Rejuvenated!

Rejuvenated is such a pretty word, isn’t it? Every time this word comes across it brings out a bright, happy picture like the ‘happy shirt’, the one with bold blue and white stripes. It is very common (and I am not allowed to have one coz it is a very common pattern), but I have loved that shirt since a very long time. I have this notion that the person who wears it is extremely happy, thus ‘happy shirt’. Anyway, rejuvenated was for the happy feeling I am, or rather was, going through after a nice trip. I was on a two week break which felt shorter than it was. All vacations seem short, don’t they? And it is so very boring to go to work after coming back. Now I wish everyone at work wore the ‘happy shirt’ and felt rejuvenated.
The view from the hotel room in Mussorie.

Life is an old lady’s tears

One of the families in our neighbourhood in the earlier place comprised of an old lady and her son, who was afflicted with polio. The lady got a meagre pension from her deceased husband’s last job and the son had a bank job in which he was doing well when they left that place, to move into a bigger house, around 8-9 years back. I remember the son as a cheerful guy who used to play cricket with me, even when it was quite difficult for him to run around. During holidays I used to spend maximum time at their place. Somehow I did not get to meet him after they left to the new house. He got married, but I was not able to attend it. The lady being close to my mother always paid a visit to our house whenever she was in the neighbourhood. Around 3-4 years back I spotted him at the bank when I was running an errand. I went to his desk and noticed that he looked rather dull. He smiled back when he saw me but I felt that the cheerful guy which I knew was missing. My mom said that they were having some family problems and the lady and her daughter-in-law were not on talking terms. I am not interested in family gossip so I ignored the later part of the narration. After a few months I saw the old lady in tears while talking to my mother. I came to know that the things between the two ladies in that house had reached to such an extent that the son had asked his own mother to live in a separate house. We always hear or read stories of children neglecting their aged parents but seeing someone closely I felt very sad that day. Last week the lady had come to our house to see our Ganesh idol and also had brought a few ukdiche modak as prasad. She was looking very frail and I had to hold her by her hand while dropping her off from our house. Later back home mom told me that the son had stopped going to the bank and since he was absent for a very long time he was sacked from his job. He was facing a serious inferiority complex and had stopped using his crutches. Dragging himself on the floor he had refused to get up. So the lady was putting aside a major part of the pension as savings and was helping to fund the education of her grandchildren. She was skipping meals to save costs and on a few days she lived on 1-2 bananas only. Even then she was refusing any kind of help from others.

A few years back the son and wife had driven the old mother out of her own home. They had refused to provide monetary help to her and had left her to live off on her own. They had ordered her not to meet her grandchildren. Now the same mother is fighting a lone battle to feed the family of four and providing a decent education to the kids. What is her fault in this situation? Is life treating her badly? Rather than life it is the people who treat each other badly. How can a child, who has been brought up by his/her parents, neglect them when the parents need him/her the most? Isn’t it a child’s basic responsibility to support the parents? I mean the answers are so simple yet we fail to think clearly. That day I vowed that the least I can do for my parents is to respect them and be there when they need me. I hope you also realize it in time. Last heard my mother was trying to help the lady’s son regain his confidence and had given him some confidence-booster books by Swami Sukhbodhananda. I am not sure how much that will help but I sincerely hope the family re-unites and leads a happy and healthy life.

P.S.: Uploaded a few images of our Ganesh idol and the puja.

Ek aankh maaru toh…

Last weekend I was thanking my stars that I rarely had a problem with my eyes till date coz I am really scared of anything bad related to eyes. Seeing people suffering from conjunctivitis in the company and wearing goggles all day long I prayed that the October heat doesn’t affect me and the conjunctivitis virus keeps away its eyes from me. But the Gods were not with me this time and I woke up this week with a swollen red eye... yeah only one eye so it was looking weird. But by evening both eyes were affected and 3 days I had to stay back at home till the infection had subsided. I also joined the goggle group in the company after that for a day until the eyes returned to normal size. The experience of having conjunctivitis for the first time was not so bad coz I had heard that eyes pain a lot and it becomes difficult to open up the eyes due to the sticky matter which comes out due to the infection. Luckily there was slight pain and almost nil sticky matter except that tears were rolling out so much that I felt that someone had left a faucet open in my head. Frankly speaking I was bored sitting at home… not that I mind holiday but sitting at home I neither could read nor sit in front of the TV or computer. So finally after laying down idle for a long time I decided to clean my cupboard... which is actually called my study cupboard but it is never used for anything remotely near to studies and instead I use it as a storing space... well my parents prefer to call it a dumping ground but that is a different story altogether. Even though it does look like a mess I can easily find a said thing lying in there but if it is neatly arranged then I just don’t like the look of it.

I started off with taking out all the things lying there one by one and in a matter of a couple of hours the whole room floor was bustling with things I hardly remember seeing them last time. Then cleaned the whole space and arranged the things properly… yeah properly as in a stacked manner. I mean I was going to be at home full time for the next couple of days so just throwing back the things in would have been hazardous to my health... not that it had any radioactive materials but just because mom was at home as well. I was sure that this look would last for just a couple of weeks so I didn’t mind rearranging the things. But I found some stuff which I wanted to mention. The first thing I got hold of was the Placement brochure of my engineering college. It was a namesake placement brochure because I can’t remember a single student getting placed while graduating using that book. My batch was one of the greatest batches of our college… ok fine I will be modest… it was the greatest and not ‘one of the’ :D. Where else you would get a batch that rarely went to the college, had their professors admitted in hospital for chest pain coz of the trouble the students gave, won accolades for the college in almost all the extra-curricular events but were lagging far behind in studies? I sat down sifting through the pages and was trying to remember which guy was doing what nowadays. Most of my batch mates are abroad doing their post-grads’ and I couldn’t recognize 2-3 people simply because I had never seen them on the playing ground where we all spent most of our time. I remembered the day when the college had called a photographer to click our photographs for the brochure and some guys had come dressed in suits. I had forgotten that a photography session was scheduled but was lucky to be in a shirt… I mean not in tee, not that I roam around topless.

Then I got my hands on an old black diary… no not the little black book kinds ;-) … but my company diary. Inside were scribbled dialogues for the skit we had performed on the Foundation Day. I sat down recollecting the time spent writing those dialogues with the co-hostess and how later she got hit on her head by a swinging door the day before the show and we had to search for a new hostess. A few pics of the show were uploaded here then.

I never throw my I-cards so found many of them from college to classes for engineering and then the CATIA course identity card I did after graduating but never collected the certificate. I also found my exam admit cards for 10th and 12th grade. It is fun watching the progress your face makes in the pics on all of these. It is not like the evolution of a Neanderthal man but still…

It was a good time spent sorting all the stuff and recollecting things related to them and for that time I totally forgot about my conjunctivitis as my eyes were busy looking at the fond memories. Still I have not yet opened the drawer containing my collection of rocks, newspaper cuttings, stamps, coins, matchboxes, greeting cards… I am definitely going to have trouble moving stuff when we shift to our new house in a couple of months.

By the way in case if anyone was wondering from the last post what’s on the whiteboard it is:

It was not conjunctivitis; those were the side-effects of a roving-eye

Can’t think of a title!

There are some days in one’s life which are highly depressing and one cannot just come out of the sullen mood no matter how hard one tries. I don’t know if this can be generalized, but for me fortunately this is true coz this is restricted to only a few days.. very rare days. A fortnight back saw two very bad days and I wasn’t able to force a smile even after some kind friends were willing to help. But the question for them would have been what and how to help coz I never pour out my heart to anyone when I am not in a good mood and even after getting back to normal myself. I hate this habit of mine but I can’t or rather don’t want to give it away. I not only believe in but practice as well Sayesha’s statement ‘I also have my share of sad days; it is just that I make a big deal of the happier ones’. This applies to my life as well as my blog. So I sat sulking for 2 days and trashed away two posts I had written for the community blog and one for here. Anyways such days are necessary to serve a reminder of much happier days in our lives.

Btw that had me thinking why do I blog? To share my ‘happy days’ with some people I interact only online, those whom I don’t know in real life? To put forth my opinions on topics supposedly important for me? Well I couldn’t reach a conclusive answer and at the same time one of my colleagues mailed me a document. He is a member of a group, which shares an article every day and this was one of them. Here are a few excerpts from the document that why blogging is good for your career (according to them):
Blogging creates a network: A blogger puts himself out in the world as someone who is interesting and engaging - just the type of person everyone wants to meet. Phil van Allen, a faculty member of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena says ''It's the new public relations and it's the new home page. Instead of a static home page, you have your blog. It's a way to let people know what you are thinking about the field that interests you.”
Employers regularly Google prospective employees to learn more about them and blogging gives you a way to control what employers see. ''People who are more visible and have a reputation and stand for something do better than people who are invisible," says Catherine Kaputa, branding consultant and author of ''Blogging for Business Success."

Blogging makes the world a better place.

I don’t know how my blog makes the world a better place but surely it is one of my favourite places I like to visit online and just reading through my own archives is quite a pleasure for me. What a narcissist you might be thinking lol! I also happened to stumble upon this link while surfing – Corporate Blogging

As some of you know I have joined this community blog – Between Us Friends – a place for friends and to make new friends. Well the latter part has been conveyed later to me by Ishita, the blog moderator, during a discussion in which I had quite pissed her off.. he he.. kidding Ishi. Do visit the blog and if you feel interested you have to send a request I assume to the admin for getting on board. I have added an image in my sidebar of the blog pic.. scroll down and have a look. Each fortnight 2 topics are voted by members as topics for the posts. It is quite difficult for me to write on a given topic coz for me blogging is what comes to my mind first and not like kind of essay writing. Though the problem every time is that a nice post strikes my mind on the assigned topic but sadly the date for it is already over.. he he.

Go and see the Goa pics which I have finally uploaded on the pics blog. I will try to scribble a few lines on some of the incidents of the trip in some post.

V for..

Here, on 16th December V would be for Vijay Diwas (Victory Day). When the army celebrated the victory that day they were unaware that the nation would be celebrating the day again after 11 years but for the birth of yours truly *ahem* :P. Okk the whole nation didn’t celebrate but at least the family and relatives did 24 years back (I hope they now don’t repent that celebration :D)

When the clock struck 12 at midnight this 16th (or 15th??) some of my college group guys dropped in and the power went off for almost one hour (so no pics of midnight). In 1982 Port Blair (where dad was posted then) had witnessed an earthquake.. now this earthquake and power failure have no relation with me or my birthday so stop thinking and read further.
In the company somehow I managed to save myself from the bumps in the morning (though couldn’t avoid them later :(). My team made me God (or is he God’s messenger?) with this cake :P.

In the afternoon whiled away time with some freshers who were insisting for a party. Then at night had a nice dinner of pav-bhaji and ice cream with mom and grandmother (who had come down here for a few days). Keeping the tradition the school group came home near midnight with another cake.

A few days later the older group (associated with the company for more than 6 months coz all we see now are new faces all the time thnx to attrition) brought in 2 cakes for Gaurav and myself (Yashita, I wont complain of cake next time :)). I really don’t mind anyone wasting Black Forest but I hate when someone wastes the precious chocolate cake just for smearing it on the face. Damn those heartless souls.. hope they will never get to eat a chocolate cake again :D

The katta-gang of the company made merry at Shangrila and the meaning of ‘made merry’ is they got the license to kick the ass of the person they wanted to since a year.. he he.. but luckily I reminded people that some were having their birthdays in near future. Actually I didn’t know whose birthdays would be next but the fake warning served the purpose as many withdrew in fear.. probably the reason why I was still smiling ;)

The icing were the 2 Calvin & Hobbes books I got (yes Navdy you read it right :P). The katta-group gave the ‘The Days Are Packed’ edition (what a strange coincidence with the days now I am having) and the other one ‘Tenth Anniversary book’ was sent by Kalpana from Mumbai along with home-made chocolates which were devoured by all before I could even think of taking a picture.

Thus ended the day and week of celebration of successfully living on this planet for 24 years. Thanks to all who wished me personally or in their minds.. good wishes is all we need in this world. For the whole week I was thinking whether I deserved all this love and affection from the people I love and trouble (more :D) the rest of the year. But, hey that’s what we call as life :P. I will keep the thinking part to me while you take a look at the other pictures uploaded.

So, V bole toh ekdum Vasool time with near and dear ones :)

(Con)fusion at Crossword!!!

A rather long post so if u don’t have time you can go to the last paragraph directly..

I had ample free time in the afternoon on one day last week and the computers on which net is accessible were busy as usual so a friend and myself decided to check out the Crossword store which is at a walking distance from the office. I had already made up my mind to buy one of the Calvin & Hobbes books and the friend also had 1-2 books in his mind. It was the first time I had gone to this Crossword branch so was quite unaware where the sections were located at this place. So ENQUIRY COUNTER 1 was the place the man at the cash counter pointed me to ask my doubts. There a gal (lets say gal no.1) was sitting tapping at the keyboard on her desk. I asked her where I would find a C&H book.

Gal No. 1: You want the whole collection or a single book?
Me: Single (I knew the whole collection costs somewhere around 7000 bucks)
Gal No. 1: Go to the Humour section located there (pointing)
Me: Thanks! The section for Shantaram?

Gal No. 1: In the Best Sellers’ section over here (pointing)

Thanking her I went off to the humour section and browsed through 3 C&H books. Finally settled for one of them and then checked out Shantaram (it is too fat). The guy whom I had come along with, A, had already taken Robin Sharma’s new arrival and was pacing here and there looking for me. I waved to him and called him over and told him that I wanted to buy Shantaram too but maybe next time or from the roadside vendor, so I was finished and we might move back to office. He said that we have to spend at least 30 more minutes there coz if we go in early then his lead would allot him extra work. Thinking how to spend time there, I remembered that the Crossword branch near my house only had plastic wrapped copies of Laetitia Casta’s book and this being a bigger branch might have one unwrapped copy. So back to the Enquiry Counter 1; another girl this time (gal no. 2); I go on:

Me: Err.. I don’t know the name of the book but it is on Laetitia Casta. Can you find it for me?
Gal no. 2: What did you say it is on?
Me: It is on Laetitia Casta.. supermodel Laetitia Casta. It probably contains her photographs and the size of the book is around this much (showing her by hands)
Gal no. 2: What is the author’s name?
Me: I am not aware of it.
Gal no. 2: So how will I find it?
Me: Well you could enter the name in that comp and probably it will give some result.
Gal No. 1 arrives there with half sandwich in hand n the other in her mouth
Gal No. 2: He is searching for some book on casting..
Me: No no.. not casting; Laetitia Casta.
Gal No. 1 nods and I am happy that she knows what I am looking for. She starts typing in the name.
Me: The spelling is wrong. It is l-a-e-t-i-t-i-a.

Gal No. 1: (munching) l-a-t-e or l-a-t-i?

Now generally if someone is munching n speaking I would tell him/her to first swallow that thing but I controlled myself and repeated the spelling slowly. The search threw up a book in the Fashion section so I followed Gal No. 2 who took me and A there. A was visibly bored by that search and was continuously asking me what I was searching for. I was explaining him who Laetitia was and how amazing she looks.

Gal No. 2: You speak marathi well.
Me: Yeah.
Gal No. 2: You don’t look like you can speak marathi.
Me: Err.. *thinking whether I have to say thanks or what*
A: Can you please leave his marathi skills and improve your skills in finding a book?
Me: *LOL* (I just couldn’t control my laughter)

Gal No. 2: *glaring at both of us*

She somehow fished out the book and gave it to us. To our luck it was an unwrapped copy so we pulled two dice shaped stools and drooled over the gorgeous photos.
A: Why don’t you buy this one instead of that cartoon thing you have taken?
Me: Look at the price of that book. It would be a delight if someone gifted me that on birthday
A: *looking at the price* Ohh.. that is expensive. Yeah someone should gift it to me too.
Me: Hey see there *pointing high up the rack* .. Pirelli photoshoot book? Wow! I wasn’t aware that they had a book besides the famous calendars.
A: What is that?
Me: Just take that book out. I used to watch the shoot on FTV.
A kept carefully the Laetitia book aside reached up there and we started seeing the pics of the models. We didn’t notice that 2 aunties had come in that section and as I saw up one of them was glaring at us seeing the assets of the models jumping out of the book.
Me: Chee chee! What type of dirty books you read A! *got up and went towards the payment counter*

A: *confused and trying to hide the book*

Now this thing didn’t end here but I got a cashier in front of me who had joined the earlier day and was not used to the software they had for billing. But since this post is becoming too long so won’t trouble you more with the conversation that went on there. That guy was literally on verge of tears and continuously said sorry for keeping me waiting. I thought in my mind ‘It is ok dude! I am working on a software for past 1 year and still find new things ‘bout it everyday. You just joined in yesterday’. Of course didn’t tell that to him.. aakhir mein Nana Patekar jaise sochna padta hain “Image Image!” By the way, I am still unaware of the Laetitia book name and author and some models definitely look better in clothes than naked (from Pirelli).

On Sunday I got to attend a kathak-salsa fusion concert and it was superb. I had seen kathak before live but had seen salsa only on screen and it was even better when they had the dancers of both the types perform together. The classical side of music had tabla, flute and a sitar while the western music was with guitar, drums and synthesizer. The flutist and the drummer were awesome. If my friend is reading this then it was really nice attending the program and yes I was not bored at all since you feared that. If my friend is not reading this even then it was nice lest anyone would point that out.

The pics blog has finally been updated with pics from the trip and a few earlier ones. I don’t understand why blogger should have word verification for writing posts. Also does anyone know how to connect Hello software and beta blogger? I am not able to use Hello for beta blogger. Happy Navratri to all and may Goddess Durga bless us all. Have a good time playing dandiya.