Hair there and everywhere..

And to think in a previous life I used to hate bunnies.

They have the softest hair though :)

I think Boston is a mixed bag.

Snow v/s Suchi.

Vodka v/s Veera

Bad movies v/s bowling

See, it's tough to be on vacation.

Mostly, it's dealing with a difficult Christmas and too many things happening at once :)

But Muchi and Veeri I owe you one man. Too much love :)

Looking forward to more sunrises,

Weasel.

Muchi

Dude,

Happy Birthday!

Crap, i forgot the birthday post this year.

I foist the blame on Marston Science Library.

Love,

In whichever sense :)

Maggie

7

What did you do today?

Today, I was a little in love.

La Douleur Exquise

You know what it feels like.

Eeeeeks, I'm just about suppressing the urge to write down Skyrocket Love's semi-emo'ish lyrics out here. Thank god the inner cynic has affected some quality control by killing the whiny child in me.

It's winter here :) Is it just me or does winter smell a certain way, because that's what's making my prodigious nose very happy.

Oh, and coffee just does not taste the same here. I recommend that you'd be better off carrying your body weight in Nescafe before you land here so that when painful withdrawal symptoms hit you at 3 am before midsems/assignments, it's not your body that lies withering in spasms on the carpet.

Spams of writing are better than nothing at all, right?

It's weird to move to a whole new country with no foreseeable options to return home. Grad school sucks you into it's complex, frustrating and incredibly challenging maw, till lack of sleep, thought and hey-let's-chill-this-weekend are bygone conclusions. Before you know it, you'd have spent 5 years here, hopping countries and continents. The only constant you could hope for is Friday night's

Shwetu, I repeat, I'll never ever mock you about your science library days.

Yeah, so a new country, a new list of things to fall in love with. new cities to sink roots into,especially when you are a distinctly rootless thing to begin with. From being a confused Goan-Mallu-Dig-Bombay blend to here is a puzzling journey.

Oops, over my head :)

Oh, and it is humanly possible to miss pani-puri more than your parents. Testified by Aggie.

I'm going to Universal Studio's this weekend :D And New York in December! :D

yay!

"An increase in population leads to fluctuations and social competitiveness for resources and then stuff dies"

- Johns Lewis

in some random class.

PS. I'm sick of missing you. Sick.

Hair and there.

So, why weren't you blogging all this while?

My ass wasn't comfortable enough. To sit down, stare suspiciously at space, balance a cup of coffee and a lap top, potter about online and type. See all that multitasking? The least one can ask is for a warm, soft place to park your rear end.

Which I found in a purple bean bag. The pride and joy of my life right now.

Extremities taken care off, I'll bugger off to the significant aspects of life here. The flora, the fauna and all that they get tipsy on. What's life like here. I wish some of you were and then we could collectively ignore that question.

But like, America, OOH. For an unashamedly consumerist capitalist pig like me, there are big, shiny, vastly pointless and amazing things to possess. Colored, flavored bubbles for your bath, sleek i phones everywhere, purple velvet bean bags, you get the bright glitzy picture.

Ah, sensory overload. I must stop hyper ventilating like this. There is so much to say here. Convey the whole concept of Big. Which is everything here. Classes, people, portions, cars, bikes, the sky.

I feel like I'm on a new planet where a whole new vista called the sky has opened up. I swear, the scales are completely off. The sky stretches endlessly here. In perfect blue. Swept with puffy white/soft golden/neon pink clouds all the time. Like outrageous bits of beauty wantonly strewn on an endless canvas. You learn a whole new landscape that never heard of heat and dust.

In between missing regular food and the mindless calories I eat here. In between calculating the in's and out's of thermodynamics. In the vast aisles of 2 gianormus libraries surrounded by what feels like the combined output of all the world's printing presses(where Sandman lies next to Chaucer and the New Yorker). With slow cups of coffee on sheltered windows. On park benches, worrying three sets of complicated equations. This is when life creeps up on me.

Univ is different. The relentless pursuit of knowledge for starters. I was awed at how much they want us to study here, and how undergrad at VNIT stamped the last bits of that out of me. I'm wondering if all this cross referencing and endless comparison between two lives is right, but try stopping :)

Waiting for a train.

Oh man Inception.

When we keep moaning about how movies suck these days and how you'd rather rip them off from a torrent with free homemade popcorn, there comes along that one movie that makes you a Believer.

And how.

Inception takes movies to a whole new level where you spend every second caught up in its relentless pace and edgy brilliance. Wiki tells me a lot of things about the plot which I'm still having problems assimilating and marveling at. The acting is flawless, there isn't one scene I'd like to see done differently.

Christopher Nolan is the Man. Awe!!

That apart, this was the first time in my life that I've ever seen a quiet hush in a crowded multiplex during the interval. Also the first time I've heard applause for a scene that dint involve demi-godly sporting antics or Aamir Khan. Watching people sit on the edge of their seats, mouths agape, another first.

That apart the movie hit me so hard, I stumbled out. Literally.

Muchi, best thing we've done in ages mon. Like ever.

And if you still dint get this post, go watch the movie. Scram!

Why bother?

Ok, a month left.

Jittery :|

There is no Plan B

There are some movies that make it worth crawling out of bed at 7 am and driving in pissing rain for. Movies that help you forgive the mouldy seats, crappy popcorn and the hormonal couple going at it two rows ahead.

The A Team was pretty Awesome, the sort that makes me move my bum and blog about. This used to be a series on TV that I missed on account of not being born back then. I can't really decide how it compares to the original but as a movie by itself it was one hell of a watch.

If you're the kind you enjoys meaningless wacky action, brash, loud macho stuff then A team is totally worth it. The Alpha team consists of Hannibal Smith, Face, BA and Murdock who specialize in the "ridiculous". 8 years and 80 missions down the line, everything's good for our guys till the conventional shit hits a very large fan and becomes effervescent.

In any brash American type of movie, throwing the words Saddam, counterfeit notes and CIA in any permutation and combination constitutes a well though out plot. Hence, expect nothing from A Team in those respects. What scores here is the dialog and the way the team comes together.

Most of the action leaves you awed and laughing hysterically at the overtly macho and supremely awesome way they pull off successively crazy stunts.

The best thing ever was the flying tank sequence and the window cleaner free fall one. Considering we are all very jaded movie veterans, it still is fun to see a larger than life tank falling from the sky and firing ammo mid air.

Murdock spinning on rotor blades and singing "You spin my head right round" is one of the funnier scenes and the car in a 3D movie one is KILLER.

Man, I dont want to spoil this. Get over your instinctive disdain for all things big and American, leave a chunk of your hippocampus at home and A team is a fun deal :)

Phantoms in the brain

Way back when life was divided into 12 A and 12 B, bio v/s computers, girls v/s boys, whatever, I remember having the following conversation:

Certain dude (easily guessable if you know the more vocal elements of 12A) : Why Bio? Bio sucks!

Me: No it does not! It makes to sense to study your own fricking body.

CD: Yeah, but all that mugging, where does it gets you? Studying Bio is pointless.

Me: I'm hungry and I have to finish HP 7 again. Please go away.

Oh, thee of little faith! I wish I could shove Phantoms in the brain at this guy. It takes cool to a whole new level. If thoughts about the voices in your head, your other personality, Hugo the Mexican chef and The Zombie in your brain(an actual chapter header) keep you awake at night, this is the book mon. I kid thee not.

V.S Ramachandran is one of those charmingly brilliant types who sees the world in a more enlightened and curious ways. Through his work in neuroscience, we get to know all these little detail about how an immensely complex entity like our brain functions.

Shwetu, I owe you one for this.

On the frequently recurring and complex subject of Shwetu herself, a delayed HAPPY FRIGGIN BIRTHDAY man!!!!!!!!

YAY!!! Now we're both 21 and old.

That apart, I miss you. CBD is just plain old crap as usual.

And the Harry Potter theme park. Let's make up for every lost birthday of the past there. We have to do this!!!!!!! :)

To nowhere and back

Is an interesting journey for those who posses:

a) A lack of purpose

b) An active imagination (six impossible things before brekkie, that sort of thing)

c) Are perpetually dazed and confused

d) Have a car

No i mean really, a car just puts my entire fricking existence in perspective.

The rains finally decided to make their presence felt. I think they magnify everything you feel by a factor of 1000. Like spurts of mega happiness, then bits of melancholy( a bit of a standard thing on days as sepia orange as these) swerving through giant mini-lake sized puddles and having random songs rips your heart out.

This is what the monsoon does to me.

This was one of the best first days of the rains ever.

Mostly due to the fact that we got to drive around aimlessly while the rains lashed the roads into a frenzy. Then we chanced upon a lake and stopped to stare at sheets of water ripping on its surface. Add coffee to all of that, and we were as close to nirvana as one can get when one is 21 and languishing in New Bombay.

Suchi and Himanshu, muchas gracias amigos :) One hell of an awesome day.

Then there's the bit about Visa forms, Nine Lives, A Suitable Boy, Glee and my Origami crane. Another post dudes. Soon

That Girl.

I drew this girl ages ago. Got the image of Sharan's tumblr. Her dress was supposed to be red. But purple is what I felt like.

P.S: I shouldn't say it. Or even think it. But I will. Whattodo? Come back. Pretty please.

P.P.S :Man, I just keep internalising this blog so much :|

Will

There is this ancient sitcom called The fresh prince of Bel-Air which used to air on Zee Cafe way back when I was in class 8. The entire funny factor of this show can be attributed to the Awesomeness that is Will Smith. I mean, ever since then , I've been in a constant state of love with the guy.

He's funny, and he came up with Jiggy with it . Respect man. I think I loved him most in MIB and Shark Tale :)

Jay: Did you ever flashy-thing me?

Kay: No.
Jay: I ain't playing with you, K. Did you ever flashy-thing me?
Kay: No.

See what I mean?

What happens in Goa

Should stay in Goa :) Should!

Muchi and me came up with another one of our convoluted theories. Goa is our very own Desi Vegas. A place where people are expected to be remarkably drunk and blonde. When half of VNIT makes a beeline for the land of the excise free stuff, you can expect some monumental piles of crap to hit the fan.

The repercussions of 6 beers for 100 bucks are, needless to say , being felt horribly in college right now. Our temple, Facebook, is overloaded with 1,00,00,000 pictures of flabby people lounging in the sand and posing with flashy rented bikes. The rumours of hook ups and the unnecessary graphic detailing employed by the callous majority can turn a person off making out for life. In true VNIT style, the amount of bitching about the chuddy-buddy-friends-f0r-life that you travelled with could prolong the Gossip Girls series for the next 40 years.

I'll be nice and refrain from posting a lame pic. I have had it with Goa, a place I used to love, right down to its weirdly nice fishy smell.

Wait, I started this off as a nice post, where the tiny roads and coconut trees waving down from church steeples had their say. I was supposed to focus on the pancakes , the moonlight on the beach, karaoke and hot guys. Stupid, repressed, pissed off feelings. Goa used to mean eavesdropping on Konkani conversations, writing on the sand and eating doce. Now, I'm probably never going there.

If you do go, make sure its a SAS type of commando op, where the hoi-polloi are blissfully unaware and can be simply eliminated if they get annoying.

Game plan for next holiday: Karnataka.

This is it man. After years of having my dad going all sappy when it comes up, I think I'll give it a shot.

Its very Roots, but what the hell. Maybe someone there has my awful nose. The Goan bit of me is sulking.

Sunday

So I'm playing this game called Plants v/s Zombies. For the uninitiated, it is exactly what it claims to be. The Zombies want to feast on your brains and your trusty plants ensure they don't. That simple.

I like the sunflower most in this game. it's a smiley thing that waves about like a mass nursery rhyme recital by 3 year olds. It is well, very gay. As in the happy sort of gay. we lose a lot of words don't we?

I think I've set some ugly precedent for avoiding work/all responsibilities. I hate me :|

Muchi, where the effing hell are you mon?

Latest love and source of many sappy sighs and minor drooling is Rahul Bose. After seeing him as Mr. Iyer, life cannot be the same again. No man will ever measure up to him :|

Apart from these miserable occurrences, I've laid my hand son the Agatha Christie 1960's omnibus. It has a snazzy cover and brilliant writing. I feel massive doses of the usual awe.

Crap. I don't feel like writing anymore.

Recovering blogger,

Aggie

Sulky Butterflies

"When you're happy, you notice butterflies"

- Vivek Vattipalli

He's right. They keep fluttering about, but you really notice them only when you're tripping on some random happy thought.

Of which there aren't too many these days.

What sticks significantly in my craw is the college administration and its narrow minded bigoted existence. It takes 30,000 kinds of varied shit for you to wake up and see that things around you are extremely unfair, mightily annoying and very stifling for general human rights. I wish I was one of those people who knew exactly what to do and how to shake a few people sadly places in positions of authority. Sadly, this is not a movie and I don't have the benefit of a background score and stunning oratorical prowess.

Running away to Goa in a week. This is what last sems are for. Friends, tequila and beaches. let's admit it, things are only about to suck a lot more from this point onward.

In the meantime, I will shut my cynical little brain down. If you need a little radiance in life I suggest:

1. Suchi's blog.

2. Ginger tea

3. The men who stare at goats

4. David Sedaris

5. Cadbury Flakes :)

Lessons in humbility :)

Some words should be allowed into the fray I think. Humbility. Rolls off nicely :)

Also, lessons in How Not To Be A Narcissistic Bitch And Avoid Searches of Your Own Name Thus Saving Life From Being Scarred And Traumatic 101 by Professor Agnes Mendonca (duly shaken and much scarred herself )

You never know what you'll find lurking out there. Sigh