We grow up everyday...

I was just reading some diary entries I'd made last year and I couldn't help but notice how things have changed since then... Drastically. It's amazing yet amusing to think of all the childish and girlie things one writes in the privacy of one's diary. And it's a good thing it stays private, cause nobody, for the whole world would want to be put through the horror of someone getting hold of a book that consists of one's deepest, (even if not-so-dark) secrets.
I've maintained diaries since I was about 12 and it's entertaining to read some of those entries... But most of the time, all one ends up thinking is- 'Really?? I thought like that? What in the name of Sweet Mary was wrong with me?!'
Another thing about diaries is that they make one want to go and live in the past. When things weren't as complicated, when we didn't know how things would eventually turn out, when things were just right...
But the best part about diaries is this. They make one realise how much one's grown as an individual. One has the opportunity to look back and smile... To think that 'Yeah I was a dork back then... but at least I'm richer for the experience'... and maybe/hopefully/definitely/certainly, I've learnt my lessons and shouldn't do the same all over again....

This blog entry was made in loving memory of every stupid thing that's happened in my life. I'm thankful I shouldn't have to be in the similar predicaments again (That's if I go by my grand theory of learning from my bad experiences)... Therefore presently, my motto: Bring on a fresh new bunch of foolish lessons to learn from. 'Cause after all, life's about growing up everyday :)

The most exasperating situations to be in!!

1) Missing a train by a hair's breath: Its indescribable how frustrating it can be, that even after running like wild buffaloes to get to the right platform, my friend and me have missed innumerable trains. We've almost always arrived (in such situations) just in time to see the train pulling out of the station.

2) Wading through muck in expensive shoes: Oh my. This is certainly the next annoying thing after missing trains, because mostly, the muck is the very reason for us missing them (the trains) in the first place. We practically have to moon walk through it so as not to sink deeper into that distant cousin of quick sand. The one thing that's come off this exercise, is now I know what people mean when they say 'in deep trash'. Literally! I get to be in it everyday!

3) Having to keep awake during a sleepy lecture: You can almost see double. Your eyes are getting heavier. You want to nod off into deep slumber but you're sitting right under the professor's nose. Could hell get any worse?

4) Waiting for an hour and a half in a train compartment ( that's full of crying babies) that's come to a stand still : Just two words- Holy cow.

5) Stuck in crawling traffic with bad music: The problem with the stereo in my car is that it's had the same CD stuck inside it for the last 8 months. None of the cajoling, pleading and banging seems to have done it any good. So for company, I have glowering motorists, irritating fellow drivers and the same music over and over and over again. *Sighs*

6) Last, but certainly not the least. Being late to class: And that's after waking up early, to get ready early, to catch the train early, that arrives late. Isn't that the most exasperating thing??!

What a Dream!

Have you ever had those nightmarish yet silly dreams where nothing makes sense? Dreams that totally defy logic? For instance, you're walking down a flight of stairs one moment and then hurtling toward oblivion in the next? Running toward something and then randomly having a nonsensical conversation with a friend? Well, I've had plenty of such dreams. They make one feel rather foolish on waking up, but seem quite real when we're dreaming them. Although I can't recollect most of my dreams, I remember vividly, the one I'm about to narrate. It happened in the month of May when I'd been preparing for entrance exams feverishly. That might explain why my brains had been adversely affected in dreaming what I dreamt that day (!) It was exceedingly dumb and far fetched, now that I think about it. Anyway, here goes: I was standing by the sink doing the dishes, when the doorbell rang. It was Keshav, the boy I tutor in English. Instead of his usual pant and shirt avatar, the child standing in front of me was dressed in an obnoxious outfit. A pin striped tee shirt teamed with a green Hawaiian skirt (one, that an Anglo-Indian neighbour of mine usually wore). I was shocked on seeing him thus and had every intention of cross examining him to know if he'd become gender confused lately. I was preparing a small speech in my head that involved telling him that it was alright to not want to wear pants or jeans, but floral skirts didn’t quite compliment him either. Maybe he could try pastels. But before I could launch into my lecture, he turned towards me and thrust a handbag (presumably his) in my hands. I didn't know if I was supposed to open and confirm it, so I thought better of it and decided to pay his mother a visit. The boy needed fashion help and so would I if this continued. It was imperative to tell her, and then let her decide if she wanted him to continue wearing skrits and frocks and what not! Car keys in hand and Keshav with his skirt and bag in tow I reached my garage. To my horror, my car had been swapped with an old model of a Fiat. How I knew that the dusty car was mine, Lord alone knows. I nearly got hysterical! We were on our way to his house and I may not have been paying attention, when suddenly, Keshav morphed into something resembling a monkey. An ape, if I wasn't wrong. Imagine driving a car that barely moved while sitting next to an ape dressed in a skirt! I got to his house in the worst mental state and found his mother calmly fermenting milk. I was barely able to tell her about it when I was jerked awake by my dog's barking. What a dream!... But I have one regret about waking up too soon. Not knowing her reaction. Would she have yelled? Sobbed? Throttled me? Or wanted to laugh hard at the image of her son in those clothes? Beats me, but I'd like to have known anyway!

Ode to the Diamond Ring.

It sat pretty on my finger,
and complimented it just fine;
Made my hand look nice and dainty
I was so pleased when it had come to be mine.

It was passed down from generations,
and I remember feeling really blessed;
To be chosen among my siblings
to be gifted with the best.

I'd worn it for long,
and hardly taken it off;
Too scared I had been,
of showing it off.

It was made beautifully,
and it fit just right;
Although over the course of time,
it had gotten a bit tight (!)

But all the better,
I had thought gleefully;
No chance of it getting out,
no chance of it slipping, you see.

But alas my fear,
finally did come true;
When a good turn I was doing
from my finger it flew.

So much for heaving cartons,
and helping people out;
Now I'm left ringless,
and nothing to flout!

I'm not being vain,
and I don't mean to brag;
Its just sad to lose precious things,
Things we were so lucky to have ever had.

Now that it's gone,
I'm morose if you please;
I wish the ring was still there,
And through the generations would never cease.

Rain. What a Pain!

So for all you rain lovers out there, this blog entry is not for you. Having said that, I do wish that you'll take the previous sentence with a pinch of salt because I just said that to give this blog entry a grand beginning. Put up with my feeble attempt at humour. In reality, I don't think I even have such a wide readership in the first place, to be assuming that there'll be a percentage who DON'T like rains. 5 outta 5 friends who read my blog like them. (See what I mean! :P)
Anyway, coming to the point. Rain. Why I Don't like it dates back to the stone age of when I was a kid. Dunno what triggered it, but I've always thought of rain bringing gloom and even boredom, to an extent. Therefore, you can't blame me for not liking it and hating it even more when I get wet, splattered and splashed on. How I manage to look like a scare crow at the end of a rainy day wouldn't surprise you if you knew what I'm put through when in college.
I study in a university that's well known for its huge campus, greenery and plenty of flora and fauna. Somehow, all of these hold very less appeal to me, now that the rains are here.
The paths get so muddy and slushy that one's forced to do a tight rope walk ( yeah, complete with your arms sticking out) in order to not slip and fall, face down. Puddles are like well used palttes. The array of colours you can get from one tiny dirty pool of water is amazing. Light brown, dark brown, grey. You name it! The after effect of stepping into one makes you seem like a likely candidate for a 'Tide' detergent ad. You being the 'before' version of course.
The sudden outburst of fauna in the form of shudder worthy insects and worms (that literally crawl out of the wood work) makes you want to run to the hills. Then again, you've to be sure toward what kind of hills. There are plenty of ant and snake hills all over the place and you don't for the love of your sensibilities want to run into either.
Mosquitoes and flies deserve another blog entry dedicated to them. I cannot begin telling you how difficult it is to try and listen to a sleepy lecture through one ear and have a mosquito hum in the other. It's at times like these you wonder why in the name of everything holy didn't Noah swat those two blasted things on his ark!
But only just a dealing with a rainy day is not the start of my woes. It's making a commute from the university to my house that really tests my patience. I've used every mode of transport save air and water ways in this transit. Well, to be fair, I haven't travelled in a truck yet, but going by the way things are, I'm sure I might get to travel in filmy style of sitting on stacks of hay sometime. I just don't want bugs for company!
So yeah, running (un)like a pretty heroine to catch a train, stepping into slush more often than I would like, having people open umbrellas in my face and accidentally poking people with my own, is just about my routine on a rainy day. Nah, not too much to complain about in contrast to bad days when I encounter leeches and caterpillars, have to wade through water in white or have to dry off in class smelling like a wet blanket and then having to face my professor whose behaves like one!

Just like that!

I'm in an introspective mood,
so be forewarned;
I don't want to be judged,
there is no right or wrong.

It's beyond my comprehension,
like a bolt from the blue;
How I sometimes end up,
thinking just of you.

So maybe you're a friend,
or someone I just met;
Maybe you're an acquaintance
but there is no safe bet.

There are times when I miss it,
there are times when I am glad;
About whatever happened,
about what I had had.

Before I give you readers,
the complete wrong impression;
I'm not talking of my past,
and this is not depression.

It's just one of those times,
when one thinks a lot;
Of everything together,
something one must not.

Of one's friends and foes,
and of one's family;
Of changing times,
and philosophy.

No point to this poem,
if you're looking for one;
I had warned you previously,
a moral there would be none!