Namesake

"And the Academy Award for best actress goes to…… Aishwarya Nair!" I hear loud applause and I blush in mild embarrassment. I walk towards the stage then I hear my friend's voice echo "Which Aishwarya Nair ?", and thats when my alarm clock interrupts my red carpet fantasy. I took a surgical knife to my dream and came to the realization that I was in a similar situation. It's kind of like Borne Identity minus the bloodshed and violence. A friend of mine has the same first and last name as I do. But she has a middle name ,which is represented by it's initial and I don't have a middle name. We had been in the same class since kindergarten upto 8th grade. Unfortunately the spotlight only shone on the first and last name and the middle name lay in the shadow. Result : Utter confusion. So somewhere along the line a teacher put my last name before my first name. And I had to live with that for over 5 years! Can you imagine 007's catch phrase becoming "The name is James , Bond James."? It was not an imagination but a reality in my case. Well my 'new name' still didn't manage to cease the confusion. I was quite upset by the whole thing. My parents tried to get my name put correctly but their efforts in vain. It may not seem like the problem that requires a serious debate by world leaders but it wasn't just the problem that my name was wrong ,teachers and students got mixed up between me and my like named friend. When we participated for competitions confusion followed. I had given up the battle to get my identity back. When we were in the 8th grade , we were put in different classes and my class teacher changed my name to what it should be. That is something I am very thankful for. No mistaken identities ever since. The name is Nair , Aishwarya Nair.

Chocolaty Obsession

Chocolate , chocolate, chocolate, need I say more? Sensory perception is the way we enjoy chocolate. We hear the crackle of the wrapper , we see the chocolate and admire the physical properties like shape and color, we feel its texture with our finger tips , the smell of chocolate may not be that strong in one bar of chocolate but I am sure if you visited Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory the smell would be a lot stronger and last but not the least the taste that is something the words of the English language could never describe. Well I may not be a shopaholic but I think I am a chocoholic. Its crunchy sometimes, creamy sometimes all I can say is the diversity of chocolates is like the diversity in human personalities. The color of chocolates sometimes white or different shades of brown depending on the chocolate. Very much like the color of human skin isn't it? Whether its dark chocolate , milk chocolate , white chocolate , chocolate with nuts and raisins we all like a different type of chocolate that's just like the way human interests are diverse. Chocolate in many ways replicates human beings. Wouldn't you agree?Well I have no plans to put a bar of chocolate below a microscope and later run tests to unveil the great secrecy behind the pleasure it brings to one and all instead I plan to enjoy it and let you enjoy it. Pop a piece of chocolate in your mouth whether you slice it with your teeth or let in melt away in your mouth there are no words to describe what you feel on your tongue and in your mind.

Predators

As I had mentioned earlier ,one of my favorite paring of words is buy one get one free. Recently , well it wasn't that recent , it was 2 months ago , I visited a 'buy one get one free' sale with my sister. The shop was huge and consisted of various brands. The first sight of the shop unleashed a strong desire in me - the desire to shop! I wouldn't call myself a shopaholic but I can't deny the fact that I take pride in bringing shopping bags home. There was plenty of variety in color and style but unfortunately not in size. Within some time , the shop began to resemble a cyclone struck area. Clothes of various hues hid the beautiful sheen of the wooden floor. And us merciless predators were reluctant to spare anything that catches our eye. I marched up and down in utter disappointment for whatever 'prey' I targeted wasn't a part of the offer. With my sister's help I found other 'preys' that eventually had to submit to me. Our basket full , we headed towards the trial rooms. It was quite a brilliant idea to only have 6 trial rooms in a shop so large. Many predators like me were lined up with their 'preys' in their baskets. All us predators ready to pounce when we heard a door unlock. The wait was worth it. We left the shop content with what we purchased. The predator inside me was satisfied and looks forward to the next hunt.

Being Lola

Standing in the centre spot on stage , clad in my mother's saree , the spotlight on me and an audience of about 700 people before of me. This is the story of how an ordinary teenage girl transformed into Lola Kutty. She had to change her attire, her accent all in hopes of being Lola. Our talent contest (for grades 7 and 8) was coming up , it's an annual event. I auditioned for mad ads , which is basically team effort to create a humorous advertisement. I was selected and had a group of very dedicated , crazy and creative students like myself. In the ad we created I played one of the very famous Channel V (India) VJ'S Lola Kutty. I had reluctantly imitated her before ,in front of an audience of about 7 people , all family. This time the audience would be about 700 people. So this called for a large scale transformation into the saree clad ,heavy Malayali accented Lola. It's was much easier than I am making it seem like. The talent contest is a day I will never forget , my very first time wearing a saree( I did a rehearsal at home ), trotting in my school where only few teachers wore sarees. That was a major reason some people mistook me to be a teacher , they were sarcastic of course. The expressions on the faces of my teachers and friends was unforgettable. Me and my group practiced a lot that day before our final performance. Then the time came for us to perform and our performance made the audience burst into peals of laughter. We were overjoyed that people were laughing at us. My performance in particular got an amazing response which I didn't expect in my wildest dreams. One of the judges, my music teacher was giving a speech after the contest ,she stood at the podium making her speech and then looked towards me ,what happened next took me by surprise "And Lola kutty you took my heart away" embarrassed by the compliment but overjoyed by the recognition I mouthed a thank you. That is something I will remember for the rest of my life. My group won second place. I celebrated at home over a large tiramisu cake with my family and friends. Life wasn't the same for that girl she was there after known as Lola Kutty.

The Best tattoo

What is the best tattoo you can get on your character? here are some clues for that answer, it's painless , and its part of an offer. One of my favorite paring of words is 'buy one get one free'. Don't we all love to hear that. In similar words tattoo gratitude on your character get a humility tattoo free. Humility is another quality I admire and try to inculcate in myself. I believe that for one to be humble one must be thankful first. So in the amazing spirit of gratitude I want to thank a lot of people. Thank you God for everything , thanks for creating this beautiful world for me to blog about and thanks for the other infinite great blessings you have showered upon me. Thank you dad for everything, you taught me to write , you gave me those very useful key points of writing in the 4th grade and you have inspired me by your writing .Thank you mom and sis for your support and encouragement in everything I do. Thank you all my readers because honestly if it weren't for you reading I wouldn't blog. I believe there's a teacher in all of us , so thank you to everyone who has taught me anything new and good. When I am dead in my tracks of writing , music you have inspired me , thank you. The secret to having more in life is to be grateful for what you have at present. Something fun I have done recently was making a gratitude list - I listed all the things I was grateful for and I read it every now and then to instill that feeling of gratitude further. I suggest this fun experiment because as the saying goes 'Count your blessings'. Living a day in this spirit of gratitude is amazing because happiness , humility and every other good emotion you know follows. Imagine living your life with those feelings running through you every single moment. Be thankful for the littlest things in life , then life will give you bigger things to be thankful for. For example I am very thankful for the 'check spelling' tool on blogger otherwise I would have to go to my room and get my dictionary surf through the pages for the word I seek ,now that's pretty tiring ! That's a little thing I am really thankful for. So by now you should have understood what I meant by the best tattoo to get on your character its none other than gratitude.

Super girl or something like that!

When I was a kid I imagined myself to be a super heroine , who fought evil , looked pretty for the cameras and had a cool name. Keeping that in mind, I am going to narrate some heroic activities I have done recently. It was 3 'o' clock , just during lunch as I remember ,I heard some impatient cries for desert. Even my stomach cried for desert. So since superheroes always save the day and never say no to helping out during a crisis , I took up the challenge. The mission was to satisfy the cries of impatient stomachs and tongues ,including mine of course. Superheroes are said to fly at supersonic speeds but in reality the law of gravity isn't very kind to us. It treats us like everyone else. For that reason my dad drove me to the destination of all that is sweet. He waited in the car and I ran into the place where the most sweetest mouth watering things on earth dwell , there was no battle as the ones in charge of that place were kind yet they also weren't willing to cut me a discount. Honestly aren't there any advantages to this super heroine thing! I gave the 'green stuff' as its called , then he agreed to release some of the ' sweet stuff' and packed it neatly and handed it over. But my job wasn't done yet ,I had to retrieve something else and only then I could scream mission accomplished in victory and later enjoy my reward that awaited me in a plastic cup. Then I went to retrieve the next goody bag , the place I had to go to had lot of hungry people but there was no battle since there was no scarcity in these goody bags. I obtained the goody bag with less effort than my previous attainment of a goody bag and dashed into the car. I returned home yelling "Amma I have come victorious with ice cream and apple pie". I distributed the goody bags the first one contained two ice creams and my reward , all three from Baskin Robins. The second one had an apple pie from McDonald's. Another day another problem taken care of. Then I opened the goody bag for my reward , a thick shake topped with whipped cream but unfortunately the time spent to retrieve the goody bags and the journey back home made the whipped cream sub merge into the thick shake like the Atlantis island into the sea.

Opening the Giant Tap

The skies grow dark and laden with dense and grey clouds ,the first few drops that fall from the heavenly abode , slowly slowly the pitter - patter of the rain drops becomes louder , its almost like someone forgot to close a giant tap in heaven. I love the rain , living in Dubai I have not been fortunate to see much of it but I know if rains were more frequent here I'd grow tired of it. Winter generally arrives in the months of November or December and makes a very depressing departure in the months of March or some times even April if we're lucky. Call me a pessimist if you may but I love dark and cold mornings because it gives me hope of rains but usually the sun comes out bright by 9 am and pops my bubble. In the month of January we had a few rains , well I can't call it rain it was more of a drizzle , and after that the tap was closed for quite a while so I sent a plea to God ,via my facebook status , for Him to open the giant tap above Dubai.

RAIN, RAIN PLZZ RAIN!!!I SICK OF COLD MORNINGS THT GETS MY HOPES HIGH UP AND THEN SUNNYY AFTERNOONS!! SERIOUSLY!!! RRRRAAAIIINNN!!

Well He did open the tap and I was pretty happy!Our most recent rain was in March , during my exams , it was a very heavy rain, many roads in Dubai were flooded. The bus parking area in my school, which is just sand and mud, began to resemble a paddy field. Regardless of all that I still enjoyed it which is good because I have a feeling the tap over Dubai isn't going to be opened till December 2010 but I'll be patient. I am going to put my sweaters and boots away and bring out my hat and a pair of sunglasses cause we expect the arrival of summer soon.

The Time Capsule

A time capsule refers to a sealed container in which articles of present culture is preserved for rediscovering and reminiscing in the future. I know something that serves as a time capsule. Our mood when we first hear it determines what we put in this time capsule. Still can't figure out what I am talking about? I am talking about music! One song can serve as a time capsule for infinite number of people because we all tend to attach certain memories ,whether good or bad ,to songs. Memories are the articles of present culture but the only difference in this kind of a time capsule is it can only be opened and understood by the one who buries it. Only you know what memory you attached to it. Try and think about it , why do you feel happy when you hear certain songs after a long time - because you are thinking of the memories that you embedded in it . So can you imagine the number of time capsules you have buried and are burring . Take a day aside to open up these capsules , open up only the ones you feel good about , and experience the joy that music brings to one and all. You don't have to know how to make music to enjoy it. You don't have to pay a ticket for the the memory that you put in it. It has so much variety that there is a type of music for every person on the planet. In a world where we keep hearing the words 'there isn't enough of' its great to know that there will always be more than enough of music for everyone. Music is pretty user - friendly , because the process of attaching a memory is easy and can be done by anyone young and old. You just need to sit back and put those head phones on!

The Power

My favourite book at present is 'The Secret' by Rhonda Byrne . If you haven't read it I suggest you do. Basically the book talks about the Law of Attraction which in simple words is you attract what you think of. Regarding this there is a very interesting life experience of mine I would like to share. Children have ever changing ambitions ,it's a known fact. And to be honest its quite fun to experience a liking towards many different things on short notice. When I was in the 6th grade I wanted to be a marine biologist. I had a fascination for the world of beautiful sea creatures. I used to research about fishes on wikipedia and one that caught my eye in particular was the lion fish. It was stripped white and brown simply beautiful! but also a dangerous predator. I saved its picture on my desktop and would stare at it in awe ,every single day. I thought I would only get a chance to see it when I go under water and pursue this wild dream. Eventually I lost interest in the world of marine biology and moved on with my life. 2 years later , it was announced that for our class excursion we would be going to the Atlantis Resort and theme park in Dubai and we would be going to the 'Lost Chambers' in the resort. That day I saw many fishes of various sizes and shapes and a brief introduction of each was made by our guide. As we moved on to the next wonder to admire, I couldn't believe it. Swimming behind the glass was none other than the white and brown stripped lion fish! I was shocked. It was the very same lion fish that I would admire all day when I was a kid and I finally got to see it. When I was a kid I thought the distance that separated me from this fish would take 2 decades to cover but there I stood 2 years later, just an inch away from the lion fish. I forgot to mention there were about 4 of them. It is experiences like this that truly taught me the power of the mind to summon our desires. The power can't be suppressed or denied. The power is equal in all and constant. How we choose to use that power is variable.

The Great Eight

As my academic year comes to an end I reminisce on the good memories , I know this is one year that I will never forget - the best year of my life so far. So what was eight grade all about ? Well my answer may sound cliche because you probably would hear the same thing from any other teenager but the truth is the truth , 8th grade was about parties , hang outs , non stop 'facebooking' and more. 8th grade was also about making new friends and this year I have made some friends who have left a great impression on my life and inspired me to live life to the fullest. Our teachers well they are simply the best with great sense of humour! It was the same walls that surrounded me in 8th grade and the same when I was younger somehow it was all so different in 8th grade. Having so many days where I am happy and excited to go to school. Laughing at home about things that happened at school. The whole mix of absolutely dreading some classes and looking forward to a few others was another prominent feature of my year. Next month I am going to climb the stairs up to my new ninth grade classroom and not only carrying my bag along with me but also the great memories of 8th grade which unlike my bag is not a burden. But something that gives me plenty of hope that the next year will be as great or even better than this year is that the friends who made eight grade special are coming with me to ninth as well. So far this has been the best year of my life yet I know there will be many years ahead that will top this. I am going to lend a deaf ear to people complaining about particular grades ahead or stages of life because I live life on my terms not somebody else's. So the world better watch out because I am coming!