Bobo's world!

The iStore

2008-01-05T03:54:00.000-05:00

I've been told that I should become a critic when I grow up because I always have an opinion about everything under the sun--right from people's appearance and behaviour to fashion, gadgets and whatever else it is that you can think of. Even clothes for that matter. It takes a hell of a lot to make me buy designer clothing other than the fact that it says,"Ritu Kumar" or "Mango" on it.

My friends have told me that I can be a very harsh critic and very judgmental. This is true. I'm very hard to please. I think I get that from my father. I've made comments on my friends' and family's boyfriends and girlfriends and well my opinion wasn't welcomed at all. So much so that I even tried to stop being so critical and opinionated. But then I realized that its my opinion and my view and none of you have to agree with it. So from then on I've continued to comment on everything and everyone and whenever someone gets upset by it, I tell them that its my opinion and if they have a completely different one then they don't really have to pay attention to mine. So to all those whose girlfriends and boyfriends I've made harsh comments on(you know who you are) please don't give a rat's ass about what I say because its YOUR opinion that matters when it comes to your life and not anyone else's. My opinion is just yours to consider -- or not.

Anyway, getting back to the topic of discussion which is the iStore which opened recently on MG Road. I went there with a couple of friends of mine and had a look at some of the stuff they had to offer. I'm sorry to say that I wasn't very impressed with it. For one thing, there were no NOTICEABLE price tags next to the products. Being an electronic store which specializes in apple products, prices are a must because you don't find apple products online with the prices in rupees. So that's mistake number one. Now I know that this is still a new store....it does have a long way to go but when you are a new store...when you know that there are other new electronic stores that have come up and are still coming up by the hour(Such as Reliance on cunningham road which opened a month ago), you would think that you would go the extra mile to make sure that the products had price tags and also that what you have in your store should be something that can't be found in the others but no..clearly the people at the iStore didn't think of that.

Mistake number two is that their display of all their products sucked. It bored me. I've seen better...much better. It did have the regular display theme of products being attached to a stand with a wire and what not BUT some of the stands were empty! Something you would expect to see in a new store? I don't think so. Even if you sold an ipod right off the stand, that's no excuse to leave it empty...I suggest you replace it or put something else in there because it doesn't look very nice. It just tells your customers that you don't have enough of products to show them in the first place and they'll go look for what they want somewhere else. You would have probably lost Rs. 10,000 RIGHT there.

Mistake number 3 (and I know quite a few stores make this one) is that their staff isn't very well educated on the products they do have such as pen drives, memory cards, ipods etc etc. If you ask me, before you open a store full of gadgets, MAKE SURE your staff KNOWS something. Reading off the case the product comes in doesn't count as knowing something about the product itself. Most of these products are bought by teenagers...especially stuff like ipods and phones. By the way, did I mention that they didn't have the iphone?

Quite a few teenagers(with exceptions of course) walk into an electronic store knowing JACK SHIT about gadgets and their features. So they are more likely to ask the people who work there. In these cases, you can't afford to give them the wrong information NOR should you read off the card with the gadget's features written on it. Why? Because believe it or not, we CAN read. The problem? We don't understand half the stuff written on it. What can you do? EXPLAIN it to us. That's something you won't find when you google a gadget for its features. You will very rarely(again from a 17 year old's point of view) find a site that explains what a device does without having to wikipedia every word written about it or turn to m-w.com. Kids are by no means dumb if that's the idea you got by the statement I made. We're just eager to learn stuff from people and websites which specialise in these things. Now not all of us have access to these sites or have even heard of them which is why we turn to the people in the gadget stores with the hope that they may be able to tell us what their product can do for us so that we can learn something new in addition to just buying it.

Mistake number four (which is another big one)is that when one of my friends asked the guy in charge about whether they had an ipod case in the colour pink and he went blank. He began to look through the rack which had the ipod cases. Alright, first of all, we've already looked. Second of all, all we want to know is whether you have more in the back room rather than just the 10 cases on display. If you don't, no worries , we won't eat you up ---just tell us whether we can order it and how long it will take it take to reach the store before we can pick it up. Was that so hard? I don't think so. That guy gave me this "Cut me some slack, we just opened two weeks ago" look. Sorry buddy, even though this store is new and is meant only for apple products....you have to work harder than that!

The next one is the lack of variety. I went to the Reliance store about three weeks ago and even though they were new, they had a wide range of apple products....JUST APPLE. Here I am in the store of APPLE and they barely have anything. They have the basic stuff. A couple of laptops, maybe 2 or 3 speakers, 2 desktops and three ipods. That's all. I'm tempted to compare it to apple's website but that would be unfair considering that it is the apple website and so they will have every possible model of the product you want. Let's take Nokia for example...their website has hundreds of nokia phones. Right from old to new. They even show you pictures of the upcoming models. But again, its the webite so they have to have all of that. So basically what I'm trying to say is that I don't expect their showroom to have the same thing. But to my surprise....they had everything. Absolutely every model with a few exceptions here and there. They even had a number of USB cables and memory cards for both your phone and computer. Impressive? For most customers-- definitely. Since people tell me such amazing things about the iphone and apple in general, I kinda expected it to be better than Nokia. Not just the products but even the showroom. Its half the size of the Nokia one. Again, not something I expected from apple. If you don't have the space to build a big one then just pick another location that does give you the space. There is a solution to every problem if you just look for it.

So that's all for now with regard to the iStore in Bangalore. I know its just a baby and still has time to grow and make improvements which is why I'm not terribly disappointed. I just felt that it was a huge lack of effort on the owner's part.

Reflecting back

2007-12-30T06:37:00.000-05:00

There's just another day left before this year ends. I honestly think that this year has brought me more joy than I've ever experienced in my life. This year marked the beginning of a new life-- new school, new friends, new house and so on. I left my old school with a sigh of relief and a feeling of gratitude that I never have to go back there again and meet those horrible people(both teachers and students) who made my life miserable for 12 long years. I ended a long friendship which was well overdue. I got my all India exams over with and then flew to the US to be with my family. It was a holiday that I needed and enjoyed very much. My last year in my previous school was the worst ever. It began and ended with a lot of sleepless nights and a lot of tears. It was nice to feel free from all of that and just be able to spend time with my family whom I hadn't seen in a long time. I even got to spend my 16th birthday there and its something truly unforgettable.

After I got back to India in late May, I was busy running around with application forms in my hand to get into a junior college. I ended up going to one that I hadn't even considered going to and I don't regret it at all. My parents and I also moved into our very own apartment which was a huge change for me because I had lived in an independent house for 14 years and that was the only place I could call home and still is. I'm not happy here. I miss my home. This is just a vacation spot or a resort for the weekends. I still keep thinking that one day I'll get to go home.

I've made fantastic friends in my new school whom I'm very happy with. They make me feel so comfortable and accept me for who I am. I honestly don't know what I would do without them. Life in school is very relaxed....something I'm not used to. My grades are climbing up and my parents aren't too worried about them now. My relationship with my dad has got better but its still far from perfect.

I've also spent more time with my sister and two cousins now than I have in my entire life. I've also tried to stop being overly critical of myself and dwelling over my flaws. Its a change in progress but it has decreased a bit. I do have my moments of despair where I can't seem to find one good thing about myself that I like. But overall, I think I've got better.

So all in all, this year has been good to me...at least much better than the rest. I hope that 2008 will be even more exciting and fun and hopefully will bring me more satisfaction than this year has.

Happy New Year, everyone!

The Nokia 7500 Prism

2007-12-07T13:19:00.001-05:00

Ok, so this post will probably come as a shock to most of you because this is the first time I'm writing about something other than myself--- my phone! And I'm actually writing a review about it. *Sigh* The heights of boredom.

Anyway, What this post is about is why I picked this phone and how its different from all the others I've used/tried out. This is what it looks like.

Now, I am known for buying gadgets based on its appearance. But what I've found is that this phone has isn't just pretty--- it has a lot of cool features as well. For one thing, it has voice command! It has a 2 megapixel camera which has pretty good clarity. Most of all, its simple and sleek. Its not big and bulky like the Nokia N72 or N95. Besides, it has everything I want. It has a radio, speaker phone, internet, camera, voice command, etc.

One thing this phone has that NO OTHER phone has(well not yet atleast) is the triangular shaped keypad which MAY look uncomfortable to deal with in the beginning but when you get down to using it everyday, its very comfortable and easy to use. The keys are neither too small nor too big... they are just right. This is turning out to sound like the Goldie locks story, isn't it? Anyway, I have to also mention that the battery lasts for atleast 48 hours of continuous using which is so much better than my previous phone which was a motorola v171. I had to charge that damn phone every single day which was such a nuisance.

Unfortunately, as much as I want to praise this phone to no end, it does have a few weaknesses. The joystick is very annoying... I think it'll take some time to get used to. The price is too high for the offered functionality of the phone and its a fingerprint magnet. I'll add more to this list when I actually think of more of its disadvantages. I've had this phone for the past two months now and the number of complaints are very few in comparison to the number of plus points it has.

I looked at a few Sony Ericsson phones and a couple of Samsung but none of them seemed to impress me as much as this one did. In a way, this phone best describes me and my personality. Its not too fancy or bulky and doesn't even have a hell of a lot of features like the N series does. But it has everything I need, want and look for in a phone. Its slim and VERY pretty and I can change the outter case to any colour I want!

Basically, to sum it all up--- This phone is family. I take care of it as much as I do to my parents. If I misplace it, I will turn my apartment upside down looking for it. If I accidentally break it, I will mourn its death and never forgive myself...ever. I love it to bits and I don't think that it can ever be replaced by anything else.

Rock Concert at school

2007-11-04T02:55:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! I know its been ages since I updated but I'm back with a more interesting post about this amazing rock concert that was held at my school. Ok, so the 11th and 12th graders had to participate in this competition which was about making a presentation, doing research and visiting local and if possible international organisations which deal with social and economic issues that our country faces and this time, about 11 girls from both 11th and 12th(I was not in it because I didn't want to participate)decided to go with "political awareness" and they made a presentation and everything else that was supposed to be done. In addition to this, they wanted to host a rock concert at school AND reserve maybe an hour among the 3-4 hours of the concert to discuss politics and the various issues our country faces and how the youth can change that.

I must say that the idea for this concert was discovered quite late and we had only about a week's time to prepare for this concert(I said "we" because I wanted to help out with the concert). So there wasn't a lot of time left to get sponsors, publicity and funds to support it but somehow those 11 girls made all those arrangements and got the rest of us to volunteer and help out.

So last evening(Saturday evening) the volunteers and the girls in charge arrived at about 2 when the concert was supposed to start at 3 to help the bands out with their slots, sound checks and other things. BUT when everyone shows up, there is UTTER chaos! Why? Because the sound system guy whom we paid 30k to, shows up WITHOUT the equipment and says,"Oh, its ok....just cancel the concert and I'll give you back your money." Ok, the worst thing that a guy can do is piss a girl off when she's under a lot of pressure. In this case, there were 11 of them. Oh lord almighty....It became HELL on earth thereafter. This one girl who is a good friend of mine BURST into tears and everyone else was so shocked that she could cry for something that doesn't deserve tears but anger. So they told her to go get a hold of herself and come back when she's fine.

So long story short, the concert still went on but we didn't have a good crowd because we didn't have enough of time to publicise it and get more people to come and the ones who did show up left after an hour. My friends and I stayed in school till about 8:30pm till all the bands finished and the last band was so sweet to stay and play for like 10 people which consisted mostly of students but they were fabulous! Now we know whom to call for any concert or any other occassion that needs GOOD music.

When I came home, I was absolutely exhausted and my parents were talking about my sister and how she called earlier and what she said and so on. My mom said that she was happy that I was enjoying myself and that this school is giving me a chance to since my previous school only made my life a living hell.

Anyway, what I realised was that I was being very foolish when I wished that I could be more like her and be more focused and just do well academically because ever since I have known her, she's been very reserved and in a shell where she would just study, read a lot, eat and sleep. She would very rarely meet her friends ,let loose and have fun. She didn't want to which is fine but I'm not like her. I live on fun and people and not on books. Now that she's working, she's more relaxed about everything because she doesn't have to worry about school or assignments or anything else that usually worries her to no end. She's living it up now and realising how much fun life can be. I think that between the ages 16-22(because that was the post-cluny-era which is WAY more fun) she missed out on all the fun she COULD have had as well as maintained her grades. I think I'm a good example of that right now. After I've come to this school, I've been doing so much better academically and have actually acquired a rank. I have had two tests so far and both times I've stood between the first five of my class. Sure, I haven't got 90s but hey, I'm an Arts student...its very hard to score!

Whether I will continue to maintain my grades and have fun is something I don't know but so far, I think I have been doing a good job. So, after looking at my sister and my parents(to a certain extent) I've realised that I will continue to keep having fun and live it up because you only live one life and you have to make it as large and AS FUN as possible. I think that holds good no matter where I am.

10 things that annoy me the most

2007-09-10T12:57:00.000-05:00

Well since I was tagged by the one and only Busy Writer, I figured I must attempt to keep my end of the bargain and answer the quizzes that she has tagged me in. Also, I owe it to her to do this one because she has asked me to do quite a few that I been too lazy to do but I shall get around to doing it one of these days.

1) First and foremost, THE NUMBER ONE thing that annoys me is the extensive usage of the words,"da" and "macha" by people. Y'all know who you are so for the love of God, do not utter those two words in front of me.

2) Immature people who behave like they are 10 years old when they are actually 16. Grow up, already!

3) Next would be, when people who I've just met or whom I do not know whatsoever call me,"Honey", "Baby" or "Sweetheart". Again, y'all know who you are, so please do listen to me when I tell you to stop.

4) I could not stress on this enough but I absolutely HATE IT when people (mostly my family) make fun of what I say and the WAY I say it. Atleast when you do imitate me, avoid doing the indian bobble head(which I do not do) and the major wrist action because it is NOT funny.

5) Like Busy Writer, I can't stand people who put up a false front and talk using a fake (mostly Jamaican or American) accent.

6) Another thing I am highly annoyed by is when my parents compare me to my sister. Thanks 'rents, its not like I have enough to worry about at the moment. I am different and I like being me so please stop with the comparing before I strangle someone.

7) Couples who make out at the park or at the FICTION section at the book store. I mean really...the FICTION section?! Are you that desperate? If you are, then please get a room.

8) As soon as I step out of the house, there are about 20 people staring at me like I have a bad rash on my face or something of the sort. Please get a life and don't stare at me like I'm an exhibit at the museum.

9)What annoys me quite a bit is when I'm watching a movie or a show and the best part is yet to come and my darling sister gives it away or better yet when I get a phone call and hence can't listen to what's happening on tv.

10) This last one does get quite annoying after the first 10 times. Its the fact that people do not get my fear of escalators. Have you ever made an effort to understand MY FEAR? NO. Have you heard about the dreadful and frightening experiences I've had while using escalators? NO. But you still judge me and say I'm paranoid. So much for being my friends *tries to shed a tear but sprains my face*

Well there you have it. The ten things that annoy the shit out of me.

A "friendly" reunion

2007-07-15T04:38:00.000-05:00

I met up with my friends yesterday after almost a month and I'm really glad I did. It was so good to see BCC and HoneyMuffin after so long. Wasabi Kamasuka couldn't make it unfortunately and so we were all sad about that. Hopefully we can meet next weekend because that's the only weekend I have before my tests start.

So I met them at their college and they showed me around the campus which is very pretty. BCC and I had to wait for an hour since HoneyMuffin was at choir practice. We headed out to McDonald's somewhere nearby and found that it was EXTREMELY crowded and loud so we went to KFC instead. We just had a burger and then went to the mall after that.

I was anxious to see where the six year old boy fell from the 4th floor. It was so scary. Apparently he tripped while trying to climb the parapet grill and fell. So now there is a net just above the ground floor in case someone does fall again. I'm also very paranoid and terribly afraid of escalators because of what happened to me at Macy's and at H&M thanks to sister dear. Anyway, Its was so embarrassing but VERY scary at the same time. So, I was clutching HoneyMuffin's hand the entire time so as to not fall and die.

Anyway, apart from that, I had a fun day and got home safely in spite of the taxi driver driving like a total maniac.

Books, books and more books!

2007-06-24T10:05:00.000-05:00

So the past one week in school has been very interesting. The first couple of days went along fine. I had the whole day free of classes because either my teachers didn't show up or I had a free hour. Anyway, A couple of days ago, my two friends and I went to the library where we met a few 12th graders (the nice ones who I met on my second day) and so we began talking and all these people could talk about was books! I felt so left out and dumb! So I told them that I wasn't fond of reading and they were all shocked but promised to get me hooked on reading books. Well good luck to ya! Anyway, half an hour later we began talking about something else and burst out laughing and then got kicked out of the library. Thanks guys! You are really setting an example to us newcomers!

Anyway, So this weekend I got to thinking about why I am not fond of reading books, etc. I realised that I had read a few books which were mainly romance novels. So I decided to start off there. I decided that I would read one book every week and so hopefully by the end of this year my vocabulary will improve. I don't think its bad. I just thinks its very ordinary and I would like to improve. No matter how good your vocabulary is, there's always room for improvement! Another reason why I want to do this is for my english class. My teacher said that we should read a lot so that we can expand our vocabulary and be capable of writing three page answers for every question. Also, during our english class we were reading this story written by Raja Rao and my teacher started mentioning all the books that he's written and some of the good books by various authors that she has read. What I love about her is that she is SO enthusiastic about this subject! Her eyes light up when she talks about the story and the various characters and bursts out into cries of joy saying something like,"What lovely words he has used! Just look at the language! Can you see how he has used simple words and has written in the typical, colloquial way that we Indians talk to each other in?!" and I feel like a total fool because I didn't notice shit about the language used or the way he has worded things. She's so observant and I'm glad I have her as my teacher because I'm learning to be observant and alert too! I'm learning to capture the real essence of the story like how she does.

So that's why I'm very keen on forcing myself to read more. Right from newspapers and magazines to novels and collections of short stories...I'm trying to read it all. Hopefully I should be pretty well prepared by the time my tests and exams start. So please recommend any good book that you think I should read up on!

First day of school.

2007-06-16T03:39:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was my first day of school at Cottons. It started out fine. The principal spoke to us and gave us a warm welcome. We were introduced to all the teachers, MOST of them are very pleasant but there's always one or two unpleasant little creatures in the lot. So whatever. Anyway, we then watched a video on the history of the school and then were taken to our classes. Every thing's fine until the stupid seniors walk in and rag the crap out of us. Their excuse? Its a fun way to get to know you and its an ice-breaker. Well listen up you little twerps, if you want to get to know new students, how about asking them their names and introducing your damn selves first. They made us hail them and kneel down on the ground and all that shit. They said that they went through worse with their seniors and what not. All I have to say to that is:"Y'all can go to hell in a hand basket."

Anyway, even though that was what happened for most part of the day, I did get to walk around campus which is eight and a half acres and look around. Also, it takes me five minutes to walk across the field to get to my bus. Thankfully, all my classes are pretty much on the same floor so I don't have to walk a lot. There's more freedom here than there was in my previous school so I'm going to enjoy every bit of it while I'm here. The principal likes throwing her weight sometimes about how she wants us to be disciplined and all that but NO ONE...literally no one gives a shit about what you do. One of the rules is that you can't colour your hair. Ha! Half the girls in the 12th grade have coloured hair and not just the regular burgandy and what not but BRIGHT blonde streaks and stuff.

My favourite part is the cafeteria. They have a wide variety of food here. Right from typical Indian food to Chinese and Continental cuisine. Ok, its not as good as the restaurant food but its definitely edible and worth the price you pay. You also get cake and ice cream and Bengali sweets which is so much better than my previous school which didn't even have drinking water.

The day finally came to an end and I had to use the bus. So I get in and I'm the oldest one there! The ones who come close to my age are probably in the 9th grade or so. The rest of them are all 9 and 10 years old. So I just sat there for 45 minutes with a bunch of 9 and 10 year old kids until I got home. Joy. I have to do this everyday for the next two years. I guess its all worth it when most of the people are nice and where your every move isn't watched and questioned.

Fun day at the mall

2007-06-01T11:11:00.000-05:00

Ok so I have three good friends, two of which I've known since I was 13 and one who I have know for a year or so. Let's name them to make it easier because they will be mentioned in the posts to come. So there's Wasabi Kamasuka who loves all things japanese and says,"sayonara" every single time we depart. There's BoycrazyCottonian who is crazy about Cotton boys and is very high maintainence and then you have HoneyMuffin who is just a good friend of mine who doesn't have any peculiar qualities. Surprisingly.
So I meet up HM and BCC at the mall and I tell them about my trip. Here's how it went:

Noishih: Oh my god guys, I can't believe I'm back. I loved it there so much!!

HoneyMuffin: What did you do?

Noishih: *thinks about where to start* Well we went to different restaurants and to an airshow etc etc. But my favourite thing was the day NecDexy took me to Dupont Circle which is the hub of gay people. But that's not why I loved it. Its such a beautiful area...*continues to talk about Dupont Circle for the next 15 mins, constantly highlighting the gayness of the area*

BoycrazyCottonian: I'm so jealous! Now I want to go there. Damn you, Noishih!

HoneyMuffin: Uhh...Noishih, are you obsessed with gay people? For the past 15 minutes, that's all you've said. I hope you are not thinking about converting....

Noishih: NO!!!! Oh lordie, I didn't mean it that way! I love the AREA. Sure, the people are nice too but I love everything about the PLACE. And no, I am not converting! So stop asking me that!

HoneyMuffin : Ok just checking!

Noishih: Oh my god, when did XYZ store come here?! Oh my god, they have Dove shampoo here too?!

HoneyMuffin: Uhh Noishih, you've only been away for two months. Stop looking so surprised! What's up with the accent?

Noishih : WHAT accent?! I have no accent! I am talking like how I always talk. I've just got a lot whinier.

HoneyMuffin: If you say so!

On a more fun note :

*HoneyMuffin gets a call from mummy so she runs toward the escalator to get a better signal and then comes back two mins later*

HoneyMuffin (says to Boycrazy Cottonian and me): I just saw the CUTEST guy ever!

BoycrazyCottonian and I immediately get up off our asses screaming,"where?!"

HoneyMuffin : Near the escalator!!!

BCC : Oh my god, Oh my god!! *runs towards the escalator*

Noishih(to HoneyMuffin): You were lying , weren't you? There is no cute boy!

HoneyMuffin : I was! But did you see the way BCC ran toward the escalator?! I did see a guy but he was butt ugly! I never thought you guys would fall for it!

Noishih : I'm highly annoyed now.

BCC(to HoneyMuffin): HONEYMUFFIN, WHERE IS THE BOY?!

*ugly girl fight*

Here's what happened at the bowling alley:

Noishih: Eep! I have never done this before! What if I can't play for nuts and make a fool of myself in front of everyone there?!

HoneyMuffin: Its ok, I wasn't all that great my first time, either. Although, I did beat BCC once.

BCC : Hmmm... I would never know. I've always been a good player. I always win.

Noishih: Wow, thanks. That makes me feel so much better

So we get our shoes and start the game.

Noishih: I wanna go last! So make sure the two of you are ahead of me!

BCC : Sure. Don't worry. Even if you do make a fool of yourself, no one will notice because everyone is so full of themselves!

Noishih: Hmmm...we'll see.

So when its my turn to bowl, I proceed to get the ball rolling when:

HoneyMuffin and BCC(scream together) : NOISHIH! NOISHIH!

Noishih: WHAT?! I'm trying to bowl here!

HoneyMuffin and BCC : Oh my god, you have lost so much of weight! Did you even eat while you were in that country?! Look at you! Are you dieting?!

Noishih: * HIGHLY annoyed* WTF?! I thought I put on weight!!! I put on 5 pounds! I ate like there was no tomorrow while I was there. How can you say that I have lost weight?!

HoneyMuffin: I don't think so. I think you have lost weight.

Anyway, the three of us finish the game and guess who won!...ME! Although BCC will narrate the story differently.

I know I have truly outdone myself this time and written two posts on the same day but I just had so much to share with all of you that I couldn't wait till tomorrow to write the next post.

The Joys of Confuzzlement

2007-06-01T10:41:00.000-05:00

Let me summarize the past week in the colonies. You think after getting back home after an 18 hour flight, you would get to relax but NO, I had to run all over town behind different schools so that I can do my 11th and 12th grade.

Day 1: All is going smoothly until I hit Sophias. I enter the library to submit my application. Mean-faced lady says,"We're sorry, we stopped accepting ICSE applications a long time ago." Already panicky daughter(me) and calm but highly annoyed mother explain that we were out of the country etc etc. Mean-faced lady says,"Fine. Write a letter addressed to the principal and submit it along with the application." Still panicky daughter and calm mother do so and then leave. So I get all worried and upset because if I do not get in here, I'm screwed. So I go to Bishop Cottons (google it, too lazy to explain). Nice lady at the reception desk says,"Oh no problem, pick up an application form and fill it out." Mother and I are happy...Until we get to the bank where the application forms are handed out. I smashed up five hundred bucks on an application form which I had to wait 20 mins to get. I fill it out and submit it. Very relieved daughter and annoyed mother go home.

Day 2: Called up Bishops (because at this point I could not care less about sophias after the big hoo-ha they made about my form) and asked when the list comes out. They said Thursday.

Day 3 (I just skipped to Thursday): Father and daughter go to school to check the list. Daughter gets in. Father and daughter walk into the office only to find out that the list came out on Wednesday and the interviews with the principal are over as well. JOY almighty. Anyway, they say come on Friday to meet the principal.

Day 4: Parents and daughter get there only to find out that the principal has been arrested for issuing false ICSE marks cards to the students. Wow. This just keeps getting better and better.

Day 5: Goes to Sophias to see if my name is on the list. My name was there. Squaa?! I thought I wouldn't get in! Now I've got in here and in Bishops. Joy to the confuzzlement going on in my head.

Ok so basically I had my heart set on Cottons because I thought I didn't stand a chance in Sophias. So I told my cousin about it. Let's call him NecDexy. Stupid name? Sure! Does it suit him? HELL YEAH! The school's motto is Nec Dextrosum, Nec Sinistrosum which means neither to the left nor to the right, On straight on. I was thinking, just when you think that Cluny is the height of stupid mottoes like that, you find Cottons. Anyway, so here's how the conversation with NecDexy goes :

Noishih : I applied in Cottons because Sophias said it was too late but they let me submit my application anyway.

NecDexy : Ha-ney! Go to Cottons! Its such a fabulous school! You will become SO fabulous after you go there. You will love it!

Noishih : By fabulous do you mean the students there are pompous jackasses with lots of attitude?

NecDexy : Yes. But you will LOVE it there. I know I did. I still remember the school song.

Noishih : Ohh yeah! I remember that. My friend kept singing it on the way to the mall.

NecDexy : "On straight on! On Cottonians on....
............................
............................"

Noishih : Ohh..that's nice. What other songs do you know?

BIG mistake made on my part because NecDexy starts to sing the rest of the songs too.

Necdexy: Ha-ney, Go to Cottons and we can be the Cottonian cousins. GO COTTONS!!

Noishih : OK! I'll go.

At this point I would say anything to make him stop singing. But now I DO want to go there but am not sure about whether I am making the right choice or not. Sure, it would be nice to go to a school where my sister didn't study and not have to deal with teachers comparing me to her. But am I making the right choice? Will I end up regretting it later? What if the teachers aren't good? Then what? Also, this school has a prom night where the boys from the school across the street show up!! For all those of you who know me very well, I'm not thinking of going here JUST because they have a prom night with tons of boys around. I actually love the wide variety of subjects they offer.

What do you think?

I'm back in the colonies and I'm not happy about it.

2007-05-27T11:04:00.000-05:00

I arrived in India last night and came home to my apartment which I recently moved into. To tell you the truth, it doesn't feel like home. Well not yet atleast and that makes me feel worse because I feel like I'm in someone else's apartment. I just miss my family very much and there's nothing I can do but wait for a few days hoping that I will feel better. I hate adapting to being alone all over again because it takes a lot of work. I spent two whole months with my family in Maryland and although we did get on each other's nerves at some point, I still loved every minute of the time I spent there. Right from the traffic and roads to the beautifully well lit neighbourhoods and restaurants etc. It was so nice and quiet there which is what I like because in India its so noisy and loud!

When I first arrived there, I was taken aback by how quiet it was. Initially I think I did find it hard to deal with so many people around me especially with having TWO sets of parents in the same house. I was so used to being by myself or maybe spend some time with my parents occassionally here that it was kinda weird to be around my whole family all of a sudden. Now its the opposite, I have to adapt to being by myself which I know I'll get used to after a few days but its still hard initially.

I'm trying to keep myself busy by filling out application forms for schools so that I can do my 11th and 12th grade. I made plans to meet some friends on tuesday so that should be fun. I'm trying to think of various things to do apart from sulking all day and looking at all the pictures we took over and over again, to keep me busy all the time. School starts on June 6th so it won't be long before I have a truckload of stuff to do. I'm excited about school because its a new school which means a new life with different people and I hope to make a few friends. So we'll see how that goes. What I plan on learning from the next two years of my education is to have a balance between study and fun. I think if I learnt how to have fun AND study at the same time , I would be much happier as a person.

After my visit to the US, I'm hell bent on coming there for my education and I know that since I want this so much, I will work at it. Plus I get to pick my classes in this new school of mine and so I will be studying what I like and not forced to study something I hate. So I should be fine in a few days.

I'll miss you, Am-rica!

2007-05-21T10:30:00.000-05:00

I'm all sad right now because I leave for India in two days. I can't believe its been two months since I've been here. Its amazing how time just flies by. I loved every single minute of my time here. I got to do so many fun things that I would have never got to do if I was back home and most importantly, for once...all four of the cousins were living under the same roof! I also spent my 16th birthday here with everyone present except my mom but I guess you can't have it all. I met one of my cousins after 14 years , so that was exciting.

I recently went to an air show and I went into some of the planes while my cousins explained what everything did and the importance of all the planes on display. Later on , my oldest cousin and I went to Dupont circle where he showed me his old apartment and the clubs and restaurants where he and his friends used to hang out. He took me to Whole Foods where we bought some groceries so that he could make his famous Shepherd's Pie. We got home by taking the Metro which I LOVE. That's one of the many things I'll miss about this country. THE METRO STATION! You will not believe the amount of fun I've had at the Metro Station.

Last but not the least, I will miss my family...a lot! I will miss my sister who is the height of paranoia yet one of the most FUN and entertaining indoor people to be around, my DC parents (as my sister calls them) who are my aunt and uncle who have taken such good care of my parents and I, my two crazy-ass cousins who have taken me out EVERYWHERE and have made me laugh till my stomach wanted to explode and not to mention my favourite(that's right I love him more than the macbook!) nephew JT, the cat who has kept me entertained throughout the day and has patiently listened to me whine about everything that I hate about my life.

Anyway, I had a great time and I hope to be back very soon!!

MacBook- I has a flavour!

2007-05-08T19:38:00.000-05:00

Ok so, my sister very generously gave me her dell laptop and bought a MacBook for herself. She loves her dell MORE because she's been using it for the past four years. So yesterday she kept saying every two minutes, "You are getting a dell laptop...FOR FREE! Please take care of it...its my baby." All I have to say to that is:"What suffering! You have to use a MacBook and give up your Dell" Dont get me wrong, I am super grateful for the FREE and almost as purty as macbook laptop but obviously I love the MacBook MORE cuz its new and its purttier!

My sister is finding it slightly hard to adapt to a mac because she is used to windows and so she was a little uncomfortable with it. But yesterday when it arrived, I turned it on after receiving her permission (since she paid for it) and set up two accounts in both of our names. I found it so simple to use and handle. Its not only very fast and simple but very pretty! I cannot stress on the beauty of the MacBook. Last night, the soon to be graduate was using her brand new laptop and I turned off the light while she was working on it and the apple logo glowed in the dark! I was all excited and impressed and she said,"How do I turn it off?! Its wasting a lot of energy!!!" And I'm like,"Who cares?! LOOK AT THE GLOW IN THE DARK APPLE LOGO WOMAN!" But then today she contacted our nerdy cousin who said that it does not consume much energy since its just the light from the monitor reflected at the back or something.

I also love the bite out of the apple in the apple logo. Now if apple started a line of clothing called G-Smith's clothing (get it? Granny Smith apples!) I would be even more impressed. For all those of you who know me --- I DO NOT like the laptop JUST for its looks! I love how its beautiful on the inside too and the fact that its very easy to use! To the macaca who neglects the macbook and pays more attention to the dell (i'm not kidding, the macbook is crying cuz there is apple juice all over the sides) I say you are very biased and mean. You always pay more attention to the second born than the first! That is the system! You dont mess with the system. Sure you like the dell even thought its dirty and old but you are neglecting the pretty white laptop with all the cool new features. My opinion? If you are that sentimental about the old one, just pay equal attention to both the new and the old. That way , both the laptops are happy and mommy doesnt have to clean up the apple juice.

"Get off the self-pity train and get on the self esteem plane!"

2007-04-25T16:15:00.000-05:00

This spur of the moment saying was coined by my sister who got fed up of my whining about the parentals. When I got back to Maryland, I was extremely annoyed with the parentals and so every night my sister and I would whine and vent out our anger about certain issues. So I was comparing myself to her and the rest of my cousins which led to a lot of whining so that's when she said,"Boo hoo, missy..get off the self-pity train and get on the self-esteem plane!". I burst out laughing because she took like 30 seconds to coin that saying.

Anyway, I have been doing a lot of cooking lately and to my surprise, it turned out to be pretty good. I'm not very interested in cooking and making a meal for myself let alone make it for someone else. I am so used to having someone else cook for me that I never really tried to make a nice indian meal. I was pestering my aunt to make my grandmother's pulao which she always made on my birthday and so my aunt told me to try it out myself and just gave me the recipe. So I made it and used my cousin as a guinea pig and he actually LIKED it! So I guess everyone in my family can cook now. My grandfather always told me to be perfect in everything and be an "all-rounder" and I can confidently say that I'm on my way there. But of course I am making these statements about how good my cooking based on what people have told me after tasting it. I personally think that my aunt and mom are better but as someone told me, I'm probably being too hard on myself. Now if I can master the art of making indian pickle and baking, I'm all set.

Lately, I have become very health conscious and have started going out for walks. I hate it when people say,"You dont need to exercise, you are so skinny!" because I am not trying to lose weight. I'm trying to be more active and fit. When I was younger, I used to constantly go out and play badminton and was so active but as I got older, I got lazier and feel like I'm missing out on a lot of fun. But you know, walking and playing some kind of sport isnt the only way to keep fit and so I'm thinking of taking dance classes sometime in the next few months. I know a lot of people who have taken dance classes and it seems so much fun to do AND its a nice way of keeping fit and being active. So we'll see how that goes.

That's about all for today. Hopefully, I'll have something more interesting to write about tomorrow.

My visit to Am-ricaaa!

2007-04-17T13:56:00.000-05:00

Hi all, I know I havent updated in a while and I do apologise for that. As most of you know, its been three and a half weeks since I arrived in the US and so far, its been fun. On my first day, around two hours after I arrived here, I had "painted the town red" as my aunt put it. I stayed with my cousin for a couple of days and I spent a lot of time with my darling nephew J, the cat.

So far, I have seen three different CVS pharmacies and god knows how many malls. A couple of days ago, I finally got to eat REAL American food as opposed to eating Indian, Thai, Italian and Chinese. The cousin and I ate at Taco Bell which was pretty good and then moved on to McDonalds which was crappy. On friday, we went to a rock concert and then went out for dinner to this Somalian/Italian restaurant.

While my family and I stayed with the little brat, we went along Skyline Drive and saw the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains! The weather has been pretty cold so far and so we haven't got the chance to have a nice little picnic outdoors yet.

I miss living with the cousin now that I'm back living with the parents and my aunt because when I lived with him, I got a little bit of both worlds and that was being by myself most of the day and spending time with J which I LOVED doing and spending time with the cousin and going out in the evening. After getting back to Maryland I have been to the SAME malls and the FOURTH CVS pharmacy. Joy. You know, its every girl's dream to come to America and go to the pharmacy. Not just one but four branches of the same pharmacy.

Then today, the fuse in the basement blew off or something like that and now the washing machine and drier wont work. Till about an hour ago, the wireless connection wasnt working either. Right now, my sister's TiVo which I love to bits because I get to watch Rachel Ray and "Are you being served?" whenever I want to, isnt working either. So I'm stuck at home with my aunt and parents waiting for the damned electrician to arrive so that he can fix the damn fuse or plug or whatever you call it. J-O-Y! My aunt made a huge issue about me living with the cousin because I missed out on all the fun outtings. By outtings, she means the malls that I have already seen and the CVS pharmacy that I have already been to cuz I missed the museums last week. So there is basically NO outting right now because I'm stuck at home waiting for some guy who may not even show up! You know what I miss the most? I miss J the most. Why? Because the cats in this house are so lifeless! All they do is sleep and eat. I miss running behind him all day. Oh well.

I'm thinking of getting a different hair style. A new look. Any suggestions? If so, I want pictures so that when I go to the salon, I can show the stylist what exactly I want her to do. But at the same time, I'm worried she will screw it up. So maybe I wont go? Who knows.

OMG OMG OMG!!!!

2007-03-15T04:53:00.000-05:00

So I was watching the news today( Yes, *I* watch the news, aite?!) and they said that the board exams in West Bengal have been postponed to April 18th! That means the exam I will be writing tomorrow is postponed to the 18th of April EXCEPT that it only holds good for West Bengal. I was so worried that it would be applicable to my state and that I would have to cancel my flight to the US and land up there only on April 20th but thankfully I dont have to do that. But you know, deep down inside, I really wish that it would be postponed for the soul reason that I still dont feel prepared to write java code for two bloody hours. Sure, I dont want to cancel my flight and all and I want to see my family(who will make my life a living hell when I get there, but what the heck?) more than ever but I cant help but bang my head against the wall and ask myself,"WHY Noishih? WHY did you have to choose computer science?!".

Its not as hard as I thought it would be but I still feel like I need more time to practice and study and write CODE. A few weeks ago, my dad was telling me how he wanted me to take economics instead of compsci and I was like,"Great! NOW he tells me!" and then he says,"Oh you have no knack for the software business." Thanks daddy, that's exactly the kind of motivation your daughter needs in order to ace the damned exam.

Anyway, I'm just glad that I dont have to cancel my flight because I want to get the nausea and the paralyzing fear of being 30,000 (or is it more?) feet in the air, overwith. Yes, I am afraid of heights and to think that I once told my parents,"Sure I'll fly alone!" when we got our visas. Then my mom made a big issue about how we(either both my parents or my parents and me) should never travel together on the same flight because my sister and myself may end up becoming orphans. My dad and I mocked my mother thoroughly but there is some sense in what she says. So my dad and I are flying together with like two suitcases of food and what not for the family while my mom will be there in April.

Note to the family : When I said two suitcases, I meant one tiny suitcase with the food and another big one with my stuff. So don't get your hopes up because you ain't getting a lot! Don't you just love me?

I don't know, You tell me!

2007-03-15T04:51:00.000-05:00

Do you think my blog needs to look better? Brighter colours or something of that sort? If so, your suggestions are most welcome!

Also, The weather here is unbelievably HOT! Hmm...I wonder why that is.... global warming, anyone??

Don't you just love being sick?!

2007-03-14T09:48:00.000-05:00

Well I feel like crap. I have this stupid viral fever(thanks mommy!) and the timing is perfect because my exams are still going on. I had to take an environmental science exam today. THIRTY chapters, this is probably the fattest of all my textbooks. The Supreme Court issued an order saying that all schools should be forced to study it to bring abut awareness. Is this really the ONLY form of bringing about awareness? Last time I checked there was something called the television and radio which MOST people watch and listen to.

Ok, so even if students dont really watch the news where most of the envrionmental shows are shown , they dont have to make it compulsory to write an exam on it. I mean its just a lot of work. I was extremely sick yesterday and struggled to finish studying everything. I woke up early today to finish studying it all and took a lot of medication so that I would be ok throughout the exam. So I take my medication just before I leave and I feel fine, everything is going well and then halfway into my exam, I feel extremely hot and sick. So I decided to finish my paper as quickly as possible so that I could ask one of the teachers if I could sleep after that. So I finished an hour early and then slept for about an hour while everyone else was still writing. I was worried cuz everyone was still writing when the paper was REALLY short. So I was thinking,"Are they writing the Ramayana or something? " because I really didnt think that there was all that much to write. Anyway, I felt a lot better after I woke up and submitted my paper.

I came home and had a nice big lunch and fell asleep and then woke up now. My mother wants to take me to the doctor but I was like,"Hell NO! " Cuz I already saw him last week and he said I was fine and gave me these STRONG antibiotics which made me feel worse than I already was. Joy. Anyway, my computerscience exam is on Friday. Joy again.

So in other news, my sister asked me sometime back why I wanted to come to the US and buy JEANS and I didn't really know why at that point of time but now I know.... Macaca, I can't fit into them!! It's weird because I dont eat much at all. But anyway, I plan on buying a pair of jeans, boots and a pair of floaters. The two of you who DO read my blog, make note of that because I am likely to forget.

Yay, two more weeks and then I will be in MD with the family! I am NOT looking forward to my flight, though. I hope I get better before I do leave the country cuz I have no intension of being terribly sick on the plane.

Question

2007-03-13T08:39:00.000-05:00

Can anyone tell me how you upload pictures on this thing?? I plan on displaying pictures of the cat family a.k.a selfish aristocats who have been feeding on my share of milk for the past couple of years.

Unacceptable Behaviour

2007-03-08T13:49:00.000-05:00

My cousin got married today. I went to her wedding and reception. The food was terrible, well atleast the reception food was. The wedding hall was huge but filthy in certain places. But what I hated the most about the past couple of days was the way my mother's uncle's (my grandfather's brothers and their wives) were treated. It was just unacceptable.

Firstly, they were only invited to the wedding because if they weren't invited, my grandfather would get pissed off. But the rest of my mom's family (her brother, two sisters and their daughters etc etc) hate them. Reason? Well, they think that my mom's uncle was constantly dependent on my grandfather for money when that wasn't the case at all. They had HUGE appetites and so my grandmother had to slog in the kitchen trying to feed them. It's funny when you hate people for STUPID and meaningless reasons when YOUR own kids and grandkids eat like pigs.

My mother's uncles don't live here and so they had to come here from their respective places , for this wedding. One of her uncles and his wife had arrived a few days ago. Their bus was scheduled to show up here at 10 or 10:30 pm or something of that sort and it arrived half an hour late. My uncle (mother's elder brother who's daughter got married today) didn't even have the courtesy to pick them up OR arrange for them to be picked up. My mother's uncle knows his way around but they didn't know where the hotel where my uncle had arranged a room for them, was. He and his wife somehow managed to find a taxi and told the driver the name of the hotel and after searching for about an hour, reached the hotel at midnight! These people aren't in their 40s and 50s to have the energy at 11 pm at night to search for a bloody hotel. They are 80+ and something could have happened to them on their way to the hotel and no one would have known about it until later .

I hate it when people treat old people badly. I just can't stand it. Whether they are related to me or not, I have soft corner for old people. I get extremely annoyed when I notice that someone is treating them badly. Whether its someone at the store or my grandparents or whoever, I don't like it one bit. It makes me feel like they are being rude and mean to my grandparents. I realised today and that my aunts and uncles who are so particular about respecting elders, don't practice what they preach. They themselves don't respect their elders unless it's their parents.

Another cousin of mine got married around 10 years ago and her husband even today teases me about stupid things like whether I have a boyfriend or not and do my parents know. Obviously, I'm not the type who'll just shutup and take it so I usually give back. So my cousin spoke to me one day and said that I shouldn't talk to him like that because it's not nice. I should "respect" him and be nice. Apparently there some is stupid custom that the oldest son-in-law should be treated like God. Dont ask me where people get this shit from but that's what they believe in so she said that I shouldnt' talk to him like that. I told her that I don't take crap from anyone, ESPECIALLY him. If he wants me to respect him, then he damn well respect me and be more mature about it.

I don't blame my aunts and uncles entirely, for treating their uncles and aunts horribly. My grandfather is partly to blame for it. He didn't bother to pull his brothers up to the front row and watch the whole ceremony. He just sat there talking to people while his brothers and their wives sat all by themselves in the last row looking extremely bored and sad. Why invite them if you are going to treat them like shit? Don't invite them then. They have every right to be treated well and dont' have to take crap from their nieces and nephews. Also, they haven't been invited to all the other weddings(i have so many cousins who got married in the past 5 years ) . They were invited to just this one and that was to keep my grandfather happy.

So it wouldn't have made a difference to them if they had not invited been invited. I rather see them safe and happy in their homes than wandering on the streets at 11pm searching for some stupid hotel.

Initially I felt that I won't invite my aunts and uncles to my wedding or my sister's wedding. By the time we get married they will be pretty old anyway. But then I will be going against my principle of "always being nice to old people". I have just written a long post about how I hate disrespecting old people and that's exactly what I will be doing if I don't invite them to my wedding. I will turn into those idiots which I don't want at all. I'm going to be the bigger person and let this go for now. But they will get it back someday. One day, in some form or the other they will receive some sort of punishment for what they did to their relatives because it isnt just a small thing. They ignored them at the wedding. They practically saw through them even if they made eye contact. That's not how anyone should be treated at a wedding.

I'm extremely disappointed with my aunts and uncles because I never expected them to behave in this way.

Nothingness

2007-03-07T13:07:00.000-05:00

I don't know what to say. Yes, My life is boring! I'm all out of ideas and topics to talk about. Any suggestions?

It's my turn to write the board exams.

2007-03-02T09:03:00.000-05:00

You know when I was 6 years old, my mom used to tell me, "I wonder what you'll do when you are in 10th std....you always study at the last minute!" When I was 6, I had so many tests to write like tables and dictation which were pretty crucial tests at that point of time because I would only be promoted to 2nd grade if I did well in them. But I always did well in them. I always got 100 in everything inspite of not studying much.

Well here I am, almost done with 10th std and I am doing fine. All those years when my mom worried about how I'll perform in the 10th was a waste. I still can't believe I'm writing an all India exam, though. I have watched so many people write them and do fine.

Today was my second exam which was English Literature. So far I've done ok in all of them. I mean, I have not done extremely well nor have I done horribly. It's somewhere in the middle. I'm pretty happy with it, though. I'm not upset or worried about it. I really can't say what the outcome will be....whether I'll do well or whether I'll do badly...I just don't know. Usually, I'm able to roughly assess the grades I'll get but right now, I can't really tell.

I guess I'll just have to wait and find out. Nine papers more and then I'll be free from these exams and I'll never have to see my school again, yay! But I'm concerned about the end result, probably because I can't really tell what it will be.

Friendship and all that jazz

2007-02-27T12:29:00.000-05:00

I think 2006 was probably the hardest year that I have had to face so far. I had to make a very difficult decision and leave my "circle" of friends. Although I don't regret making this choice, I can't help but feel EXTREMELY horrible and upset, sometimes. No one I have told so far can understand what I'm going through. Their reaction is "boo hoo, get over it" or "you'll make new friends..." blah blah blah. But it's not AS easy as everyone makes it out to be. I'm more upset about this one friend in particular. I have known her since I was 6 and we've been good friends since we were 9. It's so weird...one minute you are 9 and having so much fun and couldn't be happier and then the next minute, you are all grown-up and everything and everyone around you is different.

The main reason why the two of us in particular got along so well was because we were EXACTLY the same except for our looks. We had the same views, the same likes and dislikes, just everything.
Then one day, everything just changed and I ended up here losing my best friend out of all 6 of them. I can't believe how much she's changed. She is so different, so artificial and has become quite rude as well. I guess it's hanging out with the wrong company (she still hangs out with that girl btw) and it was like she had no room for me anymore because she was too busy trying to be some other girl's approval for the "best friend" 's post. All this while, I just hated her for what she did and for what she was doing. We could have had a better and long lasting friendship if she just woke up and realised what that other girl was doing to her.

I don't know why but I always get along with my friend's parents more than I did with their daughters (my friends) ! I can't explain it, it's just so weird. I have always got along with her parents because I have known them forever and inspite of not being her friend right now, her parents are still extremely nice and kind to me which makes me respect them even more. Somewhere in my mind, I have always felt this wonderful sense of comfort when I'm with them, like they were my own parents.

I wouldnt have written this post and I wouldnt have even thought about this girl had it not been for one 30 second phone call I got today. It was her mom and she called to wish me good luck for my exams and normally you would think, "Ok, it's just her mom calling to wish you..." but I will NEVER EVER forget what she said. She said,"All the best! I know you will do well! My blessings are ALWAYS with you!". I didn't know what to say. I just thanked her immensely but I didn't feel that that was enough. After that call, I realised that even her mom took the trouble to call and wish me (inspite of wishing me on graduation day) and my friend did not. I mean, I didn't call to wish her so it's obvious she won't do it again(cuz we forced ourselves to be nice to each other on graduation day). But all I can say is, that ONE sentence just made me melt. I forgot what her daughter did to me and more importantly, I forgot how much I hated her.

Well, I guess this experience has been good for me. I have learnt so much from it and I've become stronger. I've learnt to be my own best friend and not rely on someone else to make me happy. I have also learnt that being by yourself is not that bad and I don't need 50 people to be around me to make me feel comfortable AND I have become more independent.

So, If I have learnt all these things (good things) , then how come I don't feel any better about myself? How come I still wonder whether I made the right decision or not? Sometimes, I feel like I have actually made some progress in trying to get over this and then two minutes later, I'm back where I started : depressed, lonely and feeling like crap.

I wonder if I'll ever make new friends and feel the same joy and comfort I once had.

Ah exams and hindi music

2007-02-26T10:33:00.000-05:00

NOT! Oh joy. Exams in two days. Woo and a hoo. I think I'll just faint now.

Anyway, Darth has just informed me that there is a football team named after me. Well, atleast my name is famous even if I am not.

I had sent some hindi music to my cousin last night and I told him that he was more desi than I was but when I went through ALL the hindi music I had, I realised that I had more of hindi music than english! Eep! How did this happen?! Anyway, I lied to him and said that I had sent him all I had but the truth is, I have lots and pots more. Sorry, "yo"! Also, he has heard about more hindi movies than I have. I haven't even HEARD half the ones he has and he doesn't even live here.

Also, Has anyone heard that song by Lionel Richie and Enrique called, "To love a woman"?

The stuff I'm good at.

2007-02-25T05:15:00.000-05:00

Ok, there are a few things that I am good at and which I do to the very best of my ability. I love doing these few things in particular because not only does it makes me feel good about myself but it doesn't really require much of an effort so it just comes naturally.

Fashion: I can do anything related to this topic. Right from designing my own outfits (which I have done with the help of this tailor I know) to putting together one with what other people have designed or with what I have lying around. You can make your own styles and set a trend as long as you feel comfortable with what you are wearing. What you wear should make you feel happy because you are the one who is wearing it. Also, There are NO rules when it comes to fashion. You can always mix 'n match and who knows....maybe, you might set a trend. Earlier, there used to be Indian clothes (traditional stuff like salwars etc) and Western clothes (pants, jeans, blouses) but now you have Indo - Western clothes that look AMAZING when worn together. I have seen many women wear spaghetti tops with sarees. Obviously, the top is much shorter so that it matches up to a regular blouse but it still looks pretty good. So I love anything related to clothes, accessories and shoes etc because you can do ANYTHING with it. You can make it your own, if you know what I mean. It doesn't have to look like the latest Versace's women's line or like what Charlize Theron wore in some movie. It's totally your personal design.

People : I love people. I'm a total social butterfly! I love going to parties and weddings and all kinds of get-togethers because I get to meet so many people and interact with them. I get to know what their views are on politics, on work, on education etc. I do have a bit of a starting problem, though. I can't just walk up to someone I don't know and introduce myself. But I'm working on that. Once I know a person, I will NOT stop talking. I can talk about anything, right from where the host bought the fancy glasses to what's happening in Pakistan. It's amazing how you can acquire so much of knowledge from people on different kinds of things. Sometimes, you are surprised by how much you don't know by just having a simple conversation with someone.

Fixing things : Ever since I was little, around the age of 8-9, I have been fixing stuff thats broken or deliberately breaking something so that I could fix it. Sometimes, when I tried to fix things, I would make it worse or break it further than what it already was. But hey, I did try. My parents would SCREAM but my grandfather just loved the kind of enthusiasm I had for all this stuff. He loved tools and fixing things as well. He taught me to use an electric drill, a screwdriver, pliers , spanners of different shapes and sizes and he used to make me use it on stuff in his room even if it wasn't broken or damaged. He would un-screw the screw on his chair or table and then ask me to use my screwdriver and fix it or he would teach me how do handle all the electrical wiring in a switch board. I was his apprentice and I loved every single minute of it. "Why call an electrician when you can do it yourself?" - he said. I may not be as good as him, or my dad or my cousin but I will definitely carry this knowledge with me forever.

Gadgets : As I have said before, I LOVE gadgets. I do like reading about them but I love fiddling with them even more. If you hand me the latest Canon camera or cell phone, all I need is a couple of hours to tell you what each button does. Mind you, I'm not using a manual or guide. It fascinating, how tiny these things have become and yet they are so much more powerful and effective as compared to the big , bulkier ones. Hmm...I think this comes under the things I love but what the heck, I'll leave it here anyway.

Who knows? I might actually take up a career related to fashion or people, like PR , fashion designing etc.

Hmm...Interesting.

2007-02-22T14:58:00.000-05:00

Ok, Is there any hard and fast rule saying that you SHOULD be nervous before an exam? Apparently, If you are not nervous or worried about your exam , it means you don't care. Now, I'm the kind of person who worries about everything! But I don't know why I am not worried about my exams. This isn't just any exam where you can afford to fail or do badly and inspite of knowing that, I'm still not nervous at all. But at the same time, when I am worried, I don't show it. So I guess that's one reason why people ask me,"Aren't you worried??? Your exam is in 5 days!". I guess I'm just so used to worrying and being all tensed up, that I have really stopped caring.

Sometimes, I can really feel the pressure of it all and feel like I'm going to explode and the rest of the time, I'm just really cool. It's totally on and off. I find it really stupid when my classmates even 15 mins or 10 mins before an exam , mug up all the facts as if this is the first time they have ever read it. I may not have a lot of confidence but I certainly have more confidence than these girls do. Some of the brightest girls in my class literally spend the previous day of exam weeping because they are worried if they won't do well. I don't know if they pretend to be all worried and nervous before the exam or if they are genuinely concerned about their performance.

Lately, I have just learnt to be calm and cool in any situation because my mind finds it easier to work and think when I'm relaxed. Even if I am not well prepared, I still try as hard as possible not to panic while answering a paper because there is no point.

Anyway, I don't know how I will end up doing but I hope I do reasonably well. I just want to get this overwith.

"Introducing Myself- Part 2"

2007-02-21T20:32:00.000-05:00

Ok, I realise that in my previous post, the title was about introducing myself which I didn't do, So I'm doing it now. I'm 16. I'm cute and I love gadgets. I love working with my hands and fixing things. I am very social and so I love meeting people and going out and all that. I hate people who lie and cheat to get to the top. I just like straightforward and simple people who are just plain honest.

I have a wonderful family and there are 5 people in particular who are very important and special to me.
1) My parents : I love my parents. As cliche` as that sounds, it's very true because I don't say it very often nor do I actually show it very much, so there it is. What I love the most is that they are MY parents and I dont have to share them with anyone else in the world. I'm not trying to sound selfish because I am actually very generous but at the same time, I like having certain things all to myself and my parents fall in that category. I can never ever repay them for what they have done for me.

2) BiSis: What can I say about this lady? She has been very supportive of me this past year and we have become closer as well. Sometimes, when I felt like I would snap because I was so miserable or angry or frustrated with school, she would always find a way to calm me down and it felt like she was actually going through the whole 10th grade experience all over again.

3) OlCousin: Mix 3 cups of cuteness, 1 cup of foul language, 1/2 cup of innocence and 1 cup of immaturity. Mix well and you get... him! Although, I havent seen him in 14 years and am not very close to him, he is still very important to me. He is so entertaining, I never get bored when I talk to him.

4) Dumpy: Last but not the least is Dumpy. Where do I start with this fellow? I can never stay mad at him for more than 5 seconds. He annoys me 99% of the time but I just can't stay mad at him! He always makes me laugh even when I'm absolutely miserable! Even though, he's my cousin , he NEVER behaves like one. He either plays the "elder brother" role or the "dad" role and has given me countless lectures on all sorts of things. His methods of teaching are very different than what I have normally experienced but they are more effective than the teachers in school.

So that's basically it, two semi-crazy parents, one cute/ weird-in-her-own-way sister and two wacko cousins and you get my family! Sometimes, they can be so immature, it makes me wonder whether I am really the youngest in the family! I'm so glad to have y'all in my life! Love you!

"Introducing Myself"

2007-02-21T13:35:00.000-05:00

Hopefully, I'll actually make an effort to update my blog here and make some use of it as opposed to my previous one.