When me??

I am not shocked. Well, not a typo error there. I am really not shocked. If time and again it happens, one tends to take it as a routine. Today somebody,tomorrow me?? Terror is in such a proximity.

I do not think any strong military or other security forces can curb terrorism. Not in India, not in the U.S, not anywhere. If it has to be curbed, it can be done only by the individuals who indulge in it. Let conscience awake!

Everytime, hundreds or thousands die , some widows,some widowers, infants turning orphans, kins of both of innocent and terrorist folks! A day or two and memories vanish from minds. Does it serve any purpose at all?

Hatred? For what? Which religion advocates killing? Of Innocent people, of all?

I am depressed. Period.

Now or Never

At Sanjana's wedding, 2nd June,2008

Lady A: Hey Sujatha, look, there goes Ms.Vanitha's son. Isn't he handsome?

Lady B: Oh yes, he is. What does he do?

Lady A: He works with XYZ MNC as a software engineer.

Lady B: Oh really?!! That's good.

Lady A: Why don't you approach his family for your daughter's marriage proposal?

Lady B: Truly. I was thinking just the same.

Lady A: Exactly, handsome and software engineer, what more ?

Lady B: I pray to God that it works out.



At Nandini's wedding, 24th Dec,2008

Lady A: Hey Sujatha, look, there goes Ms.Vanitha's son. Isn't he handsome?

Lady B: Oh yes, he is. What does he do?

Lady A: How works with XYZ MNC as a software engineer.

Lady B: Oh really?!! Hmmm

Lady A: Why don't you approach his family for your daughter's marriage proposal?

Lady B: Markets aren't that good, are they? Quite a risk to consider.

Lady A: Hmmm, you are right. By the way, Ms Saritha is looking for proposals for her son.

Lady B: Is it? What does he do?

Lady A: He is a doctor. Preparing for P.G. Entrance exams.

Lady B: Oh really??!! Doctors settle late, but they settle ultimately. Less risky.

Lady A: True, that's why I suggested.

Lady B: I pray to God that it works out.


Wedding proposals to Software engineers seem to be an epitome of markets.
Hurry up guys, now or never!!!

Laying hands off the matter!

Any working wife and husband would indeed talk of markets and their job security now, don't they?

Husband: Sun Microsystems has announced it finally!!

Wife: Citigroup did it too!!!!

Husband: Hmmm... so what does your company have to say?

Wife: No clue. Fingers crossed.

Husband: 'Wait and watch' is the mantra. No other go anyway.

Wife : True. So how are you going to take care of me after lay-offs?

Husband: ?????!!!!!!!

Whatever happened to gender-equality and equal opportunity? Exploiting the edge, huh? :D

Last Chance!

God,
This is your last chance. Stop being unfair to me!

-No regards,
Rashmi.

P.S: Offense intended. Well, ‘no’ that is prefixing ‘regards’ will shift its place to prefix ‘Offense’ only if the response action convinces the accuser.

Twice-fold Effect!!

As I belong a generation consisting of folks about to enter or who have just entered the matrimonial phase, I quite often get to hear of the match-fixing, negotiations, horoscope matching and if all succeed ,marriage.

Of all, to the phase of horoscope-matching, I have complete disapproval. Is the institution of marriage so simple that all one’s life, just the spouse is the entity the person deals with? Not really! If only horoscopes are important for compatibility checks, then why haven’t people realized, rather than checking the compatibility of the bride/groom-to-be, verifying that of saans-bahu will make Ekta Kapoor go bankrupt and restore sanity to the world.It’s quite unfortunate if the guy and girl like each other with the horoscope horror to dismantle their dreams.

As will the case be with many, marriage applicants will deny, parents will deny their denial. Looking for the right time of my absence, at time of my match-fixing, my mom had visited an astrologer with the horoscopes of Rags and mine. Just when I was back, here’s what she had to say,

Mom: Finally, I got the horoscope matching done.

Me: Come on, mama.

Mom: Shut-up! What do you know?

Me: Hmmm…

Mom: However, he said the compatibility is great.He said, that guy is the right person.

Me :oh!!

Mom: .... (Brimming with joy) ...and this is the right time to get married. If done so, everything will be twice-folded in your life.

Me: Huh? What about marriage then? That twice-folded too?

Mom: Shut-up! Won't you? He meant your happiness in life will increase.

Me: Looks like the Astrologer was right.

Mom: (Seeming quite victorious for having convinced me).. So finally you agree? Good.

Me: Of course, mama. You did say ‘shut-up’ twice. Twice-fold effect you see!!

Mom: God save Raghu!!

I was only kidding when I said that to her, quite an ugly joke that was. But my intent was to explain that not horoscopes, but hearts play a role in compatibility. Just ‘Put yourself in others’ shoes’ principle in life would lead to understanding anybody, not just the spouse. If I need to get compatible, I need to understand his priorities in life and so should he, right? Well, has there been any horoscopically-approved couple that hasn’t fought? That must be a wonder, I say.

Open Kitchen

Visitor Sandeep drops in to Aunt Revathy's house.

Aunt: Hey Sandeep, nice to see you.

Sandeep : Thanks Aunty. I came to invite you to my sister's wedding.

Aunt : That's pleasant news, Sandeep.

Sandeep : Yes Aunty.

Aunt: So where is your brother-in-law working?

Sandeep : Aunty,He is a software Engineer with an MNC.

Aunt : Excellent.
(She makes a move towards the kitchen)

Sandeep :No..no..Aunty, I just had my lunch and came.

Aunty: Come on Sandeep, eat little at our house too.

Sandeep :No Aunty, I am so full.

Aunty: Hmm...ok then...
(Aunt looks for Milk in the fridge )

Sandeep : No Aunty, no coffee too.

Aunty: Sandeep, how can I send you without giving anything?

Sandeep : Its perfectly fine, Aunty. Some other time , I will drop in .

Aunty : Ok, please do. Regards to your parents.

Sandeep : Sure, Aunty.


Open Kitchen does help, ain't it?

Hawaii Slippers

About 15 years ago, on one of the days I played with my friends, I had lost my new shoes. In the mind to avoid any wear and tear, I had them rested them in a corner and played bare feet. For every time-please in the game, I ran to the corner, gave a glance at my shoes and continued with my play. Then came a time- please and there I ran huffing and puffing to see, but not to find my footwear that seemed to have slipped into the hands of some stone-hearted person.

Mom’s reminder of carelessness ( but tell me, how careful than watching the shoes every now and then and preventing them from wear and tear can one get??) and dad’s venture to buy me a new pair with mom’s advice to buy me nothing but Hawaii slippers for as per her, kids of such age keep losing things and it would only be less painful to lose Hawaii slippers next time.

So off we went to a shoe showroom, dad, brother and myself. I eyed at a very good red colored shoes but never opened my mouth to express my wish for two reasons, one being that I was guilty of losing an expensive pair of shoes and another being that we were constructing a house then and I had thought that going for less-expensive shoes would save some money for my father ( Did I think that it would help him construct another floor!! Hmmph.. no clue). We were back home, dad, brother, Hawaii slippers and myself. I was not as happy as I would generally be whenever anything new was bought for me. Well, my brother who knew the fact told that to my father (well, kids of our age and my brother who is four years younger to me would generally know the kiddo secrets). Usually, his normal trait would be to threaten me of revealing the secrets, but this time, he said it. Amidst the anger that I had on my brother for having done that to me, I really didn’t concentrate on my dad’s response. I suppose he opined that I must have expressed my wish.

Kids will be kids, don't they? Wishing for small things, fighting for small things, threatening for small things and getting scared of small things!!

Well, these thoughts refreshed in my mind when I watched an Iranian movie titled “Children of Heaven”, translated into English on Star movies a fortnight ago. One of best movies I have ever watched I must say. A movie revolving around shoes and kids, gosh, it looks so real!! It brought back so many of my memories .What runs in a kid’s mind maybe beyond a parent’s perception. Composition the same, yet brains work different.

Title Picture!

In the saturday supplements of 'The Hindu' newspaper, there is a column called 'Caught snapping' to which readers are requested to send an 'out-of-the-ordinary' photograph( meaning not the ones of one standing next to the flower vase or in front of statue of liberty!!) with a 'good' caption. Winner of the contest get published and would carry home some gifts as well. Now, if all it takes to participate in the contest is to send an e-mail with a photo attachment, wouldn't a software engineer grab that opportunity? I did.

Picture :

Caption : "Tryst with Self"

Well, this is not a success story. When I was saying that I might win, rags had only told 'provided they understand the caption' !!! Was that enough to predict the result? It seemed like.

Nevertheless, as every movie would have a title song, my blog would have a title picture!! If not to allot a space for the unpublished content, what else is a blog for? More so,there's always another saturday!!

Safe Diwali

Yesterday, when Bipasha Basu wished a very safe diwali to the viewers of a certain channel, Rags,to respect her wish,instantly pledged not to watch her movies during Diwali!

Safe? Staying away from bad(?) movies or from 'hot' entities ???!!! Diplomatically said, ain't it?

Hmm...

Priceless ride

Strange are people's ways. Sometimes we enjoy things that come when we shell money. If it comes for free, we search for means to escape from those situations, isn't it? Take for example, most of us would be prepared to shell out so much money for all the high-thrill roller coaster rides in Amusement parks, but never to volunteer to accommodate the back seats in the cabs because of the bumpy rides!!

Well, today my roller coaster ride to home was indeed excellent. Does someone want to take the pleasure tomorrow?

Injurious Ban

Perhaps, I am quite traditional for I still stand by the feeling that smoking is a sick,not hep thing. I could not have been more ecstatic when I read the headline that smoking would be banned at offices too. When I went on to read in more detail, I felt that it was more of a bane than a boon to the inevitable passive smokers. Who on earth felt that smoking in a confined zone is more dangerous than smoking on streets,thereby increasing the scope of harm to passive smokers.
Rule banaaya bhi to kya banaaya! Wah.
At this juncture, I am reminded of my visit to Goa,last year. I was impressed when I got to know that smoking in public was banned and implemented more or less.

I thought smoking in public needs to be banned, if at all the agenda is not just about gathering publicity for a brief while!

Devil or Deep blue sea?

Bid Goodbye to that dream job of your life or every morning, play (?) hide-but-no-seek-until-back-from-office-game to handover the crying kid to the maid's supervision?

Tough decisions, ain't it? Devil or Deep blue sea? Who should decide, mother or baby?

Majority of the working women, married or yet-to-be, mothers or yet-to-be, have in them the worry or fear of failing to effectively fulfil the duties of being a mother. As a consequence, some quit careers to devote all of their time and interests towards their home, some manage to seek help from the world to deal with things to the best possible extent. Well, it's a personal choice if one wants to quit, but for demands of the situation if one has to quit, that's not doing justice to the knowledge acquired over the years or the potential of the person.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Govt_staffers_can_take_up_to_3_yrs_child_care_leave/articleshow/3487022.cms
A ruling, most welcome, has indeed come as a boon to the women working for public sector. Which mother wouldn't thank God if she gets a 6-month maternity leave and 2 years of Child-care leave ? Awesome ruling in the favor of women, family and hence, nation.

As of now, to the working ladies in the private sector, it is still devil or deep blue sea. Hopefully, in the near future, God, unlike most of the Bangalorean auto-drivers who get demanding with the folks of private sector assuming that they are 'extra'-terrestrials, bestows the same privilege to the latter community too.

In any case, kudos and a zillion thanks to the minds of people who thought that there was a need to accomodate a supreme ruling. Now, it's like giving women running the career-oriented race , a fair chance.

Anything but......

Perchance,a channel telecasting the mythological serial "Ramayana" got honoured during our mindless channel browsing. The scene was that Hanuman goes to Lanka to convey Rama's regards to Sita. He does so and in return gets Choodamani as a mark of memory from Sita to Rama.

Rama: Hanuman,hope Sita is safe and doing alright.

Hanuman : Yes Lord, she is. She is fine but for the worry of not being with you.

Rama : Yes, I understand. I shall get her back very soon.

Hanuman: Ture Lord. By the way, here's the choodamani Sitadevi has sent through me to you.

Rama : [At his emotional best looking at the choodamani] Hanuman, I am grateful to you for having been a messenger for us.

Hanuman : The honour is all mine, Lord. I am ever-ready to do anything to the Lord of my heart.

Rama: Hanuman, please tell me what I can give you for the favour you have done...[This is where Rags pitches in, assuming that Rama's sentence was incomplete, he went on to complete it. As per him, This had to be Rama's dialogue,

Rama: Hanuman, please tell me what I can give you for the favour you have done, well, anything but for a site in Bangalore!!!]

Thankfully, Hanuman only asked for a place in Rama's heart and not a site in Bangalore!!

Perhaps,he must have understood the helplessness of his Lord, unsaid.

Bug-bites

Well, if there was any individual who visited my blog, read my blog (more so the last one) and wondered if I met my last morning,no...................
Me alive, breathing.
A laptop at hand and two hours of travel, hold on , I too thought I could blog mindlessly of whatever I could think of. Well, sleep has been my latest 'hobby' of late that blogging went on the backburner. Could not have forgone the much-desired sleep while travel.

Any repellent to bug-biting at work which is interfering with my sleep?

The last morning....

maybe not too.

While posting this, I am amidst inexplicable sadness, so much that I am unable to concentrate on my work. The reason for this being the visit to the site helpsameer.org . I read an article (http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/05/11/stories/2008051150080400.htm) on Vinay, a leaukemia patient, yesterday and wanted to follow up on that. Great people these, faced/facing the tough challenges of life with utmost confidence and zest. Hats off.

Maybe , I am not showing the right spirit or instilling confidence, but I do not want to disown my feelings here. I wanted to put forth what I am currently feeling, be it not right to think so.

Don't we all, at some stage in life desire or aspire or strongly work to become famous? We all want to be well-known amidst our friend circle,relatives and better still, even if people whom we don't know,know us. It gives a sense of pride that we have accomplished a great deal if people know who we are.

Agreed, deeds that better the society are indeed commendable and a sense of gratitude has to be shown to people who have strived to make a difference. They deserve to be famous. The very fact that other people know us, about us, is considered being 'famous' and the amount of joy it can bring to us is amazing.


But then, when fate beckons us to vacate this place, do all the accomplishments, fame and prosperity make any difference to us or the way we depart ? Maybe yes, maybe not. The truth remains that there is a final morning to everyone,be one a great soul or not. Sometimes I wonder, what motivates people to be good? Why should people work so hard and be ambitious to possess everything that they can think of?

I suppose, the journey would not be enjoyed sans challenges, hope and goals....

I know I am not being spirited here, today;but I failed to tame my mind to think otherwise. For now. Hope I feel better in a while. There have been people facing the bitter facts of life, yet sportive, but look at me!! I don't intend to send wrong message to the real warriors of life, in fact, trying to pick up a lesson or two from them. They are the hope and relief that what we face could not necessarily be deserving to be called a problem. If not to the extent the people I noted in the article are dealing with, I have also been through such circumstances and seen from a closer distance, how people have battled it out to live a more energetic life later. I take a bow.

Vote for.....

Alcohol. To be or not to be.

Mr Janardhan Poojary, the Karnataka State Congress President, could not have embarassed the party more when he said that the party, if brought to power, would lift the arrack ban!! He justified his stand stating that the poorer classes that were accustomed to cheaper forms of alcohol are now switching to more expensive forms like rum and whisky and eventually shelling out the hard-earned money! One possible solution to the problem, as per the political genius is to lift the ban so as to 'aid' poor people to settle for cheaper drinks! Either lifting a ban or prohibition of alcohol would be done, he said. By this, I wonder if he wanted to attract the teetotaler (and women) voters as well as those who drink too!

Mr.Janardhan Poojary, isn't drinking before addressing press/people injurious to health, more so just before elections, be of whatever quality the pegs are made of? Pegs speak for themselves,huh?

Workers' day, huh?

Guilt almost killed me when my maid asked me why I had a holiday today.Workers' day applies to all strata of society unbiased to gender and economic strength, is it? Practically not.

One of the plethora of instances where the purpose could have been defeated.

Mark your calendar

Different folks.Different strokes.Period.
Quite amazing it has been to notice that people associate certain days with certain memories,by this I don't mean the memories of Gandhi Jayanthi on Oct 2nd or Children's day on Nov 14th. I mean to say, some very routine things that acquire prime importance in one's life. Either it is a case of changing priorities or interests in life it must be.



Wasn't it on the day ....
I wore colour dress to school?
Royal Challengers played against Knight riders?
I prepared vegetable curry and dosa for breakfast?
the stocks fell a hightime low?
I paid the premium of the loan?
I bought the ration?
I got my eye-brows tweazed?
the school was let off at 3 o' clock?
I got my pay ?
the maid did not turn up?
the exams got over?
the wedding of Abhi and Aish?
Kareena annonced her breakup with Shahid?
I watched 'Race' in PVR?
of my wedding anniversary?
of five days from my anniversary day?

What of the day of the month of the year? Too spice-free it is to use, isn't it ?

Who is that?

Who is that person who never ages.. Well, did someone say Rekha or Devanand? Hang on a second till I complete the question. Here comes the complete question:

Who is that person who never ages with respect to retirement from service?

It doesn't take longer to guess, does it?

However, to make things easy for the minds that gave themselves a break, the answer is HOUSEWIFE!!
Maybe, most of the ladies affirm this, more so the housewives.

How true is that? Hmmm.... at least with middle-class families.

Foreign Land

Not knowing the language in a totally different part of the world can be unimaginably shaking. Well,that's how it has been for the whole of this week amidst geeks who, come what may, never budge to speak in anything but Greek!

God bless the new entrant, be it by giving her the potential to catch up with Greek or to motivate others to speak in English. The first case is most desirable for the benefit of all, although the second case looks more like a sure possibility.

By the way, does someone know how to say 'Sigh' in Greek? If so, fill in the gap here. Jseuklk hlijoiskjh jdhfjhktlylt (This means 'Thanks in advance' in Greek :P)!!!!!

For or from?

One of my friends congratulated me for having fetched a new job getting along with it, relatively flashy features.
A snippet here...

K : Hey! Congrats. Glad to know that you are into 'that' organisation.

Me : Thanks buddy.

K : Big bucks, huh? I know...

Me : Well .... moderately, yes.

K : Cool...

Me : :)

K : So, you are gonna buy a house now, right?

Me : What???

K : I mean... a house. What's the problem?

Me : Dude, the job is giving me work-from-home option, not work-for-home option as yet!

K : he he he

Me : A house? In Bangalore? What an oxymoron!

One week

Catch up with all the good movies on the net.

Hit the last page of "Memoirs of Geisha" and pick up (being slightly liberal there,not expecting to finish reading ) "To Kill a Mocking bird".

Download the ever wanted songs from the net and store them in the mobile playlist.

Catch up with friends and relatives.

Wake up late in the morning. Take the much desired afternoon naps.

Stumble upon all the blogs that I would like to spend time on.

Just walk on the terrace gaping at the evening sky.

Take 5 passport size photographs.

Travel to attend medico sister's convocation.

Clean the clutter in the room.


Do all these seem far-fetched in the one-week unemployment period ahead? Especially the last one!!! Well, tough deadline to fulfil it seems like.

Oops! It's three hours past the onset of the jobless period and gosh, I have just seen two parts of the movie, 6 more remaining! I have to perform better! No hopes at this rate,ain't it?

Helloooooo!!

Milk charring in the kitchen.

No Grocery shopping done.

It starts raining and the clothes put out to dry don't get that immediate attention.

Husband depressed and wife in tears.

No talk whatsoever. 'Living' room almost dead.

Naah ...it's not the cold war between the husband and wife.

Thanks to the plethora of glycerine coated mega-serials which have to their credit a whopping number of hypnotised victims!!!

Gosh!!

Turn off

All this while I was admiring every piece of work on a certain blog. Totally impressed I was at the diction and thought process. A couple of posts and I decided to be a regular visitor. And then I see a post in which 'quite' had wrongly taken the place of 'quiet'. It can't be a typo, I suppose. Not that I belittle the value of the blog, but something averts me now! A big turn off!

After all, was it quite an issue that I chose not to keep quiet? Well...

Funny Language

In my primitive years,as many others', I was having a genuinely strong vocabulory. Education is the main culprit I suppose to have made so many words obsolete and shrinked my dictionary. Sigh!

Back in those times,

Tamplese : It meant one should not catch you when playing lock and key if you uttered the word.
(Time please it had to be.Hmm...)

Oldein: It meant that the vehicle has to stop for a while.
(Hold on it had to be.)

Ya : It meant a friend like in "No ya, it is not like that ! ".

( For a long while I thought 'Ya' meant a friend, later I realised it is "yaar" which meant friend in Hindi!)

Mys : It meant something that belonged to me.
('Mine' it had to be.)

Stomachcake : Pain in the stomach.
(Stomach ache it had to be.)

Shut : It was used to show displeasure.
(It had to be shit! Shit!)

Macs : It meant a very difficult subjects dealing with numbers.
(Maths,dude, it is!)

exectra: It meant many more to follow.
(Etcetera it had to be)

Ruf note : It meant a book where you could scribble anything.
(Rough note)

A lot others in the list like putted , cutted ,drinked,drived etc. Now they give an absolute laughter, but God knows how confused we would have been if someone had laughed at our diction then!

Day before yesterday, as I was watching a group of kids play football, a kid who was the goal keeper stopped the ball from reaching the goal using his hands for which the kids in the opposition objected to using hands calling it unfair. "Who told? Hands is there!", he said in response. I was sorry, but I couldn't stop laughing!

When I was in primary school , I was asked to get my leave letter signed by my parents.When my dad was just about to sign it, I said 'Papa, my miss has told that it has to be purely signed'. He was in total confusion what purely signing meant until he guessed that it has to be be duly signed'.

English is a funny language. Indeed.

Spy?

My Orkut Fortune for the day :"You are soon going to change your present line of work"

Someone's spying out there, huh? :D

Silver lining

On a dim evening, last Friday, to return back from work, I boarded an office shuttle that I had not taken ever for I was headed to a different destination. Pensive and all alone, although in a crowded bus, I was. When no one seemed to keep me company, I recoiled to myself and was just gaping out of the window, mindlessly. After quite a while did I realize that those heavy clouds in the sky did give me company, only to be ignored till then.They followed me, wherever I went. What was with those clouds?

Was it to say that someone does give us company and we are never alone, whether or not it gets noticed?

Was it to say that, although they were heavy and overloaded, they moved on with life, hence we can too?

Or was it to remind me that every cloud has silver lining?


Whatever, as I moved on, they moved along. I reached my destination, not sure what happened of them later. Maybe, they found another lonely soul to give company and reassurance. Maybe…

Sometimes, elements around us, inanimate or otherwise, can be such a source of inspiration. Mind-boggling!

Big Brother

Long ago, when physical growth to us, three siblings(me the eldest, a sister in between and a brother standing at the tail of the lineage), meant just the linear one as against the current secondary growth, most of the relatives who visited our house had a tough time in guessing the ascending/descending order of our age. As my sister was almost of my height (! oh yeah, I kind of gave it up early!! :P), folks were confused all the more.When a family visited our house some years ago, a natural question that got asked was who the eldest was. Spontaneously, I said ‘It’s him, my brother’. My parents were the most startled ones, not left too far by the relatives because his height at that time had still kept him eligible to be called the youngest. I had to justify my answer to all those pairs of eyes expressing wonder. If a person’s orders and demands worked, if he could boss around, if he was given all rights of the remote control of the TV whenever he wanted to, rather, if there were a couple of people to support his cause if his rights were denied, if his choice of menu for lunch was taken as order, if not the eldest, what else can he be, I said. A loud burst of laughter from relatives and a mild smile from parents (who must have realized the consequences of forcing me to give away the remote control for the poor ‘younger’ brother) ends the scene.


Not so long ago, the ‘young’ brother who has outgrown most of the tall men in our kith and kin, also called the Big B of our family, confused some people so much that he was considered the big brother, I mean the eldest of all. If marriage proposals start coming his way, what do we assume?

Just recently, we visited our native place to attend a ceremony. A place with extreme influence of rural culture, bearing conservative people, it is. As we all sat in the open field and chatted after the ceremony was over, my brother started pelting stones at my toe. Despite warning and scolding him, he did it relentlessly. Quite irritated with his absurd behavior and to avoid a creation of scene, I walked away from there and later forgot about the incident totally. A couple days later, my brother reminded me of that incident to invite my wrath, and he asked if I knew the reason for why he did that. I expressed my ignorance for which he reasoned out that the problem was that I was sitting with crossed legs and the conservative-rural people consider that snobbish and arrogant. As we were sitting amidst so many people, he found it difficult to express that and assuming that I would change my posture, he did that. Laughing out loud, recollecting that I had walked away, he said it had finally worked!! All the anger I had on him vanished immediately. Although, the body language that got displayed was not intended, he was right in pointing it out. Lessons of manners when came from my younger brother, I realized, he had indeed become a BIG brother, maturity-wise too.

But then, the TV-remote-control thing is unfair! I still stand by that :P

Fortune Teller

Most of the times, I am not the one to get into the traps of sms-to- win contests/surveys. However easy or obvious the question could be, I never make an effort to send my answer over sms as I have a strong feeling that I could not truly be that lucky to be the chosen one to win the contests. So, more often than not, I turn a deaf ear when sms-to-win contests get aired amidst some movie numbers and plenty of advertisements in radio broadcasts.

An early morning travel of around an hour and a half in the bus to workplace is made less painful by listening to music. And enjoying music via radio comes for a price, got to listen to the advertisements and the contests too. Just a couple of days ago, when a question was asked on Radio One as to what the lifetime of an eye-lash could be, I blindly guessed it to be 5 months, and it turned out to be the answer too. For a while at least, I felt so bad for not having answered it . Maybe I could have won the prize, just maybe,I thought. A lazy goose or a pessimistic soul I must have been to let go of that chance to own a goody bag I felt. Similarly today too, a question in the lines of ”What act that you do every time kills a couple of brain cells?” was asked, I knew that I was aware of the answer- “SNEEZE”. After a hard fight over mind I realized that it was better to text in the answer and wait for the result rather than not send and regret later. So I did the same and waited desperately, clearing my throat, to get a response call from them to inform me that I have been the lucky winner for the day. The answer I gave was as right as the guy who won the goody bag. Just that his luck worked and mine didn’t as usual. This made me regret again for foolishly have fallen into the trap when it was proved in the past that lucky draws were never meant for me! Cursed myself for having sent a message at a cost of 3 rupees!!
SMS currency is too valuable a thing to be spent like this I thought.

It was as if I paid money to a fortune teller to call me unlucky! Not something that I did not know of! Hmmmph!!

Do sms me to vote for/against the sms-contests!! :P

Women's Day

Oh yeah... It was Women's day on 8th March. I tried so much to post on that very day, but was unable to, as a result of my maid going on leave and my being the complete woman at home!! Women's day,literally, it did turn out to be! Sigh! The sadistic relief is that men-folk at home were not left alone either ... he he he

Nevertheless, here comes one post with what I wanted to share. This eve of March has indeed been a reason to celebrate for women in India. The government and the judiciary have bestowed upon women some gifts in advance giving us every reason to celebrate and feel good about being us.

1. The upper limit of the tax exemption slab for women has been revised to 1.80 lacs from 1.50 lacs.

Kudos, Mr.Chidambaram.Thanks a lot. As one of my friends said, at least this time, we can take some bucks, home :)


2. 'Disinclination to cook not a ground for divorce'

Check the link to believe it if not read before.

Unfortunate that it had to be ruled rather than being understood,in the first place. As per me, it is so implicit that one should not have claimed that as a cause for divorce! Whoever that guy is, he has got the concept of marriage totally wrong. The ruling has made the the lady guilt-free, I suppose. In fact, his wife must have divorced him for a senseless person that he has been!

Did I ever say that I dislike cooking too? Now, my husband must have lost one good chance to divorce me. 'Dude,no luck this time!!' :P

Skipping Rope

K happened to meet S in the bus last weekend. S, the newly wedded common friend, was accompanied by her husband. K was so excited for having met her after a long while. K or me could not make it to S’ wedding for various reasons. So, K was very happy to have seen the couple for the first time.

After a couple of days, K e-mails me to convey this. The conversation is summed up for view:

K: Hey dear, you know what? I met S this weekend. Man! I was so excited to see the couple.

Me: Oh really? Woooooooowww!!

K: Oh yeah dear. S was so excited too. She introduced me to her hubby. I wished them.

Me: Cool.

K: Let’s go and meet the couple at their house on some weekend, ok?

Me: Of course dear, we need to. That’s in fact, due.

K: They really look good together, dear.

Me: :)

K: Another thing, S still looks the same!!!! ;)

Me: What do you mean now? I know .. I know… You mean to say that I turned fatter after my wedding, right?

K: he he he :P

Me: :( :( :( Why only me?

K: Arey yaar… stop frowning. It’s not the whole of you, ok? Just your cheeks have turned chubby.

Me: :( :(:( Why only my cheeks?

K: You need to figure out why? :)

Me: Hmm…. I need to ask God why only my cheeks?

K: I think so, you’d better.

Me: Wait a minute. If I ask God why only my cheeks, then he might misunderstand that I want whole of myself to be chubby, not just my cheeks!! What then?

K: You have a point!

Me: I’d then better keep shut.

K: True dear, You’d better keep shut. Good for all.
(K mutters to herself ‘Thank God! At last she kept quiet. Let me get back to work now!!’)


Ok … I bought a skipping rope, yesterday!! :P

Insane? Who?

We share the same locality and of course the same street too. The similarities end just there. The major difference between the person I am addressing and myself is that I have a roof for shelter and she doesn't. A lady of about 60 years she is, has dwelled on the same street since God knows when. I have been residing in that locality for about an year now, I see her everyday at the same place. She is insane- or so is considered. In rags, unkempt hair, muttering to herself always, unperturbed by the attention or stares she gets from the people walking past the road, she is all for herself, harmless to others.

God knows (does he?) what runs in her mind, I am sure though that she has created a world of her own. At as early as 6 in the morning, one is sure to catch her rinsing her hair with the water from the public water tank on the road. Off she goes with an old bisleri can refilled with the water from the same tank and a back-pack. She can then be seen only in the evening at about 6 in the same roofless place. Well, one might say what's so special about the person I am addressing when there are millions of people without a roof to sleep under and a square meal to eat. Well, she is indeed special.

She is an INDIVIDUAL. Not many are, me included. How can I call myself an individual when I depend on so many to lead my life? She takes care of herself, her food and her safety. Not sure what she does for her food, but the ascertained fact is that she is a woman of abundant self-respect. The other day, as I was walking towards home, I saw this woman walking slightly ahead of me. Just then a lady with a bagful of groceries, who seemed just out of busy provision shopping, walked past me, paused for a while in front of the insane(?) lady and offered her a rupee or two. Instant rejection from the old lady for the money offered and a heavy flow of unclear words showing her disapproval stunned the lady who offered the money. The latter told me that she only sympathized with the old woman and wanted to help for her food and was shocked at the response in return to the pity she expressed. No doubt, I was awe-struck! When we see teen-aged and people in early twenties adopting to begging as an easy means to money, this old woman flatly refused a volunteer’s help!! Isn’t that what we call self-respect??!! Hats off.

She is an Environmentalist. She does her bit to keep her shelter, that is the road where she dwells clean. Once when she saw a person spitting on the street, she instantly took him to task. Most certainly, he was embarrassed to be taking lessons of decorum from an ‘insane’ woman. He would never commit that mistake again, I believe, rather, hope so.

And after all this, people call her insane or mentally-challenged? To hell with them! Insane? Mad? Crazy?- She who knows that she has to earn her bread, she who knows that she has to keep herself and her surroundings tidy, she who knows how to manage from looking obscene even in those rags, she who minds her business and most of all, she who lives a dignified life and she who whenever possible, reforms people too ? Just wondered how low she considers all the insane people around!

“Ma’am, You have certainly made an impression on me. Please don’t consider me insane too. I have made an attempt to distinguish sane from the major insane rest!!”

It's Thursday and nothing else!

Sending flowers and Chocolates to the beloved while at office, to spring a surprise.

Gifting a "Jodha Akbar" music CD for all the music buff that he is.

Buying a shirt from Wrangler, in effect gifting two to him since buy-one-get-one offer exists at the right time, what a luck,man!

Gifting a gold pendant and getting a cute teddy in exchange.

Taking half-day leave to freak out.

Booking tickets for a movie.

Some shopping in the evening to rip his wallet off.

Dinner at a posh restaurant.

Does the plan for Valentine's day look all romantic and interesting? Well, these are plans adopted by many of my friends,not me!! Since Rags and myself believe that we don't need a specific day to celebrate our love, we have resorted to none of these; major cost cutting you see!! :P

Hmmm... looks like age does play it's tricks, we getting matured (Oh yeah! old too .. admitted!) and all,huh? :D