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My first political rally

Tune: Tum toh Thehre Pardesi by Altaj Raja

Tum toh thehre pardesi...........
Des kya chalaoge........... (2)
Hamein apne desh ki politics kya dikhaoge..........
Tum toh thehre pardesi........
...and so it goes....

You dont need like an Einstein's brain to understand that this is a direct dig at Sonia Gandhi and her foreign origin.

The first political rally that I attended were filled with personal digs galore. The party workers set the mood for the campaign with songs and slogans like these. Narendra Modi (BJP), chief Minister of Gujarat came to campaign for Mr. Manohar Joshi (Shiv Sena).

It was mainly bcoz of Narendra Modi that I wanted to attend the rally. I really wanted to hear that man talk. I just wanted to have a first hand experience of the speech of Modi who was so unpopular in the media. The rally started quite late........ 2 hrs late. But the party workers kept entertaining the people. Initially they sang all songs, national, regional, Shivaji songs etc. But later when they saw that thr wasnt any crowd response, they turned to cheap gimmicks. Personal attacks on Congress and NCP leaders were the mantra for the day. refernces to Chaggan Bhujbal, the ex-deputy chief Minister of Maharashtra in reference to Telgi scam were infact hilarious (Tel + Ghee.......oil + butter, literal translation). hehehehee.....But the gereatest irony was when the party workers sang a campaign song based on the song Pretty woman. Well, a hindutva based party upholding swadeshi values singing songs based on Hollywood movies..........hahahahaha!

Another sample......This is a dig on Sharad Pawar. Well a brief History...
Sharad Pawar was a member of Congress party but then left Congress because of his reluctance in accepting Sonia Gandhi (an Italian-Indian) as the prime ministerial candidate of the Congress Party. He went on to form his own party, Nationalist Congress party. This happened 2 years ago. But now that the Lok Sabha elections are fast approaching, he made a sudden u-turn and has joined hands with the Congres sparty under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi totally forgetting the fact that she was the main and probably the only reason why he left the Congress party in the first choice. They sung this song which I think was very apt........ehehehhee
From Koi Mil gaya...
Idhar Chala yeh Udhar Chala.......
jaane kahaan yeh kidhar Chala.....
arrey phisal gaya.................
yeh Sonia ke sang ho chala........

I thought that was funny.

In India all the main leaders have a set of followers, I think instead of calling them followers, I feel they are chamchas.....all are bloody sychophants. A certain Mr. Sbramaniam who was earlier with NCP, has currently joined the Shiv Sena. When this fact was announced there were people screaming "Bharat Mata ki Jai"...........Hullo what's the whole point?!?!?!?!?!?!.........Absolute nonsense!

Manohar Joshi's speech did not contain anything different and he basically spoke less. Then was the turn of the so-called hero of the day.........Mr. Narendra MORON Modi...........

Modi came dressed in a pristine whitekurta and a pant. Gross injustice to the colour which stands for peace. huh! Now I know why the media hates him. I just thought when the Indian media despises him so much, y the hell is he given so much coverage........Well..this is because he is controversial........anything controversial, has to have the media attention. Also he gives juicy bytes......absolutely controversial. Indian media will lap anything which has a slight hint of controversy. Well.....the start of his speech was quite sober. After a point of time I began wondering, is this the real Modi? But then he started spewing venom. He constanly referred to Sonia Gandhi as Begum Sahiba. I really didn't understand the reason. The tone with which he was referring to indicated was definitely anti-Muslim. Also he mentioned Sonia Gandhi and Mian Musharraf (note:Mian) in the same vein. Modi took extreme stands as in those who didn't "feel good" well are obviously not patriotic Indians. His logic was.......Sonia Gandhi isn't Indian......how will she feel good or be happy???I was like what rubbish. feel Good, India shining are all humbug. The interiors of India tell quite a different story and there are well thousands of people who are suffering.

Modi has an amazing knack of skewing up things. Well take this example.........
"In India, the home of a daughter is always husband's home (sasuraal)..(what nonsense!) Imagine a very rich girl from Mumbai gets married to a poor guy from Pune and after marriage starts living in Pune in penury and she happens to meet someone from Mumbai. She will always say that her home is Pune and will never flaunt her father's riches in Mumbai. They say Sonia Gandhi is Indian, but why does she acknowledge her property in Italy while declaring her assests? Y is she still the owner of properties in Italy? What does this signfy?"

I was at loss of words, when he started speaking likewise. I mean, did it make any sense to u guys? What nonsense! People, I am not in favour of Sonia Gandhi at all. I mean I think India deserves people much more talented than Sonia Gandhi. But I think the personal attacks are in a very bad taste. And in an interview with Rajdeep Sardesai, NDTV 2-3 days before, Modi had declared on camera that he would stop the personal attacks. Well he seems to be suffering from temporary amnesia.

He also mentioned Godhra. He accused Congress's Kapil Sibal of trying to free the rioters involved in the Godhra train masscare. He accused them of being anti-national. Okies.....but what are u doing Mr. Modi? What is your party doing? All the Best Bakery victims are out scotfree..........just coz all the victims who died were Muslims? So many cases are being shifted outside Gujarat.....y? His speeches reflect so much hatred. So much hatred!!!!! I am at loss for words.

It was a very sad day for me as an Indian for a part of my India voted for such a man to power. God Save Gujarat! God Bless Gujarat! I again wish to say that I am not pro-Congress or anti- BJP or anything like that. But the scathing personal attacks and skewing up things, politics of hatred is just not acceptable.

Now the best part: There wasnt much of a crowd turnout for this rally. Yayyyyyyy! for that!!!!!!!!!!

The same day Thackerey says something like this," Wasn't there a single male in Congress party that they chose a Woman to lead the party?"
Excuse me!!!!!!!!Such a sexist comment. Gosh, get a life Mr. Thackerey! Please don't stoop to such levels. dhuh!!!!!!

Well I am voting for the first time. I am confused, frustrated. But exercise my vote I will! But its gonna be a choice between the devil and the deep sea. Or I might just hit the "None of the above" button!

It was the third week of March. March 21st to be precise. March 21st, 2000 to be even more precise. I had given my 10th boards that month and was busy chilling as it got over by the second week itself. Now march 21st happened to be rang panchami....aka Holi. I had a great holi with my building mates. I was totally drenched, completely coloured and basically had a great time.

March 21st 2000....9 p.m. I am in front of the TV having my dinner. Suddenly the phone rang and I went to pick up the phone.
Me: Hullo!
Anonymous voice: Hullo May i Talk to err...Shobha plz?
Me: (puzzled! whose this?) Well This is Shobha speaking!
Anonymous: Well Hi Shobha, Hi I am speaking from MTV. (and I was like huh?????? Y on the earth would someone call me from MTV? )
MTV guy: U r on MTV SELECT!
Me: Are u bluffing?
Anon : Hey no, I am serious, U wud to be talking to him in a few minutes from now!
(MTV Select is a show on MTV wherein U can call and request for ur favourite song. and U get to talk to the cool Nikhil Chinappa! It works something like this. U call up at a particular number, leave behind a message, ur name, ur phone and blah blah and they would get back to you. I had tried calling them before, but with no success. I had totally lost hope that they would ever respond to my messages. So when they called I was quite sceptical and thought someone was playing fool.)
Anon: Shobha, its true, u on MTV select.
(I was sceptical though)
Then suddenly I heard faint voice of Nikhil Chinappa yapping away and for a moment I couldn't believe it was him! IT WAS INDEED HIM!!!! no fool at all!

(Now I was totally excited.....animated....dancing with joy....amma looking at me with a big question mark on her face.....I wanted to be decent so I didn't scream, So i jumped...up and down...up and down...up and down..... many times!
I was soo happy, I was on MTV select. Being on MTV Select meant talking to NIKHIL CHINAPPA......my favourite VJ! I loved him when I was 15. I was his crazy fan (Well...not quite as crazy as I was about Rahul dravid, but still....) I was sooooooooooooooo excited......yayyyyyy...yipppeeeee yayyyyyy! :DDDDD

Anon: Shobha, This is Nikhil's last show. He' getting married, so wish him....! (I was like wat bull crap!!!!)
Me: What nonsense! (thought the guy had lost it)
Anon: Well, I am not bluffing.
Then I heard him speaking," Welcome back people to MTV Select and we have someone on the line (ME all *grin**grin*)

NC: Hey! Whose this?
Me: This is Shobha here. Hie How are you?
NC: Whoa, U seem to have a loud clear voice. My sound recordist is sure happy ( In other words telling me how loud I was. Well..he was right....I have like a loud loud voice)
Well....what do you do Shobha? Tell me something about yourself!
Me: I am in my 10th std. I just gave my boards.
NC: Oh cool! All the best for your results!
ME: Thank you! :)
NC: Do you know Shobha, This is my last show as a VJ.....
Me: WHAT???????
NC: Well yea, you heard me right! I am getting married and I am moving to US of A
Me: Oh no! I will miss you. You my favourite VJ! Please don't leave....
NC: Well Sharon McIntyre, my fiance works with the UN. So after marriage I am moving out of India. She's a wonderful girl! Anyways,Thank you so much! What's your request?
Me: (heartbroken) Well....play Dulhan Hum le Jayenge! (Now....before u guys jump to conclusions about my pathetic music taste...Let me tell you what happened.I asked for many songs. But they weren't apparently available. This was the only song that was left to play. So I had no choice...and I was wondering this is SELECT!! wherein we get to hear the songs we want.......dhuhhhhhhhh)
NC: ok, Shobha.....we will play your request. Any dedication?
Me: To my friends, family and U....I ill miss you though!
NC: Thanks a lot Shobha, byeee!!!

Anon: Shobha this episode will be telecasted on March 31st. Check it out then, Byeee!!!
Me: Okies, bye
I hung up the phone!!

First I started screaming. "Amma.......I spoke to Nikhil Chinappa! yayyyyy!" Amma just nodded her head and she went off. Least bit interested. Huh! All she said was "Don't scream, neighbours will think something's wrong with u!" As if I cared! I was very happy. :D :D

That night I kept wondering, What would the show be without Nikhil Chinappa. Dhuh.....I thought he was extremely dumb to leave the channel like this. "Shit, I wud miss him...." These were the thoughts reverberating in my head.

Suddenly flicker flicker *bulb*....*tubelight*.......
Well..if Nikhil Chinappa is quitting the channel, how come its all hush-hush. I mean it would have been all over the papers. (I used to read Bombay Times regularly....not even missing one single day) How could that be possible????? A few days later I read an article/interview on Nikhil Chinappa. But the reporter never asked this question. I was throughly puzzled.

After somedays.......again...flicker..flicker......bulb..tubelight!!!!
I suddenly realised that all these shows are pre-recorded shows. Oh no.....this must be a show for APRIL FOOL's day. Shessssshhhhhhhhhhhh! he made a fool outta me! hell! I hated him then.......I was convinced, that this was a prank. I desperately hoped that it wasn't a prank. My friend would tease me to death otherwise!

27th March was a Monday. I sat down to watch MTV Select! Nikhil Chinappa was in his usual self. Then came the first caller and as Nikhil began chatting with him, he told him how this is his last show and all crap!!! I was all puzzled again!!! But he was talking about it to all the callers. Then I thought, well it might be true after all. Everybody wished him all luck and stuff. I watched the next day too........Again he kept talking about it to all the callers. He became sentimental and taked about how he would miss doing this show which was a part of his life for the 2-3 years and all. I slowly got the feeling that, well....it would not be a prank after all.

Then came the 31st (Friday). I saw the show. heard myself speaking on TV....heheheee! I was all excited. Incidentally, I was the last caller he spoke to. and then there were final sayonaaras, good byes etc. Both me and my friend were very excited. She was even more hapier than me and even jealous coz we were both crazy fans of Nikhil Chinappa!

That night I slept peacefully. I was like how lucky I am! gotta finally talk to him before he's left the channel.

3rd March, Monday: I again tuned into MTV to see who the new anchor would be.....I was all curious... The show started at 4 in the evening and bang.......Who do I see on the screen.............well...None other than NIKHIL CHINAPPA!
NC: well, surprised to see me back? Hmmmm......That was an April fool's prank on all u guys! Happy April fool's day!
I was like shit.........he fooled me!!!, Damn I was an april fool victim again!
My friend had a laughter fit. I wanted to slap her hard, but she continued laughing. Amma laughed the hardest. Dhuhhh.........watta an april fool I was!!!

On second thoughts, y is that people talk about their marriages whenever they wanna play an april fool prank on someone???? Watsay Toro??????? :P :P

Taklu MOI!!!
Hey people, my exams are going on....but I am so bored, So decided to post anyways. :D I read Kiruba's latest post (permalink unavailable). The post talks about how he's gonna miss her daughter's hairlocks coz it is the tonsure time again. In the Hindu religion it is imperative that a child have a "mundan" (tonsure) at least once. After a lil' bit of googling I got some info on the significance of this event. (scroll down)

The process is called Chudakarma.
First time cutting of hair, 1st year or 3rd year
This ceremony of the first tonsure is to be performed in the first or third year of the child. The hair is consecrated and offered to the respective family deities. Celebrations or chanting of mantras are not involved.

Even my parents had had my head tonsured when I was barely one. (Well if u a Tam-Bram, U just can't avoid it!) I was taken to Pazhani for the tonsure. It was during the month of November I believe. My parents say that i was pretty excited seeing the new place. Hils, temple, noise, that place fascinated the little me! But I had no inkling that the sole reason that I had come there was to make me mottai (bald). Well....the day dawned and I was taken to the person who was supposed to tonsure my head. I was made to sit down in front of that man. Initially I was a bit cool but later I became restless (that's what Attai says to me). I just couldn't understand y the hell was I made to sit in front of this strange looking man with dad holding me tight and mom looking at the entire thing as if some comedy is happening....Ok .not comedy but still.....it was an amusing sight! After some fuss they put thanda thanda cold water on me! OOOOOOOO! That was it! I was very irritated. Somehow at the time Appa's hold over me loosened and well..... I simply ran. Amma Appa couldn't comprehend what was happening and it took it took like 2-3 seconds for them to register that her daughter is actually running away from the the spot. Then Appa ran behind me followed by Amma. HAHAHAHAHA.......Hilarious....Pity I dont remember the incident properly but my Attai describes it so well, that it makes up for it! Well I ran merrily but to my dismay I was caught immediately. Appa caught me and then gave me one whack and then took a bawling me to the barber. :(((. Later my tonsure took place without any hitch. This time appa made sure he held me tight! ;) But I wonder now how funny the scene must have been..with me running away In Pazhani, with so many people around, and appa running after me and amma running behind appa......HAHAHAHAHAHAHA and I crack up! But I look so cute when i was mottai as a child. awwwwww! I look the cutest.

Well..now I think I should go back to my books now! hm.......and I am very angry with Haloscan, my commenting tool. All my comments of my archived posts have disappeared, I fail to understand why! If u guyz know any remedy for this, Plz tell me! If not well...plz. suggest some good commenting tool which wudnt eat up my archived posts ka comments! Chalo then......ciao........:D

Happy B'day DUM DUM----19th March
To be sung in happy b'day tune......
Happy B'day to u...
Happy B'day to u.......
Happy B'day dear DUM DUM,
Happy B'day to u..........

U were born in the zoo
U were born in the zooo....
with Monkeys, and Donkeys and dumbos like u.......

We want sweets from u...... Hello.no...no...no...
We want $100 from u....We want scrunchies from u.........
Happy B'day , Happy B'day, Happy b'day to uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.........!

Well in case u still wondering who the hell is DUM DUM......well...Happy B'day again Ashwin! I know that it aint 19th in USA yet...but wat da heck.........Here's wishing u a gr8 day and year ahead........*hugs*......have fun dear!

Watta day!
EggJham time and My college xerox fella does brisk business. So manyyy stuff to be photocopied.....My entire morning was spent in doing just that. I was thoroughly hassled seeing so many papers. I am in such a situation that I don't know where to start and where to end.......Well lets leave it at that, otherwise this post of mine will become a whine-board! Ok.......I leave my college throughly puzzled and confused looking at the photocopies and I head towards my bus-stop. Now the frequency of my bus is not all that great.........Therefore the sight of people pouncing towards my bus on its arrival is not uncommon. It was afternoon and it was so hot.......I am sick of the heat..........Its so bloody hot! Therefore to stand at the bus-stop is like a total pain. So you can imagine how relieved I was when I saw my bus coming and Like everybody else urs truly also ran towards the bus.

Now, I enter the bus with the agility of a long-distance runner! (Well I have to compliment myself coz I was so thoroughly tired coz of the sweltering heat....but still managed to make it.*grin*) Now as I entered the bus I felt there was this man who also rushed in exactly the same manner as I did......hell no....even more faster than I did and he brushed me aside and caught a seat. Now my curiousity took over and instead of searching for seats I looked behind to check who the hell that man is! I saw this man scampering for a seat with a wallet in his hand. I was about to turn back but I was like.....Hell....wait a minute..that wallet looked similar! and I quickly checked and to my shock it realised that my wallet was missing. I screamed at him and asked for my wallet. Now see haaan, he has the nerves to say that it is his wallet, a ladies wallet as his wallet. (Duhhhhh!!!!! He was an old man, 60+ probably, dirty clothes, long beard, but what agile running!....wow) As i started screaming for my wallet, he suddenly changes his statement saying that he saw my wallet down and ran in to give me.....duhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....... and I felt like grabbing him and throwing out of the damn runing bus. and then he has the cheek to tell me, U can check ur wallet, which I promptly did!
Suddenly Flashback:
I remembered I was with "K" at the same bus stop and I had heard her screaming about someone grabbing her purse to remove her wallet. But I did not see the man!

I also remembered "M" telling me that she caught someone opening her college bag. and that he was an old man!

Well...well..... It all flashed one by one. So he is actually an bus-stop regular! By now I was so irritated that i really wanted to slap him tight hard. But he was an old man, I could never bring myself do that. So I kept referring him as "AAP", I still don't believe I did that and I made him get down off the bus. Should have handed him to the police.....but I didn't do that! *sigh* I freaked coz the wallet contained everything, My college i-card, decent cash, BCL library card, my railway pass, my creidt card....freak!

Well all's well that ends well! But two things to note........
1) I am not taking that bag again to college coz its really easy for pickpockets to steal. Appa had warned me often but I really liked the bag so much that I always ended up taking it to college. Its a hard fact to digest that Appa always knows best......huh!

2) And I am never fighting with Amma in the morning.....again a stupid argument to begin my day. if u wud remeber, I got caught by the ticket collector on the day when I had a silly fight with amma. Well....

Anyways eventful day to say the least. Seeya guys and take care. I might not update often coz its *curse* exam time........byeeeeee! Seeya soon! :D

News travels really fast here
Well was chatting with a buddy of mine and she just retorted to a comment of mine saying that, "News travels fast here". Well.....this sentence was enough to take me b 5-6 years back (Total philmy ishtyle haan). I was in standard 8th then. when i first came to know that tadaaaa!!!!!! I have specs. Specs, which I will have to wear for the rest of my life. *pity, pity* *Sob Sob* I was in a miserable state that time. Actually I always had an inkling that something's wrong with my eye power. But never really went ahead and told appa that I think we should get my eyes checked. Firstly I was sooooo afraid of his reactions. "Nee day fulla TV parthindru.... soda bottle aa irrukim and all shit! " (Just go on watching TV all the time. U will get a big fat number as ur eye power and blah blah.....) Also I did not want to face it that I had specs. So I kept postponing it. I thought getting specs with a number was a worst thing that could happen to anyone. (Ok...ppl don't laugh, I was a kid back then)

Well a day dawned when I couldn't see stuff from the last bench. (I was a last bencher in class) My friends could see everything and I could not. I was like that's it! Now I would have to go to the doc. *sigh*....Somehow mustered courage and told appa. Appa was surprsingly cool.(Yea.this always happens to me.....whenever I get scared anticipating Appa's reactions.......nothing happens......absolutely nothing happens. But the day I am carefree about something, he would come and burst on me.....arghhhhhh.......all the mental trauma and anticipation drowned the drain...huh) Infact the difficult part was convincing myself and mentally preparing myself to go to the Doc.

Ok the d-day arrived and I go to the doc. At the doc there was a long queue. An excruciatingly painful wait! Atlast after what seemed like an eternity my turn came. The doc was cute with a paunch. (Don't all docs have that?) All the formalities were completed and the doc came out with a result. Ur daughter has power ........-1.25 on both her eyes. My jaw drooped....my dad was :OOOOOO.......So much for starters......He said u shud have come earlier and i was already to assault appa that time. Only bcoz of appa i did not say..huh! ........Now i was petrified......I did not want such a biiiiiig number......I cud have burst into tears any moment. But i controlled. Then Appa asked him is it because of watching too much TV. And guess what the doc replied noooooooo...yiipppeeeeeeee, I wanted to hug him tight now. Coz now appa won't blame my bada number attributing that reason. Then the doc said maybe it is hereditary....and I was ready to hug him tighter with a peck on his cheek. Coz amma has specs... Infact whole of amma's family has specs. Yiipppeeeeeeeee...! So Appa has absolutely no reason to blame me. hheheheheheeheeeeee *relieved *

We both went home. It was such a biiiiiiiiiig event in my life (Ok ppl, no laughs here, when I was 12 this indeed was a major thing) I was quiet. I was silent the whole day. (quite unusal of me I should say) Then suddenly I went to my parents. I told them in no uncertain terms that the news of me wearing spectacles should not reach Bangalore (the place where all my maternal relatives stay.) I was probably the first amongst my cousins to get such a distinction. And I wasn't too proud about it either. Prestige ka sawaal hain yaar! So No ways are they gonna know about it! Amma, appa started laughing at my weird demand. I was dead serious though. No ways are they gonna know about it. Also I have 3 Mamas (maternal uncles)...who will tease me to death about the whole thing which I definitely did not want. I made amma, appa say a yes! And life went on...

3-4 months later... Having being adjusted to the totally new addition in my life my life was going on smooth. One day I get a call from my one of my mama. He said he was coming to Mumbai and would drop in home. I was like yippeeee...yaayyyyy! (My mamas are sweethearts!) But as I kept down the receiver I was like O no! He would now come to know that I have specs. Now that definitely can't happen. I went to amma and started complaining to her. Amma just asked me to stop acting foolish. But I was hyper (I still am) started to devise methods to stay away from my house. Hm...what to do... go to my friends house..and say I had tuitions...hmmmm..good idea! Gr8! I settled on this plan. But after someytime mama's call came back again. He spoke for sometime with appa and then to me. We spoke the usual things when he suddenly told me that he knew that I had specs. I was like what...!?!?!?!?!?! "How did you know?" was my first question of disbelief. I couldn't believe that my full proof plan could go haywire like this. I only wore specs in school and tuitions and at home. Never when I was out. How could he know? Everybody knew. My patti knew, my chitti (aunt) knew, My other mamas knew, my cousins knew....EVERYBODY KNEW.... I kept on asking him and he kept on laughing, that sinister laugh I tell you! Huh! I was so irritated and so disgusted. I told amma and she started laughing too. I screamed at my parents, how could u guys betray me, my trust? (O god....what over reacting...goodness) Amma started laughing, Appa also joined the fun. They kept denying vehemently that they were the ones who informed them. But I did not trust them.

Mama came with his wife and my cutie cousins. All came and looked at me as if I was some specimen piece, as if they have never sen a girl with specs. Goddddddd...I wanted to hit everybody at that time. My cousin comes and asks me...So u got specs aa! Arghhhhhhhhhhhh! Mama knew I was curious as hell to know how he came to know about the news! And he kept teasing me all the time. Amma laughed at my predicament and retorted... "news travels fast here!"

And the saddest part is I still don't know how they came to know and I strongly suspect my parents' hand at this....gaddar party! huh

Moi Back
Hieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ppl! Moi back......... mini break of all sorts it was for me. Anyways was caught up with so many duller aspects of my life na.......gosh! They are all partly over now and me is thoda thoda :) again!

Well first and foremost.........a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig thank you to ridz who helped me change the look of my blog. He's such a sweetheart! Did all the donkey work for me.......but i selected the image haan! So ppl u shud know by now that i have a gr8 aesthetic sense...........:P. So ridz a big thank u and *Hugs*

Ok....was reading Vidz blog and this post of hers set me thinking. Coz i cud relate to her. She talks about how she likes being alone sometimes. But its kinda different with me coz i love having people around me but sometimes I have to be ALONE.......JUST ALONE! Both my parents work. I used to go creche when i was a kid but started living alone by myself since i was 12 yrs old. Initially I found it weird living alone.but then it was fun. It was ana amazing feeling for me...having the whole house for myself. I could watch howmuch ever TV i wanted, have how many chocolates for myself without amma's and appa's shoutings and lectures about what are the harms of eating chocolates and all.......it was fun! I used to read, write, watch tv and basically just have fun. But this happiness used to last for only 3-4 hrs coz after that i had to have either amma or appa in the house. (But natural) being left alon just gives me the space i need. It is very very important for me. Amma and me could be in different rooms doing our own thing, well its good that my parents also understand my need for my own space. My own company is very very precious for me and I enjoy it thoroughly. i dunno whther to call my loner and all coz its not that i dont like socialising and all.......but if it is..then so be it....I am a loner!
Somethings i simply enjoy doing when I am alone:
Do nothing, just laze around.
Read a book accompanied by steaming hot filter coffee and some chips mabbe to munch. (simply the best)
Just stand by the window and look at the world.
writing my diary
music.listen to it and also practise my carnatic songs
hmmm and the list goes on................

Talking about singing, have an interesting anedote to tell u guys. Almost all my maternal relatives are carnatic music fanatics. Many of them sing and almost all of them follow and appreciate carnatic music. We are like a set of 8 cousins in all. Whenever we all meet up its a customary thing that everybody gathers in the hall or the mottaimaadi (terrace) and all the 8 of us have to sing.....to show them how much we all have learnt and how nice your voices are and blah blah.....I used to learn carnatic music right from the age of 8 but i left it soon coz of zero interest much to amma's dismay. I started again this April 2003 (a good ol' 10 yrs later). I mean all over again, right from the basics of carnatic. :D.

It was my mama's house's grihapravesham (housewarming ceremony) in June. It was again a reunion of all sorts. Again the customary practise happened. this time i was kind of happy coz i had some thing to sing for all and not look around like a dumbfool listening to all my cousins sing. Arrey even I deserve my fair bit of attention and praise :D. I tell u if u dont know carnatic music and u present in the session, its a gr8 dampener of all sorts coz the whole session wud make u feel intellectually deprived as if, if u dunno carnatic, u just dumb. heheehhehee.....Anyways back to the story. It was my turn to sing a song. i was very excited and so were my relatives......coz they hadnt heard me sing much. My younger set of cousins were all very excited because they were seniors as far as carnatic music were concerned and were way ahead as far as the lesssons were concerned. "Shobha u r our junior. yayyyy" they went on happily in glee. Ok.i start singing, my eyes closed....I sang with proper sur and taal. Everybody clapped.me *wide grin* hehehehee . Me was happy-happy.

Everybody tarted giving me advice as to where i was good, where i was bad and how i can improve and blah blah. Well even my 8-yr old cousin had something to say. And i was all ears..........she came and said........Shobha u know, ur nose flares wide when u sing........hehehehhhee and started laughing out loud. and this comment was widely heard. Well no guess everybody started laughing.......and my face was worth seeing. kodak moment of all sorts....I didn't know what to say. Just to show moi is a sport, I started to grin tooo......but given a chance i wud have whacked my cousin. Gosh...children na......huh! (:P)

And thanks ppl again for all the lovely comments on the new template. Credit goes to Ridz....fully! :D

Testing

Random

Well this was a funny incident which happened today. My group was supposed to meet at T's place for project work. T is this Bawi friend I have, damn cute and a typical Bawi. Well...for uninitiated Bawis are Parsis. Well..people who might have interacted Parsis should know about their typical idiosyncrasies...I find them damn cute.

Well we are a group of 8 people working for a college project. The first to reach T's place was A(he) and K(she). T lives in a Parsi colony. (Mumbai has lot of Parsi colonies) Well after the rest of us reached T’s place, we found T and K in splits with A looking grumpy. When we asked what happened...Later we started laughing too. Hehehehehhehehehehee…well the incident in K's words:

We reached around 10 a.m. at T's place. We rang the bell and nobody answered the door for a few minutes. So we were waiting outside. As we rang the bell once more an older uncle came towards A and asked him,"Who are u? Have u come to do some surveys or something?"
A: "No Uncle, I have come to meet out friend T".
Uncle : Oh...ok…ok...I thought you were a salesman....u know na "Dikra" nowadays so many salesmen come and disturb...( and before he could say anything more T opened the door)!.....lolzzzzz

'A' stood there dumbstruck. K burst into laughter and A had this Wat da hell kinda look... (Salesman and me...kaunse angle se?...gosh!)hehehehehehhehehehheheeeeee...joke of the day!

T's sis has recently delivered a baby. Awwwwwwwwwww... The baby is so cute, just 25 days old...so tiny, so adorable...I can go on and on. Poor thing, the baby cries all night and sleeps the entire day. T's sis retorts, he keeps crying all the time. "The thing is we don’t even understand why he is crying. And when some people ask us why he is crying I get so irritated. It's the most irritating and a dumb question. I am also a first time mommy..how am I supposed to know...also....why do they except me to know the baby-lingo?" I couldn't help but agree with her.

Me wondering: Janet Jackson's (in)famous boob show was widely reported in Indian media. Indian media was so prompt in carrying the pictures too....well, the so-called censored pictures too. Major Indian web sites, popular news channels have shown the unedited footage and photographs. Well...just wondering, is this being done just coz the subject concerned is a phirang!?!?!?!?! Media censorship anybody...duhhhhhhhhhhh