Coins & Nostalgia! :)

Dusting and cleaning the house is not exactly what we call interesting, but thanks to the misery due to the boring endless holidays, I did find it interesting! Well, the interesting part was when I found a long lost box of foreign coins! :D For a fervent coin collector like me, it’s a real joy. For it’s not just a box of coins but Pandora’s Box of memories! :D The coins were from all over the world, with a few of them no longer in use. If you are or were a coin collector, then you will relate with this.

For instance, the coins issued by the Indonesian government sometime in 2003 was something like Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s currency scheme. The government took up an infamous scheme of saving metals and bringing out a currency system in which the coins were minted out in aluminium. The result? Coins were minted in every street in addition to the government mints in Indonesia and to put a stop, the government had to take back all the real and the fake coins and declare them invalid after a period. So I guess, my 100 Rupiah coin isn’t actually valid anymore. Gosh, people just don’t learn from history! :D :P But either way, with the Indonesian Rupiah valued at 0.000111 U.S. dollars, doesn’t really make much difference! :P

Then I look at the 100 naira note. Its one of the very few currency notes in my possession. But the story behind the note is very, lets say, innovative. Well, I was about 10 years old then. A new neighbour had invited us for the navarathri golu and I ventured there to have a look at the neighbours. :P what I didn’t expect was the “new uncle”. He had heard me practice and wanted to hear me sing. I refused to oblige, for they were new people. But then he offered me two 100 naira notes in exchange for a voice sample. When did bribe not ever work??? :D Well, this was foreign exchange, so he got his classical song and I got my 200 naira with the sundal! :D :P a fair trade in my opinion, what say?? ;)

Though my collection was from various countries, the dominant part was European and Australian. And a lot of Middle East coins. These were either collected from uncles who had worked there or were handed down by older cousins who had lost interest. :) :) Looking at my collection, I was quite proud. Not bad, not bad at all, I told myself. They weren’t just coins, they were parts of the countries where they were minted in, a part of world history, a part of my childhood and will be a part of my legacy! :) :)

Lessons from Chennai Traffic!

Having been brought up in a “rural area”, my experience in the roads of Chennai for the past few months has changed my perspective of the people in India in general. As I wait everyday at the numerous signals that dominate the roads here, I m left thinking as to why we are so impatient! The traffic signals make us wait for a maximum of 90 seconds, whereas the majority of them are only timed at 45 to 60 seconds. Yet, I find most people running the red lights! Are we so impatient that we can’t wait for the green signal? Or are we so badly organized that we are in so much of a hurry? Either way, the fault is on us. The former reflects a sense of lack of ethics while the later reflects lack of discipline. Then, I wasn’t so surprised at why we aren’t able to make a clean living! To get every simple job done, the offices in the city ask for “payments”. Isn’t it time we realized there is no shortcut to get everywhere? You may say, it’s just a traffic light and that I m blowing things out of proportion, but it’s the small things that actually decide the major ones. So the next time you think of running a red signal, stop and think. It’s after all just a minute! Why do you wanna risk that???  Cant wait for a minute??? Why cant you wait for your turn?!

Friends :D

After a day's worth of vengeance dealt out in a few minutes, my evil friend grins at me as we make our way out of the training centre, making me shudder thinking of what more's in store! :D That’s right! Thats us, the most happening group in SRM University. You must be curious about what its like to be a part of this group of pirates :P. Let me give you some inside information:

1.       Tall, talkative and fun loving, this guy just loves to pull people’s legs. Oopss, not just pull them down…:D  :P. somehow no one can escape this guy’s sportive wits. But he wins everyone with his refreshing friendship. :) 

“The Evil One”

2.       A calm nice girl, her walking style caught our attention in the start! :D 

“The Committed One”

3.        Blessed with good looks and an equally good temper, ask about her to any college guy, and he ll know who she is! :D :P now, she flaunts a micromax mobile, which is thankfully STILL working!  ;) :P 

“The Pretty One”

4.       Then there is a flight guy who likes classical music! :D odd combination. But an amazing friend! As of now, his immediate goal is to kill me! :O never mind, it ALWAYS backfires! :P 

“The Comedy piece”

5.       And then there is me! :D I try telling them I m not a nerd, but who believes me?? :D :P 

“The Nerd”

What an odd group of people you may think,

but our only aim:

to have fun! :D :D

And trust me, we have all the fun possible! ;)

you may ask: the grades???

one answer: we believe in brains! :D :P

To all my friends! :) :) cheers! :) :)

Serendipity

With this year almost drawing to a close, I sit today, thinking about the way this year has progressed. Happiness, sadness, misery, depression, I see everything flash by. I m happy for the right things I did. At the same time, the mistakes haunt me. Then, as one of my friends says, what’s the whole fun if we did only the right things??

I remember clearly the one day when I was totally confused and broken. One friendship I thought was gonna last a lifetime, shattered. I realized, sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence, a time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny, and a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over. At the same time, I marveled at the way things unfolded a few days later. Somehow I took up the courage to talk with an old friend, with whom contacts had almost ceased. Little did I expect that I would be welcomed back with such warmth and ease, that I almost felt a little guilty. Friendship is not in the number of things friends can discuss, but in the things they need no longer mention. Like “sorry”… True friendship isn't about being there when it's convenient; it's about being there when it's not.

Then I looked back at the bad days, but I was glad for them. After all, how could I have realized the good things I had in hand? :) :) True, I had been puzzled at how things turned sour. But the reality was I was too close to the puzzle!

2010! A truly long year! But it was the year of luck, my year of serendipity! :) :) 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1

After almost a couple of months spent in useless examinations, my friends and I decided to go to the this movie to unwind (not that we worked too hard for the exams, but still… :P). Luckily the tickets were available. Confession, Harry Potter fan. So, this is how the movie goes:

Harry and his friends, Ron and Hermione drop out of school to find the remaining Horcruxes. With Dumbledore out of the picture, they have little help other than the fake locket and whatever the great headmaster left them. Little did they expect that the quest to destroy the Horcruxes would lead them to discovering that the Deathly Hallows weren’t just some bedtime stories!

This movie is truly racy and gives us the edge of the seat experience. Those who have read the book will agree that it was a real page-turner. The movie has done enough justice to it. Unlike the other movies, this one goes by the book with almost no modifications. Perhaps, because the movie is in two parts…

The picturisation is well done and the effects amazing in a theatre screen. As always, the wit and humour is on an all time high! I particularly loved the frame in which Hermione slaps Ron (Oh cmon, he deserved that! :D :P). The artistic picturisation of the Tales of Beedle the Bard was really innovative.

If you are a Harry Potter fan, I would say go for it. It’s worth paying to see it on the big screen. I give it a 5/5. It’s a pity that we have to wait for the next year for part 2. But it’s worth the wait! :)

Do you remember?

"Do u remember the day we met?" One text message that set us all thinking, made me go back a whole year, when i was a fresher in SRM, memories flooding back. :) i was a little surprised at how much i remembered every single first meeting, unique in its own way, funny in its own way, a memory in its own way! and i was equally surprised at how much SRM has changed me, a year and a sea of change! New friends, new opinions, new fights and make ups(!!!), not growing but burgeoning into strong bonds. All those "Good morning! :D" messages in the morning, the "I hate u!!!" message after a day's worth fighting over i have no idea what(!!!), the "I so hate to say this, but i ll miss u! :'(" messages we send just before leaving for the holidays though we all know how much we waited for those holidays, striking days on the calendar :P, all of them have made me realise over and over again that the happiness in life lies not in the great accomplishments but in the simple gestures we make to let ppl know we love them, how much we care for them, how much we miss them and how much we dont want to miss them! :) :)

There is a first time for everything! :)

hey!
so this is what it feels to blog... thanks to my new friend, who is pretty addicted to blogging ;) ,  i m sitting in front of my lappy and wondering why i didnt blog till now! :D and this is just the starting!!! :)