College

My sister’s school exhibition was held today. Just a little after noon, I took her to the school. It had rained in the late morning, so we couldn’t leave earlier. Unfortunately for us, the exhibits were dismantled and the classrooms closed by the time we arrived there. My sister didn’t mind it. Now, my pre-university college is in the same campus as her school. Same building if you want me to be more specific.

Sis : Lets go upstairs. I’ll show you my computer classroom!

Me : I know where it is.

‘Course I knew. It’s on the same floor as my classroom in 2^nd PU. As I climbed the stairs behind the stage, I had a rush of mixed emotions. I expected them. But I still didn’t know how to deal with them.

At the landing of the third floor, straight ahead of me was, well, the loo. But just before that is the staff room. (It’s not as bad as you think.) To my immediate left is my classroom for the 2^nd year. One of the non-teaching staff was cleaning out the staff room. She comes out.

Me : Isn’t anyone here?

The cleaner : None right now. They just left.

Me : Oh. Ok. Anyone in the labs? Sumana Mam?

The cleaner : Ah.. She must be there. Not sure.

I look at the newly fitted notice board on the wall. It’s filled with notices on the cricket team. Mostly. I smile.

I enter my classroom. The computer lab attendant is writing down the register numbers on the desks. I look around at the empty room. To me, it seems as if I’m actually IN it. At the moment, I’m in THAT moment. I smile again. I withdraw myself from the room.

Me : Come on. Lets go to the 4^th floor.

Sis : I’ll show you my yoga class.

She runs up the stairs. I take my own time. I take the immediate right at the 4^th floor landing.

Sis : Here. Come on.

She opens the second door on the right cautiously.

Sis : This is my yoga classroom!

Me : Hmmm.

I walk a few steps ahead. The most secluded spot in the college, just near my 1^st year classroom. It was huge.That brought back many memories. We’d put up a bench-desk there outside. Or maybe it was already there. Saturday mornings were the best. We had classes from 12 then. Physics class. We used to arrive leisurely... sit there on that bench. Gossip. Talk. That corner was the best.

I stand there and text everyone telling them about my location. Mixed types of replies I got.

One even asked if I was pms-ing when I said I got nostalgic. :D

I walk towards the physics and chemistry lab. I stand at the center of the corridor and look ahead. Below me I can see the ground. In front of me on the third floor I can see the classrooms. Directly in my line of sight, on the other side, I can see indoor games room. I slightly look up.

The grey clouds. The wind. The light rain. JUST like how it was in those days, standing there outside our classroom.

The physics lab had a few students inside. I walk past it without looking in. My sister peeps.

Me : Don’t look inside like that!

Sis : You were asking about some teacher!

Me : Not HER!

The chemistry lab. Meera Mam is inside. So are a few students. I see that there’s no other lecturer. I walk a little ahead and stop. I can see inside of the lab. Students are working. I tuck my hands inside my jackets’ pockets and stand. The chem lab attendant comes from behind me. He recognizes me.

Him : How are you?

Me : Namskara Sir. Fine. Yourself?

*Tilts his head to his left and slightly closes his eyes. A gesture to be taken as “Everything fine here too”.

Him : How are things going for you?

Me : Great.

Him : You had come to the exhibition?

Me : Yes.

Him : Do have relatives studying here?

*I put my hand over my sisters’ shoulder and say,*

Me : Yes. My sister.

Him : Your sister? Own?

*I nod my head*

Him : Which standard?

Sis : I’m in third.

Him : Ok.

Me : Ok bye Sir.

I turn around.

*My sis spots an open door.*

Sis : That’s the terrace!

Me : Hmmm.

We climb down the stairs and reach the ground floor. I look around. I miss the place. It wasn’t much. But then again, maybe it was.

Memories. Lots of them.

The girls, the guys, the crushes, the tears, the bunking, the classes, the lecturers, the crushes again, all that. I miss it. A lot.

:)

One of my friends said, “I swear that place still haunts me in my dreams”. I second his statement.

=))

My department HOD is weird. If you think that she’ll help you out of your ‘tight’ spot, you’ll be proved wrong. If you think the contrary, again, you’ll be proved wrong. It's quite uncanny the way she does things. Or gets them done.

Like, the other day, before issuing the hall tickets for the coming exams, the word was that we had to buy stamps costing 5 INR if we wanted the hall tickets. Duh-uh! Few of us got it. Not me.
The best part? The stamp said ‘communal harmony’. HOW ironic. Only I got it. I laughed. A lot.

PS - If you didn’t get what I meant above, don’t worry. It’s a personal joke. You’re saner than me alright.

The parrot fortune teller

Picture courtesy : Another blog
I’ve always had a split mind on fortune telling. Like, take the daily horoscopes in the newspapers or on your TataSky. If you read them at the end of the day, you tend to relate to it, irrespective of the fact that it might NOT actually be so. On the contrary, if you read it before your day starts, you will not think twice about it. Rest assured, I read the horoscopes myself.

It so happened that today after college one of my friends spotted a parrot fortune teller and brought him over to his place. The fortune teller charged 21 INR per person. My friend went ahead first. The fortune teller took the cash and coaxed the bird out of its cage. The parrot trotted over to the set of cards, kept inside open booklets, placed before him and while the teller chanted something, it took off the cards one by one and laid them down, before taking one booklet aside and going back inside the cage. As the fortune teller spoke in the local language, I had to translate it. I don’t know if what he told about my friend was completely true or otherwise, but it was quite fascinating to listen to him. One of the girls went next. The parrot picked up a card like last time. The teller informed that her fortune was so huge that he would have to use shells (kinda like the conch, I have no idea what you call it in English) and then would have to read her palm to tell her fortune. And of course, that it would cost 250 INR. My friend refused to go ahead with it.

Next went another guy. Done with translating his, I too took out the cash from my wallet thinking, ‘What the heck! Lets give it a shot.’

Now, would you know! The parrot selected a booklet with NO cards in it. The guy was like, “Your fortune is too big and complicated to tell just by this. You too have to do it with the shells.”

I, being the ever suspicious girl that I am, say “What? You said the same thing to the other girl!”.
He replies, “She got a pack with full God cards. You have NO card in yours. The fortune telling will cost you 250 Rupees. It is a good day today. Try it out”.
I refuse. “250 Rupees is too much. “
“How much are you willing to pay?”.

He sees my hesitation.
He coaxes the parrot out again, shuffles the booklets and asks it pick one up again. Surprisingly, it AGAIN picked up the same one with no cards.
“You have the look and the glow of Goddess Lakshmi in your face. (Which, I think, he said just because of my complexion.) I can see that you are interested. You want to know. You have questions you need answers for. I can see things in your left eye. Don’t say no.”

Yeah right. Play around with my psyche and expect me NOT to go ahead with it? So, there I went. Shelling out 200 INR. I took the 9 shells he offered and threw them down three times. He then took a look at my hand and started talking fortune.
I got down to listening it, while translating snippets of it to my friend who was with me.

Now, even though most of it was general, I was mighty surprised about some of the stuff he said. They were entirely true, I tell you. If you know me well, you’d know that I am NOT a girl to be fooled easily...
True, he might have just asked the parrot using a code word or something to pick a booklet with no cards so that he could draw easy cash from me, but then, what he actually told me, made me think twice about the fortune telling stuff. Certain things he said were so damn true. He spoke for about 20-30 minutes. I was listening with deliberation.

At the end of the day, do I regret spending that cash? I was saving it for something, but no. I don’t entirely regret it. It was worth it. It could be my once in a life thing with a fortune teller. You never know!

Relations

Relations.

What does one make of them? Pick on any one for that matter. The bond that you have with your parents. This one’s a pretty easy one. Its not that hard. Though its upto you to maintain it well, mostly. It doesn’t require much effort. It comes naturally.

What about the relationships that you share with a person/persons outside your family members? Be it your classmates or colleagues. THIS aint easy, is it now? Compromise, adaptation, acceptance and yes, endurance is required to sustain it and keep it from crumbling.

Thanks to that very good friend of mine, I’ve been listening to this far too many times.
The video is lame.
It’s a rip off of an Amr Diab number.

But it holds a special place for me.

(I’m not going to say “It holds a special place in my heart” and make it sound all corny. But then again, maybe I just did.)

That four letter word.

It all started with this text message a certain friend sent me on a busy afternoon. “Everyone is an a**hole.” it said. To which I replied, “Nearly ALL guys are Casanovas.” She said she agreed with me, after looking up the word ‘Casanova’. That message of mine, forwarded to a common friend, resulted in my posting of this topic. One thought and opinion of ours led to another and it finally stopped at the issue of “Love”. I happened to remember a certain line from one of Bon Jovi’s hits and mulled over it. I later sent the following text message to quite a few people.

“Read carefully and answer.

Is true love blind? OR Is blind love true?”

The replies I got (very few responded) are as put in below. Names have been with held.

Miss.S1. - Some how true love is blind seems to be more fitting. But then, blind love can also be true na? Sometimes I feel love is crap. Total. It is painful.

Well, MissS1, that’s neither here nor there. :))

Mr.N. - I think love blinds truth. Whatever tht means. Tch tch.

A personal favourite of the replies I got. :)

Mr.P. - If there is love then no need to be blind.. because love is jst a feeling an it dnt ask fr anything else.

Ok. Now that reply is from a guy who tries to be philosophically funny. Guess you get it. If you dint, sorry. :))

Miss.S2. - Love is nt true n love cnt b blind.

Dear Miss.S2, how much that reply shows about your take on the concept of love.

Miss.A1. - Love doesn exit..

Knowing about you, I wouldn’t have expected any thing less. It shows your insecurity and distrust I guess. What say?

Mr.A1. - Both are one and the same.

No they aren’t!!! Aw... come on now!

Miss.P. - Blind luv true

I see.

Miss.A2. - I have no idea friend. Will ask *a certain girl who is apparently going around with a guy* n tell you. :-D

LOL!

Spoken like a true Miss.A2!

Mr.S. - (After much urging) True love is blind..

Being the true romantic that you are, I accept it. In your case. :))

Mr.A2. - (After much urging here too) The first one.

Expected. :)

Well folks! That’s what a few people thought. I hope they got the difference between the two questions, if there is any. I hope you, my dear reader, got it too.

My take? Is true love blind? If you do not see the consequences before hand, I’d say, yes it is. Is blind love true? Well, so said Bon Jovi!!!

Bah!

Neither I guess.

;)

;)

;)

I hope either Luke bhaiya or Shailesh comment on this.

:|

Toodles every one!

And yes, I know I always seem too vague in my posts.

Fraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaands!

College life. If you were to give it a single name, or rather, describe it with an adjective, what would it be? I cant think of any. :| I’ve met an assortment of people, portraying different personas in my degree college. Here are a few of ‘em. Mind, they are in no particular order.

Libby - Sits right in the front, right beside the door. Handy for a quick escape. She’s ok. :P

- Juvenile.

Febina - One of the first girls who spoke to me. I still remember her extending out her hand and introducing herself. Now, every other time she sees me, gives me a hug and a peck on my check.

- Innocent, apparently.

Aditya - Sits next to the window. Not so handy for a quick escape. Thinks I dominate him, like whatever that means. :|

- Bah!

Elluru - Shilpa. She likes swapping “buzz”. Tags Bisha like, forever.

- Vulnerable.

Bisha - Another front bencher. A real funny girl. Loves to have fun. Plays "Mamma" for us sometimes. =))

- Double juvenile.

Shubham - A nice guy.Tries to be real funny. Succeeds a few times. But I like him. Period. He and Ankit share a flat, where I hope to cook sometime. =)

- Irritable, but likable also.

Ankit - Labeled as the “Class Flirt”. A real nice guy. Always a ready smile on his face. Aids Shubham on his spree of irritating us all.

- Funny.

Smitha - One girl who’s quite hard to understand. ‘Nough said.

- Perplexing.

Pandu - Oye Pandu! :D A guy who minds his stuff. I forget that bag of his. :D And yeah, a great dancer!!! =))

- Oye!

Akshay - The CR. I emphasize that a lot.. and a lot of times. :P Vibes, is what I get. *shudders*

- Quiet.

Soumya - Another of my good friends. Keeps reminding me to wear my shades. Er.. my spectacles. :P :|

- Trusty.

Viju - Sticks to the point. I like that.

- :)

Barsha - Dresses like a tomboy. Might even be one. I do like her, though. :)

- Friendly enough.

Priya - :D Speaks out. Bunks every other math class. Bah! Bunks every other class.

- Nice. =))

Shalu - A really really quiet girl. Shhh.. don’t talk. I cant hear her talking.

- An ideal student.

Mishra - Ashwani. Plays a lot of pranks on the others. I call him by his surname. Be wary of your cell phone!

- Mishra bhai! :)

Aakash - Known him for more than 2 years now. We don’t talk about our different pasts.

- A not-lost friend.

Ramya - I want to be as tall as her! :( A girl who shares my thoughts, most of the time, anyway.

- Tall!!!

Kishen - A sportsman. Like, into sports.

- Umm..

Akash - The laugh riot of the class, if I may say so. His smile makes you think of all silly things. Played volleyball grinning.

- LOL!

All of them are really really really good. I love them all.

I know I’ve missed out on most of you guys ( Like you’ll ever read this). But hey! I might remember you like, forever.

:)

Untiltled

I've got less than ten days before I see those "faces" again. I don't want to! I mean, I don't like them, they don't like me, period. The first semester has already gone by, the second one is commencing now, and I've spoken to only two of them. I don't like the rest. The rest don't like me (I'll keep emphasizing on that, yes). Of the whole lot, very few are worth it. The fact is, its pretty much damn obvious. When its out in the open like it is now, there's no room for any complexities, which I am glad for. But the fact remains that there exists mutual revulsion.

If this semester turns out to be any different than the last, well, guess I'll just have to welcome the change.

PS - If you don't know me, you don't know what am talking about.
PS2 - No, its not who you think it is.