Friendship it is.. or is it

If you're still wondering why this post has such a title, it is because thats what people wanted me to write about. In particular one friend of mine (codename: FlowerGo) who is also jobless and waiting for work to start from Tuesday, wanted me to write about how wonderful it is to analyze our really good friendship over a very short period of time. But something tells me that before I ventured beyond three sentences, all you readers would be fast asleep and wouldn't depend on Benadryl shots or sleeping pills.

So today I thought I'd write something totally different from what I've written before. I thought I'd analyze a few nicknames. Nicknames are a funny thing. From being called as the unit of power (Watts) to having a hospital ward as part of my nick (Sriward) I've seen it all. In spite of my name not being the easiest to pronounce, I've not had it butchered by anyone here in the US, yet. Its always been my dear fellow Indians that have screwed it up. And then there was this friend of mine who was Under Influence and was totally into Lits (Literary events), so he came up with 'Vats the good word'. This would later on replace the event Whats the Good Word in one of our college cul-fests as well. And as you all know, it is also the name of my blog. Incidentally, this friend of mine is almost always addressed by his nick- Patti (Means dog in Malayalam).

Nicknames are something to cherish for life. I am sure every single person has a list of nicks that they accumulated over the course of their lifetime. It just takes some digging up from the memory and a trip down memory lane back to the college days, when you had all kinds of people around you who did not care to call you names (some of which are better left unsaid), which sometimes end up being nicks. Usually I was not the one who pioneered in coming up with nicknames for people. But with one particular nick-Rules, that I came up with for one friend of mine, I started enjoying it. Why the name Rules? This friend of mine had stormed into the railway station to send off one of our seniors in college and in the process had forgotten to buy a platform ticket. So she decided to be truthful and bought two tickets the next day she came to the station. I could not help but come up with this name for her.

As for how I got the name Sriward, well that one was a little weird. I would say that my school cricket team's coach had a serious hearing problem, and thus heard Srivats as Sriward and even wrote it down as that on the team list given to the umpires. So when they were calling out my name, it took a while for all the team members, including me, to realize who it actually was. The bigger irony is that this same coach of mine used to call me something that sounded like Si-ri-way-it.

I could keep on writing loads about nicknames, but I guess any longer and this could fill up one section of The Hindu Editorial page. The idea behind writing this one is to take all of you people back to those days where you were the victims or predators who coined silly/stupid/slick/dashing nicknames for the people around you.

My Friend Once Told Me I Should Write Again

As I sit here, at the center of a huge couch on a Saturday night with nothing to do, I realize the transition I've made in life. Its been one helluva journey through undergrad leading up to Grad school and now life post graduation. The most important addition to my life during my two years in the US has been a pair of spectacles. Funny as it may be, the pair I sport were Made in India (for a change) and came right out of the excellent Eye care facility in my hometown of Chennai. Its been one boring evening, and I even tried sleeping through it. But I would not be able to sleep either, mainly due to the fact that my dad woke me up with a phone call all the way from 8700 miles away, but also considering that my previous several weekends had all been fun filled and this silence and emptiness in the house somehow seem strange.

We have an excellent collection of Indian restaurants on a street called El Camino Real (No I am not calling the Real Madrid football players Kamineys, although they are ;)) but still I chose to eat fries and milkshake at Mcdonald's. Could it be perhaps that I am reminded of those umpteen road trips on I-90 and I-81 where we always stopped at this particular eatery to grab the very same thing-I guess it could! The milkshake still rocks there and I have no reason to complain except for the fact that being a vegetarian thats always my order at MacD's. As for travelling on the highways to tour around some visually breathtaking parts of the country, that dream will have to wait here in California. The main reason for this being that its going to be another month before I get at least my learner's permit thanks to an ever-crowded DMV office. People also say that it will take a further 2 to 3 months to get the actual drivers license. So here I am, during this Labor Day Weekend wondering where I should plan to go in November- encouraging isn't it. I guess I'll just have to stick to visiting all places inside my head.

An air conditioner that does not work, dirty water coming from the taps, a bus fare that'll eat into my salary like piranhas latching onto any food they get and a place that will remain warm throughout the year. Whoever said California life is going to be wonderful should be gunned down unless he/she makes my life better. Alright, I'm just kidding about the gunning down part; You never know who is prowling on these blogs to get a reason to arrest me for a crime I surely did/will not commit. Come to think of it, it will be cool to have to FBI walk in to your house and push you to the wall- Ok wait, my wish list is just getting worse by the minute! Trust me, I did not take any drugs, just the superb Aloo bhaaji cooked by my roommate.

If you're still reading this post, then you are truly my fan and you deserve an award that I cannot afford. Your patience and tolerance for random ramblings is truly exceptional. On a more serious note, I have absolutely no idea why I am writing all this. Anyone who can explain this to me will get a surprise gift that I can afford. Lets see if any of you win a pair of sunglasses from me (Oops.. so much for the "Surprise" gift :))