Hey all… Sorry I couldn’t upload this entry earlier. WordPress had some freaking problem and i had to go off to Goa so this is a backdated entry – Sunday, 4th March 2007
PROJECTS AND CLASSES
Yes I know I haven’t blogged in awhile BUT it is not my fault cuz i’m not predisposed to blogging yeah… And besides, I’m such a quiet little girl that there is nothing really crazy going on in my life. Hmm had classes from 9 to 6 for the past 3 days and goodness… classes SHOULD NEVER be that long alright. It’s like, the same lesson, the same professor for such long hours at a stretch. Crazy man. And those who know me know that my attention span is like crap (I blame new media and the internet), so i was dozing off periodically on the first day. The 2nd day was a little better cuz i mixed coffee powder in my cornflakes w milk for breakfast.
Other than the problem of long hours, the prof was quite good actually (the class is about sales and distribution management) as he forced us to look at things in practical terms, from the perspective of a managerial position instead of only theoretical stuff. But siao lah, 9 to 6, with 15 mins break between each one and a half hr session (+45min lunch break) is just CRaZy.
GOA FROM TUES TO SUN
Okies. So i havent been up to much so far cuz it has been classes and projects for the past week but now, it’s the holidays again! (perks of being on exchange in India hahah). Yippee, we are going back to Goa again (from 6th march till 12th march) cuz we love it so much there! hahah. More seafood! I absolutely can’t wait!
SCHOOL SYSTEM
But to get permission to go to Goa was tough man. The school system is not liberal as what one would expect of a post-graduate school. We went to the school’s administration office to ask them to help us book tickets from the railway station, but they told us we had to get permission from the registrar office. So we went to the registrar office, who told us to check with the timetable administration personnel whether there were any classes on the days that we were planning to go away. When we had finished checking, and told the personnel at the registrar that there were no scheduled classes, he doubted our words, and went to find them himself. When he finally satisfied himself with the fact that we weren’t lying, he had to write an email to the admin office to tell them that we could go to Goa before the admin side helped us to book tickets. And we would then need to print this letter/email and give it to the security guards at the school’s gate on the day that we leave. So many freaking red tape right? hahah. Siao lah like some army camp.
There is this guy called Gunjan from our class, who has been skipping lectures consistently. Guess what the school did? They called up his parents! hahah damn funny can. Brings me back to primary and secondary school days. And during the 3 day straight lectures, on the 2nd day, for the 9am session, many students skipped the lecture, deciding to sleep in. Guess what happened? The registrar guy, KGK Pillar popped into the class, and on seeing that the class was half empty, his face promptly turned black and he walked out of class. He then went to the students’ hostel rooms and started banging on their doors. (As the school is really small, walking from the various hostels to class takes less than 5 mins. It aint at all like NTU) What happened next was damn funny. Here are some accounts from the students:
Shagnik: Shagnik was still sleeping in his room when KGK banged and woke him up from his slumber. When he saw KGK, he went, “Good morning Sir” in a very sleepy manner. And KGK replied, “it’s a very bad morning for you. Very very bad”
Apoorva Sharma: Apoorva was in a deep slumber when KGK walked into his room (sometimes, students dont lock their doors. I mean the school is really small so whether u lock or don’t lock ur door, it doesn’t matter that much. Everyone stays in the hostels anyway). He was tucked under his blankie and KGK took it off and Apoorva, in mid slumber, said “Why are you here Sir?”
Ankit: Ankit was in another guy’s room when KGK and another admin staff knocked on the door. When Ankit opened the door, he saw the admin guy (but din see KGK) and jokingly grinned, “Oh hi. So you came all the way here to take attendance for class? that’s very nice” The admin guy then glanced sidesway, and when Ankit’s eye followed, he saw a very stern looking KGK. Lol.
Thomas: Thomas is a Yr 2 French student here. He stays in the same hostel as the Yr 1s so when KGK went over, the Yr 1 boys were like telling him that that was Thomas’s room. But KGK didnt care and went to knock on Thomas’s door anyway. From inside the room, Thomas was like shouting, “Who the f*** is that? Who the f***?” cuz KGK kept knocking and refused to answer. So Thomas finally got up, opened the door and KGK was met with a half naked Thomas who just got up from bed. Funny man.
Yuppers… All that on the second day heheh. Luckily the 3 of us were in class, otherwise, i think we can forget about trooping off to Goa. Lol. Ooh so I finished blogging about the past few days. Now on to the highlight of the week, (today) which is incidentally, the reason for my topic title and the reason why I’ve cleverly increased my chances to be stuck on the shelf.
4TH MARCH – HOLI: THE STORY
Holi is a festival celebrated all throughout India. The story behind it is that there is this devil who hates this God. But the devil became very powerful and ruled the earth. Legend has it that when the devil’s wife was pregnant, the world was chaotic and the wife prayed to a Hindu god for safety and the God then blessed the unborn child. When the child was born, he was a devout hindu and the devil was very angry. Of all people, his son trusted in his rival – the hindu god (i forgot the name). Thus he plotted to kill his son.
The devil had a sister who could sit for hours and hours in a fire without feeling hot or burn. Thus his sister suggested that the child be placed with her in the fire so that he would burn and nothing would happen to her. However, when the child was placed with her in the fire, the sister was burnt alive and the child, safe. This was because God had given the sister the power to stay unharmed from fire on one condition – that she would not use her powers to harm anyone. But the sister tried to harm the child and thus, burned. The child, on the other hand, was blessed by God and thus was safe.
The devil was very angry. He asked his son, “do you think that your god is everywhere?” And the son said, “yes, my god is everywhere. Even in this pillar (wall).” The devil scorned and started smashing the wall to prove that god wasn’t there. God then came out of the wall and killed the devil. To this day, people in India celebrate Holi by spraying one another with colours to commemorate the death of the evil sister. There is another interpretation for Holi as well, which is a rather nice one, that when coloured, there is no distinction between races or castes. That everyone is equal. Nice yeah?
Even if for only a day, if a festival can remind people amidst all the fun and joy that we are all humans at the end of the day, i think it is great. Whether one is in an essentially developed country like Singapore, or a developing one like India, there is always distinction between people. That person is rich, he is poor. That person has status, she’s only a beggar etc. If, for one day, all prejudices and pity can be set aside, where the poor can play with the rich without being cast dirty glares, where blue collar workers can laugh just as radiantly as their bosses like an equal, it is a great festival, isn’t it?
HOLI – THE CELEBRATION
Hmm on to the celebrations. Holi was really really really fun! It was also the first time that we really partook in the celebration of events at MICA and I felt really close to the fellow students on that day. Everyone hung loose and there was no distinction at all; like we are the exchange students, and they, the MICANs. That day, I really felt like I was a MICAN as well and I know I’m gonna miss them lots when i get back to Singapore! It feels strange to think that I probably won’t see many of them forever once I leave India… God! hahah..
Hmm the three of us, having heard alot of horror stories about Holi from our friends, prepared ourselves by oiling our hair and body with coconut oil so that the colours would wash off easier. (*note*easier and not easily). The coconut oil smelt DAMN GOOD, like kueh bang kekh u noe? I looked at the bottle and it said edible oil. Was so tempted to just taste it hahah… There are two types of colors that the students play with. One is in the powder form, which washes off easily. Just before we oiled ourselves, the cook came around Silveroak so we ran to oil ourselves and he put some powder on our faces.
When we saw the cook with a bag of stuff, and him being abit bloody already (as in red powder lah)… We knew it was the start of Holi. We weren’t prepared yet, as in we hadn’t put coconut oil and stuff when he trotted along, so we were like, HOLD ON!!!!!! NOT YET! hahah. Jo and I were afraid that the coconut oil will unoe, clog our pores so we didn’t put any on our face, just our hair and body. Hmm luckily, what the cook had in his hands were powder Holi, which washes off easily so we gladly let him put it on us and vice versa. As the pics testify, we were still relatively clean!
The second type of Holi colours is that of color crystals. Ahhh… this was what our friends warned us about. Vibha and Priyanka was telling us that the crystals,when mixed with water, and applied on the body, would take at least a few days to wash off. Some take as long as two weeks or more. The good thing was, they said that girls usually don’t play with crystals, only powder, that the crystals were mainly guys category. Good, cuz I had NO intention of staying green in the face for two weeks. It kinda explained why I didn’t put coconut oil on my face either. What was not so good was that girls do play crystals. And what was not so good was that I didn’t oil my face, hence zilch protection on the one part of my entire body that mattered most. And what was not so good was that instead of oil clogging my pores, it was crystal chemicals clogging my pores.
During Holi, it started off okay. We were playing with the powders and it was quite fun. I was laughing my ass off dirtying others with powders and getting dirtied. Then the stinky crystals made its appearance. My friend Shresth COLORED me with the crystals. My God, at the precise moment when it sank into my head that I was hit with crystal water and not powdered water, I SHRIEKED and ran all the way to the toilet and fervently tried to wash it off. The freaking color refused to go off. So much for not playing with color crystals. Within 5 mins of entering the color fray, I was hit by the color crystals.
For awhile, I tried to avoid color crystals. When someone tried to color me, I would try to grab their hands and check if it was crystals or powder. If it was the latter, I gladly obliged but when it was the latter, I would run away hahah. It was kinda futile though cuz around Palash, everyone was a potential color terrorist. There was no escape. I hadn’t wanted to color anyone with the crystals since I didn’t want to be colored with it. Logic of tit for tat you noe? But people were coloring me from all over – color crystals mixed with water from the floor. Goodness. There was no escape. Naturally, I didn’t quite look like what I started out. This was how Ken, Jo and Jas looked after the bloody battle:
Welcome to the world of Barney wannabes
See how freaking purple I was? And how blue my hands look? The result of too many potential enemies everywhere. How to run away successfully? I was running away from one color terrorist right into the arms of another. So i decided to do what I thought was the next best course of action – offence is the best defence. That was also the time when I discovered the crystals for what they really were. The words, “For Industrial Purposes Only” was written on the packaging of the crystals. Faints. This was war. No point suffering alone. More colors on others means less on me.
But I think evilness can be seen though. Cuz I colored others by mixing the crystals on my hands with water, they turned silvery blue, and glowed, like mystique from X-men. It wasn’t glow in the dark though. (although it looked the part.)
The mistiquish hands above belongs to yours truly. Ken’s hands by comparison, were much lighter in color. So next time if u wanna noe how evil a person is, just look at their hands during Holi hahah.
Still, Holi was great fun. We started playing Holi around 1.30pm at Palash. After Holi started, when some poor sods walked out of their rooms bleary eyed, wanting to go to the toilet, they were carried and colored by those who had already awoken, and were made to roll on the floor and stuff, smeared all over with color crystal water etc. From sleepy eyed to wide awake alertness. 100% effectiveness lol.
By then, the whole of Palash was rocking man hahah. People were throwing powder and smearing color crystal water on one another, buckets of colored water were thrown from the second level down to the first, and pails of water with detergent and color crystals were poured on unknowing victims. The floor was wet, and everyone just took crystals in their hands, mixed it with water from the floor and smeared the next unsuspecting victim. Great stuff hahah. One guy called Gautam who was still sleeping soundly in his room on the first floor had his door banged down, dragged out sleepily and colored all over. Damn funny, the way the poor sod looked. The kind of unbelieving, what-in-the-world-can-be-happening kinda look. Classic. To date (13th march) the floor in Palash is still purplish pink.
The sad part was, after the fun ended. I spent like almost two hours in the shower. My white bra turned a multitude of colors. Should have taken a pic of it before dumping it into the dustbin. Everything that I wore that day was thrown away. Utterly unsalvageable hahah. I scrubbed like hell in the toilet and even resorted to using the loofah on my face. That was how desperate I was. No kiddin. And all I had to show for my efforts was this:
Now you understand why I say Holi is my express ticket to singlehood…How to find a boyfriend like that! And when I was recounting to Boonei Loh that ass over MSN abt Holi, she was laughing her butt off and posted a damn unglam pic of me as her MSN pic.
<– this was what she posted, that banana, sweetly mentioning that it’s a ghost, and how frightening it looked.
Oh well. hahah. Roxy the campus dog wasn’t spared either but okie lah. His fate wasn’t quite as bad as mine though. I took this pic with him
Haiz. I was feeling qt evil although i looked like an angel in this pic, smiling so sweetly and stuff. hahah. Felt like coloring Roxy. That lazy bum was just sleeping around and all he had was just a little powdered streak across his forehead, whereas I ran my legs off, made quick, clever, sharp turns and twists and yet wasn’t spared. Heh. Well guess Holi once in a lifetime is a fun experience but god, if I were to turn green or purple every year, I think i will just die can! And in some parts of India, people play Holi for an ENTIRE MONTH. Imagine that. The words “dangerous streets” take on a whole new meaning.
Okies that’s it for Holi! Will post abt Goa when I get back!
Lotsa Love
Jas
Wow girl! Blinded by your crystal coloured faces and hands! Hope that since this is a backdated entry, your mystique hands have gone!