The Good Ol' Days

Everytime I close my eyes and think about 'em, here is what I get....

School : Four Faces. School : March past . School : White and blue.

School : Cool winter dress. School : Neighbours. School : Prayers. School : Grounds . School : Humming . School : Races.

A few instances I can recall.... for now.

The Principal : She was popularly referred to as IAD( Invisible After Dark). To fully appreciate the humor behind this name you have to see her with your own eyes.But a majority of our school was sure she had supernatural powers. You would find her at every corner and in every corridor. And god forbid (!!)anyone put a single toe over the line...well...IAD would turn up. The ventilator was her favorite means of spying on the lot of us(students and teachers both). Had the ventilator not served so many purposes( sneaking out , spying on people outside , ventilating the room in the hot weather..etcetra...etcetra...)

The 'Group': Funny yet true story. The house captain "Premiises" comes up and tells(more appropriately commands) us to attend the council meeting. Confused and wondering what we had done to be this situation we turned up for what later turned out to be a complete waste of time and a huge strain on our vocal chords. Premiises claimed that we were spreading rumors of our group "Aryans" being a gang. Simply Preposterous. The council had enough issues without adding this to their list. After a heated argument we managed to clear the air about a few points. The name 'Aryans' was coined by a girl called Cha***. And she was the one responsible for making it well known that Aryans was not a civilization.

The Guttar : Yeah the 'Guttar' ...favorite hangout. Securing a place at the Guttar (near the junior wing) was the first thing we did everyday during lunch break. Not being able to do so would put us off and we had to eat at another place that did not have the shade , breeze(occasionally) and overall noisy aura that the Guttar offered.

Cho-Cho : Don't know how it came into existence but that is how she was referred to as since times immemorial. I don't remember her ever being called by her real name. She provided way too many laughs, sticks(wouldn't like to elaborate on that ...not very pleasant) and free periods.

There are so many things I would like to talk about but I'll do that at a time when I am nostalgic enough to remember everything(or close to everything).

Ignorance - The Root of all Fear

Walking down a long lane in the dark and the lone street light goes off . How'd you react? A majority of people would halt in their tracks(even if its only for a second).A single human eye has the range of 150 degrees whereas use of both eyes enables you to span an area with 180 degrees subtended at your eye. But when the sun goes below the horizon and you are enveloped in complete darkness, you are as well off as a person with no sight.(Assuming you do not have any man or machine-made device at hand in this situation).

Another situation : Alone in a place ... you get a weird feeling of being watched every second (especially if its night time).Or someone is about to pounce on you from behind. This feeling is creepy and believe me or not, you are not being paranoid ..its natural and its just the lack of a pair of eyes at the back of your head that make you feel like this.

It is in situations like these when fear sets in.
FEAR-A natural shot of adrenaline which cripples you and renders you incapable of movement (though some are able to gather enough courage to scream).
Humans , by the very definition of humans, are afraid of whatever they cannot comprehend.

Certain everyday observations:

• We plan for the future ...and why is that ? Because we worry about what will happen because we are unaware of it .Surely, nobody plans for the past ! (Because most people who are not affected by amnesia are aware of it).                                                                          

• All the Hindi (& supposedly) horror movies have got one thing right ...the protangonist is always scared of something he / she can't see or is not able to supplement with some rationale. And its only his or her curosity or the fear of losing someone dear that makes them overcome their fear and live in the present and find the antidote to Fear.

Mirror translation: 'Replace fear of the unknown with curiosity'.

The conclusion is simple....." You fear what you don't know" or in other words " Man fears the unknown."  So, if you don't like to live in constant fear, make sure you "know".And this you can be done (exceptions include "darkness" unless you can wear night goggles all night and somehow miraculously have an extra pair of eyes which'll give you a full 360 degrees view).

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay                        
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 

 -   

I first came across this poem in high school and though I did delve into its meaning at that time, I did not relate to it the way I do now. All the same, it is one of my favorites. 
Based on Frost's life, it is said to be an intended irony. 
Taking the road less traveled reflects your individualistic and unconventional way of thinking.

It doesn't guarantee you an easy journey but then like it is said-untill and unless you take the plunge, you can't truly comment on the coldness of the water. 

:)

India outside the Peninsula

The place is picturesque. Truly, heaven on earth must look and feel something like this. Completely cut off from everyone and everything except my traveling companions, which in this case were my parents and my imp of a brother. The only other constant companions- the perfect breeze(that caresses your face and makes you feel like spending the entire day outdoors), white sand, blue sea water, sun(only deserted us for a very brief period) and predictably loads and loads of sea-food ...and a number of other things ..but the picture is clear enough.

Certain points about the place :

Name: The current name is derived from 'Handuman' (origins-The Ramayana). Ptolemy(renowned roman geographer) called it "Angdaman Islands" meaning 'Islands of good fortune' and T T Sing(a Buddhist monk) called it "Lo-jen-kuo" meaning the 'Land of the Naked'.

Personally, I think both the Ramayana and Ptolemy had a hand in deciding the final name...Doesn't take too much thinking figuring that one out...but an observation nevertheless...:\
  
Tribes: The only ones I saw were are members of the Jarawa tribe. I was lucky to have missed out the elder members of the aforementioned tribe who seem to have a grudge against basic clothing. This confuses me. Because clearly, they can get them if they wish to but they don't ...how long before they realize that it's only a means to protect one's body from heat/cold and dirt ...Who knows?? Couldn't get their picture because the government has imposed a ban on it.Going against the law here can easily and quickly land you behind the bars (coz the tribal people either snatch your camera if your vehicle is stationary or they note down your vehicle's number and report to the authorities who are really strict). Smart ...they are.

And why should we photograph them? After all, they too are humans and how would we like it if we were to be photographed as though we belong to the museum? Atleast, I would not like it at all.

      I did snorkeling...twice...Saw hordes of indistinctive and dull colored fishes, a beautiful blue one with yellow stripes and a blue colored star fish-like creature the first time. I think I saw a clownfish ... couldn't double check (it was too fast for me :P). The second place had more variety of corals -finger, brain corals....etc. Also saw sea-anemones...thankfully I didn't get too close.
But the  most exquisite feeling of all was floating on the surface of the water above those corals. :D

Another experience I am unlikely to forget - standing in the very cells where the British (brainy monsters!!) kept the Indian prisoners in the most inhumane conditions possible(or not thought to be possible). They were asked to work and produce a quantity of oil which was beyond the normal capacity of the bullocks they used for the same task.

View from the roof of one of the wings of the cellular jail

Interesting fact about the cellular jail : The seven wings of the jail were constructed like the seven spokes of a wheel with a tower in place of the axle from where a guard could keep an eagle's eye on all the wings. Plus the front side of one wing faced the backside of the other wing. So zero communication between the inmates of the cells in different wings. Cunning.



Surprisingly, we had no food issues unlike what we were told..."All you are going to get is non-veg, and that too mainly sea-food.You'll have lots of trouble....blah blah..." People just don't realize the pace with which the tourist industry is growing.

The only down side was the effect of sea water on my hair which became really frizzy and and sang(and did) free fallin' in chorus.