8 Random Facts

The Most Famous Dutchman from Kerala, Njan van Kalip (aka Mathew) tagged me last July. It was van Kalip times for me then, so couldn't take it up. Now, after what seems like eternity, I'm taking up the tag.

Rules:
1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
3. At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
4. If you fail to do this within eight hours, you will not reach Third Series or attain your most precious goals for at least two more lifetimes.

So here goes:
1. I don't sleep in the afternoons. Even in office, maa kasam. In college, I used to be the only one awake for the 2 pm Thermodynamics classes. However, this is valid only under one condition - I need at least 5 hours of sleep the night before.
2. I have an extremely high threshold of pain. Once, after a minor surgery on my calf, the doctor was supposed to do something which involved a very painful procedure (what he did escapes my memory and I was not under anesthesia). After 'the thing' got over, the doctor told my father in an astonished voice that I was the first person he had seen in his entire medical career who hadn't hollered during 'the thing'.
3. The character in FRIENDS that I identify with most is Monica.
4. I absolutely love movies, music and books. All three of them across a wide range of genres. And yes, I like rock and heavy metal. However among the three, I'm most choosy about books, probably because there is a lot of time invested in reading a book. So I don't read Alistair McLeans and John Grishams now, but enjoy watching a crappy movie like Jodhaa Akbar once in a while.
5. When I was in 4th standard, my parents discovered that I had a tolerable ability to sing without going off-key too many times. So they engaged a music tutor to torture me 3 evenings a week with classical music when all the neighbourhood kids were running amok. I protested this imprisonment - what could be more important than playing? After a year or so, parents agreed to free me. But they said something which I will remember for the rest of my life - that I'd regret not continuing with the classes later on in life. I sure do regret it now. Advice to kids : Parents are not right all the time, but they are right 99% of the time.
6. There is not a game or sport in the world I've not tried my hand at (except fencing and equistrian). Ok, I exaggerate. But you get the point, right? Football, basketball, volleyball, cricket, tennis, table tennis, swimming, badminton, hide and seek, cops and robbers, etc, etc, etc.
7. My favourite subjects in school were History, Physics and Geography.
8. I can't make up my mind whether I like tea or coffee more. When I was a kid and and wouldn't be given coffee, I would pine for it. I looked forward to train journeys because I loved the coffee they served on trains then and it was the only time I'd be allowed a sip. [Now they serve crap in boiled water, or it could be that I've outgrown the coffee on trains] Later on, I shifted allegiance to tea, mostly on account of fantastic tea that appa made. In college, I found coffee depressing. Now, after a year of constant intake of the Madras filter kaapi, I can't get through a day without my caffeine fix.

So there you have it, 8 random facts about myself. Now it comes to tagging a few people and here is where the apprehension sets in. Considering the fact that most of the people I know on blogosphere are still recovering from a tag that went around, I don't think it'll be appropriate to tag them again so soon. So let me end this one right here and incur the wrath of the blog daivangal for 7 generations to come.