Headset on?  Listening to music

Eyes closed? Sleeping

Meeting? Busy

Slim? Weak

G? Loadsa money

SLR? Great photos

Analytics? Complicated

Got any to add?

While we are all busy looking back over the year gone by, here’s my holiday calendar for 2009. I finally (!) got the confirmed list of holidays for 2009 And couldn’t wait to see how 2009 holiday scenario would be… the best bet is end of September I will be updating this as the days go by and let’s see what this looks like at the end of 2009! Did I survive, where did I go and how much of India did I see…

@ Pranav, thanks for the idea of marking travels on calendar – I didn’t realise the extent of 2008 travel until I did that

PS: If you didn’t know, you can share and/or embed your Google Calendar

And each man kills the thing he loves,
By all let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword.
(The Valkyries)

What do you think?

I hear the rain and soon the power goes off. Dark. Quiet. I hear the rain a lot clearer, the thunder too! The lightning is brighter – no artificial light to pollute the scene. I stand at the door and watch – the rain I can hear but not see, the lightning I see but can’t hear, the buildings bright at a distance, the neon lights burning atop the building on the main road, the headlight odd vehicle lighting up the street below, the headlights of vehicles on another road leave designs on another wall…

…just another night to go, and I’d be gone…the building would get taller, the lights brighter…

… CMC, Vellore was a part of life

…I sat watch over someone dear – I got to know what it’s like when you just can’t do anything to make things better

…I finished school – got out with 84%

… It was my first month in college

… I travelled long distance alone, for the first time!

… I didn’t have an email address :O [crazy, but true!]

…I don’t remember spending time online at all!

That’s the year of 1998!

Two things prompted this post – one, I found the Visitor card used in CMC and, two, I’d written Aug 22, 98 in my Bible [most probably, the day I got it!]

So, what were you doing?

When a language which is the primary tongue of 30% of the nation is made the “national language,” you are gonna have to face the 70% – After moving to Hyderabad, I get reactions ranging from polite, curious questions to ridicule when I ask people to stick to English.

Well, for some of us, learning Hindi is not a choice – for others, Hindi is not a choice. Yes, I grew up in places where you heard Hindi only on Doordarshan (nowadays, cable TV too) and where schools offered just two languages – Tamil, English. Even in schools that offered a third language, it was French (because it was easy?) or another Dravidian language.

Yes, I know that isn’t great – but, you know, I didn’t get to set the rules when I was in school. It isn’t bad at work – though, people tend to assume you know Hindi! I think the first time I had a problem big-time was when I went out for a trip with this group – and they were speaking in Telugu/Hindi. Well, there was at least one person who took the time and effort to speak to me (in English) – may his tribe increase. The sad part, though, was that most of them didn’t care – and, worse, at least one person knew that my Hindi isn’t fluent!

In fact, it was worse than being out on the road. Do you know why? Because, when a conductor, bus driver, or shopkeeper realises that I don’t know the language, they try their best to use the simplest of words and use English if they know. Also, I am not trying to build relationships there – I manage to get what I want and I will get going. However, when you go out as a group, you are trying to get to know them – where language matters all the more.

After such an experience, quite naturally, I spoke about it to a couple of people and got some suggestions, including reply in Tamil   – now, that’s gonna be fun!

The other day, when I couldn’t sleep, I was searching for more information on India and the languages in this country. Not surprisingly:

“Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; there are 21 other official languages: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanscrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu” [source]

So, the next time you think of saying “Arre, national language – how can you not know?” – ask yourself if you are a hockey player.

Got it?

July so far…

For the first time in the last 2 years, my parents wanted me to stay longer!!
I sat for an exam after a long, long time – Went to Loyola for the first time :O
Someone said ‘my training session was the only one that didn’t put him to sleep’ – oops!
I went to Jog Falls again, trekked again and got drenched again – what was different: lesser water, harder trek thanks to the gaping holes along the trail [I am still fuming at the idea of building concrete steps to the very end].. and, how can I forget the heavier bag+camera this time!
AC compartment in Indian Railways – claustrophobic!
I got to take a whole load of pictures of 7 sweet puppies – and then cry when one of them died less than 2 weeks later!

And, most recently, I am broke – big time! My bank balance is an all-time low and will remain so for the next 30 days!

Over the past few weeks, there have been a number of things I wanted to write about, but could never get myself to write! I’ve been happy, sad, miserable, bored …and everything in between. In the midst of it all, I’ve thought I got to post at least a dozen times – and I never got around to do that! Same thing with photography – I want to experiment with the bunch of new filters I’ve got – but never did!

Something flipped over today – don’t ask me what, coz I don’t know. Oh! Please don’t build castles either!

This evening was one of those days when I sit ‘n wonder what’s happening around me – too many things moving at the same time – feels like I am caught in a whirlwind…and then, had a pleasant surprise – a friend I’ve known for a long, long time came by. It was a much needed break – the chat, the jokes… sometimes, it is the little things that make a big difference!

Anyways, came home – took my camera out and did some experimenting – hope it gets better from now on…

It’s 11:34pm and I should be sleeping… I will, soon!

…my silver springs… playing in the background….

It’s one of those days when random thoughts try to mar a perfect day….

I like this place – I didn’t expect myself to and now it’s leaving me a li’l disturbed (?). I miss home but I don’t call – If I do, I’d run out of things to say in a few mins…I don’t call friends each day – I miss them too!

There are things I do and things I don’t – not every thing’s right! That’s the hardest part I guess – to accept that the crappy part belongs to me, to know that I could say mean things, to know that I could mess up someone for life… to know that ‘sorry’ has a limited reach….
Time for me to stop, lest I say something I shouldn’t!

Note: Ya, am tempted to delete this post but then….I hit Publish!

The word that does not always get a response
The word that does not always get the right response

I wonder why, I wonder how, I wonder what made you think the way you did
I wish I knew, I wish I had the answer.
But, there are things beyond comprehension.

I wonder if I will ever know!