I wander thro' each charter'd street...

So, Aavishkar and I were sitting outside Gate 1 this evening, waiting for our respective transports and we began to discuss the 2011 National Budget. Of course, our dear Aavi was more interested in the increase in sin taxes than the bread price, but he was sufficiently outraged when he delivered the news that our former president Thabo Mbeki cost tax payers R20.5 million in his Sudan travels.

I can't get over the fact that Mbeki actually spent in travel luxuries, almost the amount that was added to education and training in South Africa this year.

The one thing I'll tip my hat off to though, is the fact that Joel will have to cough up (check my pun) a few more cents every time he wants to kill his lungs and alcohol lovers will have to spew out (I out do myself sometimes!) a good few rands more every time they want to kill their kidneys.

I'm still in the process of reading the 46 Page Budget Speech (which I will put on hold for the moment), and I'm about to settle into some William Blake poetry analysis.

Tyger Tyger , burning bright,

In the forests of the night;

What immortal hand or eye,

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

(no Rajbansi, I swear I'm not referring to you here).

And that's not the poem I'm cutting apart, though all the same, it's quite something isn't it?

OK, goodnight world. London and the Industrial Revolution calls.

Whatever Happened to the Greater Good?

I was listening to my parents and their cousin talk one afternoon. Sitting in the lounge, quietly and unobtrusively in the corner, absorbing all their views but expressing none of my own - because that's how it's done in the Indian households: children must be seen and not heard (I don't think the fact that I'll be 19 in two weeks attests to much). And I began to think, that the world is full of people who talk all the time but don't actually say anything at all.

People in Parliament talk all the time of alleviating crime; of reducing interest rates; of creating more jobs and building more schools; of uplifting communities and growing the economy. Talk, talk, talk, and that's where it ends.

The amazing thing is, we have the ability to do all these things. We are more than capable: yet the reason human trafficking still exists, the reason Somalian pirates have the gall to board an oil tanker with 20million barrels of oil, the reason drugs is still one of the most lucrative backwater businesses and organ trafficking has now infiltrated the Net Care hospitals which we thought were oh so safe...is because there is always someone - usually one of those people up there who go, 'we will stop these atrocities' - who benefits.

That is the Achilles heel in todays politic: agenda's - everyone (or nearly everyone) has their own.

A Game of Tag

I sometimes wonder, what's the point?

What's the point to living?

I watched a rose go from a beautiful voluptuous smile yesterday, to a jilted and limp lover this morning. From the moment it began to bloom, it began too, to die.

And that, is the irony of Life my dear readers: Death chases It from It's very first breath.

Some Places Mend The Soul

Tonight my heart yearns for many things...

The tranquility of Musjid-un-Nabawi: I can feel the cold marble beneath my feet as I gap in-line outside to read my Fajr salaah; it's still dark and the Saudi Arabian heat is tempered by Winters cool breeze, waking my mind, just as the resounding call to Prayer woke my soul. Madina - the City of Smiles. That's how I remembered that blessed resting place of Nabi (SAW). It's little alleys and backstreets always lending me a new discovery each time I wandered through them. A City I'd never been to before wrapped me in its fold like a greeting to a long familiar friend; no matter the time of day or night that I deigned to stroll through it, it always had a willing hand and ready smile; perfume to delight the senses and peace to calm the soul.

I remember, all too clearly the bustling hyperactivity of Makkah: a bubbling rush of heat and never ending tasks, important in their insignificance. My heart thuds in reminiscence though, of the Harram Shareef: and that feeling of being utterly and totally puny and infinitesimal. I loved it. I remember the first time I touched that magnificent hulk of stone, its scent lingering for hours after, so that I was loath to wash my hand even when it was impossibly unavoidable to do so. I loved standing there, before the Ka'bah, as the floor of heaven shone bright with phosphorescent globules...knowing that all around the world, billions of Muslims stood behind me, all facing the same direction, all with the fervent wish in their hearts to stand where I stood. And late at night, into the early morning, when after hours of solitude amid thousands of others, a stroll to stretch my muscles found me gravitating in a direct and unshakable line to the Baskin&Robbins ice cream stand in the Hilton foyer - till eventually the man behind the counter knew not my name, but always had the exact same flavour scooped and ready, at the nearly exact time everyday: my 2am rendezvous with Cookies & Cream.

Those are the many things my heart yearns for...

p.s i totally took those first two pictures myself :D best journey EVER!

Monday is the new Saturday!

And week two is here. Joy of joys (no, I mean it). I'm actually relishing this whole Student thing - feed me more knowledge!

The days just seem to be getting hotter and hotter don't you think? I don't know about you, but I melt simply walking between Mtb and Shepstone...melt faster than a popsicle left outside at midday. NOT a very lovely thought (or feeling mind you).

Classics: now here's a subject I'm astounded by. Imagine, studying Greek Mythology - something I would read for fun - and getting tested and credited for it? It seems far too good to be true. I mean, it's basically saying, 'heres your hobby, we want you to pass it'. I love it. Personally I think all of those 'Gods' were useless - jealousy? fear? incest? (eew - Dudes (and dudettes) - when you're supposed to have the whole universe at your beck and call, WHAT is the need?!!). Diz-GUST-ing (yet intriguing - I mean, what the fudge? The Greeks must have been quite messed up if you really think about it).

And my last topic for today: The Ritard, need no longer choose between Bieber-Boy (no, no, Lin I'm not referring to you here) and me. Coz I've decided that Zeus and his sexual deviations; and Wordsworth and his so failing in optimism poetry; and our Malawian lecturer in Linguistics; and Richard Charleton Civil and his arbitrary yet decidedly interesting facts about Global Warming, Acid Rain and 80 year-old grandmothers - most definitely tops my priority list right now. I sold the ladder, and ate all the nice sweet cotton candy-like stuff, so really, Bieber and his clay looks like a far better option: besides I miss the friendship far too much (you could never even ever imagine).

Right, so now I'm going back to Environmental Ethics and why nuclear waste has a 500000 years half-life.

P.s Did you know that the number of cellphones has reached the 5Billion mark? And how many people in the world are there again? 6.some-odd-billion? (refer to Salute to the Chinaman for an exact figure!). Question: what happens to all those cellphones that aren't used anymore? They all get dumped where exactly? And if cellphone production grows at the rate it does (and I'm pretty sure that it will), what then, does that mean for our environment? Aren't parts of those billions of cellphones still radioactive?

P.p.s HAPPY VALENTINES DAY WORLD! And to all those who did NOT wear red: I salute you! Welcome to the fold of non-conformity. Now you can all start saving for NEXT years Bankruptcy Day :) I don't hate Valentines Day, don't get me wrong. Just, I wonder, how many people know that it all began with a massacre?

Campus, Year 2; Day 2

And the first day came and went, in a blur of more lines. It's astounding that a university would have such an archaic system of registration don't you think? Anyway, enough of that (even I'm getting tired of my moaning and bitching about the whole thing). Point: It's Over - YAY!

It was so hot today, I'm assuming 28 Degrees? I think the world was smiling for us. The weather just about as excited as we are to be getting back into the general grind of studying (yes, I did just say that).

All around, I see first years, and I just (barely) control the urge to point and laugh hilariously at them and go, "Haha you're a first year, suckerrrrrrr!" I don't though, coz I'm nice like that, (and im afraid of Karma), but mostly, coz I'm nice...(agree damit). Also, I remember what it was like to be a first year - gosh I used to think that this place was so huge that I'd need a scooter just to get around (actually, I still want a golfcart: mainly so that I can whizz about honking that annoying horn and shouting at people, "get out of the way retard coming through!" admit it, that WOULD be fun).

So anyway, it's the end of the day. I'm tired; Beans tired; Kam (PIE) needs her student card back (+ Bean is scared someones going to confiscate her pie - an actual veg pie mind you).

So like, Ciao my beautiful readers. I'll only be posting on a tuesday and saturday from now on, watch this space conscientiously! (or you'll miss out on some retard action - coz now that campus has begun, trust me, there'll be loads).

I am, non exageration, looking forward to being a student this year. OK, really now, BYE!

P.s Kerl-i i want your glasses. ok bye! (for real).

Hello Second Year

Hot, sticky weather; queues of hot, sticky people; hours of hot, sticky annoyance; madness: hot, sticky madness. Welcome to my Registration.

The Highlight: Bean, Joel and Siv (oh! And Richard. How can I forget Richard - who even with his chopped off mass of curls that makes him resemble a very bad mock up of Oliver Twist - made me look forward to taking the second part of his module this coming semester. Richard. Richard. Thank you for remembering that I sit in the third row!)

So, I got there at 10:45am and only left at 5pm. And I'm still only ALMOST registered. But, the major head breaking, blood boiling bit is over - I have my signatures: CHA CHING!

Bring on the second year!

3,14 (6 Days and Counting)

So it's the end of Monday...BOO YEAH! Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, CAMPUS! I'm jumping in my seat (If you know me, then you know that I most definitely am).

I'm so sick of the holidays, I find myself sleeping in the middle of the afternoon (and for someone who hardly does anything except draw, read, listen to music, watch t.v and swim, that is the height of laziness).

I swear, laziness is a side-effect of the December Holidays - they should come with a warning label, like the ones on the side of cigarette boxes.

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Warning:

• when 18, causes harm to your libido (NOTE: libido in this context also known as the LIFE-DRIVE).
• Holidays clog the synapses and cause sleeping attacks and stupidity.

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I don't have a vendetta against holidays, I have a vendetta against their absurd length. What happened to anything in excess is bad for you?

Moderation people, is the key to life (excepting in the case of chocolate that is - but then again, chocolate IS the exception to every rule - including Pi).