Saturday, December 31, 2011

-

It's been quite some time since I last blogged. I did want to do a couple of posts on the times I spent in Goa, but I'll save it for later. For now, I just want to wish everyone a Happy New Year ahead.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Coffee chronicles

"A lot can happen over a cup of coffee", as the tag line of a Coffee shop goes.

A cup of coffee is what my day begins with.(though I often end up sleeping a bit after that first cup of coffee:) ).

It's coffee that got me reacquainted with PM. It was over a cup of coffee that my friend L and I caught up with each other. Coffee was the excuse for a conversation with a certain friend,MK. And the list goes on.

Some of my coffee-related memories:

- I dragged my best friend M to the Saravana Bhavan near the place where we used to live. It was an year after the two of us had quit Chennai. But, the reason I dragged her there wasn't to catch up with her (I'd done a lot of that, and could continue any time!). It was to meet KR, her school senior. I remember how we'd met at a quiz, where I'd gone as a representative of my school, and there was M, from hers. And then, there was KR. We had a brief conversation (for which M later blasted me asking how I could agree with him, not her (oh, KR and I seemed to share similar tastes, you know;), and for saying 'yes' right before him when she asked if I actually thought he looked good :P) Anyway, we were in touch, KR & I, and it was to say hi to him that I made M come along. And during the half-hour we spent there, I focused only on my coffee, and let M make conversation with KR(whom she hadn't seen in two years!), and his friend (whom we'd never met)...

- I remember having coffee with my school friend V. And with another friend K.

- There was the cold coffee my friend RS and I had at a CCD in B'lore. I did have a bad cold, but the coffee had "Spain" in its name. And it being the WC time, and Spain being the team I was rooting for, there was no way I could say no to it :)

- It was at yet another CCD that I met my friend S after one year, and it was great catching up with her, and building castles in the air about visiting Spain and the Santiago Bernabeu and Camp Nou. :) Talking of S, she was one hell of a roomie to have, and what with similar outlooks, and sharing an interest in the same things, plus wanting to watch football matches, we did have a great time together. Or at least, I did, thanks to her. Dhonnobaad, S ;)

- I remember hesitating to ask PM if we could meet for coffee - I even remember asking my friends for advice :) And in the end, we did meet for some coffee. And snacks :) Since then, I've come to know him so much better. It was he who told me about the coffee at Udipi, which we finally got to have.

- Speaking of Udipi, I seem to have become a regular haunter of the place - I walk towards the bus-stop after my music class, and if there isn't a bus the moment I reach, my feet end up automatically crossing the road (and taking me along), to stop for a cup of coffee :) I seem to be going there either before or after almost each time I go for my music class.

- There was the time when my friend SS and I tried out this new restaurant Chapattos; along with a friend of hers. I did like the coffee there, though the eating experience turned out to be a disaster.

- I had some lovely times with my frie nds SS and AS, when they'd come and wait for me to come from my music class, and we'd go and have chocolate tart balls followed by coffee, and then sitting on the steps near the shop and watching the roads while discussing a lot of things.

- It was when I was with the aforementioned friend MK when I suddenly popped the question, and he said "yes". But before your imagination goes into overdrive, let me clarify that my question was, "Would you like to have some coffee?" That we ended up discussing weddings was a different thing altogether :P

There are so many moments more, but I'll end this here. And go hunting for a cup of coffee :)

Adios!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Tales of travels, tales of dreams, tales of other things in between*


I think I've been somewhere out of the city, at least ten out of the twelve months.

- A very brief visit to Chennai in January.

- A vacation in Yercaud with family. While returning, we stopped at Salem, and made a brief visit to Namakkal as well. I'd eaten lightly at Yercaud, as we'd be climbing down the mountain, and was quite hungry by the time we reached Salem for lunch. And we went to this place where we had unlimited meals. Now, what's the point of having unlimited meals if you're going to have just one spoonful of rice, I ask. To do justice to the food, I continued to have my fill even as people waited for me to finish, so they could eat. I finally did finish my lunch and come out. My brother's first question to me was, “You said the car-ride would make you nauseous. Is this what is called nauseous?” And then he said that I'd been eating as if I'd not eaten in the past few years. He called it the 'meal of my life”. Even now, he asks me if anything could compare to the 'Salem saapaadu', in my opinion.
- My friend's sister got married in May, and I had an awesome trip there with some other friends. The onward train journey was comfortable enough for me, given that I took up the seat I'd reserved. Plus, I had my sandwiches and my music. I can't say the same about my friends, though. When I took a walk through the compartment, I found them sitting at the edge of the seat, in Swades Sharh Rukh style:) (One of my friends knew for certain then that I was crazy, as no sane person would go for a “walk” through a place so crammed with people that you can't lift your foot and put it down without hitting at least three people in the process!). Then there was the taxi ride to our accomodation, followed by, what else, but a good dinner. It was fun walking back late at night, and cracking jokes. The chronicles of courage-part 1 also happened there. I had a good time during the trip, right till the food at the Sec'bad station and coming home to a good cold bath and a hot lunch! :P
- Then there was the Chennai-Bangalore trip, which by now seems to have become an annual affair :) For a change, I did a lot of walking during my time in Chennai. I visited the museum at Egmore. (I asked someone near the museum, “Museum yenga irukku?”, and he told me “Go further on this road, and you'll be able to see the buildings to your right”. In English. When I asked him in Tamil (or Tanglish, to be more precise)!!!) I finally got to take a look at the Connemara library. I then had lunch at Ashoka hotel, as per my brother's instructions. And I had fun eating by myself. The waiter at my table also spoke to me in English. Even when I spoke to him in Tamil. All this just because I was wearing jeans? & my shoes. (Don't even ask me about them. They're white. And Pink. P-i-n-k!!! There were no blue ones in the model I wanted, and there were these awesome black&green shoes that I kept staring at, till the shopkeeper told me they were men's shoes. Why do men get such great options, while I'm stuck with pink???) I also went to Mahabalipuram with a friend. (And had awesome ghee roast at the Adyar Hot Chips near IIT :P)
- October found me taking a very short weekend trip to Mumbai. October being a very good month, especially one particular day in the second half of the month, it was also the occasion where my brother's marriage got fixed. :)
- November found me making the next trip to Mumbai for the engagement. I also got to experience the Mumbai local trains I'd read and heard so much about (in fact, we even took the first train starting at 4:00 a.m.!), visited the Gatrway of India, Marine Drive and had a quick ride around, as there was not much time left. - One thing that left an inedible mark on my memory was the idli fry I had :D
It's now December. The year is coming to an end. I have my next trip planned. And am keeping my fingers crossed and praying that all goes well.

Talking of all this, I must definitely make a mention of PM, whose love for travel is making me do my bit towards realizing my own travel dreams. Thanks, PM. :) Maybe I'll do a post about it some other time. Meanwhile, you can learn about his travels here. I think I should just mention that PM will soon be visitng Egypt, one of my dream destinations. There. A line about one of my dreams, just to justify the title of the post. Will do a longer post on my dreams some other time.

And I don't know if you've noticed it, but Food is one of the biggest loves of my life. That's why there seem to be so many food details in this post.

Until the next post!

Bon appetit, folks :)

* - This is the result of listening to “Enter Sandman” as a bedtime song :)

Monday, December 12, 2011

:)


Wow!!! I can play my guitar in the dark!!!

There was a power cut, but I could still play a song on my guitar :D Never mind that it was not a very tough song to play, but then, I'm not an expert yet. I still know only a few basic chords. And this was my first song with more than 3 chords. Needless to say, I'm pleased. No, make that extremely pleased. :)

Can't say the same about my family members who bore the brunt of my (un)musical strumming, though... Like they say, one man's meat is another's poison. And like I said, one man's music is another's noise. (This line had my brother teasing me endlessly, till he found another topic to tease me with (mercifully), and led another friend to say that I should have been a philosopher :P )

And yeah, one of my friends (who himself happens to be a musician) told me that I should actually play the guitar and record my version of WTKKD and upload it. Imagine that!!! I think I should ask him not to put such wacky ideas in my head. I know what happened the last time I got some such thing into my brain - Bong boy's words led to my recording those Bong songs (and providing free (wholesome) entertainment to everyone who came into contact with those recordings).

Anyway, I shan't be doing it at the moment. So rest in peace. For now!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

WTKKD?

Now that the question in the air seems to be "Why this kolaveri, kolaveri, di?", I think it's high time I posted my version of it :D

Hopefully, I don't get asked "WTKKD", after this post :)

So, here goes :

Why this kolaveri, kolaveri, da?
Why this kolaveri, kolaveri, da?
Gelf-la one boy-u, boy-u,
boy-u skin-u brown-u,
now I say hi-u, hi-u,
boy nethila frown-u

Why this kolaveri, kolaveri, da?
Why this kolaveri, kolaveri, da?
Boy romba nice-u, nice-u,
I gave him my heart-u,
boy got-u bored-u,bored-u,
he broke my heart-u,
God I am dying now-u,
he is smiling how-u

Why this kolaveri, kolaveri, da?
Why this kolaveri, kolaveri, da?
Why this kolaveri, kolaveri, da?
Why this kolaveri, kolaveri, da?



No wonder I'm an expert at mokkai-putting :P


(Please save your bricks for later - I'll inform you when I start building my house, the bricks would be welcome then!)


The playlist - part 1

"With so many roads that seem to lead down to the sea,
I wonder which road will be the right one for me."

So much I wish to do, but can't...

Here's one of my lists (incomplete) - a list of songs I hope someday to be able to play :

Comfortably numb : That "hello". And those beats. If only I could play them. The guitar bits, I wouldn't mind being able to play. (And hopefully, I'll be able to, soon!) But oh, those beats... They make me almost ecstatic...

Stairway to heaven : Again, I'd love to be able to play the beats. The guitar parts, yeah, but oh, those beats... Heaven, indeed!

November rain  : The awesome beats at the beginning. And then, the bit after "I feel the same"... and the rest :P God, how I wish I could play those beats... (I think I can, but then, you never know till you've actually done it!)

Us and them : Don't even get me started... Let me continue my dreaming...

Patience : The whistle! I'll master it someday. I thought I'd got half of it right, but unfortunately, I got only parts of it right. The rest sounds ok in my mind, but only air comes out of my lips, not the beautiful sound playing in my mind. Sigh!

Dust in the wind : The guitar... and maybe the violin... (even though I'm not normally a violin fan)

The final cut : If only I could sing it with just that one bit of emotion!

Nothing else matters : The beats, yet again!

Solitude : Those chords! Hopefully, I should be able to play it soon.

You and I will meet again : The beats. And the guitar parts as well. The singing I'm managing pretty well, thank you.

Roll another joint : That enticing drumming! It makes me feel energetic each time I listen to it :)

Pale blue eyes : The guitaring, of course!

Little by little : Do I even need to say?

Answer lies within : For once, I really loved the sound of a piano! Maybe I could learn this one song on it :)

O mon : Now, what's a Bong song doing in here, you might wonder. I just can't get that guitar solo out of my mind...




Don't give up (you are loved) : The beats, yet again...

Oh, there's so much left!!! I'll continue the list again when I can...

(P.S. : This is a very personal list of my personal preferences. And, yeah, I love percussion, in case you haven't noticed it yet... Am also hoping to graduate to a bass guitar soon! Ah, what a pleasant picture that is!!!)

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Letdown

Total letdown...

What's the matter with you, RM? 

Just because I was too sleepy to watch the match live doesn't mean you should lose. As if not getting Ten Action Plus wasn't enough, live streaming online also doesn't seem to be working for me. I thought you'd win, as I wasn't there to distract you. And what do you do???? The figures 1-3 did seem to come to me when I was asleep, but being the loyal fan that I am, I thought it'd be in your favour. I woke up early, and first thing I did was check the score. 1-3. There it was. But in favour of Barca. So much for my faith in you. Losing a home match, at that. 

I seriously wonder what's happening to you. Last time round too, you disappointed me. So, you won the Copa Del Rey. Ok, fine. But then, what happened in the CL and La Liga clashes? 

You still have one match left, and though I hope that you do get back to the top of the table, I can't be sure. When Barca could lose to Getafe, anything is possible. I can only hope. And pray that my faith in you isn't misplaced.

G, your Barca seem to be getting the better of my RM. Get back to being the RM supporter that you were. You can still admire your Messi's magic. And Xavi and Iniesta. Meanwhile, I'd also like to know you're a fellow supporter. And maybe your support could make a difference! ;)

Ok, winning and losing are part of the game. Accepted. But would you please win against Barca next time? Lose to someone else, if you must. (This doesn't mean you should lose to Sevilla, mind you!)

And since I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for the next match against Sevilla, I can't type any more :P

Adios!

Buena suerte, Madrid. 

Friday, December 9, 2011

Of ceremonies attended (and missed)

I'm finally feeling human again...

Missed attending a wedding reception, thanks to a fever... My friend reminded me that there was a high probability of many Bong boys being there, and thanks to his hype, I ended up feeling I'd missed something indeed :)

Didn't miss my brother's engagement, though :P Wouldn't have missed it for the world! And couldn't have, either... Anyway, the point is, it happened, and I was there. And yeah, the food was awesome.

My brother was really curious about one thing : how did I avoid the dishes containing curd? (this issue has often raised doubts on my tam-brahmness, but since there are a couple of relatives who don't take curd either, it doesn't really bother me). So, to let out a closely guarded secret, I lay emphasis on the seating arrangement... I take utmost care not to sit in any of the corner seats. If you're anywhere else, you can see what's being served, so you have sufficient time to raise your hand and put it forward the moment they come to serve you something you don't want :) Machiavellian planning, no?

And then, sometime ago, went to attend a certain ceremony early on a Sunday morning (I came to know about it only on Saturday - what with living a life split between campus and home, I end up not knowing what is happening at either place! "Somehow I'm neither here nor there", as the song goes). And guess what? One of the vathiyars was like Bong Boy (introduced here )

That's the roundup for now...

And hopefully, I'll finish this other post, and then start the post whose title I've been threatening people with, on my Gtalk status!

Until then, thank God for little mercies (like the posts not being complete yet). Or if you're an atheist, then thank whoever you thank for little mercies...

Oops, there I go rambling again... Better I leave now... (and sleep off the effects of the cough syrup - I feel like I haven't woken up properly in many days!)

p.s. : I've been reading this blog. That might explain things a bit.

p.p.s. : gosh, yet another TT title! I do seem to have a knack for them!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Miss you, MB

So today I slept late. Actually I did wake up. At 7:30. Again at 8:30. Then again at 9:30,11:30... And finally, around 11:45, I formally declared my day begun. (or should it be as begun?) The times between the wakings up were filled with contemplation on one of the most crucial questions of life : "what should I eat?". It being too late to go to the mess for breakfast, I quickly thought of the other options available. Then finally I decided that I'd get up in just a few minutes and have a light breakfast, and do justice to lunch. That was my plan. But, alas, I ended up waking up too late for even brunch, so lunch it was. RIP, my missed breakfast, I really miss you.

I've been enjoying reading this blog , going through the archives. And I was glad I was Tamilian, as I could follow his posts. Awesome stuff.

(P.S.:MB=Missed Breakfast. Not that MB, my first crush ;) )

Monday, December 5, 2011

A request

Another post in the works, should be done soon, hopefully...

Keep waiting, folks...

Meanwhile, yours truly would be extremely happy & grateful to you if you did give some feedback and leave your comments here, so that she can recall who liked what and who trashed what, when she sometimes goes back and reads her earlier posts.

Thanks!

Rants again

Who is the South Indian man? Why is a lungi funny? "The lungi is definitely the most fascinating aspect of his identity. Whether it is pulled up or down, it is a sure shot to get the audiences to laugh." If the lungi were so comic, we'd be half a nation of comedians. 

South Indianmainly means Tamil, little bit Malayalam, kindabutnotreally Telugu and a lolzurnotreallySouthIndianbutwhatevs amountof Kannadiga. From here

Yes, thank you, I can take a joke on myself, and I love humour. But only when it actually is funny. And to me, there is nothing funny about being South Indian. Maybe some of my beliefs or habits are funny, maybe some of the things I do. Laugh your heart out at that, and let me in on the joke too. But then....

Well, I have seen how people wear ridiculous costumes and pout trash, all in the guise of comedy. Some jokes work only once, even then with great difficulty. It isn't everyone who can crack jokes that don't lose their essence even after repeated use. Well, laughter isn't laughter when it has to be forced. And if I am to go by Bollywood movie trends, I see only a bleak future. I don't want to waste even a picosecond on the trash churned out under the label of comedy. Sorry to offend those among you who enjoy them, but I personally wish there were a safe haven for me to escape into, so that I can avoid being sullied by them. (Maybe my threshold has gone really low or something, but these days, just the mere mention of 'comedy' and especially 'Bollywood' in the same sentence makes me run for cover. At least in the case of Kollywood I know what to expect...)

Anyway, I don't even wish to contemplate further on this. I have better ways of spending my time. 

(Many thanks to my experiences with so-called humour for leaving me with a bad taste in my mouth)