LIVING THE DREAM

"Hello?"

"Hello, Amma!"

"Is it your bed time now or something?"

"No, i'm cycling now."

"Cycling? it's 10:30 pm!"

In SIMC, 10:30 pm is still too early in the night.With classes, wire, cell meetings, assignments, jamming sessions, fooseball, pooltable and various other things we get to/have to do, sleeping is something that is shortlived. Most people tend to do it in the first hour or the post lunch session.

The first few days in this lovely campus was taken up by the exploration. The helipad, the amphitheatre, the way to the annexe...every day had one new spot to offer. The view of the mountains around and below is a sight worth seeing. Every day the clouds paint the backdrop differently giving a fresh new look to the same old beautiful views. You've gotta be on campus to know what i mean...

We're surrounded by the lush greenery which gets greener and greener with the rains. The air we breathe in is the purest as it is untainted by the city smoke. This place is home not only to us homo sapiens, but to various creepy crawlies(including snakes), colourful bugs and butterflies, and some of them have even claimed to have seen peacocks!

I've got a lot of stuff here that's making my kid brother turn red with jealousy-the badminton courts, the sqush court, the pool, the foot ball field ...he said he'd actually LEARN so that he can come play here. Silly boy.

Ever wanted to meet the people you admire the most? Imagine meeting Kiran Bedi and the great Mr A.P.J Abdul Kalam in one same week! Now SIMC is launching a new lecture series, Clairvoyance, and we'll get to meet a host of wonderful people who'll talk to us about all those passions we have, all those careers we intend to pursue...

How many people get to watch movies as a part of their course? We go to class and get to see movies. (unlike the usual sort movies i watch, though!) Assignments come one after the other, but sometimes it would be something like clicking pictures! oh, that reminds me, now i am a proud owner of a Nikkon D3000...

I've always wanted to be here. I knew i wanted to. But i wasn't quite sure how life would be in SIMC. I'm loving my new life. Sure it's hectic and getting my usual eight hours of sleep is something impossible, but this place is giving me a lot...and each day is so different from the other. You never know what to expect...

HATE HOSPITALS

Today was supposed to be another lazy day, waking up at 9, hanging out with friends...Going to the zoo n palace with Jo, Suraj n Arun, to be precise. But some 1200 coconuts stopped suraj from joining us, so that stopped Ka, so that would mean only two of us, so postponed. My dad took this opportunity to take me to the doc before leaving to Pune.

I had checked my blood group only a couple of months back and even that had taken 3 nurses at the polyclinic and my dad. I hate going to hospitals. What was wrong with me ? Nothing. But my mom wanted a doctor to say that before i left.

So dad and i were at the Trichur Heart hospital.

'I'll go and see if Victor is there. Collect the registration card'

Dad went to find that Doc.

'150 Ruppees. Get your BP checked before you go to the OP' said that lady at the counter.

Giving 150 Rs to her was fine. But getting my BP checked? Nope. I walked straight to the OP without casting a glance towards those blue uniformed nurses who sat to check the BP. But another from the blue tribe found me and sent me to check it. And my pulse, height and weight. Totally hated it.

Since my dad had to say some reason for bringing me to see the doc, he told about my 'blacking out's. When my doggie Scooby was being given gluose and shots at the veterinary hospital a few weeks back, i had felt giddy. I hate everything about hospitals right from the phenyl smell to the green sheets to the various equipments to the scary docs. Veterinary hospital had felt much better than the ones for humans, but still...........And there was another time when i wanted to sit down instead of standing up and singing with the choir early in d morning right after i got up, without eating anything, before the mass. But i was okay after i had sometime to lay down or sit down for a while.

'Did you have double vision when you had these black outs?'

'No'

'Did you feel sweaty, felt like puking or have a headache?'

'No'

'Is there anything else you'd like to tell me?'

'Can i go home?'

Laying down on that bed like thingy with green sheets on it was awkward. I have never been on a hospital bed since my mom and i came back home after she got me out of her tummy. That was like, um,almost twenty one years earlier. Doctors torture you. He scratched on the underside of my foot and hit my ankle with something and said that my reflexes were fine. And push my toe against his pushing it down. and lifting my legs without bending my knees(That was fine coz it was similar to the stretching excersises after badminton. And good thing i chose to wear that stupid blue jeans instead of the black skirt) And then more torture by pointing a torch into each of my eyes , asking me to stick my tongue out....Phew, i was glad to get up from there and get back on to the chair.

'Every thing seems fine. You must have felt giddy because of the uneasiness of being at a hospital and because you didnt have breakfast that morning'

Yup. Right. Off to home.

'But just to make sure, why don't we take a blood test and a scan?'

Dad? i didn't sign up for anything that gets a needle anywhere near me! Couldn't yell that out to him,but i guess he got that from my look.

'We'll get it done soon, dear'

'I don't want to.'

'Well, you needn't do the blood test. Go for the scan. Its just like taking a photograph.' the doctor intervened.

Okay. I had gone to the hospital scared of getting a shot. Now there were no needles involved, but i'm getting SCANNED?

'It's a modern hospital thingy,' joked dad. 'When you get in hospital, the exits are only through a lab, an x-ray room or a scanning room. Victor must've suggested it coz it was the shortest way out.'

Nice try.

No dad near by. He was off to pay the bill and i was lead to the scanning room by a white coat lady. A blue shirt guy sat inside that room. Scanning machine. First time i'm seeing one. even that had green sheets. Yuck. Uncomfortable time on it, with two straps making sure i'm in the right position( or may be to make sure i don't run off.) Felt Glad that only my head went inside that thingy. Wouldv'e felt worse if i was sucked in by the giant machine altogether. Good thing i'll be dead before they put me in a coffin. Wouldn't want it the other way round.

Found dad after the great scan. Mom called just then. And on hearing that i was 'SCANNED' guess she almost fainted. Did i just say fainted? May be we should bring her over tomorrow. And check her up. After all it was her idea to sent me to get a check up! Like my dad said to the doc, either make sure my daughter is fine physically or that my wife is fine mentally. She's too over concerned!

WATCHING THE POORAM FIREWORKS, MY WAY

Wanted to write this one a few days back. Most people say that if you are going to watch the Pooram fireworks you shouLd do it from the top of one of those buildings in the round. Telling them that i could do it from the top of my house just invites teases and 'Oh, you poor girl' stuff. Well, watching it from the top of my house has a lot of merits.

I woke up at 3 to watch it and had to wait for over an hour because it started late. What about those who had to climb up all those buildings? How long did you people have to wait, huh? I imagine there must have been some chairs for the 'close proximity' lovers to sit on. Well, i was lying down on the terrace, and i even had some pillows propped up. Those who climbed up the tall buildings would have taken up some snack with them(or not), but i don't think you would've been able to go down, microwave the stuff to get it nice and hot during the breaks between the fireworks like the banana fries i had. And that tin of Kellogs Honeyloops just because i wanted to have it then. Mosquitos awoke sometime around 5:30 and started their usual business, but i put them to sleep by kindling a mosquito repellant coil.

I really had a nice time watching the fireworks, with all the things i liked. They say you should hear the sound, feel the building vibrate when you watch the fireworks. But watching it the way i did was pretty cool too, though i'd like to try the closer view sometime.

ON GIFTS

I just found that there are three ways in which people give you gifts. May be their age affects the way they do it...

'Congrats, dear!'

'Thanks,mema'

'Buy anything you want with it, okay?'

'Wow! thanks!'

Reena mema, my mom's youngest sister gave me a crisp 1000 ruppee note.

'Congrats, dear!'

'Thanks, mema'

'You know what, i think you should get a nice new watch before you start your new college.'

'Oh. Right.'

'Maybe something like a fastrack'

'Fast what?'

'I'll give you 1000 ruppees for that. '

'Okay.'

Another 1000 ruppee, this one from my mother's younger sister, Meena. But this would have to be converted into a watch for me to actually own.

'Amma, why are there two jeans on the counter, i had taken only one?'

'Oh, that's for your brother.'

'um...he could wear jeans of my size untill he expanded around his middle. Are those for me?'

No reply.

'I don't like that gray.'

'What? I thought you liked it because you were looking at it a lot...and you don't have one of that shade... and i like that one...'

'You know, if you are getting something for me, please ask me if i want it, okay?'

But that's something she never does.

Getting money as gift is cool. You could do anything with it. You can convert it into anything you like. People who knows nothing about your likes and dislikes could find it easier. But sometimes it lacks a little something that it would have had, if it was a litlle gift in someother form than a piece of paper.

Some people care enough to know about the things you have / not, the things you ought to have/ or not etc etc etc. They don't want you to just spend your money on unnecessary things. It could get on your nerves too, coz, you might want something else at the moment.

Getting things for you without asking you if you want it or need it is reserved especially for a specific category of people called mothers. (Mostly. Maybe there are others too) They may not care that you have grown out of pink craze or the Barbie craze. They just get things because they like it, or 'I never had all this at your age' syndrome. And when you want something they just say that they've already got you everything you need, what more could you want.

Ah...it's all quite complex. Anyways, though i said i don't like that gray, it's pretty okay. Kuttis (Meena) mema's offer was duely converted into a black and red Fastrack. Reena mema's gift is saved for various crazy things i want to do.

'

"WELCOME TO OOTTY, NICE TO MEET YOU"

Another Ootty trip. The twenty third Ootty trip together by my parents. Guess i'd gone there every year of my life except one. Going to Ootty might mean enjoying the scenic beauty, going to all those tourist spots etc etc to most people. But for us, it revolves around a few hotels. Especially certain dishes. Just like there's a 'Way of the Cross' thingy , our Ootty trip has certain fixed stations.

1. THE CHAPEL NEXT TO THE CHURCH

The journey begins with a quickie prayer (Lord, let the food at Shinkows be as tasety as ever, Lord please change the cook at Lake View)

2. ARAM MOTEL, WALAYAR

This is the stop for breakfast( Appam and Egg curry. I eat mostly nothing here, but open a bag of Lay's)

3.SOME HOTEL WHICH CHANGES NAME EVERY YEAR, METTUPALAYAM

Mostly for loo purpose, but we also buy a bottle of coke

4. A LITTLE TEASTALL /PHONEBOOTH PLACE AFTER THE HAIRPIN BENDS, COONOOR

A call to Daddy and Mammy to tell we've reached this far. We've got three mobile phones in the car, but this is the tradition

5. AAVIN MILK BOOTH, OOTTY

We load the car with flavoured milk. For the past two years they have only three flavours- Stawberry, Pista and Cardomom. I miss chocolate.

6. HOTEL NAHAR

The first meal of the trip is always vegetarian. (stupid tradition. But Higgin Bothams is opposite to Nahar, so i'll get a couple of books, so it's fine.)

7. HOTEL LAKEVIEW

Home-Sweet-Home. This is where we stay for three days every year. (We get twenty percent discount coz its been over two decades that my parents started coming here) . Cottage number 6, 7, 8 or nine. Only in exceptional cases do we get cottages other than these. like this year- it was awkward going to cottage 26.

8. HOTEL SHINKOWS

We discovered this lovely little hotel at charring cross only a few years back...great chinese food. Especially the sweet and sour chicken, chicken in hot garlic sauce and chilly chicken. Everything else is good too. There used to be a big white doggie sleeping in front of it until a couple of years back.

9.CAFE' COFFEE DAY

This is a relatively new entrant to our otherwise 'usual' list. The price of every item goes up by twenty ruppees every year. Love Devil's own and Cafe' Frappe.

This years trip had a lot of unusual elements to it. Starting from the fact that we got Cottage number 26- that's not in the lowest level next to the playground... How sad! And our Car had some problem and we had a long walk to Shinkows. There was no trip to the boat house this time. But there was something else much better- a mountain bike ride thingy. Hero cycles has made a course using log bridges, platforms, slopes, stuff that sink beneath the ground when you ride over it etc etc etc. It was fun putting on the helmet, arm guard, knee guard and all that(dressing up like a warrior) and riding it out. My brother chickened out and didn't do this- so much for his 'male superiority' thingy. Go- karting was on this year.

Ootty happened so fast this year. I couldn't complete even one book that i had bought.(so i had to buy an archies coz i had to finish something!) Will miss reading by the fireplace,(with a bottle of flavoured milk, a bag of lay's and assorted chocolates near my hand's reach) which is one thing i really like in the annual ritual for two years i guess.

I LOVE SPORTS TOO

And the ball fell into the hole! Oh my God, did i manage to do that?Wow! No, i'm not playing golf here. I managed to actually hit a cricket ball. My brother just bought a new cricket bat, a pair of cricket gloves and this lovely new ball. So, at 12 in the noon, with the sun glaring at us from above our heads, we were out trying the new goodies he bought. I had my cap on, i was holding his new bat, i was wearing his new gloves (I didn't even touch that thingy he called an abdomen guard. Yuck!) and i just hit his brand new ball into a hole which lead on to the gutter...Guess he was too shocked to see

a. me actually hitting a ball he threw

b. his brand new ball going down the drain

Anyways, he didn't run after me, but went to fetch buckets , garden hose, a long rod, etc etc. I was safe.

It was funny, watching him sticking his head into that hole, getting his white t-shirt dirty(for which he'll get a firing from mom) . Ah, for things like these, i love sports.

Most people in our school loved the sports day because they wanted to participate in the events and wanted to win. Most people who didn't like sports, or had those blue/pink books from PC TC would bunk sports day. I don't like this competition business, but i really love sports day.Since our school's play ground shares a wall with the Lourdes Cathedral cemetry, someone or the other always had to climb over the wall, give the dead a visit and get their ball back. As our little playground wouldn't be sufficiant for all the events, we go to Thope stadium for sports day. There's a lot of things that you could do besides sports!

Like, howmany icecreams can you eat without getting tired of it? That was one 'sweet' thing about sports day. There would be an icecream van and you'll have to fight your way through the crowd to get to it. And before that, you'll have to decide who would go get the icecream because walking from the gallery across the stadium to the icecream van was a tiring sport event in itself. And to decide who's purse would be emptied out first...

Most of us wouldv'e got atleast one pinch, beating, spank on the head etc etc during school days, but has anyone hit a teacher? Well, one sports day I did. Just for the sake of participating, i had signed up for discus throw. A calm and quiet event with no running around. I was sure i wouldn't even get past the qualifying round, so all i had to do was to throw this discus thingy once and then i could go back and 'relax'. I didn't make the qualifying mark when i threw the discus, but poor Preema Miss gave a high pitched yelp and clutched her bu, her dorsal side. Is that why i got low marks for Malayalam in the first couple of exams in eleventh?

That reminds me, why do teachers detest some sports and games even on the sports day? It was all about having fun , wasn't it?While most people were on the ground, running and sweating, some of us were having fun on the gallery playing our games. Like cards? Annie had bought a brand new pack of cards and Vineetha, Annie, Francis, Jimmy and I were playing bluff. (just a harmless game of bluff!) Enter S.M.S (a.k.a Shan Maria Sister). She gave us a biiig scolding (jus us girls, coz the boys were no where in sight then. Hmph! But it was better coz girls playing cards alone was a less serious crime than girls and boys playing cards together), next was talks by Hipson Sir and finally we had to go over to Stella Miss, our Class teacher and apologize. And she wanted us to go and apologize to SMS if we didn't want to apologize to the Principal herself. Thankfully sportsdays are conducted on saturdays...no one seemed to remember the rougue girls on monday, so that was the end of that.

Still, i love sports days...you walk around the whole place, make friends with people of all classes, cheer for players from your house, cheer for friends from any house, the games you play there changes from 'charlie chaplin went to the market' to name place animal thing to dumb charades to anthakshari to truth or dare to cards...Or you could even go back to childish games and be your silly self.

Anyways, my brother couldn't find his new ball. But he did keep a brick or two at the opening of that hole.

THE CALL

'We could check it at coimbatore too, you know...'

'No, i'm staying home. '

We had to attend some function at coimbatore the day the SIMC merit and waiting list was to be published. No amount of coaxing could make me move an inch away from the computer. Well, the scene was pretty much like that on the day when the shortlist was published. Except that my parents wouldn't be home this time.

They had said they'll put it up by 5PM. Both the Merit and the waiting lists. Would i make it to the merit list? Was my GD and PI good enough for that? May be the waiting list...But if i fall in that, would someone from the merit list choose not to join giving me a chance?What am i thinking? Why would SIMC call a kid like me? As if i'll get to go to Pune. I hadn't even gone out to Ernakulam alone until a couple of months back and here i'm thinking of Pune. Like That's gonna happen!

But i couldn't help wishing that my name would be there in the list.Those quotes which are written on the blackboard and read out in the morning assemblies at schools , like, 'Hope for the best and prepare for the worst' etc etc popped in my mind. Didn't feel like talking to anyone else right then, so i was busy talking to myself and make me feel okay. Crazy.

Just like the last time, the MBA lists were out first . Around 4:45. Any minute now...Either you'll be in, or you won't. It's as simple as that. You can still apply to IIMC, IIJNM, etc etc etc....Some place would accept you...

Excuse me, me, would you keep quiet for a while?

The lists weren't out yet, but my parents were back. And just when i looked away from the computer for a second, the latest scary Adobe pdf files were out.

MMC JOURNALISM FIRST MERIT LIST

Okaaay....Now here it is, go on click on it......Me? Shut up!

Lord, it'll be nice if i would just scrape through like last time, it would be wonderful if i was the last person in this list...

7??? Oh my God, i was 7th in the merit list!

'I got in!!!'

'Really?'

'Yes! My name's 7th in the merit list, mom!'

'Go open that cover on the table'

'What?'

'The cake box. On the dining table'

Wasn't she supposed to give the cake to cousin Anju at coimbatore? Never mind, i love her cakes....

CONGRATULATIONS!

Just that word on golden brown pinapple pieces over the cake. That cake was sweet. And i didn't have to taste it to know that. Hmmm....grown ups are really hard to figure out at times. But i wasn't going to tell her that.

'But i like chocolate cake..............', I whined.

Well, calling up everyone i knew on this planet filled up rest of the day. Including Priyanka and Varun.Both of them made it in too. I love stories with happy endings! There is nothing more i can write about this . I was happy as i could be...I got into SIMC, I was going to stay in Pune for two whole years( maybe longer than that...who knows?). Right from that trip to write SNAP, till this day when i found my name in the list....everything that happened, everything i did, everything everyone else did for me...it all fit in perfectly to make my dream come true.