tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79543112024-03-14T12:57:40.853+05:30MUNDANE STUFFJust the mundane stuff called life...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger93125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-76185540243584672342008-01-07T12:43:00.000+05:302008-01-07T12:49:33.074+05:30Should I or shouldnt I?It is a tough call <br /><br />I am considering to move Mundane Stuff lock stock and barrel to a new <a href="http://mundanestuff.wordpress.com">location</a> <br /><br />If anyone objects to this, please speak now or hold your peace forever(and of course continue reading)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-92152088058055228972008-01-05T00:33:00.000+05:302008-01-05T03:06:56.584+05:30Chicken soup for the dieter's soul<span style="font-weight:bold;">Channel 1:<br /></span><br />"Diet Now, Real People are losing real weight"<br /><br />"Diets dont work, weight watchers does"<br /><br />"Big Loser- brought to you by Jenny Craig"<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Channel 2:</span><br /><br />"Think Dip Think Arby"<br /><br />"Bacon Sausages and cheese for breakfast"<br /><br />"Eat all you can ribs for only $10"<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Channel 3:</span><br /><br />On a news channel for New Year<br /><br />Donor gives money to congregation for every pound lost by the pastor. Lets hear how he did it.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Channel 4:</span><br /><br />Buy XYZ cholestrol controller. Lipitor doesnt help. XYZ does. <br /><br />Side effects can include nausea, weight gain, sore backs, blindness in the right eye, stomach pain. Some patients have gone into coma. Consult your doctor.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Channel 5:</span><br /><br />Are you drowning in your credit. Call 865474286987693 to free yourself of this burden.<br /><br /><br />What is with this country called the United States of America?!<br /><br /><br />Apart from being convinced that the standard of average Indian advertising is way much better than America's, I have come to realise that people here are obssessed with losing weight and at the same time eating as much as they can. <br /><br />Apart from the Gem and Tele shopping network,the couch potato is beseeched by the food companies- low fat, no fat, high fibre, no trans fat, chicken soup for the dieters soul and the cheesy dips comes free. Then the pharmaceutical companies take over and woo people to try their products starting from weight loss pills to bladder control.Finally the credit and insurance guys step in and kiss away whatever is left of the TV watchers soul.<br /><br />So you eat all you can and gain weight, then lose all your credit worthiness by squandering on various weight loss and dieting techniques, and to save your loved ones you pay for insurance which will take care of your family once you die of obesity. That is one hell of a karmic cycle!<br /><br />Every food menu heralds hope for the health conscious with a motherhood statement of "Healthy options available " only to serve grape fruit and apple along with cheese sticks.Breakfast/brunch buffet spreads can put a King's feast to shame.<br /> <br />Go to any ihop/breakfast place and I can assure you that the only reason why anyone is eating that cheesy omlette is because there is an omlette to finish apart from the 4 pancake platter!<br /><br />If you havent had enough then dedicated TV channels showing extremely well maintained people working out only adds to the agony of the obese.Has anyone here stopped to wonder why do you need an all you can eat dessert counter in a breakfast buffet?<br /><br />Wonder which channel plays the path breaking advertising which is always talked about. The last one I saw was in a McDonalds outlet playing on loop in a TV installed by Coke!<br /><br />At the start of this vacation, I swore to myself I would soak in and watch as much TV as I possible could. Midway through the soujourn I have already switched off the TV and started blogging. I just pray fervently I dont become one of those them TV haters <br />by the time I leave.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-48530109194491070902007-12-11T14:18:00.000+05:302007-12-11T14:23:26.974+05:30Reading causes afflictionRead <a href="http://tangled-up-in-blues.blogspot.com/2007/11/another.html">her</a> <br /><br />and got the feeling that we are all suffering from the Ostrich Syndrome<br /><br />* Ostrich Syndrome- ostrich-like approach of burying the head in the sand hoping that the storm will pass.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-27263213818156108902007-12-07T23:25:00.000+05:302007-12-10T16:30:14.132+05:30Juliet Morris at home in Gurgaon!My cook Nisha is a busy soul. She just cant find the time to do a favour for me. But finally today she wasnt her busy and hoitty toitty self and I managed to gather an audience with her for 15 mins for a good champpi(head massage). <br /><br />Nisha is from Bangladesh and she cooks decently.As she parted my hair and poured warm oil on it, she asked me in her broken Hindi," Didi how many continents are there?" Of course she didnt sound as straight as that and it took me about two mins to decipher what she was asking me.I proceeded to name all the continents for her. <br /><br />Thought the quiz was over when she proceeded to ask me which was the smallest of them all? About two questions on Iraq skidded and passed by. When she asked me a question on India I said," You are a Bangladeshi, why do you want to know about India?". Pat came the reply in a voice which sounded hurt," India is my country."<br /><br />Finally I asked her if she was writing an exam of some sort, to which she replied, "These queries of mine have made me wiser for the day. When I go back home and teach my kids, I can tell them these points and they know something more than they currently do."<br /><br />A good part of the last week I have been preparing for a real geography quiz of sorts. Think the champpi session made a week of my efforts worthwhile.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-60997934842829172582007-11-06T10:39:00.001+05:302007-11-06T10:40:54.353+05:30Realisation of the day:I am sure a lot of you are waiting to agree with this.<br /><br />I am a Klutz...<br /><br />klutz (klŭts) <br />n. Slang.<br />A clumsy person.<br />A stupid person; a dolt.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-72028909359879168332007-11-05T22:13:00.000+05:302007-11-05T23:08:08.222+05:30Random thoughts from the mind of a random number generator<span style="font-weight:bold;">Random thoughts:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Heard over Radio:</span><br /><br />If you have the alphabets in your name to form the word mint you stand to won prizes worth Lakhs from i-mint.<br /><br />Thats easy! I have enough alphabets in my name to spell mint, ant,hash,lakhs,aim, halt, sham, list, last,lash, mash, hint, lint, knit,hit,aha(the expression)tail,shit!!<br /><br /><br />thought no.2:<br /><br />Every scripture written was a code of living of sorts for the age in which it was written. The Ramayana Mahabharatha, Thirukkural Guru Granth Sahib. What have we written? Isnt it high time we wrote something to capture our ways for posterity.<br /><br />thought no: 3<br /><br />I am reading a travelogue in which this very interesting character travels along a route tracing the Himalayas. He meanders into China and meets a very interesting character who conducts operas. He recollects a scene from the opera in which the old man plays a soothing tune and asks the audience,"Was it peaceful?" to which the audience agrees. Pat came the reply from the performer to their nods-"Then why not play it in the Isreal-Palestine border." He was playing to a high profile audience which included American Diplomats. I sometimes wish I could say something like that to someone. Sad part is no one is listening. <br /><br />But it almost heartening to know that the firing on the Isreal Palestine border affects this man in China as much as it affects me to hear about the emergency in Pak.<br /><br />thought no: 4<br /><br />I had a very interesting conversation with a young man from a premier business school. He was of the opinion that during campus recruitment, recruiters should not ask students their grades. <br /><br />I say, students should not ask the compensation figures once they join an organization!<br /><br /><br />Thought no:5 <br /><br />The baseline expectation of people from life has risen. Makes it that much more difficult for me to cope.<br /><br />Thought no: 6<br />Have you wondered why cities/areas which once flourished in trade/learning are in ruins/decline now?<br />Persia, Egypt, institutes of learning-Nalanda and many more.<br /><br />Wonder what will happen to Mumbai, Delhi Pune soon.<br /><br />Thought no:7<br /><br />DLF is considering, taking in construction workers on their rolls, providing them good housing facilities and thus dissuade them from going back to their villages during the peak harvest season. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?<br /><br /><br />thought no:8<br /><br />I look forward endlessly to the day before any festivity. The anticipation is palpable in the air and the actual day of the festival pales in comparison to the evening before. The preparations, the hope of enjoyment excites me to no end. <br /><br /><br />Happy Diwali ppl!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-28007843342307892222007-09-26T13:22:00.000+05:302007-09-26T13:23:47.134+05:30I could learn a foreign tongue just to read these lines they way he wrote it:<br /><br />Treacherous<br />generals:<br />see my dead house,<br />look at broken Spain :<br />from every house burning metal flows<br />instead of flowers,<br />from every socket of Spain<br />Spain emerges<br />and from every dead child a rifle with eyes,<br />and from every crime bullets are born<br />which will one day find<br />the bull's eye of your hearts.<br /><br />And you'll ask: why doesn't his poetry<br />speak of dreams and leaves<br />and the great volcanoes of his native land?<br /><br />Come and see the blood in the streets.<br />Come and see<br />The blood in the streets.<br />Come and see the blood<br />In the streets!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-40521974127428932172007-08-20T22:54:00.000+05:302007-08-20T22:59:45.505+05:30For all that has never been!Have you ever felt bad about all the melodies that have never been made?<br /><br />Well I do. All the time.<br /><br />A colleague at work introduced me to a band called the Traveling Wilburys. An absolute delight to listen to and I couldnt stop myself from playing their tracks over and over again.As I scanned the internet for more info about them and their music, I realised that they had come out with two albums(Vol 1 and Vol 3. Loved the madness).<br /><br />I couldnt but help and feel low about all the wonderful music they might have made had they stuck around for a little while more(or may be if Roy Orbison had not died.) Its not bad enough I havent been able to attend a Simon and Garfunkel concert at Central Park,now I have to live with the fact that the Traveling Wilburys made just a handful of tracks.<br /><br />Sometimes I feel, a lifetime isnt enough to really listen to all the songs we want to listen to, to read all the verses we have to.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-41111785825930607202007-08-19T22:02:00.000+05:302007-08-19T22:21:35.520+05:30Zap 'em all!Vidya and I hurried from the grocery store. We reached the main road.One look at the traffic and I remarked, " If I die, just tell people at work I am vacationing in Europe."<br /><br />Thanks to the Lord in Heaven and the mercy of a Benz driver, I and Vidya reached the other side of the road to Landmark- our only window to culture in Gurgaon.We could hear people jamming and Vidya was furious the performance had started before time.We were there to watch parikrama perform. <br /><br />Early? Was she kidding me? We were in gurgaon.The proximity we share with Delhi is no laughing matter and it is only natural Gurgaon apes Delhi in matters of punctuality. Phew, the band was just testing. Another 45 mins later when the band finally started, roomie and I glued ourselves to a comfortable spot -just in front of the speakers!<br /><br />Just then a sweaty dude wormed his way ahead of us. In slow motion he began swaying his head. The strumming began. Then came the placing the left hands on the chords. Then he synced himself in unison with his friends who had already set the pace for this.Then they started coming.More of them.They trickled in from all directions and slowly they took over the place! Them and their air guitars!!!<br /><br />I watched the kids in front of me with their dates slashing down their imaginary guitars and striking the virtual chords, jumping up and down, pouring their diet pepsi all over the place, mouthing " Give us some ****ing Metallica man", flashing their I love you signs. I half expected them to flash a lighter or maybe a cell phone. They missed that one out. <br /><br />Vidya was plenty irritated seeing them. Why do they all have to be so wanna be she kept claiming through out the show. I just ignored them having seen plenty of them previously.I maybe even able to fish out a couple from my best friends bag! I preferred concerts of the more dreamy, poetic men with their guitars more than the metal guys.Which boy wants to be man who is a singer song writer kinds(Whoever wants to be, contact me- Right now!)<br /><br /> But as ever I went into my own stream of thoughts. So this was the moment. I have to do the unthinkable- I have to take a stand!<br /><br />Do I like the air guitarists or not? Hmmmmmm....<br /><br />Well let me begin with the thought- Can I ever be one? Oh gees. Hell No!<br /><br />Just I strayed into my thoughts, the violinist came on stage. A 22 year old, he had an infectious smile. He started his melodious mischief. The virus spread. The guitarists smiled. The lead vocalist broke into a grin and soon the whole band was smiling enjoying their own performance. Well, this is the one thing I enjoy most in a concert. The musician enjoying his/her own style. Indulging themselves in every note of music. Syncing himself with everyone else. Now with so much to celebrate, how would it be if the crowd was composed of a 100 Me-s.A 100 me-s who just mechanically mouthed the lyrics of a Coldplay song. A 100 mes whose maximum amount of exhilaration was just shaking of the head, a scream at the end of the song.Horrible!<br /><br />We need the air guitarists. The band needs them to pep them. We need them to entertain us. For us to laugh at them as they move about hysterically in their space.As they become a Vai in their own right!As they mouth every word with as much passion if not more than the performers.We need them to prance around trying to gaher as much attention as possible, try and steal a chance to perform with the band. After all I had been one while in school!<br /><br />There I have said.I have taken a stand it!!!!!!!! Is that a tear I see in the corner of your eye?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-17585065089128108272007-08-07T12:54:00.000+05:302007-08-07T12:57:00.389+05:30Listen O ye AllO YE LITTLE ONES…<br /><br />Listen to the song of the Old ones,<br /><br />Before thy step into the world of Human Resources…<br /><br />Spent about a year being a human resource professional and these are what we have to put with.<br /><br />Scene 1:<br /><br />Enter cafeteria on Friday with the oh-so-happy it’s a Friday morning glee. As I stand in the line for breakfast, someone nearby yelps, “ yeppie its Friday morning.” . A new York minute wouldn’t have passed before I finished my acknowledging smile when the person retorted, “Oh HR also feels like that?”<br /><br />"I bow in reverence to thee my master. We HRs donot enjoy the pleasures of enjoying a Friday morning. We are forever bound by the invisible rope of thy criticism- forever and ever. "I kiss and anoint his feet and bow out of the cafeteria.<br /><br /><br />Scene 2:<br /><br />Three people in my team were on a holiday. Passerby stops and asks, “ Where are the rest?”<br /><br />They are hiding in the Trojan Horse to eat you. “They are on holiday.”<br /><br />“OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, HRs on holiday, smirk smirk.”<br /><br />I immediately go down on all fours and beg for pardon. "Master punish them not. For my colleagues know not that they can take off”<br /><br />Scene 3:<br /><br />As I walk across the hall, “ Hey HR, why don’t you motivate us?”<br /><br />Hmmmmm…. I click my fingers and Lo there are two Lebanese Belly dancers dancing for their masters.<br /><br /><br />Trust me, working on HR challenges is not half as challenging as walking the tight rope of working in an HR team in the organization.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-53142010166114410642007-08-04T11:13:00.000+05:302007-08-04T11:16:30.544+05:30A whiff from the pastThis morning as I opened my inbox, I was pleasantly surprised. Usually cluttered with group mails, mails proclaiming Delhi's events of the day, forwards, chain mails, spam there was a mail- addressed to me.<br /><br />It read Dear Akila.......................<br /><br />How endearing it is to receive a mail from a long lost friend.<br /><br />Long lost not because I had not known his whereabouts, long lost because the bond between had withered.<br /><br />The mail revealed a wedding in his family and he had invited me to the wedding. The sentimental nut that I am, my mind raced down to Coimbatore. To days which I think of with great fondness. Of friends who are like no other(Doesnt everyone say that about their friends!!!). I dont stay in those memories too long for fear of wanting to relive them. For fear of wanting to bring those beautiful people back to the way they were.<br /><br />I thought about the wedding for about a few minutes. How will I manage my holidays? How would they be? Are they still the same?Will I feel bad if they werent.Should I go for the wedding or not?Never really liked wedding anyways.<br /><br />Or should my fake "nothing has changed" attire and fly down for the wedding?<br /><br />Then I adopted the strategy to solve most mysteries in my life-I shall procrastinate.<br /><br />I have postponed the decision till just a few days before the wedding. Dont think I will ever be ready to face friends from the past. I want my keep me memories intact.Bank in the comfort of the glory days. Call me old fashioned, call me stubborn, call me foolish. Thats the way it is in my Kingdom- simple things are thought over, over anaylzed till I am paralyzed!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-41646988924522958202007-06-22T23:05:00.000+05:302007-06-22T23:21:18.292+05:30<em>She lay on her bed with her head turned towards the door.All around her there were beeping gizmos.<br />What would happen, if one of them stopped beeping she had often wondered.<br />Someone opened the door.<br />It was the nurse with the surgical mask on.She came in every few hours to check on her. Why does she have to wear a mask she asked herself for the third time in the day, though she knew the answer to her own question.<br />"No visitors allowed"- a board screamed outside her room. Too many visitors could bring barrage of infection along with them, her sister had informed her. But that didnt seem to affect the number of visitors who came in everyday. Some friends, lots of relatives.<br />Just another obligation to fulfill amidst their busy day of shopping, bridge and badminton, she thought to herself. There were very few people whose presence made her feel happy.<br />Her family was used to the sympathetic tone of most of her visitors.<br />They posed questions to which no one had answers to and some questions which everyone had answers to.<br />"Why did this have to happen to her?" "She must be under lot of pain."<br />What bothered her more than these questions was the tone. It was a tone which her daughter used to imitate really well in a moment of jest. It was high pitched tone which reeked of sympathy and yet was so impersonal.<br />There were times when she was accompanied by just her son or her daughter. She cherished those moments the most. In those days they had gotten to talk what was normally often shoved under the carpet. Her daughter who was reluctant to get married, her son who had just started shouldering responsibilites both at work and home opened up and spoke to her.<br />A group of visitors had just walked out of her room. She could hear them standing outside the room chattering about the date when they would visit the Kanchipuram saree showroom which was running a sale.<br />As she lay sedated in the night, there was feeling as though someone was waiting outside the door.<br />She watched the shadows of nurses who tended to the patients who were admitted in the rooms on the same corridor. Most of them had gone under the knife for a CABg- Cabbage as the doctors put it, bypass as the rest of them addressed it. She had seen two men being wheeled off to surgery on consecutive days. Both of them were now walking.The door moved slightly and she turned. It was her favourite night nurse. She had a smile on always which was comforting. The nurse asked her why she wasnt sleeping for which she could just manage to smile. If she had had the strength she might have replied, "I want to soak in as much as I can even if it just the scenes on this corridor."<br />She urged her to try and catch a few winks and assured her she would check on her in a little while.<br />The nurse closed the door silently behind her. This time heeding the nurses advice, she closed her eyes not long before she was disturbed.<br />This time, she saw the hospital attender standing next to her. She gave him a weak smile.<br />She opened her mouth mustering all her strength and said, " I knew it would be you- the harbinger of bad news".<br />He bent down and asked her," So you knew it was going to be me?"<br />His sandalwood namam( religious symbol which Krishna devotees wear on the forehead) had always caught her attention.<br />"So are you ready?"<br />"Well I dont think I ever will be but today has been a good day. My sister was around and so were my kids. We even had a meal together" ,she said pointing towards the room in which her son lay sleeping.<br />"But you are so unlike what I had imagined you to be. Shouldnt you be in your white robes or maybe black?"<br />"Ya, thats what movie directors make me out to be.I am just normal. Just another human being. Just that...."<br />"So what happens now? Do I rise up in a cloud of smoke while my body lies here? What happens to me after this?"<br />"Hmmmm... too many movies huh??! Nothing. You will have to endure some pain. Nothing more than the ones you already have", he said indicating towards her short crop of hair thanks to her chemo sessions.<br />"And?"<br />"And. It will all be over"<br />"And what happens after that? What about my kids? Will they be ok?"<br />"Nobody ever is okie in matters such as these . But this too shall pass- a little slowly but it will for sure"<br />"So you have conveniently not answered my first question"<br />He chuckled.<br />"It will all be okie right?"<br />"It will all be okie. Count on me"<br />Now she chuckled back.<br />He went out of the room, closing the door silently behind him.<br />She felt the pain rise in her stomach.</em><br /><br /><br />This morning as I opened the newspaper, I noticed an obituary column for a lady who was admitted two rooms away from my fathers hospital room. All the characters mentioned here are those whom I encountered in the hospital but the events are completely fictional.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-13532428787870776002007-06-20T20:45:00.000+05:302007-06-20T20:47:06.335+05:30My brother solemnly rose up from his seat and announced if not to anybody but to himself<br /><br /> " adulthood sucks".<br /><br />He had probably summarized what I have been feeling for the past many months.<br />Just before any of you go contemplating that we have been struck with some mishap/catastrophe, be assured that we are doing okie. We are what the world calls GROWING UP!<br /><br />He stopped for a minute and said,"It was so much better running around in my nappies."<br />While I have been vocal,stubborn and difficult about accepting this new phase of life, my brother had slipped into it long back. As we took a drive in our car, running an errand for my father I blurted out, "I didnt have so many needs back in campus/school, when i used to manage with Rs. 3500 from home. Life's needs just seem to be pouring out from every hidden corner possible." My wise ass brother calmly replied" It will only get worse"- How comforting.<br /><br /><br />I feel like a lost tourist in a foreign country. Just to add to the drama, a lost tourist in a foreign country whose language I dont speak. If it werent spicy enopugh- the language has a different script.<br /><br />Oh and Lonely planet doesnt make any guides for this- mind you!<br /><br />So many roads, so many directions(which you cant decipher).<br /><br />Isnt so much easier to be a smiling pic on the wall- Nothing to do but just sit pretty and smile!!!<br /><br />No wonder they called it growing up pains!!!!!!!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-45921779448586961602007-05-02T22:35:00.000+05:302007-05-02T22:40:32.357+05:30In pursuit of my happynessFor a long time I wandered around Gurgaon, with no address to call my own. I stayed in guest houses, hotels, kept travelling n an out of the city. So much so my mind was crying out loud to stay put and get a routine set for my life. Then came the news of my final posting, in Gurgaon(not to my surprise though!). Phew, now to get a house for myself I thought. Well, turned out that the brokers in Gurgaon had other plans for me.<br /><br />I battled with artificially inflated prices for good apartments, 85% power back apts, apts with weird names like Bancourt, Sujan Vihar, Rail Vihar. Once that was over I reached the round where I had to cross the fire war of rogue like brokers who were nothing less than thugs. One particularly funny incident was when Vidya in some sense of courage undertook a journey<br />looking for a house in Rail Vihar with a broker who we had never heard of. Half way through her journey she realised her folly (and of the possible consequences- if you still dont understand what I am talking abt, visit Gurgaon, I will be more than happy to show you around!!!!)<br /><br /><br />And finally I found my house! In the same apartment complex that I had wanted.Though I had originally intended to write on my journey to getting this house,I am changing course now. I have been itching to write about the simple nothings I see everyday in my apartment complex every morning. The simple nothings that keep me going in a place where I have no one to call my own.<br /><br /><br />Everyday Vidya and I scurry to catch the office cab.I start from home at 8:05 AM an wait till 8:15 AM outside the complex gates.I do this sometimes intentionally so that I can soak in 10 mins of scenes which I so adore.School vans picking up school children,moms and dads waiting to drop them by,scores of DINKs pushing off to work and rake the moolah in, loads of single young smart women zipping past in their cars.<br /><br />And the scene I love the most. Little girls in pigtails waiting for their kindergarten school bus. I just cant get enough of the way dads listen patiently to the young one rambling random nothings!<br /><br />There is a fountain of water which is switched on every evening and loads of mommies bring their toddlers in prams to watch it. Sometimes when I walk past,after a long day at work a breeze of dry air sends sprays of water on my face much to my pleasure!<br /><br />And the park- what a scene that is. Children on swings, picnics on grass,stupid games-all the works. I just stand by watching them. Sometimes I fondly remember my childood and most times I just take the simple pleasure of seing so many happy human beings.<br /><br />So come over sometime, to this happy abode of mine and many others. Come be a part of my happiness...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-13088649772249451442007-04-14T10:58:00.000+05:302007-04-14T10:59:57.360+05:30Just do itWhile in college and neck deep into preparing for my MBA entrance exams, I and my brother had a discussion and he remarked- you always need to do the right thing.<br /><br />At that point in time, I thought to myself that the statement my brother had made was just platitude. But today as I live my life on my own, I realise the gravity of that statement.<br /><br />I try and use that statement as a yardstick for all actions that I undertake. In the process I have realised that it is not easy. The basic assumption for this is that you have been taught enough what right things are.<br /><br /><br />But as plain as it sounds it aint so easy to practise. At the peril of sounding like a moral science teacher, I state that it often takes courage to the do the right thing.<br /><br />Courage to go against your own wishes and that of others. Life presents itself with so many situations, and to do the right things in all of the instances makes you live every moment of life with an intensity like you've never experienced!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-19836504766556113382007-03-27T11:44:00.000+05:302008-12-10T06:41:09.717+05:30Wishing myself wellLast week I had received a gift from a friend. My roomie took one look at the gift and remarked I was probably not the only person who had got that for a gift!!<br /><br />I said "just another week to go..." and a friend remarked-"So is this like your tactic to get more gifts?"<br /><br />My brithday is around the corner.<br /><br />In fact my birthday is tomorrow.<br /><br />Every now and then I am faced with people who dont want me to make a din about my birthday!<br /><br />I wonder why! Theres a mothers day theres a fathers day, the nation has a holiday on Gandhi's birthday.So what happens on my birthday? Nothing. Worse I am expected to keep mum about it?<br /><br />This is one day which has me written all over it. Even if I have to share this day with lots of people across the world,have people who I dont like born on days ahead of and behind mine!!<br />I would like to be wished by friends and family.I want to be happy about the fact I have managed to live 24 years on this earth.I want to celebrate being myself.<br /><br />My brother once forgot his birthday. How can someone forget his/her own birthday??!<br /><br />Every birthday to me like a milestone. Milestone of me living my life. Milestones that I have crossed with the help of my family and friends.Its the end of one chapter and start of a new one in the book that I have chosen to write-my life.<br /><br />Its a stop and check and go for me to renew myself every once in a while.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oRckEk8wm2E/Rgi52rHoZPI/AAAAAAAAABU/cj8RPd8Xi10/s1600-h/cake.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oRckEk8wm2E/Rgi52rHoZPI/AAAAAAAAABU/cj8RPd8Xi10/s320/cake.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5046487731407447282" border="0" /></a><br />I cherish every phone call I get. I cherish every gift that I receive. I value the people who stay up till 12 just to wish me.I am happy when friends fret over the fact they will not get through to me at 12 as they are somehow sure that my phone would be busy.<br /><br />It makes me that much happy to know that in this world there a few souls who love me for what I am.<br /><br />So here to myself...Happy Birthday!!!!!<br /><br />On this occasion i want to thank appa, amma, anna, renju, hari, vaish, sanjana ma'am, anu, sanga, maddy, sandy, siddhu, vinay, satish, goose man,arpit, payal,VK sir, suzie boy and the icing on my cake for being around at all times.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-68760416021558558282007-03-25T09:18:00.000+05:302007-03-25T09:50:56.710+05:30Just to get back to blogging lest I forget!Been quite out of touch so am just trying to get back into the "groove" of blogging.So here goes:<br /><br /><br />#########################################<br />Everybody is doing it. And they all love it. It is the biggest stress buster ever.Not everyone does it in full public view.<br /><br />Some have a natural flair for it while for some its an acquired taste. Some do it in groups while some prefer one on one sessions.<br /><br />Millions are doing it across the globe at this very minute and they are loving it by the minute.<br /><br />Lets admit it. We all love to bitch!<br /><br />Think about it-<br /><br />We bitch while we travel in the cab in the morning.<br />We continue while we wash down breakfast in the morning.<br />We pick up where we stopped while the boss steps out of hearing vicinity.<br /><br />We dont stop while gather for lunch or for tea.<br /><br />We bitch while we go back in our cabs.<br /><br />Once at home, we bitch to roomies. And to friends over phone. And to folks back home and not to forget over long distance calls to siblings.<br /><br /><br />We bitch about work. Now now. Thats too large a sphere.<br /><br />We bitch about bosses. We bitch about super bosses. And their bosses. I have noticed in my case that at my level people are not privy to information abt the CEO. Hence we spare him. We leave that bitching to the super bosses.<br /><br />We formulate strategies for the organization and wonder why the big bosses havent thought of it.<br /><br />We bitch about colleagues- both within and outside our dept.<br /><br />We bitch about systems, processes, out of turn promotions, people who get increments, merit increases, corrections.<br /><br />We dont stop about the cafeteria food, the clothes people wear, the lecherous men.<br /><br />At any given point in time I am privy to at least three intra office gossips and to atleast one inter office gossip.<br /><br />While in college I whined endlessly about how much I hated my engg college classmates. In TISS me and a friend walked endlessly along the pathways just "talking" about classmates fieldwork guides and so on.<br /><br />Go to a marriage and the relatives are endlessly bitching. Go to a party and the invitees have group bitching sessions.<br /><br /><br />All this bitching lead me to some introspection and I arrived at one logical conclusion- We hate each other!!!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />###################################################################<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />If there has been an assault to anyone respecting me as individual it has been the show Coffee with Karan.<br /><br />As a friend puts it -its more like Poison with Karan.<br /><br />Wonder what was the logic behind this apart from some Dharma productions arm twisting.<br /><br />Here is Karan Johar- A man whose movies I avoid with a vengence, whose taste in clothing is as pancy as himself.<br /><br />Why would I want to watch a man like him talk to his friends- not just once but over and over again, ask questions to which we all know answers to or are not too bothered about.<br /><br />After insulting the intelligent movie goer he is now hunting for the silver blood of the ones who avoid his movies and just want to sit back at home and watch some TV!<br /><br /><br />####################################################################<br /><br />I was recently subject to an eve teasing incident. Its an invasion of privacy where some stranger walks up to you and speaks something what most people wouldnt talk within closed doors. What struck me was if two women had done what the two men did the other night, the men would have gladly said yes to it.<br /><br />I have heard about Adam Teasing but I will ignore it because I dont see men committing suicide after they are teased.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-46259344864556654302007-01-17T09:55:00.000+05:302007-01-17T09:58:43.278+05:30Does He or does He not?!There has never been a point in history when somebody ever remembered my name in the first go!<br />Now that my name has been discussed enough in my previous posts, I will move on!<br />The point is, if a human being who meets about say 50 people in a day cant remember my name even the 5th time he sees me, how will God remember me?<br />He is probably running the human mould 24*7 and how the hell would he remember me, especially when I dont fall in the line of people who reach out to him in the many ways they do!<br />Isnt he the one who decided to put me in this menagerie??Its like taking a kid to the zoo and forgetting him/her back there!!So now dont blame me if I behave like the animals inside the cage!<br />Just feels like He has forgotten about my existence.<br />For a change instead of the pic I am putting my mood in words: Uncomfortably numb!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-35738239051451395792007-01-13T13:29:00.000+05:302007-01-13T13:33:40.436+05:30Talk the talk and walk the walk!I walk through the streets of an alien city<br />And as I walk my eyes rove to spot a familiar face<br />Who do I want to see? I know not<br />But do I really want to see anyone at all<br />I know not.<br />But what I do know is that I ran far far far away from madding crowd.<br />To a place I thought was unreachable for most <br />Only to find myself in yet another strange maddening crowd<br />A crowd that wants me to talk their talk and walk their walk!<br />But is there anyone who wants me to talk my talk and walk my walk?<br />Think my eyes are roving for people who want me to talk and walk the way I want to!<br /><br /><br />The above is not a poem...neither is it a write up. Its indecisive on what it wants to be and hence I empathise and leave it the way it is. This is based on the feeling that I have been having in the past few days. This feeling that engulfs me once in a while. Probably when am walking aimlessly in a mall or maybe just talking to friends...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-27884941619054039442007-01-13T12:54:00.000+05:302007-01-13T13:15:07.314+05:30help!Help<br />I need somebody...<br />Help<br />not just anybody<br />Help<br /><br />You know i need someone....<br /><br />help!!<br /><br />-Beatles<br /><br />I am sure all you matchmakers are going to go beserk thinking of a 100 ways to hook me up!!!<br /><br />But save that trouble.<br /><br />I need some help in revamping my blog. I think it needs that l'il bit of fresh air....<br /><br />I was very impressed with the outlay of my friend priyadarshini's blog. She is the one with the big binary feet;)! <a href="http://binaryfootprints.blogspot.com/">http://binaryfootprints.blogspot.com/</a><br />I have a few ideas in my head. So anyone out there wants to help plz let me know.<br /><br />And before you get fooled into thinking that the services will be paid for in cash or kind let me assure you, my love is all you will get and that my friend will be in truckloads!!!<br /><br /><br />Think about it. By helping me you are actually helping yourselves by reading my stuff in a better looking environment. and you know what? God helps those who help themselves!!!!!!!<br />(PS: No tongue in cheek comments on how I should help myself ...plz...get creative;))Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-55312560040593454922007-01-01T09:59:00.000+05:302008-12-10T06:41:09.990+05:30Restless<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_oRckEk8wm2E/RZiONN3XbyI/AAAAAAAAABI/pyiB7ifm70g/s1600-h/ist2_292432_all_boy_escape_artist.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5014914542788374306" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_oRckEk8wm2E/RZiONN3XbyI/AAAAAAAAABI/pyiB7ifm70g/s320/ist2_292432_all_boy_escape_artist.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>I begin my New Year restlessly.<br />My mind is working over time and nothing seems to stop it. I sift my music tracks with a worrying impatience.<br />Can I just run away from all thoughts and never have to face them at all.<br />I have been an escapist all my life. The one who has taken the safer route, not the easy one necessarily. But nevertheless.I hope my employers are not reading this but I am definitely the most indecisive person who has ever walked the earth. I cant decide on a restaurant. I cant decide on a dinner menu. I cant...<br />How I wish I could just shut my eyes and just escape my thoughts.Maybe transported to a land where I dont have to think of anything.<br />I just want to run away from reality now.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-6192563862778544072006-12-30T18:03:00.000+05:302008-12-10T06:41:10.192+05:30New Year Time!Its New Year Time...<br />Its that time of the year when everybody is racking their brains to do something on New years Eve and usher it in style. Not that ushering it in style is going to make any big difference to their lives. But still.<br />Think I lost the urge to usher New Year in style when I was in school. Then, my parents didnt let me out. Now I dont want to be let out. I was explaining this to a friend and he said " I can see the frustration buddy"<br />!!!!!!?????!<br />I really dont feel it anymore. It beats me as to why people start making plans about New Year a week in advance, most of them just to get pissed drunk(which they would get anyways). But asking people what they are upto for New year is always great conversation material. If someone even mentions about staying back home I act as though thats the worst sin to be committed(just so that I add to that social pressure, in case it were missing).<br /><br />I prefer staying home on New years Eve. Not because I want to spend time with family(I speak to family about twice in the day, and if I am at home- I am already spending enough time with them- so much that they harbour thoughts of sending me off asap). I want to stay back because thats what I have done for a major part of my life and it has grown on me.<br /><br />Earlier it used to be just me bro and dad watching TV. Then when Bro left home it was just me and dad.Bro would call up at 12 and wish us.<br /><br />Now am sure dad is going to be off for some midnight special pooja. Mum is the only constant one. She will go to sleep at ten. So that leaves me. And I will continue with Dec 31st as just another day. Sleeping in the safe haven of my home.<br /><br />The point that I love about New year is that you have the license to begin everything on a new note. New notes of resolution(in my mind-never documented for fear of being verified at the end of year)- I will manager money better. I will .... i will......<br />Just like a slate where you can wipe of all the crappy stuff you wrote the previous year and hope to write better things this year(and you know heart of heart that it going to turn crappy by the end of the year).<br />So heres wishing you all a very happy new year.... May your slates be clean and neat for the year!!!<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_oRckEk8wm2E/RZZdlr9bgqI/AAAAAAAAAA8/mqVIVz2mam4/s1600-h/Little_Girl_Sleeping.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5014298137160549026" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 171px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 213px" height="161" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_oRckEk8wm2E/RZZdlr9bgqI/AAAAAAAAAA8/mqVIVz2mam4/s320/Little_Girl_Sleeping.jpg" width="171" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />pic taken from: <a href="http://images.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http://www.romanceeverafter.com/images/Little_Girl_Sleeping.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.romanceeverafter.com/rosemary_halawa_-_photography.htm&amp;h=251&w=171&sz=18&hl=en&start=17&tbnid=y60vdWrZX3nSeM:&amp;tbnh=111&tbnw=76&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgirl%2Bsleeping%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN">http://images.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http://www.romanceeverafter.com/images/Little_Girl_Sleeping.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.romanceeverafter.com/rosemary_halawa_-_photography.htm&amp;h=251&w=171&sz=18&hl=en&start=17&tbnid=y60vdWrZX3nSeM:&amp;tbnh=111&tbnw=76&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgirl%2Bsleeping%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-88621041826280007472006-12-07T17:01:00.000+05:302008-12-10T06:41:11.172+05:30Itz that time of the year<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oRckEk8wm2E/RXf8KMydu0I/AAAAAAAAAAw/BoXoY_DYcic/s1600-h/p43803-145-398h.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5005746763007376194" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oRckEk8wm2E/RXf8KMydu0I/AAAAAAAAAAw/BoXoY_DYcic/s320/p43803-145-398h.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Hurrah! It's that time of the year when the christmas decorations go up!!</div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-73005460845255100612006-12-07T15:49:00.000+05:302006-12-07T16:50:07.356+05:30The last few thoughts in ColomboAs we walked into the Colombo airport, I was upto my old antics- acting cranky about leaving a place that I was getting used.<br /><br />We were grossly late and my heart sank when I saw the long line outside the aiport. The UN Blue Corps(Sri Lankan guys) were getting inside.<br /><br />It was truly a mixed bag of emotions. Some of them were clicking pictures. A newly wed was in tears as she bid farewell to her husband. Few others were making last minute phone calls-probably to folks back home who couldnt afford to be there to wish goodbye.<br /><br />Wonder how it felt to be fighting for a country that was not your own. Wonder if they even knew the cause for which they were fighting for. Maybe it was just the hope that all their efforts would be repaid by someone else who will fight in a foreign land and protect their loved ones.<br /><br /><br />************************************************************************************<br /><br />I got unto the flight and I was already high on sugar. To worsen things I was allotted the middle seat. To my right was Vidya and to my left was Anish. God save their souls I thought to myself. The flight purser watched in horror as I took more than my fair share of chocolates and loaded them in my purse for a rainy day!<br /><br />Vidya was screaming to the air hostess to get me some food in the hope that I would just conk off to sleep!!!<br /><br />But now unto something more serious.. I plugged in my ear phones and closed my eyes. I have this weird habit of listening to songs on repeat mode. I have been listening to just three songs continously throughout my entire trip.<br /><br />As the first lines of the song began, I felt like I was elsewhere. I struggled a bit to identify what I was feeling. Then it struck me.<br /><br />I spotted the place. I had heard the same song reptitively when I was sitting in the beach in Mt.Lavinia. I could feel it very clearly. I felt exactly the way I did when I was lying down as the sun went down (and for once I was not a spoil sport about getting my hair dirty with all the sand.)<br /><br /><br />Now all I need to do whenever I feel like going to Mt.Lavinia, is to listen to this song!! Love it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954311.post-18285883648991725022006-12-03T19:23:00.000+05:302008-12-10T06:41:11.307+05:30Preethi's tag- Things that I love abt my childhood!<div><br /><br />I had been meaning to write this post in answer to a tag by Preethi.ON my drive back from Galle, I found myself naturally drifting into my memories of my childhood. What was that I loved the most about my childhood. When did my childhood start and end?<br /><br /><br />After thinking enough I came to the conclusion that childhood ended for me somewhere around the time my 10th std exams got over. The thoughts churned in my head and it felt wonderful to go through those lovely days.<br /><br />Here are a few things that I love so much about my childhood. I found tears trickling down when I wrote about it. The feeling was too good for me to let go of it that I have decided not to write about things I hate about my child hood.<br /><br /><br />This post is dedicated to appa and amma who gave me a childhood which I cant find fault with. I wonder if I can ever give such beautiful times to my child. I for sure will be a painful mother!!!!<br /><br /><br /><br />I loved the routine of my childhood.<br /><br />I loved the fact that I had a routine. Not a day to day routine but a routine for many years. I didn’t have to bother about what I was going to do next. I just had to go to school year after year! I went to the same school for 14 years. Life didn’t changed drastically. I went to school with people who had been going to the same school for years. Unlike a lot of the novels there has never been a summer where things changed for good!<br /><br /><br />Queen of my world<br /><br />I was the queen of my world. My parents treated me like I was the next best thing to have graced the world. My teachers were really fond of me. I had a decent set of friends. I was great at studies. I could rattle off the Vedas by just having listened to my brother say them. I had friends who were twice my age. Students in the 12th class knew me when I was in 4th std. I read Thomas Hardy from my brothers English books when I was in 4th std. I felt great about myself!!!!<br /><br /><br />Endless Clause Analysis<br /><br />I loved my English classes and teachers. I was the pet of all my English teachers. I loved the routine of grammar. I loved clause analysis. I would do clause analysis of sentences in my physics and chemistry books. Clause Analysis is like dish washing. Have you ever washed dishes with a lot of soap? It gives you a sense of cleansing the world around you. While I did clause analysis I felt like that. I could break down every sentence you said, clean the mistakes in it and leave it the way it should be.<br /><br />Mum<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oRckEk8wm2E/RXLXhrjI15I/AAAAAAAAAAk/JThJXT1x5DA/s1600-h/a60a.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5004299109587802002" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oRckEk8wm2E/RXLXhrjI15I/AAAAAAAAAAk/JThJXT1x5DA/s320/a60a.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />There is no doubt that I was the daddy’s girl. But I miss the bond I shared with my mum. My mum who knew all that happened in my life- my friends, my teachers, my lessons, my marks, my dresses. I miss that mum. Mum today is a very different person. I miss the routines with my mum.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div><br /><br /> </div><div> </div><div>After school routine:<br /><br />I used to love that part of the day when I used to come back from school, sit on the kitchen slab, slurping some mango juice and recounting to amma what had happened right from the morning prayer to how someone broke my red lead pen to how much I loved her curd rice to evening national anthem. I don’t think anyone has appreciated every V.Good in my books than her. I think my mum was reliving a childhood that she had always wanted through me. Every victory that I scored- by means of marks or otherwise was hers.<br /><br />First day of school:<br /><br />I had this ritual that I went by car on the first day of every school year with amma. When I was a little kid she would drop me off till the class, find a good seat and wave bye from the window and leave.<br /><br />Lunch by the tree:<br />My mum brought lunch for me till I learnt to eat on my own. I used to love sitting under the trees and eating her lunch. When I was growing up, everytime I fell sick and was recovering she would bring me lunch and a bar of chocolate. I miss these to no extent.<br /><br />Yearly Family Holidays:<br /><br />I loved the yearly holidays that we used to take as a family. We sometimes went with Bhajj uncles family. Bhajj uncle taught me how to eat with a fork and knife. Bhajj uncle always claimed right in the middle of our holidays that “ we are living beyond our means”.I didn’t realize the meaning of those words until long time.Our trips to athibelle, thekkady is etched forever in my mind and family holidays have never been so pleasurable as these. What I probably didn’t realize then was the fact that these were dads who were working hard for a living and working harder to keep their families happy. Loved those times.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Cycles:<br /><br />I used to be taken by my brother in his cycle where I sat on the front bar(just like in the movies). He would either drop me till the bus stop or we went till the video store to rent a movie. I used to love this. I hadn’t seen any other brother do this. My brother urged my dad to buy me a cycle. He selected my hero ranger straight bar cycle for me. I loved those times when I just cycled aimlessly with my cycling friends in my summer holidays.<br /><br /><br />Dad<br /><br />My dad was my hero when I was a child. He still is. He spoke the best English. He used words which I didn’t knew existed. Dad had the best manners. Dad took me to all the five stars hotels imagineable – even if were living beyond our means. He hugged me. Only he was allowed to sign my progress reports which shined with my O grades even though he would forget which std I was studying in. I loved dad. I hated people who hated dad. Everything that dad said and did was right. I loved his shiny bald head! I thought bald men are more intelligent because dad was bald and he built beautiful houses!! Now tell me how many dads can do that. I loved standing in front while he drove the scooter. I was super excited when I heard dad’s car horn.<br /><br />At nights when I used to wake up and look around confused dad was there to tell me it wasn’t time yet to wake up. He would hug me, pull up my blanket and urge me to go back to sleep.<br /><br />Now when I wake up in the middle of the night, there is a sense of desperation to hear someone say its okie to sleep a bit more. Its all okie.<br /><br />I think I loved this the most- the security of my childhood.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13