Can you try these email signatures and let me know how they worked?
10) Thanks in advance for not screwing this up,
-J
9) Luke Warm Wishes,
-J
8) Highest Available Regards,
-J
7) 97% Lie Free,
-J
6) May or May not be yours,
-J
5) Not expecting a reply,
-J
4) Most non-sarcastically yours,
-J
3) Almost 100% Sincerely,
-J
2) Thank you for reading all the way to the bottom,
-J
1) Getting Lost,
-J
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Business lunch etiquette put to best use!
During the initial training program in my first company, I was trained on business dinner etiquette. They tought me why its important to eat everything with a spoon and fork and to keep hands always clean. To be always ready to give a clean handshake to the client anytime during the dinner. They even tought us how to eat rotis with spoon n fork. All these years I never got an opportunity to put those skills to use. I would either first finish off with all handshakes and then start dinner or never bothered about handshakes once dinner was started. Having a peaceful n fulfilling dinner/lunch was always a priority.
Thats past now. Today other things have taken a priority. My little bundle makes sure she gets her attention while am having my lunch.
Day X: I was having my lunch and was almost midway when she started crying for feed. I had to let go of my lunch and feed her. And later didnt feel like going back to the half finished plate.
Day Y: Tried to outsmart my kiddo and fed her before I started my lunch, but this time she did the inevitable and started crying out loud to remove her dirty diaper and clean her. Again I had to leave my lunch unfinished.
Day Z: Similar to Day Y. But I managed to go back to finish my lunch. All days following this have a similar pattern. I either have to break in between or have my lunch in a hurry that she might do something now.
Time to put my business lunch etiquette skills to use. Keeping my hands clean for any sort of emergencies during the lunch :)
Gone are my glorious days of peaceful lunches and marathon sleep..
Friday, December 4, 2009
Am I wrong?
Why does it so happen that when you take a decision, you are so sure of it and when its time to execute it, you wonder why you had taken tht decision and you wish you could change it!!
Today is one such day for me, currently in a confused state of mind wondering if the decision I took 2 months back was correct.
3 Months back when Akshara was born, I was at my mom's place and for some reasons I decided I wanted to come to Bangalore as soon as possible. I was so confident of handling my baby alone and managing everything on my own seemed like an achievable task. I came to Bangalore a week back and my Mom came along to help me settle in. She left today and here I am all alone wondering how on earth did I think I could manage everything alone? I am missing my mom, my support system :( Just having her around was assurance enough that I can manage everything. Am sorry mom, for I messed up on the opportunity to stay with you for another 2 months.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Life these days is just revolving around my baby.. me enjoying my newly acquired motherhood status.. and even now my poppatness has got better of me!
Yesterday was one such day.. I was inspired by my sister who sings her baby to sleep. Her son wouldnt sleep unless she sings to him.. however bad it might be! So I thought I would just try that with my daughter and I picked up a song which I thought I can manage well.
I started singing and she first yawned and turned her head to the other side (which can be very well interpretted as.. Oh No Not again!!). I stopped and tried again later and this time as soon as I started singing to her.. she started crying!!! I got a very angry look from my mom for making the baby cry for no reason!!! Looks like I should look for more receptive audience for my songs!
Yesterday was one such day.. I was inspired by my sister who sings her baby to sleep. Her son wouldnt sleep unless she sings to him.. however bad it might be! So I thought I would just try that with my daughter and I picked up a song which I thought I can manage well.
I started singing and she first yawned and turned her head to the other side (which can be very well interpretted as.. Oh No Not again!!). I stopped and tried again later and this time as soon as I started singing to her.. she started crying!!! I got a very angry look from my mom for making the baby cry for no reason!!! Looks like I should look for more receptive audience for my songs!
Friday, October 9, 2009
Future Planning - Plan 1
"Cooking is an art and I can never master it" is a fact that I have accepted and till date I could not see any problems with that given fact. I can manage to gobble down anything I cook because I can appreciate the effort I put behind that dish .. however bad it tastes. And luckily for me my husband too doesn't complain much unless it's really pathetic.But now.. the future is what am worried about. When I was young (Ok.. am still young!!) ..So let me put it this way.. when I was small and school going, I never really liked what my mom cooked. I always thought my friends were lucky because their snack boxes always had yummy stuff and mine always had the boring Idly,dosa and upma type stuff which I hated. Luckily for me, I had a Bengali friend who used to love what my mom cooked and we used to exchange our snack boxes. I just used to love what her mom used to give .. potato mash sandwiches or ghee laden rotis with some yummy sabzee and a Sweet (remember Bengali!) or even better some paranthas. (and I really thought my friend was a fool to exchange all that for my idly's!!). And my mom was always wondering why I was getting plumpier by the day by just eating Idly's and upma and my friend's mom was wondering why she was not getting plumpier in spite of those paranthas and sweets! Now they know!
So coming to the future point, What if my daughter too hates my cooking? What if she is not as lucky as me to get a Bengali friend to exchange her tiffin? What if none of her friends like her tiffin?No..Things can't be that bad..yeh? So I think I have two options now.. one to master my cooking before she starts going to school ( 3 years sounds good enough time for that.. yeh?) Two... to find her a Bengali friend :D
The second option is the one.. anyday!
So coming to the future point, What if my daughter too hates my cooking? What if she is not as lucky as me to get a Bengali friend to exchange her tiffin? What if none of her friends like her tiffin?No..Things can't be that bad..yeh? So I think I have two options now.. one to master my cooking before she starts going to school ( 3 years sounds good enough time for that.. yeh?) Two... to find her a Bengali friend :D
The second option is the one.. anyday!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
First month of Motherhood :)
This post is important to me. My memory is very unreliable and I don't want to sit 5 or 10 years down the line trying hard to recollect how exactly did I feel during the biggest transformation of my life.
A month ago, on Sept 5th 2009, 11:34 am IST my bundle of joy arrived in this world. I wanted a big band of music to welcome her, blow trumpets,play violins.. the drums.. but the little one had to settle for her own sweet and rhythmic cries as her welcome music.. well it definitely was music for me! Then my anxiety was at its peak, the sister's wouldn't show me my baby unless they had cleaned her up. Baby girl or baby boy? Baby girl, the sister said. How is she to look at? Beautiful, big eyes, small nose, button lips, long fingers.., sister told me. My agonising wait to see the baby and hold her ended after half and hour. All the past nine months I had been dreaming about this moment and imagining how I would feel.. Just like seeing the Taj Mahal for the first time, or would there be that instant mother baby bonding, would I have tears in my eyes? and when finally it happened, it was nothing like I had imagined. I was scared to hold her as I felt I was dirty enough and also because I felt she was too small for me to hold her safely and then I was trying hard to register that this was my baby and I am the mother :).
The month after that D Day just flew.. taking each day as it came, I went through a whale of emotions, mammoth learning, building patience, fighting mood swings, sharing happiness, recovering from pain, hating the weighing machine, flood of visitors, some wanted some unwanted, sleep deprived, exhausted, delighted, worried, tensed, confused, and every other emotion one can think of. I felt I was lost in time and space. I had no idea what date and which day of the week it was. Every day was another day with lot of activity packed in.
Recalling week wise:
The first week was incredibly tough. I wanted to cry at the end of each day. I felt tired, in extreme pain and exhaustion all the time, yet there was so much to do. The baby wouldn't sleep at night as she was sleeping all day and everybody would advice sleep when the baby sleeps.. easier said than done. There was constant inflow of guests, and just when I felt asleep , the baby would wake up for feed or a diaper change. There was advice pouring in from all directions. Filtering good advice from the useless ones was the most difficult part. I now feel guilty that there were a few times in that week, when I wanted to run away from everything, everyone.. rewind everything and go back to my old life. I lost interest in everything, everyone. I don't even want to now recollect the most horrible week of my life till date. Quite different from what I expected. The week my baby arrived, by my expectations I should've been the happiest, on cloud 9 but I was fighting depression, sulking most of the time when the breakthrough came on day 5 of the week. My baby's first smile!! I couldn't believe she did that! The most beautiful smile I ever saw and life started looking brighter!
Week 2 was lot lot better. I felt better health wise, and started slowly bouncing back to normal. By now I had gained some experience in feeding, cleaning and changing diapers and rocking the baby to sleep. The awkwardness while holding the baby slowly disappeared and I was lot more confident in holding her.
Week 3.. I got used to the late nights and looked forward to playing with the baby at 2:30 am :).
Week 4 was the best. My husband finally managed to get leave from work and we finally got together. All 3 of us. One happy family. The happiness I would cherish forever.
This one is for all the mother's.. God created Mothers coz he felt he couldn't be present everywhere! So True!
A month ago, on Sept 5th 2009, 11:34 am IST my bundle of joy arrived in this world. I wanted a big band of music to welcome her, blow trumpets,play violins.. the drums.. but the little one had to settle for her own sweet and rhythmic cries as her welcome music.. well it definitely was music for me! Then my anxiety was at its peak, the sister's wouldn't show me my baby unless they had cleaned her up. Baby girl or baby boy? Baby girl, the sister said. How is she to look at? Beautiful, big eyes, small nose, button lips, long fingers.., sister told me. My agonising wait to see the baby and hold her ended after half and hour. All the past nine months I had been dreaming about this moment and imagining how I would feel.. Just like seeing the Taj Mahal for the first time, or would there be that instant mother baby bonding, would I have tears in my eyes? and when finally it happened, it was nothing like I had imagined. I was scared to hold her as I felt I was dirty enough and also because I felt she was too small for me to hold her safely and then I was trying hard to register that this was my baby and I am the mother :).
The month after that D Day just flew.. taking each day as it came, I went through a whale of emotions, mammoth learning, building patience, fighting mood swings, sharing happiness, recovering from pain, hating the weighing machine, flood of visitors, some wanted some unwanted, sleep deprived, exhausted, delighted, worried, tensed, confused, and every other emotion one can think of. I felt I was lost in time and space. I had no idea what date and which day of the week it was. Every day was another day with lot of activity packed in.
Recalling week wise:
The first week was incredibly tough. I wanted to cry at the end of each day. I felt tired, in extreme pain and exhaustion all the time, yet there was so much to do. The baby wouldn't sleep at night as she was sleeping all day and everybody would advice sleep when the baby sleeps.. easier said than done. There was constant inflow of guests, and just when I felt asleep , the baby would wake up for feed or a diaper change. There was advice pouring in from all directions. Filtering good advice from the useless ones was the most difficult part. I now feel guilty that there were a few times in that week, when I wanted to run away from everything, everyone.. rewind everything and go back to my old life. I lost interest in everything, everyone. I don't even want to now recollect the most horrible week of my life till date. Quite different from what I expected. The week my baby arrived, by my expectations I should've been the happiest, on cloud 9 but I was fighting depression, sulking most of the time when the breakthrough came on day 5 of the week. My baby's first smile!! I couldn't believe she did that! The most beautiful smile I ever saw and life started looking brighter!
Week 2 was lot lot better. I felt better health wise, and started slowly bouncing back to normal. By now I had gained some experience in feeding, cleaning and changing diapers and rocking the baby to sleep. The awkwardness while holding the baby slowly disappeared and I was lot more confident in holding her.
Week 3.. I got used to the late nights and looked forward to playing with the baby at 2:30 am :).
Week 4 was the best. My husband finally managed to get leave from work and we finally got together. All 3 of us. One happy family. The happiness I would cherish forever.
This one is for all the mother's.. God created Mothers coz he felt he couldn't be present everywhere! So True!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
These are the best days of my life
Thanks to my baby and the good old traditions, I have been reliving my childhood again. Thanks to whoever made the rule that the first delivery has to happen at the mother's maternal home, I have got a chance to get pampered and get treated like a kid all over again.
A typical day in my childhood included extreme chase by my mom to make me drink milk, eat fruits, sleep and wake up on time, do some physical exercise, scoldings for watching tv for extra long hours and a lot more.. and am happy all this is happening again. It's almost like I've been living someone else's life for the last 6 years and have now come back to where I belong.
What inspired me to publish this is two events that happened today in particular.
During my school days, dad used to oil my hair everyday and comb it neatly before I left for school. I used to hate the ritual as I never wanted to go to school with such oiled hair. All my friends flaunted their wavy shampooed hair and mine was always oiled and sticky and never wavy no matter how I swayed my head while I walked. Gradually, sometime when I was in high school, dad finally gave up on me and asked me to maintain my hair the way I wanted. It was a day I celebrated by going to school with shampooed hair, beaming when my hair flew when the wind blew.. I felt like a star, "Sridevi" in particular :). Today when dad came back from office, he saw me sitting idly watching tv with my hair let open and he commented, your hair has become so dry.. go get some oil. I was a little suprised at his suggestion but then felt extremely happy to relive those olden days. Only difference being, today's oiling session made me happy beyond words. It feels good that am still the lil girl for my dad even when am just about to have a lil baby in another 2 days may be :).I had not even come out of this nostalgic moment that another one struck at me.
Dad always used to get some sweetmeat for me whenever he went to the market. Either a chocolate or a sweet from the milk parlour. Today mom sent him to the market to get some milk and he did that again.. he got me my small single pack of milk Kova sweet as my market bonus. I just loved his gesture!! And I just loved today.. yeah all the days in the past 2 months.
P.S:- Dear hubby, If you are reading this, Please dont feel left out, I am definitely missing you a lot :-*
A typical day in my childhood included extreme chase by my mom to make me drink milk, eat fruits, sleep and wake up on time, do some physical exercise, scoldings for watching tv for extra long hours and a lot more.. and am happy all this is happening again. It's almost like I've been living someone else's life for the last 6 years and have now come back to where I belong.
What inspired me to publish this is two events that happened today in particular.
During my school days, dad used to oil my hair everyday and comb it neatly before I left for school. I used to hate the ritual as I never wanted to go to school with such oiled hair. All my friends flaunted their wavy shampooed hair and mine was always oiled and sticky and never wavy no matter how I swayed my head while I walked. Gradually, sometime when I was in high school, dad finally gave up on me and asked me to maintain my hair the way I wanted. It was a day I celebrated by going to school with shampooed hair, beaming when my hair flew when the wind blew.. I felt like a star, "Sridevi" in particular :). Today when dad came back from office, he saw me sitting idly watching tv with my hair let open and he commented, your hair has become so dry.. go get some oil. I was a little suprised at his suggestion but then felt extremely happy to relive those olden days. Only difference being, today's oiling session made me happy beyond words. It feels good that am still the lil girl for my dad even when am just about to have a lil baby in another 2 days may be :).I had not even come out of this nostalgic moment that another one struck at me.
Dad always used to get some sweetmeat for me whenever he went to the market. Either a chocolate or a sweet from the milk parlour. Today mom sent him to the market to get some milk and he did that again.. he got me my small single pack of milk Kova sweet as my market bonus. I just loved his gesture!! And I just loved today.. yeah all the days in the past 2 months.
P.S:- Dear hubby, If you are reading this, Please dont feel left out, I am definitely missing you a lot :-*
Monday, August 24, 2009
Some tp..
There was a live standup comedy act show that happened at the community center here. As I didn't have anything better to do, I attended it. The actors doing the act were genuinely trying to be natural, trying to make everyone laugh and yes, there were people laughing. I too found myself having a good time there and now probably I can remember only one of the jokes to share. It goes like this.
Once a famous pshychotherapist opens a new clinic branch and has his clinic banner painted by a famous banner painter in the city. The doc is all set in his new clinic but finds that no patient is coming to him. He waits for days for the patients to come in but in vain. He then tries to find out why this is happening and finally finds this:
Ram's Clinic
Dr. RAM, M.B.B.S,
PSYCHO THE RAPIST
Once a famous pshychotherapist opens a new clinic branch and has his clinic banner painted by a famous banner painter in the city. The doc is all set in his new clinic but finds that no patient is coming to him. He waits for days for the patients to come in but in vain. He then tries to find out why this is happening and finally finds this:
Ram's Clinic
Dr. RAM, M.B.B.S,
PSYCHO THE RAPIST
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Poor Fair lady
Been a long long time since I've read nursery rhymes. Thanks to my nephew, I got a chance to listen to those rhymes again today. But one of the rhymes really took me by surprise.
London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down,
London Bridge is falling down,My fair Lady.
Build it up with iron bars,
iron bars, iron bars,
Build it up with iron bars,My fair Lady.
Are we asking the fair lady to build up the broken london bridge with iron bars? I never realised this my fair lady might be a civil engineer repairing the broken bridges! :)
p.s: Ignore the sheer stupidity of this post.. but the idle brain couldnt think of anything else to post!
London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down,
London Bridge is falling down,My fair Lady.
Build it up with iron bars,
iron bars, iron bars,
Build it up with iron bars,My fair Lady.
Are we asking the fair lady to build up the broken london bridge with iron bars? I never realised this my fair lady might be a civil engineer repairing the broken bridges! :)
p.s: Ignore the sheer stupidity of this post.. but the idle brain couldnt think of anything else to post!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Independence.. what it really means?
Happy Independence day people! Welcome to an independent year of swine flu, drought, price hikes, worse weather and dirty politics! or may be August 15th today just means a public holiday, with channels telecasting special movies.. some new patriotic music albums with rakhi sawant dancing to the tunes...
I read the worst political statement in the paper yesterday.. the Andhra CM taking swine flu as easy as he can commenting that people suffering from swine flu can apply amrutanjan or zinda talisman and stop worrying else go to Tirupati to pray to God! We elected him as CM for the next 5 years! :(
It irks to even think what the future holds for us.. for our next generation.. Everyday I wake up praying that it rains today and it would help eradicate the drought and help the farmers.. but then if it rains more it would give more ground for swine flu spread! So what do I really pray for?
I just hope someone waves the magic wand and everything becomes alright!
I read the worst political statement in the paper yesterday.. the Andhra CM taking swine flu as easy as he can commenting that people suffering from swine flu can apply amrutanjan or zinda talisman and stop worrying else go to Tirupati to pray to God! We elected him as CM for the next 5 years! :(
It irks to even think what the future holds for us.. for our next generation.. Everyday I wake up praying that it rains today and it would help eradicate the drought and help the farmers.. but then if it rains more it would give more ground for swine flu spread! So what do I really pray for?
I just hope someone waves the magic wand and everything becomes alright!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
All the best Harika...
Today was my first day at my new job. I was very tensed to start with. All my previous jobs did put a huge responsibility on me but this ones different. If I fail in this job, I would fail someone else's trust on me.
From today, I have started tutoring Harika, a second grade student. She is from a family which is categorized as lower middle class financially but with a strong desire to do well in life and provide her good education. I wanted to contribute in some way.
From the day I have started my leave, I haven't been doing much. Literally nothing other than eating, sleeping and whiling away time playing with my nephew. But today was good. Satisfying. I always thought teaching a second grader is a cake walk. How tough can it be to teach them some hard english words like "grade","request" and "wait" and lessons like "Sheetal", "pussy and parrot"? I got my answer today!It's important to establish the connect first and then get the perspective of a second grader and see how tough it can be to learn a 6 letter word spelling. Patience is the key. That's my learning for the day. Harika has her english exam tomorrow and I hope she does well.. which will only mean I did well..
From today, I have started tutoring Harika, a second grade student. She is from a family which is categorized as lower middle class financially but with a strong desire to do well in life and provide her good education. I wanted to contribute in some way.
From the day I have started my leave, I haven't been doing much. Literally nothing other than eating, sleeping and whiling away time playing with my nephew. But today was good. Satisfying. I always thought teaching a second grader is a cake walk. How tough can it be to teach them some hard english words like "grade","request" and "wait" and lessons like "Sheetal", "pussy and parrot"? I got my answer today!It's important to establish the connect first and then get the perspective of a second grader and see how tough it can be to learn a 6 letter word spelling. Patience is the key. That's my learning for the day. Harika has her english exam tomorrow and I hope she does well.. which will only mean I did well..
Monday, July 13, 2009
God's favorite child
These days am killing my time answering only 3 questions..
1) How are you doing.. moving around freely?
2) When is the expected due date?
3) Do you know yet if its a baby boy or girl?
There are some more questions depending on how I answer the above three.. If I answer the above questions in mono syllables, there are no more questions.. else there will be more.. like have you thought of names, which doctor are you consulting, what is the weight gain, how are the baby movements and on n on n on.One questions that has been a complete googly for me is this.. " Whats the baby saying..?" I really go dumb thinking what am I supposed to answer for that.. I cant tell them that the baby cant speak yet( too dumb!) neither can I tell them its none of their business.. its a private matter between me n the baby (too rude.. one more thing that I've learnt .. preggies are not supposed to be rude, not supposed to be impatient, not supposed to use bad words or think bad or feel deppressed)! Ok.. back to the question.. it sometimes invokes some serious doubts within me about my motherly instinct.. pushes me to think that may be other women do know what their baby is trying to convey from inside and Ive just not paid enough attention to see what mine is trying to say!
That's the questionnaire part.. then comes the worse part.. everyone has a piece of advice to share and a piece of their own experience to scare! I want to shout on top of my voice.. STOP! STOP! STOP!! Did I really ask you for an advice.. why are you giving me your piece of $h!T !! (again.. the rudeness rule applies here to stop me from doing that)
Now even worse part.. All my mom n dad's friends, relatives.. close and far(I must admit.. I still don't know how exactly we are related) keep coming home to see me.. literally! They come home to see me and they do just that.. Urghhh can somebody just tell them its not good manners to stare at someone!The only good thing about these visits is that they bring some nice sweets and fruits! I sometimes feel like a Goddess creating a life inside me and then everybody coming to see me and offering me sweets and fruits! :) But this Goddess feel good feeling doesn't last for long as the stares are followed by the above questions and then the advices.. and its just a vicious cycle( a very tough one to break)!
Today one of my aunt (I think my dad's second cousin) visited us and it was all fun while she was there. But she said something while leaving that left me fuming. She said that she is hoping I will deliver a baby boy and she would definitely visit me in the hospital if its a baby boy and if its a baby girl, she asked me not to bother to even call her, that she would liesurely pay a visit once am back from the hospital. I really wanted to say.. $%^& off!! My baby really doesn't need a visit from someone like you! But then who all will I say this to.. there are loads of them around me wishing that I deliver only a baby boy.. I don't know how that's going to make even a penny of a difference to their lives! Ive decided to stop bothering about what others say or do.. I have started looking at the humorous side of the whole thing.. some humour thats definitely worth sharing..1) Someone said, if I put tattoos(mehendi) on my palms, its going to be a baby girl. The tattoos going to change the already formed baby's genitel part is it? Really?2) Someone also said that if I have swollen feet, its going to be a baby girl. Excuse me? That's called Edema and 95% pregnant women have it!3) If I become dark and ugly during pregnancy, its going to be a baby boy. Boys dont like beautiful moms is it?4) Beat this.. my sister had a baby boy 2 years back and now my granny wants me to do everything that she did.. exactly same way so that even I will have a baby boy!! like.. sleeping in the morning after breakfast, eating some particular dish that my sis ate the most during her pregnancy.. and so on!! Granny... take a break and gimme one!!
Cmon people.. cant you see.. a girl child is God's favorite child, thats why he gives every girl child a power to create another life.. a power only next to God's power! No matter what guys do, they can never experience the sheer joy of the first baby kick that you feel inside you, never feel the overwhelming joy of the first glimpse of the baby, never feel the satisfaction of feeding the baby! God has really been unfair to guys.. he has not given them so much...
1) How are you doing.. moving around freely?
2) When is the expected due date?
3) Do you know yet if its a baby boy or girl?
There are some more questions depending on how I answer the above three.. If I answer the above questions in mono syllables, there are no more questions.. else there will be more.. like have you thought of names, which doctor are you consulting, what is the weight gain, how are the baby movements and on n on n on.One questions that has been a complete googly for me is this.. " Whats the baby saying..?" I really go dumb thinking what am I supposed to answer for that.. I cant tell them that the baby cant speak yet( too dumb!) neither can I tell them its none of their business.. its a private matter between me n the baby (too rude.. one more thing that I've learnt .. preggies are not supposed to be rude, not supposed to be impatient, not supposed to use bad words or think bad or feel deppressed)! Ok.. back to the question.. it sometimes invokes some serious doubts within me about my motherly instinct.. pushes me to think that may be other women do know what their baby is trying to convey from inside and Ive just not paid enough attention to see what mine is trying to say!
That's the questionnaire part.. then comes the worse part.. everyone has a piece of advice to share and a piece of their own experience to scare! I want to shout on top of my voice.. STOP! STOP! STOP!! Did I really ask you for an advice.. why are you giving me your piece of $h!T !! (again.. the rudeness rule applies here to stop me from doing that)
Now even worse part.. All my mom n dad's friends, relatives.. close and far(I must admit.. I still don't know how exactly we are related) keep coming home to see me.. literally! They come home to see me and they do just that.. Urghhh can somebody just tell them its not good manners to stare at someone!The only good thing about these visits is that they bring some nice sweets and fruits! I sometimes feel like a Goddess creating a life inside me and then everybody coming to see me and offering me sweets and fruits! :) But this Goddess feel good feeling doesn't last for long as the stares are followed by the above questions and then the advices.. and its just a vicious cycle( a very tough one to break)!
Today one of my aunt (I think my dad's second cousin) visited us and it was all fun while she was there. But she said something while leaving that left me fuming. She said that she is hoping I will deliver a baby boy and she would definitely visit me in the hospital if its a baby boy and if its a baby girl, she asked me not to bother to even call her, that she would liesurely pay a visit once am back from the hospital. I really wanted to say.. $%^& off!! My baby really doesn't need a visit from someone like you! But then who all will I say this to.. there are loads of them around me wishing that I deliver only a baby boy.. I don't know how that's going to make even a penny of a difference to their lives! Ive decided to stop bothering about what others say or do.. I have started looking at the humorous side of the whole thing.. some humour thats definitely worth sharing..1) Someone said, if I put tattoos(mehendi) on my palms, its going to be a baby girl. The tattoos going to change the already formed baby's genitel part is it? Really?2) Someone also said that if I have swollen feet, its going to be a baby girl. Excuse me? That's called Edema and 95% pregnant women have it!3) If I become dark and ugly during pregnancy, its going to be a baby boy. Boys dont like beautiful moms is it?4) Beat this.. my sister had a baby boy 2 years back and now my granny wants me to do everything that she did.. exactly same way so that even I will have a baby boy!! like.. sleeping in the morning after breakfast, eating some particular dish that my sis ate the most during her pregnancy.. and so on!! Granny... take a break and gimme one!!
Cmon people.. cant you see.. a girl child is God's favorite child, thats why he gives every girl child a power to create another life.. a power only next to God's power! No matter what guys do, they can never experience the sheer joy of the first baby kick that you feel inside you, never feel the overwhelming joy of the first glimpse of the baby, never feel the satisfaction of feeding the baby! God has really been unfair to guys.. he has not given them so much...
Sunday, July 5, 2009
New phase of life..
You go to an amusement park which has this huge roller coaster ride, which you have to take to go out of the park. You see others going through it, screaming, throwing up, some laughing, some sitting all tensed through out but you have no choice but to take it.Thats pregnancy for you! A huge roller coaster ride.. 9 months of exhilarating joy, little tension, little pain, lot of fat,big belly, lots of food and yeah some throwing up too!There is no other joy compared to the first glimpse of the baby on the scan monitor, a 9 cm little one with tiny hands, legs and a heart that beats at 140bpm!
The baby bump that keeps growing assuring you that the lil one inside you is doing all fine. The first baby kick followed by more kicks which will always bring a smile to your face and make you look beautiful!
9 more weeks to go for me to get promoted to MOM! yayyyyyyyy
The baby bump that keeps growing assuring you that the lil one inside you is doing all fine. The first baby kick followed by more kicks which will always bring a smile to your face and make you look beautiful!
9 more weeks to go for me to get promoted to MOM! yayyyyyyyy
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Painful transformation!
I think it was not very long ago when I used to say "Amma pakkinti aunty vacharu (Mom, neighbour aunty has come for you) " whenever Mom's friend's used to visit us.
Today when I tried out a new dish and thought that my experiment was a success, I wanted my friend who lives next door to also approve of my new experiment. Their calling bell was answered by my friend's 6 year old daughter. Before I could spot where my friend was, this lil one caled out for her mom. "Amma pakkinti aunty vacharu". It hit me so hard.. it was like all those sudden shock scenes in the movies.. everything coming to standstill, going black and white from colour, ocean waves crashing on to the shore, temple bells ringing vehemently.. and then I slowly came in to the present.. the reality!
There was absolutely nothing wrong in the lil one calling me aunty but may be I was not prepared for it or rather not expecting the same line that I used to say for someone else.. someone much more older :)
Now when am writing this post, I truly feel like an aunty.. I am doing everything that "Aunties" are supposed to do . Gossipping and talking for hours with friends was always there, but now the topics which we discuss have changed. Now its all about new dishes, TV serial stories, kids, home making, husbands, money, Maid servant.. .. movies .may be, TV Serials dfinitely! Exchanging dishes, lending maid servant, lending and borrowing veggies or last minute groceries, potluck lunches .. everything so so so auntyish!
I never realised when I successfully transformed in to this "aunty" phase of life from a girl who always discussed the new shade of nail polish, new restaurant down the lane, new movie that's yet to be released, hunks, other's boyfriends, shopping , fashion, new rage songs, Hrithik, Mihir virani and yeah much treasured pocket money!
But may be the best part it I loved and enjoyed my life thoroughly then and am loving it even now (Except for the aunty word) ! So how does it matter.. just till I get used to being called "Jyo Aunty" .
Today when I tried out a new dish and thought that my experiment was a success, I wanted my friend who lives next door to also approve of my new experiment. Their calling bell was answered by my friend's 6 year old daughter. Before I could spot where my friend was, this lil one caled out for her mom. "Amma pakkinti aunty vacharu". It hit me so hard.. it was like all those sudden shock scenes in the movies.. everything coming to standstill, going black and white from colour, ocean waves crashing on to the shore, temple bells ringing vehemently.. and then I slowly came in to the present.. the reality!
There was absolutely nothing wrong in the lil one calling me aunty but may be I was not prepared for it or rather not expecting the same line that I used to say for someone else.. someone much more older :)
Now when am writing this post, I truly feel like an aunty.. I am doing everything that "Aunties" are supposed to do . Gossipping and talking for hours with friends was always there, but now the topics which we discuss have changed. Now its all about new dishes, TV serial stories, kids, home making, husbands, money, Maid servant.. .. movies .may be, TV Serials dfinitely! Exchanging dishes, lending maid servant, lending and borrowing veggies or last minute groceries, potluck lunches .. everything so so so auntyish!
I never realised when I successfully transformed in to this "aunty" phase of life from a girl who always discussed the new shade of nail polish, new restaurant down the lane, new movie that's yet to be released, hunks, other's boyfriends, shopping , fashion, new rage songs, Hrithik, Mihir virani and yeah much treasured pocket money!
But may be the best part it I loved and enjoyed my life thoroughly then and am loving it even now (Except for the aunty word) ! So how does it matter.. just till I get used to being called "Jyo Aunty" .
Beach Road delicacy
The other day when I was casually browsing through the grocery store racks (seems like my fave pass time option these days), I came across the puffed rice packet and good old beach road delicacy "Muree Mixture" flashed on my mind. Its been a long long time since I have been to beach road along with friends, whiling time away with muree mixture, cool breeze and simply sitting watching the waves come and go. Nothing can beat that!
I promptly picked that packet and also picked up other stuff that I could think of which goes in it .. groundnuts.. lemon, tomatoes, onions.. what else???
This time around I didn't google for the recipe but preferred to go by my memory.. tried to recollect what that old man had on his lil stall while he mixed that tangy tasty dish.
I mixed everything, sliced onions, diced tomatoes, squeezed lemon, pinch of salt, tossed chilly powder and added corriander bunch and puffed rice! It was tangy, tasty, yummy.. it was everything but it lacked something.. may be the sand from the beach :)
I promptly picked that packet and also picked up other stuff that I could think of which goes in it .. groundnuts.. lemon, tomatoes, onions.. what else???
This time around I didn't google for the recipe but preferred to go by my memory.. tried to recollect what that old man had on his lil stall while he mixed that tangy tasty dish.
I mixed everything, sliced onions, diced tomatoes, squeezed lemon, pinch of salt, tossed chilly powder and added corriander bunch and puffed rice! It was tangy, tasty, yummy.. it was everything but it lacked something.. may be the sand from the beach :)
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Disorganized organizer!
Organized, Planned, ordered, structured .. All seem such good traits to have in oneself but so tough to achieve! These have ben an illusion for me since my childhood how much ever hard I try. I still cant comprehend why was it so tough to follow the everyday timetable and neatly stack my schoolbag! I used to feel good when I saw other friends school bags, textbok all neatly stacked one after other, and then the long note books and then the short ones all with short names written on the sides so that its easy to pick the notebook they want instead of emptying all its contents and searching frantically for the one you want! Mine was a mess with all books in bag everyday and most of the times out of the class because i got every other book but the one on timetable that day.
Now am managing a home, no better at it though! My mom got her shock of her life when she visited us last time and it took her an entire 2 days to bring just the kitchen in order! Am awaiting her next visit already :)
Cloth shelves are another mystery! If one day I take the pain of stacking everything and put the related stuff together, somehow magically the next day it would be the bottom most pair that I would want to wear and once I pull that off everything else falls over me and I just somehow stuff the clothes back and close the doors ASAP! done! So now a days Ive stopped taking the pain of ordering the shelves (only mine.. my husband doesnt let me touch his shelves)
Handbags... can't live without them, neither with them!
Multi compartment handbag.. you will always find the thing you were searching for in the very last compartment!
Single compartment handbag.. no chance for organization and you will be always searching for everything! Last time I decided to give up on a single compartment handbag was when I had put a ripe banana in the bag and forgot about it till the banana mash was on every damn thing.. Mobile, ipod, wallet, comb(yuck)...
God bless me with talent to bring in more structure to my life, now that I will need it all the more!! Amen!
Now am managing a home, no better at it though! My mom got her shock of her life when she visited us last time and it took her an entire 2 days to bring just the kitchen in order! Am awaiting her next visit already :)
Cloth shelves are another mystery! If one day I take the pain of stacking everything and put the related stuff together, somehow magically the next day it would be the bottom most pair that I would want to wear and once I pull that off everything else falls over me and I just somehow stuff the clothes back and close the doors ASAP! done! So now a days Ive stopped taking the pain of ordering the shelves (only mine.. my husband doesnt let me touch his shelves)
Handbags... can't live without them, neither with them!
Multi compartment handbag.. you will always find the thing you were searching for in the very last compartment!
Single compartment handbag.. no chance for organization and you will be always searching for everything! Last time I decided to give up on a single compartment handbag was when I had put a ripe banana in the bag and forgot about it till the banana mash was on every damn thing.. Mobile, ipod, wallet, comb(yuck)...
God bless me with talent to bring in more structure to my life, now that I will need it all the more!! Amen!
Friday, May 22, 2009
My idea of an ideal day of my life...
It has to be a friday and salary day when the bank account shows am so much more richer!
Wake up on my own after good night's sleep(Maid has somehow entered the house and finished all her work)
Bathroom scale shows 1 or 2 kgs lesser!!
Have a new dress to wear to office. Look slimmer and beautiful in it. No new grey hairs spotted.
Steaming hot white idly with peanut chutney and sambhar , peeled and cut mango pieces with chocolate milk ready on table.
Not much traffic on road and I reach office in 25 mins! (WOW!)
Not many work mails to be cleared. A big appreciation Mail from my manager and a reward bonus of 10K (more doesnt hurt) as shopping vouchers valid at any shop in Bangalore.
Medium load work and I somehow know how to do the assigned work(No blank stares at reqmnt doc)!!The code I write executes without any hitch in the first run! Easy Peasy, I finish my work before lunch.
I get a call from reception desk saying I have a courier. I go and see it's lunch sent by Mom :)
5 box stacked lunch box. I open the first box and find hot crispy Vada in it, second has mutton curry with cashews gravy, third has muddha pappu neyya avakay annam (Dal, ghee and mango pickle rice), fourth has umm.. ok white rice for the mutton curry, fifth has creamy ras malai, and another compartment in it has gulab jamuns.
After the nice yummy lunch, I go back to my desk and see some loads of gossip mails from all old friends. Then after an hour, Manager informs govt has declared half day holiday for some reason and all companies have to follow it. So I leave office , yes no traffic again, pick up my husband at his office (remember all companies got half day holiday), then we go to PVR and get 2 gold class tickets free in some lucky draw for a Chiru/Pawan Kalyan/ shah rukh's latest movie). We finally decide on Shah Rukh's movie and the movie would obviously be awssum as it would have Shah rukh in it, plus watching it in Lazboy recliner cushioned seats with pepsi and popcorn ahaa. heaven on earth!
Then after the movie, some shopping(yeah my reward bonus vouchers) and then dinner at Afghani restaurant which serves reshmi malai kababs, paneer tikki, yummy biryani and kubhani ka meetha with vanilla icecream and cherry topping :)
Go home (of course no traffic) and .. ok not home already.. no traffic, about to rain kind of romantic weather and a long drive on smooth roads with nice music.. walk by the moonlit lake side, cool breeze (seashore wouldve been better, but Bangalore is not on coast).
Finally time to go home(Bangalore has a night life deadline). and sleep on a freshly made bed with crisp white bedsheets, plush cushions, spring mattresses, ac on a 23 deg...
and then....
A calling bell ringing somewhere distant and I wake up and come tumbling down the stairs to find its the maid servant at 6:30 am on a Monday morning....... Ohh my dream shattered!!!!
Wake up on my own after good night's sleep(Maid has somehow entered the house and finished all her work)
Bathroom scale shows 1 or 2 kgs lesser!!
Have a new dress to wear to office. Look slimmer and beautiful in it. No new grey hairs spotted.
Steaming hot white idly with peanut chutney and sambhar , peeled and cut mango pieces with chocolate milk ready on table.
Not much traffic on road and I reach office in 25 mins! (WOW!)
Not many work mails to be cleared. A big appreciation Mail from my manager and a reward bonus of 10K (more doesnt hurt) as shopping vouchers valid at any shop in Bangalore.
Medium load work and I somehow know how to do the assigned work(No blank stares at reqmnt doc)!!The code I write executes without any hitch in the first run! Easy Peasy, I finish my work before lunch.
I get a call from reception desk saying I have a courier. I go and see it's lunch sent by Mom :)
5 box stacked lunch box. I open the first box and find hot crispy Vada in it, second has mutton curry with cashews gravy, third has muddha pappu neyya avakay annam (Dal, ghee and mango pickle rice), fourth has umm.. ok white rice for the mutton curry, fifth has creamy ras malai, and another compartment in it has gulab jamuns.
After the nice yummy lunch, I go back to my desk and see some loads of gossip mails from all old friends. Then after an hour, Manager informs govt has declared half day holiday for some reason and all companies have to follow it. So I leave office , yes no traffic again, pick up my husband at his office (remember all companies got half day holiday), then we go to PVR and get 2 gold class tickets free in some lucky draw for a Chiru/Pawan Kalyan/ shah rukh's latest movie). We finally decide on Shah Rukh's movie and the movie would obviously be awssum as it would have Shah rukh in it, plus watching it in Lazboy recliner cushioned seats with pepsi and popcorn ahaa. heaven on earth!
Then after the movie, some shopping(yeah my reward bonus vouchers) and then dinner at Afghani restaurant which serves reshmi malai kababs, paneer tikki, yummy biryani and kubhani ka meetha with vanilla icecream and cherry topping :)
Go home (of course no traffic) and .. ok not home already.. no traffic, about to rain kind of romantic weather and a long drive on smooth roads with nice music.. walk by the moonlit lake side, cool breeze (seashore wouldve been better, but Bangalore is not on coast).
Finally time to go home(Bangalore has a night life deadline). and sleep on a freshly made bed with crisp white bedsheets, plush cushions, spring mattresses, ac on a 23 deg...
and then....
A calling bell ringing somewhere distant and I wake up and come tumbling down the stairs to find its the maid servant at 6:30 am on a Monday morning....... Ohh my dream shattered!!!!
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Do you like being a girl?
I want all the girls out there to honestly answer if they are really happy being a girl! I dont want to sound outrageous or hurt anyone's sentiments.. just a simple question to be taken just that way!
Till date I've never really taken pride or enjoyed being a girl. I always felt life would've been so much more fun if I was a boy! Boys have these subtle natual advantages over girls.. the way they enjoy their time at beach, bike drives with frens, late nights and to put it in one word.. a much more independent secure life! With the natural disadvantages physically girls as I see can never be that independent and given the society we live in (yeah they say its changing.. but when?) they make it all the more difficult. There are this outrageous expectations that are forced on girls not to forget the restrictions too!
One of my friends father was looking for an alliance for her. They came across this guy's profile and like all details and decided to set up a family meet and the boy meet girl drama.
The whole thing went fairly smoothly and the guy's family left. My friends father asked her if she liked the guy and she said am ok with it, but am not sure they will come back. And as she expectd, the guy's family came back saying, the guy found the girl too fast and they would not go ahead with the proposal. Her dad was obviously not very happy and came back and asked her what she spoke with the guy that he felt she was fast. Then she told this.. "The guy had said that he drinks occassionally.. not vey often. only during office parties. And I said same with me.. "
It's just not about that particular guys family.. its with every other family.. they want a girl who is beautiful (read fair) , highly educated, earning well, rich by default, has no brothers, good family background, well mannered, soft spoken, homely, being a cook and a good home maker come by default and yeah mingle completely with guy's family.. what all bull shit! Another outrageous addition to this list.. should continue working even after having a baby!!
and a girl who has all these qualities should'nt mind even if the guy is dark, short, baldy, drinks/ smokes occassionally and god knows from which Goddamn college he got his degree certificate!
When will people actually practise the equality between boys and girls. Why does a guy's family suddenly get all horns on their heads by the time they start looking for a girl for him? Why dont they understand that marriage is a mutual understanding and guy needs girl as much as the girl needs the guy for support and companionship for life.
I think the guys and girls of this generation should try and bring in the much required attitude and change in the way of thinking of our previous generation. As long as we are ready to become the bakras and witness the melodrama happening around us.. God save this country!
Till date I've never really taken pride or enjoyed being a girl. I always felt life would've been so much more fun if I was a boy! Boys have these subtle natual advantages over girls.. the way they enjoy their time at beach, bike drives with frens, late nights and to put it in one word.. a much more independent secure life! With the natural disadvantages physically girls as I see can never be that independent and given the society we live in (yeah they say its changing.. but when?) they make it all the more difficult. There are this outrageous expectations that are forced on girls not to forget the restrictions too!
One of my friends father was looking for an alliance for her. They came across this guy's profile and like all details and decided to set up a family meet and the boy meet girl drama.
The whole thing went fairly smoothly and the guy's family left. My friends father asked her if she liked the guy and she said am ok with it, but am not sure they will come back. And as she expectd, the guy's family came back saying, the guy found the girl too fast and they would not go ahead with the proposal. Her dad was obviously not very happy and came back and asked her what she spoke with the guy that he felt she was fast. Then she told this.. "The guy had said that he drinks occassionally.. not vey often. only during office parties. And I said same with me.. "
It's just not about that particular guys family.. its with every other family.. they want a girl who is beautiful (read fair) , highly educated, earning well, rich by default, has no brothers, good family background, well mannered, soft spoken, homely, being a cook and a good home maker come by default and yeah mingle completely with guy's family.. what all bull shit! Another outrageous addition to this list.. should continue working even after having a baby!!
and a girl who has all these qualities should'nt mind even if the guy is dark, short, baldy, drinks/ smokes occassionally and god knows from which Goddamn college he got his degree certificate!
When will people actually practise the equality between boys and girls. Why does a guy's family suddenly get all horns on their heads by the time they start looking for a girl for him? Why dont they understand that marriage is a mutual understanding and guy needs girl as much as the girl needs the guy for support and companionship for life.
I think the guys and girls of this generation should try and bring in the much required attitude and change in the way of thinking of our previous generation. As long as we are ready to become the bakras and witness the melodrama happening around us.. God save this country!
Ammamma nerpina koora :)
Ok here comes the recipe of the Andhra traditional curry cooked the traditional way.
Prawn Tamarind leaves curry ( Royyalu chintha chiguru iguru)
Ingredients :
Prawns 500 gms( de-shelled and de-viened)
Fresh tamarind leaves - a bunch
onions- 2 medium (sliced big)
4 green chillies
salt and chilly powder to taste
lil tamarind pulp
Procedure:
Clean the prawns and marinate in salt and red chilly powder for 2 hours.
Cleaning the tamarind leaves has a technique, you have to dry them first and rub those tiny stems between palms so that you have just the leaves separated. Throw that lil stem away.
Fry the big sliced onions and greenchillies and keep aside.
Now fry the marinated prawn and keep aside.
Now take the leaves and put the 2 tsp tamarind pulp, lil water and lil salt and chilly powder and boil the leaves till they become soft and well boilt.
Now mix everything, fried onions, prawns and boiled leaves, add ample water and keep on low flame and close the lid. after 5 minutes, add salt and chilly powder to taste and let the curry cook on low flame. Then after 10 minutes, the curry starts giving a delicious aroma.. your mouth starts dripping .. open the lid and stir gently wihtout hurting the prawns and let the remaining water evaporate.
Your dish is ready to gorge on!!! Go on.. Be a tiger!
Prawn Tamarind leaves curry ( Royyalu chintha chiguru iguru)
Ingredients :
Prawns 500 gms( de-shelled and de-viened)
Fresh tamarind leaves - a bunch
onions- 2 medium (sliced big)
4 green chillies
salt and chilly powder to taste
lil tamarind pulp
Procedure:
Clean the prawns and marinate in salt and red chilly powder for 2 hours.
Cleaning the tamarind leaves has a technique, you have to dry them first and rub those tiny stems between palms so that you have just the leaves separated. Throw that lil stem away.
Fry the big sliced onions and greenchillies and keep aside.
Now fry the marinated prawn and keep aside.
Now take the leaves and put the 2 tsp tamarind pulp, lil water and lil salt and chilly powder and boil the leaves till they become soft and well boilt.
Now mix everything, fried onions, prawns and boiled leaves, add ample water and keep on low flame and close the lid. after 5 minutes, add salt and chilly powder to taste and let the curry cook on low flame. Then after 10 minutes, the curry starts giving a delicious aroma.. your mouth starts dripping .. open the lid and stir gently wihtout hurting the prawns and let the remaining water evaporate.
Your dish is ready to gorge on!!! Go on.. Be a tiger!
Ammamma Day
Till date, I've never had anybody standing by me and formally teaching me how to cook step by step. I never bothered to venture in to the kitchen till the time I was with mom and even she didnt bother to drag and drop me there. And once I was on my own, it was always those last minute instructions on phone by mom, "do this.. then do that. ohh you've already done something else.. then god help your curry Bye"! Most of the recipe sharing conversations end that way!
All thanks to google, now a days if someone asks me if I know how to cook a particular dish xxx, I always say Yes even if I've no idea how to even start with it.
But today's experience was different and something I enjoyed thoroughly. May be the first time I enjoyed cooking and also the end result. You may ask What made the difference? and the answer would be "Ammamma" .. umm actually ammamma in law.. but how does it matter?
She tought me how to cook the traditional dish, prawns with fresh green tamarind leaves curry. (Recipe to be posted separately). Stood by me and explained the significance of following a procedure in cooking anything. I never gave much importance to the order of putting the ingredients but today I understood how it really really matters! She also made me thoroughly enjoy the whole process by telling old stories of her learning to cook days.
Being a mom and giving unconditional love to their children is a thing in itself but grannies are completly on a different level. They are cute, adorable, loving, and always huggable!
It's my ammamma day today!!
All thanks to google, now a days if someone asks me if I know how to cook a particular dish xxx, I always say Yes even if I've no idea how to even start with it.
But today's experience was different and something I enjoyed thoroughly. May be the first time I enjoyed cooking and also the end result. You may ask What made the difference? and the answer would be "Ammamma" .. umm actually ammamma in law.. but how does it matter?
She tought me how to cook the traditional dish, prawns with fresh green tamarind leaves curry. (Recipe to be posted separately). Stood by me and explained the significance of following a procedure in cooking anything. I never gave much importance to the order of putting the ingredients but today I understood how it really really matters! She also made me thoroughly enjoy the whole process by telling old stories of her learning to cook days.
Being a mom and giving unconditional love to their children is a thing in itself but grannies are completly on a different level. They are cute, adorable, loving, and always huggable!
It's my ammamma day today!!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Learnings for life.
Some incidents of past stay with you forever. Learnings for life.
Just happened to recollect one of them and thought it was worth to pen it.
20 years back, my dad's job required him to do a lot of touring all across India. And everytime he came back from a trip, it was fun time for us, as he would definitely get some goodies for us, even if they were those free chocs given on the flight.
This particular trip of his was to Delhi which was initially scheduled for 2 weeks. We gave him a small shopping list before he left and I had asked for a digital dislay "Disco watch". I was eagerly waiting for him to come back with my watch , dreaming day and night about it. And the trip kept getting prolonged to a month and a half. Delhi to chandigarh to Jaipur to God knows where else he travelled back then in that one trip. He came back home after a 36 hr long tiring train journey. I was not at home when he arrived and later when I came back from play, mom announced Dad is back and he is taking rest. I went running to him , woke him up and he was ready to hug me, when the most insensitive me ignored his stretched hands and just asked "Dad, where's my watch? "!!! He was disappointed for sure, but he did his best to conceal it. He unpacked and gave me my watch and other goodies he got for me. I was too happy about the new stuff and went to show them off to my friends. Later, mom called me aside and asked me "Did you ask dad how his trip was? Did you tell him how much you missed him in the past month and a half and did you just sit and talk to him? He was waiting to meet you and all you asked for was the watch". It then hit me that dad was waiting to meet me and I just completely ignored him. I had never felt more guilty. I then went to dad , asked him how his trip was, told him about my school unit tests but no matter what I did, I dont know if it healed his hurt, it never healed mine. It was such a big learning for life, that till date am still making up for it. I make sure that no matter how anxious I am about the gift am going to receive from anyone, the people are far more important, and the precious moments need to be treasured and not the gifts!
But the goodies never actually hurt much ;-)
Just happened to recollect one of them and thought it was worth to pen it.
20 years back, my dad's job required him to do a lot of touring all across India. And everytime he came back from a trip, it was fun time for us, as he would definitely get some goodies for us, even if they were those free chocs given on the flight.
This particular trip of his was to Delhi which was initially scheduled for 2 weeks. We gave him a small shopping list before he left and I had asked for a digital dislay "Disco watch". I was eagerly waiting for him to come back with my watch , dreaming day and night about it. And the trip kept getting prolonged to a month and a half. Delhi to chandigarh to Jaipur to God knows where else he travelled back then in that one trip. He came back home after a 36 hr long tiring train journey. I was not at home when he arrived and later when I came back from play, mom announced Dad is back and he is taking rest. I went running to him , woke him up and he was ready to hug me, when the most insensitive me ignored his stretched hands and just asked "Dad, where's my watch? "!!! He was disappointed for sure, but he did his best to conceal it. He unpacked and gave me my watch and other goodies he got for me. I was too happy about the new stuff and went to show them off to my friends. Later, mom called me aside and asked me "Did you ask dad how his trip was? Did you tell him how much you missed him in the past month and a half and did you just sit and talk to him? He was waiting to meet you and all you asked for was the watch". It then hit me that dad was waiting to meet me and I just completely ignored him. I had never felt more guilty. I then went to dad , asked him how his trip was, told him about my school unit tests but no matter what I did, I dont know if it healed his hurt, it never healed mine. It was such a big learning for life, that till date am still making up for it. I make sure that no matter how anxious I am about the gift am going to receive from anyone, the people are far more important, and the precious moments need to be treasured and not the gifts!
But the goodies never actually hurt much ;-)
Go Away!
Did you ever feel disconnected from the world around you? Wanted to be left alone with your thoughts but still felt lonely? Confused state of mind.
One of the rare phases of life am going through for no solid reason. May be just a mood swing lingering around longer. Whatever it is, it is not helping me at all. Lot of frustration, lot of unknowns, lot of questions with no answers. It's just taking too much to have a clear thought process and convince myself that what am thinking or doing is the right thing.
My own thoughts are taking me by surprise, in retrospection. Something that I thought for someone, did to someone making me feel extremely guilty now. So bad that am not even able to get myself admit it.
Any easy way of getting rid of guilt and cheer up?
One of the rare phases of life am going through for no solid reason. May be just a mood swing lingering around longer. Whatever it is, it is not helping me at all. Lot of frustration, lot of unknowns, lot of questions with no answers. It's just taking too much to have a clear thought process and convince myself that what am thinking or doing is the right thing.
My own thoughts are taking me by surprise, in retrospection. Something that I thought for someone, did to someone making me feel extremely guilty now. So bad that am not even able to get myself admit it.
Any easy way of getting rid of guilt and cheer up?
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Cought Behind!
Just how tough can it be to behave like a thorough professinal, work-a-holic in office atleast during the performance review times? I just somehow end up making the most easy tasks seem like next to impossible.
The other day at office, I was getting extremely bored going through a mandatoy training audio. Please note that our managers have been kind enough not to provide us with internet, so that at work, its supposed to be only work. But we always find our ways to keep us entertained. My friend and me have this new found interest.. Pictionary! Brings the best creative talents out of people who play! So with the training audio on, my friend and me started playing pictionary and she drew some animal and asked me to guess what it was! I started guessing it as a Rat, Lizard, crocodile with a bouncy tail, dog, donkey and .. Horse! A voice said from behind! We turned back in horror to find who it was! We were so engrossed in guessing and giggling that we never realised when our big boss came and stood right behind us watching all our buffoonery!
We gave him back a sheepish grin, trying to hide our drawing pad but it was just too too late! He just remarked "Looks like there is not much work to keep you guys busy...Haffun" and till date I have not returned home before 8 PM :(
P.S: His guess was right by the way.. She wanted to depict Trojan Horse!
The other day at office, I was getting extremely bored going through a mandatoy training audio. Please note that our managers have been kind enough not to provide us with internet, so that at work, its supposed to be only work. But we always find our ways to keep us entertained. My friend and me have this new found interest.. Pictionary! Brings the best creative talents out of people who play! So with the training audio on, my friend and me started playing pictionary and she drew some animal and asked me to guess what it was! I started guessing it as a Rat, Lizard, crocodile with a bouncy tail, dog, donkey and .. Horse! A voice said from behind! We turned back in horror to find who it was! We were so engrossed in guessing and giggling that we never realised when our big boss came and stood right behind us watching all our buffoonery!
We gave him back a sheepish grin, trying to hide our drawing pad but it was just too too late! He just remarked "Looks like there is not much work to keep you guys busy...Haffun" and till date I have not returned home before 8 PM :(
P.S: His guess was right by the way.. She wanted to depict Trojan Horse!
Friday, April 10, 2009
Jo and hunger wait for none!
Just how many times does your boss think you are worthy of solving his work related problems? Last wednesday, I dont know why, My boss called me to fix some problem he was facing in setting up his workspace. This time of the year esp when the performance reviews are on full heat, ths opportunity seemed golden! I had to by hook or crook solve his problem..(Whatever made him think I coudl!) !
Unfortunately it was my evening snacking time when he called me. It wouldve been mighty stupid to tell him "Wait.. let me first save myself from hunger death then I will look in to your issues!".Snacks can wait for the boss!
I went to his cubicle and was seriously trouble shooting the issue and then just after ten minutes, my first hunger warning bell vroom. I ignored it and continued doing what I was supposed to do. Then after ten more minutes the warning bell was a little stronger, and I fidgeted a little uncomfortably in my chair. and then... the inevitable.. a grumbling sound came out loud and clear!! I was hoping against hope that only I could hear it and not my boss. As usual, there was neve a saving grace for me.. Boss confirmed my doubts by saying this " Do you want to take a break.. we can look in to this later!!" Ughhhhhhhhhhhh!! Thanks so much for your kindnes boss!!! Jo's hunger waits for none.. not even her boss!
Unfortunately it was my evening snacking time when he called me. It wouldve been mighty stupid to tell him "Wait.. let me first save myself from hunger death then I will look in to your issues!".Snacks can wait for the boss!
I went to his cubicle and was seriously trouble shooting the issue and then just after ten minutes, my first hunger warning bell vroom. I ignored it and continued doing what I was supposed to do. Then after ten more minutes the warning bell was a little stronger, and I fidgeted a little uncomfortably in my chair. and then... the inevitable.. a grumbling sound came out loud and clear!! I was hoping against hope that only I could hear it and not my boss. As usual, there was neve a saving grace for me.. Boss confirmed my doubts by saying this " Do you want to take a break.. we can look in to this later!!" Ughhhhhhhhhhhh!! Thanks so much for your kindnes boss!!! Jo's hunger waits for none.. not even her boss!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Money hai tho dosa hai!
Long weekend just went by.. literally just went by without we doing much. Saturday evening, we decided it was just too much to be at home from thursday night and it was time we went out and saw what world was doing over the weekend. We went to a near by mall, and landed up at my husbands favorite book store. He got instantly lost in his science fiction and physics books and I was on my own. Books and me dont really go well together so I started watching people around me, all engrossed in some book or the other and most of them with glasses! Not a very eyeful watch... My eyes wanted more!! :) And then I thought I was hungry( May be it was just boredom, but eveything ends up in me feeling hungry). I went to my husband and asked if he was, and got a very "How can you be hungry already.. we just had lunch" kind of cheap look from him! May be it was also added with " you always try to pull me out of this store " look also. So I decided it was better to be nice to him, take money from him and go to the eat out place all alone. I asked him money and he was about to generously give me a hundred ruppee note when my dumb mind started working and I said " They might not have change, gimme just 30 bucks, I just want to eat a frankie". (Frankie in our ofc is sold for just 20, and I thought I was safe by taking those ten bucks extra.) Hubby happily obliged and gave me just that, three ten buck notes.
I was dreaming about the frankie and went la la la to the eatout place to find to my utter disappointment that no frankie was less than 40 bucks!!! My inner self stopped my from going back to my hubby to ask for extra money. I wanted to act smart and check out in the line up of food stalls. There should be something that I can get for 30 bucks!! I went from one stall to other, my full concentration on the price side of each one's menu. To my sheer disappointment, all I could find for 30 bucks was Extra cheese and curd :( . I went to the last and final stall with least hope and my eyes sparkled on seeing this SET DOSA ............................ 30/-
wow! This was something, I could finally get something for 30 afterall! My happines really knew no bounds. I went to the bill counter and ordered confidently, One Set dosa pls and gave him the exact change, 30 rs. I really wish it ended there but there was one more twist in tale, that guy said 33/- madam including Tax. #$%$#%$^%$^$%&^%&%$#%#$%
I had no choice but to call my husband and tell him what happened. And then he came with that triumphant look( urhggggg) and that final kill dialogue " I was giving you 100 bucks".
Why on earth did I think that on a saturday evening, Mall's eatout place wouldnt have change for just 100 and why on earth would someone gimme a frankie for 30 bucks!!!
I was dreaming about the frankie and went la la la to the eatout place to find to my utter disappointment that no frankie was less than 40 bucks!!! My inner self stopped my from going back to my hubby to ask for extra money. I wanted to act smart and check out in the line up of food stalls. There should be something that I can get for 30 bucks!! I went from one stall to other, my full concentration on the price side of each one's menu. To my sheer disappointment, all I could find for 30 bucks was Extra cheese and curd :( . I went to the last and final stall with least hope and my eyes sparkled on seeing this SET DOSA ............................ 30/-
wow! This was something, I could finally get something for 30 afterall! My happines really knew no bounds. I went to the bill counter and ordered confidently, One Set dosa pls and gave him the exact change, 30 rs. I really wish it ended there but there was one more twist in tale, that guy said 33/- madam including Tax. #$%$#%$^%$^$%&^%&%$#%#$%
I had no choice but to call my husband and tell him what happened. And then he came with that triumphant look( urhggggg) and that final kill dialogue " I was giving you 100 bucks".
Why on earth did I think that on a saturday evening, Mall's eatout place wouldnt have change for just 100 and why on earth would someone gimme a frankie for 30 bucks!!!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tinnama.. Padukunnama.. tellarindha
I think Ive got my answer and a very apprioriate one to my previous post! Now am sitting here wondering what I was really cribbing about last time! I was cribbin that I didnt have time for anything and life was going too fast. Now I realise that it was so good that life was going on like that.
Last week there was a medical (Not mental) problem with me and doc advised me to take 1 week off and take some proper rest at home. I was elated thinking about the unplanned vacation that fell in to my lap. I thought it would be so much fun to sleep till late and do whatever I wanted to all day. I was so wrong! so so so wrong! I sit all day at home doing absolutely nothin!! I mean there is nothing to do actually. Watch Tv.. browse thru the net.. all fine but for how long? Not all day!! I feel like life has come to a standstill and am just wasting it doing nothing. I cant wait to get back to my routine!!
I mean there are lot of things to do like all the pending house repair works, carpenter work and the boring chores like dusting, tidying the house etc etc! But I dont want to do them! Yuck! And I get so irritated when they say.. anyway you are at home all day.. do this do that complete that ! Uhhhhhhhhh! I salute all the successful homemakers but fr me when am at home all day.. Am Lazyness personified.. lethargy at its best (my mom gave me a new title .. "Salugu")!
Oh God.. Please save me from myself.. When will I actually get to know what I really want! And looks like you grant all my typically incorrect wishes!! I was cribbing when I was busy, I am cribbing now also when I have the all the time in the world but doing nothing ( reading books, sleeping, watching tv not counted) .. so what Do I really want??
Last week there was a medical (Not mental) problem with me and doc advised me to take 1 week off and take some proper rest at home. I was elated thinking about the unplanned vacation that fell in to my lap. I thought it would be so much fun to sleep till late and do whatever I wanted to all day. I was so wrong! so so so wrong! I sit all day at home doing absolutely nothin!! I mean there is nothing to do actually. Watch Tv.. browse thru the net.. all fine but for how long? Not all day!! I feel like life has come to a standstill and am just wasting it doing nothing. I cant wait to get back to my routine!!
I mean there are lot of things to do like all the pending house repair works, carpenter work and the boring chores like dusting, tidying the house etc etc! But I dont want to do them! Yuck! And I get so irritated when they say.. anyway you are at home all day.. do this do that complete that ! Uhhhhhhhhh! I salute all the successful homemakers but fr me when am at home all day.. Am Lazyness personified.. lethargy at its best (my mom gave me a new title .. "Salugu")!
Oh God.. Please save me from myself.. When will I actually get to know what I really want! And looks like you grant all my typically incorrect wishes!! I was cribbing when I was busy, I am cribbing now also when I have the all the time in the world but doing nothing ( reading books, sleeping, watching tv not counted) .. so what Do I really want??
Thursday, February 12, 2009
What's your life like?
May be I have done this blah blahing before but today I had to write this down again.
My life these days has settled in to a routine which sounds and looks ok but is very boring in detail. To summarize my any day, I spend 12 hours out of home( 10 hrs office +2 hours travel time 7:30 am to 7:30 pm) , 9 hours of sleep (9:30 pm to 6:30 am .. Something I cannot sacrifice or reduce for whatever the reasons be) and 1 hr of cooking(7:30 pm to 8:30 pm) 1 hr of tv(8:30 pm to 9:30 pm) . So except for the calender date there wouldnt be any difference between yesterday and today. But there are some days , for someone else's last minute planning, my routine goes for a toss. And am like so obsessed with my routine that the very minute I see a possibility of someone disturbing my routine , I get frustrated and today was one such days. A conf call was scheduled from 6:30 to 8 pm at office and I was supposed to attend it. It meant, I would reach home at 9:30 and lose out on 2 precious home hours. I just made some lame excuse and skipped it. But then there is this guilt also that I shouldnt have done that, I shouldve attended that meeting, it was important! I think its every working woman's dillemma.. neither get a 100% job satisfaction nor the 100% home maker satisfaction.
But to put it in the other angle, I have started hating this routine also. I mean, this is not what I want to do in my life. Do I sound confused? At this point I really am.. I can't quit the job because I got used to it and have also got used to the financial independence and dependence on the good sum that gets deposited every month in my account. Its just too addictive! But its not really the case that am really happy spending 12 hours of my day for this leaving everything else haphazard. It's only when we have those friends for lunch or dinner during weekends I realise how much the home needs my attention and time. When I see other women who are happy home makers, I feel jealous, I also want to quit my job, but when I really think of it, am not sure if I can be happy sitting at home all day doing just that!!
May be its really time I seriously think of the other options I can be happy with... do something which gives me satisfaction and a control over my life and my time.
-A confused frustrated soul
My life these days has settled in to a routine which sounds and looks ok but is very boring in detail. To summarize my any day, I spend 12 hours out of home( 10 hrs office +2 hours travel time 7:30 am to 7:30 pm) , 9 hours of sleep (9:30 pm to 6:30 am .. Something I cannot sacrifice or reduce for whatever the reasons be) and 1 hr of cooking(7:30 pm to 8:30 pm) 1 hr of tv(8:30 pm to 9:30 pm) . So except for the calender date there wouldnt be any difference between yesterday and today. But there are some days , for someone else's last minute planning, my routine goes for a toss. And am like so obsessed with my routine that the very minute I see a possibility of someone disturbing my routine , I get frustrated and today was one such days. A conf call was scheduled from 6:30 to 8 pm at office and I was supposed to attend it. It meant, I would reach home at 9:30 and lose out on 2 precious home hours. I just made some lame excuse and skipped it. But then there is this guilt also that I shouldnt have done that, I shouldve attended that meeting, it was important! I think its every working woman's dillemma.. neither get a 100% job satisfaction nor the 100% home maker satisfaction.
But to put it in the other angle, I have started hating this routine also. I mean, this is not what I want to do in my life. Do I sound confused? At this point I really am.. I can't quit the job because I got used to it and have also got used to the financial independence and dependence on the good sum that gets deposited every month in my account. Its just too addictive! But its not really the case that am really happy spending 12 hours of my day for this leaving everything else haphazard. It's only when we have those friends for lunch or dinner during weekends I realise how much the home needs my attention and time. When I see other women who are happy home makers, I feel jealous, I also want to quit my job, but when I really think of it, am not sure if I can be happy sitting at home all day doing just that!!
May be its really time I seriously think of the other options I can be happy with... do something which gives me satisfaction and a control over my life and my time.
-A confused frustrated soul
Friday, January 9, 2009
What would you wish for?
I think God(If you believe in God) has this special way of designing peoples lives. Just when a person thinks he is the happiest person in this world, everything in his life is under his control, and even if someone grants him a wish, there would be nothing more he could ask for God plays his move and shows people, there can never be a day when everything can be under control :) .
This is the pattern I observed with so many people so many times that someone or the other always keeps cribbing about some problem in life, helpless, frustrated and very little under their control. I think along with change, worry is also a Constant.
In my case, I have this constant worry of not being able to eat what I want to eat in the fear that it immediately shows. A situation where my fave food is right in front of my eyes, I have the money to buy it, I dont have to ask anybody's permission to have it, but still something stops me. and that is my worry of becoming more fat. So anyday if someone grants me a wish for lifetime, I would say I should be able to eat anything in any quantity but still shouldnt become fat :) . There is one more angle to this situation, I can just care a damn and go ahead and have what I want and be so happy. But the underlying truth is that I hate when people comment on me saying I have put on weight! I just so so so HATE it! so to avoid that, I have t avoid eating and again the vicious cycle! This is my constant worry for my entire life, any day any time.
And I know I am not the only one having this problem, there are many more. So I think I should wish for a more idealistic world where people stop commenting on someone's physical appearance and accept people by their chaacter, what they actually are.
And the irony of the situation is, there are people who are thin and hate being thin and want to become fat but cannot become fat no matter how much they eat, fat people who hate being fat and want to become thin but that doesnt happen no matter what they do and there are few exceptions who are happy with what they are.
Apart from that, looking at some other issues, People who are working are either not happy with the kind of work they have or their bosses or their feedbacks and have this constant thought of "Heck.. what the hell am I doing here" and there are thos epeople who are struggling for a job and are ready to take up any damn job. Its a different thing that once they join a job, may be they would also start facing usual job problems.
There are people in my office who do not want to work on Onsite assignments due to some personal reasons and they are forced to go and they go work there cribbing all the time, and there are so many other people who are like waiting for that one opportunity to go Onsite but it never comes to them when they want it.
People who have money want more money, people who own houses want to own more houses, and the list goes on.
I think this is all a pert of God's game plan and nothing else. Never let anybody be too happy with themselves.
Share your thoughts...
This is the pattern I observed with so many people so many times that someone or the other always keeps cribbing about some problem in life, helpless, frustrated and very little under their control. I think along with change, worry is also a Constant.
In my case, I have this constant worry of not being able to eat what I want to eat in the fear that it immediately shows. A situation where my fave food is right in front of my eyes, I have the money to buy it, I dont have to ask anybody's permission to have it, but still something stops me. and that is my worry of becoming more fat. So anyday if someone grants me a wish for lifetime, I would say I should be able to eat anything in any quantity but still shouldnt become fat :) . There is one more angle to this situation, I can just care a damn and go ahead and have what I want and be so happy. But the underlying truth is that I hate when people comment on me saying I have put on weight! I just so so so HATE it! so to avoid that, I have t avoid eating and again the vicious cycle! This is my constant worry for my entire life, any day any time.
And I know I am not the only one having this problem, there are many more. So I think I should wish for a more idealistic world where people stop commenting on someone's physical appearance and accept people by their chaacter, what they actually are.
And the irony of the situation is, there are people who are thin and hate being thin and want to become fat but cannot become fat no matter how much they eat, fat people who hate being fat and want to become thin but that doesnt happen no matter what they do and there are few exceptions who are happy with what they are.
Apart from that, looking at some other issues, People who are working are either not happy with the kind of work they have or their bosses or their feedbacks and have this constant thought of "Heck.. what the hell am I doing here" and there are thos epeople who are struggling for a job and are ready to take up any damn job. Its a different thing that once they join a job, may be they would also start facing usual job problems.
There are people in my office who do not want to work on Onsite assignments due to some personal reasons and they are forced to go and they go work there cribbing all the time, and there are so many other people who are like waiting for that one opportunity to go Onsite but it never comes to them when they want it.
People who have money want more money, people who own houses want to own more houses, and the list goes on.
I think this is all a pert of God's game plan and nothing else. Never let anybody be too happy with themselves.
Share your thoughts...
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
poppat e mazza
Today I realised it so much fun when others around you become poppat.
I was getting extremely bored in office today, with not much work to do. Suddenly I heard some wierd blah blah blah from the CPU in the next cubicle. I turned back and saw that the guy was having his headphones put on but still the sound was loud enough for me to hear. I was just about to ping him and ask, why he was hearing to the recording with such a loud volume that even I was able to hear it clearly. Then tish tish tish.. I turned back again and saw what I saw and I was so thrilled! So many others like me. He didnt plug in the headphones to the CPU and the recording was playing out of CPU speakers. and he was actually thinking he was listening to the recording from his headphones! wah wah wah! Shabaash mere bhai.
I told him tat he had not plugged on the headphones and sound was coming from CPU, I could exactly feel what he mustve felt!! experience helps sometimes ;-)
I was getting extremely bored in office today, with not much work to do. Suddenly I heard some wierd blah blah blah from the CPU in the next cubicle. I turned back and saw that the guy was having his headphones put on but still the sound was loud enough for me to hear. I was just about to ping him and ask, why he was hearing to the recording with such a loud volume that even I was able to hear it clearly. Then tish tish tish.. I turned back again and saw what I saw and I was so thrilled! So many others like me. He didnt plug in the headphones to the CPU and the recording was playing out of CPU speakers. and he was actually thinking he was listening to the recording from his headphones! wah wah wah! Shabaash mere bhai.
I told him tat he had not plugged on the headphones and sound was coming from CPU, I could exactly feel what he mustve felt!! experience helps sometimes ;-)
Friday, January 2, 2009
Keep Wondering...
These days.. Ive gotten this new bug of guessing if the lady I saw was fat or was she pregnant. And yes as usual most of the times my guesses have always turned out to be wrong.
I know that as soon as I open my mouth, I land myself in trouble, but still cant help it.
Last week at the grocery store, I saw my neighbour( afte a long time) and my thought process began.. Was she preggy.. or just fat. I decided on the first option and just because I cannot keep my mouth shut and had to talk to her , I said this " Hey how are you.. Congratulations! Which month??" She gave me a pretty confused look and then to hit me on my head, she said this.. "Oh am fine.. and now I realised I am more healthier than ever that people think am carrying".
Why.. why cant I keep my mouth shut!!! God.. Gimme some control on myself!
I know that as soon as I open my mouth, I land myself in trouble, but still cant help it.
Last week at the grocery store, I saw my neighbour( afte a long time) and my thought process began.. Was she preggy.. or just fat. I decided on the first option and just because I cannot keep my mouth shut and had to talk to her , I said this " Hey how are you.. Congratulations! Which month??" She gave me a pretty confused look and then to hit me on my head, she said this.. "Oh am fine.. and now I realised I am more healthier than ever that people think am carrying".
Why.. why cant I keep my mouth shut!!! God.. Gimme some control on myself!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Vannakkam.. Namaskar.. helllo! Been a long long time I have written something in this space.. and what better time than the new year to start writing again :)
Wish you all a very very Happy and Joyful new Year 2009. May Most of your wishes come true.. ( Let some wishes remain for the next year toooo ;-) )
This is the time when everybody looks back at the past year and makes new resolutions for the coming year. Thats exactly what I did and did a lil more :) I am still not able to come up with a final list of resolutions. First a stat of the last year:
1) I put on 3 - 4 kgs last year and by the end managed to shed off only 2 kgs. Was fat for most duration of the year. Ate like there's a tomorrow when we can diet not today. Every time went to Cafeteria to eat a fruit bowl and ended up eating either a samosa chat or a frankie. and there was no stopping to sweets. Guilt?? what are you talking I say?
2) I did more trainings and certifiations than some work in office. I spent 6 months just doing technical trainings.
3) I travelled like mad. On an average, I made 6 trips to Hyd, 2 trips to Vizag, 1 trip to Wayanad, 1 trip to Mysore, 2 trips to Grandpa's place, 1 trip to US. Within US, again in 2 months I was a travelling soldier.A summary of 2 months ( Bangalore--> Paris-->Omaha --> Virginia --> Omaha --> San Jose/SFO--> Omaha->Detroit-->Omaha-->San Jose/Yosemite -->Omaha-->Dallas-->Omaha-->Boston->Paris-->Bangalore) The positive thing that came out of all this is that , I stopped having jet lags :) I travelled from Omaha to Bangalore for almost 45 hrs(incl the time shift) and I didnt feel any jetlag the day I landed or even later. My body has developed an ability to sleep anytime, under any conditions and has probably gave up on me! So that makes 20 trips in 12 months :( and not to mention my daily travel to office from home to whitefield and back to home.
4) I forgot to wish most of my friend son their birthday. Even worse, I wished them either advance or belated. Both useless.
5) Spent money like mad. I went to US, came back and ended up paying back money to my company. generally people save up big bucks! I Shopped when I was Happy, Shopped when I was sad, Shopped before going to US, in US and after coming from US :) Am not really sure now whether to see it as a thing that needs improvement or a thing that needs to be stopped :) Love to Vote for former though ;-)
6) Fought with most of my loved ones.. Naresh, daddy, some frens. Said a lot of bad things abt some people, did gossiping, bitching.. everything that makes me feel ashamed now.
7) Really wanted to do something for others, but didnt do anything substantial. Just could manage to give away old clothes to an Ashram and kaamwali.
I think its high time I look at few thing that went well for me last year... (ummmm Long pause for 10 minutes)
1) I went to US on my own for work and did some good work in 2 months and this was like what I wanted to do since I got in to job 6 yrs back.
2) Got 3 awards at workplace.
3) Met up with lots of friends through the year and had a blast. Also patched up with lot of old friends.
4) Didnt fall sick much. Touchwood.
Thats it! I cant think of anything else that went well with me last year!!!
So now my list of top contenders for new year resolutions are as below:
1) Have more discipline in Life. Spend judiciously and watch my words.
2) Eat healthy (Salads and fruits) and Exercise. Keep fit if not slim( right.. I almost gave up in that word ).
3) Travel less! To quantify that statement, I would say may be just about 6 trips in the entire year.
4) Do something substantial for the poor and needy. Spend some time with people in old age homes.
5) Work.. work! do some good work.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Life mein kabhi kabhi aisa bhi hotha hai??
Yesterday there was a lunch party given by one of my colleagues on the occassion of his twins first birthday. @ the party, one of my colleagues 5 year old daughter, Anushka sat beside me at the lunch table. I was generally talking to her about her school, her dress and generally tping (Time passing) with her. I didnt realise, we were giggling and talking so much almost whole tables attention was on us. Then after sometime Anushka's mom came as she was not eating her lunch and told her to finish her rice and only then aunty( Yeah me!!) will play with her. Til then it sounded ok to me too.. so even I committed to Anushka that I would play with her if she finished the rice in her plate! (Alas!) And then comes the not so nice part... She finished her lunch and asked me to play TAD. I was not sure what it was and asked her mom what it was and she started laughing and said its Running and catching! @#$#@$@#$ How can I play Tad with a 5 yr old at a party with all my managers right there!!!! I tried to convince the lil one that we cant play there as there was no place and that she would be tired as she had her lunch just then but in vain. She sat right there on the floor and started crying and her mom was like, please play for sometime!! Even I didnt like to see the lil one crying but How can I play running and catching???? The heavens finally fell and I actually walked behind her around the table to catch her and to increase my embarrassment, Anushka shouted.. "Aunty Run.. dont walk!!!" Bhagwan.. Why didnt the earth split in to 2 and take me in!! Kids can really be so tough sometimes!! and later ( 10 very long minutes), luckily for me, she was tired and then we stopped playing Tad and settled for some silent sitting games. I was almost dreading she would ask me to play ringa ringa roses!!! But she compensated for everything later by telling that she likes me and gave me loads of kisses! I love you Anushka!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
What is it ??
Sometimes it becomes so difficult to differentiate whether the other person is commenting or complimenting you. And these days such statements have increased in number for me. For eg.,
1) You are not as fat as I expected . ( what??? whaaaaaaaaaaaat??? Either I am fat or I am not. Period.)
2) Very nice snaps, you are very photogenic . (heloo.. yes, I dont look good otherwise and no wonder you were surprised to see that I look good in snaps? )
3) Ohh you cook??? ( and I hate the expression with which they say that.. How can anyone assume if a person cooks or not just by seeing them... Crappy Assumptions!! )
4) Your lunch tastes good today! you only cooked? ( Its me who cooks, its me who eats.. I dont need your vishesh opinions on my lunch box)
5) Not bad. You did pretty well in the exam. ( I know.. I know.. you didn't expect me to pass the exam!)
Am sure there were more but cant remember any more now.. will keep updating this post.. am sure there are lot more to come!
Presenting.. Joey the chef!
Sometimes you find out some good things accidentally.. like Newton got the idea of gravity from the falling apple. Today I found a new recipe for egg Curry. I was always a great cook ( yes yes everybody agress I know) but today I did something, that made me feel so proud of myself!
Today I started off to cook the most easiest thing in the world egg curry. Everything seemed to be going smooth, until I tasted the gravy. Eeeks.. An extra pinch ( ok 2 pinches) of salt slipped through the spoon in to the curry.. Not my mistake you see!
Now to lessen the extra salt effect, I added milk ( lil better), then curd(even better), lil tamarind paste (now it tastes like something) and to lessen the effect of tamarind I added more masalas.. everything I cud lay my hands on, chicken masala, garam masala, corriander powder and Lo! when I tasted the end product.. yummmmmmmm!!! and it was a super hit among my teammates and one of them even asked me to share the recipe! and here it goes for her :) First add more salt and then all the others ingredients mentioned above particularly in that order :)
Clap! clap! and more claps!
(Joey the chef taking a bow)
Today I started off to cook the most easiest thing in the world egg curry. Everything seemed to be going smooth, until I tasted the gravy. Eeeks.. An extra pinch ( ok 2 pinches) of salt slipped through the spoon in to the curry.. Not my mistake you see!
Now to lessen the extra salt effect, I added milk ( lil better), then curd(even better), lil tamarind paste (now it tastes like something) and to lessen the effect of tamarind I added more masalas.. everything I cud lay my hands on, chicken masala, garam masala, corriander powder and Lo! when I tasted the end product.. yummmmmmmm!!! and it was a super hit among my teammates and one of them even asked me to share the recipe! and here it goes for her :) First add more salt and then all the others ingredients mentioned above particularly in that order :)
Clap! clap! and more claps!
(Joey the chef taking a bow)
Thursday, September 4, 2008
All written in the face!
Last wednesday I went to a party at my colleagues place. They being a bengali family, needless to say the food was amazing. Especially the kheer. So yummy. I asked them for recipe and just said I liked it very much ( yes only that) .Today after a week, I met same colleague in the corridor and I dont know why, I was reminded of the kheer, tho I didnt say anything to him. It was as if he read my mind or my face , he said there is lot of kheer at home, I will get it for you tomorrow!! I was like wow then but now going back, am thinking .. was I very expressive in telling how much I liked the kheer(which I knw is not the case as I dont remember saying nything more than just saying I liked it) or was it just the way I hogged or may be it was just the glow and hapiness in my face while eating it which was very evident!!Whatever the reason may be.. the word is spreading fast.. "jyotsna the foodieeee"
And now that the word has already spread, I wish he gets me Gulabjamuns also along with kheer :D geee
And now that the word has already spread, I wish he gets me Gulabjamuns also along with kheer :D geee
And More..
I thought it was all just with the airports.. but no.. the series continued through out the trip. At Goldie's place on saturday morning I woke up at 7 ( ppl say its becoz of Jet lag) and none of them were up. I looked here and there to see what I cud do silently without disturbing them. I couldnt find a toothpaste, cudnt find the correct TV remote , Couldnt find any magazines! so the next best option that looked very tempting was the swing in their backyard! I slowly tiptoed towards the backyard door and without making any sounds figured out how to open the door and was happy that I could open it! and then.. Hold your breath!! The loud alarm went up!! Guyiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!! Goldie woke up, her son woke up with his own alarm and yeah I just stood there like an idiot completely shocked!! I just managed to do something I just didnt want to do!!
Bl$%^%dy House alarm systems!!
Bl$%^%dy House alarm systems!!
And it continued..
Now after one story of boarding pass thing, the next one was just waiting to happen.
I had kept my laptop bag under the front seat during the take off and as soon as they gave the go ahead signal for using electronic appliances, i bent down trying to pull out the bag from the seat that was in front of me. I was not able to reach it, I tried hard but I just couldnt. and suddenly panic struck me, did I hurt my back or have I grown so fat suddenly that I am not even able to pull out my bag which is lying just down there. And then, Tada! I realised I had my seat belt fastened which was preventing me to go down!! relief then but then..All these days i thought it was bad only to become a poppat b4 others, but now I know, self Poppat is all the more worse!!!
Moral of the story: Never try to get a bag lying under the seat in front of you with your seat belt fastened!!!
I had kept my laptop bag under the front seat during the take off and as soon as they gave the go ahead signal for using electronic appliances, i bent down trying to pull out the bag from the seat that was in front of me. I was not able to reach it, I tried hard but I just couldnt. and suddenly panic struck me, did I hurt my back or have I grown so fat suddenly that I am not even able to pull out my bag which is lying just down there. And then, Tada! I realised I had my seat belt fastened which was preventing me to go down!! relief then but then..All these days i thought it was bad only to become a poppat b4 others, but now I know, self Poppat is all the more worse!!!
Moral of the story: Never try to get a bag lying under the seat in front of you with your seat belt fastened!!!
Videshi Poppat series
Now its a new high of my poppat series! Its called the Videshi poppat! and it all really makes me feel like a proper gaon wali .. new to a city.
Last weekend , I was traveling from Omaha to Oakland. I went to the airlines counter and thought of trying my hand at the self help checkin Kiosk. It prompted me for my ticket confirmation number and then asked me to insert the passport for scan. I looked left n right to see where I need to insert my passport and then I found a creek(I am sorry but not getting the right word here .. that small gap in the machine) just enough to put in my passport. I put my passport and hit Enter but nothing happened. I pushed my passport even further and tried again, still nothing happened and it was still asking for passport. And then, I saw on my right there was another creek which clearly had a lable Passport scanning here. And everything was suddenly all crystal clear! where I had pushed my passport full inside was the one from where the boarding pass comes out printed!!!!
And I started trying frantically to remove my passport from that kiosk but in vain. Then to add up to my embarrassment, the airlines guy came up and asked what happened and why my passport was out there.. I sheepishly told him what happened and he again showed me the label which said PASSPORT ScANNING HERE and I said yeah I saw that after I put my passport here. He laughed and got the keys for that kiosk, opened it and gave me my passport. I really wished I just ran away from there but I had to stand there and face that guy coz I didnt have my boarding passes yet!!!! Thats what we call Sone pe suhaga in desh!!
I had never been more proud of myself :(
Last weekend , I was traveling from Omaha to Oakland. I went to the airlines counter and thought of trying my hand at the self help checkin Kiosk. It prompted me for my ticket confirmation number and then asked me to insert the passport for scan. I looked left n right to see where I need to insert my passport and then I found a creek(I am sorry but not getting the right word here .. that small gap in the machine) just enough to put in my passport. I put my passport and hit Enter but nothing happened. I pushed my passport even further and tried again, still nothing happened and it was still asking for passport. And then, I saw on my right there was another creek which clearly had a lable Passport scanning here. And everything was suddenly all crystal clear! where I had pushed my passport full inside was the one from where the boarding pass comes out printed!!!!
And I started trying frantically to remove my passport from that kiosk but in vain. Then to add up to my embarrassment, the airlines guy came up and asked what happened and why my passport was out there.. I sheepishly told him what happened and he again showed me the label which said PASSPORT ScANNING HERE and I said yeah I saw that after I put my passport here. He laughed and got the keys for that kiosk, opened it and gave me my passport. I really wished I just ran away from there but I had to stand there and face that guy coz I didnt have my boarding passes yet!!!! Thats what we call Sone pe suhaga in desh!!
I had never been more proud of myself :(
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Happy days..
What does it take to keep in touch with friends? A call, a mail, a chat ping or an orkut message is the least it takes to keep in touch and be informed that they are doing good in some part of the world wherever they are.
Last week I was chatting with one of my Engineering frens and we were casually discussing about some other classmates. As expected, I was updating her on other classmates and she asked me a question which actually surprised me a bit. She asked me If I was still in touch with everyone. For a second I didnt know what to answer and I was like ' yeah I didnt find a reason to not to be in touch with other classmates!'
And the same day I happened to watch 'Happy Days' movie. I seriously miss those days and now wish I shouldve had more fun then. Not that I had any less but I still want to go back and relive those glorious days. Everyday was a different day and an experience in its own.
Ok may be am digressing, coming back to the topic I started with, as to what it takes to remain in touch with people who have been part of your life and have contributed to your life in someway, may be they made you smile or may be someday you had a laugh at them or may be they helped you in some way or you learnt something from them.
Make that effort to get back in touch with all those long forgotten friends, go back to the best days of your life with them, relive your college life! Am sure it will all make you feel the effort was all worth it!
Last week I was chatting with one of my Engineering frens and we were casually discussing about some other classmates. As expected, I was updating her on other classmates and she asked me a question which actually surprised me a bit. She asked me If I was still in touch with everyone. For a second I didnt know what to answer and I was like ' yeah I didnt find a reason to not to be in touch with other classmates!'
And the same day I happened to watch 'Happy Days' movie. I seriously miss those days and now wish I shouldve had more fun then. Not that I had any less but I still want to go back and relive those glorious days. Everyday was a different day and an experience in its own.
Ok may be am digressing, coming back to the topic I started with, as to what it takes to remain in touch with people who have been part of your life and have contributed to your life in someway, may be they made you smile or may be someday you had a laugh at them or may be they helped you in some way or you learnt something from them.
Make that effort to get back in touch with all those long forgotten friends, go back to the best days of your life with them, relive your college life! Am sure it will all make you feel the effort was all worth it!
Today when I meet my friends whom I first met a decade (some more than that) ago, and see how we had been then and where we are now, what we used to discuss then and what we discuss now.. hell lot of change but at the end it seems the effort to plan and meet up was all worth it! else this trip of mine wouldve been useless. We started off with knowing each other, stuck with each other through out the years, discussed boys, gossips, college love stories, marriages, husbands and now kids , their food, their everything!!! From girls to young ladies to moms!
I know everybody is busy with their own lives and you with your own, but believe me, this will do loads of good to you! Go On.. Be a Tiger! Grrrrrr :)
Fitness freaks anyone?
Lazyness personification = Jyotsna .. Thats how I would define my current state of existance. I am now seeing people all around me jogging, working out and eating healthy. So somewhre deep inside there was a guilt pang and this weekend I enrolled myself in apartment Gym and decided that its High time I go the healthy way!
The gym reminded me of my early days of marriage. Both my husband and me were somehow very conscious about putting on weight may be because we didnt want anybody to comment that we put on weight after marriage. So my very smart husband gifted me a treadmill on the first valentines day we celebrated together! ( so much for thoughtfulness) . So those were the days of full on Josh and we used to compete for the treadmill. My turn ur turn natak and all.
Then gradually, he felt that he doesnt need to work out as he is ok but he made sure I continued to work on that. And then one fine day I read somewhere that it is enough if we work out thrice a week and still eat all days in the week ( bless the writer) . So the frequency of using the treadmill came down and yeah it reached a frequency of once or twice a month or whenever I felt the food I had was heavy (which is rarely the case). When someone asked me to count calories that I ate, I started equating foods, like 2 idlys = 1 gulabjamun so I can have 2 gulabjamuns instead of 4 idlis for breakfast :) quit some logic! Slowly I dont know why, i felt 1 idly can be equated to 1 gulabjamun and I knew my math right! that made 4 gulabjamuns for breakfast yess!
Likewise there are many other equations which I certainly wouldnt want to share them all.
Coming back to treadmill, now isntead of using it once or twice a month, we started using it as a towel stand. really, it makes up for such a good stand for drying towel, u can spread it so well. After that, the treadmill accumulated so much dust that it was not such a good idea to dry the towels too. Now the poor treadmill is being completely ignored.. it just stands on one corner of the house( leassssssst used corner and most hated corner of the house) waiting for someone to clean the 1 inch dust piled up on it. I almost feel its screaming for me to dust it but I conviniently dont even look at that side :)
Last month my uncle had come down to bangalore and he was all excited abt the home gym thing ( yeah we have treadmill and a gym ball(with dust) too). He was the one who used it all days when he was here and gave us a lecture on why we should make the best use of them and all, but yeah as expected uncle gaye, baat gayi.
Now I have somehow gathered all the enthu that I can for the gym thing! wish me luck!
The gym reminded me of my early days of marriage. Both my husband and me were somehow very conscious about putting on weight may be because we didnt want anybody to comment that we put on weight after marriage. So my very smart husband gifted me a treadmill on the first valentines day we celebrated together! ( so much for thoughtfulness) . So those were the days of full on Josh and we used to compete for the treadmill. My turn ur turn natak and all.
Then gradually, he felt that he doesnt need to work out as he is ok but he made sure I continued to work on that. And then one fine day I read somewhere that it is enough if we work out thrice a week and still eat all days in the week ( bless the writer) . So the frequency of using the treadmill came down and yeah it reached a frequency of once or twice a month or whenever I felt the food I had was heavy (which is rarely the case). When someone asked me to count calories that I ate, I started equating foods, like 2 idlys = 1 gulabjamun so I can have 2 gulabjamuns instead of 4 idlis for breakfast :) quit some logic! Slowly I dont know why, i felt 1 idly can be equated to 1 gulabjamun and I knew my math right! that made 4 gulabjamuns for breakfast yess!
Likewise there are many other equations which I certainly wouldnt want to share them all.
Coming back to treadmill, now isntead of using it once or twice a month, we started using it as a towel stand. really, it makes up for such a good stand for drying towel, u can spread it so well. After that, the treadmill accumulated so much dust that it was not such a good idea to dry the towels too. Now the poor treadmill is being completely ignored.. it just stands on one corner of the house( leassssssst used corner and most hated corner of the house) waiting for someone to clean the 1 inch dust piled up on it. I almost feel its screaming for me to dust it but I conviniently dont even look at that side :)
Last month my uncle had come down to bangalore and he was all excited abt the home gym thing ( yeah we have treadmill and a gym ball(with dust) too). He was the one who used it all days when he was here and gave us a lecture on why we should make the best use of them and all, but yeah as expected uncle gaye, baat gayi.
Now I have somehow gathered all the enthu that I can for the gym thing! wish me luck!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Mera Bharat Mahaan
Phew.. last few days have been the busiest days of my life till date. Suddenly everything looked important and had to be finished. Found it damn tough to track on stuff. And now am finally here, in US. The place I have been waiting to visit for a long time just to check what it is that attracts so many people here and yeah also out of the fetish for increasing my cross border travel count :)
And guess what.. I don't really like this place and am still wondering how so many of our indians are here. I mean is it out of choice or its just money. People here actually and literally mind their own business which is very unlike us Indians. They will always maintain a fair distance from others. Its just they, their work and then their family and may be their inner circle of friends<>.
I miss Bangalore, I miss my home and I miss my office. Office there was so much fun, I could talk as loudly as I wanted, laugh my heart out and still feel very much correct in my own way! I mean whats wrong in that! The long gossip and bitching sessions during lunch were the best and I miss them the most. I almost knew all my team members family members names and yeah my colleagues husbands sisters husband name also :) . Here I miss all that fun and feel so much out of place. We Indians are so expressive and yeah Loud is the word! But thats the way we are and thats what suits us best!
People come here and try and adapt to these Americans lifestyle and try to own up something thats just not theirs! Aisa bhi kya jeena jisme jeene ka mazza hi na aaye! May be each ones own choice and their way of life.. but for me
East or West.. India is the Best! Jai Hind!
Happy Independence Day folks!
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Let live in peace
This has been going on from few years now and now its not a big deal anymore! people have started taking it as any other news as common as sensex fluctuation.
I dont know who is doing all this, who is spreading the fear, who is disturbing the peace and harmony, whoever it is, deserves to be hanged to death not once but over 500 times! Once for every life they took.
On friday afternoon, we were in office and this news spread out that there were serial blasts in Bangalore and at places where most of my friends worked. Everyone was shaken and tried to reach people to ensure their inner circle of friends and family were fine. The phone lines got Jammed and that caused even more panic as there was no other way of reassurance. I had experienced a fear that I never experienced before. Fear of Death. A fear of What If a bomb wa splaced right in our office, what if its there near home, what if its there near Naresh's ofc building.. and several other fears combined with helplessness and anger on some unknown force who was doing all this. I wanted to screa at the top of my voice .. Live and let live people.. you dont have any rights to do this.. to take lives of innocent people.. to spread terror!!
I dont know as citizens of this country what and how we can do something against them coz I know the entire police force is not enough to protect this country of n billion people. We cannot just get used to these thngs and read it in paper and forget about it in a day. This is horrendous.
All of us need to come together , react and retaliate strongly. We clearly outnumber those bunch of terrorists and thats our strength.. we must do something about it. Coz this is not the world we would like to live in and this is not the world we would want our next generation to come in to :(
I dont know who is doing all this, who is spreading the fear, who is disturbing the peace and harmony, whoever it is, deserves to be hanged to death not once but over 500 times! Once for every life they took.
On friday afternoon, we were in office and this news spread out that there were serial blasts in Bangalore and at places where most of my friends worked. Everyone was shaken and tried to reach people to ensure their inner circle of friends and family were fine. The phone lines got Jammed and that caused even more panic as there was no other way of reassurance. I had experienced a fear that I never experienced before. Fear of Death. A fear of What If a bomb wa splaced right in our office, what if its there near home, what if its there near Naresh's ofc building.. and several other fears combined with helplessness and anger on some unknown force who was doing all this. I wanted to screa at the top of my voice .. Live and let live people.. you dont have any rights to do this.. to take lives of innocent people.. to spread terror!!
I dont know as citizens of this country what and how we can do something against them coz I know the entire police force is not enough to protect this country of n billion people. We cannot just get used to these thngs and read it in paper and forget about it in a day. This is horrendous.
All of us need to come together , react and retaliate strongly. We clearly outnumber those bunch of terrorists and thats our strength.. we must do something about it. Coz this is not the world we would like to live in and this is not the world we would want our next generation to come in to :(
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Jet Set Go!!
Sometimes in life, you do some things and you feel really really proud of yourself. Then there are times when you feel extremely disgusted about yourself for something you have done, and you just want the earth to split in to 2 and eat you up!
Sometime back, my husband and me decided to go to Anantapur to visit one of my relatives. Anantapur is around 3 to 4 hours by road from Bangalore.
We can directly go to the bus station and board a bus without any prior reservation for such short travels. But I don't know why I wanted to be extra cautious ( Strictly against my true nature ) and make a reservation well ahead, lest we get the back seats. So I went to this reservation counter, confused the ticketing guy thoroughly asking him for the availability for Friday evening, Saturday morning, Friday afternoon and all other possible routes. Finally I decided on the Friday evening 7 o clock bus to Anantapur and booked 2 tickets. I had cross checked the ticket and clearly saw the date Friday, 7:00.
As is always the case, Murphy's law sprung in to action and I was really busy at office on Friday and I was struggling it out with some issue. It was almost like a nail biting India Pakistan match , here India being me and Pakistan being that irritating issue. 6:00 pm Code change, build, deploy & test --> 6:15 pm doesn't work --> code change build deploy test.... this kept going on and at.. 6:30 pm I just got worked up and finally gave up and told my manager I have a bus to catch at 7 and will look at the issue first thing Monday morning. Poor guy .. I didn't leave him with much option, before he could say anything I was gone.
We had exactly 30 minutes to reach the Bus station which is around 18 kms from our office and it was a Friday evening peak rush hour. Things couldn't have been worse! My Schumacher raced at a speed, zig zagged in the traffic, honked, took all shortcuts possible and finally reached the station JET!!! I could sense the tension and fumes coming out of him, as he suggested me not to make any reservation and second, I didn't drop the travel plan in spite of being stuck at office till the last minute. I knew, I should've cancelled the plan but.. I don't know why!!
So you might have already got the picture by now, I was feeling half guilty for what I did, half ecstatic for we made it in time for the bus!! We got in to the bus and saw that someone else was sitting in our seats. I went to them and said, excuse me, these are our seats, please get up. They didn't ay much and showed us their tickets. Same numbers assigned!! We went and started an argument with the conductor and driver as to how they can allocate the same seats to 2 people and etc etc. Then somewhere in the middle of the heated discussion, the conductor checked our tickets and a very sarcastic smile came thru his idiotic face. He said, Madam, these are today 7 o clock tickets, and I was like yeah so? And then it stuck Naresh, when they say 7 in the ticket they mean 7 in the morning and for evening the timing shudve been 1900!!!!! And here we were, fighting vehemently for our seats which were never ours in the first place!!!!
I can never ever forget the look I got from my husband, for the 20 minute bike chase, 300 rs bus ticket waste and the vehement argument with the driver and conductor for the seats!!!
Peace be with all ... Amen :)
Sometime back, my husband and me decided to go to Anantapur to visit one of my relatives. Anantapur is around 3 to 4 hours by road from Bangalore.
We can directly go to the bus station and board a bus without any prior reservation for such short travels. But I don't know why I wanted to be extra cautious ( Strictly against my true nature ) and make a reservation well ahead, lest we get the back seats. So I went to this reservation counter, confused the ticketing guy thoroughly asking him for the availability for Friday evening, Saturday morning, Friday afternoon and all other possible routes. Finally I decided on the Friday evening 7 o clock bus to Anantapur and booked 2 tickets. I had cross checked the ticket and clearly saw the date Friday, 7:00.
As is always the case, Murphy's law sprung in to action and I was really busy at office on Friday and I was struggling it out with some issue. It was almost like a nail biting India Pakistan match , here India being me and Pakistan being that irritating issue. 6:00 pm Code change, build, deploy & test --> 6:15 pm doesn't work --> code change build deploy test.... this kept going on and at.. 6:30 pm I just got worked up and finally gave up and told my manager I have a bus to catch at 7 and will look at the issue first thing Monday morning. Poor guy .. I didn't leave him with much option, before he could say anything I was gone.
We had exactly 30 minutes to reach the Bus station which is around 18 kms from our office and it was a Friday evening peak rush hour. Things couldn't have been worse! My Schumacher raced at a speed, zig zagged in the traffic, honked, took all shortcuts possible and finally reached the station JET!!! I could sense the tension and fumes coming out of him, as he suggested me not to make any reservation and second, I didn't drop the travel plan in spite of being stuck at office till the last minute. I knew, I should've cancelled the plan but.. I don't know why!!
So you might have already got the picture by now, I was feeling half guilty for what I did, half ecstatic for we made it in time for the bus!! We got in to the bus and saw that someone else was sitting in our seats. I went to them and said, excuse me, these are our seats, please get up. They didn't ay much and showed us their tickets. Same numbers assigned!! We went and started an argument with the conductor and driver as to how they can allocate the same seats to 2 people and etc etc. Then somewhere in the middle of the heated discussion, the conductor checked our tickets and a very sarcastic smile came thru his idiotic face. He said, Madam, these are today 7 o clock tickets, and I was like yeah so? And then it stuck Naresh, when they say 7 in the ticket they mean 7 in the morning and for evening the timing shudve been 1900!!!!! And here we were, fighting vehemently for our seats which were never ours in the first place!!!!
I can never ever forget the look I got from my husband, for the 20 minute bike chase, 300 rs bus ticket waste and the vehement argument with the driver and conductor for the seats!!!
Peace be with all ... Amen :)
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Living with the dead!!!!
Last week my friend and me had to go to office in the night shifts as we had some conf calls with the clients. The whole office looks so desserted in the night. Except for the security guards and us, there were no one else!
One night, in the middle of the week, at around 1:15 in the night , we realised that there was absolutely no one else in the floor, and even the security guard had gone somewhere. And after that we started hearing some wierd sounds as if someone came, but there was no one and we heard double clicks of the mouse when thee was absolutely no one else!!! The girl along with me freaked out completely and started saying sai baba prayer and me.. I was all tensed from inside but had to put up a brave face outwards else she would have freaked out even more! Both of us then decided to leave immediately.
Yesterday it was all the more freaky. We went to the internet kiosk in the breakout area to check our mails. It was around 2:30 then. It was all so so soooo silent! We sat there for 15 minutes checking our mails and then suddenly the coffee vending machine started off with a loud noise and our systems got restarted (with the message "Windows is shutting down"). Both of us jumped out of the chairs, screamed and ran back to the security guards. I was almost in the state of shock and never more scared than that.
We told the guard about what just happened, and that idiot started laughing his dash out!! He said, the coffee vending machines do a self service every four hours and discharge water to maintain some temperatures and the systems at the internet kiosk restart at every 15 minutes. Our sheer bad luck was that both of them happened together and we thought it was some tech savvy bhooth!!!
Isse badda poppat.. kabhi suna kya?? :)
And I thought coming in night shifts only meant lack of sleep.. now I know it has lot lot more to it!
One night, in the middle of the week, at around 1:15 in the night , we realised that there was absolutely no one else in the floor, and even the security guard had gone somewhere. And after that we started hearing some wierd sounds as if someone came, but there was no one and we heard double clicks of the mouse when thee was absolutely no one else!!! The girl along with me freaked out completely and started saying sai baba prayer and me.. I was all tensed from inside but had to put up a brave face outwards else she would have freaked out even more! Both of us then decided to leave immediately.
Yesterday it was all the more freaky. We went to the internet kiosk in the breakout area to check our mails. It was around 2:30 then. It was all so so soooo silent! We sat there for 15 minutes checking our mails and then suddenly the coffee vending machine started off with a loud noise and our systems got restarted (with the message "Windows is shutting down"). Both of us jumped out of the chairs, screamed and ran back to the security guards. I was almost in the state of shock and never more scared than that.
We told the guard about what just happened, and that idiot started laughing his dash out!! He said, the coffee vending machines do a self service every four hours and discharge water to maintain some temperatures and the systems at the internet kiosk restart at every 15 minutes. Our sheer bad luck was that both of them happened together and we thought it was some tech savvy bhooth!!!
Isse badda poppat.. kabhi suna kya?? :)
And I thought coming in night shifts only meant lack of sleep.. now I know it has lot lot more to it!
Friday, July 4, 2008
Govindaa Goovinda!
We went to Tirupati last weekend and believe me, this trip has been more than just a trip to God, but also been an eye opener for me in more than one ways.
I had to come to terms with the fact that God is easily accesible to the rich and influential. The other ones {like us} have to struggle n struggle a lot to get a glimpse of him!
We left on friday night and reached Tirupati by 3:00 am. We went with simple plans that we would get 50 rs sudarshan token and get a darshan of lord at whatever time it is available over the next 2 days. We went to sudarshan ticket counter at the bus and were taken back to see a mile long L shaped queue already waiting for the counter to be opened. It was 3:30 am then. We joined the queue hoping that it wouldnt take much time, once the counter gets opened they process very fastAfter we joined the queue, we got to know that the counter would open only at 5am. We took it easy and felt, as we came on weekend, we had to do some standing in the queues. Time ticked very slowly and it seemed like an eternity before it struck 5! I was eagerly waiting for the queue to move but even at 6 we were at the same place in the queue! Then the queue started moving at ants pace, but we were moving. Then a little later we realised, people were not very keen in following the queue system and lot of people were starting their own side queues(somewhr at the middle or beggining) and joining the main queue. People like us at the far end of the queue, stood where we were!!! and by the time we realised that even we had to do the same thing it was pretty late I guess. and believe me, it takes a lot of guts to join somewhr in the middle and ignore the angry glares and not so good to hear language of the others in queue.
But when we reached that turn of the L shape queue, things worsened. people suddenly started pushing from back, and people in front did not have any place to move. We found it almost impossible to ground our feet! Sandwiched is the right word. And all this after standing 4 hours in the queue. It was 7 o clock then. But what kept us going was that we felt we were almost done, for we were now at the shorter queue that took us to counter. But we were so wrong.. so so so wrong! There was this light at the end of queue whch we thought was the ticket counter and when we reached there, we realised that it was just another turn and the counter was still far far far away!!! and before we reached the counter we had to survive a few more sandwiched turns!!
I would give you some attributes of that sandwiched queue.. Noisy, frustrated, sweaty, smelly, angry and everything else that I cannot put in words. What was more heart rendering was, people with small babies standing in the queue and people caring a damn for those babies and pushing those who were carrying them too!! The agony those angels were put to was just not done! I almost felt like standing up for them and shouting at all others, but there were others who could shout louder than me! :( and yeah so much for good management, for all the people standing in the queue, there was just one ticket counter and the person giving tickets was taking his own sweet time oblivious to peoples suffering! After all this, came the good news when we were at 500 mts from the counter. The tickets for Saturday got over and we had to come and go through the same queue on sunday to get a ticket for sunday. None of us were prepared to do that! Going through that torture again is something I would not do even if someone said they would give me diamonds when i reached the end of queue. No! No No No!
It was 9 o clock and we were standing there at the bus stop, looking like we just came out of a warfield, beaten, bashed, each one of us smelling like onions and ith no tickets ! We had 2 options, one to go back to bangalore without darshan, second to rack up each ones brains and remember anyone and everyone in our friends circle who in turn had some influence at Tirupati through some relatives. Finally after making some calls, we struck Gold. A person who almost seemed like an angel for us at that time said he would arrange for a darshan next day early morning and also for accommodation :) we couldnt have asked for more. We felt we spoke to Lord balaji himself :)
That was the first smile of the day. Then we left for Tirumala and on saturday as we had nothing else to do other than giving mokkulu ( my FIL n MIL had to offer their full hair) , we went around looking for barber counters (Kalyana Katta) . Here too we had queues, but glad that we had to wait only for 2 hrs :)
Next day we were in the darshan queue by 4:30 in the morning. In fact none of us could sleep all night, with the fear that if we missed out on getting up early next day, we might not get a darshan at all. This queue in another story :) people all decked up in jewellery, silk sarees, silk kurtas, pattu panchalu, tommy girl and JLO perfumes and inspite of all this, there was that tirupati typical pushing that we now mastered! This time we managed to hold some ground successfully without getting pushed with no control. But I suffered from some blows in the stomach and back. A lady all decked up in gold gave a me a blow in the stomach with her elbow, pushed me back and joined the queue before me. I was so shocked to even say anything and yeah before I could say anything she was far ahead in the queue :). people behaved as if they were in some big hurry and if hey didnt break the queue, they would not get a darshan. I dont understand what they fail to understand that everybody in the queue will get a darshan and their breaking the system is only going to make it take longer time {for people like us}
In Spite of all this, I tried not to lose my cool and concentrate on God. I realised the time, effort and money that we had put in and how valuable this darshan was. I then realised why my Dad during our earlier trips used to get irritated when I used to giggle and joke in the queue . He always used to tell me not to do that in the queue and concentrate on God as there was nothing more important at that time. Now I comepletel understand why yo scolded me then Dad. Am sorry Dad for all the irritation I caused you!
So this time, I was fully concentrating on Govinda. But there was something missing. Earlier, people in queue used to continously chant Govinda, one of them would say loudly Govindaa and others would follow him. but this time it was not happening. The only people who were doing it were My mother in law and me. She shouted Govinda first and I followed her. Sometimes Naresh joined us meekly :) And the worst part was, when we were doing this, people stared us as if we were a bunch of uncivilised shouting in the queue!! Whatever happened to all those in the past who used to Chant Govinda with full bhakthi. But now we ignored such glares and continued with our chant. It took us 2.5 hrs for the Darshan and those precious 30 seconds of Gods Darshan made us forget all the troubles and effort. It was worth all the way! Such is his charm.. Govindaa Goovinda!
I had to come to terms with the fact that God is easily accesible to the rich and influential. The other ones {like us} have to struggle n struggle a lot to get a glimpse of him!
We left on friday night and reached Tirupati by 3:00 am. We went with simple plans that we would get 50 rs sudarshan token and get a darshan of lord at whatever time it is available over the next 2 days. We went to sudarshan ticket counter at the bus and were taken back to see a mile long L shaped queue already waiting for the counter to be opened. It was 3:30 am then. We joined the queue hoping that it wouldnt take much time, once the counter gets opened they process very fast
But when we reached that turn of the L shape queue, things worsened. people suddenly started pushing from back, and people in front did not have any place to move. We found it almost impossible to ground our feet! Sandwiched is the right word. And all this after standing 4 hours in the queue. It was 7 o clock then. But what kept us going was that we felt we were almost done, for we were now at the shorter queue that took us to counter. But we were so wrong.. so so so wrong! There was this light at the end of queue whch we thought was the ticket counter and when we reached there, we realised that it was just another turn and the counter was still far far far away!!! and before we reached the counter we had to survive a few more sandwiched turns!!
I would give you some attributes of that sandwiched queue.. Noisy, frustrated, sweaty, smelly, angry and everything else that I cannot put in words. What was more heart rendering was, people with small babies standing in the queue and people caring a damn for those babies and pushing those who were carrying them too!! The agony those angels were put to was just not done! I almost felt like standing up for them and shouting at all others, but there were others who could shout louder than me! :( and yeah so much for good management, for all the people standing in the queue, there was just one ticket counter and the person giving tickets was taking his own sweet time oblivious to peoples suffering! After all this, came the good news when we were at 500 mts from the counter. The tickets for Saturday got over and we had to come and go through the same queue on sunday to get a ticket for sunday. None of us were prepared to do that! Going through that torture again is something I would not do even if someone said they would give me diamonds when i reached the end of queue. No! No No No!
It was 9 o clock and we were standing there at the bus stop, looking like we just came out of a warfield, beaten, bashed, each one of us smelling like onions and ith no tickets ! We had 2 options, one to go back to bangalore without darshan, second to rack up each ones brains and remember anyone and everyone in our friends circle who in turn had some influence at Tirupati through some relatives. Finally after making some calls, we struck Gold. A person who almost seemed like an angel for us at that time said he would arrange for a darshan next day early morning and also for accommodation :) we couldnt have asked for more. We felt we spoke to Lord balaji himself :)
That was the first smile of the day. Then we left for Tirumala and on saturday as we had nothing else to do other than giving mokkulu ( my FIL n MIL had to offer their full hair) , we went around looking for barber counters (Kalyana Katta) . Here too we had queues, but glad that we had to wait only for 2 hrs :)
Next day we were in the darshan queue by 4:30 in the morning. In fact none of us could sleep all night, with the fear that if we missed out on getting up early next day, we might not get a darshan at all. This queue in another story :) people all decked up in jewellery, silk sarees, silk kurtas, pattu panchalu, tommy girl and JLO perfumes and inspite of all this, there was that tirupati typical pushing that we now mastered! This time we managed to hold some ground successfully without getting pushed with no control. But I suffered from some blows in the stomach and back. A lady all decked up in gold gave a me a blow in the stomach with her elbow, pushed me back and joined the queue before me. I was so shocked to even say anything and yeah before I could say anything she was far ahead in the queue :). people behaved as if they were in some big hurry and if hey didnt break the queue, they would not get a darshan. I dont understand what they fail to understand that everybody in the queue will get a darshan and their breaking the system is only going to make it take longer time {for people like us}
In Spite of all this, I tried not to lose my cool and concentrate on God. I realised the time, effort and money that we had put in and how valuable this darshan was. I then realised why my Dad during our earlier trips used to get irritated when I used to giggle and joke in the queue . He always used to tell me not to do that in the queue and concentrate on God as there was nothing more important at that time. Now I comepletel understand why yo scolded me then Dad. Am sorry Dad for all the irritation I caused you!
So this time, I was fully concentrating on Govinda. But there was something missing. Earlier, people in queue used to continously chant Govinda, one of them would say loudly Govindaa and others would follow him. but this time it was not happening. The only people who were doing it were My mother in law and me. She shouted Govinda first and I followed her. Sometimes Naresh joined us meekly :) And the worst part was, when we were doing this, people stared us as if we were a bunch of uncivilised shouting in the queue!! Whatever happened to all those in the past who used to Chant Govinda with full bhakthi. But now we ignored such glares and continued with our chant. It took us 2.5 hrs for the Darshan and those precious 30 seconds of Gods Darshan made us forget all the troubles and effort. It was worth all the way! Such is his charm.. Govindaa Goovinda!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
life and luck!
Man proposes God disposes, Whatever happens Happens for good, Destiny, luck, chance, good time , bad time!!
There used to be days when I used to doubt the authenticity of all the above mentioned sayings.. I felt those were all said only to comfort and said only when something happened to someone which they didnt want to happen. I truly believed those were said just to create a comfort zone or rather say something to cover up their inability.
But these days, life has been taking hazaar turns which is making me strongly believe that there is someone or something that decided what should happen next in our lives!
Some events that seem so inconsequential when they happen, later on prove to be essential or a prerequisite for something else to happen. and hen we realise, goo that it happened then. Its almost like it has been all pre-written and we are only living our roles out here!
Am waiting for something to happen in the near future and will then write it out as a proof to my above given statements :)
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
spell check
There was a joke in an old telugu movie.. a guy goes for an interview and the interviewer asks him the spelling for coffee. This guy says this " K - A - U - P - H - Y" . Yes you guessed it right, he gets the job because he managed to tell a spelling which didnt have even one letter thats there in the actual spelling of coffee.
Ever saw the funny spellings on the shop boards? very very funny ones.. I wonder who comes up with those spellings, the shop wala or the one who paints the boards..
Today the spelling that triggered this post was "Sai Nudils" .. and if u actually try and read it by breaking the word.. completely off the mark from Noodles! Actually you would find a lot of other vaiations for that word, noodils, noodles, noodels, Mancuria.. the list is endless
One more board that caught my attention was this "Akshaya Navaltiss" .. how much ever hard I tried, I cudnt think straight on this!
Few more..
Krazy fast food ( Why on earth will anybody start their own food chain business and name it krazy !! )
Ravi Mens hair cutting SELUN ( good! Awssum)
HardWear shop (this one left me in splits!!! :) )
Tinkaring shop
BanGELS ( Gels anyone?)
Tell me more if u find them !!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Thank you God
Today I thanked God again for all that he has given me and realised again how I should not be taking things for granted.
During lunch time, my friend told me about her aunt's illness. I dont know what that illness is actually called, but its really bad. Aunty cannot drink water the usual way and her water intake is through a pipe which runs through her mouth to the stomach. if she takes water directly, she will get pnemonia. I dont know if anything can be worse than that. How else can you explain not being able to drink water even when you are thirsty and there is water available around. The very fear that drinking water can be as dangerous as taking your life.. I almost choked at the very thought.
The veyr fact that we have been gifted with perfect health is a reason enough to be happy always. Thank you God.. thanks a lot!
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Bug's Life
Yesterday I watched this Animation movie Bug life.. and liked it too. Technically speaking Neemo or Ice age series scores a lot over this movie at the animation but the story line was good.
There is this Ants colony which keep collecting food all thru the season for Grasshoppers. Ants believe that they have to serve grasshoppers else the grasshoppes would kill them. But they dont realise the very fact that they outnumber grasshoppers 100 to one and if they believed they could, they can defeat the grasshoppers.
So the moral of the story is that what we believe is what we do.. If we think that we are not capable of doing a particular task, we really cannot do the task even if we really are capable. So its our attitude and self belief that takes us places. Jo hum real mein chahthey hain actual mein hume wahi milta hai. Very true...
There is this Ants colony which keep collecting food all thru the season for Grasshoppers. Ants believe that they have to serve grasshoppers else the grasshoppes would kill them. But they dont realise the very fact that they outnumber grasshoppers 100 to one and if they believed they could, they can defeat the grasshoppers.
So the moral of the story is that what we believe is what we do.. If we think that we are not capable of doing a particular task, we really cannot do the task even if we really are capable. So its our attitude and self belief that takes us places. Jo hum real mein chahthey hain actual mein hume wahi milta hai. Very true...
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Coorg trip travelog
We were looking for a weekend getaway which was about 6 to 8 hrs from banaglore and a hill station to take a peaceful break from the mundane routine. We zeroed in on Coorg after going through various options. We booked a cab and booked a homestay . There is a lot of information regarding the various acco options available at Coorg. We packed our bags satday night and we all set to go!
Sunday.. bright cool day and we started by 7 in the morning. Stopped by the Kamath Lokaruchi on Mysore road for breakfast. They have a wonderful breakfast buffet for 60 bucks and they serve you all the dishes you can think of for breakfast including kesari bath, bisebillabath, pongal, masala dosa, puri, idly , vada, cut fruits and lot of other stuff!
It was around 2 by the time we reached our first tourist locale in Coorg. Nisarga dham. A forest kinda place with kaveri river running across. We left for Madikere after spending about an hour at Nisarga dham and it was around 4 by the time we reached Madikere. We covered the local tourist spots like Raja's seat, Fort, A shiva temple which looks like Masjid. The restaraunts in Coorg are not very hi fundu but you get good food in every small restau.
Next day we started early and left for TalaKaveri, the starting spring of river Kaveri, which is about 48 kms from Madikere. The way to Talakaveri is very very picturesque. The green deep valleys, the green meadows, coffee plantations, it has it all! it took about an hour and half to reach Talakaveri. There is a view point there, which reqires us to take a flight of 300 steep steps but its all worth it! you are almost there in the clouds. and the view from the top is just breathtaking. We didnt even realise we spent almost 3 hrs there. We started back and reached Madikere, had lunch and headed for Abby falls. I think this can be given a miss. There was nothing much there but for a small waterfall which again demanded us to get down some 100 steps and again climb them back to get back on road! Then we went to Dubare. This place again is just too good! It has this Kaveri river running across beautifully and on the other bank, there will be bunch of elephants which are being washed, fed and trained. A real sight! there are boat rides to take us to the other side to view the elephants closely. There are fixed timings when they would show the elephants, once in the morning and again at 4 in the evening. This is a must go spot.
From there we went to the Golden Budha temple. The temple is open till 8 in the night, but we wished we reached that place a lil earlier, coz it was getting dark by the time we reached there. The temple is built by Tibetians. The temple is actually in the Tibetian village there. The architecture of the temple is simple amazing. We were impressed by the outside structure of the temple, but what we saw inside the temple just left us awestruck! 60 ft tall budha statues all in gold, 3 of them and amazing wall paintings all over the temple and bautiful flower decorations. It just made our trip more worthwile, w were glad we chose Coorg! We did some shopping in a near by market place where all Tibetian stuff was on for sale, real cute stuff I say!
We also had our dinner there, yummy momo's, tupka and noodles!
And then started back to bangalore.. took arnd 4 and half hours to reach home.
One trip which I would actually remember for the Golden temple.. the very first view of the Budha gives so much peace to your mind. and also the trip didnt cost us much. Homestays are pretty cheap and bagain to get a good deal. Our homestay was very neat and had a homely atmosphere with friendly owners and we got it for 800 rs per room per night breakast inclusive.
Coorg is also famous for its Spices and coffee powder and sandalwood.
Overall I would rate this trip 8 on 10 :)
Sunday.. bright cool day and we started by 7 in the morning. Stopped by the Kamath Lokaruchi on Mysore road for breakfast. They have a wonderful breakfast buffet for 60 bucks and they serve you all the dishes you can think of for breakfast including kesari bath, bisebillabath, pongal, masala dosa, puri, idly , vada, cut fruits and lot of other stuff!
It was around 2 by the time we reached our first tourist locale in Coorg. Nisarga dham. A forest kinda place with kaveri river running across. We left for Madikere after spending about an hour at Nisarga dham and it was around 4 by the time we reached Madikere. We covered the local tourist spots like Raja's seat, Fort, A shiva temple which looks like Masjid. The restaraunts in Coorg are not very hi fundu but you get good food in every small restau.
Next day we started early and left for TalaKaveri, the starting spring of river Kaveri, which is about 48 kms from Madikere. The way to Talakaveri is very very picturesque. The green deep valleys, the green meadows, coffee plantations, it has it all! it took about an hour and half to reach Talakaveri. There is a view point there, which reqires us to take a flight of 300 steep steps but its all worth it! you are almost there in the clouds. and the view from the top is just breathtaking. We didnt even realise we spent almost 3 hrs there. We started back and reached Madikere, had lunch and headed for Abby falls. I think this can be given a miss. There was nothing much there but for a small waterfall which again demanded us to get down some 100 steps and again climb them back to get back on road! Then we went to Dubare. This place again is just too good! It has this Kaveri river running across beautifully and on the other bank, there will be bunch of elephants which are being washed, fed and trained. A real sight! there are boat rides to take us to the other side to view the elephants closely. There are fixed timings when they would show the elephants, once in the morning and again at 4 in the evening. This is a must go spot.
From there we went to the Golden Budha temple. The temple is open till 8 in the night, but we wished we reached that place a lil earlier, coz it was getting dark by the time we reached there. The temple is built by Tibetians. The temple is actually in the Tibetian village there. The architecture of the temple is simple amazing. We were impressed by the outside structure of the temple, but what we saw inside the temple just left us awestruck! 60 ft tall budha statues all in gold, 3 of them and amazing wall paintings all over the temple and bautiful flower decorations. It just made our trip more worthwile, w were glad we chose Coorg! We did some shopping in a near by market place where all Tibetian stuff was on for sale, real cute stuff I say!
We also had our dinner there, yummy momo's, tupka and noodles!
And then started back to bangalore.. took arnd 4 and half hours to reach home.
One trip which I would actually remember for the Golden temple.. the very first view of the Budha gives so much peace to your mind. and also the trip didnt cost us much. Homestays are pretty cheap and bagain to get a good deal. Our homestay was very neat and had a homely atmosphere with friendly owners and we got it for 800 rs per room per night breakast inclusive.
Coorg is also famous for its Spices and coffee powder and sandalwood.
Overall I would rate this trip 8 on 10 :)
Haal e dil
Dil se tumhe nikalna bhi chahe tho nikale kaise
chaye hain itne gum ke badal inhe hatayein kaise
Tum paas ho kar bhi paas nahin, dur tumse ho nahin sakte
yeh kaisa lamha hai zindagi ka jisse hum saath guzaar nahin sakte
Duniya se yeh aanson chupaye kaise,
muskuraana bhi chahe tho muskuraaye kaise
kadam aage badhayein kaise, tumse nazar milaye kaise,
yeh dard e dil ki dastan sunayein kaise..
woh lamhe jo saath guzarein hai unhe bhulayein kaise, tumhe dil se nikaale kaise..
chaye hain itne gum ke badal inhe hatayein kaise
Tum paas ho kar bhi paas nahin, dur tumse ho nahin sakte
yeh kaisa lamha hai zindagi ka jisse hum saath guzaar nahin sakte
Duniya se yeh aanson chupaye kaise,
muskuraana bhi chahe tho muskuraaye kaise
kadam aage badhayein kaise, tumse nazar milaye kaise,
yeh dard e dil ki dastan sunayein kaise..
woh lamhe jo saath guzarein hai unhe bhulayein kaise, tumhe dil se nikaale kaise..
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
almost there.. but missed it!
Today something happened that triggered this new entry after a long break.
There is this girl in my ofc.. Shez a lil more than just a colleague and less than a friend .. so i will call her an acquaintance.
I dont know usko mujhse kya dushmani hai.. rather dushmani mujhse nahin mere khane se hai!
Everyday I go to canteen with my team mates for some snacks in the evening.. one day it so happened that all others were stuck with some work and I was damn hungry so I went alone to the cafeteria. I took a samosa from cafe day and just sat down to eat it. < I always like the crispy end of the samosa and keep it to the last to relish it!> So i just started eating from the cone side and I saw this girl coming from no where and asking me why I was eating alone in the canteen and while I was telling the reason she took the samosa and started eating.. I hought she would just take a bite and leave it.. bt I was watching and she ate off the whole samosa :( and thee was no time left to buy one more and eat.. I thought may be she was too hungry so its okay..
Next time I bought a juice and was on my way back to my desk and saw this girl again.. she took my juice.. one pull and my juice glass was all empty!!
Even then I took it easy..
Today it was heights!! I was sitting with my team members and having kachori chat.. yummm and this girl came and I thought there are so many others and I was sitting at other end of the table so am safe.. but no.. she came all the way to me and ate my whole chat.. :( sabko chod ke woh mera hi kyun khati hai hamesha!!!
why me.. why only me???
There is this girl in my ofc.. Shez a lil more than just a colleague and less than a friend .. so i will call her an acquaintance.
I dont know usko mujhse kya dushmani hai.. rather dushmani mujhse nahin mere khane se hai!
Everyday I go to canteen with my team mates for some snacks in the evening.. one day it so happened that all others were stuck with some work and I was damn hungry so I went alone to the cafeteria. I took a samosa from cafe day and just sat down to eat it. < I always like the crispy end of the samosa and keep it to the last to relish it!> So i just started eating from the cone side and I saw this girl coming from no where and asking me why I was eating alone in the canteen and while I was telling the reason she took the samosa and started eating.. I hought she would just take a bite and leave it.. bt I was watching and she ate off the whole samosa :( and thee was no time left to buy one more and eat.. I thought may be she was too hungry so its okay..
Next time I bought a juice and was on my way back to my desk and saw this girl again.. she took my juice.. one pull and my juice glass was all empty!!
Even then I took it easy..
Today it was heights!! I was sitting with my team members and having kachori chat.. yummm and this girl came and I thought there are so many others and I was sitting at other end of the table so am safe.. but no.. she came all the way to me and ate my whole chat.. :( sabko chod ke woh mera hi kyun khati hai hamesha!!!
why me.. why only me???
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