Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Things I wish people would do #1

I wish people learn to turn off switches when they aren't using them. Like, when you remove a charger from the plug, or when you remove your phone from a charger, please spare a few seconds and put the switch off.

Phoneless no more

Last night, I happened to follow HG's advice regarding my phone. I removed the battery and kept it out for a while, and when I put it back, wonder of wonders, my phone came alive!!!

I'd tried the same thing on Saturday evening too, but the resuscitation attempt was a failure. Similar results on Sunday and Monday. And on Tuesday??? Suddenly it worked.

So, mark the sequence. Phone dies Saturday evening. Comes back to life Tuesday evening.  Reminds me of a certain Someone ;) (No offence meant)

Adieu, my phoneless days...

( for tho' the lips may bid adieu,
I cannot think the thing farewell)

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

The diagnosis

I was woken up early on Saturday morning, by the feeling that there was something wrong. And what do I see? Water, water, everywhere, like the Ancient Mariner. Water under my right hand, water around my feet... Even on the hem of my dress. I discovered that the reason behind the sudden flood was my beloved blue-bottle (err, my water bottle, actually, which happens to be blue in colour), my constant companion; which I had omitted to close properly in my sleep.
It was with a jolt that I remembered that I'd kept my mobile right next to my bottle, but thankfully, it didn't seem to have been affected. Or so it seemed at that time.

Anyway, I went back to sleep and woke up much later. Oh, correction. Was woken up, actually. With a cup of steaming coffee. So, the day was off to a good start and progressed well.

Fast forward to the evening. I felt music-starved - I hadn't listened to my music collection in almost 5 days! What with both my earphones having become articles of decoration, and the presence of other people providing a not-so-conducive atmosphere for my musical tastes, I had been forced to listen to the songs only in my mind.

And yeah, I'd just taken my books out, so naturally I just needed some music. I find that singing along makes me enjoy my studies more. (The flipside being that, at times, like during my Class 12 boards, I started needing music to get started on answering the questions.)

Song 1 went smoothly. So did song 2. And just as I was screaming my lungs out halfway through song 3, kaput. My phone just blinked and went to sleep. And my efforts to bring it back to life went in vain.

A phone-less Sunday was followed by a phone-less Monday, which found me finally taking my phone out to do a post-mortem on my phone. I did have to walk around a bit, but finally, this salesperson in a shop took the phone from me and opened it. He then told me the battery had no charge in it, I told him I'd tried to charge it, but it wasn't getting charged. So, Mr. Salesman took the battery out and licked it and told me, "The battery is dead. You need to replace it." I thanked him, and took the phone and walked out. What else can you do when faced with the proof in the form of the results of rigourous testing (err, should I say tasting)?

I was supposed to get the battery replaced today, but due to unforeseen circumstances, that (happy?) event has been put off, and I remain phone-less. I had to borrow the phones of a couple of people to make a few calls home. Asking my friend to lend me his phone for a few minutes was somewhat easy. But I was forced to ask a couple of people I wasn't familiar with, and oh my! This first girl I asked simply refused without even bothering to hear me out. I had a hard time convincing this other girl to lend me her phone for a minute, as I told her it was an emergency. Thankfully, she obliged me after a few minutes, and I thanked her and left. My! What a harrowing experience!

Anyway, a friend has kindly offered me temporary use of his old mobile, but I'm yet to collect it from him. For the moment, and for a bit of the immediate future, I remain phone-less. And extremely happy :)

It's time I went to see if I can borrow someone else's phone till my friend lends me his :) Adios,folks...

(P.S. 'The Final Diagnosis' is one of the best books I've ever read, and it's right there quite near the top in my list of favourites. That's why the title)
An update : I got the above-mentioned phone from my friend, but what my friend forgot to mention was that he didn't have a charger for it. So, now, I'm back to sqare one despite having two phones with me :)
And A kindly lent me his phone. As did Mr.Mercury and N. Thank you, people!

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Movie magic. Or magic movie?

Last night, following a few calls from my brother, I watched a few minutes of a movie. Kutty Pisasu was being aired, and I got to watch it for a few minutes close to its ending.

Climax. There's this guy with a magic charm bracelet. There's this little girl playing some music. Looking like this :

                                    

I won't be able to do justice if I try to describe this scene. Maybe you could watch this (it comes around 3:50 )

She had this expression almost the whole time I watched (which was about 10 minutes ;) ).

Simultaneously, there's this graphics snake breathing fire, and something like a robot.

So, there are two Good vs Evil fights going on. The little girl suddenly starts flying around, and the villain's protective charm falls from his arm following a duel with her (there's also a Ramya Krishnan Goddess dance (an Amman-movie types staple) sequence in between), and ends with it getting stuck beneath her foot. Good 1-Evil 0.

In the other battle, the snake tries to swallow the robot head-first. But before being swallowed entirely, and while still hanging with its head inside the snake's mouth, each of the robot's arms suddenly grows a sword. The robot just raises both its arms (now swords), and cuts off the snake's head. The headless snake now exercises its powers, and the head and body come together again, this time the entire robot gets swallowed again and spit out covered in fire...

Good wins 2-0. :)

After this, I had to leave, and the channel was changed. Next time I checked, the credits were on...

-


I've been going through such a phase too, and am rediscovering yet another aspect of happiness. 



Just this and that

- My friend M thinks that it's good to have a lab to go to to be alone. How I wish it were so! But M, sorry to disillusion you, the only time you get some peace and solitude (in our lab, at least) are the unearthly hours between 4 & 9 in the morning. And if you're lucky enough, maybe for a few minutes around the lunch hour.

- Last evening, I was waiting with my friends T,N and R waiting for a concert to start. It never started, and I lost patience. I later heard it'd been very good. Anyway, while waiting, T & I were just talking about music, and T decided that I was going to put on a one-(wo)man show. And how! It seems there would be an acoustic guitar, a drum kit, a bass guitar and a keyboard on the stage, with me running around and playing them one by one. Just imagined that :D

- Our terrace is a lovely place, even at 4 in the morning. Sitting there when the day is just beginning is such a nice feeling.

- I don't know if it is just me, but every time I get started on my reading, something happens to distract me. Like, the time when I decided to start studying, the moment I opened my book, I had to help a friend with something. The next time I just read a line, this group of people came and started talking. I just have starting trouble. Once I get started, I don't get distracted that easily. (I do get distracted, though :) )



Thursday, April 19, 2012

(Yet) another random update

It's been a while since I wrote something.

Anyway, I finally met PM after ages. He asked me what I was learning to play, and I was stumped. Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon. It took me a couple of minutes to tell him the name of the song I'd been playing (Before the dawn, Judas Priest) , what with one part of my mind recalling the chords I'd been playing, and another part singing snatches of "Besame mucho" & "Amanda"...
Taking a risk, I ordered a Chole Bhatura, and when my order came, I realized that they actually serve two bhaturas...i couldn't finish it completely (and so I'm now missing the little part I left uneaten). While we were eating (he had ordered a Masala Dosa), someone came and asked about the bikes parked outside. PM went out to see what the matter was, and ended up paying a fine for wrong parking!!!
It felt really good catching up with him, and seeing some of the photos he showed me, I wondered for a moment whether I should be back on FB. (But no, I don't think I will, just yet. Life is so much simpler sans it.)
And yeah, PM being one of the Happiness-Inducing-People in my life, he's put me in good spirits yet again...
(P.S. I'm thinking of starting a new blog (yet another???), for thoughts I want to get out of my head, as this blog seems mostly for my happy memories & humour (is that what it is supposed to be?)... Still, let's see... Will let you know...)
(P.P.S. Why do I suddenly feel like singing "Does my ring hurt your finger" &"Enter Sandman" at random times?)

(P.P.P.S. : The Tamil New Year celebrations seem to have gone on well despite my absence. I heard that the food was "heavenly" & "really good". Would have liked some info on the programmes as well :|)

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Kan-fused*

No wonder I couldn't find anyone immediately identifiable...

What to do, when both teams have uniforms the same colour? Many of the IPL teams seem to be wearing blue or something very close to blue. As if that weren't enough, I just tune into this La Liga match and there they are. It took me a few minutes to figure out that the ones in green were FCB in their 'Away' coulours. Levante's colours got me confused :(

This helped too, especially this : "Both sets of players are now on the pitch as they go through the usual formal pleasantries. Levante are in their red and blue striped shirts with blue shorts while Barca wear a ghastly green kit."

(*- a weird combination of Tamil & English)

Match or slow motion movie?

Feels like I'm watching some action movie in slow motion. Maybe it's the site or the streaming or my computer, but watching a football match online is really testing my patience...

The only consolation is that I can make out some of the Whites, running like characters of the video games I used to play. (on the machines where you insert coins for each game) Last time, I could just see blobs of colour ... 

Keeping my fingers crossed for the results of the match...


Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Of nature rambles and more*

This evening made me feel like a Blytonian schoolgirl out on a "Nature ramble" :)

The weather being lovely, N called me for a walk along with S&A once they came out from their lab meet. So, we set out, after some minor delays. We climbed down the stairs, and a few minutes were spent with A&S discussing whether to walk or take their bikes, and where to go.

N then named a destination, and started walking in the opposite direction, and after some more discussion we started again. From where we were standing, we had to go right, but N had started going left, and the discussion saw us going straight :) So much for directions!

S then suggested that we have some chai, and so we took yet another path. Despite the initial plan being that we'd get the chai and walk with it, we ended up sitting down for quite a while, and changing our destination yet again!

At last, we set out again, and just went to the nearby lake. As three of us weren't wearing shoes, we didn't go very deep into the trees. A climbed a tree, and N&S explored some rocks. I just walked with them like a silent spectre (I typed in sceptre, but it didn't sound right, and it reminded me of Milton's 'On his blindness', and good thing I rechecked it - a sceptre is a staff, which I don't think I am!).

I had a lovely time before I left for my music class where I fiddled with all the knobs and buttons on the guitar and the audio system trying to get the sound of the guitar on the earphones; till the guy sitting next to me pointed out that the jack connecting the guitar to the the audio system was missing :|

And all the time, I had such a good opinion of my independence and skills. Sigh!

* - what a truly terrible title!

SS

Yesterday, I was asked about the special place that Salem holds in my heart (that's what my brother says). So, let me dispel any myths about the origin of this legend, set the record straight...

As they say, the way to a person's heart is through the stomach. So it was between Salem and me. To begin with, I'd gone to Yercaud with my family for a short vacation. We were supposed to descend to Salem by car. Now, cars make me nauseous, especially on very long drives, and so I had a very light breakfast. (My brother still thinks I was putting on an act!)

We finally reached Salem around lunch time, and the restaurant we went to was very crowded. More people kept coming in, and so we had to take our seats as soon as someone got up. We were all seated, at last, and the food served on plaintain leaves.

The food was good, and as I was no match for my brother when it comes to eating speed, I was still eating when my brother finished his lunch. I wanted to do justice to the meal, so I ate to my heart's content.

When I came out, my brother wanted to know how I'd finally finished my lunch. The way he went on, it was as if I'd kept people starving so I could eat. He wondered how I could eat so much if I'd been nauseous, and I told him that I was making up for the light breakfast I'd had :)

Anyway, my brother says that Salem had made me a Ghatotkacha, and that I had eaten enough for a crowd. Pity I can't show you how he tells the tale, with movie scene references and special effects...

To summarize, I did eat a lot at Salem, but then, I eat a lot most of the time :) So, though the Salem saapaadu (SS) was special, it wasn't like my brother's exaggerated accounts.

With this, I rest my case.