hacker alert!

I came back from my mumbai trip without a phone. Yup, that's right and I survived without one for 2 days. That is commendable by my standards what with me spending the better part of my 'free' time on the phone.

To rewind, I actually thought of doing something good. I gave my phone to my dad and took his phone - that's an iphone for the cheapest nokia (just to give a perspective). Turns out, the universe conspires against my good deed. Damn it, nobody can see me upping my heaven score. I try to do some data delete because otherwise my dad would get confused with my contacts and his contacts. And, lo and behold, the iphone refuses to turn back on.

So, that was the end of my good deed.

I gave dad's phone back to him and brought the non-functional iphone back.

Well the most fun part was when I had to coordinate with nish who was supposed to pick me up from the airport and I made a call from a public booth. Well, I would guess that I would be the only soul but turns out there was a queue. I am ready to bet that none of them landed at the domestic terminal.

Now the good part started. I didn't trust my own self with the phone and I gave it to this guy from my workplace. And I waited and waited and waited. Then I could not wait any longer. I had to take charge of the situation.

I spent one day at work searching for and watching youtube videos on how to upgrade, restore, jailbreak and unlock an iphone. And I spent good part of one night downloading all the required softwares including a new version of itunes. And guess what? It didn't take me more than an hour to get my phone working.


I did this!

I didn't stop there. I learnt how to create your own ringtones for the iphone (yeah that is a task in itself though not very intimidating) AND I also got my wallpaper in the background. (Something I wanted since I first saw it, but was too scared to mess with the phone).

Long story short, I am thinking no end of myself and I am proud. Though I should have learnt to do all this some 2 years back. But, whatever!

feels like home

I am back from my not first, not second, not third, wait for it, fifth trip to auroville. Needless to say, I am in love with the place. When I say love, I mean loooove. If there is something like karmic connection or any such jazz, I would definitely have one with this place.

The first time I went to Auroville, I was looking for answers. I was going through a bad patch and I was in the why-me mode. My first memory of Auroville is sitting in the lawn of the crowded visitor centre and crying. I couldn't care less if anyone was looking.

I stayed at the most beautiful guest house Sharnga. The place is pure bliss. Everyday I woke up to the chirps of birds and the calls of peacocks.



Like I said, I was looking for answers at that point and answers I did get. I met Peter at Sharnga, a Canadian professor. We met casually over dinner at the guest house and I latched on to him like a leech.

I still carry our conversations as lessons which have touched so many areas of my life. Infact, I live by some of the rules I learnt from him an one of my trips to Auroville was only to meet him again.

He suggested me to read 'The Power of Now' and I loved the book. For one, the book describes how every negative thought is the creation of your mind and you can stop a free fall into negativity by controlling your mind and stopping it at the first negative thought.

I can't explain it well. You have to read the book. The main point is that you should be the master of your mind, not the other way around.

My fifth trip was a lot of fun (like all the earlier ones). I drove with a cool bunch of friends. The road trip is so much fun.

This time I was supposed to meet Ulrik, my bus friend from Norway. Long story short, I met him while going to the airport on the bus. And again while coming back from the airport. And just like that, we became friends. Fun fact about Ulrik: He does not know who Demo Moore is but he knows who Shilpa Shetty is beacuse he has seen hey yoga DVD :P.



We had hours of discussions on cultures, religions, constellations, history, yada yada



And we ended with stealing mangoes from an orchard. Hehe. It was so amazing: locating a mango orchard in pitch dark in the middle of nowhere along the highway, stopping and searching for a way to get in, taking the mangoes and finally, enjoying them by the side of the highway.

Talk about ending on a high note! Fun fun fun!

3 long years or 3 short years

I have just completed 3 years in bangalore. Well, my love for bangalore is well known and this post is not about that.

Coming every morning and sitting in the same cube at around the same time has done very little for my vitality and happiness BUT I managed to notice a nice little nature cycle.

This is the view from my cube (not exactly, a little to the right):






Every february, I see the tree shed leaves and become bare. Then in a matter of days it gets these tiny sprouts, which grow into lush green leaves and before you know it, the tree again has a lush green canopy. Infact, right now, the tree is covered with infinite lovely pink flowers. (Too bad I don't have a picture of that). All these pictures are taken at an interval of one week. In only one week, the tree undergoes complete transformation.

This is the fourth spring I'm witnessing in this place and fourth time I have seen this cycle.

Makes me realize that springs, summers, monsoons and winters have flown past me and will keep flying by. How many times will I and you be able to see a plant spring back to life or a garden full of all the flowery spring goodness?

Life is short and we should cram up all the goodness we can in whatever it is that matters to us in this short time!

i love the mail!

Yes I do. And wouldn't you too if the mail keeps surprising you with wonderful stuff!

Such as this:



When I received this in my office, I was completely stumped. I did not even come close to guessing who could have sent me such a big package. Expecting some promotional material from some company, I didn't even want to open it.

But then I saw the return address and I was intrigued to say the least. Then I read the accompanying letter and opened the package and inside was this beautiful girl.



And she has a story and it goes like this: she was brought to life by (no prizes for guessing) Kaurvika aka Keiku. I completely loved her when I saw her and from then on she lived on the wall behind my system at Powai Labs which is where I worked. She didn't have this lovely frame then. Then I left Powai Labs (in a hurry) and i forgot about her.

Well, some people didn't. Or maybe they did for 3 years. But the important thing is that they remembered her after all, got a nice frame for her and sent her to me. Now she's mine all over again. Lovely ain't it!

That's why I love the mail. Otherwise, how would these beautiful gestures travel across the wide chasms that separate people.

Count your blessings

Last week was not particularly a good one. Something I was planning on doing for a while didn't materialize. Well, I was disappointed but I got back on my feet fairly quickly and I'm back to my rocking self. Obviously, having good friends around you always helps, doesn't it? And that brings us to the case in point, namely, Abs.

He, single-handedly, pulled me out of the doldrums by trying (really hard) to cheer me up till very late in the night. He stuck around till he was sure that I'm really really sleepy and don't have any more energy to sulk :). The fact that he lives nowhere close to me just made his task a lot tougher but then if it ain't tough, it's not worth writing about!

Then early morning, the doorbell rang and at the door was this:



Now, aren't they right when they say, if you can't be there, do the next best thing - send flowers. Well, I don't think anybody has said that, but I wish someone would :).



When I asked abs why he sent me flowers now, he said "expect the unexpected". The statement is flawed and I really want to ask him how to expect the unexpected. Because if I expect something, it won't remain unexpected. But Whatever!

The whole thing reminded me once again how I am so blessed with the most amazing friends who bless me with these lovely gestures. Ups and downs are a part of life - we just need to count our blessings!

Waiting and uncertainity

Waiting comes in many flavors, but can be broadly classified into 'good' and 'torturous'.

Good waiting is the waiting when I'm waiting for something pleasant to happen and it's almost certain. For eg., a friend coming to town, me going home, me going on a trip, and so on. You get the drift. This wait is spent entirely in excitement and planning.


Flowers on my new creeper :)

Uncertainty on the other hand can be a killer. And that is when we have the torturous wait. The outcome is uncertain and probably big things are at stake. You cannot plan because you don't know what's going to happen. You cannot get excited again because the outcome may not be something to be excited about. Like when you wait for your results on an exam that didn't go very well or a job interview and so on.

waiting is something I don't mind. I love the 'good' wait because it holds a promise. Otherwise also I would rate myself very highly in the patience department. I don't get flustered in traffic jams or while waiting for my doctor or in the queue at the airport or when people jump in front of me at trial rooms or to get out of an airplane.

Uncertainty, on the other hand, I cannot handle. It just gets the better of me. I'm a sucker for knowing. Not knowing makes me, I don't know, cocooned? It makes me retract into a shell. I don't want to discuss all the possibilities and permutations and combinations that are doing rounds in my head with other people .It can get quite boring and repetitive, you know. And I can't seem to think of anything else to converse about. I just can't focus on any other thing. So, cocooned it is.

To move away from downers like uncertainty and brighter (literally) topics, there was one another thing I did last weekend.



These go on my kitchen counter. They are hidden behind the fruits.



The belvedere bottle is not mine. I mean now it is. But it was given to me empty by a friend who knows about my love affair with plants in pretty bottles. Like the dark one you see on the right - a bottle of porto tawny from Portugal.

A weekend of learning and a farewell

It was a busy busy weekend like several past weekends. All of my weekends for a couple of months now have been roller coaster rides except the one after I came back from goa-mumbai from my new year vacation. That weekend I decided to veg-in inside the house and be 'non-happening'. Ha.

Though many of these weekends were dedicated to friends, I have also spent considerable number of weekends cleaning my house in preparation for having these friends over.

But, this weekend was different. I cleaned though I'm not expecting friends anytime soon! (I think I need help!) And that too, I cleaned my windows - grills and panes and all that! (I definitely need help!)

My sister's husband is leaving banaglore for good after being here for 1 year. When my sister used to visit him, she had assorted a few plants for my pots. I never cared to pick them up and she always forgot to bring them along. Now that her husband was leaving and I had to meet him to bid him farewell from this city, I picked up my plants from his place. And THAT was the good part of my weekend.

I was soo excited that I couldn't wait for sunday morning to get some new pots. (It was late saturday when I got the plants) Early sunday morning I drove to my nursery guy, got some new pots and planted my newly acquired flora in them. I was so pleased to see my new babies all set.

In between all this, I went to the school that I go to on saturday only to find it closed. What a waste!

And in between all this also, including friday late night, I learnt a new thing - How to create collages in picasa. And how I can put them up on my header. I was so excited that I was up on friday night waaay past my bedtime just experimenting with collages.

Well, to sum up my entire weekend, I present to you a collage of my new potted plants :P. And, ofcourse, there's the header!