Summer 2010

56 days, 10 movies, 8 blog posts, 7 1/2 books, 3 reunions, 1 Tuesday Pick, 1 play, 1 blog meet, countless love, homecooked food, endless hours on Facebook and Twitter, a long impending end, and a new beginning...
Does my vacation have to really really end?

Headlines 2020- Facebook kills the reunions

So thanks to Facebook, Orkut and other social networking communities, I had a blast with the past. Nice to catch up with people, squeal  in excitement and at times in shock to see how your friends have turned out. And yeah, catch up with them finally after so many years.

I sometimes wonder how people managed to stay in touch before the advent of social networking sites. How effective really were alumni associations?

With all and sundry now being connected on social networking sites, you KNOW what's happening with your friends, on a daily basis. You know where they've been, you know how they look like, you know what they do, what they do for a living, relationship status, employment history, et al. How will reunions look like, 10 years from now? Will there be reunions at all? Won't social networking take the whole fun out of reunions?

Teacher's Day

Who is/was your favourite teacher, and why? Post your tweets @mumbaiteacher or email your entries to mumbaiteacher@gmail.com Sub line- My favourite teacher. 

All your entries will be posted on mumbaiteacher.blogspot.com on 5th September, Teachers' Day. Hurry!! Send in your entries before 2nd September, 2010.

Toeragz on BlogAdda

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!! My blog post Once upon a time has been selected by BlogAdda @ http://adda.at/Tangy11 as one of the top posts for 'Tangy Tuesday Picks'.

Toeragz on BlogAdda Tangy Tuesday

Once upon a time

A not-so little bird, happy and gay

Once looked up in the sky,

Saw birds flying high above,

Twittering and chirping away.

She wanted to be with them,

Know new birds and trees,

She went and met their Chief,

He welcomed her,

And put her at ease.

So she left her lovely nest,

In search of a new one,

But when she reached there,

She saw the birds,

Who once she thought, were so much fun,

Had not kept up in the race of evolution.

She remembered her lovely nest,

And sang a beautiful song,

But all the birds looked at her

And said her song was wrong

She felt terribly sad,

In her grief,

She went to the Chief,

And asked him to help fix things,

He said all would be OK,

The bird found her wings.

As we read the poem,

She still waits and wonders,

Will she lose her voice?

Or will she rejoice?

Memories

I remember waking up to the sounds of the whistle of the pressure cooker in our small and modest one room cum kitchen every morning. I must have been around 4 years old then, and unlike most kids my age I wouldn't ever complain about being whisked away for a bath, coz I would eagerly await the routine that followed next. Watching my mom getting lunch ready was a visual treat every morning. Sometimes, mom would get annoyed with me for getting in her way (it was a small place after all) but more often than not, I would be allowed to stick my fingers in the dough and play with it till mom was ready to roll out perfectly rounded yummy chapatis. Mom would then pack dad's lunch box with chapati and the subji of the day and then drop me off at the babysitter's.

One day, it got into me to make a chapati for my dear pappa, to earn a proud look from him. As mom wouldn't let me anywhere near the stove, I waited patiently for her to place the hot tawa under the cooking platform. As soon as she got busy, I pressed the tiny bit of dough that I had stolen, on the tawa making sure that it was brown on both the sides. Voila! I had a mini chapati prepared by me. I ran to mom and showed her my creation. It didn't earn the appreciation that I had expected. : ( Not knowing what to do next, I slipped the tiny chapati into my dad's tiffin box and told her to tell dad that I had made it for him.

All day long, through school day and later, I waited for my dad to come home, sweep me in his arms and tell me how he loved eating the chapati that I had made for him. Finally, it was time for him to come home, time for my sterling moment. Alas...no such thing happened...he hadn't noticed the tiny chapati I had made for him. It was as if it had never existed, it remained in my memories...the immortal chapati....

Rant- unedited

it breaks my heart to see kids treat their parents shabbily when they grow up. Kids who mock their very own humble beginnings and feel embarassed to acknowledge their parents coz they dont fit into their new 'social set' which they wdnt have gotten into had it not been for the hard work and sacrifices made by their parents. Sad to see such self proclaimed successes who straitjacket their parents into their new lifestyle without considering whether or not their parents are comfortable with it.
Sorry guys...no matter what u earn and where u live and what u drive, .if you cannot treat ur own parents well, you fail to impress me. Can u really find true happiness after hurting the ones who gave u birth and brought u up with such pains?

Tags

Nothing like a tag to get back in touch with your old friends. So thanks a ton Bikram for tagging me, I am gonna pass on the tag to my old blogger friends, and wake some of them from their slumber...perhaps?

 Here goes...

1. What one material thing are you hoping/ scoping to inherit?
NOTHING. I would welcome anything that comes my way of inheritance, but I haven’t HOPED for any such thingie.
2. If You were a character in a movie that you've seen who would I be and why?
Soooooooooooooooooperman!

3. If You could do one thing for Someone, no matter what it was, what would it be for Who?
Give my eyes to a child who cannot see

4. You’re driving. It’s great weather. Attractive member of opposite sex in expensive car looks at you and half-smiles. You’re in a relationship. Do you return the look and half-smile back?

Yeah, why not? I would return the look and drive past. No harm in light flirtations, right?

5.Pick a situation
a. You’re 42. Would you rather go without sex for three years and win a lottery after that, enabling you to never have to work again? Or
b. Get twice the lottery money now (at 42) but have your partner sleep with your boss?
Definitely A. Cant share my man.

6. What has been the craziest thing u have ever done?
Taking up this crazy tag.

7. God gave u chance to alter any one event in the past, present or future. What wud that event be?
I would wait for a few more years before getting married!

8. Would you rather go bald or lose your front tooth?
Wouldn’t mind losing both. With the lottery I have won, I can afford hair transplants and a new set of deeeeeezigner teeth. Muhahahaha!





So let's play tagggieee

Sriram
Sheriff
Eroteme
Ideasmithy
Nupur- if you are still alive
Mistress of Magic
Prasad
Xena
Satosphere
The Monk
Bishwanath Ghosh
Wise Donkey
Tarun
Prabhu
Praveen
Magix 
Neuromancer
stone


You are supposed to answer these questions, and pass on this tag. Post a comment on my blog, after you've posted ur tag...

Burning a hole in your pocket- redefined

The summer break is fast approaching, so I taught the song Summer Holiday to my class and they loved it.  

RN: Ma’am, we will miss you in the summer holidays.

Me: I’ll miss you all too.

AJ: Do one thing. Take our phone numbers, and call us when you miss us.

Me: That will burn a hole in my pocket.

AJ: Ehh..? Burn a hole in your pocket? What does that mean?

Me: Uhmm..I’ll give you a clue. What do you keep in your pockets?

FM: Purse?

SS: Mobile phone?

RN: Aaaaaaah! I know I know!!

Me: Ok...tell me.

RN: If you call up all of us (28), then your mobile handset will become hot. When you keep it in your pocket, it will burn a hole in your pocket..

Me: ....................

After introducing pronouns in my class...

Me: Identify the pronouns in these sentences.

Me: They went to Cairo. 

The whole class in unison: Theyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

Me: He was born in Egypt.

Heeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Me: She made dinner for the whole family.

Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Me: It is yellow with black stripes.

Ittt

Me: Will you come to the party?

Yesssssssssssssssssssssss!

Me: (barely holding my laughter)- pretend anger now- Pronoun???

Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

Me: We are well-behaved students.

Thank you, ma’ammmmm!

Me: (laughing so hard now, can barely get my words out.) Pronoun???????????

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.........

I am all giggly now, and can barely think of a title for this posssssssssssssssssssssssssssst.

Comics St(ripped)

For all you fans of Phantom, Mandrake, Rip Kirby, Flash Gordon, Buzz Sawyer, Dara, Zorro.....I found some of my favourite comics here!!! Brought back my childhood memories in a flash...

Soooooooooper Lat(e)ive

Just another of those times I was rendered speechless by my class..

Kid walks in 5 minutes after assembly. 

Me:  (giving him an inquiringly glance) You are late.

Another o' them remarks: Yes, you are the Latest today...

And I haven't even started with 'degrees of comparison'...

Grand teacher?

Most of the students whom I taught when I first started teaching, have children now. Does that make me a grandteacher? 

This is making me feel so ancient... sob..sob..

Psychological assassination!!

Flashback moment: Years ago, an awkward pimple faced, bespectacled, extra tall teenager sat through a ‘Moral Science’ class and realised that what she and everyone around her had passed off as shyness, was in fact a deep rooted inferiority complex. She made half hearted attempts to battle this complex, for in the heart of hearts, she believed there would NEVER come a day when she would look people in the eye and have a conversation, without her knees turning into jelly or the world spinning in her head

Several years, self-improvement books and agony columns later, she started on her ascent and blossomed into a beautiful, confident person. Her passion for teaching inspired her to work hard, and finally she was able to carve her own niche in her field. Her work won her several accolades and honours.

20 years later, she has just been told to get over her ‘superiority complex’ Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!

Restart

Don't you sometimes wish that your life had a restart button? I do...ALLLLL the time!

My blog- The Glorious past

I cannot believe that my blog used to get as many as 1200 hits a day. Thanks to Statcounter tools I can go down that memory lane anytime..

People!!! I have started writing again!!!!!
 

Lost and found- Valentine's Day

Date: 14^th February, 2010

Time: 6:45 AM (20 minutes before morning prayers begin)

Place: In my classroom

Me (Enters my classroom looking crestfallen. My laptop is missing since the day before.) What follows is Berne’s TA theory in full action.

V: Why are you looking saaaaaaaaaaaaaaad?

Me: I think I lost my laptop.

S: Did you look in your ‘office’? (They are very proud that their class teacher (also a PRO) is the only teacher who has an office.)

Me: Yes, I did.

S: It must be at home.

Me: No, it’s not, I checked. I looked everywhere, I couldn’t find it.

F: You only told us, “Try, and try till you succeed”.

Me: (Yeah..now hit me with my own shovel) Deep sigh!

V: Don’t worry, you will find it ma’am.

A cheery K enters the class: Happy ValenceTimes Day!!

Me: Errrrmm..what is Valentine’s Day!

K: (in disbelief) You don’t know????

(Teachers usually enjoy a demigod status. There is NOTHING that they are not supposed to know)

Me: Nopes!

V: When you like somebodyyyyy, you give them a card on Valencetimes day, and they become your Valencetime.

I’m enjoying this now, and its helping me take my mind off the 45+ suspect list that I’ve been making since yesterday.

Me: I am not sure I understand that.

F: Why don’t you look in the internet??

V: Ma’am doesn’t have her laptop remember silly.

(You won’t let me forget that, will you?)

The school bell’s ringing puts me out of my misery and signals the beginning of yet another day....

P.S: I found my laptop

Valentine Wishes from my archives

Compound Sports

During a lull in the Sports Day rehearsal..R- the most creative kid in my class remembers what he’s just learnt in English class- compound words

R: Ma’am..Pointing to Keagan his friend..Key and Gun- Keagan.

Me: Hmm.. now that’s interesting.

R with a renewed interest in the new sport, looks around for more ‘examples’ and finds Sandeep, Anand, etc. and continues his dissecting explorations. He turns his attention to Achuth.

Me: (Hit by a zillion sonic booms)

R: Misses Achuth and looks around for greener pastures.

Me: Phew!!

'Dhut'ing

Getting back in touch with 2 of my college friends, thanks to Facebook, has brought a now extinct word back to me.. 'dhut'ing.. I never got what it really meant...any clues?

Class Encounters

Me: (to 7 year old girl,who is wearing glasses for the first time) Good morning, angel!!
7 Y O: (sulking) Angels don’t wear glasses.
Me: ……………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Another time, same class.

Me: What’s happening, T?
T: (Grumpy) R is disturbating me.
Me: ……………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….