Monday, January 09, 2006

Jai Jharkhand - Part III

As I mentioned, I was always included in all the group orientation activities. But when it came to one to one ragging, no one wanted to rag me!

I realised that there were several kinds of classifications that were done before the seniors ragged the freshies. There was the scholar group and the non-scholar group. There was the tamil group and the non-tamil group. There were the Delhi girls and the Bombay girls. And there was me.

Every time I'd blurt out the words "I'm from Chaibasa" I'd get blank looks from the seniors. So I tried "I'm from Bihar". The blank looks changed to "Ab iska kya karein?" ("What do we do with her?") looks.

Frankly speaking, initially I felt really bad, as if I had let them down by coming from a small 'uncool' town. And at that age and position, I did not know much about being assertive, and individualistic and all that. So it was kinda depressing.

Most of the times, my intro would go something like...

"Hi, I'm Sayesha. I'm from DAV Public School, Chaibasa, Bihar. My hobbies are..."

"Uhhh... okay... NEXT!"

"What??? That's it?? Just because I am not from Delhi or Bombay or Bangalore or Madras... RAG ME DAMMIT! " I'd say in my head.

But to no avail. A few seniors probably took pity on me and ragged me for a while, but soon they got bored when they realised I did not even get any of the innuendos in their instructions! (I still don't get many!)

One instructed me to greet him with a ‘Jai Jharkhand!’ every time I saw him. I was very excited! But I never saw him again. Or perhaps neither of us recognised the other. I still don't know who it was!

Sometimes, I felt rather insulted at how duh they expected me to be.

Remember the senior A who made me play antakshari against myself? Now he was a fantastic singer. And I have an inclination for guys who have an inclination for hindi music. The other seniors knew that I was a big fan of him. So they decided to get together and play a prank on this 'village belle'.

They hacked into A's email account and sent me an email supposedly from him.

Here it is, copy-pasted from the email (yes, I still have it! In my hotmail account, which I don't use anymore, since gmail zindabaad!)

Dearest Sayesha,
I have been wanting to talk to you all alone for a long time but have not been able to do so. I don't know if this really is the appropriate time to tell you all this. This semester has been very frustrating as many a times when I tried to talk to you something has been coming in between.. I think I am too tensed to say what I wanted to say...
cya..
lots of love,
A....

Of course I saw through their act. In fact, I wanted to knock some sense into their heads by giving them some advice on intelligent execution of pranks. I wanted to scream, "You morons! When you write a love letter over email, you don't put the words 'love letter' as the subject line!" Sheesh.

I particularly remember another insulting incident, where I was introduced to this 'super senior'.

"Where are you from?" he asked.

"Chaibasa."

"And where the heck is that?"

"In Bihar."

"Uhhh... listen up now. I have no time for girls from Bihar. Can you do something for me? Make a list of girls in your batch who are from Delhi. Write down their names, hostel addresses and contact numbers, and pass it to me the next time you see me, okay? Only Delhi girls, understand. No Bombay, no Calcutta, no Madras, no Bangalore! Only Delhi. Understand?"

And he walked off, leaving me quite bewildered.

I did not identify with the Delhi group, or the Bombay group, or the Bangalore group, or the Madras group. I tried to hang out with them, but realised I had nothing in common with them really. I was totally on my own. I became a loner.

Even when I went out with them, I was not at ease. We were once taken by the seniors for an English movie. I think it was some Austin Powers movie. And upto the age of 18, I had seen like 6 English movies at most. So to me, they spoke really fast! And I wasn't even used to watching any American sitcoms! So I did not get the typical American jokes. And not to mention, that accent. I sat there in the theatre wondering what was so funny, and how people could make out what the actors were saying! And I also failed to understand why the name Ivana Humpalot was so funny. There were so many words that I was not familiar with! I did not know what the f word meant. I did not know that words like bang, screw, gay had other meanings than the basic ones I was familiar with.

Take gay, for example. In my head, gay = happy. That's all I knew. And here's how I encountered the other kind of gay (copy-pasted from an older post).

I was greeted by this rather scary-looking guy sporting a ponytail. "Oye, freshie hai!" He yelled to his friend, and then strode towards me. Quite intimidated, I took a step back, and almost stumbled and fell.

"Hi, I'm XYZ. Don't be scared of me. 'Cos I'm gay." He grinned.

"Errr.... hi..." I stammered, rather taken aback.

The only "gay" I knew back then, was the "happy and gay" kind, and so I was extremely puzzled as to why this strange guy was making it a point to express to the hapless freshie that he was a happy person.

"I'm a happy person too!" I thought to myself, "But you don't see me walking up to complete strangers and going, 'Hi, I'm Sayesha. Don't be scared of me. I'm happy.'"

So I gave him a rather peculiar look before walking away.

And that was my first encounter with the other kind of gay.

In the beginning, yes, I was scared that I'd disappear into oblivion, and no one would even notice I'm gone. I was scared that my batchmates and my juniors will not even know of my existence. I was scared of a lot of things.

But it's been years now. I have picked up many many things since then. No one except me has seen the process I went through, to re-create myself. I may not have picked up enough skills (or more importantly, interest) in the engineering department, but my experiences in Singapore, in NTU, and my experiments with my life have given me enough wisdom to know that even small-town girls can make it big. It's what you define 'big' as, that matters. To me, making it 'big' means appreciating life, and figuring out the 'formula' to live it to the fullest. And eventually, big town, small town, no one gives a hoot anyway, so it's best to be yourself.


It's what you make yourself out of who you are, that really matters.

Town small hai toh kya hua, dil big hona chahiye.



56 comments:

Lalit Singh said...

Second
ab padhta hun ki likha kya hain post mein

Raj said...

i get the bronze atleast!!

Anonymous said...

nice post again. yeah the small town feeling, i know what u mean .. and gay = happy and gay. lol! sooo get that ... anyway hope u had a gd time after all the ragging n stuff ;) its the experience, the whole package that matters now, innit?

Raj said...

//RAG ME DAMMIT!

ha ha.. really?

So do you find anything funny abt the name Ivana Humpalot now?

btw, i am a good singer too and have an inclination towards hindi music as well. Thought i'll let u know :D

Lalit Singh said...

//dil big hona chahiye.
Wah wah kya baat hain... Cha gaye!!!
Eventually is your own mettle that proves you...

amit said...

I hv been also thru the similar phase in life but at tht time i was very young. I moved from raj. to delhi when i was around 9 years old. So in IVth std when teacher used to shout at me in English fr not doing my homework, i used to just smile back as i cud not get a single word wht she meant. n this used to irritate her a lot n provoked her to get more angry...:)

Do you find anything funny abt the name Ivana Humpalot now? ......:)

Angelsera said...

u know sth I honestly can relate w u...mayb not in the 'small town' sorta thing but I had my own set of experiences whn I was in first yr :) and the process of learning I went thru.

ritzkini said...

:)
village belle to item-chick,eh??
now why does that remind me of zeenat aman in Satyam shivam sundaram ??
=))

On a much,much more serious note:
/*Town small hai toh kya hua, dil big hona chahiye. */
well said !
:)

Pi said...

When is part 4 releasing? Surely A was also involved in the hack, and given that the subject of the email was 'love letter' (so obvious it is a prank), I would not be suprised if one of my old housemates was involved in the prank. Particularly, the chap who makes cold coffees by the litre. You should write a post about that sometime. ;)

oxymoron said...

//Town small hai toh kya hua, dil big hona chahiye.

egggjaaaktly!

PS: if you feel ppl didn't rag u enuf, and u missed out, i'll be more than willing to rag u to ur hearts content :D

the Monk said...

nice and harmless, your ragging process seems to be, from your post...no wonder you wanted to get ragged...made for great reading...

The Girl Who Sold The World said...

That "love letter" in the subject line thing was FUNNY!!! LOL...how silly! They should've thought of something dumber.
//Town small hai toh kya hua, dil big hona chahiye.//
Wah wah! How true! Ummm...ever tried writing dialogues for Hindi movies? This would sound good. ;)

Shruthi said...

What a sweet account, Sayesha - all three parts were fab! Totally enjoyed reading it! "Love letter" had me ROFL!

virdi said...

//Town small hai toh kya hua, dil big hona chahiye//

wah wah wah... kya sher mara hai.. sali sherni vidhwa ho gayi hai...

V...

Jina said...

Hats off..and a standing ovation..dats all I have to give for this post....

Deepa said...

"Town small hai toh kya hua, dil big hona chahiye."

One of the best conclusion

iksha said...

Enjoyed the three posts thoroughly! Very funny indeed! and I can only imagine the ragging!

But what I liked the most was the honesty. Have to say it, hats off.

Ravi said...

//A few seniors probably took pity on me and ragged me for a while

LOL You are one unique item (namoona). And I know you know that. But just wanted to re-emphasize that. :)

//I tried to hang out with them, but realised I had nothing in common with them really. I was totally on my own. I became a loner.

I totally identify with that part. All my life till engg I had been a loner because I was different. Even in engg the regional bias was there & seniors did not rag me much because of that. After that I am on a fast track course of making friends, meeting more people & interacting better, things that kids start doing at school level.

Dhananjay Shettigar said...

No Pretensions, Just Honesty.
Totally Fidaaa....
Great to read your Jharkand Tales.

Shekhar said...

Wow. Awesome tales! Just read the three posts together. Can't stop smiling. Will visit often. :D

Priya said...

its the age of trilogies :D
awesome girl!!
didnt know ur fm chaalbaaz.. err chaibasa err bihar... :D didnt get the slightest hint.. now ek dum mast chick u are!! ;)
who wudve guessed?

..p..

Anonymous said...

Hi babe

nice post...came here thru amit's blog. I too was born in Jharkhand.

I went to blore for my PG and unfortunately i was called as a Delhi gal...and tell u frankly i hated it..coz i dislike this place...and delhi gal is not a good tag..will explain u some day why :)

keep posting and wud love to visit again :)

Kaala Kavva said...

waaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!
mazaa aa gaya @ gay!
hahahahah
mai ROTFL ho raha hu re!
jheehehehe

teri life KITNIIIIIIIIII funny hai!

and

//Town small hai toh kya hua, dil big hona chahiye.

waaah! kya bol dala!

atul lakhotia said...

nice post...
//RAG ME DAMMIT
so desperate to be ragged!!!:-)
Do you find anything funny abt the name Ivana Humpalot now? ......:)
and did u reply to that "love letter"??

Aj said...

Too Gud Sayesha

Feels like u r sitting in front of me and telling me all this
Direct Dil se

//It's what you make yourself out of who you are, that really matters.

bilkul Sahi kaha...

Anonymous said...

good one

Dj said...

hey, i don't know you but i got to read your blog when i was searching the interent for some good blogs, as I am doing a small personal survey on the power of blogs. simultaneously i was explaining my sister what blogs are and how we go about publishing them and all. just hit upon your blog by chance, but i guess it was worth the time i spent reading them. kudos to you!
i really appreciate your descriptive talenst in your blogs. keep smiling!

divyajeevan
http://www.djcosmos.in/dj

Suds said...

Hey Sayesha, Great post again.. I am becoming fan of ur writing...:):) Really...:)

Gay wala episode was amazing.. :):) I am still laughing.. And "own small hai toh kya hua, dil big hona chahiye." was great way to end it...

There is nothing like starting my monday morning by reading such great post... It brings smile and am sure the whole week is going to be great now...:):) Enjoy...

Sayesha said...

#Debubhai,
Kabhi toh nazar hi nahin aate, aur kabhi dhaamake se first aa jate ho! :)

#Lalit,
Haha! I can't believe you too jumped into the bandwagon of 'comment pehle, padho baad mein'! :)

#Raj,
Congrats congrats! ;)

#Anon gal,
//its the experience, the whole package that matters now, innit?

You said it! :)

#Raj,
//So do you find anything funny abt the name Ivana Humpalot now?

Yeah yeah, I get it I get it. :/

//i am a good singer too and have an inclination towards hindi music as well.

Haha! :) Kabhi ho jaaye jugal bandi? ;)

#Lalit,
Padh liya? Thanks! :)

#Amit,
//i used to just smile back as i cud not get a single word wht she meant.

Hahaha! That's so funny! :D

//Do you find anything funny abt the name Ivana Humpalot now?

Argh! Yeah yeah, it's funny. Chalega types funny. Geez, everyone wants to know whether I get the joke now or not! :D

#Angel,
:)

#Ritzkini,
//village belle to item-chick,eh??

Haha! Yeah man! I'm Zeenat from the mole post, remember? ;)

#American Pie,
There's no part 4. Trilogy's over, dude! :) And I don't think coffee boy was involved in that prank! :)

#Oxy,
//i'll be more than willing to rag u to ur hearts content

Chal chal! Jaane de jaane de, thodi hawwa aane de! I'll give it a pass beta, ab tu khair mana ki Sayesha rastey mein na mil jaaye! :)

#The Monk,
Thanks! :)

#The Girl,
//ever tried writing dialogues for Hindi movies?

I'd LOVE that job! Any Bollywood producers reading this blog? ;)

#Shruthi,
Thanks, girl! :)

#Virdi,
//kya sher mara hai.. sali sherni vidhwa ho gayi hai...

Eeesh! Kya dialogue mara, meri appetite mar gayi! :/

Now we know who's not getting the Bollywood scriptwriter job! ;)

#Ursjina,
Thanks! :)

#Deepa,
Thanks! :)

#Iksha,
Thanks! :)

#Ravi,
Gee, thanks a lot for the re-emphasis on the 'namoona' bit. :D

#Dhananjay,
Thanks thanks! :)

#Shekhar,
Hey, thanks! :)

#Priya,
Yeah man! Me chaalbaaz!

Na jaane kahan se aayi hai
Na jaane kahan ko jayegi
Deewana kisey banayegi
Yeh ladki
;)

#Ships,
Welcome to Sayeshaz! Thanks for dropping by, and hope to see ya around! :)
ps: What's wrong with being a 'Delhi gal'? :O

#Ze Exagg,
//teri life KITNIIIIIIIIII funny hai!

Oye hope that was meant as a compliment! :P

//waaah! kya bol dala!

Thank you thank you! :D

#Atul,
//Do you find anything funny abt the name Ivana Humpalot now?

Arrgh! You too?? Yeah baba, got it got it! :D

Not one of my fav jokes tho! :/

//and did u reply to that "love letter"??

Haha! Yeah, I did. Something like "If the subject line had been thought thru better, I'd have been fooled." :)

#AJ,
Thanks! :)

#Vasanthi,
Thanks, girl! :)

#DJ,
Hey, welcome to Sayeshaz! Thanks for commenting! :)

#Suds,
//Gay wala episode was amazing.. :):) I am still laughing..

Hope this time no one was watching you! :D

And thanks! :)

Shriedhar said...

//It's what you make yourself out of who you are, that really matters.

exactly..
u gave damn gud conclusion :)

pingoo said...

Hai meri Sayesha ! what all you had to go through lol..but look at the strong and sensible person you are now...all worth it na :). You know, I couldn't imagine you as the girl you just mentioned..I mean "gaon ki chokri" :p...I guess the transformation(rebranding ??) speaks for itself :).

Sayesha said...

#Shreedhar,
Thanks! :)

#Pingoo,
I was never really the 'gaon ki chokri' types, just really really clueless about the ways of the world! :P

//but look at the strong and sensible person you are now

Hahahahaha! Ooops, sorry. Hahahahaha! Strong okay. Sensible? Hahahahaha! :D

Anonymous said...

:clap: :clap:
jharkhand ki ladki... sabaash

ps: ur school has same name as mine :o

Planck said...

Gosh sayesha. That was hilarious.
Seems you've been through a lot.
But I must say, you put it down very nicely.
:)

pingoo said...

//I was never really the 'gaon ki chokri' types, just really really clueless about the ways of the world! :P

LOL ! :D

//Hahahahaha! Strong okay. Sensible? Hahahahaha! :D

so u know it ? Sorry, I thought I'd give you an illusion.. but you know the kadva sach ! :p.

Anonymous said...

Jai small towns and their way of life!

R said...

ooohh man!! u didnt know gay and screw!! austin powers was one of our all time passtimes ever!!


cute post!!!!!

Lalit Singh said...

Haanji padh liya.
The chance of scoring a silver was too tempting yaar (grins)
(Accent= Bihari) Ka karein controlehi naahi hua

Eclectic Blogger said...

sahi candid post.. jharkand series katam ho gaya kya :( part IV dalne ka kuch bakhi nahi hai? ..

Anonymous said...

hello,

I so completely sync with you there. For me, it was a different situation. I was neither from India nor from Singapore (I lived in both places for a long time and did not fit into any). I did not watch movies, serials, no tv and was only a book addict. Thus, all the accents, the talk about Hrithik (who is that??), lord of the rings (there is such a movie???) etc went way over my head. I spent my whole four years pretty much myself.

Well the funny thing is, even now I dont quite understand half the slang words spoken today, must to the fustration of my friends :)

ankur said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ankur said...

great trilogy..! loved every part of it.

being part of the delhi culture...i cant possibly relate to all that you had to say. but then the ease of it all makes me somewhat realize what a pleasant experience it mst have been.

good job...!

~a

PS: I remember..my 1st american friend...he was helping me move and then took a smoke break. i didnt know he used to smoke..and i hate smokers...so i screamed at him..."dude...u fag...???"
it took some 2 odd months to convince him...of what i meant..!

Anonymous said...

//Town small hai toh kya hua, dil big hona chahiye.

Correct!

Now we know you grew up in Bihar but which place do you originally belong to? :/

Tinku

Sayesha said...

#Spammy,
DAV? Arre wah! So do you know the athaishwarastutiprarthnopasna mantra? :)

#Sneha,
Thanks, girl! :)

#Pingoo,
// but you know the kadva sach !

Hehe.. yeah I do! Thanks for the effort though! :D

#The Anon,
Jai back to you! :)

#Rohit,
Thanks! :)
ps: I hate Austin Powers movies. Yikes! :s

#Lalit,
Arre control shontrol karo bhai! :)

#Vikram,
I got your comment in my gmail! Hehe! :P

#Eclectic Blogger,
This was the conlcuding part of the trilogy. Part IV hai hi nahin! :)

#Veena,
I can so totally understand what you went thru! Heheh! :P

#Ankur,
Thanks! :)
LOL @ fag incident! Bechara American! :D

#Akshay,
Thanks! :)

#Tinku,
I was born in Orissa, but was there only for a coupla years. Moved around Bihar and Jharkhand a lot, was in Hyderabad for a little while, now looking forward to go and see Lucknow :)

t said...

hi sayesha, trupti here... must say bihar is an interesting state! i had a friend who was from jamshedpur, and he was so proud that he was from bihar - always using words like "tohar", "manwa", phoolwa" and was an instant hit with the auto guys and taxi guys here in bombay!

and that gay thing happened to me too... i didnt know what was the "other" meaning of gay and once when i told a friend i dont like enrique iglesias, she was like, "what! r u gay??!!!"... i was like, "huh!! so r u sad that u like him??"... she simply got up and went away ;)
hehe!

Chitra said...

Hey...you must have been through a lot of situations where you must have felt inferior. Where do you think you stand now?

oxymoron said...

//Chal chal! Jaane de jaane de, thodi hawwa aane de! I'll give it a pass beta, ab tu khair mana ki Sayesha rastey mein na mil jaaye!

Oye bhidu, khaali-pili hool nahi dene ka!

Kathy said...

You deserved what you have now sayesha...see,how lucky you are? after all what you've been through.
Just be yourself & always be proud where you came from.
Hey Orissa rocks!! i love that place..coz the first person i've talked here was from there...(Rourkela?)am i right of the place?So it's really memorable...probably the most unforgetable one for me.

Pi said...

why dont u write a post about your many nicknames? ;)

patiala pataka said...

And I also failed to understand why the name Ivana Humpalot was so funny. There were so many words that I was not familiar with! I did not know what the f word meant. I did not know that words like bang, screw, gay had other meanings than the basic ones I was familiar with.


Aunty, what movie is this your saw?

Angelsera said...

//why dont u write a post about your many nicknames? ;)

now this is sth I wud like to read abt :D

Unknown said...

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOW! Is what i said to myself after reading this! You have a great style in recounting incidents Sayesha!Keep that intact! An interesting storyteller you sure are. Great knowing you!

"It's what you make yourself out of who you are, that really matters.

Town small hai toh kya hua, dil big hona chahiye."
Beautifully said & so true to life!

Atta girl , Way to go!!

May you get only the best in life!

Rashmi.

Sayesha said...

#Trupti,
Aao thakur! Welcome to Sayeshaz! :) Finally you post a comment, eh? :)

//must say bihar is an interesting state!

Yeah, I'm not even a Bihari, and yet I'm so proud of it! :)

//"huh!! so r u sad that u like him??".

Hahahaha! :D

#Chitra,
I'd say I'd felt about 10% inferior and 90% out of place. It took some time for me to establish my identity, and create the Sayesha brand, but the learning process was all worth it. Today I stand happy. :)

#Oxymoron,
Oye shyaane! Yeh aaj kal ke juniors graduate karte hi phudakne lagte hain! Hum nakalein kya tere naam ki supaari? :D

#Kathy,
Yes, every place has something unique that people living there absorb and make a part of who they are. :)

#American Pie,
Oh you would love that, wouldn't you? :D Considering how many of them were given by you! :D On second thoughts, not a bad idea for a post.... hmmmm... :P

#Pat Pat,
"Aunty mat kaho na!"
"Tuney apun ko Aunty bola??"

DHISHOOOOOOOM!!!! :D

ps: I can't remember which movie it was.. but I think it could be 'Austin Powers: The spy who shagged me'.

#Angel,
I'm giving it a thought! :P

#RandomThoughts,
Thanks for your good wishes, girl! :)

Anonymous said...

Glad I did not miss reading this post. Interesting memories. U r very right. It's what we make of ourselves.

I think every single thing that we come across or choose to do, becomes a little piece of ourselves that makes us who we are today...

"love letter" in the subject line.

Hahahaaa. Hahaa...:-)

Ladke bhi na :)

Ankur said...

u write lovely awesome......it was hillarious reading ur experiences..

Sayesha said...

#Harshi,
Thanks! :)

//Ladke bhi na :)

You said it, girl! Ladke bhi na :)

#Ankur,
Thanks! :)