Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Weekend tidbits
Just penning one of the innumerable experiences with the autowallah…
Last weekend I had to go to Forum (a mall) which is from my place a minimum charge by a rick (Rs 12). It is just 4 in the evening and I stop a rick
Me: Bhaiya Forum?
Autowallah: Ummm…theek hai. Only 30 rupees
Me (Muttering under my breath): What the..!!!
My roommate has a brilliant punch line for these autowallahs. She will approach them and say…
Roommate: Bhaiya waise toh hume pata hai ki aap xyz jagah par nahi jaayenge. Phir bhi hum aapse pooch hi lete hain kya aap xyz chaloge?
(The autowallah gives a confused and surprised look, and sometimes outta this confusion he reluctantly agrees to take us!)
Jai ho Bangalore ke autowaalon ki!!!
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It has been so long that I left Mumbai. But it still seems that I belong there. Remember those good old days when people used to get something or meet someone from their native place and immediately felt a bonding towards that thing or person, thinking…”arre ye mere gaon ka hai!!!”
Something similar happens to me when I come across someone or something remotely related to Mumbai in this alien city down south.
So it was simply a moment to cherish when after months, I decided to have Vada Pav last weekend. I was all alone at that time and usually hate eating without a company. But surprisingly, I enjoyed my Vada Pav a lot. To tell you frankly, it felt as if:
I relished Mumbai again!
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Ahhh…..I have moved and traveled so many times from one place to another in the past couple of years that I have almost become quite comfortable with the trauma of packing and unpacking every time. (Given the optimistic person that I am, I have started seeing it as an alternate career opportunity….having my own Packers and Movers Company. Tell me if you are looking for a job change. Don’t get me wrong dude…I won’t hire you…I’ll come and help you pack!) :D
So it did not bother me much that I have to pack a cupboard full of clothes and other stuff before moving from Bangalore to Calcutta. My dad was after me for last two weekends and every time he brought up this topic, I would assure him that this weekend I’ll finish most of the packing (and no prizes for guessing, I would postpone it every time!).
But last Sunday, I decided to take action on my dad’s advice (phew! finally!!) and started packing at 11 in the night. Boy! It turned out to be more tedious than I had thought….and then, I started feeling hungry. Cooked up something in the middle of the night (wanna use the phrase “I was burning the midnight oil”…hee hee). After satiating the rats in my stomach, I started packing again.
And after three hours of slogging, the moment finally came when I took a deep breath and calmly said:
Khallas!!!
Tuesday, 8 January 2008
I have fallen for "him" coz...
- He is a Maths wizard and still we hardly talk about Maths! :O
- He understands my PJs and cracks equally sad PJs!
- He tries to complete my half-baked incomplete poems!
- He would say “I feel like maaroing a cheesy line” and then doesn’t say it!
- He likes to hear my stupid, silly, sleepy voice! (haha)
- He is a Ph.D. in Comp. Sc. but plays Doodle with me on Yahoo messenger and draws huts and sceneries! (lol)
- I call him names and he simply laughs it off!
- When I say something really stupid and then regret about it saying “’I would mind my words”, he says “I would mind you minding your words”!
- He wakes up early in the morning simply to click snaps of snow to send to me!
- He searches for my photos in my parents wedding album and then realizes his mistake and yet confesses about it! (cho chweet)
- He talks about his awards and recognitions with utmost humility and embarrassment!
- He makes an attempt to write mails in Punjabi coz I am fond of Punjabi!
- He changes his schedule to complete his paper reviews and other work before I come back from office so that he can chat with me on all useless topics!
- He sings for me and with me!
- He is the most lovable dodo! (He’s gonna kill me for this)
and the most clichéd one yet most special…
He loves me and cares for me a lot :) :) :)
Tuesday, 27 November 2007
Bachpan ki yaadein...
Got this pic from a cousin of mine a couple of weeks back...it was in her Orkut album. I had a look at the pic and said....
"Gosh!!!! Ye hamaari photo hai???!!!! This is so cute!!!" and asked her to send it to me immediately.

(I am the 2nd from right)
This pic reminds me of the cute, carefree childhood days. Days when we played together....fought with each other...got scolded by elders for drinking cold water and running in and out of the house....when the biggest worries we had in life was that we have to complete our homework before we could be allowed to play again.....when ludo, ghar-ghar, hide and seek used to be really important activities...when we asked innocent questions without the fear of sounding stupid...days when we would not bother about spoiling the crease of our clothes...when we got haircut at the local barber shop....and when a birthday party used to be a really important and exclusive event in our lives. The list is not exhaustive!
A couple of lines reminiscing those good, "young" days....
beet gaye woh din...bas yaadein chod gaye...
hamaare hothon pe...chand muskuraahatein chod gaye :)
Wednesday, 14 November 2007
Just kiddin' :)
“Why are you wishing everyone on Children’s Day?” coz our logical and social senses justify people only upto a particular age group as children and refrain to believe that there is a kid in each one of us.
Kids are indeed the most beautiful creation of God. A twinkle in their eyes, a cute smile on their face and a sense of absolute self contentment in their hearts make you believe that the world is still a lovely place to live in.
It is so much fun to behave kiddo at times….don’t trust me, then try these things...tickle somebody unexpectedly…splash water ferociously on others when having an outing on a water front...lick and enjoy an ice-cream cone…drink tea holding your cup in both hands and making a ‘slurrrp’ noise...laugh heartily over a stupid joke…get wet in the rains and feel the drops drench your body and soul.....just a few things to find happiness in those little and non-materialistic things.
That’s the whole idea....we adults are way too mature to take pleasure in such crazy stuff, too occupied to revel in the marvels of nature, too unsatisfied to appreciate the little achievements....always waiting for something big and extraordinary to happen that would make us happy....always sulking and grumbling about the things that we cannot change.
So for a change....keep your adulthood aside…take a break from your hectic schedules…and let out the kid in you. It will surely make a difference.....and I am not kiddin’ this time!!!
Thursday, 27 September 2007
Yayay!!! India - the new World Champions!!!
The paragraph above looks like I have copy-pasted stuff from some English newspaper. So now I’ll switch to more informal, more my-like tone. I watched almost all the matches that India played (except for the one against New Zealand….and now I proudly go about claiming that India lost that match coz I didn’t watch it…hehe). And you know what, I watched most of these matches in the comfortable warmth of my office canteen (yeahhh ….my office canteen has a nice big screen television and with lots of eating options around, it makes a perfect setting for watching India playing (and beating) one team after another). What makes it even more fun was that I had the company of many colleagues who were even more crazy about cricket than me.
So it was so very normal to cheer, shout, yell, clap, hi-fives, whistle and more such crazy stuff inside the office area whenever there was a match. No irrationality withstanding, we would not even refrain to curse the players when they would play bad. But there was always an optimism, a silent prayer on everyone’s mind, that India should win.
All the cricket fans are quite superstitious when it comes to cricket. Coincidentally our group always sat on a specific table while watching these matches together…therefore, when India could not amass a huge total in the final against Pakistan (we were sitting on a different table then coz somebody had already occupied “our” table)….so after Indian innings was over…and most of the crowd dispersed, we quickly captured “wo wala table”. Needless to say, that table was lucky again and India went on to clinch the trophy.
I dunno why, but I was very optimistic about India performing well in this World Cup. In fact, I would change my gtalk caption every single day during T20. When India’s first match against Scotland got cancelled coz of rains, my gtalk caption read as:
“Scotland ki kismat achchi thi jo baarish ho gayi, varna India uska band baja deti”.
One of my colleagues read it and asked, “Bahut bharosa hai India par??!!”
“Of course”, I replied.
The day when India was supposed to take on Pakistan in the finals, I changed my caption to:
“C’mon India, It’s your day today!!!”
(I had secretly started believing that even changing my gtalk caption before and after every match has something to do with India winning every single match. Well, didn’t I say that all cricket fans are quite superstitious)
I love watching India play. In fact, during the match against Pakistan and India in the initial round, I had a tough deadline at work. But I just could not afford to miss the match. So I first saw the thrilling clash between the two titans and then went on to work till 6 in the morning to finish my deadline.
On the day of the final, the euphoria in the office was palpable. We were finishing all the urgent work so that any last-minute deadlines should not prevent us from watching the final. At the given time, our entire group gathered in the canteen, with lots of other colleagues too. In fact, we had run short of chairs in the canteen and many people were simply standing and watching the match. India had won the toss and elected to bat. No matter what, but the excitement and craze for India-Pakistan clash in a World Cup final just could not match anything else. Gosh!!!! It was simply amazing!!! We were yelling and clapping and shouting on every boundary. There would be a collective “Oh no!!!!” when the ball would go a lil high in the air, for the possibility that there might be a catch.
After Indian batting innings, we moved to “our” table and waited for other group members to gather. One of my colleagues suggested bottle-banging, so we collected all water bottles from our desks so that we can add to the cheer and noise quotient. And then, Pakistan wickets started falling, and totally oblivious of our managers, team leads and other seniors around us, we simply went berserk. We banged bottles on the table, shouted slogans, clapped, hi-fived, whistled and yelled at the top of our voices!!!
Lekin Indian team bhi kam stupid nahi hai…..aasani se koi kaam nahi karti…..apne fans ki jaan nikaalne ke baad hi match jeet paati hai. When Pakistan had lost 7 wickets and India’s win looked so obvious, there was suddenly a twist in the tale. Our own “Bhajji” (Harbhajan Singh for those who are less acquainted with our team players) threw quite an expensive over. 3 sixes in one single over. And the format of T20 is such that one good or bad over can change the shape of the match. There was more to come. In the next over, again there was a “six” on the 1st ball itself. These expensive overs brought the Required Run Rate for Pakistan to win to quite a manageable figure. We all went into a mourning mood.
But the best was yet to come. Dhoni handed ball to “much hated” (at least for me) Joginder Sharma in the last over. And his “outside the off stump” ball…which had yielded way too many runs in the previous matches, paved way to a catch out of last Pakistani batsman. WHOA!!!!!! India had won the cup!!!!! We went MAD (literally!!!) Lots of cheering, slogan shouting etc. happened post match too, but I won’t mention the details here (coz it was something to savour, to experience, to soak in, the feeling that no words can describe)
Kudos to Indian team, hats off to Dhoni for amazing captaincy!!!
India is World Champions…..and we are here to stay….watch out!!!!!
Friday, 31 August 2007
Homecoming...
So it was simply a treat for mind, body and soul when I finally managed to take a break from my hectic schedule and was coming home on a 2 weeks vacation. Tell you something, no matter how much we grow up, our parents just forget that. We grow up, they don't. So before my d-day, I would still get to hear things like...."Pack your bags properly", "Don't forget your ticket", "Don't take a nap at the airport"...and well, i simply listen to all these advices. Do I have an alternate...or rather do I actually want an alternate?? :)
My usual day at home is spent in sleeping till my body signals me that it is too tired to sleep further, having gossip sessions with Mom, enjoying yummy food, watching TV, laughing over some stupid ads, doing some small home chores, helping Mom in the kitchen and just doing nothing at times.
Well, there's another side of the story also to this "kahani ghar ghar ki". When I am at home, I do sometimes miss the restlessness of my usual working day, kabhi-kabhi toh bore bhi ho jaata hai since I have nothing to do. I keep eating my Mum's head that let's go somewhere, may be for some shopping or just roaming around. And then, she comes up with this brilliant plan...."sabzi khatam ho gayi hai ghar mein...tu mere saath sabzi lene chal"....aaarrrghhh!!! "Ma shopping didnt mean buying groceries", I would retort. But then she promises to buy me an ice-cream...and yo! I would be as happy as a 3 year old..."okay, i'll come with you" and off I go....
I am very fond of applying mehendi on my hands and wouldn't miss a chance whenever I get it. So this time, while shopping for veggies with Mummy, I spotted a shop selling Mehendi cones, and I bought a cone. Since it was Rakhi next day so entire evening spent in applying Mehendi on my own hand and then my mom's hand. It came out pretty neat...and the colour was fabulous. Then Ma told me about good old days when she would apply Mehendi on my hands when I was a kid and then she made sure that I don't spoil it while sleeping coz I would make such a ruckus in the morning if by any chance my mehendi got spoiled...haha...such a lil brat I was :)
These small sweet things make staying at home fun. And yes, I am having loadsa fun!!!
Sunday, 19 August 2007
Chak De, I-Day and Holiday
- I am not a Shahrukh Khan fan
- I am not much inclined towards hockey as a game
- I hate getting up early on weekends!!!
and still…I did not regret losing a fair share of my Kumbhkaran sleep when I went for “Chak de” early morning show (well, 10 AM is quite “early” for me on weekend) last Saturday. I was hooting, shouting, clapping, laughing, sulking during those hockey matches (in spite of knowing that Indian team would eventually win)
The movie is a good way to show the vast regional diversity that India has….a nice way to convey that no matter how different we are in terms of behavior, culture and language….hain toh aakhir Indians hi. The characters in the movie are simply fabulous without being extravagant or glamorous. The regional idiosyncrasies of team members just make you rolling with laughter.
I still love cricket, would any day opt for Yuvraj Singh over Dhanraj Pillai and dunno how much the movie would help to the cause of promoting hockey…but that’s not the “point”. Bottom “line” is – Chak De rocks!!!
And not just hockey and India winning….I also loved the scene when the entire girl gang beats up a bunch of eve-teasers (“raakshason ki sena”….thats what a character in the movie calls these girls)…par sach mein…..aise idiotic eve-teasers ki pitaai hote huye dekhne mein kitna maza aata hai….only a girl can understand!!!
Now from reel life to real life…and from hockey to cricket, Indian cricket team won the test series against England (after 21 years)….dil khush kar ditta jawaano tumne!!! :)
This 15th August, India celebrated it’s 60th Independence Day. Since I am working in a KPO on US project, the holidays in our office are as per US calendar. That implies that we have an off on 4th July and have to come to office on 15th August. I know it sounds bad….trust me, it FEELS even worse….not being able to celebrate our own national festival.
But well….hum Indians hain aakhir. So on 15th August even though we came to office, me and my team mates made sure that we thoroughly enjoy our freedom. The working day started with sending forwards, talking, then going for lunch, yet again some mail trails…followed by an extended tea break. And the hit of the day was – we played Dumb Charades in office (well, not actually inside the office area…but in the garden area marked as “Smoking Zone”). The I-Day decorations in office added to the festive mood. We did eventually work after all the fun and frolic…but still it was a truly memorable day.
And now comes the icing on the cake…. I know many of you would be jealous to read this but even the sound digestion system of my body does not allow me to digest this news….I gotta tell it to you all………I got 2 weeks leave sanctioned….yipppppeeeeee!!!
I am going home…..and that too for TWO whole weeks. Mummy ke haath ke aloo ke paranthe aur Daal Baati abhi se meri aankhon ke aage kathak kar rahe hain…!!!
Kolkata….here I come (arre….ye toh Bryan Adams ka song ho gaya)
Well….chak de…who cares!!! I am all set to enjoy my independence from office work and enjoy a looong holiday!!! :)