where we take a break from what is a decidedly dull day at work

and oh I forgot to mention, the boss is also out so yay!

Its december and its time to appreciate the lazy sun methinks. Its true enough for me atleast. I'm a sun child and if anybody is a fan of the sun, its me but ever since I started working, I've never had the time to look at up at the clear blue sky and appreciate the warmth on the skin..till its december. I think I know why. By this time, I'm exhausted, I'm running out of steam, I've taken the hint, I'm done trying and that's when I have the time to look up at that fatheaded sun and wonder about all the glorious days I've missed inorder to keep up with the rat race

December is also my favourite month because for me its the month for "giving up". Yes we are in loser mode today but hey its december, and I have January to be the "employee of the month". December for me has always been the month to wrap up things, a kind of emotional expiry date where I just have to get somethings done- like finish certain books I've promised myself to get done with. But the big problem with december is that it runs out very fast. its like the year too can't wait to run out and its followed by fat old January where you have stand upright again, be infallible and make lofty promises of redemption to yourself.

Well believe it or not, I intended this to be funny. Oh well, I guess it all stems from being incredibly tired and exhausted. Its hard fending for yourself. The dark side of living on your own I guess. Its fun but it has also been tough dealing with not having anybody to depend on anybody but yourself. Like for instance the other day when I was incredibly sick and the fuse blew. That was it really, I was ready to crumble and go back home. But no I couldn't. I had to go out into the chilly night and find an electrician and get the job done. Oh dad, I miss you so much!
The breakdown of the machinery is so hard to deal with. You are juggling so many things and when one of them goes kaput it all crashes down.But all said and done it has been incredibly fun - discovering a new state, a new bunch of people whose language I barely understand, even though I do feel like an ATM machine all the time (You wont believe the amount of bills I have to pay!).

Its been a good year too, I feel like I've been more adventurous and I've definitely gotten a fair bit reading done, so all hum.

I hope everyone out there has a great year ahead and Happy festivus everybody!

What's up with the world?

Seriously...

What do you expect when you order Juice? Fruit in liquid form right? Liquid being the operative word here? but noooooo. That's not how it translates when you order Watermelon juice apparently. I got chunks of watermelon in my "juice" tonight. Who invented this stuff? who was this being over smart and thus being very stoopid. And who, pray tell, likes chunks in their supposed "juice" when factually its not even juice - the way GOD INTENDED IT TO BE, YOU FOOLS!

and thus she ranted

It first happened to me in Bangalore, the shanti sagar in forum to be precise. I innocuously ordered their watermelon juice. Not making much of it, because technically technically ordering a juice is not supposed to jolt you out of your senses. But not so with the accursed watermelon it seems. I got something that was in between pulp and juice. and then as if to add a dash of mockery the guy slipped in a spoon instead of a straw!.

Spoon! Spoon! are we eating our juice these days? are we? are we??? (*makes hyper ventilating noise*)

Not one to take such things lying down, I go, "ahem...I ordered for water melon juice, there are pieces in my juice, can you please put it in the mixer again please?". To which, the guy at the counter gave me this "are you toying with me lady? cause I've had a reaal busy day" look. I was told that that was the way they served their water melon "juice" and that I'd just have to lump it (pun. heh)

As that was too much for my assaulted senses, I told him in my no-nonsense-will-punch-if-it-comes-to-it voice that I don't want chunks in my juice. So guess what he did? he simply removed all the pieces, took the spoon back and gave the now much reduced in quantity juice. Yes and I didn't even get a straw.

Today, it happened again. In another city. I shudder to think if this is an epidemic. But this time I lumped it (Note to self - definitely over doing the pun thing) and ate the juice. yes you heard it. ATE it

What's happening to world. What kind of a society do we live in? am I going to see noodles in fried rice now?

And thats not her only pet peeve right now

Damn straight. I have been going to gym for the past 5 days, working out for 2 hours, sweating it out and what do I have to show for it? a grand weight loss of 500 grams!

Things just suck. oh sorry, no they don't, you're supposed to lump it with a spoon. bah!

Maaja Macho

I'm liking this maharashtra place. September to December seems like one big party and by party I mean huge makeshift pandals, loud muisc from cheap speakers and ofcourse season's discounts. Yes the latter is often a source for cheap thrills these days. Like when I found out that the Ras malais had been discounted due to navratra.

This place has been really weird for me because back home I've never seen festivities being taken really seriously. by anyone. All it meant was - it's a holiday and you don't have to work. Here it is different. festivities mean a great deal (I mean traffic Jam causing big deal) to the people here. The mood is cheerful and lithe and already people seem to have given up on reforming themselves. In bangalore I've seen this "Oh Screw it" thingie kick in only in december. I dunno why but for the past couple of years I've felt really immune to these sort of things, like I've grown up and become too old to be excited for these things. But here it's different but I guess it's the thrill of being in a new place.

Well anyway, the main point of this post was to announce to all about my first ever Danndiya do. ok that sounded like a song. But it was fun. So much that I wished I had some serious Gujrati lineage. Why don't we south indians do such things. Nine days of dancing? what could be more fun? Like all festive things Navratri is also big deal here. I'll tell you how much.Listen to this, they blocked an entire road, A gujrathi band set up their ensemble (most noticeably of which was a huge loud speaker) and then all the residents from all the colonies came out and did the daandiya- right in the middle of the road. It's like how they say in fairy tales, "then they all danced merrily", yes, only this one was real and in the middle of the road.

But coming back to my daandiya sojourn, like I said it was most fun. It was fun get all dressed up and doing the daandiya steps, which isn't all that tough btw. And oh, must mention that I got my daandiya sticks all thanks to MacDonalds. MacDs had this thing where every combo came with a pair of daandiya sticks. Needless to say that the combos were flying thick and fast here. That was another of my season's special cheap thrills.

Another reason to celebrate in october was my b'day. I turned 24 in a city other than bangalore for the first time there were 5 new friends at the dinner table. they threw me a surprise party and smeared cake on my face. so all very nice.

The True Indian Idol

It's hard not be affected by the current festive season when you're in a place like pune. Maharashtra loves, nay LOVES lord Ganesha. That's truth apparent, going by the numerous pandals in this place, infact the street I live on has 6 big pandals. All this is new to me and I look upon with wondrous eyes, as in the place from where I come from, Ganesh Chaturthi begins and ends on the same day.Indeed the other day, when somebody was talking about the traffic jams caused by "Visarjans" I was like, "Oh C'mon, you've only got to bear it for a day" (*make a sound here for getting a fact soo wrong*)

No, here in pune, Ganesh Chaturthi is the baap of all festivals (That's me trying to be local, in days to come, I promise to infuse my "writings" with the local flavour). I don't know how the system works but everyone who is anyone puts up a pandal. Infact the biggest pandal on my street is sponsored by a political party and there's even a booming audio that lists all the top brass of the party, Lord Ganesh too is mentioned somewhere and after that, the whole thing flashes with 70's disco lighting, that, oddly reminded me of Mithun Chakravarthy numbers. Then Ofcourse there is the Music. If you are not belting out the latest dance number, you are not a true pandal it seems. Yeah there are the devotional songs and stuff but one seriously needs good music to work the crowds. I swear, I heard a pandal playing Kevin Little's "Turn me on" and this song has lyrics that go - "And then she said to me Boy just push that thing Push it harder back on me" - makes you wonder no??


But really its all nice. Festive season always makes me happy. There are bright lights everywhere, good discount in stores, people too are generally happier and less snarly and overall the mood is generally cheerful. Infact, the mood it seems has even crept into your ATMs. Yes, I kid you not, my atm had a full fledged pandal thing going - sans the music and the lighting ofcourse (see below). Get cash, do puja, get out.

I do love the times we live in. Its sooo much more amusing.


P.S: The photo above was clicked by my friend sim who was slightly amused that I'd want to put it on my blog.

And they say this blog is "Self Obsessed"

I'll try for this not to be a rant. I said "t-r-y"

But what is it with the world and my name?? Everytime I tell anybody my name they look at me with utter befuddlement, with a look that says "Are you serious??". If I'm on the phone and I tell my name, there's this obvious pregnant pause at the other end and I know that the person is taking time to process the whole name, as if I'd said something like "Anastasia Chavetdatze".

I've had it with this behaviour. The other day I was on the phone with a vendor and I told her my name and she was like "Really? what does it mean?". That's another thing, the pregnant pause is always followed by the meaning of my name. I've not heard anybody asking anybody else for the meaning of their names. I don't ask anybody for the meaning of their names, but nooooo, when its me, they all want to know what it means and then there's the third step in "the Philosophy of my name" - The contradicting of the meaning. Its not hope but Doubt.

There was this incident (actually there are serveral, but we'll run with this as example) where my teacher and mam argued about my name, when dear old mam had come in to collect the report card. It wasn't pretty.

T: About your daughter's name, Its wrong, how can you call her doubt?
Mam (quite coldly): Its not doubt, its Hope
T: Ofcourse not, its mean doubt, there's no doubt about it hahahahahha
Mam (now positively glowering): I think as mother, I know better
T: Its still not too late to change her name. You could perhaps change it to "Akanksha" Thats not too bad.
Mam: Its still not too late to change your name either

Yeah, Go Mam!!! but I knew I wasn't gonna top the class anytime too soon.

Sigh, there are times I've wished my mother had given me a no brainer bollywood-esque name like Tania or riya. Has anybody asked a Tania what her name means? ofcourse not, it means shit and everyone knows it. I've gone to mam and complained about it and she feels kinda guilty too. She collects evidence of my name and scours the internet for my rare namesakes. There was this incident at frankfurt airport, where upon telling my name, the guy I was a making random conversation with said "oh! doesn't it mean hope?", I could have jumped over the table and kissed him for saying that. Suddenly, my existence was legitemized. I felt normal. and when I told mam about it, she wanted to kiss him too.

What snapped within me was yesterday. 4 complete strangers, at pragati maidan, spoilt delhi brats all, laughing upon hearing my name and making fun of it infront of me. Them being spoilt brats was incidental. It was everybody. Teachers, Classmates, Peers, Bosses, colleauges, everybody has done it. Made fun of it. Purposely made a mess of prouncing it wrong.They don't know that by doing it, by questioning my name, they are not only mocking mocking me but also mocking the two people who gave me the name and its just not done.

So, Fuck you all. There I've said it. FUCK YOU. If you think you know better

Yay Me!!!

Well six months ago I did something unfathomable. well unfathomable to most people who do not know me. I moved to another city, to live by myself, to be independant, to fry my own bacon as it were (ok that sounded corny) and here I am six months hence, in an apartment of my own, in a city thats less alien and more friendly, my own TV, my own bloody land line even, did I say I'm sooo proud of me?

When I first moved, everybody, asked me if I was crazy to move. I mean even people in poona asked me why I did it. Well the truth be told, i don't know why. Its something that I felt ought to be done. To challenge myself. to see if I could do it. It's hard to explain and most often I end up shrugging my shoulders and looking like an idiot, but I'm glad I did it. With minimum meltdowns too. 2 to be exact but thats a decent figure methinks.

there are the highs. Oh my god the highs. Its hard to describe but even little things like instant coffee can give you joy when the universe seems against you. there are so many frustrating moments and even more frustrating people to deal with and then something comes along that makes it all easy, like a sweep of a magic wand.I mean I could almost make love to the guy who invented instant coffee. especially Bru cappucino. Hindustan Lever. I soooo love you dudes. Open packet, hot water and voila, cinnamon cappucino. who da thunk? now if only someone came up with instant tea, my life will be complete.

Then there are the tiny victories. the little come uppances that make you feel like a diva with her own entourage of backups. There was this one time where I was faced with boiling water in my bathroom because the bathroom was the only place in the house that had a 15 A plug. I didn't know that it was a 15 A plug that I needed. So I went to an electric store and asked for a "big" plug and they all snickered there. They almost sold me a 300 ruppee extension cable set but you know what, I was sure that there would be a 5 A to 15A plug, and there was! and it costs only 30 bucks!!. Now my electric kettle sings happily in the kitchen.

Did I tell you about my broadband story. This story is soo hugee, it deserves a paragraph to itself. Ok first some background - I had a lousy wireless connection that was painfully slow and I almost never got the signal. I mean I used to walk around the house with the laptop on my head looking for a spot with strong signal. Since obviously thats just too much effort to get on to the internet, I decided to go in for a broadband connection. The only hitch was that the society that I lived in did not allow broadband connection on the premises. I called every broadband vendor and everytime I told my society name, they would all refuse flatly. So I went to reason with the society president, but he just refused to give permission. His reasoning - All the wires would make the premises messy. So did I take it lying down? Did I start to look for another house in another more frendly society? Ofcourse not. What I want, I always get. So I approached the society president, this time armed with the most potent of all weapons : emotional blackmail.

I told the guy my parents lived in australia and that I had to talk to them everyday since I was a girl alone in this bad bad city, I needed the broadband and before I knew it huge sobs were pouring down my face. "As if this life wasn't tough, you want to make it more tough?" I asked in between sobs. Well anyway tears do work cause I got the broadband permission after that! That victory was soo sweet, the "whos your daddy bitches!!" moment, ahh simply priceless. And thanks to me 6 houses in my building also got broadband connection. Airtel so owes me!!

So, inshallah, its been a fun 6 months. I've made friends and proved to myself that I can make friends when I want to. The life that I've built in the last 6 months is expressly my doing and that, is the sweetest of all victories.

Damn those cravings!

I miss..

> The Cheese bites at Legends of Rock. oh those lovely gooey fatty things that explode with so much cheesy goodness. They are pretty much the only reason I go to LoR. Not the music, not the drinks, not the ambience but just them, Cheese bites. Yes, initially my diet conscious being restrained me from sampling this very un-epicurean delight, but once I had eaten one of these erm bites, dripping over in mayonnaise, all diets were toshed. The sad thing has been that the last time I was in bangalore LoR was out of cheese bites. Never did the 23 year old me most want to throw a 3 year old's tantrum. This time when I come visiting, if they don't have it, I'll bloody blow up the place.

> Chicken wings at millers 46. do you know heaven orders chicken wings from millers 46? Many of my fondest memories have involved talking to friends and contentedly tucking in chicken wings at M46. I miss the place. The wings are glazed in a sweet but peppery sauce and after you'd eaten about 6 of them, steam would be popping out your ears, the tongue would be on fire and the lips would have swollen,bee-stung like. The waiters knew me well. they even knew my house well, cause I'd order so many times. I wish they'd deliver here.

>Biryani at Ebony's. Ebony is my place. yes it is. people may say whatever they want but its so my place. I'm in my element there, with the sight of bangalore to behold, good food, and getting tipsy and giggly with a drink. I have eaten biryani in the best of places at hyderabad, but I still haven't experienced anything like the biryani at Ebony. Every time I see the waiter bring our dum pukht biryani, I start salivating like pavlov's dog. I love the spicy raita that they serve it with. it adds a certain zing to the biryani, so much so that your palate is a state of flutter. ooh just love it.

>Lunch Meal at Krishna Kafe. KK is this authentic tam bram place in koramangala that was a short walk from my previous work place. We used to go there for lunch, especially on Friday's because the heavy lunch is a perfect excuse not to work therafter. The lunch was served on a banana leaf and was a typical south indian affair with rice, applam, sambhar, rasam, 3 different types of curries. Every time I have gorged on steaming rice dripping in sambhar, I know i have a fat pot bellied tam bram priest inside me. The highlight was ofcourse the "unlimitededness" of the entire meal. Unlimited everything - rice, sambhar, curry and offcourse applams. KK brings back fond memories of this road trip my family went on when I was 10 I think, through Tamil Nadu. Every restaurant/Tiffin room had this "Unlimited" largesse concept. For the price of one you could eat for ten people. I haven't seen it emulated anywhere.I sorely miss my Rice-rasam- sambhar here. I'm in roti hell folks!!!

> Set dosa at shanti Sagar. My parents have this wonderful habit of ordering Dosa and idlee from Shanti sagar on sunday mornings. That would be the only day mom wouldn't make breakfast. I was always deputed to go get the breakfast and it would always be 3 set dosa and 10 idless. I loved my set dosa. I miss it.no thats MISS it. Dosa and saagu palya used to be my sunday morning heaven, together with fresh tea and the sunday times. I also used to have a cup of coffee whist at shanti sagar, waiting for my parcel. There is no coffee like south indian coffee. Nothing. I'll contest anyone to a spelling duel if they think otherwise

> Cornerhouse!!!. I don't have to be descriptive here do I? I miss the banana split, the cake fudge, the ice cream overdose, the whole of your ice cream immersed in nuts. you know they don't do that anywhere. It's a special place people. Please preserve it.

>Bangalore!!!. words can't say how much... sigh

I'll have what she's having

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head

And just like the guy whose feet are too big for his bed

Nothin' seems to fit

Those raindrops are fallin' on my head, they keep fallin'

B J Thomas.
He sang this song you know...its featured in the movie Butch cassidy and the Sundance kid.
If I remember correctly, I think Paul newman sings this song in the movie.
On a cycle.
I love Paul Newman.
No Thats LOVE Paul Newman.
He was soooo incredibly hot in his *ahem* younger days.
Have you seen cat on a hot tin roof?
There's this scene where elizabeth taylor is changing her stockings
A young ravishing elizabeth taylor changing her stockings.
Can you imagine that? nothing could have been more sexier and this guy just watches her disdainfully with a glass of whisky in his hand.
I was so floored by that scene
Who was this man who could look disdainfully at elizabeth taylor? a young, ravishing elizabeth taylor.
I saw Paul Newman's house when I was in New York.
It was on the uptown loop and I was sitting on the upper deck and the guide went "Oh btw thats paul Newman's house"
I took a photograph but it came out blurred.
I love New York.
I love the upper east side.
But unfortunately it also reminds me of Meg Ryan,whom I hate.
Nay, detest.
I detest her guiless, girl needs help smile.
I hated her in that cheesy You've got mail.
Yes, that bookshop too was pointed out in the uptown loop.
I hated her in Sleepless in seattle, which unfortunately ends in (you guessed it right) in New York.
Not in seattle like the title promises.
When I saw the empire state building, what came to me was Sleepless in seattle and the whole "Affair to remember" ding.
and then there was Harry Met Sally.
I know what you are thinking.
Sigh! I could do with one right now

Romancing tennis are we?

Sigh! another French Open has passed by. French open is a sign. Its a sign that half the year has gone by. That summer is over. That the earth is no longer parched. Its time for green fecundity. For wimbledon. for my 24th birthday. time to get seriously wiser

I like the French Open. Its my 2nd favourite open after wimbledon. I like the glamour of paris, the chanel suits, the snooty noses and ofcourse the slide type tennis. My first ever tennis memory was of Seles winning the French Open. My dad really liked her. I loved her. she was my tennis idol and as my bro loved Steffi Graf, we were bitter rivals. I hated graf back then, and any encounter between the two of them turned in to a heated (sometimes abusive) battle at home. Remember the Graf-Seles French Open Final, that Seles won 10-8 (in think) in the final? oh that was glorious. But sadly that rivalry came to an end thanks to a deranged graf fan. I hated graf all the more. Damn tennis was a saga back then.

Ofcourse after the french open came wimbledon and somehow it seemed so right.. to move from the starved clay to green luscious grass. I love it when its wimbledon. In the past, school would have begun by then. It was new class, freshly bound notebooks with that virgin notebook smell, neat first page handwriting, new uniforms and then on coming home there would be wimbledon on DD with some BBC guy giving some stolid commentary. The world felt so right then.

I've sat up late into the night to see some awesome tennis with my dad and bro and those are some of my most cherished memories. I remember becker's last wimbledon match against sampras. I remember watching McEnroe in his twilight years and every time he'd get disgusted, someone in the crowd would hold up a poster that said , "You Can't Be Serious!!". oooh remember goran invanisevic? I remember him in his first wimbledon final aginst agassi which he lost and that was particularly painful because I loved him in my 9 year old heart and then came his redemption in 2001 where he beat Pat rafter. I seriously wept that day, seeing him win, seeing some one get what they most covet. And then there was that Graf -novotna final. It's still so vivid for me. Novotna leading in the final set, a break ahead and I was doing a jig around my brother. No effing way Graf was going to win and then good old DD dramatically lost tranmission. I was so confident that graf was going to lose and when DD finally got live feed, Graf was ahead and was serving for the match!!!. It's still the biggest WHAT DA...moment of my life. oh I loved DD's coverage of wimbledon. It was so quaint, I still prefer it over any of your star sports-ESPN jazzy digital coverage.

And then in this season of tennis there would be tennis fantasies. Yes, that I was world number one champion tennis player that had never EVER lost. In fact I had even achieved a double golden slam, I was that dominant. In my dreams I was a legend. I used to even sign on magazine covers with a felt pen and that would really annoy mom. I loved my interviews, which I gave in the bathroom to an imaginary interviewer. I was so awesome, modest and humble and oh so poised...

And watching Federer lose to Nadal this sunday, I felt that I lost a special moment. of missing being part of history. But still, there'll always be more tennis. Here's to more special moments.

Now Fed go get that wimbledon now!

Not quite according to script

Why is it that weekends that you look forward to always pass by rapidly? I mean before you know it, it’s gone. You wait for it. Wait the agonizing wait. You plan every detail in the back of your mind, till it’s practically a full length picture and then before you can say “Cut”. Its over. O-V-E-R

See I had planned this weekend trip over a month back, to be back in the city of my being, to be with my love, to be there on my folks’ birthday, to watch aerosmith and now, here I am on Wednesday in poona, thinking, now what do I do with my life??

Here’s how it panned out.

The Surprise (or so she thought)

I didn’t tell my parents that I was coming down for the weekend. I wanted to surprise them. To see the thrill in their eyes or so the movie went in my head. God, I was so chuffed that I was doing this. So I called them at 12 in the night, right outside the gate and Dad picks up the phone

Me: HI DAD (Excited and Giggly)

Dad: Huh who? (Obviously sleepy and not happy about being woken up)

Me: It’s me dad, Guess where I am? (still excited tho not quite giggly)

Dad: Why what happened? Why are you calling at this hour? What’s wrong? What? What? (Obviously not happy at all)

Me: Nothing dad. I’m right outside the Gate. Surprise!! (Doubts creeping upon on this whole surprise thing)

Dad: Surprise?? You call this surprise? You scared the hell out of me (Yes definitely not a good idea)

Yes, the surprise didn’t stick to the script and I entered the house quite meekly with my folks quite annoyed. Don't you wish sometimes that life imitated art and that you had background music for moments in your life.

The Haircut

They say choosing a hair dresser is as important as choosing a spouse. Actually I just made that up. But I truly believed that I had found my soul mate hair dresser. I’ve been going to that salon for about 4 years now and every cut I’ve had has made jump with I-can’t-believe-I-look-so good-joy. So with unshakeable faith in their abilities, I said simply, “Cut it short. Shoulder length. What ever looks good”. Lesson – Don’t EVER say What ever looks good. That phrase is haircut hara-kiri, because as any sensible person will tell you, beauty is subjective.

So she said ok, I’ll cut it in layers. The term “layers” has always turned out okay so I simply shrugged with my “you are the professional” confidence. That’s mistake number 2. Nobody is a professional. Long story short. Horrible hair cut with the one thing I detest the most and that’s a fringe. Who likes fringes? And why are they back in town? And she had the audacity to tell me that fringes look good on me.

The sad thing about haircuts is that there is no Consumer court type remedy. You’re stuck with it. DB my girl pal, said that it looked “Decent” and boy was more gracious and said that it looked “Nice” and this when I had gorgeous long tresses that I could toss haughtily. Pride comes before a bad haircut

The Concert

You know a concert is big when even your scientist mom asks “Who is this aerosmith? I want to see him”. My prev concert was the Roger waters concert and that was fun although we were way back and I couldn’t quite make him out from that distance. This time I was determined to get as close as possible, even if it meant climbing over people. We made it to the front row, although boy, who had smoked a doobie and was very happy with his stoned self, was reluctant to go there. I looked at him in disbelief, doobie or no doobie, we were going to go as close as it would take to see the motifs on Steven Tyler’s pants.

The concert rocked although, they didn’t quite sing the popular songs. Either that or I'm a non-fan. Seriously there were just 4-5 songs that I could sing too. I was disappointed that they didn’t sing “crazy” and it was hell crowded. But like I told bro later, atleast I gotta see Steven Tyler before he popped. Sigh I wish Pearl Jam would come to India now. Eddie, I turn my lonely eyes on you.

The Birthdays

My folks have their B’days on consecutive days which is very good thing because one can finish the gift shopping in one shot and also everyone is nice to one another for 2 consecutive days.

This time the celebration was rather low key. I guess it’s because all their peers were retiring and the whole mood was rather somber. My dad picked on the youth of this country and I was shown as a classic example of the decadence of this generation. Atleast I’m an example of something. Better to be an example of nothing than not being an example at all I say.

That’s my minutes of this weekend that has flown by. A weekend I rather enjoyed, despite the events. Now what do I do with my life?

I'm 23 years old, TV is my life.

(5 points if you can tell me where I filched that line from)

Okay last night the Heroes episode (Chapter 17: Company Man) was so gripping that I almost choked on my food. Which set me thinking...who will come to my rescue if do indeed choke on my food??

I think this thought came to my mind because of another TV show - 30 rock, which btw, is a really smart Tv Show. Alec Baldwin is really good as a my-employees-hate-me kinda VP of NBC. Did you know that "30 Rock" is short for "30 Rockefellar Plaza" and that the NBC studio is actually situated in 30 Rockefellar Plaza? I walked past this building when I was in New York last winter. I love that phrase, "When i was in New York", makes me sound nostalgic, boho, cool and utterly straight haired.

yeah so back to why TV is my saviour. I must tell you how I got the Tv in the first place. My nutty broker, who is also my land lord, brought this unknown mallu couple home, and asked if they could take the Kitchen rack (left by the previous tenent). I don't cook at all so I just shrugged and then she goes, "You know..they're looking to sell their TV too" and before I knew it, I was calling the local cable operator at 11pm and asking them to "Come fix the cable right now!!" and you know what? they did!!. God bless the cable guys of this world. ever willing and able, they really do understand the trappings of a true TV junkie. And thats how I got in synch with the world again. I found I could keep up with conversations again, which was a relief because, I nearly freaked out when even mom started to talk about Sanjaya Malakar's exit. Avril lavigne's "So whatever?" or shakira & beyonce's "Beautiful liar"- No problem, Now I too can have an opinion on that.

Another thing that’s totally giving me a kick is my remote. No that’s MY REMOTE. Mine. mine. only mine. All my life, I’ve been amidst remote snatchers – Anna and dad. Anna didn’t let me watch a Paul Newman (Oh, I also saw Paul Newman’s house “when I was in New York”) movie once and in that moment, I vowed to get my own TV when I made enough money. What is it about guys and remotes? Its like they’re marking territory or something. Me have remote, Me Man arrgh!. So now, I can watch Prison break (God that scofield dude is so hot!) or heroes or the apprentice or frazier or friends without anyone changing the channels midway.

Yeah, so life’s good. Hey wait a minute, isn’t that the tagline for a TV brand?

Cheerful day it isn't

Well my phone just fell from a 30ft drop. It survived but its not catching the network and the camera is kaput too. Don't ask me how it happened. Crazy, odd, freak, one-in-a-zillion incident, and it can only happen to me and then My laptop touch pad konked on me.

Bombs are exploding every minute at work , its world war 3

Yes, Karma is not in a good mood.

bling bang

So I was watching American Idol the other night (Subtle way of saying, I have TVeeeeeeee, wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! ) and it was "Idol gives back" night. The same old story - white dudes go to Africa, are appalled by the impoverished/hungry/sick people there, come back, make a nice montage of it, with keane music as background, show it to other white dudes, who for some reason are absolutely shocked by it all, like its all news to them, then they all sing (or sway to) "Heal the world, make it a better place", give money, shed some tears and will go back home to their f****ed up white ways.

No asks why Ayf-Freeka (you gotta say it like they do Man! and notice how its not country specific, like kenya, zambia etc, its Ayf-Freeka, one big bloody convenient bracket), a region that has abundant mineral wealth (and by minerals we are talking gold, diamonds, platinum, iron, all the things thats "Hot" right now) is so freaking poor. Someone obviously has been filching all of that, ain't it? Somebody has been taking all of that and in return, has been supplying weapons, backing military dictators, engineering civil wars and ignoring genocides

You want to do something for Ayf-Freeka? Oust people like Mugabe, get rid of the government in Sudan, do something about the Darfur situation, but no its "Heal the world" on a crappy singing contest.

Grow Up!

Arms raised in a V

Updates.

Have quit my old job. Yes the one that made stay till 2 am a while back. The best thing about quitting jobs is the interim break. Being “temporarily unemployed”, there’s nothing sweeter than that. It’s a beautiful lazy state of being with the comfort of knowing that soon you’ll be in a brand new office, meeting brand new people and getting f****d in brand new ways. Its Joy.

So what did I do you ask? Well slept for most part of it. Got up at noon on most days. Since I’m into Heroes these days, got the complete DVD set. You know everytime I start explaining what Heroes is all about, I sound like an idiot. “Er, a bunch of people start developing extraordinary powers due to genetic mutation”. But honestly its such a clever TV show.

As my new job is in pune , the “moving out” needed to be planned. Parents had to be comforted. The Closet had to emptied and clothes scrutinized. It’s a futile exercise if you ask me. The realization would always be that one does not have enough Clothes. Which ofcourse lead to SHOPPING. Not just clothes –shoes shopping but fancy adult stuff like Luggage, kitchen stuff, electronic yada yada.

I also got a nice back massage at spa.ce, this new spa place at cunningham road. Oh that felt heavenly. And when it was over I was sad. I was leaving Bangalore just when I had found a neat spa place.

Then there was the matter of the farewell party. Which I organized and planned. At opus. Because I have bastard male friends who turn up 1 hour late. Opus has “Kroak Knights” Karaoke and I wanted all of them kroak me a tearful farewell song, but as luck would have it, it was Booze-n-brains night instead. It couldn’t have been more appropriate. The legendary tonic team meets up for dinner and the restaurant conducts a quiz. I beginning to believe we are destined to quiz. Well the pitch was if we won the booze-n-brains quiz, all the booze at the table would be on the house. So obviously Nag, Gowday and Jalan were excited. And I just wanted to win. Alcohol doesn’t excite much since a certain fateful office party a year back, were I got pretty drunk and got f****d in office later. Ok coming back to the exciting prospect of free booze. Team tonic with Gowday in tow did fairly well in every round. We were coming in second for most parts because the team that was coming first was googling their way through. That was allowed btw. And the beer was flowing at our table in anticipation of a victory. We were still second when it was time for the last question. We trailed the first team by 3 points and the last question was worth 5 points if we got it right. It was do or die, and I really wanted to “do” rather then face a gargantuan Alcohol bill. And buggers we got that question right. We won!!! We got booze worth 2.5 K free. And I didn’t have any of it. After we won, I wanted to have some celebratory beer but the bar was conveniently closed by that time!

Shucks is right but pretty good times :)

Hilarious!

and that's all I have to say about that.

erm actually, as I'm not given to tacit inclinations, I'll elaborate. Very few times have I come across a movie where you instantly connect with all the characters in the movie. And its so freaking funny!

enough said. Go watch

Finally the New York Story Part 1 - Not quite soft landing.

See many of you didn't know there was a new york story to begin with, but this has to be put down for posterity, for memories of those 72 hours are beginning to fade.

See lil ol 23 yr old me visited the united states in october for work and I managed to sneak in some time at New York, thanks to two amazing people, Vaishnavi and Harish. They were awesome enough to have me in their comfy home for about 3 days. Thanks to them I left NY with some amazing memories. Big sloppy kiss to both you!. I love you guys!

Erm, ok now lets start at the very beginning, that's the moment I landed at JFK airport on a flight filled with restless hasidic jews. enough said I think. Then came immigration, where the officer says "You're 23? you look like you're 18". Little did I know that that was going to be the slogan of this trip.

Hokay after that, I learnt my first big lesson, in the US they charge you for your luggage trolley. I mean which Industrialized nation does that? I mentioned that only because, if they hadn't charged for luggage trolleys, I wouldn't have given the er luggage trolley dude 100 dollars instead of 10. That was going to be the theme of this trip - How a supposed 23 yr old who looks like an 18 year old waif loses money in USA.

Remember we are already 100 dollars down (I didn't know it at that time though). now comes the episode of the cab driver. Cab drivers anywhere are bastards. nothing less. oh but Indian Cab drivers, they make your average bastardy cab driver seem like god's little cherubs. So whilst I was at my supposed -23-but-decidely-18 -waify best, this desi dude walks up to me and says "do you need help?". Lesson to everybody out there. If you see a desi who's not family or friend in a foreign country airport, just run.

I said I needed a cab, and desi dude (DD) proceeded to help me out and pulled up in a large shiny SUV. I knew I was in trouble right there. I said no SUV, me want a big yellow taxi, the type that you see in the apprentice, but he conned me in to believing that yellow taxis do not ply into Manhattan. The bastard. And this after I have watched every episode of third watch! Anyway long story short, cab ride was very expensive. More like 130 dollars expensive.

Yes 2 hours in NY and I was already at -230 and this when the budget was 300. Gulp indeed!