a certain writing on the wall... and defenestration..

ok what i wrote was reiterated in class, in a 'fashion' I don't quite agree with. A writing on the wall can only be literally so unless it is from that magical hand. Magical or otherwise, that hand belongs to the teacher. the blackboard belongs to the teacher.

Dictionary.com Word of Day for Thursday was "Defenestrate". As usual I tried to make a guess as to what it might mean. The pea in my head suggested that it could be anything between removing ones intestines and dignity. obviously all this happened in the few seconds of tracing my imagination along my eyelids, quite like when your 5th grade teacher has just asked you a question (and you pretend to read the answer from somewhere on the ceiling), although quite unlike the nervous waiter at Cafe Noorani who rolled up his eyes to remember the menu.

OK defenestrate means "to throw out of a window". unless used in the context of mundane stuff like chocolate wrappers, Lays packs and the occasional beer bottle (OK, not so much), it makes for interesting talk. my earliest and for that matter the latest memories of the phrase in any significant context are associated with teachers.

you don't get your textbook to class or are caught chatting and Rita Ma'am, my High School English teacher would either "break your head like a coconut" or "throw you out of the window". just imagine, had she then said "i will defenestrate you", we would probably have learnt another word, but the magic (read silence/obedience whatever was required) could have worked with "throw you out of the window" only. perhaps it worked best, if it was some scrawny guy. Because, then it seemed lesser of a threat and more of a possibility.

I will skip those instances where similar threats were issued by dad or when any of the "siblings" or cousins would hold something valuable to me right next to the window to ensure its free fall out of it if their immediate demands were not met.

Historically defenestration has been associated with acts of political dissent. but i think history was made in Noojiedom, when the king (with that oh so benign smile) said "You can do whatever you want in your room. Just don't throw them out of the window."