Okay. I'm done here.

Thank you, everyone!

I also judge

I'm an extremely judgemental person. Its pretty much an unconscious act for me, so these were just a few of things I judge that I'm AWARE of.. I'm pretty sure there are plenty more which I don't even realise..

I judge :

People who litter.

People who come to India/Kerala and act all amused/surprised because "Oh you can speak English so well"

People who misuse their mobile phones - includes speaking while driving , texting while someone is talking to you, not switching it off/setting it to silent while in church/theatre/during a talk EVEN after its rung once and you KNOW its not switched off/on silent.

People who I meet for the first time asking me my 'caste'. I don't know and how does it matter ? And if its someone who knows me who asks, then its more often than not , out of curiosity.

And I also judge myself for judging people who don't think the way I do...

I'm on the other side now.

Besides all the re-studying (and this time more thoroughly) and the daunting prospect of facing a class of 50+ students , being a teacher can be quite a toughie..
For one, you can no longer bitch about some students to other students. Which is something that comes naturally to me.
Two, you can't bitch about teachers to the students .. Obviously not.
And three, I don't think you can bitch about students to teachers. Okay, so I can discuss performance and wonder why student X has done so badly. But that'll have to stop at that. I can't discuss my various conjectures like girlfriend issues and questions like what-does-he-see-in-her-anyway-?

All that requires a lot of self restraint and discipline. They really should pay me more..

I judge

I judge people who don't think I'm perfect...


...EVIL EVIL LAUGH ENSUES....

I'm-Proud-Of tag

Broom, I owe you an apology. This took way too much time and I couldn't even think of 8 things I'm proud . But the 5 that I did think of, I'm super proud of. I think I'll come back to this late if I ever do think of more things. I know there are more things I should be proud of....

Here goes.

Appa , for everything that he is. He's incredibly intelligent, very very straightforward and very very funny.

Amma , for her strength, for being able to keep her cool at all times, her energy and enthusiasm, her genuine-ness and her amazing cooking skills.

My brother. Just writing this, gets me all choked up and teary-eyed and happy. AA is every sister's dream come true..

My dad's sister O - She lost her husband very early in her marriage, was a single mom and had to stay with very nasty parents-in-law and even nastier sister-in-law. She ran a huge crumbling tharavad all on her own, managed the family property , dealt with scum-of-the-earth dealers and real estate agents and made sure that NO ONE messed with her. She's an incredibly strong woman, extremely straightforward , proud and yet humble. AND she's funny, loves to tell stories and has the most whole-hearted laugh I've ever heard .

My grandmother, my mother's mother - If I could be half, even one-tenth the woman that she was , I'd be happy. After she passed away, my mom used to have complete strangers come up to her and speak so fondly about Ammachi and how she helped them out.



AND I'm tagging myself with Broom's latest tag .... :)

This was home

Some of you must be squirming seeing that unholy mess. I can assure you that there is nothing that moves in there. I grew quite fond of that messy room. This photo was taken at the end of what was a very busy week at work, so right after this, I would have gotten down to cleaning up the place..

For a year, this was home. I'll always remember this place fondly. I think I grew up quite a bit the one year I was here. Packing up was quite a task. Amma came over to help out, though it did put me in quite a spot number of times.

She found a matchbox in my old handbag.. 'What's this for? Cigarettes?'

A neat round burn mark left by cigarette, on counterpane, bed sheet and all the way through to the mattress. No questions asked on this one..

And when I was emptying the drawers, I find this small stash of weed, in a little plastic cover with some rolling paper. Leftovers from a long time back. Thankfully, Amma wasn't around. I couldn't bear to throw it away , so I stuffed it into a little perfume box and packed it away. And for the first time ever and probably the last, my parents, me and weed are all in the same room in Kottayam... Not for too long though !