claire

a disclosure

This year

comments (13)

This year, God has placed me in a place so high that part of me wants to carry out my duty, but the other part knows it’s something I don’t deserve. I look at these people around me, and I see so many more capable and more reliable than me. I look at myself, I see nothing. I look at my past, and there’s nothing to be proud of. I’m just somebody with full of mistakes and regrets, I have said and done unnecessary things, I have not been the best daughter and sister to my family, not even the best friend to my best friend. I have not been there for those who needed me; I’m selfish, I’m proud. I have not been a good Christian, have not fulfilled my Christian duties; I don’t pray enough, I don’t read the Bible enough, and I don’t even attend church services regularly. I keep asking God “Why me, why have you chosen me? ".

The question still lingered as I set off to church last night. My folks were still having their dinner and if I had waited for the dishes to be done, I will have to miss the service. Sometimes, doing the dish is part of my excuse for not going to church (confessionJ). I sat there in the church surrounded by people of higher faith, people I look up to as my spiritual guides; I kept asking myself “Do I belong with them?” “Do I deserve to be sitting with these amazing God’s chosen people?” It was a farewell service for our outgoing missionaries, four very brave ladies from my church who had been walking in the dark and had worked for the Lord. Each of them gave a speech which happens to be the exact answer I longed for.

They talked about how tough life is out there. And that there are times they wish to suddenly pack and come home. But even at their lowest point of faith, they could make it through because God was always there for them. They said no matter how small we may feel, God can put us in the highest level if we are willing to give ourselves to Him. I saw how devoted they were. Even though they have risked their lives to spread the gospel, willing to lose every chance of safely being at home with their family and the community, I find them happy and content.

Then I asked myself, “How can I say no to God’s call? Why do I struggle so much to say yes? He hasn’t asked me to go out to barren lands or preach to the non-Christians. All He wants is for me to stay faithful to Him and do this very small task. He wants me to read the Bible and pray, go to church, be amongst the leader of those who already know Him...

Where?

HERE, at My place, at My church, with My family and My friends!

I have kept running away from God’s call you see. Year before last, I was appointed as a Sunday school teacher for small kids. I backed off saying that I’d be too busy with my research. Research of course, needs hard work and dedication. But till today, it’s one of the things that I regret. Sparing my time for others, for God, would have done me good.

God has blessed me with so many things in life. I have my parents with me till today, and my brothers who love me in every way. He has given me the perfect friends, the perfect family and the perfect guy to the imperfect me. What more could I ask for? I am in awe of His love and blessings. He still wants me to serve Him no matter how unfit I am. And the only thing I can do is say Yes to His call and dedicate my life to Him. Now I know that dinner can wait, dishes can wait, laundry can wait, research can wait! What’s important is to seek first His Kingdom. Because I know He will give me the rest.

Happy new year everyone! Have a Blessed 2011.

Mom's 63rd birthday

Labels: comments (7)

Mom turned 63 today.. (wow), I know! And the best part is she’s still keeping healthy by God’s grace, still looks young and beautiful, and still has the most contagious laughter. It wasn’t until recently that we came to know October 1st is her birthday. She’s the 10th child from a family of 11 children of Pu Philip-a and Pi Rothangi (my grandparents I never got to meet); she said her parents forgot to remember the day she was born :-) and all they would talk about, was how they’d carry her on their back, and play with her when she was a baby but never mentioned about the date. I guess remembering birthdays wasn't such an issue back then. A few years back, Upa Chalhnuna (L), an elder from our church suggested she’d check the birthday record book in the Synod Office. So me and Mom went through a really thick old book, and traced her name out, and dad’s too (which is on 3rd December).

 Anyway, I didn’t give much of a thought about what gift I should get for her, because…… I’m broke! *GRIN*. I’ve been shifted to another project, and my fellowship from my new project hasn’t been sanctioned yet, it has been dragging for a month now! Last year I got her a fancy red purse, this year I thought I’d just let it be. But when I woke up this morning, I couldn’t let the thought of me not getting her anything pass by. I need someone to lend me money. I don’t want to ask my brothers or dad, coz I know they’d give me the cash right away without having the need to be repaid. I wanted it to come from my own. Suddenly, my fourth brother’s girlfriend's face flashed through my mind *grin*. So early morning, I asked my dear sis-in-law to-be (hopefully..hehe) for some cash, and told her I will repay her back, but not THAT soon. The first thing that came to my mind was a Mizo traditional Puan.

 Luckily, it didn’t rain in the morning. So I went to class by my scooty. I reached the Department to find that there was some cash for me from my previous project. Oh boy! Was I Happy! “Now I can return the borrowed cash a.s.a.p”. Left the campus at 3pm and there was a slight drizzle. I guess I was in a little rush thinking of all the possible shops where to find the puan; I suddenly encountered a Tripper truck right on the curve and I slipped on a mud. A little bruise on my right leg, no blood, I'll live :-). First checked a shop called Zopar in Chanmari. Then visited Mission Veng Handloom and lastly Tlangnuam Handloom. Mom’s the kind of person who want simple things, and I wanted to get her the perfect gift. Finally made up my mind and drove all the way back to Chanmari and bought her a really pretty puan with black background and multi-coloured pattern at the border. It’s lovely.

 I went home with the smell of mouth-watering mutton curry welcoming me. My first brother was on the move! yay! He cooked, and yes, I love his cooking. We had a family prayer before supper. Mom made a small speech of how happy she is to have lived to see 63, reminding us how lucky we are to be living with no loss of life within the family (Thank you God). My two nieces Feli and Dindini prayed. And dinner was served. Mom loved her gift.

 I’m so happy to see Mom happy on her 63rd birthday. She has been blessed with a loving husband, to whom she has been married to for 43 years, with 5 sons and an adorable daughter (ahem!) :-), with 4 grand-daughters and a grand-son.I wouldn’t have been what I am today if not for her. I couldn’t ask for a better Mom and I’m proud to be her daughter.

 (Just got a text from cousin Prissy saying how happy she is to have my mom till today, and wanted me to mention her name in my blog, so here I am mentioning her name :-) Miss you Pris!)

Patriotic

comments (21)

I've been discovering so much of Patriotism in me lately. Must be because of the ongoing World Cup and the earlier post “What flag will you be waving?” I've read from Kukui’s blog, where she said she’s dreaming for the day when an Indian team will play in the World Cup with jerseys featuring names like Hrahsel, Chhangte, Hauhnar, Ralte etc and a Pachuau on the reserve bench :D (slight modification Kuks.. hihi). It touched me. I wrote a really long comment for this post, that paragraph in particular, but the internet failed me in between, and I didn’t get the time and that particular mood to put up my comment again. So I guess I’ll have to blog my feelings out :-)

Having spent 6 years of my life outside Mizoram, I’ve made good non-Mizo friends wherever I went. They have so many qualities that we have yet to learn. No matter what profession they take, be it a vendor or a roadside sweeper, or a business man or a professor, they are dedicated and hardworking and they take things seriously. I envy them for such qualities. But what I discovered also is that, there are so many inbuilt qualities we have, that I think they will never acquire.

The older I get, the more I love being a Mizo, and a Christian. I love the fact that it is not a new thing for us to go and mourn for the dead, and stay up all night to console the grieving family, to be able to sing for them, brew tea, collect rice and hear their sorrows and gratitude the same time. Just being able to be there for them is a good feeling. Thank God for Y.M.A. I love the fact that we don’t complain when we have to cook, sweep, or do the dishes and the laundry. Every Mizo mom has taught her daughter that it is her duty to do such chores since childhood. I love waking up in the morning with the beautiful greenery when I look around, especially when it had rained the previous night. I love watching the sunset behind the evening cloud covered hills. I love the ever clear unpolluted sky that we still get to see. I love the long winding roads. I love peaceful Mizoram. I love the smell of “bai” with “saum”, “vawksa” with “antam”, “bekang” with “hmarchapui” and of course “khanghu” :-). Will the others ever get to experience such contentment? I doubt.

I know there are lots of unwanted crime and illegal things happening today. But don’t these things happen everywhere? The world itself has become so evil, the only solution I see to this is that we pray, with hope.

But I’m afraid. Afraid that we’d be drawn away with what’s happening around us. Here’s a good example. World Cup. We talk about it, we make bets, we stay up late nights to watch our favourite team playing. We argue about which team is best. It’s entertainment. It’s fun. Fun to watch with friends. Fun to boo a friend if his favourite team loses. I ain’t complaining as long as it doesn’t hinder our daily work. These football stars, how much are they earning? And their fans, at least they are cheering for their country. But what about us? What do we gain from it? I've seen colleagues and friends feeling lazy the next day after watching a match the previous night. And some who even said they did not study for their exams because the match was too important to miss.

I have a cousin, a mother of 3 kids. She loves football. Big fan of Manchester United. She hardly misses their match, be it in the middle of the night or early morning. But she never fails to get up before 6, never fails to provide food on the table for her husband and kids, and always reach the office on time.

I know this is World Cup, but come’ on! Let it not ruin your future. Let’s stay focused. We’ve got major job exams coming up. MCS, and the rest. You might have seen my facebook status updates, and I know I’ve annoyed a few football diehard fans (hehe). Ok, World Cup is just an example, because it’s happening right now. There are other events too that we get drawn to. As a matter of fact, we Mizo's have that character of getting too involved. "Awnna lama awn dual dual". They are all good, but let’s know the limits. Let’s be mature. Let’s make Mizoram better. Waka waka eh eh :-)

Googled MeMe!

Labels: comments (18)

Googled my name out of boredom. With my full name, nothing much came out. With Mimi Hrahsel and Mimihrahsel, few things came up. Then when I googled 'Mimi', many interesting things came up, including funny pictures (hehe).Wikipedia says Mimi is a semi-rare European first name. And its the name of many actresses and singers. No wonder I'm so popular (hahaha). Now my friend Ice-man can stop mocking my lovely name. He keeps saying its Fish in Tamil. bleh! whatever. But I love fish! *grin*.

I still wonder how my folks ever came up with this nick. My late uncle used to call me 'do re me me'. When I started high school, I was surprised to find many of the girls having 'Mimi' as their first name. To me, its just a nick, not even official. When I went outside the state for college, thats when I found this nick to be very useful. It's easy to remember, and you can tell any non-mizo friend without any extra effort of trying to make them remember the long name "lal.............. hrahsel". My Botany teacher in Mysore used to call me "HAR-SHEL" with a very loud voice; the way he pronounce it is effective enough to wake you up if your dreaming in class.

Anyways, when I tried Google Images, many "oh-so-cute" pictures came up. Check these out..



Cool eh? :P I like it when a certain someone calls me "My Mimi" :-) It sounds special and owned :-) :-). But, I've come to the conclusion that, Mimi is a very common name. Oh well, its ok I guess..

I've been recently hooked to serials 90210 and Vampire Diaries (damon is hot!..hehe). I've observed that they've been using Bing for their search engine. So out of curiosity, I "Binged" 'mimi hrahsel', and under images, guess what one and only picture came out?
THIS---------------------->

My first expression was $%^&*()$%^&*()$^^&())
Then I realized it came from one of the funny post from a blogger friend Joseph, a post about P's and V's (haha) check THIS out if you want to know why this picture came when my name is being binged! (lal Joseph, nangmah vang vek!!). hmmm... gotta hit the sack now. I caught fever last night. But I was fit and fine by morning.


These days

comments (16)

I just got back from a far cousin's funeral. He's just 23, married to a young girl. I could not stand to see the look on her face. She wept and wept and wept over the body of her beloved. I imagined myself in her place. But only God knows how much hurt she would feel. They must have had so many plans for the future; must have talked about how many kids they want; or who they would look like. All their dreams, their fantasies, gone.. just like that. How unpredictable our future is! But on the brighter side (which isn't so bright), maybe she should be thankful that they had at least few wonderful years together, as a family...
...
....
which got me thinking... "Why do people wait for the right time to get married?" I have few close friends having years of relationship. And I keep telling them, "If your'e so sure that you love him/her and your'e financially stable, get married! Why wait?". Coz I feel that when things get prolonged, people change in the course of time; sometimes in a good way and sometimes bad. And I've seen few people lost love because they waited too long. "If tomorrow never comes" by Ronan Keating suits such situations. Marriage is a risk anyway right? So, my very dear friends (you know who you are), please please get married soon! I wanna be the flower girl (lolz). Oh yeah, you may be wondering "What about you?". Well, as for me, I need to stand on my own feet first, coz I believe that a girl should be independent, and be able to stand up for her man :-). I've met this really wonderful guy and he has brought sunshine to my life. I don't know what the future has in store for us, all I know is that I don't want to lose him. But am keeping everything in the hands of the Lord. Ok. End of discussion. *grin*

Here's a song I want all lovers in the world to listen. An OST from the movie "Fireproof", a must watch Christian Movie, especially for married couples going through tough times.
"Love is not a fight, but its something worth fighting for"


And... work... has been very hectic lately. I aint complaining as far as lab work is concerned. I actually love doing it, coz it's something practical. What I hate is the observation part, where I have to write down what changes took place in how many days... arrggh.. Boring! I'm not much of a reader either. I envy people taking interests in reading. I haven't even read one novel. Newspapers, Chicken soup for the soul and my books (during exams) are the few things I could manage to read. And of course, Blogs, coz they are short :-). Ok.. enough of blabbering. And so this is why I haven't been updating my blog lately. I've been super busy (hehe). And I can't believe it has already been a year since I started blogging. So, Happy 1st birthday to Claire. Ciao people!

Childhood days

comments (15)

“I miss my childhood, where the hardest decision was picking a crayon”.

I came across this line just when I was thinking about my childhood days, and man! How I miss those days. Looking at my nieces and how eager they want to grow up, reminds me of myself back then. How I wish I could tell them that childhood will be the best days of their lives.

Since all my brothers were schooled somewhere far from home, I was quite alone back then. I remember being a great fan of Mithun Chakraborty :-), and right after school, mom would rent a Mithun movie from the video parlour nearby, and I’d watch it after I had done my homework. “Disco dancer” was a hit that time (hehe). I wasn’t allowed much to play outside with my neighbours. Yeah.. being the one and only girl in the family isn’t so cool sometimes!

But when cousins Prissy and George visits during exam holidays, and when my brothers come home for the holidays, those were “the” best days. I could play outdoors. We’d climb the mango tree near my late uncle’s place, tell stories, chase after lizards and play in the mud. We’d steal and smoke my uncle’s mizo ciggy (vaihlozial) in the unused piggery nearby, that is, when we get lucky. Most of the time, we’d roll up some dry leaves on a paper and smoke (haha).

And sometimes we’d do a short play with my very talented cousin ‘U Nunpari’ where we would laugh our a** off. The story of the play was ‘on the spot’; I guess that’s why we liked it so much. My brother Sangtea was like the ‘boss’ for me, Prissy and George. Whatever he says, we’ll do it. That was the rule. We’d stay under the blanket, switch off all the lights, he’d hold a torchlight, and tell horror stories. And to scare us, he’d suddenly switch on the torch, right under his mouth with his tongue hanging out, and we would scream our lungs out. We knew he was gonna do that, but we would still scream any way :-)

And in the nights, when we pay a visit to my aunt’s place, we’d play while our mothers and aunts watch the great tv soap opera “Dynasty” with the other women-folk. And since we missed each other so much, we’d play a trick and pretend that we had slept off. If it was only mom, she’d let me sleep over. But if any of my brothers came along, they’d carry me home anyway, and I had to pretend that I was asleep throughout!

One winter, when my cousins came to pay a visit, I was so eager to play with them. But mom bathed me first, right after school. My nick was “Te-sawii” back then, all because I have a somewhat triangular shaped face I guess. I remember Mom saying while applying pure glycerine all over me, “As soon as you meet Prissy and George, tell them to call you Mimi instead of Te-sawii”. And ta da! I was called Mimi ever since, mostly by my mom’s side of the family. It’s Mami on dad’s side :-)

Sigh! I miss those days. To have no care in the world. To be so free. To have no worries. I hate growing up. I hate having responsibilities. I hate being scared of making the wrong decisions.

But, life goes on...

A good day

comments (16)

Today, was a good day :-)

Lately, I have been down. I try to find reasons why. I find faults in people around me. Sms jokes don’t make me laugh no more. Chatting doesn’t help either. I run out of words to say. I don’t find facebook that amusing anymore. Sometimes, the sound of my nieces playing and chattering makes me sick. I get angry for no reason. I try to blame it on any one who crosses my way. I don’t find myself doing any progressive work in my research. I procastinate too much. I feel so lazy. And I feel so fat too! But finally, I found out, that no one’s to blame, but me.

I went extra early to bed last night coz I didn’t feel like talking to anyone. But I woke up several times in the night. First time I woke up from a dream I could vaguely remember, it was just 23:00, not even my bed time!

This morning I was up by 5:30, just in time to attend the 6 am prayer in church. It sure feels good to pray for someone, rather than for yourself. Don’t gasp, or make any “how nice of you to go and pray” flattering comments! It’s just that, I need it. I need to pray. And I’m ever so lazy to pray alone, my mind usually wanders off to some other thoughts. And when I pray with the ones having more faith and dedication to God than me, I feel stronger in faith, and I can concentrate more. I’ve had this habit of attending such morning service since last April, whether I hit the sack late or not. But I guess winter cold and my warm bed made me skip for months.

Went home, and prepared breakfast. I usually rush on other days, but today, I was so early that I had at least an hour before getting myself ready for work. So, I switched on the treadmill, kept the speed control in “Fat burning zone” *grin* and walked for about 20 minutes. Every time mom passed me by, she was like “Don’t do it too much on the first day!” (haha..) Moms!! But I love her :-)

Went to work by my faithful scooty. I love speed. And today, I could speed up as much as I wanted, at the same time controlled the brakes on every curves. It feels good to pass another scooty with a higher cc than mine. And I drove passed a few :-). My brother said once I mastered driving a scooty, he’d teach me how to ride a bike. Can’t wait!

And at work, I could finally complete entering the data of my findings my supervisor has been telling me to do before he gets back. He has been away taking the students for a class trip, and will be back next week.

I came home. We have a new maid. She doesn’t speak Mizo, and I don’t speak Hindi :-) And so, my evening was cooking which included lots of action and the “thoda thoda” Hindi that I could speak (hehe). We both enjoyed laughing at what we were trying to say.

End of the day, here I am, feeling content. My mistake was, I looked for happiness in others. I waited for someone or something to make my day. Sure I’ve got friends and family, who cares for me. But I realized that I should not depend on anyone, or on anything, because such things have limits. And I’m one of those people, who get bored when things remain so constant. I guess I’ve found myself today. And I’m the only one responsible, for my failure or success; my sadness or happiness.

I’m my best friend, and I’m my worst enemy

What's a girl to do

comments (11)

What's a girl to do..

When your friends get all her time
And you forget to call her
Don't you know she needs to be with you too?

When you get annoyed
Coz she tells you a little too often, to pray and find God
Its because she cares!

When you don't tell her how you feel
After dating her for months
Why blame her if she runs?

When she finds out that you've been with some one else
And you know that girl's not gonna love you as much
Why make scars for your future?

When you tell her your new girl is nothing compared to her
Well, all she can tell you now is
"Sorry boy, you had your chance"

When she doesn't want to talk
Coz you forgot to wish her on her birthday
Don't you dare take her for granted!

When you get mad
Coz she's on the phone a little too long
All she wants is someone to ask her how her day was!

When she's bored sitting at home
While your out with the boys playing poker
Maybe she wants to have fun too!









What annoys me

comments (18)

1. Pregnant women smoking
- Total lack of self-control

2. Husband walking ahead of his wife
- So Indian.. hmph! And do people really know that it is etiquette to walk on the side closest to the road when walking with women/children?

3. A regular church-goer giving that "I am so surprised" look on seeing an irregular one in church
-Treat them normal. Everyone's equal in the eyes of the Almighty

4. Some-one who keeps on telling that
a)he doesn't have anything to learn from that church leader
b)he knows a regular church-goer who can drink so much as well
c)he hates going to church because it is led by the leaders, and not by Christ
-This is all an excuse and misinterpretation. It is not for us to judge. Ask yourself do you want to burn forever just because that leader did not impress you? Nobody's perfect. Pray, go to church, read the Bible - this is the duty of every Christian. If you can't do these, you don't have to judge the ones doing it.

5. Some-one who dresses up with the costliest and latest of fashion, but the family is struggling to earn a daily living
- I call this complete selfishness

My friend's dream - Sandman's wedding

Labels: comments (25)

Today, my friend X called up and said "I saw your cousin brother Kima getting married in my dream last night, and all the online crowd were at the wedding!!" I was like "Of all the people..him? LOL". The conversation went on, and this idea came up. Even if he finds one to marry, and even if all the online friends were to attend the wedding, it would be so hard to know who is who. Especially for those of us who don't put up our profile pictures. So, I was thinkin.. Why not we all wear a tag or something, putting up our online name or whatever. Just imagine. haha

The invitees would be wearing a tag with their online nick on it, such as..

dr_feelgood
Naupang^fel
Varte
Father sphinx
Chicco
Goldmember
mesjay
wonderboy
Splendiferous
blackestred
codeAries
Sekibuhchhuak
cowboy-hat
VaiVa
Nancy
aduhi
chawnghilh
alejendro
Opahmar
Edward LHM
ice-man
David M.Thangliana
Rita Zoye
makima
tetea
Lalrinfela
mnowluck
Jessie Saiawi


and so on.. good idea eh?
Well, for those who choose to stay unknown, we can make "Anonymous" tag. (hehe) But hey, life's too short to hide forever. Who would not be brave enough to reveal themselves? :-)

Here we are, busy dreaming about Kima's marraige, while he's busy dreaming about his visions of 2020 and getting 2 minutes of fame in CNN IBN. Congrats Bro! But I think its high time you settle! :-D

On a serious note, I was just wondering. This is online life. We write out our ideas and thoughts, we read other's posts, we comment on it, we share jokes, we make online friends via social networking sites such as facebook, orkut etc.. But will we ever get the chance to meet? Or our lives will go on like this, till one day, we find out and say "oh.. that blogger friend passed away" or "oh.. that online friend lost his son". Yes, it is a small world. But we become too busy to really go out and socialize. Well, this thought crossed my mind today and I just wanted to write it out. And I want to take this chance to thank all my blog visitors, who took the time to read and comment on it with words of encouragement and compliments. I'm telling you, I have been doing great ever since I started blogging. You have inspired me!

See you all at Kima's wedding :-D (keeping my fingers crossed! He better find one! Lol)


Another year, another episode

comments (17)

Another year
Another episode
Live the moment
Make it worth your while

Take down the decorations
Put out the lights
Get back to reality
Get back to work

Chores to do
Tasks to complete
Books to read
Papers to write

Winter will end soon
You can put your sweaters back
Spring is a day closer
With warm sun and bursting trees

Summer will come
Time for T-shirt and fun
Monsoon wind will blow
Time for gazing at the pouring rain

Cherish the best times
Forget the worst
Be happy today
But focus on the future

Start the day with God
Thank Him for His blessings
End it with a prayer
Live one day at a time





This Winter

comments (25)

Chapped lips, dry skin, cold feet plus a bonus of several sneezes every day. That's what winter brings. But hey! I Love Winter. It has always been my favorite time of the year. I can wear as many layers of sweaters I want, sip as much as coffee I can consume, sit near the fireplace, or just bask myself in the sun. There are so many ways to keep myself warm. I only wish to see snow one day, and perhaps make a snow man :-)

I always want to spend my winter at home, because Christmas, My birthday and New year all falls under this holiday season. Which means, I can go shopping for all occasions, be with my family and reunite with many of my friends too.

Apart from these, there are special reasons why I'm looking forward to this winter.

First of all, our high school reunion is coming up this 19th. I can't wait to see all my classmates. I wonder how many of them would bring their spouse and kids. Yeah, the early birds (hehe). The other night, me and my close friends from high school had a little reunion dinner. 3 of them could not make it, but the rest 5 of us had a really good time. And gosh! How time has changed things. Change of thoughts, boyfriends, likes and dislikes. We talked about the past. About the cute boys we used to have a crush on, and who are now so not cute anymore (hehe). We reminisced crazy moments. We got together like after how many years? I've lost counts. It was fun!

Secondly, My Birthday. Since it falls during this season, we always happen to celebrate my birthday somehow, even if it was not planned. But this year, it falls on a Sunday. And I want to do something different, for a change. So, I thought it would be great to visit an orphanage home, help them with something and make them happy. I've talked about this to a few of my close friends. But I seriously have no idea what to give. What kind of a gift would be ideal? A bag of rice? Or some snacks to eat? I have to think about this. I'd be glad if anyone could suggest me with something.

And then, I have been invited to 3 weddings, all from very special friends. Moreover, I have been appointed a very special duty in church for this month.

For all these reasons and more, I am excited for this winter!!.....

BUT........

(shucks! I hate 'buts')

I might have to go away. Yes, back to IIT. Duty calls. If things work out, I might have the opportunity to use their lab instruments, which will be very important for sharpening my skills and in making my thesis valuable. So I cannot make any plans as such, for now. The last time I spent Christmas away from home was 4 years back. I remember calling up my mom on Christmas eve. I cried hearing her voice. hey! I was a baby that time :-)

Only God knows how I'd spend this winter. I just want it to be fruitful.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Training at IIT, Guwahati

comments (15)

I left on a Saturday. Cousin Priscilla and Brother Sangtea dropped me to the airport. And on the way, Prissy, who was driving, ran over a chick (en). Oh wait! According to Prissy, The chicken ran over her! Bro said the chicken was drunk! Well, I say Prissy and the chick share the same boyfriend, so both were fuming hot, and decided to finalize on who gets the guy (hehe). Anyway, poor chick. It flew right in to our track, dashed itself to the front window, and bounced up to the side of the road. We stopped. People started gathering around, and we told them we were really sorry. They said its ok, and told us to go ahead except for one old man who was a bit drunk kept saying “Look what you’ve done!” He had a big knife (Chempui) attached to his waist, so we told him it won’t happen again, and kept mum, or else FLICK!! (brrrr...)


My flight was a bit delayed. But I happen to meet a very nice lady. Her name’s Mary and she was with her husband and one year old son. They were to board the same flight. So she gave me company. We had a good chat. After reaching Guwahati, we exchanged numbers and went on our separate ways. It was a long drive from the airport. Getting stuck in the traffic made me realize one thing I always miss about home. In Mizoram, the drivers are mostly well disciplined. Whereas in other places that I've been to, all drivers have the intention to insert themselves in every gap available. I find this very dangerous. And the honking sounds almost made me sick.


I reached the campus in the evening. I was amazed! The place is awing and beautiful. There are trees and lakes and flowers and buildings and and and... Everything was so clean and well maintained. The guest house is just as beautiful. It reminded me of my hostel in Mysore. It has a hexagonal shape, with a carpet of grass in the middle, and a fountain at the centre. I was the first to arrive among all participants. It was a bit boring, until my new roommate arrived the next day evening. Things started to get better.


The topic was "Application of Molecular Tools for Crop Improvement". Training programme was mostly hearing out presentations from inspiring Scientists in the morning, and laboratory sessions after lunch. We had a “High Tea” on the first day, which me and my new found friends joked about. It was written like that in the programme sheet, our first time coming across such a word, and we were wondering what a high tea would be like (hehe). Well, it was a nice cup of tea with delicious snacks. I could use some of those high teas anytime :-). I got to make friends with many of the participants. We all had good interaction, and by the third day, we started exchanging email addresses and phone numbers. Everything was well organized. And FOOD WAS GOOD! :-)


The most I like about this place is the people working in this Institute. Everyone’s so dedicated to their work. And hats off to our Instructors. They have inspired and enlightened me. They know all the basics of the experiments we were doing, and I kept saying to myself “When you go home, go open your books and start reading!” which I will be doing, soon! *grin*


Lab sessions were interesting, and tiring. There were times when we worked till 7:30 in the evening. And our instructors said, sometimes they used to work till 10 at night! This showed how much dedicated they are, and at the same time showed me how much of effort I should put in my work. A big sorry to all my friends, for not getting you anything, anything including the "thing” you asked (hehe). Seriously, we were busy right from morning till evening, and I didn’t have time to go out and shop. I promise I’ll make it up to you next time :-)


I came back the next Saturday. My flight was delayed (again). I met a nice lady (again) from Kolkata. She was on her way back from Shillong. But she left early, since her flight was earlier then mine. Even though it was just a one week program, I came home inspired, encouraged, enlightened, boosted and tired.


PS: I stayed 7 days without combing my hair! I completely forgot to take my comb *grin*

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)