Puppy love

I’ve been fooling around for way to long now. Ideas for a blogpost have been pouring from my brain ever since it realized the sheer magnitude of boredom I have to suffer during lectures xP So, time for a post served up straight from my heart <3

I miss my dog .

It is funny because just about a year back – I didn’t own a dog.

And I used to hate dogs . Okay hate is a strong word – I couldn’t tolerate dogs – I found them very needy.

Then something changed.

The dog in the basket apparently grew up :')

My brother , who emanates doggie love ever since he has been born , came home carrying a heavy basket. Attracted immediately, I demanded to know what was contained in that basket. And to my surprise it was the cutest puppy which was just a few days old :’) and thankfully it wasn’t gonna stay in our place for long. It was to be adopted by my cousin much to my brother’s dismay.  His lifelong thirst for doggie love wasn’t going to be quenched just yet.  And mine was just about to begin!

poser

One fine day during the summery month of June ( okay all the months are summery in chennai -_- :P ) I heard a bark from MY backyard. What was a dog doing in our backyard? :O Okay , maybe I am overreacting here. Our house being a million years old , attracted all species of insects and animals , stray cats purposefully strutting about the hallway wasn’t very uncommon . Still! Stray dogs barking from the backyard simply took it to a whole new level.

Initially everybody at home ( sans my brother) treated the dog ( which would inevitably be named laika ) with disdain and it was quite obvious that we would chase it out soon. Yaja (bro) didn’t even demand for a dog because he knew the answer to that futile question already , “ How can you take care of a dog , when you cannot take care of yourself in the first place?”. However Laika proved to be a beacon of perseverance , clawing and digging her way back to our backyard and after a point we simply gave up chasing her.  Reluctantly she was enlisted into our mad family .

I must describe her here. Not beautiful in the quintessential way , Laika is ravishingly eyecatching with her inhuman energy and innate naughtiness, which is very contagious . A total ragamuffin – she looked like a little sheep when she joined us. Black spots merge with her white coat seamlessly and she had very silky hair for a stray . She is the first love of my life.

My baby

During the early days , I was very hesitant to make any contact with her. My toleration level permitted me to just about share a room with her. However Laikoos has a natural gift of winning over people she really wants to win over. With her insistent love and boyish charm , she slowly entered seeped into the rock which was my heart . Times I have spent with her since are pure magic and now I can only relive them as memories. Thankyou college L

Owning a pet IMO, fundamentally alters you as a person. Read Dean Koontz’s ‘ A big little life’ , a story of his dog trixie and the various meanings he attaches to her and the role she plays in his life. All that unconditional love makes you feel rightly undeserving and surely irks you enough to strive for improvement. Life becomes a little bit rosier, much more cheerful and optimistic when a dog is in love with you.  The faith they show in you sometimes restores your faith in humanity.

Okay enough philosophy.

Getting a bit more specific , I read this article on Pune mirror which set my thoughts in motion. It was about the increasingly violent behavior of stray dogs in Pune and how they are disturbing the lives of civilians and even killing rare species for their meals. So , the paper feels that dog catchers are right in ‘catching and putting an end to the dog menace’ .

I definitely agree that Rabies is a scary disease but animal cruelty is an uglier one.

The dogs should definitely be vaccinated for their and our own good. But dogs don’t bite for no reason . Yes , there are some mad dogs like there are a few mad human beings loitering  this world. Provocation is a 2 way street. Dogs don’t generally enjoy biting humans for fun – it is usually the other way around . We like torturing them by throwing stones and even imitating them . This attitude must be changed . Children from a ripe age must be taught that dogs and other animals deserve the same treatment as the so called ‘superior’ humans.

Okay getting preachy again. All I wanna say is that people should stop this blind paranoia of hating animals , without even attempting to love. For love is always more natural than hate and if we believe otherwise we are fundamentally flawed in nature .

P.S – Have a pet.

P.S . S – I am turning a complete vegetarian after this post. 

Photo credits - Yajur Jayaprakash

Yours

Semi 

Miss Gadget B|

Very recently, I read an article by a friend and it was regarding the role played by gadgets on our lives. And it set some thoughts in motion. What am I without my electronic playthings? In my case (similar to many other cases) electronic gadgets are not a mere decoration or style symbol. They are my lifeline to the outside world. But, are they becoming so indispensable that I cannot lead a life without them?  So what if they do become indispensable – is it really ‘wrong’ to be dependent on our devices, isn’t it like our immediate future? In this post, I am planning to self analyze on the importance of the gadgets in MY life and I hope it mirrors something  and rubs off on you :P

The following are gadgets I hang out with:

1.   1.    Phone -

The most abundant and obvious option available. Every Tom, dick and harry and even every shiva , vishnu and hari owns a phone xP I own an android - Samsung galaxy S duos – not the fanciest but hey!  Not the lamest either. Once upon a time popular for texting, however nowadays phones are increasingly being used to whatsapp , wechat or bbm your friends. Facebook through phone, selfies through camera are also popular features. Busy bee peeps can actually use their phone for emailing, memos and even as a planner. Incidentally phone can also be used to make calls :P although I find my phone hanging the most when I open my number pad -_-  I think I can survive WITHOUT my phone only if I have another source of internet and if I hate the human race suddenly ( it does happen frequently in my case :P) P.S – Nokia 1100 will always be the best ‘phone’ ever.

 

2.     2.  Laptop - 

    IMO every college student and professional needs a laptop. It is a gateway to research and a weapon to destroy deadlines J . More importantly it helps you download and watch millions of movies and t.v shows :’), play awesome PC games xD and serves as a library and organizer for your e-books and music. When I lack a laptop in my life I feel severely incapacitated. That too when you live in a hostel, far away from the slow but steady P.C which till today remains a faithful backup guy J p.s – I have a HP lappy .

3.     3.  iPad –Generally ridiculed to be an absolutely useless device , the iPad is absolutely useless. Unless you know how to use it. Guys should really stop saying ‘ the only reason people buy an iPad is to show off that they have one’ . Agreed. There are some techie snobs who purchase apple products to show off. But when you own an iPad – YOU OWN AN iPAD!! There are millions of awesome apps to download from the iTunes storeJ instagram , facebook , google plus , paper , zomato , maps , evernote, snap guide …. I can keep going on about them ^_^  While you can’t carry a laptop everywhere you can certainly move around with your iPad and do almost all the same tasks more efficiently. Okay enough advertising. I do think I CAN live without my second generation iPad.

4.       4.Headphones –

I cannot even picture my life without my most recent acquisition; MY SKULL CANDY headphones!! Refreshingly red, they add another dimension to my otherwise quieter life . Persistent exposure to loud music does injure one’s ears but #YOLO YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE *__*   P.S – own good headphones. They really enhance your life :’) and NO , I shall not last a day without ‘em .

5.       5.Ebook reader –

Currently I live without one. My kindle died a month ago and it was one of the more emotional funerals of my life :’( while E-book readers generally aren’t the locus of our lives, they are always there in the peripheries. Living without them is painful. While an iPad is helpful for reading books – it is not as welcoming to a diversity of formats like a kindle. Ohh Kindle I miss you so much :*

6.       6.Mp3/iPod  – You obviously need one dude. Why? Music makes life beautiful ^_^  I own a transcend and iPod shuffle 3 .

7.       7.Pen drive – Only reason my friends share their t.v shows / projects / digital data with me. Wayyy more storage and utility than a cd or floppy. Really musing how small the next storage device will be. Can live without it – if your friends are willing to share theirs with you :P

While my predicament may seem doomed towards addiction, trust me when I say that all these gadgets are very useful and make up my life. I can try explaining how ‘my’ generation has been brought up with these devices and so inevitably and intricately connected to this nexus of electronics but fact of the matter is that too much of anything is bad.

 Yes devices are quicker but they make us lazier.

 Yes they save trees via paper but they waste expensive electricity.

 Yes, they were made to save time but in reality they waste a lot of time.

 At the end of the day they are mere things they have no evil intention of their own to eat up our time.

 It is up to you and me to decide how to use them

. Live life king size but also don’t forget to be wise!!

 ;) ___/\____

Ciao till then

Semi B| 

Friendship is

sss reached 100 posts with the sickbird xD this is post #101 B| To a 100 more! *clink glasses* and disclaimer : photos strictly copied from google :P no credits to me! maybe selection credits :P 

Friendship is scary,

It leaves you scarred

Brimmed with memories

Hits you with emotions

And kills you with joy

Friendship is as universal

As tomato sauce

And as natural as

A  mother’s milk

Friendship is  a tranquil moment

Amidst chaotic madness

The ability to laugh

Even after a hundred million fights. 

 Friendship is not winning

But -  losing for your person.

That one peep <3

For whom you would turn a creep!

      Friendship is madness!!

Throw your brain ,

Out  the window .

And lose your heart and sanity forever

and after.

The Sickbird

I found this short story in my draftboard and was appalled that a) i wrote this in 2010 b)forgot that i wrote it c) my english was so bad xP I did find it a bit intriguing and so i am posting it. Don't ask me where i got the story line from - I am as clueless. 

Everyone got sick of the sickbird after one point or the other. She always complained about some pain or the other.At first they thought they were real and sympathized with her.That was true even for our hero Hari. She was a distant aunt to him and had come to stay in his house for a week for some unknown reasons.
The event thus follows their first meet : 
Hari came home after playing bone breaking , eyeball scratching basketball and came home with legs full of bruises and tee shirt full of dirt. He headed directly to the bedroom and locked it before his mother could stop him.He started removing his tee shirt and headed to the bathroom which was attached to his room.He was about to open the door when the door opened by itself and a small lady was there in her towel. "AAAHH" he cried out. "Abishtu! Abistusheshu!" yelled the puny lady.
"WHO? who are you?..." 
"I should ask you that, young man! How dare do you come inside an occupied bathroom"
"I.......er.....didn't know. SORRY"
"what sorry? blah blah blah etc etc.....*fie minutes later* OK who are you?
"well, I live in this house........"
"Oh !! HARI!! Ayyo evalavu valandutha!(u have grown so tall!) YOU are leela's son right?!"
"no! she's my mom" he grinned.She didn't get it. Anyways that is the weird introduction


Getting to know the sick bird:
After she finally left his room , hari had a hot shower and came down to have dinner.There only the small lady's voice could be  heard. She was telling them, " Hari is soo naughty! He was waiting outside the bathroom to scare his poor aunty! He doesn't know that I have heart problem.Shiva shiva! My BP seems to be high and heart is slightly starting to ache! Do you have jfienjadj tablet? NO! Oh my god it is such a important tablet nowadays what with all these boys screaming and yelling.........can u buy it......its only rs.200....I will soon pay it back....."
and that was only the beginning of a long list of ailments Hari had never before heard in the 13 years of his life put together , let alone in one place affecting a single woman! Immediate sympathy and impulsive concern were slowly replaced by obvious disbelief and the inevitable deafness that teenagers develop after being over exposed to adults. 
He had no idea who she was and how long she was going to stay. But he was sure as hell that he didn't care about her whereabouts and her illness. He wanted that tiny bundle of sickness to leave his abode ASAP. This apparently exaggerated hatred finds more context after we learn that the sickbird has nested in hari's room and that he is forced to sleep on the hall sofa - ouch. 

Shooing the bird : 
He decided to make her life a living hell - atithi devo bhava not withstanding the test of times - . He couldn't openly ask her to get out, for he would be thrown out if his parents heard of it. So passive aggression won the day.
At first it happened by turning a deaf ear,
"dei hari kanna! I feel very weak , can you go buy me a dozen bananas from the shop?"
Christ! What do bananas even have to do with feeling weak?! He simply continued tying his shoe lace and walked out with his basketball . When he came back two hours later , sweating from head to toe after  playing two practice matches at a trot , the sickbird was still sitting on the same sofa in the exact position from 2 hours ago!
She opened her eyes and very casually asked " Where are my bananas?" .
The next step was learning to say no. So he grinded his teeth and said " No aunty , I am very tired , I am going to sleep".
"WHAT?! tired at this young age? It is no excuse! When I was your age I used to walk 6 kilometers to the railway station and another 5 before I reached my school. We never got fancy footwear and clothes like you kids and ate very spartan food . Now go buy me my bananas or else I'm complaining  you to your parents * all in chaste tamil - translated for you *
Bewildered by her sudden outburst he did end up running the errand for her .

a hopeless hypochondriac or is something graver?

Telling  mom -
6 weeks flew by and there was still  no reprieve for Hari . It took him all his 13 years to convince his parents to give him his own room and yet all it took was an annoying aunty to intrude it! Oh how he would love to play a prank on her. However , firsthand experience had taught him that he would be the one that was crying by the end of it.
Amma was busy in the kitchen cutting vegetables. He pitched in and started cutting the onions. His mom's curiosity got aroused and so she asked , " Fine . What do you want? ".
"Nothing , i just decided to help my mom"
" On a sunday , by cutting onions! Comedy pannadha hari" ( stop trying to be funny hari )
" I know right. I'll tell you a better way - stop inviting guests all the time. That too ones who never help and never leave."
She gave him a long stare - one that usually shushed him and secretly scared him out of his wits - and then after a long silence began speaking.
"Geetha aunty is not an unwanted guest. In fact , we're the ones who forced her to stay here. You do not know anything about her and I am going to tell you some things so that you will truly understand and respect her. However , this should remain a secret and never leave these 4 walls , understand"
Hari nodded his head vigorously.
"Geetha is a very distant relative of ours . I don't want to bore you with details. Two years ago , while traveling to your poonal ceremony , she lost her whole family in a car accident and is suffering from PTSD or post traumatic stress disorder. She believes that she shouldn't have lived and that is why she keeps complaining of ailments which she doesn't seem to have. I need you to be a little patient and sensitive with her hari . I know it has been rough for you , giving up your room which you love so much. Growing up is not only about having your own room but also being sensitive to ones around you"
Hari was stunned by this over load of information and needed time to process it all and hence he simply muttered , "okay".
"Also I never ever want you to judge a person by their appearances and behavior"
"I never did!" he shot back
" I am your mother darling. If someone is unpleasant to you or asks you to do something you hate , promise me that you will try to see their side of the coin also"
"i promise"

Later that evening , Hari's dad Mr.Swaminathan was pleasantly surprised by his son's extremely courteous behaviour to their overstaying house guest. Seeing his wife's mischievous smile he asked her what was happening , to which she replied , " Hari still hasn't matured enough to respect his guests - so I told him a small lie" she winked.
" By the way when is the sickbird leaving? I'm sick of her trying to make me believe that she has pulmonary edema and that her blood vessels are leaking blood or some other impossible medical condition...! "
" I never asked you before swami... but why is she like this?"
"Oh this! She has just been craving for attention since birth - a hopeless hypochondriac . Hope her husband picks her up soon enough."

Indian mothers! xD

Hari never learnt that it was a lie and went on to become a very hospitable host in life( so much so that many relatives had a 'hari day' in their calendar and visited him atleast once a year).Geetha aunty aka sickbird continued to complain of weak blood vessels and hernia and even dyslexia wherever she went. Leela died a contented mother filled with secrets that made her son into a fine young man.
 

Everyday I'm shufflin' xD

Music plays a vital role in all our lives.It makes the world a much more beautiful place to live in :) If there was a situation where i had to choose one among my 5 senses - I would pick hearing. In my opinion,

'Those who can't listen to music are deaf and those who don't are dumb'

 For a long time music to me was synonymous with film music- that too tamil songs. A.R . Rahman and Ilayaraja will remain my favorites forever and after :P
Harris , Yuvan , Vidyasagar , Anirudh , DSP are my other favorites in tamil music industry.

Even when i was a toddler of 2, I used to dance for 'mustafa mustafa' - the friendship anthem :') Due to my grandmother's influence I was forced to attend carnatic concerts and  much to everyone's amazement I ENJOYED THAT ALSO :O
Adults being adults , mistook my enthusiasm towards listening to music as equal to that of practicing it. and umm... that didn't go too well :P Only after my music teacher passed away due to blood cancer and my keyboard master got a brain stroke did they realize that my learning music didn't augur well for the universe.
Finally left alone to pursue 'listening' ,   I expanded my auditory horizons by adding western ( a bit late i admit) , hindi and anything youtube offered to my repertoire.

Listening to music also means another thing to me - shuffling. I let my shuffle do the talking , in this case singing! Weirdly my mp3 player and my itunes player, read my mood pretty well and have come handy in times of distress and happiness .
So why am I rambling about music all of a sudden?
a) music rocks
b) i have to write something :P
c) I have always wanted to put on my shuffle player and write a song about the random tune that pops :D
So here we go--------!!!-------??-----xD------>

1. This song didn't come in the shuffle. But what the heck :P This song really needs to be talked about and promoted. The song is called 'ezhavu' and it features in the underrated tamil film '5 5 5 ' . So what is so special about this track? Apart from the hilarious one liners sprinkled and the groovy beat that makes this instantly adorable , it is completely based on the creepy theme of 'DEATH' . Kudos to the director for deciding to do a song on death which many usually may find on the wrong side of superstition. This song DESERVES TO GO VIRAL.

2.The biggest tamil hit of 2012 , "sollitaley ava kadhala" ( she has told her love) in the voice of ranjitha and Shreya Ghosal pushed its music director to the zennith of his career. The album kumki has cleaned up all the music awards this year. One listen in to the album and you'll know why. Staying true to its tribal elephant based identity , almost all its tracks are melodies and the folk one is a trendsetter! This particular song though simple, stands out for its melodious tune , voice of the singers and also the stunning visualisation of the hilly forests <3

3. Ah! A kamal song on his birthday = perfect xD Didn't I tell you about the freaky skills of my itunes shuffle? 'Germaniyin' song sung by the legendary S.P.B and Janaki in the film 'Ulasa Paravaigal' ( happy birds) has achieved cult status and is one of the earlier songs of ulayaganayagan Kamal Haasan :') It is one of the favorite songs of my parents and really shows us why Kamal was known as the kadhal mannan ;) ( king of romance ) 

4.'Modhi Vilayadu' sung by Hariharan and Deva is popular for the very reason. It signifies the confluence of two very different legends who are kings of their own domains. While Deva is more popular for his 'gaana' or folk/ mass songs , Hariharan is the undisputed king of melodies. This song inspires and lifts up my mood every time i listen to it . And the fact that it is partly about cricket helps matters xD

          

5.'Runaway Heart' by Glenna is fiercely addictive and literally pulls your heart strings . It is my favorite track from the one tree hill album :'D The fact that a 20 second promo song can refuse to leave your heart and force you to track it down restores my faith in music. And for obvious reasons I visualize lucas and peyton everytime i listen this song. Why did they not end the show after the 6th season itself? :/

6. 'Parda' from once upon a time in mumbai is one of the few songs I gathered from MTV . Till then I didn't have much clue about Ajay Devgn ( apart from the fact that he  was Kajol's husband) and I still don't :P Stylish song , remake of the retro times and Sunidhi Chauhan is really flawless xD Monicaaa oh my daarling!

7 .Last song. c'mon shuffle! 'Bleed it out' by linkin park is a wild wild song ^.^ I listened to the live concert version of this song and it brought about my 'live songs' craze - where I would download the live versions of tracks instead of the official ones , much to the dismay of my friends. 'Bleed it out' is the kind of song where you can scream your guts out along with the song and feel like a rockstar and of course go CRAZY!!

As usual my shuffle has brought about spectacular variety to a small span of seven songs. I really don't know about the end product but i swear making this post and reliving these songs has been FUN indeed :D

Hoping it rubs off on you also , 

Semi :) 

The end of the end?

Dear Blog Reader,

I need to write. What started out as sheer laziness slowly became an egoistic abstinence from the inevitable. I need to write like I need to breathe , a bird’s need to fly and fish’s to swim. I need to W R I T E.

I have been contemplating the closing down of semi’s stories and sharings,

To start a new blog or write through some other medium. Off late I feel even  the thought of the  ‘duty’ of fillng my blog suffocate me. Not like I have tonnes of work( like my other counterparts from stricter colleges) . Previously I used to write whenever I used to have a ‘brainwave’ or what I believed to be a flash of genius. Either I’ve grown dumber or  my  brain has stopped thinking in terms of a blogpost.  Both these points don’t seem beneficial for sss

And that’s not even my only reason .

When I first started writing this blog , I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. It was all kinds of exciting ,  no one used to read it so no pressure of disappointing a reader :P . I used to change the blog layout and design also every week . Not that it was always pleasing to the eye but it showed that I cared. I've always ( at least at the thought level) tried to experiment with the types of post I write and even the structure of presentation. Maybe my English and writing is better than before ,  but not my intent , care or creativeness.

#IAMSICKOF the intro , body , conclusion structure and I am the one to be blamed.

Being a history student and writing only  3 times a month had made me believe strongly initially. Then readers started giving me feedback that I wrote too much sometimes. So I tried writing less. After a point I finally realised that I don’t like changing my writing style for anyone.
that writing more is always  better . Since I loved writing in this space it made sense

No offense. I hate listening to feedback. It took me a while to realise that I write for myself and not anyone else. And I think it takes guts to admit that :P Writing is beyond page views and fancy statistics  - anniversaries , page count , location of readers or even number of posts.

That is when I had a sad brainwave : Why write in a medium where others read and then crib about their feedback? I should stick to writing for myself.

The fact that it took me 3 ½ years to realise this, doesn’t speak volumes of my mental faculties , does it?

There is more.

I have changed as a person. College is a vital phase in one’s life and I think it needs differentiation from the school years . I feel that sss should remain a reflection of my ‘exam years’ from 10^th – 12^th standard.

The world has changed in the way it reads , writes and even the way it thinks and logically infers. Attention spans have certainly reached an all time low~ The visual medium attracts more attention naturally.  TV shows are trumping books. Books have lesser words. Blogs have bigger pictures and soon even a tweet will be long.

I need a less kiddish a more formal blog for my curriculum vitae. A place where I can re discover my writing  and please my placement co ordinator.

 However , a final brainwave changed the tide of proceedings in favour of semi’s stories and sharings. The wave of sentimentality as the Indian me will melodramatically say. This blog has too many memories for me to just delete with a button. I know we all need to move on eventually, but why not not move on till it becomes absolutely necessary.

Yes I am too lazy and uninspired right now to write, but what guarantee do I have that things will change with a new blog? One bad marriage is better than too many bitter divorces? Maybe we’ll work through this or maybe not, but I can promise you that renewed effort and experimentation will be carried out in the following month.

Henceforth I declare that I will be writing for myself and my sake only and that reader’s sake is only secondary but not unecessary .

See you VERY SOON folks ,

semi is not smiling yet

Semi

Law : my dream

This is one post of mine which made me realize how much I love law. Hope it convinces and wins you over too <3 

The world is a playground for the young ones. I have a cousin who solemnly resolved to be a chef when he was six years old , a police officer when he was 10 and currently he dreams of being an astrophysicist. Choosing one's career is never easy and I have friends who have finished their schooling and still have no idea about what they want to become or want to do with their lives.

However, thankfully I was never allowed the luxury of indecision by my mother (who works in a school and thus is quite knowledgeable about the workings of a student's mind) .I had to choose my career by the time i was in eight grade, so that I could plan for the road ahead.

I picked law.

The books you read , shape your personality. While we are all proud of the non fiction and the 'serious' books we read, it is the fictional stories which silently leave their mark in our lives. So naturally, when we read the Enid Blyton classics like 'secret seven' and 'famous five' - we all want to be detectives. Surely how tough will it be to catch smugglers hiding in islands and find treasure buried under moors?

Then we mature. We get lucky and lay our hands on one Erle Stanley Gardener's many 'Perry mason' novels. Courtroom drama at its best. Fighting for your wrongly vindicated innocent clients can never bring one unhappiness. And we find out that lawyers are the real deal. Detective like Paul drake can only uncover the facts and policemen like sergeant Holcombe can only piece together the facts. However, lawyers are the ones who go to the sacrilegious courts and fight for justice and prove what really happened. They are the messengers of social, economic and political justice.

However we get refuted with logic. Perry mason at the end of the day was a peerless hero, he was larger than life and sadly our careers are limited within the constraints of reality and practicality. Then we get even luckier and read John Grisham. Who said lawyers were gods? They have their flaws too and are also equally oppressed by the system as everyone else.

We learn that from books like the firm and the partner that beating the system is easier than following it - especially when everyone is doing the wrong thing. Yet, we see the protagonist finally overcome all odds and succeed. That tells us there is always a way, no matter what everyone else tries to make us believe. Steve Martini's 'prime witness' a lesser known book and it inspire me the most. While all the books showed how a big problem can be easily solved, this owned showed how a seemingly simple one can in fact be so tough to solve. This told me there will be a dull moment when you are doing something you love.

From all these books i derived the biggest sources of inspiration for law. But, this mad worship of books is not the only reason foe me to choose law. One thing sociology teaches us is that 'no event, how much ever it looks so -is simple.' Many factors coalesce to form a phenomenon.

Law requires speaking skills. While I can chat for hours on the phone with my friends it is infinitely more difficult to speak on stage regarding an issue. So taking law was above all a daring step to conquer my fear of public speaking. While many laughed at my decision for the same reason, I find it a matter of pride that I chose to convert my weakness to strength. Participating in Mock parliaments, class debates, school dramatics club has in fact boosted my confidence to speak. 

Blogging has brought me in contact with people all over the world and opened my previously blind eyes to all the burning issues, that is savaging our beautiful world. While my blog 'Semi's stories and sharings' is certainly not a formal forum, it has been a great learning experience for me - where I have written various genres, about different points of view and incidents. It has certainly reinforced my desire to work in a profession which is relevant to today's society and problems.

Convinced that law is my destiny, I chose to take up humanities stream for my high school. It is rather a rare branch to take up in my state - if not in my country and I am happy that I did take up the subjects I did. I found History, Psychology, sociology and economics very relevant and interesting

. History taught me about all the functioning systems of previous centuries. The norms and values of every era are very different and the one thing I learnt was that institutions which have been agreed upon and which fit the current context need to be upheld no matter what. And any defiance leads to war or destruction of entire empires and dynasties. In this context, upholding democracy through law - our generation's distinct system, must be upheld no matter what.

Economics elaborated on the pressing matters of a capitalistic economy - matters which desperately need to be looked into and which has great scope. The most important examples being Inclusive Growth and Income inequality. Psychology informed about the contemporary problems that influence our psyche and sociology informs us about the historic and structural factors that determine our lifestyle and opportunities.

Whatever I learnt these two years in school has fueled my passion to become a lawyer. And I sincerely hope that this statement of purpose comes across to you as genuine and from the heart.

xxx being one of the best colleges has been my lifelong dream and it will only incense my passion and motivate my efforts more, if I get a seat in your prestigious institution. Thank you .

Prisoner of her own device

And here I am finally.
A prisoner of true randomness. Like Sheldon from big bang theory , I can't take any decisions for myself. The dice dictates my fate. What started as a simple strategy to avoid boredom has become a single minded obsession leading to inevitable destruction of routine and order. If I get 2 , economics is studied. If 4 is the luck number , I blog. And hence I blog now . SAVE ME.

It is not funny anymore! My own ocd ridden brain is deceiving me. Oh stupid brain , I haven't slept in 2 days. For the number 18 hasn't come yet, how do you expect me to sleep when i don't have the darn NUMBER? And I can't even call for help because, it is number 87. www.random.org is truly random :(
Ran Dumb :'(

No , save me! I am ... no, I WAS her stomach. Now I'm just an acid infested and chemical eaten hollow sac. Her brain is not to blame. It kept showing her sensible danger signals. However , that horrible , impulsive heart of her's has no brains (what an irony) . It kept beating for that black liquid which doesn't even deserve to be poured on toilet seats. Maybe if you could add a number which says 'stop drinking coke' inside her chit bag , it could offer me a chance for redemption. A chance for my enzymes to break down food again , a chance to not burp or grunt every ten minutes in agony. SAVE ME.

Ah sir , I see you spoke to the stomach. Forget it , Please look at me - the eye. I was labelled inefficient when I was just 10 years old. Just because SHE wanted to read Harry potter in the dark. Of course no one is saying no to Harry but the darkness is sheer stupidity. Every time the light is turned on , she turns the other side. Stupid kids they produce nowadays >.<

To make matters worse she is a teen now. And I am forced to indulge in movie marathons and Grey's anatomy marathons. My already bespectacled frame can't endure the undue stress and of course all the 'feels' and the inevitable tears. So sir , could you please ask Rowling to write more and Shonda Rhimes to kill less?. And ask that young guy Jefferey Archer to stop ending his darn books in cliffhangers? And not release his next book after ONE year? :/ SavE ME!!
I could ask you to write a chit saying 'don't read' , but that is an endeavor which will end in futility .

Please ask Calzona to unite though. That would save the entire grey's fandom. And save George Weasley - it would save the entire world :)

Hey . Save me from my own organs , which rant on me to strangers ( no offense :P), like a grandmom. The stupid brain who is insistent on being fixated to specific ideas, the stomach which cannot digest the food I love , the eye which loves what it sees yet trying to close herself when it gets a little bit too hard to take. Just give me the power too make them understand the spirit which guides - the need of living life to the fullest , through ever pore of my sunburnt skin. Don't save me but help me save me , by telling its not wrong to be stupid. It is not wrong for doing what you love , as long as it doesn't affect anyone else.

Stranger : But hey , aren't you killing yourself slowly in the process?

Lol we all kill ourselves daily by just  breathing longer. One should greet death as an old friend , mortality is inevitable. If it stops you from living your life the way you want , why bother my friend?

S : Loser. you were the one asking me to save you!(aren't you the sum of your organs?) Don't you think addiction to anything is simply miserable?

It is never simple sir. We start doing something because we love doing it  and get stuck in another form of intense routine known as addiction. We still love what we're doing but we slowly start to fear it and finally regret it , as it eats into another parts of our lives.

S: So?

Save me! But don't save me. Listen to my organs , if you want to save my life . Listen to me , if you want to save my spirit :)

S: Listen Ms.Paul Coelho , You need a life to engage your spirit with. So I am sending you to rehab. 

ek gaon mein ek kisan raghu thatha! :P

It's been a week in Pune already!! :O
and believe it or not  - I have fallen in love with this city! <3
or maybe it is just another one of my defense mechanisms , protecting me from shocks. Whatever this is , it has aroused me enough, to write a post! So let me finish this before reality sinks in .
( Side note :

hahaha

  Defense mechanisms are pretty intriguing . Do you know that I haven't cried a single tear drop yet? My friends think it is some kind of sacrilegious blasphemy from my  part. But hey! If pessimists argue that I have effectively ended one life , I argue back that I have just started a new one :) I do miss chennai . However , I am not going to go gaga over it. Okay I just did . )
I haven't had much chance to discover the city in its entirety yet. But , from whatever I have seen - it is fresh , green , pleasant and mindnumbingly beautiful :')

So here it is . The elusive list of things I have noticed about Pune and my new life in general :

Not THIS adventurous generally :P

1) I was never a nature loving person or that's what I thought. However , climbing the hill in my college ( yes , there is a hill in my college :O ) changed that perspective. The liberating atmosphere , the refreshing smell of pure , fresh air is well worth the climbing - which in itself is exciting and adventurous! Also , I am for the first time realizing that there are four types of climate in a year :P Living in chennai can easily erase this fact into a mere illusion. Back there it is either hot or hotter :')
And in other seemingly related news I got crowned 'Miss Green' by the Mess Bhaiya ( more like a thatha actually :P ) Don't start clapping already - I got called that because i was wearing a green kurthi LOL

2) My new friend rightly said , " Here in Pune , people talk to you in Marathi . If you don't know that they'll talk to you in Hindi and after that they stop." Yeah that's right. English doesn't work with the rickshaw wallahs . Coming from Tamil Nadu , a state which has fervently opposed Hindi often in the past and which doesn't give importance to Hindi in it's education system - I am at a huge loss here . It doesn't help matters that I hated my L3 hindi teacher and in turn conditioned my hatred towards that subject. To all the young readers out there - Learn HINDI. It is very hard to learn later and in this increasingly globalized world it is good to know 3-4 languages . And learning the 'official' language of your country is never a wrong place to start :)

The fundamental problem with most Tamils in this regard ( I am heavily generalizing here ) can be summed up with one joke in a yesteryear Bhagyaraj film , which sadly is still popular. Instead of saying ' Ek Gaon me ek kisan rahta ta' the hero mispronounces it as ' ek gaun me ek kisan raghu thatha' Thatha means grandfather in tamil and raghu is a common name. And ever since then Hindi has been ridiculed and not learnt -_-

3) I love the food here. My hosts may think I'm being overly polite when i say I love roti over rice. Fact is I actually love north Indian food :') Being open to trying new dishes has finally helped this time. Thank you masterchef australia for opening my eyes about food :*

4) Heavily generalizing , yes. I find the pace of Pune to be much slower than Chennai . Maybe it is the monsoon's cozy feel . It perfectly suits a lazy person like me :')

5) It doesn't hurt that folks back home miss me . Makes one feel loved ,you know :P ( even though this may  only last for a short while)

perfectly put by some random citizen :P

6) Lastly but not the least , I am very proud of my new found independence. I make my own bed , wash my own clothes :O , do my dishes etc. Being self sufficient makes one immediately feel adult like :D I was so proud when I wore the tee shirt,which i had washed with my own hands ^_^  P.S - This doesn't mean that I'll do housework when i come back home to chennai xP Home is where the ass lays ;')

Random realization - Blood clots are very random o.O

Semi

Internet Anonymous

Status quo has changed.

I've shifted to Pune , Maharashtra for my college studies :)

and have switched over to the dark side. I have given up my soul completely to social networking and instant messaging. Tweets and statuses have invaded my brain and I crave for likes and not views now.

Yes I am a social addict.


(disclaimer : Purely fictional work. Any resemblance to actual events PURELY coincidental :p)
It all started innocuously enough - when i was in fifth grade - seven years back.My dad bought a computer. Road rash seemed like the coolest game ever. You could ride a bike and hey! you could beat up the guy too :D That motivates a child.







Then we had email id's and yahoo! messenger . Sending random voice clips and animated emoticons seemed like the coolest thing that could happen to you. I still remember my friend p calling me so that I could come 'online' and chat with her. ( and we thought phone calls would be replaced by chat didn't we?)

Then came Hi5 - the more beautiful version of facebook WITH games. Yet , it failed to catch on like orkut ( maybe because it was too fancy). Believe me when i say that orkut was considered very dangerous and none of us kids used to use it.
Then came FACEBOOK. I think i was in eight grade then . I used to have decent attention spans , read an enviable amount of books , never worry about likes ... no I really can't remember life without facebook or my life after facebook :P

It is so dominating ( like an old grandmother) that newer forms of networking like google plus don't feel 'right'. Twitter is cool and quite informative ( and gossipy) but never quite as addicting as the eff bee monster.
No , not for one second i hate what I do but yet the realisation that I am wasting precious time consumes my already broken spirit. I do know that I play less , read less and care less yet I post it as my status.
I know I have no redemption. Even if you remove the dhoni-dada , modi -rahul , vegan and non vegan and other pointless pop corn munching debates from the site , I will continue to use it.
I will poke you , add you and block you but never have an original 'convo' with you. I'm too bored for that. I am generation y
Gtg , ttyl
semi

Food for thought

"I should totally blog today."

you can succeed only if you try

After 21 days of fruitless inaction , I thought it was my mind playing mirage-like tricks with me again. Then I realized it was my lack of determination and fear of writing bad posts, that has caused this drought .  Remembering  what Hrithik Roshan said after his disastrous 'kites' in Kofee with karan  - it was something like ," You have to do something in the first place for it to be right or wrong. Worrying about an exam before writing it won't get you anywhere" Thank god he did write his exam - and we got zindagi na milegi dobara :')
So I should totally blog today. But I'm not guaranteeing you any quality.


 Ironically QUALITY has become my biggest problem right now. I don't even know what I mean when I use that word. But , I read all the blogs out there - enormous amounts of talent and potential :O and the sheer amount of posts in a month stun me. However there tends to be more misses than hits when you generate 50 posts a month ( or so I think ). When I was young, I used to cry to my mom about how my friends always wrote more pages than me during an exam and she calmly reassured me that ' quality is more important than quantity'. So I try to give my best every post and pray that at least half of what I hoped to convey reaches you.

I do promise you one thing ( i hardly promise anything in my blog - as I almost never keep it up :P) I will concentrate on writing more in this forum for at least my sake, if not yours.

 Sorry for the writer's rant :P I am sure fellow bloggers will understand. I needed to let it out of my system to progress . In this post I hope to 'rebuild my empire '  and give you tidbits of insights that have struck me this summer.

1)  Food for thought - I watched master chef USA 3 as it aired on t.v . I was never a huge fan of  the USA version in comparison to Australia as the former relied more on drama and antics, than anything remotely related to food. However ,since becoming the admin of 'Gordon Ramsay memes' ( see how I subtly put it? :P ) I felt an overwhelming sense of duty to watch the show . And surprise! this season was more about the food than about hate speech towards one other! :O And the most surprising of all - the winner of a cookery contest was blind. I heard tales of 'fixing' permeate the room but the truth is always far more inspiring :)
The finale was between the industrious josh and artistic christina. It reminded me one thing about food which we tend to forget somewhere in the over complicated world of reality shows - taste always triumphs . Josh produced stunning looking dishes with complex techniques but Christine simply made food full of flavor and yumminess . At the end of the day ,we do not care if the food is sauteed or grilled as long it tastes heavenly :)

2)That moment- After reading Agatha Christie's innumerable mysteries , I was very keen to get an idea

The eye in your mind paints things differently

about what went through her head and picked up her autobiography. Surprise! She led a very normal Victorian life , befitting the era. She puts us at such consummate ease, that her writing tips made sense to amateurs like me :') Among other things , she was a world traveller at a time it was enormously difficult to global trot for women . She didn't want to re visit countries she had already been to - she didn't think she could re capture the magic of the first venture. And somehow I totally emphasize with her . If she is scared of revisiting her favorite spots on earth , I am afraid of re reading my favorite books for the same reason. Every book has some poignant memory associated with it , and it is tough to breach the same ground without the feeling that it won't be as good as the first time. Sounds like blasphemy - but I haven't read even Harry potter more than once! :O

*Wow this post has drained me already :/ *

3)  The end? - The greyest book I have read in recent times is Dan Brown's Inferno . Among other things the book's plot is about the threat of overpopulation and that it will lead to extinction. Ironically living in India , I haven't really thought about that angle much. The 'antagonist' wants to wipe off 1/3rd of world's population , so that mankind can survive from extinction for a longer time . Is man made disaster the answer?  Should humans take this matter into their hands? Genetic engineering looks appealing from the outset , however its potential for danger makes it scarier than nuclear bombs. Should we interfere with evolution just because we assume we are 'superior' races? but what is the alternative - waiting for the inevitable? That doesn't sound very homo sapien -y :P I am asking instead of answering because I'm very confused about this topic and I don't want to make an uninformed statement or create an opinion too fast. If the book was true , you'll forget what you just read and deny that overpopulation maybe the end.
The book does conveniently ignore the enormous amount of resources trapped with the very rich - which has already resulted in general squalor in the 'bottom' rungs.

"The darkest places of hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality during times of moral crisis "

cheer up till then
semi :P

Haters Haters Everywhere !!

story of my life :P

First of all , a big thank you to all those who kept nudging me to write a post .
 a) It makes me feel special :P
b) Gives me the incentive to move my lazy glutus maximus :) .If exams suck all the energy out , holidays suck all the purpose .

Epitome of hate xD 

So today i am going to blog about HATE. Hate is an emotion of mass destruction , if ever there is one. It gets formed in a twisted way. When we love our own status quo too much , it results in an irrational negative feeling towards the opposing change. Most of the time ( generalizing , yes. )  it is formed before inspecting a scenario factually and the consequent 'evidence' is tinkered  the way our brain wants it to be seen. So we basically fool ourselves into hating things most of the time.

Hatred  also manifests when our favorite goals are jeopardized by the object of our ire . Simply putting csk hates kkr for 'taking away' their final and rcb hates csk because they 'cheated' them of the last ball.

 As we all know and have probably felt ourselves , sports invokes intense passion and emotions which can turn ugly very quickly (if uncontrolled). Cricket has always been known as the 'gentleman's game' and legends like Rahul dravid and Tendulkar prove to be those gentlemen. However , the recent cricketainment of t20 has not gone down well with traditional viewers. There has been lot of criticism from their quarters .
However , the hate I was surprised by in this edition of ipl (6) has been the one from the fans - towards opponent team members , who for the rest of the year they so steadfastly support. Lets analyse.

The Indian premier league has been around for 6 years now , and from the infant everyone pampers it is growing to become a toddler who adults are wary of . Deficits will be naturally noticed , rebuked and innovations struck down.  Also , team solidarity and familiarity has led to a humongous fan base for even unsuccessful teams like Pune warriors. Every team starts seeing themselves as the 'virtuous'  , the champions and the opponents are demonized.

So when a team wins the fans simply use these excuses :-
Chennai Super kings - They have BCCI support , all matches are fixed to help their cause .
Mumbai Indians - Ambani owns them . So duh , fixing.
Rajastan Royals - Luck / spot fixing / they won't come far in the tournament
RCB - Mallya fixed it / Gayle is an one man army.
SRH - Sun tv is close to BCCI (!) / it is a chennai team
Delhi Daredevils - They'll choke in the playoffs
KKR - Sharukh khan is evil / gambhir character assassination / srk fixed it
Punjab - Only Miller saved them , they'll never make it to play offs.
Pune warriors - Nobody cares :P

Why can't fans just accept that their teams lost! And the team won it fair and square . Even if spot fixing allegations prove to be true , a bad ball still has to be hot for a six and a catch for a wicket to happen -_- Grow up guys.
Csk vs Rcb , RR vs DD , Csk vs kkr  ,csk vs mi ( I am obviously a csk fan) , srh vs rcb are contest followed with interest due to the intense rivalry.

Competition is not bad . If it was no trophy would be awarded . But hatred is , support your own teams alright but stop hating the rival ones and for god sake stop spreading it online! There is this page called troll cricket - a popular cricket meme page .  And sadly every alternate post ends with Pakistanis and Indians fighting pettily and both calling each other terrorists. I mean like , where does this stem from really? Pathological prejudice and hatred dude to lack of adequate knowledge about the other side. And cricket is just one of the many outlets through which these ugly emotions erupt.

The angry young men - 
If pak - ind verbal wars are atleast seen as inevitable , the kohli - gambhir ones are not. We have for a long time had legends with impeccable manners in our team . eg. Sachin , dravid , laxman , kumble etc. Even Ganguly wasn't offensive with his aggression . Dhoni , Raina and some others are cool heads who can't be faulted. So when people like yuvraj , kohli and Gambhir express themselves on field it is misinterpreted as arrogance and 'bad behaviour' . People like sreesanth and Harbajan do go overboard but most of the time it is simply the fanatic supporters of the opposing side over reacting to emotion on field.

you call it arrogance , we call it passion :)

That too on Virat kohli . He is one of the most gifted players around and is quite clearly the future of India. When he gets angry and shows aggression against national teams it is seen as passion but when he replicates it for his franchise - well , he is arrogant and has the 'wrong' attitude towards the game. Being aggressive is one of the values Australians and West Indians cherish and one of the prime reasons that they won and dominated for a prolonged period.
It was deeply saddening to see him be booed by the Mumbai crowd for simply running out a player. Here is a man who gives his complete effort and dedication when he plays , why can't you enjoy that? When he hit that classy 99 , we all enjoyed it and can't blame him for feeling disappointed for not reaching his century o.O
If you can feel so emotional sitting at home , imagine this twenty year old playing the very game in front of a million fans/haters. Sympathize at least. Don't expect every player to be calm headed. Everybody cannot be the same.

The great dada vs dhoni  

Under every post congratulating Dhoni , there are a million 'who is the better captain?' debate. It doesn't seem to affect the fans that the players themselves mutually respect each other , leadership is not quantifiable and both the players served the same national team! Dada is one of my favorite players ever , seeing him hit through the off side was one of the first memories of cricket I have and strangely I was his strongest supporter when people wanted him to resign . However more than 'dada fans ' it is the 'dhoni haters' who concern me.
They seem to hold an unreasonable grudge towards this man who captained them to the greatest heights , questioning his motives all the way through . It is disappointing when respect is not given where it is deserved.
 I think I am ending this post quickly because generally I hate bringing up negativity in any of my blogs . However , the nonsensical mob with their saddening opinions left me with no choice. And another issue I want to bring up here is that of Justin Bieber . I don't really like his music but that doesn't give me a reason to personally abuse him or hate him . Also calling him a 'woman' or 'gay' is offending at so many levels. What is wrong with being a woman/gay person in the first place? Truly sick of such posts.

Yours wearily yet hopefully
Semi