The day hath come....

A long break between posts suggests a long term of nothingness; you guessed it right, Diwali holidays. pfrrr!!! :p

So we are in 12th and we just whiled away 20 awesome days doing nothing. and my conscience, both inside and outside, (and outside means my mom, jai) do not let me enjoy this time, staining it with guilt. that's what holidays are, guilt machines, boredom manufacturers, laziness producers.... and a whole list of things i would like to call them, except this blog is not exclusive :p

And now that i am almost done with my routine of complaining about holidays just as they come to an end, the day is coming, when i get back to college. its an amazing feeling, you know. college lines up activities for you like nothing else does! Come tuesday, and my life is going to change. there's college, there's math class, there's KCMUN, and then there's prelims... and other stuff you'll know about pretty soon!*wink*

I'm going to meet my college friends after 20 freakin' days, show off my new hairstyle, bag and shoes; then i'm gonna come back to normal and laugh loudly enough in the trains to make the other ladies wonder how life would have been had they just waited a minute or two more and caught another train!!! (sanjana and manali would vouch for that. maddie, however, is a darling so she won't :p) Aww how i miss it!!!!

Can't wait, can it? the day, indeed, hath (to) come! and i'm not so good at archaic english, so i'm assuming 'hath' means 'has'....:p

Fruit Power!

After quite a long gap it has been, I am writing, and this time, it is a post about my experiences with the speciality food of Mahabaleshwar, a hill-station in Maharashtra I visited very recently. And by speciality food, here, I mean to refer to the kind of food Mahabaleshwar tops in—fruit products.

When you are in Maharashtra, you think of strawberries when you think of Mahabaleshwar. While it is true by all means that I enjoyed eating ‘strawberry-and-cream’—a local concoction consisting of strawberries—albeit frozen this time of the year—(“off-season,” the seller complained), strawberry ice-cream, fresh cream and strawberry syrup (which I guessed was artificial),  what came to me as a surprise was the part including mulberries. Two things that I knew before about mulberries included the fact that silk-worm rearing is done usually on mulberry trees, and that ‘the mulberry bush’ featured in a nursery rhyme I recited in nursery school, and I did NOT know how they looked (and I thus mistook them at first for grapefruit). Nevertheless, what matters is that they taste great, and leave behind an almost indelible magenta juice.

A raw mulberry

I also visited a jams-jellies-preserves factory outlet, Mala’s, where they offered free tastings of almost every crush (in milk) they had on sale. While I tasted only strawberry and butterscotch (my sister and I regret not having tasted more) and they did not have saffron, I loved butterscotch—it had grated apple, and tasted yum. Practically every bottle of crush of every flavour on sale there had fruit pieces in it, not like ground-and-got-done-with-it. Their fudges were very good (I hadn’t tasted good fudges at all before, for refrigeration—and I have warned my aunt against it—kills fudges).

If you have an uh, well, not a sweet tooth, but a fruit-tooth, you know what is that place you would want to head to. Happy fruiting!

The Liquid Horizon...

My jeans rolled up to my knees,
my hair,entangled from the salty wind
i stepped into the sea,
the vast, never-ending sea,
and gazed at
the liquid horizon...

I couldn't feel the sand
weaving itself in and out of my toes
with the salty water;
nor could I sympathise
with the little crab
peeping out of its shell
for the hope of a new life
just to be washed ashore
again, and again...

I couldn't admire
the Orange Sun,
cut in half by the horizon
and dissolved by the ripples
and reflected by the waves;
nor could I appreciate
the calm, the quiet
gushing of the waves,
sound of the ocean...

It was just me and the sea;
as i watched
the water disappearing at the end,
only to ride on the waves,
back to me
and then again, receding
to the Heart of the Ocean;

And then I looked at the sea
and the sea looked back at me
and then, another salty drop of water
that came from my heart
fell on the sea
and the loyal sea
gulped it in a second
and carried it away
to the Heart of the Ocean;

Hiding from me, my own grief
theiving from me my own guilt
and drowning the deafening noise inside me,
with its deafening silence
the sea comforted me...

And as the cool wind dried
the path of the tear
on my face;
you came and stood
by my side
gazing, also, at the liquid horizon...
not oblivious to the fact
that the boundless ocean
had been joined by another drop;

and then your hand took mine
And suddenly the sun was meaningless,
the waves were weak,
and the Heart of the Ocean
was heartless;

Only the sea stood to witness
that which no one else did
binding my feet to yours in water
and weaving sand through both our toes;
that which was intertwined
grew, and grew more
into what
made everything
alright...

-shruti

Of French songs, French gymnastics, French fashion, French food...and French guys...*sigh*

4 years ago i took up a whole new language to study, and i thought a lot about it. Its been amazing to study that, and to see our prof making duck-like faces while talking (yes i imitate her, jai, but she actually looks like a duck). And since then, today was by far the best experience I have ever had. dot.

I remember when I was in school, my teacher,on 14th July, after her entire lecture mentioned in passing, that it was the French national day. It never occurred to anyone how much fun it would be to actually celebrate it.

However, xaviers rocks, so or French profs put together this little event, today,a week after 14th July. We sang champs-elysees, premier baiser; people did gymnastics, and a little version of the French fashion week. We had a little skit and a quiz on France too. And some food; croissants, and gateau au chocolat, biscuits and some chips du pomme de terre... just a little presentation for about 50 minutes. (and we did manage it too)

Coincidence (or as i like to call it, universe's most meticulously planned phenomenon): there happened to be a bunch of French exchange students in my college foyer, who were in Mumbai just for the morning, and leaving for Chennai by train at 2. We interacted with them, and begged our profs to let us invite them. And they really enjoyed it.

Thats what learning a language is about isn't it? You learn the culture as well. I'm so glad I took French.

P.S. Its true what they say; French guys are HOT!!! ;-)

The Busy Bee drops in every once in a while...

How awesome is being busy? perhaps as pathetic being not busy is. And my blogs have borne the brunt of both extremities of my life in the past year. Thats right, I have been blogging for a year...

Its like a cycle, I realized. I get bored, i blog about being bored, about it being increasingly monotonous, and then i get busy! And then as if all of a sudden, I am too busy to enter my blog, and even if i do, too tired to actually blog... There is a lot to write about, but it is just too hard to select something to write on.

There has been so much going on in life; college has begun, and with quite a flare, i must say. And my lucky streak! The first 2 weeks of college were so eventful, its hard to believe its been only a month since it started off! My cousin moved in to town, and i discovered how close we would have actually been if he'd moved in before! And my birthday came and went by, without so much as a whisper to my blogs. It was great, we had a good time, but beyond that, whats there to write about?

Malhar work has begun, and between lectures, auditions, preparations, math classes (and a few feuds with friends here and there) life has been exhausting. Perhaps one of the reasons I am sitting here, with my laptop, very sick, instead of going to college which is so much more fun!

And then there was the day i went completely goth over my grief of Harry Potter coming to an end. It was quite emotional, and all my friends wondered if I'd fallen down and hit my head or something.

And so much more! Life is such a roller coaster ride, and right now i'm sitting all buckled up, hoping for more loops-a-hoop!

cheers =)

top 10 things that i CAN'T believe

There are a lot of things that i can't believe. Here are the 10 biggest and right-on-top-of-my-mind ones:

1. That college has started already. You might have thought i would have gotten over THAT while i took the horrible rides in the second class compartments.

2. That the first week is taking ages to get over, while my weekly pocket money is completely out!

3. That it ever used to be scorchingly hot (talk about 2 weeks ago!)

4. That I sweat more in college now that rains have started, while I complained of it being so completely hot just a few days ago. Like when i was complaining the universe said "Wait for it...!"

5. That Malhar is 2 months later, and we are already crashing over adrenaline rushes and deadlines.

6. That SYJC means essentially the 'last year in whichever junior college you are, no matter how awesome it is'. AND that SYJC is already here!

7. That this week has been so full of things, I'm already wishing for a holiday. AND that the week has STILL not gottn over yet!

8. That my brother is still the best person in the world... (AND i thought i might have gotten over it about 16 years ago, but i haven't)

9. That my mom FINALLY got her first white hair! (Its about time u started not looking like my sister, mom!)

10. That JUNE is finally upon us! *winks*

Things i just can't believe. Happens, though; part of life!

Of blogsters and boredom

     So, Joy tells me to 'write something about boredom'. I'm like 'wha-?'. And before I could give a satisfactory (not necessarily positive) reply, he hung up. Now I am left with an answer there is no use of giving and a task-writing something about boredom.
     So I've been sitting staring at my computer screen, too bored to think of something to write. Personally, I think the whole idea of 'bored people writing about boredom' is pretty crazy. It's almost like looking in the mirror and introducing you to yourself. Don't you make that face! I'm telling ya, it makes sense. It makes complete sense to jobless people who spend their day either watching TV, or on facebook, or reading books, or all of that!
     Nonetheless, I cannot praise myself enough for coming up with ingenious ways of killing time. In the summer that was, I have learnt how to dance freestyle without looking foolish, I have learnt how NOT to bake cakes, I have learnt how to write with my right hand (I am doing considerably well), and most of all, I have learnt that all you need is a little crazy imagination to spice up your day!
     With this little piece of advice, I, the bored girl, sign off. Oh, wait! Not before I say something I've been wanting to say ever since Joy told me to write this- That boredom is imminent in such lousy vacations, is completely fathomable. But hey, when you have blogsters (MY word!!!!) like Joy and Shutti, boredom at eat.sing.enjoy.LIVE is out of question!
Ciao!

bored? hell yeeah, I am!!!

Damn straight. I am bored. End of story.

How bored can you possibly be? You could be bored to the point where you have a lot to do, but you just don't feel like doing any of them; and even if that is interpreted as laziness, it makes you bored of life, nevertheless!

You could be bored to the point where you seriously have nothing to do, and you are craving for something, anything to do.

You could also be bored to the point where you have nothing to do, but you wouldn't do anything even if someone begged you to. Like having the cake and eating it too. But I don't see anything wrong with that. After all, what's the whole point of having a cake if you cannot eat it?

Fact is, boredom has no limits. Its either that, or boredom has the quality of sprouting new limits just when everyone thought they had reached it.

Either ways, its poor SYJC'ians who are suffering bad this summer. Because not only are we bored, we have to study. And I am talking hard-core classes.I am still in a better place, tough, because I am in a field that strikes a balance between studies and fun. But my heart reaches out to the round-the-clock-studying-their-eyes-out-texting-by-night-never-seem-to-be-free-to-go-out-with-friends-or-enjoy-life-in-any-way sciencies. Poor dears *evil grin*

Yeah, life is miserable. I can't believe I'd longed for summer vacations once upon the time. 'Cause as it turns out, bubbles like those burst in no time. Even though summer's not really bad as my jobless hands made it out to be, I just can't wait for college to start already!

=)

Boredom

So, this time, we have a 'theme' on our minds. All the three of us are hopefully writing about boredom, and the ennui that, irrespective of everything else, follows.

When was the last time you wanted to write a word as short as 'last' and you ended up writing 'lastestestestestestestest...' because you didn't have anything better to do?

Boredom is the feeling that you might as well be doing something else worthwhile, but what that something is, feels like a mystery.

I am not writing anymore. Bored. : /

Of Customising And कष्टदायक.

I spent a busy afternoon talking to my friend. And busy, because that friend writes a blog too. And you might as well be pleased to know that she is the same Shutti (cum Tutti-fruity) I told you about. I was supposed to look at her personal blog and ours, like a common third party would..

"Does this look good?"
"Be honest, Joy."
"How must it be named?"

Customising a blog may be as much fun as making and writing on one, but when you get into the nitty-gritties of how things are supposed to be, it gets confusing. And tiresome. And jobless though I am, I am obviously tired, getting tired of boredom.

And Maths.

But it becomes all worthy of our time when we see the result becoming a success before our eyes. Well, I guess, the कष्टदायकness of it starts reducing after a period of time. :)

a string of random thoughts...

Its so much fun to blog, but its even more fun to customize a blog. I just did this one, and also my own blog-(.http://shruti-shrutsblogs.blogspot.com/). Its like shopping, but better. You get the clothes for you blog for free, you can also accessorize it as you wish for free, and it gives you and your blogging experience a freshness; a novelty. And plus, its fun, because it helps you determine what your blog is all about. A picture is worth a thousand words; if that’s taken literally, what background you choose for your blog can define your entire blog.

Its nature, isn’t it? You eat with your eyes, as well as with your mouth. We were taught, you must not judge a book by its cover, but then what’s the whole point of the cover? In the animal kingdom, as in the Human kingdom, looks are what attracts interest, interest is what attracts friendship. So looks are the most important, aren’t they?

It is so characteristic of us to preach that looks can be deceptive, and perhaps they are so,too, about 80% of the time. That is nature too, for instance, the phenomenon of camouflage. So that way a chameleon can never define what it is, because it keeps looking different. Poor creature. But no great priest can say honestly, without batting an eyelid, that he hasn’t judged a person by how he looked ever. Because no one really does. And there’s a simple justification; nature.

God gave us eyes so one can take in all the beauty nature has to offer. And he painted the world beautiful, so that we had something to see. That is one of the reasons the peacock is our national bird, not the crow; which we see more than the peacock, when it comes to it.

So what do we do with ugliness and not-so-good-looking-ness? We take them in anyway, just like we do with beauty. Banish stereotypes and give ugly a chance to prove how beautiful it really is.

And in case you are wondering how on God's earth I could start with blog customization and end with a philosophy lesson, here’s the thing; I am really, truly, extremely jobless! ;-)

And The Ball Is Set Rolling

I baked a perfect cake today. I could call it my first because whenever I bake a cake, it's either shapeless OR tasteless OR hard, like bricks. Ew.

Anyway, digressing. Or maybe not.

The cake is light-pink in colour, and is perfectly round. Well, was. I had my aunt have a piece (that I am practically home alone, I shan't tell you guys *evil grin*), and I was very busy melting chocolate on the double boiler, then I got cheesed off and so had to add some water to the milk chocolate and microwave it. But a good icing, nevertheless. I had to take the shorter cut because I couldn't have handled two flames on a stove (pun unintended, but now that it's come, it may as well come true :P) since I am a very bad multi-tasker. All this, well, because I had to give my granny some warm goodnight-milk. Hmmm.

Makes me feel 'warm and fuzzy'. But milk? Ew. But milky things are awesome. Like milk chocolate. Like vermicelli porridge. Like the Milky Way.

No, I lost it again.

Someday, I'll write a book about digression. And I'll give Maddie's and Shruti's names as egzampls. And I don't know why. I don't need to.

That's because even if you didn't know, Random is IN.

And with that sentence, I (with a bow *bows*) am OUT.

Totally.

wake up, survive, go back to bed.

my mantra for the vacations. add in get up early, go swimming, watch sum tv, go back 2 sleep, watch a lot of tv, text, stare at facebook for sometime, decide its not worth it, go to blogger, and decide there is nothing to blog about and stay up late 2 complete math homework to the list. My life is boring.

but not completely so. and a blog is the place where i highlight the few precious moments of joy, sorrow, anger, frustration and sarcasm, with my few, precious, happy, sad, probably not so angry, very much frustrated and sarcastic buddies. my life is interesting in small doses. and whoever's reading, gets a large, pretty large dose. enjoy my life. :)

and yea, theres pretty much to enjoy in Joy and Maddie's lives too.=)

Chana's the way!

     After a whole day at Mumbai with a bunch of idiots, I am left exhausted. What with my legs almost broken with pain, a terrible math test coming right at me and the unnerving fact that college is still a whole month away, writing this post is the best thing that's happening to me today. Oh wait. This blog has these idiots too. :/

     Anyway, as I was contemplating how to spend todays day, I remembered the chana bhel (or whatever it's called) Shruti and Joy were eating at Marine Drive yesterday. So here's how my experiment with the chaat went-

     I strolled into the kitchen trying to find something to munch on (my mom's not here right now so ready-made food is unavailable). I found a packet of chapta chana pushed waaaayyy back in the corner of the cupboard. Boy, was I lucky!! I took an onion, chopped it into tiny pieces, and dropped it all over the chana. Then, I chopped a small tomato and added it to the mixture, making a perfect blend of the orange, red and white. To add a tangy flavour, I squeezed a small lemon over it. Not to forget dhaniya!! And there it was. My perfect mid-movie snack. And I had made it ALL by myself (not much of an achievement now, is it?).

   It wasn't like the experienced version my mom makes me. Nor did it have the streety (my word!) taste to it. Well, I savored every bit nonetheless. So much for culinary experiments!

We Swear By Chocolate!

Okay. So, this blog is going to be brought to you by us three Distinguished Idiots of St. Xavier's College, and well, is going to be about things we're passionate (the common ones being la cuisine et la musique) and/or not-so-passionate about; what happens or fails to happen in notre vie.

Shruti swears by chocolate. It goes without saying, she also swears by (or at least swore by at some time) BumbleBees, everything that is French, and everything that is amazing. Like her. She's Shutti or Tutti-fruity for you. Or you could call her whatever. She hardly cares. Like, what's in a name?

Madhurima is the I-look-quiet-and-am-quite-quiet-but-I-am-an-observing-Scorpio-*hehaha*-girl. When she's not making a new veggie dish at home, she's with her maths books guitar 'Old Fire'. One sharp look from her, and you could land dead. But don't worry, she can't see you through her computer. Not yet. :/ Oh, and she is Maddie. Don't ever confuse her name with Madhura. Never.

And I is I. :P Like, I is the ninth letter of the alphabet. And things as weird and weirder. Like, on Maddie's advice, which I no more consider to be 'sage' advice, I tried baking a cheesecake with cheese in it. And turned out I could have built barricades during WW-II using those pieces of cake. :/ Awkward. Oh, I forgot. They call me Jai. Or Joy. :/

And some names (other than ours) which often may feature on the blog include : Meryl, Sheetal, Michelle, Sanjana, Manali, Dhwani, Shiksha, Natasha, Shallaka, Twinkle, Sharvari   enough for now   all friends.

So, now, I end this post, so there are many more to come. Happy Awesomeness.