Bones 522: The Way Forward

For the uninitiated, Bones is this who-dunnit type crime series on Fox featuring a forensic anthropologist, an FBI agent and a whole team of other forensic experts who work to solve murders. The series had a way of very subtly depicting human relationships. How the synergies of people working  together towards a common goal eventually cement themselves in the form of great friendships and long lasting attachments. Finally happened to see the fifth season finale today, a month after it aired. Apparently the series seems to be wrapping up. The finale shows all characters leaving the organization and setting out to embrace what they had wanted to do all along, before they had found comfort and a sense of belonging with each other, and with the organization. Somehow, made me think of the insti, the life there, the friends. Surprisingly, I have never cried missing home, but this episode made me miss IIT so much that it hurt, enough to bring tears, enough to call friends up and tell them how much I missed them, enough to bring me out of my hiatus and make me write a blog at 1 in the night. Life in the insti, with all its pains, was good. More so, it was safe, the "catch me whenever I fall" kind. Its been a month since I left the insti and all this is starting to truly sink in now. I'm in a city I absolutely love, doing a job I always wanted to do, but something doesnt feel right. And no, its not the  awful Bombay traffic jams and deluges nor the insanely long working hours of the banking sector.  Everything about the insti, from the magnificent main gate (yes, you will know its really magnificent once you compare it to the IITB one :P), the 3 km drive to GC, the steps in front of DOMS, Guru's sticky Maggi, the insti T-shirts  to the dept rooftops, CTIDES and friends, seem to have catalyzed certain mutations in my genetic code and become part of my DNA, become part of who I am.Leaving the insti has been probably  like leaving a part of myself behind. I remember, how five years back, I had shed buckets of tears over not having been allotted IIT Bombay but these last five years at IIT Madras have given me so much, friends, opportunities and dreams, taught me so much, to understand friendship, to love, to fight and to live. When I tell people today to trust in the wisdom of the Universe, it is because the Universe taught me it knew better. Thank You IITM.

The 90's! When Cell Phones were for the super rich and incoming was Rs.12 per minute!

Been over a month since I blogged, no prizes for guessing that my DDP was behaving like a spoilt attention demanding child, but more on that in the posts that would follow. I'm not really a fan of forwarded mails or smses, but came across the following list on such a mail and just had to share it. You'll understand why if you grew up during the 90s :

1) You know the words to ‘In-pin-safety-pin’ and ‘akkad-bakkad’ by heart
2) Cricket is almost a religion for you, and you idolize at least one of Rahul Dravid/Sachin Tendulkar/Saurav Ganguly
3) You have read at least some Chacha Chaudhary or Tinkle comics
4) You’ve watched Shaktimaan on TV at least once in your life. And you can immediately recognize the character when you see him.
5) You have some ‘NRI’ relatives.
6) You couldn’t wait for it to be December so you could have the Toblerone chocolates your NRI relatives brought you
7) You watched Cartoon Network, and then the late night movies on TNT that came after Cartoon Network ended.
8) You watched corny dubbed versions of Small Wonder, Silver Spoon, and I Dream of Jeanie
9) You were THRILLED when McDonald’s opened in your neighborhood (or even eight kilometers away)
10) A visit to Pizza Hut used to mean a special treat
11) You have seen Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun at least 5 times each
12) You still remember the theme song of Hum Paanch. (Hum Paanch, Pam Pam Pam Paanch!)
13) You have played hours upon hour of running and catching, chor-police, lagori, saankli, ‘Doctor, doctor, help us!’, ‘Lock and key’
14) You have seen girls play ‘Amina Super Sina’ more times than you can remember. (And you still don’t know what it means!)
15) Dog ‘in’ the bone was your favorite co-ed game.
16) Much of your free time in school was spent playing UNO.
17) You collected trump cards of wrestlers, cricketers, and airplanes, and did not quite understand why your younger siblings were obsessed with Pokemon and the other Japanese trends that followed.
18) Your summer vacations were often synonymous with visiting your grandparents or cousins
19) Your parents, at some point, told you ‘Dark Room’ was a bad game to play. But you still loved playing it.
20) Bole mere lips, I love uncle Chips!
21) You know the song ‘Made in India’ by Alisha Chinai
22) You have seen many many many episodes of ‘Antakshari’ on Zee TV and know the only thing constant in the show is Annu Kapoor.
23) Many evenings have been spent watching little kids gyrate vulgarly on Boogie Woogie on Sony.
24) You were the coolest thing in class if you had a computer in your house while it was still the 90s.
25) You learnt LOGO and BASIC in school!
26) You couldn’t wait to start 4th standard so you could start writing with PENS instead of with pencils!
27) You often used terms and phrases like ‘two-say’, ‘same to you, back to you, with no returns’, and ‘shame shame, puppy shame, all the donkeys know your name.’
28) You most probably saw Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge at the cinema at least once. You also fantasized about singing songs in mustard fields as in the movie.
29) You have seen David Dhawan and Govinda movies and laughed at them.
31) You have said ‘haw’ or ‘yuck’ when you saw people kissing in English movies. (nowadays kids are used to it!)
30) Titanic was your FIRST favourite english movie.
31) You thought seeing English movies and speaking English made you the coolest thing ever.
32) You remember the Gujarat earthquake very clearly and could possibly tell everyone EXACTLY what you were doing when the earthquake occurred (yes, this happened in 2001, January 26, 2001, to be exact — but this group is about the things that Indian kids that GREW UP in the 90s remember and identify with).
33) Barbies for girls, and GI Joes for boys were the ultimate status symbols. You just wanted more more more and more. And how can I forget Hot Wheels, for both boys and girls?
34) You thought ‘imported’ clothes were definitely way better than ‘made in India’ clothes (never mind that a lot of clothes brought from overseas by NRI relatives were actually made in India, before ‘Made in China’ started appearing on EVERY existing thing)
35) "Jungle Jungle Baat Chali Hai Pata Chala Hai! Chaddi Pehen Ke Phool Khila Hai Phool Khila Hai!" You watched "The Jungle Book" every Sunday morning at 9.a.m" and just loved mowgli, bhalu and bagheera. A few years later, you watched Disney Hour, which had cartoons like Aladdin, Gummy Bears, Tail Spin, Uncle Scrooge!
36) At some point or other, cool was your favourite, and therefore, most overused word.
37) Captain Planet was your first introduction to environmental consciousness.
38) You have tried to convince people around you to not burst crackers on Diwali, and then gone straight back home and burst them yourself.
39) You have had endless packets of Parle Gluco G biscuits, and of Brittania Little Hearts biscuits.
40) You loved licking off the cream from the centre of Bourbon biscuits.
41) There were no Nike, Reebok, Adidas, Puma- Bata and Liberty was the way to go for your sports shoes.
42) You have probably consumed more Frooti in your lifetime than there is oil in Iraq.
43) You watched Baywatch on Star World when nobody was home even though (or because) your parents said you shouldn’t watch it.
44) You bought packets of potato chips for the specific purpose of collecting Tazos. And you had Tazos depicting everyone from Confucius to Daffy Duck to Daffy Duck dressed as Confucius.
45) For the longest time, the Maruti 800, the Premier Padmini, THE Fiat, and THE Ambassador were the only cars you saw on the road, and the Contessa was cool because it was bigger.
46) You would literally jump up in excitement if you ever chanced upon an imported car (Oh my gosh, is that really a MERCEDES?)!
47) You spent a good part of 1998 drooling over the Hyundai Santro and the Daewoo Matiz , debating which one was better.
48) You used to Fuzen gum. You also chewed Big (big) Babool and/or Boom Boom Boomer chewing gum. They were bright pink and disgusting tasting, but you loved them for the temporary tattoos.
49) Talking of temporary tattoos, you sometimes had contests with your classmates about who had more tattoos on their arm, leg, knee, hand, forehead, wherever.
50) You thought Mario and Contra were the coolest things ever invented, especially if you were a boy.
51) You knew that having the latest Hero or Atlas bicycle would make you the coolest kid on the block.
52) You can imitate Sushmita Sen’s winning gasp to perfection.
53) You have, at some point of time, worn GAP clothes (real or fake) like SRK in KKHH.
54) Seemingly senseless acronyms like SRK, DDLJ, DTPH, KKHH actually make sense to you..
55) You have at some point debated who was more beautiful- Aishwarya or Sushmita.
56) Baskin Robbins ice-cream was THE thing to have!
57) You know what Campa Cola is. And you also knew that Coca Cola was THE drink.
58) You would watch WWF keenly every evening/afternoon and loved Bret Hart "Hitman"! really thought Undertaker had seven lives and he made an “actual” appearance in the Akshay Kumar- starrer Khiladiyon ka Khiladi.
59) When all backpacks (or ’schoolbags’) and water bottles and tiffin boxes had strange cartoon characters that were hybrid versions of seven or eight different characters, and you still bought them, because a green man wih a water pistol, boots, a jet-pack, Johnny bravo hair, a rajasthani mustache, gloves, and underwear (long johns) over his pants, called ‘Mr. X’ was OBVIOUSLY a status symbol.
60) You remember the Nirma tikia jingle.
61) You remember the Nirma girl.
62) You remember the ‘doodh doodh piyo glass full doodh’ ad and also the ‘laal kaala peela, gulabi hara neela classic hai badia bristles wala’ and 'roz khao ande' ads.
63) You grew up reading, if you read at all, some or all of Nancy Drews, Enid Blyton books, Hardy Boys, Babysitters Club, Animorphs, Goosebumps, Sweet Valley series, Judy Blumes, and Tintin, or Archie comics. Because naturally, reading foreign authors made you much cooler than reading Tinkle.
64) Towards the late 90s (1998-99) at least some of us started our Harry Potter obsessions!
65) You absolutely HAD to go to Essel World if you were with cousins! “Essel World mein rahoonga main, ghar nahin nahin jaaonga main!” (I never went but always dreamed of going there!)
66) You watched the Bournvita Quiz contest on TV pretty religiously. The smarter ones amongst you actually took part in it and had your entire school and your entire extended families watch you on it!
67) Maggi 2 Minute Noodles = ultimate snack (and tiffin, lunch, dinner)!
68) If you grew up in the early 90s, you recall the nation’s obsession with Mahabharata on TV
69) In the later 90s, you religiously followed Hip Hip Hooray on Zee. Maybe Just Mohabbat on Sony too
70) You remember parzan dastur sayin "JALEBI!!!!" in the Dhara Ad
71) You eagerly awaited Friendship Day, so you could give friendship bands to all your friends, and get bands from them in return. Then, of course, those with the most bands loved to show them off.
72) Backstreet Boys' "Quit Playing Games" was one of the first english songs that you LOVED!
73) Andaz Apna Apna is and most probably will always be your favourite comedy flick!! "Aila Jhakaas!!!"
74) This list made you smile.

And I miss that age, it was sooo awesome! 

PS: I guess with the days in the campus numbered (Hopefully. Prof, you listening/reading I hope), quite a few nostalgic posts about the last five years can also be expected to flow out.

Old Label, Gold Label

 

I have lived in Bhopal since I was six.  It was in this city that I first fell in love, with books. When I had first walked into that shop above, it used to stock only books, and some greeting cards. With time, the shop got a few face-lifts, started retailing all kinds of gift items, music records et al. However, one thing that never changed, over the course of the last sixteen years, was the ability of its proprietor to make book shopping enjoyable. Ever since I started visiting the store to buy those 125-page illustrated abridged classics, he has helped me hunt books. As I grew older, he would recommend books, of various genres, that might be to my liking. Most of all, he knew the books. Despite having not visited for the past couple of years, when I walked into the store a couple of days back, he still remembered me, along with the books I used to like. In Chennai for the past five years, being a life-long bookaholic, I still frequent bookstores. However the experience of shopping for books at Odyssey or Landmark or Crosswords hardly compares to shopping at the bookstores in my hometown. While the range of books is definitely way more exhaustive, I miss the whole personal touch that Variety Gallery or Books World used to offer back home. I miss being asked my opinion on books I have read recently, I miss being offered advice on what to read in a particular genre. But most of all I miss being treated as a fellow book lover.

Let Your Light Shine

 

My parents once told me of one of the toughest decisions they had taken concerning me, the choice of the school I was to attend. My mom was especially insistent on sending her daughters to a convent school. She said that convent girls had a way of their own. Of course, I never understood exactly what that meant till I graduated from school and joined IIT. Unsurprisingly, one of the people in this place I best connect with, is another convent girl (as we like to call ourselves). Be it the inculcated sense of ethics or the ingrained fearlessness, I have, for some time now, held this belief that convent girls are a class of their own. We were taught to stand up for what we believed in, no matter what the world said. So whether it was spreading awareness to eradicate parthenium or unleashing anti-cracker campaigns, the school stood in support as we chanted together we can, and we will, make a difference. We were encouraged to break the traditionally set boundaries for girls; we were told we did not need to live up to conventional expectations of being docile, quiet and passive. We were pushed to question the known along with the unknown. Simultaneously, we were also brought up to be compassionate and empathetic. The school's idea of a day trip included orphanages and old age homes on at least as many counts as parks and picnic spots. But most important of all, the school taught us to be secular in the real sense of the word. Even today, I feel the same sense of strength and tranquility inside a chapel as I do in a temple (and frankly, the number of instances I have sought the same in  a chapel might be more, given that it was the place we used to turn to right before exams in school). While I was in school, I used to assume that our generation being secular was kind of a given, at least among the educated ones. I was pretty surprised when I realized that wasn't true. Trust me, I have seen educated elite in my institute who laud the massacre in Gujrat despite having borne eyewitness to those gruesome acts. Nearly all of us face that time in life when we think we have hit rock bottom, only to be handed a shovel. In one such  lowest of lows, one of the things that helped me pull through, was my friend telling me, "Remember, you are a convent girl". Its not just about the compulsorily knee-length tunics and plaited hair and chins parallel to the ground signaling that the world is our oyster. It is about how we see ourselves when we look in a mirror; it is about knowing that the world is our oyster.

I will always remember this trip to San Callisto Catacombs on the outskirts of Rome. Nitin and I, both missionary school products, will always associate those twenty minutes, spent three storeys below the grounds, with that strong spiritual thread that made us both remember our school assemblies, the values imparted, and our silent promises to always live up to them.

Shruti Di

In college, a lot of seniors have these juniors who are like, well younger siblings to them, if not kids. You know, the ones you kind of dote upon,  the ones for whose achievements you feel way happier than you could possibly feel for your own, those kind of juniors. I have been pretty fortunate to have had seniors for whom I was such a junior and I have also had my share of such juniors. Given the placements semester and the speed at which it flew by, it had been a while though since I had caught up with them. When that finally happened, I learnt, within a span of four hours that one of them was in a serious relationship while a couple of others had started working out at the gym, seriously enough to wake up early on Sunday mornings. Well, suddenly felt kind of old and I felt this kids are growing up kind of feeling sweep over me. To top it all, I mentioned it to those juniors as well as to a couple of friends, only to hear that they were not surprised by my reaction and had often seen related flashes in me previously (that doesnt mean I'm entertaining any aunty jokes :-| ). 

When I told my mom of the same, she told me that I had forever been a Shruti Di. That was the name coined for me by most people I knew in the officers' circle. I suppose Shreyas and Tanmay would be the ones who ought to shoulder most of the blame, given they called me Di despite being just few months younger. Of course, then, there was my sister Surabhi, Shreyas' sister and my cousin Sukriti,  and Tanmay's sister, Soumya, who is pretty much like family, considering our parents have known each other for, like, ever. Given the amount of time the six of us spent together, owing to the fact that our three families  practically constituted one unit,  the infinite mehfils (bhopali equivalent of the insti fart sessions), movies, road trips and the like,  can possibly explain that turning into an intrinsically programmed Shruti Di  was, but, natural (that doesn't indicate any tolerance for Di jokes either).

Well, I realize I can't possibly feel complete without feeling that way. Life's simple little things :).

Stand By Me

A story of four young boys on the brink of adolescence, sharing an over zealous quest to find a dead child's body, Stand By Me explores the purity of childhood friendships. A recounted narrative, the film ends with the protagonist saying that he never had friends the way he did when he was twelve. 'Does anyone?', he asks. True, maybe it was the innocence of the early years or the inability to understand how the world functions, but there was something that reflects in the warmth one feels on hearing an old friend's voice albeit 2000 miles away.  You probably dont cry to them about break ups the way you can cry to your college friends and its not watching endless hours of movies together but the 5 minute catching up sessions are like spa treatments. College friends are great, grown up and capable of handling grown up messes (very effectively, I must add) but probably feeling twelve again helps one reconnect with the non-messy side of life that used to be.
One can never have friends the way one did at twelve. No one can, or so he says,
But while the ending did remind me of old friends and brought a smile to my face with memories of carefree times, the words Stand By Me made me think of the friends here who have stood by me through really rough times. They know this is to them. Love  you all :).

Pottermania Remembered

People often said that the craze surrounding Harry Potter books and everything else that got associated with the boy wizard was over hyped. Well I dont know if it was a case of brilliant marketing or simply superb writing, the series has been an integral part of my growing up process. What probably clicked with kids (back then) of my age was that as we matured, the characters themselves matured, the plots grew darker. Every single HP fan has tried finding himself in some or the other character in the series. It had  shots of thrill, drama, emotions, humour, everything. Every character, from the protagonist and his friends to guest appearances like Stan Shunpike and old Archie, seemed so real. The excitement of waiting for the next book, discussing theories, crying over Sirius and Fred and Lupin, to the eventual sadness from realizing that the defeat of the Dark Lord marked the end of an era in our lives. There are some quotes from the series, which I absolutely love, be they laced with sarcasm or deep sentiment:

• Prizoner of Azkaban, Lupin: You heard James?
  
• Goblet of Fire, old Archie, on being asked to wear Muggle trousers instead of lacy nightgowns: Thanks but I am comfortable with these, I like it breezy around my privates
• Goblet of Fire, Dumbledore: Differences in habit and language are nothing as long as our aims are identical and our hearts open
• Ron Weasley, Order of the Phoenix, when he sees the blood on Harry's hand: You said you were just writing lines
  
• Dumbledore, Half Blood Prince: Please, Severus
• Snape, Deathly Hallows: Look at me Harry
• Harry, Deathly Hallows: Albus Severus, you are named after two headmasters of Hogwarts, one of them was a Slytherin and he was the bravest man I ever knew
  

Anymore, Anyone?

Happy Birthday To Me: India turns 63

This post comes a little later than its supposed publishing date but ah, never mind. I was home the previous week, the first Aug 15 at home after four years and in accordance with the Independence Day tradition of my pre-JEE days, I had wanted to watch the traditional Independence Day programmes on television; 63 things India should be proud of; the past year round-ups; promises ahead etc. Well it was different this year. Not only were they absent but every news channel seemed to be trying to grab its share of the TRPs and every pseudo-celebrity was vying for their fifteen seconds of fame commenting on King Khan being detained at Newark Airport. Also prominently present were Shahid Kapur and Priyanka Chopra busily promoting Kaminey. Somehow didn't seem right. Not like the festival I remembered.

Bhai Dooj Tales Recounted

The festival of Raksha Bandhan is approaching. While this festival celebrates a brother's eternal vow to protect his sister and safeguard her honour, there exists a variant that extols a sister's commitment of protecting her brother. Called Bhai Dooj, it is observed a couple of days after Diwali. In my family there has been a tradition of telling stories where a sister had saved her brother's life. Given the fact that this entire exercise happens at the Puja Mandap, it is extremely hard not to laugh or smirk. You would know why:
Once upon a time, long long ago, there was a brother-sister pair. The brother was married to an evil woman who was having an affair with, wait for it, a snake. The brother, his sister, his wife and her lover the snake would henceforth be referred to as bhai, behen, bhabhi and saanp respectively during the course of this narration. This is to help you understand better what it was like hearing the story at the Puja for each Diwali of my last 16-17 years of recallable existence.
Now the bhabhi wanted to kill the bhai so that she could be with the saanp. So she plots with the saanp and asks him to bite the bhai when he goes to the fields at dawn because its dark. The lucky bhai escapes because he sees the saanp. Again the lovers plot and decide that the saanp should hide in the turban as the bhai doesnt shake the turban before wearing. Lucky bhai (un)fortunately shakes the turban and escapes again. Then the saanp decides to hide in the shoe and this time the bhai gets suspicious and kills the saanp. He brings the body to bhabhi tells her how the saanp had been trying to kill him. Bhabhi pretends to be relieved that bhai is fine but then goes and cries infinitely when alone.
Now bhabhi cuts the saanp into 7 pieces and hides one each under the bedposts, one in her cupboard, one in her earthern lamp (diya) and one in her sindoor daan. She then says to bhai, "I have a riddle. If you can solve you throw me into the fire else I throw you into the fire". Bhai is astounded but she insists and he has to reluctanly agree. Here's the riddle:

Piyu more khatiya, Piyu more machiya
Piyu ka tel jale saari ratiya
Piyu sindoore lal

Stumped as he was, bhai admits defeat and requests bhabhi to allow him to visit behen one last time, especially since it was Bhai Dooj the next day. He meets her, behen does puja and all but she senses something amiss and insists on accompanying bhai back to his place. They are tired during the journey and rest under a tree where bhai falls asleep. Now this wasn't an ordinary tree, it was the meeting place of household earthern lamps or diyas. Of all the diyas assembled, there was one that was smelling a lot. On being asked by the other diyas he mentioned that his mistress kept a piece of her lover, the saanp, in him and he was smelly therefore. He also recounts everything bhabhi had tried doing to bhai, including the riddle and the ensuing punishment. For some reason (I never asked my grandmother what), behen realizes its her bhai-bhabhi being discussed. She wakes bhai and lands up at his house and says that she wants to take the riddle bhai couldn't decipher with the condition that if she fails bhabhi can kill both. Bhabhi agrees, behen pulls all 7 pieces out from their hiding places and assembles the saanp and then kills bhabhi and hence saves bhai's life.
You felt like pulling your hair at one reading, I have had several years of maintaining a straight face while the same thing was being narrated. By the way, I could really benefit if any of you knew another story for Bhai Dooj. Please.. Cant bear another Diwali with this one.

Back to School

Nostalgia is actually a good thing. It helps you draw energy from your secret energy source, the good times. School was real fun. Teachers were heaven sent caricatures and classmates better at one-liners than the man Chandler Bing himself (and that is seriously some level). There are some things I can never forget and they make me roll onto the floor laughing even today

• Our Class 7 class teacher's classic statement: Some are over ambitious, uttered with a typical nasal twang
• Aditi's mimicking her Psuedo means false and poda means legs
  
• Trying to convince our Principal Sr Reji to free the school's pet pigeons (with Mangala madam's support, on a different note, her perfume was something though..the bell around the cat)
  
• Putting N fight to prepare dances and skits for the Bhopal Central Jail inmates as part of Dharam Bharti in Class 8
• The slightly bordering on adult commentary we used to rattle off during Buddha Charita and Mahabharat class readings
• Our homegrown Celine Dion's "We are working on it" when she was telling students about how her daughter has been pestering for a sibling
  
• The whole class punished to write lines "I shall be disciplined in class" a 100 times by Tresiamma mam and everyone competing for who finishes first
• The totally arbit prayer service on Dussehra with the Ramlila skit and Akanksha Tiwari's convincing Hanuman act
• Using orange pens to underline keywords for Bhattu's geography paper
  
• The various Venu-omous fiascos (She-who-must-not-be-named) in Class 10

I guess the list can go on...Miss those days, fighting with Jasmine over any and everything, Ritika squealing over Rahul Dravid (she still does that), Pragya's laughs accompanied by her really powerful pats that hurt, Abhisaar and her mimicries, Misha's chidiya fad fad karke udti hai, Aditi with her kali-kali songs, Aakansha's really really high pitched screams.. All of it..love you gals..