Passing on the student ID

Today I happened upon an idea. It involves a tiger, a cat, a Capp, a wall and an empty box. I'll get back to you when I'm done with it, but till then, you go ahead and let that imagination of yours go wild. *grins*

As I had my coffee this morning, I read a Calvin & Hobbes comic strip. Calvin wants contact lenses and is discussing the possibility of getting them with his ever exhausted mum.

She wearily explains to him that he doesn't need them; he's got perfect eyesight. He sighs an exasperated sigh and proceeds to enlighten her on how outrageously cool it would be to have one blood red lens and the other one colored like the eye of a tiger and how he'd be the envy of the neighborhood kids and this and that....the next panel is a very annoyed Calvin telling Hobbes how being older just makes people forget what's cool. Such pearls of wisdom in the daily funnies!

It got me thinking. Does that really happen? Do you just stop being cool? Do your notions change so much as you age? Does being a parent make you the 'I said no' person?

I look around at my friends...we haven't changed much since college...we still laugh aloud and do silly things when we're together. Some of them are getting ready for parenthood...and I always find myself thinking what cool parents they'll make and how their kids are going to so LOVE them for being the coolest parents on the block. I've got really good friends 5 years older and younger than me and we get along like a house on fire. 6 degrees and all that, I suppose.

I like to think that if we're sane and have time for ourselves...and let life take its course normally, without us pushing the boundaries too far...We age happily, enjoying every minute and barely even realising it.

Yesterday some of us got together at Jay's for Pictionary, over red wine (amongst other things!) and kebabs - it was all laughs and chit chat. The previous day it was a heavenly food fest at Chili's - the food, the company, the fun - it made for an awesome Thursday night. It's great to just be able to catch up. Yes, we're older now...but when we're together; we're the same people we were all those years ago.

No, I don't think things change too much as you get older. Yes, responsibilities kinda creep up on you and you suddenly see a lot of serious stuff that seemed to be hiding in the bushes up until now. But then that's part and parcel of growing up in this crazy world of ours. And though it's scary sometimes, in it's own weird way - it's fun too.

You're as old as you feel, which is actually quite awesome.

Like I said, you get to age gracefully.

That's like having your cake, eating it too and whipping out your adult ID and enjoying it all with a chilled glass of wine.

Me 'n my sprinkles

Sometimes it's hard to pick just one thought that's floating around in my mind and write about it.

It's quite Harry Potter-ish isn't it? My very own pensieve of musings and memories. Yes, I hide my wand in my back pocket and I'm a Gryffindor, thank you very much!

When I was younger, I'd watch life happen around me and imagine myself floating on a cloud, just watching everything and everyone. It allowed me to time to observe and more importantly, choose how I wanted to react to stuff. I imagined that I could see how people felt and whether they were happy or not. Then I'd wish I had colorful Star Sprinkles in my bag ala Rainbow Brite, that would promptly make everyone happy and all would be right in the world.

If I was being honest, precious little has changed.

When life gives me the rare moments of quiet thought, I'm back on the cloud. I've come to learn with age that I always had some Sprinkles stashed away somewhere and though I couldn't make everyones worries go away, I could help a few. I learnt that I couldn't see how people felt, but I could try to be as nice as possible to them, never mind the circumstance. Chili calls that being a diplomat. She says tomato, I say tomato. *grin*

I've learnt that I can't always carefully plan my reactions. Sometimes they just take me by surprise. And that isn't such a bad thing after all.

There are so many people I want to watch from my cloud, so many people I want the best for. But since it's just this make-believe cloud (who knew, right?) I'll pray for you all instead.

And if there are any of you on clouds too - 'sup y'all!!

Say a prayer for me too.

Of power cuts and pizzas

Took a bit of a break for two weeks and headed home to my monsoon-ed out Goa.

Thanks to the incessant rain, power cuts were in abundance.

Felt great to be home...and well, just do nothing much, really.

Just sitting on the sofas - talking about ridiculously random things. The silly Santa-Banta jokes (if you're not Indian, google 'sardar jokes' - you'll get it!), high teas, rushed pizza in the car just to be on time for an incredibly lame movie, watching the tv premiere of 3 idiots and eating roasted grams and banana chips, running through Mapusa to hopefully avoid the rains! A barbeque peppered with old friends and new introductions, meeting 3 gorgeous dogs - Stack, Shiny and Shorty. Being able to just stand in the verandah and take in the rain, the squirrels, the smell of leaves being burnt somewhere in the distance, wondering if you'll see a few monkeys in the trees. That lovely evening at Navtara where we were all so ravenous and ate almost everything on the menu! Lovely hot baths whilst it poured buckets and buckets outside. The Samsung store. *smiles*

I miss home. I miss mum and dad.

And I miss the power cuts.

If you haven't been, you must visit Goa sometime.

It's the loveliest place in the world and I call it home.