I keep looking at the desktop without blinking my eye. Is it really 9 degree centigrade out there? 'S' went out to get milk ... and came back shivering as though he had gone into hypothermia. Yes... the fall is stepping in. The fall - a messenger to announce the onset of winter!

Odd semesters are always tough. Why? Coz they come around the winters. Winters are meant either for wrapping yourself with a quilt and going to sleep even if there is a world war going on just outside your house (or) they are meant to catch a plate of onion pakodas in one hand ... hot tea in the other ... and watch Katrina Kaif heat up the living room.

But Bangalore winters are mild. Its not the Pitt climate that worries me ... its the people here. I walked towards the bus stop right outside the public health school. I hid both my hands ... shrinked my body ... and moved like a robot. The blood inside had formed ice cubes. I looked more or less like the protagonist from Titanic (DeCaprio) in the ending scene ... only difference, Kate Winslet wasn't there to hold my hands. All of this did not worry me one bit ... but what worried me the most was this girl who was wearing little shorts (as small as what my 2-yr old nephew wears) ... and still smiling. My first urge was removing my overcoat and covering her ... poor thing must be dying of cold! Yeah ... right ... that's what I thought!

Now hear this ... she went over to Rita's and bought a cup of ice-cream. Ice-cream??????? A few minutes and i myself would have turned into a cone ice-cream ... and this girl ... the girl with tiny shorts ... eats ice-cream in this weather? I may not die of the cold ... but these little incidents really are increasing my risk of myocardial infarction.

I still look at the desktop ... still don't blink my eye ... its still 9 degree centigrade out there. My room-mate is watching a movie ... he is covered from head to toe. From a monkey-cap to a fleece jacket to a quilt to socks ... you can barely see his face. Two totally contrasting characters I got to see in one day ... America ... weird !