out-ing the day with an 8 month old..

We stopped in front of a kirana store (run by a baniya*, people who have moved from Rajasthan to the Marathi-ness of Pune), and inquired about the Sabudana rate. Why ? Because pregnant friend who is now the mother of a 8 month old Avani, thought all the big shops (the marts and all) were making her pay more. Of course there was a difference. Not drastic, but then we could rationalize the extra charges by the marts for packaging and cleanliness etc. The baby got her first grocery lesson.


We moved on to a bigger 'more now' mall. We roamed around, going crazy over all the cutesy baby stuff (we had a baby with us!!). We felt good about a pair of friends having fun with the baby. At the checkout, when asked to fill in a membership form, I promptly showed them the 'now' (then?) distressed and hungry baby and asked if we could skip. We were allowed to. Saved by a 8 month old!

retro baby!!

During a pit stop we also decided that sometimes not-so-educated people are wiser and simpler. About life. You can call this 'randomness in conversation' among friends.


When the outing was about to end, we bought plants from a nursery. We tried haggling and then bargaining. We sucked. But may be he saw it too and to make us feel good, gave away one tulsi plant for free :D


All this while Avani was fast asleep in her kangaroo bag! And we garnered all the smiles from passing by parents,ladies (not the creepy kind) for her cuteness! 


Day outs are fun. Specially with toddlers :)


-nightflier

*Brother asked the boy (I seriously dont know his name :() from the kirana store about school during a home delivery, and thus we got to know about the Rajasthan connections.

A.L.O.N.E. Time

Brother is off to Goa for some fun, so I decided to have the entire weekend to myself, and not meet many people. Unlike the past few weekends, where I have been constantly on the go, to catch up with visiting friends, moving away friends, school friends, etc etc. 


Guess what, its day 2 now that brother has gone and I am already bored. And he returns not until tomorrow evening. Sigh. :(


I have watched 4 movies in the past 2 days.
1. Crazy Stupid Love - iLiked! Because Ryan Gosling is so hot and Steve Carell is genuinely funny and Emma Stone is such a sweetheart. Perfect movie to lighten up!
2. Like Crazy - Amazing movie. But comes with a statutory warning (from me) - People (specially friends) who are away from their spouse or in a long distance relationship, it will be all right if you did not watch it. I was waterworks incorporated all.the.time. 
3. Inception - Well, I hadn't seen it again after watching it in the theater. And they were showing it on the TV. So watched again and bowed down in front of the TV. I think Mr. Nolan makes crazy movies.
4. Contagion - Gripping movie. Specially with its pretty authentic depiction of scientific medical methods. And what spooky background score.


Hey and I will be watching the english girl with the dragon tattoo in an hour. Post dinner.


I have also managed to read a lot of (300 pages) Pratispardhi (cuckold) by Kiran Nagarkar. I am hugely wowed. Historical fiction (?) and such deep characters and flawless writing. Win.
I am also bored of cooking for myself (and I tried 3 different dishes all right!!) and doing the winter laundry. 


And since I was kinda pepped up about having alone time, I very smartly (or stupidly?) told brother to not call much to check on me. And told parents to chill (yes I use that word. I sometimes feel like a teenager). I also very smartly (or stupidly?) turned down invites from friends to have dinner/lunch with them.


Brother please come back already (I know kind of selfish). Guess I am not ready for people-less weekends. :-/


-nightflier

Such is life..

my life at least...

the greatest venn diagram ever!!
copyright - nightflier

Sigh I suck at MS paint :(


-nightflier

Random things that made me happy!!

I am not a jaded person nor am I constantly judging my state of happiness (I do it over periods like months or weeks :D) but last week these 2 things happened which put bright big smiles on my face, inside and outside and I felt happy!


Do you ever chase down your friends on streets walking ahead totally unaware of you behind and tap them on the wrong shoulder (if you are on left side, tap on their right or vice versa). Well if the distance is manageable I do this all the time!! So I got down from bus and was walking towards home when saw brother ahead of me and I totally did the shoulder tap to him and grinned like a fool amid the crowd! :D
Of course brother got embarrassed a little. But it made me so happy to see the person I live with on a street totally unaware of me, caught off guard!! 
P.S. Shoulder taps are restricted to *ONLY* people you know very well. *NOT* acquaintances. If I have met you only twice and you do that to me, you will be thoroughly embarrassed by my reaction :P


When I do reach home early from work i.e. around 6 or 7 pm, kids in the society are playing around. So on a particularly non cloudy evening 2 boys around the age of 6 or 7 were running behind each other (playing out-out) and laughing uncontrollably after catching each other. Just watching them get a high by the running around, with huffy puffy laughs made me really really happy!! :D


~nightflier


P.S. Am on the last few pages of Love in the time of cholera and oh what a book it has been! Marquez is awesome! Next post on the book :)

Fringe benefits

of living behind a school are


* You never over-sleep. The chirping of the kids always wakes one up in time.


* You pray everyday. Despite the known rebellious attitude, you cannot help but hum the prayers the kids recite everyday during assembly.


* You sing the national anthem Jana gana mana everyday. You keep aside any work and make sure to stand/sit still for those 52 seconds.


* You *almost* never feel alone/lazy/sloppy. Because the campus is always abuzz with activity. Even on weekends.


* The energy of the kids gets you, to kick start *every day* with a new enthusiasm.


~nightflier


P.S. Good work days totally rock!!

the pre-birthday wish list

Since I can remember I have accepted it to accept birthday gifts graciously. Whatever they may be. But as Upasna mentioned, its time to be vain. Specially since stuff-one-can-afford limit has gone up and hence feel that my friends would oblige to gift anything from the below list. I am not including family, as I get them to gift me what I want every damn time :D 
(like for rakhi shamelessly asked brother to pay for this -> https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=267729449907816&set=a.260763833937711.84759.147971171883645&type=1 )

image - google

1. NestRest. Warm, cozy, the best place to get all my reading/writing/thinking done :) 
From here.


2. A box of crayons and colored pencils. The last one got over. So need new stock to doodle with. Also colored hand made papers to doodle on :D


3. A ruled moleskine. HERE! (Normally I prefer doing my own stationary shopping, but this one is an online buy (only outlet I could find is in Mumbai!!))


4. Hog on the streets of Paris. (I am watching Amelie right now!!!! Did you know Amelie Poulain is an INFJ too ? Also, guess who else is ;))


5. A trip to Morocco (Marrakech). Like a stay for a week. Not a group trip or something. Just exploring the cuisine and culture.


6. Drive on the lake shore drive in Chicago. I somehow could not do this the 2 years I lived there as I did not have a driving license :( 
After the drive a really long walk across the Lake Michigan trail would work just fine :D


7. Bunch of white lilies or gladiolus. 


8. A really elaborate home cooked meal consisting of wine, chicken biryani, pita bread, hummus and greek salad. Weird combination I know. But I am really hungry right now and in a mood to eat these all, in no particular order!!

image - google

9. Star gazing with a telescope!! (First I have to persuade any of my friends to buy a telescope!!)
<- Until then, this would work too!


10. A silk scarf. Peacock blue to be specific.


11. How could I forget! Hand made greeting cards :)


Wow this was so much fun!! Plus a feel good :) Specially after a sleep deprived regular night. 
Please do share your list too! Would love to read and make additions to my already getting-longer-in-my-head list ;)


~nightflier


P.S. In other news finished Rabindranath Tagore's short stories collection last week. Totally mesmerized by his writing all over again.
And the Woody Allen film festival successfully kicked off last week. Since I still have not got hold of a decent copy of Midnight in Paris, watched Annie Hall last sunday. Totally LURVE!! KT if you are reading this, then this is in tow of the guru dutt festival we did 3 years back. Feeling nostalgic already :)

at the crossing

In this oh-so-god-damnit-hot summer, I was drudging myself home from the bus stop. 


It's a three way junction near my house with the most hopeless traffic situation.


So I crossed halfway, waiting for the other half of road to clear up. 


A bus and a two wheeler almost brushed each other on my left and the bus driver slowed down. I watched the scene mesmerized, rooted to my spot.


I dreamily turned to my right (there was no need to be worried as I had crossed that part of the street) and was woken out of my reverie, when I saw a patient uncle quietly waiting on his scooter, obstructed to move ahead because of me.


I meekly smiled at him and said 'I am sorry' :D


He smiled back and let me pass without even the slightest hint of cursing me. :)


~nightflier

Social experiment no. N

Find a recent picture of yourself.


Settle for something which is decent enough to be cropped and makes you feel good about yourself. (even if its taken in a saree)


Go ahead. Put it up.


Wait for few hours for people to discover it on their news feed.


Get bombarded by the most amusing 'what's the deal', 'are you getting hitched' questions, asked in the most *subtle* manner.


Have fun ROFLing, playing along, and getting slightly annoyed! :D


~nightflier

So it happens..

I went blank in the middle of a telephonic interview! It was an ohmigod moment!


I was supposed to be answering a question related to my previous work ex and my mind suddenly went numb. Sentences were still forming inside my head, words were harmoniously joining, but nothing was coming out. It felt like a paralysis. The realization that I could not think of anything relevant, panicked me a bit. And to save the moment I blabbered. Something so absurd that I cannot even remember. It did not happen again in the remaining course of the interview. Neither has it happened with me before.


But it seems it happens with a lot of people at least once in their life!


After all we are just human! :)


~nightflier

few points me..

1. I think its torture to have your ex-employer in your network (read facebook, twitter, blogger, etc). Its like having to have a forced relationship with your ex. Every time someone new (a new hire) enters their life, you have to learn to ignore it or bear the heartache of why not me ???  In case of an ex you at least have the liberty to make a choice and not stay in touch. But after all the fundas of social networking that you have gulped down, one feels obliged to not sever ties in such (employee-employer) cases. Its like having to wait for someone else (a new employer) to be actually able to move on. Life is hard. I hope I manage to remain civil until someone else comes along.


2. I had decided to be strong and not show any human emotions about the whole situation. It seems I have no control over myself :P So having started the post on a seemingly sad (not tear inducing sad, but a more literal bleh! sad) note, I need to take corrective action. So lately I am on this lets gain some pounds mission. I have always been for following a routine when it comes to a diet. Like eating healthy, fresh food 5-6 times a day. This time the difference is measuring the calories and making sure I surpass whatever is required for me to survive. Not difficult. But needs a good memory to keep track. So with stick notes in and around my space, I am surrounded by calories. Just that in this case, we are on the other side of the weighing scale. Rare, eh ?


3. Those of you who are up for documentaries and stuff, should definitely catch the show called Vanguard. I got interested in it when I read the news of a US journo getting detained in Korea and Bill Clinton flying down to rescue them and then the journo naming her kid after him. (I still think I got interested in the news in the first place cos of him..still find him kind of cute :P) Nevertheless, its very informative and opens you eyes to globalization in a new light. I am hooked to it as of now.


4. As my dreams start becoming more materialistic (like buying pretty clothes to make yourself feel good, accessorizing for no particular reason) and less spiritual, I wonder if this change is happening for any good ? Since I kind of spent all my pre silver jubilee years in 'I dont care about all the above things' philosophy, I think this was bound to happen. Life is all about balance. Hoping that I find the balancing zero average case sooner or later. 


5. And I think there is a dearth of girl/female programmers in the world today (wow! I feel like I am talking for some humanitarian cause :P). That is one field girls should start taking seriously. I am bored of people rolling their eyes at me, when told that I can code in this, this and this language. I dont think girls have any less logical reasoning than guys. It is laziness and an attitude problem me thinks. We should not let the guys get away with all the emerging cool things. Please join the cause and dont grimace at the sound of coding. It can be fun if taken with a pinch of salt!


And thus I am done with my weekly updates. Dont forget to catch my movie recommendations and give feedback. Remember feedback is important in any social interaction venture. :P


~nightflier

to all the concerned friends

To all the people stated above,


Me losing the job is not the end of the world. The very moment when my then would be HR expressed concern over me not receiving work authorization, I had a gut feeling that this is not going to work out. Sometimes however positive you are, your instinct tells you that this is it. And that just happened with me. 
Though I did give a good fight (trying to negotiate with the HR and trying to communicate with stupid USCIS and stupider international center at school) before deciding to be patient and mature. As a growing up gift, life has taught me to let go of things. And with great pains, I have learned my lessons. This incident just gives me a chance to apply that theory :P And I am trying to do that. So when you still ask me (over and over again) why you did not do this or that (rather you should have done this or that), I just have one thing to say, let it go pal :P [Better still come to play tennis with me. It is superrrr fun!]


For I seriously cannot beg anyone to let me work beyond a limit. Nor can I tell white lies (except when I have to pull a prank).


I am quite serious about my career. And I also think I have what it takes to find another job :D


~nightflier


P.S. for those who still don't understand, such situations bring along a lot of negativity, lack of confidence, frustration, self pity, irritation, loss of appetite, self isolation and related tendencies. So give up mate!

Tales from skinnystan

What do you do when ...


1. You are graduating soon, and to blend with the culture need a nice, pretty outfit.
2. Every store you visit invariably seems to sell clothes only from size 2 and above.
3. Even the stores which are meant for people like you with weight issues, dont sell anything which suits your taste.
4. When you do find the 'one' you are looking for, is available in your size, but only in distant suburbia, whose names sound like quaint 18th century villages and where the buildings are 3 story high.
5. You decide to compromise and buy an expensive dress which does not fit you and get it altered.
6. Having spent almost a fortune on buying stuff which doesn't fit you, a thought crosses your mind, why all the fuss ? You might as well skip the function or wear something old and Indian.
7. Seeing your dilemma friends, family, random strangers (like the bus driver lady, the shop assistant) start giving you advice on how and what to eat.


It is then, frustrated by the injustice meted out to you for being skinny, that 


1. You decide to make cheese, milk, eggs, bananas, chocolates, french fries and the family, your best friends.
2. Even though its against your conviction, you decide to join gym and work out like crazy. After all you have heard stories of how sylvester stallone became john rambo.
3. You make a resolve to hog till it makes you FAT.


And it is then, that your eyes fall on a random dress in a corner deeply buried below other stuff. It isn't what you wanted but it fits you really well. You decide may be you can accessorize it a bit and it might be the one you wanted!
It is also at this moment that you have an epiphany which tells you, probably its time not to take things just stated above so seriously. Time to take deep breath and chill.


~nightflier ;)

Jab we met !!!

I met him after an year today !

As I parked the activa and went inside, there was slight hesitation in my mind.

Will he recognize me ?

Will it be like the old times ?

Will we meet like kids, without caring for what others think ? OR

Will we meet like two adults who care for what people might think about such public display of affection ?

Will we hug or just pat each other ?

Will he let go of me ?

Will he jump at my purse to see what I have got him ?

Will he scold me with his typical growling voice for not visiting him for so long ?

Will he come outside to say me goodbye, later ?

Well, when we did meet finally, he did not move from his place first. His gaze was fixed on me. Yes, the same heart mending look, which had made me fall for him. My heart skipped a beat, but then he stood and started walking towards me !!! After the initial awkward moments, we let go of inhibitions and met like kids! I patted him and caressed him. He returned it with the heart warming hug. He had not forgotten me at last :)

Well, then I proceeded towards meeting other folks. As the evening progressed he could be seen to be constantly around me. He did everything he could to grab my attention. And I kept on pretending that I was not getting any of those 'subtle' hints ;)

Yes, Bruno still remembered me. Like the old times.

I just did not have any answer for his inquiring gaze, asking me where his real girl friend was ? I just said, sorry dude, she wont be here till December.

And yes, he did come till a very long distance to say goodbye, in his own caring and affectionate way of racing with my vehicle, till he could match with the activa's horsepower.

~nightflier :)

P.S. Bruno is a friend's dog :) And we have our history ;)

Someplace Else

That's my new address (and is also an eye-catcher!).

7 year olds are the only people I get along well with these days. The one I am talking about is a cousin, who was not very much acquainted with my ways. I am sure now she knows whom to look forward to when she fancies a tickle fight and a TV remote fight. Oh well!
This bright kid is also someone who only speaks Marathi (our mother tongue) but does not learn it in school. So what sometimes follows at home between us is really hilarious!

few examples:

me: please, give me the remote (with the undertone of 'else, I will switch off the main switch which is high above your tiny hands' reach! muhahahaha')
she: hargeez (hindi word) naahi (marathi word) (means No ways !!)
me: rofl

me: (trying to twist myself to the song twist)
she: these people don't let me do film dance! sigh..
me: whaaaaaaaaa..rofl

me: (hid her math book in a vain attempt)
she: sagle (marathi) hamesha (hindi word) asach kartaat (marathi). (everyone always does that!) (in a very understanding tone)
me: (going nuts over that tone!!)

Apart from our stupid sounding antics, we did have a good time; eating chocolates, watching harry potter and some Chinese cartoon called asira chan (where asira grows into a watermelon after eating melons 24/7!!), solving math problems in a record 35 minutes, getting complements for our similar diets!

And now I cannot stop wondering about how adorable kids are. Sigh, I already miss her.
I will take the videos of her pledge recitals (something she was distracted into doing, so that I could take control of the TV remote..muhahahaha)!

On other notes, I have a new found liking for TV, now that I survived 3 days and 3 nights without Internet. My other address is the couch in the living room in front of TV. Its an amazing life style change. For once I am happy that simple things like doing nothing without using one's brain power are possible!
And strangely I also saw a whoopish triumphant grin on my dad's face, when the DSL cable near my house was finally repaired. Darn it! I am coming for you my beloved! (the TV remote, duh!)

Listening to the songs of Love Aaj Kal for quite a few days now. Twist and Chor Bazaari steal the show. Twist has that quirky Indian touch with the pubbish feel. And it is really good to twist to, too! Chor Bazaari is amazingly refreshing. Even the video shot in Delhi haats looks superb. Rest songs are pretty ok. Loads of strings everywhere. One also gets the typical Punjabi and Preetam feeling. Definitely Imtiaz Ali's earlier offerings were musically superior. Remember Socha na tha (the goa and title track) and Jab we met (Rahat Fateh ali khan's soulful Aaoge jab tum and Mohit Chauhan's mesmerizing Tum se hi). But a good album after a loooong time. Makes me look forward to the movie for a change.

I also read Matthew Reilly's Seven Ancient Wonders to get rid of jet lag. Thumbs up if you like the Dan Brown kind thrillers, filled with trivia but a typical plot and predictable situations with little emotions thrown in, genre interesting. I found it extremely fast paced and a store house of knowledge. I had never wikied so much while reading a book. An informative read, indeed.

Rest is great. I am doing the meet people, be a good girl, tell them how life in America is exciting/boring/difficult routine. As long as interesting and good food accompanies I am not complaining. Fringe benefits of every situation, that's optimism for you!

Well, now its dinner time in Someplace Else. (What!!)

~nightflier

L.O.S.T.

I pulled off another extremely difficult stunt in the history of sucking !!

I got lost in donwtown on a straight line :-/

The following pictures will give you a better idea of my feat.

(One on the left is the path I was supposed to follow and the one on right is, errr, my idea of a short cut!)

Legend:

1. The black figure is ME.

2. The double ended arrow suggests that I did a back and forth routine on that particular street.

3. A is the spot where I was supposed to meet friend 1 to go to B where friend 2 was waiting.

I know I have let down the female clan. But I really did not realize why I took the route I took instead of the one I was supposed to take. I am officially the lost one now. :(

btw there did come a point when I was so frustrated with myself that I decided to catch a train and go home. But I did not give up. I somehow met FR 1 at point C after frantic phone calls and some brain racking. Is that commendable ? (Please say yes :-/)

P.S. Why does this remind me of the dialogue from DDLJ where Anupam Kher proudly tells SRK, 'Hum to Hindustan mein fail huye, tune to London (err..USA) mein fail ho ke dikhaya' (Nope I am not expecting such a statement filled with pride from any one of you :D)

P.P.S. This is not a fragment of my imagination or a cheap ploy to increase post count !!

~nightflier!

Parody no. 1

I know all of us have watched and enjoyed this movie :D

I love this parody. It is awesomely wonderful. The kids and actors (Sridevi and Anil Kapoor) must have had so much fun. It kinda looks evident. 

I particularly love the part when Anil Kapoor joins the gang of brats and sings 'lafda hai ye kya mujhko batana' and uses his hat as a dafli and finally the kawwali. Damn funny and awesome!! Kudos to Laxmikant Pyarelaal, Javed Akhtar and Shekhar Kapur for a super refreshing sequence and movie.

Enjoy people !!!

And don't miss Sridevi's antics. I think she is one of the finest female actors we have, who can carry off comedy so effortlessly.

~nightflier

milk-y way

I get up early in the morning and find to my dismay that my 2% reduced milk is over. Well no problemos, I can borrow it from my roomies'. 

Surprisingly, their cans are empty too. Now that's co-incidence or whatever. Since I have a busy day planned ahead, I decide to skip drinking milk for one day and buy it first thing in the evening.

So in this way I spend my early morning one hour thinking about no milk. I am suddenly restless, anxious, my brain has become super slow and its responses like that of an 8085. It is funny, because the more I think about not thinking, the more I think about it. Are you getting me? The urge to have a mug full of hot chocolate is so insatiable, that I get up and run to the store in my ugliest clothes. OK I do comb my hair.

So here I am. Another year ago if you asked for my 5 cents on drinking milk everyday, I would have given you the famous distasteful look, making you think 'omg, was it so offensive ?'

The same person, today, can not spend a morning without a mug of it. Astonishingly, milk has been one of those things I have been averted to since childhood. Again, I was not one of those over dramatic kids who would puke at the sight of it or pour it in the nearest potted plant or spill it deliberately or even barter it with siblings. But I was definitely one of those fussy kids who did not like the malaai (we call it saay in Marathi), the smell of it, or the prospect of having plain milk without any bournvita. Now we all know the nutritional values of milk, that it contains calcium which is essential for bones and blah blah blah. But its difficult to convince a stubborn ass who is hell bent on believing that the passage of milk from her mouth to her stomach makes it  go through a lot of chemical processes (I could have been really gross there, but I value you as my reader. Anything for few comments :P) reducing the nutritional value to zilch. I even avoided eating milky sweets for the same reasoning.

And since my mother was (she still is) a firm believer in human rights (I owe it to you mommy), she never ever encouraged/scolded/forced me to change my habits or thinking.

Now I am one of those persons, whose day can not start without a mug of milk. Someone who needs a cup of coffee to take care of those long tired evenings. Someone whose reaction to an empty milk can has changed from that of pleasure to horrified disbelief. Have I really become so health conscious or is it just the laziness to eat something else and have a mug of hot chocolate which is easy to make instead ? I think its both. 

So here I am, a 24 year old, addicted to milk. (I know my mother is going to be sooo proud.) 

Sheesh.. I feel so wasted. 

But its fun to walk the milk-y way. I am doing things I thought I would never do or like doing :) 

~nightflier :)

buzzzzzz

Number of drafts : 25

Number of half written posts : 10

Number of posts without a title : 5

Number of posts which will never get published : 5

Level of writing energy in the air : -5

I feel stupidly wedged. Can not come out or don't want to come out??
Time shall tell.

~nightflier!!!

Serial killer

So what do you do when you have to take meals alone, a routine you despise and not used to ?

Call up people ? Well with yours truly in a land across seven seas where 99% of her friends, family did not choose to reside (of course, she was the one who moved out), and the expenses of frequent long distance calling, let us rule this one out.

Don't think about being alone over a meal and invite over some imaginary friends for lunch and dinner ? Again yours truly is not as stupid as she looks. Drop this!

Better still, join unknown people over for meals or invite them over to join you ? Umm.. She is too lazy to randomly talk to anyone. If they don't like what's in her tiffin and sneer at her for eating stuff which they think is full of hocus pocus, she wont like it.

So missy devised a way out of this uncomforting situation. She found the 'n'th usefulness of a television. She started watching television series, soaps, serials, etc to keep the humanly cycles going. On the flip side she does not worry about being alone for lunch or dinner. She looks forward to it. On the down side, she gets addicted to everything she watches. Gets totally hooked on to stupid stuff for that instant. 

So delving into the matter more and even deeper, I was a person of principles once. I never watched any serials/soaps/series back home on principle. I used to find most of the serials stupid and senseless, unless they had some backstabbing, revenge or reincarnation involved. You got to believe that it needs extraordinary imagination to think up something like that. 

Now as I had prohibited myself from following any Indian serials, I could not watch any English series either. This did depreciate my sense of humor amongst friends when they would be cracking famous jokes from friends, referring to characters from ER, heroes or OC. When they would be busy rofling I would be left wondering if they needed any serious medical help. This also affected my ability to start conversations on any damn topic with most of my female friends at hostel. Girls used to follow all 9-11 shows on star plus even after coming away from home by taking updates on phone everyday. I used to be the only loser who knew nothing from that particular area of research of the female psyche. 

(I hereby admit that I have followed one particularly uninteresting serial for my roomies' sake, given mom company while watching the longest running serial in Indian television's history and watched a few episodes of friends and x-files with my brother as a kid.)

So I abstained from all these 'things' on principle.

As torturously explained at the beginning you know how things happened for me. 

Not having a TV was not a deterring factor here. Thanks to broad bands and wi-fi networks here, things work like a stroke of a magic wand. Online viewing is so fun. I make my plate ready and in the mean time shows get streamed. I enjoy my food laughing about stupid things, situations, funny friends, there lives, secrets, and many such trivialities. I am happy about good things happening to them, sad about their stupid fights, and admire their human qualities.

I have finished watching FRIENDS, Heroes, How I met your mother (which is still on btw), Sa re ga ma pa - little champs (I have still stuck to my principle in a way, if reality talent show is considered a series).

Right now I am watching House MD (he deserves a special tribute and a dedicated post!!). I am totally addicted to this one. House's character being inspired from Sherlock Holmes (my childhood hero) is one of the reasons. But House is unique in himself. His arrogance and sarcasm is incorrigible. And so is his medical knowledge and diagnosis. I think I should control my feelings about House in this post.

So moral of the story is, this is the purrfect case of Majboori ka naam Gandhiji (When in discomfort you do something, you least expect yourself to do). But I am not complaining. I plan to shoot down every wee-bit interesting serial available on the net. If you have any suggestions drop in a comment or mail me. In return you get a free meal with an awesome company (me !! duh..) in your side of the world (I take the pleasure of thanking people personally) and have a nice chat about the series you suggested (unless the series you suggested completely revolted me :P) .

Now you know why the misleading title ;)

~nightflier :)

Idiosyncrasy

What do you think is a better reason to feel like a fool ?

The revelation that you can not read Chinese for the obvious fact of being born and brought up in its slightly neighboring country called India.

OR 

The other revelation that you wasted time.

First one sounds so much better. Plus I feel like its not my fault, to be brought up in a different country.

So another credit in my PhD program to blame things on others and in turn safeguard myself.

I had loaned 2 research papers from the library sharing facility. 

I waited 2 days for them to give me access to those papers. 

When I got a confirmation mail from them, I excitedly accessed the links.

And wow !! What I find out is, the papers are written in complete Chinese script. Agreed I knew that those papers were from a Chinese university, but I forgot the subtle possibility of them being in actual Chinese. I laughed so hard when I saw those papers. I almost thought of taking them to my professor, for better understanding !! 

Alright it was a joke. I am not going to do that!

So anyways I am kind of where I was, the beginning or nowhere may be.

To spice things up a little, our tuition fees have been increased. Like this is the only thing we wanted. This weirdo recession, I hate it. I don't even understand how and why things are like this, economically. But I still hate it. I think it's ok to blame some things which are out of your control, sometimes. Like the snow, the wind, the slow Internet speed, day light saving !! :)

It makes one feel lighter :)

~nightflier