“A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous.”
Coco Chanel 

Pretty Girls

I like looking at pretty existence in any form.
Girls even more.
Its so pleasant to look at a girl so fair.

www.seecreatures.com

Baiz

I like it when guys get past the fugly pencil moustache stage from their adolescence, and move on to the next - shaved, rugged. Makes them look so much more sane.

Actually its more than just the moustache.
Stage One - Their sense of dressing, their VOICE, their attitude towards the female sex, their lameness. Haha, makes them what they are. I have loved growing up with these fools. They gave me my taste for lameness (I LOVE lame btw, brings a lot of joy once you enjoy it). Their innocence (though not in all areas, mind you) when dealing with things. Girls are slightly annoying that way. They also grew up faster like you and hence they know what you mean or what you are up to. These guys - simple, plain and right there.

All these things change one day.
Stage Two - I am still not sure if its over a period of time, or just overnight coz I have too many reasons to believe its overnight. They become men. They start to dress up, shave, talk normally and take responsibilities. They are suddenly more careful, CLEAN and neat.

Pigs (brother) is still in Stage One. I am missing being around him and watch him transform. Hopefully he'll join me at uni and let me be there for him.

And ALL these other fools. Some of them have moved on to Stage Two, while some others are still figuring Stage One out. You guys are fun, no matter what! Heres for every joke that was made, every mokkae that was put, every smile that was smiled, every hug that was given, and every word that was spoke.

Dunno why I feel so emo about my guy friends. Never mind, I still do. Lorries of love.

Hijab

I had this conversation with a friend sometime back. We argued about the hijab but did not spend much time on it.

Today, she sent me a video.



I have had this conversation with amma before, during those times we discuss whether I can wear revealing clothes. I always thought it was my right to do so. I want, so I do. She made me think. She asked me why I want to wear them. Am I in show business? Clearly not. Why else do I want to wear it? Is it for the sake of others? Do I care about what they think of me?

No, I do not care for what others think of my dressing. I need to look bright and colourful. Its for my own satisfaction. That being the criteria, why should it be revealing? Maybe I do not care whether its revealing. Maybe its just because I like the way that dress fits me, maybe the colour and there could be a million other reasons. What worried me is the fact that subconsciously I might be deciding on what I have seen others in; on what I thought looked good on others. And yes, that is true. Doesnt that include public opinion. Am I not in some twisted way caring about what others think of my dressing.

In trying to answer these questions, I also realized the presence of hijab. The hijab is a symbol that defies things the world seems to be working towards. Women, fashion, cosmetics, magazines, models. They all seem to vanish in front of a woman who wears her hijab. I am my own, why do I have to exhibit myself to the world. In my opinion, wearing a hijab is just a symbol of the way you think. Its a symbol of self-respect.

When I argue inside, I have come up with two contradictory theories. Haven't we assumed men to be forcing the women into hijabs? Nevertheless, isn't this a male-dominated world which is striving to get you out of it? Debatable.

Some might wear it for religion and some might wear out of situation. I am unable to think of a rational situation where I might have to wear a hijab. However, if that does happens, I know I will be ready to wear one. Till then, I salute the women around the world who've had the courage to take this step. You are my inspiration.

Window shopping

These past few days have been a pleasure to my eye. I have been going around with my mom and buying stuff for the coming up 4-month hitch in NUS. Somehow, I can view it as only that. I wonder if its unfortunately or not. It doesnt feel home-ish there, not close. Home also does not feel as home-ish as it used to be, but definitely better then NUS.

Getting back to the issue. I have always loved shopping, from what I can remember of it. From the times my parents picked up stuff for me till now. Buying what you buy is not so much the same as trying on stuff you can surely not afford. This applies especially in singapore malls with my student budget. Although I have to say, I am one of those people who gets extremely conscious of that store assistant who starts staring at you when you take clothes inside the change room. SO best option, ogle. Ogle all you want at those clothes. Helps me get into a cheerful mood. ALWAYS. If you dont have time for taking that bus to vivo, laptops are there to save you.

Its probably in fact that its new, I believe girls like new things. Whatever it maybe. Its probably that it looks great on that mannequin. Its probably the colours. Its probably the smell. Window shopping ftw.

Rush

Science Expo

-- is a tradition that takes place in my High school. Once in every two years we would have exhibitions of anything and everything you can think of pertaining to science. All the students, science ones mainly would come together and display exhibits and models of real-life phenomena. Being the nerd that I once was, I was always part of this expo right from class 3 till 11. I used to love those two days. Science expo means -- talking about your model for two whole days, lots of junk food and running around with your girlfriends visiting other friends-their models.

Only in the last science expo I participated, did it mean one more thing. All those years, there used to be chief guests who came for the expo. A typical chief guest would be from one of the science and technology institutions in the city. They would walk around one or two floors, omit the two others and leave. Technically they were the highlights of the day, but never in reality.

Our chief guest for the last year was Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam. My correspondent is a lady with a lot of connections. And she got him to visit our expo that year. I was never a fan of rocket science. I was never a fan of Dr. Kalam. Yet something in me jumped with joy at the thought of getting to see him up and close. He visited the exhibitions and then proceeded to the auditorium to talk to us for a short discourse. We were all gathered in the auditorium, waiting for him to come. He walked up on stage and everyone was jumping to take a look. And when I could finally spot him, I was overcome with emotion. I still don't understand why. It could have been that he was an ex-president or that he was a man of achievement or that I have never seen anyone so important in my entire life. He spoke about life and education, he spoke about 'happy'ness and success. Completely inspiring thoughts. He left in less than half an hour, but I stayed with that impact for a day or two. Unforgettable.

Musings

What if this rain cloud that poses such a threat
is really just a part of You that you haven't met?

From 'What If' by Kirtana.

How I found that pencil end.

It was a frustrating quiz monday. I wore my jacket and pushed a mechanical pencil in its pocket, just to have one handy. The dreadful quiz was over in an hour and I came back to my room in PGP to drop some things off before leaving for a meeting in YIH. And when I was walking back to the bus stop, near the foyer I heard this click sound. I looked around and realized I for got to remove my pencil form the jacket pocket. The bottom screw got off the pencil, and rolled off somewhere. I was already in a hurry so I took a swift glance around and told the screw I would be back to find him.

I came late in the night and suddenly near the foyer again I remembered what happened in the morning. I looked around, in a desperate attempt to find my screw. I knew it was impossible to locate a 1 cm long transparent thing. But I continued to wish for finding it. I was still looking everywhere walking as though in a trance, across the length of the foyer. I take the next step and guess what, I stamped on the screw! My mouth went into my biggest grin and with all the glee in the world I held my screw as I walked back to my room!

I LOVE it when stuff like this happens to me. Wanting some small thing SO badly, that the entire universe conspires to give it to you. It is true. That screw could have been stamped by a hundred people in the duration of 6-7 hours. It still decided to lie there and get under my foot. Brilliant. Its things like this that give me hope, lots of it -- That what I want from the bottom of my heart is always mine :)

Heres to hope and love.

So true

“When god wants to drive a person insane, he grants that persons every wish.”

- The Valkyries, Paulo Coelho

The gender of numbers

I have always associated numbers with Gender! Haha, many whom I confessed to found this creepy and weird. But I have, and still do. I cant even remember when it started. Just a few days back, I was telling some friends so and they asked me if I was dyslexic! :O

I am pretty sure I am not. Anyway, I decided to google this phenomenon -- to see if it was common with people or to confirm my doubt of being an alien. Thankfully, it IS common. Quite a number of people have made this confession on blogs. I guess I am human after all. :)

Here goes the list:

1 -- A young smart boy.
2 -- A cute little girl.
3 -- A woman of 35.
4 -- A man of 40.
5 -- A old man.
6 -- A woman of 45.
7 -- A handsome guy.
8 -- A mother.
9 -- A beautiful girl.
10 -- A father.

Not too nice

 “A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, or to others, is not a nice person” (Barry, 1999, p.177).


“Watch out for people who have a situational value system, who can turn the charm on and off depending on the status of the person they are interacting with…Be especially wary of those who are rude to people perceived to be in subordinate roles.” (Bill Swanson, former CEO Raytheon)


Very situational, right now. How I wish some people got this and judge. 

I dont like Waterfalls

Do I like WaterFalls?

I have contemplated over this question whenever I see one. I haven't been to the greatest Waterfalls in the world. Just seen small ones in parts of India. I have seen pictures though, loads of them. Of a lot of waterfalls in the world. And every time I see one, I cringe and go, 'Yeah sure'. I find them fake and ugly. Like wanna-bes you spot everyday. To me they pretend to be a natural 'beauty', unconvincingly so.

I dont like Waterfalls. Weird.

Hi, Dhanya, Civil Engineer. Yeh.

I was reading Libba Bray's blog today. And her latest post is in reply to a readers doubt, whether to go with her passion and study art or to go with her dads wishes and become a English Teacher. And then I remembered how I went through the same phase last year, AFTER completing a year at the university.

I came to NUS as a common engg student. Pretty good option for a fickle-minded bitch like me. I read every branch's subject. And this is what I realize one night at the end of second sem. That I CANT sit with engg for another three years. I spoke to my parents that second and convinced them of my intentions. My parents are very accommodating people. They have their principles, but when I want to break them they dont stop me. And so they agreed. I applied for change of faculty to School of Design and Environment. This was followed by research on the Arch programme here. I spoke to every person I knew, who could help me out with my decision. There was a night of confessions and loads of crying in between (lol), which was partly woven with some other trouble. I realized I had to spend another 5 years studying here. I thought about the money involved with something like that. And at the end of all the drama, I had made my decision.

I am a Civil Engineering student.

Even now there are times I wonder what would have happened if I chose to go with the change. For some back-story here, I applied for Architecture courses even before NUS happened, at home. I was always and is still passionate about design. Only, I decided to accept engineering. It is probably my destiny (Excuses, baby). I know my passion. I know I will go back to pursuing it for a serious career. I also know that I enjoy math, and sitting in engg classrooms for 4 years will change the way I think. And to that I am grateful.

Maybe it would have been cooler to tell people that I am an architect. 'I am a designer' will definitely sound cooler than that. Until then, I am just going to have to make Civil Engineering sound cooler. ;)

PS: Read the Yeh in title as Yes without the 's'. Get it? Yeh.

F(o)rum

I sat in the Forum after a very long time. I always love the breeze in this place. And its pretty lively also.

Unfortunately, some other people have started loving this place. I found the forum to be infested with people wanting you to fill-up forms and surveys for them, ones trying to sell you cookies and doughnuts, ones trying to raise money for youth projects and some others selling t-shirts. I don't think I'll sit here ever again on weekdays.

I have to say, I love the perseverance even after 8/10 reject them. Something to learn.

'Yappa Yatsu'

This one makes sense only to people who heard me say it. 'Yappa Yatsu'. A friend of mine has a close chinese friend who named him Yatsu. I am not even sure if I am pronouncing it right. But this name sounds imperatively funny to a Tamilian like me. I imagine this picture. My thatha (grandfather) sitting on his porch and telling his workers to go and check out the fields. And he says 'Yappa Yatsu, vayalla ellam suthama iruka pa?".

I HAVE to call my brother in the morning and let him know of this. 'Yappa Yatsu'.

PS: From the weird-and-crazy-at-night me. :)

Denigration

I hosted a Bharatanatyam show last week.

SO fancy right? Actually I did nothing. I talked for like ten minutes during the entire one hour show. It was a very successful show! We almost made it to a full house. Okay, enough of random facts.

I was wearing a saree for the show. I LOVE sarees, I LOVE dressing up. In fact, I want to make a career out of this louwe. So another opportunity for doing the same, excited me! I got dressed for the day and like any other girl would, I looked graceful in it. Many paid compliments, very small lovely ones. It felt nice, I smiled my usual smile in return. While this consisted of one kind of people, there were others, who came up to me and said things which were injected with a dash of insult in them. I smiled my fake smile, in return.

It got me thinking. Why do the second kind do what they do. What prompts them to do so. Are they so horrible that they want to come up to the person and make them feel bad. If they did feel that I looked bad, why bother taking the pains to come up to me and tell me so. Why not let me live in my bubble. The only feasible explanation is that they are malign.

These are usually the people who are the criticizers in a company. These souls love to come there and talk about the negative aspects of an idea, and how the idea would fail. Well, good in a way. They can criticize so effectively that the boss can make a decision!

Pretty random lah

I took an A2 to go to the engineering faculty, yesterday. I like taking the seat behind the driver. Simply because its easy to get out! Also, in the new buses you usually get to sit alone in that seat unless some really pushy girl comes and clings on to the rest of the space. And it was my lucky day yesterday. Just after me an old man got in. I have seen him before in engin. Really thin, carries a sling bag, and is almost always dreamy. 

This guy sat in the seat left to mine. He kept hand-signaling to people standing in the bus stops, asking them to wait. All those people were taken by a surprise and kept staring back at him. After three bus stop routines, I realized what he was doing. He meant to tell them that the bus was goign to stop for them and they should wait. Haha, a very obvious fact. Ofcourse the bus was going to stop. But in his very own mind, he was doing the people who were waiting a favour. He was assuring them that the bus would stop.

He kept himself occupied through out the journey by doing this. Made me jump into a thought-well about old age, how we and our actions might seem meaningless to the outside world, how i would look when I got old (this one is pretty annoying even though I have not given it much thought). And then it went on to a million other things. I'll probably find another day for that. 

How Rajni has become a fetish..

I was always (and still continue to do so) a Rajni fan. I love his screen presence, his style, his charisma, his ability to make anything he does awesome, his walk and his accent. He has amazed me from the day I have come to know him and recognize him. This being said, I dont worship him. I. Just. Simply. Dont. (dot)

Ah, and now coming to the hot subject of the day. I watched the preview show of Enthiraan here, much to the envy of a lot of thalaivar fans back home. The preparations from my part for the release were not anything great. I chose a decent picture of Rajni, in his Enthiraan-do. Me and a friend decided to put that picture up till we watched the movie. Thats all. And the day arrived! The movie was good, yes it was. But what I say is that, it was not Rajni's movie. It was Shankar's movie. It had effects, it had awesome costumes, a good cast, all kinds of technologies and a good picture. What I missed was Rajni's awesomeness, his usual stuff. He just dint come there and amaze me, except for like 10 minutes in the entire movie.

This is my opinion. And if you know Rajni, then you know the kind of attention I created by giving this out aloud. The crowd has given Rajni a cult status. You say you like him, then you say his movies were awesome. No matter what the truth stands to be. He has been idolized into a success frame. And like herd movements, everyone has decided to accept that. A whim has been taken that they will support his movie, against all odds.

Come to think of it, its nice and entertaining to argue with the truth-seekers that this movie was awesome. I tried. When the movie began, I was ready to hoot for his awesomeness. Disappointed as I was as the movie progressed, I still chose to pick a few moments and do the same. I tried to tell myself that the movie was good after it finished. I thought, I like Shankar, I LOVE Rajni, I LOVE Rahman(Oh, and dont even get me started on the songs in the movie. What WAS he thinking! :O). When I love all these people, why could I just not be fine - normal and like the movie. But no, like I said, It was not a Rajni movie.

Have to get those extra kilos off..

I have recently signed an agreement with a friend, that I would workout/walk/jog for atleast half hour a day, for 4 days a week. And promised him that I would donate $2 if I fail to do the same. It seems to be working out so far.

This idea takes after a friend who does agreements for a lot of people. I realized Money can make you do a lot of things!

When that happens..

On the way from engin to PGP, a sudden enlightenment occurred.

When you realize you are something, you slowly start drifting away from that state.

This I found to be true for a lot of cases. When I realize that I am good at say listening to people, I start analysing the thought. And at some point, I start being conscious of it happening when it DOES. As a result, I try to change the case, unknowingly. This habit forms its effects gradually and I have come to see that over a long time I am no longer in possession of that quality. I am still debating if this is a good thing.

PS: Either this post made complete sense to you, or you think I am lame. haha.