High Spot

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noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 15:37:00 +0000

Chuck off, I have been told.

That hurt bad.

But I'll chuck off.

Constructive criticism?

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 05:01:00 +0000

I woke up weak today and confirmed my plans of last night, of skipping college today. I brushed and had breakfast and then sat to do my morning riyaaz, a luxury I rarely get on working days.

I successfully followed the first audio that a friend recommended to me. My voice didn't shiver or crack, I was relaxed and my voice came out loud and clear.

Then I thought I'd try singing a song. I closed my eyes and my music class came to my mind. I visualized myself standing in front of the mic, the way we do every Sunday when its our turn to sing. And I started singing.

Line one. Started with a crack. Continued smooth and clear.

Line two. Part 1. Shiver in my cushion-topped voice.

Line two Part 2. Husky voice cracks. Wet cheeks.

I broke down. I was singing in different voices. I was changing it after every word because I felt that the voice that came out was one of the voices that I was not supposed to sing in. It was thick and unclear. It is supposed to come out strong and clear, distinct and sharp. And the voice that I was singing in, was imitated in a very degrading way and brutally criticized yesterday. There is a way to criticize. If your intention of criticism is improvement, it should be done tactfully. If your intention is to hurt and insult and bring down the other's confidence, then you can imitate them exaggeratedly in degrading ways, be blunt and completely shatter the listener (sufferer).

What to say? I'm suppposed to be strong and take all the criticism positively. And improve. Trying... trying...

Happy solitary souls

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Wed, 30 May 2012 18:37:00 +0000

I don't believe what's happening to me right now. It is totally unbelievable that someone who looked at me the way they did, does not bother to drop a word about their whereabouts in spite of clearly knowing how I might be feeling about it, what I might be going through because of it.

Some people love to have people pining for them, telling them how badly they've been needed and missed.

Some others use every opportunity they get, to be uncaring and detached. Basically, they do not like people. They are the kind who don't have too many friends, not ones they can bank on. The more they stay away from people, the more they enjoy the feeling of detachment. They get withdrawal symptoms for only a day.

And then, joy beings to pour in, it keeps rising in them each day, till they feel ecstatic about the solitude that they enjoy.

I wonder if they will ever like having humans around them after such a hiatus!

I know one such weirdo... my precious weirdo.

To hell with u :P

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 06:22:00 +0000

They told me not to have chocolates till I'm done with my medication for these tumourous eruptions on my part of the body where everyone who talks to me looks at.

Pimples.

What does one usually do when they are sad or depressed? Indulge. They treat themselves to hours of mindless shopping or to eating their hearts out as if the body will throw away every ounce of it with no effort. They don't worry about becoming fat or about emptying their wallets and bank accounts. They just want to replace that sorrow in them with joy and satisfaction, albeit temporarily, i.e for as long as the excitement of new clothes and items remain and till the last burp of that lovely food.

I am sad. No, am not depressed, but I sure am sad. So chuck the medication rules. I am going to have pastries and Diary Milk Silk. Let the eruptions come and bleed me to death but I am going to indulge in chocolate and pizza and sweet and... milk cream biscuits and... maybe I'll buy some awesome yellow roses for myself and tickle my face with them. Fool myself that I am happy, distract myself and do some power blogging.

YEAH!! :D

P.S. "to hell with u" doesn't mean that you and I are going to hell together, does it? heeheeehee!! ;)

Enemies from heaven

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 06:37:00 +0000

You are lucky, girl, to have a father like that, to have a family like that. Your musical skills are being polished by them. With a father who breathes music, your potential was seen at a very early stage and developed beautifully. I am watching how well it is being developed and projected.

I wish I had a family like that too. Here, I struggle to make time to use to develop my musical skills. My family saw my potential as a child, but never gave it a good chance to develop. My voice slowly slept and I was far from being a singer. Then I, when I finally decided to decide for myself, took the initiative to polish my voice. Now, when I need to use time for it, I am being ridiculed. I am being accused of WASTING time in music. Music for them, now that I am using up time for it, is a disease. My mom wants me to sing well, but why can't she understand that it needs dedicated time? It makes me so sad and helpless when I see that my level is stuck at one place while the singers in my circle perform and grow at a good pace. That is because they are being encouraged by their families to use time to polish their vocal gifts.

I break down at times pitying my situation, like I did just a while ago. How many times in a day will they curse my interest and passion?

I wish I had a family like yours, girl. I wish your dad were my dad.

Warning to self

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 20:14:00 +0000

Are you making the same mistake again? Beware! Be careful of how you interpret things. Be careful of what you say too because you don't want an old mistake to be repeated. This one, you have sensed, is too precious to spoil. If this needs to last, it should remain pure, untarnished. And this sure needs to last. It is a promise you made. Keep it. This trust cannot be broken.

Stop yourself from making the same mistake again, Shru!!

Fool. Me The. Pfft!

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 18:01:00 +0000

I lied. I could've said what I've been waiting to say. But, I chose to lie.

I am the biggest fool in the universe.

But I guess I can stretch the story a little longer this way.

Take my joy

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 17:31:00 +0000

I told God to give away a part of my joy to you today. I knew you needed it. Because I have been through what you are going through.

I think God answered my prayers. I felt my joy go. My dearest group of students broke my heart. I wish my joy reached you. I know you need it badly.

MH 04 rocks at Rockville

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 16:56:00 +0000

I got my roomies to take along with me for company. That was a last minute decision and I don't remember the last time I was so happy when they both decided to come with me. *Thanks sweeties*

Man! What a show it was!! Apart from a dozen and a half English songs, they sang a Hindi original composition of their's, a brief Hindi medley and covered a composition of the Malayalam band 'Avial'.

THIS is how the vocalist of a band should be. 'Hey Ram' improvisations and the lyricless E-F composition showed how good Anand's Carnatic trained vocals are! His stage presence and interactions with the crowd are laudable! THIS is how a drummer should be. Sans the drugged, rash, serious look on most other drummer's faces, this one was so expressive, so full of smiles and laughter and cuteness abundance! Heh! Aamir is a gem that MH04 has discovered! THIS is how a guitarist should be, such clean playing, he plays at such high speeds that we can't even see how the fingers are going!! Its like his fingers have brains of their own! And then, he makes it all look so easy!!

Shakyamuni the guitarist and Nikhil the bassist were good too but I can't say much because I was sitting at a place where they were hardly visible. Moreover, I was concentrating on three elements of awesomeness and that was already taking me to a new level of ecstasy!

I'm sooo in love!!

MH04 Live at Rockville, Belapur!!

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 22:35:00 +0000

A year ago, I went to attend Asar's gig at Inorbit, Vashi. Asar, by the way, is the kid Gaurav's second band. After the gig, the kid, my friend who accompanied me for the gig, and I, along with the rest of Asar's band members went up to the food court. While there, we somehow began talking about another Mumbai based band called MH04. MH04 is Thane based precisely, hence the name!

"Their 'Hey Ram' is a really good composition. Have you heard it?" the kid asked me.

"Of course I have! I've seen their live performance recording so many times. Man! They've got a really tagda vocalist!! Such a strong voice! And..." I turned to my friend and gushed excitedly, "...and he has a-w-e-some teeth!!"

That was almost a year ago. Ever since then, I have been following them (not yet stalking ;) ) and their creations. I played their songs often, each time listening to the creation of the musical ensemble, while trying to differentiate between the instruments played, grasping the words that were inspired by the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, admiring the strength and clarity in the vocalist's rendition, pausing at a few places just to check out his awesome teeth ;) I realized that it wasn't just the vocalist, every member of the troupe was a bundle of talent and skill. Check out this video to know what I'm talking about!!

Go to their facebook fan page or their reverbnation page and listen to 'Mera Safar' for some awesomeness :) I am completely in love with that song. Not a day goes without me listening to it!

How must I be feeling now, when I finally, after a year spent in admiration, have managed to grab the opportunity to watch this band perform live!!? Yes, the day has come when I can "watch" FOR REAL (yippieeee!!!) the vocalist- Anand, guitarists- Shakyamuni and Vikrant, bassist and pianist- Nikhil and their fresh new drummer- Aamir. (earlier, they had a female drummer!) filling the air with music for three divine hours!

They are performing at Rockville at Belapur, Navi Mumbai tonight and I am not going to let anything stop me from attending it!! How many of you Mumbaiyyas are joining me?

Stay vain, you loser!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:16:00 +0000

If you cannot understand things the way they are supposed to be understood, you don't deserve to hear. If you were genuinely interested, you'd have pushed the matter further MUCH earlier. Don't you have any shame to say that YOU took more interest in my matter than ANYONE ELSE? That's like comparing the abiliies of a DOG and a DODO to comprehend a complex, scientific procedure!

You are excessively vain, immature, inefficient and lazy. What you ARE fairly good at, is at making excuses. Oh! The sick and ailing voice that you create when you want to run away from work? You do that well too!

I totally despise people who make me say 'Sorry'. When I say it, it only means that I regret that I have known a person like you.. Now that you have managed to get that word out of me, you have my hatred. If you like to be licked by your juniors, you will get that, but only for a very short period of time, till one day you suddenly realize during the delayed, enjoyable after-effects of that imaginary honey and milk bath given to you by your juniors, that you have no juniors left. All of them have grown and become your seniors, or equals that are on their way to becoming your seniors. Because THEY, unlike YOU, were living in a real world, not in imaginary milk and honey!

3rd anniversary

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 15:43:00 +0000

Happy birthday, High Spot.

My blog turns 3 years old today. I know I tried to kill it once and all, but still :)
Live on, High Spot! I will still continue to confide in you :)

Youthopia @ Raghuleela Mall, Vashi, 26th June noon

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:30:00 +0000

Ever since I performed with Gaurav on stage during my college cultural festivals this year, I've been wanting to adopt him. Have never known or even seen such a sweet, humble, well behaved, talented boy ever. But it looks like the adoption laws will never let me do that. Maybe I'll have to do it illegally.

By the way, Gaurav is a final year student of my college, with a magical singing voice that I love so much!! He's been nicknamed Atif by his friends for the kind of songs he sings and of course for the way he sounds. Atif and Kailash Kher songs sure suit his vocals best.

But late last year, the kid formed a Hindi alternative rock band called Shastra. (Click to reach their fan page on facebook.) Ever since I got to know about the band about 2 months ago, I have been hearing the various genres of songs that he's been experimenting on and I tell you, honestly, more times than not, he makes the song sound better than the original!! Shastra, by the way, is a 4-member band with Gaurav being the singer, powerpacked Jason as drummer and 2 very talented boys Abhi and Joy on bass and guitar resp.

This weekend will see the band's first ever public performance together. They are participating in Youthopia-- a Battle of the Bands at Central, Raghuleela Mall, Vashi, Navi Mumbai. The event starts at 12:30pm and will go on till umm.. I guess till all the participating bands are done rocking!

I, for one, am not into rock music. It feels like noise to me. And a lot of bands are pure rock bands. So, I'm carrying pain killers with me to relieve me from the sureshot headache that I will end up having. But I will be attending the whole show and watching each and every one of those bands coming there.

My best wishes for my lovely little Gaurav and his band Shastra. Do well guys!

So, Mumbai bloggers, any of you joining me in Raghuleela this Saturday?

I. Am. Excited. Major excitement. Butterflies in my stomach! :)

Be Done By As You Did

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 20:00:00 +0000

So I'm on High Spot. And that is supposed to mean that I'm pissed. MAJOR!!!

Well.. I never interfered when she had dozens of meetings with him during the college culturals. I never asked her once what is going on and she never bothered to update me about anything in spite of my obvious cravings.

And now, when I went for a meeting with him once (okay, she knows only about one meeting, his stupid PA had to give her the message to send me to him), she is dead inquisitive. I'm sure the thought hasn't left her head even for a moment today after she came to know where I was. She's even being shameless enough to ask for details!!!

"Confidential!!!" I'd love to tell her. Because confidential it is supposed to be and that's how I'd like to keep it till he wishes.

____________

I regret if this post has been undecipherable but I really cannot put in more details here.

Husband-in-law ;)

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:50:00 +0000

I went for a picnic on Saturday, 20th. It was a staff picnic arranged for the first time in years in my college. Dr. Awesome (my principal and my favourite person) was there along with 31 other staff members. Absolutely amazing day I had. :) Principal Sir played the flute for us. Picnic update on Better Butter.

Wait wait.. its not there yet! Will write that later.

That's not what I am here to say. During our journey back to college after the picnic, I got a very weird question in my mind. Consider the scenario.

There is a man. Bisexual. He has a wife who is straight. And he also has a boyfriend who is homosexual. Will the wife be jealous of her husband's boyfriend?

Yeah?

Is that feeling really jealousy? Or is it just anger or irritation? Or will she just feel 'yuckk'?

Don't look at me like that. It just came to my mind. I don't know how.

What the Fudge!

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:30:00 +0000

I want to put up links to my updates in my new blog, here. Anyone knows how to do that? Please help!

I wish my tech support was a blogger :( A lot of things would be so much easier for me.

By the way, I learned something new today, from another blog.

"What the Fudge!"

:P Isn't that a nice way to put it? ;)

As kids, 'Oh shit' became 'oh flip' which then turned to 'oh fish' which my friend then modified to 'oh chicken', till there was an article in the newspaper suggesting that when we say 'oh sh...', we should continue it differently and say 'oh sugar'. That sounded lovely, albeit for only a few days.

Oh Fudge! Its past midnight! ;) Yesterday, for a change, I followed the 'early to bed and early to rise' thingy and I tell you, I felt a lot healthier and active through the day!

Tata folks! See you around!

Better Butter

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 11:10:00 +0000

How is "Shru. Is. I" for a blog name?

~~ Friendship is sweet when its new ~~

~~ sweeter when its true ~~

~~ sweetest when its you ~~

Ok that is so totally out of topic. But then, what is not sweet when its new? We like all our new possessions ans creations. I was very excited about the new blog I made and even about the name I gave it --- ** Shru. Is. I **

...what was I thinking? So very silly it sounds right now. People told me its stupid, that it doesn't make sense and all. But then, I was blindly in love and took no criticism :P Reality struck after a week and I realized I had to rename my baby. I am a little more excited about the renaming than I was when I gave the first name. So I think the new one should stick :)

How does "Better Butter" sound? :) I did have 'HAHAHAHA what does it mean?' as a reaction to this name too. Now I don't really have to give an explanation for it, do I? :D

A lot of people did not like the fact that I created a new blog. That made me think twice, thrice and more till someone told me to shut up and carry on with what I had decided to do. All the thinking made me delay my next post because I did not know where to post it.

"I have an amazing new principal in college."

I kept writing that in both blogs and kept deleting them wondering where to post :P Finally I decided. Phew. Better Butter is my new blog people, and that is where I will be posting henceforth. Unless I have to do some real X-rated bitching! ;)

The answer and a creation!!

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 06:55:00 +0000

Happy New Year, everyone :)

Anyone out there made new year resolutions? I'm sure many of you, like me, quit doing that ages ago. I quit during my school days itself. On January 2nd every year, I wouldn't seem to remember what resolution I had made on the previous day. This happened every year... till I quit! "Be nice" then became every year's resolution :)

I have something new for myself this year. And I intend to stick by it. A new blog. Oh oh! Why the frown on yer faces? I call the creation of my new blog a cleansing process.

Shru. Is. I is the name of my blog. Yea I have been told its silly. The name might change if you give me some good suggestions :) she's still a baby and doesn't know her own name. We can rename her :)

Now for the answer to the question asked in my previous post. Many of you saw a red rose because that is what I tried to make it look like *heh heh* The answer is on my new blog. Go HERE to see the picture modification process :)

Guess what!

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:13:00 +0000

This is a picture I took with my phone camera (and modified). Festive mood pic, you can say ;)

Who can tell me the genus, species or at least the common name of the object in the photo? :)

Today my roomie came up to me with a serious expression and asked urgently, "How does one make out the difference between a male and a female lizard?" Ufff!! I can't help loving this cutie pie :P

Mini blogger meet :)

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 06:25:00 +0000

I met Preeti :) Preeti from Just a Mother of Two. Met her last Monday and this has been enough reason for a smile to be stuck on my face :)

I have known her for more than two years now and we've been in touch via blogs, mails, chats, scraps and other electronic media; more so when she was in India than after she shifted to UK. All the while she was staying at Pune and frequently visiting her brother in Mumbai, we never could manage to make time to meet. And now when she came for less than 2 days to Mumbai, we successfully managed to squeeze time into our shrunken days and meet :) Preeti came with her hubby Satish, someone I easily recognised after the dozens of pictures I have seen :) Would be an icing on the cake if her kids could come along too!

Guruprasad from Guruprasad's Musings & More also came. I have been reading Guru too for nearly two years now. I reached the venue without getting really lost because of a detailed direction mail Guru had sent to me the previous night. I had it open in my phone while trying to find the meeting spot (Mocha, Juhu) Thanks, Guru.. hehe!. So this was like a lovely blogger meet. We spoke... actually, they spoke, I listened ;) Fulfilling meet it was! (have been wanting to see Preeti for sooo long now!) Way better than the official Mumbai blogger meet last year for which there were about 25 bloggers from Mumbai!!

Now, I want another Mumbai blogger meet. I think if a group of Mumbai bloggers tell the Indiblogger team that its time for a meet to be arranged, they'll consider and conduct it. Everyone who missed the previous meet (April 27th, 2007) due to the IPL or smaller reasons can also come then. Anyone planning a Mumbai trip can schedule it to the day of the meet too *wink wink*

Hey all u Mumbaiyyas.. game for it? :) I sure am eagerly waiting to meet a handful of Mumbai bloggers.

When Marriage is the Motivation

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 21:40:00 +0000

I am still 'stuck' in this job that my family does not like because I haven't yet completed a crucial project here. My junior, D, recently gave her resignation and went back to her home town after completing her project. Now all that's left is her final dissertation. The last 3 months, she worked like she was trying to save the planet, running around, ignoring everyone and everything that was not related to her project. We later found out that her marriage is almost fixed.

When I spoke to a friend about it, she told me that it was natural on D's part to hurry with her PG completion instead of merrily enjoying the job. She had a motivation. Friend said that if it were me who's wedding was fixed, even I'd know how to manage my time and get finished with my work.

Gosh! How is marriage for a motivating factor? I am person who is basically terrified of the idea of marriage. If such a situation were to occur, I'd be so numbed that my project would come to a permanent stand still. Not like its any different now! What I need now is some motivation... but nothing like what D had!

Q & A tag

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:31:00 +0000

Brocasarea tagged me with this Question and answer tag with a twist.
Rules: Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real, nothing made up! If the person before you had the same first initial, you must use different answers. You cannot use any word twice and you can't use your name for the boy/girl name question. Then you need to tag 4 people..

1.What is your name: Shruti
2. A four Letter Word: Sing
3. A boy's Name: Shreyas
4. A girl's Name: Shriya
5. An occupation: Sailor
6. A colour: Silver
7. Something you wear: Shoes
8. A food: Strawberry
9. Something found in the bathroom: Soap
10. A place: Santacruz
11. A reason for being late: Slipped
12. Something you shout: Sha!
13. A movie title: Saathiya
14. Something you drink: Sprite
15. A musical group: Silk Route
16. An animal: Swine
17. A street name: S.V. Road
18. A type of car: Swift
19. Something scary: Spirits

And I tag: Harini. Yeah only one person. Anyone else who'd like to do it can do it too. I'm going to be very surprised if someone is going to pick it. Do tell me when you are done :)

Bloganniversary, Karan-o-mania

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:06:00 +0000

My blog turns 2 today.

When I started chatting online many years ago, I used to be very frank, not bothered to hide my identity. I guess that's the reason I made some really good friends (who no longer are virtual for me). But as time passed, I became wary and stopped giving out information about me to strangers. I did that because I was not interested in 'making' friends. No taking efforts to make friends. I succeeded.

2 years ago when I started my blog, it was not difficult for me to post regularly. The reason is that I was not scared to speak out my mind. I was a stranger anyway. I'd write about anything that made me pause and think. But after a year, I began to get wary again. I now had an identity, I was not a nobody in bloggerland. I didn't know whether unwelcome people came to spy. So, I controlled, supressed... till I supressed so much that I ended up writing as less as I could. It was like shooing away my blog's soul.

I want to call back the soul today, on its second birthday. Let me see what I can do for it. I think I just have to stop taking efforts to hide. As much as I can.

:) Good enough.

Aah.. it was my birthday some time ago. Technically speaking, a birthday is just another day. But people like me have emotions attached to this day. 5th Nov was mine. Mom suggested that I bunk college and stay at home but I knew that nothing would keep me happier than work. So I went to college and had a very funny and fun filled day. My students are a blessing I tell u! And I had a great time telling people what happened the previous night :)

:O What happened the previous night?!

Karan Singh mailed me a sweet birthday wish. Personalised, okay? :D

And then, at night, he generously dedicated a good amount of airtime to me. He wished me happiness, joy, wish fulfillment and a lot of things (that take over a minute to speak out) for the coming year. Then he said that Pri, Rups, Naaz and Swa (my college group) had asked him to wish me on air and that Hershey asked him to read out his panktiyaan because I really love them. See everyone away from me turned to Karan to make my day. And the amazing fellow obliged. (Who wouldn't with so much attention ;) ?)

Prats and I have given him a nickname - nasha man! :P

A birthday wish for a good friend and the best ever person I have ever known...

Wish u a very happy birthday, Suman. I know u had a wonderful day :) May this year be full of joy and fulfilment for you :) Be my tech support always ;)

Platform violence!

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:25:00 +0000

"I need to urgently learn some yoga, mom," I said with teary eyes.

"Short term?" mom asked me.

"What? Whatever! Short or long- but its for short temper for sure!"

When I told her how I had been getting irritated, losing my temper and arguing unnecessarily a lot lately, she said I need to be cool headed and that she'd look for someone to train me.

That was last week. Now I have changed my mind. This is Kalyug, dearies. And in Kalyug, a cool headed person who never gets angry is the one at the receiving end of all things bad.

Okay enough of blah blah-ing. Getting to what happened.

I was on my way home on Friday. Had a 1.5hrs joyride by train, keeping the noise of the chitter chatter of women away with my ear plugs. My station arrived (last stop for that train) and I hopped off it gleefully, humming to the tunes playing in my head. The platform was crowded and I walked quickly along the vacant edge till... till a man brushed past my side and walked away quickly. I saw that there was place for him to walk without bumping into me like that.

I was flaring up the next moment, biting my teeth hard. Like I always do with these bas****s, I hurried up to him and kicked him very hard on his ankle.

You tell me what an innocent man who got kicked on the ankle would do. Turn behind and.. react. Right? Well, this man, on being kicked, started walking faster. He did not even turn behind to look. With this, I was sure that his brushing was done on purpose. I decided to follow him for a few meters. I walked fast, never taking my eyes off him. Guess what I saw. He brushed his hand against a female's back and walked away like nothing happened while the young lady stood dumbstruck.

An already angry me was now in Kali mata avatar. I raced up to him, used all my strength and hit him HARD on his shoulder with a loud "AYYE!!!!" because if I kept quiet, the $@*&*# would run away for sure. He turned around. I started yelling at the cross-eyed pest loudly and a few (only a few... people are busy!) stopped to see god-knows-what. No one spoke. The jerk began to yell back at me, as if I was accusing him for something he had not done; but I knew I did not have to listen to him and I kept releasing my energy with my yelling. Soon, a few college going boys appeared and started shouting at the man aloud. That is when the man became silent and began to backtrack. The boys managed to shoo him away without creating too much of a scene.

"What happened, ma'am?" one of them asked me.

Aah! That is when I actually saw who the boys were. My lovely students. The boys were my students and their friends :) On that crowded platform, the only ones who came to help me fight a jerk were my dear students, even when they did not know what exactly had happened.

If I were a cool headed, calm person who tolerated crap happening in front of my eyes, that jerk would've unhesitatingly touched and felt up a few more unsuspecting young women that day.

"Some people are alive only because it is illegal to kill them." Such truth, I tell you!
If yoga is going to help me keep calm in tense situations, I rather not practise it. I should use my time to learn kick boxing instead.

Apun bhailog!

noreply@blogger.com (Shruti) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:02:00 +0000

We have been having water problems in our hostel (ground + 5 floors) for a couple of weeks now. By 9:30 am water supply is cut and only the ground floor has supply. With 42 girls staying on each floor, you can imagine how bad the situation gets.

But humans are adjusting people. Tolerance is a virtue, no? We tolerate till we suddenly realize that we're going to be someone's dinner. So we tolerated reluctantly, complained only amongst ourselves and to the security guard who sits on the ground floor and sees water all day through, hoping that things would be better soon. We adjusted like cowards and managed with the water supply we were getting - 2 hrs in the morning and 2 in the evening. Last week, when we came to know that there was a man (one of the workers here) going to the terrace and shutting out the supply, girls started planning that something has to be done about it. But guess what! When they came to know that the man was only following instructions from higher authorities, everyone calmed down again.

An excess amount of holidays had taken away all my chances of expelling my ever building up energy. So it was my chance to play bhai of the hostel.

Shrutibhai in action:

Soon after breakfast, I took a spare lock that I had and went to the terrace with my roommate so that I could put it along with the already existing one. This would stop the man from entering the terrace to reach the supply tap and close it. But as I reached there, I saw that the terrace was already open. The man had reached there before us. I took the lock and key that were hanging onto the latch and stepped onto the terrace with my roomie, access to which was taken away after last year's suicide. The man was nowhere to be seen. I proceeded to climb up the overhead tank... and there he was beginning to climb down. The old man looked very nervous when he saw us on the entry forbidden terrace.

"Get down, go back. Why do you have the lock with you? Give it to me."

"Why did you come here? To close the tap? Come on. You go back up and open the tap or I'll do it myself", I warned him aloud.

"Nooo noo no no I can't do that. Sahib has instructed me to close it," he managed to nervously mutter.

"Go tell your Sahib that the girls are not allowing you to do that."

I asked my roomie to hold the lock and not give it to him, while I bring up some more girls for support. By the time a crowd was on its way up to the terrace, the man was scurrying downstairs. I thought it was best to let him go and then do whatever I wanted to.

So, while the rest of the bevy took a stroll in the forbidden area, my roomie and I climbed up the overhead tank. I checked the water level and found that it was indeed low. But it wasn't empty. So, the main tap had to be opened.

No sign of any tap anywhere. I had to hurry up because the man would tell the matter to the security guard and she would come and make more noise. We climbed down and searched everywhere while the cool breeze managed to calm me down a little.

There it was! A huge tap amidst a set of smaller ones. I tried turning the smaller ones but they were too tight. I tried the big one and... splurt rrpppssss... The tap turned and I could hear the water beginning to flow again in the pipe attached. The girls were overjoyed. But the damned security guard reached the terrace just in time.

"What's going on here?"

"We need water throughout the day. Not just for 2 or 4 hrs," I told her.

"But there is no water coming from CIDCO only."

"Oh yeah? Great! Then why close the tap? There is no water anyway!" I reasoned.

"No, no! There will be a leakage! The tap has to be closed."

"What crap is going to leak when there is no water in the first place? Stop your nonsense. I am not closing the tap. You understand?"

She muttered something to herself and asked the rest of the girls to go down. When everyone went, I locked the terrace with the original lock AND my own lock. So, no one could come back to close the tap.

I went to my room knowing very well that the security guard would come back with 'scary' news. She came in 5 minutes with an announcement.

"Warden ma'am has asked you to go and meet the Dean. Also, you have to meet Mr. C'kant at the site office. Give me the key."

I pointed to the key lying on my bed and said enthusiastically, "Alright I'll do that right now! I have been wanting to do that for some time now. You have the numbers of these people?" I asked her in a tone that changed her expression drastically.

Smiling slightly, she said, "Today is Sunday, ma'am, no one will be there. And even if they come, they'll come after noon."

"Then you let me know when they come. In fact... why should I go and meet him? When Mr. C'kant comes, ask him to meet me if he wants permission to shut the tap!"

After some questioning and cross questioning in the presence of the sweeper, I managed to find out the truth that water supply was cut only in the girls' hostel. Staff quarters had a 24 hour supply. WTBH!!

I did take my lock back from the terrace door in the evening, but ever since that day, we've been getting water for a considerably longer duration of time. And the best thing- we have a new tap which is connected to the pipe that supplies water to the ground floor 24x7. So, no visits to the ground floor every time someone wants to wash her face! All this without me having to go and meet anyone!

The scene we created did manage to make a difference after all! :)

P.S. Tys On Ice, my favourite blogger, is back and is writing again in full swing. YAY!! He had almost left. Long story. But, he's back now. And I'm very very happy. For those who haven't read Tys On Ice, you are missing truckloads of everything nice!!