This and that

Ok, to say that I have a been a lazy blogger for the past few months would have been an overwhelming understatement. Nevertheless I hope I’ll catch up with you guys.

Here’s some news:

• I am working on a new theme for this blog; a phrase which here means “limited to simply selecting a favourite skin among the multitude which comes with a WordPress blog, because the undercover agents at WP do not allow you to edit CSS as Blogger does.” Google, I have great respect for you guys!
• Get ready for fireworks in the sky, as the Geminid meteor shower begins this week. The number of meteors passes through a peak during December 13 – 14, with no moon around during that time, this amounts for perfect viewing conditions. The weather’s playing spoilsport here in Coimbatore, alternating between cloudy and clear…and, brr, it’s cold. No wonder I feel feverish. (then again, it could be because of the ice cream and milkshake I ate rather than the weather) Hopefully, it will be a clear night for the next few days.

• Speaking of Coimbatore, my friends’ friends – a couple of subah-talented guys – have started a new hilarious blog called KickStartCoimbatore, dedicated to rediscovering the true flavour of this great city. All Kovaiites this is a must visit!
• I am going to buy my first guitar tomorrow! What do you say? Future member of Linkin Park? (braces for impact from several organic and vegetable projectiles)
• Wondering which techfest to attend… Kurukshetra at Anna Univ or Kshitij at IIT Kharagpur? Yes, I would have loved to go to both, if it weren’t for the malady that plagues all colleges of India except BITS: attendance!

Cheers!

Etc.

Sometimes, an expression can perfectly describe the exact opposite of the situation you are currently facing. In my case for instance, the expression is “All’s well that ends well”.

All is not well and it did not end well. Ok, if you are wondering what the hell it is I am talking about, it’s my first semester at NITT Incorporated. More specifically, my cycle tests and the end sem exam. (read “modern equivalent of medieval torture”). Sometimes, I feel that it is better to be a five point someone than a nine point no one.

Oh well, it’s finally over and I am back in Coimbatore now which is as cool as ever (more literally than figuratively), and I have a month of freedom ot look forward to. And I owe you guys an apology….maybe someday I will learn to blog regularly.

Back home

When school was over, I though I would be eternally depressed for the rest of my life. Seriously, the guys from my class were the coolest – and I would cringe at the thought of leaving all of them. But that hasn’t happened. I’m happier than I’ve ever been before…the guys (and girls!) in college are equally fantastic. I’m learning to play table tennis from friends, and learning to play guitar from another friend who is equally interested in string theory as he is in guitar strings. Friends may change, but friendship is here to stay.

But now, I’m back home after a five hour journey by train. Suddenly, everything comes back washing over me like a torrent of freezing water. The moments spent dreaming, reading Fundamentals of Physics and science fiction instead of school books, gazing alone with a telescope. Today, as I went past the countryside, I saw two boys in uniform standing under a sunshade sipping juice packets. An ordinary sight – but it hurt me like a stabbed heart reminding me of childhood happiness.

I will be going back to Trichy by bus tomorrow. It is strange, being just a visitor to your own home, isn’t it?

Writer’s block

I once heard that the great science fiction writer Isaac Asimov once had a writers’ block, and it was the worst ten minutes of his life. Apparently, my writer’s blocks last much longer than Asimov’s. You know what it is like when you simply stare at the blinking cursor for minutes together, wondering when it would move rightwards in a flow of Times New Roman characters…I felt in such a mood for a really long time. Maybe its because life has changed dramatically, that I am no longer as contemplative as I once was. It was then I remembered these lines from the movie Finding Neverland, which finally brought me back to the keyboard again:

Peter: I still have no idea what to write.
J.M. Barrie: Write about anything. Write about your family, write about the talking whale!
Peter: What whale?
J.M. Barrie: The one that’s trapped in your imagination and desperate to get out.

Sharp and crisp, don’t you think?

Life 2.0 (beta version)

Whoa!!!

The only constantly appropriate state of the human mind, I realized, is surprise. I mean, is it already time to enter college? Gosh, I feet like I just left from kindergarten...sniff…sniff…

If you don’t know, I’ll be leaving for NIT Trichy hostel tomorrow, to study ….sniff…production engineering.  I don’t have a laptop, so I dunno how the  HELL I am gonna keep blogging – future strategising isn’t my strong point, you see. Maybe it is time to say good bye to the Good Night series after all! Oh wait. My aunty’s home is near NIT, so I can go there every week to access the Graffiti In My Heart headquarters, or maybe grab a future friend’s laptop, or go to the computer centre (if there is one). The point is ….your dear old graffiti would NEVAHH say goodbye to his readers (even if the no of readers could be counted with a single hand…sniff) yet.

So its time for a new life. Sure its gonna be fulla both good and bad stuff compared to the last one, but I’m pretty sure that the beta version will be replaced by a stable professional version fast. I’m packing all the stuff right now. Along with the usual toothpaste – brushes, clothes, cellphone, clothes, mattresses, stationery items and yet more clothes; I’ll be carrying some unusual stuff: A night sky chart, a poster of the Hubble space telescope, solar goggles (there is a total solar eclipse on July 22nd) and an abacus (I just learned how to use it, just need some practice). Oh, and a copy of Resnick – Halliday’s Fundamentals of Physics, the book which helped me to pass the AIEEE examinations in the first place. (many so-called guides for that entrance examination are just assorted crap. Irony: Fundamentals of Physics wasn’t designed with that purose in mind – as an AIEEE guide.)

Guess that’s it for now. If you still don’t believe that I will continue blogging, read this piece I wrote years ago in my previous blog (which is now mercifully lost in the blogosphere):

• I believe that a blogger should express himself for what he really is, not what he wants himself to be.You don’t have to be ‘cool’ to write…
• I would much rather respect a person who draws an ugly sketch and gets laughed for it than a person who doesn’t draw at all. Its the same with blogging.
• I believe that there is no need to exaggerate or embellish stuff in life. Life is beautiful as it is.
• A blog should uniquely represent one’s true perspectives, intentions and opinions, no matter how bizarre or uncommon.
• I believe that blogging has its own ultimate rewards, no matter how pointless it may seem.

Now, do I sound like a quitter? DO I, PUNK? (holding the collar)

But…sniff…I really feel like I just left kindergarten!!!