Unloading my think tank...

My TL left for a 2-month stay in US (work-related). Lucky him. I think its just awesome to be able to go to another country, experience another lifestyle, work environment, meeting people of diverse cultures, ethnicity, getting to know how business (and also normal life) is conducted over in that place. Plus all the sight-seeing and travelling surely are welcome! I've always believed that being widely travelled, and knowing other cultures and other things I've mentioned above, adds to your personality. One grows as a person, is more tolerant to different views, is able to appreciate why one man's mannerisms are so, etc.

Having said that, its quite a wonder (or, shock) that I've never been outside of India. I was born here, studied here, and have been working here from the past 5 years. Phew. I'd love to go out, explore new places. Well, if I had my way (and not an engineering degree), then I'd be travelling for a living :D like the hosts/presenters on Discovery's Travel and Living do. All (it seems) they do are go new places, explore the places to see, the food culture, et. al. Wonderful thing to do for a living no? :)

I'm here with nothing particular to say. I've got no work today so I was browsing through reuters.com. There's news articles about iPhone (of course), Harry Potter fans in frenzy at the movie premiere in Japan, and some "oddly enough" news about some convicted man tying his electronic monitor to his dog and fleeing away and 2 teenaged girls who left photos behind after mugging another girl. How dumb. Nothing new happening in the world. Its the same old news. Oh yea, I read about a bomb defused in London. Blast the terrorists, when will they ever learn? Well I guess not until we have Bushs', Saddams, Osamas and Advanis in the picture.

Reminds me, I'm going to watch a documentary on global warming tonight, "An Inconvenient Truth".

One of the things I've always wanted to do is learn a foreign language. Umm well probably every language is "foreign" to someone, and I mean a language that hasnt originated here. (I know 5 already). I want to learn Spanish and/or French. I'd really prefer Spanish though. That way I'll know whats Shakira singing ;) I enquired a couple of places around and though the fees isnt an issue, the timings is. Sat evenings and sunday mornings, for 3 months. I'd rather have it saturday and sunday mornings. Also, I want the class to be more interesting that just a place when I go to learn. I want a class of talkitives, enthusiasts, and people who are fun to be with. Not like I go there and everyone just buried their heads into books and leaves without a word when done. That'd be totally uncool. But, there are chances of that happening more than not. So, am in a fix. Should I go fulfil my passion of learning a new language or should I throw away the idea thinking about what kind of people 'might' be in the class with me *sigh*

Tell me what to do! I so, so so badly want to take up the classes.

Life's going the same way, not much change. I mean, there is, but I'm looking forward to a change in environment when we go for our honeymoon next month. A much welcome break from wake up-cook-bathe-eat-work-eat-work-back home-tv-time with hubby-sleep routine. I need to shop for a few things for the vacation, lets see how I can make up for the time needed next week.

Thats all; I better leave before I make this post an epic :D

Sol Kadi is a Goan/Mangalorean drink, though some people might differ on that one. Its a cool drink, drank at the end of the meal (since it acts like a digestive) or even mixed with steamed white rice. I first tasted the drink at the behest of the waiter, and needless to say, I just loved the tangy-sour-hot taste of it! After all, this was one of the rare things thats appeals to both your taste buds and your body!
So one fine day, I thought, why not try this at home. I did, and it turned out really, really yummy!

Here's the recipe!

Ingredients:
500 ml coconut milk
20 pods of kokum
6-7 cloves of garlic, peeled
5 pieces of ginger, peeled
2-3 green chillies
Salt (to taste)
1 tablespoon fresh coriander leaves (chopped, for garnishing)

Serves: 4

Cooking time: 15 mins.

Method:
1. Boil 2 cups of water, add the kokum pods to it and close with a lid. Keep aside for 10 minutes.
2. Slit the chillies and remove the seeds.
3. Now mash the green chillies, garlic and ginger pieces together. Keep aside.
4. Add salt to coconut water and stir.
5. Now, take the kokum pods soaked in water and mash them with hands, squeezing all the juice out of it. Discard the residue, and add the juice to coconut water. Stir.
6. Add the mashed chillies, ginger and garlic to coconut water and stir again.

Serve chilled, with freshly chopped coriander leaves as garnishing. Enjoy!

Tip: Do not throw the water in which kokum was soaked. Pour it in your bathing water and use; it has cooling agents to soothe your body and citric juices for a clean, fresh bath.

Cuz I sure get "irit8d"!! Its amazing how people type like that! It is so annoying to decipher what they are saying and once done, come to terms with how bad a speller he/she is. Or how lazy, since he/she cant take type the whole thing out.
See what I mean...

1. Hlo hw r u?
I wouldnt even care to reply if my mood is bad

2. R u thr? Or worse still, R u t?
Whatever!

3. Hw is ur sis doin? Wat abt ur plns for d evng?
(Its not wat, its what. And 'd' for 'the'??!?!?!)

4. Dis is wat I mnt 2.
(Oh sure)

5. I wnt 2 go 2 d mall 2moro.

6. Hy m8, hwz it goin? R u cumming to play l8r?
(M8??? Cumming?? Seriously??)

7. A lot f r membrs lyk 2 typ lyk dis. (taken from a website. And yes, the sentence is horrendous!)

8. R u cuming nw?
(Oh yea, your texts really give me big big O's)

9. Wen Cn I C U Agn?
(I'd say, never.)

10. LtsGt2gthr 2mrw mrng 4 futbal.
(Futbal??!??!?!! Its FOOTBALL YOU FREAK!)



Oh my dear God can you believe that?! I personally think typing like that really messes your grammar (yea its grammar and not grammer, bet 100s of you didnt know that!) and of course your spelling skills. Over time, you may even think there are the actual spellings! I read in newspaper once that kids these days, when short on time during paper, write answers in such language!!!

I understand that with 160 characters as limit for text messages, one is forced to write in abbreviated words if the message is too long. But still, I wouldnt do that. I'd rather write easily understandable words than wrte lyk dis. And when such words are used in e-mails, that really puts me off. I mean, e-mails dont have a word limit!! Write all you want! But in full words, that are easy and speak of you as a patient person, as someone who took time out to write a nice mail to you. I really do believe it shows your personality.

Oh c'mon, its not that hard is it? With the T9 feature on, its really easy :)


And really, WHATS WITH THE "CUMMING"????!?!?!?!!

Reverse psychology works with everyone, trust me. If I'm told to look for 'n' number to things to shop for, out of which 'm' number of things should be of 'x' colour, and 'p' number of them should be of 'y' size, it would confuse me no end. Instead, if that someone tells me don't get 'z' variety of 'q', I'll can shop for it with my eyes closed.

Confused? Allow me to explain. How many times has it happened that you went out to shop for something specific? Really really specific? "I want a denim skirt that is 4 inches above my knee, that has pleats all around the hips (so that when I turn around, it looks totally wow!), and has zippers on one side (not on the back)". And if (and that's a big IF) you finally get that skirt, you see that it isn't perfect for some reason.

Instead, if you know for sure what you DON'T want to buy, and what does NOT look good on you, then it becomes real easy to find something that you want! Trust me it does!

Helping women do this and also understand what to look for (and what NOT to look for) are the "What Not To Wear" girls. Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine are them. They started this concept of makeover for a selected few of contestants (yes its a reality show). Makeovers include wardrobe makeover, fashion and hair makeover - resulting in attitude makeover. In fact, the girls believe, "what you wear can change the way you feel about yourself". I so agree.

I first saw them on The Oprah Winfrey show (she's got a fan in me!). They went to malls and targeted unsuspecting women, ambushing them to a corner and telling them that their look can be spruced up, their age knocked off by at least 10 years, and body slimmed down by wearing just the right kind of clothes and sporting the right hairstyle. They agree, and off are the trio on a spree of shopping. The end result is spectacular. You must see the show to believe me. I mean, isn't the concept amazing?!

The girls are great fashion gurus and have amazing style. Plus they have that British accent! Now who can resist that?!!

They first started hosting a show by the same name on BBC. The episodes are aired even now on Discovery's Travel and Living channel. Needless to say, yours truly waits for it with bated breath and watches it uninterrupted. (Anyone touching the remote during the show will be subjected to unmatched cruelty and a chance to have one last meal, if requests/threats for not touching the remote are not heeded to. )

Did I mention that both look absolutely stunning? Oh yea they do! Makes you want to follow their fashion advice even more!

Both have co-authored style books which are a great hit all over the world. Their free spirited nature and becoming one with the contestant to understand their life and help them overthrow wardrobes full of fashion faux pau makes them such a hit with the contestants and viewers as well.

I, for one, am a big big fan of theirs. Trinny Woodall was here in India early this year to attend her friend's wedding at Udaipur! What do you know?!!? Both come across as fiercely independent and fashionable to the core. Love that.

Here's a pic of Trinny...





And here's one of Susannah...

... who knows about them? By a show of hands please...

I raise mine! And I'm totally in love with them! I'm gonna write about them as soon as I find time.

On the lack of time, I have something to say. *ahem* clearing my throat
Die Java Swings die! Doom be to you UI apps.!

Weekends are such a relief from mundane days of commute, office and work! Not that my weekdays are not fun (make up your mind girl!), but I eagerly look forward to weekends. This time, saturday witnessed me staying at home (shocking!) and indulging in cleaning (even more shocking!)

Ok the last statement makes me look sloppy, but trust me I'm not. I just tend to be moody about such matters unless crudely awakened... umm I just realised this is not helping me in looking unsloppy :D

looking to salvage but I assure you when you come to my home it'll be spic and span.

Coming back to what I was saying... I stayed at home and cleaned up and spent the remaining part of the day watching movies. Calm, relaxed.
Then later in the day, we bought tennis rackets! Planning to join some tennis club next month, and in an effort to get all fit before I start with that, I also bought skipping rope *huff puff huff puff* :D

Come sunday, and we went bowling. What fun! This is what always happens with me - I go with a group, start off with a bang (like I'm on fire), everyone gets intimidated, I bloat like a balloon (buffoon), and end up hitting less pins with every passing chance :( People can easily talk me up and put me on a pedestal and I end up losing concentration. Darn! I blame them, not me!!! And to think it was my hubby and bro-in-law this time :(

Ok enough with the drama already :) We had good fun. Then we went on a long drive, and it rained. Lovely!

Today:
I was reading a newspaper, and there was an article about Sonia Gandhi calling up Atal Bihari Vajpayee and "pleading" with him to support them in UPA govt.'s choice of Rajasthan Governor Pratibha Patil as the next presidential candidate. Seems she said to him, "Maine aapse kabhi kuch nahi maanga, aaj pehli baar maang rahi hu." To which Mr. Vajpayee replies, "Humne to apko desh de diya hai, ab aur kya denge."
HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHA. Really man, this comment was sick. It seems like an attempt to have a standing in front of her, which is totally uncool and very BJP-isque attitude. What.ev.er.

Then I read that a German tourist, Marc Strollreiter, has taken the cudgels in his own hands and has started cleaning the Dal lake. For those who don't know whats it, its a beautiful lake in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Its a major tourist spot and has lovely house boats and is called Paradise on Earth. But lately, its in a sorry state thanks to the rising pollution levels. The German promptly sprung into action, joined hands with NGOs, rounded up some 50 volunteers and started cleaning up the lake. By noon, they'd cleared the lake of tonnes of garbage, polythene bags, plastic bottles etc. Remember, it was a German tourist, not the authorities (yes there's a special board set up to monitor the pollution levels in the lake and maintain the lake) who took up this task. What a tight slap on their faces!

India's reaching great heights in many fields and is a stiff competitor to many developed countries, but in some depts., theres lot of work left to do. Its easy to blame the govt., but we should take up the responsibility on ourselves too. I can go on and on, but I'd rather not. I'll end up all defensive and aggressive. Not now.


*** having to think of a title everytime, that is.

I dont feel like starting work right away; so I'll write something here. Today, I will tell you about my office, and my co-workers.

My office is awesome. Its a telecom giant, and its a Fortune 14 company. Take that you losers! The policies are good, and work just makes me happy. There's never been a day that I've felt, "ugh, I dont wanna go there today" about my office. I might say that when I'm worn out, but never because the workplace is bad.

Next, my co-workers. My manager has to be the first to be mentioned here. He's upbeat, motivating, talks a lot, and gives lot of gyaan whether or not you have time and ear for it. Philosophy is his cup of tea. His favourite joke/quote/whatever-you-say-it-is is, "Americans spent billions of dollars trying to invent a pen so that astronauts can use it in space. Later, they found that Russians, used a pencil for the same." Geez. He says this every single time in meetings or even when you go to his cabin for a one-on-one chat. Another thing he says frequently is, "This is not a mechanical job guys; its IT (newsflash for us, we didnt know that!). We need to be logical here, its not like you put the nuts and bolts at the designated places and the machine comes alive. That doesnt happen in IT guy. Think! Think hard and think better!" Oooookay!

My acutal TL - Well, she's mahaan. She's done her PG in USA and though is a pukka Indian, has got a strong American accent. Her favourite phrase is, "What sorry?", as in, "Come again", or "Pardon me". And her "what sorry" comes once every 15 seconds when you are talking to her, even at the cost of interrupting you! Argh. This really honhaar guy from one of the teams she manages has just entered the office, and she goes, "Oh great you are here! Check your email, we have lots of work for you today!" at the top of her voice. This, from a "team leader" who comes in at 12.30 PM at the earliest. Wow, some people just get away with that accent of theirs dont they.

My teammate-who-is-the-deserving-TL - Yea he's a hardworker alright. He can get on your nerves, but that cuz he's moody. Really moody. Oher than that, he's a good chap. Works hard and does what needs to be done to get the job done. He does the delegating work part, talking to our team in US part, and stuff like putting all the infrastructure together when we need something, et al. He has an the knowledge of our product, inside out. He has a solution for almost everything, and his favourite phrase is, "I like it". His dream (or, let me say one of his dreams) is about to come true later this month. And we all re happy for him :)

My other team-mate - Big time sports enthu guy. Quick learner. Kid. Pulls a chair for me, offers me what he's eating, and is polite. Makes him quite nice.

Rasna Girl - So called cuz she shakes her body (mainly shoulders) all the while when talking to someone. Makes her look stupid, really. Not to mention dumb. And non-serious. And pretty darn idiotic. And that grin on her face doesnt help. Tch tch. Kept insisting to a guy once to let her have a puff off of his cigarette, cuz she "wants to try every bad thing just once in life". He wouldnt let go of his 2.5 inch fair lady even for a sec. Yea, I can imagine too how a girl constantly moving like a pendulum would look with a cigarette in her hands. Totally uncool.

Curtain Girl - So called cuz almost all her dresses seem like they are made out of curtains. BIG, HUGE, FLOWY DESIGNS. Uh oh. Hair unkempt always. Uh oh. Loud voice. That figures. *sigh*

iGuy - He's got a fixation with "i", as in iPod, iGoogle - you get the picture. IS very very techie, but fiercely guards his private life. All you hear from him is the Wi-Fi in his home, LOST series on Star World, latest softwares, gadgets, and the like. Keeps forcefully asking for "treat" for just about anything. oye us din ka pizza mat bhool! aur ab teri baari hai! He gets [insert-name-of-this-lame-sorry-ass-city] attacks - main yaha kya kar raha hoon yaar? achha khaasa tha udhar, pata nahi kya sochke aaya. ab bas ek saal... sirf ek saal, dekh lena. And if he's reading this, I would like to remind him of the weekend his cousin and her friends had come over. Time for an attack! :D


Quiet guy1, Quiet guy 2, quiet guy 3 - all hardworking, and pleasant and nice to have as colleagues. Bhagwaan us sab ka bhala kare :)

The others - All seem like they are a mass product from the same factory. Nothing new about them. Nothing that makes them mentionable.**

My friends from office - All are nice except one. The cocky girl is, well, cocky. Attitude. Ask me about what, and I fail to answer that one. She's bad at everything. From yoga to cooking, you name it and she cuts a sorry figure. The other friends in that group are nice. Kind, never the ones to hurt anyone. But they are like frogs in a well - they dont know (and neither do they care to) about what happening apart from work life and home life. Yea, its either the 4 walls of office for them, or 4 walls of their homes. Nothing else.

And there's this girl who is a pile of genetic waste. She's not from my office. Nonetheless, she's just what I said.

Oookay! Long one! Gotto get back to work.

Next time, people I wish I hadnt known. (that would be some list!)

... and I wish I had a camera with me! Had it not been for my office policies (darn 'em all!) I would have definitely got my camera and gone *click* *click* 'cuz days like today are hard to see in this part of the country!

Life's been rocking, and me and hubby have plans to make it all the more rocking! We are planning for a getaway sometime next month - a place where there's calm, and tranquility sets in your soul... where time takes a backseat and you feel the breeze on your skin... where you stare at the sunset and sunrise, longing to reach to the kaleidoscope of horizon, with its orange-hued colours... where greenery takes over your senses and fresh flora captivates your mind...

Tempting, isn't it?! I could really use a vacation now! :)

Writing, is something I love. Its therapeutic. It calms me down. I sit, I think (yes I do!) and go on typing. At times, I write just about whats on my mind, other times I reflect on my thoughts and write. And while I am writing, I feel calm. Once I'm done, I feel more calm. As someone writing since 2004, I can still say that I love the jamboree between thoughts in mind and words on paper.
I write when I want to be heard; and at times I write when I need nobody to listen.

Pirates of the Caribbean was good. Its an adventure from start to finish, and Johnny Depp's a piece of cheesecake! His look is like that of a pirate - dirty, unkempt - but he looks posh. You know, really POSH! I wont say anything about the plot or the cast, just that its an awesome movie! If you haven't seen Captain Jack and his crew, make a beeline for the theatre I say! Too bad, its the last in sequel. Cant wait till the DVD release, then I'll have the complete set!
The movie is like a Bollywood movie - 3 hours in length! So was Spiderman - 3. Is Hollywood slowly aping us? ;)

(heh heh the title... funny innit :D )

So, been a long time since I came here eh? Been busy over the past few days. Went to meet my mom and my sister and her family over the weekend. Had a blast with my 8-month old niece, I simply love her the most :) just thinking about her makes me so happy

Also, for the first time, I travelled by the Shatabdi; and the experience was amazing! Free food all the way! Check this out -

- within minutes of you stashing away your bag, and settling down to read Maximum City (or Femina/Women's Era if you are a first-grade loser), the smartly dressed steward brings you a fresh fruit juice to drink. Ah!
- just as you are about to glug the last few sips down, there he comes again with sandwiches, tea/coffee, samosas. Howzzat!
- then you get back to your reading, or watching Shawshank Redemption on the iPod (for the nth time) and he comes with soup and bun with butter, with a shiny butter knife on the side! Yummo!
- then comes dinner - complete veg. with fruits in the end! Slurp slurp!
- just as you think, or go *burrrp*, before the "excuse me" comes out of your mouth, lo! there's ice cream! Woo f'kin hoo!

Bhai humaar to bas itna kahne ki ichha hai - Lalooji ki jai ho! Rail yatra to jet airways jaisan sukhad hui gawaa! Aur saath mein bhojan bhi! Ab ka kahe bas Lalooji ki jai!


Monday was our anniversary - the day we slipped rings into each other's finger exactly a year ago :) We celebrated that with real sumptuous Lebanese food. Perfect!


Its Tuesday, and like everyday, I've got work to do. These days I try not to think much about stuff that distracts me. I like to keep my focus on what I'm doing at the time - knowing what I do will satisfy me. I've also managed to keep off people/things that tend to influence my thought process in a negative direction - I can easily give up on chatting, blogging and concentrate on work assigned to me. Besides, my team lead is flying to US (CO and NC offices) end of this month, and I guess I'll be expected to take over. And at the end of each day, I am fine - fine as in calm with the thought that I worked, and I put in my efforts.

The guy who serves tea/coffee here on 6th floor, is like that. Though there are at least 200 people on this floor, he knows exactly what each wants. When a person enters the room, he immediately serves him beverage of his choice. Plus, he takes care of the pantry machine, and decorates the room when its a special day (like Mother's Day, New Years' etc.) The refrigerator is clean and so is the area around the sugar bowl. He loves his work, I can see that :)
Maybe he has influenced me indirectly...

Reminds me, I gotto get back to work. First, let me get my lemon tea :)