just me..

Hey all you out there reading my blog ocassionally or simply stumbling across it by chance...I have'nt been here for a long time but someone recently reminded me of my blogs and ive once again been inspired to write..or scribble, whichever..lol! So watch this space...hehe!

Click-a-day

P.S.- Did I ever mention that you guys need to click on the ads. posted at the top of my blog after u have finished reading? Google pays me for that you know....I actually made USD3.20 in the last 4 months...lol

Happy Clicking!

TGIF!!

It's friday afternoon and I'm in tussle trying to concentrate at work and not to think of food...and still have weekend planning going on at the back of my mind..and have taken a few mins. off in the middle of it all to scribble smthg here...! U know what's worse than terrible winter days? It's the winter afternoon...the fog I can live with...but the afternoons which I have to spend inside a building without getting to sit outside in the sun eating groundnut or oranges are such an oppurtunity missed! Ofcourse it gets consistently harder to get out of bed in the mornings from monday to friday....on sat n sun..I will only be alive around afternoon! Yea, I almost die in the winters...I'd hibernate the whole season if I could!

Enough cribbing...I've finally decided to eat first and then work later on...so chao for now!!

Long time no blog!

Long time since ive written any decent blogs! Well here I am now, back in the new year...hopefully with a bang! 1st day of the office in 2007 and I'm writing a blog..lol..not bad, eh? sets the mood for the rest of the year...what say? Last new year was spent at Agra, visiting the Taj Mahal (dont get any ideas, it was a family & relatives affair..) so suitably, I did get to travel around a bit in 2006..covered Cochin, Calicut, Allepey backwaters, Trivandrum and Kanyakumari on a 10 day trip in Feb..then there was a trip to Mumbai..and more to Ahmedabad, Pune and Jaipur! Goa's on the agenda next..hope that works out in the new year!

I've developed quite a liking for photography as well last year...courtesy the new digicam and my friend Sinu who's a cool photographer himself..U can see the effects on the blog cos it has some random pictures too. Hey I got a new stole in peach last week and I have put some golden sequins on it...picture comming up soon! Looks pretty me thinks! Pretty as a peach...haha.

Had a whole week off in Dec. end which was spent watching movies..Kabul Express, Bhagam Bhag and the insufferable Monster House too! Also managed to sort a few things at home and throw out some clutter..slept a lot and cursed the winters...did'nt do any shopping!! Am waiting for the "off season" discound sales to start you see....:) It's probably the only advantage of having extreme climates in this city...u can keep buying a new wardrobe every season and have a very good reason for doing so.

Oh and I did buy some books in discount..Shobha De's 'Spouse', 'One Night at a Call Centre' by Chetan Bhagat...and ex-IIT guy and another called 'Anything for you ma'am'. Been reading One night...and it's a nice light read...interesting observations have been made by the writer about his fellow workers in the novel...like where he remarks that when girls laugh a lot...they are trying to flirt...lol! Loooooolll.... ;)

Orkut is boring now and feels passe with the new year...but m thinking of spending some time on Y! Ans again as I was clearing off the 450 odd emails in my inbox today out of which a 100 or so were unread...I realised a lot of people had emailed me from my contact there..and some mails were actually funny! FYI, i'm down to 200 emails in the inbox now and only bout 30 unread ones!! This can actually be a new yr's resolve u know...to clear my inbox more frequently! And I wanna be in touch with my friends more frequently too..and I might as well save some money...and lose some weight (this one's like talking of world peace!)....groan..the list of promises to break is growing...I better scram before it becomes too long to break 'em all in this year...chao!

space age...

"I don't have enough clothes" and "I don't have enough space in my cupboard" are such conflicting statements and though I might have used both of them so often, I did'nt realise the irony until today morning when I used them both one after the other...! Well it just happened that first I could'nt "find" anything to wear to work today morning and after I finally setteled on something, I could'nt manage to put back in the ones I did'nt need cos everything seemed squeezed already!! So after announcing for the nth time to Dad that I did'nt have enough nice things to wear...I proclaimed I did'nt have enough storage space either. This was invariably followed by a foxed looked on Dad's face and the query "How can you not have clothes or space? U must have one of the two....I think you have too many clothes!"...."But Dad, u see, I can't wear just anything u know..half of this pile is just t-shirts..too shabby now to wear outside, and the shirts don't work well with sweaters ...and it's too cold to wear salwar suits with which anyway I have to match a different sweater all the time...and a lot of these clothes are just old fashioned and not to mention the ones which are only good for parties..!" ...Dad's eyes were narrow by now...uh oh.."Ok, and the rest?" "Oh the rest don't match my sandles...so now I have only a handful of them which I can actually wear..!!"

And so on and so forth...I'm sure this could have taken up a lot more time but at 8am there just was'nt enough time to prove my point and get to work by 9! From now on, I will only use one of these phrases at one time I think.....and ofcourse I have to shop for the winters now! Maybe if I get a nice sweater for Dad too then he'll not be so upset at all the bags in the evening??

Whatever..

Hiee!! I would write the remaining part of the story now but my nail polish is still a bit wet u know...and the stupid light brown thing is not even looking so pretty on my hand .. :( See ya..

Blog with a bang!!

Today's my blog's lucky day cos i'm back on track after more than a month I think! And it must be a result of my friend mentioning today that she's starting a blog...and I suddenly remembered that I had a task to do as well..and also a result of having boring friends in general, boredom of reading about whether or not to invest in a ULIP or Money back plan, lack of any interesting option at home and no new scraps on orkut either, no place to go and no friends online n no one to go out with...so now u know y I blog.. :)

Well let's see what all I have been upto..there was diwali last mth which was celebrated as usual with a lot of house cleaning and lighting and decorations and some fire crackers as well! Brother was here for the week too and me n mom had this great idea that we'll make idlis for him when he comes and poor guy was just not willing to look at them after having to eat idlis down south all this time! I had even made a list of things I had wanted to do during the diwali hols but did'nt get around to actually doing most...but no fault of my brother, he was'nt even around to get in the way cos his friends kept him busy ...except for the one day we went shopping together and had a pizza n sat and watched TV in the evening..! The week just flew by before I knew it and he was gone again..

Interuption by mom...to be continued.

What I want in a man....

This was so cute, I just had to share it with u all..

What I Want in a ManOriginal List (age 22):1. Handsome2. Charming3. Financially successful4. A caring listener5. Witty6. In good shape7. Dresses with style8. Appreciates finer things9. Full of thoughtful surprises10. An imaginative, romantic lover

What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 32):1. Nice looking (prefer hair on his head)2. Opens car doors, holds chairs3. Has enough money for a nice dinner4. Listens as much as talks5. Laughs at my jokes6. Carries bags of groceries with ease7. Owns at least one tie8. Appreciates a good home-cooked meal9. Remembers birthdays and anniversaries10. Seeks romance at least once a week

What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 42):1. Not too ugly (bald head OK)2. Doesn't drive off until I'm in the car3. Works steady - splurges on dinner out occasionally4. Nods head when I'm talking5. Usually remembers punch lines of jokes6. Is in good enough shape to rearrange the furniture7. Wears a shirt that covers his stomach8. Knows not to buy champagne with screw-top lids9. Remembers to put the toilet seat down10. Shaves most weekends

What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 52):1. Keeps hair in nose and ears trimmed2. Doesn't belch or scratch in public3. Doesn't borrow money too often4. Doesn't nod off to sleep when I'm venting5. Doesn't re-tell the same joke too many times6. Is in good enough shape to get off couch onweekends7. Usually wears matching socks and fresh underwear8. Appreciates a good TV dinner9. Remembers my name on occasion10. Shaves some weekends

What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 62):1. Doesn't scare small children2. Remembers where bathroom is3. Doesn't require much money for upkeep4. Only snores lightly when asleep5. Remembers why he's laughing6. Is in good enough shape to stand up by himself7. Usually wears clothes8. Likes soft foods9. Remembers where he left his teeth10. Remembers that it's the weekend

What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 72):1. Breathing2. Doesn't miss the toilet

Daddy Long Legs

October 05, 2006
Dear Daddy Long-Legs,

Day 3: Still suffering from the cold and sleepless nights..and today, m suffering from hunger pangs too but lunch is a good hour away..

Ofcourse there's work to do at office..will people please stop asking me if I do any work or get paid for free? U know daddy, I wanted to go shopping last evening but I guess i'll be going next week now cos I don't really feel upto it right now. M still wondering what to buy for a few close friends for diwali! Maybe I'll get some good ideas in the market but the problem is that I can't even look at the shops and show windows as I walk by cos I have to look out for the crowds and the cars n bikes on the road or the market corridor instead!

And daddy, how bout organising a lunch at home pre-diwali?

Your's truly,

VS

P.S.- This letter is a dedication to Jean Webster, the author of DADDY LONG LEGS...really cute! I dont know how she wrote an entire novel full of letters ...I could'nt write one damn para. :(

Mid-night Sojourn

I'm not usually so much of a dedicated blogger that I'd sit up at 2 am and write a blog but today m having a bit of a cold and my little Ms. Nosey would not stop pestering me & therefore here I am! I don't know whether to keep the AC on or off cos while Ms. Nosey is not so pleased with it, the rest of me will devour it's effects quite gladly. Maybe someone will some day make a detachable nose? Anyone from IIT listening? I wanted to believe that the cold is a result of the paint job being done at home but the truth is that it's an allergy I've triggered myself and quite knowingly at that..! :(
So here I am, after watching "The Mummy Returns" for the 'n'th time (it's soo cute), taking a walk in the driveway n talking to a friend, exchanging SMSes with friends, reading Seema Goswami in Brunch about why today's generation can't be caught dead in the kitchen and tossing in the bed for an hour with my red nose (and t-shirt to match incidentally) ! That reminds me, I saw some awesome silver jewellery n t-shirts on a shopping site...so I'll just shop around till I drop I guess...which is probably going to be at about 4am now...thank u e-commerce...I luv u with all my nose..:)
U know what, I just spotted a black n white dengue mosquito in this room..let me just run n get the anti-mosquito spray.....bye!

Chutti hai!

Hey I just noticed that it's my 30th anniversary...no i'm not 30 yrs old or married for 30...but I have 30 blogs so far! Never thought i'd make it this far when I began. Well it's friday today n i'm impatient to just get home now..and oh we have a loooong weekend now cos Oct. 2 & 3 is off too so i'm back at work only on wednesday now. There's white-washing going on at home so i'll be busy moving things around at home and so I already have my hands full. I had planned to bring home the beagle pup from my uncle this weekend just for a week initially to see if I could manage to keep it but I think I won't be able to do this now..plus, i'm a bit feverish too today so I'm probably going to have a bad cold by tomorrow :(

And oh ya, my friend Sinu sent me an awesome saree..a traditional keralite saree in ivory with a maroon n gold border...looks cool ! How nice of him to think of me on the ocassion of Onam na? But he's a cool guy anyhow and an awesome photographer too..check out naturemagics.com n u will know what i'm talking about!

Acha toh hum chalte hain...phir wednesday ko milengi...i suspect my net connection at home is gng to expire one of these days too...! Cheers to Gandhiji n German Re-unification!

Sunday...

Sunday's here once more and on the lazy afternoon i'm wondering what contribution to make to my poor blog today which has not seen me around much lately...Well I have'nt really been upto much anyway. Work was a bit busy lately but it's been ok for the last 2-3 days and ive even made two new friends on the net! Both punjabi boys u know..one is this energetic, talkitive guy and the other's a more sober, philosophical guy, but they've been fun to talk to and m enjoying myself...lol!
Then ive been spending a bit of time with the trainee from abroad at office too, guiding her to good stores from where she can shop and check mark her shopping list !! We've also done a bit of shopping together n we got her a saree, some silver jewellery, hair accessories, jaipuri jootis, bangles, bindis and gorged on masala dosa too! oh and in the process I got myself a silk scarf and silver jewellery too. Too bad she's leaving this month end and won't be around till diwali.
And this reminds me, I wanna get a new suit for diwali and am also thinking of picking up a gold bracelet but this time with pretty precious stones...what say?!! Ofcourse there's a lot to be done at home too in terms of preparing for diwali!! Brother's comming home for diwali too...yippee!!
My uncle's built a new house too recently and tomorrow is the greh pravesh (house-warming) party..they plan to move in around diwali. I guess that's pretty much an overview of all that's happened recently...signing out!!

War paint!!

Hey! Like I promised....here's a snap of the gate as it look now after the fresh coat of paint! It's a golden brown shade..we did'nt do the deep red or maroon intended earlier as that looked too bright and reminded me of the paint they do on the gates of some temples! Well, I did'nt really save any money by doing it myself I think...as I bought fresh brushes, two tins of paint, dusting cloth, a primer, etc which the painter would have bought with him anyway I guess..infact, I spent 3 days on it cos first it needed scrubbing a bit to take off the rust which had started to appear at some places, then we had to clean the surface and apply a coat of primer and after that dried, we used two coats of paint!! Actually, I had first bought a litre of cherry red paint but when I did a bit of that, it looked way too bright so I changed my mind and bought a more sober looking "golden brown" ! So this is how it looks now...after three whole days spread over two weekends! Oh and my old pair of jeans graduated to being a working-jeans! Coupled with an old t-shirt and a scarf on my head I was prepared for the task!

I'm proud of my handiwork and it's definatly the largest thing I ever painted too...I can give any painter a run for his money now..lol! It might have taken a lot and is probably a once in a lifetime project but it gave me so much satisfaction n i'm sure it will last much longer than the coat of paint a painter would have splashed on it in a hurry without cleaning the gate and applying primer on it!

So what do u think? Yea, I know i'm kinda crazy...but I meant what do u think of my picasso?

And now if u wanna find me, u know which gate to knock..:)

Update..

Hieeee....I know I promised u a dekho of the spanking new gate but guess what, ever since i've made up my mind to paint it myself...it has not stopped raining !! Just one more week pls...then i'm surely gonna do it...trust me, i've even bought a big tin of cherry red paint for it and new brushes n all...!

The other news is that it was a colleague's b'day at office yesterday n we had a nice little pastry party at tea time...:) He's the kind of guy who's generally liked by people and is usually a genuine person except when he's a bit diplomatic...but yeh bhi ek ada hai! But he had sure had this awesome smile on his face all day yesterday which comes from knowing that people who matter to u love u and remember u on ur special day. That brings me back to the pasteries...4 out of 6 people wanted "something with less fat" when we wanted to make a note of who wanted which pastry...so fruit tart was settled on but unfortunatly the pastry shop did'nt concur and we had to settle for fresh fruit pastries instead ! Everyone's calorie concious now u know...someone's going for regular evening walks, another one's paid a dietician, then again someone has a "fruit-day" and as for ur's truly, I also have some plans....I will soon buy a pair of addidas, track suits, matching hair bands, water bottle, wet tissues, .....n then I will surely loose something, is'nt it?

Shut 'em out!

When we were younger, .....(notice the nostalgia at such a young age..ha ha) me n my brother used to have lots of friends around the colony and we would all gather in someone's house in the evening to play cricket or go cycle racing after school..it was'nt so crowded on the streets then n neither were there so many cars parked with their drivers perched on them...now the friends are no longer there as most families have sold their houses in the interest of larger bank balances and traded them for smaller apartments. The builders around have been quick to bring up 3-storied apartment blocks in place of the nice houses and the roads are now crowded with guards, servants, drivers and all their friends who just hand around chatting and peeping into the houses around!!! Eeeeks!
Imagine being stared at everytime u go out to receive a courier or greet a visitor or just to stroll? Even new entrants to the colony are so rude that they will pass by staring at u as if I was intruding in their personal space! How very ill-mannered! Well we decided to work on the problem & add some height to our existing gate and block some view to the house and the result is the additional 2 foot height that u can now see in the picture ...this was'nt so easy u know. Each one of us instantly turned into a designer and had very different ideas about how it should be done. Mom wanted to add a plastic sheet to it and Dad n me wanted to have an iron sheet about 3 feet high and various designs were mulled over and guess what, but the end of this exercise, which lasted about 2 weeks, mom n dad were so fed up that they just gave up n said "Oh just do something with it, we dont care what!" :)

So finally, the additional two feet of gate was put in place last weekend but the painter never turned up until yesterday...and guess what, that was me !! Actually, there was a power cut last evening when I reached home so I was outside as it was cool and decide to go ahead and just paint the gate myself...! I can paint u know..fabric paint, oil paint, water colours, done it all!! Dad helped too...I poured water on it n scrubbed it clean first n then waited for it to dry n then dad started with one portion of the gate n me at the other end !! And typical of him, he quietly sneeked away after he saw that I was engrossed in the work and left me to do the rest. :)

The reason y this is looking an untidy red right now is cos so far it's only had a coating of red primer which I think is reaclly zinc oxide...u do that on iron first cos it's anti-corrosive !! Have'nt decided about which colour I should finally use on the gate though...but wanna do it over the weekend n will show u my work on monday for sure...m all charged up !! You should have seen the looks on the faces of the guards n the rest of their clan !! Haha..that was fun !! I slept like a log last night ...

Next project--the iron grill on the terrace....maybe ;)

Bull Race,Kerela

For the uninitiated, there's more to this country than the rat race we deal with everyday...and I woke up to the fact too today when I received these pictures of the bull race held at a place near Adoor in Kerela...about 175 kms. from the backwaters in Alapuzzha, from a friend Sinu, who had been there on tuesday in the rain to capture the race in his camera !! And look what a great job he's done..I sooo.. wanna be there to watch the race next year !

Just look at the sheer energy involved and imagine the rush of the adrenaline it infuses in the crowds !!


These men look like having the strength of bulls themselves ...wow !

Hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as I did ....and that also reminds me that I must share with the pics I took on my trip to Kerela.... chao !

15Secs

The day so far in 15 seconds.....came in to work 10 minutes late, had a coffee I did'nt really want, checked emails..official and personal and replied to neither, exhausted my yahoo answers limit already, a friend cancelled an evening out today, feel like having a burger now and this blog is a result of complete booredom...and yes, I could'nt type all of this in 15 seconds !

Green Days

End of another rainy weekend and this one rained a bit of money too as I got the cheques for Rakhi already...!! Ofcourse I promptly did a bit of shopping and spent it all too. Once an uncle read my hand and said " U'll never lack money, but u won't be able to retain it too long either" Oh what the hell, as long as it keeps comming !! :)


Another thing I did was to try to landscape the lawns which seem so overgrown and messed up in this season..though I love the bright flowers around me !! I did'nt do too well there though ...I barely ever know what's growing in our lawns! It needs a neighbour to point out some pretty variety of flower growing in our lawns, like this purple flower in the pics here..it's called "Morning Glory" and for good reason too...cos when i woke up on saturday I noticed the lovely flowers but in the evening when I was on my way out, the flowers were all lying in the grass and I though 'what a pity they did'nt last too long, they looked really nice' , but Sunday morning there they were again blooming away exactly as earlier...mom then told me that they bloom in the day time only..!! So much for landscaping....but hey u remember Rans from my office? She can rattle off the names of plants easily and knows exactly when to grow which one and how to treat 'em right !! Well Happy Greens ! and Happy Friendship Day too....ah and today I reached level 3 at Yahoo! Answers...yahoooooo !!!!!!

Injurious to health..

Anyone else around here who's become addicted to any new site? I'm feeling almost addicted to Yahoo! Answers lately...m on level 2 n going on 3 already..that's 1000 points...yipee!! Anyone can guess what's my log in ID there? 10 points for the right answer are up for grabs.... ;)

Warning : Any person, living or dead, related to me in any way, specially Sinu and Sushmita, are barred from blurting out the ID ...got it?

I'm pretty sure you guys remember my ID even if you dnt remember your own IDs...it's a tendency to remember gory details about others and be tempted to reveal them rather than talk about one's own self! Oh wait a minute, what am I saying? I write a whole blog about me.. :( EEKS..



But talking about memory power, I was at a family function recently and they had made a small stage and arranged for a mike and speakers for music and people were being invited to sing ...well some sang well like my nephew, and some were horrible...but almost everyone sang old songs...strange !! Everyone suddenly suffers from short term memory loss when asked to sing ! Quick, think of a song to sing on stage surrounded by boored relatives.... ???.....???

Festive week!

Another weekend's here and it's been an interesting week ...saw 2 movies..'The killer', apparently a "copy" of Collateral...but it was a good one and both the lead actors Irfan and Imran Hashmi were very good and dialogues were strong, and 'Corporate' which I saw last night and which was a bit booring frankly. I think they failed to bring bout the element of drama and irony effectively enough. Bipasha did carry the look of a corporate girl nicely though.

It's been raining nicely here for the last 2-3 days and besides the discomfort of having to put the clothes to dry in the hallway and the staircase, the rains have been pretty much welcome !
Went to a Teej fair the day before too at Dilli Haat and everything was so nice and colourfully decorated with the row of stalls selling a variety of handicraft stuff and oh the stalls selling colourful lak bangles from rajasthan just looked divine ..! There was a food festival too with the traditional daal, bhati, churma in a rajasthani thali and the usual stuff like gol gappas, pao bhaji n all too..plus, there was a cultural program too with tradional dances being performed and the whole lot of cameramen could be seen shooting various events from different TV channels and asking people if they were enjoying themselves.....Teej was yesterday and they must have telecast that on TV yesterday though I did'nt get to see it..

Unfortunatly I was not carrying a camera and my cell too ran out of battery or I would have surely shared some colorful pics with u..but for now m only putting up pics of two things i picked up from there....one was a set of 3 men dressed in traditional outfits and paying various musical instruments like u can see here...it's actually made of clay I think, and colorfully painted ...everything about rajasthan is so colorful !! This I have kept in the front lawn of the house..perched on the wall.. Then there's this papermache key holder which has madhubani painting on it....we have madhubani paintings in the staircase and it will look cool with it. There were other very nice figures of turtles and cow, etc like this but mom did'nt let me buy any :( lack of space in the house to keep them u know...!! I guess i'll have to pick 'em up some other time! And guess wat, I also applied mehendi on my left palm and bought some nice bangles !! :) A good week in all i'd say.