Hate being sick!

I've been sick since Sunday night (January 30, 2005). Went to school on Monday, but stayed at home on Tuesday because of feeling ill in the morning. Went on Wednesday, got all the make-up work etc, but am at home again. Went to the doctor in the morning, she prescribed some medicines. I should get better in 10 days (at most). I definitely have to go to school tomorrow, because I have missed all the tests this week - AP Statistics, AP Government, and Honors Geometry. Will take the Stats test before school tomorrow, and Gov and Trig tests during class. All should be easy.

Nirali's sister's wedding is approaching, it's on Feb 13th. They are busy doing last minute shopping. She was telling us about Pinky and Bunty's honeymoon plans. They'll be going to Las Vegas and California, will spend about a month there. While talking about all this Janu said that she wants to go on a world tour. I used to think about going on a world tour as well until about a years ago. Now, I don't know where I want to go. World tour would be too tiring... honeymoon should be relaxing after all the bhaagdaud of the marriage. Anyways, that's still a looooooooong way from here :)

Haan, so yesterday I fell asleep after coming home. Woke up after about 3-4 hours. Even after such a long rest, I was feeling tired. Did a bit of homework. Hansag asked me whether or not I wanted to eat Maggie. I gave him my standard answer, "I don't like alu in it, and I like the way I make it." After hearing this, Papa to khush ho gaye, I ended up making it! Papa, Hansag, and I had it... while mom lied on her bed, reading her book, and smiling.

Couldn't fall asleep easily... kept on waking up in the middle of the night. Got up and had a Tylenol at 2am, and finally had a good sleep from 5 till 9 in the morning.

Ice, Ice Baby!

At 9 in the morning, mom entered the room excitedly. Asked both Hansag and I to look out the nazara outside. Neither of us bothered giving up our sleep until she told us that it had "snowed". Once I looked outside, the weather was beautiful. Took a few pics...


icy rain 15



icy rain 21



icy rain 22



icy rain 32



icy rain 36



icy rain 44



icy rain 46



icy rain 49

Janki's B'day

I promised that I'll make alu ke paranthe for her as a birthday gift. Last night, however, I was really tired and fell asleep in the living room. Woke up around 8pm, moved into the bedroom and went to sleep. I did set an alarm for 5am though. Got up around 5:39, chhilofied the alu that mom had boiled the night before, mashed them, sprinkled masala, and made 8 paranthas by 7am. Mom wasn't sure whether I would wake up in the morning or not, so she made bread pakode in the morn, coz she knew about my promise to Janu. So, I packed 5 paranthes and 6 pakodes with hari chatni for lunch.

We didn't have cake, so both Nirali and I utilized the parantha as one. Meaning, we both put a piece of parantha in Janki's mouth. I did the same with the pakoda, but Nirali was feeling uncomfy coz this was during lunch and ppl were "watching". Whatever was left, Jaan took that to home with her for Himali and her Dadi.

In the evening I got a piece of cake that Himali had made herself and brought from Dairy Queen. I had 2-3 bites at school, but decided to have the rest at home. By the time we reached home, the ice-cream that it had in it had melted. It's in the freezer now :)

Happy Republic Day 

I am mad. Are you?

If you know me and if you have been around me you must have heard me say the words, "stupid americans." Yeah, I'm not very fond of America, don't have any enimity with the Americans, but I do say the two words. Actually, I will admit that Americans are not a bad flock. As a matter of fact they are very nice, but there are always a few rodents in every society.

What I read today on the website of Times of India made me angry as hell. I will not say anything, but will let you decide on your own what feelings you want to have towards this.

The article is titled, "US RJs abuse Indian girl, air tape on radio" -- READ IT!!

Mogambo is no more

I was hearbroke after finding out that Amrish Puri expired. He was such a great actor! I'm not very fond of villians, but that dude was marvelous while performing such roles. Not only that, he was great in DDLJ and Chachi 420 also.

All the news articles I read have been saying the same things as well. A lot of people recognized him after the movie Mr. India in which he played the role of Mogambo. I remember, as a kid I was crazy about that movie. After all it was a children movie. But I also remeber that I, like many others, used to repeat his words, "Mogambo khush hua."

Yeah, man! I am gonna miss him. While reading the articles about this incident in school, I mentioned to Pavan that now I want to see all of his movies! I never realized that I liked him this much until yesterday.

Seriously, you don't know what something is worth until it's gone and in some cases forever.
what's preserved is the legacy...
what remains are the memories...

White snow in red desert?!

I was on the phone with nana when mom started yelling with utter excited, "there was a snowfall in UAE." I was shocked too. As soon as I was done talking to nana I went to her bedroom and started waiting with Hansag and mom to see the news about this unexpected happening. CNN is a crap news network though. After sitting there for about 5-10mins I said, "I'm tired of CNN!" and left. Looked up this topic online and found out that indeed there was a snow fall in the United Arab Emirates.

I hated what I discovered next. The article was dated December 30, 2004 and this f***ing CNN showed the news today. I never even heard about it!!

Anyways, just be amazed and read the article by yourself.

"encountering" a few known faces :-?

I have noticed that for the past few days when I look out the bus window while coming back home, I see faces that remind me of people I know from Xavier’s or GHP. I don’t know what’s going on. On Friday I saw a girl who resembled a junior of mine from Xavier’s. She was a bit chubby and went on to become a prefect her seventh grade year. I did not know her quite well though. I guess, we must have talked a couple of times, but I don’t remember anything about her. I think either her mother was a teacher at our school or she was related to our science sir (I can’t remember his name, but remember his face very clearly). I also saw someone who reminded me of Srishti. The list of Xavarian pals that I’ve been “encountering” is not as long as the GHP one though.

Another strange thing… last week (the day was Tuesday or Wednesday) I was missing Palms!! I really wanted to eat Palms food. I was looking a bit sad I guess, so Nirali asked me what the matter was. I told her I missed Palms, and made a depressing face. She asked me whether the food there was really good. The answer definitely was “no”, but man I miss it.

Quotes...

Got about 40 quotes from Schernekau. Liked a few...

Happy relationships depend not on finding the right person, but on being the right person. --Eric Butterworth

Your cannot discover new oceans until you have courage to lose sight of the shore. --Anonymous

You fear what you do not understand. --Anonymous

It is better to light a single candle that to curse the darkness. --Motto of the Christophers

The unexamined life is not worth living. --Socrates

No person has ever been honored for what he recieved. Honor has been a reward of what he gave. --Calvin Coolidge

Ask not what you can expect from life; ask what life expects from you. --Viktor Frankel

Everything and everyone around you is your teacher. --Ken Keyes

To be upset over what you don't have is to waste what you do have. --Ken Keyes

The mind can make a heaven into hell, or a hell into heaven. --John Milton

Hindustan ki khushboo...

Today, nana-nani stepped foot on US soil again. Spent a month of total bhaag-daud in mera Bharat mahan. While sipping her tea, nani was telling us how she utilised each and every day there and did not let time slip away. On asking what places they visited, nani gave the names of cities that I have never even heard of.

I was only interested in the stories of Meerut. Uff, I miss all that so much. So, Divya Masi, Rimjhim Masi, and Rinki Masi came over. Venu, Mishkin, Chinku and Vasu udham macha rahe the. Of course Hansag and I were on the top of the list of people being missed like hell. They will be shocked to see me when I do go to India - long hair, college gal, a bit mature, a bit bachi...hehe!

Well, all the stories are yet to be heard. Nana-nani took off after having a cup of tea and a bit of guppe-baazi. We'll go to their house on the weekend. By then nani will sort out the stuff she got for us, which btw I'm very eager to see. The way she's telling me about the lahangaz and tops and movies (haye allah!), I can't really wait. But, sabr ka phal meetha hota hai. Oh my god, nani brought aam-paapad, and man oh man, I love sour stuff. :D

Nani also mentioned something about going to India over the summer. She suggested that we could also go. Let's see how that goes. I'm not very positive about his summer. One of the reasons is that I have to get ready for college. Another one is that, nana-nani won't be comfortable letting me go out with my Delhi friends, because they do not know them so well. Meerut and meeting all the relatives is something I'm looking forward to aswell, but I won't be able to get over the shock of not meeting my Xaverians.

I am not going to loose my sleep over this matter. For now, I'm just going to smile and make use of my imaginative sense to picturize what my cute grandparents did in my sweet-sweet des.

Oh! by the way, today I noticed that nana-nani look cute together. I was a bit surprised because the word "cute" never ever came close to my vocabulary for parent figures. Afterall it's a word teenagers useto talk about their crushes and friends who are a couple. I also noticed nana looking at nani chori-chori while sipping his tea. Mashallah, that was a wow moment. :D

Tsunami opinion article

Washington read an article to us today - an opinion article from the Wall Street Journal. (Read it here)

The author of the article states a very valid point. Why collect and donate billions of dollars to countries hit by the tsunami when the same money could be utilized here in the US? The question is very easy and straightforward, but so is the answer.

One of the reasons that the United States of America has given $350 million dollars in aid is that this nation is a world power. A number of the south Asian nations are not economically capable enough to cope with this natural disaster. By helping them United States (and other nations, for example Japan who donated $500 million dollars) are coming in the international eye and are being praised for their kind-heartedness.

Back to School (Spring 2005)

I’m not quit ready for school yet. Yesterday we did not do much (1^st day), but even then I was not interested in the very minimum that we did do. For the past two days, I’ve only been taking notes and observing what people around me are doing and saying (mostly teachers). I’m finding faults in almost everything. I was going to write about my observations but I don’t remember them anymore.

Am I losing myself? I did not use to forget stuff, what’s happening now? Could it be because I do not interact with people anymore? Or because I do not step outside the house? Or because friends… ???

"Brains Shutting Down" --schernekau, jan04

Schernekau mentioned yesterday that if people don’t do something then something happens and somehow their brain does something and something, something, something. I cannot remember what the hell she said, I can’t even state it in my own words! But, I do remember that I listened to her very carefully and agreed with her point.

The same is happening with me. My mind is not as sharp as it used to be. At least so it seems. Hmmm… the conclusion is, I got to start utilizing this thing that’s inside my head.

"Illegal Immigrants" --economics with dees, jan05

I don’t like Dees’s face (dunno why). I can’t think of a reason, but I hate him. It could be possible that I forgot, but who knows. Anyways, today was the first day of Economics. Half way through the lecture the issue of illegal immigrants taking up jobs came up. He repeated the same words he used to recite in Government.

“Do you know how many illegals are estimated to be in the US?”
He went to the board and wrote “10.”
Somebody asked, “10?”
Dees laughed and said, “No! Not 10!! 10 million!!!”
Everybody laughed and he started reciting again, “Nobody wants to do the work they do. If somehow all of these 10 million people were to disappear, we would not be able to fill all the jobs that they leave behind. Who will build our houses? Who will cut the pizza at CiCi’s? If today, they are earning $7/hour in the United States and think that they are better off here. What do you think they might have left behind? Nothing!!”

I listened to him carefully and cameup with only one word – “Everything!”

"How The Blogger Feels" --geetali sharma urf kishu, jan05

I don’t know about illegals. Maybe they really don’t want to go back to their countries, maybe they don’t care about all that they did leave behind, and maybe the sight of money has taken away their senses. But… ME, MYSELF, and I… I love my India!

We are very well-off here. Got everything! Air conditioning in summers, heating in winters, well paying jobs to buy and own everything – big screen TV, microwave, oven, mixer-&-grinder, stereo, desktops, laptops, cars – excellent public schools with free education, teachers who don’t give a zero for being absent or not doing the hw. Every materialistic thing possible! But, where’s Diwali? Where’s Holi? Where are the celebrations for Eid and Mahavir Jayanti? Where are the roads where kids play and get off whenever a car approaches? Neighbors you actually know and who look after your kids? Public transport? Markets on every nukkad? Places you can walk to? Friends that are like you and understand you? Life you can live???

I don’t care about materials, I care about feelings. I don’t care about my wants, I care about my needs. and… I NEED MY INDIA!

"The Nursing Home Deal" --schernekau, jan05

Today in class Schernekau said, “It is estimated that within the next 50year all of the oil resources of the world will run out. I don’t need to be worrying about it because I’ll be in a nursing home by then, but you do!” I did not worry about running out off all the oil. What caught my attention was her saying the stuff about living in a nursing home.

First, I thought is that what I’m going to do with my parents? The answer came out to be, “NO!” Why would I? How can I? Then, I thought is this was my kids are going to do with me? This time the answer was, “Who knows.” Waise bhi, it’s a long way from here.

It’s not like such things don’t happen in India, of course they do. I don’t know of any, but that’s a different story. Schernekau’s dialogue amazed me. I mean, she said it so smoothly, with no hesitations whatsoever. I wonder if I’d ever be able to say it like her.

“Parents Vs. Kids” --i pondered over this after thinking about the above mentioned

Anuj bhai completed his undergrad in April/May 2004. His plan was to work for an year, earn a good amount of money and then go to grad school. Nana suggested to start his master’s right away and not worry about the money ’cause Ritu Masi and MausaJi have enough.

I always wonder… why parents expect their kids to expect financial assistance from them. Why are parents always willing to do so much when probably a nursing home is their final destination in this mortal world. Anuj and Neeraj bhai would not do this (of course!), but I’m talking in general.

Personally, I want to be independent. I want to pay for my own education. Not because I’m ignorant, not because I don’t love my parents, not coz I want to break away from my family, not coz I’m “becoming an American,” but because then the education will mean more to me. I’ll try to make the best of my hard earned money. Somehow I feel that a lot of the desi parents don’t understand this.

Another thing I don’t understand is that what’s the big deal with not living at home. Can’t they understand that home won’t do any good. I’m sorry, but I believe in my own personal experiences and I’m not going to go by what others felt. Life’s too short. I’ve been living on this earth for almost 18 years and I still don’t know who the hell I am. How am I to discover myself if I’m protected under the “desi-parent law.” I love to fly and I will not tolerate being imprisoned!

"Kill The Cell Phone" --shirley, jan05

Vaishnavi’s cell phone went off in the beginning of class. We were just talking about random stuff. After hearing the ring everybody started talking extremely loudly. Shirley, on the other hand, with the cute smile on this chubby little face, walked up to the cupboard, got the toolbox and pulled out a hammer.

Tsunami Aid

This is a website where you can donate money to help those who are affected by the Tsunami wave. Please, take a little while to donate something. Even your very minimum will help those who have lost everything of theirs to this natural disaster.

Relief and Rehabilitation Contribution Form
https://www.aidindia.org/aidadmin/DonateToRRF.jsp

Happy New Year!

Wishing everybody a sparkling and a prosperous new year filled with colors and beautiful memories.

Geetali Sharma

Hansag came back, mama went back...

Harshu Mama’s flight was at 10 something this morning. Mom asked him whether or not it was on time, but he did not bother checking. Papa and I dropped him at the airport by 8:30 (I believe), got back home, and went to sleep again. I got up at around 3 and found out that Harshu Mama’s flight was indeed late. He was cutting time at the airport.

We got Hansag from the camp yesterday. On our way there, Harshu Mama connected his iPod to the car and we listened to some oldies that he had. After reaching the camp sight, all four of us (Papa, Mom, Mama and I) were shocked to see what they had done to the kids. Girls were yelling, “hum Bharat ki naari hain, phool nahi chingari hain!” After their presentation, a couple of adults talked about some stuff. This one lady was really passionate about her Indian heritage and was trying to convince the parents not to be afraid of how their kids are going to handle India, but let them cope with it themselves. She was the only person whose words I could actually understand. All the others need major speech classes!

At first, Hansag was not behaving properly and was very disrespectful, but slowly it got better. After getting home, Papa went somewhere and the rest of us fell asleep while watching the movie “Taking Lives.” Harshu Mama woke everybody a couple of minutes before the bread was to be taken out. So, we started the movie again and had bread and orange juice.

My dear Hansag brother has changed quite a bit after the camp. I was surprised to see him sitting online and not reading sports news. He was reading about Lord Vishnu and other Hinduism related things. I am learning quite a bit from him :).

seven-day-yoga camp

We were supposed to get at that seven-day-yoga camp by 2 pm, but we started out at 2:45 and reached after 5. Hansag was to be dropped there, because Nana suggested it would be good for him. I was not planning to stay there because I wanted to rest and only rest during the 2-week vacation. After Mr. Pathak told us what they were going to do at the camp, I was really wishing to stay there. They were going to have a lot of discussions about Hinduism and India. First of all I love discussions and second, I don’t know much about either of these things and want to learn more about them. On asking papa whether I could stay or not, he simply said no. I decided to go sit in the car for the rest of the time we were there.

On our way back I did not say much. A few words that did come out of my mouth were all sarcastic. On papa’s asking, “When and where did you have Steak-n-Shake’s shake?” I responded by saying the word “no”. When we started out on the road I murmured the words, “acha hai, mujhe hi aur arguments mil rahe hain.”

aaj ka kaam kal karo, kal ka kaam parso
pralay-vralay koi hone ka nayi, thahar jao barso

After getting back home I played the movie “Dhoom.” Papa joined me, while mom sat in her room reading a novel.

I couldn't be on TV because Tech is what I care about

Saw Katrina in the morning outside of Mr. Lee’s room and found out that people in the study lab are going to be on TV. Janki told me about this last week, but it slipped my mind. Katrina asked me whether I would be there or not, but I had set and appointment with Mrs. Kasting to go over my essay. So, I missed the camera. While passing through the study lab I peeped in and discovered that everybody was doing his or her work very diligently. I was quite impressed!

I reached Mrs. Kasting’s door at exactly 8am. She read the essay and said that it was really well written and was very consistent, written in a chronological manner, and was not jumping around from one thing to another. She commented that I am a good writer and that I should have been in her AP class. hehehe… I told her what the problem with that was – I can’t analyze literary works :( She changed a few words and so did Marcel, whom I showed the paper during first period. All of it is coming out great, absolutely marvelous!

Hey, prabhu gyandata, admission humara karvayiye; garvit ho jan-jan Geetu ka naam sun, aisa kuch kar jayiye.

GaTech, here I come!

While giving the Statistics test I thought I was doing pretty well, but after comparing my answers and giving the reasoning for those answers I lost hope. Anyways…

Today was the day when I handed out the printed copies of my GaTech essay to a number of teachers, asking them to read it and make any comments they might have. I had two extra copies with me, which I was asking my friends to go over if we weren’t doing anything in class. All of them said that I had done a good job, a few pointed out some mistakes, and almost everyone thought that the sentence, “Most of the time… …that too with parents,” was too long and the idea stated was unclear. Katrina was the only one who analyzed the essay in great depth and made a number of things sound a lot better.

After coming back home I revised the essay for the fourth time. It’s less than sixty-five lines now and sounds pretty good. I will see Mrs. Kasting tomorrow morning and will get a response from Brew, Kirk, Roach, Shirley and Wright on Wednesday. Nana should send me his comments by tomorrow. My goal is to send the application by Friday, latest.

I want to attend Georgia Institute of Technology as much as I want Purely Gupt in my life. So, all of you who believe in the divine power of the sky (Mr. God), remember me in your prayers.
Aasman Bless!

bomb threat

There was a bomb threat at our school today. Even before school started there were signs that said something about a bomb being at school. Hansag told me that Police, Fire Trucks, and Ambulance was standing somewhere, I didn’t see them though. Over the intercom the Principal asked everybody to turn off their cell phones and radios. Everything seemed to be okay that’s why the school remained open. Many students were checking out though. All throughout the day students were being called to front and attendance offices.

Around second period they received a phone call saying something about a bomb threat. So, at the end of that period we evacuated to the football field and remained there for over two hours. Called up dad to let him know what was going on. By the end of the two hours three news helicopters – fox 5, channel 2 action news, and 11 alive – were moving in circles in the sky.

We missed lunch and half the student population had left. Remained in second period for the rest of the day and did nothing. Hansag’s and my name was also called over the intercom but when we went outside there was no one there. We asked the people standing there “who checked us out?” and they said they didn’t now and that we should find the person somewhere in the parking lot. Nobody was there, so we went back to class.

I was tired by the time I got to the bus and had an extremely nice nap. :)

While talking about this at home I suggested that this could have been the senior prank. I’m not really sure what time of the year senior prank usually happens, but this clearly was a hoax. One of the students in my English class even received a text message on his cell saying, “Bomb at school. Check out.” We tried to retrieve the phone number but couldn’t do so. There’s a definite possibility of this being a senior prank, and it was one I must say it was a good one.

PS: Btw, the only thing I was worried about the entire time we were outside was that – my lunch was in my locker!

tit bits

Things are going fine. I recently got an eighty-four in a Stats test, which is pretty good compared to I failed that last three tests. This time, however, I was fourth in class.

Mine was the second paper in the pile. Mr. Shirley gave John’s paper to him, who was sitting next to me, and after that just stood in front of me – looked at the paper and at me back and fourth. He said, “what?” and I replied, “Nothing, I’m just sitting here, waiting to get my test back.” He smiled a bit and mashallah he looked so cute at that point. Shirley’s not very tall, has grey hair, and a medium sized belly – chho cute! Anyways, after about 30-60seconds he put my test sheet in the back of the pile and kept on handing out the papers to others.

Today, during lunch I complimented on how I’m pretty impressed by Meha’s knowledge about India, Hinduism – basically her heritage. I was telling Nirali even I don’t know much about such stuff and I recently came from India, and am a so-called “Brahmin”. Then somehow we got into talking about swami narayan, religion etc. She asked me a question – who do you pray? My response… “We are not that religious. I don’t think there’s a specific deity we pray.”