me

I dont know how I do it, I dont know what inspires me, but I get myself into embarassing situations so easily, that it amazes me.

I had an interview with PC World for a part time job today. So, I go , almost smartly dressed, with three modules of economics clipped together to keep me company. I reach PC World 5 minutes before schedule (!!! am changing already!) and walk into the store. Alan, the manager who was supposed to interview me was busy dealing with some customers, so I was asked to grab a seat and wait in the financial bay. And thats what I did. Stifling a yawn (I dont know why economics does that to me) I opened the module sheets to (at least) glance through the theories of marginal benefits and opportunity costs.
Five minutes passed, then ten, then fifteen, either I was in a state of trance or I had fallen asleep HENCE, when Alan came booming in with a HIYAAAA THERE!!!!!! I literally jumped of out my skin and stood up (almost saluted him!) to shake hands with the guy. And what happened next was in slow motion.....my jacket which I was holding (conveniently) upside down rattled with the noise of my keys, my cellphone and some change threatening to meet ground any moment and the chair I was sitting in....well, unable to bear the shock of my violent and very sudden ahoy! captain!!, rolled over like an excited labrador and fell down in a very booming THUD.

There was silence.

Broken only by my ..."ooooooooops...."

I dont know what shade of red under brown I turned, but it sure brought a twinkle to Alan's eye who with great difficulty managed a "dont worry about it!" Kind of him not to laugh at a very embarassed girl! OPENLY!

Anyways, I never got the job, because I dont have a National Insurance Number yet. Looks like I am going through a spell of rejections. But hey! Every dog has its birth day and mine's coming soon! Maybe B'day stars will give the spell a twist!

The upside of the whole incident was, that Alan probably thought he must make up for the embarassment and gave me his card and asked me to call him as soon as I get my NI number! A good out of every 'oops'!!

take care and dont be embarassed to be embarassed!

me!

ps: oh, didnt mention about the time, when I was in the chaplaincy with some other international students yesteday and we were talking about our countries and food and meat and economies and I very confidently said, that adultery is not only prevelant in developing economies, but also in countries like America.

There was stunned silence.

And "OH! Sorry! I meant adulteration" was followed by '..ooopps'!!

...last time you did something for the first time

This phrase never fails to amaze me. I have rarely seen a sentence so snugly fit into the shoes of 'being oxymoronish'! I feel like a nursery school kid learning to read and write! I made sambar yesterday and not exaggerating, I like it! Standing in my kitchen, I would have been a funny sight to my chinese kitchen mates, grinning over a pot of boiling something(and appo appo tasting it also!)! So, when one of them before leaving shyly came up to me and said, "eeet smeaal, veeery gooood", the grin only stretched!

I dont really remember when I did something for the first time, the baggage switch was a first time alrite (though the burning hot cheeks due to agonizing embarassment when Sathya tracked me down and confirmed to me that he never cross dressed and that it was HIS bag that I picked...wasnt a first time!!) But yesterday, I think I would have yelped and clapped my hands in joy after realising that, I, I, I had actually made eatable/drinkable sambar!!

I never thought that I would be saying this, but my dear friends, cooking is a therapy. Believe me, it heals!

Gotta run now, the big black economics book is staring at me (glaring, I have a feeling)!

Take care!
me

Economics on Monday mornings

Either my relationship with my monday morning economics class is jinxed or I have some silly psychological thing going on that makes me sleep exactly after 3.AM ONLY on sunday nights to wake up like in a trance at 8.30AM for a 9 AM class and go through the day like a zombie (active only when I have to physically stop myself from falling off the chair.)
Anyways, today was no different from the rest of the mondays, slept at 3.30 AM (what I did till then?? Other than the normal things(debatable, yeah!), woke my parents up early in the morning -for them- with a RISE AND SHINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Did a psychotic, HIIIIIIIII HOWWW AREEEEE YOUUUUUU in high pitch to Mads(must have given u a shock sweetheart! Sorry!!)) and then dropped off to sleep.
I was taking down notes in class today, when out of sheer desperation to keep myself awake, I started writing random things! A peek into my economics notebook - unedited!

Oh my god! I am shameless!! I am rolling off into sleep right in front of Professor Neil Kay!! Can't believe it!!
I am going to go home and sleep. Should I tell Prof? Maybe not, will go sleep and come back after lunch. Yemmaaa!! Ibdi thookam varde!!!
My eyes are simply rolling in their sockets. The warm bed in my room is all I can see...all around me. Prof's talking about supply and demand and I keep hearing sleepy dee mandu!! hahahahaha!! I must be a psycho!!
Oh gosh! What am I trying to do? Fool him?! Can't believe I dozed off with one eye open! Aiyoooo Kadavale!! I've never felt so sleepy in my entire life! Ash...remember what all you did back in Sathyabama??? By this time you would have simply dropped off to sleep!!

Whewww!! So, when I ran out of the class during the mid morning break, thinking I'll catch up on my sleep, something made me turn left and go to the student canteen and pick up a cup of coffee and come right back to class! So! My student sense prevailed!! Praise God! And btw, today for the first time in my life (!!!) coffee kept me awake! I think it had more to do with misjudging the amount of sugar I would need for my coffee and drinking almost bitter coffee sent all the sleep in shreiking away to Honololu!!
And to top it all, the Prof keeps saying, "....and in the United States for example...." or "...consider what happened in California..." and I almost go off into dreamland!!! Sigh!!


Yawning
me!

Ups and Downs

They warned me all about it. Sent me literature, gave me sessions as soon as I reached here and all the while, I literally tuned off thinking, this wouldnt happen to me..I am the been-to-London-returned-Ashika. But no one is ever spared and I am not an exception. Depression. Well, not like I am languishing in my room or refuse to talk to those around me..but the fact that these are the things that I would rather do than go out and take that walk next to the lake or have that chat with the folks confirmed it for me. Either am at the edge of my wits or I am going flop-bott! And the tiny zit that decided to place itself right on my cheek bone so that its visible to the entire world, does nothing to alleiviate the situation!

Will probably take another week for me to get back to normal living. Have just shifted from Lord Home Hall (the private bathroom ones) to Leonard Horner Hall (shared bathrooms). I was terrified thinking that these bathrooms wouldnt have locks, just like the one in my room, but thankfully, it has a lock and a good one at that! The room is smaller than here and I dont have a fantastic view anymore (not unless I become overly positive and start considering staring right into some one else's bedroom a 'fantastic view'! Well, you know what....WHY NOT!!) Okie, I have a (err...) fantastic view!! This place reminds me of the parable 'the good samaritan'. Wont get into the details of that, but the similarity is the lighting and the bricks - looks like an old jewish inn!

The highlights of this week are Shao-Po (pronounced, Shao-paoooooooo with a falling intonation) and Cho-Yu (pronounced Cho-Yuiiiiuuuu with a rising intonation, but he says, juuusss khaa mee Bruce Lee!) -my taiwanese friends. English is not something that comes easily to them, but the vigour at which they type words into their portable electronic dictionary and then the dawn of enlightenment on their faces....brought a tear to my eyes! And of course, Lan Shi, my chinese friend. She is the cutest person I have ever come across in my life! Short and sweet! And the way she says "Vaaya muudu" in a chinese accent ( something her Indian friend taught her in Germany) is hilarious!!!

Did I mention, the new hall is just a stone's throw from the Lake! I am looking forward to feeding the hungry swans and ducks! Hey! I dont feel so depressed after all! Maybe it was the act of blogging that made me focus on the positives! Wow! Now blogging is a stress buster too! Kewl!

Gotta run now! More later!

me!

History repeats itself and creates itself!

History has no consciousness of location. It simply repeats itself.

I, come, crossing oceans and seas, to a land far away, to learn, to explore, to grow; and I made history repeat itself. The first class of Economics, under the watchful (crystal clear, sea blue, kind...sigh!) eyes of Professor Neil Kay- I slept. I am not usually a creature of habit, but when a habit created out of four years of nothingness during my undergraduate days sticks despite two years of work experience, I am caught between a guffaw and a sob. Not only did I yawn, before, during and after every single slide that explained obviously important phenomenon such as marginal utility, opportunity costs, demand analysis and suppy analysis (believe it or not, I yawned twice before I finished that sentence, its really late at night, maybe thats why. Really.), there was a point in class when I, completely exhausted from trying to keep those heavyweights also known as my eyelids open, said, CHUCK IT (!!!!!!) and simply dozed off. So much so for supposedly having an aptitude for economics ( I used to top my class in 10th grade, always used to score 7/7, seriously!)

Anyways, thankfully, I wasnt asked to go wash my face and come(years of experience, back in Sathyabama) but somehow managed to ask a few questions and distract the blue eyed professor! But the reason I am blogging today is not to relate how history repeats itself (excuse me for swaying off the topic, which is actually SO ME!) but how history was created today! Twice!

So, here I was, sitting in the Organisational Behaviour class, in the last row of students and making some important descisions in my life ( e.g HRM is the last option on my job seeking agenda, never again am I going to touch that Cornish Pasty again, because one it costs 1 GBP = 90 bucks and two, it felt like eating raw meat...etc etc) when I heard a grrrrooowwwwllllll. The monster had arisen! The banana for breakfast had not satisfied the Indian food craving monster! And then, like a mirage, it floated before my very eyes, the chicken curry I had made two days ago! And at that moment, my mouth watered for a spoon of that curry I had called 'bearable'. History had just been created! First time. As soon as we broke for lunch, I came running, like to a lover, heated up my loving chicken curry and relished every single bite of it! Hunger makes miracles happen!

In the evening, when we the girls were having a pre weekend get together in my room, I invited Sushma for dinner( I took a risk with her life..yet...!) And what do we have for dinner? The same chicken curry I had made a couple of days ago! It was the moment of truth, the external examiner had come! One bite and Sush said "Ashika, you are an amazing cook" This time, I guffawed, with tears in my eyes! Hahahahhahahahahahahaha!! Well, waddya know! Ashika cooks well!!!

Its been exactly a week since I barely escaped the heart attack after the baggage switch! Things are slowly settling down, I dont get lost that often now! I can pronounce the names of each of my classmates and I can say Machiavellian without saying Machi err..aahh..hmm..wateva! Been through missing home, missing friends and missing the mister (worse than the other two), shed loadsa tears, fought with gaay, made up, finished up four call cards...hey!Not bad!Life is slowly getting back to normal!

take care y'all!
me!

Of Lothian buses and only change accepted tickets

Its been exactly a week since I've moved to Edinburgh. Things have been tight (classes i mean, clothes are loose already) and I put off my blogging like a zillion times. I think its only fair that my friends, whom I have not had an opportunity of updating on my new life (style) be given their fair share of updation!

So where do I begin? With the lady at the check in who literally threw me out of the plane for carrying 13 kilos of extra luggage? Or the dismally boring flight with a kid that WOULDNT STOP WHINING? Or maybe I should start with the part when I tugged and chugged my huuuuuuuugeee suitcase (I stand corrected: ONE of my hugggggggggeee suitcases) and upped three floors of English stone and Scottish carpets (the details are gory figments of my imagination, I swear I cant tell a pebble from marble! Or persian rugs from chinese!) and reached my room, which thankfully was clean, cosy and had a marvellous view! And I sit on the recently upholstered bed, say a word of thanks to God and again tug and literally hug my suitcase to get that bath that my body, mind and soul were screaming together for. And voila, there were clothes! Trousers that wouldnt fit me cuz they were meant for MEN! Shirts that wouldnt look good on me cuz they were meant for MEN! And undies....da da da da da! Baggage switch! Of ALL the days! Of ALL the flights! Of ALL the baggages! Well, like I usually tell those who ask me the of-all-the- questions....WHY NOT?!

So once again, tugging that mammoth, blue, dinosaur in disguise along, i huffed and puffed to the airport, hoping against hope that the guy who picked up mine wouldnt suddenly discover his passion for cross dressing! hehe..ok, that was a bit too much! Actually, I was quite confident about getting my baggage back, I prayed and of course, the scorpio woman's intuition is rarely wrong!

Baggage back, bath taken, MY CLOTHES worn! I slept a peaceful sleep that night. The rest of the days were a blur. Freshers week. Loads of parties (none of which I attended), given the pre-reading that was 'compulsory' for the class that hadnt even begun.

Or hey, maybe I should talk about the time when Prabha and I went to Asda supermarket and bought stuff for a couple of weeks and then almost cried on our way back home because the bags were too freaking heavy and the halls of residence too freaking far away. Brrr! My body ached for days! Sweet memories :p!

And then The day dawned. Bright and blued! Sunshine and cute sheep grazing in the meadow right next to my hall. My MBA class. United Colors of Benetton would be proud of us. A scot, a malaysian, three indians, a nigerian, a uandan (or smthing like that!) a japanese, a taiwanese, a chinese, a pakistani, a jordanian, a norwegian and an english! Sitting in the lecture room was like sitting in a room with a TV running multiple channels! Whooo! What an experience! Did all the MBA stuff, the rope excercise, the blindfolding thing, loadsa discussions and professors who would every ten minutes say "this-is-a-tough-and-demanding-course-you-are-required-to--work-very-hard-indeed"...."YES MAAAASSSTTEERRRR"!!!

Met some really interesting people at the Chaplaincy. Will and Abraham who will find mention here. Will, a Nigerian who speaks English just like the English and Abe, an Indian, who is actually French and yeah, speaks English just like them! He was born in Pondicherry too! Yipee! We are the world! Pondicherrians! Heheheh!!

Things just starting to settling down here. With a wee bit of free time on my hands, I hope to be able to blog more often now. More for myself.

I gotta run now. Going to make Puliogare for dinner and tomorrow's lunch and tomorrow's dinner! heheheh! Yep! My life! Eating out of the chilled boxes!

Take care y'all!

Me!