MystiqueSpeak

Once, I was given a butterfly.

It must've been four years ago, maybe.
I was waiting for him, in an empty school. Perched on the bar of a free-standing basketball hoop, a few feet above the ground. A couple of small girls chattered away by my side, I was supposed to be watching them.
Suddenly, I'm shoved in the back. I involuntarily jump off the bar and turn to see him. standing there.
He grins at me, his fist is raised.

The fist opens, releasing an orange butterfly, which flits away.

In the background of my mind, I hear the little girls chorus "Ewwwww!" but I'm too busy smiling.

To date, that remains the most unusual thing anyone's ever done for me.
But then again, he was never a conventional guy.

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I know I haven't written in over a month. I haven't been feeling it. I've been low, and I've tried to raise my spirits. In many ways.
A large part of my Diwali break was spent chilling in and around Bombay. I got a new camera. It's my baby. I'm delighted, yes.

Another birthday has come and gone. It started well, and ended better...thanks to my lovely, lovely friends. And in the middle, I had to attend college. The night, well, it had flames, and it had cake. And wonderful people.
I don't feel any older or wiser, really. But age, it's in the head, isn't it? I feel ageless.
I am ageless.

It feels like I've forgotten how to write. Or read seriously, for that matter. And since I am currently inarticulate, I can't express just how big a tragedy that is.

I was in Pune a couple of weeks ago. Fun was had. My cousin has not so recently acquired a ridiculously cute looking daschund pup, called Coffee. Look at her, the sweet little thing.


 She hated me. At least, I think she did. After the first day of loving shyness, she attacked my knees every time I went to my cousin's place. *Sigh* I wonder what she smelled on me. Or my jeans.

In other, quite random, news, a friend wondered about Hippo. Why would anyone market a snack as healthy and baked, and then call it Hippo? (she said) Turns out Hippo cares about our hunger :|

 I'm not too fond of monsoon. Mostly because of the rain. And the humidity. And those days when a cab ride that should take ten minutes, takes forty. So you're claustrophobic and nauseous and bored.

I have not been having the best time. The rain makes sure I do not ever want to wake up in the morning (feeling like P. Diddy, or not).
I have been stupid, in more ways than one, as is my wont.
All I can say is, this year better not be like the last.

I'll be back when inspiration or whatever hits.

Situation: 'Tis my 18th birthday in a week. Unfortunately, my exams start 3 days after the aforementioned birthday. My best friend (okay, Rushi, ONE of them) is gonna be in town, so I need a plan.

I wish I were older than the stars

I have not much to write right now. So, the photos. I'm loving my new Nokia 6303 (low budget, to compensate for the loss of my MOTOK1.), more for the camera than anything else. It helps greatly when I'm bored.

A skinny girl in a department store will sigh

Bombay is huge. That's an understatement....Bombay might be a miniscule little reclaimed island clinging desperately to the west coast of India (like a leech onto a hiker's leg, like....a foetus to the womb), but by sheer volume of humanity, Bombay is colossal.

And after a year and a half of anticipation and whatnot, I'm finally in Bombay.
It's humid. grrr. I can handle dry heat, I've lived in a country that gets to 45 degrees Celsius in summer. But dry. This is humid. Fans on full blast, sweat running down my back in a most irritating way.
Alphonso mangoes. Lots of them at my place. So it's not just sweat running down me.
I'm loving life. Mom seemed rather amazed that I actually dragged myself to Andheri to meet Rushi just an hour after I got home. Home is Sion, by the way.
"How didja GO??" she asks. "Umm, walk to Sion Circle and then rickshaw." I reply.
"Wow."
What's wow, I ask. No, just didn't expect you to go all the way to Andheri your first day there.
Weird.
But yes, I did do that, I met Rushi, I met Ani, I met Jai, and there was CCD and bad stories and so much laughter that our stomachs hurt. So much.
Home, however, I must get used to. I'm so used to Mom knowing me. Like, knowing not to pay ANY attention when I mutter to myself or grumble in frustration at everything from over-affectionate cats to defunct internet connections.
But Mom's not here, I've got my grandmom and my aunt who constantly ask what I want, and tell me to lower the volume or no, that mango's a little spoilt, take another. I've told them that it is essential that they: 1. Do not worry about me, just leave me to my own devices. 2. Pay no attention to my mutterings. Because I am indeed muttering a lot these days. Lol.
But yeah, it's good out here despite everything. And it can only get better. So cheers to me and all.

I went to the souq the other day...Sifting through the old coins in various jewelry stores. Found a 1976 Liberty Dollar, with the inscription: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. I found a lot of beautiful Chinese coins, with dragons entwined around characters, with a Junk sailing the ocean. I found a coin with Hitler's profile. Many old Omani coins clinked through my hands. And then there were the really tiny coins, banded with a siver frame and made into lockets, gone green with age, faded, bearing the face of a greek youth. I'd have liked to buy one of those. I really would have.
These coins, so big, how were they carried around, I wonder, would they fit in our slim little leather wallets? Or would we need to carry moneybags, fastened to our skirts at the waist?
How may times have those coins changed hands, I wonder, and whose hands have they been in?
If we chart the route of those coins....where would they take us?

Yes I'm tired.
My long lazy mornings have been replaced with work.
My mom works at the Centre for Special Education located in our school campus, I've mentioned this before. When my exams ended, I'd asked her to call on me if any of the classes were short-handed.
Two weeks into my vacation, just when I was settling into the lazy morning routine, she tells me I'm needed.
So I start at Maushi's class, cluelessly teaching 3rd grade math to kids who are bout 9 or 10. But Maushi's class always has more than enough help, so I switch to Tina's class.
Tina's class has about 7 kids, 6 of whom are autistic, 1 of whom has behavioural problems.
Mornings are taken up by language classes, where everyone goes to the front and answers questions about themselves...with a lot of prompting.
Then Tina has a different lesson every day, yesterday it was fruits, the day before that it was opposites. Heavy and light, big and small.
Then is break (by the time all this is over, it's 10.30) and all the teachers and volunteers settle down to chat as the kids eat.
After that starts work for me. Functional academics. Like, English, Math and all. Really simple stuff. But with these kids, you never know. Sometimes they work fast. Sometimes it takes an eternity, They stare blankly at you while you prompt and prompt and in your head you're begging them to tell you the answer because they KNOW it and you KNOW they know it......
But it's fun work. It's better than uselessly lying around at home.
A couple of days ago, I had to use these foam shapes to teach math to someone. They were rather tempting to play with....

Meanwhile, yesterday was mom's birthday. We normally try new restaurants on birthdays, this time we landed at a place called Kargeen, very well known, but none of us had ever been there, because we thought it was mostly arabic food and sheesha.

Yeah right.

Firstly, it's a beautifully done outdoor place, almost like a fantasy at night, with glass lanterns and strings of lights, a fountain and trees. The food is OUT of this world. I ordered a Philadelphia sandwich, Mushrooms and cream and onions in a baguette, and had a tough time finishing it, it was so so so good....

I must go back there sometime...

wowie.

Also meanwhile, I'm reading Doctors by Erich Segal. Read it, it's brilliant.

Why?
It's so jobless (and bored) that it's crossed over to ridiculous.
On my facebook homepage, I see that friends of mine have taken the following quizzes:

What kind of currency are you?
Your ideal job.
"What do ur Hands tell about YOU???"
"The impossible quiz"
Dream Job
"Which Disney Channel Star are YOU?" (no I'm serious. Does it get worse? Apparently it does.)
"What city (in India) would suit you best?"
How Many Kids Will You Have?

Yup. They do get worse, by the way.
Then there was that wave of pictures where everyone tagged everyone......You know? those pictures : "every class has them" and all that. Pure inane balderash.

Facebook status updates are a different story. Those are actually quite fun to read. Some of them are well put, some of them are cryptic, some are pretentious. Some are song lyrics, Some are plain irritating.
They should do an exhibit with FB updates....
case in point.
Page one on my friends list goes thus: (I'm using everyone's initials here)

SKDS just had soooo much fun!!! Thanx alot Kristian, Seoula, Vernon, Shaggy, Til n of course PETTO(Terence:)!!!
SM : (8) Jab tak rahega samose mein aloo, tera rahoonga, o meri Shalu (8). Pagalpanti bhi zaroori hai ;). :P.
PP "A LE MENTHE." (wtf does that even mean?)
MB dying to go solo.
DF feels lyk rippin sumthin apart....dunno y??
KUP is completely in ♥ with her new haircut...n im not gonna upload my pics until everyone's seen me on monday...i'll admit,i want the attention....=).
AO ......its jst silence silences..(This is from some poem - its silence silences. I can't remember which one, and that's been driving me nuts)
ID has a Maths exam on Monday. In two words, he's dead. In three words, he's SO dead. In four words, he's so fucking dead. In one sentence, he should shut the fuck up and get back to studying.
AR is takin alota these quizes on fb outta boredom! (so bored??)

Etcetera. You see? I don't think I really have a point to make, I just find it funny. Large cross-section of people and all that. Could be a social experiment, of sorts, sifting through status updates. They may even help solve crimes, that's if anyone's stupid enough to go : (insert name here) dropped bombs at CST today haHA.
sigh.
Facebook is cool, oui... all I'm saying is....it currently seems to be smacking of desperation.
weird, innit?

Call me hypocrite, but I will always be jolted in the heart if I hear the word 'Fuck' or any of its derivatives spill out of the mouths of those I consider as my baby sisters.

"Me, I'm dishonest. And you can always trust a dishonest person to be dishonest. It's the honest ones you can't trust. Because you never know...when they're going to do something really stupid."
- Capt. Jack Sparrow.

Well? I've ALWAYS loved that line. Because it's rather true.

....That is my dilemma.
Facebook profile pictures. My cellphone wallpaper. My desktop wallpaper....and my blogger template. I don't change them very often. Maybe because I subconsciously feel they kinda define my identity or something.....
My Facebook profile pic is currently the sun-holding pic Kay took of me in December. The cellphone wallpaper is the same pic. Desktop is some old anime vampire I set a couple of years ago when I was in my anime phase, and then was too lazy to change.
I like this template, I really do. It's dark. It's got a beautiful cat and a french poem on the header.
But maybe it's time for a change, no? It'll still be predominantly black, of course, but maybe with some colour in it.......
Just a thought...
And thus i end up hunting around on http://www.pyzam.com/ for something that sends sparks in my soul......and defines me.
Wish me luck.

Edit, an hour later : Shit shit shit. Now i'm stuck with a dirty brown template till i get it all sorted out. The gadget thig isn't opening because server's down. And i just realised that all of PyZam's templates, even though they're beautiful, have all the profile and all on the right side. Shit. why do I never learn?
More updates. Soon.

Edit, half-hour later: Layout thingy scares me. I suddenly realised that if I used a different template maybe i'll have to do the whole bloody 81 item blog list again. thus i have reverted to my nice soothing cat template. Sigh. Help.
Can anyone volunteer to design me a wonderful and absolutely unique template? or even tell me how I can use pyzam.com's templates while retaining me blogger-layouts blog list? Thanks....