Ambers and Reds

0 days till my favourite month!
4 days till Sonu's birthday (yayyyyyy!)
6 days till our 'Perfect Competition' Econ test (oh blah!)
9 days till Niru comes (wow, time flies!)
13 days till I turn twenty (ahhhhhh! that's a bad ahhhhhhh btw. I'm getting old.)
14 days till Valentine's day (whatever)
hmmm, what else?
It's still very cold in Bombay. It's been down to like 8 and 9 degrees which is totally abnormal.
A lot of stuff is happening in the hostel. Not pretty stuff. I'm great with everyone except for the you-know-what.
I dislike hypocrisy. I wish I could say that I am devoid of it.
I really don't understand some things.
I'm trying hard not to think about some things.
I'm very grateful for a lot of things and I'm trying to learn to be just grateful for the times I spend with some people, or knowing some people and moving on...
I finally apologised for something today and I'm glad to have a friend back
I STILL haven't started studying, I'm just too tired in the evenings
I LOVE my friends
That's all for now.
(I'm really sorry this is such a vague post, but if I started going into details, it'll go into pages and pages and there's no real point half explaining things cause they don't make sense)

P.S. Sharan told me to remember this psalm today so I'm going to put it on here...
Psalm 23
A psalm of David.
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Caramel Pudding!

I'm very proud of myself today... ahem... I had a cooking class and we were supposed to bring whatever recipe we want and execute it! So I made Caramel Pudding (thanks to my darling mother and Jo and her mother for all the advice and tips and recipe!). It turned out great, although I had a tough time trying to make the caramel but it's all a learning process and thus, I learned that you should never try to caramelize sugar in a non-stick pan... it just sort of goes from sugar granules to liquid to back to hardened sugar...
It's all disappeared now...
All the other stuff the others made in class was really yum too. From chicken curry to cheese and corn cutlets to a salad to pasta....
Anyway, I have to have dinner now...
More later,
Toodles.

Behold I stand at the door.........

Peter Pan pictures. This was our drama production in Std. 13 - another Hebron tradition. Click on the picture to make it bigger. Oh and in the picture where Peter is flying the caption is wrong.... There's a line in the play that goes "I flewed, I flewed!" which is Michael's line (who I played and had a blast doing may I add!) when they fly out the window together.

Anyway, I wrote another post yesterday but I don't want to make this too long and anyhow the topic is more fitting for the other blog on wordpress cause it's something from a magazine that I read on the weekend... You can read it here.

Tired... type.

I am too tired to type is what I was trying to say :)
But I have SO much to tell you! The highlight of my weekend was a Jazz Concert at the Tata Theate at the NCPA. I have never heard anything like it - it was awesome! All thanks goes to Neville (friend from school) who treated me to the concert which had performers like Bob James the pianist, Earl Klugh (amazing, amazing guitarist) and Patti Austin (singer). All names I had actually never heard of before but oh my gosh, I am now a fan! Especially of Earl Klugh! If you can, get a hold of the song calle 'Kari' (!) and 'Dr.Macumba' (will make you want to get up and dance) and 'Maputo' by Bob James. I am so grateful to God that I was able to go for this concert! :)
13 days till Niru comes! Less than two weeks! yayayayayayayay! :)
(what's with the smileys, tina?)
It's COLD in Mumbai! Seriously! Like 10 and 11 degrees cold. Okay, so that's nothing compared to you people in N. America but you see this is a BIG deal for Mumbai and the likes of me who never came prepared for this sort of thing and whose wardrobe is half filled with sleeveless clothes and nil jackets or shawls! I'm surviving off borrowed warm stuff. I like the weather - it reminds me of Ooty (sigh. Ooty my beauty!) but I just wish I was more aptly prepared.
Okay. I'm obviously not going to get any studying done today but I really NEED to study!
Econ test in less days than Niru's arrival. Bleh. I hate Econ :(
This week should be less busy. No, what am I talking about - I have Akanksha Centre Meeting on Tuesday and a Quiz to prepare (or finish preparing before thursday). Ahhhh.
More as and when.
<3

Avalanche moments...

This is Avalanche! A 'SU' or Scripture Union camp in the wilderness of the Nilgiris. At Avalanche, you seriously "rough" it... There's no electricity, you sit around a campfire for warmth, sleep in tents, drink stream water, stargaze, go abseiling, kayaking and gorge walking, jump off waterfalls, dance under waterfalls and sing "dil hai chota sa, choti si asha..." hee hee - that was Sushi and me! To get close to civilisation you have to walk a couple kms uphill and downhill through mud and sand...
This is where we had our Prefect's Weekend and spent many other memorable weekends. This is one of my other favouritest places in the world...

And they all ran...

Pictures from the Mumbai Marathon 2008. Read more about it here (Sharan's blog).
40, 000 people on the streets for what's supposed to be the 10th biggest marathon in the WORLD - young, old, rich, poor, middle-class, handicapped, with baby, students, big shot business men, celebs... you name it. It's a great concept. Goes to show - we CAN be united. It's not just a Utopian idea.

Have you had your run today?

This one's called... "Mallus on Camel back" (Meg and Tashu, in case you were wondering...)
Rajasthan (Jaisalmer, more precisely) on the Delhi trip in December 2004 (??) We all had a ride across the desert around sunset. It was good fun, but I think a little painful for the boys ;) The 'Delhi Trip' is a tradition in the 'A' levels. It's a trip that happens every two years and the whole of 'A' levels (that's std. 12 and 13, we were in Std. 12 when we went..) goes for ten days in December before the Christmas holidays start. The Itinerary included Delhi, Agra, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Jaisalmer (have I missed any?) and we travelled by bus most of the time and it was SOO TIRING! We spent pretty much every night on the trip sleeping on the bus and we'd check into a hotel for a couple of hours to freshen up and eat... But it was fun. LOTS of fun. We should totally do it again.
I think my camel's name was "Hrithik". After the camel rides, we sat around in the desert for a while watching the sunset and then we sat around and watched folk dances and music and ate Rajasthani food. Damn, Rajasthan is GREAT. MUST go again.

A big *THUMBS UP* to Sharan (and her parents and all the thousands of other Mumbaikers) for running in the Mumbai Marathon today!! :)
More on that (and pictures) tomorrow!

क ख ग घ ङ
(k kh g gh ung)
च छ ज झ ञ
(ch chh j jh nyuh)

progression!

That's all,

Tina

Where it all comes from...

Matthew 7-11 "Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn't a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in. If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn't think of such a thing. You're at least decent to your own children. So don't you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?

12"Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them. Add up God's Law and Prophets and this is what you get."

It's been a busy couple of days.

I went for Delirious?/Hillsong concert last night - they were GREAT!

We've been having a Literary Conference for the past two days and my brain is at saturation point now! But it's been good. See Sharan's blog for more.

The touchpad on my laptop is not working. Argh! It's all falling apart!

Our hostel warden, is driving me crazy. I do not like her one bit and I hate that.

I can't wait for Niru to come. Like Sonu said, "it'll do me some good." 20 DAYS TO GO! (btw, where on EARTH are you Dotty!?? Haven't heard from you in a while... call me or something!)

I miss Hebron. I miss the people from Hebron. Especially the staff, thank you for the way you are. You made school FUN and HAPPY. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the idea of dorm-parents. For your actual concern and love and all the hugs...

Flashback part.... I dunno...

This was taken very very early in the morning on the day of the annual Flower Show at the botanical gardens in Ooty. Our school was like IN the botanical gardens so we used to get free entry in the early morning and we were allowed to pick up the extra flowers lying around... which is cool but as I said, it was very EARLY in the morning! Therefore, as you can see Meg and Niru had passed out on a bench at the gardens!

Get Dinner or Get Out! (hee hee, oh! the slogan machine)

अ आ इ ई उ ऊ ऋ
ए ऍ ओ औं अं अः

Man, alive. Computers really drive me crazy sometimes.

I am learning hindi. I know, I know... you're thinking, "she said that once before" but this time it's serious! :D I have like a book and a teacher (Vini) and my aim is to be literate in hindi by the time I finish college in the next two years. So i'll show you then! What I have written above are the vowels in hindi and is my first assignment. *claps hands* it's quite exciting!

Photo time! (It's like "show and tell")This one is from 'Prefect's Dinner'. Hebron had this system of choosing a bunch of Prefects from students in Std. 13 (well actually we'd be appointed at the end of Std. 12) and our duties ranged from making announcements in assembly, putting kids to bed, making kids eat their fruit at lunch time, giving tuck, ushering at important events, and of course attending daily prefects' meetings with Mr. Reid (principal) to discuss "shtuff" oh yes, and we also got to attend this mega-cool prefect orientation camp in this amazing place called 'Avalanche' where we have all these Leadership talks and games and getting lots of advice from the former prefects and playing the 'animal game' (ahhh, SO MUCH FUN!) Anyway, so at the end of the year, Mr. Reid takes the prefects out to a fancy dinner and we watch video clips of the year (as prefects) gone and if I remember correctly he also wrote a poem about us... fun times, fun times.

So here we go...
L-R (sitting, kneeling): John P., Grace, Me, Niru, Abi
L-R (second row): Anjali, Catherine, Alva, Meg, Tashu, Anna
L-R (boys in the back): David, Peter, Gavin, AJ, Jugal, Sam, Jonny, Orville, Deepak, Abhi, Vikyath

You know us!

Better ingredients, better memories...

A personal favourite! This one was taken on the last day of classes in Std. 13 when our whole class dressed up in Indian clothes... We had a different theme for every day (just the girls that is, but the boys, very nicely showed up in their Indian clothes on the last day which was great!)
From L-R (kneeling) Meg, Sushi
L-R (back) Abhi, Niru, Grace, Alva, Tashu, Me, Orvi
P.S. If you're wondering why I'm wearing a shirt, I was trying to do Soha Ali Khan style in RDB ;)
Don't we all look happy. I love these people. :D

I will sing and dance, for You, for You...

Procrastination

I am majorly procrastinating. That's all I have to say to you...
Am uploading pictures of our night out with roomies (and neighbours)

You are the One

I could break my head/lose sleep worrying over things but at the end of it all, I feel like a fool, cause I can’t control things anyway. Whatever happens will happen. And whatever happens, is passed by God. Whatever happens will not be something you simply cannot deal with. Jugal said it best at our Leaver’s Weekend in Yr13. “God’s not going to send you to the rain forest to preach to the crocodiles or something.” And whatever happens, happens for the good of those who love God and are fitting into His plans. (Romans 8:28)

There were a few things I was losing sleep over this past week until I came to point of surrendering. And my prayer went something like this, “I am a fool. You are God. You can do everything.”

And sure enough, I am sleeping again.

“When I fall, when I fall,
I know where I’ll be landing…
When I fall, when I fall,
You will still be standing…”
-- Rachel Lampa, When I fall

Two lessons learnt this past week.
1. Prayer TRULY works. No matter how big or small the problem is.
2. Don’t worry about ANYTHING.
Matthew 6:33-34 “Do not be anxious about anything. But in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

Church was good today. (If interested, check out notes here). Sharan came along which was a bonus point. I’m glad you came!

Youth service was also good fun, as always. We discussed all sorts of things and played some games. And there was chicken for lunch! :D

I've decided to do a little flashback series of photos from Hebron. I'll try and find a new photo for every post...
Here's the first...

Would you believe these were all teachers in my school??
(Somebody please remind me what the occasion was! I'm forgetting things and help to fill in the blanks...)
1. From L-R: (kneeling: Mrs. Green as_________?, IG (who?) as__________, Mrs. Dodds(one of the best english teachers and dorm parents EVER!) as Barbie, Mrs. Humphreys (art teacher) as Cruella Deville, Mrs. Rogers as Little Red Riding Hood.
L-R (back row): Mrs. George(Another amazing english teacher, sweetest lady EVER, best cook, and 'A' level guys' dorm mum) as Cleopatra, Mr. Ashing (art teacher) as Peter Pan, Mr. Ruddock (History teacher, sweet old man, the one who visited me with Deepak) as Biker dude, Mr. Humphreys as _________?, Mr. Keelty (our Std.13 dorm parent) as ________?, and Mr. Green (Chemistry teacher, strictest man in school, vice principal) as a typical Hebron std.9 boy?? I dunno!?!
2. All of them outside the auditorium posing for a picture.
3. Mrs. George making her entry into assembly
4. Mrs. Dodds posing as Barbie

Showering mysteries

‘The first thing I noticed about Bombay, on that first day, was the smell of the different air. I could smell it before I saw or heard anything of India, even as I walked along the umbilical corridor that connected the plane to the airport. I was excited and delighted by it, in that first Bombay minute, escaped from prison and new to the wide world, but I didn’t and couldn’t recognize it. I know now that it’s the sweet, sweating smell of hope, which is the opposite of hate; and it’s the sour, stifled smell of greed, which is the opposite of love. It’s the smell of gods, demons, empires, and civilizations in resurrection and decay. It’s the blue skin smell of the sea, no matter where you are in the Island City, and the blood metal smell of machines. It smells of ten thousand restaurants, five thousand temples, shrines, churches and mosques, and of a hundred bazaars devoted exclusively to perfumes, spices, incense, and freshly cut flowers. Karla once called it the worst good smell in the world, and was right, of course, in that way she had of being right about things. But whenever I return to Bombay, now, it’s my first sense of the city – that smell, above all things – that welcomes me and tells me I’ve come home.’

- Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts

So that’s what it is – that smell. It’s true. The first thing you notice about Bombay is the different air. It smells different and you can’t quite put your finger on it. This is the best description I’ve come across.

I’ve become somewhat an insomniac. I laid awake in bed, tossing and turning, till two in the morning and the effect has been there all day. It’s a sort of ache at the back of my left eye which will go (I know) after I get some sleep but I refuse to sleep now because by the time I hit the sack at night, I want to fall asleep! So I’m trying to load up the hours of sleep I need and pay it all off at night. It’s torturous when sleep doesn’t come. I think it’s close to the worst feeling in the world. What’s the absolute worst feeling in the world? Hmmmmm.

Today has been normal. We finally did our book review presentation in Socio and she was really happy, which is not so big a deal. I almost cried watching our own presentation though. Just the part on Anne Frank. We put together a lot of pictures of her along with quotes from her diary and there was music in the background. The effect is quite something. But the point is not what WE did. Anne Frank… the things she said, the way she thought, the way she wrote. What happened to her… There’s no real adjective to describe it. If you say, it was ‘touching’, it seems so fake. ‘Amazing’ – too superficial. There’s just no way. Read it for yourself.

Nobody better lay a finger on my excitement!!

So this our 'official' beginning of the countdown (see also Tribal Kid). It's the 9th today and on the 9th of February, Niru is coming to Bombay!!!! I am so excited, WE are so excited!!
I cannot wait to finally show someone what has become my favourite city!! Amarsons park, Chowpatty beach, Rhythm house, Marine Drive, Nariman Point, Hill Road, Colaba Causeway, Gateway of India, My church!, of course I'm dying for you to meet all my darling college buddies and yes, we shall have one heck of a birthday bash (I'm turning twenty!!!! ahhhhhhh!!!), yummy road food - sugar cane juice, pani puri, dosas, pav bhaji, etc), Leopold's Cafe, Cafe Mondegard, Bolly movies in actual theatres!, Jahangir Art Gallery, Aakanksha, Hobby Ideas... and soooo much more. So much that I haven't yet seen myself. And who better to explore with than my darling 'dotty'! I cannot wait!! And please, more of you come visit!! I would be delighted to show 'aamchi mumbai' off to more! Just come with an open and adventurous mind. I won't lie to you, there is good and there is bad and there is ugly in Bombay, but it has it's own charm. I love it! And I know many more who do too... ;) and beware, you may just fall in love with it too!
More later,
<3>

Glimpses, and on, and on...

This is what a typical day of college for us looks like... Us... sitting around... doing nothing... talking... debating whether to have a rum ball... planning the weekend (whose house shall we crash at next??)... complaining about how boring Socio/Psycho was... or how good *ahem* 'SIR' was in class... or discussing the uselessness of Comm. Skills... or somebody cracks an 'unfunny' joke (at which we all laugh anyway)... Sharan telling us our new nicknames for the day (e.g. meadow with ice-cream, mushroon, vanilla, fairy, doe, pumpkin, cream bun...), taking photos (after spending atleast 10 minutes to convince Vini that she SHOULD be in the picture, followed by frantic transferring using bluetooth)... listening to our newest bollywood favourite (e.g. Bum Bum Bole, Bol na halke halke, Tum se hi, Yoon Shabnami) on Gauri's ultra-cool Soni Ericson phone... sharing a story from our respective 'before-college days' (I talk a LOT about Hebron, ask anyone!)... talking about how we seriously lack the influence of 'baaays' in our life and discussing how much we actually LOVE that (no offence intended, boys! We just like to be in a girls' college!)... raving about what a wonderful teacher Tendulkar ma'am is... realising exactly how CRAZY all of us are... lots of hugs... you get the general idea.......
Man, I love you guys! I am truly in my element with y'all around and I actually miss you people at the end of a college day... I give thanks to God for giving me such great friends!
Hmm, moving swiftly onwards...
Also uploading some pics from Mood-Indigo days... The first is this amazing painting on a wall in the Open Air Theatre at IIT-B...
The second is all of us, including the teddy bears, at Vini's house chatting after lunch and before the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy concert... The third was taken over Sandwiches at Subway... The fourth was us standing in line for the Rock concert and then in the Open Air Theatre on the night of the VERY LOUD rock concert (Livewire)... ah, good times... I have many more photos (all courtesy of Sharan, btw, I didn't take a single one of these photos...) but I cannot be bothered to upload all of them right now...
So later.
Tomorrow will be a good day.
Believe it.
'For this is the day, that the Lord has made... and I will rejoice, I will rejoice and be glad in it, and be glad in it!"
I think we had learned how to sing this tamil on the Tsunami trip... or was it another song...? I forget. I wish I didn't.
Oh well.
Toodles! ;)
P.S. Really sorry about the terrible layout on this post. I want to fix it, I tried, but I seriously don't have the patience to deal with it, so... be a... pie... and figure it out yourself... :D

Snap! Crackle! Saturday!

I am excited! We're going to watch this play tomorrow... It's a pretty big production and this will be my third 'proper' play viewing! I feel 'cultured' hee hee.
I remember watching this play being performed by the standard 13s when I first joined Hebby in Std 9. Man, they were amazing. I think in the five years that I spent at Hebby, that year's Drama Week was the most memorable... no wait, our own Std 13 'Peter Pan' was the most memorable but still 'Midsummer Night's Dream' is WAY up there! I suppose the fact that our prefects were up there performing and they were like our angels (!!) made it all the more better... Also, at that stage, being in Std 13 was like the ultimate thing. We... well, atleast I looked at them in 'awe' - they were so... big! They were about to finish school, how amazing is that! It's still weird that five years actually passed and we got there too, Std 13, being prefects ourselves, sports captains, Leaver's Dinners, Leaver's Youth Service, Leaver's Weekend, Grad! But somehow, when I compared us to them like five years before us, we were still... small. Too small to be graduating... And now look at us. Sigh. Soon it will be the kids I 'prefected', graduating! Ack!
My shoulders really ache for some unknown reason. I think I'm sleeping too much. Or not sleeping right. Or whatever. My roomies and I are going out to dinner tonight - bonding session, for the win.
I started reading 'Shantaram' yesterday. I love the first few pages but the book is so HUGE, it's intimidating. I hope I can be interested enough to finish it, especially as I am in the middle of the term and ideally I should start studying for my finals in March. I know, I know, it's all the way in March, but time flies and I'm already dreadfully lost in Econ. Although, these days (the last three classes I've had, I mean) I actually get the drift of what's happening in class. Psycho classes are unbearably boring. Our teacher is great - as in, greatly educated and passionate about the subject but that doesn't go to say she's a good teacher. All brilliant people cannot teach. Socio, well that's a whole 'nother story. Somebody did a book review in class today of the 'Kite Runner' and pretty much told the whole class the whole story. Argh. Why will anyone want to read it then? There's nothing else to know.
Hee, hee, the title for this post is another creation of 'The Advertising Slogan Generator'... You should try it, it's so ridiculously hilarious (thanks, Meg!)
To bed! To bed! It's the middle of the afternoon, but still. ;)

To close, a quote from the play... "The course of true love never did run smooth..."

And then the music faded...

Monday, finds me on my knees again…

Except it’s not Monday. But it feels like a Monday. Like we had a long weekend and now it’s back to work and we start Monday’s with Eco and end it with Psycho, with a little Comm. Skills in between so it might as well be a Monday. But it’s not! Just three more days of classes before it’s our very pathetic ‘weekend’ which really only consists of Sunday. Why? Why? Why must we have a six-day week I ask? Why?

There’s always something in the way…
Always something getting through,
It’s not me,
It’s you, It’s you

I’m not really that irritable. I’m just ranting. You may delete the last paragraph. I was going to say/write something and now I’ve forgotten. I do that a lot. It’s quite irritating.

If we’re adding to the noise, turn off this song…

I want to tell you about Mood Indigo, but I seriously don’t know where to start from. I guess I should start with a little background information. Mood Indigo (popularly known as Mood-I) is the college festival of the Indian Institute of Technology – Bombay. My friend, Vini, lives on campus because her dad is a professor there (If you were in Hebron in std. 11 with me you might recall a man had come and given us a presentation on aviation? Well, that was Vini’s dad!) so we – Joyee, Sharan and I – went and stayed at her place for the festival. It was good – a good experience, an eye-opener, lots of fun, late nights, walking around for miles, sitting by the lake, watching ‘A Walk to Remember’ again, eating Vini’s dad’s impressive cooking, SHANKAR-EHSAAN-LOY in concert!! WOW! Deafening rock concert – hmmm, I’m not such a fan of heavy metal, Subway, chewy chicken rolls and horrible sandwiches, crowds, crowds, crowds, sunset and sunrise, late-night medley singing, eating plum cakes, chocolate, bread/butter at 4 am, weird conversations, ‘That thing you do’, lots of Y-chromosomes, star-gazing (!) – a rare treat.

When I look at the staa-aa-aa-aars,
When I look at the stars,
I see someone else

As you can tell, the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (amazing bollywood music directors) concert was the highlight for me. They were A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

Daisy, give yourself away…

I have new external speakers! Adding to my happiness. I am listening to Switchfoot right now, therefore the random lyrics in between. Mmmm, a thought of a Switchfoot concert just came to me. I would like that. I would LOVE that.

I just spent about half an hour at Amarson's park watching the sunset colours disappear till the stars started to peep out over the sea. Ahhhh, sooooo beautiful. I sat there singing praises to God, for there is no beauty like what He has created. You're ingenious. I love you!

'That's all!'

The way to close a year...

This last month has been crazeeeeeeeee. There's been good, bad, ugly, confusing, scary, weird, everything, but the important part is that it's been memorable and for that I am grateful.
Now if I start explaining things, I'll just confuse you and I won't make much sense so just look at some pictures...
And HAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPY NEW YEAR!
There are many many more pics... but I don't have all of them, so... if you need explaining... then drop in a comment... ;)