(-: 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!

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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!

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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.

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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!

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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) 😀

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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!

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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!!

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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! 😉

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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!?

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! 🙂

Revolutions are not for dumb people!

Hey all!

My apologies to each reader of my blog, to the wonderful bloggers in my bloglist, and to those bloggers in whose list I’m honoured to be a part of. My apologies to all of you for neglecting the blog world for some time now. I have not been updating my blog regularly (that too, when the Avant Garde Blogie Awards nominations are happening, damn!), I have not been responding to your comments, and I have not been visiting any blogs either. I’ve been a bad, bad, really bad blogger 😦

In my favour, I’d like to say that I have been caught up in a couple of weird things that’s been keeping me busy these days. A computer that logs me out automatically — and shuts down too — when it feels like (leaving me with a really dumb expression each time); a Mom who keeps calling me downstairs every 4th minute; a Dad who remembers he’s got “urgent work to be completed” only when I choose to use the system; a brother who…ummm…naah…can’t really find anything against him 😀 ; and a perpetual boredom in life that keeps giving me strange and foreboding signals of my future!

So, that done, let me tell you what happened when I decided to join the most happening Revolution in the blog world!

Today evening, when I woke up after a short nap, I slowly looked around around me. The signs were good. Mom was happily gossipping with her brother and sister-in-law. Dad was chatting up with an old friend (sign that he would not think of ‘work’ for a while). My computer was not acting strange at all!

Time to blog, I realised! I sat down in front of the system and logged into Gmail, Orkut and WP. I waited for 5 minutes. It didn’t log me off! Was I happy! And then, Nikhil called. We discussed “rude bloggers” for a while and he asked me if I’d joined the Commenting is a privilege, not a right! revolution.
I felt really ancient! I didn’t even know about it! 😦

Well, though I’d already been in despair about being a bad-blogger lately, he made me furthermore guilty, saying his blog, and many others, had been neglected! “I’m hurt”, he said. 😀
I felt sheepish. I’m sure I sounded so too 😐

I said, “Look, I’d been really busy…I’m sorry…I haven’t been checking any of the blogs lately…” etc etc. He kept saying “I’m hurt! I’m more hurt!” 😛 Well, to change the topic, I latched on to the Revolution badge — and I asked him to help me put it up.
It was then that I felt like an ancient sheepish dumbo! 😀

He explained things over phone to me. “Open a new text widget. Add the code. Save changes…” etc etc. I was awed, wondering how people know such stuff. “It’s basic HTML”, he said. Ahem! that put me in the not-so-knowledgeable-about-basic-stuff category! In spite of having fed the widget with the code, the badge refused to come to life. When he started explaining it all over again, I, like a genius, blurted out that I’d added the code to a widget that was already there.

“What?? You needed to add a little more code, then! I asked you to create a new text widget. You should’ve told me you were adding it in the same old one! I asked you whether you opened a new widget and you said yes! Brilliant! Great! Oh. My. God!”

😯 I’ve never heard him sound so mad! Of course, he refused to agree that he was mad at me. Politely, instead of saying “How dumb can you be?”, he said “I’m amused”.

Patiently, he explained it all over again — the angel! 😀 😉
(While he patiently explained it again, I was kinda ROFL silently! Well, apparently, I was not as silent about it as I should have been 😦 !)

P.S.: But well, the badge is up! I’ve joined the War-Against-Trolls! 😀
And sorry for such a senseless post, people. I’m still in the daze of ‘being screamed at’! 😀

Express yourself! Truth is a different issue ;)

AE (Airtel Employee): Hello Madam, I’m calling from Airtel. This is regarding your address verification.

Me: Oh! Ok… (surprised tone, because I took the connection on August 8th…and it’s already October 2nd!)

AE: Madam, this connection is under the name Ajay?

Me: Yes. That’s my brother.

AE: And you are using this?

Me: Yes.

AE: Ok, Madam, I’ll read out the address, please confirm. It is: Ajay, xxx-102, Xxxxxxxx Lane, Xxxxxxxxx, Trivandrum?

Me: Yes, that’s right.

AE: Ok, Madam, does your brother reside at the same address?

Me: Of course, he does.

AE: Ok Madam, could you tell me his address?

Me 😯 : Whaaaaaatttt ??????

AE: Hello? Ok, Madam, then no need… Madam, you might get a call from our head office, to check on me — to know whether I’d come to your residence for the verification. I’m not coming, but please tell them I came. Could you do that for me, please?

Me: Ahem. (Thinking: ‘Verifier’ being verified by the ‘verifyee’??!!) Sure…why not? Will they ask me to verify your name?

AE: No, Madam. But in case they do, my name is Aneesh.

Me: Deal, dude! (to myself, 😉 )

This happened yesterday…on 2nd October. On Gandhi Jayanthi, on the birthday of the Father of our Nation, on the birthday of that guy who preached non-violence and did weird experiments with TRUTH, I’m asked to bear false testimony!! 😮

Right now, am experimenting with my conscience. Do I support AE? Or do I ditch the deal and act shocked if the call comes from his head office??

“Be the change you want to see!”

During those good old school days, October 2 used to be a holiday much looked forward to! Gandhi Jayanthi…yay!!

We used to gear up the previous night itself — with little brooms and knives and hatchets and spades and coir baskets. We used to line up on the streets and clear away the grass and papers and plastic. The next day morning, the streets would be NEAT! All this, for those rounds of fresh, cool lime juice and that feeling of “I’m doing something of importance!” And we’d all proudly show it off to our parents and dig out praises from them 😉

It was something we kids used to religiously take part in, every year — and yes, boast about it next day in class. “I covered almost the entire stretch of road from House No. xa to House No. xm!! Was I tired!” The significance of the act was never questioned.

Once that age passed us by and we entered high school, it became a headache…but for a few more years, we did it grudgingly. “Oh, what’s the point? Clearing the road once a year makes no sense! We should, instead, focus on the nation’s development. Motivate people, instill confidence in them…and create a new mindset in the youth!”

By the time we were college go-ers, it became a nuisance. “Damn! Clean the road? I can’t even dream of getting caught doing such stuff! I’ll lose my image! Anyway, what does Gandhi Jayanthi have to do with cleaning the road? Might as well light up candles, cut a cake and party!”

Today, in most parts of the nation, people with the school-kid mentality still do it. Only, there is no more grass to be uprooted…no more plastic to be cleared…no more papers to be burnt. And people surely needs bigger and stronger volunteers (people with exceptional will power preferred!), bigger spades, huge sacks and trucks to carry off the ‘cleaned up’ mess — wires; spent bomb shells; a hand here; a head there; some must-have-been body part elsewhere; debris of buildings and shops and vehicles — and a well-trained mind that can filter out emotions. But this time, parents don’t praise. They beg these volunteers to steer clear and stay indoors! 😀

People with the mentality of the college go-ers think humans are the only grub on earth — and set out with the mission of “cleaning” them off the planet! They make cake-bombs, light it up and have a blast! 😀 Yey! Party time! And then the Political Party-s start their merry-making. Oh yea…these volunteers do try their best not to get caught doing such stuff!

People with the high school mentality blog about it! So…

Blog the change you want to see… 🙂

Life through a Window!

We often talk about perspective, about differences in opinions and views. We talk about how life is unfair to fair people sometimes; how luck never favours the unlucky (??!!!); how opportunity knocked, but the butler was on leave; how ‘good’ things seldom seem to happen to good people; how life sometimes…ok ok…stuff like that.

Here’s a story that’ll tell you how your perspective and attitude is what matters in life — and how those are the things that open life’s windows for you into the wide, wide world!

Life through a Window…

I’ve written humourous posts, I’ve written sad posts, I’ve written hate posts, I’ve written despair posts, I’ve written book-review posts, I’ve written nostalgic posts, I’ve written funny love posts (if a tag can be considered 😀 ) and I’ve written some other kind of posts too. I’ve even written a poem (4th grader’s though, it is) but I’ve never written a story! So, here’s one!

(Sakhi, watch out. I might just be a better story-teller than you! 😉 😛 )

Life through a Window!

Not so long ago (around 4-5 months back), there lived a frog named Yey!. He lived by a patch of grass on a road’s dead end…and in his ‘neighbourhood’ there were a couple of trees, a pile of stones, a pile of bits and pieces of clothes (probably waste from the tailor’s place), screaming people who lived in big houses, 4 dogs and a corner which was always occupied by dog-shit 😀 . The four dogs tried to annoy, irritate and humiliate Yey! all the time — whenever they spotted him, they’d chase him, scratch him, paw him…but never killed him! Yey! never complained. “How ironic”, thought Yey!, “I never feel like my name. Never!”

Yey! had, for some reason, imagined that this was the best place to be! He used to hop around town, searching for bugs and flies and any sort of food — but irrespective of the state of his tummy, by 7.00 he’d always rush back ‘home’. Because, every night, between 8.00 and 11.00 p.m., a girl would come out on to her balcony and stay there, chatting on the phone to God-knows-who (some wanna-be frog?).

Yey! used to hop around her, wondering when she’d come to her senses and kiss him (yeah…too many fairy tales, I know!) In fact, she and her on-the-phone friend had named him ‘Yey!‘ — surely, she wanted him to be happy and feel ‘yey’ all the time, he thought. Yey! yearned to get her love and attention. That never happened, and soon after that, the girl moved out of town too.

Yey! was heartbroken. He began to notice the kind of life he was having…dogs and dog-shit and screamer-at-dogs neighbour and piles of clothes and stones and dust and…and no water! Not even during the rains would a puddle form, where Yey! could swim around in joy! And what was worse, he did not even get the girl who’d given him a name, an identity! Yey! realised he was missing ‘life’ big time. Yey! decided that it was high-time he took some steps. He did.

The steps led him to an electronics shop. He bought a laptop. He decided:

I’ll make friends…
I’ll find a job..
I’ll socialise…
I’ll even blog!

And, my friends, he installed Windows XP! And got a Life through a Window! 😀 😀

*

*

P.S.: Today, Yey! is a successful frog. He is happily married to Eeeks, one of the most beautiful females frogkind has ever seen; has 3 kids — Nge, Hain and Wow; works towards eradication of mosquito-borne diseases; blogs at frogspot.com; and has 871 friends in Orkut. Yey! does not believe in fairy tales anymore. His laptop is named ‘Mac-mac’. 🙂

adjectives? feelings? what?

Confused. Lost. Nervous. Unsure. Scared. Fearful. Disoriented. Miserable. Dejected. Puzzled. Bewildered. Sad. Perplexed. Uncertain. Unconfident. Insecure. Worried. Disconsolate. Anxious. Dejected. Wretched. Gloomy. Panicky. Hopeless. Illogical. Dazed. In love. 😐

Hmmm… MS Word sure has a good thesaurus — and one preposition and an un-related word (which can be used as almost anything)! 😀

Tag me unromantic!

I’ve been having a terrible writer’s block for more than a week now. And in such situations, friends — disguised as ‘taggers’ — become a saviour. And, it was in such a time that this tag came my way. But Vimal, my saviour in disguise, I’m gonna kick you for tagging me this one! 😀 . Though this is quite an ‘interesting’ tag, I am not at all the one to do it! But well, of the two rules below, one says I have no escape!

RULE #1 People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs and replace any question that they dislike with a new question formulated by themselves.

RULE #2 Tag 6 people to do this quiz and they cannot refuse. These people must state who they were tagged by, cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by, and must continue this game by sending it to other people.

So here goes!

1. If your lover betrayed you, what will your reaction be?
   My definition of ‘betrayal’ is gravely different from the normal person’s. So, I tend to ignore this question (for fear of kicking up deadly debates in the blogville 😉 ).
2. If you can have a dream to come true, what would it be?
   My dream would come true the day someone creates my clone! 🙂
3. Whose butt would you like to kick?
   Vimal‘s 😀 !!!!!!!
4. What would you do with a billion dollars?
   Go off to Austria in a hot-air balloon!
5. Will you fall in love with your best friend?
   I would’ve, definitely, if I were a lesbian 😀 !
6. Which is more blessed, loving someone or being loved by someone?
   Both are equally so! (Existence of one without the other is horrid.)
7. How long do you intend to wait for someone you really love?
   Till around 11:30 p.m. Then I’ll sleep off!
8. If the person you secretly like is already attached, what would you do?
   Use some ‘de-attacher’, de-attach him and promptly attach him to me 😀
9. If you like to act with someone, who will it be? Your gf/bf or an actress/actor?
   Madhavan! Oh…I’d give anything to see him up close! (The guy I acted with once, became my bf later. I would love to see if the same would happen if I act with Madhavan! 😉 )
10. What takes you down the fastest?
    A lift — and if it’s one with no individuality, faster still.
11. How would you see yourself in ten years’ time?
    With my eyes, of course!
12. What’s your fear?
    I fear I’ll regret my decision.
13. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
    A handsome singer, a tee-totaller and a good friend 😉 (now waiting to get kicked too).
14. Would you rather be single and rich or married but poor?
    I’d much rather be married and still rich! 😛
15. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
    Sneeze!(I have some damn nasal problem.)
16. Would you give all in a relationship?
    Everything, but my individuality.
17. If you fall in love with two people simultaneously, who would you pick?
    The lighter one 😀 Ok…jokes apart, why the hell can’t I have both? Only one? In that case, the one with the better parents! 😀
18. Would you forgive and forget, no matter how horrible a thing that special someone has done?
    Yes! I am blessed with a bad memory. People can vouch for that!
19. If you get to go back in time and fall in love all over again, would it still be with the same person? (Original question: What are your three most important expectations in love?)
    Ummmmmmm…can the same person have different parents? No? Then, NO !
20. List 6 people to tag:
    Reema, Sakhi, Mahak, Xylene, Harish and Arvind

Onam…the king of festivals ;)

The oonjaal beside the athappookkalam 🙂

Ellaavarkkum ente hridayam niranja Onaashamsakal 🙂

Onam…the favourite festival of the Malayali 😀 Onakkodi, athapookkalam, oonjaal, pulikali, onathallu…and a grand sadya 😀

He's generally good humoured...wasn't served promptly at someplace, i guess! 😉

Onakkodi: It’s the most sought after part of every Onam — a new apparel! On a Thiruvonam day, every Keralite wears a new dress. The head of the family is supposed to gift onakkodis to all members of that family. Well, the head of mine gave none. So well, I bought it for myself 😛

Athappookkalam: For 10 days, every single house adorns a ‘flower-carpet’…to welcome Mahabali, the cute, pot-bellied cousin of Santa Claus (they look so similar; only, this guy has no white beard, doesn’t ride on reindeer-sledge nor says ‘ho’ ‘ho’ ‘ho’! 😀 ) Kids wake up early morning, go hunting for flowers and come back with a variety of them — this is the one time no one screams at one another for ‘stealing’ flowers! 😉 We didn’t make any — for lack of space (both in and outside our house) 😀

Oonjaal: Temporary swings are put up in the courtyard…and all the kids have a swinging time! There was no swing at my place…but well, I’ve been having one swing of a life lately, so no issues there!

Tiger tiger, burning bright!...a pulikali in progress 😀

Pulikali: This is the most fun of all…doesn’t the picture say it all? People (mostly kids) dress up as tigers/leopards and dance all the way…in the middle of the road 😉 (I feel I resemble a meerkat more — in both looks and behaviour — than a tiger…so, have never participated. Moreover, it’s just for guys 😀 )

Onathallu: This is a spoof on the whole concept of ‘sharing’…we just hit each other real hard and call it Onathallu, just for the heck of it. I’m more of a receiver than a giver 😉

And then…the sadya! Aaaah…the most satisfying part of the festival 😉

That's the top-view of my dining table. Am drooling at the sadya; granny wasted no time in just drooling, though! 😛

A full-course lunch, with banana chips, jaggery chips, pappads, a banana, 3 pickles, a ‘kichadi’, a ‘thoran’, an ‘olan’ an ‘aviyal’, a ‘koottucurry’, ‘parippu’, ‘sambar’, ‘pulissery’, ‘rasam’, ‘buttermilk’ and 3 varieties of payasam — all served in a plantain leaf! Now you know why Mahabali has a pot-belly 😉 I’v developed one too…now, dieting it away!

And oh yes! During Onam, a roughly 4-km stretch in Trivandrum is fully illuminated from 6.30 to 10…for 10 days. The crowd is amazing…and only increases by the year! I went for a walk with my brother “light kaanaan“…it was fun! I had a beautiful, fun-filled Onam. Here are a few pictures he clicked…

P.S.: It was Amma’s birthday on 12th! We walked into the kitchen at 12 a.m. to wish her and lo! She was chilling out — literally! She was almost inside the fridge…though I’ve no clue what she was thinking! A cool birthday? And when my brother and I sang “Happy birthday to you…” and “Santhosha janmadinam Ammakku…” in unison, she gave a start, wheeled around and stared at us. She then blinked thrice. Then her eyes lit up and with an “Oh…12th!”, she thanked us and graciously accepted our hugs, kisses and the gifts 🙂 Oh yes, shall convey each one of your wishes to her 😉

Own some birds…at Johannesburg!

Since yesterday evening, I’d been having this terrible buzz in my right ear which would slowly climb up to a crescendo and then shift to the left one. And then after a crescendo there, back to my right one! I didn’t know why it was happening or what exactly it was all about. Aarrrgh…it was really irritating! I kept ignoring it as much as I could. I tried to write, I couldn’t. I tried blogging, but I couldn’t. I tried to read, I tried to sleep, I tried to watch TV, I tried to clean my cupboard (!!), I tried getting drenched in the rain…nothing would work. It just would not take the hint and leave me alone! Then I decided to concentrate ( seemingly, there was no other option left) and voila! I realised that the buzz was not just an ordinary buzz (Thank God…I was not on my way to be deaf!). It was telling me something…something about me. I was about to attain self-realisation! My ear was talking to me. I could make out words. Repeatedly. Over and over.

I listened intently…but the words were too hazy…blurred…almost like it was being spoken from under water!

I thought I heard it say ‘Johannesburg’! Wow…really? No no…it said ‘John has birds.’ John who; so what? Then again ‘Own some birds.’ (Buzzer, I don’t like birds. they’re weird creatures! They look at you through one eye!! The other one, way on the other side, looks at someone else!) There…‘Join some bus’. Join? Did it mean get into? Or was it ‘John’s son’s bad’? So what should I do? Now what the hell does ‘Jan sung bazz’ mean? Do I have a Chinese ear?? Oh wait! I think it’s trying to say ‘Johnson’s buds’! 😀

Well, ok! So I hadn’t cleaned my ear for a while 😉 😀 I went bud-hunting and found a pack deep down the gorges of the multi-level (now so, because of my clothes, books, junk and more clothes) spare cot in my room. I fished out a few buds and poked my buzzing ears with those.

The buzzing stopped! It was then that I realised that my ear did not say ‘Johnson’s buds’. That was probably something my brain made me hear, for particular hygiene-related reasons! 😀

The words were very clear now. And the ungrateful ear (again, it was my brain’s handiwork) spat at me, “Dodo, you have a writer’s block!” 😀