Teen ... no more

So ... I am 20 today !!!

So all the people who so lovingly call me "teen", may take note that my teens are gone. That doesn't imply you gotta call me "Kushal". When i was nineteen, u call me "teen", so now that I am twenty u may as well call me "ty" (pronounced as "tee" and not "tie")

Sick joke??? .... sorry ...

I very well know that I shall remain the same old teen for all of you ... naughty, pampered, spilling water (or milk, for a change) on the dining table and getting a good jhaad from dad ... somethings never change!!!

Had a wonderful day today. After lots of planning, re-planning and then again re-planning, we finally decided to go to Silver Oak. The food was decent, but since there was a load shedding, the A.C.'s weren't working and it got real hot and suffocating by the time we left. Then we went to sparkz and had a nice time there. By the way, "we" includes myself, Niraj, Golu, Nidhi, Akansha (full timers), Rashi and Payal (almost full timers) and Amrita, Mohit and Hema (in guest appearance). Sparks was followed by ice cream at Mama Mia.

In the evening, I played "mario" with Yash and then Shreya n Yash had dinner with us.

All in all, a perfect birthday ... had a real nice time ... many people remembered my birthday and called me up... was a nice feeling, though I usually am not very senti about all this.

Thanx to all ... n Sonu Bhaiya ... u can improve your singing skills so that next time u can add to your score of 4 out of 10. U have one year's time ... so practise hard!!!

Tagged

tagged by sonu bhaiya !!!

Total Number of Books I own
...many! mostly fiction...

Last Book I bought
Catch 22 (yet to start)

Last book I Read
To Kill a Mocking bird (simply amazing)

Five books that Mean a Lot to Me
1. To Kill a mocking bird
2. Room on the roof (Best book possible for a teenager)
3. Collected Fiction by Ruskin Bond (The simplicity of his stories is just mind blowing)
4. Catcher in the Rye ( U have to read it to know it)
5. Malgudi days (Requires no comments)

Tag five people and have them do this on their blogs

None of my friends have a blog ...
hahahaha
n books??? .... u must be kiddin....

To kill a mocking bird

I started reading this book last year on my way to Madras. However, I must have read just about 40 pages because a lot of time was spent chatting with Ankur and sleeping. Back in Calcutta, I forgot all about it.

Last week, as soon as my exams ended, I got hold of this book again and to be very precise I found it simply awesome and it can easily go down as one of the best books I have ever read.

Narrated by a girl who is describing her life between the age of 8 to 10, the story blends the trivialities of childhood with the enormities of societal evils and prejudices. It is a picture of the real world seen through the innocent eyes of a child. As one reads this book, one realizes that the laws of children are universal … all of us have been through this phase and have much the same psychology. Imagination runs wild and reality is given a backseat when the choice is between what is true and what the child wants to be true.

I remember very well that when Ankur was about 12-13 years old, he suddenly began to change, which provoked Shreya and me to boycott him for sometime because he did not enjoy the kiddish stuff we did. In this story too, Scout found Jem’s change in behavior quite unacceptable when he reached this age and she often quarreled with him for acting ‘too big’.

However, this book is not just about childhood. It is actually centers around a trial of a rape case, which throws light on the prejudices that exist in our society, in this case against the Negroes. The accused, Tom, a negroe is convicted, even though Atticus, Scout’s father, and Tom’s lawyer had produced enough evidence to prove that Tom was absolutely innocent and in fact the said rape had not taken place at all. His conviction and later on his death, did not affect the general people at all. For them it was just “one nigger less”.

Atticus, was not just the father of Scout. He was her ideal and hero. His words - “ before I can live with other folks, I’ve got to live with myself. One thing that does not abide the majority’s rule is a person’s conscience.” - clearly shows the strength of his character.

The book moved me like none before. It made me laugh when Jem climbed up the tree house and induced tears when Tom was convicted. It brought me back the beautiful days of childhood along with the harsh realization that things are far from the perfection we then perceived.