Musings of a Chennai gal

The new 'uncle' at home

I peeped into the living room, shyly, as Ma called out to me. 'Come, Minu, tell Uncle hi...'I bashfully crept up and hid behind my mom, tugging at her saree pallu. I peeked out from behind her and smiled at the man who was a new uncle at home. I had never seen this man before, in my 6 years of life. He took out a box of colour pencils from his bag and stretched his hand toward me. 'These are for you, Minakshi,' he said and handed them to me. I took the box - it had 24 colours! I then mumbled ...

Rains, outings and funny beaches

posted on 7:37 PM , by Vani Viswanathan

Remember I wrote a post with a happy It's-sunny-again feeling? Darn, it's raining in this wretched place again. I've been in room all day, not even stepping beyond my corridor to go to the canteen, managing lunch with damned Maggi. And now that it's dinner time, I'm wondering if I can even go out and find decent food. It's been raining ever since I woke up at 7 in the morning and nodded off to sleep again. It was still raining at 10 when I switched off the alarm, in a vain attempt to wake up 'early'. ...

Staring at a star studded sky...

posted on 8:10 PM , by Vani Viswanathan

I stopped short on my tracks. Looking at the nearly-clear, rainless sky, I saw, for the first time in Singapore, a beautiful sky - the most beautiful one I have ever seen here. Brilliant, bright stars, and a naughty one twinkling and smiling at me! I kept looking up and walking, mindless of where I was going.Who made the universe so beautiful???Thanks, Corbis, for the picture. ...

Noise galore

posted on 11:06 AM , by Vani Viswanathan

After two days of endless rain in Singapore (third highest ever recorded, triggering floods and landscapes - ouch! Can Singapore stand it?), it's finally a bright and sunny day. I woke up at 8 and looked around the room. I could actually see sunlight streaming in!! Thrilled, I decided to sleep for longer to celebrate the sun's outing after 2 miserable, depressing days. And then, they come.It's not the first time I write about these guys (Even in my year 1, here! and a couple of casual references ...

Thrilled

posted on 10:00 AM , by Vani Viswanathan

Chal.Chal.Chal.I smile to myself, glow inside every time I hear the noise. It's ages since I wore an anklet. Oh, rather, it's the first time! (I've never worn just one!!)And I'm just like this little girl, looking at my right leg from time to time, and grinning! I feel like a lady! ...

Another story in pictures

posted on 10:41 PM , by Vani Viswanathan

Well, colds don't really stop some people! So the author didn't care, got out, drank cold orange juice and got better!! She has hardly been around in her room since Monday, this week being the one when she's been out all day, every day of the week, and has spent shocking amounts in travel, that she has to make promises to self about keeping her expenditures tight.So, on Tuesday went she ...

Acchooo!! Sniff, sniff... updated

posted on 4:30 PM , by Vani Viswanathan

Young ladies shouldn't catch colds. At least not when exams are over and it's time to eat ice creams, get wet in the rain and go to beaches and play in the water. Achhooo! Excuse me.Guess what started curing my cold? A few sips of heavenly cold orange juice!! :) Reverse medication or somethin ...

A spider on my notebook

posted on 5:13 PM , by Vani Viswanathan

(A little entry inspired by a little spider who crawled on my notebook, while I was studying)It took me a while to realize that the little grey thing moving on my notebook was not my imagination, but a spider. Scarily tiny, he looked so fragile. My first impulse was to blow him off the paper. But I stopped myself, for he was more interesting to study than impact of globalisation on news reporting. He walked a bit, then paused. Walked. Paused. It looked as though he was searching for something in ...

And..........they're OVER!!

posted on 11:54 AM , by Vani Viswanathan

Whew, finally. No more exams for at least a year! (Refer to last post for explanation.)The exam on 'Information Visualization and Perception' was one of the funniest I've ever written in university. After having spent days preparing for it, I felt like how I used to in Class XI or XII, having no clue what I've studied, my mind foggy all over. I proudly claimed 2 chapters weren't important - and guess, there were questions worth 50 marks (i.e. half of the marks allotted to the paper - I almost shrieked ...

What am I studying?!

posted on 11:41 AM , by Vani Viswanathan

Ever felt teachers/lecturers have no idea what they're teaching you? Oh well, I'm sure some of you feel that all the time.For the first time after high school, I started studying a subject having no idea what on earth it talks about - Information Visualisation and Perception, which I took on as a General Elective. Now don't ask me why I took such a boring subject - the course description during subject registration cheated me. The description said that we'll study meanings of symbols or words in ...

Ink wars

posted on 9:57 PM , by Vani Viswanathan

Mina sighed happily, looking at her new gleaming fountain pen. For the umpteenth time, she turned it upside down, and saw the ink flowing and collecting at the other end of the ink barrel. She opened her new pencil case and placed it carefully inside, away from the two pencils, eraser (pencil and ink), sharpener and ruler. As she excitedly looked forward to her first day in school of writing with a pen, her mother fervently prayed to God for all to go well. Decked in a dashing white uniform, ...

Pudusu, kanna, pudusu!

posted on 9:45 PM , by Vani Viswanathan

Bright, mystical and classy. Just the way I like it.Yup, it needs a lot of editing to make it what I want, but how is it? ...

After long...

posted on 11:35 AM , by Vani Viswanathan

... I'm back. After weeks of back-breaking work, tension, project meetings, interviews, lows more than highs, confidence-threatening situations, I can't say I've come out unscathed. Life is tough! Glad as I am that I'm able to take it all in pretty well, I wish I could go a step higher and be calmer, and not think of unnecessary things and situations. I find myself worrying sick sometimes, until I just shake myself up and say that when some things aren't in your hands, there's no point worrying ...

Never sleep at odd hours, they say.

posted on 1:53 AM , by Vani Viswanathan

Never sleep at odd hours, always says mom. Alas, for how much heed we pay to those simple, yet numerous things mothers keep saying!1:36 am on early Friday morning, here I am, typing a blog post. A cup of hot, steaming Milo sitting on my desk, my table lamp on, soft songs playing in the background, ‘Life of Pi’ open and spread on its front, and a drawing block which just plainly stares back at me.Waking up after a weirdo three-hour-headache-prompted-funny sleep, I have lost orientation. My music ...

Wow...

posted on 4:33 AM , by Vani Viswanathan

.... it's been 20 years!!! ...

Much ado about turning 21

posted on 2:26 PM , by Vani Viswanathan

Mrinalini finished unwrapping all the presents her friends and cousins had given her. They ranged from dolls to clothes to make-up accessories. The usual stuff given to girls. God, she thought, why can’t people think of different things to give a girl who’s just turned 21?21, the number suddenly flashed across her mind. Twenty-one, she said aloud. I’m 21. The age when one is a proper adult. When one can vote, in many countries around the world. ‘Pennin thirumana vayadhu,’ (a girl’s right marriage ...

Of dreams and wishes

posted on 7:21 PM , by Vani Viswanathan

Ever felt so bored that you just opened a tin of Milo and started eating spoonfuls of plain, raw, fatty and oh-so-delicious Milo? That's just where I am - I am not interested in knowing how blogs have altered the way journalism functions, because the guy (or woman) who's written it has an awfully unreadable language that makes my eyes smart after a few minutes. Guess this is another of those posts which might not make sense.. I just wanted to type something and here I am! With Rahman's goosebump-causing ...

Crossroads?

posted on 2:32 PM , by Vani Viswanathan

Yeah, crossroads?? Am I at this stage in life where everything one does seems important, leading somewhere? So many things I'm happy about, the same things which torment me and give me headaches almost all day; which confuse me. I'm trying to feel all busy and nice (yeah, being busy somehow keeps me cheerful!), but I'm hurriedly reaching my break point, I guess. I hope things go fine. I hope I'm confident enough to keep swimming where the tides take me - after all, how much is in my hands?Don't ...

The man on the train

posted on 9:00 PM , by Vani Viswanathan

Tanya boarded the train at Tampines. Her stop, Clementi, was a good hour and a half away. It was just her fifth day at work, in her six month internship, and she was tired of it already. The guys at work were nice to be with and all that, but she just couldn’t along with their sickening sense of humour or understand what they wanted her to do. And it was just Tuesday. She had another 3 days of torture to stand before the weekend. The train was quite empty, surprisingly, for it was 7 in the evening, ...

When he spoke...

posted on 9:49 AM , by Vani Viswanathan

My dear little one,How much you have grown! You will still remain my little one even then… the little girl I pampered, many a time secretly, the one I used to pat to sleep, take to school and run around with too.At this time, I cannot help thinking of the time I held you in my hands for the first time – you were a tiny, sleeping baby, but fresh and beautiful, and I remember how my eyes filled with tears of joy as you opened your tiny mouth and yawned, then slowly opened your eyes and blinked. And ...

Randomness unlimited

posted on 10:40 AM , by Vani Viswanathan

Technically, I'm supposed to be studying now. Nobody asked me to, nor am I required to. But looking at my room mate vigorously taking one book after another, highlighting and making notes really makes me want to study. Of course, that this want drops dead as soon as she leaves the room is another thing.I woke up half an hour back (early, according to university standards), telling myself I have to study. And what did I do after the routine checking of mails in the handful of mail accounts - reading ...

A conversation

posted on 2:38 PM , by Vani Viswanathan

Context: Waiting outside classroom for class to begin. Author walks in and finds a group of friends - mostly Singaporeans.F: Hey, Vani!A: Hey, hi!F What have you done to your hair?A: Erm, cut it short?F: No, no, have you permed it? It looks really nice!A(gently smiling): No, it's natural, and it's wet - I washed it, that's why.F: Wow, it looks really pretty. So nice!Author hides a grin.Silently confesses that as much as she hates it, it feels nice to act girlie at times to ...

KANK - Damn, I broke my vow!

posted on 12:54 AM , by Vani Viswanathan

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna - well, that was all what the movie was about - people breaking their marriage vows. And I broke another vow, and I feel like banging my head in the nearest wall for doing so - I really shouldn't waste my money on such Hindi movies, desperately hoping these kind of directors will get more mature. Though this movie was a whiff of fresh air from the usual crap Johar churns out (you know I'm not a big fan!), it ultimately succumbs to be one of them too.Now, if this contains ...

Just to let you know... I'm back!!

posted on 11:30 PM , by Vani Viswanathan

It's a surprise how quickly my mood changes. Oh, from bad to good only, though. I'm so proud to realise it's extremely easy to get me back to normal after disappointments or anger (maybe it has a lot to do with that I laugh for the stupidest things on earth!). Anyways, all this talk has to do with how my computer conked out when I desperately needed it this afternoon after I came back from my first class of 3rd year, depressed, for no reason I could clearly identify. I was listening to Jillunu ...

There could've been a time....

posted on 3:20 PM , by Vani Viswanathan

... When I would only wear a paavadai-dhavani,Oil my hair everyday and wear flowers,Draw the kolam in the corridor andbe the lady my mother is proud of...Spend 10 paise for the bus ticketand go to college, and be one of the five girls doing their B.Scin a class of 50!Go to the beach in the lunch break,have ice creams for Rs 3,Drool over Amitabh or Gregory Peck, copy Jaya's hairstyle?Walk home to save the 10 paiseand listen to music in the turn-tablePay Re 1 and talk on the phone for hoursListen ...

Where’s the world heading?

posted on 12:10 AM , by Vani Viswanathan

Seriously. Deaths everywhere, most in man’s hands, as if plane crashes, earthquakes, tsunamis and floods weren’t enough. What the hell is happening to the world, to the cruel we who inhabit it?Two weeks back, a series of blasts I needn’t talk about. Attacks on Lebanon. Regular blasts in Iraq. An unresolved Palestine issue on which hundreds die every week, at least. Damn, I’m irritated. And what am I doing other than just feel irritated and further still, talk about it in the blog? I’m scared I’ll ...

Idhu semma bore, macchi!!

posted on 2:52 PM , by Vani Viswanathan

It's amazing how one month flies by even if you're utterly bored, jobless, and desperate to get out. One month since my vacation began, and I have done nothing significant. If you'd discount knowing words like cat, dog and horse in Gujarati, shading with colour pencils, eating off roadside stalls, of course.Worst part is I've landed with a cold, which has even cancelled my everyday little ice cream parties.And good Lord, I heavily miss Radio Mirchi. The Radio Mirchi here is obviously entirely in ...

A story in pictures

posted on 2:04 PM , by Vani Viswanathan

So the girl stuck in Gujju land finally got to move around with dear ol' mum.First stop: Kankaria lake.Pedal boating after a very long time.Then, stopped by this mosque (whose name, err.. doesn't really register!) which was built by a possessive king who later ordered the hand of the builder to be chopped off! The designs on the windows are extremely intricate, and of course, beautiful.And ...

My little angel, my little imp

posted on 5:10 PM , by Vani Viswanathan

Smriti was fussing. She wouldn’t eat. I ran behind her, finding it difficult to keep pace with those cherubic little legs as she ran from one room to another, trying to avoid me, to avoid eating.I knew what she wanted – all the running around she was doing was for exactly one end – the terrace. ‘Smriti…’ I called out, and she stopped, knowing what I was about to say. She turned and grinned at me. I grinned back. ‘The terrace!!!’ we cried in unison. The little girl insisted on taking the stairs, ...

When even thinking of a title is too much work ;)

posted on 3:07 PM , by Vani Viswanathan

When nothing interesting is actually happening in life around, even the craziest or dullest things can becoming something worth writing about, even if it is just to pass time. So here I am! If this is really bugging, do pardon me - for I am feeling sluggish and bugged, and it wouldn't be long before I'm back to writing something else!So off we went to a temple on my second day in Gujju ...

From Gujju land

posted on 12:46 AM , by Vani Viswanathan

The first thing I noticed when I landed in the Ahmedabad airport was the way ‘a’ was so skewed up in Gujarati. This of course, only beside the sweltering heat that made me feel Chennai is way better, really. I felt like I was walking through a furnace – and grimaced at the thought that just a few minutes back, I had to hug myself to keep warm in the crazy Air Deccan flight. Well, Air Deccan did turn out to be better than people had described – it wasn’t noisy, and the aircraft wasn’t like a taxi. ...

And another year flies by....

posted on 5:15 PM , by Vani Viswanathan

Whew, what a hard day! Last days of an academic year are always tiring, but tremendous fun. As I hurriedly run here and there packing my bags, meeting people, and remember my insipid accounting class and a horrible accounting exam, I can’t help give a grin of joy as I think of tomorrow, when I go back to India after completing year 2. So well, today isn’t my last day, but I’ll call it so! (Now don’t ask me why!)What a year it has been! Joys, trials, tribulations, testing times, heart-shattering ...

Bollywood Blunders

posted on 11:34 AM , by Vani Viswanathan

As I desperately searched for newer music to keep me going while studying something as ‘interesting’ as accounting, I realised there were many Hindi songs that I liked but didn’t have. So I downloaded them from my friend’s computer, and sat down with the huge book with a flourish, with all the songs in my playlist.I was happy for about half an hour to listen to those songs after a long time, for a while, but beyond a point, I started getting irritated. I don’t know why (pardon some bias from my ...

PowerGlue and I

posted on 9:44 AM , by Vani Viswanathan

I was fretting about more than usual for a presentation. The next day was my final presentation to be made before the entire creative department of the ad agency I was interning in – it was the decisive presentation for the grade the agency would give me. A chill ran down my spine every time I thought of the fat, funkily-bespectacled-rosary-on-his-neck creative head who was infamous for the way he graded the interns. I felt like I was going to my grave. Everything had to be perfect for the d-day. ...

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