Back again

Its been ages since i wrote something, anything and decided I would break my stubborn vow to stay away from sharing my thoughts embarassing moments and blah blah with anyone who would care to read. So here I go again....

Finally I decided to attend that talk on nano something, partly out of urge to please my advisor and partly out of getting to do something really constructive to my knowledge gaining process. So I headed out that cold afternoon to the McMillan Hall where the talk was supposedly being organised ( I had double checked with the office secretary the very same day). Being the winter break, only those previledged few could enter the building who really worked or so to say procastinated there. So there I stood waiting for someone to come and invite me in or if I can say push me in. The only thought in my mind at that very instant was that I had to get my coffee and it was almost time for the talk to start. so I made this little promise to myself that if no one would come to let me in , in another 5 minutes I would happily head to starbucks and say bye bye to the talk.

But nothing happens in this cruel world to make you happy, so this little chineese students group come and call their friend to open up the door, seemed they too didnt have access and they were heading to the same talk. So I grudgingly stepped inside the welcoming warmth of the building and reluctantly trotted behind these people to the hall. I was seated and the speaker was introduced and she started bragging about some nano scaffolds using biological cells or was it some nano circuits with biological scaffolding , whatever! I was like what the hell has this talk got to do with me as it was not making sense to me, of course it involved nano but nothing of the sort I work on , nothing at all remotely related to my work, she was a Dr Blum and I vaguely remember mentioning a Prof Blum or was it Prof Bloome, Oh Gosh and it was the male of the species whereas i was here listenning to a very smart female. Some mistake ! I thought it would be rude to walk out within 5 minutes of her talk so there i was listening to every word of hers though it pretty much figured like greek (ok for a change french) to me! I was wanting the talk to end soon and all the crazy questions from students and professors alike to end too.

At the end of the talk I was wiser , pay attention to where you are heading and check four times before you hear anything nano, because it seems like nano is involved in everyones talk as if it adds flavour to the whole talk and attracts double the number of bees. For an afterthought , i wonder how many more students in the hall like me where sidetracked by nano if at all?

Lok Paritran

On a very serious note....

I recently got an e-mail which contained details about a newly formed party "Lok Paritran" by a group of IITians. They are inviting applications from very educated young perole to contest in the coming elections in Kerala, TN, Pondicherry. I have got mixed feelings about this party. For starters its a good initiative by a bunch of enthusiastic people. I hope they stand by their words.

I had decided that I wont get a voters card because there is no use voting for any party. All they do is spend a hell lot of money, lure the poor with gifts, come to power and by hook or crook fill their coffers with gold. But when I got this news some hope was instilled in me, now I have an urge to go back to TN and get myself registered for voting (But it seems it is too late as the registration is already complete there!).

But on the other hand, having had good education can never mean that the person has got good virtues. For I myself was involved in politics in the institute an year back. I lost but because of my party ticket and because my party held the reins they gave me a slot in the students council. What was unveiled to me is that even amidst a group of educated youth (all of us are ME/PhD guys) politics can be filthy. The sense of power consummates you to such an extent that the feeling to serve (if at all any existed in the first place) dies out as quickly as it came.

As my friend, Phani, put in Virtue in itself is a reward and those who expect to reap rewards by doing good are going to be lost in a world full of unethical things. The party seems promising. But only time will tell whether it is a white sheep in a pack of dogs.

The above are solely my thoughts and this is not for advertising or patronising any party.

Sixty Seconds of fame....

Some quickbite incidents which held me in the limelight for a very short while...

1) I have this fight with one of my male friends as to who has to pay the bill at the local canteen (That is bcos just a short while ago the guys with whom I was having a small get2gether boasted that gals always stick with guys only for their money, Well I wanted to teach them a lesson), It definitely created a scene bcos, my friend angry that I was paying, gave a small push and that went a long way in helping me fall down right in front of 20 people. I get up with a silly grin on my face and trot to the counter and ask how much...

2) First day at the 3 star hotel where we were put up as part of the training program for GETs/MTs. At the breakfast table... Me playing that sophisticated gal part with the fork in my right hand :) trying to eat the boiled egg, which was ever slipping from the fork before it went to my mouth. I quickly see around to find if anyone is noticing me...No-one..I pick the egg piece and put in my mouth with my hands, only to find that 2 waiters were watching and giggling. Hmphh!

3)First time I was to use the ATM, I read the instructions the previous night twice, thrice. Keep all papers ready before entering the ATM enclosure (even the letter from the bank which accompanied the card and the secret code letter and other pharaphernalia which I thought were important and which is not worth metioning here) I swipe the card for the umpteenth time, Iam worried that it is not working and then a long queue has already formed. The guard steps in impatiently and tells me aloud as to how to use it with the door kept open and some 10 odd faces staring at me...

Now that Iam penning down all my embarassing events in my life, it gives me a good feeling that if at all there would be a competition titled Ms Clumsy, Iam sure to bag it....

Witty Professor

I work for a very humorous person, whose wit tickles your stomach at the most unexpected times. Here is a very recent one which I loved...

One of my labmates had gone on a month's leave and retured recently. Lets name him X. There is another labmate Y who has got his Comprehensive exam in a week's time, so he decided to give a mock presentation to his labmates and prof, as is the usual practice. It is also the tradition that whoever gives a lab talk or wastes his labmates' precious time :) has to compensate for that with coffee/tea and samosas & stuff. So when Mr Y is rambling about his project work on THE DAY, Mr X who landed up that morning after his break wanted to please our prof' to erase all hard feelings. Mostly a months break is too much a time and all work goes on a standstill which might evoke displeasures, if you can get what Iam talking about :)

So what does Mr X do to please prof', he gets up from his seat and walks around to offer biscuits/eatables to prof, which could have been done without much ado if he had just passed around the biscuits. Then he goes to get a cup of coffee specially for prof' which is usually served by the lab assistant. When we all are biting our teeth, waiting to get our hands on Mr X for his actions, prof coolly asks with mists in his eyes "You take good care of me, X will you marry me?"

OK Part 6.5.....The Safari

Here I go again after a long time... I forgot this one too.
I was going back home for sem holidays from trichy. I had to come to chennai (tambaram) from there I had to catch another bus to kalpakkam which is some one and a half hours away. I reached tambaram around 3:30 am, very sleepy. The breeze was cold and I was swaying with the breeze in my sleep, what a sight early in the morning it would have been. Some buses came and went, i was sleeping patiently for a bus to ferry me to kalpakkam. At last one came. I got into the almost empty bus. I looked around for a nice cosy seat to sleep when i realised that the interior of this bus was not characteristic of kalpakkam buses. I thought "May be its a new bus"

The bus picks up speed and the wind is gushing in with all it's force. The bus conductor comes to me and says "Ticket Ticket"
I say 1 Kalpakkam and hand out a 50 ruppee note. The conductor promptly returns some 45 odd ruppees and a ticket. Iam surprised, usually it used to cost me Rs. 16. Then I console myself saying its a new route and that too a short cut.
So with my wonderful thoughts I sleep blissfully. Somewhere in the middle I wake up to see outside. It was really breathtaking for two reasons. One, It was the most wonderful sight, with those mountains and the sun rising in the background, mellow fields, misty air..it was one of the locales straight from Mani Rathnam's movie. Secondly, Where the hell was I??
Then again the saintly person in me consoled me saying "Remember its a new route the ticket costed you only 3.50 rupees". I settled to enjoy the scenery and again dozzed after a while. When I get up I see people all running out of the bus. Iam alarmed have they found a bomb in the bus, definitely the act of terrorists who want me killed. I was so engrossed in my thoughts when the conductor addresses me "Get down ma! Karappakam has come" I ask "excuse me ! but i want to go to kalpakkam"

He calls the driver and then they explain that the bus was for karapakkam and not kalpakkam. That explains the fare, the scenery and the bus interiors. Dumbstruck I refused to move. The kind hearted conductor told me that the bus would leave again for tambaram in another 15 minutes and that they would drop me free of cost! I had to get down at a junction called Singaperumal Kovil and then catch a bus to Kalpakkam. I learnt it the hard way out that sleep can distort words like the karapakkam becoming kalpakkam. I reached home at 10am instead of 6am. It was an adventure of a kind...

Part 5.5

I don't know how I could miss this one!

Come vacations and everyone seems to head to one place or the other, one big migration and we are so much similar to animals in so many ways. Some animals and birds migrate during winter to warmer places and some animals hibernate - I did sort of both. Let me explain!

Our family (comprising of my parents, grandpa, bro and of course sweet me!) had booked tickets for Ooty (the hill station also called Uthagamandalam) for it was holiday time! We were to stay at Dashaprakash resorts for 2 days. First day was as uneventful as any other, the twist in the tale comes on the second day. We went to a nice lake, but the road leading to the lake was very steep (looks like there were many slopes in my life than I would care to remember!) steeper than the 30 degree slope in my college. On reaching the lake my brother and me started shouting "appa boating! appa boating!". The counter fellow told "Only pedal boats available!". My father asked for a 4 seater, and turned to me saying with a grin, you and me are going to pedal. I was quick to say "boating canceled! boating canceled", which obviously fell on deaf ears. Sighing I followed the herd, well everyone but me had a nice time. I was so exhausted, on top of that we had to climb that say 40 degree slope on foot as the driver anna told only two in car (my mom and grandpa left in it). To top it all it had started raining, and the water started to flow like a river from all directions with such force (so much that a car was washed away in the river of rain water!!), it was difficult to keep balance.

Why am I telling such gory details? trying to justify for what happened later on that evening..

We went back to the hotel. My parents and grandpa after freshening themselves went out for shopping as we were to return the next day. My bro and sweet me didn't want to accompany them so we stayed back in the gardens of the hotel. My bro befriended another guy of his age to play whatever silly game guys of his age play. I felt very tired after my strenuous day, i told my brother that Iam going back to the room to watch TV. I went inside the room which was in the ground floor and locked it from inside and watched TV for sometime and then everything seems blurr to me today when I think of it. Next thing i wake up to see an assortment of strange things on the floor and on the bed. Well I will elaborate on the strange things too - to start with pebbles which got bigger and bigger in size, pens, some more stones, slippers, bananas wait a minute did I say slippers, yeah the size of my fathers, no it was my father's infact.. What a weird setting for me , and not to mention 4 angry faces peering at me. Well it almost resembled 4 fierce bulls staring at me with smoke bellowing from their nostrils as if they saw the brightest red cloth. I think I must have looked like one, embarrassed.

It so happened that the sweet little me had dozzed off (out of tiredness you see) and when my parents returned from shopping they were first puzzled that i had locked the room from inside and was not opening, even after repeated knocking. Then the puzzled expression turned to panic when i didn't open the door even after 10 minutes, they thought i had consumed some poison (Suicide and me! heights! my parents didn't know me well, I think). Then my father along with hotel staff started throwing things from the window to wake me up, it seems they started with calling my name sweetly, then harshly and then stones followed, still slippers...how sad that I didn't get up even then. After some half an hour they had all lost hope and thought they have to break open the door, when suddenly as if I had this habit of walking in my sleep, I go open the door and then come back to the bed and sleep. I wake up after sometime and instead of seeing smiles on humans, I saw frowns on bulls...

What happened after is censored, its ok still, but the next day when we were vacating the room, all the staff of the hotel, from the cleaners to the waiters and the receptionist threw me amused glances, some giggling some openly laughing... I turned into a red cloth that very moment...

Snuppy my e-pet...

"Wow she's so beautiful..(love)...Sigh!"