The SAD syndrome

I hate the rain. I don’t mind the occasional drizzle that cools the earth and cleanses the mind. But the constant downpour of wet, cold rain can make anyone develop some syndrome or the other.

When we were kids, rain never bothered me. It meant mostly splashing in puddles, secretly blocking the water drain on the rooftop and my brother and me having water fights. For mom, it meant wet kids, wet clothes, muddy floors. Now that I am old, with my innate practicality in full bloom, it means canceled outings, wet laundry, wet floors and wet everything. 

Nothing can persuade me to get out in this weather. I would like to spend my days reading, or watching the TV or browsing the internet. I get out to work only because I have to. Going to church, to friends or families houses are way down on my list right now. For one, there’s a cousin who just delivered her first baby, and it nags me day and night to go see the little kiddo and the mother. But I keep putting it off because of the rain. The joys of hunting at secondhand markets, the pleasures of bargain sales are dampened by the incessant rain. Nothing tempts, except hot tea and the cozy bed.

God knows that rain is a blessing. Most obviously for the farmers, and even for the whiners like me. It makes me feel slightly guilty that I complain so much about something that is so necessary for  life. And if it was sunny for days on end, I'd probably be one with the worst heat-stroke. But then again, the wet-cold state of affairs does do something to me. It makes me irritable, melancholic and a little crazy. Some smart alec went and described a condition - Seasonal Affective Disorder, aptly SAD for short. This is probably not even a proper syndrome, more likely just a manifestation of a worse mood in moody people brought on by bad weather. But it does make one feel better. 'Oh, there's such a syndrome that describes my symptoms exactly. I'm not just grumpy, I actually have a syndrome!'.And you are no longer a psychotic going around the bend, but just another poor old sod with a fancy syndrome.

Update

So what happened during my five month long hiatus? Nothing much really. I still work at the same job, and do mostly the same thing everyday.

Ruatfeli did turn 1 though. She's now 1 year old and 3 months old. Here's a picture of her with all the presents her well-wishers gave her.

She continues to thrive and amaze us, but refuses to walk....on her own at least. Maybe we should enjoy her dependency on us a little longer, because once she can walk, she will be running  and we'd probably be spending all our time chasing her. There is a lovely 8 year old neighbour whose parents say began her walk only at 1 year 8 months. That gives us a lot of reassurance. Who cares if there are precocious little babies who can walk at 7 months?

In the meantime, I've gone back to learning how to drive a car. This is really my 4th attempt, and my  final attempt. When I mention that I'm taking lessons to mom, her reply is "Again?!". Anyway, I roped in a kindly neighbour to teach me, and he is patient and persevering, and I'm learning a lot of things I didn't get to before. I've mastered the starting and the stopping, and can change gears without hitting anything. But I am somehow inclined to veer towards the opposite direction when I reverse. I  manage to pass other cars on blind turns, and almost hit a car only once. I've developed a new-found respect for all drivers, including taxi-drivers. I'm hopeful that I would finally drive alone in traffic before year end. So finger's crossed that I don't hit you or anyone else!

Filler

What good is a blog if you have no idea what to post on it?  Nothing much seems to happen in my life these days, which is also a good thing, but does nothing to my post list.

The only thing that I can think of are gripes, all negative and angry about minor upsets that happen all the time.  For example, the perfectly horrible time I had with SBI. I could go on and on about it. My request for a new ATM PIN took 4 months, and the staff's helpful reply to my query - 'How can you lose your ATM PIN?'. (According to them, I shouldn't have torn up the letter telling me my PIN, even though it was their firm instruction to do so.) But who wants to listen to just another nobody ranting uselessly against the world?

So the only solution in these wordless days are pictures, and who's a better candidate than Ruatfeli?

With some of her cousins.

2010

The maid went home for New Year and I reminded myself how terribly ill-tempered I am. Thank God she's back now.


Mizoram, full of meat-enthusiastic Mizos, is once again threatened by 'Food and Mouth' disease. Our locality, for one, had to go without beef on our Christmas and New Year feasts. It was just two meals but I did miss the beef. H does not take it, so an opportunity to have the dish is always looked forward to.

The Director of the Veterinary world said on the local news last night that eating meat of FMD-infected animals is not advised for many reasons, although he didn't (couldn't?) go into details. On curiosity's sake I looked it up on the net, FMDinfo.org  clearly says...... 
Food Safety While the FMD virus may be present in the uncooked meat and some types of milk products from contaminated animals, it would be destroyed when these products are cooked. The virus does not affect humans and the primary risk of raw products is transmission of the virus to susceptible animals.

So we could merely be overreacting to the epidemic, although obviously the butchers and the meat-handlers could be at some risk.

Anywhichway, it's a new year, and most of us haven't gotten used to writing the date yet.  The future is full of hope, and it's a mystery what this year is going to bring us. I hope the happy times will far outweigh the sad ones, and that you'll spend more time laughing than worrying.

Read this little speech by Chetan Bhagat, who is currently big in the news for mostly the wrong reasons.

Speech by Chetan Bhagat at Symbiosis


Don't just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before successful. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order.

There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.

"Life is one of those races in nursery school where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same is with life where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die. ....................

One thing about nurturing the spark - don't take life seriously. Life is not meant to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? ................

It's ok, bunk a few classes, scoring low in couple of papers, goof up a few interviews, take leave from work, fall in love, little fights with your spouse. We are people, not programmed devices........." :)

"Don't be serious, be sincere."!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

It's Christmas once again. Decorations are out, and everyone is decked up in their finest. So let's all be glad that we are still here, alive and healthy this joyous season.

Let not our determination to be merry bring sadness or pain to our loved ones.

May Peace and Joy reign supreme this Christmas and New year.