Well, it was a women’s festival but frisky young men would make discreet appearances under the pretext of chaperoning their sisters or mothers. The hidden intent was to spot interesting faces of the opposite sex during times when the young did not mingle and date brazenly as they would in modern times. Of course the young chap had to be man enough to take the teasing good-naturedly in an assembly of women.

Maami has woven a story around Golu and Navaratri. Read Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Guilt also allows them to hold others responsible for their actions. They exonerate themselves from the wrongdoing. They look for winning approval and pity of others – after all they are feeling guilty, hence they are absolved, and others should be sorry for them. They prove to the world that they are a wonderful, conscientious and caring person.

Soma shares some thoughts on guilt and how it affects professional women. All is not not, she offers some tips from Jack Collis in dealing with guilt

Thanks to the new features our own fridge had, they started locking it.
We both intelligently noticed the place where the key was kept (read hidden) and started sneaking that too; but it was no fun. The smuggling was expecting us to gulp the contents in the glass; but Rasna had to be relished, sip by sip if you ask.

Kavya share a story from the past, of Rasna and summers.

All humans have friends other than their Face-Keep up with the Joneses-Book friends. People move on, make new friends and have fun with them. Its not necessary that they will have the same fun with you as they did in high school and college. And if they dont, it does not mean they are psychos, it means you are a psycho who gets the thrill out of degrading other people.

Rehab Chougle ponders over the futility of the oft-used farewell phrase – keep in touch. If you’ve to say it, it probably will never happen.

She was a shy kid, Jim who used to call me anna and I  quite liked that. A pretty face that hid a lot of wit, Jim. The other time I used to spot her was at 7.15 am at the bus stop outside the temple. She would walk past me to her school, the shy permanent smile intact, a light school bag hanging behind her, while I and a few other guys would have gathered around discussing engineering mechanics, the latest Rahman album and the new girl in our bus that used to board at Ashok Pillar. She was a kid, Jim, she probably was in the eighth grade.

Adi handles the issue of child marriages in a style,different from what we know. [Hat tip: Rads]

My childhood in Malleshwaram was replete with fun and activities. In the early 1980s, Malleshwaram was the place to be. Malleshwaram was your quintessential Bangalore, distilled. It was a microcosm of the bigger city it belonged to. It had the good and the bad with a vast grey of a middle.

Madhu Gopinath Rao remembers his childhood days in Malleswaram, Bangalore.

PS:Check the comments to see how this post helped connect some old friends.

Today, people show up at friend’s weddings in outfits that resemble undergarments used to scare little children back in the day. They wear clothes to work that shouldn’t be worn at home on a Saturday night, much less at work. And when asked to wear a suit, folks wear black, fulfilling their life-long ambitions to look like a cross between secret service agents and funeral home directors. And when asked to wear a Tux, they rent one from Men’s Wearhouse which makes them look like an offshoot of one of the many races on Oz (or a bad Tamil action hero — I haven’t quite decided).

Karthik writes about clothing and says that not dressing casual is like making a statement.

Rads is ready with some tips for all poonal/jandhyam (Sacred thread) wearing guys.

1. Jandhyam’s cute on a guy.
2. It shows that he respects tradition and listens to his mom. (not sure when that was a turn-on, but I guess it has its perks)
3. When a jandhyam-toting young man is heard reciting the Vishnu Sahsranama, he’s super cute.
4. Add a dash of namam, vibhuti or kumkum, he’s a candy!

Memorizing stuff was never my strong point, and GRE Verbal expects you to know the dictionary by-heart to get a decent score. But try I did. Evenings saw me with the Barrons book, trying to remember the words and the meanings. GRE had three sections, Quants, which was supposed to be a breeze for most engineers, Analytical, which was my favorite with lot of puzzle like problems, and Verbal, the menace.

SK remembers his GRE preparation days.

But it was in the world of art that the creature absolutely captivated me. As a high school girl. I used to watch with fascinated envy as Rajeswari did the snake dance. I never tire of watching the actress Sridevi’s snake dances. The short story V mark of Vishnu still grips me. Anaconda was terrible. But DH Lawrence’s The Snake – oh how I loved/love it. How the man has humanized the reptile. The undoing of the Christian identity of the poet in that piece is so convincingly achieved.

Kochuthresiamma teacher is confused if she is fascinated or terrified by snakes.