MIHYAP Contest #1

So, the book has its first contest and some are being given away from free, a gesture always appreciated by students in perennially impecunious situations. Dear GB, when selecting the winners, do remember your fan base who go day after day barely surviving on hostel food. They are the salt of the earth, the ones who unblushingly aspire for pirated copies.

OK, I am not really sure what I meant to write as an introduction. I tend to digress a lot when it comes to hostel food.


The rules can be found here.

My top ten favourite movie lines are:

1. Well, say something! You lousy bunch of bleedin' hearts. You're not goin' to intimidate me! I'm entitled to my own opinion! Rotten kids... you work your life out! No. Not guilty. Not guilty! (12 Angry Men)
2. I guess this is just another lost cause, Mr. Paine. All you people don't know about lost causes. Mr. Paine does. He said once they were the only causes worth fighting for. And he fought for them once, for the only reason any man ever fights for them; because of just one plain simple rule: 'Love thy neighbor.'... And you know that you fight for the lost causes harder than for any other. Yes, you even die for them, like a man we both knew, Mr. Paine.You think I'm licked.You all think I'm licked.Well, I am not licked!I'll stay and fight for this lost cause. Even if this room gets filled with lies like these; and the Taylors and all their armies come marching into this place.. Somebody will listen to me. (Mr. Smith goes to Washington)
3. I've never been alone with a man before, even with my dress on. With my dress off, it's MOST unusual. (Roman Holiday)
4. Tonight, a comedian died in New York. (Watchmen)
5. I guess that's how it crumbles, cookiewise. (The Apartment)
6. I'll never be hungry again. (Gone with the wind) (Also, newly favoured due to the hostel food horror)
7. I am Death (Seventh Seal)
8. The Dude abides (Big Lebowski)
9. Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the War Room! (Dr. Strangelove)
10. Everyone can be super! And when everyone's super, no one will be (The Incredibles)

I would like to thank Akasuna no sasori for tagging me with this. I also tag elfin void, amazing greys, What's in a name, Doleful Doledrums, arsenik. Those who do, please note :

a. On your blog, provide a link to this page. (http://greatbong.net/book) and tag 5 people.
b. Come over to the comment-space of this post and post your blog’s link so it can be read.

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I have been tagged, and by tagged, I mean properly tagged and not a tag stolen from someone else's blog. Though originally tagged in Facebook, I prefer limiting tags to blogs, where no one really knows me and therefore, would not bring it up against me next time we meet. The tagger, Vanilla Sky, defines this tag as

Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you.

1. If I stare at a person long enough, listen to their conversation and not say a word, the person eventually ends up betraying all their innermost secrets to me. I attribute this to an unwavering stare. Blackmail, therefore, is a very effective career option.
2. I adore shoes. I buy them in hordes. But the only shoe I ever wear is a very worn out pair of 'Ketoes'.
3. I get very excited at the sight of policemen, police jeeps, police stations or vans carrying criminals. I do not know why. My mum thinks that is the reason I happily lose my identity cards.
4. I am possibly the only person on earth who has sprained a foot while dancing to 'Safety Dance'.
5. My favourite sort of movies are musicals, specially the type where things are bound to end happily and the songs are popular ditties. Sweeney Todd does not fall under this category. Nor does High School Musical.
   
6. The only time I have had a crush on a real person (defined as people you actually know and who know you back and you have conversations and hang out in general) was when I lost a classmate's pen and he laughed when I tried to apologize for it. By the end of three years, I had begun to dislike him intently for trying to steal my thunder.
7. I have elaborate dream sequences, most of which would make very gripping thrillers. The last one was a murder of a newly wed man and Bobby Deol happened to be the detective in charge. He goes and asks the bride if she had had something silvery grasped in her palms at the time of death and whether the victim was humming to himself at that moment. The bride opens her palms to see a silver foil attached to it. It was clearly the defining moment. Then the alarm bell rang. I hate my alarm very, very much.
8. I am a terribly messy person. The sort of person who would not clean her bed and would rather sleep on the mess, and, if the mess happens to be uncomfortable, on the floor. But I am obsessed about clean sinks. I often spend my time in dinner parties cleaning the sink.
   
9. I never understand the business section of the paper. I blame it on the Economics degree. Everything works completely against all the laws proposed.
10. I have a maroon top. If I wear it and it rains, the umbrella turns inside out and I get soaked. It is uncanny.
11. The first actor I ever fell in love with was Rupert Grint. The fact that Ronald Weasley and I shared birthdays just proved the fact that we were soulmates.
12. My favourite word is 'preposterous'. As a nineteen year old, one of my deepest wishes was to become a princess, and say preposterous all the time while randomly ordering people to be beheaded, not unlike the Queen of Hearts.
13. I think Anne Hathaway has the most beautiful smile ever.
14. The Air India Maharajah scares me.
    
15. The more I see of Dustin Hoffman, the more I like him. I really wish to see him in Death of a Salesman, a very favourite play of mine.
16. The English Patient is the only book/movie combo I like, rather, admire and love, despite the fact they both are very different.
17. I wish to dress up as a witch someday, get dressed in floating, flowing, wispy clothes and cackle.
18. The only people I bond very well with are twelve year old girls. They immediately like me and say I am the nicest person they have ever known. Not many people say that. The world needs more twelve year old girls to be a happier place.
19. If I ever write a novel, I want it to be a tragedy. Everyone in it must die lonely, painful, lingering deaths. There will also be a family ghost, a woman with a haunted past and a retired acrobat. They will all die too. Except for the family ghost, since it is already dead.
    
20. I have an Oscar acceptance speech prepared.
21. I often wake up in the middle of the night due to sheer panic. Most of these are caused by the fact that I have forgotten whether Obama is republican or democrat, the meaning of allegory or whether I had cleaned the sink before sleeping. Whenever this happens, I end up sweeping.
22. I want a hat. A floppy, large brimmed hat with grapes on it. I will distribute grapes from it to people I meet.
    
23. I chew my hair when distressed. It is not very good for the hair.
    
24. I love it when I find some of my favourite songs in movie soundtracks. Like Saif singing Heartbreak Hotel in Parineeta. Or More Than a Feeling being played in Madagascar 2.
    
25. I believe the best entrance ever in a movie was made by Akshay Kumar in Tashan. Yes, I have watched Tashan. I watch everything. Except Ghajini.
    

I am still rather surprised by the fact that I have finished this. I tag everyone who has not done this but wants to.

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More tags- ho hum

I want to write something down. Things have been happening and they are most certainly not the kind of events I want to swallow down and never mention to any living being. However, things being what they are, I seek refuge in a tag, which I do not know whom I am borrowing from, since everyone else has done it. So here is another tag for the annals.

1. What does your user name mean?
It means a person who does as she wishes to do. It is not an actual word. It is based on the French word ad lib. I am glad I did not keep the name Helena Hairbushed as I had planned to once. That would have needed some explaining.

2. Elaborate on your user photo:
It is a fish. That is because the title of the blog has a fish in it. I do not go for allegories or hidden meanings much.

3. How many comments do you have?
Do you require an average? I do not know. 3.5?

4. What's your current relationship status?
The guy I pretend I like does not know I exist. The guy I think I like is, well, Jude Law. The guy I know I like, oh, Johnny, darling Johnny, do not marry her. I love you.

5. What exactly are you wearing right now?
Is not that a dirty question?

6. What is your current problem?
Yeah, ok, this will be worth a couple of blog posts by itself.

7. What do you love most?
Stuff. Bubble wraps. Mountains. Scientific calculators. My hair.

8. What makes you most happy?
Buying books.

9. Are you musically inclined?
I have no idea. I did learn the art once. Now, the most I do is buy better earphones.

10. What would you do if you woke up one morning and found out you were on cocaine?
Wonder how I actually managed to contact anyone who peddles the stuff.

11. If you could go back in time, and change something, what would it be?
Not go to an afternoon Maths class in class ten. Or take an auto there. Or just look out of the auto for a brief, maddening, heartbeat stopping moment.

12. If you MUST be an animal for ONE day, what would you be?
A cat. I would make a very good cat.

13. Ever have a near death experience?
Yes. Plenty of times.

14. Name an obvious quality you have?
I can roll my tongue into an 'o'.

15. What's the name of the song that's stuck in your head right now?
Africa-Toto

16. Are you happy today?
No.

17. Who will cut and paste this to first?
Everyone else has done this tag. Perhaps someone with a mole on their neck.

18. Name someone with the same birthday as you:
Buddhadeb Bhattacharya

19. Do you have a secret crush on someone?
I do not know about it being a secret. Everyone else knows about it but them.

20. Do you have a garbage disposal in your kitchen sink?
No idea.

21. Have you ever been in a fight?
I have a sibling. So, yes. I have scratches all over to prove it

22. Have you ever sang in front of a large audience?
Yes.

23. What's the first thing you notice about the OPPOSITE sex:
Hair.

24. Whats your biggest mistake?
Compulsive eating when depressed?

25. Say something totally random about you?
My hair is growing longer and straighter. Yay!

26. Has anyone ever said you looked like a celebrity?
The nose. Always the nose. Indira Gandhi's nose.

27. Are you comfortable with your height?
No. The cutest, richest guys in the class stopped growing after 5 feet 5 inches.

28. What is the most romantic thing someone has ever done for you?
Heh.

29. What is your favorite smell?
Cake. Wet earth.

30. What's something that really annoys you?
Cockroaches, my Statistics teacher.

31. What's something you really like?
Almost the same as Question 7. I shall add here my books.

32. Do you give random hugs and kisses?
Not really. Any sort of physical contact makes me nauseous.

33. What's the longest you have ever stayed up?
3 days. Ah, the University exams.

34. Have you ever been rushed to the emergency room?
Yes.

Now I shall go back to reflection regarding why I do stuff like this. Then sleep.

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Titles have never been my strong point- Yet more tags

We have been tagged again, and with an unabated tag obsession, we proceed to thank Doubletake for furthering the delights of Tiggery Pokery.

To continue with the tradition, we will first post the rules, an indelible part of any tag presenting activity:

RULE #1 People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs and replace any question that they dislike with a new question formulated by themselves.

RULE #2 Tag 6 people to do this quiz and those who are tagged cannot refuse. These people must state who they were tagged by and cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by. Continue this game by sending it to other people.

(Here, I strangely am reminded of a Friends episodes where Monica, with a very familiar obsession, exclaims "Rules are good! Rules help control the fun!")

1. If your lover betrayed you what would your reaction be? Nothing. The most I can do is give him a puppy and when he learns to love it, kidnap it. That would show him.

2. If you could have one dream come true which one would it be? Owning a farmhouse in Italy. Getting a dog. Growing oranges.

3. Whose butt would you like to kick? My Indian Economy professor. He has a rather substantial one and I would not be able to miss.

4. What would you do with a billion dollars? Invest them. Make more.

5. Will you fall in love with your best friend? No.

6. Which is more blessed: loving someone or being loved by someone? Both are horrible things one does not discuss in public.

7. How long would you wait for someone you love? Considering my fickle heartedness, I think I would make a very loyal lover. Probably forever. Or until I realize I am touching 35 and the body clock is ticking away.

8. If the person you like is secretly attached, what would you do? Secretly attached will not exactly be news coming my way. But if attached, thank my stars. I could pine away without actually being in a relationship.

9. If you could root for one social cause which one would it be? Littering.

10. What takes you down the fastest? Sneezes. Indian Economy. Heels.

11. Where do you see yourself in 10 years' time? Doing things my mum fears I will end up doing.

12. What's your fear? Aging.

13. What kind of person(s) do you think the person who tagged you is/are? This kind of stuff embarrasses me horribly. She is wonderfully fun, wonderfully clever and nicely insane. She is a kindred spirit.

14. Would you rather be single and rich or married and poor? Why should I be poor? He can be if he wants to. I am going to make lots of money. Also, sign pre-nuptials.

15. What is the first thing you do when you wake up? Swear.

16. If you fall in love with two people simultaneously who would you pick? The one who picks me.

17. Would you give all in a relationship? Things I will not give in a relationship- Time, conversation, patience. Other than that, all right.

18. What's eating you now? Do not get me started.

19. Do you prefer being single or in a relationship? Look at the above answers. I am commitment phobic. I prefer single any day.

20. Tag 6 people... I have my own rules for Tiggery Pokery. No singling out names. If you actually care enough for this, do it.

Now for the second tag (yes, there are more than one. Oh, joy)

Ten songs I have been listening to over and over again for the past one week:

1. Safety Dance- Men without hats
   
2. Dreaming of you- The Coral
3. Butterfly- Talvin Singh
4. Can't take my eyes off you- Frankie Valli
5. Falling- Nitin Sawhney
6. Ae Ajnabi (A.R. Rahman/ Udit Narayan)
7. More than a feeling- Boston
8. Thee kuruviyil (Harini, Johnson, Mukesh/ A. R. Rahman)
9. Amintirile- Alternosfera
   
10. Sparks -Royksopp

I would add New York Nagaram to this list, except for the fact that I have been continuously listening to this song for the past one and a half years and, hence, believe it is slightly above lists.

We tag everyone, we tag anyone. Pick any tag you please. But we make a special mention of the second tag since it is Doubletake's contribution to the tag world.

Our aim is, after all, to spread sunshine and joy.

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Tiggery Pokery's Joy

There is a new tag in the offing. Tiggery Pokery, the tag collection, sniffs the air in anticipation, and leaps in joy. Its sense of smell is not mistaken. With the faintest waft of Vanilla, a tag drops out of the Sky, and Tiggery Pokery has a new member to add to our midst.

The tag requires the tagged one (Taggee? Taggered?) to write six quirks about oneself. Why people assume the entire world awaits with bated breath for a chance to read stuff like this, is a question I often ask myself in the middle of the night, but not often enough to deprive myself of the joy of adding tags to my repertoire. My six quirks, dear world, are:

1. Trains obsess me. I firmly believe all great love stories begin on trains. As a teenager, I had hoped my one true love would dance on a train for me, but, apparently, stunts like that are dangerous. Hence, I have decided to make do with buying the biggest train set of the world to decorate my living room. If I ever have any guests, they will be made to play with it. I plan to include many tunnels, signals, and people trying to commit suicide on the tracks.
2. I refuse to look at people directly while speaking to them. I believe it is a purely nervous reaction. In addition, I get very interesting views of knees. I am an expert on them now. However, I will make a very poor witness.
3. I like eating chalks. I realize it is hardly a quirk, since most bloggers seem to like chalk. However, I also like to peel paint off the walls and eat it. I am not averse to some mud either.
4. I talk too fast. Everyone complains, but to no avail. I think it is because my mental processes are too fast for my tongue to catch up with at a decent speed. I have seen receptionists blink in alarm and look around for help, and, if possible, translators. I have seen strong men wither under the stress. I have seen teachers pale and stutter. I have seen it all, and yet, as a friend remarks, I continue to spout white noise.
5. I have an all-encompassing love for all things Tamil. It started with A.R.Rahman, went over to Mani Ratnam, and now includes anyone who claims to have anything to do with the State, even if the only Tamil connection they ever had was a maidservant whose son in law bought her a sari from Nalli's.
6. I start dreaming about results exactly one month before they are supposed to come out. They act like an indicator, notifying me as regards the time I should begin to panic. In one of the more recent dreams, I dreamed I had swallowed my results whole, not unlike a sword-eater. However, when I woke up, I found my cellphone half way up my mouth, rather battered after the ordeal.

I tag everyone who might find their names mentioned in the blog list on the right hand side of this blog (thank you Dreamy, for the very handy suggestion). I also tag them who think this is the very tag, which completes their world.

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Who has got a new tag?

I do, I do! :D

I have, as is obvious, decided to collect tags the way people collect stamps, coins, butterflies, weight and notches on the bedpost. This is Doubletake's contribution to the Tiggery Pokery (which is what I have decided to name my collection) and she is duly thanked and wept on.

4 Jobs I’ve had (in chronological order):
As 2 year old, was responsible for getting my dad the paper. Yes, I was the family puppy. Overcome by the fact that I was actually given a responsibility, I crawled all the way into the chair and still have the scar to show for my efforts.
As a 3 year old, my mum made me watch over my sister. I watched her fall right off the bed. People keep on alluding to that incident.
As a 20 year old, my friends send me to get photocopies done. I am also responsible for dividing the food bill so that I am the only one who does not have to pay the VAT.

4 Movies I Could Watch Over and Over:
My Fair Lady
Pulp Fiction
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Dr. Strangelove

4 Places I have lived in (in order) :
I distinctly remember answering this in some other tag.

4 TV shows I like
Scrubs
Friends
Hope and Faith
That's So Raven (Does Disney count?)

4 favourite foods:

Vada Pao
Aam ka achaar
Fried chicken
Chocolate Cake

4 Places I would rather be:
Right now?
At Pingu's place, with friends, food and lots of tears and laughters and playing with barbie dolls.
With my mentor, being comforted and told that life sucks and I should get married. Thats his solution to everything. Even when I tell him that I burnt Maggi.
My library. I realize I have seven books due. For more than 15 days. And I keep on forgetting to call them up to reissue.
At Ladakh. Away. Happy.

4 People I am tagging:

Hate doing this. Everyone is tagged.

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Chronicles of Part-2 Exams: The Voyage of the Blog Reader

So I was blog hopping as usual because that is all I seem to be capable of nowadays, excepting, of course, watching all sorts of Govinda movies. So here is another tag I was fascinated by at aandthirtyeight's.
It has been described as "In one stone, two mangoes!" and I intend to keep it. Admirable description, methinks. Considering we have two wholly different tags.

First tag

Aim: To do something utterly meaningless to avoid getting back to the books.

Methodology:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.

Procedure:
Get lazy bum off comfortable seat to look for book.
Find all books have managed to evaporate inexplicably.
Wander off to room and find "The Secret of Cliff Castle"
Blush profusely and look for some more intellectual sounding book.
Decide to be honest to people who would not know any better anyway if you lied and choose Secret of Cliff Castle.

Results:
Hilary's eyes shone. She felt excited. She caught hold of Ben's arm and looked at his eagerly.

Conclusion:
If I had not known better, I could have sworn this came out of some Mills and Boons. Which goes on to show that in life, you never know any better.

Second Tag

The following is apparently a list of books, "most of them sitting unread in people's bookshelves to make them look smarter". The rules are: bold the ones that you have read, underline the ones you have read in school, italicize the ones you have started but didn't finish.

Which is precisely what I think I will do.

1. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
2. Anna Karenina
3. Crime and Punishment
4. Catch-22
5. One Hundred Years of Solitude
6. Wuthering Heights
7. The Silmarillion
8. Life of Pi: a novel
9. The Name of the Rose
10. Don Quixote
11. Moby Dick
12. Ulysses
13. Madame Bovary
14. The Odyssey
15. Pride and Prejudice
16. Jane Eyre
17. The Tale of Two Cities
18. The Brothers Karamazov
19. Guns, Germs and Steel
20. War and Peace
21. Vanity Fair
22. The Time Traveler's Wife
23. The Iliad
24. Emma
25. The Blind Assasin
26. The Kite Runner
27. Mrs. Dalloway
28. Great Expectations
29. American Gods
30. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
31. Atlas Shrugged
32. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
33. Memoirs of a Geisha
34. Middlesex
35. Quicksilver
36. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
37. The Canterbury Tales
38. The Historian: A Novel
39. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
40. Love in the Time of Cholera
41. Brave New World
42. The Fountainhead
43. Foucault's Pendulum
44. Middlemarch
45. Frankenstein
46. The Count of Monte Cristo
47. Dracula
48. A Clockwork Orange
49. Anansi Boys
50. The Once and Future King
51. The Grapes of Wrath
52. The Poisonwood Bible
53. 1984
54. Angels and Demons
55. Inferno
56. The Satanic Verses
57. Sense and Sensibility
58. The Picture of Dorian Gray
59. Mansfield Park
60. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
61. To the Lighthouse
62. Tess of the D'Urbervilles
63. Oliver Twist
64. Gulliver's Travels
65. Les Miserables
66. The Correction
67. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
68. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
69. Dune
70. The Prince
71. The Sound and the Fury
72. Angela's Ashes: A Memoir
73. The God of Small Things
74. A People's History of the United States: 1492-present
75. Cryptonomicon
76. Neverwhere
77. A Confederacy of Dunces
78. A Short History of Nearly Everything
79. Dubliners
80. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
81. Beloved
82. Slaughter House- five
83. The Scarlett Letter
84. Eats, Shoots and Leaves
85. The Mists of Avalon
86. Oryx and Crake
87. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
88. Cloud Atlas
89. The Confusion
90. Lolita
91. Persuasion
92. Northanger Abbey
93. The Catcher in the Rye
94. On the Road
95. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
96. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
97. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Enquiry into Values
98. The Aeneid
99. Watership Down
100. Gravity's Rainbow
101. The Hobbit
102. In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and its Consequences
103. White Teeth
104. Treasure Island
105. David Copperfield
106. The Three Musketeers

The only novels I did read in school were The Old Man and the Sea and The Tiger of Malgudi. I did not end up loving any of them.

I tag everyone. You are here, you are reading this sentence right now, you have the right to take up the tag . There, you have material for another post.

(p.s. I know Prince Caspian come first, but Voyage of the Dawn Treader arrived first because it was easy to mess up with the title. Prince Caspian is next. Promise.)

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And yet another tag

Which on the surface promises not to take much time or space. And then you rethink.
This is Rekaf's contribution to the tag world, something to be pondered over and to remember him by when he passes on to greater things than blogging obsessively.

One thing I truly regret:

Not being able to enjoy my college life till I realized its getting over. Too many holidays. Too many library trips. Too much studying. Too many wanderings. Too many friends. But no college. No joining political parties and pretending one is Mamta Banerjee. No canteen trips and doping and crushes all over the place. No making best friends with Promodda (the canteen owner, a legend in his own right). No being able to tell Johnny Depp lookalike one thinks he is the hottest thing since the real Johnny Depp.

Yes, this is actually all I regret. This is all I have missed.

Take up the tag. Believe me when I say its a difficult one.

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Yet another tag

Which is the best way to fill up some space, come back to blogging and announce that one is sick of Economics and has decided to get married.
Onnesha tagged me a very long time back. I was saving it up for a special occasion as this and so here goes the alphabet soup. In keeping with tradition, I have tried to keep it spontaneous.

A for Ashvin, the first character I ever created.
B for Binomial, the bane of my life.
C for catch, as in bowling and out.
D for desperate, which is what I am feeling now.
E for Emma, and I do not know why.
F for I-usually-try-to-avoid-that-word-here.
G for a friend's name which is the only thing occurring to me right now. We became friends over a porn movie and now he thinks he is my father. Star Wars, I tell you.
H for hila, the only contribution to my vocabulary from high school.
I for illai, the only Tamil word I know.
J for jata, a very frequently used word.
K for Kalua, and this was not supposed to come out.
L for lessee, the only response to every favour asked for.
M for Mimoh. Period.
N for N*Sync, I am trying to bring them back (no comments on my musical taste please)
O for oligopoly, which sounds extremely pornographic to me (what is with examinations that my mind automatically seeks solace in porn?)
P for pale hands I loved beside the Shalimar. Indian love songs. Just read Galahad warn Clarence against them.
Q for Quriosity. My mind is warped. I do not play fair.
R for roddur. Its killing me.
S for Slutsky. I still can not get over the fact that someone was called this and was actually alice through high school.
T for Tao, which is what I have tattooed on my hand along with Latin Square design of experiment and Johnny Depp.
U for unassuming. Which sort of defines me during exam times.
V for Venom. At 18, we could not afford it. At 19, we did not have the time. At 20, we are old women and too mature for discotheques.
W for Wridhiman Saha. I find his name too cute for words.
X for Xerox. I have spent the family fortunes on it.
Y for Yello, the new (cliched?) hello.
Z for Zach Braff. I love him.

What? You actually have not done this tag yet? You are tagged.

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The Last of the Tags

I promise this to be the last tag for a long, long time. After this post, it is all going to be erudite, verbose, introspective writings on my views. But first, let us go on with the present. Macadamia the nut has tagged me and thus is born another post. Though this looks less of a tag and more like a guide for a prospective boyfriend.

1. LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATER:

Taare Zameen Par.

I am more into pirated stuff and no good movies are out yet.

2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING?

Gun seller by Hugh Laurie

3. FAVORITE BOARD GAME?

Monopoly.

Practically obsessed about it. I play it on my cellphone, bully my friends into playing it, throw monopoly parties and form monopoly study groups.

This has nothing to do with Economics.

4. FAVORITE MAGAZINE?

My mum made me try The Economist and Competition Success. Did not last a month. Reader's Digest comes close I guess.

5. FAVORITE SMELLS?

Rain drenched earth.
Cakes being baked.
The stuffy smell of my room when I return to it after a long, long time.

6. FAVORITE SOUNDS?

The sound of my ipod in my ears.
The sound of a car speeding by and I realize it just missed killing me.
The sound of my phone ringing and it turning out not be the Airtel customer care people.

7. WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD?

Waking up.
Realizing the argument just turned serious.
My HoD mentioning abysmal attendances and looking at me reproachfully.

8. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE?

Another day. More aging. I am so not getting any younger.

9. FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE?

The vada pao place at Exide. Also, for coffee, Caffeine.

10. FUTURE CHILD'S NAME?

Poltu and Potla.

(Dear future husband, if you are reading this, darling, we can have two more kids and you can name them according to your choice. Please do not take Poltu and Potla away from me).

11. FINISH THIS STATEMENT. "IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I'D...?

Spend it. Buy shoes.

12. DO YOU DRIVE FAST?

Do not drive at all. My drivers can drive fast however. Driving fast is wonderful.

13. DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL?

No. Books have taken over my bed and I usually end up sleeping on the floor. A stuffed animal would not last in such an atmosphere.

14. STORMS-COOL OR SCARY?

Lovely for walks. Rains, thunder, gales- oh cool it definitely is.

15. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?

Was more of a barbie person. Used to own 13 of them. Parents were more of the gender specific toy buyers. No cars thus.

16. FAVORITE DRINK?

Anything but apple juice.

17. FINISH THIS STATEMENT, "IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD

know the question is talking about my current lifestyle.

18. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI?

Broccolis look evil. Would not dare to.

19. IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE?

I love my hair colour. It is what I would have wanted it to be if it had not been it. I would just dye it back to the original colour if it starts greying.

20. NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS YOU HAVE LIVED IN.

Bangalore, Gwalior, Bongaigaon, Kolkata.

Only the west remains to be conquered.

21. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?

Desperate housewives.

(What? You do not call what goes on there a sport?)

22. ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU.

She handled this tag better than I did.

23. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED?

The boogey man.

24. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN?

Sure. But with smaller feet please.

25. MORNING PERSON, OR NIGHT OWL?

Night owl. I am typing this at 3 30 in the morning.

26. OVER EASY, OR SUNNY SIDE UP?

Never talk to people if I can avoid it. So no idea.

27. FAVORITE PLACE TO RELAX?

My bedroom floor.

28. FAVORITE PIE?

Lemon.

29. FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?

Dark chocolate.

30. OF ALL THE PEOPLE YOU TAGGED THIS TO, WHO'S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?

No one. Everyone seems to be on a hibernation.

I tag everyone as usual. If you like this tag well enough, please take it up.

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Damn My Cursed Memory

Dreamy tagged me. Of course, she has no way to know I have never remembered anything for more than ten minutes at a go. So, most of the input which was supposed to be remembered is remembered by my mother. She is the guest author of this post.

Life Ten years ago:

From what she remembers, I was gawky, awkward, shy and tongue ties with mostly everyone. Of course, she willingly and unnecessarily adds, I have not shown much change since then. I wanted to be a singer by night and doctor by day. My life revolved around mathematics, my best friend and molding mud into cakes. I used to decorate them with leaves and grounded brick powder. It all used to smell wonderful. Life was also about shared lunches where nine or ten giggly girls would sit around and discuss the comparative advantage of Punjabi pickles over Marwari pickles over Bengali pickles. To my unrefined tastes, Marwari pickles always used to win uncontested. Bengali kuler achar (I can not translate this into anything remotely English), as divine as it is, could never match up.

Life five years ago:

I was fat. That used to take the fun out of most things. Life was mostly about how torturous Physics is and how much one scored in Biology on ten marks. The impending Boards exam failed to scare me. The effeminate classmate I thought I was hopelessly in love with did. Marwari pickles still formed a huge part of my life. There was also a personal diary which was full of so much sentiment, I ended up throwing it out once I entered college. Also started writing poetry. Stopped next year.

Life tomorrow.

Will try to turn 20 without getting into hysterics (OK, yeah, tomorrow is my birthday :D. That is the entire purpose of this post anyway)

Five locations I would love to run away to.
(Ordered by accessibility)

• Presidency Botany Department corridor
• Lakshadweep
• Corfu
  
• Random African jungle
• P. E. Island

Five bad habits I have.
(I do not consider biting nails as a bad habit. It is a necessary condition for existence)

• The fact that I cannot sit down for a meal without knocking down a random glass. My favourite eatery refuses to serve me water anymore.
• I keep on complaining about the dissatisfying shape of my nose. However, not much nowadays. I realize I have to marry Bilawal Bhutto anyway. Which obviously means I will be heading the country some day. For that, one needs an authoritative nose. Indira Gandhi and I own the same nose.
  
• I cannot laugh before examinations without getting hysterical and end up laughing for half an hour straight for no reason why.
• I go to sleep at 6 in the morning. I wake up at 2 in the afternoon. My mum is thinking of disowning me.
• I am scared of everything.

Five things I will never wear.

• Something pink.
• Gold.
• Navel ring (someone told me it itches a lot)
• Heels more than 2 inches long ( I can not afford to tower above the remaining male population)
• Rings
  

Five biggest joys at this moment.

• I painted my toes green and chrome. It looks ugly, but very satisfying.
• Conversations with Bonky
  
• My hair is longer. I do not look any more like a boy who tried to give himself a crew cut. Now I look like the boy who forgot to have his hair cut.
• I have lost both my glasses. Now I can walk down anywhere I like to without having to recognize people. I can always say I could not see them.
• I am off to buy more clothes.
  

Something to achieve by next year

An aim. I cannot just live in frivolity for the rest of my life. More is the pity.

Something that impacted me last year

The hospital tenure. I realized in those ten days that I was making many wrong choices. Now making different wrong choices. But not the same ones.

What will I miss about 2007

Teenage

Five things I want to do before I die

There are a hundred. The most important one is to learn to raise one eyebrow. The others are either too insignificant, or too sacred.

I tag Abhishek, doubletake, doublethink, Mac the nut, Kaushik, Na. Su. Krishnan, Speedpost, the new age scheherazade and The ancient mariner.

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The last ode to teenage-ism

Warning : Girlie post

Fellow blogger Doubletake, Doublethink has had a girlhood akin to all girlhoods, mostly spent in waiting for the dream man from the pages of a book (ranging from Danielle Steele to Gone with the wind) to materialize in flesh and of course, fall in love with us. This being the most significant experience for girls all over, one realizes the importance of preserving the essence of our first loves. Thus, while she rots with other more trivial pursuits (like Boards for instance), she, for us to remember her by, has started a meme, as she names it. In her own words,

"I'm starting a meme (muahahhaha). Anyone who has ever fallen in love with her version of the GHM, I tag you. Write a post, it doesn't have to be very big, about that person – literary character, comic book hero, some guy in a movie, a random person you'll never meet – we’ll start a list that will probably never end."

GHM would be the Georgette Heyer Man, a one of a kind lover an impressionable girl can easily be obsessed with. Doubletake has a more detailed description of him in her post.

And so, my GHM....

He arrived in my life at the very naive age of 14. He returned when I was 18. And, of course, till now, he displays no willingness to leave and someone real arrive. Harry Rayburn, or John Eardsley is a cross between Othello and Tarzan. He is rich but has given up all his wealth to seek vengeance for the death and defamation of his friend. He resides alone in an island in Africa and does more or less nothing but brood. Of course, he goes and seeks revenge, is often an impostor in the strangest of ships, is mind numbingly hot and threatens to beat up his love interest black and blue if she even looks at another guy.
A self confessed wife beater, an Etonian who has given up all his wealth for an African island near a waterfall, where he saves drowning damsels and then marries them (if he does marry them, hard to find a registrar in African jungles, I would have guessed). Paleolithic in his passions and general behaviour with the rest of humanity, rude, insolent and a woman hater, he is probably not every woman's dream, or even nightmare, but since the age of 14, Harry Rayburn has been the man I have woefully given my heart too. Of course, the fact that he catches diamond smugglers and can easily murder someone in the heat of anger just adds to his gentlemanly charms.

He is the chief protagonist of Agatha Christie's Man in the Brown Suit, and despite the impression I seem to have given, is wonderfully monogamistic. If it reflects sadly on my literary tastes, yes, I have fallen more in love with Christie characters than any other, except Feluda. And Lord Emsworth. And of course, Psmith. There was also these brief affairs with Rhett Butler, Buntschli, and Flambeau, but the Man in the Brown Suit stands tall and unchallenged.

I request all girls to take this tag up. Even guys if they have had their own female version of the GHM.
So, visitor, you are tagged.

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