Wimwi - Water Wonderland

Its raining in Ahmedabad.

Home Sweet Home

Term 1 ended and we literally ran outta there. Caught a flight to Bombay followed very closely by one to Chennai. God Bless Jet. Every other carrier out of Ahd was delayed by hours for some reason. And finally, after three months of waiting.. Am HOME!! :)

No sudden realizations here, I've known for a while that I miss Chennai. I miss talking to people in tamil. Miss my parents and sister. Miss my friends here. I literally "grew up" here.

And am now back for a week of home food, telling dad about courses, hanging out with friends and catching up on stuff.

Saw Salaam Namaste which is surprisingly good. Also saw Biloxi Blues. Which was fun but ribald.

Thinking about all the things i love about this place. Filter Coffee, grandmom's house, the Beach, Satyam Cinema, friends, always running into people you know, family, veetu sappadu ('home food').

I love Madras..

Rant

Anna University now wants to introduce a dress code for female students. I do not understand what the purpose of this is. Somehow in their warped minds, they think this will improve concentration in class and discipline. By outlawing jeans, they think they can also outlaw hormones, chemistry and puberty from college campuses in one shot.

Another grand argument that is forwarded is that this will somehow protect women students. B@#!@s.

The only thing that will protect women students is if every dad teaches his son to respect women. If he respects his wife and every woman he meets and encourages his son to too.

Molest, Rape, Eve Teasing, Sexual Harrasments are not crimes of ardour or passion commited because a girl was in jeans or in a bikini. They are crimes of power perpetrated in a patriarchal society simply because it gives the perpetrator a "kick".

Mr. Jeppiar, why do you laud this retrograde move? Because you can now exercise greater control over students? Are we really trying to say that a person who is 18 years old is not old enough to decide what she wants to wear?

We dont have a dress code on campus. And yet, morals haven't degraded to the point of no return, standards haven't slipped. Women don't get harassed, ogled or teased.

And yet, back in engineering college, where we DID have a salwars only dress code, we got ragged on the bus, commented on, ogled at. There were days when the prospect of getting on the bus was frustrating. When the only thing we could do was to swear under our breath at the ill mannered louts who apparently came from sophisticated urban backgrounds.

Perhaps, chancellors and educated gentlemen, it is my fault. I should have dressed more carefully, worn a burkha perhaps?

Or maybe, just maybe, we should punish perpetrators instead of the victims of a crime? Or is that too foreign a concept for you'll?

Trident, Diet Coke and the Power Puff Girls

When i first started living on my own, I thought it would take a week for my room to turn into a disaster zone. Surprisingly, I've lasted the past few months without burning up anything, breaking (wel.. hardly) anything or running out of clean clothes.

The past week however is a different story. Our dorm is one of the few dorms without a pantry. So we stock our rooms with enough stuff to survive a nuclear war. I usually have abundant supplies of chocolate, chips, cola, murukku, thattai, tang, coffee, tea, biscuits et al. (Now you know the secret behind "study group meetings" in D2)

I've now run out of it all. Living on Trident sugarfree chewing gum and endless cans of diet coke. Which as anyone will tell you covers atleast three significant food groups (fats, sugars and uh.. protein?)

Finally did my laundry after a week and it starts raining. So not only am i starving, but i'm starving in a room that smells like mold.

And judging by the underside of my dressing cum pantry table, looks like mold too.

I got so excited about going home that i packed one tiny bag a few days back. If only i could find it under the heaps of clothes, plastic bags, blanket, sheets, and papers that is my room.

And the power puff girls? They're on my pencil box.

The reason behind all of this is of course, the fact that we have exams. 2 per day. In, i hope, decreasing order of intensity. It started off with OM. I managed to build a hundred houses in 28xx days, and then got hit by the last question. Just in Time.

We walked out of there nursing our wounds only to find that the ECO paper was, if possible, even tougher. I enjoyed drawing colored graphs and doing differential calculus. If only I knew a little bit more about wages and minimum rates.

This morning was the mother of all events. MANAC. After about 21 sessions, 6 quizzes, a few odd rems by our friendly neighbourhood CAs, Three AM panic calls "What do i do when the salvage value is positive, do i account for it in depreciation?", four cans of diet coke and six hours of sleep... it finally happened. For the first time in my life, a balance sheet did just that. I nearly fell off the chair :) Its not perfect, it might be wrong, a balancing sheet does not mean a thing... but i'm still thrilled by that one magic moment when the number shone on my Fx 150, matching the ones down on paper. :)

Off to HRM now. 5 exams and 2 flights away from home sweet home.

Among Other Things

The Ammani fever hits here too. The lady is extremely talented and poignant. This is my posting of stories that i never had time to finish or flesh out. Short takes.

Term 1 draws to a close

11 days to go
8 exams
4 more days of classes
2 submissions left
1 excited/ exhausted/ enervated/ enthused/ energized/ engaged/ engrossed/ enlightened fachchi

We've almost made it through first term at wimwi. Its like someone suddenly floored the brake pedal, forcing you to stop for about two minutes and reflect on it. Its not enough to gain any sort of perspective, but i know it has been fun. Its been a learning experience. And its been hard at some points of time.

Strangely, for those two minutes, you remember the person you were last year. Preparing for CAT, hanging out with friends, living at home. And you know you've changed permanently in so many small ways. You've done a lot of things you wouldn't have earlier. You've somehow "grown up".

And yet, for all that change, you're still the same lil girl. Who can't wait to go home and hog on mom's cooking, stay up all night talking to the three most important people in your life, and drink hot cocoa before bed.

Growing old is mandatory, Growing up is an option

-Calvin

Hindi - Garbaa'd

I have this classmate. He's a Tamilian who is learning to speak hindi. Some of the things he does to the language are mighty interesting..

Garbaa'ish
1. Tu bada pathar, bada samay
2. mein ab pad raha hoon. Aadmi - Thandaa ka dabba
3. Akela hilna dhulna (This is dopey's contribution)

And this one takes the cake : Last night, he posts a message on the NB tellin me :
4. Suze, Jaane ka rasta..

I initially thought he was showing me a metaphorical door, when i realise what he actually means is :

1. You're rocking big time
2. I'm studying MAN-AC now
3. Individual Dynamics

4. Suze, Way to go..

Not bad for someone who hadn't spoken too many words of hindi before coming here. Garbaa, tum bilkul bade pathar ho.. utake upar rakho..

Lagey Raho!

Biloxi Blues

Evam is doing Biloxi Blues in September. Promises to be fun. Check out more on their website

And most importantly, i'll get to see this. Cos guess what.. I'm going HOME!!

T - 16 days and counting..