The Struggle is Real

You remember watching those romantic scenes or songs in several Bollywood movies in rain? The heroine looks sensuous and the hero most desirable. The setting and mood takes you to the other world. You are happy, almost immersed in the scene...

"What the hell? Close that window. The rain has just changed the direction. Leave that one closed for now. Hurry up or that rain will make our bed wet." 

Did the reality hit you? I hate Bollywood movies for this. The colorful funky colleges, love at first sight, and the romantic rain sequences. All fake.

Come back to the real middle class flat dweller's life and here is how the rainy season looks like:

1. The rain does not fall down straight. The serious spell of rain is accompanied with wind and makes it fall in any direction but straight down. For people like us, who took pride in owning the corner flat, it's the payback time. We keep on running around to close and open the windows as per the rain's direction.
2. When we were small children, we used to enjoy the smell of the rain. Now, the rainy season does not bring that earthy smell but whatever smell it brings, it sure immerse itself into everything. The cloths, the food, the books, the bed-sheet, the cupboard, the child, parents, husband, myself - everyone and everything carries the same smell - of dampness.
3. For a mother of a 6 yo, the only part of the flat that provides some privacy and "me time" is the washroom. Take your phone or take your book or just nothing but closing the washroom door's latch brings that relief. Come rain and the wooden doors swell up. They just refuse to close. Now, I am forced to use the washroom for its original use. No more that peaceful corner cos the door does not close. 
4. The ginger tea... Wow. Is it? When the monsoon gets in the full swing, 90% of the family members start coughing. Now the ginger is not used to make tea to accompany the pakodas but to make the kaadha for the coughing members. 
5. You sure feel sleepy or you want to spend some cozy time in your bedroom. Nah ah. Your bed, the chairs and any available space that you can see has your cloths spread out. The cloths washed today takes a free trip of the entire house throughout the day and finally is ready for you to wear after 4 days. If you are in hurry to wear them, iron them up.
6. How much time you spent to decide the color and texture of your walls? Thoughtfully handpicked wall decorations... Well, the continuous rain has left a sweet love bite on your walls. You see that? That wet damp patch. 

Hollywood movies are one step ahead. Jurassic Park, Godzilla, Titanic and so on. How much water they might have wasted to shoot them? Anyway. In those Hollywood movies, their phones continue to work even when they have been getting wet. My bloody phone starts misbehaving even when I pick it up with 3 wet fingers! Their cars, phones, guns, heroines - everything works. Here, just seeing the clouds, our Tata Sky and electricity goes off. 

And the most irritating moment award goes to - when the sky goes pitch dark and it starts with a drizzle. You start feeling happy. You dash out to take the cloths stand inside to save your almost dried up cloths from getting wet again. It rains for.... full 3 minutes and then the clouds fly away and the sun smiles back at you. Almost mockingly. 

No power, coughing family members, damp flat full of wet cloths and closed windows and doors. That's what the real monsoon looks like. I am not 

even talking about the flood hit areas. 

"Rim jhim gire saawan"

"Ek ladki bheegi bhaagi si"

"Jo haal dil ka"

....

....

like, seriously?

I AM BACK!!!

What can be more disturbing than forgetting your own Blog's URL???!!! Yes, it just happened with me. It's been over 3 months that I have not even visited my blog, forget about writing anything here. So many things have happened in these past 3 months…

I have switched my job… I have been working in office without taking any leaves… And yes, I have been seriously WORKING (habit of which I have become out of touch)… timings have changed… travelling has become a pain… Weekends are eagerly awaited for… All in all, I have been over occupied with lot of things…

But the good thing is that I am learning at the new place and getting work which I always wanted… so at the end of the day, I am satisfied…

So, what's new??? Some of my sweet friends have expressed it to me that they have been missing my blog and I have been itching to scribble anything, just anything on my blog just for those friends…

Ummm… I can't write about everything that have happened in the past 3 months but let me see:

1.   Have visited Infy-Mysore campus and was awestruck by the magnificence of the campus. It impacted me so much that I cursed myself for not doing engineering and not getting placed with Infosys and not landing up at Infy-Mysore as a trainee…. That much was the impact of that RESORT. What do you want when you are away from a proper city? Multiplex, grocery store, bank, ATM, gym, recreation centre, swimming pool, transportation, nice place to live, pizza or nice eating joints, a football or a cricket stadium, saloon, doctor, security, internet, bowling alley…. YOU HAVE EVERYTHING IN THERE… I better try to put some pics…

Training Center

Hostels-for trainees and guests (thats where we stayed)

Beautiful pathway

The Famour Multiplex building with the basketball court

I was obsessed with this building

Swimming pool (at the first floor) and the recreation center around

Cycles for easy commutation in the campus

Gallery

2.   Finally watched a movie in a hall… Rockstar… Though I was not in a mood to watch it coz "that's not my type"… but finally gave in… I can't say that I was disappointed. Ranbir Kapoor was definitely amazing and very much into his character but songs were out of my scope. I know most of you are crazy about those songs but please… Sadda Haq- O eco-friendly nature ke rakshak, main bhi hu nature… what the hell is that?? And Nargis Fakhri…phew… she was unbearable. Somehow the movie was predictable. I have read some novels and watched some movies which described the tale of a budding artist finally achieving success and not able to handle it, so it was kind of predictable but yet, RK was good.

3.   Why this Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri di???!!! My South Indian friends, I know this is going to hurt you guys but Dhanush is irritating in this song. I felt that he is totally drunk and singing some rubbish in his sleep (and is about to throw up--- my hubby added this and I totally agree). What kind of music are we getting these days?? I guess till early 90s the songs were meaningful and then, suddenly it all changed. I better shut my mouth here about music or I will be banned from the society…

4.   The power of technology- I call myself an average net savvy but till 2 months back I was missing the most amazing aspect of internet… Video Chat. I had heard about Skype but imagine my MIL got her Skype ID before me!!! The first time I used Skype and I felt the power of technology… My brother and sister-in-law sitting in USA and we were talking face to face. I know, all of you might be thinking that am such a super excited stupid girl. This is such an old thing now. But yesterday we used it in a much better way… Skype video Conferencing. Delhi-UK-Bangalore… The entire family was on Skype and talking to each other all at the same time. I was almost feeling like all of us were sitting together at the same place and having a good time!!! God Bless those who keep on inventing new things and are making us live together in a virtual world…

5.   Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is finally a mom… How does it impact me? Just that no more morphed photographs of Salman Khan as her baby son… No more betting on baby girl or a baby boy; no more time wasting pundits on TV predicting her baby's future.

What else? I would again try to be regular on my blog but who knows… Be Safe and Be Happy… CHEERS!!!

New Design...

Phew... I wanted to change the design of my blog for so long and today I finally got time and willingness to change it. It is so confusing... So many options, hit and trial, applying the changes, changing it again, experimenting and so on...
I have finally done the changes... Though the previous one still remains my favorite but this one is also not bad... What say???!!!

Give your feedbacks in the comments section but please, don't be too harsh on me... It took me almost an hour to get this decent design....

Akshay, I have finally recollected how to add the photo to the blog Title... To know more, kindly ping me on chat...

Jurassic Park...

Guess what… few days back, I don't know why and how, I was thinking about one of my favorite movies- Jurassic Park (first part) and yesterday it was coming on Sony Pix. Thank God I was reading that section of the newspaper in the evening (which I rarely do) and saw that it is coming at 9 p.m. J

I am totally in love with its theme music and merchandise and the whole concept of the movie. I also had a video cassette of JP and would religiously watch it after every school exam got over (even if it was just a trivial unit test). My bade bhaiyya happened to be even more involved with this movie. I remember him making a T-Rex painting on a chart paper and pasted on the main entrance door of our home in Jaipur and innumerable JP logos in his drawing book, which looked complete replica of the original ones… I can recite the movie frame by frame and always wanted to visit the actual JP theme park in those automatic cars… wow!!!

Let me keep making a list of the old movies that I want to watch so earnestly… God, can I have ET please???!!!

OBAMA KILLED OSAMA!!!!!!

The most wanted terrorist has been gunned down, as per US of A. OBAMA said OSAMA is dead (status message of one of my dear friend). Looks like a new tongues twister to me. You can easily interchange Obama with Osama by mistake. By the way, "Osama" word is already present in the dictionary of MS Word and "Obama" is not. Just an observation… You forgot, I am an Analyst. Don't you dare laugh at this…

Anyways, Osama is dead but never ending controversies have taken birth. Even my little brain is suggesting that something is wrong. The world is asking all sorts of questions. I will tell my concern later on…

1. Is Osama actually dead?

2. Was Pakistan not involved in the US operations?

3. Was Pakistan hiding Osama?

4. Why Osama was buried in sea so urgently (USA, though, says that it was after all the forensic tests were done. So it was not done in any urgency)

5. Was Osama dead many years ago only (natural death) but after getting fool-proof links only US is claiming that they killed him? [Presidential elections at stake]

6. Osama anyways was not an active member of his terrorist group; there are other dangerous members alive, who can strike in even bigger way anytime now. Was Osama murdered by his own group mates?

7. Etcetera etcetera….

 My concern is also on the similar lines:

Is it sure that USA has killed Osama or have they got inspired by the Bollywood movie Tere Bin Laden and killed innocent Pradhuman Singh, who played the Osama look alike in the movie???? There is no news of Pradhuman… This incident has taken place during appraisal time. Obama might have done so to claim the highest rating and promotion (extended Presidential tenure).

Whatever be the case, I now want to read the complete true stories about OBL. Wikipedia (my favorite encyclopedia) quotes this about his personal life:

"In 1974, at the age of 17, Osama married Najwa Ghanem at Latakia. According to CNN national security correspondent David Ensore, as of 2002 Osama had married four women and fathered roughly 25 or 26 children. Other sources report that he has fathered anywhere from 12 to 24 children."

I mean, look at the range of estimate of number of children fathered by OBL- 12 to 24. I don't understand, if OBL was such a deadly terrorist, his mind always occupied on planning some or the other attack, when did he take off time to marry 4 times??!!!

It took 10 years for US to kill this most wanted terrorist but I guess the controversies will remain open for a real long time from now… Real OBL or not; killed by US or his own group members or natural death; 12 children or 24… the fact is that OBL is dead… OBAMA KILLED OSAMA!!!!!!

Honesty....

Hey All,

While browsing on the Internet, I came across this short yet beautiful article by Sudha Murty, so thought to share it with you... Some of you might have already read this... Enjoy....

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Honesty comes from the heart

One bright June morning three years ago, I was reading my Kannada newspaper as usual. It was the day the SSLC results had been published. While columns of roll numbers filled the inside pages, the list of rank holders with their photographs took up almost the entire front page.

I have a great fascination for rank holders. Rank is not merely an index of one's intelligence, it also indicates the hard work and perseverance that students have put in to reach their goal. My background – I was brought up in a professor's family – and my own experience as a teacher have led me to believe this.

Of all the photographs in that morning's newspaper, one boy's photo caught my attention. I could not take my eyes of him. He was frail and pale, but there was an endearing sparkle in his eyes. I wanted to know more about him. I read that his name was Hanumanthappa and that he had secured the 8^{th rank. That was all the information I could gather.}

The next day, to my surprise, his photograph was published again, this time with an interview. With growing interest I learned that he was a coolie's son. He was unable to study further, he said in the interview, because he lived in a village and his father earned only Rs 40 a day. Hanumanthappa was the oldest of five children. His father was the only breadwinner. They belonged to a tribal group.

I felt sorry for this bright boy. Most of us send our children to tuitions, to coaching classes, buy them reference books and guides, and provide the best possible facilities for them without considering the cost. But it was different for Hanumanthappa of Rampura. He had excelled in spite of being denied some of the basic necessities of life. While I was thinking about him with the newspaper still in my hands, I gazed at a mango tree in my neighbour's compound. It looked its best with its fresh bark, tender green leaves glistening with dewdrops and mangoes that were about to ripen in a few days. Beyond the tree was a small potted plant which, I noticed, had remained almost the same ever since it was potted.

It was a calm morning. The air was cool and fresh. My thoughts were running free. The continuous whistle of our pressure cooker broke the silence, reminding me that half an hour had passed.

Hanumanthappa's postal address was provided in the interview. Without wasting much time, I took a postcard and wrote a letter to him. I wrote only two lines saying that I was interested in meeting him and asking whether he could come to Bangalore. Just then my father, ever a practical man, returned from his morning walk. He read the letter and said, "Where will he have the money to come so far? If you want him to come here, send some money for his bus fare plus a little extra to buy himself a decent set of clothes."

So I added a third line to say that I would pay for his travel and clothes. Within four days I received a similar postcard in reply. Two sentences. In the first he thanked me for the letter. In the second he expressed his willingness to come to Bangalore and meet me.

Immediately, I sent him some money and details of my office address. When he finally arrived in our office, he looked like a frightened calf that had lost its way. Probably, it was his first trip to Bangalore. He was humble. He wore a clean shirt and trousers. His hair was neatly parted and combed. The sparkle was still there in his eyes.

I got straight to the point. "We are happy about your academic performance. Do you want to study further? We would like to sponsor you. This means we will pay your fees for any course of study you wish to take up – wherever it may be."

He did not answer.

My senior colleague, who was present with me, interrupted with a smile, "Don't go at the speed of bits and bytes. Let the boy understand what you are suggesting and give us his answer at the end of the day."

When Hanumanthappa was ready to return home, he said in a low and steady tone, "Madam, I want to pursue my studies at the Teachers Training College in Bellary. That is the one nearest to my village."

I agreed instantly but spoke to him a little more to find out whether there was any other course he preferred. I was trying to make it clear to him that we would pay the fees for any course he chose. The boy, however, seemed to know his own mind and knew exactly what he wanted.

"How much money should I send you per month? Does the college have a hostel facility?" I asked.

He said he would get back to me after collecting the correct details.

Two days later, he wrote to us in his beautiful handwriting that he would require approximately Rs 300 per month. He had planned to take a room on rent and share it with his friend. The two boys planned to cook for themselves in order to keep their expenses down.

I sent him Rs. 1,800 to cover his expenses for six months. He acknowledged my draft without any delay and expressed his gratitude.

Time passed. One day, I suddenly remembered that I had to pay Hanumanthappa for the next six months. I sent him another draft for Rs 1,800.

This too was duly acknowledged but I was surprised to find some currency notes in the envelope along with his letter. "Madam," he had written, "It is kind of you to have sent me money for the next six months. But I was not in Bellary for the last two months. One month, our college was on holiday and during the next month, there was a strike. So I stayed at home for those two months. My expenditure during these months was less than Rs 300 per month. Therefore, I am sending you the Rs 300 that I have not used for the last two months. Kindly accept this amount."

I was taken aback. Such poverty and yet such honesty.

Hanumanthappa knew I expected no account of the money sent to him for his monthly expenditure. Yet he made it a point to return the balance money. Unbelievable but true!

Experience has taught me that honesty is not the mark of any particular class nor is it related to education or wealth. It cannot be taught at any university. In most people, it springs naturally from the heart.

I did not know how to react to this simple village boy's honesty. I just prayed that God would continue to bestow the best on Hanumanthappa and his family.

Source:
WISE AND OTHERWISE

A Salute to Life

By Sudha Murty

EastWest Books (Madras) Pvt. Ltd.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

OH GOD !!!!

It was a tiring day at office. It's almost 10 p.m. and thanks to one hour journey from my office to home, I could take a nap in my cab. But the bumpy roads guaranteed that it's not a sound sleep, just a small nap or a series of small naps.

I struggled to open the lock of my room. It is an old lock and the key had switched many hands and has lost its original shape. Old lock and twisted key made my life miserable each day. Right now, I could not think of anything but to lie down on my creaky bed as soon as possible. Every inch of my body is aching.

As soon as I managed to open the door to my almost empty apartment, I felt proud to have managed to keep it clean, specially the bed. I closed the door and crash landed on the bed. This bed also had switched many owners. My landlord decided to give it to me instead of giving it to the kabaadi-wala.

"Why do you want to throw money on a new bed? I have a spare one with me. Keep it. Young people like you won't settle down with any second hand thing. Look at us. Life is all about saving money. You need to compromise sometimes…", he had said.

That time I also thought that there is nothing wrong in taking a second hand bed only to realize later that it was not the second but close to 5-6 hands old bed. But I compromised.

As I lay on it staring at the ceiling, I didn't realize that I have not even put off my shoes and belt. My body won't move anymore. It needs rest. Desperately needs rest.

Suddenly, I felt suffocated and a thin drop of sweat trickled down from the back of my head and landed on the bed sheet. Though the street was usually empty at this time everyday but still I could hear some racing bikes and occasional trucks. But after the drop of sweat, I could feel the vacuum. No voice, no noise, no air, no oxygen. Do I need to open some windows? The apartment has been closed since last 16 hours. I had been in office since then.

Reluctant to move, I struggled to get up to open some windows. My body is not moving.

I have to get up or else I will choke myself to death…

But it won't budge. The ceiling is turning black. Suddenly, my left arm starts to pain and I start sweating profusely.

What's going on? I can't hear anything or see anything. Gosh, my arm… The pain is terrible… I need to get out of here…

I start searching for my mobile in space. I needed to call my friend-cum-local guardian immediately. I need hospital. I need a doctor…

Wait a minute… Where am I? I can see light. I can move now…

But this is not my apartment. Oh My God!!! Where is the floor? Where is the roof? I am standing on the clouds… What has happened to me??

"Relax dear. You are safe here… "

I turn to see an old man, real old man with long beard and wearing strange clothes. I have seen such costumes in mythological serials.

"Who are you? Where am I?"

"I am GOD…. You have reached heaven"

"WHAT???!!!! Ha ha ha, yes, GOD… You are God and I am dead, right?"

"Right. You died of a heart-attack"

"Listen uncle. I don't know if Ramleela auditions are going on in my area but you have failed in this audition. I am just 26 years old. How can I get a heart-attack?"

"Long working hours, no exercise, junk food, no rest, computers, stress… What else do you need for a heart-attack? You don't need the age but an unhealthy heart and life style to get one. Don't worry, you no longer have to work. You are in heaven now. Wait for some time and I will send you back to earth after a re-birth"

"But you can't kill me. I was doing my job. If my work demands me to work non-stop for 20 hours at a stretch, I have to, else I would be kicked out of my company. Why did you do this to me? I have so much to do… I did not even meet my parents, my family, my friends… How will they come to know that I m dead? You did not give me time to even call them…", I cried

"I have taken care of that. Your parents will call you and you won't respond till morning. They will send your friend to check you out. He will find you dead"

"DEAD… it looks so easy to you, as if a routine affair for my friend to find people dead in their apartments?"

"Calm down. I gave you enough time to speak to your family and meet your friends. But I guess, your job took priority over them"

"If you are God and you had given me enough time to spend with my family and friends, you only must have put my job on priority. Because you are the GOD…"

"Don't blame it on me. I don't decide your priority list and how exactly you are going to spend each minute of your life. I just make a path for you when you are born"

"Oh, in that case, why at this moment did you decide to make me suffer the heart attack and take my life?"

"But that's my job. Your life had to end at this moment. I had to call you up here"

"Who wrote my life?"

"I did"

"So, why didn't you write it properly? It should have been crisp, clear, detailed and step-by-step process should have been defined for me to follow. I never knew that my life will end at this moment like this and that I have such little time to spend with my family and friends"

"We cannot write it with such details else all of you will know when you will die and so will manage accordingly"

"What's the problem in that? After all, the bottom line is to live a good life. If I know that I am going to die at xyz time on abc day, I would have paid my loans, or not taken them at the first place, I would have stayed with my family rather than moving out for job, everyone would have been happy"

"But if everyone will be happy, how will you humans understand what is the pain, the sadness, the grief and the sorrow?"

"Why do we need to know these things? We would have known only happiness"

"But when you would have lost someone, you would have cried and that may have confused you as to why you were crying on the loss. Oh and how would you have learnt that you have lost someone?"

"I simply wouldn't have cried. If you would not have written crying in my life, I wouldn't have cried. You are making me confused now"

"What do you mean?"

"Simply that if you would have either written my life step-by-step and clearly, it would have been better or you would have introduced only happiness, then it would have been good"

Now he is confused. He is thinking…

"May I ask you something?"

"Yes, sure"

"What job did you have down there on earth?"

"Why? I was a Process Manager. I used to write Process documents and other technical documents"

"I understand. Can I hire you to write step-by-step processes for human beings, other races, planets and all?"

"Hmmm… What package will you offer me? According to industry standards, I expect a hike of 25% but since you are God and this would be a very high profile job with my direct reporting to you, I would want 40% hike"

He has closed his eyes…

"I have thought about it and I suggest, you better go back to your job on earth. I will write an updated version of your life and you may stay there till you are 80 years old. This much salary I cannot afford. I can't stand you anymore. GO BACK TO EARTH NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Tring tring tring…..

"Hello"

"Hey, how are you? I have been calling you since past 1 hour. Your mummy is getting hyper here. Talk to her"

"Ya dad. I was just…"

"Where were you? Don't you have time to talk to us??", it was my mom

I smiled…

"I have lot of time now mom…. Relax. I can talk to you till I am 80 years old…"

And we talked for another hour; I slept, woke up in the morning and went to work…

There I am my dear Processes…. You saved my life… J

Ye Dilli hai mere yaar...

Okay, before I start this post, there is a special note for die-hard Delhi fans: I love Delhi J

There is this strange irony of my life. The more I used to consider Delhi-NCR as the worst place to live in, the more connected I became.

I was born in Delhi. Nearly 90% of my school life was spent in this region. When I completed my schooling, I was kind of relieved that I don't have to come back to Delhi. I was happy at Jaipur. But I landed up at Gurgaon (NCR) for MBA. I was placed and my company stationed me at places like Mumbai, Chennai and now Bangalore. And guess what??? I got married to a Delhiite.  

But there is something magnetic about this place. I may have started realizing this magnetism only after spending some time in South India. The name of the famous roads, the numerous autos which keep on exhaling unbearable polluted fumes, the street food, the roadside chit-chat sessions of young groups, housewives buying vegetables from vegetable carts in their night gowns and bargaining on top of that, India Gate, the disinterested government employees, the government buildings, historical monuments, congested streets where there is no space for parking and yet each family proudly own atleast two cars, cheaper daily-use commodities (here I am comparing with South India), jugaadu attitude, Metro, latest model of cars or bikes speeding along-with cars which may crumble down to a pile of metal anytime etc etc.

Whenever I would travel through Delhi Roads, I feel some kind of connection with the names of the roads and areas, though I may not be able to guide you to any damn road of Delhi. Barakhamba Road, ITO, CP/ Rajiv chawk (for Metro travelers), Dilshad Garden, Akbar Road, Sardar Patel Marg, Rajghat, Janpath, Rohini (this is where I spent almost 7 years), Pragati Maidan, Dwarka, Mayur Vihar (this is where I am going to spend rest of my life J), Chandni Chowk, Karol Bagh, Kamla Nagar etc etc.

I may not have been to all the historical places of Delhi but just passing by them also gives a sense of pride to be present in the capital city of India- Delhi. It is polluted, it has now got extreme weather conditions- too cold in winters and too hot in summers, it is congested, it is cunning, it is the prime aim for terrorists, it is crowded but whatever it is, people born and brought up in Delhi cannot stay away from this place for long.

Here you get the best street food of India. Here you don't shy away from buying things from street and bargaining too even if you are the wife of the Director of a company. This is the place where you can sit in any local market with friends yet have a feast with inexpensive momos and chole-kulche. The roads may be less crowded during mid-night but not deserted, where the business language is English when you start and quickly changes to Hindi or Punjabi, where people have started travelling according to the timings of Metro, where still there are numerous areas where uninterrupted power supply is still a dream but the people are complaining and not rebelling, where people have forgotten the concept of balcony (almost 95% of the families residing in apartments built not very recently have covered their balconies and converted them into rooms), where people are too concerned about their health and so religiously go on morning walk and gulp samosas and chicken tikkas in the evening…

But Delhi is rightly named as a place of people of golden hearts (dilwale). Only a true Delhiite may cherish the title song of Delhi-6 J. Though I cannot call myself as 100% pure Delhiite, but I love this place in spite of all the ironies with which the people live here.

PLEASE… DND!!!!!!!!

Just when I am awaiting that magical SMS from ICICI bank informing me that my account has been credited with the salary, I am getting all sorts of SMS but not from ICICI  :(

On an average, in every 5 minutes, I am getting 3 SMSs from my credit card company, builders, beauticians, shopping malls, travel portals etc etc etc. suggesting me to avail their offers to make my Diwali extra special with heavy discounts !!!

"Get a manicure absolutely free on a bill of Rs. 2000 at Lakme…": If I can inflate my bill to Rs. 2000, I am rich enough to get a paid manicure….

"Get 50% cash back on base fare of 2 round trips or 4 one way tickets on cleartrip...": If I would have got this SMS when most of us were getting heart attacks with soaring ticket prices for Diwali trip, it would have genuinely helped me. I think almost 85% people have already booked their Diwali tickets by now. Rest 10% will be in such hurry that they won't even remember of receiving this SMS. 5% would, I guess, be able to avail this HEAVY discount on base fare. Try to give me this discount on the total fare.

Even when I have taken up 'their' Credit card, my name is not yet chalked off from their calling lists. Every other day I get a call from them to take up their credit card and I beg them to delete my name from their list but they won't listen. Why are they wasting their time, effort and money on the already existing customer to become their customer?

I have already taken up almost 5-6 insurance policies. No, that's not the truth but that's the status that I maintain whenever I get a call from some insurance call center because if I tell that I have taken 1 policy, they won't leave me because their product is giving the maximum benefit and cover to me. So, I have taken up non-existing insurance policies. I guess, 5-6 policies together would cover me better than their product.

I am not interested in home or personal loan and I am still a student. Oh, I am still a student because they are not interested in giving any loan or credit card to students and so, they will keep down the phone immediately without persuading me to take up their product…

On my mobile, I hardly get 1,2,3,4 or may be 5 calls in a day of my interest, that is, from my friends and family members. But I get almost 9-10 calls and 15 SMSs on a normal day from these companies which would continue to call me to sell their product or offer even when my name would be registered in DEAD peoples' list. It looks that I have bought this expensive phone (expensive when I bought it) not for my personal use but to receive their calls and SMSs :(

PLEASE... DO NOT DISTURB ME….!!!!!!

The GOD!!!

I am back from Hyderabad. That's where my brother lives and since he is not there, my parents have come to take care of my sister-in-law. Last time when we were going to Hyderabad, we missed our train by few minutes. It was all because of the cab that we had booked… Cab, obviously, cannot take secret lanes and cannot stuff itself in any possible empty patch on road. And so, this time we decided to leave well in time and take an auto.

If you want to have a Sholay experience, or, you want to feel what Hema Malini (Basanti) might have gone through when she instructed her mare, Dhanno, to run for their lives, all you need to do is board an auto during the peak rush hours. You will get the feel. Though, we never told our auto driver that we are in any hurry or we may miss the train, he took it as his unsaid responsibility to drop us in flat 1 hour and so we reached the station 2 hours before the departure time.

My father and sister-in-law had come to pick us up in my brother's brand new i20 car. I loved the car. It's the first major joint possession of my brother and sister-in-law and they are proud to have it. It's so smooth and the interiors are also amazing. Wow…

Oh, forgot to mention. The Enthiran fever. I had only heard about it earlier but witnessed it for the first time. Rajinikanth is considered God down here in South. His movie was releasing after many years (his last movie being Sivaji- a huge hit released in 2007 but these 3 years are considered MANY years by his die-hard fans). Enthiran released on 1st October, a day after the Ayodhya verdict. While passing by a multiplex, a saw hundreds of people outside the complex, police vans and flags and posters. Since I was not able to see what posters were they, I thought that some political party must be having some meeting post verdict, only to know later on that they were the fans of Rajinikanth waiting there since early morning to get the tickets. I don't know if it is the rumor or what, but the tickets were sold for as high as Rs. 5000 and one confirmed source told me that the tickets were indeed sold at Rs. 1700. While going to catch the train later that evening as well I saw huge number of people, ooops, fans gathered outside a shady theatre with police vans and media cars.

Sorry to Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, but I think Rajinikanth's fans are crazier than your fans or they might have be this crazy for you when you were young. Just read on Wikipedia (yes, I again relied on Wikipedia to gain knowledge on the superstar) that Mr. Rajini was born in the year 1949, which means he is 61 years old (he will complete 61 years in December). And he starred with Aishwarya Rai in this latest release- she is 37 years old. But who cares as Mrs. Bachchan herself is a big fan of this superstar. I honestly have no idea as to why he should be worshipped. It must be, no, it actually is for his style and dialogues and mannerisms rather than ACTING. What Rajinikanth can do, no one else can but I don't find it amazing. May be because I watch a movie to see acting but end up watching Rajinikanth running on water or in air or shooting 4 people with a single bullet or him igniting cigarette or matchstick on a bald man's head and things like these which makes no sense for me. But if I continue to write more about my personal views on his "acting" skills, I may be found murdered by his fans in next two hours so better I shut up my mouth. But yes, I actually want to see Robot (Hindi version of Enthiran) on the big screen.

Before I end up this post, just wanted to paste few lines/ facts about Rajinikanth, which my friend had just got from somewhere and forwarded them to me. Long Live Mr. Rajinikanth and best wishes for the new movie…

RAJINIKANTH

For those who don't know who Rajini is ………..

·   When Rajini is doing push-ups, he is not lifting himself – he is pushing the earth down!

·    Rajinikanth can divide by zero!

·    He can delete the Recycle bin!

·    He can slam a revolving door!

·   He once kicked a horse in the chin – its descendants are today called giraffes!

·    He can make onions cry!

·    He can drown a fish!

·   When he looks in the mirror it shatters, because even the glass is not stupid enough to get in between Rajinikanth & Rajinikanth!

·    He never wet his bed as a child – the bed wet itself in fear!

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What's UP???

So, I am back to the blog after a long time, I guess. Many historic and long awaited events have happened during this time and lots of things have come up for never ending discussions.

My office- Finally, after months of delay we have shifted to a new office premise this Monday. All the separate offices of Bangalore have now been consolidated at one place only and so, we, who have got used to meeting just 40 co-workers, are now surrounded by almost 100 more people and one more office is yet to shift. The office premise houses almost 5-6 more companies and so is properly maintained, which means that I can proudly show my relatives that THAT is my office J

Side effects of this new office are that no cabs have been provided and the office timings have also shifted which means board the crowded BMTC buses and reach office on your own; no TT table and so we are bound to grow much more lethargic than we were in our old office. But that's okay. Some positive aspects and few negatives won't make much difference.

Commonwealth Games (CWG)- The latest topic for numerous jokes, cartoons, forwarded mails, debates, criticisms, discussions by any and everyone, national pride at stake, last minute preparations, frantic appeals, blame game, view point of every prominent personality etc etc. I am planning to dig myself into Internet and know how India won the title as the Host of CWG 2010. I want to know the person responsible to propose the name of India to host this mega sports event knowing that how united we Indians (read: politicians) are when it comes to host such an event, how aggressive we are in preparations and how honest (non-corrupt) we are  when hosting an event of such magnitude. Constructing Metro train network was the only visible preparation for CWG until late last year.

The main idea behind awarding such responsibility to a developing country is that they will take up an unprivileged area and build a games village to bring attention to that area and later on maintain it. But WE decided the heart of the nation Delhi as the venue and changed the already messy place to worsen the situation. Agreed that Metro has come as a boon to Delhi but we have not thought about the consequences of the fact that we have impaired the national capital to prepare for CWG and the inconvenience that would be caused to local population and others while the games take place. Oh, by the way, when I say WE, I mean the respective people responsible for this mess. Somehow I still remember the meaning of the word WE, even when these great politicians don't. Many countries (rather many unknown countries till now) and athletes have withdrawn their names from the participations on the grounds of hygiene and safety and security. Replying to the concerns raised by our guests, our honorable in-charges blame it on the difference in the meaning of hygiene of Indians and the guest countries. Mr./Ms. Ministers, stray dog paw stains and faeces on beds, washrooms with paan stains, waterlogged corridors, faulty electric fittings- none of them are OUR (Indian) standard of hygiene, they might be YOUR personal standard- don't pull US (Indians) into this. Now time has come when everyone has understood that CWG is more of a burden for us now and praying that they get over ASAP without any further hiccups. This was not how it was meant to end. We should have been proud to host them and now… no further comments.

Ayodhya- Without putting in the exact year when the crises started, I can say that this case has been the longest running case in the history of India's legal system. Hindus claim that Lord Rama was born on this piece of land- mind it- not 1 inch here, not 1 inch there- exactly on that piece of land and so this land belongs to Hindus. Babar invaded India and constructed a mosque there. Someone from Hindu community put the idol of Lord Rama there, even when the court has put the stay orders on that disputed land. Then Babri masjid was illegally and violently demolished leading to clashes among the communities. Ever since that incident, the usage of the word "Ayodhya" in public has kind of become an outrageous act. Yesterday was the day when High court was to pass the legendary and most awaited verdict. Most of us decided to remain indoors and those who had to attend offices chose to leave their workplaces much before the verdict time. The judges have divided the land equally in three parts- One for Lord Rama (temple), one for Muslims (Mosque) and the last for an akhara. I was kind of amused as well as irritated by the Headline of today's TOI – 2 parts for Hindus and 1 for Muslims, which is sure to ignite a flame of inequality in the decision in Muslims.

Few questions to our secular leaders-

1. Can you please prove that Lord Rama was born exactly there? Even if he was, can you build a temple in Ayodhya only but not on that disputed land? I know the answer will be a big NO.

2. Can both the communities come forward and donate the land for charity purpose-like build a hospital or school or orphanage? I again know the answer. A Big NO. Because they love their religion more than charity or society.

3. Can both the communities build their temple and mosque and pray silently now? NO. Because they don't believe in this settlement. If one community is happy or satisfied, the other want to disturb it.

After 60 years the judgment had come and again they will go to Supreme Court, which means another 60 years of animosity.

Apart from these national and personal events, I want to share a small incident. I was going somewhere in an auto 2 days back. It was 12:30 P.M. and sun was shining really bright and it was hot, pollution adding further to this hotness. On one of the signals, there were many vendors selling key chains, flowers, plastic airplanes, rubix cubes etc. I spotted one young handsome boy from a well to do family carrying a dustbin and he came upto me and asked politely in fluent English- "Ma'am, if you have any waste that you want to dispose off, kindly put in this bin. Help save us the environment". I had no waste to dispose off. Then he turned to my auto driver and asked the same thing in Kanadda. He too refused. I was kind of amazed by this drive. This young man was followed by few others, including children. On going ahead, my driver puked his tobacco on the road without even looking if someone was coming on his side or not. I asked him why he did not do that in that bin and he smiled and said- "Madam, ye sab show off hai, ye log khud bhi kachra failate hai". To this I replied that don't compare but you do your own bit to maintain cleanliness and greenery and he smiled at me as if he was making fun of me and saying- "Madam, this is India. This is how we are and we not ready or willing to change. Let everything remain as bad as it is now".

I may not volunteer to carry such bins but I do my bit to save electricity and water and maintain cleanliness which each one of us can do. Please do that. CHEERS!!!

Life's Highs

Okay, so first time in my blog life I have been tagged- by Pranali for my 50 Life's Highs. .. Never had actually thought about it, so had to stop and think hard on what usually gives me a high

Here it goes…

1. Receiving salary credit SMS from my bank early on Saturday morning (last Saturday of the month or first Saturday of the month)

2. Immensely dark clouds during day time, turning the day into night

3. Getting the 'Missing you' SMS from my hubby exactly when either I am missing him or typing SMS to him only or I am depressed about something

4. Getting a Cadbury chocolate (and instantly eating it)

5. My birthday

6. Call from my friends

7. Receiving a direct mail (not any forwarded mail) from friends and close relatives

8. Downloading my favorite songs and transferring them on my IPOD and listening to them again and again in loop

9. Wearing a new dress

10. Lush green garden or mountains

11. Watching the never ending sea

12. Vacation (and the process of planning for the vacation)

13. Achieving something which I so earnestly wished for but had equally strong doubt about achieving it. Confusing?? Like, I never thought that I would be placed in any company through my college placements but got placed on Day 0.

14. Getting and giving surprises

15. Compliments

16. Looking at my engagement ring (and flaunting it to others)

17. Knowing that everyone thinks that you are very intelligent and talented when you know that you actually are not J

18. Getting highest marks in the subject you are weakest in

19. Finishing off with major exams

20. Watching movies in theatre

21. To know of surprise holiday declaration by school/college/office in the morning

22. Chocolate fantasy cake, actually anything related to chocolates

23. Crashing on the already made cozy bed after the most hectic but fruitful day

24. Making your parents and loved ones laugh till they have tears in their eyes

25. Knowing that someone is thinking about you at this moment

26. Taking long bath with hot water on weekends

27. Driving the car on a smooth lonely road

28. Visit to historical places

29. Getting clicked or clicking beautiful photos (even Self-clicked photographs)

30. Cleaning and managing my home and almirah after it being in utter mess for a long time

31. Sitting, laughing and chit-chatting with my huge family for long hours, doing nothing late in night

32. Getting compliments on new profile picture

33. Preparing exotic meal/any meal for that matter with my hubby

34. Singing aloud and dancing while taking a bath/when alone at home

35. Receiving any unexpected good news from the most unexpected people

36. Watching cute little wobbly-bubbly kids smiling, laughing uncontrollably, doing anything stupid but cute and trying to run (when they have just started walking), fall down and laughing at their own stupidity

37. Logging on to Gtalk first thing in the morning and finding so many friends online

38. Gossiping

39. Someone close's wedding celebrations, getting ready in beautiful outfits and unlimited singing and dancing

40. Reading about space and the vast distances and time periods related to space

41. Watching beautiful dance or song performance live

42. Eating spicy street food after a long gap

43. Approaching the climax of a suspense-thriller novel

44. Flight take off and landing time

Unexpected out of me, but two recent additions to my personality;

45. Shopping- rare event but whenever shopping, shop till our hands are no more able to accommodate any further bag J

46. Wearing a saree with heels

47. Excessive tiredness after doing some physical activity (like exercising after a long time, climbing up some hill, long walk etc etc)

48. Outdoor management games which include fun along-with brain teaser exercise

49. Writing a meaningful blog (though this is a rather rare situation to give me a high)

50. When my hubby dear is back from work J

Phew… If you have to sit back and think about them, then the list can go well over 50 but as of now can think about these many… Thanks Pranali for tagging me… CHEERS!!!