December

What is it about december that makes me behave like a loonatic? I have no idea. December is a great month. Why? Because if your year was spectacular, you can look back on it in sappy, emotional hope that the next will follow suit. (Hey, one CAN hope). If it was crap, you can hope that the next year will be better. The ending and the beginning. Whatever you want it to be. Besides, christmas is always associated with two very important things: sweet stuff and acceptable weight gain. Somehow.

Where I live, there's no snow, no over-the-top christmas celebration and no thanksgiving shopping season. I know, what is the world without these things?! But there's still the 'jolly'. You can choose to believe me when I say that the best kind of christmas is either:

1) One where you have NO idea where your next christmas is going to be.
2) One where you know EXACTLY where your next christmas is going to be.

In other news, things have been looking up a lot this year, so that's been good. I've a decent amount of stuff to look forward to. As always, i've only two resolutions for all the impending new-ness: losing weight and cribbing less. Really, with these two sorted I think I'm well on the way to slowly becoming a perfect person! *Sheesh. I think I need to add modesty somewhere.*

Happy holidays!

Marketing and Sales in life: Lesson One

I know nothing about marketing and Sales, but I'd love for my career to have everything to do with them, someday. I've been reading a lot, and most people have one thing to say about marketing- it is ubiquitous. You can look for snippets of marketing, everywhere, and apply things you've read, heard and learnt to daily life.

Presenting, my very own, Lesson One.

DISCLAIMER: This WILL disgust you. Don't say I didn't warn you. But it's a big, weird world out there and I write about the real world, more or less, so, brace yourself.

Let's begin.

Situation: Seven of us decide to watch the noon show of the movie "Nine" in a well-known multiplex. A Whopping THREE people cannot make it, even after the tickets are bought. If you must know, Reason: Illness, doing it's city rounds.

Ideal solution: Let's sell the remaining three tickets somehow!

Pitfalls:
- People would rather watch some other movie.
- Most people already have tickets.
- One person who did want to buy a ticket wasn't happy with back row seats.
- We got close to stalking people. Boundaries were mentally re-drawn.
- If you didn't know this already, being a salesperson is hard. Firstly, no one really wants to hear you out, and secondly, "No" is almost always the answer.

First thoughts: Our first thoughts were that we needed to get our demographic right. We targeted couples, groups of girls, groups in threes, people who looked likely to watch a movie like Nine. I really don't want to get into the details of this. We actually thought we were "Understanding our Demographic".

Shocking Revelations: It turns out, our first ticket was sold to just one person who'd come alone to watch the movie. One guy. "Hmm", we thought. Single people?

The "But of course" moment: Wham! Guys had turned up solo to watch the movie Nine, what with it's all-star gorgeous, seductive looking women cast. We didn't think that was the case, but were shocked to discover that this indeed was. Ah well, shock or no shock, it's time to move to the next step.

CAPITALIZE: And that, indeed, is what some of my friends did only too well. Changed our understanding of our "demographic". Capitalized on our new understanding.

End Result: We sold all three tickets, to three total strangers, each of whom had come to watch the movie alone, all three being men. 1+ 1 + 1.
Hallelujah.




Lesson learnt: When in doubt, reconsider your demographic. Always get your true demographic right.

Ta-da!

We're in it to win it!

Aren't these pretty? Yes, I know what you're thinking.

And not just hot mums- EVERYONE could sure use a diamond. I don't exactly believe that they're girls' best friends, but diamonds are the embodiment of all that is awesome- in shiny, gleaming, sparkling stone. They look good, are worth a lot anywhere and either make you or any woman in your life feel like a million bucks.

You can pick up these gorgeous pieces at LuShae Jewelry. Or, if you're like me (you really don't have a platinum credit card YET) you can enter the LuShae $5000 blogger sweepstakes!

I don't usually endorse these things but this, according to me, is the easiest entry process EVER. Two steps. One minute, tops. And you could either win $5000 to spend anywhere, or $200. This happens every month! And if you're really looking to pick up something, just entering the sweepstakes gives you a neat 15% off on the entire range.

Whew. When we're talking diamonds, that's a lot of money saved.

So go on, enter the sweepstakes! I did. Just click on the sweepstakes link- You've nothing to lose. If you win something, we can both go celebrate (ahem.)

The stage

I'm not what you'd typically call the die-hard Shakespeare fan. I barely know his work, although that doesn't mean that I wouldn't like to. But here are a few lines I've always liked. Sure, they're quoted all over the place. But they're simple and not to mention, true, if you really think about it.

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

Theatre will always be something that I love for many reasons- but one of the main ones is that it mimics life in an unbelievable way. It's far more challenging than a movie, if you ask me- there are no re-takes in theatre. Just like there aren't re-takes in life. Theatre cuts out the fluff- good plays usually have people who can act, and I mean REALLY act. Sets and lighting and music suddenly seem to matter so much more. Dialogue takes central focus in theatre- while a lot of people have forgotten what a screenplay really is. Don't get me wrong, I love movies. Film-makers are artists as much as anyone. But theatre..will always be theatre. It'll always have that edge. That's where it all begins and ends.

This was a good friday night. I might be totally different from a lot of people, but I'm going to say it- I'll very gladly and happily watch a play, every friday night, for the rest of my life and be thrilled about it. Really.

Besides, there's always saturday for the other stuff.

That feb 14th post

Surprise, surprise. I'm actually writing a Valentine's day post! Will wonders never cease?! No, this is not about "Love in the air" getting to me. Surprisingly, this day has been less in-my-face this year, and I'm happy for that. I guess a lot of people feel the same way- it's badly over-hyped. But, love is love, and it should be respected and celebrated and written about, even, and hence, my two cents.

We've all ( or hopefully will) loved people, different kinds of people. In all of that, sometimes I feel like loving ourselves is, in fact, the more challenging thing to do. It isn't easy, you know, being annoyed or angry with yourself, when you mess up. Who will you take it out on? Hmm. Exactly.

A lot of people tell me that they love themselves, well and truly. I don't think I really buy that. Maybe they do, maybe they don't. A lot of people have also told me in sheer confidence that they really hate themselves sometimes. So what am I to conclude, really? With all of that and personal experience (ahem!), I think that sometimes you really love yourself, and I mean REALLY love yourself. When you get a new snazzy haircut, or sometimes when you look in the mirror, when you do silly things that only you can do, when you do great things, when you do things you love, when you're with people you love. But there are times when you
hate yourself, I know I do. Everytime I mess up, everytime I fall short of my own expectations. The "What was I thinking" feeling. The "Why am I like this" feeling.
It's the ultimate love-hate relationship, what I have with me. I dig me and I'm my own biggest critic. Maybe you're like that, too.

So what can people like me do? Try and love ourselves a lot more than we hate ourselves, for starters. I don't make formal resolutions, ever, but this is one of the things I've always wanted to work at. It's easy to love yourself for the amazing things that make you you. It's a lot harder to love yourself for the flaws, the creases, the wrinkles, the pimples and the mistakes you've made. But those are the things that really make us human, the fact that all our awesomeness can be wrong, so VERY wrong, sometimes.

Happy Valentine's day, everyone! I'm going to try and cut myself some slack a lot more from now on. You should, too. That means a lot more to me than pink, red, heart-shaped anything and candy ever will. Wait a minute- actually, I'm a fan of candy any day of the year.

The christmas post

There's something about Christmas which I love. I can't put my finger on it, and we don't celebrate it, so it's not like I have family celebrations or gifts or anything. But, Christmas is not just a festivity- I think it's a feeling. You have to hand it to the people of yore- they certainly picked a really good time for Christmas. Or was the calendar based on this day? Ah, well, nevermind. The point being that end-of-the-year festivities are what bring about that "cheer" that everyone talks about. Christmas, followed by what atleast feels like christmas holidays followed by the new year. Two 3-day weekends in a row. Ah. I feel good.

So, what am I doing these three GLORIOUS holidays? I don't really know. But, that's kind of the beauty of it. For starters, I slept in, and I mean, really really slept in, because I've just napped for eleven hours. Yes. ELEVEN. Boy, does that feel good. Sleep really is phenomenal. See, that's the thing about this season, you appreciate simple yet essential things, like sleep, food, and people.

I'm also going to learn how to make chocolate fudge today from friends (Hey, it is christmas day, right? This day calls for goodies.) Tomorrow I'm going to watch 3 Idiots. And I didn't even have to plan anything! Oh, how I love it when others do the planning. This is sweet. I didn't get to go to a christmas party, but I am going for a party tomorrow, and it feels like a christmas party. So, I'm happy.

Also, I love carols and here is one of my favourite carols, mainly because it's usually sung very fast and is really zippy and peppy and all that.

This is Christmas season
so there isn't any reason
we can't dance the Christmas polka

Hear sleighbells ringing
everybody's singing
dancing the Christmas polka

Christmas trees and holly
make everyone so jolly
and love just fills the air

It's a wonderful world
for a boy and a girl
while dancing the Christmas polka

Have an amazing holiday season, folks.

Blog Action Day 2009 - What WE can do

Blog Action Day 09 is finally here. If you don't know about it yet, I really think you should check out their website. It's a fantastic event that is clearly organized by fantastic people- and I think they all deserve a big thumbs up, a massive round of applause, and whatever else you can give them. But what they really want is a world-wide conversation, one that brings about change better than superman, and one that finally makes our planet a better place to live in.

How amazingly selfless is that? These guys want us to do something that will hopefully create awareness and ultimately benefit us all. Although I have no clue what I should write about, I'm definitely going to give it a shot- for it's the LEAST I can do, don't you think?

I've been trying to read up on a lot of things for this post, and the only conclusion is that there's WAY too much about the environment that I don't know yet. There's SO much that will be affected by it, and I'm learning a lot. But I'm going to leave the advice and the well-crafted posts to the experts, because they truly know their stuff. But here's my take on things people like YOU and ME can do. We don't know all that much about what works, what doesn't, and we don't have the resources or the finances to truly bring about world-wide change. But we can do our part, and hopefully, influence others to do theirs, too.

Over the years, I've come to understand that there are millions and millions of people on this planet, and that's a force to reckon with. I mean, come on, peeps! We can fix space stations and make amazing discoveries and build supercomputers, but we can't do enough house-keeping for this planet we've been given?! It's time to pull up or socks, grow up and behave like we actually HAVE the brains we're famed for, don't you think?

There are some basic, simple things we can all do to make things better for the people who are actually trying to make GREAT things happen. These things don't involve money or resources or even too much time. They're all common sense, and most of them come under good old decent behaviour. Here's what WE can do, starting RIGHT NOW:

1) NOT LITTER.
And, not argue about it.
I've spent hours arguing with people about how it doesn't really create jobs, how some street corners and gutters are meant for garbage, and how there aren't dustbins everywhere. I think people should save their breath and just not litter, instead. It's just plain decency. Here's what some people think- "I don't own the street corner or the gutter, so why can't I throw it there?". Public ownership should matter to you just as much as private ownership. People don't litter in their own houses, do they? Eventually, they clean it up. Save yourself that time, and look for a dustbin next time. Until then, roll it up neatly and keep it with you till you can throw it. It won't kill you, places will look cleaner, smell bettter and fewer germs will breed. This goes DOUBLE for many Indians- you litter, and then talk about how amazing singapore looks. Hypocrisy isn't smart.
And there are a million things to be done- if there is no litter, people who clean it up can be utilised for more important civic work.

2) TURN OFF APPLIANCES AND SWITCHES and TAPS that YOU DON'T USE.
This is simple enough. Use power save. Does it bother you when other people clog up your LAN? Well, think of using power you don't need as clogging up the earth's limited internet. It's plain decency to switch off things- and it takes no time. Close taps you don't use.

3) FANCY SHMANCY, simple is good.
I love fancy workplaces and malls as much as the next guy, but do you really need a conveyor belt for used plates in a food court? If you're a manager with the power to affect these decisions, you should think about this. Why use the elevator or the escalator for one single floor? You have legs so you can move them. Do you really need a flat escalator when you can walk?

4) TRAVEL IN PACKS
Carpool, PLEASE! I've seen enoug roads clogged up with hundreds of cars all going to the same Tech park, each loaded up with one driver ONLY. It wouldn't hurt to carpool, it'd save you money, it'd save the environment, you wouldn't have to drive in traffic and everything would get better. While we're on this, road rage does NOTHING besides popping your veins out. Check out this amazingly simple initiative to see what I mean- Smiling Drivers. (Thank you, Shob, for that.)

5) DON'T IGNORE FREE LIGHTING
I've seen SO many offices that block out all natural light and air for complete air-conditioning and artificial lighting, throughout the day. Why? Architects, designers, managers and CEOs should sit up and take notice. It's really lame to have to use so much lighting when there's SO much of it available, for free! Even in the tropics, even in India, people want to run away from natural light and air. A little air-conditioning is necessary, but it doesn't have to be all that cold. Attempt to use natural things as much as possible. I really don't get why companies would spend a fortune on electricity when they can just get away with using natural light for most of the day for FREE. You don't need ANY finance degree to get that point. People have LOST THEIR MINDS while they've gained degrees, truly.

6) SPREAD THE WORD.
It isn't uncool to care about the environment or talk about it or discuss it when you're with your friends. It isn't uncool to spend your weekends being involved in projects like a sapling plantation drive- some of the coolest people I know are involved in stuff like this. A lot of teenagers think that doing this sort of stuff is uncool- and it's time to change that perception. Going green should be looked at in a whole new light. You should do whatever little you can to spread awareness- whether it's writing about it, singing about it, doing a play about it, drawing about it, talking about it, or being an example to others. Awareness is what's going to get us anywhere. And people should stop being cynical, in my opinion. You don't have to worry about which gas is categorized as a pollutant of not- it isn't in your hands, anyway. Sure, voice your opinion. But don't stop using your common sense to use this planet in a way that DOESN'T imply that it's a big round ball of trash.

So, there you go. If you've read till here, I'm glad and honoured that you gave up on doing something *far more precious*, I'm sure, than reading my views on how we can help do something as drastic as treat our giant home with respect. And no, I'm not trying to be captain planet or the planeteers. I just think that humans have it in them to be decent to their surroundings, and that such behaviour needs to be encouraged, applauded and expected in order for it to become commonplace. Fines are one thing- but if everyone n a street sticks up their nose at someone who litters, I can guarantee that it won't continue for long.

Here's to Blog Action Day, and more importantly, here's to the human race- and our ultimate test- Can we undo all the damage we've done for years? Can we get to the very bottom of that grimy stain and wipe it out? At the very least, can we stop that stain from getting bigger? We have to try, in our own small way. We're not just skulls with separate lives, we're people who jointly live in this one huge place. Here's to the hope that we all start acting like that's true.

and W stands for working, really?

It's been almost a week since I started going to work- and yes, it still feels weird to say that. I'll be lying if I say that I'm fully aware of the change. It feels like something's changed, but I don't know what. When I'm there, I feel like I'm in a distant world, and I'm not really in control of my actions. Now, that can't be a good thing, you say. I'll get real enough there, as soon as my brain adjusts to functioning in a colder environment, my head adjusts to the coffee, my butt, to sitting for long hours, and my mind, to growing up.

Work's been fun, for the most part- I went in with more warning than anything else. The really cool part about starting work is that people remember and wish you and message you and call you- it's overwhelming. It's also a brilliant reminder of this new phase in life, I suppose. I like how Akaash put it on the first day, 'The first day of the rest of our lives'. I got a lot of gyaan- don't expect anything, keep your senses open, be open to working hard, smile a lot, avoid dressing for social suicide, never go in without checking your teeth for gunk somewhere- and most of it was useful, I'll admit. But the only advice I'd give anyone would be to look at the positive side of things- and that starts early as hell, I suppose. Typically, you should start looking at the positive side of things from day numero uno in your life, but If you can't, you should really learn to identify the positives, like I am. Because there are a lot, believe me. And it's almost sad if you don't see it sometimes.

So yes, it's been crazy, I'm sleep deprived, my diet's flown away and I can only manage a tired smile by the end of the day, and work hasn't even started.
But I'm loving it, folks, because I'm growing up, I'm learning, I'm growing to understand myself better, and work is the best lesson in people you'll ever get. People can really surprise you, and when they do, it's like BOOM!
I'm also more aware of all the mad awesomeness in the world, the analysis that goes behind every little thing there is. I'm also growing increasingly resistant to temperature change- that can only be looked at as a good thing. I'm learning how to remember names, I'm learning how to remember acronyms, and I'm learning how to make coffee from coffee machines. Well, sort of.

This is me, signing off- Miss Waiting for Weekends (I think), Miss I hate travel, Miss Whole-new-wake-up-call-to-myself, Miss Finally, finally, growing up (I think, again.) For all those of you who still haven't worked somewhere, it can be a very humbling, interesting, and sometimes amusing experience. Amusing because you'll only be amused at yourself, if you're anything like me. For those of you who have, tell me which is the best place for wrinkle free clothes, because all the ironing is driving me nuts, peeps.

I hereby tag Akaash to post anything. Anything.

I fly like paper, get high like planes

and this is my 100th post.

It has really been a remarkable day for me, dah-lings. So many simply amazing things happened today. And then I came back and discovered that this would be my 100th post. Life has a funny way of making small, minuscule things just..fall into place. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't smiling right now.

Let's start right at the beginning..There's Ping! and there's Perplexed, and they blog, and I read, and I've been reading, and at several points I remember thinking, "Man! We should meet up!".

It happened.

It was nothing like I expected it to be like, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it was awesome. You see, I totally dig meeting new people, and I'd love to have a job someday that involved JUST that, but I'm back to digressing, so the point is that I was really looking forward to this. I told Mom, who didn't believe that I was going to be meeting two GIRL bloggers. I know, right? You just have to read their blogs to believe that they are girls, Mom!

So we initially planned to meet at Barista, then switched to Java city because it was too hot to sit outdoors and Java city has the A.C. I wouldn't know how hot it was, because I was late..as usual. Punnu thinks it's a disease that I will never recover from. Ah, what do you know...Punnu is right.

My first glimpse of them (ugh this sounds like some cheesy love story) was of two very tired people dying for some cool air. Perplexed looked nothing like her display picture (which, as I grew to understand, is a very smart thing to do.) It went really well, actually. She was friendly (and god knows I love friendly folk) and obviously smart, and really sweet. She also doesn't scare easy, given that she didn't pick up her (nice pink) heels (or flats) and run once we started truly being ourselves. Thanks for that, Perplexed!

I know ping from before, and I think I should do some marketing for her, too. So here goes...she is..wait for it...awesome.
(I think that's all she needs. She's happy now.)

Isn't it amazing, how I met a (almost) complete stranger (via blogging) on the day I write my Hundredth Blog post? We ate some pizza, had coffee (and even got a free pizza) and played some guitar hero, and finally, caught up with ADT and watched Little Zizou, which, by the way, I totally recommend for de-stressing. Nice, cute movie. I would put up a movie review, but that's more perplexed's thing, so I'm going to leave that to her.

(Perplexed, after all this, you'd better do some marketing for me, too. Otherwise I shall be oh-so-tempted to take off this post and I don't want to!)

So..a fun day! I've met people after I've read their writing before, and I've got to tell you..they almost never match with what you think they will be like. It's an amazing thing, meeting the person behind all those words and sentences. Some people say that meeting the writer really takes away from the hidden personality essence of the writing, but I think it only adds to it. I think of people as having two personalities..a writing one, and a speaking one. And sometimes they merge, sometimes they diverge. Either way, it's a neat way to know a person better.

It also turns out that we knew someone she knew..it's a small world after all, people! So, so small, that you cannot believe it. The world will show you just how small, sometime.

Oh, and..the movie had some stuff about blogging in it. I'm bordering on superstitious, but I love how everything came together today, making for yet another amazing sunday after Aero India 09. Oh, and the sunday of my trip to ThePlace. Every day on that trip was amazing. But oh, about the trip, I can go on and on and on.

But, ladies and gentlemen and creatures of all ages, that's reserved for another post, post the 100th post, sometime.

Until then, Good night! And meet someone new. I highly recommend it.

Take THAT!!

If you've been reading my last two posts (and don't worry if you haven't), you should know by now that I cannot stand what is happening in India right now- women are being treated like rubbish. Beings composed of nothing but rubbish that is meant to be subdued, tortured, molested, hit, told what to do, and treated like what some extremist groups think they are-rubbish.
And it sure helps that the government is just sitting on its sorry ass.

But, there is something we can do. A WHOLE lot of campaigns have been springing up, from sending Mr Mutalik a whole bunch of Valentine's day cards, to going to a pub on Valentine's day and ordering ANYTHING-even juice. I love that people aren't taking the truck load of hell being flung at us, sitting down.

Presenting--the pink chaddi campaign! If you agree with my views on what's happening so far, Make SURE you check out this site..

CHECK IT OUT!!

That's a great space to get you started on flinging back something to Mr Mutalik. Buy a dirt-cheap pink chaddi. Heck, buy many. And send them to him.
Because finally, there's atleast something we can do.
I think the folks who came up with this are doing a phenomenal job. It's an absolutely brilliant idea. I think we should also find a delivery guy who will fling all the chaddis at the dude and holler, "Take that, *****!!!"

I am truly proud of my fellow Indians. Kudos.

The consortium of Pubgoing, Loose and Forward women also have a facebook group..details are on the link I've already provided. Join, folks!
You don't have to be pubgoing or loose to join..those are just terms meant to annoy the very groups that accuse women of being nothing but that..you just have to want women to lead actual lives in India!

I'm all set to send Pink Chaddis.
I hope you are, too!

Champion

Even Nadal-supporters-all-the-way felt that prick. It's the prick you get in your eyes when greatness is right in front of you, but that greatness seems different. It seems..subdued, lost. In hiding.
Worse, it seems defeated.

Roger Federer is a man most of us have never met in person, but we've seen enough and heard enough to believe that he is greatness, and I'm not really talking about tennis. It's obvious that he's incredibly hard working, and that's enough for me. Enough to consider someone as the personification of greatness. Life can only give you so much, but Federer grabbed all he had, with both hands, and any other way he could. He's been friendly, humble, sensible and a delight, even, in interviews. It's obvious that he loves what he does, and he's phenomenal at it. He even possesses a certain easy, quick grace when he plays..something most players find hard to emulate. He's a champion all the way. He even makes all swiss people look good (Haha! Yes, someone's told me that they've found the already nice swiss-people to be even nicer once they first discovered Federer is swiss)

And to watch a champion like that cry because what he wanted suddenly seemed out of his reach is a feeling like no other. People felt like it was them, on the courts, who hadn't won. The collective sadness is incredible, and it's hard to explain. I don't know if he knew, but Roger Federer wasn't alone that day.
He wasn't alone at all.

Some people say he is now officially on the down-slide, because he's been defeated five times by the other great Champion, the Spaniard who consoled him. Some people say the felt like they were watching the demise of his greatness.
I feel like the hallmark of a great champion, is his comeback.

I respect Roger Federer all the more, because he is man enough, heck..human enough, to cry in front of practically the whole world watching. I respect him not because he's phenomenal on the courts, but because he's shown the whole world that he's a human being, and he can handle it. This doesn't mean that I don't respect people who don't cry publicly, but for a champion to cry, and handle it, is just something else. Sure, I'm assuming he had no other option in this case. He couldn't dash off somewhere, and he probably couldn't control himself. It was downright misery, and I felt defeated watching him cry- I don't remember the last time I felt that defeated. Either way..just because he cried, doesn't mean he stops being a champion in so many eyes.

Its unfortunate that this has been blown out of proportion, the crying, but I can understand..I'm blogging about it, aren't I? Parents and friends cry with you when you win, or when you lose and you cry, right? I guess that's an even bigger compliment to Mr. Federer- he's got friends the world over.

Nadal is breathtakingly brilliant in his own right, but the champion is going to make a comeback. I believe that, and it keeps me going. It will keep everyone going, and more than anything else..it sure will make tennis even more interesting when it does.

The Mangalore Marathon

Oh yes, it did happen. I'd really like to Blog about my vacation instead, but women are women, and solidarity comes first. We can count on this nation to redefine democracy every single time, to the extent of me putting this before my trip. Congratulations, my fellow Indians, specifically many, many men, for behaving like the stinking mound of crap that no amount of education and exposure will ever sterilize. Pride yourselves on this- Being hindus, not only have you completely failed to understand hinduism, you've also simultaneously managed to revert India back to the years of yore, when girl-child was a bad word.

What did you expect, the bravery award?

For those of you who still need an introduction, Mangalore's pub..Amnesia, I think, was raided by around 40 men (my facts are not perfect, and that's not what this post is about. Use google.) These bloody mongrels are from the so-called Sri Ram Sena, a group that not only brings total disgrace to the name of Lord Ram, it also justifies the later part of the name- Sena. An army of people, with hypocrisy and testosterone running in their veins, and so-called religion running in their stupid minds.

Normal women who were in the pub that day were beaten, molested, harassed, and there are videos all over the place of them running, running the marathon of their lives. These dastardly men, with their gonads for brains. It is pretty clear that they won't be reading this, for I'm sure they don't possess what it takes to READ, let alone use the internet, but I'm going to vent anyway.

ISSUE #1: What the heck do you know about hinduism?
So, men can do whatever the hell they want. These very same Sena Ass-wipes must we be drinking their heads off, or even dealing with ganja and narcotics. Who the hell knows? When the head of the narcotics control department in India deals in drugs, anything is possible. And Hinduism has nothing to do with pubs or drinking. The religion couldn't care less, as long as you're a decent human being, something our Sena Ass-wipes never learnt.

ISSUE #2: Again, what do you know about hinduism? Bloody idiots.
Last time I checked, folks..Molesting women wasn't recommended in ANYthing to do with hinduism. Neither was taking over law and order when it wasn't your place. You condemn women for just sitting in a pub, but god will bless you when you try grabbing them everywhere? Stupid louts. Don't you have mothers? Poor them.

ISSUE #3: The media that..did nothing.
Seriously, you HELP people in distress before you tape them getting molested! Idiots! Can't you buy someone else's video? Would you have taped your sister or mother getting molested? You should all be jailed.

ISSUE #4: This has become a political issue.
So, dear politicians, lets see your mother or sister get molested, and you being forced to sit there and watch the idiots on tv argue about politics instead of having some justice prevail. While you're in jail.
Looking forward to that, really.

Mera Bharat Mahan.
Too bad we've a population of some humans, and a million sexually frustrated, smelly, pompous ass-wipe goats.
And that's a grave insult to goats everywhere.

I hope you all die, suckers.

Hello, hey

So far, I've been super busy. Doing nothing, really..but..I've yet to feel bored. I always have enough and more that I've got happening!For instance, adt and the girls(:)) stayed over all weekend! And I've played so much wii (and watched wii playing) that I cannot look at it anymore! Anyone want to gift me new games? Will be much appreciated!

I've also got people coming over for two consecutive dinners (thanks to my super-social parents!) and a lot of gossip girl to watch! (Yeah, i thought it was lame right at the beginning too, but now I'm addicted to it! It's so weird, this transformation!) and I've a whole lot more of tv shows to watch, and beat this- I'm running out of time! In the holidays! Weird, eh?

I've also got a trip coming up..udaipur, from 20th to 27th! Those of you who are sick of my blogging, say yay! I will not be posting during that time.
Which is why I must keep these filler-posts coming right now.

See you soon-est!

~Me

januarythesecond,twothousandnine

I've just had a fabulous one hour- I caught up on all the blogs that I hadn't read in what can only be rightly describes as ages. This is fun. I got to see what they've been going through for the last couple of weeks. Good, eh? This blogging thing..yeah, it has some serious perks for people who like to read and write.

Anyway, happy new year! I'd actually show more enthusiasm, either by the liberal use of the ever-popular '!' or by putting up some google image of a sunrise, or fireworks or a champagne bottle. But, consider this- I didn't get to celebrate on New Years Eve. I'd an exam on jan 1st (gag moi. gag, gag, gag) and my celebrations happened last night. It was great really, all spontaneous and great. Us, my friends and I, aren't very good with the spontaneous planning. Simply because we all live in different worlds. So when we do manage to, well, (for lack of a better term) spontaneously hang out, it is brilliant.
Lets just say that I'm still recovering. *snigger*

Goodbye, 2008! The ever-clichéd 'good things and bad things' list is something I'd love to do, but my memory has just said tata buh-bye and vanished. Overall, I managed to get two jobs (one which I will definitely not get a call-letter for any time in the near future), I managed to pass RIA this semester (trust me- now THAT was torture) and I've had great fun..I will miss being in college. Being in final semester is just very very pathetic. Boy, does time fly. Supersonic speeds, at that.

On the flip side, I've truly made a mockery of what cannot even be classified as a CAT effort, I haven't lost weight and I haven't learnt how to manage time properly. I wish I could come up with some more fun things, but I can't. I know, I'm that pathetic. I've also embarrassed myself on way too many occasions, but I like myself even more for such things.
*snigger again*

January is looking pretty peachy, what with two trips arriving on the horizon yet again, ambition in the air and yes..I changed my blog name! Its more me, that's why. Why didn't I change it before? I have no idea. Maybe holidays makes you do things you'd ordinarily never do. I have no idea.

Also, also. People can be extremely different sometimes. And you know what I don't like? People who state the obvious ALL the time. Here's the best part- I do that a lot. I am going to change that. It annoys me beyond reason.

I also don't like people who have screen-names like 'Anon'. If that's your actual name, I'm sorry. If it isn't, I really don't know what to say- looks like the pathetic fuzzy set has lots of contenders.
(courtesy fuzzy logic. I've had a serious overdose of studying in december.)

Here's to yet another new year that doesn't feel like one, many many instances of writing 2008 by mistake, and to 2010..because there is NO way I will be studying on 31st dec, 2009.

And there was light...

Nov 28, 2008


It is a story that keeps people awake at night.
People everywhere.

People inside luxury Five-Star hotels. People inside hovels and slums, because their families worked in those hotels. People in one bedroom apartments.
People in other countries.
People inside a newspaper's office. People on the streets.
People who have family members in the armed forces.
People who have no-one, any more.

Terrorism occurs with a purpose. One that is often mis-interpreted. Often widely-publicised. Sometimes, concealed. Sometimes, speculated about.
I wish I could say every kind of terrorism has a common thread. It does, but it is a common knife. A knife that often defeats the very purpose terrorists have in mind, in the first place.
Because somehow, somewhere..their purpose takes second place.

The purpose takes second place. Second place to the suffering, the healing, the destruction, the pain. The anger and the hatred. Long after a tragic disaster like the Bombay Tragedy of now, people are going to remember what precisely what some group wanted, where each member came from or what their main objective was.
But they will remember who, and what they lost first.

And that's where terrorism fails in its objective. Terrorism does more than invoke terror- it invokes hatred. People aren't going to sit in their houses and be afraid forever. People are going to get hurt, be crushed and wake up and move on. People are going to hate terrorists for what they've done, and sooner than later, people are going to seek revenge. By peaceful means or not. Whether it means joining the armed forces because they want to save their country, or becoming a journalist and being on the scene to give people information, or writing about it, or just plain waking up every morning and boarding a train in a station that still reeks of blood from innocent people and the fumes from an unfair gunshot. People are going to get up, and fight in whatever way they find best. People aren't going to sit at home and be terrorized forever.

Terrorism fails in its second objective too- it doesn't bring people apart. Maybe in this case it will have diplomatic consequences for international business in India, but the truth always prevails. Other countries aren't quite as naive to think that this was the work of Indians who are happy with their economic growth. Other countries read newspapers. They make calls. They get news.
And they will know that what lies beneath, is a work of destruction that was consequence to them not because people like me, people like the CEOs of companies in India wanted it that way.

Terrorism is already bring people together. Everybody is reading the same newspaper now, watching the same TV channel, grieving at the same news. Watchman and Business Official will walk hand-in-hand, out the doors of torture together. Everyone's suddenly the same. Everyone's the same in the eyes of fire.

We all wish that terrorists would try and achieve their objectives through firm and peaceful means, means that anyone would much prefer, including them. It'd work best for them, too, because their primary objective wouldn't be taking second place to the madness the create. They may walk around in their jeans and backpacks, without giving a damn about the world, but guess what? The world now doesn't give two hoots about them. Life always has its own way of throwing the boomerang right back at people.

I guess the only way we can fight this, is to fire up, with a determination to beat this in whatever small way we can. When an incident teaches children everywhere NOT to pick up a packet and return it to someone who dropped it, lest it might be a bomb, lets show them that alertness is good, but life doesn't always have to be like that. It is all we can do really, try to fight the fire with an extinguisher. There's not much point fighting fire with fire. Everyone burns.

And when terrorism strikes, when they light a match, there is a fire. A fire that burns many hearts, many lives, many dreams.
A fire that also displays light. A blazing, destructive light, but a light nonetheless. A light we can use, to find a path that's a parallel path to this madness.
Because Parallel lines never meet.

Title for a post. Post for a title.

Dumb, very dumb, oh SO dumb title for this post. I know.

But my fingers are happy. Joyous. There's just this convivial relationship that my fingers and charlie share. (Psst...charlie's my laptop. I know. You were either somewhat excited or somewhat disappointed. If neither, you come in my favourite list for you have been reading!)

Diwali came and diwali went. And Well, its been quite a ridiculous week. For starters, I saw two movies, both thoroughly abominable, execrable, impertinent. (Ah, not-so-small words. NOTHING else makes you sound both unbearably intelligent and pompous at the same time. Have you ever realised how very smart people always use bigger words where simple ones will suffice? Its both a good thing and a bad thing. And yes, its also an amusing thing. They can say non-secular, but will they stop themselves from saying ecclesiastical? Noooooo.)

So..fashion. With all due respect, let me begin and end by saying that I may not be Madhur Bhandarkar, but I truly and honestly believe that I can make a better movie about the Indian fashion industry with priyanka chopra, even after never having set foot in it.

So..Roadside Romeo. Bad choice, disney. Bad, bad choice.
Romeo and Laila are JUST like my two friends who recently hooked up. Just like them. Its almost wonderfully scary.

I've tons of really good ideas for posts but none that can be executed given my present sleepy, droopy state. Life can be way too complex. Wow. Yuck, even. Bloom asked me, yesterday, "It isn't supposed to be this hard sometimes. Is it?"
These aphorisms, passed down from god-knows-where to us, making us believe that we deserve better. They've spoiled us, no? We all believe things shouldn't be this bad. I know I do. Are we narcissistic as a race or do we really deserve better? Do we deserve to go through mind-numbing hell just so we appreciate the good times? Rosh told me we do. But black and white prevails, and grey suddenly seeps in. And throw all this philosophy, X said, we do deserve better.
Ah. Different people, and different views during different conversations on the same things.
And I've confused you, I presume.

I'm in a weird mood, which is evident. I'm pretty sure I'll come up with a far better, less eclectic (ha!) post in a bit. For now, you'll have to bear with my idiosyncrasies.

lights


camera


action!

The question

To be or not to be, THAT is the question. Man, Shakespeare was smart. This, I realised only today, in fuzzy logic class, when santa put up a slide with the quote. Santa's what we call my fuzzy logic professor- he's all rolly polly and jolly. He even holds up his belly sometimes and laughs...you can almost hear a “ho ho ho” echo at the back of your head. He's also pretty smart and the one of the nicest teachers we have- he even gives us a MUCH needed coffee break. THAT, my dah-lings, is truly exceptional in my department.

That quote sums up almost ever droplet of being in our lives, in my opinion. It applies to everyone, everywhere, in every facet of life. To be in the gym right now, or not to be. To be an engineer or not to be. To be studying for that exam, or not to be. To be a virgin, or not to be. To be a loyal friend, or not to be. To be honest, or not to be.

To like that hot neighbour, or not to.

It's really that simple.

Except it is..well, not really all that straight up. There are books with a list of things that determine “Are you ready to give it up for your boyfriend yet, or not?” Man, even a list of a million things can't determine the feelings springing up in your brain, and even those can't determine adequately what you should be doing (for those who are on that path). Nothing can determine if you're destined to do that MBA, or if you're going to lose weight. Science can take you through to anywhere with reason, but it can't help the trainwrecks and the detours that happen along the way. And these, are words of wisdom that come after a delightful evening of heritage wine. (I love using these very british words...delightful, divine, yadda yadda yadda)

Which brings me to the delightful evening. BBQ and heritage wine. (Which sounds strangely healthy, yes? I certainly thought so.) It was MUCH needed by the almost bedraggled moi.

I also tried a hot dog for the first time in my life today (Don't gasp, you...I'm vegetarian by choice and birth) and it was quite yum yum in my tum tum! The mustard especially.

I love mustard on anything.

Anyway, it was very relaxed and nice. My heart, lungs, eyes, heck, even my toes are very happy after a nice time...I can almost hear them go (Finally, WOMAN, you took us out and showed us what the world looks like. Finally. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!)

And, and, list time!! Here we go..things I've loved and still loving and even RE-loving (there isn't such a word, right..okay..falling in love with ALL over again):

1. Grey's anatomy. There is going to be a whole post on this, with my every opinion on this, just as soon as a get to the third season. Stay tuned! Right now I'm way too addictedto this show to even type it out. And I don't wanna go to rehab, I say, No, NO No!!

2. Jeff Buckley.

   A genius, and you should SO fall asleep listening to hallelujah and any song from Grace. Your breathing pattern with stabilise, which basically means you'll sleep like a very peaceful, happy log person.

3. Jolly jellies.

   Call 'em jujips or jolly jems or jelly jems or whatever, these sugar coated sinful jelly things are just the right thing for your bellies. (Oh my god, I sound like a walking talking AD jingle.) And have many packets of them. The sugar high is an experience NOT to be missed:)

4. Pink.

   I re-discovered my fuchsia earrings. Mood uplifters, really.

5. Sleeping

   I've clocked in a ridiculous number of hours per day so now I do ONLY these things in a day:

   -Attend college

   -Sleep

   -Study

   -Sleep

   -Groom myself

   -Eat

   -Sleep

   -Watch grey's anatomy

   -Study

   -Sleep

   -Study

   -Sleep

   -Sleep

   (In no particular order, of course)

Now I must get back to doing one of those things. Remember, there's nothing that a lindt thin can't help cure, and the song “Affirmation” by savage garden makes sense even after YEARS.

Ta!

The pursuit of happyness

La la la la laaaaa! I am BACK! And surprise, surprise, I am actually in a happy state of mind. Certain parts of my brain have ceased to protest, and they're just sitting back, enjoying this change of pace. Almost like someone gave them a beer and went- "Yo, just sit back and get breezy".
And my, they did obey.

I haven't blogged in a while, partially because charlie (my laptop) totally bailed on me, what with him refusing to access the internet. Okay, okay, so part of it was my sheer stupidity and inability to help fix the poor dude. But hey, he could've co-operated a bit more.
Another, more overwhelming reason was that the past few weeks have neither been happy, nor eventful. I was bogged down by the monster internals, bugged with other issues, worried by the lack of "fun" in my life, and especially brought down by nothing to look forward to. Not that there aren't opportunities..but for a while I've been forced to turn down even trips to a swanky estate in chickmaglur and a nice trip to shivasamudram..and trust me, I don't fancy saying no, ever. It's all.bad timing.

So I didn't want to type out some lamenting, blah post (oh wait..does this seem like one? Hang on, it gets sunny, I promise) and I wanted to doodle when some happy state of mind found me. I guess I have to give a lot of credit to adt and ayt, because today they met me and I had a great time. We were supposed to watch mamma mia (hey I actually like abba..."My, my, how can I resist you?") but we didn't get tickets. I could just picture the big guy up there smiling and going.."There..I ruined the only good thing you have all week!"

But things turned around! We went to FP, and got ourselves all silly on a salt rimmed orangey thingy (I LOVE salt rims and tend to be very partial to the citrus group) and something called "Death wish". Funny, all it did was knock some life into me, sorta.

And then we just sat at kalmane coffee, just sat and smiled and laughed and talk and man, I have changed! My stupid, depressy withdrawn self of a few months didn't really break, but there is a hole in that egg shell. I really did have a great time. It felt so good to be out, I'm still happy and sorta jumpy. I dearly hope this is the beginning of a road to NO RETURN to the old, happy, absolutely cheerful, did-i-mention-happy me.

And tomorrow I will be going for em's book launch! I'm almost tripping with excitement. Any book-theatre-movie-music type thing really gets me going. Indian writers are definitely my cup of decadent darjeeling chai. And women writers, especially. Ever read a book called 'girl, alone?'. You so should.
I think 'You are here' will be just as good:)

And while I continue on the pursuit of happyness, its sure as hell nice to know I've made some serious progress in one evening. Its even nicer to know I had adt and ayt to take me there.
Hah, watch out folks..in no time I shall be cackling, and I mean REALLY cackling again.
Maybe it'll even turn into a guffaw...

A perfect circle

I am now legal!!!

Okay, so in India, 18 is pretty much the legal life. But what the heck, vegas so beckons now! (The only time I've been there, I was sixteen and not allowed.)

To be honest, I wasn't really looking forward to this birthday. Ok, so dreaded would be a good way to start describing this. See, I know people talk about the whole 'age is a state of mind' thing and all that jazz, but facts are facts:- I'm not getting any younger.
I know. Depressing.

But man, family and friends really REALLY changed all that. My birthday ended up being one of the best days EVER! And in 21 kick-all-ass years, that's saying a lot!

For starters, there was a treasure hunt at home, with...brace yourself...twenty-one gifts!! It was spectacular. Suj, mom and dad printed out these intellectual (hey, they weren't all that easy, they agreed!) clues, and hid gifts and everything!

Just for you (How lucky!) I'm gonna try and list out the gifts! (Male-readers may skip the following section. Or stick it out..its a great list of "What girls like me like!")

1-A cool red and silver coffee cup. With that cover that you can twist around!
2-Gold jewellery. Really grand, really nice looking, and now I can't wait to go to a fancy wedding and dazzle away. (Although i prefer platinum, but hey..they pick the sets they know I can wear)
3-A mother of pearl, gold and diamond watch. More weddings needed(but not mine)
4-A cute college bag in blue-gray and cream
5-A hand made paper journal. (Nah, I will also blog and continue to corrupt cyberspace.)
6-A bronze flower bookmark. (very cool)
7-A birthday card (with the words 'sex appeal' and 'bloody' in it. How cool are my folks?!)
8-Gourmet chocolates. (In individual coloured paper. I love that.)
9-A blue poise leather wallet. (Longish one. I've just been waiting to buy one..birthdays are celebrated for a reason, I so get it now!)
10-Crossword book vouchers. (My family has really understood me!)
11-Two pairs of earrings. (both junk jewellery ish!)
12-brown and black slippers. With a neat wedge cut.
13-A neat green hard cardboard magazine rack. (Just what I needed.)
14-green Kajal. (I know! Funky!)
15-Eye shadow. In nice normal brown shades!
16-A Copper sulphate (sort of) blue top.
17-A light green tee
18-A copy of 'A thousand splendid suns' by khaled hosseini. I like:)
19-Hair bands and clips. (Much needed)
20-A Debit card (Awesome, eh:))
21-The keys to my new i10! (Ah, i can see the green aura!)

So, that's 21 phenomenal gifts. That made my morning.
Are you asking me if there's more? Why, yes there is:)

So after that I went to mocha with my class friends and man, that place simply stuns! So bright and colourful and we had a great time with the mozarella sticks and the panino and the hats! I also got

-This card-like birthday poster that they'd made with pictures and art work!
-Roll-Poll..the cutest bean toy dog in the world
-A Book! (Man, people really know me.) 'anything for you ma'am' by tushar raheja.
The best part..mocha has this small place to sit that's more like sitting in a little cove or cave..fantastic place to go to (ranks ****..that's four stars in my list)

And then...(Yeah, yeah..there's even more)
I got a surprise Party! (Sutta, you have officially kept up to our surprise pact!)
It was the BEST thing ever. Everyone was there. I knew something would happen, but I didn't know it'd be a party and I didn't know so many people would come! In fact..just before I was entering the place...A car zoomed past me and some people (notably monk, who I instantly recognized) dashed out and ran into the building. That was a total give-away and a lot of fun. I somehow controlled myself from squealing like a mad pig right there.

So the party would take up a whole new post but the highlights were
-my wall boyfriend (Made with streamers)
-people dancing on chairs (which was real cute)
-My barney cake (I shall upload pics in a later post..)
-Musical chairs (It's much more fun when you grow up, trust me.*wink*)
-Speed group Table Tennis (I have no idea what it is actually called but I'm gonna call it that!)
-Passing the parcel (with dares. *wink wink*)
-Fantasy sex book reading.
And way, way, way more.

But, since I'm in a total girly mood (And I am in love with my birthday gifts), I'm going to list out the gifts I got. (I know...you're going..even more gifts? yes. I love birthdays!!)

-A GORGEOUS, white designer-looking, classy, chick-bag.
The type I've always wanted, Voila! I cannot stop looking at it.
-Gorgeous white shoes.(And they fit!)
I need to go to more formal, classy social events now, to show off these babies!
-Two thongs. (One red one black which says "I am a naughty girl, spank me!")
Ah, College spoof gifts are fun.
No, don't ask me if I'm going to wear them.
- A book titled "fantasy sex".Really funny and I've never seen so many people interested in a book-reading.
-A hula-hoop.. For the girl in me:)
-A Hot pink (Sorta fuchsia) tube top with a very flowy cut
-A lavender dressy top with a really hot back
-A lavender top which makes me look somewhat thinner (no kidding!)
-A green silk-looking kurta from jaipur (which I badly wanted)
-A really cool keychain and this kiwi chain (African and New zealand maal)

Man, This post is awesomely long and detailed, I think.
But wait...there's even more! (Don't stop reading now, puh-lease!)

So the party just..was outstanding and I can't rem the last time I had that much fun! Did I mention I love surprises? Well A day full of them is like being willy wonka.

Then, I get home and I find................21 dishes for dinner! (that's now my new favourite number). Mom and dad and suj...had practically worked the whole day to make a stellar dinner feast!
I know, the sceptics (a.k.a non-vegetarians) will be shocked to find that there are, in fact that many veg options for snacks and dinner that can be easilyu whipped up. Besides, i'm a salad and dessert freak.
Just for the non-believers, here is the dinner menu:

1. Cake (Mousse Au Chocolat, to be precise)
2. Vadam (They're small fried papads)
3. Papads
4. Peanut masala. (Yum)
5. Coleslaw
6. Potato Salad
7. Macaroni Salad
8. Onion Vadam(they're coloured)
9. Corn Salad
10. Another Veg Salad
11. Pasta in a white sauce (which had very basil-like flavouring!)
12. Pasts in a red sauce
13. Peas Pulao (never know if its pulao or pulav..any idea?)
14. Raita
15. Potato Fry
16. Puliodhare (Tamarind Rice)
17. Kadambam (Sorta like sambhar, very bisi bele bath ish)
18. Cabbage Fry
19. Flavoured Curd Rice (I actually like south indian food these days)
20. Custard with jelly. (Smack!)
21. Coffee Pudding.

I know. Life is good.

Thank you, for making my day special.
You know who you are:)

Rebels who can't state their cause

Dear Rebels,

Tsk, Tsk.
What ever happened to you guys? I know being a rebel comes with that razor-sharp, mystic, daring status. I know you have some cause. You're humans, after all. But what's flown way past the pathetic line, is the fact that you go through the painstaking (and pain CAUSING, mind you) trouble of bombing two Indian cities in two days, but you don't state your cause.

Isn't it sad then? Innocent people died, and for nothing. You continue killing innocent people. No one knows how to stop this bloody bullshit, simply because they don't know what you want. You won't state a thing, you'll simply confuse and create conflict everywhere, without getting anything you want. Hmmph. Talk about a lose-lose situation!

You expect people to figure out what you want and set it right? I Hate to disappoint you guys, but this isn't Scotland Yard. People aren't on your case, figuring out every detail. They can only speculate.

If you want something, learn how to ask for it. By bombing, you're only making yourselves, your people, and worst of all..rebels everywhere look like the underdogs who just don't know what they're doing, and yet pathetic enough to continue doing it.
My heart goes out to the people and their families affected by this childish nonsense.
Statistics may show other things, but India has half her population in the age bracket 1-5. In that mental age bracket.
For that matter, that whole world does.

Good luck, everyone. We all need it.

Signed,
Incredibly Lucky so far, in India.