In India the sentence 'we talked about the weather.' means that you are describing a boring conversation.
You run out of things to talk about, you exhaust every single possible avenue to take the conversation in, and you say, 'It's so hot these days' or something similar.
If you're witty you say 'I'm not sure if this is sweat or if this is me slowly melting.' The other person usually gives you a dirty look and walks away at this point.
Or responds with a 'Yeaaah. so hot! hmm. yeahhh' and then looks around for new people to talk to.
When describing why you can't possibly meet a boy again, how extremely ineligible he is for more of your attention, you say 'But we were so bored. We even talked about the weather." Your roommate/lab partner/whoever-you-talk-to-about-boys(or girls if you're into girls) nods gravely. She/he understands. Enough has been said to illustrate the level of boredom. "THE WEATHER?! Really? My my."

In London.
It is a different story.
The most visited window on your browser is the bbc weather forecast. 

Panicked email from mother.
"No spiky ends, no part of the scalp showing."
In response to the simple "I think I will get a haircut"
Another one a few minutes later clarifies that crew cuts are also not acceptable.

Last week, she rings me up on skype. I'm in school but I take it. 
Wave at my friends mother. See the lovely skyline mother. 
"Why are you studying? Are you going to fail?"
The logic apparently being that she has never seen me bother to study so I must be failing.

One must give up trying to be a better kid.

Being convinced to buy a phone

Listen buy a phone.

Why? I don't see the point.

What if there's an emergency?

Then I'll use my friend's phone.

What if he isn't around?

He's always around.

Moment's silence while I process what I just said and withdraw my answer. She knows that I talk and later think about what I said and I will want to change my answer so that she doesn't start on the tangent of why this friend might always be around.
I withdraw my statement.

So buy a phone.

No I still don't really see why I need a phone. 

What if you get mugged? Stranded without money.

Why would a mugger leave me with a phone and no wallet?

There is silence at the other end. 

Sometimes it is hard to have a five hour time difference with your family.

Sometimes this is because you cannot call them when they are not asleep but also not at work and therefore you cannot find out how your hospitalized grandparent is.

But sometimes it's simply because after you drag yourself out of bed after a night of partying just to skype them at a time which suits them, the first thing they say when they look at your sleepy face is "You look even stupider than usual."

When you start dreaming about buying shorts, even though you are a person who hates shopping, you know you have been away from the tropical home country for too long.
It is snowing here.
As mom would say, "It's a good thing. Your tan will fade." And then I would     grumble,"Nothing wrong with a tan mom, we're Indians." And in my head I would think that we're the color of caramel and more often that not, this would take me on a tangential line of thought. Caramel pudding. Chocolate Mousse. Blueberry Cheeeeeesecaaaake.
My mom does complain that I space out in the middle of too many conversations. 

Email from home

_ passed away. Call her.

Still haven't figured this one out. 

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."
That's how Rebecca starts.
A line I had probably never appreciated fully till today.



Last night I went to my flat in S*******e again. I was crossing the parking lot when something invisible grabbed my collar and pulled me backwards. For a second I was so scared, but then I sensed that it was you. So I laughed.
And you appeared.
And for a while everything was right with the world.

You even made me clean some things, making excuses that your ghost form did not allow you to do it. Prankster.

Typical you. Enjoying your ghostlyness with more joy and enthusiasm than most of us manage for our lives. We caught up. Like we always did(do?) after a year of our unintersecting lives have gone by. Your brows knit together, listening like everything I say or do is important. An expression I did not know I remembered so well.

It was an afternoon(night?) well spent dude. Thanks for dropping by.



It was almost a pity that I had to wake up.