25 Random things about me

Began on January 30th 7.18 PM

Posted on April 19th 4.28 PM

1. Like a true south indian, I think curd rice, also fondly called 'tachchi mammam' is THE best invention to satiate a hungry stomach any time of the day!

2. Unlike a true mumbaikar, I don't like the rains! Ok, let me rephrase that: I love and truly enjoy the rains when I'm at home idle with a cuppa coffee and a nice book to read or have to go on a non-umbrella protected walk with friends; but at all other times which involve travel, I'd settle for a sunny sunny day.

3. I love to read. Any book, any time and any where. (P.S. I am not a booker/pultizer prize winner book person. Though some are awesome, on a general basis, I like to discover my own gems)

4. I love love. I feel it overrides any other feeling. And I love hugs. No other remedy for a depressing day comes even close!

5. Night is my favorite time of the day.

6. Though I am put off by the length of my name, I love the meaning of it. And I am a big fan of the meaning and ring to 'Kamya'

7. This is the 50th post I've written on this blog. It is a different matter altogether that for reasons unlimited, I haven't published few of the posts I had written earlier.

8. I am extremely proud of the scars on my knee that have increased over the years because of the number of times I have fallen. In my weird little head, the more the scars, the more I have 'lived' and experienced life :)

9. I like Federer over Nadal :) I feel he is the epitome of superiority in a particular field. But I always preferred the unstable struggling Indian cricket team to the (previously) dominant aussies! :D

10. Among the 7 most deadly sins, I am, without doubt, SLOTH!

11. I'm an all or none kind of a person- made of strong opinions and sincere apologies. I don't like ambiguity.

12. I am not a music person; but the times I do become one, I love to listen to awesomely foot-tapping happy songs and I love to scare other people by dancing like no one's watching! :) But my favourite musical instrument is the saxaphone.

13. I am not a city person. Though I will enjoy wherever I am, I can be most comfortable in a gorgeous country-side alone with books but in close reach of friends and people I love.

14. I genuinely enjoy a good debate on a lazy sunday afternoon. I peps up my spirit! :)

15. I love my study experience in the US and all the perks it comes with- amazing room-mates, super friends, night outs, deadlines, working my arse off to finish just 3 mins before deadline, research, and most importantly PHYSIO (re-iterating my geekiness)

16. I can't think of 25 things, however random, about myself in one sitting.

17. I write blogs only on 2 occasions : a) When I am very inspired or affected by happenings around me and b) When I am bored

18. I am technologically challenged. :P

19. I truly believe in the concept of 'gut feeling'. I make my decisions based on those! (which is why most of the time my decisions seem spontaneous... but for me, I take them at that very instant when I am 'inspired'!)

20. I have a horrible colour sense. My room-mates are constantly searching for their sun-shades to avoid direct exposure to my bright 'colour-colour' clothes!

21. I love the sound of waves. My idea of a perfect evening is sitting on the beach looking at the setting sun and listening to the water.

22. I am not a miss goody 2 shoes! I am not a saint and I don't pretend to be one. And I can be a pain to people closest to me!

23. I love using exclamation marks while writing sentences. I feel that is one punctuation that truly portrays (my) enthusiasm!

24. I cannot draw/paint/sculpt/be creative to save my life!! I do write once in a while though.

25. I love the fast-track watch that was gifted to me. I love the tick-tock sound that it makes- for the sound itself and for the fact that it irritates Mr. Chase! :)

Of lost times and unforgettable memories!

This post is inspired. And inspired by something so well-written that I am at a lack of coherent words to describe it. It is an eulogy posted by Krish Ashok about his grandmother.

http://krishashok.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/s-meenakshi-1917-2010/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+DoingJalsaAndShowingJilpa+(Doing+Jalsa+and+Showing+Jilpa

Its simplicity of thoughts took me back to my grandparents and those magical naive era.

I want to go back to that time:

When my taatha used to sit patiently for hours to feed me and tirelessly carry me on his frail shoulders for his evening walk.

When my bombay paati had tears in her eyes and experienced my success with pride and joy as though it was her own.

When my paati took me to school every morning and I would come running out to find her standing every evening waiting for me, without fail, never late!

When my bombay taatha made me watch insanely boring test matches while he snored away to glory and got up as if by magic, when I changed the channel.

When taatha used to heat water under the sun, for that was healthy, for my evening bath

When bombay taatha used to seat me on his lap while performing his daily pooja and never once complained about the disturbances I almost always caused him.

When bombay paati used to make that rasam, that unforgettable rasam, in the aluminium vessel.

When paati used to tell me long long tales about everything during my lunch time.

When taatha tolerated all the excited bites from an over enthusiastic child.

When I spent a year and a half with bombay taatha after paati's demise- when I could hear his never condeming voice and see his extra-ordinarily adorable actions.

When bombay paati was the personification of strength- mental and emotional- the most highly respected lady in our locality.

When paati always, always protected my from amma's anger.

Those are times that can never be lost. No matter what my age was and what the retention capacity was at that phase of life, these experiences of magic have subconsciously registered are ingrained in me forever.

I cannot reproduce the emotions as those are best left unsaid. I can only be thankful for having being at the receiving end of such unselfish love.

Three of them- my bombay paati, bombay taatha and my madras taatha have attained a higher state of life- This post is dedicated as much to them as it is to my madras paati who still lets me

be a 5 year old and get away with my naughtiness!

Sweet texts; bitter bills!

The problem with always thinking in the present tense is you never realise when it will come and bite you in the future!

Courtesy- My mobile bill for texting!

December times....

My first experience of a december- the most happening month every year for me when I was in India and of a New Year's celebrations- away from home, from family, from people I have been with for as long as my memory can take me....

Things that I missed out on:

1) Being with mom, dad and arvind at the stroke of 12. Dad has this quirk of wanting the family to be the first ones to wish each other at 12.00 a.m. So whether or not we had other plans, we had to stay back in the colony at 12.00. For quite some years I used to hate the fact that I could join my friends for celebrations only after 12.00. But with years passing and maturity dawning, I began to treasure this experience! Nothing can be more rewarding than to know on the first day of the year that you are very loved.

So this year, being in the US, and in different time zones, I truly missed being there.

2) Spending sleepless 31st nights with the closest set of friends I had. I have been with them since school days and for the past 8 years or more, we have welcomed January first, half hung over! :D I missed doing that this year with them. I saw their celebrations in photos on fb. They seemed to have had insane amounts of fun, and even though my insignificant presence wouldn't have been missed, with all the other beings there, I still felt the pinch of being miles away.

3) The colony celebrations- like I mentioned before, I had to stay in my colony until 12.00 a.m. and so I began to look forward to having an awesome time there! And by an awesome time, it meant putting up a whole show for everyone. Right from deciding what sort of entertainment, to sitting for nights before the 31st planning and spending long hours practicing to finally executing it on the 31st, my December days and nights were booked! For 3 years now, we put up 2 dance and a dance cum ramp walk. It was amazing and the bonding during the practice times can never be achieved elsewhere! This year too, I heard they put up a dance show.... and I missed being a part of that so much more than I was missed by them!!! It would have been the best december nights had I been in India...

4) The games organized by the colony folks- I used to love the fact that there was always some activity or the other planned for every weekend in december- right from dum C to the ever awaited treasure hunt! And being in tucson, these weekend masti's and the enthusiasm that goes along with it were sorely missed!!

Things that I gained instead :)

1) The whirlwind (or freefall ;)) that december was... With the semester being so busy, no one really found time to just hang out. But with the winter break, I enjoyed hanging out with a lot of people I've come to know here (some more special than the rest :)). Found out that I havent actually crossed that age of making friends than mere acquaintances, friends, who I am hoping are going to last for a long long time!

2) Power to kill - Some kind soul at the DMV gave me a driver's license :) I took the Instructor's permit after clearing the written test with a centum and then rented out a car and practiced thru the night (literally- went to the DMV at 3.30 to try out parallel parking and then was driven to Campbell point- one of the most captivating places in tucson at 5.00 am!). Then went to the dirver's test the next day to finally obtain the elusive (for the other two who tried with me) driver's license!

3) Living the graduate life- going to lab at odd hours to finish lab work (not that I had much; but I wanted to leave as much time as possible for doing random nothingness! :)) In my last working week, I have gone to lab at 12.00 midnight as well as 5.00 a.m! And the delusion that I've been working hard has left me satisfied! :)

3) My first ever road trip- A full 14 hours one way from Arizona to Tahoe to SFO.... after being the proud owner of an american license, I thought I would be one of the steers of the chevy, but these guys and the fear for their life, did not allow me anywhere near the steering wheel. Nevertheless, it was an excellent road trip.. got to interact a lot with the ppl there and enjoyed myself to the hilt... afterall road trips are made of random conversations alone!

4) Skiing!!!! - I skied for the first time in my life; heck I saw snow for the first time in my life!!! And how! A whole snow covered mountain!!! And skied on it! :) At the risk of sounding a little non- modest, I was awesome!! :D I skied like a natural.. didnt fall off even once... the instructor was proud of me :) Can't wait for another skiing expedition now.

5) First semester- Finished my first semester away from Indian education system with flair :) And enjoyed every bit of it....

6) Went to a gothic pub (and by that i mean a dark sadist fearful place- with skulls and gory posters being commonplace) on the 31st evening for a while- the most scary experience if u enter in unexpectedly.. but I had one of the most memorable times there :)

7) Celebrated the beginning of the year American ishtyle :) Inside a crowded pub, with ppl I intend to hang on to for a long while now!

Overall, life here has not been so bad! :) And its only going to get better!

New Year!!!!!

I strongly believe that what u do on the first day of the year sets the trend for the whole year to come....

And going by this belief of mine, this is going to be a wonderful year beyond dreams! :)

Right from California time 12.00, smiles have not left my face...

Loads to write about about and for the new year; but the first day has zipped past without me having a minute free...

However, I just had to maintain a memory (a good habit recently borrowed from someone) of the 1st of Jan 2010

And hence this hurried blog post :)

Also, not having a spare minute for idle thoughts also is perfect for me! No time to spend on useless worries!!!

I'm sure I'm going to have an awesomely busy, happy and joy and love filled 2010....

And I wish the same and even more for all of you!

As usual.. let each day be filled with love, laughter and life! :)

Insomnia, I guess!

Though pressed for time, just wanted to let this day go down in history as a beautiful day :)

You never know how, when, what, where! All you can do is to enjoy as it unravels!

Where are those rose-tinted glasses!

It is that time of the month again... before ur thoughts go wonga, let me clarify. It is that time of the month again when I am having an exam the next day. So it is not surprising that instead of studying, I am mindlessly blogging.

Why is it only before an exam, an important one, that the most profound realisations strike me and I am left with this intense urge to blabber everything out to my only constant companion- my blog!

And this post is about the very same thought- that my only constant companion has been and from the looks of it, will be, for quite some time now, my blog.

Maybe the reason this post took such a long time to come up with since the actual time of the jolting event was because I couldn't muster up the courage to accept things the way they are. And like almost everyone else, I ended up hoping against hope that if I live in denial, things will change.

A recent development in my friends' lives caught me by surprise. Not the development itself (because the happening of this very advancement has been wished and prayed for and flirted with for eternity), but how I was rudely sheltered out of the information. I have known these people for (as my new prof. puts it) donkey's years! I have grown up with them and shared every little embarassing detail with them. And its been a two way street throughout, with me spending sleepless nights listening to that end of the mindnumbing stories.

And for a long time, life was about mutual acceptance of each others' bullshit until, and I am thoroughly ashamed to admit it, my breakup with my ex ruffled a lot of feathers. My lack of judgement on most part and misundertanding by my friends for the other, strained these precious relationships of mine. But the eternal optimist in me, thought, heck-believed, things are going to get back to the same with my friends and that it is just a matter of time and wound healing. But I guess once a pot is cracked, no matter how much you repair it, the mark always remains and the water always leaks. ( My attempt to be philosophical makes me sound like a bitter, unsuccessful potter instead!)

Anyhow, moving away from the potter's wheel, and getting back to the story, the fact that such a happy happening in my friends' lives was kept away from me has entrenched into me that I have been gracefully asked to move on. And it has taken me a whole week filled with aimless staring, outburts to mom, living in denial and innumerable random romcoms to come to terms with this fact.

This post, though still stirs up cranky demons, thankfully does not flag hopes nor optimism and safely leads me away from that line of thought. And after just a week, and with a whole 12 hours before my exam, I am finally being able shake it off, move on and get my fingers make coherent words. All these, finally with a realisation and complete acceptance of the current scenario in my life.

And that awakening and humbled acknowledgement being:

I am here, in a land far away from home, having way too many aquaintences to count and having my blog as my only friend. But at the same time, having a family to die for, having amazing learning opprtunities and having self realisation potential. And I guess this solitude is much needed for both experiencing the joy that learning brings; and finding myself for who I truly am and creating my own niche in this world.

And maybe I am beginning to see a silhouette.