The Fated Meeting

                The day was hot and clouded. Trapped in her cubicle, Ragz was thankful for the air conditioner cooling the office at full power. While working on the latest budget presentation, she found herself drifting… Her focus always shifting toward the window, looking on one of the most magnificent views the city had to offer. The slow moving traffic, the faint light glinting off the river, the laziness of the afternoon all made her think of the day of the accident. The day she met him. The day her life was turned upside down.

                It was on a day, just like this one. Slow, lazy, hot and fuzzy. Driving her friend’s brand new Cadillac down the road, Ragz hit a guy. Her friends urged her to ignore the accident and to keep on driving, but Ragz could not make herself ignore what might be a dying man on the road. She stopped the car and went to check on the guy. Thankfully, he was still alive. Ragz said a silent prayer and then immediately called for an ambulance. All her friends left soon after, saying they had done what they could and that there was no need for them to hang about. They were really surprised when Ragz said that she was going to stay with the guy till she was certain of his safety.

                As she watched her friends leave with disdainful looks on their faces, Ragz herself felt surprise at her decision. She realized that her old self, the Ragini before she was Ragz, was suddenly surfacing. Ragz, the coolest girl in her college had totally transformed herself from the simple small town village girl that she was just a few years ago. She had suppressed the small town Ragini inside her when she moved to the city. She was determined to live her life like a true, modern city girl. Thus, Ragini became Ragz, the beautiful, yet cold-hearted, popular girl.

                Half lost in her own thoughts and very concerned about the unknown guy who was suffering because of her, Ragz sat in the speeding ambulance staring at his handsome face. The doctors at the hospital informed her that there was nothing serious about the accident; the patient was just suffering from a minor concussion. Ragz heaved a sigh of relief and planned to leave the hospital soon. But again, she surprised herself by going to meet the guy she had knocked out by mistake. She went in his room and found him sitting upright in his bed, looking a little confused. Ragz introduced herself and explained what had happened. She was prepared to get yelled at, even cursed at, but what she wasn’t prepared for was a sincere smile and a heartfelt ‘thank you’. Ragz was completely taken aback and her bewilderment showed on her face. The guy, seeing the confusion on her face, reached out and touched her hand. Suddenly all her bad feelings went away and she started feeling very warm and sleepy. Soon, she was fast asleep on the hospital bed. When she woke up again, the guy was nowhere to be seen, but she saw a note on the bedside table. It said, “It was really nice meeting you, Ragini. I really enjoyed our little meeting. Please don’t feel guilty about the accident. It wasn’t your fault. We were fated to meet. And we will meet again… Shaurya.”

To be continued…

7 Things YOU Don't Know About ME..

I have been put up to this job by one of my best, and the most pestering, friend, Mayank.

Since, I have no other option and have to toil with it, Here goes.

1) I Don't Talk Much : Being a girl, people expect me to be talkative. After they get to know me, it's like 'Girl, say something!! I'm outta topics!' But once I start talking about something, I won't stop! Then it's like, 'Okay! I get your point. Now STFU!!!' :P
But there are 2 people who will swear over their life that I'm chattering non-stop, 24x7. My mom and my cousin + best friend, Surabhi. When I tell others about this, they are like, 'Yeah, right!' :-|

2) I'm a hard-core Patriot : India is my country and I love it. Say anything bad about my country in front of me, and you are gonna regret it for a long long time. I mean it. Jai Hind!! ♥ ♥

3) I Think Very Low Of Myself : I will never ever praise myself in front of anyone, unless it's just jokingly. I always think I suck at almost everything and others have to keep telling me that that's not the case. I have a Love-Hate relationship going on with myself. I hate this side of me, but can't help it. :P

4) I SUCK at Making First Impressions : My first impressions of people are always wrong. Sometimes, I easily trust people who are completely untrustworthy. Have faced numerous problems and heartbreaks because of this. Also, I never get friends who are like me. My friends are mostly complete opposites of me.

5) I HATE Bad Grammar : I get irritated real fast when I have to read stuff with bad grammar and sucky punctuations. And I hate people with bad grammar. If you can't talk proper English, please don't attempt some to impress someone with your grammatical nightmare!

6)  I Love Animals with a Passion : I love animals more than I love some of the closest people in my life. That's the way I am. But, I kinda hate cats.. :-|

7) I SUCK At Expressing Myself : I Love my family, but I can never express it to them. Also, I may like a guy ever since I first talked to him. Over the time, I might even become his best friend, but even in his wildest dreams he won't think that I have a crush on him! I suck! :-|

8) I Can't Stop : I can't stop this at 7 things. This list will go on for at least 14 things now.. :P

9) I'm a Manga/Anime Fan : Not even my closest friends know this. All of them consider mangas and animes uncool and childish, but I love them. I'm a big fan of Naruto, Death Note and Bleach. Have started reading One Piece and I like Gin Tama a lot too. :D

10) I am REALLY LAZY : Yeah, I'm very very lazy at times. Well, most of the times. I hate to do what I'm told to do. I like individuality. I hate it when I have word to word instructions. I prefer to skip tasks at times just coz they are cumbersome and not really relevant.

11) I Hate Being the Center of Attention : I'd rather be the King's most trusted advisor than the King himself. I think that there is more space and comfort out of the spotlight. But sometimes, I do crave for attention. Only sometimes.. :P

12) I'm Fiercely Loyal : I'm really loyal to people I care about. I'll never go telling secrets of my friends to anyone else. I'll always be there as long as any of my dear friends want me to be. I'll almost never betray anyone's trust for any reason. I've been at the receiving end of betrayals too many times and that has changed me.

13) I'm a FRIENDS Maniac : Rachel, Ross, Chandler, Monica, Joey and Phoebe are my biggest stressbusters. I Love them all.. ♥

14) I'm a very Teary Person : There are tears in my eyes when I'm sad. There are tears in my eyes when I'm really really Happy and there are tears in my eyes when I'm really angry. I'm not a crying person. I hardly ever cry. But there are a lot of tears in my eyes. It's some kind of a genetic glitch, I think. :P

Okay, this List has been dragged for too long. I've completed my task and now I'll pass this baton to 

Sunaina. 

and

YOU. Please be kind, write a blog on this topic and make someone else write a blog on this topic too.. (it's some kind of a chain blog. They get these chains everywhere these days. *rolls eyes* )

Thanks for bearing with me.. :P

Comments will be appreciated.

Till the next time..

Love,

~Prachi..

Schools and Countries

I have been promising a friend of mine to write a blog since forever, but I never got the time nor the inspiration to write one for a long long time. Part of the many reasons behind this was that I was extremely depressed these past few weeks. Living alone in an unknown country amongst unknown people who are not really very supportive of you can take a major toll on your mental stability. But, I will not go into details of that..


Now, here I am, sitting in the only, and now empty, cafe in an obscure town in Finland, writing this while waiting for an old woman who wants to talk to me about my depressed state.


Staring out at the frozen street in front of me, I started wondering about my school days.Attending school in Finland is so different from attending it in India. For starters, all Indian schools have uniforms. Some are ugly, some are not-so-ugly. But uniforms, ugly or not, are compulsory. Finnish schools, on the other hand, have no uniforms at all.


Then, my school days in India always started with an assembly of the whole school. The assemblies always started with the National Anthem followed by prayers, which was then followed by a resounding 'Good Morning, Teachers!' Then, someone from the teachers or the prefects would give out announcements, if any, and then at last, the classes would start. Here in Finland, people come to school some 5minutes before the classes start. There are no assemblies and stuff like that.


Also, I remember that whenever a teacher would enter the classroom, everyone would have to stand up and wish him/her 'Good Morning' or 'Good Afternoon', then the teacher would tell us to sit down and the lesson would start. Here, in Finland, the teacher comes in, says 'Hi!' and then starts teaching!


In India, a teacher would always be known as a 'Sir' or a 'Madam'. Here, in Finland, a teacher is known just by his/her name.


Then the lessons. Back in India, I used to have three 35minute lessons, back-to-back. Then the lunch break for 20minutes. Again three 35minute lessons and a break for 10minutes. Another triplet of lessons and then the school used to get over. Here, one lesson lasts for 45minutes and then there is a 15minute break before the next lesson starts.

And the lessons themselves are so less challenging than what I am used to. At first, when I was sitting in a class of 17yr olds, I thought that I was back in class 8, doing stuff I did when I was 12! As the year progressed, the lessons did get tougher, but not really as tough as I am used to, anyway. No wonder these people have so much extra time to do random stuff.


Then, back home, we used to have 2semesters and 2exams in each semester. And the 2nd exam of the 2nd semester was like the worst exam ever, coz we had do slog all that was taught during the whole academic year. Here, they have 6periods, each lasting for 1 and a half month each. Each having a different set of courses that never come back after the period is over. At the end of each period, they have a week of exams during which a test is given for each course attended during the period. I found this method a lot more easier as the studying material is reduced drastically.


Oh yeah, and of course, Finns get free food in the school, which is quite decent. I always had to take my tiffin to school.. 


I'm not sure which education system I like more. Each one has an equal number of pros and cons. But considering the heavy-duty syllabus of Indian Education, I feel happy that I studied under the Indian one. After seeing the way of things here, I'm totally proud of having having emerged from such a tough education system with, well, maybe not flying colors, but at at least with dignity.

And all this nonsense about SRK and his Pakistan-favored comments angering people is just bullshit. How can people be so blind and ignorant? India is a free country and everyone has a right to say what they want. And  SRK was never wrong in what he said. Not all Pakistanis are terrorists and neither are all terrorists Pakistani. So try to clear your mind and get rid of your nasty narrow mindedness.
Also, the Terrorists attacks on the German Bakery in Pune is an act of cowardness and it is strongly condemned. RIP all the victims of the attack and hope the Government succeeds in capturing and punishing the cowards responsible for this act. Jai Hind!



P.S. The last para was completely spontaneous and has no connection to anything related to this blog. It's just that I love SRK and I'm really sad that I won''t be able to watch his My Name Is KHAN asap.. :P

Check out Save Our Tigers | Join the Roar

Title: Save Our Tigers | Join the Roar
Link: http://gotaf.socialtwist.com/redirect?l=-6447226578647205531

Tigers are like the pride of our nation.. Help to save them.. :)

Riding in Snow..

Today I found out just how difficult it is to ride a bicycle in the snow --  the hard way..

I was supposed to go to a friend's house for the afternoon, just to watch a movie and chill out.. This friend lives like a few kilometers away from where I live.. It took all my energy in riding the bike and concentrating on not skidding and falling down!! I was completely out of breath in just 10minutes!! To add a cherry on top of the cake, my bicycle has no brakes! On the way back from my friend's, I rode directly into a snow bank! God, that was sooo embarrassing! But fun, too.. The moment I hit the snow, it felt AWEsome!!

Me and my friends were supposed to watch this movie called Bruno, but it was embarrassingly gay, having gay sex scenes n stuff, and we had the friend's parents among us, so we had to change the movie.. We ended up watching Mean Girls.. B-O-O-O-R-I-N-G!! But it was fun watching it with them! I guess, friends make everything better.. :)

Not being a Christian or from a Christian country sucks when it comes to festivals.. I've made sooooo many faux pas about Christmas gifts and cards that I'm totally thinking of burying myself in a hole.. I mean, everyone around me is exchanging gifts and cards and I'm standing there like a dummy saying "Oh! I forgot your gift/card at home!!" -- which, by the way, is completely true.. I shopped for Christmas in November itself.. :|

Today was also my cousin's birthday!! A very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to her..!! I miss her sooooo much!! It would have been our cue to go partying today if I was at home, who cares about exams? :P

We did talk for about 90 minutes today, so it kinda made up for that..

Oh, and the reason for not blogging much was that 3 of my very good friends are back on the Yahoo! Messenger scene and I was kinda busy chatting with them.. :D

Oh, and now I'm also addicted to Naruto! yeah, laugh.. :|

I wish all of you people out there reading this a very Merry Christmas! and a prosperous New Year!!

Have fun in the holidays, people!! :)

A New Epidemic?

After reading the title, many people must think I'm gonna write about Swine Flu.. Yawn, quite boring, eh? Nah, I'm not writing about swine flu.. I'm writing about Obesity..

I'm really jobless, having a lot of free time on my hands, so these crappy topics..

Anyway, Obesity.. Earlier, a problem faced only by rich countries, obesity is spreading rapidly all over the world.. The main reason for this is believed to be urbanization.. Life in cities has kept everyone -- kids and adults -- away from exercise. Fast-paced busy lives, pollution and lifestyle amenities have decreased the importance of physical exertion.

Urban cities are also thriving with unhealthy fast-food joints.. McDonald's and other such American fast-food chains, along with the local fast-food restaurants are also a major reason behind increasing obesity. The modern, working family nowadays has no time to sit down and have a formal meal. This has lead to the practice of snacking -- which eventually leads to more intake of food than necessary. Also, portion sizes are increasing rapidly, too. Along with our lifestyles, our eating habits have started to seem American too.. (Now, is it a bad thing..?? )

Another reason for obesity are supermarkets and ready-to-eat, pre-packaged foodstuffs. Unlike fresh food, these food products have extremely high amounts of sugar, salt, fat and preservatives, so that their shelf-life is increased. These elements contribute into excess weight gain.

And probably the last reason for obesity is the 'Theory of Evolution'! Our forefathers were used to living on minimum amounts of food. According to the 'Thrifty-gene Theory' of weight gain, our bodies were brought up to conserve food and cope with minimum available calories and nutrition. When overwhelmed with unlimited food, excess weight gain and obesity are unavoidable.

No wonder people gain weight these days.. :D

Questions and NO Answers.. :(

7th December, his Birthday.. It's been almost 2 weeks since we had a proper conversation.. And then too, we had a fight.. Was getting into a romantic relationship with my best friend a mistake on my part? Or is it the physical distance between us that's creating this problem? Is expecting an hour of his precious time a very big demand? My boyfriend, the one who claims to love me, can't spare just an hour a day for me.. I agree he's got his exams, but this is not the first time he;s got exams! I remember those days when we used to talk for hours on end during exam time.. And not just any exam.. We talked through both of our BOARD EXAMS! So, what's wrong now? Where did those late-night calls disappear to? I still remember those calls after 11pm in the night. Just because it was 10 times cheaper, we used to talk 10 times more.. There have been nights when we both went to sleep at 4am because we had been talking! What's wrong now?? Can't he spare one measly hour for me? And why the hell do we keep getting into fights? For a romance that's hardly 2months old, isn't this abnormal? Why doesn't he understand that he needs to give at least some of his time towards this relationship to make it last? And if he knew he wasn't going to be able to give me time, why the heck did he take the first step in the first place? Why not wait till I was back in India? Why not just shut up and let things be as they were? At least we were happy! By proposing me, he sent me beyond happiness, and then brought me crashing back down! Why did he do that?

~So many questions and I have no answers.. And no one to demand answers from, either.. Why does my life has to suck so much??

~Someone help me out! Should I keep calling him till he receives my call or should I cuddle my self-esteem close to me and wait till he calls and apologizes? I can't even concentrate on this particular problem properly because there are other, more important problems in my life for which I can't even seek help!

~I've spent many sleepless nights over this issue and I'm seriously fed up now.. Why are you doing this to me, M.. WHY??