as me and staring into their Macs. I was staring out the tiny window next to my seat and all I could see is white. An occasional pop up of lights indicating a small, sweet/ghostly town where people are tucked into their cozy little homes and watching tv or just equally as bored as me.

I passed an hour by sleeping, another 45 minutes staring outside. This was the first time that I saw 3 flights passing by mine in a span of 15 minutes. Then, I'm bored again. This is when it strikes that I used to write a blog. It has been almost a year since I last wrote in my blog.

So, what has happened in a year. I graduate as a Bachelor of Engineering and now I'm in the US pursuing my masters in Computer Science. That is a huge step, isn't it ??? A lot of things happened in a year. For now, my first quarter in the university has ended and here I'm in the flight.

So, I was thinking about what to write and the thought of writing how different it is in the US struck me. It has been lingering in my mind for quite sometime. Although, I have been to America earlier, it was not the same this time. It is........................say different !

What is ?

Let me start with my regular day. It starts with my breakfast.

In USA :

1. 
   
   The day starts with a bowl of cereals and orange juice.
2. 
   
   The bus is on time and it always stops. Lol. One might find this funny but people from India, you know what I'm talking about.
3. 
   
   No running and catching the bus.
4. 
   
   Buses have doors, A/Cs, heaters, cameras and a string to pull for stop. Oh yeah, this is common. In India, this is there too. A flimsy string attached to an ancient, rusted bell to the left of the driver which is totally useless with the amount of noise made in the bus. Here, it is hi-tech. You pull the string and there is an LED lit screen that says “STOP REQUESTED”.
5. 
   
   Everybody thanks the driver when they board off the bus. Usually, it is “Thank you, have a nice day !”
6. 
   
   Working in the cafeteria is no big deal. It is just another job though it has only the minimum wages.
7. 
   
   Classes never get canceled even if there is a snowstorm or thunderstorm or rainstorm. :P
8. 
   
   You see somebody on the road while walking, they usually greet or smile at you.
9. 
   
   There is no attendance in class.
10. 
    
    You can eat, sleep, open your laptop, listen to music with your headphones on, walk out of class anytime and maybe even snore in class.
11. 
    
    Students are tested over time. Assignments, home works, midterms carry marks to your final grade. Plagiarism is a crime and punishable by death. Well, not death, something as equal as death. You might as well wish that you were dead.
12. 
    
    Midterms: carry around 15% marks of the final grade.
13. 
    
    You walk into a restaurant, you thank the person who serves you. “Can I have that please”, “Thank you ! “
14. 
    
    While standing in the queue, you stay at least 2 feet away from the person on front of you.

In India :

1. 
   
   Dosas, idlis, pooris, upma and paniyarams with a variety of chutneys and sambhar is a regular breakfast.
2. 
   
   The bus is never on time, mostly overcrowded with people dangling one of their foot just a few inches above the road. The bus is slouched to one side with the weight. Forget the A/C and heater. There are hardly any windows and the ones there are are stuck. There is a downpour and you are drenched.
3. 
   
   People's talk when they are in the bus : “Porambokku, yeppidi ottaran paaru”. There is a sudden break and everybody falls on the engine.
4. 
   
   Working in a cafe ? But why ?
5. 
   
   Classes get canceled if the professor isn't prepared or on extreme student pestering.
6. 
   
   If somebody smiles at you, “Do I know him/her? Why is he smiling at me? FLIRT !”
7. 
   
   75% attendance required to pass the semester.
8. 
   
   Doing any of those mentioned in (10) above in college , would result in an “ENQUIRY” and “DISCIPLINARY ACTION”.
9. 
   
   Student : “Assignment'a ? When was it informed? Anyway, have you completed? Give me. I'll finish it during class.” Putting it in tamil sounds more funny. So, here it is. “Assignment'a? Yeppo sonnanga ? Avanukku vera valaiyae illa, torture ! Seri seri, nee mudichiya ? Kududa, naan DSP class'la ukkandhu yeludhuraen. Yeppidi irundhalum andha aalu/bonda vaayan/pal azhagan nadatharadhu onnum puriyadhu”
10. 
    
    Internals : 50 marks, 25 to pass. Learn for 25, aim for 20, get 23, passed by grace marks and repeated “ Pls sir/ma'am” and you get 20/20 on the internals. The 25 marks obtained by knowing the questions from the professors.
11. 
    
    “Oru vadai sambhar, oru rava dosa”. End of conversation with the server.
12. 
    
    Never even ask, just push right away or even the occasional “Konjam thallareengala” will be followed by “innum idam irukku, innum konjam thallungo please”.

What do I miss here ? Loads....

1. 
   
   Ma's food. Dosas. It has been 3 months since I had a dosa.
2. 
   
   You are sick and there is Ma to take care of you. I remember, when I was sick, I started crying. Had to make something on my own for food.
3. 
   
   Running and catching the bus and getting into it though knowing I might suffocate and black out.
4. 
   
   Driving. It has been months since I drove a car.
5. 
   
   Bus rides.
6. 
   
   SMS'ing.
7. 
   
   Talking in tanglish.
8. 
   
   The idea of being independent. Never care about how do I go to a place.
9. 
   
   Talking in tamil and dappanguthu dance. Man, how much I miss college and all those comments passed during class.
10. 
    
    The number of public holidays.
11. 
    
    The frequent visits to aunts and uncles houses, calling Vishnu and Sukesh and Gunda, laughing out loud with my aunt, birthday cakes, wedding anniversary dinners, never have to bother about food.
12. 
    
    Hanuman temple and Sneha complaining about the small size of the prashadham cup.
13. 
    
    Agarwals chaat and ladoo and badam milk.
14. 
    
    Weddings and Sunday lunches.
15. 
    
    My scooter.
16. 
    
    My room and Mr. Smith, Chipper and Penguin.
17. 
    
    The shrills from Ma when she sees my nasty room, overflowing with clothes and wires.

…......... the count goes on.......

Nothing beats home ! Love you Ma and miss you loads !!! Muah..

For now, I'm all happy about meeting my brother and asking him to take me Saravana Bhavan. I can imagine the wide smile on my face when I see that rava dosa and the tri-colored chutneys and the cup of sambhar.

I have passed and hour on this and I'm glad. My battery is draining and off I go....

Will be writing about my thanksgiving vacation....

Luv !

My Thoughts

My thoughts have been wavering, staying still like a rock, flowing like water and taking up a lot of bizarre and abstract shapes and I thought I should clear my head.. and here it goes :

There's been a heavy progress in Yazh's love life(don't know whether it's for better or for worse). A lot of family have been involved in the whole thing. Seems like everybody knows about it and been wanting to know how she feels. Thanks to her Vinu that he's a close family of her's. She narrates to us what happens everyday and it feels like a drama with a lot of comedy and romance. And this drama also has a London dude as a villian. A perfect masala drama. Wish it doesn't have a tragedy ! 

I've started reading "Midnight's Children" by Salman Rushdie and have been carrying it around with me everywhere. I've fallen in love with owning books, with the most obvious reason that I can own it forever and the other reason being that I read it with all my heart. Pa tried his best telling that all the books were available in the library and he can borrow it for me anytime. All in vain ! I set my heart on it, then my money within a few minutes. And how Pa finds out ? He ransacks my room ??  naaaa.. I show it to him with my face beaming with pride as though I just got elected as the President. The only thing that I hate myself is the amount of time I spend in finishing a book. Man !! I'm just embarrassed. I'm sure you'll find a blog three months from now mentioning the date I finish "Midnight's Children".

Ma is pretty upset with my stubborn ass brother and his theory on "how he is still not ready" for a marriage. Everybody wants to him to get married. Somehow, I'm stuck in the middle of thoughts. I have my views on both. On Ma's defense, I have to agree that finding a girl is not an easy job, particularly as for an arranged marriage and it takes a really long time since the process involves  a lot of criteria and a hell a lot of people. On Shriram's defense, how the hell will he want to get married when he doesn't want to ?? Seems like my bro's argument weighs more. But, considering Ma, already being an insomniac, I think her blood pressure is getting directly proportional to the number of people inquiring about my brother at social gatherings rise indefinitely.

Sne's been away to the college hostel for almost twenty says for dance practice and I realise how much I miss her. She's been a dayski(college slang for day scholars) only since a year now but it's made a difference. Her simple everyday morning's "hi di" at the bus stop and "please di" is what I miss the most. She is the reason I've been visiting the temple regularly and there's this hole now. I'm down, I call her, go to the temple, eat out, go for walk, and that's it. I come back home with high spirits. Miss you Sne !!!

Shriram has started writing his own blog. I read it and this is what I think of it : BORING. It has too much philosophy. But, it's different. I just read in it that my brother uses Darwin's theory to explain his expanding waistline :P you can reach his blog at www.trickleofthoughts.blogspot.com. It's one of a kind.

I've been very guilty about the fact that I didn't wish my friend on her birthday  Why ??? Didn't have balance to make a call ? Forgot her birthday ? Excuse that it was too late to call ? Nope, none of  these at all. The reason being : Didn't feel like it. My friends do not agree with me that I need a mood to talk over the phone else I'm cranky or worse with only 'ahmms','ahuhs', 'ohs' and 'okays' or a combination of all these used inappropriately. I just don't pick up the call when I don't feel like it. I just let it ring and ring and ring. Weird or stupid ? Does this show what kind of character I'm ?

I watched like 5 movies in 1.5 days and the list is : American History X, The Notebook, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Godfather and 11:14. And the ones that comes under my favorites are Benjamin Button and The Godfather. Brad's just brilliant in the movie and the costumes and makeup have been put at the right age streams. 

My daily routine has changed since a few months now. My body alarm goes on anytime between 5:30 and 5:45 a.m EVERYDAY and I feel sad for myself. I love sleeping late into the morning and I miss it so much. And what I do waking up so early ? Switch on my pc, go through my mails, Orkut, Facebook, a few downloads, a few uploads, , , . With me eagerly waiting for my admits from the universities I've applied to, it's such a start in the morning hoping to see a new mail from any university saying "CONGRATULATIONS !!!" and gmail is just so nice, I wait for the progress bar to turn completely blue. It's like in a movie where the hero transfers some content from a computer system that contains national security data just within the few minutes the person in-charge goes to pee. The screen divided into four, one showing the back of the in-charge peeing, one focussing on the data transfer, one showing the look on the hero's face and the fourth showing  the person giving instructions to the hero. More or less like MI. The difference is that I'm no hero and this isn't the movies. 

It's amazing how soon my undergrad life is drawing to an end. Though the senior year just seems to be the same, it's the events that remind that it's soon to be over. People passing on slam books and diaries to pen down memories, some dumass sending a stupid sms briefing on the college years and how the happy days are closing in, people talking with people they've never spoken before with the reason that they are going to be together for a just a few more years, a few people talking about reunions and alumni meets and ofcourse Sne's cribbing. Sne wails over the fact that we are going to leave college and she has to stick around for another year. And I just get agitated over all this because it keeps reminding me that things aren't going to be the same again. Never !

On a lighter note, I'm happy that I've learnt to come to terms with all this. Happy that Ma tells me to talk to my brother, it's the responsibility that reminds me and how she thinks that I'll be able to put forth the opinions to my brother better than herself. 

And to J Shah, if you are reading this, I already warned you and HI.