Thursday, May 7, 2009

I was tagged on facebook a couple of months back before this leg fiasco by S who said to me: "A, will you do this 25 thing?"
I honestly didnt have time then as I was busy with work and had a social life.
But now I am unable to participate in both above mentioned activities and so will take up this tag.
I have seen many ppl do this tag on their blog and thought this was a good idea and so i will also do it on my blog (since I currently have one).

25 is a huge number and i am not known for sustaining my interest in anything for too long, but I will finish this.


1. I am not fond of chocolate. If all the women in the world were divided into those who love and hate chocolate, I would probably be all alone on one side with the rest of the women on the other.
2. While we're on this topic, I might as well 'fess up that I ABSOLUTELY HATE coffee and am not that into ice-cream either.
3. My favorite colors are blue, black and red.
4. I don’t like wearing jeans. For some weird reason, it hurts my skin.
5. My favorite fruit/flavor is mango. The only ice-cream I will touch is Mango ice-cream.
6. I have at least 5 pairs of black pants and at one point had 4 black winter coats. I used to try to wear these at any given time. Because of this, I was given the name 'Grim.'
7. The previous naming ceremony was also held because I can be pretty cold and un-emotional sometimes. However, I am pretty good at masking this when I want to.
8. I love pecan pie and cheesecake. There was a point of time where the highlights of my life used to be used to be BK Veggie burger and Mango cheesecake.
9. I love tea. (no brownie points for guessing that one). I can also make quite good tea, my sole claim to fame in the culinary dept.
10. I am a sci-fi fan. Star trek and Star Wars being my favorite.
11. Coming from a musically inclined (and of course tam-brahm) family, I was put into Carnatic vocal (presumably because I was a girl) and instrumental classes from a young age. I am a pretty good singer, if I do say so myself. I also believe I know my music pretty well. So if I tell you its ragam Durbari Kaanada, it probably is.
12. I used to be good at Shot-put and Javelin. The only sport that I still enjoy playing now and follow regularly is Tennis.
13. I believe in live and let live (usually). You really have to be one mentally sick specimen to want to annoy me. However, if annoyed and pushed, I can get nasty.
14. I am very absent-minded. A number of times I have opened the fridge and forgotten what I wanted or walked into rooms and couldn’t remember what I came there for.
15. I love Lego. I used to build spaceships as a kid with my Lego blocks and this used to be my favorite pastime apart from reading.
16. Most people, when they meet me in person, seem astonished that I am interested in science, philosophy, and sci-fi. Probably they were expecting thick glasses. I’m usually the one who has the last laugh in these meetings.
17. I forget things quickly. I have scrapes on my body that I usually can’t remember how I got. This sometimes worries my mother. (love you amma).
18. I am not that good a cook. I suspect due to poor short-term memory. But if someone else is there along with me in the kitchen, I can manage quite well.
19. I love philosophy. I can have discussions about Vedanta anywhere, anytime.
20. There are only 3 languages I can read, write AND speak/understand: English, Hindi and Sanskrit.
21. My favorite part of Chennai is Mylapore.
22. I like martial arts.
23. I have a varied music taste. I enjoy listening to almost everything from Carnatic to Jazz to Japanese/Chinese classical. My favorite music band of all time is Alan Parsons Project.
24. I love reading. My favorite books include Amar Chitra Katha, Asterix, Tintin, Calvin and Hobbes, Panchatantra, Hitopadesha, The Upanishads, The Mahabharatha and Ramayana, and R.K Narayan and Ruskin Bond's works. My favorite book of all time is R.K. Narayan's Swami and Friends.
25. I love listening to the Tambura.

25 comments:

SRK said...

u HATE coffee? and u call yourself a TamBrahm?

Shot-put and Javelin? i thot (from the broken leg) it wud hv been long jump/high jump...

keep up the bloggin even after ur leg heals though :)

Anjana R said...

@SRK
I dont believe in consuming/using stereotypes to identify myself. Refer glasses point.
If i had been good at jumping sports, this wouldnt have happened in the first place. :(

Laksh said...

Was an interesting read. It amazes me each time I read the 25 things. Surprising things people think. :)

Idling in Top Gear said...

With you on the coffee...I couldn't drink coffee (esp hot coffee) if it was the only thing available.

Star Trek - Kirk, Picard or the new wussie spin-offs with Janeway and whoever else?

PS: No one could call themselves a sci-fi fan without mentioning Firefly/ Serenity. :)

PS2: 14. I am very absent-minded and 17. I forget things quickly : I was gonna make a wisecrack about the similarity of these two, but I forgot. :D

Anjana R said...

@Laksh
Thankyou. :) Thoughts are fascinating, aren't they?

@Idling
Picard all the way. Data and Riker were also my favorites. Was never all that impressed with Kirk though. Loved Spock nevertheless (how could one not?)Up until 13-14 I half-hoped half-believed that Vulcan actually existed. :D
I wanted to watch Firefly, but heard there were no alien characters, which sort of put me off.
Used to watch Dr.Who and Futurama. :)

Perception said...

Me too Absent-minded-high five for that one :)

Me too can manage to cook if someone else is in the kitchen hehehhe

Chai fan me tooo :)

Enjoyed reading this one!

aandthirtyeights said...

Ah. The sound of the Tambura. It is so beautiful!

You can speak Sanskrit? I'm so out of touch with it, although there is one Mami in the vicinity who speaks to me only in Sanskrit, and I reply in a mix of Sanskrit and Kannada.

The funnier things is, when I talk Konkani (I grew up in Manipal and most of my friends were Konkanis), I keep slipping into this mix of Sanskrit and Konkani!

Vibushan L Narayan said...

I AM astonished :D
Not a big fan of star trek, but love star wars :D

if you can come up with some fairy tales on you blog, probably, you could rename your blog as "Grim's Fairy Tales"... :D

(I could kill myself for this PJ.. )

Anonymous said...

Okay, first @SRK: there are lots of TamBrahms who don't like their kaapi. I'm one of them.

and Anjana, yes, there are always exceptions. and BK burgers? where do we have them in our city? I never knew it! Tennis-we share an interest!

You like Mylapore..maybe because u live there. And what kind of tea do you prefer and what's the best you've had?

Mambalam Mani said...

*Tam-Brahm - Can't Read, Write AND Speak Tamil

* Like Mylapore - don't like Coffee

ada Rama!

Anjana R said...

@Perception
Glad you enjoyed it. isn't chai awesome? beats coffee hands-down any day. :D

@aand
speak/understand. I can understand (also read and write) Sanskrit. If push comes to shove, can speak it too. but that has never happened till date.
That mami sounds quite cool. :)

@Vibushan
Have heard that PJ cracked many a time by others. They're all still alive. So don't bother. :)

@Varun
Glad to see another fellow coffee-hater and tennis lover. :)
BK = Burger King, a popular burger chain in the US. Only a matter of time before their franchise comes to Chennai. :)
I like tea of all kinds; my current favorite, in concordance with the summer season, is Dilmah's Mango tea.

@Mani
ada Rama indeed.

Anonymous said...

@Anjana:
yea, I know BK being a global chain yaar..we have them here in Australia as HJ (Hungry Jacks) and they sell Aussie style burgers. and hey! not sure if you read the reply to ur comment on my latest post. hoping you would when u find time.

and Dilmah is what I drink here everyday! the best I've had though is tea straight from Lipton's tea bushes in Assam. Brands, I would suggest one particular kind of Kenyan tea, ll get u the name soon, forgot it.

Deepak Iyer said...

"Coming from a musically inclined .... "


This is completely redundant if you are a TamBram girl.

Seriously, what is it with TamBram and pushing kids into Carnatic music classes ? Unfortunately, it is not limited to TN. TamBrams all over the world inflict this on their kids.

Apart from that, cool list.

Btw, do they use the tambura a lot in Carnatic ? I thought it was always the shruti peti, another thing found in many TamBram households.

Sachita said...

I love love"Swami and friends".
On the rest, if you didnt like choclates, icecream, you must already be in slim heavan(only food sin left is the fried item).

For the most part, I am just amazed that people can come up with 25 distinct points.

Amal Bose said...

i find it rather strange.. a girl who doesnt like chocolate, coffee, jeans and loves philosophy, sci fi?

Anjana R said...

@Varun
I think ive heard of that Kenyan brand you're referring to.

@Rajesh
Thanks.

@Deepak
I think it has to do with the fact that music relaxes and helps the TamBrahm kids take a breather from their studies.
Yes, the Tambura is used in almost all Carnatic music concerts. However, the kids learning at home use mostly Sruti peti only. Which would explain its ubiquitous presence in all TamBrahm households. :)

@Sachita
Isn't Swami and Friends awesome?
And as for slim heaven-there are a LOT of foods that cause much more fat that ice-creams and chocolates put together, sadly. :)

@Amal Bose
i rest my case. :P

Anonymous said...

hey! its quite a while since u posted after this eh? hoping to read something interesting very soon..was just droppin by.
Cheers

Anonymous said...

I was pushed to music so badly. But every time, i had an excuse to get out of it! I just could not come to learn Carnatic Music! My granny has a frown on his face even now when he is reminder of my musical record! According to her, Iyer girls should wear pattu pavada, have long hair and should know music. I dont follow either of the Iyer girl rules!!
And by the way, I hate coffee too. Just because of its aroma! I'm not a tea lover too!
Interesting. My frist time here. Your template suits the blog name so much lady :-)

Vyazz said...

Nice to read ur tag!!
Being a fellow TamBhram I hate coffee too!!!
Nice to meet a fellow tea lover. The types of tea you get here in Petersburg are amazing!!!
Love star wars and star trek as well!!
Have quite a few things in common..
namely points 5,9,14,15, 19 and 24.

Sruthisagar Yamunan said...

You wear winter coats in Chennai? :O

And how come your favorite place in Chennai is Mylapore and you still hate coffee?


Very Weird

Rahul Viswanath said...

I loved the fact you hate coffee .... Did hop here after a while !!

Anjana R said...

@Varun
updated. :)

@Ramya
Tell me about the Iyer girl stereotypes. :)) Never did understand the "long hair" business either. Luckily, I had a genuine interest in music else it would've probably been hell for me too. :)
And thankyou. :D

@Vyazz
Glad to see a fellow coffee hater. :D

@Twisted
Winter coats in Chennai? Come on. :)This wasnt in Chennai.
And I know a good number of Mylaporeans who are not fond of the beaned-beverage. :)

@Rahul
I loved the fact that you loved the fact that I hate coffee.:D

buddy said...

i love lego too :D
and if i say it is darbari kanna it most probably isnt :P

Ketan said...

You're good at javelin and shot put? You're good a martial arts?

I better not post nasty comments about you here. Not that I intended to ;)

You like tea, I don't like it, but I like coffee. You don't like chocolates much; I just love them. Isn't that great! Less competition, you see!

Great post! Now, now, now, put that javelin down, okay?

[sigh]

Thanks!

TC.

Anonymous said...

You hate chocolate and ice cream???? Atleast you like cheesecake :P

And i'm with you on the tambhram carnatic music thing- though I'm not so quick at recognizing raaga's.