MUSINGS

The great Mumbaiya Durga Pujo countdown

2009-10-01T00:55:00.000-07:00

I spent most of the second half of Durga Pujo 2009 hopping pandals around Mumbai – of course, there are Bengalis here too, who love to celebrate the festival with much gusto and attempt to relive their Bangaliana (if there is such a word) during these five days. So I cruised from one end of the city to the other searching for pandals and I can proudly say that while most colleagues and friends managed to catch only about one pujo or two, I checked out seven pujos up close and another two from a distance. This is what I found –

There are many, many, many, many, many Durga pujo pandals in Mumbai, pretty much one in every area. It’s wonderful to see how many Bengalis live here and come together annually to make sure so many pandals are set up all across the city.
People dress up way too much, much more than those in Kolkata.
There is no us-them feeling between different paraas. Everyone who walks can partake of the Prasad/bhog.
There are some amazing cultural programmes.
The ‘Bengali food’ available around the pandals can burn a big hole in your pocket.

Anyway, now for lack of better things to do, I made up my very own rating of which pujo scores well on different grounds. Please note that this list is based on the rather limited number of Pujos I managed to visit.

Most homely pujo: Tejpal hall (Peddar Road) - It’s one of the oldest pujos in the city and despite the long line of big cars queued outside and the flamboyant and obviously expensive clothes and accessories, the place has a very barir pujo feeling to it.
Best pandal: Powai – It was a massive pandal created in the form of a sandstone castle and was created quite well.
Most overrated pujo: Juhu Road – This is ‘famed’ as Rani Mukerjee’s pujo. Or so I heard. Celebrities flitting in and out of the pandal, serving the afternoon bhog, blah, blah, blah. We walked in to see nobody except a rather lackluster pujo. Moreover, what’s with the celeb-obsession. Since when did Bipasha Basu and Shaan become the chief attractions of a Durga pujo for god’s sake?!
Most innovative: Pujos in Mumbai score rather low on innovation…no fancy (or shall we say, creative?!) pandals or protimas here. But this small pujo opposite PVR Juhu, that we coincidentally stumbled upon, had golden protimas, which were comparatively unusual and interesting.
Best fish fry: Based on multiple comments, I have come to the conclusion that it was at the Sree/Ma Durga snacks place at the Powai pandal. A thick layer of fried bhetki coated by a well-fried batter…yummy!
Most expensive: Lokhandwala – All you could see around that place were expensive, high end food joints. Whoever pays 95 bucks for a single piece of fish fry!
Value for money: Again, this goes to the little pujo opposite PVR, Juhu. The only place that came the closest to Kolkata pricing policy in terms of food.
Best fair: The Powai pujo for making optimum use of the large playground where the celebrations were held. Food stalls, curio and clothes stores filled up every inch of the venue. Shivaji Park comes a close second.
Best ambience: Powai – The only place where you knew it was a pujo from 500 yards outside the pandal. Twinkling bulbs adorned the trees outside and you could see Bengali families queuing up to enter the place.

However there was one thing that not even the best pandal got us in Mumbai. Pujos in Kolkata are as much about pandal hopping, eating and worshipping, as much as it is about spending time with friends and families around the venue of the pujo, soaking in the atmosphere of the place. Durga pujo is in the air during those five days. I found it missing here. I have heard that a pujo in Vashi (now shifted to Panvel) comes close, but I will have to probably wait for another pujo to discover that.

Whiny post

2009-09-07T00:51:00.000-07:00

It's rather ironic - the circumstances udner which I am bloggin again today. When I had stopped blogging post my last piece in April 28, it was because I got tired. Tired of writing sad and pessimistic posts. It felt like I had nothing worthwhile to say.
Today, as I discreetly type this out from my computer in office (haven't got a conenction at home), I still don't have anythign good to say. I hate, hate, absolutely hate what I am doing, I feel lonely and pissed and I seem to be having a strange allergic reaction to chillies. Oh yes, and I am tryign very hard to save.
Last week was my nth attempt to resign from the job. I let myself be drawn away from that idea yet again...like a complete invertebrate. There was a reason of course - I have no other job to turn to and I need all the money I can get. Sitting at home waiting for a job to come my way is not really an option I can afford. So here I am, rotting away in front of a prehistoric computer writing nonsense, while others do better things.
:( :( :( :( :(

Maybe....

2009-04-28T02:18:00.000-07:00

Reclusive pianists tap-dancing on bar tops, storytellers on fascinating journeys across hills and deserts, troubled detectives trying to solve gruesome murder mysteries - dancers, artists, business tycoons, superheroes…

Maybe I just want to live the lives of the people I read about in the books. And if their reality eventually turns out to be as mundane as mine, I would like to be stuck between the pages of the book, enacting what the author puts into the pages…

2009-03-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

I was watching Pursuit of Happyness for the umpeenth time (it's one of my favourite films) when this part comes...Chris Gardner talking about how did Thomas Jefferson know that happiness is always something we pursue...

It's funny how films, lyrics sometimes voice our thoughts, so much better than we can ever do.

Things always eventually get better...I mean, how long can thing remain bad, after a point, even the worst has to recover. But while that very worst is on, it's often hard to even imagine that you are ever going to get out of it.

There are so many things said that are meant to inspire and motivate. If you truly want something, the universe conspires to bring it to you (or something like that!) If you are passionate about what you do, nobody can stop you from reaching your goals. Like hell, they can!

If only everything inside here could just go quiet for a little while...just blank out...

2009-03-18T12:09:00.000-07:00

I used to think the problems and worries of one's life were meant to be kept to oneself. At the msot close family members and friends would know. My parents discussed their "issues" in hushed tones over phones or in carefully sealed intimate letters. Whether it was a break-up or a sick family member, one's problems weren't meant to be gossip...

How very ironical that these days, even the slightest hint of agony becomes a flashing update on the FBs and GTalks of the world! Suddenly everyone knows and 'shares' our grief (catfights, sorrow, tears, worry, failure)...the cyber world is the new best place to rant (see previous post for example). Who cares that one of the more explicit updates can become the latest food for gossip in town...This is the place where our life often ends up stripped to its basics...what a freaking tragedy!

The bigger irony...I am lamenting this trend on the same medium

RANT!!!

2009-03-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

Students of Yale University come out with a daily newspaper...and I am struggling to bring out my college's yearly mag. And no, I aint entirely to blame. I thought it was a students magazine...STUDENTS...by them, for them. But no, now I realize it's hardly that way. Nothing goes into print unless it has passed the cautious approval of the teachers. Most of whose scanning system I don't agree with. Because a much better written piece on boys indulging in drugs is rejected in favour of a shittily written story on how a stupid girl gets adicted and realises her mistake. Reason, the first story isn't 'clear'...of course, it isn't...it isn't meant to...dude, students don't want moral science lessons in the magazine. Half the good novels in the world have a warped, delusional feeling to them...Kubla Khan, which I hope the teachers teach, was written in a similar fit. Hello...come into the real world. It's not about sheltering 'damsels in distress' from the wolf. It's about empowering them enough to decide whose the wolf.

What is wrong with the institution and its decision maker?! Why is every shred of thought so deeply scanned to reject and idea that is even slightly deviant? Why are the ideas flowing through the place so hackneyed and conservative? Why is the cover painting of a girl with scarlet lips seen as slutty (which by the way, the accusers refuse to pronounce. "This picture...doesn't it look...you know?!") Why are students in psychology classes shown videos of abortion and asked to refrain from sex? If we are taught to be women of the 21st century, why is every girl in the college being groomed into 19th century Jane Austen heroines.

I have half a mind to resign from my duties, but its a tad late and we might as well get it over with. But maybe next year, they should just stop all this hypocrisy and take over this thing they call the mag themselves. All students will have to do is write their tiny stories and poems, and feel gratified if they are chosen to be published.

GOODBYE...

2009-02-28T02:37:00.000-08:00

Over the last three years, I dragged myself at times, convincing that college would end...and the trauma would be finally over. But now that it's really over, I am slightly sad...I cried a few tears at the farewell yesterday, I felt a strange sense of sadness every time a prof said "Goodbye. And do well."

I never liked my college. Even now, I would rather leave than stay on. But there were bits and parts of it that I know I will miss. My tiny TY class, fun moments even with those profs i didn't particularly like, working on some of the world's most hilarious projects, faffinf about thing I knew nothing of, acting kiddy and clingy in class, snatching at food (precisely the reason I was crowned for being Miss Bhuki yesterday) and pendulating between boredom, anger and happiness...

It has been a good three years. A classmate's GTalk status says - "and it's time to move on yet again." But I think there are good memories to cling on too.

2009-02-06T03:18:00.000-08:00

I made a new blog today. Sometimes, I sometimes can't believe what is happening in the country. But this blog, with its digs at threading and life in general makes it a rather inappropriate place to talk about more 'serious' issues.

http://newsbroadcasting.blogspot.com/

What's in a name??

2009-01-28T03:50:00.000-08:00

Even if I do change my name after my marriage, how does it prove that I am a virtuous wife...no matter what Sanjay Dutt says?

And who's gets to keep their own name, if it's a man marrying a man, or a woman marrying a woman?

And why do I have to change my name after marriage, when I have lived my life and made my career with the name I was born with?

And why are educated men, who otherwise vouch for women's rights, suddenly get so frigid when it comes to what names their girlfriends and wives use?

Thoughts after a discussion in class on the subject that has sparked off questions, discussions and a lot of unwarranted fights between otherwise perfectly happy couples...

THREADING TROUBLES

2009-01-23T20:10:00.000-08:00

No pain, no gain, they say. Becoming beautiful isn't any easy task and any women can guarantee this fact. You know what I mean if you have been through a process called waxing. Well, I usually keep my decibel level to an absolute minimum, usually on silent, there are some who believe in screaming their hearts out to ease the pain. I thought, after ten-fifteen times, the pain ceases to register, but maybe I am wrong...

But threading, my dear mates, is a different ballgame. Ten, fifteen or fifteen hundred times, the pain does not seem to diminish much. So before each time, I need to visit a salon for the holy ritual, I go through much mental preparation...not that it helps much. I still end up shedding tears of agony every time, no matter how much I try not to.

Moreover, threading is an ART. One wrong move and the shape of your eye brow gets, shall we say, F&$K** up for the next twenty days. Let me tell you how - year 2007, my usual salon (of those days) ended up shaping both my eye brows in different directions. My optimism that nobody would notice did not help much. About a week later, sitting in a coffeeshop, the person in front of me suddenly went, "Um, where do you get your eyebrowsdone? "Er,why? "Don'tget it done there again, it's hopelessly out of place." Oh dear!!!

I am always on my eternal search for that perfect salon, which can shape my eyebrows the right way. Hasn't happened yet. Too thick, too thin, too short, too wrong...it's somehow never ok. The greatest debacle of course occured yester day when I paid 90 bucks for my eyebrows. Is it a lot, you ask. Well, I usually pay 30. And all this, in the quest of that perfect pair of eyebrows. Across geographical barriers, my search continues...

And upper lip threading is quite another story. It's not unlikely to hear the screams and see tears fall evertime the threads moves swiftly over the lips. And manipulating the skin and holding it tight doesn't help much...

But I, and many others like me, despite the pain and anguish, continue to do it, month after month. because we are told it makes us prettier and cleaner. And no pain, I suppose, can deter women from their questy for eternal beauty.

January 20, 2009

2009-01-20T03:08:00.000-08:00

Too much work...damn, I can't wait to get out...probably from the frying pan to the fire...but right now I prefer the fire to this goddamned frying pan, from which even the non-sticky fibre is peeling out...

And I need the internet at home!!!!!!!!!!

2009-01-13T05:36:00.001-08:00

My big, big discovery of the day...drawing lines on MS Word...oh, and learning to manipulate text boxes...what was I doing all this while, when the world was busy changing?

First post 2009

2009-01-10T03:10:00.000-08:00

It's been 10 days since 2009 started and life is passing prtty much in a dizzy here, with my plans of blogging dailyhaving got busted...but let me start with this...

I, or rather my class, has been told today that bloggers from Calcutta don't exactly make their presence felt in the cyberworld :( What made me regret was it was kinda true. The conclusion that came from the discussion was that Bengalis like their books (read: old fashioned) and are yet to take up blogging seriously...

Mumbai has a very dedicated set of bloggers, who blog consistently and constantly about everything that is happening around, discuss various issues, know each other, use online interactivity to the fullest to communciate in real time. Most of us on the other hand use blogs as our personal journals, writing poetry, discussing our day-to-day lives etc...which is absolutely fine, I mean, I do it too. But I guess, we should have a more proactive voice in issues that are occuring around us...especially considering the easy and cheap availability and wide reach reach of the internet.

One can say of course that it was done in the case of Singur and Nandigram, and it is true, but it really isn't enough, when you compare it to the kind of information flow that happened on the net during 26/11 or for even day to day news among Mumbai bloggers...

I do think, after spending these last few years outside the city, that Calcuttans should voice their opinions louder. A statistical achievement of being a metropolitan isn't always enough after all...

Aftermath

2008-12-22T04:37:00.001-08:00

All newspapers today have the same headline - the Taj and the Trident have reopened. An ad in a leading newspaper yesterday said - WELCOME HOME, AGAIN...with a picture of the Taj. HOME?! Surprising, ain't it...considering 90% people of Mumbai will never be able to afford a meal here. Almost 70% if not more won't even be allowed to enter the hotel, perhaps. All arguments accepted...The damage caused to the two hotels isn't permissible, but a hotel burning down and then reopening isn't more important than all the lives which have gone, or could have gone. But of course, the media is more interested in the hotels, and the grand parties, and the celebrities who attend the peace rallies, and mourn the destruction of their favourite fine dine restaurants...

21 blasts rocked Ahmedabad in July 2008...9 blasts in Bangalore...18 blasts across Assam on bhai phonta...173 people killed in Mumbai during 26/11, the maximum at VT...Why didn't VT make it to the front page headlines when people took the train 2 days later to work...nd why did Taj and Trident?...Why is it enough only when the Taj or the Trident has been attacked, because for the first time, an attack has made perpetrated on the powerful...why are leaders being criticized by people of a constituence, where the participation in last election was less than 20%? Whose fault is it that there are no good leaders?

An attack on Taj is an attack on the 'Grand Old Lady of Mumbai'...fair enough...but what about the common man?!

The Tale of the Great Tomato Eyes

2008-12-16T04:22:00.000-08:00

It came and settled right in place...above my left eye. As if a choked nose wasn't enough trouble already. I have been surviving with a big, fat red eye from the past few days, and walking around indoors wearing sunglasses, much to everyone's perplexity. Of course, it would help if I could just stop working for a couple of days, but the perils of modern metropolitan life don't allow that...so here I am, with itching left eye, typing out blog posts...and writing pointless stories on South Africa.

And the tomato is making its presence felt again...so, taking a break till next post :P

Being part of the world's most important city

2008-12-01T02:27:00.000-08:00

I could have been in one of the theatres near VT on Thurday night, or so had been a plan, but I wasn’t there, when two guys, pretty much my age, began firing blindly inside the station killing innumarable.

I am a part of what was last week the most important city in the world. But there was no reason for joy, because the reasons that brought Mumbai into the limelight were no happy ones. It's fame rested on corpses lined across VT station, in bodies floating in the swimming pools of luxury hotels, in the dilapidated facades of landmark hotels of the cities, in the fear of people cooped inside their houses, in the cries and anxiety of people not only of the city, but of those living all around the world. It rests on the cries of baby Moshe whose parents died a day before his 2nd birthday, on the tears of those who waited for their families and friends to come back home but who never did. Celebrities, talented chefs, innocent pedestrians, businessmen- over the last weekend, terror penetrated the city, irrespective of class and creed.

And two days after the operation is finally over, the city is engulfed in countless debates- are we safe? What if not all the terrorists were caught? Why wasn't there efficient prevention? Why did the intelligence fail? Will the Taj ever recover? Why were silly celebrities splashed all over the media, giving 'expert' comments on the event? Why didn't political leaders do anything when there was time? Why are they now putting condolence hoardings all over the city? Can the government ever do anything for us, our safety? What are we to do? There are discussions, and suspicions- in endless numbers. And there are but a few oft repeated solutions, all critical but hardly heeded to. Beef up the security system, elect sincere leaders, be more vigilant about your surroundings, spend more on internal defence equipments than on election campaigning...

"Enough is enough" is what newspapers and TV ...it's time for a change. Going by the general pace at which chanegs occur in our country, I am doubtful of what will happen about this incident. maybe like dozens of others before it, it too will take decades before a judgement can be passed. That is if it is not forgotten. Candlelight vigils and mourning is all fine, but what is probably going to be more effective is a more proactive role of the masses in participating in the political system as well as in choosing leaders who will not just make tall claims and blame rival parties, but work where it really matters.

It's hard to say when will the change occur...till then, a country of a hundred billion waits in anticipation.

2008-11-24T22:59:00.000-08:00

A trip to Essel World has long been on my wishlist...whoever comes to Mumbai, and doesn't go there. So I finally made a trip last Sunday, with three friends in tow. We took a ferry down Gorai Creek...the park is quite isolated from the rest of the city, unlike Nicco Park. The ferry ride didn't have much to show except foamy dirty water. I hadn't had breakfast before I left and thank heavens for that. I am quite sure I would have thrown up everything. I also screamed like nobody has ever seen or heard me scream...and was made fun of due to that :(

Slippery 's the first ride in the park and the strangest. Don't be surprised if the caretaker of the ride is quite discouraging. It's the stupidest one in the lot. You place yourself in a sack and manually slip down a long, dry slide. The only ride I didnt go on...didn't regret it much either.

I don't think I have ever been more scared than I was when on the Thunder...what was I supposed to do. I was hanging upside down 70 feet above the ground...I thought I was dying. It didn't help much that the protection devices were severely loose. My companion tried to come to rescue, but was a little late...I had by then tried to get the ride stopped, screamed my heart out and scared all other riders into shocked silence and laughter. I came out of it with a headache and mortal fear of windmill type rides.

A mirror maze led us to some funny dusty mirrors, in need of quick cleaning or replacement. There's a horror house too, which is so stupid that it's not even funny. My friends suggested a few improvements...though I don't think anyone's listening.

Ice- skating can be a tough job, or so we learned in our 30 minutes at the skating rink. You haven't skated on ice unless you have fallen a few times. I fell once, and incurred a few injuries whcih are still troubling me. Dee of course went for a toss quite a few times and was quite the centre of attraction in the rink. He even made a few friends, fellow fallers in the ice. We have never been more grateful to step into our shoes, as we were after the half hour was over.

Some other must try-out rides- Aqua Dive, which lands you in 5 feet deep water, the Giant Wheel, roller coasters Hula Loop and Zyclone (though I think Cyclone in Nicco Park is much better), the rainbow, a toned down version of Thunder, and of course, Thunder too. Never ever try out the Rock and Roll- it's perennially irritating and can give you a severe head /neck ache. And you have the bumping cars of course, which had the longest queues.

At 500 bucks inclusive of all rides, Essel World is actually quite cheap. It would have been cheaper though had we landed there on a weekday. And the food is seriously expensive. Even Dominos Pizza charges high rates.

We also had to give Water Kingdom a miss, though I quite like the idea of spending a day floating under gallons of water. Maybe I should make a trip there too. but for now, am now trying to recover from different kinds of after effects ailing my body, being threatened to be taken on the even bigger jumbo roller coasters, narrated accounts of those who have the guts to ride Thunder consequtively 11 times and of course being laughed at.

Back to the Grind :(

2008-11-20T03:34:00.000-08:00

So I am back...after a whole month of sleeping through strange hot and cold afternoons, gorging on streetfood and running scared of cats...back to the city of nauseating heat, half- baked classes and boringly busy work. I am feeling quite despite, despite all the work I have- endless work assignments, fairy tedious 50 minute long lectures in college, compiling and editing a magazine, carrying around an almost continuous headache and eating horrendously sweet dinner each night. It seems like I have been in Mumbai for a month, it's just been three days.

The city would have perhaps seemed better if I did not have to live the lifestyle of a refugee. But since I do, the city, I guess will have to wait for a while at elast before it can get a better appraisal from me.

Or maybe it's just what I do. The media seems like the most superficial place to work in these days. All that hullabaloo about the might of the pen, the power of creativity, the ability to change the world...hardly ever works that way when you are into the field. Well, the bubble is going to burst some day. And I am going to sit and laugh...even if I am bursting along with it. Till then, maybe I should look for suitable back-up plans.

Where is all the madness gone? Where's all the guts?? It's all gone...poof. Somewhere. Incognito.

Anyway, it's just the usual ranting...here are some photos...of the Great Calcutta Holiday

With the gang, in front of South City Mall on my birthday...

At 2 am...that's me sleeping

With Solo...
With Onn

2008-10-31T05:13:00.000-07:00

I should be posting something, anything...but I dunno what...the effects of not having net in close proximity. Kolkata cyber cafes have lately started demanding photo IDs before one can use the internet. That's just another reason why I ain't seen around these days.

Will be writing something more substantial soon.

Letter back home...

2008-09-25T08:31:00.000-07:00

To those back home,

I switched on a Bangla TV channel the other day...after a long long time. And saw commercial breaks full of ads offering special pujo discounts. It was suddenly unnerving to see those commercials...quite sad too. To think that while it's so silent here, at home, you can hear the first beats of the dhaak, see the sky cloaked in scarlet every evening (when i was younger, ma said the red colour was the goddess' sari put out to be dried before she came home), see girls and boys preparing to perform at the paraar pujo, read in the daily newspapers about what new innovations the pujo pandals are coming up with, pandals being put up...

And when pujo comes, you will all walk out of your homes, into the frangrance of the incense, to the chantings, to the laughter, fun and frolic...to the serpentine queues outside the famous pandals, to pujo parikrama, to khichudi bhog, to the crowds, to the jubilation...

And I...sitting hundreds of miles will miss all these agian...like the last few years...the air here is so unaware of the goddess that she slips my memory sometimes...and as you plan your pujo itinerary and buy new clothes, I wait in my room cramming statistics and facts for my exams...which will happen through each day of pujo. And to those who stay there and complain about the crowd and the noise during these five days, the silence here can be severely uncomfortable.

2008-09-15T04:52:00.000-07:00

My right toe nail is breaking off...right from the middle of the nail bed. I have been looking intensely at it several times everyday, wondering when is it going to fall off, will it hurt if it just falls off, what if I rip it off...blah blah blah...
I have also been wondering what am I going to do on my birthday (which is a little more than a month away) and feeling hungry at regular intervals...and wondering how to handle getting fat before budday.
All these thoughts while I am giving preliminary exams and preparing for university semesters which are exactly twenty days away...
Ok, so the prelims are fake...they began today. I spent Sunday eating out all over town, and watching King Lear, oops, sorry The Last Lear. Amitabh Bachchan actually did a good job, though I could picture Utpal Dutta in every shot. Arjun Rampal is also getting better, but Priety Zinta was incredibly bad in most scenes. Also, English dialogues can, at times, be very painful.
I walked into the college, having forgotten half my notes behind, to give the exams. Then my professor comes and assures me that I don't have to know all the scams that have rocked the world since time began, simply because he hasn't asked any questions on it. Not that it helps...I will nevertheless have to learn it for final semesters.
The invigilator urged students at the beginning of the exams, to pretend that it was serious business. Surprisingly, most people did. They sat on till the end, answered as much as possible, did not talk and righteously gathered to discuss answers at the end. What nerdiness!!! Students, last year, had fallen asleep in the middle of the exams...we can never be spoilt enough.
I have realized though that i am an awfully slow writer. And I have superbly spidery handwriting, which my profs threathen that examiners will not understand.
And I have finished with all my projects...a day before the prelims, which also accounts for why I never studied for it.
Also till a week before the exams, I was busy with Kaleidoscope...that's the college festival. My realizations from organization a festival in Mumbai-

Mumbai colleges take their festivals way too seriously
It turns into a pestige instead of a place to interact with other colleges
It also turns into potential flirting arena
Too much money is spent into the organization at times
Rock shows should be organized in the open
There are some serious problems with perceptions of sex and vulgarity in colleges here
There should be a party to wrap up the festival.

2008-09-15T04:11:00.000-07:00

Mumbai colleges take their festivals way too seriously
It turns into a pestige instead of a place to interact with other colleges
It also turns into potential flirting arena
Too much money is spent into the organization at times
Rock shows should be organized in the open
There is some serious problems with perceptions of sex and vulgarity in colleges here
There should be a paty to wrap up the festival.

Back...

2008-08-21T10:54:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, in a flicker you just lose the best moments...it hurts all the more when you badly want it to make a precious one...and one stupid word...and it's just gone...I really need to learn to hold my tongue...I was told that by someone long ago...its feeling downright awful...

I have been on four week long blog sabbatical...nobody even asked me to blog :-( what is the tag board here for anyway...nobody loves me...
(only sohini sr did)

Anyway, reasons for sabbatical are many and varied...first, stupid net connection is acting, well, stupid!!! I have also been doing projects...including one where I had to go around finding the number of street lights in the ward I stay in (5242), Garbage generation per day: 375 MT and number of trees (which I couldn't find); I have also interviewed a leader of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena on their pro-Marathi policies and unlike what most people around me thought, I didn't get into any trouble (the guys were quite nice and gave me the entire interview in english when they realised I ain't from the state).

I have also been forcibly sent to a counselling session...where I was expected to speak about the problems students in my course speak...pissed at being ordered, instead of being asked, I kept mum through the entire hour long session...and came out of it feeling quite proud of myself...

And I have been trying to take interviews for the college magazine committee...it's been rather bad with most of the girls (mine's a girls college remember?). This lil bitch told me that since I am the editor and I supervise, so she guesses I do nothing (grrr)...another one was worried that she wouldn't be selected because I only asked her 3 questions, yet another was so nervous that she forgot her own phone
number...oh yes, and another one wants to be on the committee coz she's never been on one...I hate taking interviews.period.

Life's too often a bitch...

P.S: Please never...ever take an internet connection from Airtel...not even if it's free...

2008-07-16T22:56:00.000-07:00

A lone star shows travellers

their way through dark stormy nights.

In Atlantis, the Gods roll their dices

Men below count their fates

on palms and painted cards.

Up among meandering clouds,

we play our secret games.

Till it rains.

Like fallen angels, we drop down...

2008-07-09T09:09:00.000-07:00

The amount of work I keep trying to juggle all the time seriously gets to me at times. Trying to find out the number of trees and streetlights (among lotsa other things) in the area I stay in can be a tiring task. Trying to find out why dog owners never bother to wipe away their pets' poo from the streets seems even worse though. All these activities because I am on the threshold of a career in serious journalism. Never mind that I might actually end up with a job in a 'Cosmo' magazine...I should be perfect for it, atleast according to one person.

There are some things to calm me down though. Passing the sea everyday on my way to work...watching the waves lash and break on the stone promenades. Walking on half-empty roads early in the morning. Talking to friends, even though most of them are miles away. (Thank human innovation for cellular phones and the internet!) Keeping secrets. Getting drenched in the rains with kids. Daydreaming through lectures. Looking at lighted skyscrapers out of my window. Smiling to myself.

I think I will grow back my hair...waist length, like it was before.

Am happy these days...just generally, happy!!!