Appearances...

Yes, in this world we have to keep up appearances for the sake of others. But, just imagine how suffocated you would feel if you were forced to keep it up day in and day out for the sake of people you love! Especially when those people are total idiots (pardon the strong phrase), who can not distinguish between genuine affection and the hollow words of shallow people who say a lot but neither fulfill nor have any intentions of fulfilling what they promise.

I put myself in the shoes of such a person for a few minutes tonight. I found the experience un-bearable... absolutely un-bearable. I felt that I would go insane, and all this in under half an hour. But this person has been at this game... this silly, idiotic, but ultimately necessary game for almost all her life. Just thinking about the frustration she would have felt drives me crazy. Yet, here she is, taking it all in with a calm which baffles me.

I thought of many solutions, but as long as those idiotic people whom you happen to love remain as idiotic as ever, all these end up just complicating an already complex situation. I just do not know how much longer I can stay silent and let this gross miscarriage of justice continue!

Thenara thenara....

Unlike my usual trips, this one had a lot of preparation. Not by me :D, but still, we were well prepared. 'Born to be wild' & 'Maappi' started this crazy idea off as they were driven to the edge of sanity by the working hours at their internship. To start off, I would've called it nothing more than a fanciful dream. But, as has happened some times for me, I was proven wrong. The dream came true, and we ended up driving more than 5000 miles in a short span of 7 days.

I was apprehensive to begin with, thinking (out loud) of all the things could possibly go wrong and of the easier options open to us. Even after thinking of all these things, and debating (though briefly) about the options, we went ahead with the plan of a road trip to the Grand Canyon.



'Naanga Ettu Per, Engulukku Sense Endral Ennathu Ennu Theriyathu', this is what who ever heard of the trip said. But what the heck, we enjoyed the trip to the maximum extent possible... taking pics left right and center, without a care in the world (we had lappy's with us, so memory limit was not an issue). We ended up taking close to 5000 pics, with 5 cameras taking up 30 Gig of space.

We went through 12 or 13 states and celebrated BigB's birthday in 5 different states, starting off in New Mexico followed by Texas, where we cut the cake. We stopped for a fantastic lunch at a place called Gopuram in Oklahoma City. After a week of fast food, this was a welcome relief, which was relished by all of us.

We were dead tired when we came back on Saturday morning... but who cares... we did something which all of us enjoyed a lot.

Prejudice

How prejudiced are we all really? Very very prejudiced I'd say. Do we ever try to understand people who are different from us? Given a choice, yes, it's definitely easier to be with people you know. I mean, why take the extra effort to get to know new people, when you can easily settle for people you already know and are comfortable with.

But, in following such a path, what all wonderful new experiences are we missing? Who knows, maybe the person who almost became your room mate might have changed your life in ways you never know. For better or for worse, you never know. But, then isn't that part of the fun. The thrill of the unknwon. Now that was my idealistic side talking, but realistically, would I do it?

My Friend...

You would never know that he had so much in him, yes, I give that I didn't know him that very well... actually I never tried to know him that well. Partly, maybe, because he didn't want others to poke their nose into his affairs. Always maintaining a 'don't care about anything or anyone' attitude about him. Was that all a charade, sub-conscious or conscious... I don't know.

I still don't know whether I'll make an effort to know him better, given our behavioural traits, chances are that I will not know more about him whether I make an effort or not. But, off late, I got a few glimpses of the person hidden underneath layers of sarcasm. Those glimpses, to those of us who (mostly) only knew the sarcasm part, was quite... I don't know... interesting.

Something Nonsense...

This was the subject of a mail that I sent once to the (close to dead) class group we've in yahoo. Now, why did I put in such a subject line - well mostly because I didn't want to be mocked by some 'smart ass' saying that it's foolish thing to do. So, well, I thought if I say that even I felt that it was kind of nonsense, then others would not find much interest in re-iterating that.

But well, I was quite wrong there... quite wrong indeed. Well, I don't mean that someone did send a reply saying that it was foolish, not quite... actually, people replied saying that it was as far removed from being foolish as anything could be.

What was the content of the mail? Well... one night, some 3 years into work, conversation between me and my roomies drifted off into college nostalgia, how friends lose touch and all.. finally ending up with us trying to re-collect the names of our class mates in college. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that with a bit of effort, we were able to re-collect most of the people.

This was hot for a few days, and later it lost steam is now sitting somewhere in my inbox. I wonder, how long would it be before I forget most of the people on that list? But, in any case, I'm sure that there are a few people on that list with whom I will never lose touch... never.