Karma and Holi

A Very Happy Colorful Holy Holi To All

I am visiting my cousins in Kanpur for Holi this year, and although I have never in my life liked Kanpur, I am looking forward to celebrating Holi with my cousins. This will be my first Holi here and I have heard that Kanpur people go wild when celebrating the festival of colors. I have been singled out as today's target by cousins, brothers-in-law, nephews, and nieces alike. I know I am going to get a raw deal today :(

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My to-be-school Vlerick is constantly on my mind these days. It feels like I am infatuated with the school, and I am sure if there was any such thing as love with inanimate objects, then I would have called it the beginning of a love affair. Well, come to think of it, to my mind Vlerick is not at all an inanimate object. However, I don't want to go blah-blah about my school again because that is exactly what I am doing since many days and people around me now grab any nearby object to stuff it either in my mouth or in their ears, whichever is easier. I would just write about my love relationship with Vlerick :)

In February, I first saw its name on the 2008 Financial Times rankings and because it was in Europe, I visited the college website. It was simply love at first sight. The college campus was beautiful and the city even more so. The various stats about the college were very impressive and I knew that we were meant to be together. I had a fair idea that my chances were bleak considering the reputation of Vlerick in Europe. I nevertheless decided to give it a try. It was tough, the application, the essays et all, but the path of true love is never easy. I submitted the application and waited for some days with bated breath (just figuratively), praying throughout and asking my friends to pray for me. I think that Gods were kind and I came to know my results in 6 days flat. I am the only person out of those admitted who had the results in that unbelievably short duration. For everybody else it took more than 2 weeks. I made it, I have been accepted by my love and I can't wait for our new life together. The latest FT rankings just gave me more reason to rejoice, because Vlerick jumped up by 22 places (now ranks 75 in the world), which makes it the fastest moving-up-the-ladder school. I have to now complete the registration process to legalise our relationship and then Vlerick would be officially mine. We will live together from 1st September.

Give this couple your blessings :D

Alright, so I just demonstrated my insane infatuation but so what!

Of Drinks, and Cigarettes, and Books

Okay, so last night I went out with my cousin Chummu and had two cocktails and five cigarettes. I needed it, the break I mean; the break from monotony. Yesterday I tried a Gin cocktail for the first time; usually I am a Vodka or Wine person. To tell you the truth, I could hardly tell the difference between Vodka and Gin. Probably because the Gin was mixed with other things to make my cocktail. I wanted to have more drinks but did not, since we had to come home later and I did not want Dad to suspect that we had been up to some mischief when according to him I had taken Chummu to check out an awesome new Pizza place.

Last night was fun. I smoked for the first time and smoked five cigarettes in a row, which later made me feel that all my innards are on fire and that my intestines have turned to ashes. I have tried to smoke twice before but could never suck it in. Last night I managed to achieve that feat and in amazement mixed with a sense of achievement stopped only after five cigarettes and when I had started feeling queasy. However, I am not going to have a smoke again, never. I had a very disturbed sleep last night because of those five bloody cigarettes.

Anyhow, I and Chummu had a sort of reunion yesterday. It had been a reeaallly long time since we talked like that. It was good, everything, the drinks, the gossip, the sleeping together, even those cigarettes in some way. I also had a talk with GO (My George Orwell) after having my drinks and cigarettes, and it was fun too. I giggled a lot while talking to him. Usually I don't giggle, I laugh. Was I flirting? Naaah. GO is an old friend, I can't flirt with him after all these years. I don't think so!!! However, I know I usually am a big flirt after a couple of drinks. But no, I wasn't flirting with GO. Oh well, I sense some confusion here :-)

Oh, the best part of last evening was that I bought two books. GO was after my life to read Nineteen Eighty-Four, so I finally bought that and another GO-recommended book, in fact his favourite, To Kill A Mockingbird. That makes me a rich book lover for sometime. I and GO have plans of catching up this Saturday. Its been a long time since we met, so GO would drive all the way from Noida to Gurgaon to meet me. That's sweet of him, ain't it?? :-)

Symphony Raaga

On Saturday I got a glimpse of how schools are slowly getting westernized. In the good old times (I have already started talking as if I am ancient), school annual functions used to be a cultural fiesta with performances that included genres like classical, folk and western. My niece Maahi is an adorable three year old kid who is a pre-nursery student at an elite (and expensive) Gurgaon school. The school celebrated its annual function on Saturday at the Sirifort Auditorium. To start with, when we got the invites for the function the venue surprised me a little. I mean, the last time I was at Sirifort it was to see Anoushka Shankar live in concert playing some compositions of Pandit Ravishankar on her sitar. Sirifort is one of the best and largest auditoriums in Delhi and a school is using it for its annual function!! Maybe I really am ancient and it happens like that these days but my school had its own auditorium and grounds for such events.

Anyway, Maahi came home on Friday with three pages of instructions for parents on how to dress their wards for the function. She got a pretty but awfully flimsy and see-through dress from the school. The pages instructed the parents to make her wear white high-neck sweater inside the dress, to wash her hair on the day and to keep her hair loose. Maahi got immense attention from us on that day. Her mom (my sister, Dido) and my Mom constantly checked whether Maahi had matching beads for her hair, matching gogos, what makeup should she wear etc etc. Maahi's waist length wavy hair (we are very proud of her hair) were washed and kept loose since morning. I was her makeup woman, Dido was the hairdresser and my Mom looked after her wardrobe whilst Maahi's Dad drove us all to the venue.

Isn't she adorable with that loud stage makeup? :-)

We reached the venue before time, handed over Maahi to her classteacher (as instructed) and went inside the audi to take our seats. There were customary speeches and then the function began with a semi-classical Symphony performed by 120 students and the only Hindustani program of the evening. The kids were awesome in the Symphony performance, it was obvious that they had been practising for months to do some justice to those compositions. Thus, the evening began fabulously and then immediately lost steam.

Each class performed a dance number and we cheered enthusiastically because the kids were adorable, even with their slips and flaws. They were excited at being on stage, happy at being dressed up, and were no less than superstars for us. However, the selection of songs by teachers was somewhat disappointing. Little kids danced on those disney songs and nursery rhymes and the senior kids on Micheal Jackson numbers. There was not even a single Indian dance, no Punjabi, no Rajasthani, no Bollywood, no Classical. The evening climaxed with a musical 'Fiddler on the Roof' and by the end of the evening we had a feeling that we are probably in the US or UK because the program had no Indian touch to it. Ironically the evening's program was called Symphony Raaga on the invites, which is a very Indian name. I wonder what our kids are learning in such institutions. They would never know what it is like to do the Bhangra or the Garba or any Indian dance form for that matter. They would all know how to Tango or how to move seductively on Salsa music, which is all very good, but isn't that education incomplete? Is it because these schools consider the Indian dance forms to be beneath their attention, I wonder.

What I Have Been Doing All These Days

The holiday season is here and I am in the holiday mood for nearly a week now. I don't want to work at all :-)

I completed my application to Maryland Smith on 15th because it was the last day to apply. My Spanish classes are going on really well. I have taken 5 classes and learnt a lot of Spanish vocabulary. I now know what does Bailamos mean (remember Enrique's famous song?), it means 'we dance' :-). Meanwhile we celebrated Dad's birthday on 19th. It was a nice and cozy family get-together that included a lot of good food, a lot of laughter and latest family gossip. The following day, I took my cousins to a nearby mall where we played video games and tried a game each of Bowling. I have improved since last time, my score wasn't too embarrasing :-)

These days I am frequenting websites of cosmetic brands like Mac, Body Shop, Urban Decay, Sephora etc. Three of my friends are coming from US soon and I intend to mail them each a shopping list, so that they can get me some really good products. I had a chat with NV the other day on webcam and she showed me her entire shopping. I was visibly green with envy and she was delighted with my reaction. She has bought some fabulous boots and sandals and cosmetics. She showed me each lipstick and nailpaint that she has bought, even though the reds looked like black on webcam. I squinted my eyes to make out the shades but couldn't, so had to trust her claim that they were amazing.

Anyhoo, NV looks like she can have the baby anyday now, infact her doctor has advised her to be prepared. It seemed to be an unreal experience looking at her obviously pregnant shape. NV has always been the kid of our group and now she will soon have a baby. Its still difficult for me to digest this fact, even after more than 8 months of her pregnancy.

I was never so thankful of being on Orkut as I am now. I found a long lost friend with whom I have not been in touch for 22 years. Yes, and I am only 25 now :-). Her name is Shany and she was my first best friend and neighbor. Our families were very close, infact Shany's Mom taught my Mom how to cook south-indian food. Her elder brother and sister were very close friends to my sister and we have spent a great time together. Shany's brother found us on Orkut and we are all back in touch after 22 years. It's amazing how much we remember about each other, Shany remembers more as she is 2 years elder to me. She is now an architect working in Dubai. I cannot describe the feelings I had when I saw pics of Shany and her family, it was beyond nostalgia. She is engaged to a handsome software engineer from Bangalore and would soon get married. I already have plans of going to Shany's wedding although the date has not yet been finalised. Shany still looks the same, plump cheeks and dusky complexion, sweetness etched all over her face. We have been catching up on mails, we have a good 22 years of catching up to do. I am glad she has grown up to be a fun loving and totally chilled out girl. She told me of her entire love story with her fiance and I was in splits when I read that story. Wow, its great to know Shany all over again after all these years.

What It's Like Being Devil's Lil Sister

Finally.... the effing exam thing is over. I partied yesterday with a careless abandon that I had forgotten I was capable of and then slept like a dog only to wake up late and groggy this morning. And yet, where is the feeling of relief??? It just isn't there. I feel like I have stepped from a storm into a tornado. I just hate documentation and paper work and financial statements and running around offices and you know what I mean. However, I have to do it all and do it fast :-(

Meanwhile, something very annoying happened with me. I was getting some anonymous comments on my blog, which I admit initially made me quite curious. I really wanted to know who the anonymous reader was and does anyone blame me for that? I mean, aren't all girls curious about such things? However, after a somewhat sleazy comment from the anonymous reader, I decided to not pay attention or at least pretend to ignore, as it obviously was some prankster trying to be funny. After ignoring for a couple of days, I started wondering why the anonymous reader wasn't commenting anymore. And then, I had this conversation with my sister yesterday

Dido: hey, I read some anonymous comments on your blog. Who do you reckon that is?

Me: Dunno. Some creep, but I have decided to ignore now. Sooner or later there will be more comments and probably I would be able to figure out who that is.

Dido: (Cruel maniacal laughter)

Me: (Stunned but obstinate silence)

Dido: Well, they were from 'Yours Truly'

Me: (Insane maniacal laughter) I knew it.

Dido: Haha.... you didn't and you never would have. Gosh, I shouldn't have told you, it was such fun. I could have carried on more.

Me: Shutup.

Thus I came to know that my sister, in one of her usual fucked-up efforts to provide amusement, had targeted me and pulled one on me succesfully. She did get a lot of amusement from the episode, as she always does when I am her victim. She is devil personified and I have the enviable honour of being devil's lil sister.

Agonies

When it hits you, it hits you from all quarters. I have not had such a bad bout of fever and cold since a long time. Dad never fell down from stairs ever in my memory. I never before post-poned an exam when it was very important to get over with it asap. We never had to move house amidst all such confusion and agonies. However, all this happened together in the past two days.

Well, life's an adventure!!! So be it.

I have decided to take the TOEFL on 15th November, I couldn't possibly take it earlier.

Duh!!! And I can't write now.... my sister, the most irritating, insufferable, full of sick jokes, and distracting person in the world is reading this over my shoulder. She is like plague and I can't get rid of her right now. So I will write a follow up post later.

She just took a bite off my leg for writing this...........

It's my turn to do the same to her.......

Diwali and After-Effects

We had a fabulous, rocking and spirited Diwali this year. Blew up loads of crackers (Shh!! I am not anti-crackers, though I am anti-pollution :-) but spare me for a day puhleez), had an amazing barbecue, ate all sorts of sweets and snacks, got gifts ranging from accessories and dresses, to photo frames and perfumes (I even got a nightie from China!). I have gained at least 3 Kgs in a week and have lost all enthusiasm for TOEFL. I have posted some pics from Diwali, here they are

Chacha (my uncle) narrowly escaped being injured from a wayward rocket but his new trousers weren't that lucky. Apart from this solitary incident, Diwali was peaceful.
I got my official score report for GMAT and my score in AWA is 5.0 out of 6. I think it's good though only 55% people scored below 5. I have to get back to the grind without losing on time as I am already running short on it. My targets for this week are to prepare for TOEFL and to find a consultant.
I finally got a pic clicked wearing my knee-high boots but it's not a great pic.
Yeah, the boots are not very visible. I will get another better picture soon :-)

GMAT Done

So GMAT fever is over!!! I scored 680 and I still can't get over the shock. Everybody has been telling me that it's a good score but I am not satisfied. What happened to the 700+ scores that I was getting in all practice tests?? My score breakdown was 48 in Quant and 34 in Verbal. My overconfidence in verbal was the cause I guess. How could I screw up where I expected to do really well? I even considered taking the test again because I know I can get a 700+. However, I don't have time, because the application deadlines are fast approaching. Anyway, the good news is that B-Schools consider Quant scores more than Verbal, and a 48 in Quant is really good.
Next steps are TOEFL and essays and I have no intentions of screwing up anymore.

On the day I took GMAT. Were the Red Heels unlucky??? Still wondering....

I reached Dehradun today and so did my cousins. There are14 adults and 3 kids in my home at this moment and I am having a great time with my family. We have some fabulous plans for Diwali :-)

Delhi Bomb Blasts

I was out with my friends at the Great India Place mall in Noida yesterday and got a call from my Mom towards late evening. She was somewhat panicky and asked me to get back home early as there had been a bomb blast somewhere in Karol Bagh. Now my sister lives in Karol Bagh and we could not talk to her or her husband because the networks were all congested. Boy, was it a panicky situation while I frantically tried to connect with my sister! I finally talked with her and she said all was fine but she too had not been able to talk with Jiju who being a doc was in hospital. With some relief I resumed shopping with my friends when a shop attendant informed us that their had been bomb blasts in Greater Kailash too. Shit!!! What was happening!! I now tried calling my Dad who was coming home from airport.
My friends and I decided to return back to our homes but when we drove out of the parking, it seemed as if we would never get home. All roads were blocked due to traffic congestion. I suppose everybody was trying to rush back home as soon as possible. While stuck in traffic, I got a call again from Mom. There had been 5 blasts in all, including one in the Central Park at Connaught Place. I closed my eyes, and just wished to be back home quickly. I looked at the posh market around me and thought of the possibility of a bomb blast there. I tried to clear my head of the unpleasant thoughts as I started receiving calls from many relatives in other cities, who wanted to know whether we were all fine.
I reached home at 8, my Dad had reached only 10 minutes back. So, we were all at home, safe but shaken. The only person with whom nobody had been able to connect was my sister's husband, my jiju, who was at the hospital. However, he probably realised that everyone at home must be trying his number, so he messaged us all that he was really busy because of the blast victims at his hospital. When he came back home today he told us that 2 people were brought dead and the others were badly injured. Both the men who were brought dead were young guys, one of whom had a girlfriend who had many injuries. Poor girl did not even know that his boyfriend was dead. Some victims were in a very critical state with ugly injuries. Jiju had blood stains over his clothes and even being a doctor he said he was feeling really sick after seeing such injuries.
Since yesterday, all news channels are showing the same news about the blasts. What the hell is wrong with these people who are behind the blasts? Do they really think that they are serving God or some part of humanity with their work? It is just impossible to imagine that they take the name of God to justify their heinous deeds. Please, say whatever you may but don't say that you do this in the name of God.

Craving for Isolation

Hmph!!! The last few days have been really busy. It's only now that I could get some quality time for myself. So, here I am, sipping on some hot tea, with the laptop on my lap, and typing my heart out. My sister was staying with me for a few days and I was doing all the cooking and cleaning. She was kind and considerate enough to prepare a cup of tea for me whenever I demanded; and that was it. I do the same to her whenever I visit her place :-). I have a mind to call us the wicked sisters since we are really mean to each other. However, I love that about our relationship, no boring formality when I am with my sister. I have seen some siblings who are sweeter than sugar towards each other and talk like they are in church. Yuck. I am glad my sister gives me tough competition in being mean, wicked, delightfully selfish and ready to pounce on any opportunity to fight. That's the right way to live with your siblings.

Mom and Dad arrived yesterday with almost a truckload of luggage. They have gone to Gurgaon today and will hopefully finalize an apartment out of a few shortlisted. So, I am all alone at home and enjoying these moments. Being with family is all too good but one needs some time alone for oneself. At least I do.

Family Time

I have six people at my home tonight (including me). My sister, her husband, and my cousins Ashu Bhai and Nitu are staying with me tonight. We are watching Bruce Almighty and sipping on a lemon tea each and it is already midnight. Wow!

We went to another of my cousins' place in the evening to celebrate her husband's Birthday. The dinner was superb and the chocolate trouffle after dinner was simply exotic.

We are going to have a late night gossip session. Ah, how I love gosiping! :-)

My sister bought a beautiful silk Lehenga for me from Benaras. Oh, it is such a pretty pretty thing.