Lookit!

What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?
Attended University, started working.

Did you keep your New Years resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't make resolutions- 1st January is way overrated. If I make up my mind to do something, I do it, and it doesn't need to be a promise made for the New Year, it can be anytime.

Did anyone close to you give birth?
Does my cat count?

Did anyone close to you die?
No. Thankfully.

What places did you visit?
New Delhi, Agra, Kathmandu.

What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
A lot more knowledge and maturity, and some more wisdom. Maybe a computer that works decently, too. :P

What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Quite a few of them.

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting 97 in Elective English, making my foray into journalism, and getting into JUDE!

What was your biggest failure?
Flunking ED Drama, the results are yet to de declared, though I still know I've failed. :P

Did you suffer illness or injury?
Had viral fever.

What was the best thing you bought?
I didn't buy much for myself, though I did buy a rather nice stone bracelet. But I got some awesome presents. I gave my mom this very nice calendar though, and my brother a great T-shirt.

Whose behaviour merited celebration?
My brother's!

Whose behaviour made you appalled and/or depressed?
Nobody's, really.

Where did most of your money go?
Transport, CDs, shopping.

What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The first day of University!

What song will always remind you of 2007?
Shiny Toy Guns- Le Disko, Era - Enae Volare, Daft Punk- Digital Love, and a few others.

Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder?
I'm always pretty happy!

Thinner or fatter?
I'd say the same, but everyone else says I've lost weight.

What do you wish you'd done more of?
Reading.

What do you wish you'd done less of?
Wasting time. :P

How will you be spending Christmas?
With family.

Did you fall in love in 2007?
Everytime I hear his voice, I fall in love again.

How many one night stands?
None. I don't believe in them.

What was your favourite TV programme?
Desperate Housewives and Friends!

Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
'Hate' is too strong a word. 'Dislike' is more appropriate.

What was the best book you read?
Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein', definitely!

What was your greatest musical discovery?
Rolling Stones, Meatloaf, and a few individual tracks.

What did you want and get?
Good Board results, acceptance into JUDE, digital camera, new phone, trip to Delhi-Agra, loads of other things.. (It's been a good year for me!)

What did you want and not get?
A new computer (so far), and to keep Kombol.

What was your favourite film of this year?
Ratatouille, definitely!

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Turned 19, went to college, took friends out for lunch at Tollygunge Club, met boyfriend and friend in the evening. A lovely birthday!

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Nothing. I wouldn't want to change anything about it.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
Smart, like always. :)

What kept you sane?
Having my family and friends with me- but when I'm in the mood, nothing can keep me sane.

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
None really, they're all too self-obsessed for my taste.

What political issue stirred you the most?
Stirred as in irritated? Mamata Banerjee- that woman is a political issue all by herself. And stirred as in moved? The complete breakdown of law and order in the State, and the constant supply of Bandhs!

Who did you miss?
Guppy, Tanima, and Height (as usual).

Who was the best new person you met?
A, S, P.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.
Everything you give comes back to you. Good or bad.

Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
"So what's it gonna take? Silver shadow believer.... Spock rocker with your dirty eyes. It’s a chance, gonna move, gonna fuck up your ego... Silly boy gonna make you cry!" :)

Cooking Up A Storm...

There is something just so utterly wonderful about cooking. It's the experimentation with ingredients, the swish of the wrist while stirring, the sizzling sound of adding something to hot oil, the smell that emanates from the dish, and the constant wonder about what the taste will be like. Those who have never cooked, have never lived- that's my opinion.

I have always liked cooking. Watching my mother in the kitchen, I picked up things here and there. I observed the amount of oil heating in the pan, listened to the number of whistles of the pressure cooker, and looked carefully at what she was putting into the dish. That's how I learnt. I started off with simple things like tea and boiled eggs. Then I moved on to cheese-tomato ommelettes and French Toast. After that came cakes and brownies, and then the chapter of chicken and mutton- and now, I am pretty much at home in the kitchen. Cooking's in my blood too- my both my grandmothers- fabulous cooks, my mom a great one too! My mom though is completely in a class of her room- she's the fastest cook I've seen. For instance, she can cook fish curry in 10 minutes flat! (I'm not lying.) She's also very inventive- she puts random ingredients in, and the dish smells and tastes wonderful.

But there are things I make even better than my mom- like ommelettes, cakes, and pasta- to name a few. My cakes have always been famous. Refer to another blog with a picture of cakes that I baked- NOT roadkill!

It's a truly therapeutic experience. If I need to relax- I either take a long hot bath, or I cook. I can literally feel my tension ebbing away while I chop the meat or the vegetables, add the spices, and stir the cooking.

Today I made pasta for lunch. I don't usually blow my own trumpet, but I am stating a fact when I say it was rather yummy!

There are people, who if asked if they can cook, reply, "Me? Oh, I can't even make tea!" Like it's something to be proud of. I mean, everyone should be able to cook- people still have a notion (even in this day and age) that girls should be able to cook, but why limit it just to the female sex? Everyone should know. It's a basic necessity. And it's not like cooking is all that tough!

I'm not the best cook in the world. Even I have my moments- when there's a tad too little or too much salt, when the amount of pepper makes me sneeze, or when the chicken is a little more 'cooked' than necessary. But I'm learning. And it's fun. It's a fun challenge- to try new things and experience new tastes.

As Harriet Van Horne, an American columnist once said, "Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon, or not at all."

Aah yes, I have entered into it 'with abandon'.

Where Is The Love?

Why is there so much violence in the world? Take a walk near your house, and you'll see seething anger in every second person. Switch on the TV, and chances are you'll see stuff like war scenes, serial killers, fighting, and blood. Where's all this hatred coming from? Call me childish, naive or innocent- but I believe we can work out our differences. Surely we don't need to resort to killing innocent people, planting bombs, and setting off nuclear weapons?

And somehow, the problem with all this violence around us, is that it influences children. They think violence is the answer to everything, the most recent case being the kid in Gurgaon who shot his classmate. One might say the kid needs counselling, another might say the kid is just plain crazy- I think it's the culmination of all the violence in the world- coming to infest a young child's mind, and making him believe that it's something he must aspire to. I mean, I was shocked when I read the papers this morning- to think a child can have so much hatred in him that he could actually shoot another, in cold blood. Either that, or he wasn't fully aware of what he was doing- of the full implication of his action.

Personally, I believe opposites exist in the world. If there's good, there must be bad. But why must it be so, well... in our faces? So all over the place? I don't have a problem with violence onscreen- but it should make sense. Half of the violence onscreen doesn't even fulfil that basic criteria- it's just violence for the sake of it. And yes, every one of us has violence inside us- it's a kind of primal instinct to hurt those who hurt us. Does that mean we should all act on those urges?

It has just become a part of our everyday lives. We're so used to it that we ignore it. Nandigram, the Iraq war, the tension on the Kashmir border- it's all been drilled into us so much that we've become immune. It's accepted as just another part of life. We see it happening all around us, we just look the other way. What's happened to humanity?

Wife-beating, female infanticide (yes, it's violence too), gang crimes, rape- it's everywhere. And the horrible thing is- it's just getting worse. Presidents give orders to drop bombs on a country, do they even spare a thought about the number of lives that will be lost?

Alex DeLarge in ' A Clockwork Orange' was made into a kind of robot- who would feel nauseous in the presence of violence. He didn't know right from wrong- the basic difference, but rather, it was drilled into him, so that his reaction would be automatic. It shouldn't be that way. All of us have the capacity to recognize what's right, what's good. Why not use it, then?

Violence has become the answer to everything. Why?? Why not 'give peace a chance'?

Michael Jackson's 'Heal The World' is a cheesy song, true- but the lyrics have a lot of truth in them.

For those of you who have watched 'Se7en', you'll know the last line, spoken by Morgan Freeman. It's this, "Ernest Hemingway once said, 'The world is a fine place, and worth fighting for.' I agree with the second part." Makes a lot of sense, if you think about it.

Aah yes, Hemingway couldn't have been more correct.

(Added five minutes later)

A certain friend of mine says this post is idealistic. Yes, it is. But shouldn't we all be, to a certain extent?

A letter.

Dear *******,

My heart breaks for you. It really does. But you have to understand, what you did was wrong. I understand you're going through a lot, but you must grasp the fact that some of it is your fault and you, only YOU can set things right. Lying and asking me to lie to cover up your own- isn't the way to go about it. *sigh* You still have a lot of growing up to do. Sometimes I think I'm the only sensible one around here.

You simply CAN'T base a relationship on a lie. You need to base it on truth and trust. Without that, things will go nowhere. And besides, one lie always leads to another. And where the heck do you get off asking me to cover up for you, and say that it was my lie? I'm not concerned about the fact that I'll be made to come off as the person in the wrong, but how does it even cross your mind to ask this?

You've made mistakes, and you need to suffer the consequences. I may be your friend, but I wouldn't be a very good friend if I shielded you from something you need, would I? You need to understand your mistake, and I'm not going to lie for you, however many times you plead me to. Otherwise you'd just end up making the same mistake again.

And if you weren't ready for the relationship, why did you get into it in the first place? If you weren't ready for the big steps that you took, why did you let things go so far? One simply has to be a little mature about these things. It's not a ball you're playing with, it's your life. Every decision counts. Every decision we make leads to the person we become.

At the end of the day, it's just a break-up. That's all. It's not the end of the world. There's simply no need to make such a hue and cry and act like Armageddon's come.

You're probably feeling angry and disappointed that I didn't stand up for you, and didn't support you. Believe me, I am supporting you, but in the way that you need, not the way that you want. Someday you'll understand, hopefully.