Pictures

Here are some pictures taken in Manali earlier this year. I never got around to posting any of them, I thought I should put them up before the year ends.

Manali is a beautiful place, one which I wouldn't mind visiting again. Located in Himachal Pradesh, it took us around 16 hours from Delhi by bus. The route took a scenic turn once we neared Manali. I couldn't go back to sleep and started taking pictures from the bus, they turned out pretty decent.

We wanted to be a little adventurous, and we tried paragliding. They have a valley for it, I've forgotten what it was called. It had a beautiful backdrop of the Himalaya though. Paragliding was a heady experience. I have a fear of heights; and once I was up in the air, I really, really regretted trying something which involved being several hundred feet above the ground. And the close up pictures of me showed how scared I was, so I am not putting those up. H seemed to enjoy his ride though.

We also visited Zero point, which is at the foot of Rohtang Pass, they hadn't opened the pass yet even though it was May, because of heavy snowfall. It was my first time seeing snow, and it was yet another nice experience.

This pic was taken in one of their many parks. Aizawl should have just one of their parks.


Taken on the bus trip back to Delhi. The river Beas. People go white rafting here, they camp along the river bank, eat grilled meat etc and have loads of fun. But we didn't really have that much time or the inclination, so we missed that oportunity.

And here is our home, sweet home. The sitting room is obviously the most decorated room in the house.

Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and I wish everyone a Happy New Year.

New stuff

I cast my vote for the first time yesterday. It wasn't really an epiphanic moment, but it felt good to think I had some role in the making of a government, and I came away with ugly blue marks on two fingernails.

Besides that piece of news, H and I moved into a 'new' house last week. It's a lot of fun, cooking, and cleaning, making up recipes and feeding them to a non-commentative husband. I will one day post pictures of the house, when we have an internet connection at home, after we have a phone connection, that is.

My waistline is also rapidly increasing, which I know is not of national interest, but which I am still talking about nonetheless. Mainly because this is my blog, and I can bore people with personal things :). Back to the waistline, it's huge because H and I are expecting. And I am so far lucky because I was never plaqued by the nausea and morning sickness that to most ladies. Instead, I eat like a certain species of the animal world, and my only worry is I shall remain forever fat, my bottoms forever resembling my mother's backside. But God has been so good, and if we are blessed with a healthy baby, then I guess I can live with a little extra fat.

JOBS

It's raining jobs in Mizoram. One might say it's the election windfall. Anywhichway, this is when your political prowess and your knowledge comes in. Not your knowledge of your subject, but WHO you know.

Recently, the government took 66 contract doctors as Medical Officers through 3f. Now 3F was a new word for most of us. It is actually a regulation by which the govt, citing the people's welfare, can give jobs while bypassing the MPSC, so that nobody has to write boring exams or go through sweaty interviews. These 66 people's only reason for being given jobs was that they were contract doctors, no matter if you were not a contract doctor because you were slogging away preparing for a PG degree, or for an entrance exam, or working as a missionary in Timbuktu. They were simply picked up on the basis of how long they worked as contract doctors. These officers are then officially on the MPSC panel list and will be almost 100% guaranteed permanent jobs. When the list did come out, it was based on their seniority, but their place of posting, ofcourse depended again, on who they knew.

Now I know I bored everyone with my sad tale of how I hate exams and all, but since everybody who was not a contract doctor was denied the chance of EVER being on the 3F list, it kind of irked me. I craved to give exams, to be given atleast a chance. I remember how my friends from Sikkim, Meghalaya etc all rushed home from Delhi to give exams, interviews, whenever a handful of government jobs were being given in their states. I was kind of hoping for the same thing, that postgraduation degrees would count, etc. But here in Mizoram, when 66 jobs were being handed out, even people in Aizawl were exempted, forget the Mizo docs in other parts of India and the world.

Anyhow, after that, relatives ran helter skelter, trying to put a good word for me here and there. My dad, for one, is a staunch disapprover of favours, but I've come to finally realise that in this world, atleast in Mizoram, it's not what you know, but who you know. It's just sad that all of us have to conform to the unwritten rule in the end :( I'm just hoping the MPSC is made of members of Iron and steel etc, and that they'll demand exams, otherwise, it's goombye to a permanent job for me, and many others.

Aizawl

We've been in Izol since may and i cant say i miss Delhi. Except when i go to the markets, everythng is overpricd here, including veggies. If nt 4 the secondhand marts i 4 one wud have no new clothes. Anyhow i pasd that terible xam i lamentd abt n startd workin here. The medical world in Izol is one big biznes. But the public doesnt seem 2 mind,so why shud we? Besides dis little rants, i hav gaind a lot of weight,only aces the net by gprs,hence d short forms, & totaly enjoyin life n expectin better things!

Ho hum

Studying for exams makes me sick. On particularly bad days, I abhor and detest it, while on better days, it simply bores me. I could be allergic to it, I don't know if there are confirmatory tests, but I do know my mind breaks out in hives when I have to study for exams.

People sit in the library, their fertile minds probably absorbing information like a sponge, while I am dreaming of ways to copy-paste the same thing on my brain, or wondering why God did not make me with an usb port in my skull. I admit it, I am tired of studying. Cramming frivolous details like molecular basis of an obscure disease has done something to the circuits in my head. Like a cousin puts it, 'She's bonkers, almost 30, and she still studies...even in the daytime!'. If I pass this exam, the only exam I am ever going to appear for is Sunday School exam....which I can gloriously flunk, and nobody be the wiser. And there are no practicals and viva voce!

Studying is such a passive-active job. The body has to be passive and the mind active. But my body I fear, is wired in the opposite direction. Sitting still was never my strong point. As I child, I never earned the tenner I was promised to sit still for five minutes, why change now?

Anyway, not to paint a totally hopeless picture, I do drag my butt to the library everyday to study. It is the best place for people like me, who find scrubbing the floor, washing clean clothes, reading the classifieds, the business news, all utterly fascinating than to sit and study. So, I go there, pick a seat next to a harmless looking nerd, who eventually takes off his shoes and blasts me with a 2000 kilowatt of smelly feet. It makes me wonder if all that studying has totally fried his sense of smell while I try not to gag.

Then there are the 'chips crunchers'. Every once in a while, you get to sit next to a person who loudly opens a packet of chips and inundate your senses with spices. All you can do is wait while they loudly eat their chips. 'Crunch, crunch, krrunchhh'. It kills me. Go outside and crackle, okay? I once sat next to this sadistic senior. She opened a packet of Kurkure, ate every piece very slowly and when she finally finished them, she started picking up the masala with her fingers. But that's not all, she folded the packet into tiny little squares, all the while with this funny smile on her face. A b*#@h of the higher pedigree I guess. If I wasn't a typical docile Khiangte, she'd get it on the nose.

But the best ones are the snorers. They put aside their books for a break, put their heads down on the table, and before you know it, they snore! Loudly and gloriously, their nasal appertures and throat acting in perfect harmony to give you a nice preview of what they do in their beds. Everyone starts giggling till a brave soul goes and wakes them up. It provides a wonderful break I think, maybe we could all take turns snoring and cheering people up. I wish we'd get one who sleep-talks once in a while. But that's probably wishing for the moon. Also kudos to other break-givers, like the ones who forget to mute their cellphones, especially the ones with a particularly raucous ringtone.

H has given me the dubious honour of being 'The laziest person I have ever known in my 30+ years'. I accept the title with heartfelt thanks to my family, who did everything they could to make me study, including corporal punishment. I couldn't have done this without you.

(PS: Why isn't Blogger putting spaces between my paragraphs? Editting this blog for the upteenth time, I admit defeat and gladly will look like a paragraph-phobic blogger. I have increased the font size though, which doesn't help much. Anyone knows what to do about this problem?)