Ughhhh

After a really really reallyyy long time, I am all alone, sitting in my room, enjoying every bit of the solitude am being offered. Of late life has been a party, hostel life is always a party. As I type this I can hear a gang of ppl - some of my batch mates - singing hum honge kaamyab - at the top of their not so good voices, as they walk towards the college. All drunk I presume.

Guess the party I referred to also explains my absence from my blog. I had nothing to crib about, noone to bitch about, lifes all good so nothing much to write about. It's difficult at times to pen down the happy emotions, I almost feel like I am bragging about how nice n happening my life is.

I can almost see the end to these innings of my life..the innings when I am officially allowed to party every single night, when dad's money can be spent in a guilt free way at least sometimes, when life is nothing but one big fiesta! I don't wanna let go. I want to hold each day, every moment, and never let go. Lifes soon gonna change, and the only good part about this change would be that I'd be earning and not living off my savings/dad's money..more of dad's money ;) I am so broke that if I went to KFC I could lick the chicken off other peoples' fingers too bwahahahaha.

I have no clue how am gonna manage without seeing the faces I wake up to every morning. They are all there, I know they are there, I goto the mess they are there, I attend lectures they are there, the post dinner walks they are ALL there all the bloody time. These very faces, who I didn't even know 2 years ago are a family to me now. I had taken them all for granted all this while, thinking they are just a shout away..but 50 days from now and all these people will get scattered in different parts of the country. It's a scary thought. A big change. A big turn. A way of life disrupted.

The thought is freaking me out. I don't wanna grow up god pls pls pls pls pretty polly plsss

At Crossroads

It's that time in my life when decisions need to be made and decisions that would govern my life for at least a good few years if not less. Decisions that have been postponed till now but finally need to be made. Life happens only once and it is upto you to make the most of it - words like these are what keep giving my mind a voiceover frequently nowadays. I am not too fond of this decision making business. I like taking whatever life throws at me. I can't be planning for it. But then I realize it's not how it always works. By just whiling away time, thinking life will happen, take it's own course, I will be leading a very mediocre life. This is not what I had signed up for dude! I've got this one shot at life and I better make it good.

The problem is within. I have always been a lost soul. Aimless. Or rather someone whose goals change everyday. Sometimes I am the girl who just wants one thing in life and that is to give her mother alll the happiness in the world. Sometimes I wanna be a photographer, sometimes a journalist, a few days back I was speaking to my mother about giving it a shot at modelling. You know along with what am doing officially for my so-called career right now, try my hand at ramp walking. Many times I wanna be paid for travelling and clicking peoples' pictures. Then someday I feel that I should be working full time for a childrens ngo, and then again someday I wanna be minting enough money and become rich.

I probably sound like a 12 year old clueless kid. Actually I surely do. If only I were 12 year old. Even better - if only I were not SO bloody lost :( And the funniest thing..none of the above dreamt of things are connected to my studying management of business administration. I am gonna get my mba degree in 3 months time now, a post graduate degree for crying out loud! I cannot afford to be so lost.

The idea of working in the corporate world is so freaking bland if anything else! I mean how do so many people do it? I mean ok you get the money and all the glam but then ehhh..how? How do people pull it off so effortlessly. Everyday doing the same thing, working under some boss, tryinta impress him/her, frettin over promotions, salary hikes, reading those financial magazines, economic times, newspapers, keeping ahead of everyone in the mad mad rat race, multi-tasking, using heavy management jargon that makes you look important and every word you say worth a million bucks. How!? And how can you do it for decades!? I mean we spend a good 70% of our lives working and slogging out for some xyzee multinational, so how can I be expected to do all the above mentioned things and then still be HAPPY? Where does happiness figure in?

Somewhere I have lost the fire in my belly. The intensity is missing. The ambitious me is losing out. And it's all coz I am so friggin lost.

If I go along the trodden path, and work the way I work -kickass- I will surely end up being at the top by the time I am 40. 15 years is all I need to get up there, I know it. But I don't wanna end up being one of those top management guys who have it all at the age of 40 but still feel like they have wasted their 40 years of life running behind something they never even wanted forget dreamt of! I have age on my side now. So I gotta make a sound decision. So basically we come back to the decision making process. Which sucks big time. How can you decide these things? What do I wanna do? baaaaaaaaaaahh!! Whoever it is up there, please show me the way before its too late.

Matrimonial Ad

Disclaimer:
Had written this post ages ago, for some post of keshi's and found it today...it means pure fun; wannabe applicants stay away :p

Wanted a handsome, sensitive, and HOT guy for a beautiful, demented and obsessive gal. The chick is lost as far as career is concerned and earns peanuts(boiled) for her living. Comes from a hyper-emotional family. Father is a JAILOR and mother is a sweetheart. Chick's hobbies include doing the chicken dance and surfing shaadi.com. Would prefer someone who's caring, sharing and all that shit. Who doesn't dress like superman/rajnikanth/uday chopra. Someone who would know how to eat gooey-chocolate cakes and pamper her with unlimited public-display-of-affection and make her feel like a princess. Even martians can apply. (The chick though demented is smart enough to know tat not a single earthling wud fit the bill)

*Conditions applied

* Men with GINGIVITIS/PIG-STY LIKE ARMPITS/DIRTY NAVELS/HUGE BEER-BELLIES/DIRTY UN-PICKED NOSES/MIMOH-STYLE DANCE-SKILLS - get your priorities right..yu needta work on urself so tat you graduate to the homo-sapiens level..this newspaper doesn't cater to animals. Even if it did it would stick to cute pugs =)

Ambrosia

It's on days like these that the foodie in me feels at peace. We went to Hyderabad House tonight for some nice dinner. What I had was way beyond my expectations in terms of taste, quality-everything served was just about right. We had some yum chicken kebabs, and chicken tandoori, followed by niceee chicken n mutton biryani. Man! And what followed was even yummier. Death By Chocolate at Corner House!



After having weird sambhar-rice-rasam-dumb-yellow-gravy-uncooked-roti combinations day in and day out what we had tonight felt out of this world!



This is what they call Nirvana :)



I miss home food so much :(

...as someone rightly said - Home is where the HEARTH is :D

And she blabbered...

Ok am sorry for not updating ppl and yeah disappointing millions of fans in blog-o-watever yu call it :p

I mean come to think of it I have things to accomplish ppl, I can't be sitting here like some loser typing shit and dragging readers to read my shit and thus increase my comment count :p

I have been busy yes. Walking the red carpet for the Cannes film festival can be really tiring. Especially when you are wearing stilletos and are busy dodging the media and it's questions on your love life, your poodle, your brand new gucci glares.

*MEDIA! where ijj daa media!!*


Ok I know all of this could have been more convincing had I posted the picture of a hollywood hottie givin me a peck on my cheek. But I respect the privacy of my friends so the picture shall not be posted here. Oh just in case this isn't all that convincing then you need some mental therapy u know, you might be suffering from schizophrenia, a disease wherein you doubt everyone :p

Oh and I was also busy reading calvin & hobbes. That's what I do when am all stressed out after long hours of endorsing beauty products and cosmetics. Reading c&h is rejuvenating. It teaches you so much, it's philosophies are good enough to be imbibed in the Art of Living courses conducted by sri sri ravishankar >:)

Jus for kicks..I am gonna put this pic of mine..Yea you guessed it right.. it IS clicked at Cannes..jus before the filming of my french film je t'aime :p The earrings are gifted to me by my long time beau Brad :p




Having ranted enough for the day, I encourage you to encourage me; and thus comment; I like the attention :D

*MEDIA! where ijj da media!!*

SLAPPED!

I woke up today morning to pictures of the very cute Zinta tryinta console a crying Sreesanth on the front page of most newspapers. "Bhajji SLAPS Sreesanth After The KINGS XI Mohali Victory" went the headlines. The news channels wernt left far behind and most news channels (esp aaj tak) kept blaring all day long about the mishap on-field.

A few hours ago I saw the crying-like-a-wuss-footage of sreesanth on NDTV and I couldn’t help but laugh. Yeah I am a sadist >: )

Much later Bhajji got temporarily suspended by the BCCI folks and more laughter ensued >: ) >: )

On a serious note getting slapped is the worst thing that can happen to one’s self-esteem. I mean you repair the fucked up esteem later by telling yourself how much of a bitch the other person must be for slapping you. But the initial moments are horrendous. I have been slapped once and HOW! I was all of 14 when it happened, at an age where u r too old to get spanked and even worse slapped! (not that slapping's justified at an younger age...I still hate u for tat u bitchhhhhhhh.)

It was my hindi teacher. She used to parade in the class with that sinister, am-gonna-get-you look on her face. She had an arrogant face and I wonder where she hid her horns and her scaly eeeyuckkk lookin tail. Her gross fangs were more than visible though.

Once she was filling in for a P.T. (physical training) teacher. We got prepared for the impending Doomsday.

She thundered, “ STAND IN A LINE !”. The ever-lazy, yours-truly tries standing straight at 8.00 a.m. in the morning. I put in my best not to make cribbu faces and tried real hard not to show her my middle finger. My sulking face and yawns were far too much for her to bear. She lost her top (she never had any) and came fuming towards me like a charging bull and Dhadaaaaam!! It was too late by the time I realised what happened. I had been slapped!!

I swear to God had it not happened in a fraction of a sec the way it did, I woulda fought back and kicked her ass. Wat the heck I coulda done tat even after being slapped, man I was a sissy! All my emotions came gushing forth n I started crying like a baby. I felt like pelting stones at her spectacles, kicking her in her stomach, pulling her oily long braided hair and swirling her around long enough to make her feel puky and later catapulting her somewhere far far off to an alien planet that was infested with vomit covered insects. BITCH!

Saumya who usedta stand in fronta me (I always stood last coz of my height…tats the price u pay for getting noticed in a crowd of 78 lazy bums) tried consoling me but stopped soon after the fat-assed pig threatened to slap her too. Bitch, she was a bitch. Whenever I get reminded of her, the picture croppin up in my mind is that of a mad woman with a face tat's all red with smoke coming outta her head and her lips twitched in a curve that’s so insanely sinister n deadly that cud put even the ugliest godzilla to shame. If I ever happen to bump into her god save her ass! I hope she ends up in a pig sty. She was my teacher, FINE! But that definitely didnt mean she owned me!

Sreesanth, baby I know it hurts, I mean ok u r an ass sometimes (mostimes!) on the field but it sure does hurt!

Tell me guys have ya been beaten? slapped? abused? or have ya abused someone real bad? I mean REAL BAD ok I don’t mean the usual, causual swearing that we do. Go on, tell me, spew venom. I shall not censor the gaali-galoch ;)

My 4 gb and Me

READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

Off I go on a holiday..

I feel so happy and gay :p

How I wish You could come along

And sing me a song that went ding dong

I shall miss You oh so bad

How I wish I could kiss u crazy n mad

I cant stop gushing abt my new phone, it's all red!

That said, the connection is still dead

Do I care as long as I get to flaunt

In front of all my uncles n aunts

Now the point of this "poem"

Shall be revealed, but not b4 I say a sorry for the above mayhem

My 4 GB and me

Shall back-pack thru' God's own country

And get you guys some nariyal pani and a lungi :p

Bombay

Victoria Terminus Station

Inspite of being a part of this place for the past 24 years I never looked at it before the way I do now. Guess that's what happens when you try to capture it's beauty on celluloid. Or say a digital camera. Or say a brand new DSC-H9, 8.1 megapixal, 15x sony cybershot! Yay, ya got it right thats wot mah new baby looks like. And the best part is it's a gift frm dad :)


So basically I've been carryin this baby around, the way a 5 yr old wud cling to her barbie doll, and all my fav ppl (sushi n N) have to bear the brunt of it, and be patient of the numerous pitt stops I take for my shots. Mwah to u guys, I mean ok yu needta pay the price to be MY fav right >:)

South Bombay has a nice victorian architecture and you needta take a walk along it's pavements on a nice Sunday afternoon to experience it in it's purest form. Coz that's when it's the least crowded. Also thanks to BMC (Bombay Muncipal Corporation) it's real clean (most times) inspite of the educated ppl working in big MNCs littering around. BMC has it's headquarters here, and it's bldg u see in the pic below is opposite the station. Wish we had their headquarters everywhere, if that's what it takes to keep rest of the city as clean.


The BMC HQ

Also on weekends you can find booksellers along the pavements, selling books for real cheap. Everthing except for calvin&hobbes is cheap here :(

And you can also find some indulging in afternoon siestas. We have one such specimen below. Aah how I envy him.

I think I saw it reading Garfield's guide to cat-napping

I bought an R.K. Narayan - Ramayan and Mahabharat in his words - which is pretty much interesting as my knowledge on mythology pretty much sucks. So it's informative plus it's R.K. Narayan so it's real entertaining. Need I mention I got it for 200 bucks as against the market price of 500 >:) N got some weird books I dont remember the names of. He usually buys award winning stuff and as far as my experience goes, the books that win prizes usually are the biggest suckers. God of Small Things was a disaster for me, which won the Pulitzer? The Booker? who cares!

Some more pics -

V.T. Station and Centrail Railways Office

And my baby zOOmed!

And she zOOms yet again :)

So that's that. My Sunday date with Bombay and N. Ya a nice threesome =)

I hate my obnoxious self

I feel repulsive of my ownself, I have never hated myself so much in my life before. Here goes why.

A friend in my mba coaching classes- let's call her P - called me yesterday. And the conversation revealed certain things I was completely unaware of before yesterday, and I blame me for it entirely.

I've never been close to P, guess I always thought of her as some1 whos plain boring :(. I've always been (thus far) a girl who's outgoing, friendly and all tat blaah and I am more comfy with people who are like me, who are a lil' bubbly, talkative and all that shit. So though P always usedta hang around with us, she always usedta be this nagging girl, cribbing all the time about her marks, about life in general. And I usedta be like - c'mon girl get a life we all score less wats the big deal dont be sucha wuss, why dya whimper all the bloody while and more such thoughts would run in my mind. I never told her in these many words whatever I felt, I cant do that, I can;t be rude. It's just that she usedta call me up and have long winding talks and I usedta get kinda bored with all the mba related stuff she had to say. I usedta get tired of pacifying her and saying things like dont worry babes ull crack ur exams and things like tat. Many times I usedta jus say somethin like hey am kinda busy can i give ya a call someother time? I did return her calls, but that was always half-heartedly. More like I gotta get it off my to-do list. I did call her myself on a few occasions (most times when I had doubts regarding the various mba form fillings - never otherwise). Basically work-related calls. Selfish calls. I feel so small a person when I think of all this I feel so shitty about me. She lost her only brother a fortnight ago. He had been bed-ridden for 4 years. I cant help fight tears as I right this but does my crying make me a better person? Why was I so self-involved? It never occured to me that something might be the reason behind that cribbing and whining. Not all of us have a protected childhood. We went to classes with her twice a week and yet didnt know she had a bed-ridden bro. How small can I be? How self-involved can one get? She was probably out there wanting to be talked to and I never did lend her my hand. I feel so small. So self-involved. So selfish. I wish I could undo this. I hate myself.

P.S. I didnt even have the guts to publish this earlier. Am tryin to make up for it, but howmuchever I try, the guilt is enormous and guess it shall always be.

Women and their whims

Disclaimer: I completely respect my species. Yes I know girl, how difficult it is to carve your niche in this male dominated society. Hats off to all those multi-tasking women who have succesfully managed it. I really respect the home-makers too (the ones who indeed contribute towards the making of their homes) and I admire their juggling, and the way they do it without a word of appreciation from their loved ones. It's expected you see, their juggling. So why appreciate.

But this post is not about you. It's about those women who are out there in large numbers and really need to wake up from their deep slumber.

Why are women so shit-headed? I didnt mean to make such a sweeping, generalized, in-ur-face statement, but I am so bloody pissed off with the mentality of certain women. So what is this "women-empowerment" and this oh-so-glorified ideology of feminism?They say a woman should ideally be given the freedom to work or sit at home. Is this an ideal situation really? Sitting at home, packing the kids off to school and later to numerous tuitions, and lazying away in front of the tv? Most of the "home-makers" I know do just that. And oh ofcourse, they go on their shopping sprees with their maids trolleying behing 'em carrying truckloads of shopping bags for them. Oh and shopping means spending your husband's hard earned money. Ask him for the money and after a lot pf pestering and cribbing he gives in. What a beautiful picture.

What really pissed me off today was a cousin's attitude. She's done her engineering from a not-so-good school. She works right now with a well known software firm and earns a decent amount. Decent enough to maintain a decen standard of living. Time has come for her to get married. Dont ask me what do u mean by "time has come" coz I dont get that either, and I wont go into all of that coz my post's not about that shit. So basically her parents are looking for a suitable bride-groom for her. Now comes the, I would say funny part. Following are her criteria: (please note that not a word below is exaggerated)
1. Good looking (full points for this one, what else would u go for in an arranged match?)
2. Its a MUST that he has done his MBA/M.S. from a reputed college (wont a good educated fella, with his head firm on his shoulders do? Or is it that since YOU couldnt get an admission to a decent b school, you wanna learn stuff from him?)
3. He earns AT LEAST 80,000 rs. per month (WTF!! oh why dontcha marry an ATM machine instead?)
4. Must have attended a convent school- basically should have good english speaking capabilities. (LOL..u wanna have English Speaking classes every sunday for your friends?)

Above are the basic criteria that she says she just wouldnt compromise on. I am like...get a life, girl! Dont u have any sense of independence? You wanna dream of sitting in a mercedes, and sending your children to IVY league schools but you dont have the courage to be ready to earn that kinda money? Am not saying that you could as well marry a good natured pauper, no! But you couldn't get your ass admitted to a decent b-school why do you expect your better half to have done that? I mean my equation is simple. If you dream big you should have the courage to pursue your dreams. Don't use "femnisim" as a shield to say thigns like a woman has every right to do what she wishes to. If sitting at home, giving orders to the numerous maids working for you is your idea of a perfect life am sorry.
And hey, my cousin is just a drop in the ocean of such women. Most friends I know have this criteria for their guy- big bucks. Gimme a breakkk!

The timing of this post couldn't have been worse. It's womens' day tomorrow and I have already invited the wrath of so many women.

Happy womens' day girlies.

Books Galore, Udipi, Koolar & Co.

So as decided, N & I went shopping for books to our fav place. Well favorite not coz of the cheap books that you get but for the amazing south indian restaurants around and the coffee smell that wafts and keeps haunting you, wherever you go. Yes, am talking of the king circle. You have many south-indians staying in and around this place so that explains the typical restaurants and the coffee bean smell. Yum!

The books are set out on the pavements. Initially I was not allowed to photograph the stuff but I managed to convinve the guys that I was harmless. You get good books, mostly bestsellers/classics/comics/educational stuff for real cheap, of'course you needta have excellent, well polished bargaining skills.

Books. I assume this must be the man;s regular reading-place after his afternoon siesta and some kaapi..I dared not disturb him..

More books..

And more books..

After having shopped - since I had already spent huge bucks on buying books I bought myself a coupla unread Archie comics and N bought some novels - we thought of heading some place to eat. It's not that we were hungry, but visiting king circle and not having some south-indian delicacies woulda been a crime. There is a variety of restaurants you can pick from - you have madras cafe, mysore cafe and udipi. Udipi is MY favorite!



Udipi

An interesting menu..

From the usual dosas, idlis, medu wada to their special rice plate, rice with sambhar/rasam and the typical south indian pickles and papads, you get it all. Authentic south indian food - no adulteration - no chinese dosa, no thai dosa no mish-mash of cuisines.
Review time :
food : 5.0/5.0 - ambience : 4.0/5.0 - budget : 120 bucks for two people.

Personal fav: The rasam and the filter coffee they serve here is to die for!

I had my college in this very area and so we visited our college too. No college pictures will be posted, I dont wish to be stalked. (Assuming that you are interested in stalking me)

Review time yet again : Koolar And Co.

This is an Iranian cafe that's been there ever since my parents and I remember. My parents - both of 'em- had their colleges in this area too :) Forgive the picture quality, I was in a cab when I took it. Oh wait, the cab was at a signal when I took it! My photopgraphy has to improve, got a long way to go!

Basically a nice place to hang out at. What I enjoy the most about this place is it;s tea. Normal teas as well as the iced teas. They supposedly serve excellent kheema-pav (red meat+bread) but since I don't eat red meat I don't really have a say. The ambience is perfect for hanging out with friends over some tea and biscuits.

So that was my day - a perfect day with a not-so-perfect and a special man (oh I added the special considering that he might read the post ;)

Weekend Blast

And I didn't click any good pictures, what a bummer! But that's besides the point. I had a blast! D is back in India and did I mention? N got himself a job here in bombay! Yoohoo!

I was as usual lazying around reading one of the many books that I recently bought. Oh yes, I splurged on books a few days back. Better than splurging on clothes anyday! But hey they aren't any self-improvement/knowledge imparting type books! I got 2 P.G. Wodehouses, 2 R.K. Narayans, 1 robin cook, 2 garfields and 1 calvin and hobbes a compilation of sorts) :)

*BEEP BEEP* - Digression!!

So basically as I was killing my time, D called me up. We planned to meet up at Pop Tates - our mutual favorite. I picked up sushi from her place and off we went. Had some jalapeno stuffed capsicum with cheese, spanish potatoes, black widow and I had my fav long island ice tea. We talked and laughed, giggled away remembering the good old days. Talked of boys and relationships (wat do u expect a bunch of gals to talk about>) and ofcourse D's impending marriage! She gets married in the month of July, am so so looking forward to it! The first marriage in the gang. I wish she had it in Kerala - D is basically form kerala - I simply love that place and their food.

So as we were having our usual girl talk, we realise a guy comes up to our table and we all look up at him and am like all WOA!! It was N!!..carrying his office bag in one hand and his helmet in the other..looking all messy and sweaty, which was really endearing..It's not at all in his nature to drop surprises so it really made me so so so happy. N got along pretty much well with D and Sushi so I didnt have to do much breaking-the-ice there. Later A joined us too and we had yum strawberries with whipped cream. It was a blast alright considering that my social life sucks these days.

Ok no pictures but hey I've been trying out stuff on adobe fotoshop so here are my 2 creations..any comments, tips are heartily welcome. An amateur like me really needs those. And am surprisingly not being fickle with this photography obsession so looks like I shall be doing a lot of clicking for at least some time to come.

Here goes :

A Bangles' shop

Another one...

Peeping Toms ;)

Tomorrow I go shopping with N... it's gonna be roadside shopping for books. I love shopping on the pavements for books, as you get books for real cheap and the bargaining part is sure some fun.

Tip of the day : Do not paint you nails just before you leave for a party (yea that's obvious for most girls but the tip goes for all the clmusy girls like me). FOOOO your nails all you might, wave them in the air frantically so as to have 'em dried they always manage to fool you. It might look as if the nails have dried but you shall smudge them bad and it's a surety. Its like another validation of Murphys law. It has to go bad. And I had my nails look like claws dug into somehting red. EEEswwww.

Pancham Puri

A complete foodie that I am, I have tried most restaurants in Bombay along with N. He's a bigger foodie than me, and I owe all my food gyan to him. This time around Sushi and I visited this small time dhaba kind of a resutaurant called Pancham Puri right outside the V.T. (Victoria Terminus) station.


Awesome food and really cheap. Now if you are one of those hygiene conscious people, or prissy kinds wanting clean tissues and finger bowls and queen size washrooms or even a table entirely for your ownself, fuhget it! Don't even think about visitng the place. Be prepared to share a table with people you just dont know coz the place is friggin crowded with all sorts of people ~ from workers to families. The place looks dingy, and has got absolutely no aesthetics. But I shall bet all my money on the awesome food they serve here. You get a special thali for 16 rs. Yes! Replete with puris, 4 kinds of dals, sabzi, raita, and a rice-plate. And if you wanna have lassi you need to pay 5 rs. more.

The 4 dals that they serve are north-indian, south-indian (rasam), west-indian (maharashtrian) and another west-indian variety (the gujrati kadi). The puris are masala ones. It's a favorite hub for the non-locals, you can see north-indian people flocking the place, as the food has a north indian touch to it and it tastes like it's some home-made food.

The place might seem un-hygienic but the kitchen is visible from the front end and it's as clean as a restaurant kitchen can get! And since the place is eternally crowded, rest assured that you shall get fresh food all the time :D

Rating :

food : 4.5/5.0
ambience : 3.0/5.0 coz it works for me - u can observe people u dunno, up close which is my fav killtime..for others (whiny, fussy, prudish junta ;) 1.0/5.0 service : 5.0/5.0 - extremely prompt

We shared a thali - sushi and I and for the finale part had a glass full of lassi each. After having done that we headed to the paanwallah's right outside pancham puri.

The paanwaala graciously flashes his betel-stained teeth in a smile here. No we are not here for marlboro lites, we are here to have our own share of betel-free pan. And I changed the tense of my post - these grammatical mistakes of mine are so endearing..ya right!

Ok now a serious confession. I started out to write about the kalaghoda festival that I had gone to, and I got so involved with writing about our lunch before heading to the festival that I realised I've lost the point. So I make this digression of mine a post, and delete all the introduction and title and shall write about the festival some other time.

Have a yum wk'end!

TAGathon

I dread the 'about me' questions and similar columns in long forms. Forget long forms, I dislike filling any form for that matter. Even the ones you receive at the end of a sumptuous meal at resutaurants wanting your feedback are a pain in the ass. All you want to do is go home and hit the sack after having pampered your gluttony and they throw these forms in your face.

However, I feel honoured to be tagged by badshah khan and so I shall obligate by writing 7 random things about me :D

a. I am a disorganised, clumsy woman who has lost her passport, her driving licence twice and her cell phone innumerable times. I never carry a comb/handkerchief/lipstick (huh?) et al. in my purse. Oops, I hardly carry a purse, I find wallets more handy; though i have started using purses on Mom's instructions :D

b. I like odd numbers more. I find even numbers evil. So basically I prefer doing things an odd number of times than even. Like if am in a temple clanging the bell, I would do that 3 times and not two.

c. I have this strange fixation of keeping my loved ones' shoes/slippers joined together. Like I don;t like them being kept in a haphazard manner.

d. My only purpose in life as on today is to earn enough money to be able to backpack all through India. And once am done with that (which should be by the time I am 32) I wanna travel all over the world.

e. I have a huuge fetish for watches. I love 'em especially the ones with big dials. The mens' watches. My current fav is my yellow strapped, black dial esprit.

f. For me a man's hands are a turn on. Well manicured, strong hands.

g. I don't wear perfume/deodrants. No it's not that I don;t sweat, but I definitely don;t smell :D...
Lemme count...g...7...am done!

I have to tag 7 people and this is the difficult part...;)
I tag..
1. Piercing
2. crasiezt
3. eliana
4. that was it
5. bindhiya
6. gunj
7. shameek

So u guys basically need to write down 7 random things abtja and pass on the tag to 7 people.(Am carefully tagging the ones who've not already been tagged on this one...yeah I got lots of free time on my hands :)
Get going!

Grind

Back to the grind. Back to no-pampering. Back to working, cooking, working out, manic mondays and troublesome tuesdays. To whiny wednwsdays and tired thursdays. Back to the same old routine. How I wish I was paid to travel. I had one helluva great time the past 15 days. Travelled a lot, visited some interior parts of maharashtra and also some parts of north Karnataka. It was awesome fun. I simply love travelling. Oh and I did click some nice pictures. Shall definately post 'em if I win over the skeptismo in me.

For the time being a picture of the traditional chakki used in villages - for starters, is a kind of a grinding machine - you grind the grains to get the flour which help you make the dough for rotis (pancakes of sorts). The yellow stuff that you see on it is turmeric. The turmeric is put after the machine is worshipped as it is considered to be a symbol of food and prosperity. (That's MY interpretation).

You rotate the rod like handle that you see in the picture above to grind the grains. I requested the owners of the machine to let me use it and they gracefully let me. Oh yes, and you are supposed to sing some song as you rotate it. And preferably two people use it simultaneously so that the work gets done faster. Pashti & I really enjoyed grinding our share of grains on it.

They don't really use this anymore. Except for some really remote far-away villages where electricity is a major issue.

Family reunions are always fun. We had one after the wedding. But I always miss my grandparents. I have never experienced what it is like to have a grandmother telling you all sorts of stories to bed. Ok I will be worng to say that, my granma did tell me stories back then, but I was too young to remember anything now. I have a very blurred picture of hers painted on my mind, I wish the picture was different with more bold and stronger hues. I am reading this book of short stories by Sudha Murthy. In that she writes about her own grandmother, and how she taught her grandmother to read and write.

I shall write whatever I remember of my grandma in some other post. A post that shall be dedicated to her. Miss yu maa.

P.S. The clumsy me lost ONLY 3 tooth-brushes through this trip. I am on my path of improvement alright =)

Off I go...

Tomorrow (technically today) am off to a town a few hundered kilometers from where I stay. I am to attend a cousin's wedding, and am so looking forward to it! There;s gonna be dressing up, mehendi, sangeet, awesome food, and yes of course - Pashti - my cousin..I dunno what Pashti means I jus randomly re-christened her on my blog..sorrry pashtuu..she's my all time favorite cousin and we've spent some real fun times together. We have fought over trivial matters as kids, had common crushes, and now she's like my partner in crime. More on this some other time, as am too sleepy now.

Just finished the packing - make that detailed packing. Trying to be systematic. I better get my ass off here and catch some sleep. We leave early in the morning, and did I tell you? The photography bug has bitten me, so there shall be loads of pictures coming up. Or maybe not - am too skeptical about positng pictures and stuff on my blog so we shall see about that later. Yeah right, act pricey Ms. Skeptismo, like your blog's gonna be a blog-of-note some day and people are gonna hound you and stalk you. Huh.

And now some Anne French review- guys can skip this part, it's eeeww - I used this damn hair removal cream on my hands and my hands have become sore and red from all the blisters the f***ing cream has caused. This sucks big time. I just hope that the blisters somehow vanish before the d-day. Am acting as if it's my wedding! Who cares, I don't wanna look like some red wolf. I know a red wolf doesn't exist but had it existed it woulda looked exactly like what I am looking right now. Man I shoulda used the regular old PAINFUL wax. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Ok, the feminist in me is waking up somewhere and before that happens I sign off coz if I get started on THIS, I would go sleepless, which is not what we are looking for now.

Snooze time.

13th -Wednesday :

Today we have the sangeet, and the decorations are on in full swing. Helped Pashti draw a rangoli at our doorstep. We're gonna dance on chunari-chunari; it's gonna be an impromptu performance by me and pashti and no points for guessing - I will be playing the guy. I hate this, I always had to be the guy in most dances in my school coz of my height (For 3 years I was in a girls' convent school, so I was the makeshift guy). And now it's no different. But that's ok I like dancing crazy.

Tomorrow we have the mehendi which am REALLY looking forward to. I love putting mehendi. SoFa So Good.

Pursuit of Happyness

That's how happiness was spelt in the movie, and so I let it be.

I sure as hell know what I want from life.

OK, I typed the above line after having thought about it atleast a million times on many occasions.

I am tired of searching for answers to questions like "what's my purpose in life?" Now I know there is NO purpose. I have been blessed with the gift of life, and all am expected of is to be happy. And spread some happiness.

(A picture I simply love from Prashant's collection - http://www.flickr.com/photos/prashantbhardwaj_ut/ )

What's happiness? It's relative, it's subjective.

For an ambitious person, being promoted is happiness.
For someone greedy, a jackpot is happiness.
For an actor, an applause is happiness.
For a businessman, high scaling profits is happiness.
For lovers, holding hands is happiness.
For beggars, a penny a day is happiness.
For a millionaire, turning into a zillionaire is happiness.
For a prostitute, a client that wears a condom without any bickerings is happiness.
For a child on the streets, a slice of bread is happiness.
For a cancer patient, being able to breathe is happiness.
For Sushi, watching television is happiness =)
For insomniacs, one whole night of peaceful sleep is happiness.
For a boxer, the absence of fractured limbs is happiness.
For Tom, chasing Jerry is happiness.
For a lovelorn couple in a LDR, coughing up all the dough on phone bills is happiness.
For a diabetic guy, not having a cut/wound anywhere on the body is happiness.
For India, a day without political dramatics is happiness.
For America, a day without campus shootings is happiness.
For Iraq a day without bombings is happiness.
For Dubai, a shopping festival is happiness!
For an old woman dying in her bed, having her husband and kids along her bedside is happiness.
For a woman, being free-spirited is happiness.
For a girl child in Haryana, survival is happiness.
For a martyr, the picture of his daughter in his wallet is happiness.
For a daughter, weaving a shawl for her mother is happiness.
And for all of humanity, world-peace is happiness.

This is all there is to life. Pursuing happiness. Keep it simple, and happy you shall be. It's the small things in life that matter and make life special. The things that all of us rats run behind (including me, am the Jerry of all rats!) are jus good-for-nothing-frills.

God meant us to be monkeys and a monkey I shall be =)

I was watching this movie on HBO yesterday - Sleepless in Seattle. I have seen it a coupla times before, albeit in bits and pieces. So yesterday I watched the whole of it. I have this immense capacity to watch sappy old romcoms over and over again a zillion times. You can't really slot me as a romantic fool, but I love watching non-sensical romantic stuff on tv. I love it coz it's kinda surreal. I really want to believe in the somewhere-someone-is-made-for-u funda, but my grey matter - though under developed- doesn't allow me to.

I wish I was born in an era when people had not much to do, when people didn't really bother where their careers went, when the term career in most probablities didn't even exist! Back then, people had a lot of time and the willingness to invest quite a lot in their love lives. There were Romeos and there were Juliets. I want to experience what it's like to be hopelessly in love, where you put your love on a pedestal and everything else takes a backseat. I want to experience the madness, the insanity of being in love.

Is it that I need to be lucky enough to meet my soulmate-the one who is made-for-me-the one God has sent for me, or have I already met him?






Can it really happen given today's world scenario? Today everything is a matter of convenience. The world has become too pragmatic and I hate to be not only a part of it, but party to it. I have never experienced "the magic" as they say in anyone's touch. I have never sensed the yes-he's-The-One kinda feeling by just looking at some random guy, and I just can't imagine that something like love-at-1st-sight can exist. Though I want these things to happen to me, I wonder whether they really exist.

It's not that am not in a happy place in my love life right now. I have been blessed to fall in love with my best guy friend. But I have never witnessed sparks flying between us!

They don't make any sense. These romcoms. They just make fools out of wannabe romantic fools like me.

As I write this the guitar piece played and recorded by my guy for my birthday is being played on my windows media player. I rest my case.

OK to sign off, I list my all time fav romcoms.

1. Ghost (Patrick Swayze is mmmmmmm) - and the ending where in demi moore watches patrick swayze go away is completely tear jerking. I love this movie so much.

2. Serendipity

3. Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge

4. Alex & Emma

5. When Harry met Sally

6. Jerry Maguire

7. Notting Hill

8. 50 First Dates

P.S. Happy Birthday To Me!

P.P.S. On giving a title to this post it gives me an error saying " URL contains illegal characters" Dont these jerks know how law abiding I am? Illegal my a$$.

Birthday week

Ok first things first. I admit I've become obssessed with trying out new layouts, and I keep fishing for nice, colorful, fresh outta-the-html-oven templates. Yeah, I have an obssessive personality, which I am not very fond of. If I find something/anything new and/or interesting I overdo it, and kill the joy. But that's besides the point and this post!


My birthday's coming up! Yayay! I do have a loong wish-list, shall post that later. Am planning to celebrate it with close friends and family. Went shopping and got shit-loads of clothes. I am a shopaholic. Which girl isn't? But the best gift so far is what my mum got for me - hunter boots. They are simply ooooolalaaaaaa!

Aren't they gooood!? I prefer the blunt heels, though stiletto heels are sexy, i fear tripping. I am not used to 'em. I always wanted a pair, but living in a tropical country, you don't really wear these unless you are sure you're gonna be air-conditioned all the time. But then I finally bought them. I plan to wear these when I go out dining with mum n dad on my birthday. I shall team 'em up with those pencil-skinny jeans and a shirt-like top that should give me a nice texan look. I like cowBOYS.

I shall post later, I gtg! Good night blog-junta =)

Get me a nice ready-made template sum1

this's nightmarish.

Your template could not be parsed as it is not well-formed. Please make sure all XML elements are closed properly. XML error message: The document type declaration for root element type "html" must end with '>'.

this's whats gonna haunt me all of tonight. i jus dont seem to get it. i can already see xml xml xml floating all over in my head, and it's unnerving.

am gonna get you.

Grrrrrrrr!


Later: I find this template strictly OK. I mean it's nice, but the 3 column layout is wasting too mucha my space. I could find very few templates compatible with the new blogger beta version. So if you guys manage to find any, please do send 'em across to elusivevisule@gmail.com
Cheers!

Much Later : Now this beach template is not bad. But it's a classic template, and am missing out on many of the new blogger features. Should keep this up for sometime, till I lay my hands on The Template =)

Thursday, January 31 : Ok this (rain-on-the-window-panes) isn't The Template and please forgive the irritation it's causing to your eyes :D

Later: Nothing works like this one - minima dark..and blogger-in-beta- I am back!