The List Freak!!!

Moment of epiphany: I am list freak!

Rewind: I am chatting with my friend, and he suggests I should watch a certain movie and I mention its on my to-see list....flash of realisation: I'm a list freak!!! On the good side, I love planning and must be good at it.....else how would I have such detailed lists buzzing around in my head!

So here's (ironically) a list of the lists I follow: some are mental, some are on paper....and I am trying to manage all of them:

- My Bucket List

- Daily list of things to do

- List of books to read

- List of movies to watch

- List of SOPs for the Placement Committee operations

- List of scenes I want to incorporate in my book

- List of places I want to see

- List of things to eat (okay yes I can get obsessed sometimes)

Well....... the last one which I just created: a list of lists I have.......

Shopping (Cringe!)

Damnnnnn need to shop again! If I had my way, all clothes, shoes etc etc would be permanently durable (ok if that makes sense, my grammar isn't too bad then)...there would be no wear and tear! On second thoughts: if I am really having my way, might as well wish for clothes and shoes to appear out of thin air as and when you wish for them! I mean wouldn't that be the ult???

I hate shopping! I do! I do! I do! Crowded shops and malls, giggly and squealy women, squiggly children, bored to death men (at least some of them are sensible enough to be bored to death!). What a strange place for all the samples of humanity to gather. Then the hours spent on choosing one thing and then freakking not finding it in your size, and if you do...it doesn't fit you budget!!!! Really!

Then there is window shopping! I mean come on! Half the malls and shops are filled with people who are just 'peh-rusing dah-ling'! What are these people thinking? I mean get a life! Do something productive....

I shop once a year (or twice) when is becomes absolutely unavoidable. I am a shopper on a mission when I do so. I get in, do my thing and I'm out in 15-20 minutes max! This year I've already shopped thrice and now my sister's wedding is coming around! God help me! Cringe! Cringe!

I Love You, Bro!

My brother turned 19 today...so I am going to dedicate this post to him, and all great memories with him.

The first memory I have of him is when I was 3 and he was just born. I had been given the rubber sheet which is spread on the mattresses to save them from the baby's excretions. So I come home and I am all "big sisterly" and spread out the sheet on the floor and ask mom to let him sleep on the floor. Mom gently laughed and explained to me how babies sleep on bed, and thats when I understood what it really means to be an elder sister.

Over the last nineteen years there have been countless arguments and bloody fights where we have beaten each other blue; but for every fight, there has been a patch up. For every time we've hated each other, we've loved each other twice more. For every time we've blabbered secrets, we've kept thrice more!

My brother is a very good friend of mine with whom I can share anything and everything. He takes good care of me, saves me from mom's verbal arrows. We form a great team. The path to it hasn't been easy, but the end result is great!

He is growing into a wonderful man who is up for all lessons life will throw at him!

Love you bro! happy birthday!!! Blessed be!

Food I Really Miss

The canteen food at SIMSR, though decent isn't all that satisfying. Here is some food I am missing like hell because I haven't had a chance to have to go and gorge on it for quite some time!

Kirti ke ghar ka khana!! Always on the top of the list!!

Double cappuccino (machine made) at St. Xavier's canteen. And the cold coffee there. The Nescafe house in the Somaiya campus I believe adds too much sugar to the premix. It actually tastes like liquid horribly sweet melody!

Cannon pav bhaji and the masala chhas after it.

Teriyaki noodles at Five Spice, Fort.

Anna's (the mess in charge @ Xavier's) breakfast meals and dal chawal.

Canteen food at St. Xavier's.

Sizzlers at Raj Mahal....they're awesome.

Caramel custard from Metro cafe. It's out of this world!

Theobroma brownies, cakes, and all kinds of desserts. Really food for the Gods.

Leopold's chilly fried potatoes (we still don't know what they are actually called!)

Mad Over Donuts: great donuts. The flavours are quite imaginative and make your mouth sigh with pleasure!

"Bollywood" Survival 101

I survived Dabanng today. For the uninitiated, Dabanng is one of those movies that the common crowd in India associates Bollywood with.

Some other movies in this genre include; Wanted, Dum, and a plethora of Rajnikant and Govinda movies.

No person in their right mind would opt to go for such a movie. I went because otherwise my dad would have to go alone.

So here are some tips for the people who might find themselves in the same predicament as me:

1. Leave your brains at home.

2. You might as well leave your common sense with it while you are leaving your brains behind.

3. Forget whatever you’ve learnt in physics especially about gravity.

4. Do not even think of drawing comparisons with intelligent film makers: you’ll end up depressing yourself.

5. Learn how to whistle or carry one if you want to be a part of the crowd.

6. Remember, if you pray to God, God will be kind enough to make sure you don’t have nightmares about the movie.

Last but not the least, if you see yourself getting stuck in such a situation again, RUN as fast as you can in the opposite direction!!!

Celebrating Two Years of a Great Bond

Two years ago, on this day when people bring Ganeshji, the God of all great beginnings home, I had a few great beginnings myself. One of them was my friendship with Kirti. On this day two years back, I first went to her home and we spoke to each other and we were understood at a level which was great, despite hardly having known each other for a couple of months. I clearly remember what a day it was. And that was the beginning of a great friendship.

We've spent a lot of time together, over the phone, at each other's place, over meals in one plate, and have realised that there are some friends who truly feel like family. And that's why I am the only one apart from her family who calls her jiji.

And there is only one story I can think of to illustrate our friendship. About three weeks ago, a common friends of ours, dropped her cellphone on the ledge outside the third floor of our college. I, being me, immediately decided to go out and get it for her. It was a little (okay okay, a LOT risky) proposition. So as I was on the edge of the window, I realised my feet were just about a little short to reach the edge and it would be a little too risky to jump, as the ledge was thin and wet. And this girl, who btw was holding onto me so tightly, that my arm went dead, and who is shorter than me, offered to go out there instead of me, because it was so important to me to get it back as I had given my word that I would do it.

Eventually I got the phone back, but honestly how many friends would offer such a thing and mean it?

To Kirti and the friendship we've created. I love you jaan.

Critical Thinking

We had a PPT in class yesterday based on a case study, and based on the first three sentences of the group, I could make out which of the alternatives they would go for, because their first three sentences were biased and indicative.

This is when I realised that true education is being able to argue both sides of the coin well.

If you set your mind on one of the alternatives, before exploring other options, you could miss out on critical issues and details, and sometimes end up bending facts to your advantage, without realising where you've gone wrong, as the group did when presenting. As we've studied in psychology, one of the most important aspects of Critical thinking is how many times can you question your own assumptions and have satisfying answers for them.

Some of the people whose thinking skills I really respect are those who can play perfect Devil's advocates and argue both sides of an issue, whatever they may actually believe.

So see if you can keep an open mind and try seeing both sides of the issue, and have a stand for both.

Real People Different Lessons

Working with the underprivileged puts a lot of things in perspective. Every time I feel my life is not going too well, there is one story I think of, and everything is all right with the world.

I was in the 10th standard, when as a part of our Scouts and Guides Volunteering work, we visited Aashadaan, a home for the underprivileged. There we met Usha, a mentally retarded 10 year old girl. She was a severe case of mental retardation and had trouble with speech. And she did not have long to live either.

But her spirit...just shone. She was so happy to see us come visit. She was the first person we met, and just her open armed acceptance help us lose some of our nervousness of how to interact with them. She was so happy to see me and my friends, that she could but laugh. And when I just said hello, she took my arm and pulled me towards the swings, and we played on them. She insisted on songs because she loved music and when we sang she danced. Oh what a spirit!

I thought if only people who have everything could have even half her happiness and spirit, the world would be such a better place.

Usha passed away last year. I didn't cry because I know she wouldn't want me to. But she is always in my memory as someone I think of when I feel life isn't what I want it to be. I still remember I had a Tshirt that read "This is not the life I ordered" which Ithrew away when I heard of Usha's death and remembered all the wonderful things I had learnt from her.

I Am Thankful For

- Having to wake up in the mornings because it means I am alive and healthy.

- Being tired at the end of the day, because it means I have been productive, and I will have a great sleep.

- The mess in my house because it means that there are normal loving people living around me.

- My cellphone that buzzes the whole day because those I love think of me.

- The preparations before and the cleaning up after a party because it means I have friends surrounding me.

- Having to drop off all work to be there for a friend, because I know they will be there for me just as same when I need them.

I am thankful for all the things that irritate me because when I look at them differently, they show that I am a normal person having a wonderful life.

Images courtesy Google links!

The Pursuit of Perfection?

Perfect! Plastic perfect! That's what models in any form of media are and actually always have been. Tall, slim, fair, not a hair out of place, perfect teeth, perfect nails, perfect lashes and make-up. They are perfect. And all look the same, as if they have been mass produced from the same factory and by the same hand! No scope of uniqueness at all.

And they make those who admire them (especially girls in the adolescence and teen ages) want to pursue perfection, to look just like them. The girls don't realise that this "perfection" is a result of hours of make-up and airbrushing. As a result, these girls try so many things which are actually harmful to them, to look like the plastic dolls!

A cousin of mine eats very small meals because she is convinced she is FAT even though her shape (which I think is great) is due to her bone structure. I have seen many classmates in school who were anorexic or bulimic in pursuit of this perfection. Or those who have destroyed their skins and hair with all the beauty products "guaranteed" to make you hair. skin and whatever parts of your anatomy shine!

And it's not just the girls. If they have some sense, then I have heard mothers pass comments that could easily destroy their self esteem at tender ages. My own mother is one of those. She always kept telling me to use Fair and Lovely (which she has been using for god knows how many years to no positive effect) so that I can look better. I have had her scream at me in public for letting my hair down without combing it perfectly and hence looking shabby, which was really confusing because I would've just got so many compliments about how I looked. The mother of someone I know used to stare at her in public or even shout at her if she ate more than 5 spoonfuls because she wanted her to lose weight. It used to be so embarrassing for her and used to make her cry, for which she received more scoldings.

Both of us ended up dealing with what our mothers dished out for us in the same way, by confronting them and then not listening to them, living our life our own way. Unfortunately it sours relationships too.

Pursuit of Perfection? What is that perfection really?

One More Feather!

"Sachin: converting atheists since 1988".

Another feather in Sachin's cap. The Indian Air Force's Honorary rank of group captain and he is being looked upon as a brand ambassador for them.

This is in honour of his sporting achievements and his contribution to India. He is the first sportsperson and the first person with no aviation background to receive this honour. Sachin, in his speech on the occassion, spoke of wanting to always be an air warrior after seeing Top Gun. A great example of the great Indian dream come true!!

There are very few "celebrities" I look up to. Rather I hate the whole concept of people being obsessed with a certain person. but Sachin is truly god!!