Tuesday, March 31, 2009

The fine or not so fine art of Bonding

These work "fun" things are the most irritating!!! I mean, its a good thing.. supposed to increase / improve the bonding amongst people...

For eg, we are having this TT competition at work... why TT???????????????? Because.. no one knows.. i am not interested in TT, i dont like it... why force me, i ask??? Why not scrabble, text twist or carom or Kho kho or something even more random.....But no its TT... everyone has to participate.. its compulsory... you dont even get to choose teams.. you are randomly assigned one..

Its good people are enthu, i have anything against them.. i just dont want to be a part of it... i am a non sporty person.. literally.. figuratively as well!!!!! :)

Even if one person in the team is enthu.. you are done for.. because they will rile you to get stuff done.. like get a picture taken.. or when you are in deep thought and you are almost about to get that word describing that particular trend that you are seeing on that slide.. basically when you know that an intelligent thought is coming your way.. someone comes and disturbs and asks you "when did the poster have to be sent" .. all you can think of is "huh??" and you can see that "intelligent" thought waving at you and flying away.... another one happened today.. this person came and asked me if i was voting.. i launched into this long explanation as to why i cant... only to be told.. not that... i am talking about this match thing... and i was again like.. "huh".. the reply to these questions/ comments is pretty much a constant..

The root problem is these things happen when i am overloaded with work.. or so i like to think ;)

And i was as non sporty in Bombay.. i tried to tell myself that i should participate in such activities.. .. forced myself to participate in collage making... but then....oh well...

Monday, March 30, 2009

Entry into the next decade

Well , I am 30 finally!!! Thats what i entered as my age on the treadmill today!!!!

The run upto the Dday was quite fun ... have been hogging... hogging and hogging even more..

One of my close friends had come down last week(whose 30th birthday was also incidentally last week)... we started the eating process last to last Saturday night .. we went to a South Indian restaurant called Karavalli where we ate and ate and ate... we also had a couple of drinks.. bloody mary and mojito for me..2 nd one i tried for the first time and liked it!!! Sunday we skipped breakfast and went straight for a brunch at Mynt.. the spread was huge.. mexican/italian/lebanese/indian etc... one of the first buffets ever wherein i can say i did justice to the meal!!!! Also had champagne / daiquiri .. another round of firsts there!!!!

Evening we again stepped out.. i dont know how we could after eating so much.. but we did.. to schewan court.. i had whisky for the first time in my life.. jack daniels with coke.. at which people at work told me that i shouldnt go around telling people i had whisky because what i had was coke!!!! lol... And finally Monday at Graze... before my friend finally left and i exploded!!!!

This weekend... welcomed my birthday drinking (i sound like a total drunkard.. I am not though).. and then went to a south indian joint, Dakshin where we had traditional ugadi meal (all vegetarian).. ate so much that we had to skip dinner... saturday dinner - we were at hard rock cafe... drank, ate and sang.. that was loads and loads of fun!!!! Sunday again lunch at another south indian joint called Malgudi.. finger licking stuff!!! Wish i could post pics of all the food that i ate like Knife does!!!!!

I havent been to the gym in the last 2 weeks... but what the heck.. if this is what 30's is like... i am liking it!!!!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

A chameleon!!!

I am one.... i have realised this recently.. actually not recently, but a couple of years ago.. i tend to talk like the people i spend time with... in time, i get their twangs, their tone etc etc... when i speak with them i.e....

I remember in bombay, there were a couple of colleagues i would spend time with.. at times, i would use their catch words.. or talk in their sing song voice!!!! I dont know why... it just happens i guess!!!

The weird part is... this does not happen when talking to foreigners.. my accent does not change.. if anything i speak faster!!!! lol

So now here at my work place, i was interacting a lot with a colleague, and she had a habit of saying "hmmm..ooook" to almost everything... after a few days i realised i was also saying hmmm oook to everything.... now i have another colleague who talks real fast... i am too doing that.. unconsciously... the minute i realise it, i catch myself and try to speak slower... not slower but basically the way i do!!!!

Its very strange.. i wonder if people get offended or something!!!! :)

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Hair cuts and all that!!!!

One of my colleagues just got a haircut... a totally amazing haircut... like you see on TV when they talk about makeovers!!!! So since yesterday i have been meaning to put a post on haircuts.. but net was not functioning yesterday...

As a kid i used to hate haircuts... i used to be scared actually.. maybe i associated hair with all the chandaal/ bhootnis they would show on TV.. but i used to get very scared and never liked being taken to the parlour for a haircut.. what used to scare me a lot was hair falling all over the place.. i used to just sit and howl...

I dont know when i started liking hair cuts... i think it was when i started working or when i was in college... no no actually when i started working.. in school i used to not like , rather rarely bother about my hairstyle which continued till i started working.. one fine day.. i just told them to chop it all off (waist length hair.. well almost waist length).. they cut it all off... they chopped off my hair right till my nape..My sister said i looked like a doll....i had hair swinging on my neck.. and i loved it..the total freedom it gave me.. i felt liberated.. liberated from the confines of.. of of.. well.. like long hair... just liberated and free and confident!!!!! In short I felt wonderful!!! Like Julie Andrews in Sound of Music when she sings.. "I have got confidence"... somewhat like that!!!

Then on, i realised i feel this way, everytime i get a haircut... and i also realised that i love the entire haircut process... so much!!!! The way they shampoo it, wash it nicely.. massage ... needs to be done by a guy for you to be able to truly truly appreciate it... the haircut.. the style developing right in front of your eyes.. and blowdry... i actually feel sad when it is all over!!!!

Its so very uplifting!!!!! Once i got it done when i was very depressed.. one of those phases when you are low... theres nothing like a good haircut to lift your spirits .. to make you feel good, confident and sure of yourself!!!!

Basically, time for a haircut again.. not done it for a long time.. i guess i have been waiting for that special moment.. or the time when i really really need a hair makeover!!!!! :)

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Happy Birthday A :)

Well, its the birthday of a very very good friend of mine... who is another city... and this brainwave hit me today... what better gift to give than put in a post ... she is an avid blogger too!!!! :)


Well, she and i met a few yrs ago... my husband was telling me / reminding me of how much i used to crib about her... she laughs too much.. bahut style maarti hai .. frivolous.. are some of the descriptions i assigned to her in my mind.. but obviously kept it to myself... i used to crib.. how in the world do all these people work.. i am sure they do not do any work at all.. they wouldnt find anytime to do any piece of work in between their fits of giggles and taking case of other people!!!! In fact, a friend of mine asked me about my new job and i was like... "I am stuck with a bunch of giggly people.. so immature.. our frequencies do not match" .... at lunch which we used to have together.. they would keep laughing and i would keep eating, quietly.. just wondering as to how i will survive without losing it totally!!! Obviously the person in question was the key instigator of all these conversations and she would talk, laugh, talk, laugh, talk, laugh alternatively and the others would just sit and laugh!!!! She broke her toe and everyone from the team went over to her place to surprise her during lunch.. i was invited but i looked down upon all of them with a very haughty look.. "oh puhlease" i think my expression said!!!!


And so obviously i had to eat my words... because i became a part of "the gang"!!!! The giggly, case taking, bitchy gang.. and i loved every moment of it. So what happened was this...


I became chatty with a guy from the other team who was a good friend of hers.. and figured that he lived closeby.. one day that we finished at work together, we were about to leave together.. this girl, not my favourite at that time, also came along with us as she lived somewhere on the way.. and i was like... oh well..


And then we started chatting.. other people of the lunch gang quit.. so that left the 3 of us together.. and suddenly, i started enjoying conversations!!!! We would go back home together.. and eat lunch.. and bitch about... well, some people.. i think it is the bitching part of it that got the three of us together!!!!! lol!!!


Besides the lunch, we started hanging out together post work (though married , my husband was working late night.. so i didnt have any restrictions/ commitments per se post work)... my place became the hang out place... every friday, we used to meet .. drink and bitch more.. people used to think we were snobs.. ah well!!!!!


And of course, me and A , we watched the same TV shows.. gossiped about people... and liked Harry Potter.. oh, we have had so many conversations about it!!!!!!!! About the possible endings.. diagnosing each character... watching the last HP movie together... and also going to buy the last HP together.. at 7am in the morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol.... yeah, HP was the killer!!!!


And we bonded over the foot in the mouth disease that both of us were afflicted with.. she more than me.. and of course weird bosses!!!!!!


Its very very very important to have "girl friends" who you can chill with.. i mean really chill with.. you dont ever need to think about being "politically correct"... you can talk about the crushes, the pain, the mood swings, anything and they actually understand it!!!



She is one such person, who i connected with!!!!!!! Even now, very very strangely, when i am down and out.. maybe a coincidence.. either she sms's or mails or something!!!!!!!!!!!!! I dont know how... its to do with this girl to girl connect thing maybe!!!!



Earlier, i had thought that we may not be in touch regularly, given that we are now in 2 different cities, 2 different firms..... but surprise surprise... we still are.. not only through the blog i.e... thats the other thing which did bond us...blogging together... it was great knowing you... "more" great or "greater" knowing you more through your blog... connect at a different level altogether.. and i am so enjoying it!!!!!! You are the world's most cheerful and funny person!!!!!!!! :)



Wish you many many happy returns of the day!!!! :)

Thursday, March 12, 2009

I am 29 till i turn 30!!

Hello all... this keeps popping into my head.. everyday.. not because i am obsessed about turning 30 but because everyday at the gym, i enter my age as 29 on the treadmill.

This is something that has stuck with me right from my childhood days. Even when i was a kid, i used to be a certain age till my birthday arrived.. and on that day i would miraculously turn a day older!!!! If anyone by chance insisted that such was not the case.. i used to throw a tantrum.. rather, be my obstinate self till that person got tired into saying that i was a year younger till the D-Day!!!

This habit i still have... so right uptil my birthday, i keep telling people (whoever deigns to ask me) that i am 29! Well, thats because i am.... my husband tells me.. that i am completing my 30th year in this world.. to be more precise..29yrs 11 months etc etc.. to which i point out the first 2 digits are still 29!!! So i am happy!!!!

The funniest part is, this stubbornness on my part has nothing to do with my turning a year older.. or a stigma attached to growing older!!! Its just there!!!

So one more decade gone by!!!! And i have almost gone to the other side ..as my colleagues who are <30 class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">bday i become a part of the "other group" who are 30+ (till now i was one of them :))!!! Oh well....

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Stephanie Meyer - finally!

I have been dying to put in a post on this. But i just finished the the 4 books in the series!!! And before i started on the next book, i wanted to put in a post so that everything is clear in my mind!!! Today is a holiday.. in south everything work diametrically opposite.. the world and its brother is off for Holi tom...we are off today!!! Oh well... never look a gift horse in the mouth!!!

There are 3 of us at work who , coincidentally, picked up these books together... and these days whenever we meet we end up discussing it!!!!
I like it!!! I really liked the books.... but i cant for the life of me figure out why!!! I just cant explain my fascination for these books!!!! Is it similar to Harry Potter? Not at all!!!! Totally, completely different... so when i read the review written on the back page of one the books which said.. "move away harry potter"... i don't agree at all... completely different books.. the only commonality being that they both are fantasy books!
The story is about Bella who falls in love with a vampire Edward and her best friend, Jacob is a wolf!!! They all live together along with normal human beings in the current world!! Bella is of course human. The story follows the lives of these three individuals and the world they inhabit.
I can say one thing- i couldn't put the books down once i picked it up! I just couldn't. I stayed up everyday till around 12.30-1am trying desperately to understand whats happening... i mean you kind of keep up with Bella.. we as humans follow her thoughts (the narrative is hers).. her curiosity about the vampires, the supernatural, in the first first book. Very strangely, this raging curiosity doesn't get over when the first book gets over...
The books get weirder by the minute.. and the curiosity wins over the weirdness of it all!!!! The 3rd and the 4th books are at their strangest best... it explores all possible dimensions.. makes you try to second guess about things... second guess as to what could possibly be stranger than what you just read!!!!
But strangely, i loved it!!!!! (I know i am using the words strange, weird often but thats what i feel.. what to do) ... I don't know why... i wont rest till i figure out why... since there are 2 of us who have finished.. there so many discussions to hold forth!!! I am so looking forward to tomorrow to share all that i read!!!!
I know this is not much of a review... but will post more as soon i discover why i liked it!!! :)

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Stupefied!!!

Yesterday when coming back home, i took an auto. We agreed on 20 bucks. I stay at a distance of about 1.5kms from office!! That guy spoke kannada, didnt speak hindi at all.. and asked a couple of things very rapidly.. i persevered with hindi... finally that guy sighed and said...

" Madame, actually my meter is not working. Is 20 bucks is what it takes to get to this place?"
Me - (stuttering)..well, yeah
Me - after i got over the initial shock at the sudden assualt on me of perfect english... "so what is your qualification?"
Auto driver - "Why do you ask?"
Me - " Just like that"
Him - "Well, i am a Bsc Microbiology"
Me - "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Me - " Why are you doing this? Why dont you try elsewhere?"
Him- "I am looking for a job in the the airlines industry"
Me -" Why dont you do something in a related field?"
Him - " I dont like Microbiology; did it only because of my parents"

And then i reached home. Totally awestruck!!! And thinking, what a waste!!! Maybe i should have at least said something.. i dont know!!!! But completely stupefied by this experience.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Me, a morning wonder - i dont think so.. definitely not!!!

I am so not a morning person!!! Not even a miniscule bit of me can be tagged with the scary phrase "early morning"!!! I absolutely cringe at it!!! And invariably when people hear about it, well, they too cringe... in wonder perhaps... how can it be!!!!!

All my life... i do not remember waking up early in the morning ..on my own without any help or a pushing reason (like a flight to catch etc) .. right now when i say early i mean before 7am!

Even when i started working... during the weekdays i used to take exactly about half an hour to get ready.. totally including breakfast!!! I hate to give up even a minute of sleep!!!! This is before marriage phase. And during the weekend, i used to sleep like mad!!! I would wake up in the afternoon.. have lunch.. go back to sleep.. wake up in the evening.. watch TV/ read and then retire for the night!!!

Well, i have come a long way since then. But my poor parents are totally not used to it. Even now during weekends, if call them up before 10.30-11 (in the morning)... they are astonished.. "how come you are up so early, its a Saturday".. they exclaim!!!!

So these days usually i am up by .... well i set the alarm for 7.30 and wake up at around 8... actually it varies.. many a days its 8.30.. once i woke up at 9.15 and still managed to reach work at 10.. in a weak moment, i happened to mention this.. and in that instant, all faces turned towards me...all accusing eyes ... "How could you???? How can you???? Really??????Well, actually please tell this person too, so that they get off my case for sleeping in!!!!" I could literally feel people showing me to others as being the 8th wonder of the world!!!

And connected to this entire thing of waking up is my breakfast!!! I love breakfast.. i cannot survive without breakfast.. i am slightly fussy.. slightly because i do not like cereal etc!!! My morning ritual post waking up.. i drink tea for about 30-40 mins and read paper.. by which time it would be beyond 9am..usually 9.15.. and then i rush and am ready within 20 mins or so!!! BTW i stay real close, takes me about 5 mins to reach office!!!!

So, i am sure you can understand my basic issue... there is no time to make breakfast. Earlier, a couple of months back, there was nothing available to eat in office.. not even biscuits.. one day i suffered because of it (i was hungry till lunch.. nothing can be more annoying!!!).. and then on i started making /eating breakfast everyday even if it was bread and nutela. However, the twist in the story is that now you can get maggie / biscuits and other stuff.. and there goes my making breakfast out of the window!!!!

Weekend is also similar story.. either i can make breakfast or lunch.. because by the time i make breakfast, its already 11.30-12.. which is as good as lunch!!!

Its not that i am lazy .. i just like my morning time to be peaceful.. i really dont want to wake up and start my day by running into the kitchen and start cooking (actually come to think of it i do run into the kitchen the first thing after waking up.. to make tea.. but that doesnt count as it is my lifeline)... i like cooking but not soooooo early (by this early i mean anytime before 8am)!!! Ok.. i am a little lazy too!!! And why shouldnt i be!!!! I quite like it and enjoy it!!!

Sleep is a very important variable in my life... i have to sleep at least for 8-9 hrs!!!!!! Today i woke up at 7.30.. and someone at work said i was looking sleepy.. was feeling it too!!!!! The day i dont get my full sleep.. it keeps playing on my mind that i havent slept the entire day.. by the end of which i start feeling exceedingly tired and exhausted!!!

People say things change as you grow older.. well, i hope not!!! ;p

Monday, March 2, 2009

Confessions of a shopaholic - Sophie Kinsella

Been meaning to put a post on it for quite a while.. at least for last 2 weeks.. since then have read many books too!!!! But there were too many things to talk about... but finally, finally here it is....
I quite liked this book!!! Its hilarious!!!! Recently have not come across many such humourous books which make you laugh as you are reading it!!! Not just a smile..... i actually broke into this loud laughter!!!! On the aside, yeah, i was alone at home!!!
So this book is about a girl, Becky Bloomwood, who has a "shopping problem". She is an obsessive compulsive shopper who just cannot resist any sale or any shop for that matter!!! She is actually a journalist and is attached to a financial magazine!!! In fact she also dispenses financial advise on TV!!!!! And while telling people to save and stuff, she herself on the side is running these huge credit card bills!!!!!
The funny incident that i talked about earlier - she is trying to borrow 20 quid from a friend at a press conference. However " ऍन मौके पे" there is utter silence and she is heard by all and sundry about borrowing 20 bucks!!! So finally, a very senior guy lends it to her... she takes it saying its for her sick aunt.. and buys a branded expensive scarf for herself .. bumps into the same guy outside the store.. when he sees her bag, she says she has bought it as a gift for her sick aunt..
and invariably , bumps into him when she herself is wearing that scarf... ends up saying her aunt is dead.. and as an afterthought, she bequeathed the scarf to her!!!!
It really is hilarious.. am sure you will find it funnier when you read it!!! :)
So the entire book is about her escapades.. she writes letters to her bank saying she has some infectious disease etc etc!!!! The letters are fun to read.. the excuses .. each one better than the other!!!!
I didnt like the last 20 pages though!!! Suddenly, she is not herself.. she just changes!!! She is trying to help people... and actually pays off her bills etc....And somehow i felt that part didnt stick to her personality!! The humour bit suddenly goes off!!! Well, you have to read it to understand what i am saying.
Saw a movie poster the other day... somebody is making a movie out of this book! Would be good fun to watch i guess!!!
As for the thought that the book will be depressing as it is about shopping addiction... well i didnt feel it.. its more humourous than anything!!! And also i guess because i dont really enjoy shopping shopping!!!!
Ah, but..... bought a whole lot of books yesterday ... on sale.. you wouldnt want to know how much i spent!!!! Too embarrassing actually!!!!
Point is all of us will be able to identify with some parts of it!!!!! :)
Reading Stephanie Meyer now.. I am liking it!!!! :)