Disclaimer

Okay ppl, here's the thing. My mid semester exams start in two days, after which I've got to prepare a quiz for our annual day. And in between, I may go to Goa for the BITS culturals. So posts will almost certainly not be regular for the next 3 weeks. Just wanted to let you know. Love you lots.

And wish me luck for the exams. I'm really gonna need it.

TRAIN of thought

There's something very strange about the way my mind works when I'm on a train. It keeps fluctuating between nearly comatose inactivity, and march-hare hyperactivity. Almost comatose cos most of the time I just stare out the window watching trees, poles, telephone cables, roads, small stations, dogs, cows , schoolkids, fences, other trains whiz by. And none of it registers. Nothing at all. It's like I'm still watching a movie even though I've lost all interest in the plot. I'm just looking at the changes in the lighting, listening for wrong notes in the music track and smirking at the odd accent the heroine speaks in. And not giving a whit about the story line. Yes, I realize that the countryside cannot actually have a story line. But wouldn't it be so much better if it did?

As for the hyperactivity, here goes. I'd just read this piece by estarra before boarding the train for Delhi. And once my imagination kicked in, I created my own interview with Dr. Kalam. Complete and picture perfect. With estarra's college in the background. With that endearing style of speaking that Dr. Kalam has. I won't go on about how the interview went, but suffice to say it was enlightening. Apparently, I can enlighten myself :)

Fact is, I've got a love-hate relationship with trains. I love the sense of occasion that a long distance journey brings. I hate the fact that trains here are so slow. I love the sights I see along the way. I hate the fact that almost all of the Indian countryside is a boring, identical, unending mass of farmland. I love the idea of eating different kinds of food along the way. I hate the way the railways has standardised all the meals. (stiff idlis for breakfast, rice with weird gravies for lunch, stiff chappatis for dinner. On every route that I've been on!)

The worst part is that I can't live with trains(for all the above reasons). And yet, I can't live without them. Travelling halfway across the country between college and home means that the train becomes a part of your life. Okay maybe not nearly as big a part as it is for someone who works in the railways. But you've got to remember that my first long train journey (and by long, I mean a journey that's longer than a day) happened when I was 15. So I'm not much of a traveller and this is a big change for me.

Flying is simply too expensive (and irresponsible. It contributes far more CO2 per person that any other mode of transport. Yeah, I'm environmentally conscious.). And it makes me burn up whenever I hear about the high-speed rail networks in France, Japan. Even China! In comparison, our "superfast" trains travel at a mind-numbing speed of over 55kph. WOW!! :P

Sigh, what to do. A Pune-Delhi journey is gonna take 26 hours for the forseeable future. Might as well just sit, lean back and stare out the window. Maybe those pethas in Agra will be pretty good.

(Written on board the Karnataka Sampark Kranti express on Feb 6th. And the pethas were far too sweet :D)

Growing out of the sandbox

Look up, for a moment. From the tiny huddle in the middle of class. From the silly jokes that only 13 year olds can understand. And you see her.

She’s new. You haven’t seen her before in class. There’s something different about her. Something about the way she walks. The way she talks. The way she laughs. Most importantly, the way she looks at you. It’s new. It’s interesting. It feels nice.

All this comes on the back of what has already been a pretty weird year. The girls, as a whole, seem different. You’ve already started wondering if cooties are such a big deal. You’re body’s going through a lot of change. Voice gets deeper but not completely, so it keeps switching from gruff to squeaky. Hair sprouts from unexpected places. And you’re outgrowing your clothes with a vengeance. It’s embarrassing, to say the least. That’s another thing. You’ve discovered a need for privacy, and how easily you can be embarrassed.

And now SHE’S in your life. Not a very big part of your life at first, but you two get talking. The two of you work together on school projects. She smiles a lot. You end up talking with her about a lot of things you never meant to. You try to impress her, with whatever the last 12 years of life have taught you. (It’ll be a long, long time before you find out that she talks about you with her girl-friends. You’re in for many, many more surprises along the way). But it doesn’t really matter. It just feels nice to be around her.

It just grows stronger. You absolutely MUST see her everyday. Every time she misses school ‘cos she’s sick, it leaves you with an empty feeling. You find yourself yearning for moments when the two of you are alone together. Yet, when those moments do come by you’re so tongue-tied, you don’t say anything. Or you make some silly, pointless jokes, which is even worse. Why does it have to be so hard, you wonder. You’ve rehearsed everything in your head, come up with very witty lines, and you’re sure you’ll sweep her off her feet. And yet, when those moments come…nothing.

Salvation comes to you eventually. One fine day, when you think you can’t stand it any longer, her girl-friends corner you. They ask you point-blank if you have a crush on her, because she does. You nod vaguely and stumble out of there. Although by then you’re probably on cloud nine, with stars in your eyes. Yet, it’s not all peachy. One half of you wants to jump around and hug everyone in sight. The other is worried. This is new territory. This is “adult” territory. What do you do?

The next day, you screw your courage, swallow your fears put up a brave face and talk to her. She still smiles, but there’s an anxious look in her eyes. You talk to her about how much you like her, how much she means to you. It’s weird, but all those corny lines you’ve heard about love seem so much more significant now. Finally you tell her you like her. She nods her head. Congratulations! You’re now officially in the very first relationship of your life.

(Look, it's my last Valentine's Day as a teenager. And I haven't got anyone to spend it with. Let me be.)

National Science Fest, and all that

So, I'm back from Delhi. Was really hoping I could keep you in the loop with whatever was going on there. However there was no way for me to access the net from St. Stephen's campus, and I was too lazy to go out to a net cafe and post a new entry. Yep, typically ess.

Anyway, this isn't everything I want to say about Delhi. It'll come out over the next week, cos there's a LOT that need to be said. (subtle psychological trick to make sure you keep coming back here :D) But here's a little preview of what I'll be writing about, in no particular order:
*Delhi is friggin' cold. The coldest place I've been to yet. (No comments about me being a wuss, please)
*The Metro is super-cool. Really! The MRTS looks positively ancient in comparison.
*For a national level event, the nsf was TINY!
*Why in the world did they let Stephen's students participate in their own fest?
*Random musings while on the train
*And lastly, a wee little detail. Girls at Stephen's are smokin' AND smart!

Finally, I just read this. It's why neither you nor I should take blogs too seriously.

Is all. But I'll be BAACK (cue Arnie-voice)

Happy Birthday!

Almost forgot. Yesterday was Muthu’s birthday. Pity I wasn’t there in Madras. Bigger pity that you had to mess up how the big day began, Muthu. :P
Anyway, I know I’ve called you my sounding-board on Facebook. But you’re so much more. Have a great year ahead. God bless.
So, if you know her in real life and haven't wished her YET, this would be a good place to do it.

A rather unremarkable week

Things that have happened in the last week:
P& I took part in a quiz organised by the economics dept. of Fergusson College. What were two science students doing at an economics quiz, you ask? By the end of the qualifiers, I was asking myself the same thing. The questions were a little bit of economic theory, and a lot of business trivia. (Did you know that the BSE is the oldest stock exchange in Asia?). As expected we didn’t qualify. Hey, don’t look at me. It was P’s idea. I don’t normally do business quizzes, regardless of what Subbu’s testimonial about me on Orkut says. And from now on I don’t do business quizzes. Period.

Speaking of Subbu, I’ve been having long chats with both her and Krish via Google Talk. Mostly because we’re jobless (at any rate, Subbu and I are) We’ve been talking about relationships, blogs (they’re both thinking of starting blogs of their own), break-ups, zodiac signs, network problems (the GODDAMN NETWORK in college is really, really SLOW). About the only things we haven’t talked about are why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings ;) I’ve also tried a few feeble attempts at flirting over the net. Krish told me off soundly, as anyone who knows her would expect her to. Subbu’s taking it in her stride, playing along…
It’s been a lot of fun. It’s almost like 12th standard all over again. A small group of us at the back of the class. Not particularly bothered about what goes on in the front of the class. Me trying not-so-subtly to get Krish’s attention. (Apparently my flirting STILL needs work. Krish’s words) Talking F1 trash with Subbu. Those were the days. Well, almost.

I’ve been re-reading this book Bertie gave me two years back, ‘The Know-it-all ’ by A.J. Jacobs. It’s the real-life story of an editor with Esquire who tried to read the whole of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. And he did it too, in the space of a year. I really like his style of writing. It’s almost like a blog. He writes about his thoughts as he went through the encyclopaedia word by word. For instance:
liar paradox
The ancient paradox goes like this: ‘If the sentence “This sentence is not true” is true, then it is not true, and if it is not true, it is true’. I feel very lucky I am not stoned, because if I read this after a bong hit, my head would explode.
I’ve picked one of the shortest entries, so that this post isn’t unmanageably large (yes, dear reader, I’m all heart). His writing is very informal and makes you feel right at home. I recommend it to anyone who’s looking for funny stuff, which can also move you at times, and gives it all in small doses. (Makes it almost like a paperback version of FRIENDS)

Blogs have been a recurring theme this week. I’m supposed to submit an article for the college mag on blogging. Tuesday night is the deadline. And I’ve got nothing. Nought. Nada. I mean, I could scribble some random stuff along the margin of a newspaper and it MIGHT still get printed. The Ed says hardly any submissions have come in this year. At this rate, come March and we’ll release the annual pamphlet. Or the college leaflet. Yikes!
But still, I’ve got to do something that’s up to my standards. Anyone who knows me will vouch. Seriously. I helped edit the school mag in 2006. (Back me up, people!) So, if you’ve got any ideas, suggestions, whatever, mail me. Ideas will be duly acknowledged. I’ll sing your praises in my blog, if not the article itself.

Weather’s been getting colder. Went below 8°C. Twice. And word is that Delhi’s gonna get colder next week. Damn! My Madrasi body can’t take it, I tell you. Why do we have to go to friggin’ Delhi for a fest? What happened to fests in Pune? Or Goa? Or even good old Madras, for that matter? Who in their right mind would give up Saarang (IIT, Madras fest) for St. Stephen’s? I guess my Director would, but don’t tell him I said so.

And finally, I’ve given myself a new handle. It’s how you’d pronounce the first letter of my surname. It’s also an acronym for Evolutionarily Stable Strategy (I can’t hide the nerd in me) Plus, it’s easier for someone to write to ESS rather than to Therefore I Am. And it sounds more like a name and less like a title (Therefore I Am, OBE anyone?) That way it actually is an ESS. Can’t be dislodged easily.

Is all. I take your leave. Thank you (Applause! Cheers! …no? You’re mean!)

P.S. For the record, Formula 1 by itself is not trash. It’s ONLY the coolest sport in the world. And Michael Schumacher is the God of modern single-seater racing.