Old Forts, Filter Coffee and Farewells! ( Epic December #1)

December 2014 has been full of bittersweet moments! Too much fun, and too many goodbyes!
And I won't be able to do justice if I try to cram them all up in a single post. Yes, it was that epic! :)
So, I will try to break it down to make more sense of the awesomeness.

Have you noticed how when you know things are going to change, you try your best to hold on to the current situation? And no matter how bad it has been, you still want it and know you will miss it.
Goodbyes are hard. And I have had to bid farewell to so many people, and will continue to do so for the next couple of days too, that it's not even funny. It's bad enough that a larger proportion of my close friends live hundreds of miles away, now I have to send the few who didn't away too!

But to lessen the sting a little, we have been hanging out a lot! And having a lot of coffee. Filter and otherwise.

And what awesome filter coffee it is! Basically we have been trying to make up for all the time lost, due to exams and submission deadlines and assignments and laziness!

We went to Purana Qilla. And had a fun afternoon! Monuments that stand the test of time makes you wonder about the generations that have been there before you; the battles fought and the lives lost to capture a piece of property, no matter how magnificent.

It makes you think of the people who inhabited these places, and their living conditions. And how beautiful it must have been!

I made some very good memories these last few days. And spoke to people who have been in my college for the last one and a half years for the first too!

We sang, and we danced, and we ate good food, and we had good conversations. And the reason we had all that is because we will all be leaving. Most of us will never meet, a few maybe a couple of times a year, and if we are very fortunate, some of us might just end up in the same city. But it's the uncertainties in life that make it so interesting, and heartbreaking at the same time.

I know I came to Delhi to be in the same city with a couple of people who I considered the forever kind. And in these last few months I have realized I am never going to take any decision depending on where my friends live. It's a good thing I love what I am doing right now, or I would seriously regretted my love to the capital. But, keeping aside the lesson learnt, I am going to miss my TERI Non-Econ people, who are all going away!

And I wish I travel more in 2015 and meet 'em all again!

Walking Down Memory Lane!

Think only of the Past as it's remembrance gives you pleasure.

-Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Over the last few years, I have created and discarded numerous blogs. So much so, that I can't even recall the name of my first one. I am sure it would have been something childish, and don't really regret not remembering, but the fact of the matter is that I have never been consistent with blogging.

And today, after a long time, while I was going through one such old blog, that I had created with a friend, I realized there were a couple of good posts, that would be worth remembering. 

So, I am going to post them here for safekeeping, hoping that I don't discard this blog anytime soon.

The first one was written in late December, four years ago, titled "THE HOPELESS ROMANTIC aka MEGHA."

The second one is another one of my failed New Year resolution post, and trust me there has been a lot of them. But, I am pretty sure I will be making resolutions this year around too.

While looking at this post, I realized how foolish I had been. In my defense, I was four years younger. But I need to understand that I can't write with someone. I can't make anyone as enthusiastic about something close to my heart as I am. It took me a long time. But I finally have stopped depending on people, at least 7/10 times.

This was posted on January 9, 2011.

Of Plans- Big and Small

I think I can say that the New Year has finally arrived for me. Even though the first week of the New Year was a bit of a mess, academically and otherwise, I am going to assume that they were just the back drag of the last year.

This year started from the 7^th of January, for me.

And I am sure, if I keep my mind a little more focused than before, and follow my heart a little less than usual (both extremely difficult things to do for someone like me), I have a very good possibility of having a “tear free” year.

And who can be better suited to help me in this endeavour than our dearest “Joey”. To put it simple, as Phoebe once said to Joey,

“Boyfriends and girlfriends are going to come and go, but this is for life.”

So, the next 12 months, the two of us are going to devote entirely to ourselves. This year is gonna be a toast to us. And as my very crazy blog mate, somewhat surprisingly but correctly said in one of his earlier posts, it is about “Celebrating Ourselves”.

We will try to come up with at least 12 different experiences which we haven’t had before in the last couple of decades, and we are going to let you know how it turned out for us. I assume we are going to face some challenges since we are from two totally different places. Hey! But it’s not fun if it’s easy!

The first month goes to “Organizational Skills and disaster management strategies”, (Whoa! Sounds BUG! :D) which in other words means forming a plan to try to get some decent marks in hope of a somewhat better career than our present marks would fetch us. Now, I would like to be very specific about why we chose this particular plan as the numero uno thing on the agenda. We did not choose this just because we though that since career and academics should be out foremost priorities right now, we should devote the first assignment to it. Not at all. We just chose to have a solid and gruelling study plan and basically organise our lives a little better coz we needed to do something that would keep us licked in our rooms and away from the heart-shaped balloons and candies and all things ted that would be found hanging for display in every shop, courtesy the love month, and which we seriously don’t want us to remind us of some old bottles up memories.

The plan is to do the stuff that requires going out as a post-February phenomena.

And well, maybe another reason could be the fact that both of us happen to have our exams in the second half of February. Comments and suggestions regarding ways to maximize marks with minimum effort are ALWAYS welcome.. :P  

Here's to trying new things! :)

3 Years, and running

I should start giving more credit to "meant-to-be" stories and "conspiracy of universe" cases, because despite me cribbing about my lack of friends, and inability to get along with people, which according to a close friend is because I do not give people chances, the few friends that I do have are absolute jewels.

I love writing about people more than anything else. In fact, sometimes I wonder whether that's all I am actually capable of writing. Needless to say, I have dedicated many a posts in this blog to the amazing people in my life.

This post is about this awesome girl whom I have yet to meet. You can get a glimpse of her awesomeness here.

And since I have no way to send her material gifts, this is my version of a Christmas Gift!

Sunaina, I have had this idea of writing about you for quite some time now. And while researching- that's right, I "researched". I am an Economics Master's student and all I am capable of is research- I realized I have technically known you for far longer than I originally thought I did.
And I am hoping this will come as a surprise to you too!

This, my friend, is Exhibit #1 of the "meant-to-be" case.

I don't know anyone else from that list, which is a very normal thing in online internships. And, the probability that we would sign up for a second internship, at the same time, and pick up the same work is, well, I would suggest, based on bogus research, to be about 0.00000000000000342. Symbolically, really slim.
It's probably not too far fetched for us to assume that the Universe said, "Well, you won't talk in the first internship? Fine, let's put you two together for another one and see how that goes." Am I right or what? :)

This brings me to my Exhibit #2.

We tried really hard to stay formal, and talk about work- related stuff. As can be seen by the emoticons, it was a very difficult job! :)

And from there, we proceeded on to talk about things that really matter! We bonded over books and blogs. I present to you Exhibit #3

Thus, our 'virtual' friendship grew. And the more I spoke to you, the more I realized how much I like and admire you!

Which brings us to December, 2014. And my first Christmas present of the season!

Turns out, we have mutual friends who doesn't know your address. :)

So, umm, after those beautiful words, I don't know what else to write except to promise that I will see you next year!

Oh, and the exhibits mentioned above hopefully prove the "meant-to-be" case. I get that it's not surprising to find strangers chat over the internet, but I sure know that they generally don't do that for months and years, and they definitely do not send over gifts and personalized messages.

What I am trying to say here is that you don't have to be in the same class or office, or even the same state to become fast friends with someone. In friendship, if it's meant-to-be, then the universe does conspire to make it work. Cheesy much? Well, this deserves for some cheesiness, don't you thing? :)

2014- The First Eleven Months

Delhi has been good to me. 2014 so far has been good to me too. I have met new people, been to new places, experienced new things and hopefully gained some knowledge and wisdom along the way.

This is an amateur attempt to document the last eleven months with pictures and words.

JANUARY

COMMENCEMENT OF SECOND SEMESTER- 7 January, 2014

January was too long ago. This picture is taken outside Dilli Haat, sometime during the first week of January, after beading my hair. The next and the only other time I have been to Dilli Haat was during Diwali this year on 23rd October.

Though it was chilly, January was perfect for outdoorsy activity when the sun was shining. So, one fine day, when we had an afternoon class, Riddhima and I went to Hauz Khas Village to chill out, and by chill out I mean copy notes overlooking the lake. We did gorge on some amazing nachos at OTB later on though.

We also had a mini class get-together cum Poulomi's farewell at Shivani's place in Gurgaon. It was a wonderful day, with loads of fun and amazing homemade food.

FEBRUARY

February had a lot of cultural and co-curricular activities on schedule. The Convocation ceremony was held on 5th Feb, 2014 in which we all decked up in different shades of blue sarees and I sang a welcome song. 

  

I had also volunteered as a rapporteur for Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, 2014  held from February 6-8, 2014. I had a lot of fun, eating and working, in that order, and realizing these two are the absolute best people I could meet, but more on them later.

The event was held at Taj Palace, and one crucial bit of table manner that I learnt was that it is wrong to slurp on your coffee no matter how hot it is. This was my first encounter with Deepan, who was my fellow rapporteur at the event.

There was also the book fair at Pragati Maidan, which is "the" place to be for people like me. I had so much fun that day!

From the bookworm to the party animal, February was a month of extremes. I spent a weekend with Ria di and painted the town red with her (and her friends). It was the most fun I have had in a long time. We ate at this awesome Chinese restaurant, did girly beauty stuff, and went out dancing. We also shopped and watched movies.

Before proceeding to March, which was spent mostly meeting old friends and family, let me talk a bit about these two new girls in my life, who are called the-

RAJASTHANI ROCKSTAR DUO

 ROCKSTAR#1
This one had her birthday in February, which is what we are celebrating in this pic. She just had this amazing vibe about her that prevents you from being gloomy or sad, no matter what shit you are going through. And let me tell you , that is one hell of a talent to have!

ROCKSTAR#2

This other fella is amazing in her own way. She has this 'no-nonsense' attitude and 'gets' me. It also helps that we have quite a handful of things in common.

I think that is enough for a public forum! :)

MARCH

This was again a great month because I went home. We had gotten this new flat at the banks of Ganges, and we had the inaugural ceremony only after I went home. I enjoyed the journey home, visiting friends, visiting Calcutta, and the journey back to Delhi. It was all amazing.

In Calcutta, I met Nabanit and Abhinav, one my Nursery friend, and the other a significant part of my +2. We went all over the city, and hit all the memorable spots from Mocambo to Oxford Bookstore at Park Street, to the new and upcoming food joints.

APRIL

April was another travel month! This time with my classmates and one senior from college. We went to a quiet resort near Shimla, and spent three amazing days there.

I also met up with Shubham at his college, and played some pool, which obviously made me miss my Calcutta friends, but it was a fun day nonetheless.

SUMMER (May- July)

The summer was kind of a bore. I did go to a lot of places in South Delhi, nooks and cranny to be exact, to conduct primary survey for my summer internship at DSE, but I also kept falling sick, because it was too freaking hot. I had a dengue scare, which I accept was 70% paranoia, but still you get why it wasn't such a great time for me. Also, my friends were all away, and the exams hadn't gone too well, so I was stressing out about marks too. I think the main reason why the summer was a bust was because of Brazil's really disappointing performance in the FIFA world cup which broke, nay shattered my heart.

 I did get to hang out with a couple of friends though.

One was Maitreyi, finishing her Masters from JNU, and the other was Jayasudha, studying MBA from my college, who was luckily in Delhi during the summers. I also went and stayed with my aunt and cousin at Dwarka, and that turned out to be ample fun!

AUGUST

August was another great month. The Third Semester started on 21 July, 2014, and by the first week of August I realized that this semester was going to be a good one. The profs were great, and I loved most of the subjects that I had taken up. I also fell in love with Bailey's Irish Cream. It is the best!

I also had a great day, with my roomie, and then ate at this really swanky place, Indigo Deli.

We also made this one helluva instant plan to go watch Papon's show at the opening ceremony of the North Eastern Film Festival at Siri Fort Auditorium. It was an awesome experience. The songs were amazing, the ambiance perfect and we had great north eastern food afterwards.

I also went to Hauz Khas Village, and ate at this cute little restaurant, after probably visiting 4 eateries; that was a lot of fun.

So, all in all, August was a pretty sweet month.

SEPTEMBER

More travel in sight. This time to Dehradun. And even though there were a few minor glitches, and I couldn't travel as much as I had wanted to, I did learn some amazing things about wildlife conservation and protection, and spent some quality time with friends, watching pretentious movie reviews and bitching about people I had hardly ever spoken to.

After the trip, I went home for pujas. I went to Calcutta and met with a few friends, and then went to Bokaro and met with more friends, and spent some quality time with my parents, knowing I won't be home in the winters. A decision, which I now, sorely regret.

OCTOBER

October was another good month. I met Ved after a really long time in Bokaro and then returned back to Delhi by the first week of October.

There was also a lot of festivities going on in this month, from Diwali to Halloween. And I finally did attend a Halloween theme party, for the first time, this year; doesn't matter that I had to leave before the party actually started. It was fun nonetheless, and I got to wear a witch's hat for a bit!

NOVEMBER

Though I didn't get to travel much, and had to say goodbye to my supervisor, November still couldn't be sad. Not only did I attend great lectures but also interacting with some incredible people.

One such speaker, who came for the closing lecture of the Wildlife course was Dr Sejal Wohra from WWF-India. 

We also finally got done with out thesis proposal presentation and submission, and a large portion of the class went to the mall to chill out.

We also had a lot of non-academic events happening this month, be it REtopia or the Combined Farewell.

And November came to a grand finish, when on the last day of the month (in the middle of the final exams) I went to attend the Food Festival, where I ate food from the Turkish and the Spanish Embassy food stalls, making it a really amazing Sunday.

And that is how awesome my first eleven months of the year were. 

The reason why I didn't wait for another month, so that I could document the entire year together is because I am secretly hoping that I will have enough fun in this month to be able to break my adventures into separate posts.