Bureaucrazzy

Today, I will recount for you, in painful detail, my adventures at the passport office although second hand experience can hardly be considered useful in this case and for no reason other than that I love sharing my misery.
It started somewhere in the end of May . I had received an acceptance letter from a university in the States and had to make plans to travel there. Plans which included applying for a visa. This was when I realized that the photograph in my passport was at least 13 years old and according to just about everyone I look nothing like that picture now. Ok, so I have grown out of my 2-ponytail hairstyle.. but really I'm still the same person, less cute maybe, but still me. However the airport authorities couldn't be expected to take that view and so it was decided that I should apply for a photo change. After all, how long could it take? Even a fresh passport can be obtained in 45 days, and I had a valid one already.
And that was how the madness began. Apparently, it is quite a simple exercise to get a passport. My experience however tells an entirely different story. I obtained the application form without much of a problem, just 15 minutes in a queue was all it took. After filling up the form, I realized I needed a token to get inside to submit the application, and that tokens were available only till 12 noon. That sounded fair enough and I decided to return the next morning.
Dad and I drove up the next morning at around 10, to see people standing in queue all the way along the side of the building and beyond, well into the road. After confirming that this was the right queue, we stood in line for almost an hour. Then, just to amuse myself, I asked the person ahead of me to keep my place and I went to see how many people were ahead of me. I counted 140. By some miracle I got inside the building much later, and while submitting the form was informed that there were some documents missing. We made an emergency phone call to my brother, who rushed to the passport office with the required documents. That task completed, we returned home at 4pm after a very tiring day, during the course of which my sandals were all but destroyed from standing in the mud for so long.
Then began the next phase, the police verification. That happened quickly enough. But three weeks later, there was no news about the verification report reaching the office. I knew this because it had become my routine to check the passport website almost daily. By the beginning of July I was starting to get worried, so Dad and I made another trip to the passport office to see what was happening. Here, after standing in queue at the information counter for about an hour, I was informed that if I were in such a hurry I could go to the police station to ask whether the report had been sent and if so, get the bundle number, so that it would help them locate my file.
The police station informed us that the report has not been sent and asked us to return in two days. And when we did, they told us to return in 2 days. That was interesting. They had the perfect reply. They could just use it over and over again, and it would still mean something. Sheer brilliance.

I interrupt my own narration at this point to prevent this post from being too long. On the plus side, you don't really have to hold your breath for the next installment (sequel if you please). It follows directly after this. Of course, this story being as intriguing as it is, I am surprised that you are still awake and reading. Congratulations readers, for making it this far. You are much more resilient than I seem to have given you credit for.

Reading Maniac

I just noticed it has been more than a month, so maybe I wasn't as clueless about what to do with my time as I had thought. So, what did I do? Hmm... studied a little (very, very little) for an interview that I chickened out of anyway (ow... should try not to do that again, remembering that makes me feel guilty). Then there was another, less painful interview, and a written test. But mainly I was just reading and playing tennis in the evenings. The reading did get a little out of control in the past week, when I was behaving almost like a chain smoker, except with novels. In fact, I even forgot all about the tennis, and can't even remember being out of the house or even the sofa except for very brief periods. This was something that I thought I'd grown out of, but hey, I am a constant mystery (yes, even to myself).
It started with 'Hannibal', because I had begun reading it before leaving college. After that, I re-read 'Silence of the Lambs' which I had last read at least half a decade ago and had forgotten parts of. I am not really into the gruesome stuff, but I liked the way the sequel followed so logically from where the first book left off. Which had to be the case with all sequels. That seemed like something to think about, so I started reading the 'Twilight' series. Yeah, I know it is supposed to be for teenagers, but that particular consideration has never stopped me before. I remember staying up late while in college to read Harry Potter (this seems to be my day for embarrassing revelations). Anyway, so that was four and a half books of vampire stories in about as many days. Now the problem with reading a lot of books about the same characters, or even just a really long book like 'War and Peace' or 'A Suitable Boy' is that you can get attached to the characters. I have heard that this happens with serials also. I had a friend who used to have dreams about a series he was watching, but then again, that is to be expected when you watch six episodes back to back. Another thing that is to be expected is having to wear glasses because of all the staring, whether at the pages or the screen (in the case of e-books) or the television screen or whatever. Glasses being the one thing I want to avoid, I will try to be more restrained in my reading from now on. Writing that down made me realize just how ridiculous that sounds, like I had to be tied down with chains or something to prevent me from reading. But it probably isn't much of an exaggeration, when you consider that I also managed to read a Jeffrey Archer (always full of improbable coincidences, but great reading) and a Grisham (The Associate, not as good as some others he has written) in between all this.
To get my mind off all this manic reading, and also because I really want to, I am going to attend a friend's wedding tomorrow. I will be going with another of my friends, who herself is married. I just realized that roughly half my friends are married. Well there's always the other half. Hmm... seems like a good topic for a future post. Well, I have to rush now, because the passport office seems to be taking ages to process my application. Not that my being there will speed things up, but it makes me (well, my dad actually) feel like I am doing something useful. Later, then...

Home!

All I wished for these past six months or so was to be at home. Now that I am, I really don't know what I want! :D It must have been a really wise person who said that one should be careful what they wished for because they might just get it. My only humble addition to that is that not only could you get exactly what you wished for, but you might have absolutely no idea what to do with it when you do. :)
I celebrated my 24th birthday yesterday. There was a good amount of teasing about getting older, but I didn't think too much of it, till I went to the gym today. I believe that a person is as old as they feel. But after just a hundred sit-ups (in sets of 30, no less) and 2km of running, my body had a difference of opinion with my beliefs. Because, if beliefs were anything to go by, I would have declared myself to be 60 right then.
As for the job situation, I have convinced myself that employment is highly overrated. Who needs a job anyway? Except to pay bills, go places and buy nice things. Ok, now I have successfully un-convinced myself (like such a thing were even possible). But I figure that if I cant get a job, the next best thing would be to keep studying. Which is exactly what I plan to do. This leaves us with just one question: where? As usual, I have several plans, the plans being ordered on an 'or' basis (as in, Plan A, and failing that, Plan B, followed by Plan C and so on). So, while I explore all these possibilities, kindly be patient if you don't hear from me for a couple of weeks or maybe even a little longer. And good luck to me! :)

The Short and Long of It

So, I am graduating.... finally. I am going to take this as an excuse for reminiscing about the things I have learnt over the past 2 years. One thing I noticed straightaway about this college was the fact that the students seem to have their own language consisting almost entirely of short forms and made-up adjectives. Among my favourites are "frrust" which is short for frustrated, "peace" meaning easily accomplished (also "peaceful", "peace marna"). I like how some people use that in a sentence. For instance, when I was still new to the campus, someone told me a story that began with, "See, I was just sitting there, maarofying peace, when suddenly....". That still cracks me up. Also frrust shows just how frustrated the speaker is, to the extent that they can't even bring themselves to say the whole word.
TP (timepass: ie. something to kill time) and CD (cold drink) are some other short forms that had me confused for a while. I still remember a junior asking me if I needed a "CD" after a match. I thought he was referring to a compact disc, which seemed odd to me because listening to music was the last thing on my mind at the time! :)
"Junta" meaning people, and "Studaapa" which refers to the state of being a stud (stud being self-explanatory) were among the easier ones to understand. Then there were the commonplace things like lappy (laptop), dep (department), huha (roughly translated as big deal). Dosa, apart from being a typical south Indian snack, is also short for Dean of Student Affairs. I sometimes wonder how the poor soul feels about his title. Personally, I know I would hate being called a dosa by anyone, even if it were just an acronym...

Long Awaited

I know I have not been writing much lately. It is not that I am busy (I never am), just didn't feel like it. I hadn't been online much either, which led some people to believe that I was busy preparing for an interview. I have given up trying to correct others' misconception about my level of dedication. Anyway, the interview, like all interviews, came and went leaving me none the wiser.
The results were put up on the placement website today and three of my friends got selected. When I saw the notice I was ecstatic and called to congratulate them. The first person I called hadn't expected it and was happy beyond words. The second person had recovered enough to express regret that I hadn't made it and that I would surely land a job soon. That was when it hit me. Four months of interviews and I have nothing to show for it. Been feeling a little low since then.
On a happier note, I will be earning my masters degree soon. Was at the lab getting my report printed till late last night. That was quite an experience. Had a very late dinner at 12:30 am, which was fun, like picnics used to be when we were in school. :)
At times like these I sometimes wonder what my parents would think of me being out so late. I still have to remind myself sometimes that I am not in high school anymore, and they probably would think nothing of me staying out late to complete my work. You know, if you think about it, being an adult is really no fun at all. I may be wrong about that, maybe it's the mood talking. We will have to just wait and see...
I have a friend who is quite a fan of the 'ageing backwards' concept (popularized by a certain Mr. Button) and who feels that now would be a good time to start. I reserve judgement on that till I am in a better frame of mind to give an unbiased opinion. Still, I think I would like to be at least 35 before I age backwards. At least by then I will be nostalgic enough to appreciate the youth I'd be getting back. Frankly, right now, just before graduation, going back to school for 2+4+12+2 years doesn't seem like a very good idea!!

Social Skills

Well technically, this post is about the lack of social skills, but I am trying to be positive about things. There used to be a time when I felt I was probably the most socially awkward person in the world. Well... not anymore!
I was at an official dinner party last week, hosted by our professors, where I was doing what I usually do on such occasions- positioning myself at strategic points where I could observe the proceedings without being spotted myself. This is an art I have perfected over the years, and takes little or no effort these days.
Then came the big hurdle, the actual dinner. In this part, it is not that easy to blend into the background and, as luck would have it, I ended up standing behind a fellow student, a certain Mr. Z, at the buffet table. Z (who is now the undisputed king of SAPs- Socially Awkward Persons known to myself) turned around to look at me; more specifically at a point on my forehead. This was making me uncomfortable, so I proceeded to raise both my eyebrows (I wish I could raise just one at a time... now, that would be awesome). Anyway, that got his attention and he realized he had to respond to my unspoken question.
"Is that a headlight on your forehead?" was what he said. He might have been referring to the giant pimple right in the middle of my forehead, but I will never know for sure, because I thought it wise not to answer the question, preferring to just shrug and smile (another one of my time-tested strategies). But Z was not about to be discouraged so soon. He proceeded to ask me about my future plans, about the number and quality of the applications I had sent, whether I would like to have dinner sometime.. I had been smiling and nodding throughout. That stopped abruptly with the last question.
Thankfully, my dear, dear roommate rescued me before I had to actually say anything in response to the relentless questioning. So there were two things I found out that evening. One, that there is still hope for me, because there are other people setting the benchmark in the SAP championship, and that a friend in need is worth her weight in diamonds. (Psst, now you know why I said I'd miss you when you went home!!)

April Foolishness

I had started this post on April Fool's day. Unfortunately some foolishness on my part caused its deletion. But since this was in keeping with the spirit of the day, I have decided not to crib about it. Instead, I will reflect on all the foolishness I have been upto in the last couple of months. On second thought, that might require an entire blog, with one post on each incident, therefore I will just tell you about the foolishness I have been upto online.
I will start with facebook, which for a few days was practically where I lived. I keep getting invitations to try quizzes. I take the ones that sound interesting, then I go from there to another, and then another.. For instance, it was a revelation to learn that bartending was my true calling (yeah, I always knew deep deep down (very deep) that I wasn't cut out to be an engineer). If I were Japanese, my name should have been Ai, if my life were the movie Twilight, I would be Bella (yay!), I will die when I fall off a mountain (as if.... now that I know better, I won't go mountain climbing...haha). These are just a few examples. There is nothing in the world that's more fun than indulging in foolishness.
Nothing is without consequences though. If you foolishly add anybody who sends you a friend request on gtalk, orkut or facebook, prepare to be flooded with messages like, "I am liking to make friendship with you". Ugh.. if there is anything I can't stand, it is bad grammar. And that particular sentence always gives me a mental picture of two kids making a ship-shaped sand castle. :)
I have a telephone interview from halfway across the world in a few hours. The thing has been giving me nightmares for some days now. But I am done messing up interviews. To ensure the success of this one, I asked my friends for advice. One friend suggested swallowing an amplifier. I would, but it sounds awfully painful. There has to be an easier way to get a job...