I'm a person with deep political views and the situation has intensified ma views on to a different level.The battle is almost over,with the NSG commandos securing Taj hotel,its yet another battle against terrorism won.Many unanswered questions remain,arguments,deliberations and within a week Mumbai will be back on its heels,raising past time.This day will be forgotten,the only ones who will remember will be those who lost their beloveds.Accepted the fact that we believe in "ADHITI DEVO BHAVA",which means guests are like God but,why can't we seem to learn from our mistakes?.As the media pointed out ,there wasn't even a single terrorist attack on America after 9/11 but,we wake up every morning reading about blasts and attacks.Why can't anything be done?.There is no point arguing as we have our politicians doing that job to perfection.

The Mumbai attacks are a clear indicator that terrorists are not targeting a single section alone,terror can strike anywhere anytime.Weapons,cash ,gadgets terrorists have access to almost everything.HOW?WHY?WHERE?,everyone seems to know the answer still owing to political and diplomatic pressure we choose to turn a blind eye towards the incidents.

No religion, no faith urges man to kill his fellow beings.Innocents who have nothing to do with the HIDDEN AGENDA'S.Clearly,victims of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

My deepest condolences to those who lost their loved ones, to wake up to find yourself all alone,without having a clue that yesterday was the last day you kissed your loved ones goodbye is pretty scary.

NSG commandos and Maharashtra Police who did a tremendous job fighting continuously for more than 48 hours putting even their lives at stake.The Martyn's who died in the encounters will be remembered in our prayers.

Politicians,Please step up the act.Don't compromise on national security for petty vote bank politics.Country is above any individual or any religion.Put your powers to use at least now for, we need a country where we can sleep without having to fear"Will i be alive tomorrow?"

Media,i completely salute your determination to bring all the action live into our sitting rooms but, please don't take it as an opportunity to increase your TRP's

LET ALL OF US INDIANS ,ACT,RAISE OUR VOICE AGAINST TERRORISM,LET NOT THIS DAY BE REPEATED.

JAI HIND

It feels good to be appreciated,especially by those whose opinions matter. I'm not a good photographer,i really don't have a clue about lights,texture,brightness and the many more confusing technical terms.What i do have is the skill to transform a dull photo in one which speaks stories. As i went through some of the blogs, i was quite smitten by the idea of photo editing.I spent considerable time, searching for photo editing tools.I dashed into few like ,PICNIK with amazing features.The first picture i tried ma hands on wasn't good enough for ma artistic genes.I worked on it,and finally came up with ma first edited picture.I posted it out on ma web page.Few of ma friends did comment on the new approach in viewing the picture from a different perspective.The thing is i don't have much choices,not many photos to edit.All i have is few photos and i work on them over and over again.I was getting good reviews,but comments from ma classmates didn't kind of gave me an impression that they were impressed.Yesterday, as i walked past the door,Vish shouted out loud"HERE COMES THE EDITOR".Ma pictures were the talk of the table,and frankly i felt good about the whole conversation.For,the first time i wasn't hiding beneath the table,i was taking active participation in the talk.Colours,saturation,contrast ..people were listening to me.They needed ma advice,ma views on the topic.Vish added on"One day i too will be as good as you".Being ma Little brother,his comments do mean a lot to me and ya ma pictures do speak for me, they are a reflection of what I'm,through which ma personality transits across.

It doesn't make any sense.......

Every superhero has a bad hair day,when he/she looks into the mirror and exclaims"oooh good god!!!".I'm not in ma usual sarcastic self today,not even remotely close to ma daily sessions.I just lay on ma bed wearing ma glasses and think,will the world be any different when viewed through the glasses?.Ma spring has come to an end.The cold winter is here.I'm sounding crazy ain't i?.Its ma deliberate attempt to heal ma self.People trust me with their lives,trust me with their stories.their lives.They expected the same from me and i disappointed them.I wasn't ready to open up,share ma world trying madly to protect what i call ma dreams.People came and went,some didn't return for a second time.Every time ,i figured it out, was too late.And then one day ma life changed.People i held close till that point ,preferred to walk away leaving behind few ones,i have painted ma life around.One such person is ma future,or with who's i associate mine.There are very few people in this world who knows "How bad opal is at singing,how obsessed she is with soft toys,how mad she can get when her phone gets hacked by some goofy virus,how badly she breaks down after all the melodrama" and those people are ma family.Some moments stay and die with you, some just follows you around,some makes you smile, some makes you cry and at the end of the day you get tired of the huge piles of memories and even regret forgetting some.You just don't walk away from people,the time forces you to.The distance never makes your love fluctuate like the share market.The distance makes it stronger or more so that's what people believe.I'm a believer and a negative energy i may be but, in a land of happy endings i have ma own happy ending to weave.Iv lived long enough to realise how crazy i get when i totally fail to see the gleam in people's eyes.Rapid switching from one state to another,oscillating ,balancing and totally screwing up,I know still you care for me because you don't have any other option other than to take me along your lives journey,sing songs for me,stop me from giving you pet names.If life with you is painful,i gladly would let the pain consume me for without you these random words doesn't make any sense.

A random post

A heart warming smile,tears filled eyes,a nod,"Thank you's",a word of appreciation,mutual understanding,support, few of the ingredients in a successful relationship.I'm not a person, who likes to go out and celebrate for no reasons.For, me each of the celebrations holds a meaning and being in the last phase of college life BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS cannot be tagged "UNNECESSARY".Yesterday ,we celebrated SMI's birthday,21 good years have passed since she steeped on to the cradle of the earth. It took me 1 week to decide on "WHAT TO BUY".Knowing her tastes for so long, i had to cut out possibly everything from a budget.Finally i was so stuck by the idea of a "TEDDY BEAR" miniature prototype of the one i posses.Giving a 21 year old a teddy bear seems so childish but, we are still children deep down inside in a different perspective,wanting to get hold of whatever we "don't" have, trying to do everything possible to get some attention,the child is still in there taking a nap.After a disappointing core paper, we headed to her new home.What awaited us was a lavish SADHYA.

I was back home at 7:30.Frequent calls from home made me frantic.Dad and mom's calls in successive random pattern,ma parents are not like typical parents wanting to put restriction on everything i do.They give me directions and finally its my choice which route to take.But, yesterday something happened way out of ma expectations.The guys waited for me at the bus stop till, i boarded the bus safely back home.On reaching ma stop i had ma brother waiting for me as per ma instruction.What i saw there was even more troubling,he was there with Dad's old bike.He asked me to get in which i promptly denied.He is 17 and a master of speed,getting behind him on an activa itself is life threatening. The prospects of seeing a geared vehicle scared me even more.I had a brush with an accident, while travelling with him on the very same bike.He got me into his confidence and every time he changed gears the bike raced out of control.I had to say in every prayer i ever knew.Those 10 minutes were the worst in ma life,scared,tensed and God knows what feelings rushed past me that time i sat behind him eyes tightly shut,clutching him hard, only to breathe at a normal pace when i saw the house in front of me.As we got in i asked"Where is MOM and DAD?".What he said warmed up ma blood from the chilly ride."They aren't home.Both of them forgot their mobiles at home.I was thinking why you were getting late.I was the one who called you from both the mobiles". I knew it or at least thought about the probability of someone messing around with the mobiles.Ma brother can drive me to the edge at times,his eagerness to act his part of that of a brother,annoying calls every 5 minutes to know where i have reached, the loud orders while in a bus together.Ma parents know that I'm mature enough to handle ma self but, this doesn't get into Sank's head.

After dinner i ran downstairs hearing arguments.It was Dad giving ma brother, a dose of his own medicine.The bike on which he came to receive me had its front tyre punctured.Sank knew it and still rode all the way without letting me know."You have no right to put her life in danger too.You are an irresponsible guy but ,today's incident was so immature of you.Never repeat this"Dad shouted.Whole time ma brother stood there looking on to the floor.I trusted ma life with him those 10 minutes,though i reached home safely to write this post i regret not acting like a 21 year old or even like a sister.The day that saw so many random incidents, so many adventures, so many mis-actions.regretful deceisions.21/11/08 close of the chapter and a new day awaits.

To bell the CAT

To bell the CAT



Last day Dad rushed into ma room looking all weary,the expression he carries when our Dog falls sick."Ma friend who scored 99 percentile told that its impossible to bell the CAT without preparation" he said.I wasn't even thinking about the exam that was supposed to be held 2 days later,safely hidden in some dark corner of ma brain, Dad brought it back to limelight."Ya i know, and I'm just giving it a go this year.Don't expect miracles from me",ma answer was that of a person who has already marked the score.
On Saturday,me and Achoo after the gruesome Micro controller exam along with ma parents packed our backs to Kozhikode,the land of yummy Biriyanis(only thing worth mentioning).On arriving at the station Dad reminded us"Jump into the train,there will be heavy rush".Train travel without reservation is something that i don't enjoy much.I managed to jump into the train before it came to a screeching halt at the station,occupying one whole berth for whole of ma family.I shooed away people who were showering "GOOD WORDS".A 6 hours journey, and we were at Kozhikode station,welcomed by Dad's colleague's parents.Another 40 minutes and a drive thought the curviest of paths,we reached a calm and serene village.The atmosphere was so relaxing that ,as i saw ma bed before me,i drifted off to sleep.Mom woke me up early morning,knowing I'm a night creature .I stood there with the book in ma hand watching ma mother sleep soundly.When it became impossible to see her in the lap of luxury i slided back under the bed sheet.I reached the exam centre, to see confident faces all around me, to be frank nervousness was attacking me from the toe.
Inside the hall,i received ma paper.2 hours flew by.90 questions in total,ma brain started ranting"At least 45 questions to score a decent percentile,else how will you even look at people's face?".I tried ma level best to finish 45 questions but, one need to know something to even go in for a wild guess right?.Managed English and logic section but, maths proved to a tough cookie.I was all hushed up thinking that 40 wasn't good enough.A 1:00 pm the exam came to an end.The students were glaring at me with wide eyes.I glanced at their OMR sheets ,it was nearly blank and there was ma OMR sheet almost covered up with pencil marks.The guy near me commented"Went for coaching?".I stared at him blank"NO!!!".Ma parent's were waiting outside,dejected that they couldn't complete watching the movie 20-20 .They went for the jolly ride,while i was sweating heavily inside. Dad commented on being said that i could just mange to write 40 questions"you could have marked everything".Ma one side journey to the land of negatives ,i thought.
Ma only hope left was, tasting a good Biriyani.All the hopes were dashed when dad brought for me the railway Biriyani.Don't even bother to ask me to comment on it.So,the whole journey was a waste of MONEY and EFFORTS .
The way back was even more adventurous.With no reservation it was ma chance to chase after moving train.Finally we managed to get in.With Dad's proper analysing of situation,we secured a seat in 30 minute and it was yet another 6 hours journey back home.Dejected i rang up ma cheering buddy Govind"i did just 40".What he told next was the surprise of the year"10 questions from each section and the cut off is cleared.That means to obtain a percentile of 80 or so 40 question correct is all what's needed,for percentile is not percentage".Shaken to core i sat there thinking about the comment that guy made"went for coaching?"Now all of it made perfect sense.I had not much time to think for the very next day, that is today i had to take ma core paper university exam.I wouldn't have forgiven ma self if ma exams would have gone bad.Thankfully ,everything went smooth.For people who asked me how ma CAT exams went,i just had one reply

"THE CAT SCRATCHED ME HARD"

Ma life story

The worst part of hitting 21?.The constant reminders that you are not a girl anymore but, a lady.Being accepted is one thing and being forced to take up responsibilities is something else. Each wedding that i attend to is a torture with, relatives hovering around to play the part of match makers.Each family meetings stretched beyond the breaking point to address the hot issue of rising price of "GOLD".With an ultimatum of 3 years,there is another goat out there waiting to be slaughtered.The fun of having dinner together as a family has disappeared.Its not a dinning table anymore but, a battleground to decide if 24 is "OLD"?.Sometimes i do think ,if Romans made a mistake by including 12 months a year.It should have been 20 months or so. Life is so predictable for now. I can see ma self in the MIRROR,enjoying the soaps ,with greys covering half of ma hair.There is no fun in growing up.Do i feel like a grown up?.No!!!!.I look out of ma window to see the far stretched horizons.The wide range of opportunities before me and it will be on a sharing basis in 3 years. For now , let the whirls of life take me to any direction it wants.After all I'm a woman and I'm capable of sailing without a driving licence.

This is Opal and this is ma life story.

University ki jai ho

University ki jai ho




Drubbed as one of the biggest universities of Kerala,Mahatma Gandhi University,Kottayam has also the dubious reputation of being the worst. A course of 4 year takes 4 1/2 years to complete from MG university, nothing that i complain of an extended 6 months torture. They seem to be hell bend on correcting the whole academic plan which was totally on the wrong path for the last 10 years.As a result, a 5 module course(6 subjects and 2 labs) are scrammed in a 2 month semester.Before you can even start to dream of the university exams,you are handed over with your hall ticket.Exams for the seventh semester students were supposed to start tomorrow.As luck would have it,all the late study enthusiasts won't have to work out today night.Instead they can sleep until the late hours in the morning for ,the exams have been postponed to 15th.Until now the schedule was changer over 3 times.The last one,even had an exam the very next day after CAT.One of ma friends commented on seeing the timetable,"you run after the CAT and next day you run after the RAT". With the rescheduling the whole"i will do this the day before" have to be revamped.University has given us a new lease of life with a day off before VLSI.Earlier it was back to back exams.All is not bad right.Here am typing away, all thanks to the university without which i would have been in frying pan trying to interface ADC with controller

I know what you did last NIGHT!!!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Group studies=YAWN!!!!

Group studies=YAWN!!!!

Nothing to write.The whole day was spend on Process dynamics and control.4 of us went to Smi's house for a 6 month event:GROUP STUDIES where ,the amount of studies will be 1% and the remaining 99% time will be wasted on useless things.I'm not usually a group study enthusiast, not that i can learn things by myself but,i like the peaceful atmosphere and the time that i spend on each topic is non compatible with others.For the last few day i was forced by ma pals for the ritual but,ma issues with group study coupled with plain laziness somehow prevented me from the forceful brain induction.Today ,i couldn't find a suitable excuse to save ma self from the misery and i was trapped in ma own promise to be there at Smi's house by 10.As usual i reached her home at 12 .I was the first one to reach her house(Guys know me well) and we started of with the last module .5 of us are at different intellectual levels and the same thing has to be repeated 5 or 10 times before we can start with a new topic,this is to make sure that everyone understands what is being said.Before lunch we completed half the module soon enough ma friend Solo complained on how hungry he was(his biggest weakness).After the fight with food,which was simply great, it was time for us to head back to our study zone.With heavy stomachs we chatted a little and off to the world of boilers and control.By 3 everyone was drained of enthusiasm.Shag was on bed snoring,Solo on computer and Smi on magazine.I sat there urging everyone to study ,trying ma very best to lift their spirits.By 4 we were served "payasam".As the clock struck 5 i was the only one in the room with ma book.I struggled and struggled to keep ma wavy mind in place.Finally,i achieved the impossible:2 module wrapped for good.We were again served tea and snacks.The ritual came to an end, we packed our bags ,said thank you to aunt who fared better than us and off home.What did i learn??? story making !!! ya Shag needs each topic to be converted into short stories before he can learn them.What else did i learn?Y....aaaa.....wwww....nnnnn.

Movements

Movements

The moving river

that flows by its principle,

never deviates from the path followed.

The moving leaves

that live by sacrifice unique,

looks out to a better tomorrow.

The moving clouds

that race past the sky ,

show the true spirit of sedate.

The moving wind

that spreads fragrance around,

wishes to spread a smile.

The moving fire

that symbolises determination,

burns every obstacle in path.

Life is full of movements

that shows us the way of living

Movements of nature

that's truly beyond human imagination.

-Opal

12th Science

Reflection(School magazine),2004-2005

Atleast everyone survived!!!!

Atleast everyone survived!!!!

Ma culinary experimentation began in standard 8th.The first to be born out of hand:"*******"[donno what] but, it was some Spanish dish that i saw in discovery travel and living .The only thing i remember is it had something to do with eggs and potato.After seeing the whole ingredients ma mom commented"You won't like it Opal,its too much continental for you".God i hate it when she is right,had to throw away the whole stuff even ma Dad preferred to stay away from the dining table for a night even though that meant to stay HUNGRY.The way to a man's heart is through his stomach and like every good mother, ma mom was hell bend on teaching me "HOW TO COOK".Luckily or unluckily i didn't mange to stick out in the kitchen for long and the art was lost.

Ma second experiment,if i remember it correct was in 12th, when ma mom was admitted to hospital.With scary looking brother and rather hungry looking grandma and a late call by ma own hunger cells forced me back to the place filled with white boxes,hot humid air and utensils.I made Thoran[mixed vegetable] and prawn masala.I fared pretty okie with ma grandma giving me a thumps up.The next scrape goat was Radhakrishnan, ma buddy from school.He would have never agreed to come home if he knew i was COOKING [i didn't tell him you know].When i asked for his comments he merely replied"Wait until tomorrow,i will tell you if am not busy[pun intended,easy to figure out]".Well, he did call the next day!!!!.Somewhere down the line the curries became monotonous in flavour and so did ma interest.The thing is I compare ma self with mom, and have to accept the fact that she is a wizard.Her curries have the perfect flavours,perfect smell and colours . Ma best friend turns out into ma worst enemy.Dad has nicknamed ma taste buds"Super tasting".I'm so used to ma Mom's curries that, ma taste buds refuse to accept the mine.

Today was one of those dreadful days when mom fell sick[she is making this a habit] and dad rang me up and told"No food from out side today,make something before i come".Ya i hate the part where i have to open up the fridge to see it empty,or have to smell through all the white tins to understand"What's where?".Finally i decided upon tomato and onion curry with coconut and beetroot and coconut thoran.This time i added on some different masalas to make the dish taste different.I was ready for the verdict ya i can handle the truth

Mom:"Okie,but need to more be spicy!!!"

Dad:"Good!!!! more chillie powder next time "

Bro[in his usual manner]:"EEEEEEEEE...Do i have to comment?"

Frankly i wasn't that happy,the same taste lingers on .My verdict:not great.Well, at least everyone survived!!!!!