My latest aversion

I have recently discovered that I do not like spiders. I don't screech at the sight of them, or refuse to enter a room just because there's one around, like some people I shall not name do where lizards are concerned. I would, however, appreciate it if they stayed as far away from me as possible.

I caught the last scene of Charlotte's Web on television the other day, and all I could think while Wilbur was cooing over the zillions of baby spiders crawling all over the place was "Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew!" Seriously, they were not cute.

And then I caught the Forbidden Forest scene from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I'm shuddering now even thinking of that scene. Have you seen how that thing landed on the car and grabbed Ron? Ugh.

An opinion on recent events

Abso-freakin'-lutely.

Admittedly, I don't know much about both this incident or the Scarlett Keeling case. But, I reiterate. You cannot blame a girl's lifestyle or background for the atrocities carried out to her. That's just cowardly and stoopid.

Yes, I do think it was completely irresponsible of Scarlett's mother to leave her 15-year-old daughter in a place like Goa, in a country like India, and go off, no matter what the reason. But to say that is why this happened is just sickening.

You know, when I was working with RAHI Foundation, I used to hear of cases where the mother knew the father was molesting his child(ren) but didn't do anything about it for various reasons. Whatever the reason, putting the entire blame on her for what happened to her child(ren) is just as ridiculous. Yes, there is some blame there too, but not entirely.

Why are people always so keen to blame anyone but the perpetrators themselves?

I hate thinking of titles for posts

Do you ever look up at the sky and watch those two white fuzzy lines which get and longer and longer as a jet flies overhead? Isn't it really cool?

Ahem. This is not what I meant to write about.

Right. So as most of you know by now, I am not particularly un-judgmental by nature. I am, in fact, a snob, forsooth. (Always wanted to use that word, don'tcha know? Should there be a comma before it though?)

Now despite my judgmentalness about most things, if there's something I don't get fussed about, it's the way people dress. As I've stated before, I think it's absolutely ridiculous to blame the way women to dress for the animalistic tendencies of men. I don't care if people want to wear mini skirts or tank tops, or if they want to wear saris or salwar-kameezes. I don't even know half the time (OK, a lot more than half the time) what is supposed to be in vogue at any given time, apart from the fact that it's never what I want to buy. If a girl wants to dress a certain way, and can carry it off, good for her. What's your problem anyway?

What I do get somewhat hassled by, however, is when some people insist on dressing a certain way, when it very obviously does not suit them. I know girls who can wear anything - even the ugliest pyjamas available in Sarojni Nagar - and still look gorgeous. But let's face it, not all of us are made that way. Most of us look nice in certain kinds of clothes, and not so great in other kind of clothes. And anyone with the slightest brain in their heads would figure out what suits us and wear that, rather than what's in fashion. Of course, if you're like me, you'd stick what makes you comfortable, and hang fashion altogether, but that's just me.

My point is, when you're short, and have a somewhat healthy build, wouldn't it be a better idea to not wear tight and short T-shirts? Or those clinging type of gowns which I didn't know people outside of the red carpet in Hollywood actually wore? And well, if you absolutely have to wear such T-shirts, and pair it up with low-waisted jeans to boot, would you please, oh please, not sit anywhere in my line of vision?

PS: I swear, the comments on the last post have convinced me this topic deserves a post. But it'll have to wait. Exams are on, and I barely come online these days. Quelle horreur!

PS2: I am beginning to feel I'm awfully opinionated. Ya think?

Yippee dedda doo

Without meaning to sound conceited in any way, it is one of the facts of life that I am far better at giving viva voce exams than I am at giving written exams. Because in written exams, when I don't know something (which is rather frequently, considering the amount I study) I simpl blank out. In viva exams, on the other hand, when I'm asked something I don't know the answer to, I seem to have the knack of making up answers on the spot, which, luckily for me, seem to do the trick.

Today (well, yesterday, really) was my viva oral exam for my dissertation. After talking about my study, methodology, tools etc., and coming up with rather decent explanations for why on earth my study shows no significant differences between the two groups, the external examiner picked up on one my results pertaining to gender differences. He asked me why I thought such a result had come up, and from there, we went onto socialization of boys and girls in India, leading to a rather animated discussion about the state of women of India.

Now anyone who knows me knows that I'm in my element when I have to make up answers during interviews. They also know that the aforementioned topic is, honestly, something I can go on and on about*. So you can well imagine how my viva went and why I've been grinning since my exit line, which incidentally, was essentially a summary of this post.

See, it pays to be a feminist. Now if only the rest of my exams involve such discussions, I'm all set.

*Apparently, almost everyone does know this about me, because I hear the second some of my classmates I've never really spoken much to heard what turn my viva had taken, they were certain it had gone well. I need to become more enigmatic.

Meme #2: Page 123, Line 5

Meant to put this up weeks ago, but didn't quite get round to it. I can't believe I haven't blogged in nearly a month! It's like I'm going the Zig's way! ;)

Another meme doing the rounds of the blogosphere these days is this:

Open the nearest book to page 123, go down to the 5th sentence and type up the 3 following sentences. Then, pass the message along to other people you want to invite to contribute to the game.

So the only book around me right now is Udai Pareek's Training Instruments in HRD and OD (dear Lord, I sound like a nerd). The chapter is Relevant Conceptual Frameworks of Personal and Interpersonal Orientation, and the section is on Coercive Bases [of Power]. So here goes:

"For the same reason, charisma is included in coercive power, because a charismatic leader arouses strong emotions, and get things done. The leader does not treat his or her followers as mature people who are competent to make their own choices. Referent power is different, as we shall see in the next section."

Everyone who reads this and has a blog, you are tagged.

Ramblings...

I met a lady on the road the other day, while out with my dog for her evening walk. This lady obviously has some kind of puja that she does on a regular basis. As I passed her, she emptied a whole packet of vegetable peels in front of a cow, took a round of the cow muttering some chant under her breath, threw the empty packet on the side of the road, and walked off.

On the other hand, I met two very nice strangers today. I had only a 500 hundred rupees note in my wallet today, and needed change for my bus ride home. My usual source of change - the Xerox guy - let me down, so I stopped at the market near campus to try my luck there. The first shop I went to turned me down, but as I was leaving, one of the girls sitting there asked if 100 rupees notes would do. I said "sure!" and she handed them over. Not too many people part with their smaller notes so willingly.

I have so far very carefully resisted complaining about my issues with the public transport system on this blog. Suffice it to say, I don't like it. It is a complete pain, and getting home everyday takes me far longer than it should. Moving on. So today, classes got over early and the bus which brings me closer home wasn't due till two. Unwilling to wait two hours, I took the bus which brings me to just short of the border. From there, I took a cab to my usual bus stop, a ride that typically costs five bucks. There were three of us in the cab, and on the way to our regular bus stop, the driver asked us if we're students. All of us nodded. When we got to our destination, we held out the money but he actually refused to take it.

I've noticed the fact that I'm a student seems to get me some extra benefits from time to time. A couple of weeks back, I was late for class as usual, and there was no auto in sight. One finally showed up, and I hailed it with relief. Unfortunately, I didn't notice that there was an old army-type gentleman right behind me who had also hailed the same auto, and who therefore claimed he should get it. After growing increasingly belligerent for about five minutes, he finally asked me where I had to go. I said I have to go to college, and his entire demeanor changed. He made me get into the auto, and was practically blessing me by the time I left.

The point of this entry, you ask? You meet all sorts of people on the road. Plus I am fed up with my dissertation, and refuse to work on it tonight. And there's the fact that I wanted to cross last February's record of seven entries. Ooh, and today's the 29th of February. For another half an hour. Awfully apt title today, innit?

Wotchoo lookin' for?

My blog's become extremely popular in the Google searches over the last two-three months, the most popular searches being "beautiful in my eyes", "empirical proof", and "haldi milk", in that order. Sundry searches for cures for hypochodriasis, a place to stay in San Francisco, the OotP movie (including one for "injuries in the harry potter and the order of the phoenix movie"!) and Uncle Chipps have also brought a lot of visitors to my blog. The funniest so far, in my opinion, have been "my friends call me a feminist", "cars for family of five", and "one quality to pass on ur kid." I mean, seriously, my blog giving advice on child-rearing?

These searches have also helped me correct a lot of spellings on my blog too. Had you noticed, for example, that for the first year of its existence, the word 'idiosyncrasies' was spelled incorrectly in the 'About Me' section?

I am particularly intrigued, however, by this morning's visitor's search: "explain how to open a email". Most people I know figure out the email bit before they learn to search for things online. This person obviously did it the other way round. Good for him/her!

Awake at 3 AM...

I love maths, I do. Not the overly complicated stuff, but statistics and trigonometry and algebra... it always gave me a rush in school when I could solve any particularly tricky problem.

I left maths as a subject after school, and my association with it has been limited to statistics. I'd almost forgotten how I used to love the subject till tonight. I put off the statistics part of my dissertation till tonight, and while working on my literature review invariably made me sleepy by midnight tops, here I am, at 3.15 AM, wide awake and alert.

I've missed this.

Meme #1: The GHM

Google Reader's blog search function helped me come across two posts with Georgette Heyer mentioned in them, and with a nice little meme.

Anyone who has ever fallen in love with her version of the GHM, I tag you. Write a post, it doesn't have to be very big, about that person – literary character, comic book hero, some guy in a movie, a random person you'll never meet – we’ll start a list that will probably never end.

The meme's interesting, but I honestly can't think of any one GHM who made me go weak at the knees. Books just never did that for me. I love Heyer's romances, yes, and I've been reading Mills & Boons for year now, but my issue with all the men in all these books has always been that they are just too... overbearing. And omniscient. Especially the Heyer-oes. Beaumaris, Alverstoke, Sylvester, Avon - you pick any of them, you'll see it. They just know everything. And I don't quite like that. By that logic though, my favourite Heyero would probably be Freddy Standen, who just stumbles through the whole book, finding unexpected depths to himself by sheer luck, and is just about the most endearing guy from any book. But know, he's not the GHM for me either.

But anyway, whoever you are, if you have or have had a GHM in your life, you are hereby tagged.

PS: After some more thought, I have realised that Jonathan Trager from Serendipity, followed very closely by Aditya Kashyap of Jab We Met, come extremely close to being my GHM. And Oliver Barrett IV from the only book which has ever made me cry (while every other movie makes me howl invariably) comes a very close third.

PS2: Dissertation due in just about a week; stress levels running high; no time whatsoever. You can therefore safely assume there will be frequent updates in the days to come.

The greatest love of all...

...to quote Whitney Houston (well, not her exactly, but she sang the version of the song I have, so we'll just go with that) is learning to love yourself.

I've never been particularly fond of myself, but I have now decided I must take baby steps towards being more positively inclined towards myself. And valentine's Day having ended less than two hours ago, it seemed like the appropriate time to blog about it.

The first step was achieved some weeks back, when I finally accepted that almost everyone I know is right: I do have gorgeous hair. It's black, straight, and has grown to a very nice length, thank you. (I could also tell you what I don't like about it, but we'll not go there; we're being positive here.)

I insert too many side comments during my posts.

Less self-criticism should probably be the next baby step no?