London...

Vampire days

These days I don't do anything except sit in front of the computer and watch Vampire Diaries. Yes, you read it right. At the risk of sounding 'kiddish' I confess that I like it and the show is kind of nice. Come on, you'll also like it if the 'bad' vampire is so hot. It just adds to the whole concept of the creatures of the dark. My fascination for vampires goes way back to 11th grade when i started reading the Twilight series. Yes, the books are weird and all these books and shows focus on "18 Till I Die" more than how gruesome the vampires are. But even then I've fallen in love with the concept of VAMPIRES. It's fascinating to me. How they move around at the speed of lightening, drink blood, save the damsels, are good looking and not to mention rich. Vampires have a certain manliness about them which appeals to me. They are charming yet dangerous. That feel of mystery and danger and curiosity and charm.
I have a knack for people who have vampire-ish traits in them. A close friend of mine looks like a vampire from every angle and has very sharp canines. A classmate of mine has sharper canines and believe it or not, when he smiles his teeth actually show and give him a vampire-ish look. Can you blame a simple mortal for getting trapped in the charm of these pseudo vampires?
I started watching Vampire Diaries at the polite request of my best friend who is a big fan herself (no we are not high school teenagers. We are second year university students.) She used to tell me at least thrice every time we talked that if I don't watch VD (as she likes to call it lovingly) then I'm not a vampire lover. This used to irritate me because though I don't show it, my love for vampires runs deep in my veins. But then I'm only a poor lethargic creature and I don't believe in moving off the bed just like that. Now you tell me, who would make the enormous effort of getting off the bed, go over to the computer, switch it on and then have the patience to watch a show on net which plays for 5 minutes and buffers for 15 minutes? But my friend knows me well. She knows which chord to strike when. One day while talking on phone she said "A, if you consider me your friend you have to do something for me. For me, for my sake. If you love me." Now who would not melt at these words?
So I ended up watching VD late that very night. And as she had predicted, I was hooked from first episode itself. It actually showed vampires drinking human blood. The show is unpredictable, you don't know what will happen next, when a vampire with his fangs out will fly at you from which direction. There are people who get bitten by these vampires and change into one themselves. Yeah the story is the same- vampire was in love with a girl who died leaving him pining for centuries. And after the rebirth of this girl, they meet again (always in high school) and fall in love. The girl finds out that the love of her life is a vampire but love conquers all and they unite for eternity (the girl becomes a vampire too usually). But the presentation of the dark in all the scenes just adds to the whole concept and makes it worth watching.

Despite having three exams to prepare for and having various books to study from, I end up watching Vampire Diaries because of my love for vampires and the thrill of it all.
Basically, I have no life at the moment and I live off these shows. I am utterly jobless and no wonder I'm piling on weight.

First Year- fourth phase

January-
The Lady comes back:  Bhagya came back to college with two handbags hanging from both sides. But the thing to be noticed was how she looked. The paleness was still there and a tinge of yellow on the face too. She had lost a hell lot of weight and looked weak. Her legs were paining and she had to limp. Even then, the bandit queen that she is, she refused to sit around in class and walked up and down the stairs to attend classes. Thanks to her stubbornness and I'd say stupidity, she was bed ridden for the rest of the time till exams.
Internals: We had our internal exams that month and everybody was in a frenzy to get notes copied and what not. We were also included in all this, though. Surabhi and I used to coordinate our studies over the phone and would stay up till 3am studying and talking on the phone. How we gave those exams, only we know. It is a subject not to be approached by anybody.


February- 
The cold:  This was when we all the tension started. Nobody knew the reason, nobody knew the cause. But everybody knew something was wrong. This was when everybody stared drifting apart. Some people who were close became distant and those who were distant became close. People were busy with their own lives, engrossed in something or the other. Nobody had the time to spare for friends. Some had work and were busy. But even they had time, they were not interested in keeping up with others. Some had their insecurities and inhibitions due to which they were keeping a distance from everybody else.
The little Pixie and me: This was the time when Shruti grew close to me. We used to talk about everything and anything in general. We used to discuss our problems, isuues and even studities with each other. I remember once talking to her from 1am till 4am, discussing something. That day we became closer than we had ever been. That was the moment when we trusted each other most. The next day too we talked throughout the afternoon and texting was like an obsession. It still is for me.

March and April-
Things remained as they were. No improvement between the five of us. Fantastic Five was just a formality then. Those who were close remained that way and those were now distant, went further back. Everybody knew about it, but nobody spoke about it. Those who did end up speaking their mind were thought to be over sensitive and "thinking too much about non-existent things".  Some liked to say everything is perfect when they were themselves in the midst of it all. Things remained this way. We had our annual department fest Bacchanalia during which things did not get better at all. In fact there was no scope to do anything or solve anything. Everybody was hanging out with different people every minute, trying to avoid each other.

May-
Things between the five of us went from bad to worse. For me the most painful thing was to see my best friend in college go away. Who even after being done with the job 'didn't feel' talking to us. And after putting in as much effort as I could, I gave up. I stopped sending messages and stopped even trying to talk on my own. Then one epic day we all decided to have a little chat about this and various problems, explanations and feelings came out. Everybody spoke about stuff bothering them and out came some outrageous things such as people being jealous of others for becoming closer. Anyway, to cut a sad story short, we cleared up all the misunderstandings.
since then on things have been undeniably better between all of us. Everybody is now putting in the effort and now hopefully things will get better, like old times very soon.

First Year- third phase

October-
Commonwealth break:  The time for late night conferences. Surabhi, Bhagya (for now she's this and not Bhagyashree) and I used to talk on phone for a minimum of 2 hours. The maximum we had during that period was from 12am till 6am, when we had to put down the phone because our parents were beginning to get up. Those were the days when the three of us actually came close. We used to talk about anything and everything. One night we ended up analyzing each other- each person had to say what they feel about the other two. 3rd october was Bhagya's birthday and is clashed with the opening of the commonwealth games therefore, her birthday treat was cancelled. And she got to save on all the expenditure!
Opening of college:  After 15 days of separation the five of us met again and that was the time when our auto rides began. In the mornings we used to take one auto instead of 2 rickshaws and either Surabhi or Shruti used to end up sitting on me everyday. But those rides were fun and some days we would even be accompanied by some people from our class, mostly Dev on whom Munish used to sit. What fun.

November-
Dayout in CP: Bhagya, Surabhi and I went to Hanuman Mandir that day. It is Bhagya's weekly routine to go there and that day we decided to accompany her. Bhagya had to go for her uncle's wedding to Assam and so we bought some bangles for her her too from the shops at the back of the mandir. I still remember Bhagya's "line" while bargaining with the shop keeper. "Bhaiya, yeh rakho. Tyohaar ke din hai, Shagun samajh ke rakh lo." And i remember how i shot from my seat and ran in the opposite direction to control my laugh. After visiting the temple we went to McDonald's and had lunch there. Then we went to Janpath and bought a pair of footwear each. It was in the metro while going back home that we gave each other the names Sattu (Surabhi), Bhattu (Bhagya) and Attu (Aakriti).
That day, 2nd November, was the last day Bhagya came to college that year.
She fell ill the very next day and took a week off to rest before going to Assam. After coming back from there she was directly admitted in a nursing home and was diagnosed with Jaundice, Malaria and Dengue.

December-
Back to four: After that day, 2nd of November, it was us four again in college- Shruti, Munish, Surabhi and me. One day we went to visit Bhagya in the nursing home. We had lunch from a roadside shop while waiting for her to get up. And when we went to see her, we were shocked. I can only speak for myself, I was scared to see her. The Bhagya we knew, the strong, confident, bring-it-on sort of girl was lying on a hospital bed with tubes running down her arms and face pale. Her lips were white and dry and her body weak. I couldn't of course show this there, but I was worried, really worried.

After this days went by quickly without much of interesting stuff. D School (Delhi School of Economics) used to be our hangout place where we used to sit for hours together and eat and talk and laugh. Days went by in the preparation for the upcoming internal exams.

First Year- second phase

August-
Munish's birthday: 18th August was the day Munish turned 18. To make this day a bit more special for him we decided to give him a few surprises. In the morning nobody came with him in the metro. I was carrying a huge card with me in which we had written a few birthday quotes and general wishes. In class EVERYBODY wrote something or the other for him while we kept Munish away on some pretext or the other. And when the card was filled with birthday wishes, we gave it to him. He was surprised. Surprised that we remembered and bothered to do something for him. Then he gave us a treat in McDonald's and Surabhi and I mysteriously disappeared. We were walking the streets of Kamala Nagar in search of a birthday cake. And when we got it from CCD, we were walking the streets in search of a knife (which no shop had :/). Finally the cake was cut with the back of a spoon and eaten up by the hungry onlookers (read us) in a downright savage way.
"Thank you so much guys!" he said to everybody.

The lady walks in:  Classes ended and the four of us- Munish, Shruti, Surabhi and me, packed our bags to go to Kamala Nagar as usual. I went to the photocopy shop with Shruti and Surabhi while Munish stayed back. None of us noticed the new girl. When we come back from the shope after spending a fortune on copying notes, we saw Munish talking to the strange new girl. I went upto him and pulling his arm, very tactlessly said "Munish chal, we dont have the time! We're getting late." And he turned to give such a patronizing look, I tell you. Then he introduced me to the new girl and said "This is Bhagyashree."

You must know, I have a foot-in-mouth disease which seems to have no cure.

After hearing this I exclaimed loudly "oh this is bhagyashree? Right!" Yes it was embarrassing just two seconds later! Anyway, that exclamation was made because we all ha dheard her name being called out everyday and used to wonder who would this be. I myself had imagined her to be a simple girl in salwaar kameez who would be rather geeky. But she was a complete opposite of that image. She was tall, towering over me, and almost Munish's height. She wore a purple striped shirt with shorts. She had her sunglasses on her head and was talking in a very confident, say-one-wrong-word-and-i'll-break-your-face sort of way. I just said hi and then had a general talk with her for sometime. But after that we dropped the plan to go to Kamala so we stayed and talked to her some more.

Shruti's treat: Shruti had completed two years with her boyfriend so she was giving us all a treat at McDonald's. One happy girl she was that day and i can still see her jumping up and down with excitement. She was so happy that she did not even mind a few extra people. That was th first time she had openly shown us her excitement and happiness. That day i decided to nickname her Pixie.
That was also the first time Bhagyashree went out with us. We sat there for good two hours, eating and talking and laughing loudly! That was also the day when the five of us had gone back to college in an auto for the first time as it was raining like crazy. I remember us screaming with laughter, imagining what would be AS's reaction if we entered in an auto in her class, parking it right outside our classroom door. That was also the day when we went to Kamala again with a large group of people from our class.

First Year- first phase

July-

The first day:  I entered the classroom, nervous to the core and I saw boys sitting on one side and girls on the other. All expectations came tumbling down and I go and sit on the side of the girls, disappointed. After 14 years in a girls' school, I had expected to make some 'guy friends' in college. That was one of the main reasons why I had left an equally good girls'college and had come here.

By the end of our introductory lectures, where we actually had the introduction of each and every student, we were free to go where ever we wanted. By that time I had made friends with Surabhi, Shruti and Monica. We started chatting, talking about our schools and laughing at various things. In the college canteen we made friends with Munish. An easy conversation flowed between all of us.

Deciding to leave, we took a bus from college to the metro station. For some weird reason everybody was having a problem remembering everybody else's name. I could easily tell them their's in an instant, I don't have problems remembering them. Throughout the metro ride we were talking and gathered information about each other, mentally making notes. At Rajiv Chowk we all got down and decided to have lunch at Nirula's and that was our first outing together on our very first day.

Dramatics society auditions:  At around 1:30pm we went to the SBI lawns for the auditions. I was to participate in the production team audition and not acting, so i waited for Surabhi and Munish to get over with theirs, thinking it would be over in maximum two hours. Who knew it would take four and a half hours and I would wait for that long?

 

Movie Marathon

A day full of movies. 7 back to back and all pretty interesting. A vow to watch 10 shall be be fulfilled tonight.

List of movies seen and to be seen:

1) The Importance of Being Ernest 

2) Reality Bites

3) Mamma Mia

4) Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (Part1)

5) Identity

6) Carriers

7) Anaconda 3: The offspring

8) He's Just Not That Into You

9) The Butterfly Effect

10) Australia

Out of all these I was most touched and in a left-to-wonder state by Identity and Reality Bites.

Identity: Malcolm Rivers is a psychotic killer awaiting execution for several vicious murders that took place at a motel. His psychiatrist, Doctor Mallick, has discovered a journal belonging to Rivers that may explain why he really committed the murders. With this late evidence brought forth, a new hearing takes place on a stormy night in which Mallick will try to persuade the Judge to spare Rivers. Meanwhile, a group of ten strangers find themselves stranded in the middle of the storm in a remote motel in the Nevada desert, run by the manager Larry Washington. The ten strangers and a limo driver, Ed Dakota; an '80s TV star, Caroline Suzanne; a cop, Officer Rhodes, who is transporting a killer, Robert Maine; a prostitute, Paris Nevada; a pair of newlyweds, Lou and Ginny Isiana; and a family in crisis, George, Alice and Timmy York. With the phone lines down due to the storm, the group prepare to spend the night, taking care of those that have been injured through their arrival. However, the group quickly finds that there is an unknown murderer present, killing off each of the guests and leaving behind one of the motel's room keys to be found, starting with Room 10's key and counting down.

Caroline Suzanne is the first to be killed, and Ed finds her head in a dryer. Ed thinks that the convict killed her and when he, Rhodes, and Larry check the convict, they discover he has escaped.

All the other people become increasingly worried, and Ginny runs to her room despite been told to stay put. Her husband Lou chases after her but is also mysteriously murdered. Meanwhile, Ed and Rhodes find the con, knock him out, tie him to a pole and put Larry on duty guarding him. Everyone calms down when they realize that the con is caught, but he is later found dead with Larry's baseball bat in his throat. Rhodes is furious, and Ed finds Suzanne's wallet in Larry's box. Larry then panics and holds Paris at knife-point, but she escapes and discovers a dead body in Larry's freezer. With everyone distracted by the frozen corpse, Larry attempts to escape in his truck, claiming he did not kill anybody. He then accidentally runs over George, killing him instantly while George saved his stepson, Timothy, from being run over.

The survivors tie up Larry who tells them his story but does not get much sympathy from Rhodes, but the others believe him when he says he did not kill anyone. Meanwhile Timothy's mother dies, presumably from her injuries (Ed accidentally ran her over). Ed then tells Paris, Timmy, and Ginny to leave the motel, against Rhodes' wishes. Ginny and Timmy both die when their car blows up but their bodies are nowhere to be seen. The remaining four discover that all the bodies have now disappeared and that all ten share the same birthday. Paris also discovers that Rhodes is a convict as well and that he stabbed the officer to death and took his place. Rhodes sees her look through his car and attempts to kill her, but she is saved by Larry, who in turn is shot dead by Rhodes.

At the hearing, the contents of Malcolm's journal are revealed, indicating the prisoner suffers from an extreme case of dissociative identity disorder, harboring ten distinct personalities. Mallick is able to bring forth one of Malcolm's personalities, Ed, revealing that events at the motel are occurring inside Malcolm's mind, each personality being a distinct person though all sharing the same birth date. After hearing of events in the motel, Mallick informs the Ed personality that he must find and eliminate the hostile personality in order to prevent Malcolm from being executed lest all the personalities be killed off. In the motel setting, as the group is dwindled down, Ed believes that the personality of Rhodes is the murderer, and sacrifices himself to kill Rhodes, leaving only Paris alive. When Mallick demonstrates that that homicidal personality is dead, the Judge decides to place Malcolm in a mental institution under Mallick's care.

As Malcolm is driven along with Mallick to the institution, in Malcolm's mind, Paris has driven away from the motel to her hometown in Florida, Frostproof. As she tends an orange grove, she discovers the Room 1 motel key in the ground, and turns around to find the young Timmy standing behind her. Timmy, the true homicidal personality, had orchestrated all the deaths at the motel, and made it appear that he had been killed as well; he finishes his task by killing Paris, reciting Hughes Mearns's "Antigonish". Now driven only by Timmy, Malcolm strangles Mallick, and the transport truck runs off the side of the road.

(Wikipedia)

Reality Bites: Well, simply because it has people who have graduated from college and are trying to make their lives ahead. I can relate to it as I will be seeing myself in the same situation a few years down the line.