Transition Mode: ON.

I'm not a fan of the phenomenon of change, as you might know if you've been reading what I've been blabbering since I started this blog. I know it's important and all, for all that diversity and learning through change and that cliched, 'change is the only constant' thing, but still. I'm all for gradual change, it's sometimes perfect and magical, like the way I find myself getting mature and err.... a better, calmer person? Something like that. However, I get all anxious and feel like I'm on a completely different plane when the change is sudden. Sometimes it's pleasant, other times it's not. In both cases, I feel uncomfortable, slightly less when it's something good, but the feeling's there nevertheless.

This change thingy seems to have suddenly found my life the most interesting, out of the billions of people on the planet, it seems. Alright, that's hugely exaggerated, but you get the picture, right? One thing after another and right now, it's so different that it's hard to believe I actually had a vacation. No more sleeping in, roaming around in PJs, reading whenever I felt like it, watching random flicks and shifting channels restlessly, no more going out to the park for a walk (aiming to be 'fit'), no more time-on-my-hands for blogging, even! Which is something that sucks the most for me, right now. I mean, I need it so bad! College's started once again and there are so many new things it's hard to handle. Although, so far how I've managed and behaved, I deserve a pat on the back!

1. I'm in second year! Which is like, the final year for us poor souls dragged into this MBA thingy, and now there are around 40 new people! Which is quite a lot, especially for someone like me, who takes a lot of time to adjust and talk easily. But it's okay. I had this new zest for 'being myself' which has been working so far. I have my doubts, as it was the orientation week and everyone was having fun and the real thing starts tomorrow, but still I hope the new me would hold on for longer. I don't want to care what people think about me, I don't want to be too attached or emotional with anyone, rather friendly and open, which by the way, I find really hard in this place. No, I didn't find anyone new too, with whom I could have that comfortable 'connectedness'. I remember writing a post titled, 'Thought Mismatch' in the beginning of my first year, describing how I feel like I don't belong here and it's still there. *sigh* God knows when I'll find my true place. Till then, I need to hold on and focus on:

- What is important to me

- Ensuring all the over practical people don't get to me

- Ensuring I don't become a carpet being walked on, like last year

- Smiling. A lot. It helps. :D (And it makes me look far better than I actually am :P )

2. New campus! Our University is essentially located in Old Delhi and our course was in West Delhi, but not anymore! It's shifted to its mother campus which is a historical building with that old Delhi feeling. The only thing I like about it. Actually, I think I'll enjoy this new campus once the other course kids start pouring in from August. I don't know. I like the ambience, even though it's marred by the presence of dogs-that-chase-you and families of monkeys in banyan trees and on tops of the roofs, so that when you have to reach your classroom you've got to keep praying you don't get attacked. And those guys even have green-apple ice cream from the ice cream vendor in the campus. Every afternoon post lunch. o.O Still, discovering a half buried skeleton (preserved with P.O.P.), a 300 year old library-sans the books- and having Old Delhi right outside the gates is not so bad.

3. Dance moves!! I've never danced. I am too much of a klutz for something as graceful as dance. I look like a pathetic zombie when I attempt dancing and just the mention of dancing even in the classroom, with my classmates, on stupid songs where you just have to move your hands and nod your head, gave me the heebie-jeebies! Will you believe it? I danced yesterday, in front of the whole MBA school, juniors and teachers included. Not solo, obviously, but in a group of 5. I don't know what came over me. It was compulsory for all to perform something and considering I suck even more at singing, I thought I'd stay inconspicuous in a group dance. But well.............. I had a lot of fun! While practicing and more so while performing. Some friends were amazed at the change too! :D Although, it doesn't mean I'm going to be available for this thing every time, okay?

4. Reading! We have Saturdays working too and during the past week, I haven't read a word, which is scary considering the piles of books I've got pending for reviews. I hate not reading. I know it might sound pesky every time I mention it, but what can I do? There's little else I like to do.

5. Ensuring fairness. The biggest reason I don't like MBA is when people believe they can 'succeed' by making their thing the best by bringing others down, which is actually a loser's way of doing things. Sadly, that doesn't matter because this is not the time for honesty. It's a virtue which isn't in use these days. Even then, I think it defines a character and absolutely makes you trustworthy, which I think is very important that people see you as. I don't know if I could live with the fact that people don't trust me! At the same time, you don't have to become someone people take for granted. There's all kind of rubbish business that happens and you've got to learn how to make sure you're not a victim, by being polite. It's really hard to manage, but I'll be doing my best. I'm done with doing all the free work and no one even knows whose hands it passed on from!

6. A new day! :D My brother G, who's outside Delhi for studies, gave us a surprise today by coming home!!! Although, I didn't appreciate being woken up all groggy and full of sleep (and I got up at the sound of mom's incredible laughter) at 8.30 a.m on the only day of the week when I wasn't sleeping for just 4 hours. But it's okay, as later both of us had a deep rest for hours! :P Thank you G, you really made us all super happy. Just that right now, sitting beside me pestering me for the laptop is irritating. But whatever, I missed this too. :P

7. No more GFC!! Dear blog followers, Google reader is shutting down from tomorrow, which means that this 'Follow Me' button on the right, where most of you have signed up, would not be of any use. It's so sad! I mean, I don't want to lose all you guys! Who will even read my blog posts? Please please if you're a blogger, follow me on Bloglovin', which is a platform for following blogs, or put me in your feed reader, or subscribe via email. I'm telling you, I'll bring in a troll to hit you if you don't!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Also, for bloggers, Bloglovin has this amazing feature where you can 'import' all the blogs you follow with just a click of a button, and hence you don't lose out on any blog! I'd hugely recommend that. It's a nice platform! Not a very nice change, but we can't help it! 

A day spent zooing! ;)

Hello awesome people! If you're among those readers I so adore, that is, if you've been here long enough (hey new guys. I like you too :P ), you remember reading two crazy posts about two crazy days with two friends with crazy stuff we did, and the crazy fun we had? My two oh-we-might-meet-twice-a-year-but-we're-awesome friends, Aneesha and Richa? Henceforth, A and R. The point is, I was feeling so cruddy yesterday. I mean, that's not the point, but the beginning of the point. A pinged me on Facebook and then this happened (not exact):

A: Mausam is so cool! Let's go enjoy in some park-kinda place!

Me: Really? I'm in! I'll ask R if she's free to go tomorrow! Decide the place.

A: I'll Google.

Just like the cute friend she is, R agreed, not forgetting to giggle at the random plan. :P

A: Let's go to Indraprastha Millenium Park. Pragati Maidan. Metro+Auto.

Me: (asks parents who say a weary yes. - It's so not easy getting permission.) Yeah sure. :D Whatever it is :P

So then I had this dawn of intuition that my morose mood wouldn't last for long. And jeez, I love the guy who discovered intuition. Thanks dude! (or dudeni. Uh, I should probably curtail the excitement-which-leads-to-weird-lingo-and-unnecessary-length-in-my-anyway-long-blog-posts! :P) This morning the weather turned hot again! That rogue! But A still said we'd go. What a my-kind of friend she is. :D I picked her up on Scoot on our way to the metro station, and as she hopped on pillion, she said, "We're not going to IP park." 

Me: Why? Where then?

A: I have no idea. Let's just go, then we'll see. :P

R met us at her station and then we decided (when I said like a drooling child, please!) to go to the National Zoological Park, a.k.a, Zoo! I said how I've been crying and dying to visit it since the past two-three years especially, ever since I learned photography and have a camera, and the last (which also happened to be the first) time I visited was when I might have been a ten year old. A and R too, had just been there as kids and I had brought along my camera (supposedly, we wanted to have a nice photo-session) and we were oh-so-excited! Since it was initially my idea, supported by A and an okay-alright-R, they said they were depending on me to get them safely to the zoo. Oh my dear friends have so much faith in me. No wonder I talked to an auto wallah who overcharged. Sorry guys. :P

I'm going to try to make this post short, so I'm just pointing out the highlights. 

# 1: We were just really excited and happy. You know, that forest-y feel, natural environment, okay-type weather, each other's company and an interest in such stuff. You know how it is! After looking at (and I don't need to mention, photographing each of those) a few basic animals and birds, we saw an enclosure with a huge pit, jungle-y kind of a place and just a railing to ward people off. I mean, to keep us out, because like A said, "this is their home and we're the strangers here'. Aww A, sometimes you're just profound. (Okay, sorry. :P). So, I looked at that pit and had a flashback. Ten years old and mom telling me the pit is important so that those animals don't jump out and eat us alive. I said how there might be something big over there, and then read a warning sign, "Dangerous animal: keep off the railing". That got me excited (I'm normal okay? This stuff just excites me! :D) and then we went further ahead when I spotted a sign! Eep! It said, 'White Tiger'. By the time I literally shouted, "Tiger!!!" my eyes adjusted to a great beauty standing right at the edge of the pit, just looking at us all as if we're the novelty around here (which for it, might be true :P ). I mean, it looked so good, so white with black stripes, just standing with an attitude. Really, those beasts have attitude and it shows! I heard small "aaoohhh" and saw R and A looking scared and starting to go back! Getting scared because the tiger was out in the open and it did not occur to them that there's a whole pit to save us and that it's unlikely it'll jump on us. :P

As expected, I took out my camera and clicked! And it posed. And I'm not kidding. I always had this photography dream to photograph wild animals, and today it seemed like they were just waiting for me, saying, "after all this time?" I just had the time of my life. Yeah, so when I had clicked a few pictures and adored the animal, with A and R now looking at it with awe too, it moved and went to hide in those bushes. :P Ha! I was just so happy! (I've said that already how many times?)

Ah this tiger! ^_^
Yeah, I clicked. I'm a good hobbyist photographer! :P

# 2: Wolf enclosure: I had never seen a wolf before, except of course in National Geographic and so I was making my usual huge eyes even huger and searching the compound and the three cave kinda things for any sign of the wolf. After a while, R and A got excited and R pointed towards the caves and said, "There! Something's moving! It's the wolf!" A was nodding her head but then like me, searched even more carefully. Then I saw those tiny irritable mosquitoes (or whatever they are), hovering in front of the cave in two batches and said, "It's not the wolf, those are mosquitoes!" R kept pointing and saying, "No, it's there! Something is moving. Seee!!! It's moving into the third cave!" I thought she might have some special vision powers because I could only see blackness and my eye sight is okay. By that time, a few more people had gathered behind us, trying to peer into the caves for any sign of the wolf. Then I took out my camera and zoomed in (it's awesome with a 24x optical and 48x -or more-digital zoom) and showed her the whole cave from the inside! It was empty. :P I clicked a picture that shows those mosquito-kind of things. Of course, we left the place discreetly, leaving the rest to try and look for the wolf. :P (On a serious note, if there were those mosquitoes, it might have been there, hidden somewhere like a clever......uh, wolf.)

I still can't see anything except these mosquito-thingies. 

# 3. We reached the water-part (how, I'll explain in point number 5) where there was green, slimy water with a sign that read, "Spectacled caiman crocodile". We peered into the water, into the bushes and whatever part was visible, but could not see it. That was when R said, "it might be hidden because it's wearing specs and looking hideous." Uhh. Okay. :P

# 4: Walking towards some deer and stuff, we stumbled a bit over uneven ground. There were small mud hills and pits big enough for a small animal and a human kid to fall into. R, showing off her genius said, "Do you know why these pits are there?" We shook our heads and she continued, "because in case any animal takes off after someone like us, they'd fall into the pit and we can run away to safety." Just. Hhahahahhaha! :P

# 5. We had been having a great time, what with that White Tiger, and then finding Cheetah and Leopard-in enclosures, unfortunately- and oh, a lion who was just staring at us all the time! I mean, there were more people too, but the lion found us fascinating. No wonder, my dad was worrying that the zoo guys would keep me for show too :P But still, we three together must have been a sight. ;) Yeah, we had been able to look at many animals probably for the first time in years and we were drooling with happiness, if at all this is anything. And we'd clicked a lot of pictures (and yeah, I was thrilled with having had the opportunity to photograph those animals!) and then we saw the time and didn't realize it had only been an hour and a half! Then to add to the awesomeness, we found elephants, all sorts of monkey-ish things: baboons, langurs, chimpanzees, etc, many many kinds of deer! I was seriously crying (not literally) over not having seen the giraffes yet, because I really wanted to have a picture of a giraffe, just to make a lame joke to my brother who is tall and I call him a giraffe too, that I spotted him at his righteous place: in the zoo. But I couldn't make that joke because of course, I didn't find any giraffe. We were near the exit and hungry and tired, but we still hadn't covered one part of the zoo, which forked left from the entrance/exit. 

R didn't want to go, A wanted to eat something and then go and I just forget all kinds of tiredness and hunger when I'm excited! We saw a board with a list of animals and realized we'd seen only half! I had to beg to these guys to just see the left side once :P And R agreed on the condition that we wouldn't go for boating at Purana Qila, which we thought we would do and which was right next to the zoo! Five minutes of decision making and we were off to explore the left. God, it was fun. Mostly water-stuff, so yeah, that croc who was hidden because of his specs, and then a whole lake with water birds! Whoop! We saw storks and ducks and birds whose names I did not care to find out, because they were just so pretty (and so far!) and my camera was literally having a field day. :D Then we found a beautiful cave kinda pathway which was out of the normal path and where R did not allow us, but A and me went there nonetheless. It seemed magical! Then I got to know something about crowd psychology, which I'll explain in my research paper which will fetch me millions of dollars. There isn't enough space here anyway. ;) 

Finally, we had lunch among stupid scary flies-cum-bees who loved our soft drink cups and then left in an auto that charged an amount Rs. 20 less than what we came for. (I said sorry, guys!). We went through the pictures in the Metro, laughing and my constant dialogue of the day, "It was such fun!" :D We were just wishing we could have had a slightly rainy day, so it would have been even better, but nothing beats what did happen and that was a hell lot of fun! As the previous readers already know, and newbies may take note, I always have the time of my life with these two of my friends. They're just awesome! A and R, take a bow! And if I've forgotten anything (I would have! I couldn't possibly explain every single thing we did), you may comment. ;)

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy! ^_^

Note for pic stealers: I didn't have time to watermark them, so please don't steal.

Hi Lion-who-stared-at-us. See how it's looking? :O

One wella baboon who loves to hangofy like this :P

Hi elephant-who-was-jhooming-and-eating :P

These antlers! 

Storks? or cranes? I'm so bad with this stuff. Water birds, it is. ;)

I'm just an awesome photographer. :D
(Yeah it's blurry, but WHO CARES?)

Thanks A and R for just giving me an amazing, to-be-remembered forever kind of a day after so many cruddy days. I love you!!! ^_^ 

A little adventurous gift... Part 2!

Continued from Part 1. 

***

Now, the previous CD shop guy had said it’d be somewhere near a chemist shop. The road had a custom shop, a kirana store, even a store for local toys. “It’s very near, it’s easy. You’ll get there without any problem.” Mom said in an ugly voice, mimicking the guy. This road was a two way road and now they were into another locality that Sara’s dad avoided because he thought people there lacked civil and common sense and could be dangerous on roads. His ideas about that place were so strong that he went all the way and called it a huge cockroach, for when even a nuclear bomb might go off, he believed this place could not change. As Sara and her mom once again, kept as close to the sides as possible, moving one after the other, Sara felt quite protective of her mom. It was Sara’s stubbornness that had got them into this place, to start with. And her mom was really scared of such things. Sara moved ahead, feeling the adrenalin rush through her veins, moving her hands as if trying to shrug off a bad case of sticky mosquitoes, so that the oncoming traffic would not miss her by chance and roll their wheels on her. It wasn’t possible, but Sara’s imagination said it might happen.

They saw the chemist shop on their right and hi-5ed and Sara felt like doing a celebratory dance. It wasn’t it, though, for there was still no sign of the CD shop. Mom now took over with renewed enthusiasm (not a positive one, just the kind that said- I’ve got to get this over with!) and started walking ahead, holding up the corners of her salwaar and muttering, “It has all been spoiled! Look at my clothes!” Sara could not look even if she wanted to. It was dark and they were busy shielding off cars that moved inches from where they walked. Finally Sara pointed out what she assumed to be the CD shop, if the movie posters on the open glass door were any indication. That was it. They went inside, all soggy and out-of-breath and were greeted by two men who turned down the volume of a sloppy Bollywood number on their player. Mom asked them for the movie’s CD, to which one of the guys replied with a ‘No.’ It seemed as if the whole effort had been drenched and turned into a mucky soggy mass. Then the guy suggested another religious movie which Mom knew was equally good and dad would like that too. Hurriedly, they agreed on it and asked for the price. “Rs. 38”, the man replied.

Sara raised her eyebrows and her mom laughed and said, “You sure it’ll work?”

“Yes ma’am! It’s an original company CD!”

Sara and her mom were giggling by now, and then the older guy smiled and said, “You’re laughing over the price, right? The company reduced the price, that’s why! It’s still an original and yes, it will work”. He was laughing too. Sara decided to anyway go home and download the movie somehow. She was all anti-piracy but sometimes it just had to be done. They left the shop laughing and giggling and then her mom turned all serious and said, “Now you’ll go from where I’ll ask you to! You’re such a scary adventure-loving girl!” Sara agreed and they once again, stuck to the side of the road. This time it was even more dangerous, as they were no longer facing the cars and traffic coming their way. Sara heard her mom calling from behind, “You know we’re walking on the wrong side of the road,” she said turning into her teacher mode, speaking like she’s teaching a five year old. “We should always walk facing the traffic.”

“Okay mom, you mean like this?” Sara smiled and turned around, taking steps backward. Mom laughed. “You’ve got a mean sense of humor, kid! And you don’t even see the situation.” Sara replied, “It’s okay. We’re okay. Just a road to cross and we’ll head home.” Mom smiled and they reached the daddy road once again. Just like God witnessed their remarkable dedication and the way they faced their fears just to get for dad what he really wanted, to make his special day memorable, He took mercy on them and provided them free roads! Narrowly missing a slip, mom walking fast in her funny peculiar manner that Sara’s brother liked to mimic, with one shoulder perked upwards and head tilted slightly to the other side, looking down on the road and yet in front, at the same time, they crossed the road, past the crane that could have lifted them and crumpled them up, past the sticky road and the apartment with an open transistor, and reached their scooty. There was a family of six standing near there and mom asked for an easy way out. They shook their heads unanimously when she asked about the easiest route. “It’s closed” they said.

Someeething like this! Pic stolen from Google!

Sara started the scooty and they reached the road. Looking back at the huge signal, they saw the horde of yellow and orange lights gradually speed up, having just released from the red light, moving towards them, on an otherwise empty road. “Oh damn. Fast, fast, fast!” Sara muttered as she entered the road and sped up, now crinkling her eyes in the drizzle, turning up the accelerator, feeling like Mike racing in the Pacific arena in a Roadrash game as a couple of bikers swiftly zoomed past. She heard her mom speak softly from behind, “The traffic’s still far away, slow down! We’ve got to take the next cut on the left.” The said cut was near and Sara slowed down, indicated left and took that cut. ‘Darkness’ was the first word that came to her mind. She hadn’t been here before and it was spooky. No overhead lights to light up the place, though the place was still alive with people. There were shops on the right, messy houses on the left and tempos and small carrier autos on the roads, reversing and parking and just moving around. Sara didn’t know what she could do except just move straight ahead, sometimes feeling like there’s only her and that narrow strip of the part of road where she was driving. Dark vehicles passed by and mom kept muttering, “Straight, straight, straight.”

The road forked and Sara guessed the left would take them home. Sometimes it really came as a surprise. A while ago when they were yet to cross the daddy road, Sara’s mom worried about being crushed in case they walked too early or too late. Sara always thought things through, even in case of emergencies like these. “It’s okay mom,” she said. “Just think logically. It’s actually not very difficult to think like Sherlock Holmes.” They had made it through easily, right? Taking the left was one of those logics into work. The street got weirder. Sara had no idea where they were and soon enough there was another fork. Sara started towards the right one, but soon realized that it was very dark and very narrow and filled with people. It just didn’t seem right. Her mom asked her to take the other one, which was broader but still very dark. Cruising among the black mass, the road soon gave away to a strip of un-made land, just stones put together, with muck and wetness making it soggy. Sara slowed down and they bumped along the road, scooty now a little unsteady, what will all those people making all kinds of noises. They were now in a small slum kind of an area and no one moved away even when Sara honked continuously. People in dark clothes, girls in sequined and bellbottomed jeans, kids in rags and crying, and that bumpy road all made them nervous but thankfully it wasn’t for long. The road eased out and viola! They reached another road, but Sara recognized this one with a jolt of happiness! The inside main road, the one that led to their flower seller! They had come out right in front of another inside road that led to their gurudwara.

Just as they turned and entered the lane, Sara and her mom gave a celebratory whoop! It’s just that feeling when you’re all nervous and anxious and then you enter your area and it’s all cool. Sara parked in front of the gurudwara, thanking God all the time, looking up at her jeans sprayed with mud and her slippers slipping and squishing in the muck, her feet speckled with brown and still not caring a single bit about it, for they were back from a seemingly small but surely memorable adventure. Returning after offering their prayers, Sara realized they had left the CD in the scooty’s open storage area! :P The cell phone vibrated and Sara’s dad asked with a mixture of anxiousness, anger and relief, “where the hell have you been!” Looking up at mom with an expression that said, “Oops!” Sara laughed and said they were stuck in traffic and would be back in 10 minutes. They reached the mobile shop next and while Sara waited outside, her mom did the chore and they set off finally, for home.

“How about some ice-cream?” Mom asked. “Whoa! You sure are enjoying this a lot, aren’t you?” Sara teased, to which her mom replied with a smile and a nod, just adding that minus the safety part, yeah it was fun! Sara hid the CD in her scooty and they went inside giggling and laughing, telling dad they were stuck in traffic, the scooty had trouble starting, etc etc, and looking at each other and laughing again! Sara realized how happy a tiny deed made her feel. She hadn’t even done anything, the card was still pending and they didn’t get the exact same movie, which she had to download. But watching her parents tease each other, having ice-cream together, she imagined how it was just perfect. How it’s not what you gift, but the thoughts behind those gifts that make the moments priceless. That night she slept a comfortable sleep, imagining all the amazing things tomorrow would bring. :)

***

If you haven’t realized yet, Sara is me and this story is 100% true. :D 

A little adventurous gift... Part 1.

Remember your kiddie days? When getting all excited about making your parents’ day special was normal? When you put in a day’s work (or more) into creating that special Happy Birthday card for your Mom? I really hope that spark and that desire to do something special for your parents never fades away. But sometimes it does. You still make efforts, and it may seem somewhat similar to how it used to be, but deep in your heart you know it is not. Sometimes it’s mechanical, a habit. And the day seems good, but it is good at a superficial level. But sometimes, even though a day before the special day you’re not up for anything, the clouds may part, the stars may shift and everything can change. For the best, of course! Here’s a story.

***

Yet another lazy Saturday, thought Sara as she sat on the floor in front of her floor level bookcase, sifting through paperbacks, trying to choose. She had had a small argument with dad that morning and had spent all afternoon holed inside her room with the intermittent internet, before giving it up altogether and turning all cheery and normal again. Still, that didn’t make much of a difference, except that she wasn’t all that enthusiastic about the crumbling state of her technological devices. Hell with it, she thought. It was a beautiful day, one of those rare ones when bang in the middle of a hot-hot summer, the clouds betrayed and danced and clashed and shed enchanted water on the Earth. She stood for a while in their verandah, right in the drizzle, letting tiny droplets pat her cheeks and hair and shoulders, looking at the row of houses looking magical and dreamy in that rainy-weather light, trees and plants turning greener with each second.

Ah! Getting 'geeli' in the rain. :P

Her mom called her in for tea. “I’ve got to go to the gurudwara. You’ll come with me?” she asked Sara while sipping on her cup. Under normal circumstances, Sara would have agreed to go, with just a slight hesitation. Not because she had anything against religious places of worship, but because it was the vacations and getting out of the house required making a sincere effort to look presentable. Today though, of course Sara agreed, and it was a very enthusiastic agreement. It’s really just these moments that make people realize what a mood swing of the Almighty (for want of normal words, pleasant weather change) could do. Besides, she had been struck with an idea and she really wanted to make it work. Sunday was Father’s Day and she had earlier planned on making a greeting card and presenting it in the morning. Now though, she wanted to do something more than just a card.

It had been five and a half days since her father had been trying to find an old movie online. He did find a few legitimate links, but none of them worked smoothly and he had just been disappointed. Sara decided it would be cool if she could find a CD for that movie and surprise him with it on Father’s Day. A bouquet of fresh roses scented with the rain in the morning would be a welcome gift too! Her mom hopped in on her plan and the two set off on Sara’s scooty, telling dad they’d be back soon from the gurudwara and stopping by the mobile shop for a recharge. By the time Sara was taking out her scooty, she was feeling giddy with enthusiasm. It was drizzling, and she was one hell of an adventurous girl.

Here’s a bit about Sara’s mom. She’s an average built woman with auburn and black hair. Sara quite liked the orangish hue that came from frequent use of herbal mehendi. Her mom isn’t much of a chemical fan. She’s a sensitive brown-eyed person with a golden heart and hence it had been years since Sara and her dad and mischievous brother had played a prank on Mom. They feared she might just drop unconscious from shock, so it was better to be safe than sorry. Plus, sometimes it was total role-reversal; Sara the mom and the mom, the kid. Even though it was Sara who drove the scooty each time they had to go shop for home products, her mom was perennially afraid of the monstrous Delhi traffic and had that constant edge in her heart and expression, so focused on the thousands of motor vehicles on the road that she wouldn’t even reply to what Sara might be saying from the front.

The roads were wet and Sara and her mom, both were feeling quite happy, just because of the awesomely pleasant weather, and they decided Sara would drive really slowly and they’d make it to all the places they had to visit. A mental note was made, and they started off, driving through their block and onto the roads. Sara tried driving as slow as possible, and carefully wove around the streets and cars, hoping her mom was enjoying the ride-in-the-drizzle as much as she was and made it to the main road. Just before entering a crossing, she braked hard and the scooty’s brake made an annoying screechy sound, before coming to an abrupt halt. Her mom got anxious, but Sara simply held up her left hand to her and gave a nod that said, ‘It’s okay. There was just an idiot three-wheeler speeding like an ass on a dangerous wet road’. She rode her way calmly into the main road, avoiding the potholes and slowing to a crawl on the speed-breakers. Cyclists and rickshaws passed them and just looking at that, Sara burst into laughter, right there driving on the road and her mom said, “You can definitely go a bit faster. We don’t have all night to roam around.”

They reached their trademark flower seller, the guy who knew Sara and her family ever since Sara was a year old. She waited for the guy to end a phone call, duly ignoring the other two sellers who were beckoning them towards their own stalls. But Sara was one hell of a loyalist. Mr. Hari ended his phone call and smiled up at them. “A bouquet of roses, to be delivered tomorrow morning!” Sara recited. Mr. Hari handed her a small card on which she wrote, “Happy Father’s Day pops!” and turned the card over to write the address. Sara had this amazingly creepy talent: she could get lost in her mind while doing stuff that didn’t require much intellectual use, like writing down her own address. You remember such things by heart, so she was imagining the glow of happiness on her dad’s face when she’d wake him and mom up the next morning with green tea, all while jotting down the address, so she didn’t realize she had written the complete address, city and pin code included! For a local flower seller who delivers flowers up to one kilometre. She broke into a laugh as soon as she realized it and her mom joined in. The thing about Sara’s mom? She was known to laugh a lot and when in a funny situation, everyone would have stopped laughing a while ago and her mom would still be at it, thinking of what had happened over and over, so that the others got themselves into another round of laughter, just looking at how mom’s laugh is funnier than the joke!      

Her road-phobic mom decided to check out the CD shop on the opposite road, instead of the one further away, which would require the scooty. It was getting dark by then and both these girls (her mom is the classic case of the ‘I’m not old’ brigade) hated when daylight ended. For Sara, it was spooky, even though at the same time she liked the mysteriousness. For her mom, it was just an opportunity for Delhi’s criminal population to surface and kidnap girls like Sara, so she usually avoided the dark. But that day it was quite a crowd out there and lots of traffic and it was only late evening, what with the amazing feel-good weather, so they just went on doing things a little faster. They visited the CD shop, where the owner sadly replied that he didn’t have that movie, but told them of some other shop which might stock it. Mom was totally out of it by then, because if there was anything that scared her more than the inside main roads, it would be the outer main roads, complete with proper red lights and vehicles ranging from cycles to DTC buses, all on the same lane.

Sara though, was totally in the mood and she suggested an inside road and said they’d park there and walk the rest of the way, especially as they had to cross the hugest main road of that area, to get to the other CD shop. Mom agreed reluctantly, making Sara swear that she’d drive really carefully. Reaching the spot where Sara thought they could park, to her dismay they saw the place full and they had to get on the main-roads-ka-daddy-road, which for the first time made Sara anxious. Darkness, the roads wet and slippery, mud and muck, people crammed at the red lights! Yikes! Gradually, getting their ears molested with the thousands of honks and creeping along the muck-filled road, they reached the place where they had thought of parking. Alas, that was where a huge construction activity was going on, with half the road blocked and a dull yellow, rusted crane stood where they wanted to park. Sara had a negligible sense of direction even though she was driving for the past 5 years, and her mom guided her near an apartment right on the roadside, both feeling anxious and still laughing nervously as a huge bus just passed them like a ghost, making Sara shudder.

It's not easy walking/driving on such a road, y'know!

Scooty parked, they now had to reach the CD shop which was across the daddy road, complete with construction muck right in the centre. Sara held her mom’s hands and they nervously tramped through the side of the road, stepping into puddles, one behind the other, breaking into laughter every now and then at the idiocy of their actions. They reached the crane and her mom stopped, just looking at it in awestruck wonder as it lifted off a tin sheet, crumpled it up and dumped it on the side. “We could so easily be crumpled like that if we just stand here,” mom said, jerking her head towards the other couple of pedestrians who were passing by. “Come on.” They reached that magnanimous signal and waited for their side of the signal to turn red. Soon it did and they clutched each other’s hands tightly and made it through half-way, right up to where the hugest construction work that blocked half the road was standing, the warning boards ending just where they now stood, waiting for the other signal to turn red. They almost reached the whole way, still clutching hands and mom almost running, just being careful enough to put her feet in the right places in case she slipped. Sara held on and looked up and saw a car swerving around the corner. Missing the car by turning to their right, the duo gave each other nervous giggles and kept on moving.

To be continued....

***

Theandric Thursday # 8: Mesmerized by Those Eyes...

**Long post alert**

This happened a few weeks ago during my summer break from school, when my dad had gone through a surgery in his left eye and used to look like a new born vampire, what with all the perennial redness. You know how it is when someone in the family is unwell. Relatives flock to your place to visit, ask the patient and the family questions they’ve already answered countless times. They offer their best wishes and leave. After dinner, of course. Anyway, that night one of dad’s sisters came over meaning to stay for the night. I personally enjoy a lot when any of his sisters come over, they’re such fun! To accompany her as well as to “see” dad, other members of the family had tagged along. My cousin has a two year old son who is incredibly cute but equally naughty. I’m not among those people who like to publicly coo and cuddle with cute little babies, though sometimes I forget this fact and do just what I don’t like doing: cooing and cuddling.

This baby would have reached London on foot if we could have put him on a straight road up till there, instead of having him toddling around in our house. This is despite the guaranteed inferiority complex he would have given to the pair of the most talkative parrots in the world. Really, sometimes I feel scared of babies. How do people even handle them 24x7? I get exhausted in the initial 30 minutes. And that is the maximum limit. Needless to say, I’m not fond of picking them up and cooing and walking around. But then again, sometimes with just the right kind of a baby, it feels precious. Alright, getting to the point, it was 11.55 p.m. and my aunt’s family was (finally) leaving for home. Just to be nice, I had tried some baby talk in that irritable kiddish voice, but the baby only slashed his hands across my face, giving me tiny scratches (though he gave that cute little laugh doing all that, so I suppose at least one of us was enjoying). So when we were outside waiting for one of my cousins to bring out the parked car and the baby agreed to come to me, I was quite surprised.

Here’s the thing I’ve learned about babies who don’t usually come to you. They’re selfish. They’ll come to you when you have to offer something they really want and then they won’t hesitate the teeniest bit. This baby loves cars and his mom was standing talking to my mom till their car was totally out. But the baby wanted to follow the car, and so my cousin dropped him off on top of me and he excitedly held on, wriggling up and down, and gesturing towards the car. I thought I might as well coo and cuddle while I’m at it and so I talked in that irritable kiddish voice, pointing out the other cars and speaking nonsense till we were almost where their car was waiting. There’s this grey bungalow in our neighbourhood, one of its kind, four houses down from ours. Even though it’s undoubtedly the hugest house in the vicinity, I never liked the dull grey color it has been painted with, mostly because of the slightly depressing aura it radiates every time you’d glance at it. And I had never given it more than a passing glance. We were standing outside that building, right next to their Honda City, 6522 (I’ve got this weird obsession of noting down car numbers), which was also a dull grey. Talk about depressing.

It also seemed to be the only car I hadn't pointed out to the baby and he kept on wriggling and leaning towards it until we were right next to the front passenger side window. I shifted so he could look inside and said, "See, baby, it's a big caarrr." The baby was still stuck to it and still wriggling so I had a hard time keeping him in my arms. And trust me I was trying really hard, because no offence, but I didn't think I could get out of the situation easily if he dropped/fell on the road because I couldn't hold him tight. Of course no one would blame the almost-two year old, he's just a baby, they'd say. Yeah right. Makes me wish my cousin could have had a baby girl instead. He kept on tapping his palm on the window, making small thumping sounds, so that at almost midnight it sounded eerie, just mixed with the baby's cute gurgling sounds and the sound of my brother-in-law guiding my cousin with the car. I was getting tired with all the activity going on in my arms (Note to self: Never have babies. Just adopt kids when they're like, 10 years old) and was about to turn around to find my cousin, when it suddenly became all quiet for a few seconds.

The baby stopped thumping and miraculously, even wriggling. He was still, just after his body jerked a little towards me and his tiny hands clutched my clothes at the shoulders. I could see the car reversing, my B-I-L with one palm held out straight and the other hand making sweeping motions, the car with its read tail-lights blinking, but there was no sound. It was as if someone had engulfed the baby and me into an invisible plastic sheet, not touching. My ears seemed to go through that experience where they're blocked out and numb, like when you travel by road in the mountains or while your flight takes off. Just those couple of seconds were enough to make my poor heart jump a mile and beat vigorously. The baby wasn't moving, I couldn't move and I was terrified. Then just as suddenly as it had come, the feeling vanished. The veil lifted and I could breathe. The baby started wriggling once more, just a little less enthusiastically. All this while my back was to the car. I swirled around and immediately felt sick, my heart banging across my ribs, for the car definitely wasn't empty. The first thing I noticed were those eyes! Almond shaped and incredibly bright yellow, with black oval eyeballs, and seemed to be moving from side to side, as if the body it belonged to was rocking back and forth. Just that.... there wasn't any body to support those eyes! I thought I saw a faint outline gradually getting fainter and then vanishing completely.

I was brought out of this shocking experience by the baby's bite on my left shoulder! Ugh! My cousin was now just a few feet away and the baby started thrashing my face and bawling. As if I wanted him anymore than he did! I passed a weak smile to my cousin and handed him over, feeling relieved and just wanting to run back home and hide in my room forever. 

"Goodnight sunshine!" my cousin called from the car and the baby shrieked as if to shush her down. 

Sunshine, how ironical.

"Goodnight di," I replied and tried giving a smile that she could easily have seen as a fluke had she not been wrapped up with the baby, trying to handle him. (Note to self: Just don't ever have babies!)

I did not want to turn around from where the car was. Like an idiot I hadn't gone running when my cousins had shut their doors, instead stood there waving them goodbye. Their car's tail light was getting smaller in the distance, I was still four houses away from my home, it was 15 minutes past midnight and I was alone, except for my tall shadow, cast down by the dull yellow light from the night lamp overhead. I took in a breath and turned the other way round, too scared to look into any of the cars' windows, but I couldn't help it. The red Alto on the curb, opposite the grey building had black translucent windows and I caught a reflection of the house and the car. Now when I think back to that night, I am surprised to see myself still alive. I should have died from multiple shocks my system suffered. The sight that was predominant in the reflection was just those yellow eyes, now shining more than ever. It seemed to be stuck on me and I felt like if I would move, so would those eyes. 

"Those eyes"

"Ashna... will you come back inside already?" mom called out and I jerked my head towards her. Thank God somebody remembered the kid is out of the house at midnight!

I almost jogged home, legs shaky and heart racing, as if I'm coming from running a marathon. That night when I finally fell asleep, pleading with mom to let me sleep in their room for that night, making the lame excuse of wanting to feel like a kid once again, I had the dirtiest of nightmares. You may ask why I didn't tell anyone about those eyes. The fact is no one would have believed me. Earlier I used to tell every single thing that happened to me, to my parents, before they started turning everything into lessons and points of reference for their scoldings and new strict rules. Had I narrated the incident just like it had happened, they would have either:

- Taken me to a shrink, or

- Asked me to read less fantasy than was normal.

So I just snuggled close to mom and plugged in my headphones and tried to sleep. When I finally slid into an uncomfortable state of stupor, all I saw was myself at night, heaving breaths with a face wet with tears, half walking, half running through a maze of streets (the same ones where I once got lost as a kid). I met numerous dead-ends and with each of those, I was met with shining eyes, just body-less, head-less, hanging-in-there eyes. Those same oval eyeballs, just that they weren't just yellow. Reached one dead-end, three pairs of green eyes. Get hell scared, turn back and run, reach another end, hellooo four pairs of red eyes. It took a lot many attempts at the jerking myself thing, my way of willing my conscious to wake up. When I finally felt like fading away from the dream, I jerked more than ever, tightly closing my eyes and opening them fast repeatedly, until I could feel the sheets rolled up beneath me and finding myself in my parents' room. Morning. 

***

I didn't go out for the next three days, even when the weather turned windy and pleasant and I could hear kids shouting and playing in the park. I was stuck inside with TV, books, laptop and Facebook. I didn't have any inkling, any dream related to those eyes and nothing unusual happened over those three days. It seemed pretty much convenient to forget about it, but I was still apprehensive about looking in that house's direction. The fourth day mom wanted to go out for some bank work and with dad still in the rest-till-you-get-better phase, I was supposed to take her on Scoot. I tried avoiding it, but.. let's just say mom can be scary at times. So I witnessed daylight after more than 72 hours. Not good for the deficient-in-Vitamin-D-me. I wasn't feeling all that scared by now, because I had been trying to wave it off as a figment of my imagination. As mom hopped on behind me, I took Scoot and zoomed out of the street, not sparing a single glance to the desolate building (which looked desolate even in broad daylight). Mom took me by surprise and asked me to stop outside our favorite gol-gappas place, where we gorged on the tasty snack and she talked about the new kind of teaching method she was planning for her students in school. It was fun, the way she tells stories about cute little five year olds and their antics. It's just these stories and examples of how I was as a little kid that I still have some hopes that kids are alright. :P

While we were returning, feeling light and happy, I had almost forgotten about those eyes. So when my eyes impetuously landed on that grey Honda City, and I saw a hint of those yellow eyes shining back at me again, I went through another emotional shock. It was all I could do to keep Scoot steady. My laughter had vanished and by now, even my patience was waning. I parked Scoot, asked mom to come with me and feeling braver than I should, walked her to the car and asked her to look inside and tell me what she saw. At first she gave me a bewildered look that shouted, "What do you think you're doing?" but seeing my worried expression, her brows furrowed and she peeped in. 

"Well, I see the steering wheel, the car seats and just... it's empty. What happened? We're not supposed to look into neighbours' cars like that. Come on." 

"No, wait!" I stood in front of the car and gave a sweeping look. Nothing. No eyes staring back at me. I felt a strange kind of a relief, apart from bewilderment and fear, mixed with the embarrassment of looking like an overactive kid. I looked carefully this time, heart going thump-thump and scanned the inside, backseats included. Nothing.

"Umm.. I'm sorry. I thought I saw something funny in there, but it's nothing," I stammered and took mom's hand and headed towards home. I think it was a part of some weird kind of imagination, because that day I was actually thinking about missing my Theandric Thursday posts. I soon succeeded in sending that thought to the back recesses of my mind. 

***

Two weeks before college was to begin, I was involved in all sorts of things someone who's desperate would do. I was crafting things out of cardboard, making papier mache objects, cards and quilling, sketching with dad, reading books, watching movies, blogging and writing stories. It was that time of the week when some of my cousins usually come over for dinner. 

Saturday night, 11.55 p.m.

The sound of laughter reverberated in the night air as my cousins stood huddled outside our gate, waiting for one of them to bring out the car. I heard the sound of my own laughter mingled with theirs, as the eldest one narrated his more-than-hilarious river rafting experience. A car's honk sounded in the distance and they all bid their goodnights to my parents, after which we started towards the parked car. Once everyone was settled and doors shut and windows slid down, we said our goodbyes and goodnights and I turned around to head home while they were still reversing. I found myself outside the grey building, looking as desolate as ever and with a slight jolt and a skip of the heart, I concentrated straight ahead on the road and started walking home. I hadn't taken more than two steps when my eyes automatically looked to their left, attracted to a shining red light. It seemed to happen all at once.

The Honda City 6522's tail-lights were a mixture of bright red and orange glows and those sharp yellow eyes, once more disembodied stared back at me. A flourescent yellow light came around the car, making everything else disappear so that all I could see was the haunted car. By the time a shriek formed in my throat, a two-second baseless tune sounded and all the car's lights flickered to life. I felt the shriek leave my mouth, rooted to the spot in sheer terror, unable to take my eyes off the ghostly scene that was making my heart something that I was positive was a heart stroke. The next thing I knew, there were voices. Two men came out from behind the car, right from the yellow flourescent lights and looked alarmed at the sight of me. I felt my mom's arm on my shoulder, looking worried and casting anxious glances at the two men, who looked utterly confused, if not scared. I could breathe a little now and my mom was tugging me, trying to take me home. I just stared at those men and almost mechanically, shrugged off mom and walked up to them, pointing to their car. 

"Wh.... what is this?" my voice shook as I attempted to form words that might sound coherent.

They looked confused and I refused to look again in the car. "Those eyes" I managed to whisper. The guy who seemed to be the older one glanced inside and then made a face like he understood, that 'O' kind of a mouth, an expression that said, "I'm amused but guilty as well". 

"Oh. You mean those yellow eyes?" he asked.

I nodded, now feeling better that I'm not the only one who knows what eyes we're talking about here.

"That is just a car-decorator hanging my brother got from the U.S. It glows in the dark, as you must have noticed." He replied, a little too enthusiastically for my taste. The other guy opened the car door. Apparently, that baseless noise was the sound of the automatic doors and lights clicking to life. I groaned and felt like someone who's been betrayed, along with being angry and upset. 

I glanced back at my mom who was peering into the car and staring at "those eyes" and back again, I said, "I'm sorry for interrupting you. Thanks."

"Not a problem." The man smiled and got in behind the wheel, three pairs of eyes staring back at me from inside the car.

I shifted a little to let the car pass as the engine spurred to life. With the movement, the hanging eye thing moved as well and rotated so that it had turned straight towards me. Before I could look away, very slowly, as if anything faster than that would not be inconspicuous, one of those yellow eyes came down, the lid sans eyelashes. I saw nothing else for a few seconds but those eyes, that winked at me. The next thing I know, I was engulfed in a blackness that wanted to choke me and then fell into nothingness.

***The End***

This post is part of a fortnightly (or, according to Usama), whenever-I-feel-like-it feature on my blog called Theandric Thursday, where I'll be having fun with putting down those weird thoughts and stories that occupy my mind most of the times. The dictionary definition of 'Theandric' is 'Relating to the joint agency of the divine and human nature'.

If you're interested in participating, write your own Theandric Thursday post and drop your link in the comments section. Feel free to write reality, part-reality-part-fiction or fiction, anything above the 'normality' of our world. ;) You can use the picture in your post and link back to this post.

PS- Check out Usama's latest Theandric Thursday posts. Two parts of a three-part story he's currently writing. Part 1, Part 2.

PPS- It's my dream to write something scary. I've tried a few times but it always ends up being funny. If this scared you even 1%, do let me know. :P

Different sides of survival...

It's a summer day, incredibly hot and I'm in my t-shirt and pajamas, sitting on the cold marble floor of the drawing room, with my back against the sturdy table, cooling off in front of the cooler, loving the way my hair keeps sweeping over my face (unlike normal people who find it irritating). I have the laptop open in front of me and I'm just wondering what to title my new post on the different kinds of kids (seriously. Next post on that!) when I notice our housemaid outside in the verandah. I don't notice her immediately. I mean, I didn't even realize when she passed me, opened the door and started wringing and hanging out the washed clothes on the clothesline. I look outside because she's speaking loudly. There's an old lady at the gate with whom she's talking loudly, in a tone that suggests she's not interested and willing her to go. A hundred emotions flood through me, because let's face it, I've a soft spot for old ladies.

I read books, so I know better: about people, about different kinds of moods and psychology, about how to behave and whom to trust, how not to judge without knowing anything beforehand. People expect me to know all that. But then sometimes, there's something that breaks all rules. A grand exception and you can't think clearly. It's instantaneous. Just like this emotion of irritation, anger, the urge to get up and scold the maid for being so rude, that came flooding into me just within a second. I looked towards my parents and asked them to go have a look immediately. Mom gets up fast (umm.. we all have a soft spot for old ladies) and I reach the door before her. The maid looks at me angrily, complains to mom in a violent whisper, 'Besti kara dete ho meri'. She was apparently, telling her no one's home and asking her to go away, which was akin to a sin!

That lady was still smiling. Standing close to the gate, clutching the bars, she smiled up at us holding two packets of a summer drink powder and a pack of 4 Vivel soaps. She's been here before. Today she's in a plain yellow cotton saree with an off-white cotton sleeveless blouse. Her brown skin hangs loose among the million or so wrinkles all over her body, her cheeks visibly chubby, though drooping, on both sides. Her hair's in a pure white bun, with a few strands hanging loose. I still don't know her story, though I remember the last time she was here, she said she lives somewhere nearby and as she gets bored sitting at home with nothing to do, she thought she might as well go door to door and sell stuff and bring in some more kamaai. The glaring sun doesn't seem to bother her. When people like us run off inside for shade and comfort, there are some like her who're happily going from door to door, contributing to their family for food.

I opened the gate and Mom sent me off to get a glass of water, while she took what she wanted from the lady (those two juice packs and Vivel soaps!). They chatted for a while as she took out more things asking if we use that oil or a particular handwash. What I liked best was her permanent smile, even as she talked. Mom handed her the money and she told her how she's been here three or four times before but we weren't home. I wonder if it was the maid who sent her away, or if she came on the days when both my parents are working. She took out a couple more things from her small yellow zipped bag, held them in one hand, hung the bag on one shoulder and carefully stepped down and out of the gate towards the opposite house, politely asking us to close the door behind her.

***

About a week ago I was in my small bus to the office. I always sit on the window seat, last row. At one of the red lights, lost in thoughts with headphones plugged in, I saw a sad, peculiar scene. There was this u-turn kind of a road, the ones where there's an enclosure with fences around and a roundish footpath around the whole turn. A man in a torn and dirty shirt and pants, with an indifferent expression stood there with one hand on a metre-long pole, his bare foot repeatedly hitting a year old baby. A woman, no older than in her late twenties sat near his feet, her knees held up, just not very close to her chest. Her hair was dirty, an indistinguishable color, just like her saree which clung to her thin body. Her most striking feature were her eyes. She was staring straight ahead, unblinking, and if you'd have glanced at her, you'd think her expression is blank. But the bus stood there for a while and I could see her black eyes shining. With sadness, helplessness and something that said, "I've given up". The baby in a small set of clothes that were visibly inadequate was bawling as the man kept on moving his foot and hitting him on the side. He tried getting up, made it through a fraction and then sat back again, crying, clutching the woman's leg, who sat just staring straight ahead.

Suddenly she looked up and locked eyes with mine and I felt like a filthy thief, an intruder peeping into something personal. It was devastating. With both these instances, I'm not sure I feel pity as much as I feel sad about everything. Is it the matter of choice? I think not. We don't give money to beggars thinking we're only encouraging their business, but I wonder if they really benefit from it? I'm sure they wouldn't be in this business if they had any choice or a shot at something better. They're poor, deprived and taken advantage of. They don't know what home is, they're not sure when they'll have their next meal. I personally despise this 'Survival of the Fittest' theory. I hate the differences we have in the way we live. Everything should be for everyone. Maybe not that practical, but why should some suffer, just because others have better luck?

I wonder if I've really got the right to complain about anything in my life. I had this thing going on in my mind for a while. Whenever I saw someone with less than what I have, I felt guilty about it. I felt guilty about going to malls and purchasing stuff on impulse, or just because I wanted it. I thought about those who don't have a room with electricity, who wore the same set of clothes everyday. What I had seemed like a waste. I was totally conflicted. I asked dad if we should start spending less, because others didn't have it all? Or whether we should do our bit to help and that's it? Dad said that while how I feel about it is good, it will not be a good choice to leave what is there for you to use, just because millions others aren't lucky enough. It's our luck we have these things, they might not be so lucky. There are millions others who have so much more than you. Do they ever stop living life their way and come down a level in their standard of living, because they see you don't have what they do? No. The point is to enjoy what you're being given, while helping others as much as you can. It's mostly luck.

I guess it's true. These might just be the different ways of survival.

PS- Please some good soul, give me a nice strong kick on my head! I've already delayed working on my summer internship project by a week and I'll be officially branded mental if I don't complete it this weekend. I mean, I have to do it by this weekend. I've got like, two weeks before the dreaded college reopens and I haven't even started getting into the holiday feel. I've got some college work to do, catching up with Spanish, making a papier mache flower vase for someone (any ideas??) and of course, read the million pending books on my TBR. Motivate me!

PPS- This is my blog's 101st post. :D I'm not much of a celebratory person, considering how I skipped to even mention my blog's third birthday, which was in May. But still, 101st post. That's loads of writing. :D Yay with me! ;)