Like a Virgin

I’m about to embark on something I’ve never done before. It feels strange and exciting and scary all at the same time.

Yes, yes, I’m going camping and mountain climbing. Its gonna be my first time so I’m a trekking virgin :P

It’s years since I’ve been to a proper hill station and the cool (more like brrr…cold at this time of the year) climes are something I’m greatly looking forward to. Not to mention cramming the poor camera with tons of some beautiful and some timepass pics :D

I feel like a bride all set for an adventure of a lifetime. In a way, it’s a lot like getting hitched. Its all new, fun, and weird. There are going to be wild beasts (hopefully they will come outta hiding)—the real ones that is. In a marriage, those would be the outlaws and other sundry relatives, and hopefully not the husband. There is going to be scenic breathtaking beauty, so that replicates honeymooning in exotic locales. There is going to be a campfire and lots of singing and dancing, so that’s like the wedding ceremony.

The old English tradition at the time of a wedding in the Western world follows this quaint, but super-cute custom of gifting the bride with a few mandatory things. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase before in books or movies or seen it for yourself. It goes like this:

Something old, something new
Something borrowed, something blue

Each item in this poem represents a good-luck token for the bride. If she carries all of them on her wedding day, her marriage will be happy. So in keeping with the custom, I’ve got something to cover all those points….the shoes are old, the protein bars are new, the backpack and the jacket are borrowed, and the jeans are blue!!! So hopefully my trekking trip will be a fun and happy one too. Ahahahaha. I have officially lost it. The fellow group members are gonna have to suffer my lunacy. I hope poonam ki raat happens on the trip :P

Alright, enough with the crazy imagery and the exaggeration :P

The group I’m going with are people I hardly know at all, complete strangers most of them. Don’t even know half the names though I see them everyday at work. So that is yet another adventure. I think its rather brave of me to take off without knowing the people I’m traveling with, the itinerary, the arrangements or anything. TGFI, don’t you think this point qualifies in your ‘proud tag’ :P Just following Nike’s phamous tagline “Just Do It” and going with the flow.

For the usually cautious me, this itself is a big deal. And its funny for someone who has traveled a few countries and cities a few times all on her ownsome. But that feels like eons ago now. Its been a while since I’ve settled into a life of complacency and a dulled sense of security. So this trip is gonna shake me outta my self-induced stupor in more ways than one. Excited!!!! :D

Since its monsoon, the group decided to stock up on cheaply available raincoats from the roadside, the wear and discard types. Mine is a bright pink flowery one. The other colors are blue, orange, green and god knows what else! The pristine beauty of the mountain ranges and tea estates are gonna be witness to an eyesore of a fashion disaster! With all the backpacks, shoes and socks, water bottles and raincoats, we feel like a bunch of school kids out on a picnic, yabbering away nonstop! For sure, there will be the mandatory singing/antakshari in the bus to top it all!! I just hope we don’t start waving at people on the roads while sitting in the bus. Everyone’s getting carried away with the thrill of getting away from stifling work schedules!

Looking forward to being an observer of nature in all her glory. Being in the lap of Mother Nature is a high all by itself.

Will be back next week with pics, stories and other sundry jaw dropping info. Stay tuned and have a great weekend y’all! :-)

Tag-liatelle

There's been a tag fever on blogs lately, and people are kheenchofying on tags like nobody's business. My lists are getting as long as those durum noodles anyway.

This blogger is on a roll and the keeda in me is giving in! Actually, she called me decent and that was an insult! So I had no choice but to get my soul in order and go to confession too. The rebel that I am it wasn't in church, or with a pastor in the secret confines of a confession box, and not on Sunday either. The exhibitionist streak won out and here are the nitty gritties of my colorful life! :P

1. I have 2 gmail accounts (as of now), 3 yahoo accounts, 1 hotmail id, 1 rediffmail id, 1 indiatimes id, I maildotcom id, and 1287, 69, 32, 870, 7518, 313, 13, 0, and 152 unread mails respectively. ARGH!!
2. I'm a gaming addict. I can play online/offline PC games all night.
3. I continue to have a crush on the members of this band I grew up listening to, although my admiration has gone beyond their music or looks now. Have learnt a lot from them over time. Have even met them a few times while stalking them at airports and backstage. Even went to a party for them hosted at the High Commission post the show! Got star treatment for being an international fan :P
4. In school, I once lied to a group of Anglo-Indian girls I used to love hanging out with, just to get accepted into the gang. Told them my great grandma was an Anglo-Indian and they bought it. And promptly included me in the gang! Jeez. Its funny now, but also disturbing.
5. I'm such a pack rat. I own too many things, be it clothes, books, jewellery, stationery, furniture, CDs, shoes, credit cards, hell even keychains! Sheesh.
6. I poured a cup of coffee on someone's seat at work once. The guy is an annoying jerk. I had issues with his...errmm...strange tendencies—a habitual gold digger (if you know what I mean), scratching unmentionable body parts in public, and surfing porn at work (before he got warned)!! I couldn't bear him. Before I screamed blue murder (I couldn't muster up the courage to kill him with my bare hands 'cos that would mean touching him…ewwwww…gross!) so needed to vent my frustations somehow. Anticlimax to the wet seat though--next day he coolly put a newspaper on the seat and carried on business as usual. ARRGGHH x-(
7. I was never religious, but always more spiritually inclined. As I get older, I find I'm actually losing my spiritual values and getting more materialistic. How weird is that. Life is all upside down, I say.
8. I'm dying to dance with abandon at a friend's wedding to the funkiest dhinchaak Bollywood numbers, complete with jhatkas and matkas, kamar latkaake!

My confessions number far more than just 8, but the tag ends here :P

Ouch, I got tagged!

This was fun! I feel like I'm back in business (of blogging I mean). Sayesha tagged me and I obliged like the good li'l girl that I am :-)

Here are the rules:
1. Players start with 5 random facts about themselves.
2. Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 5 random facts.
3. Players should tag 5 other people and notify them they have been tagged.

So here goes....some random facts about me, myself and moi:

1. I could be listening to Shubha Mudgal one minute and the next song could be Linkin Park and the next one Louis Armstrong, and the next Madonna, and so the eclectic tastes in music go on...

2. During the days of Napster I went into a downloading and CD recording frenzy and made a pile load of CDs of music I wanted to own and treasure. The initial euphoria lasted a couple of months and then the CDs were forgotten. After all these years, I have decided to randomly pick CDs off the shelves before they get asphyxiated by dust and listen to them atleast thrice a week. With the collection I've amassed, if I don't start now, they won't be used till I die (that is, presuming I'm gonna live till the ripe old age of 90).

3. I used to be a total daydreamer, living with my head high up in the clouds. Now I'm so grounded I've almost gone underground. I sometimes feel like an earthworm burrowing deeper and deeper downward.

4. Sanjeev Kumar is one of my favorite yesteryear actors.

5. After a long hiatus, I'm now suffering from blogging diarrhoea. Despite promising to do this tag last, I ended up doing it first 'cos I got bitten by blogger's itch!

6. I'm rediscovering some really interesting-sounding bloggers (from their blogs of course) online, and am struggling to keep pace reading them all, but can't without resorting to being online 24/7.

7. I'm a fabulous driver and I say so myself :P From dying to learn driving since age 15, and nearly dying from torture of not putting hand to wheel for five long years, I finally learnt at age 20 and acquired a license to kill.

8. Beautiful art, craft, photography, music, a book, and even just a warm hug can make my day and make me feel high on life and love.

9. Puppies have so much personality. They can make you laugh, cry and wanna play with and cuddle them up. Whoa-oh-oh-yeah, I love dogs more than I can say! :-)

10. I'm totally unpredictable and mad. I thoroughly enjoy surprising people when they’re least expecting me to do/say something. Then I turn around and do/say just the opposite! I hate abiding by rules when expected to and my knee jerk impulse is to rebel. Now you know why I have 10 facts instead of 5 as per the rules of the tag! :P

And finally, lo and behold, I tag the first 5 people who read this post. And don't try and cheat your way outta this, someone up there is watching and it's not just my statcounter! Ha! :-)

A Revelation

LOL! I was recently advised not to wait for divine intervention and follow the adage -
"a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do."

Now it is becoming apparent to me that I have, indeed, been waiting for divine intervention.

Being struck by a flash of lightning, that is!! Ha ha ha!!

(Aside: Is it a bolt of lightning/a bolt of thunder? We've heard of both--a lightening bolt and a thunderbolt! :P)

(Aside 2: When the brain doesn't work at work, its time to crack PJs galore!)

Life S-U-C-K-S!!!!

My reason for living has further crumbled. My fave eye candy (FEC) is moving to greener pastures. I’m thrilled for the one in question but my heart bleeds, and soon so will my eyes, at the prospect of not seeing FEC around anymore.

Can life get any more unfair? HMMMMPH x-(

DUH!!!

I am so sick of writing and thinking about how I abuse myself. By that I mean the procrastination, the lazyness, the inaction, the justification, the depression, the low energy, the lack of motivation etc. Despite all that, I’m still wallowing in the same hole I dug myself into.

What is wrong with me?

I don’t listen to my well wishers. Hell, I don’t even listen to myself. I heard and listened to the gurus, and was awakened and shaken to the core, and yet, had the most inactive weekend ever, fresh after all the inputs on the importance of being active in mind, body, and spirit! The silver lining, however, is that I am atleast aware and fully conscious of what I’m doing to my own self. So all hope ain’t lost just yet. Or so I tell myself and continue to wallow.

Am I such a gone case?? Do I need professional help? Will a huge kick in the butt make me move it? Obviously, I need a thorough shaking up of some kind. And I can’t take any more pain or painful stuff. I’m so done with that. So no thanks, God, if you’re listening. Ok ok, I welcome the ‘tests’ – atleast that should be the attitude that is supposed to make one stronger, right? Whatever.

So, what am I waiting for? A lifestyle disease to hit me in the face and force me to toe the line of discipline and care for my physical health? There are reasons all around me to care for my emotional and mental health. And yet I let myself rot away.

Arrrrrgh!! Somebody slap me outta my stupor!!

The Deafening Sounds of Silence

This morning I was wondering what it would be like if one could just up and leave to a place/city/country where I don’t know anybody and no one knows me. Start life afresh.

Shave my head – this would take care of the bad hair days as well. And also maybe grow a head of better and finer hair than the royal pain it is right now. Wear braces to correct the teeth – something I can’t do now without dying of embarrassment. Then again, the condition the teeth are in right now are an embarrassment in itself.

The power of anonymity—go somewhere where there aren’t nosy relatives and so-called friends. Ah, bliss. I crave for new experiences. Fearing the unknown has only resulted in a state of stagnation worse than the unknown itself. This should have been the unknown to be fearful of!! Sheesh!!

I wish there was a good enough reason to want to go away. Its not because I’m famous (I wish) and want to run far from the madding crowd. Its not because I’m running away from something or someone to go into hiding. Guess its just that I’m tired. Of the life I’m currently leading. Which seems to be stuck in a rut.

And what one longs for is a refreshing change. In all respects. New scenery, new things to learn, new stuff to do. What would it be like I wonder. If one could take off without a care in the world and live only for yourself. I don’t remember what that feels like. I feel bound and tied down. This isn’t a good feeling at all and most of it is my own doing. Having laid my own bed, I am now lying in it. And it ain’t comfy.

There’s so much I wanna do, yet no action is taken in the right direction. So many self-imposed shackles. Wanna break free and fly high. Soar like a bird in the sky. And before I come out with worse lines, I must get some sleep. Ah, that’s it! Lack of sleep is the cause of all these wandering thoughts.

I don’t want to turn back the clock anymore. An exercise in futility anyway. Even nostalgia is not what it used to be :P Might as well look ahead at the new and the exciting. Until of course that gets old too at some point. Circle of life I guess.

When will I stop saying ‘And I still haven’t found what I’m looking for?’

Moral of the story: Too many random thoughts lead to a random post.

Theme for a Dream

Dreaming of moving to another place/space – atleast virtually.

Wordpress has enchanting blog themes. Keeping summer in mind, there are a lot of 'citrusy' colored pics, themes, lines etc, in their blog template designs, and the obvious spring/summer/rain pics for a fresh natural feel.

This one below reminds of a scene from Shaan's video 'Gumsum Ho Tum'. All cloudy, dreamy, and romantic. One of my fave songs and videos ever. Apart from the pale blue/grey and white look of the video, Shaan's smile and voice makes me weak in my crochety old, but still idealistically romantic knees :)

Love the banana smoothie idea of a theme, but didn't look so hot on paper...err...browser :P

Then there is the 'seasonal' theme, snowcapped fern trees and walkways with snow flakes drizzling down on a cold winter's night during X'mas.

The city slicker like theme for the city girl in me. Long winding concrete pavements with tons of shops and cafes lining a busy NY/San Francisco street.

The cool moss green color and the even cooler flower motif. An ethnic fusion look. Ethnic fusion art, crafts, clothes and décor is most always aesthetic and almost always gets me.

Another fave....the gorgeous expanse of Mother Nature in all her wondrous glory. This is 'OceanMist'.

And saving the best for the last....azure blue waters and golden sand at where else, but the beach! :-)

And finally, the wanderer/traveler/seeker in me cannot decide which of these suit me the best...actually each of them do, at various ages, stages and moods of my life.

The one feature that I found striking about Wordpress is its 'tag surfer' option. You get a bunch of blogs previewed on your space that might be similar to one of your own posts. Or not necessarily covering the same topic. But its still a peek into varied subjects and blogger profiles you might otherwise never come across. This also leads to getting 'lost while reading other's blogs' and forgetting or running outta time to update your own.

Sigh…the blissful dreamer in me carries on dreamin'...

Which of these pics do you like?

My Inner Hero(hic!) Qualities

My quiz results: Hello, Paladin.

Character Stats:
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Rogue (10)
Warrior (12)
Wizard (7)
Paladin (16)

Your Profile:
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You're compassionate, forward-thinking, and devoted to doing the right thing. If you're still in school, your teachers probably adore you, even if your grades aren't very strong. If you work, you're more concerned with doing your job well than climbing the corporate ladder. When it comes to leisure, you'd rather pursue the arts, spend time in nature, or enjoy quiet time with a close friend than spend all night at a raucous party. You seek out peace, beauty, and harmony wherever you can find it.

Above all, you love helping others and bringing a little light to the world wherever you can. You have strong artistic talent, even if you haven't discovered it yet. You aren't a social butterfly, but the friendships you have tend to be long-lasting and devoted. You feel a deep sense of contentment when you have the opportunity to show someone how much you care.

Your Mission:
---------------
You were put on this earth to help others. They will trust you, because they are attracted to your sincerity, your kindness, and your willingness to do what's right. You are the one who has to stand up for the little guy, because everyone else is too busy looking after number one.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to Fix Something. Something small, or something big. Put a new chain on your brother's bike. Reconcile a family feud. Take a stray cat to the vet to be spayed. Donate blood. Fix a friend's car for free. Fix SOMETHING.

The Famous Adventurer of Silmaria trusts you to complete your mission. Don't feel guilty about procrastination - start now!

A Warning:
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Try to remember: sometimes you need to fight for what you believe in. When someone steps on your rights, or the rights of others, you have to forget being "the nice guy/girl" and set things the way they should be. If necessary, befriend a Warrior and enlist him or her in your cause. Then just turn your Warrior loose and watch the fireworks.

Sometimes you're just going to have to face reality. Because you yourself are trustworthy, you tend to be too trusting. But not everyone is as kind and honest as you are. You may need a Rogue on your side to let you know when you're being hoodwinked, swindled, or made a fool of.

Thanks to this quiz I am now humming "We Don't Need Another Hero" by Tina Turner in my head...lovely song of yore...Mad Max soundtrack methinks... Much of this is true, except perhaps the stuff about school and wanting to fix something (too lazy!:P), although its true that I try to set things right constantly.

Interesting indeed. I wonder if there is a quiz for your Inner Devil? *devilish grin*