Trip Memories

Activities- adventurous, semi-adventurous and non-adventurous-loves of life:P
(All are loved by me just the same, but are listed in chronological order)

1) Street luge-Sentosa-Singapore.

Go-karting lets you drive in circles and dashing car doesn't really move too far....but yes, luge lets you drive down a road, surrounded by tropical Singaporean trees! Heaven! You just pull the gear in front to move, and back to stop. I sat on the car, pulled the gear and just mooooooveeeeeeeeed!! And the thrill of relaxing and driving, overtaking, speeding down at the slope turnings(preparing myself for the Great Indian Driving Test-lol) and the experience is just so fabulous. Head to Singapore if you are planning a trip and explore more! Bonus: Great South Indian pure vegetarian restaurants too!

2)Cable Car-Genting

The cable car had been discontinued for three months but the day we went....it was operational once again!!!!!!!!!!! It is the longest in SE Asia! It was a delightful experience!! Tropical-temperate forests right outout of geography books surrounding you...and standing in the cable-car in front of the fully transparent windown- breathtaking! Who says you need wings to fly?! Genting has the most amazing weather. Sun shining down one minute, fog enveloping the trees the next. What more can you say seeing tropical forests one minute and pine and cedar the next! And the fog enveloping the beautiful pines and poplars! And a theme park? Truly amazing, and as Malaysia says, truly Asia!!

3) Parasailing

They stamp 'two dips' onto your palm(though I really wanted to just get over the stamping and go parasailing, so I didn't pay attention to the stamps!) and strap an uninflated parachute around your body. Then they tell you take three steps: a one, a two and a......a.......three!! You take off and then you are in the water again, right below, for a split second and then you just take off! he parachute inflates and you find yourself in the middle of the Pattaya beach! Only at a great height above the middle spot on the beach! Then after experiencing true 'atmosphere', you are propelled down again, and your legs are skimmed by water, and then you are experiencing a'tmosphere(not a punctutation mistake, it does look nice when spelled that way) again! After some atmosphere breathing, you are coming down again, and your photograph is being clicked! I smiled a hearty smile and then realized that they had clicked a pic of you while the parachute was being strapped on....and I was smiling in that too! Guess I wasn't too scared! And whenever you are scared, just transfer the energy into thrill! And we enjoy thrill when we are a little scared! (that untransformed energy of being scared)!! Parasailing is just 'beyond land, beyond ocean, and beyond yourself!'

4) Undersea Walk

Okay, I was 100% calm before this. Been there, done that (parasailing)....after exploring the atmospheric air, we were now going down, to where the fish/jellyfish/crustaceans/anemones/crabs/horseshoe carbs/octopuses lived. How can I forget, those beautiful plankton and phytoplankton! Corals! I went in first, and the helmet with an oxygen cylinder is gently put on your head, you climb down the ladder, and its bye-bye human habitation! Your ears feel uncomfortable, but yes, that is the way some of us feel while we're in an aircraft! After 15 seconds, you slowly get accustomed, and you begin exploring ocean world! And they take your photo too! I lay my hands on whatever I could find, corals, fish, anemones...the list goes on! After half and hour of fun, I climbed the ladded again and came to the boat! The sad part is when we go down to the ocean world, we are assured of a safe return! When the fish visit human habitation, they are killed and cooked! How unfair! Are we ruling the Earth because of our technical capabilities? Compared to the weaver bird, who has no formal education in architecture, and builds a nest keeping in mind climatic conditions and has all comforts compared to that of a modern home, in miniature form, are we really that great? I'm way off the topic, but yes, let us face it, and accept it, vegetarianism is the way too go! Your stomach is not a burial ground, mind you!

5) Banana boat

Banana boat is just a long colourful boat with black straps. We sit on it, and we are asked, ' Adventure or non-adventure'...and the answer to it is the former! We just sit comfortably as the speed ofthe boat changes frequently, alternating from slow to fast! Then, when we are nearing the shore, the boat topples and its 'all-fall-down!'. The best part is that we did not know this was the adventure! And, just for a split second, I thought it was my fault for having fallen down!

6) Scooter boat

Dhoom 1: I just sit on the scooter boat and it is driven by the scooter boatman. He takes it at 40 kmph and its 'dhoom machale' all the way! He then asks me, 'Do you want to hold the handles and drive it yourself? I say yes and I drive it at 30 kmph and in water, that seems like a hundred. The sun, sand, sea, water, scooter boat and me! I was sooooo thrilled and I am thrilled even thinking about it!

Dhoom 2: I'm on the scooter boat again, as a joyride passenger as well as the scooter boat person! I accompany a small kid and ask him, 'Slow of fast?'. In typical kiddie innocence he answered 'fast'. (The actual scooter boat person was there too). I started clasping the handles rightly, revved up, and sped! From my previous 30 to 40 to 50 to 55 to 60!! Yes, and now I was singing, 'Dhoom Machale'! And this, yes, this, is ultimate joy!! One of the happiest moments of my life! Then the kid tells me, 'Slow please'. I told him that he had asked for it, but I slowed down too. Then I asked again, 'Slow/fast?' He said 'slow'but I still sped on. And both us of were singing, 'Dhoom Machale!' At the end of speeding and revving, the kid wanted a photo with the Formula 1 Scooter Boat Winner of the Year! I gladly posed, and however dramatic all this may seem, the experience was blissful! It was just gggggggggggrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaattttttttttt!!

6) Dashing car on water

We were on dashing cars, knocking each other's car in the water.....racing and speeding!! Good fun, totally brand new experience!

7)Disneyland(Hong Kong)
If I start, I just cannot end. Caramel popcorn and cotton candy aside, Disneyland is the best place in the whole Universe. And I seriously mean it. I just looooovvvvveeeeee Disneyland! And my pics with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald Duck!

8)Madame Tussauds(HK)

Wax figurines of the whos-who....and of Madame Marie Tussaud's too!! Clicking pics is the best part there!



All in all, all in all, HK, Macau(a place like none other in the world, except Las Vegas, and unlike 99.99% of cities, it is active by night! My lovely owl city! And Macau by day and by night is unrecognizable, it just feels like you're in two different cities), Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are just great! Asia rocks!!!!!!!!!! Thanks to my parents who made this trip possible!!

1)What is the soul? 2)What is social acceptance?

I don't want to get philosophical or preachy right now, but there is a saying in the upanishads(okay, I just know three stories/incidents from them, and have read them not in Sanskrit, but in English) which has really struck a chord in my heart. Of all the motivating quotes we hear, such as 'My day will be great', 'life is a mixed bag' etc. only some will actually serve the purpose. But(and according to me there is nothing wrong in beginning a sentence with but) sayings/anecdotes not superficially meant to inspire you are the golden gems you will carry with through life. Most of us stil remember the way the 'thirsty crow' drank water. We remember the way we have traversed through the jungles where Kalia stayed to the kingdom of Vikramaditya. After crossing the 'fairytale' stage, we remember things such as Yama's questions to Yudhishtira, Birbal and Tenali Rama's wit and humour. Some of us may have read 'Tales from the Upanishads of the Amar Chitra Katha series. Coming back to the point from the upanishads, what really is the soul?

Take a walnut or any fairly large-sized seed. Break it open. What is inside the seed apart from the hard outer covering? There is just 'nothing'. There is that same nothing inside mangoes and grapes and apples. Why is in then that one mango is different from another? Take anything breakable for that matter. A glass broken will yield glass pieces. What is inside them? Millions of protons, neutrons and electrons swimming within them. What is inside the proton? Eventually, they all are made up of the same thing-'that nothing'. The same way, the human soul cannot be seen, but it is that 'nothing'. In some great humans, their soul is visible through their actions. The 'nothing' manifests itself externally. Though this is explained in the Upanishads as a way to reach the 'Supreme Brahman', in today's life, though it may not visibly say' life is great', it does, in some way say that life has to be purposeful. This nothing is the soul. The all-pervading soul. When anyone reads about the Upanishads, they will feel it is 'dry'. Even I did at first. But when you consciously try to understand thehidden meaning, it fills your heart with some new meaning. It gives a new direction to your life. Honestly, let us admit it, apart from claims of saying that religion is 'dry' and that life consists of only 'Shopping, hanging out, eating, chilling', we do return to these great texts some time in life. There is just a perception that reading anything about religion and spirituality written by our great Vedic scholars is 'uncool'. Who decides on the coolness meter of a human being? Nobody knows. We do not want to turn to Indian spirituality for wisdom and guidance. But, the manjority of people go around proclaiming that they read 'The Secret' and 'Beyond the Secret' and 'The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari' with pride because that will give them social acceptance and status. What does 'Secret' actually say? It says one thing in three hundred pages, that you will obtain whatever you want by dreaming about it and really wanting it. Nothing against 'Secret', but Bhagavad Gita says three hundred things in one page. Each verse has a different meaning. People don't even read the Bhagavad Gita translated into English. Why this treatment to anything Indian? We think yoga is 'uncool'. We think 'pilates and cardio' is the way to go.nobody wishes to learn Bharatanatyam/Kathak/Kuchipudi. Jazz and salsa are the rage. Nobody wants to learn Indian classical music. It is 'western music' these days. Violins,santoors and mridangams are considered passe. Its about strumming the guitar in front of all the crooning girls. Personally I feel aiming for social acceptance is passe and being something you aren't is passe. When people try singing English songs in that American accent, it makes them look like a 'person in the middle of the Indian and the Atlantic Ocean.' Going Western is not some credible thing people are doing. It makes them look and seem foolish. Let us proudly say that we have read the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Let us sing Indian classical music and play the violin and dance the bharatanatyam. Deep down, we all are Indian. That 'nothing-ness' in ourselves is the Indian essence. Let us show it to the world.



'Because the lives we lead and the paths we tread
are the joys that we find,
Because the thoughts we have and emotions we feel
are mirrors of our mind.

Teenage Reading

I have an addiction, if I may say so, towards the 'Baby Sitters Club' books. Bad start, ugh. My heart rests(too formal), I looooove(too informal), I really love(just perfect) these books by Ann M. Martin. I have over forty of them, thanks to my parents. For girls, and guys too, this book really provides a lowdown on an American teenager's life. There are five girls aged 13 who are part of the BSC (Baby Sitters Club) and they are excellent sitters, great friends and share a wonderful camaraderie with each other. Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, Stacey and Dawn are the five girls who do have problems and tide over them in a perfectly normal way. Problems they face (ofcourse not all of them have all these problems) range from adjustment after divorce, diabetes, low grades in school, a single parent and division of families. Two other girls, Mallory and Jessi, aged 11, also are part of this great club. Mallory has seven siblings, yeah, seven and Jessi is Afro-American. She has to deal with racism. Ofcourse, they do have their 'crushes', some steady, and some not steady. They enjoy their life in Stoneybrook, a fairly small town, very unlike major metro cities. The contentment is remarkable. No ambitiousness or slogging away at school (though slogging away at school does give you large returns later), and great respect and love for each other. There are 131 books, from each member's point of view. Kristy has an adorable adopted sister, and two cute stepsiblings, Mary Anne has Logan (her boyfriend) and Tigger, her cute cat, Claud is super stylish and innovative and is great at art, Stacey is the 'NYC' girl, who copes with her diabetes positively and Dawn is the veggie environmentalist, who is really 'California' at heart. (Well, she is from Cali.) Mallory draws and writes well (though having seven siblings is really a bit too much, and I always sympathize with Mal for having to babysit them most of the time). Jessi is a really talented ballet dancer who has danced in lead productions and is great at languages. Logan(an associate member, also MA's boyfriend) is a complete jock who is great at all sports, and looks like Cam Geary to Mary Anne. MA looooves Cam Geary, so you get the picture. Shannon, the associate member, is totally into studies and extra-curriculars (sort of like me) and Abby, the member who appears in #Book 90, is also totally athletic(like Kristy) and is asthmatic. All of them are so different and unique, and thats what makes reading a great pleasure. There are minus points though, but they are 'minus', so just leave them. The plus points are just too many. Its really a part-reflection of your life, and the feelings we all have had. Feelings towards everything, like school, friends, activities, choices, decisions, health and love. Grab a book, hope that it is raining outside, make yourself a cup of creamy, frothy coffee or hot chocolate, cuddle up with your quilt, or just sit on a rocking chair, and transport yourself to the heaven of reading!! (Re-reading, Re-Re-Reading will definitely follow. Just ask me!) Savour them. You will really learn a lot. (Not in the truest academic sense, but it does make you wordly wise.) Ofcourse we read other books, but let me assure you, the BSC will be really intertwined with your heart and life. (Am I going too overboard? I really, really looooove the books!) All thanks to my school library who introduced me to them. Your next destination: bookstore and then Mocha, CCD or Barista, for that irreplaceable coffee!! Enjoy reading!!

Environment Article

I wrote this article when I was 14. It was published in the Me Magazine, which comes along with the DNA newspaper on Sundays. Hope you like it.
Sarayu Satish, 14. Student, St Gregorios High School, Chembur
I have always wanted to do my bit for the environment. I have a few ideas: Many of us want to save our environment, but do not know where to start. With your immediate environment, I’d say. There is a famous saying: “We have not inherited the Earth from our forefathers, but are borrowing it from our grand-children.” Saving the environment is our duty and responsibility. I bought new white-board markers that are free of xylene and toluene. Every time we open our markers we release these harmful gases in the air. Like whiteners, you can switch to eco-friendly appliances, which are free of chlorofluorocarbons. Some refrigerators are CFC, HCFC and HFC free. Plastics below
20 microns take millions of years to decompose. The Government has issued a ban to curb the production of these plastic covers; but many shopkeepers still pack vegetables and fruits in these bags. We can refuse to take them. We hear about compost pits, wet and dry garbage, recycling, etc, but rarely make the effort. Buy notebooks made of recycled or eco-friendly paper. These papers are made from bagasse (leftover sugarcane pulp). We can print many pictures in a single paper by copy-pasting them Use napkins instead of tissue papers. Re-use the water used for washing vegetables and fruits to water the plants or wash the cars. Lessen Mumbai’s sweltering and unbearable heat by planting more trees. Let us join hands and pledge to serve the environment, which has indeed given us a lot. Together we can make a difference!

Smile!!

Their quotes and my sayings

These are some really really 'awesome' quotes. Sure to inspire.
Great works are done when one is not calculating and thinking." Daisetz T. Suzuki

"Apply yourself. Get all the education you can, but then, by God, do something. Don't just stand there, make something happen." Lee Iacocca


"If a man or woman is born ten years sooner or later, their whole aspect and performance shall be different." Johan Wolfgang Von Goethe


"An acre of performance is worth a whole world of promise." William Dean Howells


You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand." Woodrow Wilson


You must get good at one of two things;planting in the spring or begging in the fall. Jim Rohn

"It is with true love as it is with ghosts; everyone talks about it, but few have seen it."

These quotes definitely inspire. Think practically, though. Inspirational talks, motivational speakers, life enrichment courses and whatnot....do they actually determine how we act and behave in daily life, for example, taking a decision? Yes, we all know that failure is the stepping stone to success, life is full of ups and downs, failure is a greater teacher than success, life should be meaningful and all that....but actually, how many of us feel that failure is God's gift? None of us do. Frankly speaking, all these quotes and proverbs momentarily inspire you, but which is the catalyst, always with you, emanating good energy? I guess its different for different people. 98% of them don't have catalysts, or they just take life as it comes. Whenever we are sad, or depressed, do these 'talks' actually help us? We just get over it in some time. Reading inspirational stuff for a very long time helps, like stocking armour and artillery before a war. Something like an anticipatory bail. The comparison is good, right? Its funny, but a lot, yeah, a lot of us read solace giving stuff, but when we are angry, poof! We fret and fume. Normal. One quote, just one quote is embedded deep into everyone's minds. Time is the healer.

School To College

The proverbial first day at college:

1)No canteen visits.......because apparently there was a chance of us getting ragged!! (Why did they ask us to leave our bags behind? Did they think we'd just walk out of the college premises? Go figure who is 'they'. Anyway, we respect them, so leave it. I don't think anyone would just walk out on the first day, but then, there is a girl who speaks: Two days over, and I have not bunked a single lecture? Hell, it is seriously 'uncool' and dumb to bunk lectures in the first two days at least)
2) Yawns during maths (10 people). Happily solving logs (70 people). OK, make that 20 and 60. The snooooze-alarm ones were just not getting exponents, and the I'm-happy-solving-logs group was so thrilled. Guess which group I was in. If you guess the HSL group, you're right.
3) Triple yawns and people drowsily staring at the blackboard. (Yeah, economics. It's not thaaat bad also)
4) Accounts/Book keeping. Total fun. Awesome prof. Explained sensex( sensitive index), bullion, NASDAQ, RBI stuff damn well.
5) Needless to mention, transferring songs through Bluetooth, exchanging numbers, gossip....all that.
6) Great extra-curriculars.
Yeah, its time for everyone (above 15 below 17) to tune into the only frequency whose beat rocks!!- College!!)

D K Pattammal

I'm sure we all remember Michael Jackson's death splashed across the whole newspaper for days on end. Everyone seemed to be mouthing words of sadness and people seemed to be carrying banners, out here, in India. Just imagine America. While there is really nothing wrong calling him a legend, a superstar, an icon, a gift to the world and all that, I'm sure only some of us know that the iconic singer D.K. Pattammal, passed away on 21st July. Agreed, MJ was popular and he had an outstanding fan following, D.K. Pattammal, Nithyashree's grandmother, was born to an orthodox Brahmin family in Kanchipuram, near Chennai. She was 90 when she passed away, due to arthritis. Those were the days when only Devdasi women used to sing. Brahmin women had to sing from behind a curtain. Despite all those setbacks, she made a niche in the world of music. She was the first one to delve into the 'Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi' concept, which was monopolized by men. Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi implies that an aalap is sung in detail before the actual rendition of the song. (An aalap is the extension of a particular tune, stretching as 'aaaaaa', for the uninitiated) She popularized the pallavi (the commencement of the words of the song) among women. She never sang love ballads. She was a freedom fighter, who sang Subramanya Bharati's songs. 'Aaduvome' and 'Parukulley Nalla Naadu' was sung by her in 1947. Her timeless numbers are listened to even till today. She was one among the trinity of the first women singers, the others being M.L. Vasantha Kumari (Sudha Raghunathan's guru, who named her daughter MaLaViKa, after the initials of her guru's name) and M.S. SubbuLakshmi. Not only was D.K. Pattammal a great singer, but also an empowered woman. It is indeed shocking and saddening that for a legend of her stature, who contributed towards the country's independence, one prominent daily gives her just one-eighth of a page, and the other doesn't mention her death at all. I really dislike to call it death, because she will continue to live in music lovers' hearts. I wish newspapers respected this great lady by atleast giving her a front-page coverage, for not only did she sing, she started the tradition of being a women singer. It is for people like her that I feel proud to learn Carnatic music, and I'm sure all the connoisseurs of music will agree to this. Torchbearers like Ishwar Chandra VidyaSagar and John Drinkwater Bethume laid the foundation for education being imparted to women, way back in 1843. The same way, the last of the trinity of the greatest of women singers, has illuminated the path for women singers. Whether it may be pursuing a career in Carnatic music, or just singing as a hobby, women singers have to thank the Trinity. Even after her death, she will continue to live on in our hearts, for believing in equality, patriotism, principles and most importantly, her divine music. Moments like this we realize the merits of being a proud Indian. Cheers!!

Science, Commerce or Arts

I might as well forego the 'Commerce or Arts', because the cardinal rule sweeping Mumbai and lashing so badly says that Science is what you need to succeed, and all the smart uns 'take' science, the not-so-smart ones take commerce, and the not-at-all-smart uns take arts. Everytime someone sees my eligibility form, or any form, where my choice 'Commerce' is ticked, they yap, "YOU are taking commerce? Why? I thought you wanted to take science.' Yea, I smile, I nod, and say, 'You're the thousandth person saying this.' What's worse? People asking you if you are sure of your choice. I mean, after a lot many years, has this 'Science Bug' bitten us. Way back into the 1930s, people generally opted for arts, either to major in law, economics or civil services. Might be techno boom which has hit us, makes people realize 'IT' is the 'It' thing. Everyone literally chants the names of engineering colleges, and of the merits of the greatest of great IT sector. Medicine too takes a backseat (again, people's mouths twitch: why 'waste' five-six years?). No one, yes, no one realizes that our Honourable Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is an economics graduate from the prestigious London School of Economics. All people care is that 'laaj' ke liye, and in accordance to your oh-so-wonderful marks, you have to take science. Forget the biggies, even people, aged 14, 15 and 16 comment on the various merits of science. Surprisingly they never come up with a demerit for commerce. 90% of the 'smart science clique' wish to do their masters from the very well known IIT, or the land of honey USA. All the Ivy League Universities and Engineering Colleges are known by heart in India, and every Indian, mostly knows their rankings and discuss about their merits. I don't think the Americans know about our 'awesome' universities, which are not on the great lips of great people, like Benares Hindu University (IT-BHU) etc. Even people taking commerce and arts ask, 'Why are you opting for commerce? Even I'm doing it!' Parents coax children to take science, even if they loathe it. So many students positively hate refraction, chemical bonding, organic chem, electromagnetism, half-life and so many more things. Even if you 'rock' at geography, know where the remotest place is located, even if you 'rock' at history, knowing the whole lineage of Babar, if you fail to know what the hell sin i upon sin r is, you are 'dumb'. Why is the parameter for judging smartness 'science'? Can we exist in a world without literature, art, theatre, drama, economics, chartered accountants, lawyers, accountants and financiers? Duh, no. Then why treat them as 'second class'? The prejudice towards science, justified as the 'right choice' is really unfair. Unfair to those of us who wish to pursue what we want. Half the students drop out of science classes, stating that they are 'rigorous'. Is it because of that, or because they loathe science? Even the commerce stream is equally rigorous. It is just that it is not brought to light. I really, really hate the 'Science' word coming from everybody. If you get above 94%, you 'have' to 'take' science. No options. Some dearies always ask, 'Ruparel, Ruia or Swami?' If I say Podar, they will yip-yap, 'Commerce? Arre, take science. Bahut scope hein.' People don't realise that we can create scope.
Guys, gals, everyone....let us really be fair and opt for the streams which we really want, and not be 'automatons' following the 'Science' crowd. It really doesn't help if we live in a world full of engineers. We need them, no doubt, but other professions are important. I hope some parents don't coax their children into taking science. It really is 'In Pursuit for Sadness' for them. If 'doing well in life' is the criterion, I guess Dr. Manmohan Singh, P. Chidambaram and some others have carved a niche for themselves. When are people going to realize that whatever you do, really doesn't matter, as long as you do it well? Please, do respect other streams. We aren't doing wasteful courses. It is the insecurity of the people which wish to stick the 'majority' ka stream. I'm glad, atleast some of us, have our parents' support. That surely can help us go a long way.
Cheerios!!:-D

ODC-Odyssey

The Gregorian Alumni:-)

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaah!! Come 18th July, and we are hosting ODC- the interschool festival for ICSE schools. Lot of hard work, co-ordination....everything has gone into the work we're doing for ODC.
My event- Buzz:p

Buzz is a melange of word puzzles, jumbles, trivia and spelling. It promises to be fun, for all the wordsmiths who will be furiously spelling away- to glory, hopefully. While the words being moderately difficult, it should be quite satisfying for the team who will clinch the 'Winner's Prize.' The Prize is that you earn points for your school, and based on the cumulative total of all the events, the winners will be declared. A great show of spirit and enthusiasm for your school, and FfUuNnnnnn...interschool fests rock.

More on my feelings and 'luhv' for interschool fests- later. The interesting and knowledgable fun we have!!
:-)

The things I love doing

Ten things i so 'luhv' doing: (Random Order)- actually 12!!

1) Reading. Books/joke books/encyclopaedias....just about anything suffices my hunger, my passion for books!! I've loved them ever since I saw them. My fav books are just too many, maybe another blog.

2)The landline. I love talking on the landline, not on the mobile, just because the landline's waaaaay more comfortable. Gabbing away to glory is just so awesome, especially when it rains!! I can talk for hours on end(yeh, I do most of the talking) and it really doesn't tire me out. I love chatting and talking:-P

3)Solving crosswords, math puzzles, riddles, word quizzes, G.K. stuff- anything. Its insta-fun!! Mensa is the best! It flexes your nerves. Try Mumbai Mirror. You'll feel like just putting your chai aside:P

4)Going on long drives, listening to music. I just love long drives. They are mega fun.

5)Meeting up with friends at home rather than going for lunch. Somehow, those places cut down the nice warmth. All of us at someone's place is so homely, and so nice:P (Eateries are good when you really want binge...especially the junk food craving though)

6) Just doing nothing. That really gives you an insight of what you actually do. Doing things without agendas, like just talking to mom, dad and sis. It's fun, u know.

7)Music. This practically features on everyone's list. Anything from classical to regional to western to tapori to Bollywood, we just love music, don't we?

8) Writing- I really really really really love writing. Poems, stories, short stories, novellas, haikus, sonnets...anything!! Blogging included:-P

9)Maintaining my photo cum everything journal. It's damn innovative, and a great hit with friends. Can't help praising my journal, lol.I luhv it. The door of my room is creatively decorated. It is a melange of beautiful and cute stuff. (Ask my sis)

10)'Informating' myself. The word looks like it actually exists, right...and it is nice:-). From my fav 'Illustrated Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words' to Wikipedia to Google to Answers to everything, i just love updating myself.

Can I make it eleven? Twelve?

11) Last, but DEFINITELY not the least, I luhv gardening. Especially clearing the soil, putting 'homemade' manure, using all those equipments, watering plants, the beautiful creepers...just everything. I love it when my plants bloom, and the window is so spectacularly green. Afflatus, you could say, for my writing. It instills in me a sense of calm and peace.

12) Photography. Clicking away to glory! From sunsets to my garden to lakes to forests, I love clicking pics. I even have a pic of the elusive but lovable Giant Red Squirrel, found in Bhimashankar(the only place in the world), the State Animal of Maharashtra. I love the Squirrel's sounds. I also luhv the squirrels outside my house, and their pics and sounds, my fav pastime during Board Exams. Squirrel eating nuts, playing, twitching their mouths, running after the nuts I threw, finding their own...everything!! Not to forget, I also love to click myself. Who doesn't like preening and posing before the cam?

Hobbies. Pure passions. Loves.:-)

'Totally unaware'- read on

Does so-called beauty(literally translated to mini clothing and wannabe behaviour) actually attract more viewers than general knowledge? If yes, that is really pathetic. Skinny dipping, crying, hugging, ranting, gossiping, slander and being fake seems to be the 'IT' thing these days. In such shows(I'm not naming the one), the most shocking thing is that a person, aged more than fifteen, answers that there are nine continents in the world, and that America is on the western frontier of India. Whatever happened to the history we learnt, and the geography we learnt when we were eight? Something as basic as these were sectioned into the 'brain' category, and hey, the brain category smartie has given this answer. Yeah, yet these attract TRP ratings, because you can see the make up sets and tubes of lip gloss open, the water tap of the eye leaking at all times, consoling just so that people know you exist, clothes which are designed to only explain the human anatomy, to put in more mildly. All those quizzes which involved asking such excellent questions are just for the 'nerds'. Nerds are not nerds, they are intellectuals. For whoever who disrespects them, everytime they open Facebook, its a 'nerd's creation. Everytime their mobile goes 'beep', it's a nerd's creation. Yet people have the 'smarts' to say that they rock, when the whole world is running on banks, structures, offices, administration and all that. Things like 'nine continents' in the world are exasperating, and yeah, the extra two does exist in the heads of those(I'm not commenting on the likes), so vast, so huge, but just totally empty. People really have lost their sense of taste(did they really have it?) Federer v/s Roddick held no interest among the majority, but other simultaneous shows on TV did. Federer clinched his 15th Grand Slam trophy(yeaaaaaaaaah Roger Federer!), and Roddick inched neck-to-neck till the finish.
People think it's cool to be dumb, hence they act dumb. They never realize that by acting dumb, they actually become dumb, and when the 'smarts' are required for winning competitions that require you to spread malice among your contestants, and when the hosts act really indifferent, the brain never really works.
Most importantly, it is damn 'uncool' to be dumb, and not know basic stuff. No one, yeah, no one is born dumb. We have to be smart- academically, or non-academically, or in sports, or in extra-curriculars, or atleast knowing whom to sugar-coat and where to be nice. It's a fact, but even in negative things, or things not liked by many, the people who do it well, are the people who have the 'smarts'. Period.

Think about all this. Watching tennis or badminton even without knowing the rules of the game, does inspire you, but you don't realise it. You just feel that a ball or a shuttle cock is being passed about. Programmes like (you're getting the point) them really cull out feelings of gray, envy and a disgusting want. You don't realise that too. You realise the glitz and the glamour. We always bother to look for the things that we realise, but the things that you do not realise, are the ones, which, you ultimately will realize.Trust me:-)

I just wanna blog- mon cher Francais!!

I really want to rant my feelings, yeah, just randomly. All my pent-up emotions need the keyboard. I randomly feel cathartic, and just so sometimes....My Francais really helps me...I mean I just cannot live without French. I like French for these reasons:

1)Meena Ma'am- a very talented teacher!
2)French Class Fun! (The raving, the ranting, the gupshup, the gossip, the talk- and my policy of never bunking French classes)
3) Just the nine of us! (Me, Sushree, Pooja, Aakanksha, Mansi, Vidya, Foram, Shiksha and Sonali) July 14th...we're waiting, yeah!!

And,
L'amour vient seulement à ceux qui sont prêt à attendre. The French may not really be gramatically right, but yeah, Francais...je vous aime...vous êtes mon favorite...parce que vous êtes mon ami et philosophe et guide!! (I really want to learn German, and Dutch too!)

This blog has neither rhyme nor reason, but sometimes, one really feels like writing abstract stuff. French has helped me in more ways than one, so ya, this blog does have reason! (OMG, I'm really getting boring with random stuff) Writing really does do you good. So does playing Aladdin. Yeah, I just cannot 'get' some things....:-):-)

Hey, blogging is damn therapeutic!!

Anne Frank, Hitler, Jews

A Must-Read!!

I have always wondered, searched, asked, why Hitler abhorred the Jews(particularly) and subjected them to such cruelty. Some reasons are:
1) Maybe he would have inflicted this ruthlessness on any community, but he felt that because Jews were succesful bankers and lawyers, he had to bring them down.
2) A Jew doctor couldn't save his mother from the clutches of death.
3) He may have felt that Germany lost WW one because of the Jews. It was unfair that Germany had to pay such heavy penalties, according to Hitler, and if the penalties hadn't existed, maybe Hitler would never have risen. (Or Mussolini.)
Anne Frank's diary really moved me. How can any of us even try to imagine thinking before turning on a tap, and eating wilted lettuce? She has so beautifully penned her thoughts, which ascend in maturity throughout the diary. Most of her notes in the diary seem interconnected to the next one, but surprisingly, the last note on 1st August, 1944 just made her pen a complete note of how there were two sides to Anne. The depth of her content makes you really think. Think of how a girl of 15 can have the forbearance to say that people were basically good? And that if God had inflicted sorrow on them, he'd certainly spread sunshine over them? Moreover, after reading the epilogue, of how Anne was separated from her family, one really cannot imagine the extent of horrors. www.annefrank.org really completes the book reading, as the Van Daans are actually Van Pels. The mother Petronella is actually Auguste, and Albert Dussel is Fritz. Lies is actually a shortened form of Hannelies, and even Anne's christened name was Annelies. So that makes for Anne, Hanne, and Sanne(another friend)!
We feel we are actually living with them in Prinsengracht, one of the canals in Amsterdam, and become so engrossed in Anne's life, her thoughts about her parents, Miep, Elli, Kraler, Koophuis, Margot, her adolescent love towards Peter, the Van Daans and Dussel. Wikipedia gives an insight on the gruesome concentration camps, and I honestly felt really bad, and that is an understatement, for you really feel darkness enveloping your body. I really pity the Jews, and hope that God had given them immense courage during the war. Yeah, I really do not feel like putting my trademark smiley at the end of this blog. Wish all of us could really go to Netherlands or Germany and pay homage and obeisance to these souls who suffered incognito and showed resistance against Hitler.

Movie Reviews

Sarayu
Many things strike me as funny, and yeah, illogical. The thing which comes to my mind is reviews on movies. As soon as movies release, three or four people, working with newspapers, or freelancing, express their opinion, mind you, their opinion, and not the vox populi. They assign stars, generally one being 'BAD', two being 'FAIR', three being 'GOOD', four being 'VERY GOOD', and five being 'EXCELLENT' (or Citizen Kane, as that movie crossed all standards of ratings and stars.) Very much like kanjoos(stingy) teachers, who 'REFUSE' to give marks(just some of them), people who rate movies act like critics knowing every inch of filmmaking, aspects of camera angles, emotions displayed(acting like Sigmund Freud scrutinizing each facial expression). My point is, after every Friday, whether a blockbuster or not, people decide going for movies (Saturday Night Fever!) based on the reviews. 'That movie just got two stars, let us skip it.' 'That movie got a four star rating, let us just go!' I presume even movies portraying Anti-Semitism, World Wars and Russian Revolutions must have 'obtained' four stars, and yeah, so do the people just blindly go? Whatever happened to self opinion! What if, coincidentally, or purposely, the movie critic(or reviewer) is known to the movie-maker, are they actually coaxed to give good ratings? How can one person's opinion stop you from going and watching the movie? Just by reading the book's synopsis, can you get to know the content of the book? No! So, just by the highlighted stars, and their opinions (which involves the list of actors and their roles, how they acted etc.) can one actually decide to skip a movie? If, for some reason, one particular actor or actress is undergoing a bad phase, one 'has' to criticize their way of acting. If the world thinks the success at the Box Office depends on the actors, directors, producers, the storyline, budget and publicity, they are totally mistaken. The success of the movie is controlled by the hands of movie reviewers. People oblivious to newspapers read them every Saturday morning. So if a film grossed 200 crores, some part of it definitely belongs to the critics. Whether coincidental or not, the word of mouth regarding a movie always depends on the reviews. Have people lost the ability to think for themselves, and mindlessly call the critics' opinion theirs? That is their opinion...to equate opinions!!:-)