BROWN STUDY

Not MIA anymore...

2011-09-25T16:56:00.011+04:00

Sorry for being MIA for so long but you know how it is. What? You don’t? Well, then, just know that it is something.

I was talking to a very good blogger friend of mine the other day (belated wishes again, btw :)) and I realized that if you take the timeline from my last post to this new one, you’ll realize that atleast through my blog posts, I managed to complete my pre-requisite gestation period but unfortunately, sans the baby :(
My Maa just does not seem to understand. She can be as obstinate as a mule, even worse. Anyway…

I’ve missed this space so much and more importantly, I’ve just missed reading. I wouldn’t say that I was way too busy with my life as that would be an outright lie. The only thing I can say was that I had this immense need to just disappear. I don’t know why, where, what and how, all I know is that I wasn’t feeling much. And no, I’m not menopausal, so please, stop that train of thought!

I feel a bit fine now. Not that you were asking, but I just wanted to get it out there.

I’ve been travelling quite a lot these last few months; none of them were for pleasure :(

By the way, I was in Shanghai earlier this month.
It was quite a trip. I asked one of my sister’s to join me for a couple of days so that we could take time and explore the place, its culture, the food and stuff. But thanks to my sister, I didn’t do much of any of these, all we did was explore numerous by lanes and binge on the parallel luxury shopping streets.

You have absolutely no idea what Louis Vuitton’s worth is over here? I could have a Fendi, Chanel, LV, Ferragamo gracing my arm every other day. I’m serious! We were the ideal puppet shoppers that the locals loved having and with their ubiquitous sales pitch, ‘This is original fake’, not much could be resisted. Oxymoron? Of course! But a delightful one at that!

I loved Shanghai. I loved the people (persistent, hard working and who hideously price their ‘fake’ wares!) and yes, Chinese food is so not Chinese in this country. It is just food. I did experiment a bit with it; unfortunately, my digestive system wasn’t that gallant.

Note: You better brush up on your Mandarin if you every plan to make a visit, coz these guys just aren't going to relent. No pleasing the Queen here.

Santa came visiting my family a few months earlier this time and yes, we’ve stocked the stockings!

I’ve heard this numerous times and also seen the eloquent speeches given by our government, but if they think that Mumbai will someday be Shanghai then I guess there’s going to be a real LOOOONG waiting period. For sure, it ain’t happening during my life time. I totally fell in love with this city’s cleanliness and man, what a skyline!

Shayshay for a good time, Shanghai!

And the next exciting thing that I’m really looking forward to, which by the way, would be a glorious way to end this year, will be my family trip to Israel. Yes, you read me right!

The whole family is planning to visit Egypt, Israel and Jordan at the end of the year. We’re celebrating Christmas in Bethlehem. I wouldn’t say I’m very religious but yes, spirituality does not desert me. The reason I’m very thrilled is because this trip has been my Maa’s dream for a very long time and we feel so blessed to have gotten an opportunity to make it come true for her. It’s gonna be one helluva trip and this will be something that will long stay in our hearts. To have it being planned and eventually realized in few months is almost as surreal as literally being there.

Well, I’ll make sure that I take some time out and see the Pyramids and PETRA. Can’t ignore the merits of hard work by our very own humble race now, can I?
I hope this trip, unlike the others; bring in me some kind of calm and peace. I need it.

P.S: Will be around and shall drop in and say hi! :)

Processing…

2010-11-26T19:06:00.005+04:00

October was eventful.
November is going to be a bit stressful. Well, the fact that I’m posting this a bit late, all I can say is November is stressful, I’m eagerly waiting to bid it goodbye!
And then there’ll be my favourite month of the year but then, it’s not going to be same this year. Why? Oh stop asking silly questions!

There has been a thought that I’ve meant to discuss for some time now. I’m intrigued by how people, and by people I mean, you and I perceive some things. Oh, maybe I’m just jumping the gun here or maybe not!

I’ve been thinking long and hard if some things are possible if done out of the norm.
I don’t know if it’ll happen and if it does, then how’ll it happen, don’t know much, but I want it so much to happen. So whenever it does, I’ll embrace it and take it from there. Till then, I’ll just put it out here and see how it all goes…

The beautiful thought of wanting to experience an indescribable feeling does not necessarily need to culminate from a socially acceptable association. If it could have, and that too mixed with dollops of love et al, then who in their right mind would not want to indulge, huh?! However, if that is not happening and still the urge is taking over every minute thought of yours then how could something like this be possibly wrong? It’s not that the threat of the biological clock ain’t scary enough; well it’s not that scary if you choose to ignore it but it still does keep nudging its ugly head into the minute crevices of one’s mind like a corny gatecrasher. The desire to experience the most natural essence of womanhood and knowing that you’re incredibly lucky enough to be born as a woman gives you an absolute right to indulge. In all entirety, believe you me; this is nothing short of a special privilege!

So yeah, if you feel you’re so ready for it and know in your heart of hearts that you’ll leave no stone unturned to be true towards the responsibility of nurturing it, then why should anything in the world stop you from making it a part of you!

Does it really have to take two to tango; then what are cryo banks for? It’s all about making things happen for you. And as Paulo Coelho said, if you really want something so bad then the whole universe will conspire to make it happen for you. If the universe is really such a good friend and in all sincerity wants you to have everything that you want so bad, then why not accept its help? I’m all for it! The only thing important here should be the intent and if the intent is true and honest then what could possibly be wrong? What could, huh?

Yes? Do you have something to say? Not that it’s going to make any difference, but what the heck, go on, I’m listening…I mean, reading :p

P.S: Isn't the image just cute?! :))) Like it's almost reading my thoughts :D

Here, I am...

2010-09-02T12:47:00.005+04:00

And so here I am, back from a short holiday (that was soooo long ago) and my zzzzzzzzzzzz la la land. I've seriously been in a jaded zone of my own lately, but on that, some other time.

Not that I’ve been missed or anything but then again, I just feel this space beckons my presence once in a while just to keep itself in a surviving mode. And no, I don’t wanna be defined as a wannabe writer (now that’s what is being circulated in the tweet world – against bloggers I mean! Yeah, it’s just not about me, it’s an insult to all you folks as well! ;)) but then, I’m not going to take that seriously, except for a teeny tiny desire to perhaps see myself as a teeny tiny average, nondescript writer. And I know, wanting to be nondescript ain’t gonna lure any publishers, but then, I still wanna maintain this whole ‘low profile’ image of mine. So? Any takers that could fit this bill?

Yeah, I get it. The whole thing above was a cock and bull story. Moving on...

So, I was in Mumbai a month ago. And I was so friggin lucky to enjoy the rains for 3 whole days. I stayed wet throughout the day. Literally! ;)

We’re soon gonna have a family wedding. One of my cousins' is getting married in October and as it is the first wedding in his family, there’ll be guests pouring from all corners of the world. There’ll be only few of us (I’m definitely one of them!) that he’ll continue to see for the rest of his life while the remaining 890 guests; it will be the last time. He may have their glimpses once in a while but then, you never know how busy life will get, right? And just for the pleasure of these small glimpses he is now on a verge on having a huge dent in his bank balance. Crazy! Seriously, crazy!

I don’t know why we put ourselves through all this traditional torture. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to take away the beautiful essence of a ‘wedding’ but can you imagine the stress the wedding is having on my poor cousin? The whole week that I was there, the only thing I saw him doing was paying off bills for something or the other. He was driving me crazy with all the stuff we had to do as well in the bargain. Hell! If we have to do all this then when will I enjoy his wedding? I used to give him my infamous stares all the time but I must admit, the wedding preparations have turned him into a pachyderm, he just wasn’t intimidated. I feel a bit sad for him. I really want him to enjoy his wedding you see. It might be his one and only and I want him to have fun and not keep thinking about those 150 guests that will be living in both our respective homes for 4 whole days during this time.
Note to self: Having a home close to a cousin is not always fun!

Yeah! It’s gonna be hell! Do you even know what the water situation in some parts of Mumbai is like? Hey, don’t let the rains fool you! Am sure none of you even have the slightest idea. Anyway, the stares are not working so I might as well do all that I can from here and have the rest of my family keep making his life a wee bit easier everyday till the D day arrives. It almost feels like an exam.

The big fat Mangalorean wedding is gonna last for 5 whole days and amidst all this chaos I’m going to still be in my best finery. So what if I don’t get a chance to even bathe one or two of those days?! It’s all for my cousin’s peace of mind.

If he was a wee bit smart he’d have come to me and asked for my advice. I’m not into purging unsolicited stuff, you see.

Nevertheless, you tell me! How wrong could a nice court marriage, an in house priest (I do have my uncle, when will he ever come in use?) to bless them, and a small celebration with just the closest family members have gone?
I thought being from the boy’s side would be so much easier and fun and so stress free (all these years I’ve only attended weddings where I’ve been from the bride’s side, including my sisters’, and trust me, it wasn’t easy. The usual phrase that I used to keep hearing was ‘What will the groom’s side think?’ Why the hell did we ever care?!), but sadly that ain’t the case.

Now that I’ve lamented, I feel a bit better and so on that note I just want to say and pray with all my heart that this beautiful (a.k.a stressful) wedding culminates into an amazing ‘marriage’. Now, that’s what is important!

Oh well, I forgot, the big question now is the gift for my cousin. He has made it very easy. He has given me a list of 10, I just need to choose 5 and that shall suffice. That's what he says, well, there’s no harm in letting people dream now, is there?

I’m looking forward to October. I do like being amongst all the customs, traditions and my loving and beautiful extended family - minus the (unnecessary) crowd of course! But then, can’t have it all!
I love all that colorful zariful stuff that we’ll be wearing. I’m going total traditional. Only sarees and churidars, except the reception, of course! Oh yeah, it’s been a while.

Have you ever attended a Mangalorean wedding? No? Fret not; I’ll give you a low down sometime in November, right from the ‘roce’ till the ‘saamaan javan’ :)

So? How have you all been?

My mo of madness…

2010-07-19T18:10:00.020+04:00

I think BlogAdda is running (or perhaps it already ran and is over and done with!) a contest on some write up called ‘Moment(s) of Madness’ and no, I’m definitely not participating, but then I thought how about me telling you a small moment of madness or dare or whatever that happened to me few years ago?

Yes, this was in 2005.

I’m a big fan of romcom movies. I’ve quite a collection of DVD’s and a big part of it is chick flicks. They are slowly receding by the day as my sister keeps pilfering a couple or more every time she visits me. I’m so glad that these visits are few and far in between.

One of her pictures that is an absolute favourite of mine is the movie ‘French Kiss’. Kajol tried hard (remember ‘Pyar toh hona hi tha’?) but she didn’t even manage to get a wee bit close to Meg. This is also the only movie in which I could tolerate Kevin Klein, and he was sooo good in it! As for Meg Ryan, well, she epitomizes romcom for me. Remember, ‘You’ve got mail’, ‘City of Angels’, ‘When a man loves a woman’ (there’s a bit of tragedy here), ‘Sleepless in Seattle’ and oh yeah! ‘When Harry met Sally’ (What a stellar performance on the orgasm, eh?! :))… so you see why she’s one of my favourites? Good.

Hell! How did I miss ‘Addicted to Love’ and ‘Kate and Leopald’? I was so fascinated by the last movie that I even named my gold fishes ‘Kate and Leo’. Kate is dead, btw and Leo continues to be sad like me. I need to get another mate for him. I got to!
Well, no, this is not a post on Meg Ryan or about my fishes, it’s still about me, but I just wanted to drive forth the point of how influenced I get sometimes by romantic comedies.

Going back to 2005, the movie ‘French Kiss’ (that's when I bought the DVD) and everything Parisian (I was introduced to a lot of French people and its culture that year) was still quite strong in my mind and somehow I always thought how different can a French Kiss be from a ‘normal kiss’. You know this whole big ado about nothing kind of stuff. What is so great about a French kiss? Does it not involve lips et al (you know what I mean) like the normal ‘kiss’ does? Or is that term used coz it's allegedly believed that French people know to kiss better than the rest of us? Whatever the case, I was extremely intrigued.

So sometime in May of 2005, I was on a short holiday trip in South Africa with my ex-colleagues. It was a wonderful holiday as we were stationed at the ‘Sun City’ resort for 4 whole days. And no, I’m not going to waste time and tell you all about my South Africa trip now…I just want to tell you about that moment! ;)

On this trip, the days were jam packed with sight seeing schedules and stuff (this is the part of company incentive trips that I hate the most! It feels like school all over again and not in a good way!), however, and thankfully, they gave us the evenings to do what we wanted to do. So a few of us, we were like 6 people in our group, went gambling (we’re in Sun City resort remember? But we did just the slots, too poor you see) and clubbing during the nights. On one such night, we went to a club which was inside the resort itself and started getting drinks for one and all. At one corner of the club was this small group of French people enjoying their holidays in at the resort.
We were introduced to this group over a few drinks at the bar and as the evening progressed people got spaced out, dancing on the floor seemed too trivial and everyone just got on the tables and started doing their gig. At one point even I couldn’t resist the tables and felt that perhaps the dance steps would get better once I got on that table. Don’t ask me more, I don’t know anything!

Tired in some time, I went to the bar again and just ordered for a drink. A friend of mine suggested the black Sambuca, apparently, it’s a very traditional South African stuff. Bollocks! From the corner of her eye she could see the cute French guy approaching us. And so started the game of dare. Yes, I was so gullible those days! She knew my fascination about all things French and lo! She thought perhaps now was the perfect opportunity for me to know exactly what the whole hubbub about a stupid French kiss was all about. Maybe the French could enlighten moi! You know from the horse's, well, you know what I mean. And then she dared! Aha! Not good. Not good at all! While I waited for my drink, the cute handsome French guy sat besides me. Was he charming or what! He addressed me as Miss India and I almost had this 440 watts smile on my face (didn’t I say I was gullible?!) And so we started talking in his broken English and my broken French. The drink arrived, I took the shot and all I could see was his beautiful eyes. I’ve no idea what my eyes told him, all of a sudden his face moved close to mine and exactly at that precise moment everything just dispersed into a blur.

And now I know! ;p

Disclaimer: This post is a pure work of fiction. Any reference to a real person (except me, of course!) or entity is purely coincidental and the writer would like to wash her hands against any such claims. Thank you for continuing to read :)

My Alter...

2010-07-07T13:56:00.008+04:00

They’re the thoughts that haunt her
But the epiphany is bliss in itself
It could so much be her
And at the same time an illusion too

Why does it feel so right?
And so wrong
All at the same time
Unfamiliar
Undecipherable
Emotions

A labyrinth of heartaches
Treacherous mind
Is it the start or the end?
Abrupt realisation
Anguish and a
Sense of alienation

The indescribable urge to give in
Uninhibited totally
The absolute need to accept
The eventual reality

A strength that scares her

It will happen
It should happen
The need of the hour
Is to be not in denial

This is ME and still it is NOT.

…ego

P.S: Do you have one?

PPS: I've realised that everytime you write something it need not necessarily make sense to one and all; however, it's important that what you delved upon helped you accept a certain realisation. Yeah! That is important. (Well, this is what the shrink told me! ;))

Oh yeah!The reams of paper on creative writing also asked me to just let go and make it fluid :)

Pull the trigger...

2010-05-28T17:19:00.010+04:00

Do you ever watch those shows that claim to provide solutions to all your love and life’s problems? Or those RJ’s that go yapping to their listeners on what they need to do to have a love fulfilled and happy married life? Well, I don’t like watching and hearing them coz I really think that most of these people don’t know what they’re saying (if they knew, they’d have been a shrink and not a RJ or a VJ) and most often than not, they make a complete joke of a person’s plight. Also, it’s mass media people, get serious! Not everything is just about increasing TRP’s and listenership!

Last Wednesday, while I was driving back home and listening to the radio; (I so wish they stuck to music but no, they have to butt in!) a new show called ‘Love at 9’ began. There wasn’t any point in changing stations as the music was good and the drive was long. Suddenly at one point of the show the RJ announced that a lady was on line and that she’d like to share her thoughts however, the lady refused to give out her name. She wanted to talk incognito, quite intriguing. And so she came on air and told the RJ how unhappy she was in her marriage. Few years earlier she was in love with someone but due to family pressure and her own insecure self; she gave in and married her husband of today. However, as days and years went by she has been feeling extremely stifled in the relationship and is totally depressed. Her thoughts are almost on the verge of ending her life. You think this thought is a joke?

On asking whether her husband felt the same as her, she answered in affirmative. So here was a couple living in a loveless marriage and they continue to do so coz they’ve a child together. And just on cue the RJ went all high and mighty on her and told her that she should do the right thing and try hard to make her marriage work as this would be good for the child. The life of the child is important and giving the child a stable home should be her prime concern and she should not think of her own individual self. Madam RJ, do you even know how that shoe fits? Experienced complete void amongst all that chaos around, ever? Have you, you moron?! On hearing the moron the poor lady just uttered, ‘hmmm…I guess you’re right’ and cut the call. Believe me; I could almost feel the sadness in her voice. C’mon, don’t you think the lady must have tried her best at making it work and perhaps, it’d reached a certain point and on that particular day she must have finally mustered some courage to spit it out without the fear of being judged? Unfortunately, it didn’t work for her. The least the moron could have done was tell her to go see a counselor…atleast that could’ve helped. She could’ve had some hope. I think Indians find it extremely difficult to approach a counselor for help; they automatically think of it as recourse to only mental diseases and torture themselves to death. Why? Is it cultural?

Do you think just coz there is a child a couple should stay together and let themselves wallow in deep sorrow and depression every single minute of the day? Is it easy for a man or a woman to live in a relationship where they don’t feel any sort of emotion for their partner except for the fact that he/she is their kid’s mother/father? Wouldn’t it be healthier if they separated and were happy? Wouldn’t this make them more tolerant with each other and perhaps even make them better parents for the sake of their child? Atleast this way the child will see both the parents happy. What is it? Fear of social stigma? So, no second chance at happiness, eh?

I felt sad after hearing that call that I shut the radio and tried hard to call the station so that I could blow off that RJ’s head. I prefer reacting when I’m all that angry (it doesn’t help often though) coz after a few minutes my fury could just get fizzed out like a flat cola. But as my luck could have it, the call just didn’t get through. I feel very sad when people think like this. Isn’t it too easy to say, ‘make it work’?

To be honest, I hate this sham. I truly do. And I think I might be one of those very few but I shall take those brickbats. Bring it on!

Some truths about...

2010-05-25T17:28:00.007+04:00

mature humans...

…And not so mature like me too.

I thought I’ll put forth something light today before I post the not so light one…
Btw, I’m not an expert to think of all of these, I just contributed in a few and the rest I agree with and share…

I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die all of a sudden. I need for Glo to read this! Maybe even destroy a part of your CD collection ;p
Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.
I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.
There is great need for a sarcasm font. Atleast this way people will finally get it!
Was learning cursive really necessary? The time I spent to get all those curves right, I tell you!!!
I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
Bad decisions make good stories. And good girls never make history ;)
I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of MS ppt and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my 120 pages pressie that I swear I did not make any changes to.
I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voice mail. What did you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?
I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste!!! :(
I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call. Seriously!
Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I’d no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it. Pulp Fiction. Anyone? Btw, I still don’t get this movie; I’m just trying to understand what all this hullabaloo is all about! And everytime I see S.L.Jackson pick that gross burger, it makes me want to dial McDonalds :(
I would rather try to carry 10 over-loaded plastic bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in. 2nd floor with long square corridors…no, the lift does not provide much solace.
I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?
There's no worse feeling than that millisecond when you're sure you are going to break your back after leaning your chair back a little too far. Or when you run from the bathroom without a thought to answer that inconsequential phone call (obviously you come to know that only after the mishap has happened!) while you’re still covered in soap – the dent it still there on the right side of my head.
Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a purse, finding their cell phone, and pinning the tail on the donkey - but I'd bet my ass everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.9 seconds, eyes closed,first time, every time! Or, did I bet it too soon? ;p

P.S: The not so light is on its way...

We kill people to show people that killing people is wrong…

2010-05-09T18:41:00.006+04:00

Makes sense???

Okay, we finally have the verdict out and everyone knew atleast to some extent or the other (even more) what the foregone conclusion would be.

However, the reactions to the sentence has been, for once, very similar. One can almost feel the angst of the people at large. I recall one of the status messages from one of my very young friends just before the final verdict … ‘Why hang Kasab, just lay him on the track at CST station and let the train pass!’ So yeah! Everyone wants him to die in a split of a second. Kapische? Even the August company people feel the same. Infact, they go a bit further in stating how keeping him in our jails could prove to be an economically unsound decision invariably making us citizens pay for his food and shelter. They do make sense. Moreover, for now, there’s this whole different thing altogether on how long will it take them to hang him, what with the search for a hangman and all that. Anyway…

So well, I read them and read some more again. But then, this is my blog and I’m going to say what I think. And I think death penalty as a sentence to Kasab is such a menial and easy punishment. He gets hanged and then what?!!! You think these terrorists are afraid to die? Imagine the training they’ve gone through to get rid of that fear. It is the alleged eternal salvation that they’re craving for; infact death is just a holy mediator. So then I ask; why should we make it so easy? I’m not trying to be a sadist here, but I want people to know out there that killing people is not something that you can easily get away with by having an easy death. You’ll have to repent for that action. Oh yes! You’ll have to repent big time! Why play God by killing that man? Just as he pre-meditated the killings, let us as well pre-meditate on making him repent for what he did. And yes, he needs to suffer, he needs to suffer every single day and feel inside him that torture and pain of which he has made many a victims of.
Make him suffer in such a way that people should hear it as a horror story without inviting the wrath of the Human Rights Violation. A life long rigorous torture in a 2X3 cell [If an Indian cell sounds too easy, we could always send him to Guantanamo (thank you Ms. Speaks). I don't see it closing any sooner] sounds a lot scarier as opposed to just a death penalty.

Who knows, maybe after all that, if the man really repents of his actions then truly the state will gain and we as humans will gain even more. Repentance is the greatest redeemer of all. Infact, if this be the case, he’ll truly attain eternal salvation or whatever he was promised in the first place. Do I make sense? No? Well then, let it be, I’m really seeing it from a different angle altogether. It was more on the lines of killing the path of sins instead of killing the sinner himself. I wonder what are we gonna gain here. How will this guy ever know in his lifetime that whatever he did was so wrong towards humanity if he never gets to suffer?! I still think death is such an easy way out. But then that's just me!

Only YOU...

2010-05-05T18:35:00.010+04:00

And the day came

when the risk to remain

tight in a bud

was more painful

than the risk it took

to blossom...

Only you

can make it happen

Only you

Accept it...

P.S: The above being the result of a good conversation with a very good friend. PEACE :)

R.a.n.(t).d.o.m…

2010-05-02T17:24:00.026+04:00

I’m facing a drought. A very severe one at that! The matter is completely parched and I don’t seem to see any droplets of solace coming my way. There’s total absence of light. But then lately I’ve been on a whole different roll altogether. I’m not sure if I’ve come to terms with it completely but I do know that maybe it ain’t that far from the truth after all.

Last March, I was in Bangkok for a week. Hold it! It was just work and had nothing to do with any kind of pleasure whatsoever. But it was one of the places on my wish list so I was kinda glad to be there. We were put up at the Shangri-La. Awesome hotel! Please take my word for it! Amazing view and the people there are so kind and humble. Was a bit like Malaysia. They just don’t stop saying ‘Swadika’ and 'Khob Khun Kha’. Every evening we took a break and checked out the night markets…of all kinds. Got myself a Rolex, btw! Oh yeah! ;)

(The view from my room)

(The view at night. Awesome, na?!)(The Reclining Buddha at the Wat Pho Temple...it's about 150 feet long. I just could not get a better picture)

Well, the other kind of night market didn’t quite appeal to my sensibility. At first it felt fine, but then as we walked deeper into the obnoxiously colorful neon lit night street, I felt sad for the women and most of them were just young girls. My colleagues thought that I was just being naïve. Whatever! It almost looked like a supermarket and no, I’m seriously not kidding! Infact, a man can go in and come back with a cartload of them for an atrociously cheap price. Their advertisements are explicit and try as much as you can, you just can’t ignore it. Until that time, I’d never seen something like this at such close quarters. The government calls it their tourism economy, what do you want me to say?
P.S: Btw, I did watch some good shows; comme ‘Lido de Paris’ and ‘Afro Dizzia’, I’ll tell you about them some other time.

(Subtle? Think again...)

And on a more musical note, I’m getting a wee bit adventurous these days, so I got myself inked a bit more. Thankfully my Maa won’t be able to see it. It’s all in the name of body art! Very expressive form of art, I say! I’m beginning to love this art :)

Remember I was telling you guys last year that come this spring, I’ll have my brand participating in the Dubai Fashion Week. Well, we did just that and it was an amazing show. It was a crazy week for me (also had a reaffirmation to my earlier belief that being a model is a bitch’s job – it ain’t easy at all and one can hardly do it by being normal. I mean it!) but I met some fantastic people during this time and my niece and her friends had a ball of a time. It was their first fashion show ever and as my niece is very serious on making mass communications her career option; I tried to make it worth her while. She was very excited to see the press conference rooms and the media meet areas. She’s all set to head a PR agency now; no…make it advertising! :) I quite like the exuberance the teens have these days and their knowledge on some of the stuff totally baffles me. I must admit one thing, teenagers nowadays have absolutely no qualms in expressing themselves and mind you they do it logically. Far cry from what I used to be.

In a few days from now I’m planning to get very dirty. Oh, I love getting dirty; it feels liberating when I see myself covered in muck wearing my oldest pair of tees and jeans.What? What are you people thinking? I’m just planning to ‘explore the art of sculpture’…don’t stretch your imagination! ;)

P.S: Excuse me. I know it’s bad. I’ll try and write better. Soon. Very. Soon.
P.S1: I’ve been reading the book ‘Snow’ by Orhan Pamuk since the last 2 months. I can’t go more than two pages a day. Does anyone know what he’s trying to tell here? I feel like giving up!
P.S2: Watched ‘HouseFull’ last weekend. Apparently it’s an ode by Sajid Khan to stalwarts like Manmohan Desai & Hrishikesh Mukherji. I don’t think they’d have taken it kindly to this tribute. Slaps galore and by the end of it all he has the Queen speaking in Marathi. Creative liberty alright! Mr. Khan needs to watch 'Amar Akbar Anthony' and 'Chupke Chupke' all over again!

Honk if you love the lord…

2010-02-04T12:28:00.013+04:00

…text if you want to meet him.

Not my words but very powerful indeed. Was watching the Oprah show the other day where she was talking about the serious perils of texting while you drive.

I’ll be very honest here. I’m one of them who texts while driving. I’m too smug about my touch screen mobile and think I can do a lot of stuff at one time. Sometimes or should I say, most of the times I’m so foolish in my actions. Thinking that I’ve control of things is just a naïve thought I tell you. Imagine, while doing what I used to do I was almost on a trip to kill someone. Now when I think of it like this it makes me shudder. Graphics do shock and I’m glad I saw this show. Guess it is only the lord who has kept me safe till now though I did tempt fate quite a number of times. I know for sure, I’d almost die if I hurt anyone on the road because of my stupid insane action. Sometimes the texts were not that important either.

I think I’ve been driving perilously all this time. In a country where road accidents are almost twice the size of the population (exaggeration but I hope you get what I’m trying to tell you here), imagine how much that number is on the verge of multiplying with habits like the ones we are having these days. No, I’ll take the blame on me. The habit I’ve been having these days!

At the end of the show, these were the lines that really hit me hard!

Get off the phone!
STOP TEXTING NOW!
Nobody needs to DIE today!

The woman is scorned…

2010-01-31T16:00:00.005+04:00

I’m so friggin pissed. Friggin pissed coz for the first time I felt that being a woman, a single woman, a single Asian woman in this goddamn city is nothing short of an hideous crime.

I’ve been looking to change my apartment since some time now and I’m sure most of you know that finding the right apartment is always a big ordeal. And so, keeping in mind my current end of contract et al, I finally gave my okay on an apartment last Thursday. The agent finalized the deal with me, gave the deposit and the flat was booked for me. Last Saturday I was supposed to meet with him and sign my contract papers but that asshole calls me up and tells me that the landlord decided to give the apartment to someone else. WTF!!!

The reason? Well, apparently that other guy was giving him the entire annual rent in one cheque. WTF!!! WTF!!! WTF!!!

The deal that he did with me was 3-4 cheques and this is how it is done most of the time. Atleast with normal middle class professionals like us, which by the way constitutes to 80% or more of the population here. But then how could that friggin asshole have the friggin guts to do this to me when everything was done as per the protocol?

The only reason this happened to me was coz I was a woman and mind you, an Asian woman, and yeah, a single Asian woman so that friggin asshole sure didn’t feel threatened at all of me and had the audacity to do what he did! Do you think he’d have had the guts to do that to me if I was an European woman? Naaa…he wouldn’t have friggin dared! (Yeah, I know I sound racist; shoot me for all I care!) Either the landlord is an asshole of the highest order and has absolutely no ethics whatsoever or the agent has no balls to stand by his word.

I’m so MAD! And if he thinks I’m gonna let this pass by, well, he friggin better think AGAIN!

P.S: Sorry about the language. I'm seriously very upset! An absolute insult to my intelligence.

Narcissistic Dip...

2010-01-27T15:21:00.015+04:00

Yeah I know, I’ve said this so many times since being here, but then I thought I should refrain from being rude in 2010 and so, I change.

Preeti (Ps) tagged me and I must say, it was kinda fun doing it. It’s not gonna be fun reading but then that ain’t my fault. I can't hep it if I ain't talented.

1.What is your current Obsession?
I’m done with obsession. I’ve set myself free. Good na? ;)

2. What are you wearing today?
My beautiful smile…
Hey, it ain’t sans anything huh!

3. What’s for dinner?
I don’t know.

4. What’s the last thing you bought?
A new pair of sunglasses.

5. What are you listening to right now?
The song ‘Love is a losing game’ by Amy Winehouse. Have you folks heard it? Trust me, it’s an absolute cool number and this woman however emaciated she is, she has a very unique voice. I only hope she doesn’t go the Whitney Houston way completely (and here I mean stuff that is totally not related to music) and gets back to her music.

6. What do you think about the person who tagged you?
Oh I think a lot of her, but let me just say it in a simple way – a very positive human being. In her own words, she’s one of my favourite ‘radiators’ in blogville.

7. If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?
Bandra (Band stand)

8. What are your must-have pieces for summer?
A white top, a white shirt, a white kurta, a red handbag and my ‘aviators’.

9. If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Go see my Maa and ask her kindly to cook prawns for me ;)

10. Which language do you want to learn?
Spanish. I’ve been told that speaking Spanish is like making love all the time ;)

11. What’s your favourite quote?
So many! Especially the ones by Einstein, he’s such a rib tickler that guy. Almost made him sound like a buddy, na? …lol! But my all time fave is ‘Be the change you want to see’ by my fave hero, MKG.

12. Who do you want to meet right now?
Gandhiji.

13. What is your favourite colour?
White in summer and black in winter. I’m a very summer winter person.

14. Give us 3 styling tips that work for you.
Will you take me seriously?

15. What is your dream job?
It is dream ‘something’ as I wouldn’t want to term it as a job. But I can’t say it you see, I promise you’ll know as soon as it happens :)

16. What’s your favorite magazine?
Hello!

17. If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?
Shoes.

18. What do you consider a fashion faux pas?
A jean jacket on jeans. Puhleeeez…

19. Who according to you is the most over-rated style icon?
Victoria Beckham. I was glad to finally read the other day in E-Tabloid that she’s one of the ugliest skinny people on the block. Believe me, I’m really glad by that statement and I only hope all the teenagers read that!

20. What kind of haircut do you prefer?
Brazilian. Ouch! Okay, I’ll behave. I think I looked my best when I sported a blunt hair style for 2 years. It was such a hassle; I don’t think I’ll ever go back to it.

21. What are you going to do after this?
You folks are so friggin curious!

22. What are your favourite movies?
You do know that the list could be endless, right? But let me tell you the one that I recently enjoyed so much, it was ‘It’s Complicated’ – See it and let me know what you think of it.

23. What inspires you?
Me? Inspire? Who do you think I am? Pritam or Anu Malik?

24. What do your friends call you most commonly?
Ha ha ha ha…check my FB page.

25. Would you prefer coffee or tea?
Do you even have to ask?

26. What do you do when you are feeling low or terribly depressed?
I watch comedies. They aren’t working very well these days; guess it’s time to befriend a shrink.

27. What makes you go wild?
How about downing some tequila shots with me and you’ll see it yourself? Any takers?

28. Which other blogs do you love visiting?
Check my blogroll!

29. Favorite Dessert/Sweet?
Dark chocolate cake, Tiramisu, Double choc donut, a chocolate muffin, please I need to stop! :)

30. How many tabs are turned on in ur browser right now?
What kinda stupid question is this? I mean, really!

31. Favorite Season?
Winter.

32. If I come to your house now, what would u cook for me?
Nothing. Hey, please don’t push, I'm not very domesticated and you all know that very well. People have flaws my friends, accept it! But I’d definitely take you to one of the best restaurants in the city and wine and dine you in style. I promise :)

33. What is the right way to avoid people who purposefully hurt you?
Not many would dare do that to me ;p

34. What are you afraid of the most?
I don’t wanna say it, I’m afraid to even utter the words.

35. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
I look gorgeous today! :p

36. What brings a smile on your face instantly?
The sound of a baby's laugh. Or just the face of a baby. Babies are such amazing creatures, just being with them transports you to a complete different realm altogether. Hain na?

37. A word that you say a lot?
Friggin – this is the kinder way, I s’times say it in an unkind way as well.

38. When was the last time you did something nice?
A few months ago and I ain’t telling but I’m extremely proud of myself.

39. What would you do if you were made President of India for one day?
Take a sortie with one of those handsome pilots, better now than when I turn 55. Don’t judge! As I can’t make much of a change in one day I might as well think realistic stuff that are executable.

40. Do you know who Master SHIFU is?
Man! This guy is famous. He even has a Facebook Fan page. The things I learn every single day, I tell you!

I’m supposed to tag 8 people and that is exactly the number of people who read me, so whoever comments, please, I ask you very kindly, try the tag na? Thank you :)

Show me the love…

2010-01-16T17:23:00.004+04:00

Someone said it right once; when you’re on your death bed, you aren’t surrounded by your office but by your loved ones – those loved ones who received the least of your attention and time during the days when you were busy talking career.
I don’t know what loyalty towards an organisation means anymore, or maybe being loyal to an organisation is just a naïve thought – one should just be shrewd, prudent and emotionless towards one career than care two hoots about being loyal to an extent of losing yourself completely and forgetting your individual self. Deadlines and budgets do not maketh a life!
One of my ex-colleagues from my ex-organisation got laid off last week. Yes! It seems recession still hasn’t reached its pinnacle yet before we expect the plummet to begin. She has been working in the same organisation since the last 16 years. I don’t know how intelligent that was on her part but then how else do you define loyalty? I still can’t believe this could happen to her. Her??? It seems so unreal. Stupid decision. Absolutely.

I fail to understand that even after all these years, and believe me, the years are quite a lot, your sibling still needs reassurance of your love and attention. And though it may be sweet, it gets quite exhausting sometimes. I thought family was one place where you didn’t have to try too hard, you didn’t have to be so vocal, that you’d be understood but I guess distance definitely does not help here, or maybe it’s just my fault.

I’ve just had a crystallised moment; you cannot expect anybody to know you well just coz they know you all your life, there’ll still come a time when you’ll have to explain. And if you don’t, be ready to be judged. Judged so bad that you wonder if your sibling really knows you at all. Anyway…

P.S: And to that person who reads me from an unknown IP address, you know I know who you are, so just be brave and post a comment. I don’t quite fancy virtual voyeurs – especially not the ones who buy XS. And yes, if you’re reading, I’ve lost your mobile number, could you please send me a SMS? Thank you.

Back with a tan and flab...

2010-01-11T16:35:00.000+04:00

Hello, how have you all been?
Back to work yesterday and twenty ten seems to look good so far.
I’ve missed all of you this last fortnight, believe it or not and please don’t argue, just read. I’ve left a small footprint on all of your blogs so that you know I’m back and you can now continue to peep once in a while ;)

I’ve had a cool holiday. Spent a lot of time with my Maa, my friends and my relatives. Discovered some new relations altogether; but on that some other time. Took a small break to Goa and got myself inked a bit more. Details on this as well a little bit later.
Gorged on some awesomely delicious spicy goan food. Name any seafood and I’m sure I’ve gorged on it! I’ve a feeling that I must’ve completely managed to burn and sizzle my insides but I just can’t help it – I get sexed up on spice just as I’d on Brad Pitt’s lips. Oh, there sure has been some repurcussions and that is faced by none other than by weighing scale, she ain't looking up to me with a smiley anymore. I've never been so fat, until now! The beach was beautiful, the air was fresh and the mood was absolutely cool! Surprisingly, nothing in Goa could make me tipsy this time. They totally dilute their spirits, I'm seriously mad at them! Did something new and that was parasailing – did one in tandem and one just by myself. I’ll show you a pic soon.

What more? Well, I came back with a whole lot of books to don my bookshelf and hopefully, grace my mind as well.

Back to the grind again, have loads of objectives for this year at work but absolutely no plans in life and I’m glad that I could finally say it! Well, Mr. Lennon, let’s see how far it takes me.

Here, take a pictorial break...

(This I think is the Mary Immaculate church near Panaji (Goa) - remember the movie JOSH, you'll see a lot of this church in that movie)

(Bang opposite the church was this beautiful christmas tree made of used and empty coke cans - I quite liked it! )

(Some kind of myth about two lovers Donna and Paul, jumping off this cliff and dying in each other's arms. This place is called Donna Paul, look closely at their statues on the extreme left)

(My verse for the year 2010)

(The tomb of St. Francis Xavier)

(Basilica of Bom Jesus - This is the church where the body of St. Francis Xavier still lies at rest)

(My tandem sail...)

(A glimpse of me ;))

(You see? I'm parasailing alone. Yay!)

Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte…

2009-12-23T12:22:00.000+04:00

Received this beautiful E-mail from one of my friends and would like to share it with you coz it’s simply beautiful!
Season’s Greetings to all and may you welcome the new year with faith, hope and happiness…

May 2010 mark the beginning of a Tidal Wave of Love, Happiness and Bright Futures.
And to those who need someone special, may you find that special someone.
To those who need money, may your finances overflow.
To those who need caring, may you find a good heart.
To those who need friends, I am still here for you.
To those who need life, may you find GOD.

A big thank you to each one of you who read me and to those who stumble by. On second thoughts, thank you to all :)

Till I see you here again in 2010, arrivederci…

Just like that...

2009-12-17T11:45:00.000+04:00

…or so I think…

Well, lots of reasons to write this post but the most important being that I just didn’t wanna have an empty December in my archives for 2009.

To be honest, I’ve been trying to write something since so long, it is something that I feel so very close to my heart but somehow or the other it just does not seem to materialize into a write up and is relentlessly doing its best to stay in draft mode. Well, I won’t push it.

I’ve been doing the countdown and I’m high on the word ‘holidays’ these days. I haven’t been shopping much, that’s really rare where I’m concerned, at least in the month of December. It is the month of gifts and galore but I don’t know why I’ve been feeling extremely lethargic lately. Just the idea of going to the malls, scouting for gifts and carrying those bags gets me into a tizzy. I’m being extremely lazy; I know I’m going to have a tough time this weekend.

Just spoke to Maa the other day and she is so excited about this Christmas. Its going to be our first Christmas in our new home and I can’t tell you how happy and blessed I feel. I remember having this dream when I was 15 and passing through my college campus while I looked at these huge high rise buildings, I always felt that I should have a home in one of these structures someday – not too big but just quite big enough. And in some weird sense of my being I somehow feel that some things just ain’t that distant a dream.
So I’m being thankful and will continue to be :)

Had two Christmas parties this week. After almost 4 years, I went to Bateaux Dubai (Ppl, if any of you plan to come to Dubai, you should make it a point of having a romantic dinner on this boat) to have dinner with all our Group colleagues and the day before yesterday we had a party for only our retail staff. Surprisingly, I just realized our retail staff comprises of only Filipino girls including the regional boutique manager. I should say what a community and what a crowd! I had to stay short here but I did wait long enough to welcome all of them. They sure are one rambunctious gang and they do know what it means to have fun. In all these years I had never been to a Filipino resto bar but now I know too well :)
Well, in short I’m just glad they had a good time.

One of my friends who heads an NGO is attending the climate summit in Copenhagen and he seems to be extremely frustrated with all the things that has been happening there. His FB statuses say a lot and it also leaves a lot to reflect upon. When I last sent him a message asking him how things were going, this is what he wrote back to me:
“Pretty bad - the govts are behaving like companies & Denmark compares with Burma while dealing with activists' protests!”

Yeah! That’s how bad it is and I don’t think the developed countries will take any extra effort to help this summit conclude on a positive note. It is all turning out to be one political orgy between the developed nations, and of course, the developing nations as well!

I wasn’t very pleased with our environment minister’s statement to NDTV as well. All he had to say was that he only has India’s interest to protect and that they won’t legally abide to any emissions cuts as such for now. Well, he’s been prepped; he sure isn’t abdicating national interest but what about the earth’s interest? I guess this thought (yeah, I’ve only one minister’s POV here but do you really need to have others on board for proof here?) by one and all out there totally mocks the very idea of this summit. You think the other developing and developed countries are thinking any different here?

As Rahul Bose rightly said, ‘If not now, then when?’

Was planning to write all about myself but somehow the world intervenes.

Here it is again!

2009-11-27T02:30:00.000+04:00

The air is cool, the drive smooth, the mind excited and the purse on the verge of getting lighter by the day. But the smile is gonna stay! :D

It will be December next week. I cannot believe how the year just sped by! Most of which I don’t remember but still, it ain’t fun at all going towards 2012 at such great speed you know. Why 2012? People, just watch the movie and you’ll know. No, I haven’t watched it yet but the promos scared the shit out of me in the same way that the chapter of Revelation did. Anyhoo…

I still remember writing my last Christmas post. Do you remember reading it? Oh well, fine, I get it I’ll stay modest ;)

As you all know, this is my favourite time of the year and nothing, absolutely nothing can make me feel bad. I’ve got a cool holiday coming up. As the holiday is gonna be a bit short this time, my friends and I decided to still go ahead with our pact and spend atleast 3 days outside Bombay. We have this feeling that if we really wanna enjoy our holidays, we’ve to get out of Bombay. We’re gonna head to Goa just after Christmas and be back in Bombay for the New Year. Gawd! Can you believe this? It’ll be a whole decade since the Y2K scare. Man! I still remember how my old organisation went berserk over changing the whole ERP system so as to be compatible to the whole Y2K stuff. I was one of the core committee members and I remember getting an extra bonus just coz we made deadline and got everyone trained just before the clock ticked 12:01am. Hmmmm…good times!

I was watching NDTV the whole day today and everything was in remembrance of the deadly 26/11 incident of last year. I did the same thing last year too but in total shock and it amazes me to see how during these turbulent times the whole city joins together and helps each other. This is how I always knew my city as, so the word amaze does not quite justify. So whether it’s 26/07 (when our old house was half submerged and completely inhabitable) or 26/11, you’ve all the mumbaikars coming forward for all the other mumbaikars irrespective of whether that mumbaikar is a maharastrian from mumbai, or from Delhi, from Mangalore or from Chennai. How does that matter? It is just one person being there for another person providing them shelter under the roof of their coffee shop or helping them with a lift from Andheri to Kurla. When we can all be there for each other during these tough times, shouldn’t normal times be easier? Oh, it could be so much easier and normal (believe me, all we normal people need in our life is go to work in the morning and come back in the evening and spend some good time with our family, not many want it different, serious!) but just coz it is possible to be like that, our so called saviours of Mumbai think that if left that to ourselves their power could just dwindle, then how could they possibly make the big bucks, huh? Imagine getting winning votes where the manifesto states that one Indian from one state should throw the other Indian from another state back to their own state. Hmmm…guess we’ll soon have state passports too. Some manifesto, huh? Lol!

What can I say? Well, I do speak Marathi (I could possibly challenge a maharastrian at it too. I'm serious) and Hindi and I’m a Mangalorean and I’ve lived all my life in Mumbai – atleast when I’m in India. What does that make me? I only hope you say the word Indian.

So, how have you all been? Have you guys made any plans for New Year’s yet? Seriously, you guys just don’t make any plans!

You do? Well then, tell me some :)

Is this how it should be? …

2009-11-14T02:55:00.000+04:00

‘What you hide, makes you innocent. What you reveal, makes you guilty’- Have you heard this line before?

Well, I heard it the other day. I don’t wanna get into the details of the context but when I heard this line, I almost felt happy for that person for some time. I could feel my head nod towards the person in affirmation, but then all of a sudden the smile stopped getting wider and I could feel my forehead crease. Nah! I don’t think this could be a solution.

So tell me, my good learned blogger friends, just coz someone does not know about something does that justify the other person’s action (however good their intentions are!)? Think in a broader concept and just don’t think that the ‘something’ could invariably be negative – we almost can’t stop ourselves from having that line of thought, do we now? :)

As for me, I could understand for that moment, but I still think, it is better to tell that person and free yourself of that agonizing guilt and expect the other person to just be bigger and wise – it could only help in the long run, these short lived moments of keeping a person in a bubble of ‘happydom’ just ain’t worth it!

Indefinable bearing of my being…

2009-11-04T00:09:00.000+04:00

Remember how I said sometime back that knowing does not always have to help. And not knowing also does not most of the time help. So between the conflict of knowing and not knowing the only awareness that resides within me is perhaps just the deliberation of ‘wanting to feel’.

The more you look to draw in deep that emotion the more it eludes you and no, you don’t want to drive it away by your compulsive thoughts but why is it that you unconsciously think it is there in those obnoxious beings who you perceive as ‘unattainable’? Is this it or is it just an easy assumption?

Those moments of breathlessness that surprisingly keeps you alive…you then come up for air, just for a moment, only to sink in again. Will the constant déjà vu resist the encore?

Just so you know, it isn't something that we are...it's something that we do…

P.S: It’s just another ordinary post.

P.S 1: While I’m here, I might as well tell you that a stupid tanker truck smashed one side of my car the other day. No worries, I’m fine but my car sure needs a nip here and a tuck there. Lucky girl! :)

Talents emerged...

2009-10-28T12:33:00.000+04:00

At the Dubai Fashion Week (DFW) last Monday! I attended the said show and the one thing that struck me was the age of the designers. The show was aptly titled ‘Emerging Talent’ (though I’d have preferred ‘Young Emerging Talent’) as I don’t think anyone could have been older than 25, except for a couple.

Well, the rookie ness was quite evident in their collection (I guess I just don’t have that kinda taste) but then what the heck; at least the event provided the required opportunity to showcase their talent. 7 designers and all of them females, except for one male who was extremely happy and gay as he strutted down the ramp with his showstopper. He is an Arab and I was quite proud of his confidence. Let me tell you, to be that blatant in this country ain’t all that easy huh. He was cute in his own way :)

Here are some of the pics that I clicked from my mobile (I know they’re bad, blame my mobile!) and while I ponder where my brand will be placed next April (this day was some sort of a recce for me for the next fashion show) amongst all this fashion week furore, you go ahead and take a hard look at the last pic…let me know if you manage to guess who this gentleman (Hint: Iss Jungle se mujhe bachao) is, he was sitting bang opposite me and incidentally also happens to be the co-founder of this event but he ain’t that charming any more. Very pheka! :(

(The only outfit I could identify with)

(My favourite showstopper, don't miss the headgear, folks! This entire collection was on traditional 'abayas')

And yeah, I attended this exhibition last Saturday, and I don’t want to tell you how crazy I went here. So there, I won’t! :p

But here, take a look at this pic and you’ll realise how people shop at exhibitions like these – it’s almost like grocery shopping!

Loser. Me. Etc…

2009-10-26T19:48:00.000+04:00

Not that I hadn’t realized it earlier, but every once in a while when I just give it an extra thought it hits me all over again!

Time. It has been flying big time lately. Not just lately but since some time now. It’s the end of October and New Year’s Eve doesn’t look that far any more. Hey, don’t you think 2009 is just scurrying by us?

You know something, 2009 has been one helluva tough year - so far. Literally man!!! Except for a week, I haven’t taken a single break this year and though I don’t wanna complain, I still wanna say that I feel a bit tired now. The next holiday is gonna begin from 24th December onwards and what does that say? That says, ‘Woman, what a loser you’ve been!’

No, seriously, when I make my calculative mind (now what I mean by calculative here is the literal statistical one and not that mean clever one, coz folks, I do have a mathematical mind as well, albeit it’s used only sometimes) think, it tells me that normally if I work for 11 months, I get paid for 12, but this year, I work for 12 months and I get paid for 12 months only – do you see the exploitation here? Is this making any sense? You see? Loser. Yeah! That’s me!

So, here I complete a whole one-month in my new job and let me tell you, it has passed me in top speed. I’ve had some exciting moments; completely forgotten about my old place (seriously, we human beings are geniuses – we adapt amazingly well, I’ve no idea why Darwin was so concerned about us) and I already seem to look old in the new place. Is that good?

Well, don’t answer! I’ll let my thoughts percolate (not sure if this was the right word but I heard Big B use it the other day and wanted to try it as well) for now and will revert with the results soon.

Btw, any plans for New Year’s Eve?

P.S: Yes, I’ve noticed the spelling error on the pink post it, it ain’t MY fault!

Instant gratification...

2009-10-15T12:53:00.000+04:00

Finally! Got myself my first Polaroid (a different brand though) camera! :)

As soon as I showed it to my sis, she frowned at me and said, ‘This? This in the age of digital stuff!’ I could see she wasn’t quite happy, I just couldn’t resist, clicked her in that mood and walked away – caption: ‘Furiously lost in translation’. Imagine the convo’s we’re gonna have on this pic in future.

Digital vigital, whatever. I love my instant camera, wanted it since a long time and I’m totally digging it. Just imagine, you click a picture and voila!

Check this site if you’re interested in instant cameras (my model is already out of stock. Aila! This is all discontinued maal!), and especially in lomo stuff. I wanna buy the fisheye one soon!

So, what’s making me shop online offline these days? Well, this is what I read on yahoo some days ago and I kinda took it seriously ;)

Maybe it’s a sign that recession is finally bidding us goodbye or am I just naïve?!
Huh :(

P.S: Happy Danteras, folks! Go forth and buy gold and welcome Laxmi, while I go and look for that gold leaf plant for myself :(
And Happy Diwali!!! May the lights keep shining in our lives, always… :)

My weekend marathon...

2009-10-11T12:40:00.000+04:00

Wish it were the healthy kind, but no! It was the one where the pre-requisite was to vegetate on your couch in front of the TV.
(Warning: It’s a long post. Well, on a good note, it could help you sleep)

If you’ve read my blog(s) in parts since the beginning, you’ll know that I keep doing these movie marathons once in a while, and seriously, I like them. Uh, huh…don’t use that ‘L’ word…please don’t… not that I care anyway ;)

So last weekend, I took out the pile of DVD’s I’d bought since the last few weeks and decided to stay away from dinner, shopping, family drama and all the other kind of invites.

The repertoire was interesting in sorts (the word ‘hut ke’ justifies here, you’ll know…); I’ll give you a low down, scoot if you’re already bored! :p

And let me tell you, all the movies are major chick flicks (mainly romcoms), well; I’m a big sucker for them! I might be challenged but that still does not mean I don’t wanna dream about being wooed and swept off my feet ;)
Paradox personified, yeah, that’s me!

The Ugly Truth: Just as the poster shows, women think with their heart and men, well, you can see it here from where their thoughts arise! There are times when I don’t mind that though :p Gerard Butler was obnoxiously cool, I totally love his English/Irish accent – whatever that is coz it definitely ain’t completely American. He looks ruggedly handsome, man boobs included :)
Check it if you wanna have some laughs, especially the scene where Katherine Heigl is in a restaurant wearing vibrating panties while the remote is held by a kid. Yeah! Got the picture? Good :p

I can’t think straight: It has a more contemporary background as opposed to the one of FIRE and I was pleasantly surprised to see Lisa Ray in this role – quite a contrast from her ‘Aafreen, Aafreen’ days. It is sad to know that gays still have to fight against/for their feelings/rights even in this time and age. The movie wasn’t depicting much about ‘coming of age’ as the protagonists still had to endure the struggle. Hoping the day comes soon when being gay will be considered normal. Loved the tagline and I think it applies to all of us: 'You can only find true love when you're true to yourself'. Beautiful, innit?

I can do bad all by myself: Yet another black family story from the Tyler Perry bank. His movies always have Afro-American actors, slice of life dramas and a wee bit of romance. Tyler Perry got pimped heavily on Oprah’s show, so he has kinda enjoyed free PR, big time! I like his movies in parts. (Has anyone seen ‘Diaries of a mad black woman’? – It was a good movie) His character ‘Madea’ keeps playing recurring roles in most of his movies. I quite liked this movie (it's all about HOPE and I like this word very much) and Mary J Blige’s performance of the title song was awesome. I loved the following lines of the song:

I don't need no one to put me down,

I'm on the ground can't get no lower.
And I don't need no one to hang around and make me frown, just makes me look older.
And I don't need no one to black my eye and tell me lies
Don't wanna cry over nobody else
No no no no I can do bad all by myself

There was also one line in this movie that sounded so profound; it went, ‘If you have someone who cries for you, then you’re the wealthiest of all’. Profound, na?

The other end of the line: Don’t ask me why I saw it but I did. It kinda took over where the movie ‘Outsourced’ left, but what a shabby takeover! Naaah! Don’t waste your hard earned pennies – ask me, and I’ll lighten myself of this torture and forward you the DVD. There was no romance at all and durr durr tak comedy ka 'C' bhi nazar nahin aa raha tha!

Love Happens: I don’t think Jennifer Aniston will ever be able to perform out of the parameter of her character in FRIENDS. She does not even make an effort to sport a different hairstyle, that’s how stereotypical she is! I only liked one angle of this movie and that was how people try hard to come to terms with the grief of losing one of their loved ones. It’s quite touching at times. Aaron Eckhart just ain’t as handsome as Gerard Butler, so let’s forget him!

My mom’s new boyfriend: This had quite an unusual pair. Have you ever seen Antonio Banderas and Meg Ryan together? No na? Well, that’s where the unusual stops. Hot pair but cold chemistry! So…errrmm…avoid!

I hate Valentine’s Day (IHVD): Now, I was/am a big fan of the movie ‘My big fat Greek Wedding’. Have you guys seen it? Infact, I must have seen this movie 7-8 times. I totally loved Toula’s father in it and his argument about every word being a derivative of a Greek word wasn’t that far from the truth either. If you have doubts, then go, ask him! I’m not gonna argue. He was hilarious and the story was so different that I wasn’t much surprised when it turned out to be such a hit. Moreover, the story of Windex isn’t that wrong either; I use it for all cuts, unwanted pop ups and bruises and of course to clean my glasses too. The same characters are there in IHVD as well (I mean the main protagonists) but I don’t think I’m gonna be able to rave about it much. There was one interesting concept though; the heroine believed that romance lasted only until 5 dates, after that, romance flies out of the window and reality seeps in! Result: misunderstandings, fights, etc, etc – everything, but romance resides! Hence, she never goes out with a guy more than 5 dates. Her mantra: No relationships = no disappointments = always happy. Well, that was her theory, what do you guys think? I toh quite liked it!

Still ain’t bored, huh? So then tell me, how was your weekend?

Along comes weekend...

2009-10-08T14:33:00.000+04:00

And weekends find me in an absolute cool mood :)

This collage made me smile, feel, want to do and say stuff…

And I’m sure each one of you will find something interesting here that will touch your heart a wee bit or make your mind connect. So here’s to optimism, may we become best of friends for a long, long time. You and I included :)

Btw, thank you for taking time and reading me. It does mean a lot!

Just a quickie ...

2009-10-07T01:11:00.000+04:00

...dans la love town (Tch. What are you thinking?!) ;)

And I've also got something weird to tell you…

It was a cool week last week. Seriously! It was literally a cool week :)
The weather was awesome, met quite a few new people and yes, I flirted too :)

The short change of place helped, it was devoid of romance though. Siiiiigh....and there it comes again...an even bigger sigh. *SIGH* But Paris always includes itself in my good memories, so no complains.

Did something new this time, as usual. I embarked on the famous Bateaux trip on ((Captain Francasse)) (that was the name of our boat) and traversed through the river Seine for two whole hours. Had duck for dinner – it was sumptuous (I cried so hard for spice :() Although we have the same in Dubai (Bateaux Dubai) as well now, but it is nothing, absolutely nothing compared to the ambience and oh so awesome weather of Paris. Well, we almost felt the advent of winter, the night got so chilly at one point that it almost felt like December.

Saw the original statue of liberty too. Again! Here’s the pic, I almost tripped and fell while taking this pic. My knee is having a crazy blue and black look by the day.

I was there for a seminar – we were having a global buying session on the new spring summer collection. (Note to self: Never wear heels while on these trips – chances are that you return to the hotel with swollen feet.) What’s more, it was also the start of the fashion week. I checked out the fashion street at night (no, it’s nothing like the one in Mumbai – I couldn’t even afford a scarf here…lol!) in all its colorful glory (it was close to my hotel) and each one of those luxurious fashion brands had some awesome and stylish windows. My favourite was Lanvin (and it has nothing to do with my friend working there) but I liked it for its sheer innovativeness and simplicity – though in style and design Cavalli and Galliano totally rocked. It was simply larger than life. I’ve no idea why Hermés displayed an early summer look. But then I’m no expert. Fluorescent green??? I mean what the???!!! Anyhoo…
And here’s a pic of my favourite street. Can you guess?

I was good too. Except for some fridge magnets, I did not shop at all. Bought quite a few, as usual. And hey, finally got myself those aviators as well ;)

You know something; someday I wanna go back to this place for a real holiday – just a holiday and not just work, work and work. I just don’t seem to experience the famous overwhelming feel and essence of this place that all the people around me keep talking about. Like visiting the cathedral of Notre Dame and spending some time inside instead of just seeing it pass by in cabs, or revel in the visual delight of those gorgeous paintings at the Louvre than just marvel at its exterior triangular glass structure or simply sit outside a Brasserie and enjoy a beer. I know it’s such a waste on me!

And yes! The something weird and absolutely hilarious nonsensical stuff; have you guys seen the new promo of Swayamvar 2 on NDTV Imagine? I mean WTF!!! No, seriously, WTF!!!

P.S: Kinda felt pressured to write a post and this was the sad result, excusez moi! :p

Feeling-less feel…

2009-09-22T19:03:00.000+04:00

I’m going through a series of emotions lately. I can’t define them nor can I absolutely figure out what exactly I’m feeling, except for the fact that I’m just not concerned about what I’m feeling anymore.

It’s like…hmmm…there! I just don’t know what it is like!

There is some stuff happening that is so not something that I believe in or would like to partake from, but then, I still have to. Why? I don’t know! Or maybe coz I’ve this disgustingly painful habit of trying to perpetually please people or feel scorned by their disapproval. Try as much, I just can’t escape. It’s seriously weird when I think about it. How can I be so different sometimes? It surely can’t be just another Geminine trait now, can it? And hey, don’t even try and go near that bipolar analysis stuff!

Anyway. There is also this feeling of having my last couple of days at my old ‘adda’. As much as I wanted to soar out from here, it still feels a bit sad. Chalo, this is understandable. Come weekend, I’m sure I’m gonna down litres of dudu shots that shall help me forget this feeling-less feel.

Well, I’m gonna travel next week, maybe a change in place shall help. Need to flirt with life, again!

P.S: In some way this is my 100th post and I’m so disappointed with it. Whatever…
P.S1: I received two e-mails from Shobhaa De today and I’m so happy. Yeah! I am! Why? Coz I now know well that she really reads each one of her comments and takes time to reply to them personally. She’s so fearless and honest. Really!

My City. My Metro...

2009-09-10T13:07:00.000+04:00

(The title is Dubai Metro’s tagline)

The date 09.09.09 will be quite an historic date in the city’s history. Yesterday was the launch of Dubai Metro. Read all you want about it here and check the video too.

Believe me when I tell you that this could in a small way (or maybe in a BIG way, no harm in being optimistic) be a solution to Dubai’s traffic woes. It started 3 or perhaps, 2 ½ years ago and I can still remember, going from Deira to Bur Dubai was a sheer nightmare. A distance that used to take me just 10 minutes (yeah! It’s the cool driving I do!) it used to now take me more than an hour (and this is before the recession days). And if I ever ventured that way on a Thursday, well, the only thing I possibly prayed for was for the A/C of my car to work well and the Rj’s to shut their gab. Well, this was the case all around the city those days. I still remember being stuck at a roundabout one Thursday evening at Jebel Ali for two whole hours. Two whole hours in one place, people!!! The car was moving at less than 10kph. I still shudder when I think about it. Guess those are the tales of yore.

I’m excited. I’m always excited when something great is happening in the city, coz I totally feel a part of it too. I don’t know how much I might use the metro as only 10 stations will be operational this year, but I know, what with my sis moving uptown and so close to one of the stations, I’m gonna definitely get one tour from her. It’s gonna be obligatoire as she just won’t let me rest otherwise.
Enough of my bull talk, here are some interesting info/facts about the metro:

Ten stations on the Red Line will open on day one while the second phase - the Green Line - is scheduled for 2010 and will include a longer underground route covering the central business district of the emirate.
Single longest automatic driverless system in the world (I was watching the launch live on Dubai TV and a reporter asked one of the panelists ‘What is the advantage of having a driverless train? He replied, ‘In 8 hours, a human is likely to commit atleast one mistake as opposed to a rate of 1/19 by a computer. Does that make sense to you? Well, I don’t trust computers)
Maximum design speed: 110 kph
Average speed between stations: 45 kph (Hmmm…we could catch on some lost sleep here, but I'm afraid there is a fine for that! Correct me if I'm wrong)
Red and Green interchange at underground stations at Burjuman and Union Square.
Red Line - approximately 52km and 29 stations including 4 underground 24 elevated and 1 at grade.
Five car trains to include Gold Car with a section for women and children, and 4 Silver Cars. (Btw, they’ve also considered the special needs people in their plan – this is indeed a first in the world!)
Fully Air conditioned trains and stations.Green Line - approximately 23km and 18 stations including 6 underground and 12 elevated.
Fares vary based on the number of zones passed, but generally, the fares range from AED1.80 for a short trip (less than 3km) to AED5.80 (for an all zone trip), with a maximum daily cap of AED14.

It’s a good CHANGE :)

So, who wants to visit the city of gold? Ahlan! :)

P.S: What with the recession and all, I should say I'm totally impressed by the way the government delivered their promise. Even in part is not bad at all! Hai na?

Guilty, don't hang me now! ...

2009-09-06T13:22:00.000+04:00

I’m definitely not a fan of tags, but somehow when I kept visiting Renu's blog, I was quite intrigued by this tag. It was like so much could be said but still the information could be esoteric, it was kinda exciting ;)

So, even though I excused myself to Renu, I couldn’t help giving it a try!
As usual, first the rules…

RULE 1: You can only say Guilty or Innocent.

RULE 2: You are not allowed to explain anything unless someone messages you and asks! (I’ll go a step further, don’t ask me anything as I won’t explain ;))

RULE 3: Copy and paste this into your notes, delete my answers, type in your answers and tag 20 of your friends to answer this.

Asked someone to marry you? Innocent
Ever kissed someone of the same sex? Guilty
Danced on a table in a bar? Guilty
Ever told a lie? Guilty
Had feelings for someone whom you can’t have back? Guilty
Kissed a picture? Guilty
Slept in until 5 PM? Guilty
Fallen asleep at work/school? Innocent
Held a snake? Guilty (Gawd! I almost died – I’ve a HUGE phobia)
Been suspended from school? Innocent
Worked at a fast food restaurant? Innocent (I wish I could be guilty!)
Stolen from a store? Innocent
Been fired from a job? Innocent
Done something you regret? Guilty
Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? Guilty
Caught a snowflake on your tongue? Guilty
Kissed in the rain? Guilty
Sat on a roof top? Guilty
Kissed someone you shouldn’t? Innocent
Sang in the shower? Guilty
Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on? Guilty
Shaved your head? Innocent
Had a boxing membership? Innocent (Hmm...)
Made a girlfriend cry? Guilty
Been in a band? Innocent (I so wish I was guilty, but I’m not talented at all!)
Shot a gun? Guilty
Donated Blood? Guilty (Though there’s nothing to be guilty about here!)
Eaten alligator meat? Guilty (Crocodile actually)
Eaten cheesecake? Guilty
Still love someone you shouldn’t? Guilty
Have/had a tattoo? Guilty
Liked someone, but will never tell who? Guilty
Been too honest? Guilty…hmmm…
Ruined a surprise? Guilty
Ate in a restaurant and got really bloated that you couldn’t walk afterwards? Guilty
Erased someone in your friends list? Guilty
Dressed in a woman’s clothes (if you’re a guy) or man’s clothes (if you’re a girl)? Guilty
Joined a pageant? Innocent
Been told that you’re beautiful by someone who totally meant what they said? Guilty
Had communication with your ex? Guilty
Got totally drunk on the night before exam? Innocent
Got totally angry that you cried so hard? Guilty

Don't want to torture anyone, if any of you wanna do it, take it up, I'm sure it'll be an interesting read for me! :)

Ever wondered what is Gen Y?...

2009-08-28T21:03:00.000+04:00

Well, I didn’t quite know in the beginning how this term got initiated. Initially I thought perhaps it was just a natural follow on to Gen X, but a cartoonist explains it much more eloquently below. Now, how can anyone argue with that!

Your very own crack generation, pun intended for sure! ;)

True non-violence...

2009-08-26T01:37:00.000+04:00

is the absence of victimhood...

Warning: This post is very ambiguous, but it is just for my comprehension. I’m looking for certainty through all this indistinctiveness.

Some months ago I was watching an interview of Priyanka Gandhi on NDTV and I heard her utter the same words that you see in the title here.

The words struck me very strongly and it stayed in my head for a long time.It was because it stayed in my head for so long that I started to reflect on how true it is and how in same way or the other we all live with a little bit of inflicted violence in us, by that I mean, how we keep feeling victimized at one point or the other.

I had this reiterated to me a few days ago when I met this MIL of one of my cousins. From the outside she looked so calm and cool and btw, she is exactly like this. We jokingly chide our cousin of how lucky she got for having her as a MIL. The other day while we were having a small family dinner, I saw her sitting there a bit sad and then all of a sudden she had tears in her eyes. I later learnt that she used to be an abused wife and now, even after a decade of being a widow, she still cannot release herself of her hurts. There is no physical violence now but she still feels victimized. Will she ever be able to free herself of her hurts and really be happy? Or will we just notice that fleeting smile and conclude that ‘everything is just fine’.

Or for that matter the mother who hasn’t seen her son for so many years and the only reference she has of him in her life are the cheques she receives from him every month. Is she feeling the concealed brutal pain?

I don’t need references to know that sometimes it’s so closer and true to me as well. Maybe it’s miniscule, and unknowingly it could have been encroaching my mind over the years. Have I forgotten that time in life of which I still think has changed my life completely today or that lost love? Or that friend who messed up with my trust like nobody’s business! Sometimes I think I do, and some other times I just keep screaming, WHY ME? (It’s never loud just noiseless, so relax you guys!) Have I really forgiven?

Victim. True, ain’t it? I know it’s just a loser like thought and one would say (especially moi!), hell, bunk it ya, just move ahead. But now that I think of it, why do I feel that overpowering surge of emotions the few times that I reflect upon; anger, hatred or just plain INDIFFERENCE (I’m so damn good at this and at the same time friggin shit scared to be a recipient of this behavior. Yeah!That’s me!). What is it really a result of? A war waged between my mind and thoughts. I think deliverance needs to be in the right sense of the word and not just by words…I need to feel it too...hai na?

P.S: I’m in an introspective mood :)

The Dilemma…

2009-08-19T19:47:00.000+04:00

Absolutely aware
Totally ready
A niggling thought
Why, oh why?

Change should be
A good constant this time
Knowing too well
Doesn’t help often

The being is glad
Oh so assured
It won’t be easy
Of that I’m too sure

Not much of a chance
For the fear to conquer
The light seems to sparkle
Quite alluring the crescent

The dilemma isn’t the change; it’s my tough expectations.

This after the last post, I’m finally sure the Universe is listening :)

The elitist ‘putas’…

2009-08-14T16:29:00.000+04:00

I’ve heard this often and I kinda identify with this feeling completely (in emotions only, mind you!) and as the year passed by, I knew damn well that the treatment meted out towards us ain’t that different either. Hence, I’m in total agreement with it now.

So, what exactly is this? Well, I definitely agree to the researched fact (I think!) that advertising is akin to prostitution. We’re just there to service our clients 24/7. Do you know that long before the department was termed ‘Account Management’ by the genius gods, it was called ‘Client Servicing’?

All I can say is that the genius gods, the so-called genius gods got it all wrong! We still just service them while they manage us.

And why do I say this? Well, see how not so different we’re here:

We work very odd hours. – (Ha!Ha!Ha!...really?)
We’re paid a lot of money to keep our client happy. - (QUESTIONABLE???? I’m not one of those well-paid ones, hell! I’m a total goner! :()
We’re paid well but our pimp (aka Client Services Director) gets most of the money. – (Now, you’ve got it right!)
We charge by the hour but our time can be extended for the right price. – Hmmm…
We’re not proud of what we do. – (Exactament! The confession box beckons me every time I’m around the church premise)
We create fantasies while our clients are rewarded. - (You get that, right?)
We’ve no job satisfaction coz the client always wants more. - (And then they question our performance, bloody eff!)
If a client beats us up, the pimp just sends us to another client. – (Just another new face = the same old torture)
We’re embarrassed to tell people what we do for a living. – (Hmmm…true, not a lot of people understand our need to service our clients :( )
Our client always wants to know how much we charge and what they get for the money. – (What they get??? Are they effen kidding me?!)
Our pimp drives cool cars like Mercedes or BMWs. – (And I’m bloody stuck with a Peugeot. On 2nd thoughts I kinda like it; it sure takes care of itself what with all my driving)
Our pimp encourages drinking and we become addicted to drugs to ease the pain of it all. - *Coughs*
When we leave to go see a client, we look great, but return looking like hell. - (I compare my appearance on Sunday AM and by Thursday PM I lose the sense of time)
We’re rated on our 'performance' in an excruciating ordeal. – (You see? Even my appraisal sucks me big time!)
Even though we get paid the big bucks, it's the client who walks away smiling. – (Sorry, I’m still trying to understand where the big bucks are!)
When we deduct our 'take' from our billing rate, we constantly wonder if we could get a better deal with another pimp. – (Yes! Every.Single.Day.)

Finally,

Every day we wake up and tell ourselves, 'I'm not going to be doing this stuff the rest of my life’ – (Hmmm…it will be 2 years in October...)

But then I guess it’s nothing but an addiction now :)
There! You now know exactly what I do!

P.S: My maa uses the word ‘puta’ as an endearment coz in Konkani it means ‘dear child’ but my bloody Spanish colleagues have totally destroyed the essence of this word for me! Arrrghhh…

Well, what can I say…

2009-08-10T18:48:00.000+04:00

I always knew I was famous! :p

Discovered this site today and I’d a whale of a time doing what you see here. It's total fun, trust me on this! Btw, once you do it, don’t keep it to yourselves – send it across to your friends and family and spread some smiles or just put them up on your blog ;)

What say, who’s on for it? C’mon be a sport and yeah, don’t go about distorting your pictures! ;)

The ‘made in heaven’ kinda marriage…

2009-08-08T21:05:00.000+04:00

‘I want a divorce’, he said.

She stopped dusting the bed and looked at him with a weak smile as her voice quivered, ‘Where did that come from?’ She felt a shiver run down her spine as her heart stopped a beat.

Moments passed before he said, ‘I don’t love you anymore.’

Her knees gave away as she sat on the bed and stared hard at him and for the first time in all these years, she had a glimpse of ‘the’ stranger. A sense of déjà vu besieged her, 21 years of marriage, a 19-year-old daughter, and a 6-year-old son. 21 years of marriage – a culmination of their deep passionate love. The only man she ever loved, the father of her kids. She was always a wife first, then a mother, a daughter and a sister. So, where did she go wrong? She was his unfaltering support system even in the lowest lows of his life, so where did she go wrong? Passion? No, it just can’t be. She always felt it rekindle the moment he touched her, isn’t her 6-year-old proof enough? – that’s how her friends teased her. So, where did she go wrong? Her vision blurred as she felt herself falling into a deep chasm of absolute oblivion and her mind silently screamed for redemption. The porcelain vase slipped out of her hands shattering her dreams into tiny fragments as she felt her lips twitch.

Finally, she heard herself say, ‘where did I go wrong?’

‘I love her’, he said and walked out of the room.

Love. Marriage. Kids. Family. Love.
Where did it all go wrong?

Statutory warning: Life - live it at your own risk, it does not offer any guarantees, mind it!

I wish it was like this...

2009-08-04T21:19:00.000+04:00

I want it to be like this...

Love, ek naya angle…

2009-08-02T12:52:00.000+04:00

I kinda dread reading movie reviews these days. Either they’re too sugar coated making you feel all along that there is simply nothing wrong in this movie and then the collective damning surprise when the box office declares it a flop! Hell! What was the box office thinking? It was thinking moolah, sweetheart! Though this can be equally debatable in some cases, but I’ll leave this topic alone at this moment.

Or there are the others, much esteemed figures at that, who blast the movie left, right and center and make the readers explicitly skeptical on its biased version. Skeptical? Ha! I’ll say downright biased!

As for me, I don’t give reviews at all! Coz one way or the other I just don’t wanna be responsible for the way you spend your dough!

I went to see Love Aaj kal with one of my coolest friends yesterday. He’s cool, really! Atleast in his mind :)

The only thing I can talk about is the superb directorial skills displayed in this movie. I almost felt it akin to the expert manner in which a sharp player fits the jig saw puzzle at the right time, in the right place. Seriously, kudos to the director!

The movie has just one fresh angle and I was quite attracted towards the protagonists’ take here. I like how the relationship is handled in the beginning. The cool no - hassle way of dealing with it. There can either be negative or positive taken from it and I choose to take the positive. No hang ups, no issues! I totally believe in long distance relationships turning sour much sooner than later. Well, there is always an issue when you finally fall in love but then that is one angle I choose to avoid here.

Go, watch it at your own expense ;) and yeah, don’t come back and complain. Though I’m open to discuss any angle here whatsoever :)

P.S: Can someone please tell me how relative did they find the songs in this movie? Phew! Pritam da, ki korbho?

Emancipation in true sense of the word…

2009-07-31T17:11:00.000+04:00

While reading my daily dose of news on the NDTV site yesterday, I noticed this interesting video about this young lady in Assam pelting stones at an army Jawan. NDTV aptly calls her Assam’s Joan of Arc. First of all, it is indeed shameful to see that the hand that is supposed to protect its people does the absolute contrary. However,I won’t take this single incident to blame the army in any way coz I’ve seen and know their heart warming protective side as well. Also, a single incident like this just cannot take away from the army the fact that they also lay their lives in their quest to protect us. So yes, whatever the Army HQ statement; I’d like to oblige them with my understanding.

But it is still shameful and scary. They say he allegedly molested her (oh, how I hate this word!) but looking at the way the lady went behind the Jawan hitting him all the time it just cannot not be the truth. I’m sure her rage was justified. At the same time, I was glad to see her reaction. She was so fearless, army or no army! She single handedly hit the guy and as usual the rest of the people only served as onlookers. Kudos lady! You just went ahead and proved that there is nothing called as the ‘weaker’ sex.

I know it is not directly relevant but I see small doses of this bravado in the most unusual places. A couple of years ago, my sis Ve and I were running hard to catch the train at Andheri station. As we moved ahead sprinting our way down the steps and walking fast between the gaps, all of a sudden a guy just spanked by sister’s bottom. Ve suddenly stopped in her tracks, turned behind, looked at the guy and hit him hard with her umbrella. He looked shocked and started running and you won’t believe this, she started running behind him caught his collar and just kept on hitting him. I was shit surprised and was running behind her, I caught up and tried pulling her away but she just wouldn’t stop! OMG! I had not seen this side of my sister ever. She was supposed to be the docile one amongst all three of us. She slapped the guy till his cheeks turned red. He was so scared by now but he couldn’t escape, and just in few minutes people gathered around and without even knowing the reason got into the groove. This is Mumbai!

I finally pulled my sister away and told her that I’m sure he’ll now think 100 times before he messes up with a girl again. Ve walked back with me, slapped her hands, looked at me and said ‘Well, that felt good, it'd been a long time since I did some ‘haath ki safai’'. And just at that precise moment I realized, nobody, absolutely nobody could dare mess with my sister. She had that look in her eyes. I just smiled but I knew it really wasn't easy for her traveling everyday through these buses and trains and she told me how men sometimes just want to rub against women for their disgusting perverse pleasure. Even if a bus is not that crowded they’ll still stand so close behind almost breathing down your neck. As for a crowded bus, it is nothing short of a nightmare. I almost have a feeling that Ve must be slapping someone or the other every second day. The scene in my head is so funny but I dare not say that to her. Traveling by Mumbai public transport is definitely not for the faint hearted.

The psychology of ‘personal space’ is not something we Indians will ever understand or have the privilege to experience. Isn’t it sad? I wonder when will we women have to stop thinking twice before we get out of our homes. We might not see all this in close proximity but we know that a lot of these abuses still happen; urban or rural, they just have different forms. Most of the time you just don’t hear about it, but it STILL happens. Like always, we just prefer to live in our own La La lands.

As for me, I may not have a black belt coz learning all those ‘katas’ was very tough, but don’t you dare mess with me, ever! :p

Haiku - My freedom...

2009-07-29T23:50:00.000+04:00

So with all my heart
And with my best, my very best
I set you free...free...

I also know well that absolute freedom just does not exist...

Micro blog: 28/07/09 - I’ll KISS…

2009-07-28T21:52:00.000+04:00

In anticipation of a countdown. Soon, very soon… (Wow! Almost sounds James Bond-sy)
Interesting read of the day: Red wine increases sexual desires in a woman. Ha! Red wine, indeed!
The book ‘Impossible’ lying on the coffee table – do I want to read it?
Katie and Leo are home; they don’t look as if they missed me much…
Ramadan is a fortnight away and they say the briefs will stop. Why don’t ‘they’ check facts first!…
Scary: The parking lot is getting spacier by the day. Is it summer vacation, really?
Turned video shots into local community TVC’s…I’m still trying to figure out how we nailed that!
Brand Management: Mono or multi, which way?
The ‘on the rocks’ idea did not help the sore throat. Yeah! I know, nothing wiser than to stick to the basics…
Would like for the weekend to say ‘bonjour’ soon…

What is it, really?

2009-07-28T01:34:00.000+04:00

To enjoy the challenge or struggle to find everything challenging…
To be a speck amongst a huge magnitude or just be comfortable in being you…
To do what you like to do or perpetually try to prove what you thought you could not…
To embark on the thing called risk or continue living within the confines of the illusionary secure…
To give a damn or seriously care a damn…

No point in taking myself seriously, when no one around is…

So, for once, no plans and no what ifs! Time to take a call the Nike way…

Signed and delivered :)

Some addiction...

2009-07-26T01:13:00.000+04:00

It need not necessarily be only wine or coke you know; be a bit away from blogger and don't be surprised to feel withdrawal symptoms.

It’s not about traffic or comments, oh ok, maybe it is a little. Alright! Maybe, it’s a lot more than little, but above all that, it’s just about wanting to be in blogville and ranting your heart out!

Listening, anyone? You don’t have to be so nice :p

It’s gonna be bright, bright…

2009-07-09T12:45:00.000+04:00

…bright, Sunshiny days…

The laughs
The hugs
The fun
The family

The house
The warming
The home
The golden nameplate :)

The meetings
The drinks
The talks
It’s ‘take it easy’ time

The rains
The coffee
The warm idli’s
The cool red chutney

Maa
Sis’s
Brats
Noise ;)

Friends
Ex-es
Bandstand
Café Coffee Day

Bandra
Mondegar
Rhythm House
fabindia

Western
Central
Harbour
Rickshaws

Love
Lust
Love, lust

Vada Pav
Double roti
Elco Pani Puri
Matki kulfi

Nimbu Pani (with masala)
Cutting Chai (with masala)
Sugarcane Juice (with masala)
Gossip (with masala)

True
Happiness
State (of)
Mind

Sweetheart, we’ve got a date…

See you all on the other side. Will be back just before you start missing me! :p

Scent of a man…

2009-07-04T04:45:00.000+04:00

…in an elevator.

It’s not my first experience but it’s indeed the first time I actually thought about it and of course it had to translate into a post.

Once when a reporter asked Jennifer Aniston ‘What is your favourite fragrance?’ She looked him straight in the eye and said, ‘The best smell in the world is that man that you love’. Powerful, Eeuuuu-y, Romantic, call it whatever you want, but I’d like to say that she wasn’t joking that day, coz that day, her man was still Brad Pitt. Well, what can I say?

Okay, that was a bit tangent but I still had to say this piece coz I’m sure there are some women out there who think exactly like Jen, except and hopefully, it is their man they’re thinking about. Oh, what the heck! Why talk about yours and mine now!

So when I think of it, it makes me digress a bit more. The man smell (cheesy na?) or more likely in this case; the scent of your man! The smell when he comes to pick you up after work. The smell when he gets you flowers and takes you out for dinner, somehow he smells all flowery as well, hai na? The smell mixed with his perfume and drink (intoxicating I say! Ummm…) when he bends sideways and whispers something just for your ears at a table filled with people, or simply the smell when he’s acting like an arsehole! (I don’t know if there is a specific smell here but for sure he and everything around him stinks!) Oh yeah, come to think of it there are scents all the time!

Hello, wake up! …

Why did I think about this scent? Well, it’s because of the damn elevator at work. I’m always running late to work. As much as I try to put the alarm way before my wake up time, I snooze it twice the time necessary and oversleep every single day. Every single day! It’s a mad rush after that and I’ve few traffic fines to validate my tardiness. What’s even worse, is the bloody parking and finally the long wait at the elevator! My office is on the 5th floor and yes, you’re right! I’m too, too lazy to climb the stairs, so don’t even dare suggest it in the name of regime, health and what not!

There are 3 elevators in our wing and there has not been a single time when I found these elevators free for an easy long shot ascend. I’ve to wait atleast for 5 minutes or more before I’m welcomed inside its matt finish metallic arms (reminds me of Iron Man :)) So by default, I’m always late to work by a good 30 minutes.

Once I enter the elevator, it still does not behave kindly and instead of taking me straight to the 5th floor, it insists on giving me a tour of each of every floor before we reach the last floor. And every single day I get to see one new face in the elevator (Ain’t this really something?). I don’t feel their presence (I’m still sleepy mind you, I’m not a morning person. Period) as much as I can smell their scent. If the smell ain’t pleasing, I’m just irritated and will keep staring at my feet almost contemplating a two seconds power nap but if it’s anything that smells like Chanel Egoiste, or Joop, or Black XS (I don’t think I can get this smell out of my head – Sometimes I just feel like Ashley Judd in ‘Someone like you’. Those of you who’ve seen the movie will know exactly what I’m talking about and for the others, don’t fret, you’re plain lucky not to have known!) or just the good old platonic Brut. Or the cigarette smell mixed with Bvlgari musk. All these scents make me subconsciously want to just look at the men and in these cases; I seldom go beyond their faces. Yes, I behave. These are the few times when I don’t mind the long trip, I just feel sprightly and the scent brings about a dreamy smile on my face as I enter the office. Imagine how powerful this sense is! The day starts with an ‘I FEEEEEEL GOOD …’ kinda music in my head.

Yesterday, I had just such an experience and ‘Black XS’ kept me rooted on my spot. Floors came and went and I didn’t give a damn. The scent pervaded in the entire box and I didn’t realize it was time to step out. The guy didn’t move and I just stood. He looked irritated and I kinda just stared with a look I suppose that read, ‘Now, what did I do?’ (Why do I always get defensive?) I still stood still. Finally, the guy said ‘After you…’ Aha! I just smiled and walked into my office a good 50 minutes late. But then, who the hell cares, huh?

There! I think of scents in elevators as well. Yeah, I know, I’m gone cuckoo and need to go get my head examined. I shall get to that soon! And you’re still reading :p

A classic case of cost effectiveness…

2009-07-01T13:00:00.000+04:00

…in times of recession.

Lately, a part of the time of my team is spent on working on some co-branding ideas and we’ve been doing some kinda research for that. And most of the time this research keeps taking us to this particular brand and we can’t help but take some time out and animatedly discuss the amazing ideas this brand comes up with.

I think the creative teams of this brand’s advertising agencies all over the world rocks!
What is special here? Well, take a look at this 30’ TVC. There is absolutely no doubt about the millions of votes and clicks it must have received. Conclusion: The TVC is downright effective! As for retention and reaction, c’mon, you’ve got to be kidding me!

What I conclude as well is how cost effective it must have been to produce this TVC! I’m sure it’d be a helluva lot, lot less than the local TVC’s we do in the region. Infact, our clients don’t find anything cost effective – and this after shooting in faraway places where you need to carry bags full of currency just for a cup of coffee!

Check it out and play safe ;)

Isn’t it such a shame that we can’t run this TVC in our region?! :(

P.S: I understand the color pink and blue, what does the orange have to say? :p

I always knew…

2009-06-26T16:05:00.000+04:00

Perfection was ugly :)

I was never impressed by perfection or by perfectionists. Never worked towards it and even if I tried I got bored mid way. I get bored easily. I don’t know why! I know it’s not a good thing and I continue to make amends (in the bored part, that is). The penchant for not being perfect has been within me since long. Perfection is ugly and really not that beautiful or so I’d think and I know now that I wasn’t that wrong. I had this beautiful set of teeth in college, everyone said so but I wasn’t that impressed. I liked that slight bucktooth just like Kirsten Dunst or Nandita Das has it. So once while answering to a dare to bite off the cap of a cola, I chipped off a part of one of my teeth (it could also be a result due to the fact that I’m low on calcium as I’m not that big a fan of milk you see) and of course, later on the wisdom didn’t help; therez absolutely no place for them and they still insist on sitting tight disturbing the whole set now. The imperfect set ain’t looking bad either coz the chip will be remembered.
Once I was so hungry that I was standing too close behind my friend in a buffet line trying to check the stuff I’d soon gorge on and all of a sudden she turned back with her plate and lo! she hit it right at the tip of the bridge of my nose just between my eyes (it really ain't easy for short people). It bled like crazy and she didn’t eat a single bite that afternoon. As for me, I placed a sugar cube on it, taped a band-aid and went ahead with my lunch. There! I now had a slight scar on my nose but with time, I don’t see it much. Btw, I quite liked the scar.

I learned cycling with a lot of difficulties. I once had to force my reticent sister to just be around me while I practiced. The around me was more for her to hold the cycle while I rode and not just sit in one of the corners of the ground with her book. She didn’t even so much as such glance at me. There, you see? This is why you need a brother coz having sisters in this case is plain useless! Well, I was so fed up by then that I took it up hill and thought it’d now easily drive me down. What do you think? But of course I wasn’t wrong! I came down the hill so smoothly and then tripped on a big rock and fell flat on my face. Bang! However, the face was saved but the kneecap wasn’t. I still have a big scar on my right knee (it definitely doesn’t look perfect but seems to have a lot of character) and it always reminds me that good things (the good thing being here that I finally learnt to ride a bicycle, the feeling is almost priceless when you’re 12) do come with a little bit of pain and sometimes, a little bit more :)
Conclusion: Loads of perfect scars :p

And I can still go on. But then if I regale all the stuff it will sound more like I’m a total accident-prone freak and there's more about good imperfection that I wanna talk about than just perfect scars :)

The actual fact about perfection that I don’t like is the 'state of mind' of the perfectionist. And I’ve had my share of them. And no, I do not admire this quality coz people who consider themselves perfectionists ain’t really open to other people’s ideas coz they only think that there can only be one perfect way to do things and that is their way. Their way or the highway! I guess it was a perfectionist who came out with this phrase or just a plain smug AH, comme Ekta Kapoor.

Can you imagine how unhealthy a situation can be if a perfectionist like this exists around you? It’s true. A perfectionist can be a very close-minded person. I could be wrong but I know I’m not that far from not being right.

I respect people’s points of view and sometimes totally agree to the fact that yes, my way of doing things can definitely or need not necessarily be the right way. Mind you, that does not mean I’m a pushover. Whatever matters is the end result and the end result feels absolutely exhilarating if everybody around has felt that they’ve worthily contributed to the cause. Successful teams emerge out of good teamwork and not from a perfectionists’ protocol. I firmly believe that there is no perfect way of doing things. Infact, there is no perfect way at all to do any thing. Perfection is an end; it is a complete end to all things beautiful. And you know why perfection is not possible? Coz every individual has a different perspective towards seeing things and one’s perfection could be someone else’s mediocrity. And that is fine by me as far as that ‘one’s’ perfection is not sentenced as the ‘be it all’ to one and all.

Being around such people can be very stifling at times and today, I’ve learnt to feel sad for them than allow my anger to get the better of me. Does that make me sound like a loser? Well, so be it then.

And for that I shall thank one of my dear colleagues who gifted me a beautiful book on his last day at work. Two weeks ago, he gifted me a book by Osho titled ‘Compassion -The Ultimate Flowering of Love’. First of all, I ain’t a big fan of Osho and 2nd of all, I was quite surprised to receive a book with such a title. For a moment I thought perhaps he really thinks of me as a bitch and wants me to be a bit more compassionate to my fellow beings but as usual, I was just jumping to conclusions. He wrote some beautiful lines for me and I shall cherish them for a long time. But the most interesting thing that I came across when I read this book were these beautiful lines and believe it or not, it has made me a bit more patient with the likes of few people around me, coz perhaps, I understand a bit better now. And look at this? I learn this from none other than Osho! What can I say? Surprises seem to always spring from the most unexpected :)

Just want to share the following lines that made me reflect. Read them if you wish or just ignore the bull talk :p

“You are human, in a certain time, in a certain space, with certain limitations. Accept those limitations. Perfectionists are always on the brink of madness. They are obsessed people – whatsoever they do is not good enough. And there is no way to do something perfectly – perfection is not humanly possible. In fact, imperfect is the only way to be.

Be whole. Don’t bother about perfection. When I say be whole, I mean be real, be here, whatsoever you do, do it totally. You will be imperfect but your imperfection will be full of beauty, it will be full of your totality.”

You see? I now know that perfectionists are nothing but plain neurotic and I should learn to be more patient with them. It ain’t their fault now, is it?

P.S: I almost have a strong feeling that ‘perfectionists’ suffer from psychological disorder.

A bit late but, nonetheless...

2009-06-23T15:46:00.000+04:00

I didn't want to be partial to this day you see :p

All in a week's work...

2009-06-20T01:36:00.000+04:00

Wasn’t planning to be MIA for long you see, but honest, I just didn’t feel like writing anything. Forget writing, I just wasn’t feeling any damn thing!
I don’t know what’s happening but the energy around is ‘pure’ negative. Didn’t wanna keep complaining you see, so thought let me just allow my mind to revert to a self conscious positive ‘state of mind’ and then perhaps, I’ll just be able to beat that negative AH in his balls. Oh! Did I just transfer my object of hatefulness towards a being? No, I don’t wanna do that coz it’s the weekend now, and I’m in a happy mood :)

The last few days have been stressful but then what the heck huh, the cool days will catch up with me soon. What say?

The week passed by on a real fast track. Some of them were painful (to my feet that is, I’ll come to it soon!), and some threw up a few new learnings. Btw, please don’t pay attention to the order.
Have an important photo shoot next week. Interestingly, we aren’t shooting with models this time. Why? Well, it was not the need of the concept. Simple. But we are looking at shooting with real students (and no, they still aren’t models, stop asking, will you?) and I painfully learnt this week that a 22-year-old girl and a 23-year-old boy will be refused transit visas on basis of being too young (just our luck, the students turned out to be living outside our city. Yeah, just our damn luck!). Huh? You ask? Yeah, seriously! I just can’t seem to understand the system here sometimes. Too young! If only they knew my DOB when I started working. Anyway, I’m trying hard as hell to do the impossible so that the shoot’s not wrecked and well, my colleague in New York is constantly making sure that I don’t sleep over it, literally! My phone just does not stop ringing! Oh, how I wish I could just turn off my mobile. C’mon conscience, support me on this sweetheart. Well, whatever!

It’s the time of sales. Everywhere you look in the city, every damn brand, shop, and place is on sale. Big red banners reading ‘SALES’ everywhere. Some of them are gracious enough to thank us for this amazing insipid creativity. This stuff really ain’t helping us. We’re struggling to creatively communicate an effective ‘sale’ campaign every single day, on every account of ours, and the only thing we come up with is the word SALE in different typefaces and illustrations. It’s no joke, seriously! Doing just that keeps us in office till 10pm most of the days. Wow! No doubt I hate the word ‘shopping’ :p

Had to do a whole lot of recce this week and must say, recce in Malls ain’t a good idea, especially with sale boards swimming just within the range of your eye view. I’ve been a good girl though :)
Note to self: In future, recce should be done wearing sneakers and not high heels.

The only good news so far, well, I finally got a week’s leave approved. Hell, you’ve absolutely no idea how much I’m looking forward to all the R&R and Maa’s delicious food. She called me literally every single day last week just to tell me, ‘fret not my dear, the leave will come thru’. She has all the answers all the time :)

Had a family/community cricket tournament today. Not a good idea but had to attend. The sun was angry and shining at 47° and friggin hot and humid. Had plenty of slush’s to drink and almost had my brain frozen for some time. It was a good day. Lotsa exercise. Back home nursing a headache, a bruised elbow and an unwanted tan.

So, how have all of you been? Tell me more, I'm reading :)

Precognition, or just a cry for help…

2009-06-07T00:21:00.000+04:00

It will help to know a bit. Obscurity ain’t bad but it’d still help to discern. Not knowing is not being very effective lately. I hate regrets.
Why is it so important to have validation?

When will the blossoming awareness of now prove to be an evidence of what may come? Isn’t that what they say is a bit like knowing? Not much, just a flicker of light stealth through the crevice of the window would suffice. Definitely not asking for an epiphany. But still need answers by thyself. No room for error. What with so many errors, there’s not much room left either. Waiting for the wonder of the lighted candle to spread its radiance.

P.S: An attempt towards poetic prose :p

Sign, or something like that…

2009-05-31T00:58:00.000+04:00

I went to the book fair today. My sis, the family and I were all tired after the irresistible sale that we attended. As usual, we get fooled by these low prices which ultimately ain’t that low coz you’re just trying to fill unwanted stuff thinking that you’ll never get them at such insane prices again. In any case, it’s soon time to take a holiday so it’s always good to have your gifts ready a bit ahead of schedule. Well, we did do what was expected of us lesser mortals and headed home with half a dozen bags.

However, I still didn’t wanna miss the book fair, I don’t know why and so we all headed once again to check the fair. Once there, I was not very happy with the fiction collection they had and was a bit disappointed.

Anyway, there were books all around me and scouting through them still gave me a high.
I bought home few books but there was one book that I just didn’t feel like keeping down even though it was one of the most expensive books I bought amongst all the others. I think the book wanted me to read some stuff coz I kept reading it in the car as my BIL drove us for dinner.

The first thing the book made me read were these lines:

‘Everything tells me that I am about to make a wrong decision, but making mistakes is just a part of life. What does the world want of me?
Does it want me to take no risks, to go back where I came from because I didn’t have the courage to say ‘yes’ to life?’ – ELEVEN MINUTES.

I read ‘Eleven Minutes’ long, long time ago. I didn’t understand much and after a few discussions with one of my online friends I finally could make some sense out of it coz it was so different from the other Paulo Coelho books. As for the above lines, I still don’t remember reading them.

I then flipped another page of my new book to read this:

‘No one should feel afraid of the unknown, because everyone is capable of achieving everything he wants and needs’ – THE ALCHEMIST.

Yeah! This book made a lot of sense to me, but unfortunately, I forgot the stuff soon.

And then the new book made me read something that made me smile:

‘Life is made up of our attitudes. And there are certain things that the gods force us to experience. Their reasons for doing so do not matter, and there is no point in doing everything we can to avoid them.’ – THE FIFTH MOUNTAIN.

Okay, I guess I should stop, breathe and truly understand these lines. It can’t be wrong now, can it? Hmmm...

I haven’t read this book but I’ll read it soon. There is something about Mr. Coelho’s books, he writes them in a simple way and expects us to understand it with that same simplicity. Well, I don’t know about others, but his writings make me feel good and I like that.

So the book I bought is a collection of selected quotations from Paulo Coelho’s novels, called LIFE.

I'm gonna complete reading it tonight. It really is a good book :)

And all that blah...

2009-05-30T01:42:00.000+04:00

I’ve never been able to figure out why I feel so insecure in life.

Or why I need to eat ice cream at 12.30 am.

Or why a certain song that I like so much brings tears to my eyes as soon as it ends. And then I play it all over again just to cry a bit more. In some way I think I need to exercise my lacrimal glands (guess that’s what it is called).

Or why I always regret some of the things I shop for. I store paid junk.

Or why even after sleeping for good 12 hours, I still feel so sleepy and tired. (I know for a fact that people who sleep a lot die sooner)

Or why I scare from intimacy.

Or why all the books of Nicholas Sparks make me earnestly live the situations.

Or why I get bored with things easily.

Or why the mere mention of travel lights my face.

Or why I fail to understand love.

Or why I dream a song and dance sequence everytime I hear the priest start his sermon during mass.

Or why I keep eating spicy food when I know I’ll possibly squirm all night. And then I go again and eat some more spice…

Or why I’m so emotional about inconsequential things.

Or why a good sense of humour can almost make me feel…

Or why I can never find a perfect outfit to wear everytime I wanna step out. I wonder what the wardrobe actually contains, everytime I open its doors, it pukes on me.

Or why I keep trying hard all the time.

Or why I can’t get technologically savvy. I always feel stupid around it…

Or why I feel maternal everytime I see a baby ;)

Or why I don’t feel so maternal when I see a kid bawling down the alley of the supermarket. I just exchange mean looks :p

Or why I now wanna once again have my fave Cookies and Cream ice-cream by Häagen-Dazs. Got to go raid my freezer.

I’m done with my blah…

It helps to squeeze these balls…

2009-05-20T21:45:00.000+04:00

Don’t glare at me like that!

Seriously folks, you just don't take me seriously ;)

You know what this is?

This is good. It smiles at you even when you’re all frustrated and trying to squeeze the poor life out of it. It never fails to calm you down (a bit). Helps you release all that stress from your hands seeping through from your body and there…once you release it…it makes you feel all relaxed. Hmmm...
Yeah! It does all that but what does it get in return? Not much. It’s abused royally most of the time.

The team at work gifted me not one, not two but three stress balls which looks exactly, ditto, like this picture. Well, why did they give me these balls? Hmmm…lots of rocket science involved there, so go, figure!

What am I doing with them? Well, I’m still using them for what it’s meant to be.
But not my colleague! His state of mind totally scares me and after seeing what he did to his stress ball, I’ve tried to avoid him throughout the day today. I still smile but I guess I have a quiver.

This my friends is what happens to people who stay long in advertising. Hopefully, I make amends soon :)

Can we finally blame the Chinese now?

2009-05-19T12:32:00.000+04:00

Don't know if this is just a sick coincidence but just take a look at what my friend sent me today!

2007 - Chinese year of the Chicken - Bird Flu Pandemic devastates parts of Asia.
2008 - Chinese year of the Horse - Equine Influenza decimates Australian racing.
2009 - Chinese year of the Pig - Swine Flu Pandemic kills hundreds of pigs around the globe.

Has anyone else noticed this?

It gets worse...
Next year...

2010 - Chinese year of the Cock - what could possibly go wrong? Well, god forbid if anything does go wrong, can we take solace from the fact that the transmitting target will still be animals here? :p

A click that just ticks...

2009-05-15T12:41:00.000+04:00

I’m definitely not a photographer. I totally screw up home videos – the heads are always cut, and the shots never still, they keep twirling all around. Can't say if I can hold a still camera still as well, but I still love to take pictures. Whether anyone likes the photos or not, I still click and I store them in my memory (the hard disk way :D) By now you already know that not much or for that matter not many can stop me from doing what I want to do, so I still continue to take my nonsensical pictures and I like looking through them and reminiscing once in a while.

Wanna be privy to some nonsensical photos? Well, here they are! They are mostly from my travels and some random:

This is a restaurant (Allen's Kitchen) in Gangtok - Sikkim. The 3 days we were there, we dined here every single night. Totally loved the framed musical legends that adorned the wall.

This is the waiting room at the Old Delhi station. We had to wait for our delayed train from Delhi to NJP (Mahananda Express - Mr. Laloo, just shut your crap, you did a horrible job with the services in this train - I almost had a bladder problem!) for a whole 12 hours and this poor gentleman did not find a single seat all the time that we were there. I felt bad for his back (not really), at one point I almost wanted him to have mine (not really), but then, my friends thought it'd be a stupid idea. Now you know why I’m not nice to people.

Sat in the waiting room and walked a bit around Chandni Chowk. You've no idea what we saw here. Eeuuu...

I saw this house blanketed in snow on our way from Srinagar to Pahalgham. Take a hard look, it almost looks christmas postcard-sy, na?

I don't remember this gentleman's name. He came to sell us Kesar in our house boat. Look how happy he is doing that? Loved his smile. And then I go and complain about my job, seriously :)

This is Hilal. He took great care of us when we stayed in Srinagar. He is handsome. My cousin Char and I used to fight with each other just to get his attentions ;)

This scene was taken on the way from Patnitop to Srinagar. Kashmir is an amazingly beautiful place. It was sad to see the military at every single kilometer but I guess the place needs it. I don't know. The soldiers were so good to us; everytime they stopped our car, they spent few minutes talking to us and assuring us to not worry about anything and just have fun. Kashmir is heavenly BEAUTIFUL. The people are so simple and crave for a normal simple life, just like all of us. All they ask for is no bombs, no terrorists, and no riots - just PEACE.

This is the terrace of my head office in Paris. When people are stressed and are on the verge of pulling their hair, they come up here for a smoke and enjoy the view of Eiffel Tower. Man! What a way to relax!

I clicked this pic from the window of my hotel room. The Petronas was just opposite our hotel. It's a shame I did not go atop the bridge of this building. People in KL are very hospitable.

When we were travelling all through Rajasthan, we spent a night in Jaisalmer and took a camel ride in the desert. We stopped for a while mid way and this troupe performed for us. The men just sat and the little girl danced for almost half an hour. I felt a bit sad, don't know why. Anyhoo.

This is a hotel in Jaisalmer. That morning while we were having our breakfast this duo was performing near by. The small boy sang and played so well. The mother refused to show us her face and the man told us that she's not supposed to show it to strangers. I was shocked again.

This is the beautiful Taj. I was completely overwhelmed when I saw this structure. I was so full of awe that I could have just fallen in love with the next guy who'd have looked into my eyes. I was so smitten with the whole surreal ambience ;)

People who've been to Taj will know the feeling and people who haven't, you'll know it when you visit it.

This is not clicked by me but it is still one of my fave pictures. Here's my sister Flv feeding me when I refuse to have my dinner. Makes me smile all the time :)

Bon Weekend!

My deep dark stuff…

2009-05-10T00:42:00.000+04:00

(Got you suckers! Lol! It has nothing to do with what you guys think; the title is misleading, or is it? :p)

The other day while driving to work I heard a piece of news that made me smile. The piece of news was so cheerful in its pleasantness that I could almost feel the newsreader smile while she read the news.

The interesting piece of news was that Cadbury actually recorded a 30% rise in annual profits. And do you know why Cadbury is resilient to the rest of the stuff in the world during these times, well, what do you think?

If it’s left to me, I think it is because of us women. Studies prove that 90% of women crave chocolate as comfort food and much more (we’ll come to the much more a bit later), while men crave heartier foods such as steak and hamburgers.

Chocolate has had a complete weird relationship with me. Unlike a lot of others, I did not like chocolate when I was little, or when I was in school or when I was in college. I totally didn’t have a sweet tooth. To some extent, I don’t have a sweet tooth even today, no amount of sugar can allure me. But chocolate, I like chocolate today. Not all chocolate per se, but very specific chocolates. My favourites are Ferrero Rocher and Snickers and all the dark chocolate (mind you, unlike the leech-like-milk chocolates, dark chocolate does not cling hard on your hips) that I can lay my hands on. Infact I prefer the deep dark coffee–espresso-like dark chocolate than the normal milk chocolates. And do you know that Lindt has a product that is called the spicy dark chocolate? Trust me, it’s amazingly awesome!

I don’t know why I like chocolate but I know why I crave for it sometimes. I’m sure everyone has a comfort food, for me, it’s chocolate and ice creams (Note to self: You seriously need to discipline yourself to hit that gym everyday!)

For a long time women have compared chocolate to sex (Yes, this is the much more I was talking about!). Now doctors have discovered a scientific link between the two. According to some people who do nothing in the world but research, women who eat chocolate regularly have a better sex life than those who deny themselves the treat. Seriously, is this true? But then what’s the harm? Eating chocolate is much more easier to give in to than run that 5KM on the treadmill :p

Well, this is not the point that is more interesting but the amazing fact that the melting point of chocolate is just above our body temperature, so it melts in our mouth perfectly. This feeling is associated with sensual pleasure. It is researched and documented that the effect of melting chocolate in our mouth results in an increase in brain activity and an increase in our heart rate. These increases are stronger than what a passionate kiss gives you or makes you feel (I’m sure you remember that now, don’t you? :p) And they last up to four times longer (Can you beat that?!). You see? It lasts, and therefore, it’s faithful :D

And therefore, I’m faithful to it as well.

So Cadbury, do take some time out and thank us, the women of the world, for all that dough you’re raking in!

Well, so what is your favourite comfort food? Let me tell you, recession is beckoning 'comfort foods' big time!

P.S: For the first time I researched a wee bit for a post, as I didn’t want to give in to my assumptions :p

My life without me…

2009-05-05T23:00:00.000+04:00

I was watching this movie the other day but I couldn’t see it till the end, as I was feeling very sleepy. But I remember a scene where this protagonist is sitting in a café and making a list.

The list was things to do before I die. And then she started jotting the details. She had quite an interesting list I must say. I guess we saw this list in the movie Dasvidaniya as well.

Just made me a bit anxious and I wondered. I wondered for a while what is it that I truly, truly want to do before I die. To be honest, not much came to my mind, except for one thought: I want my mini ME who’ll keep calling me Mom-my :)

And that earth shattering, transporting to a different realm altogether and the plain-and- simple-and-ecstatic-kinda-contentment, you know what I mean. Good. …not just the usual thing you know :p

There. Not much at all. What about all you folks? Lots to do before you die? Don’t make a big deal out of it you know, let me know in simple English, please :)

A line from Pearl Harbour just came to my mind, ‘I’m not anxious to die you see, I’m just anxious to matter’ Feeling a lot like this these days.

Just realized, how’d there be MY life without ME being there? Is that possible?

P.S: I’m in one of those insignificant moods these days…maybe I’ll try writing my eulogy.

To have a friend...

2009-05-01T22:57:00.000+04:00

...be a friend.

Read it somewhere so please don’t quote me. But I believe in it. Today, my best friend GC called me from Bombay and as usual we had a long talk. As usual, we caught up from where we last left our conversation and brought ourselves up to date with all things happening in our lives. We spoke for an hour and once again, it just made me feel glad to have a friend like her in my life.

I wrote this post a long time ago, finally I thought I should post it. This is just to remind me that I should appreciate my friends and not take them for granted.

I don’t know what kind of friend I’ve ever been to my friends but I’ve said this often that I’ve been lucky to have good friends in my life and around me. Some friends stay for a while, some a little longer and very few for a lifetime.

My friend GC is a friend I know will stay forever in my life. The power of ‘I know’ is immense here (I like being melodramatic, bear it!), I know that! But then maybe it is my utmost belief that if she could stick with me till now, then there’s no way she’ll leave me here forth. I’ve known GC almost half my life and I don’t think there’s anything that she does not know about me. And if there are any surprises, they cease to remain six months down the line. One phone call and everything is just spilled out. She’s smart this woman! :)

There was once a time in college when I thought we would lose our friendship. As expected, it was more my fault than hers. She is a Piscean; she rarely gets angry, atleast with me! We had our 12th grade prelims and she did not turn up for the Zoology practicals. Instead, she and another friend of mine chose to go on their respective dates. Yes, she had guts! I was panicking for both of them and as we did not have mobiles those days, I almost thought something had happened to them. I was a total bore those days (not much has changed though). I didn’t do too well in my prac’s as well and came home totally tensed and worried. Sometime in the afternoon, I had both these girls at my doorstep. I was relieved and immediately attacked them with a barrage of questions. They looked at me and GC calmly said, ‘Oh, it was nothing; we had just gone out on dates’. Aha, what an obvious thing, why couldn’t I think about that? That just blew my mind and I did the most unexpected thing. I threw both of them out of my house and slammed the door on them. Yes, can you believe that? (If you’ve followed this blog enough, you’ll see that I’ve this perverse pleasure in throwing my friends out of homes and cars. Seriously, what the hell is wrong with me? Why do friends still stick with me?) I was really, really stupid those days. The girls did not leave immediately, they sat outside waiting on the verandah and every once in a while came knocking to check on me. No, I did not relent that day. They waited for few hours and then left. GC still did not want to leave but my friend NG knew it would not help; she knew how stubborn I was. Believe you me, in retrospect; I definitely don't feel so proud of my behavior then.

Till date I feel guilty about this incident. GC never brings it up, but when they want to rig me (by they I mean; GC, her hubby, NG and my other friend SP) they don’t spare any details (in all these years, this particular group still survives! Am I glad or am I glad!). Yes, it’s now one of their big fat jokes to embarrass me socially! FYI, I get embarrassed very easily. Btw, I still keep telling her sorry even today. I’m perpetually trying to redeem myself :) But that is how GC is. She has never been upset with me, I fear that sometimes. She has always been there when I needed her the most. She is my not so kind mirror. Good, bad, ugly – she reflects it and throws it right back on my face. I like this honesty, I don’t think I can take it from everyone, so it’s good that she’s the way she is. She is like the wind beneath my wings…wants me to always be happy. I’m the spiritual Godmother to both her kids. Spiritual? Why? Long story, will regale you with it some other time.

GC’s an avid reader and believe it or not, she still has a penchant for reading M&B’s. And at the risk of being reprimanded, I love reading them too :D We still keep scouting for books at bargain prices on the streets near VT station and Fort (I’m a bit disappointed that they don’t have these book sellers near Churchgate station anymore!). And we still get drunk at Mondegar (it’s one of my most fave places) and play the ever-interesting ‘staring eyes’ games with good-looking guys (Yes, call us vain or whatever but it is definitely a pre-requisite). We always win!

You know what I think? Not that you’d be interested but still. I think one should atleast have one BEST friend in their life. You can have many along the way who’ll always be there for the fun parts and few during somber moments too, but just one best friend in your life, and believe me; to some extent…no, to a large extent you’ll feel as if you’ve achieved something worthwhile. You need that validation.This is one place where planning strategies don’t have to work as per the norm. A best friend in your life and you don’t need a contingency plan ever. A best friend makes you feel much more secure than any ULIP bonds you may ever have. Huh? How do I come about with such analogies?

So here’s celebrating another year of our friendship... love and happiness always to you my dear friend.

The loneliest woman in the world is a woman without a close woman friend – George Santayana (Did you get that? Good.)

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart – Elizabeth Foley. (Absolutely true!)

Say a little prayer...

2009-04-24T23:09:00.000+04:00

‘God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can’t change, courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.’

I’ve often heard this prayer chanted by addicts in all those anonymous meetings. Last I heard it was when I was watching ‘Rachel getting married’. I’m glad the prayer is not their sole property coz it’s such a powerful prayer and I want it to envelope me now.

I’ve been thinking. I know that it is a very rare thing but then I’ve got to seriously think sometimes, na? So the thought was, is it really always necessary to give it your all every time? It gets too exhausting you know. Heavy head, hard numb shoulders, the persistent ache at the back of your neck and those millions of minion thoughts starting with ‘What ifs?’ Is it worth it? Hmmmm…not if it makes you steer the wheel of your car on another lane without realizing it. Not when you’re on the treadmill and you increase the speed unknowingly and then fall flat on your face. Ouch! That hurts like hell! Not when you’re having lunch and it’s been more than 15 minutes since you took your last bite and people around you find you staring in space. Not when you talk to your friend on the phone and hardly make any sense of the conversation that goes on on the other side and all of a sudden you hit the red button. That friend ain’t gonna call back again until next month…
Not when you can’t sleep and you conjure dreams by yourself and feel yourself falling in a deep narrow chasm and don’t wake up with a sweat. This acceptance ain’t good.
Not if your answer to everyone’s question is ‘Life’s shit!’ No, that smell ain’t healthy at all!

Not if having that one crooked curve on your face becomes an effort. Nah! It’s not worth it at all!

Definitely not when the ‘give it all’ pressure results in a …anyway…you got that!

...Grant me the wisdom to know the difference. Sooner the better.

I ask a question and I've an answer. But I'm still surprised at my own inanity.

Some boring stuff...

2009-04-22T14:50:00.000+04:00

So people? How’ve you been? All well? Good.
I’m so tired and brain dead that I don’t think I can think much anymore. My blog felt very left out and I thought let me just spend some quality time with her. Couldn’t chat anything serious so I thought let’s have our silly sessions then. Was tagged by Ms. Speaks, am not a fan of tags, but I thought, chalo, let’s use this excuse and have one of those unintelligent chats ;)

So here I go with all things inconsequential…

8 things I’m looking forward to:
1. Sleep
2. Sleep
3. Sleep
4. Sleep
5. And after all that sleep I’ll go shopping
6. Once I’m done with that I’ll attend my niece’s confirmation
7. Once that’s done, I’m gonna get wasted. The week has been hell.
8. And then some ‘TLC’

8 things I did yesterday:
1. I did (not) have lunch.
2. I peed several times I think. Blame it on the water and the blasting A/C in the conference room.
3. Worked on humungous presentations (I fail to understand why we do this!)
4. Disturbed my lungs with some stuff
6. Left office at 12 am.
7. Had a long late night drive (the bloody sun roof was a bad idea)
8. Spoke to my Maa (She’s excited as she’s on her way to Mangalore)

8 things I wish I could do (and I hope to do):
1. Have a baby! (I don’t want to wait long at all!)
2. Travel the world (How I wish if it could still be possible to do this in just 8 dollars)
3. Get myself inked (Soon. Very soon.)
4. Be someone who matters. Not just little, but a great deal.
5. Just be a good human being (I don’t think I’m one. It’s pure hard work you know)
6. Educate a girl child (It’s fulfilling)
7. Just be ME! (Most of the time I am what everyone wants me to be)
8. Experience love in its true essence again ;)

8 shows I watch on TV (seriously, why’d this be in a tag?):
1. Grey’s Anatomy (I’m loving the McDreamy and McSteamy bonding)
2. October Road (I don’t know why, I just watch it for the heck of it)
3. Jimmy Kimmel Live (I like Uncle Frank :D)
4. Frasier (the reruns are on MBC 4) – I practice my vocabulary
5. New Adventures of Old Christine (She has lost the Seinfeld touch, Ms. Elaine that is)
6. Seinfeld (the reruns are on One TV) – Who doesn’t love Seinfeld? WHO DOESN’T???
7. Friends (the reruns are on MBC 4) – My laughter pill
8. Kitani Mohabbat Hain (yet another Pride and Prejudice take…) – I’m just wasting time.

Any more tags out there?

It's time for the bunny to gift some eggs...

2009-04-12T15:42:00.000+04:00

It’s Sunday and I’m invited to this sumptuous family lunch. It’s not an invitation but more so an obligation. But me loves this obligation sometimes. Why? Coz folks, it’s Easter today.

There are 4 things I love about Easter:

1) The simple fact that it’s Easter, what bigger reason can there be?
2) It’s a Sunday and I’ve a holiday (And if you’re surprised why I have a holiday on a Sunday then you’re just not reading my blog enough!)
3) It’s back to non-vegetarianism
4) Will soon be gorging on my sis’s amazing pork ribs made in Worcestershire sauce (the name is a mouthful, really!) in an Indianised version (we need spice you see)

So, we’re gonna have this big lunch and a few cousins and their families are invited. I’m sure each one of then will be getting a dish as well. It’s been more a tradition in the city since the last few years, all the big festivals always read the venue as: Flv’s place.

As far as I’m not supposed to slog in the kitchen, I’m absolutely fine with this tradition, but as tradition goes, I’m supposed to wash the dishes every single time after the meals, every single time! So whether it’s the starters, the main course or the dessert, all of them have to use that one plate, otherwise they’ve had it. That’s a tradition as well, me biting their heads off :)

But this time, our darling cousin Char is pregnant. So I’ve to do more than just wash the dishes. I don’t know about most of you but it has always been drilled in our heads that one should give a lot of respect to pregnant women (they’re almost on the verge of having a 2nd life you see), take care of them, offer them seats in buses and trains and if they wish to eat any damn thing, their palate should be taken care of. And the last point is very important; we don’t want the kid salivating all the time afterwards (Is this really true or just one of those superstitions I’m supposed to believe?). So as Char’s parents are in Bombay and as she’s younger to all of us, Maa has asked us to take special care of her. It’s a good thing that we love her so much, hence, so far we’re listening to her every whim and fancy and so, for the Easter lunch amidst all those various dishes, I had to enter the kitchen and prepare my ‘famous’ chicken frankfurter chilly fry. She has been feeling like having it for some time now and it was dangerous to ignore that wish any longer. And all of you, don’t read this with a gaping mouth, I can cook okay, albeit it’s very, very rare. Gawd! How I hate to cook :(

So having done my part in the kitchen, I’m here giving you the updates about Easter lunch. Wishing all of you a peaceful Sunday and an Easter egg to each one of you from me. Rejoice and be happy. Why? Didn't you just get an Easter egg now! Seriously.

Got to go as I can see my favourite wine being served… (It's 3.30 and still no sight of lunch :()

P.S: Sorry Ms. Speaks, I do not know the recipe to make Easter eggs, I always buy them from the bakery :)

What's in a name, after all?...

2009-04-08T11:50:00.000+04:00

I totally agree with Shakespeare but I’m sure Sanjay Jumaani will equally disagree with him and me but who the hell cares about that huh! Though there was a time when he got me totally hooked on numerology and had me so depressed. Arrrgh… (This is the reaction for having one of those unlucky numbers!)…

The other day I discovered this site (Thanks to my niece! You see what I do with my time? Nothing); and just for the heck of it I wrote my name to check what it’d show me. And this is what it showed. Check it out and let me know if any of you can figure out my name. You don’t have to do it you know, decipher my name that is. But my blog needed this halka pulka stuff :)

(This is how my name is spelt in sign language, almost giving it here!)

.....---.....

(This is my name in morse code. Note it! If you ever lose your way in the sky, sms my code to the air traffic guy)

(This is my name in Marine Flag language. Seriously, is there a language like this? I learn new things every single day)

(My name as a Barcode. Do you think it will be any different if it was yours? Seriously man!)

Moreover, my name is arithmetic buddies with words like; Undefiled, Congenial, Gullible, Diligent, Eminent, Pious, Bouncy, Eccentric, Funny, Helpful, Relieved. This clearly shows that the sample study went seriously wrong somewhere. Whatever.

I also just realized that the meaning of my name is a flower and incidentally, that flower is the name of my Maa. No doubt I'm her derivative.

I’ve a cool country song in my name which most of the times is played as a part of a medley during those long jive competitions (atleast it used to be played during my college days). My name (with an extra letter) is also a step in the dance form ‘Lindy Hop’. This is one helluva dance form.

And if someone wants to be mean to me, they pronounce my name like one of those famous breakfast dishes that I hate so much. My mom does that every time just to tease me :(

And now, if you have some time to waste, go ahead and play with your name :)

Special note to the people who ‘think’ they know my name: Please, shut your …..! ;)

Note to self: Still, you're one narcissistic bitch!

Criminalisation of my mental space…

2009-04-06T14:28:00.000+04:00

Why do people do this? Why do they think that they know you so much better than you know yourself? That they’ve figured your life better than you could ever do. Oh boy! This is exactly what I’ve been waiting for all my life; advice from a self-proclaimed Shrink.

Why the effen do I entertain these people? Oh, but I do! Against all my wishes, I have to still sit amidst that big circle, hear blaring music in the background and the clink of glasses. I wish I could just say NO once and for all. I wish I could just be indifferent. I wish I could self inflict a state of oblivion and drown (I can’t swim, it’s easy) myself in it (Escapist? Don’t you dare?) But I can’t and so, as expected (by them), I just sit there and hear it all. And this is one of those times when my mental space refuses to befriend my state of thought. You too, Brutus! I wish hard to be completely spaced out but that traitor-like-unsupportive-mind of mine just does not relent. I can hear each and every word that is spoken and try as much as I can, I just can’t blank it out. Oh, how I hate the power I allow people to have on me! Familial or not!

And if they think they’ll be able to do any good by saying such stuff (presumed to be for the good of moi) they’ll have to be disappointed. It isn’t as if I’d love to defy just for the sake of defying but only because I totally disagree with the way they think I should live my life. Is this what I need? A validation from my so called distant family (the lexicon has got it all wrong, why the hell distant is not distant in reality but so bloody near, literally?!); who claim to think that they know too well what I’m missing in life. I know it too you know, right now I’m missing my vodka shots!
Why do they think that life is picture perfect and why is most of them of the opinion that life can only be ‘picture perfect’ at a fixed time and a fixed age? Perfect? Yeah, I know. It is a joke. Ask Jennifer Aniston if you may. Seriously, who let these vicious morons out?

If only I could register an FIR against them. Will these people continue to be free to do what they do – committing a blatant crime by torturing one’s mental peace and occupying my mental space with their hurtful comments?

I think, therefore I’m single. Did you get that? Now just leave me alone! Let ME be.

THE END.

2009-03-31T22:41:00.000+04:00

Update: I knew I wasn’t very good at it and to some extent this stint didn’t prove me that wrong either. Hmmmm… + thinking very hard here + :)

Did you all have a good April Fool’s Day? :p
+Sheepish grin and holding a peace sign +

Till we meet again. Through my next post yaar, phew! :D

+ Singing April Fool banaya toh unko gussa aaya, yeh mera kya kasoor zamaaney ka kasoor, jisne dastoor banaya… + Lol! - Can you hear that?

Thank you.

12.01 am (2nd April, 2009) ;)
==================================================================
Like all good things, bad things need to come to an end as well.

So keeping with the tradition I thought it was high time I stop torturing you all with my obscure thoughts.

But not before I tell you all that it has indeed been a pleasure to read all of you and share few special virtual (read commenting here please) moments with some of you. I’ll still be reading but yes, I shall not write anymore.

So, this blog finally comes to an end. Maybe someday I shall return and start writing something that will indeed make sense to me and will also be a pleasure for your eyes and mind.

Thank you my blogger friends, I sincerely mean it! There will always be something about all of you (and your blogs) that will always, always stay with me. So many wonderful blogs. So many beautiful thoughts. So many positive vibes. So many funny moments and so many eerie feelings. Thank you for caring and thank you for just being virtually around. Excusez moi, I ain't a poet.

It has been fun meeting few and I’m sure someday I’ll meet a few more, as I’ll keep twitting around.

A beautiful word from one of the books (Eat, Pray, Love by Ms. Elizabeth Gilbert. She might have finally found what she was looking for by the end of the book, but I didn’t find much from reading it. I guess I’ll have to make a trip down Bangkok – Amsterdam – Ibiza to find what I’m looking for and hey, it’s definitely not what you’re thinking right now. Tch) that I read some time back and I so fell in love with it; ‘Arrivederci’ my friends- see you on the other side.

That’s all, folks! :)

Love you.

12:01 am

Why does MURPHY hate me so much?…

2009-03-25T19:25:00.000+04:00

I need to keep a study schedule and when I’m that desperate the alarm just does not ring on time…
He knows I can’t survive without coffee and just then ‘BRU’ decides to get out of stock…
He knows I need the Internet 24/7 now and it keeps cheating on me all the time. I have to change my research methodology, you idiot; can’t you be supportive?
MACH is down at the wrong time. Still had to drive all the way to the capital just to say ‘hi’ to him and the car’s A/C went kaput! 2 ½ hours trip (each) back and forth, go figure!
Was in the capital on Tuesday and missed the book fair just by a day. Great!
The director keeps calling me every hour for things like censorship of visuals. Either he does not know the guidelines, or he does not have eyes to analyze (include a mind to that as well!) or is plain stupid to know that he needs to check with someone called the ‘MEDIA’. Whatever. He just hates it that I’m not slogging in front of my comp, if only he knew! (Have you wondered why we always feel our bosses are incompetent fools? Is it really the case or are we plain frustrated?)
The director (knowing that I’m home for a reason) still continues to send me pressie’s on the new account – cool, I’ll now have to do the research on ‘Why girls (can’t say women coz the target audience here is really not above 30, I wonder why? There’s really something wrong here! We prefer masstige brands, don’t we?) prefer the long lash, long lasting volume mascara?’ Do you have any tips?
Sleeping on the sofa has given me a neck ache. Why now?
Hunger pangs. Wanna have some Maggi and yes, you got that! Cylinder is empty (is that how we say it?). Had to wait for 3 hours till I could feed myself.
This morning my watchman comes and informs me, ‘Madam, aaj current do ghantey ke liye bandh hoga?’ Kyun nahin? Go ahead, I was already planning to do that on Saturday during the ‘Earth Hour’ (But Murphy, this is the desert and winter has eluded us long, long time ago! Are you even listening?)
Missing Maa, I’m feeling like fish curry and rice. No, it has nothing to do with him here :(
I need another cup of coffee now…zzzzzzzzzzzz

P.S: I’m all high on caffeine and the oily hair just does not make a pretty sight! Ahhhhhhhhh…I hate Murphy too!

Raise a FINGER...

2009-03-21T04:29:00.000+04:00

… and get your hand cut!

It’s not me; it’s the son of the vegetarian goddess who said that! She sure could not manage to keep his vegetarian habits intact.

Oh my, my Maa just won’t like this. She needs that hand to stamp the vote on. She’s more of a fan of the ‘hand’ than the ‘lotus’.

Finally, Mr. Varun Gandhi gets noticed! Yeah, poor chap! How long could he have possibly stayed under the shadows of the other handsome Gandhi’s huh? But, is this really how he should have gone about to get attention?

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar must be finding it extremely difficult to comprehend as to why is it so difficult for all these stupid old and even stupider young politicians to understand his written constitution. I’m sure my niece could do a better job in explaining its tenets to all of them.

I don’t know if it more shameful or just plain sad to hear our young politicians make communal speeches like these. I ain’t a jounalist so I’m not going to adopt that safe word ‘alleged’ here. Sue me if you dare. Or just leave the ‘Barkha Dutt’ on me. Whatever. On the other hand, as the law of the land states, he’ll just be seen as not guilty until proven otherwise. But do you think the visual tape lies? Doctored huh? For now the rookie politician continues to protest his innocence by maintaining that he has been a victim of a political conspiracy. According to him those are not his words and not his voice even. Not his voice? Did he hire a voiceover for better effects? He is asking the nation to stand by him. Stand by him for what? To cut their hands and slit their throats! This is some novel way of asking for votes and running our country. Tch.

Hmmm…well, let’s just give him the benefit of doubt for now and think that maybe the speech is not his fault. Politicians don’t have a rational mind you see, if they had, do you think they would have become politicians? No offense Mr. Milind Deora, I seriously love you and infact, since I last heard you, you’re almost my hero now. I guess it is that bloody speechwriter of his, so let’s just go and first find the main culprit here. There we have it all out in the open! Varun is definitely the victim; it is indeed his speechwriter who is at fault. The London School of Economics (LSE) teaches science and economics you see; how could it then be possible for Varun to be able to decipher the tough grammars of Hindi language? Poor victim.

Or, I’ll just have to tell my family to start packing their bags and be ready. Yeah, I agree, just reading it makes it sound funny na? So imagine this Gandhi’s audacity to state that he’s going to make the non-saffron people pack their bags and send them on a long vacation to the neighbouring country. Yeah, this is his manifesto to his voters during these elections. Just take a look at this sample of people who are all gearing to run our country, and if we have the worse coming our way, they just might do it!

But for the time being, and as it’d have been expected, the rats have scurried away and left the sinking ship. At least for the time being! It’s politics you see, you can never be sure about the new twist and turns we might have the privilege to be privy to. To show how credible the party is, the BJP vice president has given a statement that the complaint has been made to the Election Commission and that the ball is now in their court. Still in their court is it, STILL? What happened to all that bull about moral code of conduct et al? Oh I understand, it’s just there for good reading that’s about it! Right?

I’m getting a bit scared with all that is happening these days. It was fine earlier you see, we could always take solace in some of the facts and say our politicians are uneducated, old, uncouth and so on and so forth. Now what do I say to this new gentleman on the block? Far from getting my vote (not literally, I so wish the consulate here had made arrangements for that!) he won’t ever get my sympathy either.

And the icing on the cake that continues to increase my fear is what the leader of their ally has to say. Mr. Thackeray, the old one, the one who is 80 and still blissfully ignorant is all full of praises for this new Gandhi. For now, ‘ha Gandhi aamala chalel’. Yes, this Gandhi will do for him, coz he’s just doing exactly the same thing as what the sena have been doing and will continue to do in this country – create communal wars! It’s just another sainik in the sena.

But pay good attention Varun; nobody is going to take that threat of yours seriously. And just as all recalcitrant kids do, the sane people of India will not just raise their fingers, they’ll give you one too. They have years of practice of doing exactly the opposite.

And that’s exactly what I’m doing right now, giving you the finger! Gotcha!

Hold hands, will be penalized!

2009-03-18T15:56:00.000+04:00

The city has issued a new list of prohibited public behavior.

What’s a little more in an already stuffed overflowing bowl, huh?

I’m all gearing to be penalized. Wouldn’t be able to afford to let my nephew cross the road across the mall without holding his hand now, can I? I did reprimand him for getting taller than me at the age of 10. Not much that he can do; he says it’s all in his genes! Wonder where this theory disappears where I’m concerned?

And all this because a horny white (am I being racist here?) couple wanted to do it on the beach! Did they have to take the drink seriously, or should I say literally? Well, who could blame them; what with rents skyrocketing I guess they were left with no choice than just a sandy dark space, any dark space.

Sadly, their send-off wasn’t all that bright either.

Addendum: Read the article and more here.

S.E.L {and not the H.U.N.K (s)} rocked on…

2009-03-13T23:23:00.000+04:00

In the last 2 months I’ve seen the city host a number of events. This really is not healthy for our purse strings; they seem to have worn out completely lately.

We had the Jazz Festival, Shreya Ghoshal and KK were there last month (very bad show but KK was cool), just attended the ROCK ON! Concert last night and I still have Cirque to check out! And I shall very soon!

I’m glad to see that at least creativity is not being recessed ;)

Talking about the concert of last night, I have to say that for once the city’s crowd impressed me. They totally rocked the stands! But I was not so happy with the Rock On boys, I’m so glad S.E.L were there and it was totally worth it. Else, I would have fought with the organizers to return my money back. No way will I accept these lucky by 'original story, concept and some good acting' boys to cash on on the success of the movie, have a concert and not even do a wee bit friggin justice to it!

I was surprised to see one of my French colleagues attending the concert. I didn't know she would be there until I saw her at the ticket counter just before the concert. It seems she loved ROCK ON! …the movie (the subtitles helped a great deal) so much that she just had to see our hero Farhan Akhtar. Well, I too so much wanted to see him. This movie indeed was revolutionary in terms of it’s reach and target audience. Spoken just like a marketer. I didn’t get to see her after the show and as it’s the weekend I’ll look forward to hearing her disappointment on Sunday. But if she enjoyed SM’s performance as much as I did, then I’m sure she’ll conclude just like me, purey paisay vasool!

I’d earlier seen Shankar Mahadevan perform more than a year back, he was here with Sunidhi Chauhan for the Diva and Don concert and he impressed me even then. He is a powerhouse performer. He is a master in Carnatic as well as Hindustani music.

I'll tell you what I liked the most at this concert:

Shankar’s astouding energy and his breathless sargam’s and riveting Jugalbandi with his band.
Ehsaan’s amazing skill on the guitar. The guy stood continuously on the stage for 3 hours and played non stop and everyone could see that he loved having that piece of instrument round his neck while his fingers made seductive love to it.
Loy stood the same time and weaved his magic on the keyboards. Btw, he plays the mouth organ like a dream. You’ve got to hear it to believe me.
Luke Kenny’s amazing effort while belting out the cult song ‘Roadhouse Blues’. Arjun Rampal called him the desi ‘Jim Morrison’. Yeah I know, it probably sounds blasphemous to rock music lovers and JM would have literally squirmed in his grave if he had heard that! But to be honest, Luke Kenny does have a good voice and I was pleasantly surprised listening to him. Not bad at all!

If you ever get a chance, do watch a Shankar Mahadevan live performance, this man is a genius. Truly a rock star!

As for the things I did not like. Hmmm…

Arjun Rampal in white pants. Dude! What were you thinking? Still, he looked hot, really hot! But that’s it! He was just eye-candy, and I don’t have any complains. He however did a cool job of miming on the ‘real’ guitar. He was totally in character :D
Farhan Akhtar is a bad singer. He sounds good only in a recording studio and on a CD. If it weren’t for SM giving him a bit of backup vocals, my ears would have had a serious complaint. Plus, he wasn't his funny and witty self and I missed that.
Mr. Purab Kohli was drunk. The only thing he was asked to do was perform the ‘I will Survive’ song and he couldn’t even do that. He just flirted with a girl in the front line and before it could get any more embarrassing, the band started playing ‘Merey Laundry ka ek bill…’

Seriously guys, you all shouldn’t have stepped out of the screen, at least the dream would have lingered on a bit longer…

Overall, it was a good start to the weekend and it’s always a pleasure to be a part of a good Bollywood musical evening :)

So, how are you spending your weekend?

My eternal love...

2009-03-11T13:09:00.000+04:00

It’s funny how she makes them adhere to her rules even today.
No sleeping after 7am and no long afternoon naps…

The timetable was always set. Dare they go against it? It felt strict but they knew it was fair. She is fair. Come what may there was no compromise on the study time. It was a different question altogether that she didn’t know how to read or write. They cheated. Oh yes, they cheated, that two hours of study time was mostly spent reading Archie’s, M&B’s and Sidney Sheldon, hidden behind the covers of their notebooks.

Did she doubt? No she didn’t! But she finally achieved exactly what she aimed for. They felt guilty and tried even more hard during their exams. If they ever scored less, she lectured. She lectured so bad that it went way beyond the normal 45 minutes; no one was spared in her classroom. Mission accomplished! They felt so small. Dare they repeat it again? Hmmmm…they thought twice, sometimes even thrice.

She bought a balance in her girls. She gave them the freedom and she trusted them with it. She is smart this woman! The trust made the girls use that freedom with a lot more responsibility. For one, no boyfriends were entertained in an empty house then :) She has had to work very hard most of her life. She didn’t have much choice then. She fought the system hard and she fought it fair. She didn’t reap any benefits but then she has a never say die attitude. She tried tough alternatives and provided each one of her girls the basic education they required. Her words were stern but filled with complete honesty, ‘Girls, if you want to make your lives better, go ahead, work hard and get that higher education you need, don’t do it for me, do it for yourselves.’ That was the best piece of advice her girls could ever get. Till date they know too well that nothing can ever be taken for granted.

She knew life would be tough (what life isn’t huh?) but she provided them with the much-needed emotional support. Support like this can sometimes move mountains and there is nothing melodramatic about it. She has an amazing zest for life and believes in miracles. Her belief is so strong that you just can’t help but believe in her beliefs. She is indeed special :)

She is independent in her thoughts. She has a say and when she does, she better be taken seriously. She’s tough though she make look petite. There’s not much that can escape her; so the girls always make sure to take off the tags when they bring home their shopping. She is lively and every single person who meets with her is charmed by her kindness. The friends of her girls will vouch for it! She is the local agony aunt (for the elderly only) and completely involved in social service. She believed in giving back even when she had little. Once the girls almost thought that she would run for the local parish elections, she has that ability you know. People listen to her; really listen to her! She’s a complete people’s person. Her girls are often amazed by her brilliant PR skills and chide her about it. But then she prefers keeping a low profile :D

She has a dozen siblings (yeah, you better believe it!) and is loved by each one of them. She makes a strong point sometimes to keep the girls in line. They’re often reminded that if she can handle the moods of 11 brothers and sisters then two between each one of them should be a piece of cake. How can you argue with that now huh? They don’t. They just try harder and if it gets worse, they close the door and have their catfights, but they are not allowed to pull each other’s hair anymore, nails on hands and face are fine.

She has grown with her girls in the reverse order. Strict when they were in school, a friend in their teens and she is their cool buddy now.

She’s stubborn and she takes great pride in knowing that she has passed it down to each one of her offspring’s. She thinks it adds to their character. Or at least her girls make her believe that! ;)

She has recently painted her new home and the color in each of the rooms is in identification of each of her daughters. She has painted the living room in wine monochromatic color, that’s coz the eldest loves that color, plain and simple. One of the other rooms is painted in yellow as she feels that her 2nd one brings forth light in each of their lives and the color reminds her of her resilience; a new day, everyday. As for the last room, it is in blue monochromes, coz she wants her youngest to be calm, cool and not lose her temper all the time :D Didn’t I tell you she is smart? In short, she just wanted a colorful home, she has a penchant for weird multicolor :) Her girls are not girls anymore but ‘beautiful’women, who are so proud of their mother and love her very much. Thank you for everything Maa and thank you for being our best friend.

Here’s wishing our loving and amazing Maa a very Happy Birthday and many, many, many more to come…

The only superwoman I’ve ever known in my life …
My strength and my weakness…
Happy Birthday Maa
You mean the world to me
My loving creator, I love you
Now and forever…

"I am not a perfect mother and I will never be. You are not a perfect daughter and you will never be. But put us together and we will be the best mother and daughter we would ever be” -Zoraida Pesante

P.S: Happy holi folks! Let there be color in your lives always :)

We, the women...

2009-03-06T22:41:00.000+04:00

And our alternative dictionary…

So many clichés have been heard, some argued, some accepted but the fact of the matter still remains that women indeed are esoteric creatures.

The author of ‘Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus’ will vouch for it, Mel Gibson while staring in the movie ‘What Women want’ will vouch for it (did he seriously go thru’ all that ‘waxing’ pain?). I’m sure you Men will vouch for it and we Women graciously accept it as well. Coz it’s true that sometimes even we don’t know what we really want or most of the time what we really mean to say. It’s not very often we say what we mean – we love presenting men with cryptic challenges. Believe me, I always wonder why it is like this but then I also know too well that I’m just too complicated. Too complicated! I think we’re like this only. Imagine what interesting careers men could have in an intelligence department? Years of deciphering cryptic clues surely would make them fit the bill. Don’t you think?

The other day at work while we were having our afternoon coffee and cursing over the fact as to why the tickets to ‘Cirque du Soleil’ (Oh, I so desperately wanna see this show!) were so expensive (and this we really mean it! Loud and clear!), a colleague of mine started complaining that her boyfriend just does not get what she wants or means to say. Another colleague of mine in the hope of consoling her just blurted out the truth that maybe, just maybe she isn’t downright clear when she speaks. She could always start with thinking first, spend some time there, and then speak. Ouch! Oh my, she definitely didn’t like it. Yaar, half the time even we don’t get what she says and we are supposed to get even those things that aren’t even spoken. Now don’t we have that ‘rare’ over imaginative brain of ours working over time? Her poor boyfriend...

Anyway, moving further, it just made me think and collect and put forth to you some of the most interesting lines which we women say but need not necessarily mean. Well, if Oxford dictionary doesn’t help you, here’s the one that possibly could…

Wanna know some of our synonyms, here they are! Read them, you’ll just find it helpful.

When we say:

30 ish = 39 already
Voluptuous = we could almost be fat here
Professional = Bitch
Athletic = No tits
I am sorry = you'll be sorry
We need to talk = you're in trouble honey
Open-minded = Desperate…hmmmm, did you get that?
Feminist = FAT (Don't look at me like that! I'm a member of Fitness First)
Average looking ?? (What do you think? You fill this one)
Emotionally secure = On a lot of medication (Tell me about it! ha!)
Free Spirit = Junkie
I understand = WTF are you talking?!

And the ones which you seriously need to understand seriously:

Do what you want = Don't you dare, you will pay for this later. Oh yeah you will!
I’m not upset = of course I’m upset, you moron!
You’re very attentive tonight = is sex all you ever think about?

Yes, I’m a very professional woman ;)

F*CK YOU (VERY, VERY MUCH)...

2009-03-01T12:46:00.000+04:00

Courtesy: Ms. Lily Allen

Validation: Yours truly!

I’m feeling elated. Why?

Well, I just discovered a new song today. It’s such a happy angry song.

Just thought I’ll do a belated dedication to my Valentine M(on)ister. Muthalik. Oh yeah, please look into your tiny, tiny mind dahling!

You’ll find the lyrics on the sidebar at the right. Hear it if you wanna feel as good as I’m feeling right now.
:)

…scars you for life!

2009-02-26T11:11:00.000+04:00

Ironically, I’m seeing a lot of heartache around in February than I’d see in any other months. Well, I know for sure that it has nothing to do with poor Saint Valentine.

Not much of it makes a difference to me coz I know by now that this has somehow become a norm in some of our lives. I don’t know if ‘norm’ is the right word, but I know what once bitten twice times shy is all about. Or maybe I’m plain chick (I like this word better than the one you’d probably use for me.)

But when I see someone going thru’ all that pain at very close quarters then I just can’t seem to be all that indifferent (though I want to!). My CD is going thru’ one such ache at this moment. Honestly, I dread these conversations. I’m so sure that I won’t be of much help here. All I can do is listen and just be there. I’m not very good at that either coz I don’t know when to pause and when to go hmmmmmmm, especially when that person is right there in front of me.
He walked into my office the other day and as usual just went about swearing at everybody who crossed his path. This is normally normal so I didn’t think that anything could probably be amiss. For an ex (I don’t think I can call him an ex but I’m sure he won’t read me) copywriter, he does not do a good job with his language. His sentence isn’t complete without having the word ‘fuck’ atleast 3 or 4 times. He literally abuses this word as if it wasn’t abused enough. He comes by my desk, stares at me and tells me to fuck off with my brief (Trust me I was imagining this line in a complete different way). He always finds my deadlines preposterous. I’m often reprimanded for not understanding that creativity does not function within a time parameter. No…na… na… I just can’t remind him that it’s an advertising agency where creativity is always in a hurry. If I do that he’ll shove his awards down my throat. So I keep quiet and only wish he could say that to the client than argue with me. Well, he knows better so it’s always gonna be me who’ll have to bear the brunt.

I just ask ‘Kya hua?’ He gets all defensive and says, ‘Kyun? Kuch hona baaki hai kya?’ I’m lost. I’m often lost where he’s concerned. I tell him to fuck off and start staring at the so called preposterous deadline on my brief. He still does not move, I look at him and there, he’s smiling down at me. I smile back and ask him very sweetly ‘Kya hua, dear?’ From there on it is total downhill. Dumped guy, feeling angry and oh so depressed! It’s bad. He sits on the floor and tries to rest his head on my shoulder. That’s the only way I can lend him my shoulder or he’ll just end up with a strained neck. I don’t think my shoulder helped much it’s too tiny for his large head, literally. While he wallowed the only thing I seem to think was how cool Issey Miyake smelled on him. Don’t think too much, I just have a good sense of smell!

So he can’t think (doomsday isn’t far for the agency), he can’t sleep; he’s drinking as if there’s no tomorrow (how does he manage that hangover, he still looks so damn good every morning?!) and doing stuff which I didn’t know could be done in this city. I’m so passé. I’m learning, and I now know exactly whom to contact when I’m down.

He told me he’s going thru’ a phase – a phase similar to one of a man who knows he’ll die soon. He calls this phase DABDA (No, he hasn’t invented it; it has been well explored by Kübler-Ross in her classic book On Death and Dying. Don’t ask me more, research and read about it and tell me more!). I think it seems to be working on him.

He was in Denial, was and is Angry, tried the Bargaining phase by trying to be like the way she wanted, guess it did not work. He is totally Depressed these days (I’m a bit worried) and I hope he’ll get to the Acceptance stage soon. (Ms. Speaks, I must admit it was your last post that made me write this one)

I totally get him. But then I ask him, after acceptance what? Seriously, what? Do we learn anything or are we once again susceptible to experience these stages? He smiles at me (he looks so cute when he smiles, but it’s so rare) and says, ‘Well, I’ll fall in love again, soon’.
Really girls, be kind to the guys. Please.

Chalo, all is not lost and hope still prevails. I’m so glad that he can still think like this. And then I look into his eyes. There are some people, when they laugh you can almost see their eyes twinkling. The happiness or joy or whatever the reason for their laughter is (in his case it is so evident when he gets a client to release one of his pro-active creative’s, he gets so bloody ecstatic!), is more seen as a 35mm film in their eyes, and this is what you notice more in them than the smile on their face and he’s one of those people. Sadly, I don’t see that twinkle now. The heart is kind and will forgive and will take a chance again, but the scar, the scar will always be there.

One of my fellow blogger's has this very positive line on her blog. It says, ‘What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger’ and I know she truly believes in it :)

But for me, there is equally another truth; ‘What doesn’t kill you, scars you for life!’

Was I always this cynical?

My poor sore eyes...

2009-02-22T13:24:00.000+04:00

Again, it has nothing to do with conjunctivitis; it’s just my poor eyes that feel sore. You ask the reason why?

Well, this is because I totally abused my eyes to watch a whole lot of movies during the weekend. Why did I do this? Now that is a whole other story. The Oscars – a new idea – a new brief – brain storming – task team -etc. Can’t say much coz we’ve been taught to not count our chickens before they’re hatched.

Here’s a low down of the movies I had to see and yes, they are definitely not reviews just some snippets;

Doubt: I can only talk about performances in this movie. Meryl Streep only gets better with every movie; she totally gets you involved in her character and makes you believe in what she believes. There is only one scene of Viola Davis and man did she give a ‘stellar’ performance or what? I’m sure you’ll find your eyes a wee bit misty when you hear her anguish and I can clearly see why she is nominated as best supporting at the academy awards. I really could not quite figure the end but if you want, do watch the movie only to see these two performances.
Curious Case of Benjamin Button: I think it took off where the movie ‘Jack’ left. If Robin Williams grew older 4 or 5 times faster in ‘Jack’ then Brad Pitt only grew younger by the year in this movie. I don’t know what most of you’d think but I don’t think his performance is good enough for Brad to be nominated in the ‘Best Actor’ category (Btw, I already have a strong hunch that ‘Sean Penn’ is gonna nail it this year!) But there is one thing I just could not ignore, how can he possibly keep looking soooo damn gorgeous? Gawd! He was looking smoking hot in one scene. Maybe it's air brushed and retouched but man! Those eyes and lips just keep haunting you long, long after.
Slumdog Millionaire: Yes, I finally watched this movie! There were so many reviews around, a few angered, some overtly effusive that I didn’t feel like watching this movie earlier. I hate the hoopla around a movie, completely makes me lose my interest. But then I read few lines on Ceedy’s blog and I totally agree with what he had to say. It was this that made me go ahead and see it and yes, I must say not a bad movie at all. I don’t think that even in my wildest dreams will I ever do what young Jamal Malik did to just get an autograph of Amitabh :D, fan or no fan! But I still say, and this is for my other expat friends, Slumdog is as much an Indian movie as Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a Spanish movie. Go figure!
Vicky Cristina Barcelona: I wonder why Woody Allen makes movies. He’s a bit like our good old ‘Dev Saab’ but atleast Mr. Allen still has a good casting choice. Sadly, all the stars are totally wasted here. Ms. Cruz does give a crazy performance (just like her character) but unfortunately whenever I feel shez amazing, the dialogues are delivered in Spanish. C’mon, how do you then want me to keep my train of thought? My best scene: you’ve got to watch the pick up line of Javier Bardem when he introduces himself to Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson. That’s a first I’ve ever heard! :) It was just an ordinary movie and the one thing that I could totally relate to was Scarlett’s state of mind: ‘I may not know what I want but I definitely do know what I don’t want’. Oh yes!
Delhi 6 (nothing to do with Oscars here): And where Scarlett left that thought, our Ms. Sonam Kapoor picked it up from there. Or maybe, it was Mr. R. O. Mehra (the name’s just too long!). She uses the same line towards the end of the movie. As for the movie per say, I don’t have much to say. I had huge expectations what with the last being ‘Rang De Basanti’ et al, but this one was a total bummer. I can only say, ‘Please for God’s sake just get the monkey off my back!’ What do I mean by that? Well, you’ll just have to see the movie to understand.

It’s time to go find that rose water that my sister advised for my poor sore eyes.

Prudence. Anyone?

2009-02-18T23:37:00.000+04:00

No, it has nothing to do with ‘The Beatles’ song.

I haven’t been prudent about a lot of things in my life and the last thing that would fall in this list would be the word, ‘savings’. Earlier, there was always this thought that there is time and savings can always happen sometime later in life, maybe when I earn a lot more (Btw, this never happens. You know human needs, Maslow’s theory, etc) and some other times I used to think what the heck is the need?

Who knows what will happen tomorrow (Remember? Road, walk, bus...thud! Okay, I'm sure you got that) so why get yourself worried when you could most probably leave behind money (if only) for others to enjoy at your cost. No, being so altruistic is no fun at all!

What is important is today! It sounds good (especially if I can just go and get those shoes from Nine West) and I so believe in it but at the same time some of my good ‘prudent’ friends went ahead and told me that I was being nothing but stupid.

Being the geminine that I am, I always have my other ‘not so stupid’ side reserved somewhere at the back of my mind and so, sometimes I relent to this good sense of others. Couple of year’s back I got a bit serious and started doing something more than just save; i.e.; invest. I felt all matured and good. People were investing left, right and center and so I went along and got a Pan card done and got myself few mutual funds and ULIP’s over a period of time. My friend SP who is a financial analyst called me crazy and was of the opinion that all these investments are just a sheer waste of money (how helpful of him!). According to him, by doing this I was just helping to finance other people’s projects. This was seriously funny. Does he even know what financing means? Me? Financing? I wonder what kinda analyst is he? I've heard he's good though.

Another good friend of mine who was doing the same those days excitedly told me to create a portfolio on moneycontrol.com so that I could monitor my meager investments. Once again, I relented. Like a child in a candy store I totally loved seeing how my cheap chocolate chip units were doing and it felt good to see them in green every single day. Well, that is not the case now; they’ve all been murdered and are bleeding red :)

But the funny thing is, these days almost every other day I get an e-mail from Moneycontrol.com telling me how my portfolio is faring. Honestly, I don’t need this info. The site did not do it a year ago then why the heck is it doing it now when I know that the only sign available on it is a ‘minus’ and their fave color is ‘red’? Bloody arseholes just want to ruin my day!

Anyway, don’t let a novice like me dishearten you all and let’s hear what the most optimistic and successful investor in the world has to tell us.

The following article appeared in The Financial Express dated Feb 15, 2009. This is an excerpt of Mr. Warren Buffett’s advice to all of us in 2009.

'Every new year, I adopt a couple of old maxims as my beacons to guide my future. This self-prescribed therapy has ensured that with each passing year, I grow wiser and not older.
This year, I invite you to tap into the financial wisdom of our elders along with me, and become financially wiser.

Hard work: All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. (Hard work? What happened to all that smart work theory?)
Laziness: A sleeping lobster is carried away by the water current. (I’m doomed!)
Earnings: Never depend on a single source of income. (At least make your Investments get you second earning) – Hmmmm…How? Really, how?
Spending: If you buy things you don't need, you'll soon sell things you need. (Chalo, consumerism will be back again. Buy-Sell-Whatever)
Savings: Don't save what is left after spending; spend what is left after saving. (Hmmm…what is this?)
Borrowings: The borrower becomes the lender's slave. (HSBC, thou art my master, I bow to thee)
Accounting: It's no use carrying an umbrella, if your shoes are leaking. (No rains = No umbrella, no leak here. Period.)
Auditing: Beware of little expenses; A small leak can sink a large ship. (I don’t even need a calculator)
Risk-taking: Never test the depth of the river with both feet. (Have an alternate plan ready) – (Can’t swim, will never test anything)
Investment: Don't put all your eggs in one basket. (Okay I won’t, I’ll just fry them sunny side up)

I'm certain that those who have already been practicing these principles remain financially healthy. I'm equally confident that those who resolve to start practicing these principles will quickly regain their financial health.'

Now, doesn’t he make it sound so simple and easy? C’mon, it is coming from Mr. Buffett, how can he possibly be wrong? Feeling better?

The 'death' bite…

2009-02-15T17:34:00.000+04:00

Last weekend I saw the movie 'Teeth'. If you read about it on wiki, you’ll find the whole story right there scene by scene. This is one mother of all spoilers. Wonder what the makers and distributors have to say? On second thoughts, maybe this could just work for them (DVD rent sales); it’s so explicitly written that I’m sure you now just wanna check the movie out!

The movie had some gruesome scenes and one of them almost made me throw up.

The only thought that lingered in my mind after watching this film was; will having Vagina Dentata wipe out the word ‘rape’ from the face of this earth?

Just a thought, what do you think?

Addendum: I figured if Jhayu is lost then I might as well go ahead and spoon-feed. I’ve linked the plot of the movie in the post; maybe it will get a wee bit easier to understand now :)

Let me get it out in the open…

2009-02-12T12:14:00.000+04:00

No Qualms. I’ve never been questioned on the name of my blog before until now. On the other hand, even when I’m asked something like this and don’t feel the need to explain I normally just ignore the question or conveniently change the topic to other things interesting, at least that is what I think.

Well, I don’t need to explain it now either, but I was quite intrigued by the person’s perception (he also thinks quite a lot) towards the name of my blog. Of course I did not agree to it but at the same time he got me thinking again. That is because at some level what he thought about the ‘phrase’ also made sense, not necessarily in the same way though as to why I had thought about this name in the first place.

But then, there are quite a number of synonyms to one word and that is why the English language is so interesting most of the times. Interpretation of a phrase can have various connotations and this is so true especially in advertising. I’m sorry, it’s an occupational hazard I always end up making advertising analogies.

Chalo, let’s kill the suspense along with perceptions. There is nothing exciting or a hidden agenda in this phrase. Nor am I feeling forlorn about someone lost or something elusive. No deep dark secrets (a little maybe) or pain. At the same time I’m not feeling smug et al about all things going great for me or that I give a damn about all the shit around me and have absolutely no friggin qualms about anything. Maybe it’s a bit true and maybe it’s not all that false either. Anyway…

Time to end the surprise… Ta dah…

The name actually was a tease. Few years ago when my friends and I were travelling north, we went through a lot of travel problems (we still go thru’ it every year) – as it was our first gang trip together I wanted everybody to enjoy it and not be stressed with all these problems. We decided to make the best of the budget hotels, topography, cold climate, etc, etc, etc and every time someone complained I used to say, hey, no qualms yaar, let’s just get on with it. By the end of the trip I was termed as the ‘No Qualms’ girl and every time some stuff happened, they looked at me and screamed No Qualms (Okay, try it! Scream loud and say the words, you’ll feel so much better …lol!). I kinda got used to it and started enjoying the laughs and laughed along too. It was good for my soul. This trip is one of my most memorable ones (as of yet) and hence I titled my blog with it to keep reminding me of ‘good times’ – Hell, this sounds like a Kingfisher ad!

There you have it! Now, didn’t I tell you I wasn’t all that esoteric? :)

No Qualms ya, just chill.

So, is it still regressive? :p

P.S: Post dedicated to ‘the one’ who thinks. Thank you for reading, I appreciate.

And to dust we shall return…

2009-02-08T00:29:00.000+04:00

Oh, those carefree days. Those days when the only thing that keeps bothering you is attending that early 7 am lecture…

Those days when the only important thing that you think you’re doing is sitting with your friends and sharing your inconsequential grief’s; boring lectures, bad canteen food, one sided love and the anticipation of rose and ribbon days…

Those days when you meet friends that you know will stay with you forever. Atleast some of them…

Those days when you start living in your own dream filled realm. Dreams that are so important coz you know that they will some day define your future…

Those days when you promise each other that whatever shit life throws at you, you’ll all be there to clean it together…

And then:

The day when dreams meet with the stark harsh reality of life mid way and you give in…

The days when you think, c’mon, nothing’s lost, there’s still love around…

The days when you become the perfect woman that your man wants you to be, though it may not be the ‘real’ you…

The days when you strive to be the perfect wife, mother, sister, daughter and a friend…

The days when you sometimes reflect and find all your dreams to be just a blur…

The days when you’re still by your friends with that perfect ‘smile’, enjoying their new joys and hopes…

The days when you still want your friends to find true love and bask in their happiness …

The days when you’ve to bear the news all by yourself and know that you’ve to still be strong…

The days when you bear in spirit the jagged knife pain and wipe the sweat from the forehead…

The days when you have dark circles round your eyes and sleep is as elusive as ever…

The days when you’re just sitting still and watching the seconds' hand moving on the clock…

The days when you feel so lost and hopeless that you scream and ask ‘Why me?’…

The days when you say to yourself, ‘No, this is not how I dreamed about it?’…

And finally, the day when you feel you’ve lost everything. Everything.
Rest in peace dear soul, RIP…

And you my dearest friend, I pray that you shed tears and let your sorrow flow. I know you’ll stay strong. I know you’ll find your peace soon. I know you’ll be happy again. I’m sorry we couldn’t stop life from being so cruel. I’m sorry we failed you.
Love you always.

Just an afterthought: I don’t think one should ever compromise and live life for others. I don’t think one should ever give in just to make their loved ones happy. Live. Just live for yourself. If you’re happy, truly happy with the way things are around you, I’m sure all the people who love you will eventually be happy for you. How long can they stay angry huh? Happiness begets happiness…

Puking some thoughts...

2009-01-26T12:58:00.000+04:00

Met my friend SR for a drink over the weekend. It was unsettling. Not the meeting but the parking lot. It was a weekend and the most happening place was deserted. Not something I’d have liked to see.
The moods suddenly got somber and try as much SR just could not elevate mine. As we both pondered on the situation, while I was a little bit positive about the fact that things would get better by the end of the year (purely emotional, I know for sure that I just don’t possess an ounce of economic sense), he went ahead and jerked me out of my reverie by stating the Zimbabwean episode. Please don’t ask me the details; it’s dismal; read about it if you want. 1998. Mugabe’s regime. Hyperinflation. Is Obama planning to ask the Mint for a new something? I don’t know…

Not a start to the weekend that I’d expected.

Do you think if a person is really very very ill and if there is absolutely no cure from the pain and sickness, the person should be granted the freedom of euthanasia? I do not have an answer to this. I just feel very sad and hurt when I see that loved ones sometimes literally wait for the person to die who is suffering in pain. Yeah, I know that this makes sense but do I agree? No, I don't think so. I feel as if it’s just inhuman on my part to even have a thought like this. I know it's easier to be out of the circle and ponder over the answers to these questions than really understand the pain the loved/close ones are actually going through. Guess I'm just a stupid spectator who just thinks without any concrete reasoning.

Realised something, again; without good health on your side, no amount of money can ever make you happy and if money ain’t used in the time of someone’s need, there’s absolutely no value for that money at all!

Still not a good weekend! I think I need an overdose of N2O.

Don’t wanna end on a sad note so here’s something that could probably give you a tickle.

Walked in office this morning and was just about to enter the creative department and bang! I see a new poster on the door. It read, ‘Virgins not allowed’. Well, for once my creative director did not have a preposterous demand.

By the way, have you ever noticed the packaging of a ‘Snapple’ bottle? I personally think the copy is cool. My fave is the Strawberry Kiwi flavor. I drink this drink quite often than I should and have this weird hobby of collecting its cap. You’d ask what could be interesting here. Well, for one, the copy on the cap makes me smile. This is what it says on the top of the round blue cap;

SHAKE ME BABY! (the curve on top)

SNAPPLE (In the middle)

REJECT ME IF BUTTON IS UP/SEAL IS BROKEN! (the curve below)

MADE FROM THE BEST STUFF ON EARTH. ™ (Seriously, it’s a trademark!)

And just as you unseal/button down/or whatever, take a look at the inside part of the cap and you'll find some real cool and amazing facts like;

In summer, walnuts get a tan. (Quite a revelation!)
The brain of Neanderthal man was larger than that of modern man. (Hmmm…nothing’s changed really)
Women blink twice as often as men. (No use. Men just ain't gonna disappear like this).

What? You aren’t amused? Well then, I’ll just stop.

Recessed thoughts…

2009-01-20T13:32:00.000+04:00

I definitely did not like this convo...

AH: Still, wasn’t it cool to drive to work this morning?
M: *with a puzzled look on my face* Cool? Why? It was fine and relaxing, yeah…
AH: Hell, it was awesome! There was absolutely no traffic on the road.
M: Oh yeah! That was cool.
AH: Do you know the reason why?
M: Hmmm…maybe we still have the folks vacationing; it should get back to normal soon.
AH: Hell no! It’s b’coz of the layoffs. How cool is that? We can now drive in peace.
Me: Shut up you friggin asshole! %**&&^^^
*Shake my head and walk away before I perilously feel compelled to leave a mark of my ring on his face* you’ve no idea what the size of my ring normally could be.

I may perpetually complain about the city’s traffic (that is totally my prerogative) and blame the government on its present incompetence in finding a solution, but I just cannot bring myself to enjoy these free and clear highways because of this reason. No. Never!

Btw, I’ll go back to him a little later and give him a piece of my mind, i.e.; as soon as I can stop this smoke that’s emitting from my ears. Gawd! He’s gonna squirm to death.

And the lamenting continues…

2009-01-18T21:28:00.000+04:00

So space, how’ve you been doing? Well, enough of the breather, time to get font-ed again.

I feel rejuvenated et al; have to say this coz I’m just back from a real long vacation. I treated myself to it after a year and a half. Yeah, I totally deserved it!

Had lots of highs and a wee bit of low, but don’t wanna discuss lows in this space for now.
The highs were visiting Sikkim (was back with a sore butt (sssheeessshhhh! Don’t get any ideas, it was the bloody bumpy bus and car rides) and a damaged knee), roaming the streets of Delhi while waiting for a train delayed by 12 hours, peeping into Siliguri and Kolkatta, white water rafting (did a dare by jumping in the ice cold river, mind you, I don’t even know how to swim. Am I not cool? ;) Hey, I can almost hear you calling me stupid, not that I care anyway), furnishing my new home, getting a gift voucher to a foot spa (AromaThai is heavenly. Ask for a masseur and be prepared to experience nirvana (almost!) for two hours instead of the allocated hour. Hmmmm…and I so love you VK), meeting with few absolutely new (awesome) people with some cool and some subdued (ouch!) sense of humours. It was a pleasure to finally see the faces of some writings. Love you guys. I now have some more numbers saved on my mobile :)

First day at work today, few hours at my desk and I already feel as if I hadn’t left this place at all. There is no place for disorientation in an advertising world. Got a new account and have absolutely no idea what I could possibly contribute. Baby milk – next best thing to breast-feeding! Now, how would I know that huh? Atleast not to a baby, not yet!

Anyway. Feels good to be back in blogville. Will put up some pics soon. Wanna see moi or the scenery? :p
So? How have you all been? Tell me all.

Take a break, have a…

2008-12-16T11:15:00.000+04:00

…HOLIDAY! :)
Happy holidays folks! Take good care of yourselves and play safe.

I really don’t know what you’ll be doing in the next couple of fortnights’ but I hope you all give yourselves a break (not from blogging that is! :)).

It was good knowing you’ll in 2008 and I hope 2009 isn’t any different, i.e.; I’ll still know you’ll ;)
I’m taking a break for now and will read you all sometime in Jan.
Don’t make any resolutions (or make, whatever!) and just stay the way you are. Complaining, cool and rocking! :)

Leaving you with few of my favourite lines from one of my most loved songs this year; the song is This Is My Now by Jordin Sparks…you’ve got to hear her!!!

There was a time I packed my dreams away
Living in a shell; hiding from myself.
There was a time when I was so afraid
I thought I’d reached the end.
Baby, that was then.
But I am made of more than my yesterdays.

I had to decide.
Was I gonna play it safe?
Or look somewhere deep inside,
Try to turn the tide.
Find the strength to take that step of faith?

This is my now,
And I am breathing in the moment.
As I look around,
I can’t believe the love I see.
My fear’s behind me,
Gone are the shadows and doubt.
That was then.
This is my now.

(I’m hoping that I’ll start believing in this soon, it feels so good while listening :))

Cheers!
P.S: I’m gonna be so cheerful in 2009 (I’ll try) ;)

It’s that time of the year again!...

2008-12-06T17:01:00.000+04:00

Chalo, kuch meetha ho jaaye…

I love December. Finally it’s that time of the year when I feel completely at peace with myself. Yeah, yeah, before you ask I too often wonder as to why can’t I feel the same during the whole year but then that’s asking for too much right?! Right now I don’t quite feel the usual December peace but I’m going to win over this feeling. I can be obstinate to the extent of being obnoxious.

It’s gonna be Christmas soon. I love Christmas. Don’t ask me why and please don’t spoil it by saying all those things that aren’t nice, coz Christmas is truly the time of joy and happiness in my life. I feel so good during this time. I love everybody. I talk to everybody. I pick my mobile and answer each and every person’s call. I do not get angry and most of all I try and make peace with everybody around. Well, maybe not exactly everybody but I do try and send forth my wishes. After all I’m only human, I’m just a woman. I so love this hymn.

It’s time for yuletide, carols, cribs, stars, prayers, holidays and togetherness…

I’m so counting the days these days and I’m thinking of good moments now, like; setting up the Christmas tree, helping the chawl boys with the crib and the star and dreaming about my neighbours’ delicious coconut cake. Ummmmm, I just can’t wait.

This year Christmas was meant to be extraaa special, it will still be special nonetheless. It will be our last Christmas at our old home and we’ll be moving to our new home in the New Year. This will make us have even more of Mumbai in our hearts and over our heads :) There’s really something about Christmas Eve, infact it’s much more beautiful than the Christmas Day. I love attending the mid-night mass and like every year by the time we reach the church there’s not a single empty pew. We have a real huge parish so we have rows of chairs outside the church as well and even those get all occupied. I don’t know what we keep doing but we reach church sharp at 12 mid-night and then have to sit near the cemetery to hear the mass. My maa has given up on us since a long time. In a way it’s good, I feel Dad is sitting close by and hearing the mass as well. I know I’ve some weird imaginations. I’ve realized that it’s always chilly on Christmas Eve; don’t know why (yeah I know that it’s winter et al, but still). I feel myself shivering throughout the mass and then a good kind cousin of mine will give me his jacket just to keep me warm while I sit all cuddled between my cousins. I love the carols (though I’d prefer for the choir to rather sing them in the conventional way than the opera style they normally adopt during Christmas. Hello folks, whom are you trying to impress huh? I mean, seriously?) that are sung during mass and the rendition of ‘silent night’ makes me feel oh so warm inside. Once the mass is over almost an hour is spent wishing and kissing all those you know in the parish and then you walk home.

While we walk back home, we stop at each and every crib on the way (they all get unveiled exactly at mid-night) and every year I’m bowled by the way the cribs are designed. A lot of time and thought is spent on these cribs and I love to see the passion these guys put in every year. I just love the scene I see on the road. Kids holding balloons of various shapes and sizes, singing and swaying all the way, dapper guys, gorgeous outfits and amazing colorful sarees. The colors I see around me fascinates me. Lately though I’ve realized that quite a lot of them wear black, not a color my Maa prefers but I think black is oh so classic and beautiful. Black is an all time favourite.

Once we reach home we have a nice chawl party including all my cousins and their families who live close by. It’s a given that they are equally welcome :) you’ll find people of all ages and sizes present at this party. Each and every home participates by bringing out sweets, drinks, food and everyone keeps talking at the same time. We have some real cool in house DJ’s who keep churning out some cool music throughout the night. My best part of the party is when I see moms, dads and grannies dancing. My maa loves this time of Christmas Eve and I love to see her smiling and dancing. Yes, I’ll miss this place a lot. My favourite time is to sit on the verandah with my cousins and greet ‘Merry Christmas’ to all the people who pass by us after the mass. This goes on for a long time and we’ll be sitting on the verandah till the wee hours of morning till we see parishioner’s going to church for the morning 6 am mass. I don’t think we’ll ever get to do this once we start living in an apartment.

I always thought it was high time to move out of the chawl but I don’t think the chawl will ever get out of me now.

Yes, I love Christmas. Not because it is just another festival but because of all that it symbolizes to me and because of the love and warmth I feel around during this time. I love December. I love Christmas.

And it rained, finally!

2008-12-04T01:10:00.000+04:00

The city had its first rain today. Atleast it rained on the route that I traversed on.
Since the last couple of days the weather has been cool, makes me don my jacket and wear my close pairs again. No need to stress on painting toe nails these days.

I love the rains. I miss the rains. I miss hot coffee and the verandah when it rains. It rains only for few minutes here and if we are lucky enough, it will rain for an hour and if we are unlucky it will rain for 5 hours and lo! There is utter chaos everywhere. The less said about the city’s drainage system the better. There is the Burj here and the Palm but no big drain for the rain. So in a way the city should be glad that it only rains about 5 or 6 times in a year.

We are looking for a long weekend from tomorrow; it’s the 2nd Eid. I headed down to the supermarket after work today and while I was busy filling my cart I could hear the rains falling. I quickly rushed to the counter, paid by bills and rushed out with my cart. While everyone was waiting for the rains to stop to enter the parking lot, I wheeled my cart out and walked towards my car. In just a few minutes water had reached till my ankles. I don't want to talk about what happened to my new pair of shoes, but it was great to feel the rain on my face. Someone wanted to desperately give me company and feel the rain on her cute 1-year-old face as well. She was sitting in her trolley while her grandpa tried hard to protect her under the canopy of the parking lot. He tried to cover her head with a small towel and she kept taking it off her head. She was one stubborn cutie and I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. By this time I was completely drenched and my groceries were wet. Well, atleast it saved me the trouble of washing them.

Drove back home with the windows down and it felt amazing to feel the soft cold air against my face. Thank you lord; thank you for sending the rains just when I wanted it the most. Time for some hot water and honey.

Is it really over?...

2008-11-30T18:41:00.000+04:00

I know that a lot has been written since the last few days concerning the barbaric act that happened in Mumbai. The blogosphere has been amassed with write ups and somehow the solidarity in thoughts makes me feel that yes, even if it is only during testing times we do stand united and it makes me feel that this is one time we Indians follow a common path (what an irony?) and that is of ‘being just human’. I truly, truly want to believe this.

However, the only thing that I’ve been thinking all this time is why did this all happen? Who is a terrorist and what makes a terrorist? Will having a right political system or deploying a regional security group in each of the state or beefing the security at our ports ensure us in all entirety that we will be rid of such attacks in future? Will we really be able to evict the root of all this bloodshed and mayhem?

No answer for now. I’d like to have one soon though. Guess it's too much to ask. It scares the shit out of me when I think about the state of mind these terrorists are constantly in for them to behave in such a manner. It is indeed true that a ‘terrorist’ has no face. We have all heard the statement of the terrorist who has been caught alive; he categorically informed the police that he had absolutely no regret of his actions. If this is how terrorists think all the time then the extent they can go to to destroy humanity is totally unfathomable. There is no fear, no love and absolutely not an ounce of emotion in them, atleast not the positive ones. Yes, humanity is seriously threatened. And when we know all this, do you think we will ever feel that we will be able to rise above all this by just triumphing over our sieges for the time being? Do you think this world will ever be safe?

Nothing to say coz I’m sure that we’ve all been glued to our TV since the last few days but I’ve been reading few articles on some other online sites and honestly, people out of India have a complete different perspective about these attacks and I’m totally confused with the information that is now floating around. Read this article here. What do you think?

Yet another page turned…

2008-11-21T01:00:00.000+04:00

We are so different, yet we still manage to stay in touch.
The credit is all yours coz if left to me the number on my mobile would just gather dust.
You ain’t funny, but you are there when I need you.
You ain’t stupid either, but I know I’m mean and irritate you to no end by calling you that.
I’m sure you’ll be glad not to have your shirts soiled with my glycerin anymore and doubly glad will be your shoulder as it will finally have some peace.
Well, I hope you’ll manage to not get bloated coz without me around I don’t know who’ll keep you grounded. I pity the people around you from now on.
I’ll miss you dear; I’ll miss you very much.
I knew 2008 wouldn’t be any better and you just proved me right.

My very good and best friend MACH is moving down under. Well, for now he’s gonna be stationed there for the next 4 months but he’s definitely gonna prepare the ground for himself to get himself settled there forever. That has been his dream since I met him and that was quite a long time ago, hence, I’m happy for him and once again I’m happy to see someone go after one’s dreams and achieve them.

That also does not mean that I’m not sad. Oh yes, I’m gonna be very down for some time coz I’ll miss MACH a lot. It’s a bit difficult for me to imagine him not being around or a phone call away. I do not quite like this change and once again, I’m reacting exactly as is expected of me. When I know someone is now going far away I get even more viciously possessive and it’s not very easy for me to let go. Yes, it’s weird, but it takes me so long to make friends and trust them completely that losing them to a distant place is definitely not part of my best laid plans.

Still, I’m not that selfish so I’ll be happy and be a part of his send-off party and yes, dance with him to glory.

I met MACH during my not so high period in life and he’s been rock solid since then. I’ve been his best (girl) friend and he’s been my best (boy) friend. We have supported each other on all our good and bad decisions. The decisions have costed us a lot but we have still managed to say ‘cheers’ at the end of all our failures. We have been insanely jealous about each other’s affairs and have enjoyed telling each other ‘I told you so’. I know for a fact, when one of your friends falls in love and has a girlfriend, then be ready to get ignored and treated like just another guy. You’ll be in a restaurant and he’ll ask his pretty girl what she’ll like to eat and he’ll just hand me the menu to fend for myself. And no, I’m not the kabab mein haddi kinda third wheel but I do expect some chivalrous behaviour, makes me feel like a lady. When he calls during one of his new love in his life, it will just be ‘Hi, you know what she said to me yesterday?’ As if I’d be interested in the details. Whatever. No decency at all to ask or say ‘Hi Still, how are you, how are things?’ Nothing. Absolutely no interest at all! When will the men understand that we women need our attention? Anyway, when we retrospect now we just burst out laughing at all our idiosyncrasies. Hmmm, it has been fun most of the time.

He has used me as his chauffeur many times as a pure punishment for throwing him out of my car once coz he was pissed drunk. I completely acted out of character that one time, sort of a paragon of virtue and threw him beech raastey. He holds it against me till date and I squirm and hate myself for it till date. Oh yes he’s tortured me by having me say sorry 120 times. It’s okay, he’s my friend, I should have understood his need and dropped him safely home to sleep over his drunken stupor but instead I didn’t even wait to see him get into a cab. Hey, be soft, I can hear you judging me! Yes, I can be the worst friend one could ever have…sometimes. I hate my temper and my attitude sometimes. I really hate myself most of the time. MACH was kind enough to forgive and I was smart enough to repent wholeheartedly.

Come December 8th, MACH’s gonna leave the city, probably forever. Chalo, in a way it’s gonna be good. No more random stupid calls in the middle of the night, no more airport drops and pick-ups at ungodly hours and no more fights with bouncers. Yes, life will be peaceful.

Now every time I smell Joop I’ll remember him. Every time I’ll eat sushi I’ll remember him. Every time I’ll see ‘Strongbow’ I’ll hate him coz he’s got me hooked on it now. Every time he’ll smell Pleasures he’ll remember me, every time he’ll go bowling he’ll remember me, every time he’ll hear a Bollywood number he’ll remember me and every time he’ll see an Indian girl he’ll remember me. Yeh kuch zyada ho gaya na? No, I’m 100% sure that every time he’ll see a short and dark Indian girl he’ll definitely remember me. And every time he’ll manage to hit a dance floor, there’s no way he’ll not remember me. I just hope he does.

So yes, he’s gonna not forget me soon and I’ll remember him till I manage to forget. I hate good byes but I guess life will force us to say this to each other. Distance. It’s not easy and I hope we’ll keep in touch regularly. I think I should ask him to start blogging. So there, another friend who’ll just turn into a memory. Time to write a new line on a whole new page again.

Take care MACH. I’ll miss you and I’ll totally miss Srilankan music too :)

I always felt that the great high privilege, relief and comfort of friendship was that one had to explain nothing - Katherine Mansfield.

माला dare नाही आवडत. नक्की! ...

2008-11-16T19:38:00.000+04:00

आज माला मराठी पोस्ट लिहायच्या, परन्तु मी क्या लीहू?

क्या लीहू? मी क्या लीहू?...

आज माज्या मनात खुप प्रेम आहे. का? माहीत नाही.

आचार्य. आज माला खुप आचार्य वात्या. का? माहीत नाही (for want of words perhaps)

स्वप्न. एक मुलीचा स्वप्न
हातात गुलाबाचा फुल आणि मनात प्रेम

सर्वाच्या प्रति स्नेह
तिच्या स्नेहात अत्यंत आपुलकी
हे देवा, माज्या मनाची इच्छा पूर्ण कर
दे तिला तिच्या स्वप्नाची मधुचंद्राची रात्र आणि सुखात दुब्लेले दिवस :)
हो, स्वीकार कर ही माजी विनम्र प्राथना (where are the zzzz's?)

P.S: Please, please do not ask me to translate. The maatras have been traumatic. This is my marathi nibandh. I have learnt s’thing today, it’s better to go for truth than a dare in future. Phew!!! (My toughest post ever!)

Shed expectations, feel liberated…

2008-11-10T23:22:00.000+04:00

There was one thing that my sis Ve told me time and again, ‘Still, never have expectations from anyone in your life, just yourself and even then, don’t take yourself seriously’. I don’t know why she said it earlier but yeah, few years down the line I did understand her reason.

My constant argument has been; why the hell should I not expect from the people I love? Whom can I have expectations from if not from my loved ones?

Expectations. They make you want more all the time. I don’t know if it’s wrong but it sure makes you feel sad, very sad when it’s not shaped as per your perception. I may understand, I may accept, but will I stop thinking? Tough luck!

What is it really? Is it love that makes you expect? Can love ever be devoid of expectations? They say love can be unconditional, but can it really? Or is it that by saying unconditional, one is only just trying to pacify themselves by acting all sacrificial and high and mighty, making oneself feel that they are way better than stupid mortals like me. What is unconditional? Wanting and expecting the best for your loved one. Huh? Is this unconditional? I don’t know why people complain when they get love. They complain when they don’t get love too. Well, this I can understand. But when they do, why do they make it painful? This is one time when I hate smart analysis. Aren’t we just blessed to find love? Can’t love conquer all? If loving someone makes you want for that someone to be happy all the time and want the best for him or her, then why can’t you be the one to do it? Why can’t those thoughts translate to action? Why? Why lose on this beautiful feeling by talking about past and its excesses?

Why not just live in the moment and enjoy and appreciate the fact that how damn blessed you are to have that someone to talk to any given time of the day, share your weakness and draw strength from, watch that horror movie and have those arms to hold tight, make long conversations even when it’s totally embedded in silence and still feel satisfied that you’ve been understood, take those long walks and have someone to just hold your hand. Have a car breakdown and know exactly whom to call for a lift and not get any excuses. Ohhhh to feel warm even on that cold chilly night. Just to know that you have someone in your life for whom you’ll do anything to just see the smile on their face and the love for you in their eyes. Now, why can’t I expect this? Huh…

An avalanche of questions! And no, honestly, I don’t need any answers.

No expectations, no hope. Oh yeah, I’m l-i-b-e-r-a-t-e-d! Aha, my serendipity…

Feeling loooooooooooooooowwwwww??? Try this!...

2008-11-05T17:23:00.000+04:00

When you’re really feeling down in the dumps, oh so dowwnnnnnnnnn, then call a friend over! A friend who’s feeling exactly like you or make him/her feel exactly like you. How? Just put forth a sad story, which you should have coz you’re feeling down right?

With the friend on his/her way, take out your collection of ‘FRIENDS’ and ‘Little Britain’.

Take a bottle of your best Mexican tequila – the gold one and not the white!

While you’re watching remember to have your shot glasses ready with some good stock of triangular lemon cuts and salt and keep downing tequila shots one by one.

Watch FRIENDS first. Watch the episode where they all are supporting Rachel to find a job, watch the Valentine’s day one where they burn all things that they thought was love but still wasn’t (it’s quite satisfying, honest), watch the one where Rachel turns 30 and they still make her feel good (believe me, you’ll need this support when you turn one), watch the one where Chandler and Joey are missing each other when Joey takes a new place, watch the one where Chandler and Monica are having an affair and Joey is blamed for his stinky undies, watch the ones where Phoebe keeps singing ‘Smelly Cat’, watch the one where Joey is learning French (How can you not laugh here, Joey’s oh so so cute!?). I think I’ll stop now. I guess you’ll have a smile by now, slightly blurred vision and feel a bit better when you keep hearing the song ‘I’ll be there for you’ between episodes.

When you feel a bit better; start watching ‘Little Britain’. There are so many scenes that can crack me up in this sitcom, but the scene that makes me laugh out loud any time of the day is the one where David Williams is in a bank scene and he keeps saying ‘The computer says No!’ (You’ve gotta hear me say this, writing just doesn’t do it justice). This scene is hilarious! You’ll laugh till you have tears in your eyes. Better still, download this tone and use it as your message tone and believe me, you’ll crack up every time you receive a SMS. Those who don’t have it, contact moi!

Now if you still don’t feel better after watching ‘Little Britain’, then therez seriously something wrong. You’re not just down but something more. You need to see a shrink immediately. So, go, scoot!

Else, just take larger tequila shots. In a while you’ll feel numb and you’ll be in limbo. That’s why you need that friend so that you get to bed intact and not fall asleep while your head’s still on the toilet seat.

Feeling better, anyone? No, please don't complain about the hangover, we'll deal with that the next day, there's only this much I can take for now.

P.S: Better call a friend who’s just a friend and not the one with benefits. It will defeat the purpose of this experiment. If you hafta go to work the next day and feel like therez a ton of bricks on your head and you’re walking like a zombie, then go look yourself in the mirror and say, ‘Stupid, couldn’t you have at least waited till the weekend!’

360⁰ Calling…

2008-11-02T18:35:00.000+04:00

Let’s talk about work baby…

Warning: Please ignore the post if you ain’t interested in advertising or anything related to it coz therez a lot of blah blah in my post and you might just end up getting bored and I’d hate that :)

Last week I attended a very interesting marketing meet that was headed by a very interesting gentleman (not only did he speak well but he looked amazingly hot – I normally don’t have the hots for Brits, I hear they are real cold but he was truly an exception and me likey loads ;)) who heads the Integrated Marketing Communications department of our organization in London.
The marketing meet had the agency’s servicing team and one of our top FMCG clients attending it together. The talk and discussion was going to be all about 360 advertising. This client of ours works in an absolute clichéd/conventional manner – 90% of his advertising budget is spent only on TVC’s. He is one from those schools of thought that preach ‘why should things be changed if they work well?’ Sadly, if this marketing director continues to think this in the coming years he is bound to soon bring doomsday to the brand, at least in this region. I would agree that what worked, worked well earlier (infact this is also a fundamental rule that needs to be abided for certain types of advertising, e.g.; the before and after kinds ) but I don’t think one can afford to rest on their laurels now especially coz media as a medium has given birth to several forms in the last couple of years, and if one does not disseminate their message through all these available channels (of course after proper TA study and their psychographics) I don’t think the brand will continue to retain its current position in the market for a long time.

The reason I thought about writing this post was simply to affirm the learning of this meet (for myself, as my clients just don't listen to me) which I have been quite certain about since some time now, as well as the result of what I read recently in a book called 101 tips on account management. Of course, during the meet we as an agency did our best to drive into the skull of our client of what new ideas and mediums he needs to consider and how we as an agency will help him get there, all he has to do is have the right budget in the right place. And mind you, we really are a practical team here, we did not ask him to increase the budget (we utter one word in this context and he’ll just go ballistic), we just asked him to rework on his allocations. Now how great and sensitive of us is that!

Well, we tried not so hard to convince him and even gave him the following scenario as to why TV should not be the sole media as it definitely does not attract sufficient right eyeballs by itself.

Just try and imagine, what were the different Medias that you consumed, or came across yesterday since the time you woke up till the time you drew the curtains and went to bed?

I’m sure you picked the newspaper while you sipped your morning cup of coffee/tea.
Just turned on the TV to catch up on some bytes while you dressed
Got in your car or the bus or the car pool or your bike and listened to the radio. I don't know about you guys but in my city, one who travels needs to imperatively listen to the radio if they want to avoid traffic, else, hell could easily break loose. I’m a classic example. It takes me more than an hour to reach office and if it weren’t for the radio I would just go crazy. It’s total infotainment. (Someday I’ll write a piece about radio jockeys, traffic and the city, believe me it will be an interesting piece).
Hmmm, with all that time on the road, did you spend some time looking out at those various OOH creative’s. Come on, you just cannot deny it. When I travelled in buses in Bombay a long time ago, I had my head perpetually outside the window, that is if I ever got a seat, and if not, then I stood and bent down to look out of the window. Yes, I was always like that. I’ve almost had accidents in this city while I’m busy appreciating a certain billboard.
Alright, so you now reach office and you’re busy pretending to be busy while you browse the net and blog. Or simply answer comments on your blog. Or simply read your G-mail; check your Facebook, gawd! The list is simply endless!
Hey, did you forget your mobile? Imagine the countless bloody SMS’ you receive (I personally hate this, oh I so hate it!) in the day about some sales, new openings and god knows what. Even if I hate it and it may to a certain extent have some negative effects (irk the receiver, delete without botheration, etc), it is still a medium that is very effective in terms of cost and achieving your tactical objectives.
Then you spend some time during lunch reading a magazine. Every other month there is a new magazine launched in this city, can you just comprehend how message is even further disseminated here. It’s mind-blowingly crazy…the media here that is and not at all creative if I must say so. But what the heck, I still sell good ideas (?) and keep my clients happy (they have some taste!). I handle a luxury profile and luxury can’t fail you much, so I’d like to think. I know, I definitely ain't smart :)
Then maybe just by the end of day, you may go out for dinner or maybe catch a movie, visit a pub or just hang out. Let me tell you, these hang out places are amazingly targeted, it’s almost like Direct marketing :)

So in the course of 24 hours you have been exposed to motley of media and yes, this can only be retained if there are increased opportunities to be seen. Well, there is a whole different study here. But just at an outset, imagine how many avenues have you exposed yourself to than just TV. At the end of the day, maybe and just maybe, that is if you are not one of those fans of the ‘K’ serials you just spend about an hour or so in front of the TV. And not all brands can afford prime positions, so yes, different mediums at same/different periods or a whole 360 perspective can provide a brand ample number of chances to be noticed (wee bit of effective advertising message/medium) without having to lose their entire budget on TV campaigns.

So what do you think? Are you already on your way to 360? I think I’ll go tomorrow for a drink there; it’s a cool bar ;)

P.S: I could go on and on and on, on the promotional mix but I really think you’ve spent enough time on my blog for now. Merci!
P.S.S: Ever wondered about messages on T-shirts and blatant brand logos on clothes?

The Man I miss the most…

2008-11-01T15:55:00.000+04:00

A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty ≈ Author Unknown

I remember your smile
I remember your hug
I remember your love
I remember you

Those fabulous trips to Bandra Fair
Those fabulous picnics at Elephanta
Those fabulous discussions about report cards
Those not so fabulous sermons glacéd with love

I loved the way you looked at me
I loved the way you ate my uncooked vermicelli with a smile
I loved the way you prepared our favourite salad
I also loved the way how your efforts failed at a simple tea

I’ve learnt from you what family means
I’ve learnt from you sibling love
I’ve learnt from you what kindness means
I’ve learnt from you to be just human

You made me proud of your pride
You made me look up to you for the self made man you were
You made me tough with love
You made me want to be stubborn just like you

They say I have your forehead
They say I have your nose
They say I have your color
I say; I wish I had you in my life today

We share the same zodiac
We share the same temper
We share the same attitude
I wish I had some more shared moments to reminisce

I’m sad that I could not ask for your advice
I’m sad that I could not cry on your shoulder
I’m sad that I could not share my secrets
I’m afraid that I could be a failure

I know today that things happen for a reason
I know today that I’m privileged
I know today that moments matter more than years
I know today, and I accept

I don’t like November
I don’t like all souls day sometimes
I don’t like the reiteration
Yes, I don’t like November sometimes

I miss your presence
I miss your strength
I miss your warmth
I miss your thoughts
I miss your love
I just miss you Papa

Father! - to God himself we cannot give a holier name ≈ William Wordsworth

There is absolutely no pleasure in this pain…

2008-10-25T21:20:00.000+04:00

...And don't you dare argue, I know better...

I dread my appointments to the salon. Yeah, I know I sound abnormal, but I don’t give a damn and I still dread them. It’s been going on for years but it still does not feel comfortable. Why oh why do I go through this torture all the time? Oh the fallacy of this world in which we women are forced to give in, give in, give in…OMG! It’s an abyss.

The moment I walk in I feel as if I’m entering the torture cell.

She makes me sit for my eyebrows and I literally have tears in my eyes, I tell her go slow girl and she looks at me as if I’m out of my mind, gives me a fake smile, says a fake sorry and continues to thread even more faster. Just as she’s done, another one starts with the waxing and gawd! It hurts. I’m making all this oooh, aah, ouch sounds and believe me, they aren’t the good ones. My dark chocolate arms turned red, imagine how much that hurt.

It’s time for the facial and when I’m just feeling good enough to relax, she gets me out of my reverie by pricking my white heads. Ouch! She has absolutely no patience! She sits down to do my pedicure and I know that she is totally fed up with me by now. Few minutes and I can feel something is seriously wrong as I pull back my leg; she almost cut the edge of my right big toe searching for that elusive in growth. I don’t have it you idiot! I come to you every month, how will it grow then? Now I’m bleeding and she just has a sheepish grin on her face. What can I say; I just smile back with tears in my eyes and politely ask her for a band-aid.

I don’t think you wanna hear all the other painful stuff. But the joke of the day, just as I was leaving the salon, the lady tells me, the same lady who has seen me walk in and out for more than a year now tells me, ‘Still, I guess it’s time you dare a B*******n now’. I look at her for a minute and think in my mind, this woman has lost it, really lost it! She just does not understand her audience at all! Didn’t she hear me crying for the last 2 ½ hours? Being the polite so called cool-headed person that I am (you believe me na?), I smile, nod my head and leave. See you in a fortnight.

Special note to that character in Genesis: Eve, you stupid, stupid, stupid woman! Did you have to give that apple to Adam; couldn’t you have eaten it all by yourself? Look what you’ve got us into! Women, as usual, always want to share every damn thing with their men!

In retrospect the only time I feel good at the end of all this is when I come home and feel, hmmm, maybe I’ve just lost 0.025 kgs. I don’t know how exact the metric is, but yeah, it still feels good! :) Halka, halka sa lagta hain…

P.S: I wanted to write a happy, happy post, but the trauma of the salon lingered longer than expected and as usual painful irritating stuff results into posts.

I don’t know why I feel it, but I do…

2008-10-20T23:29:00.000+04:00

Have you ever had this feeling; sometimes eerie, sometimes exciting, that you know something will/could happen – with a person or a situation? A feeling that could be intuitive – it has nothing to do with the fact that you’re a tarot card reader, or an astrologer or the likes of it.

It’s just plain and simple you, your mind, that has nothing to do with the scientific dynamics (or maybe it is relative, but I don’t know what the heck it could be, atleast I don’t have a term for it!). No, it has nothing to do with the ‘premonition’ stuff that you see in a Sandra Bullock movie either, thank God for that! And again, it has got nothing to do with ‘sixth sense’ (again, not the movie, the real sense) stuff too, though it could be marginally possible.

What I’m talking about is that small feeling that normally emerges from the minute narrow crevice of your mind, which I’m sure, is placed at an extreme rear end. A feeling that has absolutely no definition to it. A sudden out of the blue feeling that either gives a shudder down your spine or an electrifying jolt through your body or some other times just a sad unfathomable obscure mood. Sometimes it is a feeling that tells you that something exciting is going to happen – you’ve no clue when, but when it does happen, you just reflect immediately and say ‘oh yeah, I knew this was coming!’ I so wish that this kind of indefinable feelings were more positive than negative.

I keep having these feelings quite often than I would like to have them. To be honest, I don’t even ask for them but I just don’t know when they bloody catch up with me. Sometimes, I really try to figure these feelings – either in terms of just talking it out or just plain TLC. But what would you do when you just don’t know what will happen but still have this eerie feeling that something could go wrong to such an extent that you don’t even want someone to take that flight or are drastically trying to get in touch with someone for hours thinking the worst until unless you hear that cool ‘hello’ at the other end? I know it’s silly (I do have a pragmatic side you know) but I still can’t stop thinking. I always wonder why nature takes us for a ride, couldn’t the call have been answered on the first ring?

Most of the time this sort of feeling has always made me feel low, ebbed my enthusiasm and made me think so much that my head painfully hurts (I’m so disapproving of Panadol and its counterparts that I really don’t enjoy this pain).

Sometimes when I have these feelings I try to ignore them and the person related to it as well. I think about the word ‘space’ and I exercise this knowledge. I don’t know how effective that would turn out to be coz most of the time that ‘space’ would result in a void, some other times I feel like confronting these feelings but then I get all apprehensive and think that maybe, just maybe, it could be my usual stupid-wild-out-of-proportion imagination. I’m not even good at this imagination stuff then why the hell does it keep coming back at me…

I wish it were good enough to write stories, atleast I could have made some moolah out of it. Sigh!!!

Picasso made a whole lot of sense with his abstract; hoping my writings could make atleast a wee bit if not more. I know, weird analogy na? :)
Hmmm ... planB@mercyofforcesofnature.hopefullywill.com(e)/thrusoon

Stupidity, Superstition, Sonu Ni(i)gam and Still…

2008-10-15T00:49:00.000+04:00

There’s nothing new to the fact that I’m one helluva lazy person and my best friend is procrastinate. It has been more than a month now that my car insurance has expired (I’m ALMOST a criminal these days – cancel the word ‘almost’ and read again!) and my registration needs to be renewed. Every weekend there has always been the excuse of having other important stuff to do (I can’t seem to recall any of them now), stupid chores, etc and as Maa was in town then, most of the time was spent at my sis Flv’s place. Loads of family stuff happened - taking a bit of a breather now. I didn’t tell anyone that I was late with my papers else, as usual; I’ll have the regular family lecture. I try and avoid these special moments as much as possible.

Last Thursday, as usual it was a nice sunny day and I looked forward to the end of it all. It would soon be the weekend. Got my car out of the parking lot and as soon as I was about to enter the round about – car approaching from left – me stopping – two seconds and BANG!!! I feel my car jump a few feet ahead and I press the brakes as hard as I can. Great! Just the lead up I needed for my weekend. Got out of the car and just as I saw what hit me, I realized my car was a goner. But believe you me, miracles happen! The hatchback of my car didn’t have a single dent or scratch. It is indeed a miracle if you could only see the sight of the SUV that hit my car. Looked up, thanked the Lord smiled at the handsome Arab (he was without the dish dash, so he can be handsome) and went my way. Plain lucky but how stupid of me!
(Just imagine: If my car was damaged – no insurance to repair it for free – I’d have to pay all the expenses – I’d be handed the red paper instead of green, so additional liability – worst of all, I’ve no idea how the law would have treated me, but I know for sure it’d have definitely not have been good)

Friday. Having lunch at Flv’s place. Maa in the background lecturing us to get ready for the appointment with our creator. Nephew trying hard to win the board game against his dad. Flv reminds me to take her car that evening so that I can have mine serviced and just then for information sake, I tell all of them the big bang story. Maa stops in her track and stares hard at me, Flv has her mouth open, nephew looks at me and smiles, and BIL asks ‘Are you ok and how is the car?’ I give him the news and Maa continues to look at me and sits down. She and Flv start with the lecture and then all of sudden Maa says, ‘We’ve had glasses breaking since the last two days, it was a sign, yes it was a sign that something bad would happen’. I look at her (she’s staring hard at me now) bend my head and really control myself from cracking up. Flv agrees with Maa and says, ‘yeah, I’m glad she’s ok.’ All of a sudden nephew tells Maa, ‘Mai, how about breaking 2-3 glasses more, I’m sure maushi won’t renew her papers in the next few weeks too – that should protect her then?’ I look at him and laugh out loud; I just love my darling boy! Maa looks at him, Flv smiles and BIL is grinning from ear to ear. I kiss his head and walk towards the bedroom to get ready for the evening…yeah, I’m smiling for now…

Finally!!! I get to attend a Sonu Niigam concert. On Thursday my roly-poly golu friend SB and I, actually SBR (I just can’t say Basu anymore, I need to use the whole hyphenated surname) and I will be attending the concert ‘Lord of the Chords’. SBR is my ‘celluloid’ confidante. We both love movies, plays and music. He watches a lot of Bengali movies too and has made me watch two – totally against my wishes (without subtitles, now how’d that make you feel?). I’m not complaining but I only wish I knew the language better. I love the Bengali language - almost feels like I’m eating Rosgullas (say it the Bengali way – ‘Roshgulla’) when I say the words ‘bhisham bhalo’ or ‘thikachi’ – now, is this Oriya? One look at SBR and you’d think that there are two Rosgullas stationed in his mouth perpetually. He’s got chubby cheeks and he’s really cute and oh so kind :)

I just love Sonu Niigam, I think he’s one of the most versatile singer in the industry today. I also love Shaan, KK and Kunal (only b’coz of bheegey hoonth) but I think Sonu Niigam is a class apart. I only hope and wish hard that he sings the song ‘Mujhe raat din bas mujhe chaahti ho…’ from Sangharsh. The rendition of this song can make me fall in … listening to it I go the ‘Aaj kal pair zameen par nahin padtey merey…’ way.
I wish they had chosen a better venue than the one planned. Sonu, here I come, woo me, my ears and eyes are all yours come Thursday…

Still these days is contemplating to get from point A to point B. She has accepted the fact that she is at A and wants to get to B. Soon, very soon! She is thinking hard and getting resentful. Why? She has no clue. Is it PMS? No, not really. She does not want to be at A and wishes to be somewhere else. Sometimes, she actually thinks she is somewhere else. Yeah, she tries to find solace often. As for point B, sometimes she has absolutely no idea where it is – or is it just a figment of her imagination? Still, you need to stop talking in third person…

Still thinking will be right back with Plan B :)

Inspiration within…power to heal…(wanna help?)...

2008-10-08T14:34:00.000+04:00

Don’t get carried away by the title, I’ve nothing to inspire you with nor can I help you heal.

But I need your opinion and I know you’ll be completely honest about it (I’m glad that you don’t know me and haven’t seen me so my smile won’t deceive you in being biased/protective/whatever… :))

One of my colleagues (soon to be ex) is professionally entering into Clinical Hypnotherapy (Again, please don’t ask me what it means, I’ll provide you with a definition though). Her designation – the line that normally appears below the name of the person (generally designed to inflate egos') now reads as, ‘Spiritual, Energy & Pranic Healer’ (all the time that I had spent on her talking marketing plans, budgets, brand concepts is completely a waste :), guess she was meant to do bigger things in life...). And just below this line, there was again a line that read, ‘Past Life Regressionist’. Aha, now this is what made me not ignore her e-mail!

Alright, with the introductions done, let’s get to the point.

I for one do not believe in lives – past & future that is, hence, no re-incarnation for me. However, I may now sound hypocritical here; I’m so intrigued by what this friend of mine has written that I really want to take this session now. I have absolutely no reasoning for my behavior so please don’t analyze me…on second thoughts, do what you want. I’m just plain intrigued and curious and now I just can’t stop thinking (guess it’s due to my hardcore penchant for thinking).
So,
a) Do you think I should take this session?
b) If you were in my place, would you take a session like this with a familiar person (she is a friend – we share a lot professionally, a bit personal but we don’t socialize) or would you prefer to do it with a professional who is a complete stranger?

I’m in two minds coz God alone knows what I could possibly blabber when hypnotized. For all I know, I could even curse her.

Hello, stop reading now and please tell me what you think?

[What is hypnotherapy?
Hypnotherapy is basically any therapy done in conjunction with hypnotic trance. It is often classed as a form of complementary medicine but is perhaps better viewed as a branch of psychotherapy. Hypnosis is not an occult or esoteric art; it is a scientifically acknowledged psychological and therapeutic discipline.]

P.S: Sorry for wasting your time. Can I add a smiley coz I wanna? Thanks :)

Till death do us part...

2008-10-05T23:32:00.000+04:00

She dreams of a life
Together for a life-time
Walks down the aisle
They promise
For better or for worse
Till death do us part

Few months
He walks in late at night
Steps faltering
Plops on the bed reeking

She thinks it’s rare
Blames it on stress
In denial that it could be a habit
What could be the reason but love?

For better or for worse
She still remembers
Rehabilitation and anonymous
She’s by his side

Dreams turn to nightmares
Finds herself barren
How can she bring a life?
Would it be fair?

For better or for worse
She had promised
Strong she is all by self, no cry for help
Never uttered a word of pain, never!

He promised
Clean he would be
She believed and continued to believe
How could she not, wasn’t it love?

For better or for worse
She’s bitter, prays hard for strength
Six years
Promise he did not keep

Dreams, her dreams!
Shattered into tiny pieces
She feels caught in a vortex
Suffocating and senseless

For better or for worse
Love lost, hate reigns
For better or for worse
Need death to intervene to do them (a)part?

P.S: Tahnk u fenidrs, u konw who u r & y.