Friday, July 23, 2010

The 18th thing- One of Dad's jokes

The phone rang and somebody downstairs picked up.
"Gulduuuu*?" came the call.
"He's in the baathrooom," I shouted back.
"Alright!"
Dad was close by hunched over the computer.
Dad murmured. "He's logging out."
My cousin and I giggled.
Then Dad said. "What do you think of logging in?"
My cousin and I burst out laughing.

*- Names have been changed. You can still correctly guess who Guldu is though.

Monday, July 19, 2010

The 17th thing- Sunday the 18th

 I- The Unlucky Part
      I didn't really want to go when mom asked me if I wanted to attend this Dance-Drama thing in BU. She reckoned I needed to step out of the house anyway so I got ready. Granny meanwhile was talking about the Nano car and asked me if I wanted one, I remained silent (that tiny thing isn't really my thing) and said that I liked Jazz. Dad corrected me and said that I was always supposed to mention the name of the car company that produced it and then the name of the car, "So you see its not just Jazz, its Toyota Jazz", to which I said, "Its Honda Jazz!!!" And this sparked up a little challenge. I said to him, "Bet I can name more car companies than you can!" and he laughed that off!
      So as we sat in the car we started off a game. He would name a car company and me another.. to see who would last longest (something tells me that this is not how father and daughter usually bond).
      "Maruthi" "Honda" "Toyota" "Tata" ... "Dad I think there's a bit of smoke coming off from the bonnet.." "Oh no I think its from the bus in front.. its from its exhaust" (this was Mom). "Oh alright then.. Aston Martin" "Morris and Dodge! Beat that!" "Alfa Romeo and Bentley. Easy Dad." .... "I really think there's smoke coming off the bonnet.. tiny wisps of it.. and I can smell the heated up engine too" "Really..? Hmm.. I don't see anything.. Hummer" "Is that even a car company? Never heard of it.. Chevrolet." By then we'd almost reached BU. But then, "Dad.. I'm SURE there's smoke coming off the bonnet and you'd better stop right now.. Plus there's this weird rattling noise." My dad did slow down and we entered the gates of SDB (Some Damn Building). The car was clearly in trouble now. We got down and Dad opened the bonnet and there was more smoke, with the horrid odour of heated metal (that's what I thought it was anyway) accompanying it. Dad went around the stately and spacious building looking for some water to cool off the engine. He came back with a bottle of it and then poured it into the .. radiator I think its called. With a lot off hissing, we found that our car was dying. There was green blood oozing out of the bottom (turned out it was the coolent).
      We decided there was nothing much left to do and we left the car panting for breath there and knew we had to walk a certain distance to our destination. Unfortunately, earlier on at home I thought it'd be nice to feel taller than usual and so put on some heels. And, not that I'm the complaining type or anything, was thinking out  loud how dense and black the clouds above were. And it started to rain. I couldn't run or walk fast properly.

II- The Lucky Part
      We didn't have to walk much and we soon entered BU, albeit a little sweaty and wet (me with aching feet). As soon as we entered we saw Mom's Chairman there- a certain someone I've always felt like giving a piece of my mind to for overworking my poor mother. But I think I was amicable enough. He was with Mr.R (who'd helped me get my driving license) and a driver. Dad and I left Mom chatting with them to find out that there were no seats vacant at all in the auditorium. Oh well. What a bummer. So we thought we'd happily leave (only we couldn't cuz our car was close to seeing the white light at the end of the tunnel). We came back to where Mom was to see that the chairman had a little solution. He said he'd leave his driver with us to figure out the trouble with our car. So while he drove off in his Mitsubishi, the five of us (including Mr.R) set off on foot to where we'd left our car (in SDB). This time, no rain. So we arrived there and dad asked me to go get the bottle and fill it up from a little artificial pond nearby. To do this I had to go ask some guys who were working with wooden planks and such for a bottle. Here I must say I impressed myself with my hindi. There was a guy who had the empty bottle and when I asked for it he said,
"Hame chahiye peenekeliye*.. Apko kyon?"
"Paani dalna hai isme." (Not bad Arpitha!)
"Ham kya karenge..?"
"Doosra hai kya?"  (Wow.)
"Nahi.. teeke aap vapas laiye."
"Haan." (Awesome.)
      And I filled up the bottle and took it over to where about half a dozen surgeons were now trying to bend over the examination table to diagnose our family member (the surgeons were some more workers). The problem was this- a pipe had cracked, through which water from the radiator poured out. So we couldn't drive our car home without somewhat fixing it. The driver asked for sellotape. But where could we find a stationery shop? And it also hit me that catching an auto here would be difficult too. As luck would have it, the workers produced some sellotape. They didn't have any duct tape. So the driver set about trying to fix the pipe. And then something struck me, "Dad what's that cellotape made of?" "Oh.. its made up of some paper like substance.." "Then when the engine heats won't it catch fire?" To which he said no, albeit looking slightly uncomfortable. But thankfully everyone decided to leave the car for the night, and buy the spare part tomorrow and fix it up. We left the car with an old watchman (Dad doesn't know this but Mom slipped him a 50 rupee note to do the job), saying that we'd be back the next day at 11am, and headed out. There was a bus stand right opposite SDB. I dreaded taking a messy bus full of smelly people trying to stand all the way with heels on. Again, as luck would have had it, we boarded an immediate bus to where we live, and a comfortable one at that. We even had places to sit. I looked out of the window and dreamed away, about Rafa, cars, Rafa, songs, Rafa, my new cell phone and suddenly wondered (as the bus automated voice said "Neksht shtop iish Tata Silk Form") as to what would happen if the bus broke down. Thankfully, that didn't happen. We got down at a bus stop amazingly close to our house, and walked back home.

MORAL: Don't wear heels. Ever. It will somehow make a bad day worse.
[*peenekeliye- hehehe.. PEEnekeliye! LOL!]

Sunday, July 11, 2010

The 16th thing- My first ever sketch of a car- The Audi R8

   Ok there were 5 stages to this beauty (that's what i'm calling it regardless of what you think). Stage 1 was just a slight outline of the body without wheels. 2 was a slightly detailed version with the headlights dawn in and the body shaded. 3 was um.. forgot.. nothing important i guess.. 4 was with the wheeels. :( that was tough. And 5 was most important- my damn signature.
  Had lots of fun drawing this! My brain felt mildly active!
   This drawing is inspired by my driving lessons from Dad! And also Top Gear!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

The 15th thing- Another dream

This one's obviously about Nadal too :) Had this dream last night. This is how it started off.. We ( I think Rakshith was on my right) were walking in the sun and I knew it was going to be a glorious day- how could it not be when we were at the qualifyings of an F1 Grand Prix? And, Nadal was getting ready to start off, he was the first one readying himself to whiz through the circuit. I was really surprised to see that there were very few people. Oh well maybe they'd come later when there were a little more people on the grid. So we got pretty close to where Rafa was, sitting in his car, white helmet on. As he was revving up, looking around, cool as.. well, Nadal, I shouted out, "Go Rafa!!" and to my immense joy he heard me!! He looked around, saw me, and waved (a tiny wave with his white gloved right hand)! And then I couldn't resist, I yelled out, "We'll always be there for you Rafa!!!". And he AGAIN turned around and acknowledged me and grinned I think!!!
   He set off and he was the fastest even after almost everyone had finished. I was pleased. The one who hadn't, however, was (obviously I think) Federer. He was a major threat to Nadal's lap time and he was to start soon. But rather than racing, what he was doing was, shooting hoops in a basketball court wearing baggy shorts! And he was getting close to Nadal's lap time somehow by continually slam dunking. I worried more and more by the minute, but soon he did beat Nadal's time by scoring 160 points i think :( and thats's when Roger became world number one again. I was actually glad cuz that would mean Rafa'd get some competition.
   When Nadal was done discussing tactics and such with his racing team, he came out and walked past me. And there were these skinny guys nearby who said, "Well done Rafa!! You is amazing!" and they said it with a spanish accent just to feel closer to Nadal, deliberately making the grammatical error. Nadal said, "You mean are, not is," in his own wonderful spanish tinged english that I absolutely adore. So I caught up with him and said, "Rafa I liked the way you raced alot. I think it was very nice," to which Rafa said, "I like your english alot!" and I was so flattered!! He was impressed! (Lol!)
   And we became very good friends :) He invited me over to spend time with his crew. There was Toni and some other guy. We really hit it off well. I even slept in the same hotel as them! I was in the same room as Rafa!! And we basically spent the time travelling and sitting in our room chatting. We were really really good friends you see. And all the while I was acutely aware if this feeling of immense happiness that everything was just right. While the four were chatting, one day, something happened, there was a rustle of activity, and before I knew it everyone was in a rush and packing. And Rafa said, "Here! Take loads of pics!" and threw me a camera. And I said, "What? Now?" Rafa said "Yeah! Quick cuz we don't have much time!" And I began clicking pictures madly and even when I'd taken loads and stopped he urged me on and told me never to stop clicking them.
   I woke up with the feeling of deep satisfaction that accompanies my dreams of Nadal.