Ponniyin Selvan

Holidays and what better thing to do than romance with a book. I am completely hooked onto Ponniyin Selvan and am at the peak of my curiosity. The last few volumes are not available. What torture!!! Having started the series I cannot rest in peace without knowing how it will end. I have heard a lot about this book being the classic of classics and had it is on my bucket list.  The book was meant to be read in its intended language, Tamil but ahhh...but why learn Tamil when there is an english translation of the book floating around. So, I got my pretty little hands on the first two volumes of the five volume story (fifth part has been split into two) with the hopes of finding the rest as time went by. At first, I was apprehensive, as I did not believe a translation could match the original flavour of the book but as I read and read and oh my god! The book is too good to left alone even for a trip to snoozyland. It just makes me wonder how well written the original must be if the translation itself is so catchy. And yes Mr. Kalki Krishnamurthy, you have found yourself a new fan. So I have been on a frantic hunt for the complete set and found it here: http://www.indiaplaza.com/books/ISBN-PONSELCOLL.htm for Rs.950 but as Murphy law would have it, it is currently out of stock. So, for the time being, I am left with a microscopic brain and a ton of creativity to imagine the wonderful end rewritten by Maya.

So a brief account of the story so far or more like my thoughts. May contain spoilers. So the story is about the Cholas (The Chola dynasty ruled the region in and around Tamil Nadu from the 3rd century BC to the 13th century AD, for more info check out the wiki page: chola dynasty) and in particular about Raja Raja Chola, the greatest of the Chola Kings. (For people who do not know, I have been a bit of a history buff and love most history that is not Ghandhi's salt march (Dhandi March 12th March, 1930) or satyagraha and all I got while studying history in India was this. A very rare history session at school contained the South Indian history before the times of the English rule, and I was introduced to the Cholas, Cheras, Pandiyas and Pallavas. Till date I remember that class as I had enjoyed it thoroughly, the stories were interesting, the conspiracies were cool, the names were easy (most of the names were Karikala, Soundara Chola, Raja Raja, Verra Pandi and so on and so forth...very easy to remember as they were all similar to the names of my second cousins *jokes*) and the places ruled were relatable to neighbouring cities and states of the present day. Their rule did not last for long, as invasion from the north took over soon but of their short rule, Raja Raja was the most prominent and noteworthy king.) The story is a short long fictionist account of Raja Raja's rise to power despite many odds, I think (cannot confirm as I have not read the end of it). The story follows the adventures of a messenger named Vallavarayan Vandiya Devan who in my eyes is more the hero than the owner of the book’s title Ponniyan Selvan aka Raja Raja Chola. The king himself does not make an appearance till the second half of the second book and all the male leads are meant to be dashing young hot blooded Tamil men :) The coolest thing for me in the book is that the villain is a female :) and the book is definitely gripping. I have gained a whole new appreciation for Tamil literature...only if Mr.Kalki was English, he would be a global sensation.

So what troubles me is... the age old movie of Raja Raja Chola screened in 1973, starring Nadigar Thilagam Shivaji Ganeshan as our dashing young hero, in the fading colour print of those times. Being a young lady, I tend to have a wild active imagination and love to draw up my own picturistic images of the male and female characters that appear in the stories I read. Since I have known the existence of the movie and may have possibly watched in my incomprehensible younger days, I face a road block, a corrupt image of Shivaji Ganeshan never fails to pop up on the mention of Raja Raja Cholas name. I find it hard to get past this imagery and am not satisfied with him playing the role in my head. This difficulty has been faced by my poor mind on numerous occasions such as the creation of the Harry Potter movies before the completion of the Harry Potter book series and so on, where Daniel Radicliff ugly visage popped up at the sound of Harry Potter (though I will have to give it to him, he looked cute in his first movie and then become like a gwaky teenager undergoing puberty). The only character that has been deemed acceptable and I find quite pleasurable imaging when re-reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is Darcy acted by Colin Firth.

Now on to my plea to the Indian education board...I completely and truly understand the importance of the Indian freedom struggle and our fight for independence but we have much more interesting history which will be easily forgotten if not taught in more detail and with greater passion in our schools. So a little less freedom struggle and a bit more Cheras, Cholas, Pandiyas and Pallavas in a similar captivating style as Kalki's Ponniyin Selvan will be perfect. Or maybe even a slight taste of global history such as the World Wars, German history describing the life and times a charismatic but mentally retarded leader, Adolf Hitler.

Stills from the movie Raja Raja Chola, 1973 starring Nadigar Thilagam Shivaji Ganeshan:

Update

Phew!!! What an extremely long year it has been. So yes, at last I have completed an enormously large 100 page thesis. I began this project with the hopes of trying to cure sheep of a disease but somehow ended up curing mice of the same disease. If you are confused so am I but ah well I am done and that calls for celebration.

Went to Contagion movie following our dramatic rush to the submission box (don’t ask how we scientists can watch a movie on viruses and epidemics soon after handed a boring thesis on a similar subject). The movie was do-able but seemed like a documentary. And then came the time for fireworks (had a late diwali). We bursted till every single cracker were shred to pieces and that ends my story of my graduation. Now I am officially a bum with absolutely nothing to do. Being presented with a one way ticket by parents to go figure out my life and not return back home till I have.

It been about a month and a half since I have last posted and I haven’t written the end of the story of the RWC post. So without further adieu, NZ won the world cup. The finals was an exciting match to watch, France vs. NZ. The French team had performed poorly throughout the series and no one was expecting them to put on the show they did on the finals night. It was quite the match, the final score being 7 vs 8. So we won by a single point. Celebrations were long (the problem of being, NZ never quite get over things as easily as Indians do). The whole nation was painted black (being the colour of our rugby team) and everyone was out on the roads to soak in the mood. The All Blacks paraded their Webb Ellis Cup and it took us sometime for normality to set back in. I have definitely enjoyed the Rugby season and can now do more of it (I am worried to say even more than cricket). So will leave you all with a shot of the triumphant

So now that I am officially jobless, I have decided to take on a 30 day letter challenge. I have always wanted to do this after reading other blogs but I feel like I have lost my mojo for writing ever since handing in my dissertation. I am hoping to find it again and write some entertaining letters. Most of the topics are to people who I have always wanted to write but others are from what I found interesting in other blogs.

Professions

Watching reality TV, a dance program to be more specific, I sat back in the couch looking at the performer and pondering...I will never marry a dancer and that’s how this post has originated. So, here is a list of professions and my reaction to them. So let's start with the obvious.



Dancer: No, as I am prejudiced.

Doctor: Yes, money.

Engineer: Yes, smarts.

Actor: No, too much trouble.

Johnny's boys: Yes, worth the trouble.

Author: Definitely yes, this is as romantic as it can get.

Poet: No, as most poems sound like riddles to me and I dont enjoy it. But most authors are also poets, so that’s a problem.

Accountant: Yes, a man who enjoys numbers is fun.

Businessman: No, you never know when he will lose it all. A man in a stable job is more attractive.

Biologist: No.

Physicist: Hard one. Smart yes...but he will be crazy too right?

Singer: Yes, also part of my romantic idea.

Teacher: No, somehow not attractive.

Sport’s star: Yes.

Comedian: Hmmm possibly a no. Every man needs to be humourous but not necessarily a comedian.

Politician: Definitely not.

Policemen: No

Fire-fighter: No

Pilot: Yes, though I did reject the above two professions with uniforms, but I had be a fool to reject this one.

Mangaka/Cartoonist: Yes, I can get him to draw me BL cartoons.

Journalist: Another hard one.

I know there are many other professions out there like zookeeper and so on but I think I have addressed enough of them for my overworked brain.

RWC

ok Pigs' this one is for you as you will not believe what I am going to write about or what awaits you as scroll further down. As you know, somehow, anything address to you loses meaning somewhere and always ends up as silly little notes and am afraid this one is also going to follow the same trend.

This year has been an interesting one. I had a lot of first experiences and if you have not guessed what the topic today is going to be by the cryptic title (an abbreviation rather), I will break my silence now. “My Rugby World Cup Experience”, which is on-going and addictive. New Zealand is hosting the RWC this year and the Friday of the opening ceremony (09/09/11) was a day of partying. I finished work around 2 O'clock that day and headed to Party Central (City Centre) to join in the celebration, I think (I had no expectations and just headed that way out of plain curiosity as to what the whole hype was about). A could sense a mad rush about 300m away from my intended destination. I have never in my life seen such a mad rush of people in NZ. Never knew so many people existed here in the first place. It was crazy, vibrant jammed and made me feel like home. Everywhere was packed with people screaming for NZ or TONGA, as that was the starting match of the series and the one happening that night. I stood around enjoying the thrill and excitement of the mood till late that night and later headed home after. And guess what, that night I saw my first rugby match ever NZ vs TONGA. The mood on screen was also electric. The games commenced after the initial shower of fireworks and some performances. And then it was business time with the TONGAN team performing their HAKA followed by the NZ's HAKA (my first ever time watching the most popular HAKA too). Then the players dispersed and took on their respective spots on the field. The game is played for 80 minutes and each half is forty minutes. The first half seemed like an easy victory for NZ, they were just cruising through the TONGAN's and of course it had a lot of scrumming, crounching, touching, horse engaging, tackling, shoving, blocking and pouncing, but the dislike I had to the game when I had initially moved the country was no more there. The second half, the TONGAN's seemed more in game and was absolute joy to watch (never in a million years thought I would utter such words, but there goes). And the highlight of the game in the eyes of any young female would have been the ripping off of the shirt of Sonny Bill William's as they all got a glimpse of his 6pack...but me as strange as I am didn’t know what to enjoy of the moment. (I think I prefer soccer players as they are more normally built unlike the huge built rugby player...but then again I am strange). My feeling at the end of the game was "I can get used to this”, and that exactly what I did...Saw NZ vs JAPAN last night for more obvious reasons...once again an easy win for NZ...Go ALL BLACKS or as mum would say Go AB! (lol) NZ, never having hosted any event so big, I did not know what to expect but I think they have coped with a few mishaps.
I will end this post with a video of the ALL BLACK performing the HAKA or WAR DANCE challenging or accepting a challenge...and err yes NZers dance before they play a match

Note:- the man in black at 1:11 minute is the captain of the NZ Rugby team Richie McCaw and the guy at 1:34 is Dan Carter...he is like David Beckham of NZ and advertises for Jockey ;)

Bucket List

21 things I want to do before I die.



1) Find satisfactory answers to the ultimate questions like "What is the purpose of life?", "Does God really exist?" and so many more.

2) Commercialize my research idea...*I can sense skeptical glances* But I do have one and for now it will be labelled with a 'top secret' stamp, as I cannot risk the idea being stolen.

3) Go on a one year cruise around the world and spend another year travelling around India, with family, of course.

4) Be able to read a book in Tamil, like Ponniyin Selvan...yes call me ambitious, as I struggle to pass the first few lessons in First standard Tamil book.

5) Own a minimum of ten houses in Chettinad. You will have to visit to know how gorgeous each house is.

6) Make at least an instant of An Ardent Admirer story true.

7) Win Lotto and become rich. I hate the idea of having to work hard to become rich.

8) Invest in the stock market. I am clueless on what the stock market is or how it works but it has always sounded cool.

9) Attend a KATTUN concert. Ok! This is not a priority for the current me but would have been if I was making this list when I was 15-16 years and so I feel responsible to satisfy her wishes as well.

10) If I do get married, play a prank on that day, something along the lines of the bride has runaway.

11) Drink to experience the euphoria and high described by every drunkard at least once in my lifetime. If I seemed innocent till now, I am sure I have succeed in breaking that image now.

12) Read the end of SB! and LC. I would expand on my abbreviations but no I will not.

13) Own an automated car, like the ones that drive themselves as "I am too evolved for driving" borrowed from Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory. I know these cars exist, so I not making anything up. They are currently being tested for safety and so it is not an impossible dream if they manage to compete the testing in my lifetime.

14) Attend every one of my besties weddings. That will be nine weddings in all.

15) Understand Physics. It is the master of all sciences and so if I were smarter, I will definitely not be a biologist but a physicist. I can write a whole new post about Physics but I know that you all are not interested, so I will let it rest here.

16) Win a cash prize for one of my short stories.

17) Be able to fit my current jeans when I am 30, 40, 50 and 60. I just might save some shopping money.

18) Read every last word R.K.Narayan has written. I might be quarter of the way through this task :)

19) Want to teleport and time travel. You know I am running out of things to write.

20) Develop a unique and special skill like being able to sing the ABCDs backwards as comfortably as singing it forwards.

21) Fund a research of my choice. Yes, I am not as selfish as I might seem.

This was much harder than I thought it would be but still enjoyed it :D

A Trip Down The Memory Lane...Thanks To FaceBook

Started this post nearly 10 days back but kind of slipped and fell into this low and have struggled getting back up. Bawled my eyes out to a treasured soul this morning and am now in a better mood to complete this post. Pig's, thank you and love you (I am being cheesy here as I know you do not visit this blog).

Disclaimers:- This post contains pseudonames and any resemblance to real life characters was truly intentional.

My long term memory has always been bogus in comparison to my short term memory (Thanks to which I tend to decently in tests/exams after cramming everything into my head the night before). I have vague or no memory of incidents of the past, but due to the constant reminders of my fool hardiness by my parents, I do not have choice but to image them, such as receiving a marriage proposal by the fattest boy in class who used to sit next to me in my 1st std. My apparent reaction to his proposal was to cry and complain to the teacher who later explained the situation to my parents. My parents till date never miss an opportunity to tease about him. Excluding this, there are many other incidents my parents consider legendary for and a family friend even considered compiling a book titled "The comedy series of Maya". I might write them out slowly as a series of posts but the occasion to go down the memory lane today is Thanks to FaceBook as the title says. As you all know FB is all about how many friends you have and so friend requests range from good friends to random freaks, so this particular friend request should not have surprised me but it did. It was from my classmate/neighbour. Looking at him re-opened my traumatic past. I suspect ‘THAT’ incident meant anything but I swore that Goddamned day 'NEVER TO FORGIVE' him. Though more than ten years have passed since ‘THAT’ day, though I do not recollect the incident in crisp detail, the feeling has remained. Now looking back, it was a very trivial incident which I will narrate poorly. “That bright sunny day when my sister and I had stepped out of the house to play Hopscotch in our huge car park and the boys from next door also stepped out to join us. The game that had begun smoothly ended violently with me getting pushed down by Varun.” Not having been rough handled ever by a boy I ran home and swore never to forgive him since that day and funnily I have held on to that feeling. My memory of Varun that remains is that for a girl aged 11, he seemed very smart and arrogant. I remember never having given him a straight face since that day and I doubt he cared...but seeing him on FB after so many years flooded my mind with the carefully tucked away memory. That day after the incident I called my Granddad miles away and told him that Varun had pushed me down and he said 'Dadi payaganoda valayadathey (Do not play with rough boys)'. My Grandad is the sweetest of men I have encountered and if all men were like him the world will be a peaceful heaven.

My previous post would have put many people off my blog. I had to prepare and learn to answer people in four lines when asked the question, “What is your project about?” as I could not stop once they got me started. I knew I was boring them to death but I felt it was their fault for getting me started and they had to put up with my jabber till the bitter end.

Recently I have been on a blog hunt, reading other’s blogs and getting to know life outside of my blog. I have stumbled on many amazing blogger and will add them to my blogroll. It makes me question the standard of my blog after reading their posts but there is always someone to like any FB status update, right?

Geek Talk

This is the second time I am breaking my promise of avoiding geek mode posts. I have realized at some instances this is inevitable. This is one of them and I am just going to accept it. So I have warned everybody from proceeding further at your own risks. Do take the liberty to tune off your eyes and ears.

So to everyone who have prepared to continue, “Welcome and it can get pretty boring, if this was a speech it will be much better as my excitement on the topic might shine through but this is written blog and it is going to be hard to express my enthusiasm. But I will give it my best go as this is what blogging is all about, ‘Making boring topics sound fun, interesting and entertaining.’ This post is not about having arrived at a Eureka moment in my research. I still have a long way to go for that, but fingers crossed that it happens in the next two months (end of my project).  This post is about the motivation and significance of my research. So far I have been monotonously going to the lab conducting experiments, and retuning home disappointed. I understand the biology, the theory of what is happening i.e. the molecular detail but never reflected even once of the lives of the people affected by Huntington’s disease. I was selfishly focused on my experiment and failed to look at the bigger picture. As my supervisor says focus on the phenotype of the disease and then relate it to the cellular level. This I never did. But attending today’s seminar has at least got the ball rolling in my head and initiated the thought process. It has motivated me to try achieving great things even though I am not expected to do anything world changing by my supervisor.

Before I highlight issued addressed in the seminar, I will introduce Huntington’s disease though Wikipedia will do a better job. It is a genetic disease characterized by its motor (involuntary choreatic (dance-like) disorder, mood (depression) disorder and cognitive deficiency. I have read heaps of journal articles on this topic but never had the opportunity to see a HD patient, so the disease never affected me at an emotional level. A HD patient was rumored to be attending the seminar and I was excited to have the chance to lay eyes on a patient. As I said earlier this was a rumor and no patient appeared. The seminar was given by a psychiatric nurse who is in charge of taking care HD patients. 

She introduced her team and then came the more memorable stuff.  She began by presenting a slide of an airplane and described how differently the brains of a HD and Alzheimer’s patients processed this information. Apparently an Alzheimer’s patient would have processed it as something like a giant bird or superman but a HD patient would not respond to it immediately. They know what it is and will take time processing; mining through their filing cabinets of information stored in their brain to arrive at the information that it is an airplane. She went on to say during their home visits and phone check-ups, they would have to wait atleast 15-20 minutes before they can receive a response from the patients as it take them so long to process the information that the phone is ringing or someone is at the door. They lack the ability to multi-task and have to complete a task before commencing the next. Any disturbances while performing a given task can lead to huge conflict in the brains leading to anger and frustration.  So thought process occurs more slowly and they lack the ability to multi-task. They also have very fixed ideas and have difficulty moving from an idea to another. They like routines and everyone around them has to stick to it. A certain patient has the habit of catching a certain ferry at the everyday at the same time to go to the same café and orders the same fish and chips. He cannot afford it nor does his body’s cholesterol levels permit it but he cannot move away from it as he is uncertain of anything new, he has done this and is comfortable with it so will not try anything new but he does have the memory of having repeated the same action therefore allowing him to continue with it. Another lady so fixed on Coronation Street on TV could not move away from it even when there was a fire next door. So the nurse had to pull the TV along with the lady to save her life. A patient described the disease like living like you had an interview to attend every minute of the day. What she meant to say was that the anxiety levels were always high. In an interview you are prepared and in a vague sense you know what kind of questions to expect and how many people are going to interview you but your anxiety level is still too high. But as soon as your interview is over whether you have obtained the job or not your anxiety level drops. This drop never occurs for a HD patient. Another issue mentioned by the nurse was an issue of social isolation. Most of the patients are placed in old age homes as they are too much of a burden to be looked after by their families. In the homes even if they are constantly surrounded by people they are isolated because everybody around them finds them funny or different. They talk funny and have involuntary twitches; they look drugged or drunk always. Therefore they are avoided by everyone. (Now, let’s a short break from the seminar to a re-account of a personal incident. The other day on the bus I saw this man with his head twitching and he looked absolutely drugged. The bus was full and I was praying that this man did not come near me. He didn’t but still I think avoiding is better than inflicting harm on oneself. If that man was diseased I am sorry for avoiding him but if he was drugged ‘Good for me’) A test normally done to test for symptoms of HD includes putting together a building-block house. Many of the patients tend to put the foundation on top of the house and seem to give some of the most fascinating explanations of why it is so but they do realize they are building a house. Recent days this test has been removed as they seem to be blaming it on the earthquakes that have been happening all around the world. This makes you realize that all these people are well educated people who have living fulfilling lives. Many of them are accountants and lawyers. Most of them have had families as the onset of the disease is usually over the age of 40. This being a genetic disease they would have seen their parents have it and soon will see they children affected with the disease. It is really pathetic. Care-givers usually parents, wives or children feel the frustration themselves and go through depression. Divorces after the onset of the disease becomes common as the spouses feel that the person they married no more exits and have been completely taken over by the disease. Another characteristic of the disease is drastic weight-losses the patients undergo, like about 5-6kgs lost in a week. This is mostly due to the choreatic movement found in these patients. Most of them are always hungry (she called them a ‘tip-top head’) and need to be feed high caloric diets every couple of hours (similar to a diet of an Olympic athlete).  And if food is said to be served at 6 O’clock it has to be. Otherwise there will be a huge tantrum in the house. And they find it hard to answer questions like “What would you like for dinner?” As they head cannot process the vast quantity of information present on food. A delayed response on the first food that pops into their head is what is obtained from these people. They are more capable of making limited choices such as “Would you like salad or toast?”  The disease being an inherited one, is expected to present members of a family with similar symptoms but this is not the case. The symptoms are highly variable even between twins who have similar genetic make ups and have inherited the same Htt gene. The nurse described three brothers who have all been affected by the disease and each of them displays the three different classical symptoms of the disease. The eldest majorly displays the motor disorder, the middle the cognitive deficit and the last/third has emotional disturbances. These also have visual processing problems and often tend to confuse their left from right, and tend to walk into doors/walls and they cannot perceive space around them (“Do I have HD?”).  Many are encouraged to take genetic testing if they belong to a family with a History of Huntington’s disease but many people chose not to as they feel they live their more active years of their lives without any problems. They feel accomplished and feel worthy members of society. The one who do take the test are people who worry that their recent events of forgetfulness and their slip are all effects of the disease catching up. An interesting case that she did present us with was a case of a lady who showed up with symptoms of HD and no family history of the disease. This being a genetic disease they did DNA fingerprinting of her family members and discovered that her Father who she believed to be her Father was not her Biological father but it was the man four doors away that had the funny gait (affected walking).  So you not only come to know you have a disease but you also come to know who your real father is. Tragic! The disease is a mutation in a gene called Huntingtin gene and is an expansion of a trinucleotide CAG. The longer the CAG repeat the earlier the onset of the disease and the most common cause of death is pneumonia. The disease weakens muscles and the esophagus being a muscle also weakens, so patients most often choke on their own saliva causing death.

The impact of the disease never hit me hard till I had this experience. Human mind being frail as it is forgets lessons learnt very soon i.e. I went back to my lab and started working harder on my project for the next two hours in the hopes of finding a cure but as soon as I saw the results of my experiment my determination was killed and I went back to my old ways of monotony.

P.s. This is by far my longest post and therefore there will be heaps of mistakes. I am tired after writing this and am in no mood to proof read. I will definitely proof read some other day so please bear with my non-sense till then.

No Posts Recently

I have about four to five unpublished material in my draft box. My recent writing endeavors have been below my threshold for publication and my all-time excuse is that I have been plagued with work and assignments that I do not have enough quality time to develop my writing.

When I began blogging I was sceptical as I did not think my efforts to maintain it would last longer than a month but now this has changed. Now anything I see, hear, do, touch, feel, smell or taste I want to write everything on my blog. At times I use this space as a personal diary and at other times it is a place where I rid myself of thoughts that haunt me. Before blogging I would not have guessed how much I seem to enjoy writing. It gives me the the space and time to think, and the freedom and liberty to express my thoughts in my style and in my words. Now I have become quite a proud blogger and use every opportunity to blog/write.

(p.s. I am sorry to all the lost souls who wander into my blog for boring them with my stories.)

What has been keeping me busy...these:

Neuroblastoma2A transfected with Enhanced Green Fluroscent Protein

HD370 Huntington Sheep cells transfected with Enhanced Green Fluroscent Protein

To a Dear Friend

I have your phone number staring at me but I do have the courage to pick it up and dial it. I am scared to face you and am clueless as to what to say or do to console you. All my words might rekindle your pain and I might provide you no comfort. I am sorry for being so helpless.

I know how much you treasured your mum after the loss of your dad. I cannot accept the misfortunes GOD has put you through and have cursed Him and the bus driver ever since I heard the news. I will not dare tell you that I am sorry for your mother's condition but I would like to assure you that here is a friend who loves you, worries about you and is waiting to be useful. I will kick the wuss out me and pick up the phone as that is the least I can do to let you know that I will always be there for you.

I have been realizing how vain and ignorant my life has been in comparison to yours. I was extremely happy to hear about your job when I talked to you last (two weeks back on your birthday). Things were looking brighter and promising on your horizons and I was proud of you having come this far despite all your struggles.

You are one of the bravest people I have ever met and now life demands more bravery from your part. I know how unfair that is but all I can say now is take care of mum and please do not hesitate to ask me for anything.

Love

Maya 

I wrote this letter but chickened out just before I could press the send button. I am such an unreliable friend. I am terribly uncomfortable in such situations and always wait for time to play its course and situations to settle down before I contact people again. I can only face people in happier times. I feel so horrible. 

Yes!! Tramping

Shadow of Me

Me on the suspension bridge

Suspension bridge

Available tracks

Weather Forecast

Clearer shot than the one above

The Pinnacle

On our way down from The Pinnacle

The Peak

The Pinnacle

Inside The hut

The first day on our way up "not yet tired"

Nearing the Peak "Just above my Head"

Waterfall on our way down

Another angle Another Shot of the Pinnacle

Logging track

Rocky wet Roads the whole Way through

Yes! Yellow RainCoat trying to conquer a slope with some guided help

Jolly Jolly downhill

Scenery..can you spot the hut in the wilderness?

The Hut

another shot of the peak

Rocky road

Stream

Journey Upward...still smiling :)

Captured the Sunset along with Some Steps

Me on top of the Logging track

Survived the Pinnacles!!! Now I am left with aches, pains and a sense of accomplishment. Now I can tick tramping off my Bucket list. I should stress that tramping is not a glamour sport. Begun my tramp looking like a gypsy and ended it looking like a hobo...it only gets better.

So to keep warm I set out in layers after layers of clothes each one peeping underneath the other. A backpack full of snacks and some more clothes (just in case the ones I was wearing got wet). Enjoyed a joyful car-ride to the bottom of the pinnacles full of pot-holes. Parked the car on a camp site and chose a three hour track up. We (my two-friends and I) climbed the steep rocky track gracefully and quietly for the first half hour, our destination being the Pinnacle hut where we had booked for the night. And there after we required a break every ten steps with our complaints getting louder. My excuse was that it was my first tramp with no proper shoes or any other gear for that matter as 1) I was too cool to invest on them and 2) my over-confidence on my survival skills (which has now been knocked down). We were eager for lunch and stopped early at a scenic spot to munch on some much needed calories. Here we were over taken an elderly couple which was quite an embarrassment. So we pressed on...with the only male among us resorting to some tricks to keep the girls moving such as fruit intervals at the next stop in half an hour. He was evil...laughing at us while we were panting for breadth. Now we had gone for what seemed like six hours but was actually only three hours. The hut was still nowhere in sight (we knew we would not have made it in the prescribed three hours as we seemed to have stopped for a lot of breaks). Our next motivation to reach our destination seemed to appear shortly as we sat down to eat some oranges. Another couple from Perth was also going up to the Hut and we had decided to race them to the Hut (this competition was formed unknown to the couple obviously). So for the next hour we ran with all our might not uttering a word of complaint and at last there was the hut. I think I should mention, the weather forecast for the two days we were out on our tramp was horrible but be sly managed to dodge rain. Lucky!

So, to freshen up I opened the toilet and there awaited the shock of my life. Gross and yuck!! I am tempted to put imagery in heads of my readers but only my kind heart is stopping me from doing so. And looking at the shower, only a cold shower without any roofing was available, so that you can get a nice cold breeze under a cold shower...recipe for freezing to death. So guess what...I did not pee or shower for two days...travel wipes came in handy. So we chose our beds and unpacked, when the Hut warden visited and said it was the perfect time to climb to the peak to view the sunset. That was another two hours of walk. We all had developed thigh muscles by now and decided to go for gold. We set out again now lighter by our packs and the hill had become ridiculously steep. The wind was so rough it could have carried me...I stopped looking down and had only a few more steps to of the top rock. Oh the exhilaration...the proud grin and the sense of being almighty are the sensations I felt then. After the thrill came the low I had to walk back down. This was scarier than walking up for some reason. I was glad to have reached the hut again. Made dinner. Learned how to make pasta with the bare minimums and them it was cards till 11 o'clock at night. Learned how to make a fire. Learnt many card games but I would like to stress on having learnt Poker. Now wait for me Casinos. I did not have a sleeping bag, so had to share a smelly one with my friend. My friend's comment looking into my bag, "You will not die out of hunger but of the cold". The night was a tug-a-war fighting for the blanket to keep warm.

So the next day we slept back in till ten, while all the other trampers had left early. We went out to brush when the NW winds were blowing wild. Brushing came as a surprise to me, I spat out the paste and my spit when flying from the first basin to the third. That was way too embarrassing in front of my friends who couldn’t stop laughing. Then, made hot maple syruped pancakes to counteract the chills we were feeling in our feet and hands. After deciding our route downhill, we journeyed downhill enjoying and photographing every scenic location in our way.

We came back to the car...stopped at a restaurant and caught dinner. Reaching home, rushed to the toilet and had a wash with the thoughts of how grateful I am to people who discovered bulldozers, roads, cars, toilets, heaters, jackets, cards and junk food. There are many other thanks that have been forgotten or left unsaid but they will be remembered with time.

Randomness

Been having some problems with my phone, it does not seem to be charging and therefore have planned to get a new phone, this time with a better camera to capture the funny moments of life. The other day while shopping I saw this boy about age six trying on hairbands and necklaces while shopping with his mum. But no camera to capture it :( so I have decided to walk with my eyes open on the road just to capture the jokes in life.

Other randomness in life...

I want to go on a six hour tramp up the Pinnacle but I do not know how I am going to convince mum and dad...they think I will strike midway throught or freeze to death...second situation more likely than the first...I thought I was old enough to give information about my whereabouts rather than ask permission but doesnt seem so :/

Have a strange feeling that dad is stalking my facebook page :X

Watched a video on Sai Baba and the money, gold n silver stored away in his private room. It is obsence for a man who claims to be God to be so fond of money. It always reminds me a news article I read where the journalist writes about his mother asking Sai Baba for a jackfruit when he thought he could satisfy her with gold. Would reference it if I could remembered  where I read it but it was a long while back.

Note to self:- Need to stay off the blog for sometime :(

A Daily Occurence

I have been finding myself a lot more OC these days. I have plenty of other things that currently require my attention, but when I read the themes in a short story competition my mind materialized a story which I was forced to put into words. I quite enjoyed the topics in this competition; rarely do we see such nice topics/themes. But the date for this competition is long past nor would I have qualified or submitted an entry. Spent a sleepless night meant for studying writing this, hopefully it is nice.
                -------------------------------------------------------------                                  

Waiting at the signal, I noticed that he looked unusually rushed today. We always managed to reach this signal at the same time, every day. Though I had many principles in life that had evolved and changed, punctuality was one thing that always remained. I was late only when fashionable lateness was required. He too seemed to be stickler for time and now our morning meetings had become inevitable. As strangers we ignored each other initially but as these meetings repeated, we nodded in acknowledgement.  Slowly, we progressed to smiling at each other. He was a tall, dark, middle aged man with glasses, neatly combed hair and dressed in office attire. My guess was he took the 8’ Ó clock bus to the city from the bus stop 15 meters away from the signal, but I never looked back to see him actually do so. Today as the signal turned green, he hurried across the road when a heavy breeze blew away one of the papers he held loosely. When I picked up the paper, he was already out of hearing distance and the signal had started blinking red. In my confusion, I crossed the signal and then decided it was too late to chase after him, I pushed forward to school.
                --------------------------------------------------------------

I reached for the snack box in my bag minutes before the school bell had rung (always punctual) and along with it came the paper I picked up this morning. At a glance I noticed that the A4 sheet was covered in words, upon taking a closer look, it resembled a story/script. With a little bit of imagination, I derived at stories within a story, written in style most engaging. I passed the paper around when my friends asked what I was staring at so intently. As they read the sheet, one looked more mesmerized than the other. The writing style kept us expectant for the next page. My respect for the middle-aged man had multiplied folds. I took charge of the paper and ironed out the creases and placed it neatly among my books. While walking home, my bag seemed more precious and tons heavier than it did that morning.
                     --------------------------------------------------------------

With a job to accomplish, an earlier start to the day was necessary. I sprinted to the signal and waited…He arrived at his usual time and flashed a difficult smile at me from across the road. After what seemed like a long wait, the signal changed from red to green. He crossed the wide road and avoided further eye contact. Like a lion watching its prey, I waited for the man to reach my side of the road and I stretched out the piece of paper. His face changed from a question mark to a warm smile. Being an opportunist, I struck a deal for returning the paper. I was to have the rest of the story in return for my favor. I knew I was being unreasonable and he realized that too. But after some thought, he handed the thick folder of un-copyrighted manuscript to me. I should have guessed, he would have stored another copy elsewhere and didn’t need to tolerate my unreasonable request but he seemed to trust me. I held the folder close to my heart and walked to school.
                   -------------------------------------------------------------------

Jumping onto the bed with the folder, I began to absorb every word written. I laughed, smiled, cried, pondered and got involved and attached to the script. 374 pages of reading through the night and I was awestruck. That night I slept with a grin on my face.

Next morning I woke up with a heavy heart. I had promised to return the manuscript back to Mr. Shivam, but was so attached to that I did not want to part with it. I slyly placed my fan mail at the end of the manuscript and walked. My dramatic dream of a kiss to his hands was replaced with genuine praises and hearty congratulations when I did meet him.

Days, weeks and months passed, I hadn’t seen him at the crossing ever after. Again one day when I crossed the signal we crossed paths again. He stopped me to hand over a book. Smelling the scent of new print, I opened the pages. I had received a personalized copy signed by the author himself and on the back cover I found familiar words from my fan mail written below critics and reviews from the New York Times. Thrilled, I thanked him for the book as he crossed the road.

Stolen Template

I refuse to accept that I have been stalking anyone's blog :P but I found this post on SameerJha's blog and therefore thought it will be a good one to exercise my spontaneity. So here goes...my first thought spat out...

I think: about a whole lot of things from what is the purpose of life to how my room became so messy?

I know: what I don’t want/ I don’t like.

I want: to win lotto (34million) and travel the world

 

I have: two legs, two hands, ten toes, ten fingers and a pretty face :)

I wish: that I always get what I want

I hate: preparing for interviews (I do not know how interviewers manage to come with the silliest of questions) and fake Godmen (how do people believe this stuff).

I miss: my friends from school

I fear: failure.

I feel: lethargic

I hear: creepy noises. I think I see creepy things more often than hear them. 

I smell: restriction enzymes

I crave: sleep…never seem to get enough. 

I search: for my missing ear-phones and my lost socks??? :P

I wonder: if I need to turn up for work today...

I regret: not having learnt many languages but it is never too late is it?

I love: a good book, laughs (at my jokes of course) and cute boys 

I ache: to know that I have not had the last say in a conversation (happens most of the time)

I care: about my family

I always: smile :)

I am not: an easy sales target

I believe: Google is God

I dance: to the tune of victory

I sing: off tune, glad they don’t make brides to sing in front of their in-laws to be nowadays *sigh of relief*

I cry: in solitude

I don’t always: try hard

I fight: with my sister

I write: in my blog

I am: "Who Am I?"

I lose: my way…terrible sense of direction.

I never: will win the Nobel Peace Prize. Consider myself the last person standing up for a social cause.

I confuse: my left from my right

I listen: to anything and everything sensible

I can usually be found: in my room with my laptop or working overtime in the lab.

I am scared: of darkness and dogs...when both are together that is a dog in a dark room, it will be my worst dream come true *shudder*

I need: a well paid job.

I am happy when: complimented, an experiment is successful, I receive letters, etc, etc...

Struggles of a Newbie Scientist

I had promised myself that this was not going to be scientific blog, but today's joy is immense that I have to share it with my blog. The past few weeks of my life have been dedicated to making bacterial colonies (I would explain why but that's a long story). I have had the hardest of times trying to grow bacteria on my plates (you would think they would grow everywhere but no). I have tried many approaches to make them grow including giving up family time (to spend time with them) and showering them with lots of love (I dont know which one worked). I have fallen short of dreaming of them and praying to the bacterial Gods. Right now am so tired I need humor and a holiday, both of which cannot be satisfied. For humor all I can do now, is supply myself with my dry ill-humor and the holiday will remain a dream (even a week's holiday will kill my well looked after cells). So my joy remains in the scented letter recieved from friends and in watching downloaded episodes of The Big Bang Theory. I would have never in a million years guess I will be happy to see bacteria, but I am. I guess this is what it means when people say "Life throws the least unexpected things at you." I am thrilled and overjoyed. Tomorrow another hard day at the lab awaits but let it wait.

Decision Making

Never considered myself a very decisive person. My decisions in life so far have been based on things I dont want rather than what I do want. It has been made on things that are not too bothersome, things I dont mind or by simply just going with the flow. Even if there is something I really want and I find it hard to accomplish, I am the type who gives up and to do easier things in life. Why am I talking about all this? Just been doing a lot of self reflecting these days ( too much time). I have never worked hard for anything in life. I am not in the lest bit ashamed of this fact but it just makes me ponder. Like my university degree and my current research, these are not things I had a passion or desire of wanting to do. I knew I didnt want a teacher's degree, an art's degree, a business degree or a nursing degree, so by the process of elimination I chose sciences. It was not my fascination of the human body that drove me into this field. I am in no way saying that I did not enjoy my three years of Undergrad. I got to specialize in topics I like and have come to gain an understanding and liking for these subject. Likewise was my decision in choosing my research topic. The opportunity came along, it didnt look too troublesome, gave me another year to spend in Uni, so I grabbed it (truthfully I did attend an interview for the position, but it wasnt too bad). A line from an article is what comes back to me now: Many people have answered late to the all time school question, "What do you want to do in life?" (or something like that, it just means people have wasted their life not knowing what they want or ignoring their passion). I am still unable to answer that question and admire people with the answer. I wish sooner than later I come to realize what it is I love, so that I can be adamant about something in life.

Spontaneity

Recently I have been finding myself less and less spontaneous. It takes me so long to come up with any thing of interest to say on any topic. So am setting up a challenge to self. I am to come up with some thing witty in a couple of seconds. It doesnt include worlds like LOL and stuff, must be something creative...You must be thinking I have too much time, but maybe I do. So lets see how it goes. Maybe I should decide on when I get started :) and hopefully I dont cheat, because I do know that I come up with something passable or even applaudable when given time.

Arranged Marriage

This clip was too good other than the fact the girl looked looked a bit...whats the word...moody (PMS???, she didnt know how to enjoy a joke, the director is male, so a stereotypic perception of a girl, I guess). This clip confirms my views and remove my apprehensions about arranged marriages. It shows that love grows. It shows that arranged marriages are for people with heads on their shoulders. People who cannot fall in love with a random stranger. People who are practical. People who do not fall for phases like "the firecrackers went off", or "I felt the temperature of the blood run through my heart". People with a lesser imaginative power but a greater sense of reality. People who realize they have a life (not a fairytale) ahead to live.

Credits to Nars Krishnamachari for having made such a wonderful clip.

The Royal Wedding

29/04/2011

Just finished watching The Royal Wedding. I thought it would be best to describe 'the wedding' now as it is still very fresh in my memory. I would say it was simple. Simple can mean many things but it does not have to be particularly bad or good. I felt the drama was below my expectations; it was not magical and did not get me as excited as I was hoping to get. The bride's dress was again simple but elegant.

Getting past the simpleness of the whole thing, I cannot deny that it left every girl wanting to marry a prince. This I should acknowledge. I have always considered myself very level headed and practical, trying to achieve easier things in life. I have never been a girl to fancy pink or fairytail endings but today’s wedding made me long for an unachievable love story. Tomorrow for sure when I sleep my romance away and guarantee my level headedness rushing back into me, so for now let me savour my mood for roses.

Maybe I spoke too fast; maybe my level headedness is rushing in already. Yes, this wedding kept 2 billion viewers entertained, maybe this was the wedding of the year but I do not wish for such wedding to continue. I do not wish to watch William's son/daughter throwing such grand weddings. I feel Royalty should be abolished. Why do the Royal's get to throw such grand wedding out of tax payer’s money when the tax payer himself would struggle to have a decent wedding? Maybe princes should not exist then my longing would not exist.