Elvesbane

girL: So you’re saying that they can do whatever they want?!

guY: No… you’re thinking about it the wrong way. You don’t define boundaries for others! Boundaries exist only for you.

L: I don’t understand.

Y: What I’d like to do is to sit next to you and snuggle up, because you look cuddly and I’m cold!

L: What?! Heck! No!

Y: Exactly! I’ve set a boundary for myself that I can’t do that. I’m not setting a boundary or a rule for you, but only for me.

L: … That still doesn’t make any sense.

Y: Yeah, that usually happens. Just give it some time.

I don’t know what got me into this line of thought, but I can’t help thinking that it doesn’t make sense that we should be saying: “Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen…”, etc., instead of “Ten, Ten-One, Ten-Two, Ten-Three…”. I mean, for every number except those in the range of Ten - Nineteen (10 - 19), we follow the standard of concatenating the following number’s name to the (suitably modified) higher order number’s name.

44 = Forty + Four = Forty-Four
523 = Five + Twenty + Three = Five Twenty Three

But 14 is NOT Ten + Four = Ten-Four (which has a totally different conventional meaning), but it’s Fourteen!

Even within the 10 - 19 range, standards aren’t maintained. 14, 16, 17, 18, 19 are the names of the numbers followed by ‘teen’. 13 and 15 are similar in that the letters are modified in both to make them sound similar. 3 (Three) is modified to make it Thir-teen, and 5 (Five) to Fif-teen. 12 (Twelve) shares the first two letters with Two and 11 (Eleven) doesn’t have any obvious relation to 1 or 10!

Sigh… It would have been so straight-forward if I could just say ‘Ten-Seven’ during roll-call instead of a ‘Seventeen’ (which sounds so much like ‘Seventy’). I hate having to say it again, all because some idiot who came up with numbers didn’t bother doing his work properly.

The water green or dappled blue,
flows and plays around my toes.
The stones that lend its mystic tune,
weathered to be both round and smooth.

Green blades soft, unlike their namesake,
from brown earth do they spring.
They reach up, joyous to the extreme,
an affirmation of new life, it seems.

Trees sway in the warm white wind
and feel the onset of a new day.
They rustle and fall, do the leaves.
The path they trace, like children playing.

The mountains, tall and strong and true.
Old and ageless men unmoving,
like watchers from the olden days,
like caretakers of the milky way.

The birds doth sing, their voices ring,
a joyful peal, of mirth and feel.
Their wings are wide, they own the sky,
they swoop the spring right into their being.

***

Remember, I wrote this in one hour, as a submission to the this year’s poetry (in english, duh) competition for the college’s cultural and arts festival. So it was never meant to be all that good. So spare me the rod. ^_^

It’s so easy to forget!

The only reason I remember the names of the guys I studied with back in school is because we have these once-in-a-while get-together-s. Really. I might recognize their faces, but I wouldn’t remember them.

Unlike most people, I seem to lack any compulsion to keep contacts alive. It’s natural for me to ignore the fact that others used to exist in the past, to forget that they ever meant anything to me. Don’t think that I willfully do this or anything… I don’t. I’m a lover of information (knowledge, experiences, wateva), and loss of memories just seems like an awful waste!

The other day, mum reminded me about (^_^) something that’d happened a  very long time ago. There was this day, when me, mum, dad, n’ bro went for a movie and there was this guy sitting behind us, who mum noticed and pointed out to me. I suppose she’d imagined that I’d be surprised and glad to see my bestest buddy from Sarvodaya (1st through 4th standard) but all I could manage was a ‘Hi’ and a prolonged and painfully idiotic face, and all the while he was looking as though he expected to me recognize him at any moment! I didn’t bother talking to him (the movie was gonna start, after all) and I didn’t see him afterwards. Mum later enlightened me that the two of us had been practically inseperable while I was at Sarvodaya. Just as well, I suppose, he prolly imagined that I’d lost much of my mental acuity since 4th standard.

She’d also told me his name. I don’t remember it anymore.

As I said, it’s pretty easy to forget, but it sure as hell makes for some awfully awkward and embarrasing moments.

My mum is one of those people who’s got vivid memories of the things they did as a child. I’ve always been amazed when she remembers what people said or did when she was was a kid. She can even remember stuff from when she was less than 2 years old! Heck, I feel amazed when anyone remembers what they did or felt when they were little. Mostly because I don’t remember much of anything! All I have a snapshots that have faded to the point of uselessness.

I only have one memory from when I was in KG: When my mum forgot to pick me up from the nursery after class ended, and I had to be escorted home by a teacher. I must have been really upset by this break from normal routine! Funny thing about it is that the nursery in question is right next door (and still is).

Then there’s this memory from very very long time ago when I woke up from a dream laughing so hard I couldn’t stop for (what seemed like) ages! In my dream, my bro had been rolling me around the ground in front of the house, tickling me non-stop. Weird that I should remember that…

Then there are a few other scattered memories, some very weird dreams, but no coherant story anywhere. It’s like my memory just decays and dissapears super-quick.

Sure, you’d say that lots of people forget stuff from when they were kids. My problem is a lot worse. I don’t remember anything from school. Forget the fifth to eigth standards, I don’t remember much from my 12th all that clearly! That was only… 3 years ago! I don’t remember anything that happened in school. I only know that some things used to be some way, and that I did certain things at certain times… factual information, like: I used to play basketball after lunch everyday (but I don’t remember any of the playing). I remember me n’ Asif used to go to the canteen (or to Joseph Uncle) to have ‘post-lunch’ snacks everyday (because I never got to eat anything from my lunch box; everybody else did). Well… wait a second, I actually remember that part quite clearly now. Having lunch at school, that is. I even remember my lunch box - a small blue snap shut sorta thingy. I usually had bread with chocolate syrup inside, and I used to make sure that I got to eat at least one piece from the eight or so that mum packed (I didn’t really like the bread, but it seemed wrong to not eat at least a little from what mum’d packed ^_^).

Interesting. I don’t remember anything from either of the La Fest-s that I participated in (and those were supposed to be big events in a student’s life at Loyola!). But I remember other little things, stupid things even, like the tree whose root I sat on (it stuck out of the ground like a ledge) to study during the lunch break at term exams. I don’t remember what it felt like to be in class at school. I don’t remember anyone teaching me. I do, however remember the first time I was able to jump and touch the rim of the basketball basket. Hmm… I don’t think I can do that anymore…

Well, it seems I haven’t forgotten everything yet. I wonder how much longer it will stay, though.