19th October, 2009
7:11 am
The matchbox
The fire-alarm went off about half an hour back. Twas a drill. 6:45 am, when the bright sun hasn’t even hinted coming out of its cloudy hallows, this country rings off the fire alarm in EVERY building of the area, for a drill!
I had my personal alarm set for 6:45 myself (for unfathomable reasons) and refused to get up in the first minute the BIG one went off, because obviously, in my deep slumber I thought it was MY alarm. As usual I thought I tried putting it on snooze, in my sleep. But then, it wouldn’t turn off! And it went on and on in that gratingly annoying pitch that sounds like a hundred thousand cats meowing and drawing their claws on metal together.
By the time I got up fully, I realized it was the fire alarm. Instead of panicking, I just went “not again!” and took another two minutes to wear my hoodie (couldn’t find it and stoutly refused to get down without it). When I came out of my room, my wonderful Chinese flatmate saw my hoody and went back in to get hers. So much for a fire alarm.
These alarms have become so common in our area that nobody takes them too seriously anymore. There hasn’t been a single case of fire so far. Its mostly either a drill, or somebody having an ultra-hot shower, or burning toast! Such incidents remind of the old-school story of the boy and the wolf. The boy gives a false alarm to the villagers about a wolf attacking the sheep three times. When it actually happens, they think he’s bluffing again. The consequence of such a case is rather obvious.
These drill are supposed to be serious affairs, and having a fire alarm go off is far from a joke. But then, an overdose of fake-alarms kill the purpose of a real one. We were all out in the cold today and the fireman apologized for being late, he was to arrive at 5! Haha
I wonder what would happen if it ever happens for real. I hope it never does, of course. Just wondering…
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Of this and of that
18 October, 2009
2:17 am
The matchbox
Starting today, I hope to begin a journal of sorts, of my highly dull adventures as a new-born student at Cardiff. All of 21, its my first time out of my little nest, into a completely new city, on my own. A little late for the “freedom” student life, its better than never anyway.
Through this journal, which I will try my best to stay regular at, I hope to record every stupid antic of mine (maybe others’), every minute discovery I make, and every bubble of thought that pops about at random. It might be dull, and it might be interesting. Whatever, it is, you read at your own risk.
So today, I officially complete a month and two days at Cardiff. And what have I achieved so far? Jobless, cashless, unorganized, stressed for time, messy and unbelievably lazy are just a few adjectives to describe me here. But we’ll take it on a day-to-day basis.
Sleeping at 3:30 the night before, I got at 9 in the morning today. Not bad. Ten thousand thoughts rushed about at once, as usual.
“Take a bath! Go back to sleep! Dissertation topic! Exercise you gummy bear! Happy Diwali! Check the news! Clean your bathroom please!”
You get the picture?
I did end up stretching, cleaning the loo, and getting dressed in good time. Breakfast was the quick fix Nutella spread on pita bread. I even decided to make Rice with cumin powder early morning today. As I am, thankfully beginning to understand that I’m NOT supposed to be ravenous to start cooking. Because then I never want to cook. I just want to eat! Having done all that, it was time for me to CHECK THE NEWS of the day. I opened up the grand BBC News website and the Indian Express News, and of course, Facebook. And how did I juggle with the three? I uploaded some latest pictures on facebook, and read a news item each on Indian Express and BBC – Kapil Sibal okaying the construction of IIMs abroad, and the interview of the animated Pixar film UP director, Pete Doctor respectively. And then, lady luck struck and I came up with two of the most amazing dissertation ideas till date. Feeling happy with the day, I decided to get on with my 3500 word essay, due coming Friday. And replying to facebook comments obviously, took up all my time! When it comes to work, I shirk it to the best of my ability.
Its DIWALI today. The biggest festival for the Hindus. The festival of lights. A day of happiness, celebrating the return of Lord Rama to his home country Ayodhya after beating the demon Ravana and rescuing his wife Sita from his promiscuous clutches.
Playing cards is a culture of sorts in Diwali. Since we also pray to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, this is considered to be an auspicious time to gamble with money. We had a card party a while back in a friend’s kitchen. Was a crowd of ten people. Since I am a dimwit at it, I just decided to be a mute spectator at the game. And I thought I made some very intelligent observations (modesty my middle name).
H, a good friend, is an ace at cards. And she loves organizing card parties in her kitchen. While playing, she is generally the most aggressive of the lot and comes up with a range of innovations to the games being played.
But when she’s outside this zone, she’s a different person. She’s extremely quiet in class. She doesn’t contribute much in group discussions. And a one-on-one interaction with her generally results in monosyllabic response, unless of course it’s about shopping or playing cards.
Another friend, D, takes charge of the situation when we travel together. She will be the first person to call for the cab, or the one to take an initiative while looking for a place.
What I’m trying to get at with this random discovery is that people have certain hemispheres where they are completely in control of the situation. They know exactly what to do and how to go about doing it. For F, it’s the kitchen and her own subject of Journalism. Ask her about the issue of the day and she’ll give a pat reply. Ask her about the latest sale at M&S and she’ll be blank.
What’s my zone of confidence? Writing? Talking one-on-one with people? I think its about having a zillion thoughts at one go and the great inability to articulate anything. Or maybe its plain laziness.
I admire my friends. I really do. It’s awesome that they have a talent, their own distinct skill that gives them their niche in the world. I’m still struggling to find mine.
Till then, I’ll keep running around the trees.
2:17 am
The matchbox
Starting today, I hope to begin a journal of sorts, of my highly dull adventures as a new-born student at Cardiff. All of 21, its my first time out of my little nest, into a completely new city, on my own. A little late for the “freedom” student life, its better than never anyway.
Through this journal, which I will try my best to stay regular at, I hope to record every stupid antic of mine (maybe others’), every minute discovery I make, and every bubble of thought that pops about at random. It might be dull, and it might be interesting. Whatever, it is, you read at your own risk.
So today, I officially complete a month and two days at Cardiff. And what have I achieved so far? Jobless, cashless, unorganized, stressed for time, messy and unbelievably lazy are just a few adjectives to describe me here. But we’ll take it on a day-to-day basis.
Sleeping at 3:30 the night before, I got at 9 in the morning today. Not bad. Ten thousand thoughts rushed about at once, as usual.
“Take a bath! Go back to sleep! Dissertation topic! Exercise you gummy bear! Happy Diwali! Check the news! Clean your bathroom please!”
You get the picture?
I did end up stretching, cleaning the loo, and getting dressed in good time. Breakfast was the quick fix Nutella spread on pita bread. I even decided to make Rice with cumin powder early morning today. As I am, thankfully beginning to understand that I’m NOT supposed to be ravenous to start cooking. Because then I never want to cook. I just want to eat! Having done all that, it was time for me to CHECK THE NEWS of the day. I opened up the grand BBC News website and the Indian Express News, and of course, Facebook. And how did I juggle with the three? I uploaded some latest pictures on facebook, and read a news item each on Indian Express and BBC – Kapil Sibal okaying the construction of IIMs abroad, and the interview of the animated Pixar film UP director, Pete Doctor respectively. And then, lady luck struck and I came up with two of the most amazing dissertation ideas till date. Feeling happy with the day, I decided to get on with my 3500 word essay, due coming Friday. And replying to facebook comments obviously, took up all my time! When it comes to work, I shirk it to the best of my ability.
Its DIWALI today. The biggest festival for the Hindus. The festival of lights. A day of happiness, celebrating the return of Lord Rama to his home country Ayodhya after beating the demon Ravana and rescuing his wife Sita from his promiscuous clutches.
Playing cards is a culture of sorts in Diwali. Since we also pray to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, this is considered to be an auspicious time to gamble with money. We had a card party a while back in a friend’s kitchen. Was a crowd of ten people. Since I am a dimwit at it, I just decided to be a mute spectator at the game. And I thought I made some very intelligent observations (modesty my middle name).
H, a good friend, is an ace at cards. And she loves organizing card parties in her kitchen. While playing, she is generally the most aggressive of the lot and comes up with a range of innovations to the games being played.
But when she’s outside this zone, she’s a different person. She’s extremely quiet in class. She doesn’t contribute much in group discussions. And a one-on-one interaction with her generally results in monosyllabic response, unless of course it’s about shopping or playing cards.
Another friend, D, takes charge of the situation when we travel together. She will be the first person to call for the cab, or the one to take an initiative while looking for a place.
What I’m trying to get at with this random discovery is that people have certain hemispheres where they are completely in control of the situation. They know exactly what to do and how to go about doing it. For F, it’s the kitchen and her own subject of Journalism. Ask her about the issue of the day and she’ll give a pat reply. Ask her about the latest sale at M&S and she’ll be blank.
What’s my zone of confidence? Writing? Talking one-on-one with people? I think its about having a zillion thoughts at one go and the great inability to articulate anything. Or maybe its plain laziness.
I admire my friends. I really do. It’s awesome that they have a talent, their own distinct skill that gives them their niche in the world. I’m still struggling to find mine.
Till then, I’ll keep running around the trees.
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