Tuesday 30 January 2007

Shouting from the roof top !!!

When I first discovered this I wanted to shout it from the rooftops !! This is truly, truly a delight and I hope it makes all of you as happy and thrilled and jumpy as it did me !!!!


pandora


Enjoy !!!

Right now, I have a Tracy Chapman station (very good) , a Bob Dylan station, a Janis Joplin station , a Simon & Garfunkel station, an Edie Brickell station, a CCR station and lots more !!

Thursday 25 January 2007

My First Tag !!

Ooooh , my FIRST tag !! I'm one step closer to losing my "blog-virginity", all I need now is someone leaving 'effin' abusive comments !!!

So, here goes !!!

Three things that scare me :
  • men dressed in Santa Claus costumes
  • dipping my hand into a bucket full of water - I always think something in the water will attack me
  • flying cockroaches (yes, Beks , I hear you !)
Three people who make me laugh :
  • my brother , Aa
  • Av & Ni - Its two people, I know, but its the two of them together
  • Ivan, my classmate
Three things I love :
  • Books
  • Amma's cooking
  • Dogs
Three things I hate :

  • Monday mornings
  • Folding clothes
  • one-on-one s with manager

Three things I don't understand :
  • the pressure cooker
  • snobby people
  • income tax calculations
Three things on my desk :
  • my laptop
  • a calculator
  • a box of tissue paper
Three things I am doing right now :
  • listening to Joaquin Sabina (thanks to Akkare)
  • feeling hungry
  • Chatting with Rpathy
Three things I want to do before I die
  • Visit Macchu Picchu
  • Organise a second honeymoon for my parents
  • Kiss a woman , and mean it.
Three things I can do :
  • Make tasty mashed potatoes
  • Raise one eyebrow
  • SMS coherent messages with my eyes closed
Three things you should listen to :
  • Elton John's Tiny Dancer
  • parents
  • Kids playing 'House House' and talking like grown-ups
Three things you should never listen to :
  • my manager
  • Micheal Bolton's 'Can I touch you there?' Eeeew
  • people who put you down
Three things I'd like to learn :
  • Photography
  • To cook like my mother
  • to dress myself up
Three favourite foods :
  • Anything by Amma
  • Biriyani
  • Nirula's truffle pastry
Three beverages I drink regularly
  • Coffee
  • Beer
  • Red Wine
Three TV shows/books I watched/read as a kid :
  • Home and Away
  • Malory Towers
  • The Crystal Maze
Three people I would like to tag :

Wednesday 24 January 2007

There's something about women in beauty parlours. There's an air about them. An air of self confidence, an air of I-know-what-I-want-and-I'm-going-to-get-it', a certain single minded determination.

Today I spent close to an hour and a half waiting for a friend to get done with her facial. As I sat in the reception , I watched the women coming , women with appointments, women rushing in after work to get a quick threading or pedicure done, women leaving after a facial, faces aglow, a sort of content, satisfied look on their faces. These women know what they want. " No I want Nanu to do my eyebrows, when will she be free?" or, " I'd like the Pearl Facial and I want Ms. Phukela (I swear, that is her name, Kulu Phukela in fact, ShahnazHussain-certified beautician) to do it for me". "I don't want to do the body shine, I'm running out of time now" .... And I don't even know what a body shine is....

And at one point, one lady stormed out of a room and worked into the reception , shouting to Ms. Phukela ( who looks a lot like Shahnaz Hussain, or I don't know if it was because of the excessive make-up) , " This girl, Nanu, she's cut my hair and kept me waiting for TEN minutes now, and she's doing someone else's eyebrows !! This is TOO much! " and stormed off.
Ms. Phukela, completely unperturbed by the whole thing, rose from her chair to "deal with Nanu" .

Then there were the rare one or two, a little lost, not forceful enough. They'd get pushed around a bit, told that they would have to wait, Ms. Phukela would frown and complain loudly about how people come without an appointment and expect the same service... But they didn't seem to mind all that , like they were used to it, or they just didn't feel like reacting.
It takes all kinds I guess.

Monday 22 January 2007

Yesterday, for the first time , I felt like a minority in this country.

My cousin, her friend and I got caught in the middle of a VHP procession , en route to my cousin's PG. There were hordes of men, shouting slogans and chanting , marching up the road, wagging their fingers at the cars . You could feel the tension in the air. The cops were obviously on high-alert and were vigorously trying to ensure that neither the traffic nor the procession went out of control.

I was huddled in a SUMO , with about 15 pieces of luggage behind us. I tried to look as unmoved and relaxed as possible , but all I was thinking was " Oh my God, am I going to be burnt alive in this vehicle? Am I ? Am I? Will my cousin's Hindu friend stand up for us and heroically try to save us from the mad crowd or will she abandon us when the mobs attack? Should I hide the little gold cross chain on my neck?"

It was all so scary and tense. I think even the slightest provocation, maybe even just revving of a car , and this mob would have gone mad on us. This was the first time I was seeing this kind of a mob and the first time I was reminded that I was a minority in the country. Having lived in Kottayam and a very cocooned 3 years in Delhi, I've never been caught in the middle of any communal events. I've never felt like I was a Christian in a predominantly Hindu country. I've never felt unsafe because of my religion. Maybe, technically, Christians have less to fear. But then again, once people are agitated , they become so mindless and are led purely by rage that they don't care about all that..

Anyway, it sure was a scary experience, and I hope that I'm never in that situation again.

Friday 19 January 2007

Why I love E. E. Cummings

Whine Whine Whine

I am sleep deprived. ...

Last night , by the time I got into bed, it was a little past 2 in the morning. By then, my cousin and her friend were sound asleep. A little too sound asleep. My cousin was snoring and it sounded like a slow train, a really slow train. It was so loud that I could feel the vibration on the mattress. I tossed and turned, tried to bury myself under the quilt, used earphones , all in vain. I tried moving her head gently, but that only made the snoring louder.

I feel terrible and miserable and unhappy when I can't sleep. I feel like some terrible crime has been committed against me . I feel like life is unfair and unjust and all the world is against me.
So, after much tossing and turning, feeling absolutely miserable and sorry for myself, I put my foot down. Enough is enough. I can't take this any more. This is my house and I should be able to sleep in my house. So, I took my pillow and my quilt , went to the living room and made myself as comfortable as I could on the sofa....

And then just as I was about to doze off (finally !) , my conscience decided to go on overdrive mode. What would my cousin think if she saw me sleeping on the sofa ? She would feel really bad, and feel like she was inconveniencing me. I really like my cousin (despite everything !) and I didn't want her to feel bad. So at 3 o'clock in the morning, I set the alarm for 5.45 AM .

And yes, at 5.45 , I promptly woke up, took all my stuff and went back to the bedroom and got into bed. At 6 o'clock , my cousin woke up and her stupid friend ( who has invited herself to my place and has no intention of leaving anytime) switches on the tube light. Doors slammed shut, bags opened, doors shut....

I gave up.

At 6 o'clock , I got out of bed (not that I really ever was 'in' bed) and brushed my teeth and took a walk to church. On my way back, this creepy middle-aged man , in a silver Esteem kept following me. He'd slow his car down, and with his passenger side window down, move the car at my walking pace and stare and stare and stare. Dirty glares, nasty looks - nothing helped. He'd back into every by lane, watch me pass by and then get into the main road and follow me again. I was determined to not let him know where I stay. Thankfully at the bylane, I saw my my security guard David waiting around. I stood there and talked for a while with him and I think this made creepy-old-guy drive away.

And now I'm at work and super tired and sleepy and unhappy.

Thursday 18 January 2007

WFH

I was woken up rather cruelly, but unintentionally, this morning by my cousin and her friend (temporarily staying with me) who were getting ready to head for work. Lights on, bathroom door closing , shoes dropping, bathroom door closing , plastic covers crunching , bathroom door closing.... Aaaaaaah. I felt so sorry for myself and I missed my quiet mornings by myself terribly. (Aaah, what a grouch I've become).

Anyway , as soon as I heard the front door close, I went back to sleep and woke an hour later. My eyes felt like I had been crying the previous night. Which was strange, because I hadn't. I was in no mood to get ready and go for work so I fell back on the wonderful wonderful 'WFH' option.
Working From Home ... Ha ha ha ha !!!

And Work involved 5 episodes of Friends (thanks to peekvid ) , bloghopping, occassional napping, checking mails, Orkut, blogs.. All in all, it was pretty hectic.

Later, in the evening, I decided to go out for a walk . I walked to the nearby ATM and there was a long queue and I was standing around, singing, Don't Let Me Down... I noticed this old lady in the house next door, looking at me and generally surveying the area around the ATM , rather carefully, a little too carefully . She must have been in her early sixties, her hair was a dirty brown - white hair that had be henna-ed a long time back. After a while, she looked at me and very poitely said, " Can you move to the side a bit? Ya just to that corner" .... So I stepped away to the side, away from her. And the next thing I know, there was this mug full of dirty brown water that she empties right across the wall, right in front of the ATM, into the security guard's chair, which thankfully, was unoccupied. And then a flurry of abuses, which were directed at the security guard followed. "You bloody bastard, You're a security guard ! Do your job ! How dare you ! You sick fool !" and so on and so forth . And a few seconds later , another mug full of muddy water.. And more abuses.

It was so so strange and absurd and she was so angry and the security guard was just not reacting. I don't know if she was unwell or if he had done something really bad. But she sure was one angry lady.......

Saturday 13 January 2007

Masochist Me

Sometimes I'm scared of myself. Scared of this almost masochist nature of mine that attracts me to men who I know are completely and totally incompatible with me, my family, my background, everything about me. Men, who I know I cannot live the rest of my life with. Give me 100 men and tell me to choose and I think I'll probably narrow down on the least compatible, not-my-type, not-long-term kind of guy. I just don't trust my judgement and I read of so many women who made their own choice and are SO happy with it (for example, ALL the women in my J'aime list....).

How did they do it ? What should I be looking for ?
Like now, this guy in office that I'm currently very fascinated (?) by. He's just the kind of temporary fool-around-with type. Laid back, not much focus, very very different background. And yet, I have this weird attraction to him. More like a ooh-so-cute , ooh-ooh-ooh passing fancy. Maybe that's all that it is , just a passing fancy. But I'm scared that in the midst of all these fascinations and passing fancies , I might just -
a. mistake a passing fancy for the real thing
b. mistake the real thing for a passing fancy
c. just miss out completely on the real thing.
(ya , bullet points and all.. That's how real the whole fear is in my head)

Maybe I'm just being paranoid and I should have a little more faith in myself.

Friday 12 January 2007

Office New Year bash. Two glasses of red wine and I was determined to be sober. But I just couldn't resist the dance floor despite the crappy Himesh Rashimiya numbers. As long as there's some ding chik ding chik ding chik , I'm happy.

Beer and beef fry at Coconut Grove. Beatles and Sound of Music as accompaniments. Old friends. Beer after wine, not so fine after all..

And now, James Taylor , who reminds me of my father. And I know that as I get more sober, I'm going to wonder if I did anything stupid during the Office party... Hmmm, no I didn't. Since when did dancing become a sin , huh? So just for the record, ' No you didn't, you had a good, good time, ain't no problem with that'

Ya , I said 'ain't'.. I'm not sober........ yet.......

Edit : Very incoherent post, no more posting when drunk...

Thursday 11 January 2007



Oh ya , so I got really bored during the conference call.....


Wednesday 10 January 2007

Just Right For .....

Last Sunday, my cousin, met her potential in-laws at a local church. She went with another cousin and they met up after the Mass. Later, her parents called up the intermediary to find out what the potential in-laws had to say. It seems they said that she wasn't as TALL as they thought she would be .

How, how, may I ask, does a girl's height affect the compatibility of a couple? How does is matter at all? I have nothing against "arranged marriages". I don't have anything against "love marriages" either. But when arranged marriages get reduced to a sort of animal-trading business , that infuriates me.

However , the saving grace was that my aunt responded curtly by saying, " Well, we can't do anything about that , can we? Vallichu neettaan pattuvo? (we can't stretch her , can we?). "

Thursday 4 January 2007



A little late , I know, but I wanted to put this up for posterity !!





We were having an X'mas party at home and Amma and I made this crib together in the last minute.
I'm pretty proud of it . :-)





Wednesday 3 January 2007

Resolutions

This year I want to try and :

- not procrastinate (well okay, this post is a little late, but I was on a holiday and I was having so much fun , I just couldn't find the time to post but FYI, I did decide on this resolution on Jan 1st itself)

- not make lame excuses to myself for procrastinating (oh shaaddup ! )

- carry my own bag when I go shopping (this one is inspired by Guardian's award- winning resolution.

- eat a healthy breakfast and not have only coffee

- regain contact with old friends and STAY in touch

- not let my manager's mood decide my mood

- write at least one letter a month - yes, yes, snail mail. If not a letter, then a postcard.

That's a lot of stuff I know, I wonder if I'll remember them !!!!

Monday 1 January 2007

Sinking

A couple of days ago I , very unexpectedly, ran into my 'ex' (ooh I hate that word). I was caught completely off-guard and we spoke for a while, at least he spoke and I blabbered. It was weird and unsettling . Though we were talking to each other, it felt like our eyes were having some other conversation running parallely. And my mind couldn't seem to focus on either of the conversations. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, I couldn't stay for too long and the conversation ended pretty fast.

I came back and I felt like I did when we had just broken up. It's been 1 year, 3 months and 23 days since we broke off. And two evenings back , I felt like my heart was broken all over again and all the little pieces were floating around inside me and slowly settling to the bottom of my stomach.

My first propah New Year's Party !!!

Thanks to Aa I went for my first serious New Year Party and it turned out to be THE best party I've ever ever ever been to !!!

It happened in a little island off the coast of Cochin. We were told to wear a black top with jeans and meet at the Cochin Jetty. I think, we, the enthu cutlets that we are, were one of the first to turn up , dot at 9.30 . There was around 12 of us and we all boarded a little boat and were off. I was really excited but I didn't show it - 'Oh I do this all the time!'
It was a quick journey and we were greeted by the hostess and her sister and made to wear glittery poncho's over our tops and the guys had to wear silver tinsels around their neck .

The place was pretty. And I say that because no other word describes it better. It was quaint and well decorated and well, it was just so pretty.

So after the customary round of introductions, we went straight to the bar and I downed my first mug of beer. And after that everything else is a blur !!! Ha ha, no not really. AFter a few more mugs and when I started feeling like everyone was My Best Friend, we all gathered around for games ! Yes , there were games !!! And it was shit loads of fun, I'm really bad at describing things, (as you may have already noticed) , so I'm not going to get into that !

And then the dancing began !!! And I love looooove luhuve to dance, especially when I'm a Happy High ! And to top it up, they had Bhalle bhalle music which is currently what I love to shake to !

And we danced and danced and danced and danced in the New year and burst cracker and danced some more. And then everyone was really tired out and then they bring in the band. Yup, there was a band too, to top it all ! It was just two guys on the guitar actually, but they were really really good and sang really good songs - Dylan, CCR , Elvis and a lot more of my favourites !

And once everyone had recharged their batteries, WE HAD KARAOKE !!!!!
Ha ha, I'm still laughing thinking about it. Reading lyrics off a projector, with a video of a couple walking hand in hand along a beach, feeling the pain when singing Yesterday, fighting for the mike with Aa for 'Oh Carol', starting the 'Ooh ooh ooh-ooh ' a little earlier and stretching it a little longer for Imagine. Aaah, nothing is more rejuvenating than some good heartfelt karaoke !!!

And this continuef for a while, with the occasional break for the live band, then dhingchik dhingchik dancing, and more dancing .... and lots lots lots of beer....

And before we knew it was 5 in the morning and we were served strong hot coffees and sweets , the boats were readied and we headed back to reality.

What a party !!