Oh, how I love Atwood, both as a writer and a poet. This is one of my favourites. It makes me think, and feel.

luv,

gaurika

Variation On The Word Sleep 

by Margaret Atwood 

I would like to watch you sleeping, 
which may not happen.
I would like to watch you,
sleeping. I would like to sleep
with you, to enter
your sleep as its smooth dark wave
slides over my head



and walk with you through that lucent
wavering forest of blue green leaves
with its watery sun & three moons
towards the cave where you must descend,
towards your worst fear



I would like to give you the silver
branch, the small white flower, the one
word that will protect you
from the grief at the center
of your dream, from the grief
at the center. I would like to follow
you up the long stairway
again & become
the boat that would row you back
carefully, a flame
in two cupped hands
to where your body lies
beside me, and you enter
it as easily as breathing in



I would like to be the air
that inhabits you for a moment
only. I would like to be that unnoticed
& that necessary.

Tales of the Sandy-Haired Boy

It’s ironic that in the (many) months I’ve been here, I haven’t blogged about my closest friend in Sheffield. And now he’s left (leaving me bereft), though hopefully not forever, and I find that I need to write about him and us and the magical friendship we share. Yes, that was present tense. We ain’t dead yet, people!

Where should I start? He has lovely green-blue eyes, though more blue than green. They were one of the first things I noticed and liked about him. And he has interesting hair. It has several shades of brown and looks sun-bleached, like someone who lives in a house by the beach all summer. And it is really soft and nice to touch. He has dozens of freckles which also remind me of beach holidays, because they are the colour of sand. But enough about appearances. Beauty isn’t skin deep, you know. Tee hee!

He is a fun person to hang out with. He loves joking around and rarely takes himself or other people seriously, which is what I liked about him immediately. He understands my jokes and isn’t offended by some of them! He is technologically illiterate and seeks my wisdom on such matters. He likes a night out on the town, bar-hopping and dancing. He’s a really great dancer too, even though I never guessed it when we first met. His accent is (I now know) typically Irish and he rolls his R’s way more than I do. We have loads of fun watching movies at the cinema, watching plays and just hanging out at a pub when there’s not much else to do. Curry club is a constant day to look forward to, as are random dinners in cute little Italian places. We also both love window shopping and cribbing about a general lack of funds, as students! We cook sometimes, buy cheap wine and drink it all up and then feel sleepy in the morning. We have had dozens of conversations late at night in my kitchen, just lounging on the sofa and talking about stuff-sometimes funny, sometimes serious. He adores it when I mess with his hair when we sit there, because it makes him sleepy.

But Seamy has a dark side too. He is a neat freak and chides my messy ways. He is also the self-proclaimed ‘King of Mashed Potatoes’. He has an insane passion for tuna and sweet corn, as well as Daz detergent. He can be very stubborn sometimes. He also waits until the very edge of a deadline to start working and will then spend an entire night in the library if need be. It is indeed scary. I fell asleep there. He is a good student though. One of the best producers I’ve ever seen. But that’s enough about his sinister side…

Above everything, he is a priceless friend to have. He looks after me like family, makes sure I eat, especially when I am busy with work and forget to eat, or when I am sick. He has cooked for me several times, when I was just too exhausted to move. He listens well and gives good advice, without judging too harshly. (Because, as we all know, everyone judges!) He has amazing fashion sense and consistently encourages me to dress like a girl. That can’t be a bad thing, right? He has been there for me through crisis situations, remaining perfectly calm, warm and caring.

I am now veering towards dangerous mushiness, so I will stop. This entry is dedicated to the great Seamy-Gaurika friendship that was, is and will be. Here’s to a good friend. I am glad we met and thankful you were there for me so much. I hope I touched your life in the same way you did, and I promise I will never forget you.

When you left, I couldn’t come up with the perfect gift, so I gave you what I know best and means the most to me-my music. I shared my old favourites and newer discoveries. I also gave you a bunch of movies, my other passion. It was the most meaningful gift I could give and I hope you get as much joy out of the songs as I did. And I hope that wherever you are, someday, some song will remind you of me and the great times we spent. I wish you all the best for the future, no matter what course your life takes. You are a hard-working kid and will make it in whatever you choose to do. You should know that you are missed terribly, everytime I pass Starbucks or Flirt or Wetherspoons. But I get through each day slowly. And I pray that someday I finally meet Princess. Because goodbyes are not forever.

Lots of love,

gaurika*

 p.s. me love you looong time...hahahaha!

Dear Loyal Readers,

I realize it has been long since I last wrote. I have been severely occupied in typing of another nature, a.k.a. writing assignments for college and working on oh-so-dreaded presentations. They were nerve-racking to say the least. However, I have made it through these trying times and am now writing again for my public. Well, the misery still isn’t really over, because I have another one this Thursday, but as you can see, I am clearly too distracted to work and it was too rainy to go to the library today.

On the subject of weather, we witnessed a tiny bit of snow in Sheffield today. Yes indeed, I said SNOW. The weather channel called it a flurry, so I decided to explore types of snowfall on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flurries). Here are but a few:

Flurries - A period of light snow with usually little accumulation with occasional moderate snowfall.

Sleet - In Britain, rain mixed with snow; in America, ice pellets formed when snowflakes pass through a layer of warm air, thaw, then refreeze on further descent.

Soft hail - Granules of snow or ice pellets formed when supercooled water accretes on ice crystals or snowflakes.

Snizzle - A mixture of snow and drizzle. This termed was coined by a meteorologist on the Boston television station WBZ-TV. This one is my favourite!

Anyone who can tell me the difference between all of these will be rewarded. So anyway, it happened for a few minutes and then ended as soon as it began. My friends in college and I shared the experience over messenger. It was beautiful. Sigh.

I will now leave you all to contemplate white christmases and snow and snowmen and making snow angels and snowball fights…and then a cozy fireplace. Lovely, isn’t it?

Adieu, my bright-eyed, bushy-tailed readers!

Luv,

Gaurika*