Jaunty June!

I myself have no idea what jaunty means. But for what Google is for? Go Google it if you are also wondering what it meant! If you understood the word at first glance, Bravo! You my friend are a vocab prodigy. 

My intern life ended on June 17, 2017. I did learn many things among this new set of people (my co-workers) whom I got acquainted within short span of time. Sometimes, I got super bored and sometimes I got loaded with work. So, during the times of boredom, I used to browse a lot and came across an unusual event. I have never heard of such event before and that too in Chennai. So, The event was titled "#TalkPeriods" & "#HappytoBleed" It was about discussing menstruation and it's associated thoughts and taboos. I got intrigued by the fact that anyone who's a human are welcomed to join and participate in such event. Like I was more curious to know how such an interesting event related to women's health can be conducted among audiences of both the genders. I was super cynical about the thought of it. Like won't there be any unnecessary awkward giggles or stupid questions or an outrage from the audience itself.

I usually never go out and attend events. This was my first event that I went to all by myself. I consider myself an Introvert and most of the time I am not invited by others. Also I didn't had any actual vacation this year and the event sounded different, it gave me a purpose to step out of my own cocoon. There are definitely so many perks of going out alone. You can be yourself, you don't have to wait for anyone, you get the liberty to walk and stop whenever and wherever you wish to,  no need of definite plan, less disturbances, less judgement, less headache and most of all less negativity. Of course where there is a pro, there is a con. Sometimes, Loneliness creeps in, feels isolated, feels like lack of support and all but if you can overcome that look at all the perks you got! So, the first step was to know where the venue was and which bus goes there from my home.

The event was on 28th May. Technically it was not June but who cares it was almost the end of May month and prequel to June. It was a Sunday morning, took a bus and got down at a bus stop near Light House. I walked towards the venue through the scintillating sun and warm Marina beach breeze. On my walk I came across a garden belonging to Tamil Nadu Police Headquarters. Who would have thought a place with such intense people can grow beautiful caressing greens. Then I came across one of Chennai's well-known Landmark - The Light House of Marina. 

The Police Headquarter's Garden

Light House at Marina Beach

I walked about 1 Km and reached the venue. It was a school for deaf. My first thought was is this a ploy to kidnap random people from online? Because there was no sign of the event happening and the place looked way too creepy to be real. It was like as if I was in a Horror movie backdrop. 

The entrance of the building

Ceiling of the building

Inside the building 

Backside of the building

Now you can imagine how horrified I would have felt at the sight of the venue. But gladly cellphones were invented and everyone now has it. I called the person who is organizing the event and they told me "It is happening behind this building" I was glad that the event was not fictitious and I reached the right destination. It was refreshing to see people to talk about tabooed topic in a dignified manner. I did learnt new info associated with menstruation and got a new friend.  We spoke about lots of bizarre to awesome topics at Marina Beach and parted our ways. 

Ramzan/ Ramadan began and I was blessed to see the beautiful crescent moon amidst the evening skies.

Find the Moon!
(the white speck in the center)
 When the day hasn't darkened, yet the enthusiasm to quickly capture moments hasn't ceased! 

Next, usual routine of internship followed. At times occasional power cuts used to happen, those times I listened to radio, drew doodles, stalked life out of the window nearby my desk.

 Leaves of boredom!
(Power cut Doodle No.1)

Random motifs inspired by the window beside my desk
(Power cut Doodle No.2)

My boss's birthday came and the staff of the office gave him, Surprise cake cutting celebration at the office. We wrote our wishes in a card and presented it to him. The best part was the delicious piece of food consisting of fluffy vanilla sponge cake layered with vanilla flavoured fresh cream and topped with Kiwi flavoured gel. I usually used to despise by the fact anything related to kiwi fruit looked green and somehow used to assume it would taste horrible. But to my surprise, I liked it more than any other cake I have had so far.

The Kiwi cake

My dad got invited for a "Grihapravesham" of a guy whom he got acquainted super recently through series of his business life troubles. I and my brother were hesitant about his idea of taking us to visit a stranger's new house that too in the name of forfeiting a relaxing holiday. Like I mentioned before, we never go out for social events even if we get invited. We were brought up in such an environment, no matter what we never go and attend social events invited by known people as my mom is also an amazing introvert who thinks that visiting or meeting people is like adding some more nuisance into the already existing atrocities of life. I know it's a lot to take in and it took me years to sink in this fact. But I am sure it's these distinct values that makes them the quirky family. 

We finally agreed out of pity that we would join my dad to a nugatory visit of his so-called acquaintance's house-warming ceremony. So, we began to hop on into the car which was borrowed from my dad's friend. We drove until we reached the mentioned landmark. The annoying thing was my dad only knew that the place was nearby a mentioned landmark at ECR (East Coast Road) but not the actual address. After the whole ruckus and drama he made to drag us to visit a stranger's house which we eventually agreed to but he didn't put enough effort about making a note of the address of that house. Sometimes these moments makes me really think "Am I really connected to his DNA?" & "Will I also be as dumb as him?"

My dad parked us at a random street, left the car and started calling this so-called acquaintance and disappeared. You know karma has fun playing with lives when we are at the most vulnerable state. Apparently few vehicles got jammed because the street was super narrow and our vehicle was the obstacle. Horns honked, mom was blabbering flaws of my dad, brother became angrier and I was stuck in this situation. I tried calling dad but he was busy on another line. Finally, he shows up gets death stares from his wife and son. I was glad that he came back and the current havoc will be averted. We reached the destination and my dad told us that we came just for visit not for food and return gifts. That thought didn't even cross my mind until he reminded about it. We actually reached late on purpose and roamed through the house which was not up to it's hype. 

Most of the visitors whom I suppose were their relatives were having ice creams and I wanted to have too. But my dad said no and no means no. My dad introduced us to his so-called acquaintance who looked rugged and scary. Awkward vibes crept in and thankfully we left as soon as possible. Sometimes if given choice the best decision is to leave as soon as possible than to prolong endurance. We then had some more plans in the itinerary of the day. We drove towards Mahabalipuram. On the way, we saw beach and visited a temple. 

ECR Beach and Chennai Summer

The temple said it allows only certain visitors but they let us in anyway without questions asked. The temple was filled with different kinds of flora, beautiful butterflies and fresh salty breeze of the beach nearby. The place is an absolute delight for a nature lover. It was significant for religious purpose but personally I loved it for it's greenery.

Shades of chlorophyll
(Spotted at the temple)

Unusual flower bud
(I wasn't kidding, The temple really had a variety of plants)

The temple visit was actually a sudden idea when we came across the place during the drive. We next went straight to Mahabalipuram. We got down and waited beside a green fencing and bunch of large rocks till my dad parks the car and joins us for our expedition.

The rocks!
(Awaiting place)

By the time we got there we got hungry and started stroll over those rocks and sat beneath it's shadow and started having our lunches. My mom packed curd rice but I had other idea. I knew I won't be able to eat heated up messy sour curd rice for lunch. So, I packed myself a bread and jam pieces in advance. Thank god I have a sense of picturing scenarios in advance and plan decisively. Unfortunately my brother who was still grumpy for spoiling his holiday was regretting the trip even more because he didn't get bread and jam instead of curd rice. It was not my fault for him not to be intuitive. If you want something in life, you have to do something about it. As per my knowledge, No one can read our minds. So, We have to put efforts to fulfill our wishes, goals or whatever that you prefer to achieve.

The happy meal of mine!

After filled tummies, we went on to do a small trek towards the monuments of Mahabalipuram. On our way we came across goats and many enormous rocks.

The goats and their funny poses!

At times, My camera makes blurred masterpieces without me setting it up.
Altogether a beautiful picture!

Then we reached lighthouse of Mahabalipuram. It was a slender tower and had only one way spiral staircase which can bring out the claustrophobia in anyone. There was too many visitors and only few people can be accommodated to view at the top so we were queued in the steps of staircase until they came down. We sweated a lot but felt like heaven whenever we queued near the sparse windows of the lighthouse. Finally after a long await, it was our chance to enter the open top of the lighthouse. We saw a panoramic view of the place and returned back carefully through the same narrow stairs.

The Lighthouse of Mahabalipuram

 Lighthouse's window

View from top of the Lighthouse

Later, We roamed around  to view some more monuments under scorching sun and then took some rest. There were lots of chiseled rocks and artistic wonders on all the monuments.

At times, My brother had to spoil my clicks
by obstructing with his lousy hands

I did managed to take some decent clicks though!

That's how most of the goats grazed the land!

Then, We bid adieu to the place of amazing chiseled rocks - The Mahabalipuram and drove back to home. 

Muttukadu lake amidst the IT hub backdrop

On our way back to home we came across another temple which is part of ISKCON (The International Society for Krishna Consciousness). The place was a humongous white building with astounding architecture. We took off our footwear and entered inside the building. It was filled with mellow aroma from incense sticks, rhythmic chants and framed pictures related to Lord Krishna. There were three chambers with idols of worship. We roamed around and came out for Prasadham. We were offered Buttermilk and Sambhar rice.  It was so delicious we went for a refill. I feel envious of temple prasadhams and wish they share their recipes. 

One of the Idols at ISKCON

Then, the trip ended and we reached home with our tired selves and slept our way to relax ourselves. The same internship life went on but surprises came in the form of rain after a long summer session.

Lurking towards the pitter-patter of the day

Like I said I got bored at the internship again and came across another interesting event! This time it was about a seed diversity festival. It was interesting because I got to know lots of different seeds and it's facts. Did you know? there used to be 5,00,000 varieties of paddy seeds that were cultivated and now it came down to less than 5000 paddy seeds that are cultivated for agriculture purposes. Not sure how legit that fact is but that's what I heard. One thing is certain modernity, gadgets, urban life and so on has becoming the fascinating buzz of our lives but very few realizes the decline in agricultural practices that helps us to sustain the very lives we cling on to. Hope, people are thankful enough for the food they afford daily because of a farmer's effort. 

The place where the seed diversity festival happened

It's an ancient university where one can find architectural delights

A wide range of seeds were displayed for the spectator's view

This display shows usage of various natural elements for dyeing of cloths

I have never seen cotton seeds until this event

And I spotted an intriguing name of one paddy variety 

Paddy seeds displayed in petri dishes

Some seeds were displayed in these!
(no idea what that object is but looks pretty)

I witnessed 220 varieties of Rajma and now you do too!

Oh! There was display of vegetable seeds too!

The picture literally says it all!

Admist all the seeds, I spotted something
 that was not displayed but still present 

After visiting an awesome array of seeds, we thought of exploring the campus some more. We roamed all around and sat at a place which looked like a park. Birds were chirping, wind was swaying and someone was smiling at us beneath the bench.

That someone who smiled!

Me and my mom sat there contemplating life, spotting birds, took picture of ourselves and was observing the surrounding around us.

Someone got sleepy hearing our conversations

Later, we went to visit one of the biggest libraries in Asian continent. It's named as Anna Centenary Library with huge collections of books in many genres. We basically went in for it's Air-conditioning and picture books.

The huge library of Chennai

Turns out it also  has beautiful panoramic view of Chennai

We gave our bags to the security personnel and entered the library. The hit of cold air after long walks in afternoon Chennai summers felt like paradise. We scrutinized the genres list belonging to different floors and went to the last floor i.e. 7th floor. We browsed through the tourism section of books and took a few books that had lots of pictures to offer. The book which made me engrossed was the one containing historical photos related to Malaysia and Singapore. It was fascinating to view different cultures, art, dressing style and the world of olden times. We then left to visit other floors. Another fascinating genre of books were about food and gardens. After all the roaming we were hungry and wanted to eat something. There's a shop within the library which offered a variety of dairy treats. We ordered two mango ice creams and sat down for awhile.

The Mango Ice-cream

Like that, days went on and my last day of internship happened. When you like something and get departed from it, It does feel like a part of you has melted away. That's exactly how I felt leaving my favourite internship place. They were like a family to me. But change happens and we gotta accept it.

Another boredom doodle I did during the last week of my internship

Few more summer holidays were left and I was content that I used most of it on different explorations than a routine extravagant tours and vacationing exotic places. The left out holidays I spent it on watching movies, lot's of sleep and watering plants. While watering plants I came across an interesting weed with three leaves on single stem. Nature's design is mysterious than you think.

The mystery at my garden

I also got a curry leaves plant which is my first plant that I personally planted in a pot without anyone's help and guidance. It survived, I was happy. It started to grow new branches with budding tiny new leaves, I was ecstatic. And One day, when I was watering the plants I noticed, the tiny monsters whom we call tenants uprooted my first plant that survived. Thus, end of my curry leaves plant. Life is never about joy alone, it knows how to bring sadness too.

R.I.P. to my first plant that survived 

Then, Holidays got over along with end of June. It was jaunty isn't it? Anyways, College started and a new possibilities of experiences opened up. Entered 3rd semester of Post - graduate life and we became seniors. Life does move fast, So pick up the pace and challenge it that you will make worthy use out of it.

When you reach super soon on the first day of college and hear only pigeon sounds.
The place was looking horrendous without students roaming around.

I know it's super late of me to write about June after half of July is getting over. But I think I have superpower of procrastination, distractions, slacking and whatever that makes a person deviate from one's work. It's okay to do mistakes but quitting a passion is not okay unless you lost interest in it. So, go on take your time or take a break but never ever give up.

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!