Pirates and the Little Monster

"Pirates Of The Carribean - The Curse Of The Black Pearl", recommended as the perfect movie for a couple to watch together, reason, men love adventure, women love Johny Depp. Its a nice, 'worth a watch once' movie. But Watching it with a 5 month old naughty, baby girl is a different experience. First time, I watched it with my parents, was forced to watch it again last sunday by my sister, who desperatley wanted to, coz she had to return the DVD to the library the following day. Since the movie has out of this world soundtrack, my niece was hooked onto the images flickering on the idiot box. My sister tried avoiding this by holding her in the opposite direction, which made the cutie so angry she started to yell and scream! Entire 2 and odd hours she screamed and cried. My sister put her on my lap as I wasnt very interested. She tried desperately to follow the dialogues, coz if you dont, you wont understand what's the whole deal about the adventure. She kept asking me what did this guy say, what did that girl say, hellooo...How am I supposed to remember the lines? Its not a bollywood superstar delivering them! All this time my niece is trying to be a trapeze artist slipping frm my arms. My sis fed her, tried to keep her quiet, but all in vain! By the end of the movie, which my sister would have wished all the characters die and go to hell, as she was dead tired, we lay there on the couches, exhausted, TV on and the little monster giggling.

Desperate Measures

Few days back I was having dinner alone at a small eating joint closeby to my house. Though my mouth ulcers were screaming with pain I was slurping away rice and hot rasam. Just then a man walked in and sat in a table next to mine. His personality was that of a businessman. He started to stare. At first I was uncomfortable for a while, then I ignored him and continued to enjoy my Thali. He took out his cell phone and dialled. I doubt that he was talking to anybody at all. He started talking to some "SIR" in Hindi. Excerpts from the "conversation":

"Why dont you stay at my place? Its a big home! You dont have to spend so much on hotel bills sir"
"Oh common! Mine is a 3 bedroom house and you know I dont have a wife! I dont even have a girlfriend" Ok now he is giving details.
"Hey! Its in Koramangala, very close to Forum, I watch movies every weekend" long pause...stare..."alone" shucks!! this is too much!
"No no, you dont need to book a taxi, You can use my Ikon, cause I often use my Octavia....hey I sold my accent and planning to buy any new model" yeah, what about your Ferrari?!
"Business is doing so good! Just now I decided to export!" To timbuktu?
All this time I am trying not to listen but he is screaming at top of his voice. The rest of the crowd too was looking at this guy, some even stopped eating.
"What will I do with my MBA degree? First class is of no use" Then he yelled out his percentage which I dont remember.
The waiter approaches, he asks about the items available. Then the guy has a problem with everything, "oh! thats oily" "oh! I cant eat so much" "No way!It wont be good to eat" "Sir, I always avoid such cheap places, but today I am in a hurry" " Glass is not clean, water is not completely clear" If only I could shout GET A LIFE!!
I just couldnt take it anymore. I quickly finished my dinner, payed and I left uttering something in hindi which meant "people can fall to any level to get noticed" I dont remember what exactly I said, but I hope I was grammatically correct. I believe he heard me, coz his conversation with the SIR ended abruptly.

My mobile phone is a very loyal friend of mine, though I sometimes consider it as a nuisance. A kind of a friend you cant live with nor can you live without. I might be way too careless in handling this thing and I have dropped it numerous times. Call me butterfingers but it just slips from my palm! Its a sleek and small handset and lots of times when I have tried to grab it in a hurry or just pick it up casually, I have manhandled it. It withstood the torture for months with minor scratches but two weeks ago, the umpteenth time, it said enough is enough and went on a strike. It just refused to ring and alert me when I get a call or a message. Since it was still under warranty, I thought of getting it repaired using it. I know warranty does not cover such accidents but just wanted to give it a shot. But the repair kept on postponing, I needed my phone to be with me all the time, as I was expecting important calls. Few days later I was trying on a PEPE JEANS which was on sale ( I dont recommend to even to take a look at this sale) and my phone slipped from my trouser's pocket and fell down hard. I was glad it was still in one piece. Few minutes later my sister called me and it rang!! I couldnt believe it! I was laughing like a mad person while other shoppers and my friends watched in bewilderment. This reminded me of Bollywood movies where a person, who loses his memory after a bump on his head, gets it back after another.

Me Tagged Too..

I have been book tagged, not a good idea to tag me coz I am not a voracious reader. I dont know how this works. Do we get the freedom to choose our questions too? Well I'll do this the way I want to.

Number of books owned: I have no idea, and I am lazy to count. Probably around 10 novels, lots of technical books, I just had this stupid notion that owning them would give me an intelligent flair, around 50 comic books. About 30 borrowed.
Book I love to read regularly: Reader's Digest [ok, its a magazine]
Favourite book: Calvin and Hobbes, The days are just packed [Thanks again for the person who gifted this ]
Current read: Fountainhead by Ayn Rand [when will I finish this!!]
Best read: The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck, Kane and Abel by Jeffery Archer.
Worst read: Abduction by Robin Cook [I will never read his books again]
Book I will never finish : The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari [ sorry pal, this was your only bad suggestion ]
Book I almost died to finish reading: Angels And Deamons by Dan Brown [ everything is exaggerated ]
Book I enjoyed reading every page: 5 Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat [ though I doubt its his story in IIT ]
Book that I bought long ago but is still good as new: Data Structures in C and C++ by Tenenbaum [sorry if there is a spell mistake in the name]
Best possession : Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Best movie inspired from a book: Gone With The Wind, again
Books I have avoided: The entire Mills and Boons series [Yes, I am still a Piscean]
Book that I treasure the most: My college note book in which all my friends drew pictures and signed them.
Favorite comic books: Calvin and Hobbes, Archies comics, Asterix, Chandamama [I dont know if this book is still in circulation]
Okay I am done here, have to get back to work. It is killing me!

Oh wait...I tag these people

Cinnamon
Sattu
Sanju
Pooja
Krish

Have You Ever...?

Let your hair loose and let it fly in the cool breeze, and smiled when
the strands hit your face
Waved to a stranger's kid and watch it wave back to you and giggle
Ate ice cream as soon as you were out of the bed
Danced in the rain and smiled back at the people who were watching you in amusement
Gone home after a long time and parents hugged and kissed and said how much they missed you
Held a naked baby in your arms and watched it fall asleep
Trusted your friend so deep that you believe every word the person says
Watched the moonless night sky when the entire town had a blackout
Imagined your favorite song being played in your head over and over again
Came home cold and tired and someone offered you a hot mug of coffee
Watched a full moon rising like a big orange candy
Made someone laugh and just sat looking at the person's pretty laughter
While cleaning up the wardrobe, you found your 6th grade class photo and your first crush smiles back at you
Visited your old school and stood in the playground and imagined your school days and the dreams you had
Tried flying a kite on your office terrace and not be embarrassed that your attempts are failing
Thought about a long lost friend the whole day and the very next day she drops a mail in your inbox

Closure

The teacher pulled up his fat glasses over his broad nose and called out her name, and he made it sound so sweet.The girl with plump cheeks and fair skin stood up and as she walked she smirked and looked at me, but just for two seconds as she moved on and faked a surprise look, though she was sure she stood first in the class. She was the favorite, she was the sweet-heart and she was popular. I never craved to be like her, I was happy and content, but
it was she who always compared herself to me, maybe she was insecure. She would work hard to score higher, she would do anything to please the instructor to get the lead role in the dance performance. I just gave her competition and watched in amusement.Yes, I was evil, but didnt mean to be malevolent. Her attempt to make me feel inferior and her failure to do so, amused me even more. She is related to me [ and no, I dont want to trace the family tree] and was considered better than me by grannies, aunties and mamas. It was a blessing in disguise for me, cause there were no expectations from me. After school we went our seperate ways. She struggled to finish her graduation, while I maintained my average scores, graduated and got a decent job. One of these best days of my life I met her, recently. She is now lean and looked tired. She is married to a man born more than a decade before us, who was chosen by her parents. She asked what am I doing these days. The smirk was now just a lazy smile.I didnt gratify my evil self, instead shook her hand, gave her warm wishes, tasted the ice cream she offered and left after the exchange of goodbyes. I think we both closed this chapter.

I Am Watching You

I have always felt sorry for celebrities and people who are in news cause they are constantly watched and every action of theirs is scrutinized to minute detail. But now I can empathise with them. Not that I am popular but I am being watched and monitored all the time. It might be the consequence of knowing lot of people, maybe my life seems interesting for some or maybe because of this blog. Yes, I have left lot of personal information in this blog before, but my intention was only to write what I feel like. I am trying to curb that practice, thanks to few near and dear ones. Now I'll have to think twice before writing a post here or hang out with a friend. I have to guard my cell phone all the time cause anytime it can go into someone's hand and in an instance its menu->messages->inbox!! and a loud "aahh!!" followed by "who is this? " and a tussle as I try to grab it back. My parents are no less too. My open minded and liberal mom has changed completely, thanks to so called "concerned" aunt. Now not only do I have to report my status to my manager, every night I report where I am, whom I'm with, to my mom. In office, there are curious eyes watching what I do, even as I type this. I used to lose my temper on my friend who used to ask me very personal questions. Every person has the right to his/her personal space where no one can intrude, not even their life partners, but I guess the term 'privacy' is losing its meaning.

Musings

I see a rickshaw emitting a thick exhaust smoke, flaunting a sign "Dont Pollute the Air" yeah, like saying "leave that work to me". Jerk!This is heights of absurdity!and I think of these..

Height of rip off: 8 candies in Sweet World at Forum cost 68 rupees!
Height of torturing employees: More than 2 meetings per day. Even worse, scheduling a meeting to discuss what to be discussed in the next meeting.
Height of irritation: When 3 people come into my cubicle, and chat aloud with another team mate, in a language that cant be understood.
Height of absent-mindedness: My Brother-in-Law walks past me, looks at me, but I failed to even recognise him!
Height of stupidity: Wearing my favorite white dress even if aware that its going to rain that evening.
Height of Laziness: So lazy to cook even if hungry, that I rather eat an apple and go to bed.
Height of happiness: could I be anymore happier than what I am now?
Height of mixed feelings: Mrs.Indira giving me a big bar of chocolate.
Height of smartness: Caught daydreaming in a meeting yet again, but this time I said "I was pondering over the points you put forth,I think..blah blah"
Height of expectation: Expecting a treat from this friend of mine.
Height of gluttony: Ate so much of home cooked food, another bite would have ripped my stomach apart.
Height of addiction: One whole day without chocolate made me depressed enough to kill myself.

Daydreaming Again

I have always been a daydreamer. Yes, while sitting,standing,talking, any time of the day I start dreaming or just think something else and I get so engrossed that I completely forget whats around me. And these are not any princess dreams, but just recollecting what happened before or thinking about what might happen if I do such and such a thing. But tuesday's experience left me embrassed and the rest amused. In the status meeting, there was a discussion on some technical issue which wasn't related to my project and wasn't interesting. And me, well I was wondering will I ever make it as a good manager. Will the employees listen to me? Having a bad temper, what if I punched people who didnt listen?! Then my attention shifted to a tree I could see through the window, wondering how old the tree might be, what if I lived that long and I had to stand in the same place for life!! And then my manager called my name. Before I could realize what was happening he shot a question at me, "what is your opinion on this? ".I shook my head and said I agree with T. Everyone looked at me in bewilderment. Then my manager calmly said "T has not given his opinion yet". All I had left to say was sorry and looked at the slide on the projected screen, commented something stupid and continued taking minutes. The end of the day, I had the most embrassing moment in recent times.

Our Place

Finally I found a place to hangout, my favourite place in Bangalore! I have one in my home town where I always love to spend time with my friends or my sister and the pizzas are delicious. I only order one variety of dessert each time and the guy knows it even before I order it. And there is this big board where we can write anything under the sun. Now in this city, I am home again. I love this place. It has a little playground in front and cute kids come here to play.The chuckles and giggles on the swing, their attempts to not fall at the end of the slide, the happy faces on the merry-go-round...its heaven. I love watching the babies lick ice creams. And while I sat on the swing, for hours having a nice conversation, I fell in love.
I will not reveal the name and location. Its just named "our place".

Hmm...

The need to have something, so bad that you hope, cry and pray every night. You keep waiting for it, anxious every time you think about it. You are desperate but cant do anything about it. You start living with the fact its not happening but still wishing. And, out of the blue, when you have given up, its there, right in front of your face and you realise that, you have moved on.

Conversation Overheard

She sits in the scorching heat, using her hand to shield the glaring sun to look away. He stands there looking at her with vehement emotions and
says "I have never been so serious in my life, I love you, and I want this to work out".
She says "I need something to drink".
He says "Diet coke?".
She nods.

I Will

I left office yesterday evening and instead of walking back to my appartment I just kept on walking for about an hour and made a mental note of few dos and donts and things I ought to remember all time. What better way then put them in my personal space!

The list:
- I will cut down my caffeine intake to half.
- I will stop biting my finger nails.
- I am going to start my morning walk again.
- I will ask someone to get lost from my life for good.
- I will not let my team mates treat me like just another pretty face with no brains.They better start recognising my contribution. Have already taken the first step.
- I must ask him where are we heading in this relationship.
- I will control my temper, try to think once before making a rude remark.
- I will learn to say NO and I'm not going to tolerate any non-sense.
- I will not kill Mrs.Indira, but I will find a new place to live.
- I hate to work as a software engineer, and I wont hide the fact anymore, but I will do my job earnestly.
- I am not fat. And people who think I am can just go to hell.
- I am not going to exhibit myself in front of losers, so that they offer me a marriage proposal.I wont get my snaps taken too.
- I am loved by so many people, I will never complain that my life sucks.
- I wont pretend anymore I like Chinese food.
- I aint stopping doing things that make me happy and will do everything my way.
- I will take up the course that I've been planning to do for years.
- I wont think about the past nor will I plan my future.
- I will not give up chocolates, no matter what my friends, family or my doctor say.

And it rained again while I walked back :)

She..

She is a good girl, introvert and shy. Never had close friends since childhood, her only solace was in her little sister who she loves like her own child. She found a best friend in her and would do anything to see the younger sibling happy. Been ridiculed by kids in school, scars still remain. She found comfort in her mother's unconditional love. Being the first born, the young shoulders bore heavy responsibilties. She matured well ahead of her age. She begs to be indifferent to fashion but she does enough justice to her aristocratic looks. She grew to be cute damsel, with butter skin and sweetest smile. She looked at the world with her big black innocent eyes. A prince cought her eye and she fell in love. For years he gifted her dreams and she lived in a beautiful bubble which burst and broke her down. She still lives with the old scars but has a strong will to live through all that she has endured. There is another man in her life now, but she isnt loved the way she deserves to be. He doesnt know how precious she is to her family. She cries silent tears and says her newborn is her world now and has no time to think of anything else. She screams and cries for vengeance, few minutes slip by and she is ready to forgive. She has love in abundance but her man doesnt care enough.Its a shame that the world doesnt appreciate a beautiful human being like her. Wish she could be more like me, give back what you get, but then deep inside, I long to be like her.

Being Single

I read a very interesting article in Deccan Herald's Living supplement. It was an article about single men and women. Not only did it have stories about single youth but also about people who are living for years, all alone. There was one interesting line that a doctor said. She said "when you are living alone, you cant afford to fall ill". She was speaking for me. This whole week I was ill, still am, which explains my dry days in this blog, and also that my blogshares have dropped 1000 points!! Coming back to the point, I took leave for a day and a half. I couldnt sit in the AC room for long and felt very tired. But when I was in my room, I was bored to the maximum. With just a radio and a novel, fiction has never been my favorite, I was looking for things to pass time. Called few friends of mine. But got lot of time to think about what I plan to do, how to manage relationships, how to say NO in the most polite way. Maybe that should be my next buy, a book on 'Learn how to say NO'. Why am I wandering from what I am supposed to write?!

Well, the fact is, no matter how much we singles enjoy the freedom of being our own boss, doing things on our terms and no one to share the bathrooms! Had to mention that, there is the inevitable loneliness. Never felt so alone before. Now I'm sick, and have nobody to take care of me, well not entirely true, a very sweet friend is helping me in all the possible ways he can. The downpart is washing and cleaning even though I'm tired and my whole body aches, preparing my own meal (really missed my family this week. Gosh! I used to be so pampered when I fell ill).

But its a very good experience to live alone. I got plenty of time to spend with myself and learn lot of things which I wouldnt have known otherwise. But there are occasional raised eyebrows, questions about why a young girl is still single and doubts about the orientation which I have to deal with.

Once In a Lifetime

The date! Its supposed to be historical. 05/05/05 comes once in a lifetime. My mailbox is being flooded with many of these crap mails. I dont think its a big deal though..hmm..So what are the things that comes *only* once in a lifetime for everybody?

First love ( ah! I know that is very first thing any one would say)
First kiss ( I mean the first of all first ones )
Losing virginity
First performance
Marriage, for some
Childhood (Wish I never grew up, maybe I havent! )
High School (The best days of my life)
First pay (Oh! how I loved it when I spent it all )
The chance to let someone you love, know how you feel.


I cant think of any more right now. I'm just too happy and pre-occupied!
And it rained yesterday, exactly the time I left office. The heavens poured on
me as I walked and I did a little jiggy dance, which few people at Java City
watched. But who cares!

I Walked Another Mile

I hold back a tear and fake a smile
But you see my pain right through it all
You said that you love me so deep, yet
Why do I hesitate to take the fall.

No one knows me like you do
Wouldnt let me cry even for a while
I fear to tread this path unknown, but
Everytime we talk I walk another mile.

Deepthi

Mrs. Indira says...

Its a real challenge to live with old people. It is a different story if the person is your grandparent, but if he/she is your landlord, you would think atleast once of committing a murder or suicide. My landlady Mrs. Indira is around 75 years old, quite fit for her age, and full of energy to irritate me.
Here is the list of things she says or do that annoys me.
She spends her entire day at the Bangalore Club, playing Poker or Tambola, boozing, and she expects me to be back every night before 9 PM.
Repeats the same thing over and over again, every time I return, "switch of the light, tighten the tap, close the door properly,..."
Every time I iron my clothes, "Dont forget to switch off the iron, if it gets too heated, it might blast and bring down the entire apartment building", really? A small iron box! how??
"No cooking after 8 in the night, the cockroaches from outside the apartment will get the smell and will come inside" Didnt know they are nocturnal.
"Do you use the water heater?" before I could ask her if she going to stop me from using it, she said "good, you know otherwise the water will go stale if not used for long, and when switched on after a long time, it might blast", I think she watches a lot of Bollywood movies.
When I'm all set to leave for office, she thrusts a mop stick into my hand and asks me mop to the bathroom!
She has to open up her album, the exact time when I'm late for something and show me the same damn photos everytime without sparing me the story of her journey from riches to rags. "You have to be thankful to our ancestors[Madrasi Tamilians, I guess]that youngsters like you have the right to speak in English.They fought with Muslim leaders,who wanted to make Urdu-Hindi the official language of India and get rid of English". I dont know what her ancestors did, but didnt do a good job putting some sense into her.
I would just go on complaining but its better I stop it here.Its really surprising that though I am short tempered I always try my best to be nice to her, She is afterall a senior citizen, and living all by herself too.

Gray Is The New Color

Yesterday being a sunday, had planned to get up late.But my land lady had to wake me up early with her weird questions. So grumbling I started with my routine work. while getting ready, I faced the mirror and what followed was not a pleasant situation. Of course the big nose and the messy hair has always been a problem but what I stared at now was what I never expected. There! in the rays of the rising sun, glistened a single long strand of gray hair!! At first I thought I saw my streaked strand of hair.But this was of a different color. It was a shock. At first I consoled myself saying this is the result of all the treatments done to my hair, but is it because of the age? I'm only 23 I screamed! My land lady knocked on my door and gave me a strange look. I looked at her hair, all white, without any trace of black, damn!

My mother asked me not to worry about it, else it will multiply! Is there any scientific proof for this? Few people believe that tension causes gray hair. Got to do some research on this. Resisted plucking it out, advice from my sister. What if I get more? Coloring is an option, but this is a sad situation. I had pictured myself with gray hair when I'm in my late forties, taking care of my family with children in college. If my father finds out he will have only one advice to give,
get married soon. damn!

Wanting to be lead again to the place where dreams came true
The sweet sight of roses and droplets of honey dew
Roses have withered but the fragrance still lingers
My mind still resounded by your sweet whispers

Days have gone by, dont see you anymore
No regrets no memories that are sore
While dreams of you I see
Dream a little dream of me