Fahrrad!

So one of my classmates bought himself a super cool bicycle this week! Its got twenty one gears (I am sooo jealous!) and he rode it to class yesterday and so after class ended we were all outside admiring it and taking turns... Here are some pictures...

That's all of us talking...

Prashant in blue - the proud owner of the bike

And here's a nice contrast... That's Ganesh easily getting on the bike that look funnily small for him!! Needless to say, he's VERY tall! I try not to stand to close to him when I'm trying to talk to him, cause well... it hurts my neck looking up like that!

And then that's me... concentrating extremely hard to peddle and then get myself up on the seat, all without killing myself! Stopping and getting off was a whole different story! Yes, yes laugh all you want, it felt soooo good cycling after so long though!

Pineapple juice in coconuts!

So those of you who are not in India at the moment here's what's new in the daily life of an Indian resident:

The two rupee coin!

Unfortunately I don't have a sample to show you... I try to hold on to them whenever I get one, but well, its money, so that's quite impossible! Not that I think they're good looking... I like the old two rupee coins much better, anyway, I shall post a picture when I get hold of one...

Also they now sell Coconut water in nifty little bottles and packets in the stores... I discovered this a couple of weeks ago... Its nowhere as good as the real thing of course... There's nothing like drinking coco jal on the roadside through a dirty straw! ;) Anyway, so I bought I a packet today cause I just felt like drinking something refreshing and I wanted to be able to take it home and to my surprise I opened it and poured it into a glass and it turned out to be pineapple juice!!! It happens only in India! I was quite disappointed... Pineapple juice sucks!

Ah well... Such is life!

I love how hilarious this country is...

Much love,

Oh look I found a picture...

When I grow up...

Its been a hot day! This house is like a furnace and with the summer also comes power cuts, so basically there's nothing you can do but to bear it...
Went to church today and absolutely LOVED the worship. There was a great bunch of singers up front and some wonderful hymns too but I was really tired and kept yawning throughout the sermon (oops!) Anyway, I got the most out of the worship and it suddenly struck me how the peace and joy that God gives you, can compare to nothing whatsoever... Its just something else.
In other news, I keep getting post from the unis I applied to abroad but I have no need for them anymore, cause I have decided that I am going to stay in India for college. The prospects of going abroad were always rather bleak and I am tired of sitting on the fence and saying maybe I will go, maybe I won't, I'm not sure and I am glad to have this surety now that I am staying here... it is a little disappointing but an odd sense of satisfaction comes with it too. And I feel, no... I know, it is for the best. So Uni applications, here I come ONCE AGAIN! sigh. the only problem is, now I have no idea what course I should do. I just can't figure out what kind of vocation I see myself in in a couple of years... will I be a teacher, a lawyer, a social worker, a diplomat, a translator, a linguist??? I really don't know... I know I definitely will NOT be a doctor, an accountant, an engineer or anything to do with software and IT companies, well I don't really want to! I thought I would know by the end of my gap year, but apparentely it didn't bring me any closer to making a decision! So any ideas anyone??

Nope, we won't...

So we didn't win and I didn't actually stay up all night, with two consecutive nights of shortage of sleep, it was pretty impossible for me to stay up... I watched most of the Sri Lankan innings and went to sleep with a mixture of doubtful and hopeful thoughts of our making it to 245 runs... hopeful because against Bermuda we showed we were capable of 412 runs and doubtful because... well, that was Bermuda and this is Sri Lanka! Fell asleep sporting my India shirt (as if that would really help the team!) with the pup next to me and then D came and took her to her room and I set my alarm for midnight so I could wake up and watch the Indian innings... never actually heard the alarm and I ended up waking up at around 3 ish and the match was over and judging from Mandira Bedi's facial expressions, I knew it was over for India. Terrible. Really sad, but I guess there are worse things, like the murder of Bob Woolmer... now that is the worst that can happen in a World Cup.... Its sad that something like Sport, that I feel is a good and positive way of bringing people together in healthy competition and just some FUN can boil down to events like this... Its sad that sooo many people in India did all sorts of rituals and pujas and appealed to the gods for India to bring back the cup this year... Honestly, is that REALLY the most important thing? It was also sad seeing people on the news channels last night abusing the team and just being really angry about them losing the match... Well, I don't know all that much about cricket and I didn't even watch the entire match, but I'm sure they tried! I mean, naturally, the people actually playing the game out there, really know what its like and probably want more than us, to win... So let's be nice! We can't just love them when they win! I say, let's go TEAM INDIA!!

Will we win!?

Its almost as big as the final match: Sri Lanka vs India
Oh, the tension.
I'm exhausted and I have splitting headache and I'm not the happiest chappiest being on earth at the moment, but hey life goes on and atleast I got to talk to Grace who is in Hyderabad now and is coming back on Monday (Thank the Lord!!) and even though I am exhausted I know I will stay up all night watching India play whether we win or lose.
Had a late night last night... went to this little group Bible study with a couple of friends. I went with Doris and I hardly knew anyone but almost half of the group were Hebronites so it was really cool and we had some great discussions and laughs and tea and chocolates. Mili was there too, she was our IG in std. 9 when I first joined school, and we all absolutely LOVED her and she's still exactly the same... Was sooo great to see her and was so cool hearing stories about Hebron.
Anyway, more later...

Say hello to Sasha!

Meet the newest and cutest member of the family! She's about a month old and is a pure pug, thus purely adorable with her black little face, flat nose and big eyes!

She...

loves to be loved,Is mischievous, Loves to chew fingers,

Loves her friend, Spotty, who is soon going to be merely pieces of cotton because Sasha loves to chew on her too!

Loves to kiss...

and cuddle!

and all in all is just an absolute bundle of joy that you can't help but love even though she bites pretty hard cause she doesn't realise how sharp her teeth are and she pees every where except for on the newspaper!

Hoo Haa INDIA!

This blog has been locked by Blogger's spam-prevention robots. You will not be able to publish your posts, but you will be able to save them as drafts.

BAH! I think its hilarious
actually! Its not this one, its the photo blog so
I can't put up any new
photos for a couple of days... They say they'll fix
it in
two working
days so hopefully you'll be able to see some pics from
my
trip to
Coorg and also another little surprise! Oooh, the suspense!

Anyway, I am alive and kicking!
Stayed up till about 3 am watching Team India
kick Bermuda's ass. Poor guys,
I kind of felt sorry for them, but we HAD to
win
that game and we did it
beautifully! I just hope and pray they keep
it
up for
the next game
which is absolutely essential for us!!

And I bet, about three fourths of you couldn't care less about all of this. :P It really sucks, I have to celebrate on my own, nobody seems to be interested in cricket around here, that I know of at least... not even in my class!!! How weird is that, I'm living in India, where cricket is like a lifeline for millions, and I don't really know any of them!! Unless ofcourse I call up my dad, but that's a rather expensive thing to do but anyway, we did talk after the match, which was cool!

I have no idea why this stupid thing is looking so random... anyway, more later, watch out for photos.

Did you know?

Another 16 hours of a day have gone by. Today started early; I managed to wake up at six, asking God to please help me keep my eyes open, I lay my head back on the pillow and dozed for a while until I sat up in bed and sighed and got out. I made my way to the bathroom and blinked at the brightness of the light that had been on all night and then turned it off. I hate artificial lights during the day; they really annoy me for some reason. It makes me feel like it should be night and insults the light of the day. There's something magical about drawing the curtains after a dark night and letting the sunlight in, that is... ofcourse if there is any sunlight... at six in the morning, there isn't much but its still better than a tubelight.
After class, I randomly wandered through the busy roads... Had to visit the bank, so I walked there, and then filled my phone with talk time and then sat at the bus stand for about five minutes, in vain, cause the bus never did come and I hate waiting, so I went into this card shop just next to the bus stop and looked at some cards and laughed at the corny messages on some of them. Valentines day was the best! The shelves were just full of corny, sloppily lovey dovey cards. I should have written down some of the messages, but I don't think the shop owner would have appreciated that... Anyway, the bus still didn't come so I walked to the music store to see if there was anything new and worth listening to and there was nothing.... And I just continued walking down the street, trying to decide whether to wait at the next bus stop or risk taking an auto and I say risk, because auto drivers drive me mad and I could go on and on about that for five whole pages but I won't! :P I did risk it though and... well, I got home. I guess I should count my blessings.
So there was absolutely no point to all of what was said above just like usually, there isn't any specific point to wandering; you just walk, aimlessly so to speak and spontaneously stop or turn left, or right or walk into a shop... I just felt like writing, and didn't quite know what to write about! :P
Anyway, here are some "did you knows" for you:

• This is my 115th Post!!! HA! (I am so jobless, it shows...)
• Babies have no kneecaps at birth
• The body's total volume of blood filters through the kidneys every four minutes
• Brain cells can die if they are deprived of oxygen for even ten seconds!!

P.S. I learned those things from a book I'm reading called "Rumours of another World" by Phillip Yancey and they really fascinated me so I thought I'd share it! :)

"The goal of contemplation is to see life as God sees it, a unity of two worlds and not a division. That encompasses both a lifetime of practice and rare, single flashes of revelation." - Phillip Yancey

Cricket Mania!

Its the world cup!! I remember the last one very clearly, we were at school, std. 11 and it was pretty crazy!!

Here's a pic from my old diary from 2003 just to show you some of the signs of my madness! I made a collage in my diary, cutting out every possible photo from the newspapers...

Unfortunately we didn't take home the trophy last time, dunno if we will this time either but let's see!

Here's another quote for you: "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the sourse of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed." - Albert Einstein

"Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old" - Franz Kafka

I like that. So just had to post it.

In other news, I still have a bad stomach, I'm doing a lot of laundry and it just never seems to come to and end... I guess that's the consequence of procrastination... Joey is nuts but adorable at the same time - its the eyes, he does something with his eyes that just make you want to love him. Joey is our dog by the way just in case you were starting to think I was talking about the hot guy in my class or something ;) I'm still learning hindi and today I also learnt how to use the abacus and how to count up to ninety nine with ten fingers. Its fantastic. I love these presentations we're having in class, learning some awesomely interesting stuff.

Grace is out of town. Grace is in Bhubaneshwar; out at the village seeing the school we build and I SO WANT TO BE THERE WITH HER its not even funny! Anyway, she's taking me along with her phone calls and emails and I'm so happy for her! Come back soon though, Cho, lots of new films have come out that we have to go and see for the morning shows!

I'm listening to a lot of music; here are some of the songs on my playlist...
On Fire - Switchfoot
Don't let go - Bryan Adams and Sarah Mclachan (I love 'em both and together, they sound fab! Its a nice sort of fusion...)
Janey woh hey kahaan - Soundtrack Honeymoon travels (sweet song for the romantics and I'm an idiotic romantic!)
Aaaj me Upar - Soundtrack Khamoshi (classic song!) a song I had forgotten about for a long time till we talked about the movie in class yesterday cause there's apparentely a german version of the film and film is our theme at the moment....

My great plans of dieting and exercising have all gone to the dogs, well actually haven't really been eating much for the last couple of days because I don't feel well, but I highly doubt that counts as a healthy diet. Hmmm. I'm still to get into the books I bought at the book fair in Kolkata... I still wish it would rain, although its much cooler today than usual. I'm dying to go to uni... Actually that's not true. I'm dying to go somewhere although I'm not sure where. I really want to go to Salsa classes but... its just not happening.

Yup, that's all for now...
Later,

learning new things...

Hello all!
I had my german presentation today and it went great. Much easier than I thought it would be and I didn't stammer or stutter or look like I was going to faint from nervousness and I am very proud of myself for that but ofcourse I can't take all the credit. Its one of the things that I am constantly praying about and good old God listens to prayers! Anyway, its over!! Now I can relax and enjoy all the others' presentations.
Not much else new happening here. I've decided to teach myself the devangari script, well as much as I can manage on my own. Devangari btw is the name of the script that is used in hindi. So there's some new information for you! I just learnt that today myself. The script used in bengali is called Brahmi and they're quite similar but personally I think Brahmi is prettier than Devangari but I could be biased! I've learnt bits and pieces of both hindi and bangla before so the basics are easy to pick up on. And it also helps immensely that I can speak the language. And its all on the internet; my ultimate resource of information from roast chicken recipes to you name it... Its pretty cool. It feels like being a kid again, writing the alphabet out again and again and its always cooler to be a kid than a grown up! lol.
Maybe someday I can Bangla again as well and read some of the fantastic literature that so many bengalis are known for... HA! how's that for wishful thinking!?!
later,

Rain.

my blogs are so boring nowadays... sorry about that if you bother to read it! I dunno why, I guess I just feel pre-occupied and restless for some reason... I want to go somewhere, need a change of place again, or atleast a week away... and Grace is gone as well and I really wish I were with her! She's doing a mini tour of India, travelling on the trains, visiting new places; backpacking basically and it really sucks that I couldn't go with her!! And then there's this german presentation hanging over my head like a grey cloud as well. It'll be over tomorrow, thank God! The weather really doesn't help either. I feel so lazy because of this heat and constant headaches and my stomach hasn't been keeping well either. Blech.
What I REALLY want to do right now, is... be in Kashmir. How random. You know this quaint little boats that are part of the picture perfect Kashmir... I want to be sitting in one of those, and just listen to the calming sound of the oars slicing the water. What I would also like is some rain. Doesn't have to be in Kashmir. Just rain on me now and I'll go dance on the terrace! I've done that before you know, and one of the neighbours saw me and thought I was totally wierd, but I bet she wanted to do the same thing! hee hee.
Barso re megha, barso re megha, megha barso re, megha barso!!!

Bordering on Unbearable...

The heat. Its killing me!!! Bangalore summers are crazy!! And this is the first one that I am going to have to stick through and its killing me already!! lol. Okay I am exaggerating but it really is hot and I'm not really one for hot places, that's why I chose Ooty for school. Ah well, this too shall pass...

Nothing extra exciting has been happening in my life for the past couple of days, just the usual. I'm preparing for a presentation that I have to give at my German class and that's going pretty okay and on that note, I have got to recommend this movie: Das Leben der Anderen. (The lives of others) If you watched or followed the Oscars this year, then you would have heard of it. It won the Oscar for the best foreign language film and I watched it yesterday and it was fabulous. Great acting, great plot and as somebody said, "It's the kind of movie that goes through your brain and touches your heart..." or something like that.

I started waking up early and going on walks this week and then gave up yesterday. Actually, I didn't give up, I'm just giving it a break! :P But its nice. I get to see the sunrise and reminded of the incredible beauty and majesty of God first thing in the morning. And hopefully from next week, i'll be able to take Joey along as well. The only thing is that by nine o'clock at night I'm pooped and I'm not used to that. I'm so used to staying awake till atleast 11:30 that going to sleep at ten seems like a waste of time! When you're used to the bad habits, the good ones start to seem bad!

Today morning was funny. I was supposed to go to class today cause we've missed out on a couple so to catch up on time, a class was scheduled today and its A SATURDAY!! Anyway, I went to bed pretty late last night cause I was watching this stupid movie on TV and dinner was late too so waking up at six was tough this morning! But I did wake up... to turn off the alarm and then went back to sleep and then woke up again at around 6:50 and got out of bed, brushed my teeth, debated on whether or not I should go to class, got changed, got changed again, turned off the light and went back to sleep. hee hee. I crack myself up. But in my defense... No... there is no defense really... I was just lazy.

Anyway, that's it for now. Hope all is well with the rest of the world. As in, you lot, who are reading this...