Crutch Thoughts

      During my hour ride to "the basement", I was pondering about what it was that I'm going to be writing about today. (Just for future reference, "the basement" will refer to where I live while I'm at college.) So the brainstorming began. Am I going to write about a possible string of all-nighters before the exam? Do I want to even bring up the topic of school? Should I have taken a nap before I started driving? Why is that fool honking at me? Does it look like another rant? Five minutes of this and I had enough. I decided that there will be no more rants about how hard college is or how unmerciful professors can be, simply, because the more I talk about it, the more I will believe it. 

      The more I thought about the coming exam, the more nervous and doubtful I became. So I tried something different. I started digging through my available consciousness to find memories that pushed me to feel peace and hopeful. I started recollecting times I spent with my parents but the only ones I can firmly hold on to, for longer than thirty seconds, are those of verbal fights and empty conversations. Next on the list were the memories of close friends, but even they don't know me for who I am, so their memories are half-hearted. Memories of a past life in high school only brings to mind incomplete actions and fake personalities. So which ones do I turn to? 

      Incidentally, those memories the I find refuge in, are part of events that hurt me the most. Some of you may understand the following sentences but some of you may not. I look to memories of past loves and relationships. Don't worry, I'm at a point where I could look back at these memories and feel nothing for these women. At times, the images of them laughing, smiling, and enjoying themselves makes me feel as if I was doing something right. I believed for those brief months that there was something in me that no one else can provide. Snapshots of held hands, walked paths, and bent grass flood into my mind when I allow them. Yet, replaying times such as these hold a price. I am allowed one steady minute of satisfying images at the fee of  remembering disappointing climaxes. Unfortunately, none of these relationships ended the way I wanted them to, for reasons understandable and some just plain inadequate.

      These are my crutch thoughts. Although they come with restrictions and boundaries, I believe them to be necessary when my mind is in distress. Try isolating yours. They will prove to be an convenient tool of support, just in case you're stuck by your lonesome, with a heavy mind, and in an area where technological devices fail your cause. My advice to you is to try recalling something other than failed relationships. Things will be easier that way. 

India Day 13 Photos!

      The following photos were those taken during six hours that I will never forget. Most of the lasting  memories that I had collected during this trip originated from these moments. To give you some background information, six hours refers to the duration of a cruise. We traveled to, bear with me here, "Kumarakom Lake Resort", where we rented out a houseboat. There are no limits in this houseboat. One is able to do anything. You want to cool off and take a dive in a pool? You can...into the lake, but the driver's not going to wait for you though. So bad idea. But that aside, you could do anything else. I loved spending these next couple of moments with those that were dear to me.

 This was, undoubtedly, my favorite shot of this whole trip. After taking this, I wasn't able to feel anything else but accomplished. It's no likely that I'll be able to another one that has such aesthetic attraction. 

This is a derivative of a houseboat that we found ourselves cruising in. Who else but me will use the word "derivative" when talking about a "hugeish" transport vehicle? Looks like the studying is paying off.

At this point, I was sitting on the back of a moving "golf-cart" like automobile, taking a tour of the resort. It was difficult to take a good photo due to the cart's choppy movement. But this one seems passable.

All of the houses built within the resort all are of the same imperial structure. Surely, there wasn't any shortage of the land's natural beauty residing here. Actually, if you think about it, the whole resort was flooded with it. Harharhar.

Anyone up for a dive? That the water may seem inviting enough but I'm also positive that there are  probably seventy four different undiscovered species of man-eating aquatic vertebrates down there waiting for you.

The bow of the houseboat. I hope I have the terminology right. What are the car tires for, you may ask? If they're used for emergency extractions, I'll be a little concerned. But I forgot to ask so the answer to your question is strictly up to the whims of your creative mind.

Unfortunately, I wasn't the original creator of this shot. It was my fifteen year old cousin, who was playing around with my cameras, taking pictures of anything that had color to them. The little boy struck gold with this one. The hours flew past us while we sat down and played a few lively games of cards.

To finish off the day, we submerged our feet into the cool sand overlooking the sunset. Such natural beauty will elude my eyes for the next couple of days because I found myself in bed dealing with a nasty cold. 

India Trip Days 8-11: I miss my couch

      "Tonight, I'm writing for multiple entry dates because I had no freaking time to write anything. For the last three days, we were out visiting relatives and friends of family. If I wasn't doing that then I was shopping for clothes for the people we were going to visit. My family has this complex of not entering a household without bearing gifts like fruits and clothes. Meeting familiar faces is great but it gets old very fast. My legs hurt from the walking and all I want to do is fall into my couch which I, unfortunately, left back in the States. That couch always succeeded in making me feel better. There is some good news though. Not everything about this trip is boring and tiring.
       I always wanted a motorcycle. When I think of motorcycles, I think classy, powerful, fearless, style, and freedom. Now I can drive one! Well, not exactly a motorcycle but his nerdy sister, the scooter. My older cousin, Binu, took me out around the block and taught me how to drive it. I'm a fast learner and driving a scooter was actually very easy. It didn't take long for him to ride in the passenger seat behind me. We did get into a little trouble though.
       We passed by a cop's house and watching us closely, the officer could tell that I had no license. He walked toward us on his porch and told us to stop fooling around. My cousin ended up sweet talking the policeman into letting us continue. His exact words were, "Look at him....he's innocent. Let's just have him learn. We'll drive somewhere else where we won't bother you. Please." Man, I missed Binu. Guess what? He's going to be handing out with us for the next couple of days, which is exciting. He's funny, witty, and a blatant liar. He doesn't lie about serious things just the little things. He mainly does it to make us laugh and does it in full consciousness that we know he is lying.
       Sadly, two days ago Shwetha had to leave to go back to her hostel. I couldn't even say bye, she left when I was asleep. She did, however, tell her dad that she didn't want to leave because we were all here. Cute huh? But I just got news that she will be returning for the cruise on Saturday. Yes, cruise. Stay tuned. I'm thinking about buying Shwetha something before I leave for good. Nothing too big but it has to be something that she'll be happy with. Maybe a couple of DVDs starring her favorite actors and some chocolates to boot. I have to figure out how to do that with this packed schedule.
       Tomorrow is pretty much our biggest shopping day. We will be shopping for ourselves and for the people at home. I help out with the selection process. I'm here, I can't really go anywhere else so why not? My sister always looks at me before making her final decision on whether or not she wants a particular piece of clothing. If I say no then its no. I must have said "no" a thousand times. The way you buy clothing here is much different than buying clothes off a rack in the US. You go to a particular counter that has the type of clothing you are interested in buying and then the store worker will show them to you. They will then leave that piece of clothing in front of you and go back an select another piece of clothing on the shelf and show that one to you as well. This cycle keeps repeating itself until you find something that you will buy or if you want to leave to look elsewhere. I could tell my parents were getting a little annoyed at the stacks of clothing we refused. What do you want me to do? I like what I like.
        The one thing good about this shopping trip is the nice sized van we will be taking to get there. For the past few days, I have been dealing with unbearable physical pain but I just don't show it. We are doing all our visiting with my uncle Papachen's car. The popular car to have here is the Maruti Suzuki which is a compact car that is small enough to fit in your pocket. So this car to fit all seven of us? You must be joking. There was no other choice but to have my sixteen year old sister sit on my lap for hours on end. I mean, I'm in pretty good shape and have developed a substantial amount of padding over the last two weeks but this is bringing me to my limits. I feel like a dog who was just given a nice delicious T-bone when my uncle puts the car in park.
       During the car ride back home from a relative's house my goal was to keep my Aunt Suja, musically entertained. She loves Hindi music and I had my Ipod filled with them. I believe I did a good job at being a music jockey for her for the night. Early on, I found out that she likes the songs I like so it was easy for me to keep her fingers tapping. I am running out of new songs to play and tomorrow we're headed on a three hour car ride to a shopping complex. Yep yep. This is going to be fun to watch.
       I feel as if I'm cutting out so much from this trip but three days worth of stuff is a lot. Right now, I'm stuffing my face with food and trying to take photos of my Aunt Suja, who hates being in pictures by  herself. Not at the same time, mind you."

India Day 5 Photos!

        We went to so many places that day it's not even funny. This means that there were close to a million photos in both the cameras. I plowed through them and here are the ones I like to look at a little too much.

I wonder how long they took just to build just this part of the Lal Qila Fort (Red Fort). These forts in New Delhi are the equivalent to castles that are built in Europe and the Middle East. I didn't get it on camera but waving right behind one of these lookouts was the Indian flag, which I thought was pretty cool. 

   I love path photos like this one. I love them even more when I take them.

There they all are. That's my family heading in all different directions to soak in Delhi's gorgeous historical scenery.

The magnificence of Lal Qila's interior speaks for itself. 

I enjoyed seeing simple structures like these stairs that only have support from its left side. I won't use these stairs though.

You never know what you may see when you turn the corner. I walked into an open area with a large green pond in the center which I really wouldn't mind in my back yard. 

I have seen enough palm trees to last me a lifetime in just one day. I have yet to encounter one palm tree in the United States. I need the beach.

        After one look, I suddenly don't want to go home anymore. 

Who says only food and girls can blow up a guy's mind? I wanted to take a dive in that pool but I was sure that if I did, I wouldn't be able to see the inside of the temple.

I just lost my family in the crowd somewhere. I think I was too busy looking at awesomeness.

This is Qutab Minar. The world's tallest red sandstone tower. The day is about to end and the sun is starting to play around with the sky.

The tower was decorated intricately with Sanskrit verses of the Islamic Quran and wildlife.  There are inscriptions on different places of the structure that writes of the history of its creation. For me, this photo is one of my favorites of this entire trip. If I left with only this photo, I'll still be happy. 

There should be an option to spend the night outside in this area. It seems like the kind of place you would want to wake up to. That is if you don't mind the many people in the area that would not hesitate to take all your stuff. Got to take the good with the bad.

India Day 4 Photos!

       These are some photos I took when we went to the Purana Qila Fort. Truth be told, this castle is hogging the world's beauty all to itself. I'll never forget the time I spent inside it.

                We are just about to enter Purana Qila and I can't help but be rude. I just kept staring.

I like taking black and white photos. But when I was taking these photos I wasn't aware that the B&W was selected. But they came out pretty awesome.

This art style is all to familiar. The curves and the designs can, undoubtedly, all be found in the Taj Mahal. Shah Jahan didn't really want to move out of his comfort zone, did he? No biggie, I can look at them all day.

I love the way nature works in conjunction with this splendid piece of work.

 A very artistic and boldly created well. You really don't want to trip and fall into it. I can't believe things like this actually exist. 

I love simple things but I could make an exception or two.

Right place at the right time. 

Prison Area. I would be scared if I was placed in here to be disciplined.

What you know about style? I now think I know nothing.