Friday, December 31, 2010

Time to say Bbye 2010!!

Year 2010 has been an eventful year, with the usual ups and downs. When I was thinking of a post to end the year, I remembered my sis writing this post. I had liked it... So I'm doing a similar post this time.. :D

A brief summary of 2010...

* what did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?
- moved out to a different city to stay on my own, for work.

* did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
- partially yes... Yes, I have a long list this time.. :D

* did anyone close to you give birth?
- Yup. My sister... :)

* did anyone close to you die?
- No

* what countries did you visit?
- None

* what would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
- Clarity and Peace of mind.

* what date from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
- April 9th, joined my current workplace.
- August 20th, my nephew was born.

* what was your biggest achievement of the year?
- refer question 1 ;)

* what was your biggest failure?
- taking up GATE, and not doing well. :(

* did you suffer illness or injury?
- suffered from neck pain for quite a few months.

* what was the best thing you bought?
- my Micromax Q55.

* whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
- different people at different instances.

* where did most of your money go?
- Insurance premium and house rent.

* what did you get really, really, really excited about?
- the nephew's birth.

* compared to this time last year, are you:
- happier or sadder? happier
- thinner or fatter? Just the same :-/
- richer or poorer? a lil bit richer

* what do you wish you’d done more of?
- Blogging, Reading and having fun.

* what do you wish you’d done less of?
- worrying.

* how will you be spending new year?
- with friends and room-mates, away from home :(

* what was the best book you read?
- The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

* what was your greatest musical (re)discovery?
- I stick to listening to my all time favourites.. :D

* what did you want and get?
- change of place.

* what did you want and not get?
- peace of mind.

* what was your favorite film of this year?
- I happened to watch all the flop movies :(

* what did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
- gave GATE and spent time with friends & family. 23.

* what one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
- lesser misunderstandings.

* what/who kept you sane?
- loneliness.

* what did you miss?
- Home and Family.

* who was the best new person you met?
- met a lot of lovely people.

* tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.
- Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone. Its true.. people have enough of trouble themselves, they don't like hearing other's woes. So learn to keep smiling.. :)

* quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
- AraLuva hoovugaLe aalisiri, baaLondu horaata mareyadiri.
BeLagina kiranagaLe baNNisiri, IruLhinde, belakunTu torisiri..
 
How was the year which went by, for you??
Wishing everyone a very Happy and Prosperous New Year 2011!!! Have fun!! :)

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Life Around a Metro!!

The Metro Rail successfully completed its test run in Bangalore, from Bayappanahalli to CMH Road. The only route that'll open in the year 2011.

For me it's sort of mixed emotions... As I mentioned in one of my posts, the Metro project has eaten away almost all the greenery, leaving the people longing for a fresh breath of air.

On the other hand, exists a hope that this will reduce the traffic woes. During the peak hours in the city, the roads are blocked, with vehicles standing neck to neck, horns blaring, people abusing others coming in their way. A normal 40-45 mins journey taking 2 hours and more. Considering this, I hope the Metro Rail brings whatever relief possible to the choking city.

I guess its a similar feeling for many Bangaloreans. I read that the same shopkeepers who opposed the project from being implemented on the CMH Road, as it would spoil their business, stood there cheering and clapping during the trial run. :D

One of the things I was excited about when coming to Chennai, was the chance to travel in local trains. It's a largely used, cheap and fast mode of transport here. Convenient for people travelling long distances. Reduces the road traffic to a large extent. Imagine the amount by which the traffic on the roads will increase, even if half the number of people travelling by trains, take out their cars!! :O

I hope that the Metro Rail will bring an equally good and refreshing relief to the people of Bangalore in the coming years.. :)

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Nothing but change is constant...

Far too many things changed in the last few months. It takes time for me to make friends... I was lucky to get a good bunch of friends at office. But with all of them getting transferred one after the other, there's hardly anyone left. When this was happening, I happened to mention to my roommate that the only thing left is for my roommates to get transferred and I will be left alone :(. Behold!! The following week my roomie tells me she's getting transferred too... :(

Home sickness is another thing that I'm dealing with. I start feeling dull if it's nearly two weeks since I've gone home. Off late the longing to visit home had increased.. To play with the little one, to listen to his sounds and just to watch him sleep. The little one is going his house today :(. Now it'll have to be a few hours visit to their place to have a look at him.. How I wish he could stay with us always...

To add to this, after putting in nearly five months of efforts in the current project at office, just when we were getting the feeling of having become a part of the project, just when we started learning a few things about the product, we were told that they are moving out the freshers to other projects, due to some issues. After having worked for more than a year in b'lore I had to join as a fresher at the current workplace.. Now this change is happening here. What do I do??

Feeling low and helpless.. :(

Monday, December 20, 2010

Feat oh Feet!!

Yay!!! My darling nephew caught his toe in his fingers for the first time today.. :)
Congratulations on this feat, dear boy!! :D

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Green or Gray??

All I had heard before coming here is that rains in Chennai are scarce. Lasts for a week or so and occurs in October... But it has been raining here intermittently since November . Infact the cyclonic effect resulted in rains for three continuous days with places getting filled with knee deep water and we getting an off from work :D

A pleasant surprise was the chilly weather we experienced for a few days... I know the deadly summer's gonna be back soon, but why not enjoy the days as long as they last.

When I talk of rains I miss Bangalore so much. One amongst the many things I love about b'lore is that it rains unexpectedly. Just when the heat is getting intolerable, the rain gods shower their mercy on the city for a day or so. The trees and plants start looking beautifully green with all the dust getting washed off them. :)

Its such a pity that the city is now getting robbed of its beauty in the name of improving the city's infrastructure, the new roads and the Metro rail. Lovely roads which were lined with trees nearly a century old, now stand bare and dusty. All you can find now is the cement, dust and heat :(

Not long back, I had read an article in the newspaper in which Arundhati Nag had told that the late Shankar Nag had prepared a full fletched plan along with the sketch of how the underground Metro project could be executed in Bangalore, without affecting the greenery of the city. That project never got the required support from the government and never saw the light of the day. What if it had?? Probably things would have been different...

I have an interest in plants and gardening myself, which has taken a backseat. I remember the days when we lived in the quarters of the IIMB campus. Our garden had a variety of fruit bearing trees including mango, jackfruit, lemon, pomegranate, coconut, chickoo, guava etc. Also roses of all colours and a variety of hibiscus flowers could be found. All of it now seems like a scence out of a novel :). My dad used to take regular and really good care of it. On moving to a different house all we were left with were a few potted plants... :(

Some day.. I wish to have and maintain a small garden of my own. Maybe in an attempt to try and preserve the beauty of the city in my own little way... :)

Friday, December 10, 2010

The Baby Update

He rules the hearts and the house!! He's almost 4 months old and it's already giving me the feeling the he's growing up too soon :( The teeny baby which came to its maternal grandparent's home in August, is now ready to go back home... He and my sis will be going back to their house in a couple of weeks... :(

I hardly get to see him and when I do, I can't get enough of him.. The time flies by when you sit next to him babbling nonsense and cooing at him. He smiles, laughs and gurgles in response. It's such a delight to watch him do just that.

He has recently started turning over to one side and sleeping. The smart fellow lies straight, turns over to the side, again turns to lie down straight and keeps repeating the same, having happily found out that this trick makes him go round in the bed :D

His best friend till a few weeks back was the cieling fan, which my sis lovingly calls the "Fanny Boy!!". He used to watch it with awe and talk to it in his baby language. He has suddenly started getting scared of his Fanny Boy and starts crying at the sight of it rotating.. :( I heard recently that he cried terribly on seeing the rotating fans at a function they had taken him to... :(

On the first day of my two day weekend visit, he spends staring at me wondering, "Who is this?? Seems familiar. She keeps turning up every two weeks!!". By the second day he figures out that I'm his chikki and happily talks to me and laughs on seeing me, making it difficult for me to leave later in the night.

All these months almost all the activities in the house depended on whether he's sleeping, he's awake, he's crying, he's playing, he's hungry etc. My parent's especially are gonna miss him terribly. He being their "Kullanti" and "Bangari", they are used to spending their day around him. They now have to go back and get used to staying in the same old empty house. :(

Gonna miss you so much sweetheart!!!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

This too shall pass...

Not all days are bright and sunny, there are dull and cloudy ones too. Days when you have no energy, no hope and no enthusiasm. Days when you feel, "why does it happen to me all the time??". What one needs to know is that one is not alone. Every individual goes through the same...

Words of advice aren't scarce, one keeps getting them from all directions. Words of comfort, is what the heart longs for... The spoken words may not be new. Its just the feeling, that the "words understand you" and not "you understand the words".

"Jo karna, uska naam kya?" (How does it matter by what name you call something that you have to do?)
What you can do is, smile and do it and be happy or crib and do it and be grumpy!! Something you've heard before, haven't you? But these words made me feel better today!! :)

No matter how good or bad the time is today, "this too shall pass" (Yeh waqt bhi guzar jaayega).

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Saying NO!!

Ever come across a situation where you have to say No to someone for something that you can do?? I'm sure you have.. What I wanna know is how simple or difficult should it be??

I for one find it really difficult to tell No to people in certain situations, even if the person is a complete stranger. I have had many people telling me, "How difficult is it? You don't even know the person". Sounds simple, but I find it difficult. Well if I do manage to say No, I keep feeling guilty and keep bothering about it, like how I am now. The reason for the post - an incident that happened in the bus today.

Before I write about today's incident, let me write about a couple of incidents more, that have happened, not very long back.

Incident 1: I have this tendency of giving money to people who come begging, for I feel bad for them. After advice from many people I have now improved and stop myself from giving money to the beggars who look young/healthy. One evening on the way home, I was waiting for my turn at the usual grocery store, when a pretty healthy looking beggar turned up. Nobody present there responded to him. I was lost in thought whether or not to give him money as he had a bandage wrapped around his elbow. Seeing that nobody responded, he approached the shopkeeper, who said that he won't get anything for free!! The beggar took 3 Rs and handed it to the shopkeeper. I was feeling sad for him that he has so little to spend for something to eat. Before I could do anything, the beggar says "One Charms!!". Can you believe that? :O He bought a cigarette.x-( The incident irritated and upset me so much. Is this what happens generally??

Incident 2: I along with a few friends were at the railway station waiting for the train. A beggar turns up. My friends say No, so I say No too. Within a few minutes a lady approaches me with an open palm. I say No again. As she walked away, I noticed that she had a huge bag on her head. She appeared to be clad in neat saree as well. She went and stood at a distance. As I wondered... the realization struck me that she with her open palm was pointing at the bottle of water I was holding. She was asking for water!! God!! How ashamed I felt at that moment. :( I then went to her, told her that I misunderstood her, apologized and gave her the bottle of water. She smiled and thanked me. :)

Incident 3: This is what happened today. The lady in the seat next to me, a villager, asked me what the time was. Though I can now have minimal conversation in Tamil, I don't know how they tell the time in Tamil. So I responded saying "Tamil teriyaadu" ( I don't know Tamil ) and asked the girl standing beside to tell the lady its 7.30. Immediately after this the lady asks me questions like, where am I going to get down? If I have a mobile phone? She said that she has to call her son and asked me to do so from my mobile. When I said No, she asked that was it because I didn't have balance in my phone? I didn't know what to say, I was wondering whether or not I should make a call for her sake... Thinking that my number would unnecessarily go to unknown people, I decided against it. Thankfully since I had told her that I don't know the language all I had to do was stay silent. She stopped talking to me herself.

I have been feeling guilty since then and wondering whether I did the right thing?? How do I know if I am in a situation like Incident 1 or 2? How do I decide when to tell No to people? How do you people do it? Let me know...

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Come back post :D

I know... It been too long since I last posted. I've been too lazy and procrastinating all the time, when I had such wonderful things to post about..

Let's call this a come back post and I'll try to keep my blog alive from now onwards. :)

What's been happening at my end is -

* Yay!!! I'm an aunt.. My sis was blessed with a baby boy, two months back. :) :) Everyone's having a great time with tiny one back at home and all I get, is to see him once in two weeks when I go to b'lore... hmmph!!! :-/

* The baby is about to be named in a few days!! :D

* Got used to chennai.. getting back to the house here after a long day at office feels nice too..

* I have definitely become more adjustable and responsible and quite good at all the housework too.. ;)

* Feel lonely at times and miss home terribly. Get upset when I feel that they don't miss me equally :(

* Have been struck at home doing washing clothes and stuff like that, at many weekends :-/ coz its too hot and the places are too far to go roaming..

* Miss hopping over to CCD with friends whenever I feel like. Also going for long walks whenever I felt like...

* Started liking the work at office.. A new zeal to learn things.. :)

* Hardly able to talk to all my old friends, and they keep complaining about it :(

* Made a group of friends here and a few of them already left.. :( Took transfers and were posted elsewhere.. Missing them too...

That's about a short update from my end.. What's up with you??

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Home away from Home...

Its been more than a fortnight since I am staying at a new place. Probably the longest I've stayed away from home in all these years. Even as kids me and my sis have always been the type who preferred staying at home rather than visiting and staying over at granny or grandpa's place. Its so much more comfortable to stay at home, be and laze around the way we want.

One thing I've realized is that if you move to a new place with a prior mindset, that you are not gonna like the place or that its gonna be horrible. That's what you are gonna get. Its gonna be really difficult to adjust to the new place. Thankfully, I didn't have such a mindset. Only thing I was bothered with was the weather, and I am still struggling to get used to it. I see my colleagues at work who are from different places finding it really difficult here. I at least have the advantage of being a south indian and knowing a little bit of the language. They on the other hand have to use sign language to get their point across.. :D

It was also an advantage to stay with people whom I knew. Its much better than staying with strangers. My roommates have been really nice and accepted me easily as one amongst them. They've hugged and consoled me at times when I was crying and feeling really lonely :(
Thank you people!! :)

The daily activities of getting up on time, reaching office, attending the classes, studying, getting back home and cooking our own dinner, made me realize how convenient it had been, back at home where my Mom would wake me up and I would eat Mom made food. I would complain when she repeatedly made Upma, every Saturday. Now I eat Idly-Vada for breakfast, at office, almost everyday. Love you Mom!!! :)

Coming here has also made me realize that everyone's different. You've got to adjust and keep quiet at times, when you so badly wanna give them a piece of your mind. You'll find different kind of people at work, some who'll get on your nerve and all you can do is bite your teeth and smile at the irritating things they say (Yeah... I've already met such people).

I am badly missing the rains and eating pani puri with friends, back in Bangalore. I thankfully had a chance of going home last weekend and I am looking forward to more such weekends. So what have you people been upto??

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Happiness

Its so true, that the things which bring you great happiness come free of cost.. :) Like... someone's  nice words about you, knowing that people are gonna miss you when you are not around, knowing that your presence makes a difference to a few. I have felt all this in the past week and it feels awesome... :)

One of the most unexpected and overwhelming incident in the past week was my Prof. calling for a meeting on the day I quit and it intending to be an informal send-off for me. :) I shall never forget the words he spoke for me and about me. Though he comes across as the strict professor at times, he has a heart of gold, which he has proved at many instances. His words, which wished me luck, told me that my contribution in the work had mattered and let me know that I shall be missed, will always remain in my memory. :) It made me feel so special.. :) He even said that they'll miss me as much as my parents would when they would get me married and send me off.. :D

I am grateful to be having friends to whom I matter. Seeing a couple of friends crying that I shall be going away made me sad and happy. Sad that I shall not be able to meet them often and happy to have such friends. (Hey guys... you never know..., what if I'm back in a couple of months to eat your head again... So don't cry... :))

It felt great to have my sister come over and stay at home over the weekend. It had been months or probably an year since she last stayed over. If not for her I would have done none of the packing. She has so neatly packed so many things that I'm now scared that I'll need 2 more bags when I'm coming back coz I can't pack as neatly as her.. :) Wish she had stayed for a few more days. I just hope that I'm here when its time for my niece/nephew to come. I want to see her/him on the first day itself.. Just can't wait for it... :)

One of the things that's making me sad is the thought that I can't probably blog when I'm away. That's coz I don't have a laptop nor do I think I shall get a chance to access the internet at the workplace. I'm not sure yet, but that's how it is generally... :( Never mind.. I'm gonna post all the stuff on my mind when I come to Bangalore during the weekends.. :) Something's better than nothing... :) What say??

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Winter to Spring

One of the things I've always wished for is to stay away from home atleast for sometime, either for studies or for work. I feel its a learning experience all by itself. Had never got a chance until now. Also when its happening now, I am going through a sort of mixed emotion. I guess its natural too..

I shall be moving to Chennai (hopefully only for a few months)  in less than 10 days, for a new job. It was totally unexpected and one of the rarest occurrences where I've been lucky. :) I was born and brought up in Bangalore and I simply LOVE the city. I agree it has its flaws, but nothing till now has been able to change my love for the city. My friends tell me its probably because I haven't seen many places. But I don't agree. I think its because I am too attached to this place. Having been here for 20+ years, nothing but Bangalore can be home to me. The thought of having to live away from here and live in a city to which I am a stranger is a scary and saddening.. :(

The sadness of having to stay away from parents at the time that they actually need their children around cannot be expressed in words. The only thing that I tell them and myself in consolation is that they'll be grandparents few months down the line and that they'll have so much fun with their granddaughter/grandson that they'll not even remember me.. :P Seeing my mom's sad and dad's tired face brings tears to me. But I can only hope that staying away for sometime may make, me love them and they love me more... :D

Accompanied with it is a feeling of loss, to be leaving the current workplace, which is probably the best and safest to be in, both in terms of learning and the people. The kind of friendly and lovable people I've met here are probably hard to find in the corporate world. I hadn't felt much when having to leave college, quite unlike others. The sadness I am feeling, for having to leave this workplace is almost the same as what I had felt when leaving school... :(

There's some excitement and happiness too.. :) Happiness, that an unexpected wish came true.. Excitement of having to go and live, work and cope with everything myself. A sense of independence and responsibility which feels great. :)

Also is the fear of whether I'll be accepted in the new place, whether I'll be good at the new work, whether I'll find true friends as good as the old ones... All these feeling leave me drained. I hope things go through smoothly and I do my best. I know its just a few hours journey to home. It'll be a thing to look forward to. :)

You must be wondering what's the relation between the title of the post and the post itself. Its just that I'm feeling like it is the transition from winter to spring, where the tree sheds all its leaves and slowly in some days the new ones start to spring out. I probably need to shed or leave behind the old things and start afresh and blossom in a new place... :)

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Power Cuts

Come summer the common things we hear of are the high temperatures, water scarcity and power cuts. With trees being cut down without a forethought, leading to untimely rains and unpredictable weather cycles, power cut is a thing everybody is expecting and is prepared for during summer.

Power cuts are a thing that people detest. Firstly, people are accustomed to using fans and air conditioners during summer. They have to bear the heat during power cuts. Secondly the television in almost every house is running all the time whether or not anyone's watching it. No chance of watching the tv during power cut. If there's an IPL match being telecast during the power cut, then God save the people working in the Electricity Board from all the curses that are cast on them by the people. Have scheduled power cuts, people come up with ideas of finishing all the required tasks well before the scheduled time. Make the cuts unscheduled, the parents start complaining of how kids are unable to study for exams.

Majority of the people today are prepared for the power cuts having Inverters/UPS facility in their residence and work places. The only time they are probably in darkness is when they sleep or when the UPS stops working for an unknown reason. The city life is such that there's traffic and lights at all times, even at night. People have become so used to this kind of a lifestyle that probably they cant even imagine staying in the darkness for a couple of hours.

I on the other hand like power cuts. :) Call me insane if you want. But I find it weird that people want to have lights around them at all times. Some are such that they can't even sleep without a bed lamp :O. I like power cuts (especially if they are during the evenings) for various reasons...

* First and foremost is that, it is to save power, of which we have a scarcity.
*  I think every person should and must have an experience of being in the darkness for a while. It is beautiful... :)
* Darkness lets me be with myself, even if it is for a couple of hours or minutes. I think it is the time to contemplate and think about oneself and the others.
* I love the way the brightness of the moon becomes prominent during power cut which at other times is overshadowed by the city street lights.. :(
* It brings you closer to your family members.
* It makes you realize how bright and beautiful the life is at other times.

I have many fond memories associated with power cuts... :) Back then when I was in school, the time when our family and my uncle's family lived in two different floors of the same house, power cuts meant fun time!! :) Me and my sis would gleefully run upstairs to join our cousins, uncles and aunt. The entire time was spent playing Antakshari, Word Building, Quizzes and what not... :) The elders would team up against kids or it would be be boys versus girls. It was so much fun.. :D We would stop the game when the power is back and continue it from there the next time. Thats something that I badly miss from the time my cousins and their family shifted to a different house... :(

During one such dark evening when we were playing Antakshari, there was a knock on the door of my uncle's house. Since I was nearest to the door, I went and opened it. It was pitch dark outside. It scared the hell out of me to see no one there.. I banged the door shut and ran inside. I was just telling that there was nobody, when there was a knock again. I almost wept out of fear. My uncle, who's a civil engineer went and opened the door to find one of his workers outside. This worker I'm talking about has a very very dark complexion. I hadn't seen him coz of the darkness outside. The worker said "Avaru nanna nodi baagilu haaki bittru !!" (she saw me and shut the door!!). How my cousins and everyone else laughed at me that day, is one thing I'll never forget.. :( . One thing that I'm thankful for, till date, is that the person outside didn't smile, else I would have fainted seeing a set of white teeth in the pitch darkness... :O

I was a very fidgety kid, unable to sit in one place and study. My sis on the other hand would sit for hours and would get up only when she finished a chapter atleast. I would keep making trips to the kitchen, looking for something to eat or drink, or would go disturb her. But I loved to sit and study in the candle light during power cuts. It was just to show off to my parents, that I'm so hard working. ( Now I feel, its probably one of the reasons I wear spectacles and my sis doesn't :P )

I'm so thankful that even now we don't have a UPS system in our house. I hope we don't need one too... But the candles have been replaced by an emergency lamp. I avoid the light and go sit in the dark room during power cuts. :) It brings back to me all the good memories and makes me like it all the more.. :)

PS: The only time I get upset with a power cut is when my computer gets switched off (poof!!) and I haven't saved the file.. :P

Monday, March 15, 2010

Change...

...is one thing that I've never been able to understand. There are different kinds of changes.. Change of place, weather, home, work place etc etc... All of it affects us somehow.. But change in people... Hard to digest. The fact that people change "just like that" seems so shocking and saddening to me. I might have changed too... But going by majority of what my friends say, I haven't changed much...

Discuss this with friends, they say change is a part of life and it happens. You can't help it. Isn't it in our hands? is my question... I say change for good is ok, but change for not so good is not ok. But as my friend said, its all relative. What's good according to me, may not be good for the other person. Similarly I may not like a change that's good according to them... Even though I know and understand this, why is it that it hurts every time to see a changed and unexpected reaction from the other person?

I have changed quite a bit within myself. The people around may not notice it.. I have become stronger than what I was before (not physically :P but emotionally). I am basically an emotional fool and get hurt by the slightest of things. I dig out and assume meanings out of the words spoken by others and hurt myself.. Some where I think this adds up to the change I see in people, while it might be just that I'm assuming it.

I am friendly and patient and forget about fights easily. Sometimes I can't even remember the reason I fought with the others for. I ask sorry even in situations where it may not have been my fault. I just want to get over with the fight.. But its wrong sometimes, to do so, coz I may not even be giving the other person the time to think if its their fault.. All the more a reason why people may take me for granted and I end up feeling they've changed their attitude towards me... I believe in "Value the relationship more than the issue".. Doesn't work always I guess.. You should be ready to take a stand atleast at certain times.

Okay... this post was nonsense.. :D and you may not follow anything at all.. So forget it.. I am still wondering what I wrote... ;) Sometimes the thought is so clear in your head but you cant put it down in words... :(

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The long planned trip

In the past few weeks all my week days have been spent at work and the weekends in traveling, with no time and energy left to blog...

Talking of traveling... I had gone to Mangalore during the last weekend and Chennai in the weekend before that. Though the Chennai trip was an official one, with the my teammates and me having gone to attend a meeting, we happened to spare a few hours and visit a beach nearby. Its called the Besant Nagar beach. The last time I had been to Chennai I had visited the Marina beach and was awed by how huge it was. But the it was crowded and was all filthy with the people making the shore a dustbin for their convenience. But the Besant Nagar beach that we visited this time was much nicer, though smaller. It was a lot more cleaner and less crowded. We spent an hour or more, playing in the water and clicking pictures. The waves were a little high, it being a full moon day... We had to leave soon as we had to get back to the guest house..

The Mangalore trip had been a long planned and postponed one.. I had never gone for a trip with my friends until I joined work. Even the trips that I went for after work were all official, with us sneaking out some time to roam around. I always longed to go for a trip with friends... The Mangalore trip plan dates back to nearly an year, with initially the location being Mysore and not Mangalore.. :D The plan was made when my dear friend 'A' was in Mysore for training in her company. But with she having tests or one of us having some other thing on hand, the plan never got executed. Subsequently 'A' was posted in Mangalore and to add to it another close friend 'P' also worked in Mangalore. So now the people nagging us to come there... had doubled!! There began the Mangalore trip plan...

The usual postponing kept happening, with me having an exam, with my friend 'B' being on call on weekends and with 'D' having other works. If not these... come long weekends 'A' and 'P' would come to be in Bangalore with their family.. Somehow things never worked out.. My exam got over and B's senior returned making her free during alternate weekends. 'D' agreed too.. :) We fixed the first weekend of March, as the days for the trip. 'B' suddenly realizes that she's on call that weekend :P ... I request her to swap the days for another weekend with her senior, and... she does... Cool!!! :)   'D' informs she has an appointment on that weekend and asks us to postpone the trip again...!! But 'B' couldn't swap again and we didn't wanna postpone it further as come April it would get hotter...!!! So... 'D' dropped out of the plan.. :(

Finally me and 'B' made it to Mangalore... only to realize that P's working on the weekend and is not free.. :P Well.. we did blast him and took revenge by making him feel guilty for having made us come and he not being free!! We stayed at A's place... Roamed around with her and her roomies, two really nice and friendly people.. :) We went to beaches and temples and an island.. :) We went for the scary Banana Ride, where we were thrown of into the middle of the sea water!! :O (hehehe :D but we had life jackets on!!) It was scary initially and when we heard that its not once but thrice that we'll be nearly drowned in water.. :O But once done.. we felt like we had climbed K2... :D It was a wonderful feeling... :)  The coward 'A' looked on... taking pictures and riding happily on the boat.. :P (but if not for her, we probably would have had no pictures of the ride... :D)

'P' could only make time to meet us in the evening and have dinner with us... But atleast he did that.. Else we would have killed him!! All in all it was an awesome trip, with us left longing for more.. :) Great time and great fun!! :D In a way it was a right decision not to postpone the trip as there have been certain recent developments (about which I'll blog later :) ) which would have probably made us cancel the trip!! All's well that ends well... :)

Monday, March 1, 2010

Promotion on the way..!!




The past few days have been hectic and I've had no time to write this post.. I know it deserves to be here 10days back, but I couldn't... :(

Yay!!!! I'm getting a promotion.... Before you jump to conclusions, let me tell you that the job I'm in, I cannot get any promotion.. So its not at work :P Then what??? hehehehahaha :D I'm gonna be an aunt... I'm gonna be an aunt... I'm gonna be an aunt... :)

Of course there's still a lot of time, but I'm all excited already. I have 4 cousins, all younger to me.. With 3 of them, I've had the chance of playing, advising them as an elder sister, scolding them and entertaining them and enjoying the baby antics :) as I am much older than them.. But it gets more exciting to know that your own sister's baby is all set to come..!! :D Time's coming for me to stop acting like a kid and behave ladylike!! (I am just waiting for a chance to become all the more kiddish and to have fun with the little one ;) ) My sister's enough to teach the kid the prim and proper ways. She's always been the proper lady and I've been the taleharte at home :D!! So this little she/he is gonna have one aunt who's gonna spoil her/him nicely and one mom to teach her/him (and me) the correct ways :P... Its gonna be fun!!!

The excited me is already making plans and the sober sis keeps bringing me down to earth. For instance, I was discussing with my sis that I want a niece and not a nephew. (Yeah I know... I'm biased. But half the world is biased... Many of them still prefer a baby boy. So why cant I be biased towards girls? hmmph!!) So getting back.. I was telling my sis that everyone who has a boy kid or a girl kid dresses it up as Krishna paapa, so we'll dress up my niece as Radhe and take pictures.. :) I was so happy with my idea. My sis literally poured cold water on it, saying "Sit and study for your exam tomorrow, I'm getting tensed about it and you are jumping around!!" :( You wait my dearest sis, I and my niece/nephew (yeah yeah.. I'm not all that biased..) are gonna gang up against you... :P

I am making plans of what the baby will call me.. chikkamma :O I should think of something else!! Aunty sounds even worse.. :P I've seen people who call their chikkammas as chikki (atleast it sounds better!!). I also heard suggestions like mini-mum (chikka-amma)... sheesh!! People do you have suggestions??

So all of you reading this, please do include my sis and the family in your prayers and bless that the little one arrives hale and hearty into our lives.. :)

(PS: The dot on the top was a drushti-bottu for the little one :) )

Friday, February 19, 2010

Aisi hi hoon main!!

I've never been a very social person. I don't have huge groups of friends.. I have a few, very close friends, who know the kind of person I am. I take time to make friends.. I'm silent by nature and most of my friends are the kind who talk more... (with a few being exceptions). :) They are a mixture, with a few who talk more, a few who are calm and don't take everything very seriously, a few who are practical... All in all each one of them is quite unlike me. :) I like being in the company of my small group of friends coz they are different from me and I can very comfortably be myself amongst them. I rarely talk much or pour my heart out to someone.. Very few privileged ones get the chance... ;)

I hadn't even signed up for social networking sites like orkut and facebook until last year. All my friends used to pester me to join and I was endlessly postponing it. Finally one day I joined the crowd. Even now I don't see the point of it as I still end up talking to my regular friends most of the times and rarely with the others on the list. One advantage has been that I can wish everyone on their birthday. Not that I'm bad with dates, but that I can wish friends whom I used to never wish before.

I get really excited and interested when some group activities are being planned. But then I hardly take the risk of taking part in it coz I end up with a feeling of being left out or feel out of place. If I am in a group of friends, who are friends but not best buddies I feel I don't belong there... Weird I know... So if my close friends drop out of the plan so do I... Most of the times I miss out on all the fun coz of my nature.

This time I've agreed to attend a reunion, where my group of friends aren't coming. I hope I don't end up feeling like the odd one out... Lets see what happens.. :)

Monday, February 15, 2010

The neck and tale of it!!

I can be a pain in the neck for people at times.. hehehaha :D but never thought it will literally rebound on me... I've been suffering from some problem in my neck for a couple of months now...

Let me start at the beginning... It happened nearly two months back. There was a sudden catch in my neck on a Sunday evening.. I know there can be a muscle pull or catch in the neck when you turn suddenly or you've slept in the wrong posture all night etc. But this was out of the blue.. I wasn't even doing anything.. There was a horrible pain in the neck and lower portion of my head. I could not move my head even by an inch. My parents weren't at home too. :( The pain was so horrible that I felt if I move my head, I'm gonna die... I was so sure that it was gonna be my last day.. I was even thinking what are the things I should do right that moment, if I'm gonna die. The first thing that came to my mind is that my parents are out and I need to unbolt the door so that they can open it from outside when they are back.. lol... :D I called my parents and they panicked... I said I'll try and go lie down and will call them again if it subsides... The pain started subsiding after about fifteen mins... My parents returned and it was around 8 in the night. Since it was late and it was a Sunday all clinics were closed.

My neck was fine by morning, except for a tingling pain. So I did this brave thing of going to office. Guess what... a similar catch in the neck repeats sometime in the noon. My friends took me to the clinic in the campus and the doctor asked me to move my head and asked a few questions. She then prescribes me a pain killer and tells me to go to an orthopedist if the pain doesn't subside, coz it could be Spondylosis...

A series of visit to the orthopedist followed, with the formal procedures of x-rays and tablets. The diagnosis of Orthopedist1 was that the pain is because I have a habit of lying down and reading. Since the pain kept recurring when I was done with the tablets, my sis advised me (read as threatened me :)) to see another orthopedist. This person is pretty famous... The diagnosis of Orthopedist2 was that the pain mainly because of wrong posture. I was advised to take physiotherapy for a week, which I did.. The physiotherapy sessions can be a post by itself :D...

On the last day of the physiotherapy session guess what happens.. there's a catch in the neck just like day 1 (hmmph!! all my money down the drain)... Now on my mom's advice I'm taking a homeopathic treatment from a doctor to whom she's a loyalist... :) I guess my parents are also happy coz his diagnosis matched my parents opinion... that its because of weakness and that I have to eat properly.. ;) All said and done.. Now I have to take these tablets for 4 weeks... Let me wait and watch...

I liked the way this doctor advised me.. He said a lot of things, but one amongst that was... “Love yourself, the way you are”. I don't know why he told me that. Probably he could read it on my face that I don't really love myself.... :) He then went on to add that he works for 9 to 10 hours everyday but he loves himself and he shows his love to himself by eating good food and enjoying it... Coming from a stranger this really touched me.. I felt nice after talking to him. :) As for the pain in the neck, I think all the doctors were right in some way and I can only hope that it gets cured...

So... people... Love yourself, the way you are!!! :)

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Long Walks...

There are times when we feel really low.. When we feel, life sucks!!! When talking to even your best friend doesn't cheer you up. What do we do at such times? We cry, we take a small nap.. Most of the times what I do is, to go for a long walk all by myself...

I love walking. Its a little depressing to walk alone. But, when you are already depressed it works the other way round. It may not cheer you up, but it definitely calms you.. I walk through all the small lanes, where there's less traffic and there are less people. I walk through roads which have a lot of trees. The greenery is very soothing. I know is hard to find such roads now. But I'm blessed to be living close to one such area.. Touch wood!!

I just start off from the house without bothering where I'll go. Take the turns that I feel like taking at the moment. I don't look at the watch. Its actually surprising, coz I keep looking at the time even I am out with my friends, coz I don't wanna get back late and get into a row. But when I'm off on such walks sometimes I don't even wear my watch. I walk back home when I feel lighter or when I feel tired. I generally walk very fast. Ask my friends and they'll vouch for it. But at such times I walk really really slow.. Sometimes I'm crazy and I walk really long distances and my legs ache throughout the next day. But its fine...

The best thing about such walks is that you'll notice things which you wouldn't have noticed before. Some new house/shop which has come up in the area, a tree filled with flowers of the rarest kind and color, an old house which hasn't changed at all from what you had seen years ago, some new faces in the house where someone you knew stayed, a new pet in the house down the lane. Sometimes you even happen to meet an old friend you've never met after school. The kids playing on the street and yelling, makes you wanna do it. :) All in all somewhere you forget why was it that you started off in the first place. :) Your mood's lifted...

So.. what do you do, when you are feeling low??

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

School Chalein Hum...

I don't know if it was coincidence but in the past few days I've heard and overheard a lot of people discussing about the state of schools and the quality of teaching today. Schools, which previously only meant means of attaining education has ceased to be so. Now... its that and much more...

The trend is to get your kid into one of the top schools, even better if its an International school. Better the school, higher the amount they charge in the name of donation and fees. I didn't study in one of the top schools. Me and my sis were admitted to our school coz it was reasonably good and one of the closest to my house. That was all the criteria that was required to select a school then. Now it is the name (read as brand) of the school and how many rank holders in the previous year which matter more. :(

I used to love my school as a kid and many years after I left it. I loved it because of the teachers who taught us, the friends I had, the fun we had. The teachers put in lot of efforts to teach us. They knew what they were teaching.. They were friendly and caring. They remember us when we meet them even now. :) This was the picture of my school that I had in my mind for long. But off-late all that I've heard is that a lot of the teachers who taught us left. :( There is lot of politics going on in the management. The new teachers are not good enough. Most importantly.. the fees has shot up unbelieveably. The year I left school we were paying Rs.450, which was a lot according to us. That was in my tenth. Now they charge Rs. 1500 to 2000 for the kindergarten students... :O This is just the monthly fee.. Imagine the donation, the amount spent on books and stationery, uniforms etc etc..

This not just the state of my school but many more such schools, which was then affordable to the average middle-class man and is probably not affordable now. Let us consider that people wouldn't mind paying more if the quality of education is good.. But then why are the number of students attending private tutions increasing? I have seen 3rd and 4th standard students attending extra classes. This is, when the parents are interviewed in many schools before admitting the students. When the schools have such pre-requisites shouldn't they atleast promise good teaching? If they promise that, the child will be spared from the extra classes, extra homework and extra tests..

With the cut-offs being high and the teaching being average the kids are overburdened under the name of competition. On the other hand parents slog in order to be able to afford the costs. All this when we aim to have no illiterates and eliminate unemployment from our country. :( Is this the scenario everywhere? Or is there some hope?

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Mile Sur Mera Tumhara

A Song which describes Unity in Diversity of the Indian culture. I love both the old and the new versions of the song.

The Old Version


The thing I like most about the old version is the focus on featuring more common people and the various diverse cultures in India.

The New Version


The thing that I like most in the the new version is the various artists playing different instruments and that it also features players from different sports. :)

Jai Hind!!!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Loneliness...

Loneliness is when you are in a group but not in the conversation.

Loneliness is when you have no company to walk back home.

Loneliness is when your calls go unanswered.

Loneliness is when you are on one side and the others on the other side of the argument.

Loneliness is when everyone's home but nobody talks.

Loneliness is when once best buddies talk to you like strangers.

Loneliness is when you realize you haven't achieved as much as your peers.

Loneliness is when you wanna talk loads but there's nobody to listen.

Loneliness is when you hug your pillow to fall asleep.

Loneliness is when you are at home and everyone's working.

Loneliness is when everyone's at home and you are working.

Loneliness is when you are off to a distant land by your self.

Loneliness is what the dear ones feel when then see you off.

Loneliness is when your pillow is moist with tears.

Loneliness makes you strong.

Loneliness makes you identify your weakness.

Loneliness gives clarity.

Loneliness calms the mind.

Loneliness lets you think.

Loneliness makes you see the point in the other side of the argument.

Loneliness makes you realize who matter.

Loneliness makes you a good human being.

Loneliness makes you independent.

But... most importantly... loneliness is not from what's around, its from what's within...
Loneliness makes you blog!!! :D

Monday, January 25, 2010

You've got mail !!

Remember the days when post meant the letters arriving from the postal department and not posts on blogs or posting something on the wall in facebook? The days when if somebody asked "Did you get the mail?" it meant some awaited letter and not email :P

I remember the days when me and a close friend 'B' who was then in Hyderabad kept in touch by writing letters to each other. Let me clarify that it wasn't ages ago like what one would think. We wrote letters to each other till a couple of years back... It was a wonderful experience in itself. Looking forward to each other's reply, scolding each other for replying late, going to the post office to buy inland letters or envelopes and stamps :) All of it had a personal touch to it..

Come Birthdays or New Year or Friendship Day we would send cards to each other. It was a wonderful feeling to know that a friend cared... no matter how far we were. I still have all the cards and quite a few letters kept safely with me.

Feels sad that with changing times everything changes. Now when everyone's inbox is flooded with forwards and emails about everything under the sun, nobody has the time or perhaps the gratitude to acknowledge any of it. Where are the friendly mails saying, "Hi, How are you? I'm fine.. Hope the same from you too.."?? There are hundreds of people on our contact list.. But how many of them are we in contact with?? The friendly green color shows that a friend is available and danger red indicates that he/she's busy. But the conversations hardly go beyond "wassup?? nothing, just the usual.." When we have nothing to talk, we hide.. just make the status invisible and problem's solved...

With the technology making things better and connectivity easier, are we moving further away from each other?? Point to ponder...

Friday, January 22, 2010

From Diaries to Blogs...

(Warning: The following post is long and the owner is not responsible for anyone getting bored or falling asleep)

Me being the younger of the two daughters to my parents, I was for long treated like a kid at home (now don’t tell me, I look like one too :P I’ve heard that enough and I still keep hearing it.. hmmph!! :X). I get a feeling that for my sis I’m still a kid at most times.. Okay... the post is not about how kiddish I am :P.

So... me being the younger sibling and coz I love my sis a lot and look up to everything she does, I used to religiously follow everything that she did or liked. My fav actor was SRK for a long time coz my sis’s fav actor was SRK, my fav color was ‘X’ as my sis’s fav color was ‘X’, I liked a movie coz my sis found it good, I started liking Malleshwaram coz it was my sis’s fav place (I still love Malleshwaram though… and I guess my sis still loves it too ;)), I used to like Pulao and not Bisi Bele Bath coz that’s what my sis liked, I got interested in reading books coz of my sis… you get the drift??? We still have a similar liking though not the same always… Okay… This post is not about me and my sis either.. :D . That’s gonna be one loooong post (yeah probably longer than this ;))

All this was to tell that, I started maintaining a personal diary coz my sis had started doing it. My sis was in college or in her 10th std, I’m not sure… and I was in primary school :P. So you can imagine what I wrote. I stopped writing after sometime as it was tiring and I didn’t know what to write every day. I dunno what my sis did (you see.. it was a personal diary and she hid it :X). Sometime recently I happened to read what I had written and I couldn’t stop laughing… :D

My entries used to generally be like this –

Dear Diary (as if it was gonna be offended otherwise :P),

Today I went to school. We had Science class. My fav ‘R’ ma’am was absent. We learnt about ‘xyz’ in English class… blah blah blah… (and finally, something like) I have lots of homework and I gotta go do that ok. So I’ll see you tomorrow (yeah.. I said cya even to the diary :P).

Bye…

I know, I know.. I was pathetic… :P I found out soon and gave it up. I guess my interest in writing still remained. So I started all over again when I was in college. This time I decided to stick to writing when I was very happy or very sad. Aaah..!! This was much better I must tell :D. I gave up that too after sometime coz I had started writing only about things which made me sad.. :(

Now I’m here blogging… :) I learnt what’s a blog all about from (no points for guessing..) my sis of course!! That was about 4 years back. I love the way she writes and pester her to no end when she’s being lazy and not updating her blog. I read quite a few other blogs too and I’m awed by the way some people write. They are so creative in their writing that you would want to go back to read every post of theirs.

All these people inspire me to write.:) That’s why I’m here, being the small fish in the huge ocean.. :)

(should I say cya dear blog!!) :D

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Babbling Begins...

I have been thinking of starting a blog for quite sometime now. But I've been really apprehensive about it, just like how I am before starting anything new. Speaking of my apprehensions, pessimism and inferiority complex, the fact that I am actually writing this post is a HUGE achievement...

I needed this sort of a breakthrough for myself :). It might not mean anything to anybody who reads this. In fact there might be reactions like "Big deal!! Lets see for how long she manages to do it.." Sincerely I don't know...

- I don't know if this is just a passing phase
- I don't know if I will want to do this always
- I don't know if my posts will even be interesting :P

But... Its MY blog. So.. I'm gonna post when I want and stop when I want :D . So if there's anybody interested in reading, Welcome!! and if you read this and you aren't interested, No Problem.. Thank you and Ta-ta!!

Its a different thing to have something in your mind and a completely different thing to put it into words.. I'll try my best. :) I hope I do a fair job... :)