Jolly Folly, Mighty Morphin'

As I trudged down the sheen of the wet roads, mini-whirlwinds spinning dried leaves into the merciless cold, I saw a lady in Cornell red, umbrella blown out of shape, oblique to the sky, quite against her wish actually. And me in Cornell shorts, for once feeling the numbness of the thighs, like my veins contained ice rather than blood, and for the first time in my 21 years of existence, touched snow with a child-like wonder quite akin to the boggle in the mind with the discovery of water on Mars. It's almost like rain's brother has finally arrived to mark its presence, as they pelter softly on unfortunately exposed skins, frozen stiff beyond blood's desire to flow.

Last Saturday, we managed a first-place finish on our boat! Photos on facebook, if you guys want to take a look. Me the noob still doesn't know how to upload photos on blogspot.

It was a really good feeling passing boats and making progress, and of course doing the school proud. It was a small race against 35 other boats in the region but nonetheless, it felt good.

Today was Deepavali (I think). They call it Diwala Festival here. And I got to savour some curry and tikka chicken and chickpeas at the dining hall. Good nostalgia reminiscent of Sunday mornings spent at Casurina or Prata House. Cheap eats for cheap treats in singlet and slippers, foot hitched on slightly oily big red chairs, with excellent company and sinful foods. Putuu Mayam, with a splash of orange against the white, flat been-hoonish mesh, quite an art to be honest, and a feast to the eyes and palate. Simple.

Posted by Brandon at Wednesday, October 29, 2008 | Permalink

"Ha chew!"

5 or maybe 6 people around me would turn to me, flippantly but quite reactively, "Bless you." If you get lucky, the lecturer might pause in his discourse and give you one too.

And you know how these kinds of itch in the nose persists quite frequently, and you still get these heads turned towards you with no eye contact whatsoever, and blessing you like it was necessary to. Then, the 'sneezer' will say, "Thank You", in an appreciation of acknowledgement and of the sacred blessing, as if someone had just helped him/her up after a bad crash on the road or something. Things I always wonder with wide-eyed amazement...

I have found a new 'hobby' that I typically engage just after sundown, when crew training ends. As it's mostly rainy these days, Cornell is covered in a blanket of gloom and silence. I will fetch my bicycle parked by a tree. And that silence is the kind of thing you want to immerse in. You really get that tranquility, slightly windy, slightly chilling, but that settled peace, that calm composure, REALLY gets to you in a positive way. Contrast it to the bustle at noon, with College kids crisscrossing each others' paths and creating dins and ruckus, the evening peace is priceless. Through the ground-to-ceiling glass windows of the library, like a scene out of a silent movie, two people engage in lively conversation with warm mugs of coffee wrapped in their white, hard fingers. A couple secretly engaged in a smooch, but all unaware of the transparency that the walls provide.

Seldom do you feel that bliss of just being alive. Who cares about the dreary weather and the loads of work behind our heads, when all we need sometimes, is just a reminder that you are alive? I think we NEED TO CONSTANTLY remind ourselves that, hey, we are fortunate to be in safe hands, and that the worlds around us revolve with such vibrance.

Posted by Brandon at Friday, October 03, 2008 | Permalink