Thelma you know how I feel about Texas

And ya, I feel a lot more respect for the Texas weather now! Because of the cold in the new place, that is killing me. Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!

Anyway, someone posted an interesting link on Facebook and I had to repost it here (you know, since its all relevant to what I am talking about):

Snuggies for geeks

Interesting snuggies, aint they? My fave is the plug-in bandana, haha.

Ok, now that we amused ourselves with that little link, life gets back to facing the ground reality. This cold is effing insane!! x-( At this point you might be slightly inclined to think that this is another of my bitch posts. Bitching about life, bitching about people. Man this chick is so jobless, you might want to think (or thinking right now)

So since I am so bothered about my public image (hehe), I shall refrain (from whining anymore). Another interesting thing that happened was to sit beside a guy with a loaded gun in the subway. He was all chilled about it. You know, like it was a toy gun or something. Or was it? Also, I got stuck between the doors of a subway coach and let me tell that wasn't interesting. No sir, it wasn't. I panicked and I almost whispered my last prayers, "God, I didn't want to hurt anyone. Forgive me!". Something of the sort. Until the passengers thought that they might want to take a break from all the reading (novels, kindles, newspapers..) and pull me from inside. Because pushing me was going to be tough. I was almost three quarters into the coach. At the end of it all, I was profusely thanking them and also secretly thanking God and getting nostalgic about parents. (I think this is the only time I ever got homesick. LOL.)

So apart from freak subway incidents and freakier weather conditions, I have nothing much to post today. (If you have read this far, I reckon you have nothing planned for this weekend?).

Also a side note (more to myself than you):
Never ever ever ever see a movie where is the plot is about a father searching for his daughter's murderer. First, The Lovely Bones and then The Edge of Darkness. So there goes my precious 20 bucks wasted (I am clearly not worried about the 4 hours of non-productivity here). But I thought I would warn my earth-mates about the impending dangers of watching these duds.

That was long for a note, phew! I think its time to get out of my bed:)

Of Mice and Manju

Go ahead, ask me what follows me the most when I am in the city?
Mice!

They are everywhere, dammit! (There is one right now behind a makeshift closet in the apartment)

It amused me to see how others react to it though. Typically girls shriek and all that, like they show in the movies. While guys (and some gals) appear terror struck. So the other day, we stuffed on dinner from this food court in a mall. Quick fast food. Then there was this retarded movie we saw (The Lovely Bones. Don't waste your $$$ on it. You will see girls dancing in platforms over giant vinyl records in the "in-between world" after they are all murdered by this same guy. I can see you already get the idea..). So after the food and before the movie something happened. We watched mice spring up from the back of a kitchen. My friends were horrified. Needless to say I acted insensitive. But of course, I realize the gravity of it all. Noticing my indifference, A said, "Do you know all these kitchens are connected?". Till then, I thanked my stars that I didn't eat from this kitchen. But that means if one was infested, the whole food court was at risk. I panicked. Then A2 (Too many of my friends' names start with A) picked his Iphone and shot the entire "mice jumping around in merry" episode. Now this is going to get reported. Wait and watch.

This city needs a total rehaul. Hell yeah.

I just need an excuse to write

and hence the foreword: "Nothing particularly useful will be found in this post"

So today wasn't the best of the days, apparently for no reason.
I was sleeping in. And whenever I sleep in, I think. Today, I tried thinking and assessing life's convoluted surprises. So during this unproductive activity I realized that thinking too hard makes me indecisive.

Lets take an example. Last afternoon, I actually spent a good half hour (I think it was more) at an organic tea aisle trying to decide which one to buy. So I made peace by picking up a pack of assorted tea bags instead. So there you go.

Anyway, the pain of losing someone close can drive you crazy. I figure the same is happening to me. Specially when the person used to be just a phone call away. I feel I am using it as an excuse to justify my lazy days now. It is annoying to keep beating up yourself for something that is not your fault. And yet, I do the same:(

Oh what the hell. I need to snap out of it. I will go tomorrow to the Fulton Street maybe. Never been there. Just random walking and exploring places/things is so therapeutic.

Also, one of my friends ate his first subway sandwich last week. And found it wasn't as bad as he always imagined it to be. Ha! I could live on those tuna sandwiches if I could, all my life:)

Whats with the Mumbai crowd?

Ok, so here we go again. Getting loads of attitude from Mumbai based desis in USA. Specifically the East Coast (maybe because a whole bunch of them are here more than anywhere else). Before you start getting back at me, I am not generalizing here. Its just that a majority of them are starting to get to my nerves, off late. Like really! Or maybe they all decided to confront me in a window of 48 hours.

So here's this chick who is giving me this "Oh I love New York City. It is amazing, blah blah blah" scene.

All I asked after that was "So what do you like about NYC?"

She goes, "Oh you know...the city"

Me: "Yeah, what about it?"

She: "You know its amazing"

Me: [Starting to get a little impatient]

Me: [I decide to be a prick] Yeah yeah, like particularly what? All I know is the weather sucks for now. Maybe there are other things I am missing out on? So I wanna know about the fun part.

She: Well, you are a South Indian. You wouldn't know.

Me: [Totally totally uncalled for. But tried to keep it down.] Doesn't matter. We are all Indians. So we get it.

She: Where are you from?

Me: [Dude, I thought you already decided all of the southern states in India are called "South India"? So do you honestly care where I am from?] Andhra Pradesh.

She: ["Why did I even ask" expression]

Me: So well, you don't know why you love the city?

She: [Getting hold of my sarcasm she responds..] Chill. I will tell you.

Me: Yeah, maybe you can tell me then about this neighborhood in Brooklyn. Its close to Prospect Park between Flatbush and Bedford Ave. Any idea? [I gave out so much detail just to piss her off.]

She: [Clearly doesn't know] No.

Me: How about the Upper West Side? West of Broadway?

She: [Very very angry look] NO. Look up a map.

Me: Or Greenwich Village? I heard so much about the Magnolia Bakery. Worth a cupcake?

She: [Shrugs, pretending like she's not listening to me anymore]

Me: [Deciding to be a bitch to her] Well then, that concludes it. You have no clue of the city apart from the touristy places. No clue of any of the neighborhoods. You sit in Jersey City and think you know New York City. Seems like South Indians know more after all.

And I walked out on her.

PS: Felt guilty about being so bitchy later. Although I am glad I didn't succumb to the usual mocking of South Indians. Cant we just get along and help each other, you know, being in the Indian community and all? How hard can it be? This kind of attitude is exactly why Southies want to be with Southies and Northies want to stick to their own group. Just because a bunch of them have this superiority feeling about coming from a particular city? Bahh!

PPS: On a brighter note, I hit it off well with a Gujju girl who had no hangups and no attitude and didn't give a shit that I was a "South Indian". Very chilled and also gave me some real useful tips on stuff I needed. Or is it so because her best friend also happens to be a Hyderabadi?;) Haha, just kidding=)

The guy in the red shoes

An entry from a girl's journal:

The first time I saw him, I wasn't besotted by him. No, in fact, I didn't even think about him for even a fraction of a second. I totally and conveniently forgot his existence. The same way you forget that billboard you pass on the way to your office, until one day someone rolls their eyes and says, "You mean you never noticed that giant fancy and attractive advertisement?" and you shrug and mentally note to catch it the next day.

So, anyway, he wore red shoes. That was probably the only memory of him. By then, I had become so much of a "mature" person. You know, the sort who vents at traffic violations by others, snorts at people wearing "new dress" on birthdays etc. You get the idea. (No, not OCD silly. Forget it, you guys are so juvenile. Grin.)

Until, the proverbial "he changed my life" happened. Well, to be honest, not a hell lot. But at least a bit, I would like to think.

So suddenly, I start taking delight in long walks, eating corn, sending and receiving lots of SMS's, watching tennis because he likes to watch tennis, staying away from non vegetarian dishes..etc. In short, I act normal. Which isn't bad, if you ask me.

Then I see some sexist movies and the truth dawns on me. WTF! He has been manipulating me the whole time!!! Omg, yes! He took my individuality away!

So, I get back to sneering at other people and branding everyone else but me as juvenile. The guy in the red shoes again fades back into history.

PS: What's up with movies like The Proposal, The Ugly Truth, New in Town etc. Why are they showing all highly successful career women as self obsessed freaks? Before you compare me with the protagonists, stop right there. I am hardly a successful career woman :)

Why a girl is a girl and a boy, a boy

I have known many guys so far. They all share a common trait. They love bikes, cars, video games, sports, action or thriller flicks..you get the point. And girls are more of "serious" and "cute" nature..they are either into cooking, reading and writing, nature, flowers, soft toys and how can I forget shopping! And of all the guys (and girls) I have known, I was classified as the girl stereotype until of course college happened. More about that later.

And now here's my take. No matter the gender, we are what we are because of the environment we grow up in. Think of this as opportunities or circumstances, the good or the bad. I could take myself as an example.

When I was a little kid, my father got me a monster truck, a pretty looking girl doll and a miniature pink panther (cartoon character). Now, I was most excited about the truck. I played with it all day. Riding it on the sofa, playing with it in the mud, riding it over the small pebbles..you get the picture. I was in love with it. As for the doll, I disfigured it, tried to dye its hair (it had blond hair and I thought there was no such thing as "yellow" hair), tried shutting its eyes forcibly. Yes, I was a violent kid I suppose. LOL.

Anyway, my mom found it disturbing. She said trucks are no good. How about the Pink Panther, she would say. Hmm ok, I love the cartoon, I guess I could love this rubber doll too, I thought. So I befriended it as my second favorite, much to my mom's relief.

Now I also loved playing with the boys in my locality. I played marbles and cricket. We started betting on marbles game. Dad got hell pissed and mom got terrified for me. "Please send her to the girls school", she wailed. (And thank god, that didnt happen. I fail to understand what they do at every girls school, because most of the girls I met from a girls school were..lets say weird). I enjoyed crass jokes with guys on the benches. I loved English movies and watched all of them from my 5th grade. I basically wasn't a tomboy, not as yet, but I was loving it. I hated frocks, and I loved my jeans. I was always asked by my guy friends to pass around "love" letters to the other girls in my class. You know, I was the messenger girl, of sorts. LOL.

Enter junior college. This is when things turned over. I basically did only one thing. STUDY. This was totally driven by circumstances. My aim at that point of time was to go on the path to quickest money, of course, by the good means. So I had to crack that engineering college entrance. Not because I was asked to do so. But the situation demanded it. Now given a different situation, I would have probably opted journalism or writing.

Of course, that wasn't end of the long list of experiences to follow. At college, however, I slowly discovered I wasn't the most liked person on campus. All because I did not fit into the stereotypical girl image.

Like my close friend once gaped at me and said "Do you mean you never went to the temple even once so far?". To which I said, "Its quite an architectural marvel I heard". And so the close friend branded me "the girl who can never be a great housewife". I didn't dress up. Heck, I would'nt even change from my black t-shirt and jeans. But what most of them didn't know, was that I had only two pairs of jeans and a couple "college" t-shirts I would get on some events. So naturally, I was living on zero money and fend for my college fees. While guys, only talked about my facial hair at college. And girls, thought about how uncouth I was.

I don't blame the circumstances. They make you what you are. They made me a little too independent and a rebel. I sat up at nights writing or sometimes simply walked through remote places or watched movies at cinema halls by myself. I fought the local banks, pesky neighbors, cops, government officials while they bitched about "how much I should learn to be a girl instead". I didn't want to pray, dress up or fake loving to cook and be clean to people I meet. I am not that. I am best at what I am.

I know guys who love chick flicks. And girls who love guy jokes. Its OK to be a stereotype. Its NOT OK to become one.

Trash the stereotype. Just let people be and don't judge.

PS: And no, I am not sore at anyone:)

Full Stop

My dear readers,

I won't be blogging anymore, atleast for a while.
Think of this as a sabbatical, but a really long one at that.
I am sure, I can't forget writing, because I love it too much to give up.
But for those, who really did love my blog, I am sorry to be doing this.

Thanks for reading.

-Manju