You dared, you failed

Yes, we are not silent, but loud

We are obnoxiously rich and proud

We are shameless flaunting our prosperity

Not in richness and baubles, but integrity

You came through our shores,

We did not stop you then

For there are many who come so

We'd rather not prejudge them

You betrayed our trust, transgressed our boundaries

Hurt, maimed and yes…killed our brothers

We know not what you want, what you desire

We would like to know the cause of your ire

But fear we shall not, as we never knew trepidation

Your shenanigans budge us not an inch

There is nothing we desire more than peace

But we shall not lose sleep worrying

You dared many times to breach our strongholds

You think you have succeeded

But look at our faces, our resolve, and our demeanor

Do you really dare celebrate?

For your greater target lies unachieved

As it always shall be, for our heads will never droop

We believe in rights, privacy and fun

You took none of that away

We are not those who believe

In ruining life in fear of death

You can try and try again

We shall not blink as you can see

But let me also say in return

That we are not as passive as we might appear

The day we know what it is you are

We shall obliterate you with no trace

To leave a clue that you existed

Until that day, live with knowledge that

You've done nothing to shake us

I love my city to no end. This is a tribute to Mumbai and her amazing resilience.

To all Mumbaikars, it's time we declared just how valuable she is to us.

Weird events

Here is a list of weird things that happen or have happened in my life, which might overlap with some of the events in your lives too.

• I went to the restroom in the college library that day to wash my hands and face as I was working tirelessly on this term paper (which means I was watching youtube and chatting while on invisible mode). I was scrupulously washing my hands and was done drying them when the urge for a constitutional came over me and I went into one of the booths. The other occupants of the restroom looked at me as though I was the poster boy for OCD who washes his hands before the act.
  
• This happens to me too many times. I am waiting for someone, and I look at my watch for no reason really. The next moment, someone asks me the time, and I need to look again!
  
• I have nice interesting conversations with pretty girls which peak with them telling me that my shoelaces are untied. The sad part then is that I never then find a low stump to rest my foot on whilst tying the lace (Murphy is my constant companion), so I need to go the full monty, bend all the way and tie them up, by which time any girl would excuse herself from the conversation.
  
• Waking up early is that much easier when you have nothing to wake up for.
  
• Dreams seem to become less Sooraj Barjatya and more Alfred Hitchcock every night. (That is a comfort, trust me)
  
• Eating food has become one of the events to look forward to these days
  
• An ex-roommate of mine once stared philosophically at a roll of toilet paper and said, "This is one of the added expenses in the USA, which we never had in India"
  
• I saw this girl I knew while walking down the street. I did not know what magnitude of smile intensity would be considered appropriate. What if she gives me a small smile merely acknowledging my existence while I floor her with 32/32 teeth. She will consider me a creep. However, if I give her the dignified smile and she flashes the pearly gates, I look like a snob. Also, I lose any chance of another of those smiles. I took the conservative route, and gave a small nondescript smile. Would you believe it, she gave me one of the sweetest, broadest smiles ever, and now I feel like an idiot. (Damn that Murphy never takes a break!)
  
• I felt very good one day. I had purchased a packet of bite sized peeled carrots. Great! Now I could guiltlessly munch on these during those long movies etc. Before I realized it, I was having those lovely red denizens of fitness Elysium with potato chips and mountain dew!
  
• I went into this quaint pub near Kew gardens with a buddy, and ordered an Absolut vodka straight up. The bartender was impressed as she asked, "Straight up? No ice?" I said, "No ice!" and pondered that for one moment in my life, I actually looked macho. Then she shattered it with, "May I see your ID please?"
  
• There are many more like these, but they probably make for duller reading than the above.
  

Quirks & peccadilloes

To be very clear on this issue, I have not been tagged by anyone to write about my quirks. Seeing as everyone in the blogosphere is writing about these, and that I have some really weird quirks of my own, I decided to write about them.

So here goes…

1. Good Mornings
   

   Mornings can be of two kinds for me, good and bad. Let me stop you right at the beginning if you're gonna say that that happens to everyone. My good mornings are ridiculously cheerful, and you would think that not only did I get up on the right side of bed that day, also that that bed was co-occupied by Angelina Jolie or something. I bid cheerful greetings to passers-by who are often irritated (that includes fellow students, lab mates, the Dunkin Donuts staffer…)
   

2. Bad mornings
   

   These are really bad, and I yell and snap at cheerful people (see above) who have the audacity to greet me. I say things I don't mean, and write things in blogs that I really feel.
   

3. Food
   

   I am a complete non-vegetarian, with some tendency to consume veggies now and then. When I eat something with meat in it, I eat all the other crap first, saving the meat for later. Then I wonder that why did I leave so much meat
   and no dressing to eat with it.
   

   When I eat M&M's or tic tacs, they have to be in even numbers, such that I put half on one side of the mouth and half on the other side.
   

   Until they enter my mouth, different food items on my plate can never touch each other.
   

   When I drink soda, the fizz has to remain till the last drop (difficult huh!) so keep closing the soda bottle after every gulp, each time tighter than the previous, and then I wince when I have to open it.
   

   Any coffee I drink has to be hot till the last drop, hence a microwave is indispensable when I have the large cuppas.
   

   I refuse to eat with chopsticks. No negotiation there.
   

4. Misc
   

   My wallet stays in my front pant pocket, no matter how suggestive the bulge becomes. It is the aftermath of years of travel in Bombay trains, and pick pocket paranoia, although now that I think about it, in Bombay my wallet never had more than Rs 20.
   

   I always always put on my left shoe first. (This, I think is common)
   

   
   

   This has barely scratched the surface. More later.

Tedious rants

People! Stop holding doors for other people! Even in crowded bustling New York City; it is insane how you manage to pump chivalry and politeness into such crammed workdays. It is one thing for you to expect me to hold the door open when you are right behind me, but if you're far away, you're on your own. One wonders what the limit is, beyond which the intensity of chivalry wanes. I like the 5-second rule. If you can get to the door in five seconds, I hold it open. The calculation of how soon you reach is mine only…non negotiable. Of course, if you are lagging, I suggest you buck up, although the energy wasted in the speed increase could be used to open the door…

The next person who tells me to have a nice day is getting the shraapam of his life. He is forewarned of boils in very private organs which will make small pox seem like a mosquito bite. When I reach the checkout counter of a grocery store, I will not ask you "How are ya?" Not because I'm rude, mainly because I don't give a tiny rat's ass. I mean that with sincerity and honesty; you know…the kind that you don't mean when you are asking me about my day, and then telling me to have a nice one. That applies to smiles too. Let's have fewer but more genuine smiles. And once in a while, let's see some frowns. We could all use some bad expressions. Kinda colors the day more.

If I sneeze, and you are right in front of me, and we are having a conversation, and you are done wiping yourself dry, I will excuse the bless you. All those who scream bless you from the other end of the car of the E train at Penn Station need to get a life. We could all use a little less blessing and little more reality…maybe some paper napkins too…

People hawking politicians can stop pretending to know their stuff now that Election Day will pass soon. It is so annoying to see people wanting to vote for Obama but not being able to name any legislative action he has taken as senator.

Women who are bad drivers, you have an added responsibility on you. Don't reinforce the stereotype that women cannot drive well! The majority of women who drive competently are continually judged because you usual suspects always come along and make people roll their eyes. Apologies to women everywhere for this rant.

Many more to come…