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...

When I was a small girl, Joy made my heart unfurl, When dad came home early, Or mom called me a fairy, With a sparkling eye I beheld every second, The outside world was yet to beckon… I've seen now the ways of the world, Fought every battle life hurled,  Yet even as I hope for something unfeigned,  A sense of awe every time is ripped, And a scar is deeply inked… Till all that will remain is a cynical armour, Of the wide eyed girl full of wonder. With experiences that burden my shoulder, Meaninglessly I drift and ponder, On love and friends, that are gone, On hopes and dreams bygone, But of all things that I've lost, I miss my Innocence the most... I miss my Innocence the most.. .

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...

On a short break to India recently, I was doing something that I always thought I wouldn’t - compare Mumbai and Singapore. Though I in no way am belittling Mumbai, yet constant comparison, even when not aloud, is almost ingrained in the human psyche. Yet the fact that I compared, led me to think what all had changed in me post life in Singapore. I had taken up a job in Singapore on instinct- I just knew that I must work there for a while. Most people advised me to come back to India, especially Mumbai- yet I knew at that point of time that would have been disastrous. Now after 7 months of working in Singapore and 1.2 years of being in there, I assess myself on the things that have changed in me, or that I have learnt. Some are surprising, some expected.  Taste in Beverages: I always consider myself to be an absolutely non-fussy and chilled out person as far as food is concerned. So a strong preference in beverages is a shocking revelation to me. Maybe it is a year’s drink from ve...

At first I wanted to name this, “the picture no one appreciated!” The setting was 80th birthday celebrations of my grandfather. Day 1 was Rudra Homam and Day 2 was the actual function. While day 2 was going to be captured by a professional photographer, day 1 was commissioned to me. I soon got tired of taking pics of the happenings of the day and my cute cousins, and shifted to the below type of photographs. After the function, I was showing the pictures to everyone. From the “oh I look terrible in that pic”, to “nice shot of the function”, to “awwwww” for my cute cousin snaps, the below met with, “why on earth would you take a snap of the fire?”. And this was the response from my generation as well. To which my response was, “how on earth can I not? It’s shining, it’s dancing, and it’s pretty much begging me to take its snap!!” My question on what they could see in the snap was not heard (alright, ignored!) My photographic eye has been usually appreciated by my family, but it lo...

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 ...