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 :)

money bound

I filed my returns for the fiscal year 2008-09. Both state and federal.

I hope that makes me a responsible person and tells the demon named recession that we are being good and sensible by helping the government. He better watch out his next move!!

OK  I know it sounds like a 7 year old's complaint to good old almighty. But if recession has plans to settle down then we better not make it feel like at home. With GM and chrysler also joining the bandwagon (on the verge more like) it feels like an end of an era. They never changed their thinking. May be we can. And by that I seriously don't know what I mean. :-/

Tax filing in India was not much of an overhead. The 2 years I worked there, my taxes were filed by a company appointed agent. I never cared about investing any money, even after mom's pursual. So my work used to be done in a matter of few hours. Here I attended workshops, went through the whole process of whys, how's and whens. I know I was careless in India, but here I was unusually attentive and sincere, interested in every single penny I earned. Strange, incidents are teaching me to be careful with money. Not that I was reckless but I never gave importance to it. These days I often find myself planning my finances, thinking ahead. Stranger...

Someone please take care of this bully. It's changing happy go lucky people like me. :-/ :-/

And my supervisor at library just waved at me. Reminds me I had come here to study :D Also reminds me that I used the precious lappy battery for blogger :-/

The girl in front of me looks super nice, she smiled at me and asked if I need any help. I did not give her any impression of being a novice though. :-/

The racks of books look inviting. So I am taking a plunge in the sea. 

laterzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

~nightflier :)

To my grandfather..

He was a good man.

He was a great father.

He was a greater father-in-law.

He stuck to his principles till the end.

His self reliance was exemplary.

He rests in peace today.

My grandfather passed away this morning. I feel shaken to the core.

I owe many things to him. Reading, writing, good handwriting, love for music and a mind of my own.

My mom always encouraged me to write small letters during the yearly Rakhi ritual. This cultivated into a love for letter writing, which caught momentum when I went away from home for studies. My grandfather always wrote long replies to my small ones. We kept the love for writing in each other alive. I was known as the girl 'who's-grandfather-wrote-her-letters' during my hostel days.

Dear Aajoba, your letters are still a guiding light for me. I carry them wherever I go. You have given me the heritage of a lifetime.

I always wanted my kids to know you, to write to you. Alas..

He was a voracious reader too. He would also recommend me books, if I showed interest in what he was reading. He also loved classical singing. Every diwali he would give us money to buy gifts. I fondly remember how eagerly I looked forward to that time of the year. There are so many fond memories when he used to scold us for mischiefs. The time I met him before coming here, he was eager for my return, even before my departure. He was eager to listen to my experiences and I had said that someday he will fly to meet me. :( :(

It's co-incidence may be, that yesterday I read all his old letters to get out of a pang of homesickness. And as I re-read his letters for the n-th time today, I can feel the void forming inside me. I just wish I was there by my mom and dad's side to give them a comforting hug, an understanding pat.

I am very sad today.

~nightflier :(

Pan's labyrinth

Two supremely amazing movies in a day ! 

Pats herself on the back. The movie maniac in me suddenly feels alive and blessed.

(I am also thinking of converting this blog into a movie recommendations place!!)

They screened Pan's Labyrinth at school yesterday. I dragged my friends into it. And thank god I did :)

What a wonderful movie! I am drawn towards fantasy fiction, whether in writing or movies. From Potter which I prefer in written format, Lord of the rings, which I liked in graphic format as I could not finish the book, to Eragon series, which I am still reading. I am also a devotee of Sci-fi movies like Independence day, terminator, star wars, but that's not the point here. Some of these movies/books become memorable, unerasable. You derive something from them beyond their fictional value. Pan's Labyrinth is in that category.

Pan's Labyrinth is a beautiful portrayal of the futility of war. It is based sometime in the 1940's during Spanish civil war. It tells the innocent, charming and equally sad story of a 10 year old girl Ofelia (I love the name!!!). Ofelia reads a lot of books and quite like any 10 year old has a fantasy world woven in her mind. When she travels with her pregnant mother to her step father's (Captain Vidal) base camp, she wants to escape the brutal ways of Vidal. She finds a confidante in Mercedes (the servant and sister of a rebel). There Ofelia meets an insect whom she believes into a fairy and follows it to an old labyrinth. There a faun tells her that she is a princess from the underworld, who should return to her kingdom by proving that her essence is intact. He gives her 3 tasks. In order to accomplish those tasks, Ofelia must take care of her mother, unborn brother, face the wrath of her evil father and sustain the difficult times of the war. 

What happens is for you to find out.

It has a background score derived from a Spanish lullaby which gives the perfect undertone to the movie. Its shot in dense forests and greenery which is a welcome change to the eyes. Only turn off about the movie is, some scenes are so revolting that you have to close your eyes. Ok I did that, you might not need to do it. :)

Recommended if you like fantasies and highly recommended if you don't want to miss a Mexican gem!!

~nightflier

Once ...

It is the sweetest love story I have seen till now. It has beautiful music. Every song is a gem rendered perfection by simple lyrics and soothing piano chords and strings. Music does give meaning to a movie. And it's the heart, soul, mind, brain.. everything of this movie. It's songs are a must have in every song collector's kitty. 

Here s 'Falling slowly' for you guys. It is so nice that it makes one wish to fall in love :) :)

(Sadly I could not find other equally beautiful songs :()

 Glen Hansard - Falling Slowly

Highly recommended !!!

~nightflier :)

Cabbie tales

We have a monthly ritual of shopping for groceries. During which we shop like denizens from a famished region, set free in the realms of a super market.

It was on one such trip that we realized, we had shopped beyond our holding capacity. 

Sadly (in such situations) you can not go back to the cashier and tell him 'ermm, I forgot that I have just 2 hands and a body weighing barely 45 kgs, still bought truck loads of groceries greedily. Can you take some back ??' 

Have not tried that, but I am sure, he will be amused.

Anyways, we called for a cab. (There went the money from the saving scheme to buy the much needed helmet for biking!)

Now I have been in US cabs only thrice before. Once when I landed. This guy was a decent chap, only with a psychotic son in law (everyone thinks that way for the other man in his daughter's life, I guess!!). Second was to a wallmart trip. This guy's daughter was an alumnus of my school, so he treated us like his kids' friends and gave a special discount too! Third was when we had gotten late to catch a bus. I don't remember much except for the last minute rush.

So when this cab arrived, he parked it over the curb and shouted from inside, 'tussi cab call kariyasi??' (Did you call for a cab?) 

(Meanwhile, 'guess who' program started running inside my head. May be Punjabi or Sindhi uncle!! And our Indian looks rang a bell :))

Roomie: Yes. 

He came out and helped us put the godzilla sized bags inside. 

He: Kidhar ja riyasi ? (Where do you want to go?)

Roomie gave the full address. 

He: Ohh.. I thought you must be from xxx school. :)

We gave the politest nods with smiles and hopped inside.

Then he started chatting in punjabi hindi. He told to our surprise that our school cricket team was really good (Me and my roomie immediately made a telepathic pact to go there for cheerleading ;)). And he also told us that he was from Pakistan (! there goes the credibility of my 'guess who' program !). So moving ahead, it was not wee bit surprising, when he told us that Indian and Pakistani guys play in the same team here. Uncle proved to be really talkative and also advised us with few more cheap grocery stores nearby so that our money will not be wasted! (Little did he know we were typical specimen of the female type.)

And I wondered how the feeling of 'being out of comfort zone' changes animosity and hostility into camaraderie. Keep the same people in neighboring countries full of extremist religious leaders and political parties, and their hatred increases. Move the same people away from all this action and place them in a foreign land, with new ways of life, new difficulties, new problems and new solutions, and they become inseparable.

Considering that we all were taught about equality back in school. About different religions and brotherhood. About being good to each other in spite of who we are or from where we are. About respecting each other irrespective of our differences (come on, they do teach this in school). It just takes an unaccustomed or difficult situation for all these things to make sense.

So at a certain level, I am amused by human nature. On the other hand I respect the Global Citizen. :)

~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