Lazy Days are Here to Stay! :-|

Oh well, I am talking about the holidays. There were moments in my life when I desperately waited for holidays to come, or at least the weekends, and even worse, for the Independence Day, for a holiday. You know, how it is, right? The life of an engineer? We get loads of work, and assignments to do. Of course, we never complete them but hey, we pretend like we are the most hard-working creatures on this planet. Anyway, my point is not to disgrace us, The Techies, but to talk about the holidays which have turned me into a lazy bug. Few friends call me hard-working, workaholic and similar things but they are friends and they tend to say such things. Right?

Holidays..umm..holidays! Okay, the things I am doing in the holidays and the things I have learnt. 

• Holidays are fun! But only if they are for a shorter period of time. These long term holidays can be very boring and will get you nowhere. 
• Facebook was so much when I had college. You know, you can talk crap about your lecturers, HOD, and your principal; you can crib about not having holidays; you can bunk classes and update dumb statuses, use Facebook as a mere mean of escaping lectures. I hate to say this but I am missing my crappy college. 
• I am tweeting. Uh huh, not the sensible things. But the senseless things. Well, that is why twitter exists, right? Twitter is so much fun when you are jobless and have nothing worthy to say on Facebook. For instance, 'Yay! I am eating ice-cream', and then 'Yay! My second scoop of ice-cream', or 'Hey! You are a douche-bag' (Basically, things that do not make any sense at all)
• I thought I would read all the awesome books in holidays. Yes, I am reading but I guess, I went over-board and read some crappy ones too. Just to warn you, never read 'The Boy Next Door' by Meg Cabot. It is pretty much boring and the entire book is in mails. Yes, the story is narrated in the form of e-mails. * Face-palm*
• When I was in college, I had no time to write. I would sneak out my journal book to write during lectures only to be lectured by my HOD, or even worse, to be screamed at, 'Roll No 6, what are you writing?' Well, obviously I cannot tell her that I was writing shitty things about her.  :D
• Okay! The above situation is when I had no time to write. Now, I have all the time in the world to write but I do not have any topics to write on. (Topics which might interest me)
• Music! Ah yes, I have downloaded music from all sites, downloaded music of all my favourite bands and singers, downloaded music from all my favourite movies and now, gave up. I just have too many songs. Now please do not tell me that I haven't downloaded Chris Brown or Justin Bieber, I hate them.
• When I had college, I saw Indian Idol and its repeat telecasts too. And now? Let alone, the repeat telecasts, I am not able to watch the actual telecasts. Terrible!
• And oh hey, the movies. I have seen so many movies, so many times that I probably know all the dialogues of Pride and Prejudice even better than Keira and Matthew MacFadyen. Of course, I have seen some wretched movies too. *Sigh*

And honestly I miss going to the college, not for the love of the college but for the best things that these four years of college has given me. I miss getting my jeans dirty in the rain, I miss sleeping during lectures, I miss eating my canteen's half-boiled, half-cooked food, I miss getting lectured for having low attendance, I miss running behind dingy hospitals for medical certificates, I miss breaking the dress code rules. Oh hell, my college wasn't so bad after all.

And, I don't believe I said that! :D

I See Her

25 minutes

She did not come.

45 minutes

She must have been stuck in a traffic jam.

60 minutes

Now I am scared. 

Ananya was never late. She was always on time. I have been meeting her in this park for the past six months and she has never been late. She would reach here by 8 PM and stay till 9 PM. She would not stay for a minute over 9 even if I pleaded her. I fell on her feet too.Tough luck! Never worked. She said she had family issues. I said that I understood. Honestly, I never did. She never gave me her number. She said she did not have one. I never forced her into anything. I loved her. I found solace in her. After a hectic day of work at college, she was the only one that gave me happiness. Pure happiness! The sixty minutes of time that I spent with her on this bench gave me the world of joy. She was mine. 

But she did not come today. The next day.  And the very next day.

I could not take her off my mind. Her long black tresses, her big black eyes, her expressions made me sigh. Where did she go? There was no way that I could get to her. Did she realize that she was throwing me into a mess? I stopped going to the college and sat in the park the whole day. May be she decided to come early? She wouldn't even be able to contact me. I thought of all the moments I spent with her. She always dressed in light colours. I saw her mostly in white and pink. She loved pink. She always laughed loudly, and always smiled. She reserved a special smile for me. It made me go crazy. She was mine.

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into some more weeks, and no, they did not turn into months. I wouldn't let that happen, would I? I vaguely remembered the name of the locality she stayed. She said many times that it was her favourite place. I wasted no time. I got into my car and reached her locality. It took me an odd thirty minutes. It did not take much time for me to recognize her house. The name plate on a house showed her surname. I went in. After a few impatient knocks, her servant opened the door. I asked for Ananya, he took me to a room which had her parents in it. Her mom looked like an older version of Ananya. I understood where her good looks have come from.

"Aunty, I am Ananya's friend. Can I talk to her for a while?" I wanted to see her. I was desperate.

"Since when have you been her friend?” she eyed me warily.

"Umm, six months."

"You are joking. Aren't you?"

"Why would I? She is not coming to the college every day. We were worried. Can I meet her once?", her dad did not even look at me. Arrogance! :|

"Boy! Are you out of your mind? Are you even at the right Ananya's place?"

"Are you Mrs Malhotra?"

"Very much I am."

"Then I am at the right place. Call her. Please!"

"You make no sense at all. I suppose you were on a long break, and a very long one at that."

She sighed and asked me to follow her. She took me to a room and showed me a picture. I stood at my place and did not move a tiny bit. Aunty put a piece of paper in my hand and left the room. No! This couldn't have happened. I met her just three weeks ago. Tears welled in my eyes. 

15th April, 2008. Her death certificate was dated with this. It has been four years now. And I could see her. My world was devastated. How could she die? I walked out of her house dazed.

I drove like a madman. Period. I saw her, I saw her. She was standing by the park. The same special smile! And before I could stop her, I saw her vanish into thin air in front of my eyes. It sent a chill down my spine. 

It all happened in seconds and I couldn't do anything. But I did not want to sulk over it. She chose to show herself to me. Just me! I felt special. There was a reason for everything and this girl made my life special. Indeed! 

I headed back home with a smile on my face. I was special. And she was mine.

I still see her at times today. She doesn't talk to me. But whenever I am in trouble, she appears. I know that she will be there for me. Forever!

Today, I am fifty and it's my daughter Ananya's wedding. Nothing has changed. I still see her.

That Happy Birthday!

Birthdays are supposed to be the most special days in anyone's life. And I am a total Birthday-ho! I love my birthdays and I literally do wait for them. Yes, seriously. :-) Yesterday, I turned 21 and it was certainly one of the best birthdays I ever had. When people say 'Hey, you are 21 now. Behave like one', I really do not understand why we are supposed to behave like an adult. I mean, we do not grow in one night, do we? 

Okay, so my birthday this year was pretty much fun, like I already said. Taking from wasting the food to paying the exorbitant bill, we had fun. We talked a lot, made introverts talk a lot, littered Coffee Day, threw spoons and hurled forks everywhere, and people who have been friends with me for eleven years did remind me that we have been friends for these many years and hell, made fun of Asisha and Anirudh! :-)

I loved opening the presents, cutting the yummy cake, getting clicked, hitting Kiran, chatting with Nisheetha and Asisha, savouring the chocolicious-coffeelicious drinks, talking and posing, and hated the music. :-|

And hey, it was my happy 21! :-D

So Did I Learn Anything?

Okhay! So I am going to be 21 in another ten days and honestly, I do not feel like that yet. I mean, I am going to be 21 and I feel like a seventeen year old person who is not serious about anything. When people say to me that I need to get serious, I have this typical deja vu feeling that keeps knocking my head periodically. 

"Hey you are going to be 21 in few days. You need to stop wearing those pink and red shoes."

Oh really? Just because I will be 21, should I dress up like Miss Havisham? Oh please, you cannot expect me to grow up overnight, okay? Besides, I will be shoe-less if I throw them away. Clueless, too! :-/

So, now the question is did I learn anything in the past twenty years?

*Scratches the head and mutters gibberish*

Oh yes! I have. I guess, I have a list. I know, I know, I make a list for every damned thing. :D

And here I go, things I have learnt:

1) Make mistakes and learn from your mistakes. A very cliched statement, right? 

Learn from your mistakes and do not flaunt your stupidity again. Well, I have learned this one for sure. :-D

2) Do not let wolves eat away your life. Your life, your rules. I have had just one wolf in my life and I am glad that that ugly (not just by heart and mind but by face too) creature does not exist in my life anymore. Good Riddance!

3) Do what you love and love what you do. Yet another cliched statement from ME! And before you come to a conclusion that I am giving out all statements from Google, I would like to say that we need to abide by this rule all the time.

4) You learn a lot from traveling too. Especially, when you travel all alone. 

Traveling, pictures, memories. Hell yeah, the best thing to do.

5) It is easy to get addicted to bad habits and having bad people around you is even more addictive. Chuck them out!

6) Been there, done that. It is a terrible
thing to grow up and act like an adult. Life is simple when you do not grow up. Being childish has it own pros and cons too but it is better that way. ;-)

And now, what I have really learned in these few (Actually, a lot) years and the past few days are:

• Learning Italian. Oh hell yes, I am. A beautiful language!
• Improving my writing abilities, getting better at clicking pictures, collecting vintage and rare stamps.
• Being a workaholic can attract expletives from your friends. ;-)
• Do not brood over things a lot. 
• Having fun- I have degrees and diplomas in this. Having fun in all weird, cranked up ways is the best thing I have learnt.

And now that I have written this total gibberish, I will get back to my 'stacking up of stamps' activity.

The Twenty Things!

Things that I do not want to know or care about:

    1)   The story-line of Vampire Academy.

    2)   Your laptop configuration

    3)   Your vacation plans

    4)   Your annoying classmate’s annoying boyfriend’s not-so-annoying dog.

    5)   Why you did not have your break-fast.

    6)   Why you woke up late.

    7)   Why your boyfriend did not get a proper haircut

    8)   Why you loved Houseful. (Rolling eyes)

    9)   The reasons which you believe make you cool for using ‘mah’, bah’.

Duh!

   10)The story of your neighbour’s cat.

   11)   The reasons for your resentment towards Wake up Sid.

   12)   Woes of your internet connection

   13)   Your sister’s or brother’s or dog’s new hair colour

   14)   The recipe of the pie you made which was least edible

   15)   The reasons you state for not liking Jane Austen’s work

   16)   Why you liked ‘I Too had a Love Story’

   17)   Why you do not understand my nocturnal activities

   18)   Why you cannot give me peace

   19)   Why you spell ‘quarterly’ as ‘quaterly’ or 'loser' as 'looser'. [You have spell check, you know!]

   20)Your eternal love for Justin Bieber.

It's your move, Wordfreak: Book Review

This review is a part of BlogAdda’s ‘Book Reviews by Bloggers’ program.

14-05-2012:

I woke up in the evening and saw a packet lying on my bed. “Yay! I got a book from BlogAdda”, was my first reaction. I asked my mom for a cup of coffee and started reading the book. It took me around four hours to complete the book and I completed it in one go. Alright, let us get to the details now.

The story-line:

Online chatting and dating might seem to be a clichéd concept to many but hey, the protagonists meet up online while playing scrabble. Now this is new, right? The story starts with a blind date between Alisha Menon (Worddiva) and Aryan Rajaram Chawla (Wordfreak). Whoever thought blind-dates do not exist anymore or aren’t fun will think twice after reading this book. Alisha is a successful lawyer and Aryan is an architect and a Page 3 boy. The best part is, he designs eco-friendly houses and is pretty much concerned with the carbon footprint. Savitri Menon, Alisha's mother has a major influence on her life; Aryan is mostly influenced by his Uncle Sam and grandmother. 

The story is all about how two different people enter into a relationship, how they work on their relationship and their differences, how Alisha gets over her fear for commitment, how Aryan sorts out issues with his father and step-mother, and blah blah! (I am not going to reveal the entire plot duh! You got to read the book for it)

The book is interesting and racy. And I am sure that majority of girls would love the book but hey, it is not a chick-lit. If you are that die-hard romantic, you will love this book totally. 

Writing Style:

Falguni Kothari is the author of the book and I must say that she has done a pretty good job for this is her first novel. Her writing style is simple and humourous at many joints. Honestly, one can relate with her joyous characters because you might find similar people in your own family. :-)

I Like:

     1)   Of course, the plot.

     2)  The protagonists and the way they stood up to their values and never compromised on   their principles. In fact, every character of the book has a story to tell and we can relate to them easily.

And oh, did I mention that I love the way Diya (Alisha’s best friend) calls her Lee-sha?

My Rating: 3.75/5

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

Pitter-Patter!

"You know your day is going to be awesome when you wake up to the sound rain-drops hitting your window pane."
Ah! Such bliss, if you ask me.

I slept in the afternoon with this thought "I need to update my blog in the evening" in my mind. And yippee, I wake up to see the beautiful rain out of my window and oops, not so beautiful rain drenching my jeans in the balcony. :-|
My mom asked me if I wanted coffee and of course I wanted it. (Duh! Is that even a question to be asked? I would love to have coffee all the time. When I say all the time, I really do mean it.)

My sister too wanted to have coffee and since, she is a tenth grader, she considered herself too young to have coffee and made cold coffee for herself. Well, I don't see a point here. I mean, coffee is coffee, right? Hot or cold, it is coffee. :-D

I have been wanting to do a picture post since two weeks and couldn't write anything. Thank you, The Royal Laziness!
But hey, I have so many pictures on rain. Why not write a post on rain? And this thought dragged me from the balcony to my bedroom and here we go, the pictures. *Excited!*

This is the first picture that I have clicked at Inorbit Mall, Hyderabad and this is my all time favourite.

My friend Asisha's palm. :-D

This picture has been clicked in Chandanagar, Hyderabad.

Yet another rainy day picture clicked last year. The following picture was clicked on the same day.

This has been clicked on the same day. :-)

This picture has been taken on my way to the college. Last year, again!

This is one of my favourite pictures and please ignore the clarity. My Corby has clicked more than 3000 pictures in the past one and half year and still is managing to click some wonderful pictures.

And this is it. I am done and going back to enjoy the rain