Half Deccan Charger??

It has been a relaxing weekend so far and as i type this, i just finished watching 2 Telugu movies at one time ;-) Thanks to "maa" and "Zee telugu" for systematically providing commercial breaks so that we cud see 2 movies at the same time. I am sure you are thinking "Sak, you and Telugu movie? what happened to Jab we Met?? " ;-)

Guess What, I am on my way to becoming a "Deccan Charger" Didn't get it?...Read on!

One of my colleagues, infected-with-IPL-Madness; said : 'Sak, you are half Deccan Charger" LOL. and the reply I have is "I am quarter Mumbai Indian, quarter Chennai Super King, quarter Rajasthan Royal and a quarter Deccan charger and YOU are not even an IPL, FULL French from pondy ;)" - No Offense here buddy.

Anyways, being in A Golti family has been a different experience indeed. A switch over from Dal tadka to Sambar. From Rotis to Dosas. From jaggery to red Chilly. From chicken lollipop to gobi masala. From paya to drum sticks. From Butter chicken to mutter paneer. From "Woh rehne wali mehlon ki" to "some-random-Telugu-serial".. The switch has been good so far (until you find another post out here cribbing about it ;)..) and it is getting into my blood that I am apparently on the way to being a half Golti...

BTW, before I even attempt to get into the Telugu Race, my sweet Mom is already showing signs of belonging to one! with her mind blowing Telugu. She is been taking Telugu classes daily and when asked why her answer was..."To talk secrets with my son-in-law"...LOL ;) So, Mom when are you gonna teach me Telugu, so that I can talk secrets with you???? ;)

Yippppppeeeeeee!!!!

Today was a prelude to the Ramzan season, today was one of those holy days where we try to tone down our stomachs and control on junk intake! Today was a very slow and draggy day to FAST!

As a matter of fact, Fasting is not new to me, I have been fasting for required occasions since 5th standard, so no complains about it. The only difference is the drastic change in weather conditions since then! Today looked like an exceptionally hot and dry day! I almost survived the last 2 hours of the fast, i could hardly look at the monitor and concentrate on my work. And to top it all, I had to sit with trainees and help them while they executed test cases. I hope you understand my plight here..but overall managed it pretty well :-)

BTW, that' not the reason for the excitement displayed on the post title!!!

I have been struggling in no-blackberry-world for the past 5 days and let me tell you, the world seemed simply complicated! I was struggling with a Moto phone trying to type the keys thrice to type one letter (GRRRR) and unable to type the entire word either!! Me being an sms pro, totally suffered this part of the world. But thanks to a kind man in Mumbai, for promptly sending the replacement battery for my beloved BB and guess what...I am Back 2 BB :)) ...so that's why...YIPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Back pain is behind me!

One not-so-fine morning, I just could not lift myself from the bed. I was wide awake, but totally immobile. It was annoying and painful; It was a horrible back ache. Unable to wake up on time for work, I finally decided to take a day off, relax my strained muscles and pay homage to the Doc!

I think I should have just stopped with taking a day off and relaxing, because paying homage to the doc cost me lot more pain!

So, here I was, struggling to stand and brush my teeth, wear something random and walk out of my room like a robot! I still remember Vishnu smiling at me when i was doing a combination of limp, hop and drag at the same time in order to just walk! However, with his help, I successfully reached the destination - Doc's den! He examined and said "Strain may be"..and here is where my mind starts running.. Strain due to what? And the possible Options were..

A. Work?
B. Walk?
C. Table Tennis?
D. Cooking?
E. Bike?
F. Ahem!*

By the time I did inky-pinky-ponky to choose the correct answer, the doctor had prescribed some tabs for 3 days and said "Don't bother, you would be just fine!” I believed his words, took the tabs religiously and slept like a log!!! The day off was totally fruitful on the sleep front! Totally relaxed and made sure my back does not complain...My back was fine as long as the tabs kept going in, but once stopped, I still saw symptoms of back ache...but guess what, It was on the opposite side..Wonder if the tabs were designed to "move" and not "remove" the pain!

Anyways, now I am due to meet the doc and give him my prescription (dose) and ask him to cure it properly, until then, hail to amazon.com for providing the most comfortable bean bags at work!

* You need to be like me to understand this option!

I have a life...let me live!

I am trying to be totally "positive" about today - but somehow "today" doesn't want to reciprocate that feeling!

Today morning, I land up to work to find out that I have to give Kt about everything i know to the new joiners and I would be free from what I do (I donno what this means). Like an obedient student to my boss I went up to the training rooms to give the Gyan (I supposedly have) and find out that my students are already celebrating weekend!

I was kinda glad...until I got on to something else...

Yesterday, I spent the entire night to do the so-called Test case cleanup. I managed to do a lot and I tried to import my new-and-improved testcases on to the portal. They did get imported! – Phew...until...I saw that the imported stuff was TOTALLY MESSED UP! There were far too many bugs on the portal to handle my format of TC's and I felt terrible! ...Without losing hope, I gave it another try, which took me more than half a day and re-imported....but…SIGH! The newer testcases created more mess than before :-(....I struggled for the rest of the day to make it right, and I finally did!... Btw, in this whole Process I was using "Microsoft Word", "Microsoft Excel", "WordPad" and “my PORTAL! - All of these SUCK!

Now that I earned another relief, I picked up my phone to share the good news to my troubled husband! And guess what - My phone was dead!! It was beyond recovery, it refused to wake up and respond to me! - My phone was in coma :( The battery had conked off and I felt disconnected! I am gonna trouble the rest of the world until i get my phone live and kicking!!

All of this was not enough… My boss very casually informed that tomorrow is not a holiday for me! There is a freaking recruitment event and I have to be a part of it. GRRRR…. I am already getting night mares about the candidates who will try to spoil my vocabulary and testing knowledge :(

I hate it cos it ruined my lunch plans, car plans, shopping plans and bonding plans! I have stopped saying "Thank god it’s Friday" - Cos I am not looking forward for the weekend! – Not ANYMORE!

For the rest of you who are probably home by now, probably relaxing or staring at the TV, or probably cooking, or shopping or baby sitting or traveling, I am glad you are doing something else besides work and I wish you a very Happy weekend - May you live the weekend I want to!

SoSo

Signs Of Self Obsession
You are Self Obsessed when....
.....you see a group photo and all you are bothered about is how you look

You are Self Obsessed when....
...you keep staring at yourself in the mirror 10 times more before you leave for work.

You are Self Obsessed when....
...you compare every gal in town with yourself and then rate her

You are Self Obsessed when....
....you have mastered clicking your own photos on your mobile

You are Self Obsessed when....
....you say "I" more number of times than "We"

You are Self Obsessed when....
...you create a blog to blabber about yourself

You are Self Obsessed when....
....you still cut out your face from the "couple" photos to put it on orkut

You are Self Obsessed when....
....you think you are the best at everything no matter what the rest of the world thinks

You are Self Obsessed when....
....you are always talking whether somebody is listening or not!

You are Self Obsessed when....
...you cry when a huge pimple shows up on your face!

You are Self Obsessed when....
...The weighing scale goes up higher and you are like "OK, I am stil the Best" :-))

You are Self Obsessed when....
...You pick your own photo when talking about self obession :)

So - are YOU showing "SoSo"????

Interbiewing ebent!

He was the first guy I met at office today. I had no clue what he would turn out to be and I was supposed to evaluate him and recommend him for our team! Yes..I was interviewing him. As I was typing out his answers during the conversation, I felt strain on my ears and difficulty in reading my own lines! Later did i realize that I was typing the way he was talking and this is how it was:

Me: So, give me a brief about what you have done so far.

Him: I habe done M-Sh-c IT phrom allahabad unibershity and then completed MBA in Phinance. I worked as an inthern in Dhelhi and then got deputed to Tee Shee S. Aphter that i joined cognijant and now in Shathyam compooters.

Me: Oh ok. What would you test on a device?
Him: I will phirsht check iph it ish eajy to uje. Whether the applicason is running phine and the pheatures are working as per recurement (requirement)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I can't write phurther than this as most oph the coshtions aphter this are either conphidential or absolutely stressphool to my eyes and ears! I habe no intentions oph putting this person down, but I just could not bear it! I was switched oph in the phirst ten minutes and wash shtruggling to eben gibe philler coshtions.

Oh Gosh! Get me out oph this!!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.S.: Replace "ph" with "f", "sh"/"j" with "s" and "b" with "v". For further guidance please get in touch with me via comments ;-)

I am Pirated!..

This is a new trend in office; Forget to lock your Laptop and there you go! "You are Pirated". Thanks to my lovely team mates, they chose me as the first bali-ka-bakra to pirate! I (as usual) got too tempted with the offer of a TT game and carelessly left my lappie unlocked. After sweating and running across the table trying to play the game for half an hour, I got back and realized that an email was sent from my mail box to the entire team - Subj: "I am Pirated". As they say it in Hindi - "Sotein hue sher ko jagaya" (For the less fortunate: "Woke up a sleeping lion") - From then, I haven't left one single chance to pirate somebody else! - So far the count is 3 and I would have just added one more to my score if I had gathered enough courage to conquer my boss's cabin and pirate him! Better luck next time...

However, none of my team mates know that I have been a 'Buccaneer' aka Pirate for more than a year now! Didn’t understand? Here's the story...

Last Quarter of the year is the most looking-forward-to part of the year in iNautix (my previous company). We have our annual day celebrations and a whole load of competitions organized during that time. The entire organization is split into 4 big groups and the event has a theme on which every group has to innovate and compete. In 2007 it was a WAR FIELD; A war between "Gangsters", "Raiders", "Buccaneers" and “I-don’t-remember-the-fourth-opponent”. My friend Teeks (the jack sparrow of the group) and I were the captains of this totally crazy, charming, creative team called the "Buccaneers". We as a team totally rocked the place and left the entire floor speechless. We had a super gang of guys and gals with mind-blowing talent and wit! In fact our costumes on the day of the event set us apart; I wish I had photos to share – anyways, that day was simbly awesome!!! We would have won the trophy hands down if only it hadn't rained that day. All our vegetable carvings, paintings, backdrops, props, costumes got washed away. But it didn’t wash away our spirit! Winning or losing was separate from the fun we wanted to have and we totally had a ball!! From then my identity at office changed from "Sakina" to "Buccaneer Captain Sakina"

I am sooooo PIRATED! :-))))

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

"God gave us our relatives; thank God we can choose our friends" - Who ever said this, said it right! Our world revolves around our friends and that's why "You are what your friends are!” A lot of us have different opinions when it comes to "friends". Go ahead and ask very casually "What is friendship?" or "who is a friend?" and you would get answers like these (or somewhere close to these)

- Friendship is life!
- Friendship is the beginning of love
- A friend is a person who might forget my birthday but would be there crying when I die!
- A friend in need is a friend indeed
- A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are

For me, friends bring out the kid in me and allow me to be myself. I am the most comfortable with my friends, this is assuming that my husband, my sister, my cousins and my parents are my friends :). I love being surrounded with friends and hate to be left out! Totally appreciate and enjoy their jokes, their kindness, their surprises, their mischief’s, their brilliance and their love for me!

A long lasting friendship needs a lot of trust and involvement. For instance, think about how many school friends are you in touch with today? 1? 2? Many? How often do you meet them? Or at least scrap them on orkut or poke them on facebook? Do you know their spouse's name? How many kids do they have? Which city they are in? Making friends is very easy; keeping that friendship alive is equally tough. That's why the saying "Make new friends but don't forget the old!"

May you always have "Friends Forever"

No Post today

The day was uneventful. No good/bad news to share. No jokes to laugh about. No work related inquiries allowed here. No non-work related stuff to blabber. No wars in the TT room, No bugs to report. No lunch boxes snatched, No coke spilt. No cute guys to sight, no smart chaps to drool at. No new joinees, no ragging. No birthday celebrations, no cake cutting. No exercise, no diet!

The day was as normal as it could get. Couple of coffee breaks, more than a couple TT matches, a late lunch and lots of typing documents – this describes my day today and hence: NO POST TODAY!

Did I just post something right now?

Enjlish...

What if there was a universal change in the English language to change "g"(the way its pronounced) to "j"? i.e. English to become Enjlish?

"Oh My God" would become "Oh My Jod!" and "Good Girl" will be "Jood Jirl"? Hungry will be hunjry and gone will be jone!

English is a funny lanjuage - now the reason why I didn’t replace the "g" in the lanjuage is because g is already j!! Similarly in Bajjage, Damage, carriage, marriage!.. Phew I am confused! Why is Go not Jo? Why is got not jot? Why is get not jet?

Imagine a normal conversation endinj up in a mess:

A: hi! How are you?
B: I am Jood, how are you?

A: I am doinj Jreat! Lonj time no see? What are you doinj these days?
B: Oh Yeah, have been busy lately, jot into a janj of jerks - software engineers! And life is busy since then.

A: Jerks, why so?
B: they call "J" as "J"

A: So what's the problem?
B: I mean "J" as "J"

A: What's wronj?
B: Exactly, you just said Wronj! "J" as "J"

A: Iam not sure about your janj, but you surely are! I dont jet you at all!
B: Nevermind! JoodBye!

I promise, this is no exaggeration, my cousin (Maria) and I have created this :) we talk in "Enjlish" most of the times and she as a kid used to call "K" as "T" (Not Tidding ;-)..) and couldn't explain her problem as she tept sayinj "T" as "T"

Jot the Point???

LOL....

Stressed? Who me? No ways!

I don’t want to sound like a counselor who is trying to solve your problems. But if you are ever stressed out or frustrated or feel messed up. One of the following tips will surely help you. It helps me at least!

1. Go to the beach; take a walk (alone). Talk to yourself. Spend hours thinking about yourself! About what you want and what you don’t need. Let the sea sink into your mind, heart and body!

2. If you have a car, and there are nice roads in your city, then go for a long drive (alone again). Play your all time favorite CD and let the music simmer you down

3. Even better, lock yourself in your room and fill the air with blaring music. Dance along if you want and let all the stress flow down with the sweat!

4. If money is not one of the problems you are facing, go for a body massage or a spa. It is totally heavenly!

Caution: Never Ever, get into an argument. If you are stressed out, it’s your problem, not your neighbor’s. Make sure you respect other's feelings and don’t let your stress or frustration get on to other people's nerves!

The list to be obsessed about..

By now, 2 things are pretty clear - I love myself and I am self obsessed! Khi khi - Same Difference! Surprisingly I am obsessed with other things in life, besides being obsessed with myself! They are pretty few but I am glad I look around and like other things besides myself!

Read disclaimer below, before you continue reading..

DISCLAIMER: This list is not complete. This list is not in the order of degree of obsession. This list might be missing YOUR name since I respect your privacy. This list was prepared when I was totally Zombied! Any resemblance to your obsession list is purely coincidental.

OK, now that the legal matters are dealt with, I shall continue with what I set to write - My Obsession list.

1. Purple - The color I am zimbly crazy about. Show me anything in purple - A purple shirt, a Purple water bottle, A purple watch, A purple leaf, A purple tag, A Purple book, A purple pen and I would go bonkers over it. Thats the reason why my wedding reception saree was Purple! Trust me I literally begged for one!

2. Honda Civic - Sexy car, much sexier when painted purple. Ooooh la la.. I drool over that car man! The Car I ever wanna own!

3. DVD of Jab we Met! - The best Hindi movie I have seen till date (Ok...exaggeration!). The movie really caught my attention when I saw this totally crazy, witty, bubbly jabber box - Geet! Mind you, I have no liking for Kareena, but I loved Geet (The character). And the icing on the already yummy cake was SHAHID! A Superb movie and I Love it!

4. My Blackberry - Somebody said "This is an ugly phone" when they saw it on my hands. I hate you for saying that! It’s a beautiful gift I got and I am so totally obsessed with it!

So, you must be thinking - "Sak! You are materialistic"! Guess what, everybody is, but they never accept it! At least I don't go around killing and cheating people to get all that I want!

That's it for now...Over and out!

You!

If YOU were not there, there would be no rhythm
If YOU were not there, there would be no expression
If YOU were not there, there would be no melody
If YOU were not there, there would be no pulse
If YOU were not there, there would be no throb
If YOU were not there, there would be no life

Because YOU are there, I concentrate
Because YOU are there, I dance
Because YOU are there, I simmer down
Because YOU are there, I verbalize

YOU dissolve language barriers
YOU disclose innumerable feelings
YOU exhibit creativity
YOU motivate
YOU elucidate
YOU are Music...Music of life!

The dRiVe to DrIvE

It has been 4 years since I got my driver's license. Not so long ago, but pretty long to reserve a space on my blog :) Honestly, going through a license test was worst than writing my 12th boards. In fact, the test is no way close to being tough, its the torture before and after the test that drains your blood out! And if you have not applied via a driving school, you are in for getting robbed aka giving bribe

My story is a little different though. I did go via a driving school, and I was pretty confident I would get the license at the first shot! I was wrong. We (a herd) were asked to reach the RTO by 8 am in the morning and we, as obedient students, all reported by sharp 8. I was on my scooty and waited forever! 8 became 9 and then 10 and 11 too, but no sign of the so-called RTO-Inspector. I was getting restless and had no more patience left - Try waiting in the sun in Chennai for 3 hours on the road doing nothing! Anyways, this jerk (The Inspector) showed up at 2 in the afternoon. That time, We were all starving to death - As somebody I know very aptly conveys "paseele praanam pogudhu". The jerk started scrutinizing everybody for no reason and got all of us nervous. By the time i got my turn, I had no energy left to even sit on that toota-phoota bike. With little strength left i started driving and making the "traditional 8" with Kinetic Honda and before i realized, i had lost balance and the sand on the road was on my face...Embarassinggggggggggggg! I conveniently blamed that failure on the Jerk and walked out...tired!

I was the favorite student to my teacher and he was disappointed to see me like that! I kept showing off on my scooty during the entire training and when the "D" day came I failed! I had no intentions to go back to that place and see the jerk again, but the Drive to Drive, left me with no choice. I went back (1 month after that episode) and tried my luck! This time again, we waited for HOURS for the Inspector to show up and until he did, I went in circles trying to perfect the "traditional 8" on my scooty. Did I mention? The test was both for bike and car :) and I had no practice with the car for almost a month. So, finally some guy showed up late in the afternoon and as I was a "re-test" student, I was asked to start first! Wah what a faith! So very confidently I sat on the same tootha-phoota bike and drove the "8" almost perfectly! Yipppppeeeeeee!Applause! Applause! Applause!

Hey, the story is not over! I still have my car driving test...

After an eventful bike ride, my confidence level had boosted up and I was all set to hit the road in the car! Mind you, this was the first time I was driving the car without my teacher next to me (controlling the brakes from his side :-)..). So, here I was sitting at the driver's seat and the ugly looking inspector next to me, my teacher behind. The Start was pretty good and I was going smooth until he asked me to take a "U" turn on a narrow road! Believe it or not, I used the reverse gear 4 times before the "U" turn was complete and I was almost sure this time is gonna be a failure too! Guess what, I was wrong again :)

God knows what was in the Inspector's head, he approved my license :) I was so relieved i was flying-without-wings :) I drove back home proudly on my cute little scooty pep and never turned back to that not-so-inviting place ever! Phew!

Love for 2

Wonder if you can fall in love with 2 at 1 time. One tall and the other short. One dark and the other fair. One cute and the other handsome. One stylish and the other smart. One slow and the other fast. One cold and the other hot! One naughty and the other is not!

Besides the differences, both have similarities too..both don't react to a jump start, both don't make noise for something nice. Both are head-turning-material, both are pricey (in Tanglish you call it "caastly figure"). Both have sexy color. Both are comfortable to be with. Both are sensitive. Both are lovable. Both have got my attention!

Forgot to mention..One is the Hyundai i20 and the other is the Fiat Linea - what were you thinking?