Still Waters Run Deep....

Aren’t there are some moments in life - funny or awkward situations-, which when we look at as though from outside a TV, seems like we’re watching a sitcom? This post is about some such incidents- coz they’re sure worth preserving, even if just for the laughs. My general clumsiness (which I say is due to not paying attention!!), has caused some really embarrassing moments. From tripping while entering a huge auditorium to bumping into walls which always mysteriously crop up exactly when people are around- I’ve done it all. But the below is among the funniest of them all. When working in singapore, I was eating at the food court in office with a friend. The food was quite nice. But as luck (or lack of grip) would have it, I dropped the spoon onto my shirt- the spoon which had just now been in a bowl of Bhindi Masala dripping with oil and turmeric. Now turmeric is known to love clothes- and never leave it. I had to take immediate action. I went into the washroom and started washi...

I let go and both me and my heart sank. “I’m going down”, I sputtered, water in my mouth and fear in my heart. My feet desperately tried to find the bottom to stand on, though my brain said it was stupid to do that in deep sea. I floundered and tried to reach for the ladder, when I heard him say “hold my hand”. I looked in the direction of the voice. Our eyes met. This was during a trip to Redang Island in Malaysia with friends. The trip involved a lot of snorkeling. And my relationship with water has always been uneasy. My experiences with seemingly innocent rounds of boating have become unintentionally adventurous in the past- precariously balanced narrow boats which rocked with every move, boats with a slow leak where we had to constantly bail out water. Add to this my penchant for watching ship wreck movies in my teens, water was just plain dangerous to me. Yet, given that I didn’t know to swim and the concept of life jackets was nonexistent in boating, I thought my fear was sens...

It has never stopped amazing people close to me, that on being woken up in the morning, I have a perfectly sane conversation with them, assure them that I am awake and will do whatever it is that I’m supposed to be doing and promptly go back into deep slumber without even realizing it. Mom says it’s a total lack of will-power on my part to get up. When this happened again last week, I realized the true reason. It’s due to what I call “Real Dreams”.  Let me illustrate.  Last week, I assured my friend over the phone that I was awake. I then closed my eyes, for what I thought was a few seconds. In those few seconds, I had a dream- and its setting was identical to reality. I was wearing the same clothes, was in the bed I really was in, in the same room I actually was in. And in that dream- I woke up.  In that dream, my flat mate came to my room and so did some strangers- and started sawing my closet door citing repair work.  So in the dream, I was awake. And since we r...

Not the Alkaline one. I’m referring to the slang-ish word for Spectacles. More specifically, the person wearing them. Battery is among the words that have been used to “call” me. Others being, Chashmish, four eyes, Soda Buddi, and the very not funny “almost blind”!! A high power of -5.5 , ensures that I am very much dependent on external support for eyes- spectacles and lenses. Have been wearing specs from the time I was 10. I spent a year pretending I could see the blackboard, and moving progressively closer to it to prove I could.  I also tried other tactics like flooding the classroom with lights from all sources, which did make it relatively more visible. I couldn't admit to difficulties, since I had declared to my Mom that I would not get specs (as she has). Until, the headaches, my near empty notebook and interrogation by mom proved, that I could see the board- but not what was written on it! And thus, I was on Spectacles- directly with a power of -2.5. I was the class rep ...

“I need help” I said over the phone. “Oh what happened, tell me”, said my friend, the concern very apparent in his voice. Encouraged, I replied, “Well, I came to the supermarket Mohideen to buy Sugar, but they only have it in large packs. But it seems it will be available in the other supermarket nearby, Al Madina” “Hmm, yeah it will be available there”, replied my friend clearly puzzled as to what help I needed. “Er.. can you   tell me exactly how to go to Al Madina from Mohideen?” I said I was greeted by a volley of almost indecent laughter! Well, I couldn’t blame him. Both the places were about 4 mins from my hostel. I knew to go to both places individually, but just couldn’t figure out the way to go from one to the other! The place is China Cluster, in International City in Dubai. This is where I spent 4.5 months of my GMBA at SP Jain Center of Management. That this incident occurred almost after 3 months into the course didn’t help. My sense of direction has always been a sou...

I first wrote this article when I was 15.. on a paper with a pen (ah.. those days!). I re-wrote this when I was 20. So the target audience is of a similar age group- but, age no bar! Hope you enjoy this! --- Ramya I was watching the news when suddenly my neighbourhood flashed on TV. The news reader was reporting: "In yet another series of leopard-spotting, a leopard was today spotted at Raheja Estate in a suburb Borivali, in Mumbai. The forest officials were called immediately from the National Park which adjoins the area. The leopard was caught by the forest officials. We, at NDTV have filmed the entire capture and will be airing it shortly. Meanwhile, this has sparked a debate on………." Wow, a leopard in my colony. And I being in Chennai for vacation missed the entire thing. It would have been so much fun! Then I would have watched the whole episode live. The vacation soon got over and I was back home. College started soon and the whole boring routine started agai...

The cab arrived. We loaded the luggage into it, and after saying fond goodbyes left for the airport. I and two of my classmates were flying back to Mumbai from Dubai for our mini vacation. After an uneventful cab ride, we reached the airport. At the check in counter, I offered a smile to the Chinese guy and asked for a window seat. He smiled back and said, “I will do much better than that ma’am. Our Economy class is full and we’re identifying passengers for upgrading to Business Class. I am putting you in the priority list for upgrading. This boarding pass is for economy class, but just ask the personnel at the boarding counter, he will upgrade it”. I thanked him and left the counter happily. My two friends also got the same priority listing. After this, we finished all the formalities and went towards the Duty Free shopping area. I enjoyed whiffing the various perfume brands- which were beyond my liquidity at the moment and then went to the chocolates and nuts section. I got separate...

I was watching a cute song from Little Mermaid the other day- in which Ariel, the mermaid is struggling to learn dining etiquette to be a princess. She innocently picks up a fork and brushes her hair in the dining table! This took me down the memory lane and I remembered experiences that I had, just like Ariel. When I think fork and knives, there is one painful incident that is ingrained in my mind. I still cringe with embarrassment when I think of it... And being embarrassed is one of the most painful things a human can go through…Yes, even more painful than a broken heart! This incident happened around seven years ago. My relatives had come to our place in Mumbai, and we were all invited to dinner at Cricket Club of India. I was cricket-crazy at that point in my life and was very excited at the prospect of eating at the CCI and was already imagining the expression on my friends faces when I would tell them. Little did I know that this experience would be a disaster which would ha...

This was an article i wrote around 4-5 years back... which was published in Women's Era... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I’ve always had this cool “vision” of myself- at the driver’s seat, cruising on the highway. There was only one problem- I couldn’t drive. So when I turned 19 (yeah, I know the law says 18, but I’m an engineering student, I’m hard pressed for time), I decided it was high time I learnt driving. “Dad, I want to learn driving.” I declared. “What’s the hurry? You can learn later”, Dad replied. “Well, if I learn now, I can drive too, when we go long distances.” Well, this incentive worked. “Ok. We’ll start from Sunday”. Sunday came and found me very excited. I was gonna drive!!! Step one towards my vision!! “Well, I already know the theory so you can skip that”, I said. “That’s the clutch and brake…..” Dad continued as if he never heard what I said. Oh well. “So now you can start the car and dr...