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.)