Aaja Nachle

Saw ‘Aaja Nachle’ this weekend. I had been eagerly waiting for the release of the movie since the time I first saw the teaser some 6 months back. I was in US and we had gone to a nearby town to watch the hindi movie ‘Eklavya’. Seeing Madhuri Dixit dance to the beats of ‘aaja nachle’ (the title track of the movie – though at that time it was just the music playing as the songs had not released yet), I got pretty excited and started looking forward to the movie. So the moment I heard the film has released, I was waiting to see it. Didn’t get chance at the first weekend (thanks to yet another exam that I had to give). I didn’t want to read the reviews of this movie. It has happened since quite some time when ghastly movies have been praised like anything and good ones have been blasted left, right and centre. But even after intentionally avoiding reading the review column of the newspaper, I heard bits and pieces of it…. from friends, colleagues, and all who have either seen the movie or as in most cases, read the reviews.

Being a HUGE madhuri fan, I went to watch the movie with as unbiased and open mind as I could. So when the lights went dim and the movie started rolling in, I waited in anticipation for madhuri to dazzle the screen as she always does. I actually felt goose pimples on my hands when her name floated across the screen. And then she sizzled on screen urging us to dance with her. I do agree that I was a bit disappointed with the start.. somehow madhuri should have got a better entry than that for sure and the director fell short here. And then we all saw the same madhuri back on screen. It was like she has never been away. I am not sure how she felt coming back in front of the camera 2 kids hence.

The movie did start off fine. And even though she looked a bit old (something the makeup man/camera man should have handled better) , you can not help but admire her acting skills. She was so convincing in even the younger role in the flashback with her expressions, her naughtiness, her innocence in that part. This set the up pace for the entire movie. I enjoyed the movie immensely. Yeah on hindsight the story or shall I say the handling of the story could have been better, the movie seemed a bit unrealistic to me. Especially in the way the ‘choudhary’ sahab first fires up then gets cajoled by madhuri’s expert.. shall I say.. manipulation.. ;-). And then later betrays her before having a change of heart again towards the end. Also the character played by Irfaan Khan - such a talented actor - was so loose. Same goes for Divya Dutta’s character.. ok so I understand that she was always a weak gal but I was not able to understand what earth shattering situation arose that gave her so much strength later.

There are some similar idiotic instances in the movie. But what matters is madhuri was her usual self. She still dances beautifully, smiles even more beautifully and acts as good as she did earlier if not better. Arre she also was humorous enough to laugh at herself.. In that scene, when she plans to get her highly accented ‘dancers’ from NY and stage a show in her town and gets a reply with stress on an equally accented ‘dancers’.:-) The various other characters in the movie were also good, played with finesse by really good actors. Though again some characters were not that well formed. Also madhuri could have been given a stronger role. Somehow it seemed that the role didn’t do her justice.. it didn’t make her do anything stronger or different. That role could have been played by anyone and so easily by madhuri. It was so undemanding that it didn’t require a certain “Madhuri Dixit” in it. She should have got a chance to display her superb acting skills too along with her not-to-mention dancing skills. That’s where it fails in the expectations of so many madhuri fans. The film was too easy for her and unable to meet the expectations of her comeback movie. :-(

Even though it could have been much better, overall the movie was a good experience. Her fans saw madhuri dancing as only she can to the beats of ‘Aaja Nachle’ :-D. We saw madhuri on screen after a long break of 5-6 years. Hope our wait will be shorter the next time around. Go ahead and enjoy ‘Aaja Nachle’ and do temper down your expectations though and also don’t listen to too much of the negative comments in Media (Print/TV). I don’t know what they are using a basis as when rating movies.

PS: Another incentive, Akshya Khanna. He plays a good role in the movie and he is so sweet and charming – you can’t help liking him. With his enigmatic and suave personality, he will charm his way into your system. ;-)

More about me, me and ofcourse me..

The change in me

I have always been the kind of person who hates changes. I get so comfortable and used to everything (people, places, my work space, things.. anything), that I resist change up till the last moment I can. Oh you should see how get used to a good watch, or a shoe or a t-shirt.. I keep using it till my friends and ppl around me start commenting that maybe that’s the only piece I have.. :). My friends keep rigging me up and literally force me to move onto something else just for a .. u guessed it.. change.
Even though I am a lazy gal who simply detests changes, once a situation has actually changed, I adapt myself to it pretty fast. It takes me very little time to dig in, find a comfortable place, dig deeper and then mount myself there. :) I sit tight till the next change makes me move out of the comfort zone.

All that being said, you can imagine how difficult it would be for me to try to deliberately change myself. I have always given more than 100% to my work. Worked to the best of my abilities, gone beyond my comfort zone, worried sick about the status of a project or its deliverable, I have even had sleepless nights because of it. My project caters to a major US financial institution. Due to the time zone difference, the entire evening is spent on project meetings, tele-conferences, etc which continue till late at night. These meetings generally result in action items which are worked on during the morning half. So during a normal weekday you can’t even think of having an hour or a minute for yourself. On my way back from office, I used to ponder on one or other project issue. After reaching home and having my dinner, I would again call up my onsite counterpart for updates. It was not the working hours that were hectic; it was the constant strict deadline. Whatever the phase, the work is always demanding and since I am very good in worrying and taking tension, I had my work cut out for me.

This was my normal working day until I reached Onsite. During my Onsite stint, the pressure was more but at least I was back home by 8pm max. Very rarely did I have to stay late in office. Even then the habit of “worrying” was always with me. Then one day, a very good friend of mine - ‘P’ - suggested that I stop thinking so much about my work. I should do my best at work, think about solutions/innovations, etc but when things are not under my control, I should not start worrying either. After all - it’s work, not my life. He hammered the fact in till it entered my brain and was lodged there. Since then I have deliberately trained myself not to worry too much. It’s not going to solve anything anyways. I should do my best and when I can not do anything else, I should not worry either.

Now that I am back in India, looks like this training is bearing fruit. I still have work till late at night, onsite calls after reaching home & I still worry about the work but there is moderation to my "worrying" now. Whenever I start worrying about “what will happen now?”, I think about the situation & try to search for a solution. If I get it, well and good. But if I find that there is nothing that I can do about it at that moment, I just push back my "worry" saying “I anyways can’t do anything now, lets take it up once I reach office tomorrow morning”. As Scarlett so often said in GWTW – ‘After all tomorrow is another day’. And I will tell you, this has made life simpler. Unnecessary worries are a big headache. Thank you Popatlal!! ;-p

The "Loving" yours truly.. ;-)

From the kind of topics ( aka quizzes) I am blogging on, there are 2 inferences you can surely draw..
1. I am in the mood to hear good things about myself.. as Richard Gere would say - in need of a major "suck up" ;-)
2. I am too busy ( read LAZY) to think and actually write about something (although I have tonnes of things I could write on.. as an fyi, I just landed back in India.. back to Home-Sweet-Home.. )

What's Your Best Quality? Your Result: Loving Your best quality is loving! People like you because of your loving nature. You are a nice person that cares about others. Your loving nature makes you a good friend.

What's Your Best Quality?

Super (wo)man!!

"You are mild-mannered, good,strong and you love to help others."

Took this small time pass quiz.. Me.. super(wo)man.. ;-). Though I do like batman more.. but than you are what you are.. :D

Wanna know which superhero you are?? Here's the link -> Superhero Quiz

Behind the steering wheel

I decided to dedicate my next blog to all the varied and ahem, wonderful experiences that I have been having while driving my car.

• I have driven in the slow and relatively empty traffic of Greensboro as well as the hustle and bustle of New Jersey.


• I have become so infamous for driving fast, my colleagues here don't miss any chance they get to tease me around that.


• Drove at 100mph as well as 10mph (believe it or not both were on the same driving trip)


• Got ticketed for speeding.. and I was so above the speed limit, I had no excuse but to graciously accept the ticket. It didn't matter that speed limit being so low, everyone was above it.. I just happened to be the topper.


• And just when I am getting ready to fly back to India, I got a notice from DMV. My license is gonna be suspended for 6 months and that is for the ticket I got earlier. One speeding ticket and some 180 bucks of fine later, my license was getting suspended. Sooooo not fair!!!! :-( I have requested for a preliminary hearing to try my luck and get the suspension reduced or waived. But with my luck moving in the direction it is now - southwards, not sure if it is going to serve any purpose. But at least, I will be able to drive till it's time to fly back.
  

Speaking about driving, here's a pic of my car..

My black beauty :D

PS: And now I have to sell it off. :-( I am gonna miss her and the independence that driving it gave. I just looove driving. I used to drive a black TVS scooty (another black beauty) during my engg days and have many happy memories of it. Just like the Elantra above.

Mind speak Vs Mind games

I will never understand why people don't say what's on their mind. Why all the hiding? Is it fear - fear that the other person will do something you don't expect. Something which can ruin your plans for yourself and the world around you. I can understand holding your tongue in check and not lashing out loud when you are trying to protect someone. Also it's better to keep your mouth shut before judging someone, you might turn out to be the one having delusions. Trying to avoid a conflict is also something I can live with (though there are cases where getting things out in open & clearing the air is much better than keeping mum and sulking about it).

Once I moved out of the house and started my work life in Bangalore, I have faced a dilemma. Should I keep my thoughts to myself, think more before I speak out, especially in my professional life. Is it good to be so frank with my peers? I am not talking about hiding something or even lying but being more 'professional'. One of my friend had once told me, 'you should not be too open, your seniors/peers will know how to manipulate you'. When I first heard it, I thought it to be too extreme. But maybe my friend does have the right idea. Maybe sometimes its better to keep your thoughts to yourself. I am sure that my colleagues have a pretty fair idea of what my thoughts are in a given situation.I agree that there have been situations wherein I have done things that I would have liked to avoid. Got irritated coz of something and though I may not have told anything, everyone near me can make out that I am irritated. Said yes to a work assigned by my PM, when I am already flooded & would have liked to say no. But than this is something you can not avoid being in IT field. Deadlines are always unrealistic and work is always just a tad more. Small lies and sacrifices are part of our life and I take it with a pinch of salt. But they should be as less and as true as they can be.

It has happened to me so many times when I have said/requested something and got a hedging response from the other side. I generally have opinions on almost everything - don't know if it's good or bad but I do have it. Given a situation my friends know what my feelings are. Till now, I have never had any major problems because of it. With friends/family, if there comes a situation where-in I am uncomfortable, I tell it to them. Such situations are rare, since they already know about it without my telling. And I am blessed with friends who are understanding beyond expectations. (Thanks for being such gr8 friends.. Miss you all.. hey I am coming back to India soon.. so cyaaaaaaa :-).. though some friends will be left behind here.. :-(.. )

Off late I have started growing increasingly uncomfortable sensing all the planning and politics and stalling that generally takes place. And when I talk about speaking your mind, I am not talking about truth or lie, it's about having an honest conversation with your peers, subordinates and seniors, especially on issues that involve them. Management will always have some excuse for all the decisions made. I agree that this decisions maybe for the overall growth of the project/account,etc. But does this and your personal growth have to be mutually exclusive. Can't they go hand on hand. Do we really don't get anything without first fighting for it? And this is when my professional life has just started. I am still very near the bottom rung of the corporate ladder and I feel dizzy. Can't even imagine what must be going on at the top. Games people play!! Sigh!!

Picture Blog

Here's a link to a new blog that I have created.. <Picture Blog>

This is exlcusivley to share some of the pics that I capture though my lens. Hopefully it will be easier for me to publish regular posts here.. ;-)

Here are 10 Things..

..(in no particular order) which seem to test my patience or to be more precise, prove the absence of it.

• My low tolerance with a select few people & they are very few.... I think I give pretty enough room to everyone. But there are a few people I just can't seem to get along with. Guess you can blame it on bad vibes. Oh, I try so hard but my body-language just gives me away!! I am very bad in hiding my feelings. Everyone around me knows what my current mood is.. I make sure that they do.. ;-) Anyways I still have to pretend to 'not dislike' them, even though I know that they know :-(
• Those 'well-intentioned' relatives who just can't seem to think of anything else but you & your family's happiness. But in reality are always jealous with your happiness.
  
• People who oppose you just for the heck of it. Especially the stubborn ones who won't even listen to what the other person has to say.
• Arranged marriages where the girl is expected to be beautiful, intelligent, smart, educated, a great cook, an obedient daughter-in-law, a perfect home-maker with a good career, an ideal wife & to top it all bring in loads of dowry!!
• People who are always bragging about something or the other. I know some who are 'pro' in this.
  
• People who get bored in their own company. They get bored too easily and in the process bore others too. It takes a huge effort to stay away from their boredom, even if you are someone whoz pretty excited yourself most of the times.
  
• People who are always late for meetings, appointments - formal or informal. Hey do whatever you want with your own time but please do respect others.
• COLD!! And not the weather 'cold' but the sickness 'cold'. Oh it has been a constant companion of mine as long as I can remember.
• Movies which try to justify extra martial affairs. Sorry guys.. i can't understand that.. like in 'The English Patient', the love between the lead pair may have been great but i couldn't understand the heroine cheating on her husband.. why was she not happy?? It wasn't as if he didn't love her. How can one love be great and another trivial?
• My wonderfully "choosy'n'forgetful" memory - some things I can't forget and some things I just can't seem to remember. And there's no pattern in there. Just random.
  

You know, thinking about these 10 things was so difficult.. it nearly tested my patience.. I was about to leave it in between.. but then I guess I am patient enough.. ;-)

Trip to NY/ Niagara - First things first

I went on a trip to New York and Niagara falls on this memorial day weekend (May25-May28). A very eventful and fun trip with loads of 'first-time' things happening to me. As usual I noted then down :-) Whenever I experience something for the first time, I remember an ad I saw when I was still in school. At that time, we used to get "The Telegraph" newspaper at our home. If I remember correctly, the ad I am referring to was for 'Emirates Airlines'. The tag line for the ad was 'When was the last time you did something for the first time? Keep discovering.' Profound, ain't it? ;-D

A few details about my trip - I started from my place at around 7 in the evening, reached NY by 9.30. (FYI - the night-view of NY skyline when the plane's landing is brilliant, saw a big baseball stadium too - it was glowing - prashant mentioned it must be the 'Mets'). Anjali & Prashant had come to pick me up from the airport, so we went straight to their place. They live in a beautiful apartment in an equally beautiful area, Newport. It has spectacular river-side view. Here's a picture I took from their apartment complex.

(Manhattan skyline reflected on Hudson river)

Harish arrived from Phoenix later that night. And 4 of us started our trip. A trip which had a few first-time-things (some of these were also in my "To-do" list)

1. Visited Niagara falls - It's just beautiful. Specially at night - with fireworks, coloured beams of light illuminating the falls and the beautiful Canadian skyline in the backdrop.

2. Times square, NY - I had such a nice time in times square. We were there from about 8.30pm to 2.30am. The place was sparkling owing to the big, huge and bright billboards at display there. Went to Hershey's, Toys'R'Us, saw the famous NASDAQ bill board, Broadway (legally blonde was playing there, couldn't even try to see, no time.. ),.. got a sketch done (had to sit still for about 30 min.. I can tell u its VERY difficult and even after trying I was not still for a moment - the poor guy who had to sketch me.. :D ). Even we started back for home, we still had loads of energy left to continue. The fact that we had to start for Niagara early in the morning next day was the only constraint.

3. Visited statue of liberty - couldn't go near the top - it's not allowed now a days.

4. Started a new collection - I went to the gift shops on all the places that I went, statue of liberty, empire state building & Niagara falls. Have started collecting beautiful souvenir glasses. Something similar to shot glasses.

5. Empire State Building - The view of NY from the observation deck at 86th floor is amazing. One of my first thoughts on seeing ESB was King Kong. :D. The lift in the ESB is awesome - we ascended/descended "80 floors" in just under a minute.

6. Drove at 100mph - Yes finally I touched 100 mph. We drove from NY to Niagara in an SUV (Nissan-Pathfinder). I LOOOOVE driving. :-)

7. Got a speeding ticket - The fact that I was driving at such a speed and in a big vehicle, no one - with the exception of me - was surprised that I got ticket :-(

8. Saw traffic Jam - Hey b'lore is not the only place having huge traffic jams. While coming back from Niagara to NY, we were literally crawling on the interstate. For about an hour or so, we saw vehicles jam packed on the road as far as we could see. Another thing, traffic in NY is BAD.

9. Eat in a diner - while coming back from Niagara, we had lunch in a diner. Very limited vegetarian choices but the preparations were good.

10. Saw the famous Yellow NY taxis - There are loads of taxis in NY. They looked very cute - especially when seen from the observation deck at ESB. One of the famous modes of transportation here apart from the buses and railway/subway.

11. Punjabi Dhabas in Niagara - I was quite surprised to fund so many punjabi dhabas in Niagara. No surprise considering the fact that about 80-85% toursits seemed to be indians. :-)

(A pic taken from the deck near the top of Niagara - American falls on the left and Horse-shoe falls on the right)

Dreams

“But I, being poor, have only my dreams.

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams.”

- Lines from a beautiful poem by W. B. Yeats

I'll be seeing you

Here’s the lyrics of a song I heard recently. It is from a lovely, romantic movie, The Notebook. It has a very simple and universal “rich girl meets poor boy” story. A common theme has been captured well by the director, with the help of good leading pair, Rachel McAdams & Ryan Gosling. Of course when you have as charming an actor as Ryan Gosling in the lead, things get even more beautiful. I won’t say that he is a great actor but he is good. I have see a couple of his other movies too & liked him in all – he draws you to himself plus when in a negative role, he has this dark aura around him. He is in ‘The List’ now and by that I mean my list of fav ppl ;-) The movie also has excellent cinematography with beautiful, picturesque locations. I especially liked the view which accompanies the opening credits of the movie and the sequence where Noah(Ryan) takes Allie(Rachel) for a boat-ride around a lake which is filled with geese.

Ok coming back to the song, I especially liked the lyrics, the music, and Billie Holiday’s voice - it's a bit different ;) you may not like it at first go. The song fit in perfectly with the situation in which it was being played, giving it a kind of nostalgic/haunting feel. Here goes the lyrics..

I'll be seeing you

In all the old familiar places

That this heart of mine embraces

All day through.

In that small cafe;

The park across the way;

The children's carousel;

The chestnut trees;

The wishin' well.

I'll be seeing you

In every lovely summer's day;

In every thing that's light and gay.

I'll always think of you that way.

I'll find you

In the morning sun

And when the night is new.

I'll be looking at the moon,

But I'll be seeing you.

I'll be seeing you

In every lovely summer's day;

In every thing that's light and gay.

I'll always think of you that way.

I'll find you

In the morning sun

And when the night is new.

I'll be looking at the moon,

But I'll be seeing you.

Analyze this ;-)

I was watching 'Analyze This' yesterday… another re-run :) .. one helluva funny movie.. I was laughing like anything most of the time while watching it.. Billy Crystal & Robert de Niro.. an awesome combo... :D .. as deadly as Danny DeVito & Billy Crystal in 'Threw momma from the train'. Please see it in case u already haven't.. u'll enjoy every bit of it.

Coming back to ‘Analyze This’, there are loads of funny scenes in here.. especially the ones where Billy Crystal , a psychiatrist, is conducting sessions for his patients. While watching those scenes, I realized thank god I was not a psychiatrist.. Most of the cases were so hillarious, I would have laughed out on the face of the patients.. :).. And I am serious about that.. I have a penchant for laughing at the most inappropriate times. During tonnes & tonnes of lectures in , my friends would say something funny and I would burst out laughing, while they would be very good in controlling their laughter.. During my engineering days, I and my friend Amrita..(Amu for me ;-) .. and here's a link to her blog), used to sit together during our classes and laugh together.. she would deliver one of her deadly one liners and keep mum. And I would have a very difficult time controlling my laughter.. This really worried me during my 3rd year of Engg as our HOD was about to take one of our subjects.. he being a terror in our dept, I was pretty skeptical of how I would fair in his presence. Thankfully I was never caught by him.. though I did laugh out loud a few times.. ;)

Hmm.. so as u can see, imagining myself at Billy Crystal's position was fun.. It has happened to me once too while I was trying to psycho-analyze a situation.... It was during the time I came to b’lore after completing my engg degree. I had joined as a SE in one of the big software companies. During the training period, I was staying at a PG in Koramangala with some of my friends. We used to go to office together, take the 5.30 bus back home and would have talk-sessions till late at night.. (the experience I had at the PG can fill a few more blogs). During one of our such, there was this girl, who came to us (us being me, chandra and preeti).. then very seriously she told 'Let me give u a case study, analyze it and tell me your opinion about it' (Fyi.. she was working part time and preparing for further studies and we assumed the case study was for that.. ) .. And then she started telling us abt the case..

'Let's assume a hypothetical situation.. there's a guy and a girl.. the girl really likes the guy.. he is her best friend.. she has counted on him and trusted him forever.. and the guy likes her too.. Let's assume they are working together.. and hence see each other everyday.. then all of sudden the guy gets very busy.. u see.. he is preparing for his MBA while working.. the girl realizes that & understands the situation.. she knows that his carrier / growth are very imp.. and she is supportive.. even lends him her book to help.. So now they see each other less often.. mind you she hasn’t told him that she likes him and neither has he..
Ok. then one day after a long time they meet again at their work place.. the guy seems preoccupied.. tells her he will return her books soon as he has read them & doesn’t need it any more.. Few more days pass.. since the girl also is preparing for MBA and needed the book.. she tried contacting him a few times but was unable to due to some reasons.. reasons are not imp.. ok.. now after another long passage of time.. they meet up and the guy returns the books.. he is grateful to her for her help.. and after some time says bye and goes.. '

Now she told all this to us and then stopped. We 3 are staying at her like.. “ok.. carry on..” Then she asks.. 'I just have one question.. why did not the guy just ask.. "How was your day, XYZ?" '

Ok.. now she is waiting for our expert comments.. Let you tell me our positions.. I was sitting on a bed.. she was sitting opposite to me on the same bed.. preeti and chandra were sitting on the adjacent one. After finishing this and asking her question, she stops and is looking intently at me for an answer.. And guess what did I do.. I burst out laughing on her face.. Yes that's what I did.. The most funny part being.. in the question, "How was your day, XYZ?".... 'XYZ' was her name. :-D

Oh my god.. the look on her face seeing me laugh was too much.. it made me laugh even more.. I was expecting preeti and chandra to laugh too.. I looked at them and those poor souls were just keeping quiet.. trying hard to control their laughter.. It was quiet some time before I stopped.. preeti and chandra (God bless them!!) did some analysis, gave some answers to soothe her and finally she went to her room.. The moment she went upstairs to her room, we had another bout of laughter.. this time 3 of us together.. Oh I know it was bad.. laughing at someone's prob.. but the way she told it.. it was too funny.. and also it had sounded so artificial when she was telling about it.

Whatever the case be.. that was yet another time I wished I had control on my laugh riots.. Asking someone 'How was you day, XYZ?'.. replacing it with their names was one of our favorite jokes during that time.. and it still is :-D

Moral of the story: Doing what Billy crystal did in 'Analyze this' is a difficult job. He did great!! ;-)

Travel Bug

That’s what has always been roaming around me, making buzzing noises and putting a sting whenever it gets a chance. If there is something I enjoy more than reading & good food, it’s traveling. I have always been fond of it, at least as long as I can remember. All thanks to my dad.

My dad just loves traveling. Being a businessman, with the sole responsibility of the business and always being a tad too busy, he is not one who has had the luxury to enjoy it the way he would have wanted. Even with all the various strings attached, he has traveled a lot. Always taking out time during our summer/winter vacations and exploring new places. And it was not just limited to tourist attractions back home (though we have covered many places like Agra, J&K, Delhi, Chandigarh, Calcutta, nearly the whole of Orissa & Southern India, etc. I could not accompany my family to Rajasthan though.. Engg exams.. :-(.. ). Even the small places in and around our town has all been explored by us. The small creeks near by, a garden here, a farmhouse there. We just used to pack up and get into the car. The picnics we had were so much fun- a new place every time. With my father’s idea, we once had a picnic on boat. (A river passes through our town).Tied a couple of boats together, hired some people to row it, moved downstream and then back. That is one of the best picnics I have been to.

My father’s love for traveling has rubbed on me. (Even the reading part comes from him, though he was not into novels, just magazines, newspapers, articles and some philo books once in a while). And I, being my father’s daughter, try to satiate the bug as much and as often as I can.

Started working on this, as soon as I got a job and landed in Bangalore. Saw any near by places I could get a chance to. Went to Mangalore, Mysore, Kerala-Munnar, Cochin, Allepy, Pondicherry (I have been here about 5 times or so, thanks to my friend Rohini – its her hometown, a quaint, little & very cute French town.. first time was with my family). I could have covered many more places (Ooty & Shravanbelagola are few places I really wanted to see) but lot of times I had to back out of a plan due to absence of female company :-( . I have some ghummakad friends who were always ready with a packed bag. But my girl frineds, at most times, had some or other ties they could not break out of, even though they also like traveling.

So now here I am in a new & very different country with the possibilities to see some more new places. And I have dived in head on. Have seen some places already, Phoenix, Washington, Cary, Raleigh. Made travel arrangements for a few more – New York, Niagara Falls, Florida, Orlando. Before I head back home, I want to see San Francisco, California too. Let’s see if I can. Quoting Paulo Coelho: - “And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”- The Alchemist (Quite a book, I suggest reading it if you get a chance). And so I do believe he is right, let me add here my wish to see Paris & Rome too. Just in case universe needs extra time. ;-). After all there are miles to go before I sleep..

Finally a century!!

Last week, I went bowling with my colleagues. The client company which I work for, had organized a bowling night, termed Bowl-A-Thon ;) - volunteer teams of 4-5 ppl were formed. Each team had to collect donations, buy tickets for bowling & have fun while helping the community. The proceeds went to a local charity group in here.

Having bowled only a couple of times, I was very skeptical of how I would fare. I remember the first time I went bowling. It was in Bangalore and we had gone to a bowling place, Megabowl, for a project party. I had a fun time there. My first attempt resulted in a strike(first throw knocking down all 10 pins) :-) U can guess how happy that made me. Beginner's luck!! And that was the only luck I had that day. Every other bowl hit everything but the pins. Threw a lot of gutter balls (situation when the ball falls out of the bowling lane, instead of going straight and knocking down the pins). The bottom line - I sucked in the game but nevertheless I had loads of fun bowling.

So with the kind of low score I had earlier, my expectations were pretty realistic. Motto being - One at a time. The game started well, in the first round- the 1st ball hit nothing and the 2nd hit all 10. I was pretty consistent after that. Managed a strike in the 8th round too. So in the end it turned out better than my expectations with a score of 101 :) I crossed a century!! And here's what the score card looked like at the end.... the 2nd one from the top.. tht's me.. I was 2nd in my group too..

I know it's not much of a score but considering my exposure to the game and a whole lot of other things (some facts, some excuses ), I was pretty happy & proud. :D With a suggestion from my colleague, shashank, (the top scorer in the chart above), I thought of blogging it. Thanks Shashank.. another gr8 idea.. ;)

Here's more about me: --

-- my visual DNA. And I got this one from Chitra. ;)

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The "To-Do-Before My Next B'de" list

My B'day is fast approaching and I thought let me just pen down a few things I would like to do in the coming year.. (I wanted to write about things to do before 30 but then I thought of that film and kind of dropped it. Another factor being 30 is still far.. I have got loads to do before that.. ;). So here goes the list of my things-to-do-before-my-next-b'de:--

• See Niagara falls - from both sides. And by that I mean both US and Canada. - Hoping to cover atleast the US side of it in May.
• Shopping at NY / Time square - I have planned to go to NY next month so hopefully this will be done.
• Go back to India before Diwali - would hate to miss diwali celebration. Another reason is in college I took a bet with my best friend. During one diwali back then, I was going home leaving our college events when all my friends were asking me to stay. But diwali means home. And my friend quipped "A time will come when, forget home, you will not even be in india during diwali". I was quick to say 'NO WAY'. And hence the bet. Since "a time" is very vague, we decided on a time limit of 10 years, so I better not be out of india during diwali for atleast 7 more years.. ;)
• Create a small but proud DVD collection of my all time favourite movies
• Have a plantain leaf meal - oh.. i miss the lovely 'North Karnataka' meal they serve on banana leaf at Kamat Yatri Niwas, Bangalore. I am gonna have it agian before my next b'de for sure.
• Visit Paris, have a lovely meal at one of the famous sidewalk cafes' there and roam around the streets of paris at night - this is actually in my 'things to do before i die' wish list so even if i can't do it this year, anytime before i die is fine with me.. :D. For now my plan is : When I head back for India, I will take a connecting flight through Paris and take a 2-day break there.
• Go for a long drive in a RED Mustang Convertible with the top down and loud music playing and nothing beats it if the drive is along a beach/sea. :)
• Go for Sky-diving - I think I am afraid of heights though I am not sure about it. I did parasailing once so guess trying this won't kill me. Hopefully.
• Drive at 100mph - I have touched 80-85 so I guess 100 shouldn't be that hard.
• Pack a bag and just leave. No plans, no destinations.. just pure whim!! :)
• Learn atleast one of the two: a. Swimming b. Waltz/Dancing. And in case i am able to learn swimming, then go swimming at night.. that too while its raining heavily!! ;)
• Go on a cruise - Arre I am so near florida, I better take a cruise or something.
• Climb to the top of statue of liberty - I missed going to the top of washington memorial. I was late and the last trip for the day was over :(. Lets hope this one goes right.
• Wear an evening gown ( a classic designer one) - trial in a dress shop would also be counted.
• Eat at a diner or go to a drive-in theatre - have seen so many of them in movies. Now that I am here, I would like to experience it some day.
• Learn Tennis - I bought a tennis racket some 2 months back and I have used it only 2 times.. :( Lazy me.
• Buy a superman T shirt(a perfect replica) and have the guts to wear it to office - Wearing it to office back in india would be more fun!! Here it seems a possibility ;)
• Save something before I go back to India. If I can save $5000, that would be great.
• Go to a night club - Believe it or not after being in b'lore for more than 2 years and in US since 5 months now, I haven't ever been to a club or disc or pub.
• Buy a slick and really cool mp3 cum video player with 80GB memory or so - My sister would love it. I would too.. ;)
• Be a regular at Gym and loose the extra pounds I have put on since coming to US. Alternatively don't add any more pounds.
• And in the end something for my personality developement - Learn to be patient and especially towards people I can't tolerate. I think the way I behave, I am sure the person knows that I can't tolerate him/her.

Most of things above are pretty simple and achievable. So wish me luck and let me just dive-in. Ciao!

Disappointed....

- that India is all but out of the world cup.

- that tendulkar, - a player who has entertained & captured our imagination like no one else , a player who made us dream big- , was out for a duck in maybe his last world cup inning.

- that tendulkar, irrespective of all his records and achievements, will not have a world cup in his kitty.

- that a country, where cricket is almost another religion, where people fought sleep and tiredness to catch our team in action at the world cup, will go to bed with disappointment.

- that even after putting so much focus on cricket( at the cost that we do not have any other sport to fall back on), our team could not give us a reason to be proud of.

- that even after our dismal performance off late, I still hoped against hope that we had a chance.

Snow and Ice

It snowed here on thursday and the world looked even more beautiful, enveloped as it was in pristine white snow..

In case you need reasons to be a kid, it was "A puurrrfect day" to bring out the kid in you.. I just had loads of fun playing in the snow..
For my friends back in India, I played for your share too.. ;-)

It snowed in the morning putting a white blanket on everything.. doesn't it look like a bush of white flowers??

By the time it was noon snow started turning into ice, yet another beautiful form..

Beauty does leave you speechless.. sighhhh.. :)