Veena
A Dozen New Year Resolutions to Break at the Advent of the New Year!!1.Speak less so that the other person doesn’t zone out while I am talking
2.Speak less British words so as to receive less Bewildered looks from the Americans
3.Learn to say Oh my Gaad rather than Oh my GOD or just say OMG for I can save the energy lost in reiterating
4.Speak Slowly for I am not missing a flight
5.Work more to get reproducible negative results
6.Write my lab notebook everyday to keep a track of my progress
7.Read one paper a day on my research topic
8.Take less walks in Snow for a longer face time in the lab
9.Remember not to throw Snowballs on one’s face during a snowball fight for someone might get offended
10.Drink less to have a respectable reputation until I graduate
11.Learn to play and be a Pro at Trivia Pursuit so that atleast 1/10th of me feels like a Pseudo-American
12.Last but not the least…BE NICE to people New Year Resolution to keep :
NEVER TO MAKE ANY RESOLUTIONS!!
Veena
Adrenaline rushes…..is something that comes naturally during winter:
The first snow: Four winters have passed and the first snow of the season always makes me want a snowball fight, take a stroll, look up into the sky and see where the snowflakes are falling from, stretch out my hand to hold some snowflakes in my palm ….. a valiant and yet an unsuccessful effort to appreciate the beautiful architecture of the flakes, take pictures, make footprints on untouched snow laden grounds and then get snow all over my clothes, make snow angels…..least did I know that this adrenaline rush comes with a price (after all nothing in this era is for free???!!!) ….white lines of salt on my trousers and shoes marking my actions in snow, with every new act in snow a new line right above the old one like the annual growth rings on a tree trunk!!!
Ice skating: Looks amazingly simple when you see a “Pro” skating, but the moment you set foot on the ice rink you know how grossly misled you were, similar to the advertisements that give a rosy picture to their viewers!! The first time was painful in multiple respects: I couldn’t get my feet into the mulish skates-third time into skating and the person renting out the skates mentions that I need to be wearing a Men’s 8 size [guess I am a Big Girl ;)]; spent an era contemplating whether the skates are taut enough to secure my feet and not be able to swivel my ankle; difficulty balancing and walking on blades; and then the worst of them all was getting on the Ice laden rink. The first step and BOOM….i crashed…..right on my Bum!! Try getting up yourself…..BAD IDEA…tried that and fell again. Finally my friend came to my rescue and I was back on my feet but this time I was hugging the rails so that I could try and maintain my balance (REALLY????) The first round was interesting for I was trying to understand the rules of skating – You are supposed to skate with your knees bent as if you are about to sit …..man does that sound painful??? Weeeeeeeeeeeeee………Wooooooooo were the gibberish expressions that everyone in the rink heard whenever I was even close to losing my balance. I think that was the reason my friend decided to leave me alone as she felt that she doesn’t want to be associated with a crazy person like me. The second round I was trying to realize my center of balance. The third round and a five year old comes up to me and says “ Hey….do you wanna play with me??” Sweet….Yea…but I barely know how to balance leave alone playing while skating....HAH!! Finally by the fifth round I was trying to skate without support….guess there was an iota of confidence a.k.a “OVER”confidence seeping into me! For about one tenth of a mile my feet were supporting my weight ….. a fraction of a second later and KABOOM….back on ice again! A dozen times my butt was on ice and I was done for the day!! The two other subsequent times that I went, were a year apart, so one could imagine how efficient I would have been on the skating rink! However, mishaps in the rink have still not despirited me....instead have boosted in more energy than ever to rein over ice with mere blades on my feet!!!
A sense of excitement fills my heart
For my eyes get clouded by the snow laden grounds
A strong gush of epinephrine excites every neuron in my body
For my mind plays games as snow falls from far above
A challenge to conquer the impossible inspires me
For I see myself in absolute hegemony of the ice
An awakening of the child in me overshadows my age
For I sense a feeling of Bliss engulfing every part of me
As the snow swathes every speck of the naked ground!!!
