Letters

I was going through my stuff today, trying to separate the trash from the more important junk. Most of it included receipts and monthly T-Mobile statements…..and then I came across a few hand written letters and messages from wayyyy back. It felt nice to rummage through them.

It gives you such a snug feeling when u read through stuff from the past. I miss being patient enough to carry on writing my diary. But the brighter side to it I guess, is that I get to forget all those embarrassing moments. It’s so sweet when people write to you instead of sending you an email…or for that matter, send u a greeting card instead of one of those E-cards. I hate those E-cards but I’ll have to be honest about it…. I’ve mailed quite a few of those E-cards myself….they’re pretty convenient…but I don’t like them. They’re so artificial….like me, as most of my friends would be quick to point out.

I wish people would send me a greeting card on my b’day. It would mean a lot. :(

It was quite amusing to read through the copies of lovy dovy lyrical crap I’d inspired during my school days. Couldn’t help laughing at the shitty rhyming scheme I’d used then….not that I’ve made improvements till date, but at least I’ve realized that poetry ain’t my forte.

I even came across a variety of Fr. Mario’s remarks in my calendar for failing to do the history-civics homework in 9th grade and Mrs. Mathew’s remark inviting my dad to meet her since I had come to class 15 minutes late, after the second bell for “long interval” had had been rung. It was hilarious. What’s more amusing is the fact that I got all of this with me to America.

And then I came across a few snaps with me having a great time with my friends from back home…..brought back sweet memories. I miss everyone sooo much. :(

I also happened to chance upon a letter from a beautiful friend of mine, which informed me that I could ask her for help with regards the GRE wordlist even though I was seeking counseling from my “other” friends…..hehehe…..That was very sweet of her.

Furthermore, I ran into some correspondence that went on for years between me and a long lost friend from Goa……hehehe…..it made interesting reading. It centered on the theme of who was seeing who and who said what to whom and what happened thereafter…..hilarious stuff.
It’s hard to believe that a few characters from these letters are already married and have accepted domestic life as their sole purpose to survive. I’m happy for them….in a strange sad way.

And then there was a letter from a dear friend, who had written it when he had first arrived in America. When I’d first read it, a few years back…..it had given me watery eyes.It managed to have the same effect this morning as well. :)

So now when I think about the letters I have….some of the stuff in them is full of utter nonsense….but yet it means so much to me.

Note to myself: I’m going to send a hand written letter to everyone who means something to me.

Note to everyone reading this: You might not get my letter coz I don’t have your postal address. You need to forward it to me.

Room-mate

Looking for room mates involves a very complicated course of action.
I mean, if you’re lucky you might have a room all to yourself …..that would be really awesome…..but if not, then u need to share your room with someone……someone who you’ve never met in person…someone who’s living habits you aren’t aware of…someone who u couldn’t trust your life with. That, I guess could pose to be a slight problem. Fortunately, I think I've found classy guys to share my apartment with. Hey Amit and Ritesh, thanks a lot for having me as one of your roomies…. and please don’t worry about the comments that a few people could post on this blog….I’m a nice kid…you guys have nothing to fear.

Ramesh I hope you have no hard feelings…..literally.

I had asked Amol how I ought to go about looking for a room-mate. Asking Amol for help is the most efficient way of treating a predicament….at least it holds true for me, coz we have similar interests and the fact that he arrived in this country a year earlier, meant that he’s faced the problems that I face today.

So Amol guides me through the whole thing…..the first thing he insists is to find seniors who’re looking for roomies. This helps coz they’ve been staying in that apartment for quite some time and have by now furnished it to the brim. So basically you walk into a fully furnished apartment.

The second objective is to find gullible roomies….who take all the crap you throw at them.

The third thing is to find a variety of roomies….the studious ones will remind u that you’re here to study…the carefree ones will remind u that u can afford to fool around and yet hold on to your grades.

The fourth objective is to find an apartment which is within close proximity to the university and at the same time well within your economic constraints.

The fifth and indispensable aspect of finding an apartment is to have breathtaking neighbors.

But these are Amol’s views which aren’t applicable to me. The innocent warm hearted person that I am, I only look forward to satisfy objective 4….everything else is an exploitation of trust and does not appeal to my virtuousness.

So what’s next on the agenda?

I need to find Deepti a room mate. Why do I need to find her a roommate u ask…..well…..let me put it this way….. She’s my favorite person in the world and helping her would be the noble thing to do……that and the fact that I’ll get to crash at her place every time it’s her cooking turn…..plus if I can manage to charm her roomies I’ll get to crash at her place every time it’s their cooking turn….bottom line…no more cooking for me…. ever.

So how does one go about looking for roomies for a friend…well….u start with what the roomies have to offer. If all of them have expertise in cooking the same kinda food we will have to eliminate some of them. The idea is to incorporate a team of chefs who have proficiency in diverse cuisines.

I’ve started interviewing potential candidates as roomies for Deepti and hopefully by the end of this week we’ll have a winner. The feedback that I’ve received for this position has been mind-blowing. I’m in the process of working out a deal with NBC and if everything goes according to plan, I’ll have my very own reality show aired on prime time television sometime early next summer. I plan to call it "The Room-mate".

Soccer fever

Coming to America has been great except for one thing……I haven’t got to play soccer as much as I would’ve loved to. Out here in Salt lake city, the soccer scene ain’t that great….not saying that the quality of game isn’t that good…just that it’s treated like a seasonal game…it’s played in late spring and early fall….coz winter it’s too cold to play anything outdoors….and summer nobody plays soccer coz not too many students around.

That’s the only drawback about this University…there ain’t much soccer.

One of the many reasons that required me to change universities was soccer. University of Florida, where I plan to go this fall, has an awesome soccer scene. I’m sure my dad won’t be too flattered with my inspiration to change Universities….but it’s a fact.

Been fanatical about soccer ever since I joined a particular “big” school in Poona. Soccer was a religion at Loyola. The easiest way to be popular in school was to be on the soccer team. No two ways about it….if u were on the school’s soccer playing eleven, u were GOD.

Never made it to the team till I reached 11th grade….mostly coz I sucked big time and also due to the phenomenal amount of talent that the school had in reserve.

Ryan Giggs and David Beckham came much later…..my idols were the likes of Shishir Shroff and Amit Bojwani. To watch these guys play for the school used to be an enlivening experience.

This happened during my second year of engineering…my college, COEP was to play this other engineering college MIT. Now it just so happened that half of our team comprised of Loyolites….and MIT’s star fire power included Shishir Shroff and Amit Bhojwani. Our captain, who wasn’t a Loyolite, couldn’t figure what was going on. He just couldn’t comprehend why half of his team was watching MIT warm up as though MIT was some Manchester United. You have to realize that all of us having completed our schooling at Loyola have grown up watching these two guys play and have been in complete awe of them ever since. Needless to say we lost. But I guess that’s been the best game I’ve had till date.

Hopefully Florida will offer all the soccer action I aspire for. Can’t wait to get there…..soccer season starts this August….time to kick some dirt…and much more.

Happiness

HAPPINESS….is what I’m full of today.

It takes a lot for someone to make me feel truly happy. I mean a new bike or new clothes or maybe something in the same genre…..they please me Yes, but they don’t make me truly happy. Do you get what I’m trying to say?

It’s like this…. I love it when I gift my friends something awesome when they’re least expecting it….I love it when I get to hang out with my friends for days at a stretch…. I love it when people talk good about me, behind my back….I love it when India beats the crap outta Pakistan at some major tournament….I love it when I manage to successfully pull a major fraud on my friends…..I love it when my friends and family call me up all the way from India just coz they're missing me …..I love it when Manchester United kicks butt…..I love it when my cousins look up to me for advise…..I love it when a particular friend makes herbal tea for me…..I love it when it rains and my mom makes bhajjis…..I love it when I come home to be jumped upon by Astro my adorable dog…..I love it when I know I’ve done something that’ll make my dad proud…..I love it when I make the first move and make a complete stranger friends for life…..I love it when I simply give away my stuff just coz someone asked for it and see the frustrated look on my mom’s face…..I love it when I run into long lost school friends at some coffee shop and we pick it up from there as if we met just yesterday ….I love it when I get to go swimming on a particular virgin beach near my village, Tiroda…..I love it when I’m with my entire family as we gather for the evening prayer sessions at my ancestral place in Tiroda……I love it when my friends visit Tiroda……I love it when my class teachers ask my cousins to be more like me when I was in school……I love it when my friends con the crap outta me…..I love it when I sit alone reminiscing over the past over a cup of coffee.

But all of these put together can’t make me truly happy.

The last time I was overcome with pure happiness was when a particular Sheetal said “yes” to a particular Aditya.

And then there’s today…….Deepti got her visa and would be joining me at University of Florida, Gainesville.

HAPPINESS….is what I’m full of today.

Happy B'day

I celebrated my B’day on 4th of this month. Every year I have my parents and friends around, but for the first time in 25yrs this year was different. The prize u pay to come to America I guess.

But it wasn’t bad….I met up with my cousins in Los Angeles and they made me feel nice. But it wasn’t the same .….something was still missing….I missed the insanity that accompanies the cake cutting ceremony.

Times have changed significantly. During my schooling years I’d wait for everyone to remember my b’day. However, for the past few years I’ve been waiting for people to forget my b’day. No, it has nothing to do with me shying away from my age or some crappy logic in the same league. Let me explain.

It gives me an enormous sense of satisfaction to maul my close friends when they forget the big day. I can’t wait for the clock to strike 12:00 to officially declare that the day is over and anybody wishing me hereon, would be officially late. It’s more fun this way. I can go on hamming about the fact that they didn’t find me important enough to remember that one particular day that means the most to me. Words such as “friendship” “loyalty” “brotherhood” “closeness” “love” “togetherness” become an intricate part of the hamming vocabulary.

Yes call me a mean person…I won’t mind…. honestly.

I can’t help deriving immense pleasure from the fact that I get to mess around with the minds of the people who are closest to my heart. I love it. I guess I have a weird sense of affection.

So I pray to God that my friends would forget my b’day, but with the crappy friends I keep, I'm always disappointed….hehehe…..what would I do without these people…they are amazing.

Thanks everyone. And for those who forgot, please expect an emotional mail in your inbox…can’t let go such awesome an opportunity to maul u guys.

BTW, another close friend of mine shares similar thoughts. Do not forget to wish this person on a particular seventeenth day of the seventh month. Let it not be said that Pratap never warns his friends…take care people.