Just another day~!

5: 30 a.m:
I cut four calls imagining a non-existent alarm, but BB buzzes determinedly.

BB croons: I came over to MM's for a night cap, lets go to the beach and shoot pics.

6:15 a.m.

I am paying 100 bucks, where I would have normally paid 30 to an autowallah. Visibility is near zero at the beach and the gals are shivering.
Moi: sub-zero temperatures at office come in handy.

7:10 a.m.

We are still waiting for the mist to lift and the sun to shine. MM and BB offer silent prayers to the tsunami victims. We click away at the sand sculptures made in their honour......the sculptures look real, this city has some great artists.
I regale them of my adventure to the beach after the tsunami with the tambaram. It was very, very sad and scary.

7.15 a.m.

The sun comes out, fishermen lift their haul and MM and BB are pleased. Oh, their glee makes every useless adventure worth it.

7.30 a.m.

It is blazing hot now. And we are feeling hungry.

Me (still the MU localite): Vadapaav at the roadside?? Soup from that lady?? Sundal??
MM: Woodlands coffee.
BB: Woodlands uppuma.

Me (the 'poor' journo): Lets take a 21G and then a 27D.
MM: Auto.
BB: This auto.

8:00 a.m.

I am digging into a delicious masala dosa. BB and MM are checking out a cute guy in a jeep who looks like a photographer. Their uppumas are cementing by the second.

9:00 a.m.

Back home there is a strange calm. Well, it generally follows a storm.
Mad (sis): Dad cant find his papers. The client has an appeal at the court today and we cant reach the junior.

9:55 a.m.

The papers are made and printed. Thank God none of us chose to take over his lucrative legal practice. We would have been crucified by now. I hope brother dear follows our excellent example.

I dive into my wardrobe and locate one set of clothes that doesnt need ironing. God bless my mum for buying me synthetic clothes that I so hate and refuse to wear.

10:15 a.m.

I am multi-tasking breakfast, newspapers (shucks, that is homework) and making coffee for sis.
Where is my dupatta???

Grandmum: I just put it into the washing machine! It wasnt washed, was it??
Well, I was just trying to save some water (read: no maid at home) by wearing stale dupattas.

10:30 a.m.

Driver takes off in Schumacher shtyle when uncle's client turns up with 12 biscuit packets (buttering up the lawyer literally). Hey listen, it was sis and I who saved your appeal today!!
Anyways, now I have to catch a bus. Damn!

11:05 a.m.

I land in office, mismatched, breathless and yeah late for a production day.
But its just another day.

Copying from One is Plagiarism; Copying from Many is Research~!

What is this world full of chance,
With no time to stand and glance;

High being the expectations,
To hell with the combinations;

If you think, you aren't free,
Imagine the conditions on me!

Beware - if your grades are random,
High be the possibility you abandon;

Lest, you don't take note of this caution,
I advise you to think and take Poisson.

Or perhaps, Chi, Anova or T-test,
Whatever suits one best.

Drained of devising arguments?
Try research methodology for advancement!

~~~
If you are wondering how this sounds light years ahead of my "cat, rat, bat, sat" - type rhymes.....think no further. Its mekie's musings on probability and statistics and I merely tweaked it to suit me. Anyways, I was plagiarising~!

at twenty-three~!

With so many friends celebrating being twenty-three with me....
it was time for a rhyme or three!

~~
Twenty-three is so carefree....
foot loose and fancy free!

Lets climb up a tree,
or go on a sand castle spree.

Drees like the american cree...
and go chasing a bee.

The world in a whole new light shall we see,
and explore with newfound glee.

Sail across the blue sea,
and celebrate that we are still wee.

At twenty-three!

romie ;)

December Days

"Margazhi is here", cooed an RJ today morning. I completely agree with him. This is the only time of the year when one completely delights in being a Madrasi - music, mist and monsoons galore.

Watching his fire. pic by me

You and I

Pic by Meg, Hyderabad

pain is beauty, beauty is pain

"no pain..... no gain," intoned the wisp of a girl at the beauty parlour. she nonchalantly plucked away at the jungles on my forehead as I sought escape. back home.....I am red, mum is glad and lil' bro is sad (sans my whiskers, I no longer resemble him).

rueing over my still-throbbing temples, I cant help realising that beauty and torture seem to be ancient friends. history stands proof:
chinese feet binding methods that broke the arch of the woman's heel,
the tamil 'tondais' that dragged a woman's ear lobes until her neck;
tattoos and scars for good luck and the painful piercing of lips, tongues and ear-lobes.

while most are testimony to specific rites of passage and cultural pride.....I cant help realise that such twisted ideas were invariably used against women. Chinese nobles who insisted that broken heels resembled lotus flowers were after all jealous and wanted their women to stay put; while scorching marks burnt a forced identity on many a tribal woman.

It isn't any easier for the millennium woman who is expected to create the same mirage with pointed heels and long earrings. Look at this: an aromatic facial will mean that you can't take an auto for the rest of the week. But that should fit well into one's work-out regime.

For cosmetics that promise flawless skin in sooty metros, waxes, pedicures and manicures.....banks will have to offer personal loans. And does any insurer realise how life threatening a pointed heel is on broken pavements?!

any feministic sisters out there?!
romila :(

mekie is the best....

A something written for mekie early today morning....
the wonderful weather was responsible for this.
~~
how do I describe mekie...?!
by her name that speaks of mystique and subtle strength?
or by Popocatepetl that describes her awe for fabled mountains.
maybe the lost submarines that make her want to fathom the deep seas
or the islands and hills that she has never really returned from......

do I compare her with...
Jeeves for his refreshing wit?
or Katy and Anne for their child-like charm?
maybe Dara Shukoh for his legendary courage.

should I simply say about her work....
its cheerful vision for children, and her honest simplicity in research.
and her faithful cycle that lets the wind blow her hair,


do I recall the walls we scaled or the stories shared?
the dreams we coloured or the growing up about which we are sad? disovering the Red Indian Chief, and Riot's grief.
old world grace and a crossword phase.
childhood memories and youthful stories....

I honestly don't know..... because mekie is everything and yet beyond as well. And when I know, I am sure I won't find the words.


romie (still thinking)
love you meks, have a great day and wonderful year ahead~!

I simply couldn't resist putting this up.....ode to an icon~!

Courtesy: Ayyappan 'sir', IE.