Has to be the weirdest tag ever!

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
“Damn! Nalla kani…which means the day’s gonna be bad!”

2. How much cash do you have in your wallet right now?
Rs 2.50…and an electricity bill for 500!

3. What’s a word that rhymes with DOOR?
Bore…that’s what tags are!

4. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone?
I always delete miss calls from my phone…(I get those more than calls because I’m never near my ‘mobile’ phone)

5. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone?
Kill Bill

6. What are you wearing right now?
T-shirt and skirt.

7. Do you label yourself?
Oh yea…am my favourite

8. Name the brand of the shoes you’re currently own?
Nike

9. Bright or Dark Room?
Medium

10. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you?
Happy (she just found a job!)

11. What does your watch look like?
Duh! It looks like a watch!

12. What were you doing at midnight last night?
Sleeping

13.What did your last text message you received on your cell say?
“Haha i didnt even enquire. Wait by even ill let you know whether i’ve done it”

14. What’s a word that you say a lot?
LOL

15. Who told you he/she loved you last?(please exclude spouse , family, children)
An anonymous sms! don’t know who the sender is!

16. Last furry thing you touched?
My hair…when I went to Chennai, my usually smooth hair became furry!! I  blame the coastal climate!

17. Favourite age you have been so far?
7 and 8 — at Guruvayur!

18.  What was the last thing you said to someone?
“Njaan Facebook-il UNO kalikkuaa” (means, I’m playing UNO on Facebook)

19. The last song you listened to?
Ikhtara — from Wake Up Sid!

20. Where did you live in 1987?
Thiruvananthapuram (was too young to venture out alone — I was 3.)

21. Are you jealous of anyone?
Naah!

22. Is anyone jealous of you?
Of course! Who wouldn’t be? I’m the most perfect anyone can be

23. Name three things that you have on you at all times?
Bindi, dress and watch

24. What’s your favourite town/city?
Thiruvananthapuram!

25. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?
Last July — to my dad and mom — just saying I love them a looooot and that they’re the best parents ever.

26. Can you change the oil on a car?
Depends on where the oil is

27. Your first love/big crush: what is the last thing you heard about him/her?
first big crush: is in the USA (currently in india on vacation);
first love: am not quite sure which that was; think i should play safe and say I’m married to him

28. Does anything hurt on your body right now?
Nope! But it will, soon! Am gonna pierce my nose

29. What is your current desktop picture?
Me n the husband

30. Have you been burnt by love?
Yep — whenever I cook for the husband!

And here goes: Verbivore, Ramya, Vimmu, Mahak and Smita

P.S.: Edited after Reema commented: You’re tagged too, girl!

Onam’s here again…

Yet another Onam’s here — and this year I don’t get to celebrate it at all (for one year, we’re off all celebrations ‘coz granny passed away). My first Onam after marriage and there it goes down the drain! Hmmm.

All these years, when we ‘had’ Onam to celebrate, it never was a big deal for me. I used to love getting all decked up in the Kerala traditional wear, have all the relative buzzing around, have that sumptuous sadya…but well, Onam was always just another festival. But somehow, this year, seeing everyone else celebrate makes me feel weird — and guilty for letting poor Onam never get that importance and high-office!

And to add to all that, the husband is totally down with fever — high temperature and body pain and all that. And I am also sneezing my way to the same condition. I read somewhere that if you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib; if you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die. Surprisingly, I’m still alive, and my ribs are in perfect order Hope it remains so for at least another week — because my parents are coming tomorrow! Yey! The only thing I can say about continuous sneezing is that it makes you look like a drunk, sleep-deprived Chinese! (The red eyes, small and squinted)

Anyway, yesterday a friend popped up on chat and asked whether I had a bath in the morning and went to the temple after that. Well, when I told her Onam had no religious connections, she asked me why, then, Mahabali roams around with a “kuri” on his forehead. I told her it was the then Devas‘ and Asuras‘ version of our modern bindi

Well, Onam really has no ‘religious’ aspect about it. It is the day the Asura King Mahabali comes up from the underworld ‘Pathalam‘, to visit his beloved Kerala and the ‘citizens’ there — a once-a-year allowance granted by Lord Vishnu . The day when all of Kerala is dressed at its best, is laden after a good harvest and awaits a grand year ahead. (The story behind all this will give enough material for 3 posts!!)

Onam, therefore, is significant in two ways…
One, it is the commemoration of the community at large and celebration of past history, the Mahabali legend; and two, it is the celebration of the harvest, tied with the memory of the golden age of prosperity. Onam is the time when Kerala is all set to welcome back its favourite King for a day of feast and enjoyment. After the monsoon drenches this beautiful state for almost all of the Karkidakam (the Malayali’s ‘dark’ month — when nothing inauspicious is taken up), Chingam walks in,bringing with it spring and auspiciousness. Chingam signals harvest, which is celebrated in the form of Onam!

This sense of joy, prosperity and merrymaking is celebrated traditionally with folk games, family get-togethers and lots of sadya.

The best part of Onam has always been the Onakkodi. People gift one-another and wear new clothes during Onam. ‘Vastra’ (dress) also stands for ‘heart’. So, new dresses signifies the ‘renewal’ of the heart with new thoughts, cleansing it of all bad memories!

Atham pathinu ponnonam… Onam celebrations start on the day Atham (the Malayalam star) falls — 10 days before Thiruvonam (another Malayalam star). A huge circle made on the courtyard, coated with cowdung (to keep the flowers in place), is beautifully decorated with flowers and called ‘Onapookkalam’. In most houses, this is done with great mastery and ends up being a beautiful work of art!

On Thiruvonam, before Mahabali comes for his yearly visit, houses are cleaned and decorated with flowers and traditional lamps. A beautifully enchanting display of fireworks and lighting turns the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram, into something of a fairyland!

Sumptuous sadyas are spread on the greenest of all plantain leaves. The sadya is an important part of Onam — its the yearly feast even the poorest person in the state doesn’t wish to miss. “Kaanam vittum Onam unnanam“, they say. It means that to have a share of the Onasadya, one should be willing to sell even the bare necessity he owns! The sadya is a full course meal, served strictly in the following order: 3 pickles (ginger, lime and mango), a thoran, a kitchadi, avial and koottucurry on one side of the leaf; on the other, banana chips, banana pieces dipped in jaggery, a small banana, pappads, rice and parippu. Then follows sambar, a milk-payasam with boli, a jaggery payasam with banana, and finally, a bit more rice with pulissery, rasam and then buttermilk! (The sadya varies from district to district in kerala; this is the Thiruvananthapuram style and I know only of this!)

Different parts of Kerala celebrate Onam in their own different ways: Athachamayam (a cultural procession in the royal town of Tripunithura); the Thrikkakarayappan further north; Kathakali dancers in gorgeous costumes enacting the legends in Valluvanad;. an impressive procession of elephants adorned with their nettipattoms in Thrissur, where masked dancers perform the colorful Kummattikali; the famous Aranmula Vallam Kali in Aranmula; Pulikali (Kaduvakali) all over the state..everyone has one’s own concept of Onam! And, these are but a few of the various traditional activities that are enjoyed during Onam.

The swing, one most important part of Onam, is enjoyed by everyone:  decked in their best, they sing Onappaattukal, swinging to and fro from high branches.

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Oh! Good ol’d Onam. I miss it sooooo much this year…and when a friend send me a pic he clicked of the lit-up roads in Thiruvananthapuram, I saw nostalgia run across the room and take a huge leap on to me! Sigh!

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Happy Onam, everyone! Have a great day today…and a graaaand year ahead — while I head off to sneeze in piece peace!

Image courtesy: Google Images. In the spirit of Onam, forgive my borrowing your images; if you do not like it being posted here, put in a word; they shall be promptly removed

“Light; it plays an incredible game of hide-and-seek with us.”

“Light; it plays an incredible game of hide-and-seek with us.
The earliest memory of my childhood happens to be a very happy one – sitting on my grandfather’s lap, listening to stories of our mythology, of demons and gods, of good and evil and walking down with him to the library to catch up on the adventures of Mickey Mouse.”

And as I first read these words sometime in the middle of a busy mid-2008 afternoon, I was awed! Awed by the author’s ability to play with words. Nikhil; he plays an incredible game with words!

When the story ended as abruptly as it had begun, after scrolling down just 4 or 5 pages, I was left in a confused state of mind. I was lost — I knew I just had to read the full story.  When I pestered him, he told me that was the full story; he’d written that to send in for some short-story-writing competition, he said.

Now, almost a year later, when I clicked that nice little “Download” button on his blog, all excited to be reading his new book, I saw myself reading those same words…and wondering where I had read them before. To have been able to read what led to and what followed those words was one of the best things to happen.

After I read it, I told him that “Simran” had left me all confused…and a bit torn apart. Confused, because such serious and mind-numbing words were from a guy whose posts are always a slapstick, humourous entertainer. Torn apart, because one could almost see and feel Nihal’s agony and loss.

“Simran” is a beautiful story that cajoles you lovingly to go forth and get yourself right in the midst of that fierce battle between emotions and logic; mind and heart. It’s the story of a passionately intense relation between the protagonist, Nihal, and the mysterious Simran. From life, love and passion, to hurt, anger, hate and death, Nihal travels through an entire spectrum of emotional turmoil — while Simran becomes the testimony for all that.

Definitely an ‘unputdownable’ work of art! And rightly so, because you live, love, get hurt and hate along with Nihal and Simran. When a reader empathises with a character, it’s undoubtedly the result of a  brilliant author’s incredible penmanship!

Well done, Nikhil! Look forward to the next one!

all it takes to lose…

Doesn’t matter how many years you’ve been friends for; doesn’t matter how many times you’ve stood by each other; doesn’t matter how many jokes you’ve shared; doesn’t matter how long you’ve been there for each other; doesn’t matter how many jokes you’ve shared; doesn’t matter how many pranks you’ve played; doesn’t matter how many, many times you’ve told each other “You’re my best buddy!”. All it takes to lose a friend is not to attend her wedding!

I learnt this the hard way. May none of you ever!

P.S.:

My apologies! You’re still my best friend! :’(

recession and youngsters!

Everyone’s talking of recession. Be it jobs, pay checks, a much-wanted vacation, a shopping extravaganza, a beauty therapy, a movie in a multiplex, an evening in the mall, a new pair of kurtas, a much-awaited tatoo…everything gets ‘verbally’ delayed or postponed “in this time of recession”. Apparently, even the blind man’s cut down on the choice between the blue pill and the red pill (see Comment #19) !

But how true is this??? A few excerpts from real-life experiences!

You: What a surprise! How come you are in a bus??
Friend: Recession, re! No money. Wallet’s almost empty.
You (nodding in agreement): Yea…I know. So, where you off to?
Friend: Am meeting an old ‘friend’ (winks) in CCD at 5. Haven’t seen each other in a long time. So, thought could catch up over a coffee.
You: Uh…uh. (Cafe Cofee Day’s the only place for a coffee??)

You: You sure you wanna come in my car? I thought you hated car-pooling. Friend (sheepish smile): I do. But well…one has to change with the times. When the wallet’s empty, that’s when saving becomes important!
You: Hop in! Where can I drop you?
Friend: At the mall. Have some shopping…and am catching a movie with my girl! (beams)
You: Uh…uh. (Mall and multiplex??)

You: Dude, can you lend me 5k? I’ll return it in 15 days.
Dude: Jeez, no! I just bought a car.
You: What? In this time of recession?
Dude: Yea! Dad wanted me to buy a house. But what good’ll that do now,when I’m staying with them? A car’s what I need now. Helps us friends hang around and go places together. Anyway, it’s an investment. So, rather invest in somethings that’s most useful now!
You: Uh…uh. (Investment?? Car over a House? Really?)

You: Hey buddy! How’s it going?
Friend: Not too good. Mom called up yesterday too. She’s vexed that I’m not sending home any money! What does she know about recession!
You: Hmmm… but maybe you could…
Friend (cutting you short): Hey! Check out my new hairstyle! I coloured it too! Spent a fortune on it at L’oreal! Phew!
You (gaping): But you just said…well, never mind! (After a pause) Oh, it’s stunning!

Has Recession hit only the Management, that hard? Because even though lay offs and salary cuts are happening, Coffee Days and Baristas and Pizza Huts and Malls and Multiplexes and Branded Outlets and Fancy Restaurants and Boutiques and Professional Salons and are all always full of people!

And more interestingly, they are always full of young people! Is there something that makes these Hargrave-types so confident of a brighter  (financial and economic) tomorrow?

So, how many of you are saving? And how? Would love to get some tips…because I seem to be one of those indifferent ‘youngsters” (though I have no confidence in a financially better tomorrow; this is just how I am).

entries, exits, comebacks and what not!

No more disclaimers…no more apologies…no more promises — because apparently, life takes it’s own course, without really caring what one wants from it

When I came back to the blogworld after a 5-month break, I was acclaimed as The Comeback Queen and all that . Then, in another week’s time, I went on break-2 . My parents had come from Trivandrum to spend a week here — and I was literally banned from using the Internet (even Gmail, not to mention WP!). They left a week back and I logged into AlphabetWorld and opened a “New Post” page, simultaneously opening MirrorCracked — and lo! I was addicted to Klueless with immediate effect!

Though I opened my blog everyday since 26th to post something, Klueless kept me glued to it. When I finally completed Klueless-1, I decided to post about it. But I made the mistake of opening Klueless-2 before opening my blog! I was glued again!

Finally,I’ve broken free (no, I haven’t completed it). I ‘m halfway through Klueless-2. But something much shocking came up — I got to know that MirrorCracked was suspended! I found a dangerously-close-to-tears Nikhil on Gmail chat, deep down in the dumps, saying that WP had suspended his blog! Think of the lack of laughs in the world that would have caused! It would have been a global disaster.

But well, the issue has been solved. And that made me aware of the existence of a certain AlphabetWorld! Man, I still remember how I almost drowned myself when I lost my Gmail password once; I can only imagine Nikhil’s depression. To lose a blog would be akin to losing a much valued part of your life — or rather, in this case — a much popular part! So, thought I owed my blog a post — probably the last one of 2008. Am sure I’ll go gayab again

Anyways, this year is also coming to an end…and am I glad! This year — especially this month — has been bad for me. Root canal treatment done twice (on the same tooth!); loss of my ATM Card and a few bucks with it; professional pressure; a harrowing life-and-death situation, thanks to a so-called friend; need to give-in to a lot of demands; and in this month: a bad back-pain [nothing new! (rolling eyes)]; a fight with my best friend (it’s been solved, thank God!); numerous cuts on almost all my fingers; and a bad fever!

Oh yea…good things did happen — I got a 5-month break from work (and Bangalore), had fun at home, got married, went to Manali and played in the snow!

Well, it’s only when a year bids goodbye that you can abuse it . No fear of repercussions in the coming days . And so, for that same reason, here’s extending a warm welcome for 2009! Hope it turns out to be a wonderful one! I hope to be more regular in blogging…and Vimal’s interesting competition for the Malayali (or pseudo-malayali) bloggers seems to be a good starter .

Wishing all you guys and gals a lovely, happening year ahead!
Happy 2009!

Words are tough to paint !

Su tagged me this very interesting (and tiring) paint tag — one of the best I’ve had! It was not that difficult — I’m not here to showcase my artistic abilities (as is obvious from the pictures). It was just a very childish game I played using Microsoft Paint! And let me tell you, I’ll any day prefer crayons and colour pencils (and I’m quite good at them!) to a multi-tasking mouse !!!

Before I list my ‘targets’, here are the rules:

• What you draw is your wish. But it has to be relevant to the words given to you.
• You must use all the five words given to you by your tagger and draw pictures using paint or GIMP or any other photo editing tool.
• Each picture must be self explanatory when you relate it to the given word.
• Each word MUST have at least one picture attributed to it.
• None of these pictures should be copyrighted. By this I mean that you have to draw them yourself.
• After you finish the tag, which I think will take quite some time; you need to pass it on to other people with a fresh set of 5 words.

The words I were assigned were: Race, fat man, bull-dozer, rocks, ship. And here’s what I came up with (please do not ring me up if you have abuses at the tip of your tongue )

Race needn't hinder the relation!

Didn't quite come out as fat as I intented him to And Santa, I swear it's NOT you. I've been good all year!

Ahem! No comments

They're supposed to be ice cubes...

My best one

Now, since I’m done with it, I pass it on to:

Nikhil: Cracks, novel, rant, scuba diving, idiyappam

Verbivore: Heaven, teeth, city, park, books

Reema: Exam, coat, laboratory, award, corridor

Vimal: Love, music, sleep, dust, cat

Apar: Child, joy, game, footsteps, candles

Aparna: Hurt, cake, oven, easy-chair, Dopey

Oxy: Train, theatre, under-water, nails, Shobha De

P.S.:You’re supposed to do this tag according to whoever tagged you first! And, I give you the freedom to replace not a single word by any other of your choice. You may or may not extend this to others.

(-: Here I am :-)

Hey people ! Guess who’s back!?
The terrorists? No way!
Santa? Naah.
No, no, not Christmas either!

C’mon! I’m referring to myself here! Gosh! Obviously, am the only one who’s glad!

After a break that seemed almost eternal, I’m back in AlphabetWorld!  The machines (read as my brain) here were apparently getting used to doing nothing. So a lil’ tap at the right side and a harder tap later, it’s started creaking a bit. The print might not be too fine the first few days, but I hope I’ll be pardoned.

I did a rough count of the number of posts I’ve not read since I went on the break — and I’m still reeling under the impact! If I start reading them, one after the other, I might — just might — complete it before they light the candles on my 78th b’day . I think it’ll be safest for my eyes if I pretend to have read them all — or rather that I’d never been on a break! (Ok, guys…I’m kidding! I’m craving to read ‘em all — but can’t at one go…I’ll take the tortoise’s path and read them at at a slow pace.)

My last post was on Nov 1…and when I popped into Vimal’s blog to count his new posts, I noticed my name, my latest post’s name and the words “5 weeks ago” in his blogroll. Now you know what drove me in here so soon .
5 weeks! I was aghast…enraged at myself!

*****

I quickly signed in to undo the damage — and oh my god! WordPress has changed! For a moment, I thought I’d signed into some other site! And then The Greatest Guide-Writer Of All Times tells me it’s the new Crazyhorse look! And yea, it rocks!

*****

I saw that I’d been bestowed with the following awards:
Butterfly Award by both Verbivore and Vimal;
A Trophy by Vimal;
and
Este Blog investe e acredita na – Proximidade! by Vimal

Thanks a lot, you guys! (If I were dumb, I’d think it was for staying away from the blog world )

I pass these honours on to (following the rules of the Proximidade one!) 8 others:
Verbivore, Rekha, Apar, Manu, Reema, Sakhi, Xylene and Jayya.

*****

Apar apparently tagged me sometime back with a photo tag; am so grateful to her (for giving me something for my ‘next post’).

I was also tagged to do the quirky tag by Verbivore, but I noticed that at the end of doing his own, Nikhil had killed the tag! I hope it’s come back to life — because I quite like that tag!

Verbivore also tagged me to do the Movie Quirks tag, but after writing the first part of this sentence, I noticed that she hasn’t. So ooops…sorry!

*****

I also got to know that Vimal’s not single anymore (Vimal, I tried; but the cat scratched me and jumped out of the bag)

*****

I noticed that the Avante Garde Awards haven’t been announced yet. I’m extremely thankful to everyone who nominated me — I’m honoured to have made into the list! May the best blogger win!

*****

Soon after posting this, I intent to visit every blog that’s on my roll and leave a “hi” — just so that everyone knows I’m back (To comment would mean reading the posts — which’ll let me tell others that I’m back only when I’m 78!!

*****

Last but of course, not the least, I’m pleased to announce the appointment of Nikhil as my Santa Claus for Year 2008! Anyone else who wishes to be the same are welcome to do so — I’d only be extra glad!

*****

Folks, am dying for news as to what’s been happening in the blogville while I took that untimely break. So, tell me…what’s been happening!?

I’m getting married…

Without much formalities, introductions and trials for humour, let me break it to you all…

I am getting married.
On 17 November 2008.
At Trivandrum.

Some of you bloggers have been aware of this for some time now. Discussions had been going on for quite a while, but the date got finalised only recently.

Jewellery shopping began in full swing — with my aunts all hyper-excited, my mom hyper-tensed and me hyper-bored! Well, dress shopping was totally different — I behaved like my aunts did at the jewellers’, my mom was perplexed (at my weird tastes for colour, lack of sense of the material and total disregard for the costs!) and my aunts were bored!

Visiting long-forgotten relatives added to the confusion and resulted in distancing me further from my computer — but well, it did make me richer by a few lovely new people!

Frequent visits to the stitching centre is among the most boring things I’ve done in life — and looks like I’ll be doing it till the 11th hour!! Grrrrr…

To add to the mayhem, we shifted residence 2 weeks back and had no Internet connection till like 3 days ago!

A trip to Bangalore in the midst of all this — for some Godforsaken formality — has left me unsettled in the new house and devoid of my backbone! All I can feel about my rear now is my back pain

(I wish to club all these facts with my disclaimer here — in the hope that I will be forgiven for disappearing from the blog world now and then…and for making this news official at such a late hour!)

For all you married readers: thanks for understanding, shaking your head, remembering your own pre-wedding days and saying “Oh Priya, it’s ok…I understand…it’s such a crazy time!”.
For all you unmarried readers: someday, at a similar post from you, I will be reacting in the above-said manner, and you could thank me too.

And before I sign off now till God-knows-for-how-long, my deepest apologies for neglecting your blogs, for not adding my precious comments (I counted some 10 minutes back…and realised I have roughly half-a-million new posts to read and comment to!!) and for not giving you all any worthy crap to read at my blog.

I’m posting this right now, sitting in a locked room, listening to my mom screaming at my ‘lack of responsibility and seriousness” (!!!!) from some far away place called the Kitchen. So, I would also like to pop in an excuse for not blogging for at least another month from today.

And yea, having been such an irresponsible blogger, I agree with despair that I do not deserve the AvanteGarde Bloggie Award anymore (Poonam, I’m sorry to say this, but I just cannot accept it this time!)

Coming back to the title… I extend this invitation to all of you — and would be thrilled if I find even one amongst you readers here at Trivandrum on 17th (I’d be super thrilled if there are presents too!!) Thanks a lot! Waiting to get back to Bangalore post this madness and get back to that lovely thing called ‘blogging’!

P.S.: This must probably be the most bland ‘wedding’ post you ever read. I take full responsibility for being such an unromantic Scorpio

P.S. or P.S.: It’s my b’day tomorrow…you can all wish me, but I don’t think I’ll be free and around to reply to that. So, in advance, “Thanks a lot, everyone!”

P.S. of P.S. of P.S.: My brother just called me up saying there’s a dark-chocolate cake on it’s way home for a midnight party …which means I’ll definitely blog tomorrow

Memories of a 5th grader

Before you start reading this post, please scroll down and read the disclaimer (it’s in italics, grey) in the post right below this one (I’m sure you’ll have to read it for quite sometime from now on!)

My “online time” is lesser than the state’s monthly ration allowances! The maximum I get to do these days is open Gmail, open Orkut, open WP and then log out before I can do anything useful! I was succumbing to unknown mighty forces that are against me being online — and had almost become used to it…until yesterday!

A chat box opened up in my Gmail and asked “Remember me?” After initial moments of , I was thrilled! It was an old, old, ooooooold classmate. We shared a class, a bench and our friendship in 5th Std! And then we’d lost touch. A few years ago, when I’d started my Orkut account, I’d searched for her, but wasn’t lucky. And now, here she was.

We had a few long gaps amidst one liners…14 years is a long long time — and if you think there’d be lots of stuff to catch up on when you meet such an old friend, let me tell you, there’s none! We had no clue what to talk about…other than one-liner replies to “Where are you these days?” and “What you up to?” and the like. And well, if you think there’d be nothing to talk about after the first round of such awkwardness, let me tell you, you’re wrong! Hehe…we launched into a trail of “Do you remember whens” . Oh God! It was the best catching-up I had had in a long time!

We discussed kho-kho games and falling-downs (I hated that game and would always end up bruised; so would she); we discussed about those irate teachers and our incessant chatting (apparently, once we both were asked to sit at two different seats, well away from each other because of our non-stop talking — and I started crying; being the true friend she was, she started off too! ); we discussed a few horrid male classmates with whom we’d always get into a quarrel — and I’d go marching to the staff room to complain, bring back a loud-voiced Sir and get them guys shouted at!

We literally laughed out loud discussing a classmate who never used to touch a girl, for fear of him getting pregnant! Ever if his finger brushed against a girl’s by mistake, he’d bring out his towel and rub “it” all off vehemently! (He’s with Infosys now, though I don’t know why I’ve mentioned it here ). Then there was this Anti-Love Association we’d started — 4 of us friends — against “love” (I still don’t think I was a voluntary member of that )! Hehe…we used to snoop around, find all sorts of “couples” on campus — well, there was nothing much we fifth grades could do about it — bitch about them majorly! There was also another secret society we were members of — but of what, we now got no clue! I only remember tiny visiting cards and a symbol on our thumbs (used to make it by dabbing ink onto the bottom of a sketch-pen and pressing it on out thumbs!)

Apparently, once those horrid male classmates pushed her off the bench and she landed “thud” on the floor, right with her bruise facing the floor. Well, we had our revenges too…we used to stone those guys during our every single badminton sessions! — psssttt…and get stoned by them too!

The funniest of all was the recollection of her and myself on stage once — hair all done up and tied with colourful ribbons that matched our dresses — singing away to glory!!

Anyway, it was a rather playful walk down memory lane…becoming a 5th grader again, even if for a few minutes, was awesome — and I enjoyed it so very thoroughly! Now, that once-upon-a-time little girl is a stunningly beautiful woman! I was shocked when I saw her picture — and gaped for quite a while!

I’m so glad we’re back in touch. 14 years of fun we’d missed. Welcome back, Indu!