Moving to wordpress

I am, in imitating all those wonderful friends of mine using wordpress, going to jump onto that blogging platform too.
I am impressed at the facilities available there and am shifting to a new url - http://bemusedthoughts.wordpress.com.

Enrique's Insomniac

Love him or hate him, you can’t really write this singer off. Perhaps less flamboyant than another Latin singer – Ricky Martin, Enrique’s songs usually deal with angst and passion.
A common criticism when it comes to Enrique’s albums is that his songs sound the same after a point. I agree with this, for e.g., the “Ping-Pong song” sounds almost the same as “Addicted”.
However, I also am still a huge fan, simply for the lyrics that he uses in his songs. Addicted, Bailamos, Rhythm Divine still feature in my all time-favourites. To this list, I now add another one – “Push”, from his new album – “Insomniac”.
His new album has been past due now, and he does justice to the wait through this collection. All the songs are something to write about and the gems in this album include Push, Somebody’s Me and Tired of Being Sorry.

Tender Heart- A classic

I love the song "Tender Heart" by Lionel Ritchie (of the "Hello" fame, for people who have not heard the other songs sung by him).
I am listening to it in the middle of the day and still find it as stirring as I found it when hearing it at midnight.
I especially love these lines -
"I never thought I'd be the one who would play the fool
But I know love can feel so good and can be so cruel
It's clear to me the writing is on the wall
It's clear to me that you don't really love me at all
.................................
.................................
We don't stand a chance
In this wild romance, my tender heart
Maybe it's wiser to walk away and love again
With my tender heart.
We don't stand a chance
In this wild romance, oh it hurts so bad
Knowing that I'm not the one you want
I can't hold on to my tender heart"

Ramblings

Ever got the feeling that things could be a dash better when it comes to life, here you are, going your own way, doing your own thing, when, something comes out of the blue to gobsmack you on your face, turning your beliefs inside out!
A cousin visited us yesterday, (of late it has been pouring relatives in our house), with her seven month old son, to visit my grandmother, who had returned to Chennai after a long time.
The poor mite was suffering from a cold and the mewls were pretty heart breaking, and everyone was fussing around. Now, I have never been handy around kids, I just do not know what to do with them. But this thing tore at me, he seemed to blame the adults around, almost bawling out, "Why don't all you lummoxes do something to cure me?", and I remembered how I would expect my mum to make everything alright when I was a kid, she was my invincible Goddess, and no one could hurt me as long as she was there.
Now I look across as she croons at her grand-nephew and see the longing in her eyes, and I know I am condemned, its not going to stop anymore with just "Get married soon", its soon going to be "Give us a grandchild soon"!!!
And inspite of all my hangups on marriage, I guess I do have something to look forward to, a little bundle of joy, the funny thing is, until yesterday, it was precisely this that made me say "No" to marriage all this time.

A little change

I have been asked a number of times whether I really keep in touch with all my friends, and unfortunately I had to reply in a negative.
I grew up in a hostel with 40 odd girls in my class and I am in touch with two of them (one of them being my sister).
I have said a hi via orkut to about 15 of them and I have no idea what the rest are upto.
As for my engineering college, I am in touch with two people again (about once a month, we scrap or message each other) and am more in contact with my business school batchmates (a grand total of 8 people fall in usually dialled numbers list).
The remaining friends are from work and people I met through the others (at a party/via other common friends).
There are no excuses that I can make for this behaviour (I could say no time, my work is too demanding/the others have no time anyway/distance matters), but in the end, somehow providing such flimsy excuses for not keeping in touch with people who once meant so much to me seems, kinda, excusing myself for having lost a part of me (if that makes any sense).
So I have made a new resolution now, make time (whether I think I am running out of it or not)and talk to these people. Its so easy to get carried away running around trying to achieve success in the material sense, that once you get there, you realise that you are alone, with noone there to savour it with you. And do we really need to measure success by the pay packet?
I consider anyone who is happy with their job and their personal lives as successful, unfortunately, in my firm atleast, I see so many people working from 9 to 9 everyday. When do these people have the time to catch up with their families?
Do they have any hobbies they pursue? Do they take the time to stop and just savour the day for what it is?
I do not want to end up like that and if it means taking an hour of a impossibly packed day to try and get my life on track, then thats what I will do. And I have been trying to convince my colleagues to do the same, and some of them seem to be sitting up and paying attention, so lets hope that together, we try and make a difference to this "work culture" that has descended on us all.
Call you friends now and then, just to say a Hi, surprise your families with treats more often, and take time off to read that book that you have had on your bookshelf for ages.

A song to reflect my mood

I heard this song by Emilia today (Big Big World) and loved it.It is a pretty old one but this was the first time I heard it and associated myself with it. It rings true for all those old friendships that have begun to gather dust and fade away in these erratic times. The lyrics are reproduced here:

"*Chorus*
I'm a big big girl
In a big big world
It's not a big big thing if you leave me
But I do do feel
That I too too will
Miss you much
Miss you much

*V1*
I can see the first leaf falling
It's all yellow and nice
It's so very cold outside
Like the way I'm feeling inside

*Chorus*
I'm a big big girl
In a big big world
It's not a big big thing if you leave me
But I do do feel
That I too too will
Miss you much
Miss you much

*V2*
Outside it's now raining
And tears are falling from my eyes
Why did it have to happen
Why did it all have to end

*Chorus*
I'm a big big girl
In a big big world
It's not a big big thing if you leave me
But I do do feel
That I too too will
Miss you much
Miss you much

*V3*
I have your arms around me
Warm like fire
But when I open my eyes......
You are gone

*Chorus*
I'm a big big girl
In a big big world
It's not a big big thing if you leave me
But I do do feel
That I too too will
Miss you much
Miss you much

*Repeat Chorus*

I'm a big big girl
In a big big world
It's not a big big thing if you leave me
But I do do feel
That I will
Miss you much
Miss you much"

An American in Paris

I have been a sucker for classics throughout and when it comes to musicals, I guess I lead the fanatics who believe that movies have never been the same since they stopped producing them.
"An American in Paris" is one of my all-time favs and I have been spending this weekend watching it again to the detriment of my dad who wanted to catch something else (I think it was some sci-fi movie).
Gene Kelly's movies are characterised by extravagant sets, dance numbers that set any philistine's legs tapping and music that you can swing to and this one is no exception. Leslie Caron (of Gigi and a countless other classics) was introduced to the silver screen through this movie, and though the chemistry between Kelly and Caron is not really enough to cause any sizzle, the movie is carried through by the sheer brilliance of Kelly alone.
The story deals with a struggling artist in Paris who falls in love with a girl engaged to a leading singer, and the story that falls is a dazzling piece of music and romance that makes a cynic sit up and smile in appreciation.
The songs are on my list of must listen to atleast once a week and include "It's Wonderful", "Oom Pa Pa", "This time its really love", "I got rythm" and "My love is here to stay".
While many people believe that "Singing in the rain" was better than this movie, for me, this has a special charm, it almost makes me believe in love at first sight.
A movie that allows me to forget reality for sometime, it will be in my collection to be handed down to the little ones later as must-sees.

"You were asking for it"

"You were asking for it", is perhaps the most offensive thing a person can tell a woman who complains about the way some men stare at them, the reason being of course that she was not wearing acceptable clothes (read as loose flowing clothes that are shapeless), but had the temerity to wear a shirt that actually was a good fit...and when the person who says this is a good friend, you know you just want to lift that bike of his and throw it onto him and jump up and down on him with your high heels!!!
Forget the fact that any woman who is halfway decently dressed is ogled and jeered by the Chennai crowd, you now have all-knowing condescending b******* who decide that the only decent way for a woman to dress is to wear a burkha!
And they thought talibanism is absent in India...

Macbeth and the three witches

This blog is courtesy Sai.
When I mentioned that I was having dinner with two other friends, he gave me an SMS asking why we were not waiting for Macbeth.
It took me all of two seconds to realise he was referring to us as the three witches!!! You know, those ugly old crones who meet Macbeth and make the inital predictions which lead to him killing the king and Banquo, and the final predictions warning him to be careful of Macduff, having the woods "marching" to face him in war and finally the prediction "none of woman born shall harm Macbeth".
This led me to thinking of what Macbeth portrays to the audience, the play is among the four great tragedies penned by the Bard (with Othello, King Lear and Hamlet being the other three) and is by far, the shortest of them all.
Yet, it deals with choices made by a man by hearing what he thought was the future being predicted. Would he have behaved differently if he was not met by the witches or if they did not dole out what they saw in the times ahead?
Perhaps.
Which is why maybe it is better that we not know what is in store for us through astrologers etc, but just be ready for anything.
Nothing I have written in this post makes sense when I read it, all I wanted to write was " Sai, why witches? Three people usually remind others of the Three Musketeers (I would have settled for three little pigs too, by the way!!)", but I got sidetracked into thinking about choices and acting on too little information provided in the wrong format (maybe Shakespeare should just have sent those witches to communication classes where they are taught the art of effective communication.....)

A train journey

I have not been inside a railway station since May 2005 (when I first landed in Mumbai)... and finally I get to take a train from Chennai to Katpadi tomorrow afternoon.
I am going to be spending the weekend at Sonia's place and while I am sure we are going to be chattering away to the dozen, I have also picked up a few DVDs that I have been wanting to watch for sometime now.
When I think about the travelling I have done for the past two years, just airports come to mind, those clinical places each of which look the same, somehow they are not as alive as railway stations are (esp early mornings, I sort of missed the Chai Chai part).
Now my parents are convinced that I have no idea how to travel by trains, so my dad decided to try and get me prepared:
Dad: " You booked a second class ticket?"
Me: "Yes, nothing else was available".
Mum: "But how will you manage?"
Me: "Its second class, not unreserved.."
Dad: "There will be all kinds of people"
Me: "I know, I used to travel by trains before, remember?"
Dad: "Do you know you have to find the platform before boarding your train, its not like the airport, where you find your boarding gate so easily.."
Mum: "The kingfisher people will not be there to take your luggage and help you through even if you are late. You cannot be late for the train.."
And so on and on...
Now I am slightly flustered, I have started writing down notes that I can refer to once I enter the station -
a) Check my tickets are safe
b) Check which platform the train starts from
c) Check where my coach is
d) Double check with the passenger list stuck on the coach
e) Call Sonia, mum at her office, dad at home, call my colleagues who are laughing their heads off betting that I would lose my way...
f) Remember not to drink the water they serve on the train
g) Remember not to take anything offered by other passengers (courtesy lecture provided by my colleagues)
h) If after all this, I can settle down and enjoy my journey, then try and do that

Really, sometimes people seem to think that just because a person seems to be er.. a "spoilt brat" (which I am not!!), she would not be able to find her way through a railway station
And I have two glorious nights that I get to spend at Vellore, poor Sumit, he must be planning to stay at the hospital instead (that is if Sonia has really really warned him about our tendencies to yak away non-stop!!!)
And its still the train journey that excites me the most....

Update

Unless specifically stated as my experience, all the poetry/short stories is not a reflection of what is happening in my life, so all those wonderful people who needed to use about three to four tissues thinking my life is a wreck can relax now,
what I write is influenced by my mood, what I have read/heard/seen.
Maybe I should write a statutory warning about anything people find familiar being mere coincidence...
Come to think of it, I haven't found the time to write much of late, work being a bit tough right now, but I have a dare for anyone courageous (or stupid) enough to try this - Have two wines (I meant glasses, not bottles), a tequila shot, five large whiskeys (neat, do not add even ice) and five large vodkas and then give me a call and tell me you are completely steady.
It took the poor fool who tried this last twenty-four hours to feel half-human, what's your limit??

Statutory warning: Consumption of alcohol is injurious to your mental, physical and financial health, things are closer than they seem to be when you are drunk, conversely they could be farther too; any debates that you try to engage in when you are drunk only proves you are a fool but a good entertainer!!!

Cheers!!

Accident

I never realised that it could hurt so
As I stand here
In the middle of the road
Outside your house
Wondering whether I should enter it
Even as I see her leave it,
Should I scream my pain
Or should I just pass-by
I put my hands to my eyes, they are dry, how can that be?

I come closer as you bid her bye
And I hear words, which once meant so much
Now repeated to someone else
And I realise, that that was all they were
Words
So devoid of emotion and feelings
And I wonder, am I dead
Why do the tears not come?

You look up as I finally reach you
And shrug and continue to talk to her
As she stares at me
Looking as if I were a ghost
I wish I were invisible,
For I know now I have been replaced
And the tears still do not come, Why?

You tell me you are going out for dinner now
And that I was but a passing fancy
An "accident", you tell me
And I want to clap my hands on my ears
As it rings through
And the tears, what is wrong with my eyes
That they do not let me cry my sorrow?

I turn and walk away, why do my legs drag so?
I look back, you are walking towards our coffee-shop now
And you are smiling, and I smile automatically,
And then realise you have forgotten me
The passers-by wonder why there is a girl
On the road at this time,
Walking like she will fall soon,
Eyes starry bright and dilated, why do they make them pause in their step?

Some ask me if I am alright
And I smile and nod, I am fine
Some ask me if I want a drink
And I shake my head, why does it feel so light?
My friend sees me and starts a conversation
Why do the words not make any sense?
"I had an accident", I state when asked what is wrong
"I had an accident," I repeat
Why is everything so blurred now? And why does it hurt so?

Rants for the day

Dear Friendly Guy at the gym,
I am really grateful to you for having rescued my mobile when it fell off from the top of the treadmill. You were really sweet then, but talking to me when I am jogging at a speed of 8 kph is not a smart thing to do.
You see, all I can do at that time is make a series of grunts, each of which needs to be interpreted by an expert linguist who understands the language of Piggywiggyland of which I happen to be the President. So please do not ask me to repeat myself just because you thought you heard gibberish.
And do not, I repeat, do not ever complain of how you are able to maintain a constant pace of 10 kph only for ten minutes. With my average holding time of one minute at a speed of 8 kph, the last thing I need to know is how badly you are doing and yet are a million times better than me. I tackle the treadmill dreaming that I am an athelete under training, and for you to so rudely awaken me from that blissful state is nothing short of murder.
The next time you see me running in one place, please do not stop to ask me which college I am studying in/where I am from/if I know Hindi/if I like to party!!
I am in the midst of rediscovering my true self (having started to read increasingly inspiring books such as Mills and Boon which take up my entire spare time and my reducing brain power) and do not have the time to answer questions that ask me about myself.
But please do continue the good work, you can catch my mobile phone anytime it falls down, as I said, you still have my gratitude for that, and that is a commodity that is right now well established with many such good samartians!!

On husband-hunting

"Oh this Kumar is really good", you enthuse
Even as I look at his picture and muse
If his bald head is worse than his fashion sense,
And you shake your head at what words you call nonsense!
Raj is dashing and debonair, you say
Even as I stare at this profile in dismay
"I am a hardworking person",is what he seems to love to type
"I am looking for one who's domestically trained", what tripe!!
"I am no dog!", I scream and shout
And you ask me what the fuss is all about.
"Siva is devout and pious
And is not a little bit ambitious",
I ask why having no ambition is good
And you say, "He will never be in a bad mood,
He is no go-getter, he will never be stressed,
He will not expect much and will never get vexed",
I shake my head in mute agony, do I laugh or do I cry?
Even as relatives drop in, time-to-time, to poke and pry
"Why do you say no to them all?
Are you seeing someone whom you want to marry this fall?
You are turning them all down citing age, looks, profession
What do you have against an elementary education?
He is an Iyer, and Tamil to boot,
What more can you want? A royal suit??"

You now have given me a month's time
To make up my mind, or you say, my preference will not be worth a dime
"Select someone soon or else..", is the threat you make
And my protests are ignored, when they fall in your wake
I scream and shout, "How can I tell you if I want to marry him
By just looking at the website and deciding on a whim?"
But that makes no difference to you as you shrug
And I am down on my knees, pouding at the rug,
How can I tell you that I no longer have the time
To stop and gaze at the stormy sky, or gaze in wonder at shrubs of rosemary and thyme
To skip along the road or to run on the grass,
You would only tell me to stop being an ass
To go out there and start hunting
And to stop all this ridiculous shunting,
Watch out, guys! I am now on the prowl, a husband-hunter
And I do not intend to lose this bet to any punter!!!
Watch this space with glee, even as I now run out into the world
And select and prune and gild my prey and will, one day, to my family unfurl!!!

Big girls don't cry

(Written after hearing "Big girls don't cry - Fergie (Album - The Duchess))

Shattered dreams, broken promises
Resounding in her ears
Feverish words once whispered
Through the night
Now fall flat
In the light of day;
Midnight calls once so treasured
Ring now of doom;

Fragile heart! Wounded by barbs
From one whose touch was velvet a long time ago;
Shadows that had crept up before
Ignored as mere imagination
Now return to haunt through the light
Light that now blinds her, light which should have shown the path before;

Tears prick through
But cannot be allowed to run down
Ruining the impeccable makeup she now wears
As her armour;
The luxury of bawling out loud
Has faded with her rising age,

Tender hurts such as scrapping of a knee
Would have once brought commiserations
And now, the bigger ones would bring just remonstrations
Of the way to behave, the appropriate words spoken
Not to console, but to berate;

So she sits there,
Back erect, eyes staring ahead,
Even as impatient knuckles rub the eyes red,
Do not cry now, my dear
It was just a dream,
And dreams turn into nightmares
With a word, a gesture so little thought of before
Its time to wake up now,
Time to be a big girl now,
And big girls don't cry.

Time someone did something

Finally, a blog so close to my heart, I just had to link to them today,
will be contacting them and joining the group soon.
http://www.blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com/

A word a day

Sometimes a word is enough, and I have one today - "Claustrophobic".

Of trips to doctors

I had to accompany my mother to a doctor today so that she could have a quick check-up.
Unfortunately the doctor happened to be a pediatrist too and the place was pretty crowded. Since we stay way out of the city, there are no entertainment avenues available here. I can just imagine a family finishing their tea and saying,"There seems nothing good on TV. Let's go to the doc. It's cheaper than going into the city. Costs us just 50 bucks and junior here can get his shot on time!"
So the entire family dresses in their best, the mother and father, two sisters and junior (who is about 6 months old) and then, they call their neighbours with kids, and decide to go together.
Once they are at the doctor's, they start to catch up on gossip, and start screaming, trying to drown out the voices of their bawling kids! And all those babies are surely training to be sopranos, I heard no bases in those squeals!
After we waited for about one and a half-hours, we finally got to see the doc and left, no more pediatricians, better stick to the general practioners unless you have no choice.

Fiction - Her first kiss

She was thirteen years old when she met him in the park one day. He smiled at her and she blushed, the girls in class always whispered about him, he was the captain of the school cricket team and was tall, taller than her brothers and looked much stronger.
When they met again on the grounds behind the school, she knew he was going to kiss her and waited with bated breath. After that moment, she felt she would never be the same again. Her dream was shattered, the movies and novels had led her to believe that it would be earth-shattering, but it was just, well, wet. All she could remember was someone slobbering over her.
A sobering thought struck her, Padma, her neighbour in class had told her that girls got pregnant on kissing, she panicked now and ran to him. He was sixteen, he would know what to do.
"What if I get pregnant?", she sobbed to him
"What!", he looked puzzled and irritated. He was donning his pads, on his way to the pitch when she stopped him.
"We kissed, what if I get pregnant?"
"Don't be stupid!!", he brushed her aside and went out to face the fast bowler.
She left the grounds, dejected, she felt cheap now, cheap and used, still frightened that she could get pregnant.
Her nightmares started that night, in every one, she was pregnant, her family disowned her and he was laughing at her and saying,"You were stupid!!"

Ramblings

No time to think, no time to grieve for lost friends
No time to remember, no time to ponder
Memories assail me, tantalizing me with forgotten laughter
Shadows creep in now, and the hue of twilight seems far away
Framed in an artist’s canvas,
Words that once were familiar, now refuse to form coherent sentences
Or perhaps its my feelings that are smothered
Verses and lines that once were a part of my soul
Have locked themselves away, disdaining me
As I once turned from them in contempt,
And now all that remains,
Is a silent voice in my head,
That reminds me of the times when I lived,
When I smiled at the sunrise and gloried in the breeze,
When the feel of grass underneath my feet
Was enough to make me feel special
There is drudgery now,
Of my own making,
Choices made, leading me down paths
That have lost me my true world,
I look around, and alas
I am a stranger now
In this world of my creation,
And only a distant memory in the other world where I once belonged!

Theatre Nisha - my first experience of a play in Chennai

I finally got to see a play directed and staged by Theatre Nisha at the Alliance de Francaise.
The programme was actually a rendition of four short stories, unfortunately, I missed the first one and seated myself just in time for the start of the second one.
This story dealt with lesbians and how the society is responsible for some of them becoming so. It was a daring theme to be played to a Chennai audience no doubt, and though the acting for this story was way below par, they did make us sit on the edge of our seats, because of the brilliant screenplay. The story was told through the eyes of a small girl sent to live with one of her aunts and the rest unfolds from there.
What struck me most was the use of language to display emotion, the rythmical lines were written to strike a chord in the audience, but it was a discordant chord for me, I do not want to hear words such as "languishing eyes and alabastor skin not-withstanding, she was spurned in favour of gossamer shirts..." from a character who is supposed to be thirteen years old.
So while I appreciated the subject as well as the screenplay over-all, the language came across as forced and the actors seemed uncomfortable with the play overall. But kudos to the director to have selected this topic!
The next story was about a painter and his fifteen-year muse, the actor was superb here and when he began to sing, did capture the audience's attention with his melodies.
The last story was the best of the lot, it was about the musings of a woman on courtesans, in particular her neighbours. This was a monologue and unless the actor is skilled, the audience can easily lose their attention, but the actress playing this was experienced and her use of tone and modulation(ah, that long lost skill) alongwith a witty and at-times catty dialogue held us suspended in the theatre, straining to listen to her, laughing at some of her atrocious statements "Did she think that I had done an M.Ed to teach her daughter on what to wear for whom, pyjamas for the Punjabis, lenghas for the Gujaratis??" ending with the statement,"Oh, it must be another apartment!", the typical Indian way of explaining away blunders in society when one marks on a well-known person's behaviour was par comparison.
Definitely a troupe to watch out for - Theatre Nisha.

A new financial year

Its the start of a new financial year in India now and we have been toasting the last year's results over the weekend. The toasts ranged from "Here's to CAGRs", "May all our balance sheets tally!!" to down-right "May my customers remain ignorant"!!
Since I work for this MNC, my increment news has come in and my raise is about 38%, even I cannot complain of this.
So here's a toast to my company - "May we reach the targets - both the topline and the bottom-line so that we all earn our complete bonuses this year!!"

Quotes - Jerry Seinfeld

Seinfeld is a show that I have enjoyed watching, including the number of re-runs of each show, none of which I missed if I could help it.
Some quotes that I love from this show:
1) ...I once had a leather jacket that got ruined in the rain. Why does moisture ruin leather? Aren't cows outside a lot of the time? When it's raining, do cows go up to the farmhouse, "Let us in! We're all wearing leather! Open the door! We're going to ruin the whole outfit here!"
2) I was the best man at the wedding. If I'm the best man, why is she marrying him?
3) ...I was in front of an ambulance the other day, and I noticed that the word "ambulance" was spelled in reverse print on the hood of the ambulance. And I thought, "Well, isn't that clever." I look in the rear-view mirror, I can read the word "ambulance" behind me. Of course while you're reading, you don't see where you're going, you crash, you need an ambulance. I think they're trying to drum up some business on the way back from lunch.
4) Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason
5) "I actually owe it to society to do something about this. I can't sit by and allow this to go on. It's a moral issue is what it is."
"You can't compromise your principles."
"How am I going to live with myself?"
"Can't live."
"I'm not religious but I certainly know where to draw the line."
"This country needs more people like you."
"Don't sell yourself short saying 'God bless you' to every Tom, Dick and Harry at great personal risk."
"I believe strongly in that as you know."
"There should be more people like us."
"That's why the world's in the shape that it's in."
6) "She's got a big crush on David Letterman, I mean a big crush. She talks about him all the time. Suppose I go up to David Letterman. He works at NBC, I work at NBC. I explain my situation. He agrees to meet her. They go out. They fall madly in love. And she dumps me for David Letterman!"
"This is your plan?"
"No, no, I'm just thinking."
"I don't think you are."
7) "I don't even drink wine. I drink Pepsi."
"You can't bring Pepsi."
"Why not?"
"Because we're adults."
"You're telling me that wine is better than Pepsi? No way wine is better than Pepsi."
"I'll tell ya, George, I don't think we want to walk in there and put a big plastic jug of Pepsi in the middle of the table."
"I just don't like the idea that any time there's a dinner invitation, there's this annoying little chore that goes along with it."
"You know, you're getting to be an annoying little chore yourself."
8) "I don't like to carry my wallet. My osteopath says that it's bad for my spine. Throws my hips off kilter."
9) "So, attractive one day, not attractive the next."
"Have you come across this?"
"Yes, I am familiar with this syndrome. She's a two-face."
"Like the Batman villain?"
"If that helps you."
"So if I ask her out again, I don't know who's showing up -- the good, the bad, or the ugly."
10) "Are you going to tell your parents you're still alive?"
"No. They could use the break."
11) "A relationship is an organism. You created this thing and then you starved it, so it turned against you. Same thing happened to the Blob."
12) "Women go after doctors like men go after models. They want someone with knowledge of the body. We just want the body."
13) "Now listen, let's keep an eye on each other tonight. In case one of us gets in a bad conversation, we should have a signal that you're in trouble so the other one can get us out of it."
"How old are you?"
14) "So what do you do?"
"I'm a comedian."
"Are you? Let me ask you something. Where do you get your material?"
"I hear a voice."
"What kind of voice?"
"A man's voice, but he speaks in German so I have to get a translator."
"How come you keep tapping your head?"
"It's a nervous tic. I'm on L-Dopa."
15) "Did you find out who stabbed him?"
"Yeah, it turns out it was his ex-girlfriend."
"Well, you're not going near this hooligan anymore."
"Well, I don't know. I mean, think about it, Jerry. There must be something exciting about this guy if he can arouse that kind of passion. I mean, to be stab-worthy. You know, it's kind of a compliment."
"Yeah, too bad he didn't get shot. He could have been the one."
16) "Isosceles. You know, I love the name Isosceles. If I had a kid, I would name him Isosceles. Isosceles Kramer."
17) "Artistic integrity. Where did you come up with that? You're not artistic and you have no integrity."
18) "Rock paper scissors match."
"Alright! Rock beats paper!"
"I thought paper covered rock."
"Nah, rock flys right through paper."
"Well, what beats rock?"
"Nothing beats rock."

The Art of Drinking and Indian Males

Dinner with a colleague who got married recently tonight opened my eyes to one fascinating aspect of the Indian male - they drink at a speed which is incomprehensible.
I have always believed in having a drink, making conversation,sipping and enjoying the different concotions that a bartender can serve up, unfortunately, the tendency of the males seems to be in guzzling down one drink after another, with no attention to what is being thrown back like that
I have had drinks with a total of about 300 guys (including dinner parties etc), and have never seen more than 2% of them actually paying attention to their drink, in short, drinking as an art form is not recognised here
Drinking is meant to get drunk, not an activity to enjoy or use as a means to catch up with friends anymore
Its really a pity when you think of that....
On the other hand, the friends of mine who are non-Indian seem to have got this concept and actually enjoy drinking, can the difference be that drinking is still taboo in India and so, when allowed to drink, there is excessive compulsive drinking rather than the enjoyable aperitif it should be treated as...
And at the rates the drinks are sold at here, you would have thought people would try to make the most of them!!!

Of Nitwits, Lackwits and the In-betweens

Through the past month, I have realised that there are three types of men:
a) Nitwits
b) Lackwits
c) In-betweens
The Nitwits are the idiots who think that they can behave like ninnies and sissies, they have no brains and do not realise that a major portion of their anatomy is missing!
The Lackwits have no sense of humour, look askance at people who know how to laugh and do not realise that they are missing a chunk of their soul
The in-betweens are those who have a bit of humour and brains and unfortunately do not know how to use either one!!!

Uncle Dynamite (P.G.Wodehouse) Quotes

"Dashed unpleasant things to have about the home. To cope with flashing eyes, you have to be a man of steel and ginger. Are you a man of steel and ginger? No. You're like me, a gentle coffee-caddie".
"A how much?"
"By a coffee-caddie, I mean a man - and there is no higher type - whose instinct is to carry his wife's breakfast up to her room on a tray each morning, and bill and coo with her as she wades into it....."

It was enough. Pongo rose, a dignified figure.
"Shall we join the ladies?", he said coldly.
"There aren't any", said Lord Ickenham.
"I don't know why I said that", said Pongo, annoyed. "What I meant was, let's stop talking bally rot and go and have a game of billiards".

Dealing with guilt

What happens when you walk out of a mall loaded with purchases and an old lady walks upto you and begs for that one extra ten rupee note which would help her eat one square meal?
I had just walked into a mall that I had heard of and bought a few clothes when we were accosted by an old woman and I could not stand it, I feel really guilty when I see an older person beg, I remember my grandma and feel like I die a bit inside.
What kind of human being would chase their parents out of their houses? What kind of human would forget that these are people who have spent a large part of their lives making sure we can make our way through this world with our heads held high?
And when we give them a little money, the hurt gets worse when they fold their hands to you. I usually give any old person money, and fold my hands to them, which makes my companions laugh at me. Why? Because these old people are supposed to be "grateful" to us who give them that Rs 10.
I would rather that I could give them a life where they need not go through heart-wrenching days of having to stretch their palms to young people whose duty it is to look after them.
I feel guilty as hell when I see them and I still do not know how to deal with it.

Doolittle in Pygmalion

I enjoy the play by G B Shaw most because of Mr Doolittle, Eliza's dad.
My favourite part of the play is in Act II, when he comes to see Mr Higgins after learning that his daughter is staying with him.
The part of the conversation is reproduced here:
"DOOLITTLE
[to Pickering] I thank you, Governor. [To Higgins, who takes refuge on the piano bench, a little overwhelmed by the proximity of his visitor; for Doolittle has a professional flavor of dust about him]. Well, the truth is, Ive taken a sort of fancy to you, Governor; and if you want the girl, I'm not so set on having her back home again but what I might be open to an arrangement. Regarded in the light of a young woman, shes a fine handsome girl. As a daughter shes not worth her keep; and so I tell you straight. All I ask is my rights as a father; and youre the last man alive to expect me to let her go for nothing; for I can see youre one of the straight sort, Governor. Well, whats a five pound note to you? And whats Eliza to me? [He returns to his chair and sits down judicially].

PICKERING
I think you ought to know, Doolittle, that Mr. Higgins's intentions are entirely honorable.

DOOLITTLE
Course they are, Governor. If I thought they wasnt, Id ask fifty.

HIGGINS
[revolted] Do you mean to say, you callous rascal, that you would sell your daughter for £50?

DOOLITTLE
Not in a general way I wouldnt; but to oblige a gentleman like you I'd do do a good deal, I do assure you.

PICKERING
Have you no morals, man?

DOOLITTLE
[unabashed] Cant afford them, Governor. Neither could you if you was as poor as me. Not that I mean any harm, you know. But if Liza is going to have a bit out of this, why not me too?

HIGGINS
[troubled] I dont know what to do, Pickering. There can be no question that as a matter of morals it's a positive crime to give this chap a farthing. And yet I feel a sort of rough justice in his claim.

DOOLITTLE
Thats it, Governor. Thats all I say. A father's heart, as it were.

PICKERING
Well, I know the feeling; but really it seems hardly right--

DOOLITTLE
Dont say that, Governor. Dont look at it that way. What am I, Governors both? I ask you, what am I? I'm one of the undeserving poor: thats what I am. Think of what that means to a man. It means that hes up agen middle class morality all the time. If theres anything going, and I put in for a bit of it, it's always the same story: "Youre undeserving; so you cant have it." But my needs is as great as the most deserving widow's that ever got money out of six different charities in one week for the death of the same husband. I dont need less than a deserving man: I need more. I dont eat less hearty than him; and I drink a lot more. I want a bit of amusement, cause I'm a thinking man. I want cheerfulness and a song and a band when I feel low. Well, they charge me just the same for everything as they charge the deserving. What is middle class morality? Just an excuse for never giving me anything. Therefore, I ask you, as two gentlemen, not to play that game on me. I'm playing straight with you. I aint pretending to be deserving. I'm undeserving; and I mean to go on being undeserving. I like it; and thats the truth. Will you take advantage of a man's nature to do him out of the price of his own daughter what hes brought up and fed and clothed by the sweat of his brow until shes growed big enough to be interesting to you two gentlemen? Is five pounds unreasonable? I put it to you; and I leave it to you.

HIGGINS
[rising, and going over to Pickering] Pickering: if we were to take this man in hand for three months, he could choose between a seat in the Cabinet and a popular pulpit in Wales.

PICKERING
What do you say to that, Doolittle?

DOOLITTLE
Not me, Governor, thank you kindly. Ive heard all the preachers and all the prime ministers--for I'm a thinking man and game for politics or religion or social reform same as all the other amusements--and I tell you it's a dog's life anyway you look at it. Undeserving poverty is my line. Taking one station in society with another, it's--it's--well, it's the only one that has any ginger in it, to my taste.

HIGGINS
I suppose we must give him a fiver.

PICKERING
He'll make a bad use of it, I'm afraid.

DOOLITTLE
Not me, Governor, so help me I wont. Dont you be afraid that I'll save it and spare it and live idle on it. There wont be a penny of it left by Monday: I'll have to go to work same as if I'd never had it. It wont pauperize me, you bet. Just one good spree for myself and the missus, giving pleasure to ourselves and employment to others, and satisfaction to you to think it's not been throwed away. You couldnt spend it better.

HIGGINS
[taking out his pocket book and coming between Doolittle and the piano] This is irresistible. Lets give him ten. [He offers two notes to the dustman].

DOOLITTLE
No, Governor. She wouldnt have the heart to spend ten; and perhaps I shouldnt neither. Ten pounds is a lot of money: it makes a man feel prudent like; and then goodbye to happiness. You give me what I ask you, Governor: not a penny more, and not a penny less.

PICKERING
Why dont you marry that missus of yours? I rather draw the line at encouraging that sort of immorality.

DOOLITTLE
Tell her so, Governor: tell her so. I'm willing. It's me that suffers by it. Ive no hold on her. I got to be agreeable to her. I got to give her presents. I got to buy her clothes something sinful. I'm a slave to that woman, Governor, just because I'm not her lawful husband. And she knows it too. Catch her marrying me! Take my advice, Governor: marry Eliza while shes young and dont know no better. If you dont youll be sorry for it after. If you do, she'll be sorry for it after; but better you than her, because youre a man, and shes only a woman and dont know how to be happy anyhow.

HIGGINS
Pickering: if we listen to this man another minute, we shall have no convictions left. [To Doolittle] Five pounds I think you said.

DOOLITTLE
Thank you kindly, Governor.

HIGGINS
Youre sure you wont take ten?

DOOLITTLE
Not now. Another time, Governor.

HIGGINS
[handing him a five-pound note] Here you are.

DOOLITTLE
Thank you, Governor. Good morning."

The Deathly Hallows

I am one Harry Potter freak, the minute HBP was released, I was there fighting through the crowd to pick the book.
So when JKR announced the title of the seventh book (and the last in the series), a friend of mine called me to check if I had heard the news.
Once I heard the title, I was like, "No way....that sounds sinister!!"
I had a huge attack of goosebumps and my office peon asked me if I wanted him to increase the temperature of the room a bit, and I had to tell him I was not reacting to the cold.
I have been reading up on the series again, preparing to sharpen my mind and trying to guess what is going to happen.
Half the fun in reading a book like HP is guessing and seeing if we were right, especially when the author is of the calibre of JKR..the innocuous takes on meaning with her tales and things a reader would just skip as unimportant comes up later to have been an important clue. That told, there have been red herrings too and now that people have begun to analyse almost every word in the series, there are a number of theories floating around , some logical and some just downright bizarre (come on people, Snape and Lily!!! Really!!!!!)
So I thought I would just quickly recap questions that will be answered/need to be answered in the last book-
1) The big one - Is Snape really evil or is he a person who has sacrificed everything for the greater good (I belong to the group who believe that Snape is the good guy here)
2) What is special about Harry having Lily's eyes?
3) Who is the squib who will perform magic in desperate situations? (Note JKR did not specify that the person is a squib, just that one person will do so)
4) Who is RAB? (Popular theory - Regulus Black)
5) Where are the remaining Horcruxes? (Is the locket at Grimmauld place the Slytherin locket?)
6) What is the sixth horcrux?
7) Will Harry die in the last book? (My gut feeling is a no, but I am biased)
8) Who are the two characters who die in the book (JKR revealed that she did not expect them to in the beginning, I am strongly inclined towards a Weasley dying this time - Percy or Charlie to be precise)
9) Who is the new DADA teacher?
10) Will Harry return to Hogwarts this year (will it even open this year?)
11) How is the two-way mirror coming into play in this book?
12) Will Neville become a Hogwarts teacher (JKR has comfirmed that one of the students will become a teacher later, my tip is its either Neville or Hermione)
13) Will Draco survive?
14) What is the role of Kreacher in this book ? (I think he will have an important role here)
These are some questions, I will add more as I think of them.
All I know is, its gonna be an exciting July with the release of the OOTP movie and the DH book.

Repo rates

The Reserve Bank of India has increased the repo rate to 7.5% now, a move that most financial analysts say they have been expecting. This is now the highest repo rate for the past 4 years. The reverse repo however is still at 6%. A move that is meant to curb inflation that seems to be increasing exponentially, I am glad they have finally started to try and curb the credit growth.
The most hit by inflation this year have been the poor and middle-class, the prices of foodstuff - raw and processed has an increase of almost 30% now which means that basic needs of people have begun to get affected.
GDP growth rate expected is around 9 - 9.5% and if inflation is not controlled, this is going to be tough to achieve.
On another front, import duties are being reduced to tackle price rise here. Hopefully, we should see some sense coming in.
S & P has finally finally finally (finally repeated nth times, you get the idea) increased the rating of India to investment grade (BBB/A-3) which has been long due.
The things deterring S & P have been fiscal deficit (which is one of the highest in the world, we must conceed that) and regulations.
However, with India becoming a more open market, capital markets booming, its the in thing now to invest here. Fingers crossed for a great year for the capital markets and a slight dip in real estate prices so that I can afford that flat I want to buy soon.

Appraisal time

Its that time of the year when the noisiest folk tend to lower their voices, the work-shy people start turning up at the office on time and the nerds begin to work on their communication skills - its appraisal time in short.
Since our firm became a part of this MNC, the yearly appraisals are done based on Jan - Dec performances and the bonuses are paid with your January salary. However, any salary raise will be effective only from April, the start of the Indian financial year.
Being the only person in my division to work away from Mumbai, I knew that my appraisal would be last and thankfully, just when I thought of ditching patience and calling my boss and demanding an appraisal immediately, he called me to check if I was available for a 30 minute discussion. Was I ever???
So the head of my sub-division (product development and implementation) and the director of my division logged into conference calls and after a long introduction to the appraisal system at the office, time that I used to jot down important points that I should remember to bring out during the call, we got down to business and all I can say is, it was beautiful!!!
My director called me a "role model" which was flattering, though they would not tell me what that meant in commercial terms (aka salary raise) which I tried to wriggle out of them.
They agreed with my points and I got a great appraisal, so April, come soon and shower me with some good news. Only thing is, you do not know the hike they are going to give you till March end, so thats something that I need to watch out for.
On the visa front, I finally got the call that my courier has reached Mumbai safe and sound, which means that my passport is safe now.

D - for a dreadful and dreary day

I got the news on Friday evening that I needed to get to South Korea by 6th Feb for a meeting. Now the visa process takes about four working days and since I need to start on the 5th from here to reach Seoul on the 6th, I was beginning to get a tad worried.
To top it, the administrative staff at the Chennai office refuses to get involved in the process- “Oh madam, that is all Bombay work. If you want we can arrange for forex for you”.
So after frantic calls to my Mumbai office, I finally sweet talked an old acquaintance in the admin department into handling the process for me. Getting the documents to the Mumbai office however would be cutting it too close, so I decided to check if I could not do it from Chennai itself.
The required documentation also included an original bank statement for the past six months and this stumped me. For some time now, I have been relying just on emails sent by my bank to my account and so called up to confirm if I could just take a print out of these statements and submit them. Unfortunately, the person replying was not too enthusiastic about the idea and asked me to go to the nearest branch and get the statements from them. I called up customer service of my bank and put in a request for my statements, which I was told would cost me about Rs 28 per page, so the total of 10 pages would cost me 280 bucks and of course that was exclusive of the service taxes they would charge! Being an emergency, I asked them to go ahead and after registering, the agent confirmed delivery of the statements would be in 8 working days!!!
No arguments about it being a life or death emergency would sway them and I decided to go to the branch directly.
I logged on to the net and the Tamil Nadu government website provided a list of consulates in Chennai and their addresses and I was happy to read that there was a South Korean Consulate in Chennai and that was on Kothari road in Nungambakkam, which is pretty close to my office.
I called Harry and asked him to help me out and he, being my knight in shining armour for perhaps the zillionth time, came to my office by around 12 in the afternoon. We first went into the bank for the statement, waited there for about 30 minutes while I enjoyed the novel experience of actually entering a bank for business, all my contact with the bank being through ATMs, telephone calls and the internet. The statement was printed at the same cost, Rs 28 per page and I was wondering whether they did that to try and get back the depreciation cost of the printer, paper definitely does not cost that much!!!
Once I got the statement, I called up the customer service to cancel the request I had made earlier and was refused on the grounds that they had already started processing the request!!!
(So now I pay twice for the same information and that is information on the cash flows in my account!!! No wonder the private banks are showing such neat profits, they make their money in all these small ways.)
We then proceeded to Kothari road and started to search for the consulate. The odd thing about Chennai is that you keep coming across house/plot numbers that seem to change, when you ask for number 28, they ask you – the old number or the new one? and its impossible to find out the place you need unless you have a contact number.
Since we did not find any number, we went ahead asking security guards of different buildings and not surprisingly, we came up with zilch. This meant that I needed to get things done from Mumbai then.
It was 3 by then and I still needed to track my tax returns. I came home and began to rummage through my files and they had disappeared too….finally had to call human resources and ask them to fax me the copy they had.
Then returned to office at around 5:30 and then sent my courier to Mumbai with my original passport in it…keeping my fingers crossed since I know that is like the worst thing to do, but desperate times call for desperate measures!!
.

The Book Quest

The entire day today was spent on what I call the "Quest for the Holy Book".
My sister had asked us to send across a book on Shirdi Sai Baba called Satcharita and we thought that would be fairly easy to track down. So went to Landmark at Spencer Plaza in the morning around 11:45 only to be told that they do not stock it.
We then went to this shop called "Giri Brothers" in Mylapore, which is supposedly well-known for all articles connected with prayers - they stock all the Pooja CDs, books, items such as the Agarbati (the incense stick), unfortunately they only had the book in Tamil.
From there, to R A Puram to Sundaram, which is the temple for Satya Sai Baba, but they informed us that they would be opening their book stall only when Bhajans took place (usually on Thursdays and Sundays).
We then went to the Ramakrishna Mutt in Mylapore and I decided to check the Universal Temple that they have built there. The architecture is great and we entered the temple and sat down to meditate the way the others in the temple were. Its calm and peaceful and you can feel your worries being washed away in that atmosphere.
Unfortunately they too do not stock the book and we heard about the book fair that was being held at Poonamalee High Road, about an hour's drive from there, so went ahead to that place. It was packed like the entire Chennai crowd was there, I never knew there were such avid booklovers in Chennai.
Unfortunately most of the books were in Tamil and the English ones were not worth a glance, moreover, the crowd was beginning to psyche us out, so we decided to call it a day and got back home at around 9 PM. By then, mum, dad and myself were all too bushed to be able to move even an inch, so we called up a few people and thankfully a family friend had the book, so we finally got that.
Seriously, I never thought a book could ever bring such agony and frustration in a single day!!!

Pongal

Its the beginning of the harvest season in Tamil Nadu and this is celebrated with the four day festival of Pongal.
Which means offices are closed for atleast two days and I get some time off!!!
Yay!!!

Kudos to Rain Forest

Rain Forest is a restaurant in Adyar that has been open for about two years now. I met two friends there for lunch today.
The first thing noticable is the theme that they have adopted,discernible from the name. The opening was designed like a cave,you enter through a door that has been resembles a few rocks and walk down five steps which seem carved out of stone.
To the left is a small waterfall and the foliage is green though plastic. I can understand the logic behind leaving out the real greenery as there is no sunlight here. The waiters sport shirts that have leopard spots and seem to be from the north-eastern part of India, who look better suited to be natives of said rain forests. The walls have been adorned with wood that resembles bamboo shoots. And the food is pretty decent too. The only thing that marred the entire effect was when they had to settle to provide Xerox copies of the menu since they seemed to have too few of them to give around.
The ratings for Rain Forest, Adyar are:

Decor: ♥♥♥♥♥
Service: ♥♥♥
Food: ♥♥♥♥
Ambience: ♥♥♥♥♥
Price: ♥♥♥♥♥

Overall rating: ♥♥♥♥

However, it is advised that only small groups (four to five members) go here since loud volumes definitely would clash with the ambience that they strive to achieve here. A rain forest is where you prefer to listen to nature around you, not loud laughter and words. The place is open from 12 to 3 for lunch and 7 to 11 for dinner. They are pretty strict about timings here, and discourage patrons from entering after closing times, unlike other Indian restaurants that continue to allow entry upto atleast an hour after closing time.

Two and a half left feet

I have been conned by a friend of mine to sign up for dance classes at O2, since I owed him quite a bit and I haven't had any kind of exercise of late, I agreed and signed up.
When the guy helping us to sign in our registration forms said we were starting with "Paso doble" form, that was my cue to up and out - I didn't even know that term.
All my kind of dancing has been wild steps involving close resemblances to the jumps taken by chimps and turns executed by a few drunk chickens, and this was way out of my league.
I decided the hell with it, surely not all are good here and entered the class. The instructor took a look at my shoes and said: "Please, not such high heels here. You cannot dance in those" and I tried pacifying him by saying I dance in those at the clubs normally. He just shook his head and asked to me bring something else tomorrow.
To my unfortunate luck, I discovered why he wanted me to wear something else, this dance required me to move more than in the clubs where just a few taps and a bit of a hip wiggle was called dancing..and I don't have two left feet , it felt more like there were more of them to me. My poor partner (Harry) was in jitters because I refused to let him lead me, mucked up the steps and also stopped half-way through when the steps were too ladylike for me to follow, some of them involved "drops" with elegance and I have never been one to fall elegantly!!!
For those who do not know what style the Paso doble is, information is available on these sites:
http://www.learntodance.com/Paso-doble.htm
http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paso_Doble.htm
The instructor also informed us that this dance is meant only for the ballroom and not for any other social gatherings, since the probability of me entering a ballroom is one-billionth of a percent, I was wondering what I was doing. The end of the one-hour session found me gasping for breath, a pull on one of my hip muscles and a slight limp thanks to the pain in my calves beginning to niggle at me.
And I have to subject myself to this torture for eleven more classes!!! After this, the gym gets my vote for forms of exercise, my instructors there atleast do not tear at their hair seeing me trying to be ladylike, a notion that I have been informed is a bit more out of my reach than the solar system getting into orbit in a galaxy other than the Milky Way

Goldfinger - Movietime

I decided to catch up on an old Bond movie today, the only Bond movies I have ever seen before are those with Pierce Brosnan and of course the latest one starring Daniel Craig.
I decided to check how Sean Connery performed in these movies, there have been fanatics who refuse to accept a Bond other than Sean, so decided to check out Goldfinger, a Bond flick released in 1964.
Used to the Bond movies with a lot of action, this movie comes as a welcome treat where even the villains seem to have some sense of manners and culture.
Comparing the three stars, Sean gets the vote for charm - somehow the way his wit is displayed in the movie can never be replicated by either Pierce or Daniel.
Pierce Brosnan is suave and sophisticated while Daniel Craig is a hunk embodying raw strength and stamina. Maybe a collusion of the three men will provide a perfect Bond!!!!
Ofcourse Bond has his women in this movie and the typical woman on the wrong side turns around to support him. The gadgets are there - an Aston Martin provided to Bond by Q has a tracker, bullet-proof shields, a seat ejector, machine guns forward etc.
The scene that really stood out for me was one where on spraying of the "nerve gas", the military around swoon, that's right, they swoon - an honest lady-like faint, the likes of which I used to imagine women in the 18th century indulged in while reading all those Jane Austen and other classic books. Where you would have thought that the men would just drop as they are, the way they fall is a graceful drop to the ground, in the most comfortable way possible. Ofcourse arguments can be made that since the military was faking, there was no need for them to unnecessarily hurt themselves, the elegance of the falls made me remember the numerous times I have tripped and fallen into an ungainly heap on the roads. Maybe practice will help me too to fall gracefully, I am definitely going to try this.
I have the next four days off - the weekend and then Monday and Tuesday, since its Pongal and am hoping to catch a few more movies and maybe read up a bit. Anyway its the weekend and here's to it!!

Mocha Sunday

The weekends are a time when the party animals break out of their dodgy exteriors on exiting the offices on friday evenings and the quieter ones think of blessed solitude in which to pursue their hobbies, the workaholics lug huge cases of work home and the lazy ones, including me, consider it the best time to catch up on well-deserved sleep.
This sunday was an exception, decided to meet up with a few friends of mine to indicate that I was alive and hoping to find them in a similar state of being, I called up Arjun and Harry and we fixed to meet at Spencer's, a mall in Chennai.
I also had to pick up a book for a cousin of mine and since my gran was going to stay at the said cousin's place at Delhi, I was asked to pick up a few delectable snacks from a well known food chain - "Sri Krishna Sweets" in Chennai.
I went into Landmarks, a bookstore chain, and picked up Matthew Reilly's Seven Ancient Wonders. I already have a copy of this and knew my cousin would enjoy it, and Harry picked up a few more books for himself, seeing as to how I was refusing to spend too much money then.
But I did bully him into letting me read the books first and then giving them across to him.
We then met Arjun and I was startled to find him half his size almost, he was recovering from a viral fever that had laid him low for almost a month and we decided he needed feeding up a bit. So regardless of his protests about having finished lunch, we entered Subway and forced a salad down his throat, I do believe in the power of green leafy vegetables when someone else is having them.
There used to be a bowling point in Spencer's about two years back, but I was disappointed to learn that they had closed it down. Since I had this urge to go bowling, we went to a place called "Snow Bowling" at Nungambakkam. My advice - dont ever go to that place. The wait was about two hours (the excuse given was that it was a sunday, but when I asked why only two out of four lanes were being used, we were told that they were not all right), the balls when gripped felt like they had been greased totally and the lanes themselves are not worth mention.
We decided to then meet another fren at Mocha and went there. I was by then tired and so was Arjun so we propped ourselves up on the cushions there and ordered for some gud tea. The place is designed in a completely different manner than other coffee hangouts and is way cleaner than the Mumbai joint.
We went to the upper room which is furnished to look like a scene out of Arabian noghts, atleast the seats and the red and black curtains added to the allure of the place. The people nearby enjoyed their hookahs, a habit which I am sure I dont want to pick up and we finally met Ramki, who joined us for about twenty minutes, since that poor guy had to work even on Sundays!

Ratings for Mocha are as follows:
Decor: ♥♥♥♥♥
Service : ♥♥♥♥
Food: ♥♥♥♥
Music/Ambience : ♥♥♥
Price : ♥♥
Overall rating of Mocha's : ♥♥♥

Their Chocolate Temptations (Junior and Senior are available, be warned the Junior alone requires two people to finish)are worth a definite rave!!
We finally left the place and I reached home to hand over all the stuff I had bought to gran, we had been carrying those bags around for sometime now, and they felt like body parts that I had sprouted during the day, but losing them definitely did not feel like any amputation of limbs.
The end of a long sunday and the beginning of a week that promises to be a busy one, with my endless procastination of work, the deadlines seem closer this side of the weekend!!!

City of Joy - First Impressions

I actually made it to the 5:00 AM flight, thankfully I had obtained the boarding pass the previous day and so had ample time to stroll in and board the flight without any hassle.
We reached Calcutta at around 7:15 AM and I waited at the airport for my colleague flying in from Mumbai. He finally made it at around 9:00.
Since our first meeting was at 11:30, we decided to stop for a coffee, the elixir of life for some of us who are not too used to seeing daylight before 7:00.
The surprising thing about Calcutta is that everyone seems to be abed even at 10:00 in the morning. I have been informed that reporting for work before 11:00 AM for Bengalis is a rarity!
We were dropped at a quaint coffee-shop called Flury's at Park Street by our driver who, wonder of wonders, spoke both Hindi and English!
Ratings for Flury's are as follows:
Decor: ♥♥♥
Service : ♥♥♥♥
Food: ♥♥♥
Music/Ambience : ♥♥
Price : ♥♥♥♥♥
Overall rating of Flury's : ♥♥♥
The Cafe Mocha that they serve is pretty good, but my colleague refused to follow my advice and ordered for their Viennese coffee. His facial expressions were worth the early morning flight, his contortions definitely made my day!!
We finished with the first meeting and decided to break for lunch.
Lunch was at Sourav's, which I believe is a place that belongs to Saurav Ganguly, the ex-captain of the Indian cricket team (and who is back on the team for the current South- Africa Series). The food was great as also the decor.
Ratings for Sourav's are as follows:
Decor: ♥♥♥♥♥
Service : ♥♥♥♥
Food: ♥♥♥♥
Music/Ambience : ♥♥♥
Price : ♥♥♥
Overall rating for Sourav's : ♥♥♥♥
After a wonderful lunch, we needed to go in for two meetings and needless to say, I drooped most of the time.
My return flight to Chennai was at 6:10 PM and since it was Indian Airlines, we were pretty cool thinking that it would be delayed.
My colleague had got the news that his return flight to Chennai was delayed by 1 and a half hours. Unfortunately the meeting went on till 5:15 PM and by the time I called the Indian Airlines number, I was informed that my flight was on time and our driver took sadistic pleasure in telling us that the airport was an hour's drive from there.
I did a tele-check in and we reached the airport at around 6:00 PM.
I rushed to the Indian Airlines terminal and was told that we would be boarding so just about managed to get through security check on time and surprise, surprise ...after the boarding announcement, they did not bother to open the gates till 6:30 PM and the flight finally took off at around 7:15 PM. Thank You Indian Airlines for your consistent delays!!
Finally landed at Chennai around 9:15 PM and reached home at 10:00.

Death by Chocolate - a disappointment

I am a chocolate addict, any shape or form of chocolate, I will gorge myself on thst.
Ever since shifting to Chennai, I had heard a lot about a dessert called "Death by chocolate" available at Tangerine, a restaurant in the Alwarpet area of Chennai.
Having got raving reviews of this, I decided to bully a fren of mine into taking me to Tangerine for lunch.
I ordered the vegetable lasagne while he ordered the paneer tikka sizzler.
Both of them were way below par and after getting through a quarter of my lasagne, I decided to instead go in for the dessert which had led me to the place.
When it came, all I could do was to stare at it in disappointment.
All that I saw was some custard immersed in chocolate sauce....needless to say, it was a waste of time and effort going there.
We usually rate a restaurant based on decor, service, food, music/ambience and price
We rated Tangerine as follows:
Decor : ♥♥
Service: ♥♥
Food : ♥
Music/Ambience: ♥
Price : ♥
Overall rating: ♥
I returned to my office, picked up my stuff and tickets since I am travelling to Calcutta tomorrow and returned home quite disappointed...and I need to catch the 5 AM flight tomorrow

New Year Update

31st Dec – An update
It’s the New Year and I have spent this New Year eve in front of my PC. The usual plans of partying were bandied about for a while and then I had this revelation in the form of my mum holding my credit card bills in her hand and that steely glint in her eyes, which has caused me excruciating mental agony in all my previous encounters with it. And the verdict reached unanimously by my family – my parents and grandma still gives me the shivers – grounded!!!
How can a 26 year old be grounded??? – easily if you are surrounded by people who are bent on laying the guilt trip on you. And when in Chennai, it’s the norm and not the exception.
Conversation was stilted and the one concession given to me – “You may order for some Pizza for the evening if you want”.
And I pathetically grabbed at it, some how the picture of me eating some rasam sadam my mum was suggesting before rendered me quite incapable of eating anything for that evening and the Pizza acted as the best stimulant for my shattered brain – all those pictures I had of guzzling some good Old Monk after a long period of asceticism were pricking my nerves in a painful way!
The verdict from some of my so-called pals was the same – time to come up with those famous whoppers of mine and after having laid it on thick with my mater, I got an appeal in – go out once a week and come back before 11 PM. Since this was the situation before I got grounded, I decided not to push it and consoled myself with reports on the traffic jams clogging the place at 2:00 AM.
And I actually have to work on 1st, reason, the Chennai office will be open since we get two days off for Pongal. Some non-well-meaning colleagues of mine from the Mumbai office decided to get back at me for some previous antics of mine, none of which I reiterate were as painful, called me at 1:00 AM to give me a jist of all their activities and then dumped some work on me so that when they start work on Tuesday, their loads would be reduced!
Ha!
Like I am going to do any such thing!!

Adieu 2006

The last day of the year, when people decide to start wrapping up the old times and get ready for the new times ahead – the passing of a year that has brought laughter and tears and yes, loads of drama!!!
I shifted from Mumbai to Chennai this year (transferred in October) and so-far it has been quite a ride.
Of course the transfer meant me getting back to my roots and living again with my parents – which at that time I thought were very do-able.
I am not yet climbing up the walls in a desperate attempt to escape, but it does become slightly suffocating at times. No person who is not an Indian girl living in Chennai will understand this feeling, when every step you take, every breath you take etc etc etc will be dictated by the elders of the family.
Curfews to adhere to during the weekends and force-feeding marathons at meals have helped me in gaining two things:
a) The fascinating art of making the most fantastic stories which, when heard by my friends, send them into tears as my family swallows them whole
b) About 20 pounds excess weight thanks to the aforesaid force-feeding!

A couple of people have been bugging me about the resolutions that I propose to take and for their benefit, I have listed them here:
a) Lose those 20 pounds!!!!! And of course the other extra stuff I already had
b) Try and cut down the booze
c) Become a mean performing machine at the workplace (and for the wise-cracks out there, I do work you know!)

I think I already know exactly in what order I am going to be breaking these unfortunately!