![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
- Location:Work
- Music:None
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-chocola
- 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.
- Location:Work
- Music:Pogathe - Deepavali
- 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!
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!
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!
- Location:Work
- Mood:
blah - Music:Emosanal Atyachaar - Dev D
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.
It's Friday.
- Location:Work
- Music:Sapnon se Bhare naina - Luck By Chance
That is my status message on Gtalk when I have nothing else to say. And suits me perfectly. People who know me personally would vouch for that. And it also defines my current mood. So.
I am back to post before it is too late. Too late as in, you know, if I wait one more day, this would start with an ‘It’s been a month since I posted last, but now I am back, and this time I promise I will be regular’. And the title in all probability would be ‘I’m back!’ And I didn’t want to do that, repeat titles i.e.; you see, content I will repeat, complaints I will repeat, but repeating titles, not happening.
So please don’t expect much sense of this post, ok? You have been warned. Hmmm, so what do I want to write? Something important of course, I never forget that the primary purpose of this journal is to let my grandkids know how awesome and super cool their Grandma was. Or is, depending on my presence at their moment of enlightenment. And I hope I am around when that happens; come on, who would want to miss that look of immense pride on their faces! Ok, enough.
So, my current favorite song is ‘Jaane Kyun’ from Dostana. Have you heard it yet? If not, please do! And oh yeah, if you are the kind who turns up their nose at Bollywood stuff, then don’t bother, and get back to the trash you call music! Ok, so, this song is my ringtone these days, and believe me, to get to that level you really need to be impressive! So you know the authenticity of the claim now.
Otherwise the mood’s not too good. And because of an array of factors of course, I am not the kind who gets bugged for no reason. Like there is this persistent back ache. The kind which wont go, no matter how many of those ‘Ergonomic exercises’ you do, and the kind which wont reduce in any position, sitting, standing, sleeping. Basically the mega-bugging kinds.
Then there is the absence of dust bins. Yes, dust bins, which are mysteriously missing from near all desks here. The smarter people (me i.e., if you are too slow to get that) bring their own garbage bags and collect trash in it and throw it while leaving. The not-so-smart ones walk all the way to the common trash can to throw their stuff. The deserve-a-frigging-slap-on-their-faces ones, conjure imaginary dustbins under the desks, and continue throwing stuff into it, and that means wrappers and papers on the floor. Ugh.
Then the fact that I have not been posting regularly enough. I have 196 posts in 4 and a half years. 196 in 4.5 years. That is 43.5555555 posts in one year. That is 1 post in every 1.2 weeks, so I am actually almost at a post a week. That’s not too bad huh? Fine; please to ignore above mentioned fact as reason for current state of mind. Thank you.
Then of course, there is the fact that I am me. ‘Me’ here refers to the most indecisive, confused, impatient, worrying, panicky, impulsive individual in the whole world. And trust me; with this definition, it is not a good thing to be me. Oh, now the Dostana song acts as a pep-up mantra for me! Oh and, and, it was my status message on Gtalk till yesterday! Phew! So many good things about this song, I tell you!
Oh just FYI, my current status message is a line from ‘My Rollercoaster’, you know that awesome song from Juno? Oh, and that by the way is the ring tone for The Dude on my phone these days. I like technology J
Oh, just to update, I couldn’t read that Rushdie book. There are two reasons. The stated reason; it was from The Dude’s library, and he forgot to renew it after the initial 2 weeks and so we had to give it back. Now, the actual reason; ahem, well, ok first of all, those who belong to the book-wise-we-think-we-are-elitists club, turn away. Yeah, ok, now listen. I did not read enough to judge what I thought of his writing, but (here is the big but), the fact that I didn’t go beyond 10 pages in 2 weeks says something no? As in, I wasn’t drawn towards the book to continue reading, like I have been towards those not so elaborate, not so poetic sounding, not so describing each flower and leaf in two pages, to the point , but extremely interesting nonetheless, books. So there I said it. The current pick is Kiran Desai’s ‘Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard’. Half done, and ok so far.
And that would be it. This one is a long post huh? Makes up for the days I have been missing for. There is so much more to say, but I’ll keep that for the next post. And now that I am done with the most fun thing I did in the whole day today, it’s back to square one.
Yawn.
- Location:Work
- Music:Jaane Kyun - Dostana
So I finally succumbed to temptation!
And upgraded this blog to a plus account. Well, there was a relevant reason this time. Remember how I once said that this mega-bugging Live journal does not allow me to post pictures? Remember? And then I did shifted to word-press, and got all happy? And then I shifted back, because, hmmm, ok, I didn’t have a reason, probably it was lack of substance to post about. And the ‘I am moving’ and ‘No, I am actually not’ posts count as two posts, adding to the sad number I have accumulated in the past 4 years. Probably.
Anyways, I really needed the picture posting thing to work this time. Because, how else, would we be able to do this!
Tada! * Drum Rolls*!!
The blog has just received an award! Yes! And it has been give by the very sweet Snippets n Scribbles; Danke Lady!
And I am supposed to pass it on to who I think deserve it. And I will of course, so I pass it on to -![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
purely_narcotic – For being able to string the simplest of words into sheer poetry!
Ryan– For being really funny! (when he isn't busy quoting enlightening statements from movies or TV shows)
Ok, basking over, drum rolls over. Moving on to the much hyped upgradation, I can now post pictures, and choose from a bigger variety of themes! And since I am HTML, CSS, everything-remotely-to-do-with-making-a-p
By the way, if the post seems disjointed and all, it’s because I am hopping back to the journal settings again and again to check for a new theme. I can’t decide though. It’s bugging. I like blue in general, but I want the page to be bright too, and bright blue isn’t my favourite kind of clue. Life is tough at time, no? What is with these LJ themes classification though? I went under ‘modern’ and all I can see is boxes, in different colours, no header image and all. How is that modern? Pah. And now I am bugged, the best themes are available only if you have a paid account. Great, so now I have nothing great for a theme, and there are advertisements all over my page. Ok, no more complaining.
Between the last two sentences, and the stuff I wrote before that, I actually went and attended a telecon. Cool huh? I knew I was a multi-tasker and all. Also, I am being extra nice today, because I am off to Meerut tomorrow for a whole week! So, I might as well not act funny, or bug anyone now, right? Right. Also, I had a huge choco-walnut brownie from Barista, which is like the second best walnut brownie in the world. The first being the ones I make. The one I like to talk about all the time, because that’s probably the only exotic (brownies are so exotic!) thing I have ever made. So, I am thinking that might have something to do with the mood in general as well.
Oh, btw, I have chosen the theme. It’s a bright autumn theme. Orangey, greeny, leafy; autumny like I said. There were four of them to choose from, one had sneakers on the leaves, now you know how I hate running, or for that matter any exercise, so I didn’t pick that, though it was brighter and all. The others didn’t have a white base, which I have always been very particular about. Ok, not always and all, but atleast for like a month now. This one has a book lying on the leaves, and it’s blank. So I am assuming it makes sense, a blank book for writing stuff in autumn. Whatever.
And that’s that! I am done. I enjoyed writing this today by the way, senseless banter. I don’t see myself updating for another week for sure, but I don’t think I will be able to ignore the blog-hopping bit. Till then, Ciao!
P.S. I want to slap LJ right now, for putting idiotic, embarrassing advertisements on the page! Ugh! Ignore, please ignore!
- Location:work
- Mood:
happy - Music:Nothing
I don’t do sequels very often, but the last post deserved one, mainly because of the title I chose for it. Recently, I was thinking, if I were granted one wish, what would it be? Yeah, I keep asking myself irrelevant, slam-book type questions and then answer them for myself, mostly in long winding sentences, like I am at a Miss Universe pageant, or even better, like that is what I have chosen to blog about, I am jobless that way. Anyways, the answer for this turned out to be surprisingly short, I thought I want 2 Crores in cash, post tax and all, 2 crores of cash at my disposal. And then I asked myself, what would I do with it? And the answer was, I would invest it in something safe, so that I get regular income out of it. Did I remind of you Ross in The one with Lottery? Because I definitely reminded myself of him. Anyways. The idea was, a decent amount of money, without much effort, hence leading to having enough time to do other stuff I might enjoy, which migh pay much lesser, but make me happy.
So, it got me thinking, that by saying this, I am referring that happiness in a way, is directly related and proportional to the materialistic comforts I have. And what is unfortunate is, this is not how I always thought. The Dude and I discuss this point quite a bit. Especially when we are in one of the philosophical moods, which is usually Sunday evenings, popularly prefixed with ‘Depressing’, when we would have finished our quota of fun-things-to-do for the weekend, are all set for the dreaded Monday morning. When he is all depressed about rising home loan rates, or when we think of whether we should postpone buying the Plasma TV. That is when thoughts like this come up.
And now, I am a grown up. I make my own money. And if we go by the income our family made so much out of in the past, what I started of with itself is really big. And together with The Dude, it just gets even better. And that is exactly what makes me contemplate about the level of satisfaction that I feel with the kind of lifestyle I lead today. In regular materialistic terms, it is infinitely better, everything is. Be it the area we live in, or how big our house is, or the air conditioning, or the number of shoes I own today, or how less we think before splurging a couple of thousands for a night out, or a dress from Chemistry, or the vacations we plan. Relatively, it is a lifestyle we couldn’t have dreamt of. Relatively, the monetary situation we are in now is amazingly multiplied.
But the fact is, the level of satisfaction is just the same. If happiness has increased, it isn’t the air conditioning in the house, or the car we bought which has led to it. It is just that there are even more people than before in my life who matter, and to whom I matter. And spending time with them any which way, fills me with a sense of satisfaction that no amount of money can.
So, philosophical, or saintly as I might sound, when I re-read the list I posted recently, and I see that somehow, most of the things I mentioned out there, don’t in fact need the 2 crores I wished for, I can get my happiness for much cheaper! Yeah, it might mean we’ll drive around in a bigger car, or finally be able to afford that vacation in Australasia, but it won’t do much in terms of adding to the happiness that exists today. So the next time I am faced by the same ‘one wish’ question in my dream pageants, I will have to come up with a more convincing answer. I, being the judge, won’t accept the 2 crores funda.
- Location:Work
- Mood:
contemplative - Music:Nothing
Happiness is -
- Samosa Chat, followed by Dahi Puri, followed by countless rounds of Pani Puri, and finished with Fruit Custard at Friends Corner
- Friday evenings, starting the moment the Operations Review gets over
- Saturday mornings, when waking up is a pleasure, and the usual frown is replaced with a grin.
- Saturday nights, a huge pack of potato chips, chilled beer, and F.R.I.E.N.D.S marathon with The Dude. Followed by loud music, and mindless dancing to songs from Singh is Kinng.
- The Radio playing Kabhi Kabhi Aditi, Pehli Nazar and Khuda Jaane one after the other.
- Going out on the bike for a change because the weather seems nice, the skies turning grey without notice and getting drenched to the bone on the way back.
- Shopping. Whether it is at odyssey, where you go to just ‘check out’ the latest best sellers, only to have The Dude insist you buy all you pick. Or at the mall, where you have gone to only pick up jeans for The Dude (your shopping quota for the month is done), and end up picking up this awfully cute top you cant believe is selling at 40% off!
- A plate of steaming hot rice, with a spoon of ghee, and mom’s magai pickle, when you haven’t had anything good to eat since the morning.
- The Dude enjoying My Movie* and accepting that he did, as soon as the movie gets over.
- A huge chocolate brownie. With ice cream. And hot chocolate sauce all over it. And with chocolate sprinkles on top. Ok, enough.
- Stepping on the scales after all the hogging, and seeing that you are a whole (ok almost a whole) Kg lighter!
- Going to the cab stand after a tiring day at work, and finding just one cab, and that is yours!
- Waking up on a weekday and glancing at the clock to see that you still have two hours to go.
- Walking with The Dude along the Tank Bund, in a slight drizzle, discussing everything from mean people at work, to which actor is the worst, to where we should vacation next, for a whole 4 hours. All the while munching on the readily available Corn Bhuttas, Dry Bhel and Roasted Chana, before washing it all down with Goli Soda.
- Knowing how happy you are; and how this is exactly what you want from life, and then rushing to touch something wooden immediately.
*My Movie – Refers to any movie that has been suggested by me. Similarly, The Dude has his set of ‘My Movies’. If the movie is bad, the person owning it takes full responsibility for the disaster. An example of a disastrous My Movie would be Tashan or what we call ‘The movie that must not be named’.
- Location:Work
- Mood: happy
- Music:Aaj main khush hoon - Grahan
Not a regular drizzle, where the sun is half tempted to tear the clouds apart and shine once again in all its glory. Not rains accompanied by the crazy, strong wind, which bends the scrawnier trees, and satisfies itself with blowing the dry leaves off the stronger ones, makes the other wise pleasant droplets of water sting the passers by like bullets and makes them run for shelter, all the while threatening to blow the clouds away, and not let the rains last.
I want the monotonous rain. The dull ominous grey clouds in the sky, so dark, that if you look out; it feels like it’s still five in the morning. And drops that fall straight to the ground; big drops, which fall at a constant pace, steadily drenching the ground, filling the low lying areas with water. Creating puddles which cannot dry; because the sun can’t find the tiniest gap in the clouds to make its way to the earth. Because, there is absolutely no wind, not even a slight breeze. Because, even if a drop does decide to evaporate, there are a hundred others falling right into its place, even before it’s fully gone.
Rain which can be heard all the time, with no other sound to break the rhythm. Perhaps disturbed once in a while by a loud thunder, which booms, echoes, and then fades into the background, once again making way for the sound of persistent rainfall. I want that kind of rain.
Rain, which anyone would look at and say, that’s made the day so gloomy, when will it stop? Rain which mothers look at, and decide the kids should probably not go to school today, because it doesn’t seem like it’s going to stop anytime soon. Rain, which makes people leaving for work feel really sorry for themselves. Rain which makes you feel like stopping everything else, getting back under the covers and sleeping the whole day. Rain which leaves damp patches on the ceiling because the water on the terrace won’t dry up. Rain which makes you switch on the lights at home even at 2 in the afternoon.
I will not go to work. I will stay in my home shorts. I will switch off all the lights. I will put all my favorite songs on the On-the-go playlist on my Ipod, and connect it to the music system, and play it on loop. I will make me a cup of hot chai, with lots of ginger. I will pick up a packet of onion crisps. I will pick up Sophie Kinsella’s Undomestic Goddess which I am yet to begin. And I will sit in the balcony, sip my tea, munch on the crisps, and read. And if anyone from work calls, I will tell them it is raining too heavily for me to come, and I am sure it’s not stopping anytime soon. And then, I will switch the cell off.
Like I said, I am hoping it rains tomorrow. Just like that.
- Location:work
- Mood: Lost
- Music:None
Anyways, it's stale news that I am addicted to blog hopping. In fact, its like my morning tea, really looked forward to, very necessary to get me started, and if missed, the day doesn’t seem the same. And of course there is a pretty decent chunk of women bloggers in this list. And at some point of time, each one of them has come up with a feminist post.
I read them, think a bit about the situations they mention, form opinions on whether they are exaggerated or appropriate, and then, well, move ahead. And once, I happened to mention them to The Dude. If I remember right, I said something in the lines of ‘Man, you need to check out those feminist blogs! They are so angst ridden. I wonder why I don’t have such strong opinions on the matter; I am not a feminist at all.’
To which he very calmly responded saying; ‘That’s not true, it’s just that you haven’t faced a situation where you were asked to be a particular way because you’re a girl’. He also added ‘There is a feminist in you wanting to get out!’ Of course, he said this in a humorous way, but it definitely got me thinking if I had any views at all on the matter.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait too long too find out. Thanks to this friend I have at work. Now this guy is well educated, well read and has pretty strong views on almost everything under the sun. Which is usually why we have elaborate arguments on the messenger. But the one topic wherein we end up arguing the most is about ‘how women are different from men’. Now just to clarify, this guy never ever says women are lesser mortals, or deserve anything lesser than men. It is a completely different ball game with him.
Try this for a sample.
‘Women should not work, because they are surrounded by male colleagues, who at the end of the day, can have nothing but lecherous intentions towards their female counter parts’
Seriously, I mean seriously? That is probably the most obnoxious generalization I have come across for any particular 'category'. And for heaven's sake, it is 'all men' we are talking about here. And which by the way include the said friend too.
Or this.
‘The girl I marry doesn’t need friends of her own. My mother, my relatives are always there, she can talk to them if she wants. Why does she need friends?’
I think this was one thing which had us argue for more than hour. Sad, we were wasting productive time, but I couldn’t help it. The girl doesn’t need friends, and this guy gets to decide that. What if she already has friends? Ah, she will apparently understand that he would rather want her to spend time with his family, and would gradually realise that this in fact, makes her happier. He has said this.
Oh there are many more gems like these. ‘Why do women have to wear skirts, or sleeveless tops, it’s so embarrassing!’ And ‘Women should know what a good time for them to go out is, what makes them think they walk on the middle of the road at 12 in the night?’ Oh, and this was just after the New Year’s Eve molestation issue that had happened in Mumbai. Of course, that meant another non-productive day at work for me, but could I help it?
Obviously, I happen to be and do every single thing which women in his opinion are not supposed to, atleast the sensible, good ones. And he never hesitates to say that, while emphasizing that it's nothing personal. That very thing should probably put me off, and make me give up. What surprised me however was the level of irritation and anger statements like these generated in me, though what he thought affected me in no way. For some reason, I kept empathising with this imaginary girl, in hypothetical situations which she would have to face in her life, because she was destined to be with a person like him. And for this reason, I continue trying to convince him. I make blunt statements about how I pity the girl he ends up with, how ancient he sounds, how extremely generic and generalized and baseless his views are, and how what he thinks is being ‘protective’ is 'oppressive' in the true sense. I even try being all positive and ask all kinds of 'what if' scenarios to do with the girl he marries, hoping that someday he would give it all a thought, and accept what I say, or atleast part of it. I seriously doubt it though. But hey, atleast I gave it a try huh?
Bottom line being, The Dude’s right; I do some views on this, and pretty strong ones at that, only I never had to bring them out, thanks to the freedom I enjoyed all my life. No, I dont derive any fun from all these arguments I keep having, but they definitely did help me. One, they brought out a set of rigid views I never knew I possessed. And two, they make me even more grateful for the life I have.
- Location:Work
- Mood: contemplative
- Music:None
Chennai Superkings; ofcourse, I have to respect the Tam roots!
Delhi Daredevils; for the Delhi-UP connection, see, Delhi is like neighbourhood to us.
Deccan Chargers; oh, I am a Hyderabadi now, 6 years in this city, ensures you are one.
Mumbai Indians; now that I am married to a Marathi, who couldn’t care less about the team, but then, I need to have my options hedged.
Cool huh? Ofcourse, the list will be narrowed down once the first round of matches takes place. Till then, happy cricket-watching!
And oh, I thought of supporting Bangalore too, since it has Dravid, but that would be taking it a bit too far. I guess. So let it be.
- Location:Work
- Mood:
excited
Ok, here are the facts. It is pretty useful, I would say. You can actually see a few inches disappear, and your face appears much less puffed up than it did in the pictures taken last month, which in fact had prompted you to take such drastic measures. The enormous amount of water you are expected to consume, does in fact, 'wash and cleanse your system' and make you feel lighter. Though I do have a strong feeling that the intense physical work-out one undergoes, thanks to the numerous trips to the restroom you end up making, might be more than responsible for it.
The last day starts well, you have survived 6 days and this is it! The jeans seem looser, the face seems to glow more (one of the other useful effects of consuming H20) and you are all happy. You have definitely lost weight, The Dude says so, and it’s ok if he is just saying it, as long as he is. You go to the mall to hang out.
And then, you give up. There is a Baskin Robbin’s outlet right in front of you, and the guy is handing huge cones of dark chocolate ice cream, and you are like, it’s almost the end of the day, it is 4 PM. And technically, technically, I started the diet at 11PM on Sunday night last week, because that’s when I went to sleep, and did not eat anything off the diet items list since then. So, technically, 8-9 hours shouldn’t matter. And ice cream is milk after all, and chocolate is a bit of cocoa beans, which are like dry fruits. And sugar, I admit, but people are allowed coffees, so why not this. Ok fine, diet over, officially!
And you go and pick up chocolate almond fantasy, two scoops in a cone, and spend the next 20 minutes relishing every bite. Of course, confirming with The Dude every few minutes, if he thought the entire week’s effort were being wasted. To which, he would helpfully, and vehemently nod a big ‘no way!’ And you get back to the ice-cream, and being happy, and your unhealthy food habits which ensure that you get back to where you were when you started. Of course, enlightened about the merits of the GM diet, and the realization of how it is not meant for people like me.
- Location:Work
- Mood: amused
- Music:Some one's ringtone
Then there was the other option, cutting down on the junk food. Again, I thrive on junk. Chocolates and chips keep me going. All attempts to consciously cut down on the consumption of these evil temptations have been met with rebellious bouts of ‘I really don’t need to reduce and hence I will consume more of this’. Which unfortunately last only till after the calories are added, post which it is back to the ‘I need a stronger will power’ state.
In short I am just the right combination for a perfectly unhealthy individual. And a week ago I took a drastic decision. To go on the GM diet. Now for those ignorant souls who don’t know what a GM diet is, or the lucky ones who would never need to know what a diet is, here is a short summary. It is this 7 day diet, with specific food items prescribed to be on each day, which claims to detoxify the body, repair the digestive system and lose upto 6 kgs of weight in one week. The good part, there is no limit to the quantity of the food item consumed, and hence no starvation. And hence, I took it up.
Anyways, today is almost done, and I am alive, though I have absolutely nothing to look forward to for dinner, which will be soup and veggies again. I already decided that I would break the diet in 6 days instead of 7, so that I don’t kill myself during the weekend, and then decided against it. Seriously, I don’t know what I will do. Tomorrow is going to be still tougher; they have managed to prescribe two things I positively despise as the only consumable items. Bananas and milk it is, and bananas and milk it will be. Or so I think. Like I said, I succumbed to a cup of coffee today, and will probably break more rules tomorrow. Hopefully not though. Anyway, I will be done this weekend, and will never even think of anything like this again. Ever. That’s for sure. For this time however, I wish myself luck, lots of will power, and strong taste buds which survive the torture, to live through the remaining 4 days of agony!
- Location:Work
- Mood:
annoyed - Music:nothing
I believe in signs. Somewhat like those in Sleepless in Seattle, but only much weirder. I relate the most unrelated of things and somehow try to predict how a meeting would go, how the day would be, whether or not what i wished for would happen based on something extremely silly and not remotely connected.
Like how the day would be. I take the office shuttle to work, and this takes one of two routes, depending on how many people are on. When the shuttle is full at my stop or the next, he takes a shorter route which probably saves around a km or so at the most. But this route has my favourite fly over on the way. yes, I have a favorite flyover,When there are so many around, you can pick. This one is has numerous trees on either side, and when you pass over it, there is always a cool breeze, however hot the day is. The other route is, well, nothing special. Now for some reason, the days my shuttle takes route one, I believe that the day would be good in general.
Then there are the mails. When I login in each morning, the first thing I check is the number of unread mails.It takes a while for them to download into my pst so all I can see is how many, and not what. If the number is a single digit, my work day would be good with no issues whatsoever. The moment it reaches 10, I am worried. And none of the Spam mails or forwards are discounted, it's just the total, always.
Then there was the time I had my Nokia 3315. I was addicted to snake and would play it like all the time. And my score would always be related to what was going on in my mind then. Like, if I scored 1000 and above my presentation would be decent, or my exam would go well, and once, 1500 points meant I would be shortlisted by the particular company whose GD results I was waiting for. So it was always a pain, and the more I concentrated because of the connection, the more tough it was to score.
And then while returning back home from work, I give myself exactly an hour and 15 minutes from the moment I have logged out, to reach home. A minute more than that, and i have had a bad day officially. Which basically means that I would be sulking for atleast a half hour about how unfair everyone was to not let me ride my bike to work. If I reach within the time limit (even the last minute is ok), I am happy.
All these and many more, like if I get the window seat in the cab, I would reach faster, and if 5 or more people respond to the meeting request the said work would get completed, if I finish reading the next 5 pages in 5 minutes, the train would reach on time, if there is cabbage for breakfast, the day would be dull and if there is cucumber koshambir, it would be good etc. There have been so many times I have sworn that I would never believe in this nonsense just because it predicted something against me. But I am always back, everytime with new caveats and best of threes. Anyways, I guess it's time to get back to work now, so that I can send out today's report before there is any new mail in my inbox because I think that would surely increase the probability of the client approving it. Hmmm. Let's see.
- Location:Work
- Music:Nothing
Yoo-hoo! New look for the blog! Ok fine, sad excuse for a new look. But not my fault. I spent quite some looking for the right theme for it, and I found out that for using 90% of the available themes, I need to upgrade the blog to a paid or plus account. The plus account being, you allow advertisements to be posted all over your page. Now that I believe is extremely ironical. In order to make your page pretty by choosing one out of the hajaar awesome options, you need to allow ugly advertisements all over it. Tut-tut. Very sad really. Yet another indication that I might as well move to wordpress. Anyways, all we did was flipped over from one free theme to another, actually the same one, and of course changing the color, and the clothes that DJ girl on the top right hand corner is wearing. Smart eh?
By the way, anyone see the new Sony Ericson music phones, the shake-it-to-change-the-song-one? And did anyone else feel that it actually makes no sense it all? For one, how is shaking the instrument easier than clicking the button. Not to mention the enormous risks of dropping the phone every time you shake it. And what if you are travelling in a vehicle on Indian roads? Doesn’t that mean every time you go over a pothole, or the driver happens to be a Schumacher fan and brakes suddenly every time he realizes that the rest of the world isn’t, your song changes. Wow. Awesome feature this. Wonder what they will come up with next.
Last weekend had us visiting a Dog show in the city. And I fell in love with the canines all over again. And I am glad that my preferences are still the same as they were 3 years ago. I desperately want a pug. The ones I saw at the show were all so adorable, with their flat noses and sad eyes. And they are not too furry or big, so maintaining them shouldn’t be an issue really. The Dude was inclined towards the Rottweiler, more because sources claimed that 8 out of 10 of these snap at you for no reason. And by some weird analogy he claims snappy & unpredictable = alert and so he likes the dog, which looks menacing in general, very wolf-like. Anyhow, the practical issues of who would take care of it during the day crop up, and I am left with no choice but to give up. No Rottweiler and no pug. I am destined to stay pet-less. Hmmph.
And ya, last weekend also had us visit some kind of a get-together for Honda’s recent customers at their showroom. We went expecting some free gifts and gyan and a party, and it turned out to be a family event of sorts. So we had children running around, and painting competitions and lotsa gyan on car maintenance. Halfway through they announced that the men would continue with the gyan, while the women should go play tambola. So very sexist I think, as if women don’t need to know how to maintain the tires better. So I didn’t go, even though I still can’t drive, and The Dude was all fine, till he realized that the shiny gifts in the corner were only for the winners of the competitions. He was all miffed that I didn’t try my luck at the game; little does he know that I never win at all these luck games. I still remember at K, when we had tambola, and a last person standing round wherein the person who is the last to get any number on his card called out wins. I was among the last 2 of the 240 people playing, and still managed to lose. Because I do not win at all this.Period.
And we also wrote a CD for Honda City, called the Honda CD, The Dude’s idea, very smart I think. This has a mix of all our favorite Angrezi and Desi music, and of course all of our songs. So that’s all we listen to these days and it’s nice to be able to hum to the same tracks.
I notice that I have given up writing about a particular topic these days, it’s all so random. And nice in a way, don’t have to think at all while typing. So I will stay this way. Though I still wish I could make the page look nicer, and post pictures on it. I would post the pug’s pictures. Trust me, awesomely cute it was. Anyhow, that’s enough for now. Ciao.
- Location:Work
- Mood: blah
- Music:Taare zameen par - title track
Insert sleep after F-Bar and at the end that sums up my weekend. Super busy, super exciting and super fun. I like it when we are able to stuff so many things in the two days we wait for the whole week, every week and then end up feeling all exhausted (good exhausted) and accomplished.
So of the above Bourne Ultimatum is a must watch. I think it was even better than its prequels and was so fast-paced and well executed, that I had to watch un-blinkingly, even if I was sitting in the 3rd row from the screen. Surprisingly, the hall never filled completely even though it was a Saturday and that kind of bugged me. Anyways, like I said, a must watch.
Pizza-hut was to fill the 3 hour gap between this and the next movie, but we were surprisingly fast and so headed to Odyssey to while away time. I love the place, and the enormous range of books just makes me wonder how little I know, and how much there is readily available to read and know about. But again, no purchases were made as I was sticking to my complete-Ludlum’s-Ambler-Warning-before-y
Now Jab we met was a movie I had to literally pull The Dude to take me to. And I have still not asked him what he thought of it (though he was laughing during the movie, and just to clarify, it was during the jokes and funny bits, which rules out him laughing at the movie per say). So, I liked the movie. I thought the end was a bit of a drag, and they could have cut short the whole confusion bit in the last 15-20 minutes. Otherwise, it was cute and funny. And much better than the last Shahid-Kareena flick I endorsed. And yeah, I love the Tum se hi track in it. Absolutely.
It was our first visit to F-Bar and it was a pretty good place. It’s spacious, which means you don’t need to hold your glass up and walk through the crowd avoiding any collisions. It plays Fashion TV (for the F thing I guess) and Sony advertisements (which I didn’t understand). Good ambience, slightly on the more expensive side, but good overall. We ralso had Baba Sehgal and Pawan Kalyan there. Now Baba Sehgal is/was an indi-pop artist (who I apparently called a loser albeit a little too loudly when he was within hearing distance, but you can never trust the Dude, so I couldn’t care less. Even otherwise.) And well Pawan Kalyan is a gult actor who I don’t recognize, so he could have been any of the mustached guys around us. But the Dude said he was there.
Sunday started with a visit to Mebaz and Brand-factory, followed by Barbeque nation. Now if you love tandoori stuff and more so if you are a non-vegetarian this place is made for you. There are hazaar things to try out and it is an unlimited buffet where he gets the stuff to your table anyways. Amazing it is. There is quite a bit for vegetarians too, but then the barbequed potatoes weren’t anything out of the world. Again, a must visit place.
Wall street deserved a special mention, because it is one of the few movies The Dude so strongly recommends and is about something so close to his heart. Stocks markets, trading, what else could he ask for. So we watched the movie and it was worth the forsaken nap. Night I ended up watching an age old Juhi Chawla – Jackie Shroff – Amrita Singh starrer Aaina, because there was nothing better to do and also The dude was busily encoding-decoding our wedding video to fit it on this cd in the TV room, where this movie was already on.
We then decided to go park the car, and that obviously meant driving around a bit. Now this has been a regular thing since we got the City (I didn’t mention that, did I?). It is already a month and two scratches old. So a short drive in the army area and we were back home, all set to call it a day, more like call it a weekend.
Now that I am done with my diary entry, I am sure I would not be posting for atleast another week. We are going to be extremely busy. Oh, not working, we are off to home this Wednesday! Yippeee!! So more about that once we are back. Till then, Ciao!
- Location:Work
- Mood: accomplished
- Music:Aaoge jab tum - Jab we met
- Sat at my desk trying to look all busy because I couldn’t stand getting more work
- Worked for a while on a presentation which I myself know very well is downright horrible, hence proving that I am not in a state to work today.
- Have a horrible head ache for no real reason and it just seems to get worse.
- Tried posting a picture on LJ and failed for the 100th time.
- Got bugged with LJ and so created an account with word press which is oh-so-cool-and-user friendly-and-full-of-features.
- Contemplated shifting to the new blog for good and then didn’t.
- Fought with Mom because she refused to hear and react enthusiastically enough to the good things that were said about my project yesterday.
- Called her again myself because I needed someone to know anyways.
- Walked to and from the water cooler 5 times just to be reminded that there is no water in it.
- Sent an ‘I am having a bad day’ SMS to The Dude and then an ‘I am really bugged with you’ SMS when he refused to reply.
- Switched off the phone to show him that I was indeed angry and would not receive his calls.
- Switched it on twice to see if he has sent a message and saw he hadn’t.
- Sent the presentation anyways and got it back as expected to work on it again.
- Got a mail from the Dude (finally!) saying how busy had been and how he was just about to call.
- Tried being bugged and acting pricey and lasted all of 5 minutes.
- Was called to an urgent meeting which ended up being a half hour get together since the boss got busy elsewhere.
- Wrote an immensely mundane post about my immensely mundane day and felt happy about having something to post.And now that I am done, I am waiting for it to be 9, so that I can go home.
So what did you do today?
- Location:Work
- Mood: bored
- Music:Nothing
I am happy right now. And I think it’s kinda unfair that while I make it a point to write a post every time I am even slightly irritated, bugged or feel the world has been extremely unfair to me, I always wait for the happy feelings to subside and then the angry sentiments to reemerge before making the next post. One of the biggest reasons why this has been deemed a crib-log.
So contrary to popular belief (mostly mine), I am here to post today because I am happy.
And why? Well….
1. My hair looks like I have wanted it to all my life. Well, all my life is an exaggeration. I couldn’t care less about how it looked till about 4 years ago. In fact I was raised under the belief that voluminous hair was an asset, and curly hair was pretty. This is probably true. But what was very conveniently ignored was the fact that voluminous and curly hair together gives rise to a concept called unmanageable frizzy hair, which trust me, is not pretty. So getting back to why I was happy, this time I am actually happy with the results I got out of the torturous straightening procedure I went through yet again. Thumbs up to Toppers, and an extremely big Thumbs down to Habibs (Gimme my money backL ).
2. It is a Monday, and yet, I am not bugged, and the day has passed by quicker than it usually does. Reason; UK has a Bank Holiday today, so my customer is off, and so, he can’t bug me. Actually, he really doesn’t bug me much, but then there is always an anticipation of the last minute request for a report, or an explanation of the report, or whatever. Anyways, I have done nothing but admired my own hair the whole day today, and yep, that makes me happy.
3. There was this training I was supposed to attend this whole week, which got cancelled. I don’t dislike trainings really, but this one started at an ungodly hour of 9 in the morning, and lasted till 6 in the evening, post which I was expected to get back and do my usual work. I mean seriously, are you kidding me? But then I was all prepared for it, and now, it’s cancelled.
And so I am happy. Bored because of no work, sleepy in general, but on the whole happy. And I would rather stop typing while still in this mood. So, till then Ciao!
- Location:Work
- Mood: happy
- Music:None
Recently I reached the conclusion that in my purva janma, I was in fact an English teacher in one of the few English schools set up in the country during British Raj. More so, I specialized in English grammar’, and I was extremely unpopular due to my irritating picking of the tiniest of errors in the spoken or written language. And I have a serious hunch that it was an extremely bugged student who actually murdered me, and then blamed it on the British-Indian clash. And I guess I was so shocked that it took me almost 40 years to recover and get back here to the material world.
Why do I say so? Well, some of the personality of that character still remains in me. The only people who I form immediate opinions about ( and not very positive ones), without giving them a second chance, or waiting to know more of them, are the ones with bad grammar. No no, it doesn’t have to be pathetic grammar, or horrendous grammar. You miss the use of an article in the sentence, and well, you are already judged. Poorly.
It works them other way around too. For me to form an awesome opinion about someone, needs just about 4-5 lines in writing, or say a 10 minute long conversation. But there is a difference. Here I am allowed to change my opinion about such a person, once I come to know more of him, based on the other criteria, but that doesn’t hold true for the former set of people. They, like I said, are judged, forever.
I don’t even want to start on the orkut messages, requesting you to ‘make’ friendship with them, as much has already been spoken about it. And frankly, those can be forgiven. Seriously, what else do you expect from a loser, who cuts pastes the same message in 450 profiles, which he found on a single search criterion, ‘Gender – Female’? It’s the I-am-so-cool-and-say-right-thing-always big shots, missing out on the essential ‘the’ from ‘Lets show them that we are best!’
When Pure veg roomie and I had internet at our disposal the whole day, we spent quite some time , surfing matrimonial sites to identify prospective grooms for her, and in general comment on everybody. The first criteria would always be, reading his ‘about me’ to see if any articles had been missed out, any haves had turned into hases, or if any commas had been ignored from essential places. Once the screening process was over (which also included his height and whether or not he read Cal n Hobbes), we would proceed to the remaining details. God knows how many people were rejected just because of a tiny error in statement, which for all we know could have been a typo.
But the obsession stays. One doesn’t have write awesome, it’s enough that they write right. Of course, awesomeness gets extra points, but that’s not a judgment parameter for sure. I on the other hand have taken to pursuing my purva janma profession on the floor, and have become the unofficial e-mail editor for all the kids around, and some how that gives me more pleasure than shuffling financials. All this calls for a change in profession, an editor perhaps, or in charge of all communications stuff, or better still, I should probably revert back to the original profession and take proper grammar classes. That way we won’t have poor souls being judged. Atleast by people like me.
- Location:Work
- Mood: Obsessed
- Music:None
Pinky boys - Point is, pink is a girl's colour. One might argue that blue then is a guy's colour, but then girl's who kinda look boyish are cute, but guys who are girlish? No Thanks. So guys in general should not wear pink, unless they are , well, Hugh Grant ( Haven't you seen him in Notting Hill??).
Cellular drivers - Ok dude, you might get killed, which you probably deserve, but why put my life in danger? I mean seriously, what if you ram into my side of the car and I am the one whose face is smashed? Huh? How to deal with it? First, honk on and on around him till he actually stops the car in some corner. And then stop next to him and continue honking till he has no choice but to disconnect (excerpt from the soon to be written - 'Chronicles of The Dude's Road rage)
Breeze sensitive window seat lovers - Here's the deal, you feel cold, you move away from the window. Please don't cause possibly fatal claustrophbia attacks in others. If you want a window seat, it means you want air, it's not for aestheic value that they put those things there in the first place.
Trial room terrorists - Sale time. 20 people long trial room queues. And the 10th in line girl says 'I will be back in a moment, my place stays' and walks away for for the next one hour, picking up new clothes, having dinner , and probably even catching a nap, and then gets back and says ' I am next, please excuse'.
Treadmill hoggers - The sign on the wall says ' please use treadmill for maximum 20 minutes during peak hours'. And the executive gymmer next to you understands it as ' reset the timer after 20 minutes since people around you are so stupid that they wouldn't realise that you so smartly actually used the machine for a whole extra 20 minutes!
Fake Firangs - Born in Guntur, brought up in Warangal, working in a BPO in Hyderabad, on visit to LA for a month for an onsite project, and then returned with a new hair cut, a jacket that says US of A, and an accent that goes ' Ah, I j'st returned fr'm New York you see, n itz so friggin' col' out there!
My call Biggest - These guys are big people, their work is big, and so are their calls. Big as in , long, everlasting and ofcourse loud. Now once they start, it doesn't mater if they are discussing a possible project, or the price of a plot in Shamshabad, it just doesn't stop. And nor can you dare to stop them. After all they are officially big.
Honkers - It is a well known fact that you are supposed to stop at a red signal. And ofcourse , we also know that when two vehicles re one behind the other, the one in front needs to move before the one at the back can. But the honker , who usually is third in line is unaware of this, and hence unnecessarily uses the horn provided for better purposes with all his might, probably expecting the vehicle in front of him to sprout wings any moment and fly away, making way for him ( a la the awesome Feast ad aired once upon a time)
Hmmm, thats about it for now and I am sure there are so many more. But they will have to wait for the sequel. So till then, Ciao!
- Location:Home
- Mood: annoyed
- Music:Seinfeld episode
