Festive special: Onam!

Onam is a keralite festival. It has a great mythological story behind its celebrations and some interesting activities involved. I am not a malayali but in my college every year during Onam we wear a traditional Onam saree and take loads of pictures with fellow classmates and try as much as possible to make the lecturer not to take any usual classes. So, that’s the type of celebration we have on this festive occasion.

My day began with the saree draping session. It was a white cotton saree and with simple golden border and small designs was made on it using embroidery with various shades of colourful threads. With the help of my mom and my eager enthusiasm we succeeded in the draping part until it fell apart. My mom hates to do same work twice. She was in the verge of becoming grumpy but still she carefully draped the saree again. I was happy that the activity (the art of draping a saree) which sometimes takes Indian women more than 5 minutes to forever was over for me.

Then it was time to the second challenge, the horror of walking in a saree. I am not a regular user of sarees. So, it felt like I was walking by wearing a burrito or a shawarma. I daily walk to bus stop of 1km distance and it was becoming late for me to catch the right bus on time and I had to rush. But the draped cloth was making sure I was walking as slow as possible. Like each footstep per second. But I tried to stroll as fast as I could and reached the bus stop. I didn’t get a seat in the bus I took. In normal attire itself there is a 100 possible ways to get hurt while standing in a moving bus, but to make my probability of getting hurt even more I was not wearing my usual clothes. Thankfully I managed not getting hurt with lots of cringes especially at the turns and speed bumps.

I got down from the bus and reached my college. Sarees are like headphones, both need to be adjusted often. I am a bit too conscious about revealing my body to the outer world other than myself. But turns out many girls of my age are like that when they wear saree. We check whether we look fat or anorexic? Is the folds aligned correctly? Is someone mentally judging us because we did a fashion blunder? And so on. After all this, the next challenging task for me was to reach my class which is in 5^th floor. By the time I reached 1^st floor in that saree I wore half my breakfast energy got expended.

I reached the 5^th floor and saw my classmates looking pretty and feminine in their sarees. We took some pictures of ourselves. Then, the horror started. First hour was started with Accounts subject. I absolutely hate anything with numbers and have a mild form of memory loss towards anything associated with numbers like maths, cash, time, date, etc. Only few of my classmates were present and we were half asleep when my lecturer started her accounts lullaby. Post graduation life is a serious business I guess. Whenever each student entered the class we were staring at her to see how she paired it up with the blouse, what sort of accessories she used, what make up style she did and so on. Seeing this, lecturer was staring blankly at our faces I guess she got the idea that we were super distracted. But lecturers always act like lecturers. She proceeded to teach and we proceeded to sleep.

After that we were requested to attend an event about music and dance competition in the auditorium. We all went there, saw bunch of people sitting on the stage one with mridangam, one with violin, a few with mike set up parallel to their faces. It was similar to katcheri set up. They sang devotional songs. Then the dance performance started. We discussed about their selection of songs, dance moves, their team execution and all. Then it was time for speeches and announced about the chief guest, who was an eminent carnatic singer with many accolades. She also spoke about her life, career path and passion. She later sang a few lines of the Tamil song “Kaatrinile varum geetham” as a tribute to M.S. Subbalakshmi who was also a great singer. That song and its lyrics have a way to intoxicate its listeners.

Then again went back to our classes and started taking photos. I was hungry and started to eat lemon rice my mom made for my lunch. It’s funny how people can flawlessly smile to a non-animate object like camera than to the living person next to them. It does makes sense that it captures their memories, moments and it remains with them forever as long as they wish to keep it. But it made me thinking millennial youth is spending more time with their technological buddies than the actual person being with them. So, many things around them are missed, in this process. But I was enjoying the moment to see their funny poses, their funny (horrible) singing, Funny dancing and many more which might not be the same if something I wish for happens.

Suddenly my Head of the department barges into the class and asks “where is the rest of the class?” She took attendance, a senior came and informed her something and she used a swear word (sh*t). She gave a completely out of box punishment to the people who weren’t inside the classroom. She told them to interview the teachers and students in the college who are wearing an Onam saree in terms of styling, beauty and many other ways where in reality no teacher appreciates to be asked these questions. But they did go, interviewed and accomplished to know that they need to take the interviewee’s photograph and do a Presentation on it tomorrow. I was glad I was inside the classroom and away from this unpredictable trouble.

Then, another lecturer came who always tries to make us happy. She gave bunch of good compliments to others and said I look completely different in a good way I guess. Later, another lecturer came who teaches us Organisational behaviour. She is a malayali, and we made sure we don’t let her take class. We asked her what is Onam is all about? And she gave us this broad smile which looked sarcastic in my point of view. Then, she made a Malayali girl in my class to answer that question. She mentioned they don’t celebrate Onam extravagantly. She said they do this sadhya which is a festive meal served in a banana leaf with a variety of foods served with rice, Pookalam or flower Kolams which are done using flower petals in different designs on the floor, and that’s all she knows. My lecturer gave the same sarcastic smile back at her and told us about the reason and story why they celebrate it.

The story goes on like this. There was a King named Mahabali. My classmate pronounced it back as mahabalu (means big bear in Hindi) and we laughed. That king was an asura but was good king. Asuras supposed to be the villain or the evil people. But Mahabali turned out to be a genuine king. He ruled heaven and earth. All the gods saw him as a threat and wanted to annihilate him. Mahabali has a weakness to help anyone who asks for his help. So lord Vishnu goes in the form of a Brahmin named Vamana and asks for a favour. Mahabali’s guru tells him not to agree as it feels suspicious but he agrees to help.

Vamana asks for land equal to the three paces of his feet. Vamana grew big, First footstep was all over the earth, second footstep was on all of heaven and there was still one territory left Mahabali owed Vamana. Mahabali requested Vamana to keep his third step on his head as he does not have any more land left. Vamana keeps his third feet on his head and sends Mahabali to the underworld. But due to his genuine sincerity Vamana grants his wish to visit his people for 10 days and these are the days which are celebrated as Onam. Then she correlated some organisation behaviour theories with the deities of different geographical regions and the Onam mythology story she mentioned. (For proper story use Wikipedia this is just a story which my lecturer knows)

After that, same vicious circle followed, I had to catch a bus in saree and walk as fast as possible to reach home. Surprisingly there was no scorching sun and the weather was good. But I was eager to remove the saree and wear my comfy clothes. Later I felt like cooking something but whenever I cook it never turns out well. So I saw some recipes which are quick with fewer ingredients. I got inspired and did a 2 –Ingredient dessert. I took dried bits of coconut and was hitting it with a mortar and pestle at first to get it into fine pieces. This usually works for spices but not for dried coconut pieces I guess. Like I said even though I did 3 Year Degree in Food Science I am poor at cooking but good at experimenting.

I told my mom what happened and she told me to use a blender. I have seen her giving the blender jars for repair for using it with certain ingredients and I was hesitant to use and spoil the Equipment. Life is incomplete without being able to take risks I guess. So, I blended few chunks of dried coconut pieces and added deseeded dates into it and blended again. The dessert is finished. I usually hate the sharp sweetness of dates but the coconut bits helps to adjust it. It tasted good until my mom suggested to add ghee to it which suppressed the true flavours of the coconut and dates. But still it was quick and easy dessert and my hunger was fulfilled.

The dessert - Date 'n' coconut stuff!

That’s how I celebrated Onam and Happy Onam! 

Horrible way to spend weekend!

Every college life is unfulfilled without assignments. Some assignments can be interesting but some are awfully tiring. Recently my class was split into four groups to organize an event to learn about event management. We had been planning, visualizing, rehearsing and working on our event assignment for a while. Social media apps can be a headache especially the group created always fights in the chat instead of discussing. Especially, the super annoying voice message option. My group thought of meeting near my college to finish or have some progress in our event assignment. One of my group members told me she will pick me up at a specific place. 

So, I was waiting at the place my friend mentioned for her to pick me up. I got bored and I leaned on to a black wall of a closed shop and waiting for my friend's call to know that she has arrived at the spot. I took headphones and was listening to radio. Some random guy who looked a bit illiterate started accusing me of standing in the middle of the footpath and was having the facial expression as if he has seen some offender. Logic wise I was far away from footpath and literally standing at the premises of a closed shop. No one had a problem suddenly this random guy passed some lewd comments on me and went off before I could talk. Irony was a traffic police officer was right in front of me and was least bothered about what is happening to the people around him. 

I was glad that was not some sort of molestation, rape or any other such incident. But I felt mentally naked by allowing that random guy's accusations enter into my head and spoil the day. If I did nothing wrong why should I be worried and feel sad? Lots of questions buzzed in my head. A mere senseless comment made me to consider not stepping outside the house again. I wondered how many women around the world being affected by this? Suddenly my friend came and picked me up. We spoke about the event details and I forgot about that horrible incident. The event which we were doing was about post wedding reception. We were preparing props, decor, songs, dance moves, skit, and much more. We all became tired and thought of going home as important things are finished. The place was drizzling with raindrops. 

We were also assigned to bring sponsorship for my department's Intercollegiate and Conference for which deadline was Monday. I was worried I didn't get any sponsors yet so I went out with my friend to explore and grab at least one sponsor. We roamed throughout the offices of nungambakkam and came to the conclusion that on Saturday most people won't be present at offices and many are not interested in sponsoring to people who are not in their target segment. I was sad, tired, and sleepy and was in a hurry to return back to my friend who told me she will drop me near my home. While crossing the road, a bike Tyre went over my toes of my feet. The signal was red and that bike should have stopped but due to his negligence I may have been dead yesterday (27/08/2016). I was in statue mode, my friend who was beside me dragged me out of the place and we were walking again normally. We said our good bye and I reached home safely. 

I always tell whatever incidents happening in my life to my mom even though I clearly know she broadcasts about it and even exaggerates about it with others. I told how in the morning that guy emotionally and mentally screwed me and how I escaped a Hip replacement surgery in the evening. She started telling me idiots are there but I should have been more careful. And she told about this to my dad immediately and I regretted telling about it to my mom. My dad who did not listened to the whole story started accusing me that I should not obstruct footpaths and cross carefully. I cried. I cried till my eyes became dry and red. I was sad that no one was there for us to express our grief without being judged. 

Independence day!

August 15th 1947, India's independence day! Every Indian kid is saturated with this info from childhood. The most horrifying dialogue for some or hilarious one for me is from our national pledge "All Indians are my brothers and sisters" for some reason it sounds funny for me. 

During my school days, we hope for it to be an holiday but our parents and the school people made us to attend the event relating to the independence celebrations. Irony is there is no freedom to not attend the event which celebrates our freedom. We dress up, pin the tiny tricolour paper flag to our uniform, stand in rows and columns according to the class we belong to under the beautiful scorching sunshine waiting for the chief guest to magically appear soon. During the wait there is this unexplained joy of gossiping with our peers which I guess us millennials crave a lot more than nowadays tech addicted children. 

When the chief guest finally arrives, there is this great faux cheerful vibe and epic long speeches which reminds us it is just same old  lecture in different surroundings. The flag is hoisted by the chief guest, rose petals fall on the ground, crows scream, sunlight still roasting our skins and finally the speech by chief guest ends. We get to sit on the floor to watch cultural events performed by our schoolmates. There will be dance, music, dramas and even karate. Even though teachers shush us we still cheer whenever our besties perform on the stage. That pure innocence of our childhood to cheer for our friends is nothing compared to any philosophical quote I have seen so far. 

Then after all the events gets over, its time for vote of thanks. We need to get up from our sitting cross legged for a long time and blood gushes through the legs as soon as we get up. Some get slight pains, some get up flawlessly, some struggle to get up and I get weird snapping sounds like when fingers are folded and snapped to get a relief and also I get that sensation of standing over million pins underneath my heel. After vote of thanks, the national anthem is played in the speakers. Some listen patiently, some prove their singing skills, and I lip sync to the song with an expression of a professional actress. The most favorite moment of events for a kid like me was the chocolate given after the end of the event. So, that's the routine/drill followed during independence day throughout my school days. 

This year it was different for me. 

I wore a light green kurta paired with blue jeans, orange infused with white coloured earrings and a small palm sized black sling bag. I walked towards the bus stop and if you had read my previous blogs you must be knowing the fate of mine with buses. I was about to cross the road and my precious bus went by crossing far away from me in front of my eyes. The feel of eternal waiting for another bus to come is a pitiable thing to do. Especially for a person (me) who can't sit in one place and do nothing for more than an hour. I waited for a while, bunch of school kids were beside me dressed up in white and playing and giggling with each other. I saw a person taking his dog for a walk, the dog was adorable by the way. But still however I try to distract myself from the idea of waiting for long was not working out. I started fidgeting my fingers as if I am playing some musical instrument. Thank god the wait lasted for 15 minutes and i got into a bus. It was free of crowds, I got seated, the breeze passed inside the bus and felt like a luxury. 

The bus was as slow as possible. I reached late and did this fast walking on the pathway. Suddenly when i have to cross the road, an auto stops in front of me. Inside the auto was my friend, her mom and her sister. She told me to hop on and we went straight to college. Happiness are these small gestures that makes us believe in humanity. We waved our good byes to her mom and sister and did the rhythmic speed walking to the college entrance. Already we are using our hal-sleepy, tired bodies to walk fast and the students who are in charge of the event instructing us to walk even more faster and go inside, its late. The reasonable thing is to give a tired or annoyed look but something about this friendship that made us to laugh till we reached the gate.

We split to stand towards the our respective class queues. The chief  guest arrives and good thing about my college is they make everything short and sweet. I believed that would happen until i discovered that the chief guest is a living Wikipedia in human form. She talked, talked for so long that we started talking with our peers. The speech ended, a few girls sang patriotic songs, a girl orated about independence in Hindi and vote of thanks was done. The best part was that we were also invited for alumni meet on the same day. I met with my classmates, took pictures, went to our UG department faculty, ate the complimentary breakfast and the meet was over. That's it? So, we planned of making our reunion more memorable. 

We walked, discussed where to go and were confused where to go. After a long roaming and brainstorming, we thought of going to semozhi poonga. It is this spacious green park in Chennai. So, we take an auto and reach this park. We take tickets for us and I take pictures of the place. They were walking and i was stopping by to take picture of the flora. I am a big nature admirer. Finally they sat in a place where we talk about our past, present and future plans. It was making me feel old and young at the same time. Then we walked towards the kids play area and each of us sat in swings and talked. Some went to buy something to eat and drink. Some of us thought of making a trip to somewhere outside Chennai as a group. And some were running out of time to reach their homes. I was enjoying the swing. Maybe this is how freedom feels like. It was one memorable Independence day.

Swinging with my besties!

My first marathon!

My college conducted a marathon named "Pennkalvirun" which means Girl education run in Tamil. This initiative was to support and to bring awareness for educating girl child. The event was scheduled at Island grounds, Chennai at 6:00 am. This place is famous for the annual Tamil Nadu government exhibitions/fair to which my family visits from my childhood. My reporting time mentioned by my college faculty was 5:30 am.  It usually takes 1 hour to reach the place from my home. So, I woke up early and prepped myself ready to leave. My dad took photos of me in my marathon attire.

My marathon shirt

I stepped outside the house, It was like being in a horror movie without background music. There was no sight of sun or moon or even stars in the sky. It was pitch black. The streets were quiet but filled with street dogs. Some of the dogs to which my dad used to give biscuits whenever he sees them came near the gate wagging their tails and sticking their tongues outside to greet us I assume. We rode in a bike to reach the destination. The places passed by during the ride were unusual yet familiar. 

We spoke about how free the roads were, was the marathon really happening, should I really sacrifice my precious early morning sleep for a run which I haven't tried before, and many more intriguing things. We reached marina and in few meters we be will reaching the start point of the marathon but no sign to prove that there is a marathon happening. Finally saw a girl wearing the same shirt and entering the entrance gate which assured us that it was not a hoax. My dad parked his vehicle and we slowly walked towards the stage. Only few people came till then, Meanwhile my dad and I took pictures.  

The stage

The stage was set, the place was empty, sky was dark and I was bored. I waited for my friends to arrive, till then my dad was stuck up with me.

The start point 

I took pictures for a while until my friend called me. She came with her dad and our dads greeted each other and left. We spoke and revolved our heads like antenna to spot and welcome the familiar faces from our college. We got calls from our friends to know how to reach the venue? The event started from a greeting by a person with a mike on the stage. Later a group of girls sang some songs and the marathon for 10 KM was started. We stood near the start point and our principal waved the flag to indicate "go!" for the 10 Km Marathon.

At Napier bridge, Look at the sun rise behind me!

We did a mixture of brisk walking and running. I took pictures of whatever fascinated me. My friend got tired as soon as we reached our first lap and she said she will take rest at the venue. We passed through the iconic Napier bridge, then passed some old buildings, Anna Square bus stop and finally World's second largest beach - The marina. The route was to run from Island grounds to lighthouse and again run back to the island grounds. 

I was enjoying stepping forward along with the breeze which felt empowering to the self. Occasionally we halted at the hydration points to re-hydrate ourselves. My friend got muscle pain and wanted to walk instead of running but I felt a bit slow at some point of time. So I told my running pal that I will be leaving her side and  go faster and let's meet at the light house. But by the time I reached the light house I did not had the patience to wait for her so proceeded to take U-Turn as per the route and ran.

I ran and did slow walk whenever necessary. I kept on telling one! two! with each step touching the floor which improved my pace. The challenging part was not the distance but not to dodge anyone while running. I ran to see amazing glistening waters of the beach, to see the spectacular view in front of me, to meet my friend who is waiting for me at the venue, to not quit  in the middle of the marathon, to beat the odds, and for the cause - Educating the girl child. After a long brisk stoll and running I reached the finishing point. I finished 10 km withing 1 hour. Surprisingly I did not felt any muscle pains even though this was my first marathon. 
  

I was suprised that I finished the task. I took the medal for participation and breakfast provided by the event crew. I was given idly, sambar, 200ml flavoured drink, kesari and vada. I was not hungry at all and didn't wanted to waste the food so i gave back the idly and sambhar to them. I first ate this orange coloured sweet kesari which was delicious. Then ate vada and drink. I regained enough energy I needed. The winners were announce and we clapped for them. And that's how the marathon ended.

Me with my medal!
Oh yeah! I ran with my chappal which I found to be very much comfortable. Just because people suggesting us to wear sport shoes or do something for our well being doesn't always mean it will be suitable for us. Do or wear whichever you are comfortable with.

The stuff I got for my 10 km Achievement!

It was nice being a part of something and enjoying ourselves. No matter what happens in life just keep moving forward and be exuberant!

Some views I got to see while I ran:

The So called "happy ending!"

It's been almost a month I have last blogged. Wow! A mixture of highs and lows happened in such a short period of time for me.

Brief info of the happenings ~ First I presented a poster about my research at a national conference and won best presentation award. Then, we had farewell from the juniors, last ethnic day, last class assignment, last class presentation, last project submission, last college day event, last lab classes, last class lectures and finally my last day at college ended at 14th march 2016. I also attended my first official interview at an eminent college for MBA and hope I get a positive response.

So final year has happily ended but I still have semester exams to finish during last week of March until then I am temporarily freed from my college. I have experienced happiness, sorrow, jealousy, fights, stress, boredom, separation, desperation, headaches, and so many other things of which I saw in fast forward mode during last few days of my college life.

• The conference I attended was at Madras veterinary college which was situated in Vepery, Chennai. My friends were so nice to give me a lift to the place without any hesitation. I was so lucky to see so many pets and it was a heaven for me to see so many cute creatures. They are non-judgmental at the same time each pet has its own characteristic style and behaviour. I admired them. I and my classmates expected the conference was about food but all that was shown, presented, researched, and spoke was only about meat industry. We saw ethical ways to kill meat, different images of meat and some of my vegetarian friends were in disgust seeing those images. Even though the price to attend the conference was above 1000 rupees which is technically too much for a middle class student like me but I think it’s okay for something that can't be bought anywhere i.e. hanging out with besties. By the way I got a bag, pouch, key chain, stationery items, fancy designer green umbrella and a book in which my research abstract was published. When the speaker was saying animals don't feel much pain I made a sly joke that even it has kidney and heart like we do in hushed tone. My besties heard my words and could not hold their laughter and that also made me to laugh out loud but I tried to hold my laughter as much as possible. The Day 1 of the conference I presented my poster and attended the sessions.  Later, the day was becoming night so my friends did not let me go home alone. I visited my friend's place and aunty insisted me to eat. So I eventually gave up and ate a delicious crispy murruku (Indian fried snack) and drank a cup of Brahmin aathu kaapi (the coffee made by Brahmin people). I and other friend were waiting for her mom to pick us up. Then, my friend’s mom and her sister came. She and my Brahmin friend's family discussed a big discussion on the future education of their daughters and I was very tired and desperate to reach home and sleep. I was envy of my friend's sister who was happily skipping and was not involved into such an intense topic by the elders. They finally wrapped up their talks and decided to leave. Out of nowhere my friend suddenly gets reminded of the shawarma promise she made to me long ago and made her mom to stop at an Arabic cuisine restaurant and buy me a shawarma. I waited in the car while aunty went and bought a shawarma for me and their daughters. I was too happy for getting a delicious food that I have been craving for a long time. They left me at my home and said good bye. I went straight into kitchen, took a knife cut the shawarma into 3 pieces for my mom, my brother and one piece for me to devour it's glorious flavour on my taste buds. It wasn't that tasty as I expected because it was too bland and filled with too less veggies and mayonnaise. My personal preference would be spicy, tandoor style chicken pieces with lots of fresh cut veggies, succulent amount of mayonnaise with neatly cooked roti. But still it is a caring gift from a dear friend which made it extra special regardless of its taste. On Day 2 they delayed like anything with elaborate presentations and at last announcement of winners initiated. The names of my best friends were announced and I was overwhelming with joy and clapped till my palm hurt and reddened. Then immediately my name was announced. My mind was like it's definitely a delusion, things like this can never happen to an unpopular, lame person like me or this must be a weird dream they must be some mistake. The people beside me were started staring at me and I felt vibes of jealousy, judgmental look indicating their thoughts like how could a person like me getting an award? But most of them stared plainly which reminded me to get the hell up from my chair and receive my accomplishment. I walked.... nope I ran like a deer jumping over obstacles like chairs, bags, people and finally reached the place to receive my only proud accomplishment in college life. My heart was beating to its full extent like I was experiencing a bungee jump. The prize was a torch light with 3 batteries. But proving certain people wrong and achieving something that people believed in you is the best gift I got that day. 
• Ethnic day was the next big thing in the recent events. It is the day when everyone in the college wears ethnic wear mostly sarees. I wore an orangish red saree with maroon border and gold zari work from my mom's wardrobe. That was the only saree that was proper without any leaching of colour from the floods. I then accessorized it with black beaded magnet necklace, gold coloured bangles and a golden earrings studded with maroon gems. I went on the street in this attire which was an unusual sight for most of the neighbours. I walked till the bus stop and prayed that the bus would be less crowded but fate always get tempted to test my abilities. I ended up taking the extremely crowded bus. I kept one hand to a metal rod and other one into my purse which I was holding with my mouth to get a ticket. I hung near the foot board for while then slowly went into the middle section of the bus in a haphazard manner. I finally got down from the bus and gave a secret pat to myself for surviving such a crowded bus that too in a saree. I reached college and saw everyone were arranging their pleats of the saree, some taking selfies, some were putting make up on their friend's faces and some just admired the moment like me. Then I also joined them to take some pictures in saree and had a beautiful day to remember forever.

• After that came the special gala event for every final year student from their juniors - The farewell! The invite came as a surprise during the class hours. It was a woven basket containing beautiful LED light arrangement along with seashells, decorative flowers, non-alcoholic Pomegranate juice in a fancy corked bottle and a beautiful card with blue ribbon to it. The card had the details of the theme, venue, date and timings for us. The theme was "50 Shades of Blue!" and most of us were only having our wardrobes dominated by shades of pink, black and white. The plans to shop new dress evolved and the hunt for a gorgeous blue dress was on everyone's mind. And for me no new dress because of various reasons. So I ended up going in a kurta and legging. I did pack a black and white striped dress that was gifted to me by my besties during my birthday. I came 15 minutes earlier that the time specified. The juniors were the people who expected us to reach 1 hour late than the specified time. I went to prep up for the occasion in the change room. I asked if they needed any help but they denied the offer, then I roamed the hall, and finally waited for my classmates like a little pup waiting for its owner to come home. Then slowly few people showed up and it became a crowd and filled the hall. They didn't kept the A.C. on which made us to sweat a lot and I was craving for some fresh cool air like a zombie craving for human flesh. We took lots of pictures, played games, ate food which was not as delicious as the reviews of the hotel, saw a video of ourselves and our alma mater which got us emotional about leaving some of our prized possessions - Our friends. We had a group hug and a group photo. The farewell gift was something we all will never forget it was a calendar with our group photo on the cover and a picture and birthday of each classmate on each month. This gift was the best part of the farewell.
• My last class assignment using a PowerPoint presentation went so well that the teacher could not believe her own eyes and enquired me in front of the whole class whether I put my own effort and made it or downloaded it somewhere from the internet. The truth is I was so impatient with the too long wait because my name which starts with the letter “S” and I had a long queue of people i.e. my classmates to be presenting before my turn comes. So, I was adding pictures and extra information into it in the mean time and surprised everyone or I am just that unbelievably talented at presentations.
• We spent last few days of our college life by wearing colour coded days. We wore combinations of red and black, blue and green, orange and yellow and final day was twin dressing. It was very fun to dress up for a purpose.
• The final day of the college arrived and everyone were scribbling on each other’s lab coats for their memories to be remembered forever. Some brought slam books and were immersed into it. So, that’s what happening in the last few days of my life hope to see more such wonderful experiences in future. The end to my college life! Or the beginning to a new journey of my life!

Friends for life!

The evening of Feb 5, 2016, my last college sports day happened. My department were participating in the march past. The uniform was navy blue pant and sky blue shirt with a Cap, black shoes and a belt. The attire looked like a Navy uniform. I gave my best wishes to the participants. I was assigned to the duty of sitting throughout the event as audience. I was also unofficially assigned to the duty of being an in-charge for bags of my best friends who marched. A video about sports achievements by my college students was played. I was awestruck by the range of talents our Indian women are capable of achieving. Then the march past by all the departments in the college began. When my department’s turn to march in front of the Chief Guest came I clapped like anything to cheer them up. 

Afterwards, prize distribution happened for a long time which made my back to ache. Finally! They announced the results for the march past for which my department won. The people who marched were so elated after hearing they won. Some hugged each other, some high-fived and some screamed in joy. I felt immensely proud and at the same time sad about missing all these marvellous people who made three years of my life worth living. So, I stood up from my seat, picked all the bags and went to congratulate them. Before I started congratulating, they hugged me with their tawny appearances. All of them started to take Selfies and photos. I hesitated to join them during their victorious photograph session and took a step back. But my dear friends insisted I come in their photos because this is final year anything can happen so we all need memories for a happy ending, so I also joined them on their request. These small gestures make me feel included and makes my life complete. 

After the event got was over, I was thinking how to catch a bus and my close friends offered me to drop me at my house. At first I thought of saying no but the place was getting darker and I have no idea which bus stop to take so I went along with them. They thought of taking an auto to the Chetpet railway station. But all the autos were booked and filled with passengers. So, we decided to walk till Chetpet railway station. My friend asked directions from a person. We walked, talked and giggled to our silly jokes. Then, I saw a dog sleeping on the porch of the house we were walking by. I showed it to my friends but the dog got alert, started to bark and I thought the gate was open and screamed “Gate-u thorandhu iruku” (the gate is open in Tamil) and my friend became alert and about to hit the dog if it pounces on us. The hilarious thing was the gate was locked and I panicked for nothing. The people around us must have thought we were bunch of weirdoes. But we laughed about it throughout our journey to reach the station.

I have never seen so many turns in a road to reach prime location like Chetpet Railway station. It turned out to be a shortcut taken by the local people to reach the place. It leads us to the tracks instead to the platform of the station. So, we crossed the railway tracks and climbed the stairs to the platform. My friend took the tickets and we entered the ladies compartment of the train. We spoke and laughed and I felt a pang of melancholy of missing these moments in the future. Then we reached Guindy and I struggled my way to get out of the compartment. I thought of taking a bus but they gave the stare like don’t you dare go alone. So, I tagged along with them. We reached my friend’s house and waited for the other friend’s mom to arrive and pick us up. I was given coffee and murruku (Indian snack) in the meanwhile. 

My friend’s mom came along with her little sister. Her little sister was excited about the big place outside the house to play around. She started roaming and skipping outside. Meanwhile, all the elders sat, spoke and somehow the discussion ended up with their daughter’s (My friends) future education. I always try as much as possible to neglect whatever serious discussions done by elders unfortunately I had to listen as I am a guest. I was a bit jealous that my friend’s sister is happily skipping outside while I am stuck here listening to boring stuff. So, after a long exhausting education and career related debate we all said our good-byes and entered my friend’s car. 

We drove and when I was close to reaching my home my dear friend remembered to buy me a shawarma. I felt guilty for not buying her anything, so I wanted to say no thanks or escape or do something but too late. They stopped at the authentic Arabian cuisine restaurant nearby to my home. Aunt went to the restaurant to buy shawarmas. I spoke to her sister for a while. Kids are one pure joy to talk with. They are straight-forward, adorable and up to the point. They left me safe and sound at my home. I cut the shawarma into three pieces for me, for my brother and for my mom. The pieces looked more like a murder scene. The stuffing were came out of the flat bread. I am horrible at dividing food pieces. I took the first bite and didn’t get the yummy taste. I discovered that I like more Indianised or indo-fusion foods. The shawarma I had during my childhood had spicy marinated and cooked tandoor chicken and lots of mayonnaise as filling. But the one I ate consisted of well prepared bland chicken pieces. The fault was not in the shawarma it was in my taste buds. 

For most of the people I know visit beaches, multiplex, movie theatres, shopping malls, window shopping, long drive, cafes, and any places of their interest as a hangout. But for me having a simple walk with a person whom we admire and takes good care of us is the best hangout. And, I felt many glimpses of it that day. Will miss these moments but will never regret or forget it. Thanks to those people who make my and a person’s life better.

The First week of February - Struggles!

Feb 1, 2016: My mother and my aunt who came from U.S. to visit us both left from Chennai to visit my grandma (Their mom). My ammama (Mother's mom/ my grandma) lives in a town located in Andhra. I was told to look after the house. They left the house after I went to college. College went on as usual and I came back home. The silence was tremendous. I felt haunted vibe in my own house. No single nagging or scolding of my mom to be heard. The silence was ecstatic until I had to do the chores for the day that my mom did for past 21 years of her marriage.

I cleaned some vessels, saw T.V., heated milk and mixed Maltova (Cocoa flavoured malt powder) into it and drank it. The next challenge was to make rice. I have very poor cooking skills yet I took Food Science as my Bachelor degree. 

I remember my mom telling me to add 3 cups of water to 1 cup of rice and switch on the electric rice cooker. It sounded as an easy thing to do but not after I did I realised only with practice you will get properly cooked rice. I had to wash the rice, then put it into the electric rice cooker vessel, then add water. I was confused by which cup my mom referred to. Then I used the same cup I measured the rice with and started adding water and lost count of how many cups of water I added. So, I simply added till the rice is drowned with water.

I saw T.V., checked my mails, browsed for good colleges for my master’s degree and ended up tired. The cooked symbol was blinking on the device and I checked the status of my first rice cooking experience/ experiment. The rice was semi-cooked, the outer portion of the grain was cooked but the center part of the grain was hard. So, I added some more water and set the Electric Rice Cooker to cook it again. This time the rice was cooked nicely and edible to eat. Yippee!! But the quantity was too high to for dinner for me and my brother. Damn it. 

I microwave the chicken curry my mom kept in the fridge. I and my brother ate the rice with it, then with some curd and mango pickle. The night went on well, I made small pat on my back convincing myself there could be even other kind of disasters that could happen being home alone. Then we watched a Tamil dubbed Korean serial “Master’s sun”. It was a spooky serial. We both were scared to death while sleeping.

Feb 2, 2016: I woke up, brushed my teeth, heated the milk, drank it, and ate some biscuits, bathed, packed my bag and ready to go to college. Except my body and soul was ached to stay at home because I was too sleepy and tired from the nightmares. I told my brother good bye and walked towards the bus stop. College was same boring as hell. My classmates were practicing for aerobics and March past to represent the department at the sports day. They were arguing about the faults in their teammates. Head ache was at peak. I sat and helped my classmates with some tests for their research. Then college got over. I came home. My mom arrived. Even though secretly I was happy that she came at the same time the freedom to do whatever I want is gone. 

Feb 3, 2016: I went to college. I helped my friend with her protein analysis for her food sample in the laboratory. I told her to finish the test because I had some another class to attend at that time but she threw it off. All my efforts of preparing the reagents, sample, etc went into a drain. Then my class and some other departments together had a session on “Happy marriages”. It was more like a Stand up comedy than a counselling session on marriages. 

Feb 4, 2016: I had a proper class from my faculty after 2 full months. Finally it felt like classroom. Then, we had practical session to make nectar and ready to drink beverage from a fruit. After the last period my department calls me to meet them. There was this conference going to happen in Chennai for which I gave my name and paid money. The dumb thing was I gave my money on Feb 2 and Feb 3 also my friend did not cross check to inform me that I paid twice. I got an awesome scolding session from my department. Wow. What a crappy day! I am very bad at remembering whatever is related to numbers – time, money, date, schedules, counting, basically anything with math.

I felt weak, tired, sick, and more like a Character from Tim Burton’s movie. I walked on the road to reach my bus stop. Is it me or for everyone? When I felt tired and sad that particular day, I felt everyone is watching me. I got into a crowded bus, crushed and smashed every muscle of mine to squirm my way to get a proper spot to stand inside the bus. I went home and cried like anything. Life felt useless. My mom wasn’t of big help she even added more details to increase my sadness. I cried until my eyes got dried, reddened and burning as if my vitreous humor was replaced by fire. I took a kerchief wet it with tap water and kept it on my eye lids and slept for a while.

I am very poor at handling any scolding that is related to my mistakes. I felt horrible. I apologised to my friend who was also scolded for my fault. She told me “Don’t worry. Learn from the mistakes and Move on.”

Feb 5, 2016: Today I will be attending my college sports day event in the evening. So, I didn’t have college and all drama to handle in the morning. I had a good sleep and became less suicidal. My conscience said people had done far more mistakes than I did. I never murdered, cheated or spoiled anyone’s life. So, compared to some people’s mistakes I felt better. I hope we all get the strength to pass this test called “life”.

Weekend headaches!

My college conducts an annual intercollegiate event called "Jhankar". This year jhankar theme was comic-on. This is the only moment my college looks like co-ed. So, there will be lots of events, competitions, music, stalls, advertisements, gossips, etc. Unfortunately, I did not have the freedom to choose the event I want to attend. My department made my class people to sit for a classical music event yesterday and said it was "compulsory attendance" So, I reached college with disinterest, music was banging through the speakers, girls outside the college waiting or checking their phones furiously and I was searching for my classmates to ensure whether I am the only soul who ended up sincerely to the event. Then, I gave my attendance to my faculty and walked to fifth floor using stairs. The stairs are normal, simple, and easy to use. But when it comes to reach 5th floor using stairs it is like a task which I would trade for anything. 

I was tired as hell after reaching fifth floor. There is this tiny auditorium into which I entered. I sat in the last bench where my classmates were seated behind my faculty members. Even though my faculty sat on the last corner of the auditorium, they made us to shift to the front. And I ended up sitting in the front middle side where there will be constant eye contact from contestants on the stage. Then they took some roll call of the contestants who were present. To my surprise there were only 6 contestants who participated. I am neither a fan nor enemy of carnatic music. So, I don’t hate or have interest to listen to them singing.

All of them brought a shruthi dabba (Music box), adjusted the microphone, some did mike testing and then sang. One contestant sang a Telugu carnatic song in which a phrase had this word "Bro" in it. This word was so funny; I and my friend could not control our laughter. I tried to bite my tongue, close my mouth with hands, close my eyes, etc nothing worked we were smiling like idiots throughout her song. Then the judges came and announced the winners. Hearing Brahmin slang of Tamil after long time is divine. Later, I went down to ground floor by stairs. Going down the stairs is the easy part unless you get slipped and get hurt. Then, my friend gave me a ride back home. 

I was so happy that the session I wanted to miss ended soon and I reached home to take lots of rest. My Karma had another plans. My aunt from U.S. came to India after a long time to see her sister (My mom). Suddenly, I had to be adhering to etiquette and all. My mom and aunt decided to go somewhere outside. They discussed for a while and thought of going to Besant nagar beach. Guess who ended up going along with them? "Me!" My dad was busy with his shop, my brother had tuition and I had nothing to do. So, we all walked till the bus stop and took "5E" (Bus number). I had a distant memory that this bus goes to Besant nagar beach. I took three tickets to Besant nagar and waited for a free seat to sit. Then, we reached the church area of the Besant nagar. We walked towards the beach, ate panniyaram/puluntalu/ Fried fermented rice batter with coconut and tomato chutney. They both gossiped for a while. We walked in the sand and came across fish stalls. We ordered a plate of Nethili (Fried spicy fish). 

Again, we walked for a while saw the waves of the ocean. Then, we all returned to the bus stop. We waited for so long that we believed that we were on the wrong bus stop. My aunt and mom were so tired they even went to take an auto but the auto people charge too much amount. We waited and waited at last the bus arrived. People were cramming to get in and get out of the bus due to its delay. We got in and were wishing the bus moves soon. I was glad that my mom and aunt got seated. I wanted to get down of the bus as soon as possible. There was a drunken man seated in front of me, a guy shouting about his life blunders, etc. We got down thankfully without becoming retarded. 

Today, I had Interdepartmental event for Jhankar. I helped my friends who were participating in the Junk art. My department theme was superman. So, we were thinking ideas how to portray superman from junk. 

This was the one they presented in the "Junk art" competition

We saw the judges dancing for a song. The day went well. I took a bus and reached home to a view of intensely conversing sisters (my mom and aunt). Now, ended up with Headache due to lack of rest and change in my routine weekend life. Headaches can be normal or special or uninvited. But weekend headaches are the worst. Hope you guys had a nice weekend!