Pictures speak a 1000 words - my trip to Kodai

Coming back home.

Am back in Kodai and it is absolutely fantastic. I knew I missed the place and the people, but man did I really miss them. I arrived here on Thursday morning and was in Hoops house bouncing off the walls!!
I MISSED HER!
We went for lunch to ES and came back to main campus, while walking up from the KMU, I hear my name being scream, and the quintet come running up. I cried.
I missed 'my kids'
The hugs
The screams
The more hugs.
deep sigh, I am back home.

I have been here for a week now. Its weird being in Kodai and not having a job or my own place. But I spend the day with Hoops and M. We work out in the morning, then chill the rest of the day watching movies, chatting, facebooking lol, beauty treatments..rem avacado and oil :)

Seaman arrived yesterday. So happy to have him back. We went to the Carlton for a drink. so many memories.
Then him, Layla, M and I went to ferry point. Again so many memories. No I did not cry, tho I did mist up. Yeah yeah I am a wailer, get used to it :)

I have a few more days left making the most of it. Kinda sucky being on house arrest (long story) I miss the kids so much, but next trip up I guess.
Well thats all from me.
For all the people I have shared good times with in Kodai, where ever you are in the world, I miss you.
xoxo

Just popping in to say hello

Yeah I know, I last did a post 2 months ago. Shame on me.
So whats going on in the life of Shreez. A lot and very little at the same time. My time in Kodai has finally come to an end. Its weird knowing that I wont be there for opening assembly or getting ready for the staff welcome back dinner. But like all good things, this too needed to come to an end.
The last month and half was crazy.
New friendships were formed.
Old ones further developed.
And now I look back the bond which has formed, in every part of the world, someone awaits.. my friends.
I am back in Delhi now. Its weird, after being constantly around people to now becoming pretty much a recluse. Not that I mind it. But it sucks being unable to talk to CNSVC anytime I want. So its online chats at different times of the day (and night) to cover all the time differences.
Life in Delhi is pretty chilled out. Stay up late, wake up even later. Read. Eat. Chat. The usual schedule of the unemployed.
Well I have a month to enjoy it. And then my next adventure begins.
I am off to Bangalore in August, to start the student life again. I am getting my teaching degree from Christ College. So now am in the midst of finding a place to stay.
If anyone has any ideas - please email me :) and too all my friends in Bangalore I hope to see you soon.
Been hanging out a lot with Blondie. Best friends, you gotta love them! Movies, Pedicures, Nights out... the city life is good :)
Nothing more to say really. Just thought I'd pop in and say hello.

Listening to ~ Stu's song (from the movie the hangover)
Loving ~ skype and its video option. So kicked to talk to Wiggles, Kiwi and Mendhi Girl

xoxo
S

Of course New Zealand has electricity, I saw it on the world map… at night!

So the past two weeks have been fun! Hanging out with friends and enjoying the last few days we have together. It always happens .. get to know people really well at the end of semester and wishing we were this close at the beginning of semester.

We have been planning to make pizza since Friday. We were going to do it at Benderloch. So we arrive there at 6 ready to make some pizza. In walks SuperMario – our chef and goes so where are the ingredients?
Me: Uuumm dint you guys go buy them this afternoon?
SM: Yeah they are at Mehendi’s house.
Me: Dang!
SM: Ok, so we will just walk down and get it.
Me: What about the vegetables?
SM: Oh wiggles is getting it
Cue entrance – wiggles
SM: where are the veggies
W: what veggies?
Oh shit!
So there goes the plan of making pizza. We stick to tibbs instead.

Sunday after Frisbee, we decided to have another go at making pizza and head out to Kiwi’s place. (which btw is a gorgeous house!)
Plan was to be there at 6, start cooking and eat dinner by half past 7.
In walks in SM at 7!
Okay so we are a bit off on time, but hey no issues…lets get this pizza going.

So we chop and we dice and we grate, and its all ready to go.
Unfortunately the oven does not work!
Slight problem right… anyhoo… we will just ask the dorm if we can use their oven.
No such luck – they don’t have an oven!
Strike one

We’ll just call on the neighbours says Kiwi.
They are not at home
Strike two

Frustration rises!
Lets call Margaret and being the lovely lady that she is, calls us down to bake the pizza.
Remember that we are walking through a campus, which is known for bison roaming around, oh and let us not forget Bison Bob (he was attacked by bison!)
Make it to M’s safe, the oven is on… lets get this show on the road!

Step 1: open oven door
Step 2: put tray in
Step 3: scream in frustration because the tray does not fit

Can you say strike 3!

After laughing out of sheer exhaustion. We become creative. Lets just say hunger pangs make you think way out of the box.
So tray one is put in at an angle – yes! At least one pizza will cook.
Now what about tray 2? Too big to put in.

Just fold it in half and make a calzone !
Not as easy as it sounds.
After some clever manoeuvring, its pushed into the oven and now we just wait.

Well to cut a long story short, 20 min later, we have one pizza and one…I really don’t know what to call it.
Let the picture speak for it self.

Walk back up… hoping no bison were around.

Made it back safe, ended up sitting on the kitchen floor eating the ‘pizza’
Playing with left over dough
Just another Sunday at Kodai
“No honestly, looking at it – I don’t feel hungry” – Margaret

1 May 2009

Its May 1 2009!
I have 20 days till the semester comes to an end
23 days till closing staff meeting
23 days and my time in Kodai comes to an end
I am an emotional wreck! Everything connected to leaving, leaves me in tears. I went to the travel office today to discuss my shipment allowance etc, even talking about something as mundane – left me crying
I had the dorm parent along with some girls come and look at my apartment, since it’s going to be part of the dorm next semester. It broke my heart. I honestly don’t know how I am going to do this.
To go down the mountain and know that I wont be coming back up in a month.

Erh Eh and all that!

It’s been too long! And with so much happening, I am going to have to resort to photographs and bulleted points to cover the last few weeks or so…
*THE EUCY IS DONE. Its at the printers as I type J gets back in 3 weeks and the fruits of my labour shall be seen
*Impromptu get together’s at my house. Wine, tequila and gin involved
*Just chatting about random things till one in the morning
*Hiding eggs, bread and sprite in a bullet
*Watching movies with really bad acting
*That’s what she said!
*The all school play is DONE. Was in charge of make up. Good fun! Always a blast hanging out back stage. Just let’s say some of the videos are hilarious!!!
*Waking up at 5am to go for sunrise service on Easter morning, then deciding it was going to rain, so instead dropped other people off. Leaving the house in my pajamas and hair a complete mess, and going for a drive around the lake with hoops and then stopping off At a dhaba and getting chai. I love moments like that
*Watching a movie with male frontal nudity for the first time. Yeah forgetting sarah marshal isn’t that great!
*Making a rock garden
*Having a rock dropped on my finger
*Realizing that every finger on my hand is injured in some way or the other.
*Realizing that I have really weird fingers
*KFCc
*FML

*WC
*Am back to crocheting. Yay me! Did 4 hats in 4 days.
*Am now god mother again. Looks like I am headed to Hyderabad for the christening next week
*Laughing hysterically in the staff lounge
*Going crazy on coffee highs (note to self, no more days of 8 cups of coffee and no food!)
*“Can you say Cat Face”
*“Wiggles have you arisen?”
*CSC
*Crazy nights at the golf course
*Ali baba pants
*Coffee at quicky’s

*Long weekend in Bangalore. The most relaxing holiday ever. Thank you Rays for making it an amazing weekend!!
*Nervous about the future
*Emotional about the past
*Trying to take in every thing of the present

"Spicy Goat"

"Thats all!"

So I'm engaged

Ok so my last post was ages ago! This is ridiculous I tell you! Any way I am sitting in front of my fire place, good music on and a glass of wine next to me, a perfect setting to write a long post about life.
Where do I start? Hhhmmm? Lets see shall we..the most recent news:
MY ENGAGEMENT!
Now before you have a cow, let me clarify my fake engagement that is!

So a few weeks ago I was hanging out at Bartlett and I happened to mention my trip to Delhi which was coming up, as usual the boys needed to know where, how, when, why and with who. Just to add a bit of spice to life I just ‘happened’ to mention my engagement. To which there was an instant reaction.
~What, why, to who?
~Your way to young
~NO NO & NO!

I continued to tell them about my engagement and the fact that this was being arranged by my parents and that the guy was a friends son. I dint expect the boys to get SO upset.
The next hour was spent listening to the advice about how an arranged marriage was not the best thing to do and what if the guy turned out to be a creep.
I got offers for marriage
I got offers to have the guy beaten up / killed if he ever hurt me
I got offers to be taken care of and just to say no to my parents
I even got told to use protection. (Boys what can you say!)

I figured I’d keep the joke up till I left for Delhi, just because I am evil!
The next 2 weeks were crazy, the news spread like wildfire and I had the entire student body congratulating me on a daily basis. The pressure was TOO much, but I was not ready to break the news yet, instead I recruited some minions to help me along with my plan.
Introducing for the very first time – ladies and gentlemen, evil conspirators 1 & 2
Mix breed and John Tucker (Indian version!)
It was really nice having JT & MB on my side. Although they constantly condemned me to hell they were quite willing to go along with the plan, add more spice to the situation.

The time to leave for Delhi finally came. I had quite a few students bidding me farewell along with wishing me best of luck!

The week in Delhi was wonderful. Even though I was sick for most of the trip, I got to spend some quality time at home and meet the family. The week ended of fantastically with Blondie flying back with me for a week in Kodai. But more about that later.

But along with the fun in Delhi, I had to constantly battle off calls from students asking me
~What he was like, was he good looking etc etc
I finally got back to Kodai with Blondie in tow along with ‘my engagement ring’ My first night back I was hanging out with the guys and had to go on and on about the ‘engagement’. Again MB & JT came to the rescue convincing the others about the ring etc.

So the day finally came and I was ready to break the news. I arrived in Bartlett and was chilling with the boys, when my phone rang. I pick up the phone expecting to just have a normal conversation with my dad. When he breaks the news!
The guy I got engaged to – ran away with his ex pregnant girlfriend.
Life comes to a standstill.
Tears form in my eyes
And the boys look worried.
Poor ol B. He is the first one I break the news too. He being the sweetheart that he is gives me the biggest hug ever and tells me I deserve so much better.
The joke does not seem that funny now! But its too late now, I have to go through this now. I walk back into the room and the others ask what happened, since I am too ‘shocked’ to respond B takes over – telling the others about the break.
There is some doubt, but B does all the work convincing them. (Little did he know, how badly he was being fooled)
MB & JT console me, while quietly telling me to hurry up.
I finally look at the boys and tell them that the worst part was that I really liked the guy!
A few curses and threats to kill the guy follow.
I then tell them at least one good thing came out of this whole thing!
.
.
.
I deadpan it and say “But I managed to fool all you guys!!” laughter follows through.
We knew the break up was a joke says some one.
With the glint in my eye I go “ah yes, but did you know that the whole engagement was a joke!”
The expression was priceless!!!

MB & JT step in to show the others the message I sent them telling them about the joke.

Complete shocks follows. I sit back and laugh.
Now that’s how you play a practical joke.

Telling someone your engaged when your not – evil
Keeping it up for over 3 weeks – double evil
Buying a fake engagement ring – cruel
Seeing their faces when you break the news - PRICELESS

You know what...

Just a short post, before I head to bed.. but here is a shout out to hoops and dreads..
Even with all the teasing, you guys always look out for me and I love you'll for that. Thanks for being fantastic friends.
This evening was nice and even though I ended the night being completely mortified and red in the face.. its only you guys who can do that.
Cheers to you'll

The year that was

As usual this post is a wee bit late.. but better late than never right ?
So 2008 - this year did go by really quick. It was filled with lots of ups and downs, like any year usually is. But on the whole the year was good.

~I had my health (with a few injuries thrown in here and there)
~I had my family (and through all the trials, love underlines everything we do)
~I met new people (and made good friends)
~I let go of the past (both people and situations)
~I went through the tears (from the sad moments, the frustrating moments and the funniest times where you laugh so much you have to cry)
~I discovered more of me
~I travelled (alot!)
Delhi .. I consider it travelling as now Kodai is my home
Goa - absolutely fantastic! long way to travel just for 2 days but totally worth it. Beach..sun...friends..bonding..partying..and the other 'interesting' aspects of the trip
Bangalore .. meeting with family and friends all in the span of 36 hours, because I live on top of a mountain and we travel 12 hours one way to get to a decent city
Chennai .. same as above
Turkey - an amazing place. I loved it. Hot air ballooning was the highlight of the trip
Chidambram - this time it was much better..knew what to expect and having friends around always helped
Pondi - one of my fav places in south india. This place is gorgeous. Paper factory is a must along with satsanga (fantastic little restaraunt)
Madurai - for my exams. Thanks to JP and Hoops I made it through those days
Kerela - canoeing on the backwaters of kerela for 6 days. Fan-bloody-tastic. 65kms baby!
Thekkady - you got to love friends who take you for a holiday when the know your down. Added bonus was staying in a fantastic resort. Chilling near the pool, drinking beer, hiking in the forest, dealing with leeches. Got to love A&A
Varanasi - the interview with the people from the leprosary colony was an eye opening experience towards understanding human nature and ability to deal with adversities

~Visitors to Kodai included my bro and then my dad surprising me on my birthday
~Best moment - dad walking in on the birthday song
~Work..goes on. Now incharge of the yearbook and looking forward to learning why I try to lead.

~Technological advancements
Getting my laptop
Learning how to hook up my laptop to my TV
Harddrive :)
Swapping software with J3
Getting itunes and finally putting music and pictures on my ipod by myself

~Technological boo boos
Deleting my recovery folder from the D drive (luckily I dint delete it from the recycle bin, its now back to my D drive)

~Crazy moments
Sneaking out a swan paddle boat at 4am and going around the lake with C
The week of Yaka in May
Categories
Pen 15 club
Cafe Mondys
TGIF and ultimate margaritas
Bad Jokes R US
Laughing till I fall over and cant breathe
TC ... just call me the wing man
...and so many more

~Beauty & Styles
My hair has been cut, coloured, straightened, braided, conditioned with avacado and egg
Pushed my limits (and it dint hurt as much as I thought it would)
Pierced my ears again (and this time he said my ears have lost weight)

I love
.my family
.my nephews
.my friends
.crocheting
.cooking
.hosting parties
.being me

and that was 2008 ladies and gentlemen
To the new year
I look forward to change and new opportunities
Raise my glass and wish you all a wonderful 365 days ahead!

Done it, said it, noted, quoted

So I have a major presentation due at the end of the week but as you can see I am being quite good at procrastinating. So let’s get on with what’s been happening in my life!

Trampolines
Now you’ll probably know about my previous trampoline incident. Well I went on it with dreads and spent most of the time on my butt laughing while he kept jumping up and down and I rolled from side to side.
Well come on give me a break it was my first time on the trampoline!

Carnival 2008 saw me on the trampoline again. This time with Ficus. I was on my feet longer that the previous time but majority of the time spent was on my butt. I was laughing my head off at my ridiculous efforts at the trampoline and so was everybody else!

My legs did not cooperate with me like they do most of the time. And I did a couple of interesting falls. You know what the sad part is, I do the exact same falls while walking on solid ground! Remember the 3Bs

So that was fun!

Sick days
Woke up on Friday morning feeling absolutely horrible. I called in sick and went back to bed. Spent most of the day in bed fighting a fever and body ache. Finally got around to going to the doctor on Saturday (see told you I was a procrastinator) and found out that I have infected tonsils and that is what is causing the low grade fever, body ache etc.

You miss home and family tremendously when you are sick. When I went to the clinic on Saturday and while I was getting my temperature taken and telling the nurse what’s wrong, I just broke down into tears. Don’t know why, I was not that sick. But I just felt like crap and all I wanted was my mom to feel my forehead, kiss me on the cheek and tell me to go to bed.

I miss home!

New hobby
In the words of my teacher (aka hiccups) “oh no I created a monster”
So I have picked up a new hobby, crocheting and I have been on quite the roll. Have already done 6 beanies, 1 scarf, 1 slipper (am working on the other one now) and future projects include mittens.
Yes I am quite obsessed with it. The fact that H put an album up on facebook and in every picture there is me in the background crocheting.
So guess what your getting for Christmas!

Injuries
None so far for this week, well apart from the muscles in my gluteus maximus which are complaining after my disastrous attempt on the trampoline. However I did play an entire game of Frisbee without falling. Now that’s an achievement.

Books
The Other Boylen Girl – good history / fiction. Worth a read
You are here – quick read, not what I was expecting
My sisters keeper – have just started this one. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life… even if that means infringing upon the rights of another?

Movies
Elizabethtown – all is can say is Orlando Bloom – glazed eyes..drool….yummy. Ok now that I am done with that, it’s a cute movie. Good cast, decent story line. Worth watching.

Fools gold – Mathew McConaughey – glazed eyes…drool..yummy.. another nice movie. Involves scuba diving, treasure hunting, ships and sex in the church. Worth a watch!

Sound of music – so I have never watched this movie before (yeah I know I suck!) finally got to watch this one. Love it. We all sang along and ate quesadillas. Good Sunday evening!

Other movies watched include – little mermaid, mean girls and other random stuff on TV.

Music
Got loads of new stuff from Aussie Girl and wiggles. On the top of my list for the week
Are you going to be my girl – Jet
Disturbia – Rhianna
Your so vain – Carly Simon
Thunderstruck – AC/DC
Have a nice day – Bon Jovi
Free Fallin – Tom Petty

FYI - my presentation is done !

Tears of happiness and sadness and other things happening

So I have not done a post in ages, forgive me oh loyal reader. Life has been interesting as usual. My internet at home is finally working *yay for me*
And while I work on this post, I hear the resident shrew rummaging around my kitchen and I have just shut the door and hoped it will go away.

This is the same shrew which tried nibbling my toe while I was washing my dishes, which lead to me screaming hysterically while I was on the phone with mom. Ah the joys of Kodai.

Ala-bama left on sunday. Miss her terribly!

Have learnt how to crochet. Made my first beanie. :) Its loads of fun to do and quite addictive.
Am now in the process of making christmas gifts for every one.

Semester is coming to an end really soon. Work has been going good. A couple of busy days ahead. I had gone down to chennai last weekend to do the voice over for the alumni film. The editing has been done and we should get the final copy in a day or two. Its going to be weird hearing my own voice. FYI realized I have a slight lisp. This realization came when I needed to say the word 'interest' for the voice over. Took about 10 takes to get it.

Looking forward to the Halloween party this friday. Any suggestions for a costume will be highly appreciated.

Laughter has been the theme for the past week. With random conversations in the staff lounge, impromtu dance parties which include wild random moves by moi, sexual connotations in conversations and chilling with the BW boys.. my stomach hurts with all the giggles.

Well that was a pretty random post. Hopefully will have some interesting posts soon.

Last movie watched: Waitress - quite random
New fav song: Long jacket short skirt by Cake
Food: whole wheat banana apple pancakes
Drink: freshly made grape juice

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!

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!

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

Just trust, give it time, no matter how long it takes

Have not blogged for ages, tho I have been lugging my laptop with me every where I go. So what is happening 7000 feet above sea level you ask?
Quick update:
* Back in Kodai, last year here now (or atleast I hope) Not to seem negative but its time to move on. Move on to bigger and better things - where shall I be next year this time and like the title suggests - just trust, give it time, no matter how long it takes (in every aspect of life!)
*Back in Kodai, getting back to the usual grind of things, been pretty busy and am enjoying the feeling of having a constant stream of things to do. Work hard and party harder.
Talking about partying harder - Kodai saw its first ever lungi party and I must say it was quite a success! Every one came in a lungi and the boys took to the whole folded in half lungi quite well. American style barbeque with an indian flavor of fashion. Being multi cultural is quite nice.
*New semester mean new people. The good and bad of Kodai - people come and people leave. Like I was telling hoops one afternoon while we had coffee in my house - the situation is the same but the faces keep changing.
*Hoops now has an even bigger pair of hoops (found them in turkey in the summer)
*Alabama might be coming to India in Sept. Cant wait to see her! Its amazing how even just 6 months can make you so close to some one.
*Beavis sent me a link to his post - to the women he loved. Miss him like crazy! Constant texting to meeting up at cup of tea for the first time. A great friend.
* Back to frisbee and volleyball. Good fun as usual! No major injuries till date - well apart from Aaron running into me.
*Talking about injuries I managed to fall in the office. Was walking in J's office and managed to slip on absolutely nothing (like i said shreez does not need any external forces to injure her self) while I lose my footing I twist my body to grab on to some thing to stop my fall, only to end up bumping into a table of pottery - breaking quite a few items in the botique. In this process I bruise the bone on my left foot and then fall into J's office on my bum and knock on my head on the edge of the chair. Solid bump on the head and a swollen foot is what I end up with. (lovely to have friends around, they will always be there to help you up but also be there to laugh at your clumsiness)
While I sat in the doctors office I have hoops laughing at me, while my foot has an ice pack around it and I hold another ice pack to my head. Talk about being injured from head to toe.
*My TV has not been working for 2 weeks now. IG you will be happy to know I have not watched TV for 14 days now and instead spend my time reading.
*JP leaves this monday for Kolkatta. Every one seems to be leaving.
*Lynea and her hubbie have now joined the ranks in Kodai. It is absolutely great to have her back. And K seems to be absorbed in to the group quite seamlessly.
*Wiggles is absolutely hilarious. And hoops and I now have some one to tease relentlessly. Check out his blog. A good read.
*Had a relaxful saturday. Woke up at 9 completely refreshed. Chatted with wiggles over a cup of coffee, lunch, coffee with the gang in my place and then pedicures for hoops and dreads (I find it so relaxing to give pedicures) and then dinner with some people. Found a place for great tandoori chicken in Kodai. And I even ate chicken on the bone!
*Sat in the same room with a Bombay earth snake. Freaked out every time small chap brought it near me. Yeah I am petrified of snakes. My heart races and tears instantly form. I will get over this fear. some time...
Well thats pretty much the end of the random post. Will update you more on the turkey trip and the turkish bath in my next post.

Listening to: You can call me Al by Simon and Garfunkel
Last movie watched: Chicken run (right after Runaway Bride..two movies in one day!)
Laughed pretty much thru out dinner
Baked whole wheat raspberry oatmeal muffins
and to end it off, wishing Blondie a very happy birthday (love you sweetheart!)

In the summer time... when the weather is fine...

So have not written for ages and I think its time to do a post on the happenings in my life. Pretty random post with out any major insights. Well that’s not true, while I was in Madurai giving my exams I did learn a few things apart from the reliability and validity of a test.

*I can be stubborn and stupid some times and usually end up doing what people told me to do in the first place. Yes non AC room in Madurai is not the best option
*I am a wuss, I hated it there and it was just for a few days but I wanted to leave every chance I got
*I am loved. I had people cheering me on, telling me I could do it and just making sure I did what I went there to do
*That people are comfortable enough to chill in my house when I am not there. Mi casa es tu casa
*Cell phones - an amazing invention. If I dint have text messaging - Madurai would have been unbearable
*I love buying shoes and can even find a pair I like in Madurai
*Really love being in Kodai - in my community - with my friends aaawww
(yeah yeah this isn’t a literary masterpiece!)

The interesting happenings in Maduari:
*The auto driver on day one offering me his comb when I asked him if he could take me to a place where I can buy a brush from.
*People thinking I am a foreigner - really me?? have you seen me... I am Indian and dam proud of it
*The examiner for my one exam
I enter the hall and he breaks into a stream of Tamil I look dumbfounded. He then ushers me to my seat and gives me the question paper. Once the exam starts he sits down next to me and proceeds to read my answer sheet for the whole exam. Bad enough he sits and reads my paper but he reads it under his breath and I can hear him.
Half way through the paper he asks for my id. Now the picture on the id is from over two years ago and I have really short hair. He then gets on to my case and says that I am not the same person. We spend 10 minutes arguing and then I go out to get my id card, which is not up to his satisfaction so I pull out my licence. He finally admits that I am the same person and I get down to my exam. He then sees me writing on attitudes, he exclaims "ah! attitudes, you know I did my thesis on attitudes!" I smile sweetly and get back to writing, he continues on asking why my hand writing was so bad and why I was not underlining the important points. Honestly man will you let me write my exams! He continues to read my paper and then asks me where I was from. Told him I was from Delhi - "arre no no, you are Sri Lankan" .. uumm no I am not "are you sure, you look Sri Lankan, are your parents Sri Lankan, you sound like a foreigner"
Any way he bugged me through out the exam and when I got up to leave he asked whether I would help him with some English work the next day! (only I get to meet random people like this!)

The interesting happenings in Kodai:
*Chilling to wee hours of the morning for 5 days straight after my stint in Madurai
*Sneaking out a paddle boast at 4am with C and paddling around the lake (and the others said it was too dangerous pah!)
*Taking care of intoxicated people haha
*Random stalker pestering me - Romio go get a life

That’s pretty much it, told you nothing really great was happening.
Vacation starts for me in a week’s time. Off to Delhi for a couple of hours and then off to Turkey for a week or so. Looking forward it. Hot air balloon ride over turkey - the highlight of the trip. And then I am back in Delhi - oh sweet Delhi how I miss thee. So who ever is in Delhi from the 21 of June till the 13 of July - give me a buzz.
Thats all folks!

From 7200ft above sea level to 300ft above sea level and back for biryani!

We all do crazy / random things once in a while.
Wearing blonde extensions and walking around town
6 girls dressed exactly alike and going for a movie
Lying on top of a car and driving around the lake

But Kodai seems to be where random things happen on a daily basis. Like yesterday we drove down the ghats to a dhaba to eat biryani.

A two hour drive down
A 40 minute meal
A two hour drive back up!

Talk about desperation, to get off the mountain top.
12 people
3 cars
Good music
Great company
Happy birthday Billy Day!

I just realized how much I love road trips. Wish I could do more, but after yesterdays antics I wonder if dreads and hoops will ever allow me in a car with them.
It is dreads fault actually, as soon as he said Shreez dont sing, I just had too!

So just to end of with song and count your lucky stars you are reading the lyrics and not listening to my rendition of them..

Follow me Everything is alright
I'll be the one to tuck you in at night
And if you want to leave I can guarantee
You won't find nobody else like me

6 am you say?

Well what to say about the past few days.... hhhhhmmmm
With most people away for a few days, I was pretty much my self, which is a good thing I think, time to think.. will come back to the thinking aspect in a different blog, too deep and yeah, some other time.

Friday night - sat at home, watched stupid shows on TV like - Hannah Montanna (Billy Ray Cyrus and daughter star in it), spoke to IG and slept...

Saturday went to a hike. Now why would any one in their right mind want to wake up at 6 am on Saturday morning to chaperone a group of 20 whining middle schoolers.

Cos when you reach the peak and you sit down to look at the view, none of the cribbing really affects you.
The raw beauty makes it worth it. I usually stay at the back to wind up all the stragglers, which I don’t mind, don’t need to make any small talk with people, and usually day dream my way through the hike.

One thing I did notice, when you are doing a pretty steep stretch, every one shuts up and all you hear is the rhythmic sound of foot steps, thumping on the ground... n it syncs with the increased heart rate and that point of time your mind begins to pick up sounds.

The beetles 15 yards away
The birds flying high in the sky
The deep breaths you take
The crunching of twigs beneath your feet
The wind
The sun
The traffic 5 km away - the sound of honking cars, filtering through the forest reminding you, that civilization awaits.

Civilization awaits and life is calling you back

mmmm yummy !

I love the fact, that when I walked into my house yesterday - it smelt of warm cookies... cinnamon, blueberries and dates. It felt good to be home.