Hasta la vista

Yes its weird that I always title the blog with some exotic word and what turns up inside is some "Desi" version of my world! It may be the same here, but the feeling isn't desi only...its very much exotic and commonplace at the same time...its very much everywhere...ubiquitous...yet there's nothing divine about it!

Now in any other language, its just plain...no spunk. I can give it a try really...

Phir milenge! (Mushyyyyy!!!)

Adieu! (Mushier!!!)

Dasvidaniya! (More like a tongue twister!!!)

May be my 'language of obsession' these days is dictating my affinity towards the title, but seriously...there is no better way to say it. Literally, "Hasta la vista" means 'until we see again' and its very commonly used as a farewell greeting. The style quotient obviously appeals to me as I feel it represents me.

Weirdly it seems like only yesterday that i said "Hola" to all my new friends...its equally weird that this brevity of time wasn't really felt so acutely while I was living two years of it!!!

But even with the style quo and all, a farewell remains a farewell...the hope of meeting again and the promises of 'staying in touch' are always soothing but they don't veil the transformation that life is about to go through. Dormant under our uber-cool exteriors, is a bubbling feeling of unease about "change"! So what if we all have seen one farewell too many...each one of them rocks us a little.

After all its not easy making friends (what with all the social networking to do)...its not easy to be all set for life's new challenges always ( truest grit is in accepting one's fear and imperfections)... its not easy truly enduring a phase of your life,gritting your teeth, but still wanting it not to end! My friends and I experienced it (with great gusto, if I might add). We cursed the day that put us in the situations we were in, but secretly we were gracious for the chance to get to know some of the most intriguing people ever.

With midnight pasta parties...Punjabi pop-DJ-on laptop-nights...nail paint fest with gal friends... series of knocks on the door when time is short for getting ready for a party... those series of Cntrl C - Cntrl V - Cntrl S, a week before exams...those trips to BIG BAZAAR for everything required for survival...those shopping bags of 1 capsicum,1 onion,1 tomato and 1 chilly (the chilly unceremoniously thrown in the dustbin,along with the polythene)...

Saying Hasta la vista not only brings back those memories but gives you the hope to build some new memories the next time around...It prepares you for the change and preserves what is unchanging about life, inside you...the bonds of friendship :D

Le Magnifique

In a small town quite nearby, lived a little girl. She was as small as the town but dreamed of becoming big and great one day and living in a place worthy of her grandeur. Wanting in many a factors that comprise the secret formula of success, she was unaware of the challenges life were to present. But to lose hope is not her!

Lets call her Maya (shall we?). Now as Maya grew, she became more and more sure of the things she wanted out of life - name, fame, money and love. In short she wanted it all and she wanted everything at her own terms.

Maya was a happy child...a talented one at that...a child who thought crying a waste of time...quite content with her own world of school and pals.

Maya wasn't the popular one, but never was the underdog either! Teachers liked Maya, but she never was the one who could become a teacher's pet!

Maya had few good friends and many ok-ok friends.

Maya thought boys were worthless and girls rock!

Many things about Maya changed with time but these stayed with her...they became permanent part of her nature, beliefs and character.

With time, Maya grew to be a decisive and confident person...fixed many of her character flaws (many still remained)...learnt about herself...her weaknesses she hid, her strengths she polished! Now a strapping young lass of 20, Maya decided to try her luck with guys too (after all how bad can be a sub-specie if it could boast of Johnny Depp as its member?!?!) So with a long long long list of qualities set in her mind, she wore her heart up her sleeve for the first time. But the thing with Maya is that even her sleeve is like her! So the heart never really got the chance of slipping out and falling for the first Prince Charming who walked by. The heart also never got a chance of measuring up every candidate for the quality control list that Maya had so naively prepared. Maya's sleeve did all the required calculation of a matchmaker and Maya landed a striking young lad ( a PERFECT match, if something of the sorts exists!)

So Maya now had one of the things she wanted in life...Love! For a while it felt like everything else was immaterial and Love is all that matters. But this is Maya we are talking about...She can not escape her name after all! So Maya decided to once again strive for having it all. Being Maya, is all about loving moh (Love) and maya (money), so predictably, the next goal in Maya's life became wealth. Now money is not an easy thing to come by if you are only good at things that don't really pay well in real world! Hence, Maya decided to go for "MBA"!!!! (dramatic music for effect)

This is where the story ends my friends...for this is where it gets too tragic to be told! (I don't want to call this piece Les Miserables instead of Le Magnifique!!!)