Morachi Chincholi

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!!

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..

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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!!

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

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

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

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

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