Unloading my think tank...

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!

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.