Killing me softly

Sometimes, the strangest thing is what keeps on disturbing the constant momentum of your life and you simply don’t know it.

I am super drowsy from my medicine as I write this. You see, I haven’t been sleeping well in a while. And I kept on thinking it’s because i am stressed and I work way too hard. I tried to find out why I was always so tired, why I just had to stop every few hundred meters when I was running even though my legs weren’t tired, why I always woke up feeling terrible, why I had stopped enjoying little things like the smell of coffee.

All this would make me feel horrible, really. My perpetual throat ache, head ache, ear ache and all the other aches made me feel old. I was only days away from declaring myself a nutcase.

And then I found out. It’s because my stupid, sensitive nose is ALWAYS blocked. I took medicines, my nose is clear and I zonked out for the afternoon. The whole of it. That was the best sleep I had in a year.

Phew. What a relief!

Next time you are being punched in the face with problems, stop and observe, and don’t give up. It could just be blocked sinuses.

Visit Visit

Hello iPhone/iPod touch users!

 

My friend develops cool and useful applications for iPhone and iPod touch. Do visit his website and check out his apps on the app store!

http://karzy.net

:)

Because brick walls are there for a reason…

…they are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people.

Lamok Iturhs: April Fool’s

When your desk is supposed to say this:

But you come back one fine day and see this:

You know who’s responsible for it.

Then everyone laugh their heads off. And you don’t feel angry because it’s a harmless April Fool’s prank.. oh and because you are excited about playing Foosball later!

(psst: Lamok Iturhs is actually my name spelt backwards, in case you didn’t get it)

The Ghost of the Holidays Past

When I was seven we spent our winter vacation in Delhi. We hadn’t moved to Delhi then, so we only visited the city to meet my cousins. It used to be a new adventure everytime, the new accent, new games to learn, new places to visit and watching people who behaved very differently from those back home. 

One particular night, my uncle decided to take us to this market place we had never seen before. My brother and I put on our best clothes and off we went to see this new place. I can’t remember exactly where it was. Either South ex, or Def Col, I really can’t remember. But that was the first time I ever saw an Archies Gallery. My brother and I stared at those lights and beautiful gifts, toys, and the cards like two village idiots. We didn’t dare, however, to touch the items on display. “If you break anything, we’ll send you to these people to wash their dishes forever.” we had been warned.

Everything was so different. The shopkeeper was not a bearded man chewing paan and wearing a lungi, like back home. He was a smart young man who spoke good English. The shop was a full of glitter and there were decorations everywhere.

We saw a crowd outside and ran to see what was happening. There were kids mostly. All happy, flocking around a fat, old man in red. “We should move to this city!”, I whispered to my brother. “Why?” He whispered back.

“Don’t you see? The real Santa Claus lives HERE!”

After that I was assured that the Santa who came to our school last week was actually Sister Angela. (He did look too thin. And the beard fell off at one point.)

We came back home, with the candy that Santa Claus had given us, after shouting at us for not queueing up properly. What did we care? We had met the REAL Santa. That was all that mattered.

That was my first experience with Christmas. Commercial and pretend, but still. This year I experienced real Christmas. Celebrations with friends who celebrate it for the meaning. A fabulous dinner, with lots of jokes and stories flying around the table. Rerun of a movie which i have watched at least thrice before. And LOTS of people. Yes. Suddenly i don’t feel terrible about spending the holidays away from home.

Lazy holidays.. and some other stuff..

I’ve been going through the blogger’s block recently. I have no one to blame, really. Since exams finished, i’ve done nothing much but miss my friends, watch movies, go for cycling trips, and plan about getting back to work.

I eventually did get back to my part-time. Thanks to my mother for knocking some sense into me and teaching me about ‘the real world’. Mostly, for reminding me that people need money to live. So yea. Back to work.

Although i must admit, my work now is not very interesting. I spent most of yesterday scanning paper, and so nothing exciting happened, except that the paper kept jamming the maching since i kept forgetting to take the staples off.

Of course, on the brighter side, while the stack of paper scanned itself, i got time to do soul searching, play senseless games on Facebook, read NewsWeek AND blog! Nah, i don’t hate my job at all.  

Which reminds me of what i was originally thinking when i started writing this post.  It so happens that i just made a ‘to-do-list’ for the holidays. (yes, i have a thing for lists) and that got me wondering. Well that, and an episode from Scrubs. How do you know whether THAT big step that you are taking in your life is the right one? How can you make sure that you won’t regret it two weeks later? Most importantly, how do  you know whether you will be able to “survive” it?

Like Elliot Reid, i also wish there was a test to tell you that. Where you could just enter your choice and it would tell you whether you are making the  right decision, buying the right dress or choosing the correct friends. I’ve taken a lot of huge steps this year, not knowing whether i will be able to pull through. Thinking back, i think i did manage to pull through most of them. Of course, i made my mistakes too. And as much i may wish for the otherwise,  i do realize that there is no way to go back and un-do my decisions.

There is, however, satisfaction in learning from from your mistakes. But really, what if there were no scope for another chance, another mistake or another decision? How are you supposed to know what the right thing to do is?

Can you…?

All kinds of time

And it’s that time of the year again. 

I guess I will miss those walks back from dinner when I suddenly burst into some old bollywood number. AJ giggles and M and A join me in my “Ek ajnabee haseena se.. yun mulaakaat ho gayi…“. When V gives me the you’re-so-pathetic look but sings along anyway. And when A aka Malgudi quietly smiles and walks along. I guess I will miss listening to and being a part of pointless conversations during dinner time, laughing and making people laugh with silly stories about my life. Just because it’s not often that I meet people who are interested to listen to how we danced when our codes worked.

I guess I will miss being called ‘Komal-anna’ , called after a silly character from a silly bollywood movie. I will miss being picked on for my Mogambo-ish laugh. I will miss my weekly movie nights with Mr Patel and Sidarf. I will miss funny- early morning breakfast conversations with my dance partner, S. ‘Maria moments’.Making Al believe that computer engineering is cool. Angry burstouts. P’s funny comments and angry threats to people who don’t shut up when it’s time to study. Getting hooked on shows with H and T. D’s singaporean accent and Ad’s you’re-so-lame look.  

I will also miss emo-ing around with AJ in my room. I will miss talking to V about the joys of writing codes. Of course, nothing can make me forget quiet An’s sarcastic yet priceless comments. 

But most of all, I’ll miss the loud bursts of laughter that makes the “Indian table” at the dining hall stand apart from the rest in the dining hall. 

Saying goodbye sucks. But i guess it makes us sweat the small stuff like these, which by the way, do matter. Life is funny. No one knows where this whole bunch is going to be next year, this time. But hey, there will still be good memories to look back at and good times to look forward to. All the best, guys!

 

**Takhliaaa** :P

PS: Although the bhindi and paneer invitation is always open, it’s okay if you don’t want to risk it with my cooking skills. Just come.. I am not running out of stories to tell :)

AAAAArrrrrrrrrrggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

That felt good.

Phew.

Why Nelld gets to be introduced on this blog

Because we both share some world changing common beliefs such as

• the wisdom of Homer Simpson
• the miraculous healing capabilities of Teh halia (ginger tea) from Cheese Prata Shop
• the wonders of watching an Akshay Kumar movie at the end of a tiring day
• the importance of being a little paranoid
• the love for Shiny Ahuja, DESPITE the name

Because we are split on equally important issues such as

• the literary capapbilities of Salman Rushdie
• the complications of life
• watching sad movies which are good, have a theme and impact your life
• going to libraries

And because Nelld is the only person who can get away with calling me “Kemell” , “Medley”, “my-crazy-little-genius” and “Komaldehyde”.

*Drumroll*

Meet my friend, Sonal. We are cool. Period.