Honestly....Honored!! :)

So Rajalakshmi presented me with the Honest Scrap Award AND tagged me.

The rules are:

“When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to the said person so everyone knows she/he is real. Choose a minimum of seven (7) blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have seven friends. Show the seven random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with Honest Weblog. Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon. List at least ten (10) honest things about yourself. Then pass it on!”

Thanks a lot Raji

So here are 10 honest things about me...

1) I love the sound of my own voice. Most of the times I just talk aimlessly without actually having anything to talk about. And I can talk rubbish for HOURS and not get tired. A coupla days back I saw this movie called “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” where Jim Carrey says “Constantly talking is NOT communicating”. I am like that sometimes. I don’t actually convey anything but will continuously keep talking. But that does not mean I am not a good listener. I can be a very good listener too.

2) I have this constant need to be in two places at the same time, to do two things at the same time. Nothing satisfies me. When I was in IT I wanted to do journalism, now that I am doing journalism I want to do adventure sports or biking or something. Hmmm. Maybe I will do that some day :-)

3) Don’t kill me but I ACTUALLY like the movie "Mujhse Dosti Karoge" and I have seen that movie ummm 3 times and find the part in the end where the sindoor aligns itself properly on Rani Mukherji’s head HILARIOUS. :rolling eyes:

4) Maybe this makes me sound like a saint (which I am NOT BTW) but I cannot say No to people, friends especially. I know this sounds terrible but I d rather lie than say no to a friend. (Ok!! I had to be honest right?)

5) I cry VERY easily. :P. No Honest. I am sure all my close friends would breathe a sigh of relief when they read this because I am FINALLY being honest about this. :P. My tear taps are always hyper active. I cry for a LOT of movies (and for every movie that I cry for I declare it’s the only movie I have cried for :P), I cry when I read books, blogs (literature can really move me, really), I cry when I listen to a particular kind of music, I cry when I think of the fact that my grandmother and parents are becoming old and ohhhh I cry for a lot of other things which I am rather embarrassed to mention. But I am particular about who sees me crying. I prefer to cry alone or when I am with people from my first circle in my circles of trust. :-)

6) My General Knowledge is pathetic. Yesterday I was asked to write about the elections which happened in Japan. I didn’t even know they had had an election recently, I didn’t know if Japan was a democracy or a regime or a communist state or if it was ruled by a man or woman let alone the name. I find this extremely shameful given the fact that I want to be a journalist and I don’t know shit about current affairs.

7) I talk a lot to myself. I have always had that habit. I talk when I am walking alone on the road, going in a bus/train etc. It helps me sort out a lot of stuff when I am talking with myself and since I am a HUGELY impulsive person it really helps to have someone to talk to instantly who will tell me what I am doing is wrong. My conscience is much wiser than I am. There times when I have drafted a mail (I shall refrain from revealing its contents :P) and then talked to myself with the mouse hovering over the send button and then eventually clicked on cancel and have been extremely grateful about that.

8) For a girl, I eat very very well. Close friends know my summer menu/winter menu. :P. Both my sister and I eat considerably well. I think it’s just the way amma/paati brought us up. One thing which we were never refused when we were children was food and there always seemed to be enough food at home to feed an army. As a result of which we have phenomenal appetites which can be kind of tough when we visit homes of people with normal appetites and I feel like Oliver Twist asking “Can I have some more please”. I can eat 4 chapatis and rice and dal and curd rice and ice cream. I relish good food but I usually never complain about bad food. I was hugely overweight till a couple of years back.

One of the biggest jokes in the family (about me obviously) is that once we went to a restaurant when I was a kid and after eating quite well I apparently looked around and asked “no thayir sadam?”. And another one was when we went to this beautiful lake called Pichavaram near Chidambaram when I was a five, our boat capsized, got caught in quick sand and we had to swim our way to the shore and after reaching the shore the first thing I said was “I am hungry, when are we eating?” :P. These are my parents’ favorite anecdotes at family get togethers even NOW. Sighh. Parents.

9) I find it very very difficult to trust people and lest you think its because of my "PAST" relationships or some shit rest assured its nothing like that. I am just cynical when it comes to trusting people. I talk with everyone but trust very very few people. It takes some time before I can allow people inside my circles of trust.

10) I am a very very superficial person. Meaning I have no depth. Errr.. not to say I am 2D. It’s just that I can’t think profound thoughts or appreciate deep stuff. Slap it on my face and I will understand it, sugar coat it or try to give it to me indirectly and the expression on my face will make Moose in Archie Comics look like Albert Einstein. This is the primary reason why Alchemist never made any sense to me. I mean all the while I knew he was trying to tell me something but not directly and hence I never understood or appreciated it. I love PG Wodehouse/ RKN/ Roald Dahl/ Archer/ James Herriott/ Bill Bryson because they say it like it is. For me book reading is a pleasure activity. I d die if I have to interpret each and every line and find newer meanings every time I read it.

Phew!! That’s done. Was fun doing it :-) and following are the people I tag. (I cant think of 7 people to tag)

Amilie - coz I always tag her!!

Karthik - he last updated during his birth as Shakuni uncle of the Kauravas :P

Arun - He has been so busy doing carics i really want to read stuff written by him!! :)

Taaaaaaaaaaaaag!! :)

Been tagged by Milinta with this rather nice tag I should say. I liked doing it!! :) because I have been really busy and have not been blogging at all (Mr.Chitragupta stop noting all this down. I am just kidding!! :-\). Anyway here goes!! :)

The tag:
Two questions in each category answer them and then tag your friends from the blog-o-sphere. (Simple enough right) Leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged and you are all set.

Yesterday

Your oldest memory

Date : August 26^th 1992 – Madras – JYM Kalyana Mandapam

Partners in crime: Shruthi – age 6

      Preethi – age 9

      Ramya – age 8

Occasion: my uncle’s wedding

Circs: now JYM kalyana mandapam has two floors. Generally the girl’s family gets the ground floor and the boy’s family gets the first floor. Ground floor is sad. It is teeming with mothers who are always thinking that kids below the age of 9 will be up to no good, or teeming with relatives who want to wrench your chubby cheeks off saying “Preethi kutti Shruthi kutti, mama kalyanathukku vandhirkella?” (no. we are 6 and 9 year old suicide bombers planning to bomb this place. Duh-huh?? What else would we be here for?) or teeming with close relatives who go “Shruthi take this veshti to kicha mama” or “Preethi ask sarasu mani to go and give the white color packet to cheenu mama before muhurtham” or some such trivial errands.

First floor on the other hand is relatively free coz the wedding takes place on the ground floor and people normally don’t venture up. So Preethi, Ramya (less of a cousin and more of a local rowdy) and I were very glad that the boy’s “side” had been given the first floor. The first floor had a HUGE hall about 40 feet by 40 feet and many other smaller rooms and the scope of how much of fun we could have playing hide and seek, catch catch, cut the cake etc left us breathless. Here was a whole big house to ourselves, with no furniture to hinder our moevment and no elders to bother us. We started playing when a couple of pesky kids from the “girls” side came up (for the same reasons why we had come up) and wanted to join us (mind you, they just wanted to join us. They didn’t even ask for space to play alone. Now when I think of what I did I feel so silly but hey we were just 6 then. We are more mature now. God promise, mother promise!! :P) and this was the conversation

Them: naanglum unga kuda valayadalama? (can we also play with you?)

Ramya ( in the most authoritative tone. she was pretty much the boss. Preethi and I were her side kicks who stood on either side with our arms crossed like henchmen and showing attitude): Idhu yenga mama Kalyanam (this is our mama’s wedding)

Them: (confused): idhu yenga chitti Kalyanam (This is our chitti’s wedding too. or was it attai. I really don’t remember)

Ramya: mela payyan aathu kaara dhaan irrukanum. Ponnu aathu kaaranga keezha dhaan valayadanum (only the boy’s side can stay on top. The girl’s side has to use the ground floor for playing)

Them: konja neram valayadarome (can we play for some time please?)

Ramya: idhu yenga mama Kalyanam. Yenga mama ku naanga ungla ulla vittom nu theriya vandha ungla thoratthi thoratthi adipaar

(this is our uncle’s wedding. If he comes to know that we let u in he will beat u within an inch of ur life!!)

And they fled, probably thinking “oh my god. We are getting our chitti married to a man who beats little kids”. LOL. this is my oldest memory ever and even know when I think of it, it cracks me up. Shankar mama wouldn’t/couldnt hurt a fly and we painted such a gory picture of him. Am glad the kids didn’t go and complain otherwise Ramya solely would have been responsible for stopping the wedding!! :D:D

@preethi

Psssst. My oldest memory is Ramya telling pakathu veetu mama’s wife “unga aathukaar ----- pottukala” :D:D:D:D but jeez I cant write about that can I??? ;). This is a public space after all!! ;)

What were you doing 10 years ago?

1998 – Class 8 – JH Ambani Vidyamandir – I was the minister of discipline or cleanliness or red house captain or some such nonsense. I used to LOVE my school and LOVE Jamnagar then. Not anymore. The school has gone to the dogs, the kids are having love affairs in class 6^th, my favorite teachers no longer teach there and the principal has changed 4 times since I left.

Happy times those were. Times of school uniforms, sparkling white socks and black shoes, smart red sweaters, hair in plaits and ribbons, a life of innocence, fun, frolic. What a carefree life. The thing which I worried about most was the fail mark in Sanskrit. Ahhhh!! Jaane kahan gaye woh din!! :(

Today

Your first thought today morning

No thoughts in the morning. Got up only in the afternoon at 12.30!! Ah!! Vacation. I love that word. When else can u get up in the afternoon on a Monday unless it is august 15, jan 26 or October 2^nd!! :|

If you built a time capsule today what would it contain?

Hmmm. Books for sure (all kinds. Archie comics, tinitin, PGW to rohinton mistry to Gerald Durrell. Hmmmm. EVERYTHING). Couple of friends. (mandatory)

Jeeeez. I cant think of anything else.

Hmmm food maybe, music, couple of good movies and a laptop!!  (optional)

Tomorrow

This year ….

Started off on a euphoric note with me getting a call from TISS, then there was the double disappointment. TISS bombed and sis left for Dubai!! :P. after the crest and two troughs it has been just a normal monotonous year. And oh yeah!! Chennai trekkers, one of the best things ever to happen to me. made a lot of new friends this year thanks to trekkers and my blogs. 

Hmmmm. On hindsight i made a LOT of friends actually. After college got over I didn’t think I would make a single decent friend in office. But no. I have made some great friends and that too with people whom I have never met but only exchanged mails. Its an amazing thing when u have never seen a person but know that person like the back of your hand (Anu, am tagging u with this tag!! :). you get the GBCI award for revelation of the year and "nicest person whom i have never met" award too!! :D) I also spent a lot of quality time with college friends and now i m spending quality time with my parents.

on the whole it has been a satisfactory year with a lot of reading and writing. discovered a lot of great authors. Been reading some good fiction and non fiction. hmmmm. what else? two more months to go. lets see what they bring!! :)

What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now?

I see myself as a 36 year old. Nothing more, nothing less. :P

Sorry. But I don’t know what I am going to do 4 minutes from now (ok, for the smart ass who just went “you will be publishing this post Revs” – THANK YOU! :-\). I am eternally clueless and perpetually confused.

And heck!!! 14 years from now who knows if I will be alive?

Ahhh!! Now comes the exciting part where I get to tag people.

I tag

Anu

Preeti

Nive - new to blogger

Rahul (because he loves being tagged!! :P) 

Tagged!! :)

I have been tagged by Sanket with this weird tag where i have to pick up the nearest book turn to page 123 find the fifth sentence and post the next three sentences. Reminds me of the movie Taare zameen par, this particular scene where aamir tells ishaan's parents that he is dyslexic and hence cannot process multiple instructions like turn to this page, so and so paragraph, so and so line.

Can i like pretend i am dyslexic and skip this tag?? :P (rolling eyes)!! but seriously i wonder who thinks of SAD tags like this. i mean it would at least make sense if you were asked to make your own story out of those three lines or something, but just writing three lines??? SAD!!! speaks of the tag maker's abject lack of creativity. Anyway here goes the shortest tag in this world.

The nearest book is Jhumpa Lahiri's "unaccustomed earth" gifted to me by Akiiiii!! :) I have COMPLETELY fallen in love with the way she writes. i mean her stories are about ordinary people and the ordinary lives they lead but the way she writes it is extraordinary. i mean she can write about something as mundane as a housewife washing the dishes but the way she writes it i am like WOW!! her stories might not be great but the reading experience is out of this world!! :)

anyway here goes fifth line of page 123

He saw an open box on the table containing a few eclairs. The sight made his stomach churn up in hunger, and he picked one up, consumed it without pause.

"Looks like we missed brunch" Megan said. After a while she added. "You have chocolate icing around your mouth"

Lacking a napkin or the wipes he always had with him when was with the girls. he drew the back of his hand across his lips.

Phew!! done!! and for a change i tag no one!! but if you want to u can take up this tag!! :)

Tagged!!

I have been tagged by srikanth with this tag and here i go!! :)

Last movie seen in a theatre:

u me aur Hum (saaaaaaaaaaaaad movie!! ). I was wishing I would suffer from alzheimers after watching the movie so I could forget that I had watched the movie

What book are you reading?

RK Narayan’s bachelor of arts and chicken soup for the women’s soul. :P

Favourite board game:

Scrabble and scotland yard (I used to love this game but its been like 10 years since I played)

Favourite magazine:

business today, frontline, pc quest… YEAH RIGHT!!!
JAM mag!!

Favourite smells:

smell of old and new books, mann vasanai (mitti ki khushboo)

Favourite sound:

silence, howling of the wind

Worst feeling in the world:

splitting headache + lots of work + bad food

What is the first thing you think of when you wake up?

is the bathroom free for me to take a bath?

Favourite fast food place:

I like all of them. MacD, marry brown, pizza corner everything!!

Future child’s name:

as my grandmother would say “adiyengra pondaati ya kanom, pulla peru gopalakrishnan”. For people who don’t know tamil please forgive me but I cant translate that

Finish this statement, “If I had a lot of money I’d…”

I would just get up because the only place where I will have a lot of money is in my dreams!! :

Do you drive fast?

yup. I love the wind on my face.
@amma, appa and all relatives
Heh heh!! I am lying of course. I drive at 20 kmph (sometimes even 10), wear a helmet and even let cycle and auto rickshaw fellows over take me.
(uncrossing fingers behind my back Phew!!! )

Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?

lol!! NO!!
On second thoughts. Does my sister qualify? I mean she is stuffed (sorry preethi) and she is an animal so yeah!! :P

Storms - Cool or Scary?

Cool

Do you eat the stems on broccoli?

I hate the vegetable and eat no part of it

If you could dye your hair any colour, what would be your choice?

black. Nothing beats black

Name all the different cities/towns you have lived in:

baroda , surat , jamnagar , sunabeda, chennai, reliance township

Favourite sports to watch:

cricket

One nice thing about the person who sent this to you:

linux stud

What’s under your bed?

no beds. Aint rich enough to buy beds yet. just mattresses!! :P

Would you like to be born as yourself again?

absolutely!! I love myself!! :)

Morning person or night owl?

night owl most definitely.

Over easy or sunny side up?

sunny side up!!

Favourite place to relax:

home. :)

Favourite ice cream flavour:

chocolate

You pass this tag to

Jassi (coz he hates tags and I am sure would have loved to kill me if only he could get hold of me)
Sheikh (coz its been eons since he updated his blog and he only does it every time I give him a tag)
Mi (coz I always tag her!! :P)

Anyone else who wants to take this tag up please feel free to do so!! :P

Of all the people you tagged this to, who’s most likely to respond first?Will update this after one of them finishes it!!