Candy Clouds

So Long Pluto!

2011-02-28T15:15:00.000+05:30

Last morning we went to the beach to watch the sunrise. We fought through 30 minutes of thick traffic at 5:30 in the morning and reached the beach just in time to catch the big ball rise in brilliance. It was a serene moment. We were wordless for a while squinting at the red ball watching it turn bright orange; listening to the waves while traditional fishing nets were folded up against the shore; their morning tasks completed. We often take pleasures such as having the shoreline so close to us for granted, because we were raised right here. But for those few desi North-Indian couples basking in the morning warm waters; it was their only chance to enjoy the Indian Ocean.

I couldn't help but imagine what lay beyond the big blue vastness. I've always been intrigued with the earth and space; Nasa's newest discoveries, and of course the newest "space elevator". It was then that I realised how my husband and I come from such simpler times. We come from a time when

We would wait for that one Saturday a month when our fathers would promise to take us to the much awaited exhibition and later to the beach for the evening.
A single stick of ice cream (not playstations) was the blackmail for better marks in class tests.
Tuitions weren't the order of the day.
The moon and stars were both the same distance from Earth (or so we were told, until science proved otherwise)
We could spend the whole of our childhood and teen life without ever having to use the mobile phone once.
We could buy our whole year's stationary in under 200 bucks.
We could appreciate pop music without having to deal with the likes of Miley Cyrus or Justin Bieber.
We were taught that Pluto is still considered the 9th planet of our milky way!

Reality hits us hard when we know that we are all too consumed with our racing lives that we barely have time to stop and watch the waves of time racing past us. All we hear is the whoosing sound it makes when it's already too late.

My Life Rocks

2011-01-17T15:56:00.001+05:30

I work for a technology and business solutions company that has a global presence. Yesterday we received an email from the HR team introducing some kind of calendar of events to all of its employees. It contained an attachment with the word calendar spelled as "calender" and the heading within the spreadsheet containing the word "calander" in it. I, on the other hand, had all the time on my hands to spot these mistakes. Oh well, My Life Is Average!

A year has gone by...

2010-12-28T09:59:00.000+05:30

...and yet its the same fluttering feeling and racing heart each time I think of you or watch you come through that door. It has been one helluva roller-coaster ride. Thank you for a wonderful one year!

At the same place we met, one year ago. We were sitting much farther apart then, of course ;-)

Boxing day

2010-12-28T09:50:00.001+05:30

Nope, I'm not talking about the day after Christmas. Although the 26th December holds significance for other reasons. I'll come to that later.

It was an evening of punching on the face and neck. Both my husband and I boxed! Of sweaty foreheads and aching arms. We think its one way to exercise those lazy muscles while still in the comfort of our home. He bet me in tennis and earned applause (and saw some 16-something year old cheer girls do their thing) while I kicked his ass in bowling. I must mention, I've never gone bowling before. He says I'm a natural :D. Oh and we both kicked the crap out of our fellow boxer too. I've never boxed before in my life; not even wrestled with my sister. Phew! Some evening!

Anyhow, I now have a sore shoulder and an extremely happy husband at home. Not the kind that likes to laze on the couch. He's up and active and can't keep his hands off his new Nintendo Wii!

Gratitude Wednesday

2010-11-24T12:24:00.000+05:30

I am grateful for the the loving, caring hand on mine, and the peace that lays upon me when he is around.

Karthigai Deepam at home

Project Passport!

2010-11-24T12:11:00.004+05:30

We planned, then planned some more, and then planned again. After planning for over two months, we went back to point A, and re-planned all over again. Notice, we didn't even get close to executing the plan.

Sounds like planning any other project at work, doesn't it? What we did was plan for Sathish's passport "re-issue". Rightly named, the whole process is nothing but a big fat "issue"! If you're going for a passport re-issue in India, prepare for some grueling tasks before and after the actual application submission. In all fair means, his passport re-issue wasn't straight-forward. We had an address change and a name change to make matters a little more complex. The mental agony we went through is inexplicable!

After a stressful three straight months of doing nothing but gathering documents for his re-issue, he has finally submitted the application at 2:00 PM yesterday and has received the golden paper; the receipt for payment and submission of application.

The wait will be a while longer for the new passport to arrive, so I pray to the Almighty for a teeny bit of patience.

So now you know my excuse for not having posted in a while.

And oh, I'm still due to write about our Goa escape; I will come back with some pictures soon.

Addendum: His passport arrived. He had to go in person to the postoffice to collect it. But here it is; all shiny and neat. I'm in love with the new passport. Now all we have to do is stamp up all the pages by trotting across the globe! :D

Promises Promises!

2010-10-11T10:41:00.002+05:30

Suddenly, October seems to be a terrible month to agree to do something. After deciding to stop rambling through this media several months ago, I had taken a very hard decision on myself and killed all inspiration to write. It’s hard to believe more than a year has gone by since I last wrote anything sensible. While that takes time to sink in, I am still coming to terms with my husband who wants me to focus and start writing more.

During the time that I was away from my blog, I traveled a lot, didn’t change jobs, fell madly in love, got married, and have had the best time of my life. Oh and my sister had a baby boy!

But then again, October still seems like a tough time to agree to do something like starting to write again! With my husband’s insistence, I have decided to write one teeny post at a time. “You have until October the 15^th,” he said in that calm, composed manner he usually speaks to me. Wide-eyed I asked why? He said “Because you need to set a target for everything. This time it’s before our little vacation.” He also offered to help if I needed. But I’m a fairly impulsive woman and can’t really think of a topic to write on; much less take help from someone. So here it is. I've convinced myself to churn out one new post before we go away to Goa.

Oh and also because I am insanely romantic and absolutely adore my husband! *smiles*

Before I started writing, I visited some blogger friends’ pages for inspiration and was surprised to learn that most of them seem to have neglected their space for quite sometime now. Only moments after I started writing this morning, I realized how much I missed blog-hopping and answering to comments left by fellow bloggers. So I’m going to welcome my baby back with a fresh new start and a refreshing look. I’m going to be serious, thoughtful, curious, dorky, funny, and everything that I was on this page.

This new step is my way of telling the world how much I value my husband’s views and how much I care for the best thing that has ever happened to me!

Thanks everyone for reading!

2008-12-30T10:34:00.000+05:30

It's about time I put her to sleep. Since her birth over two years ago, she has been the sole and most imaginative outlet for me. The way I spend time for myself was through this medium. By simply by writing, publishing, watching it float around far and wide, and looking forward to the comments that shoot back at me. Some consolations, some differing opinions, some others in total agreement.

Now it wouldn't be fair to this page, if I let her sit and rot in her own words dating back to August 2008, would it? With absolute lack of inspiration to write I know I'm not getting any closer to the next post or the one following it. If only I continued to read the posts that you guys come up with; that would be enough inspiration!

Before I digress, this blog will be closed for readership at the end of this year. Thanks to everyone that gave me a pat in the back to get me to continue writing. I owe you a lot. Have a great New Year. It is but inevitable that you have a good one. After all, it is us who make our new year a good one, right?

cotton candy and white noise

2008-08-21T19:21:00.000+05:30

I am way behind on my reading. Also way behind on updating my blog. Also way behind on following some (most) of them. But first of all, I have for you this.

Today has been an absolutely delightful day. The weather outside was oh-so-perfect this morning. In fact, we’ve had pleasant weather for over two weeks now. But I’m not going to bore you with the details of the weather we experience on this side of the world.

I haven’t written in a while, that’s probably why I’m talking gibberish. Of late so many things have been happening around me. My friends are migrating. Most of them are married or getting married. Some of them have lil angels and dolls to play with. Some are expecting. Some others are changing jobs. I’m spending less and less time with my sister ‘cos she’s getting busier with her life. AND it’s frustrating to know that I’m getting no where. I promise I won’t sulk because none of this is life altering.

Here’s a little story for you.

A little girl lives with her 8-something-member family that serves as domestic help for a large house right next door. She sings her heart away every morning to the not-so-prefect tune of Dhoom machale. By the looks of her, I can bet she can’t be a year older than seven. I would even say she’s just about six. But you’ll never know how deceptive looks can be when children her age are malnourished. She’s probably older than that… I’m not going to venture into that subject though.

Coming back to the song she sings every morning. She probably knows only those two words, or she prefers to sing away only those two, but she definitely doesn’t feel the need to go any further. While I sit in my third floor balcony, the morning news on one hand and a mug of steaming hot tea on the other, she is already at work. She has to fill a large empty tub with water that she pumps out of a hand pump into a smaller manageable bucket. She carries this around to where the tub is kept, a few feet away, and pours into the tub which can hold about 400 liters. I can’t begin to imagine how many trips she would have to make to fill the tub which is little taller than she is.

All this I watch from my third floor apartment balcony and feel ashamed to wonder about the incomplete song. Why didn’t I ever ponder about her homework? Did she complete it? Isn’t she’s supposed to get ready to go to school in a couple of hours? Wouldn’t her school bus come over to pick her up soon? Why didn’t any of that thought enter my mind? Here I am wondering why she sings only two words of a song. The irony of it being, I conveniently considered her to continue her family tradition of performing menial work for well-off homes.

Oh did I mention she chirps away happily while doing her tasks? Not one morning have I seen her feel remorseful of what she did. That is unquestionably some lesson I must learn!

Not so long ago, with a little push from Times of India’s powerful campaign Teach India, I decided to do my bit to help the thousands of little girls like her to sing. Make noise. Or squeal in joy upon riding a merry-go-round in a school playground. Even if her school is run by an NGO and taught by an amateur like myself. TeachIndia isn’t a new concept, but I’m insanely excited about it.

So as soon as TOI contacts me with more information, I’m going to be spending 4 hours a week changing the face of our nation. Are you interested to give the country a little of what your parents gave you? Do you live in one of the metros with a little time to spare this 2008? I’m a Teach India volunteer! You could be too.

India is a unique song. But it desperately needs people like us to change the way the world hears it. Now, it wouldn’t hurt to shriek a little to help bring tens of thousands of voices together, would it?

While we’re on that topic, here’s a wonderful song for you. Added advantage if you understood Hindi. And this time, I promise to be back sooner to attend to those meme’s.

Happy National Day everybody!

Exploration of Democracy

2008-06-24T02:01:00.000+05:30

When she asks me "May I open your bag ma'am?" in her godforsaken monotone, I'm oh-so-tempted to say "You know, each time you guys do that, I want to say NOOOO! But in a strangely weird way, you have more power than me!!! So yeah, go on. It's a free country (At least for you)." :|

Each time I pass through security check I realize a tad too late that I may have a bottle of coke or water in my hand baggage. Phew!

angels climb down

2008-06-15T19:18:00.000+05:30

persistent precaution
in nurturing fertile thoughts
preciously preserved clandestine events
visions called nightmares
twisting into realism

musing upon a futile art
an art called camo
mulling over an action
an action fortunately called illusion

redolent of the inevitable truth, that
it’s nice to stay together
but sometimes
nicer to be away

and then, they came by
or must I say, flew by
with invisible wings
and the invisible cure
to pour in a little perseverance
and to pour out a little

a dimpled smile
or a child-like hug
cheered up some more
for the best days to come

When God begins to test the power of forbearance, he sends an angel right behind to pull it off with ease. In a much better way than you thought you could. The best deal about this being, the angel won’t expect a tinker’s damn worth in return for the favour.

On this day I am especially grateful for some of the best people that happened in my life. Thank you for everything!

I owe an apology for being away for so long. Thanks to everyone that asked about my silence. Oh and do check out my photo blog.

Drafted on June 11, 2008.

Sooo good

2008-05-05T12:57:00.000+05:30

So good to wake up to the familiar aroma of filter coffee
So good to fight my way through the other impatient drivers of Madras that has little or no road sense
So good to wear sleeveless clothes in the sultry weather
So good to step foot on the dry-stone temple once again
So good to walk to warm sands of the beach
So good to go back home to someone
So good to turn the faucet knowing there’s only one way to turn it and feel right about it
So good
So good to be back

way back into love

2008-04-23T10:21:00.000+05:30

Isn't this a fantastic track? Either there's very little music out there that is simple yet strong in in reaching out, OR I'm not looking in the right direction.

All the same, I love this song. I've no doubts what so ever that you'd love it too.

The Green Mile

2008-04-21T08:24:00.000+05:30

Fantabulous!!!

I cannot believe I didn't see this movie much earlier. And if YOU haven't already, I cannot begin to imagine what you're still doing here reading this post. Go rent that movie right now. Better yet, buy the movie. It's gonna be top-of-the-class in your movie collection.

Twilight

2008-04-16T12:06:00.000+05:30

River Liffey, Dublin city

A place to remember

2008-04-05T10:14:00.000+05:30

Bright sunshine, green wet lawns, great weather, and vintage castles! Jane Austen almost always transports me to such places with her books! I always wanted to go visit a place like that someday. I think I even wrote about a dream that talks about a castle sometime back.

Anyway, I’m finally here! In Ireland!!! A beautiful place with lovely warm people. A lot more culture than the States! Very pedestrian friendly. Too windy and cold, but obviously the Irish don’t think so! After-all, it’s what they call summer!

I got here on Monday and have been outside only week nights. With a quarter of the population of Ireland living in Dublin, this city has more people and cars than it can handle. Starting Thursday evening all shops and pubs are open until very late in the night. Picture a quarter of Ireland in pubs in Dublin and the remaining three-quarters scattered in the rest of the country. That’s how crowded and noisy the city gets on Thursday nights. Their weekends start Thursday evenings, and not surprising the Irish are big on shopping as well!

Anyway, I’m yet to explore the more green part of the country. Meanwhile, I did get to catch a glimpse of the bustling city, because I got to live right in the middle of the city center near Trinity College.

See anything unusual in this picture? Notice that the windows are taller in the lower floors than the upper floors? That’s not the only building that looks like it! Almost all buildings in Dublin have windows in a similar fashion.

It is said that in the earlier Victorian days, the taller your windows, the more you were taxed. Obviously, people that can’t afford to pay heavy taxes chose to stay in the upper floors with shorter windows and lower ceilings. The more the day light into your house, the more you’re taxed. Strange, is it not? Now that’s what I would call day-light robbery!!! Thank God the government doesn’t do that anymore.

Like they say, in Ireland, always look UP to appreciate the architecture of the buildings! Look at the architecture in that! This one’s called the Spire of Dublin. Springs up right into the sky.

Almost all of Dublin’s government building remains in the old Victorian style (the windows in this one appears to have been sealed shut. probably for the same reason) with the ground floors commercialized with shops, restaurants, and pubs! Pubs! Lots of 'em!!!

I’ve been here only four days and a few hours, so that’s all I have for you folks. During the weeknights, I did visit the Dun Laoghaire harbour; an astonishing place to be. After the sun sets, around 8-ish, it’s a sight to watch the lights lit-up across the bay with its reflection falling over the sea. Sadly, no picture of that yet.

I’ll be back with more after the weekend.

Passion

2008-03-18T09:54:00.000+05:30

I maybe a little late for this week’s scribble, but the prompt this week is too tempting to bypass. Smorgasbord; an assortment of prompts. We didn’t have to go far, cos this week we’re allowed to choose one of the 100 prompts that SS has inspired us with in the past two years.

I picked Passion! There’s a world of things one can talk about on passion, no? What I might write about is not so much passion. I would much rather call them simple pleasures. A few things I know I would definitely want to do before I die. And passionately so! :)

So here it is.

1. I want to adopt a baby girl.

2. I want to be able to wear bright stripped knee-highs, a summer dress with satin sashes, bright coloured keds and dress up like an English girl (hopefully before time starts to draw lines on the ‘girl’s’ face or before she loses her guileless smile). I’d like to have a British accent as well for a day or two. You know, talk the Queen’s English?!? I know I’ll look stupid but what the heck; let’s just say… it’s MY passion.

3. I want to visit Paris! Oh, Egypt perhaps. Or, Rome. From what I’ve read, I think it’s the most enchanting place on earth. And then Spain, I’m already in love with the castles and churches of Spain and I haven’t even looked at one. Only what I’ve read about. And seen on Discovery. But if I do Paris, I will definitely visit The Louvre. In fact, I want to do a lot of traveling. Learn a lot about the different cultures and blend all the good from them to live a good one myself.

4. And if I can’t travel, so what? I can still read. Aah, the places books can take you!!!

5. When I retire (did I mention I’m retiring at 30?) I want to go to the country and live near the temple by the temple tank. I already know which temple. Even if not at 30, that's definitely the place I'll find myself eventually.

6. I want to be a Godmother for someone.

7. I want to knit a sweater on my own and gift it to someone special. I know this can’t happen ‘cos I’m terrible at crafts. But just the thought of giving someone special a sweater knitted by me, is super exciting. :)

8. I want to be able to appreciate Irving Wallace and Mills & Boon alike. In the same breath. And throughout my lifetime. Not feel guilty about any part of it during any part of my life. What’s a little mushy romance when you desperately want it. And a little suspense when you need to feel the thrill of the adventure.

9. I want to sing softly with a loved one on a beach and never worry about a note or two going off key. Maybe, we’ll have something to laugh about, years later. **smiles**

So well those are my passions. There's more smorgasbord here!

The last one of the four

2008-03-11T18:04:00.000+05:30

While Jane Austen is still with me, I just completed a book called Whiteout by Ken Follett. This one was fast-paced and your regular adventure/thriller.

The last one of the four books that I recently brought myself is one suggested by Phish here. Its called Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World by a Japanese author Haruki Murakami. It's not everyday that I fetch my own copy of a book suggested by a friend. But this time I did it :) Call it impulse... or deference to someone I hold admiration for! So I'll be back here with a review once I'm done.

Einstein has got to be kidding!

2008-03-03T03:59:00.000+05:30

Whoever said “miracles don’t happen” has got to be an agnostic. I talked to a friend last week after almost two years. One of my best pals... I was literally elated to hear from him. It was a nostalgic moment for me to have had turned my grey matter over and mulled about the times the three of us wasted every Saturday evening hopelessly lying down on the beach, mostly discussing gadgets and sometimes futile gossip. When it’s about time to leave for our homes, almost always, our topic would take a damping change of course, to the subject of the supernatural; only because one of them would talk about his impending visit to the church the following morning. As if upon reflex, the other one would argue or cast a smirk for a response which would make the two of us upset. Not because we try to make him believe in the Supreme Being, but because he simply refused to believe in miracles, although he has witnessed several himself!

I strongly think that one should believe in miracles. Life is too short to prove every single thing that happens to you through the world of science. I have had many a miracle. And I prefer to call my miracles, God!

The fact that I’m back to blogging after a full 18 day slumber by itself is a miracle for someone that gives little attention to routine. Thank God for me, I still haven’t considered blogging mundane. A stress-buster it is for me. And how I discovered blogging itself is a miracle. :)

But why am I talking about miracles? Because they happen to us in the most bizarre ways at the most bizarre time.

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Nevertheless, since I’ve been away from blogging for quite a while now and now that it’s improbable that I might be blogging regularly, here’s a little poem (?? composition, if you will) in response to a prompt from Sunday Scribblings.

An endeavor for knowledge may sometimes lead to blissful ignorance
Echoes of crude words and ill manners fading through the years
Eccentricity could be a boon, quirkiness a bane, after downing a couple of beers
Knowing the density of the catastrophe
Knowing when not to talk
Knowing when to smile for an answer
Knowing when to respond with a mime
Promises chiseled into the sands of time
Some kept, some broken prematurely, some twisted to suit convenience
Sonnets and tales, never did they seem more delirious
Memories of painted nails and parting lips
Of pale pink, to hot pink, to shocking pink
Eighty can still be an immature age, or so she thinks
A surreal feeling of holding hands
Comforting the blistered palm and hardened heart
Wishful of breaking open the time-capsule
Desirous of traveling back to the good days
When her hands were steadier
When her memory never failed
When promises sounded like music
But then there’s hope, and then there’s hope

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Congratulations to the ladies from Sunday Scribblings on their 100th prompt. You have never ceased to inspire me.

For more posts on time machine, go here!

Of I 'heart' my valentine, blood-red martinis, and cuddly teddy bears that say "It's never too late to love you"

2008-02-14T06:37:00.000+05:30

The only good thing about Valentines day for me, is the amazing music of the 80s that plays every evening on the radio all of this week!

Happy Val's day everybody! Hugs, kisses, and all things mushy! :D

Random Thoughts

2008-02-12T04:34:00.000+05:30

1. The pocket change I found last weekend in my old pair of jeans made me grin. Made me beam with a nice warm glow knowing how it landed there.

2. Sometimes I feel that I need emails with a subject line that goes “A Woman is Special” to keep reminding me that I need to be a lot more warm, loving, feminine, and passionate in this Godforsaken world run by men! And constantly keep reminding me that we’re the blessed sex of the two.

3. How the laughter of a child, free of deceit, can shine our worlds brighter than the sun on a gloomy night.

4. The “Corrections and Clarifications” column on the newspaper seems to occupy more and more column-space by the day!

5. America has woken up to accept what they call the “unacceptable”. A surprisingly larger part of the population seems to lose trust on someone that has an impressive political lineage and leans to the comfort promised by Barack Obama! I guess time will tell us the rest. But if the question was “Who is more electable?” I think I’d say that it still is Clinton. Whoever it is, hopefully it’s a Democrat!

6. Life is as beautiful as I want to make it.

7. God I miss my shishta! * sigh *

8. Sometimes, when I stare blankly ahead and drive down without a focus, goal, or destination; that’s when I find myself in the most mystifying places of all times that I’ve failed to notice all along. :)

9. It disturbs me to know that Time is an annoying devil that just won’t wait for anyone. And when it starts to play its disgusting game, you’re not left with much choice by to play by its rules. It’s Vile!

10. My earliest memories of Madras; waking up with the sweet aroma of filter coffee, skipping and hopping along the side streets not caring a damn about the flying skirts showing off the dirty knees, watering the saplings on the side-walks, playing hide-n-seek around trees. But sadly all that remains now is how we crib about the traffic in the city! Let alone watering the saplings in the side-walks. There ARE no side-walks in the first place! It’s the sad state of Madras…

11. Websites such as Thesaurus.com and Dictionary.com have gradually, and almost completely, replaced the sweet-pungent smell and yellowing crinkly papers of the hand -held dictionary.

12. A walk in the park is a breath of fresh air through my dirty veins.

Ain't that the truth?

2008-02-10T01:19:00.000+05:30

Neither do I know why I'm doing, what I'm doing!

Tag or Questionnaire!?!

2008-02-09T03:47:00.000+05:30

Alrite, now I've been tagged by Rims here a long while ago. I can't figure if this is a meme or a questionnaire but here it is nonetheless.

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Yep. It’s a prayer/hymn for the Sun God I think.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Last night. I’m not a cry baby and most of them that know me well will vouch for that. It’s just my way of distressing.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Very much! What with a lot of using the computer these days, my handwriting is still intact!

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Not much of a choice here; am a vegetarian; actually an eggatarian! :D

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? No

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Absolutely!!! Wouldn’t you?

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? That’s what everyone says. Some even say I’m cold, and rude, and mean. And my mum says that ALL THE TIME! Although I’m not sarcastic with her, but she knows I am with everyone else. But I can’t seem to care anymore. I’m too old to change myself. Besides, I think being the other way round it would be too unrealistic of me!

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes, and right now it hurts soo bad I can’t swallow food. Boo hoo!

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Who wouldn’t?

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Chocolate frosted sugar bombs! :D I have no idea how that tastes, but remember Calvin & Hobbes? That’s his favourite cereal, and with a name like that, I can’t see why not.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Why complicate things huh? ;-)

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? I’m only as strong as I appear to be. Underneath, I’m terribly weak! I know a lot of my friends won’t agree, but it is the truth. Seriously!!!

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? I’ve stopped eating ice creams for over a year now. Actually, I’ve lost my sweet tooth. But if I wanted to, it’d probably be a chocolate flavour.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? EVERYTHING! This must sound crazy, but I only need a second to see everything from how tall they are, their eyes, what they’re wearing, how they walk, and sometimes what they’re thinking right that minute! :D

15. RED OR PINK? Put them together. A vintage orange?

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF? I hate my guts! I don’t even know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Right now? My shishta! She’s away from the city. * sniff * *sniff *

18. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? What kinda questionnaire is this? :-/

19. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? I drank horlicks!!!

20. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Linkin Park - Numb.

21. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? This is a strange question! Like my friend says “Depends what my mama and papa crayons are.”

22. FAVORITE SMELLS? Curve Crush, Chanel, and the smell of sand from the first rain.

23. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Mom.

24. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Tennis and Basketball.

25. HAIR COLOR? Black

26. EYE COLOR? Brown

27. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Is this the part where I should stop answering questions and just post a picture of me instead? Wouldn’t it make it easier?

28. FAVORITE FOOD? Anything that my mum makes! I’ve learnt to appreciate it when I started making my own lunches!

29. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Neither. Thrillers actually.

30. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? The Oceans series.

31. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Now this is getting irritating!

32. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer anytime. I know there are disadvantages. But the way I see it, absolutely nothing can make me chirpy like the sun does!

33. HUGS OR KISSES? BOTH!!! Bring ‘em on! ;-)

34. FAVORITE DESSERT? No favs.

35. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Jane Austen - Emma.

36. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Or a touchpad?

37. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT? I didn't.

38. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Silence? Now that’s one sound I can’t make. In the very least, I can hear it!?!

39. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Rolling Stones any day.

40. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? To the USA on business.

41. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? I can pretend. Go figure that out.

42. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Madras, India

Phew! That was one long meme. I’m not gonna force anyone into taking this, but I know that Mush will enjoy doing this and since Supernova has been talking about her vacation since she got back, I'm gonna let her take a break from it for one post! :) AND I can count on Idah here to come up with something funny for most of them questions. So, take ‘em people.

Fools in love!

2008-02-04T04:15:00.000+05:30

Today I spent 1000 bucks in books and it’s only the beginning of the New Year yet! By the time the next three quarters toil their way through 2008, I’d have already spent more than enough of my earnings on books! Hee hee. Anyway, cutting to the present; two of them are Jane Austen classics; Emma and Pride and Prejudice. I’ve already seen the movie Pride and Prejudice, but this time I want laugh, I want to cry, I want to feel English, I want to be stupidly romantic, I want to experience the battle of the sexes, and I want to be able to comprehend how Elizabeth felt when Charlotte said “We are all fools in love!”

Aaah! Austen must really have lived each one of those heroines’ lives to have written with such colorful and powerful emotions; the morals, the relationships, the gracefulness, the pride, the intense romance, the sorrow, the anxiety, the pain, the revenge, the endearing strength of the women, the violent thrill of falling in and out of love! A whirlwind of emotions in one book. Who wouldn't love it?

So that’s that! I’ve planned my first best book for this year. Once I’m done with these two, I’ll let you in on the other two books that I’ve bought. Until later then!

Losing Grip!!!

2008-01-31T06:51:00.000+05:30

It's one of those days when work just doesn't get done! And just when you want to call it a day, you realize that you have to stay up for that inevitable late-evening call with your boss. Argghh! Wednesdays!!!

when love and hate collide

2008-01-27T13:18:00.000+05:30

It is six O’ something clock in the evening. The air isn’t still. The water isn’t still. Neither are our hearts. The water brandishes in quick movements back and forth, the salt in the water reminding me of how deceptive looks can be. And the current! The invincible current, between us and the waves. There’s a bonding hormone; high levels of oxytocin; much like the current, and not necessarily in the water. The never-ending waves. Wishing and hoping that it will be never-ending for us too. The shore however doesn’t seem to care. Right now it appears to be busy fighting with the sea over which one should get a bigger helping of the waves.

I notice something on the horizon. A big red ball of a moon. Ever-so-slightly making its way above the ocean. Rising up steadily. It’s not so much the current I begin to think. Maybe it’s the moon, save the timeless continental drifts that’s working the waves too. It’s the moon fighting over the waves. It’s the moon permitting the waves to kiss the shore and return to Mother Ocean. Making it rise up and bend over. Rise up and bend over. And then, rise up, bend over, and crash into the shore. Is the moon letting the waves seduce the shore? Letting the waves mock at it?

Another Shakespeare in love. And now understandably, unmindful of a dozen pair of eyes watching us. Gliding through into a whole different cosmos. Barely two minutes pass by before someone scares the day-lights out of me, yanks me back to reality, and hands me a camera. I curse my ill-luck at being driven back to reality from my world. I cringe, as a war of embarrassments race through my nerves. The hair on my nape stand upright. ONE humble request for one last dance. One regretful denial. Living in a land of carnal needs and of rueful denial, I realize the two just don’t seem to co-exist! I curse my ill-luck again!

This is just one clandestine evening of desperate urgence. I dip my feet in the insistent lapping water. I assure the waves “It’s ok. I’m here.” They don’t seem to care though. The war continues. The ocean wants a bigger portion of the waves. But the shore invites them with the promise of sparking white sand. Mother Ocean finally wins, tearing out her waves away from the shore. They still claw their way forward but fall prey to the ocean again. She wins again. She wins yet again. She wins every single time! The waves fall into her arms and relax only for a brief second, before they crave for land.

A dogmatic thought crosses my mind. I quickly brush it aside, reminding myself yet again of the hardships it puts me through; and the hardships I put it through. The heart!

Love has a lot of reasons to be hated. It’s all about the time I tell myself. Now, how could it be the right time if it feels sooooooo wrong? I stop mulling over it anymore.

I dismiss the thought and continue to cruise the length of the beach. With each step, taking in the beauty of the sea. With each step, enjoying the therapeutic rarity of romance. With each step, the sounds of the guileless laughter of the boys fading into the distance…

--
PS: A work of fiction!

Odd Sugars?!

2008-01-24T04:19:00.000+05:30

No! Just like Odd, I'm glad too that he's not Odd Sugars, but Odd Thomas! A short order cook who leads no ordinary life, has a scary and adventurous story to tell us. Now it wouldn't be fair for a person of such character to have "Sugars" for a last name, would it?

The story is a blend of thriller and horror (not the Stephen King kind that will keep you up all night). This book is a page turner that will keep you wondering and contemplating... who killed whom?... will he die? ... will he find the cold-blooded killer? ... Is it whom Odd thinks it is? ... Will Odd marry Stormy as promised?

It's an exotic, out-of-the-world kinda book that's very interesting if you're bored of reading mundane thrillers, adventures, do-it-yourself, what have you!

I didn't however, like how the story ended. I'd have wanted to read a happy ending after all that Odd had gone through! Anyway, Dean Koontz probably wanted to give the story a twist that it needed towards the end. This is only the first of the Odd books I've read, but I'm looking forward to read the other series as well.

All in all, it's a great book to read as a one-timer. Go fetch your copy from your library!

Hold you high!

2008-01-19T05:20:00.000+05:30

I discovered this song a few days back and have been in love with it since! Its called "Broken" by Seether featuring Amy Lee (from one of my fav American rock band; Evanescence).

Its kinda sad, but a number that will tend to stay on your lips for a long time. I'm gonna stay away from the very passionate Roxette for a while and enjoy some good 'ol rock instead.

Disassociating myself from Murphy

2008-01-09T03:15:00.000+05:30

Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way
~ Edward A. Murphy ~

I beg to differ.

This is like being the centre of attention in a theater where thousands of pairs of eyes wait with diligent eagerness sparkling behind their eyes. They’re obviously expecting a decent performance after having paid for the play. And you have butterflies, the size of dragons!

This is like the feeling you get when you’re sitting in front of a full auditorium … a grand piano at the centre of the stage, an entire auditorium earnestly waiting to listen to you reverberate the ambience. You’re fingers will refuse to play, just then!

Simply put, it’s ‘Baggage Claim’; which, in my humble opinion, is the most stressful part of travel.

My work is as scary!

But I love what I’m about to do in the near future. And now I don’t feel all that jittery after all. I’m going to jump the gun. I’m going to get silly. Nothing can go wrong! The full house only reminds me of the confidence the audience has in me, and of the impending ovation. I will therefore override Murphy’s Law, take the plunge and stretch my legs as far as they can take me this 2008.

So maybe, I should now say…Everything happens for the good!

Time will tell the rest. Wish me luck!

Picture Courtesy: Google Images

Nadal and Moya

2008-01-06T13:57:00.000+05:30

WOW!!!

I just got back from a 4.5 hour semi-final match between Rafael Nadal and Carlos Moya at the Chennai Open tonight. I have no words to describe it, but this evening Chennai had an opportunity to witness one of the BEST MATCHES EVER! And I'm glad I made it. Getting to watch seed #2 Rafael Nadal and seed #7 Carlos Moya at the same court is a real boon. Both sportsmen gave their best. All 3 sets went into tie breakers and the audience were constantly on their feet! And so was I! :D They’d go berserk every time one of them went into an Advantage and the other broke it into a DEUCE! The semi-final was as good as the finals itself. I’m sure none of the Chennaites would like tomorrow’s match if they had seen today’s.

It was a 6-7, 7-6, 7-6 victory for Nadal. After he took it, Nadal threw tennis balls into the auditorium using a cricket bat. It was the funniest sight to see him struggle with it. :P

And what’s more. Some 6000 fans. A binocular in my hand! A heated match! Two Spaniards! 21-year old Nadal. 31-year old Moya (as hot as Nadal). Ooooh la la! ;) What more could I have asked for?

A HUGE thanks to my BIL who got the tickets for us and to my sis who screamed along with me for each point that Nadal took and sighed along with me each time he lost one. :P I had the best evening in a long long time!

The End of Year Meme

2008-01-06T03:46:00.000+05:30

A little too late for an end of year meme. But I kinda like this one from Devil’s. So I’m going to take it.

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before?
I traveled outside of India, missed two of my favorite festivals, missed my loved ones tones, learned a lot, cried a lot, laughed a lot, and cooked my own lunch for 3 months.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
No, and never will.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Three of ‘em! That’s a lot by my standards.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Thankfully No.

5. What countries did you visit?
I visited the United States twice. I hope the New Year will let me travel less to the US and more to other countries.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
If I asked for it, would I get it?
A niece or nephew? (If my sister’s reading this one, she should start working on it!) :D
Actually, I want to be, and feel successful in everything. 2008 would probably be the year that helps kick-start it!?!

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
August 31st; my sister’s wedding. July 2nd and December 17th. (I have my own reasons)

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I’ve gained the confidence and trust of two of the most important people in my life. AND, a few from work. And it really feels good. Believe me :)

9. What was your biggest failure?
I can’t think of anything. I’ve just decided to stop experiencing vertigo. I don’t intend to!

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Absolutely! Falling sick is easy for me, and my cards read that 2008 is gonna be another year of ill health for me :(

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Books. Lotsa ‘em :)

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
No one.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
No one.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Traveling, books, sister’s wedding, and shoes, in that order!

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
About 2008. Seriously! Up until June of last year, everything was pretty mundane. I was disappointed in me. And since July, I can’t stop thinking about 2008 and all that I’m about to do this year :) Wish me luck!

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?
Umm… Forever and For Always?!? Shania Twain.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: (a) happier or sadder? (b) thinner or fatter? (c) richer or poorer?
umm… that’s an easy one. I’m definitely much happier, unquestionably a lot fatter (cheesy smile) and yep, I’m Miss Richie Rich!

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
More reading, more traveling, more crushes(?!?), and probably feel more romantic :D

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
That’s easy too. I wish I were less stupid! :-/

20. How did you spend Christmas?
I don’t celebrate Christmas. But since I reached home on the eve of Christmas, Christmas day itself was pretty much spent sleeping through and trying to getting out of jet lag.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007?
Yeah, a handful of times. But sadly, it’s not getting carry-forwarded to 2008.

22. What was your favorite TV program?
Fortunately for me, I don’t watch TV. It’s not my thing.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Thankfully no. I can forgive people easily if it doesn’t mean too much to me.

24. What was the best book you read?
Rebecca!

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
A lot more of Roxette!

26. What did you want and get?
Nothing.

27. What did you want and not get?
I wanted a music player. I’ll pick one up soon.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
No favs. I’m not big on movies.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
My birthday morning was a big surprise. I wake up and come into the living room and there’s my sister and BIL with this cute cane chair as a birthday gift. :D But unfortunately, the rest of the day was pretty much boring. A hopeless total of three people called to wish me. I turned 26 and felt like an old hag. :P

30. What one thing made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
I worked very hard. Success sure tastes sweet.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
Comfortable, Business casuals.

32. What kept you sane?
Blogging, Books, Music. Thank God for music!

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Antonio Banderas! Last year. This year. Next year. A.L.W.A.Y.S!

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
I don’t follow politics so much. But Bhutto’s assassination was pretty appalling.

35. Who did you miss?
Missing someone is the hardest thing for me. For everyone I guess. When you miss someone, it’s kinda difficult to mention how much you miss them, isn’t it? It’s equally difficult to mention names too. So I’ll let it remain a secret. :)

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Very many people. Elayaperumal being one of ‘em.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.
Oh I got more than one:

Friends are the best things that can happen to us.
Hard work is scary.
Success is too sweet but it brings green-eyed monsters along with it.
And … Relationships are hard!!!

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
This one’s a song called Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield. It pretty much describes this past year for me.

I am unwritten, can’t read my mind, I’m undefined
I’m just beginning, the pen’s in my hand, ending unplanned
Staring at the blank page, before you open the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance, so close you can almost taste it

Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else can speak the words on your lips.
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins

The rest is still unwritten!

My birthright is an unwritten law

2007-12-27T14:00:00.000+05:30

--------------------------------------------
Joey: Face your fear. You have a fear of heights? You go to the top of the building. You're afraid of bugs? Get a bug.

Joey: Go for it man! Jump off the high dive. Stare down the barrel of a gun. Pee into the wind!

Chandler: Yeah. Joe, I assure you if I'm staring down the barrel of a gun, I'm gonna be pretty much peeing every which way.

--------------------------------------------

This is an extract from the famous sitcom FRIENDS. Strangely, Joey’s making sense, isn’t he? Sometimes, I'm glad for people like Joey. I'm in a confused state of mind right now.

I get reminded of Nickelback's Far Away...
"This time, This place
Misused, Mistakes
Too long, Too late"

So right now, the last thing I need is more Joey-ness. But surprisingly, his stupidity is helping out a lil bit. What’s life like if you can’t live it to the fullest? And if you can’t trust what you’re about to do. So for the new years, whatever resolutions I'm making (or not), I plan to trust myself in whatever I do. In whatever I am capable of doing. Believe in myself. This makes me feel a lot better already. :)

--------------------------------------------

Also, here’s a wonderful track by Eric Carmen from the movie Dirty Dancing (all you romantic-movie lovers should know exactly what I'm talking about). He’s got a ridiculous outfit on, in this video… but its Eric Carmen all the same :) And I particularly LOVE this song.

Here goes… Hungry Eyes! There’s such melancholy and profoundness in the lyrics.

Whenever I listen to this track, I always close my eyes and wear my earphones. :) I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I do.

--------------------------------------------

Happy Holidays everyone. And have a pleasant new year. I hope 2008 brings you everything that you want, and more! If you think, you want more than you’re entitled to, then go ahead and make it your birthright! It then won't sound greedy after all! Trust me, it works! ;)

I'm gonna go get myself a bug now.

Love ‘ya all

Happy Birthday Chweetyyy

2007-12-19T02:58:00.000+05:30

It feels like yesterday that I fooled around with your birthday gift. Now it's over a year and another birthday has come by. I guess this is by far the first time I'm away from you on your big day. And you're not even keeping well to enjoy it... :-/ Happy birthday sweety and warm hugs from over here. Get well soon and I'll soon be back to give you nice big tight ones. :)

Love always

And that's why we don't get mad at children

2007-12-12T11:12:00.000+05:30

To play with the thunder

2007-12-08T14:32:00.000+05:30

Would you want to write your own destiny, or would you rather go by what’s written in it already? Or are you the breed that doesn’t believe in either school of thought?

When you know exactly what's for breakfast on a Monday morning, it takes out the joy of looking forward to the kitchen area to check on mommy to see what’s cooking. When you know exactly what time the train departs, it steals away a sly thought from creeping in; the thought of oversleeping for a teeny bit more, hoping the train will be late as usual. I don’t peek out from my window anymore to catch a glimpse of the gift from the heavens. It doesn’t make me grin from ear-to-ear. I’m all covered up and ready to hit the road because the lady from the weather desk told me exactly what time the snow is expected to fall. How heavy it will be. And how long it will last.

My 4:45 PM shuttle is almost never late; it then doesn’t give me the opportunity to nervously fidget with my fingers waiting for the shuttle to pick me up. I know exactly when my train will arrive (which is a good thing ‘cos I get to book for a cab accordingly. That way I won’t get stranded at a lonely train station in the wee hours of the night). And I know quite well that I have to layer myself with clothing because it’s going to snow tomorrow.

I have nothing to look forward to when I leave from work, because again, I know what will await me at the Happy Hour back at my hotel. I even know the “French names” (if you will) of the wines that they serve from Monday through Thursday, and then, all over again from the next Monday through Thursday.

Even the bloody traffic lights are synchronized!

There’s not much left for imagination! There are hardly any surprises! There is little anticipation! There’s no exalt!!!

It doesn’t concern me that my future is already written out for me, but it does concern me that my day-to-day activities are already scripted! Some would think that it’s a good thing. But there are disadvantages. For one, I detest the fact that my personal life is planned out. Planning, as far as I am concerned, should stay shut at work! But that’s not the only disadvantage. My office security at the front-desk who smiles at me every morning and heartily wishes me to have an excellent day, refuses to recognize me if I forgot my office badge someday! It really doesn’t bother me much, but it tells me that relationships are like a canoe that meekly rocks on waves of golden protocols.

How much more scripted can life get, when even the thunder wonders if it should strike on a dark rainy afternoon, simply because it wasn’t on the forecast the previous day?!?

You must think I sound crazy, but back in Madras, however much indiscriminate things are, I kinda like it that I don't know what to expect next. Whether on road, at home, for lunch, at work, at a movie, what have you! Pleasant or unpleasant; what's the point in living after all, if there aren't little surprises to look forward to?

Destination Herndon > Baltimore > Washington DC

2007-11-29T13:13:00.000+05:30

The four-day long Thanksgiving weekend saw me take off to a couple of North Eastern states in the US. While most of the country was busy shopping on Black Friday, wading through the crowded stores for offers and deals on everything from electronics to home furnishings, my friend and her husband were kind enough to have me over at their place at Herndon, Virginia for 3 days, starting the day after Thanksgiving. From over Herndon, they drove me down to Baltimore and DC over the next two days. Here’s a glimpse.

Baltimore, Maryland

Outside Capitol House – Washington, DC

It was a hectic weekend. The days and nights were both tightly scheduled. But in general, I loved the travel, and loved the feeling that left me exhausted at the end of it all.

While I'm on it, I have to mention about a great little town I visited yesterday. Bethlehem, also called as the “Christmas City of USA” is a nice little town in Pennsylvania; about an hour and quarter from where I live. The town is known for its culture rooted back to the 1700s, founded and inhabited by the Moravians. We took a 45 minute bus tour around the city by night. It was a weekday, so we did this after work. Our guide for the night took us through a timeless journey through the city, and explained the way early Moravians worked as missionaries to spread the word about their religion and the celebration that is, Christmas.

We ended the day by having exotic Indian food at a nice restaurant in Bethlehem. I know what you’re thinking, that Indian food can’t be exotic? Trust me, last night, it was!

It seems like it was only hours since I did all this, but it’s Wednesday and I’m already planning for the impending weekend. I’m hoping that will save me from feeling homesick again!

Seashore, seashells, delirium

2007-11-20T11:54:00.000+05:30

4:30 PM. -8 Celsius. A magical beach.

NJ Shore, Atlantic City.

Stargazing

2007-11-16T03:10:00.000+05:30

Having to treasure every best moment may not be very difficult; perhaps the finest and most powerful way to cherish them, is to not re-live those moments.

Thank God for dreams!!!

As Promised!

2007-11-14T05:57:00.000+05:30

I was supposed to tell you the truth of it in the very next post but I didn’t. Just like I imagined, very few people decided to take a guess on which one of them was the lie. Clearly, my readership is falling waaay off the cliff deep into the Grand Canyon! :-/

Only a couple of them guessed and failed miserably. And that means you Dharma! No seriously, how many times have I written about my dreams? That was a dead give-away!

Anyway, those of you that guessed were wrong! Also, if you knew me well, you would know better than to trust me with promises. :P But ho; here’s the truth. I don’t run a no-shit blog! Hell I can’t even update this one on time. And I know I’m not following blogs regularly either. Between the last time I visited Devil and today (which is I think a week) she’s posted nine new ones. Or at least that’s what Google Reader tells me! And I haven't followed her blog, or anyone else' since! So lo, I’m not running any new blog and all that jazz; but I kinda like the way I made up that lie myself! Tee hee.

But now that the idea has bloomed unto me, I think I might just end up starting one. But nah, you’ll never know. Never trust my promises, remember?

Image: Courtesy-gettyimages. There's something about this picture that I could relate with, I'm not sure what tho.

From where I'm standing

2007-11-03T12:05:00.000+05:30

It has been such a long time since I posted a favorite song that I can hardly call this one the 'song of the week'. Song of the month would be more appropriate, no?

Anyway, this one's an amazing song from the movie I'm Reed Fish and is sung by Schuyler Fisk.

From where I'm standing, you're the quiet side of the road
You're looking so lonely, and I can't stop looking at you
Your head is hanging, trying to beat those goodbye blues
I bet you'll be fine
I bet you'll be fine

I guess it's not the way you always planned it
Looks like you're heading for a crash landing
That's just the way it looks from where I'm standing
From where I'm standing

From where I'm standing, I think I caught your eye
Are you looking at me cause I swear I saw you smile
I'm coming over, gonna take things off your mind
I bet you'll be fine

I guess it's not the way you always planned it
Looks like you're heading for a crash landing
That's just the way it looks from where I'm standing
From where I'm standing

I might make you mine
I might make you mine
From where I'm standing

Tagged - True lies

2007-10-20T11:05:00.000+05:30

I’m not someone that takes up all tags. Honestly, if I dislike the purpose of the tag or the way a tag is presented itself, I simply prefer not to take it up. When Dharma tagged me however, with this meme, I instantly decided to take it up. But when I sat down to actually put pen to paper, I realized that all I have to do is list out things ABOUT me; which is what I’ve been doing for exactly a year now starting from this post. Over a 100 posts elucidating what I like, what I don’t, what I do, what I pretend to do; everything! My readers can see through me now, nay? Then what the hell’s the point of this meme anyway? Before you get frustrated with all this self-brooding, I’ll let you in on what finally made me take it up!

A meme is only as good as it is written by the blogger that tags you. In this case, Dharma wrote this meme so well, that I couldn’t possibly refuse. That’s the simplest explanation! :)

______________________________________________

1. There are three things I can’t help but do every single day; whether it’s a day at work, or a day at home!

• I have to visit Crickler in order to constantly feed my need for both a new challenge each day, as well as my need to improve the English vocabulary. I simply love how it works, and it’s a lot of fun too. The thing about Crickler is that, some of the crossword puzzles are either way too easy or too difficult. Therefore, if my grey cells are highly active, I can prefer to take up the tough ones and if my brains are cooked too much a particular day, I simply prefer to take up the simpler ones. I still take one (or two) everyday nonetheless!

• My landing page on both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, Wikipedia.org is yet another site that I can’t seem to live without! There are times, when someone talks about an upcoming music band, a fallen hero, a forgotten freedom fighter, a new heart surgery break-through, the fantasy of Rome, a dying river, a mammal soon to be extinct, a nebula! Everything from A – Z, I simply find ‘em here. I love Wikipedia for just the way it functions, its wiki! The idea of having people (anyone) enter about practically any subject/person/place/event under the sun (or over it) and then allowing for it to be validated and published! Isn’t it a wonderful concept? I honestly think that the concept of Wiki should certainly be used more widely to share and encourage people to offer their opinions.

• Blogger! I’m not gonna justify that. :)

2. Even whist running this blog, there were times when I haven’t been able to bring myself to write everything I feel like right here. This tag for example, made me think quite a lot before I could come up with one in the list. Leave alone nine big ones! Precisely the reason why I run an anonymous blog! It’s a no-nonsense blog where I write only what I want to, and only as often as I feel like it! I give a damn to its readers and answer comments only when absolutely necessary. Basically, when I want to get silly, it’s right here! And when I want unbiased opinions on serious (mostly personal) issues from absolute strangers, it’s over there! It is pretty obvious then that I don’t give my name in there, don’t post pictures, and don’t write about my dad, mum, sis, BIL, cousins, friends, et al. And even if there’s someone that needs a mention, the name doesn’t find a place there. Spooky you think? I did so too when the thought crossed my mind in the beginning, but now I know that it has by far been the best outlet for me! :)

3. How do stars get their sparkle? How is it that men cheat so easily? What is that first thing, that started what we now call Evolution? Why should quantum physics be so confusing? How can shopping actually treat everything from a broken knee to a puffy cheek? Why does the FBI conduct a research on “Top 10 creative ways to murder” and post them online? What is Google doing right this minute? Or even why men think that crying would make them appear weak?

I’m inquisitive! And my thirst for knowledge will only keep increasing as long as I have questions in store (and someone to give me the answers)!

4. How often have you wondered why relationships get so confusing just when you thought that things were going precisely the way you wanted it? Don’t bother answering that question, ‘cos believe it or not, I have never tried to “work things out” or whatever you want to call it. It’s easy for me to break away and easier still to get back into the same relationship. Good or bad? I don’t know and I can’t care less.

5. I can’t remember the name of the place I visited on our hill station visit a year ago. I can’t remember if I submitted my IT Returns last year and I can’t remember what I did last Deepavali. I can however, remember the first time I sat on a swing, the sliver moon sparkling night when I tried to raise up my finger and draw patterns in the air on a starry sky, and the first time I fell off my bicycle and bruised my knee. I remember some of the most cherished moments of my life and can recall every enchanting minute without a moment’s pause. Equally so, I can also conveniently forget what I don’t want to recall. There are times, when I’m grateful for this trait of mine. A painless way to avoid those guilt trips. Selfish me huh?

6. Given a chance to re-live any part of my life, I’d never want to re-live my college life ever again! I know what you’re thinking; that I’m kidding. Actually not. That’s three years of my life I wish I never lived to begin with and would never want to re-live.

7. I have had the most bizarre dreams; I continue to have them and I’m happy for it. The way I see it, these are things that you wouldn’t see happen in everyday life; so what’s the harm in seeing them in your dreams? You’ll be surprised at how imaginative you can get when you wake up from one of your strangest dreams; trust me. :)

8. I’m afraid of dark alleys, walking or driving on a road that isn’t well lit, … actually I’m just shit scared of darkness! I remember when I used to live alone in a city away from home; I’d always let one of the lights on during the day, just in case I return home after hours and suspect a ghost in one of the corners. Eventually, I walk into every room including the kitchen and turn on all the lights, save for the restroom’s. Chicken you think? Well, that’s moi.

9. What goes around comes around, doesn’t it?! I strongly believe in the higher law of Karma, that you are responsible for your actions, and that if you do good, the good will be returned three-fold.

________________________________________________________

Phew! That was one long meme. I can go ahead and tag a few from my frequent haunt’s list, but it appears my readership has significantly dropped and I don’t want to end up tagging someone that wouldn’t know s/he has been tagged simply because s/he hasn’t visited my page in the first place. Soo, I’m gonna make this an open meme; if you are here and if want to give it a shot, go ahead. I enjoyed writing this out and I hope you will too.

Here are the rules of the meme. “The tag is to say nine things about myself one of which is a lie. Can you spot the one which is not true? (Adding one more rule here, tell us what the lie was, when you next post)”

Enjoy writing and Happy Pooja holidays everyone! :)

We played as planned

2007-10-16T02:41:00.000+05:30

MISERABLY! :)

Each time the Indian cricket team loses a match, I loathe them and the game more than I did from their previous defeat. But somehow, everyone around me seems to like the sport (if that's what you want to call it) more than they did earlier! :-/ Am I insane, or are they?

The law of gears

2007-10-13T01:52:00.000+05:30

As soon as you shift to a higher gear, the brakes will need immediate attention, and you will have to shift one gear down!

I wasn't sleeping when Chennai's traffic became this terrible all of a sudden, was I? :-/

But I've been definitely sleeping when Blogger introduced video within our blog posts, 'cos I saw it just today, actually just now!

Disappointed with ...

2007-10-05T00:05:00.000+05:30

... A Thousand Splendid Suns, I am now reading The Husband!

It is that time of the year again…

2007-09-30T03:20:00.000+05:30

When the sheer passion for the sport would wake me up as early as 5:30 in the morning (or sometimes 5 AM) for three months in a row and I wouldn't complain once.

When every morning I would curse my ma under my breath for making me drink a tall glass of porridge (used to taste yuck) at 5:45 before I left for the club. Eventually, I was grateful she made me drink it!

When PR was as important as knowing the right rowing skills if you want the boats when you needed them

When the daily morning run would stop and the circuits would begin! How we hated doing it.

When my coach would give me a “tch tch” if my endurance wasn't good enough compared to the other guys on the land-work

When our calf muscles would beg for us to stop working out and rest them for a while

When the post-lunch nap at work cannot be avoided

When we dreaded the ergo-meter race more than any other race

When our head-coach’s call to flip the toss would make us weak at the knees clearly reminding us of the impending win-or-die race

When all around us, we would hear one seemingly important mantra … “Die on the boat”

When what appeared to be the most troublesome crew of all, sat quietly bundled up in one corner of the club wondering how much ahead of the other crews we are, or how far behind

When all the bars of chocolates, energy drinks, and red bulls would be our only life-savers between races

When I would eagerly await the knock-out races rather than do the circuits at the end of each race :-/

When we’d feverishly wait under the bridge, my heart pounding against my chest, waiting endlessly for what seemed to be never-ending passage of time, before we got the final call for the race-starts.

When eventually the success of the entire crew would be too sweet for any of the less trivial coxie problems to matter

The year of 2003 was by far the most fantastic rowing season for me! Yet again, it is that time of the year, except this Fall I’m not rowing! But the prestigious M&B corporate regatta is on and is at the Madras Boat Club, Adyar, on the last Saturday of this month. If you are in Chennai, be sure to attend it after 3:30 PM! You don’t have to row, but at least you can be there to witness and confirm that all of the above statements are accurate.

I'm grateful for...

2007-09-07T18:01:00.000+05:30

... the finest woman in my life.

For being

radical

fanatical

magical

practical

remarkable

for being a pillar

for enduring

contributing

for ... just BEING there when I needed her.

I cannot begin to imagine the sphere of activities I will have to start doing on my own... starting from shopping till managing my finances (which just-so-you-know, I totally suck at!). :-/

I'm dedicating this post to my sister!

Reflections

2007-09-04T04:05:00.000+05:30

Disclaimer: This post was originally written two weeks ago but is getting published only now… sooo some of them might not make sense and most of them may not be presently applicable.

A couple of observations that are specific to the country everyone is oh-so-interested to move to (or visit at some point at least). Some of them I totally concur with and some others I don’t! But remember, no pun intended.

The days being longer than the nights, life here runs with a rhythm of its own. It would be Monday today and before you know it’s the weekend. I have never felt the days/weeks pass at this pace before!

Coke, Diet Coke, Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, iced tea, flavoured water, and other unmentionable soft drinks all now become “sodas”.

Lunch being a battle every single day, now I can clearly comprehend the exact meaning of that lil prayer I used to say every morning in school for 14 years straight… “Give us today our daily bread”. Phew! Vegetarians sure do have a tough time :-/

Wake up calls, voice messages, and Din Dins. Dinners were soo much fun ‘cos this is the only meal of the day that I get to cook for myself; especially my favourite food, south Indian! :) Sometimes, all six of us used to get into the kitchen and make elaborate dinners, which would all turn out to be absolutely yummo!

I met a few very interesting people here and have come to make a memorable friendship as well, so much so that my angst to get back home sooner, lessened in time. I also came to realize that when you’re that far away from home, you tend to count a LOT on your friends. Damn good reason to stay together I must admit!

New York. Undoubtedly, ever-enticing! :)

I had a chance to meet a very interesting Blogger friend as well. It was very pleasant to meet you Oracle. :)

The locals almost always smile and say a hello to everyone they see. The customary “Hi, how are you?” the “I’m good, how are u?”, and finally the “I’m great, thanks” has a way of getting onto my nerves! No seriously, when you really don’t expect the person to tell you the truth about how he/she really is, or when you don’t care a tinker’s damn yourself, why ask? Honestly, I think that’s very artificial. Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s only in my humble opinion. But just so you know, inadvertently, I’m practicing that too during my stint here. :|

Flavoured yogurt! Especially the ones with peach… yummooo! Perhaps the single most awaited food every afternoon.

Seaside heights, NJ. The sparkling blue-green water, the sun high and sharp, tiny boats tossing lightly farther away in the ocean, the golden speckless sand, women dressed to liberally serve the needs of the men. One amazing trip that will live in my memory longer than me.

More to come. :)

Addendum:
1. I got back on the last Sunday of August to attend my sister’s wedding.
2. The wedding went on very well and I’ve gotten back to the grind again! Thanks for all your prayers. Will try and post something on it soon, while I rub my feet to wear off the tiredness of the 3-day wedding business.
3. Dharma, thank you so much for tagging me. I feel honoured. I'm on it already, but I can't promise you on when it will finally get published. :)

undone

2007-08-21T09:50:00.000+05:30

All attempts to crack me up having failed, I still am sincerely waiting for the day I won't have to be sincere anymore!

After four weeks of living in the US...

2007-08-17T17:00:00.000+05:30

... I have come to realize that this is the best drink ever!!!

You should see the kinda flavoured sodas these people have!

And of course, the inevitable...

A Thousand Splendid Suns

2007-08-07T12:20:00.000+05:30

My first update perhaps, should have been about New Jersey, how life’s been treating me here, work, fun, or the places I’ve visited and should probably treat you guys with some amazing pictures to supplement them. No? Yeah? Alright, maybe I will. But not just yet! Two of my three weekends here have been packed, and all I did was visit the enticing city of New York. Twice!! The city has an amazing energy about itself that I haven’t seen anywhere else. And I sure am glad I had the chance to be there. More update on NY and more pictures to come.

The rest of my time have been spent shopping, mostly groceries and sometimes shopping for my folks back home. Just a teeny bit though! Anything I see, all I can think of is my sister because this is undoubtedly the right time to shop for her, what with her marriage in the offing and all that. :) She has already started her countdown. And believe me, so have I! She, for the wedding day and I, to return home and give a bear hug to mum. I went into the countdown phase a few days ago and have been missing my people terribly since!!! :| I’ve shopped for ma, pa, sis and BIL and can’t seem to find anything for moi! Bad scene huh? Not really. :)

Anyway, before I write to you again and send you ~~some~~ loads of pictures (this time I promise I will), I treated myself in the meantime with this!

The hardcover of Khaled Hosseini’s latest. Not something great to take with me from a visit to the United States. But it sure will keep me good company during my flight back. I hope this one’s as good as his masterpiece.

Until the next time, keep well.

A come back

2007-07-22T13:15:00.000+05:30

I have got to apologize for being so quiet for such a long time; I’m sorry I’ve been away. And from those ultra sweet messages I kept receiving on email and on the comments box, I can see that you guys have missed me as much as I missed you. I’ve been kinda jobless and busy all at the same time for a coupla weeks. You ask me how that’s possible? Yup it is, especially in the IT trend where projects are highly unpredictable! My earlier project got completed about four weeks ago and I got shipped from my client location back to my head office (where I did nothing but wait for some other projects that were in the offing) with very little (or sometimes absolutely no) internet access. That was some terrible time!!!

That said, it wasn’t as if I was totally jobless either, because the “project in the offing” all of a sudden made its way right to my desk, and landed piping hot! As part of the kick-off for the new project, I, along with five others from my team, are now in New Jersey! It all happened soo fast, in a blink of the eye, that I didn’t even have the time to call my closest friends about my absence either. Picture this; getting stuff ready for my visa application, appearing for the visa interview in short notice, and two days later travel to the NJ without having time to plan a single damn thing, all this in just one week! :-/

Well, anyway, up until now, things are fine here. I’m loving the place I’m living in; a nice, neat, calm country side of NJ called Bridgewater. Work has been fine, and I’ve been doing well too (this is for those that emailed me and asked me if I was keeping well). I visited New York today (the first Saturday after I landed here) and a small temple quite close to the office on Friday evening.

I will be here for the next six weeks and will be back just in time for my sister’s wedding in the end of August. There’s lotsa pictures of the B-E-A-U-tiful NJ country, and a few pictures from NY too, but yaaawwn … that’s all for now … right now I’m going to sign-off!

I’m homesick already and wanna go home and be a part of the big wedding preps :(. Sigh!!!

You guys take good care and big hugs for a great weekend while I try to catch up on all those new posts from you. Adios!

Missed ya all! :)

I’m a Gemini

2007-06-29T05:45:00.000+05:30

That’s my sun sign. But why am I saying this? 'Cos that’s the prompt for this week’s scribble at Sunday Scribblings.

I remember a friend saying “If you have one Gemini friend, you have at least five of them.” But oh, exercise care, ‘cos having five of them around isn’t really a boon. Born under a high-voltage energetic sign, it usually takes me very little time to get accustomed and adapted to people, places, and culture. Although the last part is a load of crap and can’t be proved, plainly because I haven’t experienced many different cultures myself. See? That also proves another point about us fickle Gemini’s – we can lie very easily! :-/

I absolutely hate monotony! You let me travel to work by train one day, by car the next, and by bus the day after, I’d be glad to. I’d rather create a schedule today, document some facts tomorrow, and play crossword the day after. But you can’t tie me down with one thing. I want to be e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g! :D That’s probably why I’m not able to last in one job for a long time. We’re great “talkers” though, love to read and love to be in the communication business. That would explain my constant need to blog perhaps.

We’re cheap people and mostly expect favors to be returned. Sometimes, I’m guilty of that myself! :-/

When I asked a friend about the negatives of the sign, he said
“Unpredictable unpredictable unpredictable unpredictable unpredictable unpredictable. There's my contribution!
Marriage...?? nah.. ain’t their style. Can never ever decide, always asks others to make a big decision, takes love as a game, fascinated about the idea of having multiple partners (good or bad??).”

Quite strangely, I’ve not been able to deny any of them. Of course I’m unpredictable; sometimes I wouldn’t know how I would react to a situation at any given time myself. All normal day-to-day functions would seem like a new challenge to me and I’ll end up trying to do it a different way everyday (and sometimes end up developing a headache. Can I blame the sign?). Phew! I guess that is the greatest mystery of the Twins! You never know when the other one would take over.

I could go on and on. But let’s stop it at that and find out about you. What sign are you? What are your traits? Are you big enough to spill out your negatives as well? ;-)

Picture courtesy: Google Images

Magic carpet

2007-06-23T00:31:00.000+05:30

Yep I need one of those. Why? Makes life a lot easier and a lot more fun. :)

Flying! Just think about it. I can fly whenever I feel like, to wherever I want.

No fuel expenses.

Parking? What’s that? I’ll fold it up and stuff it in my bag.

Can you imagine how much traffic I can avoid? In fact, I can cover the 22 kms to and from work in a matter of minutes!

No pollution. I’ll be doing my little to save the dying environment.

I’ll probably find the man in my dreams (just P.R.O.B.A.B.L.Y). :D I know I’m treading on thin ice, but remember how Aladdin found Jasmine?

I can forget about all the Spicejet, Air Deccan, and Air Sahara offers. Who wants them anyway?

I can go visit all my blogger friends and probably give them a ride or two in my magic carpet (if they’re good to me). ;-)

Low maintenance! It’s even lower than maintaining a bicycle.

Free rides to everyone! :)

See? The more I think about it, the more I want to own a flying carpet!

Of course I dance in front of the mirror!

2007-06-21T02:27:00.000+05:30

A friend gasped in sheer astonishment when I told her one of my traits which she considered inappropriate or unethical. Well, maybe inappropriate in a work environment.

Nevertheless, here are some really stupid things I end up doing impulsively. At least the ones that I can remember right away:

When I walk on the road that doesn’t have a pedestrian pavement, I inadvertently move further and further toward the left as I walk along, for fear of being knocked down by a ~~truck~~ motorcycle.

If I doze off with a book in my hand, my fingers would involuntarily clutch the edges of the book so as to mark the page I am reading. I know what you’re thinking. Use a bookmark? But I said “doze-off”, didn’t I? So what good is a bookmark by my bedside?!?

I save the best food for the last. Don’t get what I’m saying? Think about the last time you saved that black forest cake, or a last potato chip for the end of the meal? Yep, I do that too!

After I kill the engine in my car, I continue to press my foot on the brake while I’m digging into my bag, or taking things out before I get out of the vehicle. I don’t know why I do it, but I know quite a lot of women who do the same thing.

And oh, if you didn’t know already, of course I talk (smile, laugh, giggle) to myself. Hell, I dance in front of the mirror. And don’t you tell me that you don’t. I know quiet well that you do too. :)

Anything unique (or uniquely stupid) that you do in front of the mirror? Or anything just plain stupid that you do? :)

Bookmarks

2007-06-16T02:48:00.000+05:30

As much as books are important to me
So are these
For they really help me trace my words
Where I leave them astray
Made of leather
Painted in bright hues
They will stay with me forever
My friend and companion it has been
Bookmarks they are
I’m thankful to my Brother-in-law for his thoughtful gifts from Durban

>/||

2007-06-14T07:43:00.000+05:30

A weekend of audio and video. Here are some pictures from the PodWorks unconference at Chennai.

Conference Venue: Tidel Park, Chennai

PodWorks @ TIdel Park, Chennai

A session is on.

The works!

The attendees.

Podcasting is all about money. Sunil Nair, CEO of Nautanki.tv talks about the much needed Vitamin M and how to monetize your podcasts.

A session on Adobe Premier, by far the most interesting session for me. Video editing didn't sound this simple to me earlier.

Organizers unwinding

Podworks.in is on!

2007-06-10T00:45:00.000+05:30

The PodWorks unconference is on! I must mention that although I walked in a lil late, I don't seem to have missed much. For the last two hours, a lot of talking and interaction has happened. Right now, even as I'm entering this post, Karthik Kannan is giving the ~~120~~ 200 odd participants a presentation on 'Quick and easy podcasting'. As it seems to me, using ODEO and recording a podcast is child's play. As Karthik was even presenting it, I had my microphone on and recorded a 59 second audio in studio.odeo.com. Ta daa:

powered by ODEO

As you can see, the recording is not so great. The ambiance noise added to it too. But far as I can see, this, and the fact that you can't edit the audio, seems to be the only disadvantage.

Also, with ODEO, the entire thing is over in very minimal time. In this case, 59 seconds + 30 seconds for saving the recording and another minute or two to ramble about it and publish the same on my blog.

PS: Just attending a wiki conference such as this and not being able to do it hands-on is such a BIG disadvantage. Sooo here goes a BIGGER thanks to my cousin M who lent me his laptop for a day.

Addendum (Saturday June 09, 7:59 PM)

The post-lunch sessions included one on the do's and dont'ts of recording for a podcast or taking an interview. Then, a presentation on Integrating a podcast into wordpress/blogger including tips to promote your podcast et al. I had to leave right when Sunil Nair, CEO of Nautanki.tv started giving us some heads-up on how to go about gaining some Vitamin M :-/

Hopefully, tomorrow I'll be there for the sessions on video podcasting or vodcast, without having to rush back on some other emergency. More updates and photos to follow.

Stay ... away

2007-06-09T05:42:00.000+05:30

The future has a dirty habit of arriving unannounced. – Anonymous

I’d say, the past has a dirty habit of resurfacing unannounced!

Some thoughts stay, and some don’t. Our mind is an amazing storage unit that few of us are able to comprehend. Some things remind us of significant achievements and some others remind us of trivial details, things that we wish we didn’t remember. Things we wish happened a different way, or didn’t happen at all. An erase or undo button would be of much help, wouldn’t it?

Sometimes, the more we try to forget something, its memory snaps itself back deeper and deeper sculpting its way through, making an imprint in our minds; mind over heart or heart over mind being a constant battle!

Is that why they say it’s easier to forgive than to forget?

Podworks.in

2007-06-08T13:15:00.000+05:30

I'm attending Podworks, are you?

This is the first 'unconference' that I will be attending. Will keep you posted on any updates through and over the weekend. Meanwhile, if you're in Chennai this weekend, you could try and make it to the unconference that is held at Tidel Park, Taramani. Feel free to go to podworks.in and get a hang of what it is all about.

I'm surely looking forward to the experience!

Your wish will be done

2007-06-08T08:09:00.000+05:30

Such an intense music video and so much depth in those lyrics; and we thought the Backstreet Boys were just another teen-attraction, boy band, whatever. Nonetheless, this one's been my all-time favorite.

I hope you enjoy it too :)

Fountain

2007-06-06T08:01:00.000+05:30

The human mind is not capable of grasping the Universe. We are like a little child entering a huge library. The walls are covered to the ceilings with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written these books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. But the child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books---a mysterious order which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects.

- Albert Einstein

Science and spirituality, or scientific spirituality perhaps; that’s been my mood for what you could call an extended weekend.

After watching four back-to-back movies on Saturday, all starring Hugh Jackman, I’m still reeling from ~~his~~ their effect. It started with X-men, then X 2, and X 3. I was fine until then. ‘Cos until then I was only watching a science fiction. Then came, The Fountain! I’m not even sure if I can explain that movie in just a few words.

Spanning over a 1000 years with three tales running in parallel, the story transports you from the age of Spain in bondage in the 1500’s through the present day, to the 2500’s, in an inexplicably unimaginable way. One man’s journey through time and space (literally space), Hugh Jackman acts in the lead role in all three stories.

In pursuit of love, life, Tom Creo (Hugh Jackman) experiences frustration, pain, suffering, loss, death, re-birth and finally immortality. All three stories get inter-woven toward the end of the screenplay leaving you practically disoriented. At least I was! Well you would be too, if you saw Jackman as a faithful solider trying to free his Queen by fetching the tree of life and delivering Spain from bondage in scene one; in the very next scene, you find him in a state-of-the-art research facility trying to get a medical breakthrough in a drug that would cure his dying wife of cancer, and in the subsequent scene, he’s in a bubble in outer space with a lone dying tree, trying to give life back to it from a nebula somewhere in the 26th century (three different people from different eras of course). See what I’m saying?

Although I didn’t understand much of concept behind the movie itself, I did impulsively put it under my favorite movies list :) Maybe someday I’ll get what he’s saying.

It might sound like a thin plot, but the movie is a little heavy on its viewers, so if you’re the kind that lets the waterworks run on every emotional scene; you should stay away from it. But if you do succeed in understanding the underlying plot of the story, do let me know, because I’m still trying to find an explanation!

Anyway, Sunday was good for me. Watched Pirates of the Caribbean – At World’s End. I heard mixed reviews about the movie before I watched it, maybe because they compared it with the older parts. But I haven’t seen the earlier parts, so I liked it all the same. For what its worth, there was butter popcorn, a soft drink, and Orlando Bloom in front of me. :-D. Sailed the high seas with him for three hours(?) got sea sick [cheesy smile] and had to bunk work on Monday! :)

A roller-coaster weekend you could say! Have a great work week ahead and hugs!

Remember… the summer?

2007-05-24T05:25:00.000+05:30

I’m tagged! I don’t take up all meme’s, only the ones I like or only the ones that are a little challenging. This one falls under the latter category because I absolutely hate the summer. Soo, its quite a challenge for me to come up with a list. Wow! The excuses I come up with, I cant believe them myself :-P

Anyhow, here’s an attempt:

Watermelon juices (has to top the list)

Summer holidays, which I wish were on for the rest of our lives; especially for the Carrom tournaments, Monopoly, beach trips on weekdays (this used to be fun), visiting our gramms at the village, running across the fields, eating ripe tamarind and getting a tummy ache. Given a chance I’d re-live those moments all over again.

Warm lazy nights, cloudless starry sky, lying on the overhead water tank, listening to Roxette! Errrr…Have I mentioned this before? :D

Loooooooooooooong showers, sometimes even thrice a day. I’d rather just stay in the shower for as long as I can!

Iced tea!

Mango milk, mango juice, mango pickle… actually all things mango. This season the mango yield was substantially low here. But thanks to Auntie M who brought us a box full of ripe mangoes from Hyderabad.

Train journeys. We used to wait endlessly, for these were a boon during the summer when we get to visit our gramms.

Sorry, I tried real hard; just couldn’t come up with 1 more thing I love about summer!

To be perfectly candid, I’m sure this tag was started by someone from a more wintry part of the world. How else can you justify this tag?

Now that we’re on it, I think I’d like to list a few things I loathe/loathed about summer too. Hee hee.

The most obvious point? The heat itself!

Bus rides. I hate them, cos the inside of the bus has this strong odour of a combination of sweat and urine of at least 50 different people. And when I get out, I’m sweaty and stinky too. Yuckkk!

The traffic and the unmanageable temper of the commuters. I’ve noticed that this is more during the summer than during other seasons.

Waiting for exam results. I absolutely hated this!

Headaches. It would frequent during the summer. :-/

Now that was easy!

Whom should I tag? Anyone who would like to take it. Also, if you want to list things you dislike about summer instead of the things you like, go ahead and do it. :)

A Stranger’s Masquerade

2007-05-20T20:51:00.000+05:30

This post is in response to this week's prompt at Sunday Scribblings: Masks.

She grew up learning that they all needed to wear masks. She was practically fed with details every single day on what masks to wear and when.

When she was three, her mum asked her to say “please” when she had to request something, or “thank you” when she had to display her gratitude, especially with people whom we grammatically categorize as “third person”; nonetheless she never bothered to say a “please” or “thank you” at home with her parents or siblings.
She was told to wear a mask.

When she was seven, her parents told her to smile and be gentle with relatives, friends (other inconsequential people); people that didn’t mean anything to her, but she had to behave that way so she didn’t eventually hurt anyone.
She was told to wear a mask.

When she was twelve, she was told not to brag about her test scores (the fact was, she was over-confident that she was scoring better than more than half of the students in her class). But no, she shouldn’t! She should be polite.
She was told to wear a mask.

When she was sixteen, she was told to hide her emotions and pretend that all was well, when in reality, nothing was. Again, she was told to wear a mask, or not!

Over the years, she has come to realize that now she’s actually being herself outside home and wearing a mask at home!

Click here for more masks at Sunday Scribblings.

Older Men?

2007-05-19T05:53:00.000+05:30

People at work have decided to go watch Spidey 3 and I thought that it was a good idea to take my 14-year old cousin V who is supposedly bored at home during the summer, save her only entertainment; her IIT preparatory classes. This was part of the conversation we had.

Me: Our office has decided to take us to Spiderman 3 on Monday, wanna join?

Cousin V: oooh! You’re gonna go watch that movie? It wasn’t all that great you know, more like our Indian masala.

Me: Ok. So you’ve watched it! Any chance that you may want to go once again? (Duh! She just sounded like she wished she didn’t watch it the first time.)

Cousin V: Noooo. Won’t your office to take you to The Pirates of Caribbean - 3? Then I could join.

Me: No, but we could go if you want to. (I didn’t even know there was a 3rd part :|)

She sighed, we talked about this and that (Johnny Depp taking up a big portion of our time), and hung-up.

So basically, while I go watch Tobey Maguire, she’s drooling over older men like Johhny Depp! :-/ Am I to learn a lesson here?

Not dead yet... a second chance

2007-05-15T09:34:00.000+05:30

When Emily hurriedly left from home that afternoon, she had a feeling that something was not quite right. She didn’t often receive such premonitions; precisely the reason why she couldn’t bring herself to think that “something was wrong”, instead she just thought that her inner feeling meant that “something was not quite right!”

Her 3:00 ‘o clock appointment on Sunday afternoon was long gone; and not met. She could scarcely remember what day or time it was now. She was barely 22, tall, about five feet eight, slender, had the body of a angel and the eyes of an adolescent. She wore a knee-length fitting black skirt and a beige open neck shirt that vaunted her full bosom. But right now, none of the boasting beauty showed in her eyes. She was unconscious and all that was left of her beautiful face was a gag in her mouth. Her legs haphazardly placed and her hands bound against her back and held together with piano wires. Her cheeks were blotched red, possibly as a result of hours of crying.

She half opened her eyes praying hard and hoping it were all a dream and that when she woke up, she’d be in her warm cozy bed with her dog Patsy excitedly licking at her face. Sadly, it wasn’t.

Oh God, please let this not be true, she prayed.

The harsh reality struck on her when she realized that these weren’t the walls of her room after all. When she finally woke up, her head still reeling from what she thought was the aftermath of some kind of strong drug that would have been induced upon her, it seemed to her that she could vaguely smell the sea, very close to where she was kept. She instantly became fully awake, tried to clear her head and thought of the last dreaded time he entered this same room.

“How much do you love me”, he had asked her. And when she hadn’t answered, he had grotesquely tortured her until she screamed out for help. And then, he had drugged her and tied her up.

She could still see two of everything. Her mind wasn’t clear yet. She tried to wriggle out of her bound hands but her body refused to co-operate; she fell back asleep knowing there is absolutely nothing she could do to free herself from the confinement.

She didn’t know how many hours, or days perhaps, she had been lying there until she didn’t feel the pain anymore. She was in the same room when she opened her eyes once again. Only this time, she wasn't gagged and her hands were unfastened. The man had been here, in this very same room, untied her hands.

The scent of the sea returned, along with the musty smell of the walls. She couldn’t hear it, but she was sure it was close. She couldn’t possibly be wrong on that one. How many many days had she spent on the sparkling sands of the beach 13 (or was it 14) years ago.

All those memories came flooding back to her; her parents and she driving to the beach two hours away from their home, Emily nonchalantly kicking sand behind her while running across the sandy beach, watching her delicate feet sink into the damp sand while the waves left the shore, inhaling the sent of the sea, letting the sea water lap against her hair while she playfully dipped her head into the waves, making the weirdest shaped sand castles with her castle equipment and cleverly asking her daddy if she did a good job (knowing well that she was daddy’s girl and he’d never do or say anything to hurt her).

All this and more came crashing down her memory lane, while lying in the bare bed. Her body was beaten, sore, and numb from the trashing she endured before. She regretted leaving her cozy apartment, leaving her faithful dog Patsy behind, leaving for her 3:00 ‘o clock appointment a little later than required, rushing to catch a cab, jumping out of the cab in a hurry, jaywalking, getting kidnapped!!!

She tried to scream out for help but all that her physical condition allowed her to do was let out a dull croak that merely came out as a whisper from her throat; she finally drifted off to sleep praying again that someone would find her, someone would save her, that in the remotest of possibilities she would (might?) be able to go all the way over and alter her course of actions. If only she had a second chance, to change her plans… Then, she would probably be able to play along the sands of her favorite beach once again, once again, until the next time!

PS: A work of fiction for Sunday Scribblings.

Happy Birthday, KK

2007-05-15T05:57:00.000+05:30

Today is my BIL's Happy Birthdayyy :D. So here's a lil poem (that I stole) for him...

Instead of counting candles,
Or tallying the years,
Contemplate your blessings,
As your birthday nears.
Consider special people
Who love you, and who care,
And others who’ve enriched your life
Just by being there.
Think about the memories
Passing years can never mar,
Experiences great and small
That have made you who you are.
Another year is a happy gift,
So cut your cake, and say,
"Instead of counting birthdays,
I count blessings every day!"

Source: Internet

Essentials - I

2007-05-09T01:18:00.000+05:30

An excerpt from The Kite Runner. One of the many lessons…

We were upstairs in Baba’s study, the smoking room, when I told him what Mullah Fatiullah Khan had taught us in class. Baba was pouring himself a whiskey from the bar he had built in the corner of the room. He listened, nodded, took a sip from his drink. Then he lowered himself into the leather sofa, put down his drink, and propped me up on his lap. I felt as if I were sitting on a pair of tree trunks. He took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose, the air hissing through his mustache for what seemed an eternity I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to hug him or leap from his lap in mortal fear.

“I see you’ve confused what you’re learning in school with actual education,” he said in his thick voice.

“But if what he said is true then does it make you a sinner, Baba?”

“Hmm.” Baba crushed an ice cube between his teeth. “Do you want to know what your father thinks about sin?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll tell you,” Baba said, “but first understand this and understand it now, Amir: You’ll never learn anything of value from those bearded idiots.”

“You mean Mullah Fatiullah Khan?”

Baba gestured with his glass. The ice clinked. “I mean all of them. Piss on the beards of all those self-righteous monkeys.”

I began to giggle. The image of Baba pissing on the beard of any monkey, self-righteous or otherwise, was too much.

“They do nothing but thumb their prayer beads and recite a book written in a tongue they don’t even understand.” He took a sip. “God help us all if Afghanistan ever falls into their hands.”

“But Mullah Fatiullah Khan seems nice,” I managed between bursts of tittering.

“So did Genghis Khan,” Baba said. “But enough about that. You asked about sin and I want to tell you. Are you listening?”

“Yes,” I said, pressing my lips together. But a chortle escaped through my nose and made a snorting sound. That got me giggling again.

Baba’s stony eyes bore into mine and, just like that, I wasn’t laughing anymore. “I mean to speak to you man to man. Do you think you can handle that for once?”

“Yes, Baba jan,” I muttered, marveling, not for the first time, at how badly Baba could sting me with so few words. We’d had a fleeting good moment--it wasn’t often Baba talked to me, let alone on his lap--and I’d been a fool to waste it.

“Good,” Baba said, but his eyes wondered. “Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. Do you understand that?”

“No, Baba jan,” I said, desperately wishing I did. I didn’t want to disappoint him again.
Baba heaved a sigh of impatience. That stung too, because he was not an impatient man.

“When you kill a man, you steal a life,” Baba said. “You steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. Do you see?”

I did.

“There is no act more wretched than stealing, Amir,” Baba said. “A man who takes what’s not his to take, be it a life or a loaf of naan... I spit on such a man. And if I ever cross paths with him, God help him. Do you understand?”

I found the idea of Baba clobbering a thief both exhilarating and terribly frightening. “Yes, Baba.”

“If there’s a God out there, then I would hope he has more important things to attend to than my drinking scotch or eating pork. Now, hop down. All this talk about sin has made me thirsty again.”

Colour me saffron, or whatever else

2007-05-05T05:04:00.000+05:30

While some people are still trying to figure this out, and while some others are praying hard that Peter Parker of the all-time Spidey fame doesn’t get killed in Spiderman – 3 (Oh grow up will 'ya. How else will they make millions of more dollars if they don't make SM-4 and SM-5?), here are the waves of water-colours that have been happening with me…

- Three Mondays back, on a hot sultry afternoon, after seven and a half hours of standing in many different queues and open grounds, waiting diligently for my turn on the test drive, I got my driver’s license at 4:30 in the evening. So, Yaay!!!

- Started reading and then discontinued a book called “The Seven Minutes” by Irving Wallace. I didn’t think it was even worth retaining that book and paying that extra money to the library! :-/ No really, I was waiting and waiting and waiting endlessly for it to catch on some speed, in vain! I rather liked “The Seventh Secret” by the same author. A fantastic read I should say; read it about 4 or 5 years back and wouldn’t mind reading it again, but my library doesn’t seem to have it (*sniff*) maybe because of the controversial nature of the plot; but they’ve stacked loads of hard-bound and paperback versions of The Da Vinci Code all the same!

- I’m also reading “Shock” by Robin Cook and it isn’t any different from an earlier read “Brain”. I’m hoping this would have a credible storyline.

- Recovered from a migraine that lasted 40 hours, one sleepless night, and a whole day of internal audit meetings and all things relating to the assessment. Get what I’m saying? It was a miracle I didn’t throw things at the auditors. :D. But clearly, I'd been rude to someone, 'cos he oh-so-sweetly sent me this!

- Watched Rang De Basanti again!!! :) One of the very very few Hindi movies that I watched not only in the theatre but also watched it again at home! :)

And oh, the song I picked for this week may not be as chirpy as schnappi, but will guarantee to bring a smile to your lips. Thank God for friends! :)

No one could ever know me, no one could ever see me.
Seems like you're the only one who knows what it's like to be me.
Someone to face the day with, make it through all the rest with,
Someone I'll always laugh with, even at my worst, I'm best with you.

It's like you're always stuck in second gear,
Well, it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year.
But I'll be there for you

PS: But really, how can a superhero (a cute one at that) die? :-/ Please tell me he’s not gonna die! :-P

Picture Courtesy: Google

The Nostalgic Factory!

2007-05-02T00:17:00.000+05:30

In an attempt to try and recover from this, and taking advantage of the same, I’m using bits and pieces of words to come up with this list. I’m gonna apologize in advance to those of you that aren’t an ex-colleague or a bum pal of mine, since most of this may not make sense to some of you.

Some of them cherished, some of them bitter-sweet, glad that I stopped with good memories. I’m sorry it’s a long list, but the memory traces back to 6 years or so; I just couldn’t help but list out the things closest to my heart…

Office pantry – 3 guys, 3 girls, the war of the sexes, albeit a pleasant one and mostly the girls winning over the guys by simply calling it quits. :-P You might think that’s lame, but you’ve gotta be one of us to get what I’m saying! :)

The Dal Roti bill dated 18/5/2006 neatly folded and tucked away in my purse. Probably the last time I had dinner there.

Hot afternoons, “Nature Fresh”, countless watermelon juices, Strawberry milkshakes, and chocolate milkshakes; need no explanation. (Should I add the pani puri I hated to take?)

Afternoon walks!

10:30 AM, office pantry, tea time, Nitin says “I’m bored, I wanna go home.”

3:30 PM, office pantry, tea time, Nitin says “I’m bored, I wanna go home.” :) That guy always wanted to leave from work as soon as he’d get in.

1:00 AM — office conference room, two people around the conference table, one of them quietly working/browsing (waiting for the office cab), me on a conference call.

Alternate working Saturdays, 20 of us, lunches at a restaurant.

Day offs when I was sick at home, friends dropping by with breakfast, lunch and dinner. Of sweet surprises! I wish I were sick more often. :-/

11:00 PM, frenzied fingers fighting over the mobile phone buttons, sending SMS.

Paying bills, finding a home by myself, getting LPG connection [grin], unlocking the doors to my home by myself (I loathed doing this), paying rent, managing expenses/budgets, endless futile walks to the BSNL telephone company for the broadband connection I never acquired.

Awful office food, hungry afternoons, a Woody’s dosa and strawberry milk! :D (self-explanatory)

Yahoo messenger, cyber hugs in indecipherable Mandarin Chinese which later turned out to be the official language of cyber hugs, cyber kisses, and all things lovey dovey! Thanks to “you-know-who-you-are” :)

6:00 PM, office TV room, two pairs of hands absently typing away on our respective laptops, F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

6:30 PM, office TV room, Seinfeld.

An electricity bill receipt dated 17/2/2006, again tucked away in my purse to keep reminding me of that snug little place I stayed in for a brief 5 months.

Snickers, snickers, and more snickers. I was just insatiable (then) and miraculously, his pocket would have enough money for them every single time. :)

Lunch at the office terrace, Sandy the scapegoat! Fun unlimited!

Sometime in May last year, basement bike park bye-byes and promises that eventually broke!

Alternate working Saturdays, me coyly trying to get permission from parents to spend those hot summer evenings at Besant Nagar beach with two half-wits (friends that happened to me) that I’m grateful for even to this day!

Two girls hopelessly oblivious to the world around them, chatting, giggling, and sharing the week's events while gracing Brigade road by foot, eVeRy SiNgLe WeEkEnD. Actually, I can’t seem to think of a single weekend that I didn’t follow that norm! Miss Punctual here would ensure I showed up!

V-factor and W-factor. It has been a little close to 3 years now and I still am clueless on what they mean, but I know it included Big B, Nitin, and me in some form. Any clues guys?

June 8th 2006, office terrace, two hung heads, an unspeakable truth, a tearful goodbye.

The second Saturday of September, Madras Boat Club, two pairs’ boats, two fours’ boats, more than half a dozen corporate crews (of at least 15 oarsmen and oarswomen in each crew), 6:00 AM, sweaty and stinky from the land workout, squinting our eyes from the morning sun, the half-broken raft taking in more sunburnt stomping legs than it can accommodate, threatening to sink any moment; frenzied fervor of the M&B semi-final races! I miss them tonnnnnnnneeess! In fact I rather liked the knock-outs and semi’s more than the finals itself.

The second Saturday of September, 4:00 PM, the Madras Boat Club filled with club members, hopeful friends, parents, media, the works; Men’s Fours finals, the race starts under the bridge, four men rowers, one woman coxswain, feverishly praying that we take the opponent. Of sweet success! :) I think I did justice by mentioning the M&B as a grand finale, didn’t I? ;)

Phew! That was some list! And if you thought this one was long, I think I’ll still have more to add even moments after I post it. Sorry about the long sentence construct in most of them. Remember I'm still suffering from this? ;)

And oh, thanks for your patience. I feel like a river of memoirs has just flown out of me.

Wings

2007-04-29T01:04:00.000+05:30

A few random thoughts that occurred to me when the word “wings” came to my mind:

- The wings of change… I should say is quite apt with the way my life is going on right now. And I’m not talking about the minuscule changes or differences in my current lifestyle. These are copious changes both in my personal and as well as professional life. I’ll just leave it at that.

- Soaring to the heavens…What must it feel like to watch our dear earth from up there?

- From high up there I can see small boats bobbing away on the high waves sailing quietly on the far river below.

- To be able to get over the fear of height (yes, I’m scared of heights)

- Wings of freedom…moving out of our home and living by myself in a different city; of a little freedom and a little flight :) Although only for a brief period, but it did let my clipped wings grow and explore the unseen, unheard, and unsought. It’s a wholly different thing that I had to go through some terrible lonely moments, but I guess it was part of the deal!

- Angels!

- I want to take my parents on a vacation someplace outside the country (and actually let them use their passports before it expires or before I renew it for another useless period).

- I myself want to visit Rome, Egypt, and Paris (very soon, although I don’t know how soon or haven’t planned anything yet). I’ve read and seen sooo many many things enchanting about those places that my need to visit them is growing deeper and deeper by the day! Perhaps I'll use those wings someday!?! ;)

- This amazing song by Roxette!

- Chasing butterflies, or rather butterflies chasing me. When I was much younger I was quite scared of butterflies and moths; I was even bitten by a scorpion once, and my little finger grew as big as my big toe and went pink in a matter of seconds. :| Phew! I still am scared of some creepy insects; I hate how unpredictable they can be!

This post is in response to the prompt at Sunday Scribblings. Not my greatest scribble, but I guess this should suffice for now, since I seem to be sharing this illness with CM.

PS: Congratulations to Liani @ SS on her book release!

A lil humour

2007-04-26T06:25:00.000+05:30

I just couldn't help but share these...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A 3-year-old went with his dad to see a litter of kittens. On returning home, he breathlessly informed his mother that there were two boy kittens and two girl kittens.

"How did you know?" his mother asked.

"Daddy picked them up and looked underneath," he replied. "I think it's printed on the bottom."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For weeks, a 6-year old lad kept telling his first-grade teacher about the baby brother or sister that was expected at his house. One day the mother allowed the boy to feel the movements of the unborn child. The 6-year old was obviously impressed, but he made no comment. Furthermore, he stopped telling his teacher about the impending event. The teacher finally sat the boy on her lap and said, "Tommy,
whatever became of that baby brother or sister you were expecting at home?"

Tommy burst into tears and confessed, "I think Mommy ate it!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they drew. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's artwork. As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was. The girl replied, "I'm drawing God."

The teacher paused and said, "but no one knows what God looks like."

Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing the girl replied, "They will in a minute."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and this...

A hilarious way to separate whites and yolks!

Just break an egg into the separator, tilt it 45 degrees, and watch as the egg white drip out of his nose, leaving a perfect yolk inside the dish!

Source: Internet

They're officially engaged!

2007-04-25T22:53:00.000+05:30

I'm back!!! :D Not to mention that my back isn't back in action yet! Monday last, my sis and BIL-to-be were officially engaged. Amidst a tonne of chaos (of which my sister doesn't know a thing) the ceremony went on smoothly. I didn't in the least expect that an engagement or nichyadhartham (in Tamizh) would be done in such a tremendous fashion. I expected the presents to be exchanged, the deed to be read and ta daaa its over, we go back home! But no, this was such an expansive thingy. Go here for pictures and you'll know what I'm talking about (at least the TamBrahms would)!

Alrite, I may (or may not) be back with more on the engagement ceremony itself, but it all depends on how much I want to rant about it, but thats it for now. Go on and view the pictures and read the captions under each to understand the flow better. :D

For memory, there is no hiding place…

2007-04-21T01:25:00.000+05:30

Been feeling kinda lost these past few days; I’m not even sure if “lost” is the right word, what about “helpless”??!?!

a lot like this or this!

Numb… disoriented… delirious... almost like a volcano ready to erupt, or a storm ready to break out; of applications and rejections (obviously not in the strict sense). Lately, things aren’t just happening the way I want it to.; I may sound selfish here, but I don’t think I care anymore.

I’ve been tearing myself away from people; friends, family, home… I even feel scared to keep the windows down while driving, or answer an email to a dear friend, or make a call to someone for that matter, lest they might judge my mood. I have this dirty habit of answering emails that have a tone of my current emotion (one of the reasons I couldn’t bring myself to post anything sensible); and end up writing something with brutal sarcasm. :-/ I know it’s not right, but what the hell!?!

I think it’s easier this way, shutting myself away. What do you know what’s happening inside the cocoon or what’s happening beneath the lake when the duck is paddling frantically, for that matter?

Been having an awful lot of differences of opinions with people at home; mum, dad, sis, and everybody else that call themselves ‘home’. I’m telling myself that maybe it’s just a passing phase, maybe I’ll try and comprehend their actions, or better yet, as time moves along, maybe they won’t be all this passé (and hopefully understand my way of perceiving things), or not!

With all the madness I’m still grateful for my mother, who surprisingly understands every little thing I do or say (or don’t say)… Mothers… what will we do without them!?!

Maybe I should break away, away from this rat race! Gonna have to quit this madness sooner or later, why not now?

Anyway, I’ll be back to being my chirpy self again… sooooon; although I might not be posting anything until after Tuesday next! Hopefully, I’ll be all perky by then! :) ta ta for now.

Picture Courtesy: Google

Quote

2007-04-13T22:35:00.000+05:30

for what shall i wield a dagger, o lord?
what can i pluck it out of
or plunge it into
when you are all the world?

- devara dasimayya
10th century Indian poet - saint

It's hard to argue ...

2007-04-11T02:05:00.000+05:30

Every time I read a new C&H strip (or re-read one that I've already read for that matter) I can't help but awe at the brilliance of Bill Watterson.

AND to think he can do all this through a 6-year old and a stuffed tiger toy is splendid!!!

And oh, Its "song of the week" time! This time, its an amazing track by Def Leppard called Long Long way to go!

Stay happy, have lotsa fun, and cheers from me and Hobbes! :D

Offices I’ve been with

2007-04-09T10:50:00.000+05:30

Three reasons why this post is here:

1. One, I wanted to start posting a few pictures online and while I was browsing through the little collection I had, it appeared I wanted to post all of them [grin]. Didn’t want to post all of them here, and so I thought that maybe I’ll post a couple of pictures from each office I’ve been with. Six years, five offices; so that’s a LOT of pictures.

2. Two, I received this via email from one of my blog friends “PS: PPPPP HHHHHH OOOOO TTTTTTT OOOOO please = )”. I MUST begin to understand English! :-/

3. and three, I haven’t learned to use flickr yet! I know…that’s a lame excuse. My sister is a computer goon and she uses it herself. I’ll learn it from her soon. Its not as if I don’t want to use flickr, it’s just that it needs two things that I lack; time and patience. :-/. Until then bear with me and please don’t curse me if these images take a long time to load.

Sooo, on public demand, here are a few. These are in the order of my employment starting from being a fresher. You might have to click on each of pics to view it in a better resolution. Also, most of these pictures date back to 2002 or earlier so they may not be of very great quality.

This one is at the Tidel parking lot. Don’t ask me whose bike it is; it was parked in an unauthorized space and both of just decided to get a little silly. :-P

Tidel parking lot. I’m the one in blue; which blue?

This one's from my first company again. And no, I don’t look anything like this anymore. Gone are the days when I was pencil thin.

Bum pals. Aj and I. I’m the one in pink :D

Now you get what I’m saying? This one is from my second employment. The best birthday I’ve ever had. Thanks to all of them that made my day! :)

Pantry - 2004 Birthday

Again, my second office. This is how the inside of the office looks like.

At my desk

Office number three. I was here for a brief five months and don’t have many pictures from here.

2005 Birthday

My previous employment. This was taken moments before we left on one of the office trips. Sorry I just couldn’t find a pic of me here.

Doesn’t look like office space? Well, what can I say!

View from my desk

This one is from my current office. We’re sitting right next to the Director of the Company (the man that runs the show) and mostly fool around right under his nose. :|

Aaah! I hope these images didn't sit on your bandwidth. I promise I'll post all subsequent pictures on flickr or whatever other image hosting site.

Sunday Scribblings: #54 - In the news

2007-04-07T10:35:00.000+05:30

This may not directly relate to Sunday Scribbling, but the prompt for this week is “In the news” and its in perfect timing! ‘Cos I've news, AND its BIG, at least compared to the ones from the recent past.

My sister’s wedding is officially fixed!!! :) and I’m soooo happy for her. As of now, only the engagement date is fixed, and right now I know nothing more than that.

However, I might use this space for more ramblings on wedding preparations and details of the actual wedding. Since this is the first big thingy in our family, I might muse, wonder, ponder, awe, etc etc right here! So for those of you interested in this thread, you may follow the Wedding Bells label. :)

Google pulls off April Fool’s again!

2007-04-05T00:43:00.000+05:30

Can you believe this?

Or this?

Click here to fool your friends too! :)

You might want to check out other refreshingly novel April Fool’s ideas by Google here, here, here, and here.

It figures!

2007-04-03T04:13:00.000+05:30

I love playing around with numbers. But it is one thing to be creating a 3000 hour project plan (in the middle of what you could call a million other insignificant things) and a totally different thing to be fooling around with the one of the zillion cool tools from Google.

About a month ago, a friend sent me this email (verbatim).

“I’m doing it again! Yes, marketing Google technology… now get your butt here right now and paste the 4 line code in your blog and watch magic happen.

The tool is amazing, belongs to Google and is free… need I say more? :-)”

From that email, as you can see, I understood absolutely nothing! But after reading those words “… watch magic happen…” you’re not left with much choice, are you? I cursed him under my breath for being his usual inexplicit self and tried to focus my peanut-sized brain on what exactly Analytics really was!

In simple words, it’s a site tracking tool! But oh, GoOgLe can’t ever be explained that simply can it?

But when I drilled into the tool, I found that it wasn’t any different from my project schedule, really! Try and average out the number of days to completion, resources, completion percentage, milestones, and a loads of other project-related tasks … to … the number of visitors per day, who visited your site, from where, how long did their visit last, most popular posts, goals (if you’ve set any) and a million other important stuff about your site as opposed to the load of totally trivial data that goes into my project plan (Phew! I pray my boss isn’t reading this!)

Anyway, here’s the summary page (you’re gonna have to click on each of those images to see it a bit more legibly)

With only a little more than 5% of my visitors returning to my page, it appears, my visitor loyalty is pretty low. :-/

See those top three references below? Thanks to Supernova, Mush, and Sunday Scribblings in that order. :)

This one’s interesting: Google actually gives you a list of search terms that led to your site. Apparently, the schnappi song has been the most popular search term. Check out the one highlighted in red. No seriously, what were they looking for? :-/

As you can see, I’m absolutely in love with this number crunching tool, simply because I keep finding newer and newer things about it everyday!

I’m not gonna tell you anymore about what Analytics can do for you on a click of the mouse. Like my friend said, you may want to get your butt there yourself! ;)

'appy birthdayyyy!!!!

2007-04-01T21:30:00.000+05:30

Your whole life is in front of you, you've only just begun
So Happy Birthday
The best is yet to come

The good things I could say about you are infinite
But I will only take a minute
To say the world is a better place with you in it

Happy Birthday!!!

Muuuuuuuuuaaaah! >:D<

PS: sorry honey, didn't have the patience to write a poem :D stole the lyrics from here, but believe me, every syllable holds good for you. Phew! Had to search high and low to find some words that describe you near perfectly!

Teabags, are we?

2007-03-29T06:12:00.000+05:30

"Women are like teabags. We don't know our true strength until we are in hot water!"
— Eleanor Roosevelt

The song of the week this time around, is a sooper duper one by Cutting Crew, Died in Your Arms Tonight. I absolutely love this song and am definitely gonna sing it along for the rest of the week. :)

cheers!

Pass me that bottle of aspirin… please

2007-03-28T04:45:00.000+05:30

I was fetching a bottle of water from the water dispenser at work and couldn’t help overhearing this conversation between two associates I didn’t know.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. X: [leaning against the wall, absently dipping the tea bag into his cup of milk with total disappointment on his face] Oh no! Now what will happen of their future?

Mr. Y: [holding a cup of coffee in his hand, suddenly all interested and perky eared] Who’s future?

Mr. X: Indian cricket team’s.

Mr. Y: Ooh! We’re talking about the Indian cricket team, are we? [with a smirk]

Mr. Y now recalls how Mr. X and his friends spent a few extra bucks on the Indian team t-shirt (something that he'd would'nt ordinarily do) and wore it the whole day at work just a few days ago.

Mr. X: Yeah! Who would’ve thought that they would lose so disgracefully?

Mr. Y: Are you saying you didn’t expect this? [barely hiding his smile now]

Mr. X: Well! * sigh * Now the BCCI are going to convene again and are going to take some grave decisions that may affect the current team strongly.

Mr. Y: hmm. [trying to look all thoughtful now]

Mr. X: what do you think will happen?

Mr. Y: Me? [taken aback by the sudden interrogation] I don’t think there’s any need to think about them.

Mr. X [openly offended] What do you mean?

Mr. Y lets a few seconds pass before he answers.

Mr. Y: umm. Did you know that we tested the Astra air missile successfully a coupla days ago?

Mr. X: huh? What does that got to do with the Indian cricket team?

By now, Mr. Y was getting a little impatient.

Mr. Y: Well? Did you, or didn’t you?

Mr. X gives him a sheepish no for an answer.

Mr. X: But I still don’t understand what you’re getting at.

Mr. Y: Not that sport is any less important, but did you know that India is growing dramatically in the Science & Technology and IT sectors among others? Have you ever wondered how bright India’s future is in those sectors?

Mr. X baffled, doesn’t know how to defend himself.

---------------------------------------------------------------

The way I look at it, at least if India did a fairly good job at the world cup, Mr. X would've had something to back his argument with! Tch tch tch...

Do our boys have the faintest idea how many poor Mr. X’s are fumbling with words out there?

Another piece of conversation; I was involved in this one! :)

Four gloomy faces (my team members) walk out of one of the conference rooms. They’ve just taken a test for one of the certification programmes our company is offering. All of them said that they hadn’t performed well, except one; this one said that he’d nearly pass. (Psst: the pass score for this test is 70%). One needs to take a series of tests before one can appear for the final exam for this particular programme, and their percentile scores are added up as well.

When I asked the other guys why they couldn’t perform as well as this one did, one of them retorted proudly: “He’s like the Indian cricket team. They perform well during the warm up matches, but fail miserably during the finals. And WE, we’re like the Australians, we perform badly during the initial matches, and then miraculously take the trophy home!” [all the while having that jubilant grin on his face].

To think our cricket team has become the butt of all jokes is very sad.

But I can’t take this any longer! I’m done listening to jokes and reading forwarded emails and sms’ on the cricket team. Pass me that bottle of aspirin… please. Thank you!

Sunday Scribblings: #52 - In the Kitchen

2007-03-24T11:08:00.000+05:30

All’s well that ends [at least half as] well!

Having to make your own meal, and knowing that it’s ONLY for yourself can sometimes get to your nerves. Not when you’re 25 and all grown up, you say? *Sigh*

Well! It’s not as if I don’t like to cook. I’m pretty decent at South Indian cuisine. But it’s the postmortem activities such as cleaning up the mess that gets onto me. When I was living alone, and when I DID cook at home occasionally, I used to sit on the kitchen counter and eat directly from the same dish I cooked on, to save the ordeal of washing some extra dishes. :D

The part where I screwed up big time was during one of those days when I decided to cook not only for myself, but for another poor soul as well. It happened a little more than a year ago. I was late from work and just as I was leaving, it started to drizzle. A colleague and friend of mine, offered to make a quick dash and drop me home before it started to get heavy. As luck would have it, just as he dropped me outside my house, it started to pour.

Following a little etiquette, I invited him inside and we ended up bitching about some work people, all the while waiting for the rains to stop. Before long we realized that it didn’t seem to cease anytime soon and I volunteered to make dinner for the two of us. This was my first mistake. But it wasn’t just mine, was it? He should know better than that!!

I used up almost an entire hour to make a simple meal of rice, rasam, and ladies finger curry. Usually, when I cook, the only distraction would be the music from the radio or television. So obviously, with all the talking adding to the pressure of cooking, I don’t have to mention that my concentration was hardly on the stove.

Lotsa talking, very little concentration, lack of a fully equipped kitchen and ingredients! Consequence? Rasam as was good as salt water and the curry was only partially cooked.

If it was a disaster, thankfully, he never reacted to it. :)

Click here, to read more scribblings.

She won... again!!!

2007-03-24T03:59:00.000+05:30

A Classic...

Something mystical about that tall sloping "R" ever soo neatly drawfing the other letters.

Words fail me. I just completed reading this book and can't help thinking how brilliant it is.

I'm definitely gonna write substantially about it some day!

Psychotic?!?

2007-03-23T09:37:00.000+05:30

Well! What can I say? A handful of my friends (if not all) would completely agree with the fact. And now it’s proven! A friend insisted I take this test (and not forget to mention the score to her, of course). I should mention that I was busy trying to get my grey cells working on that estimate my boss had asked me for and wasn’t one bit interested in taking that test then. But upon her further persistence, I finally took it. As it turned out, the test seemed to have been designed just for ME!

And guess what? I’m suffering from Bipolar Disorder with serious symptoms (as the quiz results put it). Now you know who you should stay away from.

Anyway, my test score was 54. Care to take it?

Oh and before I sign-off, this time, the song of the week happens to be Affirmation from Savage Garden. There’s simply so much depth in this song!

I believe the sun should never set upon an argument
..
..
I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned
..
..
I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye
..
..
I believe forgiveness is the key to your unhappiness
..
..
I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned

I believe in them too :)

Sunday Scribblings: #51 - Inspiration

2007-03-20T02:35:00.000+05:30

Was down with fever these past few days and all that hype about shopping over the weekend, eventually ended with a lot of sleeping and taking medicines! :-/

Anyway, I guess I’m a little late for this week’s prompt at Sunday Scribblings, but not too late, I’m almost there!

This week’s prompt was Inspiration; what inspires me, what doesn’t, et al. I didn’t spend too much time thinking over this one and therefore just about listed a few things that came to my mind right now.

Lying on my back on the terrace watching the stars on a still cloudless night (away from mobile phones)

Interesting sign-boards

Interesting advertisements on TV :D

Personalized mail (not the email kind, the one that arrives through post; and does not include my bank or credit card statements either)

Music (absolutely any kind)

Hot tea and homemade bajji’s on a cold rainy afternoon :)

Tax refunds (I’ve got this only once in the past, but wouldn’t mind receiving more often. :-P)

Strawberry milk

Friends

Nature photography

Travel; anywhere

Major inspiration to write? YOU guys!!! :)

There's more, but this is all I can think of right now.
Click here, for more inspirations.

Holy war?!?

2007-03-16T22:53:00.000+05:30

I happened to stumble upon this, between this and the weekend. Apparently, this guy (a follower of Islam) from Germany wanted to name his son “Jihad” (or “Holy Struggle to please God” as wiki puts it), and the Berlin authorities rejected his application quoting it as an inappropriate name for a child. Eventually, this man fought for it, and the Berlin court countermanded the ruling, and let him name his son Jihad.

Notwithstanding how holy it may be why would anyone want to name their child “holy struggle”? Beats me :-/ But who am I to ask, if it’s a commonly used name in the religion.

All that side, it’s funny how some “people” (as Big B would like to call them :-P), conveniently re-interpret its meaning to “Holy War” and end up doing certain unpleasant activities under that name!?! I wonder if God really approves of it! Would they rather ask their God before they indulge in it or justify it?

Wanna read some of the rules of Jihad and its ethical limits? Go here, but ask me no questions, ‘cos I haven’t read it myself and obviously don’t want to entertain cultural differences.

Since I’ve been driving my mum crazee ...

2007-03-15T00:07:00.000+05:30

...with my Schnee scha schnappi song every morning at the kitchen doorway (not to mention, trying to sing it with that 6-year old’s voice :D), I’ve decided to change the song this week. It’s an amazing track by Daniel Bedinfield; the lyrics made me weak at my knees…

“I don’t wanna run away, but I can’t take it, I don’t understand
If I’m not made for you, then why does my heart tell me that I am”

Awww!!!

And yay! Its Wednesday; just two more days to the weekend (ohhh dumb ass; its Wednesday morning, that’s three days to the weekend :-/). I’m soo looking forward to a weekend of a sleeping, shopping, writing (sunday scribbiling possibly), and a lot of uninterrupted reading.

Sunday Scribblings: #50 - Dream Journey

2007-03-11T02:21:00.000+05:30

I always wanted to Sunday Scribble. And this week’s scribbling challenge happened to be two of my favorites; Dream! and Journey! :) Actually I’m supposed to write about my dream journey, but I think I’m gonna twist it a little (to suit my convenience) and make it “A journey in my dream”. So go on and read it (if you can make it to the end, that is) and do comment. :)

My earliest memories of a dream journey was someplace in the English countryside. I absolutely hate the Americas and hated everything to do with living there. If there is a journey I always would like to take (either in the near or far future), it HAS to be a calm, serene, country side…umm… alongside the sea maybe. Alright, here’s my first attempt at scribbling.

-------------------------------------------

Last night …

… I dreamt that I was atop a cliff, more like a last bit of a hill that one could reach to. I was standing a good five feet away from the edge of what could be at least a 200 km drop into the crevice below. Ahead, was another tall rock, which appeared to be much too close to the one I was standing on. This one had a hard, almost round rock above it that looked like it would topple off the edge any moment. The rock looked dark on it base and bright and shiny on top; the result of enduring the stiff hard stormy winds on itself perhaps during the winter and the harsh rays of the sun during the warmer days. Even whilst standing there trying to get an idea of where exactly I’ve landed, I found myself slowly rocking back and forth without my own might along with the wind; my hair ever so slightly caressing my face.

I took a few steps forward to try and get a glimpse of what lay beneath. The sun wasn’t bright enough and I had to squint my eyes to get a clear picture of what looked like thick bushes in a deep green colour or black. I shivered and instantly stepped back to what I thought was a much safer distance from the edge of the cliff, when I realized that I wasn’t actually reeling from the shock of looking down, but had shivered because of the chill. Quite strangely, I was not wearing warm clothes to keep me from the chill. I proceeded thence, to wrap my hands around me in a hug, to brace myself against the winds, still wondering what brought me there. On an impulse, I looked up and found soft cotton clouds being hurried from one mountain peak to another by the strong winds. The clouds, each racing against the other, as though, hastening ahead to greedily clutch the next summit ever so tenderly, with their soft fluffy arms; each time, letting it go, and rushing to the next.

My uncertainty about where I was standing then, remained unsolved even as I turned around with much apprehension to see where the narrow path lead to. The path looked like it had been traveled upon very sparingly. I took it either ways, because I considered that there couldn’t have been any other way I would’ve gotten up here.

On either side of the long winding narrow path were tall eucalyptus trees and thick unkempt short plants of what appeared to be wild rose bushes. I could have stopped by and picked one of those flowers, but didn’t. My mind a whirlwind, I ignored them, even as they appeared to be greatly tempting. Each time I took a turn, I desired to make a fortunate discovery of land, of a clearing, where I should find an explanation. As the road gradually sloped downward, and my disappointment mounting to its peak, I found that the trees started to decline in number and tall grass took its place. Further down, the path had the impression of being taken by many, through the years.

Abruptly, as though someone were listening to my heart’s call, the grass around me cleared and I could see a tiny stone cottage in the distance. I could tell that it is being inhabited by the steady smoke coming from the chimney. I took shorter quicker steps toward the cottage; and as I neared it, I realized that it wasn’t as small as it appeared to be. The cottage itself was buried deep inside a large garden surrounded by white fence. The huge iron gates were kept open, as though telling me that I should get in at once. I tried to ignore the garden once again as did I at the mountain path and hurried through the neatly kept wide pathway; wide enough for a car or two to comfortably steer through. The roses caught my attention once again, as this time the flowers were neatly maintained, watered and looked fresh and delicate. The right side of the garden was filled with bright yellow roses dotted with white ones in between.

As I was standing there taking in the beauty of the flowers, the sound of someone talking brought me back to reality with a yank. I quickly turned around to find a 6 foot tall man dressed all in white blocking the door frame of the cottage. He must have said a little Good Afternoon which I didn't notice. He was smiling at me, almost like a grin and said “Your roses are glad to have you back, Madam!”

My eyes opened wide and it took me a few seconds to realize that he was in fact talking to me. Bewildered, I looked down at the roses once again, not wanting to look him in the eye; lest he might find the confusion on my face. “Your tea is ready to be served, Madam. Would you rather have it in the library?” he continued.

Continuing to feel like Alice in her little wonderland, for the first time since that afternoon at the mountain top, I spoke “Yes, yes I will”. He waited for me to make my move, and when I finally didn’t, he continued “The weather is blustery outside Madam. If I were you, I shan’t stay there. You should perhaps step inside”. Saying so, he stepped aside from the doorway, letting me in.

The hallway was made in grey and I was fully aware of the awkward clunky noise my shoes made against the hard wood floor. I continued behind the butler to the living room stepping into the plush carpet. If he was frustrated of the fact that I was walking on the expensive carpet with my soiled shoes still on, nothing of the disapproval showed on his face. Not allowing him to start another conversation, I quickly stepped out of my shoes and clumsily stepped into the carpet, letting my toes sink deep into it. There was a large ornate coffee table in the middle, with two low long couches around it.

For the first time since that afternoon, the hair on my nape settled back and my neck muscles relaxed involuntarily. Before I could look around the room any further, the butler showed me to the library and stepped away. The fireplace inside the library was set; and thick huge logs were burning inside it. I was grateful for the warmth that lapped on me; which instantly reminded me of the cold winds on the hill top. I brought my thoughts back to the room where I was standing and tried to concentrate, taking in each item, trying to figure out if I remembered anything about this room. I looked around the room in silence; the thick light-blue curtains against the windows were drawn. Books were stacked from floor to ceiling; the carpet a different colour now, I couldn’t remember what colour the carpet was in the living room. There were two comfortable chairs in front of the fireplace; its cushions that looked like it had been recently sat upon. The corners of the room were dotted with ornate souvenirs. At the far end of the room, there was a writing desk and a high straight-backed chair. A man was sitting on the chair and writing something on a paper with a long slender pen on his right hand. His left hand held down the paper on the blotter. I couldn’t see anymore of his tall figure and took a few steps in front to get a better view…

------------------------------

… and then, I woke up from my dream! Aaah! I sooo wish I were able to see who he was though ;) but hey; what the hell; so much for imagination! I’ve stretched it as much I as I could! :-D

OK maybe it’s not a dream journey; it appears to be a lot like a dream destination huh?! :D

Thanks to the ladies at Sunday Scribblings! :) I’m gonna try and be a regular.

Picture Courtesy: Google

Schnappi

2007-03-09T01:01:00.000+05:30

I've been listening to this song for almost the whole of this week; and been tapping my feet to its irresistible music :D

Here you go, the lyrics were originally written in German and the English translation is right below it.

Happy snapping! :)

GERMAN LYRICS

Ich bin Schnappi, das kleine Krokodil
Komm aus Ägypten,das liegt direkt am Nil
Zuerst lag ich in einem Ei
dann schni-,schna-,schnappte ich mich frei

Schni Schna Schnappi
Schnappi Schnappi Schnapp
Schni Schna Schnappi
Schnappi Schnappi Schnapp

Ich bin Schnappi, das kleine Krokodil
Hab scharfe Zähne, und davon ganz schön viel
Ich schnapp mir was ich schnappen kann
Ja ich schnapp zu, weil ich das so gut kann

Schni Schna Schnappi
Schnappi Schnappi Schnapp
Schni Schna Schnappi
Schnappi Schnappi Schnapp

Ich bin Schnappi, das kleine Krokodil
Ich schnappe gern, das ist mein Lieblingsspiel
Ich schleich mich an die Mama ran
Und zeig ihr wie ich schnappen kann

Schni Schna Schnappi
Schnappi Schnappi Schnapp
Schni Schna Schnappi
Schnappi Schnappi Schnapp

Ich bin Schnappi, das kleine Krokodil
Und vom Schnappen, da krieg ich nicht zu viel
Ich beiß dem Papi kurz ins Bein
Und dann, dann schlaf ich einfach ein

Schni Schna Schnappi
Schnappi Schnappi Schnapp (schnapp!)
Schni Schna Schnappi (ja!)
Schnappi Schnappi Schnapp (schnapp!)
Schni Schna Schnappi (hmm!)
Schnappi Schnappi Schnapp (ja!)
Schni Schna Schnappi
Schnappi (hmm) Schnappi Schnapp.

********************************************************

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

I am Snappy, the little crocodile
I come from Egypt, located at the Nile
I was trapped in my egg at first,
But snip-snap-snap and then it burst.

Snip Snap Snappy
Snappy Snappy Snap
Snip Snap Snappy
Snappy Snappy Snap

I am Snappy, the little crocodile
I have sharp teeth, show lots with every smile
I snap up everything I smell,
I snap because I can so well

Snip Snap Snappy
Snappy Snappy Snap
Snip Snap Snappy
Snappy Snappy Snap

I am Snappy, the little crocodile
I like to snap because it makes me smile
For my Mom, I’ll set a little trap
And then she’ll see how well that I can snap

Snip Snap Snappy
Snappy Snappy Snap
Snip Snap Snappy
Snappy Snappy Snap

I am Snappy, the little crocodile
I could go on snapping for a while
I’ll just bite my Papa on the toe
And then off to sleep I go

Snip Snap Snappy
Snappy Snappy Snap
Snip Snap Snappy
Snappy Snappy Snap.

Bwahahahaha

2007-03-07T09:12:00.000+05:30

Usually, the status message on my chat client would either indicate what music I’m listening to then or would simply say “Killer Migraine!” (meaning, stay away from me). And then, no one would bother me on chat until after that message is gone.

Cutting to the present, a long lost friend got online and buzzed me today. And quite neatly also slipped in the fact that he’d stay online from then on; obviously I was glad. Need you ask someone like me, who can spend the whole day chatting with five or more people at the same time!? (I’d like to call it multi-tasking :D)

Hours later when I got back to my desk after an utterly futile meeting, I found that this guy had broken his promise and gotten offline. This time, the status on my chat was “Dodooo! Where are you???” Not that he would hear, but it was worth the try. How you ask?

I had less than a dozen contacts online then, and 8 of them (which included some of them that haven’t talked to me in a while) buzzed me out of the blue. I could have taken a few responses and put it down right here, verbatim, but for the most part, all of them pretty much admitted to the fact that they were all dodo’s :D

How? Most of them, in some form or the other, were:

“I’m here! I’m here!” or “here I am :)” or “I'm right here! cant u see me?”

That WAS fun :D. Either they all agree that they’re dodo’s OR I have this silly habit of referring to one too many of them as dodo’s .... OR like one of them put it “well you have that effect on us... before your presence... we all feel like dodos :-P”

PS: Will tell you guys about this TOTALLY cool tool that I've been hooked onto for the past couple of weeks, in one of my subsequent posts. It was introduced to me by none other than the craziest human being I've met; Dodo!

PPS: And for those of you who hate reading long posts (and that means you Digital Monk), I've tried mighty best to keep this one short!

Wordless

2007-03-06T09:37:00.000+05:30

For all the times that I’ve been fretting over the unacceptable behavior of our traffic cops and sulking about the hopeless state of affairs on our roads, here’s one that made me smile. :)

I’ve been religiously following the “I’m grateful for” posts by Novel Nymph and Dharma. But it never occurred to me that I should start writing them too. Not that I will in the near future either! I’m not someone that can go by a timetable :-/

Anyway, I woke up a little later than usual this morning, and found that my legs just wouldn’t co-operate, they just felt like lead! :( :(. Anyway, with the anxious feeling of wanting to take the day off from work, I continued to drag those legs and started for work.

With the completely crapppieeee mood that I was in this morning (the heat making matters worse), I was astounded when that fat, dark, pot-bellied traffic cop frantically waving to vehicles trying to get their attention at the Cenotaph road / Mount road intersection, gave one more look at me, smiled, and let me go before he cut the signal for the ones behind me. :)

That gesture really made my day (at least for a couple of hours :D)

Aargh!

2007-03-02T07:44:00.000+05:30

I havent posted in a loooong time (at least by my standards). But before i get back to more frequent blogging (which i promise i will), i wanted to share this with you; some tragic photographs that really bore on me; moved me and had me stop working and spend a few silent moments... especially a few pictures from Afghanistan, Sudan, and Romania.

Tragedy is... they are all pictures from the 21st century.

PS: Apologies to all those bloggers for not having visited them in a while! :-/

Supernova, now that you have told that i've been tagged, I'll soon stop by and find out what that meme is all about :)

Save the Samjhauta? Oh Really!

2007-02-24T07:10:00.000+05:30

Save what?

I’m disturbed!!!

What’s bothering me?
Young children being sexually abused!? The Samjhauta express being bombed!? A bus getting burned down with more than a dozen girls trapped inside and the accused doesn’t get anywhere near a trial for years!?

Not really!

What disturbs me even more? They get into a trial; there’s a media hype, the politicians won’t give out a word about them terrorists (IF they got them into custody in the first place), special security personnel will be arranged to transfer them between the court and their fully furnished cell, non-vegetarian food will be provided for them once a week, precious time of our courts will be wasted, … the list is endless! Now where does the money for all this come from? I didn’t see our FM say anything about funds for terrorists in Feb last! :-/ Or maybe it falls under the funds allocated for Defense?!

But nah, I really don’t care about any of that shit! What bothers me most is that WE get burned down, WE get bombed, OUR children get gang-raped, AND, the government decides to run what they call a FAIR trial on these criminals with the money WE pay as taxes.

So basically, we pay the killers to get killed!

Even as our country still has a zillion things that needs improvement (which can well be managed within the tax money that is being collected), it really make me feel disgusted the way the government is approaching these issues!

Know what? If you ask me, they shouldn’t be spending TIME (whatever little our policemen have) and money on these inhuman people trying to run investigations or interrogations with them. What’s the point anyways? Whom are they trying to find? The brains behind it all?

I beg to differ. In my opinion, if they burn down a bus – we tie them together and burn them down, bomb them back, dunk them into the ocean, feed them to the wild, chop off their arms and legs and leave them on the road; I can think of a dozen other unmentionable ways. For one, it’s an easier verdict, find them, kill them… two; and most importantly, when they get the idea that this is what they will be suffering from if they get caught, there might be lesser and lesser crimes…

** Sigh **!! But Ma disagrees. In fact, she simply made a face and said “You’ve gone crazy!”

Maybe I have, but not by MY standards. I still think I'm right! :-D

This is what I prefer to call craziness!

Update!

2007-02-23T04:44:00.000+05:30

My car is back ... AND it looks as good as new.

With a little more than 19 grand sitting on it, it mighty well be!!!

And I'm gonna heed Dharma's advice here and get that license soon before my Learner’s License expires. :-D

Meet the Traffic - Be a Monopoly

2007-02-20T09:38:00.000+05:30

One of the ‘N’ things we gripe about every single day
But somehow manage to get through it anyway
A peek at the lighter side of it

If you have a license to drive (or even if don’t have one, like moi), then I’m sure you don’t need me (or anyone for that matter) to tell you how to drive.

Nevertheless, it is one thing to drive normally and a totally different thing to be driving on Indian roads. There are certain ground rules at it and if you don’t follow them, you’re not breaking any law, but you’ll simply look COMPLETELY out of league — a social outcast! Do you want to be one? No? Then read on; with a little help, you’ll be one of us too…

Your goal is not to arrive at the destination, but to cover the next half a kilometer successfully.

Be loud! Get the people to actually notice you. At traffic lights, leave no more than two inches between your vehicle and the one in front of you and honk away like it’s nobody’s business.

When taking off from a stop sign, floor the gas and pretend to take off with a jolt but quickly apply your brakes as fast as you took off. Confusing that little moron driving right behind you will make you feel like you’re on Mount Alps! :-D

Lane driving: D-o-n-’t try it and end up getting your car battered. Drive on any lane you feel like and swiftly move from one to the other leaving your fellow commuter totally bewildered! He’ll try to do the same to you and try to make you look like a fool, but if you’re experienced enough (read if you have the courage and skill), you wouldn’t let him do that, would you? Sooner or later, he’ll give up and accept defeat.

Much to the annoyance of the other people on the road, do, oh please do ramble into your mobile phones. Here’s an interesting theory to it that a fellow colleague related to me sometime back:

“You wake up very late in the morning and rush to work trying to avoid the morning traffic in vain. Then, when you get to work, your boss gets all the attention; besides, you can’t have a personal conversation when the work place is insanely quiet. During coffee breaks, you don’t get to speak to anyone on the phone, ‘cause that’s when all your fellow colleagues are sharing the newest gossip at work. Lunch break is pretty much ruled out too, ‘cause you’ve gotto respect the person sitting right in front of you; nopes, can’t yap away those glorious 20 minutes. When you get home, your wife nags you about a malfunctioning microwave, or a leaking tap in the bath! So that leaves you with the time you spend driving to and from work. Considering traveling takes away most part of the day, this is the only leisure time you’ve got, to talk to your friends.”

I should agree it’s a pretty sensible theory. So go on guys, please speak into those phone while on the road. You’re doing your boss, your colleagues, AND your wife a little favor.

Save those batteries. Use those headlights and turn-indicators sparingly!

If you’re confused on how to race against that nincompoop who overtook you a few seconds ago, don’t panic, just trust your instincts and race back at him. It never fails you know.

Wave your hand frantically out of the car every now and then. It doesn’t have to mean a thing, but it’ll confuse the shit out of the others.

Careful where you’re going. There will be a pothole, a puddle of water, a speed-bumper, every 10 yards separated at a 5 feet distance diagonally, vertically, AND horizontally. This is where following rule #4 really helps. Get the picture?

As a rule of thumb, never look in the eye of the Traffic cop. I’m NOT going to explain why. Some rules are better left unexplained!

Now for a quick reality check. Out of the points listed above, I follow 1, 4, 9, and 10 diligently.

So you tell me, am I an improvement or am I still a social outcast?

As funny as the above account may sound, I’m sure you’d agree that traveling on Indian roads is pretty painful. Thank God, Chennai isn’t so bad; we think twice about the infrastructure before we decide to let the IT companies exploit us. But, can you even begin to imagine driving on Mumbai or Bangalore roads? :-/

So I think we should stop fretting over it and start following these simple rules ;)

The Yukon Song

2007-02-20T03:34:00.000+05:30

Each time I read this peom, I get transported to a totally different world!

My tiger friend has got the sled,
And I have packed a snack.
We're all set for the trip ahead.
We're never coming back!

We're abandoning this life we've led!
So long, Mom and Pop!
We're sick of doing what you’ve said,
And now it's going to stop!

We're going where it snows all year,
Where life can have real meaning.
A place where we won’t have to hear,
"Your room could stand some cleaning."

The Yukon is the place for us!
That's where we want to live.
Up there we'll go to yell and cuss
And act real primitive.

We'll never have to go to school,
Forced into submission,
By monster, crabby teachers who'll
Make us learn addition.

We'll never have to clean a plate,
Of veggie glops and goos.
Messily we'll masticate,
Using any fork we choose!

The timber wolves will be our friends.
Well stay up late and howl,
At the moon, till nightmare ends,
Before going on the prowl.

Oh, what a life! we cannot wait,
To be in that arctic land,
Where we'll be masters of our fate,
And lead a life that's grand!

No more of parental rules!
We're heading for some snow!
Good riddance to those grown-up-ghouls!
We're leaving! Yukon Ho!

The Yukon Song
From: Yukon Ho!
Bill Watterson

What an evil eye can do…

2007-02-16T06:03:00.000+05:30

OK, my car is unwell. How, you ask? Well, here’s what happened last evening...

Yesterday my dad wanted to use the car and he asked me to get to work by bus. I could have very well asked him to take a rick to wherever he was headed. But not after he said that he needed to go somewhere close to Kancheepuram on work. So, the goody daughter that I am, I let him take the car.

Besides, I think one should take our very own MTC bus off and on. My fellow passengers double-up as my body guards, giving me that snug feeling throughout the ride, never letting me move an inch here or there, until I eventually decide to jump out.

But I really can’t complain, can I? Nopes! Not after the share-auto ride I had to take to reach work. On second thoughts, you could call it a “2 kilometer death-ride”. I had to practically grab at the railings of the rick, holding on to dear life not knowing for sure when I might get thrown out!

Somebody p-h-u-u-l-l-ease tell these share-auto guys that they need to check their rpm. During the little while that these guys wait for the traffic lights to change to green, which they do under extremely rare situations, you can feel your entire body shaking; cheeks jumping up and down, teeth rattling, butt getting displaced, and my spectacles gradually being moved from the bridge of my nose to the edge. And with both my hands holding onto either sides of the rick, you can assume how important (or unimportant) it becomes to adjust my glasses then! Phew! That was ONE helluva ride!

Anyway, back to the subject of how unwell my car is... As drained as I was when I reached home last night, I didn’t forget to take a look at my parking lot at home. Of course, it was parked there, as usual. But only when I went to take a closer look, did I notice the big gaping dent on its butt! Instantly I felt myself gasping for air “Ohmigod! How could this have possibly happened? Was there a car crash?” :-/

I quickly entered our home, waiting for an explanation. There was my dad, perched at his desk with papers strewn all over the table (he looked fine, so obviously he wasn’t hurt); and from the calm way he greeted me, you’d think that I could crash my car and bring it back every single night!

But well, I didn’t have to ask him a single question ‘cause he merely pointed out those dotted lines on the insurance papers where he needed my signature!

Aaargh! I feel awful! :(

Immortal

2007-02-15T07:37:00.000+05:30

Not that Val's day has any significant impact on me, but love? Oh love sure does [grin].

Found a few love quotes that I thought were flawlessly accurate...

"Love is never lost. If not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart."

~ Washington Irwing ~

"Marriage resembles a pair of shears, So joined that they cannot be separated; Often moving in opposite directions, Yet always punishing anyone who comes between them!"

~ Sydney Smith ~

"Just because you know someone doesn't mean you love them, and just because you don't know people doesn't mean you can't love them. You can fall in love with a complete stranger in a heartbeat, if God planned that route for you. So open your heart to strangers more often. You never know when God will throw that pass at you."

~ Heather Grove ~

"Love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone."

~ Mitch Albom ~

Have a wonderful week and a whole year of immortal love!!!

* Hugs *

Lessons Learnt!

2007-02-13T09:14:00.000+05:30

About three months ago, I had promised to write a review of Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner (the book was a birthday gift from my friends, last year). I read the book AGAIN last weekend, and this time after reading, I’m getting the feeling that I’m not qualified enough to write a review about a masterpiece that is The Kite Runner.

So I thought that I should maybe enumerate the lessons I learnt from this book; although I should mention that each time I read it, I get a different idea blooming from the same passage; from the same experience; from the same course of events that has been passed on to the reader.

Here goes:

One should take time to stop and listen to one’s dreams (or nightmares); analyze them maybe. If you sat still and listened to what they are conveying, it may tell you a great deal about yourself and about what others think of you.

Whilst chasing your dreams, do not forget the ones that helped you race with it, or the ones that raced at it WITH you just so YOU could reach it. Not because some day you might need their help again; but simply out of gratitude!

Indulge in all possible childhood pranks when you can; pick mulberries, chase butterflies, climb trees, hang from branches, make paper boats, get your knees dirty; the works! Chances are, you may not be able to do any of those later.

Love in a way that no one ever had or ever would again!

Don’t run into guilt trips too often. If you do, set a deadline for it, an upper threshold and then…let go.

“Perspective is a luxury when your mind is constantly buzzing with a swarm of demons” — in the words of the author himself. I don’t think it needs any explanation. Just think about it.

Give yourself a good cry if it makes you feel better. It’s ok to spend a few tearful minutes with a good friend. And NO, you’re not being selfish. Believe me, it will help take that pounding off your head.

Be loyal; it pays. The mask you’re wearing is gonna wear-off sooner or later.

Stop with good memories. Save them; a photograph, a hand-written letter, a tape-recorded voice; all heals.

When you forgive, it takes away the weight of the world from your shoulders and leaves the person that has just been forgiven, helpless, instead!!! Better yet, learn to forgive when it’s the toughest to.

Think twice before you say or do something; it may hurt. But of course, you wouldn’t know it unless you're on the receiving end, would you?

If you know you can be of assistance to someone in some way, and if you know that this is the right time, do it. It may be too late by the time you think you’ll do it another time.

What you learn at school is not education! It is what you learn from experience every single day that makes you a better person (although this is not the first book I read that’s telling me this).

To think the author could say all this and more through the mouths of two children barely in their teens, from Afghan... itself is fantabulous!

Excellent plot, and very well played with emotions; a novel about friendship and loyalty. I’m trying hard not to write a review here guys, so go on and read the book. Or better yet, come to me, I may surprise myself by lending it to you sometime. ;)

I’d say it’s a must read for each one of us!