I Am

"What am I supposed to do yaar?" cried Smruthi, indignantly. Smruthi is my best friend. She and I have been inseparable since class 5 when we first met. Our friendship has thrived through the years and now in class 9 we are still going strong. Anyway back to Smruthi wailing. This particular outburst was a result of a problem she was sharing with me. We often play shrink to each other and I am amazed each time we get off the phone. How could the weight from my shoulders disappear so miraculously once I narrated my problem to her? How were her words so soothing that they calmed my frayed nerves? How was her advice the godsend to me at the time?

Anyway she was moaning to me about how her colony friends were pigs and always got into gossiping rather than just playing in the evenings. I was nodding and offering suggestions when she burst out,  " They don't seem to accept me for who I am!" I nodded and plunged into how she could tone down herself a bit and mind her manners a bit. You see, Smruthi is the type of girl who always speaks her mind, no matter what. She can be boisterous and fun - loving, calm and caring, funny and irritating all at the same time. She doesn't care what anyone thinks of her as long as the people who matter to her really know who she is. And I love this quality of hers, she takes all types of criticism positively and doesn't seem to mind being ridiculed.

She always stands up for what she feels is right and doesn't tolerate anyone badmouthing her friends. So anyways when I was going through my speech, she interrupted me and said something that shocked me beyond words, she said, "Listen, this is who I am, and if they don't like what they see, well its their loss! There will be people out there who like me just the way I am and I'll know that they are the right one's for me" The power of her words struck me to my core. How right she was! Why should we compromise ourselves just to be liked? Is social acceptance that necessary? It's not like I'm a sucker for peer pressure but I have seen a few friends of mine change the basic foundations of their character just to be liked.

After a few seconds of baffled silence I nodded and moved on to another topic. I mean what could I say? Out of the two of us I consider myself the more 'mature' one, Smruthi is often childlike and innocent, another quality of hers which I adore. But many a time she has shown maturity that surpasses her age, which makes me rethink my presumption. My friend is like an orange both tangy yet sweet (Yeah, one hell of a comparison right? But it suits her) . She reminds me of my maternal grandfather, he too is like her in many ways. A hard exterior, a soft interior. She had taught me many things in life and I often feel privileged to have her as my friend.

I once voiced my doubts to her as to how long our friendship would last. She hmm-ed for a minute and then said, "At least until we both get married, I hope" I laughed at her, amazed. I had expected it to last only till we finished school. Call me a pessimist but I had seen friends drift away from me before. But Smruthi apparently believes in the strength of our friendship to see it stretch that far and her hope makes me want to believe as well. I know I'm not the easiest person to stay friends with but somehow she manages to read me like an open book and some times I feel she knows me better than I know myself! She is a tough nut, Smruthi and I'm sure she'll go many places being her extreme, adorable self.

Overrated

A few weeks ago my Mom had asked me to do a few chores for her. I agreed with her outwardly of course but when I went out back to the clothes line and saw the pile of clothes hanging there I was dismayed. My dismay turned to misery when I'd plucked them off the line and had dumped them on the floor to fold them. I sat down sulking but couldn't find a reason to not do the work. My parents are very loving people and they work day and night to make sure my brother and I have everything we need and want. So I sighed, reminding myself that I'd been the one to offer my help and began to fold the clothes one by one.

My mind started to wander and  soon before I knew it, the mountain which had previously towered over me was now reduced into a small neatly stacked pile of clothes. I stood up bemused, as I surveyed my handy work. Surely the pile wasn't supposed to look so small? I glanced around to see if I'd missed out on anything when a realization dawned upon me. I nodded in awe, admiring my logic. To my overexcited mind the pile of clothes had been an impossible task, huge, tangled and confusing. But when I'd mentally accepted that this was one chore that I simply had to do my mind too warmed to the task and helped me focus all my work on completing it. This made me wonder, are all life's problems slightly overrated? With the right attitude and the willingness to work hard can we overcome anything we set our hearts to?

But after a few times of trying unsuccessfully to implement this logic I've realized that it's no piece of cake. To achieve that kind of willpower is no joke. Believe me even with this knowledge in hand it's no easier being a better person. I'm still the girl who cries when things go wrong and shuts herself off from everybody when I'm mad. But nowadays I'm finding that it's easier to ignore my brother than fly at him when I'm angry, it's easier to just be done with my homework even after a tiring day. What I realized was that our minds are our greatest hurdles and greatest achievements. Hurdles when we need to implement will power and achievements when we assert ourselves and complete a task. I'm happy that I've realized this early in life because someday I know I'm going to need it.

Another thing I've noticed about life is that ignorance is bliss. Maybe that's why people adore babies so much. And maybe that's why I adore animals so much. Seriously, both have the same thing in common, both are pleasantly ignorant of our busy world and are content with simply living. The line 'All Izz Well' in 3 Idiots had always been just that to me: a line. A dialogue I'd never imaged would actually apply in life. I remember, just the other day I'd been having a bowl of grapes, my nose glued to the T.V screen. My hand would occasionally go down to pluck a grape from the bowl and pop it in my mouth, my eyes never wavering from the T.V. When my programme had gotten over I 'd glanced down at the grape in my hand and realized that it was slightly over ripe which had caused dark blotches to bloom over it in places. I chucked it away, revolted.

But that was the point, the grape would have tasted perfectly right if I had eaten it. There was nothing actually wrong with it and my throwing away of it had been a mistake. I knew that and had still chosen to waste the food morsel. Whereas when I'd been otherwise occupied I had eaten every grape in my hand irrespective of its ripeness. Looking down my mind had decided that the grape was not of my standard and I'd thrown it away. The same grape I would have eaten if I were blind to its appearance. My brain had invented a problem, where actually nothing had existed. I'm not saying that its best to remain ignorant all the while but sometimes I find its better to implement Rancho's logic in life than complicate situations uselessly. 

Puppy Problems

On the 24th of January 2011 I received my first dog bite. I guess this is just the first of many more to come. I really hope not. But that's going to be a bit hard considering my to-be occupation. I am an animal fanatic. In class 7 I'd decided that I was going to become a veterinarian and nothing has changed till date. But moving on to the incident, it was one of the most shocking experiences of my life.

It was 7:45. I was on my way to school with my cousin Sanjana, a 1st grade student. There was exactly 15 minutes left to get to school. I was not unduly worried but I kept up a brisk pace. We as good citizens stuck to the sidewalk (or mud walk) of the busy road. Most of the shops were closed and the air was slightly chilly. As we walked I noticed a mother dog with her pup sitting near the entrance of a closed shop. I didn't mind them. I'd seen them a dozen times before while walking back from school.

Ignoring them I continued walking down the road, my hand in Sanjana's when suddenly as I passed them the pup jumped up a ran towards me (or rather,my basket)wagging his tail. Aware of the playful nature of puppies I kept walking. It was then I felt the teeth sink sharply into the back of my leg and connect with a 'snap'. The first emotion that came flooding through my body was shock. My eyes widened as my brain comprehended what had happened. The puppy had bitten me! The next emotion was disgust and annoyance.

Disgust because I'd actually felt the teeth in my body (i.e my calf muscle. Damn school uniforms for having a skirt!) and annoyance becuase I had no idea why the idiot had taken a bite of me in the first place! I swear I have no idea why! I would never go out of my way to harm a  living creature. Later, after the incident I came up with two theories.

1. As I was swinging my basket and walking, it might have clipped him (why him? I'm just guessing, he seemed too rude to be a female) on his nose and hence he retaliated. But I find this theory very unlikely as I don't remember anything of the sort happening.

2. He bit me for fun. Doesn't seem so far-fetched does it? Puppies, children (especially males) generally enjoy playing that way. So I'm guessing he mistook me for his chew toy sibling and took the liberty of sharpening his biting skills on me.I'm kind of certain that its this one as the way he bit me didn't exactly seem like an attack.

I'm not an idiot. I know animals are not always friendly-friendly types. I know when I have to stand my ground and protect myself. But this lacked the aggression of an attack, believe me if I'd felt at any moment that it was I would've brained the little guy with my basket. A stinging backside would've been the perfect reminder for him not to go nibbling others again. But he took me completely by surprise. And I didn't feel like bashing him up later again. After all he is a child.

Well anyways after he'd bitten me, I dropped my cousin off in her block and proceeded towards mine. I checked in at the office and informed the teacher there of what had happened. The bite wasn't too big but it was deep. There I met my class teacher and she was very sweet. She made me rinse the wound thoroughly with soap and water and instructed me to call my parents. I did as she said, and in no time even my parents were added to the list of 'people who are worried about my dog bite'. They got to the school as fast as they could and bundled me up into the car. I grinned at my friends on the way out, kind of liking the attention I was receiving.

The grin dissolved the minute I stepped in the car. My mom was furious. She was so worried and scared. She even made me promise that I wouldn't touch any other dog except mine again. My dad worried silently and occasionally shot me looks through the rear view mirror. We reached the hospital considerably fast and I was ushered  in almost faster than my legs could carry me. I loved the reaction of the duty doctor there. He was as cool as a cucumber and proceeded to make jokes as he checked out the severity of my injury. Finally, someone who reacted properly!

I was to recieve 5 injections all in all. Each costing Rs 500. I've already recieved 3 of them and have two more to go. The wound itself didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. The worst part was as I said the second after I'd realized that the dog had bit me, kind of like when you gag after you realize you've stepped in dog poop (charming example, I know). But all's well that ends well. My parents dropped me off at school on the way back and I spent the whole day being asked, "Lavanya you were bitten by a dog?" to which I replied " Yes"to which they replied "How?" to which i replied . . . . . well, you get the idea. 

This incident has as of such not changed my perspective towards animals. I still adore them beyond belief but I'm certainly more wary of them now. But I'm sure not going to give up on the whole lot of them just because one puppy bit me. No matter what anyone tells me, I will still love my animal friends till my last breath (I hope). I was,still am and will always be proud to remain a Nature Freak!

The Girl With The Golden Heart . . . . . .

The annual elections were going on in our school. People were busy shouting, laughing, goofing around and quite a few were running about looking like someone had set their hair on fire. It was the perfect setting for confusion and chaos. I was one of the 10 students who were nominated for the post of the Assistant Heads of our school. It was there in that setting that I found my eternal inspiration.

Her name is Lahari, she is a student at my school and also my good friend. She was one of my many competitors who were all competing against each other for the post of the Assistant Head Boy or Girl respectively. But I feel that competing is not the apt word for it as all the guys and girls who had been nominated are my close friends, on the contrary we were quite pally with each other and each was a staunch supporter of the other.

But even we could not deny the truth that only one girl and one guy would be chosen as the Head girl and Head boy respectively. Our election process is quite a simple one. We campaign for a few days in all the senior classes of our school, namely class 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. After the campaigning is done, we make our formal speeches in the assembly and finally the children as well as the entire staff of the school are asked to vote, the votes are counted and the heads are declared.

It was a short but incredibly terrifying experience for me. And I'm proud to say that I was elected by my fellow school mates as the next Assistant Head Girl of my school. But I have dedicated this post to my friend and hence I will commence with her story. As I said she was one of my competitors, so when I won, it meant she lost. Despite that she put on a brave face and congradulated me whole-heartedly. I was really touched by this simple selfless act of her's but it was not only she who came forward to do this, all of my friends came ahead and even though they had encountered a personal setback they tried to feel happyfor my sake.

But that's not why I admire her. After the Heads are elected, the children who have not been elected and the rest of the other nominated children are asled to stand for the post of the vice captain's of the houses in our school. We have four houses: Ganga- Blue, Cauvery- Red, Godavari- Yellow and Krishna- Green. Lahari is in Godavari house and hence she stood for that post, but there was another candidate who also spoke equally well and hence Lahari lost out to her. I never saw how heart broken she was until I saw a few tear drops rolling down her cheeks. I was shoked and immediately turned to comfort her. That's when I realized how cleverly she'd been hiding her tears behind an ever-smiling friendly face.

Not only had she accepted her defeat in the first election so gracefully but she'd also smiled and congradulated the other contestant in her second defeat. She did what I never could have done, she fell once but pulled herself right back up, walked out in front of those crowds of thousands with her head held high until it had been too much for her. But even then after seeing how alarmed I was at her tears she again made an effort to transform into the happy-go-lucky Lahari I knew. She'd always been a good friend but it was not until that day that I'd seen the real fighter inside her, she'd managed to conceal so carefully. For this I salute her.

She's the perfect example of the idiom "Failures are stepping stones to success." I'm sure that this is just a minor setback for her and that something greater is in store for her. So I'm hoping that her day comes soon, till then my fingers are crossed. And another reason why I admire her is beacuse I've become very lazy, I havent blogged in almost 2 months or something, I've lost count. Her actions have moved me to words and hence I feel she deserves another salute. So a BIG thankyou, Lahari! Keep Smiling.

Red Means Stop.

Traffic safety is something that is taught to every child once he reaches an age where he can fully comprehend and understand things. "Look, left, right and then left again" has become the anthem for helicopter moms and policemen. Don't run across the road or step in front of a car are some rules that children don't tend to forget easily, not with their self preservation at stake.

But we mustn't forget that not only humans use the roads but other animals also do tend to cross them. These animals unfortunately cannot sense the flow of traffic and its up to us to drive sanely. Any Indian worth their driver's license should know that. Stray dogs sometimes dash across the road madly in an attempt to somehow reach the other side. They act completely out of instinct and don't know how to judge the oncoming traffic. Their first reaction will be to cross to the other side at any cost. One slight mistake by a careless driver and that dog will never reach the other side.

Not only dogs but other animals too are in extreme danger of being hit while crossing the roads. Buffaloes especially. These animals generally move around in herds and you can often notice the traffic breaking around them like a stream would around a rock. These great beasts simply don't budge from their path whether its a car about to ram into them or a bus! No one has taught them to walk on a foot path, they don't give a hoot to our skimpy human customs.

So in other words its almost too easy to run over a wayward puppy or cat. I've had too many painful and real life experiences with these kind of accidents. Just a few days ago a puppy I saw alive the previous evening  was smashed to pulp the next morning. The people who commit these kinds of crimes ought to be charged with murder. Believe me it would be a big deal if it was a person under the wheel of the vehicle rather than an animal.

The law would catch up to anybody who was involved in the accident and make them pay. The thing that's really sick about this is that the same kind of injustice happens everyday with animals but is failed to brought to notice. The worst thing about these drivers are that these scum never stop for a second to check whether the animal they hit is going to be okay or has already passed away or what. They owe at least that to their victim.

But I'm sure that not everyone is so thickheaded. So, Please if you see this kind of thing happening on a road near your house, make the person who brought about the suffering pay and provide the animal care. It's not the mere fact of being human that induces humanity in us but only by executing any act of kindness that helps a lesser being we understand the true meaning of being humane.   

Love you, Brother.

Life is a Journey. This is a universal truth which no one can deny. We begin our Journey when we are born, and it is intensified once we set our goals. There is no denying the fact that it is a bumpy road and we often tend to get jostled during the rougher parts. And that is where our family steps in. They right us and put us back on our feet sort of like the pit stop crew of a racing car. My family are the reason behind why my life rocks. They are the reason why I recover after a shock or renew my determination after a minor setback. 

I am terrified of looking bad in public. If things go wrong the incident places a dent in my self esteem and it takes a lot of reassuring to make me believe that I am capable again. I have a lovely family, my Mom: my philosopher and guide, my Dad: my pillar of strength and the object of my eternal love, my Bro: my hanger out and occasional conscience, my Grandparents: my lives and last but undoubtedly the most important my Dog: my baby and my true love. And of course my extended family, namely my teachers, friends and other wonderful people who taught me that Life is an adventure that we should enjoy to the fullest. 

But since I've dedicated this post to my brother, I'll just brief you on him. He is an overgrown monkey, my twin and a complete headache. Excepting the times when he annoys the hell out of me, I find that I really enjoy having him in my life. We gamble for our parents attention and often they turn into hostages in our never-ending  wars. Being the same age as your sibling can be exciting and at the same time frustrating. You don't have the power to oppress him with the excuse of being elder than him, you don't enjoy the benefits of being the younger adorable sibling, so its kind of balanced out with each no edge over the other.

But looking back on all the time we spent together I just can't believe we spent so much time fighting! My brother is  really sweet guy and needs to be pushed into the spotlight a bit. But once someone does the mistake of giving him the mic the floor is completely his. I'd like to say we too have our moments of bhai - behen  pyaar but we just skate through them cause it is just the teensiest bit awkward to tell someone who you spend the majority of your time fighting with that you love. Inspite of me clawing his face of on more than one occasion my brother stands up for me. He just can't take any criticism directed at me and neither can I tolerate anyone badmouthing him.

I do love him very much but he isn't the only boy who is a brother to me. Technically I consider all the boys I'm friends with to be my brothers but there are quite few who really stand out. For example the boy next door (or rather opposite my house) and my best friend, is  brother to me in all but blood. He and I have known each other since childhood and we share a certain comfort level. He is the only guy who I can speak to freely without feeling self conscious. To him, I'm his best sister (he loathes his own . . . figures)he ever recieved and is relieved to have a female friend who he can speak to without any awkwardness.

Every Raksha Bandhan I march up to his house and ask, no demand my Rakhi present from him while brandishing my rakhi like sword! The poor guy always complies. But that is besides the point. I love the feeling that two good guys are always looking after me and will haul me right back up if I stumble. So, thanks guys for making my life even more rangeen with your presence!

Marine Drive Of The Twin Cities!

 A few days ago, I happened to drive past Hussain Sagar ( I didn't drive of course, my dad did!) or Tank Bund as it is locally know. As suggested by my previous posts, I am addicted to anything Nature oriented and I remember holding my breath as we drove past, dumbstruck at its beauty. There were boats sailing on the water at top speed, a few birds gliding above lazily and there was that fresh breeze that you always find around water bodies.

I still smile when I remember the sensation of getting drunk on the beauty of the sight. On an earlier visit here, I realized how much Hyderabadi's loved this lake of theirs. It had been raining and our windows were rolled up. I strained my eyes, trying to look past the torrent of rain. What I saw sent me into a fit of giggles. There was a guy sitting on one of the benches which adorned the borders of the lake.  Oblivious to the pouring rain, he continued to sit and gaze at the lake, totally content. It might have been a sunny day for all he knew! Only when I noticed him I realized that he was just one of the many passion - struck Hyderabadi's who'd assembled there to witness the lake in all its glory. Their simple act of passion humbled me and I too yearn to become one of them.

In all of my years in Hyderabad, I've come to appreciate the fierce clash of culture and diverse mix of people, places, languages and religions. Hyderabad is no longer 'a city', I now regard it with a more possessive air and consider it to be 'My City'. The drive around Tank Bund is especially soothing to me. Coupled with the scenic beauty and the little nuggets of information present in the form of statues, I try my best to take that route whenever possible.

Hyderabad Rocks!  Is all I can say about this city.  No wonder it's the capital of Andhra!We find unity in diversity, and I hope we will continue to do so in the years to come.