Certified crazy

Paris has a bizzare way of charming people. All the tourists spots dont tell you how the real Paris feels like. Real Paris is the feeling you get when you drive down Rue Alesia on your velib at midnight and still have people walking back from films, lovers sitting on the benches and taking in the moonlit sky and some jogging at this hour in the night.

Just came back from a 45 minute ride on the cycle and it did the wonders that a lot of people could not. Made me happy and free. I have fallen in love with this city.

Last weekend saw me going back to Sophia. Some friends and I decided to go Parasailing. Super fun. Got scared considering that they dropped me from the chute, onto the sea. More than the drop, it was the fear of water that sent me panting for air after the drop. Other than that, the whole thing went off well. Also went down to Marineland the next day to see some dolphins and whales play. The sea lions did a small skit which was very cute.

Plan was to go bungee jumping off the highest point in europe, but couldn’t find a driver to take us to the point up in the mountains. May be next time.

This could probably be my last post from Sophia Antipolis and Eurécom for a long time to come. With exams done, and projects submitted, and reports taken care of, now its time to shift base to Paris, for internship for the next six months.

Time sure flew by very fast, especially this semester, as I had expected it to, and we are all saying bye bye and au revoirs to every other person who leaves Sophia for other places in France and elsewhere in Europe. A lot of parties and good bye dinners. Hugs. Pool games. Foosball. Wine. Flowers. Jokes. Laughter. Jogs. Trips to Carrefour. The climb up to Eurecom. More trips to Carrefour. Closure of EDF contracts. Trips to Issac. The balconies. Rain. Tea. Cheese balls. Maggi. French. And the struggle to speak Français. Beach. Promenade des Anglais. Crème glace. Fountain. The walks through the jungle. The complements. Benches in the moonlight. Neighbours. Sitting at the window. 321. The church. Running to catch the last bus back home. Falafel. Summer wind. Group classes during exams. Copy everything blindly from others´ notes. Open book exams. Handwritten A4 cheatsheets. Badminton. Asking for everything under the sun. And getting it. The calls. Late night speak-your-heart-out sessions. Haircuts. Cleaning up after parties. Cooking food and seeing it being eaten very happily. Pani puris. Hair bands.

Au revoir, mais pas adieu.

Past two months have been a blur and I guess the next one will arrive and finish before I can say cheese. This spring semester has kept us all busy. Some quick updates on what I have been up to.

April was home-college-home routine. Assignments and homeworks, labs and reports, projects were never ending. Had a 10-day vacation from school in May, so got my family to come over to Europe and went on a tour to Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Loved Austria - must go back if I get a chance. Ma and sis came back with me to Sophia for about three weeks. Piling on good Ma cooked food has its own (side) effects.

Some of us went to Cannes during the film festival and some friends were disappointed that they did not get to see Aishwarya Rai.

There was “Indian Dinner” organized at college yesterday. We cooked food for about 50 people. I still can’t believe we pulled that off - about 25 Indian dishes. I am amazed at the amount of spice some of my classmates can handle. Some others constantly held a glass of water in their hand. Some of us will leave college for our internships next semester and yesterday felt like a farewell dinner. I don’t know yet where I will be for the internship, but I hope I enjoy the next semester as much as I enjoyed the last.

Isn’t anyone tryin’ to find me?
Won’t somebody come take me home?
It’s a damn cold night
I’m tryin’ to figure out this life
Won’t you take me by the hand?
Take me somewhere new
I don’t know who you are
But I’m, I’m with you
I’m with you.

– I’m with you by Avril Lavigne.

• Exams are done. Should pass in most of the papers. (Note the “most”)
• Made Pani puri, pav bhaji at home in the last two days (including the puris - damn cool the way they pop up - if they do) and called in some French friends to taste some ethnic Indian cuisine - rotis et al.
• Project needs to be worked up - I’m putting most of my time on it, now that I have one week of vacations.
• Evenings are spent watching movies with friends. Fun.
• Cleaning up two weeks of mess after exams are done gives a really bad backache.
• Cut a friend’s hair for experimenting - results were not bad at all.
• I’ve grown to admire the brilliant way some geniuses think - Markus Kuhn is one such man.
• I need to catch up on my to-read books.
• I like lying down in the afternoon under the Sunlight in my room these days. Can make one sleepy in a matter of seconds.
• Found a place in Antibes which sells awesome Falafel. That, plus a double scoop gelato (tiramisu, rocher) = heaven.

Runa tagged me sometime earlier this month with the 7 things tag. The rules are:

1. Link to your original tagger(s) and list these rules in your post.
2. Share seven facts about yourself in the post.
3. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged.

The 7 facts are:

1. I have eaten Pani Puri for breakfast, lunch and dinner, two days in a row.
2. I was once addicted to Internet chat.
3. I am petrified of ghost stories.
4. As a kid, I used to cry so much so that my teachers used to complain to my mother “iske aankhon me nal lage hue hai. Hamesha roti rehti hai.”
5. I like reading children’s story books - Nancy Drew, Famous Five and The Secret Garden have been among my favorites since school.
6. I have never been hospitalized.
7. Most of the songs that I love are from the black and white era of Bollywood.

And now, I tag fellow bloggers *drumroll* Ruchna, Kapil, Sharan, Anuja, Ankur, Prakash, Tejas. Feel free to go / not go ahead with the tag.

Ah, the post comes rather late. But, I’d rather pen this one down.

Andorra was the vacation that happened - even before college officially closed. On Thursday, the 18th, I was off to Andorra. Because of the famous strikes, I missed my connecting train at Marseilles and then the connecting bus from Toulouse - by a mere 6 mins. Stayed on at Toulouse for the evening, and took the bus next day to Andorra. I had an awesome time with my cousins. We even went to Spain’s Seu D’urgell for a lunch one day. My Aunt made sure I got to have all the little things that I miss - from back home. Even the same Sindhi recipes for some particular bhaajis. *drools* Andorra photos are up on my flickr set. Some more will be added later.

Paris was the vacation that did not happen. But I’m glad I stayed on. Had an awesome new year’s eve dinner, among other things, that would probably not be possible ogling at Eiffel tower fireworks at night.

Since I did not take my camera along to the last trip at Les Deux Alpes, some of Haiyong’s and Chang’s pictures have been uploaded here, with their permission. Thanks guys! Ruchna has a hilarious account of what happened at the Ski trip.

Now, less than a month before the exams start. And then, the next vacations!

o Sometime last month, some of us decided to break the monotony of home to college and back, and went to Monaco for a day instead. Saw “The Casino” (from outside - to go inside, you need an evening dress and a passport, and ofcourse, lots of cash). Saw an amazing number of Porsche and Ferrari cars. There are gardens - trees even on top of terraces of buildings in Monaco. Some people there have awesome toys. Took a ride after years - it was a crazy machine, but hell, I enjoyed it!

o After that followed a month of serious college work - labs, reports, projects, presentations, homework.

o Until last week, when we went to the Weekend of Ski to les2alpes. Fell on my backside over and over again. No broken bones. Its interesting, the things people do when they get drunk. Finally got to taste real fondue and the famous La Raclette (with baked potatoes) and loved it.

o Heading today to Andorra for a few days of much needed vacation - away from projects / slides / presentations / notes.

o Did I mention I loved the Raclette? So much so, that I went in to the same restaurant again, the next day to have some more.

o I have about 20 hours of journeys to make - and no books to read this week. Sad. Travelling without books after a long, long time. Currently trying very hard to read Harry Potter et le prisonnier d’Azkaban.

बिछड़ गया हर साथी देकर
पल दो पल का साथ
किसको फुर्सत है जो थामे
दीवानों का हाथ
हमको अपना साया तक
अक्सर बेगार मिला …