About the post below: It has nonsense for an ending. Sorry about that. Will try and improve it some time. i hope the rest of the story is okay.

It was a cheerful planet. There was enough room for everybody, and there was enough sunshine all over the year. Two sunshines, in fact. The chief inhabitants of the planet were a race not very different from our own, both in terms of appearance and intelligence. They fought, they cried and they laughed. They also lived in houses that, if they were to be on earth, would make a prince jealous. As I said, there was enough room for everybody. And they, like us, were blissfully oblivious to existence of life outside their own. But they had one thing that we humans do not. They had the gift of foresight. Not very clear, but they could see things a little further into the future, and being the skeptics they were, over the years, had learnt to ignore, even ridicule the signs of presentiment, and even made jokes about the idiosyncrasies of The One.
The One was thought to be legend, and had almost passed into myth, when he made a sudden public appearance surprising them all. He was the one in whom the gift of foresight was the strongest, which explained, perhaps, why he was The One to begin with.

------

So it passed that one fine day, The One decided to break his solitary confinement, and address the vast gathering of the people who had, for some reason or the other, decided that this would be important.

He began: “My fellow mortals, we all know the ancient myth of Apocalypse. For those who do not, here it is in brief: It has been foretold, in the days of old, that the world will end when the 50^th son of god is born. And his birth will be at such a time and place as to end the universe. I have not seen anything in the future that could verify this fact, but the time has now come. I feel the truth around me. The 50^th son of god is, even as we speak, in the process of coming into this world. My senses tell me that the birth will occur some time soon; but I believe that the ancient myth is nothing but a myth, created to scare children. I believe that the birth of the son of god is a time for rejoicing, as he is bound to bring prosperity to us all. So stay happy, and look forward to his coming”

-------
Two days passed. It was the middle of the night. The one stood there, knowing this would be it. Today was the day. He could see the signs clearly. He was coming into the world even as he stood there. He gazed into the sky, hoping for a sign. The sky was clear; not a cloud in sight. He could see the stars now. And one by one, the lights went out.

Why can't there be a switch that can turn your brain off?

Beautiful, innit?
The trek to kodachadri was a little tiring, sweaty and AMAZING!
We walked around ten kilometres to the the mountain, going through waterfalls and steep climbs. It was Hrishi's idea to get away from the road and follow the stream up the route to reach the waterfall, and it almost backfired when the stream seemed to split into two(or join, depending on where you're looking from). We ended up struggling up and down a hill, loose soil and all. Scratched, bruised and bitten by leeches, we finally arrived at the waterfall and washed ourselves clean. Then on, it was a trek along steep hills and long tracts of grassland. we finally arrived at a place that looked like a route leading us to the place.

Yes, thats my room. Its not very rare that the sun is at that angle and shining so bright, and it invariably puts me in a melancholic mood. Not that I dont like gloomy weather. I love it. Especially when I play football. A slight drizzle, and a breeze caressing your sweat-ridden jersey. The other room you can see there is Mr. Ajit Sandilya's; he's an institution unto himself. i felt like a barbarian when i stepped into his room the other day. Hmmm... I wonder how long these little pleasures of a carefree life will last. sniff sniff.

Hmmm.... GRE done. 1540. In a way, the score robs me of the right to crib. At the same time, it leaves a bitter aftertaste in your mouth. Makes you feel like you could have done better. Sometimes I think it would have been better if i had written it earlier. But whatever... i hope i've done enough for some good natured university to think i'm good enough.

Tomorrow is GRE. An expectant atmosphere prevails in the inner recesses of my mind. A vague apprehension, and a vague sense of optimism. I'd cross all my ten digits if i could.

my native place contd..

Yeah… so where was I? Oh yeah. I’m very fortunate to have spent a lot of time there.

First, the household itself. I learnt something that most urban kids never do. Tolerance for other people and giving people their own space, yet remain as close as possible with people. A joint family can teach a lot of things to a person. But it can also be a royal pain in the butt if you have to live in a joint family all your life. So the two months a year schedule gave me a good taste of what it was and gave ample time for bonding with my family and yet was just right to prevent the bitterness from creeping in.

Then there’s the companionship. I had friends and virtually an infinite playground which, I can bet, no city kid will ever get. You could just lie in the fields looking at the cattle graze or climb a tree to pluck fruits. You could play cricket (yeah, the ground was uneven, but who cared?) or just climb hills for the heck of it. In short, the only thing that stopped you was your imagination. There’s not a thing we did not do. Following rills and rivulets down the mountain; go walking long distances watch village plays and yakshagana; drive the cattle to the nearest watering hole; getting bitten by I don’t know how many leeches (lucky I didn’t get bitten by a snake)…

And more importantly, the weather and the leisure. Millions of tourists pay thousands of dollars to go to places where they can just let their hair down and forget the world for a while. We just had to pay 200 bucks.

People used to look at me and say “enta pyate hudga aakkendu ee namni mann kalite” ( “What is this… being a city kid you go play in the muck like this!”) well… I’m glad I did. Every atom of the dirt I played with is precious to me.

My favourite haunt was (and still is) the lake on the other side of the main road within the forest. It is apparently one of the many sources of a bigger river called Aghanashini which goes on to create many waterfalls that are the trademark of Uttara Kannada. The place has these flat pebbles (yeah, better than the ones they show in the MotoPebl ad) than make excellent skipping stones. I was quite an expert at making stones skip. Haven’t yet lost touch, but well… I haven’t practicedJ) you can sit for hours there and not feel the passage of time.

If you find it weird that I am what I am inspite of all this, well… you don’t know me well enough yet, fella.