Beni-imo Matsuri!!

Today my friend Sawako, and her two friends Masumi and Chisato, left. They came from Okinawa to visit India in the winter vacations. Due to my exam, I wasn't able to accompany them on their trips to Varanasi, Agra, and Rajasthan. Nor could I show them around Delhi because the day set apart for Delhi sightseeing was 3 days before the exam! So I was quite a bad host in a way! But I would hope, I still helped them have as good a trip as was possible in the short duration of 10 days.

They brought Okinawan treats for me and my family... Beni-imo goodies!!!

Awamori-tinged chocolate Shiisa anyone?

Ah! It's impossible to believe its been barely five months since my return! I miss Oki!!

Happy New Year!!

Heylows!

The New Year has kicked in with a serious stomach upset! I think I might be heading towards what has been described by Chiye as the Worst Diet Ever!! But anyhow.... updates:

UGC NET went disastrously. It is the world's biggest sham! Worse than my scooter license test! At least there I could pass after willfully failing it! This thing... God only knows how to get it out of the way! The Exam consists of three papers. The first paper is general for all and includes questions on logical reasoning, research methodology, comprehension passages etc. Easy if you have normal brains.... unless brought face to face with a question like:

What should logically follow in this series : 4, 16, 36, 64, ?
a) 300 b) 200 c) 100 d) 150

If you answered c) you are wrong. At least according to UGC who give this in their syllabus as an example test question. They say its a). I don't know how, maybe someone can explain to me?

Then, there is paper 2. 50 Multiple choice questions from the history of English Literature. Could be any random question, from any random book. Which novel by Graham Greene has a little girl character, Brigitta?

Honestly, it felt like I knew nothing when question after question, I couldn't be sure of the answers! Gave me the inferiority complex of a lifetime... what am I studying English Literature for if I can't answer 50 multiple choice questions with absolute certainty!!!

Paper 3 was still better... its subjective type questions on English Literature. I could answer those fine enough! But whats the use? If you can't clear Paper 1 and 2, the 3rd one isn't even checked!!

I am so disillusioned with the whole thing! And this is the test when one clears it, one is qualified to teach at college level! Disgraceful! It makes no sense whatsoever. Having the NET cannot make anyone a good teacher, but you can't teach if you don't have it! Ugh! its so frustrating!! This was my 4th attempt, and I shall give it once more in June, and if it doesn't happen, then I wont even bother with it anymore! My Dad and Mom can say whatever they like. I don't care. I worked so hard this time, but what's the use? They expect the impossible! It used to be mandatory a year ago, and now that it's not, people say its become more difficult. That's true enough, the 1st time I ever gave it, I remember it being much easier. We could remember the questions of Paper 2 and even the options when discussing it with each other, but this time, I could bare recall five, they were so obscure!

My parents picked me up after the exam as we had to go see Babaji (my grandfather). He just had an operation. He's doing fine, so no worries. He is diabetic and its a problematic thing to be when one is old...

My parents had to meet some people, so my sis and I went to a mall nearby while they met up. It is like a different world altogether. Enter a mall in Delhi and it is very hard to believe you are in Delhi. This one was in Noida, called the Great India Place. These malls have everything under the sun, and more. You name it, they have it here. Its quite overwhelming... And it reaffirms my belief that we are living in very interesting times, and in developing economies like ours, the markets can swing our culture either way - to great heights or plummeting dumps.

Photos follow later!

latest

haircut...
yes, my long tresses (???) are gone. I am back to looking the way I did two year ago (well, almost!). I cut my hair really short so that I could donate them for kids with cancer. I still have them, will post them off as soon as I get time for a breather!

Gosh, I am swamped with work. Have a short paper due to be presented on Friday, 14 December (Gah! only a week and no work done!) And then I have another due Tuesday, 18 December. Also, the UGC NET has thankfully been re-scheduled from 16 Dec to 30 Dec. Otherwise I'd have been severely screwed! It is crucial that I clear the NET this time, or else my dad will disown me, or I shall run away from home under the parental pressure! How come I haven't done so yet is a mystery that a team of Poirot, Holmes, Miss Maple et al cannot solve!

What else do I have to tell you?? mmmm..... ah yes. I went to this amazing place call Choko La at Khan Market with my friends a few days back, when poro was here. It was steep for our poor student wallets, but we managed! We ordered the Greek salad, a type of hot cocoa I don't remember the name of, and the most delightful choco-fondue platter. It was the best! Fruits and other goodie with hot chocolate sauce. the cupcake simply disappeared in one's mouth, and we all were making orgasmic sounds much to the embarrassment of the uncle sitting nearby! (hahahah!) Isa felt overdosed with chocolate, but I was only left hungry for more, and ever since have been dreaming of going back there!

And today was my parent's 31st anniversary. We went out to eat pizza. (O Yes, I did think of making them take me n di to Choko La, but it was too far and three of us came back home after 8pm! So, it wasn't possible to go there without dying of hunger!)

I am sure I have more news, but I cannot remember at this moment for the life of me! so, *yawn* shall retreat into me shell for the night....

until later..... bye

swastika

This is one of the many broken old tables from the Central Reference Library, now kept on the roof housing a small canteen. This canteen exists to cater to the hungry research scholars who spend countless hours in the library underneath.

But, isn't the resemblance to the swastika uncanny and eerie?

Where in the world is JR?

hello, my dear friends! I am back, out from my little shell... sorry have been gone so long... did u miss me? :) well, many reasons why I retreated into silence...

1. I was really sick, having eating loads of tamarind one night, my throat was jammed next morning. And then my illness kept mutating or something... ended up with a flu like never before. Maybe its also my low immune system since coming from the clean environs of Okinawa.
   
2. I had absolutely nothing to say. Its true! It seemed like my life was so boring that I had nothing to say. (Actually, it didn't seem so, it was so!)
   
3. Poro, my more-than-soul-sister-Friend came for a short stay. The days went by so fast. Spending time with her meant that I never felt the need to sit and write on ze blog.
   
4. Deadline. to submit my long paper proposal. Which has been approved without much trouble (Yippee!) I went mad thinking of some new and original topic from the contemporary Indian Art scene and English writing of modern India.
   
5. I honestly had nothing to say! (Wait I have said that before!)

Diwali

Shopping

Diwali is coming up in a few days, so I went shopping with my mom, sis and Masi (mum's sister). We bought lots of candles and wax diye; Diwali gift packs to give to friends and family; I got rangoli colours - have decided I shall make a rangoli outside home. I forgot to get any firecrackers - but that's good because I want to do my little part against child labour. We still have to get earthen-ware diye, will get them on Wednesday. And we are all set to celebrate Diwali.

Shopping in Delhi is an interesting affair. Of course you enter the market after breaking free from a traffic jam. There is absolutely no space on the roads, because the shopkeepers have extended their tables and ware much beyond the limits of the sidewalk (if one exists in the first place!) and busy shoppers throng the market areas blocking whatever road remained!! Then vehicles keep whizzing by much to the danger of the shoppers. They sometimes honk a warning and it adds to the already existing cacophony of shop owners yelling to their staff, the staff yelling to the customers, the customers yelling to their kids, and the kids yelling just because.

Thank God for aspirin! :)

Then the items on Display. One couldn't find the worst possible colour combinations and cheap plastic ornaments in this world elsewhere. The usual flies and bees get attracted by the dry fruits and nuts placed out in the open. The candles were mainly eyesoringly bright coloured, of the most ugly designs and the Aroma candles choked the very life-breath out of one! The shop, from where I got rangoli colour, was selling a sticker rangoli - a big sticker that you stick on the floor! It was disturbingly ugly and my mom even dared risking my fury to ask me if I wanted to get it!! From all this it was interesting to dig out the nice stuff - which existed nonetheless!

Ah! what a sight it is! And I haven't even visited the big malls and shopping centers yet! God only knows what they must be like! For now, thanks to my well known hate for 'going shopping', I shall be spared the torture of the Malls and will be extremely satisfied with the local market nearby!

Quarter Century!!

Gaahh! I am old! Panic! Distress! Trauma! The Horror, the Horror!

Dramatics aside! IT wasn't too bad. Of course the real celebration will come when Poro's in town. But, for now, I was satisfied with a trip to the Oxford Bookshop and ordering pizzas for dinner!

Didn't do anything extraordinaire... Didn't have to cut a cake ...and no birthday presents!!! :) so in all it was normal, just the way I would want my birthday to be! (no sarcasm, seriously! (HONESTLY! I mean it without irony - I think you still don't believe me!))

In the night, at 12, I got a call from my girls - Paroma and Isa. then slept reading 'The Great Indian Novel'. In the morning, I woke up coz of many phone calls and wishes. showered with cold water coz the water tanks were being cleaned. couldn't decide what to wear so wore un-ironed clothes. was late in leaving home. went to class. met Aditi at the Dept. then a trip to CP n Oxford with Anuja. Got Di's examination card for JLPT from New Delhi House and came back home. ordered pizza and checked emails etc. then slept. nothing special.

Just bought myself two books - Shantaram and The New Life. I really wanted Snow, but it wasnt available. I have wanted to read Shantaram for some time now. And I ordered The Trotter Nama. Will get it in a few days. I also finally got the membership for Oxford Bookshop, so I can get points each time I buy a book and then redeem them later. Everytime I went there, it so happened, a sale would be on, and they don't let you become a member during a sale.

When I checked all the facebook wishes, it was soo.... how shall I put it... eye-opening? ...nice, flattering! Thank you all! It was those many msgs that made the day special! :)

Laika

I read a newspaper article about the space dog Laika today. About her tragic fate. while reading I started crying. She was a stray, picked up from the streets and chosen among three dogs to become one of (if not THE most) famous dogs ever in human history. And even though she became special, she still died - the proverbial - dog's death! "Terrified by the roar and the vibration of the engines, the dog lurched desperately to free itself [perhaps from the chains that held her in place] as the rocket took altitude, its heart racing at three times normal speed." (TOI) What makes it all the more indignant is how this little mutt was the center of a political game. In a race to hurl insults at America, USSR may have paved the way to space travel but at the cost of a dog's life!

I vividly remember when I first heard about Laika. I was a little girl and we lived in our joint family house then. It was late at night, all had gone to bed, but my sister was still studying and I as usual was pestering her and asking what she was reading. And then Di told me that she was reading about a dog. She then read me the story and I remember asking her why did they send Laika in space if they couldn't bring her back! I remember wanting to pet and hug the poor creature. I remember trying to remember her name.

I never forgot the name. But I had forgotten the story.

Pardons

for the previous post. For those (perhaps most of you) who don't listen to heavy metal, it was the lyrics to Seplutura's 'Straighthate'... just seemed apt for how I felt at that time! I didn't get to go see Sepul perform, thanks to Mom's Law:

Thou shalt not go to Rock Concerts late at night all by thyself!

So there goes my highlight for the year since coming back to Delhi! And there are 4 days till my quarter century. That should be a blast! hahaha. *dry sacrastic laughter*


Apart from all this cribbing... (I should rename my blog "The Cribbing Chronicles") I have nothing to say.


so I shall post a pic that has no reason whatsoever to be here....

present mood :(

I ask myself why I'm so hatefulMaybe it's just part of my naturePeople say I'm fucked it in my mindFeels like there's nothing left insideWalking now on different dirty streetBut the same old feeling still existsHate is like a shade that won't never leaveLeave me alone I don't need sympathyWhat goes aroundComes aroundYou going downDownStraighthate - StraighthateStraighthate - StraighthateCriticize and call me negativeBut you never deal with life or realityI separate myself from the restWhat da fuck you expect ?

flux

the season is changing... there is that crispness in the air I always associate with Diwali*... in the morning you wake up because its chilly... fans are not needed any more... distant sounds can be heard since there is no humming and whirring of machines to overwhelm those distant sounds... there is peace and calm on the earth... and the sun's rays are soothing.

Winters are coming, and though I am not highly keen about them, I am really looking forward to Diwali. This year it will be so different. I wont be spending it at the hostel with friends. There wont be any chaos of the huge ISHW Diwali Parties, no rangoli** to make and no sari to wear. I shall be at home, lighting a few diyas*** and maybe getting forced into prayer. wonder what it will be like? smokey and choking or bright and uplifting!

* Diwali is a festival of lights, celebrated for the victory of evil forces by the 'good' lord Ram (an incarnation of Vishnu).
** Rangoli is a pattern made with powdered colour on the floor for puposes of decoration.
*** Diya is a small earthenware lamp in which a cotton wick burns in mustard oil.

update

nothing too awesome has been going on in my life... i am usually at home, except when I have to run to a library for material on my papers... or when i have to run to class to listen to other papers. In the interim, i have TV, which my mom keeps on perpetually watching the plethora of singing/dancing/standup comedy competitions (Indianised versions of American Idol/dancing with the Stars and Last Comic Standing etc...) (I will perhaps refrain from my peeves on those for another blog!)

I also have for my own entertainment - apart from the internet - my old mobile phone, on which I am trying to get the highest possible score on the game Snakes! I have reached 1572 till date.

If I am not reading/studying or playing Snakes, it is so because I am cleaning, cooking, doing errands for my mom who has broken her right hand wrist bone.

But the past few days, I had been staying up all night trying to complete my paper on comedy and the artist - Bhupen Khakhar and G. V. Desani. ...the night is always peaceful enough for me to concentrate.... my paper's done and over with, but I have no way of telling whether it was good or bad as my faithful critic, my bff, wasn't there. She was unable to return to Delhi, as she was taking care of her mom as well! It was also her birthday yesterday....

my next blog might be my paper, which I still have to write out.... (I just presented it with extensive notes, rather than reading it out...)

I have another paper coming up on Tuesday, and of course I am completely unprepared. I had prioritized this last paper and it had been postponed twice. I would have had it a month back under the normal timetable! So now my paper on Postmodernism will be a shoddy affair.... I know I have 2 days.... but technically I don't. Today is Dushera - a hindu festival, and relatives will be coming over. I should be sleeping right now, instead of blogging! how will I wake up early in the morning and help mom and di cook/clean etc.?

And on Monday, I have to go and meet my bff, perhaps celebrate her belated birthday. And I need to buy a ticket too. Sepultura are coming to DElhi!!!! AaaaaaH! This will perhaps be the highlight of this year in Delhi for me! (Apart from crossing me quarter century on earth - and i shudder to think about that!)

So thats my update, bye-dee-bye, gotta sleep now...

in the class, once upon a time...

won't you look and say its fit
how on tubelights birdies sit
having fun while making chicks
as our time does slowly tick

just a question asked and we
discuss it, ask it, endlessly
Insanity we have achieved
collective minds completely sieved

Fate brought the Ghost to him
Asked Revenge, the chances dim
delaying with the question most
Rosencrantz stands at the post

All of them sometime must fall
the Skull shall consume us all

(Do you remember, Nandu? Sitting in the most boring class ever, when I wrote this, in college? seems like ages ago. or no maybe just like yesterday. Time was never linear in our worlds, was it? )

...I just found this... in my ole notebook! What title should I give it? Any suggestions anyone?

my treasure trove

Yesterday, I finally mustered up the courage to sort through and organise some of the souvenirs of my year in Okinawa. I had been postponing this process, for obvious reasons... I didn't want to reorganise them as it would mean that that part of my life was finally over and done with and I'd have to put them away in a box and keep them until the next spring cleaning, when I would throw away the least important of those items (or maybe not... I'd just look at them and keep them away again.)

{I know I am childish and silly about these things, but little things mean so much more to me than anything else!}

The box contained:

the pretty seashells and sea glass pieces I collected;
my JET Diary where I jotted down every single days activity at school/otherwise;
my Okinawa notebook, which contained info about Oki, words of Oki-ben, places to visit in Oki. etc;
my keitai and battery (which can't work in India since I need a step-down converter first);
my Inkan, official and the special Hello Kitty one with the kanji Ayumi found of my name;
the glass art photo frame I made at the Nago Glass factory;
Yaeyama Star Sand vials;
the lavender potpourri from Minami-Furano (Motobu's sister town) that the BoE gave me;
goya and Blue Manta keitai thingies;
the I(heart)沖縄 of leftover clay when making Shiisas;
the Kanehide point card and other cards from various cafes;
the felt paper badges I made with the special ed. students of Kamimotobu Chugakko;
the wisdom tooth I finally had wisdom to get removed while I was there;
the Khajinho miniature Okinawan-shirt coasters that Shoko gave me;
the bracelet Minako stayed up all night making before Dave, I n John left;
the various purikura done over the year;
the novel purikura with Ayumi's funky camera;
the towel Saori san gave me, dyed with Fukugi tree leaves as a symbol to protect me as those trees protect Okinawa in typhoons;

Oh Gosh, I cant go on...