The motions of thy emotions

Emotions have been running pretty wild this past week and in the midst of down right depression I have had fleeting moments of happiness.

Been doing a lot of soul searching lately
Old fears creeping back into my mind
Learning about my self,
Things I can do and things which leave me a crumpled mess on the floor
I have learnt
That there is an ugliness inside of me
That I can be spiteful
Hidden in the darkness - usually content to be there
But once in a while breaking out
Shocking me
Scaring me
Some thing I need to work on
To remove the anger and the hatred
To remove those thoughts that run through my head
The ones which make me says things which I wish I never did
Words which shatter relationships
I also encountered one of my weaknesses
Some thing which had held on to me for over two months
Not willing to admit it and not willing to ask for help
It was easy to zone out that to actually deal with the situations
But I also learnt that I have friends who look out for me
Who look past the smile plastered on my face
And tell me “We need to talk”
I’ve learnt you need to put aside pride and ask for help
I’ve been happy
Sad
Frustrated
Hurt
Lonely
Homesick
Loved

Canoeing in the backwaters of Kerela

So am back from a week in Kerela, which was absolutely fantastic!
We left Kodai on 14th morning by bus and drove down to Alleppy. We stopped at Thekadi for lunch and started our first of many Kerela meals. Kerela rice, spicy fish curry, fried beef and chicken curry. Delicious!

We got into Alleppy at 7 and went straight to the orphanage where we were doing some SoEx work. It was an all boys orphanage and we had planned different activities for them – art, games, story telling / skit and dance. It was really nice hanging out with the kids and they were so appreciative of the things we did for them. We had dinner with them and then went back to the hotel. Hotel Raiban was not the greatest hotel but we were so tired every one just crashed.

An early start the next day, we went to the canal, unloaded all the canoes. There were 6 ‘mad river’ canoes – fibre glass canoes and three country canoes which is the local canoes and can take up to 6 people.

Day one I was in a country canoe with three other students and the gang was off. We rowed 12 kms in the morning, starting from Alleppy and going across Vembanad lake. We stopped for lunch at a little restaurant on the backwaters itself. Fresh prawns and fish. We got to swim before lunch. Back onto the canoes after lunch and rowed 10 more kms to Kavalam where we stayed the night.

At Kavalam we had a home stay and some kids stayed in the house while a group of us spent the night on the boat. It was so much fun, sleeping under the stars and the bright moon. The mosquito’s weren’t too bad and I guess we all were so tired that sleep came pretty quick. Around 5 it started to drizzle a bit but we decided to sleep through it and were up at 6am to get ready for another day of canoeing.

Day 2 I was in the mad river canoe with uncle Dan and it was a blast, though it did take us some time to figure out how to go straight J
Another 12 kms later we arrived for lunch, tired, sun burnt and extremely hungry.
After lunch the boat took us to a nice swimming spot and we spend the afternoon swimming in the backwaters not trying to think about the gunk which goes into the water. Jumping of the roof of the boat into the water – lots of fun.

We then had another 8 kms to row and Azra and I were on a canoe together and we kicked ass and reached our destination first! I know I know I am competitive!

The tourist lodge in Neerettupuram we stayed in was not that great but one has got to rough it out. We finally got a break from rice (which we had had for the past 5 meals!) and had some Kerela parottas and chicken curry. Yummy. There is a temple right next to the hotel so wiggles and I got a chance to go and check it out. Fantastic thing – multiculturalism is, I learnt about Hindu rituals from an American, along with some tamil phrases and how to tie a lungi! Who would have thunk it!

The next morning we got off to a late start, due to some missing oars and by the time we got going it was so hot. Got some more color on me J Day 3 – back in the country canoe with 5 students. We kept pretty good pace and some good team work was the reason.

We stopped for lunch at Edathua and then there was no rowing that afternoon. Since the roof of the boat had been removed (we were going under some low bridges) us girls were innovative measured the speed and direction of wind and tied up some lungis and had a made shift cover which stayed up thanks to the wind.

Our destination for the night - Chambakulam was this really nice resort, which had a proper bathroom. Oh what a relief. A long shower – washing my hair, bliss!
We then walked around town for a bit and did a bit of shopping. My first trip where I dint buy any shoes!

Dinner was fantastic and included prawns and squid. I am really glad I am getting over my issues of eating sea food. This trip made me appreciate well cooked fish / prawns and squid. Yummy.

After dinner our guides said they had a surprise for us and we went out into the patio and they gave us fire crackers to burn. It was really thoughtful of them to do that for us.
Wiggles then found some tamil music CDs and we had a dance off with all the students.

Last day of canoeing and it was a mad dash towards the finish line and kudos to the country canoe super team who beat out all the mad river canoes.

We stopped for lunch at this house which overlooked the backwaters and the backyard was a huge paddy field. It was such a serene place. While we waited for lunch, Benny our guide climbed up a coconut tree to get us tender coconut. This meal was the best of the trip. Typical Kerela food and absolutely delicious.

After lunch we got onto the boat and headed back to Alleppy. The last 5 kms we got back into the canoes for the victory lap. As we came to our finish point we saw a whole load of people waiting for us including a bunch of reporters and TV crew. KP our translator gave the interview and the next day there was an article in the Malyalam Manorama along with a picture.

Our last night we stayed in a 3 star hotel which was really nice. The hotel must have been shocked when they saw us walk in. 28 people – haggared and in lungis. We checked in and then went to the beach. I must say the beach in alleppy is the cleanest beach I have seen in India – apart from Lakshwadeep that is.
We got back to the hotel and jumped into the pool. The pool was tiny and by the time we all got in we barely had space to swim. But I was fun.

The next day we headed back to Kodai – tired, burnt but immensely happy about the fantastic trip.

Extra extra read all about it...

Students of Kodaikanal International School in the Backwaters of Alleppy
The locals watched with great delight as the group of international students who rowed their canoes through the backwaters of Alleppy. The beauty of the place and the activities gave the students a memorable experience which they would cherish.

A group of 28, comprising of grade 11 and 12 students from Kodaikanal International School came to Alleppy for canoeing as part of their social experience, which is an essential part of their curriculum. There were 18 boys and 6 girls. The group was led by the Vice Principal of the school, Mr Faddeggon and three other staff members.

The group went through R Block, Kavaalam, Kidangara, Neerettupuram, Edathva, Chembakulam, Nedumudi and Chendangani to cover a total distance of 80 kms. They also visited St Anthony’s Orphanage in Alleppy and spent time with the children singing and dancing. The staff Neil Hutton, Dan Winfred and Shreya DeMonte said that the interaction with the children was an enjoyable experience.

They chose this place for the field trip as they had heard about the scenice beauty of the backwaters. In the group was a Keralite from Calicut, US, Japan and New Zealand in the group. The tour was organized by ‘Alleppy Backwaters’

*The post on the trip will be up soon, but this article came out in the Malyalam Manaroma on 19 Sept 2008. And yes the trip was fantastic!

Inspiration or plagarism

India churns out highest number of movies every year in the whole world. However most of them are blatantly copied from other movies. Some of them just take some inspiration and some of them are simply a remake and some even go to the extent of copying the original movie scene-by-scene.

Is being a director in India a tough job, hell no - just watch an english movie, convert it into hindi, add some music and you have got yourself a movie.

These people need to be sued. A couple of cases have been taken up but to my knowledge nothing really has happen. Sony is currently in the process of sueing Ero's for plagarizing the movie hitch (the hindi remake was - Partner)

So next time you are watching a hindi flick, you probably have paid to watch a film you have already seen.
Hindi movie ...........English movie it is based on
Naksha.......... The Rundown
The Killer....... Collateral
Krrish.......... Paycheck
Mr Ya Miss ............Hot Chick
Sauda - The Deal............. Indecent Proposal
Salaam Namaste............... Nine Months
Koi... Mil Gaya.............. E.T. & Forrest Gump
Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai........... My Best Friends Wedding
Hari Puttar ......................Home alone (you thought Harry Potter dint you!)

I raise my glass

To the people I treasure
To the people I love
For all the times you stood by me
For all the times you fought for me
To the times we laughed
To the times we cried
And to the times you consoled
Through the good times and the bad
I thank you for being there
For the hugs
The pats on the back
The jokes
The love
I thank you for being special
I thank you for being my friend
To you my friend I raise my glass
To you my friends - a toast
For the time shared
For the memories created
To YOU
Cheers!

Kerela – Gods own country

The tag line for Kerela could not be more true. Kerela is absolutely beautiful. We left this morning from Kodai and drove down to Kottayam via Thekadi.
This is a work related trip am here to meet with the people from Malyalam Manorama regarding PR for the school.

Am staying at the backwater ripples resort, which is gorgeous. I have a deluxe room overlooking the backwaters and 100 yards away from the pool. I checked in and went straight for an Aryuvedic massage. Bloody fantastic.

The room is really nice, it has a loft which has a double bed and a TV while the downstairs room has two single beds and another TV. The bathroom area is open (the shower area has no ceiling but just a skylight and it feels like your having a shower in the great outdoors. I am not doing justice in describing the room, hopefully the pictures give you a better idea.

So day two in Kerela started off with a boat ride on the backwaters of Kerela and not any boat I am talking 250 horse power speed boat baby. A private boat owned by Jacob Mathews came to the resort to pick us up and take us around. Totally amazing. This week speed boat next week canoes. Life is all about the ups and downs.

After that we went back to JM house for lunch, fantastic Kerela food – the only downside was getting my mind ready for the meeting which was in the afternoon.

We met with a couple of editors at MM and went around and saw the factory etc. Made me realize how much work goes into every single publication. Came back to JM house around 7, sat in the patio with a Lagavulin, dinner was jumbo prawns and desert was Godiva chocolates. Now that’s the life eh!

I left their house around half past 9 and drove in to Cochin – stayed at the MM guest house, again another fantastic place. Had to be at the airport at half past six for my flight only to arrive here and find out the flight has been delayed for a couple of hours. So here I sit writing my blog, drinking some coffee and anticipating the next 4 days in Delhi. See you guys soon

İyiyim, teşekkür ederim.

So life has been pretty hectic over here, with hot pink birthday parties a girl barely has time to blog.

It’s Monday evening and I am sitting in front of my fire place while the rain begins and the wind howls and I am glad to be in my pajamas and pretty much done for the day.
This weekend has been pretty hectic – the film crew were up here to make the alumni film and moi was the creative director / assistant / task master / person who makes puppy dog eyes to students so that they will do what we ask. What can I say I am multi talented!

So it was on the go since Friday and my body and mind have been begging for a weekend but that’s not going to have for a couple more weeks now.
Am looking forward to seeing how the films turns out and yeah they have asked me to do the voice over. 15 minutes of fame here I come.

The last week has been a whirlwind. Friday – dreads left for the states, well technically left for Chennai and will be flying out for the states this Wednesday. We had his farewell party at my place and showed the video I made. FYI I love windows movie maker. I can spend hours playing around with it.

Independence day weekend had lots of people up and a whole lot of partying. Sailor (who shall now be renamed semen .. thanks dreads) finally came back to kodai after giving his exams, which he passed. Wohoo

A couple of alumni were up as well. We started the weekend festivities with lunch at Margaret’s house. Good food, great company, awesome weather – just a perfect afternoon.
We then went on the hunt for coffee, we decided on pastry corner, we reached there only to find out that it was closed. We then headed to wiggles house and I proceeded to make coffee and half way through the boys decided my house was more conducive to chilling out and away we went to drive to my place. Now lets review the distance from wiggles house to my house – a 4 minute walk tops. We left his house, but due to the parade going on with independence days we had to take a million detours and landed at my house 45 minutes later. Back in my house and after some coffee, fried eggs, wai wai noodles we were out again. We went to raj’s place for the night. Relaxed company and some games. The night ended pretty early and I was tucked into bed at 12:30pm.

The next day I helped wiggles with his advisee dinner. 3 hours with middle schoolers man was I pooped. We headed back to raj’s house. Learnt a new game – the paper bag game. The idea behind the game is to pick up a paper bag with your mouth only while balancing on one foot. Each round involves tearing off a part of the bag until there is a sliver of the bag left. As you can imagine we dint get very far. We then headed out, the lake and the 10 mile round. Ended up coming home at 4:30 am!

Sunday was pretty relaxed, we chilled at my place and tried watching a couple of movies but they all were so pathetic we gave up and listened to music and had a couple of interesting conversations.

So that’s what’s been happening on this side of the mountain. Have been for a couple of hikes but don’t foresee that happening now since the next couple of weekends are taken.

This weekend I go for camp, with grade 11. If the weather is good camp is an awesome place, with a rock climbing wall, zip line, a raft and volleyball. Looking forward to it.
I get back Sunday afternoon and on Tuesday I am off to Kerela for some work. Will be there for three days and then flying out to Delhi. It’s the schools 50th anniversary and the whole gang will be there. Bhaiya, cousins, family friends and Ala-bama. SO excited. She is coming back to India for a month and is flying into Delhi and we will come back to Kodai and on the way we spend a day in Coimbatore chilling with raj etc.

I am barely in Kodai for three working days and then that Sunday I am off for a 6 days canoeing trip on the back waters of Kerela. Its going to be a blast.
So yeah that’s my travel schedule for the month ahead. Lots of work, lots of partying, lots of fun. What more could a girl ask for!

Till the next post adios

Listening to: No ordinary love
Eating: pasta
Drinking: wine
Accidents: none apart from a light bulb exploding in front of my face thanks to wiggles

*have you figured out what the title means?

volleyball in the rain and swimming in the lake = fun weekend!

So this week has been crazy busy. The film crew left on Monday, the rest of the week went in a blur with my body begging for a weekend. But that just was not going to happen. This weekend I went camping with grade 11 to Poondi. This was the first time I was spending the night at Poondi and it was a blast.

We left campus on Friday afternoon, wiggles and I went in the jeep with Vasant and Kenny. The journey was laced with a whole lot of laughter and on the way there we even got to see the elusive Malabar squirrel.
We got into camp at 6 and after settling into our tents we has tea while the rain poured on. It rain for a couple of hours and the kids and chaperones were confined to the covered courts, with hot tea and snacks, so no one really complained. The weather cleared up by 9pm and we then got the camp fire going.
Camp desert was banana boats. You take a banana (with the skin) split it in half and stuff in a marshmallow, a chocolate bar and a biscuit. You then wrap it up in foil and toss it into the fire for 10 minutes. Take it out and enjoy. Absolutely yummy.

The kids went to bed around 12pm and V, wiggles and I sat out and chatted. Tried looking for shooting stars. No such luck!
Went to bed at 1 and was up bright and early at 6. With a cup of tea I sat and wrote in my journal enjoying the fantastic view.
The kids were then woken up at 8 with W and me singing out loud and acting crazy. And I wonder why the kids think I am a wacko

The day was spent playing volleyball with the kids, we then went on the raft and jumped into the lake. Best not to think how dirty that lake was (with all the water buffalos swimming in it as well)

After the lake we played another game of volleyball in the rain, then lunch. Never before has a meal looked so good. Wiggles then played soccer in the rain and by the end of the game the field was waterlogged and the ball was actually floating in certain sections of the field. Tea and relaxing in front of the fire.

Some issue came up on main campus and I ended up going with vasant half way to Kodai. Came back at 10 and could barely keep my eyes open, was in bed by 11 and slept soundly till 6 am the next day.

The morning was spent cleaning up camp and then being chaperone for the zip line and even played American football. I scored a touchdown.
Left camp at 1 and every one was knocked out in the bus, though we did get to see some bison on our way back to Kodai.
All in all a great weekend!

Battered bruised and burnt

Quite the title for a blog post what say you?
But the contents of this post are completely true and explain why I am called Calamity Jane / Accident Prone etc etc

Lets break it down (maybe I should be careful with my words. All I need is to break down now!)

Battered:
So I am doing my usual Sunday activity – Ultimate Frisbee. It’s going pretty well. I have caught a few, done a few decent throws and I even think my team is up. So why battered? Well Shreez decided to run across the end zone to try and catch a Frisbee which just seems to be floating in the air waiting for some one to grab it. I tell you it was screaming into the wind “catch me Shreez, catch me and get a point for your team, catch me and be the star!” Well self obsessed me starts to run. Faster and faster I go, the Frisbee (lets name him mike) while mike just stays mid air. Me being the bright spark that I am thought if I slide I will be able to catch mike before he touches the ground, which he is now precariously close to. Mistake number one – the ground is not wet which makes sliding difficult – the whole friction concept. Shreez trips – slam on her knees – bam on to her shoulder and stop the whole thing with the side of her head!
Wham bam kapooie.
I see stars mummy, they are bright and sparkly
Well the usual Frisbee crowd are not fazed. They stay where they are waiting for me to get up and throw mike back up.
A couple of wobbles and I am ready to go again. Battered but ready to go!

Bruised:
So back tracking to Thursday, I had my go at indoor soccer. Now yeah I know what you are thinking, are you serious, shreez with your clumsiness you want to run around with a ball between your feet. Jeez talk about being an idiot. Well I realized that my skills do not lie in that area but I did do quite a good job being goalie. 45 minutes passed with no one being able to score against me. Well don’t pat my back just as yet, I was playing against dreads, hoops, dan and wiggles. But they were kicking pretty hard and I had solid bruises over my knees, arms and legs. So thus my story of being bruised.

Burnt:
And the crème da la crème, my story of being burnt. So apart from being self obsessed I am quite vain as well and obviously I cant walk out of the house with my hair looking like a mess. So early Monday morning I decided to straighten my hair with my normal iron since I dint have my straightening iron with me and in the midst of it I nicked my forehead with the side of the iron leading to a Harry Potter scar. Talk about being clumsy!

So with my new look – black hair, scar across my forehead and bloodshot eyes I look well I don’t look like me and don’t feel like me either.

Happy birthday to you!!

You know its surprising how much there is to do in Kodai. Insert *gasp*.

But honestly the past three weeks here have flown so quickly. Starting from the most recent happenings yesterday was dread's birthday.

He turned the big two five! Quarter of century – happy birthday to you

Now turning 25 is a big deal. People do crazy things on their 25th birthdays. Unfortunately he was not into the whole thing and wanted a quiet affair.

Isn't happening yo! (As hoops would say)

The birthday celebration began at 11:50 pm on the 4th of August with H and I walking to main gate to get the keys from the watchman for the other gate. He looked at us as if we were bananas to be roaming around in Kodai nearing midnight when every thing closes at 8pm.

So we get the keys and drive over to BW, where we quietly sneak up the stairs as I keep my camera ready and burst into his room screeching happy birthday. Only to find a sleeping dreads. Who even upon having people scream in his ear, pull off his blankets and take non stop pictures (with flash) continued to sleep.

Well we trudged down the stairs and had a muffin (which were warm from the oven, needed some thing to keep me awake till 12) and H and I drove back home.

Now we all know how much dreads absolutely loves hot pink (sarcasm detected) we all decided to wear pink on his special day. We tried spreading the word among staff but dint follow through however there were an unusually large number of students and staff wearing hot pink that day. Go figure!

The idiot however dint show up for lunch and when we finally saw him on the basketball court H&I wished him on the top of our lungs and had students go up and say "happy birthday and pink is hot!" That should pretty much have been the warning for what was to lie ahead.

The evening was full of laughter and lots and lots of hot pink! Every one got into the swing of things and I managed to get D a hot pink shirt (and I mean hot pink!) from Spencer's. Kudos for him for putting it on and wearing it the whole evening! Along with allowing me to take a number of pictures. I see age is making him more cooperative

There was fantastic food (chicken fajitas and biryani)

Great company

Lots of reminiscing – monkeys, bandicoots and charades…

A whole lot of teasing – M and me being the main targets… (I need to get my hands on that video!)

All in all a fantastic evening

And to top it off it was all in pink!

Zee puurrfect!

Muah