Another tag.. again by Amu

1. Last movie you saw in a theatre?
The Chronicles of Narnia – Prince Caspian.

2. What book are you reading?
Blink

3. Favourite board game?
Would Playing cards count?? :-) If not this, then Ludo or Monopoly.

4. Favourite magazine?
Anything actually. As a kid, I used to love ‘Nandan’ :-)

5. Favourite smell?
Estee Lauder – Pleasures

6. Favourite sound?
I like the faint sound of a ringing bell (temple sortta), the splattering sound that rain makes, etc. Hmm.. in love with Michael Buble's voice at the moment.

7. Worst feeling ever?
Pity

8. What is the first thing you think when you wake up?
Too sleepy to actually think anything so early in the morning but the first thought I have is to see if I can sleep for few more minutes.. J

9. Favourite fast food place?
I luv food. Any place is fine as long as the food is good. Hmm.. I do love the veg burgers at McD. :-D

10. Future child's name?
Itne aage ki planning nahi ki hein.. though I would definitely like to have his/her name begin with ‘A’. I like the name ‘Arjun’ (thought of it for the first time when heard Sachin named his son this.. :-).. )

11. Finish this sentence “if i had a lot of money i'd..."
find ways of spending it.. beginning with a world tour..

12. Do you drive fast?
Yes. Got speeding tickets to proof that.. :-(

13. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?
Nope

14. Storm cool or scary?
Cool!!!!

15. What was your first car?
Hyundai Elantra

16. Favourite drink?
Fresh lime

17. Finish this sentence "if i had the time i would?"
See all the places that I can (if I had all-the-money coupled with all-the-time I had), watch all the movies in my ‘to-see’ list

18. Do you eat the stems of broccoli?
I can have it in small quantities. I don’t like preparation where broccoli adds the main flavour.

19. If you could dye you hair,which colour would it be?
Burgundy – I am actually thinking abt it right now.. :-)

20. Name the different cities /town you have lived in?

Brajrajnagar, Rourkela, Bangalore, Greensboro (NC, USA)

21. Favourite sports watch?
I like ‘Fossils’ – not sure if it comes under the sportswatch category.. I have a ‘Fasttrack’ that’s quite cool.

22. One nice thing about the person who sent you this?
My best friend – that makes her pretty nice i think.. ;-D

23. Whats under your bed?
My suitcase which is filled with some of my clothes that I no longer feel like wearing.

24. Would you like to be reborn as yourself?
Yes. However I would love to have the independence that guys have.

25. Morning person or night owl?
Night owl..

26. Over easy,or sunny side up?
I don’t eat eggs but if I had I would have liked sunny side up. :-D

27. Favourite place to relax?
On the bed or on a sofa watching TV

28. Favourite pie?
Chocolate

8 things - Tagged by Amu

8 things I am passionate about...

• Movies.
• Books.
• Travelling.
• Food. :-)
• My friends and family.
• My independence.
• Moon, Rain and Sea – I just love them and have always been attracted to them. My friends say that since my origins are from Rajasthan, I get mad when I see water... ;-) Not sure of the attraction to moon.. hmm.. maybe coz i was born after midnight.. :-D
• My work

8 things I want to do before I die...

• Go for a world tour. Even if I can’t go for a world tour, I am sure I will never get ‘moksha’ if I die without seeing Paris. :-(
• Have a large movie collection. I have already started work on this.. :-)
• Have a library (this time of books of course :-) ) of my own.
• Drive my own M&M Scorpio
• Own a beach front house
• Make exercise a part of my daily routine.
• Write a book which at least some one buys.
• Be stinking rich.. ;-)

8 things I say often…

• Cool
• Good hein
• Moron
• Aur batao? / Aur kya?
• Great!
• Sure
• No probs
• Yes, tell me..

8 books I last read

• 100 years of solitude
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin
• A thousand splendid suns
• It’s not about the bike
• Katie
• The collected short stories of Roald Dahl.
• Eleven Minutes
• Blink (reading currently)

8 songs I could listen to over and over again...

• Save the last dance for me
• Jab koi baat bigad jaaye
• Nothings gonna change
• Sway with me
• Can’t take my eyes off you
• Zara Zara
• When you say nothing at all
• Everything I do

Phew!!!! very very difficult to come up with that list.. choosing just 8 from sooooooo many was a colossal task. :-)

4 people I think should do this tag...
Ashwani, Rashmi, Chitra and if you want it, it’s yours.

The ball is rolling

Took a big step today - one that will hopefully make my future even better than my present. (Ok.. I will agree, it comes nowhere near the BIG giant leap that I took last month but then lets talk about it some other time)

I have set the ball rolling before I have time to think & rethink my decision and then have the luxury to back out. Let’s pray that I finally come out of my ‘Lazzy gurl’ mode (as M called me recently :-)..) and start preparing for the road ahead.

Oh how I need all the luck that I can get my hands on now!!

Here is a girl

I got it as a forward a pretty long time back. Have got it again & again many a times after that. Couldn't help myself from sharing it here. I guess guys also have similar apprehenstions as well as expectations about marriage as we girls do. And guess this sums it up in a neat way. What you want, at the end of the day, is understanding and love from your better half.

As most of you might know, this is an old post which has been dissected. crtiticized and hailed like anything.. :)

Here is a girl,

who is as much educated as you are;

who is earning almost as much as you do;

one, who has dreams and aspirations just as you have because she is as human as you are;

one, who has never entered the kitchen in her life just like you or your sister haven't, as she was busy in studies and competing in a system that gives no special concession to girls for their culinary achievements;

one, who has lived with and loved her parents and brothers and sisters, almost as much as you do for 20-25 years of her life;

one, who has bravely agreed to leave behind all that, her home, people who love her, to adopt your home, your family, your ways and even your family name;

one, who is somehow expected to be a master-chef from day #1, while you sleep oblivious to her predicament in her new circumstances, environment and that kitchen;

one, who is expected to make the tea, first thing in the morning and cook food at the end of the day, even if she is as tired as you are, maybe more, and yet never ever expected to complain; to be a naukraani, a cook, a mother, a wife, even if she doesn't want to; and is learning just like you are as to what you want from her, and is clumsy and sloppy at times and knows that you won't like it if she is too demanding or if she learns faster than you;

one, who has her own set of friends, and that includes boys and even men at her workplace, too, those, who she knows from school days and yet is willing to put all that on the back-burners to avoid your irrational jealousy, unnecessary competition and your inherent insecurities;

yes, she can drink and dance just as well as you can, but won't, simply because you won't like it, even though you say otherwise;

one, who can be late from work once in a while when deadlines, just like yours, are to be met;

one, who is doing her level best and wants to make this most important relationship in her entire life a grand success, if you just help her some and trust her;

one, who just wants one thing from you - your unstinted support, your sensitivities and most importantly - your understanding and love.

Are you man enough to give it to her?

Jodhaa Akbar

Disclaimer: The review contains some spoilers. Don't read this if you are very interested in watching the movie and are looking forward to it.

Had gone to see this movie with some expectations. Expectations were quite a few from the mega budget movie with a wonderful actor – Hrithik playing the lead and an oscar-nominated director – Ashutosh Gowarikar at its helm. I had also braced myself for reality aka disappointment so as to get the expectations in check. :) To add to that, I am not an Aishwaryaa Rai fan. None the less I went to see the movie expecting a beautiful love story. I was ready to disregard any historical errors that crop up. As the name suggested, it was to be a love story between a guy and a girl – Akbar and Jodhaa, who just happened to be emperor of India and a rajput princess respectively. And that’s what Mr.AG had been promising us - a love story and not a history lesson. At the very beginning, the movie claims this too – i.e., it’s a love story between two individuals to the point of even playing down the importance (and the controversy - this is another matter that our highly intolerant mentality still made an issue out of it) around the queen’s name.

So with these things on my mind, I started watching the movie. The first thing that struck me was the thought that Mr.AB is back again (don't know why he needs to have some input in everything now a days - either he or his voice is present in 99% of the movies and commercials.. ok.. I know thats a bit of an exaggaration but he ought to make himself a little scarce). Okay if we leave him aside, the movie starts & we find ourselves in the middle of a battlefield. Kind of expected in a period movie. What was not expected is the way the scene was shot. It was funny to the point of being downright kiddish. I somehow don't know how you can shoot a battle scene with no strategical thinking to it, where ppl are just running towards each other to embrace or maybe to do the chest-thumping hi-5's a la paes-bhupathi. At least that's how it seemed to me. So we see a teen Akbar being groomed by a prosaic bairam khan. The next thing we know, Akbar has grown into an ever-so-handsome Hrithik, who quickly but very effectively makes it clear that he is the boss. The scene also establishes the presence of an ethical mind.

The movie than criss-crosses between the life of the emperor and the rajput princess. Aishwaryaa looks beautiful in the part but that's why she is there in the first place. :) The princess is betrothed to a rajput prince(I will never understand why they make such characters so ugly looking.. maybe they dot want the girl to get tempted to stay and not leave the poor guy), whose father breaks off the engagement. The plot, with a slow pace and loads of unwanted scenes, webs together the marriage of politics between the two. And now starts the movie that Mr.AG had been promising us and took a really looooong time to come to. The journey that Akbar and Jodhaa make together has been conveyed well. The loathing/fear(on Jodhaa's part) and curiosity(on Akbar's part) gets gradually transformed into mutual respect -to- attraction -to- trust -to- love. And the direction of these scenes are brilliant. You can feel their feelings for each other change and gradually evolve into a deep bond. There are a lot of unforgettable and beautiful scenes in the movie:
- The scene where Akbar sees the face of his new bride for the first time. Hrithik is just amazing in this scene with his expressions showing us everything he is supposed to be feeling. I have fallen in love with him all over again. :D
- The scene where Jodhaa puts her two demands to Akbar in order to agree for the marriage. I somehow thought she expected him to refuse and I loved her reaction when he indeed agrees.
- The sequence where she prepares food for her husband and is asked to taste the food first to ensure that its not poisoned. I loved Hrithik's expressions in this scene. It's like 'oh. comeon let me eat first.. i would prefer that I die rather than her if it is indeed poisoned'. You can see his anxiety in there.
- The immediate sequence where he asks that he will eat from the same plate that jodhaa had used.
- All the small scenes taking place when 'jashn-e-bahara' song was playing. Especially liked the one where Akbar is trying hard to 'listen-to' his dai-maa's lecture :)
- The scene where Akbar asks his gaurds to throw his evil cousin from the terrace is also good. It shows us his anger and capability to be cruel if need be.
- The sword practice where Akbar is showing off his toned body well aware that Jodhaa is watching.. ;-)
- The sword-fight sequence between Jodhaa and Akbar when he is in Amer to take her back with him. It reminded me of 'The Mask of Zorro' :)
- The scene just before this is also good. The verbal fight that they have when they are in their chamber.
- Liked the scene where Jodhaa writes her hubby's name and he confesses on being illiterate.
- The fight in the end between Akbar and his brother-in-law, a straight rip-off from troy. It was good none the less.

Even though there are some really beautiful scenes in the movie, the presence of the n+1 unwanted, poorly scripted and acted scenes just make it unbearable. If I start jotting down the ridiculous scenes in the movie, it will take me quite a few days and LOADS of words, so I am gonna just leave it out. If the movie had remained true to its name, it would have made a gr8 romantic movie. But Mr.AG seemed undecided whether he wants to make a romantic movie or a historical one. In the end, he ends up making neither. There were so many scenes that could have been so easily deleted thus giving respite to the viewers too. At a length of some 3hr 20 min, it was tooooo long. All the more heightened due to the weak screenplay and flow of the plot. I was actually waiting for the interval to come (it was all too late coming 120 min after the start) and then for the movie to end.

Hrithik as usual was brilliant. This man has done all sorts of roles and convinced me in each of them that there is no one else who could have played it better. It is near impossible to see anyone else in the role of Akbar other than Hrithik. So here I am all over in love again. The scenes between Hrithik and Aishwarya are brilliant and I would give most part of that credit to Hrithik's performance. Aishwaryaa looked beautiful and is good in many scenes but also her insipid self in few others. Thank god she redeems herself in many scenes and thank you AG for giving her as less dialogs as possible. Rest of the actors are plain and simple 'bad'. None of the other supporting actors, with the exception of Sonu Sood (i didn't recognize him :-) ), make an impression, actually they make a bad impression. Kulbhashan Kharbanda was the worst I think - he looked so spineless for a king. Loved Raja Murad - his was a guest appearance, can't actually count him as a supporting actor. He has a lovely voice, you can't help noticing it.

The music is very good. A R Rehman just keeps on vending out beautiful musical notes. I specially loved the 'Jashn-e-bahara' song. Even 'Mann mohana', 'In lamho', 'Azeem-o-shaan' and 'Khawja' have good soulful music. The music is very romantic and meets/(exceeds?) the expectation from AR Rehman when it comes to Romance.

Overall the movie is too long and boring. There are many not-to-be-missed scenes but then it would be better if you wait for the DVD to come out and watch the movie after fast forwarding the many other useless scenes. After putting 3.30 hrs into this movie, I came out feeling disappointed and a bit angry too. Angry coz the movie could have been so much better and made a name as a classic romantic movie. It already has some very brilliant sequences to boost of. I might see the movie again but I am gonna wait for the DVD release. :)

A human shadow

What Kind of a Shadow are you?

You are a human shadow. If a loved one needs you, you are always right at his or her heels! Your deep social connection with human beings produces your qualities of genuine caring and charisma. However, at times you are naive to the true nature of your loved ones. Remember that humans' gift of free will does not always lead them in wise directions. But your essence of love and friendship represent the other precious gifts of humanity. Overall you are a strikingly valuable and innocent being who has a lot to give.

Take this quiz!

How is it that..

- ….. Life is looking better and worse at the same time.
- ….. I am ecstatic about the way forward as well as skeptic about it.
- ….. I want to get more responsibilities and I feel bad(somehow not serving enough) if I don’t get them. However when I do get more responsibilities, I am afraid of failing and not fulfilling expectations.
- ….. I like what I am working on but at times I hate it like anything. (I guess this is a universal phenomena in the world of IT professionals.. :-))
- ….. Every time I get hurt, it’s always followed by guilt that I must have done something which led to all this hurt. I hate feeling so guilty and when I vent out my guilt, people think I am trying to feel great by being humble, guilty (?) and that makes me feel more guilty. :-( Maybe I do just that. And now that I am writing it, maybe I am trying to be 'greater' still.
- ….. I want to get in a better shape (literally), get up early, exercise, etc but I also feel like sleeping that extra hour, minutes, seconds whenever I can.
- ….. I show what I feel and wish I was more in control of my expressions. At the same time, I wish I never loose this facet of my persona.
- ….. I expect less from others (I hope so) and even then sometimes I feel let down. However even after trying my best I am failing expectations of some people.
- ….. I am a selfish hard-core Arian but I also care about others and try to put myself in their shoes.
- ….. Life is indeed contradictions or is it contradictions that constitute life?

Hmmm.. Maybe it’s just me!!!!

My best friend's wedding - I

My best friend, Amu just got married, on 20th Jan to be precise. I had been looking forward to her marriage since the day I learnt she has given her concurrence to marry K*. K is a really nice and sweet guy who will give his 100% to keep her happy. Someone who will pamper her with his love and care plus give her a breathing space. (Though I agree I had my reservations about him when I first heard about it.. I was like.. "Come on you can get a better guy".. u know the kind of feeling u have for your best friend as if no one is good enough for him/her.. :)..)

*(Sidenote#1 - When talking about him with her and between us friends, we call him 'K'.. :-D)

So I had been busy with my own set of preparations for the D-day.. (arre I am one of the bride’s best friend, I gotta look great too.. ;-) and that means hard work!!

So I started with something like..

"It’s my best friend's marriage, what do I wear??". I couldn't just wear a salwar suit.. that is something you were in every other function/event.
"Should I get a lahenga?" - Naah,.. wouldn't be worth the cost. I will wear it to one marriage and then what!!
"I will get a sari!!" - Yup. That's what I will get a good sari. Ok.. one decision made.. Pheeew!! :-p

Then I started hunting for a sari. Went to loads of shops here in Bangalore and finally zeroed in on a beautiful mustard yellow colored sari. Since it was a day-time marriage ceremony, I didn't want to get a dark, bright sari which will make people run for anti-glare specs!! Since this was the first time I bought a sari for myself, I happily called up everyone I know to tell them about this. :) While I was happily telling my aunt* about my recent purchase, she says "Ok.. you got the sari.. good.. hope you know you have to accessorize it". I (rolling my eyes) was like "What's that????". And then I got a list of things I had to give my complete attention to, from buying bangles, necklace, earrings, bindi to sandals. Per her, it should either be matching or contrast based on how the blouse is? (matching vs contrast)!!

*(Sidenote#2 - My aunt = my bua aka my father's sister.. she is just 8 years elder to me and more like a sister-cum-friend-cum-activity partner-cum-stress buster-cum-secret keeper and the role is same vice-versa)

I started again on my shopping expedition.. everyone who knows me and I mean EVERYONE (I am not just talking about my friends and family here but also my colleagues, ppl whom I met in the bus while commuting to office, etc) , now knows about my recent shopping experiences. With help from my friends, I was able to accomplish this task. Special thanks here should go to Chitra, my friend who is a localite & who loves shopping as much as I do. She took me to this really amazing bangle shop, Bhawani Kangan, located in Jayanagar, B'lore. Hey if you like beautiful, colorful bangles, you are gonna love this shop. :-)

Next thing on the 'To-do' list was my tickets to and from Bbsr. Since I didn't have the luxury of taking more than a day off, I decided to fly. (Thank God, Amu decided to marry on a Sunday, a weekday would have led to downright fight with my PM. I just took 2 weeks off during diwali. :) ).

So once I tied all the loose ends here, I started calling up ppl again to extol and bore them with this info. In between all these talks I realized, in my excitement to buy things for myself, I haven't bought a gift for her. :-(.

Choosing a gift for someone is a HUGE responsibility. And if the person turns out to be your best friend, the task gets even harder. And to top it all, if it’s her marriage.. well you can imagine the Herculean effort that one has to put in. She is tying the knot and I am the one having anxiety attacks on what gift to get for her and the ‘would be’. For quite a few weeks before the D-day, I have been channeling all my thoughts, concentration & effort on this task. If you have interacted with me (through mails, messenger, phone, and face-2-face) during this period, I am sure you already know about this. ;-). After listening to suggestions from a lot of folks and inputs from some friends, I finally got her a wedding gift*. Hope she likes it. She did say something about liking it.

*(Sidenote#3 - While booking flight tickets to bbsr, it did occur to me that I could save up the fare and give her a big gift but then my being there is a better gift.. what say?? ;-p

This was all that I had to put in while preparing for my best friend's wedding.. more on the actual wedding ceremony and post-wedding updates coming soon!!

A promise fulfilled

So Mr. Ratan Tata has delivered on the promise he made some years back (4 years from what I read in newspapers) to us Indians. With the unveiling of 'Tata Nano' on Jan 10,2008 at AutoExpo,2008, he has handed over the 'people's car' to the common people. With a price tag of Rs 1 lakh, its the world's least expensive 4 wheeler. The moment I heard about its launch, I wanted to write a few lines related to it. Not about the car but about the man.

We will have to reserve our judgement on the 'Nano' till the time its ready to drive onto the Indian roads. There are still many miles to go on that. The price which will flare up after including all the taxes that needs to be paid. Everyone has concerns over the safety and fuel emission standards of the car. There are also concerns on the impact of large scale buying of this car on our already poor infrastructure. But lets keep it for others to divulge/discuss/dissect on.

This post is the only way I could think of to salute the man behind the Nano, a man who saw a small family's plight, made a promise to himself and the nation and then had the courage & vision to fulfill it against all sorts of challenges (rising cost, ridicule from his peers and sundry, and loads of technical/financial challenges which I am sure I can't even comprehend).

Whatever happens to Nano, Mr. Tata, you simply rock!!

Tata's Nano

What being "Me" entails..

Flicked it from Amu's blog.. (By now, you must know I love these things.. ;-).. )

What Ashma Means

You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are the total package - suave, sexy, smart, and strong. You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know. You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do. You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out. Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia. Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You're a strong person. You are confident, self assured, and capable. You are not easily intimidated. You master any and all skills easily. You don't have to work hard for what you want. You make your life out to be exactly how you want it. And you'll knock down anyone who gets in your way!

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

20 Questions -- Tagged by Amu

Instructions: Remove 1 question from below, and add in your personal question, make it a total of 20 questions, then tag 8 people in your list, list them out at the end of this post. Notify them in their chat box that he/she has been tagged.

1. Name Three Most Valuable Assets?

Friends/family, Positive outlook and a viewpoint (along with a willingness to change if it’s wrong)

2. If you have the chance, what would you probably say to your beloved one?

Thank you for making my life beautiful.

3. If you were to be stranded on a desert island, who are the 3 (i am making it 4) blog buddies you would take with you?

Amu – She is my best friend and has impacted my life (in a very positive way) more than she knows. Will have her for all the whacky, non-sense, intelligent, funny discussions that we have.
Ashwani – For all the philosophical discussions that he initiates.

Rashmi – For all the fun that we have together. (along with the fights ;-)..)

Vivekanand – For all the laughter that he provides.

4. Where is the place that you want to go the most?

Paris – I have always dreamt of having a cozy/romantic dinner in any of the open air Parisian café/ restaurants and waltzing through the streets of Paris at night.

5. If you can have 1 dream to come true, what would it be?

OMG. Lots of dreams. Maybe that one dream would be ‘a situation where all my dreams come true’. All I want is everything :)

6.Till now, what is the moment that you regret the most?

I miss by grandfather a lot and I regret not being able to share my joys and achievements (small though they are) with him. I am sure he would have been excited, happy and proud.

7. What are you afraid to lose the most?

My independence

8. What would you do if you found a briefcase full of money?

My first reaction would be to take it, next one to try and find the owner and the last one to submit it to the police dept.

9. If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her?

I would like to think that I would but I don’t think I will.

10. List out 3 good points of the person who tagged you.

Amu – an invaluable friend, intelligent person, witty companion and I love her.

11. What are the requirements that you wish from your other half?

His understanding & friendship.

12. Which type of person do you hate the most?

People who say something in front and something very different behind you.

13. What is your ambition?
Be stinking rich ;-). Lead a happy and exciting life.

14. What is the thing that will make you think someone is a bad person?

A person who is wishing bad for someone else. Not the people who say just for the heck of it and don’t really mean it. But people who really mean for something bad to happen to the other person.

15. Christmas is coming, who do you like to celebrate with?

This Christmas is over. Christmas will come again next year. Abhi itni dur ke plans nahi banaye hein.

16. If you could do one thing different in life, what would it be?

I would have requested God for giving me the pleasure of my grandfather’s company for a few more years.

17. Are you a shopaholic or no?

I am an impulsive shopper. Though I think I am not a shopaholic as I am always within my means.

18. What is your stress buster?
Talking to my friends. They are my stress busters (and some times stress creators too.. ;-)

19. It would be 2008 in a few days, do you have a new year’s resolution?

Yes. The universal, most common and vague one. Will try and loose some weight. :-)

20. (My question) What’s one thing in yourself that you would like to change?

My moodiness. I do /don’t do things based on my current mood and sometimes it's pretty abrupt.

And now it's my turn... huhahahahaha.. :-) I would like to tag the following-

Ashwani, Chitra, Rashmi and Vivek.

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. ;)

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

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.. :)

One month & running....

Just completed a month here in US. As of now it has been treating me well.. lets hope it remains the same way. :) I had least expectations from this place and hence had to suffer no disappointments. I do not have any friends here and since its an unknown town in an unfamiliar country, I did not expect to make any. Though my colleagues here are very helpful & friendly, making me feel as much at home as possible. Feedback from all the people who had been to this town before was pretty consistent.. small town.. no friends.. no entertainment.. boring life.. Being a person who doesn't allow herself to get bored, I was sure I would find ways to keep myself ticking. And till now I have had no time to feel bored.. Touchwood!!

The first thing I did here, was rent an apartment.. :) yes.. I have an apartment.. a nice cozy 1bedroom flat.. its on the 1st floor( 2nd floor by US standards ).. has a balcony too.. The next thing I did after getting an apartment was shopping, shopping, shopping & some moooooooooore shopping. Got a TV.. (need to keep myself occupied.. m staying alone with no friends yaar.. ), DVD player, Laptop and a Digicam(to share pics with my friends). Got all of these things during the Thanksgiving Sale. Arre its such a big event here. The day after Thanksgiving is known as "Black Friday" and you have amazing discounts in all shops. Shops open late at night.. somewhere around 2am-4am and there are big queues of people trying to get their hands on good deals. People here start planning for this day well in advance. Papers on thanksgiving day carry a lot of ads about all the good deals available. I also went to Circuit City around 4 o clock in the morning. Got my laptop on a discount of $350 on the original market price.. and that too with lot of free accessories like printer/scanner, wireless router, security software,etc. Had one helluva experience.. :) After this I got myself subscribed to TimeWarner cable service. So I have cable, phone & internet and I'm all set.

Can't tell you what fun shopping is. I am not a shopoholic except when it comes to clothes, they are never enough.. ;) I am an impuslive shopper who values a thing by the amount I am ready to pay for it.. So it may happen that I won't take a good bargain just because I don't think its worth it & I may well end up getting an otherwise expensive thing just coz that's worth that much for me.. I know thats stupid and foolish.. but can't help it.. an incorrigible trait!! Here I am slowly and steadily getting used to WalMart, HarrisTeeter, Sears, Macy's and the likes.. Grocery & food items are too costly compared to India and I do make comparisons often.. guess will stop that after sometime.. You get varieties of things though.. have seen atleast 5 kinds of potatoes.. normal(the one we get in india), yellow colored, purple, fibrous & sweet.

On weekdays I generally don't get much time. Start for office around 8.30-9 and come back by 6-6.30. Rest for some time, watch TV, then I start working on my dinner. After dinner, I call up my parents. Log onto net, chat with friends, check my e-mails. Then I read something and go to sleep anytime between 12.30-1.30. This is my normal "routine" on weekdays. Weekends I sleep till 12 or later.. :D.. Sleeping is one of my favourite hobbies.. Afternoon go out with my colleagues for shopping, buy groceries for the week, wash my clothes, try to clean the apartment and do similar small things. Go out for lunch/dinner. Last weekend, we went out for lunch in a Mexican restaurant, then went to a book shop "Barns&Noble" and bought some books. At night, went for a movie "Apocalypto". An overall fun day!

Lastly, before signing-off, here are a few things which I am getting used to:

1. Doughnuts: I can finish half a dozen doughnuts in 2 days.. and then I go and get more. And you must have guessed.. I am gaining weight.. :( .. but what the heck!!

2. Chips: Anytime u come to my place, u'll find atleast 1 big bag of lays chips. Actually at times u can get 1 bag each of 2-3 different flavours. The tagline for Lays couldn't have been more apt, "No one can eat just one".

3. Cold weather: Its quite cold here and believe it or not, I haven't sneezed even once yet.. that's quite a remarkable feat.. :) my friends can vouch!!

4. WalMart: For basic shopping. It's open 24x7.

5. TV Ads: The Ads shown on TV here are so kiddish & stupid. Majority of ads are either for medicines or legal counsels. And its not at like the ads back in India, which are so witty and humorous. Here they explain things like u would to a 4 yr old.

6. Clean air/environment. And I mean CLEAN!!

7. Sound of horn: Or you can say the absence of it. I have been here a month and I haven't heard it yet. Bizzare, right?

8. Listening to statements like "Hi! How are you doing?", "Have a good day" and that too from strangers. Don't know why but everyone greets everyone here.

9. Christmas decoration: Houses here are really beautiful. Small and cute. And most of them are decorated for Christmas. The holiday season begins as early as Thanksgiving. :)

Have a great day!! and advance wishes of a Merry Christmas!!