As someone rightly said..

Everthing thats good and exciting in this world is illegal, immoral or fattening !

Are you kidding me ?!

http://indibloggies.blogspot.com/2003/12/and-nominees-are.html

Took a look at the winners declared as well. I mean, Really ??!!

Welcome to the jungle :-)

Yipppee ! The weekend's almost here and last 2 weeks have been killing to say the least !!
Sh** loads of work, official and unofficial .. Feels good to almost be able to touch the weekend :-)

So.... the plan is....head towards the wilderness !!

Yessss.. just wrapped up all bookings and food arrangements and we are all set to go to....
www.jungleretreat.com

Supposed to be a really fun place for a weekend getaway.. Idea planted by this sweet but cooky friend of mine Prashant. :-)

Since I was anyways in this spate of searching/booking places, found this place and booked. Mr. P took care of arranging a Qualis and we are finally off tomm night ! 7 of us and except P who knows everybody, don't think any of us really know each other but what the heck !

I am sure it will be fun .. just hope we get a better driver this time and not like the kerala trip, what say P ? ;-))

So, we are off to the jungles !!! yiippeeee....

Wooohooooo!

Long overdue gushing !
pardon my dears coz right now i am bedazzled by my new diamond ring !!!!!!!!!!
Its glorious ! Its enchanting and all that jazz ...............

Always wondered about the whole magic of possesing diamonds and its fascination vis-a-vis women (ok, I am talking about substantial amount of diamonds here, i had a few trinklets with miniscule stones in but but i digrees :p).
Believe me, it is something ! You just look at it and you are hooked. There are people who say, what is the big deal and it looks like any other white stone but ah ah !! It will be an understatement if I tell you how almost hypnotised i was lookin at it and the lady had to bring me to my senses and say do you like it madam ?
Boy ! Did i like it :-))) Petite band with nice 5 diamonds and its heavenly !!! One look and I said this is the one !
Wooohoooooo !!!

ps: Did I forget to mention it was my engagement :p Love ya sweetie ! :-)

Find of the day..

http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/

Was scouting thru google result pages for a particular search string of mine and found this. (d'uh, serendipity!)
Anyways, the geek in me totally found this hilarious ! I mean, you always get these forwards about non geeks and how support centres struggle with helping them and some wise cracks.

This is a repository of all those and more neatly categorized under various computer system heading and its bloody funny ! :-)

Take a dekko..

Key

to a good and healthy life:

Keep away from people who bring out the worst in you

After a a lot of retrospection while travelling to and fro to work, I have realized 2 things:

a. Consistency is highly overrated. Suffice to say that its an non existent quality in my life :-) I mean, its not even like a bad thing, i really enjoy being not so predictable and not do things that everybody around me does or wants me to do; at the same time allowing me to be my quirky self.

b. Almost an extension of the above - I am very different when dealing with different people.

There are some people who are these set in their ways kind of people and I am just not one of them. These are people who are always either just 'nice' or 'not so nice' with everybody. There are also people who change their attitude or behavior depending on the audience or recipient of their attention. These are the chameleon types. This type is not to be confused with what I am talking about. These are highly talented people and personally I believe that you need a lot of patience and tolerance to be like this simply because not everybody even deserves that kind of attention and time !

I have a simple theory in life which I think i have improvised over time. If you are not in my inner circle then I don't really care much. Well, the extent of how much do I really care is what is the whole point here. For people in my inner circle, which by the way off late is a dwindling number :-))), I am and will always be Rads who is and will always be there. But talk about the rest of the world and thats where things get complicated. I am usually a nice person and find it very difficult to be rude to people, I would rather be indifferent than be rude and believe me being indifferent comes very easily to me ! :p

But in last one year I have seen myself swinging extremely between being cold, indifferent and bordering on nasty. Now, looking back and seeing myself like that, I figure that, its so not like me to do such things. People who have grown up with me or who go back to almost 10 years will tell you that the worst quality probably in me is to give someone the cold shoulder. But I have personally seen myself being nasty to people and I was wondering why.

On the same note, I also realize that almost 2 seconds after being nasty to someone I can be extremely warm to someone else and these are not behavioral things, I mean warm in a heartfelt way. So, I have just concluded that there are just some people who bring out the worst in you. Some may say its almost an escapist statement because you are basically dumping all your faults at someone else and labelling it as theirs. But frankly I realize that farther I am from certain people, the better I am as a person !
No, serious.. You should probably try this out. I did, I went ahead to filter out qualities that I really find it hard to be tolerant about and people who have those so much that irks me. To give you examples like umm.. People hmm slow on the uptake, people who always play safe, people who go about carrying a personal scale to measure everybody and people who are plain and simple Stupid. Avoid those people and Voila ! You are a better person already !!

The SO's and the SO's. :-)

Ya, I know its cryptic but its just a nomenclature I had coined after many discussions on this via chat and sms. (That I guess, should explain why the acronym :p)
These stand for the Significant ones and the Significant others. Significant other, we all know is best used to describe our mates in life but the other kind of SO, i have come to realize are people who are as much omnipresent in our lives as the former but get much much less credit for anything. These in a very cliche way are the Significant ones. And believe me they are significant entities for more reasons than one.

A dear friend of mine (who would be a part of my blogroll as soon as i get the patience to get one for my blogs) had a link to this article written for the Wharton undergrad journal.
http://www.stwing.upenn.edu/%7Ejenf/writing/rant04.html

A really sweet article I must say though i don't quite agree with a few things towards the end. I don't quite see why the writer finds it so very questionable that girls often disregard single, eligible and nice guys just because. Ok, I am not phrasing this correctly but I know people who have been best friends for years and somewhere down the line realized that they were really meant to be together. At the same time even out of my personal experiences I can say that there are a few guys out there who just seem to be so easy to be with and perfectly understanding and all that jazz but there is just zero chemistry !
I am not saying chemistry is everything but it is something very very important. You should at least be able to see yourself with somebody, that visual should seem viable if not appealing. I think somewhere a lot of nice guys out there are at that disadvantage, it just doesn't happen !
I can go on and on about the above, but the main intention here was to really appreciate the gist of the article which was an ode to all those nice guys out there. :-)

I have a few out there who fit that bill to a T. People I have always run to in the direst (if thats even a word!) of circumstances and who have been there unconditionally. And I really mean that...
So here's a note of thanks to:

* The one who's in Boston :-) (and promised me that he will be back in a month !) one of the sweetest guys in the whole wide world !
Thanks for being there for me despite all odds. You were probably the only reason I could sit thru most of our classes :-) I still cannot forget how we used to talk about Madhavan movies during absolutely rotten classes like Networking and you endured all my yakkity yak about Maddy ! Always scaring me that I will never find anybody to get hitched to (coz after all who will take that kind of a risk :p ) and will have to eventually get married to you :-)) . I have always felt cherished in your life and I think that you have always given me comfort and that sense of belonging which is so hard to come by in times like today where its so easy to lose track of friends. You have been an inseparable part of my life and I want to see it that way for years and years. You have promised me that you will baby sit Sanjana, am not gonna let you get out of that !! :p

* The one who's off on a South America trip :-) (yes! some poeple actually do such things :p) I wouldn't even know where to begin if I have to thank you for everything you have done for me.. I don't even recall when we really became good friends, whether it was because of common interests or similiar frequency of thoughts. I am not sure, but there just has been something really solid which has kept us together after all these years. Its the comfort of knowing that no matter what time of the day it is, there is a shoulder (or an ear) to cry on. I know that if things go bad, someone is really just a drive (or a flight) away whom I can always always count on. All the instances when somehow we have just talked and talked are innumerable and can cover pages. The impromptu jhaal muri session on valentine's day when we just didn't want to be alone. Time when you came to office when I was sitting there crying my heart out. All the times when you told me my boyfriend was a jerk and I didn't listen to you :-) All the times you told me how my fiance was perfect for me and I listened :-) All the times you gave me a perspective in life when I needed it the most. And you may kill me for quoting you like this but an sms from you that always cheers me up and brings a smile to my face despite all odds.
"There are people in life who give and find us reasons to live for and that is why this world is such a nice place to be and cherish. These are not SO's and you are one of them in my life"

* The one who is so close to my heart but I have just seen him twice in 2 months because he is very very busy ! :-) There are a lot of things I have learnt from you and you probably have no clue about it. If I am a better person today for whatever reasons, I will give you credit for a lot of those reasons. There are so many nice traits in you that its almost unfair to the rest of the world :-) If the world consisted of even 10% people like you, it would be such a great place to be in. And I really mean that. I have really and truly admired some of the things you have given me in all these years- inner strength, the ability to forgive people, to look at things objectively and most importantly learn to take criticisms. You have taught me and shown me these things in more ways than one. You have never painted any rosy pictures to bring me out of depressions, you have just silently been there for me and given the strength to carry on. I would have never cribbed to anybody like I do with you. You are like my sounding board and complaint box all rolled into one :-) I realize now that soon there will be times when I can't call you after 11 in the night or drag you out for all the movies in town but yeah, like you said, we could double date :-)

Looking back I feel immensely priviledged to have friends like these in my life who give friendship an entirely new dimension. So, consider this as my personal tribute to the SO's in my life today :-)

Venting venting

I officially declare koromangla unfit for civil living !

Been house hunting for last one week and the results brings tears to my eyes. There hasn't even been a single place worth considering. Not only is the real estate soaring beyond belief, the places being offered are despicable !
Ok, and thats just a part of my grievances, the other major one being absolutely bad roads or rather simply put, lack of roads ! You cannot find 2 roads in a sequence (whichever direction you might want to take) which are even in a decent condition. In fact I remotely remember there being a road opposite my office about an year ago. Now there is just dug up mud and 2 cranes standing there. I mean, there is no road there anymore :p

And unfortunately I am not sure if I can even say the situation will get better ! They say every day there are 200 new people who move to bangalore. I am not sure how true this is but even if it is 10% true, its quite alarming. From a quiet town for retired senior citizens as it used to be known about 10 years ago, it has become a totally different place today.
It saddens me to see this town really going down the drains like this. With the IT giants declaring Bangalore unfit for any new developments and talks of buying 200 acres of lands in Mangalore and Mysore respectively for all furture prospects, its certainly bad news.

Keyhole

The world at your fingertips !!

Took me a while to digest that fact that you could actually map any co-ordinate and look at the geo positioned image of it on the web. I mean.. was almost speechless for about 17 seconds ..

Take a dekkho:
http://www.keyhole.com/index.html?promo=app-en-us

The only regret was that I could not really appreciate the trial version of the software available on the net as the bandwidth of my connection right now is quite sad.

Coupling

So, had heard a dear friend raving about this series ..
He was exploring new avenues to productively spend uneventful evenings post 'Friends' days and stumbled upon this :-))

http://www.bbcamerica.com/genre/comedy_games/coupling/coupling_about.jsp

I sneaked a peek back in Seattle and found it to be extremely funny. Its more of an at your face kinda comedy loaded with sexual innuendoes. I mean quite funny with the brit accent thrown it :-) Knit around 3 couples trying to find love and hold on to relationships.
Somehow I think the fuinniest episode I saw so far was the one where Steve and Susan had to go to a antenatal class and Susan wants to take Sally along as a back up just in case Steve can't 'cope-up'. But Sally gets cold feet very soon and ropes in Jane. So, here's a scene where all the 3 couples are in the class and suddenly they realize that Patrick has had an affair at some time or the other with all the women in that class. Ok, its not so funny when i narrate like this, in fact even I am not finding it very funny :p But i was really rolling in laughter when i saw that episode.

Anyways, to cut the long story short and before i go into more of such boring narratives, its quite a series and definitely worth a dekkho :-)

Long live Erma !

2 years ago, at my favourite book store in b'lore (Blossoms, for the uninitiated), i came across this book by Erma Bombeck. I was told in a very animated way by the book store guy that it was really good [btw, whom i miss a lot, he doesn't sit there now a days :-( ] I picked it up, it was called "At Wit's end". It started what became a chain of Erma Bombeck's in my book shelf :-)
What I particularly like about her is her witty and sarcastic genre of writing and not to mention that most of it is actually excerpts from her own life. She always writes in first person and its endearing to read what you can actually empathize with. Well, considering that she is generations older than me, I found a few things that did not hold true now but you can always correlate them with present times and challenges women face today. Oh, did i forget to mention that she writes mostly women stuff :-)))
Well, the funny thing was that I actually never read the "About the author" section that usually books have. And I mean never once in about 7 books did I bother to read about her. So, for some reason, I thought she was somebody who still writes, you know a contemprory of sorts. After I exhausted all the books that Blossoms could provide, I gave up thinking that lady just stopped writing anymore after 80's.
Fast forward to May this year and I was at Barnes and Noble at Seattle and I find this one copy of a book I didn't possess. I was happy beyond belief and I take this book to the check out counter where the lady behind the counter is almost as old as my granny. She smiles at me and says- " Erma Bombeck ? I didn't know the present generation liked her writing". I am like - "What are you talking about, I love her. I am just sad that she doesn't write anymore". She has this bewildered expression on her face and says - "O gosh, my dear, Didn't you know she is dead?"
You should have seen my face, my jaws dropped and silence prevailed. I guess we just didn't know what to say to each other after that so I quietly left after collecting my book.
Somewhere I felt really bad that despite enjoying so much of her work, I knew zilch about her. Considering that all her books were mostly about her family, I could almost visualize her hubby and children as well but did i bother to know anything at all about her? No !
So, next day I spent a substantial part of my day googling about Erma Bombeck, glad to say found a lot of articles and odes to her articles :-)

Anyways, for the folks who have never read Erma's works and who may decide never to, here is a set of quotes by her that I found on the net, its from her various books and articles.

So, here's to Erma, a writer who will be truly missed ...

http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Spa/9599/quotes.html

Hello Dave Glardon :-)

I am not quite sure how I bumped into this person's columns on the net but it was a very pleasant surprise :-)
He has an extremely warm and heartening sense of humour and a good style of writing. I think he is a professional stand up comic and a humour columnist and believe me he seems to be doing a pretty decent job of it.
Not a particularly impressive website, leaves a lot for improvement but what the heck, I was busy digging for more and more articles :-)
Check it out here www.daveglardon.com

Quite endearing !

ps: Did mention that last month's find were articles by this gentleman called Melvin Durai, check them out at www.melvindurai.com.

Given my present state of joblessness, I am spending time usefully by catching up on my online reading :-)

I wish..

I wish I could write fiction. No, I really do, like really really do. Wanted to do that since I was like 11 years old.

Those were the days when i was on this marathon to finish off the whole Enid Blyton series. My dear mum initiated me into book reading ever so gently at the age of 6 with a Noddy. (I will be forever grateful to her for that zest of reading that she gave me, she is a voracious reader herself). So, ya starting with Noddy's I slowly transitioned into Famous Five's, Five find-outers and Secret seven's and so on. Not to mention Faraway tree and Wishing chair and Farm stories. Ok, I am forgetting, Bed time tales, Anytime tales, Funtime tales and so on :-)) (yea, all these are actually book titles and series by Enid Blyton and I actually had these books when I was a kid, believe me I had a huge book shelf !) Slowly digressed to Nancy drews and Hardy boys for a while before I got sucked back to Enid Blyton's with the boarding school stories. Those were my favourites, those were things I longed for, things I could relate to.
That phase lasted a whole 3 years during which, proud to say I didn't leave
a single book untouched :-). So, yeah, coming back to me being 11 years old with
this fire in me telling me that I could grow up to be a desi Enid Blyton.

One morning, I got up with a brain wave and said to myself, why not ? I mean, I was good at English in school, good at spellings and grammer etc, why can't i write ? I mean, she does ! She being Enid Blyton of course...Fortunately those were lazy summer hol days when i was really idle with nothing to do. So, I go to my mum who was in her usual hurry to get to work and this is how it goes:
me: "Mamma, I am going to write".
she: "Good good, I have been telling grandpa that you will write one of these days".
me: "No no, i mean like write write"
she: "Ya, thats what I meant and stop troubling me now, I am getting late, go paint or something" (She thought I was like a little picasso in the making, after a few years though she came out of her delusions)
me(slightly getting impatient now): "Ma, are you listening, I want to write, in fact I think I will start writing a book today"
she (paused for a moment and then laughing hysterically): "What"
me: "A book, a novel, like Enid Blyton"
she (quite inconsolable by now): "Why?"
me (quite zapped and not quite sure what she meant): "What do you mean why, I want to.." And stomped off.

Little do we realize that these are quite defining moments of our lives. Anyways, I toiled for a few days, 4 precisely..And came up with the first chapter of my story. I had designated a small pink notebook for the task and with immense pleasure I looked at the 2 1/2 pages I managed to fill up, titled "First Chapter". I thought that was a good enough title back then and that it was clever :p. Next day morning, armed with my pink notebook I walked up to the kitchen again.

me: "Ma, do you want to see this?"
she: "Why do you always show me things when I have 2 mins to leave for work?"
me (dissapointed): "I completed it only last night"
she (bewildered): "Completed what? Homework? Oh my god, really? You just started your summer hols !" (wants to kiss me by now ! My mum has these spurts of affection especially when it comes to things like school, marks and prizes)
me (breaking away from her): "Ma, don't you ever listen to what i say? Its my novel !!"
she (rolling up her eyes to say good god, she was not kidding !): "Ok, fine you will not let me leave in peace till I see it, let me see that."
Reads the first few lines, 2 actually and bursts out laughing. I mean hysterically. And would not stop, she had to hold on to the kitchen shelf to keep her from falling. She had tears in her eyes and no, not the "khushi ke aansoon", they were really coz of laughing so hard.

That was really the end of my creative career, later on she told me that the stuff i wrote was like different lines from different Enid Blyton books ! mmppttt, Didn't she know anything about "being inspired" ??

Anyways, it was too traumatic an experience which has left me scarred for life :p I still have that pink notebook, I never threw it away. It still reminds me of the what could have been and that fleeting drive I had one fine day for writing fiction..

:-))

Maybe someday I will show it to my daughter but till then.. I wish I could write
fiction....

The Unspoken

Bumped into this friend of mine yesterday by chance. She didnt know that I was back and i also had not bothered to ping her saying I am back. Why ? Well, for one, i somehow didn't really think she would be interested. But when she saw me i felt there was something in her eyes which said, why didn't you tell me. Maybe i was just imagining things. After so long, I dont really expect anything from her and i think its likewise as far as she is concerned. I wish things were different. I wish, i had mailed her saying I am going to be back and make plans to meet and all that. I wish I had called her after landing and asked her what she was doing. I didn't so much as ask her how she was doing and it had nothing to do with me being in a hurry or lack of interest. It just didn't happen. In fact, i think there was a weird moment of discomfort where I didn't know where to look. There is just that much of gap between us now.

But there is somewhere a part of me which longs for old times. Something in me which wants to sit with her in the EC lawn all over again and talk about things that she did or I did. Talk about men and women part of our lives. Talk about things we don't care about and the ones we would never give up. Talk about happiness, dreams and things we want. I would like her to tell me what is making her happy or sad now, right this moment. I want to tell her that I am there if she wants a shoulder to cry on, I want to tell her that i have always been there. I want to aplogise if it didn't seem like I cared. I want to say I am sorry if you needed me but felt you couldn't reach out. I want to share my happiness with her, talk about the wedding, apprehensions and aspirations. I want to tell her that I felt hurt when i didn't think she was happy for me. I want her to see that I am happy now and that I know she cares somewhere deep down. I want to tell her that I care too..

zzzzzzzz........

slow..............dying...................crawling...........and non existent are some selective words I would use for my net connection speed right now !
Sorry my dears, it really puts me to sleep to sit and stare at this screen while even the blogger page loads.
So, I am gonna just sit back and wait for better speed sometime in near future.. or at least wait till i get used to this all over again so that i don't cringe at the thought of blogging :-)

PS: Did i mention that I am back in good ol' b'lore ? :-)))

Wannabe

21 again !

hmm. you ask why ? welll.. to begin with, i think 21's today are having so much more fun :-))
Naah, not just that just random thoughts and wondering if somewhere we are losing out to these 21 and 22 year olds.
There is always this time when you are so categorically slotted as early 20's or late twenties, sad to say, think i have transitioned into the latter now.
Got news early in the morning today that I have become an Aunt :-) Am really happy, i am ...but Aunty ?? Am i really ready for that ? Do i really want that ? And don't even get me started on this cousin sis of mine who got married years ago when I couldn't even decide whether I could dare to wear glossy lipsticks or not !! And now, she has a kid too .. Did i mention that she is even a few months younger than me ??
Then spoke to my brother in law (would be), he has already started calling me bhabhi ! I mean its sweet and all that, but really bhabhi ? Am i really ready for that ? ?
Scares me to no extent thinking about all these added tags that I seem to be procuring in life, gone are the days when I would just be rads or even didi, now there is a whole new generation out there !
They say guys are usually scared about settling down as they feel they will lose their youth, boy o boy, do i empthasize with that !!
mmmmpppfffffttt !!

Anyways, coming back to the 21 year olds, yesterday was chatting with this old friend and he was saying how there are a whole bunch of these young nubile babes in my old gang now. I have nothing against them really, but I was just thinking the guys are the same, the gang is the same.. how come this new fascination for 21 year olds ? I have always been the youngest there, so needless to say, all these are much older guys and they are all seeing really young college girls !
I dunno, maybe i am becoming old coz 21 sounds too young to me and when I think of some girl who's 21 I can only imagine them as air heads and confused as hell..
But no, get this, they are all gushing about how the babes are soo cute and matured and the best part is that they bring even more cuter girls from their college everytime they go out !
I mean, grow up ! I know almost for a fact that at 21 you are not matured, i mean you are almost not meant to be matured :-)))
But naa. things are changing, i have been told that I am becoming old and boring and get this..I am just 25 :-))

Need to be

catty !!
Ever felt the need to be bitchy ?? I did today... was watching my current fav series s** and the city and related to all that cattiness :-)
I miss that in my life right now. For whatever it was worth, i had a great time being 22-24 with all the girls with all those saturday session breaks. Those were the times when secrets were let out, nasty, good or bad ! Counseling sessions, consoling each other over heartbreaks, screaming at each other for mistakes we made (they really costed us a lot you know and we made many !). Discussing things, people and relationships that changed our lives.
Understanding each other or at least trying to and most of all, loved all those bitching sessions and being catty.. poeple thought it was attitude, some even thought bad attitude but what the heck ?! Couldn't really care less..
Yeah, do miss that time. and know what.. Nish, miss you a lot..

Love is all around me :-)

Aah, work wise a shitty day as usual but other than that something to keep me chirpy today !
A dear friend seems to be in .. you know.. hmm love and all that jazz :-))
But seriously, I am happy beyond belief, that mail was probably the single most bright spot in my otherwise dreary life and monday morning and such :-))
Not too many details yet, all shush hush stuff but yeah, there are words like these in the mail:
a. Aag donon taraf barabar lagi hai
b. Hai, meri hi nazar na lag jaaye :p

:-)) :-)) I havent stopped smiling really ! Am really happy for this guy !! Nut case that he is, hope evreything works out just peachy for him :-)

b*i*t*c*h

:-)))

I know so many people who will agree with me when i say this for more reasons that one (some just coz they like to think that way :p ) but honestly, I mean really .... women in power can be super bitches ...

:-)) I know I am not even saying it like a bad thing, the female ego inside me does not allow me to. But yeah, I know a lot of people do feel the same way and have many unpleasant experiences to justify this.

I have this lady at my work who almost qualifies to be the queen of my blog title. But on the other hand, I have also seen her getting work done which her male peers have struggled to accomplish. She gives people a hard time being a perfectionist and almost non-tolerant but at the end of the day does she get what she wants ? Yes !

So, then is it a good thing ? hmmmmm... :-)

Kylie

:-)) (for the title)

The reference being, how sometimes you can't get someone out of your head !
Something triggers your memory, could be a song or even something someobody said and boom, you just can't get the person out of your head !

Arrrggghh ! Not liking this at all....

Hmm..

I know I haven't posted anything in a while. Its just been way tooo hectic here. Lame excuse I know :-)
Been too wrapped up in work and personal life. Can hardly believe that in less than 10 days I am out of here. Feels good in a way but also know that I will miss these times. Miss all the new people who came into my life, miss the time spent being 'independent'. Spent all those lovely weekends in Portland :-)
So many memories that will remain with me forever.

Somebody said

friends who could have been more
friends who were more and decided to be less
friends who are reconsidering whether to be more or less

Cat

Yup, I think thats the animal i resemble the most !

Sulekha

There have been times off late when I have really not liked sulekha ! Mainly coz of the quality of stuff being put there, attitude of people posting anything there an the kind of material put up there among other things.
But sometimes on days like today, ran across 2 blogs which really touched my heart for whatever reasons and I realized that these kind of posts can only be blogged in a forum like sulekha and there is a reason it’s become the way it is. I mean, I used to think that (maybe still do) people take it as a forum to vent their frustration and heartbreaks which is partially the reason I knocked off my srticles from there. But read articles by Fizo an Meetu today and was wondering where else do u find people who want to share their most personal feeling and not really vent anything because maybe they r not bitter about it. I don't know how to explain.. Hmm...
But something in both those 2 blogs really touched my heart strings today.

On a gloomy day

And I’d give up forever to touch you’
cause I know that you feel me somehow
You’re the closest to heaven that i’ll Ever be
And I don’t want to go home right now

And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life’
cause sooner or later it’s over I just don’t want to miss you tonight

And I don’t want the world to see me’
cause I don’t think that they’d Understand
When everything’s made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And you can’t fight the tears that ain’tComing
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything feels like the movies
Yeah you bleed just to know you’re alive

And I don’t want the world to see me’
cause I don’t think that they’d Understand
When everything’s made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And I don’t want the world to see me’
cause I don’t think that they’d Understand
When everything’s made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

Happy Happy :-)

I am sooo happy today :-) Can't stop smiling.. Chatted with my MIL and FIL for a long time last night. (and my 2 chotu brother in laws) Its like some final final assurance of sorts that everything will be all right.
I have this habit of freaking out every now and then when i think about marriage and its implication and all these new people I suddenly have to deal with.
But you know what, I think I am finally convinced that its all perfectly the way it should be and that I really did make the right decision :-)

My MIL is such a sweetheart, my FIL is so adorable and both my BIL's are cool dudes :-)

Seriously can't stop smiling :-)))))

Evening with the boys

For some innane reasons, my life is surrounded with male friends ! I mean, I am not saying its a bad thing. Not a bad thing at all, in fact works much better, i don't hafta put up with all the swinging temperaments that all my girl friends seem to have. It has in more ways than one worked out for me as its a lot easier a relationship to maintain if your friend in a guy. Some of my best friends today are guys. But see, thats a topic which will require a whole new blog :-)

Went out last evening for din din with the seattle gang. Its fun hanging out with them..Din din at Chipotle mexican grill an daaru session at Tiny Biggs :-)
Chilled out evening, its been a while since I had that. But there was a nagging thought lingering in my head despite all my good radhika side trying to brush it away.
Imagining life sans these chilled evening out with the boys. Whether its seattle gang or b'lore gang or any other for that matter. I have all cross country shuttling male friends you see :-)
It was not such a nice thought. Somethings in life are important in more ways than one. Time out with certain set of people when you can just be yourself and do whatever you want to do. Its a question of that space you give yourself when you are away from your significant other so that your time with them is totally for both of you. Despite all the fun that you can and do have with them, doing things that you really want to do by yourself is so important and I realise that everytime when I am having fun with my other friends. Its only when you suddenly feel nice doing your own stuff that you realize that you must be really be missing doing these things. Which also makes me believe that a balance is so so important between your social life and personal life.
I am not saying I might lose any kind of freedom but yeah life will change a lot.

Thought for the day

People change, life changes and things will never be the same again. But thats alright.

So, where are you from ?

Wanted to add this blog here for a long time now :-) So, here goes...

"So, where are you from ?" - thats one question i have dreaded to answer since donkey years. Some of you may wonder why, it does seem like a pretty easy question to answer . Well, the truth is that frankly there is no correct answer to this question. However simple i might make the answer sound, it never really does satisfy the person asking the question. ...Being in the States tho', I have figured that its so much easier to answer the firangs here when they ask that question. "So, where are you from ? " "I am from India". That usually satisfies most of them. Some smart alecs go ahead and ask you where in India coz they have read about a few places (read Taj Mahal here). Even thats pretty straightforward, as long as you give them some city and some proximity about where it fits into the map they are happy....The Indian quizzer is entirely a different ball game. I think we indians have these certain preconceived notions about people's whereabouts as early as even a glance. ...I am a person who has been born and brought up in Delhi. We moved out just before i started my graduation so which goes to say that I have spent like 17 odd years there ! That if not anything else, you might think, should qualify as an answer to "Where are you from? But no sir- we have lot of qualifiers for that answer. My parents hail from Delhi, both of them were born and brought up there as well, grandparents settled there very early in their life. You might think that at least should qualify. aha, think again.....Coming to the other part of this loop, i am a south indian by origin. Tamil iyer to be precise but believe me my knowledge of my so called mother tongue is really bad. I really do blame folks at home for this actually. We have never really been trained in one single language. Its always been a mixture of at least 3 languages. You might wonder why tho'. Well thats coming down in a bit. ...So anyways, continuing with the origin discussion. By the time people throw your answer (Delhi) into the bin and say "No, where are you really from" (thats something i still have not fathomed you know, whats that 'really' mean? Is it like swear and tell us the truth ?), you have the next answer ready, about being a tamilian of course. This again is very controversial as far as I am concerned. As this immediately to a lot of people means i am from Chennai. No offense meant, chennai people. If this was in north India then its almost like an unwritten law that any south indian irrespective of the native state is a "Madrasi" :-) Quite funny if you think about it. Anyways, by the time you explain to people that No, I am not from chennai of any Tamil Nadu state in fact, they are pretty bombed. ...Tamilian and not from Tamil Nadu, thats pretty weird eh ? Truth is, I am from this place called Palghat in Kerala, or a least my ancestors were. Wonder if ancestral origin=your origin. But i guess in India it does....Anyways, by this time poeple are quite sorry that they even asked me this question. language wise is even worse as my so called native tongue is a mixture of tamil and malayalam and i guess i kill both of them by saying even a sentence !My hindi i think is much better that my mother tongue. ...As I said before we Indians that this radar in our heads which senses origins by even looking at people. Its got a lot to do with your color and features as well. People when they look at me tell me that i don't really look very typically north indian (which i do btw take as a compliment) but wait till they hear me talk. I even talk in english with a delhi accent ! I really like to see confused expressions on their face :-) Its good fun at times. ...Settling in Bangalore has not helped at all. I think my language has become an even weirder mixture of everything....In the end i really do wonder what do people really expect to hear when they ask about your origin. I really have zilch connection with my so called native place. I have physically just been there twice in my whole life both in transit. Is it really about the culture that you follow ? If so then I think my family is really extremely metropolitan and cosmopolitan. We don't really have a typical south indian household so to speak but we have been taught how to read and write in tamil. ...I think it was my parents desperate attempts to pass on something to the next generation. I will not say they failed, but it has complicated things a bit. On the same note, I wonder what I could pass on to the next generation. ...I really can't think of anything else but courage , tolerance and patience to answer this question wherever they are - "So, where are you from ?"

Hello !

Experimenting with Hello and Picassa. Still raw but dontcha worry, i will get there :-))

It never ceases to amaze me that there are so many cool things out there now a days ! Half of which you may never even find out about unless you either have geeko friends (which i most certainly do :p) or are a nerd yourself (that.. aahhh .. ummm.. naaa.. hmm...)
Started with this whole blog feed thing when i mailed this dear friend of mine saying, did you check these atom thingies and blogfeed thingies ! Sounds ages ago but yeah, started this whole thing about there are soo many cool things out there.
Tried Picassa after Google acquired it. Sounded cool again (I am using that word too often here ain't i ?)
Today's acquisition was Hello :-)) All again google recommended stuff. This one promises one touch photo blogging and online photo sharing. Sounded too coool :-) (ok, here i go again !)
So, yeah got that and realized that to share photos with people, i need people with Hello login to view my shared snaps :p ! Uff so much for one touch sharing !
But hopefully should be able to rope in somebody ;-)

Blog-inality !

My Bloginality is INFP!!!

From stories to story books :-)

It was a good and bad day, both at extremes. Day was as chaotic as it could be. Everything that could fail technically was failing left and right ! Its just one of those days where all Murphy's laws are proved beyond belief..
But as I was coming back home, decided to stop by this place called Twice Sold Tales. For the uninitiated, its the book store in Seattle which has at least 8 cats ! I mean, i don't get the concept but they must really love cats ! And considering that its a chain in Seattle with 4 stores, they All must really love cats :-)
I like that shop because its like 'Blossom's book shop in good old Bangalore. Now Blossoms is by far one of my favourite haunts in the city. Any evening I had any time (and money) to spare, you could find me in that cubby hole just off Church st.
Paperback books, second hand books in excellent condition and collector's items like coffee table books you will not find anywhere. I mean, Heaven :-)
But I digress. So, i went to this book shop to look around. Partially it was intentional detour as I wanted to take a look at some Terry Pratchett's. I had been hearing about this so much from a dear friend that I have to say I was tempted to give it a shot. So, i was looking around for any non series book by this author. But what I did find was the first book in the Discworld series.. So, i said what the heck, lets get hooked (that is if i find it really worth getting hooked to :p )!
That was that and I was all set to go when I decided to take a peek at my fav author's section.. Wodehouse :-))))
And guess what, I found this brilliant book by him, almost a collector's item. "Wodehouse on Crime". I looked at the cover and fell in love with it. Its such a beautiful brand new, hard back piece with the subtitle 'A Dozen tales of Fiendish Cunning' !
I mean, fiendish cunning ?? Hmmm... scratch scratch (is this for real?).
Foreword by Isaac Asimov. That did it, I just had to buy it !
I mean, a foreword by Asimov is not something on a Wodehouse that you come across very often.. It is a collector's piece :-)
I take pride in another 2 such books that I have, a Wodehouse dedicated to Agatha Christie and an Agatha Christie dedicated to Wodehouse. I mean, where do you see such things anymore :-)))

This is an excerpt from the foreword - "Crime is not a term most of us would link with that gentlest of humourist, PG Wodehouse, but it is a fact that, perhaps affected by a boyhood diet of the latest Sherlock Holmes as they come off press, he was rarely able to keep his characters within the law. In this collection, the heroes and heroines indulge in gunplay, theft, assault with sharp instruments, arson, fraud and extortion; we shrink from revealing what the bad guys get to. Bertie Wooster, Jeeves, Lord Emsworth, any number of Mulliner friends-and-relations, and the arch fiendess Roberta (Bobbie) Wickham stand shown at last in their true criminious colours. "
Maybe one day I would have collected all Wodehouse novels there are out in this world. It is still but a dream ...
:-)

An so the story goes di da di...

him(10:49:44 AM): did you like the chicken?
me (10:49:49 AM): na na.. i didnt eat
him(10:50:10 AM): should ve tried - they said it was yummy
me (10:50:26 AM): very funny
him(10:50:32 AM): chicken yummy
him(10:50:32 AM): in my tummy
him(10:50:37 AM): dont tell mummy
me (10:50:54 AM): lets play rummy
him(10:51:10 AM): wow! you're no dummy!
him(10:51:41 AM): (think think)
me (10:52:05 AM): cant get anythin else
him(10:52:15 AM): neither could i
him(10:52:36 AM): but i had one last ditch thing in mind just in case you came up with something
him(10:52:47 AM): :p
me (10:52:52 AM): i am chewing something gummy
me (10:52:55 AM): J
him(10:53:40 AM): hehe..
him(10:53:45 AM): too late - lets try another word, what?
me (10:53:51 AM): what
him(10:54:02 AM): power - watt
him(10:54:43 AM): ok , lets try this: story in verse... lemme start
him(10:54:54 AM): I walked to the river one day
me (10:55:39 AM): my feet were hurting from all the walking on coals the previous night
him(10:56:21 AM): (story in verse!)
him(10:56:27 AM): but i could not get my mind off him - try as i might
me (10:57:02 AM): see its difficult as it is to get rhyming words ! uske upar se story diff. lets just make stories
him(10:57:16 AM): hehe...
him(10:57:23 AM): laughing
him(10:57:28 AM): ok..
me (10:57:33 AM): there were things which were so wrong with us, but then again there were things which were right
me (10:57:47 AM): start again
me (10:57:52 AM): an lets just make a story
him(10:57:58 AM): it had been such a dreamy star-filled night
him(10:57:58 AM): ok!
him(10:58:24 AM): backpack in hand, i headed towards the river
me (11:00:32 AM): little did i know about the impending doom
him(11:02:29 AM): the sky was spotless, the waters crystal clear - i walked on unwary of the lurking future
me (11:04:41 AM): all was still then suddenly
him(11:05:30 AM): a dry leaf fell from the tree above and caught my right eye
me (11:08:16 AM): despite the patch on my eye, it made me jump
him(11:08:37 AM): (what nonsense!)
him(11:08:58 AM): a trifle startled, i bent down to gaze at it inquisitively
me (11:12:02 AM): it brought back memories i had shut down deep inside of me
him(11:19:37 AM): Involuntarily, I took out the old diary which I always carried with myself
me (11:19:59 AM): (idiot what happ to the Palmtop?)
me (11:20:25 AM): then on a second thought brought out my blackberry..
him(11:21:13 AM): ( :p )
him(11:22:25 AM): (damn - i thought it was an old time story )
me (11:23:03 AM): No no.. its recent. its being shot at Baden Baden
him(11:23:09 AM): and then quickly, unhesitatingly, just put it away and with a huge splash, simply dived into the cold water
him(11:23:14 AM): wheres that?
me (11:23:28 AM): Germany..
him(11:23:38 AM): ok
me (11:24:00 AM): it was only then that i noticed her. Skin white as milk and eyes blue as azure
him(11:24:10 AM): (wow!)
him(11:24:47 AM): she was standing in knee deep water, not too far away from where I was
me (11:25:35 AM): she looked as if she desperately tried not to get too much into the water less she gets wet. But the almost wet gown was tantalizing
me (11:25:39 AM): (;))
me (11:26:47 AM): (are we makin a pondy story?)
me (11:26:52 AM):
him(11:26:57 AM): (gown - bull - i was waiting for a chance to get to her clothing - she was wearing nearly nothin but long hair!!)
him(11:26:57 AM): (hehe..)
me (11:27:15 AM): (gown adds to the mystery)
him(11:27:52 AM): i caught her eye - the sound of disturbed water had made her look in my direction
me (11:28:46 AM): She instantly reminded me of Arwen from LOTR !! I gasped and realized I had actually stepped back
me (11:29:02 AM): (:P)
him(11:29:23 AM): (you're taking my lovely story apart )
me (11:29:55 AM): (its supposed to be interesting)
him(11:30:00 AM): ...and stumbled over a protruding rock, and fell with a loud splash into the water again!
me (11:30:29 AM): (ok, this is a logical error. if he steps back an stumbles, how can he fall forward in the water ?)
him(11:31:57 AM): (no no - he has dived in, stood up and then walking back - there's plenty of water all around stupid!)
him(11:32:11 AM): (i mean he has swum for a good 5-6 secs)
him(11:33:01 AM): (whose turn - yours right?)
me (11:33:10 AM): She immediately came over to me, by now she was not worried about her clothes getting wet. Her touch was electrifying. It was like time travel. I thought to myself, Michael J fox must have felt like this in the BTTF
me (11:33:27 AM): ( i can't stop laughing)
him(11:33:48 AM): (my god you are fast - no looking business - direct stuff, eh? )
him(11:33:53 AM): (hehe..)
me (11:34:09 AM): (totally..)
him(11:35:01 AM): Even as I was recovering from my surprise, I felt my hand folding slowly around her waist.
me (11:36:14 AM): After all, I didn't want to drown! I had always been petrified of water since I was a kid. She brought me back to dry land an I found myself thanking her
him(11:37:01 AM): (thanking her - we were on the verge of something totally awsome and sexy and you get to thanking her - what a total let down!! i cant believe it!!)
him(11:37:22 AM): (afraid of water - hello! i just dived into it!!)
me (11:37:41 AM): (i am from the camp of directors who have the penchant for surprising the reader/audience at every scene)
him(11:39:13 AM): It was a clever ploy - I let myself be escorted to stable land in her soft, mesmerizing caress. Isolated droplets of water on her soft skin - the feeling was fascinating.
him(11:39:29 AM): (hehe)
him(11:39:39 AM): (but dont surprise your co-authors!)
me (11:41:21 AM): Before my ploy could proceed any further, i found her walking towards the water again. I wanted to stop her but my voice died in my throat and all I could do was stare at the retreating form
me (11:41:27 AM): (aha)
him(12:55:31 PM): She walked on and on, into deeper waters. I shouted at her to stop but she just kept walking on into the depths of the river and soon she had disappeared altogether into its confines leaving a deathly stillness all around.
him(12:55:36 PM): (had to rush away then )
him(12:56:13 PM): (this is a woman-y script: glimpse, touch, no sex, and bye-bye)
me (12:58:23 PM): I was dumbfounded for what i think were a few minutes. I could almost hear my heat beating fast. After I composed myself again I decided to jump in and find her despite all odds. And I dived and swam for almost 10 mins and I realized to my horror that she was not in the water at all. In fact could not have been at all as the depth of the water was just waist level all over
him(12:59:36 PM): (oooh!)
him(1:02:14 PM): I could not believe it so I dived in again. I swum closer to the area where she had vanished and as the sun came out of the clouds, I could see a small black hole in the rocks, just enough for me to make my way through it.
me (1:07:16 PM): But as I reached the spot where I thought I had seen the black hole, it vanished. I had enough of my under water adventures and decided to go back to the shore. Jus when i surfaced, there she was ! Exactly in the same position as I had seen her first. Waist deep in water and seemingly searching for something in the water !
him(1:09:34 PM): (my god - you can really write total bull, cant you! anyway, you deserve some of your own stuff back... )
me (1:10:04 PM): (i know where i wanna take the story)
him(1:15:21 PM): A trifle annoyed, I still headed over towards her, unable to resist her mysterious charm. And just as I was out of the water to walk towards her, the entire river vanished, like in some fantasy story! Shocked, I stared at where the river had been - and instead saw some guys playing tennis instead. Excited, I ran swiftly to join them.
him(1:15:27 PM): (there!)
me (1:15:47 PM): (ok, now u r screwing up the story)
him(1:16:00 PM): (you started it!)
me (1:17:31 PM): And then , Wham ! I woke up . With beads of perspiration on my forehead i realized that it had all been a dream ! I swore to myself . Imagine dreaming about the lake just on the day I was going camping to Baden Baden. I hoped fervently that this should not dampen my camping
him(1:19:34 PM): It was a quick morning. Within two hours, I found myself on the flight to Germany, looking wistfully at the lovely landscape disappearing into The Atlantic.
me (1:22:07 PM): a short drive on a rental car took me to the glorious lake. I pitched my tent and fixed my hammock, looking forward to a week long blissful solitude. It was amazing how life had touched the mundane note. I had not realized that all the stock options in the world will never bring me one thing that i craved for day in and day out. Peace of mind. (and a woman to love)
me (1:22:21 PM): (i shud really take up writing )
him(1:23:53 PM): (haha!)
me (1:27:33 PM): ( I am soo talented )
him: I took out a copy of "Indiscretions of Archie" and started reading - the blissful mountain breeze fluttering musically around me. In the distance, the mountains peeked over the gorgeous blue lake, raising this wonderful day to a state of incomparable perfection. Ah - life! I said to myself.
him: (please dont get the lady out of the lake again!! )
this-is-me: I was secretly thanking my manager whose insistence of complete ling everything a month before its time led to my mental breakdown. I was almost thrilled to tingles when the doctor said I need at least a month off from work. With all these warm fuzzy thought in my head i dozed off.

Train journeys from Portland part II

This time around I was again at a family table, aisle seat :-) But this time, was not stuck with a family, instead had a girl travelling alone next to me and a so called couple sitting in front..
I call them so called 'couple' coz a lot of things were very strange about them .. Hmm.. Ok maybe not strange but slightly cooky if you please :p
To begin with, they established the fact that they were indeed a couple. We exchanged the usual Hi, how are ya and what brings you to Portland conversations.. In the process, she was quite candid to say that they went to visit her family but having said that she wasn't very happy with them for a lot of reasons. I mean, she even started telling me how her family's weird behavior at times ticks her off. I was almost about to say well, "lady that’s just too bad but lets stop cussing familes now", when I realized that the guy wasn't really saying much, he just added that "naa, they weren't so bad". Did she let it pass, no sir, she kept insisting, they are ok to talk to over the phone but you can't really spend time with them and that she was glad she was there only for a day..
I mean, we all have problems of various degrees with our families. Times when we look up above an wonder why weren't we allowed to 'choose' our families instead , but the point remains that the Indian value system will always cherish families many degrees more than the American counterparts. That’s just how we are. We learn when we are mere toddlers that - what we can't cure, we must endure.. And endure we do.. :-)) I am just making it sound bad but it ain't really..
Well, coming back to my so called couple, after the initial socializing stupor, like always there was a lull. Not that I had a problem with it, they were showing a movie I had not seen before "Prince and me". Kinda like "Anna and the king" rt ? I always thought it was flicked from that :p (the number of times I watch the same movies over and over again during these train journeys could fill a separate blog alltogether) !
Anyways, madam decides not to watch it for some reason and get a bottle of wine.. These firangs have a nice way of making even train journeys entertaining :-) So she finishes her bottle of chardonay while her companion is giving the girl next to me these "You intrigue me kinda looks" :-) But very subtle I must say, if you were sittin next to me you would never even know ! Since I had the priviledge of being in the opposite seat, I could steal a peek :-)))
After a point came, so what do you do, do you stay in Seattle kinda questions to the girl..His girl frnd during most of the conversation tried to stare at the bottle in her hand but chipped in once in a while with her 2 bits about how Seattle is a great place to be in :-) :p
I was almost torn between which amusing scene to watch, the one on the screen or the one unfolding in front of me.. While I was still contemplating this, the girl frnd says "I'll be back" and disappears.. Hmmmm the plot thickens..
Do you think the story gets a little convenient here ? Think again.. Turns out that one of the passengers just walking down the aisle is the colleague of the girl next to me. He stops suddenly and goes hey Julianne :-)))) It was soo funny.. I think mainly coz Julianne didn't really want to see this "I am a cross between a grunge rockstar and a fading politician". But obviously out of courtesy he is introduced to everybody . Worse still is the fact that he had already noticed the empty seat next to Mr. my girlfrnd is missing and I don't mind :-)
Well, he sat there an they had the most awkward conversation I had ever had the oppurtunity to see :-)) Julianne kept putting all conversation to an end and trying to get the message across for him to scoot. But he was very persistent I must say. There were times when I really wanted to laugh out loud, I swear !
After a point I couldn't take it and I really wanted to at least smile or giggle. I just got up to visit the bistro car. I was almost giggling all the way :-))
Well, so I am at the Bistro an what do I see, Miss Chardonay is surrounded by 2 Mr. Harley Davidson varieties an she's actually feeling their biceps :-)))) This had to be the most hilarious train journey ever ! So she sees me an swiftly moves away frm the 2 men. That in itself was too funny for words ! She tried to introduce them in a very slurring way as I saw 2 more chardonay bottles empty and in front of her. I was thinking to myself this is classic ! Movie in itself.. :-)
Well, after that I must say, it kinda got boring coz Julianne got down a few stations before us and there was hardly any talking happening in the opposite seats.
All in all, a very fun trip I must say :-))

Train journeys from Portland

Been wanting to blog about these for soooo long now. By now, have forgotten 75% of what I actually wanted to write also.. About 3 months ago for almost 3 weeks continuously I wrote about these trips on my way back. That’s how I spent time since I had my laptop with me anyways. I still carry my laptop around but for some reason, don't even bother to open it for anything! Land at my designated seat an shove the laptop under the seat, it doesn't seem to serve any other purpose…
Once I remember during the days when I used to type away to glory in the train, sat next to a guy who was also working away on his laptop.. The difference being he had an excel spreadsheet open and was evidently doing some accounts.. He was mighty happy when his co-passenger also had her laptop open an was opening MS Word. His contented smile spoke for him. :-)
But after typing a para, I got distracted an ended up playin my cd's instead.. 2 hours and many songs later, he looks at my monitor and says, "You hardly did any work !" I mean, excuse me !!
Firstly do I know you ? And secondly did I say that I was working towards me next annual appraisal rating or anything ? Gosh, this kind of unwarranted behavior really puts me off.. I mean, he's lucky that we were nearing Portland and I was too pre-occupied with other thoughts and hence in no mood to fight. So, in a tongue in cheek tone I said "Who was working" :p
Anyways, getting back to my train journey, its always interesting to watch people all around you. People who are soo different and yet so similar. I have this thing with my seating you see, so I always ask for an aisle at a family table. Don't ask me why, it’s a little whim an bit about more of leg space issue I guess. :-)
Plus in a family table u get to observe so many people at one shot.. God help you if you are stuck with bawling kids but that doesn't happen very often. On my way to Portland this time I had a little girl of probably 10 next to me, Samantha :-) Boy, was she adorable. She had 2 elder sis an mum an dad in the next few seats, but for some reason she just stuck to me.. It had a bit to do with the movie they were playing I guess. "Confessions of a teenage drama queen". I think that was the bonding factor ! 2 people who were nowhere in the category of public for which the movie was made an going' "Oh, that’s soo coool " :-) Seriously, it was great fun !
After the movie got over, we played whats the good word, trivia, spoke about cartoon network and loony tunes, did painting, coloring and join the dots. Boy, it was a good journey I must say. Considering that the train was almost an hour late, it was time well spent :-)))) When I was getting down at Portland, Sammy hugged me hard and asked me to come to her house sometime.. I was touched really. I wish these journeys were more like this..

Man is a social animal ?

Brings back memories of 6th std Social studies chapter, doesn't it ? Well, yesterday was my day to defend this with all my strength.
Got into this big argument with this friend of mine which resulted in a skewed analysis by him which goes like this - "You are not at peace with yourself" :-))
I didn't know where the argument finally landed and which direction it took but before I knew it, wham ! :p
Anyways, what I was trying to tell my dear friend was that I cannot do certain things because well, I just can't. These include eating or drinking in a public place all by myself. I cannot go to a cafeteria and have lunch all by myself, I cannot go to a coffee place an just sit there all by myself or what the heck, go to a theatre all by myself to watch a movie !
I actually thought thats how most of the world is, well, mainly coz none of my close friends don't do these things as well :-)
But guess what, there are lots who do..
My contention was that I have a mindset against things like these, the actual physical capability is questionable as I have never tried it. Maybe if i really set my eyes on it, who knows, I might just go to the nearest coffee shop an grab a cuppa :-))
But I digress. So, yeah, as I was saying, when i go out an see someone sit at a table next to me all by himself (male version as I somehow see only guys doing this), i actually feel sad for the person. I mean, for me eating all by yourself and not even having a company for eating is the pits ! I dunno , maybe I am wrong, shoot me ! But thats the way my mind works..
I see a guy at a movie theatre all by himself an in my mind i go awwwww.... soooo saddd ...
Guess what ! Turns out, some people actually 'like' doing this !
To me its kinda weird coz all this I need my own space funda is fine, but doing things like these all by yourself is taking it a bit too far..
I will not say that I have a very co-dependent existence because I always do things in a group or with friends, but I just feel thats nature. Man has always done things in groups, packs, circles ..
Wonder when all this changed ... hmmmmm..
Am I at peace with myself ?? Totally :-)))))))

Randomness-mania

Ever wondered why everything we do is a reflection of what state our life is in. For some this is so true that they cannot just distinguish between how they are behaving and how they probably should be.
Maybe it also depends of how wrapped up you are in your own life.
Hmmmm....

Long live the internet !

:-) A weird title I know. Its not even something new, but everytime I give up on this media as being too impersonal, I get jolted by incidents like these.
So, here's the thing, there is this friend of mine and we used to be almost inseperable in school. A small group of 3 and bloody michevious :-)
With time drifted apart and its been like 5 or even 6 years since I heard anything from her. Was even dissapointed when a few years ago I had to hear it from somebody else that she got married.
Well, guess what I get this mail from her today after some gazzillion years saying she got my 'chat' id from someone and mailed ! Now she wasn't even too sure of the id, but what the heck !
I don't usually check my chat id actually, might just take a peek once in about 2 months !
But for some reason I opened that today and guess what ! There's a mail and a tele no :-)

We had too many things to catch up on, didn't know where to start from :-) But ya, it was good and ya i tried to understand how after a few years she just didn't know how to get in touch with me to send me her wedding card, but ya bygones !
I am happy just knowing that we are connected now and shez right here in Texas actually !

We were thick as thieves for almost 5 years back in school and for 3 years during college. We have both come a long way since then. So yeah, a lot of catching up to do.. :-)

ex and the City ?

For some vague reason, Sex and the City continues to get bouquets and brickbats from one and all :-) We all love Carrie for reasons of our own. Maybe coz of things she does that we always wanted to but never did or even because her thoughts echo the thoughts of the bold an brazen of this century.
2 of my favourite quotes from the much talked about series.

Carrie: Maybe our mistakes are what make our fate. Without them, what would shape our lives? Perhaps if we never veered off course, we wouldn't fall in love, or have babies, or be who we are. After all, seasons change. So do cities. People come into your life and people go. But it's comforting to know the ones you love are always in your heart. And if you're very lucky, a plane ride away.
Carrie: Later that day I got to thinking about relationships. There are those that open you up to something new and exotic, those that are old and familiar, those that bring up lots of questions, those that bring you somewhere unexpected, those that bring you far from where you started, and those that bring you back. But the most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you can find someone to love the you you love, well, that's just fabulous

I have seen just about all the seasons except the latest 6th season, hope to catch that sometime soon.
There are things that I like about Carrie and there are things that my old fashioned heart disagrees with completely. I can never accept cheating on Aidan because he seems too comforting and Big seems to tantalizing.
But then again, I wonder if its really that far fetched.

One episode which sticks out in my memory for weird reasons in the one in which she tries to be friends with Big because, well, you know, maybe ex's should somehow migrate to being friends sometime. But Big takes the friendship a little too seriously and tells her that he has just got engaged to (the Stick) Natasha.
I wonder which is worse ? Knowing that your ex has a new girlfrnd (and got this one just about 4 months since you last saw him) or that this time he is being a perfect boy friend to someone doing all the things he never did for you. At some level, its an ego blow. Like Carrie, I think it’s the eternal question of why wasn't it me ? Why wasn't it me whom you wanted to commit to ? Why wasn't it me who brought out the newly acquired responsible guy in you? None of this somehow is linked with the fact that you don't want to really get back with him. In fact for all practical purposes, you have no feelings even remotely resembling love for him. But it’s a lingering series of questions because as I said, soemwhere there is hurt and an ego blow. I don't know which one is worse actually. Maybe the hurt gets better with time but the ego blow stays for longer.

Being taken for granted?

Why do we really take people and relationships for granted ? Is it the comfort of the relationship or is it too much of familiarity? Either ways I think it’s a terrible thing to do and the fastest way to kill any relationship. Any relationship I personally think is a full time job, if anybody feels otherwise then either has a relationship that probably doesn't mean all that much or maybe its just a trifle not deep (read shallow) attitude towards making and sustaining friendships/relationships.
Maybe, I am also being generic in some ways, but for good or bad, I have seen friendships only going towards no man's land if you start taking people for granted.
Its been a lingering thought in my head for a while now.

Sleepless in Seattle?

Some days yes ! But thats mostly when I insist on reading thrillers in the night in my cosy 1 bed room apt. I keep telling myself not to do it but sometimes you just can't put certain books down, don't you think ? One such book is 'The Da Vinci code'. Reading that currently and try as I may, I am not able to put it down like a good girl during sleep time. The result is that I am shit scared to sleep all by myself and end up waking up my dear boy friend at all ungodly hours to say 'Talk to me'!
He will probably disown me one of these days :-)
But till then, I continue to read thrillers and be sleepless ...

Test Blog

Been readin too many of other people's blog. Finally decided to jump in an told myself why not.! So here I am, one in the crowd! Just another blogger in the already existing cess pool of zillions :-)