confessions of a chronic weirdo

Ok, have fun :)

1. I have a weird theory. every human looks like some animal. and thus springs this incurable tendency to observe and not given up until i liken everyone i come across to some animal or the other. Not behavior, not mannerisms -- just the face. Thus, my friends and relatives include bushbabies, sheep, cows, rabbits, lions, hawks, sparrows, squirrels and even sloths. so next time you see me looking thoughtfully at you,... :) Oh and dont bother asking me who you look like, i never tell anyone to their face ;)
2. My olfactory senses are a tad too heightened. And i associate smells with occasions, thoughts, feelings, people. i remember perfumes people wear [oh, and BO as well :(]. and each time a relevant whiff comes my way, i remember things. Some unpleasant, some nice... depends on the nose :)
3. On the subject of noses, i have a pretty large and ugly one [hey cyrano, i hear ya!] -- and i study others in detail. in a boring meeting, if i already know what animal each participant is, i look at their noses. when seen in isolation, the nose is a pretty funny creature. and no two are alike. and when i see some, i burst out laughing... and once i start giggling, hard to stop me. Noses have put me in awkward situations once too often ;)
4. Androtisophobia: i suffer from this. it is the fear of getting into lifts (elevators for you american firangs ;)) that are filled with men. happens regularly in intel india and, as a result, i now dread the lift doors opening -- lest i be confronted with my worst fears.... i often take the stairs, especially at lunch time ;)
5. i love to dream. no, not dream of the future or suchlike. really dream -- at night. and i remember every one of my dreams. i escape war zones in them, i find ways of arresting a really high plunge into deep water miraculously, i find myself in restrooms with two doors -- the unlocked one i always discover after i start my business, i have discovered a hidden road route to Japan, and i dream of places i have never been to, that i am not even sure exist. but i remember them well. and revel in dreaming :)
6. On the same subject, the weirdest thing was this dream about a church, set well back from the road (some road, some place, no clue where) and with features i remembered well. and then, 10 years ago, when i first went to the US, we were driving to the Canyon [also for the first time] and passed flagstaff. sanat was at the wheel and was looking for a place to take a right turn... and it came flooding back. i told him -- take that right and on the left is a church. sure enough, set well back from the road -- there it was. that same one from my dream...

weird, uh?
hey terri, you're tagged! out with six weirdest things about yourself.

feeling weird today?

i've been tagged by dear 'serendipity' who challenges me to come up with six weirdest things about myself... watch this space for the update soon!

;)

a view from the other side

sanjana's school broke for summer hols. on June 10. and we packed our bags and left for the other side of town... another world, really. banashankari is a quiet suburban neighborhood with spacious bungalows huddling close to one-another flanking shady tree-lined avenues. sometimes i wonder, would 400 sq ft. less have made a huge difference to the house? one 20x20 patch of garden in front would've been so refreshing... regardless, the place is as sleepy and homey as they come.

and so here we are. living out of a suitcase and loving it. but it is a different world. the world of mallige flowers -- not CK One, lots of coconut in everything -- nothing fat free, where fresh veggies come in hand carts -- not cooled and cut and packed, and coffee is filtered, not instant. all in all, it is how it used to be -- simple, hard working and fresh :)

the local grocery store is the traditional barricaded-by-counter-point-desperately-to-merchandise-and-wait-for-service type store, but somehow, the waiting doesn't seem long. you take on the nature of the place... the languor, the easy-going "yen-saar" attitude and get used to having 8-person meals for under Rs. 500... even the trees seem wiser, older and happier... the trrring of a cycle bell in the afternoon just completes the picture of how, probably, bangalore once used to be.

i used to escape now and then to mysore for that feeling of suspended time... but by the sounds of it, may not have that luxury for long. the foraging IT industry has whisked my dear little native town into the frenetic world of electronic mayhem. new highways, wide inner roads, shiny new glass buildings, fewer gigantic trees, lesser breeze, more concrete, more exhaust and... exhaustion. one by one the old will give way to the new .... and not in every case will it be for the better.

for now though, i know, in a little corner of Dewan's road, in a nonagenarian's 90-year old house, i can still play a 1981 travel-scrabble with my 81-yr old dear grandma all afternoon long, sleep on a four poster bed in a mosquito net, and then wake up to her tolling a bell in the puja room, and have the most delicious akki-roti with fresh, home-churned butter...

and in bustling bangalore... still a sleepy green banashankari, where the fresh aroma of 80-20 filter coffee can ably salute a nippy dawn, gives a taste of the other side that is to die for...