20 Things That Make My Day

1. Phone call from a long forgotten friend
2. Kitten in the grocery store near my flat. They mew and follow my finger trailing their box and leap to catch it.
3. Long walks
4. New shoes
5. A compliment (thanks Sunu ;) )
6. Hot summer showers
7. F.R.I.E.N.D.S
8. A catchy tune in radio. Like it better on radio than tv coz then ur visual sense is not clouded with scantily cladded men/women.
9. Solving that long existing bug. Exhilaration after coming out of a code maze alive.
10. Jimmy Choo rolling on his back to get his belly scratched, which i never do coz he is always dirty.
11. A hot gossip session with sis. Delicious..
12. That perfect bottle of nail polish/perfume or tube of lipstick.
13. Xmas star hanging in my room, a gift.
14. Sip hot ginger tea on the terrace on a cold evening
15. Peanut butter
16. Thought of an upcoming trip.
17. A good read or an unknown good movie
18. Chick flicks
19. Girls night out
20. Watching friday night movie on tv with Sprite and Lays to accompany.

Defense mechanisms

I believe each person possess a defense mechanism that protects and often saves from injuring the personality. Call it instinct if you like, since the way it evolves is the same - through experience. It probably starts when a kid starts hating a teacher just because he is not the teacher's pet. Instead of diving into self loathing, his infant defense mechanism helps him by protecting his confidence in himself. But not all children are so lucky. Their confidence can easily take a hit and the impact follows them into adulthood too.

As a child matures, his defense mechanism picks up a few tips and tricks. Some of us girls learn that acting aloof and haughty can ward off most of the unwanted attention, fighting with her sibling gets her more attention from parents, turning hyperactive and outgoing heals a heartbreak faster, having more number of girlfriends ensures a pillow to cry on anytime of the day..

Now it is not very different with guys. Like dismissing something he knows is beyond his capability as something he doesn't really care for, being sarcastic- which is a brilliant way of getting back at a stronger person, not believe and get into a relationship because he has had bad ones in the past, blame his relationship a clingy one to avoid admitting that he is scared of going home to the same person forever. In case of children who are molested, studies say that they used such defense mechanisms as acting-out, denial, introjection, projection, schizoid fantasy or dissociation.

Well it works both ways. Sometimes the defense is so strong, it flies you right past the emotional turbulence without you having to take even a glance at it. Later you might regret about that. Even so, you are safe. At other times, your defense has never come across such an event that is causing you so much trouble that it doesn't know which way to turn you. Should it diverge your attention into something else or make you ponder more to get a solution! Then you have only your judgment to bet on.

Do we have any part in the evolution of our own defense mechanism?I think, yes. Your personality, the way you react to an incident, the way you were brought up, in fact, everything about you has a hand in developing the defense.

Fortunately or unfortunately, we are but clay in the hands of people who surround us. They put pressure and we are pressurized..They appreciate and we feel happy.But if you are aware of the effect that people have on you, you can actually build a defense mechanism which works for you through thick and thin.

My 10 ways to spend Earth Hour

1. Count the number of mosquitoes u kill. Partition the number based on the nature of carcass - smashed, gory, no blood-smooth kill, size 0.
2. Imagine you are watching tv and keep track of how long you can sit motionless.
3. Read that thing called newspaper. Yes there are more uses to it than act as your mosquito bat.
4. Find out how ur neighbours are coping with a self-brought blackout.
5. Play hide and seek. Can even blindfold the seeker if you want. Since not much difference.
6. Make new candles out of the molten ones. Add ink and viola! u have colored ones.. U will be colorfully prepared for the next Earth Hour.
7. Raid the fridge. Now this is ur chance to gobble up and use 'Isnt this sponge cake getting soggy??' excuse.
8. Mix urself a drink/iced tea/mint lemonade, put ur feet up and chat away to glory. Try horror stories.
9. Play Shadow puppet with friends. I love to be the crocodile which can fly and eat the dog..
10. Sleep.

u know u r overworking when:

u start talking baby talk to the windows search puppy

u solve issues in ur sleep

u feel odd while at home

u need a mouse to read a book

u feel like doing a ctrl + F while searching for car keys

u remember ur manager's number and not your own

u think how to restart a burnt toast

u think its a bug when the maid doesnt show up

u get startled at ur own reflection in the mirror which u just happened to pass by on your way to meeting room.

u think people look cuter in diagrams

Never Say Never Again

Remember that scene in Swades in which Sharukh travels to rural India and the disparity of his and lives of others around him in the local train glares him in the face. This is what came to my mind when I purchased a ticket in SETC – the very own Travel corporation of Tamilnadu. When I asked a friend what ‘ultra deluxe’ means in SETC terms, she replied “cushioned seats”. Humph... After traveling in those Volvos that spoils you, I wasn’t quite ready to travel in just “cushioned seats”!! But I didn’t have a go- owing to my tardiness in booking tickets, every single ticket to home was booked for that weekend.

Thus I reached the vast CMBT bus stand to board my bus hoping it not to be too dirty. After following too many false directions from the information centre, I spotted my bus. I don’t know if you have ever heard your heart thud when it hits rock bottom. I did. There was a dirty blue (?) bus smiling back at me through broken teeth. I sighed and climbed into a confusion of agarbathi fumes and blaring music to find a grey haired woman smiling at me seated on my seat by the window.

I smiled back and said that’s my seat. She said she gets sick during the journey and told me its ok, you can take my seat. I said that’s so kind, but you know what? I got the same problem. I frowned and said I get very sick!!! She stared and said that’s ok you take my seat; I might get sick on you. Well I felt like laughing coz this is the excuse I give to my fellow passengers and somebody is trying to beat me at my own game! So I just smiled back and said cant do.

She moved her bulging plastic covers and sweating Mirinda bottle and made way for me. After keeping bags in place and seated, I had a chance to look around. Apart from the stink of the public loo in the bust stand, there were plenty more stuff to dismay me.

That bus could seriously do good business with a wash. The seats were dust covered– ones that prodded you to imagine the persona of its previous occupiers and less said about the curtains the better. I tried sitting with minimal contact to anything around me, which meant only the seat of my pants would get soiled. But I told myself not to be an ass since the journey was going to last for next 12 hours. And that’s when I thought about the scenes in Swades. It looked less impressive now and I came to conclusion that those villagers in the scene with the actor were just well scrubbed extras in villagers’ clothes. I looked at my neighbour happily chatting on her phone and identified the source of the stink that was clouding my brain with images of soiled socks.

There was only one way out. Escape the reality. I reached for my music player and the now familiar Thud told me I had forgotten it in flat. Plan B. My James bond novel. It is Octopussy this time. I forgot about the bus and wallowed in the shallows of the sea along with Major Smythe towards the octopus.

Soon the bus started and when I looked out of the window during different phases of the journey, I first spotted disarray of colours across the sky and then distant spots of lights and occasional colored lines of light of temples against a black canvas. Well it looks the same whether in Volvo or the poor SETC bus. I decided not to be such a prude and give the poor thing a chance. After all it’s not that bad! Look at my chummy neighbour who has forgotten all about the window seat and is laughing at the loud Tamil movie the driver is playing. And the man in front of me is so considerate, he asks every time before he reclines his seat. I returned to immersing myself in the cold blue eyes of Bond with better spirit than when I started.

Soon it was time for dinner and thankfully bus pulled up beside a clean looking restaurant. My neighbour vanished somewhere and I went inside to clean up and have dinner. Coming back, I fed my reserve of biscuits to a wandering bitch and climbed back into the bus. My chum was back and said she looked for me and since doesn’t like eating alone, didn’t get dinner. I felt sorry and thought of getting her a pack of biscuits when the bus started. On rummaging inside my bag, I found a thin pack of 2 biscuits which the lady hungrily ate up while complaining to her husband about my vanishing act through phone. She loaded me with some Murukk from an open packet and told me to eat it all and said she got it on her way back from the toilet. At the very same instance bus passed the public toilet and at the sight of it my heart went back to thudding and rumbling around.

I simply had to act as if I were fidgeting in the seat and threw away the snack out of the window. I was scared to touch my water bottle in case I infected it! I scrubbed my hands hard with tissue paper and tried not to think about swine flu. My chum was happily explaining to me where she was going and how her nephew broke his leg. She reverted her attention as the movie was back on and resorted to laughing at all Vadivelu jokes. Dinner made me mellow and I started laughing with her because her laugh was just so infectious!

But if you ask me if I would do the same journey again, I would go back to my prude self and say in my best snobbish voice NEVER! Unless somebody who likes his martini shaken and not stirred is pointing a gun at my head.

I have been reading this book by the name Raw Spirit by Iain Banks which is about search for the perfect single malt amongst those in Scotland . This has made me observant towards whiskeys, wines and drinks in general - to the extent that now i stay longer at the wine section in the supermarket to check if i recognize any of the labels there or may be catch a jargon or two i read about and get excited about it.

And some wondering too.Reading about history and process of distilling whiskey, it sounded like any other drink people enjoy. May be more so. Perfectly drinkable and not at all coming with those ALCOHOL!!!! adages. So why this prejudice towards this drink which is actually art and sophistication bottled for decades??

i blame it on people who over do and over react. Over do by turning tipsy and acting foolish, over react by discriminating the drink without even giving it a thought.I belonged to the latter.
I used to treat whiskeys as That Evil Drink Which Turns Everyone Who Took A Sip Into Devils. Hmm, im sure Hermione Granger would be interested in and may even know a similar potion.Hey! don't blame me coz coming from a conservative family, i saw only men in the family enjoying the drink and that too very rarely as though it were a sin not to be often repeated. Then the book came, saw and conquered my infantile knowledge on whiskeys.

So last time we friends got together at a pub and one of them was chattering about something, my eyes fell on the decorated wall. I felt as if i finally met a superstar i was dying to get a glance of. There on the wall were those bottles which i had read about; i had walked around the distilleries taking tours, watched them getting distilled in stills, felt the warm raw spirit and smelt and tasted the oldest of them!!! Glennfinnan, Laphroaig, Macallan!!!

I was so much immersed, smiling and reading their names aloud that the person who was telling the tale felt offended. So i had to explain my new found interest and it was well received beyond my expectations.

What followed were Tips From The Masters and hilarious accounts of tipsiness. Happy was I when i returned home, to have added a new interest in life. But to date i sadly remain, a whiskey virgin.

Doomsday Everyday!!

Vehicles have been honking all around the flustered traffic policeman for a long time. His whistle lies against his paunch - defeated. There is confusion and desperation to reach offices/schools/colleges written across every face.

I decide to get down from the auto rickshaw half way to the office and walk the rest rather than sit through the traffic jam. I tell the auto rickshaw driver to stop way ahead my corner so that he can go back. As I hand over half my fare and start to walk, the driver stops me by blocking the way.

He is an old man. His dirty grey hair covers his sweaty collar. His eyes are red. He is sweating profusely and demands more money. I say no way. He starts shouting at the top of his voice in Tamil and hands me the money back. I understand only bits and pieces of what he says. He wants more money and has started talking in an utmost uncouth way.

I try looking for police. Well let’s say he has his own problems in the jam. I tell the driver this is all I’m giving. He says he doesn’t want it. I know the trick here.

Long stay in Chennai and frequent conflicts with these drivers has taught me their strategies. As soon as they know you are going to an IT office, they double the fair. As nobody bothers about meters, you have no option but to haggle back by cutting down the fare to half or to a reasonable amount. Once settled did you think you can take in the ride peacefully? You couldn’t be more wrong. There is always a chance that the driver bears the traits of a born criminal and many a time a specimen of this hateful species has demanded more money as they near destination, threatening to drop you right there. Usually happens if you are a girl traveling alone at night.
Now there is another set who on reaching the destination start quarrelling saying they drove more than what you said and hence need more money even if you had made it very clear where you need to go before starting. They usually start shouting near your office/apartment or just anywhere in public to embarrass and intimidate you into paying them. They usually resort to following you shouting god knows what in Tamil and one time the driver even tried putting money back in my bag. I shouted and said I’m going to get police and then he drove away grumbling.

Police doesn’t mean anything to them. I don’t know if they are bribed. But I have never witnessed or got a policeman to help with these issues. Drivers also seem nonchalant at the mention of police. There have also been reports in paper when the driver beat up a girl and her friend when they didn’t pay him what he demanded. And the public watched.

Coming back to my encounter this morning, the trick here is embarrassing me by shouting at me and attracting attention and humiliating me. I have been through this and paid most of the times just to run away from the scenario. Not this time. I take the money back and walk towards my office. Driver has got into frenzy now. He is spitting on the road and quivering with anger. I can feel all eyes on me. I guess its fun for some while for others it must be deja vu.

Driver blocks my way. I look at him angrily and threateningly. Its poor defense but it sure works. I am losing my cool. I catch something like "moonjaye paaru"(Look at her mug!!) in his lewd Tamil gibberish. I laugh thinking "Well its loads better than his!!" and that gets me back in control. He now wants the money back. I WIN!

But its not happiness one feels trapped at the end of such a situation. It’s very humiliating and emotionally draining to be subjected to mean and cheap auto rickshaw driver strategies. Only God can save Chennai from these deviled creatures. Or may be the Police?

have you had these moments..

- when u r little, mum tells u to watch ur step on the road and u intently do that and bang ur poor lil head on electric post?
- ur uptight classmate from school who regarded u nothing less than a gypsy turned into one herself?
- people standing for ice cream in the queue in front of u always seem to order yummier flavors than what you have in mind?
- animals always stare at your face for reactions?
- u try out a shirt and suddenly feel good on an otherwise moppy day?
- when ur friends get married u have a tough time keeping those tears of happiness at bay?
- u suddenly remember what happened between 2 characters of a book and just cant remember anything else about it?
- mondays are usually lengthier than any other day in the week and sunday the shortest?
- those popular girls in college with reputations of being really bitchy turned out to be quite ok?
- u urself end up being bitchy and u love it!!?
- the best looking girl/guy in the room is always taken?
- u have been having a terrible week/month and you suddenly have a happy moment/hope only to plunge back into darkness?
- bad hairstyles look better as hair grows?
- sometimes u just dont care what pepl say about u and sometimes u desperately want to be understood?
- recipe always changes taste each time its tried?
- ur nemesis of a sister in school days incarnates into ur best friend in adult life?
- u laugh out thinking of some old joke and when u repeat the same to ur surprised friends, it doesnt sound funny at all
- u know u cant be happy knowing only the good side of a person and u keep looking out for some fault?

Whats up with these peepers??

I mean those who:

peep into your plate while u r eating at a restaurant
peep to check what you are reading as if the book's cover doesn't reveal it all
peep sneakily out of doors in the neighborhood when you go late to your flat after work
peep and listen to you talk busily to your ex/parents/colleagues at work over the phone
peep through windows into your flat
peep and stare and scare you in the bus
peep into your grocery bag when you are not looking
peeps down your dress!!
peeps at your com and stare at whatever is visible and ask stupid questions

but i do enjoy these peepers who:

peeps to check which flavor of ice cream you got and smiles if it matches theirs
peeps when you are petting their dog and checks the dog from making a pest of itself
peeps when you return home late and smiles understandingly
peeps and pops into your flat when they don't see you for a long time and asks if you are ok
peeps at your com and don't comment
peeps inside any abundant well and exclaim Dry! ignoring the sign which says exactly that.
peeps into those lil holes in trees just for the heck of it
peeps into friend's bags looking for something to eat
peeps into the kitty's box to check if its not too lonely

i guess i can just go on on peeping forever..

Pangs of a vegetarian

this is wot ur first question is going to be : pangs?? then y the hell are u a veggie??

to which i reply with my nose up in the air : coz i choose to, u idiot!

to which u snort: then y complain

and i? : WOA! its my right to!

then u relent a lil and ask: so wots new in the list?

and me happy to find a shoulder to cry on: its this article in the newspaper!! they have put an article with all top chefs of the city!!and the dishes they dish out look so incredibly scrumptiously yumm! just that they are all non-veg :(

and u with that i-think-i-got-smbdy-crumbling-down snicker : tel me again y u turned a veggie, will ya?

and me with that i-know-wer-u-r-going sulk: coz i dnt want to kill animals and survive when i can very well survive on plants

u since u just cant keep away from stupid clichéd questions: and u dnt think plants have life?!!

here i take a break, look upwards/roll eyes/take a deep breath, say a lil prayer to restrain myself from making mincemeat outta u and say in my best priestly voice (really, how many of u do u think i can tolerate??) : i do, but i cant necessarily starve to death. so i prefer killing plants to animals.

now u sense that i have suddenly turned cold. so u make up for it by saying: hmm..its not everybdy who can do that u know..

me sensing the shoulder to cry on very near: u tell me!! its so hard!! Especially the guilt which eats u wen u r eating one of those lip-smacking, soft, creamy pastries!!

u startle me from my drooling thoughts by : u eat pastries!!! dnt u know they contain eggs???

i say "JERK!!" in my mind and turn to glaze at the distance : i know, thats y its hard..

and before u can tell me i am a hypocrite, i turn away and walk towards the pastry shop to uplift my soggy mood.

A Short Story

tweet tweet.. meooow.. dum! pdum!... gulp! meooooww.. zzzzz...

wot plans for weekend pepl??

me swimming,



a lil research on fashion,









watch a play,











tidy up my room/cpbrd/almirah,





watch movies uninterrupted cz home alone,







catch up with sketching n paintin and catch up with readin,














try cooking smthg new and end up cooking old stuff itself,






think if i shud get a cat/dog/fish/monkey/baby elephant after watching Discovery Channel,








flip thru fone adress book and call up old frends,







call sis and gossip and fight,














call folks and fight







and finally think wistfully of the weeknd i cud have accomplished loads of things.

Wild Wayanad!!

AWESOME!!!!

Friday night 8 o clock till Monday morn 8 o clock was full masti !!!!

There were 20 of us.



We reached Calicut at 7, had breakfast from hotel Dakshin and started to wayanad. On the way were sylvan hills draped in fog. The view from hair pin bends were breathtaking and slight drizzle now and then added chillness to the air. As per the rule of thumb we stopped midway to have ice cream in the cold :)

The cut road to the resort was very jerky and by the time we reached resort, we were dog tired. Bath in bone-chilling-cold water and sumptuous lunch got us back into life and we started clicking snaps of the lovely resort, the lake, swans and literally everything.

Then we got into the bus and went to Soochipara falls. a minor trek of about half an hour and we reached the falls. More snaps and trek back which was interrupted by welcome breaks of fresh lime sodas and pickled mangoes and pineapples.



Once we got to the bus we got to know that another bus has broken down on the road and won’t be moved till late night. so we happily tucked in cups of strong tea, coffee, bread omelets, Lays, Maggi, more sodas and pickled mangoes. The only toilet available was fashioned after the Slumdog Millionaire one, so had a feeling of being in the movie too... ;)

Then we called the resort and they sent us 2 jeeps. We slowly started walking down the road we came. Through out the way people were selling tea, coffee, spices, honey etc grown in the estates there. And after 2 km of singing songs, we got to the jeeps.

Now comes the best part.

We were all squeezed inside the jeep and the driver, George chettan was playing mal songs, we made him stop and started singing Hindi, mal, Tamil, English songs and even nursery rhymes during the whole of an hour long journey!!! Then George chettan stopped at Chain Tree and explained about Lakkidi.

Now Lakkidi deserves a special mention here as he certainly spiced up our rest of the trip that night. Posthumously of course. He was the tribal who braved the wild and the climate and climbed and panted up the hills of Wayanad from somewhere down in hope for a new abode for his abused tribe. Later British got there following him and finding this land of abundance killed poor Lakkidi and other tribals near a Banyan tree. Folklores sing that Lakkidi's soul wouldn’t leave Wayanad and was proving quite naughty by murdering people. So they exorcised him into a chain and tied it on that particular banyan tree where he was killed.

All this was explained on a pitch dark night along a lonely road in a strange land we had never visited.

Needless to say, rest of the journey was spent in scaring the weak-hearted.

Once back in resort, it was quite late and we quickly gorged down dinner and slept skipping the DJ night.

Up at 6.30 and another bath in cold water which gave goose bumps all over the body and numbed me for 5 solid minutes got me awake and soon all boarded the bus. 2 hours ride with a stop over for breakfast and we got to the base of Edakkal caves. We chose walking over getting a jeep for the steep climb and soon were breathless. After the steep road came steps after steps of stones leading to the caves. We climbed humming 'hum honge kaamyab..'

After taking in the breathtaking view at the top, we posed for more photos of us posing as if we were meditating, flying away and being kicked off the edge and learnt the reason why its called Edakkal.

There are 2 HUGE rocks which are almost parallel and between which there is a thin gap thru which light squeezes into the cave. Hence the name (eda(space) + kal(stone)). And yeah, there was also this stone on which Stone Age people had doodled in their spare time. (Sorry wasn’t really listening to what guide said).

Then we climbed down the caves after sodas and pickled mangoes, we got jeeps since didn’t have time for walking back and went back to resort to check out.

After lunch and checking out, we went to Pookot Lake. It wasn’t very happening at the beginning, thanks to rain. But we bought curios and coffee powder and honey amla(Gooseberry marinated in wild honey for such a long time that it blows up to double its size and is oozing with honey as you pop it into your mouth … yummmm…) from the curio shop. I didn’t go for boating, instead got 2 cups of hot steaming tea and sat watching the lake ripple in the rain.

Later we went for walk around the lake and found good locations to test our photography skills, we also had a running race for 4 and i won it hands down hahaha..

On our way back, Natasha got bitten by a leach and that scared us all a bit. Thanks to Mohan who played Knight in shining armor at the right mo.

Then we got traveling again and started our way back to Calicut.

There was dancing and singing and more snaps and pulling legs inside the bus and time just flew past.

At Calicut, we had an hour to get dinner and chips for which Kerala is famous for. So everybody spread out and met again at 8. Once inside the train and happy on a full stomach of dinner and sweets, we started Dumb charades and went on playing till 1.30 in the morning.

Morning came and so did Chennai. Everybody smiled, slapped backs, shook hands and hugged and went on their own ways.

Dip Trip

Swimming class - day 1

8.15 am: walking into the pool in the Anna university campus, splashes and squeals of kids waddling around in the pool. The pool luks a bit murky, wondering how soon will be doing a butterfly stroke in those 12 ft parts of the pool. hey dont they always say shoot at the stars..
8.50 am: registered for weekend classes. waited in the changing room till it was the ladies slot and walked gingerly to the edge of the pool now crowded with kids aged 3- 15. tried eagerly talking to a lady who looked around same age as mine. seems she came to pick up her son. hmph!
well that didnt stop me from getting into the pool and when the instructor told me rapidly in tamil how to get around the pool, i stared at him(well there was more than 1 reason to do that anyway) - open mouthed. hihi..
9.00 am: am holding on to the side of the pool and floating in a floater and doing the bend-kick-join routine. tsnt half as fun as i thought.
9.10 am: am...very...breathless...
9.15 am: instructor came and said dont stop.hmph! wot does he know of us first timers..so sneakily took another break.
9.30 am: my back..my back..my back.. i think i lost it in the pool!
9.45 am: when does the stupid hour get over @#@%@^#$^
9.50 am: hey!!!! i discovered wot was wrong..was holding on to the side of the pool too hard. if i just relax bit and not think of how many people wud hav peed in the pool the routine is quite easy!
9.55 am: im a mermaid!!haahaahaa..
10.00 am: time s up. awwww.. just when i was getting a hang of it.
10.30 am: back in flat. feeling backless and shoulder less. wonder how my legs are hanging down there without a spine to hold on to.

Swimming class - day 2

8.55 am: pool less crowded , but damn smart kids are diving into 12 ft, which looks like a distant dream..
9.00 am: instructor tells me do the routine again after that will start hand movements in 4 ft. yessir!
9.10 am: damn the arms, damn the instructor, i am floating like a log and not bcoz I am swimming @#$@#%
9.15 am : smart-kid 1 swims past by as if he were a darn old fish. im sure i saw him snickering.
9.20 am: over-smart-kid 1 dived and swam under me causing me to shriek out SHAAAARK!!!
9.30 am: smart-kid 2 asks me y am i stationary for a long time!
9.34 am: ok something is definitely wrong.
9.40 am: gotcha! instead of pushing the water on the surface sideways, i was waddling it down with fingers separated.. think of frog and do it..
9.43 am: HA
9.50 am: crossed pool twice - widthwise.. heheh
9.55 am: frog frog
10.10 am: done and out. tried kicking smart-kid 1 under the water. think caught really-small-kid. gotta get outta here fast.

Swimming class - day 3

hmm pretty much the same.
except that the girls who joined with me have been attending classes daily and have started swimming without the floats.
oh and also, the instructors know my name now and use it to shout from the other end of the pool and tell me to stop taking so many breaks or why dont i try swimming!!

Swimming class - day 4

total disgrace!
now im swimming just like a drunk frog who is really thankful she has a floater to keep her from drowning in 5 ft deep water.
and not to mention the embarrassing time when the instructor told me to kick wide and i did and he kinda winced bcoz i kicked him where it hurts most. ahem!
its the money i spent and those occasional moments of joy i feel while floating in water that's keeping me stick to the float. :(


Swimming class - day 5:
Hmm pretty much the same.. except that i have mastered the art of floating inside a floater, which by now feels like a brother i never had.Hence cant wait to get rid of it.

Swimming class - day 6:
D Day
9.00 am :half an hour in floater and then its "so long farewell, its time to say good bye" to my companion in rough waters.
9.30 am: Bring it on baby!!!
9.40 am: hehe actually i was thinking, may be i shud have the floater back?? :(
9.50 am: this (gasp) is (gasp) so(gasp) damn(gasp) difficult(gasp) and(gasp) funny(gasp) (gasp) (gasp) ...

well basically i dnt know how to float in water. all i know is it will be a shame to the family if i drown and die in 4 ft water.
So here i am, sans float, stumbling,fumbling and frankly thinking its easier to sit on the floor of the pool than try to swim.

That way i can also ignore instructor's sarky comments - "no water to drink at home??","Leave some for people who are actually swimming" etc.
10.00 am:over and out. met a newbie on her first day. gave swimming tips.. ooh la la..

Swimming class - day 7:

Day 7 never happened! As soon as i got into the university gate, a hoard of policemen and women surrounded me and then it was a rapid fire round of questions. Where are you goin? what are you doing? why are you here ( quite philosophical actually).Hmm.. finally an old inspector took pity on my bewildered self and explained paternally " the votes are being counted ma, no outsiders allowed." oh cool. and i thought they were going to arrest me for swimming in their pool.

Swimming class - day 8:

sceptically peered into the university and no sign of a khaki.so far so good.

At the pool floaters are sidelined along the edge - how i miss them!Got into the pool with glee and tried swimming. hahaha.. that's a nice word.try. even if u are a born loser at something that word gives it a positive twist. anyway i "tried" swimming without the floater from one side of the pool to the other.

Anyone who swims would definitely know what goes into it. breathing right and propelling yourself right. I'm good in theory u see..
as i was thinking may be this is one of my luckier days, the instructor had to crush my hopes of competing in the next Olympics. or may be he thought i was practicing for the synchronized swimming by the look of it.
he took myself and 2 other ladies to the deepest part of the pool - the dark waters of 12 ft and told us, yeah just like that as if we were sitting ducks, "go ahead and swim".

and swim i did! it was totally an exhilarating moment. i knew i cud no longer feel terra firma under me and that the instructor would help me out if i drown and that if i cud just swim a little longer, ill reach the steps and out of danger.

I did one more lap and waited for others to finish off. While waiting something happened which sucked away all my glee. the kid screamed!

The kid must be 12 or 13 years old and a very good swimmer to my standards. But as soon as she was taken to the 12 ft part, she started screaming. She was coaxed,pacified,warned but to no avail. she continued screaming at the top of her lungs all the time she was swimming. That did it for me. I sneakily got out of the pool and jumped back into the safe 5 ft and vowed to go back to 12 ft because i was doing a far better job there than here. but i just couldn't get me in there too.. hmm time for some more synchronized swimming.


Swimming class - day 9:

Got companion to go to the class with. My roomie. She was so concerned about getting tanned that she was asking if we can carry an umbrella while swimming! hahaha just kidding.

9.05 am: so this is the 9th day and I started off at the 5ft. was still finding it hard to modulate breathing. Watched people swim with their heads above water. So pestered instructor to tell me how to do it. To which he looked into the distance (even though the pool has a compound wall) and answered "each one to himself" or something to that effect in Tamil. Looks like this is just one of those things that ill have to figure out myself.
9.15 am: GASP!!!!!
9.20 am: asked instructor to help me out. He demonstrated the breathing very theatrically and I had a tough time trying not to laugh. So frowned and was reminded of Joey's acting class.
9:30 am: Hmm... Loads better. Was trying it out when the instructor asked us to move over to 12 ft!!!
9:45 am: I have arrived!!!
It did not start of well at all (as always). First time instructor pushed me to swim, I gasped and fumbled and almost walked to the side of the pool - to which he splashed water irritatingly and told me "breathe! kick wide! move arms! SWIM!"..I swear if it weren’t for my now-set tan, I would have gone crimson with humiliation. How can he treat me like a loser when i'm not one!

so the next time not only did I swim from where he pushed me, I also asked if I can swim back unaided to where he was floating and did it. Such an ego boost and I must say I have a terrible ego!

10:00 am: time must have flown past.

Swimming class - day 10:

9:05 am: exhilarated from last day. 5 ft is a piece of cake if I take at least 5 breaks in between when im supposed to take none. Also no more damn-smart kids and their doting mothers as summer vacation is almost over.
9:30 am: This is exactly how that lonely, burst balloon must feel among the helium filled, high flying balloons at the height of a birthday party. Am totally tired and not able to even swing my arms. Culprit? Skipped dinner and scanty breakfast. Lesson well learnt and point noted.
9:45 am: instructor tried moving me to 6ft deep water. gave him a dead pan look and told him me tired,no breakfast. He took it surprisingly well. Told me eat atleast 6 idlies before coming for swimming and didn’t ask me after that.

Roomie making good progress though once I think I heard her shout my name and tip downwards while flapping her arms.wonder why..

10:00 am: worried if ill be able to learn swimming by the end of 15 classes :(

Swimming class - day 11:

skipped classes for 2 weeks owing to trip home and subsequent violent attack of influenza.
9.05 am: thought would have to start from scratch after the long break, but was surprisingly easy.
9.25 am: instructor says keep shoulders in!! couldnt figure out what that meant and told him "onnume puriyale saar!!!"
9.35 am: as soon as I tried shoulders in as he said, I stopped swimming. its out for me!
9.45 am: 12 ft
9.50 am: hmm.. could have done better..but was tired soon and couldnt help looking enviously at akshaya - another weekender like me. but hey! i sure clapped when she covered the pool with no stop.
9.55 am: ok i managed it bit by bit - my name is going down the hall of disgrace!!
10.00 am: a thoughtful me and vexed roomie decided we have suffered enough by watching daily swimmers out swim us weekenders.. we are turning daily swimmers too from tomorrow!

Swimming class - day 12:

daily swimming - not a great idea if
1.u are concerned about the common slot - swimming guys who dont give space but looks in the pool
2.u are concerned if your swimwear is proper - i learnt long back mine isn't in chennai.
3.u have to reach office really early - means no breakfast or proper bath.
4.pain everywhere - you will realize you have muscles in places you never knew existed!

BUT! there is less tanning, more attention from instructors (and others of cors) and you really learn swimming fast!
so i crossed the 12 ft in easy dips. Actually the 2nd time was funny and worrying. i was a bit tired,but the instructor kept pushing me to do it and i kept swimming towards the side of the pool instead of going straight.At first he thought I wasnt swimming right and then it dawned on him what i was doing and then he quickly pulled me into the middle of the pool. I couldnt stop laughing and stopped swimming. then i realized what i was doing and started waddling away!

roomie also in better spirits than yesterday on the progress in the pool.

fruitful day, i must say.

Swimming class - day 13

Getting up at 5.15 am is not funny!

Roomie and i dragged ourselves to the pool and were 20 mins late. so didnt get to go to the 12 ft. hmmm.. should go early tomorrow. and swimming? crossed pool width wise twice! haha!

Swimming class - day 14 (actually 13):

wondering if there is a pattern to the Totally Disgraceful days at pool..
tried bringing some grace into swimming and the next thing i knew was sinking like titanic.

i find drowning quite enchanting, even trying to observe it whenever it happens. Im not bragging here coz i wouldnt be as peaceful and un-panicky if i were drowning in the sea or some place where they dont have anyone to save me after the second gulp of water.
So as i was saying, drowning has this feeling of being shut out of the world and even though you are thrashing about, you wouldnt know it coz water is just closing around you. i guess seconds after this feeling, it gets painful. but thankfully i never reached that stage and hope will never live to experience it ;)
So i was saying, it was like the 13th class and i swam twice without a break at the 5 ft parts and was quite happy with myself. Asked instructor to tel me how to float and was practicing that when he told me to swim over to 12 ft. and i did happily.
Little did i know how much close to drowning i would be..

i swam once across the width of the pool and the second time i started, i started wrongly. then i gulped water on my way up and i stopped swimming. then i had this wonderful feeling of water enclosing me. but i guess i was fighting for breath and i remember the instructor looking at me when i came up once .the next moment he pulled me up towards the sideline. He asked gently what happened (bless him coz my cringing ego wouldnt have survived if he had shouted as he did to other guys) and i said i got tired.

Again instructions on staying float and by then i thought all those guys in the pool were staring at me and thankfully the whistle blew for time out. and i soggily walked into the changing room with water booming in my ears..

Swimming class - day 15 (actually 14):

THIS IS NOT HAPPENING!!! im drinking pool water/drowning/flapping arms,legs/generally cutting a very sorry figure at this stage of swimming!!!

Thanks to the new instructor whom i must have definitely harmed in our previous births. By the rate of his torment, i must have stolen his wife or something..

well he thinks pushing is the key to success and he follows it to the T. result?? me doing 3 and half laps in 12 ft deep water. half being the lap in which i got tired and drowned and that barbarian pulled me out and i hung on his arm like a leach refusing to let go. If i weren't the one who was in this deep ****, i would be laughing my heart out at me.

Land never looked so beautiful and sky so high..

Dumped Swimming class - day 15 because of intimidating instructor.

Swimming class - day 15 (actual 15)

Tadaaa!!! Last class.

Did feel like going in a graduation gown and throwing the hat up in the air, but since swimwear don't come in gowns and the cap is rather difficult to take off, refrained from that. Anyway the instructors have given me up due to irregularity in showing up, so pestered my other friend (not roomie as she moved to another city) to teach back stroke.

She asked instructor (oh yes the intimidating one) to tell us how to do it and he held my head up above water while I floated on my back. Wasn’t fun as he held head so rigid and I was scared my legs were appearing above water which would have looked very funny. Hello! I didn't want to cut an absurd figure in front of all those guys!! Especially the one with tattoos ;)

Now once back, this horrible instructor splashed water on my face (very humiliating), which is their way of telling me I was no better than a stone in water. But my friend came to console me and as I turned to try again, I saw something that really boiled my blood.

There was that horrible instructor mimicking how I swam to other guys in the pool - complete with flapping arms and squeals!!!! The nerve!! And when he saw me staring at him, a word of advice "try back stroke in next session, now try regular swimming".

Like hell I would try regular swimming! We went to the other end of pool - away from the appalling instructor who now looks like evil incarnate and other swimmers who either stand and stare at us in the middle of the pool or show off by swimming length wise and not stop for us poor souls swimming width wise, there by creating huge waves and momentarily drowning us. (It’s a tough world out there in the pool, I say)- and started trying back stroke from there.

It’s basic. All you do is tip yourself back, stare up at the sky, keep your body as straight as possible, kick legs, wade water with arms. Holy molly! I did it and it was awesome blossom!!!! Early morning sky, birds flying and chirping, flights threateningly low, and no staring guys in view. Simple pleasures of life...

But my friend got very conscious and found it hard to enjoy. So we decided to try the ladies slot next time.

So that's how my last class was. Now I can pay extra/get coupons/get membership or whatever to continue swimming. I don't know which one am going to choose. All I know is that in spite of all that chlorine inside and making self look ridiculous and getting intimidated by water, instructors etc, this has been one helluva experience and I mean to keep afloat!

Confessions of a singleton

yeah i know..people say its just a phase but for some, it just doesnt phase out..and that countrymen, is the pure joy of being single. u name it, i have it!

The late night movies on weekdays, on the spur dinner with friends who suddenly turn up out of nowhere, midnight moon by the sea with ur gang of friends, girls night out, sudden shopping sprees, unplanned trips home when one fine morning u suddenly miss waking up to ur mum yelling at u to get up.. yup u got the drift.. i love the unpredictability of it.

Nothing to say of the freedom of choice. u can choose either to go to the drycleaners or take another nap which lasts till midnight. Get into the supermarket for ur weekly quota of veggies or make 'couch potato' ur middle name.
and best of all is that u r always available when ur friends plan a trip or dinner or just are looking for a shoulder to cry on!!

ok lets face it. There are downsides to this land of Las Vegas. Numero uno? Relatives!!! The cling-clang band of over made up Homo sapiens who make it excruciatingly painful for u to enjoy that heavenly gulab jamun served at a marriage reception by updating ur marital status to everybody around.
Does this sound very Briget Jones ish? Naturally. Both of us live in the same planet!

Oh and there is this whole species of stern-faced waiters at fancy restaurants. They know exactly how much u r gonna peck out of their glistening plates and if u r alone and planning on having a sumptuous meal (read soup), they tell u that the place is full, sidestepping ur reflection on their glass walls.

Nothing to say about the corner seat they bestow on u if u book a single seat at the movies as nobody else wants them and the guy at the counter think u will be too desperate anyway to complain about it!! And let me tell u if both the above scenarios happen on the same day, it can get a bit disturbing. i suggest a big dollop of honey and fig from Baskin-Robbins to pep u back to life.

Im not dead against marriage and companionship but being single and independent is quite heady and im darn sure all those people who have sipped once from the chalice of this mighty status will be nodding their heads in consent now.

The Attack

Armed with the dreaded weapon, he paws his way along the aisles in the work bay. He hides it behind his back to avoid being identified. The weapon looks harmless in the plastic container. But the poisonous gas inside is lethal enough to wipe off life from the aisles for aeons.

There are employees sipping green tea in the pantry, talking concernedly about the recession and the test match. Little do they know the danger lurking towards them. Their attacker is watchful; he would pay heavily if he fails...

He slowly removes the top of the container. It is fashioned after a spray bottle and before the employees get a good look at it, he makes use of their dim reflexes and sprays all around...

As people struggle to get out of the pantry somebody cries aloud "Damn the airfreshner day!!!"

The Lost Kiss

There were nearly 50 rupees left in the piggy bank. Mini hardly noticed the thin stream of sadness at spending the money creeping into her excitement as she overturned the piggy and prised open the hole. She coupled her palms to hold the clinging coins and notes together. She put them in the money purse her sister bought her on her last visit home and started for the Archies shop just around the corner. Mini was out with a purpose and that was to buy and send her dear sister a birthday card. This was the first time she was sending one on her own without any help from her mother. And was she proud of herself!

She walked down the isles of cards. There were cards for newborns, for first birthdays, for sweethearts, for friends, mothers, fathers, granddads, grandmas, uncles and auntys...she wanted to buy all of them and send them to everybody she knew. Well, there weren’t many any way. In her eagerness to get to the sister's section, she cut across the 'graduation day' cards and 'get well soons' and reached the intended pile leaning against the wall in a plethora of colors. She started from the middle and opened each card and read the words slowly. Most of them wished the sister happiness, joy and May all dreams come true. But mini knew her sister was happy and she was sure to be a success in life. So she put them back and looked for more.

Mini was taking the first major choice in her life. Independently. she was passing one card for another, deciding on each based on the color, the words and pictures printed on them, as she would to books she would read, to friends she will make and to the whole life she will lead..

And she saw her card. It showed a beachside at night and a sassy girl about to blow candles on a pink cake, surrounded by her friends. It simply read "Happy Birthday Sister!! May You Rock In Peace”. She knew instantly her sister would love it. She paid for it and hurried home to send it off.

After reaching her room, she showed the card to her mother and got the stamps needed. She quaintly copied her sister's office address on the cover and started wondering what personal message she should write inside the card. She wondered if her sister would find out if she copied something from other birthday cards she had received. Or should she go for a designed 'happy birthday' with balloons and stars. But her mother was calling her to have lunch and she was definitely hungry after the hunt for the perfect card.

Coming back from lunch Mini crawled back into her bed which was overflowing with sketch pens and glowing inks and more birthday cards. She just couldn’t find anything to write on the card. She sat doodling in the back of a card and that was when she remembered the kissing scene in 'Shakespeare in love'. She had sneakily watched it when her parents were not at home. Her infant mind had caught the intensity involved in the scene and left an impression. This was what she would send her sister. A kiss on the card.

Mini hurried to her mother's bedroom. Mother was busy cleaning the kitchen and chatting to her friend over the phone at the same time. Mini chose the brightest lipstick she could find and ran back to her room. She knew how to put it on after her dance recital. She put double and triple coats of the lipstick on her lips and rubbed them hard against each other while facing the mirror. Then she took the card, opened it, pouted her lips and firmly kissed the card.

She was very much pleased with the result and it was with a skip that she ran down the hall and handed over the card to the mali to post it.

The postman at the Thane post office was worried. He knew there was no question of delivering the heaps of mail under the torrent. Water was everywhere and slowly rising in level. The roof leaked and the windows wouldn’t hold together. It had been raining for a week. It was getting dangerous to venture out. He would have given anything to go home, curl into the charpoy and enjoy a hot cup of chai his wife makes. But his superior demanded that he come to the post office till relieved and here he was, cursing his fate...

Suddenly the phone bell rang. He got up and waded through the muddy water to the phone. It was his relieve order. With a sigh of relief he fetched his long black umbrella, locked the door or whatever was left of it, took a long look at the rain and straddled home.

The mails were floating about in the room, thoroughly wet. Inks and colors had spread and disappeared in the water, leaving behind the faints marks of pens which conveyed nothing. Some of the letters escaped through the gap under the door.

Mini's greeting card sustained the lipstick kiss though it was thoroughly wet. There were a few letters ahead of it in the current through the door gap. Slowly it floated on, hung on for some time beside the gap as if reluctant to go and then drifted out into the streets.

My School as i remember it

Walking right in after the security gates, one can hardly miss the virgin on rocks ;) i mean the Virgin placed on the top of the front stage, inside a cave with her arms extended. Surrounding her are pink and white bougainvilleas. To me she always appeared aloof and unreachable. She was so high up. Right under her is the front stage, where we have the Monday morning assemblies.

Assemblies are a mix of fun and fear. Fun when your mind rests with knowledge that 'God s in his heaven and all is well with the world'. As you wait in a queue for the assembly to start, your cousin or elder sister flashes a smile at u. when you did well in exams, your name is called and u get a badge for the respective grade. So with puffed up pride u walk along the aisle and climb the steps to get it. Or with thumping heart ill remember that the math homework is still not done or i had forgotten the history text. And please god help me just this one time.

Man! Werent those the times!!

The stage gets interesting after a rainy night. Seeing as it juts out of the classroom verandah and is not closed. Once i found muddy footprints of dogs. The footprints were very thin. Later i heard speculations of the blood thirsty, bone-crunching bloodhounds (read Dobermans) that mother superior breeds, probably to keep us away from peeping into her rooms.

There are potted plants arranged along the walls of the building in the front. If u take right, u get to a pretty little patch of garden with a bald saint in the center in shade. Lined around the low walls of the garden are the lil white flowers i fell in love with.

On the right of the garden is the church with its signature silence, its insides keeping god knows how many prayers safe. U can almost taste and smell the silence there. Once u r inside the church and done looking at the pictures of the stages of life of Jesus hung on walls, u will notice the small black money box. Instead of putting coins in, we girls used to sneak in flowers and adorn it. Again god knows why we did something like that. May be some girl tried it once and the rest thought it a ritual to be strictly followed. We are one dumb lot before puberty u know..

Right after the money box are the grills that separate the prayer room into 2 halves - one for us and the other half for the nuns. We rarely spot nuns there at lunch time when we get into the cool sanctum of the church so as to escape the harsh sun. Of course our part of the church doesn’t have any benches.

After the church u can spot a part of the boarding building and mother superior's rooms. She makes her appearances on special occasions like Xmas and is generally given the stature of a canonized nun. We get a tête-à-tête with her just before we leave the school after SSLC examinations.

Mother Superiors by nature are old by the time they get to the afore mentioned post. They look like grandmas u see in pickles' advertisement. But don’t be misled by the white frock and the black head gear. They can be as conniving, may be more so, as the regular nuns and clearly preferred rich kids to the common ones.

From the play ground at the backyard, u can hear squeals of girls running around playing lock n key. There is a park nearby for kids in kindergarten. it has a merry go round, 2 swings, slide, hang n go round, a fish made of red and white bars through which u can hurdle back and forth, bars on which u can hang and move around like monkeys, circular bar on which u hang and slide down and see-saws.

The stairs on the side of the park goes to the first floor containing the upper primary classes - 5th, 6th,7th.

After the stairs on the ground floor is the wash, toilets(open air) and the bougainvillea trees of the lower primary block. Two entrances to the block. the side one takes u to the class i was in, class where we used to vie for Sushma teacher's attention, class in front of which we lie down and fake sleep to escape getting angry scars on thighs from Ceena chechi's claws, class where i carried Maya's earring in my bag unknowingly after the recital on school anniversary, when she was searching everywhere for it, class which i remember with embarrassment becaz my mum jokingly said i must have known all the while about the ruby earring..

Class in front of which we held the dragonfly's funeral. Complete with flowers and prayers for the poor soul.

You walk straight and u get to the UKG classes. That’s were i remember practicing the action song- forcefully by the teachers, especially by a nightmare of a nun. "Ate a peanut, ate a peanut, ate a peanut just now...". The dark walls covered with cheap posters of fruits, birds, and numbers. Cupboards full of copy books filled with irregular and illegible handwriting, pieces of chalk, forgotten hankies, a broken doll...

Come to think of it, there were always lots of lost hankies around. On the playground, inside the wash tub, in the toilets, under the benches, inside the desk, in some forgotten pocket of the pinafore. and my mother started pinning it on the front of my pinafore, warning me to gallows if i lost it- which made me not to use it even if my hands were wet or a running nose choked me .

You walk out of the 2nd door and adjacent to it is the dance room. that’s where the biggies practice for dance competitions, that’s where the fair and popular girls plan their glittery costumes and awful make up, that’s were kiddies like me go during breaks to watch the seniors dance and dream about the day we will be swirling around like them, that’s were i got thrown on the steps by a swirling beauty and howled on a wounded nose till i was promised chocolates. I remember her name even, Suwarna with a 'w'. Coz she never gave the chocolate on any of the mornings i watched her get into the school bus.

Then there is this narrow way thru which u run with eyes closed if u r alone and get into the front of the school. It was said that the narrow way between the walls of the school and the dance room was haunted. Hence the squeezed shut eyes.

The library. Smelling of books and books. I have lost count of the days i spent trekking with the Five or snooping around with Miss Drew or sailing along with Marner.. Once i was over the play-eat-sleep phase, i got into read-eat-sleep phase. I guess it’s different for each kid. Its either read-eat-sleep or cricket-eat-sleep or paint-eat-sleep or sleep-eat-sleep. I guess there are a few study-eat-sleep cases too which are not interesting anyway.

The library was situated near the KG classes. There was a platform that was used only during the flag-hosting days. I remember sitting on it, waiting for the bus home with a Famous Five borrowed fresh from the library and stretching neck to the back and staring at the blue sky. I found that if u looked up long enough and stared at the moving clouds, u can feel yourself move. Or it may have been just a hallucination..

I hated it when the science exhibition started. Reason 1: u were supposed to whip up something at least remotely related to science. Drawing anatomy was my specialty. So i somehow managed to escape the wrath of gods who were too busy checking on nerds anyway. Reason2: It means the library is off-limit for a week coz the selected works were exhibited there and i had no reason to see them or be seen there. So that meant stacking up books before the science fair started with the zeal of ants collecting food for winter.

But sports day was a different deal. At the onset of the sports day, the whole school gets divided into 4 houses. I remember being in Nalanda. We had a dark green flag. I liked to sneak a look at it above the girls' heads during the march to watch it flutter against the vast expanse of the earth and the blue sky. After the march past, we were free to do wotever we wanted. There would be stalls selling juices, samosas and snacks. The sale would continue long after the sports day. The school didn’t have any canteen and it looked cool sipping the juice out of the bottle sitting under some tree.

Of course how can i forget Xmas?? The same play year after year after year. An angel comes and lip syncs to Mary about the bounty she is to get.. Mary is completely ecstasic and praises the lord for choosing her. I used to wonder how her mother would have reacted to that bit of news. a shady looking girl as Joseph and a pathetic tearful Mary stand guarding over a plastic doll smothered in cloth to look like baby Jesus while cute kids handpicked and dressed as angels swing from side to side standing at the back to the hymn played using a Casio keyboard. Once the play gets finally over the audience praises the lord and keeps a look out for the neurotic Xmas papa. He always enters from the side of the church(trying to surprise us each time!!) throwing toffees in all directions at which we jump like a school of hungry fish spotting a spawn pool. Then comes the dance that the biggies had been practicing and the songs that we had been practicing.

Once the evening sets in after we exchange our xmas presents we get into a screeching spree of "merry xmas" and "happy hols" and wave out of the window of the buses bound home.

stuck-in-the-mud

Now this story came up during a chat with a dear frend of mine who found it hard to accept changing times. Here is the story just the way it evolved.

the old man from timbuktoo

ther was dis ol man from timbuktoo hu dispised changes.

he wud say 'shame on you' if he saw cupls holding hands.

he wud turn his head away if he saw them kissing.

and belived them ded if they cried on each others shoulders.

he didnt like it wen housewives got ovens in kitchens.

neither did he like it wen people read the mails on computers.

he lived in his old house wich had a huge kitchen but nobody to cook.

he lived alone in the dispicable house.

then one day in timbuktoo, there came an arising.

pepl demanded that the gvmnt provide more commutes,

trains

planes

nd the town to have malls, theatres,

nd companies that wil increase the revenue.

everybdy wantd developmnts but for the old man

he dispised buses wit new technologies

hated trains for their automatic doors and swipe machines

he felt sick wen he saw the malls wich grow exuberant wit pepl

and theatres wich told pepl stories of lands they have never seen

he thought companies and industries tried to squeeze pepl for their own fancies.

so he was the only one who ddint attend the peaceful march to the stadium.

when all neighbourhood fell silent, he cursed the whole world, lying down on his old bed.

then he heard a slow crunching noise from downstairs

sweat poured from his forehed as he listend the steps growing bolder

sombody was definitly cuming towards his bedroom.

he listend intently as the steps went from room to room

he cudnt move a limb out of fear.

the bed soaked from his sweat.

he clutched to the side of the bed and his hands trembled under the strain.

slowly the door to the room opened wit a slow creak and

he saw was a foot wit a black boot on.

suddenly his head swimmed and he felt a searing pain in his head.

he was too scared to scream and squeezed his eyes tight.

the pain grew and grew and he felt that this was the end.

then he fainted.

the whole town when they came back were stil talking about the speeches the leaders made.

women talked how poised the leaders' wives looked

how their diamonds shone in the sun

kids were still licking the sticky candies they bot from the sweet candy makers at the ground.

and they ddint even notice that the door to the old man's house was ajar.

there was a fire spreading slowly from the kitchen

pepl wer still engrossed in discussions wen the fire suddenly roared and the roof came down with a crash

there wer loud cries and screams out of surprise, shock and pity

but before they cud do anything, the fire swallowed the old house with a vengence.

pepl returned to discussions after the memorial ceremony conducted for the old man

they discussed how withered and tired he luked from his trips to the town, since he wudnt use the new buses but wud wait for an old one.

how weak he was as he ddint buy anythg from malls and grew his own vegetables in the bakyard.

how unhealthy he was since he ddint take checkups in the multi specialty hosplitals

and how unsafe he was since his was the only house witout burglr or fire alarms.

but there was nothing they cud do abt it.

they thought this incident mite encorage the govt to open nursing homes in the town.

they cudnt think of any other good coming out of the old man's death.

they sighed deeply and went home to rest for the day.

THE END