It's like I'm back in school

I'm probably one of the biggest advocates of slowing down. I really think that we ought to stop taking ourselves and our lives so seriously. On a side note, I think Slow food International is an organisation after my own heart.

However, in the last two weeks, I've seen my philosophy take a beating. I've been at home. And I have to say, lazing at home isn't all that it was cracked up to be. I mean, I've spent the last three days at home. And I'm already bored out of my wits.

In fact, I had this whole post about how great it would be to slow down, stop by to smell the flowers and admire the sunset written and ready. But now, it's just too sickening to read. Like icing that's so sweet, you can't possibly finish the one slice of cake in you hand, leave alone ask for another one.

I really need something new to pep myself up. to get my pulse racing. And no, Need For Speed isn't the answer, however hard that may be to digest. I'm not sure how I'll pull through these vacations. But I guess I'll be the wiser for it. Don't ask me how.

It's the classic school vacation dilemma. I remember that a vacation before 9th standard (9th is when the board exam/entrance test/college admission whirlwind officially begins) meant lazing in front of the TV and putting on weight. In fact, one of my profs told me that that was precisely what he did during his undergrad vacations. It's a dilemma because you go into a vacation with so many resolutions (start exercising, go on a diet, write regularly in journal. And for the really adventurous, eradicate poverty! Although none of these were on my list as a school kid) And none of them happen. It's like a re-run of what happens on the morning of Jan 1st. A dozen resolutions are made. And bam, nothing happens on the next morning. Everything goes back to the way they used to be.

It's sad, but it's true. There are two barriers that cannot be broken. One being the speed of light, and the other being January 2nd. I'm not so sure about the speed of light, though ;)

Other news is that I'm going on a trip to Pondicherry this weekend, with old school friends. It should be fun. And since I really don't think I've got another post in me before that, I'll see you sometime after monday.

Until then, as that ridiculous Motorola ad goes, "chiao"

It's not so bad, it's not so bad....

There's a theory that bloggers blog only when they're stressed, or if things aren't going well in real life.

If you look at a blog as an extension of a journal or a personal diary, it makes sense. People keep journals to put feelings, emotions, events that they feel are important, in words. And the human mind has evolved in such a way that fear and threat evoke a greater response than joy or appreciation. In any case, most of us find the simple joys of life to be fleeting and insignificant in the long run. Whereas the fear and the pain live after their usefulness has vanished (like the evil that men do, in Mark Antony's speech)

It's only natural. How many times have parents evoked the fear of a bogeyman? And even after they grow up, a lot of people are still afraid of the dark (regardless of bogeymen) And how many preteens have a genuine fear of the other sex? Agreed, preteens do tend to gang up in groups of their own sex. And that leads to much awkwardness as they fumble their way in interactions with the other sex. But talk to preteens about cooties or some such, and you've effectively thrown a spanner in their works. And delayed any "normal" interaction considerably.

The point is that as people we are prone to thinking negatively. And we are prone to suggestion. Auto-suggestion, in particular. It's very easy to fall into a trap of saying your life sucks, just because of one minor hitch (I've been guilty of that crime so many times in the past that I've lost count) And bloggers, with their active imagination and their ability to weave words into exquisite tapestries of prose, are all the more susceptible to blue spells. Blue spells that churn up their creativity and bring out bitter, if beautiful, prose.

I know for a fact that some people blog just to get their worries and frustration out into the open. The therapeutic value of such activity is open to debate. Personally, I think that these are trying times that we live in. We really don't need any more bitterness. I just have a small request to anyone who read this. Whenever you're feeling down, bitter, broken, try and force yourself to think happy thoughts. Or recollect pleasant memories. Whatever it takes to get over a bitter spell without any brooding, or resorting to artificial stimulants. Both you and the world will be better for it.

Boulevard of broken dreams

This is a stolen tag. Stole it from here. It's good fun. You really should try it if you feel as jobless as I do this Sunday afternoon.

Rules of the tag: Turn on your music player on shuffle mode. Change the song for each new question. Write down the title of the song that appears as the answer for the question. Once you answer all the questions, give yourself a pat on the back and go do something useful :P

Here goes...

If someone says "Is this okay?" you say...
Part-time lover -Stevie Wonder
say what???

What would best describe your personality?
Kannaal pesum pennae - Mozhi
boy, this puts clownfish in a whole new perspective!

What do you like in a girl?
Have a nice day - Bon Jovi
dunno, guess that means good manners?

How do you feel today?
American Idiot - Green Day
okaaaaay

What is your life's purpose?
Fight Scene music - The Matrix OST (Don't know what the song is called)
Haha, yes. I am The One and I will liberate the world from evil machines. Not.

What is your motto?
Every breath you take - The Police
whaaaat? I'm not a stalker. I'm not!

What do your friends think about you?
Here I am - Bryan Adams
Yeah, and never willing to leave. Total stick-in-the-mud. That's what they'd say :P

What do you think of your parents?
You'd be so nice to come home to - Frank Sinatra
It's true. Maybe not in the same sense that Frank meant it, but it's true.

What do you think about very often?
The Ketchup song - Las Tomatinas
Oh yeah. goes great with anything. Ketchup and fries, mmmmm...

What is 2 + 2?
My name is - Eminem
so THAT'S what ess means!

What do you think of your best friend?
Mambo No. 5 - Lou Bega
I'm speechless.

What do you think of the person you like?
Mission Impossible theme - Adam Clayton
Fair enough. That's how it is for most people, most of the time.

What is your life story?
Beautiful dreamer - Frank Sinatra and Lawrence Tibbett
It sure beats bio-nerd!

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Pirates of the Caribbean End credits
If that means being Johnny Depp, I don't mind!

What do you think when you see the person you like?
Ebony and Ivory - Stevie Wonder
hmmmmm...

What do your parents think of you?
All rise - Blue
Haha. I swear, they'd knight me if they could!

What will you dance to at your wedding?
We will rock you - 5ive
We will. We totally will :)

What will they play at your funeral?
Tubthumping - Chumba Wamba
You're never gonna keep me down? At a funeral? Hope that doesn't mean I'll come back from the dead or something...

What is your hobby/interest?
Goldeneye - Tina Turner
shoot, the secret's out. So yeah, in my free time, I'm on Her majesty's secret service.

What is your biggest secret?
Stan - Eminem feat. Dido
yes, I went through an Eminem phase midway through my teens. And now I'm ashamed.

What do you think of your friends?
The Cup of Life - Ricky Martin
uh, unless it means me sitting with my friends with coffee cups, this makes no sense!

What will you post this as?
Boulevard of broken dreams - Green Day
and so I shall!

I'm not gonna tag anyone with this. Try it if it looks like fun to you. And it is, believe me.

Facultatively myself

Facultative.

It's a nice word. It's a very neat way of saying "I do as I please", and sounding smart while you're at it. Not many words can accomplish both, without making you sound condescending as well. And that's a bad combination. Rebellious, smart-alecky and talking down to people.

I first came across the word in the 11th standard, when we had a class about facultative anaerobes. These are bacteria that normally grow in low-oxygen conditions (like what you'd find in the centre of a compost pit/rotting carcass. They're the ones that are usually responsible for the "aroma") But they'll grow just fine even if they're kept in open air.

I brought it up because I've been using this word quite often. Usually to describe myself. It goes something like this:

*Facultatively non-vegetarian: I eat vegetarian stuff mostly. But I can live almost entirely on meat if I need to. As I did for the one week I was in Argentina. People there live pretty much on beef and pork. And if you don't eat that, your options are Boiled pumpkin/potato/carrot. yum :P

*Facultatively religious: If there's a homam at 3 a.m. , feel free to start without me. However, if it's at an earthly time, and there's prasadam to be had, count me in! But no, I've decided to stop being so hypocritical. I'm gonna stick to being agnostic for the time being.

*Facultatively Victorian: I'm the sort of guy who'll open doors, walk on the outer side of the pavement, and go right up to the footstep of the girl's house. But when money comes into play, we'll probably go dutch (as someone just found out today!)

*Facultatively pacifist: I won't go around with a chip on my shoulder. I don't go out looking for fights. In fact back in primary school, I would go around trying to stop fights. But a month back, i told eternal dreamer that I'd fight her for soupy, so...

So, yeah. I can be a little contradicting at times. I guess we all are in some way or another.

I don't think

Strangely enough, it's true. I believe the last organized thought that crossed my mind is how much of a chance Vijay Mallya's team had of winning the race last Sunday. And that thought crossed my mind at around 3 p.m. on Sunday.

It feels really weird. I mean, it was less than two weeks back that I was discussing the immune system with my classmates before the exam. A week after that, I was criticizing Chinese food. But now, the last four days are just a haze. Between old issues of MAD magazine, re-runs of the Simpsons and geeky-cool apps on Facebook, time just flies by.

Wow. I really might end up not doing anything productive this summer. Scary.

One thing that has changed since the last time that I was home is that computer usage has gone up. Tremendously. It's almost as if one system isn't enough for the three of us anymore. And my mum taught me a couple of tricks on MS Word the other day. It's a moment of reckoning when that happens. On the one hand, it's your mother. Someone who you've looked up to nearly all your life. On the other hand... the tech-y stuff is my turf! It's kinda like me making a better dosai than her (she makes the best ghee dosais. Period) Or me giving the car a better tune-up than dad (Right now, I'm very very far from being even a halfway-decent mechanic)

Hmmm, that's an idea for this summer. Make a better dosai, and sharpen my mechanic skills.

I'll do it!!!
Once lounging around at home goes out-of-fashion, that is :D

The dawn of a new vacation

So, finally, it's done. After an awful, AWFUL train journey (during which I swore thrice that this was going to be my final journey by sleeper class) I made it back home on Friday. I've been lounging around at home all of yesterday. Settling into the summer vacation spirit, so to speak. Come on, it's simply too hot to do anything else now in Madras.

But yeah, the point is that I've decided to take things easy this summer. The last two summers have been hectic. 2006 was entrance exam season. 2007, well, I was suckered into doing a project at IIT, Madras. Granted it was in Madras, and my friends were in town, but IIT is a world away from the city itself. All the utilities actually work, there are no power failures at night, and there's no one over there that I know.

So, yes. The summer of 2008 is going to be like one of those school vacations. 2 months. At home most of the time. Meeting up with friends. And thankfully, no holiday homework. I got off to a pretty good start too. I haven't done anything remotely constructive in the last two days. I've been watching loads of episodes of "Mind your language" (Moser Baer's got these cut price CDs of old episodes.)

So let's see. Maybe I'll be fortunate enough to actually do nothing worthwhile this summer. It looks like other people are having trouble, though

Fingers crossed. Hope it's a good summer

All I want to do is be more like me.

I spoke to Undefeated yesterday, after what must be ages. She told me how she felt really constrained and unhappy doing science. She's also a biology undergrad, studying in Madras. Apparently she took up science not out of wholehearted involvement, but because her parents wanted her to join the Phy, Chem, Bio, Math group (also known as Group 1 in most schools in Madras. As if other streams are inferior). It seemed like a good idea at the time, and that set her on course to do a degree in zoology.

That's a problem we have as students here in India. Whenever a decision is made regarding our studies it's hardly ever our own. Other people have expectations that we have to put up with, live with. Sometimes even sacrifice everything else for it. Remember Alok in "Five point someone" and how he had to give up his painting, just so that he could get into IIT and get a high paying job? That's the weight of expectations (Although it could get a lot worse. Check this out. And the students like the friggin' routine and stress. Masochists.)

Everybody has an opinion on what you should do. Uncles, aunts, grandparents and the neighbour of your twice removed cousin who lives halfway across the country. They all think they've got a right to tell you how to run your life. And why not, considering how all of them are experts. Not only on which courses are best suited for you and which colleges would suit your temperament, but also of job trends when you pass out of college 3 or 4 years down the line. Sheesh.

And when you go against their "wishes", they get sulky and act as if you've committed the gravest mistake of your life. "What will happen to your future?" will be the starting lines. Boys will get the additional chorus of, "Who will give their girls in marriage to you if don't work in IT/finance/are posted overseas?" No less than three people in my family told me I was making a huge mistake when I dropped engineering for science. Never mind the fact that I'd done extremely well in biology towards the end of my school life, and the fact that I know I'd never have cut it in engineering.

Even today I have to lie to my relatives about how I have my heart set on a job in the pharma industry. When I have absolutely no idea of what to do after this degree. Hell, there was this first year student who came up to me and said, "Why didn't you take up medicine? You're so good in biology". What the hell does it matter to him?! I should've slapped that jackass then and there. (Although slapping can have pretty ugly consequences, as Bhajji has proved so convincingly)

That's why I'm so full of admiration for people like AV and eM who've decided to take charge of their own lives, and to hell with the consequences. Sure, the road forward will be tough. But once you reach out and do what you set out to do, it will be yours forever. And then you can wave your victory in the faces of the naysayers.

That's what I have to say to you, Undefeated. I'm happy you've found something you really like doing (she works in an NGO after college hours). But be sure that what you're getting out of it is what you want. After all, you don't want the naysayers to go, "I told you so". And you also don't want to do too much too fast :)

As Chinese as chop suey

It's done. My exams are over. And I have emerged unscathed (more or less, anyway). I've successfully completed two years of undergrad now. Two years, no arrears. 'nuff said.

As a celebration of sorts, I went out to dinner at this little restaurant near my hostel. It's one of those small, by-the-wayside places where the food is a little overpriced (like everything else in Pune) and the quality of the stuff is passable. Since I was feeling a little adventurous last night, I ordered a bowl of "Veg Schezwan noodles"

Now if you've ever eaten in one of those by-the-wayside places, you know that the stuff they make really well are the local dishes. This place I went to makes pretty good vada-paav, for instance (although it's not the best I've had). Other Indian dishes range from decent to passable to not particularly good. And then there's "Chinese".

Any stereotypical Indian eatery worth its salt, pepper and haldi will have fried rice and noodles, at least, on the menu. The more show off-y ones have three types of each. "Hakka" which is fried and lightly drizzled with soy sauce. "Schezwan" which has red food colour and a slightly tangy taste. And "Singapore" (no, really) which is drenched in soy sauce. Also, anything dipped in cornstarch paste and fried becomes "Manchurian". I mean, but anything. Paneer Manchurian, anyone? This place I went to has it.

What all these dishes have in common is that they swim in oil. They are full of empty calories and MSG. They have far more capsicum and spring onions than would be advisable. But considering that the man on the street knows nothing about real Chinese food (neither do I, but I know it's not supposed to be this oily or spicy) all of it sells reasonably well. Hell, some places even have "Jain Chinese", without garlic and onions. Top that.

However dinner wasn't too bad, on the whole. I guess it's okay if you want to indulge yourself once in a way, without spending too much. But what worries me is the way we've bastardised Chinese food beyond recognition. I shiver to think about what the Chinese might've done to Paneer Butter masala and ghee roast dosais.

Tofu butter masala? Urgh.

Factoid: Chop suey isn't Chinese. It was popularised in the US and there is nothing exactly like it in China.