score card

as i mentioned a post or 2 earlier, i recently completed one year in bangalore...a place i hated to come to..nothing personal against this village but just generally, i hated to leave mumbai and my family..and the power cuts, the 11pm deadline and the fact that i cant go for a walk alone after 9/10 pm didnt help.

And yet here i am 1 year later..in this village. So, now its time to look back and take stock of the situation..what i have and what i have not managed to accomplish in this past year. Ask me why i have decided to write such a post out of the blue. Answer: its not out of the blue. I have just taken my GMAT and this was one of my primary goals when i came to this village. So i decided to take a look at all the other things that i have/havent done.

1. I have taken my GMAT and managed to do pretty well.
2. I got a learner's license for 2-wheelers. I didnt do anything about it though. I was all set to get a 2-wheeler from a friend but the damn thing refused to start and my dad gave me his car, so i forgot about 2-wheelers.
3. I bought a complete catalog of stuff you need for a house: refrigerator, washing machine, tv, cooking gas, every single thing thats in my house with my own money :)
4. I managed to see the trash collection vehicle after one year of staying here. This part sucks about blore..early in the morning, one guy and one gal and their loud speaker teach you the civility of not throwing garbage on the roads and stuff. AAAHhh it sucks!! its the most depressing thing to hear early in the morning. And it took me close to one year to see the source of this wrath. Though they had disturbed my sleep quite a few times.
5. I havent yet managed to go to commercial street..the shopping mecca.
6. I have become a loyal benetton wearer coz the store is really big, spacious, beautiful, and a 2 mins walk from my house. Also, i love the clothes and colors. One of the reasons why i didnt go to commercial street.
7. I havent gone to nasa..the pub. This was the place i went to when i first came to blore in 1997 with su and maggi. But ive discovered some other good places.
8. Power cuts dont pyshce me any more. The first time i experienced a power cut i went into a depression. The second time, i was like what if the power doesnt come back for 2 days. But 1 year in this village has made me more comfortable with power cuts. When at home, I keep my laptop, mobiles charged and you'll never catch me without candles at home.
9. I am done with my trip to orange county, coorg..another one in my to-do list that i made before coming here. and it was beautiful.
10. I am yet to see nandi hills though.
11. I havent started my guitar classes or dance classes.
12. This one takes the cake: I have got (or shud it be gotten...damn you GMAT) used to driving without wearing the seat belt...it has been a real problem for me..i just cudnt go even 100 mts wihtout wearing the seat belt and i could see that here it was absolutely fine to drive without it. But I could never do it..somehow. But one day after almost one whole year of wanting to do it, I suddenly realized that I had been driving without the seat belt for some days without even noticing. So a good habit..given up.
13. I play baddy and TT and carrom now :)
14. I havent gone for a trek.
15. I sat on my terrace in awesome weather (really f**king awesome), listened to great music and had wine. I even drank in the rain. something i cant even imagine doing in mumbai. first the building has 34 floors and i need special permission to go on the terrace..second, the weather is just the opposite of really f**king awesome. i would sweat to death.
16. I saw a rainbow from the door of my house. Again cant even imagine this in mumbai.
17. I often see monkeys from my office terrace.
18. I have never seen such a beautiful night sky from my window like the one i see here. (for that matter, even day sky)

Cheers to one good year!!

pride and insight

its amazing how much insight almost-complete strangers can give you about yourself. Must admit, before this I was never open to other people dissecting me, but now i dont go all mad if you say something a little nasty but true.

I mean imagine a white guy i met on a bus ride to the airport says something like "you have a lot of pride"..and im like "yeah he may be right..just a tad bit but right" see its like it was cold and he ordered hot chocolate and i took something cold to drink and he suggested that i could change my order..then he offered me his drink but nope..moi stuck to my chilly drink in chilly weather.. and then he came up with that pearl of wisdom and i shall repeat for effect "you have a lot of pride" . i didnt have the brains to order a hot chocolate or even a tea, anything hot..on top of that i couldnt even admit that i could've done better.

My friends have tried earlier to make me realize the same thing, but they were like "you have such a huge ego problem" or "you are such an egoist" but i never thought about that..ego was never an attribute i associated with myself..i was like..no im like damn awesome and amiable and cool and friendly and tolerant and i can put up with a lot of things of a lot of ppl. Lets be very clear here that im not denying that im any of that..i am all that with a touch of pride..:P

and to think about it its not too bad to have a little bit of pride, is it? so now when ppl around me say that you have a very big ego i only say..."its not ego..the word is pride/self-respect" depending on the situation. you know what? a little pride is very essential..you have to value yourself before expecting anyone else to value you..and then how can anyone not be proud of what they have grown up to become? I am.

sad anniversary!!

lately i have been very miserable and snappy..i get irritated and dont take even 2% effort not to show it..i snap at people, cut them out, shout at them, tell them in no mean terms where they can go and what they can do to themselves...i really dont know why its happening coz im generally a person who thinks about the other person before saying or doing something and im generally not rude or mean to people (infact never)...like you might be wearing the crappiest shirt but if you ask me how it is you'll always get "nice". i am not going like "wowwwwwww awesome" but i wont even be "ewwww dude! what were you thinking?"

probably the fact that i had been to mumbai and had an awesome 5 days had something to do with it. i was so miserable back here that i was annoyed at everyone around me. but enough sulking. thats not what i want to write.

what i want to write is how i have never been out of india. So now when my lovely su went to London and got back chocolates and i offered them to my dad, all i got was scornful taunts. in his words "all the kids have been around the globe four times but this girl is a frog in a well. she will never get out".. how humiliating. i should have had all the chocolates myself. but whatever. my time has just started..only one year to be precise..

that reminds me that 3 days back i celebrated one year of staying in blore...i shouldnt use the word 'celebrated'..sulking is not a form of celebration :P

im back!!!

yeah baby im back from my 3 week vacation i couldnt stop ranting about..actually its been quite a while since im here but i was going through a bout of depression..you know after 3 weeks with your favorite people staying alone can be killing. its like the walls want to eat you up or do you want to be eaten up by them?

and no, i didnt jinx my vacation by going on and on about it...it was a purely beautiful vacation...but my car for sure is jinxed...that baby stands at the service centre for longer than in my parking lot. but this time it has gone real far. its been lying with those suckers for 1-week now. On monday it just didnt start...simply.. "abhi mood nahi hai" types. So i thought ok, lets give her some rest. I called the service guys on tuesday, they said the fuel is not reaching the engine...that should be fine in any place in the world except for this village. It seems a fuel filter (which is what my car needs to start) is not available in entire bangalore..what the f!@#? Now really..i dont even know if im cursing the village for right reasons coz i really dont trust these guys also.

So long story short, she is idling her time among the blue-overalled men since 4 days and no return in sight..sigh..and to think the weekend is starting and i have no car...aaargh..meanwhile im getting all sorts of ideas such as....

First i thought ill sell her off and buy another. but my dad snubbed me royally (no i was not asking him for permission..i was asking for money). Then i thought forget it ill not sell her.. just send her back to my dad (so that he also has to open his tap o'money for her upkeep) and ill buy a new one myself. Then i thought that this is a very expensive idea and i need to save for my apps and all that and so ill buy a scooty and keep this baby too.

The only problem with the last idea is that im not too comfortable around scooties (if you read the last post). AND im also wondering if ill ever be as good with biking as im with my car. So lets see...for now..all plans are on hold and im praying TATAs make a better and more manageable car next time around so that no one else in the world suffers what i have suffered. amen.

why so excited??

because im leaving on a 3-weeks vacation..yes you heard it guys...3 f$#@ing weeks..fully planned 3 weeks..ok not exactly fully planned..planning anyways kills the fun..but you know, macro planned.

First week keiku has school, so i finish all the bank & official work, shopping, hair cut and all the things that she wouldnt enjoy..and partying. Next week, completely dedicated to her which translates to watching too much ninja hatori and perman. Last week is a little hazy..i know im going to some place with friends..where? when? i dont know.

The main downer is that my new year wont be in mumbai..you see Im taking a week off to attend keiku's bday and I had to give up my new year in mumbai for that. but a girl has to do what she has to do. and ill finally be going to nandi hills and coorg..so i guess ill make up for that to some extent.

That reminds me of the places ive been to in recent past.
1. Do you remember you holding your dad's finger and going sight-seeing (or when you are a little older, not holding his finger and maintaining some distance so that you can check out the boys/girls). I remember that and so it was a very proud moment for me when actually I took my dad sight seeing to Mysore and Srirangapatnam and in blore. I made all the arrangements, plans and i PAID. I also took him shopping to benetton and got him the coolest shirt and trousers only to hear "itne paison mein main car bhar ke kapde le aata"..yes daddy thats why ill buy you what you wont buy yourself. To conclude..im proud. see the smug look?


2. I went to hydi to meet god gulty. he was getting married and it had been 3 years since i saw him. all i can say about that trip is: bad choice of mode of transport. I went by volvo and yeckk is the only word that describes it. I shudder now even at the mention of volvo buses. Ofcourse, it was kind of worth it as i spent one good day of catching up and drinking with kapil. Ive never longed for a bath more desperately. I scrubbed and scrubbed like in those 'iski kameez meri kameez se safed kaise?' ads (not the clothes, i scrubbed myself), washed my hair, put all the clothes that had come in 1 meter radius of that seat in the washing machine..and only after that did the demons of the volvo disappear. To conclude..I swear never to travel by volvo buses again.

3. The third place is closer, around 15 kms or lesser from home..sanky tank. This was the same place I and su had gone to some 11 years back..though i dont remember anything from that visit except that there was boating..maybe. the place,my guess is, is now completely revamped. this time around it was early morning, we were on honda activa, had tea at a roadside shop..it was good fun. Then we walked around that lake..er pond..er some-dirty-water-in-man-made-pit.

The best part comes after we reached home and suzie thought that i should try to ride the activa. considering that its been ages since i last touched a bike, i knew from the word go that it was going to be fun. initially my legs were the accelerator and the brakes of the bike because my mind refused to lift my feet off the ground. suzie was in full mind to switch to this mode of riding as he figured it saves hell lot of fuel. finally i lifted my feet, went for some 50 mtrs and decided to take a u-turn. Now, i dont have any misconceptions about myself. so i got down and tried to maneuver the bike..the satanic bike couldnt stand my good intentions and somehow started speeding and i couldnt control it. At that very moment, evil won over good in dramatic contrast to popular belief and i let go of the satanic bike and it fell. i could hear its ha-ha-ha types laughter in my head. That was the end of my adventures with Satan. To conclude..next time around ill get a more docile bike.

4. This one is not a place i went to..but something i wanted to mention. I was talking to dennis last week..yeah the same dennis who had said something i found very sexist and had berated him for in this blog itself..he was like he doesnt understand that men want independent, good looking, smart, confident, working girls, who can take care of themselves, are well educated, get well paid and blah blah..and then even expect that they would be virgins..hahaha (laughter because thats a joke). I liked what he said though i have no opinions on that..i mean as a girl i never had to worry about my partner's virginity coz i had no choice but to go by his word..which if you ask me, can be a very unreliable source. Its like:
girl: are you a virgin?
boy feels: (yeah i have slept with 543 girls and being a boy i can do that and get away..god wanted it to be this way..otherwise he wouldnt have made it this way..so damn you feminist, im going to heaven for following God's path)
boy says: no baby, you are the one i love and i swear its you and only you.


I guess ive rambled on enough. Now im looking forward to the infinitely long drive to the airport. Agreed its long but doesnt seem that bad when you are going for a 3-weeks' vacation. (I know ive said it 31000 times..touch wood!!)

Why so serious?

Because my besssssssst friend got married :( Actually 2 of them but this post is for Rajesh Garg...God i called him by this name all this while. I shud have given him a nick name like raj or raji or reggie or...where am i going? OK thats not the point.

The point is ill miss him..not that he is here in blore. He is in mumbai. But still. The point is i dont like change of any sort and this is a big one. The point is he was always there for me. And the point is, im afraid, thats all a thing of the past.

My dreadful year in Powai Labs..the only good thing that came out of it was I got a friend like rajesh..We used to order and have lunch together..i guess thats how all this started. And we started talking and became friends. Then our legendary ceo had to stick his dirty nose into my business and he asked me..in his words.."please keep your friendships in office discreet"..bloody f***er.. I guess that was the day, I and rajesh went out for the first time for a coffee. So much for discreet, Mr ceo.

Legend has it that that was the turning point of this friendship. Then, one day, I was in distress and needed a place to stay in for a couple of hours. Rajesh had keys to the office and he was kind enough not only to open the office for me but also to give me company. And when I didnt want to take certain calls on my cell, he very willingly gave his cell to me for hours together. Not to mention, he is blessed with magical powers to get you any Gorforsaken song/movie/software you want on this planet or from other planets/stars.

Now, when the story has reached a stable point and we are all thinking, "wow Rajesh", let me tell you that Rajesh is from IITB and a 'nerd'. This guy has a problem..of (not) speaking up though he is the most amazing listener. I can recall conversations of over an hour where the guy didnt say more than 2 and a half words. And thats why I always preferred to meet him at IITB. What with all the mosquitoes, atleast he wont be able to sleep. :)

So our angel wanted to know whats up with me and why im all in a mess and stuff..and like i said he has a problem with directly confronting me and so he does a bit of legendary Godgiri and HACKS into my mail account..so he's not such an angel after all..

and yeah then we have our fights and arguments and i try to reason things with him and wow never to speak to him again. And in exactly 1 week i was speaking to him again coz he was too good a friend to lose and he made it so much easier for me now that i didnt have to tell him anything..he found out on his own.

Thats our little story..

And it has only got better with time. There have been so many occasions when I have just 'felt' like speaking to him..and I have literally ordered him to come below his house at as late as 12 in the night..and not even once has he refused. I remember when I had an interview to prepare for and I wanted to study C++, he and I literally snuck into the IITB library (we were not students then). And it was all his plan. And then again, the night before the interview, we were sitting on a bench on a road side under a street light at 12 in the night, studying (he was teaching, i was learning). Who would do that for me?

He has listened to my sob stories sitting on a bench at IIT lakeside. And he has listened for hours..with interest, never complaining, never getting bored (atleast not making it obvious). And I have loved talking to him.

I guess I cant really mention all the times he has been there for me (because i can only type so much). He has been my banker, my teacher, my lunch and dinner buddy, my shrink, my sounding board. And all this within minutes..because I have always called him up at the last moment. Like I say, he is my 911. And I can proudly say, he has never let me down. He even cooked lunch and got it to office when i was not well..God will I miss him..

So now you know why I am sad when he is getting married. When i say sad, I really mean truly genuinely sad. I know many people have given me gyan on how true friends are happy when their friends are happy and all that jazz. But im sorry, im not that good..call me selfish or what you may..but im sad..It was inevitable and it had to happen and I knew it all along. But still...

Who will hand out a handkerchief to me now?

home sweet home!!

im back from my extended diwali vacations...extended why? coz i went for 6 days came back after 13..cool isnt it? it was fun...more so bcoz i went with the mindset that its only 5 days to complete every damn work...did so...and THEN extended my stay...so for the next 7 days i was completely free..

and my dad left for haryana and then i was completely free and completely alone in my favorite abode..ofcourse with keiku..she was the reason i extended my vacation after all...

and i celebrated diwali with all my family..everyone was there...my sisters came down with their families...dad was ofcourse there..we burst a lot of crackers...(courtesy avi)..it was a good feling...full diwali types...what with me wearing a sari and all, crackers, the family dinner and family drinks :P...

ok so after lazing around for the rest of the week, i came back to bangy on monday...su was here and she stayed with me monday night...by the time she came, everything's closed in this village so i took her to the barista in Leela...and then we were so sleepy..i with all the travelling and she ..i dont know why...BUT trust me to pep things up...i gave her, lets say something, with red bull...and we both were awake for hours after that...2 hours definitely...

morning she had to buy authentic bangalore bakery biscuits on her dad's request and she left in her pursuit and i came to office not before making her an offer she cudnt refuse...sickheads..only to drop her to the airport...you see this village has its airport in another village almost 50kms away from main city....what were they thinking??

and then next night i was watching fashion...

that concluded my 2 weeks of holidaying and outings...and with complete rest (read washing clothes.. in the washing machine ofcourse, cleaning kitchen, cooking, cleaning house, changing bedsheets) over the weekend im settled back into my village lfe...sigh..till next mumbai trip...