Once these blasted exams get over, I'm going to wake myself up. I've been feeling a little lethargic lately, not physically but mentally - I'm slowing down, not doing the things I should be doing. Time-wasting can be nice sometimes, but right now- there is simply no time to waste and I need to wake up and get back on track. There's a lot that needs to be done, if I want to achieve even half my goals. I like being overworked, and most of the time, I welcome the stress - because it means that I'm making the time count.

In the meanwhile, a rainy day + a curled up furry cat + an evening out with close friends = much needed bliss. You guys know who you are. <3

These days, I just do not feel like writing. Perhaps I used to be a lot more loquacious earlier, maybe, even uptil a few months back, I was bursting with the energy of words. Now, I just feel so mellow. A strange sense of peace has enveloped me. Sometimes, I feel so calm, like I'm standing still, living inside my own little bubble, watching the madness of the world outside. I watch the lives of most people with bemusement, sometimes with sympathy. Now - I just feel peace. I think I have finally become happy with myself. Contented with the person that I am. Whatever self-image problems I might have suffered with in the past, I don't have them now. Despite my private demons and my emotional turmoil, I like the person I've grown to become.

And even though there are exams to study for, the usual assignments and the myriad other things that keep me so occupied nowadays, there is pure bliss in the little things - like the black-and-white photograph of a tiny life, beautiful lines from a good book, endless glasses of Iced Tea, or even reconnecting with an old friend.

Because sometimes, a childhood idol remains a childhood idol- the feelings of admiration never go away. 

And even IPL controversies and hyped Twitter activities can't change that.

Photo editing courtesy: Shreya Sarkar

To Cut A Long Story Short.

I seem to be on this path of reminiscence, lately. One of my most recent blogposts was about the Incidence perfume, which I related to my father's memory. And this blogpost is going to go much along the same tangent - not about perfume, but about a writer.

So, like the title of one of Jeffrey Archer's short story collections goes, to cut a long story short, I met and interviewed a world-famous author today. And if you haven't guessed it already, it was Archer himself, who was in the city (as part of a nationwide tour to release his new novel Only Time Will Tell). 

He's rude and sarcastic, and even has that typical dry British humour, but he is amazing nonetheless, questionable personal life notwithstanding.

My father introduced me to Archer's writing when I was about 12 or 13. I even remember the particular story - it was One Man's Meat, the story with three different endings, from the collection Twelve Red Herrings. And while I have read a couple of his novels, I still prefer the short stories because of their masterpiece twists at the end.

It's an experience to come this close to a man whose writing I'd hugely admired. And I am kicking myself for being the world's biggest idiot - right when I was walking out of the auditorium, he was walking in with another man, there was no one else around and I should have asked him to take a picture with me! But I froze and gawked at him like a complete loser. He smiled at me and walked on. What an opportunity to miss. Still. Memories are very solid things and maybe someday I shall tell my children that I interviewed Lord Jeffrey Archer himself!

For the meantime, since my fondly-imagined children aren't in the picture yet, I shall content myself with thinking that my father would be so proud if he could see me now. He loved Archer's writing, and to think his daughter actually interviewed him today.

It would be his 52nd birthday tomorrow, and I think this actually makes a great present. Cheers to you, Height. Happy Birthday.

"Give Peace A Chance."

While we were sitting at Worldview today, this group of people holding up a placard that said 'FREE HUGS' came up, and this girl rushed forward. She proceeded to hug everyone, moving from one person to the next. She hugged all of us, without exception.

They said it was to spread the message of peace and goodwill.

It was impossible not to smile after she'd hugged us- just the way she laughed and flung her arms around us- the affection really showed, and her enthusiasm was infectious!

Absolutely unique concept, I think, and a fantastic idea. It's little gestures like these that really go a long way.

When there's violence, terror and bloodshed almost everywhere we look, we could all do with a little more love in our hearts. Cheers to this group who spread the message of love in such a delightful way.

Presenting... the Pot-Luck-Lunch-at-Ruki’s-place Awards!

PJ of the Day: “Abhijan and Rudrani’s relationship is a big ‘Joe-ke’!” – by yours truly. (Well, it was the truth, not my fault if they didn’t believe it then! Ha..)
Discovery of the Day: Judeans are fabulous cooks- right from Rajma Curry to Firni, every single dish was delicious!
Instruction of the Day: “You don’t need to geographically allocate your awkward pauses!” - Anomitra.
Love affair of the Day: Jijo, with my chocolate cake. “Tuna, your cake was delicious.” X 100 times. And after 5 minutes, randomly, “Yeah, so-and-so song is nice… Tuna, your cake was amazing!” and “Oh, you should watch that movie! By the way, Tuna, your cake was too good!” and so on and so forth…
Business Decision of the Day: Rukmini might set up an online information site, and call it ‘Rukipedia’!
Apology of the Day: “I’m sorry, I cooked loads of rice, I think it must have shrunk!” – Nilanjana.
Polite Line of the Day: Sandy (the only one trying very hard to concentrate on ‘Beerfest’ in the midst of a room full of noisy people): “Ei, is the volume on maximum?” (In other words, “Shut the f*ck up, you people, and let me watch!”)

Thank you, everyone, for an absolutely brilliant time! We must do this again soon. *hug*

Random Thoughts.

1. KFC rocks! I went there for lunch today, after ages. Mmm- fried chicken is the cure for everything!

2. Started watching a movie called The Prestige in the evening, then the power went off, and I missed most of it, but I watched the end. True, I didn't follow much, but it's a brilliant movie, and I am going to watch it again. I recommend it very highly. Hugh Jackman is an added bonus. *wink*

3. Playing the Random-Questions game is fun. I'm sure the person who this is meant for knows what I'm talking about. Heh.

4. My latest favourite song is Keane- Everybody's Changing

5. Booze-party at Neeli's place was good fun- surreal, to say the least, but great fun. Right from the emotional trips to guys passing out all over the place- it was a day to remember!

The Second Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to us. Two years. Wow.

You rock my world.

JUDE picnic

Highlights of the JUDE picnic, at Raichak, on 16th March 2008.
1. Anomitra and Sohini stepping into a pile of God-only-knows-what, I'm assuming dung was a major component. Anomitra stepping out, looking down at her legs, and saying, "Oh crap!"
2. Arindam's stairway seduction- I am truly at a loss for words. I don't think I will ever recover.
3. Somdev 'glaring at people for no apparent reason'.
4. The Dumb-Charades game! (Even though I didn't play.. It was hell hilarious!)
5. Sitting by the gate leading to the river, and feeling the breeze on our faces. Beautiful.
6. Rukmini and Rimi-di's dance. (Rukmini sloshed is FUN!) *grin*
7. Mahadyuti shouting to Deep, "Sit on my face!", Deep looking scandalised, and Mahadyuti hastening to explain, "It's a song! The song!" Also, Mahadyuti's 'passive high'.
8. Fire Condom, Nokia Condom, etc etc. *guffaws*
9. Swinging with Nilanjana and Sohini- I had forgotten what fun swinging could be!
10. The journey back home- right from laughing ourselves silly at random hoardings, to the irrelevant nonsense we talked!
A big hug and thank you to all the people who made this such fun. This was THE BEST picnic I have been on! JUDE truly rocks! Cheers!

The first rain of the year.

The splash of puddles. The smell of raindrops. Paper boats floating down the road. Muri and alur chop. The flash of colour in the raincoats that children wear. Getting drenched in the little drops of ecstasy that pour down from the heavens.

Today marked the first rain of the year. Unexpected, early, yet lovely.

There's a nice chill in the air. Ideal to curl up under a quilt and listen to the pitter-patter of rain outside.

It's beautiful- rain. It's romantic. It's friendly. It's calming. And it always makes me feel much better about life in general.

Rain- it seems to wash away all the evil in the world. It leaves behind such a fresh, new feeling. It rinses out all the bitterness and sadness, somehow. And it leaves behind a sense of completeness.

Snippets of the Delhi Trip

• The biting Delhi wind as soon as we landed.
• The chicken Guppy cooked for us.
• Buri saying, "3 minutes to midnight!" on New Year's Eve, and promptly falling down!
• Shorma- need I say more?
• Grapes, grapes and more grapes.
• Sarojini Market- there's something for everyone!
• The endless malls in Gurgaon.
• Guppy's bean bags.
• The ragging sessions. (Poor Divya..)
• Phone balance fading away into nothing. (All thanks to Roaming!)
• The way Ma had to be picked up from the bean bags- every single time!
• Guppy and his antics.
• Gora saying my 'gajar ka halwa' had a slight flavour of baking powder. (Of all things!)

Those were just snippets, mind you. I can't possibly begin to describe the entire trip- some things just cannot be put into words. And those are not all the pictures I took, obviously. There are many more, to be posted on Facebook soon. So watch the space!

Random thoughts on the 1 and 1/2 year anniversary.

A drunk man in the middle of the road. Getting excited while in tuition. Text messages that say a lot while saying nothing at all. Wrong spellings. The 10th and the 11th. A little locked room. The pink ribbon. A torn shirt pocket. The crystal oyster. A black and a red rose. Numity wumity. Whispered conversations in the middle of the night. Morphed pictures. Napkin-ball throwing at Cafe Coffee Day. Malpoa and icecream. Batch Night. Grey T-shirts. Crazy cab rides. 22nd April 2006. Heart shaped balloons outside KFC. Fish earrings. 19 presents on my 19th birthday. Dhoom 2. Conference calls. Bundles of letters. 25th September 2007. "Top of the World". Inbox flooding. LMG back staircase. A breath of fresh air. Gnum. A toy lizard. Raindrops. The side of the road. The bottlebrush. Marble cake.

"I've finally found the love of a lifetime. A love to last my whole life through." - Firehouse.

The picture says it all...

Awww... Isn't that adorable??!

Yippee!

CBSE marks are out, and I haven't put up such a bad show.

87% general aggregate, with a whopping 97 in Elective English- the highest in all of Calcutta, and probably all of India as well- though I'm not sure about that. Alokita's topped Humanities in our school, and she's got 97 in English, too.

Marks in other subjects are good, except for Psychology- 69! Hahahahaha!! But then I didn't study much for that- so I'm not feeling bad. I guess I deserved it.

Mom was tremendously happy. Guppy sent flowers from Delhi. Got loads of congratulatory messages and calls.

And apart from gold-diamond earrings, I got the above as a present.

I won't say anymore, except - "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!"

Thank you.

Thank you for...

1. Being the knight in shining armour and 'rescuing' me, when I needed to be.
2. Always having balance to call me, when I need to talk.
3. Tolerating my moods of happiness, sadness, fuzziness, and irrelevance.
4. Not groaning in disgust whenever I say I have nothing to wear.
5. Showing me that there ARE people who are willing to help out others, without expecting anything in return, just to be nice.
6. Patiently listening to all my nonsense.
7. All our dates.
8. Being the quintessential 'friend, philosopher, and guide'.
9. Showing me 'how to live, and how to love'.
10. Being mine.

Simple Pleasures

My Top 10 Pleasures (in random order)

1. Having a really good bath, feeling squeaky clean, and then getting all dressed up to go out somewhere. 'Coz I know I look nice!
2. Listening to a really good song, or watching a really good movie.
3. Being with family- eating out, going to watch a movie, or even just vegetating at home.
4. Saikat- thinking about him, talking to him, being with him. Basically anything and everything about him.
5. Being with friends, talking to them, or going out with them.
6. Having a cat curl up and purr on my lap.
7. A simple sweet kiss.
8. Writing something good- a poem, a story, even a blog entry!
9. Shopping- buying nice clothes / accessories / CDs / books / makeup.
10. Eating something that tastes nice.