better than we understand

Life is everything.... everything that it can be and cannot be. Its bigger and better than we think it to be. Freedom is a birth right for every living thing on earth. Still there is no freedom. This is true in a certain way for every human being. One day my flatmate in Bradford asked me whether it was right to let someone choose their death and I was against it. When being born is not our decision then so is death. And being dead or committing [something likely to] suicide I think, is courageous!! But "Should we have the freedom to die????" is the big question. My question has been answered somehow by someone.....no one has the freedom towards death and the TSUNAMI that struck the south east of Asia has made me realise that. Almost a 1,00,000 people died because of this and most of them I am sure never wanted to die!!!! They didnot have their freedom to choose...be it life or death. All of us surrender to some supernatural power that rules us [this is for those who belive in God] and to the wonders of nature be it calm or cruel.

"galoric" Bangalore

Wowww...Bangalore hasnot changed a single bit!except for the traffic and the pollution which has gone up by a 5%. I have never seen Bangalore so colourfuland beautiful. The festive spirits for Christmas and New Year can be compared to none! Bangalore is definitely a city for everyone. Coming home I didnot feel that I was away from here for 3months. I knew that I belonged here whichever part of the world I went to. I am sure that I shall enjoy my stay here to the fullest! Han, I hope that you are reading this.....I am happy like never before,the clear blue skies with tiny little clouds, the sun out of that cloud shining over my city, the cool breeze flowing through the door, the buzz of the people which you can hear to....all this you can experience nowhere else except BANGALORE!
Yesterday was a fantastic day with a festival "Vaikunta Ekadashi". I had been to a temple twice with my family [phew...soo many people, thank God I didnot have to stand in the neverending queue], the evening rounding up with a luxurious dinner by our masterchef " the street vendor" preparing his specialities "Tikki Puri" and "Bhel Puri"!!!! Im off to PVR cinemas now to catch a movie with my friends and family.This is one of the few places that has come up since I left!

getting to bangalore

My trip was better than I expected it. My flight from London for Sri Lanka was delayed for 2 hours. The girl sitting right next to me was fantastically disgusting! She was drunk already when she entered the flight and then she started drinking again and after again and again and again and again.....at least about 4 or 5 bottles of red wine I guess! Sitting next to her was terrible, I didnot sleep at all during the 13 hour flight and moreover felt sick because of the odour of that RED WINE!! My idea of wearing a saree to impress my mother was an absolute flop. As soon aas my mother saw me she asked me "Archana! whats wrong with your face???!!and your voice has changed completely!!!!!". She didnot realise that I spent almost 30 hours travelling from Bradford to Bangalore! Well, my stepmom commented that I looked like an airhostess with that saree. That was enough!

the 'Not-working' mania

Today I have everything to complain.....nothing at all worked as planned today.....the printers at the computer centres were not working, the laundry is closed [not working], the water supply was not working, the weather too is furious today...its raining in the wind and its freezing outside. I can hear the wind wanting to gush in through the window right next to me in my room, I think its going to explode any moment now . I have everything to do before I go but nothing seems to be working!
I will be out with my friends tonight, ofcourse my friends who are girls to watch "Shrek 2" at the university.Seen it before twice and its a "NOT BAD" kind of movie. I hope at least the video player at the university's theatre is working!

4 more days...

4 more days and I will be back home for about 22 days!!! 22 days are not enough I feel.....I want to go back forever, stay there forever. I am so nostalgic right now!! If I follow my heart, abroad is not a place for me. This is not home. But its ok, I am strong enough to stay here for 3 more years. When I go back I will have so much fun that I will want to hold on to those moments forever in my life.
Too emotional! I am listening to this song "Janmon ki jwala" from the movie "Hey Ram". Awesome singing by Asha Bhosle and Hariharan, awesome music by the legendary Ilayaraja, meaningful lyrics.....all in all my most treasured romantic song . These little things increase my belief in love.....that "special someone"......I can live my entire life just like this.....dreaming and dreaming.

The castle as seen from the tower......better than a view from a plane?? The castle is now home to the University Of Durham......would love to study and stay in a castle!!

the day today....

A truly satisfying day.....normal as it should be. Went to the University to submit a coursework. Looking forward to get to Bangalore.....9 more days......how will these days go by??I learnt to write my name in Chinese today Han taught me though she was skeptical of my abilities to write it. Guess what?? She was wrong!!I can write it all by myself now....I think writing is pretty artistic.

Me on the tower....my most favorite picture.....the clouds passing over my head, the sun setting right behind me (at 2:45 in the afternoon!!), my hair blowing in the wind.......romantic huh??? 

the week'end' gone by

Saturday,the 3 rd of December, from what I can describe it was one of the best days of my life!!! I was in Durham - the cathedral city....and was it beautiful or more??? Incase you are wondering, the cathedral in Durham is the same one in Harry Potter (the movie). It is aptly called the Harry Potter Cathedral!! It is big and beautiful...these are some pictures taken there. We had to climb hundreds and hundreds of steep steps (that being spiral and very narrow)to get to the top of the tower. Once we reached on top the view was tremendous and satisfying!!! It sums up life....you can enjoy the view because you worked soo hard to climb these steps. Only when you go through difficult phases in life, you shall know the value of happiness right??? What say on this thought of mine? When I expressed this view to an exhausted friend of mine, Han( my chinese flatmate) who is 5 years older than me, she told "Are you arrrrrright??? Oh my Gaaawwd!!! Have you never been on a flight???? The views are better I think"!!!!!!!!!!!! I told myself....we look at life from different perspectives ;)

At the cathedral (from left to right) Me( 18..youngest of the lot),Jheng Li Jia...Grace is her English name(23 yrs from Shanghai), Melek (28 yrs from Turkey) wonder whats with her expression?!!, Han Pei Yu...English name is Irene...but we call her Han (23 yrs) also from Shanghai. 

archangel's

Hello to everyone and anyone who is reading this. I am ARCHANA RAMESH from Bangalore, IT capital, Pub city, Garden city of India, Silicon Valley of Asia as everyone would call it.....But I would call it "HOME". I am currently living in Bradford, a small city in England as I am a student at the University of Bradford studying medical engineering from the past three months. I had nothing much to do at the moment so I thought I would set up a blog page for myself. By the way I also found it interesting [an online journal huh?? ;)] . Whoever would read this please post a comment or something at least so that I know someone is reading my stuff!!!
Enough for my first blog I guess. I have a class early morning tomorrow.....So see you when I get back.