Ola, everyone!

 Here's wishing you all had great Christmases and had a blast on the New year's. I hope this new year is filled with happiness for all of you.

Well, so my vacation is coming to an end. My flight to Goa is in 6 hours and as usual, the packing is last-minute. *sheepish grin* To tell the truth, my holidays were very boring and unproductive. But the biggest highlight was that I could get to talk to all of you. And I met quite a few of my RL friends, and I got to eat yummy food! (mostly from restaurants, 'coz my mom is a horrible cook)

Thos sem, I'll try to be more active on LJ, and hopefully my writing muse will also rise from hibernation. Poor thing apparently doesn't like cold winters and warm quilts, under which she's sleeping.

You guys helped me make myself a better person. This is thank you for everyone who has been with me through all those painful rants and stuff. And believe me, I was lurking on LJ as much as I could.

Now for the holidays. This time, I spent a lot of time eating and watching TV on my Computer. Completed all eight seasons of That 70's show. *grin* I really liked the whole growing up in the 70's concept. The Disco music, the clothes, everything seemed so authentic. I really liked the character of Kitty Forman, she was one cool mum.

Talking about that show, they had an episode which had a lot of purple prose in it. ROFL. "The princess tentatively touched the Duke's sword....." reminded of lots of discussions we'd had on these topics.

Another great watch was How I met your Mother. The show is hilarious, and Barney sent me into OMG! mode. That's quite a change from ye olde Doogie Howser.

Watched a lot of anime like Bleach, Furuba, Blood+ and Elfen Lied. The last one was a bit too gory for me, but the character portrayals, and showing the two sides of Lucy were done very well.That one will go down my favourites list.

And now, top 5 movies that I've seen....

1. Man from earth- It's brilliant. Like a dark one-act play, and brilliantly illustrates how a simple conversation can bring out the best and worst in people.

2. Memento- Chilling and brilliant. The whole ambiguous storyline and the indefinite conclusion makes it for me.

3. My Fair Lady- Sweet romantic old Rom-Com, and Audrey Hepburn's accent really threw me off. Great acting and lovely songs from another era.

4.Transamerica- Another unique story. Loved the father-son relationship. And Felicity Huffman really deserved an Oscar for this.

5. She's the man- Cute soccer movie. Darned cute.

And top 5 songs........

1. Hallowed be thy name- Cradle of Filth
2. Lazarus- Porcupine tree
3. Coming Back to life- Pink Floyd
4.Samskeyti- Sigur Ros
 5. Bandey- Indian ocean

Mostly a huge rock list. hehe. So now it's back to BITS, and clwaning my room, staying up till2-3am to talk to friends. Back to sitting in my friends' rooms and bitching about the guys, and talking about the hot teacher's extremely "gropable" butt. *evil grin*.

I'll try and be backj online as soon as possible. *glomphugs to everyone*

1. You cannot study in college. Don’t think about it.
2. There are people who will sit with you and have philosophical discussions about topics ranging from war to why D-gray man and Trinity Blood show parallels.
3. Oh, and every discussion will start and end with the topic of sex or innuendo.
4. Guys will discuss girls’ butts in front of you…and every sentence is punctuated by an expletive.
5.  It’s better to read porn than to watch it.
6. Rock music is king and Metallica and Iron Maiden sound great.
7. Sigur Ros is love!!!!!!!
8. There are a lot of activities that you will try your hand at and end up screwing your grades.
9. You can actually drool over a teacher and stare at his extremely ahem…nice tush.
10. You can wake up at 12 am and no one will say anything.

Another small update from this part of the world.......

 I'm so much better, thanks to all of you who commented on my post. I'm doing fine, having fun, eating little, and washing my clothes by hand, hehe....

I have got the internet here, but the speeds are pathetic. I've never seen such slow speeds ever, not even 10 years ago when I started on it.  I can't check my mail. The only thing that works here is the Intranet. I'm planning to get a faster connection through my mobile phone soon. It took 30 minutes to open LJ.

The campus is very beautiful, and we celebrated India's Independence day. Studies are quite relaxed as of now....I don't wanna stress out right now! Most of the teachers are good, and there is an extremely hot one. I blame Feni's Yashita for this one. Hey Yash, why do they make kinds like you?

The library and lecture halls are huge, and I hate the walking part, but I still like it. Now on with the teacher story...

This one looks like Charlie Eppes from Numb3rs and extra hot, and how I discovered he was a teacher is a bit shocking. I was in the library and while taking out a pretty heavy book, I stepped on his toe. Thought he was a senior student and told him "Sorry, bhaiya." "Bhaiya" means Elder brother in Hindi, and we use it for school seniors. He gave me a wide smile and pointed out he was a teacher. This followed a round of "Sorry's" till he was laughing out loud. He said he'd probably be teaching me next semester probably and asked me to take it easy.

Why, universe? *giggle*

On a more serious note, I hope all of you are safe and sound. The bridge collapse really worried me, and I hope everything is fine. I also know some of you are having a bad time, so hold on, dears. *hugs*

I do so hope the DA and LJ wank has died down, and everything's okay. And oh, a happy B'DAY in advance to

silverontherose

I really miss talking to you guys. A lot. I hope I get a better connection soon.

*blows kisses*

  I’ve come back to Hyderabad. Back to the Charminar and my home.

  I was in Calcutta or Kolkata, as its new name stands to write an exam. Kolkata is the city, which I call my hometown.

The sunrise fills the skies at 5.30 am and you see the city begin to stir. People start waking up, and moving to the rhythm of the city. None of the offices will open before 11 am, which shocks me a bit, yet people find time to get up early, go to the market, buy vegetables and have friendly chats. Kolkata is noise, hustle and bustle, like Hyderabad.

But this disconcerts me. Kolkata has always meant vacation to me. Staying in my grandparent’s house in Salt-Lake, walking to the nearby BJ-market, playing in the dew-covered grass of the parks. But now, all that remains is an unbearable humid summer, where sweat pours down like rivers, and the warm winds almost scald my face and disturb midnight sleep.

 Needless to say, I’ve never liked the city of Kolkata. It disappoints me. My mother knows every nook and cranny of the city, and points out various landmarks, buildings that retain the red grandeur of the British Raj. But the streets are narrow, and dirty. There is a mass of humanity shuttling back and forth on the streets. But there is no life.

There are obnoxious Bengalis screaming and talking, as if they own the world. I pass through the markets of Kolkata, and they are the only vibrant things there. Sure, Kolkata is developing, growing and spreading its tentacles through rural civilization. There have been new skyscrapers dotting the skyline. But all I see are the old dilapidated buildings on the main roads, which would have lent charm otherwise, looking like a mark of dying Kolkata.

 Even as I wander through the posh streets of Park Circus, which is famous for it’s Christmas Lights, or through College street and New Market, brimming with books and goods, I finally begin to feel the pulse of the city, decaying, and rising, and decaying again.

 I feel alienated and lonely from the city that is my origin, and hope that it will rise like Lazarus from the dead.

For now, I’ll just read  “The Namesake.”

Ola! *Tackeglomps and Hugs and Thank you's*

All my fics which were nominated at the IYFG have been seconded and I'm so happy! (Who wouldn't be?)

Category: Best Poem
Title: Heart of the Wind
Nominated by: Amara Anon
Seconded By: Alter Fano

Category: Best Short-Shot
Title: Image
Nominated by : Mako
Seconded By: Quirkyslayer

Category: Best canon
Title: The Depths of Freedom
Nominated by: Fenikkusuken
Seconded by: Dreaming_ Trees

And definitely, a big thank you to all on my f-list who gave me their wonderful opinions and reviews on everything I wrote.

And also, to every single one of my friends for keeping me sane.

I will be going on an exam hiatus, from the 16th of February and will not be back before mid-April. I've been through a terrible two years, and now I feel like it's been an entire era. I've been working for these exams since many years, and I've put a lot of hard work into it.

My main 12th grade exams are in March, and then I'm gonna write the big one, The IIT entrance exam, on the 8th of April.

I'll need your hugs and best wishes, and your blessings (since most of you are older than me)! Wish me luck!

And beware of all the comments I'll flood your inbox with, when I'm back!