On Much Hated Noise

I hate Indian weddings (do I mean Hindu weddings?). I sincerely, truly hate them. I hate the loud music that sends everyone who is unfortunate enough to be living in a locality near the source to near insanity, and I hate the fact that weddings are considered a valid reason to block the roads so that a very, very slow-moving procession of dancing revelers can pass.

How can people be so insensitive?? Your/your son’s/your daughter’s wedding is no cause for celebration for people who don’t know you! It is a bloody pain in the ass for those ill-fated souls who are being forced to put their work on hold because of your insanely loud music, and for those poor people stuck behind the baraat while trying to reach their various destinations on time! Besides, the massive loudness of the music is completely unnecessary anyway. If it is loud enough to bother people (i.e. send them out of their minds) who are not in the shamiyana, then it is definitely loud enough to make civilised, normal conversation between the guests in the tent impossible.

I also hate all kinds of loud music played by temples, especially when it starts at bloody 5 o'clock in the morning. Yes, we all understand that you are, for some unfathomable reason, required to wake up at 5am and start pooja, but do you have to force your disciplined habits on everyone withing hearing distance of your loudspeakers?? I don't want to wake up at that profanely early hour! I wish everyone in the world (or at least in places where I am) would refrain from imposing their religious views/cause for celebration on everyone else who has the misfortune to be living near them.

Things I Wish I Could Do

1. Play the guitar.
2. Sing like Kailash Kher
3. Write songs- really good ones.
4. Tell funny jokes
5. On the few occasions that I do manage to think of something funny, not burst out laughing while in the middle of [almost] impressing someone with my wit.

Funny, I thought there'd be more, but I can't think of any right now.

Aside: Why is it that despite amazing leaps and bounds in technology, computers still suck? Or maybe it's just mine. It took 7 minutes to open Microsoft Word and then 9 minutes to close it. And my computer even has a sense of humour.. a very, very bad one. It apparently thinks it's funny to close all my Internet windows (especially if I'm writing or am this close to beating my high score in Snake) and justify it by popping up a message saying "Error Detected".

I don't even have a virus, unless the AVG is also playing a practical joke by hiding the viruses that have infested themselves in my computer.

Late Nights

What is it about staying up all night that is so exciting? These days, I never sleep before 3am, and I love staying up so late! And it's not like I'm doing anything very special... I either do absolutely nothing online, or talk on the phone for 3 hours like I did the night before last. It's just so much fun. Being able to stay up late (and obviously, wake up even later the next morning) is one of the prime reasons why I'm so glad school is finally over!

Recently Moved

I just moved to blogger fro journalspace, but I'm not sure whether I'll stay. In any case, I'm putting up the entries I made in JS here.

Attached

Is being very attached to one person healthy?

I have a friend who I really like. And I think may just like her too much for it o be good for me. We're really good friends, but I think the problem is that here, in Delhi, she is my only close friend. I don't like going to school, or to a party if I know she won't be there, and she is amazing at making a dull day better. But the problem is she's moving to Australia in four months, and we may never meet again. And I don't really believe that you can be good friends with someone who lives so far away... we'll have very different lives, and money matters won't make it possible for us to talk on the phone much.

I don't want to try o back off and lessen the bond, because that will probably hurt more than her moving away. But I know that I am a little too fond of her. The worst thing is, I don't think she likes me as much as I like her. I was just thinking.. is it okay to be very attached to one person? This has happened before to me too, and it has never ended well. I always end up hurting (yes, I know this is very dramatic, but I am listening to the Doors right now, and writing while trying to concentrate on the music is hard).

So, is being very attached to one person healthy?

Civic Sense

Why is it that thousands of people in India are utterly incapable of having even a minuscule sense of civic duty? This isn't a rhetorical question, I genuinely want to know. I just cannot understand the reason why people here litter all the time, seem completely oblivious to traffic laws, and never ever think about the convenience of others.

I used to think that lack of education was the problem. People aren't educated properly, so they don't understand the significance of civic sense. But I don't think that's the problem anymore. Everyday, in school, I see students throwing empty packets of chips on the roads, and aluminum foil wrappings on the floors of classrooms. And these are students of a school that is regarded as one of the best schools in Delhi. One of my closest friends studies in IIT now, and he too has to be forced to pick up his ice cream stick from where he threw it on the road. So clearly, education is not the problem. Then what is it? Why do people not know that you can't throw your garbage on the roads?

And traffic violations! I know one of the fundamental problems for the utter disregard for traffic laws is the lack of driving tests before granting licenses. Anyone who wants a license can get a license. That explains why so many people insist on going at a speed of 30 km/h in the right-most lane, or treat a traffic light that just turned red as an encouragement to speed up. But it doesn't explain why people enter the left or the right-turning lanes when they they want to go straight, or why they stop at the side of the road at the end of a concert, clearly in everybody's way. Why would people do such things which are very clearly wrong? Why would they think that it is okay to use the wrong side of the road when they want to avoid a U-turn or when their side has traffic??

In Kanpur, the situation was worse. Most intersections didn't even have traffic lights, and now that they have been installed, they may as well not be there for the all the attention that they get from the drivers on the roads. The roads were choked with polythene bags and old newspapers. Delhi is better, I agree. Many people do abide by the traffic laws, and many people do go around holding their trash until they find a dustbin. But in so many people, civic sense just doesn't exist. That is why people people take up two parking spots for one car in a city that never has adequate parking space. That is why my classmates insist on standing at the doorway and talking, so that you are forced to step over all their feet in order to get out. What I don't understand is the reason for this complete non-existence of common sense

My "Social Work"

The deadlines for my college essays are in a month, and I still have about six essays left. There are least four for which I have absolutely no idea what to write, and I don't like the one I am writing now. It is an essay which asks me to "elaborate on one of my activities". The 'activity' I chose to write about is the little bit of social work that I have done. But while the tiny bit I have done is very important to me, how can I possibly write about it when I know for a fact that what I have done amounts to nothing? I mean, I had a friend who was so socially responsible, she wanted to take up a career in social work. I don't know exactly what she's done as a schoolgirl, but I do know that along with her mother, she has been involved in a lot of community activities, such as teaching. And I had another very socially conscious friend who used to teach Maths and English in a rural school. Both of them really cared for what they did. And... this is hard to express properly... it's making me feel as if whatever I write about what I've done is just so fake.

I have done some "social work". I ran a library for the kids of the domestic workers in my community for a year. Last summer, I taught the girl who works in my house to write, and to do some basic Maths questions. But does it matter? I didn't really make a difference in anyone's life the way Gonu and Anirudh must have. My so-called "social work" had little or no effect on anyone. The essay is supposed to help colleges understand me. Isn't writing an essay that feels so wrong similar to cheating?

Maybe I should just choose another topic for my essay and save all this introspection for a day when I don't have exams in four days and six applications to send out in a month.