the mini reunion

today the major population of my class turned up at college, to collect their marksheets, distribute sweets and in general have a good time.

it felt great to meet up with people, especially the ones i havent seen since the day of the last paper.
we basically lazed around, discussed the latest rumours, and such goings on for most of the morning.

then our stomachs started to rumble, and we popped over to ramdev's, a local hotel, for a spot of lunch.
i was and still am amazed by the amount of food men eat! i mean seriously, do they have expandable stomachs or what? they just keep eating and never feel full. and the most unfair part is that it doesnt even show yaa. do they or do they not know that the stomach is the size of two palms?

anyway, after a good, scrumptious lunch, we went over to the local club where a few others from our class were having some drinks and gupshup.

after lazing around for a while there, i came back home, watched the jackson show on travel and living.
and here i am!

most of my classmates hav started working and the change in their general appearance and demeanour is quite noticable and is a most welcome change. :)
it makes one wonder what magic powder these corporates use to turn absolute lukkhas into courteous human beings.

guess i'll find out on 11th september!

ciao!

this song is brilliant and i always read it when i feel happy, sad, sombre, jumpy or just need that dash of hope and faith!

 I HOPE YOU DANCE

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat
But always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small
When you stand by the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
I hope you dance

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Living might mean taking chances
But they're worth taking
Lovin' might be a mistake
But it's worth making
Don't let some hell bent heart
Leave you bitter
When you come close to selling out
Reconsider
Give the heavens above
More than just a passing glance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
(Time is a real and constant motion always)
I hope you dance
(Rolling us along)
I hope you dance
(Tell me who)
I hope you dance
(Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)
(Where those years have gone)

I hope you still feel small
When you stand by the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
Dance
I hope you dance
I hope you dance
(Time is a real and constant motion always)
I hope you dance
(Rolling us along)
I hope you dance
(Tell me who)
(Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)
I hope you dance
(Where those years have gone)

(Tell me who)
I hope you dance
(Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)
(Where those years have gone)

lotsa stuff happened!

On july 24th last year i was placed in Larsen and Toubro, an engineering giant in india, through college placement. it was one of the best moments of my life when i was informed of my placement as a graduate engineer in L&T.

Sadly, along came the recession and and out went my precious job. we got dumped with unceremonious deferment letters from the company in january, thus crashing all our dreams of a career.
at the time, i was also placed in infosys, a reputed IT company and was due to start training in december this year. with the recession riding high, i prepared myself mentally to let go of larsen and toubro and began to accept that despite being an electrical engineer, i would be typing code at the end of the day.

but life has its own ways of taking you by sweet surprise. day before yesterday, i got a call from L&T informing me that my deferment was now being undeferred. (sorry, my english fails me when i need it the most). basically, i got my job back!

whopee!

so over the past two days, i was busy collecting my appointment letter and getting sundry documents ready for joining the company.

so thats one good news.
thats actually one great news!

but all said and done, i experienced a very mild form of the recession. so i really have no right to complain.

there are people having years of experience who got kicked out of their jobs for no fault of theirs. these are people who have mouths to feed and children to send to school. almost everyday, my father gets a call from some such affected person asking for any opportunities that might have arisen. and invariably, my father has a tough time answering them.

i guess i should thank god. i'm really lucky to be where i am right now in life. i got more opportunities and comforts than half the kids in the country. i got a shot at choosing my destiny.

i really am blessed.

also a few dance shows got scheduled so thats great news!
now i just hope my boss at lunch and tea is kind enough to grant me leave when i need it for dance. i dont care if he asks me to work new years eve instead.

and someone told me i should consider using proper punctuation and stuff when i write.
Mr. Someone, I tried in the first paragraph, but it took an awfully long time. Will keep trying though.

i also had an interesting discussion with someone about soulmates.
paulo coelho, who is one of my favourite authors has written a book called brida, which puts forth a very believable concept regarding soulmates.

i really have no theory about soulmates and dont really know what to believe, but i hope that when the moment comes when i meet my soulmate, i'll know its him and i hope i'll have the courage to acknowledge it.

though right now i really dont, i hope i'll believe in true love someday and be lucky enough to experience it.

till the next post then,
this is the average girl.

Who’s the real god?

Today I went to Bandra, Pali hill to be specific, for my dance rehearsal.

I learn Kuchipudi, FYI.

Anyway, sometime during practice we got talking about how I’ve been going there for rehearsal for the past four years and still haven’t seen any famous star?

My teacher, Shanta Misra said she herself hasn’t seen anyone but mentioned that her maid had seen all the stars.

Salman, ranbir, sanjay dutt, saif Katrina, ash, you name them she’s seen them. Even if it was just a glimpse.

Then she said the strangest thing, “ didi agar aapko filmistar dekhna hai, to durga puja ke time aap podar school ke pandal aao. Wahan aap durga maa ke saamne khade rahoge to aap sab star dekh paaoge. Kajol, rani, sab aate hain. Mere husband bhi kal ganesh visarjan pe gaye the to unhone salman ko dekha full family ke saath.”

This got me thinking. Are we giving our stars so much attention in our lives that we have forgotten god. Noone wants to go to durga pujo to pray to the godess and seek her blessings but just to look at the rich and famous? Have we really become that shallow.

In tamil nadu, fans have built temples to show their love for rajnikanth and khushboo. When sivaji, the rajnikanth starring blockbuster released, a theater owner performed puja , broke coconuts and poured milk on the star’s photo.

Have these mortals really replaced god in today’s world?

These people have literally entered every nook and cranny of our life and we don’t even realize it. In fact, we knowingly allow them to rule our lives. And they bask in the glory.

Ok don’t get me all wrong here. I’m not an anti-filmstar or a fanatic. I also see movies, dance to popular tunes and stuff. My point is this- where does appreciation turn into worship?

I am learning classical dance and have been doing so for the past 14 odd years. And I’m in love with it. To be an artist one has to be truly blessed and lucky. When I dance, I forget, I’m in love with myself and the feeling of dancing to rhythm is indescribable.

So I’m not against any star. But we have stopped appreciating their talent and instead worship their looks, lifestyle and other unwanted stuff.

So when shahrukh does a sweet Punjab power surinder sahni, or sanjay does a munnabhai, or rani does a black, do we ever think about what they must have gone through, experienced themselves, to create these characters, nay phenomenon?

Do we think about the creative process behind or are we simply an audience uninformed about art?

Most people I know don’t even  think about acting as an art. All we think is, “ wow kya life hogi yaar?”, or about how kareena achieved size zero. How lame. And we even build temples and worship these people for all the wrong reasons.

As for ganpati bappa, I suppose he’ll have to vie for attention in competition with rani and kajol.

All the best lord ganeshji.

GANPATHI BAPPA MORYA!

a friend in need

today i became a girlfriend to a most dear friend of mine.

sounds strange?

well, actually a friend of mine, who by the way is a total sweetheart got into a spot of trouble.
he went to the airport to do some ornithological research and sadly met a bird, who was a bit sticky.

she just wouldnt let go of him.

so i suggested i become his girlfriend.
simple. smart. solves the problem beautifully. the bird hasnt made contact since she heard the news.

as for you people out there, dont think i'll do it for you ok
i only do it for extremely special people.

and i'm thrilled i could help my friend. i'd do it anytime for him.

cos he was always there for me.
when i wanted to crib, laugh or just be stupid. he always smiled and indulged me.
i'm blessed i know him.
so i'd do anything i could for him.

the city of opposites

Yesterday being Sunday and the usual day for our family outings, i went to this place called alfa in irla.

god is it something!
theres truckloads of branded stuff and that too at dirt cheap prices!

DKNY, giordano, revlon, colorbar, maybelline, you name it, they gotit.

that place has everything from a paper clip to a refrigerator.

how do they manage to sell this original stuff at such low prices?, i kept asking myself.
the hitch?.........you have to pay cash.
which means one word.
the black market.
fine. understood.

now if they run such a huge business in the open selling everything under the sun, and if their operation is mostly on the wrong side of the law, how do they manage to evade it?
maybe they pay the police truckloads of cash.


quite cheap, considering the fact that they prolly pay no tax at all.

this is how we co-exist in bombay. or mumbai. whichever, you pick. honesty cant exist without dishonesty, law cant exist without crime, the rich cant exist without the poor. we wear expensive kancheevaram sarees, but the weaver who weaves them for us cant buy even one kancheevaram in his lifetime.

we cant help it.we live in the city of opposites.

maybe this is part of mumbai's charm. this is why in our hearts, somewhere we know that this is the truth, and the ones who can are privileged.
maybe this is one of the reasons suketu mahta called bombay, the maximum city.

As for me, i got my yardley perfume, a herbal essences shampoo, and my very first lipstick!

bombay totally rocks!

so this is me.
your simple average girl next door.
with a mostly mundane, sometimes interesting life.

a voice waiting to be heard.
a soul waiting to fly free.
an average indian girl, wanting to try new things but afraid of doing so.

a girl who loves classical dance and reading.

a girl who types with two fingers, hence is extremely slow, so you can imagine how long this is taking. and i'm not even going to edit it, cos if i do, i'll be at it alllllllll day long.

i've never even maintained a proper diary before, so i dunno if this will work out.

but unless i try, i'll never know.

so here goes nothing. here goes everything.

geronimo!

welcome to the world of aracena sweenawozan!

the average girl next door.