Bum bum bole masti mein dole!

TZP - I am a fan!

Amir Khan, I love you for making such a wonderful film.

I don't think I've cried so much in any film. (Sharan, did you cry?) It was mildly embarassing cause by the time I came out my whole face was dry, my nose red, my kajal had disappeared, and my hair was also messy so I was looking like a worse version of the just-out-of-bed look. But I loved it - the movie that is. It's such an important film especially for Indian parents to watch. What we lack is awareness and this movie does just that - increasing awareness - in such a beautiful way.

Again, I love Amir Khan. And I loved his character in the movie even more. Coming out of your own difficult past to help others is really something.

I am inspired. I want to DO something to change the way the education system in this country works. Maybe I'll open a school someday where kids have a whole lot of fun even in the way they are studying and every teacher will be like Amir in the movie. There will be singing and dancing and art... Mmmmmm, I like the thought of that. There's something worth doing...

Khul ke soche aao,

Pankh zara phailaao

Rang naye bikhrao

Chalo chalo chalo chalo

Naye khwaab bun le

(So free your mind

Spread your wings

In a riot of colour

Come on

Let's spin new dreams)

- From the song 'Bum Bum Bole - Taare Zameen Par)

Anyway, I better be off. I'm going to have a small Hebby (+ desi) re-union today! Tashu and Taryn. I can't wait!!

Frohe Weihnachten!

Joy oh Joy!

For Christ is born!

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt

among us, and we have seen his glory,

glory as of the only Son from the

Father, full of grace and truth."

John 1:14

(The Bible)

Happy Christmas to all!

It's a Wonderful Life!

I just discovered this photo of facebook and I love it! This was taken on our annual day at college and it's like one of those unwritten rules that all must wear traditional clothes and come on that day. Thus, we are all in salwar kameez's (including dupattas - they're such a pain those things!)
Left to right: Smriti (she lives in the hostel with me), Vini (she hates taking photos, pleasantly and surprisingly she's in this one!), Sonu (my first day college buddy!), Me (yours truly!), Antu (fellow bong!) and Sharan (well, don't we all know Sharan!)

It's Christmas Eve! I want to go to church tomorrow but I'm not sure where to go and I have no idea what time the services might be at.

Hmm, oh and my brother seemingly has the movie - 'It's a Wondeful Life' which is a really really old Christmas movie so I plan on watching that tonight. D also left us some presents under the Christmas tree, sweetheart that she is. I'm excited!

Everyone must watch Stardust. I watched it again yesterday - well I sort of fell asleep a couple of times in between cause I was tired since I had stayed up late the night before watching it - see, it's like a vicious cycle! :) My cousin (Diu) came over yesterday afternoon so we watched it together and she really liked it to. Diu's come from Bombay to work and her parents are my gaurdians there. So funny, it's like we had an exchange program.

Anyway,

Merry Christmas Eve!

What do stars do?

You know when I said, I know little about love?
Well, that wasn't true. I know a lot about love.
I've seen it. I've seen centuries and centuries of it. It was the only thing that made watching your world bearable.
All those wars, pain and lies, hate, made me want to turn away and never look down again.
But to see the way that mankind loves...
You could search the furthest reaches of the universe and never find anything more beautiful.
So yes, I know that love is unconditional, but I also know that love can be unpredictable, unexpected, uncontrollable, unbearable and well, strangely easy to mistake for loathing and what... I'm trying to say... Tristan, is that I think I love you!
My heart, it feels like.... well, my chest can barely contain it, like it doesn't belong to me anymore.

- The Star tells Tristan, from the movie Stardust.

This is my favourite scene from the movie. I LOVE the movie! It's fantastical, magical, beautiful, funny - one of those fantasy movie you must watch. I loved it. I loved it. I loved it.

This scene also reminded me of the first song we sang in the Carol Service last Sunday...

One candle light another,
Then there are two,
Soon there are four,
Why can't we love one another?
Till there is peace,
And hate is no more.

Human capacity to love really is great and it is beautiful. So why can't we love one another? Imagine the power of love if it could wipe out hatred and bring peace.

Hymne a l'Amour

I'm listening to Josh Groban. He is AMAZING. I don't really like the 'Drummer Boy' song but when he sings it... nuff' said! Pa rum pum pum pum!

I had to wake up at 7:20 today and will have to do so for the rest of my holiday cause D and Dada have gone off to Vizag for Christmas with D's side of the family and usually Lulu's breakfast was D's job and now it has been passed on to me... The problem is that for some reason Lulu's not eating. She's hungry, but she's not eating so I basically had to feed her like a little baby, with the whole 'choo choo train' trick and all. I hope she eats her lunch.

I watched 'A Walk to Remember' AGAIN last night - part of the reason why it was so hard to wake up this morning.

I also started reading 'The Time Traveller's Wife' but it's pretty fat so I'm not sure I'll be able to finish it before I leave.

Come they told me

Pa rum pum pum pum

A new born King to see

Pa rum pum pum pum

Our finest bring we bring

Pa rum pum pum pum

To lay before the King

Pa rum pum pum pum

So to honour Him

Pa rum pum pum pum

When we come

Pa rum pum pum pum

We're having Biriyani at my cousin's place today. Yum! And I can't think of anything else to write...

Later,

What Child is this?

That day so many years ago...

I love the story of Christmas... It's just so amazing, extraordinary, everything beyond our imagination.

Truth is born in a stable,
Hope in a baby's eyes,
The Son of God has come to us,
A tiny stranger,
Heaven in a manger...

The greatest of Kings, born in the most humble of places.

Mary, did you know?
That your baby boy,
Would someday
Walk on water...

Mary, did you know?
That your baby boy,
Would save our
Sons and Daughters...

Did you know?
That your baby boy,
Has come to
Make you new...

The son that you delivered,
Would soon deliver you...

It's not about the Christmas trees, the presents, the lights, the Santas, food and wine... It's about Jesus. The King of Kings, born in a stable. God, made into flesh to save mankind.

This Christmas, think about these things...

Think about that day, so many years ago...

The Blue of Paradise

Haha. I tried out your link to slogans, Meg. Thus, the title. It's quite funny, more random titles to come!
Holiday tomorrow! I have classes from 8 till 11:20 in the morning and then I'll head for my Granny's in Andheri, have lunch and spend some time with her before I catch my flight at 5pm. Ye ye ye!
I went out Carol singing again today. Was good fun, I love the people from church. And dear Titus made us walk a lot cause well he THOUGHT he knew the place so of course he wouldn't bother to ask anyone so we just walked... walked ...walked and then finally he asked and we had to walk and walk back! Anyway, we were still early cause the rest were late - like really late!
Gahhh, my throat is all weird!
I'm going home tomorrow!! Somehow it doesn't seem like it... like I haven't packed enough and i'm only going for like 8 days...
Anyway, I better go get some sleep!

Rejoice! Rejoice!
For Christ was born on Christmas Day!
Rejoice! Rejoice!
We have a reason to celebrate!
Rejoice!

When Worlds Meet

I sing in the choir tomorrow and guess what? I woke up with a sore throat this morning! Had to happen, right?

Anyway, I’m feeling relatively better now. And soon I will be dragged to go shopping and then again to church for a full run-through for tomorrow.

I’m so EXCITED! Tomorrow three of my worlds shall meet! Well, sort of… Orvi’s coming and he will be representing Hebby, my college buddies will also be there, hostel mates and church friends :D

I’m staying at Sharan’s place tomorrow night cause I’ll get late after the service is over which doesn’t make too much sense cause Sharan lives like MILES away but I want to go and if I manage to wake up at 5 in the morning on Monday then I’ll attend Eco. It’s going to be a long and funnnnn weekend.

Apparently we have a Christmas tree at home! Looking forward to seeing that. Today, Dada and D celebrate their first anniversary! It’s already been a year! Yikes, time passes FAST!

Can’t think of anything else to say…

Later,

Merry Christmas!

It ain't me babe!

You can ignore the title, it's just a line from my favourite song from the movie - 'Walk the Line'
I actually had classes today. It's been a rare thing this term - we've just had too many other events in college which is a good thing cause well, who wants to go to classes?? Yesterday was our 'Annual Day' so we didn't have classes and watched a program in the auditorium instead which was great fun... It was totally packed and the performances were really entertaining.
After that we went out to 'Pizzeria' and had ummm... pizzas! ;) The pizzas were great but highly over-priced so we weren't quite satisfied so we went to 'Shiv Sagar' later and even that place turned out to be expensive but we ate anyway and just chatted...
I'm going home next week! Will only be there for about a week but looking forward to it anyway.
Uploading some pics from Sharan's surprise party and other random things...
More later,

Let there be Joy to the World

Honestly, I'm too tired to blog and my brain is protesting against my body and wants to shut down but it's been five days since I last blogged and if I keep putting it off I'll have way too much to say and not enough words to say them and that could get a little crazy. So here goes. A post that may or may not make too much sense.
I've been having a whole lot of fun. This little term between Diwali and Christmas has been all about FUN and honestly very very little or no studying. I'm not complaining. I might just get used to this!
Sunday was GREAT! Besides church (where the talk was really awesome and we also had choir practice) we also had a surprise party for Sharan. The best part was that she was totally surprised and oh-so-happy and it made us all really happy too. She was jumping for joy (literally) and it was just great! She turned 18 today but we had to have the party a day earlier cause there were other various things happening today. So the 6 of us (Vini, Joyee, Sonu, Antu, Gauri and I) made our way to Vashi on an over-crowded train (that was quite an experience) and up the lift (that was an adventure!) and hid ourselves in her house as her mum (who was co-conspiring with us) sent her down for tomatoes or something and then her sister brought her into the room we were hiding in and SURPRISE!!!! Ah good times. :-)
I stayed over at Joyee's house to save myself from getting thrown out of the hostel for being late back and also to prevent getting lost AGAIN. I don't think I've written about that - so the last time I went to Sharan's place I was alone on the way back and somehow FORGOT to get off at my stop (which was the last stop actually) and almost went back to Sharan's house before I realised the train had started going 'backwards'. Agh.
I loaned my 'Walk to Remember' DVD (which my darling Dotty/Tribal Kid/Niru sent for me all the way from Aussieland) to Sharan as a part of her birthday treat cause she's been wanting to watch it for a while. Unfortunately we couldn't watch the whole thing together cause it was late and we were a long way from home.
Jo and I barely stayed awake for about two hours after we got to her place, we had a conference call with Sharan at midnight to wish her and then we debating cooking something or eating something but finally decided we were not hungry enough to actually get out of bed to do that so we just stayed in bed and drifted off to sleep...
My sleep was slightly interrupted with almost nightmarish dreams and then before I knew it, it was morning. Didn't make much of a difference though - I was too sleepy (and uninterested) to attend Eco so after Jo had her driving class we headed to college together...
Orvi's back in town! And everyone is coming to the Carol service at church next Sunday (everybody being the friends that matter to me the most) and I am uber excited about that.
Tomorrow I will be missing college cause I will be volunteering for this thing called 'Salaam Mumbai' which is like an anti-tobacco organisation. Basically it's a cricket match for kids at this stadium called 'Brabourne' in South Mumbai and there will be thousands of kids and we have to help handle them... I don't know what I'm expecting... I'm expecting I'll be tired by the end of it and I'm hoping it'll be fun... :)
And on that note (I haven't got any work done!! ahhhh) I really need a shower and sleep!
Oh wait, one more thing. I believe that God is awesome and that He is doing great things in my life and in the life of those around me and I'm excited! I'm learning a lot. And I just thought that it's time that I openly expressed that...
I'm learning to breathe,
I'm learning to fly,
I'm finding that You
And You alone can break my fall...
G'night! :)

This thing called Christmas...

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas.

It’s not just a lyric, it’s true! I want to be in a place where it’s snowing now. It’s still hot in Bombay. Not as hot, but still – I want it to be cold! Many Mumbaikers seem to think it is cold though and I think it’s so bizarre – people walking around in sweatshirts and jumpers and jackets and getting sick. I guess I shouldn’t talk too much; I may end up with a cold myself. But I like to think I have Ooty blood.

I’m getting a lot of questions nowadays. Questions that I don’t have answers to sometimes but I’m glad to be questioned. For my own benefit and also for the benefit of the person asking the questions. I think it’s important to ask questions. It’s like admitting that there are some things that we don’t know and that we want to know the truth behind them and the truth is good, the truth is important, the truth is essential. And I think that if you truly seek it, the truth will show itself. Ask and you SHALL receive. Not you might, but you SHALL. It’s definite. There is no doubt about it.

One of the wise questions I got was; what is Christmas all about?

I think it’s a question, I need to think about. I don’t want it to be just about presents, Santa, Christmas trees, mistletoe, plum cake, wine, snow, etc, etc. I want it to be more.

So what’s Christmas to you?

Also, check this out! It's hilarious!

Birthday Season!

It’s birthday season over here and I’m going to be broke by the time I go back home. But I ain’t complaining – birthdays are fun, fun, fun!

Here are some pics from Antu’s Birthday. We had a GREAT time. We went out to lunch at a restaurant called ‘New Yorkers’ where they had vegetarian food! I thought that was quite funny, but they food was great. They had like Mexican and Italian dishes and oh yummy sizzling brownie. We had a whole lot of gifts that we kept producing at intervals and you should have seen Antu’s face! I love surprising people! After lunch, we simply walked down the road and tasted ‘Chilly Ice-cream’ – so bizarre. I didn’t really like it but Sharan is a great fan apparently.

At around 3, we headed off to Colaba to catch a movie (also a surprise) called ‘Aaja Nachle’. The movie was okay. It’s a dance movie thus great dancing, great songs and not too much of a story. Of course there was Kunal Kapoor in it and that really was the main attraction for me!! (He’s so cute!)

Tomorrow is another birthday, so I went shopping today and it felt really weird. It’s one of the things I’m really not good at – especially without my friends around. So I walked up and down Colaba like twice and then finally just picked up something and tried to bargain a little but I don’t think I really got good prices but whatever I just wanted to get out of there. Somehow shopping and me don’t go well together.

Oh – I’m a bit late but IT’S DECEMBER!! And CHRISTMAS IS COMING!!

It’s exciting. I love this month. But February is still my favourite month ;)

Time passes fast. Really fast. I've been out of school for almost two years! I think that will always be like my way of measuring the passage of time.

One year since I left school.... Almost two years.... Five years... and I should be done with college.... Ten years??? Who knows! But I'm excited to find out!

I read a Walk To Remember today. I started in the afternoon and finished it in the evening. It was pretty easy to read cause I kind of know the story of by heart but then again the story I know is the movie one. I dunno, I thought I liked the movie story better but then the book is also nice. They're really quite different actually. So they're both nice. I can't wait to watch the movie again!

Alpenliebe

I've eaten too much today. I started off with a sandwich for breakfast and then a cheese dosa at around 10:30 while we were waiting around for our next class and then I had a smoky-panneer-and-cheese roll cause I couldn't bear not to eat anything at 'Wraps and Rolls' and then we went to an orphanage to 'celebrate' one of the sociology students' birthday with the kids and I popped an Alpenliebe, some cake and some other stuff and then I came back to the hostel and had soup, mashed potatoes, chana, naan and a banana for dinner. No wonder I'm getting fat! What can I do, Bombay offers good food!!
My interview went pretty good yesterday. It wasn't half as scary as I thought it would be. There were seven panelists and just all the waiting added to the anticipation. But the good - no the GREAT thing is that I was calm and I didn't freak out and my heart didn't start pumping for dear life like it was going come up and lodge itself in my throat and prevent me not only from speaking but more importantly from breathing!! (these things have happened to me before!) Thank you, God. :)
I was exhausted by the end of it though - as if my body had been preparing itself for a 'flight or fight' situation, using lots of energy in the process and thus I was pretty drained by the end of it! I fought though and didn't flee although I had considered it a couple of times ;) but not seriously. I'm really glad, I went through that. Give me any interview now and I know I can do it!
So there. Boo to you, fear! :P
I'm reading like three books at the moment which leads to, I'm not reading any of them seriously. I WANT to just read 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' (Khaled Hosseini's second book; his first was 'The Kite Runner') but then I also have to do this stupid book review for Sociology. She told us the book could be anything but had to deal with a 'Social Issue' and "it shouldn't be more than four pages." Fan-bloody-tastic! I can't even decide what to write it on and it's due day-after-tomorrow. First I thought I'd do it on 'My Feudal Lord' by Tehmina Durrani - a book I read a long time ago and really liked at the time but then I took it out of the library again and I couldn't really stick to reading it - it's really not that great a book. It's horrible, the things that happened to her but it's not great to read.
So I got another book, called 'Survivors' which is a compilation of stories of kids who survived the Holocaust. Depressing, infuriating. I mean, it's really incredible (in a bad way) how low human beings can stoop. What I want to know is, how did Hitler manage to sleep at night? How did the thousands of people who followed his orders and support his ridiculous mission sleep at night? It's scary to think that you can actually kill your own conscience. Maybe that's the worst that can happen to a person... Is it easy to get to that point? Probably even the small things count. And it keeps piling on. Guilt on top of guilt on top of guilt.... on top of the door of the box containing your conscience until it can't open up any more.
Hmm, anyway, I better go and try and finish that book so I can START writing a book review on it!
But first to shower!
Later!

Garlands and such.

So the play was amazing and there was so much packed into this past weekend that it seems like I just got back from a holiday.

Anyway, about the play. Firstly, I was just soo excited. It's exactly the sort of thing I've been wanting to do for like ages - go out and watch a play. This play was at the NCPA (National Centre for the Performing Arts) at Nariman Point which is like the very TIP of Mumbai (after which you fall into the sea!) and was called 'FLOWERS' written by one Girish Karnad. The play only had one actor, an amazing set and yet he managed to paint this story quite vividly in the audience's mind describing how he is sort of suspended between worlds and he actually looked it - sort of suspended in mid-air. The synopsis of the play on the net says this: "A dramatic monologue about a devoted priest who violates both his ‘dharma’ and ‘bhakti’ because of his love for a courtesan. Torn between his love for his God and his love for Chandravati, between his duty to the king and his duty to his wife – the priest tells the story of his life after matters have come to a head, and all his loves and duties collide on a single night."
We've started Choir practices for the Carol service in church. I went for the first practice yesterday and I just loved the songs. They were quite jazzy and the usual ones you hear every christmas which is nice. So I was at church pretty much the whole day and then we went for the play in the evening and then after the play we stood out in the street indecisively trying to decide where to go for dinner and basically cracking up for no reason and then finally decided on McDonalds and then after we hogged on burgers and chips every one dispersed on their ways back home... AH, what a fantastic day!

I really don't feel like I'm back in college cause I haven't really got much work and have been gallavanting around town quite a lot and I've already got my tickets to go back to Bangalore on the 20th!! I guess this is what the month before Christmas is like, we come back from Diwali break and then by the time we're really settled into college life - it's holiday time again!!

I do have to read a book and write a review on it for Sociology by Thursday and I have my interview tomorrow which I just want to get over with. I hate this waiting around in apprehension - well I'm actually not too freaked out about it right at this moment. Ah, whatever, I'll live.

More later,

The Plan

I’m swaying to a song from ‘Saawariya’ – my favourite song, ‘Yoon Shabnami’

I still haven’t watched it and I refuse to watch a bad, pirated copy of it but then everyone else has already watched it and I don’t really have anyone to drag to the theatre with me. Hmmm, I might just go alone one fine day. That’s an idea. I’ve been hearing lots of mixed reviews about this movie. There’s one lot, who loved it and one who hated it. I don’t think I’ve met anyone who said it was OK.

Anyway, I spend the day yesterday at Joyee’s (my cuz) place and had a grand time. We watched one rubbish movie (the word in hindi would be ‘bakwaas’) called ‘Airplane’ it was like mad-humour types and I’m not a fan. Anyway, I had yummy lunch and we talked and we had lots of ice-cream and then we went out to have pani-puri and I ended up buying a pair of shoes on the way back! We only had Rs. 140 on us so that’s all the guy could take for the pair – a good bargaining tactic! ;)

We were planning on going for a play yesterday but it didn’t work out so we are now planning to go today. The plan is that I have to call up the theatre and ask if the tickets are available and if I should go and book them in advance and if they say ‘yes’ then I’ll go get them after church, otherwise we meet up at McDonalds at around 4 and go get the tickets and then hang around till 7pm and then go watch the play which is called ‘Flowers’ and is supposed to be really good. (English Prof’s recommend so it better be good!!)

Anyway, so I better be off!

More later,

Snap my fingers

Actually less than a month till I go back home again! I decided to come back for New Year's though. Actually my friends bullied me into it! ha ha, No I'm kidding. There's some event happening in IIT Mumbai which is supposed to be really good so we'll all go for that together and I'm going to kill you all if you leave me alone on the 31st!! I swear. I wonder what New Year's in Mumbai is like. It'll be a first. Although, I keep having pangs of changing my mind. Like I just want to be home!! Anyway, I managed extend the holiday a little more on the other side cause the 21st of December is Eid and so I can leave on the 20th after college.
Yesterday was a looong day. We only had two classes and then we went out to lunch and this really neat restaurant called 'Samovar' which is hidden in the famous Jehangir Art Gallery. Good times. The food was great, the company was better and we had some good laughs and conversations. After lunch we checked out the paintings on exhibition in the gallery and also outside on the sidewalks (the side walk ones were actually better!). And then we also stumbled upon this other neat gallery which was sort of like a maze. It was amazing! It smelled great cause there were these huge candles in the front of the gallery shaped in the letters L-O-V-E. I loved it. The painting were amazing and it was seriously like being in a dream, like you'd discover something new around every corner which you didn't even notice the first time you walked past. I just don't have enough words to describe it.
We also went to an amazing music store called 'Rhythm House'. Have I mentioned that I LOVE this city!!
After all that, I met up with a friend from church and we headed over to Jogeshwari on the other side of the city on the train (crowded of course!) for the Hillsong London concert. Also this band called the Yeshua Band did the opening act and they were FANTASTIC! I just loved it. Most of their songs were in hindi and the lead singer -- oh-my-goodness. Hillsong of course was also great, but I couldn't stay for too many of their songs cause I had to get back to the hostel in time and Jogeshwari is quite far away. Anyway, glad I got to go.
I need a book to read!!! I finished 'The Pact' - It was pretty good. Didn't really like the ending.
I have a scary interview on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday. Not sure when exactly - I'll probably get to know tomorrow. Oh Lord, I hope I don't freak out too much. I'll tell you what it's about if I get through!! So if you want to know about it, you have to say a prayer for me! haha, bribery. No but seriously, I'll need some heavenly intervention on this one! I need it on everything really, but I just don't always admit it!
I'm listening to 'Dance' by Derek Webb. It's a song that he wrote for his Grandma. Really cute story to it.
"I wanna dance, I wanna snap my fingers all night long and dance. I wanna dance, move around the room, just like a woman in a trance. All night, I wanna dance. I wanna wrap my arms around your neck and dance. I wanna listen to the music that's ringing in my ears. Cause one day I'm gonna dance right outta here!"
I feel like taking out my Christmas collection already.
More later,

Find your wings --

I pray that God will fill your heart with dreams and that faith gives you the courage to dare to do great things, to help you find your wings -– Mark Harris.

I like the idea that human beings can fly, even without having wings. I don’t mean like in a plane, or a parachute or whatever, but figuratively. And I don’t mean drug induced highs either. But reaching for meaningful things, for your dreams…

Anyway, I’m back in the hostel. My roomie left this evening for a twelve day educational tour in Karnataka. I’m excited for her – traveling is always good fun, especially when you’re with a big bunch of people – but I will miss her. Twelve days is quite a long time.

today dragged, to be frank. The entire ‘gang’ – my mad bunch of college friends – was not here and we were getting results from an exam that I had entirely forgotten about in our classes. I managed to scrape a ‘pass’ in Eco – which I am not particularly proud of and I HAVE to get 15 more marks this semester to pass the subject or I will have to re-write the exam. Bleh. At the beginning of the year when they told us about exams and told us we had to get 35 marks out of a 100 just to pass the year, I thought well that shouldn’t be too hard, right? Well, now I know. They’re actually pretty hard on marking. Wake up Tina, you’re in college! Anyway, I did pretty good in Socio and Psycho, which are more important subjects to me so cause I have to major in either one of these subject or double major in both in the third year so every extra mark counts basically…

Righto, that’s about all for now…

Cheerio!

The will...

It's been a while.
Landmark is the new Crosswords. I think i've mentioned that Crossword is my favourite book-store. Well, I went to Landmark at Forum mall here in Bangalore yesterday and it wins -- hands down. They definitely have a much much larger collection and they're not scared to stack up and they have books on absolutely everything and I also like how they arrange the books...
I went to Forum to meet up with Rishi, my good ol' neighbour from back in the day in School. Ahh, we used to have so much fun and Rishi is just great. We had some good laughs and talked about College, Life, Boys, etc.
Anyway, after she left, I had some time and so I went to Landmark. Give me money and some time and a mall, and i'll find a bookstore to spend the money on! I would much rather buy a book over clothes anyday. But then I do have a genius of a mother who's been stitching a whole bunch of kurtis for me. I don't know how she does it, but she does it great.
Anyway, so I went searching for 'The Pact' and one of the guys at the store pointed me towards where all the Jodi Picoult books live and I looked and looked and they had every title except for this one. So I was reading through the back cover of 'Plain Truth' or maybe it was 'The Tenth Circle' and I look up and there it was --- 'The Pact' staring at me from the top shelve, for some reason separated from the rest. I gasped and smiled and made my way to the cash counter, also with a book on oil painting for my mom -- it's her newest hobby and she's pretty good. So I now have something to read on the plane.
I'll be on the plane back to the big city on Sunday morning and I'm trying to think of things to look forward to, so that I'm mildly excited about going.
1) Well, of course seeing everyone!
2) I'll be joining the choir at church for the Christmas service -- looking forward to that. Also means, I get to spend some more time with the folk at church and get to know them a little more.
3) Apparently there's a Hillsong concert on the 21st, but it's a Wednesday and it's at Jogeshwari so I really hope I can go. Provided the warden -- who lives up to every dreadful notion of that word, I'm sorry, I don't like here very much -- let's me go..
On the other hand, I'm gonna have quite a handful of stuff to do when I get back especially cause I just remembered last week that I was supposed to do some research for FC and I also haven't finished the water conservation data inputting thing. Oh blah. Sorry, this is probably gibberish to most of you. Basically, I'm gonna have to pay for my procrastination when I get back...

Take my dreams, come and give them wings. I am small, but You are big enough. I am weak, but You are strong enough. Take my dreams, come and give them wings. Lord, with you, there's nothing I cannot do...
-- Britt Nicole

It's a friggin' battlefield over here!

Today is: Diwali again and this is actually my first time in an Indian Metro during Diwali which is like right on top on the list of the million festivals that India celebrates. Like a lot of things, there's a linguistic divide on this one too - the South Indians celebrate it one day earlier than the rest of India. Don't ask why, cause I really don't know... Anyway, so being in Bangalore, we had a fair bit of madness on the streets outside yesterday with people bursting crackers like there's no tomorrow and it'll be the same if not worse today. (Imagine me yelling - I can't take it anymore!!!) Yes, firecrackers are up there on my list of 'things I don't like'. The pretty ones are still okay (in moderation!) - it's the loud ones I really hate. Now those are really pointless. So don't burst too many crackers this Diwali! And try and check for a sign that says "No Child Labour Involved" on the boxes of crackers that you buy... I know they could easily lie about that, but that's the closest you get to knowing for sure if you have to burst crackers...

Movies: Oh lots in the last couple of days. The most recent would be 'Jab We Met' which was fun... I also watched 'Little Women' on TV and 'The pursuit of Happyness' (Liked it better than the book) and 'Reign Over Me' - good movie.

Music: Well I'm listening to the soundtracks of 'Saawariya' and 'Jab We Met' - both are good...

I wonder: What Saawariya is going to be like... With all the hype especially...

Game: India lost yesterday in a nail-biting match. It was good fun, I was the only one holding on to the possibility of India winning in my house. All pessimists I tell you! I missed you Sonu!! Reminded me of the Twenty20 Final. Sooooo close!

Her Highness...

Things on my mind...

~I'm reading 'Salem Falls' by Jodi Picoult at the moment. She's good. She's really good. This book is better than 'Vanishing Acts' but not as good as 'My Sister's Keeper'. For a change we get to look at rape from the man's point of view. No - she doesn't justify it. It can never be justified but what happens when a man is wrongly accused of it? I've never given this much thought so I'm seeing a new perspective and I like it when books make me do that....

~After some time of wishing I could remember my dreams, I remember what I dreamt of last night and now I wish I didn't! Life!

~I met up with my good friend Doris this past weekend. We met at the MMB classes (German classes) and really clicked. At the moment she's pretty much my only friend in Bangalore so it was really nice to meet up and talk about everything - God, Life, etc!

~I only have like two weeks left of holiday! Meh. I'm in two minds on this one. I want to go back and see all my crazy friends (Sharan, Vini, Sonu, Joyee, Gauri and my darling roomie Dakshu!) but I so DO NOT want to go back to classes!! No surprise here about Economics especially! And also I don't want to leave home and the wonderful, cool weather and mum's cooking - yum!

~Pakistan in state of Emergency

Power in the hand of one man, is truly dangerous. It's horrible to see how the fundamental rights of people are being denied, people put behind bars for no reason. What does a man truly gain out of this mindless violence? How does he sleep at night?!?!? Reminds me of this verse... "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?" (Luke 9:25)

However, the cricket goes on! India-Pakistan first ODI today...

~ हिंदी - my blog can speak hindi better that I can! Maybe i'll be able to learn some this way. I really should...

~'Fiddler on the Roof' - I remember Tashu going on and on about this movie but not paying much attention to it. I finally watched it last week though and man, it's great! It's hilarious, educative, musical and one more must watch!

Anyway, those are a few things on my mind--

I'm off to watch the cricket and have some lunch--

Oh yeah, here's a picture we took on Sunday of all the cousins (and their better halves) that are here in Bangalore...

Toodles!

***** = it was amazing!

Some of my favourite lines from "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini

~ It’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out...

~ There was a brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that not even time could break.
Hassan and I fed from the same breasts. We took our first steps on the same lawn in the same yard. And, under the same roof, we spoke our first words.
Mine was Baba.
His was Amir. My name.

~ Children aren't coloring books. You don't get to fill them with your favorite colors...

~ There is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft....When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness...

~Quiet is peace. Tranquility. Quiet is turning down the VOLUME knob on life. Silence is pushing the OFF button. Shutting it down. All of it.

And many more... This book had me stopping in between reading and going "Wow!"

It had me awake till 2 am determined to finish it although I really didn't want it to finish.

It made me question myself.

Made me imagine myself in situations of life and death where my life could mean the death of another and ask myself would I really have the courage to choose life for another?

It reminded me also of the impermanence of life and especially of wealth. One minute you're a rich man and the next you're on the streets begging. It can happen to anyone.

Made me make up my mind on the question of war: It's never good. You go into war with the excuse of saving something but at what cost? Rape? Innocent lives? Mindless violence? Starvation? Abuse? Millions of refugees? Worst of all; stealing the innocence of children. The cost is always too high. And it always happens. It justs happens behind the scenes mostly and people forget to notice...

This book made me angry, cry, laugh, smile, think, and hope. I highly recommend. The best I've read in a while.

P.S.I hope the movie does it justice! It released yesterday but obviously will take some time to get here... See the trailer.

Crackling Spinach

So I was bored and I went on a banner-making spree, one of which I put on my blog (it's the little old women on a purple background) but i'm not sure if anyone (besides me) can actually see it... So if you can, please leave me a comment and if enough people can, then it'll stay otherwise it'll have to go back to the plain-jane that blogger offers!
P.S. There's also a banner on Niru's blog. Can anyone see that??

This Blog is Under Renovation!

Bargain Price!

I got out of the house today. It's an achievement!
Anyway, so I went to Crosswords (of course!) and I was a little disappointed. The outlet nearest to my place is quite small so they don't really have much of an extensive stock. Anyhow, atleast I got what I really wanted - The Kite Runner. I haven't really been doing much reading. Watching movies is pretty time consuming!! And I'm not happy with how fast time is going. Why does it do that? Exam week went sooo SLOWLY and now its like racing.
I also went to Planet M. There's a new outlet very close to Crosswords so that was nice and convenient. I wanted to buy the Laaga Chunari mein Daag album and there it was standing on the display. I turned it around to see the price and was expecting like a good 125 bucks atleast which is the usual for hindi CDs nowadays but low and behold it says 75 bucks. Wow! I was expecting less. That's cool. But there's more - it also has a bunch of bonus tracks from Chakde!, Bunty aur Babli, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, Veer-Zaara, Kabul Express, Ta Ra Rum Pum and Fanaa. An all inclusive MP3 for 75 bucks. I had a hard time really believing it but here I am listening to the CD and I really only paid that much! I'm very happy! I finally have all the songs from Lagaa... and also Chakde! which I've been wanting for a while...
So I'm singing... Badal pe paon hain...!
It's pretty cool, I think in the aim of bring piracy down you can buy like most hindi film original VCDs for as little as 35 bucks. I say it's a good idea. I LIKE! :D
Look at me talking about bargaining prices like an old woman! Oh, I can't wait! :D

Give and Learn

I found this awesome link on one of my favourite blogs.

Free Rice - it's like a vocab game and every word you get right, they'll donate 10 grains of rice towards ending world hunger. It's fun and there's always Dictionary.com to help you out! ;-) Meg and I figured it's for a good cause so it's not really cheating. So try it out! You'll learn new words like frenetic = highly agitated or pare = trim or to jounce = to jolt and so on while helping to feed someone...

Bring on the movies!

Past two days have been good... i have been gathering lots of calories, little sleep and no exercise. oh whatever!

so i've watched a LOT of movies that i'm dying to write about. so let's start from the very beginning!

1. Miss Potter - Absolutely magical. I loved it, I loved it, I loved it. Its based on the life of a gutsy woman called Beatrix Potter who you've just got have heard about... Tom Thumb, Peter Rabbit - ring a bell?! If you liked Finding Neverland, I think you might like this too...

2. North Country - If you're looking to relax (and especially if you're a woman and looking to relax) don't watch this movie! It's a pretty serious movie that's based on a particular woman who files a case against a mining company for sexual harassment and gosh the things those men did, it really gets your blood boiling. I cried buckets for this movie so be warned.

3. Bridge to Terabithia – When I saw the trailers for this movie, I was pretty far from wanting to watch it but it’s actually not bad. Something about it made me feel like I’ve seen this before – I can’t quite figure out what it is…
4. Lagaa Chunari Mein Daag – Going out to watch a movie in Bangalore is no joke. I won’t get started on the mess this city is in due to all the Metro work and really what looks like pretty poor maintenance or planning and of course the most irresponsible drivers… Argh. Anyhow, I managed to convince my mum and aunt to go to Inox at Garuda Mall to watch Lagaa… with me. I liked it. I don’t think this is a movie for all. To some the storyline will seem pretty clichéd but actually it’s not your usual prostitute movie with all the “tumne is khandan ka naak kaat diya” dialogues (basically you’ve brought shame upon this family), we finally see some understanding, some love, acceptance and sharing of the plight of prostitution. Now THAT is a change from the rest if you think about it. I also LOVED the colour in the movie – it was colourful without necessarily being ostentatious. Rani looked gorgeous. Konkona – well there’s just no one like her. The bong babes - what can you say! ;) hee hee. Kunal – Ohhhh Kunal!! Even Abhishek Bachan looked good. And a happy ending… who can resist a happy ending. I’d say go watch it if you’re looking for a good “Bolly” movie. The songs, the dancing, the larger than life – it ought to lighten your heart. Watch the trailer here.
5. Breaking and Entering – Another of my brother’s downloads. It had Jude Law in it, so I couldn’t resist. Interesting characters, interesting storyline. Some bits got me confused and irritated just with the general stupidity of mankind. Have you ever watched a character do something stupid and yelled – “Why??? Why would you do that!?!” I have. At Jude Law, in this movie.
6. Sabrina – No, not the teenage witch, I’m talking about one of Audrey Hepburn’s classics. I just love that woman and it may seem strange but there’s something about black and white movies that colour doesn’t quite capture… Also stars Humphrey Bogart. I spent most of the movie trying to figure out where I have seen him before and then I finally figured it out - Casablanca (1942). "Here's looking to you, kid." If you haven't watched Casablanca, you ought to!

So you wanna change the world?...

...Well, what are you waiting for!?

Day three
Movies watched: 2 - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. This book is still my favourite from the entire series and the movie just does the book no justice. But still I watched it, for the second time. It was playing on tv so... I need to go to the video shop sometime and also to the theatre to watch 'Lagaa Chunari mein Daag'. (I love Kunal Kapoor! and Of course Rani Mukherjee too... and Konkona Sen is also one of the best of Bollywood...) Oh, and I also just watched 'Surf's Up' ... cute movie. Total spoof on the whole reality show thing...
Minutes of treadmilling: 22 - Today I figured I can read while i'm walking which is good, cause treadmilling is actually REALLY boring unless you have some entertainment. It's like you walk kms and you don't actually get anywhere and the scenery doesn't change either...
Random thoughts: I'm really itching to go somewhere, experience life in a different way. That's one of the things I miss the most about school. If I think about it, I got to go to a lot of places from school. Be it class trips or voluntary trips. Orissa 2004 being the best. I want to do something like that again. Go and live with people the way they live in a village or something, do some hard work, sleep on the hard ground, shit in a hole. Maybe it doesn't sound like anything many would willingly do but man, it's in situations like those that you learn the most... Maybe next summer... Sorgie's interested too and he wants to make use of his newly aqcuired skills in hindi and I also want to go somewhere where I can actually speak to people so we're thinking North India but not yet sure what or with which organisation. If anyone has any ideas, do tell...
Song of the day: Well I have two today - 'What are you waiting for?' by Natalie Grant and 'Mountain of God' by Third Day ( I LOVE THIRD DAY!! This song is in WOW 2008)
Picture of the day: Courtesy of Sonu! I put some BLING BLING onto it! hee hee. This was taken in college some time back...

Free - in the greater sense.

Day two of holiday:

• Movies watched: 1 - 'Pan's Labyrinth'. Excellent, a little gruesome (I had to cover my eyes in some parts) but a beautiful story. It's a Spanish movie that was one of the Oscar nominees for the Best Film in a Foreign Language this year. ('The Lives of Others' in German won, which is also a great movie)
• Books completed: 0 - Still reading the Kim Edwards one. I figured last night what I really like about those stories are unusual and exotic settings... for example an American with his Korean war bride. Cultural diversity, she really brings it out nicely...
• Weight: I'm not going to tell you that! But I did check before I left Bombay and I'm hoping it'll reduce when I get back.
• Minutes of treadmilling (or treading the mill, baahaha, it's just shorter than saying walking on the treadmill): 20
• Song of the day: 'If you want me to' by Ginny Owen

The pathway
is broken

And the signs
are unclear

And I don't
know the reason why you brought me here

But just
because you love me the way you do

I'm gonna
walk through the valley

If you want
me to

Bring me a sweater

When it rains in Bombay, the temperature remains pretty much the same and it just gets stickier... when it rains here, it gets nice and cool.... I LOVE IT!

It's good to be home.

Oh, and I LOVE Mumbai airport! It's all new and jazzed up and spacious AND it has a Crossword which is my favourite book store. So I went there and I bought a book that's not on my list on books to read! Great going... It's the the 'Secrets of the Fire King' by Kim Edwards who also wrote this wonderful book called the 'The Memory Keeper's Daughter' which I had read during the Summer.

Secrets of the Fire King is a collection of short stories. I read two on the way here and they're pretty good.

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel got the Man Booker Prize in 2001, so there's got to be something about it, right?? Actually, I've only heard good reviews about it... Anyway, let's see if I get through my list far enough to read that one. I remember reading 'The Facts about the Helsinki Roccamatios' by Yann Martel which is a collection of short stories and I really liked it and his style of writing was appealing too...

Anyway, there are also some books lying around the house that I want to read so getting through my list looks pretty bleak at the moment. Sometimes just looking at Shantaram freaks me out! It is SOO huge!

We went a little crazy after finishing our exam on Friday and had a little photo-shoot... here are the results!

The longest week ever

It's STILL only thursday. This week seems to have been going on forever and I'm almost fed-up but I will not give up yet. Well, it's only french tomorrow and french is well french (don't worry if that doesn't make any sense). Last night, I was thinking about how great it is that I'm finally going home and I get a break from college for almost a month. The only bad thing is that I'm going to get a lot of thinking time again. I've been pretty good at blocking out thinking about stupid things these past few weeks cause of all the studying and well I just haven't had time, if I wasn't studying, I was sleeping or eating or laughing about the most random things (or stupid arguments, like a case of memory loss hahaha) with my friends and NOT thinking about some things that may bother me if I think about them. I'm obviously not going to tell you what they are, btw. :-P
I need to find things to do this holiday. For starters I have a list of books that I want to read:
1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (I have to read this for my book-club)







2. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (I started this a while ago but didn't get to finishing it)








3. The Life of Pi by Yann Martel







4. The witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho (its been a long time since I've read one of his books)







5. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts







So my first trip out in Bangalore shall be to Crosswords! I probably won't end up reading all these books cause well, Shantaram and The Fountainhead are pretty sizeable books. But let's see I did manage to finish Gone with the Wind in like a week or something during the summer so anything is possible! ;)
I also want to watch a lot of movies but nothing comes to mind right now... Besides the 'Feast of Love' which is apparently a modern rendering of Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream" which I love! Hopefully I might watch it this Saturday if I can convince the rest. Sonu is with me on this one, right?? PLEASE let's NOT watch Bhool Bhulaiya!! :S
I feel like watching some old movies, maybe some more Audrey Hepburn classics. I LOVE HER. I think I will also watch the other two parts of the Godfather while I'm at it. I actually liked the first one.
Oh, I CANNOT WAIT TO GET HOME!!! :D :D :D

Counting Down

Over the weekend, Deepak and Mr. Ruddock came to visit and I had the pleasure of spending Saturday afternoon with them (and also taking Deepak to my church on Sunday!)
Deepak came down from Pune where he is studying Science at Fergusson College. For the non-hebby's reading this, Deepak or a.k.a. "dada" and I went to school together in Ooty.
Mr. Ruddock came from Ooty where he went for drama week and now has gone off to some exotic country (the name of which I have forgotten. Mr. Ruddock was a history teacher at Hebron and I never studied history so I didn't really get to talk to him much at school so it was nice to have the chance. And actually under the thick Irish accent, he's a very very sweet old man who insists on paying your lunch bill! ;)
We had lunch (a pizza and chicken hakka noodles - don't ask why!) at this cafe at Colaba that I really like -Mondy's- and then after lunch we ventured to this island called "Elephanta Island" on a boat. The journey took about 45 mins and then we climbed many many stairs to see these caves and statues that are carved out of the rock there. It was quite interesting and was kind of nice to be trekking again (I also found out how totally UNFIT I am - I was literally panting which is not good, I lived in Ooty for five years, I should be able to climb hills!!)
Then we went back to the city through the ocean which is most unfortunately as polluted as is the city. There are soooo many ships out there dumping their dirty exhaust into the air and their oil into the water and of course the people of Bombay who have absolutely ZERO civic sense and throw all their garbage into the sea. It makes me SOOO mad. Meh. Anyway, let's not get started on that.
I'm half-way through my exams. So far so good. I've been studying quite a lot, just not sure if I'll get the results! Seriously, I can't remember being able to study this way, like ever. Not sure what changed. Actually even I don't get good results, this time atleast I can say, I really tried. Less distractions, I guess and of course, I believe God listens to my prayers and keeps me focused as well and somehow so far there haven't been any questions in my papers on which I have not studied at all.
Call it what you want, I call it 'Grace'.

Bah. Studying.

Yep, it's going great! ;) Lol.

World Non-Violence Day

What does that mean anyway?? Does it really serve any purpose?? We have soooo many days - St. Valentines' Day, World Peace Day, World Elder's Day, World Ice-cream Day (seriously now WHAT does that mean??) Mother's Day, Father's Day, Brother's Day, Granduncle's Day, Neighbours Day, My Fish Day... Okay so I made up the last few (and I love the fact that today being Gandhi Day or World Non-Violence Day means I don't have to go to college!!) but I mean, it's really bordering on ridiculous and why should there be a DAY to remind us of the things that we should be thankful for or be aware of EVERYDAY?? And how does non-violence day really initiate or encourage people of the concept anyway?? So we remember Mahatma Gandhi and his non-violent ways for today and the front page of the newspaper tells us to remember the importance of it but excuse me for being a cynic, I don't see what that DOES! We can talk and talk and talk about these things, where is the action? After a while these days just become tradition, aimless, fruitless, just another holiday.
Feel free to disagree :D
In other news, a couple of the girls in the hostel and I went to watch a movie called 'The Loins of Punjab' (I haven't mispelled it). It was one of those Indo-American movies with some swearing and sexual innuendos, but besides that, it was quite hilarious and quite sweet and quite cliche(or maybe prejudice is a better word here)-breaking which is the part that I liked the best, no, actually what I liked the best was the part where... wait, this might be a spoiler so I won't say it! ;)
Also, we got slaughtered by the aussies in Kochi today which is sad and I don't know what exactly happened cause I didn't watch the entire match but I was listening to the last part up until we hit a six and then we got caught out. Meh. Oh well, it's all in the game, I guess. ;) Yes, okay, well done Aussies!
More later,

201 posts

Isn't that crazy???? Over these 201 posts, I went back to Zambia, I met my old chuddy-buddies, I wrote an SAT exam, I cried many many many tears, I travelled to a few places, I celebrated a my nineteenth birthday, I celebrated many other friends' birthdays, my brother got married, India got thrashed by Bangladesh in the 2007 world cup, I met many many new people, I read a lot of books, heard a lot of new music, watched many movies, moved to a new city, got into college, did a lot of stupid things,India won the Twenty20 world cup,I had a lot of fun... To many more posts...