Of lot of Diwali, Alpana, fried food and prayers!

Of lot of Diwali, Alpana, fried food and prayers!
Today was great fun really! The morning was lazy, despite Diwali, which makes for a festival pregnant with work, but also lots of fun.
In the morning we were hearing about Rahul Raj, the youth who was shot in encounter by the police, who wanted to kill Raj Thackeray and who promised not to harm anyone else. But he was still shot in encounter. That sort of took my goatee, in fact it took everyone else’s goatee too, including the different, opposing parties in Bihar. Funnily Lalu Yadav, Paswan and Nitish Kumar came together to voice their concern against the mishap. These kind of acts really beat me. We were all very distressed at how things had come to such a head in all these really important and cosmopolitan places of the country such as Delhi and Mumbai, how we feel so snug here, in a smaller but much much more livable and gayer city. Anyhow, localism is starting to nibble away slowly at the peace of these cities because of sectional politics. Ofcourse there are youths like us, whose love for their places is completely thwarted because of the likes of ‘he-who-must-not-be-named’ and who become insanely indignant and take some extreme, indiscriminate measures. Sometimes I feel that someone wishing to commit suicide very urgently should make sure the scum cleared. (ridiculous thought not to be taken very seriously).
Anyhow, on a much happier note, today was the first day of Diwali and it was great fun at home. I was chilling, experimenting with the new camera, the results a testimony to its brilliant powers. :D. It’s usable and one can tell very soon, how to set the clock so that one can take pictures of himself from a distance.
Then Zoo and I made the red and white alpana, which made this Diwali a particularly special one. Never before, had we ventured into this kind of artistry. My mum probably also complained a lot because like other more responsible girls, we would take little interest in sprucing our house up. But this time we did. We tried to make a design outside our house with the red and white paint. It was an original by Zoo and Me, more Zoo and less Me. She made the skeleton, and then both of us sort of went crazy with it, doing what we thought would look pretty, putting colours in shapes, red and white in triangles, squares and diamonds. Now I don’t reckon that it was the most amazing piece of art I think it was amazing fun to fill the red triangles with white and white with red. The feel of the wet paint, turning a consistent opaque in some time is very gratifying. So we had a nice time alternating brushes with each other and filling shapes up. There were some imported patterns but we are old and we are trained and we are affected and however hard we try, we can’t remove those pretty images of mehendi on hands and rangolis at homes from our recollections. There are pictures to support this feeling. Like I said, looking at it is not as much fun as making it is. But when I asked Zoo if I had the trappings of a painter, she answered of course I could be a ‘gairu’ (the red colour you make floor paintings with and colour flower pots with) painter and a modern artist and I will remember it this year, when I will probably not be placed and I can earn a living out of my talent. J

Well, time in Indore is closing in on me. And it’s this phenomenon, where on any day, particular phases rush past me while others will be really slow. So mornings are usually very fast, afternoons are lazy, evenings are fast, nights are very very fast. So by the time I decide to work on my dissertation, I find the clock ticking 2 AM already.
Anyhow, it was Roop Chaudas today and we were supposed to have been looking very good and pretty but I think barring that, we did everything we were supposed to this evening including making a whole lot of goodies to eat.
I love Diwali. I really do. I wish my family, friends and loved ones in and around our political frontiers, lots of celebration, fun, wealth, health, colours and light.
Later

living different realities!

i'm finally home. and this time for a fairly longish break. It's exciting in a way, because somehow doing nothing at home is also very very solacing. One can laze around lazily in the room, or chat with mom and dad, watch my mum work and crib and work and crib so much that now they don't seem that they're being alternated, but rather 2 actions that can never part with each other, watch my dad be on the defensive sometimes, watch mummy get up with a start every now and then with the upping and downing of the market, watch the whole house speed around the house to pack my brother off to the college and get-up to power-packed tea discussions with mom and dad and having late-night chats with Debo, or walking those walks on the terrace, wherefrom I could see a really-far off development also, wherefrom I can see only much closer buildings and wherefrom, all those little twinkling lights in the distance, in the twilight are now obliterated by very opaque structures. It's a killer to listen to your favourite music and walk in that haven of mine. Earlier my parents used to freak out, because it's a sort-of ramshackle of a place with lots of junk kept from earlier times, but now I think they've given up.

It just doesnt seem like 3 days have already dragged rush past me and I havn't done anything extraordinary. My train journey was rushed, extremely rushed. I almost ran in the auto also, in order to reach on time. I ran across 1 no. platform to reach 6 no. platform, dragging my suitcase and a sack thinking what might happen if I missed the train. Thankfully, I reached 5 minutes too before the train was about to leave and the train left 5 minutes too after it was scheduled for departure. As far as I can remember, when we all used to travel together, dad used to carry an air-pillow and we all used to carry beddings and extra sheets, which my dad put for everyone very meticulously. I also remember there being a pantry in the train and vendors shunting in the train. I remember longer journeys and people talking to each other all the time.

Anyhow, I watched Motorcycle Diaries again, this time paying attention on the details and faces. It was a fairly dark film, or maybe it was the resolution but either way, I couldn't tell much, only being able to figure out some contours. The films looked exactly what it was depicting perhaps. It looked like a journey, a rather happening one, across South America. Ofcourse, not to mention that Ernesto was a beautiful man and a beautiful man. I also want to travel the same way he did. But i doubt if I am that dauntless.

The dissertation on climate change is rearing it's ugly head yet again. Its amazing how it's still occupying me with occupying me much really. I mean, its not that I'm doing much about it, but it's also not that my mind is without fear and care. But I will definitely start doing something, something chunky and tangible.

Why I say, i'm living in different realities because home's a different world altogether. The paces change drastically. From a really fast and packed one to a really slow and crawling one, where you have just enough time to chill. Norms and reasons change. Zoo becomes suddenly too old for marriage at home and too young for it otherwise. Ideas of entertainment also change. Ideas of a good holiday changes. Ideas of the right time to wake up, eat, play, work and sleep change. What becomes important is to then reduce the distress caused by this immense sea of difference. That's the only how one can celebrate it.

Later

ecotrics and tennis!

The last few days, I've spent trying to understand a little bit of econometrics, heteroskedacity, t values, significance, multi-collinearity in regression equations etc. I can't say, I don't understand them, but the understanding to too temporary. Now that my classes have gotten over atleast for a while, i doubt if I will be able to remember everything that's been taught to me. That's the thing, with these subjects making so much demand on you, very intensive but then if you don't use it soon enough and thereafter keep using it, you disremember it also pretty soon.

Besides, it's just too much statistics I feel. I hope someone teaches that in one day, before I can do a leap-frog with the extremely complex things that are being taught.

But there is big problem in how they have structured our classes this year. All of us practically work in peaks and troughs. So it doesn't lead to the best productivity. So for the last few days, we've had some very serious blocks of lectures in the same subject, which I feel is very unhealthy because by the time the next block happens about 15 days from now, we'll have forgotten a lot. So we're playing hide-n-seek only.

Besides, a lot of different visiting faculty come and teach us the same subject, so the next teacher would have no idea what was taught in the last class, knowing not where to pick the thread from. So either it'll lead to repetition (it's not funny the number of times we've done TRP's and SEC's and psychographic and demographic segmentations, etc.), or a total disconnectedness from the previous lecture, which to my mind is very ineffective. Also if on a given day, you have 4 or 5 lectures on the same day, it leads to lethargy very soon.

Anyway, a little about the game of tennis. It doesn't need my pronouncing it a beautiful game ofcourse but lately it's caught my fancy quite considerably. Anyhow, I'll tell what happens when you're learning the game. First you hold the racquet, begin by bouncing the ball on the court, and hit with a skewed hand. Then it starts to dawn on you, that if you hand is skewed the the ball flies in all directions. Then you lob a lot, just a lot, sending balls left, right and centre, into the thickets and hedges, where reside a lot of snakes and frogs and ants, waiting to take revenge. But I just run, so I don't think they will ever be able to recognize me.

Ya so after you lob the ball a lot, all the while running around a lot, picking balls up, you realize that maybe it'll be a better idea for the shot to be more level. So you end up netting a lot of your balls. And the net is merciless. It attracts the balls. I don't think it knows what benefit of doubt is, so a shot, which you think is certainly going to reach the other half, will suddenly stop in mid-air to drop pat perpendicular on the net. Ya then, somehow, your balls don't lob so much and they don't land on the net so much, but the act still remains a lot, just a lot to be desired. Then you work on your swing, on the finish of the shot. The racquet comes from behind, and goes all the way up. That's the way, you channelize the power well. Anyhow, it's like an expert talking right? Hardly. But I might be an expert beginner you see, because I've played for 4 days, and i'm very excited, so is PK, my tennis-partner. By the way, for those who want to start, there is a fairly long teething time in tennis, so it's going to seem very silly playing for some time before the game starts to look like tennis.

Ya, so that was about ecotrics and tennis. I wanted to read also a little bit today, but the stupid vendor's not dropping papers only. I think he thinks, that my door's always locked, what's the point of putting papers. But that's the thing with newspaper vendors. They are completely faceless. It feels like magic sometimes, how as a child we got papers on time, everyday without fail. Come sunshine, rain or hail. (A poem :)) But as a child, in RK Puram, I also came to know about autumn because the huge tree in front of our house, always shed red-brown leaves and the tree would go naked for sometime, before fresh and small, glossy and thick green leaves started to make appearance again.

I'm going home tomorrow (listening and humming 'homeward bound'), and giving Micanvas a miss this time. I attended it last year, so this time I'll see how it feels to give it a miss :) Have a cornucopia of chores to perform tomorrow before I vacate my room to let some other people stay for Micanvas. My room's a sty, things strewn everywhere. I do have a to-do list, but it's me remember. That doesn't seem enough.

Later

what a joy!!

So, 20 blogs back I'd written how if i'm able to write this one, it's for keeps, it's for good. And so here I am writing my 21st. It's not just about 21 sounding like a good number. 21 is the number that ensues habit. Now i'm not sure if this has turned into a habit already, but I'm still quite proud of being able to do this.

Anyhow, I think enough has happened today to celebrate this. It's amazing how these days, I have no idea about what happens in the next one. How each day is a good degree different from the previous one. There is little I know about tomorrow except I have classes in Econometrics. Not that I know much about statistics, mathematics or even economic theory but Economics has interested me a great deal. Even though I have read no literature or seen no films for that interest. But I can say with confidence that when I read about it, I read it with rapt attention. But going from today's classes, my professor does keep everyone with him. So there's no apprehension about the subject.

I started to play tennis today. Because, our overused badminton court cannot multiply at the behest of the arrogant children, I have decided to divert attention to tennis in the peak hours. It's a beautiful game to watch, and online tennis or tennis over the phone is beautiful too, and less tiring. But since me and PK, began playing today, we would just pick balls and pick balls. However it really excited us if we were able to return balls once or twice. But more often than not, we would just lob and lob and send balls flying in all directions. But it was great fun to keep running around like a ball boy and playing tennis. Later in the night I also played Badminton with Tan. She's this amazing baddy player and plays some very strategically mind-blowing shots. But I beat her. Yes, I beat her. Which is quite incredible actually because I hadn't thought this coming. But there are some things that I came to realize about these sports.

a> No amount of running around the court can make up for a smart game. I mean, it's absolutely imperative to be all around the court and manage your opponent really smartly. so if you do run all the way up to hit your shot, it's quite a waste anyway because a smart opponent would then hit it at the back. It's not as crass as I just put it, but if one could refine it a little bit, it's true.

b> If you really want to get competitive and win a game, it's important to get a little tired. So I got absolutely bushed towards the game with Tan in badminton but I still loved to return the shuttle. It was one of the most fulfilling game I've played in a long time. Therefore also, like a SCAM says, singles really improve your game, which is so true, because I have totally paraded in and out of a court, at my own wish while playing with Mudili, because he was always there to back me up.

Anyhow, I had the Sankalp (theater) auditions also today. Not that they were a very important thing because it was horribly brief. I just had to say a few lines in Hindi. Nevertheless after a lot of weighing and thought did I even attempt it. Not that it means a lot because I'm a minnow in front of many brilliant thespian stalwarts in my college. Making it or not making is not even the question but just sitting on a chair on the stage in front of the directors and reading out the script was something I wouldn't not want to do. So when they asked me if I'd acted ever before, I said no-no never before.

Then, I read quite a bit. I read the paper for a bit and the Namesake for another bit. It was important because it's another of those things that I want to make a habit. Anyhow, I don't know how far I'll be able to continue because very soon, I'll be packed to home, packed to Indore. I have an option of staying back for Micanvas, MICA fest, which wasn't much to write home about, not for me atleast because I didn't participate much, looking at some new faces, experiencing some recitals and concerts and marvelling at the amount of action around you. The campus is abuzz with activity during the fest.

And I also have the option of taking off earlier and spare myself any work that all of us might be allotted for the fest. But chuck it. I think I'll just go home, spend time at home, fight with mom and dad a little bit, be bullied at the hands of Debo and meet some old friends. I'm past the age when students think that every piece of work that they do in a management fest, teaches them something for life and for professional life. I think where I'll finally end up learning is not here, but work itself, or maybe home a little bit, things which are more permanent and more real. In any case, I'm not a great believer in simulations, except when one is put through some really deep trauma or shake-up. :d i may have sounded extremely self-importantist actually. But it's not that bad.

And, a friend finally got drunk today. Ya ya it's news because he happens to be able to hold his drink. But ya, he slurred a little bit. I think, he must be fast asleep now. Ya, he must be. So i'll talk when he's up from the sound slumber.

Later

what a chilled day it was!

so I had a fairly lazy day today. I have lots of such days this year in college. Also because we have a bouquet of subjects to choose from in the second year, so when we don't have electives, and when we don't have that stupid albatross in the form of some dissertation deadline, the research proposal or defense or something, then we're usually chilling only.

I wrote a couple of important emails to some important people who could help me with stuff with my dissertation. They are people concerned with 'climate change in India'. I don't know how far they can help me, but I've still tried my bit. I do know though that they're very very passionate about climate agendas. I also am, but I like to rest and chill more I think.

So ya, according to my resolution of reading more, I tried to read but some unfortunate things happened. Like my paper didn't come today. So couldn't read that. I also couldn't read the book much because I was chilling with different people most of the day. And I wasn't talking about something that was going to affect our lives so much, but more about the smaller, more regular small talk.

Anyhow, then I played badminton. A rather good game it was. For sometime I did not have to think about all the politics and unfairness that we have to deal with on the court, but purely on the game. Every shot was very measured because me and Tan played with two really really strong players, who were also very competitive. So i don't think there was a lot of scope for casualty on court. But ya, that we kept in mind and played as best as we could. We still lost, after giving a really tough fight. But never mind that. In my college, people play baddy all the time. So one must see people fight at the peak hours, like they scramble in the local trains. They apply new logics and reasons why they should be allowed to play everyday. I think I maintain just one. Let me play, come what may :D kya poem hai.

Anyhow, I had some nice tea and snacks and since then have spoken to many people over the phone. I spoke to Minkie for sometime. We spoke for quite a bit, reminiscing about a lot of old times. We do that a lot . Talk about . But it's all a lot of fun, because invariably we discover new things that happened in school or sometime else around a highly-discussed event.
So ya, we spoke for quite a bit, thinking about what the near and the distant future might hold. That also is a lot of good fun because we come out with some brilliant theories and flaky possibilities which totally crease me.

Then I spoke to Zoo, with whom I discussed a lot of family and marriage blues. Lately I've increased the time I spend with her over the phone. We discuss o lot of things, including theater, life in Mumbai, new places to eat, new places to chill, new books to read, parents, places and marriage. And then I wished a friend happy birthday, who I have a feeling will stay up all night taking calls from people.

And while I am writing this, I can hear a lot of people totally larking about. On the left, from the courtyard and on the right, from the garden, people are just making lots of merry, because of the lack of work and classes tomorrow. I still have some work. I have to do some pre-reads for a couple of classes in the evening and afternoon. I have a script to read for some play audition for which I'm sure I'm going to founder completely. Actually I'm not the acting kinds. Nevertheless, let's give this one a shot too. So that's that. Au revoir.

Later

fulfilling- no not-so-out-of-ordinary day!

I had hoped that I start afresh, mark a new beginning today, which I sort of did. I read the papers for a bit then started reading a novel, which hopefully should keep me engaged for a while. I also read up a little more on my dissertation topic, and tomorrow without fail, i have to write to a few people who could help me find some communication techniques and tools around climate change symptoms, consequences and solutions in India.

I started reading 'the Namesake' by Jhumpa Lahiri and it is a rather interesting book so far. I have seen the movie and that seems very differently treated. But I have observed one thing, a book like a good song also can only grow on you. I mean only very few books of the very few books I have read in my life have a totally gripping, unputdownable sort of a beginning. Ofcourse it's only a matter of a few pages that it becomes much more wanted to be read.

Even the papers, that I started to read properly today. I feel I can hardly say and explain financial phenomenon about which I read to people, even though I'd read something on it only very recently. But I think it's also got to do with all these economical and political and financial or a combination of two or more of these things and issues. One would never know, what is the trigger and what is the consequence. Whether the price is affecting the demand or vice-versa. On top of that there are a plethora of sentiments and a hundred theories that people come out with. On top of that, there are all these stupid jargons such as equity, sub-prime crises, mortgage, repo rate and the reverse of it, CRR, appreciation and depreciation of currency and one just doesn't know what is a result of what or what precedes or follows what. Ofcourse a lot of times, it's a vicious circle and everything affects everything else. I'm sorry for being vague, but i'm that because my understanding of these vague things is vague.

Ya, so then I helped some of these alumni committee guys with a little work they had. I did that with a heavy heart because I wanted to spend my afternoon doing a lot of different things. But I think one of God's eyes registered it, and I should be rewarded. It won't be unnoticed or unrewarded or wasted I'm sure. But I don't think my god believes in 'fal for karm'. Atleast that's his excuse for getting much work and dispensing fewer rewards. But I shouldn't be saying this, because I'm eternally thankful to him for giving me these beautiful days. And I don't think I should complain anyway. It's not like I do a lot of work with or without any appreciation. For the fear of not getting any, I don't keep working only. But anyhow, I worked for them through the evening, playing badminton for a bit, came back, had just started to read when Nerdy came and pulled me to our favourite Italian restaurant Upper Crust in Ahmedabad.

It is one of the more liked, small little place that serves very very nice, appetizing, filling platters of authentic Italian food. I go there every now and then when I want to eat really well, take adventurous gastronomic trips, and spend a lot. One would wonder if anyone would like to do the latter. But believe me we go there with full knowing that we would be much worse-off after eating there. Nevertheless I go there and totally eat my organs out. I got some packed and I think I should go there after finishing this and eat the rest of my fill.

While we came back in an auto from the place, we listened to these loud, dancy numbers and we totally wanted to party. I think that when we're in the groove, we begin to love everything we like and hate everything we dislike. But ya that's what this kind of groove does to you, it makes you party and party.

I'm already really really sleepy and I must really really sleep. That reminds me of a famous quote, when a certain someone said- 'Sleep na. You should really sleep. How can you not want to sleep? Imagine you're in an auto and just sleep.' And so here I'm imagining im in one, and here I go with the hope that oh my dear god gave me another fulfilling day tomorrow.

Later

of bizarre films and resolutions!

Today, as a part of our film studies module we studied two ful-length feature films. One was called 'Meshes of the afternoon', one of the bizarrest films one can watch. It belonged to the 'avant-garde' genre of films, which totally violates time and the natural development through temporal logic. So the film kept jumping leading to a lot of repetition and really crazy and dark stuff. But it was different. Apparently there were dream sequences within dream sequences and one couldn't tell where one ended and the other began.

But to come to think of it, our dreams are not how they're usually shown in films, where one knows perfectly what is happening, exactly replicating what might happen in real life, or seeming like an almost a fancy aspiration like meeting a celebrity or the girl you really like or finding the perfect job or going to a really beautiful destination or a holiday, or anything else which is idyllic. Infact I don't know about others, but the kind of dreams I dream are usually very mundane, run-of-the-mill, slightly inexplicable, very unrememberable, incomprehensible perspectives, exaggerations and a sort-of inertia in movement. But anyhow that's how the film was made, just like a bizarre dream, which makes little sense to the trained mind.

Then we saw one Wang Kar Wai film made in HongKong, where two seemingly disparate stories come together. It was one of the more gripping films that I've seen, more riveting and absorbing because of the music, characters, dialogues and pace. It's pretty interesting, that's all I can say of it.

Ya, so then, I subdued and almost fought my urge to sleep, went for some coffee and played badminton for a bit. What happened today was quite appalling. I'm sort of amazed at men. I'll tell why. So ya I was one of the many people wanting to play. I was also one of the first people to have come to play.

So ya, once when we played singles, not only were many people not interested to play with me because of the obvious talent I have, but I almost caused a sort of tiff, when I was done, because the guy I played with refused to count the game he played with me. Which was a horrible feeling, much like how a child feels when he's given a 'kacchi ghodi' while playing with slightly older children in the colony, but more than that, I was thinking what place does mediocrity have? Should mediocre people be given all their sweet time to improve with better players or should they just give it over. Anyhow, it's not even about that completely. I think people do just what is convenient for them, without thinking how the argument might work in some other situation. I mean to say, that people who profess first come first served may not even believe in it completely when they're amongst the last people, wanting to play first. But that's just one. There's a lot of condesenscion and arrogance in these men I was playing with.

So anyway, without complaining much, I should tell how Ive made some resolutions. I will not procrastinate from tomorrow onwards. I will read much more, spend a lot of time playing and lead a very disciplined life in terms of eating and sleeping. You see, there's no particular occasion but lately I feel like doing these things a lot. I daresay I stick by them all too long but even if the frequency of these resolutions increase it'll not harm much.

So ya, I'll be an enlightened girl starting from tomorrow. I wish my self a lot of luck. I also wish everyone gets a decent house to stay with the people they really want to stay with and gets to visit lots of new places to eat lots of new food and see lots of new faces in this world.

Later

A new term begins!

So now everyone's back on campus. Because classes have also begun full swing. It's quite a scene when people return from a longish break. All the fancy looks and hair-cuts that people sport disappear and people with brilliant moustaches come back with much sober looks. That might be because they're coming back from home, where they've got to look more civil or because they're coming back from home and can be spared another round of a trim for a long time.
Anyhow, some of them look significantly different from what they used to look. In certain cases like myself, one would get to see new piercings in my ears. The last time there was a new one on my nose. So ya I think people start afresh in every sense of the word.

Anyhow, we had film studies today and a lot of jargon was thrown at us. We spoke about a lot of different paradigms and forms in cinema, how reality is different from realism and real. How cinema represents reality and constructs it also. How taking apart and unpacking them makes the cinematic experience worth it. Then I saw 2 extremely extremely taxing films. While one was French known as, Cache which had an indeterminate ending. It made a lot of possibilities possible. But the film had long-drawn, protracted scenes which could sedate anyone like me in the sultry afternoon. The narrative/sequence also kept jumping making us think a lot. And then I saw Kadosh, another disturbing film from Israel. It was about two very very beautiful sisters who fell victim to the shackles of the conservatism in Judaism. How their freedom was constantly limited by religion, custom and orthodoxy. How they both wanted to fly out, into freer world but were so caught up that there was no escaping. It was one of the more affective and deeply troubling to the mind.
Such movies make me dislike men a lot. Ya so I don't think I like very manly men. There's got to be a little womanly compassion in every man.

Ya so having done that, I played badminton with a friend. Not that we get turns immediately but we still played a few games. I ran across the breadth of the court, running up and down, thinking that maybe this one I'm going to hit but Anil managed quite well without me. He's a star who doesn't react when he plays really well and loses it if he's being made fun of. Anyhow he's a dab hand at badminton and can manage single-handedly.
Thereafter, i went to eat at TT. Since my dinner was light, and i played a little bit, I went to TT to eat some 'sukhi bhelpuri', which incidentally I had to have myself. I was chatting up with a few students in the first year and telling them a little about my school and college and city. It's really funny, Indore must have been a stand-up comedienne in it's last birth. It inspires so much humour with everyone, even people who have heard about it the first time. It might be because of the way I talk about it or something else. I don't know.

But ya, we ended up talking a lot and I ended up talking about some famous people from my school, which were too many but a little insignificant. Anyhow, that shouldn't keep me from talking about it. I hope people are more educated and literate about the place I'm from, which by the way, is one of the more livable cities incorporating within it a lot of good things about the big city and the small city. Anyhow, in the last few years Indore has seen a sea change in the way it's started to look. It's responded tremendously to some good enterprise in the past few years. I hope however that people don't fall prey to pushing and jostling and pollen and traffic and violence and pollution and travelling and students immigration and hash and IT.

Anyhow, I'm creating a lot of buzz for the city. The MP tourism department should actually pay me for this. Ok now, my eyes are almost closing out of their own accord. I have to have to sleep, otherwise these tired eyes will decide to come out of my face and sleep by themselves. Hopefully I was able to write some coherent lines in this state of drunkeness.

Later

back to the grind!

it's been such a horribly long time that I wrote last. So there's a bit of an inertia to write, but I put some discipline and writing. Actually it might not be entirely because of inertia, it also is because of the deluge of things that I've gone through in the past 2 weeks. They have been a roller coaster really. There have been brilliant counterpointing examples. So we went for rurals and immediately after that we got to see utter and overarching urbanity happening in a different part of the country. There was a lot of work and immediately after that a complete lack of it. Early sleeping and then really late sleeping. Worked up mornings and late, lazy but great fun mornings. Actually this contrast was presented to me by villages near Bikaner, Rajasthan and Bombay respectively. Funny that this happened one after the other, so that the difference was more stark and complete.

Both made me long a little bit for the charms of the other, while keeping the charms of that place going. While there was a fresh, slightly wet smell of sand in Rajasthan, there was a definite stench in all of Mumbai. There was enough road on the roads of Rajasthan, while there was very little of it in Mumbai. Cultural pursuits are also of very different nature. Rajasthan really celebrates in its own colourful style but Mumbai celebrates everything, even Rajasthan sometimes. So it's the range and cosmopolitanness of Mumbai that really pleases my heart. So it's got jazz and rock and classical and theater and eating out and amusement parks and shopping and dancing and others.

So ya, also they were different experiences not only because of the places, but also because of the people I met there. I finally met Zoo and Minkie. I am their fan. It's not something that I can possibly write about. It'll be like giving away too much of myself. But ya, I had the most brilliant time ever. Zoo bakes some of the most amazing cakes ever, with lots of unsalted butter, dark chocolate and cream. Minkie makes the most amazing omellettes, and taught me how to make them. They both are very very adept in the kitchen. In Mumbai, we travelled in the local to go to the town, and it was a vastly different experience from the metros in Delhi. There are no warnings saying 'walking on the metro track or defacing metro property is a punishable offence'.
Forget that, there's no warning to even stay away from the doors, from which falling is so easy. So ya, town was fun, the Gateway of India was too, Cafe Leopold was too, walk on the Colaba Cossway was too, shopping at CCIL was too and ofcourse just walking with a certain someone was brilliant.

We had food at the most amazing places with Zoo and like experimental people had a little of Thai and Italian and Indian and Punjabi, in different restaurants. Mumbai is a good place to eat, only it is so bally spread. The travelling can be pretty exhausting. So can be just looking for autos. But even staying at Zoo's place was quite brilliant. One could just lie on bed and get up but not from the bed, and then wait, skip lunches and breakfasts and morning ablusions and only get out for dinner maybe. But in the past, laziness has irritated me. This did not quite. I was loving every moment. I think it was also partly because I knew this was going to get over and partly because I'd waited for it.

One day, we also went to a really really funny house party. It was a birthday party of a friend's friend's friend's friend. And I may have missed a few in between :) So that was good fun and we
walked in the quiet of the night, laughing hysterically. We refused and then accepted. And totally cavorted and made merry. A car also stopped by us and told 'we looked brilliant, mashallah!', one of the more overwhelming things I've heard. And we danced and danced to many different tunes, with many not-so-known faces but some were just too known and too brilliant to miss. So we danced, going round and round and learning some nice surprises. And then I think I slept from the tiredness and felicity of it all.
Anyway, no one will know what it was like because I dont think I'm using the most appropriate words to describe what I felt. Anyhow, that's how it is. So when I left, I felt the clock ticking again. Time and clock, which had been forgotten in the last few days, had to be paid attention to again. I came back, sleeping soundly in the train only to find that I was more unlucky with my classes than I could imagine myself to be. So my classes got cancelled and so I had some time to myself today, which i spent in thinking and thinking and missing and thinking. But such times must happen again, only it was the perfect combination that made the whole so brilliant. So in the future, while I will still find some elements, some people and circumstances, that perfect whole may not be. But I will still try to make it happen.

So ya that's the thing about times that make them so longed for because they are these canvasses of some favourite places, some favourite people and some favourite food and some favourite fragrances and favourite music and other favourite things that fit together to make a paradigm worth remembering and remembering and talking about to everyone.

So ya, that's that, I will add some pictures, but I'll still keep loving words. They are my favourite. They probably allow more exaggeration, more puns, more possibilities of explaining things till there and just to that point, nothing more, nothing less and I think they inspire more pictures in the mind. So I'm done I think.

Later