A ‘beary’ good fight!!

It was the peak of the afternoon, but there was not a trace of sunlight that could be seen. Instead dark clouds swarmed the skies threatening to come down bursting, holding off their fury to finish their late lunch. Although the air rippled with the excitement of being laden with moisture very soon, Mr.Bear sat huddled in his chair, utterly oblivious to it all. But he was also as steaming and as tensed as the weather outside. His small eyes were now even smaller, being dwarfed by the frown crowning his forehead. His hands were waiting, expectant, sensing the trigger that would spark off the neurons and get the fingers moving. He expected that trigger to come anytime soon, and like a true fighter he was totally prepared for it. And this was just not another duel that he had to face on a daily basis as a part of his existence, but rather a duel that would hurt more if he was victorious. It wasn't physical (that would be unkind to the opponent), certainly not the high-decibel verbal kind (as most of these duels are,the ready example being a recent one he had witnessed or rather heard from his neighbors) but instead, it was being fought in a virtual domain via the bearnet!! So Mr.Bear readied his fingers to counter his opponent sitting million miles away – Miss Bear, his sweetheart!

It had been a tough week and a particularly tough couple of months for Mr.Bear. He had shifted to a bigger home, which brought changes-some pleasant and some not so pleasant. The honey-digging work had become tough with increasingly aggressive bees which took longer to counter. Free time had therefore become a luxury. The harder work unfortunately yielded no pay as the treasure-keeper of the kingdom had lost the key which Mr.Bear needed to access his trove. The seemingly simple work of replacing the key was taking unexpectedly long. Mr.Bear had never been in debt and he didn't like the new situation. But another situation that he had never ever liked was any form of spats with Miss Bear. Soft-spoken and mild-mannered, Miss Bear rarely instigated or indulged in one, but this had been a hard month of work for her too. Much to her dismay, Mr.Bear also had done something that he had never done in the last four years (even though they had become separated by cities and then by continents)- the act of calling and waking her up in the morning!! It was a routine that had been followed religiously for all these years, not out of necessity but simple love and affection and to break it during worst of the times was almost criminal.

When the preliminary bickering and sarcasm filled sentences had been done with, anger seemed to fill both of their veins. Every nasty uttering was met with a nastier repartee from the other end. The routine seemed to be going on and on. Miss Bear being bored by the monotone of it all, finally said something out of place merely out of boredom - “What plans for today?” The simple question would have been answered simply and courteously by Mr.Bear on any other day but this was just not any 'other' day. Even the little fly that was trying to catch a little whiff of the honey on Mr.Bear's hands, stopped in his flight to stare at the queerness of the exchange of words that were slowly filling the bearnet screen.

Mr.Bear (replying to the question): To dance

Miss Bear: Where?

Mr.Bear: On the floor

Miss Bear (borne out of necessity to reply to everything): Interesting

Mr.Bear (borne out of necessity to counter everything): Not at all

Miss Bear (curious for the ensuing answer): Then what else is interesting?

Mr.Bear: Dancing on a hot plate

Miss Bear: Why would anybody do that?

Mr.Bear (remembering last seen movie titled 'Gone Bear Gone') : Dare Baby Dare

Miss Bear: What is that?

Mr.Bear (remembering a TV show): Sequel to Who dares wins

Miss Bear: Haven't had lunch?

Mr.Bear (confused by the question): Yes, why?

Miss Bear: Your brain is getting low glucose!

Mr.Bear: Might be, haven’t had dinner too.

Miss Bear paused for a moment, the snappy words that had been borne out of anger had failed to pass the vocal chords. It wasn't the realization that her words could not be heard and therefore the effort was futile, instead there was a different reason. Something was preventing the sound waves to pass through. Miss Bear soon realized that harshness of the waves had been countered by the fluidity of her buttery heart that had just melted a little. It was late afternoon for Mr.Bear and he hadn't eaten anything for long and the fact concerned her immensely. The lack of actual talking had it's advantages now as the typed words could hide the gentleness that would appear in her spoken words. So she simply stated that Mr.Bear should go ahead and have something, as she didn't consider fighting a hungry opponent noble. Mr.Bear knew that no matter how gentle Miss Bear was, she never would cower down so easy. For the first time in the day he smiled, perfectly understanding the reason for Miss Bear's actions, and which she would not admit now.So he agreed to continue the duel for the next day and wished Miss Bear a good night.

But he knew he would have a tough time keeping his end of the deal. There was nothing to cook and the coin coffer had bare minimum shillings left. Not enough to pay the exorbitant amount the ferrets and the monkeys charged for delivering food. He sighed in silence, interspersed with buzzing of a fly and the growls of his stomach. As he closed the bearnet connection with the wish, Miss Bear wished him a good day in return. She neither spoke or punched in the words, as technically, they were still in midst of a duel. But just like Mr.Bear, she was fully aware that the battle had ended and she closed her eyes for a peaceful sleep. Mr.Bear was hungry, but also contented, as little by little joy 'filled' his body. Just then, he heard a tiny little sound caused by the ruffling of the grass that carpeted his floor. It was an envelope dropped in by the mail-pigeons. He hesitated to open it thinking it would be another bill that would lower his new found joy, but he opened it nevertheless. The contents made his hands shiver, his heart race and his legs shuffle. His eyes meanwhile twinkled- with the shine of the gold that adorned his new, freshly minted treasure key..it truly had been a good fight!!

The day that I lost ‘time’..

“Don’t count every hour in the day, make every hour in the day count.”

- Father to me every time I stole glances at the clock as I did my homework.

That was the time when I was still a young kid often terribly frustrated by the complex arithmetic or sometimes intriguing, sometimes tedious science problems (or often a combination of both!). My only solace while dealing with them was the grandfather clock in my room, which on striking 8:30 pm, gave me a one hour free pass to television with absolutely no interruptions! Like every other thing, TV was also a thing that had its own fixed time in my house. Food, school, playtime, everything ran on the clock, military school style!! Now some of you would consider such a slavery of time being too harsh. But even as a kid, I completely lapped up the strict routine. In fact, when my mother replaced my cartoon-character themed electronic watches and gifted me my first ‘big guy’ wristwatch, I was on seventh heaven!! As it was waterproof, I even wore it for bath and did not remove it off my hand for almost a whole year (before you label me as freak, I was just 8 then!!). Even after my parents relaxed the restrictions as I grew up, I continued to follow the same schedule myself till my late teens. Of course there were some cons with this watertight scheduling. I just got one hour of TV so that meant just an hour of any movie that I wanted to watch. By the time I was old enough, I had watched loads of movies whose ending I had no knowledge of!! So it was the freedom of college that made me finally find out what happened to Darth Vader in the end, how the game in Jumanji ended or did John Connor manage to save the world!! So if time had so much value in one’s life, imagine the horror of finding out one fine morning that ‘time’ has disappeared!!!!

The past few weeks for me had been occupied in almost endless incessant work. But Thursday had been a big relief as I was finally able to finish up a manuscript that I had been working over the entire summer. Fit enough cause for some drinks and celebrations which made me wake up with a slight hangover the next morning. Even with the hangover, I realized I was missing my very able companion- my wristwatch! The very importance of this device in my life arises out of the unique way my brain perceives daily work. The checklist for the day are not of ‘x’ number of jobs but in fact ‘x’ number of minutes. For e.g. from the moment I stepped out of bath, my itinerary to a normal person would read as: two pieces of bagel with cream and cheese, a slice of watermelon, biking to the bus stop and taking bus to the college. To me, it read as 5.5, 2, 14 and 15 minutes. Without my wristwatch, I feel as lost as Susan Boyle in a rap concert!

I tried to hurriedly look around for a replacement. Two of my favorite ones were still packed deep inside my carry bag from a conference that I had returned from recently. The two lying outside were metal strapped ones which I hate wearing on hot summer days and the battery on the only other leather strapped one was dead. With no more time to waste, I finally decided to take the plunge and walk out without one! The entire day, the simple act of keeping track of time became nearly impossible. Every time I looked down at my wrist, a vacant spot stared back at me. I used my phone or computer sometimes and found myself way off the expected time. I missed the lunch hour, I worked an hour overtime, became overly productive and finished up work that I had reserved for next week!! Considering the way I was brought up, you will think of me as a person who likes finishing up things before time but on the contrary I am a big procrastinator. But I am also a unique kind of procrastinator, because I know how long exactly I need to procrastinate to get the job done right on time!! That’s why completing work in advance actually made me feel totally miserable!!

Ironically, on returning back I watched two movies which had time integrated deeply into their themes- one whose script necessitated split-second timing (Inception) and another that dealt with power to turn back time (Prince of Persia). But even with themes of time spinning around me, weekends are time to relax and I was spared of the sinking feeling that I had all day on Friday. But now with the workday beginning tomorrow, I desperately needed to get order back from chaos. Thankfully, my wristwatch appeared out from beneath my couch that I slump into everyday. Perhaps, it missed me as much as I missed it! Tomorrow as we begin our happy journey once again, I realize its importance in my life and its immense contribution in shaping me the way I am: a procrastinator who always finishes his work on time!

Hippo-cricy!!

“Brayyyy…Brayyyy”
I was sure I heard these sounds as I lay in deep slumbering sleep, tired after a tiring day of doing nothing. The last thing that I had wished before dropping down was a sweet dream to liven my insipid sleep. As I tried to settle back into my sleep, labeling the sound as manifestation of my near empty belly, I heard it again and this time it was a lot louder.
“BRRRRAYYYYYYYYYY”
Waking with a start, I rubbed my eyes to see what was going on. There seemed to be a giant blob of fat in front of me which on further clarity resembled a big hippo, in fact, it indeed was a big hippo!!!

“Wassup dude, long time no see?!!” it suddenly spoke up to me.
As much as I was surprised with the big hippo standing in front of me, it’s talking actually didn’t startle me. In fact, it seemed very expected and soon I realized why. It wasn’t real… merely my mind spinning haywire in terms of its dream choice, making me wonder what I had for dinner!! Was it something similar to what happens in the movie Inception?! How I wished I had watched the movie to realize what to expect from now on! In spite of this being a dream, I didn’t want to sound discourteous to the hippo and replied.
“I am good dear Hippo, was that you making the sound?”
“Indeed, didn’t you recognize it?” the hippo now came closer and settled down beside me as if ready for a long conversation chewing something it held in its hand!
I knew asses brayed but I didn’t know hippos did the same and I didn’t want to offend the hippo comparing it to an ass!!
“Don’t worry I won’t be offended” it suddenly said with a twinkle in its eye.
“How did you know what I was thinking?” I said with a fresh feel of fear suddenly inside me.
“I am a product of your brain so I know what you think” it smiled gently.
Just as his words began to relax me he added, “and before you begin feeling less scared of me; let me tell you hippos account for more human mortality than any other mammal”
This time I wasn’t scared, after all this was some deep hidden encyclopedia trivia that I must have read sometimes in my school days!! But I thought to myself about how hippos look so gentle that there is no way you would expect such ferocity from them anytime.
“Ain’t it so much like humans??” the hippo kept chewing and continued to read my thoughts.
“I know we are bad, we fight amongst ourselves, we don’t care for other creatures, we destroy nature” I had recently seen Avatar again, so wasn’t so hard for me to state all that. The thought of Avatar brought a curious question in my mind “Was that your cousin from Pandora that charges at Jake Sully in the forest?”
The hippo ignored my seemingly silly query and suddenly seemed to grow old with wisdom as he looked at me straight in the eye “It’s much more than an overt display of evilness that your kind posses, in fact it might not be evil at all. Just a subtle inadequacy that is still as dangerous as those libelous actions”
Technically I was still asleep and even while awake, such deep thinking zips over my infantile mind!! The hippo didn’t mind my ignorance and continued with his thoughts.
“How many times you fail to thank someone who help you but slander others at a drop of a hat if they fail to do the same. How many times you wish the world from your friends but fail to provide a trickle of faith when they need you. How many times you detest people talking about you behind your back but don’t respect others and do the same. You harbor ill will against fellows, crib about them to others but put up a fake smile once they approach you. You want to be loved but don’t show slightest……”
The hippo seemed to be going on and on making me feel if this is how my wish for a sweet dream had came true. The moment I thought it out, the hippo stopped.
“It has been a long conversation my friend, time for me to go” he turned and began his gentle walk back to the unknown with a small nod of goodbye.
As he walked into the nothingness in the vortex of my brain, he spoke out a quiet question to me “What do you call someone who wishes for a sweet dream and cribs when his wish comes true?”
“Sweet dream?? Wish comes true??” I thought confused and then suddenly I realized what the hippo had been chewing all the while he was talking to me - a whole bunch of sweet potatoes!!
My eyes opened from the sleep and I had a strange aftertaste of sweetness in my mouth and the answer to his question. I whispered out the answer to myself as I woke up
“Hippo-crite”

Swept Away!!

The sweet taste of water can only be realized when you are absolutely parched for water and similarly the best feel of the holiday can only be felt after you have practically killed yourself at work. So after a grueling work-schedule in the past month I finally got a week worth of break and a chance to visit my alma mater. Unfortunately, the lack of access to internet during this time made it nearly impossible for me to have a peek at my Google reader and catch up on everything that I have missed in the life of my blogging friends. Doing that is my topmost priority right now and makes me realize how much I actually I miss this seemingly simple task. While there have been a whole lot of things that I had wanted to post all this while but the dearth of time had really made it difficult to pen things down, in short, I had been a bad blogger! But now with a trip back to my home country I know what I will be talking about this week as nostalgia is the only paramount feeling on my mind. Especially as it probably was also my final visit to Manipal (at least for a long time). So here is a short list of things that I loved and managed to relive in this short stay:

THE BEACH: “The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.” So said Jacques Cousteau and he couldn’t have been farther from truth. Having never seen the sea and the wonderful beaches before starting my college life, I was completely mesmerized with my first view of the vast unending expanse. There is an unearthly calmness in the chaos of the waves that always draws me towards it. If you still haven’t been to a beach, you don’t know what you are missing!! No surprises that every evening I knew where I was going!!

THE FOOD: Food was the thing that I most often complained about in my college life but that was just from the college mess. Outside, the place is replete with some awesome food for all the tastes. Northie, southie, veg, non-veg, you name it and you got it!! So all the time that I was there, I was running from one restaurant to another to make sure that I grab all they had to offer in the short time that I had!!

THE MONSOON: Rain and Manipal are often spoken in the same breath. When it rains, it really pours down there. While there was not very much excitement this time around with the intensity and the amount of rain that I got to witness but it was good enough to remind me of the good old days when umbrella used to be your best friend!

LOVE: The last but surely not the least on the list. This was the place where I found love so the best part of spending time in Manipal is when you are spending it with your sweetheart. Sipping smoothies in afternoon, watching the sun melt down in the evenings on a lazy beach and idling away time under the starry sky..just wished that every holiday of mine was like this!!

So while work pulls me back to my usual monotonous existence, this is me getting swept away in one final wave of nostalgia!

Running Out Of Gas!!

Ms. Helpful: Hi, this is Ms.Helpful and we are having a wonderful day at Great apartments!

Me: (I am sure it’s a wonderful day for you..not for me!!) Hi, we had a gas leak in our building couple of days back and our gas was shut down. Hasn’t it been restored yet because my stove is not working?

Ms.Helpful: (After a few seconds of hesitation) It should have been sir, let me check into it and I will call you back.

(Fifteen agonizing minutes later)

Ms.Helpful: Sir, we are very sorry but it seems the work may have remained incomplete and the maintenance staff will have to get back to complete it.

Me: Fine, can you get it done as quickly as possible?

Ms.Helpful: I am afraid due to the Memorial Day weekend, the maintenance crew will only be back on Tuesday.

Me: (doing quick math to realize that will be three days without gas) Thank you letting me know, you just made my day!!

Ms.Helpful: I am so sorry sir. Have a great day!

Me: (surprisingly calm in spite of fuming with anger) Thanks, you have a great day too!

Barring the obvious change in names and address, this was pretty much the transcript of the conversation that I had at the start of weekend with my apartment guys. Actually it has been greater than three days that I haven’t had home cooked food but it was only in the last three days that I have begun feeling the real need for it. The lack of work, boredom and wonderful weather provide a heady cocktail for the searing appetite. It wasn’t that I wasn’t having enough food but I was just not loading up to my desired level and having the desired quality of food. For now, all the things that I have are things that are microwaveable. So its instant lunches, frozen dinners, noodles etc. etc. I know it sounds strange but I cannot tell how much I am craving for food made by own hands!! These cravings and my attempts to distract my mind from them have made me realize many different things.

1. Omelettes can be made in microwaves and they surprisingly still taste delicious. I know they are round, pot bellied and look funny but combine that with some potato skins, potato chips, coconut cookie and a wonderful juice cocktail of banana, apple, coriander etc. (the etc. because it’s something that my friend makes and I do not manage to remember the rest!!), can actually make you last the whole day without being hungry!!

2. I still love to read novels!! Considering I haven’t read one for the last two years, my reading speed is surprisingly still pretty awesome. But I have lost the patience of finishing them up quickly. All this I realized after my attempts to read Dan Brown’s latest the “The Lost Symbol” which two years back I would have finished in a day but three days since starting, I am just halfway through. So far it has been a very interesting read!!

3. Sci-fi series still typecast ominous characters as bald, no-eyebrows.

So I started watching Fringe this weekend and the series held my attention. And then we had the episode with a freaky looking guy who always happened to be at places where freaky events occurred. The script seemed to imply he was an alien, but why did he look so much like one??!! Shouldn’t there be an element of surprise?!

4. When you lack good food for three days, your senses heighten! I am sure you have heard of people who lack auditory senses have great attention to visual details; vice versa blind people have amazing perception for sound. Lack of some really good food seemed to be doing the same for me. In three days, I had located pretty much the entire stock of spiders in my house (and squashed them all..sorry Spiderman!!). But you know things are not a coincidence, when you can actually hear a beetle walking on your phone when you are looking the other way!

But I don’t want any more heightened senses, any more realizations about reading speeds or finding new ways to cook food! All I want now is some good calorie-stuffed home cooked food and I want it now. I know I am sounding desperate but as the case is..I actually have been literally running out of gas!

Technorati Tags: Fringe,food,Dan Brown,The Lost Symbol,The Observer

No More Lost

This is it..the final moment..so very aptly titled “The End”. As I sat back misty eyed close to midnight witnessing the culmination of probably the greatest human saga ever on television, I could not help but feel the full power of the phenomenon titled LOST. The only episode that I ever watched the show live now ranks the best in its entire six seasons. Surprisingly, the finale also faced a huge amount of backlash from half of the fan base who are having a tough time comprehending the ending. Everyone knows of my obsession with Lost but I had never thought of blogging about it. But I am also tired of answering every person who misinterpreted the ending and and are now bashing the writers for it. Hate to say it but the show was never meant for people who were more for the mysteries and the thrill and not for the human aspect of it. The mysteries played a big part of it but the wonderful characters were what made the show so memorable. If you feel conned about the fact that you didn’t get the answers you wanted, I am pretty sure you were never going to be satisfied with the answers if they indeed had addressed them. In fact while I was finishing this post, I got a call from one of friends who finished watching the finale and was impacted on the same emotional level as I was, justifying my faith in the finale for people like us. If you have never watched the show and would like to, please stop here as there are a whole lot of spoilers ahead regarding the finale.

The first thing that I want to straighten out for everyone who is bashing the show because they misinterpreted the ending- the island was NOT a purgatory and no they didn’t die when the flight crashed!! The “flash-sideways” though indeed were and that’s what the whole ending implied. Now that we have that clear, the rest is for many people who understood that but still did not like the ending. I would not debate on that and will rather talk about why it worked so well for me. Personally for me the ending was as good as I could have ever thought of. It was emotional, pure, heartwarming and touched me the way I thought it should but never really expecting it to. And this is coming from someone who always believed in the science of the show and is remotely religious. But just like Jack, the writers turned me into a man of faith and the faith in the writers did pay off.

They left a whole lot of mysteries behind but in the end it was never about the mystery for me. I know a whole lot of people would disagree with me on this but explaining the mysteries would have been fine but not resolving the ending for the characters would have been heartbreaking. Jack, Hugo, Ben, Sayid, Sawyer, Sun and Jin and everyone else were such wonderful characters that we cared to the core for. They were what kept me hooked onto Lost and not the mysteries. I would have loved to find out what exactly was the smoke monster, what actually was the light, what was with the rules, Dharma Initiative, the polar bears, the Hurley bird, the shooting at the outrigger, Man In Black’s real name etc.etc. As you can see the list goes on and on regarding the unanswered stuff but surprisingly, it doesn’t matter to me that they didn’t explain that. And trust me, even if they had attempted to answer every mystery in the show then it would have been impossible for them to do that. And no matter how well they would have done that, fans would have definitely found plotholes by digging deep and deep. Similar to the MIB who kept looking for ways to leave the island, finding loopholes, using logic. On the other hand was Jacob, who had pure and simple faith, almost a blind one. But he cared for the island, cared for the fact that people who were alone could find a purpose there. The writers could chose only one way of answering all that and they went the Jacob's way of faith.

The fact that they even blinded to us MIB’s name was similar to keeping the mysteries of island unresolved because it was something that did not matter in the long run. When Jacob brought everyone to the island they were all alone, flawed people. But as they bid adieu, they were not alone. Every single of them were together for the final journey. They had found love, had their faith restored, gained redemption and were happy. Many of them were ready to let go while some like Ben, Eloise were still not, mainly because of the travesties they brought upon their loved ones due to their actions. What can be more satisfying than finding your favorite characters getting the happiest ending possible and in such a beautiful manner; whoever came up with idea of the flash sideways was a genius!!

When I look back at the wonderful journey that LOST was, it fills me with happiness for hanging on. The final moments of the finale would stay with me forever as it brought the whole story to a full circle using its main protagonist as the fulcrum. In the pilot, Jack opens his eyes, confused about where he is, gets up and runs out to find a world in chaos and without realizing it puts himself in the role of a leader. In the finale, Jack finally finds peace after he resolves the chaos, thrusts himself out of the leadership shoes and those very eyes close in peace as he embraces death perfectly aware where he is going to. Absolutely epic !

Hats off to the best TV show ever created and as all good things this had to come to an end too and am only glad that it’s over in such a satisfying manner.

I will be no more Lost :(

Technorati Tags: lost,the end,season 6 finale

To Tea Or Not To Tea!!

“An empty mind is a devil’s workshop”

This was one of the favorite sayings of my father. There was a reason that made me agree with him wholeheartedly. Whenever I was getting bored or was idle, I conjured up lots of things to keep myself busy. I always made sure I was doing something using my mind even in my times of boredom like reading science encyclopedias, catching up on sports trivia, learning a new hobby or getting familiar with new devices. Now as you can see, I was making pretty good use of my idle time but every time I did any of these things out of sheer boredom, the above words came back to haunt me. Cases in example were what actually emerged from my “workshop” after I did the aforementioned things:-

1. Reading science encyclopedias: Learnt the ability of lenses to concentrate the sunlight in the physics section. Put it to use by using magnifying lenses to burn things, like my mom’s favorite curtains!!

2. Catching up on sports trivia: Found out how baseball is so similar to cricket but broke the neighbor’s windows in my very first pitch!

3. Learning a new hobby: Realized collecting magnets isn’t the same as collecting stamps and keeping the entire collection near the TV can actually make it go bad (guess should have read all the chapters of the encyclopedia closely!)

4. Getting familiar with new devices: Perfected mobile phone use as a little kid by dialing up restaurants from my cousin’s cell and ordering tons of food at his home, most of it without his knowledge (to be fair, I hardly ate any of it myself!!)

The exact same sense of boredom that led me to do the things above was prevailing over me today. It’s not that I have lack of work but just that I am tired of work today. The week’s fatigue was so much for me that I fell asleep the moment today’s work day ended and woke up only at dinner time. Before I could cook something, I realized I had to submit an assignment that involved interpreting survival analysis for a population receiving hip replacement of Charnley implants fixed with Palacos or Simplex cement with a lateral surgical approach without trochanteric osteotomy, on patients with primary coxarthrosis (I hope you realize by now why I don’t exactly want to work right now!!).

Having slept almost entire evening, I knew I wasn’t getting any quick sleep in the night so I knew I had to put my boredom to good use. This weekend for me involves besides other things, cleaning up the house. I decided to give myself a head-start by starting with the kitchen. While cleaning, I found a big stock of tea my ex-roommate had left behind. Since he has left the country, I cannot get it back to him and I am hesitant to just throw it up all away. The problem that I face with finishing it up myself is- I don’t drink tea!!!

While this might be considered normal anywhere else in parts of the world, in our country this is a scenario almost hard to imagine. Every social visit or gathering you visit brings with it the mandatory cup of tea. Most of the times the host will not even bother to ask and you will be presented with a hot cup on your arrival. While my near and dear ones realized me as an exception over time and stopped the habit, every time I went to some new place my refusal was met with looks of genuine shock.

“You don’t drink tea??” was the common refrain with dropped jaws.

Their jaws dropped further when I refused the next choice of coffee (yeah I don’t drink that too!!). My parents always scolded me for this queer habit of mine as it made me look disrespectful towards the host. Well they could have housed couple of coke cans and I am sure I would have hardly looked disrespectful then!

Back to my problem- I opened up the box of tea to look at how this alien drink looks like. I must tell, I was totally overawed by the amazing aroma. The tea grains seemed to be giving me a ‘come drink me’-look! I thought about the repercussions my starting to drink tea will have. For one, it will make everyone in family very happy as I will become socially more acceptable. I will have something new to do but also seem like a fool to have skipped it for so long! But the reason I am currently refraining from making this big decision are due to the first lines of this post.

Everything I have done in sheer boredom has almost always never turned out to be that great! So I will wait now, wait for the moment to pass over. And if the temptation still remains, I might just give it a try. After a hectic week, I never expected the question at the end of the week for me will be- To tea or not to tea!! :)

Gazing Out..

“Pitter..patter..pitter..patter..plop..plop..plop”

In case you are wondering that I have now officially gone crazy..no I am not! These were just some sounds that were running through my head at close to two last night. I was half-awake, half-hungry and totally cold (thanks to my stupid heater which has a mind of its own when it comes to shutting down!). The first impression anyone will have finding me in that state is that it was intoxication that was causing it. But it wasn’t the weekend yet so I was in a perfectly sober state. In fact, I myself was a bit surprised to wake up as I am usually a very sound sleeper. Although technically I wasn’t sleeping yet- laying with my head on my laptop and my body on the chair!! I stood up to close the lights and fall down on my bed when a fresh wave of plops on my window drew my attention: the reason that had actually caused me to wake up. I looked out of the window, half expecting some outlaw trying to barge into my home. The thought didn’t scare me; rather I wanted to save them their efforts as the rewards wouldn’t be worth it!!:P But it wasn’t them and the unpredictable source of the sound was- Rain!!

Having lived buried in snow for almost three months, it wasn’t something that you would expect. But then I have also lived in a place where rain would be incessant for almost the same period! I still remember the first year of my undergrad and the first university paper I had. The walk to the college was a bare 15 minutes and the weather perfectly fine when I started for the college. I with my friend had barely reached midway when the sun was drowned in a sea of clouds and the heavy monsoon rain decided to show its full fury on us. The rain coupled with the strong wind toyed with the umbrella in our hands that we were using as a shield. By the time I reached college, I had enough water soaked up in my clothes and filled in my shoes to bring relief to some drought ridden areas in the country. That was just first of the many days to come and starting of a love-hate relationship!

When I woke up in the morning, the rain was still falling hard. It had been raining for some days now, but they had been more of light drizzle. The intensity and the volume of rain happening now was something that I had never seen here before. Over the day, it slowed down more towards what I had been used to. Now rains are sometimes associated with romance, but there was no iota of romance in my thoughts whenever I saw rain. The only thought that came to mind was “Run! Hide! Find shelter!”

But just for a brief moment when sun came out of the clouds, there indeed seemed to be romance in air. The grass glistened, the surroundings glowed, the cars washed off their dirt shone and even the dirty puddles had a little iridescent glow to them. In short, it was truly beautiful!! But the moment was so short that it was barely noticeable. It’s still raining now, the plops are still distinct but I will have my curtains drawn the next morning waiting for the first ray of sunshine to bring back the moment!

Love Surprises!!

“We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”       -Anonymous.

Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone!! It was just yesterday when I found these amazingly wonderful lines on the Internet while I searched for an e-card for my sweetheart. I could never have imagined doing this a few years back as originality formed the core of those courtship days! An expressive love letter or a lovely poem penned and perfected over a span of few weeks were things I was good at. But this day, time was of utmost essence. In spite of being a Saturday, I was sadly working in the lab. While my hands clicked a million buttons trying to sort and analyze data, I quickly made some more clicks for myself. Clicks that made me realize that my valentine gift had failed to reach in time. Few minutes later I confirmed the fact when I wished her over the phone. As I wished her, I could sense her fatigue after a long day of work as she barely hung on to the words that I was speaking. I knew she would be asleep the moment that I kept the phone down but I still had to send out at least a card to her. After all, there was a reason for this urgency of mine.

Since we had met, there was not a single valentine’s day that had passed without me gifting something to her. On the other hand, while she has the habit of loading me up with buckets of gifts on my birthday, she never actually gifted me anything on the V-day. It would usually be just a sweet SMS buzzing on my phone at midnight and wonderful evening dinners from her. Something I never minded, mostly because I was too preoccupied searching for something unique for her when the D-day approached! But this time, my unique gift was still lying around in some courier office and being Sunday, it was impossible that it could be delivered on time. Getting back home from work, I finished my dinner with friends before midnight. The good thing about being two continents apart is that you get to celebrate everything twice. So albeit with a tinge of disappointment, I was ready to celebrate Valentine’s Day again at US standard time! While there were no discussions about gifts, there was still plenty to chirp about. I had no clue when I fell asleep in midst of one of those talks.

When I woke up the morning of Valentine’s Day, it was close to 10. I had barely opened my eyes but I picked up the phone and called up my sweetheart to wish her (I know it was the third time, but I never tire of it!). Between our talks, I half wished that by some twist of fate or some miracle, the courier company was open and they had delivered the gift. I asked her about it and she replied “It’s Sunday!”

“Damn Sunday!” I thought to myself as I kept the phone.

I lay back on my bed, not eager to work and just waiting for her to come online. Few minutes later, the doorbell rang. I was not expecting anyone so I thought it might just be the mailman. I closed back my eyes thinking of collecting it later from the post office. But just then, I realized it was Sunday and it couldn’t be the USPS guys. I still thought that someone pushed our bell by mistake but investigating it would at least allow me to pick up my lazy bum and get out. An action that I find hard to do on holidays, but this time it would allow me now to scavenge the kitchen and satiate my empty stomach!! On opening the door, I found a rickety old man standing with a large plastic bag. He wasn’t the mailman but was there to deliver something. He called out my name and once I responded in affirmative, he handed the large bag to me. Half-surprised, half-curious, I picked up the package. He told me to hold it by the bottom as he left me with the words “Happy Valentine’s Day!”

Opening it up, I found one of the most wonderful flower bouquets that I had ever seen and a real cute white teddy held it for me!! The card had the cutest little message from my sweetheart. The smile that appeared on my face then never left me the whole day! When we talked again, we had so much to talk and so much was about the gift! Even if my mail hadn’t reached on time, my sweetheart had ensured that our Valentine’s Day had not been bereft of gifts!!

  

In my life, I have been surrounded by hundreds of people with varied opinions of love. Some call it unnecessary, unsustainable, a myth while others have lengthy litanies describing how amazing it is. What I have found all these years being in love is that it does come with its fair share of struggles and sorrows. But it also fills your every day with little joys, throws up so many pleasant surprises which an otherwise mundane existence never would. And it has this unique little character- of finding and lifting you up when you need it the most in ways you never can imagine!

So while I munch on my heart shaped pizza as a dinner, I hope everyone is having a wonderful Valentine’s Day. Due to my real hectic schedule in the past month, I have not been able to catch up on my fellow blogging friends (my Google Reader is filled up with tonnes of unread posts right now!). I do would like to catch up with you all. In the midst, I received an award too..yipeee! Thanks a lot to “BUTTERY”fly for your sweet award which I am proud to display. Hope to keep spreading more smiles and love!!

Missed New Year and Hope 2010!

Happy New Year 2010 to everyone!! Woohoo.. I survived 2009!! It was a year that seemed just never ending and full of work, work and more work. A simple change of date does not mean that all the work has vanished into thin air but certainly ensures renewed energy and a desire to carry on. What’s more, I am also at a place I thought I will never see in 2009 and that is my home!! Finally reaching after a spate of delays, missed flights and horrendous train travels makes this accomplishment even more sweeter. In spite of putting my body through this torture of travel, I was so excited to be home that I was jumping around and wide awake till afternoon (after having arrived at 2 in the morning!!). Giving out gifts is so much fun that no wonder Santa ever gets tired of it!!While I felt ecstatic with the fact that there was absolutely no dearth of energy in me, I still thought of giving my body some rest before the midnight so that I could herald in New Year with full enthusiasm. So finally with some calming music playing in the background, I settled back to the warm comfort of the bed that I had missed for so long. The time on my phone read 3:30 in the afternoon when I settled down to sleep.

I distinctly remember dreaming something pleasant but I was too tired to wake up. Some time later, I even heard the voices of some of my relatives and my little cousins. While that feeling seemed like coming from distant dreamland ,the brutal shaking by my elder brother that followed it certainly wasn’t!! My thoughts were still too disjointed and feelings almost drugged so even though I wanted to wake up and greet them with all energy, all I could do was slumber back into my pillow. Everyone seeing my absolute lack of interest and energy ,left me to enjoy (or that’s what they thought!) my sleep. The next things I remember were my mother telling me to get up for dinner and the wonderful smell of home cooked food wafting in the air. This time, I distinctly seemed to remember that I didn’t even open my closed eyes. I don’t even remember for how long attempts were made to wake me up, but another thing I seemed to remember was my mother telling me where the food was kept so that I could have them after I wake up.

By this time, I knew it was getting close to 12 and I could hear my family’s chatter in the living room. My mind now was screaming for me to get up but the body was absolutely unyielding. Harassed and tortured by incessant travels and energy deprivation at times, it was now completely satiated with lovely food of home and just needed the comfort of sleep to recharge. While the mind tried to extend its duel with its full force, I am not sure even a minute passed before the body resoundingly subdued it. The ringing of the phone finally brought some strength into me to get up and pick it up. It was my sweetheart on the other side of the phone; as I picked up the call, I could hear the sound of crackers bursting, even my myopic eyes could discern the fact that the light outside my window were from fireworks in the sky. I finally knew that I had missed the first minutes of the New Year for good!!

It was 4:30 in the morning and a whole 13 hours after I went to sleep that I finally came to my senses. I didn’t even remember the only conversation that I had last night, one phone call later I was soon to know that even my sweetheart was too dead tired to remember it!! There was a tinge of sadness in missing the wonderful hour the calendar turned. The body had finally won with a big margin and was happy! The fireworks had ended by then and not a soul was now awake to share my distress so I settled back on my living room’s couch.

My eyes by now noticed the food that had been laid down for me as promised on the dining table. It was cold but still tasted fantastic! I switched on the television and watched something that I would never have had if I had been awake last night- the live telecast of fireworks at London!! So I missed a moment that was anyways going to be temporary. But as the new year’s first day dawned, I was under the same roof as my entire family, was having some wonderful home cooked food and getting to watch something that I never have had before in my life. Not a bad bargain at all!! So at last, while the year 2009 died peacefully last night, the New Year showed that hope still lives!!

Have a wonderful, hope filled year everyone and may every one get what they desire!!!!

Weight Matters and Thanksgiving!!

It’s Thanksgiving!! Now there are many things that crop up in your mind on hearing that word. No college if you are a student, Black Friday if you love shopping, “Slapsgiving” if you are Barney Stinson to name a few! And then of course there is the good old Turkey too. I was all excited for this thanksgiving for several reasons, primary of which was a long list of shopping (I sure want to have plenty to dole out when I go back to my home country this Christmas!). The other reason was my desire to cook turkey on thanksgiving. Now I am totally a chicken junkie and in spite of the giant turkey drumsticks that try to lure me when I shop, I have always stuck to rather tinier chicken. But finally I was all set to yield to temptation but as it turns out, sometimes things are just not fated to happen. I might attribute that to several reasons, some technical, some monetary but there was a reason that was highly unexpected- my weight!!

Now for somebody who is reading this blog for the first time and doesn’t know me in person, I would like to save you some time before you jump to hasty conclusions. I am just not the other regular person with weight issues. For one, my concerns about weight so far have been of not being overweight but rather being grossly underweight. Drug companies could make billions if they know how I could stay thin after eating tons of food ala Jughead!! In fact, I have begun to notice my weight only because a dear friend of mine had been on a diet to lose few pounds. Weight machines are things that are really difficult to find on this campus and I for one knew of one ‘secret’ location. It was a place that happened to be remotely associated to health issues- the astronomy building!! So it became a sort of routine for us to go every second Friday there and while my friend checked his progress, I would have fun checking my underweight status too! But while every week my friend was meeting his goal of getting his weight down, I had been witnessing quite the reverse. All this time, I had actually been on upward spiral and gaining weight!!

It was bit of a surprise because life has become quite hectic for me over the past six months. I no longer have the regular three meals; I skip breakfasts and sometimes just manage to get one single meal before the day is over. Things had become so irregular that I was resolving on making it mandatory for myself to accommodate breakfasts into my days routine. On hindsight though, there indeed had been some warning signs for me. I no longer fitted in my old pants, I didn’t require any belts on some of them which had been a size larger, my sweetheart always said that I looked different now and as my friend once had pointed out- my lunch alone was worth a thousand calories!! But I never had been worried till then and always thought it was simply my weight rearranging itself around my waist due to working in front of computer all day long!!

Now it might not be totally universal but thin people like to stay thin. I immediately put some plans in action as the necessary damage control measures. I tried to cut down on my coke consumption, made sure that the resolution of having breakfast was never put into action etc.etc. Two weeks down the line we were on our Friday date with the weight machine again. I usually went there after lunch but this time I made sure I didn’t have anything to eat before I weigh myself. My friend was first on, he had lost another pound although his goal had been already reached in the earlier weeks. I on the other hand was soon to find out that in spite of the above said measures, had gained another two pounds!!It has been over a year for me in this place, and I realized that in this time I have gained over fifteen pounds!!! A year back, I might have rejoiced at the thought but now I actually don’t.

I actually wish I had used that weight machine before and not only in the last two months. Just think about the repercussions: What if my family doesn’t recognize me back home? What about the money that I will have to spend on the all new clothes? It hasn’t helped that we are in the week of thanksgiving,a time of feasting and I have been to two buffets before thanksgiving even arrived. So finally I had to do something, and it was my desire for turkey that had to be unfortunately sacrificed. With one roommate short, it would have just too much for me to finish it off! Well, Black Friday is over now and I have managed to complete checking off every other item from the ‘things to buy on thanksgiving’ list. I am happy that I maintained restraint on my eating habits. If you happen to be curious on what I finally did have on thanksgiving- it was chicken of course!! ;)

Shocks and Surprises (Part 3)

As I begin to write this post, I find mercury finally losing its battle against Mother Nature. The temperature has already dropped to sub-zero and the dreaded winter is finally upon us! And finally the moment has also arrived for the final installment about the genesis of my new blog. For the past two weeks almost everyone who reads the blog has commented about how “not funny” is the scenario of not finishing the post and I yeah, I love the feeling of generating that feeling. :) To further infuriate them, the finale is going to be self-admittedly rather unflattering!! But that’s why we say “Ignorance is bliss” ,so let’s continue!

As I reached back my office, the first thing that I did was to start reinstalling software on my new operating system. Almost done, I was ready to show it off to everyone I could catch hold of. The first person who I went to was my batch mate and my very dear friend who unlike my other friends, is as interested in talks related to computers as me. After showing him all the new cool features that Windows 7 has, I also pointed out some deficiencies that it had and then let him know how I had worked around them. He suggested me to post my experiences on my blog so that others having similar problems could benefit from it. I found the idea really good and within an hour I was ready with one of the first user reviews of Windows 7!!

Same evening, I was having a talk with another of my friend, who incidentally had installed Windows 7 and had a similar problem as mine.

“You should have read my blog bro!” I said to him with a self-satisfied smile.

“But you haven’t posted anything new!” was his reply.

Now I usually post all my blogs using the “Windows Live Writer”, really handy blogging software by which you can post things without using the actual blogger posting tool. But using it means that technically, I never ever visit my own blog!! Having gained a real confidence in it, I had even stopped double-checking to see whether my post had been actually published online or not. But getting the unusual reply, I immediately opened the software to find that the post had actually been unpublished due to authentication error.

The first thought that crossed my mind was that the new OS had erased my password and I just had to re-type it. I tried that but it didn’t work, tried that again and the same error message and although I was pretty certain what my password was. I tried using the “Forgot your password?” option but it kept throwing the security question as “Who was your first teacher ever?”

There were two problems with that. One, I never set that question and two; I couldn’t!! because frankly, I have no clue who it was! Just then the thought struck me that my blog wasn’t under my Google but the Yahoo account as well so the link for the password change should go there too. Checking it, I found that it indeed had. I clicked on the link and I got a captcha code verification link to verify that I am going to change the password, once I did that, I got the next page as, “Who was your first teacher ever?” (arrrgghh..)

By now, I was close to tearing my hairs in splits. I tried to contact Google and went as far as doing all the things that they had listed as the “last resorts” but all of those paths lead me down to the one single sentence that proved to be the fatal blow for my blog -“WHO WAS YOUR FIRST TEACHER EVER?”!! I love Google, but that one day of their non-response was absolutely deserving of a howler!

So that’s how that eventful day of shocks and surprises finally got over. That my friends, was the story of how I started my new blog. My apologies to all the readers if I tested their patience and hopefully my future posts will not take the route of fragmented narratives. Amm..well, they just might!! ;)

Shocks and Surprises (Part 2)

The story of how my new blog came into being is going to be a small one so let me take the liberty to throw in some more “adventures” of the day!!

Taking off from where we left off last time, I was now in my college waiting for another peril coming my way. Incidentally, it happened to be the day I had to go to the mandatory TB screening so that the hold over my Spring registration could be removed. As expected, other students who belonged to any of the 160 listed countries by the university were waiting in line. Amongst them were couple of Indian girls and a bunch of Chinese (couple of them later turned out to be Japanese but who can tell just by looks!!). Now, I may not speak or express it but I have a morbid fear of the needles and I was all nerves. I tried to calm myself by striking up a conversation with the couple of Indian girls. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Hi! You guys here for the TB screening? (kinda dumb opening line seeing the big TB screening banner on the door!)

Girl1: Yes, I think you need to fill a form first which they will give to you, so just grab a seat for now.

Girl2: You know (Girl1), this place is so gloomy that it scares me so so much, I hope they blah blah blah (incessant complaining about the system,the place and the screening).

I quietly picked the Diabetes clinic brochures and started browsing through them trying to avoid her bickering. Within a couple of minutes Girl2 was called up for registration. I turned back to Girl1 and tried to start a fresh thread of conversation. Few loose talks about the weather, rain etc. later:

Me: So how long have you been here?

Girl1: Two years

Me: What?!!! (in disbelief)

Girl1: What do you mean by “What?!” (in greater disbelief)

Me: I meant how long have you been waiting in this clinic! (Duh!)

Girl1(red faced followed by a blank look): I think I came in at 1:15.

Girl2(returning after her registration): That was just registration re. The nurse will call me for blood test now. I hate this part.

Girl1: Don’t worry, I will go with you and you hold my hand,everything will be fine!

Girl2: You are so great, I don’t know but I always get scared at blah blah blah blah (philosophically talks about friendship,pain, god and Ekta Kapoor- Ok, the last part was just my invention!!)

I found it a good time to open the long unread novel that I had downloaded on my phone about a human in a robotic society while they chatted away their troubles.

Not so long later, I was up next for the blood test. The elderly nurse called me up inside giving me a sinister “yes, you’re next!” look. I followed her inside and sat down on the chair while she prepared all her instruments carefully for the delicate “operation” that she was going to carry out on me. When she turned back towards me, she held a long, thick needle and three small containers for collecting blood.

“That’s one big needle” I said to her.

“No way!” she spoke with a no-more-sinister motherly smile “you are a big lad”

When I asked her about which hand she was going to draw the blood from, she replied whichever hand she can find the veins easily. With my near absence of adipose tissue, it didn’t take her long to find the right vein.

“See, that’s a big healthy vein” she said, evidently pleased.

But the moment she inserted the needle into the vein, a thin stream of blood splattered out with full force into her gloves, apron and face. I watched shocked and horrified and the shock made me forget the pain of the prick. But she remained calm and filled the blood into the three containers. When she finally opened the cuffs and placed the cotton I exclaimed

“That wasn’t so bad!” I spoke about the obvious absence of any pain.

“Not for me” she said finally said about all the blood on her “will now wear my goggles all the time, that was surely an unexpected first!”

We both chuckled and finally I was off from the clinic and just have to wait for the results of the test. But did this incident lead me to abandon my old blog? No way! But the day wasn’t over yet and their were bigger shocks in store for me!

…to be continued

Shocks and Surprises (Part 1)

“Lo and behold! Another blog..another feather in my cap..yipee!!”

Well, actually it’s not a happy event to start a new blog. Rather I have been literally forced into it! Things have not been going good for me in the last few days and this is probably just another extension of the long line of misfortunes in this month. So let me just describe the events that led to the creation of this blog. It’s not as entertaining as KRK’s antics on Big Boss but unlike him,I am more averse on using swear words! :P

It all started on Oct 22, the very next day after the mid-term of an insanely tough Econometrics class. The day also happened to coincide with the launch of Windows 7 which I had been eagerly waiting for. I was dead tired after the exam and my head was bordering on a full-blown headache but still I waited for the clock to tick to midnight. Midnight came but there was no sign of any mail from my good friends at Microsoft. I had no inkling of when I fell asleep but it was six in the morning when I woke up. I was still tired but I was even more excited about Windows 7 so I immediately opened my mail and there it lay expected but unseen!! Sent at midnight for sure but at PST rather than EST(so much for living in a country with different time zones!). I started the download and seeing ETA of 1 hour, fell back to sleep. When I woke up after over an hour, the download was complete. Happily I started the installation and selected a clean install, patting myself on my back for having completed the backing up of the data way ahead of time!!

Everything was going fine once the system installed and I was absolutely in love with the new cool features, I installed the essential programs, including all the chatting clients to get in touch with my sweetheart.I placed the first call to her on the new system but was too busy and excited to explore the new features of Windows, rather than hang onto her words. No wonder she was all angry within minutes of realizing what my first love for the day was!! But soon I realized the first glitch.On transferring my college notes and assignments, I noticed none of my assignments bore the familiar MS Word sign. It didn’t take long to dawn on me that after the clean install, along with several other software, I had even managed to remove the entire MS Office package. While I was shocked and dismayed, my sweetheart latched onto the opportunity to vent out her anger on my Facebook status update!! By then I was getting late and my office hours were about to start.I hurriedly downloaded the free trial of MS Office so that I can at least carry out my day to day tasks normally. It was raining when I got out in open and all I could hope was that at least the worst was over.

But as it turned out, it wasn’t the only and surely not the biggest shock of the day for me and the other unpleasant surprise actually is the reason for this new blog!!

…to be continued