How to: Not kill anyone when cleaning a fish bowl

Sunday morning mission: Clean my newly acquired fish bowl

Reason to do so: It's part of the ownership program :-|

My previous lessons: Theoritical. From the fish store owner to friends who've been previous fish owners, everyone gave a step wise ritual on how to do it

My self aquired lessons: Youtube. I just had to see someone else clean a fish bowl. So after watching some not so informative but very supportive videos, I decided to go ahead with it

Things I used: Scotch-brite(to clean), soft hand wash(to clean), two mugs(to transfer n keep Layla and Raphael), Medicine(for the water)

Things I did and thankfully no one saw:
I have finally understood what someone who came up with the expression "wide eyed look" meant. I got one from my fish!

I knew I would never be able to transfer my fish using a net from the bowl to a temporary bowl without feeling sick and scared. So I decided to use a mug to scoop them out and keep em. Only my fish turned out to be great actors and refused to be caught! A very scared me played hide and seek with them while they kept scooting around the bowl and I kept praying that I dont kill them. Finally a very frustrated Shivani took a deep breath, sent a prayer to the Heaven up above and dug in to catch Layla and Rafa. This is when I got my "looks". At the mouth of the mug, Rafa(the naughtier one), turned horizontal like it had died and looked at me like I was the person who did it to him. My heart broke. But I had to do this. For them and me.

The rest of the cleaning was uneventful and boring. It was more mechanical and hence easier. I will probably get faster at doing it the more I do it. All that while Layla and Rafa were quite sedate in their mugs and tryin to fool me by stopping to swim(Rafa) or coming to the edge of the mug like it's about to jump out(Layla). Finally the ordeal ended. I dumped Rafa in the antibiotic first, Layla second. Finally when I had filled the bowl with fresh water, I put more antibiotic in it and only then transfered Rafa and Layla to it. I must admit my method keeps a bit of the old dirty water in the bowl...but if that's the price for not having to hold them in a fish net out of water and possibly kill them, I'll pay.

This sunday I experienced what it is like to hold life in your hands. I also realised I was smart enough to admit 6years ago that I didn't have it in me to be a doctor. Some revelations I got today.

Raphael and Layla

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A personal achievement for me-I have taken a HUGE step of adopting pets! I have always toyed with the idea of adopting pets for myself and always wanted a dog or a bear or something, I saw an opportunity in getting myself an aquarium here in the hostel and I have taken a slightly impulsive, yet deeply considered decision.
Yesterday i became the owner of a glass bowl with two Angel fish, who I have named Raphael and Layla. The names came after much deliberation-I wanted names of Angel but I also wanted exotic names. After shortlisting names and consultation with people who's opinion matters in this regards I chose Raphael and Layla. Look at it this way, I can never name anyone's kids so exotic and anyway I get to dedicate my fish to my favourite sportsman!
I have to admit I am scared! I am not a very responsible person when it comes to me and now I have fish depending on me to clean, feed and keep them alive. Admittedly my friends are as skeptical. There are already bets in place as to how long i can pull this off :-|

I hope I can be a good pet keeper for Rafa and Layla!

And it's over!

After 9 full weeks of having fun, learning practical real-life stuff, staying up late, getting up early, being decently productive, wearing only drab formalish clothes, meeting geniuses of their fields and technically being on an internship, I have completed the moment of life called-Internship.

Saying it was an experience will be undermining the impact it has had on me and what all I have accomplished in it. Calling it just another internship will undermine the effort of the people around me who put together so much, just so people like me could come and ravish it! I will thus call it the "Summer of '11". Cheesy. hmmm.

I miss it and that's the shocking part. I utterly miss being in that place with those people. Funny I am. Or maybe sad