Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Nostalgic musings............

Been missing my IIT-B friends, more so the life there, and, suffering a dull ache at the fact that we have drifted apart. No matter how much I blind myself to this fact, it just stays there and refuses to go away. Half of us married, the rest on the verge of it, most working, some studying. Each busy with their own life, making new friends, & while not forgetting old ones, slowly losing touch. It hurts. These were the people with whom I formed the strongest bonds, sharing almost everything, with close to zero inhibition. I could ask them anything, without the fear of offending them, knowing that even if I unknowingly did so, they would tell me and not take it to heart. We shared laughter, tears, joys, sorrows, crushes, old secrets, foolish aspirations, grand ambitions - in a nut shell - everything! Now, my closest friend is getting engaged in less than a week. I guess she's already in India. Haven't been able to speak to her in months. Makes me wonder what went wrong..... how did we progress from sharing every minute of our lives to speaking once in 3 months.

Watching Wonder Years on the trot these days . Watched the episode titled "Growing up" today . This line that Kevin says towards the end of the episode is still lingering in my mind.

"Growing up is never easy. You hold onto things that were; you wonder what's to come. But that night, I think we knew it was time to let go of what had been, and look ahead to what would be - other days, new days, days to come. The thing is, we didn't have to hate each other for getting older; we just had to forgive ourselves for growing up"

Update : Called her soon after writing the post. Was wonderful talking, discussing the impending engagement and ribbing each other like olden days. Well, somethings might change as we grow older, but, some people will always mean a lot to you.

Friday, December 25, 2009

more Mathe-magic :)

I just love Futility closet... check out these two super awesome links - a & b. Enjaay maaDi !

Bird Diapers

Check out this link at Futility Closet . Need I say anymore to poor IISc-ians who have been bombarded many-a-time by bird crap missiles!!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

We wish you a merry Christmas, merry Christmas, merry Christmas....

I studied in a school run by Protestants; so, for us, Christmas was always a time of festivities. Apart from the regular two weeks off at Dasara, we also got about 10 days off during Christmas, which itself was enough to induce the festive mode in all of us! The fact that most of the kids in our neighbourhood, who studied in non-christian schools, got only a day off ; was the cherry on top of the sundae of awesomeness that was Christmas break !! [dialogue credits to the Legen-wait for it -dary Barney Stintson! ]

We would have Christmas carol practice through December, with patient teachers trying to mold our unwieldy voices into a smooth chorus . Christmas celebrations in school always happened 2 - 3 days before the 25th. The day would be a half day, with a small program of a play, some carols, an unwilling guy dressed as Santa, a few boring speeches; followed by sweet distribution - and, off we went on a glorious holiday! In the true spirit of Christmas, it was a period of Joy and Happiness in our tiny little world!

Even after School, the hangover of Christmas stayed with me, and I would get a plum cake, decorate our home, and based on my economic conditions, get small gifts for everyone in my family, including Gowri, and that would be my Christmas celebration.

Coming to think of it now, I am lucky to have broad -minded parents, who did not think my Hindu-ness was threatened by my celebration of Christmas. We have an infant Jesus photo, amongst all the various idols and photos of the close-to-33 crore Hindu gods and goddesses. And, in fact, not at any point did it ever cross my mind as to why Christmas should not be as big a festival for us as Krishna Janmastami, Ganapati , Dasara, Diwali, Ugadi or Sankranti. It was , like the others, a period of Festivities and Cheer :)

Now it is Christmas again... remembering all the previous years and feeling nostalgic. Went on a trek on Tuesday - which was adventourous, and saw Avataar yesterday in 3 -D and loved it [More on this later] .. the ideal finale for the Christmas celebration would be having a break on this extended weekend, go to the Niligiris cake exhibition, get plum cake and relax at home. But, alas, it is not to be. My impending lab meet on Saturday necessiates that I work tomorrow - the first Christmas I am working , in these 25 years... ah, well, there's always a first time, and hope this is the last one too.. it is far too depressing to work when you are infused with the holiday spirit!

Friday, December 18, 2009

It not only rains but pours.

When things start going wrong, they seem to go wrong simultaneously in all different spheres of your life - health, work, inter-personal relations, family - wonder why it happens. Currently, things are not moving at work - want to badly take a break and run away - but, the naked truth is that if I do that, I shall have a lot of not-moving work waiting for me when I get back, to plunge me into another bout of depression, and the vicious circle continues. Better to grit my teeth, bear with it and see this thing through. Hope I find the mental strength for the same.