Recreation

It’s been 20 years now!!Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar has been an important cog in the lives of every cricket fan for 20 years!! At a time when the whole world is showering praise and affection on the little master (http://www.cricinfo.com/sachinat20/content/site) it’s only just that I pay my tribute too. Here is my bit to my hero, the man with whom I could relate to some of the most memorable moments in the past 16 years.

I was 3 when Sachin made his debut. So I am one of those unlucky people not to have followed Sachin for initial 4 years of his career as I didn’t understand cricket then, but from the times I started understanding cricket there has been only one hero, only one person who has answered most of my prayers cricket wise – Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

Fanaticism Stage 1:

With Sachin anything that he did both on the cricket field and off it was instant success. The first innings that I remember with good clarity was the hundred against Kenya in the 1996 world cup. From then on Sachin has always been there just like every other friend just that I could see this friend only on TV. I used to cut his pictures from magazines, paste it in a note book and look after the note book like it was a prized possession. Any class mate who criticized the way Sachin played would be dealt with a barrage of arguments some of which even Sachin might not have found sensible. I still remember writing “Cricket is my religion; Sachin Tendulkar is my God “on the first page of every note book in my seventh standard. Every new pen bought should only write Sachin’s name first.

Fanaticism Stage 2:

As I got a little older I got a little sensible, very little though. I collected articles on Sachin and bound it into books. When I took cricket seriously it was all about being Sachin. Copying his drive, his stance, his bowling action, his mannerisms like the grin while he bats which almost looks like as if he is laughing at the bowler with utter disdain. I am not sure if I really liked the game of cricket as much as I liked Sachin. India winning or losing didn’t matter; it was only what Sachin did that mattered.And I am pretty sure that this is not just me. There must be millions of people In India who have been following Sachin with the same levels of fanaticism. No wonder his career is being celebrated as it is today.

In fact it’s not just the common man, test cricketers are no different. On a day when Sachin had reached yet another milestone , Krishnamachari Srikkanth (under whose captaincy Sachin made his debut) was on CNN IBN analyzing the game when the reporter remarked that every test cricketer would love to be in Sachin’s shoes. Srikkanth replied that he would love to carry Sachin’s shoes, forget being in his shoes!!!

So what’s so special about Sachin? Why should people be so fanatic about him? Perhaps it is his devotion to the country starting off with small things like requesting BCCI to allow him to sport the Indian flag on his helmet to big things like the 136 innings against Pakistan that he had to complete in lot of pain. May be it was the image of a man crying in agony when he met the family of Jawans killed in Mumbai attacks or maybe it was the image of the boy smiling after saving the game for India against England with his maiden century. I am not sure. To me it’s the complete package. On the cricket field he is a Genius. If there is one thing that he can’t do it is just that he can never look awkward with the bat. He was born to bat as Peter Roebuck has written in his article on Sachin .On the field he is one of the safest fielders in our team. With the ball he is an absolute magician. A team man in every respect.

Off the field he carries himself like how every hero ought to. He’s always been politically correct. Barring the recent “Mumbai for all” comment I have never heard of Sachin making statements that hog headlines. Headlines are reserved for his achievements on the field. With the sort of adulation and limelight that he gets it should be easy to get carried away. He has never let success get to his head. Rather he has always been focused, he has loved the game like a 16 year old and he has always been there for India. That is why he makes an excellent role model for every Indian….not just the cricketers ….every Individual in India.

God!! That’s a frightening thought. I don’t remember what I was like when I was a baby. With only pictures and memories that my parents recollect it’s the part of life that my parents cherish more that what I do. From what I see with babies now if I were baby again I really don’t know what I would gain but I certainly stand to lose a lot of things. Where is the freedom? Freedom to wear to what I want to, go where I want to, eat what I want to… the list goes on not to forget if I were a baby again I should grow up again and in the process write all the exams all over again … Don’t tell me !!! That’s definitely not my cup of tea.

Anyway I am going to try and be a baby now … let me see how a day in my life would be like.

Early morning: It’s still dark. The other two other people (My parents obviously) in the room are still sleeping.

Me: God, I am hungry…. Get up ma. Get up. Ok!! These grownups don’t respond to my thoughts. Its time I make some noise. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA………

My amma wakes up cribbing.

Amma : Ok !! there goes the alarm. Wait ..wait …let me get you milk.

Me: Oh yeah!! It worked as usual.

Amma would bring some milk in a bottle, while she drinks her coffee.

Amma: Here you go. Drink it and for God’s sake Dont cry.

Me: Yikes!! I hate the smell of milk. Damn! Why don’t they give me coffee.

Amma starts her daily routine. Appa is still asleep. That’s not right, is it? I crawl next to my Appa and somehow manage to wake him up. Appa gets up and hugs me happily and brushes his unshaven cheeks on me.

Me: Somehow I laugh every time he does this and yeah that familiar fragrance with Appa – divine.

Appa gets up and starts his daily routine which also includes giving me a bath.

Me: Water!! Yeah!! This man sure knows how to keep me happy. But damn, this soap keeps irritating my eyes...WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA………..

Breakfast time: While they have all the idlys and dosas …poor me, I am given something mixed in milk again.

Me: God this tastes sweet .Grrrrrrrr…why don’t they give me something spicy and why is that amma never finds a smaller spoon to feed me.

Appa starts to office, Amma carries me to the gate, takes my hand and waves it to my appa … TA TA. I start my work with newspapers, and to all the other things in the house that are within my reach. From keys to remote everything has a taste of its own you see. Amma struggeles to keep things away from my reach

Me: Phew.Thats too much work. I am tired, Time to sleep again.

Lunch Time: Dhal with ghee is the recipe.

Me: chicken would be good. But that’s ok Dhal is not bad too.
After wandering around for some time I am put to sleep again. This time because Amma is tired.
Evening: The best part of the day.
Amma chats with her friends in the neighborhood. One or two talk some nonsense and some make funny faces.

Me: {Sulk} Can you please maintain some distance? Amma come with me .Don’t talk to all these lunatics. Let’s get inside.
Amma doesn’t listen.

Me: WAAAAAAAAAAA….

Amma spanks me … but in a split second realizes that she need not have done that. To make up for it, she cuddles me, points fingers in all directions, diverting my attention.
I forgive her. After all it’s Amma. No issues.
Finally she takes me inside and lets me play around with my toys. Both of us wait for Appa to come back from office.
And then the hero enters (Appa).
He lifts me at once, makes some funny faces and calls me by some names. That joy is back on my face. And then it happens. Appa puts his shirt back on.

Me: Yes …I’m going out. Finally!!

The trip to the neighbouring streets with Appa is always the highlight of the evening. I am shown all the dogs, cats, bikes, cars…anything and everything under the moon.
Finally the day comes to an end. Amma puts me to sleep again. Nothing can be more comforting than her gentle hands patting me in regular intervals.

I have become very good at procrastinating my work these days. So much so that I call it an art!! There is simply no bias at all. From eating to sleeping, from studying to working the tendency to procrastinate knows no bounds. Over the past year or so I have completely mastered this art .Not that I wasn’t good at procrastinating earlier. The talent was always there, but without people around pestering me to do things at the right time I have become a better exponent of this art. I will try and share my valuable insights in mastering the art of procrastination here. Hope it helps some of you!!!

To master the art we should never, ever have second thoughts about being lazy and the next important thing is to find some kind of reason or a lame excuse if I might say to procrastinate. Let’s face it. Being lazy is no big deal, is it? Nothing can replace that feeling of being lazy. But the challenging part is to find a reason to support our cause and to convince ourselves that the reason is really reasonable. Once you are through this difficult part it’s all bliss. My day yesterday could be used as an example to explain the art. I got up around noon with the list of things in to do like laundry, cleaning the house, studying for an exam, writing a blog but actually ended watching TV whole day doing nothing else. Here I am finally writing a blog hoping to finish it at the earliest and hoping that I tick off at least one task from my To Do list. The reason was a TV channel was celebrating first year anniversary. They threw a party by playing “Friends” all day. That was good enough reason for me to postpone all the other work.

I am thinking about starting a community in ORKUT to try and get inputs from all the other exponents of the art. I have been thinking for a long time though. But topic being procrastination it won’t make sense to create it immediately. That’s a valid reason to procrastinate, isn’t it?

I am also looking at taking a New Year resolution – I should never procrastinate. Problem is I have been thinking which year should I start 2010 or 2011.After all there are only 365 days in between!!!

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 3; the third edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

As a typical Indian child I dreamt of becoming a veterinary doctor. Luckily for the animals, the only diagram that I could draw with panache in my biology exam was the Amoeba. That was that!!

Then I dreamt the default ones like scoring high marks, topping my class and making my father proud!!! My father has only had to console himself every time my exam results were out. Without reading much history, without really knowing why there was a partition in the first place, the Indian in me used to dream of Pakistan vanishing from the face of earth one fine day. Fanatical yes, but don’t blame me… blame the Anwars, the Inzamams and the Akrams.

With time I suppose I have matured and so has my dreams as an Indian. Sure, there are plenty of dreams but one dream that props us every time patriotism runs high (which happens quite often) is to become a journalist. Don’t mistake my intentions. I am not after Avantika Singh these days. I have even left her fans community in Orkut. The actual reasons behind this dream of mine might be of interest to most of you. Why? Because I believe the reason is most of our dreams as Indians is the same “To see India really shinning” – The Indian Dream.
So what has my dream got to do with India Shinning? To answer that question we should think of factors which hinder India from shinning. To me the answer is simple – Hypocrisy of the highest order and not to mention ignorance of “We the people” in believing these Hypocrites. No prizes of guessing, by saying hypocrites I mean the Politicians of India. Now, for India to shine we have two options.

1) To eradicate the hypocrisy.
2) To eradicate ignorance.

I know everyone of you will agree when I say that only second option is viable. Educating people of facts is the need of the hour. We need to know the truth, not in bits and pieces but all of it. We should not be feed with facts which are fabricated to suits sections of the society. The more we are told of facts the lesser will be the chance for Hypocrisy to thrive.

I have a strong belief that the current trend of journalism that is being practiced in our country is as pseudo-secular and as hypocritical as our politicians are. How many of us would have the discretion to take the fabricated facts from the media and believe just the parts that are true? Let alone fabrication, at times they don’t report some important bits of information just because it goes against sections of our society.

I am not a journalist yet. But if and when I do realize my dream, I dream of being a journalist who doesn’t pass his judgments on issues, one who doesn’t force his perceptions on the society, one who builds up consensus amongst the people only for constructive purposes, who doesn’t deprive important bits of news from the society regardless of its nature and yes! one who contributes to the ultimate dream of every one of us – To see India Shining.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

I have never been good with the telephonic conversations, never. I thought I would improve after having travelled far away from home. It’s almost been one year since I left home but I am yet to see any substantial improvement! One improvement though is that I don’t ask “Vechidattuma?” (shall I cut the call now?) every 2 minutes any more. That in itself is a big achievement. But there is a big problem area that I would have to improve upon – “Faking my mood”. It might sound really insignificant. How does it matter might be the question. But when you are thousands of miles away from home, when every word you utter and the tone that you speak in is being taken seriously (which obviously does not happen when you are at home) it’s very important. Because you might end up in trouble like how I did last week.

Last Sunday was one heck of a day. For some strange reason I wasn’t at my best. Nothing worked. I was bored to hell. I tried to read a book but I got no further than the first page. I tried calling up a couple of friends, one wasn’t reachable and the other was not in a position to talk (he was travelling. Don’t think otherwise), even G- talk was deserted. Such was my mood that even “Friends” series was a bit boring.

That is when I had to take a call from my parents. Now, talking to parents over the phone even if I am in a good mood is tricky, let alone talking to them whilst in bad mood. I say it’s tricky because more often than not I end up either giving too much information and get them to worry or give them very little info and run into the risk of answering their wild imaginations. Maintaining this balance is a big challenge.

So yes, my parents called and I carefully (or so I thought) cut the call down in a few minutes saying that I was tired and I wanted to sleep. I didn’t want to let them know that my mood wasn’t upbeat because that would prompt some obvious questions like why? What happened? Etc … I believe everyone would know the pain in answering these questions. My parents sounded like as if they were very understanding (again…so I thought).It also made me believe that I had improved my ability to fake things over the phone.

Imagine how bad I must have been in faking my mood if my father had mailed me the below link saying “an interesting site”
http://moodgym.anu.edu.au/welcome
When I saw the link, I was actually fine with it. As in, I thought I had only failed with the faking part. Little did I know that I had actually painted a picture far worse than the actual one. To help you understand the extent to which my faking had failed I have pasted the first Q & A from FAQ’s section in Mood gym (Below).

What is MoodGYM?
MoodGYM is an innovative, interactive web program designed to prevent depression. It consists of five modules, an interactive game, anxiety and depression assessments, downloadable relaxation audio, a workbook and feedback assessment.
Using flashed diagrams and online exercises, MoodGYM teaches the principles of cognitive behaviour therapy – a proven treatment for depression. It also demonstrates the relationship between thoughts and emotions, and works through dealing with stress and relationship break-ups, as well as teaching relaxation and meditation techniques.

I had a hearty laugh. Yes! i’ve fooled my father, just that he thinks that I am a little mentally ill now. It doesn’t make a big difference or does it?

This post has been published by me on the occasion of the Teachers' Day as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 2; the second edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

5/09/09



M. Govind
Roll number:12
?,Always 'C'section


Short answers (2 marks)
1) What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of teachers?
Teachers are the worst villains. Not all are villains. But the villains certainly outnumber the good ones by quite a big margin. (0 Marks)
2) Think rationally and write in a few words about your teachers.
Kudos to all those teachers who had the patience to read through my answer sheets after being impressed with my neatly written name and roll number, after which I promptly disappointed them with my not-so-neatly written answers. Because if I had evaluated my papers, I would not have reached any further than primary school. (2 Marks)

Answer in brief (5 marks)
1) What are your thoughts on teachers and teaching profession in general? (I should impress my teacher here... common 5 marks.)
Teaching is one of the noblest professions around. Teachers have always been taken for granted. They have been (and will be) expected to work their magic on kids on whom even their very own parents have lost hope. They forgive and forget our mistakes day in and day out with magnanimity that people from other profession can match only in dreams. (3 Marks)
2) Do you aspire to be a teacher some day in your life?
I would never want to be a teacher myself. Because even if someone curses me to the extent that I have cursed my teachers I am doomed .I can’t stand people who don’t listen to me when I talk. I can never put myself into a position where people make fun of me all day, call me by atrocious nick names and wish I would fall sick every day. (4 Marks)
Answer in detail (10 marks)
1) Compare teachers now and teachers of yesteryears.
When you talk of teachers now and teachers then you always get an impression that teachers were better then. Why is that so?

It might have nothing to do with the standard of teaching. It might be only because we have nothing else to believe other that what we hear from our elders. Elders keep telling us that teachers in those days were more sincere, dedicated etc. We listen to this happily and we are not even ready to validate this. Because we would love everyone to believe that we don’t have good teachers. After all you have an extra reason to fall back upon for scoring poorly.

Teachers today face a far greater challenge than what teachers faced then. Until recently apart from the normal troubles like students murmuring in the class what bigger problem could a student create? Probably eat in the class!! Now? Mobiles, Mp3 players, PSPs what not? I can never imagine our elders being as eloquent as we have been. Would they have ever voiced their opinions? Would they have ever been as disobedient as we have been? You know the answers don’t you? There are so many distractions around us. What distraction do you think our parents would have had? Probably radio… It must have been far easier to make a kid read. So teachers today have a herculean task at hand.

Having said all that, teachers today have their own shortcomings. Money has driven teaching standards to lower levels. Teaching is a profession, yes. People have to make money out of it, yes. They need not do it as a service, yes. But should money be the only motive? No. With all the tuition centers around, teachers are more concerned about making money. They try and allure students at school to join their tuition centers. This defeats the whole purpose of having schools and hampers the profession of teaching in general. (6 Marks)
Complementary question
Would you like to thank any teacher at all?
Although I don’t like this idea of tuition, I have enjoyed tuition centers. I met the best amongst my teachers in one such tuition. She taught me math in my +1 and +2.She is the first one who comes to my mind when I think of teachers I like. I owe a lot to her. I would like to believe that teachers of today are far better than teachers of yesteryears just for her sake. Total : 16/24 (oops!! there is a totalling mistake...but when you get more who cares . LOL)

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton are Vipul, Rajalakshmi, Dhiman, Ranee[1], [2], [3] , Avada, Indian Pundit, Sojo, Aneet, Pramathesh, Aativas, Sid, Pra, Ajinkya, Lakshmi, Shilpa, Bharathi, Shankar, Mytuppence, Azad, Pawan, Pankaja, Saimanohar, Guria, Shruti, Vishnu,Nasrajan and Richa. Click on their respective names to read their posts on Teachers : Aaj Kal. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

I was going to drive a car without an instructor for the first time last Sunday. I was scared to be frank. The thing that sacred me the most was the amount of money I would lose if I end up in an accident and yes as usual “final destination”. I somehow made up my mind to give it a go.It was a white Nissan Nido.It looked quite new. I was hoping it would stay the same way for a couple of more days.
I should say I eased into driving. My friend beside me was a good calming influence. In a couple of minutes I was on the “Story bridge”. I really felt proud when I parked the car only problem being both the indicators kept glowing for no reasonJ. In the ten minutes that we trying to put the indicators off it felt like as though were on a helicopter. There were so many buttons around. God! Finally my friend managed to find the right button. Phew! That was a relief.
We decided to head towards the sunshine coast. We thought the GPS would help us with the route. But if anything it was a distraction. After a bit of driving in the city trying to figure out how to get to the free way leading to sunshine coast we decided to head towards gold coast as it appeared simpler. In 5 minutes we were on the free way. Clocking 80 km/hr, I started feeling comfortable.
I changed lanes to exercise my driving skills. I suppose this irked the other drivers. Some honked (I am told that’s as good as swearing). Some people had some kind words to say. I didn’t hear any. After all I am from north Chennai. Some waved fingers at me. No, No! They don’t belong to AIADMK. But I believe it would make a good political party symbol. My other friend got a bit restless. He started nagging me right through, asking me to stay on course even if I didn’t drift away from my lanes. I did not let anything distract me. I am pretty sure, after a long long time I was concentrating on something. Concentrating on the job at hand (To save my money and to save to other lives on the car) I wanted to stay below the speed limit of 110 but I clocked 120km/hr at one point of time. Not consciously, though.
Finally we reached surfers paradise. An 80km drive. It felt great. Worth all the risk I had taken. We parked the car and strolled along the roads of gold coast. I was very worried for the car (God knows why). I was worried it might be a no parking zone. I was worried that someone else might crash against it in which case I will have to shell out money even though I am not responsible. All these thoughts got to me and I urged my friends to have lunch in the car itself. Height of pessimism isn’t it? Journey back home was also interesting. Barring an incident when the hand brakes got stuck it was awesome. Job well done!!! I was tired. But there was a deep sense of relief and satisfaction. It was indeed a trip for the car and not on the car.
I desperately want to buy a car now. Any good suggestions are welcome.

Cricket is an art, by far the toughest game on earth. It might look simple, but the nuances of the game are too hard for us to comprehend. Cricket, they say is a Mind Game. Real cricket is 5 day cricket. No wonder they have named it Test cricket. It is a real test of character. Although 20/20 is globalizing cricket big time, its killing the game in more ways than not. It’s a pain to watch off spinners firing the ball flat out into the block hole and it’s even more pain full to observe that there is not a single international team that has a good leg spinner. The switch hit, the scoop over the wicket keeper’s head and the short arm pull can never match the Sachin Tendulkar straight drive, Rahul Dravid square cut or the Mark Waugh leg glance.
The two most important aspects of cricket are that it’s a profound team game and it’s highly unpredictable. In my view 20/20 kills the first part for sure. It’s not the better team that wins. It’s the team with more number of lucky people on a day that wins. I would even argue that test cricket is lot more unpredictable that 20/20. There is nothing more intriguing in cricket than watching a team battles it out on a last day wicket to save the game. In 20/20 a well constructed technically sound innings gets overshadowed by some awkward slogging which is unacceptable. In addition to all this we have the filthy rich who have taken over the game like as if it’s a property that they have inherited. For instance the idea of strategy break is just deep shit.”DLF Maximum” and”citi moment of success” are no better.
To cap it you have the cheer girls. God!! It’s the most irritating part of 20/20.This is not to say I am person with great moral values. Girls are charming, but cricket has enough charm to keep us up and cheering. There is no need for a catalyst here. If anything it’s a disgrace to cricket, players and the fans. Watching a replay of a shot or a wicket gives us more joy than watching the movements of some scantily dress women on the cricket field.
Its high time ICC thinks of putting in place a test championship and limit the number of 20/20’s being played. Anyways for those of you who are starved for good cricket ASHES 2009 is here!! J For the first time I am going to be in one of the participating nation. Go Aussies Go!!

I asked the taxi driver to take us to the A.J.Hackett Bungee jumping site. He said “get in mate” and added that he had very often taken people to this site but he has never had to pick them back from this place!!! J I started feeling a bit uneasy and restless.
We watched a couple of people jump. Both came out smiling and looked as though they enjoyed it.To be honest it didn’t look that scary .So we paid for the jump.We had to sign some papers saying we were undertaking this jump at our own risk and A.J.Hackett is not responsible if anything untoward happens!! Phew….
We took the stairs to get to the top of the bungee site. With every step that I took towards the top I felt I was getting a bit nervous. I felt my heart beat was a bit higher than normal. Halfway through I glanced down. It wasn’t encouraging. J I asked my fried if his heart beat was high as well…. Fortunately he said “Yes”! All sorts of thoughts came up to my mind. Barely 15 days back had I read news on Indian express saying a Techie died in Bangalore while he attempted to Bungee Jump. Scenes of “Final destiny” flashed through my mind. I wondered if there would be any hospitals around. But the place looked deserted, almost a forest. In an attempt to relieve my tension I tried to be humorous. I told my friend to ask Shreya goshal not to wait for me in case something untoward happens…both of us didn’t laugh L All this while I was thinking if I should go first or let my friend jump before me. Finally I made up my mind that I will jump first so that I can get over it in a flash. But I suppose my friend had the same idea. He insisted that he will go first. He jumped first. I didn’t see him jump. While he was hanging in air the guys who were facilitating things tied the Bungee cord to my legs. It was really tight. Still, I wasn’t sure. I asked them if it was tight enough. One of the fellows said, it only going to get tighter. Then he asked me sarcastically if this was the first time I was going to jump? I said yes. He gave a wry smile. L
The ropes were really tight and since both the legs were tied together I found it hard to move. I did move somehow. I moved to the edge. I told myself that I am not going to look down. But unfortunately that was the first thing that I did. God! Believe me 164 feet is really high. It was scary. It was really scary. My mind went blank. I surveyed the whole area. It was all green. The same pond which appeared very beautiful while I was at normal altitude didn’t look that pretty now. In fact nothing was pretty. I was scared, excited, confused, tensed…all at the same time. It was as scary as Anna univ results. J
One of the fellows asked me to wave to the camera (I am happy I managed to smile).Then I heard someone say that on count of five I should jump. I am pretty sure I did hear 5...4...3…but nothing after that. I didn’t jump…. He asked me to move a little forward. Part of my foot was in the air!!! He started counting again. 5…4…3…2…1 and jump…I did jump this time. This moment is what you pay for. The free fall, hoping that the bungee cord will hold you. It was awesome. I am not going to try and explain the feeling because I don’t think I will do any justice. The cord did hold and it took me up and down a couple of times. The scary part was done. I did manage to get on the boat finally and got back to normalcy. I felt a deep sense of relief and achievement. I am a certified “Bungee jumper “now.
By the end of it I did say that Shreya Goshal need not worry any more…and guess what?? both of us did laugh this time... J Teri ore , Teri ore , Teri ore …hay Raba.

Like all my answer papers brevity is last on my priority list in this post.
So yes, the exam time table is out. What is the first thing that I do? PLAN!! Plan for the holiday days in between exams. Believe me it will be meticulous. As per this plan the day I finish the previous exam I will come home take some rest and start studying for the next one (I vouch, I have never done this) .And in this awesome plan I would have given myself enough time to study most of the chapters for the “first time” and guess what? I would even have time to revise those chapters (LOL).
After my superstitions hair cut before my semester I would appear for the first exam in which my performance would be nothing short of scary. Now, instead of studying for the next exam I will find myself evaluating my answer paper repeatedly wanting to believe that I will get to that magical 36 and hoping against hope that my “affectionate” staff members (who never want me to pass) would have given me 14 in internals. My plans for the evening would have already derailed. This will be the trend for the next entire day. The problem with these holidays is it is not possible to neither keep worrying about the previous exam or to forget about the tougher one coming ahead. I will be very conscious of the fact that my plans have gone up in smoke but I would not be able to help it. After a point of time I will manage to console myself that I will clear the previous one. But still studying for the next one is not ON. I still have 2 days. That cushion is always the motivating factor. Next day will just serve as example of how to waste time. Though I would have my book in my hands I wouldn’t have managed more than 2 pages. I will know that I have to study. I will take honest efforts to study. But 15 minutes is all I will take to lose concentration. After one and half days of scheduling and rescheduling it will finally strike me that the time left will not even sufficient for me to study once , never mind the revision. What do I do? Develop strategy!!! This process involves observing 5 previous question papers and guessing the pattern. Which chapters should I omit and which ones should I study? This will take half a day as it also involves sort of brain storming sessions with dear mates over the phone (only question papers will be discussed).
The other challenging part is to figure out where to start?? Which chapter should I study first? Which one is easy and which one is tough? (Only if I had read it once I will know) This is where toppers come into picture. In an attempt to instill fear and to motivate myself I will call one of these toppers. They would have already completed 4 chapters and would be scared that they haven’t read the fifth one (My God!! I haven’t reached the second one as yet). So they will advice which is tough and which one is easy. As per the usual superstition I will start off with the tougher part. Surprisingly, I will find it easy. I will wonder how come a topper found it tough. Then I will tell myself “if only God had given me the power of concentration I would have topped my class!!!!”(A typical mediocre reasoning as to why he hasn’t topped any of the exams in his life).
Half way through, two and half chapters over. Time to talk with close friends who would have completed more than me. He will tell me “machi, there are loads left, **** you better hurry up”. I will take his advice and continue studying. Now there will be other people in my group who wouldn’t have completed as much as I have (What a pity). They will need motivation, wouldn’t they?? They will call me. I am a very honest chap. I will tell them what exactly I have completed. It will definitely serve as motivation to them, but the reply??. He wouldn’t have completed even one and half. Time to feel happy and time for complacency to set it. What more that poor chap wouldn’t have a book for the next couple of chapters. Off to the Xerox store, where there will already be a long queue of engineering students. Wait for my friend to get the book Xeroxed and get back home. What a feeling?? I’ve helped my friend in times of despair. J
Finally an evening and a long night left with 2 chapters to complete. Fear will be written all over my face. No more planning, no more phone calls. Study anything and everything that meets my eyes. Get up early and REVISE (but everything will sound new).An hour prior to the exam sitting on the ground with all the class mates, superstition is to sound confident. I will never , ever tell someone that I am scared that I might fail the previous one. “Pass machi, but 40dhan varumnu ninikuren “ and what about this one?? “ idhu ok da…eppadiyum pass aayidalam” deep down I will be shivering.
In the examination hall after reciting all the prayers I will look at the question paper. Out of 5 , 16 mark questions, I will know 2 and half (40 marks). And the ten 2 marks ?? I can manage three or four (6)nothing more than that. That’s 46. God that’s not enough. With my handwriting and presentation skills it will not fetch anything more than 30 marks. But what about my ambition (Not have an history of arrears) ??? That is when it will strike.. L If only I had studied during the holidays. The problem with these holidays is that it gives you a reason to repent. If these holidays had not been there i wouldn’t have got into the comfort zone and I wouldn’t have had a reason to repent. But now… hopes are dim. Very well….let’s try” Extracurricular activities”. Pass on signals to 11(I’m 12). Get a feel of his position. Then somehow manage to attend four sixteen marks and attend all the 2 marks. HOW??? The age old method that we use (Which is the capital of India???Ans :the capital of India is in north India) hoping this will give me at least half mark. So exam is done…time to pray and time to plan for the next exam J
Why study holidays now?? Im in one such period now.. :) Only difference being I do not know what is the exam going to be on?? And when is it scheduled?? But I will not fail to plan….

17th January 2009: Saturday: 12:10PM
Like Tom Hanks and “Wilson” in cast away I and my Ipod were getting along as usual. I was lost in thought, walking towards a bus stop, cursing myself for not having checked the bus timings. I took a left just outside a common wealth bank .5 meters ahead there were a group of people holding some plaques and handing out pamphlets. I didn’t pay much attention to it. As I got closer I saw some plaques reading “free stress reliever”…..and things like that which would never interest me.
Suddenly out of nowhere a girl came in my way with outstretched hands. She asked “would you mind a free hug?” NAN APPADIYE SHOCK AAYITEN!!!!!! You see I was selfless. I was cornered.J I always knew I was a lucky fellow with anything and everything. But is this really luck?
Ideally speaking I should have gone for it. But in a split second I said “No, Thanks!!” For once I think I have made the right decision.
I think “Enormity” helped me in making the right decision. Not the enormity of the incident ….but enormity of the circumference of the girl in question. Surely she would have been three times my size. It would have taken quite an effort from me if I had attempted to hug her. More importantly it would have been the worst explanation that someone could have given for having their bones strapped. J
What is disappointing though is that , there was a cute girl standing right next to this huge girl who offered to hug. If she had given me the same offer….. second thoughts?…no way!!!!..…What deserves a second thought though is the question ….am I really lucky? Lol!

This happened last week on Saturday. I was COOKING J . There was a cricket match on the TV, so as usual I was engrossed in it. Hmm…but that doesn’t stop me from being hungryL.
I was damn hungry. So I had put rice in the new electric cooker that we have bought and boiled water for Rasam. Before adding the paste I had heated the bowl of water for some 15 - 20 mins. Although 5 mins would have been sufficient I had totally forgotten that I was in the process of cooking. Finally I came to my senses and added the paste. Kindled it and kept heating it for some 10 more mins. Here again 10 mins of heating wasn’t required but then I was only physically present in the kitchenJ. Rasam came out with a good smell. But how does it taste???? I decided I should taste it before eating. Note that I have been heating this so called “Rasam” on “high “for more than half an hour. Without realizing how long I have been heating that bowl of rasam, I took a small portion of it and poured it on to my mouth.
Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh…..my tongue was totally numb and my lips were burnt. It has taken a week for the burns to disappear from my lips. One of my friends asked “so will you ever do this again?”…meaning will I ever be so absent minded whilst I am cooking …. I said NO …”No” – not for being absent minded. No – I will never cook when there is a match onJ