A Long, Scruffy Post About The Now

Off the top of my head:
I traveled by bus the other day. On the way back from college. *dances* And was thrilled to part with just a five rupee coin, instead of the usual forty bucks. And was very proud of self because Ive never been able to travel by bus in Bangalore.
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I should perhaps stop here to tell you that Im now in Mumbai, studying at St Xaviers (yes, that place where they shot Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na! *does excited dance* Forgive me. It's the only Hindi movie Ive been able to watch twice, apart from Lagaan) and Im doing a PG diploma in advertising and marketing, and Ive been here a month and many adventures have happened that I havent written about.
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Now that that is out of the way, we can get back to the bus. It was awesome. Ok maybe not awesome. Maybe there were lots of people coughing and sneezing. In your face if they could. And maybe there was one man in a surgical mask which made me get to thinking that i should possibly be worried and wearing one too. And maybe there was a man in a netaji cap who should probably have used some deodorant if he didnt want people around him to keep fainting. Maybe. But still. It was awesome.
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Better at least than traveling in a cab whose driver is the stupidest man on the planet. I swear, I am NOT joking, I should have taken a picture, it'd have gotten me millions. Westside to Bachelors, should have been 13 bucks, you dont want to HEAR the exorbitant amount he charged me because he was too dumb to know the route.

Because of recent swine flu scare I have been severely instructed by the 'rents not to use any mode of public transport, and to use the cabs everyday and to wear a mask and not to breathe too much if possible.
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But most cabbies are quite nice actually. Really nice in fact. Better than our local autodrivers most definitely. Always ready to help, making friendly conversation, not laughing at your broken hindi, sharing tips on how to prevent swine flu. In fact, people in general are more friendly there than here Ive noticed. When I landed at the airport this time I forgot I was at Bangalore and "No thank you plus smile"-ed at a dude who asked me whether wanted a taxi. Whereupon he sniggered at me and muttered something offensive in Kannada. After which I realised that this is not Mumbai MM, the appropriate response would be loud tsking and a rolling of the eyes before glaring at said man.

Havent you noticed that in Bangalore, being friendly doesnt work well with most of the people you have to deal with? I had to rewire my entire system after we moved back from London when I was eight. We do have our good qualities, but being civil and genuinely friendly to strangers is not one of them.
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Also, Ive been able to pick up Hindi much quicker than it took me to learn Kannada because people arent constantly correcting, judging and critiquing what Im saying and then laughing at me. Here they just take my broken Hindi and keep talking to me, I swear Ive gotten so much better at it. Soon I will be able to hurl abuses at the occassional foolish cabbie in fluent Hindi.
I tried talking to my mum in Kannada over the phone the other day and all that came out was broken Hindi. Funny how things change, in the beginning, I'd talk to the cabbies in Kannada not realising until they turned around and stared at me questioningly.

I like Mumbai. :)
I love Bangalore too though. This week break thanks to Swine Flu Scare has been too short.
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Back to the PG tonight. I stay in Tardeo. On the 29th floor, three sides sea facing, in a flat where the rooms are all painted bright and wonderful colours. My roommate is a sweetheart. I have it gooood. This I have realised this more deeply after a month in Mumbai. Accommodation is really expensive here. But we found a gem. PG aunty is Nepali, who married an Iyer, so she cooks us nepali achaars and otherwise south Indian type food for a very nominal rate. Her kids are all grown up and away, so their beautiful penthouse is ours for a year. :) I have the blue room. Just in case you wanted to know. There is also a pink room, a yellow room and the hall is orange and green. And although this sounds tacky, it is really not. :)

Lookit that. Im missing the place. Seems like I have two homes, for the now. :)

Anyway, while she may be really Brahmin with some of her rules, dont touch the used plate to the table, dont touch food in the pots once you've started eating etc, she's really decent about curfews and the like. Osh and I walked in at 4am the day we'd gone to Pune (that was loads of fun, the Hard Rock Cafe there is to die for, and try their mashed potato with gravy. Drool. Also there's this shop called Babe there. If I die and go to heaven, I hope I will wake up to find myself in Babe. Very afforable fantastic fashion. Needless to say, we went a little crazy. Im also in love with Pune. Everything is so much nicer and cheaper there. Of course there's the swine flu and all as well. Balances out.) And I walked in at 2am the day our class went to Zenzy's, only to find her watching Hindi soaps with her mum and her sister who've come down from Nepal to visit. Is she ever one for Hindi soaps.
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Incidentally, we saw Abhay Deol at Zenzy's. He was with two guys in this room at the back where Something Relevant was about to start playing, and the room was empty, ad me sai and shashank walk in and see them there. And we nod at each other and continue to stand there for the longest time the three of us whispering about whether we should actually be there or not, until people started to fill in. I'll have to admit, I didnt know he was an actor, havent seen him before, I only knew because they told me. I need to really watch some Hindi movies.
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I have glimpsed quite a few celebs here in Mumbai actually. :D The other day as Shanks and I are walking out of college, we turn around to see Rahul Bose walking behind us. :D
Our college has a lotta celebrities visiting it. Abdul Kalam came. And Hilary Clinton and Aamir Khan. Heavy security. The day we had Vivienne D Souza's class. She requires an entire blogpost for herself.
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College is nice. I miss my little gang or whatever you might call it. Sweethearts, although they would be greatly disturbed if they knew I was calling them that. Shanks from bangalore of course, Keegan, really musically talented and all, Savio, funny guy, easy to talk to "brand of our class", Arjun also plays the guitar and all that, fun to talk to, Mandar co- Paparazzi and entertainment provider. :D I actually miss it all! Ok, now Im ready to go back. Then there's Yashad whose funniness I miss greatly. And Shreyas and Dorita and Apoorva Sneha and Neha, my comp partner Harsh, who's lots of fun, and lots of other wonderful people that Im just getting to know.
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And Malhar has been postponed to next week. Im excited about that, will probably blog about it when it happens. :) Oh and the Xaviers building, is beautiful!! I just love it! So Harry Potter esque. :) I only saw it because of Malhar. The XIC building isnt as splendiferous. Plus we have to climb to the third floor everyday. Blah. That bit sucks.
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So Week One was running around trying to find accommodation with mum and dad. Mr Vikram is a character I will not easily forget. Perhaps I will blog about him later.
Week Two was hospital with Malaria/dengue/mild viral hepatitis, the docs cant make up their minds.
Week Three was college, horse carriage rides with osh sai and shanks, visiting marine drive and gateway at midnight, eating at roadside restaurants and getting caught in HEAVY rains that only Shanks umbrella could withstand :D
Week four was Josy Paul and Vivienne D'Souza and some worthwhile teachers and Malhar and practice and all that. Oh and Mr Samir Chadha who I found out, worked on the Orbit cow ads!! :D He was one of our guest lecturers.
Week Five swine flu holidays and back in B'lore for a week and it's not nearly enough time for anything. :( Blah. Not nearly enough time.

I have just realised now that we have a LOAD of assignments due pretty soon, and I'd better buck up and finish them or I am going to be in a lot of soup.
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I have the feeling too many drawers open.
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A pwomiss is a pwomiss

And now is when I blurt out nonsense! Wait for it!! Wait for it!
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Why does that Vodaphone lady greet you with malicious laughter when she's about to tell you that the number you are trying to call is unavailable? "Hahaha the Vodaphone number you are trying to reach is currently unavailable hahaha." I mean why is that necessary, that smug smile in her voice? Cut it out I say! Throw that lady in front of a bus I say! Do they WANT us to associate Vodaphone with murderous feelings already? Really.
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Fantastic ad I saw. Poster. Large. In medical store. I stared at it the entire twenty five minutes I was waiting for the fat lady to decipher the prescription and waddle around uncertainly trying to pick the right drugs off the shelf.

"Vicks" it says proudly. "Trusted by 70% doctors."

All I could think of the entire time was about the 30% who considered it a health hazard.
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I dearly wanted to put up the collage Oshmunch made of me and her... and then converted into a darling magnet that sits prettily above my mirror, but having recently heard internet psycho story, I have decided against. :(
It is so cute though. Just so you know.
Oshmunch is in Delhi doing a PR internship. She is missed much.
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Also, Im 21. It's true. Each year I must will myself to believe that I am in fact aging, by telling myself here on my blog. I am 21. It's true.
It happened some 6 days ago, while I was in Singapore.
I lay awake the night before curled up in the foetal position (as is tradition before birthdays) evaluating my life up till date and feeling that I really really really hadnt done enough with all of it. :( Wonderful way to bring in a new year. But in the morning I woke up all reassured, I must've had some sort of calming dream or something.
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And then I got back and Jay had been such a deer and arranged something in my absence for my 21st. We all met up and had such a glorious evening of fun... I wish it could have gone on forever. And Im not usually so senty about things like that. This was truly an awesome evening, I couldnt have had more fun. Everyone was adorable and the gifts are all treasured. :)
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And now we're on yesterday's party page of the Deccan Chronicle. Did I ever think the day would come? No. Has it though? Yes.

I suppose our little non achievements must be given their due credit. Besides, while I was appalled at first, after I saw it I wasn't as much. Same with the others. It was actually a really cute little write up. And it kind of serves the purpose of a permanent reminder of such a wonderful evening. :)
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Goose I miss the days. I am going to make a photo album especially of the days. Who would have thought they would be times that we missed. Let this photo be a tribute to the-week-I-want-to-go-back-to. You write your GRE soon I say goose. Oh, and I have a photo gift for you from Singapore. Later. For now I leave you with this reminder (that will make no sense to anyone but me and you. :D) Giggles.

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The internship started yesterday, with Orchard India, ad agency. (Isnt the website like, sew cool?) I have also been sorting my life out a wee bit. Sigh. More on that later.
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I have a cold. After a long time. It kinda sucks sneezing so often.
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I have just realised that NO topic is too trivial for this blog.

So I shall now proceed to talk extensively about the Leaping Ant.
I've encountered a fair share of crazy animals in my life, the mad squirrel, the Dog of My Life and lagoose to name a few, but none of them were quite as mad as the leaping ant.

So the other night I'm sitting on my bed (upright for once), back to the wall, studying for a very important exam (so I'd like you to believe, but I am in fact simply staring vacantly into space, one earphone in place, and a book open before me, waiting for the cows to come home).

I lean my head against the wall in sheer desperation, when I see out of the corner of my eye, a very large black ant. I do not have a heart attack, and pat myself on the back in commendation of my bravery. Meanwhile the ant leaps a good 3 feet in my direction. I have a heart attack and scramble in an ungainly manner off the bed. Whereupon it leaps after me. So high! SO far! It was truly a sight to behold. After it had chased me a couple of times around the room I mustered the courage and found an opportune moment to flick it out of the stairwell window.
But it was quite a display of acrobatics. I never imagined such a thing possible.

I must save this unsavoury moment for posterity! I thought to myself. And so I have.
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And with that, I leave you. Until my next dose of nonsense.
Peace.
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Why Im fraands with my fraands and Other Nonsense

I realise I havent put up fraandship day post this year like I did last time. And since Im feeling particularly mushy, I thought I might write a little one. I must digress a little here to mention how I came across this comic strip called Pearls Before Swine, I think on this blog, but I cant find it now, and that you should read it, and the crocodiles are absolutely laugh-till-your-stomach-cramps hilarious, and I like to talk like them sometimes which is why the next sentence (yes this one will end) is written the way it is:

Whys I be lykin my friendses lot so very:

Snum. Or Shar as we must start calling her or reasons I'd rather not bring to attention, if you know why already, good for you (I guess) and also because this anonymous thing's getting old dude, almost everyone who reads this blog knows who I am anyway.
(I promise, the sentences will get shorter.)
So why Shar? Apart from all the cliche stuff that is obvious (we so get each other!, we have the exact same sense of humour!, she's such a *insert name of item of confectionery here*!), it's because she sends me things like these, every once in a way. :D


I need some Shartrex! :D


Why Oshmunch? Because she buys me beautiful earrings that are just perfect, out of the blue for no reason at all. Because she's one person who gets me and why Im feeling a certain way. And she's one person whom I can talk it out to and feel better almost immediately. Because there is no way in hell I could do without her. Because we're soul sistahs. ;) And whenever I see her I just smile unconsciously. Same with Shar. It's disgusting. Whenever I stay over and wake up in the morning to the insistent beeping of all three of our alarms, Im like smiling unconsciously, the second I get up and see them there. Dude, it's morning. Im as bad tempered as a spanish bull in a bull fighting ring in the mornings, and yet I smile like a gopher. Even in the auto as we make our way toward the hellhole. It's disgusting I tell you. :)


Why Bestest? Because during our loooong conversations, in the middle while we're laughing, she'll say something like: I dont know how someone could really know you and not like you, MM. :) And that will just make my day. Eh, that's just tip of the iceberg. Plus, she sends me letters. Letters, dude.


Why FnA? Because I can fall and be sure that she will catch me. There aint no one in the world who'll look out for me like she does. I can completely pour my heart out to her and vice versa in a way that I cant with anyone else. There's so much history there. Words cannot do it.


Why Archie? Because we meet, and centuries have passed, and it's the same.


Why PS? Because he says "anyhou" s'much. Because he's intelligent, sensible, and let's face it, really funny. (Too Much Mush Alert!) And because he sends me songs (that I dont listen to immediately, but) that get stuck in my head (months afterwards). Ah, and because of the DVDs. Blessed DVDs.


Why Taru? He's so random. I love it! :D He'll just send me a message bang in the middle of the day saying something like: And here's a personalised PJ for you. How much do you measure? Ans: 1MM
And I can message him with something as obscure as "Woof" when Im bored, and he'll message back with something so clever that it's sure to have me rolling on the floor.


Why Jay? Seriously, I have NO idea. Right now Im angry with him because he's shirked off all his assignments, (leaving us to do all the work) and is off enjoying himself on a beach.
Just kidding. Im not angry. Just miffed and bitter. I jest again.
Why Jay? Well, because he's a deer.
A deer capering on a beach where I shoulda been. *pouts*
No, I'll tell you why. It's because 1. he buys me soap, 2. he carries my books, 3. he isnt in charge of anything for the lit seminar.
:) And a host of other things.


Why Im feeling all mushy mushy. Its the hormones, dude. It's ccrrrrazeh out eeya.
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Which reminds me of a funny incident that occured outside GRE class one balmy afternoon. Osh and I were conversing outside (more like crying in relief at the class being over) when this girl walks up to me. Quite a normal thing for a girl to do, you might say? Yes, unless you are walking up to me, and positioning yourself two and a half centimetres away from my face.
I was startled, by this strange behaviour, but intrigued to see what it was all about. Was she going to tell me she had a spatial disorder? Perhaps she was blind, the poor girl. Maybe, maybe the mafia was after her, and she was seeking sanctuary, but had to be discreet about the whole thing by whispering it into my nose.

Her next words took both me and Osh (who was giggling some distance away) by shock.

"Excuse me, is there any swimming pool eeya?"

"A swimming pool eeya?" I say unflinchingly. (Did she mean in my nose?)

"Ha, swimming pool eeya."

"Ha, well no, not that Im aware of."

"No aa?"

"No, aa, perhaps you can ask someone else."

"Ok thanks ya." She smiles at my nose, and positions herself a little farther away, before walking off with her friend.

I breathe again and Osh comes back from behind the tree where she has been quietly giggling to tell me that this sort of thing has happened to her before and she believes that these people are all from a different planet, perhaps several galaxies away.

At least swimming pool girl lifted our moods considerably. Now that we were aware that there were dafter people than us around (seriously, who takes GRE classes? Esp when they eat away your weekends so), we could carry on and be happy again, and laugh and frolic and skip ourselves away from the dastardly class. Tra la la.
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Ooo I must share this picture with you that GS sent me. Hilarious.


Once you've laughed enough at the expression of the boy receiving the vaccine, take a look at his friends behind him. They're all laughing in obvious enjoyment. There's only one fella who looks somewhat concerned, but thats only because he's next in line. :D Quite brightened my day that did.
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I cant believe I havent blogged about the exams AT all this time. So many funny things happened.

I had a tug of war with my paper (the invigilator gave in and let me finish drawing lines.) as Zz and Shar watched in amusement from the window. I know this teacher will give me more marks if my paper looks tidy, and since Ive written utter bullcrap, Im 'na NEED to draw all the lines I can.

They were pretty strict about cheating this time. We heard this one story about a dude who had a cold and brought a handkerchief. He blew vigourously into it and then one of our teachers (who's a dear, but says "Isnt it not" too often for my fancy) decided to investigate, and proceeded to examine very careful, the entire area of the kerchief for hidden cheats.

Shar has blogged about how every time a phone rang the invigilators suddenly became meer-cats. :D

So they all pretty much sucked, esp Literary Theory and Criticism, in which I am going to spectacularly fail with single digits. It's never happened before, so Im quite looking forward to it.
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And I have to share this link A sent me. The guy who took a Polaroid a day.
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This is useful if you want to know about RSS feeds in Plain English.
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This song's stuck in my head. Not the way the Beatles sang it, (that happened a long while ago) but the way this girl's sung it in Across the Universe. I Want To Hold Your Hand.
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Ending on a croc-y note:
Dees bloggy post it haves waaaay too many linkseys in it dood. ____________________________________________________________________

To Ad it All Up/ A Summery II/ Thirty Days of Torture/ Internship at an ad agency

There are two kinds of posts: Those you cant for the LOVE OF GOD think up a title for, and those that you have too many for. This is one of the latter.

Let me just mention before I start this post, that one of the purposes of this blog is for me to have a record of all the things I've done. This is so that I can go over it all when Im 74, force my grandkids to read it at gunpoint, and lament weakly over how I didnt do it all better.
However, over these past few months, it has managed to most magnificently fail this very same purpose. As I have mentioned earlier, huge portions of the summer and the misery that was this June have gone completely undocumented.
So what will follow now, is an attempt to rectify this gross inadequacy, through the means of a few small and easy, albeit sporadic steps.

Beginning with the internship, which happened in April-May. It seems like a hundred years ago. Really.

Best parts:
The work. Frankly, I ended up with quite a big portfolio. Which will come in very useful, I daresay, should I choose to take up media in the future. However, since that looks highly unlikely at the moment, woo hoo.

Hark! Here is an example of the work I did:


They gave us a creative brief, telling us the details of the project. I came up with the idea, copy (that's ad lingo for "the words") and had to search for the image (Shutterstock, how I grew to dislike the sight of your webpage during these thirty days). The layout our Creative Director did. I did come up with several less cliche ideas, but this was the one they said "worked best". So okay. There you go.

Then there was the ad shoot mentioned earlier. (I'll never forget what an absolute doll Oshmunch was then). What the hell. I shall put up the pictures even though they embarrass the hell outta me.















Yes, so there was that.
Then there was the Other MM sitting two cubicles behind me. Thank god for our chats and conversation (which we interspersed with small amounts of work). Dunno how I'd have survived without her there. And Osh amusing me with her Circle incidents. I think I was exceedingly rude, poor chap. Bah, but if you have that thin a skin, I cant help you.

Coming up with ideas, I really liked. That was clearly what I was best at. (I was NOT adept at searching for images, which I'd to do a lot of, and found quite frankly, torturous.)
Ideas, I liked. In fact, I shall gloat a little and paste a little note the boss sent around. :)
(Give me a break, it was like the high point of my internship.)

A note from Shenoy
Dear all of you who gave it their best lines for the Infosys faces campaign,
finally six lines have been shortlisted for presentation to the client. And the only ones that made it to the final list are all three from Madhu, and three from me.

Good show Madhu!

And guys, think about why yours didn't make it through. Maybe you were either too busy/overloaded with regular work or just didn't think things through/persist with it enough. Or both.

yours truly,
The 'i-have-infosys-coming-out-of-

my-ears' face of TG Shenoy

*gloats a little more*

People were nice too, some of em. Liked Artsy and Wildlifebuff the best. Oh my god, Oshmunch and I came up with nick/codenames for all of them, to use in our conversations. :D I cannot remember any of them now. Oh wait, Pedophile! And Egg!

We communicated via gtalk, all of us. Osh and I have had a hundred chats at least in those thirty days. We were sitting what, 15 ft away from each other? :D
Osh: Im borrrrrred as hell... what u doing?
MM: Staring at screen. 11.45 we'll go off for lunch ok?
Osh: Godforsaken office.
MM: Egg alert! Egg Alert! Switch window!

The internship had its several thousand frustrating moments also. I remember coming here and reading the bit I'd written in the April Update... and wanting to literally throw up.
Some of my more mundane jobs included editing a Gormless-Lady-type Word Document to make it presentable to the public for an employee newsletter for this company.
Some of the more delectable excerpts from this word docu describing an office party (please read each word carefully):

Sweets were distributed to sweeten the day.

Finally, all too soon, it was time to leave but we look forward to this wonderful experience again, and you people don’t get envious because for that night we were surely the lucky one.

It damn near killed me. I cannot stand Gormless-Lady-Type English. Especially written Gormless-Lady-Type English. Aaaargh. Almost died that day.

To ad it all up, there was good, there was bad, there was ugly. And here are some pics of the workplace.

Revival Post/ Blog Tag Game 2

This blog has for quite sometime been as dead as Snum in a third year OE class, and that's really saying something. So I've decided that today I must shake it out of its drugged slumber, by means of this revival post.

Overwhelmed by the number of things I have failed to document this past month and faced with a paralysing inability to pick which of these things to blog about, I have decided to complete a blog game that Snum (very ineptly) tagged me in last century.

I'm not particularly interested in this, but just thinking about the multitude of other things I have to blog about exhausts me so much I want to slide off the chair and go to sleep on the floor. So this is it. The revival post: Blog tag game 2. As I've been saying to myself a lot these days "Small steps MM, small steps."

Yo bebeh.

Blog Tag Game 2

3 JOYS
1. The sunshine on my back on a cold winter's morning. CHEESY. But it feels really good, really.
2. A biting cold wind against my cheek when Im in an auto on a cold day. Reminds me of my childhood playground days in England.
3. Finishing something, completing a task, doing it well.


3 FEARS
I used to think I was fearless. I feel fearless. Most of the time. It's a good feeling.
1. But I no like make
2. my few real fears
3. public, thankyouverymuch


3 GOALS
(Man this is boring)
1. To obtain for myself a PhD (thats, Dr. MM, to you)
2. To swim with dolphins, bungee jump, skydive
3. To see as much of the world as possible


3 CURRENT OBSESSIONS/ COLLECTIONS
Im currently not obsessed with anything really. Hmm.
Used to be with:
1. SteandKel on Youtube. I've discovered Fred (through Snum, I must give her credit or she'll come at me with a pitchfork)... he's funny once you get used to him. Very cute.
2. The Harry Potter books. Obsessed is an understatement. I think we all were at one point.
3. The Sound of Music. That movie means a lot to me. Also some TV shows: Ed, 8 Simple Rules. TV doesnt interest me as much these days.


3 RANDOM SURPRISING FACTS
(Random AND surprising. Thats asking a bit much innit?)
1. I absolutely adore anything sweet with cinnamon in it. (How surprising! I hear you say)
2. I love big butts and I cannot lie. (I jest)
3. I dont usually tell anyone this, but I detest alcohol. Presently at least. Yup. Its true. I cannot consume it without gagging. Tastes like garbage, corrodes the digestive tract and what's more, has absolutely NO EFFECT on me whatsoever, however much of it I force down. Sigh. How I have been deprived of the pleasures of life. (That'll be one Margarita mocktail please.)

And thats it. I tag Nishant, Pavan, Taru, Lalitha and La, NONE of whom will complete the task, I am pretty sure. But fly forth my children, do fly forth. :)

April Update

Ok, a lot's been happening. Jam packed. One thing after another. Plus with work everyday I hardly have time to rest and shut my poor tired eyes.
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About the Internship aka Thirty days of Torture. I'm halfway through it now and things are good. I'm enjoying it. I was extremely frustrated the first coupla days since I had NOTHING to do whatsoever. I swear I contemplated running through the office naked in protest.
But lately I've been given some stuff to work on. Our clients are HP, Infosys, Bosch and Reliance, and I finally feel productive and like I'm getting a sense of the field.
I love my little cubicle and feel like I'm settling down. I LOVE the kind of work I'm given, its just what I imagined I'd be doing when I was younger. I love all the wacky characters at the office. I love how The Other MM is just two cubicles behind me and how we're at each other's cubicles half the time talking. I love that I got an idea of what the Client Servicing job entails and know that I so prefer Creative to that.
It's good, it's all good. A proper summary will be put up later.
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FnA's Day was on 30th. Just me this year. She'd a fabulous day, just as she deserves, while I was at work, and then I met her in the evening and we had one of our crazy stay overs. Laughed like hyenas. Fought like kilkerney cats. Got hysterical over nothing. Fun times. Times we'll remember. :)
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Zz's day on 12th. That was during the exams. Fun. Snum was in her element. Read Snum's blog.
Much laughter and craziness. And yum cake and icecream- thanks Zz.
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I'm SICK of the Brigade road area. I have been rotting there for half this month it feels like.
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Osh asked me to blog about our escapade at the RTO... RTO? What 's the place called? Where you book train tickets? Yes well that was a fun thing to do after work. It was late. We were exhausted. There were a gazillion rows of chairs, and these chairs are the line to the counters. So every five minutes, everyone gets up and shuffles along the row till the person in front of them stops, and then just plonks down on the chair they're in front of.
Oh but dont plonk too hard though, some chairs just fall over backwards if you lean on the backrest. I had to grab Osh's arm to save her from slip discs on two occasions.
And all this while your ankles are being feasted upon by throngs of mosquitos. I thought I was going to die from some kind of allergic reaction, I had so many bites, I kid you not. My feet were well and truly eaten.
Not a nice ordeal to go through, that.
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Those mosquito killer bats . Discovered them this month. Fascinating. I annoyed both Snum and FnA quite a bit with my obsession for mosquito hunting when I was supposed to be focusing on them. :D
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The smell of mangoes again. Brings back memories and thoughts. Pleasant, exciting.
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Im sure Im missing out loads of stuff. Done quite a few crazy things this month. Hehe. :) But all that dont get spoken of here at the blog. Shhhh.
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I'm 20

Its true. I turned a non teenager on the 16th of April. What made my birthday this year special: (Warning: Mushy post ahead.)

Osh calling five minutes before midnight to be the first to wish me.

Snum the second. She was also the last. :)

Taru calling and playing me a three minute birthday song as soon as I picked up. :) hehehe

The gazillion calls and messages. Thanks everyone. :) :)

All the money I got from my aunts. Yeah baby! And the other gifts they gave me... sweethearts. :)

Birthday lunch and silly fun with classmates.

The Only Place. Ghost Stories. The Hand. Ebony sofas.
Taika. No Effect. Iranian Black Jacket Twin. Awkward dancing jack lookalike. Even "The party's over here..." :D

Getting lost. Knocking on doors. Talking. Making beds.

20 Feet High. Pleasant banter. Reliving old times with people I share such a strong bond with. :) Springy stepped, the Champ, FnA. :) :)

FnA and myself. Our crazy fun. Our night out. :D Our ghost pictures. Our talk about all things trivial. Our talk about all things serious. Staying up till 2.30am. I keep saying this, but words just don't do it. :)

Meeting Bestest. Being silly with Bestest. Having Bestest take uninteresting videos of me in public. Getting asked for an autograph in Gandi Bazaar when with Bestest (?? :D)

And of course my awesome gifts that made me cry. (sob!) They were so thoughtful! Brightened my day! Loved them. So much that I had to take photos of them, strange person that I am. I love you guys. :) Muahs to you all.

Bestest's: Turtle earrings (because I lost one of my old pair), wooden necklace, beautiful hand made bag, the colour xerox of the memory, the lovely lovely letter and the Goose Pillow. :) Hugs and hugs! Loved it all! Muah!


Osh's! The lovely kurta:And that little tin dabba encased a :) Beethoven

and the card I so LOVED! Thanks Munch! Muah!! :) :)Jay's. That he fretted over unnecessarily. Loved the deer card, and the beautiful shawl. :) Perfect colour, perfect everything. Thank yous jay. Muah! :) :)Snum's! LOVED it. The wallet with her photo in it, the confetti and everything. :)The card made me laugh! hahaha!And the beautiful personalised wrapping paper! Thanks ma Munch! Muah!! :) :)


And now that i have gushed enough, I take leave of you. Goodbye.

*end of mushy post*

I Cant Sleep

Well, here I am. Its three frickin fifteen AM and I cant sleep. Wonderful situation to be in, you agree?

But why you ask, this wakefulness? Oh, a combination of factors really. Cant place my finger on what exactly.

It might be the sweltering heat that has descended upon the city.
It might be because Im hungry, because I skipped dinner, because its summer and thats when I lose the will to ingest food (Catch me being that way any other time of year.)
It might be that goshdarned mosquito that cant take its goddamn proboscis off me.
It might be because Im angry and am swearing too much.

OR
it could be because I got up at noon today.
Bloody study holidays. I swear I havent witnessed the morning for three days.

My mum has taken to cutting articles from newspapers and reading them out to me in severe tones as I groggily open my eyes each lunchtime.
"Why do you insist on being a Night Owl MM? Eh? Why cant you be an Early Bird? The health benefits are so much better. No doubt Night Owls are more creative and interesting as compared to well... the rather boring Early Birds, says this article that has so many references, but statistics prove that they have twice as many health problems MM. Twice."

*Grunt grumble groan snooze.*

I think Ive established from the past week or so that I am ABSOLUTELY NOT a morning person. I'm barely alive between the hours of 6 and 11 in the morning.

I exaggerate, of course.
*Rolls eyes.*
I have been able to keep awake during the exams - 9.30 to 12.30am. (With the exception of General English- snooze fest if ever there was one.)

Nevertheless, my body clock has been well and truly destroyed this March- April. Smashed against a wall of granite, steamrolled by a gigantic truck, thrown off the Grand Canyon, whichever your imagination pleases. I doubt I shall ever be the same. My health is ruined and I have shaved off 10 years of my life. Nice accomplishment I think, for this month.

On a celebratory note, I wrote my last Sanskrit exam on the 11th. My last sanskrit exam EVER! (I do not think I will fail this one, unless the Gormless Lady reads this post. Fingers crossed.)

So bring out the champagne!
Never again EVER will have to attend those absolutely meaningless classes.
Never again will I have to stare at her lip movements in a desperate attempt to make sense of what shes saying.
Never again will I have to worry that she's secretly plotting to fail us all (which she did first sem mid term)
Never again will I have to pretend to like her, smile sickeningly at her (that took effort), and be polite to her when I was seething with rage from within.

Ah the Gormess Lady has gotten on many a nerve. She's stomped on them all in fact.
But now its over.
OVER!!!
And in celebration I shall write a little free verse addressed to her.

Go jump
in a
Well.

The particular well you
so eloquently
described
In third sem text book:

"If yany fuvar legged animal is going to be
dying
in a vell,
then what we must be going to be doing is,
to be
DRAYNING the vell,
and wiping the
REMAYNING water with a cloth."

Go jump
in that
Well.

Catching the Bus- Pondy

Okay, so we went to Pondy. Me Osh NiceHair and NiceEyes, for a lovely two day break.

NiceEyes and Osh planned the whole thing... bus tickets and everything, while I sat around wondering if we were going to go or not and placing bets with my mum.

So anyway, we turn up there at Kalasipalya bus stop, where our travel agent's shop is and where he has promised us the bus will leave at 9.45pm.
We sat there, bus didnt come.
Its ten o' clock.

Finally the travel agent guy leads us through the rain and squelching mud to this rickety bus one would imagine chickens are transported in.

Thats our bus.

We get in and Osh and me find our seat numbers: 15, 16, 17, 18.
There's a boy sitting there. I tell him to get up, he throws attitude at me. I tell him this is our seat, he refuses to budge. I yell at him loudly in Kannada, he looks uncomfortable and sidles out. Me and Osh sit down.

"What the hell. First of all this bus is nothing we expected or paid for! Then this dude tries to grab our seat! What the hell!"
"Seriously MM! No way are we moving from here! We've paid for these seats, we sit in them, thats that!"

Coupla minutes later, drunk very loud, very authoritative conductor comes and tells us in no uncertain terms that we have to get up. I shout again, and look to the window for help from our good for nothing travel agent. He tells me yes yes, we have to get up.

We get up and are led to the front of the bus where drunk rude loud conductor tells us the story.

Our original bus has broken down, travel agent has requested him for four seats on this bus, and out of the kindness of his heart, he has agreed.

Two seats on the bench opposite the driver (which seats four, but which now has to be shared by six)
And two "mission" seats.

"What the hell is that?"
"Ingine ma, ingine."

Two of us'd have to sit on the bloody engine, next to the driver. One can only imagine how burnt our behinds would be after ten hours of that.

We're angry. But we want to get to Pondy. If this is how it has to be done, so be it.
After telling travel agent we'd be back for full refund, we set off, NiceHair on the "ingine", NiceEyes and Osh on the seat, me on Osh's lap.

To my right, pregnant lady, half sitting on husband, half on us, throwing up at regular intervals. Couldnt have been older than any of us. We gave her half our water, she was really grateful. Whispered to me in Tamil, next morning, that her bus stop was coming, and that I should get ready to grab her seat for ourselves before any of the other old hags caught it.

To my left, fat lady in green saree with loads of big big moogbottu and other jewelery, muttering curses at us in Tamil. When I cursed her back in Tamil, she was shocked out of her senses. It felt gooooood. That lady was a real pill. She even hit NiceEyes in the middle of the night. The driver shouted at her then and threatened to throw her off the bus if she didnt start behaving. Real nice chap, he was. Old man, sympathised with us.

NiceHair was stuck with this scheming lady who side-ily came and sat on the engine with her, and refused to get up when Osh decided that her legs were killing her, and that she'd brave the burning engine anyway.
The two of them had to manage on that tiny spot of lava for the last seven hours, in addition to it all, being nudged and pushed around by her.

Bus broke down in the night and we were delayed for half an hour.
We asked sidey lady to shift a little so that Osh had some place to breathe. It wasnt even her goddam seat in the first place for crying out loud.
Pompous old paati sitting behind the driver butts her nose in. This was way too much to take. I yelled at her loudly in Tamil and told her to mind her own business. She shut up. Driver came and peace was restored.

We slept not at all that whole night.

We stopped at 5.30am. But we weren't in Pondy.
We had to take another bus to get there.

The driver was amazing though. I tell you, my knowing Tamil had such benefits. Immediate camaraderie. He didnt let us take the bus the rest were taking, he got us one with seats, and bought us the tickets, advised us to inform the police about this bugger travel agent who took so much money from us, and waved us off, the dear.

What adventures I tell you.
Caught half an hour's shut eye before we finally reached Pondy.
Aaaargh what a journey.

A Random Bit of Jan-Feb

A post scribbled sporadically over Jan and Feb.

____________________________________________________________________

I have to have to have to make a little mention about a small obsession I once had with a band that call themselves McFly. I was in love with them. Yes. Well and truly.
It was Snum who first introduced me to them.
"MM, you have GOT to check out McFly... you know, that non descript band from Just My Luck, the movie starring Lindsay Lohan that we watched in the theatres ages ago and bitched about constantly for months after?"
"Oh them. Pshaw."
"No really. They're hot. Not to mention hilarious."
So I grudgingly went down to YouTube and watched a couple of their vids.
The four of them together are absolutely hilarious. I was in love. With them all.

Now that is all just so January.

Now I'm just in love with Tom Fletcher. I shall marry him one day. Just see if I dont.
Only kidding.
Snum however is still completely insanely madly obsessed with them. Oh my munch, when will you grow out of these crazed fads?

I am also in love with SteandKel. If YOU can understand their accents and think they're hilarious, contact me ASAP!
18.03.07 PS: Their latest video is crap. Try their earlier ones.
____________________________________________________________________

The Exams. Well whatever. I totally messed up sanskrit (would you blame me?) and opt eng. *makes wry face*
Photography everyone finished in one hour. The last half hour Y was turning around and making weird faces at me, there was that much time left and everyone was so bored, the paper was that effortless.
I have a feeling this should really depress me, but Im choosing to let it entertain me, just for now.
___________________________________________________________________

I was still writing during the last fifteen minutes of photography exam, and was much rebuked by classmates for this. I would like to take this opportunity to explain why.
It wasnt because I was attempting all the questions twice, or because I wrote ten pages for each 2 mark question.

The secret is, Im a procrastinator.

There, Ive said it.
If I have two hours to do something, I wont bloody finish it off in the first hour. I'll sit there and crib in my head about how boring it is. I'll sleep. I'll even day dream. And in the last half an hour, I will get to writing.
Its not the best way of doing things, I agree, but it is more challenging. If you finish it all off too early, you dont feel like you've accomplished anything. But if theres this nailbiting finish, and a struggle to finish on time, you feel like you've actually done something at the end of it all.
___________________________________________________________________

The munches are the same way. Thats why our psych stall went up just a little bit late. But we got 20 on 20 for it. Yay! We did do a good job, even if I do say so myself. The topic was what made it really interesting. "
___________________________________________________________________

Su2's birthday. Treated us in that rooftop place the sweetheart. It was fun, except for the puke inducing orange shirts of the world. And the back sprain. And the dude that gave us a bar of chocolate, which Snum promptly put in the little bill book as a tip for the waiter.

Su1's birthday. I like how we were dropped back in style. And how we got to party despite the ban (shh) which I do not think we'll be able to do for a while now. The funnest part was being with the munches, after, before, during. :)
___________________________________________________________________

Jodhaa Akbar was quite nice. I loved the costumes and jewelery *gives girly sigh* And Hrithik *girlier sigh*
Enchanted we watched by mistake, but it wasnt too bad. Osh was unbelievably embarrassing though :D
Jumper was kinda cool. And Hayden Christensen is HOT. I totally enjoyed Shattered Glass.
Osh is obsessed with PS I Love You. Says it brilliantly she does, the munch.

We are all now officially broke.
__________________________________________________________________

Oshsays VIII- Pitching

Some ridiculous conversation:
MM: I think I'd be able to pitch an idea best, if no one was actually listening to me.
Snum: I think I'd be able to pitch an idea best, if I was alone.
Osh: I dont think I'll ever be able to pitch an idea to anyone successfully.
We laughed loudest at Osh.

"'Ooown". Valentine Witch. "Uno momento". Pitch and Volume issues. Red roses. Matching Purple I'd-rather-not-says. Videos and hysterical laughter.

An Oshsay: "MM do you want two five buckses?" *grin*

Weekend with Bestest

It was last weekend, which just goes to show you how lazy I am.
It was the weekend I fell in love.
With a dog named Ceasar, who is a Boxer. By breed, not by profession of course, I'd never be foolish enough to fall in love with a boxing dog.

It wasnt love at first sight, Im afraid. Im not too fond of dogs jumping all over me, so I cowered for a while behind Bestest while she enjoyed feeling all powerful and in control.

After Ceazu quieted down a bit, I began to like him.
In a matter of hours, this like had blossomed into full blown love.

He followed me everywhere. Like Mary's Little Lamb (I was Mary)
Even if he was asleep and snoring, if I walked out the room, he bounded up and pattered along behind me. I was the object of his affections. He kept throwing me adoring looks. I felt so darn loved. Once in the morning he just came over to where I was sitting, placed his head on my knee, and fell asleep.
Which left me in a bit of a predicament actually, because I wanted to get up and go have breakfast, but how cute is that?
I realise he's not the handsomest of dogs, but what do looks matter in the end anyway? Really, Ceazu's like a human. Muah. Darling dog.

Me and Bestest had a top notch time.

Uncoordination.
Daft broom-unknowing supermarket dude.
Pringles: 69 bucks. Expression on Bestest's face as I stuffed my face with them: Priceless.
Melting Hershey's kisses in a saucepan.
Watching them burn.
Devising other methods. Success.
Cream and Fudge Factory Specials, which you get at the Factory for around 100 bucks, but that I can make for under ten. (Contact MM at 23456547)
Stuff off shoulders.
Reading stuff written long long ago :D
Laughing like the hysterical geese we used to be.
Talking about the kind of geese we've become.
Walking. Open field. Strange Christmas carol music.
Staying up till 5.30.

Brilliant way to end those blasted exams. :)

On a completely unrelated note, I called someone a blasted screwt today by mistake. My dad only looked quizzically at me for a minute before letting it go.

Long due post on Class Trip

I know it was a million years ago, but I had to mention here on my blog about how Snum fought with the monkeys.

There were loads of them there at Shivgange. Loads.

At first sight they're all really cute. Sitting in hoards and hugging each other, chit chattering and staring at you with those darling eyes... Awwwww!

But once you've spent a little time with them, you get a little glimpse into the mind of the monkey, and you realise what cruel mindsets these evil simians actually possess.

They stole. Blantantly without any signs of remorse.
Rem's food packet. Grabbed it viciously, left the poor child screaming, went and perched atop a high rock and proceeded to get the raitha all over its face.
Nat's pack of Yummies. While she was feeding them to Basanti, the dog that accompanied us up the hill.

Nat's second pack of Yummies. She tried to fight, but the monkey was too vicious to be reckoned with.

One baby monkey grabbed onto my backpack, while I was wearing it. I'd have liked to make a bigger deal of this, but unfortunately other events took place which far surpassed this one in magnitude.

They fought.
With the dogs. That was entertaining. NOT.

With us, as they tried to DRAG our bags (which were several pounds heavier than themselves) away to their little dens, wherever they are.

They engaged in mortal combat with Snum. (Well not, mortal combat, but bad enough.) First was on top of the mountain when one tried to grab her bag from her. Snum held eye contact with it for 15 minutes. As if daring it to attack her. I just stood on the side muttering prayers and begging Snum to leave it alone. They circled. The monkey hissed. Snum said "Yes, TAKE my bag why dont you? Just try it you furry little midget." At least, thats what I imagine she said, she was talking under her breath. The monkey soon realised the bag was not worth all this trouble and left Snum alone.

The second incident was much scarier. As we were leaving the place halfway up where we'd stopped to eat, a monkey who was busy eating someone's left over rice (which it had stolen no doubt) was much upset by a line of us who all by mistake trampled over its cuisine. At some point this all became too much for the monkey. Unfortunately that particular point was the point when Snum had, laughing and talking with the person behind her, just placed one foot gingerly on the rice. The enraged monkey with a blood curdling squeak hurled itself forward and BIT SNUM ON THE ANKLE. The next thing you'd expect is for Snum to have squealed in shock, or yelled in surprise, or started crying. But no, in the blink of an eye, and in a completely unprecedented move, Snum turned around, bent over and yelled "That bloody hurt you asshole!" into the monkey's face, much to the shock and later amusement of everyone around. The monkey leapt backward and continued hissing. Images of this incident are etched in my memory permanently. Snum turned out to be okay, and did NOT need rabies shots thank you very much.

Oh and also, we were almost attacked by a swarm of bees.

Other than that, a nice pleasant trip.
And now I must abruptly end, and go and attempt to mug up that crazed text book the gormless lady set us in a desperate hope to pass tomorrow's exam.

A Random Bit of December

It was a squeeze, but I JUST managed to finish everything on time. Did I stay up till 5.30 in the morning trying to finish the assignments? Was I so dead sleepy in college that I fell asleep while walking to the main gate and had to be picked up and slapped by grumbling friends? Did I have to refuse to go party that night for fear of dying from exhaustion? Why, of course not. *disapproving look*

This 13th hour thing. It's a disease.

___________________________________________________________________

You know how when you're lying down and talking to someone who's sitting up, their chin looks like a nose? And their lower lip looks like an upperlip, and their upper lip looks like a lower lip? And its like there's a face on the bottom half of their real face upside down? And you cant concentrate on what they're saying to you because you're too busy laughing hysterically at the whole charade? No?
Snum does. Thank god I found Snum.
___________________________________________________________________

Message Snum sent me today evening: I am not talking to you ever again. I dislike you immensely. You should go jump off the nearest pole. Climb it... then jump off it.

The reason: I know not. Minor, I'm sure.

Despite these small glitches, Snum and I are best friends.
___________________________________________________________________

I was felicitated. Or as they said "facilitated". For topping the class last sem. (Woo hoo! :)) Nice function it was. Parents were mighty impressed with the state of the art audi and lights and effects and campus and all. Full vaaaav! they were.
But very disappointing was the voucher. From Titan eye+.
Five hundred rupees off on Titan Eye+ goods.
Blah. I know.
Wait there's more.
You only get the discount on purchasing items for Rs 2000 or more.
Talk about crazy. And wait...
No discount on accessories and all. No cool sunglasses, watches and all that.
Only eye glasses :|
So if you dont have power, first develop power (by March 2008, when coupon will expire), then spend Rs 2000 and avail your 500 rupees off discount.

What did you get for topping, MM? Oooo, a chance to spend 1500 bucks from my own pocket, for a pair of glasses I just don't need!
Vaav!

Me, Monkeychild and Other MM had nice time complaining, and taking crazy photos.
___________________________________________________________________

No Birds only in Birds park today. I consider it improvement.
___________________________________________________________________

I notice I am talking very colloquially. Or as gormless lady pronounces it, collokwially.
___________________________________________________________________

Gormless Lady didnt give attendance for this felicitation thing. What the hell.

Also, she says
MoreEVER for MoreOVER

and she says it a lot.

And during attendance she calls out numbers 11 71, 11 72, 11 75 as
"Len senty vun...
Len senty to...
Len senty-fy..."

More reasons why she should be burned at the stake.
___________________________________________________________________

I am for some reason reminded of my seventh standard maths teacher... one of the many we had that year. She had big teeth and she sat on the table not at it. We hated her.
One of her particularly famous dialogues: "Either you will simplify, or I will make you to simplyFLY out of the class."
:|
___________________________________________________________________

Have you seen that video of the baby laughing everytime it tears a sheet of paper? :D
I've been laughing like that a lot lately, its so much fun, and its doing me a world of good.
___________________________________________________________________

We're all Going On A...

We're going to Goa! We're going to Goa! We're going to Goa! *Runs around in circles screaming and waving hands like a mad person*


*Stops*

The three of us for five days.
It is going to be like, so awesome.
*screams excitedly*
___________________________________________________________________

In other news, the English-killing gormless lady's paper is over! Torturous it was, really. Especially because I wasnt well the last night, planned to get up at five and study, ended up waking at 8.45 and having to rush there without having studied a thing, and entered the exam hall 20 minutes late, with a headache. The paper was a mess. Urgh. Came back home and flung my unread notes aside. My mum picked them up in amusement. Couple of minutes later she was in hysterics. She has newfound pity for me when talk to her of my language class woes.
The English notes were incomprehensible. Made absolutely no sense.
But anyway, its over! I wish I could say it was my last, but at least I can say its my last but one. How I will celebrate at the end of fourth semester when I can give the whole darn thing up.
___________________________________________________________________

Also, I just thought I'd mention how unnerving it is when your parents talk about you as if you arent around. Mine do that a lot. In the car especially when we're driving to the occasional function or family get-together. This morning as we're driving to one, they're sitting there and talking.
I mean, just because I'm in the back seat, doesnt mean I've gone completely stone deaf.

"Youngsters these days. Mrs so and so at the lab was telling me how she cant afford to depend on any of the younger crowd for anything. They're married to their phones. The phone is always a priority for them. Always."
"And they're never on time. What's the difficulty in getting there at the time specified?"
"My friend was telling me how her daughter leaves her clothes all about the place. Its the same thing with MM. She just leaves her things where ever she wants to and I have to pick up after her."
"If they'd only look at their watches from time to time, thats all I'm asking."
"If you tell them, they get angry with you. Hypersensitive."

And I just sat there listening in amusement. Maybe they're trying to tell me something.

Nah, that couldnt be it.

And What a Weekend it Was

Happy Birthday Osho our sweet munchy-kin! Yay! Its one memorable 20th.
A budget of 40 bucks!! Su1's amazing.
Snum, it would take forever for me to do what I so confidently earlier said I would.
How about keywords?

Huh? Whats that?
Yes, yes I am brilliant, thanks.

Keywords:
Bottle. Snake. Shudder.
Eardrums. Killed. Hoerrible Makeup. (I can see you laughing Snum, I can see you.)
"Now they know that we wear shoes too!"
Goa, Mangalore.
The garishly yellow godsend.
"Because its illegal"
Desmond Dilema.
Cheese toast. Talk. A small amount of sleep. Breakfast. More talk. A great deal of laughing.
The end.

There how was that?
Pathetic, pathetic, yes I know. Doesnt even remotely descibe it properly. But what can you do?

Oooo and then I had a lovely day spent with Springy stepped. :) Ah, that was fun and should be done more often. :)

Psyched

Guess what I did.
Go on, guess. (This blog is interactive.)

Ok, so we have our psychology exam right? Well, I havent studied at all. Much. 10.30- 11.20pm the night before, and 7.30- 8.20 am on the morning of it.
So anyway, surprisingly, I'm not freaked. I'm just not bothered. It was probably some kind of psychoanalytical defense mechanism. Repression, I suppose. I got up at 6am. Knew I hadnt studied. Yet forced myself to sleep again. It was only at 7.30 that I actually realised, not in full magnitude, but slightly, how I hadnt studied for an exam that was happening in a matter of 2 hours.
Anyway, I get there, sit in the exam hall and everything. And I'm drawing lines. Margins. We are explicitly instructed to by our teachers. Anyway, the booklet is huge. Its taking forever. I begin to daydream whilst I draw (which can undoubtedly be explained by Arousal Theory of Motivation).

Suddenly, I am awakened from my Passive State of Light Consciousness, and I notice that no one around me is drawing lines. They're all scribbling furiously.
But we havent got the paper yet! I think.
I wonder why they're taking so long to fill up the info on the first page. I sit and watch in fascination as Sk writes. (She keeps her mouth open in a rather fascinating manner as she writes, its fun to watch, you should sometime.)
I stare around for 5 minutes. Out the window, at Rampaging Bull's dupatta (which is a scream of vibrant colours that kept me hypnotised for a bit). Then realise everyone's still writing.

I get a little perturbed when I glimpse something that looks like a question paper in front of Sk.
I point at it and whisper. "Question Paper?"
She looks up, mouth still open, and nods.
"Yours?" I ask, stupidly.
Mouth still open, nods.

I look around for mine. On the table, floor, my lap. It nowhere.
Then I realise I havent got it. Desperately signal to the invigilator to give me one.
He looks confused. Apparently, he is not adept at Common Sense Sign Language.

"Ay, what you want man?" (I'm not one, but I let it pass)
"Question Paper sir."
"Where is yours ya?"
" I...uh... dont have one sir." (apologetic tone... it works wonders with teachers like these)
"Dont have eh?" he says as he bustles around trying to find the extra.

Meanwhile, I check my watch to see how much time I'd lost.
My watch says that its 2:43.
Not very helpful.

The invigilator bustles up with a rather reprimanding look on his face.
"What ya? Cant tell or what?"
"I didnt ...erm... realise... sir" I falter
"Its 9.45 ya!"
More faltering.
"Okay. Its alright. I'll give you 10 minutes extra"

A smothered giggle from TheQuickOne.
People in the vicinity are mighty entertained.
With a quick blush at my ridiculousness, I look down and begin scribbling.

How did I not realise people were getting the question papers? How could I have missed that? Where was I? Did I black out or something? Was I transported to some different dimension for that brief space of time? Abducted by aliens?
Seriously.
Whatever happened?