And that's what it's all about

About a city

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:52:24 GMT

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.

Post no. 229

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:28:53 GMT

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!

Notes from far-away

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:34:55 GMT

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.

Deal with this!

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:34:15 GMT

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!

What a Wonderful World (Wide Web)

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:02:07 GMT

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.

Dum dee dum, da Dum dee Dum

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:45:09 GMT

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.

1. Last beverage: Tea. The awesome tea from Tea point in the cafeteria. Almost as good as the roadside tea I love!

2. Last phone call: Mom. Asking if the work that was supposed to get done, actually got done or not. Not her fault, I sent like 3 messages since the morning complaining how I was running out of luck altogether.

3. Last text message: Again from Mom, saying it's going to be alright. Moms, sigh!

4. Last song you listened to: Listening to you mean? This awesome number from 'Ajab Prem ki Gazab Kahani', called 'Tu Jaane na'. Absolutely love it.

5. Last time you cried: Actually cried would be while watching the last episode of Grey's. Seriously man, how do they do it? Almost cried would be today, when everything seemed to be going wrong.

HAVE YOU EVER
6. Dated someone twice? What do you mean twice? As in dated, taken a break, and dated again? Then no.

7. Been cheated on? Hmm, hmm, I would say no.

8. Kissed someone & regretted it? No

9. Lost someone special? Yes, I guess..

10. Been depressed? Yes ofcourse. My defintion of a depression is pretty easy to get into!

11. Been drunk and thrown up? He he, yes. In my defence, it wasn't the drinks, but the food consumed which caused it. And now I am grossing you out.

12. Kissed a stranger? No, no. Have never been that drunk really! :P

13. Lost glasses/contacts? No. I don't have glasses or contacts. Which is sad, cos I think glasses are so cool!
14. Had sex on first date? NO. Utna scene nahi hai.
15. Broken someone’s heart? Yes, I guess. Not sure though.
16. Had your own heart broken? Hmm, again I guess yes.
17. Been arrested? No
18. Turned someone down? Yes
19. Cried when someone died? Yes
20. Liked a friend that is a girl? Yes ofcourse. If she is my friend, I've got to like her!

IN THE PAST YEAR HAVE YOU
21. Made new friends? Yes
22. Fallen out of love? No.
23. Laughed until you cried? Yes.
24. Met someone who changed you? No. It's kinda hard, changing me
25. Found out who your true friends were? Well, I am thinking I always knew.
26. Found out someone was talking about you? Yes. That happens all the time with me! Not a good thing really.

WHAT’S YOUR
27. Name: Go see the URL. I have my full name on permanent display. I really wish I had chosen a better url.
28. Nicknames: Oh so many.
29. Relationship status:Married
30. Zodiac sign: Saggitarius. Speaking of which, did anyone see the saggitarian character in 'What's your Rashee?'. Some sanyasi kind. I really don't get it.
31. Male or female or transgendered: Aiyyo, what is this? Female by the way.
32. Elementary: Ghaziabad, U.P.
33. School: Meerut, U.P.
34. Colleges: Hyderabad, A.P.; Kozhikode, Kerala
35. Hair color: Black. Turning brown. Not that bad really.
36. Long or short: Long, long. Anything that goes beyond the shoulder is long, yes?
37. Height: Average. Above average. What? 5'3 is above average.

FIRSTS
38. First surgery: None yet. And hope I have none too.
39. First piercing: Ears.
40. First best friend: The Dude. And Pure Veg Ex- Roomie (remember her?)
41. First sport you loved: When have I ever sounded like a sports liking kinda person?
42. First pet: Aww. You reminded me of Munmun. Yep, wonsaponatime, we had this pup we got from the street. First and last pet we had.
43. First vacation: Well, I am sure it has to be Hyderabad, my maternal grandparents home. First own vacation would be Backwaters in Kerala.
44. First concert: My cousin's carnatic music concert.

RIGHT NOW
45. Eating: Nothing

46. Drinking: Water. Actually that was nothing too, but for the sake of this answer, I drank some.

47. I’m about to: fall asleep.

48. Listening to: The remaining songs from 'Ajab Prem ki Gajab Kahani'.

49. Waiting for: the clock to strike 5:30, and then I can go home. Wheeee!

YOUR FUTURE
50. Want kids? Yes yes. My maternal insticnts have been pretty strong lately, what with this being a total baby season!

51. Want to get married? How many times ya? I am done for now.

52. Careers in mind? I am destined to die making powerpoint presentations, and crunching numbers and I have come to accept it now.

WHICH IS BETTER WITH THE OPPOSITE SEX?
53. Lips or eyes: Hmmm, both.

54. Hugs or kisses: Dont ask me to make duh choices. Both

55. Shorter or taller: Taller. Very important. And in my case, not very difficult.

56. Older or younger: Older

57. Romantic or spontaneous: Romantic. Aw. Mushy mushy me.

58. Nice stomach or nice arms: Eh? The Dude is going to kill me for doing this.

59. Sensitive or loud: Sensitive. One of the parties has to be that way yes?

60. Hook-up or relationship: Relationship.

61. Trouble maker or hesitant: I don't know ya. Why can't anyone be in between?

DO YOU BELIEVE IN
62. Yourself: Yes, most of the time.

63. Miracles: Yes. I am a jeeta-jaagta proof!

64. Love at first sight: Possible

65. Heaven: Yes. It is brown in color and tastes like chocolate
66. Santa Claus: No

67. Kiss on the first date: Well, it's possible I guess!

68. Angels: Yes actually

LIST FOUR FAVORITE COLORS
69. Blue

70. Red
71. Black
72. Purple

73. Have you kissed anyone on your friends list? So many friends lists! This is picked from Facebook huh? Anyway, the answer would anyway be yes.

74. How many people on your friends list do you know in real life? All of them. I don't really add strangers to the lists!

75. How many kids do you want to have? 1 I guess. Managing that itself is going to be one heckuva challenge!

76. Do you have any pets? No. And I am not happy about it.

77. Do you want to change your name? No no. I take this people-know-me-by-this thing so seriously, that I refuse to change my phone number even. Despite the sick coverage.
78. What did you do for your last birthday? Partied and got drunk the night before. And then spent a nice calm day at home the next day.
79. What time did you wake up today? 6:30 AM. Don't even talk to me about it!This by the way is my regular wake up time from now onwards.
80. What were you doing at midnight last night? Sleeping. So that I could be awake at 6:30 today. Ugh.
81. Name something you CANNOT wait for. Weekends. All the time.
82. Last time you saw your father? Couple of months back when the parents were here.

83. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life? Life's pretty good as is. Oh-oh, I wish I were taller. But that's not a life changing this, is it?

84. Most visited webpage: Highheelconfidential. And google. And Wikipedia. And twitter.

85. Do you have a crush on someone? No.

86. Ever been in love? Yes

87. Piercings? Argh! Isn't this a repeat question?

88. Tattoos? No, though I so wish I had one!

89. Righty or lefty: I am always right. Hahahah. I am so funny.

90. On Internet since: 2000. Not as much till 2003 though!

91. Video game: I used to play a lot of Road Rash. And recently I played a decent amount of Prince of Persia.

92. When left alone: I sleep. Or read. Or re-watch episodes from Grey's Anatomy. Or play Farmville. Yes, go ahead, call me lame.

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY
93. Is there one person you want to be with right now? Hmm, mamma! :(

94. Had more than one boyfriend/girlfriend at one time? No, no. Like I said, utna scene nahi hai

95. Wanted to kill some one ever? Argh. So many people, it's not funny! At different points of time though! Infact, I have a couple on my list even at the moment.
96. Among your blog mates, who would you like to kiss? No one. Eep!

97. Committed a blunder and regretted later? So many times, so many times.

98. Wanted to steal you friend’s boyfriend / girlfriend? Haha.Nope.

99. Wanted to run away from your loved ones in anger, because they didn’t listen? Yes-yes. Even done it. Walked away or slammed the door i.e. Didn't really run away.

100. Posting this as 100 Truths? Yes. Now that I have spent so much time writing it, might as well!

Done. Yay! That was fun, trust me. And tiring. Phew!

Wherever we go..

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:29:53 GMT

..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.

On days like these, I blog

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 04:33:49 GMT

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!

Blue and Yellow

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 07:18:18 GMT

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.

The Discovery of the month ...

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:00:08 GMT

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.

Somebody please wake me up

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:28:06 GMT

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!

Like you can't do without a title

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:55:24 GMT

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.

My very materialistic Wishlist

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:40:04 GMT

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.

GM Diet ke side effects

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:06:01 GMT

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?

The one where we are not so Whiney

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:38:08 GMT

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!

Enlightenment etc.

Mon, 18 May 2009 11:40:16 GMT

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.

Not happening

Tue, 12 May 2009 05:56:48 GMT

Not happening at all. One, I post after like a month after I posted last. Two, I don't even bother posting to atleast wish the blog on it's birthday. 5th birthday. Milestone. Who does that really?

The excuse I have is extremely relevant though. A little shocking even. So those who are not the brave kinds can please not proceed further.

I have been, well, ok, here goes. I have been busy. (Shocking part follows)

With Work.

Ok, go on, go on. Act all shocked. Say, "naah, quit joking" or " Work, and you?" Gag. Choke. Faint. But that, everybody, is the truth. And nothing, but the truth.

I would be shocked too, only I am too busy for that, so much work you see. Actually I didn't realise my level of workaholism till recetly, except that, well I was spending 4-5 hours more than the stipulated working hours at the office each day. And oh, I was carrying work home. Eep. But still, acceptable. But then I noticed some really weird situations, which weren't too positive. Scary even.

Weird Situation no. 1 - I wake up at 6:30 in the morning (no-no, that's not the the weird situation. Though if you think, it actually is. But still, I actually have more!), look at the poor sleepy Dude next to me and say " You know what, I think I hardcoded x formula in x sheet. And now it is only going to pick values for X. And it should actually be dynamic, so that it can pick values for Y,Z,A,B,C and all that too. I have to correct it! Now!" The Dude just blinked, and asked me to go switch the geyser on if I wanted to get to work on time. But still.

Weird Situation no. 2 - I am all dressed for work, and the only thing remaining is the shoes I intend to wear for the day. I usually, think in my head, as to which shoes would suit the outfit the best, and then search for the right box and pick them. And I do just that. Only, as I am wearing them, I think, "Man, today is Work Day 5. Which means I will be doing a lot of print validations today. Which means I will be taking a lot of prints, and the printer is kinda far from my seat. So these shoes are, well, not best suited considering the amount I need to walk today. So I should wear the more comfortable shoes. Yes".

Changes your perspective huh? Now I sound like a workaholic don't I? I am worried, really. I mean, I hate the computer so much these days, that I refuse to switch on my laptop at home. And that is saying something, me being the net-addict I am. Oh, before you say I sound all ranty and cribby, I shall now mention the one postive effect of all the work I am doing. Well, I am not putting on any weight! Ok, before you say 'Big deal, if you lose weight, it's still something, what is this', let me clarify, and actually explain the whole theory.

You see, if you remember, The Dude is now back from Umreeka. And what is the one thing you do when you come from there? Bring chocolates. For friends and family. And that's what he did. Only this time, I somehow convinced him that I being his closest friend and family, should get have the first go at all the loot, and then we can think of the rest. And he agreed. So the result is, no one else got an opportunity to have a look at the sinful quantities of sinfully dark chocolates that had been splurged on. Except for moi. Which should, in regular scenarios, lead to still more expenditure, on clothes that can handle the repurcussions. But that, my dear friends, didn't happen. Positive effect of the crazy amount of work. See. Working long hours has paid off, for once, without the overtime concept.

Ok, I have pretty much made up for my absence out here in the past month me thinks. So, I shall stop the ramble, and probably present more of it more often, in smaller bits ? Makes sense, pretty much. So, till then, let's us all wish and hope that things get back to normal. As in, I really don't want to dream of excel sheets anymore. And I don't want my last thought before I go to sleep to be "Did I allign those charts to the numbers or not?" I really really don't. I miss the good old days. Really. Sob. But for now I guess it's time to get back to the charts and graphs. Atleast till all your wishes come true. And you don't even know you're supposed to wish for this. Hello, this is not published on the blog yet. So I will stop. And publish it. Pray for me. Ok? Ok.

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:20:46 GMT

It was a regular Friday. Actually it was not a Friday. It was a Thursday, only it was more of a Friday, because, the weekend was about to begin. This time, a day earlier.

And actually, it was not regular either. It was a once a month occurence. It was the Financial Quarter close day for the company. The company she worked for.

As part of their job, they happened to churn out almost a hundred 40 page reports every close. They churned them. And checked them. And re-churned them. And re-checked them. And then re-re-churned them. You know where I am going. So, sometime near the end of the day, they put up the final version of these 100 odd reports for all and sundry to refer to. And make big decisions, or point out issues, and the like.

She was churning their 8th or 9th version. Now the point is, in this world of automation, you have the luxury of making one report, adding some technology here and there, and then getting yourself 50 reports, which are very similar, but not the same, in one go. She was doing just that. Working on the one report, and trying to add the bits of technology She was aware of.

And then, he came online. As usual. And all was fine. There was a little bit of chatting, and updating, and general talk. It was fine. 'I am tired of all the work , X', she said, calling him by the nickname only she used. 'I need a long vacation, come back soon, and we'll plan one.' After a while, the chat was done, and she was back to her original job of churning reports.

At the end of the extremely hectic 9 hour long day. She finally had it all done. All she needed to do was press that little 'Go' button on the file. And sit back. While it did it's job of churning out 50 variants of the same report. To satisfy 50 different parties. So that's what she did.

She went for a chat. And a coffee. Looked around, walked around. And returned. Ah! The reports were ready to go.

She glanced through the little thing they called an error log. Some reds. Here and there. But majorly green. Cool. That was good news. A few reds were ok. The computer was afterall a computer. The team mate came along and had a look. 'Cool' , he said. 'Such few reds? You're good to go. Don't bother about them.' She was happy.

All set to put them up for the world look at, she was doing the last minute checks. And something made her want to open just one of the reports and see, why those tiny reds were showing. It couldn't matter, but still. And it would waste a few more minutes. And she was tired.

But she chose to go ahead and check 'just one file'. She went to the highlighted page. Ah, the Income Statement. That's important. What could go wrong there.

And there she saw.

In place of the Sales figure for the second most popular brand of the company

Something unintelligible. Something she had to move to the slide show mode to check out.

It said.

She rushed back and randomly opened 10 of the other 49 reports. And there it was. X.

The sales value for the second most popular brand for all the countries the company had branches in was X.

Oh. My. God.

And so she began her original process of churning reports for the day. Once more.

And that's how, the 9 hour long Thursday, became a 14 hour long one.

Fate.

So what happened was

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:35:21 GMT

The last week was spent back home with the parents. With The Dude far away in the US, this seemed to perfect thing to do. One, it would knock off some bit of the sulking and complaining that has commenced since he left. And two, who wouldn't want a week with no work, customised food menu, childhood memories, old books, photographs, long chit-chat sessions with the parents over free-flowing chai, and uninhibited hours of sleep. What we wouldn't want, and would rather not get into, are the associated aspects of post-vacation depression, change in the weighing scale results (dislclosed to a very closed group - namely my Gtalk list), and a cold, thanks to the change in weather, by which I mean, Meerut was deliciously cold, and Hyderabad is roasting me alive, and the combination chose not to suit moi.

Yep. So the parents decided to choose the very week I was visiting (after 6 long months!) to get the house redone. Redone being rennovating the kitchen, and building a long due store room at the back of the house. Now this store room I have been dreaming of since school, because of the basic reason that it would mean so much stuff could be dumped in it, making way way for so much new stuff. Which could be dumped in it when it got old, making way for yet another set of new stuff. Ok, it's not like the store would be a black hole to swallow all the stuff, but it would be helpful nonetheless. But no one listened to me back then. And now, 9 years after I first left home, they do this. When I am not even there to scatter my stuff around. Anyway, I am happy because this will mean my mom won't call me for a while to ask me when I was taking my Enid Blyton collection from there. As if.

Yeah, so there was a lot of 'Thak-Thak, Thok-Thok' most of the time. And ya, the kitchen was in the other bedroom. And there was cement everywhere, And I was not allowed to wander around in my shorts (sheesh!). And If Mom reads this, she will blame me for making her feel all guilty. So I'll stop.

So, now that I am gone, Mom is busy shifting the stuff around. And guess what she finds. An old diary of Yours truly. Now this isn't the kind of secret diary one would hope to find, and expect to excavate deep dark secrets of the owner. This was the Diary dating back to 1993, and belonging to a 10 year old, who believed in, well, quite a few things.

Like, she wrote poetry. Poetry with rhyming words. Sequence of the words be damned, the last word of each sentence had to rhyme with that of the next. And it did. Ofcourse, some exceptions were made. Like, hmmm, think mermaid (gasp!!). And marmalade (ok, I am gagging now). And think raindrops falling with cuckoos calling (?!). See, she didn't have a phone then, so calling was more like any noise I guess. But cuckoos? Really? But you have to give it to her for the creativity. At 10. And hello, the grammar was perfect. Even then. There are a few more embarassments from much earlier (read a book of rhymes for 'kids' written by a 7 year old). So. And she wrote letters. Condemning cruelty to animals. The Kind soul. Only, she wrote it to, guess who. Ahem, to the animals themselves And also elaborated her stance that till they stood up for themselves, things wouldn't change for them. Nice girl, this. So very kind.

And then I asked Mom to stop reading any further. Reading to me and to herself as well. See these things need to be treasured, and read at leisure, not rushed through over phone. Also, she was laughing way too much. And I am not sure that was a humorous poem she was reading.

Otherwise I have been busy off late. Lots of work, lots of meetings. Don't think that's big? Then beat this. I reach work by 8:55! Wow! Now that's something eh? I don't even wake up by that time in general, and now , I travel for an hour and reach work by that time. Ooh, the world looks quite pretty at 6 I must say. Been a while since I saw it at that time. And then I work till 7! Ah, Niravana! Professional Nirvana this is! Anyway, for all the hard work we're putting in, we are off to a team dinner now. To a nice place, and thank goodness for the new office's location, we're not off to Krishna Bar and Restaurant this time. So yay.

I'm off then. Tired sorta. And nothing more to write about either. So I am off. For my dinner. Ta.

Look! There's a Trolly on my Bloggy!

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:43:20 GMT

Why God Why? Why are you doing this to us?! *

I am a minisucle being in this blogsville. A tiny, microscopic, quiet, never into controversies kinda individual. But you had to go and do this to me.

I am talking about this.

Why? Just because I thought I would share my wordly experiences , and my knack of making a seemingly boring Friday a little better with the world? Is that the reason? If you knew what I was doing would inflict so much pain on others, why didn't you let me know of it immediately? Why did you put Trolly through the pain of having to read what is probably my longest blog post ever, and then let me know how it had effected him/her (it?)? Ofcourse, I should have thought how painful it would be for someone with no life of his own, to read the tiny details of someone else's seemingly better life. But you could have given me a hint atleast, yes?

Trolly is also angry with me for bringing in F.R.I.E.N.D.S. into my blog. It also said something about the subtility with which I do it. Should I have written Chandler Muriel Bing instead of the cryptic Chan-Chan man? Or is it more to do with all the poupularity, and ratings, and blog hits I would have got because people would have come searching for Chan-Chan man's life history here, and then stumbled upon my blog instead, and been utterly disappointed? Is it that? Did Trolly have to face that pain?

And 'fake'? Not only myself, but the entire blog community? Are we fake God? Actually, that was a question, not a statement, so I shouldn't take it so personally, I guess. But the question ' Why are all you bloggers fake' (abbreviations expanded for the sole purpose of keeping this place free of ridiculous abbreviations) kinda assumes we are, right? Oh wait. It is because of the story behind my name, isn't it? I knew no one would believe it. That's why it was a closely guarded secret, and now I have declared it everyone! Look what I have done, brought such a bad name to the blog world.

It also asks me if I live my life to blog about it. God, how come you never put such profound thoughts in my mind. Do I live to blog. Do I? (That topic really deserves a post for itself, probably under 'DI's guide to productive Tuesdays'? Alright alright, I will give due credit to Trolly. Pah, you and your idea of justice).

And it hates Khudaya Khair. :(. I added that in the last remember, when I suddenly thought of the song? Probably if I hadn't, it wouldn't have been so angry. What is this God. You're making Trolly so angry, it is being so mean to me. It probably likes Deepika Padukone more, or Kareena? And I didn't mention their songs here. That is why it is angry nuh?

Anyway, the harm's already done. But one thing ,Trollies usually visit only interesting or controversial bloggies no? And I am so so kind in my bloggies. Once I became mean, you sent me an angry trolly to visit. But this time, I was not even complanining, only rambling about myself! Could it be a sign from you that I am inching towards interesting now? If yes, please send better signs next time, and not mean Trollies. Hmph.

But you can do one thing for me yes? Give Trolly a life , will ya? So that it doesn't bother itself reading stuff it doesn't like? And then feel frustrated about it? Or atleast give it the sense not to bother itself posting comments on these blogs, it surely has better things to do? No? Ok, then just stick to option one for now. And do it fast ok?

Best Regards

* Ok, I brought F.R.I.E.N.D.S. into my blog once again! But this time, no subtility. Is that better? Ask it that. That's all. Thanks.

And yes, don't scold it too hard, afterall, it gave me an idea for a blog post today!

DI's guide to productive Fridays

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:03:41 GMT

I would have made this into a book, but since the solution is so short and sweet, I am restricting it to here. To use your Friday well;
- Write a random Blog post
- Read other blogs
- Read some more blogs
- Pick a tag from another blog and write yet another post
- Ensure the tag has a minimum of 50 questions in it
Tada! Your day is done! Well almost.

Picking this from Priya's blog!

1. Were you named after anyone?
Nope. However, there an interesting story behind my name. And since this is my blog, I am narrating that inspite of not being asked to. Story begins. So, when I was born, my maternal grandmom took it upon herself to name me, and hence went ahead got my birth certificate done with name chosen by her, which was in fact an anagram of my current name. No points for guessing what. When my dad arrived, he apparently blew his top off, as he couldn't digest the fact that someone had actually gone ahead and named his first child without as much as bothering to consult him. So, he cancelled the original name, and gave me my current name. If you ask me today, I am very very glad he did that. Also, when my sister was born, no one even ventured to suggest anything to him. Story over.

2. When was the last time you cried?
A few days back - I think it was one of those tantrum fits I threw about The Dude going away for 5 weeks. FIVE WEEKS.

3. Do you like your handwriting?
It is nice yes, if I am in the mood to write neatly that is. Or else it is scribbles even I cannot decipher later.

4. What is your favorite lunch meat?

Lunch meat? I dont know. First of all I have turned a non vegetarian recently. And I definitely dont have meat for lunch. My favorite lunch however would be a veggie delite from Subway. Heck that would be my favorite breakfast, lunch and dinner! I like sea food though if you are inetersted to know.

5. Do you have kids?
No I dont. As yet. Which brings me to the names I have in mind for my future kid(s). I had shortlisted 'Zoravar' for a son, and 'Zoya/Zia' for a daughter. Some fascination for the letter Z. But they have all been vetoed. So suggestions are welcome, and you have all the time in the world, so think hard.

6. If you were another person, would you be friends with you?
I'm not sure. Imagine this, two people, exactly same by nature, and having the exact same views on things, and the exact same likes and dislikes, we would get bored really fast and run out of things to do together. We won't even have arguments, life would be so boring.

7. Do you use sarcasm?
Yes I do, I try to atleast. My kind of humor it is. Why do you think the Chan-Chan man is an all time favorite!

8. Do you still have your tonsils?
Yes yes

9. Would you bungee jump?
Yes I will! I am thinking in NewZealand. If anyone has any excess cash on hand, please pass it over, and I will plan a vacation.

10. What is your favorite cereal?

Cereal and all we people in India don't eat so often. I have rotis for breakast, very healthy. Once in a while we have Kellogs Chocos with cold milk, but that is so addictive that we don't buy it anymore.

11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
I have only one pair of them tieable shoes, that's my sports shoes. And no I dont untie them before taking them off, which is exaclt wy I purchased slip on sports shoes this time. People not to assume we do any sports because we dont, and their only use is when there is a chance of me walking more than a kilometer, because then, the heels kill.

12. If you were to pick your own first name, what would it be?
Princess Consuela! No, I wouldn't pick anything different, my name means a lot to me.

13. What is your favorite ice cream?
Chocolate. I really wish I could say something more exotic and different, but nothing satisfies like chocolate. I can say choco-mint though

14. What is the first thing you notice about people?

The way they talk. I am kinda judgemental, I decide whether the person is arrogant, or creepy, or friendly, or funny, or stupid, or intelligent depending on how the person speaks.

15. Red or pink?
Red

16. What is your least favorite thing about yourself
My whiny nature, and the ability to make up or dig for issues in life, even if there aren't any.

17. Whom do you miss the most?
I miss my home and being with my parents and lil sis. But I am sure than from the 15th, I will have a different story to tell! FIVE WEEKS.

18. Do you want everyone to complete this list?
Their call.

19. What color clothes are you wearing?
Maroon. And blue. That is so not a good combination!

21. What are you listening to right now?
Nothing actually. Which makes me wonder why. So I will switch on something now. Most probably the band version of 'Emosanal Atyachaar'

22. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Blue - no doubts

23. Favorite smells?
Chocolate, Vanilla, wet earth, Gucci Envy me, Armani Code

24. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?
The Dude

25. How do you know the person who sent this to you?
She is the writer of a blog I frequently visit!

26. Favorite sports to watch?
Cricket - if it is a one day match, even better if it is a 20-20 and is between India and a good other team

27. Hair color?
Black. Turning brown because of excessive use of chemicals to keep it in place

28. Eye color?
Black. Not turning into anything.

29. Do you wear contacts?
Nopes. My eyes apparently are doing fine, though if I do get a chance I would rather wear glasses. Too scared to put anything in the eye!

30. Favorite foods?
Pani Puri, chocolates, Pongal, rasam, sea-food. What combination no?

31. Scary movies or happy endings?
Happy endings, Happy endings!

32. Last movie you watched?
Delhi 6

33. What book are you reading now?
Then we came to an end by Joshua Ferris. I don't know why I bought this book, but I am really trying hard to read it.

34. Summer or winter
Winter, cold, fogs, quilts, hot chai. peanuts. Winter definitely.

35. Hugs or kisses
Can't do without both

37. Describe your pencil cup
There is no pencil cup here, but there is one common one kept behind and it is not worth describing

38. Favorite artist(s)?

I am currently in awe of A.R.Rehman, good enough no?

39. What kind of music are you into?
I am very Bollywood, hindi music rules my ipod

40. What is on your mouse pad?
My mouse. Ok, that's what 'on' it. Anyways, it's a basic Dell mousepad, if that was the question

41. What did you watch on tv last night?
Top Chef on AXN. Oh, and Baalika Vadhu on Colors. Aiyyo, it was depressing!

42. Favorite sound(s).
The sound of waves on the beach most definitely. I need a vacation :(

43. Do you sing or play an instrument?
I sing all the time. Can picking tunes on the keyboard with one hand be counted as playing an instrument? Please?

44. What is the farthest you have been from home?
London Baby!

45. Do you have a special talent?
Define special. I mean seriously. And then define talent. What is this? I can move my ears, twitch them actually. Does that count?

46. Where were u born?
Hyderabad. Such a perfect example of 'life has come a full circle' this.

47. Favorite piece of jewelry?
My very precious 'engagement ring' for sure. The Dude gave it to me in the car parking lot of the mall we purchased it in. So lots of mush value attached!

48. How did you meet your spouse/significant other?
How? Ah, long story, I met his CV first actually. Was told that this 'profile' was joining our team soon. In short, we met at work.

49. Favorite song?
How can you ask for a favorite song like that? Current favorite you can ask. That would be 'Khudaya Khair' from Billu Barber, 'Genda Phool' from Delhi 6, and 'Pyaar Ki Daastan' from Luck By Chance.

50. Favorite musical?

Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam in Hindi. I used to love Fiddler on the Roof in college, so that too!
</lj-cut>

I am done now! What a productive use of Friday eh? So are you bored? Do you have no work to do? Or do you have work that you don't want to do? Whatever be the case, now you have a solution! Do the fifty question tag! For free!

Ok seriously, it is actually pretty much fun to do, much like those slam-books we used to fill back in school, and it takes almost an hour. So, your call.

Edited to add : I have tried really hard to put this whole long list under an LJ cut, but it is refusing to happen. Hence giving up
Edit 2 : I did it. I did it. Pah, things I do for junta's convenience!

What's on your mind?

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 07:21:42 GMT

- Oh my God March 15th is almost here, The Dude will be off to the US of A!

- Oh my God what will I do the 5 weeks The Dude isn't around

- I will have to watch nonsense on TV

- How in the world do you explain Rajdeep being voted out of Indial Idol

- It's good in a way, because now I have more time for myself on Friday evenings
- No movies are releasing this Friday

- Delhi 6 was ok, a bit too depressing

- If Rakeysh Mehra had killed AB in the end, I would have sued him

- I can still sue him, for the weird climax
- The music is nice though, The Dude loves Genda phool, we had it on repeat last saturday night
- A.R.Rehman Rocks, and he won two Oscars! Yay!
- But for Jai ho? Ok I am not complaining
- I am bored now
- People seem so busy, especially the neighboring team

- Why is that girl wearing such a bright yellow, with black flowers and silver writing!

- Are we going out for Lunch today?

- If not, how will I spend so many hours with hardly anything to do

- I should post more often with all the time I have on hand

- I should try my hand at fiction

- I want a hair straightener, my hair is curling again

- I need to pay my credit card bill

- I need to start working out

- Will start tomorrow

- Ok Monday

- We have gym fee reimbursement, I really should use it

- But when do I have time?

- I should sleep lesser than I do

- I am not sleepy right now

- Which is surprising, heh, people who know me would understand

- Now I am smiling at the screen, which is stupid

- So I will stop

- This post is pointless

- As if I didn't know when I started.

- Ok stop.

- Oh, I forgot, I love that Priyanka Chopra song from Billu Barber

- And that stupid magazine guy didn't give Cosmo and Femina this month

- Fridays are so lazy

- And awesome

- The last time I posted it was a Friday too

- This was such a quick post

- And so easy to write

- I should make this a regular feature

- So that the blog stays alive

- And I get to pass my time too

- Like I did now

- If I don't stop now, this will be the longest post ever

- With no point

- I already said that

- So I am off

- For a break ofcourse

- Over and Out.

By the way, what's on your mind right now?

Oye! It's Friday!

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 09:54:32 GMT

And Friday means Happy day. It is a norm. Unless you're the really depressing sorts who don't like any day of the week, even Saturday mornings. Or if you have a meeting every scheduled for every Friday evening, and which has a scheduled start time but no end time, and wherein the agenda is usually ripping apart each individual for the all the things he's failed do over the week. In that case you're just unlucky. And allowed to dislike Friday.

So I am going to be happy today. I am not the dont-like-any-day-of-the-week kind; I love Friday nights and Saturday mornings and Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings. I hate Sunday evenings and the rest of the days of the week, but that's not being depressing, that's being normal. And I no longer have meetings on Friday evenings.

And I am not too busy even. New job's kept me pretty busy till now, but today is good. I am actually waiting for a third party, who I have no control on, to send in work, and sercretly hoping they never do. Comeon, we are already like half done with the day. So I am sipping hot, sweetened lemon tea and typing this post out, glancing outside the window to my right once in a while to check out the surprisingly pleasant weather, this being Hyderabad, and February, and 2 in the afternoon. And it is not cloudy even. I do wish that I was on a floor higher than the 8th though, which is where I currently am. But that is not happening for sure, and in fact, there are talks of moving to a whole new building, and I have heard people utter terms like 2nd floor, 3rd floor etc. So we are just going further down I assume. And God knows if it's going to be half as pretty, my seat, and I really hope it is next to a window.

So new place has been good to me so far. Thing is, it is a completely different industry, and so there is a drastic change in the type of population that surrounds me today. Type and size both. Oh, one thing remained as is. At my old job, I used to get weird looks from people around me when I would leave for home each day. And I still get those. Only there, it was a ' Oh-my-God-she's-leaving-at-9PM-when-the-day's-just-begun' look then, and now it is more of a 'Oh-my-God-it's-6PM-the-sun's-gone down-and-she's-not-leaving-yet' look. Heh. What to do.

Ok, since this is a haphazard post any which way, let us now get into the reigning favorite tracks. I am no different from the world, so ofcourse we have to mention 'Delhi-6'. Very nice, very varied, and very Rehman. While 'Masakalli' catches your attention immendiately, the others take some time to grow on you. When I say others., I mean ' Rehna Tum'. But my surprise fave from the album is the title track! I don't know why, but I found it awesome, and even before the video released. Waiting for the movie to release now. And then 'Luck By Chance'. 'Sapnon se Bhare naina' stands apart ofcourse. But here we have a surprise fave again! 'Pyar ki daastaan', a very regular slow romantic number, which doesn't need a video to make you visualise the trees and flowers and a couple running around. But, it is actually a nice song. And. here's the clincher. It has been sung by Amit Paul! Don't say who Amit Paul, please. Ok, say it. For your information, he is the guy, who did not win the Indian Idol contest last year. Lost in the finals. In an extremely unfair vote out. Though he was undoubtedly the best. So I am happy for him; and the song.

Hmmm, and read Almost Single, by Advaita Kala. It is an ok-ok Indian chicklit book. But then, I find anything in that genre only OK-OK, now that I have read The Zoya Factor. I mean seriously, Anuja Chauhan just ruined all the light chicklit books, authored by Indians, that I was looking forward to reading. Damn. I guess she can make up, by like, writing another one of the sort? Huh?

Now, we've moved on to our second cup of lemon tea for the day. And we just got some awful news. That from Monday, we would be travelling an unnecessary illogical additional 6-7 kilometeres to and from work each day (which I hate and can't stand but have to accept anyway) and also be at the receving end of dirty looks from people who get off the cab after me for having contributed to 2 of the extra kilometers (which I shouldn't really bother about, but actually I do, but will continue to show as if I don't for the sake of the ego. Whatever)

But I am still going to be happy today. Because the weather's pleasant. And it is 3PM. And the lemon tea is kinda nice, a little too sweet, but nice. And there is still no update on the work. And ofcourse, the thing that started it all.

It's Friday.

The Belated Happy New Year post!

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 06:51:39 GMT

What do you get when you combine the following?

- Last few days of break before joining new place of work (which by the way are weekdays)

- Lil Sis's visit to the city

- Exclusive previews of End of season sales for the club memebers at all awesome malls in the city.

Well, you get;

- No work to worry about

- Awesome fun shopping experience
- No long queues at trial rooms
- A really big pile of stuff to choose from for your first day at work

- A huge credit card bill

Which all adds up to (ok, all but the bill part);

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Which is what I am having by the way. New Year this time began as a vacation. If you haven't realised already, I quit my work place of 3 and a half years, my first job, my only professional experience, my comfort zone, sometime back. And had a short break of about 15 days before I could proceed on to where I am right now, and have been since day before yesterday. This by the way, also explains lack of posts. I did think I would post during my short stint as the housewife, but man, it's only at work that I get all the enthu. Heh.

Also, I am superstitious this way. As in, I believe in the 'if-you-tell-anyone-about-something-good-that-supposed-to-happen-it-might-not'. Nazar lagna types. Ofcourse it's based on experience from the past. So I could not post without mentioning the biggest event in the recent times, and hence, chose not to post at all.

But now I am done. I am here, working, have filled all the forms in the world, submitted all the documents, and have it in writing that I am in fact now part of this new company. Actually I had that from more than a month sgo, but I being me, was playing safe. The pros of the new work place as I have noticed, so far include; my seat, which for once is not mine in the day and someone else's in the night. The view, which is actually just a long long road and crazy tall buildings housing hundreds of companies in the city, but then, atleast there is a view, which by the way means I am right next to a window that allows me to know the prevailing weather conditions (which if you remember, was not something I've had before). Then, I work normal timings, which is come in the morning and leave when there still remains natural light in this part of the world. Then there is a very nice beverage vending machine, which doesn't spout sweetened liquid no matter what you choose, and in fact has a varierty of options. The cons noticed so far is just one (which means its a con?), I have to wake up early and I hate that, and then I have to travel through mind blowing traffic which totally surprises me because I didn't even know that Hyderabad had so many people. Oh and it is 20+ kilometers. So ugh. Hmmm, other than that, so far, so good.

The long due, and much planned Goa trip happened during the christmas vacation. If I hadn't mentioned it, well, that was because of the same belief mentioned above. But that was an awesome break! The sands, the sea, the shacks and the humongous quantity of beer, wine and seafood consumed, we couldn't have asked for a better holiday. Only I don't know when the next one's going to be, and that makes me a tad sad. Anyway.

That's about it actually. New job means more busy schedule. I actually started this post yesterday, and that's proof enough. So I leave at that, and proceed on to more important work, erm, the job? So, till we have a free hour again, Ciao!

Some Self Dabba

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:48:17 GMT

Before the year comes to an end, I thought I would do some serious show off. For the uninitiated, that is exactly what Self Dabba means, Blowing your own trumpet, which is more or less the point to this post. I once again, very smugly announce the receipt of two extremely sweet awards from two of the nicest friends I made, thanks to blogsville!

The BFF award, aka the Blogging Friends Forever award, given to me by I-Love-Lucy!

And

from Snippets and Scribbles!

I know, I know, not all of you can read foreign languages, so here's a brief narration for what it stands for!

This award is given to a blog that invests and believes in PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

Thanks ladies, it means A LOT to me!

So, pretty cool huh? Yeah. I am kinda done. Oh ya, I am supposed to pass it on too, but will leave that for next year. In fact, was not supposed to be back till then, but was so tempted!

See ya in 2009! And this time, I keep my promise.