Daenerys Stormborn

#Major spoilers ahead! # Do not read if you have not seen the last episode of GOT!

She was the sole reason I continued watching the show after the first season, from being the timid girl who did not speak against her brother to claiming the iron throne in the last episode, her transformation was phenomenal, including the emotional turmoil in the last few episodes she had to endure. What do you expect of her when she had to put up with Tyrion’s betrayal, Jon’s cold shoulder, Missandei’s death, and Rhaegal’s fall?

She has been that lady who took command, built her own army and did what was needed to stay in power, she learned it the hard way, yet her weakness was love, she did not see her end coming from the last man she loved. Even Drogon did not see that coming, he did not hurt Jon, probably even Daenerys would never have too.

Daenerys words left me thinking, “World we need won’t be built by the men who are loyal to the world we have”, “It’s not easy to see something that has never been before”, I could not stop myself but be reminded of Thanos in End Game “As long as there are people who remember what was, there will always be those who are unable to see what it can be!”. Revamp and cleansing cannot happen in a place where people are entangled with the past, but such revolutionary ideas have always brought war and massive destruction, which is why they are dreaded.

Dany burning an entire city down was tad crazy, but burning a city down for injustice is not a new theory presented to us. Maybe it was just the quick turn of events and character transformation in the last two episodes that irked many of us. Life happens, circumstances shock you, experiences mold you and you evolve. Agreed that this “MAD” side of hers ultimately lead to her downfall, but I am just too biased and blinded by my love for her that I try but in vain to justify her actions 🙂

I will always remain a fangirl, forever awed and inspired by how this little girl traveled miles and oceans holding on to that one thing that always kept her going no matter what! Not the strong pursuit of reigning from the IRON THRONE but that stronger belief she had in herself, that she could make it across anything.

Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, First of Her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons, I pledge my loyalty to you, now and always.#TeamDany!

One big shout out to Emilia Clarke who played the role beautifully and made us fall in love with this magnificent character.

Our watch has indeed come to an end.

Home.

It takes mammoth guts to actually move out of the place you called home for more than 20 years. I say so because, it put me through a lot to move out and call another place home.

All that I dreamt back in Chennai was.. when I would start living alone, travel the world and embark on my own special adventure. When that moment really comes, where you leave your comfort zone, move out of your city, thats when you start having cold feet.But then nonetheless, you drag your feet and get done with your immigration process in the airport after all the hugs and kisses from mom, dad, best friends.. basically all the relationships you had and built in the city you called home till now.

The 16-hr flight gives you a lot of time to muse about everything you left behind because practically the last few days whizzed past in preparation for this huge overseas adventure. I was among the lucky few who had cousins waiting to receive you in what might be called home next. 🙂 (yes, I know you all noted the “might” in the sentence).

Reality then dawns, that you moved to a new city, a new country and you have to live with brand new people whom you have never met till now. For a person like me, who has never stayed in a hostel, PG., this is like an epic scene in one’s life where the audience stand up, clap and have happy tears. Do you get it?

There were days in the initial few months where you shed a tear or two thinking about home, mom, dad, your room, friends who kept you busy 365 days…but then your roomie walks in and says “So, what you wanna do today?”  immediately the mood lightens. Slowly, you start enjoying living with roommates who become your friends and then eventually become your sisters. (hoots) Interesting, how complete strangers can become a part and parcel of your life. These are the ones who know, what lifts your mood, what irritates you, what makes you happy and nudge you to smile when you are sad.

Now after all these months of being together with these not so brand new people, the experience of staying away from home doesn’t seem so hard at all and you feel you can finally call this new city, new house…your home.  .

Alas, it just takes the right people to make you feel at home, doesn’t it? 🙂

 

Experiences of a confused DESI in USA

The very first thing that amazed me was the fact that Americans could have bagels, donuts, muffins at any time of the day! I can imagine the hard looks my mom would give me if I had asked a muffin for breakfast :D. It’s very difficult for a south Indian to imagine that Idlis, Dosas, and Pongal are not easily accessible for breakfast unless you cook on your own. Again, how North Indians have Aloo Parathas for breakfast, is perplexing, but well, that’s a different story. Salads are had as lunch, DUDE, that’s something we are given in restaurants for time pass. It’s very hard to find vegetarian food, all your restaurant visits in the US will never be complete without you repeating “No meat, no fish, no eggs”. If you are a vegetarian, you can decide and place your order in 20 seconds, ok, 30 seconds max, easy, you will have only 1 or 2 dishes to choose from.

Next, how to stop oneself from multiplying every dollar spent by 60 :D(ok..ok..exchange rate is more than 60, but still helps in easy multiplication, yes, I am no ABACUS kid, I was a 90’s kid, poor in mathematics as well.) Again hailing from a very orthodox South Indian household, where you maintained a log of every penny spent, it is not that easy to shirk that habit off you. The horror of spending Rs. 120 for curry leaves, yes, it takes few months to get over this, all aunties reading this will be going “AAAAAA” and people who are in the US will be nodding in agreement to my rant. That too, when u have curry leaves plant(plant ah, tree ah..I know for sure it’s not a shrub..whatever) at home.

Next, you always walk on the right, no, no, walk on the left, no, walk on the right. Yeah, so you got the confusion here right? Right? Left? 😉 Pedestrians are respected here because there are strict rules safeguarding the pedestrians, you won’t believe, here you can sue a person if he/she makes you undergo mental stress by applying sudden brakes close to you or stops the vehicle very close to you when you are least expecting it. I know, we would have been multi-millionaires if this was allowed in our country. Not because we have bad drivers, but because we are very smart and know ways to make quick money. You all know what all NAICE words we get to hear if we are on the way of a speeding 2 wheeler or 4 wheeler back in our country. 🙂

Any random person you see on the road will smile at you, first few times, I thought there was something wrong in the way I dressed, but then you understand that’s the way they greet or acknowledge a fellow being. An old lady you see on the road wishes you Good Morning…I even forgot it was a Greeting? It had just become another word used on TV or Radio as an opening statement(Ah, now don’t tell me I missed saying that we used it in school, I am a PSBB product, try Sri Gurubyo Namaha ;)). Also, here people say, “Take care”, at the end of a conversation, all these years, only my parents have told me that and few friends when I was sick. When you hear a “Good Morning honey”, “Goodnight Sweetheart” and “Take care” amidst a rather dull day, you naturally light up.

Pretzel is a snack here, bread topped with salt. Makkale, we have UPPU in toothpaste. I can’t imagine what category Kodu Bale, Ribbon Pakoda, Murukku will fall under if Pretzel is awesome. Actually, PRETZELs are also tasty, but all the above Indian snacks are tastier. Nothing can replace FILTER KAAPI. No more strings to this statement. After Amma and Appa, I miss FILTER KAAPI the most here.

People here are jealous of our black hair and eyes, seriously, we all are drooling over the different shades of eye color we see here ranging from green to blue to light brown and then you hear them complimenting our hair and eye color. Again, is that compliment or is it just that people here are way too nice and laud you to just make you feel blessed. Well, it’s just one other confusion. You see we are not used to all this tsunami of compliments back in India.

On the whole, I think we Indians might be confused anywhere we go because our thinking and approach to life are so very different, again that’s what makes us unique, probably that’s what makes any person unique, how the circumstances and situations in which you grow molds you. That’s why anything new confuses you 🙂

So, these are few of the confusions I had and got over it.

Signing off with a very sentimental note(hoping to bring tears) Haan, Phir bhi Dil Hai hindusthani 😉 Still no tears? Play “Yeh jo des hai tera…” Still..no? Play that line “Aa Laut Chal Tu Ab Deewane, Jahan Koi To Tujhe Apna Mane, Aawaz De Tujhe Bulaye, Wohi Des”

Mission Accomplished. 🙂

Which place are you from?

They say that the place you stay for the first 10 years of your life is the closest to your heart.

People like me are left confused as to where we belong!! Yeah, let me explain people like me, my mother tongue is Tulu which is spoken in Mangalore/Udupi region of Karnataka and I was brought up in Chennai!

I have stayed in Chennai all my life and still won’t be called one of its own because my great grandfather was a Tulu guy and we migrated to Chennai just two generations back. So yeah, you think Udupi is gng to own me, u r mistaken, whenever I go to my hometown, they say, “Aha they r from madras…Tamil speaking folk :|”. Needless to say I mix up a lot of Tamil words in my Tulu and I am ridiculed most of the time for not speaking the language as it has to be spoken.

Whenever you hear someone talking in Tulu/Kannada immediately your heart flares up with the “Nammavaru(Kannada)/Nammaklu(tulu)” feel and you give a broad smile. But yeah….staying in the city(Chennai) for 25 years, makes you feel indigenous to this place…you seem to know the local slang, the trend , the subtle comedy you understand about the lifestyle of the people living in the city. You know each and every gully in the neighbourhood…u know the milkman,postman personally…once in a while you meet some Aunty/Uncle who exclaim ” Evlo valandutta Achu…chinna  vayasule pathadu(OMG! You have grown so much Achu, I last saw u when you were a kid – exact translation 😉 )!”

This does not hold good for Udupi/Mangalore. You don’t know the town, you speak a weird mix of Tulu+Tamil+English…you do not know where to get milk when you run out of milk packets at home…you do not use the slang “Entha maraya idhu(What is this dude)….Howdu Guru(Yes dude)…Barpujji ye(Won’t come)” 😉 But that drumbeat in your heart whenever you hear someone talk in Kannada/Tulu cannot be ignored 🙂 Of course you have relatives who always miss you in every family function you skip and send love all the way to Chennai :). You get reminded of your hometown when you see a lone swing on a tree…when you see kids playing cricket with the bark of the coconut tree….when your mother makes “Paradi Paramana” (Sweet)…when you see jackfruit!!! Some things cannot be replaced or compromised. The love for one’s hometown can never cease.

The fun you have when one can speak a language that cannot be understood by the person next to you…a scene from the movie K3G where Kajol taunts her neighbor in Hindi with that fake smiling face!…that’s what we do most of the time 😉 .

On the flip side, nobody can make fun of you….cos u know all the languages wherever you go! ” I am Sauron….I see everything…naaah…I understand everything” 😉

So yeah, we are the kind of people who are Tuluvas/Kannadigas in Chennai and Tamilians in Udupi. Mind you I have had some serious arguments when people have spoken against Chennai/Udupi 🙂 Yeah you get to argue more when it comes to Chennai cos, Chennai is where I grew, where I learnt and where I dreamt…

And that’s how I stopped saying “I am non-Tamil” and started  “Naan Tamil thaanga…”       ” Howdu Guru Kannada Gothu” ” Tulu Gothundu ye” 🙂 So where are you from? 😉

Why every girl must have a GUY best friend!!!

Yes I have been sentenced 😛 to a lifetime of friendship with two guys from the age of three!! They have tortured me, pampered me and taken my side when I have needed them the most! 🙂

Coming to the list why every girl must have GUY best friend.

1. They take less than 5 mins to get ready when you plan an outing.

I love travelling and I have been on many trips, people taking a lot of time to get ready is something that topples down the entire plan. When with just guys, they take a minimum of 5 mins to get ready, yes, you have to bear with them not taking a bath and also get accustomed to the crazy practice of using heavy perfume to conceal this secret of theirs 😉

2. They can shift any plan to accommodate wherever you wanna go on any day. They do not bother about the sun and getting a tan.

BOYS are low maintenance, well, most boys are!! 😀 They know how to plan things and have everything chalked out, so that we do not miss out on anything that’s been thought of. They don’t care about the heat/rain, all they know is “Lets rock on”.

3. They either say YES or NO for a plan, there is no  “Oh….ya….we’ll see….” “I dunno, maybe…” “I will let you know if I can come” “i completely forgot this plan was there” “Sorry ya, i cant make it today”

They only know to say YES or NO, they can never say reasons once the plan is made. We can always rely on them. There are mostly no last-minute drop-outs when it comes to guys. At least, GUYS are very open to GIRLS who are their best buddies, maybe they transform when they get into a relationship! Who knows?! Something to think about for us girls I guess 😉

4. GUY best friends are the reason why GIRLS believe there are naice guys out there.

Yuppie Yup!!!! in spite of all the intimidating news on the television,radio and internet, if we girls still believe in the existence of NAICE guys it’s because of these best friends that we have. This is nature’s way of telling, yes…dear….there are nice guys, some rotten ones do not spoil the entire barrel!

5. They are very patient listeners.

Sometimes you think they just don’t give a damn about what you talk, but then they do have it in the back of their head and try to sort it out for you in their own way.

6. Our parents stay carefree when in their company. They simply know, we are safe.

Parents never ask us about the whole agenda when you go out with these fellows, they always know, we are as safe as we are with them when out with these guys!

7. They have an answer for all technology related queries you have. What mobile to get? How much should the RAM be? What must the battery levels be? 😀 😀

They are our TECH GURUS, “the laptops not working….what should i do?” ” My mobile is too old…whats the latest??? ” “My mom wants a new mobile, which is the best???” They have answers for everything!!!

8. They can understand you better than any GIRL best friend and sometimes can give you the best advice which actually lightens your day!

They listen to all your senseless rant and put some sense into your head. They even bring up some funny moments from childhood and instantly make you feel a lot better.

9. They do not expect you to talk to them everyday, and when they call once in a blue moon you know there is something very important! 🙂

It is not mandatory to put an attendance daily on whatsapp or call them often. We simply know in our hearts that we are always there for each other. Actually they never expect anything from you and you simply know whom to run to, when in trouble!

10. Free pick up/drop service whenever an outing is planned! They always treat you like royalty 😉

Haah 😉

On the flip side, there are certain things that irks you when you have GUYs as best friends,

1. They sometimes conveniently forget you are girl and include you in all their boy talks!! 😀 At times you do enjoy bitching about typical girls along with them but other times u just wanna run away from that very place 😀 😉

2. GUYS can go into solitude sometimes, and we GIRLS just don’t get it, because we are more the talkative ones.

3. Thinking……..

4. Still Thinking……

Aah! i think we can put up with the two reasons I have come up with 🙂

Ya…. @gautham and @Manoj, you guys are truly wonderful! We have had endless discussions on everything under the sun and always the conclusions have been, yeah, we are all in this roller coaster together!! 🙂 Cheers to our friendship! 🙂