Friday, December 23, 2011

Rant Alert


Had a workshop at work and this is what a head honcho told me about awards and recognition program availability.
"We have been awarding deserving employees for over a year, but there is no reason for anyone other than higher management and the actual employees to know about it. After all, if everyone heard about these awards they will feel bad for not getting it  themselves "

:-O

Now! there is a new definition for recognition. Ain't he a kind soul to be so worried of his people? Hmph!


Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Suddenly things make sense

This was one really good piece that I wanted to share with you all. A post about a reformed sexual harrasser.
Suddenly the reactions of some of the men in my life seem to make a lot of sense.

If I don't get to meet you again before the new year, Happy Holidays to all of you :-)

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

On books and comics

I am reading The Immortals of Meluha, the first of the Shiva Trilogy. Bought the book ages ago, but there were other books ahead of it waiting to be read and I had lent it to my cousin, so could start it only couple of days back.
I expected to be bored or at least mildly annoyed with it, despite the good reviews. But I was pleasantly surprised and Its turned out to be a pretty interesting read.
Its the indus valley civilization with a quirky and futuristic bent. I can't wait to finish this one and start the second book, but I am not able to read it with my usual speed.. Know why?

Because I have hit on a mother lode of Indrajal comics. :-D  Remember them? They are the ones who brought Lee Falk's and Alex Raymond's imagination to India in technicolor.
Phantom, Mandrake, Flash Gordan, Rip Kirby, Bahadur, Kerry Drake and so on and so forth.

Ooooh! its my childhood revisited all over again. Despite the many years of separation from them, I find myself still totally enthralled by their adventures.
Phantom, the Ghost who walks, the commander of the Jungle Patrol, the man who cannot die and over all gentleman,  is still my ultimate hero.

Mandrake the magician, with his house Xanadu, Side kick, jungle prince and mightiest man on earth - Lothar , their girl friends and his Chef Hojo, who is also the secret chief of Inter Intel, have provided many many happy hours of companionship to the younger me.

Not to mention the Handsome golden haired Flash Gordan and the Sauve Rip Kirby (I must say, I liked his butler Desmond better)

Anyways, there you go. This is the reason I have been losing many hours of my beauty sleep and have not been able to finish reading the Shiva Trilogy and the other books patiently waiting in my shelves.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

I NEVER thought I would say this.. But Vijay did a better job in Pokkiri than Salman in Wanted.
Ayesha Takia!... The less said the better
sigh! :-(

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Eclipse of the moon

There are times when I wish my eyes were camera that can capture some of the beauty it sees and share it with you all. Today is one such day.
I am lying on the terrace, with cool breeze blowing, listening to Mukesh croon about love and looking at the moon.
I have been sitting here for the last hour or so. Saw the whole eclipse.. while the full eclipse was on, the moon they said would be in red colour. But it was more golden black than red from where I see.

But the full effect of the eclipse can be felt only now, when it is waning.
The blinding white sides peeping out of a golden black moon, like a naughty child peeping from behind its mother... that is the picture that I wanted to capture with my eyes and put up here.

You must have seen pictures of the moon rising between two palm trees? That is the view you get from my terrace. The moon rises from between the two coconut palms we have on the east.
The clouds and the twinkling stars add another layer to the over all beauty.

Ohh! the stars.. they look like chunks of diamonds that are just waiting to reached up and plucked.

Sigh! does life get any better?

PS: Wow! The eclipse is waning so fast
PPS: I can't, for the life of me, recognize any star, much less a constellation. They all look the same to me. My sis is pointing out them all and I am nodding my head very knowledgeably... hehe 

Monday, December 05, 2011

Fatal 2011


While I was saddened to hear the death of Shammi Kapoor, I was not so for Dev Anand. Not because I don't like him or anything, but because I have always thought of the man as omnipotent and it has not yet sunk in that he is actually no more.

Both of them had the never say die attitude and an abundance of charm to go with it.

Does it strike any of you that the last quarter of 2011 has been fatal to Indian artists?

Dev Anand (Actor)
Shammi Kapoor (Actor)
Ustad Sultan Khan (Sarangi player)
Har Gobind Khorana (Biochemist Nobel Laureate.. not an artist but still popular)
Bhupen Hazarika (Singer)
Jagjit Singh (Ghazal Singer)

I've named only a few people I am familiar with. But you can find a much more detailed list here

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Good Ones

Read couple of good articles/posts today and wanted to share it with y'all

My friends would say that I am a bold person and well read on most matters too. But at my old work place, when I was being harassed, I didn't even realize it. I was just losing my confidence and getting more and more depressed.
It was a slow process and as this writer very correctly calls it - Gaslighting. It happens to women across the world.

A male friend and I were discussing the marriage norms and our ideas on it. He said he was looking for a girl who would live at home and serve his parents and understand that his mom knows best. Needless to say it didn't sit well with me. I told him that this was the kind of mentality that brings about DIL-MIL fights in marriages. Well! here is a man's take on why there is friction between women and their MIL

Pretty Red shoes!


*** Feminine post alert ***

My friend PSR sent me this shoes blogger link and my eyes lit upon this beautiful article.
And here I was thinking I am the only one coveting red shoes and it turns out the whole wide world is right there with me.
Needless to say I had to rush to Metro to check if they had any red shoes. And boy! did they?! It was this seriously cute peep toe with about 2.5 inches heels. I had unfortunately taken my mom along and she put her foot down and refused to let me buy such big heels. Sigh!
So anyways I got another pair of rather cute red sandals with 1 inch heels.

Two days ago I met PSR and she was flying high, coz she had got a pair of red shoes too. A little while ago my friend from UK calls me to tell me rather sheepishly that she could not resist this pair of red shoes she had seen.  (Way to go gals! :-) )

Today I wore my new sandals to work.. feeling rather good about myself (until I got into the share auto, but that's another story for another time) and what do I see?
So many pretty feet wearing .. what else.. but pretty red footwear.
Its a good feeling to be a part of such a large sisterhood! :-)

PS: Took some fotos of my new shoes thro my mobile, but unable to transfer it to my comp.

Is it worth it?

Some days (like today) I wonder if it is really worth getting up in the morning to just come to work in this traffic. Its hot and crowded and I feel like a dish rag all twisted and used up and scrunched and its only 10.30 AM.

Then I think of my bank account and

Sigh! well here I am. :-(

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Gurukanth Desai




How many times would I have seen this movie? 10 times 15 times. I still like to see it again.
Of all the movies of Abhishek Bachchan I think Guru was his best show.
Have always had a soft corner for AB Jr. Poor guy, always under his dad and wife's shadow.
But this is one movie where he has shown the world what he is made of.
Love his laugh in the movie, that shoulder shaking, teeth baring, belly rolling laugh .

But credit where credit is due, I have always maintained that Mani Rathnam could make a statue act. So not surprising that Aish not only did some acting but such subtle understated acting at that.
(Even though the Time magazine called her an actress-model and not a model actress.. Good play of words huh?!)

How many of you remember Roshan seth? He was Nehru in the Gandhi movie and the anchor of the old Doordarshan Sunday night program Bharat Ek Khoj. It used to be telecast when I was very young and didn't really understand much, but I still remember being awed by chacha Nehru's language in it.
When I hear/see Roshan Seth today, I still think of him as Nehru, and a very handsome one at that.
It made me smile to see him as the head of panel of Judge hearing Guru's case. A very good actor indeed!

One of my favourite movies and a satisfying experience. 

Friday, November 25, 2011

I am bored *Banging my head* I am bored *Banging my head* I am bored *Banging my head* I am bored *Banging my head* I am bored *Banging my head*

Thank you rain for spoiling all my mega plans for the first day off I get in over a month!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

*Phewwww*

I have always thought relief was a sentiment and never knew you could feel it physically.
Remember the Audit I was talking about.. the one I had been living, breathing, eating for the last 3 weeks?
Well! Had the audit today and boy!!! we kicked its butt, BIG Time.

All through the day we were hearing all these horror stories and suggestions, how to talk and how not to talk blah blah. By the time the audit time rolled in I had lost all objectivity and was just numb.

Though we had to do some sleight of hand, we impressed the auditor big time.

When I came out of the conference room, I could actually physically feel this huge weight that was sitting right on my chest disappear. I could suddenly breathe.
Wowza! wat a feeling :-D

Now if I could convince my boss to gimme coupla days off to unwind my joy would be complete.
Neways Yayy!!!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Helloo

Just dropped by to say a quick hello and let y'all know that I am alive if not well.
Got two audits coming up next week and been working like mule over weekends and early mornings (Yes! me actually getting up and working) and weekdays too :-P
Just to make life a little bit more easy a colleague went home to enjoy wedded bliss dumping all his work on me.
But the most painful of all. Ended up cancelling a movie-dinner date grrrr!

But the silver lining is that I got an award and whooping big cash prize at work.
Talked to PSR after a long time and she never fails to put my spirits high.
Talked to head honcho.. who I thought was a crashing bore and nag, but turned out to be surprisingly sweet.
and whowudathunk that I would become such a addict to bollywood gossip. I hardly see any movies.. but nowadays get my quota of the gossip served right on time though :-D

My weirdo magnet works just fine. that's neither good nor bad.. just entertaining. but thats for another day.

So ciao all until I have time to come out for a breather.. hopefully by next weekend

Monday, October 31, 2011

Can we have enough friends?

Four of my old friends, whom I had thought I had lost touch with, contacted me.
Have been feeling very very happy :-).
One of them was actually my school friend, dunno how she got my number but darned glad she did.

With another friend, we had had a small tiff and had not spoken in quite a few months.
Life being what it is, we slowly lost touch. While I was not actively thinking of him, only when I spoke to him today and felt a lightness, did I realize that I had had this slight weight weighing down my heart. Now of course its all forgotten and its back to normal again.

Can a person really have enough friends? I don't think so.
 They are after all one of the most important facets for an interesting life.

Sigh! Its been a good week :-)


The Lizard prediction

Was sitting and chatting with my dad in the veranda. Apparently sitting right under the tube-light is a perfect target for lizards to fall on you.
Needless to say one darned slimy creepy lizard jumped on my right ear to slither down my neck.. by which time I had brought the house down and pushed it off.
Well! after I finished hopping and shuddering, I went running to scrub my ears n neck while my cuz went running to fetch the almanac.

Do you know that there are predictions given in the almanac on what happens if a lizard falls on you.
Its falling on each part of ur body apparently has a distinct effect. (Oh! and I am to have a long life and good health)

Not only that, it contains a table which predicts what will happen when a lizard chirps,  facing each directions on each day of the week (also based on how many chirps).

Cute, Huh?! 

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Parichay

A simple story sweetly told. Beautiful songs. Talented cast and a fulfilling experience.
While today's movies have their own space and time, the actual acting seems to have taken a back seat to all the technological thingamagiks, six and eight packs and bikinis.

This movie is said to have been influenced by the Sound of Music. Taken in 1972 by Gulzar, having a cast of Jeetendra, Jaya Bhaduri (as she was then), Sanjeev kumar, Pran and Asrani.

In the whole movie. the love between Jeetendra and Jaya is never expressed explicitly. Only by the subtle expressions in their faces. And some of the reasons why I like Sanjeev Kumar, Pran and Asrani can be seen in this movie.

The sympathy on Sanjeev Kumar's face when Jaya sees his bloody kerchief. Pran's expression when his grandchildren wish him for the first time and Asrani's tears when he sees Pran laugh. Its a definite feel good movie (except if you see it in Sahara One channel.. in which case they will make u want to tear your head bald putting on soooo many advertisements)

Let's not forget the music by R D Burman. After all Lata got a National award for her Beeti na Beetayi



or Kishore's Musafir hoon yaaron


Wednesday, October 12, 2011

I have a stalker

I mean it! I actually have a phone stalker and its frightening.
Apparently this creep who works for my bank suddenly got obsessed with my name becoz he had a girl friend by the same name or some such.
He has access to all my information, including my personal, work , account and contact details.
He used to call me pretty regularly couple of years back until I threatened with going to the police. Then he stopped.

I got a SMS from someone yesterday night wishing me a happy birthday and when I asked who he was, he said he was not my friend. Annoyed I told him to stop messaging me, thinking it was some prankster.
He replied back asking if I still worked in my XYZ company and when I ignored that, another asking me not to contact him. WTF!

Today I get a call from him saying his name is Venkatesh from my bank (which is the same creep from couple of years back) and he knows where I work and that he used to talk to me couple of years back. He wanted to know if I still lived in Chennai and if I was married etc ... and apparently he had completed MBA and wants me to get him a job in my company. While I did ask him to take a flying @#$@.
Its still frightening that some schmuck has access to so much of my personal and financial info.
Am I over reacting? Maybe! Anyways wondering what I must do next?

My friends tease me calling me a weirdo magnet.. but this is ridiculous!

Monday, October 10, 2011

RIP Jagjit Singh!

:-(. Just now saw the news and feeling like I lost a personal friend. :-(







Sunday, October 09, 2011

It's frightening

Well Well! waddya know I seem to have written something similar last week or so and it never got published.. So here goes.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wondering what I am talking about? Growing older!!!
Darned thing is fraught with responsibilities, responsibilities and more responsibilities.
I just had a talk with Dad on investments, medical insurance and general old age etc
Where ever did I get the idea that I would earn and then spend and maybe put away some of it in a FD or something and that was that.

I have this hollow feeling in my stomach.
So many things to think about. The pros, cons, the long term impact. *Shudder*
How do I make my parents comfortable and completely cared for in their older age.
Not that they need it from me, but that is still my duty and I have not really thought much about it.

It also has me thinking about my old age. What about my medical insurance at that time?
Where would I be? What will I be doing?
And Oh my god! Pension schemes. Aren't I way to young to think about that? Apparently not. It seems one is supposed to think of pension when they start into a job so they will have a nice windfall to enjoy post retirement.

Gah! There goes my plans for retiring in another 10 years.

Enough already! I am just going to shut down my mind and try some meditation. OOOOHHHHMMMMM!

Ruminating

Do you re-read books?
I think its almost as pleasurable as reading a new one.
Especially if its a favorite book, its like visiting an old friend.
Some one you are very comfortable with and know all the nuances.
Sometimes even better than an old friend :-)

Sigh! I am in a weird mood. Melancholy! Need to take some rather important decisions and don't want to regret anything later. In fact I am wondering if I should regret some decisions already taken. But a more useless emotion has never been invented than regrets and I try to in it indulge as little as possible.
What has the books to do with my mood? Nothing at all. Just ruminating on life. hmm!

On the flip side. I have got my brand new shiny red laptop. The keyboard is different in this and its driving me batty. But enjoying playing with it. And even better got my Kindle. I was secretly wondering if I would get any use out of it.. Dumb! yeah, but I am enjoying it too.

Hope y'all are having a good weekend. Ciao

Monday, September 26, 2011

*Gasp*


I've been good. No, seriously! I have been tempted to write about this topic many a times but resisted.

But *Phew* enough is enough. Can these people not wear some kinda deo or perfume to work?

If not for themselves, for pity's sake, for the sake of the poor souls who need to sit next to them the whole day and work.

Forgetting your deo/ perfume now and then I can understand, but coming to work without it, EVER, especially after travelling in the hot chennai weather... *GAK*

I am on the verge of getting the cold and my nose and throat are extremely sensitive to any kinds of odour and its driving me and my sinuses nuts.

Bearing up for one hour everyday was difficult enough..but now its all day everyday

grr!! Do y'all think I should get a room freshener and spray them? Would that give them a hint?



Sunday, September 18, 2011

God's own pyrotechnics

When God decides to have some fun, She sure shows us mere mortals what pyrotechnics is all about.
Its raining here. Boy! is it raining! and that too along with all the accompaniments in their complete splendor.
Lightning tearing the skies open and wow! during the last thunder I could actually feel the ground under my feet vibrate.
You can almost smell and feel the sky getting reading to unleash the next bout.
It gives me the goosebumps witnessing all this fury. Its also very very exhilarating. :-)
Makes one realize how really small and insignificant one is in the grand scheme of things.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Its all about control

Now before I start I just have to let the world know I BOUGHT A KINDLE at last...Yayyyyy.. consider me dancing around. The only fly in the ointment being I will not get it for another 15 days.. but that's ok.. ooooh! I can't wait to get my hands on it.

Oh! Anyways do you dare to lose control (of your emotions and yourself) in front of your friends or anyone for that matter? I've never really thought much about it until now.
As usual my thoughts were jack rabbiting around and I ended up thinking of this incident.

My 2 very good friends and I, decided to meet up one night and get drunk. And by that I mean tap-hackled, top-heavy, shot-in-the-neck, staggering drunk, just to see what we would do when we get to that stage.Now, we were rather close and very comfortable with each other and knew one other very well and all that. So we were sure we wouldn't mind if we made a fool of ourselves when it was just the three of us.

Well two of us being footloose and fancy free and 1 being a respectable married matron, we congregated at the married matron's house (which is a real dream house BTW). Her husband, being this real cool guy, helped us in procuring the drinks. It was night and we set it all up and sat looking at the bottle. And looking at it and looking at it. Not one of us wanted to drink, at least not the way we had planned to.

We just could not bring ourselves to lose control to that extent. After all that planning we felt rather sheepish about it but we just could not do it. Its kind of hardwired into some of us, I think.
I say that because some people are OK with drinking to excess and making a fool of themselves given the slightest opportunity.

I remember a man very high in my company hierarchy, once drinking and dancing (let's just say there is dancing and there is dancing) at a party. I could not look the guy in the eyes the next day, but he was cool about it.

Are you OK with it?

More and more...

More and more rambles that's what. I keep having all these disjointed thoughts all the time and I tell myself I should write about it here... but never get around to it. So thought instead of rambling in my mind I shall put the whole jumble of thoughts here to pick and choose to write... or not write later.

# Sometimes I fear I am becoming asocial but thankfully you cannot straighten a dog's tail :-). I think I have just come to appreciate solitude more *phew* had me worried

# Can a person feel sad and happy at the same time. I mean throat chocking sadness and real happiness? Coz  that's what I am feeling right at this moment and it feels very strange.

# We always hear so much about how good it is to give, the art of giving blah blah. But you know I have recently (ok, not so recently) realized there is an art to taking them too. I love giving  gifts but sometimes people get so awkward when they get gifts that they end up embarrassing the giver or insulting them. Totally unintentional but there you are. The problem is that it takes the joy out of the process.
A case in point is my bro, he looks so embarrassed and miserable whenever I gift him with anything, that he looks almost constipated :-P
My dad started out that way too, but I like to think I personally cured him off his giftophobia :-)
Now me! gimme a gift , any gift, anytime.. I am always happy to get them .. hehehe

#  Today a colleague told me that he realized I must read a lot when he heard me speak English. Mostly when people tell me I have a decent handle on English, I don't really take it to heart, because I am generally busy being envious about someone else's knowledge and language. But not sure why, today I felt maybe my friend(s) are right, maybe my language is decent (hmm! No I am not fishing, oh! you know me, I never fish, I straight away ask for your compliments :-D )

# I've been reading about the huge furore created over this Madrasi gal who has written an open letter to the delhi boy basically insulting delhites and punjabis etc and there have been a lot of reflex responses to it. All of us have our own misconceptions and I really think they need to get a life.
Anyways I want to clear coupla basic point in all of this. Madrasis do not wear mundu, they wear Vaeshti. While anything in excess is not good, please leave our hair oil bottles out of your altercations. We love them. They are the one thing keeping our brains from leaking out of ears in the peak summers and the reason why most south Indian women have such lovely tresses.
(Yep, I know what you are thinking, I need to get a life too.. )

Monday, September 12, 2011

My Diary


On a lighter note
In those long ago times, I used to maintain diaries. I started coz it was the "in" thing to do. But somehow ended up writing kinda regularly.(somewhat better than my bloging anyways)
Being a person who hates clutter, I had nicely hidden the diaries in my cousin's shelves, from which she threw it all out yesterday :-(
Anyways ended up reading up the entries in there. It was quite an entertaining time.
All those teenage angst and dramatics pouring out spiced with sarcastic comments and gossips about all and sundry.

Here are some of interesting ones

# There was one entry about a classmate fainting coz she was not in the top five ranks (The gal was doing her Masters.. sigh!)

# My friend's handsome brother had told her that I looked cute, which she promptly relayed to me. There was some floating in the ninth cloud with regards to that

# My BFFs and I meeting Sir Richard Hadlee and his team at the Pizza Corner right around the street.

# Choking back my tears, when I landed in Hong Kong for the first time (first time out of the country) and realizing not only was I thousands of miles away from my people but also that the toilets do not have health
faucets .. The latter being more traumatic than the former

# My BFF's fiance asking me about the fall of World trade center on the evening of 9/11 and my telling him that I did not follow the shares market.

# BFF and I "eyeing" this good looking guy in a wedding, not realizing he was the groom :-D

# Coming out of the US airport (after immigration and all that), the first time and then going back to ask the security there, where I would get my I9. (Every one had told me all these horror stories about I9 and its
importance, no one had told me the immigration slip was the I9). If I remember right, the man took my passport, looked into it and gave me a weird look and said "I don't understand". I realized I was saying something wrong , so apologized and came back :-D

Hmm! those were times...

Enough about 9/11

I can understand why USA will celebrate 9/11 with all those fireworks and hungama. But why the heck is India celebrating it right along with them? Weirdos!

Yesterday, I read an interview of an American embassy spokesperson (can't find the link now) and he says he is very happy with mature way India is dealing with their terrorists, even giving them a choice of mercy petition.
Yes! unlike the US which not only almost completely annihilated Afghanistan (Afghanistan used to be one of the most beautiful countries, known for its gorgeous gardens, now it contains cemeteries and bomb craters) but also killed Osama after stealthily entering into Pakistan.

How is it that Sadam Hussain can be publicly hung, Osama shot dead but Nalini, Murugan, Afsal Guru, Ajmal Kasab etc are deserving of mercy? They should not be hung because of the mental torture they faced being in the death row?
Puhleaseee! Were these terrorists thinking of the mental torture of the victims and their families while they were massacring?

Do Human rights commission exist only to fight for the rights of terrorists and murderers?
If Kasab, who is living the life of leisure in our prisons, is let out from gaol because of his youth, with a "go forth and sin no more" pat on his back, is he going to be all repentant and give up a life of sin to become a
sanyasi? or will he laugh at India's naivete before coming back to kill some more?

And coming back to my original question, OK, USA had one terrorist attack in the last god knows how many years and its a big issue for them.
Indians face a 1/1..13/7...7/9 .. 26/11... 31/12. Why the heck are they so enthusiastic about a 9/11 attack that happened 10 years ago.
Do y'all even remember that on 9/11 10 years ago Pak terrorists attacked Kashmir again and many jawans lost their lives?

USA learned something from the 1 attack. Paranoia. But at least they learnt something.
Indian government is still unaware of the attacks happening here.Yesterday a senior congress spokeswoman,in NDTV, brushed off the public sentiment saying that they are just hysterical and over emotional and that the government is still thinking about what to do.

Well Duh uh! Of course we are hysterical. A month goes by without any terrorist act in India is a month for celebration. Indians have forgotten what it feels like to live without a Damocles sword hanging over their heads. The government meanwhile is busy scratching their collective a$$es plotting vendetta against Team Anna.

2 men on our most wanted list, who intelligence were searching out across the globe using the help of Interpol, were living right under our noses in India. Sigh!

My cousin was saying the other day and it sounded quite right to me too.
Why bother arresting these people and then giving them a nice life in the gaols and letting them go a few years later, wasting crores of our tax money.Instead let's not arrest them in the first place. Let any one who wishes to bomb, do so with impunity and get on with their lives. Humph! we can at least save the money spent on the investigation and incarceration.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Anna Hazare's Triumph.. India's Triumph

Anna Hazare broke his 12 days fast on the 13th day (today) at around 10.30 AM or so after the UPA govt kind of agreed to his draft of the Lok Pal bill with conditions attached (see how many constraints I've to put in a simple sentence when I talk of our government taking any steps)

Anyways Anna's triumph is not that he got the government's consensus but the sheer amount of  unstinting support he got from across the country, nay across the whole world . We are talking about millions and millions of Indians.
Chennai, which is generally not known for coming out in masses to support many things, but we had people fasting right along with Anna right down my road, in a park.

This kind of mass approval was last seen probably before 1947 when we thronged out to fight for our independence against the British. While that was mostly an non-violent crowd too, there were still some leaders who were not against violence to gain the freedom.

But now for 12 whole days the entire country came to fight for their freedom from the UPA .. er.. from corruption in absolute peace. Not even when Anna was arrested was their any unrest.
 Some news channels were saying that there were a great deal of rowdy elements in the the Ram Lila grounds and violence was just waiting to erupt at any minute. But we never saw any evidence of it.
What a sight it was! I could not be more proud to be an Indian. :-)

Even better and better is that for the detractors, (sorry to say, some of whom are my own friends) who were saying nothing will happen and India will never improve and all that Bull Sh*t, this is a pie in the face. I am small enough to feel quite gleeful about it hehehe.


Ratnakaradhautapadam Himalyakirtitinim
Brahmarajarsiratnamdhyam vande Bharatamataram 

Meaning :
I pay my obeisance to mother Bharat, whose feet are being a washed by the ocean, who wears the mighty Himalaya as her crown, and who is exuberantly adorned with the gems of traditions set by Brahmarishis and Rajarishis.
.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Not another call!

Was at an important meeting at work and the whole one hour I was getting call after call from this number and I kept cutting it. Must have been about 7-8 missed calls. Finally the meeting was over and I get the next call from the same number. Worried now, I hurriedly cut my conversation I was having with my boss to attend it.

The caller: Hello! Is this Sanjana?
Me: Yes! yes! What happened?
The caller: Ma'am I am calling from CitiBank. Would you like our credit card?
Me: X-( grrrrr!

My first weird fone call of this morning is actually a set of calls

1st call: Ma'am I am calling from citi Bank. Would you like our credit card?
Me (Politely): No, Thanks I am not interested

Half hour later
2nd call: Ma'am I am calling from citi Bank. Would you like our credit card?
Me (Not so politely): I already said I am not interested. Could you please have my number removed from your database

Hardly 15 minutes later
3rd caller: Ma'am I am calling from citi Bank. Would you like our credit card?
Me (totally annoyed): Would you guys stop annoying me calling every 10 minutes. I am not interested in your credit card, after this morning I will never be interested in your bank. Either remove my number from your database or let me know who I should contact to get it permanently removed.
3rd Caller: Yes Ma'am. I am sorry for the convenience ..(I am getting a little appeased here).. But Ma'am may I know why you would not be interested in our credit card, we have so many features. Can I take a little of your time to explain them.
Me: (Giving up just cut the call)

An hour or so later I get another call. I am thinking if I should not attend the call, but curiosity got the better of me and I did.

Me: Hello
The caller: Is this Sanjana from ABC school
Me: What?
The Caller: Is this Sanjana who studied in ABC school
Me: Who is this?
The caller: First tell me if you are Sanjana
Me: Hello, this is ridiculous, you call me, you wont even tell me who you are and you expect me to answer you?
The caller: I am SR's mother, you both studied in the same school remember?
(Was totally puzzled. I have not had any contact with SR, who was actually my college mate,  in over 8 years and I had seen her mother probably twice all those years ago)
Me: Uh!.. oh! yes Aunty, Hello, How are you?
The caller: I am fine ma, How are you? I didn't call you for any specific reason
Me: Oh! ( As you can see, I get very loquacious when I am clueless)
The caller: I was cleaning my house and found SR's old phone book and found your number. So I thought I will call and see if you still have the same number
Me: Oh?
(Then started a third degree interrogation of my life the last few years, most of which I frantically tried to dodge and a little of boasting about SR's accomplishments which I probably answered smartly with an "Oh!")
After 15 minutes, she told me again that she didnt have any specific reason to call me and hung up.
I am still a little dizzy.
Can people really be this jobless?

Maybe I should change my mobile number. The problem with retaining a number for almost a decade is that too many people have it.

Bedardi Raja

Hey, How many of you saw the movie Delhi Belly? You must have seen and heard this song, then. But check out this video of Bedardi Raja with Sona Mohapatra in it singing (I think they call it the Grind Mix).  The lady looks so cool in her sari and guitar and a very nice voice too.
The first time I heard the song I was not all that impressed. But when I saw this video.. I Like!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

And Life otherwise...


*Phew* Now that's out. How are you all? whats news?

I have had a very eventful (and expensive) few days

 #  For one I've got a brand new Laptop. I am over the trees about it. Great config and even better price. The only fly in my ointment is that the laptop is sitting in Singapore now and will reach me only by next month :-(


#  Been buying books like they are going out of fashion from Flipkart. Like books were not enough they are selling all kindsa electronics too. I almost bought a camera just because of the great deal, but thankfully stopped before going over board.

# Hazel says that her new Kindle was the best buy she has had in some time. Now I am tempted. Especially for a person like me... sigh! do I or do I not

#  Bought coupla great saris.. cant wait to try them on.

#  Looking forward to my trip to Guruvayoor, maybe I will find time to go to the Athirapalli falls. Saw fotos of the falls... they sure beat the Niagara during its peak season.

hmm! old age or amnesia.. not sure, but I seem to have forgotten half the things I wanted to share.. More when I remember :-)

Principles - BAH!

This is a total Rant

Rant 1
Yesterday I had a call from my head honcho saying I had not completed something. Since I was outside of work and this new head honcho had put the fear of god in all of us, I totally freaked.

So I called a reportee and asked him if could verify if I had completed it, he promptly refused saying it was against company norms and all that blah.. well! while it irritated me and got me into trouble, I could respect him for standing on his principles.
Today I ask him to charge an hour extra since we will be attending a meeting at the end of the week and he again refuses because he would be coming in late. OK, Good!
I tell him to come an hour early and then charge correctly and he is now ok with charging extra without working those hours. hmph!!! I ask you, what happened to Mr. I-am-goody-goody?

Rant 2
This is another self processed rules ramanujam. (only I might have to turn into anniyan to eradicate them :-P)
He always acts like he has never veered from the straight and narrow.
To boot he gave me lip when I asked him to do something just so.
Already being in a sweet mood, I started cross checking his records and what do I find?
Mister rules ramanujam is not walking in the quite so straight and narrow path after all.
And so when I started questioning him on it, he did a disappearing act on me.

Hypocrites! Every one of them! Bah Humbug! (There! I sound just like scrooge)

Friday, August 12, 2011

Lucky me!

Sometimes I think I am lucky to have been born in this particular time, especially when I get to hear songs like the ones below, by artists like Chitra, Sudha Ragunathan, MS and KJY.
When they say music has no boundaries or language they (whoever they were) knew what they were talking about.
But its not just the music or the singing but the composition and its simple but beautiful meaning.

For example in the first song below, Enna Thavam Seithanai, by Papanasam Sivan in Kaapi raga.

 The first charanam (stanza) goes
bhramanum indranum manadil porAmai koLLa
uralil kaTTi vAi pottik-kenjavaittAi kannanai (enna thavam..)

Which translates to something like
"Even as Lord Brahma and Indra look on with jealousy in their hearts
you have got the Lord Krishna tied, gagged and begging [...for his mischief] (oh mother! what penance you must have done)"


Enna Thavam Seithanei Yashoda (What penance you must have done, Yashoda)


Kanda naal muthalai kathal peruguthadi (Since the day I saw [Lord Muruga] my love has been increasing)


Asainthu aadum mayil (When I see a dancing peacock, it seems to be telling me that our Krishna has come)


Kurai Ondrum Illai (I don't have any problems) Sigh! MS! Need I say more


Harivarasanam By KJY (And finishing it off with Mangalam)

Sunday, August 07, 2011

Sunday Evenings!!!

Is there anything more torturous than a slow Sunday evening with nothing on the telly and no new books and only work to look forward too?
I think I hate Sunday evenings more than even Monday mornings.

And there seems to be a telly conspiracy that only the boring-est programs and movies must be telecast on Sunday evenings.

Weather conspiring against us with drizzles

My family and I are going slowly crazy and if we survive, catch you next week.

Oh! and a Very Happy Friendship day!!!

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Random Movie Thoughts!

=> Never claimed to be a fashion Diva, but I do know what's aesthetically pleasing. I don't know who died and made Sonam Kapoor the fashion expert of Bollywood. The woman's dressing is frightening and weird. The oily skin, dark eye make up, goofy hair.. *shudder*. If I wanted to frighten any kid with "poochandi" I will probably show her photo.

=> Have you noticed that the trend nowadays is that as soon as an actor/actress debuts they are touted as the next best thing to sliced bread and they get all these awards and what not.
A case in point is Sonakshi Sinha. She acted in all of 1 movie.  And she must have had about 10 lines of dialogue and probably 2-3 songs in that movie. But her acting was praised to high heavens and according to wikipedia she got a dozen awards for her role in it and was nominated for whatever was left over. Puhlease! are not people supposed to prove their mettle before they get these awards?
Dharmendra, who is called the he-man of Hindi cinemas, got hardly any awards in all his years in the industry. Are these people claiming that these here-now-and-gone-in-a -second actors are better than him? hmph!

=> Saw Deivathirumagal and only then realized it was remake of Main Aisa hi hoon. I kind of liked the hindi version to the tamil one. But Vikram has done a good job, can probably watch once.

=> I am awed at my high tolerance for pain. Saw Singham..fully. When the movie came in Tamil, I had blogged saying that it was an insult to Suriya and Prakash Raj's acting ability. But the Hindi version is an insult... period.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Mr.Mummy

I've always had this fascination for Ancient Egypt in general and their mummies in particular.
Found this superb video of Egyptologist Robert Brier's Mummy project.
After over 2000 years Briers actually mummified a human cadaver the egyptian way.
While this might not be of interest to many people, I was totally astounded and wanted to keep it here for posterity.



And for those interested YouTube has a lovely collection of BBC and National Geographic documentaries on this subject.

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Fone etiquette

Just one point I wanted to mention

People should NOT speak with their wives/ Girl friends /Husbands / Boy friends over the phone, while sitting at their work station, if they

a) have a loud voice
b) are going to fight or make love

While it might not bother them, it has some entertainment value to the rest of us.. but is basically disgusting and irritating.
They are, after all, washing their dirty linen in public

Today we (as in the whole floor) were unfortunate enough to hear the fight between this guy and his wife. while he does make love and fight to his wife only after coming to work everyday. It was somehow louder today and I was seriously tempted to stuff his mobile ... ahh hmmm! well you get the idea

Oh! this point actually holds true if they are going to koochikoo your kid too.
Please believe me, its totally disgusting to overhear your workstation neighbour on the phone, describing her kid's cutest poop to someone.
Poop? Cute? Gahhhh! Kill me now!

.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Ooty over the weekend

Cursing my uncle and cousin for making me book tickets to, of all the places Ooty and then cancelling, I left for Ooty on Thursday evening and enjoyed myself ever so much. Here are some photos of my trip












Roses at the Government Rose Garden. Missed the Rose show by a week or so, but it was still beautiful. The weather was misty and cool and roses everywhere.. .sigh!

Remember Anbe Vaa movie? MGR and Saroja Devi? The final song in that movie was taken in this place. Its a small hill, totally green and at its top, its soooo windy, it will turn a person around. But lovely enough to make the heart sigh. BTW the white thingy in the foto is not a sheep but a horse :-)

That's me at the Botanical garden. Its beautiful, especially coz of the weather. But seen it too many times and hence boring



The Pykara Lake and Boathouse :- During the rainy season the water level rises to the trees 
When the water level rises in the Lake above, the Dam is opened and the Pykara water falls gushes. 
But because of the low water level, we were able to go right to the falls and dip our toes in the oh so pleasant waters.

Ooty as seen from the suicide point at the tallest spot of Nilgiris: Doddabetta
The heritage Nilgiris mountain railway, otherwise known as the Toy train, has been touting people from Metupalayam to Ooty for over a century and is still going strong. Not very comfortable but worth going atleast once. It requires a lot of patience though, as it travels at roughly 10 KMPH.
And as a grand finale, the Madame Tussaud's of Ooty, Veerappan's wax replica in the Wax world.
.

Friday, June 03, 2011

Doing nothing

What a bliss!
When you are kids, nothing is more of a punishment than doing nothing, and the older you get that little bit of doing absolutely nothing becomes a thing so precious, that words fail. But finding the time to do it gets more and more difficult

Its the time for me to recharge my batteries. The time all for myself when I do or not do only the things that I want.

After 3 weeks of non-stop high tension work. This is my "do-nothing" weekend.

Of course its taken me all of today to wind down from the adrenaline rush of the last few weeks and actually get into the groove.
So what I am going to do all the weekend is lounge in my room , see movies, read books, stare out the window,dream dreams, build castles in the air, maybe have pig out on pizzas and most importantly catch up of my sleep.

Woooo!!! the sheer thought of my great weekend plans gives me the goose bumps.

See ya'll on Monday. Totally recharged and raring.... not to go :-D

Sunday, May 29, 2011

My Sketches

Know what I did this weekend? I mean other gorging on Pizza and Ugh!!! working.
I was scanning some of the sketches I had done. So obviously I just had to put a few of them here.





Pizza pizza pizza!

Dad and I had a pizza orgy just now.. mmmm! I am still reeling from an over dose.

I dont even like Dominos pizza... But if you are cheese lover then you just have to try their double burst pizza.

And the best part is that there are 3 more slices sitting in front of me tempting me

पेट बर गया पर दिल नहीं  sigh!!!!!


Later added:- *Groan* I am probably going to burst and die! but what a way to go!

Monday, May 16, 2011

My shoes, your shoes.

I had a meeting this evening. I was tensed, frustrated.
This was a meeting initiated by my onsite counterpart to discuss some issues and my boss and reportee were both invited. I knew the man was going to point fingers at me.I just knew it! Darn him!

"The mistake was not mine! Why must I always take the blame? Why is not everyone doing their work properly? Oh God! what is the man going to say? How about I give the meeting a miss? How come my reportee, the culprit is so cool and confident? he is so lazy!" ... My mind was bursting with excuses, reasons, questions and resentments.

I was nervous and resentful that the others did not seem to have any nerves.

Then the meeting started and went the way meetings go and at its end my onsite counterpart heaved a big sigh! and said, "I was so nervous about this meeting, I wanted another colleague to attend it with me.. you know as a kind of moral support. But its OK, we will be able to complete our work in time".

Well! well! waddya know? :-).

Sometimes we forget that others are normal humans too and are probably facing the same fears and frustrations that we are. They may not come out and say/show it or post it in their blogs and bore their friends to tears. Does not mean they are infinitely confident or knowledgeable.

A friend once told me, that each of us have our own phobias which we hide well. But then we look at each other enviously thinking." Look she/he is without any issues, while I am so phobic."
 Little do we realize that  they are probably looking right back at us and thinking just about the same thing.
.

..and on other things

=& While I am sure the whole state is rejoicing the election results. I mean talk of a clean sweep. What had me grinning was the pure glee on the faces of newscasters in the Jaya channels.
Not joy but glee, like kids have when their prank goes through successfully.
The grand old man obviously didn't so much as peep outside his residence. But we are used to that, aren't we? But his gall never fails to amaze me. He was shocked and disappointed by the TN people I hear, for not choosing him. Especially after all the good he had done for them. But, good guy that he is, he understands this as a chance given by his people for him to recuperate and come back (COME BACK???!!! God save us all)

=& To top it, my mom calls me frantically from work to say RajniKanth has passed away. Since my place of work is near where he is admitted she was worried about how I would get back home.
I am no fan of his, but I was surprised at the depth of sadness I felt on hearing this news... Which turned out, happily, to be only a rumor.

=& Yesterday in Vijay TV, they were telecasting the wedding of Junior NTR. The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton would not be able to hold a candle to this one. Wow! the whole wedding took place in a huge set created just for this occasion and I mean Huge! The bride's wedding sari cost Rs. 3.75 lakhs or there about.

=& I have discovered this share auto for my morning transportation to work with a DVD player in it. You know the one with a little screen? And the driver is one of the most mannerly guys I have known. He actually thanks his passengers when we get off and best of all, he puts on any songs I ask for. I am thinking of asking if he will let me borrow his DVD collection with me. :-)


Bank Customer Help

I want a word with the person who named these people who attend the phones at the bank as customer "help" desk personnel. This is the conversation I had with a lady who called me on behalf of my bank to verify if my contact details were correct.

She: Hello, Mr. Sanjana ?
Me: No, But this is Ms. Sanjana
She: *Pauses for a minute* Yes, Mr. Sanjana, I am so and so from your bank and I am calling to verify if you contact details are correct
Me: Sighhhh! OK
She: Are u getting our mails and letters on time in the right address, Sir
Me: (Totally insulted by now) You have been talking to me for the few minutes now, Do I sound like Sir?
She: *Pauses again* Sorry Ma'am. Are getting our mails
Me: Yes. So tell me since you have my details in front of you, is my gender showing as Male in my profile?
She: No Ma'am
Me: So why do I get all mails from you guys addressed to me as Mister and why did you call me mister?
She: Sorry Ma'am please come to the nearest branch with your Foto ID proof to change your name to Ms
Me: What do u mean come to your branch? Can't you do it? and with ID proof? Can't your personnel look at a person and decide if they are a mister or Ms... especially considering their profile in the bank shows their correct gender already? and I don't want to change my name.. Just my salutation.
She: I totally understand ma'am. Sorry for the inconvenience. I am unable to edit any information in the system. You will have to go to your nearest branch.
Me: *Grumble* OK
She: And ma'am be sure to take an photo ID proof that has all personal information including your gender. *Hangs up*
Me: :-O
.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

I DON'T LIKE COOKING!!!!!!!

Yes! I don't like cooking! There I have said it out loud.
And eagerly waiting for lightning to strike me dead!

Why the astonished faces, worse the ashamed face? God knows I am not ashamed of it.
No! It does not mean I cannot cook just that I do not like it.
And even if I did not know to cook, what do you care?
 Please be assured, it is not akin to serial killing.
While this may amaze and astonish ..NO! my sex is not determined by my cooking skills.

An acquaintance, whose name I did not even bother to know, met me at the pantry and us being womenfolks had to ask me the ubiquitous question.

She: Do you cook?
Me:  yes but I don't like to.
*Close up* Her Shocked face. Then a sudden clearing and ...
She: Oh! you mean you haven't learnt cooking.
Me: No, I can cook, just don't like to
She: See! you will get interest if you want to cook some dish to perfection so every one can enjoy it. *comes near me to whisper her secret* My mom does not cook a few dishes well (Guess I was supposed to Gasp with wonder here) So I learnt to cook those dishes really well.
Me: *With a get a life face*:- As long as I don't starve, I could not care less if something is cooked to perfection or not.

I could have been a pariah after that, the lady could not get away from me fast enough. What was funny was there were 3 men sitting behind us and am guessing overhearing our conversation.
When I got up to leave.. I found all 3 staring at me with the most weird look on their face.

And what do you know .. my friend just pings me to grumble about something similar
Turns out her colleague who sits in the next cubicle was totally disgusted with her for getting recipes from the internet. Wanted to know what kind of cook would check the internet for recipes and was all sympathies for her family.

I remember a colleague at my old office asking me most flabbergastingly "But you are a girl, how can you not like cooking?"

I honestly think i would be forgiven for murder, if only I could like cooking... Gahhh!!!!!
People, PLEASE get a LIFE!!!!!

Monday, April 18, 2011

One fine night

=> 11 PM,
=> A big chocolate slab,
=> Popcorn in hand,
=> A bottle of coke,
=> George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer romancing on TV.

Sigh! George Clooney!
What more could a gal want?





Friday, April 15, 2011

My thoughts this week!


=> Had gone with my friend to this Tanjore painting gallery and shop in mylapore. Was great. They had some awesome stuff. Which is saying something, coz I dont particularly care for Tanjore paintings. I have always thought they were too bright and garish. My friend though was going crazy with all the choices.

Even I was tempted to buy a piece or two. (Despite the prices being a little too steep)

But I didnt. I have great respect for people who decorate their houses with these paintings and what not, but if I buy them, they will be carefully wrapped and stored in my loft.
Dust catchers! That is my first thought. How would I clean those things regularly if I put them up. Worse! how will I live with them if they are dusty.
So decided to save myself the money and the pain and just admire them in the shop and come back and feeling quite righteous about it too ..hehe

=> Ponds Dreamflower .. that pink talcum powder box ... They have changed the box and they have changed the perfume of the powder.. Aaargh! Have the Ponds people not heard about not trying to repair a working machine. The perfume of the old talcum was sooo good, the new one is too strong and just no good.. hmph! Idiots


=> Its my considered opinion that John Keats would have written an Ode to a cuckoo and not a nightingale, if he had had the opportunity to listen to one. I have been rather curious about what the big deal is. Everywhere the nightingale is praised, from poetry to fairy tales to titles (Nightingale of India - Sarojini Naidu). And the poor cuckoo has only been degraded (atleast in the English language). I mean have you heard of anyone being  titled the Cuckoo of India?

Well! here is how a nightingale sings ... Now don't you think a cuckoo sounds better? (Unless it sings right outside your bedroom window every morning at 3, of course).
And so I thought since its the IN thing to fight for someone, everyone and anyone's rights, I would fight for the rights of the Cuckoo bird :-). Interested in Joining?
.

Saturday, April 02, 2011

My Laughter, my joy

I found this post all deep and hidden in my drafts. I seem to have written this about an year or so back. Not sure why I did not publish it then. So I decided to dust it out and put it up here.
---------------------------------
I was always known for my smiles. I remember this gal I used to meet in the bus once telling me that I was always smiling and that was what she first noticed about me.

So when I did I lose my laughter and smile? It was a very slow process and very subtle. It happened over the two years at my last work place. I had not realized it was gone. All I knew was that life was no fun anymore. I was fun no more. While it might sound very dramatic, it felt like I was in this deep dark smothering place.

But now I have been out for some time and today when I laughed with my friends about something, I startled myself. I was suddenly filled with this great whooping big joy inside, I had been out of my fetters for quite some time and had just not known it.

I had got my laughter back. Something that I had not realized losing but had missed desperately.
-----------------------------------
Today, when I smile and laugh at home, at work , with friends or just at life. I know I will never take it for granted again.
Even the sorrow and rant of today is a sweet memory or amusing entertainment of tomorrow.
.

Friday, April 01, 2011

CSA Awareness Month - April

Like the little squirrel who helped Ram build the bridge to Lanka, I think its only right that I put in my little bit towards this very worthy program that http://csaawarenessmonth.wordpress.com  has taken up.

The 2009 movie Achchamundu Achchamundu (There is fear, there is fear) deals with pedophiles. It forcefully brought out the issue into the lime light (at least for me). I was shocked to learn that every 7 minutes a child gets abused in India.

I know of women so abused at their tender ages whose whole lives have been ruined while the men responsible went their merry way and have never been punished. Felt anger at fate and just plain miserable at my helplessness.

My beautician once told me about this case another client of hers, a police woman, handled. This girl was found abused and dead, the morning of her third birthday. After intensive investigation the culprit was found to be the child's own uncle. He later confessed apparently saying that he was just not able to control himself, but was very sorry now.

But what was absolutely mind blowing to me was the reactions from the parents and family,

One family, though angry with the perpetrator, was unwilling to do anything about it, as it would cause social stigma. The another woman was happily married off to the abuser, despite his family knowing all about it  while the abused girl is still too traumatized to even come near any male.

Another family actually screamed at the child for talking nonsense and told her that it was all her imagination and that she should respect her elders, while she looked on helpless, with nowhere to turn, as the abuse continued for years.

It was a close relative or friend in both the cases. Some one familiar with the whole family and trusted.

I've seen and read enough about the physical and psychological trauma, to want to do everything in my means to never see it again in a child or adult. Especially when I think of the innocent, joyful and trusting eyes of my nephew and nieces and all my friends' children.*shudder*

I do not really have many ideas on how to be more aware and safe except some common sensical ones such as keep an eye on your child always, be sure to let the child know he/she can come to you for ANY issues and that you would believe them, teach them the Good Touch/ Bad Touch and be very wary of strangers around your children.

Its a great initiative and if even one more parent became more aware after having read this post, I am satisfied.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

CYA

Most of my industry, and I am sure all others too, have a few things in common.
One of the major commonality is CYA or Cover Your Ass.

Its funny, that even when I am talking for my team's good, my team members do not want to risk their collective asses and agree with me.

As PSR rightly pointed to me, a big part of that is indifference. I come, I work , I don't care a fig what happens outside that. If there is an issue, I will crib and grumble to my lead or manager, who ever is sympathetic. If they are not sympathetic, I will grumble to my team members and then work around it.

But ask them for a feedback or agree with you when you talk to the higher management about their trouble. You might as well be talking to the wall for all the response you get.

If by some one else's efforts their issues get resolved, they are happy. But if it is not, its still OK, as long as they are not asked to involve themselves anywhere in the process.

Can't even really get pissed with them, coz they dont want to involve in any good stuff either.

Their own worlds, their own work.
Sigh! I don't even understand this kind of attitude... :-(

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Life's little pleasures

Ever wanted to walk around on a Jimmy Choo or Manolo Blahnik? Or wanted to drip with diamonds?

I have wanted to. Well! We are talking about hundreds of thousands of moolah. God knows most of us dont have that kind of money to throw on these things.

Which is why women, in all their wisdom, invented "The Window Shopping" *Clap Clap*

Had time before my train and decided to spend it in the UB City mall in Bangalore. The only affordable thing there would be the eats on the 4th floor, but it makes a great place to hang out. Saw a Jimmy Choo's show room there (first time I have seen one in India)
One of those skinny heeled, barely there pair of shoes cost over 89,000 Rs. Consider me provincial, but if I bought something like that I would probably keep it my locker, the way I do my jewelry.
So what I did was try it on, tottered around the shop and came back with the satisfaction of having worn Jimmy Choo and not spending anything on it :-)

There was this other time when I went to GRT Jewelers to give my sis some company. Was waiting in the diamond section, when I saw this gorgeous Diamond necklace set. Costing just over 7 Lakhs. Tried it on, oohed and aahed over it and then regretfully returned it back to the man waiting on us, with the promise of returning in the near future with my Dad :-D

It is a very precise art though, these window shopping sprees are very sneaky and you might end up spending more money than you planned.
But I am sure most you gals (and guys too, though you might not wanna come out and say so :-)) out there will agree with me that this is one of life's little pleasures

Wednesday, March 16, 2011


Tired .. Just tired of the whole fleeting world.

It doesnt make sense to wake up everyday, just to go to work. Would rather sleep some more and see movies or read books or just do nothing.

What does it matter what you do, there is no recognition for your work and you are just taken for granted.

Not able to kick up any enthusiasm for the work. Its all a drag anyways.

So get out! you say? Would love to, but stuck in a nice rut. And the thing about these ruts are that they are safe, comfortable and give you a feeling of security, even if false.

Anyway whats out there? More of the same?

So alternately living in a nice state of fugue and in Calvin's favourite state.. Denial.
.

Monday, March 14, 2011

My Loves

I fall in love every week, sometimes the love lasts for as much as a month, but eventually I get bored and move on.

But its all cyclic. I come back to my old love eventually.

For eg. Last week I was all melty for Bhupinder singh. Was downloading his songs like crazy.
The way he croons and caresses the words of the ghazals he sings,sigh!... Like each word is the most important word at that point and there is no hurry to go to the next word. mmmm!!! and what a deep voice. I am a sucker for deep voices. (I dont like Jagjit singh and Suresh Wadekar though I love ghazals)





This week its Rafi saab. I listened to his Woh jab yaad aaye and kuch kuch yaad aane laga.




Sometime back it was Mukesh Saab. God! the man can cry like no one's business. Was singing "Waqt karta jo Wafa" repeatedly and driving myself wild.



Talat Aziz, used to have a crush on his voice and him, until I saw him act in some serials. But I decided to forgive him for his voice :-)




I am off Kishore for sometime. ODed on him. Lata and Asha are all time loves

Why I hate Flipkart!


Honestly! Flipkart has made my bookshelves so much healthier and my wallet that much less.
It is so easy to buy a book with just a click and they give such great discounts and darn them! they deliver it at home for free and I don't have to move out of my seat.

I've become a compulsive buyer, and I feel almost ashamed (Almost being the operative word)
:-) .

Believe it or not I have almost 40 books that I have yet to read, stuck in my bookshelves.
The number never seems to come down, since I keep stocking up on newer books before I can make any headway on the older ones.

My librarian is not happy with me, I have not been borrowing much from him nowadays.

Sigh! I just came to office and ordered myself the new Jeffrey Archer book at 40% discount :-).

Oh Yeah! you can see why I hate Flipkart.. Can't you?

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

The Indian Speciality

My friend RJ asked me what I would like from Canada and I asked him what was the Canadian speciality. He could not think of anything that was special to that country. So I asked a few other friends here who have visited the country. They too thought hard and could not think of anything.

That had me thinking about how many many things we Indians take for granted. When Canadians had come down to India, they did not even have to ask what was the speciality here. There were so many exotic things for them. Sweets, Taj Mahal momentos, Jewellery, Shawls, dresses, you name it we have it.

Forget about India at large, Each state here has its own speciality. Hyderabadi pearls and bangles, Kashimiri shawls, Kerala chips, Kanjeevaram Sarees, Jodhpuri slippers, Calcutta sweets, especially Ras Gulla.. yum!!! just to name a few.

I've written about how other countries, especially the US market their tourism so well, despite having nothing much worth talking about. Where as here with so much to show off we are busy scratching "He loves She" and drawing hearts on the monuments.

Have you seen the Incredible India ads? They are incredible and not just coz Aamir is in it :-)

Hyderabadi trip

*Phew* Now that I have got the rant out of my system. I can tell you about the very eventful trip I went on, over the weekend.
A piece of sincere advice from a sun burnt, heat boiled person. Do NOT go to Hyderabad in March or later.

The forward trip, had us travelling with a lady going to see her school kid in Hyderabad and 2 men. We started discussing about places of interest in Chennai and moved on to Temples here and from there one of the men caught on and he was cribbing about how its not right for Hinduism to have more than one God when God is only one. Fun was had by all arguing about it.

They were allowing people to climb up the Charminar. Its very charming from up there, but you would probably be aching every where from the steep climb to enjoy it too much. The place is a shopppers paradise. Birla Mandir must have been nice too, but I was busy jumping around on the hot stones, trying to get on and off the temple.

Everyone must go to the Ramoji Film City atleast once. Its expensive, so might I suggest you go as soon as possible, before they increase the entry fee again. Despite the terrible heat (The hyderabadi citizens tell me its not really hot, just warm... *gak*) we still had fun, the shows, sets, bus tours are a must see.

Finally rounded off with Salar jung Museum, I enjoyed the European Paintings and Marble and Bronze statues section. The other stuff was OK. The musical clock which brings in scores of people was a disappointment to me. Well! Its good, but not sure if its worth the publicity it gets.

Oh! How could I forget the Lumbini Park and the trip down the Hussain Sagar Lake in the evening. I would love to hang out there with friends. Its softly lighted, nice cool breeze coming off the lake and a variety of restuarants with seats looking over the lake. Sigh!

Hmmm! Reading back what I have written, it looks like I have said mostly negative things, but not so. It was a really enjoyable trip. Will add fotos later.

Women's #$%#$% day

If I've said it once, I've said it a million times. Every year I hate the concept of Women's day more and more.
Its hypocritical, commercialised and down right stupid.
I do not see any one using this opportunity to celebrate any woman's growth anywhwere. Most people do not even have a clue why we have a Women's day. Hell!! I am not too sure myself

Every darned year I get to hear juvenile comments such as "You are so lucky to be a woman, we do not have a men's year". Please take it. Make March 8th as men's day and welcome.

What pissed me off even more this year was that the over enthu's in my team organised a WD celebration. We were all made to pay 100 bucks towards it. Anyone who does not pay will obviously be looked down upon.

So Thanks to peer pressure, pay I did. Now! I know 100 bucks is not such a big deal, but its the principle of the thing. (I would have preferred to sit at my desk and do my work rather than play)

We were all given gifts at the end of the games. Worth less stuff, I got a fevi quick stick, for God's sake!!!
I hate peer pressure almost as much as I hate the WD. We were all forced to pay for christmas celebrations too. I have no problems with christians or christmas but I am neither and dont want to be. But NOOOO, I had to play along.
The same kind of enthusiasm was not showed during pongal or Diwali.

Just leave me alone.....

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!