A new year post

Am unwell and so is A - what a great way to welcome the new year!!! Cribs aside, at least I took an off today, I slept through the day.. and I am taking an off tomorrow too. To hell with work. Right attitude isnt it!!

So all in all a good way to start the year - I mean with the right attitude. Prioritise what matters.

I do not have any resolutions for the year except not to forget myself or us (me and A) in the confusion of having a 3rd member around. I am determined not to forget myself. And by that I mean - blog, travel, read, watch movies.

Happy new year folks.


ps: This is the scared me talking!!

Inheritance.. finally

For those who do not know, Inheritance is the 4th book in the Eragon series. There's Eragon.. I have amnesia.. I cannot remember the 2nd book's name for the life of me..then there's Brisingr and finally Inheritance.

The entire story starts with Eragon, who becomes a dragon rider and his dragon Saphira. I thought the first 3 books were okay. I did not find them to be breathtakingly exciting or anything of the sort. So, my expectations were not very high from the 4th instalment in the series. In the first book, it was all about Eragon and Saphira. Uptill the 4th book, some other characters also came into prominence like Nasuada, Roran etc.

Like any other book, there has to be an "evil" to be conquered.. the objective to the entire series. In this instance, evil is present in the form of Galbatorix, the magician.

So here, I thought, the entire finale will be about Eragon defeating Galbatorix and there would be nothing else to it. I simply bought it as I had already read the first 3 books and just had to finish the 4th for my own satisfaction. And no, curiosity had nothing to do with it.

Funnily enough, I quite enjoyed the book. Inheritance, I am happy to report, is not about Eragon and Saphira. Yes, they do have their own part to play. But so do all others and their role is definitely not inconsequential. In fact, if anything Eragon couldn't have achieved anything much without them. And that stands out.. and I quite like it.

I liked the character of Roran. The strength of character, the intellect I should say.. way better than Eragon. I quite liked Nasuada,Murtagh, Orik, King Orrin, the magician Angela, the werecat Solembum etc. Each one had a definite role to play and I enjoyed reading about each one immensely. I do not think I would be off the mark, if I say all of these characters undermined Eragon and Saphira. In fact, that's the very reason I liked it. It was by far the best of the series.

There were 2 things though I couldn't come to terms with - a) Galbatorix. After the entire build up to Galbatorix, the character is weakly etched into the book. Throughout the entire first 3 books, his character builds fear, despair in one.. pretty much like Voldermort. Sadly, the strength of character doesn't live up to the build up at all. He appears and disappears as quickly.

b) It is quite a thick book. And it keeps you absorbed, almost till the end. The post Galbatorix part gets a bit annoying and becomes more of a drag. I just wanted it to end. But it goes on and on and on with Eragon dithering over things. It was so not required.

But all in all, surprisingly, I enjoyed it. Time worth investing in.

Don 2

I had wanted to write about Inheritance.. but Don 2 takes precedence.

I just watched it last night you see. Question No 1 - Did I like it? I am not very sure actually. You read my post and tell me if I liked it.

SRK as don - his entry into the screen frame is just awesome. If only I could whistle. He looks lean and mean.. literally!! His hair is long and untidy, tied into a half pony (as we used to call it). He is on this motorboat. He is thin. Thin to the point of looking malnourished. He looks as if he hasn't eaten for days. He has an untidy beard to go along with the untidy hair. And he just looks fantastic.

He looks every bit mean as Don was meant to look like. He looks positively villainous. His dialogue delivery is brilliant. He is ruthless, he doesn't care two hoots about anyone. The first half an hour.. Don in the Thai Prison is just all about SRK. And don't we just love it.

But then.. there's always a but isn't it! Then suddenly he reaches Berlin.. all clean shaven having escaped from prison.. and his hair is all nice and shampooed, dyed even. And I missed the Thai SRK throughout the movie. The plot tries its best to be intelligent.

It is definitely a slick movie. Theres no doubt on that. But I got bored in the middle.. for a good half an hour.. and I was thinking about intermission and eating popcorn..tried to peer at other people's faces to figure out their reaction, twiddled my thumbs.. I am sure am exaggerating.. but then again, I was mightily bored. Is there a word called mightily?

In any case. There was no need for Roma or Mr Malik in the movie. Remove them from the equation, it does not make an iota of a difference to the movie.

Lara Dutta looks ravishing, especially in the title song. She beats Priyanka Chopra hands down. But as much as she says, "mere aur bhi khubhiyan hain" etc, none of the other khubis besides her beauty and dancing skills get displayed in the movie.

And there was absolutely no need for Don to start swinging and singing and dancing in the song. The entire meanness factor built up in the initial bit of the movie goes for a toss.

And what was it with getting Don to roam around with cops to free hostages. With a gun in hand.. and Don doing heroics and saving people!!!  Villainy destroyed. And which cops in the world would allow a dreaded criminal like Don "jisko pakadna mushkil hi nahi namumkin hai" to roam around like this. Many funny scenes dominate the bank heist. With SRK sitting sitting in the bank and calling Malik and asking to speak with Roma. Malik also obliging and giving the phone to her.. him complaining about helicopter lights etc..And to save best for the last, Roma still in love with Don and unable to shoot him. Whhhhhhhhaaaaaattt was that all about.

And there was another character in the hacker.. who seems to explain every step he takes, for the Indian audience (??). Example.. now I am recording this.. now I will show the same clip on video to the silly guards.. and now I will switch off the lights.. grrrrrrrrrrrr


Finally in the end, they grant my wish and show SRK with his beard ..  close to the Thai Version and I am happy.

It could have been way better. A tp movie for sure. A slick movie for sure. A hollywoodish movie for sure. BUT, I wish..

Already 2012!

Where did the year disappear. Someone pinch me. I feel as if I have sleepwalked through the year. It was just a few days back that I was at my previous company.

I changed companies after some 5 years and am pregnant. Quite a year I must say, though I still cant tell you what is it that I have exactly done in the year.

Next year, 2012, is full of change of course.. given my situation. I wonder what would I be doing next year. Here's what I wish I would be doing next year, besides the baby part of it :

a) Traveling
b) Reading
c) Blogging
d) Being with my family and friends, as much as I can.


Some of you, who know me from before, would be aghast that I haven't added working to the above list. I have always been a workaholic. Work has always defined who I am. This year saw a change in that thought. And no it is not a pregnancy related realisation. The change in priority started way before. The questions started last year I think - Is work really that important in my life, that I have woven everything else in my life around work. I used to map my entire day, week, month basis work. Well, I still do it.. but not as fanatically I used to manage things earlier.

And its not that suddenly work holds no importance in my life. It still defines me, to a certain extent. I still wouldn't know what to do if I did not work. But, these days I think, if I ever were to take a break from work, I don't think I would be at a loose end.. twiddling thumbs.. getting scared of thinking, rather brooding about "no job" situation. Somewhere I would like to think I have changed a bit. At least I say it aloud - I am bored of working, of whatever I am doing. Earlier, I would be astonished at people who could say such things.

If I had written a post an year or so back, Work would have been the top most item in my list. But now, am ok leaving it off work. But that does not mean I do not want to work. I do. I do get scared of the "no work" situation and becoming totally dependent. I don't fret as much about clients giving me a hard time or team not doing well or not meeting numbers.

As compared to the earlier me, I probably am not as likely to get into a panic about it.. am more accepting .. or so I would like to think.

This post was meant to be something else!!!!!! Its different :D

I am inspired by a post by melee  on weight issues. My post doesn't have anything to do with weight issues but on the dieting pain that I can now understand.

I do not need to diet. I have never had to diet. And I wonder how many people I doled out the advise to - "come on, just eat a bit less of this or don't eat so much junk etc". Careless statements, I know realise.

I have been told not to eat -

a) Pickle - pregnancy related, doc recommend. Apparently high on salt content
b) Fried stuff - same as above
c) Chocolates - doc recommended, caffeine and sweet
d) Pumpkin - In laws said not to eat
e) Mango - Mom said not to eat
f) Any sweets including ice cream - doc recommended as right now I have high sugar
g) Red meat - Doc recommended, Have no idea why
f) Chinese - Doc recommended, I guess because of the ingredient ajinomoto
g) Coffee - Doc recommended, caffeine

Now, a few months back, I would have scoffed at this list. What do I care about coffee? I am a tea drinker. Mango - who has so much mango anyway!! This is easy peasy.

Ever since I stopped eating all this, I crave to eat each and every single item on the list. I realised the importance of pickle in my life post becoming pregnant!! It brings so much flavour to same dreary home food that I eat everyday for all 3 meals. When I say dreary, let me also clarify - my cook makes same food almost everyday. Her repertoire is kind of limited. Everytime my mom comes over, she teaches her one or two new things to make. And I eat the same food for lunch as well as dinner. And many a times in the evening too when I feel hungry. She really cant make too many things!! My " food outings" are very limited these days!! You can imagine my plight. Pickle just instantly uplifts the flavours of everything I eat. Initially I didn't have pickle, but I have started it everyday now. I cannot live without pickle. Anyway, now that mom is here for a few days, I am eating interesting things - macaroni, sandwiches, mooli paratha etc!! And I am loving it. But the dark dreary days will be back again with a vengeance soon. :(

I love chocolates. I do not like sweets. I bought a pack of nutella. Its sitting on the kitchen shelf, forlorn. I cannot eat it as my sugar levels are high. How I want to cry everytime I spy it on the shelf.

Pumpkin is one of the favourite vegetables in my mallu household. Before marriage, my mom used to make it about 3-4 times a week. Post marriage, I used to make it a few times in a month. But now I crave for it. Because of random superstitions, I cannot eat what I love.

I cant say I love mutton. But the other day at Koshy's I fought with A on ordering a mutton stew. I salivate whenever I see mutton curries. And I have to eat its poor cousin - chicken curry :( am sick of it.


And these days, I love the coffee smell. Especially the filter coffee smell. Everytime we go to a South Indian joint, I am the only sitting duck, probably in the entire restaurant who orders tea!!!

I crave for the "forbidden fruit"!! Its only now I realise the importance of these things in my life. And next time, I wont be so free with my random advise on people's eating habits.

Gawd, its painful!! And my patience is fast running out.

I want to have momos right now!!

ps: I have 2 more crib posts. Sorry,  but thats how it is. After that, I will try to write to happy posts!!!! For now its grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Of course I am annoyed right now. My driver has decided to take a circuitous route to a meeting saying its a short cut. Just told him off. I am late and the roads are bad!!

The language issues

Whats with calling someone "babe"!! I know it doesnt have anything to do with language .. but there are some words that annoy me to the extreme.

The other day, a friend called me and said, "how are you, babe!!" I find it so unnatural. And I have a name. I guess this friend is used to being abroad and thats how they refer to each other which I can still comprehend. What irritates me is this "babe" thing on FB. Conversations between women, girls will have one "babe" and one "muaaahhh". I cant help but cringe at the sight of these terms used affectionately (??). To me it sounds so wannabe!! Maybe I am becoming senile.

Another thing I do not like is the abbreviated version of english that you see on FB. "dis" for this, "dat" for that etc. A young cousin of mine messaged me on FB. Her message was full of "dis" "dat", "d" (the), "hv" (have), "ma" (me.. this one annoys me the maximum I think). After trying to comprehend it for 5 full mins, that I had to finally ask her to message the same message again but this time in proper english. Turns out, all she was asking was the distance between 2 places in Bangalore!!

Even the kids in my team send me such messages regarding work. Its so awful, this rubbish I am subject to. Till now, I havent pulled up anyone though I really had to control myself!!

I shudder to think of this kind of language permeating to official emails! Going by what I see, by the time my cousin starts working, it may very well happen. What is the world coming to.

Master Chef yet again..US this time

This is going to be a very profound post. So if you do not want to read a profound post, this is the moment where you can close the window. I am sounding like the prologue chapter of Series of Unfortunate Incidents. LOL. Nevertheless.

I say profound because of 2 reasons - I am writing on the way to work, while traveling in my car, even before I have started working! So, probably something profound coming right up. I have never been motivated enough to write when in the car. This is a first!!

And second, its on MC again. Hah!! Profound Cr**.

So, Kate won MC Aus. I am happy.. happy Micheal did not win. Gawd, he is so whiny!!!!!!

After MC Aus got over, I was still semi-happy as MC US was starting in the same time slot. At least something to watch.

So after 2 days of MC US bakwaas, I was motivated enough to post. If none of you have caught it -

Day 1 of MC US - Selection of Top 50 or whatever it is.

One guy comes in with a girl to cook.

Gordon Ramsay : Is she your wife?
Contestant : No
GR : Is she your girlfriend?
Contestant : No. She is a part of the dish (or something to that effect). I am going to make you body sushi.

And then, the girl removes her dressing gown and guess what, she is totally naked. This contestant puts a mattress on the cooking table and proceeds to put sushi on her unmentionables!!!

To which GR says : "I wouldn't want to get any hair on my sushi" (GROSS)

The contestant dribbles the sauce over sushi which is flowing everywhere.

GR : "your sauce is dribbling all over her."

Of course, they didn't select the contestant. Rather I should say, Thank God, they didn't.

Theatrics define MC of all other countries. Why cant they just focus on food like MC Aus. Why do they need to do all this drama. Even contestants are like this. One girl who has won beauty pageants.. and says in her introduction, I have bl***y walked in 5 inch heels in a swimsuit on a stage... trying to talk about how she is different and what all accomplishments she has had in life!!

Or another one.. this time a lawyer who pleads her case with the judges.

Or a judge (GR again) who tells a trucker who has a tattoo on his b**t to show his tattoo.. and he promptly drops his pants and shows it. The other judges tell him to wash his hand before cooking.

What the heck is this show about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why are the contestants so arrogant and cocky. Why cant they be normal like people in MC Aus. Even people at MC India are better.

This show is like another version of big boss. And all it incites you to do, is slap people.