December 13 2012: My Plan for the Day

What will happen on the morning of 13 December 2012? What if the Earth survives the “catastrophe”? What if the people wake up and ask these scientists what happened to their predictions? What if they formed a major angry mob and ruin the ruins of the Mayan civilization? What if the news channels flash “Whatever happened to ‘Earth will get destroyed’?” in their annoying “Flash News”? What if we, non believers, get up on that day and point and laugh at the believers and embarrass them? Before the brilliant believers say “what if we end up dying after all?” here’s my answer: if we die, at least we’re saved all that embarrassment. So, Ha! Ha! (Nelson Muntz style)
So my plan for the day is simple: Wake up; stretch; sleep some more; wake up; teeth; coffee; laugh at believers; food; laugh at believers; sleep; laugh at believers; more food; laugh at believers; call school friends who are believers and laugh at them; food; sleep.

The Post

A post we could’ve all lived without, a post that is so unimportant the mere parameters of the unimportant-ness are not discussable. A post that is so meaningless the most random person in the universe would worship me for it. A post that was inspired by fans who couldn’t do without my intelligence and random humor. A post that shall be called the post. A post that is right here right now. A post that started about it and ended with it. A post that this is! This is the post!

And so I make a point

Ah yes! She lives! Anyway has it been a long time since I last blogged or what! Anyway not that I haven’t didn’t consider a few blogs in the meantime, they just didn’t seem as good as this one (my overconfidence doesn’t bug me anymore!) turned (read: is going to turn) out to be.
Being out of place with my likes has turned out to be just fine for me. Music, for instance, how many girls do I know who like the Beatles and Pink Floyd and the likes? It used to be a big deal, now its pure fun watching my BFF wince at the mention of the name of the band (no offense Mira) or band member. But what really hits me is this, when after so many hours of talking about (read “brain washing”) the greatness of a few songs she finally asks for me to give them to her (yay!) and then she says “Now I know how hell is! Those songs were so bad” A “They were okay” is an acceptable reply; “They were awesome” is the most expected reply; an “It was not bad. But… don’t suggest another song for me again” is a reply I can live with. But “Now I know how hell is.” Is just the kind of reply that makes a good man jump off from his clothing hit the skies and come right back into his clothing in just a second that no one could’ve actually noticed his little journey. Only this time it was a good woman instead of the good man. Of course, I’m now immune to all that.
Of course the worst is yet to come. I suggest to her a crappy song whose lyrics were similar to the faint memory of what she vents out to me she says the song is awesome and goes about humming it all the time. And then an actual good song gets the reply “Now I know how hell is.” That is the kind of incident that makes a man of character wince for the suffering one. And I do know many men of character who winced when I told them about this little incident. But now, I am no longer bothered by it. It's as normal as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west.
It is a rather well known fact that I am patient (really, I’m not bragging) in so many ways that my patience is sometimes misunderstood to be complacency. But then there is a limit to my otherwise limitless patience even! It's all normal until she (not Mira this time) comes around, all anxious, and asks “Can you do me a favor?” very invitingly. With no initial sign of any all-evil plan I agree to do whatever is in my reach. She asks “Do you have such-and-such song with you? HE said it's a great song but my computer’s slowness pisses him off. He really wanted me to listen to it. Do you have it?” and as is obvious the capitalized “he” is the person she likes. Very excited that the such-and-such song in question is a very good song I say I have it and I can give her the song. She listens to it and finds it “Amazing!!” why am I surprised? And then out of little generosity I suggest a song very similar in the greatness (as generally accepted) as the such-and-such song mentioned above. She listens to it and says “How dare you say that this song is twice as good as the song HE suggested!!” Oh well I’m not surprised!
Books aren’t exactly helpful when it comes to helping me fit in. Books I like aren’t the books everyone else likes. The same can be said of movies, although I have to agree movies are a wee bit better off. TV well I don’t have many like-minded people I can talk about that to. My other interest physics is, well, a rather repelling topic for many. And there I am in the midst of all this and a rather hyper enthusiasm for all my interests.
Sometimes after someone has vented out their heart to me I wonder “Where has reason gone?” especially if the someone under question here is a person who really likes another person of the other sex. Mood swings are my greatest enemy! Not that mood swings of my friends affects me that much. It's just those of the person who my friends like. I do understand that questions like “Why?” and “What could be the reason?” torments the minds of my otherwise quick witted friends. But going on to swearing that person for having mood swings when it is just normal for my friends to have them, reason does take a back seat! Of course it doesn’t matter much to me these days because I understand sometimes it's more about emotions than it is about reason. But it does bother me that reason is taken so lightly in a very universal fashion.
My humor, generally accepted to be very geeky in nature, is not a very attractive thing about my character. A joke like a bumper sticker on a car that reads “This IS my other car” has me in splits for a long time. While on the other hand the same has people around me plan a very gory murder of me in their minds. It doesn’t help ease the situation but I like these jokes anyway. They are fun for me, even if the reactions I get from my friends aren’t as inviting.
So finally coming to my point: is being different wrong or is it just under (or over) rated? It's definitely not wrong, helps you stand out in a crowd. But over rated I wouldn’t agree. It's kind of under rated. The fun you get by looking at the gaping reactions of people, the fun you get at enjoying the act of doing something your way and the satisfaction you get from both is definitely under rated!

Thoughts off the brain

Fitting in to the new school was somewhat the hardest thing I had to do in my life till then three years ago when I first joined PS. You may have heard the usual new-girl-trying-to-fit-in stories and probably thought ‘What a cliché!’ Because I did. But you know when I was actually made to fit in God was I wrong! It's as hard as anything else, if not harder, on earth. A series of wrong-doings some hatred gaining and then finally I settled down to this new school near the end of my ninth grade. A long time you may say but I deserved so much time. I spent the time observing people and knowing how they were and stuff. No wonder I speak philosophies, eh? You got that right!

Now after my tenth grade (and, if I may add, a totally unexpected but seriously gratifying results in the board exam)I am meeting old pals from my old school after all this time. Among the few that I could contact- via the net (thank you technology now I can talk to old pals without fighting for their phone numbers) and by chance (calling another friend when she is with our mutual friend kind of stuff) - I got to know so many gossips about my old school (super time consuming and ultimate entertainment) and you know the usual ‘how are you doing?’ and the likes and their comments about me.

Everything went on well until she said ‘Your voice is a lot different now!’ Really I didn’t expect that statement from her. Well what is wrong you may ask. Feast on this: all old pals, I repeat all old pals, say the same thing to you. The first time you can say ‘oh really? I never thought so!’ what about the second? Or every single time you talk to someone after a long time? Every single person says the same thing. After a point it bores you and after yet another point it annoys you and then one fine day it becomes the hardest thing you ever had to do, at least sort of.

Actually this is harder. Talking to guy friends after a long time. Especially talking to them in the tenth grade after last talking to them when in seventh grade. Their voices are deeper than you last remember them and boy did that scare me! A guy friend was sweet enough to get my phone number from our mutual friend and called me in the morning of my birthday. And that scared the heck out of me! He called right after waking up (big mistake) and his already coarse voice sounded to me like a drunken man who just kidnapped me threatening me. Though my birthday wasn’t ruined because of that call it did scare me and that counts! That wasn’t it. Other guy friends I talked to over the phone scared me equally well, if not more. Sometimes their act of sweetness turns out to be an act of scariness to me.

But one thing is for sure. Just the mention of one of their names gives me a trip down the memory lane where I experienced some of the sweetest things of my life. Like every friend I meet in orkut, every friend I talk to over the phone, every friend who still messages me, every friend I exchange emails with just give me thoughts of old school and the good old times. I wish I were there right now but I wouldn’t trade the world for the rich experiences I learned here in PS. Two wonderful phases of my life spent in two wonderful places in the world. Each left in me a mark that is irreplaceable. I wouldn’t change anything in my life if I were given a chance. My life is not perfect but it is as close to perfect as it can be and this is all I want. A perfect life will mean there won’t be these interesting little downs that make the ups seem so beautiful!
Until next time,
Yours,
Arthi Appathurai.

Unclean roads?Think again...

Well how many times have you heard people blame the government for not having cleaner roads? How many times have you blamed the government? Obviously many. But think we are also responsible for the littering. In fact, we litter and expect the government to clean it up. Remember there are people who are paid to clean the roads every day. They are dutiful, the clean the litter and their job is done. It is the course of the day that makes it look so unclean. And I don’t see why the government has to be blamed for this. Seriously you guys. Think about this we go on about other places having much cleaner roads and, not surprisingly, throw litter on the street because we are impatient to wait for the next bin to come by. Now tell me who do you blame for this?

The worst part is when a person takes the initiative. It's the worst experience if you are a beginner. But once you get used to it you feel better. The first time I started using the bin I was mocked at, blamed for “destroying the very culture of the country” and what not. It did bother me and a lot at that. But now, almost 5 years of experience, I feel better when people do that. My persistence actually made my friends take advantage of it. They dumped their garbage unto me because I pleaded them to use the bin. Lazy bums! But yeah now I feel its better, at least by doing that the garbage goes in the bin. I did do the mistake of telling it out once to get mocked at again! Indians! I don’t blame them. I don’t know who to blame. Maybe I do know I just don’t want to blame someone else for our faults!

In these 5 years the number of persons I was able to transform into an environment aware useful citizen is, not a bit shockingly, zero! That is us, Indians! We want others to do our job. And if we don’t find anyone we search for someone to blame. We don’t do our job till the very end, after testing the patience of everyone else! And if we find someone to blame we cling on to them till the end of time! For this road-unclean business the “someone else to blame” people are the government and the poor defenseless people who clean the streets. It is by all means easier to say “the government does nothing to clean the roads” or “these people who clean the roads are never doing it nice” instead of keeping that chocolate wrapper or whatever waste you have till the next bin shows up, right?

This actually happened to me. I and someone else were travelling in an auto. I wanted to take out water to drink so I gave responsibility of holding this chocolate wrapper to the other person (tough job huh?) and after I take the water out and have a drink and ask back the wrapper, boom!, its gone! The person dropped it out of the door! The best part is yet to come. There was a bin so near to the auto even I wouldn’t have missed a basket into it just a minute later!

Yeah the people who clean roads are paid. Probably they are underpaid probably they are not. But a little bit of appreciation of their work won’t hurt would it? I don’t mean go to every single person who cleans the road and appreciate just use the bin everywhere you go. They will think “look at these people! They didn’t litter the place I swept yesterday! That actually feels nice!” and you probably would have contributed in making their day. If you think they are paid why do they need appreciation for? Try this, you do all your homework and you are paid for it but you aren’t given any raise or promotion in your office. Or try this at school you get the class first after all the hard work you put in but no one says “good job!” or “nice” or something like that; you don’t have anyone to share the happiness with. Bad isn’t it? So will it be for the sweepers! Just think for a moment before you dispose of your garbage the next time if not for the environment, and later you own goodness, use the bin for at least the moral reason of it. I know this won’t make any change in most of you. But just try for once. It really feels nice!

Until next time,

Yours,

Arthi Appathurai.

Ten tried and tested ways to spend an otherwise boring summer interestingly*

Feels good to write after a sabbatical you know. You should try that. Maybe not now but sometime. It's a lot fun than, I don’t know, watching the worst movies ever made in the history of movies! Its summer again, the time of extreme heat, a lot less activities and a heck lot more time than ever! Good for you guys I’ve been thinking what to do in this heck lot of a time. These are ten best ways I decided would work for me. When it works for me you might as well try it out, after all you have all the time on earth to kill, bury and cut tall grass grown all over the place! And, by the way, the “*” sign you saw in the title means these may not work for you so don’t blame me if you are still bored! And, also, I have grown a special liking to these countdown stuff don’t ask me why ‘cause I have no idea why!

Thing to do in summer #10:

Sit back and relax in your bed. More sleep means less time awake. The lesser you are awake the lesser you need to worry about spending time.

Thing to do in summer #9:

Fight for the control of remote with whoever you may have competition with. That’ll take up at least half the day or something and the rest enjoy your victory with TV. Watch it even if it's boring. And if you lose, hard luck! Watch what the other person is watching.

Thing to do this summer #8:

Clean your table. Yes I said that! It takes up the whole day! I know so because I tried it. It really works. Yeah it's boring. But hey! You burn time!

Thing to do this summer #7:

Go to the nearest DvD rental store and get a good load of movies of your favorite star or your favorite movies. Get home take a cup of water and watch the movies!

Thing to do this summer #6:

Call up people you didn’t talk to in a long time. This conversation might get boring but it sure helps to kill time! And it also comes with an advantage; no one will complain that you never called them in a long time!

Thing to do this summer #5:

Go to that big cupboard that has those books you never read in all these years. They might actually turn out to be very interesting.

Thing to do this summer #4:

If you want to get shocked get ready to be now. Go to a fitness centre and work out there for about an hour. When you get back home you’ll be way too tired to do anything and you’ll want to just lay down and stare at the ceiling. Works well for me!

Thing to do this summer #3:

Call up all your friends and talk with them for as long as they say they got to go or as long as you get an idea of something great to do. There’ll always be at least one soul who is as bored as you are!

Thing to do this summer #2:

Get the computers started and surf the net for worthless stuff like some random movie read its plot go read about the actors who played a role in it. Go to one of their random movies and so on… works well!

Thing to do this summer #1:

I came up with writing this blog. You come up with something else. Do the thinking for goodness’s sake! Thinking really helps keep your mind active! So now go on and think!

Until next time,

Yours,

Arthi Appathurai.