I miss my brother for one very important reason. He is my black hole for gossip/opinions/theories - whatever I tell him stays with him, in a galaxy far far away from mine. Nothing I tell him is likely to come back and bite me. Now that he's away, I have to remind myself to keep my mouth shut. Sometimes I forget other people talk too. I could've avoided some recent faux pas if I'd just called him up and vented.
Its not that I don't have anyone to talk to outside my house. I thankfully get my regular dose of conversation and random small talk, just not with anyone
as perfect as my brother. You need someone like that - who you can just tell (almost) everything on your mind, who's biased towards you, who's known you (relatively) forever, and who will laugh at your stupid insider jokes and vice-verca. Plus, bhaiya analyzes the smallest thing as much as I do; so we can talk for hours.
Back to Basics
I'm finally brushing up on my multiplication tables. I probably haven't given them any thought since I mastered the tables of 12; which means my powers of calculation have remained static for a decade. This has been long overdue. I've even roped in my mother, so its really going back.
Mummy prefers the sing-song method of learning; though I draw the line at her trying to drone along with me. Then she gets to drill me while I stare at the fan or pace around the room. If she wasn't in the room I'd still be doing that, but numbers would quickly be the last thing on my mind.
I'm getting a kick out of this, similar to the rush you get when you start exercising regularly. But then I haven't even kept this up for a week, so I better not think of any more resolutions.
PS: The perfect song for this is Homework (Do Ekum Do) from Darna Mana Hai.
PPS: Telling people I'm practicing calculating often provokes a few to throw some random numbers at me. If I get it wrong, I won't hear the end of it. If I get it right, I might be informed that they don't know either, so - whatever.
