Aila! Its Aila

It has been raining constantly since dawn and its due to a storm named "Aila". At around 11 a friend and I went to a railway station named Shalimar near our house to enjoy the rain. Big mistake! The station is close to the river Ganges and has lots of open spaces, so the wind speed there was more. At first it was just gusts of wind. And then we decided to walk out the overhead shade. And that's when the wind picked up, the raindrops felt like needles on my skin. The water was almost flying horizontally at me. We were soon drenched. Then the wind continued to pick up further; throwing up water from puddles. A signboard on top of the station crashed against the floor, nearly hitting a man. We soon decided to head home, braving the wind and the prickling raindrops. The storm is still raging as I write. Schools have been called off and transport is blocked in Kolkata. Over 50 trees have been uprooted. Let's see how this turns out...

Cheers!

The Three Reasons

I wasn’t planning on writing today. But some events are forcing me to write an entry.

Well for starters, it rained today after a day of hot and sultry weather, bringing a lot of relief.

Secondly, my ISC results will be declared on Wednesday, that’s 20/05/09. So I’m scared shitless. I’ve registered on their website, so they’ll email and SMS the results to me as soon as they come out.

Also, while taking a walk today, I saw a poster of Bandidas, the movie starring Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek. It was ok, except for the fact that it was releasing really late, and it was releasing in a hall named ‘Navabharat’. This hall is famous for two reasons: One, a drain, yes, a drain runs through the middle of this hall.

And two, this hall has a reputation of showing only rejected films and porn, so what a Hollywood film is doing there is beyond me. They’ll be showing the film in Hindi, of course. And I wonder who the heck will go to watch. My best guess is that they thought this film was a lesbian porn movie or something, seeing as how they had written “Do jabaj larkiya” at the bottom of the poster.

Cheers!

Well the CISCE (Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations) declared a few days back that they would release the results of the ICSE and ISC examinations between 18-22 May. Seeing as how I have given the ISC exams this year, that news brought with it, along with worry (I'm not exactly a genius), memories of the result declaration of my class X ICSE results. 

The actual results were declared on the 18th of May, I think. But rumours had started flying about since 14th. I began to get calls late at night asking me to check the CISCE website for details. Many times we'd all rush out of our homes to the nearest cyber cafes with the surest news that the results had been declared, only to realize that it was just a rumour.  One day I got a call, it was the 16th I think, and I was told that the results, would either be declared tomorrow, today, or they had already been released yesterday. That was by far the stupidest rumour I had heard rehading the results. Anyway the results were finally declared on 18th, as posted previously by CISCE on their website.

With the probable dates of declaration being revealed earlier this time, a lot of the useless running around will be avoided, but it also takes away that mix of fear, uncertainty and excitement that the old rumours had brought.

Well the newspapaer finally told of Respite within sight. After temparatures had crossed 40°C eight times in the last ten days, this is the most interesting news in the paper. Of course with the only news being the crap the politicians are cooking up, any news would be more interesting than this. The weather office said that the temparature would possibly decerase within the next 48 hours. However , the discomfort index, which also facotrs in the humidity along with the temparature, would remain the same. So in effect , nothing will change. The politicians and the weatherman are saying much of the same things. Sigh. :(

Nothing of interst happened today. But I'm still posting. The reason  is that I saw a movie today that totally blew me away. Its named "The Shawshank Redemption" and its rated #1 in the IMDB list of top 250 films of all time. It's a classic in my opinion. Go check out the movie yourself, I'm not going to tell you the plot. But its a touching reminder of the strength of the human spirit, of hope and shows that how friendship can start even in the most unlikely of places. A wonderful movie, and it really warmed me up from inside.

Cheers!

Heat

The temperature is killing people here. People are panting after coming from outside, and there's little hope of rain. My competitive is tomorrow. It won't go well and I've decided to take a year off and decide what to do with my life.
Cheers!

Yesterday

Yesterday was nice. Read 'A thousand splendid suns' by Khaled Hosseini and saw 'Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind'
Both of them blew my mind. The book was awesome, a touching tale of loss, oppression and love. I'd recommend it to everyone. The movie was also amazing. I've rarely seen a movie scripted as well as this one. No wonder it won an Oscar for screenplay. The cast performances were amazing. Highly recommended. It was a rare treat of literature and movies.

And in usual news, the temperature is still soaring high. Heard that a cyclonic depression named (hold your breath) Bijli might cause some rain today. Lets wait and see.

Cheers!

Food joint

There’s this little food joint near my house, and I sometimes go there to buy dinner if my mother doesn’t feel like making it herself. It’s in a little room with mud tiles for a roof. There are a few creaky old benches for seats, and an old fan and some light bulbs hang from the ceiling. The cooking is done on an old clay oven. The people working there make some of the food beforehand and usually heat it before serving it. They make the rotis on the spot. And this process fascinates me a lot. It’s a three step operation. One guy constantly kneads dough in a huge bowl. He then makes some lechis, rolls them out on a rolling pin and puts them on a huge inverted pan over the oven to heat. A guy standing near him, who also does the cooking, takes the heated rotis and heats them directly over a fire in another oven until they puff up. Then he lifts them with a huge set of calipers and drops them in a container. Finally, another guy serves it along with the other items. The efficiency in this process is breathtaking and I’m amazed at the speed with which rotis are made. On some days the store has a lot of customers, and on other days not too many. There’s a railway station near my house, and the travelers often have dinner there. Another thing I love is the smell of the place. A weird mixed smell of rotis and various food items make for a strange intoxicating smell. It’s not exactly high on hygiene, but with their budget, you can’t expect them to be. Oh, and before I end, the food tastes good.
Cheers!

Restart

Ok, I finally decided to start blogging again after I stopped last year. I am mainly doing it because I finally realised that there were thoughts that I couldn't keep in my regular journal. And that these thoughts are fleeting and temporary. So its best to write them down when I have the chance. I think i read a quote by someone who said the same thing. But I don't remember who. Anyway I'm starting again, and it'll be a wild spurry of thoughts, articles and occasional literature. I hope I'll be able to continue this time. Wish me luck!

Class XI finished

One of the worst years that I ever had to encounter was class XI. Just after passing out of class X and opting for science stream I heard that the CISCE board had decided to make some changes to the education system. The earlier system, consisting of three unit tests with 10 marks in each subject, and the two terminals with 30% and 40% weightage respectively had been done away with. The new system consisted of three terminals, each subject carrying 100 marks with weightage being 20%, 30% and 50% respectively. The first terminal took place barely two months before we settled into class XI, resulting in disastrous marks. The teachers, to complete the huge syllabus in time, took haphazard classes and barely touched all the topics. Sometimes we had no idea of what we were being taught! After a year of this hell, we finally managed to scrape together enough marks in the final terminal to make a decent overall result. Now class XII beckons. For all Class X students waiting to get into class XI, my advice is "Be afraid, be very afraid".