On Free Time

On wednesday I finally experienced that euphoristic feeling that I just dont seem to get at IIT. Believe it or not guys I had "Free Time". Yup, time that I could spend in any way that I wanted without worrying about anything. Unfortunately I spent it worrying about how I looked carrying a cooker in one hand, a big Kadai in the other and a lot of mithai boxes somewhere in between(wish it was my mouth but then again Id get sick) at the International Airport.

What the heck was I doing with all that? Was I planning, in desperation due to the heat, to camp out at the airport in that nice air conditioned visitors lounge? No! Was I actually planning to force my way into the aircraft by cooking something? (somehow I vaguely recollect people running away when I started cooking once when I was about twelve. I never realised why they were running till it dawned upon me with a "POP". From then on I vowed to "cook" popcorn with the lid closed only)

Well let me tell all the bamboozled passengers and their "see-offers" what I was doing. I was actually supposed to be seeing off my mom who was off to the US to visit my sister. Now they(person or persons unknown) felt the need to carry a kadai and a pressure cooker all the way to the US the idea being that at the altutude at which the plane flies there is a huge danger from solar radiation. Thus, the huge kadai and cooker would absorb these radiations by the eddy current effect thereby protecting the aircraft.

The authorities seemed to think otherwise however and to my consternation I was forced upon the rather "shady" task of carrying the cooker and kadai outside. Thankfully the security guys did not think of me as a threat(after all not many bullets can penetrate a kadai). Their eyes were sympathetic to say the least. Thank God for that.

"Man I cant believe that we are all finally gonna meet after sooo long. Im sooo excited."
"Hmmmm."
"This is so cool. Maybe we can go to Sinhagad like we used to."
"Hmmmm."
"Oh but I heard that you guys are planning to go on the 22nd. Cant you make it the 23rd? Then even Ill be there."
"Ill try."
"Arent you even excited about this? I mean Im so excited and all you can do is just hmmm. At least say something else!! Dont you want to me? Okay maybe you dont want to meet me. Wats wrong? You are always doing this to me. This is sooo bad." (Thats girls for you. Always jump to conclusions when they are not needed and then they take sooooo long to understand what you are trying to say.)
"Yes I am excited too. I just tend not to swoon about it too much when Im attending lectures and not supposed to even have my cell on.'
------dead silence--------
"Meaow.Ok so when do we meet for Sinhagad?"

Ya know sometimes I really wonder how a girls mind works. I know this is very cliched but I really wish there was just one governing equation for all of girls responses that is simple. I think guys are much simpler. Its like "Either ur with us or agin us". Nothing in between. And once ur in one of the groups then you dont change your loyalties.
Also life is simple. It consists mainly of football, net, lukkhagiri, water fights and a whole lot of fun.
(I dare not to comment on girls openly. I fear their ununderstandability and silent violence. It almost like a cold war. You dont know what going on until it HITS you, HARD. )

But ya know what? At the end of the day, I dont think I could live without them. After all even we need some puzzles to rack our brains on.(puzzles like 'why the heck does she want to have five sets of spanking new shoes?????').

On being a MAMA.

A cold sweat broke on my brow. I was being forced upon a great and heavy responsibility. Unwilling I though to myself "Why me? I am way too young for this to happen to me at. Aaaaaaaaaaah. F1 F1 F1. No way man. There are absolutely no documents on how to do this. This has to be some kind of bad dream. "

But the voice over the phone was real enough and it had the ring of truth. "No its not a dream. This is for real. Better face with it. And while you are doing that try to think of a nice name for you nephew/neice". And that was it. Herewith has started a new phase of my life. That of a Mama.

Well let me admit I was scared at first. Not so dramatic as I have made it out to be but still pretty scared. Would I be able to live up to he expectations? Would I be mature enough to change nappies?Would I dare to hold him up in my arms...that fragile creation(note that most fragile creations when being held by me have a simply amazing tendency to shatter into a zillion peices landing me in BIG trouble with my mom)? Would I have the courage to smile when I get peed on? I got the answer of my questions as soon as I saw the picture of Anuya's baby in the sonograph and the big smile on her face. Yup I definitely would. At least for my sister.

Its a weird feeling to know you are going to be a mama in a few days. Now I can truly appreciate the role that my own mama's played in my own life and that I played in theirs. I cant forget those days bursting crackers ont he terrace at Malegaon with them, the times when we played cricket, kite flying at the shet, the first and only time that I swam in a well(again at the shet), and so amny other things that I simly cant do justice to all of them at this time. And then I realised that my mama's(munna,dada and sunil all three of them) played a huge part in shaping me and making me who I am little though the time that I spent with them may be.

Can I do the same? I dont know. Only time can tell. (or can it?)

On Water Fights

I was in my room the other day when the farter god rushed in and slammed the door shut. Really hard. A very normal thing to happen on the night before the exam. But this time was different. I noticed that he was slightly wet with parts of his shirt and pants literally dripping and he held a bottle of water in his hand. Gasping for breath he looked at me and everything became clear at once. It was the great Water Fight.

A Water Fight is what happens when the junta is on the point of a NBD(nervous brekdown) due to the presence of a quiz or other exam the next day. Pushed against the wall it is but natural for all humans to take relief in the stress busting activity of splashing water on each other. The rule is that "Everyone must get wet". Anyone not obeying this has to contend with his room being flooded completely.

A truly exciting event that is staged on the night before the exams at aound one in the morning, this is a sight that must be seen to be believed.

On The Wafers Guy

"Hell hath no worse fury than an IITian with the wrong roomie"
- Dont Shake Spear

Once upon a time(sometime from 2006 to 2010) there lived a strange being in the hallowed portals of IIT Bombay Hostel 4 called as "The Wafers Guy". It was a queer natural phenomenon. I had the fortune(or mis?) of observing this from close quaters and feel that this scientific wonder must be shared with the rest of the world. Hence, I hereby publish my notes that I have so painstakingly taken on the behaviour of this phenomenon:-

1.Refusal to eat nourishing food is a must. The thingamajig has a strange aversion to all food made in the that room called as "mess".
2.The only food allowed is non-nourishing grub at the canteen(e.g. rotis and aachar etc)
3.An alternative means of sustainance is to secure "wafers" from the den in Kalyan that thingamajig goes off to every weekend and survive on those for lunch and dinner.

Surprisingly the wafers guy also manages to remain in the peak of health even though he apparently does not have a balanced diet managing even to attend NSO football classes twice a week. Surely this is a medical miracle and it is my dearest hope in writing this post that some doctor would examine this phenomenon for the secret cource of its energy.

Thus I present my case before the medical minds of the world. Now its up to them to discover its secrets and help the rest of the world by discovering the secret cource of energy.

Note1:-Any resemblance of the Wafers Guy to my roomie is purely incidental and unintended.

Note2:-wafers are defined to be fine slices of potato or banana heated to high temperatures in an oil bath. Oils being defined as a mixture of unsaturated long chain fatty acids.

The land of morpheus lies open before us. So enticing. Enchantingly beautiful. And yet so far.

Heavy lids of all and sundry.
Doesnt he notice ever?
Nodding off to another conciousness.
Yet trying to stay awake like ever.

Droning on and on. This is better
Even than Baba's insomnia cds.
Drooping off I fight the urge
But I cant resist that drone of bees.

Whamm. I go out like a light.
Barely managing to wake up
To sign in the register.
Suddenly I hear "Wassup?"

Is this the great demon they speak of?
The ones that all little ones are afraid of?

With smoke billowing from its nostrils
I wake up with a rude fright.
Ive lost my orientation and
Lo behold i see a bhayankar sight.

Then I realise , Its a Prof a Prof
With all his majesty unfolded
The vision is too much to bear
I wish i could just disappear.

That when I realise Im all alone
Alone in the class with none round me
The class is over. Ppl have left.
And the Prof didn find me.

Waking up I resolve never to sleep.
But the next day its again the same story deep.

Omkar Wagh