Dec 21- 27

I must confess, I have made my most stupid decision in the past two years by taking up a ‘spiritual’ subject. OK, OK maybe not the most stupid, but I was definitely acting like a retard when I made this choice. And no, it is not about to significantly change my life. So while it may sound like an interesting class from the outside to many (Well, with the professor talking about Old Monks and Hangovers!!) but in essence, the class is about as profound as Bozo, the clown. Sample this masterpiece- "Before enlightenment, Rivers are rivers and , mountains are mountains. During enlightenment, rivers are not rivers and mountains are not mountains. After enlightenment, rivers are once again rivers and mountains are once again mountains." So you see, we are supposed to absorb, not think an awful lot to truly enjoy our meaningless lives. But then again, toilet paper absorbs.

On Christmas day, our mess decided we need something special. I thought something was up when I saw what I later realized was a Santa puppet on our mess doors welcoming us. Now you may think why i didn’t realize that immediately, but you see this is Bengal. You see a man with a beard, you see red and your first thought is,’Oh! Karl Marx.’ And well that puppet and some artificial undecorated Christmas trees were the only sign of Christmas in the mess. The food wasn’t special, it was regular, by which I mean horrid as the mess is still not serving chicken.

While consuming a Sizzling Brownie, if you have finished all the ice cream, never attempt to have a go at the chocolate sauce. It’s flaming hot and burns your tongue. (Yes, yes it happened again. But not to me and not this week. Though this happens with me every week in winter. I am dense enough not to ever learn.)

It is so cold here, that I could see fog lift off from a lake. And yet, when you tell people who are not here they say, ”Oh, You have fog there because the humidity is high.” They conveniently forget that it has to be biting cold for all that humidity to condense. With my toes turning an unpleasant shade of blue, I cannot afford to make that mistake.

Watched Slumdog Millionaire this week. Good movie. But I seem to have a grudge against Mr Anil Kapoor( IS that how he spells it still?) So I shall proceed to say, that though he makes an effort in an attempt to not sound like a ‘dehati’,( rolls his r’s and all), his “Who wants to be a millionaire” sounds more like a “Who wants to be a milliner”.

~catchingupwitholdfriendsmakesforagreat week