The Tornados That Pass Us By.

This is a story I wrote recently.


They say we all have a twin out there. A ‘face-double’, so to speak. A myth ? Perhaps. Naina had always wondered and often reflected on what her reaction would be if she ever met hers.
Would there be a reunion for the ages, like in old films – tears and all ? She pictured something like this. After all, you were conditioned to believe what you saw, though the rational side of her quipped up as always, with a far more logical observation that you would hardly run to embrace someone you had never met before, even if they were your ‘twin’. Hell, Naina would probably turn and run in the opposite direction and demand to have her prescription for insomnia checked.

Pulling herself out of her reverie, she glanced at the blinking monster that startled her awake every morning and observed with dismay that it was already two o’clock in the morning. She has to be awake AND fresh in four hours from now to prepare for presentation and she hadn’t even finished it yet.

Feeling a need to push her mindless thoughts away, Naina padded to the kitchen and whipped up a tall glass of cold coffee. Ah, caffeine – the necessary evil for all these late sleepless nights. She looked out f her window while drinking it and watched the colors flickering outside. It was fairly filled up considering how late it was. People strolling up and down, cars crawling along at their own pace. There was a certain languor in all their movements, sort of dreamlike. It was quite entrancing to watch.
She finished her coffee and after managing to finish her work, fell into a deep slumber, dreaming of falling down a shaft of swirling color.
- *****

It was the Saturday afternoon after her presentation for her film class which had gone off brilliantly. Naina was in high spirits and decided to head to Sarojini Nagar market and brows around a bit to blow off some steam.
Oh, how she loved street markets ! In the bursts of color, the calls of local vendors, the bargaining and the throngs of people, there lay a certain alluring Delhi charm, found nowhere else.
She amused herself by looking at scarves and some other kick-knacks. More than the clothes, the melting pot of people grabbed her attention.
Where could that tiny yet surprisingly loud foreign girl be from ?
What was that young east-Indian boy’s story?
If it wouldn’t earn her strange looks, she would definitely ask.
As she strolled on, taking in the hustle and bustle, woven together with all the color, she spotted at antique store. The store display caught her attention and she ventured in to check it out.
It was an ancient store, but that only added to its beauty. Quaint and forgotten, it was filled with antique clocks and artifacts, along with a section filled with books at the back.
Naina made a beeline for it after wandering around in the shop for a bit and took in the familiar smell of books and smiled to herself.
She was browsing through the shelves when upon hearing a voice, she froze. It wasn’t what the person said that caught her attention, but more what the voice sounded like. It was uncannily similar to her own. Burning with curiosity, Naina peeked through the shelves to catch a glimpse of the speaker at the front desk and almost fainted.
She felt like she had fallen into one of her bizarre dreams. She was currently looking at a mirror image of herself. A face-double. A twin.
Naina stood there, a thousand questions dancing around her head in a wild frenzy. Her numbness kept them at bay and she could barely process what she was seeing. She sunk to the floor eventually and stayed there long after the mystery girl had gone. She wondered who the girl was, should she have confronted her and finally left the shop, chuckling at her own stupidity. The girl was nothing but a manifestation of last night’s musings combined with sleep deprivation.
She hailed an auto, and sat enjoying the cool monsoon breeze on her face as she went home. Little did she know that this very auto had hit a young woman just fifteen minutes ago. A young woman who was now at the local clinic, tending to her leg – the twin she had almost met.

Wish a big black hole would swallow you up ? I do too.

Never act on impulse. Ever. Trust me, I say this from experience. All it does is bring days of painful self questioning and moments of “Did I really do/say that ?! What was I THINKING ?”
Trust is, you weren’t thinking.
And all you get is a bucket of hot steaming regret. Not to be bitter or anything, it’s just the truth and it applies to all people. The only thing it doesn’t apply to is shopping. Unless you go buy acid-washed jeans; then you not only need to think before you jump, you also need a stylist.

* Color me beautiful !

The crimson hues of a setting sun; the merging of land with sea; the clear blue of a bright morning smattered with sunshine; the bursts of magenta, orange, yellow and white portrayed by an array of flowers; The crystal clear texture of a water droplet against another surface;

– The vibrancy of all these radiant colors is divine; a sight for sore eyes.

Imagine life without color. It’s like a body without its soul, a book with no words, a song with no notes – incomplete, unimaginable and impossible. Life is made exciting by the color it possesses. The colors define the mood of a particular situation, of a particular person and of their lives. The deep charcoal of an expected thunderstorm identifies with gloom and adds weight to an already gloomy mind while the sunshine yellow against a bright, clear sky lifts up even a sad mind, adding hope and warmth into their lives.

The beauty of it all is overwhelming. And this summer begins; I can see the splashes of color everywhere. The reds and purples and oranges and yellows and blues- they make me smile and fill me with warmth. The color is hope, love, laughter, pain, sorrow; so color me beautiful =)

Growing, changing yet still the same. Yup, that's India

Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal's proposals to make Class 10 exams optional and replace marks with grades in Class 12 has been making waves among both students and teachers alike. It certainly gave me some food for thought. Kapil Sibal's idea is equivalent to a cool breeze hitting you in the sultry summertime. It sparks room for growth and for change in the ever same monotonous educational system, something which was inevitable, but has now been kicked off by this announcement.
Not everyone really sees it this way though. Most people are skeptical and are criticizing it more than praising it and welcoming it with open arms. Most complaints are valid, teachers fear students may take up a casual approach towards school work and in turn neglect it but the root cause of the resistence is the human aversion to change. Grading is an alien system and most would feel lost without an exact mark to evaluate their performance.

The main thing is whether India ia ready for such a system. From times immemorial, the education system in India is marks based. Schools, colleges, universities -the first thing they ask for is your marks. Any other achievements in various other fields is completely secondary. So if they adopt the system of grades, the current existing system will have to break out of its mould and make way for change, something that isnt easy. Just call it trying to move a donkey who's standing with his heels dug in. Unless the donkey wants to move, your gonna get nowhere .

Personally, I think it should be a mix of both. Or atleast a balance should be struck. Year after year students kill themselves (Literally) to get that 90 percentage and above and for what ? Its two measley numbers for crying out loud ! Sure they make or break your future, they pave way for you to select the subjects you want but at the end of the day aren't there more important things ?

Like doing what YOU love ? Like doing something for YOURSELF ? Like receiving praise and accolades for something YOU are brilliant at although it isnt academics ?

I say do what your heart tells you to. You have to study , yes there's no questioning that but gone are the days when only medicine, engineering, and law were the career options. Today we're spoilt for choice ! I mean you can take what you love and turn it into your profession and get paid for it. I mean how grand is that ? Don't let academics suppress your inate desires !

Cliched as it may sound, life is short. So live it - for yourself.

Anneka

Anneka Sophia Mascarenhas.

My dear friend, basketball buddy , our very own "shorty".
Anneka was the epitome of happiness. I never saw her unhappy or upset without an actual reason. She was someone who uplifted everyone's spirits, cracked the lamest jokes and basically was totally perky all the time.She was an awesome basketball player ! She may have been short but she had a mean layup shot.
I still remember all those years of hanging out at the basketball court , playing matches and then sitting around and talking, joking, playing Chinese whisper and teasing each other.
In school, everyone knew Anneka. She was liked by everyone .. the teachers , the students and even the kids. Everyone knew who she was and I personally , admired her as she was always involved with something or the other. Singing, basketball, Annual Day - Anneka would do anything and everything to lend a helping hand.
She was plucky and never daunted by a challenge , no matter how hard or tough.

There are many things I wish I had said to her , many times I wished I had told her how much I admired her for her courage.
I wish I could take anything mean I said or did to her back.
Because now she's gone. For good. And I can never tell her any of this. None of us can.

All we can do is pray for her peace and hope that she is now in a better place than she was here.

Rest in Peace Anneka ..
We'll miss you.

All things unfair

You know, lately I've noticed the unequal power distribution in this world. I mean its everywhere, so obvious it hits you between the eyes ! And YET it goes unnoticed. Either that or no one has the guts to stand up and change it. It may be good or bad, but since things have been like this since forever no one wants to change.

There is a lot of other examples too, but I'd like to stress on the sexist attitude everyone has these days. Or wait..since like the beginning of time.
Its true. Ever since prehistoric time, women are like these baby producing machine type things and thats about all they're considered. ( Believe me this is there in my economics textbook )

Yeah I mean, I can find a hundred examples in my own school, imagine what its like out there in the big ol' world.

We have one coach for basketball. And now he focuses more on the guys. Reason ? I dunno, but I'm betting it has something to do with the age old excuse 'boys-are-better-than-girls-at-sports'. Well guess what buddy ? If you wont even give us a chance we'll never get as good as them.

And then, take the fact that there is no football team for girls. I mean its a small thing but i know SO many girls who play football and love it. And they don't get a chance. Grr.

Girls are considered weak, why ? We're equally smart. In fact I'd say smarter, in some cases.
We're probably prettier. ( =P)
We're more sensitive and know how to reach out to people.

So anyway, I'm not saying guys are bad. They're tons of fun and great to talk to. And maybe they might be physically stronger and stuff. But honestly, thats no reason to underestimate us girls. We can take on the world if we have to. =)





[Peace.Love.Grin]

It starts in my toes, Makes me crinkle my nose..* <3

Theres a little thing to be said about love.

Love is patient.
Love is kind.
Love is truthful.
Love is unselfish.
Its trusting, believing, hopeful, and enduring.

Love isn't jealous.
It isn't boastful.
It isn't rude, angry, selfish or any of those things.

Okay, so thats what the Bible says about love. My opinion of love: It sucks. It makes you mad. You feel lonely when you don't have it. But once it hits you you're back to the whole dreamy-giggly-butterflies-in-stomach-aww feeling. So basically its like a Centreshock. Sour on the outside, sweet on the inside.


Its the most beautiful thing in the world. It makes you laugh for no reason, you're smiling all the way, and everything is bright and sunny. =)


I may be single, but I take comfort in the fact that my friends are there. I love ALL you guys. MY friends. <3