So it's my favourite time of day again and I am sitting at the computer and watching the world through streams of data drifting about in cyberspace. Seems like an interesting place to be, yes? Ah well, if you think about it, the Internet is a lot like Sauron's eye, enough to give me the creep sometimes and make me shy away from writing for a very, very long time.
Nah, that's just a load of rubbish, really... the only reason I haven't been writing is that I've been busy, and lazy and uninspired during the times that I haven't been busy. Nothing particularly new given the situation in the last few months. Nevertheless, I managed to go on another trip to the hills a couple of weeks back, so that is something that has kept me fairly sane. Not that the wanderlust has faded, mind you, but it was a rather welcome break, and I've come back feeling well-rested and at peace. The mountains do that to you. Just the fact that you're a few hundred feet above regular life is like a breath of fresh air while drowning.
What has happened is that I've resigned myself to the fact that this city is my Hotel California... at least for a while. It stings a little less now than it did even a month back, but yes, time slaps you into getting used to just about anything. I am quite the believer when it comes to this.
Other than that, if I were to review the present status of my hobbies, or, my "old life", it would go something like this:
Writing :: Mount Vesuvius
Music :: Mount Kilimanjaro
Artwork/ Photography :: Mauna Kea
Yes, it is rather sad that I'm comparing the state of my hobbies to dormant volcanoes. My mother would be proud of the analogy, although for completely different reasons.
Still, time never stops flowing. I recently finished watching Season Three of Game of Thrones and also the first and second season of Suits. Fun times. At least my hard drive has a few movies that I could watch to amuse myself, even though the last movie I had time to watch in the theatre was Star Trek. Now I'm certain that I sound like one of those Lonely Cat Ladies, but I assure you that I am not. Getting there? Maybe. "Not today, not today", though.
I sometimes miss the old me: the one who was not all that harried by deadlines, or endless post-it notes of things left to do. The one who had time to stare at the people passing by on the streets and wonder what their lives were like. The one who read voraciously and wrote furiously and lost herself in music. Time can be quite cruel, especially when it slowly squeezes bits of life out of you.
It is not as though I only have things to complain of. Good things have happened, yes, and convenient things have happened too. Yet, I wonder sometimes whether I have lost myself somewhere in the middle of all that is to be done, and forgotten the person I always was.
Life is a little lonelier now, especially given how almost all my closest friends are scattered all over the country. They're busy, I am busy. The story of everyone's life. Having new people you can share a couple of laughs with helps, of course, but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't yearn for those days that I spent watching stars from a friend's terrace, surrounded by my favourite people in the world. Ah, nostalgia!
I recently visited North Sikkim with my closest friend and a really fun bunch of people. It was a much-needed break from routine. The wanderer within had been making its presence felt for quite some time, and it was good to get away from the city for a while. I got to use my new dSLR properly too, so, there was some salvaging of my former hobbies! It's a beautiful place, with fine, kind people, and of course, I'd never say no to a trip to the hills.
Hopefully, a few things that I hope work out, will indeed work out. Life may or may not be easier because of it, but at least I'll know that I gave it a shot. For now, I try to get a few evenings out with the friends who are still in the city. My closest college friend and I can't seem to be able to spend more than a week without meeting and having a blast!
Perhaps I might get to go on another trip after a few more months... It's definitely something to look forward to! In any case, it's back to work for now. LD out.
It would have been fun, and a departure from what I usually do when writing, to start this post with a quotation, but I truly cannot remember any at the moment. I've always been good at remembering the gist of things, never caring much for the exact words that people say (unless I absolutely want to, that is). Ah well, it works for me.
In any case, it has definitely been a while since I did one of my Window posts and today's amusement and (almost?) misadventures definitely merit a mention! Of course the day did start with The Curse of The Clumsy Hand, "wherin doth sit the dread and fear of" semi-blindness caused by a slight redness in the eye, which lead to me not wearing my contacts and fumbling for my sunscreen and accidentally dropping the container, incidentally made of glass on the floor. It had a lot of sunscreen left and I was rather heartbroken.
And then, while en route to college, an ambassador came and hit our car. I have a nagging illogical suspicion at the back of my head that this occurred because of my presence inside the car. Seeing how accident prone I have been throughout the day, I wouldn't doubt it. From the fact that I have posted here you can tell that the accident was nothing major... for us, at least. The poor car now has a rather badly battered bumper. I don't know why, but I feel very sorry for vehicles that suffer accidents. I remember once when I had been riding my bicycle and had had a speeding motorcycle take a turn from the wrong side of the road and collide with me, I was more saddened by the deplorable state of my much adored bike than the numerous cuts and bruises on myself. Oh and I also remember being annoyed at onlookers for peering at me as though I were bacteria growing on a petri dish... and waiting for me to cry, which I didn't! Ha!
I had fun at college today. Classes started a period later than usual so we were free to loll about in the canteen. It was there that I found myself getting increasingly obsessive about Tunir maa. Now before you start wondering about my inclinations, let me clarify that Tunir maa is a hit single from Bangladesh — with peppy "keora" music and rapping to boot! No, this is not a joke. It has one of the most profound lyrics possible — the tale of a young man (who happens to be a bit of a loafer but who are we to judge?) waiting to be noticed by his Lady Love, who has been disdainfully "dating marchhe"-ing other people but not noticing our young lovelorn hero...
And so, he embarks on a quest to win over his Lady Love by singing a "keora" song to his Lady Love's mother, promising her supari and paan, while dreaming of taking his Lady Love to a place where ice-cream and jhaal muri will be cheap. Now did I not tell you that it is profound? Thankfully the said protagonist was not pursuing me, since my mother most certainly would not have been swayed over to the other side by promises of supari and paan and the poor guy would have had to start singing sad simpering songs to convey his rejection. What a pity!
Now I cannot remember much of what happened during classes, owing mainly to the fact that I was terribly hungry throughout the day, but I do remember PB untying the knot at the back of my T-shirt (much to my embarrassment and displeasure) while I was walking towards the first class. And yes, she and RD and also threatened to molest me several times during the day! PB even went as far as to untie that particular knot yet again in the Metro station while we were returning home. Now while I have no qualms about my harem ladies being available to me whenever I require their services, I do not quite enjoy being subject to molestation on their part.
Another thing which had had me really intrigued was that I'd noticed Moods condoms being sold on the streets for the very first time. That this is a rather sad fact which proves me to have the maturity of a six-year-old was brought to my notice by Kaz, who very casually mentioned that condoms are sold everywhere and that I am a baby for noticing this for the first time. Let's just say that the thrill of knowledge and insight that I had experienced upon learning that condoms are sold by vendors who sell chocolates and deodorants and cigarette lighters was unceremoniously squashed. In the words of the KazMan, "Hey people do it, you know? These things are sold everywhere." When I offered to venture that I had seen them being sold in medicine shops, I was faced with an amused condescending chuckle. Why is it that boys always know so much about these matters?
However, as the evening draws to a close, I feel the contentment that a stomach filled with satisfyingly sumptuous masala corn (made by me) can bring to the soul. I am not even tempted to spoil my mood by being annoyed at the laundry lady for botching up the job of ironing a new top of mine. All is well when your stomach is full, it seems, oh yes! Tune in till next time, folks, it's LD out for now!
The time has come, as LD says To talk of many things Of fests, and food and dumb charades And of allergies and billings, And how the rain has been pouring down And whether LD sings.
It has, to say the least, been an eventful and interesting week. It started off with my winning a two-hundred-buck voucher from Crossword and hundred bucks in cash for this inter-college poetry thingy held in college. That sort of felt nice although they misspelled my name on the certificate. Monsieur Mosquito won himself the first prize although it is believed that an iron rod also contributed. Yes yes, I am advertising, but enough on that!
The next day saw my H.O.D. sharing a light moment with us, when an exchange between her and one of my classmates who was insistent upon the need for pessimism and low levels of oxytocin in our lives (this was vaguely related to a seminar presented last week) prompted her to tell us all to “take it easy yaaar” and “go fall in love now, when it is the age to”. Suffice it to say, the class was in splits and this happened to be the first class in the morning. We didn’t know whether to hide our faces and laugh or simply laugh outright. I did the latter. I also bought a banana clip for my hair that day. Do not laugh at the name.
Wednesday had the early morning class which found almost all of us nodding off at some point or the other. I was given a hand massage by Miss Minnie Mouse — and this led to me almost falling off my seat as I was a little too relaxed and too sleepy. The professor noticed, in spite of my sitting in the last row. She was quite nice about it though, not being a morning person herself. After freezing to death in (one of the) labs later that day, there was redemption in the form of yummy chocolate and phuchkas! And other things. :P *Jumps up and down mentally*
I also deposited the cheque for my cell-phone bill but was told later that evening that it had to be drawn in favour of something else. So, I had to go all the way to the place from college the next day and replace it with a fresh cheque to avoid a late fee. Thankfully, that day, miraculously labs got cancelled and the professor taking the classes after labs was away attending a symposium. A complete day of no classes is a rarity in my college. And so, it was fun.
Yesterday was the day of food and dumb charades. And some singing as well, on my part. There was a long gap between the last class and the afternoon seminar and some of us spent quite some time playing dumb charades in the canteen. After which, we promptly gorged on pav bhaji, soda sikanji, and cotton candy (I had the white one while DM had pink). I also had an ice cream and a roll later in the evening before coming back home. I guess, since I’d eaten so much I was practically out cold on the way back. :P My vial of anti-allergic cough syrup also finished yesterday and I’m pretty glad about it since I’ve been a complete zombie in the morning for the last two weeks.
The weather has been beautiful since morning, enough to prompt me into writing after ages. I suppose having had a good breakfast also helped. So far so good! LD out.
I am in the mood for some humour right now. It rained in the evening much to the relief of the entire city, I’m sure and I was helping a friend who’d come over get transportation back home. (Sidenote: She still hasn’t called up to say that she’s reached safely. If she’s forgotten I shall pull her hair the next time we meet. I just hope she’s ok.) During my walk back to my house, my slippery slipper-ed feet decided to enjoy the mud on the beautifully maintained lane right outside my house. As I boldly marched through the mounds of mud, the slipper that was dating my right foot decided to throw a tantrum (my foot, always did trample upon it, the poor dear) and got stuck in the mud. My foot could not bear the separation and wished to regain its footing, and so I was instructed to retrace my last step so that the two estranged lovers could unite.
Now one would think that after such a reunion took place, everything would be bright and shiny again. But you see, it was raining and night had fallen, so that was out of the question. And so, the slipper that was best friends with my left foot had a literal falling out with it and got stuck in the mud as well.
The entire incident was actually quite funny. It gave me something to laugh about. And the walk in the rain was also very pleasant. I’m still smiling about it. The only thing that’s blotting out the colours in this rosy picture is the thought of appearing for another exam tomorrow. Oh sigh!
Oh and of course, how could I forget some other updates that the citizens of the virtual world have been dying to know seeing that I’m such an important person (a complete social butterfly) who everyone wants to know everything about! I have made an ink doodle which I can’t post or upload right now since a. I don’t have a scanner at home and b. my camera is out of batteries. Apart from that, the practical exam I had today went off alright. We see the results tomorrow and hope fervently that they’re the proper expected ones. Oh well, enough of boring stuff. Here’s some bacteria related humour:
LD’s evil-minded brain decides to annoy unsuspecting netizens upon seeing the status message of “Disturb at your own peril”. LD: *disturbs* I’m in the mood for some danger Shruti: *pushes her into a well* LD: :P *climbs out and pokes* Shruti: *pushes her into a volcano next* LD: *turns into a thermophilic bacteria* *spouts sulphur* Shruti: grr *dumps her into a sewer* LD: :D Shruti: *and parks a car over the drainhole* LD: *becomes E. coli and answers to the IMViC test as follows: ++--* Shruti: *gives up and ignores her* LD: *grins triumphantly and ignores her*
So that was that. I’m pure evil, aren’t I? It is fun indulging in that state of mind, lots of fun. And I shall be off now and try to catch some sleep since I haven’t had much of it lately. I almost feared I’d yawn in the examiner’s face during my viva. So that’s it. LD out!
Oh well, I have been terribly bored and the best way I know to kill boredom is just go and furiously type/write whatever comes to my mind. I’m not going to use “real” stationery today since I don’t wish to infect my beloved violet ink pen with any of those stupid viruses (of two different species, I am certain) and some bacteria that have been have been harassing me of late. However I don’t wish to be boring as well by forcing people to read my rants about multiple micro-organisms. I don’t even know how I manage to alliterate when I am annoyed! I mean, I can alliterate alarmingly almost always, even when I am particularly bugged. Sometimes, I don’t even notice it.
I don’t even know why I am digressing from morbidly menacing micro-organisms to my alliterating abnormality. I suppose it just goes to show how beautifully bored I am. My head and my left eye especially (which has a rather nice blood clot that is hidden from normal view at its upper left) hurt, I have been snivelling all day in spite of actually remembering to consume cough-syrup and my brother sat on a safety-pin today and was too embarrassed to mention the possibility of his rear-end bleeding to anyone. What, I ask is wrong with the world? Nothing, I suppose. Nothing apart from the fact that it is a world that needs chaos, a world that needs people to act stupidly instead of listening to reason or being reasonable, a world that needs all the evils imaginable to avoid being monotonously mundane; and there again, it doesn’t always succeed.
My parents were actually sitting and watching “Flash Gordon” this afternoon. And when I walked in and scoffed at a particularly melodramatic scene, my mother coolly commented that had I been five and watching it I’d have loved it too. This made absolutely no sense to me. Sometimes I wonder whether I have inherited my madness from her. Perhaps it is not induced after all. Oh well, I am rambling yet again.
Being stuck inside for three days can definitely ensure that you end up being excessively snarky to people around you. Oh yes, I have been very sarcastic, so much so that I am sure that there have been moments when my parents have actually considered cannibalism when it came to dealing with me. And of course, it is quite obviously a whole lot of fun when your younger sibling decides to make an extra effort at annoying you while you are in no mood to snap back. Oh well, my mother commented that I seemed like myself today. When I asked, “How so?” she merely replied, “You seem more aggressive.” Mothers. Gah.
I want to go outside and do something. Anything! While the fact that my head and eyes hurt is sort of nice, I doubt that I enjoy remaining confined much. Oh well, I have ranted enough. This is another disgusting and trivial post to be washed down the dreadful drain that is my blog. Forgive me for not being sweet and kind and humorous or any other admirable adjective. I was never any of those. Meh.
PS: And now, my brother is down with it as well. First I give my dad the infection and he starts looking like an angry alien villain from some horror movie. Now, it is my brother. GAH. I feel unclean. Yes.
Yes. This is a filler post. No. I have nothing better to do. Yes. I do have writer’s block. No. I shall not let it get the better of me. So, well, here goes my latest offering ...
I have somewhat settled into the groove of attending college (whoa! Saying ‘college’ makes me seem so ‘grown-up-ish’). I mean, I’ve gotten accustomed to climbing five storeys six days a week, attending classes, grumbling about the additions to our already overloaded schedule, wondering what new questions will be thrown at us or what new concepts shall be rammed down our throats in the next class, and finally (this is the good part), lounging about after classes with my friends and enjoying the sight of a beautiful blue sky speckled most adorably with wispy clouds that make different patterns on different days.
In fact, this very day, after today’s afternoon class got transferred to tomorrow afternoon, I spent quite some doing just that. And four of us went to the coffee shop near the college and hogged on two chocolate and walnut brownies. We all behaved as though we had been starving for centuries and scraped out the last remnants of the brownie from the bottom of the bowl it was served in. And yes, it was rather entertaining to watch how Hindi film actors and actresses on the muted television gyrated in sync with a Spanish song (which had a rather nice guitar sequence) playing on the jukebox. A friend and I had a hot chocolate each. While she heaped packets and packets of sugar into hers, I had mine ‘raw’ and found it excellent for my throat. We received quite the shock at the rather ostentatious bill, which caused another friend to remark, “No one orders two brownies! Not unless there are fifteen people with you.”
Speaking of friends, I am grateful and honoured that I have found some, in spite of bad experiences in the past. And I shall not mar this with words.
Things have not been the best on the home front. Something serious has taken place and there is also another, er, ‘event’ that I must attend to tomorrow evening ... something that I am rather apprehensive about. Nevertheless, I suppose that I shall be able to pull myself through as long as I keep imagining the “Jerry mouse laugh”, (which I am quite good at emulating) along with a wide range of other inane forms of laughter, every time I am faced with troubling thoughts.
Power cuts have started showing their ugly faces once again. The mp3 player that I was given recently has turned out to be a useless piece of junk. I have no idea when I shall resume my piano classes and am even more clueless regarding the date of commencement of guitar lessons.
I shall wrap up today by mentioning that balconies should not have grills since the grills make it seem as though you are trapped inside a cage. That feeling is far from pleasant if you want to spend some time contemplating in solitude while staring at the fading light in the sky.
Good evening everyone. You are now tuned into FM LD is a Loon. Please stay with us to hear the latest 'updates' on LD's alternately eccentric and mundane existence...
Right then, welcome, welcome! Greetings to new visitors and old! My my, my discreet blog is getting noticed! To get back to the topic of 'updates', let me start by mentioning that I've been feeling immensely relieved these days. I finally cleaned up my room (which looked very similar to a garbage dump). This great and oh-so-important event in history took place on the 17th of June. My room and everything in it is squeaky clean. I feel so happy about that! Eight and a half hours of incessant toil did pay off. Yayness!
My mother has also run out of topics to nag me about. When I mentioned this happy fact of life to her some days back, she looked at me oddly and said, "Wait! Let me think of some!" and then plunged into serious contemplation. It seems that she has not had sudden flashes of insight regarding this issue seeing that all her attempts at attempting to nag me have fallen flat. "Ha!" says I. Yayness, again!
These last few days, I have had to spend my creative energies coming up with different ways of saying formal 'Thank You's. One can probably see the results in the last post. I had to make another such card this evening. However, the stimulus for the card was a rather pleasant one — a lovely collection of CDs, which contain some very good songs. It is, by far, the best (and most thoughtful) 'Congratulations-for-passing-out-and-getting-into-college' gift I have received. Much better than numerous rather expensive ball-point pens, which are all unfortunately blue (a colour of ink that I do not write with). Another lovely gift that I have received is a Music World gift voucher which will be valid for the next six months. Very nice, indeed. Now I can easily go and buy a CD of my choice with less pressure on my 'hard-saved' money. Speaking of which, I have acquired Minutes to Midnight. LP may have mellowed a bit, but they still ROCK MY SOCKS!
In spite of my acquaintances being kept busy and not watching movies or hanging out with me everyday (glares at them), I have kept myself busy as well and not let myself be captured by those filthy and disgusting hands of the evil demon called 'Boredom'. I have been reading and listening to a lot of music. (No surprises there). The only sad part is that I am yet to attend a piano lesson this month owing to 'unavoidable circumstances'. Neglect in this department on my part showed its ugly face this evening when I found that I had nearly forgotten one piece. FORGOTTEN! Gasp. Splutter. Blink. I had to spend one hour practising it over and over again till I perfected it once again. Fortunately, some of the other pieces which are closer to my heart were left unscathed. Thank goodness for conditioned reflexes!
My battle with insomnia has taken a turn for the better. Although I still cannot fall asleep before half past twelve, sleep has been coming to me more easily and I have been waking up by half past seven everyday, that too by myself! I would call that nothing short of a miracle. Miss I-hate-waking-up-before-one-in-the-afternoon is awakening early!
Ah well. I have one last week of complete freedom. I just hope that I can make the best of it and am not left to amusing myself drawing stupid flowers as Thank You cards only. That will be all tonight. Thank you for tuning in to FM LD is a Loon. Hope you've enjoyed the show. Feedback is eagerly awaited. Good night!
I'm relieved. That's the only way to describe what I feel. I've made the best of a very bad situation, and placed myself in a position that is not half bad. That is one less thing to worry about. Hopefully, now, I will have an easier time falling asleep. The Kalium Phos. continues, but the good thing is that now it is actually working.
Music, as always, is going a long way in making my days better. I'm getting better at the guitar ... picked up what I call the ‘sliding’ move a few days back. I've come to the point at which I can play any melody as long as I know the tune well. I hope to start my official lessons next month. My piano lessons continue to be great fun. I've mastered “Canon” — although I was adept at playing the right hand music, earlier, I could only play the entire composition slower than its normal time. Now, I’ve got the right speed and it sounds lovely, just the way it should.
Of late, I’ve also gone back to pencil sketches. I sketched two portraits in the last two days. I had felt like brushing up my shading. Perhaps, I’ll scan them and put them up here. Personally, I think the first looks constipated, although my mother said that the face looked troubled and perplexed. My guess is that constipation can do that to a person. However, I simply cannot draw smiling people! In any case, I’ve achieved my purpose, which was to check whether I can still draw. I can, but there is definitely room for improvement.
I’m going to go and get Minutes To Midnight as soon as I can. Today, I will start reading “The Three Faces of Eve” — another book about multiple personality disorder. I quite liked “Sybil” and am very glad that my own mother is not like Hattie Dorsett. Sybil’s story is another one which has stuck a chord inside me. People have difficult lives, but they learn to live with all that … they learn to be happy in spite of everything. It’s the kind of message which I needed to hear, anyway.
At present, I am listening to random songs on iTunes, and I think that I’ll concentrate on doing that for a while. So, once again, I say, “That’s all folks!”
Here's a brief newsflash regarding my oh-so-important life ... (yeah right! As if ... but you are welcome to read on anyway).
Today, I picked up the Love Story theme on the guitar (all by myself, yay!). My musical endeavours are turning out quite well, much to my satisfaction. I can now play the Etude op. 10-3 "Chanson De L'adieu" by Chopin flawlessly (on the piano) and have picked up the right hand music of Chopin's Valse op. 64-1 "Petit chien", something which I had to work hard on for a while. Although I can play the left hand single-note chords, it'll be a while before I can actually play the entire composition without a glitch. It's a toughie but I am not afraid. (Hear that, my dear little piece? I am not afraid of you! I will conquer you, so there!)
There wasn't a power-cut today! I had felt certain that knowing the sadists at the Electricity department, there would definitely be a power-cut today just when I'd be sitting down to watch Grey's Anatomy. That's what happened last week, and the week before. Well, I shouldn't be complaining. Thank goodness for small mercies anyhow!
I am still very confused about the future. I suppose that I should just resign myself to my Fate and see what developments take place. I am in serious need of some introspection here, and I need to kick myself awake. Procrastination will not do at all.
Ah well, I feel too lazy to write more at present. (Note to self: Get rid of your indolence!) That's all folks! Thank you for tuning in. Goodbye.
