Bound and Tagged

Some people have tagged me, someone sent a meme...But, my mom has TAMED me. She has threatened to marry me off if I do not reduce the time I spend online. The same punishment would be carried out if I miss the deadline for submission of forms for my Masters degree. I do not like this new weapon she has discovered and what I hate more is the fact that it works on me. Hence, I shall try my best to cut down on blogging and sit and study like the nice child I ain't. Wish me luck!

Will be back next time with the tag and meme replies...

Till then, please read this absolutely amazing entry:

Then, Now, and a While Later....

by GratisGab.

Very amusing and touching.

Girl Meets World

As promised in the previous post, this one is about 'what a girl who has been in a girls' school and college feels when suddenly thrown into a work environment which has specimens of the opposite sex.' What prompted me to write about this is the weekend I spent with ex-colleagues and now buddies from office.

I have had a peculiar kind of upbringing. One where I was devoid of any interaction with boys my age. Girls' school and college happens to a lot of people. In addition to these skewed institutions of society, I have no brothers or male cousins with whom I interacted on a regular basis. My friends in the neighborhood always happened to be girls. As a family, our social circle is practically non-existent. There is just one family that visits us once a month.

My first interaction was when I joined the mandatory tuition classes in tenth standard. However, there was hardly any mixing that happened and usually people hung around with others of the same sex. During classes, I found most boys to be far dumber than me and that further prevented me from trying to interact with them. (Probably just a coincidence, so don't scream guys)

Then, I got a job and stepped into the real world. The singular principle behind my approach was to not treat the guys any different from the girls. It worked and I felt absolutely no discomfort while interacting with guys.

So, why am I writing this post? It is because the environment still baffled me. It wasn't just the guys. It was the kind of talk and humor that prevailed when members of both the sex were prevalent in the same space: something I observed while hanging out with my friends, specially last weekend. Suddenly, you are not just human beings. You are a guy or a girl. Two people talking to each other must be passionately in love- irrespective of gender. So, everybody gets ragged about being homosexual. Guys proclaim to be subscribers of Glam. A guy talking to a girl must be flirting with her. Some guys think so too and hence, whenever they talk to you they must flirt (even though everybody knows that they have a girlfriend back home). Sexual connotations can be derived from absolutely anything in this world and watching movies like Kya Kool Hain Hum and reading Cosmopolitan at night doesn't help the case.

These jokes are funny but there is always just too much of this kind of humor. I do not understand why this happens. When I ask them, I am informed that this is how young people are. When I try to challenge the fact that girls from my kind of background are accused of being obsessed with guys, I am told of unspeakable things that happen in girls' colleges and that I am just an exception.

Still trying to figure out this world!

***

As some of you might have noticed, Haloscan is gone. It was deleting my earlier comments and not displaying the ones that were there in the account. Hence, I took this drastic step. Sorry for the inconvenience that Blogger comments might pose!

Can't Think of A Title, Sorry!

Saw my first "horror movie in a theatre" on Saturday. Naina. A gang of eleven people occupying a whole row of seats. No number less than this would have convinced me to go for a horror flick. I am actually one of those rare people who are NOT WAITING for Ring 2.

On my right sat a senior from office who upon hearing my fears on watching a horror movie for the first time in a dark hall, assured me that she had plenty of experience and I should not get scared. Comforted by the thought, I sat ready for the movie to start. GROSS is the first thing everybody exclaimed as needless blood and gore met our eyes. But, the initial scenes prepared us for the rest to follow and I am glad they came up before we had really settled and become engrossed in the movie.

When eleven crazy people go for a movie with half of them feeling ready to pee in their pants even before the movie has begun, PJs are cracked aplenty. People sitting in the row behind us cribbed and shouted "How irritating" while girls in the row in front joined in with their own jokes! Friends drooled over Anuj Sawhney calling him perfect eye candy. I said, "Low IQ" .

In case you are wondering how I fared, I have good news. Other than an occasional closing of eyes, I did not scream or shout or jump in my seat. In the most scary parts, I was laughing uncontrollably as my experienced senior on the right happened to get really scared and jumped in her seat, shouting, "Mummy! Mummy!" .

***

I saw Urmila Matondkar in person. She had come for the premier to one of the malls and was leaving when we saw her. She is GORGEOUS.


***

Slept at 3:30 in the night and got up at 7:45 to attend a Bhagavad Gita class. While I unsuccessfully tried to stifle my yawns, one guy was actually sleeping in the class. I guess his Saturday night had rocked more than mine.

That's about it for now. Too sleepy. Coming next will be a post on what a girl who has been in a girls school and college feels when suddenly thrown into a work environment which has specimens of the opposite sex.

BTW, instead of Publish Post it would be fun to have a button called Post Post.

The Stage and Me : Part 2

I shared my experiences as a tribal woman on stage in a previous post. Incidentally, the fresher's party given by my department in my first year at college also had a tribal theme. A bit of rolling up of pants, draping of a dupatta,wearing junk jewelry, using talcum powder and tying up my ever faithful tribal hair on top of my head helped me win the best dressed fresher. They gave me the title of a Bushwoman. I am still called "Bushy" by a few people.

Another encounter with the stage that I recall is a role in a One Act Play. Independence day celebrations at school. I can think of only two reasons why I was selected to be a part of the play: I was the creature that I was (and still am) and not many had volunteered.

Since I am not a great actor, I was to play one of the tiny roles. The play was about Chandrashekhar Azad and had a court trial in it. I was the firangi judge. I was required to say approximately five lines, which included mundane things like asking him his name and his father's name, etc. I believe he gave some smartass (patriotic) replies to these innocent questions which led to my most dramatic dialogue, "What impudence! I sentence you to.." Something to the effect of him being whipped x number of times. This was followed by his getting whipped. The appropriate sound effects were provided by our enthusiastic teacher beating a cushion with a stick in the mic offstage. Azad shouted Vande Mataram while he was being whipped.

I had to speak very little but I suffer from an inability to suitably modulate my voice. A handicap that has led me to deliver my occasional speeches and prayers in morning assembly in a very unenthusiastic and monotonous tone. My mother was an ace debater and used to participate in sanskrit elocution (they actually speak in sanskrit there!!!). Dad participated in plays including one with Shakti Kapoor. I am a useless daughter. My sister says that when I speak it sounds like I am saying "Wov wov wov". In other words, I sound like I am speaking with a full mouth. The point of telling all this is that during practices the teachers had to actually teach me how to speak my simple lines ! All this affected me so much that when I took up a job and was required to record a voicemail message, I never did it. Hence, whenever someone called for me and I wasn't in office, they reached the voicemail of a certain "Yogesh Babbar" (the guy who had my extension before he left office). I recently recorded a complaint in MTNL and it played back my message. I don't sound that bad. Next time I have to, I will definitely record a voicemail message.

Getting back to the play, my costume was a very authentic one (something which was not very common in our school). A judge's wig had been rented. I had borrowed the lawyer's coat and collar from my distant cousin who is an advocate. Black trousers and a white school shirt completed the attire.

As had happened when I participated in the fancy dress competition, my entry on the stage was followed with whispering of my name amongst the audience. The play went off peacefully. Much better than the others. Specially one in which one of the freedom fighters forgot his dialogue and said "Shit" full volume in the mic. We won the first prize. Lucky, ain't I?

Friendly Banter

Time: Past midnight.
Venue: Friend's house

Friend 1 is speaking about the problems she is facing with her fiance who stays in a different city while friend 2, who has a boyfriend in a different city, offers advice. I simply listen pitching in with an occasional remark. After a lot of dialogues, there is some contemplative silence.

Then, F1 turns to me and says, "So. You have never gone out with a guy, eh?"
I smile and shake my head to indicate the negative.
F2, "Look at how pleased she looks !"
F1, "Yeah!"

Hmmm.

***
Time: Noon
Venue: Same Place

Friend 3 joins us. She is unattached but... err... very much in demand. {don't kill me if you read this ;)}
The discussion is revolving around who she should be choosing amongst her many suitors. I suggest the guy who has already proposed marriage to her, Suitor 1. F1 is ignorant about it. F2 enlightens her: 6 feet tall, fair, good looking, has a job with XYZ and is crazily in love with her. F1 doesn't see what F3's problem is with S1. F3 explains.

F3, "He treats me like I am his private property"
F2, "How?"
F3, "He messages me during my exams and expects me to reply!"

F3 is shouted upon by everybody and told that it does not amount to treating her as his private property. She raises some other valid objections and others agree to them and S1 is rejected.
In the latest developments, a certain someone from IIM-A (which is HUGE apparently, *rolling my eyes*) has shown interest in our beloved F3. She is encouraged to meet him and know more. At another point of time, F3 expresses her disgust for Delhi men and says that none of them are trustworthy. To support her point, she cites the examples of two friends, one whose ex-boyfriend slept with THREE other women while they were dating and one whose boyfriend just doesn't call!

Hmmmmm.

***

So what is the point of the above post? Telling you about the silly happenings in my life. Yes. But also showing you how confused the world of relaionships looks when I look at my peers. :)

Disclaimer:

Firstly, F3 never encouraged S1 or any of her other suitors, so dont form a poor opinion about her. She just rocks!!

Secondly, we do discuss other things in life. Really we do. We bitch about office, for instance..and discuss who is seeing whom :P

We also discussed economics. Let's see if you know,

What kind of unemployment still exists when the economy is said to be at full employment level?

Sleep Talk

At 9:30 p.m. one night, I smsed a 'Good Night' to a friend. In the morning I woke up to recall that I had received a call from this person (verified by the call register in my phone) and had also later read an sms sent by him. Unfortunately, I had no clue as to what had been the content of either of these! I looked up the sms and it was just a harmless one which made a dig at me.

I called him up. He just laughed and refused to tell me what we had talked about on the phone. I smsed him saying he was horrible and mean. He replied saying that he was mean and "boy! u sure say shocking things in your sleep!"

In the evening I fell unwell and he took pity on my condition and told me what had transpired. This is what had happened:

He had replied to my sms with a witty sms at 10:30. He later felt that what he had written might have offended me and called to apologise.

He: Hello.
Me: (in a very very sleepy voice) Hellllloh
He: Sorry if the sms I sent was rude.
Me: Gooood Nighhhht
He: Huh?
Me: Gooood Nighhhht

According to him, I said good night another couple of times .

It was hilarious to hear him imitate me and he chided me for trying so hard to put him to sleep. Now he ends every conversation with me with a good night.

If the person concerned leaves a comment which suggests that this is NOT what had actually happened, he will be DEAD even before he can say 'good night'! :P

In Nainital

After spending most of Thursday sleeping, our tourist activities began on Friday. Nainital holds a special place in our family history. Yes, mom and dad went to Nainital for their honeymoon. So, there were special stories attached to a lot of places, restaurants and the lake itself. Since our hotel overlooked the jheel or lake, our first choice had to be boating.

The first boat we hired was boat no. 52 and the boatman's name was Trilok. It was called the Sony Deluxe. It had cute red colour cushions with yellow flowers.

Dad knows how to row a boat and he was very keen at trying his hands at it again after a long time. A minute into the lake, dad took over the oars. He was then reminded of the Rajesh Khanna song from Kati Patang, "Jis gali mein tera ghar na ho saajna" which had been picturised on this lake. He called up mom to sing the song to her who was unfortunately (or fortunately) sleeping at that time.

As he rowed, I had plenty of time to absorb the view. On one side of the lake is the mall road. It has the shops and hotels that are a necessary feature of all mall roads in popular hill stations. On the opposite side is a hill full of trees that has very little construction. Its rocks are unfit to support buildings. It has a road running by the side of the lake and is dotted with temples. The third side has the Naini temple and the fourth had more hotels including mine. The lake according to Trilok Bhaiyya was 100 meters deep (another boatman later pronounced it to be 100 to 120 feet deep which is the correct depth) .

Trilok bhaiyya was the source of much information on places to visit, road directions, High Court legislations, suicide attempts by people, boat accidents, vegetation, boat construction and operation, etc. Nice fella he was.

Now for the fun part. I decided to learn how to row the boat myself. After swapping places with dad, which involved a lot of walking in the middle of the boat with the boat wobbling, I sat down and took up the oars. Boats used in Nainital are scientifically designed and are supposedly easier to row than the rowing boats found in other places. Positioning my feet against the bar, I gripped the oars and tried to row. As is to be expected, I started rowing in the opposite direction. I was then explained the principle behind it and Trilok bhaiyya held the oars with me demonstrating the movements. Valuable lesson: one hand goes a lil ahead of the other else you end up banging the two together. After some time and a lot of encouragement from dad and Trilok ji, I managed to row decently and on my own. The co-ordination wasn't very good even till the last day which meant that the boat never went straight and I kept moving towards the side of the lake.

It was a great experience to row the boat on my own. I rowed for approx three hours in total during the entire trip! Mornings, evenings, against the breeze, with the breeze, when the sun was shining, when it was cloudy...all kinds of different settings. Since the tourist season hadn't begun yet, there were few people around. I drew curious stares from them as no one else was rowing on their own! A child in a boat which was behind me saw me rowing and shouted, "Woh dekho aurat chala rahi hai boat!" I was not amused at being called "aurat" and was assured by my dad that she had only seen me from back. Later I heard her calling me Didi and was pacified by that.

More happenings in Nainital will be put up next..whether you like it or not!

On my way to Nainital

Packing my bags, loading them into the car and zipping off to the hills with dad. This wasn't the first time I did this and I hope there will be many more trips in the future.

The destination this time was Nainital. I last visited the place years ago. Memories included a lot of walking, some fighting in the hotel room, spicy food, the smell of Iodex, a photo session in a beautiful park(A picture of sis and me from the session was enlarged and put up in our house for quite a few years. People have often pointed at me in the picture and asked mom about her "son"). The most beautiful memory, however, was of the sun rays glistening on the surface of the lake. And to see that sight was what I was looking forward to the most.

We began our journey from home early Thursday morning. Unfortunately, when I go for such long car journeys and start early in the morning, I tend to fall asleep in the car. When it's just dad and me, it results in a sleeping front seat passenger: something that is a big no-no for both mom and dad. Despite pinching myself to keep awake (tea doesn't work on me and at that time I didn't drink coffee) , I occasionally slumbered off while dad drove on. Highway driving is quite fascinating. It looks (can't say feels since I have never driven myself) like one of those car race video games we used to play and still do on the much less exciting cellphone. You MUST overtake all the cars in front of you. But, there are a few differences : the jerks on the rough patches of the roads make the food that you have had threaten to come out, there is traffic coming from the front and the fact that no one sticks to their lanes and there is no divider ...you get the picture!

The scenes outside were beautiful. The huts, the fields, the trees planted in neat rows...the sight of fields full of sunflower !

Riding uphill or downhill can be quite tedious. But these journeys are always a pleasure with dad driving. The race ends and the slow and steady drive gives plenty of time to enjoy the sights and sounds of the place. As fate would have it, we met with a hailstorm on our way up Nainital. Driving becomes difficult as the visibility is poor. However, we reached safe and sound and yes, wet! The hotel reception and the parking were separated by some thirty steps and that resulted in us getting drenched. The storm had reduced to a drizzle, thankfully!

My dad prefers the government tourist bungalows for accommodation. Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam's Hotel Sarovar at Tallital was where we had booked. It may not have all the modern facilities but the cleanliness of the place and the warmth of the people is guaranteed.

Tired after the long journey, we slept. Coming soon is an account of some of the fun things I did in Nainital! (which is what this post should have been about...but, whatever!)

Quick News

You looking your worst and three cute guys sitting in the seat next to you in a restaurant. Life sucks sometimes.

But sometimes, it totally rocks. Had a great trip in Nainital and sis is back home (mom's "attention" will be divided. yay!)

Adventures in Nainital coming up soon.....

Wazzup Wid Me

The internet was down for a couple of days. It's back now. I am off to Nainital on 5th. Catch you guys later!