The other day an old lady in her crimson Japanese sedan gave me a ride just a stone’s throw away from my place to The Grounds. Hearing my good fortune (which i amply advertised), everyone went awww. Apparently, she’s a neighbor. We talked about Sanskrit in the 5-minute ride. She’s been to places and recently been discouraged to take Sanskrit lessons. After 5 minutes I had another devoted Sanskrit learner. Patanjali and Panini are jumping in heaven i guess.

I wish I had better luck with the free ride giving souls here. Not that the rides aren’t free, the buses are free. That said, Charlottesville is one goodtimes place. Although, yesterday the goodtimes mood got a bit soured among the folks here as we got beat 14 -26 by William & Mary in the football season opener. That too in front of the home crowd. Chants of “fire Al Groh”  will be soaring through the roofs if we lose to TCU next weekend.

I don’t like the bow ties though. The tie wearing guys in white shirts look like “preppy stuck up snobs” which of course is our nickname  to every other non-UVA Virginia college kids. Orange looks much better. In retrospect, the best thing Al Groh did was to introduce the Orange Tide and the marching band. But the same can’t be said about the sun dresses. Them sun dresses look good. The “gentleman” tradition in football games in UVA is one tradition we an live without. And thank God, it has been weened out. Well almost.

Speaking of football, one thing I’m really glad about is the school spirit in here. I feel I’m back in my high school days again. Though this time it feels weird to be in the “classy snobbish” institution. but we’re always underdog these days in football. All my school life I was in this perennially underdog school which used to kick butts of the big boys with “attitude”. And i LOVED it. Then in the undergrad years, the school spirit thing kind of disappeared. Because that’s how it is back there. And yes, how many stadiums do we have in India with 70,000 capacity let alone university stadiums? I can’t wait for the TCU game next week.

GO HOOS!

Arrival

The first thing to hit me in the D of C is a violent streak of heat, almost as if I landed in Bhopal or Nagpur or something in the middle of summer. And summer it is down here in good ol’ Virginny. I think I heard this RJ of some DC station saying it’s the hottest day of summer. And to think of that, my AC was broke for the day. How Americanised I’ve become. I expect my AC to run 24×7 when it’s not even 35 degrees celcius. That’s another thing. I need to get used to the Fahrenheit thing.

The advantage of living in a university town is that you’re likely going to get most conveniences within a mile of where you live. Bank, McD, RadioShack, even an Indian restaurant called Milan. Although i don’t think i would be going there anytime soon. There’s Pizza Hut& Domino’s as well. 30 minutes nahi toh free.

So here’s the best joke I heard the arrival day. The same RJ. It’s so hot today I called up my ex-girlfriend to got a cold shoulder. That’s one good alternative rock-cum-everything station. Anyone coming to DC/northern Virginia area should check it out. 107.5 FM. Good music. Speaking of which, I already love Pandora radio. One can’t get it back in India or most places in the world for that matter.

Novocaine

i need some. i’m trying to numb down the extremes of the negative emotions i’ve gathered throughout May. Negative emotions, anger for instance. Does behaving like a territorial alpha male count as negative? In this case, i think so.

The time has come for getting some fresh air. Now that too is a no-go. I have resigned myself to fiddling with the new laptop and reading Lolita on a monsoon afternoon. Bad call i know. i should’ve ditched the laptop and gone to Ladakh instead. What a waste!

floating hope

These days I call your lies practical jokes. It gets to you, doesn’t it? So the other day I celebrated your mastery in the art of practical jokes by bringing home a cake from the Kathleen’s nearby. Not a decorated custom-made birthday cake, just a cake with your name on top of it etched in cream. There was the ubiquitous candle in presence as well.

I didn’t celebrate your birthday. I celebrated you. The magnificent disappointment that is you. See, I’ve stroked off  the previous line. Know why? There’s hope for you I believe. I want to believe there’s hope for you. Because there’s always hope.

May doldrums

I feel like a fat horse in the middle of the Indian Ocean off Mauritius in a 18th Century galleon without the sea winds. Someone just throw me off the deck, please?

I watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall again today. Hilarity. Makes me feel good. I tried re-watching Love, Actually before in the afternoon but fell asleep halfway through it. After waking up didn’t feel like continuing. This is not to say I don’t like the movie. As a matter of fact, Love, Actually has been one of the better romantic comedies in recent years, a warm concoction of sea food with red wine in a classy restaurant which leaves your stomach full and satisfied. It’s a most decent date movie, one you can curl up in the sofa with your girlfriend, along with chips and fruit cocktail. Love, Actually is more romantic mush than comedy, unlike Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which is more comedy than romantic drama.

In the end, it appears I needed more laughs than than a post-modern philosophical preaching of  love, actually.  Yeah, I need to smile a bit more. As if I’m not enjoying the divine comedy of the month of May enough.