Stop.Look

I'm so damn tired right now that I could doze off any minute. I only hope my fall to the realm of dreams doesn't leave my laptop split in half .

Like I already told you, I'm at home... and I LOVE it !

I don't know what's gotten into me.... I was in a hostel for 4 years...its not the first time i've lived on my own.... but things have changed somehow....perhaps I haven't found that level of comfort in hyderabad yet..... or maybe the prolonged home-stint after college has made the homely part of me more prominent.

One of the VERY bugging parts of sharing your apartment with other people is the slippers are shared too. I don't like that at all. That's not to say I'd rather live alone...no, that'd be too boring... but I just feel that I'll never be able to tell someone to not wear my slippers...its just too low a gesture to make...if you get what I mean.... so instead, I do nothing and try to tell myself to not think about such puny matters.

Anyway, I had a lotta fun today... so I thought I'd share some of my day here.

I was supposed to meet a friend at CP, but that got cancelled at the last minute...unfortunately for me my friend's last minute occured when I had already reached the place..... "Oh man, wtf !" was the first thing that crossed my mind.... but never fear, I always have a plan B

:D

So I called up this other friend who lives close by and asked him to see me there..... I made a few observations today :

1) I have sat at a coffee house alone more than once. And strangely, I find it pretty comforting.... gives me time to think . (plus it beats standing outside, looking silly while waiting for someone)

2) Lately, I've observed this strategy in showrooms.... whenever a single guy enters, the best looking female attendant shows him around the store... and the guy almost always ends up buying something or the other.

3) With reference to the above, I bought a T-shirt that I absolutely did NOT need, today...I realize it now.

4) After spending a chunk of moolah in the showroom, I went over to Janpath (which is basically a flea market) and bought 3 other Tees ...with a combined price lesser than the previous one....had to bargain shamelessly for that though..... I've noticed that my bargain capabilities depend hugely on my mood.... If I'm very tired, I just give the guy what he asks for and get over with it.... if I'm in lively mood, or if I have lots of time on my hands, I absolutely give it to the salesperson .

5) I bought the superman logo Tee...wohooo!!!

I've wanted a superman tee for so long now.... I also want superman boxers.... but I haven't found 'em yet...the search is on.

6) Winters in Delhi are amazing......I love the way Delhi is so dressed up at this time of the year.... beautiful city, beautiful people.

7) Delhi is probly one of the only few cities where one can hear a blend of Hip Hop, House and Punjabi melodies echoing in coffee houses..... and I really don't mind that.

Homeward bound..tick tock..

This is the sad part of not owning a lappy anymore.... till 2 days ago, I was bursting with things I wanted to write about.... but I cudn't then... and now that I've finally sat down to pen it, all I get is the silly song that's been stuck in my head ...

"Pocket mein rocket, pocket mein rocket...pooocket mein rocket hai ,pooocket mein...."

The big news is that I've come home to gurgaon! Just for the holidays though..... It was so easy in college... bunk a few lectures...go home (or wherever required :P) .... but now you gotta apply for a leave...convince your boss that it's absolutely, positively critical that you go .....

gets at you at times ...

but then again, I'm not the only one who misses college..... so everyone who's in it right now, have FUN !

The journey home was a tough one. It was one of those times again where everything seems to go haywire..... I'm sure all of you are aware of the agitation happening in Andhra Pradesh nowadays..the Telangana issue... not gonna talk about that, dnt worry ....

So, my train was late.

No no no no no, this was no ordinary late.....let me elaborate...

The train was due to depart at 6 in the evening on the 25th..... so after coming back from work on the 24th, we went out to booze ...christmas eve, after all. (I love the way we Indians celebrate everything..Diwali, Eid, Christmas...all festivities... hic !)

We wished everyone a merry christmas afterwards... I think even a lotta ppl whom we didnt know :P (yes, these details are important)

I woke up next morning only to find I still had like 8 hours left for the train and did my packing at leisure.... somehow something clicked in my head and I called the Indian railway helpline for the train details.... the train was late by 4 hours !

Great. I quit packing and went out for lunch...I checked with the helpline an hour afterwards...the train was 5 hours delayed now.

Rolling my eyes, I went to the cybercafe (yea, bad days ppl).... surfed around for a bit... came back, finished the packing.

Now what ? The train was supposed to depart at 11 in the night now... nothing to do but wait.....

I had asked a friend to accompany me to the station... so he had come over.... not wanting to sit at home, all packed .... we left for another friend's place ... saw this Ben Stiller movie ... I think it was called 'Rolling thunder' or something...... pseudo- funny...

Dinner.

9 o clock... 2 hours to go... I decided It'd be better if I reached the station by 10 ....

I was alone now.... asked my friend to go home, no point in both of us waiting ...

The display at the platform said my train was due at 12.30 now.....

I was glad for two things then... waiting rooms and books.

I had taken a copy of 'To kill a Mockingbird' from a colleague .... I made a place for myself in the waiting room...and started to read....

I couldn't help but notice the people around though... its almost funny how there are definite categories of people you'll find.... everywhere !

There were the families...with the mom sitting smug, instructing the kids not to run about, the kids who still did, the dad who kept going out, talking to people and declaring the time still left for em to wait.....

The single chick who's amazingly self conscious and sits upright, reading her book .

The single guy who sits next to her and initiates a conversation again and again, despite the fact that the chick is trying (or pretending ?) to read...

The newly-weds who're just sitting and whispering among themselves.

The highly inquisitive who're more interested in what's happening around them.... (hey hey... I'm different..I was checking out stuff objectively :P)

After what seemed like eternity, where the kids cried, someone stumbled upon luggage, some argued with the station authorities, my growling stomach and crappy train station sandwiches , it turned 1.30 AM ... and the train finally arrived at the station... almost dramatic when I picture it now.... minus the 'Main hun naa' SRK though..

I goofed up.

I'm sure all of you know what it feels like when u've screwed up..... that oh-my-god-i want-to-hide-inside-my-shell-forever feeling ....

this one is dedicated to chocolate lover who has actually given me 2 awards ! go here.
and I missed out on that in the previous post
:((

reeeally sorry abt that !


Oh, have you also noticed that when things start to go wrong, EVERYTHING goes wrong simultaneously ?
This happened to me yesterday...... I got a call from my client (normally the guy just mails me about it) who asked me to do this piece of work really urgently....

see, we work remotely on desktops located in the UK, at the client's office...
I turned towards my system to see that the connection with my remote system was lost !
wtf...I said to myself and tried fiddling with the connection...

"Some software engineer you are.... can't even connect to the system ...", I reprimanded myself......
finally I decided to go to my boss and complain about the situation.... when he saw how urgent the work was,......."damnit ! " ...first time I had heard him swear (polite guy).

Co-incidentally, there had been heavy snowfall in the UK yesterday, due to which none of our onsite team members were present in office.... so no one to actually go and restart the system manually ...talk about tough luck !

anyhow...we talked to ppl..got stuff sorted...
the point is... when its going bad, it will...nothing you can do about it ...just gotta go with the flow, eh ?

umm..I realise the above incident has been pointless... do we care though ? :P

later.

7 things hitherto unknown to mankind.

Hey guys....I had been thinking of writing about this tag that Shomoita had tagged me with ... and finally today...sunday evening...I decided to write !

This tag is about 7 things which other bloggers don't know about me....and I'm not sure if I won't be writing about stuff which I haven't already touched in the blog...

Oh, n there's also this award that comes with the tag...which makes it the 2nd award for this blog :D ....hugs to you Shomoita !
The first one was given by this incredibly sweet blogger sulagna.. n here it is ....





woohoo !!

OK...for all those who've heard the movie Bluffmaster's tracks...I'm gonna start with this ...

"Lesson number one " (which basically stands for Point # 1)

Everyone loves their friends right ? Of course...that's why they are your friends !
So as is normal, I love my friends too...but there's just this one small thingy that irks me..... barring a few , they DON'T read my blog !!!!!!
I mean....its kind of wierd at times...'cuz I can't discuss stuff about the blog with them...if I do it appears as if I'm obsessed with popularising it.. so I take care in that area...not to sound too aggressive ....

Point # 2

I DID promote my blog a lot initially...cuz it was just so exciting that my words are right there...on the net...for everyone to see !!

pls refer this for more on this. I wrote it on 12/8/08 .. u'll know then..

Point # 3

I have had a relationship where absolutely NONE of my friends know anything about the girl .... I mean they know she exists..just not who she is..what she does.... and I never told them..... the reasons cannot be blogged about ....awwww so sorry to burst ur bubble but NO the reasons aren't related to sex...in case you were expecting masala ;)

Point # 4

My current aspiration is to buy a cycle . No, not the Atlas cycle kinds...something ..umm...non-kiddish..
Stop laughing, will u..there's a valid logic to it...

See..right now, I live like 9 kms from office... so I can't even think of commuting by a cycle everyday.
But I'm thinking of shifting apartments in the beginning of Jan. This one will be just 3 kms from work.
This isn't a big distance....and there's a lot of advantage to cycling....

1) I used to love it as a kid...I still remember the guy who tought me how to cycle...it was my friend's elder bro...and he tought both of us together....although I had a nearly fatal accident while cycling , 4 weeks after I had learnt.

2) Great fitness idea !

3) Reduced commuting expense....bring it on !

Point # 5

I have accepted my position in the romantic - relationship world. It sounds really sad..but I have.
I can't break MY girl's heart (knowingly). That's why I'm the guy who'll always get his heart ripped out.

Point # 6

Guys...you don't know this.... I recently said something to someone..and this is either the lamest or the nerdiest line ever..... I said with utmost sincerity :

"You are my Kryptonite."

Point # 7

I dislike unhygenic people/places.
It could be wierd that a guy says this... but unlike popular belief.. I DON'T throw my socks anywhere around the house when I get back from work...I DON'T throw my towel on the bed and leave after a bath...and I prty much stay away from smelly feet too .

You get the picture....right?
We recently made a rule in our apartment...we've got one pair of slippers that is RESERVED for the washroom....and everyone is forbidden from wearing 'em anywhere else... It sucks when ppl come with dirt on their footwear from outside and dirty the washroom !.. and I'm not ashamed of admitting it. My flatmates are nice enough to agree to this.

OK..I'm gonna stop now... so you can go ahead and scroll up...read it again.... form an opinion...comment.... all's fine....

Take care everyone...signing off. (nerdy line # 2)

Oh, n I know I'm supposed to tag 7 other people in turn..... and I always do this.... maybe I'll make this kind of a 'signature move'
.... I tag whoever reads this (be honest now !) :P
that is, if you haven't been tagged already


PS : Wow, I love commenting about my 'witty' post titles :D

experiencing life.

This is one of those posts that you write with the browser window hidden from everyone else. especially your boss !
yea..its been a long while since I wrote...but things seem to be getting hectic.

umm... i've joined the gym (again !) .
i dunno what it is with the gym thing, but i never manage to continue without a break.
the last one was for around 3 months...so i'm pretty much back at square 1
:P
So my weekdays involve getting up at 6 (huh? me?!) ...yea, honestly ! .....then going to the office gym at 7... have breakfast in the office canteen at around 9 ( and its MUCH better than the one in the Chennai office !) ....
The body has a wierd tendency...i've seen... losing or gaining weight happens naturally at the exact places you don't want !!!

anyway, I've been trying to do something ..umm...different thesedays.
I have decided that i'm NOT going to keep a TV at my place here. Although it seems like the stupidest decision I , or anyone since the Ice-age,has ever made, I'm going to stick by it.
There's a reason for it too. the way I see it...the idiot box has always made me lazy. Once I sit down to watch star world or anything interesting, I can spend days not moving my a** from the sofa !

I've realized that I want to experience life.
I want to do stuff that I've always wanted to do....or that I've never thought I would ...
Along the same thoughts, I went to a demo dance class this sunday !!....The guy teaches all forms of dance..this month it's gonna be bollywood...next month's western...after that Hip Hop and Salsa are in line...
btw...we danced to 'Aahun Aahun' from Love aajkal (that's the one, no?)

Dance.
Although i'm adept at the drunk-dance-at-weddings, this is one of the things i've wanted to do. Always.
In college a 'friend' and I had decided to join Salsa classes ....but that didn't happen ...due to certain...errrmm...unavoidable reasons...

but enough! I said to myself... I wanted to taste more of LIFE(I'll elaborate the reason for this in another post), and I'm gonna do it.
Perhaps i'll sign up for the dance classes after all .
what say?

PS: I was gonna name this post 'Chance pe Dance' ....but that's kinda overused ;)

bathroom talk.

There's one thing i've always wanted to say to a good looking stranger... "Wasting water's a sin... shower with me !"
siiiiiiiigh .....kab aayega woh din ? ;)

At every point in their lives, people have to judge stuff.... and its not always a bad thing .
I mean of course we need to judge..... is this shoe worth it? Should I have rum with Vodka? will I be able to get home after that? Is the one in black hot or the blue one ? Should I actually put this on the blog? will I need to kill her now? ( ermmmm :P)

So anyhow, I have one major criteria of judging a house or a room...yea now that i've house hunted in both Chennai and Hyderabad, I have an opinion on this.... the one thing that makes a house stand out amidst the cramped up ocean of others is............
ta
tada
tadada
............. a good bathroom !

Yes. washroom/restroom/gusalkhana ( :P )....whatever you want to call it... its something which I cannot compromise on.... not to sound like a snob or anything, but isn't it an amazing feeling when you walk into a spacious,clean,fragrant washroom ? sounds pretty trivial, i know, but it does feel great...or maybe u've just never lived in a hostel ;)

The thing is, when we were deciding on our accomodation in hyderabad , the first thing that influenced my choice was this flat's bathroom.... I mean its HUGE.
Seriously...like more than half the size of the bedroom.... and that's not exactly small either.
Plus, it has a shower that ACTUALLY works ...which isn't a high probablitity when searching for rented places....
Its got pure white tiles...which makes it look even cleaner (and more difficult to maintain)....


All in all, I'm happy with my place here ....although I don't spend all day in there, I still love the ...bathing area.... :D

thought i'd make this a short post...as it is i'm ignoring doing what i'm paid for and instead doing what I love....writing! ...
but I guess everyone does that at times...or probly needs to do so !
and people walking past me are giving me wierd smiles or tut-tut expressions...

PS: Pseudo-exciting,though apt blog post title, isnt it?

new chapter...being me

OK guys....BIG news .... i haven't had time to write.... I've moved to Hyderabad !!
this happened last friday.

Wednesday:
I go to chennai office as usual....check my mail...and it says i've been absorbed into a project and i should contact xyz person and report to hyderabad ...."niice" ,i said to myself...atleast i'd have a couple of days to chill out in chennai and say adieu to the friends i made there....
I called up the concerned person and he asked me to report at 9 AM the next day ... "ermmm...I'm in chennai actually...(how could he not know?)...so i can be there only on friday..hope that's ok "...it was.

Its a funny feeling... to wrap up your life in a few hours and move to another place...that's exactly what i did... boozed bigtime with pals (farewell, right !) ...that was wednesday night...woke up on thursdy morning..packed..cought a flight at 4 in the afternoon.

and here I was...hyderabad...a new city, yet again. Famous for its apparantly amazing 'biryani' ...which I haven't tasted yet...also, I'm a veggie...so the prospects of biryani aren't that exciting anyway..

I've rented a flat with a friend.....my own place ...the first time(chennai was a hostel).... i'm rly psyched about it...i mean, woohoo!! guys, i need suggestions on what all i'll need to make the house a cool place to be.... all i have right now are beddings , a pressure cooker, a stove and some plates ! .....I've been reminiscing about my parent's house in gurgaon....it actually was kinda amazing....lets hope i can make mine a bit as good too :D

More on this new 'hyderabadi' chapter to follow....

oh btw...i was tagged...so here goes..
The more [x]’ s the “dumber” you are.

[] Gum has fallen out of your mouth when you were talking
[ ] Gum has fallen out of your mouth when you were NOT talking
[ ] You have ran into a glass/screen door
[ ] You have jumped out of a moving vehicle
[ x] You have thought of something funny while walking by yourself
[ ] Laughed, then watched people give you weird looks

So far: 1
[ ] You have run into a tree/bush.
[ ] You know that it IS possible to lick your elbow
[ ] You have tried to lick your elbow… a few times
[x ] You never knew that the Alphabet and Twinkle Twinkle Little star have the same rhythm.
[] You just tried to sing them.

So far: 2
[ ] You have tripped on your shoelace and fallen.
[ ] You have choked on your own spit .
[ ] You have seen the Matrix and still don’t get it.
[] You’ve never seen the Matrix.
[ ] You type only with two fingers.

So far: 2
[] You have accidentally caught something on fire
[ ] You tried to drink out of a straw, but it went into your nose/eyes.
[ ] You have caught yourself drooling.
[ ] You have fallen asleep in class and fell outta your chair

So far: 2
[ ] Sometimes you just stop thinking
[x] You are telling a story and forget what you were talking about
[ ] People often shake their heads and walk away from you
[ ] You are often told to use your “inside voice”.
[ ] You use your fingers to do simple math

So far: 3
[ ] You have eaten a bug
[] You are taking this test when you should be doing something more important
[ ] You have put your clothes on backwards or inside out, and didn’t realize it
[x ] You’ve looked all over for something and realized it was in your hand
[ x] You have ran around naked in your house. (pls..no details !)

So far: 5
[ ] You repost bulletins because you are scared that what they say will happen to you if you don’t.
[x] You break a lot of things.
[ ] Your friends know not to use big words around you.
[ ] You tilt your head when you’re confused
[ ] You have fallen out of your chair before

So far: 6
[x ] When you’re lying in bed, you try to find pictures in the texture of the ceiling or wall
[ ] The word “ummmmm” is used many times a day.

Total 7 = (7/37)*100 = 18.9% dumbo..!!
funny....its the same as the my tagger (if there's such a word)...birds of a feather? :P

and I tag whoever wants to be tagged (actually ..does sound silly) !

baaack

aaaaaaand i'm BACK !!
first things first..... I cleared the test !!! :D and I scored the highest !...much to mine and everyone else's surprise ;)
when I clicked "submit" and got the score, I looked at it twice...stared at it for 2 minutes..... i just cudn't #@ believe it .......no one else cud,either...for that matter...... absolutely EVERY person i've told this to has asked me this question: "what the HELL did u do man????...seriously " .....I guess sum stuff's just meant to happen.....only thing is, u gotta pinch yourself hard to believe it......
perheps its cuz of all the good wishes you guys sent me .....awwwww :D

..... training's over....and i've qualified.... phew !
its been soo soo long since I wrote, no? I'm rly sorry I cudn't keep up with u guys' posts... i'll try harder......promise ..... oh, and i'm rly happy tht my blog's following's increased...yes, it does make a difference to me...no matter how much I try to say that it doesn't ...... just like I had always tried to prove that i'm not at all supersticious....turned out that I totally AM !
So no point in hiding it......
Did I ever happen to tell u guys that i'm amazingly bad at faking it ?
NO, its not what you think ( :P) ....i've discovered that i've always been a pathetic lier....I just can't control my facial expressions when i'm lying ...either i'll laugh out or i'll look here and there....so the listener will almost immediately know that i'm lying...unless their dumb,ofcourse...... you think it's a disability?
So that explains why I didn't run away to "Bombay" (I still like to call it that and not mumbai) to become a hero ....yup, that's right, not an ACTOR, a HERO ......after all, that's what everyone says, isnt it?

sumhow recently this particular thought came to me....and I wanted to share it....... as technology and economy has progressed, people have lost their innocence..... their genuine-selves..... to give way to new,tech-savvy,suave,money-yearning creatures ........
this happened long ago...my grandpa asked me:

Scene:

It was '96 and we had recently bought a computer.....
my nana (grandpa) , who owned an automobile servicing firm asked me what it was...so I told him...... and its amazing how some things just get stuck in memory...what he actually said was:

"that's very nice...but u remember to keep it well -oiled , or the parts will rust"

yeah, it may sound irrelevant now or probably just plain ignorance..... but to me the above line exemplifies innocence..and sumhow i'll never forget it..

changing the topic, we were at the beach till 2 in the night the day i cleared.... its such an amazing place to be..... i'd choose a beach over a mountain holiday...anyday....but I already told you that....
its like...whenever i'm near the sea, and I hear the waves crashing against the shore, everything else just rushes out of my head, and what's left is peace.... its one of the places where I can sit for long...idle....thinking...

anyhow...gotta go...will write soon....

the story continues...

Its bugging that i can't write here very often....and its primarily cuz of two reasons :

1) i don't have a lappy where i stay....so have to go out for surfing..... i've always wondered why these places are called cyber cafes...yea, the cyber part's obvious..but why the 'cafe'? any bright ideas anyone?

2) almost all 'worthy' sites are blocked at my office...which includes facebook, blogger,gmail....not a lot left on the net after these...wat do i do all day, google??
by the time i come bak in the eve, i'm too tired for point# 1 ;)

so more on chennai et moi? here goes..

a) the beach is a 20 min walk from my place (did i already mention that)? but i manage to go there only in the evenings on weekends ...its too hot in the day !

b) there's a rly gud library close by....and it's air conditioned too ;)

c) its f***in cheap ! of course, as long as you don't go to the taj and the sheraton a lot :P


there's one thing that really bugs me, though..... whenever i try to buy fruit from a vendor, he'll always talk in tamil, even if he knows bits n pieces of hindi..... and he'll ALWAYS quote double the price...... HATE it ! ... currently i'm trying to befriend a couple of neighbours so they can bargain for me ;)

went for a haircut today...... its funny the stuff life throws at you... sitting in a salon, watching and listening to tamil actors jive on tv...... looking at the pics in a tamil version of 'filmfare' .... but i don't mind, really....if there's one thing i actually DO know about myself by now, its that I'm open to new things and experiences...

and also the random fact that i rarely give ppl second chances..... :P


wats up at work?
well, wipro has about 6 offices in chennai, and initially we were at this swanky, great-campus,lotsa-greenery,great-food-options one.....
but after 3 weeks, we were shifted to this old, no-campus-whatsoever, crappy-canteen, place-u'd-hate office....so that sucks....just trying to survive in there
right now, actually i'm in training ....and i have a REALLY important exam on october 16th.....so trying to study for it...and that kinda gives me no time for pretty much anything else...

madras talk !

Okay, I said to myself right now... "time for my first post from chennai !"
its really nice of u guys to wish me good luck with this transition...really made me smile :D thank u!

first things first.... i'm gonna try n recollect stuff that i've been doing since I came here....

honestly, i was really freaked out about coming here initially.... partly cuz i don't know a soul in this city and partly cuz ALL my friends who've joined the same organization have gotten their posting in bangalore .....

the first week here was pretty chilled out... i was putting up at my dad's company guest house....no probs there...besides, it was in a relatively posh locality so there were nice places to hangout.....

i came across some colleagues from work who were also looking for accomodation here.... so we decided to look for one together.... to top it up, one colleague had a friend along and this guy was from chennai itself...so he helped us out a LOT ... talking to the brokers and house owner's in tamil (obviously, they'd quote a higher price if that guy wasn't a local) ..... he also showed us quite a few places to chill out...which included both types of drinking ..... coffee and booze !

there's a few things i've noticed about the city...i can't say if my observations are accurate or not though......

1) a few area-names end with 'pet' ....namely, 'chetpet','saidapet'...a few others which i don't remember...so i'm guessing 'pet' would mean an area or sumthing
2) the arterial roads are 'anna salai' and 'MGR salai'.... so it'd be ok to say 'salai' means road......but i was told it also means 'statue'....not sure
3) chennai vaguely gives me the feel of chembur in mumbai.... perhaps cuz of the architecture.... haven't figured out why...but it just does.... its one of those feelings u can't pinpoint the reason for....
4) The public transport is pretty good here... almost everyone you meet at a bus stop is capable of telling you the bus number to ur destination..... doesn't happen in delhi a lot...
5) chennai has two kinds of weather.... (a) hot ... (b) very hot
6) almost everything u get to eat is directly or indirectly made of RICE :P .... makes me think of the umpteen no. of times i refused to eat rice at home . poetic justice, perhaps? (waving fist at the skies)


Oh, n i'm trying to learn tamil..... till now, i've learnt the following :

1) counting from 1-10. it goes like this:
urr, rend, moon, naal, anji, arr, yel, ett, umbodh, patt

2) how are you : "apdi irkinge? "
i'm fine : "naan nalla irke"

3) i want to got to chennai central: "naan chennai central pono"
how much? : "avelo?"
50 only : "50 ta"
don't want: "vanda"

4) crazy : "pythium"
happy : "santosham"
sad : ....forgot this one
big: "perusa"
very big : " rombo perusa" (what're u thinking of ? don't get any ideas !)
small: "chinh"

5) i love you : "naan unai kadli kirane" ( really important , eh?! )

6) Tomato: "takkali"
Onion: "Vengayam"
coconut : "tenga"

7) yes: "ama"
yes yes : "amama" (duuh :P)
NO : "ile"


enough for today?
hopefully i'll get a chance to write soon.....
the thing is, i'm currently on training... and so wer'e kept #@% busy all week..... i finished with one main assessment this week...so have a few days to myself... that'll explain my visits to Eliot's beach, and booze sessions at bikes and barrels ;)

catch all of you later... all the new readers and especially the old ones !
mwaaah !

a temporary au revoir, or an incredible beginning?

There's something big happening with me right now that I wanted to share..... I'm changing jobs...and the new one's taking me to chennai !
I rly don't have a lot of time to write..... and perhaps I won't be very regular on the blog either for a while.... and i'll miss it
Also the incredibly sweet ppl who read..u guys really make it worthwhile, honestly ...mwah!

after 4 years of living in a hostel, I was at a point where I preferred being away from home...cuz of the obvious reasons...freedom,blah blah.......i've stayed at home with folks for a year now, and strangely, i'm a bit jittery (i'm ashamed to admit this ) about the change ...... esp. cuz the entire city is totally new to me and i don't know a soul there...... i'm also kinda curious about how i'll gel with the place :P

who knows, maybe it'll actually turn out to be good for me....hopefully....

wish me luck guys !

PS: moving tomorrow!

no no no !

Don't you just HATE some stuff from your past cuz it simply refuses to get out of ur head, and possibly ur life?

Everyone has a past... and there's absolutely SO many things i'd like to change about mine...... one in particular... I won't say what..

I met up with a friend yest evening and she happened to mention something related to that particular era of my past..... phir kya tha.... ALL the bloody memories came gushing into my head as though the flood-gate that i've been so desperately trying to close, and keep shut, never existed....

Its funny how I tend to think about the very thing that I tell myself to ignore.....n I don't like it.

Why? Why is it that I still remember everything vividly? Why is it that the sadness associated with it doesn't go away..... why is it that I still feel I should've done better, or something different...when I've had so many discussions about how there was nothing wrong with my actions...

Why am I still thinking about it, when it was mentioned just for a fraction of a second....

I'm sitting in office and all I can think of is what happened then.... there's so much other stuff happening around me and in my life... so many transitions (my next post is gonna be about that probly)... then why does it seem like everything's moving in slow motion all over again?

It's not my fault ! I wish things had turned out differently...I really do.... but it happened...and the tide turned against me..... there was a time when I actually thought I could make things better.... and I kept trying... what I now realise is that I shud've just let it be... "SCREW IT", is what I shud've said..... there were so many events that stemmed from that situation I was in.... I would've been at a totally different juncture of my life right now..... but I'm dealing with it....

I was so dumb, is also what I feel at times..... perhaps it was all fake..... perhaps it was make-belief.... I can't say.... I just DONT want to think about it ever..... I try n make myself angry at the events, so maybe i'll develop a disgust towards it.... but it doesn't work...

Why did my friend mention it again?

Its like I'm screaming out LOUD inside my head....continuously..I hate this.... STOP !

PS: I'm sry , this is too vague...but there are times when I don't know what to do....so I just write.

jlt pics from work

This is the photo on my office wall... just behind the comp.. try and focus on the colours :D

I was sitting on my office chair one day, and I noticed there was bit of dirt on the floor, maybe brought in by my shoes only (probably).... so i just kinda sweeped it with my feet, under the desk, so the cleaning guy would clear it later... and look at what the pile of dirt turned out to look like, when i noticed it 5 minutes later.... and i didn't shape it deliberately...i don't even think I CAN :P

Love is in the air, eh?

The day Delhi stood still...

I SO wish things were different right now..... its saturday morning, the beginning of the weekend...and there's so much i want to do.......and so much that I have to do....!!!! I want to listen to music on my lappy, I want to write a blog post, I want to fair out a letter that i've been writing (yea, an actual snail mail letter !), I have to go out and shop, I have to go out for lunch with friends (this i want to also, actually :P).......? I CAN'T multitask !! If i listen to music, for example, i'll be unable to write a post.... I don't want the weekend to just whizz by...again ! -So much to do, so little time- its funny, isn't it? sometimes this phrase seems so apt...and so ridiculous at others....

There's something I've wanted to write about since monday, but somehow have been too cought up (read lazy) to do so..... IT RAINED LIKE CRAZY ON MONDAY EVENING ...in Delhi...... and the city fell on its back, and died like an insect..... i'm seriously disgusted with the whole thing..... you know I love driving, right? it usually takes me an hour to get to work, and another to get back home in the evening..... well, this monday evening, I left work at 7:30 in the eve.... As I walked towards the car, it started to rain...all of a sudden...a lot of things in Delhi have a habit of creeping up on you suddenly...the weather is one of 'em, traffic jams are another...... so, it suddenly had started raining hard...like a sprinter who gives out a burst of speed as soon as the gunshot is heard......
fine, I said to myself....and got in the car fast...... for the first 15 minutes, after i started, I was actually enjoying the whole scene.... rain crashing down hard from the heavens, me all alone in the car, the AC making it really nice n chilly inside.... even nice music playing on the radio..... it was almost magical, when i looked towards the skies and saw the raindrops in the streetlamp's glow...out of a book, as if......specially since i was dry

(wierd pic, i know..but hey, i clicked it ! ... streetlight seen)

Then I got stuck.... the route i usually take was waterlogged at a point...so i took a diversion...turns out, everyone else in the entire WORLD had also taken the same #$%# diversion ! That's when the night's horror starts..... the point which I usually cross in 15 minutes, had this huge jam.. which kept me stuck for an entire hour! i'm serious, i didn't move an inch...... when I stopped in the jam, initially I didn't mind...cuz i had expected the roads to be jammed (a little).... but after 30 minutes, my patience started to give way..... there were people getting out of their cars, soaking in the rain, shouting at the traffic from the opposite side, who were doing the same thing too...... I kinda don't love the rains too much, remember...i preferred to stay in and not participate in the intellectual (and innovative) exchange of words (read @#$@) ...

Somehow, after an hour , stuff started moving a little, and I manoeuvred the car out of the mess... initially I thought of going back and stopping at a friend's house for the night.... but after being stuck there for so long, i just had to move on.....

Little did I know that there were 3 more equally horrendous jams waiting for me.... with one resulting in a verbal exchange of 'pleasantaries' (riiight) between a biker and me....... and one resulting in my car getting flooded with rainwater and me singing "row row row your boat, gently down the stream ...." in my head.... I seriously thought the car would die that time... cuz the water level had gotten so bloody high !

I actually saw myself going through a lot of emotions in that entire time..... especially since i was alone in the car that evening (co-incidentally) .....

First, there was glee, and awe at the rain Gods and their work....... then there was disgust at the delhi municipality and their work...... then there was concern for my car, and myself , possibly a hint of fear too..... then there was a burst of brainwork, and a realisation (and joy) that I could innovate, adapt to and overcome difficult situations.....

Finally, when i had cleared all the obstacles, and it was 11.45 in the night, there was peace..... and it was magical once again..... I had rolled down the car windows, the air was chilly ..... the roads were empty, it was dark, almost midnight, I was speeding home.... happy, cuz I was returning home after ages of war, like a true knight (stop laughing...i was happy OK !!) ..... it was one of THE most memorable scenes of my life, I just knew it....... empty, dark road, cool midnight breeze, my car waaaay over the speed limit..... and everything was good.... as they say ...

hakuna matata

Random 'thought'

I tend to get a little TOO immersed in my thoughts at times. I mean its almost like daydreaming...i continue whatever i'm doing, but when I snap out of my..umm...reverie, I sumhow don't remember what happened in the time that I had been thinking...

This is actually how I blog too...... as I've already mentioned, I almost never plan on what to write.... There are somedays when I'm just...inspired...and I sit in front of my lappy and start typing....its almost like i'm thinking with my fingers, so to say..... and when I fininsh, voila!

This happens really often if i'm driving alone..... my all time driving companion, my music player cum radio keeps playing this n that.. and I start to think... I keep driving though, manoeuvering between traffic ,passively, almost as if its second nature for me.....probably it is now....

I love to drive...I always have...ever since I learnt to... its given me a sense of freedom like nothing else had ever done.... yes, the freedom does has certain checks...traffic lights, road blocks, jams...but that's something we deal with, and move on after 120 seconds ( I kinda think its the average stoppage time at all delhi,gurgaon traffic lights...dunno why though).....

(Note: Pictorial depiction is not factual. .)

Coming back..... I do get lost in thoughts.... and I absolutely love it! There are times when this has led to trouble too.... and so I ended up making rules for myself..... I have a lot of 'em...i'll probably publish a personal rule-book sumday ...I'll tell you one... "NEVER check out chicks on the road if you are driving"..... Don't ask how or why I made this one though ;)

So, one fine day, I decided not to drive and took the local bus where I wanted to go.....buses are another place where one can think in peace...although they may be crowded, atleast people leave you alone......when I came back in the evening, I was thinking about my own stuff, listening to music...as usual.... guess what, I got off, walked 10 minutes...when I had almost reached home I thought to myself... "Hey, something's missing, no?"...."I kinda feel lighter"..... "OH MY GOD...my backpack's in the bus !!!!!"

I started running back to where the bus had left me.....luckily it was the last stop....I got onto a cycle rikshaw cuz i thought it'd be faster... it wasn't. The guy was so damn slow, I got off and ran towards the place, not wanting to waste any time (of course, I had to pay the guy sumthing)..... I got there, asked around and found that the bus wud've gone to this place to park for the night..... As I rushed to that place, my mind started crowding with images of my folks..."what's wrong with you??" ..."Why're u so damn forgetful....do u have any problems? u can discuss with us, you know" ...... yea right.... I didn't wanna let that happen..... plus I didn't wanna loose my aviators that I love so much !

Thankfully, I found the bus.... and lying in one dark corner was my backpack...untouched...probably lonely too :P

Thus came another personal rule ..."if ure carrying a backpack, ALWAYS keep it in your lap for the entire time ure travelling !".... hope this works out...

Oh, have you ever noticed how some old ppl just LOVE talking to young folks? Today i got off the car with my bro.... I was locking it, and my bro sneezed.... this old uncle who was on his morning walk stopped beside us ..."hey, he sneezed! unlock the car and lock it again. " ... now I had never seen this guy ....i didn't know who he was.... I would have said no ..but then all my family's 'sanskaars' (kahaani ghar ghar ki, anyone?...u listening ekta?) started pulsing through my veins.... and I politely smiled, unlocked the car and locked it again.... the old man looked pleased, smiled at us and walked off. I dunno, but i kinda felt good and amused at the same time....

I've always had a soft corner for old ppl, i think..... even on the streets, if there's a really old person begging, I make it a point to give 'em something..... once it was an aquafina I just bought, once it was a burger..... other times it's some coins..... i just feel so bad when I see these ppl, their entire lives behind 'em, and still so unhappy, uncared for....

going back in time ...well, kinda

'Memory low, delete some data '

How many of you have seen this written on your phone screens? I did, today...and its SO bugging !

the worst part is that its not the memory card that's running low on memory...its the phone itself.... so all I could do is delete my mssgs :(

I can almost bet that everyone has a mssg collection saved up in their inboxes.... right from those sent by your significant other (butterflies in the stomach ?!) to the non-veggies (yup, thts what sexually inclined mssgs are called here, no?) frm ur friends...to the tp mssgs like "wts up?" or "oye MTV laga, right now !" to "Will be there in 5 minutes" ....

So, after coming back home, I started to backtrack on my msgs..... It was soo amazing , reading those really old ones made me almost re-live those moments...... ppl wishing me on my prev b'day, ppl wishing me for the CAT (bitter memories :P) ...rly old jokes....co-ordinating with sumone on the next day's catching up... even one series of mssgs where I had apparantly passed by a friend, looking at her, and walking away (hey, that was an honest mistake, I didnt see her !)

wow..... these times when we look back at what we've been doing all along kinda make me lie back, do nothing and just reminisce....its like going back in time , no? (siigh)

and somehow I always end up thinking of what I could have done, instead of what I actually did !

wouldn't it have been so much easier if we cud just go back and re-do (0r un-do, in some cases) what has happened?

Oh, I never mentioned, did I ? I've gone green ! yup, I now (proudly) travel in a carpool to work.

umm...my office is like an hour's drive frm my place..... so there's just soo many advantages of the pool... and I'm gonna list 'em (stop rolling your eyes !)

1) Lesser no. of cars on the road.... so lesser pollution, and lesser TRAFFIC.

2) I don't have to drive on that crowded road everyday.... when its not my turn to drive, I just sit back, read the paper or listen to the radio blaring its heart out ....or just instruct the person who's driving to "take the left lane"...."go slow, pothole ahead"....hahaha, no! I rly don't do that ever...in fact, I hate backseat drivers (no offence, but mom, u gotta stop it !)

3) Since there are other ppl travelling with me, I cn atleast talk about sumthing and not sit mum, listening to the music, imagining the videos or checking out the chick in the side waali car ;)

4) ITS CHEAPER.... woohoo!

gonna let go on tht note....ciao!

morning-after rambling

I just realised that the mornings AFTER booze night (what morning-after were YOU thinking of ?? ) are always the same. Right now i'm at a friend's place...woke up late... talked about the previous night and (laughed at it ) .... feel like lazing around for a couple of more hours..... went to buy bread and eggs in my night wear...unshaven, unbathed,uncombed :P

But I really love it.....after the monotony and the routine of the week, Its fun to do sumthing ....sumthing that'll break the cycle...its not booze every week, but that's the fun of it na?

Actually I'm always in a good mood on fridays...cuz the weekend's coming up !! no more getting up early, hitting the gym, rushing back to get dressed, having breakfast at lightning fast speed, the loong drive to work, the same cubicle, the same people, getting back ,not much time for anything,dinner,a bit of this n that on the net, cellphone,sleep...... you get the picture, dont you?

and that's the beauty of weekends..... no time constraints, no routine, no sleep-you-need-to-wake up-early ...

btw, they were showing a tribute to MJ on VH1 last night...LOVED it.

Real life.

It's one of life's great paradoxes (if I can call it that) that most often , things totally unexpected from sumone amaze and affect you the most... Its like a cricket ball that hits you suddenly in the tummy when you're looking at the cutie sitting in the spectator stand, instead of fielding sincerely...

This is kinda embarrassing, but hey, that's what our blogs are for,right...to humiliate ourselves all the way and still be cool about it :P

Time and again, I've observed that my EQ's more inclined towards that of a woman (not trying to be chauv at all !).... now this is not to say I like pink and teddies and everything (that'd be REALLY freaky and i'd hv just shot myself )..... but rather, that I kinda am extremely fond of the idea of romance. No, not the current version of it ( love v 2.0 ?) but the original, archaic , possibly extinct version.

Also, all those grinning back there, Its not the Juliet standing in the balcony, and Romeo on the ladder kinda scene .....which is also impractical today.... but rather, the idea of everlast.

So, when I heard the following from someone I just casually know, I was just taken aback....albeit in a really nice way....

There's this guy I meet at work everyday..... and we just talk about this and that every now and then.... although he's like 15 yrs elder, lately, we've been hanging out and talking more cuz both of us are among the last to leave the office in the evening...

A few days ago he told me the story of his life. Yup, that's what I'm gonna call it. The story of his life, if he didn't just make it up then (hehe), which I don't think he did.....

when he ws like 21 or sumthing, chatting on the net was a really 'new' concept, and every youngster was addicted to it.... and as is obvious with ppl in general, there was a LOT of flirting everyone did, with everyone else..... I'm guessing due to the added advantage of anonymity, ppl cudn't hold back ;)

What he used to do ws flirt with 5 or 6 chicks at the same time (and i'm guessing they did the same) .... hilariously, he'd saved a particular format of letters which he'd send to all of em, with just the name changed ....hehe, easy?

Anyhow, he eventually REALLY started to like this 1 girl, and things started getting deeper..... they moved on to talking on the cell (yup, cell phones had just come into existance in India and only film stars and long distance lovers had 'em probly)......

Things kept happening, and the distance made their hearts grow together so much that they decided to go further..... and the first time they met was to get married !

None of the parents had agreed.... I'm guessing cuz it ws so unconventional (beta, wtf is this internet thing u keep jibbering about?)...

Still, they DID get married....they DID move in together.... they DID see the small incomes,small houses, lack of monetary comforts....They DID live in 1 room rented flats, they DID walk to save up on bus fares...... even though the families were incredibly well off (I think he told me his would-be-wife drove her own honda city to collg or sumthing )....

Its been 9 years now...I think they've made it across.

Now THAT takes balls.

Isn't it kinda wonderfully shocking when u come across such stories, instead of just watching 'em on cinema ?

Kudos to both of you, guys .... just thought this one definitely deserved a post.

so low, really? + belated wishes to kyle !

well well, so it's finally come down to this.... I always wondered how ppl can find the time to write a blog in the office..... I just found out.. so damn bored right now.... I noticed that i've developed a peculiar habit.... I think in the exact manner as I write... as in, whatever's on my mind, I try and form a 'mental post' on it, and i actually rephrase my thoughts at times, just like I do my words in here , so tht they sound better .....so wierd....

But then again, I end up writing almost none of the stuff I think of at that time, when I make a mental note of "must write post on this".... As always, I still am pretty much spontaneous when it comes to these posts...

anyhow, u know how at work all of us use the "con call" facility , right? I kinda like the conference call concept, and so I decided to put it in use ...

Maybe I haven't said this earlier, but the closest knit circle of friends that I have consists of 4 other guys...all of us practically lived together in the hostel for all the 4 yrs of engg.....
and it's become really sad how all of us are now so busy with work/studies that we barely get a chance to catch up more than once or twice a month...

It was kyle's birthday yesterday, and almost 3 weeks ago, I had thought of this really lame practical joke...but I guessed there wasn't much more I cud do, since he's away for his MBA and we're not meeting up till like the end of July....

So, as usual, I'm trying to get my mind off office work (do that a lot :P ) and I called up the other guys individually, telling them what we're gonna do on kyle's b'day..

Here's what happened:

6th July, kyle's birthday....usually we'd call up a close friend at 12 in the night only, na, when the b'day starts....well, we didn't......6th afternoon, still no wishes for kyle.... I'd even asked all the guys not to scrap him on orkut....What I thought was that kyle wud probably start getting REALLY pissed off that none of us had wished him.... and he wud probably start thinking of how he would murder us all in the most gory ways .. and thats what happened, he later told me....well, not the murder part, but u get the picture....

Now comes evening and kyle's cell rings...and the four of us wish him together ! (con call, rembr ?).... what I also thought was that kyle wud be atleast surprised when he heard the wishes at 6 in the eve, but nope, he just sounded what he sounds like when he's either pissed or just woken up ( which means the same thing almost, with the guy... he'd look at the clock in the morning when it was time to wake up and say " bh****od subah ho gayi kya ?")

All in all, the whole deal didnt turn out to be as much fun as I thought it would be....and looking back, it really WAS a silly thing to do.... are we really getting that lame and boring? or is it just the "going to work everyday in the morn" concept that's sucked all the fun out ?? Have we really gone so low down the 'cool' ladder?

more on that later....for now, (belated) Happy b'day kyle!!! ... hope you don't think we're gonna phase you out just cuz you got yourself a new girl at college [ ha !] .....we never will ( Halo over my head.)

Rain n all that

Quick update .... It's pouring cats and dogs !!

The weather in Delhi's gotten so amazing.... a huuuge relief from the heat....however the roads are full of traffic jams and now it takes me double the time to get home from work :((

Rains and I have a history ...I don't remember if I've already discussed that...

Ever since I can remember, I used to HATE rains.... seriously.... Rains made me so gloomy...and so lonely, as I grew up....

that changed, however, and I don't really know when or why...

I would assume that it was because of a certain romantic association.... but Its not so, I hated rains then too.... but all of a sudden, I started to like it when it was drizzling....I started to enjoy standing in the rain and looking up at the sky...

even today, when it wasn't raining so heavily, I went outside office and bought a 'bhutta' ( roasted corn )...its really popular in north India...

but then I remembered that the corn fibres always get stuck in my teeth, and I hate that! So I ate the thing really carefully, but to no avail... the taste is amazing, but it gets so yeeuch afterwards, with the fibres ..

anywho, the status now is:

I don't hate the rains...although I don't love them either.

I do enjoy a light drizzle, though.

Rains no longer make me gloomy.... but oddly, when it rains, I kinda feel that I WANT to be sad..... that I want to feel what I felt earlier....a memory maybe? ..I just can't understand why....

Rains also make me want to sit next to a window, with a hot cup of coffee... with a good book perhaps...

Its amazing when the water's streaming down the glass....almost beautiful..

Have to end abruptly.....gotta wake up early tom....

mwah

Four Points .

This one's from Zeba.... and she did say it right, I'm so damn busy nowadays that I'm almost embarrassed of it...I so wanna write more..... here goes ..

Four places you have lived:

Although I was born in this city called Ludhiana, I'm not gonna include it in the 4 cuz I really don't remember any of it...

1) Chandigarh : We moved here when I started pre-school .... all I remember of he city is that it is amazingly planned out and clean....and wierdly, people carrying posters of PV Narsimha Rao (a politician, around 1992)

2) Delhi : Dilli, Delhi whatever you call it....I love the place!!! Have been here all through the 12 years of school ( fyi, I remained in the same school all through ) .... so Delhi is basically where I grew up, came to senses...and well, you can imagine the rest :P

Come visit, and you'll fall in LOVE with the street food, the hugely multi cultural influence, and the women ( :D)

3) Meerut : My college was here, so stayed in a hostel for 4 years.... its just about 60 kms. from Delhi. Although I hated the place initially, I started to love living in the hostel with my friends towards the end of college.... its an amazing thing when you're living with people your own age.... and even more amazing if you find the 'right' pals....they were almost a second family ...

4) Gurgaon : Living here right now..... its like a suburb of Delhi

the city's like FULL of malls.... I mean literally....whenever someone comes visiting, I don't know where to take them...so we just go to a mall. :P

The sad parts are :

there's not enough greenery...

there's a water supply problem sometimes..

power cuts... so its sad if you don't have a backup...

The good part , however, is that there's booze available 24 HOURS !! ( in Delhi, all the wine shops close at 10)

ha!

Four TV shows you love(d) to watch :

1) The Simpsons ( Love Homer !)

2) How I met you mother ( Robin's so hot !...plus there's BARNEY)

3) FRIENDS (Do I even have to mention it ?)

4) The wonder years. ( Now you remember..)

Four places you have been to on vacation :

1) GOA (OMG, you have to go here, if you haven't already.... THE best place to party!)

2) Mumbai ( I know, I know ... but hey, I love the place...still)

3) Pondicherry (not so much a place to party, but u'll love it if you want peace of mind)

4) Shimla ( My parents love this hill station...so been here a LOT as a kid)

Four of your favourite foods :

As a kid, and cuz I'm punju, I loved fried food..... and I still do...although I don't eat any of it now... fat kid that I was.... The food scene for me is pretty much in control ab ( touchwood).....and its sad cuz I know I'm a foodie at heart

1) Pizza !!!!!! Anything with cheese basically..

2) Vada Pav ( a la mumbai)

3) Rajma Chawal

4) Chaat!

Four websites you visit daily :

1) Google (Doesn't everyone have it as their homepage already ?)

2) Blogger ( duuuuhh !)

3) Facebook ( any other social networking's kinda sad... )

4) Gmail ( mainly to check if i've received any comments on the blog :P )

Four places you would rather be:

1) Mumbai

2) Italy ( they love their food !)

3) South Delhi

4) Paris ( The city of LOVE, people !)

Four things you hope to do before you die :

1) Skydive

2) Own a Jaguar

3) Get a six pack ( gulp... did I say i'm working on it? )

4) Find her.

Four novels you wish you were reading for the first time:

1) Shantaram

2) Harry potter

3) Shakespeare, abridged

4) A fine balance

Four movies you love : ( I'm just assuming there was such a question)

1) Andaaz apna apna

2) McKenna's gold

3) Gladiator

4) Ben hur

I'm tagging :

Choco, Bharath, Shomoita, Veda....and anyone else who wants to WRITE !!

and btw, Zeba, thanks for this.... was feeling a lil low in the evening ( had a 'serious' talk with someone, so my head was all heavy) .... but I feel so much better after writing !

The week that was... consolidated

Its not even funny how cought up i've been these last 2 weeks....
crazy stuff's been happening..

my boss chooses the MOST hectic end-of-the-month days to go on a holiday ... so I've been staying back late at work for almost everyday this entire week . (he doesn't know of this blog, I hope :P)

Then I had a span of 4 really unlucky days... health-wise, that is.... I injured a different finger on my LEFT hand, every one of those days...and it hurts so much!!!

Met a really cute girl in the delhi metro... really sweet n all, but I had work, so had to get off... and I didn't ask for her no. :((

Came up with a new hindi word-meaning .....
Q : What do you call drinking in the car?
A: "Kaarobar" (originally means business in Hindi)
yup, its the new code word at office.

but something good's happened too... I bought an XBox 360 !! and I absolutely LOVE it!
I guess that's one of the reasons why this post looks like a composite book of facebook status updates ....cuz I'm going offline to play ! (can't stop grinning ,somehow)

To facewash or not to facewash, THAT is the question.

I've had a relatively tough time this last week. No, not because of the usual string of reasons.... breakups, bosses, pesky neighbours/relaitves...bla bla... no, none of those ,thankfuly. Rather, the reason's one that pretty much upsets how I go about my daily routine.

The other day I realized that I'd used up all of my facewash... and so I went to the local supermart to get a new pack... I'm walking down the aisle, looking at the ones available and I spot this really smart looking pack ..black in colour...apparantly a new line called 'Garnier MEN' (I saw John Abraham endorsing it on TV the next day) ..... I think I bought it mainly cuz the pack looked really cool ... black, with green writing (and no! I'm not ashamed of it!) .....plus, all the other face wash packs are kinda 'girly' ... yellow, pink, what not :P

Anyway, I ended up bringing it home.... but that's NOT what the post is about... Although I'm not particularly superstitious, I can't help wondering in this situation ...

The very day I bought that new brand of face wash, MY WATER SUPPLY GOT CUT OFF!!! ummm... now what apparantly happened was that the water board's motor for supply to our colony's fucked up.... so there's none in the taps ..and its been 3 days! I've been living off stored water and it's so bugging cuz we've never had such a prob for the 6 years i've lived here!!

Bummer.

Hopefully they'll repair the pump soon...or i'll have to throw out the facewash ( seriously, I've got wierd suspitions on the Gods and Garnier, now)

What can I say, I've got my own series of unfortunate events :

Buy new fw ---> come home ---> tada! paani gayab!!

Dryly yours

mohit

PS: Pray for me... I don't wanna bathe with stored water anymore!

nostalgia

A friend recently scanned this pic and put it on facebook... Its the class photo from the 1st standard !!!

There's something about this pic that just captivates me....

dunno...maybe its how sweet we all look as kids... which makes me forget the things that went 'wrong' between me and some of my oldest friend(s).

maybe its the fact that my fav teacher was the one who tought me in the 1st... the one you see in this pic .... I never forget to see her whenever i'm around school.... sigh.. dunno if she's there now though.

btw, if you're wondering.... I'm the kid on the left of the teacher... the one who's eyes are apparantly being burnt by the sun shining right into them.... so much for my efforts to give a good smile into the camera :(

There were these stairs at the end of the junior school playground..... the ones on which every class photo was taken. Maybe cuz the sun shined directly on them at noon, and the pic turned out nice.... but I never got the hang of keeping my eyes open against the direct sunshine !

Don't-really-know day

Sometimes it surprises me how moody I can be. There are a handful of moods that randomly affect me ( or maybe due to 'hidden' reasons). Its kinda funny to an extent, when I think about it that way.....  I really haven't been able to define myself till now.... and I don't think I ever will be able to.I just wake up in the morning, and well.... feel.... feel good or feel bad or feel lonely or feel on top of the world !!

If you're going on a drive with me (which I absolutely love to do...  but for the fuel prices!), there'll be days when I'll sing along with the stereo ..... on some days, it'll be a soft tone, on others I'll literally sing so loudly my throat 'll go dry.... there will also be other times, when I'm quiet, no matter if the song playing is amaaazing. I tend to think a lot at times.... over-think is more like it.... "why did I do that or say that yesterday?", "what am I gonna do with my life??", "does she want me to call?".....bla bla bla

I usually don't believe in the sunsign thingy..... but people say cancerians are a lot like that... moody... so I dunno..... there's so many things I just stop trying to reason with. They say if you don't bend , you break ...don't take it in the kinky way ! 

Things like horoscopes, careers, hairstyles.... I think its better if you maneouver your boat with the flow.. if you know what I mean..

Talking of hairstyles, I sometimes feel my hair have a mind of their own. They just refuse to follow a pattern. If someone asks me today how I wear my hair, I wouldn't be able to answer.... cuz everyday, my hair adopts a slightly new pattern..... which is almost always unlike the previous day's. So that's one part i've really given up on :P

So come to think of it, I'm a very day-to-day person......  I have good hair days and bad hair days..... good mood days, crappy mood days, super-excited mood days, I-wish-I-would-die mood days and what not......

To summarize, oddly, I'll try and classify my day today:

Hair: Good hair day

Mood: Super-excited mood day

Music: Scream-along-with-the-song-that's-playing day 

Clothes: I-feel-colourful-today day (I wore a purple shirt!)

Bod: I-look-thin-today day

~~~ Now you know what the post title means!!

The great Alphonso build up.

There have been lots of times when I've noticed that when any particular idea, or event has a huuge built up hype before it actually occurs, it fails miserably.

Consider the case of shrek-3 , the movie.... for all of you who don't know, the shrek series has been HILARIOUS all along....so naturally, when news broke out that the 3rd is being made, the rate of anticipatory sweating was high all over the world (umm... figuratively !) ... everyone was eagerly awaiting their fav ogre to come on screen again....when the movie finally released, guess what.. it wasn't so funny !!!

So here's the scene:

A wee bit of general knowledge first tho....

You know which one's called the king of fruits??

yea u said it... the Mango .

That was easy....  Riddle me this : ( no, this ain't the Riddler, and I'm not sucking your brains out when you read this !)

What mango is called the King of Mangoes? 

.

.

.

.

think

.

.

.

actually you must've read the title...  I assume ur not dumb either....   its the Alphonso !!

I think the word 'Alphonso' means actually does mean king , in some language.

For so long, everyone's been going on and on about how the Alphonso has an AMAZING  taste.... that its probably what heaven's made of ( mango plantations ? wtf !) ....how the Moghul emperors craved them ....  how the Gods have sent it to earth themselves ( something like that, atleast )....and stuff along similar lines... you get the idea, no?

So yesterday, my mom asks ... " hey, its the summer , howcome we still haven't tasted this season's Alphonsos ??? "

yeah mom, I hope we don't get purgatory for our sin :P

That said, Dad went to the supermart and got the heavenly Alphonsos .... and they were fucking steep man... like 160 bucks a kg or sumthin ( 3 mangoes !)... I mean, its just a fruit !!

So anyway...  we had a family gathering at the dining table for just that..... 

You ever been in situations where everything seems to move in slow motion when you look back at it?  This is one of them .... recalling mom slicing the Alphonsos ....

We waited for a reaction as she tasted the first slice  ..... 

can you guess what happens next? 

huh??

The fucking Alphonso  was NOT sweet at all !!!  Bland is the word....  wtf man, whoever said the freakin fruit was the gift of God must've been demented or sumthing..

All in all, the whole thing turned out to be huge dissappointment....  kinda like the concept of exams :P

I had this as my facebook status recently..... "Mangoes are over-rated"  . They so are ! 

oh oh oh...... this reminds me of yet another hindi adage ...and it goes like this: 

" Unchi dukaan, pheeka pakwaan"

literally translated, It says.... The better the shop , the lousier the product !

PS:  I'm still at 1 on the mtvIndia bloggers Scroll ( yay me !)   :P

http://www.mtvindia.com/blogs/bloggers-scroll.php

o... crappy day(s) are here again...

People say that life is unpredictable. The twists and turns of fate can't be pre-judged. This is probably why I'd advise you not to believe any palmists, gypsies-with-crystal-balls , or tea -leaf readers.  

Did I ever tell you why I never read the daily horoscope in the newspaper?  I used to, for a while, pretty religiously at that....  but gradually I began to observe that whenever I read my horoscope , I have a reeeally crappy day !  Seriously...complete with mishaps and embarrassments and what not.

So, one fine day, I decided NOT to read the daily horoscope anymore !  Which in no way implies that I haven't had bad days since then.... cuz I've had my share ....believe you me .

Speaking about bad days.... I'm gonna come back to why I'm writing this......  Today has officially been my worst day in the last ...umm....3 or 4  months !

As I said earlier, life is unpredictable...... I stand by it. However, (yes, there's always a however) if looked at from a one-day-at-a-time view, life can be predictable , to a certain extent.

Let me illustrate.....

When I'm having a bad day, the ONE thing I'm sure off is that it'll get worse. It does. Now, I'm in no mood to argue the silver-lining concept ......  that happens too..... but only after the day has ALREADY gone from bad to worse.

So, the general order of events on any particular bad day can be outlined as: 

Wake up  ------ > bad stuff----- > worse stuff -----> Silver-lining  event of the day  ( probable) -----> Sleep

Hey, that's a new hypothesis....  or so I'd like to think.... I haven't gotten my silver-lining for today ....  and this is  probably a feeble attempt at it.

There's a very wierd concept of dreams that's also an adage ...... if uve dreamt it after sunrise, it might just come true !   and that's really scary right now.

You see, for most people, if they're sad, the saddest time is lying in bed, waiting for sleep to take over..... just waiting.....  perhaps uve experienced it too...its a time that magnifies your sorrow in the guise of loneliness.

But that's still something normal..... what isn't , though is that today morning, I woke up with the exact same feelings that are mentioned above.... and its the first time i've noticed it in me.... usually the time before sleep is the bad one, if ever. 

So, today, I woke up feeling low, alone and lost. That is how it begins.  Next, I fail at getting results in a project, which till yesterday, I thought was as good as done. Then, I find my room taken over by my folks..... cuz the other TV isn't working.....  followed by a spat with dad at lunch , of course, over my career plans (eyes rolling)

Further, towards the evening, my lappy starts showing signs of impending-death ( ummm.... please don't die !  ) 

next, part 2 of spat-with-dad.

and the worst part is..... no signs of my sliver lining ...where are you??????? 

The bottom line .......  crappy crappy crappy day !!

get better .... now, won't you? ( enter puss-with-cute-eyes a la shrek !)