Saturday, May 19, 2007
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Breaking barriers
After muffled familiar sounds in chorus of clsoing the cabinet door, then opening and closing of the microwave, the sound of spoon in the sink, I knew V is up making his coffee. After lazing for few more minutes, I decided to start my Saturday, lazily I stretched my feet to the floor and noticed something in pink on my toes glaring back at me. it almost jolted me outta sleep and I wondered how did I ever agree to this color on my toe nails.
See, on last Friday, I took an appointment for my pedicure at Salon 7 on Boot Rd, because, I know the girl there – Lizzie. She likes to chat, you can tell, well, who doesn’t in a salon. After pampering my feet, and telling me of her mom’s wedding, and her estranged boy friend, it was time to decide on a color, I was picking all my safe colors that would just blend or not too loud as I should put it. But she was nodding her head each time in denial, she said na, noooo, not this----here let me pick one for you. She chose all the colors that I wouldn’t have picked…ever. We tried an orangish color, then a bright red color, I was like god…this is not me, but something made me think that I should stretch my borders maybe a little and step up a notch. It wont hurt me to try a new color, hell it’s only a color on my nails. I could go home and redo it if I hate it that much. So with will power bigger than my toe nail, I agreed to a pink color. The first brush of it, I liked it, the second of it, I was doubtful, the third of it I knew I was going home and redoing it, but she convinced me it’ll look good for my skin color. I tell ya, in a salon, it’s so acceptable to talk about skin color, really. Lizzie was so excited about the color, that she wanted to know the name of it – it’s called – didgeridoyournails. She couldn’t figure it out to read it, I laughed at the name of it and read it aloud for her. We laughed at the same time and she said she’ll never be able to find this color if I wanted it the second time. It’s been four days and I like it. No really, it has a summer feel to it. Now when I wake up, or wear sandals, or sport bare feet, I’m not surprised, I’m actually proud that I tried something new. Thank u geri and Lizzie : )
See, on last Friday, I took an appointment for my pedicure at Salon 7 on Boot Rd, because, I know the girl there – Lizzie. She likes to chat, you can tell, well, who doesn’t in a salon. After pampering my feet, and telling me of her mom’s wedding, and her estranged boy friend, it was time to decide on a color, I was picking all my safe colors that would just blend or not too loud as I should put it. But she was nodding her head each time in denial, she said na, noooo, not this----here let me pick one for you. She chose all the colors that I wouldn’t have picked…ever. We tried an orangish color, then a bright red color, I was like god…this is not me, but something made me think that I should stretch my borders maybe a little and step up a notch. It wont hurt me to try a new color, hell it’s only a color on my nails. I could go home and redo it if I hate it that much. So with will power bigger than my toe nail, I agreed to a pink color. The first brush of it, I liked it, the second of it, I was doubtful, the third of it I knew I was going home and redoing it, but she convinced me it’ll look good for my skin color. I tell ya, in a salon, it’s so acceptable to talk about skin color, really. Lizzie was so excited about the color, that she wanted to know the name of it – it’s called – didgeridoyournails. She couldn’t figure it out to read it, I laughed at the name of it and read it aloud for her. We laughed at the same time and she said she’ll never be able to find this color if I wanted it the second time. It’s been four days and I like it. No really, it has a summer feel to it. Now when I wake up, or wear sandals, or sport bare feet, I’m not surprised, I’m actually proud that I tried something new. Thank u geri and Lizzie : )
Monday, May 14, 2007
During lunch
I was quarter of an hour into my lunch time, just got off the phone with my mom thousands and thousands of miles away, quickly ran to the bank and headed to my fave pizza place. Except as I was walking in, the name of the place seemed different, it didn’t say “Pizza Peddler”, it said something to do with “Tommy’s” whatever. I was like, darn it, now I have another decision to make, if I would like this place or not. So I as entered that place, there was a small mob of office crowd at the cash counter, so I realized that this was a --- order, pay and then sit kinda place. As I was still processing the thoughts, I saw a very familiar face that I haven’t seen in 4 – 5 years I think or maybe more. I was like wow ! not in million years had I ever thought that I would run into him again. From that distance he looked at me, and gave me the most familiar smile, and he said I know you, and I said I know you too, and the registration of the memory just flowed into conversation.
He owned “Carmine’s” a small, neatest, working class kinda pizzeria in a very small protected town called “Eagle”, it’s not the same anymore, neither the town nor the pizza place. Anyway, it was so old, it had antique lights, the doors were before my time I’d say, and the people coming there are people who worked around there and lot of locals. You couldn’t miss a beat of a local gossip there, it was that happening. The place was almost crumbling, no literally, there was no parking place, it was located right off the street, so we’d just pull in wherever there was room to. Eventually, some big shot builder bought that land and bulldozed that small joint that must have been older than 80-100 years. Everyone felt sad, there was a sense of loss, something familiar won’t be there anymore. So with that I had lost memory of him. I use to work near by there, and use to frequent that pizza place. Sometimes, his employees would give us a free slice of pizza too : ) Of course this was all before my swanky haircut, so I was all the more surprised that he remembered me. Anyway, to see the same guy, I forget if his name is Tom, Tim or Mike, but he is as Italian as a Pizzeria can be.
I’ve noticed that these days it’s happening more than ever before. I run into people here and there, and have small talks, exchange stories of our live’s and go on, and then I bump into another one. Just few days ago, K called me over for a yoga class her father had been hosting, then the next day I ran into M at Home Depot, she was there to pick up gloves and I was there to pick up hardwood floor cleaner : ( she suggested a brand and I blindly took that home. I gave her a msg for K that I cant make it to K’s yoga class. Last Friday, I ran into A at Subway, I remembered he went with his family to South of France, so I asked him details of it. I believe his camera was pick pocketed while they were in Paris, I was like what. I felt bad for him, his wife and boy took French language classes together preparing for the trip. But life goes on.
Anyway, Tom waved me good bye and asked me come back again, as a business man he is, he asked me to take some menu’s with me so that we can order for pizza delivery, I smiled and stepped out to realize that one of the a branches of the bank he use to frequent then is right opposite to his new pizzeria. Darn, the world IS small.
He owned “Carmine’s” a small, neatest, working class kinda pizzeria in a very small protected town called “Eagle”, it’s not the same anymore, neither the town nor the pizza place. Anyway, it was so old, it had antique lights, the doors were before my time I’d say, and the people coming there are people who worked around there and lot of locals. You couldn’t miss a beat of a local gossip there, it was that happening. The place was almost crumbling, no literally, there was no parking place, it was located right off the street, so we’d just pull in wherever there was room to. Eventually, some big shot builder bought that land and bulldozed that small joint that must have been older than 80-100 years. Everyone felt sad, there was a sense of loss, something familiar won’t be there anymore. So with that I had lost memory of him. I use to work near by there, and use to frequent that pizza place. Sometimes, his employees would give us a free slice of pizza too : ) Of course this was all before my swanky haircut, so I was all the more surprised that he remembered me. Anyway, to see the same guy, I forget if his name is Tom, Tim or Mike, but he is as Italian as a Pizzeria can be.
I’ve noticed that these days it’s happening more than ever before. I run into people here and there, and have small talks, exchange stories of our live’s and go on, and then I bump into another one. Just few days ago, K called me over for a yoga class her father had been hosting, then the next day I ran into M at Home Depot, she was there to pick up gloves and I was there to pick up hardwood floor cleaner : ( she suggested a brand and I blindly took that home. I gave her a msg for K that I cant make it to K’s yoga class. Last Friday, I ran into A at Subway, I remembered he went with his family to South of France, so I asked him details of it. I believe his camera was pick pocketed while they were in Paris, I was like what. I felt bad for him, his wife and boy took French language classes together preparing for the trip. But life goes on.
Anyway, Tom waved me good bye and asked me come back again, as a business man he is, he asked me to take some menu’s with me so that we can order for pizza delivery, I smiled and stepped out to realize that one of the a branches of the bank he use to frequent then is right opposite to his new pizzeria. Darn, the world IS small.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
So what if we lost...
On a popular, SAP Forums, I came across a thread about "World Cup Cricket", I was surprised, to see the no. of posts on that thread, people are talking passionately about world cup, their utter disbelief of India and Pakistan not being in the WC anymore, I mean these are not just desi fans talking about cricket, there are aussies, brits, the few "cric literate" americans, so I was following it very closely every day, until yesterday, this question by Mr. O, irked me, I was relectant to reply, just becoz…but then after two days of following the thread, which got more than 2000 views since WC started, I couldn't resist and I replied to him. This is how it went on... (ofcourse this is only part of the huge thread)
Posted on: Apr 25, 2007 8:29 AM
As you can imagine, in an SAP-related forum you have all these german folks watching the thread who have absolutely no clue what you are talking about. So I would like to ask for a quick explanation of the game of cricket. I will see whether I will be allowed to award points (YES !) for the coolest and shortest explanation.
Just so you know what I know so far about the game: Two teams in white outfit (both teams wearing the same outfit ?) throw balls at each other. They must not bow their arm and have to hit a little thingy (wicket ?). After they throw they run back and forth. There is no offsite. Games take 5 days with tea-time at 3pm. The english invented the game but normally loose against the West Indies, Australia, NZ, India and Madagascar. The americans took the game, americanized it and now call it baseball.
Correct me if I am wrong.
Looking forward to learn something and also looking forward to next UEFA European Football Championships 2008 in Austria and Switzerland.
One Reply to this posted on Apr 25, 2007 3:13 PM
O,
No offence intended, but this description of cricket is among the most cheeky ones I have ever seen :-)
Makes me realise that Cricket still is a game limited to a few countties and not as universal as even SAP is...
I wish I could explain the game of cricket to you, but I just realised that the game aint as simple as it seems..
Regards
B
Another reply posted on Apr 26, 2007 1:13 AM
Hi O,
I read somewhere that cricket is a game where two teams toss a coin to see who goes out first. The toss-winning team sends two batsman in and they stay in until they are out. Then a replacement comes out and the team stays in until ten players have been in and out. Then the first team is OUT so they go in and the other team is sent out.
Then the first team attempts to get the team who is in out, and the opposing side tries to stay out and not get out. All pretty simple - but sometimes a team is sent in before the other team is out.
Regards
G
Finally i responded on Apr 26, 2007 5:31 PM
Hi O,
To add to Gareth, which ever team wins the toss, decides if they or the opposite team will either bat or field.
Usually, they play one day international aka ODI, where they play for 50 overs for each team, each Over has 6 balls, and 11 players in each team.
Which ever team plays first, tries to score as much as they can in those fifty overs, by this they set a target, and then the opposing team has to score that target to win. If someone gets out like they hit the ball and if the ball doesnt touch the ground and the fielder from the other team cathces the ball, then the batsman is out. this is just one way of being 'Out'. When someone is out, it is referred as a wicket down. Usually, the strategy by the fielding team is to take as many wickets down as they can, and the batting team is to score as much as they can while saving the wickets. So if a teams score is 320 / 9 in 50 overs. Yup, i hope you know by now what that means.
The match you were referring to that goes on for 5 days is called a test cricket, where the teams dont have any overs to play, they play as long as thier wickets are not lost. In my opinion i find this a little too long and if i may say....boring.
Cricket is pride for many countries that play, so when they hear such responses ike yours about cricket, they feel sad for people who dont take time to understand it. So the next time, someone tells you they dont know what Cricket is and people just throw balls at each other, please feel free to explain them.
Thank you !
Posted on: Apr 25, 2007 8:29 AM
As you can imagine, in an SAP-related forum you have all these german folks watching the thread who have absolutely no clue what you are talking about. So I would like to ask for a quick explanation of the game of cricket. I will see whether I will be allowed to award points (YES !) for the coolest and shortest explanation.
Just so you know what I know so far about the game: Two teams in white outfit (both teams wearing the same outfit ?) throw balls at each other. They must not bow their arm and have to hit a little thingy (wicket ?). After they throw they run back and forth. There is no offsite. Games take 5 days with tea-time at 3pm. The english invented the game but normally loose against the West Indies, Australia, NZ, India and Madagascar. The americans took the game, americanized it and now call it baseball.
Correct me if I am wrong.
Looking forward to learn something and also looking forward to next UEFA European Football Championships 2008 in Austria and Switzerland.
One Reply to this posted on Apr 25, 2007 3:13 PM
O,
No offence intended, but this description of cricket is among the most cheeky ones I have ever seen :-)
Makes me realise that Cricket still is a game limited to a few countties and not as universal as even SAP is...
I wish I could explain the game of cricket to you, but I just realised that the game aint as simple as it seems..
Regards
B
Another reply posted on Apr 26, 2007 1:13 AM
Hi O,
I read somewhere that cricket is a game where two teams toss a coin to see who goes out first. The toss-winning team sends two batsman in and they stay in until they are out. Then a replacement comes out and the team stays in until ten players have been in and out. Then the first team is OUT so they go in and the other team is sent out.
Then the first team attempts to get the team who is in out, and the opposing side tries to stay out and not get out. All pretty simple - but sometimes a team is sent in before the other team is out.
Regards
G
Finally i responded on Apr 26, 2007 5:31 PM
Hi O,
To add to Gareth, which ever team wins the toss, decides if they or the opposite team will either bat or field.
Usually, they play one day international aka ODI, where they play for 50 overs for each team, each Over has 6 balls, and 11 players in each team.
Which ever team plays first, tries to score as much as they can in those fifty overs, by this they set a target, and then the opposing team has to score that target to win. If someone gets out like they hit the ball and if the ball doesnt touch the ground and the fielder from the other team cathces the ball, then the batsman is out. this is just one way of being 'Out'. When someone is out, it is referred as a wicket down. Usually, the strategy by the fielding team is to take as many wickets down as they can, and the batting team is to score as much as they can while saving the wickets. So if a teams score is 320 / 9 in 50 overs. Yup, i hope you know by now what that means.
The match you were referring to that goes on for 5 days is called a test cricket, where the teams dont have any overs to play, they play as long as thier wickets are not lost. In my opinion i find this a little too long and if i may say....boring.
Cricket is pride for many countries that play, so when they hear such responses ike yours about cricket, they feel sad for people who dont take time to understand it. So the next time, someone tells you they dont know what Cricket is and people just throw balls at each other, please feel free to explain them.
Thank you !
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Two homes in our hEarTs
It was during our stop over flight at .... i dont remember the name of the city but we were heading to Las Vegas to go to Zion's national Park with the same bunch of friends. While waiting i walked into the news paper stand and looked around, i spotted a familiar author's book, Jhumpa Lahari's Name Sake. I had already read her Interpreter of Maladies and absolutely fell in love with it. Her characters were bouncing off the book into real life. This was her first book and she had won Pulitzer award for that, awesome. Just after finishing that book i said to myself that i'll get her second book too. So when i saw Namesake, besides many other books, i couldnt resist myself, this must be atleast 3 or 4 years ago. All through my vacation, the time i got between our treks, camp fires, horse riding, star gazing, falling in love with the country side, i was flipping pages of this book.
Reading the book, brought a lot of memories back of home, it's about living in two homes at the same time, it's an experience we learn to live with, cajoling ourselves and our loved dear ones that each celebration, life events are just another day in our lives. The shell of our loneliness bridges only to our home in our hearts, though we live under a different roof.
Few weeks ago, i wasnt happy, when V and I arrived late to the watch NameSake movie, but as the movie rolled on and we were sitting in the front seats b'coz it was packed, and not by desi's, all americans - the true immigrants. Skeptically, i watiched hte movie and came out applauding Mira Nair for doing justice to the book.
If you get a chance please see this movie, it's a tribute to every one who moved away from home, even if it's within india or outside of it. There was one shot when Tabu is dropping off Irphan at the airport, while he's standing in te line to get to checkin she waits to wave good bye to him, at that second, irphan nods, blinks his eyes gently....that was so real. Tabu and Irphan - excellent job !
Reading the book, brought a lot of memories back of home, it's about living in two homes at the same time, it's an experience we learn to live with, cajoling ourselves and our loved dear ones that each celebration, life events are just another day in our lives. The shell of our loneliness bridges only to our home in our hearts, though we live under a different roof.
Few weeks ago, i wasnt happy, when V and I arrived late to the watch NameSake movie, but as the movie rolled on and we were sitting in the front seats b'coz it was packed, and not by desi's, all americans - the true immigrants. Skeptically, i watiched hte movie and came out applauding Mira Nair for doing justice to the book.
If you get a chance please see this movie, it's a tribute to every one who moved away from home, even if it's within india or outside of it. There was one shot when Tabu is dropping off Irphan at the airport, while he's standing in te line to get to checkin she waits to wave good bye to him, at that second, irphan nods, blinks his eyes gently....that was so real. Tabu and Irphan - excellent job !
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Tears in dark
The gloomy grey clouds, thunder storm and heavy gusty winds of last sat and sunday, brought in very bad news, an asian guy identified as a student of Virginia Tech went into the classrooms and started shooting randomly. It’s such a tragedy and horrible news. Things like this are beyond being fathomable.
It kind of struck a close chord for us. My cousin graduated from thie very university last year and also this afternoon we got an email sent at work today stating that one of the Plant Manager’s son who was a senior at Virginia Tech was amongst the 32 who were killed. I felt so bad…this is so unfortunate, young people losing their lives, their parents losing their hopes, their children, god so many memories just cant be brought back to life, the life of so many just so simply wiped off, just b’coz of a depressed guy who was trigger happy. Ofcourse, the media, the cops, the psychiatrist’s go into deeper lengths to find out what makes “us” behave the way we do. Gun control laws will now be discussed at length, but....
Professor GV Loganathan, Reema, Minal are the Indians among the people who lost thier lives.
As I was walking to my car, I noticed that all the 3 flags in front of my building, the US, Switzerland and Canadian flags are at half staff for the solidarity and respect to the people who lost their lives and to the people who live to remember them.
At the end of the day only a “WHY ?”, will be the question to many, because there wont be any justice for such acts of random violence.
It kind of struck a close chord for us. My cousin graduated from thie very university last year and also this afternoon we got an email sent at work today stating that one of the Plant Manager’s son who was a senior at Virginia Tech was amongst the 32 who were killed. I felt so bad…this is so unfortunate, young people losing their lives, their parents losing their hopes, their children, god so many memories just cant be brought back to life, the life of so many just so simply wiped off, just b’coz of a depressed guy who was trigger happy. Ofcourse, the media, the cops, the psychiatrist’s go into deeper lengths to find out what makes “us” behave the way we do. Gun control laws will now be discussed at length, but....
Professor GV Loganathan, Reema, Minal are the Indians among the people who lost thier lives.
As I was walking to my car, I noticed that all the 3 flags in front of my building, the US, Switzerland and Canadian flags are at half staff for the solidarity and respect to the people who lost their lives and to the people who live to remember them.
At the end of the day only a “WHY ?”, will be the question to many, because there wont be any justice for such acts of random violence.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Serious ranting !!!!!!!
So many things have happened since last blog, and as much as I really want to I’m at loss of words to share. I’m seriously not sure of why I accepted the offer for my new job. Though I don’t miss the people in my old one, I miss the challenges that I rose up to. I admit that things are going to be much different here, but the change in pace, the newness of it is numbing.
BTW, did you ever eat those chocolates with mint layer in it, I don’t mean for flavor, but there is a layer of mint chocolate in between the dark chocolate. I hate them, no really, it’s like eating chocolate with your mouth full of strong “mouth wash”.
So last nite, on NDTV, there was this discussion about how hyper sensitive are Indians about the national flag and anthem. Apparently, a roar broke loose from all sides when Narayan Murthy had played the instrumental version of the anthem at some function. After a big hallah, he felt the need to explain why, in poor choice of words for a man of his stature, he said he didn’t want to “embarass” his foreign dignitaries who wouldn’t obviously know the song, but then all the Indian nationals would stand and sing along, while these firangs woundnt be able to. Makes sense to me…the panel of other contributors (some journalists, govt officials and so on) gave valuable insights of why that might be right and one lady dresses in a pink sari took her stand to say no it’s not acceptable.
Then they continued to discuss the idea of how Sachin Tendulkar cut the cake in SA which was a replica of the Indian flag, ok, I personally don’t see a problem with this either. We cut cakes in “celebration of life”, so most of the audience didn’t seem to mind except one lady who said she felt that in some way it symbolizes mutilating the country, wow ! that’s deep.
From the panel, one guy said, we’ve always cut cakes for various reasons, if I’m cutting a b’day cake with my child’s name on it, that doesn’t mean that I’m mutilating him. WELL SAID ! The mithai-wala’s sell tiranga burfi during the independence and republic day occasions, so why is cake cutting a big deal—good very good. They all agreed that as long as the intention of such occasions are well placed that shouldn’t be constitutional insult!
aah hah…from where I’m sitting (in my darling couch), I’m digressed to another topic, in sexual harassment, it all depends on the perception of the victim. How do you define these perceptions, there is no hard lined rule to say, this might not be perceived as offensive. But it depends on the perception of the other party.
Ok now comes the interesting part, flag burning. How many of you agree to it, well none did ! I was like huh, my spouse of eight years, also agrees, no way to that. I was like why not. The host of the show, mentioned the democracy of other countries allows their citizens to do this, no matter how condemned that is.
For the sake of conversation, I wanted to tip the scales and see the pulse, I said yes to V, if tomorrow, some god forsaken politician, announces, I now give away Kashmir to China and Pakistan, then while I’m at it, I’ll also let Assam have their say to be another country. Ofcourse, V gave me “ok where r u going with this” kinda look, I said I want to protest such things, I’ll be enraged, maybe in that state of mind if I burn the flag, it is to say how disgraceful it is for India, to tolerate such things. I think we should still burn the flag for the judicial system we have in place, but that’s another story. If we are the largest democratic country out there, why cant we practice a little bit of it. By this time, the panel of judges on the show said, burn effigy’s of the PM or the politician, put some banners out, why burn the flag! One of them said, how come nobody says anything, when you give out the plastic Indian flag which are used as hand fan, during some celebrations that are thrown away after the party and somebody eventually brooms them to a corner and maybe even burn them ! Hmm…there u go.
I have immense love for my country, I’ll take a stand if someone is blatantly talking rubbish about her, I have done this during a meeting, where another desi guy was generally ranting off about cows on the street, the weather etc etc, I fought him back, no way.
But I also think, that things like what I said above are of mild importance when we have more pressing matters at hand.
BTW, did you ever eat those chocolates with mint layer in it, I don’t mean for flavor, but there is a layer of mint chocolate in between the dark chocolate. I hate them, no really, it’s like eating chocolate with your mouth full of strong “mouth wash”.
So last nite, on NDTV, there was this discussion about how hyper sensitive are Indians about the national flag and anthem. Apparently, a roar broke loose from all sides when Narayan Murthy had played the instrumental version of the anthem at some function. After a big hallah, he felt the need to explain why, in poor choice of words for a man of his stature, he said he didn’t want to “embarass” his foreign dignitaries who wouldn’t obviously know the song, but then all the Indian nationals would stand and sing along, while these firangs woundnt be able to. Makes sense to me…the panel of other contributors (some journalists, govt officials and so on) gave valuable insights of why that might be right and one lady dresses in a pink sari took her stand to say no it’s not acceptable.
Then they continued to discuss the idea of how Sachin Tendulkar cut the cake in SA which was a replica of the Indian flag, ok, I personally don’t see a problem with this either. We cut cakes in “celebration of life”, so most of the audience didn’t seem to mind except one lady who said she felt that in some way it symbolizes mutilating the country, wow ! that’s deep.
From the panel, one guy said, we’ve always cut cakes for various reasons, if I’m cutting a b’day cake with my child’s name on it, that doesn’t mean that I’m mutilating him. WELL SAID ! The mithai-wala’s sell tiranga burfi during the independence and republic day occasions, so why is cake cutting a big deal—good very good. They all agreed that as long as the intention of such occasions are well placed that shouldn’t be constitutional insult!
aah hah…from where I’m sitting (in my darling couch), I’m digressed to another topic, in sexual harassment, it all depends on the perception of the victim. How do you define these perceptions, there is no hard lined rule to say, this might not be perceived as offensive. But it depends on the perception of the other party.
Ok now comes the interesting part, flag burning. How many of you agree to it, well none did ! I was like huh, my spouse of eight years, also agrees, no way to that. I was like why not. The host of the show, mentioned the democracy of other countries allows their citizens to do this, no matter how condemned that is.
For the sake of conversation, I wanted to tip the scales and see the pulse, I said yes to V, if tomorrow, some god forsaken politician, announces, I now give away Kashmir to China and Pakistan, then while I’m at it, I’ll also let Assam have their say to be another country. Ofcourse, V gave me “ok where r u going with this” kinda look, I said I want to protest such things, I’ll be enraged, maybe in that state of mind if I burn the flag, it is to say how disgraceful it is for India, to tolerate such things. I think we should still burn the flag for the judicial system we have in place, but that’s another story. If we are the largest democratic country out there, why cant we practice a little bit of it. By this time, the panel of judges on the show said, burn effigy’s of the PM or the politician, put some banners out, why burn the flag! One of them said, how come nobody says anything, when you give out the plastic Indian flag which are used as hand fan, during some celebrations that are thrown away after the party and somebody eventually brooms them to a corner and maybe even burn them ! Hmm…there u go.
I have immense love for my country, I’ll take a stand if someone is blatantly talking rubbish about her, I have done this during a meeting, where another desi guy was generally ranting off about cows on the street, the weather etc etc, I fought him back, no way.
But I also think, that things like what I said above are of mild importance when we have more pressing matters at hand.
Friday, March 30, 2007
6 women, 4 stories
I noticed that Friday afternoon's most of hte BI and FM team go out for lunch, last week we went to Panera's and this week to Gramm's - gramm's is all about comfort food, Gramm's means Grand Ma, they say. We were 6 of us and when you put 6 women together, some stories are bound to come out, you like it or not, women share and talk.
Anyway, on our way to Gramm's I found out that K met her spouse on Match.com, hello! That is so .....(I don't know hte word for it), she is a petite, feeble, sweet, pretty girl with an Italian last name but who's been married for 2 years. Then once we reached there, sat on a round table and the smell of comfort food was enticing, someone started talking about Anchorage, Alaska, K then mentioned that her sister lives in Fair Banks, Alaska, wait ! That's not all there in no water and electricity. Right now, she's “baby-sitting” 30, yes, 30 sled dogs, she brings water to them in buckets, and feeds them meat and stuff. Her (K's sister's) bf builds cabins there, ok, it's only like -3 degrees there, and it's dark most often, so go figure. This is more interesting, since they don't have showers in the houses, the Laundromat and the Video Store has two showers each….OOOOkkkkaaay. Yeah, imagine that! You go to do laundry and decide you might as well take shower since u r there, the shower is yours for 20 minutes, people! I find this so adventurous, this is hardly scratching the surface, I believe she even lived in Nepal for a year and somewhere in a town near a pretty beach in Puerto Rico, c'mon, it takes so much to be so gutsy, I so wish I could do that. I believe K's folks are also bitten by travel bugs long long time ago, so they think that K's life is so dull and boring since she hardly travels and she only thinks that she's “Normal”. Ha ha ha…what is normal ? Normal couldn't be normal if it wanted to….
So, then C starts talking about this wedding she has to go to of her first cousin's, which is scheduled after a month. She's amazed at how someone could have a wedding on Sunday, that too “around 3 pm” as it says on the invite. She thought that though it's none of her business, she thinks that couple is very immature to get married. Apparently, they don't want to live together nor get engaged and instead get married right away, and they feel that this way it'll be more exciting. Okkkkaay. Marriages are anything but….She also mentioned how that neither of them have a job yet, and that the groom is not welcome in her other cousins home because he stuck a play dough kinda thingie in the kid's hair and that poor child had to cut her hair to get it out, and he (the groom, u need to concentrate) thought they were joking about him not being welcome at their home. She then said they are only like 20 something.
So ofcourse, I replied “20's too early to get married”, well, C would agree but apparently she got married at 18, she's my PM, people, so I had foot in my mouth. Next time, just remember to politely nod without any stupid comments. Since we were on topic of weddings, I recollected an incident of a “Halloween” theme wedding party that was taking place in the lower deck of this dinner cruise I went to last year. The bride was a dressed totally like a slut, and the groom like a dirt biker and the entire party members were drunk and loud. Top that u all !
Oh by the way H was offered a vacation to disney by her folks, no she's not 8, she must be 20 something. Anyway, she refused bcoz she sensed that the reason they invited her was to babysit the nephews that they are taking along....ha ha ha. good one.
Meanwhile, somewhere at the Alaska story, the food arrived and the fries were yumm….
( P.S: Later when we were in a meeting, I had a mild panic attack that I'm not as involved in configuration of BI stuff as much as I was in my last job, and was trying very hard to concentrate. )
Anyway, on our way to Gramm's I found out that K met her spouse on Match.com, hello! That is so .....(I don't know hte word for it), she is a petite, feeble, sweet, pretty girl with an Italian last name but who's been married for 2 years. Then once we reached there, sat on a round table and the smell of comfort food was enticing, someone started talking about Anchorage, Alaska, K then mentioned that her sister lives in Fair Banks, Alaska, wait ! That's not all there in no water and electricity. Right now, she's “baby-sitting” 30, yes, 30 sled dogs, she brings water to them in buckets, and feeds them meat and stuff. Her (K's sister's) bf builds cabins there, ok, it's only like -3 degrees there, and it's dark most often, so go figure. This is more interesting, since they don't have showers in the houses, the Laundromat and the Video Store has two showers each….OOOOkkkkaaay. Yeah, imagine that! You go to do laundry and decide you might as well take shower since u r there, the shower is yours for 20 minutes, people! I find this so adventurous, this is hardly scratching the surface, I believe she even lived in Nepal for a year and somewhere in a town near a pretty beach in Puerto Rico, c'mon, it takes so much to be so gutsy, I so wish I could do that. I believe K's folks are also bitten by travel bugs long long time ago, so they think that K's life is so dull and boring since she hardly travels and she only thinks that she's “Normal”. Ha ha ha…what is normal ? Normal couldn't be normal if it wanted to….
So, then C starts talking about this wedding she has to go to of her first cousin's, which is scheduled after a month. She's amazed at how someone could have a wedding on Sunday, that too “around 3 pm” as it says on the invite. She thought that though it's none of her business, she thinks that couple is very immature to get married. Apparently, they don't want to live together nor get engaged and instead get married right away, and they feel that this way it'll be more exciting. Okkkkaay. Marriages are anything but….She also mentioned how that neither of them have a job yet, and that the groom is not welcome in her other cousins home because he stuck a play dough kinda thingie in the kid's hair and that poor child had to cut her hair to get it out, and he (the groom, u need to concentrate) thought they were joking about him not being welcome at their home. She then said they are only like 20 something.
So ofcourse, I replied “20's too early to get married”, well, C would agree but apparently she got married at 18, she's my PM, people, so I had foot in my mouth. Next time, just remember to politely nod without any stupid comments. Since we were on topic of weddings, I recollected an incident of a “Halloween” theme wedding party that was taking place in the lower deck of this dinner cruise I went to last year. The bride was a dressed totally like a slut, and the groom like a dirt biker and the entire party members were drunk and loud. Top that u all !
Oh by the way H was offered a vacation to disney by her folks, no she's not 8, she must be 20 something. Anyway, she refused bcoz she sensed that the reason they invited her was to babysit the nephews that they are taking along....ha ha ha. good one.
Meanwhile, somewhere at the Alaska story, the food arrived and the fries were yumm….
( P.S: Later when we were in a meeting, I had a mild panic attack that I'm not as involved in configuration of BI stuff as much as I was in my last job, and was trying very hard to concentrate. )
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Ex vs. Current
Let me see what I miss from my old work place:
o Internet connection
o Sharing popcorn
o Wearing jeans on Friday
o Long lunches
o Coming in late
o K and M
o Other friends
o Can leave the desk area haphazardly, which I never did in the beginning
but eventually caught on to randomly placing documents here and there.
o Close to home
o Business Casual (more on the casual side)
o Genaurdi’s & Eckerds was on the way to and back from work
What I don’t miss from my old work place:
o E.N and D.H
o My out of control work load
o My aggressive deadlines
o The nightmares I’d get sometimes : (
o Old technology
o Being on call for Prod support (yeah I don’t have to do that anymore)
o Micro-management
What I like in the new work place:
o New building
o Cafeteria in my bldg
o Good b’fast
o I’ll be mentoring
o And training
o Close to home
o New technology
o Has a dish washer
o May or may not travel
What I don’t like in the new work place
o No Internet access allowed
o Didn’t locate a closest microwave, until then no popcorn
o Cant wear jeans let alone on Friday’s
o Cant do 1 and half hour lunches, try to back in 55 mts.
o Try my best to come in early by 8.45am
o K and M
o Have to keep my desk area organized, it's a big wig area, so the
probability of a big wigs walking across and to spot ur desk in chaos
will apparently reflect bad on my mgr. I dont know how that big wig
will find out.
o Business Casual (scale tipping more on the business side)
o I have to turn a right to go to Genaurdi’s & Eckerd’s.
o Internet connection
o Sharing popcorn
o Wearing jeans on Friday
o Long lunches
o Coming in late
o K and M
o Other friends
o Can leave the desk area haphazardly, which I never did in the beginning
but eventually caught on to randomly placing documents here and there.
o Close to home
o Business Casual (more on the casual side)
o Genaurdi’s & Eckerds was on the way to and back from work
What I don’t miss from my old work place:
o E.N and D.H
o My out of control work load
o My aggressive deadlines
o The nightmares I’d get sometimes : (
o Old technology
o Being on call for Prod support (yeah I don’t have to do that anymore)
o Micro-management
What I like in the new work place:
o New building
o Cafeteria in my bldg
o Good b’fast
o I’ll be mentoring
o And training
o Close to home
o New technology
o Has a dish washer
o May or may not travel
What I don’t like in the new work place
o No Internet access allowed
o Didn’t locate a closest microwave, until then no popcorn
o Cant wear jeans let alone on Friday’s
o Cant do 1 and half hour lunches, try to back in 55 mts.
o Try my best to come in early by 8.45am
o K and M
o Have to keep my desk area organized, it's a big wig area, so the
probability of a big wigs walking across and to spot ur desk in chaos
will apparently reflect bad on my mgr. I dont know how that big wig
will find out.
o Business Casual (scale tipping more on the business side)
o I have to turn a right to go to Genaurdi’s & Eckerd’s.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
what reaaaly happened 1+1
Booker’s got me confused now, today he said that the problem had been pre-existing and he still loves her and on and on…so now I’m leaning towards the thought that she’s an alcoholic. Well, whatever really, I dont think his life defining moments deserve a spot on my blog let alone my busy head, so, I’ll just file that thought away, until I feel like gossiping again, which by the way my sister HATES to do, so she wouldn’t approve of me doing it if she’s reading this, so for her sake I’ll move on to something else.
Anyway, the sun fairies has been blessing us some today; there was this warm and cool breeze to add to it, so a walk was warranted. After lunch at Wave Noodles with L, we strolled in West Chester downtown and stopped by at this quaint little antique store, which had this prettiest bed spread with this intricate embroidery and a lovely price tag of about $350 I think, maybe someother time. We didnt have enough time to check “The Lily pad” a stationary store, it was all pink with polka dots and what not…
Anyway, the sun fairies has been blessing us some today; there was this warm and cool breeze to add to it, so a walk was warranted. After lunch at Wave Noodles with L, we strolled in West Chester downtown and stopped by at this quaint little antique store, which had this prettiest bed spread with this intricate embroidery and a lovely price tag of about $350 I think, maybe someother time. We didnt have enough time to check “The Lily pad” a stationary store, it was all pink with polka dots and what not…
Monday, March 26, 2007
what really...really happened
So, this morning when I turned to radio for my dose of Philly gossip and good tunes, right after Fergie's “Glamorous”, Booker the host announced that him and his GF are no more, he so eloquently put it, they broke up except he didn’t say those exact words, and he said she’s not at a place she likes to be and because what she did, he’s hurt. In translation I think she cheated on him, and he caught her red handed. He went on to say how he cried and called her this and that, in translation he cursed her to be a slut and still wants people who know her to respect her and…...beep….engine turned off.
Half way thru his story I reached my office and wanted to listen to rest of his story. But Diego started talking and I was running out of time, so I resorted to cooking up stories of his turbulent love life in my head and stepped into work. Mental note: look up his website once u get home, to get he full scoop. I know I'm so vain but I cant help it, he started it : )
Half way thru his story I reached my office and wanted to listen to rest of his story. But Diego started talking and I was running out of time, so I resorted to cooking up stories of his turbulent love life in my head and stepped into work. Mental note: look up his website once u get home, to get he full scoop. I know I'm so vain but I cant help it, he started it : )
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Wish me later !
Today, someone at work with yummy candy at her desk asked me to update the departments "happy birthday" list, just then i was reminded of a bitter-sweet moment.
I’m one of those few people who have two birthdays. And the moment i was talking about goes like this......
One day, many many years ago, as we were walking towards the principal nun’s office at St. Theresa’s school, my dad suddenly halted to ask me something. He said “if they ask you when is your birthday, what’ll you tell them?”
Well, I know when my b’day is so that should be easy and I’d get admission in the same school my sister goes too, and since she is a SPL (Special Privileged Leader) I thought I could get away with most of the stuff. So I said “abba, I’ll tell them it’s sep 15th, na!”, to that he replied “Would you instead tell them it’s aug 15th. “
I was like what, no I wouldn’t, I cant change my b’day, I love that day, and was almost in tears, He must have thought that I need more cajoling and we stopped under the big neem tree and he explained how I was born a month later the cut off date for school and so if I have to get into this school for this year, I’d have to just say it this once but we can still celebrate my birthday the same day I was born, infact he raised the stakes and said we’ll celebrate my b’day twice. Once on aug 15th and the second time on September 15th.
Remember, aug 15th is Indian independence day, so you can have lots of friends over for the party, he bribed me. I was hooked in split of a second. I wiped my running tears and walked into that nun’s office, while ignoring the sound of the ceiling fan blade slicing the still air, I started answering the questions needed for school admission.
My father was asked to stay outside the room, so towards the end of my admission questionnaire, she asked me when my date of birth was, I quickly smiled and said 15th august. She nodded heavily and asked me to fetch my abbu. They spoke in restricted enthusiasm and my abba rushed to me with glee and said I was in, I was in ! So, that’s my birthday story.
Now everytime I give date for informal b’day lists at work, so that people can wish or bring a cake or get a card kinda ritual, I habitually just write aug 15th, but go home and celebrate on sep 15th. So there is a thin line how my excitement is divided by exactly 30 days of inconsistency.
I’m one of those few people who have two birthdays. And the moment i was talking about goes like this......
One day, many many years ago, as we were walking towards the principal nun’s office at St. Theresa’s school, my dad suddenly halted to ask me something. He said “if they ask you when is your birthday, what’ll you tell them?”
Well, I know when my b’day is so that should be easy and I’d get admission in the same school my sister goes too, and since she is a SPL (Special Privileged Leader) I thought I could get away with most of the stuff. So I said “abba, I’ll tell them it’s sep 15th, na!”, to that he replied “Would you instead tell them it’s aug 15th. “
I was like what, no I wouldn’t, I cant change my b’day, I love that day, and was almost in tears, He must have thought that I need more cajoling and we stopped under the big neem tree and he explained how I was born a month later the cut off date for school and so if I have to get into this school for this year, I’d have to just say it this once but we can still celebrate my birthday the same day I was born, infact he raised the stakes and said we’ll celebrate my b’day twice. Once on aug 15th and the second time on September 15th.
Remember, aug 15th is Indian independence day, so you can have lots of friends over for the party, he bribed me. I was hooked in split of a second. I wiped my running tears and walked into that nun’s office, while ignoring the sound of the ceiling fan blade slicing the still air, I started answering the questions needed for school admission.
My father was asked to stay outside the room, so towards the end of my admission questionnaire, she asked me when my date of birth was, I quickly smiled and said 15th august. She nodded heavily and asked me to fetch my abbu. They spoke in restricted enthusiasm and my abba rushed to me with glee and said I was in, I was in ! So, that’s my birthday story.
Now everytime I give date for informal b’day lists at work, so that people can wish or bring a cake or get a card kinda ritual, I habitually just write aug 15th, but go home and celebrate on sep 15th. So there is a thin line how my excitement is divided by exactly 30 days of inconsistency.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
What a week, dude ?
After many premonitions, I QUIT, i quit my job (for another one, ofcourse) with such vigor that I decided to take a week off. During this past week, I absolutely did NOTHING. Watched endless hours of mindless tv shows, until late in the nite and woke up at absolutely ghastly hours, except for one day, had the cleaners come on Monday, Tuesday the GE guy finally came to install our refrigerator doors (don’t ask, I’ll tell u later about this), Wednesday went to a spa, Thursday to the doc, Friday I was supposed to go to mall and library but my will was up against nothing to do. So I chose latter. Meanwhile, during the mid week, V ordered the Cricket World Cup on cable.
My week of silent bliss came to an end with few surprising shocks, India lost to Bangladesh, Pakistan is out of the World Cup competition after losing to Ireland on St. Patrick’s day and Bob Woolmer passed away just the morning after, it feels like an unfolding drama, just a day after their lost game, to find the team’s coach unconscious in the hotel room, all this seems like a secret CIA plot. I feel so sorry for the team.
I wish I had another week off and could see the game between India vs Bermuda and India vs Sri Lanka, but for now, my first “Monday” at my new employer starts tomorrow at 8.45am.
My week of silent bliss came to an end with few surprising shocks, India lost to Bangladesh, Pakistan is out of the World Cup competition after losing to Ireland on St. Patrick’s day and Bob Woolmer passed away just the morning after, it feels like an unfolding drama, just a day after their lost game, to find the team’s coach unconscious in the hotel room, all this seems like a secret CIA plot. I feel so sorry for the team.
I wish I had another week off and could see the game between India vs Bermuda and India vs Sri Lanka, but for now, my first “Monday” at my new employer starts tomorrow at 8.45am.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Do you want to trade in
Are there times you wonder and feel like you could live somebody’s life. Well, don’t think no more, Nicael Holt, infact has done just that on Ebay. He SOLD his life ! Yes, you read it right, he sold his life. Everything, his name, his surf borad, his lifestyle as a package, even his friends and ex-girl friends come with deal. By now he must have trained his bidder to be him.
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