Five random memories

Haha, now that I've started blogging again, I can't seem to stop. I'm constantly looking out for things to blog about. That's when this idea hit me. Five Random Memories. Here we go.

1. Year, 1994. Age, 6 going on 7. Standard 2. Cochin. I was asked to monitor my class for an hour or so 'cause the teacher had other more important things to do. I was thrilled. The Class Monitor. What a freakin' star I am, I thought. The teacher must really like me to give me *such* an honour. I strut around class, giving everyone a i'm-the-boss-now-don't-mess-with-me look while i secretly bask in my awesomeness of being made the Class Monitor. I share giggles and winks with my friends (hey, I might be a monitor, but I would never give them  that look). I'm on top of the world. But then, I see this one kid who sort of starts talking. I give the kid my world famous look. Nope. Doesn't seem to work. I try once again. Nope. Nothing. I tell him politely next, cos I'm nice that way. That only gets him talking more. Now I'm really pissed. I raise my voice. He stops for a bit, and starts when he thinks I'm not going to give him hell again. I pick up a scale. Ha! That should intimidate the crap outta him. Like all normal beings, he's curious. Will the girl with the stupid grin on her face actually wield the pain-maker? He makes his neighbour laugh. I go up to them and brandish the scale in his face. It's a warning. Don't you dare let a sound outta that stupid hole in your face, I say. He's quiet again, for a while. By this time, everyone else in class is starting to think I can be messed around with. There are a few more giggles and whispers floating around. All of a sudden, almost everyone realises I don't really intend to use the ruler, and it's mayhem! Everything's going wrong. The kids are supposed to listen to me, be scared shitless by the scary picture of the scale and me! In vain, I scream, I'm gonna hit you if you don't keep quiet. But obviously, noone's listening.

2. Year, 1998. Age, 10. Goa, Holiday with family. It was the year one of my cousins  got married. We'd come down to Bangalore from Hyderabad for the wedding and decided to go on a family holiday to Goa, of all the places. I don't remember much of the trip. We went on a 'cruise' one evening. There was alcohol and soft drinks. I remember thinking how awesome it was that I was allowed to have TWO Pepsi's.   I was a kid high on Pepsi and loving every bit of the 'cruise', which consisted of not much. Some lame-ass chairs around the deck, some lame-ass music and a lot of old people getting drunk. We went back to the hotel where I slept like any 10 year old sleeps, deeply. Obviously all that cola had to manifest itself in some form or another. That night, it didn't stop me from falling asleep. Instead, it woke me up in the middle of the night wanting to be released. As a kid, I'd always been afraid of the dark, and a dark hotel room was scarier than all the scary stories put together. There's something about hotel rooms that creeps me out. And the bathrooms are worse. That's the scariest room in a hotel room. The while tiles, the mirror, the shower curtains, the bath tub, the towels hanging on the side, the paleness and smoothness of it all is the perfect place for a monster to hide. And the walk to the bathroom. *shudder* The thought of my heart beating in my ears as I walk towards the bathroom is enough to send me deeper into my sheets. I try and wake my mum up. The monsters wouldn't dare attack if my mum was around. She grunts and rolls over. 'Amma, I have to go to the bathroom', I explain. She asks me  what I'm waiting for, half asleep. 'I'm scared, come with me'. Normally, she would, but I guess she deserved a break too. We were on a holiday, after all. She tried yelling. I persist. One whack is what i get next. That silences me up and I draw back into the sheets. I can't remember if I went to the bathroom till the next morning or not. Guess if I had, I'd remember, huh?

3. Year 2002. Age, 14. Standard 9. Chennai. Sitting on the kattai at school. Get up, walk towards the volleyball match happening. A bunch of seniors playing. He was there. Melting heart at the sight of him playing volleyball. My favorite sport. Getting teased by my friends who knew. All of a sudden, he faints. Worry. People screaming for water. Someone asking me to give my water bottle. Me standing still, not able to do anything.

4. Holding hands with a friend. Comfort. Warmth. Security. Happiness.

5. Year, 2010. Age, 22. Eve of a friend's birthday, Hyderabad. We're sitting in my hostel room listening to music and jabbering away. Laughter comes easily and conversation is light. Music playing in the background. Two of my friends are sitting on my bed. I'm sitting in front of my desk on a chair, sort of straddling it. Someone asks for the time. I lean back to look at my laptop and suddenly realise something is off. I seem to feel weightless. The chair! It's falling. As I try and grab at the desk, I look at my friends looking at me. Falling. They seem to think I'll hang on. Everything turned slow. I seem to want to get it over with, the falling. But it took forever. I scream, 'I'm falling, I'm falling, Duuuuude, I'm falling!!' One of them makes an attempt at getting up, but it's too late for that. Time decided to hurry the hell up at that point. The next thing I know, I'm on the floor, with a chair between my legs. I look at myself. There's nothing else I can do. The laughs come. The mad hysterical ones that you can't really stop. I can't stop laughing. No one can stop laughing. I can't breathe. Best birthday gift ever, I've been told.