Rage Control

People assume I never get angry because they don't see me in that state. But the truth of the matter is that everyone loses it once in a while and although some may choose not to show it, it doesn't mean that they aren't pulling out your hair mentally. No, I don't do that. I have the greatest respect for peoples' hair. As much as I try to avoid digressions...speaking of hair, I tried henna a couple of weeks ago. My hair is probably my worst feature, which is quite an achievement for the hair, considering all the competition it has . I'm not sure how well it worked. My friend said that it would reduce hair fall, and it seems to have, but that might just be wishful thinking.
So the people who say I never lose my temper include my younger brother and some of my recent teammates. So, as you can imagine, I was floating around in my bubble...(ok, not following that train of thought) till another old friend from school, while reminiscing, informed me that I used to be quite a cat on the court and that he felt sorry for the poor people I used to yank the ball from. And I thought I was going to win the Nobel peace prize. In any case, the fantasy was good while it lasted.
But I don't see how venting of anger helps anyone. I regret every outburst of mine till date, without exception. Imho, if rage is left unexpressed, it tends to go away sooner rather than later. Venting is good only when you want to place your objection on record. Like when people assume you are fine with everything just because you don't argue forcefully.
Oh, my motivation for sharing this... please include me in your acceptance speech (for the Nobel peace prize). I know I blew my chance, but it would be just as great to bask in the reflected glory of someone else's (read 'your') greatness.

Dinner overload

I had two dinners tonight in quick succession. Not something I would encourage anybody to try- Ever. I had been invited to dinner with a friend's parents. Being myself, I totally forgot about it and was having dinner at the mess with my roommate when I heard the announcement. For some reason I am not clear about now, I remember polishing off the last bits of dessert before rushing back to my room to pick out something to wear. 'Something' turned out to be jeans and a crumpled t-shirt but that is a story for another day.
Anyway, I got dressed in record time and met the rest of the group at the entrance. Then we got into the minivan and everyone started singing songs about food. Oh, this is not as unusual as you'd think. That's just how we are. Clarification: my friend's parents were not in the van with us; it was just us 8 girls. I was hoping the introductions would take some time, just so I could digest dinner #1 before launching into the second. But as luck would have it, dinner came all too soon. I took a little of everything so that it looked as if I were...well, maybe eating a little of everything. When I type things down my actions seem less and less logical, even to myself.
So, I took my time eating so as to make sure I didn't get served again. But then, right when I was about to get up, my phone rang. It was one of my friends from college. I mumbled something about being out and calling back as soon as I got back to my room, but those few seconds made all the difference. Auntie had served me what at the time felt like a Giant portion of fish. Not wanting to be rude, I finished everything on my plate. I was just breathing a sigh of relief and congratulating myself on the feat when...yes, you've guessed it... it was time for dessert. One yummy plate of rasmalai later, I discovered it was painful to even move. But, to my immense credit nobody else present could even have guessed what I was going through.
Ironically one of my friends commented that I eat a lot for someone my size. Haha, I thought, she didn't know half the story! In any case, it doesn't look like I will be getting much sleep tonight, full stomach and all... :(

Self-help books

I personally feel that self help books are written by people to help themselves. Financially, that is. I read one recently; it was about how to sleep less and feel more energetic. To the author's credit, the book did make me sleep less because I had to stay up that much longer to finish reading it. Unfortunately it did little to help with the latter part. Well, maybe if I had followed it exactly, it might have worked eventually. But then, I've never been very good at following any kind of routine.
There was another similar article I came across about stress. The first line got me excited. "What is stress?". Oh, I know that one. Stress is nothing but force per unit area. (This is what happens when you attend too many technical interviews. Your mind is overwhelmed by the fact that there exists a question that you are able to answer with some level of authority). Quickly realizing that the author and I weren't on the same page (no pun intended), I proceeded to read the rest of the article.
I promptly forgot about the whole thing till I chanced upon another article, this one is in the spiritual column of a local newspaper that tells the story of two monks. One of the monks, (the wiser one), tells the other that sorrow is like a handful of salt. You can either dissolve it in a glass of water or in an ocean. His point was that the other monk should broaden his perspective and not let the burden of his sorrow take over his senses completely. Which was precisely what I was saying, albeit a little less eloquently.
So how is this for an idea.. what if...(letting the suspense build up)...what if I write a self help book on the topic I am rapidly becoming a world authority on, 'How not to crack an interview'. It would be the first book of its kind, plus I really do have a lot of insight to share. It could save a lot of people from having to face panel after panel of interviewers like I am doing at present, and earn me some money before I figure out 'how to crack an interview'. Then maybe I could write a book about that, which wouldn't be half as enlightening, but still earn me even more cash. What say, folks? Worth a try?

Weekend Blues

It is official. I hate weekends. By definition, weekends are supposed to be the end of the week, a time for rest/relaxation. But it hardly ever is that. Take this weekend for instance. I had an assignment to complete on Friday evening, followed by non-stop cramming (a little exaggeration never hurts) for a written exam on Saturday evening, then the actual process of having to listen to some executive talk about the great company he is here to represent, before putting us through the ordeal of answering a hundred questions in 60 minutes, getting selected for an interview, wasting all Sunday morning outside the interview room, the entire afternoon spent waiting for the results... finally being rejected (that last word makes the rest of the paragraph unnecessary :)). The end result is that I feel more exhausted just before the beginning of a week than at the end.
But identifying and defining the problem does not bring one any closer to the solution. It wouldn't be practical to live without weekends because we'd have nothing to look forward to during a long boring week. (Sigh) Well, life goes on....till the next weekend....