Of Nothing, To Be True.

And hello. Been a while, hasn’t it? Then again, you wouldn’t dare reply in the negative, would you now?

Update of sorts – I’ve taken to running out of the house at 6 am to jog (most reluctantly) and play badminton (most enthusiastically) in the company of a few friends. I’ve been having a great time playing and meeting new people! You walk off court after a good 3 hours feeling all fresh and ready to take on the world – the exhaustion kicks in once you’re home and asked to put the laundry out to dry… You get what I mean. We are, so to say, getting back in shape. ‘Back’ kaha se aaya pata nahi, but it sure is heartening!

Some sincere counsel – do your best to avoid being paired with people you can’t yell at when you play doubles. You have some chumps who ignore shots, and therefore the game, because they figured “it was closer to your quadrant” and the most you can do in response is flash a slack jaw. Like seriously, what!? Some birds watch the bird fly overhead and admire the fluidity of motion. Birdie numb numb! Inside unfunny joke, don’t ask. They make annoying partners but hey, they might just be good players. Net result being that if you mind playing cameos, you’ll just have to lump it. Now for some foolproof advice – If you enjoy going for the shots and running around on court, warm up, ye hear me? Strongly seconded by some aching, inflamed and very stiff muscles.

Haha, we tried some wheatgrass juice after playing the other day – it came highly recommended. So much so that it cost us nothing. I’ll have you know one thing - post drink, you’ll feel like a cow. A grazing, mooing, cud-chewing cow at that. And akin to the dry masala puri after a plate of pani puris, they then give you a spoonful of moong sprouts to chomp on. Have all you want, but I’m warning you, you’ll feel like a horse.

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In other news, I’m trying to get my portfolio in place. Keeps the mind busy, to say the least. Sometimes, I feel like my kid sister should be the one appearing. She is one creative chick. She’s also encouraging – she steals my paints, thereby forcing me to rescue them colours and put them to use. Sisterly affection in full force, yep.

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After over a decade of seeing cheesy, jammy Monaco biscuit-sandwiches being advertised on bright yellow backgrounds, I decided it was time to try them out for myself. Verdict - Awesome snack! Also the kind you can patao a kid to make. Don’t whine if you’re the kid in your family, sucker. Send me some with a tall glass of iced lemon tea and a good book instead. Ooh wow, I need to go picture that folks... so long.

All Over The Portfolio

It has been decided. A portfolio I must have. Poems and articles work, ditto photographs and craft. Paintings and sketches - doodles, even. And guess what? I’m super excited! For real! Dunno why, but just the idea of getting paint and paper in contact gets me all animated! Doodles and snaps - awesome! Now I do get the feeling I’m overdoing the “!”s but hey, humour me... I’m excited, remember? Yeah!

So after 4 years of wishing Mrs. Sabrina David (art teach at school) would find herself a broomstick to fly (C’mon, she gave me 4 on 10 all along.. 5’s would be her biannual acts of benevolence. Never mind that the ‘artists’ in class averaged 7. ), and then 4 more years of paintless relief, it comes to this. A little out of pattern, do you think? Wrong, dear doofus. Absolutely wrong! It’s one of those round circle things, ye see… I’m sure I loved paints as a kid. Actually, it’s quite possible that I didn’t but umm… Okay, so unsafely assuming I loved paints, then tolerated them and finally detested them, it only makes sense that I fall for them all over again. See, I’m making perfect sense.

Ahh, I’m gonna paint! I can almost see some stuff - all I have to do is get off my lazy butt and make it. I’ve roped in my Nani – she’s my motivator cum art enthusiast cum creative guru. And boy, she does the best watercolours ever! She could make me feel like I was missing out on something great even during my AntiPaint phase... and mind you, it takes a lot to say no to temptation when it’s a matter of pointless principle.

My kid sister is all for it – she’s currently my centre for Lost&Found. Which is I-R-O-N-I-C. You know what I mean if you have a sibling. She even rummages for paintbrushes on her bed, that horror. Her bed the horror, she's a terror. Well, mostly not. To quote her – “My 12th standard Physics and Chemistry sister has to give drawing and colouring exams!? Oh my God, I have to help her!” Design entrance test reduced to a colouring exam. Heck, I was reduced to a Phy-Chem sister! Gave me such a sense of self worth. Small mercy that Math wasn’t featured. Another thing worthy of mention - I carried a pouch filled with her sketch pens, only one of which I used.
Lucky for her, she lives in this grossly simplified world where respect is dealt out on the basis of er... nothing. Authority, maybe. Which is why I get zero respect. The OMG bit – normally, I would have started a “Does God exist?” thing, but with her, nope. I tried it once when she was about 7 – she got hysterical, bawled. Nice and loud and scary, at that. And amidst her tears, she found the time, breath and energy to curse me to hell, call me names, come up with filmy dialogues AND promise me that God would punish me for being 'so disgusting'. I even got the royal ignore for the rest of the day. No theological discussions for us for a few years, no sir. I’ve smartened up, true.

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Hehe, I got told this afternoon that I talk like I blog – All over the place. To me it felt like the biggest compliment ever! Dang, I even live all over the place. But then again, who am I to say… your venerated take on it would be?