Shimla

A trip I never wanted to make and if you ask me I have no real answers as the reviews I had heard were not good enough and that the hill station was now no longer a place of beauty but a commercial hub.

The trip was good thankfully to some amazing company and the horse ride at Kufri was a real experience! It was scary at times, exciting and at times just hoping the next turn, up or rise or the next step down would just be safe! That was the best part of the trip.

Mall Road, Shimla was nothing extraordinary and the experience was just all right.

Well, every turn reminded me of my home Shillong, every corner reminded me of a childhood tale. But Shillong is much much more beautiful, beyond words and not just because it's my home but compare Shillong and Shimla and anyone who has been to both the places will tell you!

May be I want to see the snowfall once and then describe how it feels like and I am still waiting for my first snow experience!

I miss you Shillong, dear Shillong!

Tea Halt

The other day a colleague came and reported that a new tea-joint had opened in the office campus and that it would be nice to go and give it a try. Well, why not? Besides they gave a discount equal to the outside temperature.

Ok, so we went to explore. A very small place but it felt good and specially when the world goes gaga over coffee, it was a welcome change. They offered Masala chai, Adrak sounf chai etc and also served pakoras and pizzas. Not too bad, except for the cost! The quantity was good enough and you really need to be an ardent tea fan to gulp all down.

What we thought! May be they should offer small cups and lessen the prices a bit. But a welcome change no doubt!

Theirs vs Ours

My office route at Tampa included numerous passing by Moffit Cancer Institute as Residence Inn where I stayed housed many Moffit patients and one of the complimentary services was a pick and drop.

So, most of the patients it seemed were traveling alone to the hospital or it seemed to be accompanied by their spouse. I rarely noticed anyone whose children accompanied them. There were occasional moments when the whole family was there but most of the time it pained me to see an old ailing man accompanied by his husband or wife, which was old herself/himself.  I wondered where the children were! At rare moments, it made me proud to think that they were independent and that they cared for each other so much.

In my country India, however, whenever I have accompanied by mum to a hospital, I did not fail to notice that that old people were mostly accompanied by their children.

I also never a fellow Australian colleague with contempt when I remember his conversation about how his mother disturbed him because she would walk around in her sleep and that he got a huge relief when he put her an old age home. Well, so much for all parents do for their children.

I am just an ordinary being and criticism is but a part of me! Cultural differences are always existent but I think love or respect for your parents should be an integral part of every culture.

Sunday Musings

I woke up this Sunday morning and relaized that it was raining outside. Nothing pleases me more than to sleep when it rains and more so when it is a Sunday, you know you can afford it.
So, when I finally woke up and standing on the balcony and watching the wet leaves and flowers, I kept wondering how the definition of Sundays has changed over the years. Back in those times when I was at school, Sundays meant a good breakfast, something different from the other days, then bathing and then watching Ramayan or Mahabharata with family which had almost become a ritual. And not just Ramayana, Sundays meant Vikram Vetal, Panchatantra ki kahaniyan and later Nivn etc.

Sundays in Bangalore were totally different; we lived in a rented place and we 6 girls had different routines from waking up early and washing the clothes to mehnding our hair, or applying multani on the face and then probably a movie day out or some shopping here and there. I particularly remember reading the newspaper over breakfast and this has remained with me till now, I don't enjoy breakfast without a look at the newspaper or reading the newspaper without having the breakfast plate and a cup of tea in front of me.
So, the rains today made a perfect excuse for hot puris and aloo sabzi and the sunday supplement to go with!

The email story...err the intuition story

It has been a few years since this and I write this because something similar has happened just a couple of days back. Back in those the project I worked on had monthly releases, not necessary every month but there was a gap of few months in between. So, one day as I was working on a project and was midway through it, I dont know what happened but I chanced upon a mail by some unintended clicks and that was about the release notes and that my lead had updated it. Now I did not see the dates on that email and assumed that it was just received. I kept the task of reading the updates for later and went on to finish what was immediately needed. But when I got to that task, I could not find that email and all my search went in vain. I wondered if I had deleted the email and asked my lead to re-send the same to me. He was so surprised by my email because he said though he updated the release notes that very day he did not actually send me an email. We were both surprised! Well, what had happened was that some old email with the same subject and intention had opened by chance. Well, a boon since my lead had forgotten to update me, I could have potentially missed the changes but for my luck I was saved the embarrasment.

And just two days back, I had decided to delete mails from an old project since my mailbox was having space issues. And out of nowhere, I received an email from someone involved in that project and for two whole minutes I kept checking if that was not an old email. Well, I take it as a sign not to delete  those as something from there might turn to be useful in the near future!

If your mind is open and uncluttered, I guess we receive these signals; it is just a matter of realizing!

The Rain

The rain fell down heavily
And it seemed like a song, the best song that I ever heard
And all I could do was change my path
And take the path of the rain
I lift my arms, I let myself go
I run, I run, I run to embrace the rain
I lift my arms, I feel one with the rain
And like a song I run and run, with the rain
The green meadows watch me, the shallow waters watch me
The kids wonder, the passers-by question
But I am running, running with the rain
My wings have just opened and I am flying flying with the rain
To feel the rain, to feel the joy

Allowing the bad things to come to you?

The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it..Atlas Shrugged

The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it...this is a favourite quote of mine and as I live and learn in life, I believe in these lines more and more...

I was just now reading about the suicide note that Jia Khan has left behind. Those who don't know who or what I am talking about, Jiah was an actress, a budding one who did not meet fame the way she would have liked  and coupled with personal problems, she ended her life some 10 days back by hanging herself.

Coming back to her suicide note, it seems to be all revolving around Suraj Pancholi, the son of actor Aditya Pancholi, who she was dating. In every line, she mentions rejection, rejection by her lover whether it was about her preferences, her family and worst of it all was about aborting their child.

Well, I think this is something to do about being in love, about forgetting oneself and giving the other person so much importance that you totally forget that you exist. You forget about treating yourself well, you crave for acceptance, you crave for love and attention from that person so much so that you forget you have a world of your own, your friends, your parents and your loved ones and probably a loving husband waiting somewhere...

So, when it happens that your world is just him, you can't accept the fact that you can survive without him. You have given him so much importance that you have ceased to exist and perhaps a nervous breakdown or in Jia's case, a suicide was the most logical next step.

Why could not she focus on her life instead? On her career, on her family and on her friends? Life is never about sticking to just that one choice, life is about changes,about experiences, about learning and still about being able to love. Every person or every event in life is made to happen so you learn, grow and move on. Change is the only constant factor in the arithmetic called life.

So, dear girls and ladies and even emotionally weak guys reeading this post, please make yourself important, let your life not be a waste just because of that one person. That person anyway is perhaps never going to be impacted even after the step that you have taken, it's because your act was an act of cowardice, how can someone be impacted? Suraj will probably lead his life normally and in time marry someone without that girl even impacted by all what happened. Yes, he will find a girl. You should have lived and then you would have eventually found someone who was worth you Jiah!

Luna Park Memories

Oh these rides do give you an amazing experience, to see the world from different angles, and rushing and gushing and at some point thinking that this is the end of the world.

My experience with rides almost all the time has been an initial fear, also kind of an assurance that I am locked up and so shall not fall, and when it's over, a relief, a sense of pride or achievement at having conquered the fear in me.

Back in India, I don't remember if I sat on a ride for a long time. May be I didn't get enough chances, may be I was plane scared or may be it was just too crowded! I am still thinking if I did take a ride on one of those 'melas' in Bangalore but I can't seem to remember clearly and will have to check with one of my friends when I talk to her next.

My real ride experiences happened outside though...the first one being in Luna Park, Sydney. Luna Park has created amazing memories for me in the sense that I don't remember how many times I have been there. The first one was when we walked from our office to the Park and crossed the Harbour Bridge by the evening when the lights were bright and the whole world seemed to be shining. What a memory that was, still fresh in my mind, to be walking with the stars and the cool breeze soothing you. I don't remember taking any rides that though but the experience was still great.

My next visit to Luna Park was also devoid of any rides but even then we had walked all the way from somewhere, where I can't remember well enough now.

But after that I don't know how amny times I have been there and opted for different rides at different point in time. The best one that I remember and probably the scariest one was the one which took you vertically up at 90 degrees and kept you suspended there for a while. You could see the sea from top and the buildings and all you could do was to hope the ride to end. Then they would suddenly drop you and you would think you are finished. We were in a group of 7 or 8 but only three of us dared the same. And initially I was shouting and screaming but later it went on and on and I just kept my eyes closed. What had given me the courage to go for it was the little children who enjoyed and I thought why not me?

I am trying to look up for the pics of that ride on the internet but cannot seem to find one; there is one called the Moon Ranger though which I think must be the improvised version of the one that I rode. Yes, I also remember that on my subsequent visits, this was under renovation or something and I could not probably find it.

The other rides were also good, there was one spider thing, a Tumble bug, and one Columbus ride if I remember right, some through the water and so on. Whatever it is Luna Park does hold a special space in my heart. And not just that I always remember watching with loving memories of the park whenever I was on the North Shore lane.

My other memories of the Luna Park are ofcourse the friends I have been with there and one occasion we did taste some delicious chicken which we could never find again...memories are but one-time specials...

Located at:  1 Olympic Dr  Milsons Point NSW 2061, Australia
How to reach: Just a few minutes walk from Milson's Point train station

The Dream Ride

Oh God, I do have the funniest of dreams. Last evening, I spoke of rides with a friend of mine and we talked of what we have done, what we can and what we will never do. We shared pics, analyzed those and talked about what we like, what scares us and what we had left undone. I will write something on that but first let me write about the dream I had last night.

Well, I saw my hometown, the bylanes and the street where I had spent my each growing day. And then I saw that just across the most happening place there in our colony, that is where the annual Pujas are held, where wedding and birthday celebrations take place, there was a ride, and it was like a long boat. Well well! I saw myself sitting there with some people I knew from my childhood, saw the steep slide downwards and knew it would be fun. I also could see some water bodies around. In reality that area does have a steep and I was mighty glad that they introduced something like this.

And when we rode down, it was fun, it was a great experience having something like this right in the middle of the small town and then the speed was just good for everyone's taste. I rode down and then got off when the ride was done with a sense of pride, the pride coming from the fact that I was kind of an expert with rides and this one was easy.

Then we got down a flight of steps, all too familiar as we had grown up there and followed the others just to get back. Oh but then this girl managed to climb through the stones and the rocks and I could see myself stranded there because I could not go up further, there was not enough space for me to climb. I waited as to what to do next when I woke up...and I smiled for I was not stranded and amazed at the power of my thoughts and dreams...

Temples around the world

Oh that's an email that has reached me from time to time and everytime I recieve one as a forward from someone, I look at it to see if I can strike off one from my list of to-see temples, the big ones around the world and specifically outside India. So this is one post which I will need to update from time to time and would love doing that, and may be feel proud and blessed.

Apparently most of these temples have been built for Lord Venkateswara and since I go by this email forward, I don't really know about other temples built for other Gods and Goddesses. Well, the other God who leaves his mark around is Swaminarayan. No offence meant, I am just analysing and I might well be wrong!

And many of these temples are in the US and this reminds me of a friend who asked me once  if I knew what USA stands for. According to him, it stands for 'United States of Andhra Pradesh'. Smiles.

I have also been to Sai baba temples but I think the list here precisely talks about the temple architecture, the build and beauty and the two Sai baba temples I have visited outside India have simple structures.

It's actually quite a list:

1. LordVenkateshwara Temple, Birmingham, United Kingdom - No no, not being to Birmingham even once.

2. MalibuHindu Temple, Malibu, California,US - It's just Tampa in US that I have visited and so no for this one as well.

3. Shiva-VishnuTemple, Livermore, California,US - No, no this one yet.

4. LordVishnu Temple, Angkor, Cambodia  - I haven't visited Cambodia either, seems like a lot of places around the world to go and visit and not so much time for the same.

5. Prambanan Shiva Temple, Central Java, Indonesia - Never been there too.

6. SriVenkateswara Swami Temple of Greater Chicago - Aurora, Illinois, United States - A 'No' again...Oh what have I seen. Nothing???

7. BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir - Toronto, Canada - Anytime soon, well I am hoping, hoping and hoping.

8. Sri Siva Vishnu Temple, Washington DC, United States  - No

9. BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, London (Neasden Temple) - An 'yes' for this finally and this was my first weekend in London and yes it was after changing stations and a long walk too. And then some traditional Gujarati food followed. And when we were getting back it was so cold that we were almost freezing as we waited in the bus stop. Other than that, everything in London is centrally air-conditioned and it was fun even in Feb/March.

10. SriMurugan Temple “Batu Caves”, Penang, Malaysia - 'No' to this one as well, atleast I have said 'yes' to one place.

11. SriVenkateswara Temple, Bridgewater, NJ, US - No, but will I make it soon?

12. Mother Temple of Besakih, Bali, Indonesia - No

13. MuruganTemple, Sydney, Australia - Yes yes yes, on my first Sydney visit I went there and what a walk that was! So tiring! But getting there was such a great experience and yes beautifully constructed too. Memories!

14. Venkateswara Swami temple, Riverdale near Atlanta, Georgia, US - No

15. SriVenkateswara Swami Temple, Helensburgh, Sydney, Australia - Yes, to this one as well. Loved that day, very special it was.

16. VelmuruganGnana Muneeswarar Temple, Rivervale Crescent Sengkang,Singapore - I would love to visit Singapore someday, only the airport is what I have seen of Singapore.

17. Sri Meenakshi Devasthanam - Pearland, Texas, US - No

18. Ekta Mandir, Irving, Texas, US - No

19. SriVenkateshwara Temple - New Jersey - No

20. SriLakshmi Temple - Ashland, MA, US - No

21. SriVenkateswara Swami Temple, Pittsburgh, US - No

22. ShivaVishnu Temple of South Florida Inc, FL, US - No, but someday I might!

23. Shiva - Vishnu Temple of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia - Yes, with my friend and her husband and again a beautiful place to be at. I cherish my Melbourne visit, my friend and her husband did everything to make me feel happy.

24. SriMurugan Temple, London, UK - Now, how did I miss that? I spent 6 months in London and not been there. It's shame considering how well connected London is and I could have made it there easily.

25. QuadCity Hindu Temple , Rock Island, IL, US - no

26. SriPrasanna Venkateswara Swami Temple, Memphis, Tennessee, US - no, and now I don't mind saying 'No' since I have had a few 'Yes's.

27. Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple, Singapore - Singapore will happen one day am sure.

And I am going to add some from my list as well if you like:

1. Hindu Temple, Tampa - Just a short visit the other day and though the architecture of the temple much resembled the Venkateswara temples and yes it was a Vishnu temple, but seemed to be run by the Gujarati community.

If you wanted to visit, the address is 5509 Lynn Rd  Tampa, FL 33624. Have  a blessed time there.

Valentine's Park

That was just a little walk from where I lived in London and wasn't it amazing? And why do I write about it now? Well, I have been talking of walks in the recent past and that has dominated my thought process so much that I finally walked the Lettuce Lake park in Tampa. It was amazing for sure and big, but Valentine's park holds a special place in my mind, and oh no, its not because of the name of the park!

Valentine's park is big too, and green! I love the greenary in London, and specially after the rains, it looks all washed and cleaned and shining, shining brught green that is.

And there are so many different varietes of flowers there and whenever we went there we clicked pictures and pictures and pictures. It never seemed enough because every area in the part was worth a capture.
And they do organise shows there from time to time and I know it must be fun just to get there and enjoy a cool evening, just sit on those benches, get lost in some thoughts or read a book. And they have enough place to play, cycle and yes if I remember right, boating facility is also available. 

It has been 3 years now, I was there in 2010 but my visit to the Lettuce Lake park yesterday brought back memories afresh and just not that it was a coincidence that a friend I happened to know while in London called me up the same day and we spoke about our time there, memories created here and there, and still continuing with the journey.

That was just a little walk from where I lived in London and wasn't it amazing? And why do I write about it now? Well, I have been talking of walks in the recent past and that has dominated my thought process so much that I finally walked the Lettuce Lake park in Tampa. It was amazing for sure and big, but Valentine's park holds a special place in my mind, and oh no, its not because of the name of the park!
Valentine's park is big too, and green! I love the greenary in London, and specially after the rains, it looks all washed and cleaned and shining, shining brught green that is.

And there are so many different varietes of flowers there and whenever we went there we clicked pictures and pictures and pictures. It never seemed enough because every area in the part was worth a capture.
And they do organise shows there from time to time and I know it must be fun just to get there and enjoy a cool evening, just sit on those benches, get lost in some thoughts or read a book. And they have enough place to play, cycle and yes if I remember right, boating facility is also available. 

It has been 3 years now, I was there in 2010 but my visit to the Lettuce Lake park yesterday brought back memories afresh and just not that it was a coincidence that a friend I happened to know while in London called me up the same day and we spoke about our time there, memories created here and there, and still continuing with the journey.

The Walk

Only a couple of days back I was complaining that there are no places in Tampa where you could go for a long walk. And then suddenly I remembered why yes, there is the Lettuce Park. And so today, instead of just lazing around, I decided to go. And it was a lovely evening and I walked I could hear the birds chirping and the insects going tittar tatter. I did take my camera long so I could get a few pics to share with all.

It surprises me that the walk did not tire me inspite of my going for a walk after a long time and this pleases me and encourages me to venture out again, may be soon.

One day I would love to capture the sun rise in the Lettuce park, between the trees and the rays falling on the lake waters but I would need to give my lazy bones some real push.

So, if you have some time in the early morning or late evenings, go out there and walk your heart out. You will love it.  You could take your pets for a walk or your grandchildren for a swing ride or simply runa round the playground. Walk or run, you will love it.

We all will leave one day...dedicated to Rituparno Ghosh, may his soul RIP

All these places where our names we engrave
We leave this all and go to places new
Places we know, places we have never been
We leave a bit of ourselves as we go, we carry a bit from people we know,
We carry a bit from the places we know, we leave a bit to these places as we go
Sometimes the imprint is a way too deep, so we know they will talk of us...
Sometimes we never leave a mark, so we know as if we have never been there...
And we speak of things as we take them along,
And they speak of us as we leave them and go,
Parting is all but pain, parting is what life is about
We meet, we depart, we leave a mark
We are spoken of may be till some more time...
And some day someone thinks of us in sweet remembrance
And where we are now, here or there, we will know that for sure,
That will bring a sweet little smile, even if we are here in this world or the next!

I don't like it when I don't have a place to walk

I love walking, I sure do! This is something I have inherited from my birth place, Shillong where we would just walk and walk and knew short-cuts to this place and that. Moreover one of my closest friends would make me walk saying that it is much better than boarding the crowded bus. She may or may not remember that but that has stayed with me like her friendship has!

So, being in Delhi I miss it a lot; there are hardly any places to walk. But I loved it in Sydney, because every day a little bit of walking was involved, from our home to office or from the train station to our homes. It meant much more becuase it would also mean walking across the Pyrmont bridge, get that cold breeze hit you occasionaly or even watch the bridge open and close.

Walking in Sydney would be fun when we visited the ISKCON temple and we did it quite often and I took many people there later. It was quite a walk and getting back to the North Sydney would be a relief if I may say so. Once a friend said he knew an easier way to ISKCON and we followed to find that it was probably longer but I so much loved that walk.

On another occasion, I took a friend along to the Sai baba temple and he literally got tired by the walk to the temple from the train station Strathfield. And he jokingly remarked that he would never go on a walk with me because the walk never seemed to end.

Memories these are and so yesterday when we were returning from some shopping here in Tampa, I noticed the roads with virtually no one walking, I missed Sydney and I wished that I could walk along the Tampa green stretches and walk and walk...

My visits to Clearwater

I loved my first visit to Clearwater, I think simply because I didn't think it would have been possible in that short a span of time but sometimes there are people sent from heaven, there are angels who make it just happen. It was a clear sky and the water and the sky seemed to merge in blue, beautiful, pure beautiful blue.

So, when they now planned for the second trip, I didn't mind and I did love it again. But then there were people who would become friends, now they were already friendly but some of them were too worried about the right clothes they had or they did not have. I didn't mind at all, it was not about myself, it was about getting to know the place, enjoy the white sand under your feet and watch the sun set over the serene and what seemed calm waters. So forget teh turbulence inside just like the rush of water and enjoy the calm on the outside is what I meant to do.

And collecting shells on the shore has always been my favourite time pass and this time I collected it for my friend who asked me last time and this time I remembered to get some for her.

And yes I did capture some pics too, too cool and calm and clear just as the name suggests. A must visit I must say!

Wings of Imagination

Another old one from 21/01/2006

Wings of imagination takes me to distances far,
Oh, but I am still here
Oh, but I want to be there
This place and these talk, something more or something less...
No, there should be some better way...
This scene seems just so fine...
No, it would be good the other way...
Why I came back to the beginning..
Why can't I make it more far?
Because I am here and wings say no more...
Broken wings don't fly, they only try

Sydney Memoirs - Pages from my notebook

Ah this is old, dates back to 2005! Some of it I have already written but I would still write it as how I jotted in my diary back then!!!

23/04/2005:
Working on Dec 25th wasn't something I liked but would have hardly known that four months from then I would be in Sydney.

Yes, life takes unexpected turns and I would be doing myself injustice if I didn't jot down my experiences of Sydney.

Coming to Sydney via Singapore and reaching Goldsbrough apartment happened so soon that there was hardly anytime to think of anything else. Knowing that a team mate would already be there to receive and keep dinner ready was actually a great relief, for someone coming to an unknown place, Dear Lord has been very kind to me to provide two people for my company in journey and another one to receive me.

First impression in the road and on the airport was nothing extraordinary; it felt just like another city and being a sunday, the traffic was less. The cab driver was Chinese, spoke English very well and seemed to be well informed. He spoke about the problems in Australia, he also knew that the North Easterns in India were like the Chinese and so on.

As my colleague took me to the 7th floor, I noticed the building was made of wood, the floors were of wooden plank and my first thought went back to Shillong houses, so much similar. And after dinner, we went to the nearby Darling Harbour. The place made me feel so comfortable that Sydney will always remind me of this. The cool air gave me a soothing feel and reminded me of the walk around KR Puram lake in Bangalore.

The climate too gave me a feeling of Shillong; you never know when it starts raining! People always carry their umbrellas along as we did in Shillong.

Walking past the Darling Harbor is an everyday experience. We also went to Luna Park the other day and I loved the walk across the bridge!

And Friday nights are special; people celebrate weekends like a festival and the scene at Darling Harbor is worth cherishing. Men, women of all ages are seen in the best of their attires, dancing , singing and drinking.

Went to Paddy's market just like the precious Saturday to buy the weekly grocery. It is a Chinese market and gave a feeling of any vegetable market in India except that such markets in India are in the open. Paddy's market is mostly dominated by the Chinese and being a north-eastern I did not quite feel out of the place. I found the vegeetable 'squash' which I never saw in Delhi but back in Shillong it grows in every home.

24/04/2005:
Our plans for Canberra got cancelled, so have to wait for it to happen some other day.

In the very first week, we had gone to the Botanical gardens and had our lunch there. It was a green place and something again gave me the feel of home, of Shillong. We went to the Hyde park as well. The reason I find the similarity between Shillong and Sydney may not just be the climate but also the lifestyle. We grew up speaking English and living in a cosmopolitan town, this is what attracts me. No doubt I liked Bangalore too.

I have been in Delhi for 3 years now and even though there are people from everywhere in Delhi, the basic culture is Punjabi. And there is so much of artificiality in Delhi. However I would still prefer Delhi to Kokata any day because life is Kolkata is not cosmopolitan in some sense of the term.

We went to the Star City Casino with our boss' boss last week and we found that it was dominated by the Chinese again. I was told that people with lots of money and no worry frequent this place to spend their time.

Today we watched 'Aliens of the Deep' at the IMAX. It was a documentary but loved the 3-D effect.

25/04/2005:
Today is Anzac day, a public holiday in Australia. Anzac was a soldier but sadly I know nothing more. I don't think I ever studied Australian history.

Yesterday while browsing through books in a book store glanced upon 'Da Vinci code'; it's a best seller no doubt!

26/04/2005:
There are blisters in my feet and in everyone else's too. But walking is not a problem for me. Anyways I never knew how to take care of my feet or to take care of myself in the sense that girls do.

27/04/2005:
George Street. Pitt Street. Hunter Street....these are the names of the streets in Sydney and all the roads seem almost the same. We have memorised the route from our hotel to office and it will take few more days to get used to it. Anyways walking on the streets of Sydney seems safer than walking on Delhi streets. Of course there are drug addicts and drunkards who might come and ask for money, but there aren't many covetous eyes who try to look through you.

30/4/2005
My roomie S left for India yesterday and today being a Saturday me and my other roomie N went to Paddy's to get the weekly grocery. I wanted to have eggs  so we got some eggs but perhaps left those at the payment counter. All the way to our hotel I was thinking that I had the eggs with me and might drop anytime because of the load we were carrying. But when we had almost reached our hotel, we were trying to rearrange and realized that the eggs were not there at all.

1/5/2005:

Went to ISKCON temple today. The temple here is comparatively smaller than that of Bangalore or Delhi and looks nothing like a temple, but I did feel good because this was the first time in last 3 weeks that I did pray properly. And we reached there at the right time of 'Aarti'. Satisfied.

4/5/2005:
Channel Seven broadcast a program today on the 'Secrets of the Da Vinci code'. This book is selling millions of copies everywhere.

8/5/2005:
It's slightly cold in the mornings and I can feel it as I wash my hands. There is a feeling of cool air as I stand on the balcony, but the sun is shining. This feeling is similar to that of Shillong whereas in Delhi it remains foggy in winters and the sun is hard to see.

15/05/2005:
We visited the Australian capital on 15th May, on a beautiful autumn morning. We went to quite a few places, it was a tour that we had taken. I clearly remember the Botany Bay, where Captain Cook had first landed.

Our first stop was a place called Berrima. Though nothing significant, the road was beautiful and we passed through trees with yellow and red leaves, the colours of autumn. The houses on the countryside looked cosy and again reminded me of Shillong.

We visited the Parliament house, the War Memorial and the Museum. Though we have much more historical places and sights in India the differentiator is the maintenance, the projections.

The best part of the trip was Ainstry hills from where we could see the whole of Canberra. Watching the sun-set there was one of the best experiences of the trip.

Canberra happens to be a well planned city and we did have an enjoyable trip.

5/6/2005:

Going to Paramatta in a ferry was really a good experience. It was as if I was visiting the Backwaters of Kerala which I had seen too often on TV.

Walking from Paramatta to Westmead was a task, my God, which I will remember for ever. We just didn't seem to get there but all the tiredness disappeared when we entered the Murugan temple.

11/06/2005

Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves

The Blue Mountains acquired the name because of the blue haze produced by the scattering of the sun's rays striking dust particles and droplets of moisture in the atmosphere. The blue haze effect is magnified by the droplets of oil produced by the extensive population of eucalypt forest within the area.

The Three Sisters - Meekni, Wimlah and Gunedoo once lived with the Gundungurra people in the Janison valley. Tribal war forced the clever man to turn the sisters into stones. There are some stories about this and I will have to read more to know more about it.

Jenolan Caves was an hour's drive from Katoomba, with underground rivers and outstanding limestone formation. Lucas caves was named after John Lucas.

12/06/2005:
One place that was advised by many and me not particularly interested was Bondi beach but after the visit I was glad that I did. The plan was sudden and it is true that unexpected events bring more joy.

Beautiful place, warm day sunny people and blue waters are what I will carry as remembrance. What I enjoyed most was to walk through the big boulders of stones, climb on them, cross and jump over them, taking careful steps and then  getting to the bottom where the sea waves hit my naked feet. Blessing.

The purple flowers...

Composed on 16/02/2005

Thank you God for this day
You made me see the purple flowers, laid on mhy way
These flowers always remain fresh and wish me on days, both bright and dark

I looked for the yellow sunflowers,
But these had to grow and leave,
Leave me to look around for some hidden hue...

But today's pale evening to me brought,
The fragrance of flowers purple,
To tell me that I still belong, to their humble, priceless lives!

My new hair-cut

So they actually pursued me for a hair-cut, they as in my friends and my sis-in-law. And I thought of giving it a try too, to go for my first professional hair cut ever!!! And when I finally got it done, I thought they cut it too short but now nothing could be done about it. I did not feel too great either but may be I thought the days ahead would make me feel good eventually! My mom's reaction was that of shock and she thought it was never going to grow anymore!

And me I am tying it up so I don't feel sad looking at the short length and when I leave it open I bent my head backwards so as to give myself a feeling that the hair is reaching a little below everyday and is growing, an act borrowed from my childhood days.

The wandering mind

Composed way back in 2006, 17/02/2006 to be exact!!!

Beyond the sky that somewhere meets
Is there a God to know that I live
Is there a God who has felt...
...the restlessness of my wandering mind!

Why and how and what all happen...
I am told I musn't question...
There must be a reason...
For my tears and for the smiles...

This will go on as long as it should
This will make my strength survive
This will make my grace shine
Seems like the tears will bring more smile!

Why does this cobweb we build
The vicious circle just repeats
To bring more tears and more agonies...
The answer must be there, the answer I must hear!

Epitaph

I wrote this long back, somewhere in 2005/2006 and found it today in an old notebook:

Could it be so true?
This epitaph reads my name!
And those pink flowers that my best friend did bring...
And how come I see the spring no more?
Why my tree-hut sports a withered look?
The door's broken, the ladder's gone...
Have I flown to some future time?
Or is it just my wandering soul...wandering through ages unknown!!!

Then and Now

So, here again I am in Tampa and checking in to the Residence Inn reminds me of Goldsbrough. May be Goldsbrough will always remain with me, it was my first trip outside the country and I was lucky to have people for company during travel and when I finally got in to Goldsbrough, I had dinner ready for me. This is the difference now, I travel alone and come to a place where there are some knowns and some unknowns among people but never really get a chance to meet them and so sleep without a proper dinner except for some bite of Pringles. I do get a call from a friend and that really makes up for the slight uneasiness that I feel, that kind of also makes up for the trouble at Immigration. Oh they have even thrown my packet of rice and cumin seeds and I didn't carry my all time fav Maggi.

But morning is always better and it starts with a nice breakfast, a drive to office with a colleague and yes my team mate making some coffee for me.

I am hoping the days and months to follow will unfold some pleasant surprises and create some stories for keeps, the way Goldsbrough has stuck with me for years.

Need a push

I am kinda giving up, little by little...
A sudden fall here, an unexpected slip here, a stumble there...
I am kinda falling apart, I am kinda pushing myself...
I am kinda passing the time, I am kinda unwilling...
I am kinda dragging myself...
I am kinda counting days...
I am kinda missing the force from within, the will from within...
I am kinda waiting to start, I am kinda waiting for it to end...
I am kinda waiting to fall, to bounce back high...
I am kinda waiting for a miracle to take me high up in the sky!!!

The Delhi tomato tadka appetite

Much as I love to say everything and anything against Delhi, I don't seem surprised that I do get new things to say anyway! This time it's the food and when it comes to food, Delhi has got many an option. But, but the fact of the matter is that you can't escape a Punjabi style, tomato tadka added to every food and that's where I would rather stay home and eat my favourite 'daal bhaat' sans tomato tadka.

Okay, here we go! Delhites will add onions and tomato to each dish they cook, you will literally see the oil floating and red chilli flakes swimming in there. And what's every Delhite's favourite dish, well it's Rajma Chawal of course. The pride they exhibit when they cook this dish or the excitement they feel at just the mention of rajma chawal is beyond all kinds of imagination. What's the next favourite dish? It's curry chawal ofcourse; oh what joy!!! And let me not miss 'Chole chawal'. Ok, that's the choice of dishes they have, well well, there is also a paneer speciality which I don't mind actually.

That's far as what Delhites cook, but let's come to what Delhites eat. They basically eat what they cook. They have not developed or will never develop any taste for any other food. When my mom or my sis-in-law prepares something special and we share it, the kind of reaction we receive from these few neighbours is as though they rather not look at it. It's such a pity! The other day someone at work said no to a dish simply because the looks didn't attract him. He even refused trying, pity isn't it how they refuse to come out of their shell?

Once we happened to visit Shirdi with some of these people who never want to change anything about themselves and though the rest of us wanted to taste Poha, these guys spent their morning hunting Paranthas. And you will not believe me when I say that once in an international flight, I have come across a family who demanded paranthas for breakfast.
And that's not it. When they cook Pasta or when they cook Dosa, they will not forget adding a tomato tadka and change the taste forever!

Another tale from the yesteryears

Have heard countless tales of partition from grandparents, stories of how they owned vast lands and how they had to leave all that and come and settle in Shillong. My grandma often told us how her father was a zaminder and that they had to leave all those, she always had an air about herself, a dignity that never died and the pride of being member of a zamindar family even when everything else was lost.

People from Sylhet fled to Shillong and people from Dhaka and neighbouring areas fled to Kolkata. There they were given rehab lands and some money to start everything a fresh but most importantly the pain of leaving everything lived with them for ever.

They told us of incidents where burning hot water was poured over people who were migrating, of people massacred in moving trains and buses and other such horror tales. They lived the political blunder of those days, the government gave away the land to the other country but the people could not live there due to the atrocities committed on them and they returned to India and settled here and there. This is the story of the Sylhetis and we live in pride till this day because we have been displaced, we have started from scrath, built new homes, built new dreams and again only to suffer on similar grounds whether in Assam, Meghalaya or so called West Bengal. It is the irony of all times that we feel ourselves at home in any other part of the world but not in West Bengal and East Bengal is lost for ever. We are proud because inspite of all these, we have a bond, because we succeed wherever our feet and destiny takes us to and we still remember who we were!

How Delhi has taught me to be rude

Among many other life's lessons, being rude is what Delhi was taught me to be. I don't know if that is good or bad but it's the general Delhi person's characteristic and I want to give them back to them in what they excel the most.

Whether its on the roads, on the metro or shopping or eating out, you can't escape. Not that I have not met good people, but exceptions are always there!

My most recent experience is that of someone who's busy with the IPL bets and everyday asks for my mobile to check on scores. Because of my inborn sense of decency and decency that I have inherited, I allowed that and that was the mistake I made. He used my mobile as though it was his own and allowing me some calls and even telling me to finish fast with my calls and messages. So, last week when I allowed him to browse the score while I was on the cal and used a headset, he wanted to scroll quickly and he was in such hurry that he forgot that I could also click on a link. It was then I had to give him a piece of my mind and tell him that the phone belonged to me. He returned it to me without any sense of apology and made me feel as if I had erred.  Delhites for you please...handle with care!!!

The Fixing Part II

In my endeavour to prove those who believe there is too much of honesty and see what their eyes see and pretend not to notice the obvious, I bring here my thoughts about the Chennai - Pune IPL match last night.
Well it would have been most people's gut feeling that Chennai as a team was much better than Pune and winning that match would be a cakewalk. But as I saw the wickets crumbling I saw that a lot of effort was spent in losing those wickets, an effort spent at losing the match. And Pune won so that it could be read clearly that Chennai was capable of losing too and the other match they won a couple of days back was a hard fought victory.

All the same we still watch, we still sit through midnight to see the madness, to see the celebration...

The New Delhi Navratra

  No no, I won't go into the details explaining what Navratra is all about however for the sake of those uninitiated, this festival is celebrated by the Hindus across India for nine days and twice a year! It is during this period that the Mother Goddess is worshipped, she who is the symbol of strength, of beauty and purity is worshipped in different ways.

My Delhi experience of Navratras makes me want to laugh! Everyone or more specifically almost all the ladies keep a fast and the manner is hilariously unique. They prepare all sort of dishes made of special ingredients and they munch these whole day. The entire concept of fast, that is resting your internal systems gets nullified even if we talk about the physical fasting. And God forbid my mention of spiritual gain by means of fasting, well the whole day most of these ladies do is think about food, pray tell me where God is?

IPL - Chennai Vs Bangalore Saturday match

Well, my gut feeling was Chennai for this IPL match but somehow I thought Bangalore had a fair chance considering how Gayle and Kohli are both in good form. But anyways I wasn't going to support team Dhoni and as I sat up awake at night, I just had this hope of Bangalore winning! And it seemed to be happening till Dhoni came to bat and hit a few beyond the fence! But the drama continued till the last ball  when 2 runs were required off it. And what appeared to have been a catch and Kohli momentarily celebrating turned out to be the winning run as it was a no-ball. So Chennai did it at the last momenti n what appeared to be a nail-biting finish!

But alas I somehow have forgotten the concept of nail-biting finishes, I miss those days when matches were real! These days every match seems made up and so did this no-ball. A deliberate no ball it seemed and though I don't know why or how RP Singh became the scapegoat but I believe it happens at a bigger level and who gains or loses is not the point here as I think everyone benefits in some way or the other.
There is another theory that I heard about around the same no ball and it was that the relay was delayed to show a made-up no-ball. Smiles!!!

But to me the entire episode of last ball drama is made up, no they did not want to do a super over this time, so they created a new twist in the tale by making it appear that Bangalore had won and then the mother of all twists, a no -ball! All for TRP, lots of money may be and the drama available to a cricket loving nation which alas cannot accept the fixing bit because they all like to believe in their super-heroes be it Tendulkar or Dhoni!!!

Grandparents' tales - II

I don't remember much of this story however I will try to recall as best as I can while I write! This is one of the stories told by my cousin's grandma and I thought I will include this as well. I was staying at their place in Guwahati and I remember how one afternoon me and my cousin sat listening to this story.

As with the case of most old people of my childhood days and specially when it is in Shillong or Guwahati, the old ladies and gentlemen would go flower stealing. Now what is flower stealing? Well our granparents are/were people who believe in pujas and part of our daily pooja even today means offering flowers to the Gods and Goddesses in pooja alter of our homes. And when there weren't many flowers available in our own homes, they would wake up early in the mornings and get flowers from the neighbours' houses. And since it would be early mornings before most people woke up, they would carry a stick or an umbrella to chase away the street dogs. Now this stick or long umbrella would serve two purpose, one chasing the dogs and two reaching for the distant branches which held the best flowers.

On one such morning, my cousin's grnadma as she claimed lost her away in the near darkness. Every turn she took seemed to take her to a dead end and she had no clue how to get to her home. It continued for a while and she told us that she was possessed by a ghost. She eventually managed to get back home and I will disappoint the readers when I tell that I don't remember if she had done anything special to get out of that spell!

Send her Home

How can I not write about it? It's been years but this incident brings me smiles even today. However as I am writing this now, it makes me a bit sad too because the person in question has gone home literally. She has left this wordly home and gone for ever, to her celestial home.

Well, 'Send her Home' is a phrase one of our teachers PD coined and we used to laugh uncontrollably when we talked about it. It use to so happen that after we finished school each day, we would spend 10-15 minutes at every turn when we said bye to a friend. Our school used to be at walking distance from our homes and we would stop at the turn of each by-lane. Now, PD's cousin lived in the house just next to my friend's and he would visit her often. And he would notice each evening that we had endless stories and so one day as we waited at the turn and continued with our gossip, he said 'Send her home'. And our friend had started blushing since we started teasing her saying that he wants you to be at her home and not gossiping on streets. Now I know I am not able to bring the humor nor can I justify what was so funny in it but even today the scene comes flashing before my eyes with all the clarity and preciseness. We talked about this at our homes, when we met, in our school and wherever we met.

Thinking about this today makes me wonder about human life, to think that she is no more and then we had shared such happy times. I don't even know where PD is and probably he would not remember us as well.
Talking about PD and my friend, I also remember that he had once asked my friend to take his copy and give it to his cousin. That copy or diary was usually referred by him as the 'red book' and it was used to jot down the defaulter's names, people who didn't behave in class well. We could be potential defaulters in his case  and even though my overall track record was very good somehow I never took him seriously. So, me and another friend accompanied her just to deliver that diary as though she was not capable of doing it alone. And on the way, we opened it from the polythene bag tied with a rubber band, ensuring we didn't break the band and then checked the 'red book' to see if there was indeed any defaulter's list. And all the while we made several variation of potential 'Send her Home' stories. There was none to our relief but 'Send her home' laughing syndrome remained with us for a long long time!

Grandma/Grandpa's tales - 1

Oh, how I wish I could remember all the stories we got to hear from our grandparents when we were kids. I remember these in bits and pieces now. Ofcourse grandpa would narrate the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and tell us tales from there and I would ask questions he would perhaps be embarrased to answer. I realize this years later, on how he changed the topic or answered something vague so as to divert me from the original question or at least convince me with the answer! Once I had asked him if it was possible to have children without getting married in the middle of some story from the Mahabharata!

Grandma's stories would be woven around her domestic chores. She would tell me often how she got married early and picked up tasks from her mother-in-law.

There is one major difference which I remember and will always remember is how they each treated 'fear'or the 'unknown' factor. When I was very young, very very young, I remember that the lights had gone off one evening and me and my brother sat with our grandpa waiting for our parents to return from work. I somehow said that I was scared of the dark and then what grandpa said has stood with me since then. He said 'fear' is what is in your mind, the so-called ghosts are your servants and when God resides in your heart, there is nothing to fear.

Contrary to this, my grandma asked me once (and I was much older then) if we were not scared when the old lady who lived as a tenant in our house had passed away! I didn't understand the question then and said 'but why'. She then told me how the soul remains in and around and she kind of introduced the concept of 'ghosts' in a closer way. No, it didn't scare me as I always stuck to what granpa had said about God being in your heart protecting you!

The Sunset

I see the beautiful yellow sky that touches the window,
Making the yellow lights fall on the floor
I can almost feel that I am touching the sky
I can almost feel that the light falling on me
I can almost feel like I am flying
I can almost feel like a friend on the other end of the horizon
Looking at the curtain of this yellow light, blinded by the glow
I can almost see the hand reaching me
I can almost see the smiling face in the clouds there
When this curtain falls, will I still be looking
Will I still be searching for the face in the clouds?
Or with the fainting light, will the smile merge in me?
That's the end of yet another day almost
That's the beginning of another hope, to see the face
And to read the smile and hear the sing that rings somewhere in the distant plane?

At Kotla

Another experience at the stadium and yes we are talking cricket! And this time it was the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium. On a hot summer day, we went out to watch the Aus-India match and though there was no great game played, it was fun all the same! Fun because I started with supporting Australia, wore an Australian cricket hat and my friend outplayed me by wearing a green and gold Australian t-shirt! It was also fun because I won a bet, the bet being Sachin's century and I somehow knew it was not happening!  It was also fun when Dhoni got out and we clapped and the people around stared at us. Probably they thought we didn't understand cricket and was there for the fun of it. My friends teased me that I would get bashed for wearing an Aussie hat and cheering for Australia. But normal is boring you see and I am no fan of this current Indian team.


But all the same it was a treat to watch Sachin's entry, the crowd going mad and proving that he is India's favourite even when he's on the verge of his retirement.


I wish they had allowed a camera to capture more of these moments!!! I am definitely happy that I got an opportunity to be there and yes dear Universe thank you!!!

Dreams and Faces

I held on to that dream a little longer today
And I saw a face from the past
Somewhat known, somewhat unknown, some common connect
And there was this familiar talk, there was a bond to happen...when morning happened....


The next time I dream, I wish I hold on to it a little longer
To see that face, to read those eyes!!!

When I will be gone

Somedays I think it will be it will be
Somedays I think the end will be near
Somedays that brings me a tear
Why o why should I grieve my own loss
Is it an unfulfilled dream or is it a false belief that I will be missed?

Smiles and Tears

There are days when there's no reason for the laughters
There are days when I look around to see no one is watching me smile without a reason
But there are also days when a tear just drops, makes it hazy, makes it moist
And on those days, I try to find a reason for that tear and sometimes I find a reasons few
But mostly I never know why, may be the tear just needed to flow
May be it would make the next smile more true, more alive
And on those days, I don't mind that drop
It only empties my mind, makes more room for more smile to grow

My favourite possession

It's funny how I am writing about a small and insignifact thing! It's a black jacket I purchased in Sydney like 8 years back and I still wear it with so much care and the way I feel when I wear is always great. It doesn't make you feel very warm nor does it make you feel cold on very cold days. It's just seems to adjust with the temperature.


I can still remember why I purchased it. It was a little cold in Sydney then and I had very warm sweaters with me which were not needed then and it use to be chilly without it. I can also remember where I bought it from, I can remember the way I hunted for it, the one that should not make me feel very warm, in other words something light.

So many years have passed since but that memory is still fresh, the walk to our hotel throught that mall every evening after work, window shopping and finally a real purchase!!!

A friendly word

This guy who travels in the same cab as I do is someone almsot out of the college and so when I heard him first, I counted him among another know-alls who has yet to learn from life. The other day he was trying to strike a conversation with me by asking me if I was interested in selling my mobile. Well,he knew how to talk to me for sure, he knew I had alsmost 5 times his work experience but he was definitely using his personal skills to talk to me. I haven't mastered that skill yet. I do have convincing skills but I think I don't have the skill to start a conversation.

Another day, another incident again! The cab driver ignored the policemen and took the wrong cut. Don't know why he did that; I sometimes sympathise with them given their work hours are too tough to manage. Anyways, then this kid again went to the rescue, talked to the policemen and though I don't know what exactly they talked about, I certainly know that the driver was saved of a fine.

And Today! Another street rage and this is common in Delhi, the people don't have any patience or time. He was upfront again, talked to the angry young man and offered him water too and lo, he was smiling. We were saved again.

Then he tells the driver not to get angry when a friendly word could save it all. Tip for my day!

I nearly lost my mom's mobile

The season: Durga Puja! Location: Shillong! Weather: Rains! No matter how the weather is, and if you are in Shillong, rain is something of a daily routine almost and for none of these can we ever miss Durga Puja.

I was carrying too much stuff - bags to hold umbrellas, my purse, camera and my Ma's mobile! So I got off from the cab we had hired, I needed to have everything with me. Purse was needed as I could not leave behind whatever little cash I was carrying even though the driver was trusted and we would be back in less than 15 minutes. Camera was needed to capture the season and the festivities and mobile is an all time need anyways. And since it was raining, I could not leave behind the umbrellas too!

So, the mobile  was dropped I and didn't know until I was at the Puja pandal and relaized something was missing. I didn't dare tell anyone for I knew I would be rebuked for my carelessness. The few minutes it took us to get back to the cab, time seemed to be running and I was all thinking about finding it in some corner of the car and in the worst case I had also planned to get the same mobile for my Ma.

Just as I was to get inside the cab, I saw the mobile lying on the street, uncared and since it had a cover on, no damage was done. I picked it up immediately and thanked my stars! Stars, or the Mother Godess or the Rain, but someone or all three of them had just saved my day.

The driver noticed and asked me in serious tones if I had dropped it and though I tried to ssshhh him, my folks got the story. No harm done, the mobile was there and yes it was proved to me that I do carry a blessing with me!

What was called 'Miracle'

That day we survived! It was a miracle and people called it our 'rebirth'!

It was early March 2004, probably 3rd of March! Just a few days before Holi but was kind of warm and sunny. I was working in an evening shift then, 3 pm to 11 pm and I was not wearing a sweater even though I would return late! So it must have been warm! I wore a peach coloured suit and I really used to love the dupatta because it had some embroidery work on it.

We were 7 people on our way to work, three girls occupying the middle seats in the Sumo, one guy at the front seat and three guys behind. All of us were nearly sleepy as the cab drove through the empty Dwarka streets on a warm afternoon. And our friend P at the front seat had just told the driver to slow down. And then I didn't know what was happening...we were hit by another cab and God it was true, our cab was turning and tossing up and down and we came to know later that it had tossed 4 times! And in those few minutes, my mind was blank and wondering if it would all stop at all.

I don't even remember that someone had pulled me out of the cab through broken doors and windows, what I remember that my mobile which was in my hand was lying somewhere and I found it, it's display gone...I found my slippers, wore them and I knew I had cuts, there were little blood stains, my peach colour suit was torn at the back and I was using my favourite dupatta to cover myself up.

P was better than the rest of us tyankfully for he had used the seat belt, and I was better than the rest inspite of the cuts and the pain. J was bleeding badly for the cab had hit her side of the window. A was hurt too but the degree of her hurt came out much later but then she was better than the others then. VS, VK and IL were thrown out like bags as they had not locked the door.

People assembled all around us and some passers by even didn't think that anyone could have escaped alive. I don't remember much of the cab's condition but friends who saw it were nauseating. P did a lot, gathered all the courage, called the PCR, sent us all to the hospital, got first aid for himself before he could make it to the hospital.

Inside the PCR van, we all were shivering in pain and fright, J's head was bleeding and IL and me tried to hold her tight, tell her everything was going to be okay till the time we reached the hospital.

In spite of the terrible nature of the accident, none of us had received any fracture. There were dressings and stitches and three of us were discharged on the same night. The rest were to recover in due time but everyone out of danger!

It took some time for all of us to get back in shape and join work one by one. It was nearly after a month that the last member joined! The finest gesture I ever saw from management was when they got a cake for us to celebrate our rebirth and return and yes, the seven of us cut that cake to cheer our health! And P's heroism was applauded too!

The scar still remains, the pain is long gone and what remains are memories of friendship and togetherness. And memories of a miracle!

Chetana

It was those days when I was a fresher and job hunting was my full time occupation. And even after I had landed with my first job, I was not really satisfied and still hunting. Fate did have something better for me and I made it to a better place.
By the way, Chetana yahoo group use to be a big thing for freshers because they provided solved questions and interview tips along with information on openings. My second job was not a direct result of subscribing to Chetana but when I had that job, I really wanted to help people who were struggling. So, one fine day when my employer posted a requirement and asked for references, I posted it on Chetana. And I forgot to remove the HR's mail id from the original mail and put mine. So, the result was the HR continued receiving mails from everywhere througout the day and they eventually got tired taking the prints of those. I then had to resend the mail and ask people to send me their CVs. This did not stop the Resunme-flow but well as with everything in life, the HR dept did not live with that pain for very long. And I appeared as a total stupid who was responsible for clogging people's mailboxes and draining out the printer ink.

Daughters

Off late I am seeing this quote doing the rounds on internet, sms, facebook etc etc - "A son is a son till he takes a wife, a daughter is a daughter the rest of her life..." I beg to play the devil's advocate here!

Well, the son who gets a wife is also someone else's daughter. Now if she is such a nice daughter to her parents, why does she become the cause for her husband's family to think that their son is no longer theirs. She should then have the understanding and feeling that her husband's parents are not much different from her own parents and that she should not be the raeson for his moving away from their lives...

It's easy for me to form an opinion now and now that I have not been in the daughter-in-law's shoes yet, I don't really know how it is when you are there in that family.

But my firm opinion is that the parents themselves seem to move away from their son and hence the repulsion. So also, the daughter-in-law has been fed with stories of horrible in-laws that she comes with a pre-defined mindset and not ready to mingle.

Your take people?

Maid o maid

Having a help at home often makes you crippled. You get into that comfort zone and from there it's so difficult to come out. Wihout the maid, you would wake up on time as you knew your list of to-do things. But now that she does most of the things for you, the day she decided to take a break, you are at loss.
Last week it happened that not knowing that my dear maid would not turn up, I was following my normal routine and then realized that everything went hayway. I ended up fighting with everyone at home and then the entire day was screwed up because I didn't start the day well.

It happened today again and the reason she gave for her not making it was the rain. I told her that I am not taking a leave because of the rain and if she really wanted to rest, she could have at least called and informed. I told her that why does it take me to remind the same thing again and again? Anyway, today wasn't as bad as the previous one but now I have to wait to see her reaction tomorrow.

My First Class

Teaching does not require me to spend much effort as most of the time I am confident when I know the subject and believe that I can explain it well. I also used to take classes for school students when I was in my graduation days and my best achievement was when a so-called 'good for nothing' student reached 90% after my continuous guidance and I was mighty proud.
Those were the days when I did a lot of study myself and was more confident. But after my post graduation and when I was job hunting, I had opted for a teaching job just to fetch myself some money and also since boredom and frustration would have killed me otherwise! When appearing for my interview, I chose all possible subjects which I could teach so as to give me better prospects for that job. And my first class was of Operations Research, a subject I was not much fond of anyway! On top of that, the first chapter was something about goal setting which I had never studied myself. With only a few hours that I got for preparing myself, I took to a real test of teaching.
Well, I gave my students a very detailed introduction of what we are doing, what we need to do and why we are doing and what my expectations were. You see I had to survive one hour. Then we set out to do an example and I think by the end of the class, I had arrived.
This class,  I learned later, use to be the most notorious class and my first class was actually a litmus test, to ascertain whether I was fit for teaching. And it seems they had okayed me. Later all of them grew so friendly even as I maintained the dignity of being a teacher for students of my own age and may be elder. I was so strict that I would ask them to solve problems in the class and not look at each other's notes. On one ocassion, I asked one of them to use my calculator since he had the excuse that he didn't have one.
This day remains fresh, very fresh in my memory and I know that I can!

Emily

I don't believe it, I don't believe it...how can you just leave so soon? I am seeing your pics...seeing the ones that I have missed over the last two- three years...I am seeing the love in your eyes for your son...I am feeling so sad for George, he is so young...

You did look a bit different from how I have seen you, short hair and all and may be it's my mind which is not thinking right now...I think you did look a little unhealthy in your recent pics...

I always loved your spirit...you were so bold...always seemed to know everything...

We knew each other professionaly and that's why perhaps I never addded you on FB and I could never find you on linkedin...I searched last week too...but now you are beyond all these...

I saw you when you were carrying George, how you balanced work and your personal life was what I admired most...why did you leave George behind??? He's not even 3...too young...

RIP Emily! You will always be remembered!

Portuguese food

Yes, I am a fan of whatever I know and have tasted of Portuguese food. My brush with Portuguese food happened in Sydney where I was introduced to 'Ogalo'. I love Ogalo food a lot and often wonder why they don't have chains in most other places. I enjoy the spicy taste and it feels so much 'desi' as in Indian!

Nandos comes to a close second. They are more we ll known too and Peri Peri is a personal favourite too! I hear we have one in Delhi now but I am too laxy to go to Vasant Kunj to try the same.

But I really miss Ogalo!!!

Procrastination

Why do I keep things for the last minute? Is it just me or half the world who has this problem? Submitting investment proofs at the last moment, taking prints, searching for rubber stamps happen on the very last day! So, you will find a queue at the printer, queue at the stationery departement and so on.

Even with submitting our self appraisal, we wait for the last day just in case we had a new point to add to our achievements. Even while evaluating another's we wait till the last day so that the person has to keep waiting till the last moment to buy our time.

The mad mad rush is something which drives us I believe! We don't expect or want things to happen on time. And perhaps there are exceptions and I would like to be one too!

Blocked Nose/Stuffed Nose/Running Nose

hmmm...Winters! And this year the temperature seems to be below than that on other years. And I am getting these strange problems. When I wake up, my nose seems to be blocked and the other running and this happens irrespective of the time I sleep! I was never much an afternoon sleeper but these days I seem to doze off and when I wake up the same problem persists. I suddenly feel cold and then my throat and nose both seem itchy too. It gets better after a while though. I can also sleep peacefully inspite of a little wheezing sound I hear when I wake up.

I hate to go to a doctor and wondering which homoeo remedy would best suit me. My dad has been prescribing a medicine but I am too lazy to take that and decided on my own. Seems to have initially worked but if I am irregular who is to blame.

I am also on the lookout for natural remedies and ginger and garlic seem to the obvious choices but here too it is not working or may be I am not regular. I also made the greatest of homoeo mistakes and that is to take garlic when homeo medicines are on. Strong spices, tomato, coffee all destroy the homeo medicine's effect. I must be here or there and can't be at both the places.

I am too lazy to try steam therapy; may be today :-) And may be today I will try out another homoeo medicine and see if it has any positive effect. Or is it allergy? Well...Wish me luck!!!
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Day 3: Well, I tried Nux Vomica since my nose is alternately stuffed up and running. I took the medicine for 2 days and just one dose before sleeping. I did feel slightly better as the stuffiness slightly reduced but I think I should increase the dosage. I will update the blog when I see some remarkable improvement. I thought Nux would be good because I am having little problem with bowels as well. But honestly I had never known that Nux could be a cure.
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Day 5: Nux seems to be working. Slowly. At least the stuffed nose seems to be getting better and it's the running one that I have to take care of now! That's because I am lazy with the doses I guess! A friend advised me the following: Boil water and add ajwain and saunf and bring it to half. When it has cooled down, drink it before sleeping.  I did that last night and felt slightly better on waking up this morning.
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Day 7: I am feeling better, not sure its the medicine that is working or the weather. May be both!