Religious tolerance

You know your room is dirty when the wet towel has made your entire bed,pillow and bedsheet wet,when you have more clothes outside your cupboard than inside and only you can find what you want,at this stage your probably 2 steps away form your room being declared a toxic dump.I always start cleaning my room only when there is a danger of fungus taking shelter in my cupboards and i'm down to the last pair of jeans.Also by this time mom's tired of telling me to clean my room and refuses to give me any clean clothes till i have these ones sorted out. I know it sounds like i'm lazy (and i know i am) but once i start cleaning my room all nooks and corners are raided with the same ferocity as that when my friends are presented with some food(actually any food would do for this lot). This time i dared to venture where no human being had dared venture for over three years.The part where i keep all my books and notes and certificates.Dont you just love looking at your certificates from school.For me it's like a reminder of the time when i didnt do anythng worthwhile but still maanged to scrape some, like when i won in the subjuniors relay mainly coz ther were hardly 20 people in the subjunior level or when i lost out on the A+ grade in sr.kg. cause i thought 17 came after 61 and no i'm not dyslexic . So as i was sifting through this storehouse of memories and i came across this essay i had written in 6th standard for my moral science class. I still remember it was for one of my favourite teachers Ms. Pramila. I vaguely remembered writing it but i so did not expect it to be sooooo bad. i probably got an A and i have no idea how but anyway this is for the amusement of the brave who'd dare read it(mind you its still in top condition in a plastic folder with pictures from those themed charts you got for 2 bucks ,god i miss school).The below content has no resemblance to anyone living or dead.It was written more than 9 years ago so plz not to be taken seriously.For reproducing the below piece of art a copyright can be arranged.Price on request.
"Religious tolerance is a value in which we know about religions and tolerance.God created everyman equal but it is man who made sections in which other people too will be included.Before religions(sections)were depended on the occupations.Now religions are a dangerous play.Almost everything depends on religion.A Muslim businessmann would a Muslim staff only.A Hindu businessman would have Hindu staff only.As a result countries like India have riots.The people arent the only cause but also the religion values saying thata particular God is greater than the other.Religions liek Hinduism and Islam fight the most.Religions are not useless but are instruments which make them different but not from humanity.There is one god with different names but is only one,.......only one.
Prayer: O God help us to live in brotherhood in this unfair world .Help us to forgive the people of other religion who offend us.Help us to bring a feeling of pride as we are all equal."

New York New York!!!!!

I love to go places and i don't mean far off places ,but just any place .The previous post amply declares my love for wekend trips,so im gonna write about the countless unforgettable day trips i'v made.Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) all these trips were completely unplanned and were at the behest of every whim and fancy of my trip companion(when there was one) or mine . I guess what makes them special is that they have no restrictions of time or that touristy compulsion of visiting a particular place just because youv'e heard so much about , and you just could'nt go back home without a snap of at that place in the same pose and the same composition as taken by a thousand people before you. So here's describing one of the best daytrips i'v ever made

My sister and i had heard and seen about New York a lot ,and by that i mean we had seen every episode of FRIENDS about half a dozen times, seen Die Hard 3 about a dozen times and read about either Wall street or Times square in the newspaper every 2nd day. So i was pretty much confident that nothing would surprise me and thankfully i was wrong (i'd like to believe that doesnt happen too often).Perhaps the bus ride to NY city was the best idea cause i got to see most of the touristy attractions on the way to Port Authority Bus terminal.I saw the Yankee Stadium (even though i dont know the 'b' of baseball),i passed Times square, Broadway and i think we went over what i was sure at that time was Brooklyn bridge , but later when i saw three other bridges look the same way i was'nt that confident.It took us long enough to get out of the massive building and after that we had to wait at W42nd and 8th avenue for over an hour.This actually turned out to be kinda great cause i came to know ,that be it New York or Mumbai ,cabbies will always get in the wrong lane and then get out and start fighting mindlessly causing stupid jams.The language was different but the gist was pretty much the same.We were standing in front of this multicoloured building when the uncle who we were gonna stay with came and picked us up and we were off to Queens.

After freshening up and a prompt pet puja it was practically afternoon. we were (thankfully) advised to avoid the standard bus tours and just do the exploring part ourselves.So we set out with just a couple of dollars ,two delicious pita bread sandwhiches and a dozen maps.To complete our obviousness as tourists was the humungous borrowed Minolta camera.We gotta try the subway which was great,having already been to Hong Kong for a gizillion times ,prevented us from being wide eyed confused tourists and the whole system was very mangeable and easy.We changed trains and as luck would have it there was some problem in the last few stations but they had arranged for a bus to the last stop which for us was South ferry,yup our first stop was Statue of Liberty.It was a sunday so there was a decent crowd .We took the staten island ferry so we could just see the statue from away,cause anyway we could'nt go to the top.

Maybe the statue was this distinctly american thing ,and that 's why i didnt get it, but i found it dirty, meaning you could see the dust settled on the lime green statue which was kinda overrated according to me .Maybe if your an american you could feel some sense of pride looking at it but all i saw was a disproportionate statue.It was kinda like when i visited agra and ended up liking the Agra fort a tad more than Taj mahal.But anyway when we got back to solid land did i start enjoying Ney York the way i always wanted to enjoy it.We sat at the harbour which was really pretty and had sandwhiches and just saw people pass.

Dont you just love the times when you dont have to care about time.We could have sat over there for more than an hour or just 15 mins but not having any restrictions just felt great. Now we were supposed to go straight home ,but blame it on the fact that it does'nt become dark till 8 in august,we decide to do a little exploring.We just walked and stumbled on Wall street.Now i'm filmy,very filmy and so is my sister ,so there we stood with these humongous chocolate shakes(dirt cheap) in our hands and did this total 360 degree turn just like bruce willis in die hard3 (thinking "what does wall street have that no other street have???",money dude lots of money) and our eyes on the NSE .For me this was just ultracool. We both took photos with the bull ,it being a sunday there were so many people (holding up kids on its back,holding the bull in unmentionable places) and this is where our bambiya mentality came to use ,which is to politely squeeze in and jostle through to get a photo.

Now i'm not an architecture student but the buildings were just beautiful.Being a sunday(have i mentioned that before) the business district was only full of tourists. the immigration building was ugly enough (that awful lime green again) but on due course we stumbled on these art deco type buildings which had so much character(like those in south mumbai).We stumbled on this one building (i bet it had some spooky purpose) around 4th street which just didnt have any windows!I loved this black building near the ferry pier,the chrysler building(this one was my favourite ,even more than the empire state) ,rockfeller centre and even those residential ones(ok i know i,m gonna sound really stupid ,but like the ones in Friends). i loved all of them.

Thats just what we did. We walked and walked and walked alll the way from the ferry pier till practically 14th street.We saw the remains of the World trade centre(i wish they'd get going with the memorial they plan to build there ,its been almost 7 yrs and one would think that a country like usa would'nt take time to build something. That time there was just a big khadda), we saw these big six footers playing basketball in a roadside park,we saw families having dinner in these cute roadside greek restaurants,we saw st.pauls cathedral(but only from the outside,we were late), we saw everything i wanted to see.

And then we saw a station fro the metro and our tired feet forced us to stop.We headed out to 42nd street [Times square woohoo!!!].Ever wondered how every city has a Regal theatre??? Well this one also did.The lights were pretty blinding and so we decided to skip Maddam tussads or any of the other touristy things and headed out to a park(i think it was battery park,but am not 2 sure) and there was a big screen set up. The cutest thing about it was they screened these old classics for free and people could just bring their mats and lie there and enjoy the movie.i found it extremely cute.By then however it was time to head home.

And so the day came to an end.I didnt understand it at that time but now that i look back,i probably loved that day so much a) cause it was New York and b) cause there was total freedom associated with it .i could go wherevr i wanted and lastly c)cause i had good chappals on,and when i have good chappals on i can go walking on and on(much like that duracell rabbit) I love that day and i'm happy that when i'm all grey and old ill be able to say that i saw NY my way.

beach bums

I love weekend trips. Period. I love the fact that they hardly need any planning and give me a break from the regular hum drum. Of late actually just hanging out with a couple of frnds and talking has been gr8 but a change of scenery is always welcome. Actually dhoondnewale ke to hazaron bahaane mil akte hain. My dear frnd of two years (my namesake) was gonna leave us all n so was made the grand (and mind you it was the 1st successful plan) of visiting and surprising her at DahanuDahanu can be described in three words, beach, beach and again the beach. Getting there was easy enuf with the ample Gujarat bound trains, and we chose to start early. Wonder of all wonders every1 was on tym n so we set out,with the weather being all wet n wonderful (haa……….the monsoons),with the six of us on the upper berths hoping our combined weight wudnt displace our faith in the strength of iron benches. Two years of passing vijaynagar in a bus has trained my eye for the occasional bhojpuri poster ,which I promptly spotted pasted outside the station, which quite literally was very unlike anything u wud expect in Mumbai.the poster by the way was of “Pyaasa Bhootraj”(mental note made for future games of dumb charades).After our gift to her was prepared n, we set out to her place ,but as luck wud have it, we bumped into her on the way. Thankfully surprised, she invited us to her place. After which my mango starved hostel frnds got to savour wat was probably the season’s last mangoes. By this tym however we had only one thng on our minds, and that was clean, clear unending sea .we set out to the 2nd beach(described as the beach for “sophisticated ppl only” by my frnd) the minute I laid my eyes on it ,I knew I cud just spend hours doing absolutely nothing other than just stare at the humungous waves beckoning any courageous being to plunge in to them. But then, that cud be done sum other tym. This was the time to completely immerse ourselves into the water and act like a couple of toddlers.Perhaps ,as it was probably the last tym the eight of us wud be together with no restrictions of tym or studies,every1 was in super high spirits. The thing is u can only get wet to a certain degree and then u just dnt care. Those 3 hrs in the water were absolute joy and ecstacy even tho they basically consisted of dropping each other in the salty water ,dancing and making a complete fool of ourselves in front of the locals, singing stupid songs and just sitting in the water under the sky which was completely over cast and grey giving it a completely surreal feeling, the kind u have in one of those moments which seem to just go on and stay with u forever even tho u dnt have any photos or videos to prove tht they happened. Sitting there in tht garbage less beach with 7 of the best of my frnds with the waves cuming and literally moving us was just fantastic.This was not however sufficiently appreciated by my maid who had to remove the kilos of sand which just refused to get out of my pants. The day ended for us at 3 nxt morning.The nxt day just flew by with hot cups of tea and coffee, sum rain (finally!!!!) and loads of idle gossip. And it was tym 2 go.The beach is always fun,but this tym it was extra special.This is especially dedicated to the person who ill miss so much in the cuming year. The person who completely epitomized the word fun,n truly bought a smile on the darkest of days.Mansi.

Summer

Im really lucky,even though im having a pretty crappy time,(academia wise) its d beginning of yet another mumbai summer.ya,i can tell tht by the fact tht my clothes have started to stink after wearing them just once as opposed to the usual 2 or 3 times,myhair needs to be washed at least 3 times a week,and not even my parents can say tht i was fair once upon a time n at this rate im probably gonna look like a genuine dark south indiann finally the there are bouganvillae everywhere(eagerly awaiting the advent of laburnums and sonmohar)
But my summers havent been just bout those thngs. Definetly not.Iv been one of those lucky souls who had the kinda childhood n youth(i cant beleive im getting out of my teens in 11 months n 10 days) whose memories bring a smile on my face.i think u need to have good times in ur life basically for the reason so u can have memories of those good times ,the way it is with me is that when im going through a rough patch,i can think of those memories and hope that such a time can come back and will come back.its the same with people,i know relatives and people who have known of my existence for all my life but i have absolutely no memories of spending tiime with them , let alone a good time.but then there are people ,complete strangers who iv known ,albeit for a short period of time but have made me laugh and i continue to have the most fondest memories of them. and maybe its me being selfish but i am more fond of the latter
i cant forget those times when i'v spent entire summers in just my petticoats , falling countless times ,learning how to cycle,being pampered to the hoot,getting up at 9 to watch duck tales, playing lagori at 10 in the night, going on mini trips,dancing on my cousins feet,spending the evening on an old scooter with the wind blowing my curly hair,eating misal,sev puri and iceream all in 3 hrs n the promptly puking at midnight ,sleepwalking,smelling the first rains,taking long nver ending walks with a close freind,having my first crush, seeing a new country,getting wet on a beach,watching a 4 movies in 2 weeks in the theater at a time when the tickets were for 30 bucks,picnics, mangoes,.the list is too long.
And so as yet another summer begins, i know im gonna dread the sweat,heat, dehydration,travelling,bad hair days,rashes but im also luking froward to the trees in full bloom,playing in the building,beautiful sunsets,holi,n visting if not a new country at least a new place,the feeling of a cool breeze on a hot day.so optimistically enough im hoping for a good time till the rain gods shower their blessings.

One Fine Day

i used to like writing those essays a lot,u know those like "24 hrs at a station" or "my worst day" well today the 29th of feb(theres sum irony in the fact tht this day cums only only in 4 yrs n it had to be like this) was pretty much a script 4 one of those essays.i dont think i have ever had such mixed emotions in a single day let alone a week.im tired ,stressed mentally more than physically, deliriously happy,utterly lost, completely betrayed (pretty much brutus style) and a hundred different things at the same time. i think i need to write n by that i mean just write what im thinking n not consciously try to be anything only for the reason that i think a day like this shudnt go completely undocumented and for my own selfish reasons im gonna do it.
A background of the week till now is quite necessary ,i think.get up at 7 everyday to reach college only to discover that theres nothing to do for about an hour ,getting shoved and pushed n touched in god knows what places while trying to do the herculean task of getting into a 185 at peak time,see jodha akbar twice,miss the trains i want 4 times in 1 day n 2 buses and get stuck in traffic in a place where theres never any traffic with two 3 kg books to carry and lose over 1n half hr in the process,think about hrithik and cooo over the way he stood, the way he said his dialogues and pretty much everything,spend more than 15 hrs outside home everyday and out of that about 5 hrs in travellin alone without any music,go to the dr twice and still not know what to do,have three assignments sitting on my head of which two havent been even been started,lose my temper countless times ,getting reprimanded twice in one day for over 1 hr each for something which im not totally responsible and more.
So when the day started for me at 5.45 i was optimistic that today would be different coz im always happy when the eagerly awaited weekend approaches. i got late as expected, i missed my train as expected,i got another train which took me to the original train n faster,seriously not expected,and then finally reach college .my day starts with the quiz eliminations and with the news that im supposed to speak about agaist animal testing in less than an hour,(sumthing which i dont totally beleive in).the quiz goes bad enough considering our team had won the second prize last year-[strike 1]and then im supposed to rush to perform a skit which iv been practising for over 3 weeks and am still not confident about. i do it n i dont mess up even once[point1]and surprisingly people even laugh for the right reasons.i rush to learn what im supposed to gab about for 15 mins with conviction. the entire debate seems like, on hindsight 6 hungry people pouncing upon a piece of meat wanting to have the biggest share,it was funny enough though[point2].
Apparently theres some problem in the quiz and we have to give it again[point 3],but its tougher[too soon,bac to point 2].on the last minute of the quiz i am interrupted and as expected i lose it but only for a bit[strike 3].it offends a lot of people[strike 4].and no one wants to talk about it ,leaving me with a pile of work and no one to ask for help[strike5].i lose an assignment[ [strike6].n that too of the most sanki character of the class[strike7].i find it soon enough[point3].im done with my responsibilities as a cr[point4].i confront the people concerned with the whole issue[strike 8,9,10,11,12,13,14,............].I shout,scream,cry and when im done i try not to think about it[strike (iv forgotten the no)].i hear someone sing[point5].i forgive but i NEVER forget.im around crazy chapri people again[point6].i see my friends dance and cheer really loud for them[point7]. i get to go visit my niece[point8] but i dont get a ricksha[strike].people actually come and tell that our skit was good[point (i cant measure this one )]iv pretty much cooled down but definetly in a different satte of mind.have made a couple of decisions and hope to stand by them.[point9].decide to forgive and be forgiven but never forget.exasperated at the amount of emotions iv gone through in less than 6 hrs,sad that things dont turn out the way i thought they were[strike].i get ricksha[point].smile while thinking of some body[point].see my niece [again cant measure this one].eat after over 12hrs[double point].get to go home in my car[point].hear the news that i might be selected [point] this one was definetly one of the highlights of the day
this wasnt the saddest day of my life nor was it my happiest nor was it the most exciting.but it definetly was something .something i dont want to forget mainly for the reason that i came to know how fickle evrything around is.one minute you think your life is secure and complete and the next you are all alone in a pit and in the next ur again on top of everest.i learnt to not take anything seriously or anything lightly and stop not thinking of things.the cynical part of me wants to take over completly and become wary of the people that surround me and the situations that are around me and lose faith in all my beleifs but the optimistic part, though feeble, tells me that all it was,was just a bad day and it too like tht doorman in "my best friends wedding "said,' it too shall pass'.i hope the cynical part of me doesnt take over .i sincerely hope so.

has it been a year already?????

the last year has been crazy n by crazy i dont mean staring-at-randomn-ppl-and-picking-out-one-hair-at-a-tym crazy but certified mental-institution-admittable crazy.wen u turn 18 ur lyf changes ,mine definetly did.this wasnt just any other year of my life, i probably learnt more in this year than evr before(well maybe i learnt a lot i was 1 crawling,farting ,eating,attempting 2 walk n falling in d process,laughing, ya i probably learnt more tht year) but anyways.the beginning was truth be told as dull as one of those family functions ur forced 2 go n evrybody around u is either old enuf 2 need reading glasses or yopung enuf 2 get away wid dropping all d food n still luking cute.my college lyf wasnt tht gr8, d travelling was finally getting 2 me and id just lost d zeal 2 do anythng apart from just continuing 2 be a part of d usual humdrum which had my parents having a more active social lyf than me, my sister enjoying in snow my building frnd going 2 3 college fests in a week n actually going on d stage,my frnds going in 4 jobs n actually getting their own pay packets in their hands. basically my life pretty much sucked.

and then buffalo happened.d thng is that it wasnt just a trip , n im so sure other than me it didnt affect any1 else who was a part of it or rather not as much as it did 4 me.it didnt just end there bt had a kind of a snowballing effect n only good thngs were 2 follow.thngs which wud change my outlook, change my perspective,change me. i finally came 2 know wat kind of a person i am,i know how dumb it sounds but i came 2 know myself.i still dont know wat i want from life and most of all where im heading but at least i know me. i know wat i am .at least i think i do

along wid tht i came 2 know lots more.so heres a list of thng i learnt this yr,probably d best yet

1)wen u r cold run 2 nearest loo n releive urself .i learnt it d hard way wen i had 2 walk in biting cold in d dark in d middle of a forest at 5 in d morning in my socks.

2)im a bloody narcissist i cant walk past a car widout luking in d mirror, my fav question is(n my frnds can testify 4 dis one)"hows my hair?" d thng is im not exactly apolegetic about it.just d way i am

3)u shud always speak up. i had an insane fear of public speaking n even more of speaking 2 ppl i didnt know.then one day the sun rose in the east n i realinsed tht no matter how stupid i sound no ones gonna eat me up for wat i say

4)i am hyperimpressed by ppl who can speak well.if an articulate serial killer wud cum along id probably first listen 2 him ramble bout his exploits n then run.

5)jogeshwari cums on both sides,so u can get down either of d two sides.but generally d right is better coz there are steps on d platform which u can use n cross d tracks.

6)life generally shit.it just depends wat kind of shit falls on u.crow shit during very good times,dog shit during times wen u ha a fight wid ur frnds , family etc,n elephant shit wen u r totally screwed up n dont know wat ur doing or wat u shud do in life.its just our job 2 wade thru d shit

7)western express highway at 1.30 am after a light rainshower in a taxi wid 4 of ur closest frnds is absolutely heavenly.

8)my legs r big .period.so i shud stop crying about d fact tht there r hardly any gud shoes out there or shoes which wud luk good on my feet n i shud accept it

9)ur cell can survive falls from d sofa or anythng which is less than 1 foot high.it cannot survive falls from the third berth in a train movina at a speed of more than 120km/hr n will promptly break n put u in a temporary state of utter n total helplessness n self loathing almost equal 2 wa is felt wen u lose one

10) 1st impressons shud not b the benchmark 4 recognising a person n ill b the first 2 say tht i do so myself i.e beleive way 2 much in 1st impressions.i myself ucm off as a rather proud know-it-all n am awful at recognising ppl 4 who they r.the ppl who i had previously thot of as completely hopeless n stupid turned out 2 be real gems.

11) i luv my bdays .i absoulutely luv them.i luv evrythn abou them.i luv th efatc tht every1 u know calls u tht day,u get gifts n generally its a really happy day for me.

12)i cant not talk. i need 2 most of the tym, the four hrs tht i spend travelling evryday r absolute torture.

13)beer is like kadva soda.champagne n wine r totally ok n no d kind of thngs u can get drunk on n start dancing in d rain

14)i shud write more often.im not remotely good at anythng so i shud do sumthng which i am at least comfortable doing

15)pasta is super easy 2 make n choclate cake isnt 2 tough either

16)its not possiblefor evry1 to like u or evry1 2 wnt d same thng.hav 2 learn 2 live wid it.

17)walking on d streets of new york n watching jhandus play basketball,streetside greek restaurants full wid families,ugly green buildings,n basically walking without a destination in mind is d best way 2 spend a day.btw i still cant understand a word of english i.e babban english(for the uninitiated wen african american ppl speak)

18)finally as my current fav song goes i want 2 find a way bac in 2 love .it may not happen this year or the year after tht ,but im willing 2 waitn if tht means seeing every1 n imean even ppl eons of yrs younger 2 me coothie cooing so b it.

so this is basically how my year was .i didnt get 2 donate blood (bloody hb is less),or do paragliding(i did do the trampoline-harness-jumping-thingie) but this is the tym wen i feel content i think theres no better thng than tht.