Off to the Fair

This is a poem I wrote recently for the Special Career Fair edition of ScratchPad, the TAMU Indian Graduate Students Association's newsletter.


Tearing through my silent home
Rang the alarm - "Trrrriiiinnnngggg"
I couldn't just turn over and sleep
It was a rather special morning.


No dilly-dallying or lazy walks-about-the-house
No meditative stares at the ceiling fan
Ladies and gentlemen, for, that day -
I was a woman, with a mission.


Portfolio in hand, a smile on my face
Formal clothes, tied up hair
I climbed up my heeled footwear
and off I marched to the Career Fair!


Stalls everywhere and goodies too
Smiling people all around you
Well well, it sure was a fair
but did you know, you are the ware


We moved in queues and shook hands
We nodded our heads, tried to blink less
handed resumes and spoke a lot
The motto was, "Boast not, but impress"


My legs hurt and hair became awry
Tiring it was, to move around
I was running out of resumes
but talking - that was home ground


A few disasters, and rays of hope
A keychain here and pen drive there
Comrades smiling as we crossed paths
It was, after all, not a nightmare


Maybe I had knocked on a door to my future
Though, I knew not where
I told myself "To try, I did dare"
And back I came from the Career Fair

#MadeMyTrip - A Hashtagable Memory

So, everybody had been off to trips during the holidays. I decided to take one too. Visited Sukanya - one of the sweetest girls on the planet. Has traces of lunacy but that is a family trait. Excusable. Similar lunatic strains have been detected to be present in strong proportions in her Big Bro(as she calls him), Bala. #CloselyKnitLooseFamily


We visited NASA. Strangely, everytime I read or hear "NASA", I am reminded of this famous scene from Annamalai. #VideoBreak


 Anyways, now that you are back from the youtube link to this post, let us continue. The place is interesting. There were a few puzzles in the booths there that left me slightly embarrassed in front of 8 year olds but you shall never get to know about that. There was a game in which one had to step on the alphabets to frame the word, which is the answer to a question displayed on a big screen. I am sure you were not able to visualize what I just said. Let us just say, it required the person playing the game to have considerable leg-brain coordination. Which I do not. I tend to twist an ankle every 2 days. And trip and nearly fall almost every day. So, again, kids from around the globe, with their parents, got to smirk and comment about me in their mother tongues. #Shakingoffdustfromshoulder


Moving on. We went on a tour of NASA. We took some pictures. I only remember one thing now - One of the engines in some XYZ rocket weighed 15650 pounds. And there was more than one engine in that rocket. That is all I remember now. #IDontRememberTrivia


The second most memorable trip was to the Houston Meenakshi Amman Temple. Sounds so odd no? But we went. Straight to their canteen. Hot Venn Pongal and Sambar. Delicious. But they did not have the one thing I have been dreaming of since I came here - Vadai. We went on Friday. Vadai only on weekends it seems. #VadaiPoche


THE most unforgettable thing was, we went to this small place by the lake where they had a few "Exhibition - Raattanam" type rides. Me and Sukanya's friend "Ethi-vittufied" Sukanya and goaded her on to take the roller coaster ride with us. Actually matter is, for me also Building-Strong-Foundation-Weak only, but Sukanya didn't know that. People mentioned that the "apparatus" was wooden and not metal and so it was uncomfortable etc. But yuvar honour, my problem was, I had a "falling" feeling in stomach. The ride started, Sukanya closed her eyes tight, and we went hurtling down at top speed and - screeeeeeeeeech. No, that was not the wind. My voice came tearing out of my lungs - "Ammmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa". My paatu teacher would have been glad to listen to me finally opening my mouth and singing aloud. I was so sure the train was gonna go awry and fly away from the rails. One consolation was, there was water all around. I would not have broken bones, or so I consoled myself. By the time I finished this risk analysis, the ride was over. We were dazed and got down. They said we could collect our photographs from some booth. But that booth was closed. So, there is no proof to record this historic incident in which we...err..I faced my fears and Sukanya did not. #HistoryWasMade


But, the one thing that upset her was - she lost her hair band. As for me, I found my voice. #NoHashTagForThis


Great trip. #Whattey


Claimer: This post is evidence that the author who has always enjoyed wasting time, now does that on Twitter. She is fascinated as to how the hashtag makes capturing the essence of complicated stuff simple and fun. #KeepItSimpleSilly

(A)broadly speaking - New year point of phew..err..view