Random Musings

It was a calm Saturday today, and I spent most of the day in, alternately reading and watching a movie or three. I’d had a substantial lunch, so I wasn’t even very hungry, and those of you who know me are probably staggered by that statement. In any case, around nine thirty, I decided to go out and buy a couple of packets of Lays, since I was hungry again (ah, normal service resumes).

So I shrugged on a sweatshirt, wore my jeans, and stepped out of my apartment. In the corridor outside, two five year old girls were running up and down. As I pulled the door shut, they suddenly came up to me, and in perfect unison, said, “Can we see your house, please?”. I was taken aback, since I’ve never spoken to them. However, since the house was pretty clean, I said, “Why not”, and let them in.

They ran around the house quickly, said “It’s a very nice house”, and scampered out. It was quite amusing. I wonder what manner of strange beast I was harboring inside my house.

It’s the end of the month, which means it’s the beginning of the next, which means that it’s salary time! It will be nice to be briefly rich again, before I have to pay the rent, and the bills, and all that. For a few hours at least, I’ll have a lot of money

I’m looking forward to the new year. It’s always the same, no matter how bad or good the year has been, there’s just something about the next year coming up that bring cheer to the heart. And for this journal, it will be three years all done. It was actually four, but I was stupid, and accidentally wiped out my first year of posts. It’s been good fun, writing this, and I’m going to keep on going. All this disjointed, extremely sanitized, inoffensive, carefully-mentions-no-names-or-other-identifiable-information writing is fun.

It fun, because on the one hand, it’s an intensely personal thing. Yes, I know blogs are supposed to be public outpourings of every little detail of life, but I’ve never liked that idea. At the same time, I’ve tried keeping a personal journal, but I find that a little disconcerting as well. I don’t like writing down details, even if it’s just for me. What I’ve evolved over the past three (four!) years of writing on this site is an interesting compromise. I write stuff that I wouldn’t be worried about anybody reading, since it is on a public website, and all these bits are flying around on servers across the world, and who knows where they end up. At the same time, if I read it later, it should evoke what I felt at that time, and the circumstances surrounding that post, and it should remind me of things that I may have forgotten. I hadn’t actually been able to test this till now, since the events were still fresh in my memory, but now, when I go back and read posts from three years ago (Hedgehogs, Bears, and many more), it actually does work!

I remember all the other stuff that’s not written in the post, and some stuff that I have clean forgotten about came back to me. If I keep this going, it’ll be fun to look back in another few years. And despite many accusations of not writing enough, I do try and write a couple of times a month, at least. I’ve missed the odd month, and the mere absence of those months is enough for me to remember what I was up to at the time. Some good stuff, some not so good

My posts are backed up now, to two separate locations, so I ought not suffer the indignity of losing everything.

No posts in July. Why? I don’t quite know why, perhaps it had something to do with the solstice. What? That’s in June? Oh damn, I was so sure that’s what it was. Now even I’m confused. Oh well, let’s just chalk it down to a lack of the old internet connection and move on.

So, in the interim between my last post and this one, I’ve done a couple of things. I’ve moved to a new place, a nice little place for one. The best part of it is the garden. Yes, that’s right, you city slickers, I have a garden, a lawn, a patch of verdure. It’s not as big as the hanging gardens of famed Babylon, but neither is it as small as a chihuahua. My bedroom windows overlook it, and it’s a nice sight to wake up to.

I’ve also gotten some parts to build a computer with. I need to buy a few more things, but my new machine should be up and running by the end of this month. My laptop is still going strong, but I’m constrained for space on it.

Life otherwise is alright, I guess. There’s nothing that is extremely good, nor anything that is extremely sad.

There is one curious thing I’ve noticed though. I kill cockroaches. No, not by stamping on them (though that works too), but just by being around. Every day, I find one dead cockroach in my house. This has been happening for many months, but in my previous abode, I assumed it had something to do with the flooring. However, I have moved to a new place, with very normal, dead standard flooring, and the phenomenon has moved with me! Perhaps I exude some sort of poisonous aura that kills them? But hey, they’re supposed to survive a nuclear explosion!! Am I worse that THAT? Hmm, makes you think, doesn’t it.

Still, levity aside, I really DO find one dead roach practically every day. They’re impartial as to their distribution—I’ve found them under my bed, in the kitchen, in the living room, and even one just outside my house. They’re generally found in the same position: lying on their backs with their legs waving feebly. I usually put a period to their existence with a gently placed shoe, and move them to happier places, and after a moment’s puzzlement, move on with my life. Maybe they’re just drunk or something? I don’t know, your guess is as good, or probably better, than mine.

Seven in one blow is nothing to this. Anyway, let us leave the dead roaches behind, and move along. The Olympics are on, and watching them brings tears to my eyes. No, it’s not the Olympic spirit, or the exploits of the athletes, or the fairy tale stories..it’s the magnificent craziness of DD Sports

Besides looking like they’re broadcasting the 1972 games, not the 2008 games (“The First Games in High Definition”) the ludicrous errors they make are beyond belief. Let’s start with presenters who, for the most part, have no idea what they’re talking about. Move on to the picture abruptly cutting in and out of different sports, but the commentary remaining the same, so you could be watching swimming while listening to basketball (this happened today), or even better, watching the sports, while also listening to the presenters talking amongst themselves, because their audio feed is still live! “Have you got the notes?”, “You start the next segment” “The ad-break is coming up”… and the picture shows the cyclists climbing the Great Wall of China, while I climb the Great Walls of My House, trying to figure out whether to laugh or cry.

The Games are only a few hours old, but DD’s games are years old, and show no sign of improving. Still, I’m thankful that we have a Sports channel, so that at least they broadcast the games all day, unlike yesteryear where you’d watch the Games when they had nothing else to show, and of course that too would be rudely interrupted by—The News!

Ah well, let’s leave all that aside, and go to bed. Goodnight.

To keep up the good start to 08, I decided to head home to Jaipur to fly kites on the 14th of Jan. I’ve not missed a single Sankranti in eighteen years, so I didn’t want this year to be the one. I informed my boss of my plans, and had him look crosswise at me.

I could almost see him thinking, “Just why do we have this guy working for us, again? I’m tempted to kick him out..” But he decided to be magnanimous, and told me to go forth, and cut some kites. Of course, I had to work very very hard in the preceding week to make up for my absence, but that was a minor blip. So post hard work, on Friday, the 11th, I flew to Delhi. Why Delhi? Delhi is cheaper to fly to. Must be something to do with all that Punjabi bling.. lights up the city and makes the approach for landing easier.

So there I was, only two hours late. The next day was fruitfully spent being a girl. No, I didn’t cross dress, I went to a mall with two friends of mine. I’m not much of a mall rat (at all) but hey, what the heck, it was fun. This is a big new mall in Delhi, called the City Mall, or Sigma Mall, or the Something Mall. Bah, whatever. It’s in Saket, and has all the cool (read expensive) brands there. Fcuk, Guess, Tommy, blah blah blah.

So after wandering about for an hour or two, I made plans for the evening and headed home.

All this was merely the prelude to the next day, the 13th. We (sis-in-law and I) were supposed to be driving down to Jpr at 7 AM. So naturally, we started at 3 PM. Drove like a maniac all the way, and got home at 8 PM.

M’verygoodpal Mehta was supposed to be leaving for the ol’ US of A on the 16th. Except he wasn’t. He’d misread the ticket (of course, trust Mehta), and found out at the eleventh hour that he’s leaving at the thirteenth hour! Well, not that drastic, but it entailed him frantically packing at 2 AM on the night of the 13th, and leaving on the morning of the 14th. So I landed up at his house at 10 PM, to laugh at him and generally bug him. Having done this successfully for five hours, and having made sure he’d probably forgotten half the things he was taking back for his bevy of beauties, I left at 3 AM.

Home by 3:10, in bed by 3:30 AM…

and UP at 8 AM, ready to hit the roof!

As I rushed up the stairs, I was hoping against hope that it would not be a disappointing day. You know, either rainy, or not windy or too windy, or windy in the wrong direction.. that kind of thing.

But never fear, the Universe works in good ways when you fly two thousand kilometers to fly kites. It was a PERFECT day. Sunny, and bright, and just windy enough. I flew a couple of kites from my house, and then headed to Ranbir Mamosa’s place, which is where I generally end up spending Sankranti.

Picture perfect blue skies, gentle breeze. The first hour or so, my kill rate was quite low, since I’d not flown a kite for a year. I was averaging only two kites cut per kite I flew. A quickly gobbled lunch helped me calm my nerves, and I returned to the roof full of steely resolve. And hell yeah! I’d found my touch again. After that, kites were fluttering down, but not mine, oh no, no sireee.. I started off by cutting 12 with one, dipped a bit to 9, and then brought it back up to about 12-15 per kite. Ripped through two kites at once, went far far away and hunted down the high flying ones, cleared a suitable volume of sky. So what if my hand was covered with blood? Blood I can afford to lose!

Two o’clock to six o’clock passed by in the manner preferred by kite-flying aficionados. Tr, dude, you missed a good Sankranti. But fear not, good pal, I flew one kite for you, and just like that time at Shobhit’s house, it went very very far, and cut very many kites. So you were there in spirit, and I’m sure that though you might be halfway across the world, you heard a faint echo of “Kaata!” somewhere in the night.

A very satisfying day came to an end, and I returned home. Bone weary, but with a big grin on my face and my fingers ripped up. I have no idea where I’ll be on the 14th of January 2009, but 14th Jan 2008 will definitely be remembered for a long time to come.

So that was my trip to Jaipur. And now I’m back here, working hard, and trying to figure out how to pay for all this profligate traveling that I’ve been doing On the other hand, even if I have to sell stuff, it was totally worth it. No doubts on that score whatsoever.

It’s lovely weather. The clouds are stacked up high, layered on top of each other. Cool breezes complete the feeling. I’m sitting at Manu’s house, doing nothing much. His sister’s getting married in a couple of days, so we’re roaming about occasionally, doing stuff like ordering 600 biscuits, checking the hotel rooms, buying scented candles, the works.

My knee is much better, but it’s still not fine. That will take some more time. I’m hoping that by the end of this month I should be back to normal and be able to run around. Let’s see how that goes. Walking around is less painful now, thankfully.

So what’s keeping me amused? Wimbledon, of course. Sitting on my couch, with something nice to eat nearby, and the weather mirroring England, what could be better? Especially when there’s such great tennis on show. Serena’s fightback yesterday after getting cramp, Nadal vs Soderling, Djokovic, it’s all here.

10 July 2007

Wimbledon is over, and Federer did what he does, he won. The wedding is over, and now I am looking ahead to my leaving home. Right now I am listening to 29 Palms and singing along. I used to do that a while back with a pal, and it’s still fun, though I miss my friend then.

It’s still raining, and the weather is lovely. My knee is getting better by the day, and I’m now able to walk for longish periods without it hurting. The signs are good that I will be able to play by the end of this month. Of course, I will be in Bangalore by then, but I’m hoping that I can get some sort of physical activity going then. Perhaps some gentle tennis, maybe? Who knows. I will probably be too busy to breathe, even!

I’ve been setting up the computer at home for Mom to use. I’ve installed Ubuntu, since Mom does not care about the OS, she just needs the thing to work so she can access the internet. And remote access is much much easier with Ubuntu, so if I need to fix something for Mom, or show her how something works, I can.

I’m missing a few people, quite a bit more than I expected. It’s funny, cause when I was in college, I’d sorta taken them for granted, and gotten used to their presence. Now that it’s not there, just feels weird.

Anyway, thats the update. Nothing much happening, just making some lists for what I need to get.

And slightly depressed, for reasons that will go unmentioned here.

Right, before anyone gets the wrong idea, I have NOT eloped..

With that out of the way, let’s begin.

I was in Delhi this past week, doing a whole lot of nothing at all. Just bumming around, reading tons, watching T.V, you know, the usual. The days passed slowly. I had made all sorts of weekend plans, so when I went to sleep on Friday night, I was rather looking forward to Saturday.

Saturday morning. 11 AM. The door to my room swings open violently, and rebounds off the wall. My brother and sis-in-law storm in. WAKE UP, they shout! I jump up, adrenalin pumping, convinced that the world is going to end, or my laptop broke, or some such catastrophe has happened.

“What?!!”

mumble mumble, unintelligible mumble.. Jaipur, marriage, tomorrow.. mumble!

“WHAT!”

So the scoop is, our dear friend Amit had called up in the morning from Jaipur and informed my brother that he was getting married. The NEXT day! Apparently the girl finally got sick of her parents telling her about what a nasty guy he was, said a big fat STICK IT to them, and came over to his house. Where she proceeded to inform him that they were getting married the next day.

Of course, faced with an ultimatum like that, a man has no choice at all. One hasty day of arranging things later, everything was fixed. We drove down from Delhi, and dressed up nicely, and went to the venue. That was easy, since the venue was right opposite our house. Heh

And then, it was like a fairytale wedding. The gods helped, by sending lots of clouds to cool down the May heat. The Priest was better than a stand up comic. He wisecracked his way through the ceremony, and we were in splits.. And the best of the best: The LOOK on Amit’s face..

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

He had NO clue what was happening. I mean, twenty four hours ago, he was happy thinking he’s going to get married in a month or two. And now, there he was, all dressed up, mouthing the vows, and feeding the holy flames. I would pay a pretty penny to know what was going through his head.

One hilarious ceremony later, we all clapped and threw flowers. And the heavens opened up, with lovely timing.. All of us ran for the house.

So this was the first elopement that I have been a witness too. I wish the happy couple all the joy in the world. I’ve know Amit for almost 16 years, and I know he’s a great guy. It’s a frabjuos day ladies and gentlemen, simply FRABJUOS.

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’
He chortled in his joy.

This month has been a whirlwind of activity. From last month’s whole lot of doing nothing at all, this month I’ve done tons of stuff. I took part in two parliamentary debates, and did fairly decently. I got my laptop fixed, and am getting my X360 Adapter. I took my GRE and got 1440. And a whole bunch of other stuff.

Met a lot of nice people this month in the debates. People from here, there, and everywhere. We were treated very nicely by the host colleges, and we had a ball debating wacky stuff like how Indian men have smaller male appendages..

I also went to a famous guy’s house for a party, and sat in his living room for one hour, all alone. There was NO ONE there, and it was a little surreal, sitting in this guy’s house, whom you read about in the papers and all, and wondering what exactly one is doing there. And then, when the party did start, it was rather, um, quirky..

Delhi can be a crazy place sometimes.

I met some people from Pakistan, and found out that Lahore is the place to go if you like to eat meat. The descriptions were, quite literally, drool inducing. Heck, the memory of the description is drool inducing!

And after faffing around for a week, I went and took my GRE. I did not do as well as I had hoped, and only managed a 1440, but what the heck, right? Hopefully this should be enough to get me into graduate school somewhere. Who knows!

I still have no idea what I’m going to be doing once I graduate. I may be going abroad (yeah, right!), I may be working, and I may be sitting at home, unemployed, and living off the fat of the land.

2006 has been pretty eventful. From me zapping my blog, to my brother’s wedding, to all sorts of stuff that I would rather not write about here.. Let’s see if it ends with a bang!