Pseudo-graduates.

So what happens at a College Farewell Dinner?

--You all pile on at one of your friends' houses (Jo's place in our case), make the most of the rare occasion to dress up - makeup and all.
--Hail a cab, carefully maneuver yourself in without unraveling your saree and sit in the horrible traffic for 30-45mins in order to get to college.
--Once you get there. Take LOTS of pictures.
--Admire all the beautiful colours and fall in love with sarees all over again and be amazed by how much variety there is!!
--Dance a little - as much as your saree will allow.
--Eat! Go first or you'll have to stand in a long line! Take lots on the first serving because by the time you're ready for seconds there won't be much food left.
--Take some more pictures.
--Collect your gift.
--Make a plan to go somewhere else after this because the night is still young and you're pseudo-graduates so you're allowed to do such things :P
--Have FUN!

The Psycho-Socio-Lit gang

So if we don't end up doing anything with all the education, these pics will definitely get us good husbands the old-fashioned Indian arranged marriage way, right? :P

So our "after-plan" was to go to Cafe Ivy and order a bottle of wine just like we did after the last night of K'scope. We had Peach flavoured wine! Lol. We couldn't really taste any Peach in there but it was good nonetheless and much cheaper than the other wines. Works good for us poor college going kids :P Isn't this such an awesome picture? Love the colours and the effect on the glass and Sharan's expression. Love it love it love it all!Lol. Doesn't Sonu look so peaceful in this pic?

For my February-girl!

Today has been a long long day. We had our final presentation for the Research project we had to conduct as a requirement for our course. It went off beautifully and I'm so glad because we really did put in a lot of work and it's been so much fun! The whole thing started months ago and besides learning a whole lot, we've become closer friends! It's really been awesome and I loved all the busyness it brought into my life... getting questionnaires filled out by random strangers, brainstorming, tabulating and analyzing data, etc, etc. Not to mention all the crazy heated debates and late evenings at Monisha's place (mostly). Oh yes, and all the food! :) It hasn't quite hit me yet, but I can't believe it's over. That's so... sad. I'm really going to miss this!The busyness is not over though... We have a massive load of assignments due in in the next few days and a test on Monday... I'm actually dreading when it'll all STOP. When the classes are over and I don't have to go to college everyday, survive on 5-6 hours of sleep and canteen food. When I have to just stay at home and study. Yikes! Go slow, time! :(
On a less depressing note, it was Sonu's birthday today! She's my February-girl! :) And also the very first person I talked to on my very first day of college! Gosh, seems like aaaages ago now but I remember it so clearly and we've been pretty fast friends ever since! Since the last few days have been so crazy busy we never got around to planning anything at all for her birthday and weren't even sure we'd get to see her today but after we finished our presentation, Jo and Antu nipped out to a bakery close by and bought some cake and then we 'embarrassed' Sonu and made her cut it after class! And then we went out to Mocha (a very yummy but annoyingly pricey cafe in Churchgate) and stuffed our faces and did the usual - talked and laughed! I love that I can always count on laughing out loud with my girlfriends! What am I going to do without you guys?
Anyway, here are some pictures!

January is over!

Can you believe that? And we have just 13 more days… Actually, less than that if you don’t count the Sundays… 11 days! Ohmyword! We have just 11 days more of classes and then we’re off for two excruciatingly looong study leave months – during which period, I am going to go mad btw. Be warned. I don’t deal so well with staying cooped up in the house with nothing to do. Yes, I know… I do in fact have to STUDY during the study leave but come on… two months!? And now there’s talk going around that our exams will be in the middle of April as opposed to 4^th of April (remember? This is why I don’t take the University’s word for it!) Ew. That’s all I have to say on this matter… for now.

Anyway, today we were at a friend, Monisha’s place working on a presentation that we have to do next Thursday and well, between all the hard work (:P) we were just sharing stories from our first days of college and how we became friends and it’s just so crazy! Where did the three years go? I mean, I think we’ve done a good job of milking our college life. We’ve done a lot of crazy things but it’s hard to believe that it’s all almost… over :(

I never quite understood why people used to say, “Oh college life is so great, you’ll never forget your college days…” I mean, yeah… but I think when I came here I had the arrogant presumption that nothing could beat my years of school. I went to an awesome school and those years were just so fantabulous. But now I GET IT!! School was great – no doubt about that (and I’m super excited about the prospect of maybe going back there one day!) - but you can’t really compare college life to that. It’s been the best on a completely different level and I’ve changed… Honestly. Sometimes, I don’t even recognize myself! It’s hard to describe but I have changed and I don’t mean to be cocky, but I’ve changed for the better and that’s not at all to my credit. I know… maybe this kind of sounds like an Oscar speech but I’ve just been thinking a lot about these things as college has started winding down… Bombay has changed me. My friends have changed me. And it's all because I didn’t get what I wanted… I got what my parents wanted and I got what God wanted!

You know what I wanted? I wanted to go the US. Or Canada. Or Australia. I basically wanted to be anywhere in the world except for India. That’s what I wanted. I wanted to live in a clean, cool and organized city… I had dreams of traveling to all these exotic places… being closer to all my friends from school… ad infinitum…

BUT I got Bombay. And if you’ve been here you’ll know that Bombay is FAR from clean, cool and organized. It’s exactly the opposite. But I am actually grateful for it beyond what words can express... now! And I am so glad that I have finally reached the point where I understand this. This is why I can get on a train-full of vicious and grumpy “first-class ladies” every morning and still be smiling away to glory... for no apparent reason! Trust me it’s taken me a looong time to get here. I was pretty grumpy myself when all this began!

The point is, that even though it's been a long journey and it's not what I initially wanted for myself, I think it's been the best possible thing. I like where I am now but I'm not so presumptuous to think that I've gotten where I need to get. I'm still a work in progress! ;)

So there are some random “deep” thoughts from the recesses of my brain for you!

Now here’s a random picture… or two!

Firstly, this is my "Mama-Dadu" and me!
He's my grand-uncle and the closest thing I've ever had to a grandfather. Sweetest old man ever!

This is Gauri! She and Jo performed in a dance-drama last weekend and I was planning not to take any photos because when I'm taking photos I get so involved in that that I miss the whole performance itself but I just couldn't resist! These are just a few of the colour pics. I took most of them in B/W but I'll upload those another day...

Joyee!
She did a role that she hasn't quite done before and pulled it off with absolute grace! So proud of you girlie!

Antu, Sonu and yours truly at the performance!
We're all into sarees now! And we actually draped them ourselves for the first time! :)

Happy Weekend All! :D

As if we needed an excuse...

It's been a while since I updated, right? Not that there hasn't been anything to write about (and there are plenty of photos too)... There's actually been so much going on that the last two weeks of my being back in Bombay is kind of a hazy blur in my head. And time... Time is just flying! It's kind of scary. We're already into the last week of January and while I'm happy that that means February is just around the corner (it's my favourite month, don't you know? :P) I find myself actually thinking sometimes, "gosh time, slow down a little!!" :P

But yeah, I'll leave the details of what's been going on to later. For now, here are some pictures! :)

Today was the day we had to take our "class photos" and so it was an excuse to sort of dress up and an excuse for some manic *clicking* not that we ever require an excuse for that... But yeah, it was fun... until it got a little tiring! Lol.

Sharan and Jo at the marble stairs...
Our list of "Places we have to eat at before we leave Bombay" :D
My girls! :) Vini, Sharan, Jo, Antu, Sonu and Gauri - I don't even want to imagine what Bombay would have been like if it weren't for you lovely people!
Jo trying to be superman?
Socio buddies ;)
Fluoresce! Our Research group!
Vini and Antu.
Me, Gauri and Sonu
Astrid and Antu at the Central lawn...
Jo and Molu - our Student Body President! :)
Some of the girls in our Socio class with our teachers...

One of my favourite things...

One of my favourite things in Mumbai is the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon and as you probably know, I got to take part in the "Dream Run" this time! It's a 6km race and thousands of people come out and take part. It's a place where you can just be a part of that great "Mumbai Spirit" that they keep talking about (it's true!). All these NGOs and other organisations come out and take part - spreading awareness about a certain cause or simply just to get some publicity.

Jo, Antu and I took part as individuals. It was a totally last-minute thing. I was planning to be there anyhow because I've been there for the last two years as a spectator and absolutely LOVE it but then Sharan and her parents couldn't take part this year so they kindly let us go in their place!!

There are basically three races... The full marathon (42kms), the half marathon (21kms) and the Dream Run. People from around the world (especially Africa) come to take part every year and the numbers just keep increasing! This year the total number of people taking part in all three races was around 40, 000 and you could really see it! It was actually pretty impossible to run in the Dream Run course because there were so many people and it was kind of difficult to dodge them! Anyway, we passed the start line around 9:40am and finished it about an hour later. I had the most awesome time! I took lots of pictures, got the Indian flag painted on my face, got a free t-shirt, free food, my friends were there with me... You get the picture!

Okay, the order is kind of messed up... Blogger really needs to pull up their socks on making it easier to deal with photos but for now, here are some shots from yesterday... in random order!

Antu and I, all flushed after the marathon... Practising our running poses :P Some people at the costume round.. You could get whatever you wanted painted on you for free! The crowd at the costume round before the race started... These guys won the first prize in the costume round! :) Girl power! All set! On our train to VT at around 7:30am Desi girls! :) There were LOADS of people trying to raise awareness for a greener planet. I like!! :) Hee hee! Jo and I on the train... I was trying to get a picture of the crowd. I'm not sure what's with my expression. Lol. Just excited I guess! :) My freebie t-shirt... So as we started walking, this lady came up to me and asked me if I would wear their organisation's t-shirt and I'm a sucker for freebies and well, it was a good cause so I slipped this one on on top of my t-shirt and so yeah, I actually walked the 6kms in TWO t-shirts. Lol. I tried to maneuver out of mine but didn't manage... But they weather was actually not so bad so it was okay! Gauri! She was running with an organisation called 'Laadli' which works to fight against female infanticide and foeticide. Unfortunately, it is a rampant practice in parts of India so you're actually not allowed to find out the sex of your child before birth. Laadli took part in the costume round so that's why Gauri is playing pregnant here! Isn't she just glowing? :) More friends from college! Marine drive... :) Look! I have a number!! :) Antu, Jo and I at Azad Maidan which is the "holding area" for the runners and where the race starts... Wearing our Marathon bands!