Comfort zone
I went to Mahesh's place today.. we had planned to go swimming in the pool near his place. On my way there, Mahesh was talking to (asking) me on the phone about the difference in days/weeks between date X and date Y e.g. May 4th to June 9th.
So anyways, when I got to his place, he was typing away at the computer. He asks me the difference between two dates and then types it out on Word. And all this while, I thought he was asking me all that simply 'cause it was on his mind. He treats me like the Central Intelligence Agency, haha.
While his mother and I were talking, he was sitting on the desk chair, watching us talk. He grabbed my left hand put it on his head, signaling that he wanted me to stroke his hair.. which I did. Then his face. It felt so brotherly.
I took him swimming. We argued about the working days of our respective fathers.. he wants my father to work from Monday to Saturday, which are the working days of his father. I, in turn, argued that his father should work seven days a week, an idea that he vehemently opposed. We giggled like girls over this silly argument.
Back at his place, his mother was talking to me again. She told me that autism has a whole spectrum - some autistic people don't talk at all, others are normal in most aspects, except socially.. that's Asperger's syndrome. Mahesh is somewhere in the middle and his mother says that they're fortunate because at least he communicates with them about his feelings. She said that she hadn't expect our friendship to really work out because, despite being communicative, Mahesh is exclusive too and won't talk to a lot of people if he doesn't want to. I think it was my persisitence that finally made him open up to me and today he himself asked me, in his own little signals, to stroke his hair.
In other news, I've been keeping a secret from [some of] you. I was waiting for today to spill the beans. The big news is that a university in the UK has invited me for an interview. It's the University of Southampton and it's the only one out of the four medical schools I applied to that has given me a positive response - two haven't responded at all and one has rejected me. The invitation came back in December, but I decided to keep it a secret from most people until I had things like the visa, air ticket bookings and hotel bookings in hand. I originally had a choice of being interviewed in Malaysia between January 14th and 19th or in the university itself until March 15th. I opted for the latter for two reasons:
1. My exams were on between January 17th and 30th, so I couldn't go before them or between them.
2. It's just better to go see the campus, the city etc. for myself, isn't it?
So anyways, I got started on this visa process pretty late.. then one fine Thursday morning, I skipped the first period of school, which was a free period, and went to the British Embassy and submitted the application forms for visas for me, my father and my mum's cousin, Aasif bhai, who also wants to come. When I got into school late, I got yelled at and threatened, but that's ok.. the same afternoon, I got the three passports back with nice, shiny visas stuck to their blue pages.
Booked my tickets online. Then canceled them because Papa wanted to book with his travel agent. Finally got the tickets today.
My interview is on the 28th of this month and I'm leaving Dubai a day earlier and arriving back home a day later. I know, I know, it's just an interview, they haven't made the offer yet.. but I'm so excited! Not to mention, nervous..
So anyways, when I got to his place, he was typing away at the computer. He asks me the difference between two dates and then types it out on Word. And all this while, I thought he was asking me all that simply 'cause it was on his mind. He treats me like the Central Intelligence Agency, haha.
While his mother and I were talking, he was sitting on the desk chair, watching us talk. He grabbed my left hand put it on his head, signaling that he wanted me to stroke his hair.. which I did. Then his face. It felt so brotherly.
I took him swimming. We argued about the working days of our respective fathers.. he wants my father to work from Monday to Saturday, which are the working days of his father. I, in turn, argued that his father should work seven days a week, an idea that he vehemently opposed. We giggled like girls over this silly argument.
Back at his place, his mother was talking to me again. She told me that autism has a whole spectrum - some autistic people don't talk at all, others are normal in most aspects, except socially.. that's Asperger's syndrome. Mahesh is somewhere in the middle and his mother says that they're fortunate because at least he communicates with them about his feelings. She said that she hadn't expect our friendship to really work out because, despite being communicative, Mahesh is exclusive too and won't talk to a lot of people if he doesn't want to. I think it was my persisitence that finally made him open up to me and today he himself asked me, in his own little signals, to stroke his hair.
In other news, I've been keeping a secret from [some of] you. I was waiting for today to spill the beans. The big news is that a university in the UK has invited me for an interview. It's the University of Southampton and it's the only one out of the four medical schools I applied to that has given me a positive response - two haven't responded at all and one has rejected me. The invitation came back in December, but I decided to keep it a secret from most people until I had things like the visa, air ticket bookings and hotel bookings in hand. I originally had a choice of being interviewed in Malaysia between January 14th and 19th or in the university itself until March 15th. I opted for the latter for two reasons:
1. My exams were on between January 17th and 30th, so I couldn't go before them or between them.
2. It's just better to go see the campus, the city etc. for myself, isn't it?
So anyways, I got started on this visa process pretty late.. then one fine Thursday morning, I skipped the first period of school, which was a free period, and went to the British Embassy and submitted the application forms for visas for me, my father and my mum's cousin, Aasif bhai, who also wants to come. When I got into school late, I got yelled at and threatened, but that's ok.. the same afternoon, I got the three passports back with nice, shiny visas stuck to their blue pages.
Booked my tickets online. Then canceled them because Papa wanted to book with his travel agent. Finally got the tickets today.
My interview is on the 28th of this month and I'm leaving Dubai a day earlier and arriving back home a day later. I know, I know, it's just an interview, they haven't made the offer yet.. but I'm so excited! Not to mention, nervous..