25 things about me

J tagged me on Facebook. I think I need to list down stuff about myself that not many people know. (Although considering I share the celebrity status of a sea-urchin, I think most things about me will not be known in any case.) I also have to tag some others, but I won’t do that. Anyone who wants to do the tag, is very welcome to do it.

1. I love to see/ be around tall people. I really, really wish I were taller.

2. I am currently contemplating whether I believe in God or not. I would like to learn more about atheism.

3. I get positively rabid if I don’t get enough space – physically and emotionally.

4. I see merit in violence – I think it is an effective way to teach certain lessons to certain kinds of people.

5. Often times, I wonder whether I am capable of excellence – in anything.

6. I love listening to other people’s travel stories.

7. As a child and a teenager, I believed I was incapable of love. (One of my school teachers had told me this.) Then one time in college – in F.Y.J.C. (First Year Junior College), I participated in my college fest. To motivate us, the guy in charge of our team took us for tea and cherry custard to Kayani’s. It was around 6 p.m. and the roads were getting crowded with people returning home from office. We reached the place after warding off a swarming crowd. But the place was crowded, so we were told to wait outside. The group was already getting irritated with everything and we had started snapping at each other. Then this guy started speaking – slowly, and with a strange glint in his eyes. He asked us to look up. Between two rows of buildings, there was a very small patch of sky. It was pink, blue, and gold. The guy said, “See, I know what we’re doing is not very big or wonderful – it’s never going to be. But it’s like this city – not really very big, and not always very wonderful. It’s like that patch of sky. It makes the not-so-big and not-so-wonderful things worth your while. That’s what I want us to make Malhar (my college fest) – not a horizon, not this incredible expanse above…just a patch of sky. Let’s do it for Bombay – the city that’s taught us to look up.” We applauded, had our cherry custards, and went on to host, what I think, was the most incredible Malhar ever. By the way, I had noted down his impassioned speech and we gave them as momentos to everyone in the team later. And with those words and that sky, I fell in love with Bombay.

8. I take an instant dislike to people who speak disparagingly of this city and Marathi people and food. Especially food. (I don’t like people in any case. They are all irritating, irrespective of where they belong. Except for Tibetans. I love them.) I dislike it when people say that Maharashtrians can’t cook daal, or rotis, or all the sabzis taste the same. First of all, it is not true. Marathi food in Murud and Marathi food in Kolhapur is very, very different. Unfortunately, and very weirdly, one does not get authentic Maharashtrian food very easily in Bombay. (And I’m not talking of that over-priced restaurant, Viva Maharashtra.) And who’s to tell that there is only one way to make a paratha or daal? I mean, not everything needs to be thick and churning with butter, or garnished with jaggery and cumin seeds, right?

9. I loved my time in the U.S. I found the place to be warm, strangely innocent, and fair. In fact, it is my dream to study in New York someday.

10. I have a bias against NRIs. I didn’t like them too much when I was in the States – the way they kept talking about India like it was some kind of leper. The others were so much more open-minded.

11. I don’t like Bombayites who think that just because they are from Bombay, they are the cat’s whiskers. I mean, what’s the point of living in a big city if you are going to think like a frog in the well? So, it is important to remember this – that this city doesn’t have a monopoly on professional people. There are very professional people in other cities and it IS very safe to walk out after sunset in other places. So, its just plain irritating to find grown-ups from Bombay shiver and skunk around like cowards after sundown in any place outside of here.

12. I don’t feel anything for Orissa. As in, I definitely feel no link with that place even though that’s where my parents are from. But the last time I visited, I loved Bhubaneshwar – the climate, the food, the sights and smells. As a tourist, I’d like to go there again.

13. I have very stormy moods. And that’s when I really, really look forward to being left alone. I have ruined several relationships because of my moods, but I really think they are necessary. I am not very sure what purpose they serve, but they are there – and I’m guessing they are there for a reason.

14. I try very hard to forgive quickly, but I cannot manage. Someday, I hope to.

15. I hate cats. They are irritating and disdainful, and my theory is that cat-loving people are the sorts who will definitely complicate matters for themselves. My brother loves cats.

16. I love babies! I love the way they trust and demand. I love their open-heartedness.

17. I am getting tired of my friends – most of them. A few I really, really like – but the others are just…I mean, I think it’s time to part ways. Maybe I’m too selfish, maybe they are. But if we didn’t keep in touch anymore, it wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen to either of us.

18. I want to learn to paint. I think I will be very good at it.

19. I miss my maternal grandparents. They expired three - four years ago. They lived in Pandara park in Delhi for around ten years or so. My grandfather had once taken me to the Supreme Court when I was a child, and then we went to eat somewhere at Khan market. My grandmother used to take us to Janpath and we'd eat at Wimpy's. I miss them. Those were simpler times.

20. I want to do something big for my city. Something that will make a difference. I sometimes contemplate going back to law, but I am a little wary of the amount one earns in the legal field unless one is a hotshot.

21. I hate fear and doubt. I want to be eradicate every ounce of fear from my mind.

22. I believe that, when the time is right, I will be a fabulous mother. The kind who will bring up her child to never ever be needy or clingy.

23. I take it like a personal responsibility to find jobs for anyone who is unemployed or looking for a change– whether they are keen on job-hunting or not. I love seeing people gainfully employed.

24. My idea of the sexiest part of any body is a flat stomach.

25.I really, really don’t understand facebook.

Passing this tag along in the Universe.