The incessant noises of India

And lo! we landed in New Delhi, the capital of India - full of sentiments on returning home.... only to quite abruptly starting to feel the jarring noises and traffic and people who forever seem to be jostling each other... sigh :/ ... instant reminder of why 'being abroad is not such a bad thing after all'. BUT then you see your folks, immensely overjoyed at seeing you return :) - and voices in your head vaporize temporarily.

When you drive in Delhi, there is a character transformation that takes place - you really really really get mad at people on road - at first, you might be one of those who says 'you first sir'; Give yourself say 3 hours doing that  - and perhaps you'd be changed for life! Chivalry and Delhi drivers DO NOT and I repeat Do Not go hand-in-hand. Nobody would return your courtesy and be considerate and let you take some of their space. That's just not how people here are wired up. I solely blame it on the brash, showy, 'me first' behavior of the mixed culture especially induced by the nuvo Punjabi's in the city. I don't mean all Punjabi's are like that, but most of them are very showy and blingy - and hence their attitude which reflects on everything. There is something very lecherous about the Delhi male - if you are a neutral observer, you'd feel they are not getting much action at home or have an insatiable sexual appetite perhaps. Whatever it is, its disgusting!! 

What I looovvveee about the city is also numerous. I love Gulmohar trees - most of my childhood is attached to it. It bears wonderful red flowers and they look awesome - and story bookish! I also miss the 'Adhan' by the muezzin in local mosques all around Delhi! - 4 times a day they do the service, screaming "Allah uh Akhbar" - the sound of which is imprinted indelibly in my subconscious memory. I cannot describe how lovely it sounds to me!

More on my stay in Delhi later.... I gotta rush right now...

- Later!

:O Practicing Kanji's

Damn damn damn damn damn damn ... too much to do... damn damn damn damn damn damn damn damn

Impending Jap exam :O - JLPT N4

O.K. time to keep the gym on the sidelines for approximately a month's time as I am off to my home country - India!!!! But this upcoming trip is a hectic affair - what with weddings in the family and my Japanese language exam all mixed into one biggg mess.

If you are a Japanese language student you would know how maddening it is to cram Kanji's and keep it there - in ones memory circuits! .... I think it's the ONE perfect thing to drive me completely crazy. I have journals after journals filled - file after file, diary after diary filled - with Kanji strokes; considering there is practically no other way of getting these registered in ones head. Any other way is a temporary memory - no kidding.

I agree my literal absorption of these Kanji scripts have gone up multi-fold as I literally spend 5-6 hours doing strokes - its mind numbing sometimes - but thankfully I do remember stuff now :)... familiarity perhaps.

I was to give JLPT N3 as my teacher felt I was good enough for it - but as it turns out my study portion could not be finished  - and semi-finished course is a recipe for disaster, in language examinations atleast! So instead of wasting money on going all the way to India and flunking JLPT N3, I decided to give JLPT N4 ( which I was earlier going to skip) - And really I don't deserve to skip levels  :D - Japanese ain't no waltz at all.... It's HARD work!

Another major annoyance for me is the complete lack of facility to give these JLPT examinations in South Africa. I mean, these exams are conducted in most of the countries - so why not SA? Sometimes I do feel that people in SA not interested in learning off-beat things. :/ ( maybe I am wrong... but I don't see many students of Japanese in Johannesburg and even less teachers or language school for Japanese, eh)!

If I do teach Japanese here sometime later, I hope I do find people interested in learning it. :)

Gym 1.15

1st Nov 2011: Attended Ben's stepper class, after a gap of 4 days of not going to gym ( which could not have had been helped as we tripped to Pietermaritzberg). So Stepper for 1 hour and a nice long walk back. No yoga as its been an immensely sleep deprived week-end dragging into the week.

Gym 1.14

28th Oct 2011: Ben's aerobics class attended today. Came back home did yoga breathing exercises and Sun Salutation. :) It feels so good in class now and when Ben pushes really harrrrd, I have discovered that if I start imagining things in my head - it helps. Here are a few sample imaginations I use... quite often:

I imagine being chased down a dark alley by say 5 thugs and I have to protect myself - so kick kick kicccckkkkk assss!! :D

I also sometimes think say I am in some karate or judo competition and I am say kicking the hell out of my opponent - so push, kick, jump.... more more more,... again again again....

Another situation that helps in my head is say picturing a zen master champion of shaolin practicing harrrrrrrrrrrrrd all the time, every time... non-stop.... (try to think its you and not somebody else who is that expert).

The last situation that is seriously cool to imagine is say you are thrown in the sea and you have to swim hard to save your life. If you stop, you die :D....

I run new things in my head, all imagined ... but you see... I perhaps would be doing a few reps extra just coz of 'em, instead of stopping and huffing and puffing.