One of those...

So it's that time of year again - OSCARS! Okay... I was never really that into it but then I met Sharan and her enthusiasm kind of rubs off on you! :P Anyway, the awesome thing about the Oscars is that you have a long list of movies to watch that are pretty much guaranteed to be good. Not always... sometimes you really wonder "what were they thinking?!" But anyway, so I hadn't watched a movie in a while and the mock exams ended yesterday - oh and have I mentioned that Mumbai University POSTPONED our final exams?! Yeah, way to go, MU. Way to go. So now my exams start on the 13th of April as opposed to the 8th and end on the 18th of May. How many exams do I have? SIX. Six exams for more than a month :/ Trust me if you saw my timetable, you'd be whining too.

Anyhoo, I guess it's a reminder that when you think you are in control of the universe - uh, think again.

Back to the Oscars! So yesterday Sharan gave me a couple of the Oscar films (I told her to give me the less depressing ones!) and I watched Up In The Air. Good movie! But then I watched The Blind Side. Awesome movie! It's not 'Best Movie of the Year' kind of good but it's just a leave you with a fuzzy-happy-feeling kind of movie. It's one of those movies like Amazing Grace that I know I will go back to again and again to watch my favourite bits when I feel down and out with the world.

It's based on the true story of Michael Oher - an American Football player. Don't know anything about "Football" (:P) but after watching this film... interested! :P Okay, not really. I'll admit there were parts of the film where they showed the games and I was going, "what on earth!?! what kind of a strange sport is this??" But then I imagine a lot of people think that about Cricket. Or Hockey. It's all relative, really. But it is interesting, and I'd be really happy to let someone explain the game to me!

But yeah, haven't recommended a film on the blog in a while because I haven't watched a movie in ages so I'm recommending The Blind Side. And do you know what's ridiculous? I haven't watched a hindi movie in like four months or something. The last one I watched was Rocket Singh before Christmas. That's just... ridiculous. I mean, I live in Bollywood pretty much :P

Anyway, that's all for now! Tonight we have our farewell dinner at college which means dressing up (!!) and eating... and fun! So pictures to come soon! :)

Getting closer...

Four down, two more to go!! Yayayaya!!

Lol. I JUST came out of the fourth exam and am in the computer lab because I'm having blogger withdrawal symptoms and my stupid laptop has decided to go mad on me again. Actually not my laptop. Windows. Argh! Ubuntu is my baby. So thankfully, I'm not completely computer-less, I just can't boot up Windows for some reason and therefore can't use the internet at home.

Anyway, just thought I'd update y'all, dear blogger-friends.

*I can't wait till next Wednesday! (When the exams will be over)
*I'm so psyched that it's December!
*I'm looking forward to 2010. I have a feeling it's going to be a good year! This year has been really good too but next year will be better. I can feel it :D
*I'm currently crazy about Michael Buble's new album: Crazy Love. Especially this song called Baby (You've Got What It Takes) ft. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings. Love it!
*The weather is pleasantly cold in the nights and mornings nowadays. Loving it!

Happy Weekend All! :D

What's it going to be?

Pessimism: I STILL have one more exam to go.

Optimism: JUST one more exam to go.

p.s. I'm totally obsessed with the whole striking-out thing. Does it show? :P
p.p.s. I'm feeling more like the pessimist than the optimist right now. Maybe a power-nap will help?

Getting there...

The balance has tipped.

5 down, 3 to go.

4 days till our ultra-girly sleepover at Sharan's place! :) :) :)
(Facepacks, nailpolish, chick-flicks, all night talking, FOOD and fun. Eeks!)

9 days till I'm home :) :) :)

I'm glad life gives you things to look forward to.

Almost there. Almost.

Honululu?

Before the exam today, I was so restless. You know the fight or flight syndrome? Where your body gets all set for a danger situation? I was ready to run. Just run. Not really away - I may be a coward in many ways but I wouldn't run away from an exam! But just to run. You know what I mean? Expend all that energy that I really shouldn't have had after an entire weekend of studying (well, sort of) and... umm, less than eight hours of sleep. I know you should really just study in advance and get enough sleep and eat healthy and all that crap before exams but hey, that's for perfect people in a perfect world. We humans - college going humans - NOT going to happen.

This subject was actually really difficult to study for me. In fact, three cheers to Jo without whom, let's just say it would've been bad! It's not that I don't like Socio, the problem is that everything was given to me - on a silver platter. It was just a whole lot of information in beautiful packaging in a nutshell and all I had to do is pretty much memorise everything. I cannot do that!! Call it bad memory or whatever but I think I'm just not programmed to do that. Throughout IGCSE's and A'levels, it was drilled into my head to break down everything I was given and analyse and give examples - your OWN examples, like go figure out how and where this works - and case studies and then put it all together in your own words. And here I am with information so precise, all broken down for me and there wasn't much scope to put it in different or simpler words so I had to just remember it all. I know it sounds stupid, (it's probably less work so what are you complaining about?) but I just cannot do this. This is really difficult for me. If I don't understand something and if I haven't really worked towards putting something together myself, I will simply not remember it. It is not meaningful to me.

Anyway, still the exam wasn't bad. It was difficult studying for it but I managed to remember a lot of stuff (again, Jo, I don't know what I would've done without you!) It was one of those where I wrote and wrote and wrote all I could remember and didn't have time to get distracted and didn't notice the time go by. It was Socio, the subject I want to major in so it had better be good enough!

Anyway, I think exams are a terrible way of measuring how much a person actually understands the concepts. As if I'm actually going to remember all that. Where's the practicality? But who listens to me! And that's a whole 'nother debate on how the education system, especially in India, according to me desperately needs a major makeover. Anyone with me?

As for now, I'd like to go to Honululu, sip on cocktails, eat sea food, swim in the ocean, read a really good book and sunbathe.

But alas, five more exams to go :S

And anyway, where exactly IS Honululu?

Ow, My brain.

Two exams down. Yesterday was a joke (as in 'ha-ha funny joke'.. I'm pretty sure people were cursing us in the canteen yesterday for laughing so much before the exam over our brilliant textbook). Today was OK.

The canteen is quite a sight during exam[s]. All that tension in the air and last-minute cramming!

Who knew afternoon naps on hot summer days felt SO GOOD? And especially when you need to study. Seriously, they feel SO GOOD. Yesterday Jo and I decided to sleep at 2:30pm for an hour and then we'd call each other at 3:30pm to make sure we were awake. I called her at 4pm.

Yes, summer is here. Summer is bad in Mumbai. Summer is apparently worse in Bangalore. Better prepare myself for that. This city has spoiled me in that way. Two years and never experienced a power cut.

Anyway, I'm off to cash in on my siesta. Next exam - Monday! Yahoo! But I have promised myself that today (after the nap, of course!) I will study like I have an exam tomorrow.

Toodles.

Attention-attention!

It's me again :)

You know, taking a short break to publicise the 'Nandi's on the blogosphere. A.k.a my sister[-in-law], D[inah]'s blog[s]! and my Pops. Because I realised that I never actually did that when they started blogging and I usually do so here goes:

Presenting to you:

Pops: My Thoughts - thoughts on political and social issues

and

D: Wings of an Eagle - thoughts and prayers and Walk on the Ocean - random musings

"That's all!"

Come March.

So after a LOT of coaxing, my internet finally let me come online. What am I doing online when I have exams in 5 4 days, you ask? I'm taking a break (!!) and I need to vent about the stupid FC (Foundation Course - which is absolutely useless course that Mumbai University INSISTS we should take) textbook. I'm telling you it's the most crap I've ever read in one book and it's extremely frustrating when you have to STUDY from something like that! It's an insult to our intelligence, it's unethical, it's probably all plagiarism anyway. Seriously, I'm pretty sure they just googled or wikipedia-ed it and copy-paste-copy-paste and you have a textbook for BA students in a UNIVERSITY!

Argh.

That feels better although Social Psychology tells us that Catharsis Hypothesis (venting your frustration in relatively non-harmful ways - like blogging!) is only temporary and cognitive processes (like thinking about the textbook) will only bring back the frustration... But you didn't really want to know that, did you? :)

Well, at least I'm learning SOMETHING.

Things that keep me motivated:
- Breaks from studying (like this one!)
- Music
- Knowing that I'll never have to do another Economics exam after this (never say never - eeks!)
- The idea of a holiday in Kerala in April
- Lots of books to read after I get through these exams
- (Possibly) a sleepover with my girlfriends on the 18th (Yes?)
- I'm getting closer to going home
- Knowing that after all this studying, I will be a little smarter or at least a little more knowledgeable than when I started out...
- Knowing that God exists and that it all counts...

The New Era.

Hmm, seriously lacking 'gusto' to blog nowadays.So I went to the post-office yesterday - after we visited with Gauri who is down with malaria (GET WELL SOON!!) - to post a letter to Gail, a friend of mine from Hebron who studies in California and there was the man sitting behind the counter checking his EMAIL. Irony?

My 'cancerous' laptop is acting weird again. Tata Indicom - STUPID STUPID Tata Indicom (my internet connection). Studying for exams and realising that I actually like studying but I hate how tired it makes me feel. Jhumpa Lahiri is so awesome - I think I like Unaccustomed Earth the best out of her three books so far; it's like she's taken thoughts, anecdotes and stories straight out of my own life and expressed them in words that I would never be able to put together so beautifully. We finally have water again in our time-warp of a house.

I'm learning that patience is essential to maintain sanity. And accepting forgiveness is as essential as being forgiven.

I can't wait to go home. I'm looking forward to going home.

And now... Time for the unrelated and random photo of the day!

This one was taken by Grace when she came to visit me last month. These boys were on their way to school or something and they got all excited when they saw two foreigners standing outside VT with their cameras and kept going, "Didi, didi, mera bhi photo lo!!" (Didi = respectful term for sister - Didi, take a photo of me too!) So Grace and On You indulged them. Aren't they cute?

My cup, it overflows!!

I am so happy right now, I have tears in my eyes.
We've been hoping and praying that our train tickets would get confirmed for the last month and guess what we went from number 13-17 on the waiting list to confirmed, confirmed, confirmed, confirmed, confirmed!! WAHAY!
We'll be on the the Coimbatore Express in exactly 4 and a half hours and I'm guessing we'll pretty much settle in and conk off to sleep after that cause let me tell me 12 days, 8 exams and then a whole lot of packing is tiring stuff!!!!
Anyway, we'll be on the train all of tomorrow and we're prepared (I hope) with Taboo, lots of conversation, lots of food to munch on, a book for me to pass the time. Its going to be great!
Wednesday EARLY morning we reach Coimbatore and spend some time with Nithya - a fellow blogger-friend. Most of us will be meeting her for the first time and we're super excited!!! I hear she's bringing us dosas for breakfast too! You're a STAR!
Then, we get on a bus up to Ooty - my love - and check in at our hotel/resort - ahem, ahem. Thanks to Sharan's dad for managing that for us - for FREE!! Does it get any better than that?? YES!!
But right now, I need to pack up my laptop... I'll try and update more later as and when I can...
God is SO GOOD!

Bittersweet Symphony

5 DOWN, 3 TO GO!!!!

Today was 'gooder' than yesterday. Actually MUCH better than yesterday. Yesterday was TERRIBLE. Yesterday was Econ II - now you know! (Today was Mass Communication - an 'applied component' paper; basically they like to make life difficult so they say, here do one MORE paper!)

Tomorrow is another monster - Psycho III. Which is all about pregnancy and babies which is all so wonderful but a LOT to study especially when you didn't study as much when you were meant to :) But that's life. And we're all human, so there.

The best part is... Just 3 more days to go before we're on that train! More on that later...


On my playlist (thanks to Sharan):

• Slow Dancing in a Burning Room - John Mayer
• I'm Alive - Celine Dion
• What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong
• Song For No One - Ian Broudie
• Swallowed in the Sea - Coldplay

Random Photo taken at Mahim Station of Local Train a couple of months ago.

What they don't tell you...

Picture 1: Psychology textbook - First Year BA (the picture makes it look much fatter than it is actually - it is about half the size of ONE of my textbooks for this year)
Picture 2: Psychology textbooks - Second Year BA

What they don't tell you... First year is a joke. Second year is HARD!

Three down. Psych II was not bad today. Just waaaay too long. All my papers are too long. (Aside: Well, what do you expect Tina? You're doing ARTS!)

Next week this time we'll be a couple of hours away from boarding our Coimbatore-bound train! Wahooooooooo!

Just get me through this week fast, Lord!

Better go hit the books again. Next Exam - Eco II on Wednesday.

One more down!

So Econ-III was not so great but I think I might just pass it. My brain is just not cut out for Economics.
Psycho-II is next on Monday and of course I am not studying right now. :) But I will. Soon.
In the meantime - I got a little shutter-happy!

paper-clips!

Against the flow!

Snooze!

blurred-out!

My favourite new colour!
Okay, so I don't exactly own a lot of nailpolish but I'm loving the whole red thing right now!

Inflation

No, I'm not going to talk about inflation but everyone's talking about inflation nowadays. People are killing themselves over inflation.

One down… And I’ll only talk about what’s left when ‘downs’ are greater than the ‘lefts’ cause otherwise its just depressing. Today was not a great experience. I knew my stuff, I just did not have enough time to write it all down!! I guess in a way, if you REALLY want to look at the bright side, at least I have the satisfaction of knowing that I actually knew the answers… hmm, yeah. Not a great feeling. (by the way, I’m talking about my first sem exams!)

Otherwise, I am pretty happy today. I am in denial of my next exam right now. I’m giving myself until 7:30pm. I hate it when you have pin down your floaty happiness so you can concentrate on important things… Fundamental-Dualism… Ack! I’m talking Sociology!!

On my playlist right now, giving me joy: (all hindi songs)

-Shauk Hai – Guru
- Bandya – Khuda Kay Liye
- Bol Na Halke Halke – ( I forget which movie – it was a not so good movie)
- Naam Adaa Likhna – Yahaan
- Yeh Tumhari Meri Baatein – Rock On!!

I like to sing along and pretend like I have a great voice. I also like to dance along and since granny’s not home this evening – yay, I can like dance all over the house! Not that she has a problem with my dancing, its just embarrassing so the kind of stress-relief dancing only happens when I know no-one is looking. :) :)

What Studying?

Studying Darwin: Darwin wrote a book called the "The Expressions and Emotions in Man and Animals"
Inspiration!

Seiously. Seriously?!

"Further he [an untouchable] had to drag a thorny branch with him to wipe out his footprints and to lie at a distance prostrate on the ground if a Brahmin passed by so that his foul shadow might not defile the holy Brahmin"
-- Research done by G.S. Ghurye on Caste in his book "Caste, Class and Occupation"

Yeah. Trust me there are many many more things like this practiced in the infamous caste system of Hindu society.

Usually reading this kind of thing (stuff against women, caste, children especially) disturbs me a lot but this is so ridiculous and alien that its actually funny!

I was just thinking that if I were the untouchable, I would have liked to gone and given that Brahmin a "Jaddu ki Jhappi" (loosely translated into bear hug) in 'Munnabhai' style just to see the expression on his face before I died!