self obsession personified!

The 1

2012-01-01T01:13:00.000+05:30

Now this one is the most hyped blog post of the year. I finally got myself to complete the 6 day marathon of blogging ...Excited, thrilled and what not. Now this elated feeling doesn’t seem to be helping me at all. I have no idea what to write, how to write and how much to write! :(

So today there is no list. Obvious, 1 item on a list is actually not a list, or may be it is? But what the hell, the point is I am not really planning to write a list at all. But I would complete this countdown with the most craziest thing I have ever done in my life.

The craziest thing I did is probably not new to many of you. But I take a lot of pride in it because I managed to pull this off and show the world that sometimes just following your heart and doing something crazy is all you need to do! This crazy thing took me 5 long years of consistent persuasion and commitment. This crazy thing helped me become stronger and bolder. This crazy thing made me half mad and completely insane ;) This crazy thing is not really a thing :)

The craziest and the best thing I ever did in my life is marry Vishnu :-) hehehe.

Happy New year Guys :) Have a great 2012. And its not the end of the world yet :)

10

2011-12-31T00:17:00.001+05:30

It was nice to see all the good responses I have gotten so far on my new year countdown blogs. Thanks guys for keeping me motivated :). Today I have numerous ideas on the 2 list. Some are mine, some are from my friends and some from the universe ;). So right now, the "dharm sankat" is, what the hell do I write about? Zimble. Everything!?! :P . So on popular demand, this list of 2 is actually a collection of 2 lists. Don’t worry about the math, just read on! :)

2 best films I saw in 2011: Out of the very few movies I saw this year, it is a difficult job to pick the best 2. Especially when you are a big Bollywood Fan and when Bollywood is hell bent on producing mind-blowingly awful movies. So, after a lot of scrutiny and deep thought, here are the 2 best movies I saw in 2011 - Kungfu Panda 2 - "Po" the Dragon warrior is simply the cutest, funniest, naughtiest, wittiest kung-Fu master I have ever seen in the movies :) he is totally adorable and all thanks to Po, the movie is on my top2 list ;). Second in line is Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara - Kabir, Arjun and Imran set out for a trip of a lifetime and discover themselves in the process. The movie has great locations, dialogues and songs. My favorite character in the movie- Imran Habib aka majnu aka Farhan Akhtar:)

2 worst films I saw in 2011: Now that the best ones are out of the way, I think its far easier for me to pick the worst ones. The movie which wins this gold medal is Dum Maaro Dum - I mean, why cant somebody please give Aby baby some shaving foam? And what exactly is Bipasha trying? Oh and why is Deepika even dancing on that song? Sorry, the most relevant question comes now - What is the movie about? This movie was such a Maar and no Dum!! The one with the Silver medal is Pirates of the Caribbean 4 actually I was going to say Transformers 3, but I think Penelope did a better job showing her pouted lips than Rosie :) (pun intended). Can somebody please tell me why the pirates who are good at battling in the sea and conquering other ships go behind a goddam fountain of youth?? Seriously this movie was such a failure!

2 best reunions I had in 2011: I have had some very good reunions this year with some old friends, some of my cousins and some of my old colleagues. So the 2 get together' s I totally cherish are "The cousins day out" in Feb2011 - I think this was the best outing I have had with my cousins Rashida and Mariya :). The second one is actually a small meet up with Rohini and Nivy :) We spent like 2 hours in Baskin Robins but had a great time playing around. Ro - please send me pictures :P

2 top achievements in 2011: This is slightly tough. You know how difficult it is for me to boast about myself right? That too publicly on the internet :P hehe. So getting rid of all my sharm and haya, these are the top 2 things I achieved this year. First, this is a joint achievement between my sister and me. Yep, you guessed it right - Mom and Dad's HAJ! We (Maryam and I) had a sense of satisfaction once they returned from Haj, a feeling of comfort that we could finally make this happen :). The second one is on the lighter side. I did my first ever snorkeling in sea during my trip to Andaman's. It was seriously an achievement as I was a little worried that I might drown and kill some fishes in the sea ;)

This is my 2's list for this year, and since I am running short of time, I will end my blabbering right here and welcome the last day of the year with this blog post :)

P.S. There are 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't

Thireeeee

2011-12-29T23:59:00.000+05:30

So far, you have read the "Six" places I want to visit, the "Five" things I wish to do and the "Four" movies I like the most. Today the countdown is sitting at number 3 (oh man, I am so brilliant to figure that out, right? :P ). When hubby and I decided on the "Three" list, it sounded crazy. We decided to make a list of "alternate profession" we would have been in if not IT. This list does not qualify as a wish list or most wanted list but It is plainly a list contemplating how our life would have been, if not the way it is!

Now, the question is, If not an IT professional, then what would have been my profession? or what I would have done for a living? As a matter of fact, a part of this list has already been covered in one of my earlier blog posts. And just incase you feel that you have heard this story before, you have probably been following my blog for the past 3 years and still haven't given up on me :-) Ok, so back to what I set out to write, here is my list of 3 professions I would have landed up in if not IT/Software/Testing/Whatever!

The profession which wins hands down is "Fashion Designing". I had very well explained on my blog "if <> QAE then" that the one and only passion I ever had during my school days was fashion designing. Looking at all the glamorous models walking on the ramp wearing a designer's creation completely excites me. This is one profession which needs loads of creativity and attitude to design something out of the world daily! I still design my own clothes and mom thinks I am good at it :-)

Ok, after the gaga about the love I have for fashion designing, I would like to introduce you to my second passion. This one is close to my heart. Hubby and me met because of this. May be that's why I can probably see myself being in this profession. Yes, I am talking about Dancing! I have been dancing from I don’t know when. In school, in college, at work (not my current work place), I have danced solo and group and won some competitions too :). Dancing is more like a hobby to me, but who knows, if I had been a little serious I would have been a pro!

2 down and 1 more to go, this profession is a little of the serious types. Imagine a lady walking in Saree with big soda glasses and a pile of textbooks in her hands. Now imagine her walking into a huge room and everybody stands up to greet her "Good Morning Miss' :-) Get it? - I would have probably become a teacher and spent my time teaching kindergarten students :-)

There you go! The 3 alternate professions I would have gone for :-) I actually had a fourth one but its not something which can be tagged as a profession. If I had the guts or the inclination I would have probably joined the Indian Army. But I clearly don't qualify for it, so I am going to leave that thought aside and end this list with a small note. This list is not a "WANT" list and I am no way indicating that I don’t like what I do right now :). And btw, "Thireee" is actually my grand mom version of three :P

Ciao! :)

Four

2011-12-29T00:30:00.001+05:30

Confused, distracted, perplexed, bewildered, dumbfounded – This is exactly how I felt when I started writing this blog post. This list of four "whatever", has taken more time to think than write. Yeah, strange but true, I was actually out of ideas to write on my blog! What else can you expect from a poor soul with so many synonymous feelings ;)right? However, the good news is, I finally got my hands, mind and heart to write something and entertain you :)

Before I reveal the theme of my list, there is something I would like to ask you guys. If you are in a similar mood as mine, what would you do to get out of it? Go for a walk? Call a friend? Watch TV? Eat something? Listen to music? Or……..Watch a movie? I do many of these, especially the listening music, to be more specific, listen to one single song in a loop :-). But there is something which is very typical of me: I repeatedly watch the same movies :) I have a set of favorite movies, which I watch not once, not twice, not thrice but "N" number of times. I guess you got it, I am going to list my 4 favorite movies :)

My boyfriend back then and husband now gave me this movie DVD as a birthday gift. So crazy I was that I watched this movie every night for 4 months from start to end without skipping a single scene or song. I literally know the dialogues of the movie by heart and actually play the role of the heroine while watching the movie :P. "mein apni favorite hu" tagline present under my blog heading was taken from this movie. "Bhaisaab aap convince ho gaye ki mein aur bolu?" No brownie points for guessing my most favorite movie :) it is the one and only "Jab We Met" - I still have the DVD and anytime I feel completely lost and low, I choose to watch this movie :)

I saw this movie during my flight to New Jersey 4 years back. The usually boring and butt aching flight from Chennai to France to NJ made me browse through the movie collection provided in flight. A bunch of Hindi movies, some Tamil and some English. I tried to pick one which sounded light hearted and went for "27 Dresses". Jane, crazy about weddings, serves as a brides maid 27 times and finally has to arrange a wedding for her sister who is getting married to the guy she secretly loves! Cliché you might think, but the movie is damn cute, and you know who is cuter? James Marsden! Totally adorable movie with totally adorable James :)

Hiccup, A hapless young Viking who aspires to hunt dragons becomes the unlikely friend of a young dragon himself, and learns there may be more to the creatures than he assumed. - This is what imdb has to say about "How to train your Dragon". Vishnu and I have seen this movie many times and whenever we see it, we enjoy every bit of it. Hiccup and toothless (the dragon) have reserved a special place in our hearts. Hiccup who is considered as an odd man out in the Viking crowd becomes friends with the Night fury Dragon and finally turns out to be the bravest Viking of the lot! Awesome movie to watch if you are a fan of animated movies :)

Last but not the least, reserving the 4th spot on my most favorite movie list is…..wait for it :). She is educated, sophisticated, ambitious and passionate. He is clueless, jobless, senseless and totally bhukkad! He meets her at a wedding , follows her in the bus and gifts her a DVD of her own dance. She completely hates him as he laughs at her "binness" plans and refuses to partner with him. She created "Shaadi Mubarak" and he tried "Happy Wedding". I am talking about Bittoo and Shruthi in "Band Baaja baarat" :). Awesome songs, superb chemistry and dhinchak dialogues. Perfect masala movie to end my list :)

Phibe! :)

2011-12-27T23:06:00.000+05:30

5 days to go for 2012 and 5 more posts on the blog to hit a century :) though I would love to welcome the new year partying I have a feeling that I would probably be writing a blog post when the countdown begins :-). Actually! Not a bad idea at all :P. Whether I party or not, one thing is for sure, I will complete my 100th post on this blog on New Year’s Eve :-) With that hope and spirit, here is my list of 5 things I wish to do :)

Streak my hair purple: I am crazy about purple and all its shades. I have collected loads of purple stuff in my wardrobe and have never gotten tired of adding something new. I have driven shopkeepers mad asking for a specific purple shade dress or purse. In fact, my parents simply jump at the sight of anything purple saying "Sakina's favorite color". Recently when I walked into the beauty parlor, I spotted a huge Schwarzkopf hair color poster with a lady having purple highlights! And boy, did I get tempted? Yes! I sure did! I decided to streak my hair purple or rather highlight them on my 30th birthday. But...I couldn’t and that’s why this one goes as a top item on my wish list :)

Buy a Purple Honda Civic: I love Honda Civic! The sexiest car I have ever seen and dreamt off! And the sexiness just gets sexier when it’s in purple! Most of you who know me have seen me getting completely distracted when I spot a civic on the road, especially when it’s purple! Oh and I also have a Civic poster on my desk which acts as a Motivation factor! ;) I just hope I get my hands on this car before the Honda guys decide to make it ugly :(

Get a Tattoo on my neck: Ha! This one is recent too. I remember hating the idea of torturing yourself and permanently encrypting something on your body. But hey! We permanently have ear piercings even though they tend to hurt, so what’s the big deal with a tattoo then, right? :) I want a nice cute small tattoo done on the back of my neck :) preferably in purple :D Any designers?

Write a book: From the time I started blogging, I have been wishing that one day I will write a book. I have written a lot about myself on this blog, may be one day I will publish an autobiography ;) or may be my love story or may be about purple ;)! Who knows one day I will be the next popular writer in town. Hehe :)

Open my own boutique: Fashion designing has been my dream for a very long time. I still hope that one day I will officially open a store and sell clothes which are “branded” by “Sakina” :) A day when people would come to my store and are ready to pay a fortune for my designer Saree” :). A day when people passing by my shop look at the mannequin and say “Awesome Ghaghra”! Well I can go on and on, but you get the point right?

Here is wishing that at least one wish out of this wish list comes true before I die :)

Six!

2011-12-27T00:09:00.000+05:30

I have always loved travelling, I have never hesitated to pack my bags and just go out there and discover the world. Be it a leisure trip, or a trip for a friend's wedding, or a small weekend getaway; I am the first to volunteer and probably the one organizing too :) After I got married, Vishnu and I have tried to make a list of places we want to visit and then pick up a place whenever we are ready for a Holiday :) That's exactly how we landed up in Andaman’s earlier this year :). I do have a very very long list of places I want to go to, but today, 6 days to 2012, I wish to list the 6 places I absolutely want to go/visit :) (Actually my hubby is making the same list and trust me, the places are different ;) hehe)

1. Tajmahal in Agra, India – As one of the travel guides mentioned "There is nothing as beautiful as viewing the Taj by moonlight" - that's exactly what I want to do. Go to Agra during a full moon night, get special entrance tickets, sit at the Taj and enjoy the silver shine around the building! Absolute beauty!

2. The Pink City - Jaipur, capital of Rajasthan! Place filled with Mahals and palaces. One of the finest planned cities and a city of royal ancestors. I want to go for a weeklong tour to just Jaipur and walk into every palace built there, eat the bajre ki roti at a local restaurant and get myself dressed up in a Rajasthan costume :)

3. Kerala Backwater tour in a huge houseboat :) - This place has a movie connection, remember the Jiya Jale Song from Dil Se? I want to do a 3 day long trip from Cochin to Kumbarakom and simply enjoy the lush green view around me.

4. Venice, Italy - The first time I came to know of this place is when I saw one of the most romantic songs from The Great Gambler, Do lafzon ki hain Dil ki kahani . I surely want to do a romantic boat ride in the city of Water :)

5. The Alps, Switzerland - I have seen this place only in Karan Johar movies. I want to play with the snow, do lots of skiing, and go on the cable car and roller coaster rides on the snow!

6. The Grand Canyon, Arizona US - What can I say, when my dad told me about his experience here, I quickly made a note that I have to make a visit there. When I saw the move 127 hours, I was convinced that I wanted to visit this place before I die :) I believe that the sunrise/sunset view is simply spectacular.

These are not the only places I ever want to go to. I do have another list of short trips I want to make, but for now, these are the 6 most wanted places I ever want to go to :)

Why I like to be in Chennai

2011-12-12T23:59:00.000+05:30

Recently lots of my colleagues crib about how much they hate/dislike Chennai. Thanks to my non-Tamilian look, people often assume that I would second their feelings and have a similar story of how this place ruined my social life or rather LIFE! Nothing personal against the people who don’t like this city, everybody has their right to liking or disliking something, however, this outburst from my colleagues really got me thinking, is this place that bad? Well my immediate answer was - No! "Why do you like this place Sakina?" you may ask. My answer - this blog post :)
- Chennai is what I call "home". I have had the most memorable memories, the best school life, the most fun filled college life, an interesting career and a very filmy love life. I have lived most of my life here, and do not mind living the rest here. In simple words, I am born and brought up here.
- I believe that this city is one of the safest places in India, especially for the girls. Try going on your scooty at 1 am in the night all alone in some other city and be sure to reach home safely. I have done this many times right here with no fear!
- The weather - yes! I mean it! The weather! (I can totally imagine your eyes pop out reading this). They say Chennai has 3 seasons Hot, Hotter, Hottest - Agreed. I rather enjoy being under the hot sun getting a tan, than wrapping myself in half a dozen layers of clothes. I rather have bath with normal tap water than from a boiling geyser. I rather sweat it out and get my body to cool down than freeze to death in snow. I rather enjoy those few rainy days with joy, than to carry an umbrella/rain coat daily and suck at it! I rather fall sick just once a year during change of weather than be sick all through the year due to erratic change of weather daily!
- The beaches - the world's second longest beach is in Chennai :) - well keeping that fact aside, having a beach at a driving distance is luxury. Beaches are a good way for me to unwind and a good adda to catch up with my friends. I don’t need a food court at the mall to meet someone; I would rather go to the beach with them and eat roasted peanuts instead :)
- The simplicity - the people here are simple and grounded. No show off, no bull shit. People here don't expect too much out of themselves or each other and are happy with what they have. None of us ever missed KFC, or a McD, or EA mall 10 years back.

This place is not perfect and has its flaws. But the point is, which place doesn't? I guess every city, every town, every village has its own good/bad and people who live there (or decide to live there) just see the brighter side of things. This city is special to me and will always be no matter what other people may think about it :)

Rocking Rockstar!

2011-11-23T10:37:00.000+05:30

Saw "Rockstar" movie in the weekend and couldn’t stop thinking about it since then. I had already read the reviews of the movie and had gone with very less expectations in terms of story line. The first half of the movie was fun and entertaining. The second half was a little weird. Actually some people termed it depressing and some call it boring. I call it intense.I wouldn’t say that the movie has a very strong story line, but it surely has an effect on its viewers. The mad love, the passion for each other and the suffering both Jordan (Ranbir) and Heer (Nargis) go through when they are apart left me in awe.

The movie demands patience and concentration from the viewers and if by any chance you have come to pass time, this movie is surely not for you! There are several reasons I personally liked the movie, but the one single reason which will make me hate it is Heer! Oh God! What was Imtiaz thinking when he chose her?! Yes! I am allergic to women with pouted lips, and I have a reason too! They are too busy showing the pout that they forget the rest of their face is needed for something called "expressions", and the fact is, their pouted lips wont fulfill the expressions required out of them! The only time I think she acted well in the movie was when she was in "Coma"! No offence to all the fans out there, I really think that she needs some serious acting classes (actually dancing too) before she re-appears in another movie..

Anyways, I am going to completely ignore her presence in the movie and move on to why I really liked it :).
- First, I am a great fan of Imtiaz Ali after his creation of Jab we met. If you know me a little, you probably know how many times I have seen that movie ;-). When I came to know of Rockstar, I was just hoping that Imtiaz will create another masterpiece. I must say it doesn’t replace the love I have for Jab We Met, but he did create a masterpiece :).
- Second, the Rockstar music is extremely addictive. Rahman has done complete justice to Jordan's role and the theme of the movie. The album doesn’t have any dhinchak or item song, but it has some very unique notes :).
- Third, the lyrics; I am a very lyrics person, especially when it comes to Hindi Songs! I don’t mind listening to loads of Tamil songs without understanding them, but it’s a little different when it comes to Hindi. Rockstar song lyrics are simply awesome. Irshad (The lyricist of Rockstar) has added amazing words to Rahman's music.
- Fourth, Ranbir! Oh Boy, can Ranbir act? Darn he can! What a performance in this movie! from the ultimate loser in college to the self-destructive Rockstar, he played every part of the role perfectly! I mainly like the movie cos of him and his portrayal of "Jordan" :)

So what is your reason to love or Hate this movie?

A dream come true

2011-10-06T17:36:00.002+05:30

They say dream hard, dream a lot, dream something which will wake u up and make u achieve it, dream something which will bring tears to your eyes when they come true.

I spent the whole of last weekend with my parents. I got pampered and I pampered them. Mom was busy packing and I was busy executing her orders (hehe). Dad kept filling the house with savories, vegetables, eggs etc. for Zenab (she is going to be staying alone while they are out). I must tell you it was the funniest and most memorable weekend I have had. Oh btw, you must be thinking why I start about dreams when all I wanted to do was spend time with Mom and Dad? The actual dream was my parents’. They wanted to go on the pilgrimage that every Muslim longs to go on, the pilgrimage which has the most importance in any Muslim’s life. Yes, Mom and Dad were finally going for Haj!

When my sister and I started to work, our first and foremost goal was to get the family in good financial shape. Well we almost achieved that so we jumped to the next one and that was "Send Mom and Dad to Haj". We have been planning for this day for god-knows-how long. Beginning of this year, Maryam and I made up our mind that we will send Mom and Dad to Haj this year no matter what. The "no matter what" attitude really helped all the four of us to make it happen. There were a lot of people who had applied for Haj and we were just praying that our parent's application gets approved. It didn’t :(. But Mom didn’t lose hope, she went ahead and took all the possible recommendations to the Haj organizers and Mullahs and followed up every day to get their name approved. Fortunately (or unfortunate for somebody else) there was a cancellation and Mom and Dad got their approval! Hurray!!

After that Mom single handedly did most of the prep. From preparing a list of things needed to going for shopping and getting them :). She was motivated and enthusiastic, she was happy to see that she would be finally going for the trip she always dreamt of. Dad started his process of wrapping up work, so that there would be no unfinished business when he was out. Maryam and I were there to help wherever/whenever needed :) In fact, Mom and Dad were well prepared a month prior to their travel dates and the last few days before the trip were simply spent in spending time with each other and relaxing :)

Just the day before the travel, I felt anxious; I was worried about my parents having a safe trip. People who have been to Haj before have told loads of good and bad stories. They say going to Haj is life changing and I was hoping they would just be fine. This year they are expecting around 35 lakhs of people there, huge enough crowd to get lost and never be found :(. I am sure Mom and Dad are equally tensed. But they are being brave enough to make this trip.

On Monday Morning (Oct 3rd 2011) Mom and Dad woke up early, said their prayers and started getting ready for the long trip. They had to be in complete white from head to toe; White burkha, white chappal, white specs (the thread), white bag. It was an absolute overwhelming moment to see the dream come alive :). It surely brought tears of happiness in our eyes. Here's wishing them a successful and a life changing Haj!

Horn OK Please!

2011-08-04T22:48:00.000+05:30

Like most of you know, I drive an awesome looking, jaw dropping, sexy car called Hyundai i20 (sorry i had to exaggerate for my own ego boost :P). Lately this piece of metal has been blessed with a unique feature. This feature is not available on any of the cars on Indian roads as yet (so proud!). It enables the driver to be humble to the fellow members on the road and also provides a kick of adventure sometimes. We actually go to the service center every 3 months and leave a note of Thanks for the "engineers" who make this possible for us and the special attention and the continuous support they provide.

For those of you who are envying this special blessing my car has - stop right there! I was talking about the presence of a silent horn or rather the absence of one! We have this pattern with the car. First week from the service center, car is screaming at the top of it's voice, scaring everybody on the road! second week and the car is still loud but now singing melodiously. Third week and there are symptoms of cough and cold. fourth week the throat is so bad that it makes a hoarse sound instead of sounding like an actual horn! Fifth week there is absolute silence! From then on, the car plays a "dumb" role on the roads!

Life.....

2011-06-04T22:49:00.000+05:30

Today is my in-laws 39th wedding anniversary. 39! WOW! First, wishing them a great wedding anniversary and many more years of togetherness! We celebrated today by visiting an orphanage cum old age home 20 kms from Tambaram - New life Old Age Home. We started off early and drove on good and bad roads to reach the small place. We spent couple of hours there, went around the place, said hi to the welcoming inmates, ate lunch with them, heard a very nice old lady sing and came back. all in all, it was a great visit!
This place is owned by a couple who left their Govt Jobs and started "New Life" with a small hut. Today the place has around 64 kids and 60 Old men and women. Aunty (Owner) spoke to us about all the challenges they face in the day to day operations of the place and how they need to struggle to keep the place clean and livable. She had loads of stories and experiences they are going through to run this place. Few of the surprising things I heard were "There are so many people ready to donate, "money" is actually not a problem, "man power" is the problem. There is nobody who comes forward for voluntary service. Everybody needs salary. Lots of youngsters promise to come on weekends and teach the kids, but not many turn up! They tried recruiting MSW (Masters in Social Work) graduates and they demand 25K per month salary as a start!".
Well that's the "kadwa sach". WE have no time to spend on anything which can help the society! And NGO's like these just keep struggling without much support! I left the place with a heavy heart after looking at all the nice and cheerful oldies staying there. I have never understood how some son/daughter would have the heart to leave their old parents in a place like this. There are so many inmates who are from well to-do families and lived a very great life until they were suddenly thrown out of the house because they were of no "use" to the family. These so-called "families" don't even bother to visit them or ask about their health. That's worse than the kadwa sach I just spoke about!
Anyways, at the end of the day my in-laws were happy that they made a choice to help them and celebrate their anniversary by spending time with them :)

Chai ni Chah

2011-05-02T00:27:00.000+05:30

Before I get started,Chai = tea and chah = liking.

It was our first breakfast at andamans, when Vishnu and I were enjoying the hot omelettes with toasted bread and a hot cup of tea! I was pleased with the breakfast served at the restaurant as they offered toasted bread, butter, jam, omelette and yummy tea. :) I dont know why, but a nice yummy cup of tea for breakfast makes my day! I was a big tea addict and now due to diet restrictions I have reduced to 1 tea a day (sob sob)
So back to the topic, of our lovely breakfast, I started enjoying my tea based breakfast and started telling stories about my lovely tea days (before marriage days to be specific ..;)..) and in the process re-discovered the lovely combinations of chai which I have personally enjoyed. I managed to consolidate this list within our half hour breakfast chat, and vishnu thought that I could write a thesis on tea and prove that tea can become the best side dish (in my case main dish) ever! :P

Here goes my list (in no specific order)

1. The most popular and obvious combination is Milk bikis biscuit dipped in tea (my team also enjoys this)
2. Marie Biscuit dipped in tea - Classy!
3. Butter biscuit with tea - Love it!
4. Rusk with tea - dhaba ishtyle (my style, apply butter on the rusk and then dip in tea!)
5. Toasted bread with butter spread and then dipped in tea - my staple breakfast during school days!
6. Porai biscuit soaked in tea (OMG my fav Ganesa bakery porai biscuits..Mariya are u listening?;)..)
7. Wafer biscuit dipped in tea (Another Ganesar bakery special)
8. Rumali roti, roasted on tawa with little oil (sidhpuri ishtyle: The roti soaked in tea is a desi breakfast for most of the sidhpuri bohri's)
9. Fried appalams with tea, and if you are a bohri, you would know meetha papad crushed in chai is super combination
10. Omelette and tea - yes, it is a great combo, ask my mom!

I am sure you would have heard one or more of these combinations for the very first time, and if you are a tea lover, try them and let me know how u find it :) My dear husband thinks that I can eat chicken fry and tea together and claim to be an awesome combination...haven't tried it as yet though ;)

The Cricket Craze!

2011-04-03T16:50:00.000+05:30

India is filled with Cricket fans! Instead of blood, cricket runs in the veins of Indians (that's the heights of fanaticism here). Last 6 weeks, most of the Indian youth (and the oldies) went through a lot of anxiety, restlessness and distraction. Thanks to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. From Media to politics everybody understood only Cricket language. Cricket was not only in the air, but also in their dreams!
Don't get me wrong here, Iam not trying to spoil the feeling of victory by quoting the extent of madness, I am a cricket fan too, just the level of fanaticism is slightly low. In the Semi's - When Indian team won against the Pakistan team - I jumped and rejoiced too (If I knew to whistle, I would have done that too). I clapped with excitement when Dhoni hit his winning Sixer at the Finals against Sri lanka. MS Dhoni was criticised for many of his decisions: Remember the disappointment when Ashwin was replaced with Nehra in the Semi's? All of us thought that we are going to lose so bad just because of Nehra's bowling talent! And then, what a performance, Nehra was the best bowler in that match and all the critics had to shut their big mouths after an awesome win!
Anyways, I am not technically sound with Cricket so I would continue to write what I am probably good at (stories). To make my point (again), I completely enjoy cricket, I love watching it with friends and family and also enjoy screaming for every 4 or 6 our guys make, and sometimes also dance in front of the TV when India Wins! Don't believe me? Read on!
This craze about cricket was introduced to me by my dad! He used to play cricket every weekend with his group of friends. I was very small then when my dad used to regularly go every Sunday to have a piece of cricket! When we got Cable TV at home, my dad was super excited about all the lovely matches he can watch in Star Sports with english commentary (I somehow hated the the painful Hindi commentary on DD). From then on, any Cricket match, ODI or Test, we used to watch as a family in the house!
The four of us (My parents, sister and me) are a bunch of enthu-patani's! We would do extra preparation when there was an India match going to happen. School homework would be done at light speed. Mom will make special snacks and keep it ready. Dad will close shop and come home early just to make sure he doesn't miss 1 second of the action. Our home was located in a central location (Parrys) where there were very small houses and loud TV sets. When the match starts, we could not only hear our TV blowing full volume, but the neighbor's too! My dad would get so involved and emotional that he would pile up Rs.2 to Rs.5 coins on the TV set begging the batsman to hit a sixer! (All that money eventually went to the poor). My sister and I would get comfortable seats on the Divan (a kind of couch) and start cheering when the match starts. We would also pick Hindi songs to sing when a sixer or four was hit!
During a typical India match, if India is losing too many wickets, Dad would pile up more coins and start switching channels (the logic was, we can avoid the evil eye on our players :P when there is so much pressure on them) and when the neighbors start whistling or clapping, we would know India is playing well and switch back to the sports channel ;). During a nail biting situation, mom would close her eyes and do a silly trick asking "India jeetse ke nai???" (The silly trick is matching her hands with eyes closed and if the fingers match right, we will win ;)..).
Yesterday, I was not in the usual craziness avatar and was watching the match very calmly, hoping that Dhoni will see me and play calm ;). When the champs won the match, Mom called me and congratulated with so much cheer that I went down memory lane! It was surely a nostalgic moment for me!

Here's for the team who won it after 28 years! Go India Go!

Dude! That was lame!

2011-04-02T20:45:00.001+05:30

It was a Friday morning and I was sitting at work all alone trying to catch up with e-mails and preparing my list of "to-do". In sometime, my team mate silently comes and gives a wicked smile. Not knowing why, I kept talking to him normally (Hi, Hello, How are you, How come early, blah blah). He just kept staring at me expecting something different from me. I couldnt understand why the look and asked him "what's up?". He asked, "Aren't you surprised?". I said, "Huh. Oh I need to say Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii how are you, good to see you, what a pleasant surprise that you came in early!!" animatedly. He looked surprised (of course) but had the same grin on his face with the same stare. I had no clue what he was up to, he said "Haven't you read my e-mail as yet?". I quickly turn back to my laptop and hunt for his email and this is what I see:

From: Team mate
To: Sakina Adeeb
Date Sent: Fri 4/1/2011 9:26 AM
Subject: Will be OOTO for a month

Hi Sakina,

I wish to inform that due to a personal emergency I’m flying to Canada today in a few hours. I would be OOTO for close to a month. Don’t really have time to give a call and explain, but will do so once I reach Canada. Please inform the team on the same.

Thanks,
Team Mate

I burst into uncontrollable laughter and almost fell off the chair. I told him "Dude, didn't you get a better idea to fool me? How lame of you. You actually wanted me to believe that you have relatives in Canada which can cause a personal emergancy, and you already have the flight tickets to go there in a few hours?"

This was one of the lamest ways somebody has tried to fool me on April Fool's Day.
Accept it dude, that was a sad attempt! Lol

Silence! I KillYou!

2011-03-30T23:19:00.001+05:30

If you are thinking that I am frustrated about something and am about to kill you, let me tell you, you are WRONG! I have cultivated this attraction to this new guy who is probably dead, looks like a Halloween decoration, has a huge skull and is also a terrifying terrorist :)
Didn't get it? Check this video out and you will know why the attraction ;)

Hope you enjoyed his jokhhhes ;)

Cousin's day out

2011-02-27T22:58:00.000+05:30

Today I had such an awesome time that after a very captivating and overwhelming previous post I decided to write about this moment of my life where I truly enjoyed! My cousins and I have been planning to meet up and do something fun for years now, but due to some silly reasons our plans would always go down the drain! This time, i guess the sun and moon and stars were all aligned well and we finally found a day when we could actually go out and spend some time with each other! My husband is out of town, Rashida's husband is out playing cricket and Mariya is currently single! And finally we got a very good chance for the ladies to bond :)
We started our "Cousin's day out" at 11:00am in the morning and ended at 6:30 pm :) In that time span, I drove a lot (I was the designated driver for the outing) Mariya was our DJ and Rashida was the caretaker (providing snacks, water and cash ;)..). We didn’t really plan our day completely and wanted to just let the day take us where it wanted to. We were on ECR and just crossed toll plaza and Mariya sprung up and said "Let's go to Dakshin Chitra" - Three of us had never really explored the place, so we readily agreed and landed there!
The three of us had completely lost it and instead of appreciating the "art" displayed in Dakshin Chitra, we were too busy exploring our art of photography! We had so much fun just clicking away :) We sure had the "Self-obsession" part common in all the three of us..hehe. We spent some time in the bangles making session and saw the artist make a very pretty bangle out of already broken bangles! I must say it was quiet a process, but the end result was awesome! As usual, three of us indulged ourselves in bangle shopping and picked a few good ones to flaunt around ;) We started hearing sounds in our stomach and finally decided to just leave the Dakshin Chitra tour half way and eat!

We drove to Mahabalipuram and ate at Radisson Temple bay. The lunch was pretty good and we also got chocolate based desserts on special request :) well the best part of the day started after the hearty lunch! We spent more than 2 hours at the beach playing with water, analyzing the tiny orange eyed crabs, measuring the tide, getting pedicure done with the sand, sitting under the sun with coolers on, feeling the breeze pass by, letting our hair tangle and our minds untangle, watching the firangs getting sun tan and of course taking loads of pics!
We drove back to mummy's place and enjoyed the refreshing tea and biskut with Mom and Dad :) This marked the end of our meet and we said good bye to each other wishing for more such memorable days :) Thanks Rashu and Mars - it was super fun! :)

Rambling thoughts

2011-02-25T23:40:00.001+05:30

Well here i am finally, trying to write what i feel like, but don’t think my mind is in the right state of mind to actually make my hands write something decent or something interesting to keep you sticking to your monitor and continue reading. While reading the below post, please understand that I am using this space to blabber and vent out some things which have bothered me for a while! This post no way indicates that I am depressed and need a counselor, so just read it and forget about it!
People say i have a perfect life! Well i don’t think anything is imperfect about that statement, but when i really think deep, i kind of tend to disagree. One day my friend told me "Sak, I envy you! You have a job every techie wants, you work on a product everybody likes, you married the guy you always wanted to, you got amazing in-laws, you have the coolest parents on earth, you are Miss Popular and you have whole load of friends!" Wow! First, I would like to say a BIG Thank you for summing that up! Honestly, I had no insight! But then, when i actually read that statement all over again, i feel if that's the case, i should be happy all the time and should be the most satisfied person on earth! Shouldn’t i? But at this point of time, while i am actually writing this, I am not in my best of moods and surely not close to being happy!
You may think, “come on Sak, what's wrong with you?” The answer to that is, “Nothing”! If life was always happy and settled, then probably i was not living! So, analyzing the statement my friend made, "I have a job every techie wants?" - I doubt! May be every techie wants to work in the company i work in, but surely does not want to do what i do every single day, especially my developer friends, they would completely hate it! "I work on a product everybody likes" - well I don’t want to use this space to comment on that! So let's move on..
"I married the guy I always wanted to" - Absolutely! No doubt about it, I wouldn’t have fought and consistently and patiently waited for him if i didn’t know that he is not the one! He is the best thing that has ever happened to me and will be! But the sad part is, he is in a job which makes him travel, i mean travel a lot! I hate it when his boss calls and throws a bomb on him and asks him to go to US for a month! I have to not only support his travel and help him out but also have to behave sensible and mature and understanding wife who will be ok to see him go for a month! uuurrggh! "I got amazing in-laws" - Well if the guy is good the parents have to be better :) don't you think? They surely are amazing; I have never seen such understanding and accommodative parents in-law! They have accepted me the way I am and my work and have never complained about it!
"I have the coolest parents on earth" - well not literally, but yeah they are! If not for them, I wouldn’t have gone for all the random treks, trips and weekend outings and had the small accident which got a permanent scar on my face! They were also supportive when i wanted to stop with 10th Std and jump into Fashion Designing! (But that never happened :(...never mind!) So, yes my parents are the coolest parents, they are the most welcoming and warm hearted people i have ever seen, they have never frowned when we had friends coming home to eat Biryani and Kulfis and never complained when they saw 50 ppl in the house practicing dance and ruining the carpet! Yes, i have had my share of tiffs with them too, and may be that way we understand each other better and I get to have a small say in what goes on in the house!
Moving on to the last one: "I am miss popular and have a while load of friends" - Yes and No! My husband keeps teasing me with this "Sak knows half the world, and the rest of the half knows her!" I don’t know whether to be proud about it or not! I feel ironic, the reason being, I have 650+ friends on my Facebook account, I had close to the same number before i deleted my Orkut account. I have 300+ contacts on my LinkedIn and my Google account is overflowing with 900+ email ids and all i was looking for is 1 friend! 1 friend with whom i can share every secret, who knows me from child hood, who kicks me when i am acting weird and pats my back when i do a heroic job! A friend I would call immediately when i have something special to share! I am a loner in this crowd! At the end of the day, everybody has their own life, their own priorities, their own groups and parties to attend! It’s easier these days to say "hi" on the internet than getting somebody to come and meet you! (No bajji, I am not talking about you!). I have been trying to get our college re-union done for more than 5 years now, in my last attempt; exactly 3 people came from a class of 65! My bro is trying to do a re-union of all ex-colleagues from our ex-company for couple of years now, and we always land up with not more than 4-5 people! Our outing plans with friends from work have been canceled many times because of other priority stuff!

Now, if this how my life is, I am surely not happy at the moment and surely want this blog post and the day to end. I feel lot better just writing this down and I know when I come back tomorrow and read this post, I would be having a hearty laugh! This is hoping for a brighter day tomorrow!

See ya!

Mom's 60th Birthday

2011-01-16T23:02:00.000+05:30

It was last week sometime when my sister pinged me and said "Machi what are you planning for Mom's 60th Birthday?" Honestly, I had no clue it was her 60th birthday, but now that i knew, I could not stay away from planning something special.
So Maryam and I went on a research mode trying to search gifting options, what to buy her, how to make her day special (especially when her birthday was falling on a week day - Jan 13th). Putting up a surprise? Well I had already done: Calling at 12 in the midnight, Making all my friends sms her the entire day, Arranging a surprise dinner; so what else??? While we were thinking of how to surprise her, we were lost in what gift to buy her. Dresses? - Naah Boring. Spectacles? - She has too many. Jewelry? - Expensive :(. Mobile Phone - she has one! (That was her last birthday gift). So here we were, lost and deprived of ideas :| and that's when thunder struck (ok, filmy!). Mom had recently broken her Motor Sewing Machine and we thought a replacement will be the perfect gift! Bingo!
Now that the gift part was sorted out, we were still thinking on the surprise. My sister was very confident on me that I will put up a good show and I had to keep up to her expectations :) (lol). So on Jan 12th I called up my dad and instructed him not to lock the main gate and leave the house keys in a secret place (known to me and secret to mom!). I wanted to make sure I don’t jump walls and get bit by the very alert street dogs! Vishnu and I got off early from work, bought a basket of flowers from our all-time favorite "Royal florist" (in Adyar) and picked up cake from Hot Breads. By now you must have figured out that we were planning to surprise her by just showing up! :)
My mom is an extremely inquisitive and alert person, one hint and she will figure out everything! So, I made sure not to call up at midnight and wake her up, that way she will lose sleep and hear us get inside the house. My sister luckily spoke to her earlier in the night and my mom didn’t bother to stay awake until midnight either. This means, the surprise will actually be fun! hehe
Vishnu and I landed up at her house by around 1 in the night, opened the main gate. The creaking sound of the gate was so loud that I thought mom woke up! We managed to open the house door and got inside. We got the cake out, lit the candles, arranged the flowers and then headed to mom's room. I quietly opened her door, patted her on her cheeks and said "Happy Birthday Mommy". She opened her eyes in Shock! the first thing she uttered was "How did you get inside? Did I sleep with the house open?". "Wow so many questions", I thought. I asked her to calm down and come outside to the dining area, she was pleasantly surprised! We did the cake cutting ceremony and got to the eating part as soon as we could ;) She kept repeating the same questions again and again until we told her that dad helped us get in! She finally showed signs of relief and started enjoying the surprise :) We handed over the cash needed for the sewing machine and promised to take her shopping soon! We took some zombie looking photos and was strictly instructed not to post them ;) hehehe. Finally, Mom's birthday surprise did turn out to be fun.

Happy 60th Birthday Mommy! :) Mwaaaah :*

De-Motivated Driver!

2010-12-22T23:50:00.000+05:30

Lately I have been dreading to drive on Chennai Roads. Why? 2 reasons:

Reason 1: Bad roads - All Thanks to the Rain Gods! Our Singara Chennai turned into an under developed town in 3 days! The city's bad infrastructure and careless maintenance was completely evident during the rains and this time we got leave from Work not due to Cyclone, but due to bad / non-existent roads! Ironic!

Reason 2: TRAFFIC!! Am not sure if any of you have realised, but Chennai traffic is growing by the day. Earlier, there was a meaning to Peak traffic hours. Now, mid-day during a weekend has peak traffic! There is always a Jam at S.R.P, Guindy, Ashok Pillar, T Nagar and where not! Even the prompt and up-to-date traffic updates on the Radio have lost their importance; there is a jam everywhere every day! I really hope Chennai is not on its way in becoming Bangalore! - Well not in all senses, but you get the point, right?

Hibernating

2010-12-19T20:01:00.000+05:30

I feel extremely stupid in ignoring my own blog for so long. This blog has given me the hope that I can after all "Write" :) I may not be the best writer but I can at least make sense to myself ;) So what has kept me away from this blog for so long? Lots of reasons :)
1. Work - All work and no blogging makes Sakina a dumb girl :( I have been genuinely busy with the new happenings at work and have found very little time to come here and pen a few words
2. My sister - Yes Mallu, All because of you :P My sister was here for couple of months and whatever time I got was spent on her. Don't worry babe I enjoyed every moment spent with you :)
3. No words - Seriously, I have been struggling to write something decent out here. There have been so many times when I have started to write something and then deleted the entire post in a jiffy!
4. New Venture - I shouldn't blame my new venture at all for this, but I have to mention what I am busy doing besides work, right? I recently started writing on my friend's website www.chennaiwithin.com. I haven't written much there, but I am sure I can contribute lot more going forward :)
5. Vishnu - My beloved better half! I don't feel like staring at my laptop and writing something when I have the option to glare at his monitor, pull his hair, close his mailbox, paint his nails (I did that only once on his feet) and disturb him while he is busy working ;)
6. Motivation - I kept feeling that nobody cares about my blog, or reading my blog. Then I knocked myself on the head and said "What the heck Sak? You never started blogging because somebody cared to read! You started blogging cos you wanted to!"

Hope I don't go back to hibernation and feel stupid again.. I want to write and I will :)

Tarkeebein!

2010-12-19T19:35:00.000+05:30

This song means so much! its like a Hindi version of "If there is a will there is a way!". The song has been running on my play list for 2 weeks now and I am still not over it :) Here are the words and the video of the song for you :)

Tarkeebein, tarkeebein kitni hai tarkeebein
Tarkeebein, tarkeebein apni hai tarkeebein
Satrangi sapne hai, atrangi tarkeebein
Tarkeebein, tarkeebein kitni hai tarkeebein
Tarkeebein, tarkeebein apni hai tarkeebein
Satrangi sapne hai, atrangi tarkeebein
Tarkeebein, tarkeebein, tarkeebein, tarkeebein

Sir pe maalish ke jaise hain mansoobe har dil ke
Ulje baalon se leke raaste hain manzil ke
Jaibon mein rakh le yaara, kanghi hai tarkeebein
Tarkeebein, tarkeebein kitni hai tarkeebein
Tarkeebein, tarkeebein apni hai tarkeebein
Tarkeebein, tarkeebein, tarkeebein

Hum kal se kal niptenge, jo hoga dekh lenge
Hum tas se mas na honge jo hoga dekh lenge
Thande pade jo haunsle sek lenge (sek lenge)
Ho ho chadte suraj ko chooke sek lenge
Ho tension vension kya hai bas maathey pe bal hote hain
Beparwah muskano se hi masle hal hote hain
Aazma le aazma le, changi hai tarkeebein
Tarkeebein, tarkeebein kitni hai tarkeebein
Tarkeebein, tarkeebein apni hai tarkeebein
Satrangi sapne hai, atrangi tarkeebein
Tarkeebein, tarkeebein, tarkeebein, tarkeebein

Satrangi sapne hai, atrangi tarkeebein

Bachpan se gyaan sunte hai, matt samjho life is easy
Itni bhi kya hai jaldi, thoda sa take it easy
Maana future se ummeedein toh lagi hain
Ho kyon na jiyen jo aaj mein zindagi hai
Ho mushkil ke dhabbon ko jam ke mehnat se dho lenge
Kamjoshi kaisi bhaiya hum saare nal kholenge
Aazma le aazma le tanki hai tarkeebein
Tarkeebein, tarkeebein kitni hai tarkeebein
Tarkeebein, tarkeebein apni hai tarkeebein
Satrangi sapne hai, atrangi tarkeebein
Tarkeebein, tarkeebein kitni hai tarkeebein
Tarkeebein, tarkeebein apni hai tarkeebein
Tarkeebein, tarkeebein

There is...

2010-10-28T19:30:00.000+05:30

There is an un-riped cherry on my nose
There is moist in my eyes and a change in my voice
There is a small pain in the grey cells and my body feels warmer than before
There is something running faster than my blood inside me..

OK! Stop imagining - I was talking about my cold and running nose!

It's just a movie!

2010-10-02T15:32:00.001+05:30

I like to save myself from controversies, so the disclaimer comes first!
This post just projects my point of view and is not meant to hurt your feelings or fanaticism.

There is this hype in the air. The hype is so overwhelming, that I feel choked! The hype is so strong that it irritates. The hype is so idiotic that it makes me write this.Actually, These days everything seems to be hyped up; CWG, Ayodhya Verdict, Malaika paid more than Sonakshi for an item number and then Rajini in Robot! Yeah, you got me right, what's with the Robot? People!!! its just a freaking movie. The whole of South India seems to have gone upside down since the day Rajini announced Robot release!
I have been a victim of Chandramukhi and Sivaji and I am not one of those blind die hard fans who is going to buy a ticket for this Robot! Yes, I know that most of you who are reading this are not part of my coterie and I feel sorry for you! Any film critic who rates the movie 2/5 is said to be a Kamal fan. How sad is that :-(. So, basically all you want to hear is awesome, super hit, Rajini's gift to God, The ultimate movie ever made - otherwise you are going to behave deaf and blind! So tell me, why is the world so mesmerized by this movie? It is surely not one of those out-of-the-world Avatar type masterpieces. Nor is it any of those witty 3 Idiots kinds. The answer is simple, it's a "RAJINI" Movie. There are folks ready to pay 800 bucks for a 1st row seat, and 400 bucks for just standing in front of the 1st row seat! I rather spend that money elsewhere!

Like I already said, Its just a movie after all, so Chill guys :)

The Maid Madness

2010-08-09T18:34:00.001+05:30

A lot of us here use the services of a house maid in order to cope up with household activities. Maids are these days an inevitable part of our lives. Most of the households have job-going family members and rely on the maid to take care of the household work.Throughout my life, I have always seen one maid or the other at home. During my childhood, mom taught me to call the maid with respect as "khala" (Khala in Urdu means aunt). I have never had problems calling them that, as they were extremely caring and loving. I had my favorite "Mahboob khala" who took care of me for God-knows-how-many-years. She was/is my favorite khala till date. I have never seen such a loving maid ever in my life. I do not remember why she ever left our house, but yeah, she still keeps in touch with us.
Gone are the days when you actually emotionally bonded with a maid, that is a long gone era. Now times have changed..Maids hardly turn up to work, and if they do, they disappear within no time!They demand money as if the money plant in the house has grown in kilometers! They have charges based on the locality you live in, if you are unfortunately staying in an "IT" area - you are dead! The maids there not only ask for a fortune, they have a very low retention too! The worst part! We making them a priority and "adjusting" our priorities and work based on their availability, see how:
- You try to be caring and make tea for her - she will come to work during lunch time!
- You Wanna go for movie? - Only after 3, the maid comes late and leaves only by 1.
- You Wanna take your mom to the doc? - OK, send her alone, somebody needs to be at home to welcome the maid!
- You Wanna go grocery shopping? - let's do it in the weekends! (the maid can help out in some vegetable cleaning)
- You Wanna go out of town? - give the keys to the neighbour and make sure the maid comes!

If all of this is not enough, there are more irritating things about them; it is their creativity with excuses! If you have dealt with a maid before, you would have heard of any/most of these:

- You are unwell and desperately want your maid to come - she wont turn up, and the excuse next day - Both my kids were at home and wanted to spend time with me!
- You have guests coming home and specifically request your maid to come early - she wont come! why? Cos her husband was at home and didn't let her come (what!?!)
- You call the maid's cellphone (Thanks to Ambani, every tom, dick and harry has a phone) - she doesn't answer, why? she forgot to recharge her phone balance!
- You are ready to fire her cos she has not come for a week - she comes back with the excuse that she went to kovil cos her husband was extremely unwell. (For a week??)

Bottom line, I am just too frustrated with my "beloved" maid and I had to vent it out here! My weekends would have been lot more peaceful and simple to manage if not for her! God bless her, her kids, her husband, her sister, her neighbour, her whatever for making my life so challenging!!!

365 days of Awesomeness

2010-07-13T17:53:00.000+05:30

It was back in July 2009 when a good friend of mine came about the idea of Blogging a photo a day - a 365 Picture blog; A blog which would capture all the funny, lovely, witty, classy, touchy and unforgettable moments all through the year. It’s been a year now since that idea, and little did I know that I would actually successfully capture 365 beautiful days in my blog!

Today my 365 blog celebrates a year and I have absolutely no words to express how happy and satisfied i feel! This blog had promised the world that it will live for a year and live to the fullest! And it has kept the promise! :)

On this emotional moment (nautanki sak!), I would like to take up few lines on this post to thank all the lovely people, animals and objects who made an appearance in my life and my blog! If not for all of you, my 365 days would have been just another year passing by.

Thank you dear friends, colleagues, family members, acquaintances for the sweetest smile and patience to pose for the snaps: Vasumathi, Subash, Jathin, Rashi, Mohit, Mummy, Daddy, Vishnu, Amma, Appa, Teeks, Ramya, Arun R, Deepa, Abirami, Naag, Senthil, Mariya, Kalyan bro, Ramya (ex-colleague), Preethi, Bajji and Shyama, Aji, Pavi, Mani, Arun (from Amazon.com), Ankit, Krish, Ravi Shankar, Mani, Gajendra, Shoaib, Yunus Uncle, Razia Aunty, Kindle QA Team, Digital QA team, Belin Giles, Gayathri, Rekha, Sudha, Karthiga, Praveen, Amitesh, Pranav (kid), Kiruthika, Anuj, Lata Aunty, Anirudha, Chandana, Nagaraj, Deepa and Pradeep, Bakul and Poorni, Vishnu's College Friends, Hyundai Sales Person, Shwetha Ramesh, Sunita

Thank you to all the non-living objects, the materialistic stuff which appeared on my blog:

- The selective cars: Vicky's car, Hyundai i20 (and all the scratches), Honda Civic, Subash's Car, Praveen's car.

- The "in" gadgets and the "Smart" phones in town: Benq HD Monitor, Kindle, my iPhone, my Blackberry.

- The yummy food and beverages served by the loved ones: Basundi, Pepsi, Sprite, Chocolates and their wrappers, HSB tea, Brownies, Choco bar, Mango Pudding, Pickles, Kulfi, Mysore Paak, Gulab Jamun, Pasta,

- The awesome India discovery: Kabini, Darjeeling, Sikkim, Pondicherry, Bangalore

- The movies from Bollywood, Kollywood and Hollywood which kept me entertained: Jab we met, 3 Idiots, P.S I love you, Chance Pe Dance, Paa, Karthik Calling Karthik, Ek Vivah Aisa bhi, Harry Potter, Love Aaj Kal, How to Lose a guy in 10 days, VTV, Ice Age 3, Monsters vs. Aliens, Wake up Sid, There's Something about Mary, Rajneeti, Raavanan.

- The various "hang outs" which I visited numerous times and spent some great time: CCD, McD, KFC, Fruit shop @ Greams road, Mocha, Don Pepe, Parfait 3, Gangotree, Pizza Hut, Little Italy, Donuts inc, Bela Ciao.

Last but not the least - To myself - for appearing in the most number of posts on the blog: D

P.S - The blog is still alive and kicking, but just catching up on age ;)

Hair cut - Again!?!

2010-06-03T17:53:00.001+05:30

It was back in November when suddenly I got my almost-waist-long hair cut into a "Bob". To me, this drastic change is not new and this is surely not the first time I got my hair chopped. My first big hair cut was back in school when I had very long hair (little below my waist) and the next day I walked into the class room with a boy-cut! The hair dresser was in tears when she cut them. Well, I had to do that cos of the never ending "lice" in my hair. I am sure all of us in school have had those dreadful black color creatures running on the scalp (yuck!! :-(..) Since then, I completely lost patience of growing and maintaining long hair and cultivated a liking of chopping my hair when it is least expected :)

The longest I have resisted and kept my hair growing was from Sept 2008 to Nov 2009. My hair grew pretty long and I kept longing for a haircut. Every time I stood before the mirror, I would ask myself - "Should I get a haircut?" and my mind would say, "Do whatever your heart says" and my heart would reply, "Do whatever your mind says". I ditched both of them and asked hubby, he simbly said "Cut it if you want, I wouldn’t mind either ways" - hmph! “Neutral answer” I thought. Then went to the Mom-in-law and hinted that I badly wanted to cut my hair. She said "Your wish dear, I like it both ways"; again the same kind of answer. One fine day, I finally made up my mind and got over my long hair avatar!!! Yippeee :).. and this is how I looked ;)

Trust me, I was so glad and excited about the new look! Almost everybody at home liked it (May be they were just nice to me). But when I returned to work, I got surprised looks and funny comments. People saw me in shock and moaned for my loss of hair. In a few days I felt bad that I actually cut so much of my hair and all my excitement of the new fringe and bob had drained down :(
It is 6 months since that happened and guess what - my mind is already thinking about a hair cut! (I told ya!!)....so I went to my favorite parlor, sat before the mirror and ordered - "Cut it!" - She asked me a zillion questions on what cut do I want?? How short? How small? How straight? How "U"? How "V"??...phew! After 15 mins - I came out with a new hair ishtyle...Tadaaaaaa! :)

This is so called "Layer cut" - Not so long, not so short. Takes advantage of my wavy hair and makes it look like a step cut :)..Now waiting for the world to react ;)

My first IA Experience!

2010-04-19T12:39:00.000+05:30

It was again one of those painful trips I had to take in order to satisfy the team needs and recruit more people into the forest! The office admin could not arrange for decent flights and we landed up with "Air India". I have personally never travelled in an Air India flight, I have of course heard a lot of people literally swearing on the service they provide but have never taken them seriously. I always thought, what can really go wrong in an airline? Even if it is government owned? It still needs customers and has to work for the customers in order to be in business right?? WRONG!
They don't give a damn, they have no "customer" obsession nor do they care about who fly with them and who don’t - they always get left over crowd and they are happy with that. We reached the airport 1.5 hours ahead of departure and stood in a long never-ending queue to check-in. We as a group gave 9 tickets to the lady at the counter. She kept staring at the screen for more than 10 mins. No response. She looked around went to the next door aunty, no expression on her face, when we asked what was going on. No response. She took all our tickets and walked off, don’t know where. After 10 mins she appeared and we still didn’t know what was going on and were losing patience. We had to board the flight by 4:00 and until 3:45 there was no sign of boarding passes! The lady then walks to another uncle at the counter and he tried to print the boarding pass. We were lucky to have gotten 1 out of 9 boarding pass and were relieved that we are finally checking-in. Guess what!? The printer got stuck!! We were moving from one counter to the other until uncle found a working printer. After he found, he issued boarding passes for everybody else in the queue except us!
This was getting highly irritating and we started bugging uncle and all he did was Nod and say "1 min" - he did that at least 10 times...We finally followed the lady to the back office and she said, 1 min. it was 4:10 (15 mins before take-off) and we were still standing there waiting to check in. She finally came out and handed over the tickets to the same lost uncle and disappeared. Uncle took print outs of our boarding passes at 4:20 and we rushed for security check! While we were standing in the queue the IA lady announced "This is the last call for all the passengers boarding the Bangalore flight on Indian Airlines". We broke the line and ran to the gates, the lady was pissed off and didn’t even smile (like we care, do hell with your smile).
We reached the flight to find out that my seat was already allocated to somebody else and the lady was kind enough to ask me to sit in Business class (somebody was finally kind I thought!). I was finally happy that we got compensated for the wait and got business class seats. I guess I got too carried away, the air hostess were no better. One lady - Who looked half pregnant, another one who looked deprived of food and the other who looked as if she hated being there! Totally 3 ladies to serve us "first class" and make us feel that we are the bad boys stealing away their life from them! There was no Smile on their face, no please in their vocabulary - you would simply wish they didn’t exist.
So much for a 45 mins flight to Bangalore - I would have rather taken the train!

The IPL disease

2010-03-28T23:07:00.000+05:30

Well it’s that time of the year when everybody sees IPL, breathes IPL, eats IPL, sleeps IPL. Ever noticed the open mouths of people trying to eat and gaze at the TV at the same time? It’s a normal scene in Food court here these days. All of them (specifically men) care less about the flies on their plate and more about the sixer which was just hit by Sachin! What's in a Cricket? Or rather what’s in an IPL? There are 2 major things Indians are crazy about - Cricket and Movies! - What a good way to mix both of them and create money!! Shahrukh, Juhi, Shilpa and Preity had no other better work to do I guess - or maybe they just thought cricket would earn them more income than showing their skin! I used to follow cricket and would lose sleep when there was India-Pak match going on! I was crazy to the extent that I would keep offering 5 Rupee coins to the TV when I wanted Sachin to hit a four and if he did, the TV would get another 5! Those used to be fun and made me look as if the "Whole" of India was for the win! To me IPL looks like a civil war made popular! No? Then why does your blood pressure increase when Chennai Super Kings loses a match with 1 run? Or when Mumbai Indians win as if it was a practice session? I have hardly understood why would we split the states and fellow players, invite firangs to the teams and then play against each other so that all of the firangs whom you would play with later on will know about each Indian player in detail! Isn't it like "Aa bail mujhe maar"??
OK, may be I just don't understand it in the right way, but I also don't seem to understand the "hype" about it! First the media and the Ads- every radio station, every TV channel, every other hoarding is dedicated to the great IPL! Every product on earth is sold with a tag of IPL, from fairness cream to Digital TV subscription to chaddis! If thats not enough, they mix super singer competition with IPL and make them "IPL Rockstars". Aing? Where is this going? I wonder if this enthusiasm was ever shown during the hockey world cup! Actually, it was not!! People, there are more things in life than Just Cricket and IPL!

Do the Dune..

2010-03-03T19:15:00.000+05:30

It was just yesterday where I had danced to 2010 and it’s already the 3rd month of the year. And to add to this, I also completed a year of wed-lock! Most of you know that this is not an arranged marriage and Vishnu and I have been hooked forever! So, 1 year of wed-lock was more of a wow-I-am-married-for-a-year feeling than wow-I-married-this-stranger-a-year-back! Never mind if you don’t understand the difference, but Feb was surely a special month for me but thanks to "Duty" that the most special month of the year (after September of course ;-) ) was spent alone!

My better half informed me in Jan that he will be "visiting" home during Feb aka he will be out of town for most of the month and my first reaction was - You better be here on the 20th OR I will KILL YOU!!!!! He simply gave one of his funniest-cutest-broadest-whitest smiles and said we both will not be here on the 20th! I didn’t know what he meant but later did I realize that besides his huge-hectic-horrible travel schedule he had planned a surprise trip for the anniversary :))))))))) Both of us have always wished to go to a quiet calm place and relax ourselves but we never got around to do that, thanks to our hectic work schedules. We finally got to do what we wanted (relax that is) at "The Dune" - Pondicherry.

We always have this image about Pondicherry - French Colonies, Auroville, Beach and Bacardi! And people mostly go there to either party or get drunk or do both! However, Pondicherry also hosts bunch of beautiful beach resorts and one of them being "The Dune" - The Dune is actually an eco-beach resort. It’s a town by itself, a place where you won't feel hot even though the sun is right on top of you, you hear the birds chirping and the sea splashing on the shore from your bedroom, you have mosquito nets but no mosquitoes (only bees), you drive a cycle instead of a car, you have a lotus pond in front of your veranda, you live on solar power, your roof is not made of concrete but of palm leaves, where sun light wakes you up instead of a tube light, where you eat organic and grow organic! This place was surely a wonder! The people there are friendly and caring, they made surprise arrangements for us and we enjoyed the limelight to the fullest! A room decorated with flowers, a dinner table specially decorated and booked for us, a beautiful candle lit dinner, a handmade card by the staff and a cute cake cutting ceremony with the staff made our stay and our anniversary so memorable!!!

I was so glad we went to the Dune - waiting to go there again :) And, thank you for taking me there :-)

Whose Turn is it anyway?

2010-03-03T18:28:00.000+05:30

Looks like me and my husband are taking turns! When I was blogging almost every day, he was silent and never wrote a word on his blog. Now that I hardly find time to blog he is writing essays-elaborated-to-books-size blog!
Well that’s not the only case we are taking turns.. We take turns to be in town too! - When he goes out of town I stay at home waiting for him and just when he is coming back I go to the same city where he was and miss him there! - Gosh! Well he has described this situation very nicely on his blog so I am not going to take the pains to re-write it :) however, my side of the story for Feb 2010 is surely unique from his. I spent most of my Feb waiting for his call, talking to him only 1 hour (in total) in 20 days, spending 2 out of 28 February days with him!
Oh, we also take turns in sleeping and reading.. What? Confused? Don’t be :P The reason is, when he is reading a book and totally drowned in the author's words I keep bugging him with some stupid work or nag him about not listening to me! And he perfectly reciprocates when I take a book in hand :) He sleeps when I am awake and working and he wakes up when I get the best sleep!
We also take turns to drive the car :) lol - we cannot drive the same car together duh! He drove me to Pondy @ 120kmph and I drove the rest of the world to Pondy at the same speed. I usually am not a TV watcher and very rarely stick to that dumb box, but he, he sticks like glue! And just in case I choose to watch TV, he snores! Oh yeah, we take turns to be late :) - Weekdays I wake up late and Weekends he is late! If that was not enough, we take turns to act crazy to each other too!
It was my turn to write on my blog, so I did :) Abba, your turn now!

Valentine day Special

2010-02-14T22:19:00.003+05:30

It was 13th Feb, 11:30 PM in the night. Half an hour more to go for the mushiest day of the year, and I was (for a change) romancing with my laptop! I had no better thing to do :( and after a lot of farming and buzz-ing I finally started doing some cleanup work on my lappie. Went through all pictures, videos, docs, apps and what not. And then I landed into my "Movies" folder and decided to watch a romantic movie until 14th Feb came along!
The movie I chose to watch "P.S. I love you!" - What a perfect movie to watch! i had no idea about the movie and I was assuming it to be any normal romantic comedy like "Music and Lyrics" or may be "27 dresses". But this one, bloody hell, it got me tears! I have no idea if somebody could love someone so unconditionally! I had tears for the passion and the intensity of the love portrayed in the movie! The movie touched my heart so much that I just could not sleep until dawn! And the question kept arising "Can somebody love someone so much?" - Do I? Can I? Honestly, I don’t know!! I don’t want to know! The movie is a piece of fiction and I don’t really want to start comparing the love a person in the real world has for his/her wife/husband! But yeah, I must say, this movie got me thinking and got me sleepless too! Beautifully made and beautifully executed! A superb movie to welcome “Valentines day” :-)

Republic day!

2010-01-26T15:28:00.000+05:30

It's Republic Day today. Seems like just another Holiday! I didn’t even bother to go for the flag hoisting which happened in my apartment premises - feeling bad about it. However, when the National anthem started playing on TV I left all the work I was doing and stood there in front of the TV and started singing along! Felt so good! There is something in that anthem - Something which makes me happy, or may be proud? Or maybe just so patriotic!
Well, this is not the way I used to celebrate this day always! During school it was mandatory to join the flag hoisting ceremony, and I never felt lazy to do that :) It was in Dec 1997 when my PT (Physical Trainer) Teacher at school randomly came to me and said "Sakina, would you go for Republic Day Parade?" and I replied "Miss, why now? Republic Day is in January only". She didn’t bother to answer and enrolled me for it.
For the next 1 month I was instructed to be at the Traffic Police headquarters (near Dasprakash, Chennai) at 5:30 am for a 1 hour March-Past Training. Initially, I was like, what have I got myself into? I should just back off! But my parents felt I should go ahead with this and my dad religiously dropped me at the headquarters every morning! As the days went by, the practice sessions became less painful and more fun. I had couple of friends from my school and met many more from other schools too.
As the big day neared, we started having rehearsals at the Marina Beach! The first day they took us there, they made us March from the Light house to Madras University (which is 2-3 KMs in distance). Our hands ached and our legs felt numb. The daily practice would hardly cover 500 meters of distance and this rehearsal really killed us! We had 2 more rehearsals to go before Jan 26th and in the 3rd rehearsal we were experts! We felt the distance to be shorter and the marching didn’t pain at all!
On Jan 26th, the beach was beautifully decorated; the Dias was setup near Gandhi Statue (It is not held there anymore I guess). That day we were at the venue by 4:30 am and kept waiting for the Chief Minister to arrive for the Parade to start. It was 10:30 when we finally saw signs of the Minister and we finished our parade by 12 in the afternoon. I was marching in the row facing the audience and when we turned to salute at the VIP's on the Dias I felt PROUD! Really PROUD! This was my best Republic Day Celebration I have ever had and I ever would have!
See, I told you, I have stories for everything! Btw, Happy Republic day to all in India and abroad!

It's self-daba time!

2010-01-23T19:50:00.000+05:30

Its mid-year review time at work!! The time of the year when you are officially asked to spend time on what my friend calls it - “self-dabba”. This opportunity comes twice a year in my work place and all of us put as much hours as possible to make our self dabba look perfect! Well I wish it just ended with just a self-dabba process :( They make us write good and not-so-good things for everybody else on the floor too. If you did not know already, it’s easy to write good things about yourself and much easier to write not-so-good things about others!! :) - It's human nature yaar! But, during this time all of us go against this natural behavior and are asked to write the exact opposite in detail!! Hmph!
So, for the past week, I have been writing a lot about my co-workers. It took me lots of time and effort to actually dig all my mails and come up with "fair" reviews. A lot of us think "kuch bhi likh de yaar, ye thodi na self review hain" – That’s the exact problem!!! Because it's not about me, I cannot take the liberty to just blabber what I believe I did over the past 6 months. The person for whom I am writing is probably much better than me and I would have to kill-my-ego, kill-my-attitude, kill-my-fears, kill-my-straight-forwardness and write a diplomatic, logical, crisp, justifiable, reliable review. What a huge responsibility it is...!!
Well, after finishing my co-worker review, there was another bomb dropped in my mailbox; A request from my manager to give feedback about him. I think it’s a good thing to give "Upward feedback", but it is equally bad too. This is not my first time I am giving the upward feedback but when it was, I thought, "arey wah, yaha pe toh manager ki bhi waat laga sakte hain", then my brains replied saying "yeh toh locha hain re, yeh toh mere big boss ke paas jayega" - I have to kill all those things I mentioned above 3 times more to come up with a small paragraph about my manager! Luckily, I didn’t have to struggle this time, I am pretty new to my new manager and vice-versa, so very less to write and lots more to avoid :)
Phew! Now I can finally sit and do what I love to do the most - self-dabba!! I wish it would come as easily as blabbering in this space! Wish me luck!! :)

Out of words?

2010-01-20T15:16:00.000+05:30

This is my 4th attempt in this week to write a blog post. And am hoping I won’t Ctrl+A+Del this one as I did it for the previous 3! Wonder what is wrong, I have forgotten to write? (Did I know at the first place?), I don’t have a good topic to talk about? Well, I don't think so. For most of you know that I can talk forever and about everything which is linked to me! In fact, my pervious attempts were about mehendi, office, work, zoo zoo and what not! So, that's not the case either. I have lost interest? - Hmmm, I hope NO! This blog is set out to become big this year; I don’t think I would lose interest so fast! So, what is it? Just too busy to even think and write a good post? May be, May be not! I don’t take hours to write a small Para!
I guess I am out of words; Just Out of words! I have no proper words to express what I want to in the right sense and in an understandable form. That's why I find myself writing and deleting every single line I try to post! How did I write this one then???

Never mind!

Kulfi Kulfi Kulfiiiiiaaaaaaaaa!

2010-01-13T23:46:00.000+05:30

As I hogged the very famous "Rajasthani Kulfi" today, I started narrating this story to my soul mate. I couldn’t stop myself from blogging this small and short story of my connection with "Rajasthan" and "Kulfi".
First, let’s deal with Rajasthan - As per my dad, his dad was from Rajasthan who stayed in Madhya Pradesh for most part of his life and then settled in Maharashtra. So, even though i am born and brought up in Singara Chennai - i still have traits of Rajasthan, Madhya pradesh and Mumbai in me! - Wat a mixture!
Second, KULFI! - I used to stay in Parrys corner locality when i was doing my studies. At that point, Parrys corner was supposedly the "heart" of the city and was the most happening place too (in terms of business). It hasn't changed much w.r.t business and crowd but yeah the heart seems to have been misplaced. Anyways, back to kulfi...every evening after dinner, my sister and I would impatiently wait for a cycle wala. In those days, there were many Kulfi walas in the small galis of Parrys area who used to sell the kulfis on a cycle. This specific cycle wala had a unique style of ringing his bell and shouting "kulfi kulfi kulfiiiiiaaaa" The moment we heard that chant, my sister and I would run to the small balcony and start jumping with joy and shouting back "kulfi kulfi kulfi" (yes in the exact same way I do "see see see" also :P ). The cycle wala became so used to us, that sometimes if we wouldn’t go to the balcony, he would come to our home and check if we were doing ok and a kulfi would help :). How sweet!
Gone are those days of yummy kulfi offered in Rs.5 with a caring hand. I must say his kulfis were the best from the rest of the kulfi walas in the area. Until one day, he probably became greedy and stopped making yummy kulfis for us and made the ones which would sell for less price..:(
After narrating this story my hubby said - you have a story for everything!!!!!!!!!!!
BTW, today is my Mom's birthday. Now you may think, what’s the connection with Rajasthan, Kulfi and Mom? Of course there is! Rajasthan connection is for the same reason as above :) The kulfi and Mom connection is the yummiest ever. Why? Because mom makes the best kulfis in the world! My friends would be specially invited home when there was stock of kulfi in the Freezer :) - The so called "Kulfi Party" :)

Mom may you live longer and make yummier kulfi's for me :)
Oh, forgot to mention - the Rajasthani Kulfi at Ascendas Phase 2 was pretty good ;)

Wish List For me, To me, By Me!

2010-01-06T19:58:00.000+05:30

It’s finally 2010!! Another big year went passed and another big year to come. Almost everybody seems to be making "New year Resolutions" or "2009 flashback list" or "Best of 2009" or "Worst of 2009" lists. Well, I tried my luck too, but didn’t get anywhere. I don’t believe in waiting for a New Year to make a resolution. I neither like to see the past only when the year is over (I see my tumblr blog from the most recent to the first post every other month!) Coming to Best and Worst of 2009 - A lot of it are there - I rather write a novel than spend time posting it here (I can probably get some royalty out of the book ;-)..)

I am just hoping for a great 2010 and hoping to have some things fine tuned in me. These are no way “resolutions” (I don’t want to get caught guilty by the end of the year for not fulfilling them). All I can promise myself is that I would try as much to get these things done! It has no end date, no priorities and no dependencies. It's a long due Wish list, a Wish list for me, to me, by me!

#I wish for a brighter day each day.
#A routine of my own, no alarm clocks waking me up, no emergency calls making me stay awake.
#I want to get back to the sakina I was couple of years back, in size ofcourse!
#I want to stop looking at that packed treadmil daily but put it to good use!
#I wish I can prioritize better - Its not important if its not for your good. Period!.
#I want to learn to say "NO" - I am capable of doing everything, but i am not capable of doing everything at the same time!
#I want to become more practical and less sentimental.
#I want to stop explaining myself to people who are just not open to understand me. No Point making a Point when there is no Point in making a point…did I make sense?
#I want to get my Dad out of his financial problems and allow him to retire and relax.
#I want to travel more and more! My travelogue cannot survive otherwise
#I want to get back to my dance classes and brush up my skills :)
#I want to spend more time with my old friends (I just seem to be ping them when its their Birthday..or sometimes even forget that - But I Miss them :(...)
#I want to write more, I want to improve my vocabulary and become a better writer. I want more followers to my blog and more stories to write :)
#I want to make the 365 project a success - I have lot of my friends who started with me and left me behind!
#I want to probably start singing too - I am a good singer (at least in the bathroom :P)
#I want to facebook less and orkut more -- sheesh bad one, I totally dont want that..lol
#I want to get a hike, probably get promoted and help Vishnu retire so that he can read books on the Kindle forever and always stay lazy! :))
OK except for the few funny ones in the end, I have a serious list of things I wish/want to do! I am gonna keep this list of things in front of me and check it whenever I think I have achieved it!

All the Best to ME!

The Pepper Spray Story...

2009-12-31T14:22:00.003+05:30

Yesterday's topic at RJ Kanmani's show was "Should we use pepper spray in Chennai?" - Well good question. I didn’t really listen to the answers but immediately drifted away into my own Pepper Spray Story! I used to carry Pepper spray in my bag when i was in the US.
I was staying with a couple of girls in a shared apartment and had my colleagues staying in and around the same area. One of my friends who helped me find the apartment was finally wrapping up his tasks at work and was getting ready to get back to India. In order to give him a good farewell another common friend invited both of us for dinner. In the evening after work, we walked to our friend's place and settled down when suddenly he remembered that he had to pick up his last set of clothes from the nearby laundry. He promised to be back in ten minutes ..sharp! All of us started setting up the dinner table and waited for him to arrive. 10 minutes became an hour but no sign of him. His phone was not reachable and we waited impatiently!
He came back after 2 hours, sick! His eyes swollen, wounds on his cheeks, his stomach was hurting bad and his cuts on the face were bleeding! He was MUGGED! The laundry was in the parallel road and 2 huge guys had attacked him while he was returning and tried to take away his purse and cell phone! He started screaming for help and the more he screamed, the more they punched him. Finally somebody spotted him on the road and called 911. The 2 guys fled after they got what they wanted and left him stranded on the road. The Cops and ambulance arrived soon and he went through emergency medication and filed a police complaint.

All of this happened at the door step of my friend's house and none of us heard it or saw it!

We freaked out and were in a state of shock. We lost our hunger and all we could think of is his safety! We booked a cab from her place to his place (which is the parallel road again). We had no courage to walk on that road in the dark again! Everybody around us looked suspicious (the Cab driver included)! I dropped him home and went to my place, Shivering with fear in cold weather!
We went to the nearby hospital next morning, got him checked and confirmed no severe injuries and bid him farewell at the airport! I must mention, the entire team in the US called and checked on him (Including our CEO). It was heart filling to see the care people showed around us.

I was strictly instructed with the following things after this incident:
- A pepper spray in my bag ALWAYS
- Nothing more than $5-$10 in my purse.
- When mugged, don’t scream - just surrender and give money or spray the pepper!

A lesson learnt and an incident which can never be forgotten! RJ Kanmani is surely reminding me of a lot of things through her not-so-commonly-spoken-about topics :)

Steal from your own house?

2009-12-18T12:06:00.002+05:30

As I was getting ready for work today I tuned into "Radio Mirchi" to listen to some new Tamil tracks. The RJ Kanmani was talking and calling out the question of the day to all her viewers (actually hearers? Whatever!), and the question was "Have you ever tried to steal from your own house anytime in your life?" – First, I found this question a little silly, why would anybody in their right minds steal from their own house, and second, if they did, why will they confess so publicly? But hearing the number of people calling back and answering made me really think about the question! One girl called and said " I needed pocket money and I stole Rs.500 from the rice box" and another one, "I picked up the change from the dining table" and many more such callers! So I started to think, did I ever steal anything from my own house? For some reason, I immediately remembered one of the stories Mom had narrated to me, an incident which happened when I was small.
I was a small kid, probably still wearing diapers and chewing toys! My sister was a little older and was probably in her kindergarten. Mom used to store all my diapers (remember we had cloth diapers those days) in a small aluminum box. One fine day, Mom dressed me up after a nice bath and in few minutes I was crying. Crying really bad. Mom had no clue what was going on! (I wasn't the crying types apparently). To her surprise, she spotted ants on my clothes! Red Ants! The ants had bit me so bad and I had no choice but to just keep crying. She did some investigation and found that all my clothes in that aluminum box had red ants and lots of cashews!!! Cashews?? How did it get here? My sister then confessed that, she loved cashews and she used to keep the extra ones for later. All those extra cashews she hid in my beloved clothes box and finally forgot to eat them! My Parents appreciated her "storing for future" idea and gave her cashews as a prize :)
This is no way the answer to Kanmani's question of the day, and I was surely not going to call her and narrate this either. It just struck my mind as I was thinking of my own stealing moments.
Enjoy the story as I still think on what I stole from my own house..

Pleasant Surprise

2009-12-15T18:14:00.003+05:30

My day has not been one of the best ones today. I have been a little low on mood and gloomy as the outside weather for almost 24 hours now and don't know what else to do to cheer up. Loud music, browsing old photos, Facebook-ing, playing TT or having numerous teas - none of them have helped. And suddenly, I get a pleasant surprise from Mr.Krishnan :)
Krishnan and I know each other for more than 6 yrs and have had a similar career so far. We joined iNautix together and never looked back. I am not really close to him and we have treated each other as acquaintances and the only time i would see his emails in my inbox is either when there is a Sev-1 ticket on me or it's my birthday :)
But today, for a change, he sent me this email which brought a big smile on my face (imagine my grin from left to right ear). It was the least expected email but the timing was just so good. I am telling you, this guy is gonna be a big blogger someday ;) (I have been paid for advertising about him, don’t get carried away ;)..) Jokes apart, I really loved this email and with his permission I take the pleasure of pasting it below:

Subject: Revelations from a gtalk status bar msg..
Message:
A hectic day at work... thanks to the benevolent folks at the Electricity Board, for switching off power in the middle of the night and giving the mosquitoes an opportunity to sing me a lullaby... dozed off at around close to 3 AM in the morning, after battling with the test environments and doing deployments and configurations and even designing a pet rocket to be launched into space on the day of 2012 (lol.. just kidding...), woke up to the distant voices of mum.. who yelled.. "Kannaaaaaa time's 8... get up.."... dad timidly walked into my room just to re-iterate the fact that i was running late... finally after playing the waiting game for the Rain Goddess to be kind enough to cease "fire" (if you can call it that way, that is...) walked into work at 11 in the morning... then the work starts.. you bother developers.. developers bug you... help people with scripting.. clear doubts.. take unofficial project requests from people and get their work done as well... decided to take a break... (nope the smoke breaks werent helping either)...
logged into gmail, to check out what the spammers had to say to me today.. (they are the only ones who very caringly mail me everyday....) saw a link in your status message.. which said... "http://sak365.tumblr.com/" decided to check it out...
I must admit.. am impressed.. from an ordinary spilled over tea cup, to a fruit being voraciously gobbled up by a friend.. to a match box (yup the dil matchbox).. to the sign boards on your apartment entrance. .which said... "Stop complaining, someone stole the complaint register..".. lol (I found that really amusing).. you seem to have captured it all.. almost all of the funny moments of life.. which go so unnoticed thanks to the so called busy hectic work schedule... you seem to be getting better at it by the day sakina !!
Now that's made to start thinking as well.. have you just now switched on the "Eureka Eureka" bulbs and showed me a new hobby... lol.. will ponder over that for a couple of days, before i eventually bore myself out of the contemplation and decide to either take it or ditch it... hehehe..

Kudos !! That was a nice relaxing 30 mins of album walk.. if I could say so, that is...

Thanks & Regards
Krishnan Mahadevan

Thanks Krishnan, am flattered and honored and what not...You made my gloomy day bright! :-)

You!

2009-12-08T20:11:00.002+05:30

YOU guide me and confide in me
YOU motivate me and irritate me
YOU let me BE, and be to the fullest.
YOU allow me to make mistakes and help me correct them.
YOU stay at work all night when I need to do a night out.
YOU drive me nuts and you drive me around the city too.
YOU are an indispensable part of my life and you complicate my life too.
YOU let me listen to my kind of music, even if its something you hate listening to.
YOU take away my troubles by just making that funny face.
YOU are my weakness and my strength
YOU add logic to my senseless emotions.
YOU are a pain and the medicine to a lot of my pains!
Being with YOU is like being with a Best friend.
I love YOU!

Friends in need

2009-11-23T23:19:00.001+05:30

Its midnight and I am still at work. My eyes are red and I am going through a tough day. I miss my team mates and feel extremely insecure about the day. My day at work hasn't been good at all and I was trying hard to get out of the numerous goof ups I had done during the day. I had woken up half dozen support guys at Seattle and lost the little sleep which showed up in my eyes. I had never seen a day like this before and was crying inside for help.
Suddenly, a friend comes online. He pings and asks the entire day’s story. I vent out my plight and start to feel a little lighter. But not completely, I still didn’t seem to be normal and was talking weird. He was probably worried or probably just surprised to find me in that state of mind. He tries to talk more to divert my mind, but doesn't work. My phone unexpectedly wakes up and starts singing. It was another friend from work calling. I pick up the phone and kept quiet. She sensed the tension and asked "Sak you’re OK"? And guess what.. Tears roll down. ..
She patiently waits for me to finish the crying and sneezing and asks me to calm down. We spoke about work and then she pepped me up with her usual funny jokes. I was finally laughing at her and my tension had suddenly disappeared. I was so happy she called and felt - "Yes, someone does care about me". I finally asked her how she got the idea to call me at that time of the night and she said "He (the friend who was online) called and told me that Sak is tensed and upset and a girl talk would cheer her up"
I was flabbergasted; I never ever realized he could be so good at this. He just knew the right thing to do and helped me get out of it. He is not someone who knows me the most, but he just knew what I needed. "I am impressed" I told him and thanked him for being sensitive to me.
I choose not to mention names, but I know he and she will know when they read this :) I just want to say "Thank you dear friend!" - I truly appreciate it!

Boondon se baatein

2009-11-17T18:04:00.003+05:30

Rain has been playing hide n seek with me. When I was out on my week long vacation it was pouring here. and, when I was in Bangalore during the weekend there was a down pour here. I haven't got a chance to see much of rains myself, but I love this season.

Besides all the havoc rains creates, it bring out the music in life. The downpour, the dark clouds and the flashy thunders add on to the not-so-happening city life. The rains add a beautiful aroma to your surroundings, wonder if you have ever smelled rain and said, "Is it raining somewhere?". It is the time when Mom's are busy frying pakodas and bajjis and malphuas! yummm! Slurp!

The Air conditioner's are given a break and the natural breeze is given way. The fans run slower and the wind blows faster. The old thick blanket on the loft is finally put to use and you hardly sweat. The dried clothes get wet again and the mud covered cars get water washed naturally :-) The schools and colleges get generous with holidays and a privileged few get to Work from Home. The roads are empty but flooded and schedules slow down as the rains get heavier.

Often rain is expressed as an emotion. Some people think that nature is crying along with them for their sorrows and some think its a celebration of their success. Some see it as a reliever to heat and some call it a menace. Some call it the season of romance and some just don't think anything at all!

For me, Rain is music, rain is dance, rain is rhythm, rain is refreshing, rain is energy, rain is fun, rain is rejuvenation, rain is awesome!! (I didn't bother to sound rhythmic though ;)...)

Rain Rain come again, Lil Sak wants to play :)

New Arrival!

2009-11-12T14:33:00.004+05:30

I have worked for days and nights together for numerous launches which happen at work. However, this time, this launch was neither official nor it took me so much of labor. Announcing the ALL NEW TRAVELOGUE - My Incredible India Discovery! And, if you haven't yet noticed, this blog has a new tab on top - "My Travelogue" :)

I am very happy creating this new blog as it opens up new doors of creativity and writing! I have recently made "blogging" as my hobby and now it looks like this hobby is gonna go a long way! Please drop by at my new blog and also drop any feedback/comments! Would love to hear from You!

Enjoy reading!

Nothing official about it!

2009-10-30T15:20:00.002+05:30

Just about when I thought my team is growing big and we have lots to do together I was suddenly moved to another team. This new team was once the "neighbor" team on the floor and now the neighbor has open doors for me to stay in. This surely came as a shock to me, it felt as if i just joined this place all over again! My "adoption" process from one team to another happened few days back and I was formally handed over to the new team by my old manager - literally like how a baby is adopted from the-mother-who-gave-birth to her and the-mother-who-will-raise her!

Thank fully, My desk location has not changed and I am still sitting with my old team mates. But lots of other things have changed, I no more get emails from my favorite boss, I no more exist in the team group emails, I no more share work with my team mates. I don't even get the heart or motivation to go and talk to my new team mates (I don't know why). Nothing against them, they are good at whatever they do and they are welcoming too, but I am just not ready to enter those open doors..

Some of you must be thinking; :Sak, Don't get emotional about it, it's after all your work place and as long as the pay cheque comes in, be happy!" Well you are probably right, but not completely! I don't (nor does anybody else) work in isolation. And yes the pay cheque is why everybody starts to work, its finally the environment and the people which motivates you to get going and do the best at work!

I hope that this remains as a temporary "phase" and though i am not trying right now, I would be out of this soon.

It was a dream, Weirdo!

2009-10-23T19:29:00.002+05:30

Off late, I have been dreaming a lot (not day dreaming Duh!). I was initially sleep deprived due to project deadlines and now that i get to heartily sleep, my dreams wake me up. I have no idea why i see these "out-of-the-box" dreams as they don't have any similarities with my life!

My first weird dream has a bunch of relatives, my buccs gang (from previous company) and my current beloved team mates! My dream starts from my grand mom's home, I am not surprised by that cos I see grand mom dreams very often. In the dream the home is kinda re-vamped, so looks a little different, looks more like 2 big blocks kept adjacent to each other. I enter the place to find out if there is enough place to "party" (huh!). There is ample space for the entire city to party, but there is a problem. The house is located in a not-so-good locality and I wish to party next to a beach (:-S).

Now is when the "weirdness" of the dream starts..

I make arrangements for this 1 block of the house to be "removed" from there and strategically placed on a beach(WHHAAAAAT). So now, I have a huge place to party and i do party all night @ the beach with my current team mates..Wonder who was sponsoring it ;-).. The party goes on and then i fall asleep in my dreams (hahaha)...When I wake up.. I find my buccs guys (Where did they come from???!!!???) is all set to leave from the venue and are making arrangements to get the block back to where it came from!!

Yes, i like my granny's house, i also like my team mates and i totally love my buccs gang..but whats with the party @ the beach in a block of house borrowed from Granny??? - God only knows!

I woke up confused, but didn't bother telling anybody or making a big deal out of it until the next night i saw a weirder dream!

My dream didn't start at Granny's place, but in a HUGE Temple! And to my surprise, I was standing in the queue to get into the temple all by myself (nobody came along with me). I deposited my hand bag at the counter and proceeded towards the temple when someone passed a comment "you will go in fine, but you will have a tough time getting out!" - I gave this "Whatever" look to that stranger and walked in. I completed my visit and was about to step out when i spot a very very long queue of people stuck inside the temple waiting for their turn to go out! The long queue was because people were made to go through a "MAZE" in batches before they can get out of the temple. The queue grew smaller and i got closer to the so called Maze. When my turn came, I was asked to enter a huge empty room, more like a never ending passage. The passage was dark and quiet horrifying. The bunch of us, managed to walk into that passage without stamping anybody and little later in the passage we started hearing noise of water flowing. We suddenly saw water gushing into the passage with a force that will drown all of us in a jiffy. We managed to swim in that water and got out of that passage. The next scene I remember is we entering a chamber which was filled with closed doors on either sides of the wall. The clue given to us was that, one of the doors would lead to the exit. All of us frantically start opening each door to find the exit but we would find only a plain wall. we passed through the complete chamber and the last door lead to one more passage. This passage had some source of natural light and we were sure we were near to exit. We finally ended up in a Police station!(aing) A big fat inspector led us to the room where our bags were kept and then allowed us to go home! I victoriously run to the exit and call my father-in-law to say "Appa! I finally got out of the Maze, and I am safe. I am going home now!"

None of the scenes in this dream coincide with what I do in my day to day life, the last time I stepped into a temple was @ Thirumalai few months back and that was surely not a Maze. - I wonder why i got this dream...and I wonder what more weirder dreams are in store for me!

Hope you guys are still awake and reading this last line of my post :)

Sweet Dreams!

Time to Resolve!

2009-10-22T14:27:00.003+05:30

It's not a New Year, nor my Birthday today, but it is surely a good day to make some resolutions for the rest of my life! I am gonna try my best to follow them and pinch myself hard whenever I violate it! The list is small but worth every word cos it makes a big impact in my life!..

1. Start saving for my Dream CAR: If I don't do this, my dream car is gonna remain a dream only. And before Honda themselves give up on the Civic and stop manufacturing it, I want that sexy piece of metal in my garage! My savings start from today and btw, Donations are welcome :)

2. Lose Weight: Well this has been on my plate well before marriage, but haven't done much to show any signs of losing weight! In fact, I gained some Kgs after marriage (happily married I guess..:-)..). Though I did make some effort to use the Treadmill and not let it collect dust at home some time back, I conveniently stopped that exercise when project deadlines started kicking in! So now, no more excuses! Am gonna control my in-take of food, or at the least watch out for calories to start with and get stricter as days go..

3. Become proficient in Table Tennis: I am desperate! i am so tired of losing against Vishnu on the TT Table! My winning rate is 1 in probably 12 matches against him and it is really not helping my small "ego" :)

I did say the list was small, didn't I? Please wish me luck in achieving these.. I am confident I will :)

Overprotected...

2009-10-21T11:21:00.002+05:30

Yup...you got it right..That's exactly how I feel today! Far too many threads in my mind made me think this way but I don't have the apt words to express them! So I took help from Britney Spears (yeah she is my langotiya yaar) and her song was just so perfect to the mood I am in!

I need time (time)
Love (love)
Joy (joy)
I need space
Love
I need ME!

(Action!)

Say hello to the girl that I am!
You're gonna have to see through my perspective
I need to make mistakes just to learn who I am
And I don't wanna be so damn protected
There must be another way
Cause I believe in taking chances
But who am I to say
What a girl is to do
God, I need some answers

What am I to do with my life
(You will find out don't worry)
How Am I supposed to know what's right?
(You just got to do it your way)
I can't help the way I feel
But my life has been so overprotected

I tell 'em what I like
What I won't
What I don't
But every time I do I stand corrected
Things that I've known
I can't believe what I hear about the world, I realize
I'm Overprotected

There must be another way
Cause I believe in taking chances
But who am I to say
What a girl is to do
God I need some answers

What am I to do with my life
(You will find out don't worry)
How Am I supposed to know what's right?
(You just got to do it your way)
I can't help the way I feel
But my life has been so overprotected

I need… time (love)
I need… space
(This is it, this is it)

I don't need nobody
Tellin me just what I wanna
What I what what I'm gonna
Do about my destiny
I Say No, No
Nobody tell me just what what what I wanna do, do
I'm so fed up with people telling me to be
Someone else but me

(Action!)

What am I to do with my life
(You will find out don't worry)
How Am I supposed to know what's right?
(You just got to do it your way)
I can't help the way I feel
But my life has been so overprotected

I don't need nobody
Tellin me just what I wanna
What I what what I'm gonna
Do about my destiny
I Say No, No
Ain't nobody tell me just what I wanna do, do
I'm so fed up with people telling me to be
Someone else but me

What am I to do with my life
(You will find out don't worry)
How Am I supposed to know what's right?
(You just got to do it your way)
I can't help the way I feel
But my life has been so overprotected.

Am sorry :(

2009-10-13T19:54:00.002+05:30

There was a time when I was known for being amazing at remembering "Dates". I was the "Reminder Service" for my sister who always used to forget her friend's birthdays! I could confidently fight with all my friends who forgot my birthday, cos there was no way I could forget theirs! But suddenly, I seem to be losing this image of mine! :(

I have managed to forget 2 of my best friends birthdays over the past week! I still can't believe my ears, eyes and stomach which keep saying that I forgot their Birthday! Though I can conveniently give reasons like "Oh I was terribly busy with a big release", "Man, after marriage I can't remember anything else except my husband", "Shit, what is today's date? I didn't even know your birthday came" to keep them calm, but no matter what excuse i give, the damage is done!

I am sorry Kalyan and SV for forgetting your Birthdays! I did speak to you guys last week but I did not realise I was being forgetful. Please Please Please forgive me! I promise I won't fight if you forget mine (next year ;-) ..). Hope you had a great birthday and wishing you guys a beautiful and memorable year ahead!

Last year this day...

2009-09-30T17:20:00.004+05:30

Last year this day it was Eid!
Last year this day I had no ID card, no car parking slot in 3rd floor @ work
Last year this day I looked around at my office and didn't know a single soul

Last year this day I pressed "4" instead of "8" in the office lift

Last year this day I got introduced to Subash, Krish and Preethi

Last year this day my new manager took me out for lunch!

Last year this day my Old manager made sure I was fine!
Last year this day, I made History!
Last year this day, I decided to work hard and have fun too!

Last year this day I joined amazon.com @ Chennai!

Amazon-ing for a year now...Wow!

Lost + found

2009-09-23T14:54:00.003+05:30

As kids, almost all of us have lost ourselves in a crowd and have cried until you found your family. I am no different! I have had my share of the so called "Lost+found" incident.

I don't remember at what age I was, but I was pretty small enough to get attracted to all the small "ice cream on wheels" guys at the Marina beach. It was a normal weekend where the family decided to chill out at the beach late in the evening with some family friends. We were a small gang sitting on a bed spread and playing games with mommy. Dad volunteered to buy us some roasted bhutta (corn) and like a tail, I followed him wherever he went. It was past sunset and the lighting at the beach was very low, so visibility was very bad. I mistook some other person as my dad and kept following him. The guy was walking very fast and was heading towards the car park. I had no clue why my dad was running so fast and I kept calling for him with my soft and sweet voice (wink) "Daddy!". It was at the car park that i realized that I was following the wrong "Daddy" and found myself lost. I kept looking for every cart which sold corn and was searching for dad until I got distracted by an ice cream wala and started to pester him to give me a cup of ice cream. Funny part here is, I completely forgot that I was lost! I don't know what happened next, but all I remember is, mom had finally spotted me and hugged me tight and I was back home safe and sound :)

P.S - Thanks to Vasu for reminding me of this incident during lunch :)

In a triangle

2009-09-15T22:50:00.002+05:30

Before you start getting ideas and start digging your non-existent Grey matter, let me tell you that this is not a "Love triangle" story. I am thankful that I am away from it for my own good.

So what triangle is this one? no it's none of those mathematical triangles and I am not venting out the after effects of a problem solving interview either. I am not talking about any of the prisms or pyramids which exist in this world. I just have a simple problem with no solution, a triangle of FRIENDS!

For some reason, I am always a part of a trio where I am the least needed! This is not new to me, and by now I should have got used to this trend of friendship, but some how the senti-mental me keeps clinging on to those nodes of the triangle. From school, to college, to work I see patterns of this triangle existent in my life and now finally it's time to not be a part of it and find friends of my own.

If this didn't make any sense to you, don't worry. As I always say "You are not sane if you are not as insane as me" - you are not yet sane and you would not understand the point I am trying to make. And if you do, you are either a victim of this triangle or know the pain I go through for being in one!

Hmph!

Change is constant...

2009-09-12T19:43:00.004+05:30

There has been quiet a few changes happening in and around me for the past 6 months and I guess its time to make a note of it :) (wonder who it would benefit!)

So here it goes...

First and the most obvious...ok ok ok..relax, don't jump. I know you already have the right answer. The first change is the "SIZE". I would like to thank all my friends and acquaintances for being nice to me and very kindly complementing on the increase in size as a "sign for happiness". I got the point! I have put on some fat here and there and it has started to show pretty obviously to the outside world!..grumph!

Second one, the black chain on my neck! My mom was very surprised that I managed to wear a choker for 4 hours at my wedding reception, the reason being, iam allergic to whatever strangles my neck! Now she is more than surprised to see the black beed chain round my neck 24 hours and Iam not complaining! I have hardly let this chain part from my neck so far :) I guess Grand-mother-in-law made it anti-allergic ;)

Third one, my hair :) ...ok i know what you are thinking "Whats with the hair?" hehehe. The change is, i have never had the patience to grow my hair for a long time. The last time i had long hair was in school and after that i wud either have a boy cut or shoulder length hair. This time its grown beyond that and I am happy with myself for not chopping it off for more than a year now... Ahem..wait until i lose patience and show up with a boy cut one fine day ;)

Fourth, my eating habits :)) well this change was obvious and welcomed! Being a typical gujju I had a little difficuly in adapting to the rise of spice levels after wedding. But thanks to my very understanding in-laws, they brought down the spice levels at home so that I can eat more and cry less (lol). Now I am more used to groundnut chutney than kadi khichdi :)

Fifth, The car!!!!..Before: Grey Maruti 800, 2000 Model. Now: Red Hyudai i20, 2009 Model :) and to add to that change, i get to sit at the passenger seat more frequently. Thanks to the upcoming driver at home ;). But yeah, whenever I am not driving, we (the car and me) are praying with eyes closed hoping to reach home without a scratch :P

Wel, there are many more, like change in water, change in language, change in home, change in room, etc etc...but i understand that your concentration level is low and it ends right here. So, signing off...tata..

Naani maa

2009-08-31T19:22:00.004+05:30

It has been quiet some time since i penned down my accumulated thoughts and it's time to vent out! So...here I was, all busy with my work, and i suddenly found myself addicted to this song "Meri Kahani" from "Atif Aslam". This song has not only been sung well but also has great lyrics too.

tera mera galyoon main yun phirna
phirte phirte raat ko yun thakna
thak ke nani ki godi main sona
paryoon k des ja ke na aana

"thak ke naani ko godi mein sona" - this line brought innumerable memories of my time with my naani. My childhood has been pretty plain and uneventful but is filled with some very good times with my naani. We had a ritual of visiting her every Saturday and the entire "jing bang" would go to her place and have a ball. I have seen her from walking around a huge house, to going slow with a walking stick until she got bed ridden. Rashida, Mariya, Maryam and myself used to spend most of our summer vacations there. Nanni's place was huge, with just 2 rooms separated by a long walk way where we could play cricket if needed. It was the best place to play Hop n catch, skipping race, kho-kho, hide n seek, blind man's buff and what not! During festive season, the entire family would gather and jabber and bring the roof down. Man it was the most happening destination in town!

(That's all the cousins @ Naani's place on Eid!)

I still remember the last smile on my Granny's face, when she looked at me and said "Sakina tujhe dekh mujhe aata hain paseena" - her favorite dialogue to me! She slept that night and never woke up. She slept peacefully with a smile on her face and free from this world. I still go to meet her at the Cemetery and whisper into her ears "miss u naani"

I really do!

Tagged!

2009-08-18T14:27:00.004+05:30

I got tagged!

Thumb Rule: this is going to make answering this interesting.. each questions is to be answered by quoting a song.. or any verse from a song as reply to the questions..
P.S. - at the end of the verse please give info abt the song.. (err.. not lot of ppl recognize lyrics)

OK here's mine

1) If someone says “are u ok with this?” You say?
jo tumko ho pasand wo hi baat kahenge
dete na aap sath to mar jaat hum kabhi ke
dete na aap sath to mar jaat hum kabhi ke
pure hue hai aapse armaan zindagi ke
hum zindagi ko aapki hum zindagi ko aapki
hum zindagi ko aapki sogaat kahenge
tum din ko agar raat kaho raat kahenge
jo tumko ho pasand wo hi baat kahenge

-Safar

2) What would best describe your personality?
Koi hero yahan koi zero yahan
Koi star hai koi bekaar hai
Koi hero yahan koi zero yahan
Koi star hai koi bekaar hai
Main kaun hoon tumse main kya kahoon
Hai sach to ye doston
I am the best I am the best I am the best

-Phir bhi dil hain hindustani

3) What do you like in a guy/girl?
Ye kaali kaali aakhen
ye gore gore gaal
ye teekhi teekhi nazren
ye hirni jaisi chaal

-Baazigar

4) How do you feel today?
ab ke saawan, aise barse…
behe jaaye rang, meri chunar se…
bheege tann mann, jiya na tarse…
jamke barse zara…

rut saawan ki…
ghataa saawan ki…
ghataa saawan ki, aise jam ke barse - Shubha Mudgal

5) What is your life’s purpose?
Jo Bhi Chaahoon Vo Main Paoon
Zindagi Mein Jeet Jaoon
Chaand Taare Tod Laoon
Saari Duniya Par Main Chhaoon
Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai
Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai

6) What is your motto?
It's my life
It's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just wanna live while I'm alive
-Bon Jovi

7) What do your friends think of you?
Rangeeli ho, sajeeli ho - 2
Tu albeli o - 2
Main albeli,
ghoomoon akeli,
koi paheli hoon main
Ho, main albeli,
ghoomoon akeli,
koi paheli hoon main
Pagli hawaaye mujhe jaha bhi le jaaye
In hawaaon ki saheli hoon main

Tu hai rangeeli, ho
Tu hai sajeeli, ho

-Zubeida

8) What do you think of your parents?
Tu Jo Hai To Sab Kuch Hai Na Koi Kami Hai
Tu Hi Dil Hai Tu Hi Jaan Bhi Hai
Tu Khushi Hai Aasra Bhi Hai
Teri Chaahat Zindagi Hai
Tu Mohabbat Tu Aashiqui Hai Tu Aashiqui Hai
-Jhankar Beats

9) What do you think about very often?
Aankhon mein ankhne teri
Bahoon mein baahein teri
Mera na mujhe mein kuch raha hua kya
Baaton mein baatein teri
Raatein saugatein teri
Kyun tera sab yeh ho gaya
hua kya
Mein kahin bhi jata hoon
Tumse hi mil jata hoon
Tumse hi tumse hi
-Jab we met

10) What do you think of your best friend?
Tum mile
dil khile
aur jeene ko kya chahiye
- Criminal

11) What do you think of the person you like?
koi jo mila tho mujhe aisa lagtha tha jaise meri sari duniya mein
geethon ki ruth aur rangonki barkha hai khushbu ki andhi hai
mahki hui si ab sari fizaenhai bahki hui si ab sari havaen hai
khooi hui si ab sari dishaen hai badli hui si ab sari adaen hai
jaagi umange hai, dhadak raha hai dil sason mein thoofan hai
-Breathless by Shankar Mahadevan

12) How did you feel after passing out of college?
So gaya yeh jahan, so gaya aasma)
So gayi hai saari manzile, O saari manzile,
So gaya hai rasta,
-Tezaab

13) What will you dance to at your wedding?
sajnaa ji vaari vaari jaanu ji mein - 2
tu hi to mera sansaar hai aisa mera pyaar hai - 2
charno mein jo na jagah paanu ji mein 2
to mera jeena hi bekaar hai aisa mera pyaar hai -2
mera maan hai tu abhimaan hai tu
meri pooja hai tu mera dhyaan hai tu
tu devata mein pujaaran
sanjnaa tujpe mein arpaan
tere gungaan hi to gaanu ji mein oh tere gungaan hi to gaanu
tu hi to mera sansaar hai aisa mera pyaar hai - 2
-Honeymoon travels pvt ltd

14) What will they play at your funeral?
Gham ka baadal jo chhaaye to hum muskuraate rahe - 2
Apni aankhon mein aashaaon ke deep jalaate rahe
Aaj bigde to kal phir bane
Aaj roothe to kal phir mane
Waqt bhi jaise ek meet hai
Zindagi ki yehi reet hai - 2
Haar ke baaz hi jeet hai
Thode aansu hai, thodi hasi
Aaj gham hai to kal hai khushi
-Mr.India

15) Your life story?
We were strangers starting out on our journey
Never dreaming what we'd have to go through
Now here we are and I'm suddenly standing
At the beginning with you

No one told me I was going to find you
Unexpected what you did to my heart
When I lost hope you were there to remind me
This is the start

-Anastacia

16) What is your hobby/interest?
Mera Jhumka Utha Ke Laaya Re Yaar Ve, Jo Gira Tha Bareli Ke Bazaar Me
Main To Thumka Lagaake Sharma Gayi
Boli Ghoongar Bandha Denge Mein Aa Gayi
Mujhko Nachaake Nachle, Aaja Nachle Nachle Mere Yaar Tu Nachle
Jhanak Jhanak Jhankaar
O Nachle Nachle Mere Yaar Tu Nachle, Abb To Luta Hai Baazar
Sabko Bhulaake Nachle, Aaja Nachle Nachle Mere Yaar Tu Nachle
Jhanak Jhanak Jhankaar
O Nachle Nachle Mere Yaar Tu Nachle, Abb To Luta Hai Baazar

-Aaja Nachle

Now tagging Maria, Vishnu, Vikram, bajji :)

Optional Holiday

2009-08-13T19:53:00.001+05:30

In the corporate world, an "Optional Holiday" is an OPTION to take a Holiday on an already declared Government holiday! Funny to know that an already declared holiday was made optional and even funnier I didn't take the option to Holiday!

In my world, an "Optional Holiday" is all of the following:
Less noise, less work
Cleaner toilets, cleaner roads.
Less waiting time in TT room, more usage of internet.
Music volumes high, working speed low.
Long breaks, more breaks.
More facebook, less outlook.
Less of monitor, more of mobile.

How is it in your world???

Taxed?..No more!

2009-08-12T19:12:00.002+05:30

I successfully filed my taxes for last year, last week! Yes! I am late. The last date was July 31st ( I Think). But hey, better late than never. The reason its important to mention about my taxes is that I have had the simplest filing ever! You know why? Guess guess guess...Cos, I paid taxes for what money I earned! No investments, no policies, no rents, no medical insurance. Just plain "Gross Salary", "Tax to be paid" and "Tax paid"! - Have you ever seen such a simple tax statement? I bet NO! And I am totally proud about it!!!

Yeah yeah yeah, I can see some of you reacting. Sak! what the hell, why haven't you saved any taxes? tere paas bahut paise hain kya daan mein dene ke liye? kuch toh document dikhana tha, itna sara paise waste kiya?

Unfortunately, I don't think that way. I have no regrets of paying 30% of that pay cheque I earned. If I deserved a hike in my pay, so did the country! I have no right to crib about bad roads, dirty colonies, poverty, bad infrastructure if I don't do the basics! The government won't help you if you don't help them help you! Simple..

I totally pity my friends who run around (esp. in the month of March) trying to get the cheapest investments and best policies in town which would get them the highest savings on tax! I also know friends who have a home loan on their own house, and then stay in a rented house to get the benefits of both! I have nothing against investing for securing your old age or for securing your kid's future. But investments sold and bought in the name of saving tax totally irritate me!

IMPORTANT: I don't expect you to agree with my thinking, and I respect your way of handling your finances. This space is mine and is purely used for venting out my thoughts.

Signing off, proudly!

Why?

2009-08-12T17:47:00.002+05:30

Why do we talk about global warming and do not stop cutting trees?
Why do we subscribe to e-statements and then print them and file it for "reference"?
Why being an adult is to stop being a kid?
Why do we measure the wealth of a person by his bank balance but not his values?
Why we are not lazy to watch TV all weekend but lazy to call an old friend?
Why we spend more on investments to save less than that in taxes?
Why do we look for great cameras in a cellphone?
Why do we go abroad to get laid off?
Why do we cut down on food, when it comes to cutting down fat?!

Why am I writing this??!!? :S

Hetic-ism

2009-08-06T14:51:00.002+05:30

Just when I thought that the series of busy weeks and weekends will come to an end, I discovered that the "thought" was a myth! Past 2 weeks has been far too hectic than I could have imagined and when I look back, I am surprised that I survived it! Here is a glimpse of it..

- July 20-24 - Work-Work-Work, test-test-test, bugs-bugs-bugs, meeting-meeting-meeting
- July 25 and 26th - work @ home and work from home
- July 27th - Appointed as the Official driver for the coming week and made three visits to airport in 4 days.
- July 27th - Found a new room mate and got used to talking in American accent :)
- July 28th and 29th - 2 day Break from work. and 2 day visit to Thirupathi, back with zillion laddoos on 28th evening.
- July 28th evening: Trip to Thiruvanmiyur beach: Sea waves and sand castles, sandy pants and sea shells!
- July 30th - Back to work, lots to do, lots to not do! Evening feast was spiced up @ Spice Jar (The Residency)
- July 31st - Bid farewell to my room mate and awaited for the original one to return.
- August 1,2,3 - 1 planned release and 2 emergency releases. Translated to 24/7 work and boredom

The rest of the days till today seem to be a little relaxed and more fun-filled. But that's not the end of the story. There is more coming up this month
- August 8,9: Trip to Kabini
- August 15,16: Trip to Bangalore
- August 20th onwards - Ramzan fasting commences
- August 31st - One more launch!!

In between all these things a whole load of pre-launches, emergency releases and TABLE TENNIS :) is planned to happen!

Phew! Ain't I busy? :)

Makeover!

2009-08-01T19:14:00.004+05:30

It was on May 21st when my new blog had got a newer look, and i had proudly announced it on my blog post: How Does it Feel when??

After 2.5 months of the new look, it was time for a much newer look and I started hunting for new templates for my self-obsessed blog. The process of hunting took me 2 days!! (like geet says in Jab We Met "Just IMAGINE!!!"). After short listing 4 possible new looks for my blog, there was a round of voting and decision making all the 4 templates went through to see which one suits me and my blog the best! and.... WaterColor won it! This template really caught my eye and I couldn't wait to have it on my blog!

But guess what, it wasn't easy to implement. However thanks to FalconHive for providing very detailed and easy to understand instructions for applying the template and my blog got a great new look!

I simply Lowwwwe the Makeover and I hope you guys like it too!!

Isn't it ironic, don't you think?

2009-07-31T19:13:00.005+05:30

It's like filling petrol in your car, to discover the petrol prices have slashed down the next day!
Its like getting a phone call from your boss when you are ready to leave for the day!
Its like fasting on your Birthday!
Its like running out of battery when your favorite song is about to play!

- This might surely sound like the song "Ironic" by Alanis Morissette...the way it goes:

A traffic jam when you're already late
A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife
It's meeting the man of your dreams
And then meeting his beautiful wife
And isn't it ironic...don't you think
A little too ironic...and, yeah, I really do think...

I have been having far too many "Ironic" moments at work and I am no more surprised why it happens to me always! Have you ever had a high-priority-customer-ticket to resolve exactly the same day when your project is about to go live??! Isn't it Ironic..don't you think?

KT Problems!

2009-07-20T23:18:00.001+05:30

As a part of my job, many a times I am asked/required to provide a "knowledge transfer" to either a new joinee, or an old team mate who is new to the project. I have absolutely no issues in teaching somebody or even learning from someone. In fact i learn more while teaching, cos every new person has a new way of looking at things. I am usually open to a lot of questions and I am usually patient in answering them. Ok, I guess i made my point far more than clear that I can teach and I am patient enough for it, but there is a problem here and without further delay i would just get to the problem statement :)..So here it is..

Problem Statement 1: You are in a new team, you are little more experienced from the rest of the team, however the team is new to you. You are just trying to get a hang of things and the do's and dont's in the team. After about 6 months of self learning and lot of practical knowledge, you are suddenly found in this situation where: You are no longer new, the old team thinks you are doing something new (which is actually not) and you are supposed to give KT to the old team members on what you learnt from these 6 months! Weird isn't it? Weird but true!!

Problem Statement 2: You are again new, you are new the team and the team is new! you are learning things from scratch from some stranger 7 seas apart! And finally you are the one and only owner of the project, when suddenly, somebody is introduced in the project and you have to give a KT! Always happy to have helpers, you give all the KT you need to and take the help from him/her in return. This entire process happens once, twice and thrice. Fourth time you are like: Oh my God! when will this end??

Problem Statement 3: You have taken KT from an old team member, learnt almost everything from him/her and took over the project. After few months, you fall back on him/her for help in the project and the reply is "I have forgotten everything, give me a KT". What do you mean forgotten? If you are on fast for a month, do you forget to eat? Do you forget to pay your monthly bills? Do you forget your own mobile number cos you never dial it? GRR!

Problem Statement 4: Nobody is new here, everybody knows everything and is doing the same thing. you are just asking for "backup" when you wanna go out for a short vacation with your family and your manager comes and says. Please give KT so that your backup is not blocked due to your absence? @#!$@%#$

Last but not the least, Problem Statement 5: You have resigned from your current company and you are on notice period. After 2 weeks of torture you finally get a replacement and you are expected to transfer the knowledge in one week. You stay late, take shorter breaks, write pages and pages of wiki for your replacement and leave the company. After a week you find out your replacement has left!!!! WHAT A WASTE OF TIME and EFFORT!! GRRR!

Tumbling...

2009-07-14T19:10:00.004+05:30

This was not my idea. My friend suddenly came to me and said "Lets do Project 365". At first, I had no clue what it meant! and then this is what his explanation was "Its a photoblog. You should take pics of the most significant event of the day, each day, and post it. The project goes on for a year and that's why it's project 365"

Well, interesting for sure, this project not only required me to have a decent camera with me all the time, but also the presence of mind to click a pic at that significant moment of the day! Moreover, post it on the same day! To add to it, I had a stream of questions on my mind before I could say a "Yes" or a "No" to him.
1. What if I don't have a decent camera?
2. What if I don't have net at home?
3. What if there is no significant moment on that day?
4. What if I am on a vacation and no access to technology?

And the quick answers to these were:
1. I have a blackberry with a decent camera, what more do I need..
2. Zimble, use office net :)
3. Take my own pic and post it ;) I am significant enough for myself :)
4. Who cares, post after you come back!

The final answer was "YES!" in CAPS and with a BIG GRIN! (don't imagine me doing that)

So, next day I created this new blog and promised my followers that there will be a post a day, sorry a photo-a-day in that space starting from TODAY!

Check it out: http://sak365.tumblr.com

Still wondering why the tumbler pic on the post? ;-)

Bugging you!

2009-07-13T19:55:00.002+05:30

This video has been my favorite for years now. It reminds me of the "S" bay which I had in my previous company where all of us used to repeatedly watch this video whenever our khadoos boss is asking a zillion questions!

Thanks to mariya (yes its her again!! Gosh I am mentioning her name more often than my name!!) for finding this video for us. Salma, Sumanth, Solo-man and myself (The "S"bay in-mates) are very thankful to you :P

The bug in the video is damn cute and I still remember Salma and myself trying to sing like him...lol!

Enjoi it!

Driving the car is always easier than parking it!

2009-07-10T22:48:00.005+05:30

They say "Getting a driving license is different from actually driving".

Initially I didn't understand this saying, until I started to drive! Well for me, getting the driving license was adventurous enough and i was confident to drive on the roads. But I guess, I was wrong. I have far too many occasions where I have managed to save myself or my car from damage (Mom, don't panic after reading this, cos I am much better at it now)

It was sometime in November 2007 when i got my own car(A year after i got my license). It was a 1999 Maruti 800 and I was the third owner. The reason i give this info is for you to understand that the very old car was gonna be driven by a very new driver! - ME :)

When the car came home, My dad was just too scared to give the car keys in my hands, he insisted i go for another round of classes before i actually drove the car myself. However, I managed to convince him for a few classes by a known driver.

The known driver finally turned up on one of the weekend and I could finally take charge of the car and control the steering myself. Well, it was not only the steering, but the clutch, the gear, the accelerator and the brakes too! As I sat on the driver's seat, there was a wave of nervousness running down my body and the only hope I had was the person sitting next to me - My teacher - The known Driver.We drove and drove and drove until we hit the Toll plaza on ECR and we decided to get back home. The drive was pretty smooth and I did pretty well in my first class. My teacher was already impressed and was recommending me to take the car out everyday!

We finally reached home and I was totally proud about myself! Now that the driving was impressive, my next chapter was the parking! I was supposed to park the car inside the house garage - which was slightly scary as the car park at home was pretty weird. I had to take a right and another right and then left in order to get to the parking slot! And to add complexity to the already complicated route, The second right was an elevation and the left was where the gate was. It might sound extremely simple to you, but for me it was no where close to it being simple.

With all the courage and skill, I took the first right peacefully, no engine noises, no tyres screeching no smoke, no clash. However, the second right required some knack cos it was an elevation. It needed a little acceleration, lot of clutch and quick brake when the car has to turn left. Mummy :( I was very cautious on the accelerator, but because of that my car refused to climb and my teacher kept signaling for more acceleration. Finally i left the clutch, jumped on to the accelerator, went zoom on top and forgot to break before turning left!!!

Result: Car was in the place where it had to be.

Car Status:
Right headlights were broken
Left bumper was smashed
Left headlight and indicator light shattered into pieces

People Status:
My mom's eyes couldn't believe what had just happened!
My driver was almost in the verge of laughing
My dad had a mixed feeling whether to scold the driver or me!
I was shocked and shivering to get out of the car!
The neighbors came running after hearing some loud screeches.

My driving status:
Though i got to drive the car, my dad, never let me park for almost a month after this incident. I would leave the car on the road until he came home and parked it himself!

Hence proved:
Getting a driving license is different from actually driving

Outsourced??

2009-07-08T23:35:00.002+05:30

I saw this movie on Star movies, and i just did not seem to relate to it. This movie is about an American guy who comes to India to teach how to run a call center. So far so good, the only part which irritated me was the "exaggeration".

I simply don't understand why the non-Indian directors, making an Indian movie, always want to portray either one of the following:
1. Slums
2. Dirt
3. Crowd
4. Anything which spells "eeew!"

This American guy who is supposedly the "AVP of sales and order fulfillment" is dumber than the villagers. He eats whatever is offered to him (including ice golas), he sits wherever there is place, he talks to any stranger and he cannot differentiate between "Mac Donnells" and "McDonalds".

In reality, every visitor/tourist is given a huge list of "Do's and Dont's" before stepping into India. I don't have the complete list, but this is the preview:
1. Do not drink/eat anything which is not served in disposable material
2. Do not use tap water - Brush your teeth with bottled water
3. Do not eat any restaurant which is not star-rated!

Looks like this man had never read the list and finally blamed the ice golas he ate on the roadside for a "cramped" stomach!

I think the movie failed miserably in projecting the right picture about India and Indians and the way we work and live here. We did start the IT consulting firms in small rooms and then expanded to big campuses but not by building huts in the middle of no where and operate with borrowed electricity lines! The movie showcased a frustrated outsider who initially had an horrible experience and then finally fell in love with his co-worker and got back to his country with a bollywood ring tone-d mobile phone!

Gosh, so FILMY!

P.S. I am not a professional critique and this blog is not meant for writing movie reviews, this is my personal opinion written down in my blog!

Shopping!

2009-07-04T23:41:00.003+05:30

Well, I think I already know what you are thinking after reading the title. If I know you well enough you’re saying one of these:

1. Sak! No! Not again!
2. GIRLS!! !!
3. There goes her husband's money
4. Gosh, how boring!
5. Give me a break!

100 points to you for choosing the right answer ;) but no matter what you think, It ain't gonna stop me shop :) Imagine how T.Nagar would look if nobody shopped! - I just did and instantly got this: "I am Legend" Movie's scene where the place is totally deserted. Imagine how the "Saravana Stores", "Kumaran Stores" and "G.R.Ts" would look with NO People around! - Gosh!

Anyways, I Wonder why people (Guys esp.) have a crooked face when we (Girls) talk about shopping. You know what??! If we didn’t shop, YOU wouldn't have got that lovely shirt in your closet and all you would be wearing is a crushed T-shirt for the 3rd time in the same week! So be thankful to us ladies for sparing that small amount from our pockets to make you look presentable!

Shopping and I have a unique relationship. I prefer shopping alone and not show the bill when I get back home ;) I am not very fussy when it comes to picking up stuff for me. I can blow up half my salary in a day by just going to "Shopper's stop" all by myself and get back home SATISFIED!

Sak! How do you manage to do that?

Zimble!- Whenever I set out to shop I make sure I have a list. I need to know what I want before I hit the mall. Also, I hate going to 10 shops and finally buy 1 saree from the first shop I visited. I mean, Why waste energy on the next 9 shops when u already spotted something you like in the first one? I feel sorry for the sales guy/girl in front of me who is patiently displaying all the dresses I wish to see and then tell him/her "Thanks, I will come back later" - TERRIBLE!!! My funda is simple - See it. Like it? Take it! I don’t care if it costs a penny less in the shop down the road! I am totally happy with what I got and the price I paid for it.

Besides shopping alone for myself, I totally enjoy giving company to somebody else. For some reason, I usually have confused people around me. They cannot help me shop, nor themselves! They just can't decide what they want and if its the right thing to buy. That's when I show up and rescue them - SO, need company?

Hope the shopping gyan has enlightened some poor souls in this universe! Good night!

Shhhh..it's a Secret...

2009-07-04T20:41:00.002+05:30

Now this post is surely inspired by my cousin..No wonder why her blog shows up on "My Motivators" list. So here is one blog "inspired" from her post: "Can you keep a Secret? - It is how Anu Malik gets "Inspired" by every English pop song! LOL

So, Can I keep a secret??? ABZOLUTELLYY!!! I know far too many secrets about you before you realize it yourself ;). Don’t panic and call the cops, I am not gonna let it out in a public forum :-) for the very simple reason that, IT IS A SECRET..Duh!!! But, guess what, This post is gonna have few of my very own secrets ...and after this post, it’s gonna be known secrets ;)

1. I am scared of dogs! - This is a known secret to some of my friends who have seen me reacting to a dog around me!

2. My first crush was when I was in LKG!! - Don't ask me the name, cos I don't remember it either ;)

3. My favorite color became purple only after college; it used to be black before!

4. I DONT have any best friends. I have huge chunks of friends from every path of my life, but no one as my closest or best! I don’t have anybody to pick up the phone and vent out something which bothers me or excites me!

5. My original name was "Rubab" and was changed to "Sakina" as a dedication to my grand mom!

6. There were exactly 2 Bohri muslim guys I seriously liked before I got hooked on to Vishnu! Both of them had no interest in me...Thank GOD??!?? - Don't ask names again, both of them are supposedly married to somebody else ;-)

7. My sister gives me an inferiority complex. Though I love her the most, I have always been jealous of her. (More details in a later post)

That's it for now; I would like to keep the rest as secrets ;)

And the winner is....

2009-07-04T18:59:00.002+05:30

After a month of hunt and analysis, this man made machine wins all the 4 hearts in the family...Surprisingly, it impressed the parents in no time and we got the green signal to go ahead and sign the 'Booking Form'. Now, anxiously waiting for it to arrive home. It is the Hyundai i20 :-)

Beauty Tip :)

2009-07-01T23:16:00.004+05:30

Ever tried a facial which gets over in 5 mins and also gives good results??

A facial which does not need you to spend 1.5 hours in the parlour?

A facial which doesn't burn your pocket?

A facial which guarantees instant glow and no after effects?

A facial which is free of cost once a year?

A facial done by 10 of ur friends rather than some stranger in the parlor?

A facial which can be photographed and treasured?

A facial which is creamy and colorful?

A facial which can be done at work or home or friend's place?

A facial which gives the same effect irrespective of gender, color, skin type or size of your face?

Ok ok ok, these are the people who have gone through out-of-the-world-facial and have been proven to be brighter, cuter, smarter and cleaner after that;-)

Btw, I am not waiting for mine ;)

Half Deccan Charger??

2009-06-27T23:47:00.002+05:30

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!!!!

2009-06-23T22:28:00.003+05:30

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!

2009-06-22T19:50:00.002+05:30

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!

2009-06-19T19:50:00.002+05:30

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

2009-06-17T16:57:00.002+05:30

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!

2009-06-13T17:11:00.002+05:30

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)

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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!..

2009-06-12T17:28:00.003+05:30

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

2009-06-10T18:18:00.001+05:30

"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

2009-06-09T22:31:00.002+05:30

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...

2009-06-08T14:38:00.003+05:30

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!

2009-06-07T21:50:00.005+05:30

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..

2009-06-05T12:29:00.003+05:30

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!

2009-06-03T17:10:00.003+05:30

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

2009-06-02T17:33:00.003+05:30

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

2009-06-01T11:42:00.002+05:30

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?

I'm lovin it...

2009-05-29T23:28:00.003+05:30

I still remember my first attempt of playing TT and making history of playing TT like Shuttle. its been more than 2 weeks since that history happened and i have surely come a long way from there.

I also remember days when my partner-in-crime was all crazy abt this game and jumped out of her seat to just play a quick 5 min match! I had to literally pull her out of the TT room cos she almost started to live there! Later did i realize that the game is addictive! Now I am going through this phase and she is being my savior! you see, there must be a reason y I call her partner-in-crime!

Would be unfair if i failed to mention my very patient coaches :), yes i have 2 coaches, one is a zoo-zoo in disguise and the other is a short sober cute chap (Note: he is not my team mate). Both of them are great players and have superb patience. They were majorly responsible in making me play TT ..the TT way!

Now that I have finished my vote of thanks to the nice people, I have to mention this other nice guy who had a reverse effect on me! His laughs and jokes about my games has actually motivated me to get better. If not for him, I wouldn't have stormed out of the TT room and finished my work for that day. If not for him, I wouldn't have been determined to go back to that room and prove him that I am getting better!

No matter who has what impact on me, this game is gonna be in my favorite list for some more time and I continue to bug each and every team mate of mine for a quick 5 min game :)

Like they say in the McDonalds Ad: I'm lovin it!

Reel or Real?

2009-05-28T18:59:00.002+05:30

He was young, he was naive, he was loving, he was brave. He loved his school days, he loved his friends, he loved his mom and he loved his life! Until somebody came home, somebody who was far from caring, somebody who gave him no love, somebody who treated him like a slave. Somebody was his Step-Mom! He longed for mother's love, he longed for his father to hear him out, he longed for peace of mind, he longed for happiness. One day when he thought he had enough of what he had, he decided to move on. He did not want to live there anymore, he wanted to live life to the fullest, he wanted to live life his way!

He was 17, he was penniless, he was a drop out from school and he had no clothing. He dared to face the world, he dared to do what he wanted to, he dared to strike out on his own! He sat in a train hungry but strong, poor but bold, lost but on the way to his destiny! That was when a wise old man spotted him. The old man was kind to him and took him home. Gave him a job, trained him, fed him, gave him shelter, made him capable, independent and self-driven. He got back his life, his love for life, his motivation to grow! He wanted to achieve more, be a BIG man, be the BEST!

Days went by, and he kept getting better. He found his better half and got married to her. She was the wise man's pet daughter. She was pretty, she was elegant, she was hyper, she was supportive. They struggled, they innovated, they did all they could to earn the buck. They made washing powders, they made leather gloves, they did all they could and all they should. They had no tv at home, they had no money for meals, but they saw every movie in town. They were satisfied with the small happiness in life and had no complains about the toil. After 6 years of wedlock, they were blessed with 2 lovely kids.

He did everything for his kids. He gave them good education, made them self dependent, made them the best kids in the family, he made them capable to live the life they wished for! He became the best dad, the best husband, the best son-in-law, the best brother-in-law, the best Kid brother..Simply the BEST!

HE is my DAD! He deserves this post and lots more. Love you dad!

if <> QAE then?..

2009-05-26T21:55:00.002+05:30

(For the non-amazonians, QAE - Quality Assurance engineer aka Test Engineer aka Bugger!)

Sometimes I wonder, If I was not in "IT" what would I be doing? Am I destined to be a QAE? Ofcourse not! I rather not blame destiny for "What I am today" and for "What I wanted to be"...As a matter of fact, back in school, I intended to do something which was not-so-popular, not-the-IN-thing-to-do, not-something-which-brings-fame. During my 10th grade I was almost convinced to stop my "boring schooling" and do something different. I was impatient, I wanted to get where I wanted to as fast as I could. I was busy applying in other interesting places, preparing for entrance exams and aptitude tests. I was just not set to go the mundane way!...

However,the appearance of the big fat book of sample question papers from NIFT made me sick (Initially)! They had all kinds of questions, which according to me, were not relevant to what they teach! I remember troubling my favourite Maths teacher for cracking the "problem solving" questions (Ironic! I ask Problem solving questions in interviews these days). The only part of the paper which i really enjoyed practising was drawing. Draw a construction site, a showroom entrance, a jewelry store, a fly over, moods on a toothbrush! - More than problem solving my brains worked better here! I had a flair for art (I think i still do, somewhere in one corner of me)

If you haven't guessed it yet, I wanted to be a fashion designer! Somebody (an ignorant) said, "Why do you wanna spend rest of your life doing tailoring?? " i.e. after seeing my NIFT application. - She had no clue who a fashion designer was and compared it to being a tailor. Guess what, I was already a tailor much before 10th grade. I was an "asst. tailor" to my mom and I needed no degree to be a professional tailor. Tailoring did spark the passion for fashion designing in me, but both are not the same!

So, if i had cleared the entrance exam, I would have had a Bachelor in Fashion designing than a Bachelor in Computer Applications. I would have studied 2 years less and started a boutique before I got my first job as a "Trainee in Marketing"! The "SAK" fashion store in Spencer plaza would have been mine. I would have designed some outfits for few of my "actor" friends. I would have played with dyes, needles, pearls, appliques, threads and ribbons and not the mouse, keyboard, laptop, RSA tokens, chat apps and websites! I would have been a "Fashion Designer Sakina" than an "IT Professional Sakina"!

Hey! That does not mean I dont like what I do right now! I was just talking about my Original Plan A which is now a Plan B of my life!

Speechless

2009-05-25T14:29:00.002+05:30

When i was all set to write stories about all the events in the weekend, i found myself out of words. I had no words to explain the joy, the ache. the awe, the fatigue. the triumph, the defeat. the preparation, the output. The union, the cut off. The side effects, the after effects. The gambol, the grind.

So many words, but none can spell out the fantabulous weekend I had!
Hope you all had a good weekend too. Welcome back Manic Monday!

I hate...

2009-05-22T16:31:00.005+05:30

Few things worth hating!
IGNORANCE - People ignorant to reality, ignorant to their duties, ignorant about other's feelings.

Artificial ACCENT - Heard your US returned friends talk english? Even a foreigner would not have that accent!
LIES - Don't lie unless it brings out some truth! No! dont lie PERIOD!. Its irritating..

DUMBNESS - ever met a colleague who has a blank look for every question you ask ?? UUUHH Hate it!

WHISTLES - Go jump the wall, sing a song, Dance in the bus or just smile to get my attention - whistling?? an absolute NO!
ARGUMENTS - Gosh! Such a waste of time, mind and voice!

How does it feel when

2009-05-21T19:36:00.005+05:30

How does it feel when...
Your old looking home is newly painted?
A favorite old outfit is given a sleek new look to fit you perfect..?
A stony non-existent road suddenly has cement platforms?
Your old bulky monitor is replaced with a sleek thin HD monitor!?
Your old room get new curtains...?
Your rusted Window AC is replaced with a smart Split AC?
Your Maruti 800 is sold to buy a new Civic!! (Make that purple Civic)?
Your old shoes which gives blister on your feet are replaced with a new Reebok pair!?
Your old messy hair is reformed to beautiful straight hair..?
Your smile is reformed after 1.5 years of metallic torture! (Braces on teeth)?

It surely is a happy feeling..and that's exactly how my blog feels with its new look!

Never say Good BYE!...

2009-05-20T18:06:00.002+05:30

Yesterday one of my good friends said goodbye to her job, the sangam (Our gals gang) and the city! It is sad to see somebody go, especially when you have had some very good times together. Our sangam is gonna miss her for sure! And she is gonna miss us too! Take care Ranju!

Well..her farewell actually reminded me of mine when I left my previous job. My resignation was a surprise to me! My previous company was like home. I was never out of company for a cup of coffee or just a chit chat. I always had someone to drive me home (when it was late) or just check on me when I was not well. I knew almost everybody on the floor and was so easy to get things done. People knew what I was best at and I never had to prove myself on it. You may ask, if it was all rosy there.. why did u quit!?! Guess what...I dont have a convincing answer till date. (I would leave the answer for another post altogether)

The farewell from my team was just too touching and overwhelming. A huge card with zillion wishes, a beautiful watch, a good bye with the clause "come back soon!", an empty smile on my PL's face. A "Dont go" plead on my manager's face...That's when I really felt the pain of saying "good bye" to something which was almost a part of me!

But the good part is.. I just said goodbye to the Job..not the People! I still have my outings with them and keep in touch with them by all means... And I am thankful to my ex-company for not only giving me my better half for this life, but for next life too! :-))

P.S: If this one was too senti for you, let me warn you, this is just a trailer of a huge 4 hour Subhash ghai movie ;-)

Side effects...

2009-05-18T22:18:00.003+05:30

As days go by, my walk in the clouds seem to be hitting earth. The walk is getting painful by the day and I am inclined to crib big time here! But before i get on to my cribbing mode I am obliged to first tell you the progress I have made since my first walk! So here it goes...

Day 1 : Holding the Side bars of the tread mill, totally scared. Walked as if i was climbing the Himalayas!
Day 2: Was excited to walk with my new shoes :) didn't find the pain of walking as I was concentrating on the shoes!
Day 3: Going steady with 4.5 kmph and guess what. I did'nt need the support of the side bars. I swing my hands to glory!
Day 4: 4.5 kmph looks jujuby and I complete my walk with ease! No sweat, no Pain!
Day 5: I get a little ambitious and increase my speed to 5kmph. Was overwhelmed with the calf muscles showing signs of pain! But overall manageable..
Day 6: Today! I forgot about yesterday's signs of pain and started the walk. Reached 5 kmph and was panting in no time. My stamina and my leg pain were competing with each other for almost a kilometer and then the stamina lost against the pain. My right leg felt like its gonna tear apart and i was limping on the treadmill. Slowed down to 3.5 but no comfort. With tears almost rolling down I call for my personal trainer for rescue! He takes charge, checks the area of pain and very calmly says "These are signs of muscles reacting to the walk. Take rest and you will be fine". And guess what, he was right! I stretched for sometime and I was just about fine.. All I need is a good night sleep and I should be all set for tomorrow

Before i sign off, 2 things to mention (reminds me of my ex-PM: He would say "2 things" and actually mention 3)..
1. If you are a good observer, you might notice that i have not accounted for 3 days (from the day i started). That was again suggested by my personal trainer to get some rest as my first walk gave me a blister on my feet!
2. My personal trainer is the guy sitting next to me right now, staring at his laptop and refreshing my blog to see if there is a new post - aka - my husband...

Defective day...

2009-05-17T22:03:00.003+05:30

Sunday, the most awaited day of the week! This is the day we choose to chill out, catch up, clean up and just do things which do not relate to work! However, that is not what actually happened to me today, and since the actual day did not match the expected day I am obliged to raise a BUG for the day! I know am being a typical QA and my developer friends who are reading this would have already lost interest in the rest of my post....well...Nothing new!! ;-) I am still gonna be a pain and a typical QA and go ahead and raise my SEV-1 bug!

Defect Title: Sunday did not go as expected
Defect Description:
Please find the steps to recreate and expected vs actual result below:
Steps:
1. Have a hectic week from Monday to Friday
2. The hectic week should not only be due to work at office, but also work at home.
3. There should be atleast 1 guest visiting home for 2 days in a week
4. A 45 min walk on tread mill should be done daily
5. Saturday should be at home and atleast watched 1 movie
Sunday expected to be: Sleep more, rise late. Eat late, eat more. Pamper your feet with a nice pedicure, but dont have a bath :-). Clean up the evergrowing mess in your wardrobe. Get your torn slippers repaired. Stick the radium stars on the ceiling. Listen to music all day. Spend time with folks. Go shopping. Go to the terrace and view the world.

Actual Sunday was: Woke up early, ate early, got ready early to make sure I am on time for the cab. Went to work. Took a little less than a dozen interviews. Played 1 hour of Table tennis. Got back home in the same cab. had a walk in the clouds. ate early and now typing this!

Since the actual result is deviated from the expected result the issue has been filed.
Please call me if you have any issues in recreating the defect.

Severity: 1-Critical
Priority: 1-Critical
Assigned to: LIFE!
Status: OPEN

A little background to the above madness. I was qualifying candidates on their defect writing skills today! Hoping to get back to normal soon! ciao...

Another one on the list...

2009-05-16T22:34:00.003+05:30

Just about i thought that my series of first time experience is coming to an end, another one just popped out from no where!! This one was not only the first time, but also one of the most surprising ones..this one made me sleepy, a little happy, a little curious and a little broke ... This one gave me a metal head and a smoky halo! This one smelled nice, felt nice and looked nice (after it was complete). If you are getting too carried away, get back to reality!!! I was just talking about my first "Hair SPA" :-) The first and the best!

work hard, have fun, make history...

2009-05-15T15:28:00.002+05:30

Every morning as I walk into my workplace, these are the words I see on the glass doors at the entrance "Work hard, have fun, make history".

Talking about "work hard"..all of us are expected to work hard at our jobs, but its totally up to us to do so..or may be our managers ...;) Who ever it may be, the general belief is "get a job, work hard and you are settled for life" - and the counter for that is "If you are settled, you are dead!" So, when combined it would be something like "get a job, work hard and die!?!" - oops i stop here and get on to what I really wanted to write!..

Coming to having fun, it again depends on the individual. If you are not a fun person, no matter where you go,or what you do, you wont have fun! SIMPLE! However, I don't belong to that herd of not-a-fun-person..so i continue writing about "having fun". And that brings to the point I am really trying to make: I discovered my new way of having fun (besides putting mokkai, talk talk talk talk, jump over all the team outing plans and so on and so forth...) it is TABLE TENNIS!! The fun part here is, I tried to play TT like Shuttle!! :-) I almost always forgot that we had a table in between and the players need to use it. Surprisingly, I picked up pretty fast and played my first game (doubles) with my very-patient and teachable team mates :-) This new found fun activity would continue for some more time until my team mates become impatient and non-teachable..lol!

That brings me to the last point - "Make history!" Honestly, I don't know who makes history here, but I sure did!..SHOCKED???!!? No, I have not stood for elections and I am not winning them either...I just played TT!! even better, I played TT like Shuttle!! Find me one guy who can do that??? :-P That's good enough history to make! LOL...

Signing off...

Blogging...

2009-05-15T09:07:00.002+05:30

It was yesterday when I realized that blogging was just not possible when you are either, Tired or Busy. For me, it was both! I missed blabbering out here in this space yesterday (I wonder if anybody else missed it...) and today I wish I can make it up..I have a couple of lined up talking about one more of my "first" time experience and (as usual) lots more pointless things ;)..

Cooker of the day!

2009-05-13T13:16:00.002+05:30

Its almost always expected for a new "daughter - in - law" of the house to take care of the kitchen when the Home ministry (i.e. mom - in - law) is out. And in most cases the daughter - in - law does take up the responsibility with no complains :) Today being one of those days ,"I" - the daughter - in - law received the title: "Cooker of the day" (You can congratulate my husband for creating this title). Now, to keep up with this new and creative title, I tried to get a little creative with my cooking skills and started on with the menu of the day to be "Paneer capsicum with Roti and halwa", but by the time I surveyed the fridge and the kitchen, all I could make was "Black Dal with rice and egg bhurji" (actually not bad for me). Now that the cooker has done her job, I am impatiently waiting for the "Hogger of the day" to comment!

P.S. I can cook and this is not my first experimental cooking experience. So am pretty confident my new title will remain intact until the home ministry is back to pavilion :)

A walk in the clouds..well, not literally!

2009-05-12T19:06:00.004+05:30

Well, after my first ever post on my first ever blog i still have another "first" time experience to talk about! YES! its my FIRST WALK! A walk which started from 1.0 kmph and gradually increased to 5.0 kmph and then steadied at 4.5 kmph until it was back to 1.0 kmph. The fastest (for my standards) and the most brisk walk i have ever had till date..A walk with no scenaries, no spectators, no road side stones, no blaring horns! A walk which took me no where from where I was but i still went 3 kms further! A walk filled with fear, sweat, questions and answers. A walk with my BEST friend (no extra points for guessing the "BEST friend"...its me, myself and ME!)

If you are still scratching your head on what it was, it was "MY FIRST WALK ON THE TREAD MILL"!! YES!! I finally made it! I finally bundled up all the courage and will and stepped on to that huge instrument yesterday! Its indeed considered as one of my biggest achievements of my life. (Considering the fact that I have been planning this act for more than a year)

I am sure my friends are proud of me, so am I :) Hoping to continue this effort for more than just a day :)) Wish me luck!

First time as a blogger!

2009-05-11T22:25:00.000+05:30

They say there is always a first time..your first award, your first job, your first crush, your first punishment, your first step to the kitchen (ahem...), your first bulb, your first date, your first kiss...and the "first" list goes on!!...But let me mention this first...This is the first time i have attempted to start my own blog and guess what...its my first POST!!! :))

OK..I guess as a first timer, i made my "first" impression pretty good here and I should actually move on to my blogging...

I never imagined i would name my blog "self obsession personified"..actually i didn't even imagine a blog of my own..but now that the unimaginable has already occurred..I hope i will live up to the name of the blog and make sure I have "I" mentioned enough number of times here to make sure that "I" am projecting the right amount of self obsession...

stay tuned...there is lots more of my piece of mind to be typed down :)