Lazy sunday afternoon

I actually woke up ay 7 am today and it being a sunday, didnt know what to do next. Winkie, being the quintessential early bird went into a frenzy licking my face or the pillow, couldnt tell which. Was about to kick her in the butt when I realized that it had been ages since I took her for her "daily" morning walk. That prompted me to leave my bed and with a silent promise to return sometime in the afternoon, clapped on Winkie's leash, hollered for my cousin sister and the three of us took off. Since my idiotic pup had chewed off 1/4th of the new leather leash, two of us took turns to hang on for dear life as Winkie went panting & gasping after cats, stray dogs and equally moronic children who know nothing better to run away screaming when they spot the apparently monstrous 6 month dog.

I had a blast fending off questions from scared passerbys.

"Does it bite???"

Ans: "Well, sometimes... not all the time..."

(hurried exit, passing as far away from Winks as possible)

After the walk, we headed towards the small river besides my place. Winkie jumped right in and swam around deliriously happy with the outing. Now I cant swim for my life, so my cuz went in & did a few laps, while Winkie tried to ride on her back. The water was awesome. I enjoyed being in the river neck-deep while my cuz & my dog tried to drown me by suggesting I try to swim.

We got back home, had brunch and now Winkie Poo is dozing right next to me while I have a nice book lined up to read. Lazy sunday afternoons certainly dont get any better than this!

Meet my students

I love teaching my students. I dont know if they reciprocate the feeling while being taught by me but I must say, when I took on this job 4 years ago little did I know that I was heading towards an experience of a lifetime. The very first thing I learnt about my seemingly innocent students was not to take anyone at face value. And that, they will do anything to wriggle out of class.

The first class I took was in a make-shift cabin of yore cause the campus was not ready yet. Two batches of first year students were huddled together in a dark classroom; dark cause power had just failed. And it was the first day after a long vacation. And it was an afternoon class. And they were to study Electrical. With a brand new rookie teacher. I suppose all of these put together prompted them to implore to me not to take class that day puhleezeee.... ma'm how can we study in the dark.... pretty please....

I took pity on them and let them off. When I walked out, the Vice Principal asked me why I wasnt taking their class. When told about the dark story, he walked into the now-silent class and pulled a cord leading to the ceiling and lo presto! The middle part of the wooden ceiling lifts and as if like magic, light floods into the now-bright classroom.

The class burst out laughing, after the VP had left, of course. Needless to say, I became wiser that day onwards.

What I like about teaching these young minds is not limited to just the text book stuff. If I may include Miss Wormwood's concise teacher definition, "It's not enough that we have to be disciplinarians. Now we need to be psychologists." Well... almost...

When you're dealing with 300 students, you need to come out of your perfect-world and accept that some students need attention, encouragement, even love while a few others may simply require the scolding of their lifetime. I've encountered the most intelligent students, with a sad drawback of not being able to communicate in English. Then there are ones who get by without the least bit of studying and instead concentrate on getting into trouble maybe because they "hate" their parents. Some are plain dunces who will desperately attempt with all they got but wont make it through their first year.

We have sportsmen who will sacrifice their sessional tests for the upcoming cricket match; then there are these shy, quiet students who will take the last seat and never look up from their desk. There are boyfriends & girlfriends who will stay joined at the hips in each class; while some are so irritating that I have to tell them to shut up and not ask a 100 irrelevant questions or else...

There are students who will always bunk their classes & fall short of attendance (who actually remind me of my days in college!) There are class clowns who are sometimes too funny for their own good; some students are born leaders, teachers' pet, groupies, politicians, stalkers even! Each of them as different and unique from the other.

I am happy imparting education, not only professionally but also in terms of doing the right thing - morally & socially. One of my favourite alternate lecture is to tell students not to litter the environment and to make sure they put garbage in bins and not fly it in the campus. Another stress is to make sure they discard their Hindi, Nepali, Telegu, Punjabi and speak in English. Period.

Its an uphill task sometimes and the young mind may not take the enforcements too well in their stride but what makes up for that is my ex-students coming back to visit me, call me up or email me about how well they're doing and that they miss the college. I miss them all too.

In the meantime, all I can do is sing, "We dont need no education" along with my students during one of their numerous talent shows and get ragged during Teacher's Day. I think this year I may finally have to dance for them.

Mutual Admiration Society Inc.

A dear friend of mine & me have formed this Mutual Admiration Society where we appreciate the little details of each other lives. As pathetic as it may sound, it actually isnt... Since we're the only two members, its pointedly clear that we're not looking for attention from every Toni, Diana or Henrietta. Nor are we insecure enough to hunt around for compliments wherever possible, at least not conciously anyway!

These are the simple rules of the club:

When A cooks, B has to include words like "Yumm" & "Wow madam, this tastes fantastic!" in the conversation.

If A puts on a new dress, lipstick, hairstyle or perfume, B has to notice them and inquire where she got it from, how much it cost and generally appreciate the new purchases.

Whenever both visit each other's house, they will admire the cleanliness, arrangement & layout, never mind even if its the cleaning lady to whom the compliment should go to.

I appreciate the club because like any normal female, I love the compliments given to me. It makes me pleased to be told how nice your living room looks and oh wow! where did you get those lovely curtains from? Or a simple you look lovely today. Add, did you cut your hair? I adore it and it makes you look younger... & I'm good to go.

We both have been in this club for 4 years now. Its nice to be appreciated. Case in point - recently we both played a game of scrabble after one year. Unbelievably, I won and she crowned me Scrabble Champion of 2006. Now thats what I'm talking about!

So any good news yet?

This Q seems to always find me no matter where I turn.

So okay 3 & 1/2 years is a long time and yeah, I'm pushing 28.

Yup, most of my friends currently are mommys while I am yet to walk the walk.

Marriage after 6 short months of whirlwind courtship obviously led to some wild speculations.

"Two words - knocked up. Why else all this hurry? Snicker snicker"

Fast forward to the present. I'll take a guess at the gossip...

"Maybe she's barren, tch tch, poor thing"

Profound sense of irony is something I find less irritating, more humourous. Never a dull moment :) And for possible speculations, I'd like to borrow Rhett's line, frankly my dear, I dont give a damn.

The M word

For some weird reason, I hate it when people address me as Mrs. Dorjee. Its strange that once a female is married, people clamour to associate them with this dreaded word. Its like a cattle brand, right on my forehead, automatically to be used just in case I suddenly dare to take a U-turn and do an uncharacteristic non-Mrs. thing!

Men have it so easy, they're Mr. before and after marriage. No tell tale signs of being hitched, except maybe one of the Lord-of-the-Rings' golden band, that too mandatory only in one religion. I made my hubby a nice ring and make sure he wears it all the time...

I dont think of this condition as being insecure, crazy or simply wishing to be single once again. And my marriage is perfectly fine, thank you. I'm just raving and ranting about my dislike for the M word. The people in my office are sweetly aware of this fact and have been advised to call me Ms Dorjee if they do want to address me officially.

And also, I have retained my maiden name. Not much consolation but my long middle name, so bestowed upon in the rememberance of my mum is still intact, whether I'm Mrs or Ms. You can imagine my amusement when strangers blabber on, "Hi, Mrs Dorjee, how is Mr Dorjee?" I then enquire if they're asking about my brother.

My dog & me

Last winter, a long-dormant desire to own a pup surfaced big time that led me to beg, cry, throw a tantrum solely for the benefit of my husband, that made him ultimately cave in and we ended up being a happy, even if reluctant owner of a 2 month yellow labrador, christened Winkie Poo. What circus both of us had to do to bring her all the way from Bangalore to Sikkim...

Winkie's now 5 and a half months old and she's eaten her way through countless shoes, stuffed toys, couch cushions, my precious books and more recently, my glasses leaving me blind for the morning and unable to go to work, not to mention making my purse lighter as I left the optician's place paying for my new glasses.

Other "less" damages, at least not money-wise is losing her bladder control in the house, even after taking her out for the designated walk when she's supposed to do her dirty business... My living room smells like a public toilet and I'm ashamed to let people inside my house.

I remember nodding along when her previous owner talked about participating Winkie in dog shows when she gets older,"just like her mum." Ha ha! The only commands my pup knows is COME! (when her dinner's ready) and SIT!. That too, only after I go, Sit Winkie, sit sit sit sit sit, why the hell wont you sit!!!

Its a tough life but something I voluntarily called upon myself, I know. I suppose the only silver lining I can recount about all this is when I get back home after a long day and she's so excited to see me, it makes me wonder if I am indeed that special after all! Thats when I relax and once again be happy about being a dog owner, that is, until the next shoe sacrifice...

The Calicut Experience

A period of my life stands unmistakably lucid in my memory. It was the summer of 1997 that I enrolled in REC Calicut for four years of harrowingly memorable college. To be fair enough, there were good things and there were an equal number of bad things. Good or bad, all one could do at that point of time was take things in one's stride and face it with a grin.

First came the language factor. Its not a pleasant experience being the only North Eastern girl in a bunch of malayalis in the hostel and not understanding a word being jabbered about. The endless streams of Malayalam got exchanged back and forth, while we poor minorities from the northern part of the country looked at each other's faces and rolled our eyes! But all that became history when I met my best friend Anju. She's the sweetest girl in the whole wide world, my teacher through 4 years of college to whom I truly owe my degree. She taught me the basics of the language. Then came much needed help in the form of mess chechis. (Chechi = elder sister) Slowly and steadily, I learnt the language and was soon the newest sensation in the hostel, the college and pretty much the town. I became this chinky female from God only knows where, who suddenly understands Malayalam and speaks it too. It was truly one of the finest moments of my life...

The college was just like any other semi-urban one, boys dominating the population and fighting over which girl would have the good fortune to be their girlfriend. Evening trips to the Happy Valley and Sorrow Valley (a.k.a. the Couples Valley) ensured constant romance in full bloom. Rumours spread faster even than wildfire and sometimes I think the general populace got wind of probable link ups even faster than the two main people concerned!

The problem with these romances was that unfortunately the profs' houses used to line the Valley to Hostel route. Those dirty old geezers used to give us even dirtier looks as if to say wait- till-the-sessionals-come, you-people-are-in-hot-soup. But being the typical rebel, I usually gave a damn. Looking back makes me wonder how it was I ever passed their tests, esp that horrid, cranky old Fluid Mechanics prof who had made me his pet peeve.

I almost wish I didnt have to mention the grossest part of the 4 years... But like life, Calicut also has its dark side, without which the story shall remain incomplete. The college was a good one hour bus journey from the city. A mere 7 bucks was the fare, although the crowded buses rarely were empty. An interesting concept prevalent down south is the "ladies seat" at the front of the bus. Even then, some male would invariably have parked his butt there and it was always a pleasure to see sharp ladies deliver their comeuppance and eject them out from the privileged seat!

More often than not, these buses used to commute perverts and creeps, who'se fave pass time was to feel up girls. This trait was not only isolated to buses but the main city, walking amidst crowded frustated men... still sends a shiver up my spine. I recollect a belligerent moment of slapping a creep in a crowded bus plus delivering the choicest of Malli gaalis I could possibly think of, that I'm sure left him wondering if he'd felt up the wrong girl... I'd also like to take this moment to publicly enlighten the Kerala government that your ladies seat still doesnt guarantee safety of the women occupying them!

Calicut was my home for 4 years. In this short duration, I inculcated a love for malayali food, some of which I still make in my home and I must say have a new found respect for the multi-talented coconut. I love the beautiful backwaters, the spectacular beaches and also learnt to live with the hot, humid weather. It was a 4 years well spent and all my learning experiences has made me what I am today. So no regrets whatsoever....never did that, never will either. Since I'm all grown up now, I'm truly less in denial now than before. I'd say it was a time well spent, a life lived to the fullest and will blessedly continue till I live. Cheers!

A bitter sweet thing called friendship

Sometimes the past comes back with a vengance to bite you in the you-know-where. Im 27 years old and its indeed been a decade since I was a gawky, akward, all-knowing teenager, roaming fearlessly around the streets with my friends. What friendships we had around that time. We thought we were invincible and everything we did showcased that... Be it taunting the tution teacher to defiantly walking out of the class just to show that we dont need no education! I experimented with my first lipstick around the same time, bleached my hair to a ghastly bright yellow, wore what I thought were fashionable rags, only now to realize that they were not really fashionable but merely rags and now that I think about it, makes me want to crawl under a rock everytime I meet old acquaintances.

Fast forward to the present. I met up with my best bud this week who had come home for the holidays. Two of us went for a long drive up the hills, singing old Manila Sotang songs. When we reached our destination, the cold winds were raising a havoc already and we took a lotta pics with our hair flying awry and all. The day got over in a few minutes and it was already time to go back home. How I wished that time would never pass...

These days, when I talk to my old friends about days gone by, I'm filled with a strange sense of bittersweet emotions...maybe its the feeling that those good old days are gone and wont come back, maybe its the incredible sense of If Only I could have those moments once again. Reliving all those memories is a painful tug of the heart, a stab of missing the golden years.

But then again, something tells me that we just think and long for something cause its already gone by. What we dont realize is that even the present going on right now will be a past some day and I'd better live it up and make it as memorable as possible! Thats when a light goes on in my head and I start feeling better about everything and concentrate on living a better life, even if its just for the sake of having better memories, who knows?

Then slowly the bittersweet emotions subside and there emerges a new never-say-die attitude that tells me to live like there's no tomorrow....and thats what I hope to do.

P.S. Shaliya, my love....a thousand thanks for inducting me into this blog thing. Cant tell you how stress-busting this is turning out to be!