Unloading my think tank...

Dont even ask why I'm here. Ever since blogger is blocked at work, my mind seems void of any ideas to write about soemthing. Earlier, I used to at least write a post in whatever words and save it as draft or post it anyway, but now I cant do that either. After I go home, I'm way too tired to write what I'd thought earlier, so I leave it at that.

In other words, this shit is getting stale.

Never mind, I'm not gonna quit writing only cuz I am outta ideas or am tired. Long live this blog!

We watched Transformers the other night. Tuesday, I think. My what a movie! You can say that again, and see the movie again. Such special effects! I am not too much into alien-theme movies (they really bore me to death and I start yawning, even with all the stunts going on in the theatre; and really, lets just stop speculating so much about them shall we?) but this one was refreshingly different. A bit of comedy too was in, and well, you ought to watch it. But watch it with a guy, I dont think a group of girls would enjoy as much *giggle giggle*

I took part in carrom (womens doubles and mixed doubles) and badminton (mixed doubles) as part of annual day sports. Lost in carrom, and I was looking for excuses to skip work anyway ;-) Badminton match is coming up this saturday; and I havent held a racket since school. So lets see how that one goes. Best of luck to my partner for that!

Ummm there's this girl in office. She... she's a little... wierd... she's nice and simple and all that... but she... she keeps touching me all the time. She says hi with a nice smooth hand going down my back (I think she does touches my back cuz she comes to my desk from behind... I shudder to think what would she touch if she came to my desk from the front...) Then she comes again for snacks and the touchign resumes, she stands too close to me when we are waiting for the lift, and insists on ... touching me. Once I politely told her not to touch my bare waist when I was wearing sarees saying I get ticklish and highly unconfortable with that... but I guess she didnt get the hint fully... *sigh* I cant even avoid her, cuz all her other friends do that to her. I feel sorry for her... like I said, she's nice and al that, but she neednt touch to make me be friends with her. I mean, I'm okay with hand around the shoulder (like pal sort of thing) but nothing beyond that, please.

Uh oh, lunch time. I'll back to finish this. Did I hear my blog groan?

Any Indian traditional dress is incomplete without bangles. Sarees, salwar kameezes look best when bangles are used as accessories. And the clinking sound they make, makes heads turn aplenty! Of course, its not entirely about making head turn, but how you feel. I, for one, feel extremely feminine in traditional saree, complete with bangles and bindi. No make-up, no other accessories.

And bangles are widely available in India, anywhere. Bright lit shops with bright bangles, arranged in neat rows and some hanging over, with the shopkeeper beckoning the ladies around to try and buy bangles is common sight in almost all cities. And who can forget the bangle-seller who used to roam the streets with houses, shouting, "Choodiyaan le loooooo; laal hari neeli peeli choodiyaan le looooo"** In fact, back when I was a kid, I bought my first set of bangles (green, glass bangles) from one such bangle-seller...

So its no wonder that my tryst with bangles goes way back, and continues even today. I love wearing them. See my collection!

A close up. I've got marroon, green, pink (in many shades), blue, purple, black...

The pink ones you see on the floor are glass bangles. Lovely designs on them :-) We bought this tree-like wooden stand to keep my bangles, cuz I have so many!!

One more view .

But then, keeping the bangles-stand out would make sure that each one is covered with dust in no time, so I came up with the idea of making a lid kind of thing to cover the stand, out of a carton. We cut the big carton into required size, and then the husband covered it with a bright red paper with golden design. It looked very royal. See this pic!

I'm already lookign forward to wearing saree next!

** translated to English, it means, "Come and buy bangles; red, green, blue and yellow coloured bangles!"

Scene 1, Act 1:
Friend from Office - You know, my mom is so so stubborn. She just refuses to eat healthy food; or anything that we give her.
Me: Oh thats not good :-( Why dont you persuade her more and more till she gets bugged?
FfO - You think we havent tried? Especially after her chemo began, she looks so . The sessions really test your immunity and its so important to remain strong and eat well.
Me - Have you tried blackmailing her?
FfO - What?!!
Me - Yes, blackmail her ;) Tell her you wont eat until she eats what you give her.
FfO - She's not a kid you know. We've tried all, but she'll only eat what she wants.
Me - Hmmmm...... Does she believe in God?
FfO - What do you mean?
Me - No seriously, does she?
FfO - Yes.
Me - Ok here's a plan. Prepare her food (high protein soya soup or something which the doc's told), pack and take it with you to a temple nearby. Come back with teeka on your forehead and all, then give the soya soup (or whatever you've prepared for her) saying its the prasad from temple. Then she wont refuse it. Oh yes, make sure you put some haldi-kumkum on the pack; just to be sure that she believes you ;-)
FfO - Oh! What drama! I thought... well forget it :-))
Me - Hey seriously! Try it!
FfO - LOL.



Scene 2, Act 1:
Me - Do you blog?
FfO - No time.
Me - Which means you are plain lazy...
FfO - My sis does, though.
Me - Great! Whats the url?
FfO - ********.blogspot.com
Me - Hey! She posts such good recipes! Have you tried them ever? (Cuz FiO is really pathetic at cooking and doesnt bother to learn even)
FfO - No, why should I? I've eaten all; she calls me home when she prepares it.
Me - Thats sweet :-)

after a while

Me - Hey, I have an idea!
FfO - Of course. Whats it this this time? Tell me.
Me - You check your sis' blog regularly. And when she posts a recipe that she hasnt told you about or hasnt invited you over to taste it, you try that recipe at home yourself. ;-)
FfO - Huh?
Me - Then you call her home and serve it to her. And when you sis says this she's tried, and starts giving you tips, you disagree vehemently ;-) and tell her its your own recipe, blah blah, fully original, blah blah...
FfO - LOL
Me - Then when she tries to convince you that she really has cooked that dish before and all that, you induce false tears and say that this is what she did all life to you, and at least now she should act mature and let you have credit for what you've done for once etc. LOL and then see the expression on her face ;-)
FfO - Trust you to be the drama queen! LOL
Me - :D Oh but its all in good humour! ;-)



Scene 3, Act 1:
New Friend from Office - I have 2 maids; one to cook and another to clean vessels, the house, etc.
Me - Oh thats good.
NFfO - Yea, but the cook is really good. Sometimes after she's done cooking, she does the dishes herself, though she knows that there's another maid for cleaning. Both come at separate timings. Whats more the cleaning lady doesnt do her job well; the dishes sometimes are oily and have soap stuck on 'em.
Me - Ew! Then why dont you ask the cooking maid to do all other work?
NFfO - And its so expensive to have two maids!!
Me - Then why dont you ask the cooking maid to do all other work??
NFfO - Because my husband doesnt like the same lady for cooking and cleaning. He thinks its dirty.
Me - (realising that some (read most, or all) husbands are hard to please anyway) Tell you what, fire the cleaning maid, and ask the cook to do all work. If your husband asks, tell him they are twins; one cleans and the other cooks. He wouldnt know since both come at different timings! :D
NFfO - :O (after a while) LOL
Me - (wondering what was so funny, and that she should take my advice) ;-)



Scene 3, Act 1:
FfO - Hey what did the doctor say?
(She was referring to my left eye, the one affected by herpes last year)
Me - She said it was healing; and that I should continue the drops and ointment and see her next week.
FfO - And how do you feel about your eye?
Me - Its really healing; I can feel it. No redness, no watery eyes (people dont ask me anymore why am I crying), and very very, very little blurness. The eye has not pained Misty^^ for 4 weeks. All is well.
FfO - Ok.
Me - Err, that was the last 2 lines from the last chapter of Harry Potter's last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows...
FfO - Ohhhhhh!! Am so sorry to disappoint you, but I didnt get it the first time :P
Me - Tch tch, too bad. Calling yourself Harry Potter fan and all, yet... tch tch...
FfO - Oh please, you do so much of drama, I thought it must yet one of your drama-esque responses to my question!
Me - *wide wide grin*


^^ - my name; not the real one of course, just some random name I adopted just now, to fill in my name!


Act 1, Act 2, Act 3 - All acts are humourous acts!!


All these are chats over IM or in person. My friends say I'm funny. I say, "Am I fun or am I funny?" No, thats not a trick question!! ;-)

I volunteered through my office to teach at a local school here. I was required to teach English to class V students; the challenge being that its a vernacular school. Its a school for the poor, mainly fishermen' kids and kids from slums nearby. I taught them for 3 hours on saturday morning, and promised the kids to be there every alternate saturday (as is the schedule). The kids were overjoyed.

There were other volunteers like me; and we all taught a group of 3-4 kids. Mine consisted of only girls, each of whom kept asking my name and giggling and touching my dupatta and staring at me :) The minute I entered the class, this gal gang nudged on my dupatta and started tapping the floor, motioning me to sit with them (yes we all sat on the floor). We were given 15 minutes to interact with them, before the principal came in. I have done volunteering work before, but here I was in a vernacular school, a language I couldn't even understand! But you know how kids are, they don't have such apprehensions, they don't think that their broken English is a deterrent, or that they should not open their mouths if they cant say a sentence in English; the kids started yapping, making actions with their hands and sometimes standing up and enacting with a full body motion what they meant - so that I could understand :) Though I felt apprehensive at first, the kids made me feel at ease :)

To be continued... gotta get back to work :)

Oh you wont believe I've been so busy at work! I come to office, and this is how mu routine has been this week:

- check mails
- chat with friends on office IM,
- sip a cup of lemon tea for like 45 mins (you see, it needs to go from steaming hot to icy cold, so that I can taste the proper English like lemon tea and iced tea, in those 45 mins. - very important)
- work a little
- chat and mail check keeps happening at regular intervals
- go to my home dir and check if I have any waste folders; if yes, delete them. When deleting, when the system asks for confirmation to move it to trash, say yes. Then go back to Trash Can and restore them back to home directory. If mood is different, then say no when it asks for confirmation, delete again, say no when asked for confirmation - repeat process till bored.
- Then go to trash can, delete some, restore some items back.
- Work some more.
- Go back to home directory, check the docs prepared last week. See if changes required and upon no, pat my own back for good job.
- Discuss Harry Potter's latest book with M.

Me: Its so so sweet that Harry and Ginny and Ron and Hermione get married! Harry's kid is named after Severus Snape isnt it?
M: Oh pls that was dramatic. But wait, you said you haven't read the book! How do you know Harry and Ginny and Ron and Hermione get married?
Me: Errrr, I went to the last page of that 7th book pdf and read.
M: What?! Thats so not done! You are such a spoiler, FOR YOURSELF!
Me: But I really wanted to know who dies in the 7th book!
M: If you must know, it was Fred.
Me: WHAT??! But I love the Weasley twins! More than Harry! Tell me its not true!
M: Oh get over it! I felt bad when Sirius and Dumbledore died.
Me: Yea, I saw in the Order of the Phoenix movie. I cried and cried in the theatre when Sirius died.
M: But she cleverly made the 3 survive in the end! That was fake and overlty dramatic!
Me: Oh really?!! You mean Sirius come back to life in the 7th book? Thats great, I'm happy. Really happy!
M: No, I meant the 3 as in Ron, Harry and Hermione.
Me: Oh. I thought you meant Sirius, Dumbledore and someone else. Dont do that! Please tell me if Sirius comes back to life.
M: No he doesnt.
Me: Shit.


(and it goes on...)

- Have my 2nd lemon tea post-lunch. Read HitList on Mid-day (hahahahaha)
- Work some more... chatting on IM continues
- Snacks at 5.30 PM
- Wait till my TL comes, work until then.

When he does come, then get seriously serious. What else can I do?! I'm trying my best to connect to the servers, and its not happening. Anyways, I hope I should get working anytime tomorrow (max.)

I'm hungry. Oh its 5.30 PM, time for snacks!