Lousy morning? You probably started a war.That should make your day.

There are times when the world grinds to a sudden halt and the phrase ‘heart in your throat’ doesn’t sound anatomically impossible.
It could be anything. Like remembering that you dumped your lab coat with the laundry when you’re frantically searching for it or that you’ve just burnt an iron box-shaped hole in your dupatta, five minutes before you have to catch the bus. Even worse is the hunt for the key/wallet/ID card. You rush down to your vehicle because if you don’t leave the house in two seconds, you are, to all intents and purposes, quite dead. You reach for the ignition and go, ‘Oh shit….’
(Well, I go ‘oh shit’. Please feel free to substitute it with whatever comes to your mind at moments of extreme stress.)

Combine a temper which is already worn thin and an inability to find anything at the crucial moment and you’ve got the perfect lousy morning. And make no doubt, whether a sunny disposition is contagious or not, a lousy one definitely is.

So there you are. One small incident lasting maybe a few minutes, according to me, possibly started more wars, accidents and badly written novels than the world imagines.

You know you’re friends with someone when....

•6 am doesn’t seem like a weird time to be knocking on that someone’s door.

•The person dragging his/her sleepy butt out of bed to open the door does not ask you what the heck you’re doing knocking on their door at 6 in the morning.

•You don’t even feel slightly guilty about cleaning out that person’s fridge.

•The reply to, “Let’s do something stupid!” is a resigned sigh.

•Your parents don’t even bother to ask you who’s on the phone when you go, “Hey!!”

•You would rather get hopelessly lost with that one person than know exactly where you are in a crowd.

•You think that that person is cool, inside and out.

•You see eye-to-eye on general ideologies but can’t agree to save your life on the smaller details.

•You know exactly how flawed the other person is and you don’t give a damn.

•You can argue about anything for hours and grin at each other at the end of it all.

•You have a common enemy.

•You’re honestly interested in what kind of day the other person had.

•You always laugh a lot when you’re together. Even when you don’t feel like it.

•You accept each other as you are. In fact, you wouldn’t change that lousy sense of humour your friend has for the world.
Okay...maybe not the whole world.

•That person takes the time to listen to your ideas and does NOT laugh at them.

Now the most important point.
Are you still reading?? Friends...
Always read their friend's blogs!

Weekends to live for

After an extreme case of writer’s block, I’m back with so much to write that I doubt I can make everything fit in one entry. First off, Charms’ birthday went great. Everyone who was crazy enough to get up at an insanely early hour totally loved it. We didn’t manage to catch a perfect sunrise but I loved the one that did put in an appearance. After all the craziness at the beach, we crashed at Remy’s place and cut the cake Princess baked. There are two things P can do amazingly well: scream and bake cakes. It’s a good combination. Then we had breakfast at the Murugan idly shop which is expensive but pretty good. It was a good way to spend a birthday.


(Fast forward to the next weekend. I mean, who cares what happens in between??!)

I took an off on Friday and spent my Independence Day in Bangalore. I don’t know about the nation but any day when I don’t feel the need to whine about my college is what independence is all about for me. And Bangalore was great. I haven’t had this much fun since…the last weekend. Only that lasted for like 3 hours while this lasted for three glorious days.
We visited the Lalbagh garden. There was a flower show going on. I’m more of a trees person myself so I wasn’t really too impressed with that but the trees there…wow. Pretty impressive. The technological museum rocked as well. My dad took around a thousand photos. I kid you not. So I’ll put up some of those in this entry.

Day two was almost entirely spent shopping. I tell you, I made a killing. I’m not one to freak out shopping but I totally lost it this time. What can I say? The temptation was too great for a mere mortal. Talking about my excesses, I ate way too much. In the three days I spent there, I ate out three times. Nagarjuna was okay but I loved Balal. Empire had a lot of mid-eastern food which I’m not very partial to. At home, everyone basically stuffed me as much they possibly could. I can’t remember the last time I ate so much. Thank God my new jeans still fit.

We also saw the Parliament house, the High court, the musical fountain show and we even went up to the 23rd floor of the utility building to get an aerial view of Bangalore. Apart from the amazing weather, I also liked the fact that people just dress better there. And they have this thing with sneakers. A lot of guys wear sneakers. My most recent muse is a converse. The chances of moi getting anything in the next six months to one year however are extremely minute so it’ll have to remain a muse for a while longer.

We also attended (I use the term loosely) some pre-reception thing of one of my dad’s colleague's nieces. Nothing great about that. Except that she’s marrying a French guy.
Cool.
However, the minute they asked me to go and sit down to what looked like a full out mehendi session for all the girls (and even the guys. French guys. Someone should have told them that that stuff is for girls.) I knew I had to get out of there. French or not, no one’s going to make me sit around with a bunch of girls (and guys) waiting for stuff on their hands to dry.

Of course, what really made it great was the company. Aunty G is a retired English teacher who stumbles on old students everywhere from ticket reservation counters to Levi show rooms. Uncle loves to make miniature boat models. And they have a cute daschund called Terry. Everyone else was a lot of fun as well. I was never more in charity with all my relatives. They’re cool people really, when they’re not forcing me to attend weddings and wear salwars.

I warned you it was going to be a long entry. Now that it’s over, I have a perfectly mundane week to look forward to. It’s raining out though. That makes a big difference.

Things that ought to change...

Civic sense, or rather the lack of it, is one of the major barriers to a developed India. Educated people spitting on the roads, well-dressed men getting out of fancy cars to urinate on the roadsides and women and children throwing garbage on the streets are sadly, a common sight.
Frankly, this should scare us more than the under privileged ‘slum people’ who bear the brunt of the ire when their life of squalor crosses our line of vision.
One of my biggest regrets about this city is the Cooum, a.k.a the Buckingham canal. Every time I cross it I feel that it has the potential to be one of the most beautiful things in the city and look at what it is today. It’s a big drain for every kind of effluent you can find making it the dirtiest water body in the city.
I don’t know how many times I’ve looked at it and thought to myself, ‘Something must be done.’
It’s easy to say that, isn’t it?
I remember seeing pictures of Madras in the early 1900’s in a Saravana Bhavan restaurant. The Buckingham canal around the 1920’s was actually used as a major means of transportation. Nearly a century later, it stinks. Literally.
Things have this way of getting very complicated when you sit down and wonder what you can do, like I’m doing now and I’m drawing a blank. If history repeats itself, where are we going to be in another century?