Risha's Personal Anecdote

Morachi Chincholi

2009-07-07T17:35:00.008+01:00

In Marathi Mor = Peacock and Chincholi = tamarind fields. So as the name suggests this is a place with lots of tamarind trees and Peacock dancing around them. The moment I read about this place from a flickr friend Ruhi, I wanted to visit the place and the best part is that is so close to Pune just 50-60 kms on Nagar Road :)

I prepared my camera, bag, carried along food for us and for the peacock and slept very happy :) Next morning; I along with a friend left Pune at around 5:30a.m. And drove along Nagar road passing the toll booth and Shikrapur...the route was filled with fields, different kinds of birds and villagers walking along the road. Women wearing navvari saris balancing stuff on their head, men in bullock carts, farmers working in the fields. The houses with Tulsi plant in their frontyard, and dishtv antennas as well :) (Good mix of modern and old culture.

We drove along on a narrow road and passed villages and were wondering how much more to drive and thats when a peacock just crossed the road in front of us. It was a beautiful site...We stopped the car at the side and were greeted with the sound of the peacocks in the morning. I was busy adjusting my camera when my friend nudged me...and pointed me to a dancing peacock..I was so excited that I forgot I had to be quiet and was rushing out of the car to click a pic...and the peacock was shy and ran away. I was very disappointed but this was the case for all the peacocks...they would sense us somehow and runaway.

We walked in the fields and nearly every field had 2-3 peacocks and peahen. I started clicking pics...but they all were far away and dint get any good shots. The peacocks were even sitting on the tamarind trees and as we walked by we would hear the wings flapping and look around and there would be a peacock flying away from the tree landing on the fields. My friend was amazed coz he dint know that peacocks flew. We tried different strategies to get close to the peacock like went in differnt directions...walked along the side of the fields and pretend we dint care about them, sat in one place under a tree...but all in vain...they never came nearby.

Later I came to know from the villagers that they never came near strangers. We spent a good 2-2.5 hours walking the fields and trying to capture these beautiful birds on camera..but could not do justice. The experience though was overwhelming. The silent atmosphere, birds chirping, spotted other beautiful birds and the sound of the peacocks..it was just too good for a sunday morning. By 9:30 the peacocks my stomach started demanding and we had poha at 'jay malhar' restaurant (the only restaurant in the village). He filled us a lot on the peacocks, and told us that they can be seen either early morning or before sunset. Its only last year the morachi chincholi was declared a tourist spot. It seems the peacocks are very naughty.

If a farmer tries to guard peacock from his/her farm the peacock would purposely go to his farm and destroy the field. Hence all the farmers in the village don't shoo them but grow extra amount in their fields to suffice their and the peacocks needs.

On our way back we thought of exploring the other route (which is good) via Kanhur and stopped by a field. They were growing chilies, gawar, Ladies fingers, coriander and what not there....this was my first time to see gawar and ladies fingers plants. They are so beautiful and so are their flowers. I was asking the lady who worked in the fields and she explained me the plants..she had

also planted cabbage and gave me fresh coriander, chilies and ladies finger from the fields.

When

offered her money she simply denied though I insisted a couple of times. I dint have anything else to offer but my gratitude and respect for her. We never realize how these veggies are grown in the fields with so much effort when we just pick them from the market do we?

My Sunday was just so satisfying and happy. at You can view more pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/reshmashah/sets/72157621030558108/detail/

General disappointment these days!!

2009-07-02T17:00:00.004+01:00

Some disappointments these days

1. School

My school uniform is changed and it looks so dull. Our school girls dont look smart at all. I feel schools should have a must of a tie in their uniform. My school no longer does and the colours are dull with weird color combination!! :(

2. Radio

we have total 5 radio channels in pune...and all play the same songs....and talk so much. the quality of RJ's is going down with lots of uh ..ummm and rubbish talk. I've started hating these songs which i liked before after hearing it repeatedly on radio

Masakkali , sachde mein hi rehta hoon, jai ho(A.R ji, no offense),khuda jaane, holey holey ho jayega pyaar

I'm moving on to my ipod and casettes (yes i have a casette player in my car..duh!!)

3. Rains

I had such good plans with the rains...I thought they'd started but...its just not raining here in Pune...its like the lagaan scene..clouds just come over and move on. they don't like us anymore :(

4. Petrol

Petrol prices have gone up by 4Rs today...I just filled petrol in my car yesterday for 500Rs...had I known price was shooting up, wld have atleast filled a tank full :(

5. Office

My first co where I worked; that place is sold and it will no longer exist :( I will miss it.

6. Revenue stamps

Did you'll know that they are no longer available in post offices, had to go to the court to get them.

Amongst all this there are 2 good things happening

1. The roads of Pune have improved tremendously. atleast I feel my tax is being utilised here :)

2. The traffic police of Pune are doing a very good job. These days I see, at most of the places vehicles halt before the zebra line at the light signals.

Such is life...and it will go on....just a phase I am going through :)

Monsoons..

2009-06-07T18:56:00.004+01:00

Here is a pic of the first rains of this monsoons from my balcony :)

Monsoons have started in Pune....and I witnessed the first rainfall..it was pouring cats and dogs...and I just loved the sound of the rain. felt like going out and play in the rains...but then too old for that plus first rains are acid rains isn't (thats just an excuse actually).

I'll be enjoying Pune monsoons after 3 years ( well it always rained in UK but the fun is only in India) and looking forward to so many things:

1. get wet in the rain, mom holding a towel and telling to wipe my head

2. go trekking to sinhgad, malshej ghat and yes Matheran

3. click as many pictures under the waterfall

4. click lots of greenery, flora & fauna and scenic pictures

5. eat bhajia and bhutta while sitting on the steps in lonavala's bushi dam.

6. drink cutting chai after getting wet in the rain.

7. and the best part is I will be doing all this with my friends.

Enjoy the monsooons !!!

P.s:

1. only bad thing about monsoons is lights cut off. past 2 days lights have been off for more than 6 hours a day :( sad.

2. I have to capture the beautiful gulmohars before the monsoons settles in!!

Pithala Bhakri and Taak

2009-05-18T15:39:00.005+01:00

As part of living alone these days I keep experimenting with cooking. Past many days I was feeling like going to Sinhgad and have nice jhunka bhakar in nice misty clouds. but the heat outside subsides all my plans of going there on top. So I decided to cook it at home itself..and to my pleasant surprise it tasted very nice as well. you can try it too...I am posting the recipe..and hey its healthy and beats the heat well.

Ingredients for drumsticks (aka shevga in marathi) Pithala
1 cup besan, 2 green chillies,chopped onions and tomatoes, few drumsticks, fresh coraiander leaves, few mustard seeds, and oil
Give normal tadka i.e. in hot oil, splutter the mustard seeds, add in and saute the chopped onions ,green chillies and the drumsticks. Add water and salt ( you can add butter milk as well instead of water). let it boil for some time till you think the drumstiks are cooked.

Now put in the besan(sieved) and whisk it to get the desired consistency.garnish with chopped coriander and pithala is ready!!

For the bhakris
take jowar flour(sieved), add in water and knead it nice and softnow actually this is the most difficult part.... flatten the flour with your hands (no rolling using rolling pins) and then carefully put it on the hot tawa(hopefully it doesn't break :)). take some water in your hands and apply in on the bhakri on the tawaafter one side cooks, turn it on the other side and then on the flame.Bhakri is ready

and for taak the ingredients are
unsweetened curd water, salt, finely chopped green chillies, ginger and coriander, curry leaves, mustard seeds and little oil
blend water curd, salt very well with a little 1/4 teaspoon of sugarnow get ready for the tadkain hot oil, splutter mustard seeds, add in curry leaves, ginger, green chillies and the chopped coriander.now pour this tadka over the blended buttermilk and taak is ready
My jhunka bhakar, taak thali is ready. try it and lemme know how it turned out to be :)

My thoughts when on expressway

2009-03-26T10:22:00.004Z

These days I drive almost every week between Mumbai and Pune, and I drive on the most famous Mumbai Pune expressway. I love the expressway as this is the only time that I get solely for myself (ofcourse I do get calls in between, but not more than a minute). I enjoy this time, my ipod, loud music, the speed..it thrills me and its weird that though I enjoy this time for myself I want to drive very fast and reach my destination as well.

Feels like I am playing a game, driving fast and just when I think I am the fastest, overtaking other cars who are barely touching 80 or so ....By now I know which cars are new to the expressway and who are the experienced ones...like an Audi or a nice Merc will just past by me...zuuupppp and I'll be like...gosh I am at 120-130 what is his speed and he is way to far to be seen..and then I think...well hey I am not the fastest and I am way tooo out of the game still. I love the expressway..there is no road like it :)

P.S: dont worry i drive cautiously!

18000 words and then some more...

2009-02-17T13:52:00.005Z

What a better way to restart blogging than picking up a tag. I picked this up from Enigma.

The rules are:Answer the questions below and do a Google image search on your answer, Pick a picture from the results on the first page, with minimal explanation

1. The age you will be in your next birthday:

2. A place you’d like to travel to : Undersea

and LADAKH

3. Your Favorite place : none in particular. anywhere; where beauty surrounds

4. Favourite food/drink

Well seems like the unhealthy food as usual :)

the maharashtrian style masala bhat

and apna mast chatpata Panipuri

5. Your Favourite pet : My mom never liked having one, but in my childhood we managed to take care of one, 'Brownie'. I miss him

6. Your favourite colour combination : Red, black and a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittle white

7. Your favorite piece of clothing : Jeans and shirt 8. Your All time favourite song : Tujhse naaraz nahi zindagi and Uthe sabke kadam 9. Your favorite TV show:

10. Your first job :

11. your dream job : Have my own restaurant

12. Bad habbit you have

13. your worst fear : being alone

14. The one thing you’ll like to do before you die : ride a formula one

15. The first thing you’ll buy if you get $1,000,000:

Friends (re)united

2008-08-07T16:38:00.006+01:00

When we first interacted (not literally) -We were in our mom's tummy still not out of the world
3 yrs old - same school, went together to school sometimes as we stayed closeby

5 yrs old - became friends and had lunch together till we were teenagers.

college - same college but different classes, wrote letters to each other (well phones were not very common then)

professional studies - separate colleges but still in touch (letters and now I had a vehicle so would drive to her place, we din't live closeby anymore)

Career - both busy, kept in touch when I travelled out of India

social life - All my office colleagues/friends knew her and her colleagues knew me. Her other friends knew me and I knew them.

We went out for movies, lunches, dinner, trekking, site seeing, Goa and Udaipur for holidays. We Chit chatted and would always be with each other over weekends, short drives.
She likes flashy and I don't, She is modern, me little conservative, our clothes don't fit each other neither does our shoe but Our car license plates match well.
On valentines we would be with each other hoping next valentine both would find love and have a silent prayer.
I miss her so much while in UK and she misses me...but not for long...next week...we will be together. she is coming to UK for holiday and I've taken vacation as well.

We've not made plans on what to do, where to go...coz all we need is just a friend to talk. Puja is coming to UK and we are gonna have fun. will keep you posted.

where was I

2008-07-30T22:50:00.003+01:00

Its been a long loong looooong time that I've written something. Not that i din't want to write but so many things happening in life that dint get a chance to write. Friends keep asking too (well blv it or not some of my friends are so sweet they still visit my blog)
Lets see what all happened from the time I left from here.
mmmmmm it was a long long time ago..gosh i am glad its not a year..okie i remember now, I went to India for Diwali, got one of my hip replaced, met all my friends during my visit this time, got my house possession, decorated it with lamps etc (trying to rent it out now), returned to UK searched for a place to stay (very close to central London) dint like it there, moved to another place, won an ipod in a competition at work(well lets say i was just lucky), visited scotland (pics will be posted soon) traveling for work and occassionally some blog hopping.
All in all busy but not very interesting. Everyday there are so many little things that happen and I think I will blog them and it just doesn't happen. So today I thought lemme pen down something atleast.

So watch this space!

My fetish tag

2007-10-11T16:03:00.000+01:00

A very long pending tag, I was tagged by Sunita long back, and today comes the day to do the honours.

I must be honest here, when I first read the tag for fetish, my imagination was running in a different direction, I was like hey..how can I publicize that, and then I thought lemme dictionary it (like google it, I use dictionary it) and here is what I found. Obviously this tag dint have anything to do with 3 below but I guess with 4, and I am taking that meaning of fetish and listing mine J

First here is the meaning

fet·ish also fet·ich (fět'ĭsh, fē'tĭsh) Pronunciation Key n.
1. An object that is believed to have magical or spiritual powers, especially such an object associated with animistic or shamanistic religious practices.
2. An object of unreasonably excessive attention or reverence: made a fetish of punctuality.
3. Something, such as a material object or a nonsexual part of the body, that arouses sexual desire and may become necessary for sexual gratification.
4. An abnormally obsessive preoccupation or attachment; a fixation.

1. At work if I am in the kitchen to make tea/coffee and sugar etc is already spilled there, I’ll make my tea/coffee and clean the whole thing, no no not because I am a clean freak ( I am a little though) but coz I don’t want anybody else to judge me and say she spills over the whole thing and does not clean it too

2. I have a fetish for shoes…well which gal does not have.

3. And yeah..can't waste food, either I will overeat or will take small portions, my heart aches to see some people throwing away or wasting food or infact anything, electricity, petrol.

Cant think of any more fetishes

Oh yeah and one more…if I have any eatable on my desk or in my sight…I have to finish it and then only I will have peace of mind else its always on my mind.

My friends blog and my photoblog are very active

2007-10-10T15:42:00.000+01:00

Its a month since my last post here, Apologies again, but my best friends blog is now in the top blogs of India . Congrats dear. Do read her interesting blogs whenever you get time.

Regarding my blog, I've actually got some things in mind but not getting the time to articulate them well, Also my new Nikon D40x has kept me occupied and I just cant get my hands off it, the time I've not been active here...I've actually been very actively posting on my photoblog, check it out and please leave in your suggestions/comments on it.

I am alive

2007-09-07T05:54:00.000+01:00

Missing missing missing!!

Apologies to all my regular readers/friends and yes i am alive, just been a little to busy with work and I've got a new toy now and I love it...
yes thats me with it

you'll see more pics everyday on my photoblog now, hopefully the quality of my pics improves.
BTW had been to Paris for the long weekend and its so beautiful and romantic..god i wish i had a b/f or husband...I misssed having one there ;)

will write more over the weekend...just popped in to say Hi.

The Rekindled Me

2007-07-16T14:21:00.000+01:00

hmmmm long time have been missing huh...some updates from me
- Joined new office 2 weeks back
- Got assigned to a banking project immediately...yipeeeee
- Initial days of project. Just reading docs
- Experiencing the real life of consultant
- Traveling every week, enjoying hotel stay, hunting for food :-)
- My hotel is just on UK's best beach, and on the worlds 2nd largest harbour, Poole, a blue flag beach, the Sandbanks (the reason am so glad is coz.from the time i'd come to uk i'd not visited any beaches, and was pretty unhappy about that, but it was worth the wait i guess, am at the best beach now)
- My tickets to visit India are confirmed...so will be in India for 5 weeks yay!!!

so weekdays busy with that, past 3 weekends have been super super busy, each weekend friends came from Milton Keynes and reading, so took them sightseeing(rather they took me ), Madame tussauds, London eye, London dungeons , went shopping
By now you must have realized, the new job has rekindled a new hope for goodness and happiness in me, I know I know it’s too early to say...but I am just enjoying it right now :-) touch wood.

just wished my friends were around here.

P.S: this post is also for me to fallback on when I am down about the workplace in near future :)

P.P.S : watch out for some new pics on my photoblog

Rail gaadi

2007-06-26T13:45:00.000+01:00

Rail gaadi
chuk chhuk chhuk ruk ruk ruk
well though it is more about, mind the closing doors and mind the gap here, I can say that the amount of time I have travelled here in trains is more than the time I have travelled in India so far :-)Its almost 7 months in London, I came here just before Christmas; and in these 7 months I have travelled almost all the 13 lines of the london underground service
(East London and Waterloo and City lines are pending) now you know what a bhatkuram i am :-), its pretty impressive to see the underground network functioning and to know that all this was built almost 100 years back. and its pretty easy too, actually the maps and the colour code makes it simple. I remember when I travelled in Amchi mumbai sometimes would always get confused with which lines to take, etc but here I seem to have mastered the map now :-)

Last saturday I was pretty amused, scared and impressed when I sat in the DLR i.e. The Docklands Light Rail that traverses the East part of London on the Docks. the train traverses on tracks built over the bridges i.e.like a flyover and reminds you of toy train journey(its a little slow that the normal trains), it stops at various stations on its way ,opens the door , closes the door makes proper announcement, [there is a station called East India and a station called West India too in East London ]and whats the most amazing part is that the train does not have any Driver...yup thats right,.....no train drivers boarded on that train to manouver the train. I was sitting on the front most compartment on the first row seeing the tracks, it was amazing to see the way the train moves , turns etc, at one place it had to take a total U-turn and that part was scary, but it did so beautifully. I googled and then I found how it works, here is the link.
Some technology amazes me big time and this is just one of them.

P.S: When I told this to Mom, mommy said I would never sit in that train :)

How Mgrs avoid taking their team for lunch.

2007-06-21T11:58:00.000+01:00

While reading this all I could remember was how some mgrs manage to run away from sponsoring well deserved lunch /dinner for his/her team, by well deserved I mean working overtime or some unachievable milestone achieved etc etc. Here is a list of how does a boss avoids taking you out for lunch/dinner, and if he does how he ensures you pay for the food, and if he pays for the food he ensures you order the cheapest one.

1. He'll call the team to work on weekends at 2:00 p.m

2. He'll stay very near to the office and will walk out declaring I am going home for food just before lunch/dinner time

3. He will get biscuits, coke and big packet of crisps(wafers), chocolates when he returns from his lunch

4. He generously orders food (when his wife is not in town or back in India) for the team, and then sends a mail with his bank account no and the amount to be transferred.

5. Iff (that is a rare possibility) he takes you out for lunch or dinner he will chose the cheeeeeeeeeeeapest..blv me cheeeeeapest like a combo of dal-roti and tap water.

Do you have any such expereineces/excuses to share ??

To DAD

2007-06-18T12:05:00.000+01:00

Its almost 12 years that I lost him, but still his memories are so fresh in my mind, especially his last day when he tells his Doctor, Do something I dont want to die, he sinking while i held his hand, I still talk to him when i am upset and wonder what he would have adviced me, Would I have been where I am had he been around?, Would he be proud of us(me and my bro) as his children, how much he would have spoilt his grandson. There are so many things that I dont know about him yet. I wish he were around. Today I am gathering courage and writing some memories I have of him.
- He never called me with my full name, I was always Reshu :) for him.

- We both fought a lot, I back answered a lot, but we both shared secrets from Mom :)

- I would get 2 dresses on my birthday every year, one that he would like a lot and one that I would like a lot :-) We both would not give up on our choices (me more coz i knew I would get 2 of them)

- When I sat behind him on the kinetic, I would really get annoyed and tell him to speed a little coz men riding the bicycle would overtake us ,he would go that slow

- He was both liberal and strict with us, despite of his very orthodox background, he would let me wear jeans and skirts but I had to be home before dark.

- He would always shate meetha panipuri with and my mom and bro had teekha :), we both could just not eat that spicy food, and I was glad I had company, coz after him, mom and bro had spicy stuff and i would end up drinking loads of water, untill my s-i-l came in who does not eat spicy too.

- He was a foodie, loved to travel and spend and I think I inherit that from him apart from his looks. My mom is glad that we dont look like her coz my dad had sharp features. He loved baked food, and everytime I visit bakery in India or out of India, I think about him. He would have loved Dunkin Dounuts than the naaz donuts in Pune :)

- He believed in living life to the fullest and would never save money(that was my moms department)

- He used to dance in the house when he used to drink whiskey at home and we could get anything from him.

- He never smoked regularly, he smoked only when he drank, his cigarette pack would last for a year i think :)

- He was the first to wake up at home and he would wake my mom up he he he(which my mom still denies)

- When he would take us around on his bicycle to amuse us he would say pic picky pic picky pick pick and we would keep repeating it alternately till the time we reached home :)

- Every Sunday (till my 2nd year college i.e till the time he was alive)when I used to go for my NCC parade early mornings, he used to wake up early and give me keys to his kinetic and money to eat vada pav during the break.

- He loved pakodas and samosas and would get them everyday(almost) for snacks.

- He would give us money whenever we asked for but would never give mom ( he would say she spends it at the wrong places)

- He used to trouble my bro a lot (thats what i thought when i was younger) since my bro was kinda silent and shy, to make him talk he would make my bro go to shops and stores and tell him to ask the price of this, the price of that to the shopkeeper and look at my bro now he is into international sales and marketing and talks all the time(Thanks to him)

- He had a good taste for things, I realized that after he went and my mom shopped for us, also what he used to say is true, mom is the stingy types :p)

- He was very social, we would have people coming for dinner lunch atleast once or twice a month. I miss that now.

- He taught us the basic manners, he taught me how to iron and he never let us wear clothes that were not-ironed and shoes not polished, in case we dint do it, he would do it for us and then out of guilt we would do it. I wonder where did he learn all that, coz his childhood was very poor and different.

- He dint know to tie shoe laces :) he never wore laced shoes and if he wore he would never untie them, and in case it was untied and he was out, he would go to a shoe polisher on the street, get them polished and tell him to tie the laces :)

- He would not let us out of his sight, he was more possessive of us than our mom, For ncc we had to stay away from home for just 10 days but he would drive all way to the camp place and meet me atleast once or twice in those 10 days and get me nankhatai :)

- He was pretty short tempered I would say, but at home when he would burst out, my mom would wink at him once and he would just blush and start smiling and laughing. ha ha ha I still laugh whenever I remember this. Mom very well knew how to cool him down.

Dad I really miss you infact we all still do and yes you were right, I did understand your value after you went. I just wish you were alive when I matured as a girl, am sure we would have had lots of fun and mom and bro would be jealous of us and Krishanu would have been your fan.

last weekend!!

2007-06-15T14:25:00.000+01:00

Last weekend was full of unexpected events(3 to be precise)(in a happy way, thankfully) (ya ya i know its already time for this weekend..but its just friday yet, isnt't it so can write about it )As you know was going to meet my school friend (whom I found via orkut ) at the airport, plan was i meet her, chat for 5-10 min while she waits for the cab or exchanges her TC's , calls home etc etc..the usual chores that one would do when reached at destination and then she goes to her place which is an hour away from london and me back home. i reached 10 min late...my bad and her friend who was going to pick her up was late too coz he had wrong information about the flight delay, So there I shared the coffee table with her for around 40 minutes or so, okay first how we met...I was wondering and wandering how would I recognize her since we dint decide on a meeting point at the terminal I kept calling her once I was on the terminal and searching up and down eyes wandering on all the indian girls there and far I see a girl waving at me :) She was walking towards me and recognized me immediately and I was looking at the little girl face I knew and then I hugged her :) We sat on the coffee table and she showed me our school pic from Std 4 i.e. grade 4 ohhh it was so nice to see the whole class ...and I realized I couldnt remember the names of each and every girl and I'd forgotten so many faces, This weekend I plan to sit with her(yeah me visiting her) and try to get the names right of our classmates. Her friend came to pick her up we put in all the luggage and then time to say bye and he (her friend) said you not coming? I am like no I live here in London, he was like..no problem, come with us, I'm coming back to London so will drop you. Wow that thought excited me rather both of us so I went in too. We talked for another hour or so. I was thinking so many things have changed and she was telling me that she is still in touch with some of the teachers, and my memory was refreshed with the names of some teachers who I forgot. I(rather her friend) dropped her to her place, and she had a parcel for me, Chitale bhakarwadi, a DVD, some mithais and a cute bead necklace and bracelet. Ohh how thoughtful and beautiful. I hogged on the bhakarwadi on my way back to London. Am so excited that I will be seeing her tomorrow again.

The second unexpected thing that happened was on Sunday...while I was watching a movie(the DVD that my friend brought), I get a call from another friend saying that you got to come with me today, I was like okay sure, where and what time, she said for a concert, get ready in 10 min I'll pick you up, me surprised..huh..concert!! okay dress code...smart casual she says...and I get up immediately, put on my jeans high heel shoes lipstick and am ready, then I learn from her that we are going for George Michaels concert at the new Wembley stadium. wohh......i cud have put on my trainer shoes :) never mind. the stadium is huuuuuuuuuuuuuge 90,000 people can be accomodated in it at one time, the walk to the gates(not the main gate...the side entrance gates,once on top) is so broad that 8 cars can drive through it at the same time. The stadium was full with many woman in their mid 30's and many gay men. the concert was lovely, we tapped and swayed when he sang careless whisper, faith, freedom , good puppy, father figure. I was not aware of all the songs he sang. It was fun..I'd never expected that I would be seeing Wembley stadium, and George Michaels performance in it. :)

so all in all unexpected things, go to drop my friend to her house, see wembley stadium, attend george michaels concert.

Have a lovely weekend full of (pleasantly)unexpected events you guys.

Thankyou ORKUT

2007-06-08T15:02:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Orkut I will be meeting a school classmate after 15years tomorrow :-)
Am so happy and excited. We were not in the same group of friends but were together for 10 years. same school, same classmates, same teachers. I still remember her as a plump girl in our blue school uniform with side partitioned hair style, like rajesh khanna had once and the most peculiar thing about her she used to tie her school belt not on her waist or low waist but above her stomach :) I will be seeing her tomorrow after 15 years, wonder what she looks like, how she talks (I've talked with her over phone past few days) we have so much to catch on to, well i think will have to wait for the catchin up part, Tomorrow she is coming from India, so will meet her at the airport, probably will catch up on all the talks later.
Am gonna travel back to schoold days for the next month for sure...and maybe explore more school friends. How I wish there was a school reunion of our batch. It would be lovely to know about our old classmates where they are, what they doing did they do what they wanted to do. How our teachers are doing. How will they talk to us now, when they see how they groomed the tiny girls into lovely woman. I think, School reunions or finding old school friends is especially difficult coz for a girls school, because girls generally get married, change names move to a different town (well these days ofcourse all go to us or uk), I think its much simpler to trace a boy classmate than a girl..isnt?
Anyways, I'm happy atleast I'll be meeting one of them tomorrow :-)

thinking

2007-06-07T12:33:00.000+01:00

Few more weeks to go and I would be joining the new office, so the days are busy with getting clearance from various departments in India and UK, They have an excellent procedure here, very well defined with all the names and email ids of people to contact for clearance total 13 departments sheesh!!!! I din't know those many departments existed in the IT industry...very impressive!!!

so one of the forms I gotta fill is the Exit Interview form and one of the question in it is

"What is your greatest regret in leaving?"

and I am still wondering what to write!!! and why the question.....

Would anybody leave an organisation if they had any regrets???

Kiddie talks, my nephew Dinku

2007-05-31T14:59:00.000+01:00

Its funny how kids talk, the mumbling of words , the baby talks..I use to love baby talking with my nephew Dinku and learning his language calling mam for water, ninu for sleep, cutty for cutting, lagi for getting hurt etc and its even more fun when I hear his talks, he is 4 now and here are some of his kissas that I heard from home lately.
Kissa 1 : (this is latest)
In the train, on his way to meet his Grandparents there were some college students sharing the berth with him, the naughty and talkative he is , the college students started talking to him so one of them asked
He : So do you play any sports
Dinku : yeeeees( he drags the yes )
He : So what sport do you play?
Dinku : Billeads ( this is how he pronounces Billiards...he has a little ascent)
He : not following which sport asks again, Which sport?
Dinku : Billiards
A little smirk on everbodys face, another asks with raised eyebrows
Dont you play Soccer?
Dinku : soccer? what is that never heard of it
He : football , football, dont you play football
Dinku : Ohh Foootball, Nope
He : Why?Dinku: Cos I'm very small for it na, when I will become big na, that time i will play football.
Laughter roars in the compartment

Kissa 2 :
Location : Interview for Dinku's school admission at D.A.V
(okay lemme give you a little background, they just moved back to India from Dubai and he was studying in DPS there, and was temporarily admitted to another local school to be on the safer side, his parents dint want to waste his year(they did not tell DAV about it))
Dinku and his mom are sitting in the principle's office with the principle and 1 more teacher asking them questions. the principle is talking with Dinku's mother when this fellow spots the ceiling fan and then announces, your ceiling fan is too high, Alarmed and thinking that the kid needs attention they focus on him. and then he announces, is is very dirty. Dinku's mom embarassed, does not know what to say.Principle does not seem to mind and says
ok Dinku Do you like this school? would you like to study here?
Dinku : Nope
Principle : why
Dinku : because i like my old school
Principle : (thinking he is referring to DPS , Dubai) says you cnt go there now, you will like this school too
Dinku : stresses and says Nooooooooo(like the biggest no ever), I like Ryan International more
Principle and teacher are shocked, Dinkus mom tries to nudge Dinku, so that he keeps quiet and Dinku tells his mom, Ma why are you nudging me.
All are quiet for a moment, then the principle asks Dinku, okay dinku beta, will you tell me a poem?
Dinku : no
principle : why, dont you know?
Dinku : I know, but i will not tell you
principle : why will you not tell me
Dinku : because I dont like you
Everybody quiet again, this time the other teachers gestures him to come towards her, and tells him, Do you want chocolate?Dinku goes towards her and takes it, says thank you, then the teacher says, okay now tell a poem Dinku gestures her to come down towards him she bends and dinku tells the poem in her ears :)

My mom being a teacher was really worried that he might not get admission after his avirice behavior, but to her surprise he did get admission :-) Thanks to the school for understanding kids

I'm tagged : A dozen things about me

2007-05-29T15:44:00.000+01:00

I am tagged by Sunita and was wondering what more can I write about myself especially after saying most rather 100 things about myself here, Hopefully I do justice to this post and say things about me that are not obvious from my previous blogs

1. I tend to judge boys on the amount of food they eat( I know I know I should not..keep telling this to myself), but if boys eat less, I think they are sissy boys :)

2. I've tried smoking once..no no twice...but dint like it, wonder how smokers smoke, it was more of a burning paper smell.(shh.. mom does not know this)

3. When going for parties or first time to somebody's place for dinner or similar situations, I dont mind if I am over dressed but never like to under dress

4. I'm pretty observant( my profession demands it too!!) and have good intuitive skills :)

5. I can easily talk to strangers( rather anybody), infact once in a transit visa in Hongkong, I roamed the city with a total stranger for 8 hours ( now when i think of it, it scares me)

6. I am fond of hats, I have a collection of atleast 15 different types of head wear :)

7. I love to drive, and love the vehicles I drive, be it my kine or my car, I talk to them ( whacko huh)

8. I love talking with my friends at length be it on phone, but i prefer going to some place where we can relax and talk, like mocha, Kiva or the sofa at home. Me and my friend would chat everyday till 2 a.m and believe me our topics never repeated :)

9. Puja is my first friend in this life, we know each other from the time we were in our mom's (respective moms) tummy :) and still good friends :) There are many similarities in our life (definitely not in our taste, she would agree) like even our cars, though she bought hers a year or 2 after i did, my car license plate is 6292 and hers is 6922.

10. My brother thinks I am a total gone case, good for nothing and a brat he he he but still loves me and ensures I have the latest gadgets(be it mobile phone, laptop), he thinks I am crazy whenever he sees me clicking pics.

11. I have more than 1 cell phone charger, one in the car, two at home, one at my office desk, then too I forget to charge my cell phone :)

12. I dont throw garbage on the streets and would not let my family and friends to do so too, I've made them pick it up and keep it in their pockets whenever they did so :). I would do whatever it takes to make the place, city I live a better place of course I do get into lot of arguments coz of it but then...it is worth it.

Now my turn to tag : I tag Puja, Prax, Mr J, Ruz and Push

Hurray!!!

2007-05-24T14:41:00.000+01:00

yay!! yay!! yay!! yay!!

I got a new job

yay!! yay!! yay!!

Will get paid moooooooooore

yay!! yay!! yay!!

will not get booooooooored

yay!! yay!! yay!!

will have new friends

yay!! yay!! yay!!

travel different fence

yay!! yay!! yay!!

I got a new job

Sorry for being away past few days, Finally!! fiiiiiiiiiiiiiinally I will be moving on to a new job, and was busy completing various pre-joining forms. would be joining the new firm last week of June. My current job was such a disaster, I was very hopeful when i joined this company a year back, I can't say I regret the decision of chosing the firm, but something that I would never do again.

Ready for a date, mate?

2007-05-17T16:01:00.000+01:00

When it comes to dating I wish I was a boy instead of being a girl. its so much hassle to prepare for a date if you a girl, Not that I don't enjoy it and would stop doing it...but its just too much to do sometimes, espeically when the date is not what you expected.

A girl has to prepare so much; right from her head to her toes, its an expensive affair, both time wise and money wise.
Starting from the top,
her Hair has to be nicely colored and shampooed and set.
eyebrows well shaped
Proper make up, even if you not the make-up sorts (I am glad I am Indian with brown skin, wonder how much pain the white gals have to take) a basic foundation, with powder, mascara, eyeliner, lipstick, lipliner. Not to forget, you have to plan what color lipstick also whether matt or glossy.
hands and legs waxed
hands well manicured, nails well shaped and colored (if u really fancy color that much)
good pedicure, toe nails well shaped and colored.
depending on where you going, need to plan your dress, perfume, hairdo and footwear too.

All the boy has to do is
Take a shower(apply some gel if he has hair on his head and wants it spiky, else doesnt even have to bother doing that)
wear a shirt and a trouser(a jacket maybe),
shoes and socks
spray some perfume,
carry wallet,
buy some flowers(these days they dont even do that :-()

thats it....the boy is ready for a date.
Now check the animal species, its totally different there, I think its one of GOD's ways to balance things out :)
I am sure....the male species in animals would understand and relate to the feelings of the female species of us humans.
for example, consider the peacock,
he takes so much efforts to attract a peahen, maintain his feathers, spread them when he sees her and dance for her too....whereas all the peahen has to do is chose between which colored feather she likes the most, the green, the blue or white :)

On the other hand, it feels all worthwhile, when your date says, you look wonderful today, so guys if you going for a date, please dont forget to compliment your gal, and gals be nice...dont say, does that mean i dint look good yesterday? give a nice smile instead and say thank u or more better all for u ;)

I loved this quote...

2007-05-16T11:40:00.000+01:00

Don't make someone a "priority"......

If they keep you only as an "option"

Trilogies

2007-05-15T14:49:00.000+01:00

May seems to be the month of the trilogies with Spiderman already released, shrek3 releasing on May 18th and Pirates of the Caribbean due on May 25th

I am looking forward to see all 3 of them, I love these sequels or is it called series? Whatever it is called, I look forward to watching them, There are so many movies with sequels and I've seen most of them but the best in all these series is Lord of the Rings (though i saw it very late , thanks to chate and beens), the director has done an awesome and remarkable job there..i don't need to mention it at all, wonder how people could wait for the next one to come, I saw all 3 of them back to back one night, then there is Harry potter sequels, well!! who does not love him, I have no words to describe Harry potter sequels, too good. Hollywood is full of these series, there is superman series(or sequel), Lion king series, ice age, Jungle book then the fiction of Matrix, star wars, fast and furious. It is not limited to cartoons or fiction only there is action packed films too apart from charlies angels, Matrix, MIB, Mission impossible, Austin powers, Charlie's Angels, The Exorcist, Terminator. remember rush hour 1 and 2, and who would forget the spoofs of scary movie. Hollywood directors try sequels in different categories and they are so successful in it, they do it with flare.

Now imagine our bollywood directors.
In our bollywood we have sequels just in names, like hero No1, Biwi No1, Beta no 1, Coolie no1, rather its a series of no ones, infact there is even a number 2 in the title despite the fact that no 1 does not exist like waisa bhi hota hai part2, bhai..where is part1 :-) We dont have any movie named movie named 1 and movie name2, Do we??.

Do we have any real movie sequels.....lemme think...well we had nagin and nagina :-) that was a sequel right? YA RITE!!! I can imagine what our hindi movie sequels would be...first sequel: hero AND all abt his romance and struggle in life marriage and then he dies, and in the sequel there wud be his son borne by NOT by his wife but heroes one night stand (which is very possible that the hero is not aware too)...and then his son's story of becoming a jayaz i.e. legitimate son ,or another idea... maybe we would have a sequel of kuch kuch hota hai...there cud have been a sequel in tht..first sequel with rani..and second sequel with Kajol..karan johar just mixed all in one...maybe coz of budget constraints, he he he.

Well!!! apart from a handful of movies all our hindi scripts revolve around trees and romance and triangle love stories or remake(the latest trend) of old movies...its so sad that our film fraternity (as Karan johar addresses the film industry)can't think of anything different..anything original. I always have this complain , most of our films are 'inspired' by some or the other foreign films or maybe only love storis bnothing original.

Lately we did have some sequels like hera pheri..and then phir hera pheri, koi mil gaya(mixtrue of forest gump and alien and little hindi romance and songs..but kids loved it..not a bad try there), then krish, then chota chetan, what was the sequel of chota chetan called?....I have all hopes with the new directors who have made films like Dhoom1 and Dhoom2(yay!! i could get one movie name which describes it as part1 and part2) and munnabhai sequels/series..hopefully we get to see some real sequel movies...if not sequel..real original good hindi scripts. Amen.

Lost my new companion :(

2007-05-14T12:24:00.000+01:00

Location : Pizza hut at Brent Cross shopping centre.

The place was very crowded and we managed to get into pizza hut after waiting 20 min in the queue. I just finished a phone call and kept my cell-phone on the table and the desserts arrived. We (me and my friend) were binging on the chocolate fudge cake and strawberry cake with ice cream..hmm yummy.
2 lads approach me for some change...i.e. begging....I was wondering how can someone beg inside the restaurant, and was trying to read the paper in his hand, thinking its some institution he belongs to and wants charity for, then saw the paper he had in hand was a shopping centre guide(at that time he very neatly sneaked the phone using his other hand, which i dint notice..I was totally confused) and was asking him what is it that he wants the money for...and then they just started walking away from me. Me was still confused, and I heard my friend saying, 'Did he take your phone?' I was like WHAT!! Without looking on the table I stopped the guy and said...you took my phone give it back...he was like what phone, I saw an innocent look on his face and thought I should double check before arriving at a conclusion so went to my table to check(stupid me!!!)..and my phone indeed was missing!! I was so confused, my friend ran behind the lad and caught him, meanwhile the 2nd lad handed over the phone to a third one and he walked out hurriedly, all 3 went in different directions, I went out to tell my friend that yes he took my phone, we ran behind and got hold of one of them, He started throwing tantrums, as if he dint understand the language, rolled on the floor, everybody in the mall was staring at us, but we rather my friend just dint let him go. the mall security guards were just not catching him, they were even more confused than me. Meanwhile 2 senior security guards came near us and caught hold of him, the little innocent face was crying loudly, the security guard very coolly said calm down and then the guards took him, I followed them and soon we were at the shopping centre police station. the other guards had managed to catch the 2nd lad too, but the 3rd one was absconding.
They were romanian gypsies and professional robbers. the police stationed there at that time dint have the powers to frisk them or arrest them so they just took custody of them. There were complains of another ladies purse missing and a couples cell phone missing, but those vicitms had not seen the robbers. The boys sat there coolly, least worried. I was right there in front of them, and couldnt do anything to them. It was such a helpless situation, I knew they took the phone, it is on cctv too, the police knew the same too, but nothing could be done coz they dint have powers. The police(who had powers to arrest) were called and they dint arrive for 3 hours (well they were on their way,but an emergency came up so they had to go there),After waiting for 3 hours of waiting for the police, we gave our contact details to the incharge there, the lads were still in their custody, sitting coolly without any worries, The security incharge told that the police would call us and come over to the address we specified, for a statement.
At night the police did call and said that they would come over tomorrow for a statement, and they took my cell phones IMEI no and said that he 'might' know where it is.

Although I have no hopes of getting back my cell phone I feel sad and am flabber gasted that such an innocent looking well dressed young boy (merely 8-10 years old)can fool me. You just cant relax anytime outside...somebody is watching you always, the moment you offguard, you lose your thing.

Lessons learnt
1. Always insure your cellphone
2. Dont trust anyone, not even kids especially with innocent face
3. Keep your belongings with you always
4. Dont keep your belongings just like that even in a restaurant.

I wonder, had the same thing happened in India, I think people in the restaurant would have caught him, if not that, police would have bashed the robbers, abused them and get things out of them immediately.
Here the police were also so helpless, he said we cant even hit them, they know that and hence get away with such things.

Its such a sad situation that despite of having all the freedom we have to be on our guard always, and I could'nt even finish my yummy yummy dessert :-(

What have I been doing

2007-05-10T15:33:00.000+01:00

Apologies for being silent so many days, and thanks for my regular visitors who just dont give up on me :-) things have been real busy these days, I am exploring many new things you can know that by just reading some of my sms

sms 1 : hey little princess where are you, can we chat tonite?

sms 2 : sorry for not replying earlier, shall we meet this friday for dinner?

sms 3 : hi, this is mike from xyz recruitment, just wanted to wish you luck for your interview this afternoon.

sms 4 : my friend is coming to UK, what do you want from here little sis? chitale bhakarwadi and??

sms 5 : hi this is foster from AB recruitment, congratulations!! you have been selected for xyz job at abc co.

sms 6 : So you visiting us this weekend right? there are some other friends coming too we are planning to go to stonehenge.

sms 7 : Hi did you receive the HSMP stamp on the passport yet, we would need your passport for applying your NI no.

BTW past few days have also been spent in creating my photoblog , please give it a look and let me know what you think. Dont have high expectations though...am just learning.

Tujhse naraaz nahin

2007-04-24T22:29:00.000+01:00

Tujhse naraaz nahin
zindagi hairaan hoon main
Tere masoom sawaalon se
pareshaan hoon main

jeene ke liye socha hi nahin,
dard sambhaalne honge
muskuraayen to, muskuraane ke
karz utaarne honge
muskuraaooN kabhi to lagtaa hai
jaise honTon pe karz rakhhaa hai

aaj agar bhar aai hain,
boondein baras jaayengii
kal kyaa pataa inke liye
aankhen taras jaayengii
jaane kab ghum hua
kahaan khoya
ek aansoo chhupaake rakhaa thaa

zindagi tere
gham ne hamein
rishte naye samjhaaye
mile jo hamein
dhoop mein mile
chhaon ke thanDe saaye.

Tujhse naraaz nahin
zindagi hairaan hoon main
Tere masoom sawaalon se
pareshaan hoon main

This is my favorite song and i keep singing it all the time, especially these days, wonder when things will be fine!!!

Gulzar really touched many peoples heart with this one, am sure this ones everyones fav too :-)

The Kite runner

2007-04-21T19:51:00.000+01:00

I'd bought this book while I was in India but dint get a chance to read as Puja had borrowed it. I'd heard very good reviews of the book and finally I read it. The description is so good that one can easily visualize it and if a movie is being made on it the Director will have no issues at all. It’s about Amir's cowardice and how he admits to it and finally stands up and does something decent. Towards the end it becomes like a Hindi movie...but I really liked it.

I have never done any book reviews before this, but this book really inspired me to do one. Despite it being the debut novel of the writer, I think he has done a marvellous job. While reading one feels he's telling his own story, but its not. The intricate details of the place the feelings. Many a times I literally cried while reading the novel. The novel very well covers the lifestyle of 2 countries rather 3, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the US of A. The political invasion of Soviet and Taliban in Afghanistan and its consequences in the lives of many people including Amir and Hassan. (It always made me imagine the situation of India and Pakistan while our independence, it’s such an irony most of the countries go through the same phase one time or the other.)

It's a story about Amir and Hassan, their boyhood days and days as adults. They grew up together in Afghanistan, Amir the son of a wealthy man a Pashtun a Sunni Muslim and Hassan the son of the servant who worked for Amir's father. Amir lost his mother in child birth, He always longing for love from his father a wealthy man who is puzzled that his son is more interested in reading books than soccer. Both motherless children growing together as friends but also maintained their status as servant and master. Hassan protective about Amir, always saves his master from trouble, but then too at times Amir showed his superior position. Hassan who was so pure at heart and loved Amir so much never seemed to mind and he knew Amir too well and could read him easily. Amir was fond of Hassan too and they shared a very unique and different kind of friendship and it was precious to both of them. The plot of the novel changes completely on the day of kite flying competetion, Amir won the compettion by cutting all the kites in compettion and having his kite flying in the sky and to further make it memorious moment Kiterunner Hassan ran to get the last kite that Amir cut. That day Hassan was in trouble with some bullying from neighbourhood
Boys for the kite and Amir just hides watching the bullying behaving like a coward. It changes his life totally and remains with him through out. Meanwhile the soviets invade Afghanistan as a result of which Amir (as a child) and his father move to America and Amir returns to Afghanistan only as an adult to see its destruction and to concord his sins to Hassan. "There is a way to be good again" a friend of Amir counsels him in the novel, and he comes to Afghanistan and finally finds peace, finally a way to be good again.

The best part about the novel is the sense of repentness, the guilt for redemption, for the coward act and a light of hope now and then but
it is always tinged with sadness and destruction, destruction of the unique and precious friendship.
I wouldn’t call it a sad story but I think one has to read it to experience it. Kudos to Khaled for such a lovely write-up. I think I can finally fill up the Column that asks, Best/favourite books read so far.

Love or Responsibility?

2007-04-19T19:22:00.000+01:00

Once upon a time, there was a boy (Mr B) and a girl, typical indian hindi film story, both had different backgrounds, different culture, one i.e. the gal from the south and the boy i.e. Mr B from the north(for south indians anything above them is north) to clarify here ..well Mr B was actually from west. They fell in love..went around for a while and finally decided that they should marrry each other. they proposed it to their respective families. Their family dint agree initially well north and south india culture difference, but finally after lot of convincing and debates they had a happy ending there, they got married.

They were both very happy and all in love with each other. Mr.B worked out of India for some time, the girl accompanied him and it was like their second honeymoon there in a new country. In the meantime they became parents to a lovely girl, who had some physical problems and they went here and there to different countries to treat the girl. Finally the girl was well treated. They went through a lot together, good times and bad times and stood by each other, parenting their child and enjoying each moment of her childhood. Both worked and were financially secure too, then for some reason (maybe they missed India) they decided to return to India.

Both went to work in B'bay and were glad they returned to India.Back to their family, their friends, back to their country, though sometimes they would miss little things of staying out of India, but they dint mind that and overlooked it. As most married couples do, they shared everything of each other their emails, their passwords, bank accounts everything. their kid was 4 years old now and went to school

One evening as she was casually browsing his emails, she noticed something different that shocked her at first and then it really hurt her. She was wondering how could he do that to her, how could he NOT tell her..how could he...is all she could think. He was in love with another woman, another married woman. She was very attractive and she'd found Mr.B attractive..both had a chemistry and both fell in love with each other, they'd managed to hide it for some time but not very long.

When Mr B came to know that his wife knows about his affair he thought she would leave him, but she dint, she still loved him, he moved out of the house for sometime, and still continued his affair with another woman and kept no relation with his wife, but he would visit his daughter often and do anything for her. He kept telling his girlfriend to move out of her house too so they would stay together, but she never moved out. He was getting little irritated with that, coz he had moved out, but he loved her a lot. Meanwhile the girlfriends husband came to know but seemed like he dint care much, he continued to live with her ofcourse no relationships with her. so Mr B moved out stayed alone, wife stayed with daughter in a sepearte house (where Mr B and his wife lived together) the girlfriend and her husband lived in their own house but no relationship with each other.

Mr B and his girl friend kept meeting each other often and continue with their relationship, He always asked her to move out too, but she dint. Mr B loved her a lot.

Mr B was a responsible man, who had some responsibilities to his kid atleast. Whenever she was sick he would meet her, take care of her. girlfriend did'nt approve much of this and one day when Mr B lent his car to his wife(when his wife's car was in garage) to pick up the kid. the girl friend was furious and abused him a lot and told that she dint want to see his face, Mr B was about to sign his own divorce papers that time took a step back and dint sign the papers, and returned to his home. He was tired of living by himself. Meanwhile his wife was taking care of herself and to let her out of depression would work out a lot in the gym which made her attractive too. Mr B did return to his house, but he still loved his g/f and dint have relationship with his wife, but his wife continued to love him. she dint tell him a word. She kept a neutral status.

After some days the girlfriend came back, apologized and said that she was insecure hence had behaved that way. Her husband left her too and she moved to her own apartment, things came back for Mr B and the girlfriend and they started going around again. But they were not like before, they loved each other but had their own (in)security problems. Mr B again suggested that they both live together in a seperate house, but she insists tht he move with her in her house.

He is ready to take a divorce, and though she lives seperately she has not divorced her husband yet. His wife continues to love him (she thinks that he might stray again coz he already did that once)and he feels guilty at times, and hates the fact that she loves him despite of his betrayal and feels he is being punished for falling in love again. He loves his girlfriend now, however instable that relationship is, he wants to continue with it but stays with his wife. His daughter is 7 years old now and might not understand his dads or moms feeling.

Past three years he is in love with his girlfriend and now for 6 months he is in a dilemma(he talks to all i.e. his wife, kid and g/f but does not keep relationship with either of the women, he wants to sort it out)
1. whether to go and stay with his girlfriend (in her house) which he does not want to he doesnt mind staying in a seperate house (male ego you see :0),
or
2. to leave his girlfriend totally ( coz she really gets very insecure at times)but he still loves her and come back to his wife as her husband to redeem his guilt more than that as a Father because he feels responsible for his kid
or
3. to just continue living the way it is.

I personally think he should go back to his family ,…call me orthodox but I feel he should chose responsibility over love and I totally agree with the straying part, but I maybe wrong.
What would you advise him..... to chose his intimate love or responsibility?

yipee

2007-04-02T22:08:00.000+01:00

Its monday morning again...monday blues...but I dont want it to be Monday blues so wearing pink today :)
I am just looking forward to Thu....yay!!! this is a short week and so is the next one. I am going to LakeDistrict (http://www.lake-district.com/) for the long weekend, so looking forward to it coz

this would be my first stint with driving in UK and that too a 7 seater car.
hopefully the weather is good and I do well( for the driving part)

YAY!!!!

Part 2

2007-03-28T16:24:00.000+01:00

It might be a good idea to read Part 1 first.
Sorry for posting part 2 late, got pretty busy with some work, nevertheless here is part 2,it might be an anti-climax for some of you though.

It was a nice weekend, Monday blues...at work suddenly a window popped saying hii, remember me...she wondered who it was and it struck her that it was him..she said yes, she remembered and he was happy. she asked him how he was and told how good the party was etc. he asked her about her and some details of how long shed been with the company etc. She was wondering why the boy had pinged her. Was he interested in her...but she chucked that thought coz he looked much smaller and She thought he had some work with her...but the guy said he'd generally pinged her. later during the day he called her too, she wondered again that why did he call her. She talked and then he called her again, then smsed her...He called her again that night and she was wondering why is the kid calling her. Fianlly she asked and he said, just like that, cant i be your friend. They talked at odd hours after that, asking what they did during the day , hobbies etc sometimes in whispers too coz it was too late, finally they met for coffee after a week. She felt odd coz he was shorter, leaner , younger than her. But they met and as she had predicted she was right, he was pretty uncomfortable when they met or walked together towards the cafe :-), he was looking out and she was suggesting him other gals/friends she knew. They had a little conversation where he still felt very awkward finally he paid the bill and they left. She felt weird too, since then he dint message her or call her and on chat both keep a busy icon. Wonder what went wrong

1. Did the height and status of the gal matter to him? It was not that he was seeing her for the first time.
2. Did he not like her suggesting other girls to him?
3. Did he see that she was not interested in him?
4. Is it that sometimes with some people, you just dont know what to talk when you meet them?
5. Was it a bet that he had with his colleagues?
6. Sometimes the wavelengths just dont match and you dunno what to do?
7. Did she/he do anything wrong?

Part 1

2007-03-21T12:11:00.000Z

(Disclaimer : all events/views expressed in this article are fictional, any character/event resembling this is NOT coincidental.)
Location : On the way for an office party, bowling followed by dinner.

They met outside the elevator, it was an awkward situation, she was with her team and boss, he was with colleagues, they were from the same office but had never met or talked. All just stared at each other waiting for the lift to arrive. the professional girl that she is , she could not stand the silence (they were all colleagues after all, and would be spending the evening with each other), she thought her boss would introduce, but that dint happen, she thought that those boys were timid and shy so she broke the silence by introducing herself to them, and they reciprocated in a similar manner, so did her team. and then everybody was talking to each other. The elevator stopped(well the elevator had arrived, they all boarded and had continued talking) and they walked together and later got dispursed.

She was cool, all herself, bowling and chit chatting with colleagues and their wives and kids, scoring well infact the highest, least bothered and not looking for anybody . He was there clicking pictures of the party. After the game she with her team went to the bar to get a drink and he was at the bar having his drink. She dint notice him, untill he asked, so what will you have? and suggested Orange juice? she smiled at him (thinking, grow up kid!!) and asked, cant i have a vodka instead?, he was surprised and said sure...he ordered for one, she thanked him and left for another game. He continued taking pictures of kids and families and of the colleagues she was playing with, and some of her pics too, she continued to play, talk with the managers, HR play with the kids.
Games over, she had a nice conversation with everybody, he was clicking pics with friends, posing with the bowling ball making the place cheerful and fun. She thought he is a nice kiddo.

Games over, drinks over all had fun and it was dinner time. she sat with her team cracking jokes, laughing and enjoying her dinner, he sat at the table across hers, again clicking pictures. He came to her table to click pictures, and commented on one of her silent colleagues...hey i havent seen you in office before, do you work in the same office, and she answered on his behalf..well we all are seeing each other for the first time, just to prove her point she asked, did you see me before at work before?...to which he replied with a twinkle in his eye, Yes I have so many times...she was surprised and a little shy??. (thinking to herself she was not old enuf and guys did notice her!!!!)

part 2 coming soon...

Who else....

2007-03-20T16:28:00.000Z

Who ElseWho can you turn to

When you're feeling blue

Who will always love you ,

No matter what you do

Who trusts you

when you doubt yourself,

And gives a gentle nudge

When you meet an obstacle

You just can't seem to budge

Whose promise can you depend on,

Who's every word is true

Whose arms will always open wide

To greet .. or comfort you

Whose smile and laughter through the years

Has brightened up your day

Like a ray of sunshine sent

To drive the clouds away

Who will never leave you ...

Neither miles nor time can part

No one else but Mama ..

Nestled deep within your heart

P.S: My 100th post dedicated to mom, I miss you mom, I guess I am home sick, feel like going to India and meet her.

Whats in store?

2007-03-20T16:07:00.000Z

Sometimes I wish that I could see

Just what the future holds for me

Is it worth the struggle to survive

Is it worth the pain to stay alive

Or rather .. knock upon Death's door

And say "I can't take anymore"

Sometimes it's very hard to stay

Alive for even one more day

Yet other times I'm very glad

And think "Life's really not that bad"

My body's tired .. my mind is too

That's why I'm not sure what to do

If I could only know for sure

Just what the future holds in store.

Sometimes I wonder.....

2007-03-16T16:19:00.000Z

Why do gals always talk only about dieting and being fat?

Why do old bald men in india not shave off their head completely rather than having a skirt of hair around their skull?

Why do non vegetarians have pity on vegetarians?

Why are moms always insisting on their kids having more food?

Why do men ogle at girls all the time?

Why do people leave office only after their boss leaves office?

Why do they consider fish as vegetarian (okay non vegetarians, look at point 3, stop doing it)?

Why do i clean off the mess created my somebody else in the office kitchen when i want to make my coffee?

Why do some men take pride in showing off their hair on their ears? you should see our security guard in india office, his face looks like he has 2 pairs of year, one black ear protruding out of the brown one?

Why do non vegetarians say that we vegetarians eat ghaas phooos?

Why are men totally covered and woman flaunting their skin in the oscars and grammys especially?

Why do we not see aamir khan and anil kapoor in any of the film award functions?

Why do me and my bro always fight? (gee he is a father now)?

Why do my non vegetarian friends still tolerate me?

Why do they not have a tag or something to tie all the wires running my office table?

Why do Indian people not smile at each other on the streets out of India? okay not on the streets atleast at workplace?

P.S: How do you like this template?

Birthdays

2007-03-09T13:12:00.000Z

I still remember my childhood days when as a child i wud keep counting days rather months for my birthday to come. everyday i would tell my mom, 1 month left, 28 days left etc etc...and my mom would nod her head and have the same excitement, (atleast thats wht i think).

I wonder why birthdays were rather ARE so special for me, mebbe the new clothes, distributing chocolates, or getting break from wearing the blue uniform or standing in front of the whole class grinning while they would very happily sing the happy birthday song ( am sure they must be waiting for the chocolates) I used to distribute melody and eclairs :-) to the class.Evenings would cut cake and friends would come over, not only my friends but my brothers (though he had vey few), my moms , my dads :-), neighbours, some cousins and the whole jhing bang lot.We would serve rasna, (well coke and all were not that famous then and the pet bottles had not come yet..and whatever came my dad would use it with his whiskey..well he and his friends would celebrate by drinking on my 'day), and in paper plates we would have samosa, wada, farsan, budhani chips, gulab jamun(mom believed in having a sweet, apparently cake was not considered as a sweet dish for her) and ofcourse the cut cake and monginis cake slices (if the cake was not enuf). Friends would dance(since mom was a teacher, her students wud compose some dance for me) and they wud have a skit etc. Mom would make my fav masala bhat for dinner (yeah after all this we had dinner too :-)) and it used to be fun time.

Well this is me and my birthdays, there were some gals in my class and some friends who do not make such a hoo hah about their birthday, and I always thought that it is a very sophisticated behaviour.

I've tried it every year(the sophisticated behaviour)..not to make a big deal of it..but at the end of the day I do make a big deal of it. This year I'm becoming 30(yeah yeah whtever happened to the rule of woman concealing their age) and I thought that I would not make a deal of it coz i am getting old and hence I've not told anybody at work about my birthday..so far I am successfull there(but i am sure i will tell them by the end of day).but I bought myself a pair of jeans and in the evening I am visiting my friends at Reading (which was not part of my plan at all) coz by birthday comes only once a year, it has to be different in some way right? he he he so..its not gonna be a normal day.
and yes (Ruz was not planning for this, but then I thought I have to live upto your expectations ;)) Thanks for all the birthday wishes.

My Birthday wish: May I get my special one atleast this year :-)

P.S: Well I forgot to mention that my bro's b'day is on 6th and mine is on 9th, so the party would be for both of us but I would like to believe it was for me coz hey..its all about me here isnt ;)

P.P.S : Talking about countdowns, this is my 97th post, soon reaching the mark of 100.

Holi

2007-03-07T11:06:00.000Z

Everytime such festivals come and i realize again and again that wow our country is so colorful, and I miss it so much. I think the festival of colors is so much required out of India, especially here in UK. All I see on streets, offices everywhere is blue, black, grey, white, brown. I do understand they always want to match their clothes with the weather, but I just wished that they could pick up holi from us like how we picked up so many things from them, drinking chai, the language, everything...even the houses kids draw in school are actually the houses here isnt? Atleast one colorful day.

nevertheless the Indians here in London, do add color(No am not talking about the brown color here :-) ) especially on holi. I visited the temple(yeah that seems the only place where I see indians smile at each other) and could see beautiful indian gals in colorful saris and dresses. The temple was so beautiful and colorful and the deities were dressed colorful too and everybody inside had color on their face, infact while returning in the bus, there were all indians with some color on their face...and for a moment I felt as if I am in India and wished like playing Antakshari :-). ( all indians in bus make me want to play antakshari for some reason). It was fun, I played holi with housemates(first generation British Indians) on sunday to continue the colorful Indian tradition here too. It was fun. I missed my friends though. Last holi I had spent with so many kids, and it was very special.

I missed running behind friends, behind mom and coloring their face , I missed my mom saying, get out of the house...no color here, no no..we just cleaned the house, dont wet it, I missed my mom forewarning to remove old clothes and keep so that I could wear them on holi, I missed my bro's factory color and silver :-), I missed the pichkaris.

Hope you had a nice holi too.

GOOGLE

2007-03-07T10:29:00.000Z

Okay I am not writing about any new merger of google, or any new product of google or dont expect of any google deals, I just want to take some time to appreciate google.
I am sure everyone visits this site atleast once a day, be it to search the directions, some code, some queries etc. if not the site itself we access its flavors like the blogger or orkut etc. Google helps us in everything in our life you can search for best hair look to the complicated codes, u can get books, images everything, videos you ask it and you get it. They are so creative, I love the little images they have on their site for occassions. I wonder how we survived before google came into picture. it has made life so simple for us isnt? I wish I work for google some day, they just replied to me (very politely) that right now they dont have a job for me ;-(, but I will wait, till then I would like to dedicate an aarti for it so that it continues to provide me for whatever I want.

Disclaimer : The aarti is not my creation, I got a fwd message.

Om Jai Google Hare !!
Swami Om Jai Google hare
Programmer’s ke sankat, Developers ke Sankat,
Click main door kare!!
Om Jai Google Hare !!

Jo Dhyawe vo pawe,
dukh bin se man ka, Swami dukh bin se man ka,
Homepage ki sampatti lawe, Homework ki sampatti karave
kasht mite work ka,
Swami Om Jai Google hare!!

Tum puran search engine
Tum hi internet yaami, Swami Tum hi internet yaami
Par karo hamari Salary, Par karo hamari appraisal,
Tum dunia ke swami,
Swami Om Jai Google hare.

Tum information ke saagar,
Tum palan karta, swami Tum palan karta,
Main moorakh khalkamii, Main Searcher tum Server-ami
Tum karta dhartaa !!
Swami Om Jai Google hare!!

Din bandhu dukh harta,
tum rakshak mere, Swami tum thakur mere,
Apni search dikhaao, sare research karao
Site par khada mein tere,
Swami Om Jai Google hare!!

Google ki aarti jo koi programmer gaawe,
Swami jo koi bhi programmer gaawe,
Kehet SUN swami, MS hari har swami,
Manwaanchhit fal paawe.
Swami Om Jai Google hare.

BOLO GOOGLE SITE KI —— JAI

My Reflections.

2007-03-01T12:10:00.000Z

Have been tagged by Sunita, indeed the first tag..and my DNA is mostly true.
check it out.

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Piyush.

2007-02-28T09:11:00.000Z

Note : this is not a Spoof, or anything of that sought, it is a very genuine case. So if you can do something, contribute in any way, it would be of great help to Piyush

This is Piyush, 7 years old. He is a resident of Pune. He is suffering from Leukemia. He needs to undergo a bone marrow transplantation for complete recovery. Piyush is a single child and hence needs an external donor, for which he needs to travel out of India, coz that is not done in India.The total cost is about 1.25 crore Rs, they have managed to collect around 75 lakh Rs and still a long way to go. You can find all details at www.aidmyson.com. The family is currently trying to arrange for sufficient funds to continue their kids treatment. Any help big or small, I am sure will go a long way. The case is very genuine, a friend of mine has gone and met the family and Piysh too, you can find those details here
Please do link to all relevant sources, on your sites, in your community, organisations to reach out to as many people as possible. The link also specifies how can one transfer money so that he receives it.Any contributions would make a lot of difference.

boond boond se sagar bharta hai.

Eklavya - the royal Guard

2007-02-22T16:52:00.000Z

Watched EkLavya yesterday ..had no idea what the story was about and who is caste in it except for Amitabh Bachhan, few colleagues were going so I joined them and it was a very depressing story. I think I should have understood it in the beginning when they are displaying the names....it was all so black and so depressing and the dialogues were dragged for no reason. the caste is good, Boman Irani, Sharmila Tagore, Sanjay Dutt, Jimmy Shergeil, Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan, Raima Sen, Jackie Shroff . I think it should have been an art film instead. but no actually it couldn’t be an art film, It was a film with no songs (well 1 lori, if that qualifies as a song), no fights(but many killings), no dance, no jokes, I dunno what to call this type of movie. I was looking for a typical Hindi movie. The whole movie was serious except for the last 2 min, I liked the ending though, it gave a modernize view of Eklavya. And ofcourse it goes without saying that Mr Big B enacted very well. This is definitely a very different kind of role that he has never done before.
I think direction point of view, and story point of view it is a very difficult story to make and directed well too but entertainment wise it has no masala in it. So don't go with the masala thought in mind and you should do well.

Scenes that I liked
The ghungroo sequence -- a blindfolded Bachchan separating the ghungroo from the pigeon(without hurting it ofcourse) -- is awe-inspiring
And when Jackie Shroff is thrown between a running train..that shot is reaaally good.

Last 2 movies that I've watched in movie theatres have been offbeat movies, The Fountain and now Eklavya. Hopefully I watch a normal movie next.

BTW does it matter with whom you go to watch the movie. coz sometimes when I see a boring movie with one person when I see it again I find it quite interesting. So is it the company or is it the fact that I am seeing it for the second time I am seeing the unseen things the first time??

Ranting

2007-02-22T10:25:00.000Z

I know I've been silent for so long...but I just dint have the time to sit back and write, thought I have so many things to post here. Okay today is gonna be a ranting post.
I'm in newcastle these days next to this huuuuuuuuuuuuuge actually the largest in Europe(it comprises of 4-5 shopping malls in 1 mall) called metrocentre and there are so many shops having good sale and i am sitting at work and attending training. Okay I think I am going off track...lemme come back. Okay this is not a formal formal training, basically in a meeting room one fellow is explaining stuff to 2 of us i.e. me and another male colleague. Past 2 days it was okay...well first day the trainer, dint even have a ppt he was explaining us from some slide printouts ( 4 slides per page (A4 size page)) ..I was trying my level best to concentrate in between the small fonts and colors of the ppt to the constant yawning and restless legs of my male colleague, it was manageable but today was heights another trainer and he just does not consider the fact that i am in the same room. He is just explaining stuff to the other fella i.e my male coleagure, not even a glance at me as if i just dint exist for him. I hate this at work place, I face it quite often some men are just not comfortable with the female species at work. They shy from shaking hands, or will not even look at you while addressing the whole room or even a few people in the room like yesterday...I wonder why do they do that. I keep thinking what is going on in his mind that he does not even shake hands with me or talk to me or even look at me while explaining or conversing. I felt so left out. Ofcourse there are the other male species who just keep looking everywhere while talking to you and you feel like telling him...dude look up...thats not a place to look!!arrrgh males.....why are they like that.

Vanilla IceCream everywhere

2007-02-08T13:34:00.000Z

I woke this morning to see a sight where everything is covered with layers and layers of white cream...mmm vanilla everywhere. There is snow on the roofs, on the cars like they have a white thick carpet on their roofs, the footpath,the grass, well the grass is not seen at all, the bare trees, they are all outlined with white snow, so all of them look black and white and they look so beautiful. Its as if watching life in black and white.
I just dint feel like going to work then....but well the railways were working fine, just that they were majorly delayed and I cant tell my boss that I am not well...coz I was all up and bubbly the previous day...so I decided will go late. Then I made a nice snowman in the front yard :-) (will upload its pic later today coz its in the other camera), played in snow with housemates then geared myself well, and walked my way to the station. Children were making snowman in their yards, people walking on the footpath taking utmost care, everybody's leather accessories were out. The announcer had a new line this morning warning us and cautioning us to take utmost care while walking else all they would say is Please mind the gap between the train and the platform, Miiiiiiiind THE gap, Please walk right down inside the carriages, Please use all available space, This train is now ready to depart, please mind the closing doors, Miiiiiiind the closing doors please. The train driver was apologizing time and again for the delays and would keep telling us the situation like how many trains are queued in front of us blah blah..I felt like saying Duh!! its obvious there are gonna be delays...we are all walking on it...but well this is London, they are polite and generous in all the talking they do.
Anywyas, the train tracks looked so nice , black and white , the seats covered with snow..and some stations were closed too, due to bad platforms or unavialibility of staff, and now I am at work. but I managed to get some shots on my way. I just love the snow.
Its snowing today in london,(well i think that is quite obvious by now) this is the second snow for this year...last time it was just 1 or 2 inches but this time there is a good 6-8 inches of snow and it is still snowing as I peep out of my office window.I know snow is not a big thing...as it snows so many places in the world..but in London its just so different.
Ok enough of my snow snow snow...peace guys...well peace is also white in colour :-)

P.S : Thanks to Babul for the train tracks pic.

I have a new companion

2007-01-22T10:12:00.000Z

Finally, I think its time to move on now, I am trying to bid adieu to my 3 year old companion, who would stand by me where ever I was , who would wake me up each morning, help me talk, take good pictures of me and my loved ones, who held all the information of my friends, whenever asked for I would get details of my colleagues/friends and relatives, reminded me of the important days of my loved ones, also reminded me to take my medicines regularly, Made me laugh with all the jokes in store and kept in store all good memories, be it the chuckle of my nephew or some tunes played by friends. When I first bought my companion, it was very rare in India to find it, nobody of its genre had such a big beautiful face, I was the proud owner of it for 3 years, though I still possess it, and now I bought a companion to it, yeah my Nokia 6600 has a Nokia N73 for its companion now.
I like everything about the N73, especially the 3.2 Megapixel camera, the display is same as 6600 and many other things too), it has a good mp3 player,has adobe, some good games and the phone number associated with it has my birth date in it :-) and its very very light. The only thing i dont like about it is the buttons are very plastic like :-(.
I still use my nokia 6600 for my morning alarms, will need some time to get used to my N73 now.

My reebok shoes

2007-01-11T14:13:00.000Z

In my strife for cleanliness, I thought of washing my shoes too, like a stupid gal put it in washing machine for full cycle(like I generally do in India), washing and drying...dint realize the heat wud remove the sole...the sole now is not only peeled but has also become bigger :(. I feel like crying, they were my fav. They were not that dirty too. It dint really need that cleaning.

Please maintain 1 minute silence for them.

Shilpa Shetty is in big brother.

2007-01-04T09:53:00.000Z

I was in all mixed emotions when I saw Shilpa Shetty's pic in london metro last evening(the local newspaper)..saying that she would probably be one of the house mates in the celebrity big brother(Big Brother is like Big Boss in India, or should I say the other way round.)..since it was Shilpa to confirm the news I saw big brother at 8 and yo she was there. dressed in saree, with bindi she got down of the BMW posing a namaste through out and waving the crowd. She looked stunning.I was in all mixed feelings of happiness, proud worried for Shilpa.She is the only Asian amongst the 11 housemates and I don't think its gonna be easy to live in there.

Other housemates are Leo Sayer the pop singer, Journalist Carole Malone, US Actor Dirk Bennedict, the model Danielle Llyod, 25 year old another pop singer Danny Tourette(he was so drunk when he arrived at the show), Old dil Director Ken Russell, Singer Jo O'meara. the gay Ian Watkins, old actress Cleo Rocos, and Jeremaine Jackson (Michaels elder bro)You would find more details at http://www.channel4.com/bigbrother/index.jsp

All the best Shilpa!!!

Welcome 2007!!!

2007-01-02T13:52:00.000Z

Finally the year 2006 is over..yipeee!!!

2006, I am so happy its over. Whenever I think of 2006 I can just remember waiting and waiting and uncertainty. It started good though with lot of site seeing in the month of Jan and feb,the house purchase, my interactions with Rotaract (thanks to Puja )and the gym (btw I lost toal 5 kgs this year, yay!!!) but after I switched jobs in march just after a lovely birthday,it was just travelling between UK and India, staying without family, no certainty about anything at all, oh yes one good thing was my flying experience, thanks to beens and chet for that, other than that it was just a wait for good work.
I hope this year would be happening, Nevertheless I learnt a lot this year

1. Importance of money (before I bought the house, I was a free bird, spent on whatever,anytime, now I have to think before I buy anything)
2. Friends do change after marriage, well their priorities change,Give space to my married friends(still learning that)
3. The importance of my loved ones (my immediate family and my dear friends), not taking them for granted.
4. What kind of job not to take (learnt it the hard way though, but I am glad I took the path)

My resolutions for this year (writing it down for comparison next year)

1. Lose 10kgs weight; get in shape (not round shape)
2. Think and talk, with the kind of impulsive talking I do, many a times I wish I dint talk that much. So the motto this year is "Think and talk” and yeah (yeah yeah..Its too late too realize..but as they say its better late than never :-),
3. Be a better human being.

I wish a very Happy new year to all of you.

Christmas in London

2006-12-23T08:54:00.000Z

Jingle bells Jingle bells jingle all the way....yipeee christmas is here 4 days chutti, I am in the capital of the land of goras(gosh when will i forget they ruled us for more than 100 years).

Its cold out here and when i say cold i mean veryyyyyyy cold the min temp is 1 or 2 degree celcius and max is 6-7...., I take 20-25 min to dress up in layers(this does not include make up time), I change tubes like crazy (work in central london) nearly run to catch up with these guys in black coat(every one seems to be wearing a big long coat, reminds me of Sherlock Holmes, though nobody wears the hat,I get outnumbered with my colorful girly pink one), there are christmas carols everywhere, the place is decorated so well, I've never seen bridges in India decorate like that for diwali or so too, smoke keeps coming out of my mouth all the time,while I walk between the stations I keep admiring the ladies who wear pencil heels walking tuk tuk tuk and do all these daily chores of walking and changing trains and tubes, I admire the cleanliness in the tubes,and their etiquettes(will have another blog on this one) I got my oyster card to commute, everybody is in a hurry and so am i(i can pretend well) and in that hurry they pick up rather snatch the free newspapers to read on train(its like the scenario outside our local bus stops where these salesman will keep saying madam kidhar janeeka hai bombay, nasik goa...bus hai apna....you just cant ignore..they are walking with you all the time) same is the case with newspapers...never seen anybody offering free newspapers like that.

Its a week now in london and they just passed zooop like that (hope the next 6 months do so too). will go site seeing with some friends this weekend, going to see the energetic(so they say) Merchants of Bollywood and spend Christmas with my cute couple friend "chet" (as Suni and me fondly call him) and beens.

P.S: I am looking for accommodation here, so anybody with any ideas/suggestions please let me know and yes Merry Christmas to all.

Flower Etiquette

2006-12-08T19:42:00.000Z

[I am planning to have a series of different etiquettes, starting with flowers first]

Winter the festive season is here again, and so is the season of weddings and parties and gifts. At first I used to really break my head to find some good ideas for gifts crockery, showpiece, football, gift coupons etc etc and then I realized there is nothing better than flowers. (though most of the times i give gifts as well as flowers ;)) , So since its festive season I thought lemme be the smart one to know about flowers ,I googled for flowers and what to give when...coz flowers have meaning and their colors too cudnt find much in that sense but I found various other stuff related to it, so I thought of jotting it down here.

BTW, in my school days, in our convent we girls had learnt this,(dunno from where) what color rose(we dint know anything beyond roses then :)) signified what, this knowledge would be shared just before valentines day ;)
Red - love
Yellow - hatred
White -peace
Orange/Pink - friendship
I dunno how true it stands now, but these were our standards then.

Anyways back to flower etiquette,here are tips on the etiquette of flowers:
Choose the Right Flower: Various cultures have assigned special meanings and superstitions to specific flowers. Too numerous to list here, find a lovely chart showing the name, meaning, and photos of flowers from A to Z at http://www.couplescompany.com/Features/Flowers/1.htm. he he he just kidding. I think we can chose with what we see in our stores nearby.

Know Your True Flower Colors: Choosing the right color is equally important(as I mentioned what happened during my school days). Flowers such as daisies, carnations(btw carnations are told to be funeral flowers is it true?), and chrysanthemums, come in many colors. When giving flowers as a gift, be sensitive never to give white flowers in India and most other countries, as it symbolizes mournful and unhappy occasions, because white is the color worn and used at funerals. In India red symbolizes life and happiness. Interstingly On the other hand, in Mexican folklore, red flowers cast spells and white flowers lift spells.

Give the Correct Number of Flowers: Also consider the number of flowers you give, as what is appropriate varies from place-to-place. In the U.S. a dozen flowers is appropriate and customary. In Europe and elsewhere even numbers are considered inappropriate. Almost everywhere, the number 13 is considered unlucky. In parts of Asia, never give a gift having an association with the number 4 (it sounds similar to the word death....I just read this somewhere, was not aware of it too). Giving a single flower is generally reserved for lovers.(and I thought it was low budget ;))

Present Flowers with Panache: In most countries, it is the custom to present a bouquet of flowers unwrapped, to display its full beauty upon presentation. Its kinda cliche to take flowers at these occassionss, Here are two alternatives to consider: Bring flowers already displayed in a vase of their own, or arrange for a floral arrangement to be sent ahead. Sending flowers a day after a party is a wonderful thank-you gift. BTW, its good to learn which flowers are favorite of your friends beforehand.

Be an Equal Opportunity Flower Giver: Men enjoy receiving flowers, too. The difference to keep in mind when presenting flowers to men versus women is in what kind of flowers you give, in what colors, and how they are presented. Keep to stronger, dominant colors, such as yellows and oranges. Do keep the wrapping simple, avoiding lots of ribbons, bows, and frills. With the emergence of equality, it is no longer inappropriate---thank goodness---for a woman to give flowers to a man. I enjoy giving men flowers.

Be your own secret admirer: Having a bad day? Celebrating a personal victory? Either way, give yourself some flowers. It is an indulgence that won’t add body weight, affect your ability to drive, or break your bank account. I do it myself and believe me it feels really nice.

P.S: No matter when the urge strikes you to give someone flowers, the one thing to keep in mind is never to steal them from your neighbor’s garden.

P.P.S: I love gerberas and tulips, so next time you know what to give me.

Earth is Flat?

2006-12-07T09:06:00.000Z

Today while updating my profile on blogger, I was asked the following Random question
What reason do you have to believe the earth is flat?
I thought and thought and thought and my answer is
I dont believe that the earth is flat, reason, my geography teacher told me so. Give me another question and don't put words in my mouth he he he:)
wht do u say, Do u have a reason?? What did your geography teacher have to say on that?
I just cud'nt think out of the box.
P.S: BTW thinking about flat anybody read the book The world(not earth) is Flat?

watched Dhoom2 between riots

2006-11-30T09:43:00.000Z

Watched Dhoom2 yesterday amongst the riots. Yeah I dunno how, I think luck, but I somehow managed to escape the riots yesterday.
I was on my way home knowing nothing about riots, when my friend Rojo(who was buying tickets for all of us) called and asked me to reach the movie theatre coz his Credit card was locked accidentally, so I de-routed my usual route (where there were stone pelting and the glasses of cars were being shattered, which i was not aware of) and reached the multiplex, got tickets 180Rs per head...gosh-thats-too-expensive...max i paid so far for a movie was 150 bucks in India, plus car parking...too-much-money-for-movie, with that thought in mind and hoping the movie was worth it I reached home via Ambedkar Nagar.
Soon my friend Poo played a bluff on me to inform about the riots saying shes stuck in traffic, blah blah i was tensed while she was just standing at my door(talking to me) ringing the bell,I opened the door and saw her.We were just laughing about it when her bluff became true, my neighbour came over to inform that his car was stopped and glasses broken. Another friend called up and mentioned the same. Now knowing Pune (supposed to be calm and generally not involved in these riots) we were contemplating whether to go or no for the movie. We called each other and we all seemed to be more worried about the movie. we'd invested 180 bucks and were planning for quite a long time. Ruz was supposed to come from the other end of the city via the main city and other Friend Andy was in the city, another was just near Ambedkar Nagar. finally we all decided to go and see the movie, and if we see commotion on our way we turn back.
Okay so strategy planned and with a backup plan of staying at a colleagues place if things got worse, we left the house in my car(hoping no glasses will break).The road which I'd just taken 1/2 hour back was full of shattered glass pieces and Police everywhere. luckily we reached safely to the multiplex and in time and watched the movie with calls in between from friends saying "don't come home, riots started ". Parents saying "Don't come home, stay out of the house" "they burning buses here...where are you...if u want stay in the multiplex itself" etc etc and we happily saw the movie.
So heres my take on the movie.
Overall Movie : Just OK, can watch once, but definitely not worth my 180bucks.
Hrithik : Awesome, handsome, mind blowing, killing looks, smart, confident,6pack abs. He is one sincere actor, who takes his work and his body seriously, am sure he is going to become a biiiiiiig star coz of his attitude and hard work towards perfection.
Abhishek : though he is supposed to be hero, am sure everybody had liking towards Hrithik(the villian), wore full shirts even on the beach when Hrithink and even Ali for the matter(the flop chopra guy..i forgot his name) would flaunt their muscles. Jr.B I think its time you take your body seriously, you have tough competition, John could not steal the crowd as much during D1 as Hrithik did in D2.
Bipasha : looked gorgeous, better than Ash for sure, first role was good, wonder why she was given 2 roles and behave like a dumb in the second half...she was not required there. but she looked good
Ash : oh my she was a total misfit there, dint look good at all, she couldn't carry the character well. the script writer tried to give her a patterned dialog but it was not really 'funny', Mr 'funny guy'
Ali : the flop young son of the chopra family i don't quite recollect his name, made things a little funny initially but later he was annoying too.
Mr Script Writer: the dialogs were quite predictive and boring and too long in some cases, except for one where Hrithik tells Abhishek "chor agar apna kaam nahi karega toh police kya kaam karegi".
Songs: there were too many songs which were not required.
Things that you cant miss: Hrithik's body,Hrithiks acting, the background sceneries, Abhishek's ponge ;), Bips in her bikini , gals thinking why is Hrithik married,(though his wife looks gorgeous too), the gadgets, the initial chase reminded me of Krish he he he, thinking is this circus
My rating is the Director could have done better, I missed the bikes in this movie. all in All see the movie for the hot Hrithik,
Gals : to see how handsome and adorable he looks
Guys : to see how they can build their muscles, a little for gadgets too, plus guys can see bips and ash too.
We all reached home safely and had a nice sleep, with puja dreaming of Hrithik.

While am writing this blog , they just announced in my office today requesting not to leave office until further notice as there are riots going on everywhere. Hope I get lucky again.

Bodyguards Tiff

2006-11-24T10:48:00.000Z

Here is a reply to an anonymous comment on my blog , it was too big for a comment hence this blog, first of all thanks for dropping by my blog Mr/Miss anonymous

This was posted before the incident happened so dint write about the incident and later on I did see the news when this 'bodyguard smackdown' incident happened and was debating in my mind about it here are my thoughts in words below. (With a disclaimer that my thoughts as my blog title reads maybe impious or virtuos)

Firstly Angelina and Brad came out and spoke about it which is below, secondly, even if it did happen, it was not the fav star couple but their bodyguards who were involved in it, and thirdly even if they(bodyguards) did it, I am not sure coz i was not there to witness and i wudnt trust the media totally they were arrested and fined too. So all those who think the bodyguards did it, they might not be that innocent, they were punished too right, so what more do we want? Dint they get their lesson.

Personally, I find it hard to believe that Brad and Angelina would hire individuals who were just brutes. After all the humanitarian work they've done, I can't imagine they would surround themselves with anyone who would purposely harm anyone, much less children, without plenty of provocation.

Heres an extract of an interview with Brad pitt sourced from NDTV

Brad: I can argue. I don’t have to agree with it. I may not be used to live life that way.

Irfaan: If I would have known, If I come to know that this kind of language… somebody used this kind of language. I wouldn’t have been sitting here, I wouldn't have come with Brad. This is a sensitive thing for me.

Barkha: So you are absolutely sure that this hasn’t happened?

Irfaan: Ya, I am sure that this hasn’t happened…it was blown out of proportion. I will tell you one thing. Today there was a newspaper. Somebody quoted me saying that you know the bodyguards misbehaved. I never talked to anybody. Although journalists were trying to take comments out of me saying that you were the only Indian, Bollywood actor there. As an Indian think if somebody calls you this. Now this is like putting words in my mouth. I didn’t know what happened, we were inside you know and they were just trying to create something out of it. I felt a little, you know…"

Irfaan too is supporting the couple right, and he just mentioned how media were putting words in his mouth.

Heres an interesting read on Guarding a celebrity using brain not brawn.

Last but not the least, I think we should create an environment for people to come to India for shoots, touring etc instead of creating such media prbs. One think I surely feel is that Brangelina should have had a press conference initially itself as they arrived in India, then the Paparazzi would not be chasing them as much, coz for them it was like a challenge to click pics of the hiding 'hot celebreties', am sure lot of money was involved in getting a nice shot of the couple for the news. I think the couple gave more priority to their work.

P.S: BTW Anon, I dint hear or read anything about the kick, where did you get that from?

Casino Royale, awesome movie...

2006-11-20T07:15:00.000Z

Though I thought I would not like Daniel Craig as Bond coz I'm an admirer of Brosnan but I think i'm getting inclined towards Daniel now.He's got extreeeeeeemely fit body, Loved the way he runs and does not pant at all(almost like a robot), the composed look on his face, emotions ( yeah this bond is human :)).

Okay about the movie, Its a little long , but does not bore you at all, you feel as if the movie ended and it continues (happened to me twice). Its about the initial days of bond, surprisingly the bond music is not in the backgrounds at all, yet the flavour of bond was still there.

The bond girl is not hot hot like the typical ones but self-effacing and diffident. No sensous scenes showed in India so can't comment on that, but I'm sure they would be good too. I don't want to give much about the movie, but DON'T miss the start of the movie at all, its the best chase I've ever seen so far and they've beautiful sceneries in various shots of the movie.

Casino Royale , totally loved it, I might watch it again. :)

Brangelina out once more

2006-11-13T11:49:00.000Z

Brangelina i.e. Angela jolie and Brad Pitt...I find it weird tht they are called by that name...is it only them or other stars also have a single name, like Bijo for Bips and John , Karesha for Kareena and Shaheed he he he ..am bad at this, letme come to the main topic.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie seem to enjoy giving surprises to the Indian crowd., The hot duo are definitely enjoying India in Indian style (ofcourse with their body guards)After their rickshaw stint in Pune they traveled by local train (second class) in Mumbai and also visited Gateway of India with their kids.Its nice to know the couple want to explore and feel the day to day stuff in India and instead of inviting press conference(though I don’t see the need) they are having these hide and seek sessions with our Indian crowd. But the crowd seems to be enjoying it too.

I dunno what I would do if i see the duo, but I'm sure Mulan would be jumping for a glimpse of the cheaseled Pitt, as she describes him :).

What would you do if you got a glimpse of them or for that matter any star?

Awaiting KJ(jr)

2006-11-09T12:47:00.000Z

Kapil , fondly called KJ/ Myst(e)ry the smirky fellow, was the one who introduced me to the world of blogging. I enjoyed reading his blogs, his funny experiences and was encouraged to start my blog too, one blog lead to another and soon everybody in the group like Ruz, Suni, Vips to mention a few started blogging. We were all fida by his style of writing to mention a few his Humanitarian Motives ,The workarounds and his conversation with Raju and the while series, so many I think I have to read the blog again. Nobody would call it a day before reading his blog and yes we had to leave comments too. All of us write now, but we miss his style. Though Suni got her style well. He was also thinking of taking up a course or something in (that's what he told us).

But lately coz hes awaiting his junior his writing has taken a back seat.Junior is expected anytime this month, hopefully KJ s back with mebbe proudparent.blogspot.com. :)

We all miss your writing KJ, and Ruz really needs some inspiration to start writing again, come back soon to this world of blogging..and good luck!!!

Home Alone

2006-11-08T12:36:00.000Z

Back from my vacation, and I am feeling so lonely. I miss mom big time. Its strange to live alone in your own house, so far I've lived alone abroad onlyand it was like a piece of cake, but I think its tougher to do the same back home. Hopefully I don't feel sad and lonely, so far no time for it. Thanks to my lovely friends who've kept me busy.

So far I've to deal with all the mess I keep doing home alone, like cook extra and waste food, keep searching stuff in the kitchen, Mom we should have all transparent containers, rememeber we talked about this, walk into a room full of water coz I forgot to close the tap and could not hear the water running, forget to pay the bills, already the telephone line of my house is cut, iron each morning coz I forgot to call the laundry man etc etc.

Hopefully my project work starts soon and I go onsite.

P.S: A request to the film industry, pls release some good movies soon.

Dubai - Truly Global.

2006-11-07T09:25:00.000Z

I surprised my family by landing in Dubai for the Diwali holidays, it was fun to see their surprised reactions :), god I miss them so much more now spent good 11 days with them and with the cold tissues too (well there was so much temp diff between indoor and outdoor that I caught cold big time...hence could not shop for perfumes :( )
Anyways that's not the purpose of my blog, I wanted to share my views as how Dubai is truly global and why Indians like it so much.

This was my 3rd visit to Dubai, first time I’d gone site seeing, the 7 emirates (I was amazed to see that all the roads even while traveling to another emirate(state) had street lights, unlike India where the state roads are not lit at all), 2nd visit was really short and this time I truly experienced the day to day living.

Roads - they are just awesome, no potholes like in Pune...well I find all roads better than Pune roads. Besides that they have so much greenery, wonder how they grow grass on the sand, any ideas? Cars were "ek se badhkar ek" (couldn’t find equivalent English word to express this). So many hummers wow....and they can really enjoy the ride on those smooth roads of course not on sharjah -Dubai road traffic that can get annoying.

Malls - the shopping malls in Dubai are so huge, you will find all the brands there, brands from US, India, UK everything. this time I visited the Mall of Emirates and Ibn Battuta mall, they reminded me of Vegas, the difference is Vegas has theme casinos and here the malls have themes, like ibn Battuta has interiors like china, India, Persia etc. Mall of Emirates has 'Ski Dubai', they actually make ice there and people can do skiing. I am sure the sheikhs who've seen sand all the time would be really excited to see the snow. I admire the country's mgmt and culture, though being an Islamic country they are pretty liberal (except for Ramadan, when people are not permitted to consume anything publicly). Sometimes I think they are too liberal, imagine everybody talks Hindi there, every second person there is an Indian (south Indian to be specific), wherever you go you see them; I wondered whether I am in India or Dubai.

Buildings: I really salute the architectures that build the buildings in Dubai, remind me of Howard Roark of Fountain head. They just don’t make boxes or normal buildings; they make huge and beautiful structures with the challenge of building it in sand. I wanted to see Burj-al-Arab, reservations had to be done (buffet lunch or tea) if you had to visit the hotel, its a little on expensive side, but my sweetie bro made reservations for me and my bhabhi. I was so excited that I would see the hotel, when I called them to ask what all I could see, they said only the lobby and the restaurant you've reserved. I was so annoyed it was not worth the money I thought they would give a tour or something; after all it’s the only 7 star hotels in water..Alas, I cancelled the reservation.

Food: Well you get all kinds of food here, veg, non-veg, I ate mangoes in Oct. So many food chains course the usual mc Donalds, KFC blah blah but what I liked the most is US Starbucks, UK's Costa and India's Barista all at one place...wow I just love the coffee. I found Dunkin Donuts too and just enjoyed them; my bro even got them packed for me to take to India. There are so many chaat stalls and awesome chaat. My sister in law finds all the vegetables there whichever she would get in Dehradun or Ahmedabad or Pune, so all those at one place.

No wonder my bro likes it there. I had lovely time with my nephew. It’s beautiful to see how kids express and pick up things from us. (There would be a separate blog for that).
So in all I would say Malaysia --- truuuuuuuuuuuuuuuly Asia, Dubai - truly Global.

P.S: For me global refers to countries I’ve visited so far :)

P.P.S: btw my return journey was awesome, got my tickets changed for Destination Pune instead of Mumbai, and for the first time I spread my legs(actually slept) the 2 seats besides me were empty in the flight, and on reaching India, for a change my best friend Puja was on time to pick me up (she is known for reaching late all the time..Ofcourse she has her valid excuses :)).

unplanned sunday activity

2006-09-27T09:46:00.000+01:00

last sunday was a nice sunday relaxing at home, lazying around reading, watching TV basically chilling,when my friend calls up at 5 and says, jijaji gave me sunidhi chauhan live performance VIP pass, its today at 7 are you game for it...I jumped off the bed (well am not a sunidhi chauhan fan or something just that seeing a live perofmace was much better than what i was already doing that day)got ready and in an hours time or so we were seated in our ' VIP seats'. (ok okay i'll stop emphasizing on the VIP seats...its just that i never got a VIP pass before :) )

The show started, was hosted by MC Vik, and he sang kangna .. then he introduced a new singer sonali who sang pari hoon mai followed by another new singer Ayub Patel who sang my fav 'chaand sifarish' then came the queen of item songs with a very high spirit and lot of 'josh'( bajaj mobike were the sponsorers hence josh), wow she looked simple and nice. Though she sings all item songs (well most of them) she was very dressed very very decent.Reminded me of how soon time flies its just around 9 years back, we went to see antakshari (live) and there Sunidhi had just come as a filler she sang a number or 2 and she was a child performing in frock, and now she was the main attraction and ran the entire show by herself with her voice and dancing moves and grooves. she sang around 9-10 songs to name a few 'meri mummy ko nahi pata', 'dhoom','parineeta's song',ishq kabhi kariyon na, bidi jalaile, munna bhai's dekhle, her latest song from Don etc

The crowd was totally involved in singing and dancing, and it was not that only young folks had come, there were people of all age groups, boys were dancing like crazy and there was also a little boy standing on the chair and dancing and when sunidhi noticed him and waved him back he was overwhelmed (you should have checked his face)

10 ingredients for yummy banana muffins.

2006-09-11T10:39:00.000+01:00

I tried this recipe last week, when I was invited for lunch...turned out to be really good.
Banana muffins

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Butter
1 cup sugar
2 cups Flour
2 eggs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 bananas
Honey (optional)
some nuts to garnishvanilla essence.

Wht to do with the ingredients?

First beat the butter soft and mix sugar in it (tip:its better if u powder the granular sugar first).
Beat this mixture well (by hand mixie or mixie) till it becomes soft and little fluffy, Add the beaten eggs to this mixture, add salt baking soda, baking powder and smashed bananas, mix well till a smooth mixture.
Now add honey and the flour slowly and keep mixing it( there should be no lumps).

Grease the baking tray with butter and sprinkle little flour on them, pour the mixture in the moulds and garnish them with the nuts

Bake it in the oven at 380 degree celcius for 18 minutes and the yummy muffins are ready to eat :)

I dunno what to title this, Picked up a tag probably?

2006-08-30T12:07:00.000+01:00

Loved this tag, so picked it up from smiling girl. i also realized that there is so much to do in this small life :)
So here is the index -Boldened ones are the ones that I did.
The ones with the asterisk are the ones that I would want to do.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
*06. Held a tarantula (well i held a baby crocodile, if that counts :))
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said 'I love you' and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris *
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights (What is it? Wanna see it though!)
15. Gone to a huge sports game (Nopes.. )
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa * (Of course, would love to do it!)
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables (Did this is in schooldays)
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars (yup did this, also i have some stars on the ceiling over my bed too :))
20. Changed a baby's diaper (Thanks to my nephew to gimme this chance)
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon (well taken a ride but not a trip)
22. Watched a meteor shower (Yes it was awesome, there is day in dec when you can see meteor shower all night..i happened to go for star gazing the same night,...and it was awesome i was out of wishes)
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope (Yepp!! )
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment (he he he yup)
27. Had a food fight (neah...i dont see that happening too)
28. Bet on a winning horse (did it in reno if the horse in the casinos can be counted :))
29. Asked out a stranger (well not exactly asked out, but i went site seeing with stranger during my hongkong transit)
30. Had a snowball fight (Yeah!)
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can (generally at echo points!)
32. Held a lamb (during my schooldays, held a baby goat, is it the same as lamb)
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster (Yeah, and I love them!)
35. Hit a home run (what is this??)
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking (Always!! coz i dunno to dance)
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day (not entire day though)
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer *
40. Visited all 10 provinces
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends (still have them!)
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country (recently done that in a pub in UK)
44. Watched wild whales *
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe *
47. Taken a road-trip*
48. Gone rock climbing (would love to do in canyon though, I went in lonavala)
49. Midnight walk on the beach (thanks to Goa for this :))
50. Gone sky diving (yes and it was 'THE experience', awesome, somply mind blowing)
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your cds (am sure Monica would do that :))
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke (i dont want people to leave the place and go :) )
59. Lounged around in bed all day (he he he some weekends are spent like this too)
60. Posed nude in front of strangers (neah....dont think will do it too.)
61. Gone scuba diving * (I really want to do this)
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater (does this mean an open theater?)
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business (would want to start a restaurant or coffee shop though)
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class (Tae kwon do...but then dint complete it)
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight (whats D&D?)
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie (many movies, taken frm my handy cam :))
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch(with my cousin)
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice (but went punting in cambridge :))
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an "expert"
83. Got flowers for no reason (I purchase them for myself sometimes)
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark (No...am a total veggie)
88. Had a one-night stand (not my type )
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house (bought in last jan...yipeee am so excited about it)
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one of your parents (lost dad )
93. Been on a cruise ship *
94. Spoken more than one language fluently (What one?? My number at the moment is 4)
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over *
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking (i do this quite often)
103. Had plastic surgery (i think i look pretty okay so far)
104. Survived an illness that you shouldn't have survived(double pnemonia when i was just 6 months old..all doctors had given up, when my family Dr saved me, was his first patient ;) after his MBBS)
105. Wrote article for a large publication (does writing article in blogspot count ?? :))
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane (thats my latest venture)
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart (Few , unknowingly though)
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari *
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol (NCC days)
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon *
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states (hmm UK, UAE, Singapore, Hongkong(transit though), Nepal and US, wanna go to Australia)
124. Visited all 7 continents * (Including Antartica!)
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat (am a veggie..so i dont see any chances there)
127. Eaten sushi (same as 126)
128. Had your picture in the newspaper (had my name , but not picture :( )
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach (i think most of the indian homes do :))
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read(Archie comics and shakespeare)
ating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream (sometimes only though)
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair (actually helped my bro in it once)
146. Dyed your hair (Hehe..Always!)
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone's life

Best bro

2006-08-11T13:03:00.000+01:00

This was my best Raksha Bandhan so far, not for the materialistic things but I tied rakhi to my bro myself after 5 years or so and that too both of us dint fight at all :) guess we are getting matured, and guess wht did i get...a LAPTOP...I was so longing for one...and my bro gets me the dell inspiron 6100.
Thanks bro...u r the best....not coz of the laptop(of course this counts too ;)), but by being by my side all the time.
I dont have to worry about so many things coz I know I have an elder bro who can take care of it. God I am so glad I am the younger one :) May all sisters have brothers like you.

I have a friend whose sis keeps demanding a scooty for rakhi, and he is not gonna give it to her now, but is gifting it during diwali, he says whatz the fun in getting things when you expect them, its a different charm to receive them when it is totally unexpected.
I think all bros have their ways of making their sisters happy. I like the way my bro makes me happy :)

poll

2006-08-01T11:35:00.000+01:00

A little background : Radio mirchi were actually linking this story(read post below) with dalmiya - saurav story as to how dalmiya pushed down his kid..not literally (read saurav) and now is the president of icc. Personally i dont think it was a good example/ way to relate the story and this..but the outcome surprised me. here is the poll:

This morning they had a poll on radio mirchi asking their audiences as to
if there is a question of life and death do parents love themselves more or their kids i.e. will they run for their life first or they will save their childs and sacrifice theirs.

vote A : the parent will run for their life first
vote B : the parent will let their child live

mentally i was thinking Vote B, they then narrated a story, in which birbal with the help of a parent monkey and child monkey had proved to Akbar(who believed otherwise like me) that parent monkey pushed down the child monkey in water, just to save its own life.

surprisingly many people were voting for A, which kinda shocked me.
Is it true ?
I have no experiences of being a parent yet, but seeing the possessive mothers near me I always thought it should have been B. Also, am sure all movie buffs agree, our hindi movie always portray how much parent sacrifice for their child.

is it only me who is thinking it would be 'B', would u vote A or B?

Yipeeee am back home

2006-07-20T12:03:00.000+01:00

Hurray am back home!!!. (Though not for long)
back to pampering (read food) from mom,
back to my friends,
back to my friends,
back with my car,
back with my room,
back with my TV,
back for fun,
back to my friends,
back to party

looking forward to visit Mocha, yes i hear its open in Pune and to visit 'The ship' new greek restaurant.
So far, in a weeks time I already ate chinese food, vada pav samosa :) and had a growling stomach too.

P.S: Why do we Indians crave so much for food.

I believe I can fly

2006-07-04T13:58:00.000+01:00

I believe I can fly, I believe I can touch the sky...

I was singing this song when I actually flew an aircraft some days back.
yes yes…I did..although the pilot took care of the mere jobs of take off and land...i Iook care of the tedious jobs i.e. take the aircraft to different heights and steer it left and right (no u turns).
so many controls..its amazing to talk with the pilot thru headsets..i tried removing the headset and chatting but couldn't hear a thing, switched back to headsets hearing him talk to the ATC...or the controller on the grounds...this is bravo whiskey bla bla...it was fun :)

Funny

2006-06-14T15:01:00.000+01:00

Second post for the day...but this ones funny :)

A couple drove down a country road for several miles, not saying a word.
An earlier discussion had led to an argument and neither of them wanted to concede their position. As they passed a barnyard of mules, goats, and pigs, the husband asked sarcastically, "Relatives of yours?""Yep," the wife replied, "In-laws."

WORDS
A husband read an article to his wife about how many words women use a day... 30,000 to a man's 15,000. The wife replied, "The reason has to be because we have to repeat everything to men... The husband then turned to his wife and asked, "What?"

CREATION
A man said to his wife one day, "I don't know how you can be so stupid and so beautiful all at the same time."
The wife responded, "Allow me to explain. God made me beautiful so you would be attracted to me; God made me stupid so I would be attracted to you!

WHO DOES WHAT
A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew the coffee each morning.The wife said, "You should do it, because you get up first, and then we don't have to wait as long to get our coffee."The husband said, " You are in charge of cooking around here and you should do it, because that is your job, and I can just wait for my coffee."
Wife replies, "No, you should do it, and besides, it is in the Bible that the man should do the coffee."Husband replies, "I can't believe that, show me."So she fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testament and showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says.......... "HEBREWS"

THE SILENT TREATMENT
A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment. Suddenly, the man realized that the next day, he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (and LOSE), he wrote on a piece of paper, "Please wake m e at 5:00 AM." He left it where he knew she would find it. The next morning, the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 AM and he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn't wakened him, when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed.The paper said, "It is 5:00 AM. Wake up."Men are not equipped for these kinds of contests.

God may have created man before woman, but there is always a rough draft before the masterpiece ;)

IT in India

2006-06-14T11:06:00.000+01:00

I came across this in one of my yahoo groups i am enrolled to, the original source is a blog but I dont have its link.

Its an interesting (though long) read on our IT condition and I do agree with some of the points mentioned here. Although I think that this condition happens more for project consultants than the engineering team as such for a product. Here it goes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Before I started working for myself, I spent some years in some of the top IT companies in India and still have many friends working in various software companies. I wrote a blog Recruiting like crazy, about the same time last year about how Indian companies are recruiting like there's no tomorrow and the possible consequences.
However I was avoiding writing this particular piece as it seems like an unpatriotic thing to do, to tell the world how bad the working conditions in software companies in India have become. And there's always the risk of excerpts being used out of context to bash up IT in India.
I am now writing this because I just keep hearing horror tales from the industry and it doesn't seem like anything is being done in the matter, so I thought I will do my bit and write.
First and foremost, before stereotypes about India kick in, I would like to clarify that I am not
saying that Indian software companies are sweat shops where employees aren't being paid and made to work in cramped uncomfortable places. The pay in software companies is very good as compared to other industries in India and the work places are generally well furnished and plush offices. India being a strong democracy, freedom of expression is alive and well and Indians are free to express their opinions and voice their concerns. Yet, I say that the software industry is exploiting its employees.
IT work culture in India is totally messed up and has now started harming the work culture of the nation as a whole. Working 12+ hours a day and 6 or even 7 days a week is more the rule than the exception.
Consequences:
- A majority of IT people suffer from health problems.As most of the IT workforce is still very
young, the problem isn't very obvious today but it will hit with unbearable ferocity when these
youngsters get to their 40s.
- Stress levels are unbelievable high. Stress management is a cover topic in magazines and newspapers and workshops on the subject are regularly overbooked.
- Most IT people have hardly any social / family life to talk of.
- As IT folk are rich by Indian standards, they try to buy their way out of their troubles and have incurred huge debts by buying expensive houses, gizmos and fancy cars.
Plush offices, fat salaries and latest gizmos can give you happiness only if you have a life in the first place.
The reason I feel this culture has emerged, is the servile attitude of the companies. Here's a tip for any company in the west planning to outsource to India. If you feel that a project can be completed in 6 weeks by 4 people, always demand that it be completed in 2 weeks by 3 people.
Guess what, most Indian companies will agree. The project will then be hyped up as an "extremely critical" one and the 3 unfortunate souls allocated to it will get very close to meeting the almighty by the time they deliver the project in 2 weeks.
Surprisingly, they will deliver in 2-3 weeks, get bashed up for any delays and the company will soon boast about how they deliver good quality in reasonable time and cost. Has anyone in India ever worked on a project that wasn't "extremely critical"?
I was once at a session where a top boss of one of India's biggest IT firms was asked a question about what was so special about their company and his answer was that we are the "Yes" people with the "We Can Do It " attitude. It is all very well for the top boss to say "We Can Do It ".. what about the project teams
who wish to say "Please....We Can't Do It " to the unreasonable timelines...I was tempted to ask "What death benefits does your company offer to the teams that get killed in the process?". I sure was ashamed to see that a fellow Indian was openly boasting about the fact that he and his company had no backbone.
The art of saying No or negotiating reasonable time frames for the team is very conspicuous by its absence.
Outsourcing customers more often than not simply walk all over Indian software companies. The outsourcer surely cannot be blamed as it is right for him to demand good quality in the least cost and time.
Exhaustion = Zero Innovation
· How many Indians in India are thought leaders in their software segment? - Very few
· How much software innovation happens in India? - Minimal
· Considering that thousands of Indians in India use Open Source software, how many actually contribute? - Very few

Surprisingly, put the same Indian in a company "in" the US and he suddenly becomes innovative and a thought leader in his field. The reason is simple, the only thing an exhausted body and mind can do well, is sleep. zzzzzz
I can pretty much bet on it that we will never see innovation from any of 10000+ person code factories in India.
If you are someone sitting in the US, UK... and wondering why the employees can't stand up, that's the most interesting part of the story. Read on...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The Problem
The software professional Indian is today making more money in a month than what his parents might have made in an year. Very often a 21 year old newbie software developer makes more money than his/her 55 year old father working in an old world business. Most of these youngsters are well aware of this gap and so work under an impression that they are being paid an unreasonable amount of money. They naturally equate unreasonable money with unreasonable amount of work.

Another important factor is this whole bubble that an IT person lives in.. An IT professional walks with a halo around his or her head. They are the Cool, Rich Gen Next .. the Intelligentsia of the New World...they travel all over the world, vacation at exotic locations abroad, talk "american", are more familiar of the geography of the USA than that of India and yes of course, they are the hottest things in the Wedding Market!!!
This I feel is the core problem because if employees felt they were being exploited, things would change.

I speak about this to some of my friends and the answer is generally "Hey Harshad, what you say is correct and we sure are suffering, but why do you think we are being paid this much money? It's not for 40 hours but for 80 hours a week. And anyway what choice do we have? It's the same everywhere."
So can we make things change? Is there a way to try and stop an entire generation of educated Indians from ending up with "no life".

Solutions
1) Never complement someone for staying till midnight or working 7 days a week.
Recently, in an awards ceremony at a software company, the manager handing over the "employee of the month" award said something like "It's unbelievable how hard he works. When I come to office early, I see him working, when I leave office late, I still see him working".. These sort of comments can kill the morale of every employee trying to do good work in an 8hr day.
Companies need to stop hiding behind the excuse that the time difference between India and the west is the reason why people need to stay in office for 14 hours a day. Staying late should be a negative thing thatshould work against an employee in his appraisals. Never complement someone for staying till midnight or working 7 days a week .

2) Estimates: If time estimates go wrong, the company should be willing to take a hit and not force the employee to work crazy hours to bail projects out of trouble. This will ensure that the estimates made for the next project are more real and not just what the customer has asked for.
3) Employee organizations / forums NASSCOM (National Association for Software and Services Companies) and CSI (Computer Society Of India) are perhaps the only two well known software associations in India and both I feel have failed the software employee. I do not recall any action from these organizations to try and improve the working conditions of software employees. This has to change. I am not in favor of forming trade unions for software people, as trade unions in India have traditionally been more effective at ruining businesses and making employees inefficient than getting employees their rights and helping business do well. So existing bodies like NASSCOM should create and popularize employee welfare cells at a state / regional level and these cells should work only for employee welfare and not be puppets in the hands of the companies. If the industry does not itself create proper forums for employee welfare, it's likely that the government / trade unions will interfere and mess up India's sunshine industry.
4) Narayan Murthys please stand up
Top bosses of companies like Infosys, TCS, Wipro, etc. need to send the message loud and clear to their company and to other companies listening at national IT events that employee welfare is really their top concern and having good working culture and conditions is a priority. Employee welfare here does not mean giving the employee the salary he/she dreams of.
Last word
I am sure some of my thoughts come from the fact that I too worked in such an environment for a few years and perhaps I haven't got over the frustrations I experienced back then. So think about my views with a pinch of salt but do think about it. And if you have an opinion on this issue, don't forget to add a comment to this article
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
:) Makes you think doesn't?

10 things to do at work when there is no work

2006-06-13T15:25:00.000+01:00

Untill last week I had lots and lots of work....no time for food...morning 8:30 to night 11 it was just my application, my desk, test scripts and defect sheet and now...there is nothing to do at all.
What can one do when there is no work at office.

1. Write mails to friends (include friends that you dint write for years)

2. Search for school/college and old friends (but cant do tht here...orkut and other alumini sites are blocked)

3. Read blogs

4. Chat - Here there are various options ( i finished chatting with friends in India...and US friends have yet to come online..they are sleeping )so chatted with robot check this out...http://www.pandorabots.com/pandora/talk?botid=f5d922d97e345aa1

5. Call friends ( I finished my calling card minutes, free talk time and my prepaid card is empty)

6. Read news

7. learn something new like a new tool (ahh this is something which I started to do..but got bored :) )

8. clean the desk and drawers

9. Clean your desktop, emails

10. Pretend to work. (this should be the first in list actually ;)

When there was work I wished there was no work and now that there is no work I wish there was work. Its funny how our minds work, Seems like the grass is always greener on the other side..but I think I want work..but not much...as much that I can finish from 9 to 6 :)

Spreading tradition

2006-05-26T15:15:00.000+01:00

Its so funny to notice that sometimes , somethings get so contagious

The place where our team sits at work is very close to the support group, hence the decibels are kinda high here. I dint wanna listen to all their talks describing their weekends and all tht hence I started wearing headphones and listening to my music while working. Initially I was the strange gal out here..wearing headphones at work (though it was common thing in all my previous offices) and now almost the entire team here except for the PM have headphones at their desk :)

I spread the tradition here too:)

initial hands on paintbrush

2006-05-25T17:26:00.000+01:00

Was getting really bored at work today so tried my hands on paintbrush...it reminds me of my drawings in childhood :). though this still looks like a kid has drawn this.

travel spree

2006-05-20T18:55:00.000+01:00

Seems like I am on a travelling spree this year, this morning i was just thinking of places i travelled since jan 2006 and I was amazed to see the list
udaipur,mahableshwar(thrice),lonavala, mount Abu,Bombay(i lost the count now),Dubai, UK..looks like i really travel a lot.

I thought as people get old, they tend to settle in a single place...seems like either i am not getting old or i have not found the right place to settle :)

This can never happen in India

2006-05-13T21:08:00.000+01:00

I went to the bank yesterday to open an account with them, and the lady with her brit accent asked.
Are you Mess or Messes (Are you Miss or Mrs)
Miss

Are you single or married
Single

Do you have any children below the age of 18
No

This can happen only here :)

what age will you die?

2006-05-11T14:49:00.000+01:00

You Will Die at Age 70

You're pretty average when it comes to how you live...
And how you'll die as well.

What Age Will You Die?

bon voyage to uk

2006-04-25T19:34:00.000+01:00

finally i am in uk, after a long journey of more than 24 hours; the good part is i cud visit my bro for 10hrs, so it was nice. seems like everybody wants to be in uk, after the long immigration queue(read 2 hours 30 minutes, seems like everybody wants to be in uk) i was finally out of the airport. I booked a cab and my next journey to fleet started. the cab (volvo, i dint know volvo had cars too) driver started talking in hindi , he was from afghanistan and played hindi music for us.."ishq ki galli which no entry" he he he.

the route to fleet is very scenic ,its supposed to be summer here, but the sky was pretty gloomy, i dont feel that its summer at all. Finally we reached fleet, there is greenery everywhere, with differnt kind of flowers, trees, there is a variety of flowers blooming in the grass too. its really beautiful. the houses here are pretty, they look like the house in 70's made of bricks and slanting roofs. Ours was one of them too.

we called our project manager after reaching the guest house for the keys , and he came in 10 min , he asked us to freshen up and said in 20 min we'll go to office. huh!!!! I wanted to sleep, i cursed him at that moment...freshed up a little and went to work. while talking to the front desk, i recoolected friends episode where monica and phoeboe are trying to avoid their brit neighbour coz of her brit accent :).
office is good, met some colleagues and it was lunch time.
cafetaria looked good, reminded me of sltc cafetaria where they served soups , food etc, only difference is here we have to pay ;). there was only 1 veg option, and lucky me i got the last piece of it(lentil cheese or something was its name) and my another veg colleague survived on jacket potatoes. he he , he literally ate boiled skin potatoes with some other veggies :)

afternoon, i dont remember at all as to what i was doing, i was so sleepy and my eyes were so red. my pm kept asking 'you feeling sleepy' i said yeah , with a hope that he would tell me to go home, but he just smiled and went away.he kept asking me may times. finally at 5 he said, go home and try not to sleep till 7:30, dont sleep now else you will never be able to come over the jet lag. :), all curses for him are taken back now.went home, cooked food and slept. morning 4:30 I woke up and then forced myself to sleep. morning caught the bus and came to office, evening, am still here, planning to take a cab..how much i miss my car :(

I THINK US IS BETTER THAN UK, OR MAYBE I AM IN A REAL VILLAGE HERE. too early to judge, I'll explore this weekend for some good places around.

Holi

2006-03-16T03:45:00.000Z

These days I hear different stories as to what is holi, why is it celebrated etc, Infact our office holiday declaration email read 'holiday for holi : festival of colors' :) (sometimes I wonder what the non-Indians would be thinking of the holiday description we give, Diwali-festival of lights, Holi - festival of colors, then maybe festival of food and what not:))

Anyways What I was telling was these days I hear stories about holi and I am curious to relate as to which one could actually be real, but in my childhood I never cared as to why we celebrate holi, I just cared as to I get all the colors in advance, a pitchkari to play with, my set of old clothes (2..just in case) and I've filled up lots of balloons with water (this is my set and they are seperate from my brothers)..a day in advance, and next day all neighbours and friends would get together and color each other, we would pull all the shy faces out and color them..all uncles aunts would just not be recognizable. I now wonder what pleasure i got rather still get to just pull people and color them or pour water on them..but its fun he he he ...i dunno why..but I really enjoy it. this is how I spent my holi past many years.

This year's holi was a little different, (apart from me waking up my neighbours and coloring them in their bed he he he).
These days each festival is so hyped coz of the media..holi now played in clubs and resorts with some ticket charges Rs.300 per person or 500 per couple entry etc etc.Some of my Family friends were inviting me to boat club where they had 'rain dance' and food etc Rs.300 per head(discounted price, since they were boat club members). Me ;acting cheap these days (duh I've bought a house, am next in the EMI driven slaves queue now) says..no no..300 for holi...no way, and i turn the invite down..and was thinking that I will spend this holi maybe at home resting and preparing for the transition or thinking about my new job. The evening before the 'holi' day, another friend calls up and invites me to play holi, I denied..thinking of another club invitation with all the crap and shoo shaa business ..but after hearing the destination, I just said yes readily.

Next morning (after coloring and waking up my neighbours) around 10-15 of us were at Shreevatsa with lots of colors , pitchkaris, some sweets and souls full of enthusiasm. this place (Shreevatsa) is just in the heart of pune i.e near pune station but I never knew of its existence, despite of being in a central location , it was pretty quiet, sonal..who organized the holi went in and called the lady in charge there, as to where are the kids. the lady replied that they are all waiting for you, and she called upon the kids..all kids suddenly from somewhere came out, There were kids from age 2months to 10 years. they were all dressed up and had set up a tub full of water in the middle of the playarea. Soon the music blasted , pitchkaris were out and all the colors found perfect faces for themselves. The kids instantly bonded with us(I think Holi is a real ice breaker)..we were coloring each other, chasing each other..pouring water..shouting ahh oooh and running around there he he ....Chaitrali (one of the kids) was so excited that despite having one of her hand paralyzed she cudn't let her hands off the pitchkari, she was opening the pitchkaris with mouth and filling them up...she just couldnt wait till the time i fill it with water...seeing her excitement I just picked her up and put her in the water, she laughed loudly and then shouting and enjoying....with all the chap chap around , the other kids wanted to get in too..one by one each of them raising their hands up..my turn my turn and we picked them up and they (and us too ;p) had a dip in the tub..(which by now was all colorful). Some kids were so shy that we had to pull them out from their room, and some were chhupa rustoms..they wud splash water on us and just run away or hide and we would keep loopking for them. all of us were drenched and we could barely recognize each other (face wise) here the physical fact of being tall, fat, short made a helping hand to recognize people. Chaitrali..by now started shivering...we asked her caretaker to take her in. Pushkar (he is a brat) was all grinning (with no teeth in his mouth) and we were wondering what he hiding behind..and boo he gets a water pipe and ...well well.. we all were kinda cleaned with it :). Later sides changed and he faced the water pipe :). seeing all this chaitrali came again (this time all dry and with a different dress) and started playing again. all kids were laughing with joy and teasing us with colors ,We all played and played till each of us started shivering.

Later we cleaned up the place, bid them bye and returned home; Each one sharing our experiences with each other and talking to ourselves too.Though I spent more amount (almost 4 times to what I would spend for boat club party), it doesn't matter now, This holi was so much fun, I can still picture the kids giggling and laughing and putting water on us. I slept with some satisfaction and feel good and some food for thought too.

I am glad I got this oppurtunity today, I think each of us..though I think not each of us can adopt children...we should atleast spend some quality time with them or make their life a little more colorful than what they already have in whatever way we can. I think SOFOSH is doing a great job.

Thank you

2006-03-10T09:12:00.000Z

Birthdays are terriffic.
This birthday of mine was one of such kind. i got wishes from friends from all phases of my life, school, college, computer classes, previous office, current office, relatives and neighbours too.
I got wishes from Germany, singapore, Chicago, maryland, california, bombay, bangalore, indore, ahmedabad, pune and Dubai. I just realized my friends seem to have covered the entire globe. I was even greeted by the candidates whom i was interviewing yesterday at work:)

I got lovely gifts too, flowers, chocolates, cards, jewellery (swaroski :p)), wine, clothes and had a good time with all my friends covering the entire day. thanks to vc and jo and bhavana for all the string decorations and all..its been years that I did that, reminded me of my childhood :)

To all my friends and colleagues. Thanks for making it such a wonderful day for me. I really treasure your friendship. This year was really a different kind.

P.S: I must've gained atleast 2kgs yesterday as i cut 4 cakes in all , the entire day. I need to go to the gym now.

the hunt is over...

2006-01-26T17:47:00.000Z

no no...not groom hunt, that is still going on.
It had been my moms plan for me, past many years to buy a house, but I was just being lazy. This year rather year 2005 she finally convinced me.
It was a tough time to decide a flat,
first of all we had to decide the type of house
2 bhk, 3 bhk, row house, duplex, which floor etc etc
mom said 2bhk..bro 3 bhk..and I wanted a row house ;)

then came the location
aundh, kondhwa, koregaon park,pashan,sus road,chandni chowk
I liked kondhwa and my bro liked aundh

After a little search here and there , I tried to sell ganga satellite in wanowrie to my family, mom liked it and my bro liked it so so.It was difficult to convince my bro for ganga satellite, he even came to a stage of saying there is no need to buy a house. but finally he got convinced.

So this morning I was taking ma to see the house at Ganga Satellite and my aunts place, and on the way I saw bramha sun city's ad. So I told ma lets see this one too since its on our way to our aunts house.the road to the site was real narrow and ma told ...well i think its reject..the roads are way too narrow..anyways since we've come so far lets see the site , we continued driving and whola when we reached the gates it was awesome(turned out to be the largest entrance gate in asia), the sales office was impressive we were presented a video of the entire project by katrina kaif(shes the brand ambassador),then we saw the sample flat, Mom was so impressed with everything, we sat with the sales person there and booked the flat..again came the question of 2 bhk or 3 bhk :p) I called my bro and we finalized C1 flat no 102. (though he was concerned that the builders are not fake ..he he he)Our flat will look like this

I am so excited..just cant wait for another year. Finally we got our dream house not very far from the city and not in the city too. Plus we have all the amenities, well 101 amentities which includes all types of sports that you think of except skiing, 3 swimming pools, gym, jacuzzi, massage room, 5 gardens, boating in an artificial lake , amphitheatre, lounge bar, 24 hrs music cafe, music room, library, restaurant etc etc.

I dunno how much of this i will be using..but its just so cool to have everything around.
Suni..ur co is also very near to my new home ;),Anand ur dance classes too, ruzie sohos is right there.Hitesh, plz gimme some money :p)

P.S: Later we also learned that there were actually 3 ways to reach the site...and its really kewl just 2 kms away from koregaon park

my experiences with autos

2006-01-24T11:23:00.000Z

I am so proud of myself or maybe I am just lucky.

Its been a week that i am traveling my auto rickshaws (yeah my dear car is gone for servicing) and I dint have a single (seriously not even one issue) dispute with the drivers of the rickshaws.Normally I would get into an argument either for the tariff or he not taking passengers...but this time its real cool.
The best experience was this morning.
My Mom telephoned the rickshaw stand and asked for a rick to come, I got into the rick and he said he had to fill petrol, Since I was in a hurry I told him to drop me near the petrol station and I'll take another rick. I started searching for another rick and could not find any..I started walking and the same fellow came and told me ..come madam I'll drop you to the autorickshaw stand..I dint get petrol here else i would have dropped you.He dropped me to the stand and told another driver to take me and also told him I was in hurry.
The rickshaw was awesome...felt like sitting in a car, the car seats were so clean and comfortable with mats and the rick was shining jet black. Moreover he played good music for me and dropped me to work on time. He also asked me , Mam are you going to perform a sugery[ Looking at the bag in my hand, he thought I was a Doctor :)] and I'd told him I had to go to Deenanath mangeshkar hospital (well thatz the nearest Landmark to my office)

I hope this saga continues for another day as I will get my car tomorrow.

unusual food Combo's

2006-01-09T18:33:00.000Z

Some people enjoy food when combined with some other food, here's some combination i've seen so far.
Papaya with green chutney and curd
Jilebi and curd
Jilebi and tomato ketchup
Masala roti and ice(not Rice)
Dalrice and roti
Coke with icecream
Cofee with strawberry and cucumberjuice
Noodles with curd/buttermilk
Curd +rice+aachar+papad(my fav)
and overall mix everything served during lunch and enjoy!!

This is what i get!!!!

2006-01-03T18:08:00.000Z

After being a little conscious initially..as I am the only gal in the batch ..thinking that all eyes are on me (though nobody cared) and wondering what would these college students think about me...whatz going on in their mind (yes i go to symbiosis gym) and lifting weights, cycling, understanding and using each equipment present there, sacrificing eating out, controlling food habits, doing yoga....after doing all this for a month (technically a month but i guess i did it for 15-20 days) I lose 1 kg as per my gym weighing machine and 3 kg as per my home weighing machine..and the fat % remains the same :(

Am not going to give up!!

WHAT ARE DREAMS?

2005-12-20T04:00:00.000Z

While reading this blog, I was wondering what do our dreams generally signify. as far as I understand , dreams reflect of what we think in our sub conscious, but does'nt it happen that sometimes you never think of it like in days and days but then too see it in your dream. Like I very often see snakes in my dreams (just yesterday a small snake bit me in my dreams), mom says that seeing snakes signifies that you will get money :)...well but mom the snake bit me....and its been a while that I saw the animal channel and thought of snakes, then why did I dream of it?

Some dreams are really good, like in college days I would dream that I went to college in helicopter (those days I would be tired travelling by bus and trains :)), so I can understand that its just my state of mind there.
but some dreams are real scary, so far i've seen these scary dreams only twice...and I literally screamt which scared my room mates too

Sometimes I see a dream and then forget about it, and then in my real life the same incident happens (its just like a replay) and I question myself; hey has'nt this happened before? Is that a dream too or is it intuition....but intuition cant be in such picturesque details, can it ? or was it a dream?

WHAT ARE DREAMS?

the saga of the never ending sweeping of the broom

2005-12-01T09:31:00.000Z

Clean your shelf..your clothes fall off when we open the cupboard would be a comment I would face most of the time in my childhood and I would never be able to find my books in that small section alloted to me in the cupboard , finally on one weekend Dad would sit on my head and make me clean the shelf and I would think man its so much to clean, least did I think that its gonna be worse once I grow up

These days cleaning is not restricted to my shelf...(oh no..now i have a cupboard), a room, my car, office drawers and other such materialistic things, I also need to clean and organize my laptop, desktop at work, my personal computer at home, the lab machines, my mobile phone, my emails (in different accounts) apart from office email...Uuuf its too much to doUntill now I have never had the feeling that all my things are clean and organised..something or the other is left unclean or not organized..Will I ever achieve that ?

I have a friend who manages to do it well, she washes her home slippers and keeps it to dry with her utensils and so does the supdi (I am not sure what it is called in english dust pan ??) on her kitchen platform. Also she roams in her house without slippers to verify that there is no dust in the house and even wiped her home walls...yeah right walls

Hppy Birthday Big B

2005-10-13T19:55:00.000+01:00

Amitabh Bachhan, the name itself carries so much weight in it (sorry trie to literally translate hindi, naam mein kitna vajan hai). couple of days back was Big B's birthday, 64th birthday and he still is the most popular, respected, admired actor in India. I wonder what makes him so popular and wanted even now. He is seen in TV commercials (almost every 2nd ad is his), movies, functions...everywhere there is Amitabh or his voice. I wonder where does he get the energy from (saathh saal ke budhe ya saath saal ke jawan?...)

When bachhan sahab was starting his career, it seems the all India radio had rejected him for his voice thinking that it was not nice, glad that happened, else mr bachhan's talent wud be limited to radio only.

Mr Bachan has a great personality. He does his job so well, that people dont even realize that he is doing his job. Its great to see the way he interacts with his fans and the contestants in KBC. he makes them so comfortable, and is so down to earth. He is so generous and would never say anything offesnsive. People ask him to dance, sing, recite a poetry and even propose to him. Wherever possible he fulfills their wishes and manages to be so witty, fresh and energetic even now. Am sure people watch KBC to see him and his interaction with fans and star celebreties (ofcourse some watch it to boost their ego that they are aware of the answers to the (simple) questions asked, and the contestants could not give the answers :))

He is a real legend. Fans wished him in so many different ways on his b'day some even made his pictures using thread and what not.

what do you want to be in life??

2005-10-09T19:19:00.000+01:00

This was a common question asked in childhood, by teachers, parents, writing essays especially What would you do if you were the prime minister (i wonder why we had to write that essay every year) friends, parents friends, guest visiting home etc, especially when the final exams results were out.

I think very few ppl know what they wanna be and others are influenced by their surroundings and wanna be that.

Till my 12th grade I wanted to become a Doctor. Me and my best friend shared the same dream (though now she's a doctor:)) I was always influenced by my family Doctor, since he saved my life when I was a child, and my best friends Dad was a Doctor too.After the results I realized that, I am not made for becoming a Doctor thatz some genius's job. Then I thought I'll be a pilot, later I wanted to join the army (thatz why I joined NCC too), by then I was a graduate and just wanted to be a house wife(yeah that was what I wanted to do :)), but then computers came in to my life and I wanted to be a programmer for animation and ended up in QA.

Now I want to open a coffee shop...This evening was seeing a travel show on TV, and I think that would be an ideal job to do, visit new places, describe them, meet new people, their culture, enjoy the cuisine, get new clothes, shopping, talk to people and apart from that get a salary too....see I still don't know what I want to be in life.

I think in general people can be categorized as
1. people in life know what they want to be in life and achieve it.
2. for some people life just takes them to heights, its their luck and destiny
3. People take life the way it comes
4 yet others they decide something but then they take lot of turns as time changes

I think am of type 3 n 4 how about you??

Nevertheless, I would say whatever type you are of just enjoy each moment of your life.

Wedding recently attended!!

2005-09-25T19:53:00.000+01:00

Finally Finally Finally, our friend is happily and "officially married" in India.

Out of 3 weddings(the same couple married thrice with each other) we got the oppurtunity to attend this one on a busy office working day.Most of the other friends cud not make it except for me and my smirky friend who grabbed the oppurtunity.

So the plan was that I pick my friend from his office and then we go and attend the wedding. after a wait of 30 min my friend arrived and with no complaints of making me wait, I asked him for directions, which he said he is not aware of. So we call up other friends who might be in office mornin 9:30 10:00 and can access mail (recently most ppl have joined co's where either they dont have access to personal email or attending induction trng, and others who can..are not early birds to be in office tht hour). So out of the entire 10-12 ppl we finally called our south Indian friend in B;lore and asked for the address, He did give us the address but unable to understand his pronunciation we finally asked him to spell it out..u see he says bail instead of bhel..but Thanks to him tht we cud reach the hall in time)

Finally we reached the marriage hall, where there is loud carnatic style music on, Our friend there sitting with her hubby perfoming the rituals. She looked nice and different(well am used to see her in shirts n trousers only and hence different but in a nice way :)), and the way she was dressed reminded me of bharatnatyam dancers, with lots of jewellery,flowers highlighted eyes etc. We dint understand anything wht the minister(pandit) was saying as it was all tamil. I was trying to tell my friend how our (gujju)weddings are different...and the dresses ...blah blah...which .being a boy...he obviously was not interested in...and i was so much wishing tht one of the other gals came along to the wedding instead of this one.

After some moments of me taking some pictures of the groom getting confused whether he had to put the kumkum on forehead or on in the brides hair and my friend viewing from the windows or the windows...the wedding was getting over. So my friend comes over and tells me (in a very this is the plan tone)Okay, now when they are on stage and we meet them, if she says have food n go , we gotta say yes, dont say no and all..we dont have time...blah blah...got it...I said yes. I then started wondering....did tht mean we not going to have lunch there? ( my day started 7:00 in the morning with a conf call tht morning and i was hungry..morover it was tamil wedding ...and i love south indian food) I asked him does tht mean we not going to have lunch here, he said no and said ARE WE ??...looking at his expression I said no no...we arent.
The rituals were still going on, but my brain n heart was in the food and with the terrible feeling of me not able to taste the food. finally i told him, I'l lgo down and come....as i had some time left between the moments the rituals are over and the couple is on stage i sneaked to the dining place, there were only waitiers and chefs there with tables and chairs ready for people to sit. i started seeing into the food layed. A fellow understood tht i wanted to taste the food,,and he got me a plate of pisam and served me tamarind rice, sambhar, kolam and i dunno wht not..but all tasty food. I ate in tht small dish felt like a cookery show anchor, tasting the food and syaing how good it is and left from there satisfied and happy.

We met the couple, chit chatted a little, then the groom and my friend reminded tht we are in the wedding and others waiting to meet, we greeted the couple and left.

My car turned 2 :)

2005-07-22T11:50:00.000+01:00

Its been 2 years now that I am a proud owner of the Santro Xing.

History
Past 4 years I was planning to buy a car...whether to buy the commonly recommended maruti or Santro or something else. I went through various comparison sheets, sites and what not to see which one is actually best and suitable to me and most important comfy for my mum. These sites are good man..They have nice comparison sheets talking about the weight of the car too..And I thought only gals cared for their weights.

Anyways, finally I decided on Santro Zip drive ..Since I dint have much money then...Requested my bro to buy it...for which he said NO with comments like 'We don't need a car we each have individual vehicles..and Pune is such a place where car driving is not easy', so like an obedient sister kept quiet (as if I had any choice) with all my spirits down like a deflated balloon. Though now am happy coz had he bought the car then..We wud have to live with the flat back zip drive....So good that I waited. And 2 years back I just went to the showroom..gave the cheque and said I want to buy this car (sounds like a richie rich gal eh;)

(I gave the cheque immediately coz that time ppl confused me...buy a indica..not a santro..or buy an Alto..which had just come in market...and I wanted to buy Santro....So before I get influenced by any of the comments I gave the cheque) and there I got the new Sunshine car bright silver in color.

Emotions
Before buying the car, I'd thought that will use my kinetic regularly and drive the car just for long drives or with mum. But I just cud'nt get my hands off the wheel..ever since I bought the santro I never drove my kinetic ( my 10 years companion)..Its so comfortable...listen to music and the cool AC and drive and drive and drive. I dont think I'll ever go back to a two wheeler now despite of driving in Pune roads (read as filled with traffic and UN disciplined driving)

Casualties so far,to the car No lives yet :)
Front bumper - changed once , due to change again -- courtesy my s-I-l
front windshield - changed once - courtesy diwali Diyas from our balcony diving on the car parked down
rear left door - dented and scratched once - courtesy - some rash driver in inox who fled away while I was enjoying my movie
left door due again - this time courtesy Me ...was hurrying in the office parkin lot.
right rear door - dented and scratched once - courtesy my s-I-l

My next car
Hyundai accent or skoda ;) or Scorpio or Honda CRV or....who cares..I love my Xing right now :)

Pune goes International

2005-07-06T12:20:00.000+01:00

ya ya...The Pune airport will have International flights in and out of PUNE that is coool..so this means no more travelling to Mumbai to travel abroad , seriously speaking..whenever i have to go to Mumbai to board a flight I would always think of how villagers must be feeling when they have to come to town for mebbe better hospital treatment or to catch some train etc.. I would have the same feeling.

but hey..no more of that (atleast for flights to visit my brother) as International flights for destinations to nearby countries like Dubai, Muscat, Singapore, Bangkok etc will be in Pune too. No more of booking KK travel bus..travel with them to pick up people and then travel to mumbai for 4 hours.......just 45 min drive and you ready to board the flight. How cool is that :)

Am just waiting for Dec 12 2005 ..thatz when Pune is planning to go international...Aviation Minister Patel wants to give his leader Mr. Sharad Pawar(of course for us too) the gift: Take-off of first international flight from Lohegaon (pune airport)
check this out http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=136268

I had my vacation planned for 2 weeks (was suppose to visit my bro last fri) but got cancelled for some reason...but I got the oppurtunity again...Now... ever since my MOM has come to know about this ..she says..I'll fly from Pune only.

Helmets Yes/No -- Should be YES definitely....

2005-07-04T11:00:00.000+01:00

Recently a law is passed by the govt to make wearing helmets compulsory for 2 wheeler drivers and pillions.

I believe this is done for the safely of people and i personally liked the law..coz there are many accidents (especially in this rainy season...yeah it is pouring cats and dogs in Pune this year)..anyways back to my topic. the rule was supposed to be implemnted by july 1. i.e. some 5 days back..though the state govt asked for more time..but the SC denied..this was firm decision.

But people are not understanding their safety measures at all. Not all are abiding the rules..instead they are protesting..there are various morchas by various groups (including people from the insurance sector...wonder if this impacts their co) at various places saying that they dont want to wear helmets reason being

1. Helmets are only necessary for roads where there is high speed say on highways and expressways (duh... you cant drive 2 wheelers on expressway)
2. Pune does not require helmet where the speed is not much(lemme qualify much...i.e. 20 km/hr) ..city (and by city they mean say Laxmi Road)

Aren't these lame excuses ...I mean...come on we drive faster than that ...its only WITHIN laxmi road that you dont go above 20....but we drive above 40km/hr on the roads leading to Laxmi Road..and there are roads other than Laxmi Road too.
I hope people understand this..wonder whatz wrong with the grey cells of ppl.
Dont' people realize that its their own life at stake.??

P.s: Off the topic...y/d Bhupati (read Handsome, dashing, charming Bhupati) won the Wimbledon again after 3 years..and the swiss guy did a hatrick...kewl game

WALK OF LIFE

2005-06-30T08:46:00.000+01:00

while driving to work this morning...i saw many pandals and a lot of hustle of policemen.. for a moment i thought ...is ganes h festival approaching..or is there a minister ralley ....then i realized that all this was for the Warkaris going to Pandharpur.

With shelter, meals, medicine & music Pune plays perfect host
PUNE MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, LOCAL GANESH MANDALS AND PEOPLE LIKE US CHIP IN TO HELP 3 LAKH WARKARIS

FAITH and an unbroken 700-year-old tradition make lakhs of Warkaris from all over the State accompany the palkhis of Sant Tukaram and Sant Dnyaneshwar from Dehu and Alandi to Pandharpur. As followers of the Bhagwat sect, a faith prevalent in Maharashtra, the pilgrims walk the 230 km distance, like both the poet-sants did, in a fortnight to be present at the Vitthal-Rukmini temple on Ashadhi Ekadashi. On Thursday, Pune will play host to the Warkaris who halt here for two days.

Arches, fairy lights and posters of the traffic police department are up, various Halls are getting ready ,where Warkaris will have their meals. People from all walks join to aid the Warkaris. From Pune up to Wakhri , Meddical vans, with Doctors equipped to deal with medical eventualities. Various sheds are set up to protect them from rains. Arrangements for tea, lunch and dinner are done at various places. Free medical camps, massage for senior citizens, repairing of chappals and umbrellas have been organised.
Keeping in step with the Warkaris will be the rhythms they carry with them — Tukaram’s abhangs, aartis and bhakti geets.

Cleaning of public roads is on. Children have a short vacation as some schools host a living place for the warkaris.

I really admire these warkaris who walk every year in such heavy rains for the faiththey have. Am sure others admire too..infact they do more than admiring they actually help the warkaris achieve their goal :)

NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN

2005-06-28T13:49:00.000+01:00

Yeah...it's true, Mars is going to be a second moon of earth for a day.

The Red Planet (MARS) is about to be spectacular! This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history.

The next time Mars may come this close is in Year 2287. (none of us will be there then...except for our souls..if any ;) )

Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.
The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. By August 27, Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot.
At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m. by the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30a.m. That's pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history.

So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month.

some funny interviews...

2005-06-25T15:05:00.000+01:00

some incidents while conducting interview...either people these days are very casual while giving interviews...or mebbe these are exceptions...but they are funny for sure

Late Interview:
A candidate was sitting at the office reception and had to wait for some time...after few minutes he was escorted to the interview room
Interviewer : introduces himself and asks so whats your experience so far?
candidate : good
a long pause ....
Interviewer : what is your experience so far
Candidate : good..infact very good..the A/c is nice and cool...the security offered me coffee with biscuits and he gave me vistors card ..so far it has been very nice. Thankyou.

Telephonic Interview
Interviewer : introduces himself
Candidate : hi how you doing, hows the weather there?
Interviewer : its good ..again introduces himself and asks ..shall we start with interview
Candidate: ohh....Can you call after some time...am stuck in a traffic jam..and on my way home
Interviewer : fair enough will call you later
after 1 hour..thankfully this time the candidate was ready for interview
Interviewer : so..i understand your project in your first comapnay (3 page description) but what about your current projects (written in 2 lines)
Candidate : ohh...i dint update my resume....
Interviewer: ohhh ok..so how come you changed your job in 6 months
Candidate : 6 months...no nine months
Interviewer: but you've written dec to jun...i believe that is 6 months
Candidate : OHH is it !!!

Face-2-Face interview
Interviewer: your resume looks impressive
Candidate : thanks....i was lucky to get a chance to work on these things
Interviewer : so do you know winrunner
Candidate : sorry mam...i attended 1 class in my previous company but no hands on experience
Interviewer : ohhh ok...how about unix, are you comfortable answering questions on them
Candidate : (with extreme confidence)..yeah sure
Interviewer : what utitlity is used to compare files
Candidate..uhhhh...mmmm
Interviewer : ok...how can you know wht folder you are currently in
Candidate: uhhhhh...mmm
Interviewer : can you give me 5 commands you know of unix
Candidate: after thinking a lot .....telnet

Heights of Application
a matrimonial ad read...wanted a suitable groom for s/w professional..currently working in mnc..........if intereseted please write to.....
the inbox of the ad placer : Mam...here is my resume...can you please forward it in your company...i am currently looking for a job..all the best in your groom hunt.

F R I E N D S

2005-06-21T08:58:00.000+01:00

We all have friends around us and I always imagine as to how each friend of mine got added in my life...rather how friends get added in our lives. Initially they are strangers and slowly and gradually amongst so many people only a few sometimes only one person become our friend and stay with us kinda forever. Many times when i think of my friends i always try to remember..when did we first chat or how we met etc etc.

Being in Pune so far in my life i.e born and brought up here i have the privelege of staying in touch with friends from old time. I still have friends from school , college, NCC, aptech and Selectica. But i must say that the number of friends i made in Selectica is equivalent to the total number of friends i made before Selectica.

There in Selectica we colleagues turned friends were together i.e one geographical location for sometime and then they wud go for work on site return home then again go. So there was always a thought that after this project or that assignment we would meet, and so on but for some friends when they left for work thinking that they would return but never returned …We didn’t know that it was our last time we were meeting now they are now working in UK, US , australia..not that we are not in touch now...Thanks to the Internet world.

anyways the point i was trying to make is that whenever we friends parted we never knew that it was the last time we were meeting..but recently a friend relocated back to 'his part of India' and we all knew that we might not meet him again. It was kinda weird feeling to think that he would no longer be around during our lunch and dinner session, to argue, for the drive to bombay in my car though he always said that his 'ALTO' is the best but always had his hands on the wheel of my santro

Parting with friends is not a happy feeling but hey...'INTERNET HAINA'

Oblation to Laxmikant Berde & Mr. Amrish Puri

2005-01-18T08:42:00.000Z

Last month was a major loss to Bollywood with the demise of two great actors Comedian Laxmikant Berde and Villian / character artist our favorite Amrish Puri aka Mogambo. Am sure all kids (including me)think of Lakshya as a joker and scared of Mr. Amrish Puri ..not be around with. They were the best at what they did and so much involved in their roles that it was easy for one to think that their reel life is their real life.

Laxmikant Berde fondly called Lakshya was a super star in Marathi films, he was a great comdeian and his films were wonderful to watch. Ashihi banvabanvi, zapatlela, Thar Tharat to name a few. The movies would be filled with gigs and we would get tired guffawing and cheeks would start paining. He was so funny on screen, being a comedian came so naturally to him. He was a hero in marathi films and a comedian in hindi films. I was shocked when i heard the news on radio, it was sad to know of his demise..he was just 50.

Mr Amrish Puri, Wow, he was such a versatile actor , who can forget his role in Mr India as Mogambo and the famous dialogue 'Mogambo khush hua' and that roaring laughter. I remember i was in my 6th grade when this movie released and his eyes and appearance scared me big time. His voice added to his personality and the way he delivered the dialogs, his urdu pronounciation was awesome. His character in DDLJ proved his talent in being a versaltile actor and not just a villian. He even enacted in Indiana jones as Mola Ram.Its only after his demise that i learnt he started his career at 40. I admire his spirits, many people start thinking of settling at that age and he was plunging into something new.

Hats off to them!!!.

New Coffee m/c...

2005-01-11T09:06:00.000Z

One of my days in this New Year started like this at work
Entered office...
My nose got a whiff of the lovely aroma all around..
Walked towards my desk amidst the aroma cloud
Read the email, "freshly brewed coffee machine is now installed in cafe"
mmmmm sounds kewl, I'll go and try the new machine, lemme check all emails first
Another cuppa coffee passed by, the aroma got intense,
Found myself too distrait to work...lemme go and check the machine first
Whoaaa, the new machine serves, espresso, ristretto, cappuccino, ginger tea, cardamom tea , 3 varieties of soups in addition to the old machine that serves regular, as well as low sugar tea, coffee, hot chocolate.Got the strong steam brewed espresso...was awesome.
The office had a fragrance similar to barista and MOCHA.
I love this machine; don’t blame me if I ask for black coffee the next time I visit your place, this machine is getting me addicted :)

Is Santa for real?

2004-12-22T12:03:00.000Z

Jingle bells Jingle bells

Jingle all the way

Here comes Santa Claus!

Right down Santa Claus Lane!
Vixen and Blitzen and all his reindeer

are pulling on the reins.

Bells are ringing, children singing;

All is merry and bright.

Hang your stockings

and say your prayers,

'Cause Santa Claus comes tonight.

Here comes Santa Claus!

Right down Santa Claus Lane!

He's got a bag that is filled with toys

for the boys and girls again.

Hear those sleigh bells jingle jangle,

What a beautiful sight.

Jump in bed, cover up your head,

'Cause Santa Claus comes tonight.

Merry Christmas to All!!

We've been singing these carols since childhood and like every other child I was confused if Santa Claus is for real.
I got my answer now,

In 1897 a little girl wrote to a newspaper, which was revered for its truthfulness, to ask if Santa Claus really existed. The newspaper published the now-famous letter and a response.

Check http://beebo.org/smackerels/yes-virginia.html

so what do you think, is he real??

Compliments...

2004-12-16T11:12:00.000Z

We often get compliments and give compliments, I received a compliment this morning, I received the same compliment many times but then too it makes me feel good everytime. Was wondering why do I feel good and WHAT is ' A COMPLIMENT' and here's what I found..

Dicitonary meaning

com·pli·ment ( P ) Pronunciation Key (kmpl-mnt)
n.
An expression of praise, admiration, or congratulation. A formal act of civility, courtesy, or respect.
compliments Good wishes; regards: Extend my compliments to your parents.
Some questions
When is a good time to give a compliment?
Why don't people give more compliments?
What are the benefits of giving compliments?
Are there any rules for giving compliments?
What's a good compliment?
Who can you compliment?
The Theory
Compliments are a simple, yet powerful, relationship building tool. There are many different reasons to give a compliment. The most compelling - it makes you feel good. You cannot give a sincere compliment without feeling great. It's impossible. Why does it feel so wonderful to pay a compliment? Because you are connecting honestly, directly, and kindly with another human being. It is a basic need that doesn't get met often in our fast-paced, media-hyped, negative-slanted, technical world.

There are also many hidden benefits to giving compliments. It's amazing that such a small, simple skill like giving away compliments can change the way you view yourself and the world around you. You will experience joy and happiness as you learn to give honest compliments.

Knowing something is good doesn't always translate into action. So why don't we make compliments often. It doesn't take long to give away compliments. heartfelt, honest to goodness, acts of kindness. It costs nothing but a little time, energy, and the desire to make your life and the lives of others better. Everyone appreciates kindness and Everyone feels great

So pass atleast ONE compliment a day...this blog has also given you an oppurtunity:)

Wedding Bells - its smiles & no tears

2004-11-29T12:48:00.000Z

Lately its so happening that most of my friends especially girls are getting married Padma, Zoharat, Sunita, Mohini , Parna, Binod.

Congratulations to all !!!.

So these days whenever we talk I hear of lots of shopping...shopping jewellery, clothes for themselves as well as relatives, tailors, printing and distributing cards...meeting friends, huge telephone bills (i.e above 10K), deciding the wedding venue and menu..etc. Whatz more common is that all their parents are getting very emotional and shed tears whenever they recollect that their girl would soon be wedded and no longer stay with them.

Isn't it an irony that before marriage the parents are worried and their only task is wanting to get their lovable daughters married soon but once the mission is accomplished tears roll in automatically.

Even on the wedding day , during bidai all the girls cry, it comes in naturally for some, rather most...and for others..like my bhabhi Anjali....she was being forced to cry during bidai, stating that it is shagun..and Anjali refused to cry saying "Why should I cry.. I am happy , ofcourse will miss my parents but am starting a new life and want to start it with a smile."
I think it takes great courage and strength NOT to cry the wedding day , the moment then is so so emotional. Lemme confess, even I cried at various such occasions, infact in one of my cousins wedding my jijaji(the bridegroom) also cried.

So dear girls of the new generation (including me)....Don't cry during your wedding, Walk in your new life with a smile.Wish you all a very happy and successful married life.

and to all the unmarried ones..All the best for KP's :-)

P.S : Talking of weddings: Yesterday was a royal wedding of Sameer Kalmadi. With all the VIPS and film stars showering their blessings on the newly wed couple, the staff at Pune Lohegaon airport were more worried of the parking...not outside the airport...but inside the airport. There was even a helicopter arranged as a ferry from the airport to the wedding venue.
"Badde log baddi baatein"

How often you make somebody's day

2004-11-24T12:07:00.000Z

Was reading this blog Little consideration ,incidently one of my colleagues told me a similar thing that happened with him that day.
Bhuvan : reshma..did u ever see a twinkle in the eye?
me: No..why...I mean what do you mean?
Bhuvan : This morning I left home to dump the garbage (some boxes) and a small kid was walking along pleaing to give him the garbage. When asked why.. he said..'saab isko bechunga ..mere khaane ka intezaam ho jayega' (I'll sell these ...and buy some food).
Bhuvan gave him his garbage bag and also lended him 2Rs...the boy was grateful..then looked at him and asked if he could give a rupee more...Bhuvan was surprised...that why is the boy demanding for a rupee only...when asked, the little boy said....'saab mai chocolate khaunga'(I'll eat a chocolate)Bhuvan was surprised..'ki..bhai 3 rupaye mein kaunsi chocolate aati hai' ( his punjabi style)..he took the little boy to a nearby shop and brought him a big party size Dairy milk chocolate.
The young boy was overwhelmed, and the twinkle in his eyes said it all.

The Pigeon

2004-11-23T11:01:00.000Z

I am dedicating this blog to The Pigeon who broke my car windshield that I got a chance to drive Kinetic Honda today.
After 1 and 1/2 year it was a totally different experience and I learned to appreciate a 2 wheeler much more than a 4 wheeler (especially in the crowded areas). Though the car was also my good saathi so long..but how could I forget my old saathi.
While driving it today I felt that I own the sky and was flying with no Air conditioning required just the cool breeze, initially I was aprehensive to drive it thinking that I am used to the car....but once I was on it....everything happened automatically, showed indicators properly,honked properly and dint press my feet for clutch and brakes and why not...have been driving it right from grade 8 its my first love (kuch jyada senti ho gaya na). But its fun..I can stop at any tapri to sip a chai or eat bhel and best is ..today I can go and buy my books to study without worrying much of the parking.

By the way..for my friends...dont worry , my leg is doing fine...and its getting better will join the trek group sooon .During diwali vacation I drove to Mumbai too with my bro.

2004-11-09T11:31:00.000Z

Final touch

2004-11-09T11:29:00.000Z

Rangoli by us at Tibco