INDENTATION

This whole past week i have:-

• constantly hummed 'people are strange' for no particular reason
• realized that people are really strange plus they think you are stranger from the constant humming and singing
• respected punctuality and have shown a bit of it myself for a change
• had verbal diarrhea and  started to zip my mouth off  more often until and unless i have this dire urge to sing 'people are strange'
• listened to people saying fu...and then ultimately nibble off the last two alphabets in front of seniors, that too when they were teaching us.
• laughed(not my ass off)  like some weirdo with this jerky and sporadic laugh after hearing the above word being uttered and then being asked by the seniors about what the joke was despite the fact that the whole batch had joined in after me.*FACE PALM*
• gone sober on a night when everyone around me was not and then acted as a mother hen to all. Tchah.
• learned that cabs are different sort of kingdom, and if you are not liked you may have to take refuge in the front seat, sleeping your way to home while others chitter chatter and laugh at senseless crap while you even if not feeling sleepy still have to pretend to be sleepy and apathetic to the senseless jokes.
• yearned for weekend like anything.
• given football a pass, skipped watching the final, talk about being drastic.

Teachers

There are teachers who make you study and there are teachers who make you learn.Just a tad bit of difference but difference it is. As we grow up teachers seem to lose the kind of respect and reverence that they earlier used to have in our minds, we all have a pet name for each and we mock them behind their backs but some teachers have this special place in our heart even after we are through with school or college, they remain as a cornerstone for your development, a driving force for you long after. 
Watching wonder years is like revisiting my own childhood, the teenage, school life and the issues.This particular episode goodbye made me think,think about how very few teachers find respect in one's mind and how you squander the chance to really show your gratitude or repay them by getting great grades/marks. Time and time again the teachers who had trust in me, never got anything in return except for disappointment.Somehow i couldn't manage to give anyone of them a fitting farewell, i know marks are not the be all and end all and i can recollect so many of the hindi and economics classes(i had like to add marketing too,but college is a different field all along) but still, marks are all that's there to justify.
You get goose bumpy while watching the episode, Mr.collins, the maths teacher though tough outside helps the boy overcome his fear for maths and tries to inculcate belief, which is displayed at the end when he has to take this test and he solves it and gives it to the invigilator saying - you don't have to grade it,it's an A. It's strange how a show so distant from our culture and so beyond our time can still connect and display the essence of growing up. 
As for myself , hopefully i still have few more exams to take and teachers to know and respect in life, hope once i can be sure enough to say - you don't have to grade it,it's an A
P.S.  on second thoughts, the title seems like my ode to a single malt scotch maker but i had no options, plus another way to pimp my blog, who knows if i get more views by this i may overhaul this thing into a beverage blog.

supertramp!

Society, man! You know, society! Cause, you know what I don't understand? I don't understand why people, why every fucking person is so bad to each other so fucking often. It doesn't make sense to me. Judgment. Control. All that, the whole spectrum. Well, it just...

you can add all that you hate after "just"
 For all those who don't know this is from into the wild. This scene precedes the text above and to me its one of those hair raising scenes that speaks to you, and you don't see actors acting but people speaking and you listening. The pain and the angst displayed is something surreal. They howl like they mean every word they are saying and they want nothing to do with society, they have been hurt gravely and there is this compassion you feel because deep down you feel the same at times, that society, the conventions, the norms, the rules are all that's left to determine what you are, what you have been and what you will be? You are just a cogwheel in the bigger machinery and you are there because you need to be, you have to perform your function and be rendered obsolete after that. But ,on the other hand aren't we all looking for other people's acceptance, you tweet, tweet something catchy to have a large following,same with Facebook. The whole idea of man being a social animal. It's too deep a maze to follow like everything there are shades of grey rather than just black or white. But Conformity, pleasing people sometimes gets better of people, flattery becomes a language of its own, and you function that way, please so and so coz they may help you out in the future. It feels so right at the time but seldom do we realize how hand to mouth our relationships become. It's cause and effect , you can't say no to a friend because he/she did you a favor and now you repay, you have to go to a marriage because someone else also came to yours. It's a vicious circle, a circle from which if you get out you are a loner, a recluse.

The movie itself has so much to it on the subject,whether one can be an apostate and leave all the shit behind live and die on his/her own in the environment of his liking ? Or do you turn against the society and bear the brunt of your fool hardiness, defying the age old scheme of things and screwing up. That's upon the people to decide.But the romanticism about living on your own is hard to ignore.

THANDI

Well first things first,this is one from my father's musical vault ..ENCHANTING-the soothing voice ,the santoor ,the violin and now i feel sad that this legend is no more. There is such healing power to the voice. The respect grows because of the hardship he suffered and the way he had been able to become more soothing despite them as if he wanted all the sufferers to leave their hardships and enjoy his music while he battled his battles. There is this sher in the ghazal which to a certain extent is befitting to things that are going on in my mind... it goes like- दिल से मिलने की तमन्ना ही नहीं जब दिल में, हाथ से हाथ मिलाने की ज़रूरत कया हैं..? but then again बेसबब बात बड़ाने की ज़रुरत कया हैं?
So back to the topic..winters are here. The season of long naps , gaining weight and doing nothing at all. Another good thing about the season is having enough grounds for not taking a bath.Yet such is the peer pressure that hardly anyone comes out of closet on this one. The best way to heed all the doubts and unnecessary attention from you is to put the blame on someone else just like the way people do with farts.Make it sound like you are the most hygienic person and you detest all this disgust and the peers will take over and bash the person in question while you can feel relieved and cozy in the warmth of your three day old underwear.
Suddenly i am filled with wonderful memories of winters - spending time on the roof, eating loads of gajar ka halwa for no reason (wonder where that habit has gone!),watching the helicopters fly by for the preparation of republic day celebrations, the day in itself had so much to offer -an earmarked topic for the art file ,waking up early watching all the jhaakiyan and then discussing it with friends in school, playing cricket which becomes doubly interesting for the weather makes it feel like you are taking a bullet when the ball hits you and the list of memories goes on and on. Now its more about finding comfort and enjoying the solitude in the warmth of the blanket and getting someone to do all the labor for you. There is this believe that people suffer from SAD-ness in winter i.e SAD as in some scientific shit called Seasonal Affected Disorder that goes on in winters when people feel low for no particular reason but the winters. Quite possible i mean as i have grown i have seen the winters becoming more and more dull for no particular reason. Perhaps the observation is little skewed by the fact above. But winters sometimes do provide you with the opportunity to gather around with your loved ones to ruminate on the crazy little things while snuggled in a blanket or perhaps share a bon fire with few tipsy friends and jangle on the guitar without anybody to judge you or even eat a hot overpriced maggi discussing life and family . Its all the about the memories you make and connect with the word-winter.