Finale of October'16

October must be one weird month. It started off very differently and ended with lots of elements of life. In my previous blog, I mentioned about how it started, now will be providing you with the details of it's climax. Till 25th October I was having a combination of study holidays and exams. I always try to study as late as possible because of my horrendous memory. I might be a victim to amnesia or I might be hallucinating about it whatsoever this method has always been working out for me. So, after 25th I was having semester holidays and Deepavali holidays. 

Oct 26, 2016: Beginning of holidays

Finally, exams got over and I wanted to relax a bit so slept for a long time and woke up late. I woke up to see too many messages in my phone. I might have slight symptoms of Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) towards messages. I tend to check all the messages without fail. It seems my department assigned my class to finish a survey about soaps and shampoos. That too 5 filled surveys in both category which means I had to sacrifice my precious day by dedicating myself to fill the survey and request other people to fill it and send it back to my class leader. Now that's what I got in the name of holiday. But, certain duties even though it is useless for us to do; we need to fulfill it and forgo our holiday spirits. I couldn't believe survey filling can consume a whole day.

Oct 27, 2016: Bus ticket booking

Second day of the holidays. I thought to myself no more work and responsibilities, lets enjoy it to the fullest. But life has it's own will to destroy our peace of mind. I got immediate another task for the day. *Poof* The so called second holiday was gone with the wind within minutes. Life can be demanding at times.

My aunt who is an elder sister to my mom came to India from U.S. to visit my grandma who resides at my native place. So, my mom also wanted to pay a visit to them. So, she asked me to accompany her to book a ticket. We walked near the bus stop and took a bus to C.M.B.T. (Chennai Moffusil Bus Terminal) in Koyembedu. It is known as the biggest bus terminal in Asia according to Internet sources.  We arrive at C.M.B.T. and walk towards the ticket booking center. Due to fast approaching Deepavali festival, Tamil Nadu government has added additional buses for the public convenience to visit their hometowns which I presume. My native is in Andhra which means an other state of India so the ticket booking booth was far away from the entrance. We walked and saw couple of help desks that has been set up temporarily, buses that is routed to different places some of which I have never heard of before, and finally we reach our booth.

The kiosk was a filthy room that was opposite to a toilet. A lady was seated inside that cubicle who provides Information and tickets regarding Andhra Pradesh Government Buses. She was seen through a hole provided in a grimy glass window secured by equally grimy metal bars. It was extremely inconvenient for my mom to converse with her to book a ticket. But eventually we booked a ticket after my mom interrogated her with lots of possible and impossible questions. We finished our ticket booking and were walking back to the entrance and suddenly my mom reminded of us being alone and hungry while she is away and wanted to buy some biscuits. She spotted a store and started interrogating that vendor about the rates and prices of the biscuits. I am a person who hates spending money unnecessarily and if I really wanted something; I do a hefty amount of thought processing before really purchasing anything. Meanwhile, my mother is completely opposite to me. She buys immediately if she wishes to buy something without giving it a thought..

Later, she was not satisfied by the choices in the store and left. I felt terrible for the guy who responded all the questions to my mom and she just left without buying anything. When I told her about her behaviour she just denied it by saying its his duty to serve customers and our choice to whether purchase or not. Most of the parents, especially my mom has a way of making flawless legit points. Then, she got reminded of something again and I was already drowsy from lack of sleep and wanted to go home as soon as possible. She forgot to book her return ticket to Chennai. We walked again to the same kiosk and went through same ticket booking process again. We finally accomplished booking our tickets and took a bus home.

I still had some more time of the day to spend meaningfully. So, I watched few episodes of Korean dramas and read a book. My advice to you all: Spend each ounce of time towards what interests you. Never spend your time on boring activities because wasted time can never be regained. At the same time stop worrying about wasting time and be grateful for what our life has to offer.

Oct 28, 2016: Mom vanishes from home

My mom kept on reminding me what to do and what not to do while she was away. She prepared extra amounts of food and told us to eat it whenever we were hungry. She took her luggage and was stating she was going. We said bye. She came again and repeated the same for a few times and we got annoyed and said just go and reach the bus stop on time. She made an on purpose faux frown and went off. My brother and I were immediately got glued to our gadgets. The day for some reason felt relaxing at first but was never ending. Usually my mom is a constant chatterbox in better terms she's a garrulous person. She never stops nagging and always find ways to express all the faults in the world with the people who are dear to her. Life usually goes a bit fast forward when she's in the house. That moment we felt what happens in her absence. Its probably nothing but something that make us to feel a bit missing without the presence of a particular thing.

Oct 29, 2016: Very important day

It's the day my brother was born and its the day the auspicious festival Deepavali was celebrated in the year 2016. Some say it is Diwali, some say it is Deepavali, but I assume most of the people like me says it's a beautiful holiday. Morning was filled with cracker sounds which I strongly detest. Many of us know it is festival of lights not sounds. My dad wanted us to be well fed while my mom was away and asked us for our breakfast choices and I said I was not hungry and he didn't even gave a thought to my opinion. I have a habit of eating less in the morning and more in the evening. But for some reason my family can't understand my body's hunger timings and ends up feeding me more or starving me more at times. Meanwhile, my brother has this amazing talent of tolerating people. He just blurted out "anything is fine".

That's how I ended up eating two large dosas, one oily poori and a bangle sized vada. Accompanied by coconut chutney, tomato chutney, sambhar and a potato side dish. I ate all those just because my dad was insistent and was watching over us finish eating all the foods he proudly bought to fulfill my hunger-less stomach. Everyone who knows me very well knows how meticulously I eat. I am well known for my eating styles and habits. I was both appreciated and criticized for my eating decisions by everyone I knew till now. Everyone are different and people just can't accept a person having a different eating pattern.

Usually the TV channels show good choice of films to watch. This time films shown were boring and repeated ones. My phone buzzed with Deepavali wishes. I was wishing them back. I got something even special on this day - The cold. I got sick and was sneezing more than the times I was breathing. We ate noodles for lunch. Anything warm can make a cold person be at ease. The warm soupy instant noodles soothed me for a while. Later, I scribbled some patterns with chalk pieces in the name of kolam on the floor. Then, I finished a series of Korean drama and it became night. We were watching discreetly at the fireworks which the tenants were bursting.

Mom arrives and starts talking about her arrival confusion. I did miss her nagging but sometimes I hope she realizes the preciousness of silence.

Oct 30, 2016: Usual routine holiday

Mom was back. My aunt gifted us with lots of goodies. We ate foreign biscuits and chocolates. Mom started her work of annoying us with her blabber. We distracted ourselves with the help of Internet. The day ended but my cold didn't.

Oct 31, 2016: Sleep deprived and lots more worse stuff

I was carefree and sleeping in the bed without any worries other than my cold. I am woken up by my mom. I saw glass shattered all over the hall, broken cupboard and a my brother with his bleeding wrists. I immediately brush my teeth, change my clothes and rush over to a medical shop. There was another customer who came prior to me and was taking her own time to decide what to purchase. So, I started looking upon all the medicines and other things arranged in the shop. She leaves and I blurt out what I need in lightning speed. The cashier/store representative got confused and I repeated each item slowly. She showed the things I needed and started tapping buttons of the keyboard to prepare the bill. I paid, took the things that I purchased and left as quickly as possible.

My mom dabbed a chunk of cotton with the antiseptic liquid and rubbed it over my brother's bruises. She made sure to advice him constantly with each rub. Then his bruises were covered with band aids. Till this moment I was clueless about what was going on. When I asked about it, My mom started crying. She cries rarely and started telling philosophy with regards to parenting. The reason was my brother missed his college bus and came home. He had an important test on that day and was ready to bunk it. This made my mom angry and to yell at him. Eventually he wanted my mom to stop talking and tried to hit the wall. Instead his arm hits the glass panel of the cupboard nearby and that explains how the hall was looking like a crime scene in the morning. My mom made an enquiry with his college faculty and made him to go to college by other buses. He was reluctant at first but agreed eventually. I was sent along with him to make sure he gets into a bus.

I came back home which was having power cut. How unpredictable life can be? Any irrelevant incident can become relevantly influential towards our life. I took headphones, my phone and headed towards the bamboo swing that is hung at the entrance of the house. I Listened to radio, passed time by swinging and waited for the current to comeback.

That's how October 2016 ended for me!

Start of October'16

October has always been a memorable month for me. I consider it as the festive month of India and it is even more memorable for me personally as my own brother was born in this month. The month when I came to know that I am no longer a single child and I needed to take care of this another human when I myself not yet done discovering about me. Being the older kid in the house has its own perks and burdens. For me I don’t remember much perks but the burdens are unforgettable. I am grateful that he gave me company to play with, to gossip with and all but sometimes I wonder how life would have been if I was a single kid or a kid with a sister. I guess we will never know.

This year’s October has been memorable for the stuff I have never done before in my life. I had attended and worked for the conference conducted by my department. I wrote two articles which got published in the department magazine and got circulated during the conference to the delegates. It’s amusing how life can turn out to be. Even though I did some amazing things, as a human I did mistakes too. I am having holidays for Dussehra which is celebrated for 10 days for the Hindu goddess Durga. I was told to come to college to collect my hall ticket on 13^th (Thursday) and I kept my alarm to ring on Wednesday. It turns out to be 12^th (Wednesday) and a holiday due to Muharram.

You can guess how funny my morning would have been today. I woke sincerely to the alarm, saw the clock and thought to myself I still have some time to get ready and wasn’t prepared enough to part my way from the comfort of the bed.  I had horrible internet connection but needed some reason to stay where I am. I read some random book about scientology and dianetics. I got drowsy because of the complicated terms the author wrote in 1951. Then, I rubbed my palms together and kept them on my face to wake myself from its warmth. I got ready and left home to catch my bus. Something felt odd today; I thought maybe it is because I left home by 8 AM instead of the usual time. Unfortunately, I wasn’t as genius as my intuition and didn’t realise what was going on.

I was walking to reach my bus stop. I saw bunch of cows in the street. They were splurging on the vegetables kept in the hotel bench and few people were shooing them. What would you expect them to do when we lay cement on the place where their food grows? In another street, I saw a goat sleeping with great serenity and looking at it makes my day during the walk. I stood near the traffic signal pole, waited for it to display green light and then crossed the road. Something suspicious of this traffic signal it makes any common individual to cross the road with exemplary speed. Then I passed by another street, where the houses looks luxurious and the place is too calm to be normal. I saw a pug and made a funny face at it. It just stared back at me out of boredom I guess. That precious stare never makes me to frown. I reached the bus stop and was waiting for the bus to come. There is another dog kept as a pet in a house opposite to the bus stop I was waiting at. It kept tilting its head both sides and was adorable to look at.

The bus arrives and I got squashed by the plethora of commuters. While standing in a crowded bus you need to be expert in precise stillness and I consider it as utmost requirement for a safe journey. Also you need the patience to tolerate people, sweat, weather, sudden brakes and much more. So, after the feat of travelling in that bus, I reach my destination. I walk towards my college to be stopped by the watchmen. He says the college is not working today and I am arguing with him to prove my point that my faculty has informed my class to pick their hall tickets today. I call my teacher to prove my point but turns out I made a mistake of coming to college 24 hours earlier. I said sorry for annoying or disturbing the watchmen. I call my mom and she started yelling at me and I also added more fuel to it by arguing (justifying) with her. If I checked calendar today all this wouldn’t have happened. So, my advice to whomever reading this, even though you hate calendars or just pure lazy to give a glance at it; please check it out at least once a day. It can save you from lots of troubles.

I took a bus to reach home. Luckily my mom got tired and didn’t spoke much about what happened. I went to bed and started doing a random watercolour painting as I didn't had internet and nothing interesting to watch in the television.

I thought of drawing a dragonfly in shades of black but it looked more like a corpse of an insect. Then, I drew a simple flower nearby the dragonfly.

The dragonfly (corpse) and the flower.

Then I tried to draw blue eyes, in the process I changed my mind to convert it into blue beads, then I thought of making it into a fish pond. I showed it to my dad and he said “Awesome, is it a sky?” I started with something, ended up with something and it is viewed as totally something else. I guess my paintings are more useful for stuff like Rorschach ink blot test than artistic purpose.

The fish pond 

After doing the so-called painting, I slept for a long time and it is the Best therapy in the world. 

Later, I went out to water the plants and spotted a gorgeous black butterfly with white spots in its wings. I failed to literally catch it but was able to capture its beauty as a picture. 

The black and white spotted butterfly.

Remember, Life goes on! It is our choice to make the most out of it. Even if it gives the sweetest happiness or bitter sadness.

Happy Dussehra, Muharram and an Optimistic October!!

Men's formal wear shopping!

My brother is currently writing his 12th public exam and I am also in my final year of my college which means double pressure on my parents to join us into a good college. As somewhat experienced into women's college environment for 3 years I knew what to expect and what not to expect from an educational institute. But my brother who is normally least bothered about anything in the world showed same attitude towards his studies. The choosing duty of his career path went to my parents who finalised it is computer engineering. My father with the help of his friend went to the engineering institution for admission where his son is studying. My brother also tagged along with them while I was at my college writing my final last semester exams.

It seems the college is very strict where they give an entry slip to go inside, complete security check, entry not allowed if the person is not wearing formals. Jeans, t-shirt and a list of things which are prohibited even for parents and visitors it seems. Whoa! Well colleges like that exist. So, my brother was not allowed to enter the campus as he was wearing jeans and waited in a room while my dad and his friend went inside the campus. They enquired about admission details, rules, regulations, and many more and ate chicken biryani while my brother the poor fellow who got stuck near the reception because of not wearing a formal wears. Again regarding admission for my brother my father planned to visit the campus tomorrow along with me, my mom and my brother to see the extravagant campus which treats people like refugees. Well hope it was not as horrible as my brother described it.

Today, we went for shopping to get formal wear for my brother. I was hesitant as I felt what I would do in a men's section while my brother is deciding which one to buy? But Indian parents are very talented and skilled at how to drag their children into things which are irrelevant. So, that's how I ended up at a tall building consisting seven floors at T.nagar for shopping. We went inside and saw too much crowd near the lift. So, we decided to climb the stairs. So many stairs and so little energy left in me; I got exhausted. Trust me Sunday evening at T.nagar for shopping that too in a store which offers low price rates means a pool of crowds. We went to men's section. As I said even if apocalypse occurs, my brother is least bothered. Likewise, he wasn't even bothered to know his garment preferences.

The sales person took a measuring tape and said a particular size while my dad was looking at himself in the mirror and blabbering to himself that he is becoming fat. Then, suddenly my dad added two more inches to the size mentioned by the salesman and laughed that my brother will also become fat like him in future. Well if it was me I would be showing embarrassed look up to the extent where I would have picked random some dress, purchased it and left the venue. But it was my brother he was cool as a cucumber. My dad suddenly got too excited and asked us to look into the shirt sizes he directed us to look upon. He also made it mandatory for us to select 2 shirts for my brother. I was already getting awkward vibes being in the men's garment section. To top the weirdness my parents were battling to prove that their selected shirt was the best. And me stuck there forced to pick 2 shirts of my own choice which I won't be wearing. Later, my brother picked three shirts from the provided options from us.

Whew! Finally can go home and enjoy my Sunday! Nope fate had another plan. My dad was like "Now let's go get your brother some pants." Hell! Selecting pants are pure hell! The formal pants section basically had the colour palette of black and white movies. And here I am stuck again forced to pick two pants which has no usage to me. I gave up and waited. My brother went to trial room and showed up the fitting of the pant to my dad while I was stuck up with my mom in men's pants section. My mom was explaining (criticizing) about the way our new tenants behaving, dad's financial loss, Chennai floods, politics, and many more topics which I dreaded hard not to know about. Yet who does our parent can talk to other than their beloved children.

Finally, the selection of formal wear got over and we purchased it. Now, they got remembered about buying a belt. (Face palm) They must have realized how I felt or I must have looked like a zombie they asked me to wait in a corner while they search and buy a perfect belt for my brother. I sat in a chair while they got vanished into the crowd who are on a shopping spree. A toddler was sitting beside me. The kid was too active she drooled, ran in circles and kept on hitting her head towards her mother's knee. It was kind of hilarious to watch. I missed the kid in me. The kid who used to be crazy, who cooked using torn newspaper pieces, who took a chalk piece and felt like Picasso, who took mom's dupatta and felt like a elite woman, who took a notepad and felt like supervisor, who took two drumsticks and felt like a musician, who thought the backdoor of the house was a secret pathway to spies, who was innocent, curious and enthusiastic in the name of passing time. After a while my dad said "Boo!" and I got a sudden stimuli. They arrived and at last we reached home. That's how my shopping experience for the day ended.