BEING A "LEFTY"

I don't really know when or who first asked the question, "you write and eat with your left hand?". all i know is that i've always been writing, am writing and will be writing with my left hand (unless i break my left hand somehow). my family has accepted me as normal, while my friends in school thought it was totally cool to be a left-hander. there were a few teachers and relatives who thought that i was just being totally fussy and stubborn and that i could've learnt to write with the "proper" hand if i tried. when questioned (when just a kid), i used to feel awkward and look at mum (if she's around). mum would calmly explain that there's nothing wrong in writing with the left hand, and that there are many cases in which people happened to be a left hander... (complete explanation with scientific proof and all). once school was over and i was to settle in the hostel, i vaguely wondered what people there would think. my first meal experience wasn't pleasant. when i sat down with my plate and started to eat(trust me, i felt like i was condemned to the central prison), a few girls noticed something was seriously odd about me (i guess they couldn't point out the oddity right away because i was a completely weird person by nature). after a few silent moments (during which i was trying to eat peacefully and not worry about the futur), one of them says, " you are eating with your left hand!", with an expression that conveyed the message-yew!disgusting! i remember turning all red like a tomato and thanking the heavens above that the lighting system in the hostel is not so good (only later did i know that there were enough tube-lights to brighten up the mess hall, but we are allowed to switch on only 2 of them to save electricity). as all heads turn to me, i act as if i don't care and say casually that there is nothing wrong in being a lefty while inside, i felt like strangling the girl by her throat. inspite of my own stubborness, i eventually learnt how to eat with my right hand (i haven't reached perfection, though...i shove the food inside with my right hand, the way a tractor would shove mud), simply to avoid questions like, "but why do you eat with the left hand when everyone else eats with their right?"....."hhmmm, so does that mean you clean your butt with the right hand?"...."are you a lefty so that people will think you are cool?"..."okay, so that means the right side of your brain works more, huh?"...etc...

there are times when i get totally confused about which hand is which and eat with my left. but now,it does not disturb me anymore when people ask(trust me, most of them are sooooo narrow-minded) because i've reached a stage in which i have a vague idea of what i want to be one day,...and being a righty is not in the list.

THE USES OF NEEM

for months i've been living in every girl's nightmare -the horrors of living with a great infestation of hair-lice. these horrid insects won't simply get off me. what makes matters worse is the fact that my hair has the right environment needed for lice to breed rapidly (at times i go... scratch! scratch! scratch!). so finally, when i came back home after college was done with, one of the first resolutions that my mum made (for me...mum's always doing good things for my sake) was to totally eradicate all those crawling pests in her poor baby's head. i gave in, ofcourse. even i was eager to lead a free life again. but the price i had to pay for it was big. mum got to know from an aunty that neem is good for eradicating lice. putting that tip into practice, would mean to make a paste out of the neem leaves and then apply it on the head for atleast half an hour. since mum knew that walking around with green gooey stuff on my head for half an hour is simply not practical in my case, ("it'll drip down and make the entire place dirty?") she compromised on making me have a hair-bath with it every morning(as in, using the neem leaves' paste as a shampoo). we tried it, and it worked. soon the lice and it's eggs started decreasing in number and it reduced so much that it was difficult to even find one. mum became euphoric when she found how effective neem was and she told it to everybody she interacted with. "all's well that ends well", one would say. but it does not end there....

it so happened that last week i read in the weekend magazine about the different uses of neem, it's importance in ayurvedic medicine and the like. it seems neem is good for the stomach, for mouth hygiene, the skin, the hair,etc....(you wouldn't believe the big list of advantages). i tore off the 4paged article and gave it to mum for keeping (mum beamed at it, the way a child would if a stuffed xmas pappa gave him a present). a few days later, i unconsciously scratch my head while deep in thought and my mum's sharp eyes notes it.

mum: you are scratching your head again.

me: huh?....yea, i was just thinking...you know...scratching my head while deep in thought...to keep my brains working...

mum(doesn't listen to my explanation): i was thinking...maybe you should apply neem on your hair for a few more days, just in case it comes back...we should make sure we've completely eradicated it.

i gloomily look at her realising that she might be right (as always) and at the same time feeling lazy to go through the ritual again. the next day, i wake up to a chirpy morning and go to the kitchen where i catch my mum red-handed munching on neem leaves ("mmmmph...guoof for da fomacch....mmmmfmph"). while munching on the leaves she hands me a bowl with "neem shampoo". i go for the bath and i'm soon covered with green, slimy,gooey stuff, feeling very much like "swamp- thing".

RICKETY- CRICK, RICKETY- CRICK
comb your hair girl!
it'll make you look more like a girl
more neat, like a girl could
more pretty, the way a girl should
more graceful, the way a girl would
comb your hair girl!
RICKETY-CRICK, RICKETY-CRICK

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do not indulge too much in beauty magazines... it'll make you feel ugly.....

living with psychotics and neurotics(part 5)

i never knew what a mime was until i joined college. it all started when the 1st years were asked to perform atleast any one item on stage. while i (a 1st year then) was going through the list of items....dance(i'd most probably be trying desperately to co-ordinate all my body parts at once and not succeed)....music(hmmm, naaa...i just know the basics of the piano....sing a song?ok, provided someone agrees to sing an english one with me)....drama(i'd have to wear a mask to hide the stupid smirk on my face whenever i pronounce malayalam words the wrong way)....kathakali(whatever that is!)....etc....MIME! (what on earth is that!). well, as time was falling short and i had to figure out some way of getting on stage and flourishing some kind of talent (and not embarassing myself at the same time) i started to panic. i remember feeling so left out. it wasn't like this in school...i was totally myself and had no trouble fitting in or being involved, before....but then, that was school and in a totally different country, things are different...

a classmate of mine(a girl who likes bossing people around...she's got a sweet element in her though) walks upto me and asks me if i'm willing to join her. we go around and collect all the girls in our class who aren't involved in any of the items and form a group. i look around and say, "great! now what do we do?".

want to know what happened next?....we went around trying to find out what exactly a mime is, tried to figure out the rules, scratched our heads for a theme, jotted down the role of each character in it, did a little of co-ordination control, and voilà!....we had a mime presentation ready.but we hadn't overcome the greatest challenge - making the audience understand the message we wish to convey. some of our caring friends agreed to sit through the 3mins presentation and comment on it and well,...they didn't understand a thing...

Note: for those wondering what a mime is, here goes:

"acting using only gesture and action: a style of performance in which people act out situations or portray characters using only gestures, facial expressions, and actions. In the popular imagination, mimes are thought of as having a uniform costume that includes black and white horizontal striped clothes, suspenders, a formal black top hat or beret, formal white gloves (to highlight the motions of the hands), and white face paint (similar to that used by a clown), with some accents in black. "

contd...

we tried on new expressions and actions and tried to introduce a little gymnasium into it(which didn't work because none of us had really elegant and flexible bodies) to make the damn thing more understandable. nothing seemed to work though. another fear that crept into me was whether i'd be confident enough to perform it on stage in front of an entire crowd(i've got stage fright)...what was worse, was the fact that i was the main character in each scene, and if i screwed it up, i'll be ruining the entire show, which means we'll be losing points, they'll blame the entire thing on me and.......aaaaaaaahhhhh...i'm in a MESS!. above all, i simply HATED MIME!!

finally, it was time for us to perform, i just closed my eyes, said a prayer, and entered the stage platform...and just did everything i was supposed to....and returned backstage gasping(everyone who performed with me were gasping too, i realised. we were the bunch of kids in class who had very little confidence in ourselves, then.) we got the first place for our presentation(we realised that the 1st years in the other classes were as clueless as us about what exactly a mime is)...

the rest is history....every mime show that came up, i was always involved....later, when i became a senior, i was always the in-charge....

i still don't like and am not interested in mime. i still don't know what the right actions are to be used and the right way to express it is. even now, it's the other people in the group who actually give innovative ideas...ideas more better than my own. but one thing is true. i'm less scared of walking on stage now and that was the first hurdle i had to pass to become more confident and to have faith in myself. i've also learnt a little in group dynamics and socialising from this experience...

and it was my parents' 27th wedding anniversary

when it comes to celebrating anything, my family sucks! be it a b'day or an anniversary or anything. we(pap, mum and myself) "celebrated" my parents' 27th wedding anniversary last friday(1st of june). on the 31st of may, we went out to have a look at our new flat and arrange a few things. by the time we were on our way to have dinner, it was already 11:30pm. since we always eat out on thursdays and fridays, we headed straight for a lebanese restaurant. while we were waiting for the food (i look around and try not to stare at the others....my God!...what gluttons!) my watch makes a beep sound and i realise that it's midnight. "hey, it's pap and mum's anniversary". pap looks the other side and chooses to act like as if he didn't hear what i just said, while, mum gives a nervous laugh (she tried to do what pap did, but i guess she didn't because it would've looked odd since i had barked the flash news at her). when the silence thickens, and we start feeling awkward, mum asks pap, "what do you think of the orgin of the lebanese people?", to which pap and i promptly replies, "they come from lebanon ofcourse!"...

Mum (sniffs indignantly looking at pap): that's not what i meant. you didn't understand my question...

Pap(scrathing his head, acting confused): i'll understand only if you explain.

Mum: i mean, are they the descendants of abraham or...

Pap: don't know whether they are the descendants of abraham or sunny, or jacky or anything..

(for those who don't know pap, pap has a limited knowledge of the bible...like me)

blah, blah, blah.......they argue...and argue...and argue (an argument fit enough to be presented in the court).

i sit back and wonder how pap and mum ever romance...i mean, all these years i looked at them as my parents and not as a man and woman committed to love each other till death. i sigh, because nobody in our family seems to be romantic or anything. all five of us are stiff and rigid when it comes to expressing soft emotions.....

the next day(2nd of june)....

i am online and my big sis pops up(online). i say hi and everything and we decide to speak through the headphones. while i try to settle down my sis "calls" me and i ignore it. after having settled, i "call" her back and we talk.....

while checking my mail the same day, i see a voice mail sent to me by my sis and i curiously open it.....the next 4 mins were moments of revelation!...i realised that when my sis was waiting for me to settle down, she had a small conversation with her husband...and by mistake recorded it and sent it to me as a voice mail (again by mistake)....i grin to myself, and realise that we do belong to the romantic species afterall....it's just that we're all shy to express ourselves...

WELCOME TO tHE WORLD OF FANTASY(part 3)

for all those freaky girls who like to fight and prove themselves!! check out this video...it's simply cool!....mulan's a cute and cool role model....go girl!!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSS5dEeMX64&mode=related&search=

living with psychotics and neurotics(part 4)

It's actually very easy to be a hero. all you have to do is to be in the right place at the right time. i remember once when i was simply lazing around in bed (my favourite idling spot) after dinner and passing idle comments while the rest of them were sitting nearby and talking about the latest gossips of who's going out with whom, and the like, the lights suddenly go off. while all of us curse and say that we were actually planning to study after a few minutes, we suddenly remember that amuru (who's very scared of the dark and yea, who likes imitating the way people walk) wasn't with us. we roar with laughter at first, but then when time passes and there is no sign of her, we start to get worried....i get down from my bed and go in search of her in the dark (couldn't find a torch or candle...not a wonder, considering how messy our room is always!). i start walking fast (now that's a secret,.....i'm scared of the dark myself) and bump into something (oh my God!!! i promise i'll do whatever you want me to do.....please don't let it be a ghost lurking in the dark waiting for it's first victim!). i understand that it's amuru herself! she sobs into my arms and i say, "hey, what are you scared of!! there's certainly no ghost here!! haha...amuru...don't tell me you are scared....!!"

to which, she replies, "not funny, i was all alone here when the lights went off, all alone....sob!....all alone...until you came....sob!.....thanks....sob!".

i roll my eyeballs and i say,"open your eyes you idiot!" and i slowly guide her to my room where the rest of them were waiting. the lights come back and everyone exclaims, "oh!"(amuru still has her eyes shut, and asks, "did the current come back?). when amuru finally opens her eyes she gives me the "mmmyyyyyy-herooooo" look.....

when it was finally time for all of us to part, amuru promises me that she'll remember me everytime there are current cuts at her place (which is always) and that she'll try to be braver....

well, you see....right place, right time...

you can apply it in your love-life too...... for those yearning to win the heart of a hunk or a damsel in distress, just look out for the right place and right time.....and for God's sake, do the right thing too....

P.S.-we didn't even touch our books that day....