My Skoolin History...

Well the title should be my skoolin Herstory…( the feminist in me smiles :) )

I was born as the second child… a cute li’l gal to my Dad who works in a bank… As a bank employee, my Dad gets FREQUENT transfers all over India.. n I ve been fortunate enuff to accompany him to every whr he goes.. Dad goes, Mom n the kids follows… its always been like tht…

I am proud to say that I have studied in EIGHT skools, by the time I rchd 12 th standard… well… n those yrs have sure made me well experienced…I ve met hundreds of kids… had scores of friends, dozens of best friends…but the only problem was that as I got accustomed to a place, made friends, got settled.. it would always be time to leave… I wud be heart broken always… Teary good byes, silent promises of keeping in touch… (which invariably would be broken.. with the various reasons being I lost her address, she moved on to another place…etc etc…)

Another common thing was my nervousness cum excitement on the First day at a new skool…

It was always there… n still follows me.. thru college n mayb to a my work place… I used to spill a few tears sayin bye to amma ( me being Mama’s li’l gal, no big surprise)… I was scared bout how the kids wud treat me… of my new teachers… I was afraid I wudnt fit in… I was scared of being a new comer, when most of the others knew each other frm kinder garden…N if they ask me whr I m from, whr did I study last, why I left tht skool… It always used to be the class teacher first and she’d make me say this aloud… I used to kinda embarrassed… feel awkward…

But the transition was easy… I d soon find a good friend… settle in… learn, try to be in the teacher’s good books( no, I was not Miss Goody two shoes all the time, I was a rioter too.. not much in skool…the later yrs…)… n all would be fine.. but the starting trouble was always there ….

Anyways the memories remain…. Etched into my heart… forever….

Dedicating this series of posts… to all my FRIENDS… through out the years…. Love u all…

( esp YOU(plural) on whom I had huge crushes on…. and Evn U whom I was intensely jealous of… N then the You’s I hated coz u said spiteful things bout me behind my back…u all r included....)

{ To be continued, very soon as I hav nothing better to do @ home n I love to write… }

How I became a Vegetarian???

Well, so.. I am a vegetarian, for ppl who do not know this.. I am a firm believer n staunch supporter of (no, not PETA or the Blue cross) vegetarianism….

I have never been able to understand how people manage to brutally murder n gobble up the dead ones??? Esp the poor birds.. wat harm hav they done to u???

This post is dedicated to one of my dearest frnds, with whom I hav a conversation daily on Y I choose to remain a vegetarian… I also irritate him with my endless attempt at tryin to make him a veggie too.. I know its not fair… I mean, I really shud never ask anyone else not to eat those dead birds n fishes…but its fun na... irritating sumone ;)

So… my mom tells me I was very fond of non-veg food till I was 6 yrs old… In fact, I used to gobble up omlettes for brkfst, lunch n dinner.. It all happened one day whn I was in II std… I was up North in Lucknow n since thr were a few Malayalis thr, we used to hav get togethers every weekend… n this particular Sunday, my Dad’s friend offered to prepare chicken curry… Well, the 6 yr old me was very excited.. we never used to prepare chicken( or any other form of meat) at home… When the uncle came with a big bag, I peeped inside to see 2 legs… he pulled it out to show me the rest… n thts when it hit me… I was going to eat a DEAD BIRD… n this fellow b4 me was responsible for makin it dead…

Ah.. Is this thing alive???

Ha ha…No, no… see at the butcher’s they kill it by wringing its neck, when it makes a sound… a tiny croak( so he sayz) n it dies…He then cleans it up for us… removes the feathers… ll hav this ready in an hour n ll keep the best portions for u…

Yeah…well … Thank You…

I was surprisingly found wandering near the kitchen… instead of going out to play… n stood silently near the kitchen door…watchin HIM ( the KILLER in my eyes) cook the poor bird…

He called me whn it was one… come on, u ve been waiting for so long… see, I hav kept the best parts for you… You must have this liver and Kidneys… n turning to my mom, he explained.. these r very good for kids…

Liver n Kidneys… like we hav in our body??? These birds hav those too???

Yeah… n its good for u…

Are’nt kidneys responsible for eliminating the waste in the body,amma???

Well, in humans… yes… so mayb the same applies for chickens too…

I was whimpering… n I went close to my mom… I don’t want tht….

I don’t want any of tht… a dead bird!!!!

The ‘Uncle’ brought my lunch in a plate…. Made me sit at the dining table… n placed it b4 me….

YUCK!!!! N ( puke…..) all over the place…. I cant stand this smell… sumbody remove it please…

I started crying loudly… I still remember the scene very clearly…

Y did u kill this poor thing?? I askd the uncle… He had nothing to say.. I guess he was shocked… n worried.. Amma came near me n told me.. its okay, U don’t hav to eat that if you don’t want to…

Aftr this (un) fortunate incident, I have never touched meat… or eggs… I m not a vegan though..

I tried being one for abt 3 months.. while I was still young.. in X th.. got an earful frm my cousin, the doc, who said I was going to get weak… tired coz a veggie diet ( my preferences) do not provide the essential requirements needed by an individual… I went back to havin milk n milk products.. which I love… but meat is a big No No…

N even when my bro gets me biriyani @ home, I poke n prod at it to see if there’s been a mistake (deliberate or not)… Wat if it says VB??? Wil I find a white shiny egg inside???

N I always make a big scene at home when ettan makes omelets… I tel him.. see, the poor embryo… destined to make it BIG… U r killin it.. How so u think u wud feel to b in a pan like this??? U r coagulating its proteins.. Oh the poor soul.. I end up being thrown out of the kitchen but its fun anyway…

The last time I tried a plate of chickenless chicken biriyani ( with the pieces carefully picked out, Our neighbour had made it specially for us n I din want to hurt her feelings… the truth is it smelt yummy!!!), it was fine… but soon aftr the neighbour left.. Ettan did a most wonderful thing.. he told me chicken pieces are not always visible… there are always itsy bitsy pieces which wud hav escaped your microscopic vision n ended up in your stomach….Shud I say wat hapnd next???? Again… ( puke )… into the wash basin….

( P.S : The only chicken dish is like is Chicken Soup.. the 'Chicken Soup' series are awesome... I love 'em)

Shocking!!!

This is a true incident tht happened to one of my friends.. a cute little gal a couple of weeks back… I was shocked at the news…n it still irritates me… so I decided to get it out of mind…publish it, broadcast it here…

Well.. so coming to the story, this gal is a friend of mine n whatever I say here ( I m sure she ll never read this…) shud be kept top secret!!!

Aftr this experience, I am finding it easy to digest wat many others hav told me… Beauty and Brains don’t always go together…Its not tht all beautiful gals r dumb.. but ppl keep on proving it to me( I repeat here, I am a gal n I m proud to be one…)

Well, so this friend of mine had some work to do regarding her project and visited a net café near her home… She had to take some print outs too… Let me explain b4 hand that is friend of mine knows little bout computers, I mean, stuff u knw… n she had this Office 07 at her home, and at the café, it was 03 version. She couldn’t open her Word file… It was not saved in compatibility mode..

She was worried n called the gal at the centre to help her out… well, this is Kerala n turns out evn the gal at the café din hav an idea of wat is wrong.. Suddenly a head pops in frm the next cubicle and asks her wat is wrong… the café gal explains the problem n the guy( in his twenties, well groomed.. i.e looked respectable) offered to help her out.. He helps her out by opening her file in another system, she says a huge Thanks n leaves the place…

Same day nite, she gets a gnite msg frm an unknown number… expectin it to one of her frnds or whatever, she jus reads it n keeps it aside.. I mean, gals do not generally respond to such msgs.. WE hav learnt to b careful… a dozen forwards followed later tht nite…

Next day morn, she sees few msgs more… all sweet… decent ones.. n then the CALL comes… she doesn’t pick it up… anonymous caller, the msg sender… Fone rings again… and then again… She picks up the call…

HELLO.. Hi.. Don’t hang up the fone… pls listen to me… I am not going to trouble u…

Who is this????

U don’t know me, well I guess u know me, kind of… we met ystrdy… in the café…

Café???

Yeah, remember me, the guy in the black shirt( or whatever)

Oh.. How did u get my number n y the hell r u callin me???

The number… well.. I took it frm the directory at the café

( All net café visitors wud be familiar with the fact tht u r required to leave ur address n fone number while using a system.. n I dunno evn now Y she left her mobile number thr… I always leave the fone number column blank…)

So… wat do u want???

Nothin… I jus thot we cud be friends…

I m sorry, I am not interested in makin friends with strangers…

I guess she hung up… I do not know the rest of the conversation as b4 she cud tell me the rest… I started shouting at her… Wat the HELL ???

N the rest…….

The same evening, my friend is on the balcony adjoining her room n she sees THIS GUY in front of her house… he was jus making rounds, watchin her house… n then he sees her… Hi.. ( a wave…)

She acts as if she doesn’t see it n goes back into the room…. Terrified.. Her Dad’s this Mr. Strict, n if he gets to knw of this… He’d probably inform the police, or break the guy’s legs himself…n she din want to make a scene, thts wat she said. ( I jus thot wat I wud hav done.. I wus surely told my bro or parents…I m scared of stalkers)

He then calls her, she answers the call n shouts at him… asks him to stay away…

N this is the funny part… the reason he gives on y he is aftr her…

U knw sumthin, U resemble my ex… She had this same hair cut, the same voice as urs… She is now in Dubai, married….We studied together in college…

( Don ask me y she bothered to listen to all this crap… the reason lies in the first paragraph of this post)

We were to be engaged soon… but problems in her family… she was a Hindu n me a Muslim… she left me.. seeing u, reminds me of the wonderful time we had together… pls don’t hate me for doing this to u.. I shall not ever trouble you…

Many conversations later…. She tells him to shut up n never disturb her again , with no results…

When we met last week, she tells me this.. n I shout at her… Wat??? Hav u gone mad… wat if he is a psycho???? N I was furious with her… I cudnt do anything else but tel her… I tried my level best to stuff sum sense in her head… I askd her to complain, go to the cops, atleast tel her Dad ….. n ystrdy out of her own will, she has changed her mobile number… I do not know wats gonna happen next..… all I knw is sum guys act so cheap… tht it makes me sick to think of it…

Can I blame her fully??? I do not know… Y do such scumbags still exist in the world??? Is it coz no one takes any action against them??? or they feel tht watever they do... they can easily go unpunished...Y is tht ( sum) guys bend so low??? Dont they realize that they r staining the name of the rest of the gang too???

And yet another y....Y is it that the so called free minded society which always thinks of women as the weaker sex ends up veiwing the situation in such a way tht always its the gal who's blamed??? for not being careful...

THE CALL .......

Right from my 10 th standard… I have been waiting for this… the CALL.. which wud tel me what I really wanted to do in life… no, not a religious or spiritual callin… sumthin tht wud tel me whr my real talents n interests lay…

N b4 I begin, I must tel u this… I m still waiting.. haven’t got the call ( inner calling) yet…its been 7 long yrs…

Till 10 th, my fav subject in skool was Social studies n I dreamt of becoming an Archeologist… wow…a paleontologist… studying fossils.. tht was it.. I wanted to do tht… Little futile dreams in a tiny mind…they burst like bubbles…once the (much ado bout nuthin ) 10 th class was over…

After 10 th, the decision was unanimous and without a doubt I went on to learn science… as after all.. after all… i really had no idea bout the whole stuff..I din even know wat u learnt in college.… n at 14 yrs, u really did listen to wat ur parents said…

I din wanna take up Maths.. thinking of it now.. but I was not given an option.. my parents, my brother… everyone thot the world revolves round Maths, it might b true.. n I din feel like arguing, so I went on wth it.. Maths n Biology… I began to find that I was fascinated with Chemistry… I loved to learn that.. Biology too… I was very much into learning bout the body n stuff… Physics and Maths I learnt bcoz I had to.. n I did love English as always… as soon as my 11 th classes began, I was asked to choose wat I wanted.. to bcome a doctor or go into Engineering… Engg was a definite no no… partly coz I din wanna learn techy stuff and (groan)..no more of Maths for me.. n even more coz my bro is an Engg… N I ve seen him toil… I chose the former.. Medicine was my aim.. But did I work for it??? NA… Wat did I know of entrance exams n stuff then??? I was too busy with my skool curriculum n tuitions…

I went ahead n wrote the xams ( aftr Entrance coachin at the well known P.C. Thomas classes, I must really dedicate a post to this… I Detested n despised n hated the sessions)… n to my surprise ( the family still wonders how it hapnd).. I got in for engg....and had a very high rankin( no, not a 10 digit cell fone number, but sumthn equally devastating) for medicine… Jus wat I din want… thr ensued a cold war at home.. with me wantin to spend an yr learning n attempt the exams again.. n my parents wantin me to go for Engg… I was stubborn.. I said… anything but tht… n one day…Mom came n sat near me… she said We wil Never allow u to WASTE an yr.. think of ur options ...wat r the subjects u like??? I thot.. Chemistry, Biology n English… No one wanted me to go for BA Eng ( I had big plans of doing journalism n bcomin a hot shot Reporter )… I dunno y… everyone thot science is definitely btr thn tht… n I went on to study BIOCHEMISTRY… my fav subjects( 2 in 1 option)… it din turn out to b wat I expected but anyways I loved the subject.. n I did quite well, I must say..n though I was given an option of writing the entrance once again aftr my first yr of degree.. I wasn’t interested… I was busy enjoyin my college life… din wanna lose tht…the friends… the joys of becoming a senior at clg…

Aftr degree, I had a few moths to ponder over wat I wanted… I wanted to go for Civil services… but u had to be 21 n I was jus turning 20… so… next … for a fleeting second, I had thots of MBA, wat was a gal like me learning Business administration for??? But now tht I think of it, it might hav been a btr option as the only thing I m good at it is TALKING… so mayb a career in sales n marketing wud ve been good.…(well, U think of right things at wrong times, always late…) so… I continued learning… Science… I wanted sumthin which offered exciting careers ( bah.. wat did I know then???) I wanted to b a scientist… hi hi… do research( CRAP)… n I ended up joining for my masters.. n I m quite proud to say I hav a Masters in Biotechnology ( I hav no idea wht tht certificate means… it is not gonna buy me food or clothes, I knw tht for sure) .. I evn hav a Post Grad diploma… an add on course with my PG…

N now at age 21 ( running 22 )… I still have no idea wat to do with my life… I wanted to go for PhD…I did prepare seriously for few xams a couple of months… But now I aint sure if thts wat I want… Am I really the kind who wud like to work in a lab 24/7 … to research…( and tht is, if sum institute takes me in)… Do I really want tht kind of a life.. I dunno… n I m over 21 now, so I can take the civil services xam… But do really want tht??? Am I made for tht??? I do not have regrets over wat I did with my life.. I am perfectly okay with the damn thing… but the future scares me…

So this is whr I stand… waitn for the ( damn) CALL… I m very optimistic, u see.. I hav decided to wait for a few more months b4 my parents decide to take matters into their hands n do sumthin drastic… u knw wat I mean.. its very hard for a gal in her twenties to sit at her home doing nothing… thr wil always be the dear aunties, who hav nothing better to do thn seek prospective brides to b given as gifts to waitin MIL’s…

( P.S : This is my very first post which has a word count over 1000… I jus checked it now…n boy, am I glad!!!)

On Meeting new people...

Whenever I meet new people... mostly online nowadays... and get new friends request on fb...the first thing I wud check is the person's knowledge of language ... Being born n brought up in India ( i'm not sure if thts the reason), I am always impressed by a person who speaks English flawlessly.... its not that I am this idiot who thinks knowing English n speakin it well is everything...but sumhow i feel it gives me an idea of the person... i like ppl who spk their mother tongue fluently too.. but once i get a friend's request with a personal msg in broken English... i do reject it instantly...

The next thing tht can make a good first impression is the books sumone reads... if it suits my taste.. or I find they r books worth reading.... it definitely makes them move up a notch on my "What I think of u" meter...I esp like it if they read the same books as me, which makes me feel we hav sumthin in common...

I love to socialize... i Love meeting people, making new friends...

"Make new friends and keep the old, one is silver and the other gold"

What if God just decides to take me away one day??? then all I wud have to treasure would be the memories of the time I spent and the happy moments I shared with others...

When you post sumthing on ur blog... every blogger in the world... really does tht with a wish tht people read the post... n comment on it... n a comment on my post really makes my day :)

Makes me put on a stupid grin tht stays all day through....

On Mobiles....

The title sounds crazy...the post will seem even more so... the mobile seems to be one thing around which my life revolves for the time being....

As I tried with my other obsessions in life, I did try to make myself free of this too.... tried to live without glacing at it time to time checking for the (in)famous missed calls, the ocassional genuine messages( other than the forwarded lines or good nights which many a friends of mine hav a habit of to send to all their contacts)... the attempt was unsuccesful on every occasion... one time I tried switchin off my mobile, the idea was to lose contact with the 'cell' world for atleast half a day...my friend in abt 20 min called to my landline..."what hapnd to ur cell?, I ve been tryin for so long...switch it on...i need to tel ya sumthing n its economical to cal u on tht"... thr ended tht day's attempt...

And on another wonderful day, I thot of not switchin on my cell aftr I left the college, whoevr calls might cal me later whn i m at home,thts wat I thought...it takes one hour for me to rch home by bus...n by the time i finally rchd home...thr was my darling mom at the door...Y the hell have we bought u a mobile????? In times of need, u never answer my calls....with the fear of my cell being taken away if i tried tht again...I hav stopped doing tht whn i m out...

And speakin of cell phones reminds me of the time when I first got my mobile...I was a lot younger then, mind you... n new to the world of cell fone technology n sum very nice cell fone users...all the major networks had onnet free calls.. n i got this call frm an unknown number...since then, ppl rarely called on my mobile, I jumped at the chance n answered the call...

Hello... Hello..Is this ( sum female name) ?

No, this is Lakshmi...( my stupid answer)

Oh...Lakshmi... How r u doing, dear?

(I became wary at once, i knw its late, but better late thn never)... DO i know u???

No..but we cud get to know each other...

No thanks...I don make friends with strangers...

n I hung up...

But what followed was a spate of calls... frm a little more than a dozen numbers all asking for Lakshmi....

I changed my number a week after...gettin sound scolding frm my bro...But tht did teach me an important lesson,right... I never made the mistake of repaeatin it again...:)

Y is it tht Indians find it impossible to live without cell fones??? i knw this is a topic many hav spoken bout, but literally it is hard to find Indian households in which not evn one member if not all have cell fones....

My mom, on hearing the Airtel ring tone... jus last week...yelled at me to pick up my cell... Y cant u take the thing with u whn u go to the other room??? n Y hav u placed it in the kitchen, of all the places?, she askd... only to find our maid running towards the kitchen...pry open her 'hand bag', take her mobile n spk to her son.... Mom was too shocked to spk...she jus grinned at me...I had nothing to say either...Khuda jaane kal hamein aur kya dekhana padega???