Flyover

first things first, here’s wishing all a very very happy diwali. the festival of lights, food, all things nice and new, gifts, family-time, etc. my fav festival. though it isnt so much fun these days, as we all do not congregate at my grandparents’ home any more, and there are no brothers lighting crackers… and asking me to keep my distance and enjoy. and then finally letting me light the laal bomb. though aloo bombs, anaars and rockets still a big no no. so i would keep to fool-chhadis, firkis and laal bombs. but god it used to be fun. technically i can still play with the fireworks, but one, its not so much fun doing it alone. you need company. and two, it kind of makes me feel guilty regarding pollution and all. though an uncle just gifted lotsssssssssssss of crackers. but leaving apart the best part of diwali (crackers), i still love the festival. for one, the gifts. i have been eating infinite amounts of chocolate lately. i mean, non stop. especially since i have this huge pack of cadbury celebrations, one of my favourites. two, the lovely skyline and the lights. three, my parents’ generous and festive mood. and four, its a holiday, obviously.

one of my secret dreams is having a beautiful cliff-top house with a big garden, and all my family getting together there, and having lots of fun on diwali.

anyway, a very happy diwali once again. and a very happy hindu new year!

there used to be a time when i would have to change my specs’ frame every few weeks or months. ditto with my pt shoes and socks. my shoes would get worn very easily coz of all the playing i did in school in 10th (once bought a new pair of shoes and socks each on two consecutive days, as a result of holes caused by friction in the same), and during this playing, i would have plenty of accidents resulting in broken specs. but my situation improved much in 11th, 12th and 1st prof. but recently, at pulse (september), i collided with an aamir khan poster twice, resulting in broken specs… then bought an emergency pair from south ex, which i recently (last saturday) broke again while combing my hair. so bought this cool new pair (cool only in my opinion… rest find it just ok) which reminds me of female lawyers in hollywood movies.

paulo coelho: this guy has some level… if you know what i mean… a very unpervert way of handling issues which have the potential of getting very pervert (read eleven minutes). and his books are quite readable despite the fact that they handle pretty serious and boring philosophies. but there is a catch… he makes statements and assuming those statements to be true creates FICTIONAL stories and uses these stories to prove his statements… something of the nature of gone with the wind, only more outrageous, as gone with the wind is meant to be an all out entertainer, you can believe margaret mitchell temporarily to enjoy her book… but his opinions are meant to seriously influence your thinking, for life. one of my not very fav authors.

ayn rand: i am somewhat partial towards her… am quite a big fan actually, though yes, her style of writing is, technically of the same nature as coelho. but one, her stuff is not based on mysticism which renders coelho’s stories even more unbelievable. and two, she clarified from the first moment that her main aim is to write fictional stories, and it SO happens that her fictional world is based on objectivism, which she believes to be true. and frankly, its a very simplified way of thinking and hence very very attractive.

robin sharma: yuck! yuck! pick up a moral science book and compile the last line morals in paragraph form. thats robin sharma for you.

jk rowling: i not necessarily buy her brand of love being the biggest power… blah blah. coz its too abstract. though that does not mean i believe her to be untrue. but god, her brand of fiction is awesome.

jrr tolkein: the intricacies in his stories are so much richer than jk rowling’s! however, i wouldnt say i prefer one over the other… though maybe i prefer rowling. coz her books are easier to read… bigger print, you see.

meg cabot: my fav author of silly love stories…

helen fielding: lets not even get into bridget jones. the most outstanding work of humour imaginable.

rl stine: i still love him. the books i read a few years back still haunt me… i dont so much enjoy stories based in shadyside and fear street… i like the other horror stories, based in ancient times, and victorian era etc…

chetan bhagat: ahem! let me tell you one thing about him, he has NO idea what female psychology is like. and when he’s in uncomfortable positions, like when he has to put in some A scene in his books, he very conveniently shifts the responsibility of taking the initiative to the female (whom he does not understand at all) from the male (whom he does understand, but still since the situations are so abrupt, he cant imagine how even a male would take proper initiative). so all her female characters are despo max, and the males are poor dumbo pigs, just being led by others…

khaled hosseini: god banda hai. amazingly poignant stories. no comments. i salute him.

i wrote this following thing in don’s lecture… something like the lyrics of an introduction to our band “a geeky redemption”. dun think its very good… but still.

up and down round about walking away in a mindless state
unperceiving, unabsorbing, unknowing, but every day
you could say soulless aye, but always in that trained way
they go forth and on they go but humans? machines nay
giving in to the whims of convenience losing it all in the long run
zooming out to the zero space, complex matrices they do shun
monotony of briefcases, big cars, luxuries and a life a big pun
break out to colour your soul, erase the greys to get redemption

i dont feel like blogging much these days. feel ultra lazy… like all i want to do is curl up with a silly love story on a bean bag couch and read/sleep. whatever. though the past few days havent been monotonous, though not necessarily in a nice way. kanwar, a classmate of mine, had a major accident while on way to college on his bike, and got a subdural haematoma, lots of fractures on his face, and right optic nerve compression. he’s recovering now…

then we had polio duty (Sunday-Tuesday). my team covered around 340 houses, though not as religiously as we had done last time in Feb. as in, in urban areas, the awareness levels are real high and by the time the child is 5 years old, they have administered polio drops a million times. its different in case of slums and rural areas… so you dont feel that driven while doing duties in urban colonies. i kinda wanted to taste the drops, but didnt… the vaccine is really chilly, and i think it should be tasty. next time i will. and we earnt 245 bucks each. which is great. my third salary (first was in a school fete, second in the last polio duty).

and, i think i have stretched by a further 1 cm (height-wise). which is ok in a nice way. and the other day, we went to pgi, as guinea pigs in some pgi’s student’s research on college students related to bone mineral density (bmd) and vit D levels. my bmd turned out to be + 1.18 SD. which is like… cool!!! its more than most ppl in my batch, including the men (poor dixo ).

and i am feeling kind of nice, after blogging now. i’ll try to be more regular.