[info]divyaiyer

And that's what it's all about

A little bit of this, a little bit of that.

This is it.
[info]divyaiyer
January 20th, 12:11
At:
Work
Feeling:
anxious
After a lo-oo-ot of deliberation, planning, thinking, re-thinking, URL choosing, header image selecting, widget inserting, method of posts import googling, we are proud to present to you;
 
 
Anyway, this post is going to be our last one Livejournal, and our first on Wordpress, so you can post all your wishes and Congratulatory messages on the new page, ok?  Yep, so coming back to the move itself, I have done this kinda thing before, moving to wordpress that is, and I returned in 2 days flat. Because everyone was so negative about the whole thing, and kept saying how the theme was bad, and how they found it so much easier to google my name and click on the first link to reach my blog. Anyway, this time I have a better reason behind the move. You see, that google bit I mentioned just now was fun for a while, but then I realized that it definitely wasn't the safest thing in the world, especially if majority of my posts comprise of severe venting out of frustrations. That too about parties, who in more cases than not, have as regular an access to the WWW as I do. No, no, not good at all. And hence. the need for a new url with no mention whatsoever of the name, atleast not so obviously, was felt.
 
So here we are. And what do you think of the header image, and general look of the page and all? Please don't be negative (unless you have the time and talent to help me make it better!). And of course, add this new url to your subcription list! (what? I do have subscribers, google reader says so!) That would be it for now. There is a lot more to do ofcourse, but we need time to get used to the new place. So some patience would be wonderful!

 
For now, have fun, and wish me luck!

Because I have the time
[info]divyaiyer
January 12th, 13:45
At:
Work
Music in my head:
How to save a life - The Fray
 - I like my voice when I have a cold. It gets way deeper, which is really something, because my voice is deeper than average in general. So much so, that some credit card company callers refer to me as sir, and no, I don't find that amusing at all. But it does remind me of Phoebe finding her voice much sexier when she has a cold, and hates it when she is back to normal. Remember?
 
- For the first time ever in my life, I worked on a Saturday. Not counting this one Saturday when we were all summoned to the office for some hideous dance practice which was the norm in the ex-company. This time I actually worked-worked. And this is a first in my 4 and half years of professional life. Some achievement, yes? No, not the working on the weekend bit, but the managing-to-not-work-on-a-weekend-for-such-a-long-time bit. I know, I didn't expect you to get that anyway.
 
- As a repercussion of the above event, which by the way is a nominee at the Shock of the century awards, I missed the Mango sale. Which is not good at all, because Mango opened very recently in our city, and this is it's first sale. Not that the sale is over, but I happen to belong to the school of thought which believes that all good things in a sale are sold out in the very first weekend, and what remains is unwearable, not your size, or unaffordable (which defeats the very purpose of the sale).
 
- I also missed the sale at Aldo, where I hoped to pick up these amazing pair of blue pumps which (I hoped) would be available at an amazing 80% off the original price. Did I mention my New Year resolution is to be all optimistic and positive?
 
- There is this nice steel grey building in front of our office, the top floor of which is in my straight line of sight. What is weird is it has these two entrance sort of things on the terrace, which are painted bright pink. I have no idea why that is, but it seriously hurts my eyes every time I look up. To my left, is a gigantic window with an amazing view, but I can't really keep my head turned that way all the time, so it's practically of no use.
 
- The sensor lights above my head which I had mentioned in the last post, have changed their modus operandi. They now switch on only when some one on my extreme left moves. Which is surprising, because this light is towards my right. Also, it has very conveniently decided to ignore my existence altogether. The only positive thing is, these lights act as an alarm every time someone approaches my seat from behind,  and gives me enough time to minimize all the Internet explorer windows, and maximize a colorful excel sheet, before the said person actually reaches my seat.
 
- Also, since I now regularly leave for work at 7:30, it means not enough time for breakfast. Which means, brunch at office. Which invariably is something they call egg-combo, consisting of a small bowl of rice, two parathas, one small bowl of dal, one smaller bowl of raita, and the item which gave the combo this name, egg curry. But obviously I am sick and tired of eating this every, single, day. But I still manage to finish the entire plate, except the egg yolk because of my near starvation status at the moment. Things we do for paapi-pet. Oh, and between the last bullet point and this, I had my brunch. And yes, it was an egg-combo.
 
- Something I love about my workplace is it's cheery decor. It's an open office, white ceilings, pillars in pastel shades, glass windows on two sides, while the other two are covered with gigantic images of babies, children playing, happy families etc. The coffee area has equally big images of brewing tea, vegetables, and the lounge has very colorful images of Indian folk dances, monuments, forts, deserts. And the cafeteria has magnified, and very nicely shot pictures of spices, dry-fruits, fruits, and all kinds of eatables. It all looks awesome.
 
- I noticed this girl in our bus, who brought along a typical self-help book to read, which had to do with emotions, something like 'manage your emotions' or 'befriend your emotions' or such. So, she started reading it, and promptly fell asleep within 5 minutes. Which makes me wonder if people actually find these reads helpful, or if they pick up these reads to generally look cool, which is ironic, because I find these the most uncool of all categories of books. This of course is strictly a personal opinion, and we all have our preferences, but I thought of saying it anyway.
 
- I have a new URL at Wordpress, all set, ready to use for almost a month now. It took me a while to get the header in place and all, and to figure out the method of transferring posts and comments from here to there, and the idea was to move in the New Year, but as you can see I didn't, so we are still here. Anyway, I have no idea why we have not moved yet, but I am hoping we eventually do, so one fine day, you'll have a 'We've moved' post out here. Hopefully.
 
- This post turned out to be way longer than I had intended it to be when I started, but that's the minus with bullet point posts. The plus with these posts is that we were able to get in so many things which would have never warranted a mention out here otherwise. Good, fair and just post this one is. Me likes. You?

Tags:
What justifies a rant?
[info]divyaiyer
January 6th, 17:24
At:
work
Music in my head:
Nothing
- The super sensitive sensor lights above my head that go on everytime I move in my chair, so that everyone turns and looks?
- The frigging clash between leaves I need to take, and month close days, which have changed just for that specific month?
- The phone which suddenly decides to not have any network at all, probably because it realised I was expecting a call?
- The amazing Sony earphones, which were perfectly intact till a few days ago, and suddenly the right one decides to shut up?
- The hair which is turning curly at an alarming rate, and is bringing out the Monica in Barbados in me?
- The coming weekend, which in all probability I will spend working?

There is no dearth of options, I have to agree. So, while I move to rant mode right now, you get to choose the reason. Could it get any better?
Tags:
Hello 2K10!
[info]divyaiyer
January 1st, 23:17
At:
Home
Music in my head:
Dialogues from Grey's anatomy
Ahem, so how did I bring in the New Year? Do you really want to know? Not in the best way I've got to say, though I am dead sure this is one New Year's eve I am going to remember all my life! And of course, with a solemn promise to myself that I am not doing it this way again. No-no. So we went to this ultra posh party hosted at this ultra posh club. And I dressed ultra posh-ly for the event too (or so I would like to think). And it was all nice and fine. And the music was good. And the ambiance was wonderful. But then the darn unlimited alcohol happened. And apparently vodka, rum, orange juice, red bull and white wine do not really go well together. Argh. So at new year's eve, I was, in The Dude's words, smashed. SMASHED. And not in a good way! I don't even remember when the clock struck 12!  So. Not. Ok.
 
Good thing is, I long stopped believing the old saying that the whole year goes the way it starts. Or the one which says the whole year goes the way you spend day one of the year. Because in case 1, I am going to be drunk the whole year, and not really in a position to remember whatever happened around me in the end. And in case 2,  I am going to sleep the whole year. Ha. Both sound like amazing plans I know, but they aren't. Really.
 
So 2009 was interesting. And the biggest thing that happened in 2009 was the new job for sure. That kept me on my toes, and actually gave me a good work place, and good colleagues, and a regular day job. It also gave me painful hours of travel, and 14-15 hour long days of work every month. And it gave me a long drawn 15 day visit to Switzerland. 2009 was also the year where I stayed away from the Dude for the longest time since we got married. 5 weeks. When he was in the U.S. And it was just as bad as I had thought it would be. 2009 saw us travelling much lesser than 2008 did, which was not cool at all. We managed just 4 tiny vacations. And yes, that is less. 2009 saw me go on a useless, effect-less GM Diet again. And it also saw me officially give up on being fit or healthy. 2009 brought 'How I met your mother' into our lives. 2009 had me meeting the parents and Lil sis more often than before, and that was good.2 009 was the year of the baby boom. Everyone around me seemed to be having babies, or expecting babies soon. Like I said, interesting.
 
Ok, let's accept it, 2009 was good, but here's hoping that 2010 is even better!
 
Oh yes, Happy New Year all! Hope you have an amazing time this year, and of course, hope I do too :)
 
Oh, and in case you're wondering where my list of resolutions is, I didn't make any. Because though in the past I have only failed to keep my resolutions, the last year, I gave myself the whole of January to decide upon a doable list. And guess what, I failed to even draw up the list! So I am not bothering this time around. I'm going with the flow. Ah, sounds so mature and grown-up.
 
Cheers to 2K10 people, be good!

Tags: ,
About a city
[info]divyaiyer
December 16th, 2009
At:
Work
Music in my head:
The Show - Lenka
I have had my new document in Google docs opened for the last half hour, where I wanted to start writing my last post for the year, preferably a 2009 round-up like everyone else. And I realised that that would take a while, so in that time, I opened Facebook, started ignoring all the random requests that had accumulated ion the page. And while doing that, this new request pops up. Asking ' Which part of Hyderabad are you?' sent in by The Dude. And I being jobless (not really, it's just that I have vowed that I will not work today), went through the whole quiz. And this is what I got.
 
Divya took the What Hyderabad area are you from? quiz and the result is Banjara-Jubilee-Hi-Tech City
You exemplify the cosmo crowd. You are almost certainly an outsider in Hyderabad (an expat probably?). While you are up to date with the latest trends in fashion, music or anything 'hep', you remain disconnected with the heritage of your own city. Step out and sample Hyderabad! It has so much more to offer than pubs, lounge bars or hookah joints!

Now frankly, I was okay with the result. Not that these results can be taken seriously. But ofcourse, a quiz which decided that I am not from Hyderabad because there was some place from the Old city they mentioned which I hadn't been to doesn't really count, does it?
 
Point being, come May, I would have in all, lived here for 8 years. And that is big, because it is quickly reaching the length of my longest stay ever in any city, which would be the 9 years I spent in Meerut, my hometown, as I like to call it. And not all of it has been great. And thankfully I don't have to make cliched statements like 'I've had a love-hate relationship with this city' , because I haven't. It was utter hatred from the beginning. The first time I had to live here was completely out of no choice, and I was hesitant to even try and start liking the place. And in the 3 years spent here, my personal life went so haywire in so may different and completely unrelated ways, that the somewhat rebellious teenager in me very conveniently blamed the city for the way things were. And while leaving the place, the only thought was to never return again.
 
And two amazing years later, when all that was left of Hyderabad was a very faded memory of the way things had been, I get this mail in my inbox saying that I have been posted to Hyderabad. And it took a while to accept and digest the fact, ofcourse with a vague consoling voice in the back of the head which said it wasn't forever anyway. But this time, things were different. My first step into independent life was in this city, and it couldn't have been more comfortable. With a good work place, a good group of friends, I actually had the time to sit back and observe how very different the city seemed now. It was friendly, and very welcoming, and we seemed to get along like nobodys business. And for once, I actually liked the place, and sometimes even referred to it as home. But in the back of my head, the voice still remained, and it told me not to get too settled, because we were moving out of here for sure.
 
And then, The Dude happened. A Hyderabadi to the core, the only glimpses of the Marathi manoos you get to see in him are when he converses in his broken marathi with the MIL. Biryani, Irani Chai, Hallu chalao, how-dare-they-not-declare-Golconda-Fort-as-a-World-heritage-centre, this guy is all about Hyderabad. And with him, I started liking the city. Not at once, because that would be totally unfair to Hyderabad, but gradually. It was like we started afresh, the city and I. And for once I decided to keep all other things aside and see what it had to offer. And in some time, blame it on the stars in my eyes scenario, I couldn't understand what had me fault the place to begin with. And very slowly, as I removed all things personal from my list of 'Why-I-don't-like-Hyderabad', I don't have anything left.
 
So I know I like it. But how much I like it I realised with these extremely sickening political wars going on around. Because when I knew they wanted to split this state into two, the otherwise totally non-political me, was not happy. And when they went ahead and decided to do it anyway, and then proceeded to fight over Hyderabad, it made me very angry. For my city. It was like no one bothered about what would happen to its development. A division on the basis of language they say. What language,seriously? This is the city where one can easily survive without knowing a word of the local language. One of the things that makes it special, you never feel like an outsider. And when The Dude suggested we would move from here if things don't get better, I couldn't think of one damn place I wanted to move to! It was like I had the whole country laid out in front of me, and not one city managed to meet all the pre-requisites I had in mind for a place I could call home. And when that happens, when you don't think things could even be the same elsewhere, leave alone get better, you know you're in a tough spot.
 
So, even though Facebook calls me an expat, and says I am disconnected with it's heritage, I know I love this city.Though I would never intentionally switch my pure UP Hindi for the Hyderabadi slang. Or prefer the Biryani from Paradise over my Subway Sandwiches. Or ever even consider watching 'The Angrez'. Because that's not what makes this city what it is. Because there is so much more to it, that takes a while for one to absorb and understand. So much more that you need to experience to actually realise it, and by the time you do, you become a part of it.
 
Like I finally have.
Tags: , , ,
Post no. 229
[info]divyaiyer
December 4th, 2009
At:
Work
Music in my head:
Mudhi Mudhi - Paa
I am back. On the blog that is. I was back from far-away quite some time back, actually about a week ago. Thing is, I think I overdid the travel bit this time around. I mean seriously. And yes, I am going to torture you with the gory details in the rest of this post, so if you're not interested, click that small cross button at the right top of the page.
 
Anyway,the deal was a 2 week trip to Basel for work. Which meant two half weekends spent travelling, and one whole weekend spent alone in the far-away land. Before continuing further, I need the reader, that's you, to know that I am not too fond of travelling for work. 'Not too fond' is not that strong a phrase I know. But here's the stronger truth. I despise travelling for work alone. DESPISE. Now come on! First you send me away from The Dude, and my home, and my routine life (I know I complain about it, but I love it nevertheless!). Then you ensure I have zero company the whole way. And no, I do not believe in the 'but you can always meet so many new exciting people, and visit new places, it so much fun' nonsense. I don't.
 
Yeah so, at 2 PM on my first Friday in Basel, when I was being all chirpy that almost a whole work week was over, I was summoned to the cabin by the Big Boss. Who, as the name suggests, is a pretty Big Boss.
BB: The team out there has an offsite planned this month.
Smiling me: Oh great! (Ah! Some pretty countryside resort in Switzerland! Almost like a holiday, lucky them!)
BB: So we were thinking, that we could call the rest of team India, and all of you could join it! What say?
Grinning me: Oh yes, that would be good! (Yay! Company arrives!)
BB: Great then! It is scheduled in the third week from now for two days.
Not-so-smiling me: Oh, then I can't join. I leave next saturday you know. (Offsite, who cares! I am off home! Yay!)
BB: Oh but that's what I called you for! Why don't you stay back 2 more weeks!
WTF with a very obviously fake smile me: No-no, that's not possible, you see, my visa is for 15 days only, that gets over next week.(Oh. My. God. This is not happening!)
BB: Let's get it extended!
Fake smile fading me: No, you've to be in India for that! (Please let this be true!)
BB: Oh. So it's a transactional issue huh. But you're ok in principle?
Almost about to cry me: Nooooo, I have a vacation planned the week after I reach! I have to be there! (Phew, Am I glad I applied for that leave!)
BB: Oh yes, can it be postponed for a bit?
Super-bugged me: No. It's a family thing. Can't happen. So sorry. But it's fine. Next time, yes? (Let me go)
BB: Hmmm, perhaps you can fly back after your vacation! Get your visa extended when you're back in India?
Calm me: Too tight. I leave for Delhi within 10 hours of reaching India. No time to submit docs et al! And too expensive. Budget constraints and all? It's ok, next time?(Let.Me.Go.)
BB: Oh yes. Budget constraints
Fake sorry me: I know. Too bad. NEXT TIME? (Phew!)
BB: Hmmm.
 
But.
 
I did go. Again. So technically, I flew back to Hyderabad, flew to Delhi the same day, got back a week later, and then left again to Basel the next day. This time for those 2 days. Which were good in general, but two day travel for a two day visit? And right now, I am sick and tired. Of travelling and in general. 
 
And oh yes, somewhere in between all this running around, actually on the only one day in the last month that I spent in Hyderabad, I turned 27.  And it so doesn't feel like a milestone. I think 27 is a most boring age to turn. Because, like 25, there is no announcing, yay, I just completed a quarter of a century. Or like 26, when I celebrated entering my late twenties. Even 28 will be boring. 29 however, will be big, 'cos then I will be all like I am in the last year of my 20s. Now that will be big. 30 is a different story, I think I should already start deciding what I would do for my 30th birthday. Hmm, I would like that.
 
Other than that, the visit home was awesome, inspite of the expected weight gain which happens everytime thanks to those neverending rounds of stuffed parathas. Yum. Also,since this was a complete family trip (excluding my ever-busy lil sis), we also did touristy stuff like (re)visiting the Taj, and generally roaming around Delhi (read Qutub Minar, Red Fort, India Gate etc, and the lovely lovely Chandni Chowk and it's parathe wali gali. Sigh) for the benefit of the mother-in-law for who this was the first visit up north.  

That being that, it's just amazing to be back. Back to regular routine life. Back to all things I always crib about, and am sure will do again soon. Waking up at 6:30, the long bus ride to work, the horrid traffic in evenings, the bad food in the cafeteria, the generally annoying people around. I missed it all, though I was away for just a month. Goes to show how the thing I hate most is unnecessary change, and it actually makes me crave for things to be as they are in general, however much they have annoyed me before. But that's fine I guess, and worth it, as long as it makes me feel the way I do right now. Content.
 
So, I will get back to my life, and the awesome friday-ness in the air, and you can go back to doing the more purposeful things in your life. And do come back when I post next!
 
Tags: , ,
Notes from far-away
[info]divyaiyer
November 9th, 2009
At:
Hotel room in Basel
Music in my head:
Tu Jaane na - on repeat
I am really not good at this. Blogging when I actually have the time. So most of , in fact all of that I blog is from work. No, please don't go about assuming that I have a lot of free time and no work at work. Fact is, I cannot blog as much even from work, if the day is relatively free. I am at my blabbering best only when I am neck deep in reports and deadlines and submissions and incoherent meetings. Which explains why I always hit the publish button in the standing position in front of my system, with a note book in hand all set to leave for a meeting which starts on the other end of the floor in another minute, or with someone screaming from behind me, asking me to go pick up those damn print-outs. Such is life.
 
But I had to do this today, because the current position deserves a post. Imagine this. I am at my desk, in my Hotel room, facing huge french windows which open into a somewhat pretty courtyard sort of thing, songs from 'Ajab Prem ki Ghazab Kahani' in the background, at 10:00 PM, in Switzerland. Yes, that is where I am. India is sleeping. The Dude, mom, 'lil sis, all of them. The best friend being in Singapore, is further behind on the time schedule, so she must be like almost waking up tomorrow.
 
Back to the point. I am here for work, which I think is the worst reason for one to travel to one of the so-called most beautiful places in the world. I mean, come on, I was the kind who used to write Switzerland against dream destination in almost all slam books at school. Blame DDLJ, and 'Zara sa jhoom loon main', and for that matter Yash Chora movies in general. The snow, the Alps, wow, how romantic! Only, right now, there is no snow, no Alps, and the romance is sleeping soundly back home. All that is there is rains, grey, gloomy, London like weather, sticky cold winds, and a lot of alone time to contemplate.
 
Plus, agreed the place is downright systematic, almost like a clockwork, but it is frigging confusing. When I was handed the tram map of the area, I was impressed. Wow, like London, I thought. And it is, in some ways. The connectivity, the timeliness, even better than London at times. But, seriously, the names! What is with the names! It took me a day in London to know that I lived in Holborn, and that Oxford circus was not far, and even if I did get lost, which I wouldn't, I could ask anyone and they would guide me. Here, it's just not the same! People are exceedingly friendly and helpful, one must agree, but the names! I have to carry the map everywhere, and whenever I get lost, which is quite possible, 'cause Barfusserplatz, can really sound like Brausebad in the German accent, I have to whip out my worn out map, and point my numb finger at the station which I have circled, and say ' This is where I need to go, I know I need to take Tram 10, but I am not sure which direction.' Then it got better, but twice, I get into the right tram, and right before my stop, there is an announcement in German of course, which mentions my stop, and then just doesn't go there. Why? Oh because the announcement said 'This is Aeschenplatz, and if you want to get to Bahnoff SBB, get off here, cos this tram is going to M Parc to rest'. But of course, all I know and understand of the sentence is Bahnoff SBB and I wait to get there. Which I obviously don't, so I walk back two stations. Phew.
 
Anyway, it's not that bad too. I had a weekend here, with no company or plans. So I decided to do something I always thought was a cool thing to do. Walk around the place, with no idea of direction or destination, and in general soak in the culture, the buildings, the atmosphere. And that was done quite well. A  walk around the town, a walk on the banks of the Rhine, a visit to a small, colorful fair, some time in a medieval cathedral, a trip to the top of its tower from where you could see the German Black Forests, a coffee and doughnut at a roadside cafe, all of this ensured that the one weekend I had was not wasted. Also, the 5 hours spent on foot would probably ensure that I still fit into my clothes once I am back, considering I've eaten my weight in Tiramisu in the past one week.
 
Well, that being it, I still have a week to go. Only, it is a full working week, and I won't have much time on hand for anything else. And fortunately so, 'cos I just can't wait to get back. This is an experience alright, but there is only so much of change you an handle, however exotic it might sound. And of course the one thing no one has any doubts about. There is no place like home.
 
Oh, and yes, I just realised that I had spelt the names of all tram stations correctly without having to check even once. Yay me. And yes, that's the high point of the trip. So, all of you can go ahead and pray that this week passes by fast. I know I will.
Tags: , ,
Deal with this!
[info]divyaiyer
October 22nd, 2009
Situation: Stuck at a traffic jam(as usual) on the way back from work.
State of mind: EXTREMELY pissed.
 
Me: I cannot travel for two hours each way for work. Period.
The Dude: We looked for houses nuh, what can we do if it didn't work out?
Me: I don't know. I know what I can do, quit the job
The Dude: Why are you overreacting? So many people travel!
Me: Oh! Look who's talking! Excuse me, but aren't you the guy who is picked up and dropped at home, and at hours which ensure zero traffic? Please, you don't get a say. I get to decide
The Dude: What??
Me: Here's the deal. You've one year's time to search for a house nearer to work. If you can't we are moving on rent. That's all. The deadline is 1st October 2010.
The Dude: ???!?
 
Situation: In the car on a weekend
State of mind: Relaxed and happy
 
Me: You know, I was thinking about the deal
The Dude: What deal?
Me: What deal? Seriously? The deal that we're shifting to a place near work, that deal.
The Dude: Ohhh, that deal, yes, what about it?
Me: I am giving you an alternative.
The Dude: Ah, how nice! And that would be?
Me: Well, I am willing to let go of my whining about moving, IF, you get me a pug puppy before the year ends.
The Dude: How is that even related??
Me: It's not. It's an alternative, take it , or leave it. Also, you take care of it in the mornings, I will manage it in the evenings.
The Dude: Pugs are expensive, and difficult to manage. Will a Labrador do?
Me: Hmm, let me think about that part.
 
Situation: Saturday night, after a couple of rounds of beer
State of mind: Err, take a guess!

 Me: I was thinking about the deal. I think I'm fine with a Labrador pup. But it has to be here before the year ends.
The Dude: I was thinking too. Of a new upgraded deal. I'm thinking of getting you both dogs, a pug AND a Lab.
Me: *Shocked* What? Seriously? By the end of this year?
The Dude: Yes yes, totally. But of course, it's a deal, so it's in exchange for something.
Me: Ohkaay. What would that be?
The Dude: Well the Lab is for making you stop whining about moving. And the pug is to put a stop to your rising maternal instincts*. What say?
Me: :O :O :O! *WTF*!!

 
* At last count, I knew of 16 (yes SIXTEEN) women who are expecting. All of them cousins,friends, colleagues of The Dude or myself. You just cannot blame me!
 
PS: The original version of the deal stays. But now The Dude suddenly feels that moving might actually be easier than having a dog at home. Damn.
PPS: Of course, the display of maternal instincts hasn't stopped either! Seriously, what better way to get The Dude all jittery, than stopping suddenly at the baby clothes section in malls, and staring longingly with big sad puppy eyes at the collection on display. Hah!

Tags: ,
What a Wonderful World (Wide Web)
[info]divyaiyer
October 20th, 2009
At:
Work
Music in my head:
Tu Jaane na - on repeat
Many many years ago, at the dawn of the new millennium, when I was a wee lil student who had just stepped out of the comforts of the home and school into the big bad world, I was introduced to the joys of the Internet. And needless to say, I was hooked. Everything was an adventure. Right from creating a tiny yahoo id with a sad underscore in it, to not wanting to log-in to any chat rooms with it because you never know the person on the other side could be a stalker, to paying 50 bucks (or was it even more?) per hour to just check the wonder that was email, in a shady Internet cafe, with tiny cubicles you could sit couped in while waiting for the mailbox to open, and watching the status bar fill at the rate of one tiny millimeter every 5 minutes. That was when there were dial-up connections. When the broadband era set in, I couldn't help but envy that cafe guy, who could surf endlessly at his desk, and get paid for keeping a record of who sat where for how long. And here I was, paying 25 bucks an hour for just being able to check my mail and chat. Hmph. But come what may, I treated myself to an hour of net-surfing every Friday without feeling guilty of spending aforementioned time and money, or irritated with the continuous whirring of the ceiling fan which did nothing to cut the Hyderabad heat.

That was then. Luckily, in 3 years time, I had my personal computer, in my very own room, with 24 hours Internet at what I thought was mind-blowing speed. And all of it free (ok, baked in the fees, but I didn't have an option right?). It was heaven. The hours spent on yahoo, and the movies sent back and forth through the IP messenger. It actually brought along an era of unmatched laziness, the height of it being once when the balcony-mate pinged me to come to her room urgently for a favor, which turned out to be, 'please switch the fan on, I'm too lazy to get up'. It also was the phase of perennial joblessness, which led to inevitable outcomes like creating mail ids on all possible providers, setting up blogs, and accepting all and every social networking invite that came your way.

Which brings us to the point which triggered this post. I really don't remember when I created my Facebook account. And I am dead sure that I was not regular on it till like a couple of years ago, probably when people I knew started putting up goodbye messages on Orkut (almost always at least 6 months before they finally did exit, and most of the time, they're still around) saying they were bored of it and all. Again, my point being I had an account on Facebook, but I would check it like every alternate day at the most. In fact, I think I was more regular on Orkut.

But then, Facebook got real smart. It did what Yahoo messenger did in the year 2004, which made all the jobless souls on campus get glued to it. Remember Text-twist? That was one addictive game, and your scores would be on display on your messenger all the time. Plus, it would show the high scores amongst your friends. And being on campus meant you had 100+ people on your friends list. And that's all that was needed. People would play that game ALL the time. Heck, we even had an inter hostel competition for it! Oh, and apart from that there were a good number of mind-numbing click-of-mouse games as well. And very often, you would walk into rooms, where you could see a sole individual, sitting still as a rock on the plastic chair in front of the screen, music of choice blaring in the background, and the only thing moving would be the index finger, rhythmically clicking the mouse.

Anyway, back to the point. So Facebook has gotten me logging into my account, multiple times a day now. Something I never did before. At least not with Facebook. Or for that matter, any site in the past 4.5 years that I have been working. It started with Farmville. Lots of people tried it. Some continued, and still do. Some never returned after the first login. Some played for a while before declaring it sucked. Some never tried it, and put up status messages expressing disgust and amusement over why people felt the need to display their achievements on the farm, on the wall. Heh. I tried it, got addicted, had weird conversations with The Dude like ' I've got to take the 5:30 bus, or my strawberries will wither', continued playing, lost interest, and now am still playing just for the heck of it. Ok, not really, but I need to buy a Green House for the farm before I retire, but with the pace with which I am going, I don't know when that would happen. But the cool thing was, just when I started losing interest, and getting bugged with the re-syncing of the server, and the insufficient fuel for my harvester-seeder-tractor, I started playing Cafe world. Which basically has me running a virtual cafe and cooking all kinds of yummy dishes (something I guess I would do only in the virtual world). Just when I thought I wouldn't bother to lo-gin to facebook to see if my grape crop was ready to be harvested, I'm now doing it to see if my French Onion soup is ready to be served. Sigh. Such is life.

Anyway, point being, I can't imagine how I would survive without the Internet anymore. Or for that matter, how I survived before it's existence. On days like this, when I absolutely refuse to do anything worthwhile, but am expected to stay at the workstation all the same, the Internet is more than a lifesaver. Games, blogs, re the perfect fillers for a regular day at work, or for that matter, a day at home even. Thank you ARPA, thank you Berners-Lee, thank you all who made this awesomeness possible.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some Caramelised Apples to serve.
Tags: , , ,
Dum dee dum, da Dum dee Dum
[info]divyaiyer
October 14th, 2009
At:
work
Feeling:
bored
Music in my head:
APKGK OST
It's this way people. I am bored. I have nothing to do, or rather, I am not in the mood to do things that I am supposed to. So, I am choosing not to do them and instead, I am going to spend whatever time I have in doing this exhaustive, sometimes funny, sometimes bugging, and most of the time very eh-inducing tag. And considering nobody has the time read this page anymore, you can't even complain.

( The BIG 100 Question tag )

Done. Yay! That was fun, trust me. And tiring. Phew!
Tags:
Wherever we go..
[info]divyaiyer
October 8th, 2009
At:
work
..we take the weather with us. And not just any weather, we are extremely particular about rains. Not drizzles, not pleasant showers followed by an equally pleasant cloudy day, this is the real deal. An It-can't-get-better-than-this deal. Which would either be torrential rains with winds that threaten to blow our umbrellas away (if we managed to carry those that is), or continuous rain pelting down with amazing enthusiasm from the dark grey clouds which show not one sliver of blue, and make you forget the concept of sunshine.
 
It was not always like this. The first trip that The Dude and I took was to Chennai. Yes-yes, smirk away, but that was our first ever romantic getaway. Yes. Hot, sweltering, sweaty Chennai. With a little bit of Mahabalipuram thrown in. Equally hot nonetheless. That was in the pre-wedding era, and we spent a whole day with friends, sitting under a shade on the beach, nursing chilled beers.
 
This was followed by the much planned honeymoon, which was exactly what weather.com had predicted it to be, more than 2 months earlier. Egypt. In June. Hot. No. Wait for it. HOT. But that's what we had signed up for. To visit the Great Pyramids amidst the deserts, in the middle of Summer, so that each pic we took would have nothing to taint the brilliant blue background that was the sky. And ofcourse the sun. The magestic, brilliant sun to brighten each day that we spent there. It was as awesome as it could get. Though sometimes I have these vague recollection of us sprinting across the sunny patches into the cool comfort of our airconditioned vehicle as soon as we were done ooh-ing and aah-ing over the hieroglyphics and the massive structures that beautiful country is full of. Hmm. Has to be all that love in the air.
 
Anyway. That done, I think our Sunny Days were more or less over. It all started with Tokyo. That awesome free vacation to Tokyo that our car won for us, remember? Which reminds me that our car turned 2 years old 3 days ago. Yes. So we had to choose our dates for the 5-6 day long vacation and it could be anytime from Jan to July that year. And we, very carefully, chose May. Because Weather.com promised good weather in may. No extreme climatic changes. And ofcourse the fact that we both got leaves together only then. And so we reached Tokyo, and it was bright and sunny.And very beautiful. Somehow, weather.com had now changed it's prediction to cloudy with slight rainfall for these few days. At this point, I must mention that one of the key highlights of our visit was the trip to Disneyland. Something we both were looking forward to more than anything else (A fact that makes me thank my stars that I married this guy. Phew). So the day before the trip, we were doing this regular site seeing tour with a group of people. And it was still bright and sunny, when the japanese lady in front of us turned us and asked us our plans for the next day. Disneyland! We almost yelled. And she made a sorry face and said "Awwww, that's bad. Today evening is when the tornado is supposed to hit us right, so the whole tomorrow going to be rainy!" It was so not funny. And yes, there were heavy rains that whole night and the next morning. How we finally reached, and made a good day of it, and got to get on all rides (ALL of them), and then it turned bright and sunny, and it was an awesome day, is another story. Bottom line, it rained.
 
And the saga continued. The long planned trip to Chirala finally happened last November, and the whole drive was rainy. Not heavy, but continuous. The heavy bit started only when we reached the resort and decided to visit the beach. Heh. Then our first vacation this year to Tyda. We got an opportunity to stay the lush green jungles, in the very pretty wooden igloo, amidst the heaviest rains possible. Weather.com predicted this too, only as usual, a bit too late.
 
And then came this weekend. This weekend was planned a month in advance. This weekend was our much awaited trip to Goa. And then, it starts raining. In Goa that is. So as we waited at our airport, we are told that our flight could get cancelled cos Goa airport runways are full of water. Awesome. And when they finally cleared it, and the airport opened again, and we were all ready and sitting in out plane, it rained again. This time, in Hyderabad. But we finally did take off, and reach somehow. And we battled through the rains and reached our resort too, fervently hoping that tomorrow would be a better day. It was. It was cloudy, and not raining. So we went and picked up bikes. And we started riding towards Palolem. When guess what happened. IT RAINED. And it rained and rained and rained the whole frigging day. But we brave souls refused to let anything spoil the holiday and rode through the rains, all the 35 kilometers and went to the beach, drenched from head to toe, shivered half the way, wished The Dude's glasses had wipers, fell totally in love with the view, waded into waist deep water, and had our chilled beers anyway. It couldn't have been better. And there are no 'howevers' to this. Luckily day 2 was dry and cloudy, and day 3 was bright blue, and really sunny, and as if there never were any rains. But none of the days could compete with our rainy day in Goa.
 
And now, we're back. And we have made peace with the fact that the rains follow us. And considering the number of times I have  mentioned being in love with the rains and clouds and the rainy weather, I should theorically be thanking the Gods for following my blog so closely and ensuring that my favorite weather coincides with my holidays. But I'm not that amused. Or sarcastic. But the next time we plan to travel, I am thinking of making a mock plan to fool Rain God and make him visit in advance, and then push off for the actual thing. Good idea. Yes. That's an awesome idea.
 
But wait, I just mentioned that he reads this blog! Damn. Another brilliant idea wasted. But I have time till the next vacation to think of a plan. Will go do that. For now, it's over and out.

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On days like these, I blog
[info]divyaiyer
September 8th, 2009
At:
Work
Feeling:
blah
I reached work at 7:40 AM today. This, when I had started from home at a very modest 7:15. And those who are not reading this as my first post, know that I usually take a minimum of an hour and a half to travel to work every day. The problem is the cab drivers in Hyderabad. For some reason,their level of their punctuality, is always inversely proportional to their Schumacher-ness. Hence ensuring that either there are days when the driver arrives 20 minutes later than the scheduled time to pick me up, also drives the cab like it were a rickshaw.
 
Or days like today, when I am woken up by my shrill ringtone and a perky voice asking me for directions to the pick up point, and when I finally succeed in moving my lazy self from the bed to the bath to the cab, I'm practically flown through the zero traffic roads to my work place. Well, you can't win 'em all.
 
So, like I was saying, I reached pretty early today. And as it always happens, the reason I came early for, well, doesn't exist anymore. And that means, time to spare. Which I first used for arranging stuff on my desk (instead of my usual fling everything around and login immediately, because you're the last to reach work mode), filling my bottle with water (which by the way, I don't. Fill the bottle, or drink the water in it, I mean. Remember, I'm a camel reincarnated?) and ensuring I drink atleast some of it, and then leisurely checking my personal mail (which I do anyway, how much ever work, how many ever meetings I may have), ranting on the Gtalk status message and Twitter (which again I do all the time, haha, like you didn't know), and then finally, opening google docs and typing this out (what? that's how I post. The Word doc days are so over!).
 
Anyway. I have realised that working early in the morning is not as bad an idea. Especially when you do have enough work to keep you busy in the first half of the day, and by the time you're done, it is lunch time. And then post lunch hours are like just a some time to while away, and before you know, it is 5:30 and you are all set to leave. And that way, the travel hours are usually the no-to-very-less-rush-on-the-road hours, which again means not cursing every traffic signal, and horrible L board drivers who block your way while you're trying to cross one after missing it like 4 times earlier. The only issue is, I don't really trust others at my work place. As in, deep down inside I know that they will make me stay till 7, and then I will have to take the horrid bus through the horrid route in the horrid traffic and reach at 9. Horrid.
 
When I started this post today, I promised myself that I will not make it a unrelated collection of rambles. And I almost made it, when I decided to go have  breakfast in the cafeteria (which by the way, is pretty good, considering usual cafeteria food at offices is sad, this is almost in the very-good category). And there, another thought stuck me. Which is totally not connected to anything we have discussed so far, but has to be noted down nevertheless. And now that I am unnecessarily building up a hype around it, I might as well mention that it is nothing substantial, but yet another little known fact about me, which might not really be helpful to anyone, but this being my blog, will still be mentioned.
 
Yes. So, as everyone knows I am directionally challenged (I am dead sure I have mentioned this before, but still). As in, not necessarily in the forget-which-road-to-take way. But more in the flail limbs in randomest of directions while talking about a particular place, all the while assuming that I'm just short of being a human google map. So, if I'm in the office building, you'll find me saying something like ' You know there is a mall coming up nuh, right there' and pointing to say the left, and the other person looking completely lost, and responding with a 'Err, but I thought there was a huge lake there, are you sure they can build a mall there?", and then I say "hmmm, let me think", and then I turn left and right, and round and round, till I have virtually descended down the building, walked out of it, onto the road and to the said site, all in my head, and then I turn back and say "ah, you're right, not there, I meant there" this time hopefully pointing in the right direction. You get the idea.
 
Yeah, so I realised that not only am I directionally challenged horizontally, but also vertically. What can this mean you might think. It means, I am always unsure of if I need to go upstairs or downstairs, because I have a fixed idea of what should be where. For example, cafeterias are always upstairs, or have been whereever i worked before. So, now, when ours is on the 1st floor, and I work on the 4th, I still have to keep saying "let's go upstairs and eat something". And not only that, I always press the 'up' button while calling the lift to go the place. And this, when I have been here for 6 months. I mean seriously!
 
Yeah, but that's enough posting for one day. If you observe, there were technically only two topics discussed in this post. And also, at some level, even they are related, because they are all about work. Not so much about work, but I ensured that the examples are all work and work-place related. So mission accomplished. Almost. And now that is it almost 10 AM, and a respectable enough time for one to actually start what they originally came for (some people call it work), I shall proceed and do just that. You people have an awesome day!
 

Tags: , ,
Blue and Yellow
[info]divyaiyer
August 25th, 2009
At:
work
Music in my head:
none
I dislike blogs with white font on black backgrounds. Mainly 'cos no self respecting company's intranet page would be black in colour, and even if I am fooling myself, I would rather have the onlookers believe that that is exactly what I am surfing.
 
And, I have realised, that I cannot surf blogs/ non-work related internet and listen to music at the same time. As in, I am incapable of doing the two things together. Funnily, I can very easily read through work related documents with earphones plugged on. The reason I feel is that having two modes of pure blissful entertainment on at the same time at work, makes me a little too guilty. One is still fine.
 
I can no longer be called a blogger. Because not only do I not have anything to say, I don't even feel like writing about it or posting anything that I might have.
 
I am also deleting reading from my list of interests/hobbies wherever I have mentioned it. Because I do not read. Unless you mean blogs, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Vogue and Femina, or links shared by others on Google reader, I dont read anymore.
 
Speaking of which, though I loved Google reader to begin with, I am now pretty much bugged with it. Yes, it gives me these updates on the 60 (?!) odd blogs I have subscribed to and saves a lot of the time I used to spend clicking on each link on my favorites list. But that somehow, is not an advantage when you have too much time to spare. I feel it all gets over too quickly.
 
Ooh, and I really like Twitter now. If only it didn't have such a small word limit. But I guess that's the idea. Tough for me, and actually makes me resort to the Godawful SMS lingo at times! 
 
And I absolutely heart the new phone I got recently. A samsung touch phone this, I actually can watch youtube videos without any halts on it. And ofcourse, check and update twitter. Why I bought it is because there is this new mall near my workplace which we went to check out, and generally check the prices of the phones The Dude likes, and instead, we bought me a phone. Yes, just like that.
 
I am shit scared of screwing up this one, because it is a touch phone, and have kept the screen guard on still. And for once The Dude is ok with me being 'So-typical-Delhi'*
 
We finally had a mini vacation, where we gave a lot of business to AP tourism, by visiting Araku Valley, Tyda Jungle camp and Vizag in a span of 4 days. Ofcourse, while for me the biggest thrill was the beaches and the Jungle camp, the to and fro drive of 12 hours each was what made The Dude happy. And yes, the destination was decided because of the 'awesome roads' that led to it.
 
We watched Love Aaj Kal and Kaminey. And like everybody else who did, loved the latter, and got seriously bugged with the former. Have finally stopped defending Padukone altogether. Shahid Kapoor however, has found a new fan. I wish the guy would choose people his age to act with though. Rani Mukherjee, seriously?
 
I have become so lazy it's not funny. All I seem to do after my daily dose of 4 hours bus travel and 8 hours work is plonk on the bean bag infront of the TV, stare at the mindless (albeit awesome!) humor sitcoms on Star World, and stuff myself with all things evil. I really need to get up and MOVE. And stop eating chocolates. Damn.
 
Oh, and other than that things are good. Heh. Why wouldn't they be, with a vacation, new phone, awesome weekends et al. Keep me busy, these things. But if I had started the post on this note, it wouldn't really sound like me, yes?
 
It's 12:32 PM, on a Tuesday afternoon, and this is me, signing off  this excuse of a post, hopefully for not so long this time. Gee, I think I still am a blogger afterall! Ciao.

* The Dude believes that Delhi people keep the plastic covers on their stuff (like Car seats, remotes, cell phones etc) for as long as they can. Why the generalisation, is beyond my understanding, and to find out the same is beyond my patience levels.

** Oh, and the title of the post is the color of the building outside my window. They are defintely not the best shades of the color though, and make the building look pretty dull. But today, with the deep grey background of the skies, they suddenly look very bright  and pleasant.
 
Tags:
The Discovery of the month ...
[info]divyaiyer
July 27th, 2009
At:
Work
Feeling:
annoyed
Music in my head:
Superchor - Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye
is this guy.
 
Why you ask? Well, because I realised that it is possible for the universe to actually contain yet another human being who has not only been made to face the exact same issues and problems in life (relevant or otherwise!) as myself, but has also chosen the very same mode to vent out his frustrations.
 
Oh, I am not talking about him writing about it in general. I am talking about him writing this post. Oh, still don't get it? Does it remind you of something? No? Bah, and you call yourself a regular reader!
 
Ok fine, let me help you. Check this one out, and this one.
 
Ah. Now you see it, I hope. Ofcourse, it's not a replica. But please tell me you too can see an uncanny resemblance in our problems in life? Heck, accept it,  most of the lines are from the former, and a few from the latter. Oh, and yes, the grammatical atrocities are all his, so I am not taking away all the credit from him. And I can also spot a few of his own lines in between! So it's only right to accept that, yes?
 
But still, it is all unfair I think. While all the others have their own issues to deal with in life, here's this guy whose own set of problems is so small, that he randomly picks up others' frustrations and states them as his own. Really unfair.
 
Surprisingly, I am more amused than miffed, perhaps the reason why I haven't left a mean comment on his page yet. But then, it's just one post, that too a rant, not some awesome literary piece of work. But then, it's my rant. And  this blog specialises in that genre. Okay. I think I will leave a comment afterall!
 
But in a while. For now this is it.

Update: Ok, the blog's gone now. Whoosh. First it became password protected, and now it's been removed altogether. And all this before I could even leave a nasty remark out there. Damn. But I am happy, yes. Job's done.
Tags:
Somebody please wake me up
[info]divyaiyer
July 21st, 2009
At:
Work
Music in my head:
None
I am typing this with my eyes half closed. My face is set into a frown, and I am looking deep into the screen, so that people sitting in front of and around me think I am in lost in concentration. Only, the truth is I am so damn sleepy, that all I can think of is a comfortable bed, a soft pillow, and a warm blanket. All of this in a dark room, with only some slivers of light entering in when the curtains move because of the breeze from the fan, whose whirring is the only thing audible.
 
Damn. 
 
It's not my fault really. The weather is the awesomest it's been in a long while. It is my favorite kind. Dark and grey. The kind which gives you no clue as to whether it is 2 in the afternoon or 6 in the evening. It is constantly the same, the cool breeze, the sudden showers, the starking contrast of the bright fresh green of the leaves against the deep grey of the sky. Dull and gloomy as per some, but awesome as per me. So that weather, coupled with the no-work situation, is putting me to sleep. Literally. And I have no choice but to be here for another 4 hours, while all I would want is the whole bed-blanket-dark room situation I just described above.

I think I should get me a coffee. Our coffee machine is sad by the way. Actually, I wanted to write about the ex coffee machine some time back. Only, just before I actually got to describe it's awesomeness, they went ahead and replaced it. See, at first we had an original Lavazza coffee machine. Original because Lavazza was engraved on it. And we actually saw that the coffee beans they pured into it were also from a sealed pack which had Lavazza printed on it. And that coffee, I must tell you, was absolutely LEGENDARY! Infact, my very-I-Hate-anything-that-is-not-chennai office friend certified that the Ristretto from that machine could be used to make milk coffee which was "almost as good as filter coffee"! You just had to do it right; add only half a packet of sugar, 30 ml of Ristretto, and 60 ml of milk. It was wonderful. But why would they have us people stay happy tell me? They got this new coffee machine, which is an extremely sad Fresh and Honest machine. And so we asked them people (the guys in the pink shirts which had Fresh and Honest written on them) to get the Lavazza machine back. And very politely, they nodded, said ok-ok, and next day we see a printed sheet with Lavazza coffee typed on it stuck on this machine. Great. So point of the story is, this machine gives sick watery coffee, and I doubt it will cure me of all the sleepiness. Though somehow, typing about coffee has already done part of the job.  
 
In other news, all of the awesome End of Season sales, that happen just twice a year, and during which I get most of my shopping done, with considerably lesser quantities of guilt, are here! And this time, I've already been to most of them, and made extensive additions to my evergrowing piles of clothes/shoes/bags. So, I am thinking, that once this is done (which still warrants a little more time because Shopper's stop, which is one of my top ranked shopping havens is yet to announce it's sale. Once that is done, I shall conclude the sale shopping spree), we shall actually put in some effort in discarding what is not needed. Which is like 50% of my wardrobe. Oh come on. You've really got to see the stuff I have. Agreed a lot of it is hardly used, but there is a reason behind everything. So Phase I of Mission Discard will see the following go -
 
- Anything that is a salwar-kameez or churidaar kameez, with the kameez actually going beyond the knee, or it's sleeves ranging between 3 inches above the elbow to 2 inches below it. Yes, I own those
- Anything which I can see and tell my 5 year old nephew that "Hey, you know, I wore this your parents' wedding"
- Anything which has messages like "I am not arrogant, I am just better than you are", or "Get a life, beg, borrow, steal" which I felt were really cool wonsaponatime and haven't been able to even look at for the past 2 years.
- Anything which has been preserved for the past 3 years for the "When I lose 5 kgs, I will fit into these really well" celebration
- Anything which was once made people think "Hmm, she looks good in this" , but now makes them think "Poor girl that faded shirt's all she's got that"
- Anything remotely warm, or woolen, because God knows that though Crime might stop altogether, Excel sheets might get interesting, Politicians might become the most honest beings, Rakhi Sawant might actually marry the bloke who wins that sidey show, I might lose 10 kgs in a month, but Hyderabad will never see winter.
 
That will bring in quite a lot of space I think. Enough to make place for this round of shopping, and some part of the next too possibly! So I will keep my bags and shoes for now, and think of them next.
 
I am fully awake now by the way. It might be more to do with the fact that if my meeting ends within the stipulated one hour, I would actually be leaving in another 2 hours. Also, because I took a walk around the place, had a coffee, complained about the same old things to the same old work friend, and then returned. That can be pretty useful I realise. Oh, and I had an icecream also. I have suddenly become this insatiable ice cream consumer, who will stop only if the mocha sundae or chocolate chip cone is unavailable. Which happens once every month, and since our ice cream guy waits for all the flavours to get over before restocking, it takes like forever. Because seriously , who eats Kesar-Pista Sundaes really?
 
That's enough I think. I will go collect my prints and prepare for my Oh-so-important meeting now, because, if you didn't realise, I just completed 6 months at the new job! Ok, one quick round of applause before we leave. Thankyouverymuch. Ciao!
 
Tags: , ,
Like you can't do without a title
[info]divyaiyer
July 8th, 2009
At:
Work
Music in my head:
none

Now here's the deal. I was so so sure that I would not complain or rant for a while to average out the whiney undertone of the blog. And I intended to pretty much do just that. Nah-nah. You can't deny that really. So much so, that just when I am being all nice and positive and chirpy and downright cheerful, life decided to push me to the edge by giving me ridiculously bugging days at work. So bugging, they actually start getting more amusing than bugging and then in a while we forget that this has been a bugging day afterall. And even though we start at 7 in the morning for work, and it is like 8 in the night right now, and we are still at work, and we are still not sure when we would leave, and more importantly why we are still here, it still feels more funny than bugging. Heh, such happiness I have to say. But not good really, because the usual angry me somehow feels a little more accomplished at the end of it all. Relieved, after losing it more than once in front of more than a few important work people. Harmful, but very stress busting type activity that is. But now, when we are allowed to be rantier, unhappier, all we are doing is typing this highly incoherent blog, and venting out the frustration, by, guess what, putting up abusive status message on google. No-no, not random abuses, but more specific, changing the receiver with situational changes during the day. But in reality, we think that is a mega-loser thing to do. When really, we should be huffing and puffing (and blowing the house down), and stomping around, and passing random comments about buggers inc. to anyone who cares to hear, and increasing the volume when a member of buggers inc. is in audible distance, we are putting status messages. So. not. Ok.

On a not so different note, Excel is a weird invention. We share a typical love-hate relationship with it. Now on days, we look at all the things this sheet with rows and columns can do, and ooh and aah about how awesome all this automation is, and how did people survive without this before Bill Gates existed and all that. And on the next day, when we are hard-pressed for time, and running out of the small stock of patience we usually carry around, it acts totally weird. It will give random error messages, which you would need to google, search solutions for, fix, only to end up with another such message, only a different one this time. That's enough for us to hate it with all our heart, only the next week, when there is less work and more time, and we find out yet another awesome formula, we start liking it again. And yes ofcourse, Excel definitely features as the non-human member of Buggers Inc. Why would we bring it up otherwise.

Now we are hungry. Typing is making us hungry. Which reminds us that there is this cool typing game on facebook, which suits people like us, who sometimes are so jobless at home (usually between 8 PM when I get back home, and 10:30 PM, when the dude does), that they need a mind less, keyboard tapping, mouse clicking kinda game to keep us busy. This game is just that. But guess what, it will refuse to work at home on the personal laptop! With all the add-ins, installations, three browsers, it will just not work! And then when we randomly check out the same at work (not during the heavy work time please, when we are waiting for some member of Buggers Inc. to get back with updates or something, then), with all the restrictions, and firewalls and all that, lo! It will work! But then how can one play a typing game without everyone noticing? And wondering what important work we are doing? So, basically, we can't play. End of story. Oh yes, that's why we are blogging instead. Atleast it looks like one of the important documents we need to work on without knowing for what and when it would be used really.
 
Now, we are really hungry. It's not a nice thing. But we have booked cab for 20:00 hours which is another 12 minutes. So, we are praying that no Firang member of Buggers Inc. mails back before then, because then we can look forward to a Jagraata. Jagraata = jag+ raata = awake + night. For the benefit of my posh I-dont-know-hindi-readers. I definitely have some of those yes?
 
Ooh, this post got pretty long! It is unintelligble, incoherent, and all those nice words which mean dont-waste-your-time-here-because-this-post-has-nothing-important-to-say. Even-remotely. But you just did, you just did! Which means you have so much time on hand really! Shameful! Oh, but seriously, can we switch jobs? Please? Think about it, I am off!

Edited to add: Apparently, I am not. Off that is. It is 20:00 hrs on my system's clock, and I am still here rambling. Obviously I am not off. Wow. Some awesome life I have eh? And no, Firang members of Buggers Inc did not mail us anything, we are staying back really in anticipation of something they might send eventually. I think I will go get me a hot chocolate, this is going to be Jagraata after all. Sigh.
Tags: , ,
My very materialistic Wishlist
[info]divyaiyer
July 2nd, 2009
At:
Work
Music in my head:
None
Borrowing the idea from vixlist, I am now making a list of things I really really want. Affordability, requirement, availability and all be damned.  Oh, and this being the materialisc wishlist, I am avoiding  dil-ka-sukoon, happiness and peace for the world, equality amongst all and the like, which is actually what I would wish for. You know me.
 
Number one on the list is the very basic need of any individual, a makaan. And it has to meet our tiny list of specifications, this being the dream house The Dude and I are getting together and all. So once we find a 3BHK, on the 15th floor or above of a really tall building, which along with its brother buldings forms part of this ultra-cool township, with basic provisions like a pool, club house, gym etc, has a big living room, and a large balcony, preferably overlooking a lake or even the awesome city lights, and is available within a year from now, when we think we can have enough cash to make a down payment, at ofcourse the price we have in mind, or rather, in our bank accounts, we'll take it. Simple wish really. You would think one has to struggle so much for this?
 
Number two is something no one can have enough of. A vacation. A long break to somewhere exotic and awesome. Please note that the level of exotic-ness of the location can vary between Goa and Tokyo. So there are in fact, quite a lot of choices really.
 
At number three we have a Sony Vaio. Red in colour and a good configuration. Or a Mac-book. White in colour this one. The current laptop is 3 years old, and almost dying. Really.
 
At four is a new phone. Mine is old and boring and tacky, and has dropped to the ground so many times that even though its a Nokia, it can only bear so much. Yeah, and this time we are looking for a touch phone; an I Phone, an HTC touch or atleast the Nokia Express Music touch phone.
 
Number five is a 42" LCD Plasma TV, Sony, or Samsung. Now this actually was to adorn our AV room in the new house, but since we already wished for that, we can go ahead and wish for the associated accessories as well I think.
 
Number six is a subscription to Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Femina. Including the yummy gifts they offer on subscription. Reason being, our Magazine guy's gotten extremely bugging and ends up bringing all these magazines the month after which they are released. And so I end up reading "Fashions for summer" during the monsoons, and "How to make a dull winter morning bright" when the sun is blazing and almost burning my skin off. Not a nice feeling I tell you.
 
Number seven, is a set of new speakers for the bedroom. See, thing is, though there are huge speakers in almost all the rooms in the house, there are none in the bedroom. So if I feel like listening to music while sleeping, it either has to waft through the other rooms, or has to be plugged into the ears. Both not ok. So.
 
Number eight, I need the complete 4th season of How I met your mother, and also episodes 2 and 3 of the 3rd season.
 
At number nine, we need gift vouchers for all possible shopping malls and stores across the city. Because the end of season sales are about to start. And why I say vouchers and not money is because, while the end effect the same, spending cash makes me feel very guilty, probably because it could be put to better use or something (don't ask me what could be better than splurging all you want at a sale, but still)? But with vouchers, you can't really do anything else can you? So, vouchers make much more sense really.
 
Number ten, since we are talking of vouchers, I wouldn't mind a few to some exotic spa kinda thing really. And the reason here is similar, if not the same to the one above. See there, the issue is guilt, I spend, and then I feel guilty. But here, it is plain thrift. I cannot bring myself to spend anything at any of these parlors/spas etc. Anything they charge seems way to expensive and I end up not spending anything at all. So while I am on a wishing spree, might as well wish for some vouchers which just have to be redeemed at these otherwise ridiculously overpriced places.
 
And that's about it. I am a pretty content person I think, that list actually took a lot of thinking after point 5 or so. I am happy with the way things are, really. Although, I wish for there to be no traffic jam on the way home today. And that it rains. But there should be no power-cut. Oh, and the roads should not be clogged with water. And there should be no work tomorrow. And, that's all for now.
 
What? Those are small things, that doesn't prove anything. I am an extremely content person, thank-you-very-much. And before you form any more judgements, I am off. Ciao.
Tags:
GM Diet ke side effects
[info]divyaiyer
June 15th, 2009
At:
Work
Feeling:
hungry
Music in my head:
None
We have been there. Done that. And the learnings remain the same. Those who know of the GM diet, obviously know of it's effects.
 
But for those who want to know more, here is the otherwise ignored list of side effects that this self-imposed torture has!

1. Day 1. You hate apples; Day 2. Could someone please give you just one bite of an apple?; Day 3. Ugh, why do all fruits and vegetables taste alike?
Basically you're losing it.
 
2. The whiteboard at your desk has tallybars for the number of bottles of water you've had during the day. Especially if you are a self-proclaimed camel who can survive with no water the whole day like some.
 
3. You wonder whether the actual reason behind the whole weight loss is the change in diet, or the countless trips to the restroom you end up making, thanks to those countless(counted?) bottles of water you consumed.
 
4. You eye the extremely bland curd rice with pickle that your collegue is having for lunch with jealousy.
 
5. You take vows like "I am going to eat two icecreams, and a whole pizza the day this gets over"; that it would actually defeat the whole purpose of the diet is a conveniently forgotten point.
 
6. Every call that you make to the partner in crime (endeavour, one might call it) starts with a " So how are managing so far? F*** this whole thing really, and let's order pizza tonight!"
 
7. You tell yourself " I'm not that unfit really, do I really need this?" everytime you look at the mirror.
 
8. You curse everytime there is a food related commercial on the television. Or a restaurant scene in any of the movies or soaps you watch.
 
9. You sprinkle generous amounts of chat masala on the fruits you are expected to finish. And then justify saying "I checked the ingredients on the box, they are all natural and healthy".
 
10. Whenever anyone asks you if the diet has worked so far you reply saying " It's not for weightloss really, I am just detoxifying myself. It is supposed to have a positive effect on the mind as well".

Oh by the way, today is Day 2, and to say I'm not liking it, is well, an understatement really. But then, what do you say to a person who repeats the same mistakes over and over again? Nothing. So let's leave it at that.

So, if all's well, see you on the other side of the week then huh?
Tags: , ,
The one where we are not so Whiney
[info]divyaiyer
June 11th, 2009
At:
Work
Feeling:
cheerful
Music in my head:
None
So, since 11 in the morning when I logged into the system, till right now (it is 3:30 in the afternoon just FYI), I have opened the reports we usually work at thrice. And closed them within 5 minutes of opening them all three times. Why you ask? Well, they are making me sick. Literally. As in, I can actually feel my head reeling, and eyes going heavy and blurry everytime I look at all those numbers today. And I blame the past 3, 14 hour long workdays for that. When I did nothing but crunch numbers and then make (atleast try to make) the end result look all pretty. Bah. 
 
I know, I know. I am ranting again. Infact, someone who knows me personally, and who reads this page commented that 'I have an extraordinary ability to rant". And that got me wondering, if that infact was the message I was conveying through this whole blog business; that I am this whiney, complaining, dicontented, bugged individual, who can find a fault with everything and anything.
 
And the answer to all the self-exploration carried out is, well, yes. That seems to be exactly what I convey through what I post, atleast through most of what I post. There is also this happy, cheery part once in a while, but it's so small, that it get's lost in the melee of rants I have generated. The underlying tone of this blog is whiney. There, I said it. And if you think about me in reality, I am whiney in real life too. I fret, frown, complain, grumble quite a lot. It is just that it is not all the time! And this realisation actually uncovered a bigger secret. The reason as to why the days I post, are so much lesser than the days I don't.
 
Because, though I would love to capture all those happy-shiny-moments-of-joy out here, I am always too busy enjoying them, to actually logon to the site, and type out what I feel. And so they get missed out. And what get's captured instead is annoying co-workers, bugging cab routes, traffic, reports, long work hours, irritating neighbours etc etc. Because, when something get's on your nerves, and you have nowhere to go vent out the frustration (we are ignoring the fact that all the rants here are actually filtered versions of what The Dude gets to hear, but then, whatever!), you login to this site. Because, the number of posts, seems to be directly proportional to our number of complaints. And less number of posts means we have less to complain about! There you go! Now that was a statement only a non-whiney person could make eh!
 
Coming back on track; after all the self-explorations details we painstakingly typed above, we are now moving on to the good things that happened recently. And average out the somewhat whiney tone of the blog. To a relatively less-whiney tone. How creative. I know.
 
- So Work day 5-6-7 are over for this month, and so is the nightmare of deadlines. For this month that is. The numbers and reports still stay, but shall be ladled out in relatively smaller dosages, and hence might not hurt as much.
 
- I found red shoes! I found red shoes! And bought them too! No-no, Bata didn't have them in my size, but I managed to find a super-sexy pair at 'Inc.5'. The right color, the right heel, everything! Phew. And oh by the way, 'Metro' sucks. Nothing close to what I wanted, and to think they advertise on TV! I still heart 'Soles' though, and am ready to believe the shop guy when he said they are just out of stock.
 
- I am reading again. I just finished 'French Lover' by Taslima Nasreen. And I have Volume 3 of the Cal n Hobbes collection lying at home. And on the side, I have some light reading going on, and this time it's the first of the Twilight series by Stephanie Myer. Oh Oh, since I am no good at reviewing anything, my verdict on the 'French Lover' would be; nothing great, decent level of detail, not boring either, but not really something that would want me to run back home from work just to read what happens next. I wouldn't mind checking out 'Lajja' though.
 
- Oh, and the Deccan Chargers won! And I think with this season of IPL, I think I finally belong to some place. You know what I mean.
 
- It rained in Hyderabad. Enough said. 

And life in general is good! And tomorrow is a Friday. So that's like a lot of good things to be happy about. And we shouldn't really spend any more of the precious happy time typing stuff out. So we will go ahead and enjoy them, yes? I think so! 
Tags: , , ,
Enlightenment etc.
[info]divyaiyer
May 18th, 2009
At:
Work
Music in my head:
Pogathe - Deepavali

Before I forget, a (relatively) short note on the much appreciated learnings imbibed in the recent past!

- You can have marathons of sitcoms other than F.R.I.E.N.D.S. The mantra is - STOP COMPARING. A season and a half of 'How I met your mother' down in 2 weekends, definitely classifies it as impressive.

- If you find Barney Stinson's crude humour more entertaining than the Ted- Robin romance, it doesn't necessarily mean you're turning into a guy. If you are really worried, all you've got to do is go watch Grey's anatomy. Makes you all sentimental and mushy? See, you're back on track!

- You can get emotionally involved in a cricket match. The fact that you were frowning all through dinner yesterday, at the place which serves your favoritest dessert ever (Chocolate Bomb at Little Italy, if you haven't tried it yet, well, God save you), just because Deccan Chargers lost to Kings XI Punjab, pretty much justifies your Dad knocking the sofa's arm off when Kapil Dev's wicket was taken in some random match during World Cup '83.

- There is nothing like too much chocolate. There is nothing such as I-dislike-x-chocolate either. But there is something like I-like-x-chocolate-better-than-y-chocolate. What else explains the Diary Milk lying the refrigerator for more than a week, just because there is so much of Dark chocolate to binge upon?

- The irritating fight between the multiplex guys and the movie makers, which has ensured no new movie or music releases these days, is actually good in a way, because it makes you revisit all the songs you used to like wonsaponatime and have totally forgotten now. Awesome they are, you realise.

- While grocery shopping at your favorite super market, try and check beforehand if the card machine is working. There are actually chances that you pick stuff for like two hours, and then go to the billing counter to be told that they can only accept cash. And you won't have that much cash ever, you being you. So just check next time.

- You will never find the perfect red shoes you have been looking for forever in any of the best shoe stores in the city. And then you will find them in, wait for this, the Bata store near your house! But ofcourse, they wont be available in your size, but that's a different issue altogether.

- You can actually like colors other than blue. At times. Red is, for example, you realise, is a pretty nice color. Ok, definitely not better than blue, but it's pretty damn good.

- Mondays can actually be nice (!!).Not as nice as Fridays, but nice nevertheless. Even if it is a hot summer monday afternoon in Hyderabad, you can actually be happy,  provided the airconditioning in office is working just fine, there is really strong coffee available on demand, and you're allowed to download music. And after a long time, you've all the time in the world to sip this coffee, browse the net, all the while listening to the music you just downloaded.

- And ofcourse, wanting to, and actually being able to post on your blog twice within a week's span feels good. So. Very. Good.

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Added on 29th Dec 2009



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