A second chance !!

He had not been a good son, or been a great husband. Neither had he lived as a responsible father nor a brother. But, when he lifted his grand child up, there was a twinkle in more than one pair of eyes. Is it that he probably wanted to live his life all over again, this time around making up for everything that is past?

Lucky stars !!!

One friend said,
Is there any time you have been responsible? Always doing things at the nick of the time, running here and there. You are just a lazy bum! Look at your sister. Has she ever had problems with the tickets? You travel randomly. You never plan out.

Responsible. Gimme a break. I know I'm responsible when it matters. Agreed am not as responsible when it comes to me. Yes, am a lazy bum a lot of times but I have always done things on my own. When you actually do that, you'll know what it feels like to be a lazy bum. Its heaven ! and yes, my sister is more organised than me. I travel randomly and I like it that way. But when it matters, I can make the best of the tour plans too. Trust me on that please.

The other said,
You just are always lucky. You keep losing things all the time but you always get it back. But, not for once you learn that you are hopelessly careless.

Ha, I really wish I was as lucky. There are things I have misplaced in life that I still havent a clue on earth why I had to lose it. But, have learnt my lessons.

Anyways, whats the need for me to talk about this. I learnt these lessons last night.

1. Never leave your phone in the recharge point, even if its your own corporate and right behind the security desk and even if you are going for just a 15 mins dinner.
2. Because they are security guards does not mean they are certified for integrity.

Someone had flicked off my mobile that I left in the recharge point when I went to the cafeteria for dinner. I came back to see it absent. Would have made atleast 25 calls to my mobile and got rejected. At one point, I was standing next to the security table and making my calls. Thats when a security who claimed he had gone for his dinner came and when I wanted to meet the Security Admin in charge for the night, he takes a mobile from his pocket, claiming an employee(whose id he didnt get) had given it to him 10 mins earlier. Hardly a few secs back, I had called him and the phone was cut. He said, he didnt even realise the phone was missing. And there was only one missed call on my mobile!

Now, I'm a considerate person. I dont like hurting others especially those in the lower levels. We were pushed hard at one point in our life and I know what it feels like. But, that instance when my mobile was lost, I realised how important it was bcos, there were contacts like the recent part time job offer I got from a Children Magazine creator and a dance teacher. In a moment, I could have lost all that. It was not the money, it was more than that.

But again, I didnt want to create a big issue. The administrators had come and I left the job to them, telling the entire incident never accusing anyone (however, the other security guard kinda gave it) and left it for them to investigate and update me.

Cautiously Optimistic?

What do you call a person who weighs down his options and thinks of handling outcomes when the intended activity might not go his way? Pessimist/Optimist? Does thinking of possible turns make one a pessimist inspite of the fact, that after so much thought, he will still give it a try no matter what ! Is a person optimist only if they never believe in options unless you are faced with a situation.

This is a point of argument me and my friend always come up with ! My friend's argument is when you weigh down and think of alternatives, you never give your 100%. And I say that knowing where it might go wrong makes me feel sure you can get the job done 100%.

Wish!

I wish you had taken time
I wish you had given me a little more time
I wish you had not pushed me too hard
I wish I had not resisted anything
I wish we hadnt felt hurt
I wish you are a little less angry at me
I wish you acknowledge my respect of your choices
I wish you trust me a little more to make you happy
I wish you believe in me a little more to realize our dreams
I wish you try to understand my feelings
I wish I dont have to lose you
and I still wish all these to happen !

But now, its time to set it all aside because,
I cannot wish life to be immortal.

Can you hold on for a min, pls?

Sometimes, all you need in life just a wee bit of time. The little time to understand things and make a decision, thoughtfully yet firmly. The little decision to put your foot forward without turning back. The little decision which will make you give everything you can to it. I dont understand why people cant give others that little extra time they need. The whole life could be so very different then.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a completely different note, it was the nth time my phone rang - a call I never intended to pick up. I wasnt interested in fools-grab-it offers. I was busy at work. Irated, I picked up only to hear

"Sorry, sir, I'm R from C C. You picked up the phone huh? (what do you expect when my phone rings?) Your caller tune was very nice.(Thank you) So only I'm listening to it? People always have Kannada or Hindi or their regional song. This song is very different. What song is this sir?"

"huh!!!"

I never knew such problems could also exist.

Sweating out my A$$

I realised the effect of having a professional trainer. I have this great motivation to sculpt my body to the shape I want, ofcourse, I will remain the same height - you see one cant change that how much ever you want.

I joined this new gym/aerobics/yoga at work. No, I havent taken up the aerobics classes yet(well, you can find most of the smart girls @work around there, and tracks make them look so hot, just like our aerobics trainer.). At gym, we have a trainer who can create a personalised schedule. I generally work out on my own schedule that I have devised - but this time around, I decided to let the proto do the work and Boy, Oh Boy, I never stepped so much on the treadmill(I used to call it the dreadmill ever since I broke one of the machines) and never have I used the stretch balls so much. I somehow make sure I always do my floor exercises atleast thrice a week in some form or other, but never got the stretch I experienced with the right exercises taught to me now. Holy shit, am all so spiced up. Interestingly, my threshold was way higher than I ever imagined. 20 mins of treadmill did not tire me out and the stretches which ppl were trying hard to hold for 30 secs, even after a minute, I never felt any unbearable pain ! Now, he has told me that he would start more vigorous exercises, but I got to stick onto strengthening ones, as after my spine injury I had not taken anything serious.

Now, with swimming classes on, I'm gonna turn as black as a charcoal after 3-hrs of swimming a day in chennai in the chlorine water, but I'm sure my ab is gonna get back to what it should be !!! Reminds me, when I had planned to do all this with a friend of mine. Wish it happens. Ah, swimming was one thing in my list of new year resolution and I so so need it if I wanna scuba dive and snorkel without any fear very soon !!!

DV
You must move your dumb a$$ and start working out if you really wanna get those sugars out of your system !!! Hey its fun too ! Get up, shake it and get going!!

Whats your color?

I love green - the earthly green, the ocean green, the tender green of the leaves blossoming in the spring. It makes me feel full of life !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You're green, the color of growth and vigor. Good-hearted and giving, you have a knack for finding and bringing out the best in people. Green is the most down-to-earth color in the spectrum — reliable and trustworthy. People know they can count on you to be around in times of need, since your concern for people is genuine and sincere. You take pride in being a good friend. For you, success is measured in terms of personal achievement and growth, not by status or position. Rare as emeralds, greens are wonderful, natural people. It truly is your color!




Your true color is Green!


What's Your True Color?

Brought to you by Tickle

why?...

What does it take to throw of something that you have built slowly for years and walk away just like that. Can you really do something of that kind?

Is it possible to erase the memories completely? or do we just set it aside reminding us one fine day that life could have been different had we not chosen to set it aside?

What can make you hate someone so much? Why is it that I never find a reason to hate someone? Why do I like to think from others perspective and understand their actions? Is it the reason I find ways to appreciate their presence in my life?

Why is it that people find reasons to hate me? Why is it that I feel people never try to understand from my perspective and see what it feels like and understand me? Is it the reason they find ways to hate me?

ASS-U-ME !!!

I boarded the KSRTC AC Volvo bus to Bangalore. Time was hardly 10:00 and the bus would start any time now.
The conductor who issued me the ticket was exceptionally nice, actually so nice to be true. I went in, put my laptop on the shelves above, and took my seat only to be surprised by the passengers whom I would be travelling with. I have been lucky atleast on three occasions so far whom I have ended up making friends with - girls to be precise. Now, here today, sitting next to me was a man, smelling completely of alcohol, (I think some people like to have a bottle of beer for perfume) who had removed his shirt and hung it on the front seat where two of his friends were seated similarly, showing off their what seemed like a vest that already seemed like left overs of a rat's dinner. On top of it, the guys had pushed back their seat and put their arms over their heads. Same did the guy sitting next to me scaring the two girls behind us. Now, thats quite a show that I couldnt put up with. Imagine sleeping under the arm pits of a stranger, a drunkard at that with four more in front of you. Yikes !!! The bus started and I realised that the back rows were empty. I went and took the last but one and switched on the light not to disturb others and to get a breathing space for myself from these stupid gentlemen. Cmon, I understand being down-to-eath et al, but there is something called an attitude flaw for the Indians. spit, pee and shit whereever you want, change dresses whereever you want , buses, trains everywhere. The other day, me and my friend had gone to this hotel in Adyar and there was this Marwari family. The kids wanted to pee. Know what the mother did, right next to the wash basin, where there is no hole watsoever to, she made the kid pee right there while just behind her there are these toilets. Thats what majority of Indians have for their attitude like the other big shot gentleman in breasted coat/suit driving a Honda City did by throwing off the cigaretter butt in the Airport Road and closed the windows to the comfort of his AC.

"Sir, this is the last stop. Can you please get down?" the conductor of the bus requested me.
I woke up and looked at the time. It was 4:14 AM. Thats a weird time to reach Bangalore. I know if I go home, I need to sleep which means I wont get up at the right time and it would be too early not to sleep and have a bad day.

I woke up. The girls behind me had already gone. Ah, there goes a chance of waking up to nice young girls caput. Dizzily, I woke up, and searched my laptop bag on the shelved above where I had left. I was shocked to see it absent. I looked around and found no sign of any baggage. First thought, those buggers - the drunken a$$..... looted it. Startled, I went to the conductor and said
"sir, the baggage is missing".

As I told, the conductor was too good to be true and he said
"Oh yeah, I took it and kept it safe because you were in deep sleep". Now, thanking my lucky stars, I took an auto back home.

On the way, I just thought to myself. Why did I doubt those guys. That was the first thought that came when I could not find my laptop. If someone thought about me like that, how hurting will it be? Or will I just show my fingers and go. How easy it is to form opinions - ASSUMPTIONS - the root cause for most of the problems in our life !!!

Life is a bliss ...

Life is a bliss -

when in the middle of the week, you are at home - 360 kms away from work and after a real good head massage and loads of grandma-made buttermilk, curd rice and "mavadu" on a hot sultry day, and then lazily sit down in the comfort of the AC in your room, with the b'day kid by your side, playing with your wallet and your over growing, playful pet( did I tell you, hes got rid of his disease and is hale and healthy with lots of fur again) waiting for you to play any time with you, and you work at your leisure checking your mails and catching up with friends online making fun.

Life is a bliss !!

The Negotiator

I happened to see The Negotiator and Jimmy Neutron last weekend !!! Jimmy Neutron was Ok, but I must say, I loved watching The Negotiator. I'm not a fan of Samuel Jackson. The previous movie I saw of him was Changing Lanes with Ben Affleck which is also a very nice movie. The movie is about a negotiator(Samuel Jackson) for hostage crisis who finds himself framed for murder of his partner by his own collegues, just when his life is getting all rosy with his new wife. The emotional drama unfolds when he takes the senior members at work as hostages and demands for a full enquiry of the truth requesting for no one other than another negotiator played by Kevin Casey. There are no fires, much action scenes in the movie but the whole movie was always on the threshold of highly charged emotional drama. An interesting watch in my list!

Nothing else to do ...

Woke up at around 3:00 PM. Yeah, it is kind of a weird time to wake up but with the sudden demise of Dr.Rajkumar, who apparently seemed to refuse to go alone even in his death, warranting another 6 lives along with his, bringing huge losses in a day, there wasnt much to do other than catch up on the sleep missed all these months. Well, you think I shouldnt blame him but the hooligans who find a reason to cause a furore, yes, probably, but you see I'm opinionated too. Waking up, I had this sudden urge to see what he did to Bangalore.

I drove through the deserted roads. I have never seen Bangalore like this, calm, empty and deserted with a sheet of laziness enveloping the entire garden city. I wondered probably this is how life would have been in this city before the here-now-gone-tomorrow world of software spread its evil wings on this innocent city engulfing all the ignorance and the beauty of the bygone pensioner's paradise. Life, then would have started slowly as it dawned, the school children waiting for their buses in their bright red sweaters, the retired personnels catching up with each other in the numerous parks scattered around this city, oblivious to the hustle and bustle at the same time in the metro cities of yesteryear Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. Life, then would have been a bliss in the serene, lovely atmosphere carrying the pollens of the huge varieties of the flowers spreading their radiance in all parts of this city. I grew up in a metro. That probably is the reason why I'm a sucker for a peaceful, lazy life style that is so characteristic of the hills. Here and there, there were couple of guys taking a stroll and couples catching up with their partners on the emptied steps of the shopping malls. I dropped into my friend's place and three of us decided to go out in search of some tea - yeah, the same old chai that is served half glass with the rest of the glass with frothy bubbles and cleaned in the same unclean water over and over again, made in those tiny little hamlets that serve as the hot spot for those youth weaving a dreamy future through those carefully practised smoke rings. How long it has been since I sat on one of those benches, along with my college friends yapping up away incessantly - sometimes about what we would be and mostly, just about the girls who pass by arguing over who looked more callypgian. We walked down the road along the closed shops. Wonder how many actually wanted to close their shops and how many lives were affected this day - because another life on this earth ended his lease. Reminds me that Bangalore can probably never catch up with the likes of chennai where even amidst a organised bandh, most of the shops would be open right when the clock stuck 6:00 PM. Guess, the influence of the past,a characteristic laziness is quite prevalent in the people of Bangalore. No I do not mean the young, brash, ambitious floating population that is characteristic of the present Bangalore, with all their designer clothes and bikes. But, for example, the auto drivers. In chennai, I could get an auto to even the next street if you know what I mean. People are always ready to work hard and make their money while in Bangalore, I spent an evening asking 27 autos in all to take me from Bannerghatta Road to Koranmangala 6th block. Most of the autostands, they would be ready to laze their bums gossiping about the whole world, yet would not move an inch unless they are sure they can make atleast an 100Rs / trip. Well, I think, this city is kind of confused losing its old world charm to the new world make over, unsure of where it is headed to. Is it just the city?

...

I dont want to go through all these again.

- mushy mushy SMSes @1:00 AM in the morning that say "You are deep in my heart"
- proud of cancelling all your friends invitations for me
- missed calls every 1 hr only to say "Just like that"
- wanting to know everything about me. (Do you really have the guts to take what you might hear?)
- claiming I'm the greatest person alive on earth to be your friend.
- ready to do everything and anything for me.

All in the name of friendship - Gimme a break please. How much can you know a person in two weeks? Why cant it be not just plain, straight forward and simple.

A day out !!!

When you work hard and suddenly get a day off in the start of a week, like we had today? what do you do? Initially I had planned to drive down to Shiv Samudram falls if I couldnt catch up with my friend today. Alas, my friend was working :-( !!!

I woke up to a sunny day(read it as pathetically hot) at 9:30 AM.....The falls seemed to look like it was on the other side of the world...So much for my plans ! Having got a recent promotion at work - read it as last week, I was in some mood for indulging myself

- Coloring my hair Deep brownish Purple shade (its actually 3.20 in the L'oreal language) and spiking it up a little
- treating myself to Thai food platter for lunch and Dum Aloo for dinner
- buying a pair of denim. My denims are too old to be called worn out..They are almost torn actually.
- spent an hour at Crossword sipping Almond coffee and reading magazines
- did 2 of the exercises from the sketch practice book I'm working on
- and amazingly practised 1 hr stretch of guitar followed by another hour of class with new exercises
- and finally a self made cocktail followed by lengthy chat with my collegemates.

Now that summer is here, and that I have stopped drinking.....(well, nothing other than cocktail and wine,) I decided to make a cocktail .....I had quit alcohol in all forms late last year to keep up a promise to myself which I kept until late Febraury this year, when the wish was fulfilled. And after that I kinda went on a drinking spree and realised it wasnt quite nice of me to do that. So, am back to the days of healthy drinking ! Here it goes,

1 oz vodka
4 oz Rose Lychess juice
Ice cubes to crush

Mix the contents in a juicer and crush it with the ice !!! Serve it in a margarita glass !!!

And beat the heat with more cocktails from here . They have close to 8700 cocktails for you to make..you can spend the rest of your life happily drinking them !!!!

Surprise !

Surprise ! Yay !! Surprise !!!

I updated moi long forgotten photo blog with something ... Check it out HERE

Because - I'm who I'm !!

Because I'm serious about my work does not mean I'm a snob.
Because you found that I'm not a snob, doesnt necessitate you to jut into my work.
Because you actually discovered I'm friendly does not mean I would run all stupid errands for you.
Because I can pick you on the way does not mean, I run a escort service, sorry, transport service for you.
Because you found that I can actually talk a lot, does not necessarily mean I'm always a flirt.
Because you found I'm quite funny at times, does not mean I can be funny at 3:00 AM in the morning, particularly after my share of drinks for the night and listening to you for 3 hours already.
Because I can make a nice company or so you think, does not mean I'm gonna take you all around Bangalore and buy you everything you see.
Because I stay alone, does not necessarily mean I'm lonely.
Because you think I'm lonely, does not mean you can grab my personal space.
Because you think, I'm a great friend, does not mean I have to tell you when I bath and when I pee.
Because you seem to be obsessed with me, does not mean I'm in a relationship with you.

Life !

Life is not about proving to others and yourself that you can live without them and anyone. It is about living it with people you love and care for !

TULIR

This is one story from the vending machine that tugged my heart hard, harder than you could have ever imagined !
And there were lot of comments for the story that something shoud be done. Well, neither am I inclined to get into what should be done and what can be done nor am I going to discuss on this issue that really needs some prominence and enlightenment in the Indian society, but this piece of information can be useful to those who really want to make some difference !

TULIR - is a NGO organisation that addresses the CSA and focusses more on the victims and helps the victim get back to thier normal life without any psychological damage in the long run. Well, as I understand, CSA creates a huge damage in the psychological behaviour of the victims that can go completely unnoticed and set in as a part of their characteristic.

TULIR can be reached @ 044-26207269 & 04426632026.

Juanes

How often you come across a song that you are hooked onto without understanding a bit out of it....I meant the words !!!

Am hooked onto this song from Juanes - La Camisa Negra of Mi Sangre album of late. This is played almost everyday in VH1 at the same time in the Good Morning programme!!! And I just love it !!!

Well, am back after a tiresome weekend and hectic work over the last couple of days !!!

Current Song Any time at all - The Beatles !!!