Musing of An Empty Mind

2009-10-16T15:42:00.000+05:30

I have been so far away from this blog for such a long time that the word 'neglect' does not begin to capture it!! Well, the suspects have been usual. The work, the study, and generally 'stuff' going on!! So much there was to write but the moments passed by and I never found myself visiting this page...

But occasions always bring me to the blog, as if to document my state of mind each year.. Well, the state of mind is usually happy and happening but I notice subtle changes as I push 30s! A couple of years ago I had all the time( ;) ) to do a pre and post Diwali posts. Then in 2007, Diwali was all about the much needed rest after the launch of BlueRidge! Bang comes the next year and my posts around Diwali are shrouded in the uncertain predicament of the industry and economy (albeit after one of the loveliest holidays that I an S enjoyed!)

So what's up this year?! For starters no holiday!! But I am not complaining!! There is much that I have been putting away to do during the Diwali holidays. Besides I need to get some studying done, too!

But this Diwali has something else to it. It is Optimistic. And that after the hellish year since last Diwali, is definitely something to celebrate. Some call is a 'V' shaped recovery and then some others the population factor - a blessing in disguise. I find myself being cautious still. All the numbers are looking good, be it inflation, industrial growth or the supposed increase in the real estate prices according to media - which by the way is as erroneous as were the media numbers on the decrease in prices mere quarters ago! But I still feel that we are rejoicing way too soon.. We need to give it another quarter or two before heaving the sigh of relief and getting complacent all over again..

Well, that does not, however, take anything away from how brightly this Diwali is going to be lit! I hope not by crackers though!!

Happy Diwali everyone!

Oh and I was a part the minority yet again! I voted. Voting percentage in my ward was 42%. This after a totally wasted holiday they declared for the State elections in Maharashtra. And then what did majority of the people do? They took Monday off, Tuesday was the election day and Voila! They had a long weekend on their hands. Pitiful. Simply hopeless..

The Window Visitors

2009-08-26T13:11:00.006+05:30

Either these birdies know that they get posted online or the area around this office and the climate is really attracting the birds here!! A few more....
The Lunch time Visit! I think this is a bird very similar top common sparrow..

Can someone please help me identifying this very tiny and a very pretty birdie?

A rainbow at BlueRidge

2009-07-21T18:03:00.000+05:30

This is what brought a huge and wide smile on my face in the middle of a nasty nasty meeting!!

Someone from office took this picture so don't know the camera which snapped this! But what is more important surely is how well the moment is captured!!

A new visitor on my window ledge

2009-07-07T15:10:00.000+05:30

this time was a Spotted/Scaly Breasted Munia or Lonchura Punctulata. Here are some grainy shots shot using my standard BB curve 8900.

I am sounding all intelligent about the name of this little birdie, courtesy Google Image Search, what else?!

What? Me? NO! .... maybe..

2009-07-02T13:07:00.000+05:30

Why do I keep getting freaked out about the things/issues out of my control?

Is it because I control everything within my control??

Does that make me a control freak???

Oooo...oo Scary!! Something to think about surely!

Image Courtesy: Google Image search and this

Sunday

2009-06-30T11:16:00.001+05:30

Went to Alibaug for Lunch on Sunday!! Yeah, We are crazy enough to do that!! And at least there it was raining!

Sunday 14th June, 2009

2009-06-15T17:54:00.000+05:30

I felt like such a ball of mush!!

Little Women and Good Wives

2009-06-12T18:05:00.003+05:30

Post contains spoilers

These books are by Louisa May Alcott and translated in मराठी by famous writer, poet शांता शेळकेas चौघीजणी. Set in late 1800 and early 1900 USA, the March family, was my moral barometer as a kid! When I read it for the first time, I was way too young to understand the reasons for that. But as I grew up this book taught me something new every time I read it though there's nothing groundbreaking about the story, though it is set in late 1800s, though the girls wear muslin gowns, floppy hats and go up the slopes to collect pine cones and play croquet!!

It maybe when I was in standard 5 or 6 when the translation was launched and आई bought it. I think she must have mentioned that she would let me read it once I am a little older! That did it!! I HAD to read the book right then!! I managed to read almost a quarter before I was caught and आई had to give up and let me read it!!

I instantly fell in love with all four sisters. Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. And being quite a tom boy myself, Jo - the tomboy and non-conformist sister of four - was my personal favorite! And the boy next door - Theodore Lawrence aka Teddy was in my opinion the epitome of a great buddy!!

Since the day I have read Jo calling Teddy, well, Teddy, I have hoped that some day I shall call someone Teddy!! And shall have in him all that Teddy stands for!! Many friends (V and Sid especially) have come close to it but never quite made to high standards of Teddy!! Closest till date has to be S and well, though Jo didn't, I accepted my Teddy's proposal!!

I have longed to read Dickens because March sisters loved it and have wanted to have a weekly paper published! But I think my sister was never the types and I, too, never had enough creative juices for it!! But drama society, well, that was quite different!! I tried to fulfill this dream in school!

In my teens I had a big dream to backpack in Europe and the germs of the same can be traced right back to this book!! This book gave me the idea of a surprise gift bought with your own money for the first time and my family has had to endure a lot of those right to a pair of socks for dad!!

I have cried buckets reading about Jo's loneliness when Beth dies. I can still remember the typical summer afternoons when I would be cocooned in some corner of house and reading and crying and feeling all sad.. I remember all too clearly the tug at the heart and sting in the eyes. I have (as I grew up more so) understood Meg's struggle to keep the marriage on even keel and not lose sight of things more important while battling everyday demons.

It is so amazing that more than 100 years later and in a completely different part of the world I have related to this book all my life!! Simply because it is talking about some things so fundamental! If you have not been privileged to be acquainted with these sisters, I suggest you hit the classics section of your bookstore right away!! It will be worth it!

Late in the May! Well, early in the June!

2009-06-03T15:15:00.009+05:30

It is that time of the year again!! My most favorite time to look up at the heavens is back!! My office is basking in the afternoon sunshine just like the last year!! But the lawn that was just stitched up last year has stabilised through he year and the transformation makes these days even lovelier!!

On a side note, we had a glowing, radiant Beer and yummy, blushing Cosmo this Saturday night at a joint we frequent!

All photos courtesy my (new!) Blackberry Curve 8900!! Not a great camera but an amazing phone!! I just love how it made that beer glow!!

Being Lazily Happy

2009-05-25T18:43:00.004+05:30

on weekends means getting up at 8am and feeling like getting up!

Having a great coffee, breakfast and conversation at Wad with S, X and R.

Visiting the up and coming construction site that I am so invested into (pun intended).

Finishing veggies shopping in time.

Lounging at ma's with nothing to do.

Having a chillaxed lunch.

Getting a long and happy nap! (Highlight!)

Going shopping in a cute little boutique with S and R and finding some lovely stuff!

Buying some good books.

Having some great 'sabudana khichadi' and Kingfisher Draught Beer!

Watching IPL final and Deccan Chargers claiming the cup!!

Perfect~!!

Image Courtsey: Google Images and this blog

The World of Extremes

2009-05-20T12:14:00.003+05:30

This world is so full of extremes! We all know it and still it continues to surprise me almost every single time!!

Case in point - recent political and therefore, impending economic developments in India. Two people expressed two opinions to me in a span of 24 hours. While one thought now within a 100days(thanks to Mr. Singh's plan) the face of India will change, India will decouple fully (please note that all the reforms he kept asking for were to do with liberalisation and increased global exposure!), the other distressed that Congress will be 'themselves' for another 5 years. (Ask him which party was his choice and why complain if by being 'themselves' UPA indirectly grew his salary ten-fold in last five years and you won't get no answer!)

What do people want?? Everything?? Or they simply do not know what they want??!

Another fine gentleman said to me, now the real estate will zoom past the earlier highs in no time. Why? Was UPA buying/hoarding real estate across the country?? Then why will this happen overnight - even proverbially overnight?? The equity market is allowed to swing wild and show a thumping sentiment but not a market like real estate will behave that way! And another nay-Sayer on the other hand insisted that real estate in on a doom's day path as government will 'actively' (note the choice of words) bring the prices down! Where are we? In a Communist run country or a disctatorship?? And which prices? Only of the end product or the raw material as well? Is it impossible for the new business models to emerge in such a scenario?? And in any case this chap is buying a house to stay!! Talk hypocrisy!!

Honestly!!! The right of speech in democracy is so well abused!!

Including by your truly!! :)

After a long hiatus!

2009-05-08T12:33:00.005+05:30

The only thing that this post is - is Random!

I have realised I am the minority in this city. I voted.

Barring the fact that the lady at the booth got over excited with the painting stick it was a quick one.

I saw a man wearing a pink shirt riding a pink scooty!!

The reptile friend visited my window cill again!

A very very dear friend lit up three weeks in April! Hugs Snigi! Loved having you around and re-connecting and talking and laughing and bitching and partying!! She actually prompted me to take a half day off and travel to Mumbai to party! Very unlike me!! But we had a great time!!

Pre-Monsoon Showers

2009-03-13T18:06:00.005+05:30

It is raining like mad house right now!! After a very hot afternoon about 4-4:30pm in the evening it suddenly became very breezy and by 5:15 it started raining and it is more than an hour now and this is relentless!! The sound of the rain is so loud in this metal topped single storey structure that it is useless to talk on the phone and we are almost shouting talking to each other in the office!!

Rain is treated with a mixed emotion on any construction site. It is a very painful season to work during as water wreaks a havoc on speed. But it is always a welcome respite for a worker after the endless and tiring heat! We treated this rain with exact same emotions!!

I wish I had a better camera though. My Blackberry curve camera is the most unsuitable apparatus for catching the light and motion.. But still I took pictures because I wanted to remember this rain.. how it felt.. how it looked.. 'cos some things about these days I don't want to forget in the usual marathon that my life is!

Interpreting Data

2009-02-27T12:27:00.004+05:30

I read a fabulous article in Wired yesterday! It unravels beautifully and simply what happened in the US that led to the credit crisis. Read it here. It is a total must must read!!

The last paragraph of the article goes like this:

"In the world of finance, too many quants see only the numbers before them and forget about the concrete reality the figures are supposed to represent. They think they can model just a few years' worth of data and come up with probabilities for things that may happen only once every 10,000 years. Then people invest on the basis of those probabilities, without stopping to wonder whether the numbers make any sense at all."

And OMG, I soooo agree!! I have seen a number of 'analysts' in analysing real estate projects ONLY on excel sheets and wondered if they really understood the reason why money will be made! The money will never be made because the calculations say so but if and only if the assumptions are executed verbatim on site. And most of the financial analysts and deal makers I met never really understood this. Some of them paid heavy price by both over investing or letting go of an opportunity! I am so glad someone's penned it down so well!!

Crisis of ...? And the Clinical Optimists

2009-02-21T11:16:00.004+05:30

A number of times in the past I have read that current crisis is the crisis of confidence and not cash, at least in India. This is not referring to the ever plunging indices. There indeed it is a fair lot of foreign money that was buying has been selling. But the statement above largely refers to the contraction of consumption. Consumption of goodies in malls, supplies in supermarkets, vehicles in auto lots, houses in residential markets and all those other purchases that have been either cancelled or put on hold by millions of Indians, fearing, hmmm, well, what??? Job loss? Respective industries going to dirt? Erosion of savings? General fear for financial well being? Impending political changes? Terrorism? Perhaps, a concoction of all these has made a drink potent enough to pull the rug under our feet. And rightly so.

There is never a small talk over coffee or drinks that does not find this topic creeping into it these days. A topic of how robust is India's internal consumption story? To what extent are we export economy driven? We all agree we are no China (didn't we mourn that until not so long ago?) but we do not seem to be able to place the economy on the continuum of worse hit to less hit. (There is no one, in my opinion, who is unaffected.) And it is through these conversations that the pessimists slowly start turning this crisis of confidence into the crisis of cash! A Self full filling prophecy!

When does our collective caution turn into a collective disaster? Are we there yet as a country?? I strongly believe not. I am no expert in other sectors. But for Real Estate (I am no expert here either, but it is just that I work in this sector!) I always felt that February would bring a small cheer. And it has been the case. This month has been substantially better than anything we have seen post September 2008. For a variety of reasons! The 'doomsday predicament' of the buyer has at least changed to a 'fairly glum outlook'! And the media since the beginning of 2009 has decided to belt out relatively positive notes as opposed to what they were doing for 12 months prior to it. Most of it is still as ill-researched as it was then but now they are spinning the web the way the people who pay for fancy adverts want. Survival! I believe the month of April and May will again see a change in outlook for two reasons. First is obviously the political uncertainty will start to get reduced and secondly because the common folks would know whether they are keeping their jobs next year and how much is their expected income!

Even then the pessimists will cry foul. They will try to tell that it's is not over till it is over and over it will never be to these good Samaritans who are spending their hard earned cash on making this a crisis of sentiments and therefore, for the good of the entire country including those sly pessimists! Ha!

So kudos to you people, who take a more balanced view. Who decide to cross the bridge of a total utter failure of financial world when we (if we) get there! Who look for opportunities and make a grab at them! Who understand the sinusoidal curve of life! Who can see, relatively well, through the BS of extreme negative and dispairing (and if you care to remember the extreme positive and euphoric) sentiments. Who are driven by logic but understand sentiment.

Basically if someone will make this country weather and come out shining much better is those 'clinically optimistic' people!!

Republic Day Getaway!

2009-01-30T15:07:00.023+05:30

The whole W and J clan went away to Kumarakom, Kerla over this Republic Day weekend (and a few more days' of extra offs!) Here are some snapshots!

The whole idea of the trip was to do nothing!! A lovely lovely thing one gets to do never!! We stayed at Taj Garden Retreat in Kumarakom which fronts the famous Vembanad lake. It is a lovely rustic hotel! Cleanliness in the hotel could have been better but I think they have a formidable task on hand given the setting they are in. The biggest credit to them is definitely their hospitality! Taj's service is legendary and we find ourselves seeking a Taj wherever we go. But the team here was par excellence even by Taj's standards!! Apart from the lovely ambiance the best part of the hotel was also some excellent and delectable variety they served us thrice a day (minimum that is ;) ) We had some superb chettinad preparations of prawns and chicken and feasted on the traditional vegetarian Kerali cuisine of Appam and Avial and Toran and Payasam!!

We took the much necessary trip to Kottayam for shopping and eating dosas in the local hotels and we were not disappointed a bit!! We rewarded ourselves to multiple Ghee Dosas after a tiring(!) shopping experience at Seematti. Kottayam is a funny city I thought! It has way too much contour for the part of the world it is located in.... We kept travelling up and down the streets - quite literally!! I once again realised how urbanised the city of Pune is where I live. For good or bad Kottayam is about 15 years away from that level of urbanisation...

Large rooms with wooden sloping roofs were complete with dormer skylights.
But the best part of the rooms certainly was this sit out that overlooked the hotel lagoon.
Toilets opened on a lovely (locked from outside!) courtyards! It took me some getting used to!!!!
This hotel shares a boundary with the large bird sanctuary of Kumarakom and thanks to this lagoon there are a lot of lovely birds inside the hotel premises as well. If you cared to wake up early (well relatively!) and sit out by the lagoon you could see a lot of them! Following is the picture of cottages from across the lagoon.
A lot of varieties of Herons were seen and I am no expert in identifying them but we tried and captured them in the lens as much as we could!
The hotel had lot of water bodies woven through it and such water fountains were created at a number of places which served as aeration mechanism for the water.
We saw a wood pecker here up in the trees but he refused to let us take a picture!! I loved its triangular head!!
Ain't these lovely?? Look at their colour!! They were almost transparent!
This was the West side end of the hotel. It had a lawn with couches that you could lounge on endlessly! They also served snacks and chai in the evening here making it lovelier still! (Yup I am a certified foodie!) The Vembanad lake seen till the horizon... I was mesmerised by the size of this lake.
This picture should be named melancholy... Though I wasn't feeling particularly so when clicking it!!

This is the view of the Baker's bungalow across the lagoon with the beautiful island in between. They have a restaurant in this bungalow now but it has been preserved well from its colonial days.
The hotel had a lot of fearless rabbits! I and R discussed that rabbit or hare does not explain the squishiness of this cutie as well as the Marathi word 'Sasa' does!! (For some reason the links to post in Devnagari have disappeared from my toolbar. Grhh)

Though aplenty birds could be seen at the hotel we took a 0600 am (on a holiday! I am so proud!!!!) tour through the bird sanctuary. The weather was mildly cold (Yes, we were indeed in Kerla!!) And according to the guide all the birds populate the Hyacinth in the lagoon that separates the backwaters from Vembanad at this time of the day. And well I must say he was quite right!

There are about nine varieties of Kingfishers here. We saw two kinds! Every time it took a flight it dazzled with its brilliant blues! I wish we had a pro camera...
This is an eagle with its catch!! Kudos to S for snapping it!

This ubiquitous Heron I nicknamed as The Hunchback of Kumarakom!! :)

Such a small birdie but what rattle it was making!!
Can anyone tell me what flower this is?? It was 'planted' in large vessels filled with water the way lotus is usually, well, 'planted'! The total life of this beautiful creature was only a few hours of the day..

Sunset point again!

We just loved these creatures!!

This silly bird sat every morning around the same spot for hours on end!!
All those black forms in the tree are Herons actually!! They have turned that Green tree White by doing you know what all over it!! There is a covered walk way beneath these trees to save the mere mortals from continuous droppings!!
View of the cottages from the Baker's Bungalow
At night they would light diyas (panatya) all along the lagoon! Such a simple and inexpensive idea, albeit with a lot of efforts involved! But what effect!! This picture hardly does justice to the magnificent site that was!!
Overall a rocking trip!! Well all the holidays are always like that, aren't they? :)

When?

2009-01-19T18:52:00.004+05:30

When does an 'event' become a 'memory'?

When does 'memory' become 'trivia'?

Do all 'events' become 'memories'?

Are all 'memories' 'trivia'(l)?

Edited after Comments

R said:

memory becomes a trivia, when it looses its importance..
and event becomes memory, when you start remembering it
I feel a memory cannot be trivia at the same time, once it becomes trivia it no longer stays a memory

R, if memory cannot be trivia what would you call quiz masters asking exact number of fire men deaths in 9/11?? Is it Or Isn't it 'trivia'? 'Least in colloquial terms? And if trivia does not stay as memory then what do you call it when you remember a completely inconsequential detail about a friend, such as a dress or a style of handwriting or something???

M said:

surely i hope all memories aren't trivia !.. trivia is something of little importance .. im sure there must be something that isnt trivial !..

M, Oh! I agree and hope there are a lot of memories that are not trivia! I am more perturbed by those memories that should not be 'trivia' but end up becoming so... Know what I mean??

In these times...

2009-01-12T18:00:00.004+05:30

of trouble, it is heart warming and inspiring to read articles such as this by eminent thinkers..

Really!

This is a must read..and a quick read too. A small excerpt I liked best..

"...My friend switched the subject to the poor condition of India’s roads, its dilapidated cities and the constant blackouts. Suddenly, he stopped and asked: “With all this, how did you become the second-fastest growing economy in the world? China’s leaders fear the day when India’s government will get its act together............"

I hope!! Soooon!!

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T09:58:00.002+05:30

On this last day of 2008 I find myself mostly thinking about the later half of the year that was so packed with recession, terrorism, politics.. Not the nice stuff.. So much so that I have forgotten numerous nice things that have happened in the earlier half of the year!! I think we all have a short term memory loss problem!!

But I am already sure that the new year is going to bring a lot of reasons to cheer! Professionally as well as personally for me!! Economically and politically for all of us! Even as I write this the cynic part of me is scowling and grinning scarcastically! But I am just reminded of something S had said when we were debating when to get married (and whether!! ;) ). And he said quite nonchalantly that we need to now change our set of problems! That's it! The problems will be omnipresent! So long as we face a different one each day we shall feel alive! (and kicking!!)

Happy New Year to all of you!! Party hard and hope there are ever more reasons to party in 2009!!

Grhhh...

2008-12-20T10:49:00.003+05:30

Dear office holder who gives planning permissions,

Please understand that we like to eat ice-cream in a waffle cone. You are giving us only the waffle cone. However nice that might taste, we like it WITH ice-cream. Get that???

Disgruntled Planner/Developer.

The Women

2008-12-18T13:38:00.003+05:30

Watched a movie recently called The Women. Awesome stuff!! Please click the link for the propah review/synopsis. I loved it because of how easily I could relate to the movie!! The movie is so - - 'women'!!! There is one conversation in the movie which I felt has caught the essence of the roller coaster, love hate emotions all of us experience and it aptly showcases what friendships are to women! (you can stop reading now 'cos this maybe a really boring read if you have not understood what I have just written!!!)

The situation is such that one of the women - Mary (Meg Ryan) is confronting Sylvie (Annette Bening) for 'counselling' her daughter(Molly - pre-teen, super confused, suffering parent's possible divorce etc). This is on the background of the fact that Sylvie has 'betrayed' Mary. It goes something like this:

M: (Very angry) Hey, I wanna know what you've been talking to my daughter about

S: I promised her I wouldn't discuss it

M: She is having emotional problems and now you decide to be discreet?

S: I just thought she needed a safe place to be...

M: (cuts her mid-sentence) I am the safe place, okay? That is my job. Not yours. I am the mother. Not you.

S: She said she loves me.

M: Ya? You never have to say No. You show me the stretch marks baby, and you can do all the mothering you want! And what is this? (pointing at the casual attire of Sylvie who is very particular about formal dressing..) A casual Friday? Its Wednesday.

S: Ya. I know. (sounding clearly upset)

M: What's wrong?

S: Nothing.

M: Something.

S: Look, let's just drop it okay? I didn't mean to cause problem. I was just tying to help.

M: Don't you ever get tired of saying that?

S: (Angrily) How dare you reprimand me for stepping in where you should have been all along?? You've not been there for your daughter, Mary. You've not been there for anybody. How could you be when you are not willing to face the hard stuff?

M: Don't you criticise me? Let me ask you something. Now that Molly (Mary's daughter) trusts you are you going to betray her like you did me??

S: Do you have any idea how hard it is to be your friend? I have done everything to make it up to you. What more do you want??

M: I want to know how can you sell out your best friend? I hope that job is worth it Sylvie 'cos that's all you've got.

S: I QUIT MY JOB.

M: What? (incredulous)

S: What else could I do? I was making terrible compromises.

M: I can't believe you quit.

S: I mean how could I be so outta whack that I sold out my best friend.

M: Well, you were in an impossible situation. Of course you wanted to keep your job. That's what you do and you are great at it.

S: Its nothing compared to being responsible for a child. I mean I don't know how you do it!

M: C'mon! I am a terrible mother. I can't even talk to my daughter about sex.

(Both are still shouting on the road)

S: Well, its easy for me. I wasn't there changing her diapers

M: (Earnestly) I know. thank you for helping me out. You are doing a real big favour. Thank you very much, god damn it, thank you!

S: Anything I can do. you have a huge job. Huge. So glad I never had children.....

(after calming down a little)

God I am exhausted

(They flop of some steps)

M: Oh! what a mess

S: I like you hair though!

(And they get into a giggle frenzy!!!!!!)

M: I got my divorce papers today. I have to do this but I can't seem to find a pen to sign (on the brink of tears)

S: Mary its okay

M: (now crying) you know what this feels like? It feels like the phantom limb syndrome where you remove a part o your body but you still have sensation that it is there....

S: I am sure Steven (cheating husband of Mary) feels the same

M: I am not talking about me and Steven! I am talking about you and me... (sob sob)

S: awwwwwwww (sob sob)

Hug hug!!!

About those friends...

2008-12-15T19:57:00.003+05:30

I wrote this a while ago and a friend ( :) Thanks Sameer!) commented on it yesterday itself, just in time for yet another post that was brewing in my head. This December is the season when a lot of my friends have decided to visit from wherever the work and life has taken them. We had been planning the get-together, small trips etc for last six months and I have had a lot of fun past few weeks when those plans have actually translated into action. All these people I have been friends with for over 12 years and we have seen each other's good, bad and ugly! Though everyone manages to spring a surprise once in a while (pleasant or otherwise!) we largely know what to expect. More importantly we have accepted each other for what we are!

Meeting friends after a long time (couple of years at least) and with newer additions, be it spouses or kids, is always a mildly traumatic experience for me! I keep hoping that I shall meet the person I have known. I keep hoping that fundamentals have not changed though circumstances have. I hope the changed circumstances have only brought happiness and smiles or learning and maturity. Not bitterness, not sadness, not the distance at any rate. I keep hoping we shall be ourselves with each other and won't have to don a persona, that we won't mind voicing our opinions, however silly, without fearing being looked down upon. I hope that these people won't hesitate to tell me I am doing something all wrong. And won't mind getting a piece of mind from me. I keep hoping I shall learn to respect their priorities and they will understand mine - however distinct those maybe! Most importantly there would be no judgement.

And bless them, I was not disappointed on any count at all!! (I just hope I did not disappoint them either..) At one of these meetings we were chatting up and a friend whom I had lost touch with for good 12-13 years had shown up! It was amazing to see him having changed and yet not! He was one of those carefree creatures. Now he has twin baby girls!!

My brother, Sid, was visiting for the first time after his wedding. So his wife was a big 'x' factor. And to say I was apprehensive would be an understatement of a century. But seems there was nothing to worry about! He the happiest person on earth! And the wife's a complete sweetheart!! He has a changed a great deal from what I knew Sid to be but he is still the same!! Do you know what I mean??

I have spent a lot of time on free saturday evening with yet another school friend of mine who is visitng with her baby girl! We have been together through school, college and till date though we are and have been for a while as apart as possible geographically and we have not been great at keeping in touch regularly. We have even grown up to be two women with as distinct preferences, priorities, lifestyles, natures, personalities, choices as possible! But we picked from from where we left so effortlessly! I am so me when I am with her. I can say so many things to her that I possibly cannot to anyone else and would like to think that she feels the same! There are things which need not even be mentioned but are understood. With her I do not carry any baggage of being anyone at all! I am not judged as a 'that person working there', neither as a 'wife of that person' nor as a 'daughter of someone'. I am me! And it is an amazing feeling!!

So amazing that my eyes sting!!

....

2008-12-12T14:31:00.006+05:30

All I have is a dozen or so unfinished drafts on the whole 26th November 2008, Mumbai siege. But nothing I can really bring myself to post.. Why? Maybe because it is too close to heart.. Maybe because I do not have solutions.. Not even suggestions.. And I have a lot of anger.. Nations needs anger - a friend has written.. and two days later she wrote nation needs anger channelised.. I agree.. And more.. I do not know how well I am channelising my anger.. And I do not want to preach how should you either.. I just know I do not want to forget or forgive.. I do not want to be resilient.. I do not want to get used to.. I will not let myself be terrorised.. I shall fight the terror I feel within..

I can not post anything else without posting something about this.. I feel as if I am betraying someone.. Myself maybe..

Filhaal

2008-11-21T14:14:00.003+05:30

I have always loved this song! I found myself watching this movie on TV a few days ago and tried hard to remember the correct lyrics of this song(i had missed it) and had to work to get all the words right.. So posting it here.. to remember.. 'cos it is nice and relatable!

Ae zindagi yeh lamha jee lene de
Oh, pehle se likha kuch bhi nahin
Roz naya kuch likhti hai tu
Jo bhi likha hai, dil se jiya hai
Yeh lamha filhaal jee lene de

Maasoom si hasi, bevaja hi kabhi
Honton pe khil jaati hai
Anjaan si khushi baheti hui kabhi
Saahil pe mil jaati hai
Yeh anjaana sa darr ajnabi hai magar
Khoobsurat hai jee lene de
Yeh lamha filhaal jee lene de

Dil hi mein rehta hai, aankhon mein baheta hai
Kaccha sa ek khwaab hai
Lagta sawaal hai, shaayad jawaab hai
Dil phir bhi betaab hai
Yeh sukun hai to hai, yeh junoon hai to hai
Khoobsurat hai jee lene de
Yeh lamha filhaal jee lene de ...

Oh, pehle se likha kuch bhi nahin
Roz naya kuch, oh likhti hai tu
Jo bhi likha hai, dil se jiya hai
Yeh lamha filhaal jee lene de ...

:)

Reactions!!

2008-11-12T12:52:00.005+05:30

I came back after a lovely vacation in Diwali week(more on the trip later) extremely reassured about the whole situation about the economy, markets, real estate, the market in Pune, my project in particular and obviously my family, Shridhar, me... Because it boils down to that finally, doesn't it? I was quite sure that at these various levels various short term, medium term and long term strategies would work. This is not something that will take us down with it if we respond appropriately, thoughtfully and with smart as well as hard work. Upon return, however, I sensed two quite distinct feelings in people.

On one hand there were a lot of them who were death scared. A guy said to me yesterday, "It is good to see you laughing/smiling(he said laughing but he meant smiling ;) ). I don't meet a lot of people who do that these days"!! And this seems to be the case with so many. Extreme pessimism which for a lot of them would result in severe depression. True, there is a problem staring in our faces but negativity in attitude only prevents you from seeing an opportunity the problem presents. Because there always are numerous opportunities and now is a time to start hunting. This not only sounds cliched but also does not have a road map. But then that is the beauty of it, isn't it?? It is eternally true that winners rise out of depressions and equally true that there is no formula for the success. Most astounding success stories are happy accidents happening to hard working, smart and prepared souls!!

And on the other hand I have in past week or two met those blessedly happy people who are simply unaware of the situation! Not that they do not read the newspapers or watch TV channels or are incapable mentally to comprehend the problem. They are just sure that this is not something that can affect them and to think this is silly. Stupid even. I simply cannot understand how one can live in such a fool's paradise! There are a few industries that will be less affected and then those that will be more affected. But affected nevertheless. One has to assess the impact. Think more than anything else. Discuss. Debate. But then these people are just not bothered. If you think you are not going to be affected in a negative way then at least think how you can benefit!

In every cycle bull or bear there would be the doomsday predictors all around us and there would be those over optimists! It is upon an individual to decide where in the spectrum he/she is. And constantly re-evaluate, re-calibrate. As wrong it is to be a pessimistic, it is also equally incorrect to assume you as a person are isolated. Can't we all just be normal, levelled, logical about all of this??

Bunch of things

2008-10-18T11:39:00.004+05:30

Fin moguls down

Bail outs offered but the ones 'bailing out' hardly know what they are doing

Buy outs happening overnight and the new owners are still grappling to find out what they bought

Someone told me yesterday about a grade A downtown office building in London that had Lehmann as a tenant and 4 year rentals were insured by AIG!

Elections

Sensex in 4 digits

A huge bear hug

And not knowing the extent of it all.

I read somewhere the other day that we are staring at the eye of the storm so we do not know the extent of havoc it is going to wreck.

Seems like even if we are able to assess the extent of this problem, we can solve it!

And then think about this time last year! I don't know whether that thought makes me nostalgic and euphoric and just simply sad!

I told a friend yesterday that in last 3.5 years of working I have seen the best and now I am begining to prepare myself to see the worse of it all.

Anyone who thinks he/she is unaffected by all this is only living in a fool's paradise.

I still remember Mr. Colin dyer's (President and CEO, JLL) speech I attanded roughly 11 months ago. After telling (most eloquently) about what is amazing about India as a market, as an opportunity and how he has always been told by one and all about how Indian economy is 'different', 'decoupled', 'immune to global financial shocks', 'not following trends as all the developed and emerging markets around the world' etc. he pulled out from his jacket pocket a coin. Flipped it and watched it as it fell to the ground. And he said, 'But India, too, has gravity! What goes up has to come down!'

How far down is the only question...

Maybe Warren Buffet knows...

Chameleon

2008-09-30T09:53:00.003+05:30

An unexpected visitor paid visit to my office window cill yesterday!! :)

All photos courtsey my BlackBerry Curve 8800 camera phone...

Marc Faber June 2008 Montly Bulletin

2008-09-22T10:16:00.003+05:30

This morning I read this piece in half of the fin world blogs I read. It is an extremely intelligent and caustic take!

"The federal government is sending each of us a $600 rebate. If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, the money goes to China. If we spend it on gasoline it goes to the Arabs. If we buy a computer it will go to India. If we purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala.

If we purchase a good car it will go to Germany. If we purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy.

The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it on prostitutes and beer, since these are the only products still produced in US. I’ve been doing my part."

Don't Read. It's just what I needed to put down in words for clarity...

2008-09-19T13:24:00.004+05:30

I want to write a lot but don't know how.. or where to begin really.

I keep remembering the times when I had discussed with a couple of friends and even a cousin sis her/their work problems. Crazy schedules, mad clients or customers, unhealthy organisation culture, petty politics, maniacal bosses and sometimes all of this because of factors that are truly out of your control. I had given a kind ear, sympathised and offered simple advise to keep cool. Easy enough it had always seemed! Because I was, then, working in a setup where my failures or success had relatively little to do with how certain other people behave/react/perform etc. My failures were mine and so were my successes. And the failures were only led by my negligence(which was inexcusable in any case) or market/extraneous factors - which were visible to all! Believe it or not I was able to garner sympathy for a failure! I mean, wherever does that happen??

But I changed a job since then and it has been a little over an year in the new setup. In this setup my worth is entirely driven by other's work! I can holiday in Bahamas(money permitting!) if I can get the lot working in my absence!! And it is only now that I am tasting an iota of the frustration people were talking about. I keep reminding myself time and again of simple advise that I thought made sense from a third person's perspective and try following it as much as I can. But I think I was blissfully unaware of the way you feel bushed when in such a situation. I am learning.

I always thought if I had to face such a situation I would have no patience to deal with people, their problems - genuine or not, egos, unavoidable circumstances...basically the works in a calm and composed manner. I did not think I had it in me to keep my voice levelled even if the person across the table is enraged. I did not think I possessed an ability to be caustically stern. It has been a pleasant surprise, however! I am a different person when dealing with problems at work and personal problems. In person I am a complete impatient person who loves to clear her lungs and taste her vocal chords more often than not.(Aai and S bear it most of the times...closely followed by baba me thinks) But funnily enough that is not the case at work. I think because deep down I know I am right(however convoluted this might sound) in keeping my cool, giving situation time, giving people a chance, understanding and overall just keeping your head down and working at it(as kaka rightly said today morning), being truly committed to the work, caring.... Acknowledging that I am working for myself beyond everything else. It is me who wants to work hard and love the project! And I(possibly arrogantly) know that I am not particularly doing it for money...phew! See I said it! However arrogant, I said it. Money is directly proportional to my 'worth' and if I do not stay worthy I won't get it. And I think we(Read I and S) get enough to make ends meet. If we want anything fancier in life we better be bloody good at what we do!

And if what I do is get judged by other's work. So, so be it!!

Something so difficult made so easy!

2008-09-10T10:04:00.005+05:30

There is a fellow blogger I read in the universe. I don't know who led me to her blog but her sarcasm, wit and insight has made me stay put! In this latest post of hers she has very succinctly captured what a good manager is. Something I was grappling with these past few days because of the work scene. She very simply says and I quote, "Someone who provides the support I need, and gets out of my way"! I mean damn right, right?? I have had pleasure of reporting to a guy who was just this. And I think I am fighting with the guy I report to who is neither, understands he is neither, sincerely tries to do both, but is not so successful at it! I am hopeful though!!

Wonder what kind am I? I try you know.. .

PS Thanks a ton TSTT

Mixed Bag

2008-08-14T20:41:00.002+05:30

Why does it normally happen that when I want to write most, I realise it is not 'appropriate' to do so? Mostly these cases are when I want to criticize something severely.

Somebody said to be that I hardly ever am my fun loving and giggly personality in the office. Duh! Is it not how it is supposed to be??

Or am I losing myself and a chance of being my age as the responsibilities and expectations to conform are enormous??

Normally I am not the kind of a person to conform to the expectations but here I understand that it is required to be done. (or is it not???)

My sheer presence is scandalising enough!! If I start being 'me', then ya sure!!! That should be fun!!!

So what?

2008-08-04T17:19:00.003+05:30

Some people have a lot of friends in and around the place they are and only a few friends away.

But I have only a few friends in and around where I am and a lot of them away.

So what??

It is only geographic, you know. Much better than 'distance' irrespective of geographical nearness.
'Cos then they are only 'so called' friends.

Fallout of Friendship Day this is. Yup.

I miss them...

Posting from the other side of the Wall

2008-07-10T23:47:00.005+05:30

i.e. the Great Wall of China.

I was in China this week and as I wait on the swnaky new terminal 2 of Shanghai-Pudong Airport, I have nothing better to do but blog!!! Especially since its 2:20 am and my flght's not scheduled to take off till 3:30am....

So here's what happened/I learned in this trip:

Sweet gentleman that I was travelling with picked up Femina Magazine to read when he had plenty others that are supposed to interest men!
Jet's international service as well as aircrafts are truly international. Lovely experiance!
The 180degree flat seats are amazingly comfortable! You can sleep like a baby!! (Oh, how I wish they start boarding and I hit the sack...hmmmm)
I like Shanghai more each time I visit here.
Saw a Volkswagen's Beetle in convertible format on road. I want to buy one. Maybe not convertible though.
Ferrari sounds better rev-ing past on road than the race car counterpart through the idiot box. Why does a red Ferrari seem to - even, sound better?? Any ideas??
Watched an amazing Acrobatics show today evening at Shanghai Central Theatre. Awesome stuff. The write up hardly does justice to the quality of the show. Its quite superlative. Try this You Tube version. Watch this as well. We got fourth row seats and watching these artists perform right in front of you is even more mesmerising than the you tube versions. After this 90-100mins show was over I realised that throughout the show either my hand was clasped on my mouth in amazement or I was clapping!
Discovered a few more nice cafe s on Nanjing Street and enjoyed dinners there. My lovely little Italian place that was closed when I visited last time was found to be operational again this time around and needless to say I hogged there! Didn't miss breakfasts at Wagas-my fav diner either!! Went out to a 'lovely old bungalow converted into a fine dining restaurant' with ECADI team and ate most amazing lobster I have ever had! Whoever says decent food's a problem in China?!!!!! Ohhh and had lotsa Starbucks as well, as per the custom!
I want to find some report on whether the malls make money in China. The shear amount of retail space has once again defeated all my 'understanding' of retail real estate.
We have planned really nice lofts. I enojyed the process of design after an long time!! And also the heated discussions!!
Bought a whole lot of Architecture and Landscape books. The system ECADI has for buying the books is ultra-convinient. A lady brings a boxful EVERYDAY to their office!! The flip side of this, though, is my bag is now supernaturally heavy. And not only that I have had to purchase additional bag to fit it all in!
And the JET is boarding now~~ so Goodnight!!!!

Harajuku

2008-06-26T16:31:00.003+05:30

X's written something (brilliantly well!) I was thinking of putting together! Read it yourself!!

Harajuku ~ Meadow Lodging

Oh and this is the 100th post!! How nice it is that this post is linking to X because of whom I started this url in the first place. Thanks X!

Did Do

2008-06-24T23:24:00.002+05:30

Threw a surprise party for moi mamma on her 50th b'day along with sis chacha! She loved it and I happily ticked off one 'to do' on my list!! :)

Weekend Getaway

2008-06-09T15:40:00.004+05:30

Ran off to Alibaug for two days!! It felt so refreshing that I am feeling like I am back from a 10 day vacation!!! Superlative!! Stayed in a lovely new property in the middle of nowhere - Radisson's Alibaug. Definitely recommended if you intend to get away from the bustle and want to 'do nothing' or for a romantic vacation for two or else to go with a gang and freak out!! The property is pretty new and they are yet to acquire the liquor license so all you alcohol freaks, please carry your own beverages. (they have an excellent lounge and disc by the way) But their food and service is par excellence!! They serve amazing seafood in kokani and malvani flavours. Not only have they successfully glorified 'उकडीचे मोदक' and 'ओल्या नाराळाची करंजी' but also serve 'पन्हं' , 'ताक़' and 'सोलकढी' as 'shooters' (Read potently prepared and served just enough to leave you wanting more!!)
I have not seen a pool with more that 25m lap length in a while in a resort and we totally enjoyed having it here! I loved swimming in the afternoons without getting tanned as the first monsoon poured!!

Find picts of the resort here:

Radisson's Alibaug June'08

It was easily the perfect weekend if Fedex would have fought back! You can't give to Raffa on a platter eh! Then it has no entertainment value!!!!

Too Close For Comfort

2008-06-02T17:02:00.004+05:30

Too many narrow escapes...
Too many saves by a whisker...
Too many times we are hanging on by fingernails...
These are more than fare share of close calls I am ready to handle...

Need to do something about this... Dunno what though....

Unaccustomed Earth

2008-05-30T15:27:00.004+05:30

is a total, absolute must read!! I am barely half way through but I am deeply moved by the sincere simplicity of telling stories that this pulitzer prize winner

I love 4pm in office End of May!

2008-05-22T15:39:00.008+05:30

May ends and June beginnings! You know this is that time of the year when you see tufts of super white clouds in perfect sky blue skies. This is when the clarity of vision is superb. You know what I mean, right? Have you traveled in this time of the year by road?? Then you will know! The visibility of the horizon and clarity of the view somehow is maximum. For example on Mumbai Pune highway you can really see a mountain line after another extending so far ahead that the last mountain line totally looks deep purple-blue (like that bruise which starts showing up on the skin, well after it has stopped hurting! No, seriously! That IS the right shade!) The temperatures of the summer peak start easing around this time as well and the days and nights find a breeze with a promise of first showers!!!

It is a total joy to sit in this site office at this time! I have a West side facing window and the sun shining through the clouds lights up my desk with soft rays after 3pm. And all I see outside is lawn we have stitched ready for monsoons due to arrive shortly, those lovely clouds and lines of mountains intercepted by trees! Here's a sneak peak:

This is moi cluttered desktop sun-bathing

Looking out

Pushing those blinds away!

Heavens smiling!!!!

Now you know why I am such a workoholic!!!!

PS All pictures taken with a BlackBerry Curve phone camera...

Aandhi

2008-05-17T11:24:00.002+05:30

In one of my recent trips to Delhi, I experienced ‘आँधी’ for the very first time. ‘Aandhi’ in Hindi can be translated as a dust storm in English. But somehow the associated meaning of aandhi gets lost in translation. My mother tongue is not Hindi (its marathi) and the synonym for aandhi in Marathi (it can be 'वावटळ' or something else..) does not convey the same ‘associated’ feeling either. The melancholy feeling attached to this phenomenon by Hindi speakers is, in my opinion, the real meaning of aandhi – more than its literal meaning referring to the dust storm. But then why can I so strongly relate to this word – in Hindi?!! Blame it on Hindi movies, me thinks!!

Note: All these thoughts flashed in my head as I was struggling to get to the car from the office building (without eating dust or letting it into my eyes between the lens and retina!) and contrary to the feelings that ‘aandhi’ should have evoked, it actually brought a smile on my face!!

Migrating...

2008-05-05T20:04:00.002+05:30

I am considering migrating to wordpress.. The url is: http://musingaditi.wordpress.com/
I have already imported this blog there and am planning on having a next few posts on both blogs. Let's see if I find wordpress more friendly (and inspiring ;) )

I am doing this mainly because my ISP has particularly banned all the blogspot sites and that is irritating me. Till the ISP wakes up to the Wordpress, I might actually get to see the post after posting it!

This is my last bit on STPI vs. SEZ

2008-05-02T17:01:00.003+05:30

"This will give the Government sufficient flexibility to take a well considered decision and announce it at the appropriate time. "
Ya right!
More of the press release on credit policy here
And as for this being the last bit, well, at least for some time for sure!!! ;)

Who is the master craftsman?

2008-03-29T10:54:00.002+05:30

I am sick and tired of media scripting the so called real estate 'bubble burst' every single day! Not a day passes without a story listing the free fall of real estate prices. Most of these stories are ill researched and based more on sentiment than on data. Apart from the more data oriented discussion about whether or not we shall see a correction(notice the phrase) and where and to what extent; this phase is only reminding me every passing day of the sheer media power to script the fall in sentiments which may even lead to god knows what!

Media will be most responsible if any bloodshed happens in this industry.

STPI vs. SEZ

2008-03-18T13:42:00.002+05:30

The IT/ITES has been the golden sector of India for past decade or so. It almost certainly is this sector that has fuelled growth and most importantly the sentiment behind the India Story. Some say this could happen because of the incentives that were given by the government for the growth of this sector apart from the more obvious cost arbitrage story. Net-net however, these companies have not paid any tax at all if they were located in an STPI unit. And of course all them made sure they were! who wouldn't?!

And now that under the STPI scheme, 100 per cent tax deduction on profits under Section 10A and Section 10B of the Income-Tax Act are available only until March 31, 2009, the companies registered with the STPI will have to pay tax at an estimated rate of 33.99 per cent in the absence of these deductions.

Now whether or not the government will increase this scheme has been a debate going on for more than 2-3 years now. Mr. Chidambaram however, found this matter hardly noteworthy in the budget speech!

To make matters more interesting the SEZ policy does provide the tax holiday to the IT/ITES companies within their premises!! Under the SEZ Policy, units in SEZs will be 100% exempt from corporate income tax for the first five years; 50% exempt for the next five years and, for the final five years, 50% of the profits ploughed back will be exempt from tax. This in addition to a plethora of other duty benefits. Oh, and no company can 'shift' into the SEZ. It has to have a 'different' business.

And this has created a lot of uncertainity in the market! And following are two stories published on consecutive day by reputed publications show how unsure the market sentiment is on this issue:

Infotech slowdown bites real estate hard

17 Mar 2008, 0001 hrs IST,T Surendar,TNN

MUMBAI: Real estate firms are beginning to feel the heat of the slowdown in IT/ITeS sectors. Leading IT companies are saying that lease of office space to software and BPO firms have fallen by over 30%. The trend is particularly bound to affect firms like DLF and Unitech which are building several software SEZs (special economic zones) across the country.

IT cos’ demand for SEZ space rising, post-Budget
Non-extension of software technology park benefits

Moumita Bakshi Chatterjee
New Delhi, March 16 2008

Real estate developers are seeing a sharp rise in enquiries from IT and BPO companies making a beeline for space in Special Economic Zones (SEZs), barely a fortnight after the Budget ducked the crucial issue of extension of the Software Technology Park of India (STPI) scheme.

I officially love confusion, uncertainity, inefficiencies in information 'cos this is when most opportunities tend to present themselves!!!!!!!

Revisiting Women's Day

2008-03-09T12:12:00.002+05:30

I have always firmly believed that Women Do Not Need Women's Day. Last year I had written the same thing.

But as one wizens, I have a slightly modified view of the subject this time around. Our HR deparment is headed by a retd. Major - so you can imagine kind-hearted gentlemanly views that he might have on reporting a 25yrs junior female boss - yours truly. He is mostly amused and largely protective! Chuckle!! So Major kindly decided to felicitate all women employees (10.2% of the total staff only) on Women's Day. I was irritated enough by all TV and radio channels happily yupping about it to fill the air time. And was not too excited to be a part of this do. But for the chair I grace and the gender I poesses(!!@) I had to be there. So I was.

Smallish get together with Major cracking the typical 'funnny' jokes about men being 'all' that they are in front of women, I was sitting there half listening and looking around waiting to get back to work. And then I saw the faces of my lady colleagues. They were loving it!! They were loving the fact that someone had gone out of his way to make them feel special!! Bought roses and cute gifts for them and was giving them a 'feel good adreneline rush' for who they are - Women!!!

And then I thought all my cynical scepticism apart, there are those lots of gals who love it! Who need it. Need this pampering!! Now why should they, when the probability of any homo sapien being a women is almost 50%, is a good question. But then this statistical equality still is required to be internalised by most. Why is gender important at all when judging quality, aptitude, ability, personality of an individual? Can't an individual be just that - an individual?? These things (hopefully) will sort themselves in a due course of me. But till then, there are scores of women who need women's days!!

And I have to listen to stale jokes about Men Needing Men's Days........ :(

Jodha Akbar

2008-02-26T16:39:00.002+05:30

One should SEE(as in "perceive by sight") the movie! Not WATCH(as in "observe with attention") !! Know what I mean?? 'cos then its quite good looking, you know!!

Is it really true?

2008-02-20T10:26:00.002+05:30

Movine: No Reservations
Casting: Catherine Zeta-Jones as a perfectionist chef Kate and Aaron Eckhart as Nick - an opera loving fun sous-chef. Add to it Zoe (Abigail Breslin), young niece of Kate who's just lost her mother..
Its a lovely movie, hilarious and touching... Along the way I came across a quote that got me thinking... Its Kate talking to Nick when Nick is offered a job by Kate's boss without consulting her and she is feeling seriously threatened:

Kate motions at the kitchen that she has worked so hard (and where she loves to be) and says to Nick,
"This place is my Life! This is who I am.."
And Nick says,
"No. It is just a small part of who you are.."

I disagree, Nick.

One week of holiday!

2008-02-15T11:39:00.036+05:30

We took off to Hongkong and Macau for a week in Jan. As it was a holiday, it obviously was amazing! Here's the week - visually...

Looking up

(HongKong-Somewhere in the streets)

From Inside -

- Out

(HongKong - Renaissance Harbor View Lobby)

HongKong - The Greens at a War Memorial

Sidewalk Art

(HongKong Soho District)

Does it match?

(HongKong Walk of Stars - Tsim Tsa Tsui. The kid was trying to match the hand prints of Bruce Lee!)

I Love My Bamboo

(HongKong Giant Panda at the Ocean Park)

Donald in a sinking ship! Isn't he is the cutest?!!!
(HongKong Disneyland Main Fointain)

The Imagineer - Awesome Concept
(HongKong Disneyland)

Chiutai!!

(HongKong Disneyland! There were so many of nice fat sparrows there!! I remember there used to be a lot of them when we were younger around here in Pune. But now they have done a vanishing act... Gee I sound damn old in this statement!! )

Soft Toys!! Correction - Disney Soft Toys!
(HongKong Disneyland - I almost bought a sackful... Wish my age was more appropriate 'cos people looked at me strangely when they caught me going 'aaawwww' and 'chooo chweeet' over all of them!!)

Stretching!

(HongKong Somewhere in the streets. This guy was a taxi driver and he had stopped next to our vehicle for a traffic light. And he simply stepped out a stretched!! Mumbai cabbies should learn a thng or two from him!! But then there might not be so much space to stretch outside their taxis!!)

Naturally Indoors!
(Macau - The Venetian)
Direct DilSe
(Macau - Venetian A particularly expressive street perfomer!) The Canal

(Macau - Venetian)

I love taking pictures of people taking pictures!! (All at Macau Churuch)

Brow furrowing concentration The Balancing Act

Macau or Panjim?
(Macau - The Portugese influence of Macau made me feel a sense of Deja-vu)
Cozy Threesome

(Macau - Church)

Hand and Sculpture
(Macau Church - Something about the hand and the way it was resting was captivating....)

Concentration

(Macau Bylanes near the church)
Tower Square

(Macau - Looking down at the square through the glass floor of the tower)

On my way!

2008-02-14T15:26:00.001+05:30

I have been away from this dear url of mine for a real long time! But I am back!! Have vowed to find time now!! So lot more coming up....

"NRI"

2007-11-28T11:40:00.000+05:30

I had been meaning to put down my thoughts on this whole issue of racial discrimination of Indians abroad for quite some time but this (goddamned) movie - dhan dhana dhan GOAL - I watched coupled with what happened in Kuala Lumpur recently stirred these thoughts much more.

Having seen and to a certain extent faced a fare share of this discrimination in the USofA which I am told is one of the better places, I really think there is a validity to the argument of global citizenship, of the fact that every man or woman should have equal rights. I, personally, would never discriminate based either on sex or colour or nationality for that matter. Talent, ability will prevail, in my opinion over above mentioned criterion.

But - now here is where things get complicated - I really think it is each individual's choice where he/she chooses to stay, work, make a life. All the choices are fraught with pros and cons. Racial discrimination IS, MOST CERTAINLY, a flip side associated with the choices made by millions. Is it fair to rest the entire responsibility on the shoulders of certain people who discriminate? Isn't it as much a function of choice made by those who are being discriminated?

I am not saying that these choices made are baseless. Those millions definitely have a reason enough to make them. Neither am I supporting this whole system of discrimination. But why cry foul in the names of ONLY those who choose to believe in the superiority of color? Why not introspect and realise that this should have been accounted for in the first place? Things, in today's world, ARE as they ARE. They may, why will, change over time but whom are you kidding by assuming this will happen in your life time??

Who is at fault??

Jab They Met,

2007-11-02T17:28:00.000+05:30

we had fun!! Me and S went for 'jab we met' yesterday!! Its not every week that both of us find time and will to watch a movie on a weekday evening! S returned early from Mumbai and moi sneaked outta office.We were at a movie hall by the time I normally realise that the work day might end now in a few hrs!! Evening show with S!! I cant remember when we did that last!!!

The movie is also kinda good, you know!! It steers away from the usual drama of hindi movie and it is kept refreshingly light. I actually liked Shahid Kapoor. And Kereena was bearable! Do watch it but dont forget to leave your common sense at home!!

Grey...

2007-11-01T12:18:00.000+05:30

Grey is a colour/shade that has always fascinated me! Especially when it comes to people... I have seen a bunch of those in past few days. Riot of Greys. Wonder which of those shades is me... I am looking for my shade of Grey...

Oh by the way, Did you know, happiness also has a shade of grey? I am no philosopher! But I have realised this now.

BlueRidge is here!!

2007-10-30T11:07:00.000+05:30

What a fantabulous weekend it was!! I am still reeling under all that euphoria, pressure and madness. So much so that I find it utterly impossible to define in words exactly how I am feeling and where I should be going from here!

The project truly broke all the records and beat down every street expectation. Why talk of others? We certainly were not expecting that it will rock as much as it did!!

SOLD OUT!

More than 1000 residential units. Costing upwards of 40lakh. And customers queing and struggling to buy as if they were commodities! Overwhelmed as we were, we fought our way through their requirements and scrampbled to stay standing upright and saying sorry we are sold out! So many disappointed faces who couldnot get what they wanted and compromised were suddenly happy faces when their friends and relatives could get nothing at all!!

But these words come with a lot of responsibility. Real estate is all about execution and not fancy excel sheets and marketing strategies. We have a task cut out for ourselves. A huge task and a mountain of expectations to meet! Which means we need to work harder! Now that part is easy, isn't it?!! Hard, I shall work. Expectations I shall meet! One day like the 27th of October 2007 is enough to give me for renewed highs on adrenaline for at least two years!! Then we shall have more of those!!

Now the website is up - www.blueridge.in - however, still more updations are required. The sample flat will be ready soon now! And I shall shift to the site office in a matter of month! The excavation shall soon start and I shall get my first taste of actual work on site very very soon!!

Life is too full and I really need one day to step back and analyse and chart my course. But this much respite won't come till Diwali!!

Launching BlueRidge!!

2007-10-23T11:58:00.000+05:30

Watch this space for more on this 'little' something very close to my heart!!

(Check www.blueridge.in . However, don't expect to the world there till the 27th of October!!!!)

Wise buy or Charity

2007-10-09T18:59:00.000+05:30

We - read me and S - bought a nice - read expensive :( - treadmill today(its really nice as well actually!!)! We were regulars to donate to local gyms for years! Now this leads me to think whether now we have taken up the cause of sports equipment vendors as well!! Does it mean that poor gyms in the viscinity will stop getting grants from us? hmmm.... Probably not, as S would realise that he misses the the machines too much to not to join a gym!

Long Live Charity to be fit and 'thin' (Relative! I know! But never good enough!! For almost anyone I know of!!!!)

Darn!!

RESOLUTION: Use the damn thing and not let it become a clothes' stand.

Randomness!!

2007-10-04T22:50:00.000+05:30

Been almost a month since I have managed to pen down anything at all! To say I have been tied up is an understatement but then this entry is not going to be about my narcissist self telling everyone how my life and work rocks!! (By the way it still does!!) Then what could this entry be about? Myanmar? I have never written world politics! Neither sensex volatility as that isn’t my particular forte!! This is not about a movie review (though I think there are some things there I meant to write!) This is not going to be a travelogue (though I have just traveled to a faraway land!) And this is not about relationships either. This is going to be about randomness! This entry is being scripted because I so badly want to say gazillions of unrelated things!! So all those wary readers looking for good reading bytes, (you should have never been here in the first place!) go away!!!

Okay so here’s the list!

On this particular trip I took last week, for a 5.5hrs flight me and this nice elderly gentleman I was traveling with managed to get middle seats in consecutive rows. I have a phobia against middle seats in aircrafts. But a sweet stranger agreed to swap his aisle with one of the middle seats and this nice elderly gentleman let me have the aisle! There still are nice fellow travelers in this world.

Movie Dil, dosti etc. should be seen by all parents, to-be parents and youngsters who live in a fool’s paradise thinking attitude of kids today towards sex is exactly the same as their’s when they were kids. It’s a much necessary awakening.

I want them to buy me a Honda City ZX, Steel Grey!

I want to know exactly how many people believe that a Pudong District of Shanghai can be built in Mumbai when we actually are a democracy.

My project is in Hinjewadi and today Hinjewadi tops the list of most favourable real estate investment destinations in India!!

I officially hate all the Anopheles mosquitoes in the world.

Shark Fin soup sucks but Peking Duck is one of the yummiest things I have ever tasted!

My creative agency chap said the teaser campaigns should be like Tequilla shots! How appropriate!!

The company being a going concern is not just an accounting concept. It has to be imbibed by all those who create amazing family businesses in their psyche. (Not my wisdom. Someone whom I respect said this to me and I saw where he was coming from!)

Now I know how much the loss of profit hurts!

I want to dance! Really...!! Just like we used to back in ISB! And get drunk! And I miss my Balu Bear!

I missed T20 final India-Pak thriller (after watching every other match in the series!) It sucked but my dad kept smsing me ball-by-ball update in Shanghai for last 5 overs. Believe-you-me none of us worked untill the drama concluded!!

Growing up before your age is not easy, neither smart. (But it is at least less dangerous than the other extreme!)

I want to buy a house! Not invest. Buy something we shall live in.

I am learning...

2007-09-07T15:35:00.000+05:30

... A lot!!
... that however you would like you can not possibly clear your desk before leaving for the day and this has nothing to do with you at all...
... that every person is different (well I knew that but...) and they will always react in a manner which is not most suitable to you...
... that each time I request (I always request.) someone to do something the chances of it getting done are only 20% if I do not follow it up!
... that when the work does not get done even after following things up, you have to stop requesting and start asking things off people...
... that there is never 100% chance that even after (forceful...Ahem...) asking, the person in question will execute the task...
... that in case as mentioned above I have to fight an extreme urge of finishing it off myself as that is truly the easiest thing done, however big a blunder it might be from an organisation point of view...
... that the only way to deal with older men who report to you (sometimes women as well) and have them follow your instructions is to first catch them by surprise (by sheer cheek) and then tell them in no ambigious manner that you perhaps know much more than they would like...
... that more often than not everyone in your organisation would hate you...
... that even if they may hate you, you have to win their respect and hardwork, knowledge and humility can do this bit...
... that it is okay to hated!!
... that there never are teams! Just a group of people who would rather be together than otherwise to ensure their KRAs are met! Use this!!!
... that hard work is necessary but people management is essential...
... that people can be reaaaaalllyyyy grey! Respect it!!
... that all those soft skills classes you took in your B-School are the most important ones! Much more than Indian Financial Systems, Copr. Fin., Marketing Management, and Ops put together!!!
... that I shall never stop having fun if my work is like this!! This is a true blue blast!!!!!

Moi Room

2007-08-26T16:34:00.000+05:30

I got married about five tears ago and went on to live in S's house and S's room and S's life! Slowly and steadily the life became 'ours' but the room and the house? nahhhhhhhhhhhhh!! Today on a lazy Sunday when S is busy with his work I am lounging at my parent's house. (Something I do in my every free moment that is not particularly free for S!!) And as I was sitting here and looking around I realised (not that I didn't know but you know one of those moments of sudden flashes of realisations!) what a treasure trove of memories this room is! Though this is a place we moved into when I was in the third year of my graduation, I have generated quite a lot of junk around here that, I know, I shall never throw away (much to the annoyance of moi poor mother!)

This room that has got the most irregular shape and a wonderful sitout with awning. Lies in this very sitout my very first tri-cycle - which by the way, I am told, I never wanted!! Snugly next to it is my 'glass tracing' glass where all of my archi friends have worked into the dead of the night(bless those days and those night-outs!!). Inside the room, now in a neglected corner stands my A1 board and stand. Dimantled and now normally used by the servant as a convinient place to hang the clothes. Countless nights we might have spent poring over it and making all those portfolios and submissions - which - now are tucked away in a drawer under my grand platform bed. This uniquely gigantic platform is capable to hold a slumber party with 8-10 friends and countless of them have been celebrated here!! Poor thing now has only one bedding spread across it. I find it too depressing and hardly ever nap here. I prefer the guest bedroom of the house now! But if you lie down on this platform at night and open the small sneak window I have next to it, you see the most beautiful shadows on the ceiling! (I remember telling S that I miss them immediately after I moved in with him!!) Next to the platform I have a huge wardrobe, which miraculously, is still full of my clothes in addition to those in S's house!! Countless other draweres and cupboards hold my treasure trove of memories, nic-nac and pictures!!

But the best part of my room, I feel now, is this red clothed soft board in front of my writing table. It is a brief view of all those days and fun times!! Its got loads of pictures! My profile in three b/w tones clicked by Miguel in SLO, CalPoly, USA; an adorable red shirt and jeans clad photo of me and Mads that was taken in CCD by some random guy(!!); a photo on sari day in archi college, Mahabalipuram temple; a photo with Chichi - my oldest friend; and of course with Vicky, my lifelong crush; with Kavi and Taks in surgical masks and caps taken while studying the Operation Theatre for Taks's final year thesis; a cleaner blank in darker shade of red from where I recently removed pict of with chachu, my darling sis, to be kept away in an album!! Its got the trademark happy b'day card from all fools with their signatures(it was the last time when everyone was there to sign on it....and it was agggesss ago). Its also got the first sketch elevation of my thesis multiplex on a faded tracing paper; a beautiful and casual watercolour landscape by Kavi; an invitation we prepared in archi school for our annual event that we called 'sanskruti' that year; a mirror that Rups gave me and a pretty Feng-Shui charm that S brought purely for aesthetic purposes; a pretty doll key-chain I brought from Dubai; a Donald Duck cut-out that is so old that I have no clue where it came from!

I hope I shall get more of such lazy, rainy Sunday afternoons that make you feel happy and sad simalteneously. But mostly content! Content for all the good times and great friends!

Changing coordinates~

2007-08-01T14:25:00.000+05:30

The topsy-turvy madness of last two to three months finally seems to be getting over for real. I think now I know which company I work for and mind you it has/had no relation to my earlier post - An art of changing companies. This time it is not my company that has chosen to change the name but it is me who has chosen to change the company itself!!

Its been quite a ride for me...And given moments of anxiety, excitement, trepidation....Though through most part I have just been overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by what was being offered, by what I have to handle, by the sheer belief in my ability to do so and then by relentless efforts not to let me go, by innovative solutions, by people who have been kinder and sweeter than ever! A senior from JLLM told me yesterday that I am the single most lucky and fortunate individual he has ever seen in his professional life and I can not disagree!! The only lingering question, really, is whether I deserve all the confidence that they seem to be putting in my abilities!! Only time will tell.....hopefully affirmatively!

So as the things sum up today I am taking on all operating responsibility of planning, construction and delivery of 9million sft in Pune! They have actually lavished THE 'C' title on me! And the best part of the arrangement is the continuing association that I would enjoy with JLLM. Life seriously can not get any better.

Whatever challanges that this role and the two timing will present, I am more than willing to take, head-on... Just hoping that I shall work hard enough to meet everyone's expectations and those of my own!

Bangkok

2007-07-31T11:31:00.000+05:30

I sneaked off to Bangkok with S last week for about three days! Though S had a conference to attend, I blissfully chose to do nothing!! Walked malls and streets of the city 8-10 hours a day and contended myself with some genuinely good bargains!! Here are some snapshots! We found this text lavished on local cabs. As English isn't particularly a forte of the Thai population one meets, such a sign is quite a relief, actually!! Infrastructure has been extremely strong in the Thai Land! What we see in the picture above was the view of two express bridges out of our hotel room. Though the glass was not cleaned in, god knows how many months, mornings yielded better visibility than at night. So the smoky effect in the picture is nether intended, nor because of pollution but simply the grime!!
There was this stall in a mall called Siam Paragon. It was selling a condominium project called Issara. A little farther away from main city it was quite cheap especially as they were throwing in a car with it!! What intrigued me the most was the way the stall was designed. It was actually a wall-less smaple flat that they had put up - fully furnished! You could sit on the couches in the living room or the bed or at the dining table to discuss the details with representatives. The selling and cross-selling was being done beautifully well. And nobody I saw could resist the shiny-matching yellow skirt giving out hand fans advertising Issara!! Imagine S-a doc who knows nothing about real estate- unwilling to move away!! Winks!! This was a square at the mall with this beautiful fountain and a crazy bench to sit alongside. Apart from near perfect proportions of sqaure which had become a great hang-out for tired shoppers and the sound and feel of the water fountain, I was amazed by the accuracy of slopes and water jet pressuers that ensured that no water ran away from the fountain creating ugly trails. (yup, I am from construction industry!!!!) Check the myriad colours of cabs!! And the photo below is of the skytrain tracks.
At the entrance of the Grand Palace - the traditional palace of the Kings of Thailand (though the king now stays elsewhere!) - there was this plaque that told the do's and dont's at the palace. It was quite intriguing!! What follows are some visuals at the palace temples. Though they look magnificient from distance, when you go closer, I found it all a little too gaudy for my liking. Some guardian angels - not looking particularly angelic, though!!
What I found most interesting was, obviously, the people! Here are some peculiar strangers caught in the act!

The umbrella under the treeStanding Out!

Who Cares!

Colourful Picture!!!

Retro(painting)fittingSincere prayer in a fake Guess!She sure thought she was more photgenic than the subject she sought to capture!

Monsoon Purple

2007-06-28T15:52:00.000+05:30

Today on my way to office I saw a creature on road. This guy was driving a Purple Bajal Pulser, wearing a Purple full shirt. The rain was creating deeper Black Purple polka dots on the shirt.

He was wearing a Beige trousers, Black shoes and Brown and Blue socks. From the back pocket of his trouser a Black Wallet and a Shocking Pink comb were peeping. An Ash Grey P-Cap completed this ensemble! Truly a sight, believe you me!

An art of changing companies!

2007-06-13T10:27:00.000+05:30

I think I am really getting good at this! After graduating from the ISB in April'05, I joined an International Property Consultancy called Chesterton Meghraj in their consultancy practise.Come Nov'05 the management convinced Chesterton to sell off its 30% stake to Trammell Crow Company, a Dallas based NSE listed entity and we became Trammell Crow Meghraj! Exactly one year from then Trammell Crow Company was bought lock stock and barrell by CBRichardEllis in the US. We now had 30% shareholding hanging as we exercised the right of refusal and the MD chose to scout for right partners! After 6plus months of talks, negotiations and due diligence we merged yesterday with Jones Lang Lasalle! Now starting yesterday afternoon I work for Jones Lang Lasalle Meghraj!

Same chair, little over 2yrs and I am working for a third company!!! Strong resume, this should make!!!!

Quintessentially Puneri!

2007-06-12T10:16:00.000+05:30

Yesterday night on our way home, I was set to fall asleep as the better half drove the car. We were listening to R.D.'s 'Mera kuchh saman..' from Izajat and I was all droopy eyes! It was just then that we saw this sight and I cursed myself for not having a camera with me.

They were on a two wheeler. (Was not a motor cycle of any brand for sure! Was the scooter types. I could not determine the brand as not too much of the vehicle was visible!!) Right, so this family I am about to describe was riding a two wheeler. The first thing I noticed about these people was certainly a kid ready to fall off his mother’s grip chewing intently on what seemed like a lollypop. But I could not be sure as in 10 mins that we ogled at them we never once saw whatever attached to the white stick in hand, come out of his bulging mouth! He was being held sideways (albeit losely) by the mommy dear (whom I noticed next) while she was all busy discussing something passionately with the Daddy driving the two wheeler. If we would have opened the windows we could have easily heard them discussing global warming or world politics, judging by their expressions!! So far the scene was fairly normal given we were in Pune. Thrown in along with the child were also a few bags in other hand of the mommy held as 'well' as she was holding her 'khandanka chirag'! Three of them gave me an impression of being extremely well fed (and for the child being fed) and that was the reason I could never see the make of the machine carrying them!! The real killer came only after this!! There, standing at the feet of Driving Daddy, was an adorable doggy (boxer I think) sharing his space, again with some more shopping bags, looking positively petrified!!

He was the only one noticing half the fellow travellers were looking at this ensemble and worrying about safety of the gang involved. I also thought looking at his eyes as if he was pleading to be rescued off such amazingly security and safety conscious masters.. I silently wished well to all of them - The Driving Daddy, Chattering Mommy Dear, Hanging Lollypop Kid and The Petrified Boxer.

An abrupt stream of thought

2007-06-06T13:03:00.000+05:30

It was someday in recent past, when I was somewhere, thinking of something, that I wrote out the following... Just random thoughts I don't want to lose after crumpling the paper that I have written them on...

'From where emerges the sheer inability of expression? What is more important - being yourself or being prudent? Because if you have the guts to admit, you might not be the most prudent afterall.

Is it advantageous to understand one's follies or is ignorance simply a bliss? Because when you understand your follies, you also understand, you might not be able to correct them and that puts serious limitations on your perceived abilities and consequently your dreams.'

Giggly-Diggly

2007-05-23T10:03:00.001+05:30

Why can't men giggle.... :) ?

Giggle....:) :) Giggle!!!!!!!

About Jets and Sunsets

2007-05-05T21:45:00.000+05:30

We (literally) sneaked off, took off to Chiplun this weekend! In Chiplun there is this ex-Taj property – now run by Choice hotels (not as well but quite good!) – that has got a location to die for! And both of us love it as a quick and quiet weekend getaway! So on the Saturday evening after a siesta (before which we were responsible for polishing off hotel’s better stock of Pomfret!) I was sitting in the room verandah watching the sunset. Laptop trying to download mails in front of me was crying for attention but it was such a view that I totally ignored its plea!

The sun, however, seemed to be in a hurry to set! And I was in an all time contemplative mood. Past couple of months has been crazy and coming month, too, has a lot in store. I needed time to collate all that was happening, tell myself to wait for the things that aren’t actually there but were supposed to, and generally feel happy and content about all the goodness (‘cos there really is a lot of it!) rather than feeling agitated about aspects not so bright! Sun seemed to be setting far too quick on me and all I was able to see was a truckload of issues that need to be tackled first thing Monday morning. I was looking at a hill range and expecting the sun to set behind those gorgeous trees-less purple hills. But the cloud cover at the distant horizon started to gulp the magnificent red ball a few minutes too soon… Abrupt sun-set, I thought. And just when only about a quarter of the sun was left to be seen a jet suddenly appeared in the evening sky. Flying magnanimously into the horizon it was glowing with all the panache from the sun– it could still see!! The sun had clearly not set on the air borne machine! Even when the sun disappeared the flying dot vanishing in the pink blue sky told me about the sun that was still shining on it! I admired the strength, speed and courage of the jet flying into the horizon… I wanted to be on one! I wanted to be one!

Orkut!!!

2007-04-28T15:02:00.000+05:30

Hide and Secret

2007-04-18T12:39:00.000+05:30

There is so much happening - Still so little

There are so many plans - Still no action

There is so much happiness - Still no calm

There is so much excitement - Still no joy

I hate secrets. I hate lack of clarity. And I want this month, too, to end!!!!

Gosh I am turning into such a whine-o! Looking at my own last few posts - it has been an unbelievable roller-coaster ride!!!!!!!

:)

2007-03-30T17:52:00.000+05:30

Wonder what's with me!!!

Can't seem to wipe this smile off my face!!

What a day yesterday was!! Simply terrific!!!!!!!!!!!!

Grrrhhhh.....!!!

2007-03-28T17:57:00.000+05:30

...and I am not an accountant!!!!

PS: Thanks for kind words for the crazy outburst in the previous post!(Muuuaaahhh to you X) This blog's really become a great vent!!

...

2007-03-23T10:59:00.000+05:30

I know these things happen all the time...
Know so many who willingly do it...
And they are not bad people...
Neither parties...
I never thought I would be scandalised...
But I am.
I am 'cos I was made an offer to be a part of such a transaction...
Why??
I am not trying to take moral calls here...
But I could not entertain the thought at all...
Am I a fool? Naive? Or plain stupid?
Because I don't quite feel morally high here!
Life!

A letter to all'o'them....

2007-03-08T21:33:00.000+05:30

Dear world with implicit and explicit questions,

Why would I choose to 'create' a priority, that HAS to be a top priority; when I have enough priorities fighting for the spot?

It's not the end all, be all of life.

Adamently,
Aditi

My - Our - Day (Only a day?!!!)

2007-03-08T10:14:00.000+05:30

Thanks X for the site ref!!

Blogging over air!

2007-03-04T13:51:00.000+05:30

I think all tools are obsessions before one really starts using them as 'just' tools!!

I am experiancing the same with this swanky phone with BlackBerry facility and unlimited connectivity. (the speed's not too bad either!!) Suddenly sending mails from the handset is so much easier! (when actually getting used to QWERTY keyboard is not particularly simple with my fat fingers!!!!)

However, the only point of this blog is that it is my first mobile blog!!!

Moi latest acquisition!!!

2007-02-28T18:18:00.000+05:30

People of the world, this is my latest pride!! The Nokia E62! It's quintessentially Nokia with Blackberry compatability and a non-Blackberry price tag!!

Bless ya babu for the advise!!

The things one does....

2007-02-27T12:16:00.000+05:30

Wednesday: My N91 corrupts its hard drive and I am back to old 6600....

Thursday: Attended a peculiar wedding of a dear friend that brought tears of laughter and happiness coupled with sheer amazement - when I was not talking on the phone! The whole world called me that day.

Friday: Juggled a zillion and half things at work that came up from nowhere throwing my planning out of the window. Morale - Happy clients are more demanding than clients irritated with your service! Didn't manage the mehendi and sangeet of yet another friend.. :( Still moi sorry for that.... I give up on 6600 (as I can't hear a word of what the chap at the other end is saying) and pick up my sis-in-law's (bless her!) Motorazer. That obviously does not sync my contacts and I start carrying two dumb phone instead of one. One for contacts and other for talking.

Saturday: Took a journey down the memory lane! Went to the ISB. Flip side? - Sure there was some. It was awfully tiring - not just the travel - the process... the saying NO... the responsibility... But was fun!!! 'least I didn't miss the return flights like my colleagues! There's always a silver lining you know! My N91 still not repaired.. grrrrr...

Sunday: Wedding of yet another dear friend (that I missed the sangeet of!) Better half busy with his patients for better part of the morning. Then hurried dash for the wedding hall which was in a totally godforsaken corner of the world. My confidence all lost about the road after 3-4 'confident' rickshawalas, 5-6 'cofident' residents give us extremely conficting directions. (Again I am on the phone half the time and the better half struggling at driving!) Finally we make it to the wedding. All the people in the wedding I knew had either left, were almost leaving or sitting in the mandap and performing 'god knows what'! But the babe (moi friend) looked v v v happy! Muuaaannnhhh to her!! She is a sweeteheart and more than deserves this happiness!! Kudos to the 'Good Boy' she is married to! But my Better half not happy with the crowd at lunch and wants to go somewhere else for a quiet lunch.. okay! Off to Seasons.. A couple of tall glasses of awesome iced tea and chinese food later we go home and its a siesta time - or not! Have to get the groceries and supplies in place and get to the reception of the same wedding... phew!!! Back home just shy of midnight... (add to this sheer irritation by the possibility of prolonged loss of electricity due to grid failure at the state level. Whoever corrected the problem in a matter of hours I love them!!)

Monday: A sweetheart of a firang client in city. Hurried mails before taking him on road shows... Meeting and phone calls galoooooooreeee... I hate sounding busy and important... :(

Tuesday: Finally time for a deeeeeeeep breath!!

I love my life!! And oh my phone's all right now!! :)

THE thing and K - Part II - The anticlimax

2007-02-05T15:54:00.000+05:30

This is downright hilarious~

I thought this Kedar was one particular Kedar but turned out to be a totally different Kedar~ Amazingggg~ And this is the comment I received from him~

Both of you Kedars sorry ya~

But the fact that this Kedar (the new one now who has nothing to do with cinema and who surely DIDNT marry anyone - just as yet) surely rocks too~~~~

Cheerio~~~~

PS : How crazy is this. Blogger would not let me publish exclamation mark so wherever you see '~' read: Exclamation mark

THE thing and K

2007-02-05T10:03:00.000+05:30

Now here’s a story of a friend –K – who, with his wackiness, craziness, work profile and the fact that I simply admire him, has appeared a number of times on this url o’mine! This illustrious gentleman had a successful movie release on Friday (of which he was a significantly insignificant part!) followed by marriage to a lovely lady on Saturday. In the midst of this he has managed to post the most insightful and succinct comment on my Sunday’s blog! He touched me with what he was trying to say (and the timing of the same!) and hence I am posting the entire comment again in the blogs’ section… just to make sure a lot of people read it and know what an amazing person he is!!!! (Dear Wifey of K please, please remind him of your existence!!!!!!)

K you rock!!!

Kedar’s Comment on Strange:

There is the THE thing!

But we deny what is obvious.

I will try to share my understanding about it in brief- (only a path can be discussed, experience is unique, one has to walk on his own!) -

Dream getting replaced by another dream once the first one is achieved – is nothing but a process of DESIRE.

Desire once fulfilled gets replaced by another desire.

But in the process the constant urge to ACHIEVE something, never dies. Hence the constant uneasiness! The power game starts.

The fun is to understand the true nature of our existence. And once we become aware, we start understanding that the whole universe is NEED based and only humans are Desire based. It is a trick of a mind!

What we are is not what mind tells us we are!

We are part of the WHOLE (consciousness, nothingness, chaitanya, parabramha, god etc. ) but our mind tricks us and tells us that we are engineers, architects, doctors, historians, clerks, actors, workers etc. But all these professions are not what we are! Deep down the core we are NOTHING!

Example – a man is observing a waterfall. He is mesmerized by the beauty around him and the sound of waterfall. Cut to He is in his bedroom, away from the waterfall. But he recalls the sound of the waterfall and thinks that it is still there. NO…it is not there…water hit the ground, created waves, they hit the ear drum and sound was heard. So we create the world around us.

(Collective conscious works beautifully and hence we all can see car as a car, tree as a tree and all the things around us.)

In reality nothing exists. Scientists have tried to answer this with proof and are still trying hard. Every thing is particles-is what Newton said. Then, Einstein- every thing is Energy. Then, the quantum physics, particle physics. And now Nano-technology!

Stephan Hawking has said in a press conference that his theory of Big Bang is incomplete. He further said that to understand it to its core one has to TRANSCEND his mind. What does he mean by that?

Einstein had said – reality is an illusion though a very persistent one! (Mithya)What did he mean by that?

It only means that WHAT WE ARE IS NOT WHAT MIND TELLS US WE ARE!

So in short, no matter how hard we will deny THE ULTIMATE goal of any human being is to realize the TRUE NATURE of our existence. Some call it Enlightenment. And consciously or unconsciously we all are walking towards it.

Power is a beautiful game of MIND. One works hard and earns money and then has a nice sophisticated life style. What is he doing by living life sophisticatedly? Subconsciously he is trying to be better than what he is, all the time. But no matter how hard he tries, the constant uneasiness never leaves him till the last breath. The detachment from the WHOLE (god, nothingness etc) makes us uneasy and we keep on running behind futile goals.

It is not bad to set short term goals in life to achieve comforts. But if one gets involved in them emotionally then that becomes his life and that brings the misery at the end!

Once the WHOLE is seen then the eternal quest ends and then one dwells in the realm of Ecstasy!

Once this is understood then the next question raise that does it mean that one should leave everything and go in woods and meditate? … NO…being aware and working passionately is the solution!

Just smile and take it in a stride!!! As you said!!

Observing our each and every action makes us understand the INTENSION behind every action and the purity starts flowing in our life style. Why to do so? Because once the purity starts flowing in, the Ego starts becoming weak and once this process starts then the nature starts speaking back!

Nothingness!!!

Take care…tata…kedar….

Strange...

2007-02-04T12:31:00.000+05:30

We dream big...
work hard...
defeat the defeats...
fight the battles...
and achieve something...
(mind you, never THE thing - as there is always some other THE thing to be achieved after THE thing is achieved!)

But then after all that toil we don't feel as excited as we thought we would...
as excited as we dreamed we would...
we don't jump up and down neither scream on top of our voices...
we just smile and take it in a stride~

It genuinely does not mean that importance of achievement is anyway reduced...
It does not even mean that we do not value it...
No one can infer we are not happy either... 'cos you know what, we are!

But not ecstatic... enraptured... rhapsodic....

Why?

Maybe 'cos we always knew that one day we WOULD achieve it!
Or maybe .... maybe I don't know!

The Spect(Deb)acle

2007-01-24T12:33:00.000+05:30

I took these pictures on my cell phone cam (very average) on 12th of January in खंडोजीबाबा चौक (the one that leads to Deccan and लकडी पूल from कर्वे road) in Pune. To say it was shocking is a lie because even if it should be, we are conditioned to think this can very well happen. And that is what I found most surprising.... Sad it is... That is for sure....

PS I was on लकडी पूल.

'Officially' Married!

2007-01-20T18:02:00.000+05:30

Courtsey my mother-in-law(She did all the running around and getting forms filled and all) we got officially married yesterday!!! ! And just to put it in perspective we are about 2 days away from our fourth wedding anniversary!!!!!!!!!

We didn't do this at the time of our wedding or anytime soon after that. I had neither changed my surname nor did we need a VISA stamping or anything like that so slowly I just stopped seeing why it was necessary to get this marraige registration done... In these four years we faced no technical/legal issues... Neither of us having estate enough for the other to prove he/she is the better(or worse) half and both earning and capable of supporting ourselves!!!! (Sordid, I know... but a lot of people would think so!) And stubborn as I am, I thought why should I get it done at all??? Why does the GoI care if I am legally/according to Hindu Marraige Act married to the guy I am living in with?? When and how might I have to prove that we are married?? We opened this issue for debates a few times in a bunch of friends and relatives and none, mind you none, was able to come up with a suitable answer!! The best that we got really was that we are fooling the census by withholding this information. And then GoI came up with this regulation, I think, about 6 months back that it is mandatory to register marraige! Now, logic or not, argument or not, we had to do it!

Call it being busy (ya right!~) or truly lazy (more like it!~) or just wary of Government offices and procedures (Also has some bits of truth!~), we finally managed to get it done yesterday...well better late than never right?!

However, by far the best explanation I have got came from my boss. Apparently even he has not done his registration and now when the wifey needs to renew her passport they have gotten themselves in a fix! (She, too, uses her maiden name) If she writes her status as married, she has to produce the registration document and if she does not, then she is mis-representing - a crime!!!! Food for thought, eh? But a reason enough to register, all right!!!

Armed with this logic, in we go in that office and to my utter amazement this place was well painted, not as much spitted on as one would expect, well lit - and by natural light and not deadly yellowed lights, the chaps there actually had a sense of humour - a surprise to moi expecting frowning faces!, electronic!!, a super fast computer operator,a web cam to snap a quick pict of bride and groom and print it out on the certificate (albeit the pictures were taken against the light so probably I can substitute many other attractive men for S and no one would as much as wink! (Chuckle) and he too can enjoy a similar benefit!!!). It did not take us more than 30 mins to complete the entire procedure and that IS quite something, isn't it?!

All-n-all people moi married legally now!!!!!!!

Maya

2007-01-15T13:08:00.000+05:30

Following is an e-mail a dear sister of mine wrote me. I am just going to cut and paste it as no amount of effort to re-tell what she is trying to tell here will do any justice.... Why I loved this mail certainly is not only the story of the lady called Maya that moi cousin is telling but the way this story's touched her... Love u kiddo! Here's to you!!

" Maya, a lady in her late 20s, probably 27 - 30. She is a 8th standard drop-out from छबिलदास School (Rucha, its a school which was ONLY good during our आजी's schooling years and probably a few years after that!). Her family lives near Curry Road Station, very near to लालबागचा गणपती. Her mother works as a cleaner at Mumbai airport. Her father probably does a similar kind of job somewhere. She looks after patients who have very little hope of survival or extremely old people. She was a so-called nurse for a kid with lukemia. She was jobless after 5 years as the patient was no more. Then she was offered a similar position with a family to look after their very old grandfather. She was and I think still is with the same family.

Do you know where she lives? In the Heart of Central London !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Her second employer was so happy with her work that he sponsered her work permit and since she already had been in the UK for the past 5 years, he even helped her with her residentship.

Today, a very proud Maya is one of the official residents of the Queen's country. In these 11 years, she has travelled to Nigeria, Spain and Italy. She converses very well in English, though not that very fluently, with a bit of an accent !!!! She knows Marathi, Hindi and Gujrathi - reading, writing and speaking. She cooks very good Gujrathi food (it was a part of her second job). And of course English for her daily life.

I met her when she had come to meet माधवी मामी. When she registered with मामी's marriage bureau, मामी told her that she would not accept any registration fees from her as it would be entirely मामी's pleasure. But when she completed the form and left, she had quitely slipped 100 pounds between the pages.

It was संक्रांत and Mami gave her गुळाची पोळी which was generously soaked in ghee (there is no तूप here !!). That was the first time she said she had tasted a real गुळाची पोळी!!

I sent a usual Sunday nite mail to aai and just as I switched off my laptop, I remembered I forgot to mention the most important event of the weekend. I was sleepy and thought I would do that from office tomorrow and with that I turned off the light at midnight. But for the next 40 minutes, I just couldn't concentrate on sleep. Somewhere in my mind a voice was saying, "Send the mail NOW! Tell everyone NOW ! " So now its 1:00 am, Monday morning and as I finish writing this mail, I feel completely relaxed and genuinly happy for Maya. My Sunday evenings are generally spent in thinking about the boring week ahead or which company have I left out for job applications. But I couldn't help feeling absolutely happy for Maya today !!

3 Cheers for her. If I was a Christian, I would probably drink to her health and success !!

ता. क.: Why doesn't someone make a movie on this lady, rather than churning out rubbish like Dhoom 2 and Don.
ताई...a blog for this please.........

And if anyone noticed, I have sent this mail ONLY to the 4 most importent ladies in my life. "

PS Sorry for certain references inscrutable to some.... And Muuuaaaannhhh to you M!

'Quality' Conversation!!

2007-01-15T12:43:00.000+05:30

We - me and my better half - rarely manage to find 'quality' time together and whenever we do its usually when either of us is driving from or to home. Here's an interesting sample of the conversations we have - courtsey traffic and lawlessness of drivers in Pune.

Situaiton: A car and two wheeler are having a stand-off in the middle of a quintessential Pune lane (Read: Narrow is an understatement!) The guy driving the car is totally unhappy about the lady driving the two wheeler and the lady in question is quite reciprocative, too!

A: Why is he (car driver) on the wrong side of the road?

S: Why is she (the lady on two-whe) on the wrong side?

A: I guess she is....

S: Even he seems to be...

A: I guess they both are bad drivers...

S: I am the only good driver around here!! (By then he has managed to wriggle through the jam caused!)

A: Ain't you really the best thing under the sun anyways?! (Add nth power of sneer and a truck load of sarcasm)

S: Around! Not under the sun Aditi, around it!!

The traffic has caused not only the sheer deterioration of our intellectual levels but it is also going to be my marraige breaker... Grrr.. Do you think I can take someone to court against such a torture??

Notes

2007-01-05T10:36:00.000+05:30

This new year READ all the articles that Google keeps sending to your mail box because YOU in the first place have subscribed to those.

Make sure that the pipeline you have been building over last year pays up.

18th April is approaching and fast. You still are clueless..... Figure out the plan of action.

GYM regularly. (in bold and capital and then again underlined.)

Make a good and long trip.

Change your laptop (sob..sob...I love this one... I think I already know I am not going to heed this note of mine!! Chuckle!)

Wish the person 'appy birday or anniv if you know, your cell phone calender tells you, birthday alarm mails you or Orkut acts diligent.

Try and save the skin of you car better... Its precious... well literally as well!

Study! Oh, chuck that smile.... Don't take this lightly.

Make time for people. You are increasingly getting worse at this. Stop being lazy.

Whats the point of this post?? Well NONE!! These are not even resolutions but a mere wishlist. Terrible as I am, even at remembering my resolutions, I have given up making them long ago. But whenever I was asked in these 5 days of a brand new year, this list above kept popping up in my head! So thought I would post it and then go back to it about a year from now.

And in almost all likelihood, laugh out loud at how different the life's turned out to be!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy New Year to all of you and here's wishing this year turns out to be better than you thought it would!! :)

Cochin Trip

2006-12-19T11:30:00.000+05:30

Some of the visuals from the Cochin trip we did over last weekend for the wedding of a dear friend!

A Room with a view:

Out of the living room window of the apartment hotel called 'Riviera Suites' that we were staying at. This is a very nice place with a coffee shop serving best of Kerala food (that we feasted on!!). Rates affordable and service good. However, negotiating on other petty expenses and charges is a very good idea!! ;)
By the backwaters:

This is a doctored pict of the lovely Chinese Fishing nets. I could not bring myself to post the original because of the extreme amount of dirt and float in the water aroud the nets!

The pict taken from the base of the main mast of the fishing net. The flying crow I think gives it a nice creepy effect! There were zillions of crows here and hardly other birds!

Found the contrast of the two boats striking!!

People:
Saw many intriguing people sitting by the backwaters or working if they were fishermen. I tried to capture a few.

Fishermen untangling the net

He seemed to have aaaalll the time in the world!!

Looking at each other!! What must they be thinking?!! !

A man and drift wood.....

Togetherness... :)

Complication and Contemplation

Kids:
There was a group of four kids having a blast at the beach(!) They did some posing for my lens!

Fun timess!!

I aaaammmm the poooweeeeeerrrrr!!!

Malabar Escapes:

For lunch in Fort Kochi we went to this swell place called as Malabar House (- a botique hotel - amazing to say the least!) that has a restaurant called Malabar Junction. It was difficult to decide what was better - the ambience or the food!

Jew Town - A spice and antiques' market:

This sure is a must do at Cochin! There also is a beautiful synagouge here which is closed on friday and saturday and hence we had to miss it. (Same goes for the Dutch Palace. Its wise to avoid these two days as both these places are supposed to be extremely beautiful.)

Taken at an antiques' shop. There were dozens of spectacles in this shop. It all looked like a curious mixture jigsaw pieces of South Indian Architectural styles. Frankly I would not have minded carrying a couple of large vessels or a few antique columns home...but.....!!! ;) Some time in moi life, I shall!!!!!!!! We also saw in this market the world's largest 'Varpu' aka a cooking vessel 12 feet in diameter! It looked like a bathing vessel to me but the work on it was pretty good!

Well, all-n-all we had a wonderful trip! Signing off with yet another one of the nets!!!

Idea..

2006-12-18T11:26:00.000+05:30

When an idea is talked about ad-infinitum, does the passion fizzle out?

Does it become mechanical?

Then does that passion still remain at heart and just does not come out in repeated projections?

Or does it go away all-together because of long protracted ‘talking about’ the idea?

If it is so it is dangerous… or is it?

If it is then what should be done to rekindle the passion?

Or should we?

PS: Written in the middle of a client meeting on 13/12. Just found myself wanting answers to all these questions listening to all of us sitting round the table and discussing a project..

हा एक माय मराठीच्या नावे!!!

2006-12-07T17:39:00.000+05:30

This is a snippet from one of the recent conversations of my husband – श्री – and his friend – कॆ – who was trying to tell श्री that he is going to get married. For non-Marathi speaking of you all who are reading, sorry, but kindly abandon your effort right here as there is no way in this world that I am ever going to be able to translate this one in English! And hence here's my very first blog in Marathi!

कॆ.: अरे माझं लग्न ठरले!!
श्री.: Congratsss यार!! काय करते बायको? नाव काय तिचं? कुठे असते?
कॆ.: 'कल्याणी' (hypothetical - मला के-चं लग्न मोडावं अशी इच्छा नाहीये!!!:) ) नाव आहे तीचं! कल्याणी गड.
श्री.: 'गड'?! हे वेगळं आडनाव आहे!
कॆ.: अरे तिच्या आडनावावरुन 'म' (हा आणि एक विद्वान मित्र!) काय म्हणाला माहितेय का?? म्हणे 'गड आला पण आमचा सिंह गेला ना!'!!!

Lolzzzzz

ता.क. : आई शप्पथ असं घडल!!!

Vivah

2006-12-05T17:17:00.000+05:30

Some movies leave me with conflicted thoughts and Vivah by Suraj Barjatya has been one.

What appealed and at the same time appalled me was what Mr. Barjatya was trying to say… so either my thoughts are convoluted or these times that we live in are… I was trying to brand this movie bourgeois and write it off as yet another one on my ‘why the hell did I watch it???’ list, but some very nice, respectable thoughts and messages kept coming back to me – The thoughts and messages that were no doubt highly relatable to the 90% of Indian population but a lot of it also relatable and learnable by the balance 10%... who think they are ‘modern’ but are hypocrites at the core…!

In the movie a number of explicit references are made about the inappropriateness in the reluctance of people in small towns to have a female child. This message might actually reach and be internalized by the audience who needs to….
But this whole thing about parents ‘finding’ the ‘right’ match gives me creeps. The families claiming ownerships of individuals bruises my sense of identity. The overtly ‘traditional’ ‘conservative’ Indian wedding/families’ thing, though can be attributed to the way of living and thinking of more than 90% of the populace, is not palatable for me. (yup I know! I am the crazy one here!)

The groom’s father mentioning that he does not want a dowry or the entire family accepting the bride even after an unfortunate accident – recognizing it as just that – an accident. These are ideas – or ideals that the society needs to understand today and showing it through films is perhaps the single most effective manner to bring it about…
But then throughout the movie the guy keeps looking for a mother/wife. Never a friend – Unacceptable.

However I think what psyched me the most was the most popular song in the movie. It means “I have the right” It might not have the same connotation as conveyed by the stark manner of my translation but the Hindi word ‘Haq’ in this respect meant only that to me…. “I have the right” And expectedly the guy keeps repeating this ad-infinitum and the girl keeps repeating her submission. Not once did the girl say that she might also have a right to something….
But maybe Mr.B is just trying to take one step at a time…… There are zillions out there who do not even believe in human rights being bestowed upon a female and I am thinking of equal rights. Quite the other end of the spectrum, isn’t it? Will telling these people to respect women help or tiny hints in entertainers like Vivah will?? Whichever does, Amen!

On a side note however, Mr. Barjatya has taken the caution to recover his money (inclusive of that lost in Main Prem Ki diwani hoon!) by extreme branding done all over the movie by (not so clever) product placement!

Some times...

2006-11-28T10:11:00.000+05:30

Some days in life are such roller-coasters…

Some people in life simply deserve the best…

Some things in life just can’t be compromised…

Some times the life blankly refuses to be fair…

CQ + PQ > IQ

2006-11-16T11:29:00.000+05:30

I realised for the umpteenth time yesterday that the difference between a very good professional and a great one, one who does very well and the other who is phenomenally successful, a person who is an important part of a company and a person who is integral to its success is the passion quotient. Being intelligent takes you only thus far but having a passion along with intelligence makes sure that even sky is not the limit!

This is for all those people I have met and keep meeting who are truly passionate about what they do! Kudos!!!!!!!

PS: The title of the post in a line from Thomas Friedman’s ‘The world is flat’. (PQ: Passion Quotient; CQ: Curiosity Quotient; IQ: Intelligence Quotient)

.................

2006-11-01T11:40:00.000+05:30

That’s what is best about having an entrepreneurial venture. No one sitting at the top – the top that you have not even seen, the top that doesn’t affect your day to day business, the top that is nothing but a bunch of names but more importantly brands – can s@#$w your life, deals, work, word, happiness……. Because if you are working at a fine ‘corporate’ it happens to you and you are at a total loss as to how to react.

Solution: Get to the top and remember never to do so yourself
But for that you have to get s@#$%^d for a long time an sustain it through gritted teeth

OR the other solution is

Solution 2: DO SO FAST
So that they get less time to ruin your happiness

OR the third solution is

Solution 3: Get going on your own….
So that you are at the top, by default!
But then will you learn how it feels to be one of the many in the company? Knowing it, aren’t you likely to be better at the top than otherwise?
With highest regard to entrepreneurial juices in all of us, is it always possible to set up an empire from scratch – especially today?

Bottomline, however, is to believe in people and make no mistakes there.......

This Diwali I.... Part 2

2006-10-30T17:15:00.000+05:30

I did end up being a spendthrift after all!!

My blissful parties over meat and bubbly were just what I imagined they would be!! FUN!!!

And I actually managed to get some amazing shots, too!!

Missed my sis but didn’t get to talk to her as much as I would have liked….

Didn’t blow any crackers and felt sorry for the street children having fun with them. Imagine that money going in for their annual school fees, books or something equally meaningful…..A few minutes of fun and may be a number of lost opportunities in life….

And blogged DON….. No comments

Managed to get very pretty lanterns after all that lit up our Diwali!

Never sent any Happy Diwali smss and deleted each and everyone received immediately…grrhhhh…even at 2am in the morning.

Got no time to sleep. Had a ton of workload…

Didn’t work out…Again had a ton of work load and could not manage my time for nutttssssss!!!

But yes I am back to work post the holiday with efforts double that of before and what a zing it is!!!!

Well, nobody has a holiday quite like they plan, right?!!

Don

2006-10-30T15:48:00.000+05:30

I think I am writing this only because I wrote in my previous blog that I would....otherwise this movie is nothing but a colossal waste of time and money. (And words and bytes!)

For me it was a parady of the original with an effort to add some lame 'originality' (Pun intended)

On the positive side though, when SRK delivers the Bachhan's classic lines its quite hilarious! I died laugjing!!!!!

This Diwali I

2006-10-18T17:50:00.000+05:30

Am not buying anything new in particular (At least won’t buy for Diwali(!) for the spendthrift that I am, I think it is wise to refrain at least on an occasion! Weird logic. I know!!)
Fine Print: If someone wants to buy me something….heeeee!!! Get the point right!!

Am meeting more than my fare share of relatives! But you know what, I love it! The party menus that are already circulating promise me a culinary delight! Whom am I kidding? It’s going to be one hogging festival! A number of people have brought this to my notice (and I am rightfully proud) that we are one of the very few Maharashtrian (from Maharashtra) families who enjoy their alcohol and meat (even) on Diwali! So I am all set to dig into some home cooked meals being drowned over bubblies!

Am planning to take pictures at these parties. Something none of us have done in yeaaarssss! God only knows why but true!

Am going to miss my lil sister… :-( but end up spending considerable amount of money (hers – so dad’s – poor thing has to pay for incoming calls – poor dad!!!) talking to her!

Am told that Maharashtrians are the Best (You are a sweetheart S) by a pretty Punjabi lady who spent better part of her last year in Pune and has (obviously) fallen in love with this place. She called today morning to wish a happy diwali and brought a huuuuugggeeeeeee smile on me’s face!

Am not going to blow any crackers (as usual! My two pennies for lesser pollution.)

Am going to watch the new DON and blog about it!! Hehehehe

Have ordered the lanterns from a road side vendor and returned two of them for being faulty!!! I have never before delved on this lantern issue as much as this year! Usually (Like most sane people I know) I just go to a road side vendor and pick up the ones I like. This time, however, because I did not like anything on display the guy offered to make me a few. He called once he was ready with them. My driver went and picked them up. I realised faults in two and so I called him back. He has retrieved the faulty pieces and is going to replace them. For something as simple as Diwali lanterns going through all of this….well I am crazy. I know!

Am not sending any mass-Happy-Diwali-smss and disturb people when they don’t want to be disturbed. Instead am going to sincerely wish well (mentally only!) to each and everyone and hope they achieve all that they are working for.

Am going to sleep away to glory.

Am going to try to keep working out. (Gosh I need it!)

Am going to get back to work post the holiday with efforts double that of now!!! What a zing that is!!!!

Happy Diwali folks!!

My dear Urban Asterisk* ,

2006-10-12T13:42:00.000+05:30

Referring to this post of yours ..

...stars in dreams can light up life
decide not to be blinded
but embrace them so they shine through you, your memories......

While I was coming to the office today morning

2006-10-06T10:24:00.000+05:30

I was mad at myself for feeling so terribly sleepy – as if I have not slept in ages. (So much so that my husband offered to drop me off at the office – fearing for my car obviously – which I declined – again obviously)

The setting of rear view mirrors of the car had been changed by someone. It took a lot of acrobatics to adjust all three mirrors as I drove on in the traffic.

Traffic was thicker than usual as I had left full 15 minutes late.

RJ for the morning show on Radio Mirchi has changed. Perhaps I shall begin to like him but for now he is irritating me. And today morning’s half an hour drive to office was no exception.

But he played ‘Kajara re’ from BnB and I associated it to the movie Dor in which the song is used very well.

Do not want to write anything about the number of potholes I bumped across and their subsequent effect on my back and my car’s suspension.

Saw a guy scratching his head - only he was wearing a helmet. Cursed myself for not carrying a camera to capture this Kodak moment

I met three different species of drivers on the road
1. At 10 km/hr and Centrally –Age more than 50 or any age if the mobile is pressed to their ears. More often than not women, new drivers or proud owners of new cars petrified that someone might touch their precious metal skin and leave a mark.

2. Drive in all the lanes: simultaneously – Again found in car as well as two wheeler drivers who make money by lane cutting. Off late I have found buses and trucks entering in this category as well.

3. I don’t want to be seen – These species – predominantly two wheelers are mostly fugitives and they like drive faster than the speed of light. There is a small problem however! Given the density of traffic and variance in road level measurable in feet – over each square foot, their speed gets abated and invariably they end up braking hard in front of my car. My car has kissed butts of many such four and two wheelers.

And then there are others who just want to get out of this mayhem and reach the destination.

These people on the road affect me deeply each morning and I think it’s a great way to wake up to the absurdities and unfairness of the world. But I didn’t wake up today.

I saw my old flame en route on his bike and wondered why the xxxx I ever fell for him.

Sent sms to my husband reminding him to get movie tickets for this (near non-existent) weekend.

Found my usual parking space taken in the office car-park and had to park the car somewhere else – I dislike this totally.

Note to myself – If you are feeling like you ate a toad in the morning either shake it off before you leave for work or else learn to not to let it affect your perception of the world.

You can also write a blog and puke out all the ill-feeling! Chuckle!

I miss my friends...

2006-09-27T18:03:00.000+05:30

Met a lot of people in past 2-3 decades…more consciously in past 2 decades.

Some friends and some acquaintances and a lot of them in between the two categories.

I always enjoyed the journey of me and the person in question from an acquaintance to a friend.

A colleague who is no more working with me asking me if there still is a steaming coffee mug by my side as I am working and enquiring about the book I am carrying in bag or the sheer joy felt after meeting a school/undergrad college classmate – who was just that – a classmate. Such things transport these individuals a level up – towards friends’ category away from acquaintances!

A person who shares your cubicle, your bus/train route, your gym timings or even your favorite hang-out sometimes manages to creep into your life – slowly and steadily and become friends!

Kids of parents’ friends – whom you have played with and taken holidays with – lose touch as everyone grows up. But then suddenly out of the blues you decide to catch up. Parents are already out of the equation and you realise you bond better than perhaps you ever did as kids! Warmth fills your heart as you feel your friend circle being enriched by yet another priceless individual!

The real trouble for me is however letting go of those people whom I have held so close to my heart, who have been my dear friends, confidantes, who – I thought – knew me so well and accepted me for what I am and not for what (they think) I should be! People whom I thought I shall play cards with when I get really old and lose money!!

Some friends from school just faded away to begin with. I told myself it was meant to be! After all we all are so young and have distinct priorities. The pattern repeated itself – though less intensely – post undergraduate and graduate education. I was too busy working to notice it perhaps.. Then there have been weddings and kids and the demanding jobs. And of course as always lack of time.

In spite of all this some people managed to be close to heart. No matter how long it is that I have not met them, every time we meet, it’s a joyous occasion. There is never a dearth of topics to discuss and days can blend into nights if we decide to catch up. Hearts fill up with happiness and eyes get moist!

But then some others who even if you keep meeting more often, whom you speak with regularly just begin to lose meaning. You have nothing to discuss. It is as if you live on different planets.

And one day it hits you – all of a sudden. That person is just an acquaintance now. He/she is no more who he/she was. Or I am no more the same person I once used to be. Or the situation has changed.

What bothers me most however is that I never thought those relationships were so fragile. I thought we had a friendship that might not be affected by changing situations. I never thought we shall doubt the basics, the foundations, the core of it all… I never thought we shall not be able to talk about it, about the growing distance between us, about things that have been bothering us.. I thought changes in me or the other person can be looked at as phases (like we used to once upon a time…) and the relationship will remain unaffected…untouched…

But apparently not. Apparently Not…

Diti-Visually

2006-09-20T16:07:00.000+05:30

It is so much easier to express your deepest and strongest emotions by pictures and maybe a couple of words! You do not have to worry about being politically correct, neither struggle to verbalise emotions too strong to be paraphrased! I think my wordpress photoblog experiment is keeping me from writing too many things here!

I think I shall soon be able to spin the yarn visually as well as with words! Till then - my alter ego it is!

DitiVision

2006-09-09T12:27:00.000+05:30

Me is trying something here. I have no claims at being even good (Forget great) at it. But it is somehting I have always enjoyed!! Do check this one out. You should see the updates daily (I hope!!)

https://ditivision.wordpress.com

Lage Raho..

2006-09-02T10:23:00.000+05:30

Well, what do I say about this movie? Wonderful!!

The raw simplicity of thought and story telling refreshed my mind as I watched this movie. Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Dilip Prabhavalkar and Boman Irani give outstanding performances. And the screenplay, dialogues, music and cinematography compliments them perfectly well. The movie does not derail or lose its grip even once. It does not preach or advise either. It just tells you to trust inherent goodness in yourself and other!

Its been some time that a movie has left me in splits but with tears in my eyes! Must watch all of you, MUST WATCH!