Tagged!!!!!!

Tagged
Long long ago Sreeram had tagged me and here I am doing it after about a month.That speaks loads about the kind of laziness I possess.Somehow sitting before a computer and typing out from a book is not very appealing to me. therefore I delayed it I guess.
The tag goes something like this.
1. Pick up the nearest book.

2. Open to page 123

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the next three sentences.

5. Tag five people, and acknowledge the person who tagged you.

I really don understand the concept of this tag, I mean I just wonder If its worth a tag.I just find it weird.But then this is the first time I have ever been tagged and therefore here i go.
I have been trying to read a book called "Brida" by Paulo Coelho.But I haven't crossed 20 pages yet. Not that I am a slow reader. I usually finish off a 250+ pages book in say, a good three hours time.And mind you the speed of reading is directly proportional to the amount of potato chips,Lays,Kurkure etc that I devour at the time of reading.But his whole book seems so eluding and I am unable to comprehend anything from this book.
It goes thus,
"Brida listened discreetly to their steps until the creaking floorboards above betrayed their destination;Wicca s apartment.One day Brida risked asking about these other students."Witchcraft is based on collective strength"Wicca told her.
phew!! there ends the three sentences.
Now as to the tagging part I really don want to carry forward this tag and therefore I am not tagging anyone here.

Language Troubles

Last week when I went to Landmark my hands inadvertently picked up a copy of a book titled "Learn Hindi in 30 days". A friend who accompanied me looked at me in a puzzled way.I resided in Mumbai all through primary classes so therefore there was nothing wrong in the way she looked at me.But the fact that I bought that book speaks volumes about my proficiency in Hindi. My language skills have gone for a toss and these days I find it very difficult to acknowledge that i have studied hindi in school.
I have been baffled, terrified and petrified at times reading hindi posts and going through the comments of Nive, Cammie, Sree…. the list is endless!!!!There had been so many embarassing moments due to my lack of knowledge of this language that the very thought of it makes me wince.
It so happened that a few days back as I was strolling in the terrace of my house when my seven year old neighbour Shruthi came running to me. She had a notebook and pen with her.I was wondering if she had any doubts in Maths and the thought of looking into maths books worried me to a great extent. I prayed that she shouldn't ask me to teach problems. God did help me that day..Here is what happened:Shruthi: Akka I need you to do a favour.Me: see, Shruthi, I am very busy and please dont bring your maths notebooks to me.Shruthi: No Akka!!I have an elocution contest and I want you to write the content for me!!When she said that I felt very obliged because my own brother had never asked me to do such a favour.Me:Oh sure..What is the topic??Sh: Mera priy tyohaar!!Me:$#@$#$%#%$Mera-priy-What???Shruthi:Akka, I don know what you will do I want it by tomorrow evening.Me:Shruthi you never told me its in Hindi.How will I write???Shruthi: My mom told you were in Bombay and u know hindi perfectly.Pls akka write it for me.Me: (thinking:Innuma indha ulagam enna nambudhu???)
Later that day Shruthi s mom pestered me to write up something for her and I did as I was told.Till date her mom couldn't understand why the judges laughed when her smart daughter spoke at the elocution contest and she is still surprised that her always-first-in-class daughter couldn't bag any prize that day!!
If that wasn't enough a few months back a friend of mine was looking into a newspaper.She lazily looked at me and posed a question.
She: Hey whats Tashan??Me: Don u know its a new movie s name….Saif is the hero!!She: Stupid I know that. I asked you what does it mean??Me: (baffled)Err.. wait a minute I will be back.Saying so I rushed to another room, took out a hindi-english dictionary and rummaged through the pages for the word "tashan".Now there was another confusion: I dint know if I should look up for it in the "tha" section or the "ta"!!After fumbling for half an hour I somehow found it out and rushed to my friend and non-chalantly said…"Err..Tashan means style or attitude".I wondered why people had to think about the meanings of movie names.
Well forgetting Hindi is excusable atleast but my tamil too is worse.This thing called "iyer bashai" eludes me..I really don't understand why there is a separate thing called 'iyer tamil', I mean tamil in itself is complex then why change things and try out different slangs..At home when my parents are around I speak tamil normally as everyone else does but then when my relatives land up I am suddenly expected to speak in a different slang and I usually end up goofing things.
When I was in high school my patti visited my residence once..She is known for her huge fuss for "aacharam" and my mother had warned me well before to 'behave properly'(read: speak in the right iyer accent)!!Everything went well till the time she had her lunch!!Post lunch:I wanted to ask my grandma if she needed water to drink..So here I go:Me:(supposed to say)Patti theertham sappidarela(which translates to "Would like to have some water in "iyer tamil")
Me: (intended to say) Patti thanni kudikkarela??(which translates to "Would like to have some water" in normal tamil)
Me:(blurted out)Patti thanni adikkarela??? (translating that it nearly…umm.. it means would you like to have some alcohol)
Voila!! Now what have I uttered…..That was just a tongue slip but then to my grandma it was absolute blasphemy!! She looked horrified as if she had just been subjected to watch a Mallika Sherawat item number!!.Needless to say the aftermath was disastrous as my mother had to hear to a big lecture on teaching kids the "right" things!!After this terrible 'tongue slipping' incident I made sure I kept my mouth shut as much as possible whenever my relatives are around!!
On a serious note I really cant comprehend why there is so much hype about the iyer bashai which is indeed confusing and what on earth is irreverent about speaking Tamil the way everybody else does..
And when it comes to hindi can some of you throw light on how to improve my skills to atleast a moderate level so that I dont misunderstand "jurm" for fever(juram in tamil)!!

Random Rants

The past fortnight has been exasperating. I have never felt so low and down till date as I am feeling now. It had been really harrowing and I am still in the process of getting out of it.
This phase of irritation and low feeling started when a colleague of mine started poking me with stupid questions as to why I chat long hours with a blogger friend of mine. That was none of her business and I told her that straight. But she was not the kind who would understand. She realised that only after a blast from me. Some peole are just incorrigible. How many ever times you tell them not to involve in others personal stuff they keep being nosey about it.
Last friday we had this bday treat and it was supposed to be fun. But then later I really had to repent the fact that I played spoilsport in the treat but I had no other go. Now I am the fun kind. I don get provoked easily but sometimes I do get on my nerves and then im uncontrollable. It so happened that day.A colleague of mine kept commenting on me and I was the scapegoat that day. I too was laughing until they started speaking "beyond limits". And then I expressed my dislike in the most fierce way I could ever speak.People around started staring at me but I care a damn about it. I yelled at them and then walked out of Planet Yumm. I still feel guilty for doing that.Why is it so???
That was not the end. I was blasted at by my "superiors" for almost everything like reading blogs, using IM, and also I was at the receiving end of a sermon on "how to be professional"!! I really dont understand what is wrong in using all of them when I really don have any work to do??

The only good thing that had happened in the recent past is that I happened to buy quite a lot of books after a long time.I laid my hands on a set of PGW at an unbelievable price and also bought a few others like the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Namesake,Intrepreter of maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri though I couldn't get Unaccustomed Earth.Also I bagged a few tamil books by Jayakanthan and Sujatha from a friend of mine.
I have been beaming at the mere sight of so many books spread all across my house and I intend to finish all of them by this weekend. I think the only thing that can bring down my stress levels and keep me sane are books. I love them absolutely and yesterday I resolved that I would atleast spend 5% of my salary on books.
My laptop dreams are becoming far-fetched day by day. I am becoming extremely hopeless in terms of money day by day... no that should be month by month.!! These days my bank balance has stooped to such low levels that by the end of every month I borrow money from my brother who is still in school!!!I wonder if my dreams would ever be fulfilled....I wish someone sponsors my laptop.!!! Sigh..I know thats going to be a dream....I think I am growing desperate here. Will stop my rant here as its time for dinner and yeah thanks for reading the whole thing( that is if you are still reading)!!!