S.T.A.R

A little something that a dear someone sent me when I was feeling a bit low…!! :-)

It’s quite cute and perks you up as well…


The fact that you were born, is proof, God has a plan for you.
The path may seem unclear right now...
But one day you will see,
that all that came before, was truly meant to be.
God wrote the book that is Life, That's all you need to know.
Each day that you are living, was written long ago.
God only writes best sellers, so be proud of who you are,
your character is important,
in this book, you are the 'STAR'

Traffic Signals...

I am sure all of us have been onlookers to the pathetic situation that prevails at the traffic signals in all metros… The traffic signals are by far the most popular places to beg … Hyderabad is no exception…

Every time we get stopped at a traffic signal, we are surrounded by scatterings of these people, more or less kids who clean your windshield, offer to sell you something or just basically beg… Some of them are girls barely in their late teens, supporting a kid on her hip with one trailing behind her, holding an empty feeding bottle in her hands… begging for money, clothes etc etc..

You know when you see the plight of those kids that they carry around, half swathed with bandages on the head to evoke sympathy,… you know it’s a sham (the bandages and all), but what draws you to look at them is the fact of how sick the poor kid actually looks… that kiddo’s face is all tired, droopy and fatigued… it looks like it can drop off anytime in to another world.. The effects of carrying it around in the hot sun, all throughout the day without giving it proper food…

Why give birth to it when you know that you can’t give it a good life… Gosh! There are so many of them in all places that it wrenches the heart to look at them and see them suffer like that… there should be a law against them procreating when they do not have the capacity or capability to sustain those lives that are entrusted to them… there should be an answer to this!!

It’s not just kids!! You can see old people, not even being able to stand on their feet properly… poor things stooping so low, unable to withstand the heat and all the while begging for a paisa or two… it’s disheartening to see the way people behave with them… they are almost the age of your own parents or grandparents.. What’s wrong if you part with Rs.2/- or more for people like this instead of young ones who can actually work for a living..!!

I dunno… after a point of time… it’s even scary to be halted at traffic signals… The beggars, urchins, old people all are at least scraping for a living… Or so you condition yourself to think!! There’s worse in store… These signals have also become collecting points for the ‘eunuchs’… And that’s seriously scary… god forbid if you are in an auto or a two-wheeler by any chance… you’ll be troubled incessantly by these people and more often than not its only guys dressing up as them…not really people who are in that state!! There was this article in the newspaper here recently which stated that people were actually being harassed by these ‘eunuchs’ for money… they grab, hit and even subject you to bad language in the middle of the road if you refuse to pay up… No point even if you are a girl!! You are still subjected to the same crude treatment… neither the traffic police, nor the auto-driver you are with makes an effort to stop them …. Wonder what’s holding them back!!! Is it fear… disgust… what??!?!?!!

At the end of it all, you just despair over the situation as do a zillion others, make a few comments on how the country is never going to improve as long as these people are on the roads and just move on…!! You brush it off as a random feeling, a scene best forgotten that happens once in a while and get on with your life as they do with theirs..!!! And most of the times, even if some Good Samaritan wants to do something to create some sort of a change, they are dissuaded saying that this state of affairs will never change conveniently putting the blame on the existing government…

And we call ourselves the proud citizens of a developing country - INDIA….

TASHAN - Attitude or Desire!!??!

We went for this movie yday - Tashan - .. quite an impulsive decision that was considering the fact that we woke up at half past ten and then decided to go for the 12:00 PM show..!! Thankfully we got tickets... for all its worth, its good if u r not watching Tashan in a multiplex paying thru ur nose... 'coz then u might as well end up cribbing abt it..

Story starts off in a very good way, nice pace and all that, but somewhere along the way it gets jaded..!! And jaded in the sense that then u r wondering where the director went wrong and whose whims and fancies he had to comply to... Kareena looks good in the first half and too thin in the second half.. she tries to be a seductress-spunky-good-looking femme fatale all rolled into one which takes some getting used to esp since somewhere along the way she loses track of handling herself... Akshay looks good but his character sucks bigtime with its villager outlook.. Saif looks really hot and carries himself well through out the movie... Anil Kapoor tries to be a funny don wanting to learn english and all that jazz...

The costumes are tacky, Kareena's dancing needs to be worked on.. its amazing how they show only her upper torso when it comes to dancing and not her footwork.. ;-)... but must say that she has improved a bit..

The movie is quite reminiscient of RACE in some bits, fast paced at times and then somehow crawling at a snail's pace at other times... bringing with it a flashback that interconnects 3 of those characters..!!.. quite hindi-filmish at the end..!! Somehow that spoils the entire movie for you..

So verdict on Tashan is, spend no more than what u spend at ur local theatres.. going and watching it in a multiplex will amount to a lot of cribbing at the end...! :-)

SAIF ROCKS though..!! :)

A.P.P.R.A.I.S.A.L.S

Funny how people react to the very word called “APPRAISALS”…

Appraisal season is in full swing and I can see a multitude of changes in my colleagues and they way they act and behave in this spell!

Suddenly there’s too much of work to be done in units where there are practically no work at all… all of a sudden, all conversations (tea breaks, lunch, even just hanging out together) are only about who’s going to get what rating, who all are eligible for promotions, pay hike and what not… who is whose competition and what rating would I be getting…!!?!?!?

People who used to swagger in at half past ten and eleven etc are now prompt on time to office… people who used to shirk or twitch at the very mention of work are now craving for something to be done so that they get visibility – be it whatever – even something so cheesy like preparing the minutes of a meeting.. :P… people who used to leave earlier than the working hours are now staying back even if there’s nothing to do in the hope that their superiors notice it…

I mean, the antics that they do… accompanying the superiors on their coffee breaks (more like a puppy tail-wagging its master), dropping in those high-fundoo words at odd moments between meetings (sometimes it’s so much on a different context altogether that they end up making a fool of themselves!!), making sure that they are seen in the presence of prominent people in the office thereby giving an impression that they are in the essence of things… Phew!!

Rumors get floated about… Long-standing friendships are under scrutiny… the ‘friends-turned-foes-turned-friends’ scenario is common, team mates who worked with good coordination and synchronization start competing with each other… And god forbid! If you heard someone say that this so & so person has a good chance of getting such a rating… whew! Let’s not even go there…

Hmmm... Maybe because this is my confirmation appraisal I am not too worried about it… Maybe this time next year I’ll be in their shoes and then I can see what the fuss is all about :D

Till then, Ciao…

Hope you all have a good appraisal and you get the promotion, hike, rating that you desire ;)

Subtle... yet Potent....

From every wound there is a scar,

And every scar tells a story.

A story that says,

- " I survived "

This is one of the best quotes I have ever come across on the net ...!!

Speaks volumes and that too in a very optimistic way..!!

So far the most motivating quote i have ever come across and well...!! for a person who thought quotes were only a way for others to influence your thinking... this one sure did!!!

Lol... Funny life..!! Small world...!!! Similar people!!!

Quite funny how some things turn out...

You do something thinking no one else will ever have the guts or the foolhardiness to do something like that... and then you blame urself.. and end up feeling guilty and all that jazz... but then at the end of it all you find out that someone else did exactly the same things that you did and said...!! Wowee...

Funny life this is... And funny ppl in it too..

In a way makes me glad that am not the only deranged soul around ;)...

Lol... Some people are alike in a lot of ways than they think..! :P

And with that enigmatic statement... Adios for now..!!

TGIF....!!!

HATE IT...

...when someone questions my ability to do a work...

...when the genuine reasons I give are termed as excuses...

...when I am being taken for granted...

...when the rest are outside having fun while am sitting on my ass working away...

...when ppl make fun of something that I have been working hard on...

...when something that I want so badly does not happen...

...when ppl say that I do not have the passion or the aggressiveness for work... (I'd rather be assertive than aggressive!!)

...when whatever I have been working on so hard fails to meet the approval of my seniors...

...when I have a BAD DAY at work...

The only good thing that came out of it being... Thank God It's Friday..!! :-)

"Chukku Kaapi to Cappuccino" - A Nice Read!!

Came across this blog when someone forwarded it to me..!! :-)
A very nice piece of writing and one that many of us can identify with at anytime…! :-)
Read thru’ it… Reminiscence… Take a trip down memory lane and let the nostalgia engulf you!!!

This blog was written because I was left with no work to do after coming back from Café Coffee day today. I always feel that blogs are written by people who have nothing else to do, but write blogs. And blogs are written for people who have nothing else to do, but read blogs. So if you have nothing else to do, continue reading.

Café Coffee Days in my life!!! I can’t believe it. Six, seven years back I would never have imagined that such a day would occur in my life. Café Coffee day is supposed to be a place where high class people who didn’t know how to spend the money they had, go. But now I am there… I have changed a lot since my school days.

As I said in my previous post, I never talked in English till the end of my 12th standard. May be in my primary school we talked in English a little bit... (Since girls were there in my primary school we used to talk in English… Mostly it was the “You go girl.” “Miss this boy no… he is stealing my pencil miss” and “Miss this boy is pinching me miss” type of pathetic English.). Till I went to college, I never read an English newspaper. I never knew who Sidney Sheldon was. I never saw English movies. “Star movies” was considered adult material at home. I never talked to a girl. I don’t feel that I missed anything…But still because I didn’t have such experiences, I had to adjust a lot when I traveled beyond Cornigela, my place.

Born in Cornigela, an ordinary conservative town, even Chennai took a lot of time for me to adjust. My home town was too cool. You could watch movies for 15 Rs. in an AC theatre. You get the best food at lowest prices. You can drink water wherever you want and it doesn’t affect you. Girls never wear T-shirts or Jeans. You can see girls in half-sarees. And there were a lot more things that were cool to me…My first costly experience as far as I can remember was my first Pizza.

In my 12th standard holidays I had my first Pizza. We, a group of 5 friends went to a bakery. It was around 7 p.m at night. We ordered our first Pizza (only one because it costed so much - 20Rs!!!). As the Pizza arrived one of the guys started using his hand to take out a piece. “Ley” ….The others shouted… “asingam pannatheylae. Fork kudupaanga”… We got 5 forks for eating one Pizza. Everybody tried taking out a piece with the fork. Nobody was successful. Stupid forks… As we were trying different methods, two girls came in, and took the table adjacent to ours. They seemed to be from the so called high class families in Cornigela. They ordered a Pizza. We were still trying to eat ours. Their Pizza arrived in their table. Unable to find a solution, we looked at them for one. One of the girls took out a piece with her hand and started eating it. Damn stupids we were!!! But what do we do now?? We can’t go back to the hand-intake method… We are brave!!! Luckily for us the power went off… Forks were put down and everybody started picking a piece with the hand. Our sole aim- finish it off before power comes back!!! Unlucky for us, power came back immediately… We had a piece each in our hands… The girls started laughing… People around us realizing what had happened too joined them…We promised we would never eat Pizzas again. But we all did.

The first change in lifestyle for me occurred in Chennai. Chennai was completely different. Watching a movie for Rs.40 was a onetime life experience for most people in my village. I had to adapt to such things since I had to be a part of the group. Otherwise you feel left out. My habits started changing. For example, you look into the glass before drinking water to check whether it is clean. I went to my first Coffee Pub in Chennai. I remember saying some time back “Loosu paya thaan Coffee publa poi mukkaa manineram wait panni oru black coffeeya 50 Ruba kaasu kuduthu kudippaan” - I did it…

If Chennai was difficult for me, how easy would be an MBA school? I was dumbstruck with the culture… The Hi’s and the fundoo English speaking guys were all a great change, though I had expected it. There is a sense of hollowness when you say a Hi to somebody here. In Cornigela a smile was enough to say what you feel. There is real sense of belonging in a smile. I miss it - a smile without a Hi.

Here is an example to show how my family mindset is different from the mindset here. At the end of the first term when I went home, I showed quite a few photographs to my parents. In one photograph there was a guy who had his arms around a girl’s shoulder. My mother asked me whether they were in love. I said “No”. But even today she doesn’t believe me. She still feels that they are in love!!! If only she comes here...

The mind works mechanically here - after you crack a joke you do what they call high fives!!! When you meet a person you ask something like “What’s up buddy?”- Only God knows how you are supposed to answer for such a question!!! You say “Excuse me” after a sneeze - What big mistake have you made to say that?? When you are ready to sacrifice ethics for grades and see even your closest friend as a competitor in group discussions, how much difference will that Excuse me make? Pretty difficult to adjust!!!

Even Café Coffee Days and costly dinners sometimes hurt. Daily my father takes a bus to reach home from his office because taking an auto would cost him Rs.30. He walks a kilometer daily from the bus stop to my house. When I think of that and the fact that I am spending Rs.50 for a Chocolate Fantasy, I feel uneasy. Definitely it is not a matter of money. The fact is that I somewhere in my heart feel that this is not really who I am…The fact that I have changed a lot hurts… I want to be the same myself, but I am unable to do so.

Started listing down a few things that have changed in my life. The left column is a list of things that were part of my life before I entered college. And the right are those that I came to know/were a part of my after I entered college.

Karuppatti Kaapi(Black coffee) - Espresso (Some americano)

Kothu Parotta - Stuffed Parotta

Thosai - Dosaa

Chukku Kaapi - Cappuccino

Vizhuthugal (can you forget it), Kolangal, Chithi - X files, Yes Minister

Cup ice, Paal ice, Cone ice - Italian delight, Sundae

Varamalar, Ananda Vikatan - Business week, India today

Xray Kann, Palamuga Manna Joe, Maayavi, james Paandu 007 - Archies Tintin and Dilbert

Rajeshkumar, Subha - Sidney Sheldon, Jeffrey Archer

Dinamalar, Dinathanti - The Hindu, Times of India

Lae Makka - Hi Buddy

Kaadhal Kondaen - Love Actually

Muzhaga Bhajji - Sandwich

Ot*** - F****er

Pushpavanam kuppuswamy - Beatles

To get a vehicle from a friend 1) Makka. Vandi Chaavi kudu, veliya poganam (get the key and go) - Now 1)Is your vehicle free? 2) Are yuo going to use it for another hour or so? 3) Can i have it? I have something to do in such and such a place. 4)Ok... Will fill it (get the key and go)

I wish I go back to school and be the same guy I was. I know I can’t. But I want to do it and live the same life all again.

Leo da Mirci once said, “I love what I do because I do only what I love”.

If only following something is as simple as saying something!!!

Gender Diversity ..... Good, Bad or Ugly??

There’s such a lot of hue and cry being made about gender diversity in teams and work places and organizations … I mean... apparently it’s important that there is an equal number of men and women in the team so that there is a balance in the work environment … ASK ME!!!
I am the only girl in my team of 15 people… whew! U think it works to my advantage… well yes and no!!!

Yesterday we’d a team dinner hosted by our super boss for the excellent way our team is working and for us to communicate outside work also in a more friendly atmosphere and settings… hmmm…
I was BORED… dead bored..!! and here BORED would be an understatement … being the only girl is a little unnerving at a dinner setting with 14 other men folk… I mean for heaven’s sake they were all behaving in a way that was unlike them at all… I mean what is it with men and a few drinks and food??!!?!

So in any case my super boss was asking or rather telling me yesterday over the course of dinner that it’d be good for us to have another girl in the team and that I must be feeling all alone with no other female in the team… to be honest it does not matter so much to me… as I said earlier there are advantages as well disadvantages… for one, they all think of me as a kiddo (apart from being the only girl, I am also the youngest!!), and so whatever mischief I do, or whatever I say, they don’t take me seriously… which is a good thing because there have been a lot of instances of me suffering from the ‘foot-in-the-mouth’ disease…. Apart from that, I get preference on anything that we partake of and I am spoilt a lot as well… :-)… moreover, when it comes to work, there is always a willing hand to help me out and brainstorm with me…! :P but of course on the flip side, though am treated like ‘one-of-the-guys’, I am also subjected to a lot of MCP behavior, crude jokes, and a lot of swear words – trust me – my knowledge of swear words in a variety of languages has improved considerably ever since I joined this team… and those once-in-a-while mails that gets forwarded to only guys, and god-forbid if I even get a peek of that… well that sometimes makes me wonder, do they really think I am a kid-who-knows-nothing???

But anyways, thankfully when it comes to hard-core work, the whole Shakespearean concept of ‘Fragility thy name is woman’ does not hold good for my team… so that’s the biggest plus point of the lot.. :-) I have to do my share of the work, come what may and that’s the best thing about this..!! ‘Coz at the end of the day, the work you do is what matters here, fun and jokes apart!! :-)

Anyways, as far as I am concerned, I am thankful for my team and the gender balance or whatever term is used in that regard… I certainly would not want to lose my cherished position of being the only girl in the team… ‘Coz for me, it’s smooth sailing all the way through… work for work, fun for fun and I like it the way it is… ;-)

Calvin & Hobbes, Dilbert...!!

Ever read those series on Calvin & Hobbes and Dilbert.. :-)

They are so funny for words..!! Man, they ROCK!

So subtly sarcastic, hitting the nail right on the head.. :P

Love them...!!!

Exploited.... Unaware....

I had gone for a dinner yesterday with my aunt (dad’s sister) and her husband and some other relatives. One of the topics that revolved around the dinner was the fact of how people are being exploited by the higher-ups in the organization… one of the aunties there related this incident…

She is a teacher in a school out in Ahmedabad and she was one day interviewing candidates for the post of librarian for the school. Now the school I guess is quite well-to-do even though being under some association or group (did not quite listen to that part of conversation..!). But the point is that, there was this lady candidate who applied for the job and her interview was being handled. After the initial round of questioning, she was asked what her expected salary was… the poor lady was in a dilemma and after a few minutes of thought, she hesitatingly replied “Rs.3500/- ??”… Now my aunt and the principal who was along with her were put in a fix… the poor thing was unaware of how much she was even entitled to get… Misreading the expressions on my aunt and the principal’s faces she again haltingly said “I will be ok with it even if the salary is reduced by Rs.1000/- to Rs.2500/-.” This from a lady, my aunt said, who is qualified to be a librarian by all standards and who is entitled to the job as much as anyone else, in fact more so than anyone else… My aunt allayed her fears saying that she was entitled to actually Rs.12000/- as per her grade and qualifications… And the look on the lady’s face was one of pure astonishment apparently because she could not believe that she would be entitled to an amount so high when she was asking for a sum of Rs.3500/-. Again she haltingly asked whether she could get that much for the job.

It’s sad to see deserving people like this being unaware of their rights and getting exploited by the dime-a-dozen people who cheat others out of their jobs and money etc…

Happy Vishu...

May you always have work for your hands to do;
May your pockets hold always a coin or two;
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane;
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain;
May the hand of a friend always be near you;
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous "Vishu".... :-)

M.B.A.

Mediocre But Arrogant – M.B.A. – Abhijit Bhaduri.

I just read this book on my way back from Chennai… I had been wanting to read this ever since my friend told me about it… but somehow could never lay my hands on it… it was always out of stock or something or the other … but yesterday when I was in Chennai, I happened to go to Landmark and thankfully they had this book there… No second thoughts! I bought it… and well… Read it in 4 hours flat… If you have done your MBA from any institute chances are that you’ll identify with this word for word…!!! I sure did!!

It felt so good to read the book… it sure did bring back a lot of memories; some good, some bad; some sweet some bitter; some beautiful some ugly…!!! But it did really feel good to read the book…

If you have read Peter Robinson’s Snapshots from Hell; you’ll enjoy this even better…. This is the Indian answer to his book…. This might in the beginning seem a little like Chetan Bhagat's - Five Point Someone... it's after all a college backdrop for the story as well...

There are people, who come to your mind reading about certain characters of the book, there are professors whom you recognize when you come across them in the book, and there are instances that you’ll draw parallel to your own experiences… Maybe every college is host to these multitudes of characters… makes you wonder how people can be so similar …

My advice – Don’t miss out on this one… This is a must-read book for all who have done their MBA.

Tagged...

Got tagged by RAT.... and well... since he placed so much hope on my responding fast, here goes.. :-)

1.LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATER: RACE – at Sangeet Theatre, Hyderabad

2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING? Fools Die – Mario Puzo

3. FAVORITE BOARD GAME? Chess.... Used to play it.. Don’t find the time anymore

4. FAVORITE MAGAZINE? I read almost all magazines I can lay my hands on...

5. FAVORITE SMELLS? Smell of the earth after the first few rain drops hit the ground, Jovan’s white musk, BRUT (on guys)

6. FAVORITE SOUND? Pitter-patter of rain on the roof,

7. WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD? The feeling you get when you’re betrayed by people you trusted....

8. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE? Yet another day!!!!

9. FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE? I prefer all those ‘Chaat Bandaar’s’ on the road-sides .... They serve it pretty fast and its damn good too..!

10. FUTURE CHILD'S NAME? Dunno yet!!

11. FINISH THIS STATEMENT. "IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I'D...? Never be Happy...

12. DO YOU DRIVE FAST? No

13. DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? Yes, I have 3 teddy bears on ma bed... I LOVE TEDDIES :)

14. STORMS-COOL OR SCARY? Cool

15. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR? Not that rich as yet... will let ya know when I strike rich

16. FAVORITE DRINK? Mom’s Filter Coffee, currently though its “ENSURE” - a children’s drink...

17. FINISH THIS STATEMENT, "IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD ..... Go for DANCE CLASSES...

18. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI? Nopes, have never eaten broccoli in my life so far...

19. IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE?I like my hair color the way it is.. :D

20. NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS YOU HAVE LIVED IN. Palakkad, Coimbatore, Ettimadai (falls in b/w Pkd & Cbe on the highway), Bombay, Bangalore, Hyderabad.

21. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? None.... Maybe Cricket when India-Pakistan or India-Australia are playing

22. ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU. Hmmm... Well... He leaves good comments on my blog which inspire me on my next topic ;)

23. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED? Couple of HUGE suitcases that belong to my roomies...

24. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN? Yup... no other choices entertained...

25. MORNING PERSON, OR NIGHT OWL? Both... depends on the occasion

26. OVER EASY, OR SUNNY SIDE UP? Didn’t quite get that... if you meant Eggs, Sunny-side up...

27. FAVORITE PLACE TO RELAX? My room ...

28. FAVORITE PIE? I don’t much like Pies....

29. FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Like all flavors except Vanilla...

30. OF ALL THE PEOPLE YOU TAGGED THIS TO, WHO'S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST? I am not tagging anyone... no one’s as jobless as me ;)

Some more doubts .....

› Why is it that when adults have multiple personalities it's schizophrenia, but when a child has imaginary friends its cute?

› Do coffins have lifetime guarantees? And if so, whose lifetime??

› Why do you get in trouble for blocking an exit when you're standing in the doorway? In case of an emergency, wouldn't you run out, too, therefore NOT blocking the exit?

› If mars had earthquakes would they be called marsquakes?

› Why is Charlie short for Charles if they are both the same number of letters?

› Who gets to keep the pennies in a wishing well?

› Do stuttering people stutter when they're thinking to themselves?

› If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?

› Why do people, such as S.W.A.T or Seals wear the bulletproof vests where you can see them? Wouldn't people aim for their head?

› Why can't we sneeze with our eyes open?

› If I think, and therefore I am, am I just a thought?

› If rabbits' feet are so lucky, then what happened to the rabbit?

› Why does mineral water that has "trickled through mountains for centuries" go out of date next year?

› Why do birds not fall out of trees when they sleep?

› If you lived in Siberia and you wronged the Russians government, where would they send you?

Rendezvous with Telugu... :-)

I had written in my blog earlier about my tryst with Telugu Desam and the people here… In a bid to learn the language, quickly and efficiently, I have resorted to watching Telugu movies… (Some of them are so corny that it would sure make up for another post…but first things first!!!)…

Of course when you all of a sudden start watching Telugu movies, you are greeted with skeptic amusement from all quarters, more so from your friends forget anyone else… there are then such a lot of chitchat flying around like “she might have gotten a Telugu boyfriend”, “trying to show off – the stupid #%@^”, “there should be a reason as to why she is suddenly so interested in Telugu… hmm!!”

Forget all that, the best part was, it was not as difficult as I thought it would be to understand the dialogues, as many of the words are common to Tamil, so I kind of started quite enjoying it and showing off my command over Telugu-in-bits-and-pieces …. And soon I could quite follow what people were talking about when we started going for “those famous tea-breaks” … good for me!

Recently, I was watching this Telugu movie – Bommarillu (starring the infamous “Boys” pair – Siddharth and Genelia) – the movie was quite interesting and I was engrossed in it, when my cook came rushing out of the kitchen listening to the dialogues and squealed… “Bommarillu… neeku Telugu thelusa??” … and me in a bid to show off said “koncha koncha thelusu… :-)”…. She went berserk saying “Oh god..!!”And holding her hands up to her mouth… for a minute I was a little stunned… I did not know me spouting out my barely-can-manage-Telugu would evoke such a response from her… I got a little scared as well… I quickly shifted to Hindi and told her I was still learning..! Whew!!

But on the note of movies – you should watch this movie called “Happy Days” which is about this set of engineering students who deal with their 4 years in an Engineering college… last I heard it was dubbed in Malayalam which was getting quite a good response from audiences…. It’s a Must-Watch movie… one movie where we would find it easy to identify with the stuff happening … :-) we would’ve been guilty of it sometime or other in college… :P

So that is my rendezvous with Telugu …. Still going on quite strong… :-) Have moved on to the all more important sentences – “I am hungry”… “I am sleepy” … “I want to go home” … and the best of all “antha scene lethu ;-)” …. :-) --> used very religiously in office with teammates… !!! heheheheh…

Note to Self....

If death meant just leaving the stage long enough to change costume

And come back as a new character...

Would you slow down? Or speed up?

Quite a poignant thought – if you look at it… it questions the very essence of your living…
Do you love yourself..?? Do you feel a sense of pride when you look at yourself in the mirror? Do you say ‘I love you’ to yourself?? Are you your favorite?? Are you happy with yourself? Happy with the way your life is going?

I am sure a lot of times you feel let down, bogged down, frustrated, irritated, depressed, and emotionally feel like you are not capable of doing whatever comes your way… doing what people entrust you with …. Or even simply not doing something that you actually feel like doing and something that you actually love doing…

Everyone is influenced by something or the other… someone or the other…. But it all depends on how you look at the way people say things… it is all a matter of fact if you have the courage to look deep inside yourself, and find the strength and the nerve to do things that you feel are right… even if they are not the right things atleast you’ll have no one else but yourself to blame and move on…

A lot of people I know, crib about themselves, about how their lives are not as good as everyone else’s… how others have it so much better than themselves… how others are better at things that they themselves are not… about how they had to suffer and undergo troubles when they were so young… (And what are these troubles??? – Not enjoying with friends, not travelling etc – this is what they say…)

Gosh! I have just one thing to tell …. Your life is what you make out of it… if you can’t do something that you like, like what you are doing…!! We’re given such a beautiful life to enjoy, to do good, to make good, to feel good… and all we ever do is just complain and crib about how life sucks and how things could have been so much better… if that’s the case, do it … make things better… don’t crib, complain, criticize and grumble about how sad and bad life is…

That way, you are criticizing GOD… Complaining about what he chose to give you… GOD would not have given you something that you cannot handle right… and even if you find it tough there’s always one or the other that GOD shows to help you… Never fear shadows, they always mean there’s a light shining somewhere nearby..!!!

Live life well… Treat it as a gift… and don’t gripe about small things that are of no consequence….

The only way you can repay GOD for the good things in life is by smiling always…

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me.”

Krazzy 4 ... who's better Hrithik or SRK??

There’s this huge debate going on in the media as well as between people I know about the item numbers in the new Rakesh Roshan movie – ‘Krazzy 4’. There are 3 item numbers in the movie performed by SRK, Rakhi Sawant, and Hrithik Roshan. Now the debate is not about Ms.Sawant, it’s about SRK and Hrithik on whose performance is better as they are dancing to the same song – one a remix of the other supposedly the title song.

Personally, I feel that SRK’s performance was more appealing than the junior Roshan’s. Not just because of the way it was portrayed, but also because of the choreography. The choreographer for Hrithik’s version – Ganesh Acharya – could have utilized Hrithik a lot more better… the visuals of Hrithik’s song was perfectly good… but just the steps and the song as a whole could have been made differently or in a better light exploiting Hrithik’s amazing dance talent…!!

SRK though he is not a great dancer or anything, he has that ability to bring his persona onto the limelight in an effortless manner, much better than I have seen anyone do that… He captures your attention so gracefully and naturally that you are more or less transfixed to what you are seeing on screen or whatever crap he is doing out there… Hrithik too has that ability but if he is utilized in a proper manner…

All said and done, Hrithik is definitely a better dancer than any other actor in recent times and has given some truly amazing pieces.

But in this song, I think SRK takes the cake ….

Sun, Sand and a Holiday.... :-)

Okie this is been long in the pending stage… a travelogue on our trip to Vizag…!!! :-)

Vizag is around 700-750 kilometers from Hyderabad… a neat straight road that goes through Vijayawada, Rajamundry and then finally Vizag…

An impulsive decision to go on a road-trip, a unanimous choice to drive down to Vizag for the weekend, and 2 days of guaranteed fun… Sun… Sand… and a holiday… Rhythm of the soul!!! :-)

There were 10 of us for the trip… Me, Glen, Meenal, Kalyan, Ravi, Amol, Lokesh, Bheemesh, Nagaraj, Mahender…. 2 cars… A Scorpio and a Wagon R…

We started from Hyd at around 6:00-6:30 on a Friday evening and drove down all the way without stopping for gaps until 9:00. We stopped for dinner at a road-side dhaba, hogged, swapped stories, had hot cups of chai to keep us awake during the journey and moved… stopped again at around 1:30 – 2:00 at a toll gate and swapped passengers… :-) we stopped for breakfast at a place called Annavaram where we had a nice good satiation of our hunger-pangs… we reached Vizag at around 7:00 in the morning… went straight to hotel, settled in and then had a huge breakfast (complimentary u see ;)) … then to get some of our strength back we dozed for a while… got up at arnd 12:30 sorts and went down for lunch.. After lunch we left immediately for Rushikonda Beach… now this is the best part of the Vizag trip…the beach was awesome, the water was perfect and clear, and we had a lot of fun.. Dunking each other in water… splashing water all around… etc etc..!! Now I don’t know swimming and so didn’t venture too much into the water.. But my dear brothers – Kalyan and Ravi – they did not spare me… they dragged me in so much and so deep that I was dunked and water over my head… I thot I was a gone-case…!! Lol… but anyways…

Rushikonda stretch is just too awesome and breath-taking… the beach is a perfect haven for rest, relaxation and more….

After the beach, we went up to the Kailasagiri hills in the ropeway… that gave us a good view of the surrounding area as well as the beach..!! We went up the hill, roamed for a bit, hogged on the cotton candies.. And well had a gr8 time..!! We also went in the toy train.. :-) Once we came back down, we went back to the beach and again hogged on paani-puri, groundnuts and all those stuff that you normally get at the beach… :-) Glen and Kalyan got into an argument about the “kadalamma kalli on the sand” thingy… readers from kerala would identify with this :-) for the others,…

The legend goes that if you write “kadalamma kalli (the sea goddess is a liar)” on the shore on the beach, the sea will make sure that it is washed off… irrespective of how much further to the shore the water has to come…

So anyways they tried that and well after a few unsuccessful attempts the water did manage to come up there and wash it off… lol..!!

Once we were back in the hotel, we washed off the sand from ourselves and had a good dinner and then slept off… Morning we were woken up at 4:45-5:00 to leave for Araku valley & Borra caves which is about 70 kms from Vizag… had a hot cuppa tea, and cleared out the room and left for Araku..

The drive was damn peaceful, full of lush greenery all around, and lots of those yellow flowers (not sunflowers!) and a nice winding road… we stopped for breakfast at a road-side hut… the food was served hot – nice crisp dosas with spicy chutney, omlettes, and idlis with Chai… it was so YUMMY and MOUTH-WATERING… better than any dosa that I have tasted so far (sorry amma! :P)… we left soon for our destination…

Reached Araku at around 10:30-11:00. Araku has this little rivulet of a waterfall from higher up… not exactly a rivulet but more so a stream with a strong current… it was very wet and slippery and Kalyan and Meenal had a nasty fall.. but it was not too bad, thank god the rocks were not jagged… then yours truly almost fell into water, but thankfully managed to regain my balance and hurt my big toe instead … all said and done it was a great time..!! :-) managed to capture a lot of good snaps…

Next trip was to Borra caves… legendary for the fact that, it is believed that Lord Hanuman, on his way to Lanka passed through these caves… Indeed, there is a huge gash on the rocks at one particular spot which looks like a mace has been dragged through it and a HUGE footprint on the ground there, believed to be Hanuman’s. The caves were not too exciting except for this part of it and we came out of the caves in a hour’s time. We left for Vizag ata round 4:00. Reached Vizag at 6:00, went up to Kailasagiri Hills again for a last visit to Lord Shiva and Parvathy whose colossal statues were enshrined there.

We left Vizag, back to hyd at arnd 7:30 in the evening… I slept the entire way back until we stopped for dinner somewhere near Rajamundhry. Had good dosas and a nice south Indian kaapi… drove back all the way …. All of us were dead worn-out and exhausted. The next stop we made was at 5:30-6:00 in the morning when we stopped for tea and biscuits somewhere near hyd. We reached hyd back at 8:00-9:00 in the morning all drained but happy…

Monday morning – office beckons – who cares?? :P .. Thankfully my boss was also with us so we said we are bunking office for the day… went back home… long hot bath, a cup of tea and straight 8 hours of sleep on our cozy bed…

Vizag was a great trip not for just the fun part of it… when we went we all knew each other to the extent colleagues know other contemporaries. The trip helped us bond together and form some friendships that are to last a lifetime…

(Yeah, yeah, too much senti at the end I know… but can’t help… I had to write that!!)

Some Doubts...

1. Isn't it funny how the word 'politics' is made up of the words 'poli' meaning 'many' in Latin, and 'tics' as in 'bloodsucking creatures'?

2. Why do companies offer you "free gifts?" Since when has a gift NOT been free?

3. How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?

4. If you were born exactly on 12:00 midnight on December 31st – January 1st, which year would you say you were born in?

5. If marriage means you fell in love, does divorce mean you climbed out?

6. If water spins clockwise when it drains in the northern hemisphere and water spins counterclockwise when it drains in the southern hemisphere...which way does it spin at the equator?

7. Why is the name of the phobia for the fear of long words Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia?

8. If the entire world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?

9. If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?

10. If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill herself, is it considered a hostage situation?

11. If you swallow a burp does it turn into a fart?

12. Who was the first person to say, "See that chicken over there ... I'm gonna eat the first thing that comes out of its butt"?

PS: More to come.... ;)