(A)Typical morning @ MICA

(Any day of the week)

8:00 AM: Alarm rings. Hit snooze.
8:05 AM: Alarm rings again. Therefore, hit snooze again.
8:10 AM: Alarm rings faithfully for the third time.
Damn! Is it morning already??
Open eyes unwillingly.
8:12 AM: Check messages.
Screen displays ‘Two new messages’.
First message from Manu: “Please, please please wake me up at 8:45.
Otherwise I will get a grade cut. I have already bunked classes.”
Second message from Neelanjan: “Wake me up before the class.”
Short and definitely not sweet.
Why o why do I agree to do this every morning?
Curse myself.
8:14 AM: Fall asleep again.
8:15 AM: Some one knocks on the door.
Nammy mutters some thing in her sleep.
Knocking continues.
I reluctantly get up, open the door.
Sayantika is standing outside (who else?:D).
She has come to collect the MICAVAANI key.
She is not only fully awake but has already bathed, dressed and ready to
attend the class.
How the hell does she manage to do this every single morning without fail?
8:16 AM: I give her the key.
She starts saying some thing about MICAVAANI.
All I hear is, “Yesterday XYZ did not come…blah blah..and some more blah”
Seeing me fall asleep while standing upright; she smiles, says bye and leaves.
8:20 AM: I head towards the washroom grudgingly.
8:35 AM: I return to my room. Realize I have to wake Nammy up.
8:40 AM: Me: “Nammy, time for class. Get up!”
Nammy: “Hmmm…..”
Me: “Nams, we’ll be late and we may not get attendance.”
Nammy: “Mmmmm….”
(Trying once more, a different tactic may be??)
Me: Hey Nams, don’t you want breakfast?
Nammy: (no response)
8:45 AM: Get ready myself and check the time.
Wonder how to wake this Neel-and-Manas-dragged-me-to-Chota-and-I-slept-
at-three girl sleeping oh-so-soundly.
8:48 AM: A flash of a bulb! There it is! An epiphany!
8 49 AM: Me: “Nammy, don’t you want to write in your new green book?”
Nammy: “Mmmm…Yaaa…”
She gets up!
High-five!
Different incentives for different people – as simple as that.
Me: “Will you wake Kirthana up?”
Nammy: (Nods her head and leaves)
8:50 AM: I call Neel. He doesn’t pick up.
Call him again, no answer.
I call Manu. He thankfully picks up.
Me: “Manu, get up. You will get a grade cut otherwise.”
Manu: (mumbles something, I cannot comprehend it)
Me: “If you leave now, you can get breakfast too”
Manu: “Ya ya…coming”
(As I said, different incentives for different people ;))
Me: “Wake Neel too.”
8:52 AM: Lock my room.
Go to Ankita’s room, knowing the fact that Madhu would have woken her a few
minutes ago, yet, she will be sound asleep.
Wake Ankita and Guneet up.
8:55 AM: Eat poha, a bowl of papaya and drink coffee in the mess at breakneck-speed.
Don’t they give awards for doing this?
8:59 AM: Run to class.
9:00 AM: Made it on time!
Mission accomplished!!
Answer roll call.
Time to sleep again.

Cravings for South Indian Food

This was the first time I was leaving home and all its comforts for what I assumed would be an exciting hostel life, I was right on all accounts except for one - the "FOOD". Having grown up in a typical South Indian house where the first thing to be consumed early morning is a hot cup of filter kaapi, I assumed that I wouldn't miss the food too much. After all, I did survive in Jaipur for three whole years!!( Of course,that was during my 3rd to 5th std where my mom cooked everyday but I'm sure you understand how insignificant that detail is :D). My attention, which was initially captured by the campus and my batch mates, was forcefully directed towards MM 101 and FA (Marketing Management and Financial Accounting for the uninitiated). The mess food which was initially interesting, became mundane after a month and downright boring after two months. They did try though, to give us Masala Dosa and Idli, but it just wasn't the same. A Tamilian batch mate of mine who is also a localite invited us over for lunch where we reveled at the sight, smell and taste of Rasam, Maddur Vada, Kesari Bath and the much-missed Curd Rice with Pickle. All in all it goes to show you never know what you have until its missing from your life. For all those who still complain about eating @ home, please refrain from it. There are far worse situations in life like paying Rs105 for a Masala Dosa and Rs45 for a Filter Coffee in DASPRAKASH!

Happiness

Life. Awesome. More coffee. Less tea.
Friends. Studies. Happy happy me.
Single. Superb. Sweet. Lack of sleep.

Enter. Him. Promises. Lies.
Hugs. Kisses. Part of life.
Dreams. Future. Husband and wife.

Fights. Tears. Unspoken words.
Constricted space. Voice unheard.
Worlds apart. Broken heart.

Break up. Hurt. Shock. Grief.
Smile outside. Inside. Weep.
Build. Life. Piece by piece.

Days. Weeks. Months later.
Sunshine again. Absent pain.
Alone. Me. Happy again.

Ecstacy

Watching the trees sway,
Feeling the wind on my face;
It’s a new world where I’ve gone away,
hoping never to return, my heart says.
I’m soaring high above in the sky,
With ease I’ve never known;
No fear whether I’ll live or die,
enjoying this moment all alone.
Imagination has no bounds,
It takes you places you can’t see;
Where there’s no life, no sound,
Where all you can feel is ecstasy.

It happens only in india

· It happens only in India

Things which are very popular in our country:

(Not all of the things mentioned below are original, some of them belong to the endless forwards I get either through mail or SMS)

1) Elders naming siblings (esp. twins) with rhyming names or names that start from the same letter.
2) Packing enough food to last for a week even if the train/bus journey is for only few hours.
3) In a span of few hours, we are very capable of extracting all the details about a co-passenger ranging from how many kids she/he has, where and for what reason is she/he traveling to why her/his cousin is not yet married and who passed away recently in her/his family. Embarrassment is definitely not a word in our dictionary.
4) Our own unusual way of repairing electronic equipments and machines like remote control, television etc if they stop working – pound, whack and smack them.
5) Cricket and Bollywood obsession- where else in the world are puja’s conducted in the name of Amitabh Bacchan and Sourav Dada??
6) Bisi bisi coffee in south India, hot rasogullas in Bengal and Pani Puri in the north-in short, the variety of food.Yumm!!
7) Arranged marriages.
8) Rate at which gossip travels.
9) Unwritten law that states a girl should be married, latest, by the age of 26. Otherwise you become a burden for your parents, even if you are working and are independent.


10) If you are not an engineer, lawyer or a doctor, you’ve no brains. You must not be surprised if all your relatives sympathize with you for your not-so-bright future.
11) If a guy is settled in “foreign”, he’s considered to be a lucky catch
12) When we have enough problems, being a developing country, like poverty, unemployment and pollution, our politicians will yet concentrate on things like the lyrics of national song and changing names of places from Bangalore to Bengalooru, Mysore to Mysooru.
13) Ticket less traveling.
14) Sardarjee jokes (They never grow old, do they??).
15) If you take up a part time job, it mostly means your family has financial problems. All the reasons like I was bored, I wanted experience or I want to treat my boy/girl friend, so I can’t obviously ask money in my house are excuses. The society, being very deducing, can see through all of them.
16) Parents celebrating marriage anniversary by going to the temple.
17) Male-chauvinist females. Thank you Ekta Kapoor, for all the entertainment you’ve provided us while showing the husband busy having affairs while the dutiful wife is waiting for him to come back, having total faith in her extravagantly-displayed mangalsutra.
18) Elders still believing that getting first class (above 60%) means you are very clever.
19) You need your own room??? For what??
20) Bribe.
21) IST – Indian standard time.