Unloading my think tank...

Bored at work...

2009-11-05T08:01:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it is just "mind-blasting", like Russell Peters says, to be at work. It is one of those days when it all about doing so much work, too much work, and getting very little done because you always have to wait on someone for something. Of course, if the work is not completed, you are screwed.

Not don't get me wrong, I love my work and all, no Monday morning blues ever experienced, but seriously, somedays, which is very very rare let me add - it gets all overwhelming! I mean come on, there's only so much pressure my dainty, well-sculpted shoulders can take! And if such days have the misfortune to be on Thursdays, then woe is me! I can't even do justice to the best of my ability to put my 100% in! Allow me to explain - that's because I fast (I typed "fat" hehehe) on Thursdays. I eat only fruits, no proper breakfast/lunch. Breakfast is tea, lunch is usually fruits, though I am allowed to eat 'poha'. But the said poha has only jeera tadka (cumin seeds tempering) and green peas - which is not as appetising as the rightly-made version - with kari patta, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, and more which I don't want to write for the very-possible possibility of drooling all over my keyboard.

And it so happens that its only on Thursdays, I crave for food! Even if I eat fruits to my stomach's content. You can never eat fruits to your heart's content. Well, it holds true at least for me. I crave for spicy chaat, hot samosas, pakode, Mediterranean, and lasagna - in that order. On other days, when I can eat whatever I wish, I eat biscuits and its back to work. No craving whatsoever. Weird mind huh!

So it happens that today its one of those days I wrote about at the start, plus its a Thursday - so you can imagine my plight. I am craving mad for spicy bhel and pani puris. And its only 4 PM. Another 90 mins before I head home. But you know what? I'm taking an off tomorrow to catch up on sleep (what? its mid-autumn already!) and then hop on a train to London to see a family and some friends. Weekend looks promising.

Now only if I could eat some scrumptious spicy chaat this weekend, it'd be perfect.

Oh wait actually I am! I will be going to Southall and so have already made plans to gorge on chaat till my eyes are bloodshot red and my nose runs like a river during floods! Weekend is definitely going to be promising!

About (some) Indians in UK

2009-11-04T06:47:00.000-08:00

When I moved to UK, I was looking forward to a lot of things. The good thing about having friends in a country you've just moved to are that they help you get adjusted quickly. Needless to say, I made some Indian friends here. I use that term loosely because mind you, there's nothing Indian about some of them apart from their nationality. And no, they aren't even here since long - just 4 years. They take pride in India-bashing. Its like a sport for them - disucssing and cussing India over chai and samosas.
One particular friend, lets call her Monalisa, because she tricks/charms/floors everyone with her nice smile, much like the Monalisa painting.

So Monalisa landed in UK to do her Masters, and she's done it from a ok-ok university. Before that, she was in India working as a lecturer in the same college she studied from, and then worked at a call center for 6 months. Now I believe that if you end up working as a lecturer in the college you studied, chances are that you failed in getting a job outside of your college. Which basically means:

a. not intelligent enough
b. bad communication skills
c. general knowledge is so low that you don't actually know how, where to apply for jobs.

Of course, if you are genuinely interested in teaching as a profession, then all above is null and void. The case with Monalisa was not that - hence I say so.

Coming back to the topic, she claims that she received only Rs. 4000/- as her salary, as against Rs. 12000; the college management kept the Rs. 8000 with them. I say bullocks! No college/university pays a rank newcomer, a salary of Rs. 12000. Heck when I was with one of the top IT companies when I passed out of college, my salary was Rs. 10080 per month! So I don't buy the theory that she was given only 4K instead of 12K. So her reasoing is that she quit after a while, and joined this call center mainly to "make money since I was already admitted to blah-blah university in UK." Fair enough I say. There, she goes on to say, that her manager was really mean. Made her stay after-hours, work extra, never grant her leave when asked, cancel leave that were granted when he was in good mood etc etc. Now I fail to understand where are your balls? Can't you come up with lies and say I need to take leave no matter what? One cannot blame the entire IT/ITES industry's working based on your boss! It is sad and unfortunate that she had such a manager, but no way that can be generalised. i have worked with 4 companies in India, and barring one, all my managers were super nice to me, and my other team mates. She keeps saying to all and sundry in office that work environment in India is very bad and that she would never ever go back there. Well, you needn't go back and work if you've made up your mind to settle down in UK, but don't generalise the work environment when you've hardly worked there at all!

Today, at lunch, she was lamenting about how much time she's spending on the phone to get her address changed for all utility bills. She goe son to say that "Thankfully, in this country, I can do all this on phone. If I was in India, I'm sure it would have been much more difficult. I cannot imagine how could I manage with having to go to each office personally to get address changed." What the fuck! People in India buy houses too you know! And its not rocket science, getting address changed! If you have to do it, you have to do it. And she is so stingy that she doesn't even use her own mobile/landline to make those calls, she always uses the co. phone! She is so kanjoos that she re-uses the aluminium foil again and again to bring rotis in to office as many days as she can - till the poor foil is all torn! If someone in office has returned from a trip, he/she brings in some sweets/something special from that place - more often than not its something to eat. She packs some to take home to her family! Cheeeeeeeeeeeeap! She ... OK I'll stop rambling on about her thriftyness, because there is no end to it.

She's all complains about India. Climate, politics, corruption, level of education - on and on and on. Well, no country is perfect. UK has many flaws too. Politicians are corrupt, education is ok-ok in schools. No country is perfect, usse perfect banaana padta hai.

And not to mention her English is really bad. She doesn't know proper grammar, enunciation or even pronounciation. Really stupid and dumb. But like I said at the beginning of this post, she is very good at flattering people and buterring them up - so that she can get something from them. If she doesn't need anything from you, she hardly cares about you - never mind that you are friends. She always invites her rich friends home. Just because I am not here since last 4 years doesn't make me any small - but I don't care. If thats is your critieria for maintaining friendships, then screw you!

I won't let anyone take advantage of me. I will be your friend, help you even at 3 am at night, share my food with you even if I'm starving mad, but I won't take it lying down if you try to use me.

B.I.T.C.H!

Feels good to be here!

2009-09-08T08:23:00.001-07:00

Everytime I post something on my blog, I am super excited to do it, and I vow to myself that I'll be at it often. What happens is the opposite :)

So, to fill up, I've moved houses, am gearing up for a charity run, keeping my fitness level up, and been catching on whole lotta movies.

The new house is awesome. The couple is really sweet and tonight I'm going to make custard with apple pie for all of us to sit together and eat. Maybe some for the cat too ;)

The run is few weeks away, and though I am dead sure I won't make it in under 12 minutes, I'l give it my best shot. I go running every tuesday and friday, which is a full blown training session with a colleague, who's got only trialthon and marathon and decalthon t-shirts. Show off! He's super fit and such an inspiration! And of course, I cycle to work everyday, which is a good thing. Today, I didn't bring my lunch. So I ran all the way home, had lunch, and walked back. Felt good! The gym instructor also has a workout plan for me in place - I'll get serious about it soon. He asked me what was I looking to achieve thorugh gymming, I told him in 1 sentence - what I want is, to lose fat from my legs and behind. Thats all I want. Actually, I think thats what all or most girls want. We are never happy about our bodies. I don't think thats wrong. Its good to aspire and work torwards a good body, healthy body - with proper means of course. Not inducing vomit or going on hunger strike or anything like that...

I had a blast during the bank holiday weekend. We'd been to Dover. It was such a relaxing and fun time! I took p-l-e-n-t-y of clothes for me. One each time I stepped outta my room. Hows that?! :D Minis, summer dresses, jeans, tank tops - you name it, you'd find it in my suitcase. I also bought Vogue magazine - the September issue! I'm waiting anxiously for the movie too. Like my fingernails are peeling the skin off my face like I'm a crazy Beatles fan and I'm shrieking in my mind! Well, behind the scenes with Anna Wintour while bringing out the fashion Bible's most important issue - the September Issue! Cannot wait!

I've been watching a lot of movies - Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Yes Man, Gladiator, Alexander, On the waterfront, New York, Kaminey... the list goes on. I also re-re-re-re (say it a million times) watched Andaz Apna Apna. Gem of a movie! Here are some gem dialogues:

Juhi - "Logon ko hamari jodi, kaafi pasand hai" *hand action* :))

Juhi - "Kyu? Jalan ho rahi hai?"
Aamir - "Darrta hoon, mere haathon se kisika khoon na ho jaaye"
Juhi - "O Amar!"

Aamir - "Tumhaari budday hai, tum piyo."

Teja - "Kaleje ko thandak mil gayi."
Teja - "Teja, hoja!"
Teja - "Main tera game kar daloonga re!"
Teja - "Teri jaan chali jaayegi tujhe poochega hi kaun?"
Teja - "Main Teja hu kyuki mera naam bhi Teja hai"
Teja - "Kaise jaata London? Mujhe London nahi dekhna hai kya?"

Robert - "Vasco da Gama ki gun hai"
Teja - "Kiske mama ki gun hai?"

Teja - "Ye firoti ke paise hai ya maiyyat ka chanda?"

So many more! Mind blowing (literally) dialogues, love it!

We have a new employee in office and he's such a creep. He's got a single minded passion to make an arse out of himself. He finds it elevating to his personality (doubt if he has any) to tell anyone who's listening how much he loves to drink and how much he can. Or he'll make you listen. Gaaaah! First it was on fridays only - he'd come on his rounds (the nerve!) and ask if anyone'd fancy a pint at a pub. He'd force people who declined. Aree meri marzi hai! And now he's started telling all and sundry how he wants to re-live up his 'bachelor' life... his wife+kids stay a good 5-6 hour drive away from Cambridge. So he meets them only on weekends. And so, he wants to make the most of his 'bachelor' weekdays and 'weeknights'. The fact that he got cute keychains for the whole team from his vacation did redeem him in my eyes, but only for a while. He couldn't bear to have a good reputation I guess. He started off at lunch, "I'm planning to move closer to the city. I'd like to do something in evenings" Drive is of 20 mins for him. I said, "Yea, you can join any sports club, or any social club here and get to meet people." He replies, "Oh no I'm not good at any sports. I just want to have an active night life and go out and (guess what) drink.". I give up! I just smiled and admonished him.

Anyway, such is life.

I'm a proud Indian

2009-07-08T04:07:00.000-07:00

When Rama took a break to offer namaaz

Muslim priests at 900 year old Shiva temple in Kashmir

Bloody who says Muslims are bad? I challenge you to find one Hindu who hasn't done a bad act, and for every such man found, I'll show you a non-Hindu man who's equally (or more) good. Bloody 2 world wars, ethnic riots in almost every country, Iran-Iraq war, Afghanistan war - and we humans still haven't learn't anything.

We fight (and kill) about skin colour, diamonds (its just a stone!), race (eg. Hutus vs Tutsis), country borders, water sharing, caste - what's left? Anything else the human brain missed? The most evolved of all creatures; and he uses the brain to come up with reasons to fight.

At times I feel its too late to mend anything. But hope prevails.

2009-06-18T05:08:00.000-07:00

What I love about living in Cambridge is the cheerfulness in everything. People smile at you, most of them greet you, men graciously step aside if you are waiting to cross on your bike, ladies always end their sentences with 'dear', and men with 'love', and there's the awesome weather thats such a mood perker! The last few days have been all sunny and bright and its a great pleasure to wear something cute/sexy/nice, aka not too many layers of wool/sweater/coats, outfits. What I don't like, (you saw that coming didn't you) however, is the attitude of desis here. By desis I don't mean just Indians, it includes Pakistanis, Sri Lankans and Bangladeshis - simply because you cannot differenciate one from another unless you see their passport or ask where they are from. So, the thing that annoys me about them is their smugness. Being sumg in a rude way. When you come across a desi, he/she never smiles at you. Instead, you get a look that says 'Oh you must be from a small town in India... what do you know', usually accompanied by a head to toe eyeing of you. Isn't that nasty?! I mean come on people, you are not the first one to land here, and certainly I'm not the last. Its no big deal that you came to UK on a work permit/student visa/married a British/what have you, cuz again, you are not the only one. And being here for more than 1/2/n number of years doesn't make you a Britisher; hell it wouldn't make you one even if you got your PR. You are still a desi at heart. Admit it. Its not nice to pretend to be someone you're not. Maybe you do know the good places around, where to shop, etc but that kinda homework can be done by even a tourist visiting for sometime. Doesn't mean you are any notch higher than me. I have lived all over India (almost) and I certainly have not had any diffculties in getting groceries, good bargains or making friends here in UK. And I'm not saying this based just on the looks they give me, some desis actually behave like this. Ah get over it and grow up. You're fooling no one.

When I came here, I had a million things I wanted to try. One of them was a brand of shampoo other than Sunsilk. Whilst in India, Head and Shoulders, Pantene (the name is revolting), Garnier - all made my hair really rough and left them with no shine even with conditioners. So I'd always been a fan of the black Sunsilk, super mild shampoo which even my dermatologist recommended. So here in UK, I wanted to try some new brands (not the above mentioned ones). In pursuit of that I recently bought the V02 2 in 1 shampoo+conditioner. And man, was that a bad idea. My hair looks so so dull. No shine, so it seems rough and pointy at the ends too. When you touch it, its not. But I don't like looking at my hair in the mirror. And 2-in-1 shampoo+conditioner is a no-no, because the conditioner doesn't seem to work at all. My hair's all tangled and no shine either. I'm buying Sunsilk again or a new brand pronto.

Note to self: Buy the smallest bottle if its the latter - I'd like to test first.

I hear so many of my colleagues speaking in Spanish, Italian, French etc., that it has re-aroused my interest in learning more languages. But first, I'd like to brush up and master my German first. At linch one day, I told my GM that I speak German (he's one too) and he was so happy to know that. He rattled off few sentences in German and I sheepishly replied, 'Actually, I remember just a little.' Man was that embarassing. And not just that, I'd really like to know some basic (at least) of Spanish, Italian and French lest I'm sent to one of those countries. Yippie just that thought makes me all excited!

Tech update: I upgraded my iPhone 3G with the latest software update from Apple. So now, I have 3.0 which means I can send MMS, record voice, enjoy faster Internet and generally flaunt my iPhone. Which I do anyway ;-)

I love cooking and though I'm not able to experiment as much I'd like - I still enjoy it. I made yummy aloo parathas for dinner last night. And when my Sikh hubby licks his fingers and can't stop waxing eloquent about my cooking, I know I've done it ;) Afterall, whats the point of making aloo parathas if they taste like some South Indian aloo parathas? Authentic is more like it ;-) And if the aloo filling is leftover, I stock it in the fridge and make aloo tikkis for tea next day :D Yummy yummy in my tummy!

Goodnight Monday!

2009-06-15T15:06:00.000-07:00

I just heart swimming! An hour and 15 mins of it and I'm refreshed. I love being in water; its relaxing. I take to it like fish takes to err... water :D Surrounded by clean, pure and fresh water, those are my 75 mins of zen. Seriously, when I'm swimming, the last thing on my mind is nothing. I'm just in water, doing my thing. Duniya gayi tel lene!

Too bad its only on mondays :(

Nonetheless, I'm hitting it with a vengeance. I want to be able to swim sexily and look even more sexy in a tankini, or if the heavens are happy with me, a bikini too! Even a swimsuit would do - as long as I look good! We have plans to go to Isle of Man or Isle of Wight in August (fingers crossed) and I want to be ready by then!

I cycled to the club in my shorts, and it was quite cool and breezy outside. I figured, heck, if I'm gonna be cold and wet, then better be prepared for it before entering the pool. It'd rained just before the end of my session, so it got colder. Plus my seat was wet. I rode back home anyway; didn't feel cold at all! Roz ka aana jaana hai mera ;)

Came home, ate yummy khichdi with papad made by dear hubby. Washed it down with apple+pomegranate+raspberry juice and topped with back-to-back episodes of SATC season 3.

Its good, mondays are all good. I'm off to watch 2 more episodes of aforementioned show before hitting the bed.

Peace!

2009-06-15T06:53:00.001-07:00

I had the busiest weekend you can imagine; it just whizzed by before you could say "whizzed by". Just as I was looking forward to a 11 am breakfast in bed Saturday morning ritual, I was woken up at 6.45 am by my bro, who was at the third rate Bank in India. Bro tells me they can't accept my documents because there's no original to corroborate those. What the fuck?! I'd sent those after a day-long agonising talk with the customer care center (they shouldn't call it that really; 9.9 times out of 10 its not) for a whopping sum of 54£ and way too much stress you cannot put a price on. And now they tell my bro those aren't enough. I said let me speak to them, I'll convince them about my situation - me here in UK, no couier on weekends, last day blah blah. But no phones allowed, get this, inside the bank, so my bro went in again (yes he was made to come out of the bank to make the call) and tried convincing them. He called again and said they are not budging. I really hate it when some ass uses his power only to cause anxiety and grief to others. And you cannot escape such people, mind you. As it happened with me - am in a different continent and still have to put up with their bullshit-ery.

So anyway, it was decided that I should send the original document. Time check - 7.45 am. Brushed teeth, eat cornflakes, get ready. In between, spoke to DHL and found out that they don't collect parcels for shipment on weekends and it would only happen on monday. No can do, I said. The DHL customer care lady says that I can go to the DHL office at Barhill and submit my parcel, if I want it to be shipped today. Groan. Time check - 9.30 am. Left home with hubby and took 2 buses to reach the place. After 2 minor changes in the address, the parcel was shipped for 30£! I explained to her that it must be a mistake, cuz I sent a package few days back for 54£ with assurance that it'll reach in a day. I want the same service and am willing to pay more. She says, "This is the same service; its only lesser because you've walked in to our office to give the parcel rather than having us to come and collect it." (which is what DHL did last time). So, get this straight, it costs about 25£ less if you give the parcel yourself to them. Whatever! As for the silver lining, yes, I did save those 25£.

After a quick ride in the bus, which had wireless Internet connection btw, we reached City Center and repeated our last saturday's menu - jacket potato with toppings. Yummy! After that, I, of course, shopped for a lovely pair of pumps and a white tube top from New Look, and a steal-deal at H&M, where I bought shorts and a lovely white skirt for 8£. This definitely put a smile on my face. After a hard morning, I needed this!

The rest of the saturday, after getting back home, was spent in grooming myself for today. I'd rather not get into details.

Come sunday, I woke up early to make about 30 rotis for 8 people; for we 8 people were going on a picnic to Grantchester. It was a potluck of sorts - everyone brought something to eat/drink. It was accompanied by a lot of merry making and followed by card games and the ever so popular, dumb charades. We go back home just in time to catch the important match between India-England. At the end of 3 hours, felt like Indian side forgot they were playing a 20-20 match - for they looked so relaxed and calm and not in a hurry to reach the target score. R Jadeja's fitness sucks and so did Dhoni's tactics this time. It was disappointing, really. Whuda thought we'd lose this one so badly, without so much as a fight? Certainly not me.

I've got swimming today; I missed last monday for foreseen reasons, and though I'm dead tired, I'd better not miss today! 26£ a month is a lot.

2009-06-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna celebrate like I won the lottery the day I hit menopause. I'm telling you all this trouble to bring a new life into this world, is just maddening. There should be a better way. If I was made God a la Bruce Nolan I know whats the first thing I'll do!

Its really fun going to office everyday. I'd never worn western formals to work on a daily basis whilst in India, so doing it here is really different. And in a fun way. Its sexy in a way, dressing up in formals. Well fitting jacket/coat, crisp shirt, ironed pants, minimal accessories, a watch, a big bag - oooo its fun to dress to work! I don't do the coat thing everyday, unless there's a business meeting with the client. I'd also *love* to wear the tie, you know the thin, narrow ones, to work someday. Sassaaayyyy! Though the dress code at work is casual, I like to dress up a bit formal here, a bit casual there - perfect!

There's one thing I wear to work everyday - a long black overcoat. I have to wear it everyday because its so chilly here. I bought it in size 6, but I doubt that it is. Its really loose! So, yet again, it looks like its hanging on me. And it doesn't have a belt. I know I know, I could've bought one that fit, but I really needed to buy one soon then. So I had to settle for this. No matter what I'm wearing underneath, with the coat on, I look like Sherlock Holmes when he's not wearing the hat. Not good.

And today, I went to work looking like a tree. LOL. I wore a green top and brown pants. Hahahahahaa, go on, laugh at me, with me :D I went on foot to work today and I'm half way there, I realised that with green and brown, I looked like a tree! :)) I actually laughed a little, walking all by myself, I actually laughed a little. That was even more silly, cuz when you laugh when you are walking alone on the streets, makes onlookers feel you are off your rocker :)) [I still can't stop laughing!]

Good heavens!

2009-06-10T13:49:00.000-07:00

Emma Watson is SO gorgeous! (clickey)

Guess who's back!

2009-06-08T04:57:00.000-07:00

Weekend was awesome. I had a neat hair cut, thankfully. The lady was amazing and did such a superb job I can't stop looking at myself in the mirror and admiring my hair. Then again, when have I? ;-) She trimmed it just the right length, and cut a good length at my hairline, so now hair is on my forehead, short enough to not fit in my band whilst tied. Thats cool. The hubby got a hair cut too, a la Amir Khan in Ghajini (without the lines) or Langda Tyaagi in Omkara. Hubby looks dashing.

The hairdresser's had 2 dogs in the parlour. One, a big labrador called Daisy and another a sweet, all-covered-in-hair breed of dog. Didn't catch its name. The hairy one came to me just as I entered the place and looked so lovingly at me. Later, as I was waiting, the HUGE Daisy came and quietly sat at my legs. I was scared! Sure, they are gentle giants, but hwo's to say if they, God forbid, get so much as a mood swing? The lady quickly beckoned Daisy and off she went into a corner, and slept. I couldn't help but feel a little bad at suspecting the cutie's intentions.

Annnyway, after the hair cut, we went to City Center. Heaven for shoppers n eaters. With the help of this magical thing called 'Google Maps' on another magical thing called 'iPhone', we made our way to Zara. Now, its really difficult to find dresses my size. I'm size 6 (UK), petite section pls. So even if its 8 petite, it doesn't fit. So I went in praying they'd have clothes my size. And have they did! Lovely summery tops and dresses! I chose 5, and stepped in the trail room. Loved how each one of them looked on me. Then looked at the prize! Way too expensive for worth! The prettiest of all, a flowery printed smocked top, was 39£! And trust me, when I see a good one, I know it. This one, though oodles on cuteness scale, just didn't make the cut for me. The rest of them followed suit.

But not the one to give up easily, I vowed to shop. But after lunch break. Lunch was very "English". Jacket potatoes with cheese, beans and ratatouille as toppings. Hubby had the same with chicken curry, sweetcorn and beef chilli toppings. Mine was a hit, his, not so much.

Tummy full, we went shopping around. Bought a nice scarf from a Punjabi lady (they are everywhere!). She narrated her history to both of us, while I was checking out other stuff she had in her shop. Bad I know, but I'm not interested please! Nice to have met you, nice to see another Indian in Cambridge, but not interested in knowing that some relative of yours died in a freak electric fence accident! And of course not when you refused to give me a discount on the scarf!

Then we hopped to a chic store, and not just because they had a "50% Sale!". Their stuff really kicked arse! Very urban, very chic, very modern. Very me. So I bought 3 tops. Lovely lovely lovely! 2 bright and summery ones, one for club wear! The kid who owned the shop asked me, "Are you Indian?" I said, "Yea; so are you giving me a discount on these now?". The guy, God bless him, says, "Yes!". And he meant it! So he minussed 3£ (lousy I know, but the kid said he couldn't go any lower than that) from the total bill.

I was elated! My hair looks great, the tops are sexy and I feel good! Today, at work, I have nothing much to do. Tomorrow onwards, will be a busy day!

2009-06-05T09:37:00.000-07:00

Thank your stars, ye faithful reader(s), for here I am, blogging away again!

You guessed it right. This time you have 2 people to thank (or curse) for my post. Emma and Mr.PhD (I shall refrain from taking names on my blog from now on; too dangerous.) I'm, yet again, waiting on information from above mentioned people and they are busy. Never mind. Its 5 pm on a Friday evening and they are excused.

So we had a team meeting that lasted 2 hours this morning. Great, I love meetings! I've always wanted to know and be a part of meetings where actually something substantial is discussed and a productive outcome is realised, and thats what happened. It was a meeting with a simple agenda actually - each member had to say what work (s)he's been doing and intends to do, for about 10-15 mins. Cool. I had it all pictured in my mind:

Boss: Blah blah... So who wants to go first?
Me (excitedly): Me please! I've been unemployed for 4 months and even when I was employed before that, I have never attended meetings. Only heard about them. So, I'd like to go first please!
All: Such a smart, intelligent, and brave girl! Just what we needed for our co.

What actually happened was:

Boss: OK, so I'l go first. And then we'll go round the table.

Which made me the 2nd after Boss to speak. So much for my enthusiasm! Anyway, I did my bit and spoke about what I've done and will do. All is well. Boss wants me to let another guy in on a project I'm working on so wants me to have an introductory session with him. I know you can handle it, he says, but I need a backup if you go on a holiday. Fair enough. He also asks me to prepare a presentation and co-present another. I'm excited! I love being all geek in the 8 hours that I'm in office.

People in my office are real nice. And I like to shock them. Hehe allow me to explain:

A colleague, one day: So how are you liking working for ?
Me: I'm enjoying it. I don't know what Monday blues are!
Colleague: Oh thats good to know. And how do you think the work is? Are you able to cope up with it?
Me: Oh yes. I love all things network-y and telecom-y.
Colleague: Haha. Is this your first job?
Me: No, I've been working on this from almost 6 years now.
[Shock # 1] Colleague stops dead in his/her tracks. Says: Really? I thought you just graduated.
Me: *proud+sheepish smile* (don't know how I manage that)
Colleague: How do you like Cambridge? Do you live close to work?
Me: Mmm hmm. I cycle to work everyday; it takes me 10 mins.
Colleague: Wow, so where exactly do you stay?
Me: (I tell them the street name where I live)
Colleague: Oh thats good!
Me: Yea I recently moved here from London along with my husband and we both absolutely love it!
[Shock # 2] Colleague: You are married too?! Since how long?
Me: Yes *blushing* 2 years and 7 months now.
[Shock # 3] Colleague: Oh I totally didn't see that coming!

Hahaha so has happened with about 3-4 people in office. Of course, I take it as a compliment that I look young. Who doesn't like it? *grin*

I'm kicked about tomorrow because of:

1. I'm going for a hair-cut. Finally. Finally mustered up courage for it. My Sikh** in-laws won't be pleased one bit. I don't want to disappoint them either, but I'd like to trim the ends just a bit so that it looks neat. I also booked an appointment for the hubby, since he's got hair growing all over the place and has been lamenting about getting a hair cut, but never actually did so in the past 3 months (hehehe). So I am kicked about getting an uber-cool look after the hair cut, and I hope I love it. Its always so risky letting someone cut your hair. Of course, its more risky if I cut my own hair; what I meant was letting someone new cut your hair. As the hair dresser discusses the style that looks good on me, length, layers, fringe etc... I'm all okay. When (s)he actually stars spraying the water and put the section pins in place, and gets ready with scissors to chop my hair, I get nervous. I feel I should rather close my eyes, but that won't make it better would it? If anything, it makes me more nervous because I can't even tell her if I'm liking it or not. And if the lady is too touchy, then she might just snap and ask me to mind my own business while she does hers. Its a risk I tell you. And if, God forbid, at the end of it, if you don't like it, then you

1a. can't do anything about it because its already too short, or some such point of no return.
or,
1b. won't do anything about it because the damn hairdresser has already screwed it up and you don't want her to do anything to it now.

But tomorrow, I'm going to (try and) keep all my inhibitions aside and leave my silky black long tresses in the hairdressers hands. (Uh oh.)

2. Strawberry Fair at Midsummer Common - Honestly I don't even know what that means, simply because I haven't been to one. I'm guessing it means varieties of English strawberries and items to grow your own strawberries on sale. I guess. Should be good. Also, there's going to be music and stuff like that. I'd do like to go and have a dekko, but the weatherman says it might rain and thats not cool. Oh we'll cross the bridge when we come to it.

Its 5.36 pm now. Why am I still at work? Adios!

** - Cutting hair is forbidden in Sikhism.

Long time no post...

2009-06-01T07:21:00.000-07:00

This post comes because I'm waiting for a colleague, the lovely Emma, to get free so that I can discuss something with her and then continue with my work. Until then, I'm stuck with nothing to do. So if you want to thank someone for bringing me from my oft-self-induced break from blogging (for today, at least), you've got Emma to thank!

Lets start with a cliche... life's been pretty hectic. Its been crazy the past 1.5 months. It was crazier after Dec 08 and up until April 09, but I'd rather forget that. The work I do here is awesome, I work with some of the best minds in telecom industry and my profile absolutely kicks ~~ass~~ arse (now that I'm in England... ) There are such humble people in my office; almost all are armed with PhD (in khatarnaak subjects like high speed data transfer using helium technology etc.). I'd rather not get started on them actually... it will be an un-ending post then. (Not really, but you get the drift.)

I didn't get paid for the month of April, since the Finance lady was on leave and hence couldn't get my papers through to the payroll. But I wasn't complaining then. I did get a lot of stares and "are you sure? absolutely?" questions when asked if I wanted an advance on my salary and I'd refused. Salary advance after a 4-month hiatus from work and I refused, why, you ask? Allow me to explain.

I wanted a fat increase in my bank balance, suddenly. You see, because I opted for April+May salaries to be credited to my account at end of May, I have a cool amount of money in my bank. OK, to hell with modesty, its in £££ (GBP)! Groovy baby *like Austin Powers says* Just the thrill of having 2 months salaries at once was super ... err thrilling :D

And what did I do with it? If you thinking it, whack yourself. I'm a girl and in such times, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. S-h-o-p-p-i-n-g! And in UK! But before that, we had dinner at Rainbow Cafe. Uber cool place if you are a vegetarian and don't want to ask the waiter what's in the dish everytime you order something in this meat-loving-country-with-so-few-veg-choices.

So shop I did, including an ultra-sexy pair of Red Nike shoes (pic coming up soon). I also bought a cool cycle: Dunlop Mountain Bike - shock absorbers, disc brakes and 18 gears!

Yes, I ride my cycle to work everyday! Reminds me of school days, but only I'm now wearing formal clothes and big sunglasses while riding them, as against a dork in school dress and 2 plaits *going back in time and imagining me then* (yep, that would be me from 95-98 when I used to ride a cycle to school.) Ah, bad memories. No not all of my school years were bad, but most of it was. I was bullied real bad and I didn't have the courage to stand up against it. Can't blame me; you see, the bullying came from the teachers. Notorious, most of them. And I don't remember my 11th and 12th at all. Yes, AT ALL. Wierd huh? I nod my head in agreement. The other time I was talking to my friend, who lives in Reading. I remarked that I haven't remembered having spoken so much to her during our 4 years of engg (she was in Civil while I was in Comp Science) as much as we have since I moved to UK 4 months back. She goes, "What are you saying? We were together for 6 years. 11th, 12th and 4 years of engineering after that. And in 11th and 12th, we were in the same class, except for Statistics and Comp Science." Huh, really? I'm completely blank about those 2 years of my life. Like written with a marker and wiped as and when a day passed. You can imagine how much fun I would've had in my 11th and 12th. As for the awkward moment with my friend, I acknowledged being a silly goose and not remembering those 2 years.

The scene at the place where I live (with 2 Zimbabweans, 3 Polish, 2 Nigerians and 2 British toddlers, apart from me and hubby) is, not as you must've imagined after looking at the number and diversity of people living, i.e in chaos, but actually quite ice and relaxed, thank you very much. The Zimbabwean lady goes - "how do you have your hair so long? Do you have extensions?". She says the other day - "I got my indefinite right to live in UK granted today, so I'm gonna wear a bikini and go to the beach with my cousins. My baby can stay with my husband. I'm gonna come back at night and go clubbing with my friends and sisters. I'm gonna get piss drunk and completely sloshed. I told my husband I'm not breast feeding my baby for a day or two." Wierd people in this country man! Celebrate, no one forbids you, but why drink and forego breast feeding to your 8 month old? Drinking is a huge problem in this country. Smoking too. I see kids as young as 8-10 hanging outside pubs and looking for half burnt cigarette butts, so that they can have a go at smoking. Parents are not allowed to raise their voices or even beat the kids, so kids (most, not all) turn into bad habits to very young age. Whack them I say, if they steer towards anything bad. My mom used to, very often I must add. Hehehe I was a naughty kid!

OK, Emma is still busy. I'll go and see if I can disturb her again. Adios!

Ya Jhakaas!

2009-04-28T12:59:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this whilst on train back home, using my iPhone :D

Alanis Morissette - Ironic

2009-02-23T14:42:00.000-08:00

C'mon, lets sing like no one's watching!

An old man turned ninety-eight
He won the lottery and died the next day
It's a black fly in your Chardonnay
It's a death row pardon two minutes too late
And isn't it ironic... don't you think

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought... it figures

Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly
He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye
He waited his whole damn life to take that flight
And as the plane crashed down he thought
"Well isn't this nice..."
And isn't it ironic... don't you think

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought... it figures

Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
When you think everything's okay and everything's going right
And life has a funny way of helping you out when
You think everything's gone wrong and everything blows up
In your face

A traffic jam when you're already late
A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife
It's meeting the man of my dreams
And then meeting his beautiful wife
And isn't it ironic...don't you think
A little too ironic...and, yeah, I really do think...

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought... it figures

Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
Life has a funny, funny way of helping you out
Helping you out

*take a bow*

Chhoti si duniya...

2009-02-21T12:57:00.000-08:00

The other day we went to the bank to open an account for ourselves. Such a good experience! We walked upto the bank, passed a lovely green park on the way. The roads are so clean, there's lane discipline, people are courteous. So at the bank, and there were so many people from different nationalities in the bank. There was us, then the banker was from Nigeria, 3-4 other Indians/Pakistanis/Bangladeshis (they all look alike I wonder why we fight), the lady behind the counter had a name that sounded very East-European. And, in the long queue after we opened the acct, there were Turkish, Malaysians, and so many other people. This is such a nice place to come to. The policies are such that they welcome people from different countries and give them a chance to build/re-build their lives here. Or just move to a better country.

There's one lady I know; she is from Sri Lanka. She tells me her family (which included 2 kids) ran from country to country before finally coming and settling down here in UK. Which was to escape the unrest in their own country. She says the UN helped them move to UK and helped them get jobs and home to live in. Isn't that amazing?

I love India, I miss my country, my food, my people; but UK is beautiful :) Its like a chhoti si duniya (a small world) in itself.

Museum of Natural History

2009-01-27T11:32:00.001-08:00

It was so huge!

PS: No time to label them. Move mouse over/click to see what the pic is about.

PPS: If time permits, I'll label n explain them myself.

PPPS: But can't say when.

Pics

2009-01-27T11:13:00.000-08:00

These are consolidated. Bear with me...

Chennai mein it doesn't snow :P it doesn't even have a winter season! So we were quite excited when we saw frost outside the house one day!

On Jan 3rd, we went to meet Teji. Saw Big Ben, London Eye - all those touristy places. Was -3 deg C cold!

Then one day we went to Greenwich Meridian. It shows the imaginary line diving the world into east and west. It also has a time museum and has displays of ancient clock, first quartz clocks, stories abt how the scientists read the time by observing the moon and stars etc. I found out that earlier they had 20-hour clocks (as opposed to 24 hour clock system now)... so the dial had only 1 to 10, not 1 to 12. Quite fascinating.

We also went to Museum of Natural History; pics coming up in next post.

In London!

2009-01-27T11:10:00.000-08:00

I landed here on Dec 26th 2008 and fell in love with the place! Heathrow airport was so clean and so few people!

When we met Jeejaji outside, I was surprised to see such few people even on the roads. Lane discipline, smooth roads bowled me over. And, no one was honking! :D

To cut a long story short, I am having a lovely time with family here, and I want to start work soon :) Wish me luck!

Most weekends I go out with hubby, and I have lots of pics coming up, in the next post.

En route to London - Take 2 - The BA flight

2009-01-21T11:32:00.001-08:00

We'd booked our tickets 2 months in advance. When the ticket rates were slashed, they didn't even offer refund. Cheapos.

When we checked in our luggage, we paid extra. The flight was almost empty! They could've waived that charge. Cheapos.

Inside the flight, as we took our seats, I didn't have a complete kit - some items like toothpaste and brush, socks and headphones were missing. Uh oh, someone in my seat in the earlier flight took it with him/her. So the crew hadn't even cleaned up properly. Cheapos.

As soon as the flight took off, they served parathas and yummy aloo sabzi. At 5 AM!??!?! Who would eat it?! Actually, we did. We were famished. But they had no choice! Only 1 thing for veggies, and 1 for non-veggies. I had the veg dish, and hubby ate chicken. But on the website, when we were checking in, they listed a variety of dishes, including special gluten-free food for vegans, and many cuisines. Ah cheapos.

Poeple started grabbing the 3-seaters to stretch and sleep, the flight was that empty! And later on, in the 10-hr flight, we had to ask for, like actually, ask for, food to eat. Buggers man! And what did we get? A bun, with some cheese on it and orange juice or tea. Cheapos.

And when I went to freshen up, I saw the crew eating apple pie and strawberry dessert, and they happily waved at me :I Oh, the hubby asks to add that they didn't serve liqour either. Cheapos, he adds.

But wait, not everything on the flight was bad. They had an awesome in-flight entertainment system! Movies, TV sitcoms, music! And they had so much variety in each. Like for movies, they had recent movies, classics (Gone with the Wind, Agatha Christie mysteries), hits, award winning (Forrest Gump etc), action movies, animation movies for kids (WALL-E, Ice Age, Madagascar, Harry Potter series), and so much else! In TV sitcoms, they had Family Guy, Friends, Will and Grace and so on. Music they had soul, country, rock, pop, ballads, opera, classics and even Hindi music! Oh so much! I had a ball with the entertainment thing.

Oh I saved the best for last. They had this cool map thing, which you can use to see where you are currently. I mean, which country/sea are you flying over. We were flying at 45000 feet high, and the temp outside was -30 deg C! Not that we felt it, of course; the captain told us. Anyway, I saw that we flew over New Delhi, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, France, Denmark, Holland, Germany and so many more countries! I'd made a mental note of all the places, but now I don't remember them all. It was so much fun!

Moral - Please ditch BA flights unless its the only option. Hubby adds, "Be smart and choose Emirates."

En route to London - Take 1 - West Bengal

2009-01-21T11:10:00.000-08:00

WB has so many nice memories that it brings along with it. My in-laws are there; and they are like my 2nd set of parents. Love them. And being married to a Sikh household, it gives me immense pleasure to - EAT! Eat eat and eat is their motto. Err no, its eat, dance, work hard and enjoy. So before we reached my mil promised makki di roti (pancakes made of corn flour) and sarson da saag (green leaves of mustard in thick gravy), with adrak da achaar (ginger pickle). Oh balle balle mazaa aa gaya. So I learnt how to make them as well (posts coming up on my ~~now-defunct~~ cookery blog). I visited so many relatives; and had makki di roti etc at their houses as well :D

Hubby got the computer fixed, the speakers fixed, and bought a new mic and webcam. Created an account on Skype, under my mil's name. She's so Internet-savvy! We chatted with massiji in Amritsar and with the sis here in London. Such fun!

And also, also also also, I had pani puris! Loads of them! I think I had 3 plates, super-spicy ones :D Mmmmm... then I also ate dahi pani puri, ragda and bhel - ALL from the streetside guy! And they were so cheap; just 5 rs for 10 pani puris! It was 45 in Chennai for 5 badly-made pani puris :(

Anyway, I also bought some more essential stuff (which I'm not using here :I )

And the excitement was so palpable, I was looking forward to my first inernational flight! When we went to Calcutta, we checked into a hotel. Slept a while, ate some cakes, had tea. And then we got ready to leave. At the airport, we went in and got our baggage weighed. Paid bloody extra for it. The Immigration Officer asked for our marriage certificate. You see, I haven't changed my name or surname after wedding, and neither have I got my address in the passport changed to reflect hubby's. The Officer probably thought we are not married. Another reason could be that since I look so young *ahem* and hubby *ahem*doesn't*ahem*++ , he wanted to take a look. Since the luggage was already checked in, hubby went with some luggage guy and brought the certificate. Phew, the Officer smiles.

Then, we went back to where parents were waiting. Since it was already 2 AM, hubby asked them to go back to the hotel and rest before the journey back to ~~sleepy~~ calm town. As we were saying byes, and promises to call as soon as we reached, promised to be good kids etc etc., it hit me hard that for the first time, I'm leaving my mom and going so far. So far that I can't just book a ticket n go visit her... I started crying :( So did my mom, and my fil. Saying bye is really a heartburn. Hubby coerced them to leave for the hotel, and when we turned back to go to the airport lounge, I couldn't stop crying. I wish they all stay forever forever happy and healthy.

Waiting time in the lounge was killing me. So guess what did I do. Watched SATC movie! For the umpteeth time :D I hated the series, but somehow loved the movie. But Big is irritating as ever. My fav, Samantha, is as smashing and diva-like as ever!

++ - He is err... not old, is what I can say ;)

Its my birthday today!

2009-01-01T05:15:00.000-08:00

I'm 28 and in London :D

More to come...

Happy new year to you! xoxo

Overwhelmed...

2008-12-12T03:32:00.000-08:00

excited, happy, nervous, jittery... just few of the things I feel every second of the day. The days are finally here. Or should I say, the days are finally here.

I know that is same, but thats not how the sentences sound in my head. You see, yesterday was my last day at work. I'm officially unemployed :) There were a lot of gasps, we-never-saw-it-coming, whys, was-it-a-secret, and "I can't believe you're going; we are all going to miss you". I, for one, didn't know that my colleagues thought so much about me. Make that ex-colleagues :) It was so surreal - emailing the resignation mail, talking to my boss about it, the long 1 month wait, and the filing of papers related to IT, then the signatures on various forms from the department heads, and finally the exit interview. I went through each of them not knowing what I was feeling, or what I should be. One moment it felt as though it was happening all too suddenly, another moment it felt as though it was about time. And even today, I can't put my finger on it.

So much so that I came home and cried. Couldn't hold back my tears. I don't know whats gotten into me these days; I feel overwhelmed by all thats happening around me. Sometimes even if I'm not a part of it. And all the feeling was funny cuz it was hubby's birthday yesterday, and I was crying. He consoled me and asked me to get ready since we were going out for dinner. I'd say that took my mind off the things going on. We 4 had a lovely time. I'm going to miss M.

Today I got a lot of packing done, since we are leaving this city. There are so many things to take, so many not to. But all's gotta be packed anyway.

I haven't been eating properly and neither have I been sleeping. Oh no I do sleep well, but only once I am in deep slumber. To get me to lie down on the bed is not an issue, closing my eyes isn't either - but I can't seem to fall asleep. My eyes burn, my head pounds - yet sleep evades me. The solution? Amrutanjan. A pea-size of it rubbed on my forehead and I doze off. But I don't like the idea. I'm 27. I should be able to sleep right? I should have no problems with that right? I guess... maybe... its all in my hands. The clutter in my head doesn't help. Or I'm too timid to get rid of it. *breathe* *be strong* *breathe*

All this in no way means that I'm unhappy. I am very happy with all the new things that I'm going to learn and enjoy in the coming days, but like I said - overwhelmed. But also happy!

I'm going to miss Aditi. She's like my daughter. I love it when she calls me "moushi", when she calls me "dummi"... I feel this happiness inside of me when she says, "nangu nee serti moushi"... I imagine her running around the house, talking constantly, looking at every object with those curious, round, big black eyes, looking for "naani", touching my mom's saree and asking, "naani??". I just want to take her in my arms and give her so much of warmth and love, and shield her from all the bad things in the world. I'm going to miss her. I already do. OK, there you go, I'm crying again. And I quickly wipe my tears cuz mom says its bad to cry during "mooru sanji hottu".

I'm going to stop right now. I don't want to face the emotional me. Thats too hard cuz the tough me can't handle her. I'll get back to packing :)

2008-11-26T22:38:00.000-08:00

Nov 26, 2008 is a date that'll go down in history as the day when a city was taken hostage. A day of how a handful of young men (no more than 26-27 probably) leave aside all sanity, and decide to bomb places around downtown Bombay for no reason. Blood everywhere. People running scared. Mayhem.

Purpose solved? Yes? If yes, then whose purpose is solved? And how? Is there sudden peace everywhere? Have apologies been tendered and lost lives got back? Have the Israelis and Palestenians made peace? Bush says sorry? Al-Qaeda boss retracts his statements of Jehad and condemns voilence? Kandahar forgotten? Dec 5 1992 forgotten? Advani repents? Guantanamo Bay closed? Mothers who lost their sons and daughters to suicide bombs, other forms of terrorist attacks, got them back? If all this is long shot, then at least has the path for any of the above taken?

NO.

So purpose solved? No? Okay. If no, then when will it? And now, if this is the way to achieve something, somebody explain why they think firing at innocent people at a railway station in random will begin to achieve what their leader envisions for them. Pray tell in what way this kind of behaviour gets any message across. 100 killed, 186 injured. Explain each one.

Terrorists have been rounding up people with British and American passports, and Israeli people hostages. Point being? You think war since years will cease once you've taken them as hostages? Terrorists call themselves from a group called Deccan Mujahideen. Mujahideen! Log to apne aap ko aise hi mujahideen bolte hai. As if people dying from natural causes, suicide, diseases, accidental deaths wasn't enough that we have these men trying to kill? Who are these men anyway? I cringe, I cry when I look at the news reports. Have these people got any sense of what is compassion, mercy, peace, praying, faith. Or even having fun like watching movies, falling in love, marrying someone, bunking classes and go to watch movies, play cards, take a vacation, have a family meal together - anything?! Bloody anything at all? GUNS is all they understand. No purpose in life. No meaning to the life they are living. All means to try and show some balls. Avenge for revenge for something thats happening, the root for which is probably their predecessor terrorists like themselves.

The Kandahar incident is a major contributor to this. If we hadn't released Mullah Omar (calls himself a Mullah!), he wouldn't have instigated. I believe that Osama talks and also provides money for ammunition, and this Omar breathes fire in people by way of his talks. No behind are Advani and Praveen Togadia. Saala saare fasaad ki jad ye hai aur bhugatna kisko padta hai?

Check this picture. The kid is not even 3 probably. She's got bloodstains all over her. Who's she? Which religion does she belong to? The watch on the policeman's wrist says 11.10 PM. The kid should've been asleep dreaming of fairys and playground and toys dammit! Not be in a hospital!

I see that Army, NSG Commandos, and RAF are in Oberoi and I hope all terrorists are killed - regardless of who they are, and which religion they belong to. I don't care if they are only rounding up non-Indians. It doesn't matter. An iron hand is needed.

My prayers are with ATS chief Karkare's family, and all of the families who've lost their dear ones. Its as much a loss as everyone's as theirs, and may God give them strength to cope with a grave situation like this. May peace, happiness and sanity return to this world. AMEN.

Counting the days!

2008-11-13T03:17:00.000-08:00

My Orkut profile today says - Today's fortune: You will have some wonderful new experiences. AMEN to that!

My 5-day vacation to my hometown was great. But I got lots pending here. My mailbox is flooded, I got lots of packing to do, change my spectacle frame, buy few warm clothes - and probably something more that I haven't realised yet.

Anyway, the engagement function was so grand it looked like wedding reception! Poo looked radiant :) She's all gung-ho about moving to US. I even went to Belgaum to meet my elder relatives, which was actually the main purpose of the trip :) My kaka was li'l sad that I would be leaving him and going so far. And my kaku cried a little. Makes me feel that I should've done more for them. I get overwhelmed everytime about it. I feel that I should've done more for them, for my mom, my sis...

Confession - there's never a time I'm not guilt-ridden.

Anyway, the towns are as dusty as they were when I left them. Why? Hardly any development. I pay my taxes regularly. And I expect them to go to develop such places. Or isn't what I pay not enough? I'd say it is. And when we passed these even smaller towns and villages on the way to meet my relatives in B'gaum, I saw small wheel-shops on the roadside, selling Lays ke chips and Coke and Pepsi. Even the diet variety! I thought, "Coke and Pepsi aa gaya, saala development nahi aaya!". But people are warm-hearted as ever :)
One man (a raeeta (farmer)) said - "Eee bus raylay tashannakka nindar taeetenri?". Translated to, "Does this bus stop at the railway station?". I burst into laughter hearing his accent.
Another man (again a raita (farmer)) goes - "Oh conductraa, wand swalp sheetee hodi paa bus nindars lagootne!!". Translates to, "Conductor, please blow the whistle and stop the bus quickly!". He could've just asked him to stop. It can even without the whistle. LOL. I again laughed out loud. Auto rickshaws still take 25 to go to any part of the city. Man, I'm really going to miss all this.

I had no time to meet Madhu or Krishna. Been ages since I met them.

And this one time we were going to B'lore, I remember seeing small star marks near our names in the list attached on the train bogie. Legend below said we were upgraded from 3AC to a 2AC compartment! Wah wah Lalooji ki jai ho!

Since then, me hourat girl (hourat is greedy in marathi), I always check for star marks near my name everytime I travel :D hoping that I am upgraded to 2AC :D What?! Who doesn't want freebies?! Sadly, this time, both ways, for all 4 trains, I had to travel in 3AC. No upgrade-shupgrade. And to top it, the train from to Chennai, arrived 45 mins late. And because the waiting room closes at 11 PM, I had to wait on the platform in biting cold until 12.15 AM. Lalooji hai hai.

Waise, he has done a great deal for the Indian Railways. And its actually a pleasure travelling in trains now :) The comfort, the options to take a train, the service - is all good :)

I'm gonna miss that too :(

I watched Quantum of Solace last night. In theatre. From 10.30 PM to 1 AM. And I fell asleep post-interval HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. No the movie wasn't bad, just that I was too tired. When hubby woke me up, I asked, "Oh! Movie khatam? Kya hua end mein?" ("Movie over? What happens in the end?"). He replies, "Bond jeet gaya. Ab chalo ghar chale!" ("Bond won. Now lets go home.") LOL.

Friday fun!

2008-11-05T01:55:00.000-08:00

One day my housework-challenged husband decided to wash his sweatshirt by himself.

Seconds after he stepped into the laundry room, he shouted to me, "What setting do I use on the washing machine?"

"It depends," I replied. "what does it say on your shirt?"

"University of Oklahoma", he yelled back.

And they say women are dumb...

*****

A couple is lying in bed. The man says, "I'm going to make you the happiest woman in the world."
She replies, "I'll miss you..."

*****

"Its just too hot to wear clothes today,", said Jack as he stepped out of the shower. "Honey, what do you think the neighbours would think if I mowed the lawn like this?"

"Probably that I married you for money", she replied.

*****

Q: What do you call an intelligent, good looking and sensitive man?
A: A rumour.

*****

A man and his wife, now in their sixties, were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. On their special day, a fairy came to them and said that because they had been so good, they could have one wish each.

The wife wished for a trip around the world with her husband. Whoosh! Immediately she had airline.cruise tickets in her hand.
The man wished for a female companion 30 years younger. Whoosh! He turned 90!

Gotta love that fairy!

*****

And my favourite...

Dear Lord,

I pray for wisdom to understand my man, love to forgive him, and patience for his moods. Because, Lord, if I pray for strength, I'll beat him to death.

AMEN! :D

Help! Somebody stole my...

2008-11-03T02:04:00.000-08:00

... key... well forget it. There will be thieves everywhere. "What can you do? Leave it."

Lately, the kind of people I seem to encounter are jerk-people. You know, the kind, who are narrow-minded, or are overtly-proud of themselves (not in a nice way) and mean. It bugs me no end to face these people every single day and if I didn't have my priorities right, I'd show them where they could all go.

I say "if I didn't have my priorities right", because I'm not going to jeopardise my future for a bunch of people who don't even figure in my future.

Yesterday, I went to get a solid case for my guitar. I took a bus which I thought would take that route. The bus conductor says this bus takes a diff route, you can get down at blah blah stop. I'm like okay. But I got down few stops earlier and went to opp side bus stop, thinking I can take a bus that back to where I wanted to. Not wanting to take the wrong one this time, I asked few people which bus to take. ALL, can you believe it, ALL replied, "I don't know!". So I took whatever bus I thought was right, and ended up getting down one stop before a bus stand thats close to my house! Well! Its so confusing with the names all written in Tamil, and conductor nodding his head when you ask before you board, only to be told while taking the tkt that this bus goes nowhere where you want to. So at the bus stand, I marched into the control room and asked which bus would take me to place A; my sentence spoken very very slowly, clearly, and supplemented with actions.

Finally! But guess what. The market was closed as it was a Sunday, which of course doesnt apply to "pattu" saree shops and "thanga maligai" shops. Silk sarees and gold jewellery. So I didn't alight from the bus (I could see the music instruments shop that I wanted to go to, was closed), instead went all the way upto a stop where I knew that crossing the road to opp. side bus stop would help me take the same bus back. Else, I would've got entangled in that whole "I don't know" and wrong buses and one ways again.

So this was one uneventful weekend.

Can't wait for Nov 11th, then Dec 14th, then Dec 26th, finally! :D

"Now is the time to try something new"

2008-10-27T22:34:00.000-07:00

... so says my Today's Fortune on Orkut. Well then, lets start with a post!

I am back from a 6 day vacation! My cousin, the beautiful, talented, intelligent Kanch, got married and this was a perfect opportunity to meet few relatives I hadn't met in a long time, and wouldn't be able to do so for a long time either. Weddings are such a fun time. Dress up, tease the groom, eat good food, hugs, good wishes - ah!

Best part was meeting my neice. What a cute kid :) I want herrrrrrrrrrr she so pretty and thin and tall! She kept saying "Naaanni beku" ("I want my grandma" - she loves my mom!), "Aaaaaiiii aaai aai aai" (calling out to her mom), and loads of such cute things. During the reception, she saw my hubby and stretched her arms, a sign that she wants him to take her in his arms. :O She NEVER did that with me! Bataati hu use... no boyfriend tips, or supporting her when she wants to take up tatooing as her fulltime job!

I will get to meet few more ppl at Poo's engagement, dunno after that. The tickets are booked. Now is the time to dispose of the things at home we won't be needing.

I was watching America's Next Top Model, and my! Beauty is overrated isn't it. But I guess as long as you are willing to go the extra mile to look good, it shouldn't be anyone's concern. Its purely upto the individual.

Everytime I login to orkut, I look at my fortune and go into a deep, extra, too-much thinking mode (not that I need a trigger for that... ). I start wonderting if this is what it means, or what it doesn't mean, and begin relating things that happened recently, or I might do differently because of it. What crap. I need to snap out of it. Things will happen. Look at the past 2 months. Its all happening. Dekhte dekhte it'll be Dec last week. Life does throw challenges to us doesn't it? Or we dive head first into it. Who knows. Sab maaya hai. I got my passport in 2002, and the "Date of Issue" was same as "Place of Issue". I tried getting it corrected, but somehow it never happened. Then, in Feb 2007, 5 years after getting it, (which means half the validity period is over :)) ), the kind man at the Regional Passport Office corrects it. Without bribe, without us needing to stand in queue, without needing to fill any forms. He says its a "clerical mistake" and corrects in 5 seconds. Lo! So things happen. Will happen.

I'm currently reading Midnight's Children. Who's read it? Any thoughts?

Who's not seen the movie Transformers? Anyone? You? Pls, take the nearest newspaper and roll and whack yourself on your head with it! Its an amazing movie! Full AI and robotics. Fun, with a message and extremely enjoyable! I bet you wished you had a Bumble Bee to protect you :)

Took the plunge!

2008-10-14T03:42:00.000-07:00

I have lots to write and now I'm going to do just that.

We have taken some important steps in our life, both work and personal, and those steps are huge. Hell, its not a step, its a leap!

It all started with a thought - how about if we... ? It seemed like a right thing to do, so we printed out the forms, filled them. After 2 attempts at me (alone) filing the application as independent candidate, we finally did it the 3rd time (for me), 1st time (for him) and applied together on same day. We got the results a month and 21 days later, again on the same day.

The tickets are booked too. Its all going to work out. It has to :)

I'm going to look at it as an opportunity to learn, grow and enjoy. Think of all the places I'll see, people I'll meet, cuisines I'll get to try, new friends I'll make! It's going to be a lot of fun!

2008-09-17T02:12:00.000-07:00

Read this article 'Don't take pleasure in bankers' pain' in the Telegraph. While I'm no expert in finance/banking/investments, and I speak here as a layman, that this kind of fallacy has been brought upon them by themselves. Banks issue credit to subprime customers (fraudulent customers too), leading to subprime crisis. nd they, as investment bankers, initiate or follow (push) M&A. Much to the chagrin of the co. getting bought I'd say. Since they are bound to lose jobs. And now, its happened to them. Who'da thunk that Lehmann Brothers, that withstood crisis in all times (Great Depression, 1930s etc) would one day file for bankruptcy? I shudder thinking about the employees and their future now. I hope the top brass of other cos. learn a good lesson from this.

I feel that now-a-days, its all about hype. In everything we do. Buying a house, going on a holiday, sponsoring a honeymoon for your beloved son/daughter, education in that top institute - all circumstances wherein the party gets immensely tensed, works out finance charts for the next 20 years, brings out investment plans, savings chart, how to apply for that loan, get it, and then slog/worry to reply it over the years. There should be better means to do it. Simpler, non-bait. I'm wary of taking loans for anything unless and until I know I'll be able to repay it. Its not a case of 'if I take loan, I might be able to repay it' - that doesn't work for me.

As for my current job, words fail me in description of how pathetic it is. It is very much so in terms of quality of work, quantity of work, environment to work in, people to work with - you name it. Its like I'm a stone, and I've gathered a humoungous amount of moss, since I'm not rolling. Stagnant. Statue-esque.

Though it does help me save for a rainy day, I have plans.

Is there a de-addiction/rehab for addiction to Hajmola pills? I've taken to those tiny tangy tablets like fish to water, and thats not good. But they are so chatpatey and tangy and tasty! I'm craving for one (or ten) right now!

Guilty

2008-08-20T03:07:00.000-07:00

I have something to confess. I went to watch Asia Cup match last year here where this incident took place. It was at the stadium; entry is free for all. I guess its a move to popularise the sport, and I could see that for every match, the stadium was jam-packed. This one was during the finals - India vs Korea. Me, Paro and her 2 friends went to see the match. We sat on those cement benches. We'd taken the Indian flag along with us and also made some pickets to encourage our team. Also, this was sometime after the bomb blasts at Hyderabad. So, there we are enjoying the match and having a good time. Suddenly, I hear cries of "Allah hu Akbar"! A bunch of guys sitting behind us were shouting it repeatedly. At once, (and I'm ashamed of myself) alarm bells rang in my head! OM MY GOD! What if they want to blow up this place?! What if ... ? Unthinkable questions came into my mind and I couldn't concentrate on cheering our team. The other girls were busy doing it, but my heart was pounding. I whispered my fears into Paro's ears and immediately, she said, we should to the VIP area of the stadium. We had passes, but we chose to sit on the benches cuz we were in a hurry. The queue for VIP area was long, and everyone was being frisked. Whereas to go to the common area, people were just let in. Anyways, she said we should move ASAP to the VIP area and we did. Nothing happened. Match proceeded smoothly, and we won by 7 goals to 2.

I felt really bad about myself. Ashamed. Guilty. Since when did I start thinking that a Muslim praising Allah is a terrorist waiting to blow up the place? Why did I think like that? Does it mean that I'm one of those narrow minded people, who decide whether to befriend a person or not by judging him/her by his/her last name? Or religion? No. A big resounding NO. I'm a person who thinks religion is only a way to have faith in a super power above, the Almighty. It maybe Krishna, Allah, Moses, Jesus - all. And I don't bias anyone on anything. People have a reason to behave the way they do, and the only way is to understand them, not simply judge them. But for that day, I can't seem to forgive myself. Muslims in our country have been wronged. But their methods are not right. Bloodshed is not the answer for anything. But, just because one of them is bad, doesn't mean all end up as terrorists! I have a couple of Muslim friends who love India, and are extremely peace-loving. Recently, all Imams came together and said that what Islamic terrorists are doing is not jihad, its fasad. And fasad is prohibited according to Quran. If today some are fanatics, don't you think that something/someone has rubbed them the wrong way? Who would willingly, for no reason, want to kill people? Who would want to blow themselves up in a hospital, killing sick people and doctors?

The Kashmiris are facing insurgency since 61 years now! 61 years of bloodshed, tension, no peace. They don't enjoy that; they want to get out of it and live in peace. The Islamic Rage Boy hasn't become angry in one day.

For people who've brought in such rich culture and a strong dynasty to our country, least we can do is accept them.

I'm sorry for thinking like that on that day... I have lots and lots to write on this... but this is too long already.

Another thing, do you vote? If you are an Indian and are above 18, please take part in the poll you see on right side of this page. I strongly believe we can bring about change by way of elections, but I've done so only once in twice Lok Sabha that were held (since I turned 18). Do you think too that elections help? India's current Air Force chief says he hasn't cast vote in 10 years! Thats because he's always been on duty during . I was shocked to hear most of my friends haven't voted even once, neither has my hubby. And many even think that its a sham. I wanted to know your opinion.

PS: I've labelled this post as "being Indian" because I strongly believe in एकता में बल है , that Muslims are our brothers and that all Indians do not hate Muslims or judge them.

2008-08-18T03:35:00.000-07:00

I've been trying hard to pass time; I have so much idle time I really don't know what to do with it all. And then sometimes there's so much to do, that I hardly have time to breathe. But mostly, its the former. At work, I really do nothing. I add if-else statement in 2-3 events and test them. That's a "project" mind you. I'm sick of it all I can't wait to run away from all this.

So to pass time, I'm trying out various new dishes in the kitchen, the results of which are on my food blog for all and sundry to see. I haven't written some of the recipes that I tried (and were really good), I promise to do that soon. Meanwhile, its caramel custard and washing clothes tonight on the schedule once I reach the house. All I do at work is nothing. I'm so bored of it all. Now that SB has quit, it makes it all the more yawn-inducing. Others in the team ask me, "so you feeling alone?", "you missing her?", "your cubicle seems quiet" - hell ya I miss her! We gossiped and chatted away till 6 PM, and then left for our houses together. It was fun yeah. Now, its all quiet. And though I go to lunch with a group, the same problem persists - TAMIL BOLNA NAHI AATA! I've given up. I'm so through with these girls that I assume that I'm eating alone. Really, its that bad.

Forget it. I had a good time in Bangalore the weekend before last when we went to attend RK's wedding reception. Poor thing had a fever of 102. Then when they were given garlands, they put it around their own neck rather than their partner's, saying its too embarrassing to do in front of a crowd, and on the stage. Hehehehe. Food (the main thing why I went) was yummy - I love the Karnataka cuisine. And when I'm having authentic dishes after months, you can't really say that I hardly eat. I guess I subconsciously starve before a Kannada wedding hahahahahaha.

Then the tuesday following that, we went to watch Singh is Kinng. A small incident before I give my verdict on the movie. Once me and hubby were relaxing and we recalled an incident in which something happened (details unimportant) to which hubby said, "bakwaas tha ekdum". I said, it was not just "bakwaas"... like bakwaas ki hadd paar kar di types. So I coined a new word for that - KABWAAS! Effect can be felt when you said it loud, with emphasis on the "WA", and also, stretch the "WAAS" a little more. That's when you put across your point of that stuff/incident/whatever being over bakwaas limit, hence KABWAAAS! So coming back to my point, this movie was KABWAAAAAS! Comedy? Comedy ke naam pe Great Indian Laughter Challenge ka current season chal raha tha. That bad. But Akshay Kumar was good, as usual. Katrina Kaif looked gorgeous. How can someone look this pretty?! :-)

Then last weekend, long weekend in India due to Aug 15 being our Independence day - began real quick for me. From wednesday! I called in sick cuz I wanted to pack my bags and also the mehendi waali was supposed to come to my place. She came at 5, for her appointment at 2 (very good) and I got henna only on my palms - both hands. No time for back of the palms :-( Anyway, we went to Hubli and had so much fun! The weather over there was breezy, cool, and a temp of 25 deg C max kept us cool. KK looked radiant (it was her engagement ceremony) and we really had so much fun! I met most of them after my wedding - which means close to 2 years! :O Anyway, my niece has gotten cuter and as usual, is playful and never cries. If I ever decide to have a baby, I want a girl - exactly like her :-) And it turns out that this gawky, nerdy, geek is no more a simple belle. I'm talking about me. I've become good at applying make up. Credit goes to all my sister-in-laws - pure Punjabi girls. Before my marriage, I used to pull up my jeans and tee, brush my hair, spray deo and walk out of the house. Now, I take care of how I look - and I enjoy that. Kabhi kabhi aate hai occasions, to subtle make up lagaana chahiye. So all cousins were like "whats this, what have you applied here, let me too, do you have that blush/eyeliner/gloss/bindi with you now? Can you apply make up on my face" - So I had a line of girls waiting, including the bride-to-be. I happily obliged. Made me so happy to see them line up. And yes, I kept it minimal, as I'd done for mine. Sab khush.

After the ceremony, we went to stay over at Poo's house for the rest of our trip. Sukanya moushi is total fun and so is Poo. Poo's getting engaged this Nov, and she was gushing about her groom-to-be, who is a hi-fi aerospace engineer working in Atlanta. Her mom made awesome jowar-bhakri for lunch - traditional North Karnataka fare! Man I couldn't get enough of those! And she packed some of that gurolpudi chutney for me :-) yummy!

What else? We returned to this sad city on sunday afternoon and aur kya. WORSHT place this is. Can you guys guess where I live in India?

I miss mom. She'll back this month-end from US and I can't wait to see what she's got for me :D Bas, nothing else to write. I'm waiting for time to pass by quickly. Lot of things waiting to happen :-) I hope its all what I wished for :-)

I'm a phool!

2008-08-18T00:08:00.000-07:00

I am a
Snapdragon

What Flower
Are You?

"Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the
prankster that loves to make other people laugh."

Whoa! I didn't even know that Snapdragon was the name of a flower! If someone told me that I'm a Snapdragon, I'd snap, bring on my dragon avtaar, and say to them - "hey you watch what you saying before you are sorry!" :D

Say, does the snapdragon flower smell sweet? Cuz I was recently given Salvatore Ferragamo's Incanto (as a gift) and also use Burberry London. Just curious....

Gimme an 'S'! Gimme an 'I'! Gimme a 'G'! Gimme a 'N'! Gimme an 'A'! Gimme a 'T'! Gimme an 'U'! Gimme a 'R'! Gimme a 'E'!

2008-06-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Gimme a SIGNATURE!

Or specifically Suleman Mirza, there's a looker you've got! The dance duo Suleman and Madhu Singh of Signature kick 'arse'! I guess most of you'll have heard of them and even seen their videos on youtube (or met him if you stay in UK). Here's one I've got from youtube :D

I watched 'The Happening', 'Aamir' and 'Sarkar Raj'. The latter 2 at home, downloaded through Limewire. Piracy? Wellwhaddyagonnado, everyone does it.

Sarkar Raj is okay; its all hype. As usual Aishwarya can't act. But pretty she is :-) Very pretty. If you've seen last 30 mins of the movie, thats enough. You can save yourself the initial 1 and half hours of bore. The Happening is not so happening. It lacks the brilliance of Sixth Sense, but is much better than the Lady in Water. No need to watch it in theatre. Wait until the DVD/VCD is out. Or Limewire ;-)

Aamir, is a must watch. I never thought Rajeev Khandelwal could act. Of course, I steered clear of his daily soap and only read about his feud with Ekta Kapoor (idle at work is my justification to subject myself to torture of TV gossip). Back to the movie. He mentioned that most parts of th emovie was shot with hidden cameras, and that he got stares from the public when following instructions from the director.
About the plot: Its the story of how an urban Muslim doctor, played by Rajeev Khandelwal, finds his life suddenly thrown out of gear the minute he lands at Mumbai. His luggage is stolen, a mobile is thrust into his hands, and he's forced to carry out whatever the man on other end of the mobile asks him to do. His family is held to ransom. He knows of the enormity of the grave danger task only in the end; he's led to believe that he only has to deliver money to somebody and that he'll get his life back after that. He's made to go through the dirtiest, filthiest of Bombay's slums/areas, and is made to think that he's not doing enough for his community, i.e the Muslims. Rajeev doesn't buy the argument and says that a man can make his own destiny, religion has got nothing to do with it. Does he carry out the job and frees his family, or he backs out to do what (he thinks) is right - marks the end.

Its a well thought-of and well directed movie. The lead actor is very apt for the part, and his dialogues of how religion is no deterrent to come up inliffe, is not at al preachy. It sounds like its coming from a man who's led a simple, though hardworking life. The locations are realistic; you feel for the actor as he huffs and puffs his way through those streets, to complete the unknown man's job. I'd give it 3 stars out of 5.

And what the hell is happening in Zimbabwe? Rubert Mugabe doesn't want to quit. The first round elections held in March, in which Morgan Tsangvirai won, signalled end of Mugabe, so now Mugabe's supporters are killing Tsangvirai's supporters and other commoners who don't vote for him. Poeple have started applying ink on their fingers themselves to show they've voted (just to escape Mugabe's monsters), and on knowing this Mugabe's men have started cross-checking it with the people's voter IDs. Kitna bura haal hai wahan. All this violence in a country that got independence in 1981, whose unemployment is above 80%, inflation is at 100000% (yes one lakh percent. 1 US $ = 7 billion Zimbabwean dollars). People have 500 million dollar notes over there they use to buy vegetables! Hai o rabb! Kya ho raha hai duniya mein? Whats the world coming to?

And here's some feel-good news. WALL-E has released! Waste Allocation Load Lifter, Earth-Class-- thats WALL•E!!

Its an animation movie by Pixar, the lead is the cute robot called WALL-E. The movie has almost no sound, except for the sounds and grunts of WALL-E. It captures the story of this robot in an Earth where humans no longer exist. There's a pile of garbage all over the world. And he starts collecting and adding them to his souvenir collection. An animation movie with no voice? Only a robot? And a set that screams 'Earth is now full of garbage'? As an animation movie fan , take my word for it - it's gonna be a great movie. Check out this article on Time magazine. I can hardly wait for it! Here's the trailer!

2008-06-16T23:57:00.000-07:00

I'm putting drugs into my eye and also taking drugs orally. I hope this ordeal gets over quickly. Doc asks me to have patience. Patience gaya tel lene yaar yeh jhamela theek karo jaldi.

I tried baking cake last weekend. It was a little crumb-y in the middle :( I used microwave oven. Should've known. I even took photos for my food blog hoping it'd come out like it did when I had electric oven. Alas, I was reminded that I have miles to go in cooking. (If it gives you the impression that I pressurize myself, you are right. I also (conciously or otherwise) encourage others to do so. OCD?)

A girls' evening out is much needed. Really, things around me are stiffling.

I asked mom to bring the guitar along. I want to join classes again!

I also have power yoga on my mind.

Which means I'll end up doing neither... lets not get there!

Mom left for US. She's going to NYC, NC, MA, MI... phew! I met Narain Karthikeyan at the airport and he was so nice. Happily obliged for a photo with me!

I feel guilty about being superficial, at times. I mean, I can be a little superficial, isn't it? As long as I don't harm anyone... then why do I feel so? And its not that I feel like being a tyagi and heading to the Himalayas. Where do I draw the line?!

I checked my weight just now. 46 kg. Not bad eh? There was a phase, of years, where I stood at 43 no matter what I ate. Or didn't.

I am crving for some lip-smacking, bowl-licking, mushroom and spinach soup. I find cooking therapeutic. It does depend on my mood, but not just happy moods anymore. When I'm feeling a little blue, I start thinking cooking what can perk me up, and do it. That way, end of it, I have something quantifiable. Satisfying.

Sometimes I think all this crap about being happy no matter what, is a big fat load of shit. When I'm feeling sad/angry, first thing I do is accept it. Whats the big hue and cry? I'm not an angel. Who's to say what I can feel or not feel? you want me to think otherwise, convince me. Else, leave me alone I'll handle it. And I can't pretend something didn't happen, when it actually has. I can't pretend something didn't affect me, when it actually has, very deeply. I have every right to do things the way you do. Why should it be any different for me? And for what?

Phew. *breathe in, breathe out*

"Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."

I succumbed...

2008-06-02T04:49:00.000-07:00

... to one of those online personality judgement quizzes...

You are Elizabeth Bennet of Pride & Prejudice! You are intelligent, witty, and tremendously attractive. You have a good head on your shoulders, and oftentimes find yourself the lone beacon of reason in a sea of ridiculousness. You take great pleasure in many things. You are proficient in nearly all of them, though you will never own it. Lest you seem too perfect, you have a tendency toward prejudgement that serves you very ill indeed.

You too can take the quiz here!

I like the way her hair is done...

Bulla Ki Jaana Main Kaun - Rabbi Shergill: Lyrics and Translation

2008-05-19T09:53:00.000-07:00

Na main moman vich maseetan,
Na main vich kufar dian reetan,
Na main pakan vich paleetan.
Na main andar bed kitaban,

Na main rehnda phaang sharaban,
Na main rehnda mast kharaban.
Na main shadi na ghamnaki,
Na main vich paleetan pakeen,

Na main aaabi na main khaki.
Na main aatish na main paun,

Bulla ki jana main kaun (4)

Na main arabi na lahori,
Na main hindi shehar Nagaori,
Na hindu na turk pashauri.
Na main bhet mazhab de paya,

Na main aadam hawwa jaya,
Na koi apna naam dharaya.
Avval aakhar aap nu jana,
Na koi dooja hor pacchana,

Mai ton na koi hor syana.
Bulle shah kharha hai kaun,

Bulla ki jaana main kaun (4)

Na main moosa na pharoah,
Na main jagan na vich saun,
Na main aatish na main paun,
Na main rahnda vich Nadaun,

Na main baitthan na vich bhaun,
Bulle shah kharha hai kaun

Bulla ki jaana main kaun....

***

Here's the English translation:
Not a believer inside the mosque, am I,
Nor a pagan disciple of false rites,
Not the pure amongst the impure,
Neither Moses, nor the Pharoah,
Bulleh! to me, I am not known

Not in the holy Vedas, am I,
Nor in opium, neither in wine,
Not in the drunkard's craze,
Neither awake, nor in a sleeping daze,

Bulleh! to me, I am not known

In happiness nor in sorrow, am I,
Neither clean, nor a filthy mire,
Not from water, nor from earth,
Neither fire, nor from air, is my birth,

Bulleh! to me, I am not known

Not an Arab, nor Lahori
Neither Hindi, nor Nagauri,
Hindu, Turk (Muslim), nor Peshawari,
Nor do I live in Nadaun,

Bulleh! to me, I am not known

Secrets of religion, I have not known,
From Adam and Eve, I am not born,
I am not the name I assume,
Not in stillness, nor on the move,

Bulleh! to me, I am not known

I am the first, I am the last,
None other, have I ever known,
I am the wisest of them all,
Bulleh! do I stand alone?

Bulleh! to me, I am not known

PS: Its really late and I want to read. I'll update this tomorrow. For now, breathe in and let the meaning of the lyrics make you calmmmmmm. Om.

Bandeya Ho!

2008-05-08T04:52:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a lot of re-reading these days; re-reading of news, interesting articles, anything that catches my eye and doesn't involve Britney Spears.

Part 1: The songs of Khuda Ke Liye are on loop on my iPod Shuffle, and I'm loving every sound of it. I understand some words, while others I don't. Whoever says music needs to be understood :) (apparently the Taliban, who numbering at 12000, need to be ~~ignored~~ brought to senses) Anyway, the move is Pakistani, and the language is part-Hindi and part-Urdu. The lyrics are mostly Urdu, with hint of Hindi in between. In the song Bandeya ho, Bulleh Shah is referred to. Now, we all know him at least by the way of Rabbi Shergill's song Bulla ki jaana main kaun. I looked for Bulleh Shah on wiki and read something interesting,

"Baba Bulleh Shah was a direct descendant of Muhammad, through the progeny of Shaikh Abdul Qadir Gillani of Baghdad.

A large amount of what is known about Bulleh Shah comes through legends, and is subjective; to the point that there isn’t even agreement among historians concerning his precise date and place of birth. Some "facts" about his life have been pieced together from his own writings. Other "facts" seem to have been passed down through oral traditions.

Bulleh Shah practiced the Sufi tradition of Punjabi poetry established by poets like Shah Hussain (1538 – 1599), Sultan Bahu (1629 – 1691), and Shah Sharaf (1640 – 1724).

Bulleh Shah lived in the same period as the famous Sindhi Sufi poet, Shah Abdul Latif Bhatai (1689 – 1752). His lifespan also overlapped with the legendary Punjabi poet Waris Shah (1722 – 1798), of Heer Ranjha fame,... "

"Bulleh Shah’s poetry and philosophy strongly criticizes Islamic religious orthodoxy of his day."

This led me to click on the article on Muhammed. And what I read surprised me. I didn't know that:

Muhammed got enlightenment at the age of 40.
He got married to Khadijah (15 years his senior) when he was 26.
Khadijah had a 'Christian cousin' be the name Waraqah ibn Nawfal.
Muhammed meditated for 3 years at a cave on the outskirts of Mecca, and his wife was the first to believe that he indeed was a nabi (prophet), and rasul (messenger of God).
Though he had 14 wives in all, he didn't marry anyone whilst Khadijah was alive. He was content and happy with her.
Khadijah chose Muhammed to be her husband after watching him conduct her trade business; and she was highly regarded in the field.
He fled along with his family to Medina, when people in Mecca criticized him for his preachings.
He believed in giving equal rights to women.
"Muhammad did his own household chores, helped out with the housework, such preparing food, sewing clothes, and repairing shoes. Muhammad is also said to had accustomed his wives to dialogue; he listened to their advice, and the wives debated and even argued with him."
There are 5 prophets of Islam religion. Muslims believe that the first prophet was Adam**, while the last prophet and rasul was Muhammad.
Out of 124000 messengers sent by God, the most famous as believed by Muslims and mentioned in Hadith are: Nuh (Noah), Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), Isa (Jesus), and Muhammad.

Source of all this is Wiki. Islam is the most misunderstood religion in the world, torn apart by its own people. When their prophet is so liberal, who are the Talibans to unleash torture on people? And look at their messengers - Adam! Yes the very first man created on Earth according to Bible! Now how does a belief in Christianity tally with a belief in Islam?! And the other imp messengers - Noah, Abraham, Moses, even JESUS! Oh please do they need any more proof that their religions stem from the same people known by different names? I was surprised and thrilled when I read this. As the years progressed, people got possessed by insanity and religious fundamentalism (thats redundant I know) and look what we have now. Make all the hate and blood stop God, please make all that stop.

I have a team mate who's Muslim. Lets call him R. I asked him if he was a Shia or a Sunni and whats the difference between them. I could've looked it up on Wiki but I wanted to hear from him. He said he's a Sunni and thats he's a true Muslim; the Shias are not. When I voiced my opinion, he flatly said he only believes in what he's taught in the madrassa (yes he's been to one.). I said ok, and asked him what was Nabi Muhammed? A Shia or a Sunni? He said he doesn't know and doesn't want to know because that might shake his faith in Allah. I mean c'mon! No one can take your faith away from you! Why would you want to give up on your own prophet in case you found out He was a Shia? What difference does it make anyway? If it does, I'd really like to know. The Iraq war is on between Shia and Sunnis isn't it?

Part 2: I was reading the Telegraph and they had a feature interview with Mikhail Gorbachev. Well what do you know?! The former Pres. of a communist country endorses Pizza Hut and is the face of Louis Vuitton! :) We think we know but... :)
While you are at it, check out their QI section. Quite Interesting.

Was ist das?

2008-05-06T02:30:00.000-07:00

Wie geht es dir? Wie sind alle beim dir? Wir sind zuruck and Indien vermissen. Was ist darüber? Hast du alles verstanden? Wenn du verstehst nichts dann ihr wörterbuch besuchen können.

Liebe Grüße

***

My bhabhiji, who stays in Germany, sent this e-mail to me :O ! I mailed her like a month back or something, and told her that I'm learning German. The mail I wrote was part English, part Punjabi, and part German (I'm such a show-off at times). She was thrilled and replied that next time I should write to her "nur in Deutsche, keine Englisch oder Punjabi" - those were her exact words. And she's so sweet, she wrote the above mail in Deutsche! I'm gonna mail my reply to her! Now if only I could lay my hands on an online German dictionary.... hehehe...

Food Riots...

2008-05-02T07:35:00.000-07:00

... are now a reality. I'd never thought about it, and seriously, its scary. And a certain something I'd like to refer as a blot on womankind, and also on Earth, who goes by the name of Condoleeza Rice, says people in China and India are to be blamed because our appetite has increased. Look who talking. Someone who hails from a country where number of obese people is huge. Seriously, US politics is a huge sham. And while I really don't care, I hope the new Pres will bring about some seriousness to the "superpower"'s governance.

Our economy is booming, people have jobs, govt. comes up withmid-day meal schemes - and this lady has a problem.

Everyday I see reports of bombs exploding in Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, food riots in Sudan, civil unrest in most African nations, tigers vs govt. in Sri Lanka, Israel vs Palestines, Tibetan unrest - I mean, do people have a problem with peace? Don't people want to have a normal life where they can work, spend, go on vacations, and be content? I get shudders thinking what kind of world I live in. And what kind of world we'll pass on to the next generation. What if my kids ask - why were people so immature back then? why all the riots? Blood and gore - who needs that? Its like a mini WW-III. Sick. Sometimes I think who's wrong? And who do you think is right? Indeed if people from each party/country/fundamentalist religious groups think they are right, they won't give up ever on fighting isn't it? And then what? People seem to have very poor memory. With 2 WWs behind us, I'd have thought we have learned our lesson. A grip on reality is what is missing. Govts., people, religious outfits - they all think they can continue doing what they do as long as they have the resources, without stopping to think about the consequences. Look at the war in Afghanistan - how long will it continue? I remember reading Britain's plans to pull out its troops by Christmas 2007. Thats long gone and they are still there. If your peace-bringing attempts aren't working and one of the reasons is that your troops are still there, you should probably pack up your bags and leave. Since you've been there long enough.

And where's the UN in all these situations? Its reduced to a toothless tiger.

I think we still have a shot at maintaining a civil society, in what seems to be only on our planet in the whole Universe. And its not too late. How do we do that, is a daunting task and everyone's responsibility.

I'm writing a late-review on Khuda Ke liye. Words fail me. Its a beautiful movie. Do, please, do watch it. Review coming soon.

Hello!

2008-04-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

Its been so long! I haven't had the time to write anything, I have been really busy. There have been people at home, work at well... work :D and loads of other things.

But first, here's the thing. Who watches cookery shows on TV? I count me! I'm a huge fan of Nigella Lawson, and her cookery show on Discovery Travel and Living. Mostly she prepares non-veg, but I try and see if I can substitute that with potatoes. Hahahaha probably someone (or many) reading this will want to wring my neck like a chicken's for even thinking of that! Anyway, today I came home early from work *phew* and turne don the TV. There she was, preparing a dark chocolate icing for a chocolate cake. She cut 75 gm of dark choc, poured it into heated hoeny and water, and melted the whole thing. It looked so yummy! Then she poured it all over the cake she'd prepared and set aside. While at that, she said she'd done this for a friend's daughter's 1st birthday, and now she's doing it again. And she was baby-sitting that very little girl! Then, she, her 2 (or was that 3?) kids and the little tot sat down and enjoyed the cake. So basically, what we have here is a lady who cooks at home for her cookery show, earns for it, and is baby-sitting too! And enjoys the meal with her family! She's having her cake and eating it too! Wow I'd really like to be in her shoes! And you know how much I like cooking!

In other news, my in-laws were here 2 weeks back. Then my mom came too. Phew it was a packed house! 6 of us! I hardly had any time to breathe. My in-laws have left, mom's here. And its still choc-a-bloc. Its nice to have people at home, but sometimes I wish I had some time with me. To do something, to laze around, to read a book, to flip channels randomly, to drink tea and solve Sudoku...

So why does everyone think just because I live here I'm gonna go watch the IPL matches? I've had an overdose of cricket frankly. Now I can't even stand 20 overs of it. Its a spectacle of film stars and loud music everytime a batsman hits a six or the bowler takes a wicket. Such a racket! And not to mention the while-over-is-being-played ads by Godrej and Vodafone. And sometimes they don't even let the commentators finish! And please, cricket is being overfed to viewers. IPL is a good concept brought about at the wrong time, in the wrong country. We have other matters to take care of. IPL? Lalit Modi is dumb. Plain dumb. Not just the concept, even the name is a rip off from Barclays Premier League! Anyway...

Some friend asked me if I'm gonna go watch the matches. I said whenever my hubby talks about it, I manage a "hmm", "mm hmm", "lets see" kinda answer. Now whats wrong with that?! Apparently a lot when it comes to nosey people. So they suggest that I needn't accompany him. Well, we are married, which makes us a couple. Lemme explain to you how that works. We try and most of the times, go out together, do stuff together. Its but natural for us. Of course, there are times when he goes out for an evening with his friends and I meet a friend. But, that doesn't give you a right to actually suggest that, don't you think? I frankly don't understand how some actually have the nerve to do that. Now that I think about it, I see that don't care.

Work's OK. S is always in the dorm, except during lunchtime. M is fine and entertaining. She provides me fodder for my mimicry sessions during lunchtime. P is boring as usual (you'll never believe how dumb she is if I tell you, so I'm just gonna leave it at that). I'm playing Scrabble with hubby tonight! That'll be fun! And yesterday, I made Sol Kadi (my fav!) as after-dinner drink. Everyone loved it! And I made super dahi based tadka for the dal that aunty made. Gone in seconds! Believe it or not, and I'm saying that to myself more than anyone else, I never thought I'd manage a decent meal :-) Guess I changed.

Oh, one thing before I sign off. If you are a Harry Potter fan, you gotta check out this blog - Felix Felicis. The girls have amazing imagination. I'm just done with the HPNS series though, and I'm going back for more! Way to go girls!

Oh how can I forget?! I got my course completion certificate for German! I completed A1/1 level. Only 1 wrong in the final test! The letter that we had to write, the sir gave me a "Sehr Gut" remark in my test! I'm proud of me. I'll take a picture and host it up here. Just to make me happy :D

It better be true!

2008-04-16T03:51:00.000-07:00

This, is what my Today's Fortune on O-rk-ut says. Yea yea I know I made a big deal about how useless these social networking sites are, and believe me they are. I was in touch with almost all my college friends and school friends anyway, but on a hi-bye basis. Most of them are married and settled here or abroad, and I hardly see them online (on my gtalk or yahoo messenger), so no marks for guessing how frequently we write to each other on o-rk-ut. They just say oh you finally signed up on o-rk-ut, why no kids yet (mere dost log bache the yeh sawaal poochne!), where you now - thats it. After that no more messages from them. Aur agar main bhejoon, then I get replies after a week or something. Looks like I'm the only one jobless and expecting that at least on this site friends'll respond and keep in touch. Nah. But my close friends (S, A, G and L) from college and me are still in touch over whatever means of communication we find. Rest were only through phone sometime, or through chat sometimes. Now, its become through o-rk-ut sometimes. Bas. Nevertheless, I signed up purely because I now have an option of keeping my profile, photos and videos private, unlike earlier. And if you haven't guessed already, the most interesting part for which I want to login to the site and have a good laugh is the "Today's fortune" part. Now, if o-rk-ut is really a genuine site, it better make all of those prophecies come true ;-)

My mom is still in touch with her 3 friends from school. No, she doesn't use o-rk-ut. Go figure!

Lyrics of Thank you by Dido

2008-03-25T23:33:00.000-07:00

Dido, one of my favourite singers. She's got a lovely husky voice, and each time, listening to her is a breath of fresh air :-) Listen to this song "Thank you" by her, and then hum along; it'll lift your spirits up!

My tea's gone cold, I'm wondering why
I got out of bed at all
The morning rain clouds up my window
and I can't see at all
And even if I could it'd all be grey,
but your picture on my wall
It reminds me that it's not so bad, it's not so bad

I drank too much last night, got bills to pay,
my head just feels in pain
I missed the bus and there'll be hell today,
I'm late for work again
And even if I'm there, they'll all imply
that I might not last the day
And then you call me and it's not so bad,
it's not so bad

and I want to thank you
for giving me the best day of my life
Oh just to be with you
is having the best day of my life

Push the door, I'm home at last
and I'm soaking through and through
Then you hand me a towel and all I see is you
And even if my house falls down,
I wouldn't have a clue
Because you're near me

and I want to thank you
for giving me the best day of my life
Oh just to be with you is having the best day of my life

At first I was skeptical...

2008-03-19T10:17:00.000-07:00

... but then I thought why not try... try karne mein to koi harj nahi...

and... I think its looks pretty good!

Some photos from the Mangalore trip

2008-03-17T20:18:00.000-07:00

The Kukke Subrahmanya temple (look at the greenery in the background!)

Temple, door se. (notice the greenery behind?)

Glimpse of the garbha gudi.

Misty weather! (Ok am sure you have seen the greenery :D )

Lovely green mountains right behind the temple! (how about in this pic? lovely greenery no? :D)

Now see the photos below. What can you make of the first one?

Looks like some leaf isn't it? But leaf stuck on a wall?! Closer look, and I see this:

It was some insect! My my! Nature never fails to amaze me.

Standing tall and magnificient!

Visit to Kukke Subrahmanya temple

2008-03-17T04:43:00.000-07:00

After my wedding, a visit to Kukke Subrahmanya temple, 120 kms from Mangalore, was in the must-do list. The time came more than a year later, when me, mummy and B decided to go there over the weekend and complete the pooja etc.

My last visit to that place, scenic place I must add, was very very memorable. Not only was the purpose fulfilled, but I also got the bestest present life gave me (ah philosophy). I made great friends at a great workplace, did the best job of my life, and did the worst (ok 2nd worst) mistake by quitting it. Knock me down :(

So anyway, we left friday morning and reached Mangalore, and from there took a taxi to Subrahmanya. Karnataka. I love this place. Of all the places I've lived in (the list is sorta big), this state has many places worth visiting. The climate at Subrahmanya was lovely - misty, rainy, cool. The moutain behind the temple was at its lushest green best :) and the mist was always there - it looked like white on green. Beautiful. The abhishek was in the morning, and later in the evening, there was Palki seva and Rath Yatra. Abhishek is usually done by bathing Lord Subrahmanya in milk, panchamruta, and Rath Yatra/Palki Seva is when you place the Lord on a Rath and Palki, and carry it around the temple. We did both the seva and pooja in the morning. Its all really really splendid. If you witness it, you'll know what I'm talking about :) I had a lot of fun and really felt nice being a part of those celebrations.

To pass time between morning pooja and evening seva, while at the hotel room (which was infested with khatmal by the way - GROSS!) we played "pass pass". Hahahahaha mummy is too much. Ok from the start. Rules are pretty simple. You choose a number, and each member says numbers starting from one. The multiples of chosen number, AND that number in tens position, when it comes, the player should say "pass". Eg., if the chosen number is 4, I'll say pass everytime I have to say a number thats a multiple of 4, and 14, 24, 34 etc. Pretty silly, and full timepass. Thrill when the players say the numbers real fast hehehe. So mummy used to cheat like - if chosen number is 4, she'd come to 32 and say 32, not pass.
Me and B: Ok mummy you are out.
Mummy: Oh, 4 was the chosen number???? I thought 3!!
Me and B: Hullo?! Phir aapne 32 tak 4 multiples pe kyu pass bola? Boliye boliye?
Mummy: *full wide grin*

After the evening seva, we went to bed. Early morning, we left Subrahmanya to reach Mangalore jaha se train leni thi to come back to this place (makes a yucky face). Anyways, the drive to Mangalore was so beautiful so beautiful, kehne ki baat nahi! Mast road, aur road ke dono taraf trees hi trees. Pine trees, coconut trees, and thick dense forests beyond them. Only few small buildings of Forest Officer Bungalows did we see. Baaki full greenery :) Badhiya!

On reaching M'lore, we boarded the train and wallah! The train came trough the choicest of scenic places in Kerala, and Mom Nature treated us to beautiful backwaters, never ending rows of mangroves, small islands (full green and lush!), coconut trees, and even beach on one side! Breathtaking! Don't ask me why I didn't take pics; if I think back why, the reason is so dumb I could wince. The train journey was awesome! And you know, whatever we saw of Kerala - be it the small railway stations, houses (people lived right at the backwaters!), small factories - all were super clean. Generally railway tracks are filthy, and used as dump grounds. But no sir, not in Kerala. Bahut achha laga woh sab dekh kar. And oh, also, I've never seen so many coconut trees and lungi-clad people in my life either! Heh Heh.

Next on my list - Coorg, the North-East, Rajasthan. Ah so many of them!

Now even the Cubans know there's a problem with sports in India!

2008-03-13T03:49:00.000-07:00

I read this -> India looks to Cuba to revive sports. Prompted me to write this post.

The biggest problem in India is that the parents say:
1. Oye khel kood ke kya hoga? Chalo padhai karo!

2. Tumhaare school mein khelne ko kyu bolte hai? Tum wahan pe khelne jaate ho ki padhaai karne?

3. Bahut ghatiya school hai, sirf khelne ko bolte hai. Kal tumhe naye school mein daakhil karenge.

The parents, since independence haven't asked the kids to play, the kids haven't grown up to be sportsmen and hence there are no good coaches today. If we don't have many kids playing the sport today, we won't have many coaches in the future. Problem - sports in India isn't enough to bring the bread home.

Indians now need to look at other 3rd world countries where, mind you, dictators have been ruling since past 60 years to tell us - BOSS THERE IS A PROBLEM.

As if we didn't know. As if anything is going to change very soon. As if in next 10 years we can get 2 gold medals in Olympics.

Also, the government has its own reason(s) - How can we make 20 hockey stadiums across the country if the farmers are dying of hunger and poverty??

So please, enlighten me...

2008-02-26T03:20:00.000-08:00

Yaar yeh Orkut hai kya? I mean I know what it is, but why is it so popular?! I want reasons. No, solid reasons.

What?!

2008-02-12T23:29:00.000-08:00

You not gonna leave us even if we leave the continent?! And here I thought, I'll kill you (shred you into pieces, gorge your eyes, lungs, heart out - take your pick!) and leave the country!

I hope you get married to a Chennai auto driver. That'll be fun. Bitch!

The Indian National Men's Hockey team...

2008-02-02T22:23:00.000-08:00

From L to R: Raghunath (standing), Rajpal Singh (the one with white patka), Gurbaj Singh, Prabhjot Singh, Dilip Tirkey (with his back at us)

We spoke to Dilip Tirkey. He shook hands and thanked us (each one of us - me, hubby, and K) for coming to watch the match. He is a total gentleman. In fact, the whole team is. No starry airs. Its high time they started getting offers to endorse products and get more coverage. A lot of people who come to see these matches know a lot about hockey, and by the looks of it are passionate about it. The match gets over in 70 mins and is a treat to watch. Why cricket is so bigger than hockey is beyond me.

The Olympics qualifiers is in March in Santiago, Chile. One amongst Austria, Bangladesh, Chile, Great Britain, India, Mexico will qualify for the Olympics. India stands a very good chance. Sardara Singh was saying, "Koi gall hee nai jee, qualify kar laange. Twaada s'port* chaida bass". Of course we s'port* you!

* s'port - Sikh's way of saying "support". (I know, I'm married to one!)

2008-01-30T02:38:00.000-08:00

Weekend was so good; I bought lovely ~~chappal~~ footwear from Mochi, bought an ubercool top from Levis, AND met Shivendra Singh, Ignace Tirkey and Raghunath at the Adidas shop! I spoke to them for a while, and wished them good luck for the upcoming matches. I didn't take their autograph or photo, cuz I have them already! I have almost everybody's autograph from the men's hockey team**, I have photos with them, plus a beautiful bouquet that Prabhjot Singh gave me. So I'm pretty cool around them. Next time, I'll invite them for lunch/dinner ghar pe. (I can almost picture it - "Maine yaha ke sabhi matches dekhe hai; PHL, Asia Cup, sab. Main to bahut avid fan hoon ji hockey ki :D Aap kabhi hamare ghar aayiye na khaane pe... aaj kaisa rahega? Nahi? Ok ji phir kal?" LOL)

I also started by German classes. Ich heisse [my name], ich komme aus Indien!

Yesterday V called from London. Its good to know that someone who you haven't met since 2004, still thinks of you as a close friend :-) though we worked together for only a year, we had a lot of fun. Working at that call center for 6 months was bad, but it did introduce me to some of my good friends. I caught him on Yahoo! and then he took my number and called me immediately. Saala he's put on a firang accent and says "bloke" and "lad". I see the Brits have done their job. We remenised about the times when we worked together. Me, him, Sania, Sachin, Ninoshka, Sanoska, Sam Gupta - with our trainer Jamshed (we used to persuade him to get married soon so that we could eat free Parsi food, he was a "good bloke, eh"), Sandeep (arrogant and swinged the other way) and Allen (he called himself Big Al - cuz of his size).

He recalled the time I fought with this optician cuz he delayed the delivery of V's specs. V called me and told, "Yaar usne mera specs abhi tak nahi lautaaya! Kya karoon?" I said, "Main uski khabar leti hu" and in my usual style went and blasted him. We got the specs right then and there! V you owe our eyesight to me man! And the time when a few of us didn't get our first month salary (I still don't know why) but we were promised that next month we'd get both salaries. I demanded to get my sal. I went to Finance and said, "I work odd hours, I hardly sleep, I have no social life and now you tell me I got no money?!! You better be joking!!" Hahahahaha.. looking back, those days were so much fun :-)

Oh, and V told me a secret about himself. I hadn't heard one in a long time; knowing that you know something about someone*** that he/she prefers it to be privy, gives me license to indulge in mean acts ;-) like blackmail V that I'll leak his secret. But he's not the type who'll buy it. He'll say, "ok jaa bataa de, tum mera kaam asaan karogi". No fun in that :-l
Jokes apart, I have a patient ear, and neither ear has a hole. Jaise elders tell, "is kaan se sunke us kaan se nikaal do", I can't nikaalo from either of my kaans. So V, your secret is safe with moi. He's going to Paris with his love for Valentine's celebrations! Sorry I couldn't keep quiet about this one V! (ab mera pet theek lag raha hai phew!)

I also watched The Golden Compass over the weekend. Good movie, its got that Narnia feel. But you'll be left wanting to know more at the end of the movie, so be patient and wait for part 2, and 3.

** - also from the Indian cricket team /:)
*** - means "friends" only.

2008-01-25T02:43:00.000-08:00

I'm going to watch India vs Belgium today. Hockey match. Olympics ~~qualifier~~ practise matches. Ok lemme rephrase that ridiculous 3-sentence thing I wrote. I'm going to watch India vs. Belgium hockey match for preparation of the olympics qualifier this evening. Yea this sounds better.

Anyways, thats about today. I am badly in need of some good chappals. Hahaha that sounds so silly. I really some footwear. Good, stylish, wearable, shoulds suit all my salwar kameezes and sarees, right colour, and above all, should be a steal for its worth ;-)

I'm finally finally starting with my German classes with this sunday. 5 hours per week. Ends in April. Only on weekends. Fair enough. I can deal with that. I don't plan to take any exams; I just like learning new languages. Next on my list - French. Or Arabic. Or Swahili. There are sooo many!

I've had some wierd/scary dreams last week. Worst was me cutting my hair. I dreamt I cut my hair into guys' like close cut, and then starting pulling ends to make them grow before I leave the parlour. I woke up with a start, and decided its best if I get outta bed. Time - 9 AM. Mom used to say dreams that we see in the morning do (mostly) come true. And though I'm not superstitious, I'm determined not to let this one come true. Creepy.
Then in another dream, I went to audition for Roadies - 3. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA pretty funny. And the dream was too. Raghu and Nikhil torture people who come to audition, though its all in good fun. This is one reality show audition that makes me laugh. And looks like its not setup or anything. Anyways, in this one episode, a guy who was 26 came to audition and he was told that he was too old (the average age being 18-23). He did get selected, but I raised my eyebrow at the you-are-old-at-26-to-be-a-roadie remark. So in the dream, I went to audition, and it all went very well. I made them laugh with my wit (which is true, try me) and impressed them no limit (hardly an achievement I know, but what the heck, it was a dream). In the end, they did select me! And I said, "Oh I hope my hubby will be mighty pleased!". To which they said, "Sorry this competition is for unmarried people only. You may leave." and handed me an orange card. (Apparently, it meant I'm disqualified. Only in the dream). I came out, shattered. And then my eyes opened. Time - around 3 AM. Whew. (3 AM isn't early morning isn't it? Or, is it?)

I love to eat SUBWAY subs and salads (Veg only). Just a way to end this post.

Back from a refreshing trip!

2008-01-16T22:53:00.000-08:00

I wanted to meet mom, since the last visit was for a day only. This time, I thought, I'll spring a surprise on her. She wouldn't know I was coming home!

Before I write it all, would you look at that clustermap down right on this page?! It looks like my journal is read by people even in Africa! Lovely! And apparently also someone on sea (?); check the tiny red dot to left (the reader's left) of North America. Whuda thunk?!

Moving on, I really wanted to meet mom. Besides, Sankranti was coming up and I didn't want her to be alone. There are a LOT of relatives at home right now, but it just means mom has to work hard and a lot of chores. I called her up to enquire her plans, and she told me K is coming too! With her daughter! Oh I have the cutest and the smartest neice in the world! Mom asks, "You coming too?". I said, no. I really didn't have plans at the time to take a trip to see her. Also I had work (in nearly 5months). But then, I thought I can finish the work stuff quickly and go see mom. I did! I got my leave approved and then scurried to find the train home. Too bad, all trains booked. I ended up taking 2 trains one way to go see mom. No issues. She still didn't know I was coming, so the surprise would be great. Moreover, mom was at Hyd with her bros and sisters (just for vacation) and would be coming on the same day that I was supposed to reach!

When I got the tickets booked, the departure time was 13.40. On the day I was all set to leave, it was 12.40 and out of curiosity, I checked the ticket again. Departure time was 13.20! Heavens! I had like 30 mins to reach the station! B drove like 10 mad horses were behind him. And thankfully, I saw the train still at the station! Phew! "Aaj to line cross ho hi gayi thi by God! Pata hai, aaj tak life mein ek train nahi chhooti meri. Thank you Babaji, mera record todne se bacha liya" ;)

Train ka safar kataa by watching "Eurotrip" some 100 times. No really, I've watched it so many times I've lost count; still I enjoy it everytime I see it. Fully bakwaas movie, dumb dialogs and absolute timepass! "Scotty doesn't know that Fiona and me do it in my van every sunday" :)) Journey well spent I'd say!

I called mom up at 9 AM from a station close to home. She had NO clue I was on my way to see her, and she told me how lovely a time she had at Hyd. I said great. After the daily dose of please-drink-milk-and-eat-chyawanprash-and-regularly-use-eyedrops lecture from mom, I hung up, supressing a chuckle ;)

Day 1:
Cut to 2 hours later, I ring the door bell to my home and mom opens it.... Oh the expression on her face was priceless! She kept staring at me! And then, guess what, SHE pinched ME to check if it wasn't a dream! Hullo?! Isn't that supposed to be the other way round? She should pinch herself to see if its for real! Welcome to my mom's world!

That day, we relaxed at home. I feasted on mom's cooking and it was finger licking good! Had a siesta and went to the temple in the evening. And there, you won't believe, people recognized me! "Oh aren't you the one staying in this building?!", "Oh you got married?!", "Where do you live now?". After I answered the latter question, I had a standard response from everyone - same response - "Ewww why do you live there of all the cities in India?!". I hear ya sisters.

Day 2:
Come sunday, I went to meet U mami and the twin cuties. Same thing, they didn't know I was coming. I woke up bright and sunny at 9 AM :D , had breakfast, took bath and left to see them. Just me, not mom. When I reached there after 50 mins, T just screamed on seeing me! S sprang outta bed (all her headache and fever flew right out of the window!) and we 6 of us, sat down to eating the kadlis from the kadli gida. :D I miss all that! Lunch was typical kannada affair - saaru, chapaati, navalkol palya (heavens I survived that) and masaru anna. G exhibited her idiosyncrasies, and so did R - which renders them famous in our family (and it also serves as fodder to me cuz then I can mimic them at family gatherings - Yea I'm my family's Russel Peters ;) ). All in all, it was their normal behaviour.
I went home and had dinner while watching Desperate Housewives. At the end of each episode, I wonder why did I waste my one hour, yet next week I find myself watching it again...

Day 3:
Next day, monday, was Bhogi. And the lunch was sooooooooooooooo yummy! You'd think I'm a glutton - and I'd say where's the next item, please serve!
Oh before that, I went to my college to get that certificate. Met my profs and HoD. College seems bigger than the last time I saw it; and now they are expanding the canteen and brining in two more departments - B.E in Telecommunications and an MBA program. Awesome :) I reached P moushi's place and find so many other moushis there! (I have a HUGE family!) Hugs and kisses followed (my L'Oreal blush almost wiped off!) and they urged me to mimic G and R's previous day's antics. I did ;) P moushi has changed so much. She's mellowed down. And is so so much nicer now. Poo didn't know I was coming, so she was happy on seeing me too.
Lunch was traditional Bhogi lunch - stuffed brinjal (tumbiddu badnikaai palya), tingla ourikaai palya, gojju, raagi bhakri and huggi. I don't know their names in English; but they were so tasty I don't even care. Check pics :)

Thats gojju

Tingla ourikaai palya

Tumbiddu badnikaai palya

After lunch, Poo and I sat down to discuss her latest boyfriend(s), and how many extractions did she do that day. None, thankfully. Extractions I mean, boyfriends - she has :)) She kept talking about 2 of them and I asked to show their pics. She looged in to her Orkut and showed their pics. Guess what happened next. We scanned their albums, whistled at other good looking guys in those pics, and scanned their friends list and looked through their albums! LOL. She kept circling the guys in photos who looked good, and at the end, narrowed the list of boiys down to 3. And said to me, "(phew) OK now there are 3 in line. Who do you think I should date??" LOL Hello?! You've only seen their photos on Orkut, what else you know about them?! Thats Poo for you! She adds "le" after every sentence in Kannada and says "oooooooo boyfriend iddra yeshtu majaa ala!!" Wonder what kinda dentist she is! Its all in fun, am sure. She's a great sis I'll give her that :)

Day 4:
My sis, her hubby and the neice to arrive in the morning. I woke up early, and had bath. Minutes later, they are at the door! The kid is so cute! She's started walking now, and even recognizes me :) She was so careful while crossing the hochhla (threshold) from one room to another, we all were stunned! She plays with anything and everything and doesn't fuss at all! She speaks 2 syllable words now - papa, mum mum (food), adu taa (gimme that), tou (take this). And if she sees a dog, she goes, "woofh woofh" and "meow" when she sees a cat! Intelligent! I'll put her pics here tomorrow. She wore those shoes which make sound when you walk in them, and kept stamping to make that noise hahahahahaha. She hugs the little stuffed monkey we gave her, and kisses it too! It all looks very cute. I took her pics when sis was bathing her - I can show the kid's nanga photos to her hubby later ;)

Mom made superb lunch. Kosambri, yellina undi (til ke laddoo), yellina holgi (til ke sweet chapatis), chapatis (plain ones), french beans, saaru (curry) and steamed white rice. Super yummy! I ate one full holgi (I don't like sweets much...). See pics...

This is the stuffing she used for the holgi (sweet stuffed chapati). Its til, jaggery and ghee all mixed and heated on low flame.

Til ke laddoo, or yellina undi. Same ingredients as above, but kept longer on sim so that its a little harder.

Come 5 PM, I had to leave. Horrible. I got to be with my neice only for 7 hours. I boarded the slowest train ever - it went from Karnataka to AP, and back to Karnataka - poora round maarke! Took another slowest train from B'lore to come here. Super bore.

Oh one more thing, I met Amit on my way home. He is a gentleman. He insisted on carrying my bag, which actually made him a coolie, but he's a gentleman too :) We had dinner together. He's my bestest friend, and I'm glad its been like that since years. It won't change... he's my best friend. I hope he finds and gets married to a nice, sweet girl. I pressurised him to get married soon. He kept blushing all the while :)

Rickshaw Run 2008

2008-01-03T23:38:00.000-08:00

This morning on my way to work, I saw this black auto decorted with flowers. It looked different among the sea of yellow-black autos, so I decided to peek in from my auto. I was surprised to see some non-Indian driving it! Plus there were 2 more sitting on the passenger seat, complete with luggage and all. What the hell, I thought and looked closely.

I saw posters of Rickshaw Run 2008 and WAYN (Where Are You Now). I thought I'll come to work and look them up on the net. Here's their website - "Why Not?? Rickshaw Run 2008". They call themselves "Why Not?" and "they" is made up of 3 guys - Stuart Darnley, Jeff Johnson and Scott Sveiven. Further reading the website, I saw that they are gonna cover some 3200 kms from Cochin through Nepal, and will raise money for charity through this. Check the charity page on their site. More about this here - The Rickshaw Run.

Hehe see their pic with the rickshaw

Personally, I think its just great to embark upon an adventure like this; have fun, explore new places, and all this for a noble cause!

At midnight on Dec 31st 2007...

2007-12-31T23:08:00.000-08:00

... I ceased to be 26! Yaay happy birthday to me! Check the decoration made by my b.i.l after we came back from the New Year's party...

Awww so sweet of him innit?!

PS: I am never gonna be 26 again ever :O in my life :O :O

PPS: If you want to be my friend, or already are my friend, my birthday is a good time :) I accept gifts, and also cash (in case you don't find the time to buy me something) ;)

I don't think this looks bad...

2007-12-27T06:40:00.000-08:00

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2007-12-14T04:22:00.000-08:00

I am super kicked up about the weekend. Not that I've planned anything, just that I'm looking forward to it.

I got yellow fever vaccination done today. Lets see when do I get to go to Africa/South America. I can hardly wait as a matter of fact! Travelling is so much of fun! Meeting new people, seeing new places, the blend of culture with modernity as you see it, the food, the climate, the every second excitement of what next to see in the place... I think travelling is the best thing in the world! Call me a wanderlust, I'd really love to be moving all the time, and write about my travel experiences, and click some great pictures, make some great friends all along.

I am super duper excited about my vaccination! I got the yellow card along with it, and whatever's written in it is written in English, Spanish and German - and that too excites me! Languages! The medium of expression are so many. My arm doesn't hurt from the vaccination; or maybe its just that I'm too excited I got it done finally!

Next week, I'm taking part in a fashion show. I'm gonna scorch the ramp with my designer clothes and behave like every bit of the supermodel I dreamt I would be as a teenager. I'll come back with pics of that for sure!

2007-11-24T05:31:00.000-08:00

Hello. I was thinking something and it hit me hard that after more than 4 years of experience in this industry, I'm now attempting for my SCJP certification. Or at least, I have that thought in my head. That I should complete SCJP and then next level of that, cuz I've seen that the jobs I want list Java knowledge as a main skill. You must think it is a piece of cake, but you see, errr... its not. Because out of 4 years, I've actively worked on Java for... umm let me count... 1.5 years only. Still, it should make me confident enough to take up the beginner's level exam (considering that freshers joining my team are aiming for it). You know me, I am my worst critic; pray for me.

God, seriously, 4 years and now this?! I topped school. Likewise in college. And this is where I am. Forget it. I've got only me to blame. I've made some unbelievably dumb career decisions. Still, I wouldn't have done them knowingly! Sochne ki baat hai na :(

Heavens, my best friend called just now from Calcutta. His dad passed away. My friend was getting married in Jan and now its postponed to next year; thats the tradition - no festivities or celebrations in the family until after 1 year of someone's death. Some follow this even today. Now my friend has quit his job in Bombay to be with his mom in Calcutta. Good thing his would-be wife is in Calcutta too; they'll be there for each other.

And don't even get me started on my bank balance. It doesn't look good. After 4+ years of working (include 6 months of working in AOL as tech support (I'd changed my name to Tiffany); those 6 months were sheer fun!) my balance is surprisingly low. Low. Low. Low.

And office people are so boring. And some have no manners. People wash their hands after lunch, but don't wipe, and end up pushing buttons on the lift, or opening doors with those hands! Yuck they are still wet and in all probability OILY too!! Ugh its just so unhygenic and pathetic as well. Some creeps drink water out of styrofoam cups and toss them in trash can, even when its full, and end up throwing them around the bin! Yeesssh this is not some jail people! Have some civic sense! And then, this girl I know from work chews LOUDLY with mouth open! You think this is as worst as it can get?! Wait, listen to this. She also TALKS when she's doing that, so there's food flying around with a 100% chance of it landing on your face or worse, in your lunchbox! Wait, this is not the end of it. There's more crap news from office. The ladies room is so filthy so filthy you'd rather pee in the woods or fields (yea where there's no toilet paper even!). Here's why. The girls sometimes forget to flush so you enter the room and there's a strong smell greeting you. Yikes! Or there's toilet paper all around the commode. Or there is some liquid all round the toilet seat (YAAAAHHHH SOMEBODY KILL ME!). Some girls even make it a point to let the others know that they've got periods. Now can you blame me for hating to go to work??

My team mates are nice though. Especially my ex-team lead. He really deserves the double promotion he got.

Ugh would you look at that?! Whats with all this negativity?!! Lets list some good points about me. Ummm....
I'm intelligent, confident (except for bouts of self-doubts at times, I'm fine thank you).
I'm patient. My friends love me.
My husband calls me his fairy, he expresses his love openly, and makes me laugh.
My mom is the bestest. And she loves me so much; she's my greatest source of strength. I'm proud to have cared for her and looked after her the minute I got a job. I really became responsible overnight after I got my job.
My in-laws love me too. I'm thankful to God for them.
My mom bought me skates, cycle and my first bike! Learning all that was so much fun!
I'm beautiful. I don't look my age (phew), I've got lovely hair, great sense of humour, know just how much blush to put on, and can cook well too.
I do volunteer work amidst my regular work and am proud of it.

Okay, this helped. I have it in me to do well but I don't understand what gets me down sometimes. I need a whack on my head at those times.

2007-11-22T01:56:00.000-08:00

I took off from work yesterday cuz of this nagging cold. Its worse today. No matter what you do, it sticks (literally, lol) for 2-3 days for sure.

And I've not been doing much, which goes without saying, cuz its the same with or without cold. I watched V for Vendetta (for 100th time), The Pianist (billionth time), Life is Beautiful (200th time; and everytime it brings tears to my eyes). And a crap movie called Fools Rush In. What a waste of Salma Hayek.

I've seen many movies on WW II. And I think Hitler was a gone case. He actually thought he could wipe out a whole race?!! Billions of Jews?!! He was really out of his mind. And he actually had followers who joined him in the massacre! Murderer!

Ok my nose is leaking non-stop and I need to replenish my stock of tissues. Bye.

Namaste.

2007-11-14T09:41:00.000-08:00

Lets start with some pictures. And the anaar was home-made! Hubby and papaji did!

Pooja thali ready for Lakshmi Pooja.

Beautiful diyas. Mummyji is fond of decoration and all. I'm getting there.

Super Chakra!

Ek anaar!

Ek aur anaar!

Do aur anaar!

Wow looks like a palace isn't it?

Kali Maa at a pandal.

We went to Calcutta for one day. Make that 5 hours. Pesh hai Calcutta ki photos.

Victoria Memorial. Built for Queen Victoria during British rule; now, its a museum. Must visit if you go to Calcutta.

Looks beautiful isn't it? People against the setting sun, heading home. Working people from different walks of life.

Flower vendor at Howrah station. In demand during Pooja.

The Howrah bridge over the Hoogly river.

The SBI building was so HUGE! Right on the banks on Hoogly in Calcutta.

Oh, but of course I went shopping! Bought these lovely chappals from Mochi.

Elegant.

Entrance to an underground metro station. Very clean.

View from a roadside cafe. The Tea Table at Park Street, Calcutta.

Henna designs on my hands. Culture rocks!

View en route to Howrah.

Mom Nature so green!

Mother Nature again.

The place to sit idle.

Diwali at my in-laws place rocked. I love them. Mummyji calls me "rani bitiya". Suck on that you loseress (you know precisely who I'm referring to).

I gorged on too many sweets, too much of paneer, too much of curd. BHUURRRRRRRP! Oh yes, and makki di roti!

And of course, people kept reminding me that its already a year and I haven't given them the "good news" yet. One aunt was kind so as to give me time till July. You see - now November, July next - 9 months time... see? How convienient! FOR THEM!!

After a week of awesome fun and non-stop masti, its back to boring routine. And just when I thought it can't get worse, it did. I'm all alone now. B2 sad :(

Work, as usual, sucks big time at office. Its amazing how it reaches new heights of sinking lowness. Example - my manager calls me to his cabin and praises me (I have no clue why) and says he needs more "self-motivated" people like me. What a load of crap. He needs to wake up. I'm this *hand gesture* close to laughing, but I hold back.

Anyway, gist is life is definitely not looking up. Life sucks and then we all die. If you think I'm negative, then no one asked you to come and read this.

Jab Kareena and Shahid finally clicked!

2007-10-31T22:29:00.000-07:00

Yes I'm talking about Jab We Met. Yes the movie is a typical Bollywood song and dance routine. Yes its a typical boy-meets-girls-goes-apart-only-to-realise-he's-in-love-with-the-girl story. Its all of that and more! Jab We Met is a treat for all the people who love to laugh and be entertained. Hell, you might even find yourself in the character's shoes, though you won't admit it probably.

Geet (Kareena) meets a jilted lover and failed businessman Aditya (Shahid) on a Bhatinda bound train and ends up taking him home, meanwhile making the distraught Aditya laugh, and tear his hear off at the same time. The journey also lights sparks of love for Aditya, though Geet has no idea about it and is ready to run away from home and marry Anshuman (he's some underwear model with no facial expressions). Aditya returns to Bombay. But Anshuman refuses to marry Geet, which sends her emotions spiralling. What follows next is how Aditya gets wind of this, hunts Geet and brings her to be back to her old self.

Simple story? Nothing great about it? There you go wrong. Its a simple story with wonderful moments that make you laugh and wanting to be like Geet. She's spunky, loud and effervesent with her smile. And no one could've played her part as well as Kareena did. She acts great, looks amazing (as usual) and even overacts in all the right places (like in when Manjeet catches her kissing Aditya and her reaction on being caught). She breezes through the film, bringing a fresh air to the story. The film reminds you of things you did in college, burning the photo of your ex and flushing it down the toilet, and actually feeling good about it! Shahid is earnest, but ends up being just alright. Either that, or I like Kareena more between them :D The locations are beautiful, and the mahal like home in Bhatinda looks perfect. The marriage and punjabi household were like deja vu to me :-)

The flaws? Aditya's sudden forgiveness for his mom as is his sudden rise in business post interval.

Apart from that, the songs, the screenplay, locations, dialogues (Main apni favourite hoon) are a real treat! Watch this one again if you already have! And watch out for Kareena!

2007-10-23T00:14:00.000-07:00

Now that I've changed the blog look yet another time, its time for another post. I came to office at 10.30 AM, really late I know. But I don't have any work to do as of now, apart from reading pdfs...

Don't make me think. My head's so screwed up. Sometimes I go whoa my life's going at such a fast pace! Other times I'm thinking, I'm 26, where am I?? I don't know myself. My career is at such a standstill. It seems so to me. I moved from one dept. to another in office, and it seems like a good move. In fact, it IS a good move. But like I said, right now, I'm a rookie and it might be a while before I become good at the work they do. Most of my college friends have been all around the world due to work reasons, and for some reason, I haven't been abroad at all. I've worked on niche tech, products, still I don't know where am I or how good am I when compared to the others or when will I really be a go-getter in my team. I've always moved around in India and that hasn't helped my career at all. I'm working hard, I've worked hard before... but still, I'm at a standstill. I've made this decision of not quitting the telecom domain whenever I change jobs, in hope that I'll be a domain expert which'll help me in my career. But it hasn't. I work and I work and I work, but I'm stuck like glue. I have this craving to move up and give presentations, be involved in team meetings, make people stand up and take notice, and try hard as I may, I haven't the slightest clue whats wrong. I want to move out, I want to work, have agenda, weekly meetings (at least), do something substantial at the end of the day.

I was among the top 5 in my class. The not-so-smart bunch in my class have all been abroad (either cuz they're married to guys living outside of India or cuz of jobs (guys) ); and my friends ask me when are you planning, whats your next move, how come you are still here? And I have no answer for that. Makes me feel like a total loser. Its not just about going outside India, its also about doing something good at work that makes your boss take note of you and think you are capable enough of going abroad and doing something for the co. I want to be taken seriously by everyone and be entrusted with responsibilities. I want to work; I want to WORK! Why are projects always scarce in the team that I am in?? In whatever team I am in?? I feel like a failure when it comes to my career. There, I said it. And I'm ashamed to say at 26 I'm nowhere in my work life.

Where the hell have I gone wrong? Where???!!??!! I'm so frustrated. I'm so angry with myself. I'm so angry with myself and my stupid decisions. I really wish things look up at work. I try hard to stay positive and look forward to everyday at work, but its hard, its not easy as it seems. I need to see results, I need to see that I'm going somewhere.

Is it supposed to be funny?? Or anything for that matter??

2007-10-17T23:59:00.000-07:00

1. I complain of splitting headache after my first (and last ever) time drinking, and mummyji is all happy and jolly! Cajoling me that its all okay while I hold my head over the toilet and puke my insides out. She tells me "beta aisa hi hota hai" while I hold my hair as though I'm about to tear them off, all thanks to the headache, of the hangover kind.

2. I'm off for my honeymoon and my mom says she won't call me and disturb me lest I'm "busy with hubby" and warns me not to call her either. Why, will she be busy too? She says, "No you fool, I mean you will be busy in the room with your husband!". WHAT?! You think my husband paid a lakh *just* to go all the way to Himalayas to make love (and a baby) ??!?!! We could do that here at home and save all that money you know! We are going there mainly, to have fun, see new places. I clarify this to her. She giggles and asks me to "just wait till you get there". I wonder and say nothing more.

3. I'm off for the honeymoon and mummyji says, "beta khush khabri leke aana". What khush khabri, I ask, hoping she'd be too embarassed to say it and thus, save me further embarassment. She says, "Jab main gayi thi tumhaare papaji ke saath to tumhaara husband hamaare saath aaya, waisa wala good news le aana". My mouth open, I tell her, "Mummyji hubby to already hai na, phir ab kisko le aau", hoping she'd close the topic thinking his son married a dumb doll. She goes, "Nahi maine kaha ek nanhe munne ki khabar le aao". Who?? We're gonna meet many strangers there, you want news about their kids? I didn't ask anything, I gave up.

4. My neighbour asks me, in a language alien to me, making signs, "Where's the baby? Its already one year since you are married!!". Oh we've ordered one, don't know what happened and I don't care yet, I wanted to say. I just smiled and acted coy. Bad move. She says, "Next Dussehra you have to enter my home with a baby!". I'm outta the country next Dussehra!

Mom says she's healthy so I shouldn't delay a baby, mummyji says ek saal ke andar bachha ho jaana chahiye. Mera socho please! Mujhe abhi woh sab ke baare mein nahi sochna hai. Mujhe pehle theek se settle hona hai, I've got so many responsibilities - my life is overwhelming as it is.

I get so irritated when people ask me if there's any "good news". Yes I'll give you good news, I've got 2 new pairs of jootis from Chandigarh, I've got 8 new salwar kameezes, I've bought a bangle stand, I've got cosmetics from AD as gift from hubby, a new watch, my health is fine, so is hubby's... all thats IS good news isn't it? No! Not if you are Indian bahu! Good news is only the announcement of a baby! I've got other things to do before I even think of it! Besides, I'm already handling a kid - MY HUBBY!! I cannot handle another one so soon! I don't have the time, money, physical strength, mental ability. Heck, I'm not even sure if I want to bring a baby into this world. I love kids, I love babies - please don't get me wrong. I'm a great massi, a great didi to kids in my family - but seriously, I'm not ready for one of my own yet. I don't know if I will be. As of now, its a NO. NO. NO. And frankly, I'm also scared of the whole pregnancy thing. Huge blown up tummy, big size clothes, the funny walk, the odd-hour odd cravings, the mood swings, the hormone changes, the swollen feet, the injections and hospital smell - see, how scared I am?

I, we (me + hubby) would want a child when both are ready. I should be happily looking forward to all the vomitting, swollen feet, big clothes and all that I mentioned above. Only then I'll have the "new mommy" glow.

Right now, I'm happy playing with other's kids :-) Preparation for "good news" in future, if you look at it!

Blah blahs

2007-10-15T22:56:00.000-07:00

I've moved to a new team for a different project, and so far, its been good. I've been trying to re-learn about the product, since its been more than a year. This time around, I hope to do well.

We are going to meet my sister this weekend. She's got a little sweet monster cutie who'll turn 1 soon. That, is the interesting part! I'm gonna teach her how to make nasty faces when my sister calls her, or how to poop on the couch so that my sister freaks out, and also how to demand for motorcycles. Ok that can wait, since she's only 1.

Then later last week, I'd gone to the nth beauty shop to get me Oil of Olay Night cream. Thats the only cream I use, and I stick to only scrubs (apricot, walnut) and multaani mitti with rose water. The sales girl takes me to this counter, and hands me the night cream all right, but an anti-wrinkle with leave-on-all-night kind! I looked at her and showed the cream saying this is anti wrinkle. She replies yes, but its night cream, and that's what you asked. Smartass. I said do you honestly think I need an anti wrinkle night cream? What do young people like me use? I want a simple night cream. She goes, to my horror, and hands me a moisturising cream. No night cream madam without anti-wrinkle feature. Now who's heard of a moisturising cream as being fit to replace a night cream!?!?!?!?! I woke up my bitchy self, took the anti wrinkle cream, handed it to her and said, you need this since you seem to be getting old, else why'd you hand me moisturising cream when I didn't ask you to. She wore a smug look. I. Couldn't. Care. Less.

Mom is leaving this weekend, and I don't like it. She's so much fun! She and hubby tease each other and one tries to out do the other in masti. I love her. She is so funny, down-to-earth, her advices are always right, she knows exactly what to do when, and how to do it, she's clear in her head, she's calm in responding to curt people, and she laughs a lot. My mommy.

Oh I got my new salwar kameez stitched from a yet-another-new tailor. And thankfully, he's done a good job! Whenever I get something I like, then I make sure I appreciate the person who helped me. It makes them enthusiastic and happy. I did the same with the tailor and said its really stitched well. In fact, I was so happy that I bought myself a Good Housekeeping magazine! Spoil me silly!

Today is my 3rd wedding anniversary, and I've been married only a year. Hows that then, you ask? Well, I got married according to two traditions (hubby's and mine) on 2 different dates. So that's 2 wedding anniversaries. Since the Hindu calendar is different from English calendar, I get 2 more anniversaries for each of the wedding anniversaries. Confusing? Ok its like this - I got married on 10th Sept* acc. to hubby's tradition, and then again on 26th Sept* acc. to my tradition. These are English calendar dates. My mom insists on celebrating anything (birthdays, anniversaries) acc. to Hindu calendar. Since these 2 calendars NEVER match, I get two more dates, acc. to Hindu calendar, when 10th Sept corresponds to some date in Hindu cal and 27th Sept corresponds to another date. Phew. But as long as I get niceties** who am I or anyone else to complain?

* - Fictitious dates, of course. Not my anniversary.
** - Oh that explains the pearl earrings and pearl pendant I'm wearing today! ;)

I'm moved...

2007-10-10T04:37:00.000-07:00

I'm reading "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, and I'm moved by the amount of sensitivity in it.

I'm beginning to think Atticus is the next nice man after Prof. Dumbledore.

I'm back!

2007-10-08T03:13:00.000-07:00

I wish I could take up writing for a living. Not that I'd make a great one; I know that already thank you. But it'd be simply amazing to wake up early in the mornings knowing that you won't have to rush through it, make a nice cup of tea, sit by the balcony and idly sip the tea... carelessly... schedules and deadlines be damned.

I don't have much to do at work, which is surprisingly not welcome; I'd much rather work than not, though I feel otherwise when I actually have some work to do... I re-read my last sentence and boy! Talk about contradicting myself in seconds! Anyway, I want to be busy. Wake up, feel great about the day, come to work, immerse myself in it, and while I'm at it loving every minute of it, and head home after 8 hours. It pretty good upto the part when I come to office. Its slow after that.

I've made new friends at work, and they are nice. Not as much as my earlier friends, but still I like them. It makes my day at office much easier :-) And thats always welcome isn't it?

Tomorrow I'm volunteering to be a scribe for a visually challenged girl. She's got exams and while she dictates to me, I'll write. It is during workhours; I figured I'll stay back late and make up for it. I mean, if the girl can be so brave though she can't see that she agrees to take up exams (and not just learn to sew or weave baskets), then I (we) as fully grown, mature adults could do this at the very least. After all, its nice to help.

If I sound like Miss-Goody-Two-Shoes in my above para, its because I am! What did you think?!

I have so many dreams, so many things I want to accomplish, I feel like time is running out for me. Y'know... I've got so many ideas, but it seems like eternity waiting for something. And the thought that I'll never be 26 again, is scary enough. When I think of it that way, I feel like oh-my-God-I'm-still-way-behind. I mean, its just all overwhelming for me at times. It feels like... pressure... yea thats the word.

Strange... I thought in comparison to my peers and friends I was okay... but it never seems enough for me. A case of "I'm my own worst enemy", you think?

I don't know; thinking about it makes me even more tensed.

Anyway, I hope to get some things done before I go on my Diwali vacation, and once I come back, hopefully there'll be some clarity in my head.

Other than that, everything's fine :-)

I wish I could...

2007-10-04T23:36:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't know what I wish I could. There are a lot of things on my plate, and I don't know how to finish it. For starters, the German classes never started. Yea, only 12 students enrolled, and required was 15. So cancelled (the reason was silly if you ask me). So much for making enquires, visits, taking permission from work to adjust my timings.

Anyways, I've got lots of presents on my anniversary and in such a situation, I'm not the one to complain *ahem* *cough*Ilikegifts*cough*
*cough*onemoreanniversarycomingup*cough*

I watched Bourne Ultimatum and Johnny Gaddaar. दोनों बधिया movies! Review लिखने का ना तो time है, और ना mood है.

I might be moved to a new team at work, which is good news. I feel kinda sad about leaving my current project, but the new work has lot of prospects for my career.

I really wanted to learn a new language. In a desperate bid, I called the institution again and asked, "Ok German ना सही, कोई और language courses चल रही है क्या?" She replies, "Only Chinese and Spanish weekend classes. Both started 2 weeks back." Which means I've already missed 4 classes (each of 3 hours). Goddamit. Still, I was game to learn and catch up (Spanish I thought, not Chinese). She said classes would go on till end of Dec. More dammit. I am generally busy on weekends as well, so would end up missing more classes inevitably. इसे बोलते है हाथ को आया, मुह ना लगा।

Nothing on TV. Oh yea, Desparate Housewives Season 3 is on. So sundays 8-9 PM is fun. Other times, my TV shows only cricket, football or hockey or some other sport. Or maybe I feel that way cuz I never get to lay my hands on the remote. Thats right, never. Tyranny at home!

Ok time to go. There are novels to be read, code wanting attention, bug wanting fixing, tea waiting to be brewed, lunch waiting to be eaten, me wanting to sleep, people working waiting to be disturbed *evil grin*, peace to be spread in the world, Bush waiting to kill everyone, Mush waiting to lap up more power, and pani puri to be made at my home.

So without wasting any more time, I click on you, o publish post button!

Oh, and I'm having bad hair day almost everyday. Happy??

Harry Potter and his ... and his whole gang!

2007-09-24T22:38:00.000-07:00

I went to the mall to do some urgent shopping. As I stood in line to get my stuff billed, there it was, on the 2 wide screen LCD TVs, one of my favorite movies** being played - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It made my day! More than shopping I enjoyed the movie! And why wouldn't I? J K Rowling (who, by the way was advised by a teacher when in school to not write fantasy stories, because they don't sell. I'm glad she didn't take the teacher's advice) has this wonderful, un-surpassable ability to, I daresay, apparate or transfer you via Floo Powder network, to the world of wizards and witches and magic and Quidditch. So much so that, at times I really hate that I'm Muggle-born. What wouldn't I give to fly on a broom, use the time-turner, get my injuries mended in a day, store memories in a penseive, transfigure a desk into a frog, brew love potions, produce a stunning, silvery Patronus, and know and associate with Professor Dumbledore, use the Maurauder's Map, drink butterbeer, perform hexes, punch Malfoy in the nose - I can go on and on!

And there's no stopping me!

My favorite character is... oh there are so many! I love Snape, Professor Dumbledore, Remus Lupin, Fred and George, Sirius Black, Hermione, Hagrid, Luna, Tonks (the way she says "Wotcher" is adorable!). In fact, all characters are very well thgouth of and have such definitive aspect. Its remarkable, really.

Now that I'm thinking more about it as I'm writing this, it makes me feel miserable that I'm stuck in this stupid, life-sucking place called office, working for people I don't care (yea you heard me!), whereas I very well could've been an Auror or a skilled Potions master (ahem). The subjects taught at the school seem so real... DADA, Potions, History of Magic, Divinations, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures... And whats amazing is that the books make you badly want to be one of them, and experience all of that. It makes you believe there indeed is a wizarding world, which the wizards are trying hard to conceal from the non-wizarding community. It makes you believe there's Azkaban with the Dementors guiding it, here indeed is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And the concept of Animagus! I'd love to be a unicorn or phoenix....

The books make you feel one with each character (except of course, the whole troop of Death Eaters (Bellatrix especially), Voldemort and Professor Trelawney). The books teach you friendship, being loyal, admitting your mistakes (Snape), loving beyond hope and death (Snape again), being brave and not letting doom get to you (Black), to inherently see good in the baddest of people (Professor Dumbledore), giving a chance to those who erred (Harry to Peter Pettigrew in book 3), and being calm, polite and pleasant to all (Professor Dumbledore again).

Oh I'm totally obsessed with the books; I keep re-reading the 7 books over and over again, and each time it makes me feel more close to each of the characters and plants a hope in me that there indeed is a platform 9 3/4ths at the King's Cross station, and that one day I'll shop at Diagon Alley for a 11-inch holly and phoenix feather wand....

Why is it so hard to calm down??

2007-09-12T23:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finished my work early and left for home. I planned to watch Ratatouille last evening, but it didn't work out (no tickets available). I was blue, I was so looking forward to catch an animation movie, that too from Steve Job's co. But, everything happens for a reason, I thought since I'll be leaving early why not go to the tailor and put myself through the torture of getting my dresses back.

I went home, took bath (for 2nd time in the day in case you think I didn't in the morning) and headed straight to the boutique. She gave me my dresses, saying it was altered and would now fit me well. About time, I said to myself (I was supposed to get them on 1st). Alas, how wrong was she! And I! Each of the 4 were horribly stitched. To make a long story short, after 3 hours of no-its-so-tight-that-I-can't-take-it-over-my-chest-when-I'm-trying-to-take-the-dress-off and no-this-is-still-tight-I-can't-breathe (why would she want to kill me????), I half-heartedly agreed and took my dresses, after over-paying her (class A bitch that she is).

What took me by surprise that I was really angry at one point with her, and her tailor. She has employed 4 tailors and they do the job. Mine was done by a new joinee. Horrible. I felt so much anger, that I could hear me telling the angry-me, calm down its just a piece of cloth, its just a new dress, nothing to get so worked up about. And when she overcharged me I felt even more anger. C'mon she should've compensated ME because of the delay and trips to her boutique and innumerable trials in the trial room! After I went back home, I felt that I shouldn't have been so mad. Though I didn't yell at her or anything, I wasn't even aggressive (by words), but the feeling inside - was terrible. My heart was racing (thats bad in a way), I was breathing heavily, and my insides were doing somersaults. I hated feeling that way. After I came home, I guess the feeling was still within me, so I got irritated at my mom (I tried to control!) and slept without brushing my teeth or putting eyedrops. In other words, I caused more harm to myself with such unreaosnable behaviour. The tailor got away with more cash, my mom and I made up before I hung up, only I didn't brush or take care of my eyes.

Yes, I learnt my lesson. Anger is such an emotion, its one thing that comes to you unvited (though you will have invited it subconciously but won't acknowledge/admit - like you'll blame someone else for your anger most of the times) and stays on till you get rid of it. Believe me, which is hard. Especially with the stress you face, and also simple questions when you are angry will add fuel to the fire. Its so bad I wonder why its so hard to control it, to not feel it.

I have a challenge for all reading this, and me - try not to be angry at anyone for a whole day. I'll come back end of the day today (or tomorrow) and write how I fared.

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

2007-09-11T10:54:00.000-07:00

Things are happening so fast and so rapidly that I hardly have the time to take it all in. Its all around and its overwhelming, and mentally exhausting. No time to stop and smell the roses, or wake up and smell the coffee... its get up at 6.30 AM, cook breakfast, eat, pack lunchbox, rush to office amidst traffic, cuss the elevator for not moving fast enough (cuz its the elevator's fault I got late to office), start work and be so immersed in it that your lunch buddies pound you with their lunch box and cell phones cuz you are 20 mins late for lunch, get back and bury yourself in work, apologize to friend for not being able to accompany her for snacks, continue work, come home really really late at night.

Phew.

It all started 2 weeks back, when I was horribly behind schedule on my task, and I realised I *have to* get it done no matter what, asap. I will.

I still haven't found the time to pay fees for the German classes, which might start on Sept 24th.
The chair in bedroom is a mountain of clothes.
My nails have half-gone-half-there nail polish; looks bad.
I gotta go to tailor #1 and get my salwar kameezes.
I gotta go to tailor #2 and get my salwar kameez, shirt.
I gotta go back to tailor #1 and give 2 new salwar kameezes for stitching.
I gotta clean the toilet.
I gotta ask about unlimited Internet and ISD activation.
I gotta take appointment to see my eye doctor.
I gotta watch Ratatouille.
I gotta update my blog about the hockey matches and my celebrity-status *ahem* *AHEMMMMM*

All these pending. But the most imp thing of all, wake up early, cook breakfast, eat, pack lunchbox, rush to... you get the drift.

#$%&*#@$%^&^&##*!

Highlights of the weekend gone by

2007-09-10T08:05:00.000-07:00

India won the Asia Cup by a thrilling 7-2 victory!

The match was one sided to be frank, and our men were on a roll! Sorry Korea.

I came LIVE on TV!

Yes, I came LIVE on TV TWICE!!!

I got interviewed by NDTV India and NDTV 24x7! (Thats how I was LIVE on TV!!)

Prabhjot Singh, the highest goal scorer, and one of the best players in the Indian team, gave me a HUGE flower bouquet!

I high-fived almost every team member after the match!

My picket was eye-catching, so much so that I had swarm of reporters taking my shot (dunno if any of that made the TV though... )

My picket also got some very imp people come up to me and talk to me!

I CAME LIVE ON NDTV CHENNELS!!

Ah, great weekend...

Until I come up with a proper post...

2007-09-06T07:20:00.000-07:00

Just some random pic I found in my collection (clicked by me, of course). Reminds me of myself - there are times when I open up and pour my heart out, and there are times when I withdraw into my cocoon like a touch-me-not.

Oh well.......

2007-08-22T00:44:00.000-07:00

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?

Choodiyaan da chamak!

2007-08-16T20:43:00.000-07:00

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!"

I thought you should know what happened... ;-)

2007-08-09T04:08:00.000-07:00

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!! ;-)

Volunteer work

2007-08-05T23:49:00.000-07:00

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 :)

This week...

2007-08-02T02:06:00.000-07:00

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!

The title is not important (especially when you are not creative enough)

2007-07-30T22:36:00.000-07:00

I guess I frequent this place too often, often without knowing what to write. But now that I'm here, lets tap the keys and see what comes out.

- No lemon tea bags in the pantry on our floor. And I'm too lazy to go check in other floors.
- I don't know what in the world happened to that photo contest. In all probability, I didn't win. But I gotto call 'em up and ask my photos back.
- Don't talk about work. My team lead is now in NC, and he comes in 6.30 PM my time. I can't stay back too late (later than 7.30 PM when we don't have conference calls with the US team), so I chat with him about my half-complete job over IM. But since I can't stay back late, I end up not completing the conversation, and my half-complete job is still half-ass. I wrote to him, he replied back with answers to my queries, and I tried, its still not working. Only a God-knows-what can save me now. Its stiffling to be sitting idle at work; I feel a gulp in my throat when that happens.
- I see this polio-stricken man walking with his clutches almost everyday on my way to work, and I wondered how is he managing with heavy rains. I saw him today, with a plastic bag over his head, and walking as though nothing could get him down. I wonder where some people get such steely resolve.
- One of my best friends went through a messy divorce last year, and she's happily married now. Divorce is not common in India, so when it happens with someone, it feels bad. And when it happens despite putting in all efforts to make the marriage, it makes it even more worse. But I'm happy she's finally got her Mr. Right!
- Right click is not allowed on our machines when we access the Internet at office. Neither is saving a webpage on our workstation. Can you friggin' believe that?!

Check this song on youtube, Mirza by Punjabi MC with Sukhshinder Shinda... I can understand most of what he says, but not all... click here. This song has the legendary Mirza-Sassi story told, in beautiful words. Its a tragic love story, ends with Mirza getting killed by Sassi's brothers. Click on the link, read the story and enjoy the lyrics given here (I don't know if the song is playing in the background, for the sound is muted on this computer, and un-muting it is not allowed (its "against company's security policy"; seriously can you believe this is an IT co.?!) )

Kade nah Ranjha kann parwonda,
te Heer khabaundi choori nah
Mirzay ne pherr marna ki si
jai hundi majboori naa
Kaun karinda yaad Sassi nu
jai thaal vich hundi poori nah
Ishq ne yaaron marjaana si
jai aashiq charde sooli naal
Jai khatt oh ni si, te khatt aaj vi nahi

Menu darse wallan da, ohse vellay hojana
Menu darse wallan da, ohse vellay hojana
Jaake jad sahibaan nu, mai seenay naal laya
Jaake jad sahibaan nu, mai seenay naal laya

It was late last summer, my blood coloured the sky
When I heard you break your swear
Punjab in my eye,
Never had I cried before
Never had my steel heart died before,
But know I felt the raw, blast
True love forever last,
But you cant feel my body
then you I cast,
Die for my woman
My woman is my mind,
My destiny she speaks through her every freaky line,
Her body movement is the way I survive
When I am on the battle field, staying alive
Staying alive my arches is that 249 mcs on horseback
So I pull out my steel to fight back
Pull out an ounce of desi from my rice sack
Walked across the five rivers one hundred degrees
My body burns, my mind cease

Baggiye havaa de naal, karade tu ajj gallaan ni
Baggiye havaa de naal, karade tu ajj gallaan ni
Jatti marjugi je, mai nazari nah aayaaaa
Jatti marjugi je, mai nazari nah aayaaaa

Sada janam janam tak saath nibuga baggiye ni
Sada janam janam tak saath nibuga baggiye ni
Bekay kol khuda de, jatt ne lekh likhaaya
Bekay kol khuda de, jatt ne lekh likhaaya

Tann mann taja hojau, sarey dukh tutt jann ne
Tann mann taja hojau, sarey dukh tutt jann ne
Dekhi jadd mey saibaa, tann baar leyaya
Dekhi jadd mey saibaa, tann baar leyaya

Uppala dekh renaal ne, Geet gauana Shinde tauuu

I know the overall story and meaning of few lines in the song, but I'll try and get the word-to-word meaning of the entire song, cuz when it comes to this one, it seems more and more beautiful when you know the words and the meaning :-)

Well, thats it for now I guess...

Check these beauties!

2007-07-30T02:33:00.000-07:00

I have been so inundated with work and stuff at home, that I am not able to post about my vacation. And when I do have the time, I prefer reading, talking and blogging - in that order.

Some pics:

Darn! The website ain't opening... forget it. I'll do it from home or something like that.

I went to the restroom before lunch and the cleaning lady (who never fails to talk with me) asks me why am I not wearing saree these days to office. Pleasantly surprised, I told her that its raining and I'm afraid I'll get saree all muddy. She agreed, but added that I should wear the saree often, as I look beautiful in it. I smiled. She then complimented me on my hair, saying its really thick and smooth. I thanked her. She proceeded to ask me who I live with (and was surprised to know that I am married), how and what do I cook, how do I commute, whats my age etc. etc.

I ended up going 30 mins late for lunch, and somehow it all seemed okay. Okay to have someone to talk to :-)

Eco Week - Go Green!

2007-07-26T00:10:00.000-07:00

Our office is observing Eco Week this whole week. Events are:

***
Photo contest - photos must be of nature, widlife, flora etc. Prizes galore for winners!

Eco products on sale - Bags, photo frames, even body care products that are fully herbal.

Screening of An Inconvenient Truth.
***

I'm taking part in the photo contest, and buying some of the products. Of course, something eco, and me not involved in it?! Never :)

As for another thing - I'm planning to wear green all this week to work :) Howzzat for some more support?!

Knock knock!

2007-07-23T02:50:00.000-07:00

I'm back! From my lovely honeymoon! Wanna know what places I went to? C'mon, you know you want to... heh heh

Leh
Manali
Chandigarh
Delhi

Want to know what other places we passed/paid short visit to? Its a long list... and needless to say, I'll post about it and put up pics too! Lets just say we were in the nature's lap - saw snow capped mountains, the Indus river, an inland sea!, an attractive hill, monastries, waterfalls, pine trees (lots of 'em!), green mountains, Rohtang Pass, Pathhar Saheb, and well what do you know, even Saif Ali Khan!! And also mules and yaks! ;) :D

It'll be slower, since this is blocked at work from now on (DARN!)... but hopefully should finish writing in a day or two :)

Swoosh!!

2007-07-13T03:45:00.000-07:00

The week just whizzed by like that didn't it? Seems like Monday was just yesterday... Anyways, the author begs your pardon for being a total arse yesterday; she does let the moods take over sometimes. I assure you the occurrence will be rare. And so does the author.

I had quite a lot on my plate to complete (and I still do), but I'm stuck in the rut. With my team lead in US, it becomes ever so hard to co-ordinate with him. I understand he and the manager over there need the work done asap, but when I reach a dead-end, well, I've reached a dead-end. Can't get anywhere from there. I feel so bad; next week I'm on vacation and I hope my team lead doesn't have to bear the brunt. I made the changes he'd asked me to, took the new files, compiled the shit (with the server in bg.). But nothing ever happens, and I wonder... (line stolen from Lemon Tree :D ) So I went ahead and completed some other work, thinking I'll get back to this later, and now I see that my server's gone kaput! God help me now! You're doomed! says my inner voice. *sigh*

Oh Jesus Christofani! The server's up again! I did some tweaks here and there, and now its up and running! Let me get back to my work and see how's it going...

To be continued...

Part 2

Work continues, with no result. Motherfucking exceptions, I hate 'em!

Took appointment from the eye doctor. Bloody Herpes Zoster. Its still troubling me and my eye. Its been almost a year (I got the goddamn thing in Nov. last) and I'm still on eye drops, and my eye seems blur at times. If I close my other good eye, it seems like I'm looking at things through a transparent sheet, or a watery surface - everything appears blur and liquid-y. It scares me. Eyes are so precious, you wouldnt want a thing to happen to 'em. Pray for me, I hope all turns out fine at the doc's tomorrow *fingers crossed*

Oh shoot, that reminds me, I havent put in afternoon dose of the eye drops! Note to self: Be more careful and do NOT miss the dosage next time.

I'll go eat snacks in a little while.

Come to my office canteen if you want to eat sandwiches of the shittiest variety.

My friend with whom I go to snacks with, is a very toughy person. She touches my shoulder, hands, pokes my waist (what the hell) - and that really makes me uncomfortable. But she's really really nice. No unnecessary attitude-throwing or any of that horseshit.

My team mate was kind enough to let me eat the contents of his lunchbox. Tasty food.

*breathe in breathe out, breathe in breathe out* relax...

Okay people, time to go. Be good, do good :)

Oh and another thing, I'm going to watch Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix tonight! Super duper excited!

Tell me...

2007-07-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

Should I write whats on my mind? Should I pour out how I feel? Or is it necessary that I write only happy stuff? If I write about something thats hurt me, made me feel unloved, do I write it here or not, fearing when I come back and re-read it, it might bring back the exact feelings? The very feelings which I wanted to let go...

I want to be me. Sounds easy doesnt it? Sometimes, the simplest of things seem so hard.

I'm not feeling too good ... hate being in a shit mood like this.

Thought for the day - "Life sucks and then we die." (read it somewhere on the Internet).

And the coolest person award goes to!

2007-07-10T22:01:00.000-07:00

Me obviously! Who else would even come close?! I'm so cool that the word cool was invented when the world witnessed how cucumber-ily cool I was, and still am of course.

Yea I'm in a jolly-good-sing-a-song mood!

What happened was... umm ok from start. Me and the husband came back from our long weekend and we had amazing fun on the way back. The train journey was fun and though it (the train) was almost empty, we played and yapped like 'twas nobody's business!

First up, we played... umm whats that game called? That silly ass game where you make a lot of dots - looks like square/rectangle filled with dots separated by spaces. Get the drift? Like this -

. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .

There can be as many dots as you wish. Then, each takes turn to connect a pair of dots - horizontal or vertical. One pair at a time. When you connect a pair such that its a square (all 4 dots connected), thats a house and you get a point. Num. points = num houses. I know, silly game. But its interesting once you start playing it. I used to play this a lot when in school, tee hee :D

So we played this game and it rocked! I won with 39 points/houses and the husband, 38! Hah! Loser :P You should've seen him sulk, such fun.

Then we played tic-tac-toe. Yea, another school game. The husband, wounded from the last game's defeat, cheated and won 1 out of 5 games. Rest, draw. Hmmph.

It was getting late, so we decided to pull our blankets and hit the sack. But neither of us wanted to sleep, so we played "The Personality Game". One person thinks of someone famous, and the other should ask 10 questions (that can be answered with yes or no only) and should guess the personality. 3 guesses also allowed too. We took turns to play this game.

The husband goes first - I got that one. His was Laloo Prasad Yadav. How predictable since we were sitting in the train! Have some creativity man geez.
He also thought of Rooney (Wayne Rooney - no. 8, Manchestah Yoonited), Hilary Clinton, Monica Lewinsky, Arundhati Roy, Selvar Mani (from the movie Sarkar, really!), and few others. I got them all except Hilary and Monica. I know, I'm cool.

And when it was my turn, I came up with such good names; the husband had a though time guessing the right personality. Salman Rushdie, Trinny Woodall, Rupali Ganguly, Bobby Darling HAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHHAHAAH :)) The husband got almost all. Then there was one which was really difficult but I have to give it him, he got the answer right. This is how it went -

The Husband - Male?
Me - Nope.
TH - Indian?
Me - Yes.
TH - Entertainment Industry?
Me - No.
TH - Politics.
Me - No.
TH - Singer?
Me - I said No for entertainment industry, didnt I?
TH - Does she write?
Me - Yea, when she's free.
TH - Is she below 30?
Me - Yes of course!
TH - YOU?!!!
Me - CORRECT!!

Hahahahahahah it was so fun watching the expression on his face at that time! I told you I'm cool. Then I told him that now he cant start thinking of other realtives like Bombaywali buaji or Jamshedpurwali buaji hehheh, only I can ;) Also, when he'd have asked just 3 or 4 questions, I'd warn him, "Ok 9 questions over, you have only one left." What?!, cries the husband :))

Then, when we met my sister (I abosultely love her), she kept asking me stories about how we met, did we sneak out and meet often (before getting married, of course), did we travel to meet each other, did we stay together etc. (yep we Indians are very nosey). "Tell me everything in detail!", she commanded. I tried to answer all her eager questions as calmly as possible, censoring info wherever needed. But the husband kept prodding and nudging, "tell her about the time I came to see you when your mom was out of town", "tell her about the time when you came to pick me up at the airport and the flight got delayed and we ended up missing the last train home and stood at the bus stop drinking coffee at 2 AM", "and tell her that you split the coffee on my pants", "tell her when I came to see you when your mom was at your uncles' place", "tell her about how we went to the secluded beach and got fully wet", "tell her how I gave you a piggyback ride when you got a shoe bite", "tell her how we watched movies at your place till early morning". SHHHHHH! She's my kid sister!
But it was actually sweet seeing him talk about those days with that sparkle in his eyes - yep, there lies love :)

This morning, we went to play tennis. After that we went to the beach and drank coconut water (mmmm my favorite drink). The husband's was sweeter than mine, so he offered me his and says, "You take this". I found that really, really sweet :)

And I bought Rs. 6000/- worth ~~sportswear~~ "sports lifestyle" wear from PUMA. They've got some kickass stuff. Very fashionable - suits me just fine. And I let my purse strings and myself go loose :D Retail therapy always helps. And I'm not saying only when you are feeling the blues ;)

Life, rewind back a li'l, will ya?

2007-07-09T02:32:00.000-07:00

I am back from a whirlwind trip to the place where I did my schooling, higher education, made best friends, and prepared myself to face the world on my own.

Life, was so peaceful back then. I lived a sheltered life, and was happy to be like that. As I walked through those familiar streets, I could see myself going to school, being scared as I walked into my class on first day of college, laughed nervously when professor asked if I meddled with the titration experiments, haggled with friends to get the last bench, sipped tea in the canteen, mugged the fat books, fought with my best friend, worked hard to get good marks, and cried as seniors teased me because I had thick eyebrows and didnt use to thread them back then. Fug those mofos, I could care less.

I wonder now, now that I know how my life has shaped, if I could go back at all and change what I was. Or would/will be. Maybe I would still make the same mistakes I made. Or maybe I'd never fight with L and be thick as thieves even now. Maybe I'd go ahead and still be the same me, but much much stronger, and more confident. Maybe I'd go back and take part in that elocution contest, or didnt listen to my mom and went ahead and took part in the fashion show. Maybe I fought my inner self and took those Bharatnatyam classes while in school. Maybe I'd really be followingmy dream and be a journalist, and for life of me not be one of the many fish in the IT well that I am now. Maybe, just maybe, I'd change just one day in my growing up years and that would change everything.

Life can be such a load of crap at times. Or maybe it just seems so. Maybe we take it too seriously, not enjoy, and long before we know life goes by in a flash and you are now dead. But, does it really matter in the end? We leave everything behind - the very thing we lived for.

Really, there are times when I cant be bothered. And then there are times like this. If only it'd be simple, with answers served on a silver platter!

Saag Paneer (or Palak Paneer)

2007-07-03T00:29:00.000-07:00

I have to admit I suprise myself more than anyone else after I've eaten something that I've cooked myself. Whats more, the surprise doubles when the dish turns out real good, which is always *patting my own back*

The deal is, I havent been much into cooking and trying out recipes. I guess I couldnt be bothered. But not anymore. I like to try out new recipes and wow the husband and make my momma proud. She used to tell me, "You should really at least step inside the kitchen once in a while; it'll do you good." (Of course, I never listened to her)
But now, when I gush over the phone what I cooked and how I did it and what praises I got, she's one happy momma :)

Also, once I come home, I hardly get the time to cook. I slouch in front of the TV or go to my room and stitch, before dinner. But lately I've realised that if I want to do something, there IS time for it. So when I bought palak (spinach) last weekend, I thought to myself, I will cook palak paneer. (paneer = tofu cheese).

I did! Last night! How did it turn out? Well lets just say no one touched anything that the cook prepared ;) Here's the receipe:

***

Ingredients:

4 Green Cardomoms

3 Dalchinis

4 Cloves

4 medium-sized tomatoes

2 medium-sized onions, chopped fine

3-4 green chillies

4 cloves of garlic, peeled and mashed

1 tsp ginger paste (or ginger, peeled and mashed)

2-3 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)

2.5 tbsp curd

3 cupfuls of palak leaves (roughly about 300-400 gms)

1 tsp red chilli powder

2-3 pinches of Kasuri Methi

10-15 paneer cubes

Salt, to taste

Serves: 4

Cooking time: 20-25 mins.

Method:

Wash the palak leaves thoroughly, and into smaller sizes.

Add green chillies and grind in mixer; until its a fine paste. Keep aside.

Heat the ghee in a pan for 2 mins.

Add the cardomoms (discard the skin), cloves and dalchini.Heat and stir for 2-3 minutes.

Add the onions and mashed garlic and saute until golden brown.

Add the ginger paste and heat again.

Grate the tomatoes for fresh tomato puree (yea, thats how I make and use puree!) and add it to the pan. Stir until fat leaves the sides.

Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder and stir. Leave for a minute.

Add the palak paste and kasuri methi powder and stir continuously.

Add salt and stir again.

Add the paneer cubes, cover with a lid and simmer for about 10 minutes until the paneer is soft and takes in the gravy.

Open the lid, add curd and stir.

Serve with hot rotis!

***

You can also use vegetable or any other cooking oil instead of ghee, but I prefer ghee क्युकी देसी घी में बनाए खाने कि खुशबु और स्वाद, क्या कहने! Translated for S*, it means, "The aroma and taste of (mainly, Indian) food cooked in clarified butter is something to relish!"

PS: Pic helps, I know. I'll remember to post pics of the dish next time around when I post a recipe here!

An Inconvenient Truth

2007-07-01T23:52:00.000-07:00

Al Gore revealed it on Friday night. Me, the husband and a friend went to watch the movie. Its a splendid attempt to awaken the masses to the threat of global warming. He's based the movie on facts, and scientists back him. There are claims that there are scientists that dont, but that only means they need to be educated.

For me, global warming is anything but a hype, a myth. Its real, its something thats extremely subtle - happening around us, and the sooner we act, the better. He explains the level of greenhouse gases in the environment, how it has and will lead to temperature increase, melting of ice glaciers in the Antarcticas, the unnatural floods, famines, tsumanis, hurricanes - unless we do something about it.

Imagine this - (forget about the movie and lets focus on facts here, facts that you and I are a part of) There has been population boom in the post WW-II era. Though I was born in early 1980s, I *do know* that the population worldwide has risen. So has the economy, the automobile industry is flourishing like never before. Most families have at least 2 means of transport - one of them usually a car. Most run on petrol or other fossil fiels. Most of us dont take the bus anymore and use our cars for travel. The population needs a place to live and so lots of houses being built - sometimes even making space for it by deforestation. Industralization also is a reason for deforestation. We need jobs, so huge buildings are built by encroaching upon agricultural land for the purpose.

Look close, isnt the environment bearing the brunt here? The Himalayan glaciers is fast melting, the 10 hottest years since 1880 have been in the last 14 years, Antarctic ice cores have more CO₂ concentration that in the last 6,50,000 years.

He cities an example of a frog - put one in a boiling hot water and it'll jump right out, but put it in luke warm water and slowly increase the temp., it'll stay right there. Even when the water starts boiling, it stays. Unless, someone rescues it, someone takes it out. He says these is what is happening with us. We should do something about it right away, rather than the effect actually happening and then we trying to reverse the irreversible.

About the film - a critic says, "You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to.". 'Nuff said. And dont forget to check out the article on wiki by the same name.

Peace out.

Hmm... so what do we have here?

2007-06-29T03:13:00.000-07:00

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

Yummy Sol Kadi!

2007-06-27T06:23:00.000-07:00

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.

Dz talkn lik dis irit8 u?

2007-06-23T23:17:00.000-07:00

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"????!?!?!?!!

The "What Not to Wear Girls"!!!

2007-06-21T23:29:00.000-07:00

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...

The "What Not to Wear" girls...

2007-06-19T23:52:00.000-07:00

... 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.!

This is just plain ridiculous***

2007-06-18T02:15:00.000-07:00

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.

Time for whiling it away!

2007-06-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

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!)

Its beautiful outside...

2007-06-06T22:16:00.000-07:00

... 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? ;)

Hola mi amigos!

2007-06-04T21:47:00.000-07:00

(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 :)

I saw Cheeni Kum...

2007-05-31T07:59:00.000-07:00

... and frankly, I wish I hadnt.
I want to write a review about it here; but just thinking about it makes me go, "Where do I begin?! It was a sad attempt at nothing all through!"
But I'm smart, so I'll divide it by the movie, the starcast, and the 2 plus points.

The movie - It had absolutely nothing new to offer. Apart from seeing Bachchan in chef clothing (and ponytail, if you may) and the small kid with her ever-irritating tone of speaking to AB. (Aye, kya kar raha hai? Aaaj bhi call nahi... mere DVDs laaya kya? Ugh.) The story sucked, believe me. I thought romance between a 34 year old and a man who's older than her dad would be handled with taste (no reference to AB being chef in the movie here), but no, it turned out to be a sad melodramatic saga. I wouldnt be convinced with the way AB convinced Paresh Rawal about age being all in the mind. Personally, I dont think age is a barrier for love, but tell me, what led AB and Tabu to fall in love in the movie? There were no mature scences regarding their life, their talks with each other, their aspirations, or life up until they met each other. I say "mature" cuz I expect a 34 yr old and 64 yr old to be mature enough to choose the other as lifepartner. It seriously lacked here.

If you arent convinced the movie is bad, read on.

The Cast:

AB - lovely actor in a bad-written role. He deserves better. Seems like he's grabbing whats coming his way these days. In some scenes, he was made to look like an idiot. And, dont even get me started on how he woos Tabu, cuz I frankly dont remember. At times, it seems the whole film crew did the movie to mock him. But we all still love AB, dont we :)

Tabu - Cocky, high-handed, attitude, acts as though she's modern-age Smita Patil or Deepti Naval. She's good yea, but not that good. She's highly over-rated. In the movie, she looked every bit 34 year old (sorry but I had to say it!). And the way she used to say, "aye ghaas phuus" to AB in that half-drunk slurry voice of hers, it made me cringe and pakad ke maaro her.
Listen to this, at one point Paresh Rawal very seriously says, "You will marry AB over my dead body!". She cooly asks, "When will you die then?" in all seriousness. ARRRGGGH, make that threatre se uth ke jao.

Swini Khara a.k.a Sexy - What a name for a 9 year old! Appalling! And like I mentioned before, her tone of talking was really, really irritating. Movie uske bina chal sakti thi...

The 2 plus point of the movie - Zohra Sehgal and Paresh Rawal.
Zohra Sehgal looks graceful, and is humourous. She's lively, chirpy and the song she sings when Paresh Rawal relents and allows for the mariage to happen, is sung so well and with grace, yet again :) Hats off to her!
Paresh Rawal was hilarious until he decided to go on satyagraha. I even laughed at his lines, believe me he was funny!

Verdict - Dont waste hard earned money on this movie; watch it when its beamed on cable.

Hey, another plus point came to my mind! The bangles that Tabu's wearing after the marriage are same as mine! Bikul same chooda! Yaay!

I really, really dont want to say this; but I have to.

2007-05-28T10:15:00.001-07:00

I have seldom come across a person who doesnt like Amitabh Bachchan. In fact, I wouldnt want to trivialise his popularity by linking him to some article in wiki about him. I wont do that; cuz he's famous. He's adored by everyone. He started from ground zero and look where he is now.

He rocked the 70s (VERY important note: I wasnt born then) with his chequered pants, wide collared shirts and that awesome sideburn. He wooed women with his voice, with his awesome hair. He started a style mantra by merely tying his shirt into a knot because the shirt tore just before shooting started. The next day whole of Bombay had people tie up their shirt into knots!

His style of "hain", and "vijay deenanath chauhan" still make people whistle. KBC, inspite of no new format, survived simply on his charisma.

And who can forget the outfit he wore for the song "Saara Zamaana" in the movie "Yaarana"? It was a RAGE! Lightbulbs flashing as he moved to RD Burman's famous song...

I can go on and on about him... yet it would not suffice.

But...

see the pic below. Did he really have to do this? Ohmygoodgodwhatwashethinking?!!

Its a pic from his latest movie - Jhoom Barabar Jhoom.

OK - on the topic of the pic - first of all, what the heck?! As if his ad campaings were not enough, this came up! And pray, why do people (by people I mean, the film crew) say he's looking like Jack Sparrow - oops - I mean, Captain Jack Sparrow in that ridiculous outfit above? He's not even CLOSE! He's just the epitome of faux pau in that pic above. Even the girl in the pic (behind) seems to think so.

As a fan, I'd like to say to him - "please, aisa mat kijiye... apne image ke baare mein na sahi, apne fans ke dil mein jo aapka image hai uske baare mein to sochiye..."

PS: Am going to watch Cheeni Kum tonight... mmm should be a "sweet" movie ;)

I've got the power!

2007-05-24T21:29:00.000-07:00

Remember a few days back I rued about the monetary demands of auto drivers? I've got a solution!!!

So last evening me and 2 other friends from my office were waiting to get an auto, so that we could go home. Friend 1 says, "Oh dear, its time to start bargaining with these auto drivers again. Its such a pain."
Friend 2 says, "Yea, and these days they ask for 80 rs! Wonder whats got into them!"
Friend 1 - "Thats because we tell them to take us to [insert my co. name] bldg; they know its a big shot place to work, and that we earn well."

Frankly, I'm so through with bargaining with these drivers. I tell my price, they agree - fine. Else, so long mi amigo! And I wait for the next one.

So after my friends continued...
Friend 2 - "We hardly earn well! Its all on the offer letter! What comes to us at the end of every month is so less! Is it?" she asks me.
Me - Yea really. So the next time the auto guy complains about traffic, one-way route, petrol expensive, lets say this - (in their tone)

How 80 rs? Every month-end so much tax we pay, hardly anything in salary, very poor. And no leave, everyday coming to office - even saturday, sunday. Hard life [sad expression face]. Then PF cut also so much, no money at all. LTA also claim once in 2 years. Please... [more sad expression]

We all started laughing... and Friend 1 says, "After saying this, we'd sound so bechara to him, maybe he'll offer us 60 rs to drop us home!!"

Its a new day!

2007-05-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

Its a new start, and I feel fresh!

I...

2007-05-22T05:40:00.000-07:00

I think I suffer from OCD... I'm sure I do.