Pliss to rewind...

New yr recap

1. The year was full of nonsensical movies! (an unbelievably dry year for Hollywood and an almost unbearable spat of moronic bollywood movies)
2. Akshay Kumar kinda rocked it!
3. Moving to your new house is exhilarating :)
4. Moving to a new company after spending your till date professional life in one single company can be really daunting... but then again, if you can deal with morons in one place, you can deal with them anywhere :))
5. T'was a year of quite a lot of new traditions (which i hope to keep up in the coming years!) - festivals at home, Friday binges at work, Saturday evenings at a dear friends place, annual vacations with friends, monsoon in goa, marathon TV series and some more :)
6. One brilliant year with respect to commute to work. It totally rocks to have a driver and my skin has never felt better !
7. An year of realizing what a boon it is to have mum nearby (or even staying with you for a while).
8. Ha, it was also an year of welcoming new arrivals to my friends' lives (two weddings and two babies :) )
9. I totally suck at organizing surprise parties !!
10. Political tensions in Bangkok 2 hours after I land, and the tension winds up a day after I am evacuated from there !

Thanks god for some Tv

Star world has never before had a weeknight schedule that I felt was worthwhile. But now all of a sudden and for the first time ever they have 30 Rock and Scrubs back to back all weekdays !
I mean, how awesome is that ! :)

Thank god for some decent tv at the end of sh**ty days like these !

We tend to forget.

As time goes by, things get jaded, excitements fade away, fun gives way to more mundane things. But the worst part is that we tend to forget.

I like airports, I know that sounds funny. No one usually likes airports. But I do like unfamiliar international airports (or even domestic ones in US for that matter).

They have a special place in my heart as I have traveled quite a bit on work and have learnt to survive all kinds of unfamiliar airports. But airports also are special because they have seen quite a bit of me when we were recently married but seeing each other once in a few weeks or even once in a couple of months.
They have seen me irritated on the account of a delayed flight or on the account of being out of breath and last person to check in.

But my favorite airports moments are the ones where I have been dazed and confused with new surroundings and then I see that familiar face. Or times in new cities when I walk out of the aiport searching and then I hear someone saying “Hey sweetheart” from the back. J. A face that always tells me that everything will be all right. I love those moments coz those are the fleeting minutes of sheer happiness. It is difficult to describe it.

Today in a totally unfamiliar airport in Hong Kong (on the way back from Bangkok), I had a similar feeling of being a little lost. Havent had that in a while. I found myself looking for something, that familiar face. That is when the feeling hit me. A quick rewind of airport meetings, a mental recap if you will. And I realized how I had forgotten about it. Just the thought of moments long ago brought me a lot of comfort. I wonder how I had forgotten about these things..

I find us very busy in our lives, just about managing to scrape time off and have some fun. But its not the same. I think we both know it. But I think as long as we don’t forget… As long as we can still remember the good feeling and the warm glow of happy moments gone by, we can still have them..

Ok

I have finally decided that I am quite useless when it comes to thinking of things to write! It used to be effortless before, but dunno either i have absolutely nothing going on in my life or I have a major writing block!
So, in an effort to keep the blog alive, here is what I am planning to do...I will blog at least once a week with just updates ! :)
So, update for um.. the last 6 months I guess - I got a cool sectional couch !!! Andd... (drumm roll)... its RED !!!!

But. its just too heavenly.. need to post pics :))

~toodles

Should u keep em

Trivial relationships..Ones that were meaningful at some point but with time- lose their essence, people grow apart, and even a small conversation becomes laborious. You want to talk, its not like you dont want to. But you want to talk because.. You think you should...it used to be easy..you want to for the sake of old times..you may want to re invent old times..heck, you may just want to know more about the person and the goin ons in their ives...whatever the reason i guess we all do that..hold on to things and people...off late i feel the pinch of it.. And its not because of what i do but in terms of why i do it...
why is it annoying for me when i chose to hang on to trivial relationships and then feel the sheer futility of it. Isnt it better to just acknowledge that and move on and just change the definitions to acquaintances or casual friendships. I think it is....

blip

Are my thoughts getting fewer and fewer or is my brain getting smaller an smaller ??

ps: rhetorical question, do not attempt to answer !

Ha !

Damn damn damn damn !!

The mother of all movies (ok ahem, chick flicks) is releasing next week. I am not sure if I should jump up in joy as I really did miss the series when it ended, or should I lament at this pitiable state of life that I have currently with absolutely no gal pals !!

There is not a single person around whom I want to watch this movie with, the only person that I can think of is like far far away in sin city ! :)
I still remember the DVD marathon that we did with wine an episode after episode on a laptop :) (We had simple needs in life then :P)

Miss you nish!

Post-It s to myself..

On my to-do list


Movies:

Baby Mama
Sex and the city
Indiana Jones 4
Vicky Christina Barcelona


Books:

Hold Tight by Harlan Coben

Backlog from the Stephanie Plum series-
Sharp Twelve
For that matter
Lean Mean 13 & Fearless 14
Yes have become addicted to this chick flick :))

I feel bad about my neck


Places to go:

Maldives

Things to make:

Spicy Hummus

Thank God

for this !!! Mr. Mash you have enriched and simplified my life at the same time :)

Aum.....

There is such a marked difference between life back in the US and here in India that it boggles my mind, more I think about it. Somehow, there is so much of time that you get in the states that it almost taunts you into doing something. Whether its something for yourself, something with others or something akin to a hobby that you never thought you will acquire.

Stark different is life here, where in the middle of all the rush and daily dose of madness, any bit of time that you get here- almost begs you not to do anything !

Tashan- and the search for decent cinema continues...

It should be seen to be believed and also because it is not often that you get to see movies that defy logic, reasoning, common sense or stereotypical cinema for that matter. Now I am not saying whether thats a good thing or bad :)

For about an house into the movie, I was still confused about whether I liked this or not. A part of me was looking at the finer details (which I am not sure are either incidental or extremely shrewd!) and liking it. There was a pinch of this and a dash of that, all good stuff (spin offs from Don, Deewar, Kala Pathar etc etc.) The starting scene itself was brilliant according to me.. The whole tribute to noir cinema was not lost on me as well. But all that again was limited to about 45 mins into the movie and thats it..

I am guessing somewhere after the intial spark of brilliance the director thought to himself, Kareena rocked in the bikini, Saif looks uber cool and Akshay for the last couple of years has only delivered hits no matter what role he plays- So guess I dont need to think or do anything anymore. Let me not even bother about things like script, story, screenplay or simply common sense :p

The last one hour was unbearable to say the least. There was mush when you are really not in a position to digest it, there was Anil Kapoor with a shaven chest which is good enuf to make anyone puke and there was Saif reduced to a miserable side kick. Terrible terrible terrible..

Sigh.. if only someone had the sense to tell the director to chop the movie after an hour into it or just continue the momentum he had created in the first couple of scenes, it could have been a really sharp movie.. I guess this is what happens when you tend to mix your sensibilities of modern sharp cinema with masala movie cliches! What you end up with is 'Tashan' ! All spice, no substance..

:) ( I am tired of thinking up titles :p)

"The older you get, you start realising what a fool you had been all these years to actually consider birthdays "happy" occasions. What is there to be happy about anyway? With each passing year, you get farther from people and farther from yourself, you discover more flaws, more disappointments, more regrets, more judgement, more cynicism, more things (and people) that annoy you, and more things that don't matter. I know there's supposed to be a textbook list of GTAGO (Good Things About Growing Older) but frankly speaking, at this point in time, it seems like a rather bullshitty list"

My sentiments exactly, verbalized by the dear birthday gal

ahem

Its so weird that I find myself being very - I me myself, now a days :))

*

What if the only person you needed to talk to is the one person you can't talk to..

Perfection

Perfectly described here :)

People people!

Are we increasingly becoming self indulgent or are we thriving in low tolerance towards just about anything??

I am finding more and more people becoming so intolerant now a days, I am not sure if its just the stress of modern day life now a days or whether attitudes are changing big time.

Unfortunately for us, the interiors work in our apartment took 2 months longer than what it should have and believe me everybody around has been constantly complaining (everybody except surprisingly my very next door neighbour!) . Whether its neighbours downstairs complaining about people working in the morning or slightly later in the evening. Whether its about people working over the weekend or people working in the basement!!

I fail to understand what they seem to think? Do they think that its ok for us to stick to their schedules to finish our civil and carpentary work at the cost of our lives being effected due to the work?? Or are they so deluded that they actually think we ought not to disturb their freaking peace by hammering away. I mean, I do understand the fact that constant work is annoying especially one thats prolonged, but what the heck is complaining going to achieve?? Instead of what can be achieved in 2 weeks will only take another 4 weeks at the rate at which we were forced to carry on. But i doubt if such logical reasonings even occur to some morons.. I wonder if they even pause to think how much of commotion they themselves must have caused when they were getting any work done is their homes, but I guess all that is soo long ago that they think that was finee...

Anyhoo, coming back to my point, this huge corporate office next to our community is building its second campus right next to us. I am sure they have their own deadlines and all that, coz of which work is happening in shifts round the clock. The association of my community is hell bent of sending complaint mail one after the other to tell them to stop working in the night (or if they just could, ask them to stop working all construction work!). It started with reasons like - too much of dust, too much of screaming from the workers, too many mosquitos because of the water stagnant in the construction site, too much of machinery noise disturbing children who have exams (what the???) and of course most importantly people losing sleep..

My bedroom is actually facing the construction site and believe me I get the noise first hand but honestly its not something so ground shattering that I can't live with.

There are people from far off blocks who seem to be so affected that they want to talk to the corporate managers to put an end to this issue.

Now, i really dont understand this. Any health hazard- yes, any pollution hazard- yes, any security hazard- yes.. But seriously, construction activity to be toned down just coz you cant sleep peacefully since the last 6 months ?? Come one, people should have gotten so used to it now that it shouldn't even be effecting anybody..

I actually sent an email to this yahoo group (association) today asking them to consider our tolerance levels. Even if we were staying in an independent house and if our neighbour was constructing his house, what would you do ?? Ask him to go slow ? ask him to stop working in the nights or weekends ?? Or ask him to put a muffler on all their machineries ??

What the hell is wrong with world today??

Unfamiliar experiences.

No matter how much you think things will be manageable and of course you will get used to it, the first steps are always difficult. I guess the very reason why we even think - Oh how difficult can that be, is either because you haven't been in that situation ever before or you have been in the similiar situation so many zillion years ago that you don't even remember how hard it was in the first place.

I think I am going thru a multitude of such feelings, a certain separation anxiety about leaving a work place I have literally called a second home for the last 8 and a half years, a sense of confusion and chaos regarding a new work place- which not only is chaotic in nature/culture but its also breeds a culture of extreme self sustenance.

Its probably not as bad as I imagine it to be, So I guess its the fatalist/pessimist in me making rash impressions as usual :). I really need to learn to adapt better, I have never been good with any kind of change in life, whether it was routine, pattern or even people around me. I always tend to cling on...

Anyhoo, on a slightly brighter note, my new apartment is finally ready for occupation !! Yippeee.. After 5 hard months of persuations and negotiations, its finally in a livable and hospitable state. Of course, there is still a long way to go before it looks lived in or for that matter before I unpack too :p (I had bloody 10 suitcases and 10 cartons of stuff!!). Till then getting used to yet another un familiar experience of living in my 'OWN' house. Its definitely a high to see each and every bit of square footage bought by you and with things bought by you. Its definitely not a feeling I am used to , but its definitely something I can get used to :))

Will be posting snaps soon :))

Post lunch read

This is beyond funny!! Its ... its...

Om....

Its been a week of introspection, and of course a workshop. I went into it thinking - Oh one of those soft skills workshop which I dont' need but my boss insists that I go for some workshop coz its in my objectives!
But at the end of 2 days, I admit I did come back with a small but significant take back. It reinforced my belief about how life is nothing but a long winding road of choices. Choices that we see, choices we don't, choices we choose to make, choices we don't even realize that we are making and above all choices that really tell a lot about the kind of person that you are.

Consider a beggar at the traffic signal, you reaction and subsequent action not only tells you about the kind of values/belief system you have, but also tells you about the conditioning you have , which makes you choose an action that follows.

I think more than anything, I have probably become a lot more self aware in terms of looking at even the smallest of things that I do, because they involve these choices and decisions that I am talking about. There is a pattern in it, definitely a significant pattern, which tells me more about myself. Sometimes things that I don't like and probably don't like to hear.

To cite some examples, I realize that I am not good at receiving a direct compliment (not the, "ah that bag is really nice or those earrings look nice on you" types! But more like, "wow you are quite creative" types.. I really find myself at loss when it comes to reacting at a qualitative feedback. More often than not, I find myself not graciously accepting it but side stepping it altogether and probably even be-little it ,like - "Oh that was nothing at all, I am sure you can do the same thing"!

When I dig deeper I can definitely see how when we were kids we were not really given direct qualitative feedbacks like that, not to say that my family did not believe in appreciation or that I had zero talent (:p) but just that for some reason they probably thought appreciation should not be given directly coz it may cause some sense of arrogance in the kid. So, even now my mum would say to other people - "Oh you ahould take Rads along for shopping, she is really good at picking nice things out." But to date she will never say that to me! So, you see its difficult for me to react to appreaciation like that coz I am just not used to it .

I think its good to realize these things because it makes you a lot more aware of yourself and even gives you that window of oppurtunity to maybe do something different if you wish to.

At the same time, I realize the importance of being able to see choices along the way. Whether its picking up that shoe just because its on sale or whether its deciding to go out for drinks with someone or a group that you don't know so well. At the risk of sounding preachy, there are options and choices for us at any given point in time. Even at times when we really can't see beyond something. Even when something looks really obvious. And maybe even when you don't think you need a choice or that is there is a conscious decision to be taken.

Its a bright new day!

Who knew i would actually send out that resignation letter thats been lying in my drafts folder for the last 2 years- today!

So.... yes.. its official.. Bye bye Sunflower company :)