On the last two days (The post with lots of brackets (and even brackets within brackets) in it )
It's been a long and hectic two days.
I went for a nice, long cycling trip yesterday. It was an NCC thing. I, not possessing a cycle of my own, had to borrow one from Mr. Misra, which I did on Friday night (It was a very nice cycle, its only drawback being that it possessed an extraordinarily hard seat.). I set out for IIT at 4:45 AM on Monday morning, when it was still dark. I reached IIT at about 5:05. Then me, and a few others, set out for the trip. For the next four and a half hours, I was continuously cycling. I must have done about 50-60 kilometers. We first went to Dhaula Kuan, and from there, went on to Buddha Jayanti Park. We then headed back to IIT via Chanakya Puri. On my way back, I stopped at a couple of friends' houses. Before returning home at about 9:30 AM, I returned the cycle to Mr. Misra. When I reached home, I was, not unreasonably, tired. My legs were aching. My arse was aching (due to the afore-mentioned hard seat). My arms were aching. But I was a happy man, satisfied at having earned 10 more NCC hours (and, therefore, having 10 less hours to complete later), and having cycled more than I had ever cycled in my life (and very probably, most of my friends' lives too).
Mummy came back last night. This basically means that the household is finally going to be put off auto-pilot mode, and start functioning like normal households should. This also means no more movies and late-nights out for me this semester.
Mini, my sister, got her very own iPod Mini last night (mummy got her one). Silver. Very nice and small it is. Makes me almost feel envious, inspite of owning an iPod myself. I would have probably asked her for an exchange, had it not been for the storage space considerations.
I went to my cousin's place for a havan today in the morning. He recently shifted into a new place at Saket (really cool place, and bloody close to PVR too, so the next time I need movie tickets, I know whom to call), and it was a griha-pravesh/havan-pooja thingie (I do believe that that's the first, and hopefully the last, time I have used the word thingie on my blog).
For the uninitiated, a havan is a Hindu religious ceremony. Here's how you do it.
You call lots of relatives over. Make sure you give them an arrival time of about an hour before the havan starts, for then they are sure to start trickling in before it ends. You also call a panditji over, and he presides over the events. Then, you and all the relatives (who have arrived as yet) sit around a metallic bucket. The panditji then proceeds to light a fire in the bucket. You are asked to repeat certain things after him, which you duly do, without really understanding any of them (unless you are well-versed in Sanskrit (I never really did understand why Sanskrit is known as Samskrit in English, but then, I never really did understand a lot of other things as well), which not many people these days are). Then the panditji says 'swaha' and you throw lots of ghee and Havan-Samagri (funky brown stuff) in the bucket, so that the fire doesn't die. After rushing through the pooja, you pack off the panditji after paying him a lot of money. Then, you enjoy a bloody good lunch, and follow it up with the latest in what's happening in the family. Who's getting married to whom. Who changed jobs, and to where, and other such stuff (In today's case, since it was a griha-pravesh pooja, there were also the mandatory guided house-tours that took place at this time.). Then you say bye to everybody. Then you (as often people do, having said their byes) leave.
I came home and slept. I just got up and had paneer for dinner. Now I plan to watch Yuva (the movie). And tomorrow is a chhutti.
I went for a nice, long cycling trip yesterday. It was an NCC thing. I, not possessing a cycle of my own, had to borrow one from Mr. Misra, which I did on Friday night (It was a very nice cycle, its only drawback being that it possessed an extraordinarily hard seat.). I set out for IIT at 4:45 AM on Monday morning, when it was still dark. I reached IIT at about 5:05. Then me, and a few others, set out for the trip. For the next four and a half hours, I was continuously cycling. I must have done about 50-60 kilometers. We first went to Dhaula Kuan, and from there, went on to Buddha Jayanti Park. We then headed back to IIT via Chanakya Puri. On my way back, I stopped at a couple of friends' houses. Before returning home at about 9:30 AM, I returned the cycle to Mr. Misra. When I reached home, I was, not unreasonably, tired. My legs were aching. My arse was aching (due to the afore-mentioned hard seat). My arms were aching. But I was a happy man, satisfied at having earned 10 more NCC hours (and, therefore, having 10 less hours to complete later), and having cycled more than I had ever cycled in my life (and very probably, most of my friends' lives too).
Mummy came back last night. This basically means that the household is finally going to be put off auto-pilot mode, and start functioning like normal households should. This also means no more movies and late-nights out for me this semester.
Mini, my sister, got her very own iPod Mini last night (mummy got her one). Silver. Very nice and small it is. Makes me almost feel envious, inspite of owning an iPod myself. I would have probably asked her for an exchange, had it not been for the storage space considerations.
I went to my cousin's place for a havan today in the morning. He recently shifted into a new place at Saket (really cool place, and bloody close to PVR too, so the next time I need movie tickets, I know whom to call), and it was a griha-pravesh/havan-pooja thingie (I do believe that that's the first, and hopefully the last, time I have used the word thingie on my blog).
For the uninitiated, a havan is a Hindu religious ceremony. Here's how you do it.
You call lots of relatives over. Make sure you give them an arrival time of about an hour before the havan starts, for then they are sure to start trickling in before it ends. You also call a panditji over, and he presides over the events. Then, you and all the relatives (who have arrived as yet) sit around a metallic bucket. The panditji then proceeds to light a fire in the bucket. You are asked to repeat certain things after him, which you duly do, without really understanding any of them (unless you are well-versed in Sanskrit (I never really did understand why Sanskrit is known as Samskrit in English, but then, I never really did understand a lot of other things as well), which not many people these days are). Then the panditji says 'swaha' and you throw lots of ghee and Havan-Samagri (funky brown stuff) in the bucket, so that the fire doesn't die. After rushing through the pooja, you pack off the panditji after paying him a lot of money. Then, you enjoy a bloody good lunch, and follow it up with the latest in what's happening in the family. Who's getting married to whom. Who changed jobs, and to where, and other such stuff (In today's case, since it was a griha-pravesh pooja, there were also the mandatory guided house-tours that took place at this time.). Then you say bye to everybody. Then you (as often people do, having said their byes) leave.
I came home and slept. I just got up and had paneer for dinner. Now I plan to watch Yuva (the movie). And tomorrow is a chhutti.
posted by Manu Saxena at 4:23:00 pm
16 comments
16 Comments:
God!! You make the havan ceremony sound so inapt and well, that's not how it should be. You see, gossip is not a key point here.
Anyways, I'll admit, it was funny but still...
For the sake of clarifications,
It's not that I have to take the Woolf bit everywhere I go. The significance lies in the lines and not in the fact that they were spoken by Virginia Woolf's character in The Hours.
The lines, if you cared to read, are quite poignant.
I think Aidoneus, that you mean- for the sake of 'clarification'.
Superfluous pluralization is a sign of remarkably low cultural capital. And you wouldn't want that when quoting Virginia Woolf now would you? :)
Maddu, what would we do without you?
I've always wondered(and thought and imagined and got confused(confusion by the way is my middle name)eventually) that how do u manage to write such long posts(and write them well too(take that as a compliment))!
I myself struggle to put pen to paper(and more correctly, finger to keyboard) a lot of times after I've written out a pgh. or two.
And to ur credit(that's compliment no.2) u make them sound interesting, regardless of whether u give the customary introductions(refer:last post) or not!
Wjhich reminds me, I forgot to compliment you on the article you wrote for Contact(I know this is the wrong post to comment in about that) but I'm too lazy to locate that out and write something.(Laziness, btw, is again one of the salient features of me(so much that maybe 'Lazy' should be my middle name instead(but u see, I'm so confused between Confusion and Lazy, that i guess Confusion suits me better))so u'd pls have to compromise). Anyways, it was a good, funny, well-written and loooong article indeed! :D
And now that I've learnt the art of using lots of brackets(and brackets within brackets too), I guess i should give my rusty mind a lil rest and return for another comment later...(one year in IIT has actually made the little pea-sized "thingie" in my knee rust a bit).
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
My dear B****, what on earth is a 'chutti'?
Akanksha, I say it as it was.
Aidoneus, I would like it very much if you made your 'clarifications' on the same blog as they are asked of you. Cluttering my posts with comments unrelated to the text is, although not completely unacceptable, not appreciated.
ENVISAGER, get you own blog.
My dear S***-F**, it is a typo, which has now been rectified.
Oh you rectified it. It was hilarious though. LOL!
Keshi.
That's sooooooo rude :X
If you say so.
Yay!!
New drop-down comments.
ENVISAGER, I read your looong comment (hadn't really read the whole thing earlier), and in addition to saying, "Get your own blog.", I would also like to say, "Thank You."
Mandatory 14th comment.
Huh..that's better...
I almost decided against giving anybody else good compliments in future [:P]
I could have written it in my blog(I write crap there all the time) but what is the sense of praisin u and ur blog on my blogspace...
I just took the effort to make it long, so that it went with ur style of postin(brackets etc) and i said all that i had to.
still if u insist, no more commnts from now on.
I would like to suggest a correction.
No more long comments from now on.
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