HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH???

These holidays, I’ve realized that there is a very thin line between being hooked to something we like and simply over indulging in it to the point of being addicted. Trust me, sometimes when we cross this line, things can get pretty ugly. This article was inspired by me, because I tend to get ‘addicted’ to things easily. For the first couple of weeks of our two and half month vacation [I know!!! :)], I was totally, crazily and irritatingly (not for me but for those around me of course!) addicted to the sitcom F.R.I.E.N.D.S. My mother would get super annoyed with me for sitting glued to the laptop all day (getting up only for the most inevitable of daily activities). She would say that I was acting as though I was in a hotel room with room service and everything where I didn’t have to do any household chores! Every now and then I would tell myself-“this is it, this is the last episode for the day”, but I would end up watching ten more. It was as though I had no choice, no control; I HAD to mechanically watch it all day! And then, 10 seasons, 240 episodes and 5280 minutes later, it was finally over.

Then the ‘Twilight’ madness took over, now I was a different kind of crazy person. Reading the books again (I would finish one book in less than 24 hours and grab the next one with one even touching any air in between) and watching the movies again, finding new videos on you tube, checking out pictures of Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson… this went on for a while.
I also tend to do this with food, if I like, say the coffee in some place, I would keep coming back to the same place again and again and again and yet again till I get sick of it!

Most people don’t accept or even realize that they are addicted to something. Youngsters are most prone to get addicted to video games, social networking sites, sitcoms, certain sports or sadly even hookah and booze. Sometimes it’s cool but sometimes it’s downright scary! I know that it’s just hard to figure out how much is too much and more often than not we have find out the hard way. I know some friends who are on facebook literally throughout the day; while eating, studying, talking on the phone and even while hanging out with friends. I have a friend who is so addicted to mint that she gets through 3-4 mentos packets everyday!

While doing something we like, if there is a constant nudge that keeps pushing us to do something, not just as a hobby or as a ‘once in a while thing’ but as something that we just HAVE to do all the time, then I guess it is an addiction, which is not supposed to be very healthy. Well, I don’t want to be a hypocrite; so for those of you who are snorting and saying - “look who is talking!”, I would like to add-my latest addiction is ‘How I met your mother’!

YOU DON'T NEED ELVES TO KEEP YOUR ROOM CLEAN....

Living in a hostel has taught me many things and it has also made me realize that this world consists of the most extreme kinds of people.
Let's consider just one small aspect of life called ‘cleanliness’, I’ve seen people whose rooms are so meticulously clean that it would make their mothers blush with pride. A small example- the brush that they use to clean their combs would be cleaner than the brush that we use to clean our teeth! On the other hand there are people whose rooms eternally look like they had just been looted by a burglar who in his hurry removes everything from its place leaving everything strewn all over the place. When you go to such rooms just make it a point not to forget small objects like keys or pen drives because you won’t be able to retrieve it in anything less than an hour!


I’m not a hygiene freak myself but I’m not as bad as the second category too….I do get an ocassional praise or two about the general cleanliness levels of my room, so I thought (for the benefit of many people in our hostel) I would just give some tips on how to keep your room clean. Some points might be tricky to apply at first but if you try hard enough, you will be able to. So here they are-

1. Firstly get yourself this very useful thing called a ‘dustbin’, which wiki defines as “ a container for temporarily storing waste, and is usually made out of metal or plastic”. This will help you store the trash from your room which would otherwise end up all over the floor.

2. There are certain semi-circular metallic objects called ‘hooks’(you can get them in MORE), which can be used to hang clothes so that you have space on the bed to sleep!

3. I know that its tempting to leave your spoon unwashed after eating Maagi because you know that you are anyway going to use it the next day and its going to become dirty again, but please for God’s sake, do wash it.

4. Using the same bucket for washing clothes, mopping the floor and taking bath is convenient but may help you contract certain things called ‘germs’ (unless you’ve already developed a resistance to them, what with your constant exposure to them!)

5. If you keep your laptop on your bed, then your charger, mouse, LAN cord, hard disk etc are eventually going to end up on the bed too, again leading to the tricky scenario called ‘not having space on the bed to sleep’.

6. Conserving water by not mopping the floor is sweet but not once your friends start tripping on the greasy floor!

7. It might be helpful if you don’t wait till there’s enough hair to make a hair ball or enough dust to make dust bunnies before sweeping….

8. Never have a mid-night birthday celebration of a friend in your room, you will need a whole day to clean the mess (that is if you do intend to clean…)

9. When all your friends are ordering food and eating together, conveniently ‘forget’ where you have left your room keys and suggest you eat in someone else’s room.

10. This is not related to cleanliness of the room, but since I’ve had the misfortune of seeing people do it, I’m begging you- Please, Oh please, if you’ve dropped food down, don't eat it off the floor. (It looks cute only when Joey or Rachel do it).

11. If your room is in the basement and if you ever come across frogs or mice(which is not quite uncommon in Krishna Bhawan I hear), please don’t try keeping them as pets, they involve a lot of dirty work.

12. If you love Chemistry, go see if they could use some help in the research lab but don’t EVER try to conduct the experiments in your own room.

13. Lastly, the easiest and most obvious method to keep your room clean- stay in it as less as possible!

'D'termination

After having written about many things which are serious and thought provoking, I wanted to write something totally crazy and extremely sarcastic….so here’s presenting something ‘hatke’. Please don’t take offence for any of the things written here because everything was meant in good humor.

TETE A TETE WITH THE MOST ‘D’TERMINED….

Shravya: Today we have an eminent personality and D-graders’ rights activist -Mr. Nearly headless Nick (name changed) with us today. He has been kind enough to accept our request to grace the blog with his interview, sharing his deep insight into matters dear to him. So, Nick shall we get started?
Nick: Yeah….I can’t wait!

Shravya: First things first, Nick, what according to you is the greatness of every D-grader?
Nick: Well, in bad times like these, we D graders are terribly down-trodden, the people getting A grades get so much attention when in reality the credit should be going to us. They get an A because we get a D and not vice versa. We are the one’s slogging day in and day out to bring down the averages and there are hundreds of people out there who have blind faith and trust in us to bring down the averages and we shoulder this responsibility with pride and satisfaction.
Everything said and done, we are more 'popular' and talked about than them (any day)…be it among the teachers or the students!

Shravya: That’s great! So tell us, how much preparation goes into achieving a ‘D’?

Nick: It’s definitely not easy. We are the most over-worked people on the campus. Our problems start right from the time we get up. If we go to the mess immediately after getting up, the messwallah says “breakfast ki baat chhoddo…lunch time bhi katham hogaya!”, in spite of this, we never complain and we start our day (I mean noon) with 4 hours of counter strike.
People have no idea how much time and effort it takes to come up with apt nick names for everyone, to explore every nook and corner of the campus, to make up good *make ups, to spread wild rumors, to discuss social (wink, wink) issues, to keep the library clean by never entering in, to help the cafeteria and Amul owners become millionaires and so on and so forth.
We have many hurdles in the form of tut tests, quizzes, presentations etc. but we never give in because we are too ‘D’termined to give up too soon. Basically, I want to say that the campus would fall to pieces without us!
(*In BITS when you miss an exam, you apply for whats called a make-up)

Shravya: Wow, you guys do work pretty hard! Tell me Nick when did you make up your mind to work towards this.
Nick: Actually when you first step into the campus, you come with this twinkle in the eye to ‘make a difference’, to do what we are destined to do. And after test I results we realize what exactly it is we are ‘destined’ to do...and that right there was my defining moment. Since then some of us have continuously strived to deliver our ‘duties’. Many seniors have time and again told us that no one gets a D in a 4 credit course and that was when I had made up my mind to prove them wrong and guess what, I actually did!

Shravya: What other factors have encouraged and supported you in taking giant strides in this endeavor?
Nick: First of all I would like to acknowledge the contribution and encouragement from the seniors, who though didn’t realize our capabilities in the beginning, now have tremendous belief in us. Their advice and tips keep us going. And then the hot chicks in the class (though they aren’t many) do their part of keeping us distracted during the lectures. Then there’s DC, the gift to mankind and then bus no.211....its things like these that contribute a lot.
Sometimes when the campus gets too ‘studiousy’ to bear and tries to divert us from our purpose, we go into the city to gather inspiration and ideas from our peers in the local colleges and certain other focused young engineers like us.
And last but not the least all those teachers who have put us to sleep in the few classes that we do attend and all those who give us less ‘bhaav’ and even lesser marks. If we (by mistake) do a question correctly, they would use a microscope to find an error…all in all they have been very supportive.

Shravya: That’s nice Nick. I hope you will achieve more impossible feats and continue to help your fellow batch mates. Thank you very much for sparing us some of your precious time.
Nick: The pleasure is mine…please make sure that people do read this blog of yours and understand to appreciate us plus I also hope that this will be a source of information and inspiration to many.

Shravya: Yeah, I will, thanks again.



(NOTE: Someone actually did give me an interview with extremely exaggerated versions of whatever he/she has experienced or seen other people experience)

AAL IS (NOT) WELL!

Here’s a déjà vu for all adolescents- have you ever felt totally lost and confused as to what exactly do people expect from you…..whether you are supposed to act like a boy/girl or a man/woman…..and whether you are allowed to do whatever it is that you wanted to do or if it was it OK to say whatever it is that you wanted to but somehow got stuck on its way from the brain to your mouth because you weren’t sure if you could? We are too young for certain things and at the same time too old something else….how in the world are we expected to figure out what falls where?


Let me elaborate- We all must have experienced this for sure: The lecturer in the class is writing some gibberish of Greek and Latin (I bet those would be a lot easier to learn!) on the board….and then seeing our lost expressions, exclaims-“Oh c’mon, now you people are in a University, not school….you are mature enough to figure out this stuff on your own!” and on the other hand more often than you like you must have heard this from some adult-“Oh no you guys just because you are in college now don’t go over the board…you are too young, you are not mature enough to understand the complexities of love and relationships……” (you get the picture right!!!)

And home (say when you were around 14-15 years old) you must have had an older sibling snatch the remote from your hand and scream “Eeeowww….what a sissy, still watching this show”….and then if you try watching something different ;-)….Mum would walk in, clear her throat not so discreetly and say-“Beta, such shows are not meant for you…”

Here’s another one…(this one totally holds for me)- If you screw up an exam you dunno whether you will hear a “ That’s OK….just take life as it comes, don’t take too much pressure, you have too much life ahead of you…” or a “When will you learn…YOU ARE GROWN UP NOW…you must realize that you are responsible for yourself and your life and blah blah”......


Will someone please stand up and tell me what exactly am I supposed to do??? I think our ‘rishta’ with multiple choice questions doesn’t end with the entrance exams…because our whole life is about choices , irrespective of whether you make them or they are made for you and that sure is a good thing…but then why even give us a choice if we are time and again told the most diametrically opposite of things…and put in a fix!

I think many girls must have had some nosy neighbour aunties (whom God has created to help Ekta Kapoor make a fortune and to have them spy on you all the time only to go running to your mother and complain….) They love to say things like- “Arrey beta…abhibhi aise bacchon jaise kapde kyun pehen rahe ho…kabhi kabhi salwar kameez pehenliya karo” and as if that isn’t enough to get on your nerves the same Aunty would say something like- “Kaha ja rahe ho…beauty parlour? Arrey you are too young for all this….”
[YOU HAVE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!!]…..

To your older brother….you are still too young to handle a lot of money….so he takes ‘responsibilty’ (euphemism for ‘taking a share of’) of the pocket money….and you are also too young to stay out late…..but when it comes to matters like helping him ‘patafy’ a girl or take your side during an argument with your parents, he’ll come looking for his mature, ‘not so baccha’ little sister/brother!

I mean, seriously people, give us a BREAK!....and meanwhile lets just stop sighing and sing along with Britney Spears (the guys could change girl to boy and woman to man…LOL):
I'm not a girl,
Not yet a woman.
All I need is time,
A moment that is mine,
While I'm in between……

AAAAARRRRGGGGHHH!!!

-MOM! I TOLD YOU NOT......
-YOU GUYS WENT OUT WITHOUT ME??!!
-I HATE THIS PLACE!...IT SUCKS!
-WILL EVERYONE JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?
-I HATE IT WHEN YOU DO THAT!
-STOP! YOU ARE GETTING ON MY NERVES!
-I HATE IT, I HATE IT, I HATE IT!

Do you see yourself in any of these? I definitely do and If you say NO, you are in all probability lying to yourself or just not realizing it. Believe me, we are all slowly turning into some kind of frenzied and irritable RAGAHOLICS (if that is even a word)! But isn’t that justified? We are all young people right, we want things our way, we want the world to listen, to understand, we have a constant adrenalin rush and we want to vent out all the anger, hatred and irritation and to get it out of our system…RIGHT!!!.... no wait a minute….WRONG…totally WRONG!

I’m not exactly patience personified myself but what’s with this constant need of people’s to vent it out, shout at everything, express their discontent in the most unpleasant of ways ? It’s not like we are the only one’s out here with problems, LIFE IS NEVER EASY…and if we haven't realized that yet, we can’t go around showering all that rage on the people around us whom we take for granted.


Its OK to shout at Mom cause she loves me….its Ok to be irritated with Dad cause he’s anyway not going to disinherit me…and its totally OK doing that to my friends cause they do it to me too….and why not shout about how crazy the professors are and call them names behind their backs, they would never know!!!

We do this all the time….think about for a second and you will agree with me. If you never get angry there’s something wrong with you, because anger is an emotion, it’s like a response that our mind / body give when posed with threat or harm. Suppression of anger all the time is not healthy but then why have the need to be angry all the time in the first place when you can be composed and happy?

I honestly feel that people who have frequent , uncontrollable fits of anger are more pathologically ill than anything else! Sometimes I feel as though the negative vibes of anger coming from a person are almost like some kind of radioactive radiations (the really harmful kind ones that too ). I have a ‘Thought for the day’ book in my room and today’s thought is- ‘ Everytime a man becomes angry he adds to the pollution around him’. I couldn’t agree more!

HOME AWAY FROM HOME

When i was in my XII std, and when my friends and i would start the topic of future plans, the one thing that i would hear from most of them was that they wanted to go someplace else to do their graduation (well...not all the girls but yeah each and every one of the guys). They thought that if we go to colleges like the IITs or BITS or the NITs or one of the many other private deemed universities, they would have better exposure and would learn to be independent plus get to make their own rules! I would often disagree, i had never planned on going away from home and staying in a hostel....I detested that very idea.I was perfectly OK with joining any 'not so bad' college in the city itself.

But, here I am now...at BPHC (that's BITS Pilani Hyderabad campus for the uninitiated), well, at first it was all a blur of getting adjusted to hostel life,classes(the whole lecture and tutorial system of BITS needs some getting used to!), making new friends(well that's one thing which will continue for sometime now, what with 600 students in my batch alone),then there was getting used to the mess food....and most of all just sinking in the feeling of independence, which was exhilarating and new in a nice way!

Soon enough I was comfortable in my skin, I made friends with the most amazing bunch of people and we (7 actually) treat each other more like family than friends. I realized that my so called favorite dishes were not really my favorite anymore thanks to the way the messwallah made it. I learnt (the hard way) that nothing was just given to you on a plate anymore , we had to manage our classes, tests,extra-curricular activities, laundry, room chores(or whatever you call it),hanging out with friends,visits home....everything had to be given its requisite amount of time and attention.

Since we are the second batch of students here we have just one set of seniors.At first we would always huddle together in groups, terrified to even approach the seniors. Every time I passed them by, I had these alarm bells going off in my head screaming "SENIORS,SENIORS!".....But now it couldn't be more different, It amazes me how much things have changed over a period of 5 months. We talk to them about everything , and they are ever ready to give us their advice and guidance(trust me, u need it to know the dos and donts on the campus,especially when it comes to dealing with some sadistic professors!)

I had my fair share of crazy, embarrassing and fun experiences in the very first semester of my college life. My first (and last actually) ragging experience was fun (you will have to contact me for the finer details!)...that set of seniors is the one that i know the best now and they helped me out in many ways. And then there was this audition for Ms.Fresher that I will never forget(yeah...I did go, seriously don't know who was I kidding!!!)....during the course of the session i told them that if I was good at something I liked to shout it from roof-tops and let the world know!(when will I learn to shut up???)....they(the judges of course, three senior boys to be more precise) couldn't be more amused, they made me climb this really high teachers table at the entrance of the lecture hall and shout something. It was quite embarrassing but later I realized the other participants were made to do crazier stuff!

Then I also had great fun during the salsa workshop and I really hope they have more such stuff in the future. Be it getting into the ELAS(English language activities society) or getting rejected by the editorial board or all of my 3 t-shirt designs failing to impress the Bhawan representative (we have to come up with designs and the best one goes for print) ...it was about self discovery for me...to learn to perceive myself and the people around me better.

Slowly I got used to calling this place my 'home away from home'....Now the campus feels strangely endearing, more 'apna'. We sure are burdened with more tests than any other university I know(who in the world takes 8 tests a year?)...but we are learning to treat them like something totally ordinary and nothing to worry too much about. Another great thing about hostel life is that you always have your friends around to help you with the subjects you suck the most at. Having girl-gossip sessions late at night, making Maggi in the most innovative ways(don't get me started on this)and just watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S with your friends laughing at decibels injurious to the ears of your neighbors....things like this make everything else worth it!

LOL...!!!

I really love one liners, cool quotes, be it funny or thought-provoking....I always make it a point to note down the one's i find most amusing.....Here are some of my favs(read each one slowly and absorb it before going to the next one)-

-If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?

-Don't blame yourself. Let me do it

-Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator

-Nice perfume. Must you marinate in it?

-Why do our noses run and our feet smell?

-Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?

-Why do they call it "common sense" when it's so rare?

-If electricity comes from electrons does it mean morality comes from morons?

-If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?

-Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways?

-To err is human, to forgive is not Company Policy!

-Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things.

-If you don't like the way I drive, stay off the sidewalk

-Everyone must believe in something. I believe I'll have another drink

-You know you're getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you're down there.

-Love makes the world go 'round, with a little help from intrinsic angular momentum

-Don't steal. The government hates competition

-The more people I meet, the more I like my dog.

-I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not too sure

-Despite the cost of living, have you noticed how it remains so popular?

-Parents spend the first part our lives teaching us to walk and talk, and the rest of it asking us to sit down and shut up.

-BEST ONE FOR THE LAST--Basic Definitions of Science: If it's green or wiggles, it's biology. If it stinks, it's chemistry. If it doesn't work, it's physics