MAXI

I'm feeling all soppy about MAXI tonight. I don't know why but all day today I was getting all sentimental about the nice bunch of people who i met thanks to Maxi.

Just in case you are wondering what MAXI is, it stands for MARKETING ASSOCIATION AT XLRI. I happen to be a junior executive member and mighty proud of it!

I was relating to my mother over lunch just how supportive each of my seniors had been and how I probably had never thanked them for it. Thanks guys! I know most of you won't ever see this, but thanks for standing by me during the nightmare called SIP and more.

It is also a matter of great personal pride for your's truly to be on Xl's website. Here it is. And another(my personal work!)

This is to MAXI. Of today. Of yesterday. Of tomorrow.

dedicated to term II

this slightly tilted drawing is dedicated to the endless economic classes of term II that taught me as much economics as it made me sleep n draw :D

what if...

so last night i was tired and not so tired. while i lay contemplating ways of putting myself to sleep, a thought crossed my mind. what if king kong could talk back?
for the last 17years king kong has borne every antic of mine. he knows every secret, every good thing, every evil thing i've thought n done, every crush i had, every time i nursed a broken heart and much much more. lately he's also a good pillow and a substitute for a nice warm hug.
as it happens, last night i wondered what king kong would say to me if he could talk back. would he admonish me for being like me? would he express his anger at being treated like pillow? would he be all nice and tell me what exactly was the cause of all those salty tears that he so diligently absorbed?
i don't know. somehow the more i think the worse options i come up with. and all bad things he could do-shout, scream, gossip and more. isn't it surprising that i can not think of one good thing a mute secret keeper would do?
the world's cynicism is hitting me after all. my best buddy is also a potential "wikileak". lame joke. sorry :P
oh btw the snap below is the first documented proof of king kong...year 1993...month unknown. somewhere between mar-aug

a song that struck a chord somewhere....

genius me

inspired by a week full of grax and good anda maggi at midnight-gossiping is good for health-it increases awareness, makes one more perceptive, provides good laughter and usually involves human bonding of various kinds.
my moments of true genius. m good!

all the single ladies(minus one) and the south indian heroes!

all my life i've wanted to do a honest to goodness road trip. to be true, my fascination began with all the trashy american teen flicks and their ideas of coming to age. on November 20, 2010 i, shivani saksena, actually had a short but very interesting road trip.
second term@xl has been bucket loads of fun. after the depressing beginning and frustrating ending of term 1, term 2 has been rather nice to me(touch wood). this particular month of november will always remain special. first a beach vacation and then this. oh i love this november!
if i were to start at the starting, mr menon came up with this idea of a half a day trip to Dasam falls(40km outside ranchi-about 100 or so from XL) and all of readily agreed. for some reason, we decided to begin early(smart decision-the highway early morning is wow!). at 5:40am, we were all set to leave. mr menon with Kottana, Dexter with SN, Badal with SK and i was with KK. or should i say, i was with KK and Padmini? ;)
since i can't make this a really boring travelogue, i'm throwing in what my excitement was all about-Padmini is a very stately Royal Enfield Thunderbird!! i could've gushed about it, if anyone were really listening but then again, whatever.
KK and i were leading the pack coz we kept cruising averaging about 75-80kmph while the rest were almost crawling averaging 40kmph! the drive at 6 in the morning is an experience. with a heavy sweat shirt and hood covering all of my head except my face, i could still feel the chill. the wind really talks to you at that speed. the highway from jamshedpur to ranchi (NH 33)is a a good road except in patches where it is becomes unbearable but otherwise the two lane highway is a built for a good ride.
on my way to dasam falls my camera kept clicking...the fog covered mountains, endless fields of freshly harvested crops, a very beautiful sunrise, an idyllic temple built on the banks of the many rain fed rivers we crossed, yellow fields covered in hay and mustard blossoms, a tomato market, small villages on the edge of civilization yet untouched in their life, an ancient devi temple called Deori Devi, cliffs that rose high yet didn't intimidate and yes, whatever else caught my fancy. my only regret is that by the time i'd focus and click, we'd have moved further ahead and so many of my pictures are of mundane trees that only i know hide a beautiful sight.
with 3pit stops on our way there, we took a total of 2hours and a half. the last 15kms to dasam is off the highway and into the hinterlands of jharkhand. the road is well built but like i mentioned, the life there is still disconnected from urban development.
some 10 into our journey, i was bothered by the utter silence we were traveling in. i wasn't sure if it was really a comfortable silence or just lack of conversation on either side. when i finally muttered up the courage to ask KK if he'd like to talk on our way there, i got a very classy answer that i probably wouldn't forget for a long time. he said, "lady if you wanted to talk, u picked the wrong guy. i like my bike rides in silence."
silence suited me just fine. i got to sing to myself, pray a little, sort issues in my head and just be quiet. with padmini roaring like she does, i didn't need conversation. the world passing me by was a blur at moments when i'd just lose myself to the wind, the roar and peace. oxymoronic life, isn't it?
dasam falls were a real sight. fallin from 144feet high marble rocks, it looked quite an enchanting place. it is actually well maintained and given how some places are cluttered and dirty, this was quite the opposite. climbing down the stairs to the bottom of the falls, we made our camp and went about doing whatever it was one wished to do. i went as close as i could to the smaller falls that make dasam falls. the rocks were very slippry and losing one's footing is the easiest thing. dexter was the only one who joined me in fall exploratory mode while most went off rock climbing. it was only later that we joined them. i am not particularly fond of rock climbing coz it manages to very vocally prove to me how badly out of shape i am. but i persevered. with mr menon and dexter being good support however idiosyncratically.
after one slip, i realised i shouldn't push the bar too far for me and stayed back from further climbing. the guys though went all the way to the top of the falls. what a sight it must've made! i was happy enough sitting on the ledge of with my feet in the splashing water and just staring into space. i never realised how much i'd missed my thoughtless staring into space until i spent a good part of the morning doing just that today. most people here dnt know my moods. they especially don't know my silence. but i do. and i liked the thoughless moments. and to think of it, i wasn't on the ground, i wasn't in the air...i was sitting on a rock ledge under a waterfall in the middle of the jungles of jharkhand. wow!
the drive back was quite uneventful as such but the longest i've had. KK and i drove non stop back to college(one 5minute break doesn't count) and that means sitting on the bike in the same position continuously for a little less than two hours with nothing to do and a sun to hide from. if i look for a reason why i still loved it, i wouldn't have a clue. i just did. it could be doing the diva scarf and shades routine or it could be the exhaustion wearing off under the wind. i dnt know.
the trip has one extra special moment for me. it was when KK didn't see a pothole and padmini obviously jerked hard. my instant reaction when i drive is to talk to my car and make it up to her. KK did the exact same thing. touching.

ps: photos in next blog post...i still hv2load em!!

Bats and life

i've been wondering for a long time what to write and even though i now have a laptop i am only away from when in class or during meals, i haven't done much better with blog posting. but something that happened just now has prompted an urgent post.
today is the third and final day of our fest Ensemble and since sn's brother was here for it, we finally coordinated our schedules enough to go out and have a meal together. the ladies decided the outing called for dress up and we cleaned up decently well(people were shocked enough to call it dolled up!). after a hearty meal full of cheese, good ham, laughs and topped with a good drive, we returned to our 10x10.
absentmindedly i unlock the door. sn and sk are behind me and all three are squabbling. i switch on the lights and wham! i see two bats flying across my room straight at me! i shrieked i think and jumped into sn's room and closed it shut. then we debated how they could've come and how we should get them out. finally sn and i ran down to find some help from the workers et al. thankfully we didn't have to go further than the hostel landing...there were three workers packing up for the day. we told them of my room and they got so excited at the prospect of catching a bat that all they way to my room, they were cracking jokes for us and giggling like excited little girls :|
watching them jumping and swinging broom and happily fighting the bats was an experience. i, the brave girl, was crouching at the end of the corridor behind a turn. sn was there too. sk was so brave she refused to step out of sn's room. we could see them making plans to catch the bats. one got hit by the broom but landed in the shelf above the tables. the other probably realised the battles a losing fight, so it flew out the room and straight across the corridor at sn and me. oh how i screamed! and when it landed just at the turn where we were crouching, i ran. i ran like crazy to other end of the corridor with sn close at my heels. all i can say is it must've been a funny sight for sure, but i couldn't have cared less!
bottom line...the workers had in their hands two bats and they happily walked off like pirates after a loot and a very scared me walked surreptitiously into my room. phew! no more bats to scare me. i hope.

Small Audi art2

Small Audi art

Turning a sphere inside out

so a friend posted this link as his gtalk status n i was greatly impressed hence i share it below. the beauty of mathematics which sometimes dances in front of my eyes and at other times eludes me, is incomparable. a mathematician is an artist, a visionary and a tad bit self contained and often very boring. lol!
and truthfully this video has no bearing whatsoever on my life and its current updates ;)

Miss (my) Slumber

so here at xl i've discovered a new side to me. yes cliche but true. let's just say i've discovered more sides to me than i knew before!
i just cant help it. it's definitely not planned, it's not intended, it's something i resist yet something i'm seen rather often indulging in. oh how i try to justify not just to myself but to all those who catch me in action that it wasnt meant to be. but to no avail. it happened. it happens. n i dnt see y it wont happen again.
yes, one rather (in)famous ability i've discovered, is sleeping in class!
but there is a pattern you see. when some patch of never ending theory comes up which I find no way of comprehending, my brain starts off with things i do. so mostly i try to doodle but when even that fails, my brain in the auto mode switches off. heard of battery savers?
so to help me better explain-read the brilliant piece of art below.
thnx xkcd.com for making my situation atleast humourous :D

weighty issues

yes, as the title suggests this post is all about weight issues. who's? mine!
my brother had once very beautifully written about my battle with my weight, way back when orkut was the "in" thing and having meaningful testimonials was the ultimate need. he'd said, "she'd be perfect if only she could get herself motivated to do something about her biggest problem-her weight". it's funny and embarrassing to admit that it's still true.
a friend tonight very crisply showed me the root of the problem for me. her(very true) observation is that I can eat whenever and whatever I feel like irrespective of hunger! till a few moments after she said it, I could've counted eating as my best time pass and hobby-I love food!
I love all aspects of food! I love to cook, I love to shop for gourmet foods, I love to go shop for vegetables cause I can imagine having them for dinner soon, I can watch cookery shows, I love to experiment with food and I love food! when i qualified for xl and it was time for me to leave home, i went to a book store to buy myself a book-I shortlisted 3books out of which the one i finally picked is titled "The Virago Book of Eating". how much more can i say?
so tonight, sitting at bishuda(midnight food haven), while i gorged on french toast, my friend muddled up the courage to tell me the real reason why I am fat-cause I eat randomly-whenever and whatever. so touched as i was by the concern n the dawn(i keep forgeting, or keep making myself forget) of this knowledge, i sulked. a little. i closed the open box of cookies on my desk and decided to be better at it. then i started writing this entry and just writing about food has cheered me up!
so maybe i'm fat. ok, no maybe, i am fat. but atleast i'm happy!
ok, so sometimes happiness should also be derived from external things like two dress sizes smaller, and it must be time for me to try. again :)

So what is Marketing?

On my way back

This is on my way back to jamshedpur. I'm in the rajdhani and though
I'm surrounded by people I know aka my batchmates the journey will be
a long one I know. For some reason this route back is not long for
only me. There is no enthusiasm and gaeity that had accompanied me
when had travelled from XL to home
This transition from the first term to the second has been softened by
my time home but still fear lurks. For the first term it was fear of
the unknown and a transition. This time it's more like walking into
the lion's den knowing your sword and skill aren't the sharpest.
Life is funny and somehow when two worlds clash, u realise it the
best. Coming back home would have been so different I'd never
imagined. But sometimes like they say, change is the only constant.
So here's to me! To term II!

Shivani Saksena
sent from my iPod

New Life

i have now completed a little over a week now here at my b-school and each day is something of a new chapter for me. i've seen so much in so little time that it's a wonder what more is left there...so maybe another day i'll elaborate.

legally blonde!

i just saw Legally blonde tonight. and frankly i loved it! oh elle woods you played out a part of me there. i may not be pretty and i'm not blonde but for some reason i've battled first impressions too long and identifiable lost many. at the stage of life i'm at...graduating and seeing people fly away from my life for their masters and jobs, i so easily identified with her pursuit to keep her life in place and in ways alter her own. i'm off in a fortnight to a new city, a new school and ironically, like elle woods, to the east coast! oh i never imagined it'd fit so well to the night i needed reaffirmation that i mean something to someone somewhere.
today was just another draining fun day of college's last few days. i call draining because it's emotionally so, thanks to the downfall of the structure of a special friendship and in ways the end of the four best years of my young life. it was fun because i try to make it so...squeeze every drop of time and conversation i can from among the best people i've had in my life. oh i'm going to miss them! :'(
as i look ahead i feel fear. i always fear something to come when i wait for it to come. i fear of losing myself in that sweeping tide and i fear of losing people i hold dear. but this too shall pass! so elle woods taught me tonight...that the passion, conviction and self confidence are all the ingredients to a life!

Bheja Curry

CAUTION:: IF YOU ARE A VEGETARIAN AND/OR OF DELICATE NATURE WHERE FOOD IS CONCERNED, PLEASE DO NOT READ FURTHER

ever so often i hear of something-curry, considering how much i love food. i can even say i've eaten most of those curries. Today shall go down in personal history as the day i had brain curry...for real.
let me admit that i had an initial mix of apprehension and excitement when papa ordered bheja curry at Anand's at CP. I'd only wanted to try his, now personally overrated, biryani. So after my eye check up, off we'd gone on our gastronomic hunt!
Enter a plate of bheja curry. At first glance it looks like egg curry...with only egg whites. then pa spoons around and i spot my first perfect piece of brain. i try really hard to keep the biryani i'd had, down. papa urges me to taste it. i break my roti, cover the segment, hold it down and feel it being soft and gooey. i bite into it and i squirm...urgh! i quickly reach for my plate of pudina onions and i gear up to fight this battle of the food. i take another bite, i react less violently. by the next one i'd found a trick to not react to having a brain for lunch...stuff onions in the mouth before chewing, makes it less squishy, gooey and repulsive.
so somehow i got through it. i never could've called myself a foodie if i'd not stood upto the challenge! i had a reputation to keep and keep the fire of exploration alive! but sadly the last bite spoiled it. none of us had realised that the last bite left in the platter for me, when turned over, would be that very perfect piece of a brain complete with it's grooves and hemispherical shape, that can turn any one's (or so i think) stomach over! oh god! i am only glad i didn't throw up!
so after having survived this experience and visibly struggling to not throw up, my very amused father tells me that that curry was a pathetic attempt at bheja curry. it's considered a delicacy and an art when cooked right...more like keema curry than egg curry! damn that cook!
papa did get worried that if such was my reaction to this piece of food, how i'd react to most sea food. yes, it has me worried too. and truthfully i'm most scared of how i'll swallow caviar...they're fish eggs for god's sakes! so much so for my dream of sipping champagne with caviar on the beach in the dimming light of sunset. sigh!

cadmean victory...or is it?

if i were to start with describing my mood right now, i'd write a whole post on how it cannot be explained. it is a saturday afternoon and on wednesday my brother gets married. that is an emotion i'll not write on. it's pure happiness and anticipation. lurking underneath all this, is a dark one that has literally risen from the ashes of the past. as they all said, nothing can be hidden and nothing can be undone...i as always, get to live it.
oh the joys of youth; its abandon! it's hurtful how every action that i don't weigh properly always backfires on me. i aim for spontaneity and in the thrill of impending success, fire the gun on my face. oh it's killing!
like a compulsive gambler, i try each time. and like a compulsive gambler, i lose more than what i began with. but unlike the compulsive gambler i carry a grudge. for the only time in my life thus far, i carry a deep dislike bordering on hatred and i feel it may be reciprocated. but if that's the way to settle the dust on this issue and heal the thorn in my side, so be it. i just want this negativity out of me!

Moving on

Lying in my iPod since oct30,2009. Seemed depressingly valid today,
especially now. Needs an edit for the current situation, but
hauntingly precise...

It's wonderful u can move on
Stuck in a time warp am I
An inevitable step lies ahead
Parting of ways breaking a tie.

Moments back this was how I wanted it
A new start free from your presence
When spoke your lips the same words
A void appeared craving your essence.

Twice bitten thrice shy u call me
A meekness behind the facade of strength
Stood by me u have, even though only in my dreams
Now u talk of flying away a great length

Shivani Saksena
sent from my iPod

Sitting on the ledge

It's 1am on a quiet dark night. I'm sitting on the ledge of a small
balcony because I've always to and because tonight I can and because
it's too hot inside and I am not sleepy. The ledge is wide enough to
nicely sit on, long enough to stretch out on and low enough to tempt
me to try n jump down. The last is not quite an option, it would freak
too many people out! So m happy sitting on a cool night, rest my legs,
listen to music and besides seeing the darkness n the moonlight, m
happy while I type this out on my touch.
My life is in a funny phase these past few months. There've been
moments I want respite and moments I crave any form of activity.
There's been too little and too much of excitement. And in one moment
of unthinking stupor and folly I've gone over board n killed my
carefully built reputation. College now scares me. My interviews lined
up have fallen in my trap of complacency. I'm apparently too busy to
be actively involved in any sphere: college, bhai's wedding or even my
own life! It's frustrating what's going on and the more time I get to
think over it, the worse I make it for myself.
I was hoping to cool down my anxiety in the moonlight but looks like
it'll have to be done another day. M at a moment that I clearly want a
rewind button or an assurance. But it's just me, the hidden moon, a
distant lamp post, an empty house, long trees, loads of time for
regret and a folly.
I've been missing the carefree me, even though my regret stems from
it. This is one event of my life no1 beyond college is privy to and I
want to keep it that way. I need a hug and I need one bad. Since m not
getting it any time soon, I sit here wondering. Wondering a whole lot
why's...

Shivani Saksena
sent from my iPod

all over again...

i hate heartbreaks, i hate the fall
just today the sky was pretty
now it's grim
i hate this part, i hate this end
why i let myself fail again and again
i don't understand!
optimism always hurts me
it takes me up on my bubble of imagination
just to crash by the needle of reality
and hit the ground of despair!

The rear view mirror

Driving around the city is an experience that calls for a study. Compared to the satellite towns of NCR that I’ve driven in, Delhi is still much better. I remember driving in Ghaziabad once and while I was there I wasn’t able to comprehend who was crazier...me, for following my driving rules, or the local bunch for being practioners of the chaos theory! It was a freaky road with a bullock cart, bicycles, a Mercedes Benz, a handful of MUVs and a rickety bunch of tempos and buses, all driving and shouting and honking on that two lane road!

What today I want to write on is completely different. It’s about that momentary bond you forge with your fellow drivers while the engine is idling at yet another red light. Someone will be fixing their hair, someone their fag, another will look like boredom were his middle name and another like the wait will kill her. Those with family or co-passengers aren’t making it here because they have a world moving with them on wheels, all I am talking of, are the ones who’re driving alone. At each halt in a traffic crossing and/or a jam, I look around at people. I look at people to figure out what’s driving them and to where. Often a pretty face may catch my eye or a sharp glint of arrogance and challenge in the eye of the guy who I’m standing ahead of; a lecherous look of open interest in my affairs or one of horrified amusement when they catch me singing with the radio!

Oh I do all this when I drive to and from important places and exams because only that’s when I get the car all to myself. Driving alone can be distracting...it requires too much focus for me to do so in absolute silence. That’s where my music comes in! I switch radio channels, I play music from my iPod or I just sing to myself, but I sing. It gives the whole journey a rhythm, a beat, a life! I sing, I groove, I head bang...I basically imagine I’m in NFS and this is my background score!

Talking of rear view mirrors and co-drivers, the instant connection is quite a mood uplifting instrument. Checking the line of cars in the mirror, invariable I zero in on one car and that becomes my partner for the way. It’s like picking a friend who one drives along with and keeps up with! It pushes you if you fall far behind, urges you to slow down if they fall far behind. It’s something I do, I don’t know if people in general do this. I also mentioned a challenge above...that usually happens with jerks of guys who believe a female driver better, faster and ahead of them is a blob on their virility. So they rev up their cars, scowl at you or make explicit expressions, do their best to overtake you and feel some form of exhilaration when they do! More often than not, I let them be. Childish antics don’t require attention, but on days that I’m on the edge myself, they are up for a challenge I’m not willing to lose!

So this post is dedicated to all the “friends” I made in my rear view mirror and all those I’ll make!

Cartoons in new light

Easy, free time is good for the mind. It's simply bliss but 3 months of it can lead to a rusty attitude and a lazy body! yawn!! ;)

Unlike most people I have just discovered youtube thanks to my better bandwidth. So i'm spending my days watching old episodes of Popeye, Little lulu and all looney tunes and it's good fun.

The one thing that struck me over and over again is how sexuality is promoted through these cartoons. A simple case in point with say, droopy&dripple, a voluptuous woman walks by with a skimpy dress and a bare leg, has a husky voice and smoky eyes and the father-son duo gets their brain rattled and eyes popping! How often have we seen this scene repeated in various cartoons and over the ages? As a kid i'd laugh over it and absorb it as a typical male reaction to a stereotypical female mould! Good lord!
it's very disturbing now that i see such stuff and realise the potential harm it can do. as with Johnny Bravo...the guy was a labelled lecher! i miss the innocence in those cartoons and i also realise that it was innocence in me not to have realised such perspectives to lust earlier. i grew up and my perception of the actions of those characters changed!
Each animation i see, i note the details, i always have. I used to marvel at how grown people could so very easily understand a child's mind and make them laugh, learn and connect to objects that do not exist. But now i see how it works. It is an adult mind at work in a child's playroom...we all remember what we liked. it's just that if i now want my chair to dance with me, it wouldn't be on a "here we go round the mulberry bush" but maybe a "jamaican farewell". so if i were to make a kid imagine, i'll change the music! and we still dance...i, in my big grown up world of deadlines, projects and loud people and the little kid in her world of stars, cars and bliss!

creation in my kitchen

cooking is parallel to creating. it provides an outlet to desires, energies and the euphoria of having created. whenever i have the urge to eat something exotic and the time to wait and devote in its creation, i prefer making it. the Internet is a veritable guide in my pursuits...multiple recipes of the same dish, regional variations of the same dish and the conscience balming variant of low fat!
to celebrate my birthday, i decided I'd have enough of cakes so I'll make ice cream. the newspaper yesterday was in sync...it gave me a super easy recipe of "low fat" banana Popsicles! since my maid, who has a wild mind of her own, decided to clean the kitchen while i was cooking, she promptly treated my paper cutting as trash and threw it out in the garbage before i realised it was missing. this post is my way of saving that recipe, before i forget, and putting up my happiness at its success.
ingredients
1/2, 1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
a pinch of salt
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons vanilla essence
2 diced, big bananas
method
1. in a saucepan mix the the sugar, starch and salt
2. pour in the milk and while continually stirring, bring to a boil
3. simmer, add vanilla and stir. remove from stove
4. in a blender put the bananas and pour half the pudding
5. blend well
6. pour the banana mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining pudding and stir to get a uniform consistency
7. pour into Popsicle mould and place a stick in the middle(couldn't find a stick, i used toothpicks)
8. freeze till set(i left it overnight...my freezer's a wimp)

and voila! homemade Popsicles ready! now even though m not much of a banana fan, less of banana flavoured ice cream, i still enjoyed it. i now plan to try this out with all the fruit variations as and when they come in...strawberry for sure, raspberry for the heck of it, litchis for the taste and maybe even black currants! hahaha...i tried making a pomegranate smoothies once at home, and though it was worse than my papaya smoothie, it looked far better. so if anyone tries out any new dish, try not to go by it's looks!
bon apetit!

struggling at 11

sitting in front of a monitor
looking for the right words
i sit and type and erase what i type
and never know what i really mean.
i want it so much that i hold on too tight
and slipping out of my fingers i see
words have never failed as much as today
while complete sentences i struggle to write.
if i wouldn't know what my life has been
how would anyone else help
but structure i hunt at the 11th hour
and illogical broken dreams is all i find.
the sand clock mocks me with its grains
also with the curves i never gained
trembling fingers and nervous hearts
5essays and an important deadline.

Does the shoe fit?

Happy day, sad day, a day of revelations

Open minds, closed hearts, no place for aberrations.

A wispy hi, a hearty hug, some beaming adoration

A covert glance, an innuendo, a pretty irritation.

Of lefts and rights and divided loyalties

Of dreams and illusions and crashing realities.

Standing there in the pool, splashing all around

Coming back, waist high, just as before I pound.

my big bold cap

I've been haunting khan market and south ex a wee bit too much lately...4days in a row is a record for me! ambling about, hunting down a tailor, looking for kids' stuff and just checking out stores, it was fun in ways. Also since both are virtually entirely on sale, it's quite a sight and absolutely, completely, utterly irresistible!

The reason I haven't emptied my piggy bank yet is that I carry no cash or cards! Precautions are necessary when in such places and even if i don't buy stuff, I'll end up gorging on something sinfully delicious at khan market or burning hot at south ex. And truthfully neither's good for me.

So on my last but one day out at south ex, dad, mum and i were moving in and out of stores, crossing and recrossing the subway and basically driving each other nuts. And then i saw it...it drew me like a fly to the flame and i happily went. I'd finally found myself a big bold Caribbean knit cap! i didn't even try it on..I knew I wanted it and I just bought it! Thank god Benetton was on sale!

Now this cap of mine is getting mixed reviews. Considering how I've barely stepped out of my house without it, almost everyone who's opinion matters has seen it. It's been called a steal, adorably colourful, bright and bold, plain weird, a chef's hat or simply been dumbly stared at.

Google informs me it's called a Jamaican tam but all

my life I've known it as the Bob Marley cap...and so even as I've searched for just the right one for me and finally found one, i can't get over gushing about it!

For those who are still wondering what it looks like, here's a variant though mine is red, yellow and green(no black) and i looove it!

Chronicles of the U-Special

The Delhi University provided DCE with one thing similar to the rest of the university...a university special bus! Then DCE became DTU but thanks to the efforts of its die hard fans, it survived! It’s been 3years, this January that I’ve been travelling in that fixed 4th row window seat in that rickety DTC bus that the depot does us a favour by allotting. This January I am not in it and as it is I have just a semester left, so I decided my U-special deserved a mention in my life.Oh the convenience of it all, that it didn't allow the hostel to settle in my system. I remember me craving for teleporting powers just so I could spend all night in my hostel, sleep with my friends and wake up at home with the uspl always there to take me to college. Alas! science fiction never became my reality and I gave up(as much as hostel authorities with me) on the hostel and in ways I’ve never regretted it. I met more people in the u special than I would've otherwise, being the outsider that I was back in 2nd sem. if nothing else, it forced me to endure random people's company and in return forge wonderful friendships with not just classmates but batch mates across branches. Shy, reserved, dumb, ostentatious, bold...I met each kind and life made a wonderful routine! As blissful as it sounds, these rides through the better part of the route traversed the city forests of ridge and I’ve lost count of how many times we've had a prayer on our lips just so that the bus wouldn't break down! Oh but it did! So dramatically and like such an over drawn tragedy scene! As I remember our misadventures, I list them here:

Scene I: a much-in-need-of-retirement bus is allotted and even before boarding, it refuses to start. Somehow it coughs, spews some smoke and relents. We start crawling towards college. We stop at the first stop, it takes time to restart. We reach our first flyover; it feels like someone with a heart condition's chugging up some mountain and failing miserably...our bunch of qualified mechanical engineers just gaze all lost. 2nd stop it dies for good! By now it's almost 8:40 and we're miles away!

Scene II: another season, another time the bus, this time loaded to full capacity, decided we were much too heavy for her delicate frame. I can bet we never tipped a 30kmph that day but she pulled along just fine, till we came to our 5th flyover and guess what the driver did...asked us to get off and see him at the top of the flyover. So there we were, some 50-80odd kids walking up a flyover and then scrambling for seats just when the driver took off at full speed! It had been decided that we'd try not to slow down and never to stop! Sadly we had at a crossing and without saying a word we all knew this would be as far as we'd get that day!

Scene III: in other misadventures, the bus broke down once in the midst of the jungle on a winter morning! That was when Salony coined our trip as "jungle main no-mangal" or something. that would also be the day when I realised for well and good, that "big" boys at dce will never take responsibility...they happily sauntered off, hitchhiking with strangers, leaving behind a bunch of scared, hysterical, angry and plain lost people behind to wait it out for a replacement bus with the oh-so-weird driver and conductor!

Scene IV: let me see...hmm. Oh yes! We had a bus breathe its last next to a big huge slum and hence our abandonment! Also once we travelled all the way with the engine throwing out black smoke and even threatening to burst into flames! I remember bikers turning around to check if it were really a moving bus on fire.

Scene V: one fine summer morning, in the midst of our semester exams (or mid, I don’t remember) we travel happily studying. Since it was an exam day, only those who had a paper at 10 were travelling in it. By now the dear never-to-be-sent-to-retirement bus is familiar and no one pays heed to its groaning and grunting. I call it a sheer attempt at attention seeking, but the bus managed an unimaginable feat...the rear axle broke and popped out!! And bang in the middle of the jungle! Oh the panic! How will get there? What of our exam? Oh this and oh that...and all this from the boy-folk. No offence, but I can't call that behaviour man-worthy! So then groups formed and a taxi was hailed to get us to the metro...6people stuffed into one cab and going zigzag like a pot-boiler he got us there after happily fleecing us. One of the guys, who'd declared himself our leader, proudly proclaimed, "Main baniya hoon, mujhe paise bachane aate hain!". Poor him, it took us a minute to prove how badly we'd been fleeced! All I can say is I gave my exam somehow!

It’s not like I have no sweet memories. I have so many I can't start to put them down here. Early in the 2nd, 3rd semester days Salony and I would sit and laugh all the way. It wasn't like any of us had some great sense of humour; it was more her thirst for gossip, my inadvertent supply mixed with her unique drama-queen style and my cynicism. Oh what fun! But then she stopped coming and I, around 5th semester on, found a smart Monday morning company...aka swayam. Monday morning fun only but our male bashing sessions were hilarious and heart-ache tales so similar! It was great having those intelligent conversations that didn't make me feel too dorky or too romantic or too cynical, depending on my mood, and was even better learning from her!

Not to forget, there was the "chi-chi" gang. Mayank and Prannay christened three irritating, loud, ill-mannered females, a year junior to us as the CHI CHI gang. the head chi chi was a migraine inducing female who had too shrill a tone and their conversation wasn't even ever fun, far from interesting! The conductor once had asked them to shut up, he'd had enough!

Coming to the last 2-3 semesters, it's noteworthy how on most days, I’d end up being the only female aboard. Given how this was nothing more than a passing observation of my own, I’d settled very comfortably in the entire atmosphere. I knew I had friends here...Mayank, Prannay and Anoop. Silence was comfortable, debates a lot of fun (I’d always be quiet), EPL almost a religion and taking my, Anoop's or absolutely anybody's case, Mayank and Prannay's best time pass. But I loved it all!

Now as college comes to an end, my daily dose of music, score updates, match analysis, newspaper reading and gossip will not come out of the same 1hour early in the morning. As for what's passed, I wouldn't have had it any other way! Look what I’ve had...

play time!

Pac-Man made by Neave Games