Diwali Celebrations, and how?

It was the Saturday before Diwali, so there had to be a thousand parties being thrown across the city. For a change, we happened to have a personal invitation to one such card party at a friend's place. Little did I know it would turn into an all-night affair.

So this party's being held in a nice big house in Defence Colony. We park the car and enter the courtyard of the house to find caterers dishing out some awesome-looking food at break-neck speed. Intrigued, we enter the house, to be taken up the beautifully lit up stairs by the gracious host to the party floor. And by God what an ambience. The table bang in front of the entrance stands brimming with drinks of all hues and tastes. Food, as I mentioned above, keeps coming in, in what seems similar to truckloads. The whole house is dimly lit, and for a change, little kids are not to be seen running around toppling over stuff. Some nice party that. Not that I really have much to drink or eat at such parties though.


We sit for a while and chitchat, and then get up to take a tour of the house. We find cards being played with full gusto in two separate rooms. Why two different rooms, I wonder. And then the difference makes itself known. In one of the rooms, with a proper table laid out for the serious players, games are being played at high stakes. Stark silence envelops the players as they cast sidelong glances at each other and look at the cards in their hands with smug expressions. An insane amount of money lay piled carelessly in the center, in no hurry to be won over by any of the gamblers. It totally freaks me out. I quickly make an exit.

The next room I visit has a more casual setting. A bed surrounded by comfy chairs and sofas with mostly ladies occupying them and sounds of laughter and fun talk filling the room. Oh yes, not to forget, small-stake card games and food and drink to accompany. I have finally found my place in the house. I sit down and observe. Oh, did I forget to mention, I don't play? Well yeah, I don't. Not that I am averse to it - it sure is a fun game if played on occasion under control. Just that I was never much into it. So I sit and have fun observing the game dominated by lady players, gossiping, eating, helping the erstwhile non-players, all the while dealing cards and losing/gaining money. Light music completes the ambience of the room. And I forget to look at the time.

Only to realize after a while that it is way past one thirty a.m. Slowly and steadily people start streaming into the dinner room to feed themselves, in order to gear up for another round of cards. God, how excited can people get about their gambling! It really is a new concept to me. Anyway, I finish up eating as people are taking their second helpings, and visit the washroom to look into the mirror. Yes, I'm looking beautiful tonight. And that's all that matters for now. I don't play, don't drink, don't eat much either, so might as well satisfy myself with looking good if I'm at a party.

As the food goes down people's food pipes, they get chatty. And my mother kinda mentions to someone that I sing. That is all that is needed. I am asked, rather forced, to sing for the gathering. Now that is certainly embarrassing, to put it in really subtle words. There's only one word written all over the walls of my Hypothalamus and Cerebrum - F. But man do I suddenly turn into my super confident self. My music does that to me - it brings me confidence, enough to be able to sing in front of a gathering of twenty, or for that matter, a hundred. And so I sing. Only to be hounded by encore requests. I sing another number. Then someone else sings, only to be followed by me again. And yes, a decent amount of appreciation follows. I get tired, and I suppose so do the audience, thankfully. And so the mehfil disperses as people slowly start turning back to their card tables for some real action games now. Few people start to leave. So do we. It's already nearing three a.m. We say our bye-byes and tatas and leave with this cute box of awesome dark chocolates as a gift. As I return to my abode in the car, I surmise - not a very bad way to spend an evening (okay, night) during the festive season, is it? I did have lot of fun. And that's all that matters, right? Well, I become happy. And I decide to write about it. Not in such a boring way as I just did, but well...I did write!

So, mi amigos, I'll take your leave here, with heartfelt wishes for a prosperous Dhanteras (it's today!!) and a great and harmless Diwali. Stay safe, stay blessed! :)

Missing in Action..!

Aren't you guys really fed up of my frequent apologies for being MIA for long durations? For the record, I sure am. It's kinda frustrating when you want to write but cannot find the time or the inspiration to do so. Now you'd say that I could write about anything if I really wanted to. But you wouldn't surely want to read random stuff about daily happenings in the life of a person as boring as I feel I am becoming these days. Or maybe you just might. But then again, the time factor also has its role to play. Anyway, here I am now. And here's to my readers to whom I promised I'll try to write twice a week - I trust you'll bear with me during all such dry spells and the upcoming exam week as well. :)

It's the weekend before Diwali. And this time round, my mid-semester exams have chosen to coincide with the post-Diwali week. Trust me, it's nothing short of a complete disaster that I foresee. What with my backache issue springing up yet again, I've been missing college and classes more than ever now. I wouldn't say I don't love doing that *smug grin* but on a serious note, I am near about clueless as to how I'll manage to get past this wall of exams that awaits me on the other side of this festive week.
Guess I'm gonna have to work real hard this time. As in REAL HARD. Anyhow, that's one hell of a boring topic I've started my discourse upon. Let's cut it short to two words - I'm screwed.

Moving on to more interesting stuff, it's three days to Diwali. Not that I'm particularly excited, as it is just another of the many festivals that we Indians celebrate, and the festivity shall pass soon, with all that is left behind, being exams. Oops, I got carried away again! So, as is NOT the custom for me, but rather a passing fad, I'm gonna try my hand at making a rangoli again this Diwali. Let's have a look at what I managed to pull off three years ago during another of those passing fads.

Not all that bad, eh? I'll post a shot of the one I make this time for sure.

Okay now onto one of my recently-developed obsessions - eyes. I have this thing for observing people's eyes. I mentally chronicle all the different kinds of eye colors and sizes that I come across. No, I don't wish to sound like a monster with a certain liking for eyes as food. It's just an obsession. My own pair is a hazel brown, and even though it is considered to be a good eye color, I somehow feel every second person in the world has brown eyes. Jet black ones are still difficult to find. And then those exotic colors like blue, grey or green. They're, as I said, exotic. Then there are so many different sizes they come in. My own bestie Rose is a Bong, with those characteristic huge expressive eyes that always make me wonder. Plus there's this particular set of eyes (or should I say no-eyes) that have caught my fantasy these days. Mainly because they reduce to mere slits and you can't see them when this certain person laughs, or so much as even smiles. It's cute, it's hilarious, but then again, it's real cute. :D

It's funny how I don't have anything to write for so long, and then when I finally sit down to write random stuff, I suddenly have so much to say that I run out of time and space. So enough of my blabbering for today. I'll just bid adieu with a promise to return with an interesting post tomorrow.

Buen día mis amigos!

(P.S. That stems from my current tryst with learning a little bit of Spanish. Google Translate all the way!)

Call me Particular if you may!

I've been itching to write on this particular topic for a very long time. Which topic? And why particularly this topic? Well, the answer lies in the question itself. Particularity. I am very particular about some things in life. Very, as in VERY particular. Some of the things that might even make me come across as a freak to some. Just felt like writing all this down today. I don't force you to read anyway. Read if you have enough time to throw away.

1. The K Syndrome

People have this extremely annoying tendency to use "k" very frequently. Be it in text messages or on chat, the K syndrome is just plain frustrating. Add to it the SMS lingo that has been trending for the last few years. No words could possibly bring out my true hatred for it. People use it with such confidence and pride that it makes me wonder what's there to be so happy about in using such insanely shortened words? Isn't it really a mask to hide your poor spellings? And there is no consistency even in the kind of abbreviations people nowadays tend to employ. I mean, okay, abbreviations can still be justified if you don't like to type a lot. But how can you justify using mah for my? What kind of abbreviation technique is THAT?

I don't mean to offend anybody, especially none of those who are reading this right now. But It's just a personal fixation. Even I have used this SMS lingo earlier, I admit, but never shortened words more than where necessary, and then gradually left it completely. Kindly excuse me if I sound bigoted.

2. Murder of Grammar

I am very particular about the correct usage of language, be it English or for that matter Hindi or any other languages I may know. It just doesn't escape my notice if a person in front of me makes even a single trivial mistake in spoken or written language. And no, I don't embarrass people by pointing it out or correcting them publicly. That is just not me. But I feel weird inside. Not irritated as such, if the mistakes are genuine or sometimes innocent. But if you don't care to actually know the language and still love to use it, well, I don't have the right words for you. Just that, it's nothing short of purposeful murder that you're committing. Murder of language, of grammar, of my patience, and of your impression on me.

3. Value of Commitment

I value commitment. And I value people who value their commitments. I respect such people a lot. The whole point of 'committing' to something or someone is to actually carry out what you promise. If you can't, or don't really plan to do something, then why pray commit? Just to appear nice or give out a 'cool' impression? It doesn't work, at least not with me. I don't promise anything to anyone unless and until I know I shall do it. And if I do commit, I fulfill my promises to my best ability. Just another personal fixation you can say.

4. Over-Familiar People

People sometimes try to be overtly familiar or friendly towards yours truly. And to put it very subtly, I DON'T LIKE IT. I say, why pretend to be my best friend if you're really not? You don't even know me as much as you think. And here's the catch - I wouldn't mind it so much if it were to be just about a few friends. But it happens a lot nowadays! It's insane. I am not an unfriendly person, and you would know that well. But come on, isn't a person entitled to some unbreached privacy?

5. Save the Environment

I am one hell of a freak when it comes to pro-nature activities. I switch off the lights and close the taps when they're not needed. I NEVER throw stuff on the roadsides or the wrong places. If you don't like littered environs then why litter them at all? But folks just don't realize this. Even as a kid I used to keep toffee wrappers and other such stuff in my bag to throw them as and when I spotted a dustbin. And I do that till date. I even refrain my friends from doing such acts when around me - I take their wrappers away too. Little acts that go a long way in saving the environment, and making me feel good, inside.

6. Gifting Etiquette

People should really think ten times before gifting anyone anything. Are recycled show pieces and deodorants worthy enough to be gifted to friends or relatives? Weren't gifts originally meant to show appreciation for some act, or love or liking for someone? I always thought they were. Heaven knows why people don't realize that it isn't necessary to complete the formality of giving presents on birthdays and special days! Unless you really put some thought or effort in procuring the right gift for someone, the practice of exchanging presents is futile. I personally like to hand-pick presents for my loved ones. And no matter how weird or nonsensical a gift might be, I don't recycle my gifts. I like to keep them close.

7. Spreading smiles

I love to smile. Actually, the tooth-baring smile is more my thing. And I make it a point to smile at people as much as I can. Although I'm not a saint - I do not usually smile at people who are openly hostile towards me. No, wait, I sometimes even do that. But I'm working on it. There shall certainly be a day when all you can ever find me doing is smile - when I'm happy, sad, angry, frustrated, anything! How I'd love to do that - it'll surely spread a lot of goodwill in my vicinity. And I believe people look their best when they're smiling. And they stay healthier if they're happy. So for a beautiful and healthy society, I suggest everyone to smile more, and shun anger and sadness. They never pay, but happiness does, in more ways than you can fathom!

See - a picture is worth a thousand words indeed. You stand out in a crowd of random people if a smile adorns your lips. Time to take the cue, and SMILE! :)

I miss those days..!

I miss those days when Classic Cartoon Network and Discovery Channel used to play all the time on our 14-inch TV sets. My holiday schedule comprised of watching Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones, Dexter's Laboratory, Powerpuff Girls, I R Weasel and Mystery Hunters, with some holiday homework and outdoor play thrown in here and there. Living in a joint family meant spending whole days playing Ghar-ghar indoors, Gallery on the terrace or Hide and seek in the street. I would go upstairs to my cousin's place to sit there chatting for hours or watching TV, until Dad called for the tenth time for me to come down and have lunch. That's when a frantic search for my slippers would begin in every nook and cranny of the house. Only to realise after 10 minutes of mad searching that I hadn't been wearing them when I came! My cousins still tease me over that. I miss those days.

Holidays homework meant reading novels prescribed by school teachers and writing their reviews, searching for stuff (not on the internet) to help write essays on disgusting topics, making simple science models with my own hands (never took anybody's help) and cutting up newspapers and charts to fill scrapbooks. I almost always failed to finish my homework by the last day of the vacations. And yet, I always managed to save myself from scoldings at school. I was a smart kid.

April Fools' Day would have us wondering how to and whom to fool. And we'd end up trying to make a fool of each other by shouting out things like "look, your brain's lying on the ground!" Once, though, we came up with this brilliant idea. We called 161 from the landline phone, which immediately resulted in a call back on the same phone. And we picked it up and called out to mom that it was for her. She came and took it from us, only to be faced by the dial tone. And we shouted, April Fool banaya! And then got scolded for disturbing her like that. Yeah, that was the kind of April fools we made.

Relaxing for me usually meant listening to the radio. Or if we go back a little more to the time when I was a little child, I would listen to my Dad's collection of pop music of his time - MJ's Thriller, Abba, Boney M, and the lot. Hindi music included the legendary Mohd. Rafi and Kishore Kumar's hits, that too on cassettes.

Weekends were family's days out. We would sometimes dine out at Dilli Haat or Udipi Restaurant with masi's family. Or have full fledged family get-togethers at India Gate, complete with awesome food, ice-cream and boating on the lake. Or visit friends and family.

That's me, my elder sister and Mom on a trip to some hill station. I was maybe 6 or 7.

Festivals were another whole lot of fun. Holi would ideally involve bombing people with water-filled balloons, but we usually were too timid to risk a stranger's wrath. So we would just hang out in the balcony, choosing targets and having fun but seldom ever firing. Diwali would involve bursting crackers with my same-age cousin brother. We didn't burst the bigger, louder kind of crackers, but our respective sisters still always cowered in a corner with fingers tightly plugged into their ears. This would be followed by a family dinner and sometimes a card party. Those were the best days of my life, indeed.

But now the times have changed. Completely.

Kids watch Ben-10, Phineas and Ferb and Sesame Street. Holidays homework is commissioned to professionals in exchange for what I deem to be an obscene amount of money. Kids seldom even know what lies in their homework books. They have coaching classes for every single subject, right from class I.

Come April Fools' Day and the internet serves up a zillion different choices of ways for people to fool other people. No need to use your grey cells and come up with ingenious ideas yourself. What will Google do if we started applying our own brains? Same goes for everything else. You want anything, right from the lyrics of a song to the song itself or even whole movies in different qualities of print, and you will find it on the www. Life seems easy, right? Alas, it was easier back then. And simpler.

Weekends now mean lazing around at home, sleeping in, watching award shows and movies on huge LCDs, and ordering in food. Weekend family outings are becoming a rarity. We tend to hang out with our friends more. We see much less of our cousins living in the same house now. But I still crave for those outings with Mom and Dad. I still get all excited at the idea of an outdoor trip with my family like olden times. Festivals are celebrated at my place with much less fervour than before. Yet, we try to have as much fun with each other as we can on such days.

I sometimes wonder if it is just I who is so trapped inside her happy bubble that she isn't comfortable conforming to the changes happening around her. Or has the world become too different a place for a person like me to have a satisfactory existence? I do not have the answers. But I miss those days...a lot.

P.S. This post was posted after zero editing. It went up as it came. And all through the process, the one song that was playing in my mind was Bryan Adams' Summer of 69.