Saturday, April 19, 2008

Burning the Midnight Oil!

Gawd! How time flew......before we knew...realization hits us that the academic year was coming to an end and we were to give our Final Exams!

You could feel the intense academic air.....talks of tutorials...guides...as in Guide Books....past question papers...abounded. Trips to the library increased and suddenly there were more people in the library or was it me who was noticing this now?!

After dinner gossip was now replaced with us hitting our books straight away and only breaking up later for a cup of coffee. We would fix a time as to when to meet up for coffee as we were in our own rooms (only 2 sharing) .....hmmmm....now that I think, it would sure have been convenient if we had mobile phones then!

For some reason, I used to feel real sleepy only during the Exam time. I simply failed to understand why.....as balance of the year I would be wide awake late into the night. Thus, most of the time I would not even make it to the time when we had decided to break up for coffee. My friends would find me sleeping with my books opened. I would be scolded...tickled....and pushed to washing my face...having coffee...and then hitting the books again....

Yes, burning the midnight oil....in our case the electricity!

5 comments:

Anand said...

Glad you posted after so long. And glad you enjoyed the midnight oil ;-)


I guess you got tired of us at Mojo. Thought I would say hello.

Mirandian said...

Hi Anand!

Good to hear from you....like someone whom I know!

I know I have been ignoring this Blog and had been promising to update....and finally I decided to do it...actually a reader prodded me!

I wouldn't say I got tired of you all....simply...but I did drop by occasionally. I am sure Mojo didn't miss me!

By the way I saw "Mississippi Burning"....real sad. Anand, you should visit & contribute to Afghani & Tibetan Blogs too. You read so much...read these guys' Blogs too.

Cheers!

Anand said...

Why do you think Mojo doesn't like you? There are more important things than whether someone agrees with you or not on a specific issue.

I love Tibetans and Afghans. In fact, I have read far more about them, their history, culture and faiths, than Iraq. Could you introduce me to some of your Afghan and Tibetan friends and their blogs?

Kudos to you for reaching out to Tibetans and Afghans. They are often not treated respectfully by Gulf State Arabs (thanks to your tutelage I am not writing “Sunni Arabs.” ;-) )

By the way, many others on Mojo love Afghanistan and Tibet too. We like to discuss them. Feel free to discuss Afghanistan and Tibet with us there too.

Mirandian said...

Anand, what makes you say that I think Mojo doesn't like me?! I wouldn't know....I don't know him nor have I met him! I totally agree with you when you say that there are more important things....

As for Tibetan & Afghani friends, I knew quite a few while in India but am not in touch with any. The Blogs that I found nice/interesting....

http://unseendharamsala.blogspot.com/ Photos by refugees of refugees... short write ups. I liked it.

http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/ Informative.

http://www.afghanlord.org/ He seems a real nice guy. I like what he's doing. I would love to meet him!

Hope you like these!

Anand said...

Good for you, liking Tibetans. Many Tibetans live in the Bay Area. Many Tibetan Buddhist shrines are very close to my house. I very much enjoy visiting them (as do my friends.)

I don't know what it is about Tibetans, but their temples are unbelievable. And some of their Lamas smile through their eyes.

I love reading Buddhist books. I suspect that you might too.

Regarding their history, they are very old and intrinsically tied with south Asia. The Buddha is regarded by Hindus as an incarnation or Avataar of God. There is also a very close relationship between Afghanistan and Tibetan Buddhists. That influence continues to live through Afghanistan's strong Sufi tradition (Sufism has many similarities with Buddhism and Hinduism. One important Buddha sprang up from a lotus in Afghanistan.)

I love Tibetans more than I can describe. (Sufis too for that matter.) And I am glad you feel likewise.

Regarding Afghans, thanks for the plug. I hadn't met this Lord. I'll tell him you introduced me to him.

Mississipi burning is an amazing movie. The KKK in the movie remind me of Takfiris and what they did to the Shia (not just specific incidences such as 1983 in Pakistan, 1988 in Azad Kashmir, or 1998 in Mazar e Sharif . . . but on an ongoing basis for centuries.)

What is worse is that in India, the Shia were persecuted by Salafi extremists, and were blamed by some unsophisticated nonmuslims for terrible atrocities committed by Salafi extremists (for crimes that Shia Indians had nothing to do with.) The Shia have always sympathized with the suffering of all nonShia—including nonmuslims--caused by Takfiris. And what I say about Shia Indians is also true of Shia Pakistanis and Shia Hazara Afghans.

Thanks again Mirandian. Please do keep in touch at Mojo. You can discuss other topics there if you want.