The poll (again)

So, aparently the poll on my blog (it's on the left - a little down) closed sometime back, can the winner was Calvin and Hobbes. So, what else is new? Calvin ROCKS! Anyway, in celebration, here's one of my favorites:



Anyway, new poll will be up soon. As soon as I figure out another fun topic to take a poll on. Any suggestions?

We are the Curies, powerful race!

Remember when you were in school, split into 5 (some schools had four) different houses. Remember how your activities revolved around your house - your favorite colour was (and in some cases, still is) your house colour (I have a senior who apparently colour coded her whole wedding to be green - green invites, green decor, green sari, etc.. - just because she was in the green house!), there was no one cooler than your house captain and prefect, winning the sports/dramatics cup was all that mattered!

In my school, the houses were named after famous women. I was in the Marie Curie house (I was a 'Curie', how cool is that?). We had, of course a house colour, a house slogan, a flag, a banner - you name it.

The slogan was a funny one. It went:

"Alpha, Beta, Gamma Rays
We are the Curies, powerful race"

How cool is that? Of course, i didn't really understand what it meant or the connection till I was in High school, but now that I think about it, whoever framed it was a genius!

And what is the point of this whole post?
Why, none as usual. DJ and I were talking about our schools yesterday, and turns out that everyone identifies people with their house. As in "Do you remember so-and-so? She was in Kellers(the red house - named after Helen Keller, of course!)". And the house(colour/name/symbol) always holds a special place!

So, I just thought I'll post about it since it's been long since I posted!

Until next time then.

Talking of Garden City..

Is it just me, or is Chennai really going green? There is a garden/park in every spare bit of land in the city. There is even a garden tucked into the Gemini flyover!! And Hadder's road has it's own petite garden - right next to the Oxford bookstore. And the garden at the end of Cenetoph's road - that's pretty too - overlooking the river and all. And as Mutt put it - Tiru.V.Ka park looks like a fairy land if you drive past it in the evening!! Do try to drive past it - even if you live on the other end of the city - it's totally worth it!

And apparently there is this huge 17 acre park coming up somewhere near the beach. And they're going to convert Woodlands drive in into a botanical garden as well!!

Not to mention the roads - GST as well as the first part of OMR are now a sight to behold! (I'm not gonna mention ECR, because the pretty parts start only after you leave Chennai). Oh and the tambaram bypass too - though, again, I dunno if you can call it Chennai!

I know we have miles to go, but not a bad start, eh? I'm so proud of our corporation. I mean, yeah, they do stupid things like put a flyover in Cenetoph's road (seriously, what's with that?!) and Sardar Patel road(which noone uses!), but then they also build something like the Kathipara junction (which I'm totally in love with, btw).

So now, it's singara chennai yet again! :-)

A city I once loved..

Once upon a time, when it was called Bangalore, this city had wide roads lined up with beautiful, giant, green trees. The trees used to be so thick that they used to block the sunlight to a large extent. The roads were wide - or maybe they appeared wide to a 10 yr old me, and the traffic used to be so little that they used to allow us to run across the road. The weather so cool, that fan used to considered a luxury - used by the rich during two weeks in the summer.

Once upon a time, you could go from one end of the city to the other end in less than an hour, and MG Road meant lots and lots of bookstores.

Once upon a time, we used to catch a double decker bus and sit on top and ride all the way to Majestic every time we wanted to 'go shopping'. There wasn't a mall every ten yards then, see?

Once upon a time, my mental images of Bangalore used to be covered with green trees and mist - lots of mist. Actual mist - not smog.

Once upon a time, Bangalore used to be called "the garden city".

And now...?

It took us two and a half hours to drive from Mysore to the edge of Bangalore (Mysore road) and another two to drive from there to Koramangla.

That's all I'm saying.

The Hierarchy

I have long been reproached/teased/mocked/looked-at-curiously/made-fun-of/etc.. fr claiming to have 18 best friends. (Yup, the count is out, and the number is 18.)

I shall give you a few examples:-

a)My testimonials in orkut - Almost all of them mention this fact.
b)I've always wanted a small wedding (I know, I know - too much Hollywood), but my mom wants a biggg one. So my sister, tells my mom "Don't worry, there is no way it will be small. She will have to invite all her best-friends, remember?". Yeah. Humph. We'll see. x-(
c)My RG proclaims "She will wake up before 11 in the morning during weekends only if she has a date with one of her 716 best friends" :-P
d)Every time I mention someone - anyone, Mutt demands if that person is a best friend.

And of course there are many more..

So, for once and I've decided to quell all doubts and explain to all and sundry the hierarchy. I've even drawn out a picture. Look:



So, like I've shown, you can have only one bestest friend. Mine, is Samie. Why you ask? Well, she is a sweetheart and we did have the pact (I know I broke it, but still..). Also she's the only one who, like me, is enthu for everything under the sun and has a gadzillion best friends. More than me, believe it or not.. Also, she's the only one who doesn't have another bestest friend.

All my other best friends do.. Like Chicken has De (yeah, gurl, you do. She is you bestest and you can't escape that)(and vice-versa), Kosu has R, Mr.A has Joe, MM has Pumpkin(I tell you, it's an exclusive spot), Mutt and Kitty have each other, Assie has Vasu, Sug had A and Mads has B, The girl, RG and Pipe have gotta work it out amongst themselves, and Tea has Ash, Blue angel has that girl whose name I forgot (sorry! :-( ), the Sista has well.. i dunno a million people other than me.

See? This is what I mean. If you ask any(or at least most) of these people, they will tell you that I am indeed a best-friend of theirs. Even those idiots who tease me mercilessly. Yet, they all have a significantly closer best friend. Who becomes the bestest. And the rest remain in "best".

So, anyway, for the newcomers, let me explain the terms.

1.Bestest friend: The person whose house is your second home. Whose parents know your favorite dish and who you tell (or can tell) everything to! Who will fly down from the other end of the world if you need them to(Hear that, Samie?). Who completely understands why you're doing what you're doing.

2.Best friend: Much like the bestest friend, but not quite. Their house need not be a second home necessarily, but more often than not, that is the case. They will also be willing to do the flying down in case of emergency thing, but you don't need 20 people with you during an emergency, so you ask most of them to stay put. They are people who you can call in the middle of the night if you're feeling miserable, wake them up and crib till dawn (Indeed, that has been done to all many times)- even if they have an exam/presentation the next day(this has also been done. They know what you are up to currently.

3.Good friends: These people are usually people you were very close to for a short (short can be up to 2 years!) while - maybe over a project, or a course together. Maybe you stayed together in the same hostel, or were roommates at some point or the other. For that short period, you knew each other very well, but over time, you've kinda lost touch. Yet, those events bound you together so hard, than even years apart, you can still call them and ask them a favour without any qualms. These are people who actually do know you and your family. Your mom will recognize the on the road even when you're not around. They will drop by when they are in the neighbourhood without fail and more often than they know your food preferences and your many ailments.

4. Friends: This is every single person you can ever count on. Who you can relate to in someway or the other and who you can call without having an excuse to do so. Most of your old classmates who you played with on the swing, your current one whose notes you borrowed come under this category. These are people who you're happy to meet on the road, and if you do, you'll ask them to have a cup of coffee with you. These are people whose numbers are there on your phone and email IDs are there on your Gmail contact book.

5. Acquaintances: Like I said, this is practically everyone who you have ever met who remembers you and who you remember. If you have a reason to call them, and do so, they should be able to recognize you the minute you introduce yourself. This is a HUGE list because it includes almost all your classmates from every school/college you attended and friends of friends you hung out with.

Having said all that, let me conclude that there is no hard and fast rule which divides the classes and this is just the definition I give.

Disclaimer: This post was put up in a state of extreme joblessness and in order to clarify a few doubts friends of the author had.

The 'M' word

Since I am nearly [insert age + 1], the extended family has started mentioning the M word to ze parents. My parents, who were initially taken aback (my dad especially - he was quite at loss as to what to do), have learnt how to deal with the.. er.. proposals, thankfully and bug me no more with funny anecdotes which they think are cute but I think are just plain irritating..

Like the one where my uncle, who was woken up from his sleep, forgot my existance and claimed there was no such girl.. Okay, that one was actually funny!

And the other one, where a certain grandaunt said something to the effect of "I'll find you a really good guy who will let you study further.. don't worry". Hang on there.. let me??? LET me? Whoa! Boy, do these people not know me at all!!

Oh, and not to forget the "if you study so much, how are we gonna find a guy who's stuided as much"!! Sheesh!

You know, that's what really strikes me. How little these people (not my parents and their siblings - they thankfully suffer under no such illusion) know me, yet suffer under the impression that they do. They think I'm a CSIG (I am, btw.. at least according to the Mutt) who will listen to her parents, get married at [insert age], to a guy in the same caste who they pick out for me - probably some 2nd or 3rd cousin, and I will actually listen to what the guy will tell me to do, suffer under the whole "kal aanalum purushan" thing, and have two kids as the age of 25, etc...

And the worst part is, I do not know what I can say to make them understand that the world has evovled very much since they were kids and that is not how people do stuff anymore. I mean, I can be a lesbian and they wouldn't even understand what that means. They'll probably think it's 'a phase'.

It's funny actually. And quite sad too. Funny because, lets face it, people stuck in the past are funny. Sad - because people stuck in the past means there will be no progress..

Keerai

My words of great wisdom for the day: Parents are like spinach - boring, uncool and distaseful - but very good for your health!

* waves to the cheering crowd *
Thank you. Thank you ver' much.