Just another Year-End List

10 things I wish I'd known sooner in 2009

• If you dress up in the dark, you're gonna end up wearing your clothes inside-out.
• log1=0, log10=1.
• Switching it off, and on again doesn't always solve the problem.
• Shallow pockets are evil.
• When your phone says, "Data will be deleted during formatting memory card", it's not kidding.
• Snoozers are awesome.
• Blogger templates have to be unzipped before being uploaded.
• The try-out rooms aren't just for showing-off, cause it's better to leave a store empty handed than with 3 tops worth Rs.250 which don't even fit.
• When you're trying to hide something from your parents, you'll eventually get caught.
• Toothpaste+Pimple=BAD IDEA!!

Nationals

Nationals. The very sound of the word sends chills down my spine. Though, all of us knew that the results of our matches were gonna be bad, and we were gonna get beaten...brutally, we had to give it our best shot, especially after one and a half hours of continuous daily practice, begging our parents to let us go and for the fact that this would be the best opportunity that would knock on our basketball career's door.

Sleepy and not even a wee-bit excited, I left my house at 6 o'clock in the morning for the airport. We met Lavi at the airport at 7.15. The weird thing is that, sparrows have disappeared from every nook and corner of Bengaluru, but there are plenty of them at the Bengaluru International Airport, one of the most developed parts of Bengaluru. We arrived at Delhi airport at 12 and stopped for lunch at a typical desi-restaurant and I enjoyed a plate of aloo-paranthas. Our train to Ludhiana was at 4.30, we had to be at the station by 4, so my dad took us site seeing. We saw Rashtrapathi Bhavan, India gate, and such and such. Man, there are a lot of pigeons in Delhi every-effing-where. We went to the railway station and met up with our teammates who had been waiting in the clock room. This made me feel kind of guilty because, while they were travelling in train for 2 straight days, Lavi and I had completed our journey in a matter of 2 hours. The train journey was pretty comfortable, although the Shathabdhi-waalas kept trying to stuff us with food. Juice, snacks, tea, dinner, one after the other, for free(!) and uncalled for! The train took us to Ludhiana by 8.30 and we had to get off of it within 2 minutes unless we wanted to travel all the way to Lahore! We reached the school at 10, and accommodation had to be arranged by us, as in- we had to carry our own mattresses, pillows, blankets and buckets to the room. A brief insight to the hostel life I'd have to face next year...Yay!

The next day, inauguration was at 10 in morning, so we were made to wake up at 8, when it was freezing cold. I was in desperate need of a ahem space-heater ahem out there. How the hell could they expect us to play in that kinda weather?! I just wanted to crawl under blanket and go back to sleep. The inaugurations involved, the teams marching around the ground, taking the pledge and a couple of performances. After a few hours, our match began. We played against Springdale, Amritsar. They were a pretty good team. They had an advantage of height. There was this one girl who kept shrieking, in the hope that she would get a foul. And most of the time, she did. That was pretty unfair because we barely even touched her. I'll bet she learned her lay-ups something like this: Right-Left-Jump-Aaargh! We lost the match 47-17. Smirk all you want, but we got thumped even harder by the Chandigarh girls. We lost against them, 57-19. In our defense, the Chandigarh team was too fast, too tall and far too experienced. There were always two girls who were on our tallest player(Mandy) and kept "hitting her head, as though it were a tabla". The only match in which we had a chance of winning was against the Daly College. They seemed to be the girly-type and they too had lost both the matches in the league. The game was ours, we were in the lead till the last 2 minutes of the fourth quarter, but just one last minute basket made all the difference. We lost, 22-23. Everyone in the team was very depressed. But thanks to the bonfire that night, we all came around. It was fun to just let go of everything, act kiddish, act drunk, and act tapori-ish! And for the very first time, with my own free will, I danced. Period. Since, the girls and boys tournaments were held at separate schools, some of the girls took to having crushes on girls who looked and played like guys!

We spent the next two days, watching the other matches(or that's what we were asked to tell people.) But what actually happened? Team secret! In the end, the final match was between, Delhi and Chennai. Delhi emerged as the winners for the freaking 4th time in row! The highlight(s) of the week was that we got to watch India's best u-19 teams in action, our rival team Chirec, actually became our friends as we supported each other during our matches, we had cartloads of fun playing pranks on people, I realised how good south-Indian food is, and permanent damage was done to my confidence and self-esteem, courtesy- all the teams that participated in the CBSE National Basketball tournament.

Seems Like Yesterday

My conversations these days begin something like this:
“I’m going to my uncle’s house to get my AIPMT forms attested. Seems like just yesterday I tagged along with my brother, to do the same for his entrance exam forms …”

Seems like just yesterday, I posted my very first poem on my blog, while in reality, my blog is celebrating its first birth anniversary.

Seems like just yesterday, Princy had sent me home saying, “You’re late because there was a puja at home? You may go home and attend the puja!” It’s two years later now, and we’re having the same puja at home.

Seems like just yesterday I was making a list of all the things I want to do after my 10th board exams, and the list still remains unchecked…only now it’s called “Things I want to do after my 12th board exams”

Seems like just yesterday, we were all keyed up about our school’s 1st “annual day”, while that actually happened 6 years ago.

Seems like just yesterday, we had got our house repainted, but old family photographs, prove me wrong.

Seems like just yesterday, I was having basketball practice with Rash and Maddy, but they’ve passed out and their respective siblings Priyanka and Shiuli have taken their place in the team.

Seems like just yesterday, I was watching the 1st High School Musical movie, but recently I’ve learnedthat everything…everything ends, including Troy and Gabriella’s senior year at high school. *sob* *sniff*

Seems like just yesterday, I was mumbling to everyone “Wake me up, when September ends!”

Seems like just yesterday, my seniors had taught me the right technique to take a lay-up. Now, it’s my turn to teach my juniors.

Seems like just yesterday, we all read the Pandora story for the first time, and cursed the pea-brain for opening the box of troubles.

Seems like just yesterday I was laughing my lungs out as Jay Leno poked fun at senator Clinton, Obama, and the old, white, bald guy, whose name I don’t care enough to remember. But Obama has been the President of the USA for an entire year already.
Moreover, Jay Leno has been replaced by Conan O’Brian.

Seems like just yesterday, I was walking home after my first day of summer-school, and a kid from my school had asked me “You had school today?”, and I had replied “Yup! I’m in twelfth!”

When things change so quickly that it almost seems like magic, when I feel like I'm living life in fast-forward, when time flies faster than a falcon, all I can do is wish for it to slow down, so that I can savour every moment , enjoy it to the fullest, and reminisce years later and say “seems like yesterday…”

Obsessed

I had a lot of things on my mind.
So much to do, so little time.
Ever since I started thinking about you,
It's all that I can do.
You're an obsession, I know it's true.

Your name brings a smile upon my face.
It makes me blush and my heart race.
I wish I could lose myself in your warm embrace.

I want to be able to weep on your big, strong shoulders.
Will you be my blanket when it gets colder?
I want to hold your too-big hand,

as we leave our footprints on the First Beach sand.

It's such an understatement, 'sort of beautiful'
Deep-set eyes, shaggy black brows, that sarcastic grin.
Muscly, macho and six-feet-somethin'
Long, glossy black or hair cropped short,
I swear my love, you look drop-dead-hot!

The way you walk, the way you talk, the way you hog,
I couldn't care less, what people call you, you're my cute, cuddly dog.
So child-like and carefree, a perpetually happy person.
Spreading joy and warmth, radiating like the Sun.

I can only imagine the pleasant husky voice in which you spoke,
And remember every line, every word and every blonde joke.
Your empty reassurances, and the 'sure sure'
When will I unite with you, my knight in shining armor?

If only I could run my finger along your beautiful, silky, russet-coloured skin.
But you're the werewolf and I'm just the smitten-kitten.
I would break all boundaries and run a thousand miles,
Just to see that happy smile which reaches your deep-set eyes.

Why did I fall in love with someone who doesn't even exist?
Oh, right! Because I'm an idiot!
I can hardly resist the way I feel.
Jacob Black, why aren't you freaking real?

The End Is Near

Knock knock
Who's there?
Worm
Worm who?
Worm in here, isn't it?

When your body temperature is higher than normal, it means that your body is hot and you're not well. Similar is the case with the Earth. When the temperature of the planet increases, it means that our planet is hot and ill! The Earth is suffering from a deadly fever. The Earth, our home, is being haunted by the devil, that is global warming. Who's fault is it? Who can set it right? The answer, undoubtedly is~us! It all lies in our own hands. Global warming is the consequence of our wrong doings and it's our responsibility to give back to our Earth what we have snatched from it in all these years.
To say global warming is a pressing issue, is like saying the Asian tsunami was a big wave. Global warming is happening now, as you read this very post. It is threatening to cause heat waves, food shortages, extinction of polar bears, rise in sea levels, destroy coral reefs, melt icecaps and I could go on and dedicate a whole blog to global warming.
Consisting of some of the lowest islands on earth -- its highest point is only 2.4 meters above the surface of the ocean -- the Maldives are especially vulnerable to rising sea levels caused by global warming, and unless the world community can effectively curtail carbon dioxide emissions, the little island paradise may soon be lost. The pristine blue water that draws people from around the world is now threatening to wash away the entire country. And I thought being in 12th was a nightmare!!

The Maldives cannot battle the sea forever, and the only long-term option will be to abandon the islands altogether.But ultimately, the fate of the islands is in the world's hands. One thoughtful action or a simple change in your habit will go a long way in saving our planet.

7 Simple Rules:
1. You can start with the obvious.

Reduce: Throw less rubbish.
Reuse: Use it in a new way.
Recycle: Make it into something new.
That's the three Rs, for me and you!

2. Instead of traveling by car over short distances, walk or cycle, car pool or use public transport. Use the stairs instead of the elevator you do need to lose some weight, and you know it!

3. Say no to plastic. Carry your own cute-jute bags or paper bags while shopping.

4. Keep an eye on electrical appliances at home. Turn off lights, fans/Ac's while leaving a room. Replace all normal bulbs with C.F.L tubes. And let's face it, with recession at its highest peak, a low electricity bill will do financial wonders.

5. Plant a tree around your house, not only will it help nullify carbon emissions, but will also bring in better chi. I'll bet you don't need a lecture about the uses of trees...you're not in 1st std anymore! In other words, a tree can prove to be man's ummm...4th best friend.

6. Save water. One dripping tap in a house wastes 13 litres of water in a single day. Therefore, the wastage of water in a year would be 4745 litres. You do the math!

7. Turn Veggie. If you avoid eating meat once a week for a year you could save up to 32 kilograms of grain and 151,600 litres of water in a year. *pretends to be ignorant about the level of suckishness of the veggie-burger at McD*

If the Earth were closer to the Sun, all the water would have been vapourised; if farther, it would have frozen to ice. But it seems as if the Earth's own children are doing a very good job at destroying the mother who nurtured them. Ours is the only planet in the solar system that has conditions suitable for life. The Earth, unique as a snowflake, should be preserved and cared for. Or else, in no less than a few more decades, life as we know it, may cease to exist. Be concerned...be very concerned!
Yes...all this coming from the girl who wrote her school song, heal the world, and other shitty answers in her Environmental Science Finals. Spank yourself if you laughed at this!

The world is coming to an end, please log off!

The Week That Wasn't

Day 1:
The day began like any other day. I went to school, bored, disoriented, not keyed up. We had all promised each other not to get excited about this little trip, until we set foot in Hydrabad. Because when you have a horse as the principal of your school, any kind of bad luck is inevitable. It almost seemed as if, preventing us from going on this trip was her ultimate goal. When Princy told us that Lavi and Rahul will not be going for the tournament, as they hadn’t got a parental consent form, we all had our hearts in our hands. We reluctantly went home, but Princy too, reluctantly let Lavi and Rahul go, as well. We had all assembled at the entrance of the railway station by 5:15 pm. From 5:30 to 6 we were all in a muddle, trying to find our seats. We were all placed in 4 different bogies. :O Compromise was the answer. All the eleven of us, somehow fit into one compartment. We all stayed up, played cards, shared dinner, and went to sleep in our respective bogies.

Day 2:
We reached the railway station at Hydrabad at 6 in the morning. A bus from PORPS had arrived to escort us to the school. The school campus was spacious and decent enough. The room was actually a third class, err…third standard class room. The benches and tables were pushed to a side to make room for us. We literally got a red carpet welcome. Well, the carpet laid on the floor meant for us to sleep on, was red, but it still counts! The room reeked so bad, that I couldn’t get a wink of sleep, during the day, and just ended up reading and music-ing. We spent the rest of the day sleeping, hogging, exploring the campus, watching the other teams practice, etc.

Day 3:

We all woke up at 5 am, and were at the court by 5:30. The team from Vidya Mandir was practicing. We were speechless after watching them play. They were all practicing in their jammies(!) and one of them was in salwaar kameez. For future reference let’s call them salwaar kameez (SK) team. In a few minutes we had half the court to ourselves. During practice, the girls from the SK team asked Gita, “Who kepten?” Poor Gita didn’t know what the question was, let alone the answer. Gita just walked off resisting the urge to display the colorfulness of her vocabulary. After practicing, we headed for breakfast. As I was new to the concept of breakfast, it was overwhelming at first to eat at 7 am. The inaugural function was at 10. All the teams were supposed to march, headed by the flag bearer a.k.a. the captain. We all had to say the pledge, and this was followed by the releasing of the pigeons by the chief guest (not metaphorically.) I have nothing but one word to describe the weather at Hydrabad- Dhoooop! After the oh-so-tiring inauguration, we all rested for sometime in our room, until it was time for our match. At the tournament we witnessed few of the most phenomenal as well as moronic matches in the history of Clusters. We watched the SK girls playing and I laughed my lungs out. Sometimes I wonder whether the world is actually filled with weirdos or they follow me around everywhere I go. Some of the teams that came to participate were walking fashion catastrophes. Their uniforms were weirdly designed and ridiculously carried off. One of the girls’ school uniform was salwaar kameez…WITH A BELT! Why wear a belt over salwaar kameez? To hold the dupatta in place, of course. :/ :D
The SK team felt that their shorts were way too short, so they were wearing leggings. Ummm…or they were supposed to look like leggings but they actually were their pyjamas. One girl showed up in Patiala pants, and was trying hard to ignore the guys cat-calling her “Alaudin!” :D
Our match began at 4, we entered the court, as nervous as a goat on Bakrid. The BSRKV team looked damn tough. Most of them were tall, they looked well-experienced, and the look of their jerseys itself was highly intimidating. As the cliché goes, looks can be deceiving. We beat them, 18-9. This came as a shock to all of us. We owe special thanks to the juniors who literally had their fingers crossed throughout the match and keeping a mown wrath especially for the team. That night our “chaperon” took our nazar out. What can I say? Certain experiences in life make you superstitious. As I said before looks can be deceiving. The SK team came up to our room to congratulate us and wish us luck for the next day’s match. They were really warm and sweet. In their defense they explained that they were actually handball players and had no clue about basket ball until the week before the tournament, and that they came only with the spirit of participation. Well, that explains their suckishness.

Day 4:
We had to wake up at 4 in the morning for practice. We just took a few shots, practiced a few strategies and went back to bed. We woke up in time for breakfast, and tried to kill 10 hours of time, because our match was only at 7 pm. We found out that we were playing against team Gitanjali. We followed the same procedure of mown wrath and finger-crossing, in keeping with our latest superstitions. We had watched team Gitanjali play before and concluded that even blind-folded babies could win against them. What more could we expect from a team which has its chest numbers handwritten on a piece of paper and taped to their jerseys! But we were taken by surprise when we found that at the end of the 2nd quarter we were 10-all. But in the next two quarters, we bucked up and beat them 28-12. It was an amazing feeling, playing in the floodlights during sunset. We were into the semi-finals, but unfortunately most of our team members were injured, exhausted and the like.

Day 5:
We did make many new friends, supporting and cheering each other during matches. The Navy Children’s School girls were very friendly and we got along really well. Little did we think that sooner or later, we might have to compete with them. In this case, it was sooner than we thought. We were up against NCS in the semi-finals. We put up a good fight against our friends, in spite of the unnecessarily harsh fouls, and made them earn all their baskets. The competition was neck-to-neck. But in the end we emerged victorious. The score was 13-12 and we had made it to the finals of CBSE Cluster vii Basketball Tournament. We were all a nervous wreck, before the final match, though we had loads of support from SKs(Gita’s fans wouldn’t want to disappoint her by not doing so!) and NCS(we were up against Chirec, NCS’s rivals since they got beaten by Chirec at the finals the previous year.) Lavi’s ankle was sprained, Priyanka had an injured arm, Richa was feverish, and Mandy and Gita had many butterflies to deal with. Though each and every one of us knew what the outcome of the match would be, we kept trying, we kept fighting, and we kept cheering. Perseverance, thy name is NHVPS GIRLS’ BASKET BALL TEAM.

Clusters vii was one of the best experiences of my life. I got to know my teammates better, we all made new friends, we made it to the nationals, I personally learnt a valuable lesson about the evilness of pockets, and it brought about the much needed increase in my appetite. In a nutshell, I had the time of my life.

God's Weirdest Creations

Man is said to be the most intelligent of all the animals, and without a doubt the weirdest too.Yes, even weirder than dogs, which smell each others you know what! Weirdness can either be innate or acquired. Some lucky people are born insane, and the others acquire it, since insanity very much like laughter is contagious. Observing human behavior is my favourite hobby/obsession/interest, so this post is dedicated to God's Weirdest Creation-Man. (but for all you atheists out there, let's just call them freaks of nature.)

Teenagers: They get into trouble, fall prey to peer pressure, easily mistake infatuation for love, get pimples and freak out for the littlest of things. There isn't really a better way to describe teenagers. Here's a glimpse of the teenagers today:

Smoka and I, while texting each other;
Smoka: OMG! Guess which song I was just humming?
Me: Hannah Montana?
Smoka: Worse! Taylor Swift-Love Story! I bet I have a twin sister and she was humming that song! That's the only logical explanation...
Me: Lol. Your twin sister IS Taylor Swift! Have you seen her hair?!
Smoka: *gasps for air* I have to go listen to Iron Maiden right now! This can't be happening to me! *switches on the comp' listens to Iron Maiden, heaves a sigh of relief* I almost died!
Me: *looks at the ridiculous message* : |*doesn't know how to react to her cousin's frivolous over-reaction*

You would know that a guy is gay when he asks for lotion and then complains that he can't find the lip balm. But some guys are bipolar to such an extent that they have the audacity to ask for a lap dance, even after the whole lip balm incident. And a few other guys needn't be talked about, their coconut hair and their stoic nature does the talking for them.

There are a few others who are hilariously weird without making an effort. For example:
Smoka: What's the formula for compound interest?
Das: Dude, I don't know chemistry that well!

Weird People with even weirder lingos: Lingo's are just a weird way of expressing individuality. Lingos are unique to one's existence. Some people are unaware about the existence of punctuation marks, some are expressionless,i.e, don't know how to use smileys, and others are just plain funky! Different people have different ways of saying 'What's up?'; Wassup? Waddup? So sup? Wat u doin? Mel yen idhe? And the funkiest I've seen so far is "Wassa?"

Parents: Sometimes overprotective, sometimes supportive, sometimes ridiculously 'encouraging' us towards Independence, sometimes abnormally generous. Have you ever seen anyone as fickle minded and yet so firm in their decisions, as parents?

Drunkards: This category was created especially for Ram Kumar, whom I recently saw for the very first time. He was talking to a tree...'nough said.

Soap-stars: Or you can call them, wanna-be-film-stars, so desperate for publicity and popularity that they are willing to make-out or break-up with their partners only in the presence of a camera. Of course, the maker of the soap operas is the mother of all weirdos-Ekta Kapoor! Rakhi Sawant, who was dieing for a husband with such desperation that she held her own Swayamwar, is not far behind. Wasn't anyone normal willing to marry her that she was ready to marry any Tom, Dick or Harry, who was willing to. Don't you pity the fool who married her?

Geeks and Geniuses: Quote Sheldon: I wouldn't love my son the same if he didn't know whether to differentiate or integrate to find the area under a curve!
I had this geeky intelligent classmate, who fell on his head while trying to catch the ball while playing cricket. After sometime, a kid came up to him and asked him who the second president of India was. He couldn't quite place a finger on the answer, so he freaked out so much and starting weeping claiming that the fall had made him lose his intelligence, and started to blame his poor fielding techniques. Only when none of us could answer the little kid's question, was he convinced that he was in fact normal before and after the "accident". Intelligent huh?

People 'round the world are weird in their own, unique way, that's what makes psychiatry so fascinating. And coming from me, insanity is not a insult but a compliment.

The Ostrich Moment

Have you ever said or done something, or been at the wrong place at the wrong time that you regret it for the rest of your life...Been mortified to such an extent that you wish you could bury your head in the ground to save yourself from the embarrassment?Well, who hasn't? And it's painfully humiliating when your friends or relatives keep reminding of the same and point and laugh at you until you wish you could die out of embarrassment. Such moments are hell funny when you're on the other side of the finger, otherwise, it just makes you want to give them the finger.Here's a list of of the most embarrassing moments a.k.a ostrich moments, which I've experienced or been told about(you may choose to empathise or just point and lol)

• Smoka, during her freshman year at college, in a desperate attempt to make new friends; when asked about her day and her classmates, she says to her bus-mate, "My class is full of nerds. Everyone, below 100 rank in CET. I mean who gets that?!" When the girl gets off the bus, Smoka's classmate says to her, "What did you just say to her? Do you know what her rank is?160!"
• Vin, sitting in a noisy class, earphones on, singing to himself; all of a sudden, everyone falls silent just when he's hitting a high note and his voice sounds squeakier than a mouse. If it was someone else in Vin's place they would never again sing another song in public.
• At a gift shop, buying a birthday gift, being a good friend; I find a Mungaru Male VCD. on the rack and my thoughtfulness resurfaces and I say to Smoka, "I know you want this. Let me buy it for you." Smoka just rolls her eyes and walks away without even considering it. The sound of my heart breaking was camouflaged by a tap-tap-tapaar noise of the CDs, as they fell one after the other onto the floor in a cascade fashion, when all I could do was stand there and give an OMG-WTF-have-I-done-expression. Trust me when I say, "The tap-tap-tapaar noises continue to haunt me in my nightmares."
• SN at a mall with her parents(as if that isn't embarrassing enough! But, wait! There's more!), her parents ask her to get a shopping basket and when she does she realises that there are a million pairs of eyes staring at her, giving her a what-are-you-upto-look. She is almost paralysed out of embarrassment when she realises that she had in fact picked up the basket meant for wine shopping.
• At Sanc's place, trying to study for a Physics test, when my phone rings; It's an unknown number, I just say "hello. who's this?" And the guy on the other side says "Hi! This is Rajesh." Realising that it must be a jobless loafer making prank calls to random numbers, I just say "OK" and cut the call. Till date, Sanc gets keyed up, upon hearing the name 'Rajesh' and doesn't stop laughing until either one of us chokes.
• NM in an airport at Bahrain, is taken to the business class lounge by her "caretaker", and she is loving it as it has a mini-arcade and a browsing center and she has it all to herself. She gets a call from her parents on her cell phone, she exclaims to them, "The business class is awesome! It has this amazing arcade and everything! I love it!" When she comes out, she finds that people are smirking at her. NM dear, the business class may be amazingly awesome but it is slightly flawed. The arcade isn't sound proof.
  

Life and Other Disasters

There is a phase in every person's life when they can't help but wonder, "What have I done in all these years that has made a contribution to this world? Aren't we all just a tiny little speck of dust as compared to the universe which spreads infinitely? What am I doing with my life? Why am I here? And where did I come from?"
Yes, I took the quiz on FB and it turns out I'm from Neptune :|

It is in these few moments of introspection that we start to question most of the things around us and within us. These thoughts keep coming back to us during a boring Bio lecture, a never-ending Chem class, and most often while sitting blankly in front of an open book(a book so bulky that you break sweat just upon turning the pages)

When you're down in the dumps, when rock bottom seems so high up, when you're torn between trying to enjoy life and doing something worthwhile, when laughing at the littlest and the silliest things is as good as life can get, when you want to fly but are tied down to your responsibilities, when you literally keep begging for change, when you want to write happy blog post but are condemned to crib about life, when 'content' seems like a word used only in fairy tales, when you're born to party but forced to study, when death doesn't seem to be that bad of an idea, just say to yourself "It's just a phase, it will pass."

You know you're a 12th grader when...

You know you're a 12th grader when:

• your boards are less than a year away(which can go by in a blink of an eye) and the highest of your concerns is the pimple on your forehead
• 24x7x29 seems infinitesimally small
• your day's productiveness is measured by the number of hours you spent studying
• you miss watching cartoons like 'The Flintstones' & 'The Adam's family' and start tagging the 2nd std kids at your school as lucky
• you consider the feeling you get when you are given 4 days off from school as "Euphoria"
• the only thought on your mind, most of the time is "Why O' why didn't I get swine flu?!"
• your friends force you into entertainment and punish you for not having heard the latest hit song no MTV
• you start planning for college, what to do and what not to do at college and make a shopping list for the same
• you consider the song 'The Climb' by Miley Cyrus to be very inspirational. And shamelessly admit it too
• your facebook status reads "..." and has been that way for the past 3 months
• watching a movie like 'Fashion' on a Saturday evening is the highlight of your week
• completing the last mission of GTA SA seems more important to you, than getting yourself to study bio molecules
  
• you call up your friends at 5 in the morning and expect them to explain "Molecular Basis Of Inheritance" to you
• you're so desperate for a break that you sign up for an essay-writing competition, even though you are well aware that the topic is 'horticulture'
• you start making a list of all the things to do after boards
• you claim that you're sleep deprived even after sleeping through an entire math class.
• you're speechless when asked if you did anything yesterday that was worth mentioning
• you're constantly thinking about time travel
• you 're caught saying things like "I've been studying so much that I'm putting on weight"
• you're planning to write a book on "How To Send Your Parents/Teachers To Pluto"
• your blog posts have a typical biology answer touch to it( with big words, written point-wise, and make absolutely no sense but you hope beyond hope that it is well received)
• there isn't enough time for all the nothing you want to do!

8 Hours Of God-Knows-What!

The most awaited movie of the year-Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince-(according to me at least) had finally released. Smoka and I had decided to watch the movie at The Forum Mall, over the weekend, though Smoka was being a reluctant jackass about it! Our initial plan was that we would go to the mall at around 11 in the morning and buy tickets for the afternoon show around 3. There were a lot of things that were contributing towards foiling our little plan.
Firstly, Smoka got in touch with her feminine side that morning and took what seemed like a million years to get ready! We ended up reaching the mall at 1 o' clock.
Secondly, Smoka had some important business plans with her friend.
Thirdly, every damn show was sold out! I had checked the newspaper that morning and there was a show almost at every hour. The only available show was the 6:30 show, which was close to impossible since my parents wanted their darling daughter to be home before nightfall! Whatever! Only after a lot of convincing(done by Smoka, of course) and a little bit of lying, did my parents agree to come and pick us up by 8. Here's where the lie comes in, we told my parents that the movie would begin at 5 and end by 8. If they had the slightest clue that the movie was 2 and a half hours long and would start only by 6:30, then we would have been heading back home, then and there!
Fourthly, our seats were separate. We were placed in the last row and were separated by 26 seats. Do you know how many seats there are in the last row? 28! Smoka had half a mind of walking out of the movie theatre if she was made to watch the movie without me!
And lastly, WE LOST THE TICKETS! Or at least, thought we did! I clearly remember collecting the tickets from the counter and looking at the seat numbers and stuff, and then I handed them to Smoka! The irresponsible girl that she is, blindly dumped it into her bag! A few hours later she couldn't remember where-the-hell she had put them! After about fifteen minutes into the panic attack and complete scrutinising of the bag, we found the tickets neatly sitting in the folder! After a huge sigh of relief we continued on our journey of doing nothing at the mall!

If you had 5 whole hours and only 400Rs.(which came down from 3800Rs.) to spend at a mall what would you have done? Smoka suggested we could go watch Transformers 2...But there was no way in hell I would spend my money to watch a noisy, sci-fi movie! If it was my parents' money, well, that's a different issue! There isn't a thing in Forum which a normal person can afford. So we went to a place opposite to JNC. Everything there was so cute, but nothing was either wearable or my type. I ended up buying my first pair of funky chappals there. They looked fabulous but little did I know that things which were so cute would be nibbling at my poor toes! So we just roamed and roamed and roamed some more till our legs fell off! We then went to have lunch at McDonalds. Chairs never felt so great! BTW, the people at McDonalds have no respect for vegetarians. The last thing I would do is recommend a Veggie burger if your going to McDonalds.

Oh! I mustn't forget to mention that The Forum Mall is filled with all kinds of specimen. Each one different from the other, yet equally weird. Here's a little list:
1. The guy who stood in front of us, while buying the ticket. He had on a Iron Maiden t-shirt and was Smoka's hair-sake! When the counter guy told him that his seats would be separate he smirked and said "It's okay, we're not girls!" He paid for the tickets and walked off...Without collecting them! He was probably full of himself, coming up with wise guy cracks.
2. The cleaning lady at the toilet who was giving a lesson to a girl about the etiquette's, of using a public toilet!
3. The girl who wore low-waist jeans and had zero knowledge about how to carry them off. Quote Smoka: "We saw her butt cleavage!"
4.The guy on the escalator who was trying to dance to Rihanna's Umbrella.

Though there were a lot of weird people out there, there are other nice people too, who give in to the simple requests of sweet innocent girls. Thank you, chubby lonely uncle for switching seats with Smoka.

When 6:30 finally arrived, I was so grateful to the God of Time, since Smoka had been bugging me wth the same line from 1:30: Is it six-thirty yet? Is it six-thirty yet? Is it six-thirty yet?
I know Smoka wont agree with me on this (Hell-With-Her!) but when the movie finally ended at 9:15, it was totally worth the wait.

Time Sure Flies

Time sure flies when you don't know what you're doing!
Here's a tribute to one of the best years of my life at XYZPS. The academic year 2008-2009 was one hell-of-a-roller-coaster-ride! The year started off at a very dull note. The teachers that we had were just as clueless about their subjects as we were (except for T Sir and S Ma'am of course.)

Our class teacher turned out to be Ms.P G. She "seemed" very nice...but soon we grew sick of her fake accent, her mispronunciations, and well...Her flab! Until the end of the year, Pam taught us one, and just one lesson. The rest were supposed to be self-studied!At first I had no idea what was going on in any of the science classes. In Physics we were doing differentiation and integration. And for a few days I completely didn't get why dy/dx was not equal to y/x! Initially we had B Ma'am a.k.a Lab Aunty, as our chem teacher. And continuously for 3 straight weeks the only topic that she "taught" was IUPAC nomenclature of organic compounds. Luckily I was placed next to K.G.M who really helped me in studies, but he,G,and V gave me major inferiority complexes. Bio classes were hell boring. S.L used to release fumes of sleeping gas into the class. We used to fall asleep the minute we entered bio-class. Back then when S.K. used to say "Shet up!". We all actually used to abide by it! Math classes used to be amazing! S Ma'am really used to bring the class to life...Her usual dialogues such as "Hall with you! Faady percent! Nou Nou Nou! I couldn't care less! Ayeeennnn!" still continue to crack me up. Man...I miss her : (

Though this was not what we expected, later on things turned out the way we wanted them to! S.K became more friendly...We got a new Chem teacher Rudrappa...T Sir started off with his PJs...We got used to Pam's flab...And we found our own way of staying awake in bio-class...Hangman!
I'm sure that if the "man" ever saw us playing the game then he needn't be hung, he'd hang himself and commit suicide. It was around this time that I finally crossed the line between the good and the bad. Together N, SN, RJ and I began to drive each and every teacher crazy. Rudrappa used to give us a 'last warning' almost everyday. Quote Rudrappa: "I yam geeving you lost waarning maa. Don't make sound in claass."
Pam always pestered us to submit our literature notes on time but N and I never got beyond four lessons even by the end of the year. And how would we? We spent most our time during English classes, coming up with crazy poems. SN was our Guinea pig for every single prank. One thing that made me feel guilty about doing so, was that she was such a good sport about it. Be it tail made of connecting wires or an early morning insult! And of course, RJ still continues to bug all three of us!

The special school functions which we unwillingly attended, somtimes turned out to be a disaster but sometimes they were a lot of fun. Independence Day, Inter school Teachers Qwiz, KaalavaraHalli trek, the BB tournaments, Puraskruthi and Aashirvachan. Aashirvachan being the best of the lot! I so enjoyed The Wave (miserably failed attempt at it), the Suspense filled environment(as to who was going to be the next school captain), and *ahem* The Lamp! :D

Moving on from the most casual year to a very crucial year of our lives has indeed proved to be a difficult task. It sure is a shame that we won't be known as 11thers anymore...

Vijay Mallya?

Aah..Vijay Mallya! The man who lives life king size.The big shot whose life is filled with cash,babes,cars,booze, and what not! The very 1st Indian to own a F1 team. The proud owner of Kingfisher airlines, IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Indian Empress.
If you're thinking that this post is a 'tribute ' to him, or RCB, then you're sadly mistaken.
This post is a retort to a certain post which supposedly proves my (non-existent) stupidity.You might have read the above mentioned post here.

Here's my version a.k.a the true version of the incident:
Smoka was over at my place. I was going through the contacts on her phone and came across the name: Vijay- wait for it-MALLYA! The convo goes something like this...
Me: OMG! Vijay Mallya? *giving her a you-better-have-a-good-explanation-for-this-look*
Smoka: Yea man. This P is there no,she's friends with Vijay mallya's son. I got it from her...It's one of his numbers.
(She was supposedly smirking at that time but I couldn't quite see it, cause we were sitting in the dark, as the damn power was out. Otherwise I would have totally seen through her evilness!)

After like a million are-you-sures and really?s, I believed her.
Please note that:
1.We were rained out.
2.There was a power cut.
3.I just needed a way to pass time.
before you begin to judge me based on my following actions.

I picked up my cell phone and dialled Vijay Mallya's number and waited for it to ring. After about three rings, a male voice answers. I immediately cut the call. Smoka and I burst out with fits of laughter. Little did I know that this scheming little rat was 'muahahaha'ing instead of 'haha'ing.
After the laughter subsided, just to spice things up a little more, I messaged that very number saying "Vijay Mallya?" That person called back on my phone, we picked up but neither of us answered. He mumbled something to himself (they sounded a lot like Kannada swear words, though)and cut the call.
We never bothered to bother Mr.Mallya from then on.

Later while we were having dinner, Smoka said to me "It wasn't actually Vijay Mallya man. I was just pulling your leg." If only we weren't surrounded by so many witnesses at the dinner table, I would have spanked her like there was no tomorrow.

In my defence: I was bored and just needed something interesting in order to pass time. Moreover, the P. being friends with Vijay Mallya's son part was 100% believable, cause it was absolutely true. And most importantly I got to know that the person who took the call was not anyone remotely related to Mr. Mallya, the second he said "Halla"

Here's to Alcohol

The cause of...and solution to all of life's problems.

One would know a typical alcoholic as someone who aimlessly roams the streets after a night out at the bar. Ever heard of a drunkard who gives away free advice, gets philosophical whenever possible and can speaks the Kannada language fluently even after gulping down about 10 quarters.

One such drunkard is the one who roams the streets of RR.Nagar every night. He's basically a drunkard cum beggar. He has this unique style of begging. He doesn't say the usual "Amma-thayi" slogan. He only asks for food from a typical kannadigan family. But there's nothing typical about this drunkard. Unlike others, he doesn't talk non-sense, he doesn't wobble when he walks and he is unfaithful to his wife. He speaks passionately about the Kannada language and the importance of speaking in our mother tongue.The things he says will make you want to ponder upon them. Personally, it gives me a feeling of satisfaction that there's someone out there who is a lot crazier than I am and is doing a lot worse in life than me. He's an amazing orator. He makes it a point to pick a new topic to speak on everyday. Every night he walks by street, I drop whatever it is that I am doing and keenly listen to him.

The very first time that I heard him, I thought he talking over the phone. When I peeked through my window (after a lot of apprehension)to my surprise I found that he was in fact talking to himself. He was all alone. Then he starting calling out to all the Kannadigas in the neighbourhood and requested them to quench the thirst of a fellow Kannadiga. That's when Bruno started barking uncontrollably. The drunkard had no other choice but to leave.

Once, he had even brought his drunk friend along with him from the bar. He was explaining to him about the importance of family. He said that, no matter how much you drink, you should never cheat on your wife, you shall never be harsh on your children. This man must be one of those art of living Swamijis who just got bored of it so he just decided to get high.

Recently he spoke about Dr. Raj Kumar. And how he left his family all alone and went holidaying to Heaven. Lol. He was saying that he's a lot better as the son of the of Karnataka than Raj Kumar ever was. And that he would never let death keep him from loving and respecting his motherland, and supporting his family. For the very first time he said his name out loud. His exact words words were "You have Ram.Kumar's word that I shall always remain this land's son."

Now as these streets have become familiar to Ram.Kumar, and Ram.Kumar has become familiar to Bruno.
This would have to one of the most unusual things that I have witnessed and as a to-be-psychiatrist I am much interested to know what compelled Ram.Kumar to become a drunkard, what kind of psychological disorder does he have and how the hell does he talk so fluently in Kannada!

Revertigo

It often happens that in the hurry the to grow up, we fail to cherish to cherish the childhood memories, not caring to look back into the past and ponder over your used-to-be innocent, care-free self.

I recently visited my old school Cluny Convent High School. It had been exactly 10 years since I had gone there. I was at Smoka's place and she had to go there to get her study certificate. The moment we entered the gate, those old feelings came back to me. When we were walking past the slide, I felt this urge to just go for it, then and there. And that's exactly what I did. It was an amazing feeling. I felt like I was actually back at this school, having fun, not having to care about the pressure of studies, board exams, career decisions.Nothing! I felt like a kid again. I could have fun again.

I wanted to check out the whole place and find out how much the it had been changed since I had been gone. Smoka was at the office, realising that I would probably get bored at the office I decided to go explore the place. I wandered off to the 2nd floor, looking into the classrooms and clicking random pictures on my cell. Just then Smoka called me and asked "!@#$%^ where are you? We're leaving now! Come down!". WTF? It had barely been 10 minutes since we went there and we were leaving already? Smoka's parents had some work , so we had to leave. After what seemed like an eternity of begging they finally let us stay back in school and they said that they would come to pick us up later. That made us jump with joy.

That day, Smoka and I, explored every nook and corner of our former school. For her it had been the only school she had studied in. She had studied in CCHS for 12 whole years. There has got to be some kind of award for that!
We started with the school auditorium. While I was walking past the corridors, I remembered the time when I had got punished by the Head Girl for running around in that same corridor. From there I went up on stage. Looking at the empty auditorium, the memories of the Fancy Dress Competition came back to me. I had forgotten my lines due to stage fright and stood on stage blankly for like an hour. The auditorium now looked a lot smaller than I remembered. Was it because it was empty or because I had grown?

Next we went exploring about the classrooms. I found my 1st class room, which now had been converted into a store room! And I also found out that the green gate wasn't green any more. It had been painted white and blue, cause apparently those were the school colours. And the little 'chapel' that used to be there had become some kind of office. I so badly wanted to go to the Jubilee Hall but the doors were all locked. So, we just spent some time under the always-talked-about blue shade.

After clicking about a hundred pics of every corner of the school (including the 2nd floor loo, which BTW is filled with pigeon poo) we decided to leave but before that we left a nasty little, sarcastic message on the notice board.

Even though I had spent only 4 years of my life in CCHS, and I hadn't looked back at it that many times, I experienced my revertigo when I went there. My innocence, clarity of my thoughts and my care-free attitude was worth cherishing.

In the mind of a 12th grader