Airport tales

Yea my FB status changed...from nothing to ' Divya is at JFK ,has a 12 hour wait and is a flaminggg idiot :D. ' Now why would u do that you ask...why on earth would u declare urself an idiot thus removing any doubt in the minds of people who thought otherwise :D ....nywhooo that fact aside...I was sitting (and I must say hatch some of 'em bright blue , pink or whatever colored eggs in JFK)..It mean a 12 hour wait :O....are u alright u ask....who does things like wait 12 hours for a flight u ask ...The story my dear friends...has to do with the fact that my dear darling 'University town' (for lack of a better word :D) Syracuse doesnt have a flight which arrives early enuff into JFK for me to catch the connecting fight. (and at this point ppl my mind is crashing...need tea ....must stay awake :D), so the previous night flight.

So apart from getting bored....randomly looking here and there and twiddling my thumbs what did I do...I decided to buy Internet...for 7.85$ or somesuch... (such an innovative way of making money methinks...rescue ppl form boredom... :D ) and use it I did...I pinged and pakaoed quite a few ppl on my gtalk list....and then called and ate ppls head (I apologize for any excessive jabber - jabber :) )

And well orkut,FB and gtalk failed ..what did u thnk i did...I talked with my co-passengers (c0ntrary to belief some of them actually initiated the conversation :P ...) So thts how I met a doctor whos coming to do his residency in NYC from India, a real hep chick studying Tennis in FL and who was intrested in Syr Univ (she was pretty smart and 'm sure she'll make it to some of the top tier school), a german literature student and a Japnese woman who was gonna work in the langauge institue in NYC....a common thread...all wanting to go home...some moving on successfully...some halted as the weather puts a dampner on thier plans....

In the end :

Someone falls to pieces
Sleepin all alone
Someone kills the pain
Spinning in the silence
To finally drift away
Someone gets excited
In a chapel yard
Catches a bouquet
Another lays a dozen
White roses on a grave

To be yourself is all that you can do
To be yourself is all that you can do

Happy holidays yall :) :)

Brilliant...who me :) ??

Now that I got an award *does a little jig *...woohooo yea yea :) ... I bow to buddy (ermm bowing is a bit much..but still :P)..chalo i'll thnk him :) :)

Anywhoo I am tagged (ermm and dear readers...or ny1 who happens to accidentally wander across this blog :D...I literally did badger buddy once for not tagging me on a seperate post altogether...'m guessing the poor guy remembered those few hours..or was it days of nagging :P...and promptly tagged me for the next similar kinda tagged-post thingi :)....cheers :) :) )

The rules of the tag are: Post 5 links to 5 of your previously written posts. The posts have to relate to the 5 key words given (family, friend, yourself, your love, anything you like).So here goes:

Family: Now I wonder how I havent just outright written a post about them, Which is surprising :O considering I really do luv my whacky family (and I have the whole immediate Iyer family-thingi going on :D..thatha,paati,chittapppa and so forth :) ). SO I tght I would go ahead and write a post before this...but then thts cheating :P. So I have mentioned posts wherever there is a passing reference to one of them. Here, here, here and here

Friends: Interestingly some of the people who I am most close too,who have helped me get through the hardest of times I miss more then ever now. Anywhoo not to get depressing (it being the holidays and all and every person worth his salt and pepper seems to be all christmas carolly...strangely enuff I used to think snow would make a post card christmas...but then...not really :D....and 'm rambling again...) Here, here, and here

Yourself: Ermm not that 'm not narristic and stuff, I somehow couldnt remember if I had written many posts 'bout myself.. *need to find post 'bout self*.... *dig,dig and then some more* Here ( and it even includes a small sketch...shamless publicity as buddy puts it..me the liketh :D
) and here

Your love: There is just one. More a crush really. Happened ages ago.As many ppl have said no comments :)

Anything you like: Ahhhh my fav part.. Links to posts (ermm in this case mine obvio :P...that I feel are good) . Here goes : Heres one of 'em and yet another and perhaps more to come in the future ;)..

Cheers :)

I bow my head down
I salute it 'The spirit of mumbai'

Battered over the decades,
but still resilient,
Moving on,
Like the vast ocean beyond

You might crib and gripe,
but once you come to the city,
you love it,
a love which is unique
a kinship you feel cruising through your veins
Mumbai is its people and its the people that make mumbai

I salute the people,
my people,
Mumbaikars, them of the unbreakable spirit,
who have gone through hell,
watching near and dear ones suffer

I hold my head up high
regardless of the corner of the world 'm living in
and say 'Proud to be a mumbaikar' always and forever

She lifted the heavy pot of water and placed it above her head...and wiped the sweat from her brow.The summers were cruel...and carrying heavy pots of water to the big 'sethani's' house was just as much as she could take. She sighed..and picked it up...no way could she be weak...3 hungry children were waiting for her back home....

She stared out of the window,watching the raindrops gently fall on the greenery all around.It was the first day of the monsoons and the smell of mother earth was all around.She gently pushed back the small strand of hair that fell on her face and tucked it behind her ear and hugged herself. The rains always had this effect on her and made her sigh and contemplate about why things happened in life.....

She got out of the subway and rode the escalator up. She passed by shops,actually 'THE SHOP' which had the most beautiful black short minidress by Donna Karan. She sighed...and turned her head the other way and kept walking on...After all thats what we do many times ..sigh and move on ...

**************************************************************************************

She had been hired as a consultant in one of the biggest consulting firms in NYC. She just couldnt stop smiling to herself..It was a culmination of all her chilhood dreams.Sitting in that office on Times Square.Oh she knew she was getting that Donna Karan for sure now. She remembered what her mother had told her as a child 'When you get something good,its good to give back'. And well today was one of the biggest gifts in her life.She opened her web browser and went to a little known charity that had been struggling since quite sometime . It was recommended by a friend.She decided that she would donate $100 !!...

The donation mail message popped in her inbox.There was that loud pinging sound.She mometarily tore her eyes away from the raindrops outside and went to read the mail ..'Must be one of those hundred junkmails' she thought.Since the project had been stopped,she was in a dull mood and had questioned almost everything and cycisim was all she had left. SHe tucked the strand of hair back and read the mail.When she finished,her eyes glistened like two shining diamonds.A generous donation of $100 from someone in NYC had given her the much needed money to finish the long awaited project of building the well....

The next week was one of the happiest in her life.Her exhaustion was reduced to half 'coz all she needed to do now was draw water from the common well close to her backyard...and yes she had more energy to get more work done which meant more food on the table and less cries of hungry strved children...God Bless the generous owner..she thought...and satisfy all her wishes...

Meanwhile the Donna Karan dress was being delivered to her appartment ....

Hmm what is freedom... I guess we each have our own perspective on this. To some people it might essentially mean the freedom to make their own choices, to others it might be to voice their opinions without any backlash of any sorts, to others still it might be not having to answer to anyone about their actions... To me freedom might just be a mix of all the above things that I just mentioned.
But u know what I found out...I guess my whole perception of freedom kinda changed after coming here...(and I still wonder why certain things tend to change with the places where we stay :D)...like when I was back home , I had a coupla restrictions that well were pretty diligently enforced by mom (like the dont stay out too late thing...and in a city like mumbai...can u beat that :D)...well when I came here , I had the choice to stay out as late as I wanted...but do u know what I found myself not doing that very often....hmmm so much for that concept of freedom(*psst: I also found out I kinda missed moms nagging...sheeeesh of all the things to miss * ...I guess a coupla months in mumbai should cure that right outta me :P)
On my trip to NYC recently (haha..see how I actually fit this in here..common I did have to show off to someone :P)..but no really...I felt exhilaratingly free...why..I dunno..don't ask...there were millions of people around me ('specially since my friends and me did the whole touristy NYC thingy).. I just felt free.... maybe I just kinda drew a parallel between mumbai and NYC (now now ppl don't snigger :D..I admit mumbai has its faults...but its one of my favoritest places in the whole wide world :) :) ) maybe that kinda set off the free spirit in me...to be in a place and devoid of rules and regulations...can be well really like a breath of fresh air....have u guys ever felt that way on going to a particular place...that feeling of freedom ? :)
(oh btw I had food at 'Saravana Bhavan,NY ' *drool drool* :D :D...and yup NYC is the fashion capital of the freakking world :) :) )

P.S: Dedicated to my friends who made that trip possible and fun: to V,AU,J,AD &G...thnks guys :) :)

R.I.P: My dear darling 'pod...shuffle which I lost there.....for the hours of music it provided and all the lonliness, long walks ,traffic jams and sadness it has gotten me through.

As a friend puts it a bittersweet journey :)

Cheers :)

I dunno why I feel like this...but I feel the colors I associate with America are very different from those I associate with India(What a random topic u think :P...yea its been a looong time since I wrote ppl so randomness is bound to be a part of the next few postings at least ;) )
Nyways getting back to my point...lemme tell u what I am about to ramble on about....to me America represents colors like grey, white ,black...orderly, determined, planned.









On the other hand I really do associate India with a riot of colours. Yellow, brown, reds, purples, greens, goldens, silver, white too (but very different from the whites of America).... huh !! u say...how the heck can white be a different color in 2 places u say...has this gal lost her senses(or what is left of it anyways :D)

Lemme tell u how :) ...(alright alright down yawn already :P...If nothing else I promise to at least put in pretty pictures along with the words... :))) )

Lets start with yellow...yellow to me represents manjal or haldi (turmeric)...I always used to see ammai cook with it.... used to be an essential ingredient of most of the sabzis....conjures up images of me running into the kitchen, while she used to cook and pestering her ki whats for lunch,dinner etc.

Then there is brown....hmmm now brown reminds me of multiple things...it reminds me of mother earth back in India (not like there isint brown earth here :P ...but I'm sure u understand what I mean :D... I kinda associate a maternal feeling to India ) .... its the brown of an earthen clay water cooler thingi (though that might not be strictly brown)...brown as the chepanganzhu that my mom uses in sambhars (I dunno why...but somehow u see lotsa memories of mine are associated with food :P...hmmmmm) .
















And then there is purple....how purple...its the border of one of my moms Kanjeevaram sarees. Now believe me ppl 'm against the whole silk thing as much as the next person...But I dunno why...thts the first and very strong vivid image that comes to mind...











Now that brings us to red.....red is the color of "maang ka sindoor" (I went Bollywood-ish here I knw :D.... U knw tht dialouge the hero asks in surprise... "maaaaa...yeh tumhari maang main sindoor " ;) ) .... Red is the colour of Chrysanthemums that used to grow in our garden..... its the color of mirchi powder which we used to put in sabzis (There I go with the food thingi again :P...seriouslyy I miss moms cooking :) )....


Then there is silver...how silver...the oxidized bangles which are in...thats how :D (yea 'm a lover of 'em too :D)







Hmmmm golden...now this may sound silly...but it is for those warm
Indian mornings... (and for me the sights and the sounds thingi is closely related :) ).... for the smell of pipping hot idliis, for the sound of 'Vishnu sahasranamam' , and my my personal fav..... the sound of the cans of milk against the doodhwalas cycle.



White...hows white different....hmmm white is for the maligaipoov (jasmine flowers)


in moms hair during festivals (again I like the fragrance)...white is for thair sadham (curd rice) with oorgais(pickles)....

psst: ermmm the tam bram in me reared its head quite a bit in this post
and ...*ouch*...thats nostalgia hitting me...and it sure does knock a punch ;)

SU

Hmmm now tht 'm in the US (did I see a halo...and ahhhh angel mujic in the bckground u say ;)...)....gettin back....well lets look at this place objectively(how can u do tht u say...u stay there...*sigh*....well its pretty much my blog ppl....I can do nythin I want :P)....well I dont really stay in NY(although I stay in NY state...funny how those two are like light years apart :D)...I stay in snowy, cold Syracuse...which when compared to mumbai is welll...hmmmm...mumbaikars stayin here can emphathize ;)...and the amount of freedom u get here is def loadsss more (apart from my classes and the on campus jobs I pretty much wonder wht to do...I guess 'm not makin productive use of time here.....must get to it*digging 'round for books*...ermm no wait 'm writin this blog now :D)...thts how it is with me here...'m like sooooo confused by the multitude of tasks I gotta do....prioritizing kinda becomes diff....but guess i'll learn...kinda lonely...definitely for a person who hasnt been away from home...miss my family and friends :)...luv u all :)).....nyways commin back to all the wunnerful ppl @ SU who've helped me out like a trillion times and been sweethearts :)... *bows* thnks guys :)))..... (yeah I knw I use a lohtttt of smileys :D.....)...I hv to cook....once a week....thnks to my roomies who actually eat it (hmmmm wait on second thoughts I dont thnk 'm all tht bad ;) ).....luvvv th shopping in this place (biiiggg irony...am working to pay my bills here...so hahahah wht shoppin do u say :P).....luv the way they hv like open discussns in class...thnk tht its a good educatn system....dont realllyy like wearin multiple layered clothing...but hv to(in case like a friend says...u see a 5ft 5inch snowman....no snowoman sumwhere on the streets of SYr while goin to the Univ....u knw who forgot to wear her 2 jackets and gloves tht day ;))
nyways cheers to all ya lvly ppl out there :)

Writing.......writing....writing....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......wazzat 'bout higher studies and writing again :P ?