Networking shetworking

Hi. Been a long time huh? Oh well I’m not even going to try and apologize for such a long period. Just consider the time period between my last post and this one of being some sort of a hibernation phase. More on that later

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I was reading this article on social networking and its pros and cons. Now I won’t call myself a facebook addict.(orkut addict? Really?) But yes I go online once a day or sometimes even twice. I’ve managed to convince a lot of people about how facebooking is a great way to keep in touch with old friends, how it’s a great platform to share our views and also*ahem ahem* gossip. But I’ve been unable to convert this one friend of mine to a social networking enthusiast. This friend of mine –let’s call her abf for antibody facebook.-has her reasons to not succumb to immense pressure from peers and family alike to join the very appealing (not to her) bandwagon FB. She’s in one of India’s top management institutes and thus her anti fb status came as a shock to a lot of her colleagues. She has her reasons to rebel against this ‘social networking ‘syndrome. Not one of those haiyo rabba I’ve to concentrate on studies! Who has the time for FB?? She maintains that joining FB won’t solve the purpose that it’s known for- SOCIAL NETWORKING. Quote unquote abf- I can call you. I speak to my parents every other day (who btw are proud FBians). Have a bunch of school chums who WANT to keep in touch and so do i. who needs a clucking (may have used a similar sounding word) networking site?? I refuse to be a slave to this modern form of slavery!

And she’s firm on maintaining this social network virgin status even when companies approach her for interviews. Makes me sit back and wonder whether she’s right and I’m wrong?

There’s no hard and fast rule that one has to be on a social networking site are there? I choose to be on FB because of my own reasons. I get to interact with school friends who are in the USA or even in Rajasthan. It’s a great medium to share pictures, update people about certain events and know what’s going on in their respective lives. A lot of teachers from school and college are now my friends on FB. So are aunts uncles, cousins etc. But I CAN survive without knowing a certain piece of information about a certain lady’s relationship status. Likewise I do not like to give out personal information as status messages and let people comment on them. Why put up something personal and then get offended by people‘s comments? They’re going to judge you. It all becomes this plethora of information. One does not know what to do. And I’ve seen cases where misunderstandings have seeped in due to careless comments or seething status updates.

I’m not a FB addict. I can live without it. And know who really is interested in my life. But it’s a hell lot of fun…sometimes. And you can certainly be abf. I’ll get some booster shots from my friend J

Twenty glorious years

Yes I turn 20 today. Born exactly 20 years ago. On 11^th march 1990. Life so far has been very good. (Do not want to sound like an LG ad but its true!) . Blame it on my rosy view of life or my sun sign (which by the way is Pisces; just so you know.) but seriously who does not have a few hiccoughs now and then. I’ve had my share of hiccoughs and the other reverse peristaltic movements (oh god seriously all those trips to Indore and other places by car! I mean if they could find a way to generate energy from all the puke 2010 would see a reduction in my house electricity bill by eons. )

Er, did I just rant on about my motion sickness?

Anyway back to the topic. 20. Yes 20. (More to me than to the reader). And I’ve enjoyed every moment of it. And cribbed now and then. My journey has been worth it because of all the people in my life. Here goes a list.

MOM N DAD- no points for guessing this one. Thank you for everything. And I mean EVERYTHING! Right from cleaning my mess to helping me complete my 11^th hour work experience projects, to teaching me the value of money and being always loving and caring. You haven’t just given me your genes but also the invaluable values. Thank you is not enough. I vow to be better everyday. Just for you.

Brother- 2 years younger but a friend and companion always. Has always let me bully him when younger and has been bullying me ever since he’s grown taller than me. For all those fights, and times when u saved me – THANKS! (Hope I get to use your phone often!)

Grandparents- lost my paternal 2 years ago in quick succession. But remember them each day. And nanaji and naniji have been the world’s greatest grandparents ever1 sheltering me, teaching me new things, all the mangoes and watermelons and the love of cricket- thanks!

Family- all the paternal uncles and aunts and cousins especially gitu di n rahul bhaiyya thank u for all those wonderful days spent together and thanks for spoiling me. All the maternal aunts and UNCLE- mama, preity masi and shivani masi – all my summers in indore were very special thanks to you.

p.s. you too gary! Thanks for being an intelligent relative. One of them I mean J

Extended family- includes Thiranis for always being so generous, shahs for treating me like their own daughter, deepali masi for inspiring me to dance and sheshai for showing me fun side of life .

School friends- karishma for being a good friend for 8 long years and still continue to do so. Ashish, parin, sid for entertaining always. Nikhil for christening me BSB. Andy, karan, aakansha for being such good friends. Apurva for bearing with me and of course tejas. The list just goes on guys. U know ur in my mind if not on the list. Or atleast on FB J… SNNAP- how can I forget snap?? Niki neshij and priyanka-er, thanks ;)

Childhood friends- aakash and akshat for bullying me, akshat rathi for talking about interesting stuff, ddt for always trying to be an inspiration but failing so hard (just kidding!), ruchi and shreeja for redefining excellence and thus leading to my mom giving me examples of ‘all-rounders’. Really thanks a lot!

friends- all the other folks-rucha, tabu,monica , nikunj,umang, kushal, tanmay for all those times when we've celebrated india's win and those times when we've sworn on every player in the team!and those who have made my life special. special mention priya- a gem of a person and raika thank u for all the madness!Also alisha! How can I forget all the frantic rides on the active to classes and our sleepovers! I thank thee!

Teachers- a friend ,expert in palmistry pointed out that I’m blessed with great teachers. And he was so right. Right from deepa tr. Who actually made me sing, and Shirley tr’s mind boggling history lessons to ruksana teacher’s –aapse to ladke stitching behtar karte hain , to late biswas mam for criticisizing me and praising me whenever apt. vidya wagh tr for being such a great teacher and vidya deshpande my guru, for adding grace in my life. Acharya sir( although I doubt he remembers me), wagh sir(he sure does!), bala mam(yes maths tr) and ugaonkar mam too!

And who can forget adke mam who has been very supportive and one of the chief reasons why my college has been bearable, nikam mam for well making me study all the pathways and yes last but not the least Bhagat sir- for patiently solving all my queries however stupid they might seem and keeping me down to earth. A BIG THANK YOU.

SHEETAL- my companion since 9^th standard. Not a day goes when I don’t talk to her. Thank you for putting some sense in my brain as always. And to her wonderful family and friends in nagar- THANK YOU TOO!

ANUJA- knowing anuja opened doors to a whole new world- for making my life so colourful I’m indebted to you ninja! And thanks to her very sweet family for feeding me and being patient with my hysterics around their dogs.

Coll folk- ohk I don’t know how many of you are going to read this but thanks shailendra, sonali mads, nalini, chana, avinash, rohit, yogesh ajinkya,subodh and of course pj n purva for making these 3 years bearable and giving me such a variety of tantrums that now I’m sure I can handle paris Hilton. Also thanks pooja , shweta (both), hemant, koshire, sumit and the whole MIND IT group. Its been a lot of fun with u guys too!

Phew! That was long!sorry if i missed out any but do know that i'm now old and my grey cells have satrted failing me :P So happy birthday to me! And now back to studying ageing. Oh life’s coincidences!

IDENTITY NON-CRISIS

A friend of mine sent me a forward which goes like this-

' in U.P. or .bihar, kids surnames are decided as follows

agar 1 ka hua to EKNATH

do se hua to DUBEY

3 SE HUA TO TRIVEDI

4 se hua to CHATURVEDI

5 se hua to PANDEY

agar sab ka hua to MISHRA

and agar baap pata na ho to GUPTA..'

my reaction? 'oh ha ha..ERASE..because as it is my cell phone from maurya period is always choking from FULL MEMORY.

i walk back to class and meet her on the way up. she stops for me and i give her a smile and start walking with her when she asks me

"Message mila?"

"oh ya ..your new docomo right? (do doo do ..do dodododo..sorry couldn't resist..
)

"ya i hope you didn't feel offended.."

i gave her a quizzical look and wondered stupidly how does she know I'm from the CHATURVEDI clan..and said " about the CHATURVEDIS being mentioned? no no of course not..!"

"no i mean the joke as a whole.. i mean you know its about people from UP and BIHAR.. "

I paused.. smiled at her..a little too sweetly , fighting back the urge to slap her and said" but why should i feel bad about all that? I've been born and brought up in this city.. I belong to this state as much as you do.."

"ha ha wo to hai ..but..you see..you're still..from north in terms of culture..and er..language."

"No ..my hindi is as bad as yours..its not very fluent and i understand every word of marathi u speak because i have studied it my entire school life..and why would i feel offensive? would you if i sent you a joke making a mockery of maharashtrians? Obviously not! because YOU and I are well educated and citizens of a broad-minded Indian society..don't we make fun of sardars all the time! and we have one of them as our P.M...CHAL its already 1 'o clock."

and i took 2 stairs at a time and rose above. LITERALLY.

and BTW HAPPY NEW YEAR! STAY SAFE , STAY HEALTHY. :)

1^st of December marked the AIDS AWARENESS DAY. Our professors realized that a day before. And as usual they caught hold of me to ‘represent’ T.Y. and prepare charts for the next day and arrange for the exhibition. Am not complaining though. I took it as my moral responsibility to address social issues such as these. And my friend ANUJA helped me a lot on these charts. Thanks ninja!

The exhibit was ‘successful’. And I hope I’ve done my bit to spread the message. Of course I would like to get hold of the junior guy and tell him to get his facts right about INNATE and ACQUIRED IMMUNITY. The professors were pretty impressed and patted my back. I still hope they talk to their kids about HIV and AIDS. That would be real appreciation.

I appeal to all those reading the blog- be aware of what causes HIV. And stay safe. Create awareness by talking to your kids, siblings, maids, driver, dhobiwala etc etc

Oh and happy 1^st anniversary to my blog! And thank u everybody for your response and hope this association goes a long way.

CHEERS!

the bigger picture

The exam month is over. The testing times have passed..Or have they?

Finished with my theory and practical. Singular not plural. They went pretty ok... And a big hello to JD!http://janakidani.wordpress.com/ Good work there... as always J Now for the bigger picture..

This is my final year at college. I’ll be a graduate next summer and I’ll be giving entrance exams running from one city to other. Have started preparing but its not enough if I want to achieve something better. Bigger.

Each day makes me realize what is left to be done and what I have done. What have I achieved so far? What have I done for myself? For my parents? For my country? Blame it on the overcast weather for all the self contemplation which by the way is very important. Self analysis from time to time helps one become a better person.

This self analysis helped me realize the vast change I’d undergone since school. At school I was this big teacher’s pet with one best friend. Those kinds who took part in all possible extra curricular activities (leaving aside sports of course)- a leader in every sense, perceived as snobbish , full of attitude till about the eighth grade, then life changed people changed. My perspective of looking at people changed. I became a better person. Being non judgmental and respecting the individuality every being possessed was a valuable lesson learnt. By the time I left school I had grown tall not only in terms of height; but in thoughts too.

So am I a saint? No none of us are! Do I take pleasure in others times of troubles? No! Even if they are arch enemies...Umm…Maybe...Would I help them if they came to me? Yes! Surprisingly yes! Each one has his or her own take on situations life has to give. If you desperately seek advice try calling at least 2 or 3 friends… each one will have their own way of tackling problems.. So your mind too gets the bigger picture…your thinking capabilities change. You appreciate others points of views and are much more at ease adapting to those... Another valuable lesson learnt albeit with sour experiences.

Each day brings with it many obstacles some which one has been through, some very hard to handle…but at the end of the day what matters is your inner strength…and your thought process which has to be oriented in a positive way.

I know it’s easier said than done. But I am trying really hard to do it.. Believe me. Just the fact that you are trying to be a better person, taking efforts to accept your negative thoughts and improving makes you a better person. Not perfect. Just better.

score more

that time of the year again!

exams fast approaching and i find myself amidst photocopied notes(and not Xeroxed, they were cannoned i guess ) , useless textbooks , fresh stationary and a lot of anxiety. my friends cant believe i don't freak out like them 1 month before exams. because i don't. i get numb so there's really no point telling yourself "ok your exams are around the corner. they're your university exams.you screw them and you get screwed in return. so all you have to do to avoid getting screwed up is study . omg not enough time left to cover all topics and what about my nth revision. I'M GONNA FLUNK! HELP!HELP!MUMMY!!"

see? no point! but that does not mean i'm not ambitious..or am a lukkha (lukkhi) ..in fact this time i'm determined to kick some butt.. very school kids type i know.. but the only possible way is to score more.

and the fact that the champions trophy is the same time as that of the preparatory leave does not help.. nor does the fact that just 10 days before the exams we have the most important festival DIWALI. so while my cousins are gonna have a blast i'm gonna be busy with biodiversity and recombinant dna technology(coz hopefully by that time i would've finished my microbiology)..

till then its just main aur meri padhai....

What’s cooking?

I know I know. It’s been a really long time. Blame it on the internet service and my pc which conked out. The whole of august went in gathering prerequisites for our project on anti acne properties of Indian medicinal plants. The easiest was the source of the bacteria; for which we promptly (n happily) burst rohit’s big zit. And also practicing for the lame fresher’s put up by the other group in class. The best part was the dance. Yay!

I have a new found love- COOKING!

For the past 1 month I have been making friends with deserts and other delicacies. Being a foodie myself I never knew that I would enjoy cooking as much as eating. I have been making chapattis and other vegetables for more than 4 years now but I never really explored the other possibilities. But last month I just came across a brownie recipe and there was no looking back. Of course the brownie was good enough to eat and so was sewaiyya ki kheer. People kept asking for more puranpoli and I was more than happy to oblige. There was also the ‘sheera’ or the rawe ka halwa as we call it for savoring. And the down to earth chawal wali kheer.

So our stomachs our full. And so is my appetite for sweets...

Now to invade other possibilities J