Its one of the rare moments when the net connection in my room is working..sigh!! I was sooo happy yesterday that it was working in the evening and then...wham!! its off again.. So there's no saying whether I'll get to post this or not,but still....

Statutory warning: This post's bound to be pretty long. so you may start yawning already..lol

About the boat trip....The boat trip: Our uni had organised this boat trip through the Thames for the International students as part of the Welcome programme. It was soooooo amazing..It was very very very cold..the type that chills through to your bones...but it was amaaazing...We boarded the boat from Tower Pier,you know the place where the Tower of London is (which houses the crown jewels,including our own Kohinoor). There were like, I dunw some 100-120 ppl,Indians,Pakistanis,Bangladeshis,Chinese....It was really really really greatt!!It was very very cold,with the normal chilly weather here and the draft from the Thames...But I got to meet looaads of ppl,see looots of places...We saw the London bridge,Tower bridge,Westminster Abbey,British Moveum,London Eye,Big Ben,The monument..........It was kinda guuuddd funnn....

The bus trip was nothing grt,nuthing to write home about. We were expecting an open top hop-n-jump bus,but what we got was a regular boarded up coach,and a guide who kept talking n talking n talking..n what was worse was that we were just shown all the great places just from the outside,you know..See, over there is the King's Cross station,That is the baker Street ..that sorta thing...quite boring.The only place where we were let out was the Buckingham palace. We saw the queen's guards with their weird hats standing like statues and their elaborate salutes and all. We couldn't see the change of guard as it happens in the morning and we went in the afternoon. There are supposedly 5 types of Queens' guards- the brigadier guards,scottish guards,welsh guards,irish guards n one other kind whose name sorta escaped( could be english though lol). They have to stand still on end for like 2 hours and then they are given 4 hours break,nice,eh??

Well I did explore some of the London city,by myself,with my parents and with friends. My parents went to the Madame Tussaud's Museum and the Baker Street,the lair of Sherlock Holmes. I missed out on those two which were the ones I badly wanted to see coz of some enrolment stuff in my college. Well I have 1 year over here,I'll find time someday :). Well those places sound and seem pretty terrific,I'll just have to go and see.

The Hyde Park is toooooo long for my taste. All things inside that were miles apart. There is the Princess Diana memorial fountain,the Kensington palace gardens,Serpentine bridge,Queen's temple,Flower walk,Peter Pan and some boating inside in the lake. The Diana memorial Fountain was a bit of a disappointment. Since we had walked in from the side of the park near the Duke of Wellington Arch, we had to practically walk till the far end of it to reach the fountain,n when we finally reached it...It was just some body with water running around a lawn,it is supposed to reflect her life or something like that..hhmm!!!

Now comes my favourite,the visit to the London Eye. It is a giant ferris wheel with each enclosure holding upto 20 ppl and they take you around just once,very slowly so you can enjoy the city view from the skyline;),n the tickets are sort of expensive too 17.50 pounds per adult andthere's no concession for students;(. It was wonderfulll...especially because we went in the evening. To see the Westminster abbey and the Big ben and the Tower Bridge and the St.paul's Church lit up from above was a greatt experience. You can't possibly distinguish between the different buildings and all in the dark all that well,but the view is pretty terrific all the same.I probably am not doing much justice to it ,describing it this way,you have too see it to know it,or atleast see a picture.:)

My mom's favourite was probably our visit to Stratford Upon Avon,the birthplace of The Bard,William Shakespeare. It is about 3 hours drive from the main city of London. Seeing the English Countryside of which we've read a lot through Famous Five and Five Findouters and all was thoroughly invigorating. Stratford upon Avon is a small town,whose only claim to fame is the fact that Will Shakespeare was born there some 400 years ago. We went during the weekend,so the roads were all blocked and some sort of farm fair was going on,the kind where you get to buy goat's milk cheese and cured ham and bacon n stuff. There is a combo pass you can buy which covers Shakespeare's houses and gardes,ie,the house where he was born,his wife Anne Hathaway's house,The New Place and Nash's house(the new house Shakespeare bought which was demolished and his granddaughter's place next door),Hall's Croft(Shakespeare's daughter and son-in-laws' house),and Mary Arden's(Shakespeare's mother) house. Anne Hathaway's cottage and Mary Arden's house were slightly out of town,and we had to be back the same day so we visited the Shakespeare found Exhibition and Shakespeare's grave instead(Btw the tickets are valid for a whole year so I can go back any time during the year and see them again).

Maintenance of all these places is pretty amazing. The furniture and the walls and the floor all have been maintained and some been fabricated to obtain authenticity as far as possible. It was an amazing feeling thinking that probably you are tracing the steps The Bard walked some 4 centuries ago.....His grave is in a Church nearby called the Holy Trinity Church,surrounded by the graves of his wife,daughter and son-in-law,and granddaughter's husband.

No adventures today,the tube's down,lots of repairing work going on..n am taking a break from all the travelling. My classes are gonna start on the day after...:)

Well,....so...Am in London. Reached a couple of days ago.. Been having welcome programmes and local tours and seminars about every other way of adjusting to a different culture etcetera etcetera.... Oh and there is some issue with the internet connection in my students housing. The connection is 'sporadic' it seems. So am relying on the student computer room at coll to type this :). Its not too bad btw.

About my college.. It is called Queen Mary,University of London. I've heard its quite gud. The infrastructure is sorta great..N my housing's nice too. Its called Stocks Court n is some 5 min walk from the campus. I had some prob initially to find my way around the campus,but now am getting better at it. :). There are some pretty cool hangouts inside.. I haven't seen the library yet. where,I've been told that I will have to actually spend loaaadss of time unlike in our place lol.Also I've not met a single person from my course of study..I've been meeting lots of Indians all over the place though. But I've been told (well,warned is more like it i ges) that I shudn't just stick with the Indians all the time by one of my best friends :).

The main thing these ppl keep telling us over and over again and again in the workshops is that u shud b careful with ur money n belongings ,u shud never take a route through aany secluded area after dark n sooo on..The way they had been carrying on about it,it sounds like the crime capital of the world. Well,I know it is better to be safe than sorry and all that..but still I can't help feeling thatthese ppl are tooooo cautious as a race.

I have this boat trip through the Thames scheduled later this evening and a London Bus Tour on Thursday..Am excitedd...:D.

PS: The weather s sorta nice,cool,ooty type lol. :)

When my heart weeps,

There are no tears

It still beats on naturally

As if everything were allright.

When all is done and forgotten,

Those unshed tears keep burning

Like an oil wick

Which has spent all its oil.

I can't sleep,I can't close my eyes,

For when it does,

Those images keep playing

On and on,on and on

Inside my eyes...

The last moments of your life,

I go back to,that bloody black night

When you took your last breath...

Why,oh,why did it have to happen to You??

Why were you deprived the chance

To live the life you so loved??

Why did you have to

Endure so much pain??

Why..why....???

I wish it were some really bad dream,

I wish it had never happened,

I wish you never left that night,

I wish.....

I wish you were here with me.....

I feel like writing something..but again,as it has been for sometime now, I don't know what to write etc. So on rambling mode.

My pc is sorta dead;I think its mother board crashed again..or its some prob with its power supply sustenance. So am left to type n check mail n browse on my lappy which I hate for several reasons. One,it seems to have some weird problem which keeps the cursor skipping or going back to some previous line in between a sentence or a word.So I have to actually pay attention while typing. Two, the net line is quite short n I can't really drag it too far,so am left sitting in a half crunch half squat sorta position.Third,as far as I'm concerned,laptops are for watching movies n reading books aaram se..not for browsing lol.

The date for my driving test is nearing,I've been going for sometime now to take H n 8 n every other alphabet. There's a cemetery enroute to the driving ground .Well,that's a route I've been told explicitly by my folks not to go by,but my funda is that u have nuthing to be scared of from dead people.U r much better off being scared of living ones. I believe once someone is dead, he or she stops loving n hating anyone n everyone. They are free from the 5 elements,the six sins etc. I don't believe in people coming back as ghosts to take revenge and all. Ya well, so I've been walking through that route for quite sometime (even before actually),and on the o uter walls of the cemetery they've written certain verses from the bible.I've read them many times but today one of them just seemed to touch my heart somewhere all of a sudden.It is one of John's ,11:25 -"I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me,though he were dead,yet shall he live".

Well,that's it.

I don't know what to say..what to write..4 days have passed in a trance...


It was from a phone call on the wee hours of saturday the 22nd of August that I came to know about the murder of Paul Muthoot. The horror that news brought was enormous. Apart from it being a horrible revelation as to how the conditions in my small,mostly peaceful state has been changing,it was a shock to me because I knew the guy in question...


I remember him as a good friend,a fun loving guy bound to get carried away sometimes..Someone who liked fast cars and the fast pace of life..One who liked to talk a lot ..about random things... A committment phobic if I ever saw one...A slightly stubborn guy who couldn't be railroaded into anything...Someone you could approach for anything in the world,may it be help, or advice or just someone to talk to...Someone who didn't care whatever the hell anyone thought about him as far as he was doing something he liked...Who was as caring as he was frank n decisive...Who used to get a bit aggressive when angry...Noone who ever got the sharp side of his tongue will ever forget him.....That was Paulettan, the eternal bachelor, young,charismatic,smart,handsome,wealthy..and above all a very loving friend. He had everything to live for...When something like this happens to someone like Paulettan,you can't help but wonder about the momentous nature of life...


You surely miss people when they die..But you feel something much worse when you know how tragic it was..After all the news reports n stuff, I keep involuntarily picturising whatever might've happened that night. I keep thinking what must he have done ever..to have endured so painful a death....


There..I can't write anymore.. I just hope they catch whoever it is that killed him n make them pay for it...


I do miss you Pauletta..n may ur soul rest in peace... :((

Its raining again. Well,what else to expect during monsoons!! Nothing much has been happening in my life lately except these rains. I’d gone to Pune last week to complete the visa works for September (yes,am leaving on September 19^th most probably). This thing takes about 10-15 days,so there is nothing much I need to do except wait..sigh!!!

I’m quite bored at home,well,that’s nothing new lol J. You get bored with Tv and PC after a while. My favourite pastime,reading also has lost its charm L.,dunno why. I am into light reading these days (meaning junk reading,Danielle steel,jeff archr,john grisham etc etc),but I didn’t think I would stoop to Jackie Collins !! Well,I have..to while away this never ending supply of time I find on my hands ; and the result??? I’m disgusted with myself for reading that piece of trash. I dunno why,but I absolutely Collins’ works(I’ve read only 2 till date and I’ve hated them both ).

Now I am sorta revisiting childhood you know,by re-reading Enid Blyton J. I am downloading all the famous five and five find outers and secret seven and three investigators books which I have and haven’t read and reading them all over again J. I have also downloaded Digital Fortress by Dan Brown (which I had in paperback and which my stupid roommate misplaced),Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park by Jane Austen(Well,the Complete Works of Jane Austen is in a quite dilapidated state,thanks to me reading P&P again and again lol..),The Chronicles of Narnia (coz I saw the 2 movies and wanted to read the books)and Little Men by Louisa Alcott(I loved Little Women,so just wanted to sorta follow up you know).

Well,I have no idea why I am posting this,its just a boring account of how I try to keep a check on my boredom..lol..I just feel like writing something!!!!

I know what you are,

What you do,what you think;

I always did.

I've seen the recklessness

That lines your demeanor;

I've seen the fear

Beyond your bravado.

I've seen your faults,

Your flaws,your mistakes

And your thousand misgivings

Which could fill several books.

I see all that others don't see in you,

And I see that I'm in love with you.

For what is it,that makes me yearn

For your presence

When we are apart??

For what is it,that makes me blush

At the mention of your name??

For what is it,that

Steals my sleep in the night,

And fills the meager sleep I get

With your dreams??

What is it..what could it be..but love??

I love the goodness of your heart

Which makes you listen to my meaningless tattle

I love the innocence of your smile

When you dimple at some reminiscense.

I love the way you frown

When you come across somethiing foreign,

I love the way you care

When I say I'm feeling blue.

I love you,whole and simple you;

You who never does think like me,

You who never would want the same things as me,

You who has never made me cry,

You who would never ever love me back.....

There's no reason,no timespan

No condition...

To my love,

Its all yours and just yours

whenever you wanna claim it.