little nothings...

2012-01-07T10:44:00.001-05:00

Dear God,

Thank You for 2012.
I know I haven't written to you before and I know you are surprised by my writing to you now. This will be my first step towards settling things between us. Really. The entire world is going abuzz with the world ending on 21/12/2012 and I may not be there to write then. Or even thank you for 2013. But then, thank you for 2011,2010,2009.... 2011 sucked. so did 2010, 2009. I dont remember abt 2008. So lets leave it out of the picture for now. And brownie points for me for taking the initiative :P

I haven't asked you anything before. And will not specifically ask for anything now. But just try to avoid showering me with things that I dont want . Here is the list of things I dont want for 2012 . kindly do the needful. (do ppl still use statements from the British era like 'kindly do the needful' while writing formal emails? )

Ok. Here it is...in descending order of importance

That feeling of being hungry all the time. Yes. It is very important and very much deserves to be first in the list cos it is one very uncomfortable and villainous feeling that will not let you concentrate on the task at hand. All you can think about is food. While having breakfast you will think about what to eat for lunch and during lunch all you can think of is that yummy chicken salad for dinner. Sigh!
Pesky aunts wanting to know when the baby is planned and advising me on how or when I should plan so that it doesnt coincide with their son's wedding and what not?
Free ATMs. Free advice transferring machines. Always ready to grab the opportunity where advice can be freely spewed onto us 20-somethings. I get all kinds of advice . Right from how an Indian naari is supposed to take care of the family and not run around chasing companies and careers to why not to use the pill. Yeah! It is difficult being a woman in this country.
The T-word. No more agitations, bandhs and riots.
Stupid leaders and Netas making statements that neither make sense nor are half funny.
Another sequel to Don 2 or Dhoom 2.
Crashing browsers.
Unwanted Kilos and endless family gatherings/functions.

Wishing you a great year ahead!

Thanks & Regards,

AS...

Things to do when stuck in a traffic jam

2011-12-24T03:37:00.000-05:00

What do you do when you are stuck in a traffic jam?

Radio stations? They bore me big time. The RJs and their fake telangana yaasa suck. It is like their core idea is advertisements and play a song in between when they need a break from the ads. Like a bee flitting from flower to flower, my mind keeps flitting from car to car, checking out the inmates of the car - if they are cool enough for that car or what could their profession be, number plates, colors and personalities, and the front grill!

To beat Traffic , here are a few things you could do.

1) Attach a personality to the car
Just like each one of us has different features that make us unique and talk about our personality, each car has a unique personality. My favorite activity while stuck in a jam is to assign a personality type to the car depending on the size and shape of its front grill. The older buses had a square shaped grill and they look like a huge giant of a person with a small mouth and like a person kissing someone..they have the look of a gentle giant..The newer buses have a straight face. Indifferent, I say! Indica has a nice, pleasant smile. Laura looks like an airy old guy while BMW looks nosy and Endeavour has a rowdy look. Swift has a no-nonsense look while our dear Auto has the look of a chipmunk. To me, a limousine looks like a creepy, crawly creature with a long face.

2) Cars, colors and personalities

I think the color of the car can convey a lot about the owner. I think red reflects people who like to stand out or show-off; while black conveys a no-nonsense or elegant or classic personality. Orange/Yellow are cheerful and loud.
Read here and here what studies and psychologists say about it.

3) For the more adventurous type, you could sing your fav song loud enough for the neighbors to hear and join you. or just laugh at you, maybe! It is a biiig stress-buster. Trust me, it works. A colleague and I who used car pool used to do it everyday - singing Bollywood songs. Specially, item numbers and Himesh Reshamiya's. While with the Telugu crowd, muppiyaaru from Jagadam and Nuvvu Mannela thintivira krishna from Chatrapathi were the favorites.

4) Check out the inmates of the cars around you - if they are cool enough for that car or what could their profession be

5) For the more intellectual people : Make a statistical analysis of the different types and make of cars

My observation: I have noticed that any any signal, Swifts are a majority . White Swifts!

6) Whatever you do, picking your nose while stuck in a traffic jam is a big NO-NO. Yes, NO-NO in capitals.

What do you do when in a traffic jam?

PS: The worst thing to happen while stuck in a traffic jam is having to use the loo. Remember Sandra Bullock in Two Weeks notice?

The BadCow story

2011-11-29T05:15:00.001-05:00

I love stories. Specially narrating stories. Exaggerating them and narrating. I have stories associated with just about anything. Bird shit, car, lock, missing flights, chasing buses, maid servant, broken pyjama strings, coffee, blog...Give me anything and I will tell you a story that happened to me with that subject.

The BadCow story has nothing to do with being bad or cows or cows that are bad. It is just my tryst and obsession with bad words. If only my dad had an iota of idea about the extent of my 'galeez maatalu' vocab, he would jump from his 5th floor apartment. Going by the number of bad words I know and use, the way I drive and cuss at drivers ( and yeah my love for night life too ), my mum feels I should have been born as a boy and If I were born a boy and got married, my wife would've committed suicide within the first 2 months of the marriage. See..exaggeration you see. It runs in the family.

BadCow ...reminds you of any bad words? For non-native Telugu speakers, Badcow is a cuss word. just like 'a*s**le' and the likes. It is pronounced ' baaaa-da-cow' and supposedly means scoundrel. I googled it up. Couldnt get more information on it :(

As a child, my dad never liked The Brother and I foul mouthing each other. Stupid, Idiot and even the commonly used 'ra', 've' were worthy of lectures. Poor dad did not know that my vocab was more than mere stupids and idiots. During one of our 98243678 fights, I call The Brother 'badcow' and he goes and complains to dad. Spoilsport. Dad was super shocked. Where and how I learnt this word were deeply contemplated and yours truly was reprimanded for using that word and lectured bigtime on the proper decorum for young girls and blah blah. The episode was long forgotten and in the days to come I took every care that the words I use did not reach the 'pure' ears of my daddy dearest.

A few months ago, I was mightily pissed off at dad and was fuming with rage. I was all ready to yell the roof out of the house when he very casually says "thidthava nannu ippudu? thittu..emani thidtav? badcow aa? badcow anu nannu...annu" (Translation: Yeah, common, will you scold me now? will you call me a badcow now? Call me a badcow) There was a brief silence and we both ended up laughing. yeah ROFL kind of laughter.

I stopped using the word 'badcow' after this incident. Sachinoda is the latest fancy ;)

When dreams come true..

2011-11-07T06:22:00.000-05:00

Last week was a dream-come-true week for me. Not that 5 years down the line 'i-shall-become-an-IAS officer-and serve-my motherland' or ' i will own a Maserati ' dream dream, but, whatever be the magnitude and aptitude of a dream, a dream is still a dream! The last week saw two of my dreams come true. And when two dreams come true, you begin to wonder if you have any psychic powers and should take up reading tarot cards as a part-time job...

1) Taking into account the wandering mind that I have, the only consistent dream so far has been the one where I am introduced as a writer. Last night, I was at a dinner party with a few of my undergrad college seniors and their respective wives. S introduces me to his wife as ' She is a writer. She writes blogs. And she runs her own business blah blah'. My mind stopped after the first 4 words (Technically 3. Is 'a' counted as a word?) What was that? Writer? Wrrrriiiiiittteeer??? Awwww... You know that scene from old Bollywood or Tollywood movies where happiness fills your stomach and tears flood your eyes and you will be able to take no more??? Yea, I saw it! I witnessed that!!

2) The second dream is not as beautiful as the first one and one that I never ever wanted to come true. But the bitch that life is, it slapped that dream hard across my face and the fighter (!!) that I am I took it with ...I donno.. loads of tears I guess.

That dream had come true. I had to attend an engagement and none of my clothes fitted me anymore. You should've seen the panic on my face with Kurti after Kurti flying across the room and all scattered across the floor.The only think I could get into was an old old old not-anymore-in-trend one and come what way, I wouldn't be caught wearing that!! So I skip the party.

I had two options: 1) Gym 2) A whole new wardrobe!

My heart found option 2 very very exciting but the mind kept sending unwarranted messages about how broke I am and I had to settle for the gym. The heart and mind conflict. So I go back to the gym. Not gym gym. But power yoga. The name should sound cool, right? And guess what!! The instructor there.. Oh! Never mind .It's gonna be a whole new post later..

The 5 types of drivers that piss me off the most!

2011-08-30T16:14:00.007-04:00

1) The 'This- road- my Baap-Ka-jaagir' kind of drivers

This kind of people drive to the extreme right side of the lane (where you are supposed to be the fastest or overtake from technically!!) and are typically seen cruising around at speeds not exceeding 20 Kmph and are in total oblivion of the looooong line of vehicles behind them and the constant crying of horns. You can honk your heart out but these Nawabs will not move an inch to the left. They could be thinking about anything: from romancing their girlfriend in their head thinking the road to be their lush green field to dreaming about their wife preparing lip smacking Jilebis.

Dude, I know you may be hearing to romantic melodies about love gained or love lost and reliving your first crush/date in your head, but just get out of my way!!!

With due respect to the Baaps, i feel these kids deserve one strong smack!
Given? Ok. Next category.

2) The 'I'm a busybee-my world crashes if I don't take this call' drivers
This is the category of drivers I hate the most. Plz, plz plz plz let there be a bill passed that makes cell phone driving illegal. Or much better legalize ramming into these cars . How I wish a thammudu Hazare or a chellelu Hazare fights for this one too!

From my end, I make it a point to show my middle finger to every cellphone driver. My aim is to insult them in front of their family/friends/colleagues in their car so that they do not repeat it.

yesh, I totally understand that the price of gold is fast rising and you want to make a shot at selling it or you may be crying over the phone about how much you lost that day. But please, pull your car to a halt where it is advisable to, speak to your heart's content and come back to join us- the poor souls caught in traffic. Finish your call, we'd still be there only.

3) The 'I want 5 star-No-dairy milk-No-bar one-No-I'm sorry-Im a fickle minded idiot' kind of drivers

These are the indecisive lot. They stop right at the signal when it turns green and then deliberate on which way to go: right, left, straight or a U-turn. Oh no! I just forgot where I should be going. What are you? A 5 year old kid? No. Kids are much better. They know which Ben10 or GIJoe toy they want!

Please get yourself a jar of Dabur Chyawanprash. It is known to improve memory, you silly Ghajini of the Road.

4) The Old drivers

With due respect to their age, I think the grandfathers need to understand that the roads and traffic today is different and their reflexes are not in the best of conditions and start driving towards the left side. Where they can drive real slow and enjoy their drive.

5) The 'Oh-Im a delicate baby doll' kind of drivers

Sadly, 99% of women drivers fall into this one. I am not even speaking about this category. They are a huge dhabba on the name of Women Drivers!

Special category for riders: The 'mere-chunar-ud ud- jaaye' kind of riders

This category is a reserved category for girls. Remember 33 % :D
These are those girls that zoom around on their bikes with their duppatas flying in the air behind them. Sweetie, I am sorry to say but we are not Kajols in Kuch Kuch Hota Hein where the red dupatta would fly onto some handsome Shah Rukh's face and the handsome Shah Rukh will look at you in slow motion removing the dupatta away from his face in the sexiest manner ever possible and then for a happily ever after story to ensue.

Just imagine what would happen if it gets entangles in the wheels of your vehicle or the next one??

unfair and ... wats the opposite of lovely?

2011-06-01T00:54:00.007-04:00

Some random guy in some random city sued Unilever ' for cheating and causing mental suffering' cos he has been using Axe Effect for seven years and not a single girl went out with him. Shut up! I have been using fair & lovely for 14 years and nothing happened. I dint climb one point on the whiteness meter. Unfair I say!!

So, I have decided I will also press charges on them for making false promises, causing emotional trauma, and distress to my entire family , humiliation due to rejections by potential grooms who still considered me dark skinned after years and years of usage while they advertised promising results and the handsomest of young boys in 2 weeks. Cheating!!

On another note, why do we Indians have this fair skin fantasy. Men, women, and specially mothers-in law are obsessed with fair skin and fair skinned bahus. Even a charcoal dark guy in India wants a 'white' wifey. Fool! first you gotta learn its fair and not white.

Read more about that axe effect case here

Left Leg Aage Aage, Right Leg Pichay Pichay Aaja Yaara Lets Start Ve...oii dance pe chance maarle

2011-06-01T00:28:00.001-04:00

Ok. So i am a thousand steps away from striking point no 12 from this list :D yeah , yesterday morning was something like wisdom-morning ( gyaanodayam...right no?? ) for me. It was one of those mornings when you wake up with ants in your pants and are all tensed about something and want that something to be on your priority list that day and the following days. Ever felt that? yeah it was that day for me.

In my dream, i was getting dressed for a party and was trying outfit after outfit and I couldnt fit into any and I was finally out of options and dint have anything to wear for the party. So I skip the party, sit and sulk at home over tubs of chocolate icecream watching sex and the city and then cry myself into bed feeling envy for Carrie Bradshaw because she has THAT figure and all those designer clothes and handbags. I am crying and crying and crying while everyone was having fun and dancing to "Everybody.. Shake your body" at the party. I tell myself you are a sport and try to make my time at home funfilled by trying to shake a leg to Shakiras tune only to fall flat on my back. In the dream I then realize that something is very wrong and step on the scale. Another punch on my face. The BMI reading is 32 and I am officially obese. Remember in horror movies where the heroine wake up with jitters, tension and horror on her face?? Picture me instead. I thanked God profusely realizing it was just a dream. Sometime ago, some random person told me dreams dreamt in the morning come true. So, the scared chick that I am i enrolled myself at a gym this morning shelling 20 grand per annum (Read another nightmare ). Life is so difficult for me. I will have to endure one nightmare to beat another! I only hope i make it atleast thrice a week and the initial enthu doesnt wear off very soon.

Wish me good luck! So in the coming days there will be so much endorphins released in my body . And antioxidants too. From the green tea I plan to drink. Itseems the antioxidants will fight those bad and ugly cells and rejuvenate your skin and you. Be careful when you are coming to meet me. For you may just be blinded by the glow on my face. I suggest you wear shades.

PS: I visited 3 gyms and all of them show posters of skinny white women working out. Ideally, shouldnt those posters show plumpier and fat women. Because they are the target crowd and because they are the ones sweating it out there?? Jerks, I say!!

Kabhi alvida na kehna.....

2011-05-26T05:41:00.002-04:00

Have you met people that you instantaneously liked/loved and then had to separate immediately ? Have you parted from that friend of yours who was your partner in crime and the shoulder that you sobbed on for hours? Did you meet people with whom you shared an absolute chemistry and then just decide to stay away for the higher good of mankind or abstracted good outcomes?

Did you?

I always thought I was the only one who met people, hit it off from the word go, and then had to bid adieus only to turn to tubs of chocolate ice-creams to get through the pain and agony. Why do we meet people only if we have to part? This question is always on the top of my list of Why??s . WHY? Whenever this happened to me, I cursed God. Bigtime. Cursed him using words totally unbecoming and unfitting of a woman brought up in a proper household. That was my way of overcoming the pain. Yea, apart from the comforts of the ice-cream tubs and emptying wallets at stores over tunics that I wouldn't wear in years.

The pain would be such that you would feel unwanted, hurt, scarred for life and you would want to hit yourself for the mistakes made or taking those people for granted or again get back to the world of cursing and curse that he/she for not understanding you. Or for not standing up to you. Or for understanding so little of you. Or for misinterpreting your words and actions. Your head would make you sit there staring at the dark sky telling you all wrong things like there is only a bleak future ahead and stupid and silly things like there is not a single person in the world who loves you. Yeah, it is all very sad and depressing . I understand life is hard. A friend of mine says, "I think God was having his chummies while he was creating me". I know we all feel like that at one time or the other and there are millions of people feeling like that right now this very moment.

I only want to convey through this post to all those people that have been hurt or might be hurt in future that all that emotional trauma is fleeting.With time if I emerged gloriously from that pain, so would you. And everybody will. Look around you. There might be another shoulder that you could sob on, talk to and vent out all that anger/frustration/pain/hurt etc. Or just write it down in your note book. You will find answers with time. Or write to me. I will be that openminded and unprejudiced ear that hears. You deserve to be heard. And again, with time life would be that clichéd bed of roses until some thorns in the bed start pricking your back and make you bolt out of that comfort only to become stronger and stronger and stronger. Every such experience will be a new lesson to learn and then preach to the rest ;) Everybody needs a chance to be heard, dont they? And to feel loved.

Spread the hugs. Spread the love. Amen.

PS: Why do they say 'bed of roses'? Roses have thorns, remember? Why not lilies and jasmines and other sweet smelling flowers without the thorns?

PPS: Ah! now i Know. to keep alternating between soothing and pricking? really?

why?

2011-05-14T12:02:00.002-04:00

why is it that every happy story should have a sad ending?
why is it that matured decisions are always painful to the heart?
why is it that decisions that make you happy are often touted silly?
why is it that the mind and heart should be in conflict all the time?
why is it that you meet people if you have to part later?
why is it that life makes you un-believe your belief in fairy tale endings?
why is it that life ceases to be a bed of roses ?
why is it that there are options that lead to confusions?
why is it that we have to go through a quarter life crisis?

more why?s to come...

the come back post

2011-04-19T18:20:00.000-04:00

So, now that the decision to strike back has been made the bigger challenge I face is what to write. I have seriously been thinking about another post on relationships and complications -part 2. But then, I decided not to simply because a post on complexities and confusions and crappiness cannot be a come back post. Can it be? Yeah, I can see a big swing of that head from left to right. I understand none of us would want a sorrowful reunion. Yea, the left to right swing reminds me of my Spanish friend R who was recently in the city to meet her Telugu In-laws and relatives. I taught her that a left to right swing is a NO and a top to bottom swing is YES. The smart girl that she is, she asks me doubts in that theory too. She asked me what would it mean when the head is sent in a 180 degree left to right vertical swing ? Yes, that is also a YES. So remember the next time you give survival lessons to your firangi friends visiting the Swades, make sure you include this one too!

A reunion should be fun. There should be music. There should be dance. Teen maar. And drinks. On this note, go to youtube, play Taylor Swift's Love Story followed by Enduke ramannama , shake a leg and lets toast an apple martini; for the apple martini's come back! Thank you!

And thus ended the revival post.

PS: I get to select the song because I am throwing the reunion party. Likewise, I get to select the drinks too.
PPS: I have made bold statements about striking off things from the 30 before 30 list. I was able to manage to strike off three of them and I am almost there with the 16th point.
PPPS : I am now sitting nervously biting my nails off because I just realized I have to come up with 8 things to finish the list and that I just a few years to strike of things completely from the list.
PPPPS: Another realization that I cannot complete lists. I am having a nervous break down as I type this. Please, please call 108.
PPPPPS: I simply love using this PS and PPS and PPPSes. What do they actually mean?

back!! but where is the bang?

2011-04-19T17:50:00.000-04:00

Ok. So, due to public demand for a come back and also due to the free flowing thoughts that have started flooding yours truly's tiny speckle of a brain, yours truly has decided to blog and tweet again. Yes, tweet. Obviously, i just cannot keep spamming one social networking site with all the crap. It would be too much bullshit for one platform to handle. And what would Jack Dorsey think? Would n't he and twitter feel neglected? And being the compassionate human being that I am, I cannot do it. So its going to be lots of bullshitting on the blogosphere and twitterosphere from now. And yeah, bullshit does not have synonyms.

Now, c'mon! Dont open dictionary.com to validate what I said. I already did dear. Save yourself some time and go grab that cup of coffee. I love coffee. But, I hate mornings. But, every night I await a new morning so that I can brew myself another cup of coffee. Morning coffee.

2011-01-12T09:38:00.000-05:00

Its been months since I blogged. Its been weeks since I even visited my blog. Its been ages since I read any other blog as well. Earlier, thoughts and words just seemed to flow. Reading while sipping hot coffee was one of my favorite leisure activity and it just seems to be an ordeal now. I can sit for hours with a paper and a pen but nothing to write. I am not sure why. Is it that I am too tired for reading and writing? Or is it that I stopped reacting to anything? Or, has my mind stopped thinking?

I am not really sure what the reason may be. Maybe, I should gracefully let my blog go into the hibernation mode while I busy strike off things from my 30 before 30 list. Adios!

please blog about this!

2010-10-31T09:24:00.000-04:00

"I don't know really where I should start. I guess with how I feel. I feel like a complete failure. I've let the bulimia take over again, and I'm slowly crumbling into nothing."

These words were the first entry in Sarah Siskin's journal she started in 2003. Sarah Siskin, a nineteen year old who succumbed to bulimia after a dreadfully long struggle of seven years. What started as a high school experiment ended in a slow suicide for this young girl...full of life and full of dreams..and a lifetime of tragedy for her family...I was so moved by these words when I read them that I read them over and over and over.. a hundred times... until they were permanently etched in my heart... feeling helpless and not knowing what can be done to save a million other Sarah's worldwide..

This isn't the first and sadly, not the last..the number of young women and men being diagnosed with eating disorders is on the rise. Over a million men and over seven million women are a victims of eating disorders; Anorexia, bulimia,binge eating etc. These numbers are from America alone. Anorexia and bulimia, are not confined by borders or social strata...they are rampant in the Asian countries too..Karen Carpenter, Christy Henrich, Uruguayan Model Luisel Ramos, Brazilian Model Ana Carolina Reston..all 20 to 25 year olds sacrificed to these dangerous disorders...all of them in a pursuit of a tiny frame and acceptance and to fit in..Research says that 86% of patients report the onset of this disease by the age 20...young and impressionable minds..

"According to the National Institute for Mental Health, USA,

The mortality rate among people with anorexia has been estimated at 0.56 percent per year, or approximately 5.6 percent per decade, which is about 12 times higher than the annual death rate due to all causes of death among females ages 15-24 in the general population.

According to the CDC, USA in 2005 :

The number of deaths with eating disorders reported as the underlying cause of death were 56 deaths."

Anorexia and bulimia can be overcome, through proper medical and psychiatric help and counsel in time. Its all in the mind of the individual...The role family and friends can play in helping the distressed individual is immense and indispensable.If you notice any of the symptoms in anyone around you, do not delay and SPEAK! speak about it..speak about them..tell them how beautiful they are and how beautiful their presence makes this world..As a responsible adult, be aware of the unsolicited comments you make on a youngster's appearance. Teach them to respect and accept their personality..use the help of several organizations working towards this cause. ANAD has educative, preventive and early detection programs and outreach services. Anorexics and Bulimics Anonymous (ABA) is a fellowship that helps in addressing these disorders. AABA, MEDA are another few foundations.

Please blog about these horrible killers. Let there be no such story again.. It would make a huge difference even if we are able to save one life! and let these not be the last words of yet another person...

"I was smart, on the honor roll, I danced, skated, worked at the hospital, strived for so many things . . . but I'm none of those things anymore. All that's left is the bulimia, is death. But I don't want that. I want life, a good life where I can be content with myself ."

World's Coolest Intern??

2010-10-27T06:47:00.001-04:00

I want to write.Just keep writing. Endlessly. Till my fingers pain and refuse to write any longer. Till my mind is free from thoughts and doesn't let a single thought stray by. I want to write. About those kids that are making so much noise right now outside my window. About their angelic smiles and innocent questions. About their playful tantrums and cheerful taunts.

I want to write. Write about the Standard Chartered Bank's quest for World's Coolest Intern. About how much I want to be THAT intern. About why I should be selected for that internship. About the experience it would be. About the people I get to meet and the things I get to learn. But, my mind is blank and is refusing to think. It just keeps re-iterating the words of Dusan Bogdanovic.

"Stay cool, look professional, and pretend this is very, very easy." I can!

Top 10 wierd things that happened to me

2010-10-14T11:32:00.007-04:00

Do weird things happen to you? Or is it just me? Every time I feel my life is becoming boring and pray for something magical to happen, its like up up above someone hears me and instead has a wild laugh and decides to make it weird instead!! Being the sportive star that i am (like I said earlier, it is my blog and I get to brag), I blog about it as the top 10 weird things that have happened to me.

1) Kareena Kapoor wears a cute little red helmet in 3 Idiots and I scouted like 4 shops in the city to buy a similar one. A couple of days back, I was riding my scooter on the Telugu Thalli flyover at 80 and the helmet decides to take off and crash land on the middle of the road. There was traffic dodging it at high speeds and people laughing at me while I was trying to cover my face with my scarf and retrieve it. I can imagine what a funny sight it had been!!

2) A pigeon came hopping across the road while I was driving my car and brought me to a halt. It was hopping all across the road right and left and dint allow me to move forward. Again, there were stupid bikers zooming along and laughing at my plight :(

3) Ever stepped in dog-shit while dressed very neat and dapper and wearing your fancy pair of stiletto? No? I did. And you know what I had to do next? Go to the loo and wash my footwear till they stopped stinking.

4) Once while at one of my on-campus jobs in the US, I was running late to work. I called them and told them that I got stuck in the elevator and was waiting for the maintenance guy to open it. I am sure you can imagine what happened after that. I did get stuck in that damned elevator!!!

5) I was waiting for the campus shuttle and a school bus stopped right in front of me. There was this cute little Afro-American kid who gave me a cute smile. I smiled back at him and he showed me his middle finger.Asshole! I showed him mine and he retorted back showing his two middle fingers. Kids are evil.Offspring's of Satan!

6) My tryst with weird things related to shit dates a long way back to school. Reading news at the assembly was the in-thing and to be the IT-girl, this was the chance. On one such occasion, right in the midst of news reading, right there in front of 100s of devilish students, a lil birdie found my hair really nice and decided to poop on it.

7) I do not complete lists. I have to end them before reaching the number I decide initially. Like here and here. The only list I can complete is my shopping list.

Hyderabad- A travelogue

2010-09-16T02:44:00.003-04:00

Hyderabad - living it all..

A morning walk on the Necklace Road abutting the Hussain Sagar lakefront, watching the sun rise over the 17m tall statue of Gautama Buddha adorning the island called The Rock of Gibraltar in the middle of the Hussain Sagar lake..
A morning cup if irani chai at the roadside cafe is the most delightful way for a Hyderabadi to start his/her day..
A laid back attitude and calling 11AM as 'subah-subah' or early morning and using the trademark dialect of nakko, kaiko, hau, kiska- the hallmark of a Hyderabadi..

Read the entire article here..

Adverbly yours...

2010-09-10T04:06:00.013-04:00

Apparently, today is #vinayakachavithi's nomulu day and supposedly, i ought to perform the #thadiya-gauri-vratham because technically, I have the eligibility now and unfortunately, i can't eat anything until I devotedly perform the #puja and give my #mother-in-law the first #nomu and fortunately that I have a blog I happily resort to blogging to successfully overcome my hunger pangs.

I am anxiously waiting for tonight as I will be watching #Komaram-puli, painstakingly or not, I will know in a few hours but honestly, I am not a big fan of the #powerstar but seriously, I want to watch the movie to see if it is appropriately worth all that hype. Frankly, i am not a big fan of hash-tags on twitter either and unhesitatingly i accept that surreptitiously, I do stalk a few humorously nice people on #twitter. Sadly, I have nothing to do but #blog until hungrily the rest of the family devours on the deliciously made delicacies. Till then you will have to patiently bear with me.

Surprisingly, the word interestingly does not exist. I am remotely interested in anything associated with rituals and prayer procedures and took them very frivolously all through these years and will take in the years to come. During the vratam, I profoundly exhibited my ignorance and the pujari laughed heartily all through the puja. Once I furiously glanced at him and he silently continued his chantings but my mum did not take this very kindly.

I have to inopportunely end this post here as i have to urgently leave and genuinely I know that this post serves no purpose than I earnestly trying to overcome those hunger-pangs.

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet."

2010-08-28T09:28:00.004-04:00

I have decided to call my future child 'omlette'. No, not for the love of eggs and omlettes.

Yesterday, I met someone who loves the name 'Rahul'. She is so much in love with that name that during her college years she had a teddy bear named' Rahul'. Years later, she named her first baby Rahul. Post Kuch Kuch Hota hein, SRK popularized the name so much that every Sita,Gita and Nita named their baby boy Rahul and the name kind of 'epitomized' handsome,youthful,charming lads. For instance, if you walked into any classroom and yelled Rahul, there will be 4 or 5 Rahuls turning to you. and every girl's secret boyfriend of the dreams would be called Rahul.

Naming a child is a very difficult task. I have seen couples taking months to decide a name befitting their offspring. Why give fancy names and then feel disappointed when your kids don't live upto those names? Like you name your child Rama and he is not the 'raamudu manchi baaludu' types and you cant name your daughter 'khushi' and expect her to be happy all the time just because she is khushi.My father selected my name. He loves my name. It means dedication.Ironically, there aint a single thing that I am dedicated to.Not even blogging.

OK. so why omlette? Because Omlette sounds so cool. and different. Like imagine you have a friend Omlette and you go "Hi Omlette, I missed you all these days" or "I love you, dear omlette". Or if there is a job interview and there are a hundred applicants and the interviewer just decides who to interview going by their name. Omlette will definitely stand out. "Good Morning sir, I am omlette and I love cooking." Also, Omlette cos he/she will be made so much fun of that they will become immune to all the taunts and leg pullings and will fight those bully's back and become fighters. And if he/she decides to blog, they wont have to look for names. They can just call it 'The omlette's blog'.

And then, if there is a second one, I will name he/she Bread. I can call them 'Bread Omlette' in one breath. They will be like two peas in a pod.

30 before 30 list!

2010-08-16T12:59:00.005-04:00

At 1:24 am, instead of sleeping yours truly is going through another one of those deep-never ending-thoughtful-soulful-retrospective inspection of the last 25 years of her life and about things that shouldn't have been done and things that could have been done with the end result being a 30 before 30 list..I was just thinking of those times when striking off things from the to-do list gave me so much happiness that I wanted to go and party and dowse myself in a few martinis. I have a strange wish: to swim in a pool of Green Iguana's apple martini sipping little little every now and then. If you ever visit Tampa , Florida, you should try the martinis served at Green Iguana on Anderson Road and then you will understand why I wished that wish. Aah! How can I mention Green Iguana and not talk about their Fajitas?? They are simply so yumm yumm yumm. Yes, they are totally worthy of three yumms. I have this habit of digressing from things that I'm doing or things that I'm talking about and I can hear Motey Baba shouting "ADD ADD" while reading this and before I digress, so, after the reexamination of the past 25 years of my not-so-happening life, I decided to come up with this list. Everything about the list is cool but in future I may think of renaming it 40 before 40..so stay tuned while I make changes and additions..By the way, did I say my life was not-so-happening? What can be more happening than locking yourself out of the classroom minutes before your thesis defense and you have to call the college police and the police wont open the door because he doesn't believe you reserved the room because there is no proof of it and the guy who made the reservation is on a vacation that day and the police will still not believe you even after you ask him if a petty college thief will strot around in formal wear and 4-inch pointed heels in 5 C weather if not for the defense? Yes, heels can be terribly painful and I would have loved to punish that guy by making him wear stilletoes. And did I tell you about the time I wantedly missed my connecting flight in Chicago so I could go meet a friend. It once happend that..Noo not again... Here is what I made of that list before the wander-luster in me takes over..

1)take a course in journalism and communications
2) visit Egypt and Rio
3) Sky dive
4) run a marathon
5) learn to speak a foreign language
6) go watch a movie all by myself
7) involve myself with a charitable organization for kids
8) ~~get a new hairstyle~~
9) learn to play a musical instrument
10) er...umm.. own a pet and get myself to cuddle a dog.. (ah i am not sure about this one though)
11) publish a novel
12) become fit
13) ~~do something incredibly silly and stupid~~
14) get rid of my persistent procrastination problem
15) ~~become an entrepreneur..~~

16) learn to put my feet down(forthright) on things/people i dont like..

17) be able to resist icecreams and gossips

18) Be very prompt in replying to phone calls and emails

19) Learn to ride a bike..

20) pursue a hobby devotedly, whole heartedly and blah blah..

21) stop feeling I am too old for somethings

22) make enough money to buy myself a car
23) One day maunavratham

how to kill a mocking bird

2010-08-01T08:33:00.016-04:00

I am very much in favor of immigration in Hyderabad, almost everywhere in the city, except the areas around Hitec city, Madhapur. The mostly green slyvan suburb of the 'pearl city' that housed more than a thousand trees - was a favorite haunt for my friends and I just after finishing high school - has now become home for those tall, un-dendritic, not-so-fiesty buildings, very much like all those areas stripped out of trees and the earth crying at the sinking groundwater levels.

As I drove through the place, I couldn't recognise the gallis anymore. I didn't feel at home at all. I did't feel this lost since the last season of 'Lost'.The boys that stole flowers and fruits from those trees dont know what to do anymore. They also feel lost. Just like all those people that enjoyed cruising through the gallis of Madhapur with their puppy-loves. It is shockingly saddening that an entire generation now doesn't have a place for their clandestine conquests.....and blah blah blah..

Damn this Inception!! I think Joel Stein intercepted my dream.

Mockery aside, but tell me, people, how difficult it is to 'co-exist' peacefully, leave alone enterprising, accepting and appreciating people from other countries/cultures/caste/creed? The C-word, these days, has become another banal part of everyday news and like just another one of those advertizements promoting their brand of tea, shampoo etc.

I am reminded of something that I read somewhere that supposedly happened on a NY city subway train. An old white-woman boarded a crowded compartment and found that all the seats were taken, when a warm-friendly looking-Indian youngman, dressed impeccably, stood and offered her his seat. The conceited woman declined the seat and shouted at him asking him to get out of USA. The man calmly sat in his place and retorted 'Ma'm, you came first. You go away and then I will goback to my country.' (not the exact words though). If I were anywhere in the audience, I would have stood there admiring that young man and gaping at him until he left.

Why are these feeling of 'my country' and 'your country' harbored even in these times of Globalization. Remember how often you use the words 'it's a small world!' Yeah, The world is indeed a small global village and we are all global citizens.I am sure every man would be equally proud of his culture and heritage had he been born at some other place. I love my country but that doesn't mean I am proud to be an Indian. I would have been equally proud being an American/Ethiopian/Ghanian/Chineese. Like the NY subway episode, it is impossible to decide who ame first. It's like the chicken and egg situation. I want to whack all those regionalists and separatists and just tell them 'it's simple ,stupid, bacteria came first!!.'

Boundaries, nationalities, immigrations, passports are just to keep tab of who is crossing which border and are not walls to stop movement. Wouldn't it be just great if all French men emigrated here? They are supposedly good kissers. Think about it ;) And just think about all the pasta and baklawahs those Italians and Greek might bring to your country!! I should ask my mom to make her signature sweet 'milk pooris' and send one box each to Joel Stein and the Thackeries. Please, if you are reading this and are from a different part of the world send your region's specialities to these and those C-campaigners in your region.

All this reminded me of Robert Frost's peom The Mending Wall.. one of my favorite poem as a kid..

The traveller's ABSOLUTE guide to survival in Paris..

2010-07-15T14:43:00.002-04:00

* Learn French
* Learn French
* Learn French
* Learn French
* Learn French

the big fat Indian wedding

2010-06-18T08:25:00.002-04:00

Indian weddings are typically fat. In the last few years, there has been a steep rise in the rate of obesity among Indian weddings. The economy worldwide may have taken a sudden down turn but it failed to remove the extra cheese from Indian pizzas and dampen the spirit and extravagance of the Indian wedding scenario. The increase in the spending power coupled with peer pressures to show off and display are touted as the reasons behind these obese weddings. The sluggishness of the IT people also plays a small but important role. Fancy destinations, mind-blowing backdrops, designer clothes, exquisite jewelry, huge variety of food and lip smacking sweets are the consequence of the big fat Indian wedding.

The big fat Indian wedding helps in bringing together distant cousins and provides them with an opportunity to bond over food, booze and taash (poker of the East)! They bestow upon young’uns the good fortune of meeting fellow young’uns and are places where new love stories take birth.

Though the fat and obese Indian weddings have so many nice things about them, they don’t cease to be free from the not so nice things too. Many tehelkas come into light during these weddings. Stories of who moved who’s cheese, which cake is the creamiest, and that of the puppy that ran away with the doggy, the doggy that bought the biggest bone and the likes will be the trending topic during all the days of the wedding and a watchful eye will be cast upon rest of the puppies. More often than not, disorders of the stomach and smelly bathrooms are a common outcome. Sometimes, depending on the severity of the obeseness, broken bank balances may also be an unavoidable upshot. All in all, the big fat Indian weddings are a time to rejoice and proper care must be taken to ensure that obesity may be best avoided during the weddings.

PS: It took me a great 2 weeks to recover from the after-effects of the (my) big fat Indian wedding and while my generous dad’s pocket is still on the way to recovery, I am jumping with joy for finally having something to write about here.

PPS: ‘I bullshit, therefore I am.’ If you feel this post deserves tomatoes, please let me know in advance so that arrangements can be made for a catcher and a vegetable basket. If there is a mood to hurl footwear, then please make note that yours truly wears a size 7.

PPPS: I know you may be wondering as to why the frock it took so long to come up with this nothing. But this rapid decline in the number of visits to blogosphere and the disappearance of posts is attributed to the inefficacy and inadequate functioning capabilities of grey matter in my brain which is in turn attributed to the absence of salt from my toothpaste.

MARI MEE TOOTHPASTE LO UPPU UNDA?

THO KYA AAPKE TOOTHPASTE MEIN NAMAK HEIN?

four friends at a party...

2010-05-16T10:39:00.000-04:00

an email forward I couldn't resist myself from posting here...

Four friends, who hadn't seen each other in 30 years,
reunited at a party.

After several drinks, Vikram had to use the rest
Room. Those who remained talked about their kids.

The first guy Keith said, 'My son is my pride and joy. He started
Working at a successful company at the bottom of the barrel.
He studied Economics and Business Administration and soon
Began to climb the corporate ladder and now he's the
President of the company.

He became so rich that he gave his
Best friend a top of the line Mercedes for his birthday.'

The second guy Mahendra said, 'Darn, that's terrific! My son is also
My pride and joy. He started working for a big airline, and
Then went to flight school?to become a pilot. Eventually he
Became a partner in the company, where he owns the majority
Of its assets.

He's so rich that he gave his best friend a brand
new jet for his birthday.'

The third man Hims said: 'Well, that's terrific! My son studied
in the best universities and became an engineer. Then he
started his own construction company and is now a multimillionaire.

He also gave away something very nice and expensive to his best friend
for his birthday: A 30,000 square foot mansion.'

The three friends congratulated each other just as
Vikram returned from the restroom and asked: 'What are all
the congratulations for?' One of the three said: 'We were
talking about the pride we feel for the successes of our
sons. ......What about your son??

Vikram replied: 'My son is gay and makes a living
dancing as a stripper at a nightclub.'
?
The three friends said: 'What a shame...what a
disappointment.'
Vikram replied: 'No, I'm not ashamed. He's my son
and I love him. And he hasn't done too bad either. His
birthday was two weeks ago, and he received a beautiful
30,000 square foot mansion, a brand new jet and a top of the
line Mercedes from his three boyfriends.!!!!!!!!

growing up is just not fun...

2010-05-04T05:44:00.005-04:00

Today is one of those days when I don't feel like doing anything..don't feel like answering calls or replying to texts..don't feel like talking to anyone..It is one such day when regrets of the past and insecurities of the future all come at once jabbing the s#!t out of me and when I feel like stabbing in the chest of every person I come across..especially those trying to make unnecessary conversation with me..I usually don't use words like s#!t in my blog, but today is an exception.

Growing up is just not fun. and If you are looking to read something meaningful then read no further. Thanks and have a great day!

Whoever said twenties are the best years must be hanged until death. Komalthecoolk tells me 20s are the new 30s. During your 20s, there is so much pressure from all directions to settle down professionally and maritally??I dont know if there is such a word but I hope I conveyed the point. If you still dint get the point forget it cos I will tell no more and I am already in a mood to stab someone. Twenties are when you become an object of evaluation and gossip for all the pesky aunts and annoying uncles. Twenties are those times of phenomenal comparisons with Subbu pinni's maternal uncle's second son's wife's chandra maama's third grandson who is "well-settled" in the US earning a six digit salary and drives a latest model of God-knows-which car. All this when there is already the quarter life crisis that you have to deal with!!

During twenties, you are at that time when things suddenly start to become disturbing, overwhelming and then you are full of doubts. There is confusion, despair, desperation and a big void that needs answers and consolation. Answers to questions like "am I on the right path", "is he/she the guy/girl?", "why did I major in xxxx?","Am I really passionate about doing this?" and all. They are voices inside that question every move/action/word. There is excitement at one corner and then fear lurking just around the corner.

Growing up is just not fun. Even our superstars dont want to grow up. they are fathers-in law and grand-dads in real life but onscreen, they still romance heroines who are half their age. I think that is their way of showing they dont want to grow up.This post doesnt make any sense to me. Does it make any sense to you? If yes, please drive some sense into me. I will be indebted to you and will chauffeur you around the heavy traffic ridden roads of Hyderabad for a month and for free of cost. Can you beat that ??

of boredom and boring thoughts...

2010-04-27T06:40:00.007-04:00

Off late, I haven't been regular to blogosphere and neither have I typed the url of my blog for long. Nothing tickles or pinches my vein so much that I can rave or rant about it on my blog. Not much interesting stuff is happening. Anyways, interesting stuff happens only in movies! Like an ape falling in love with a human or a godzilla ramping and raging along the streets of Manhattan. And a vampire falling in love with a human and the scent of the human's blood driving him crazy! yeah, crazy indeed! who would want to fall in love with their food and then abstain from eating it? Can you resist the urge of eating a plate full of gol-gappes placed right in front of you? If I were Edward Cullen, I would have relished Bella Swan at the very first instant and saved so many people from the torture of the New Moon.

Interesting are cab drives with chatty drivers! On one such cab drive the driver told me that during new moon people tend to act crazy and that's how the term lunatic came into existence. I dont know how much of it is true but you can read more about it here . When I googled new moon and depression, I was flooded with Bella Swan and her depression in and during New Moon. Stephenie Meyer and Bella Swan have taken over the internet which is very alarming. It only makes my belief in 21-12-2012 stronger.

On other note, I feel sad for Modi for receiving so much flak. Tell me, who is not corrupt?

On another note, I am so happy that IPL is over!

I am surely gonna suffer third degree burns from the wrath and ire of all the feminists for this...

2010-03-09T23:05:00.004-05:00

Today, I want to ~~puke hard at~~ celebrate the approval of the 33% reservation for women bill.....~~puke so hard that my small and large intestines become twisted and tangled and all messed up so that finally I die of suffocation~~ celebrate with so much fervor that I die out of happiness. And because the bill would be the cause of my death my mom would totally deserve a place in the parliament. Yes, because she is the mother of a ~~martyr who sacrificed her life not being able to see her country become backward and backward~~ young girl who died out of happiness because of the country’s ~~not so~~ innovative efforts towards women empowerment.

India is a land of ~~discriminations~~ opportunities and ~~hypocrites~~ sensitive and hard working politicos, who go to any extent to ~~amass so much wealth that they would need to hide it in their coffins too~~ uplift the emaciated. It is a dream come true for the most powerful woman in our country, Sonia Aunty who supposedly gave a statement “LALU has seven daughters. I was telling him that within his family there are seven for the Bill.” Poor LALU uncle failed to read between the lines and opposed the bill. He could not understand that she meant his seven daughters could contest from seven constituencies and win ~~to make seven times more money~~ to guide Bihar and the country in the path of progress.

On a serious note, 63 years of independence and women are still shouting from roof tops for reservations and special privileges. Doesn’t this imply they are still unequal to men? Equality and reservation are not synonymous. Even without reservations, we have had able and efficient women leaders who have ruled the roost for long. Personally, I think these reservations, for women or for any caste and religion, is a sheer waste of resource and skill. For four years, I have been a witness to this at a reputed engineering college. What discourages me most is that the government is taking a wrong approach towards a good cause. The issue was first raised in 1974 and in the current times, it is obsolete and not worth any celebrations. There are a 1001 ways to work towards empowering women and and this is definitely not the best. Wait! Did I say best? This is not even worth mentioning. And if it does uplift women, will the bill be able to reach beyond the bahus and betis of famous politicos? That is a serious question to ponder.

I am afraid a day would come when the birth of a male-child will not be rejoiced anymore and we will be fighting against male foeticide and infanticide and women demanding dowry during marriage and the whole vicious circle would repeat itself again. This is 2010 folks! Women are powerful and the fairer sex. And as motey baba says “ they(women) are also sexier sex, even now!

This Woman's day...

2010-03-07T11:14:00.024-05:00

the world is all geared up to celebrate another overrated-media-hyped 'Women's day', I cant help but smirk at the corporate drama and the number of offers introduced for this one day.

All the clubs in town are offering free drinks for women. Big Cinemas is letting women watch movies free of cost.Jet airways has promised a 10% discount during the entire month of March for lady travelers and is giving 500 additional miles to all the female Jet privilege members for travel between the 5th and the 15th. If I were in Jaipur, I could use the public transportation free of cost for all my travel during the day. Whoever the marketing strategist is behind these dumb ideas, take my word, you ain't worth my two cents. This day or any day, I can buy my own drink and pay for the movies that I want to watch.

And, the number of award functions and shows shouting ' aaj ke naari ke liye', 'we salute the gr8 women' and the likes; endless!! Blame it on my dumb dna or whatever, I can't fathom how showing off skin on the silver screen and dancing to raunchy numbers make a woman worthy of making it to the list of 'gr8 woman'?? suck it up, you corporate leeches, for I know that all this is a game for brand publicity and TRPs and you really don't care if there is a woman dying out there right in front of your headquarters!!

I really don't care about the bill for 33% reservation in LokSabha . I don't care if they increase the quota for women in engineering and medical colleges and neither do I care if it is is extended to the IITs and IIMs. I don't care for special buses, special screenings and neither do I fancy separate flights. All I wanted this day was just one promise; that of a right to co-exist peacefully..with respect..with safety..with freedom...with dignity...without a fear of being shamed,trampled,abused and humiliated..without being looked upon as objects of pleasure...

which none of you promised...

Dear God,

I stand before you and ask you to give me and all the women on earth the strength to fight for what is right..the strength to kick in the arse of those people who take us for granted..the strength to stand against the atrocities committed against us in the name of god/family/honor/caste/creed/religion/ritual/ and...

Let there be no more female foeticides and infanticides in India
Let there be no other Ruchikas and Aradhanas fighting for justice anywhere in the world
Let there not be another bride burning, dowry death and honor killing in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and elsewhere
Let there not be another victim of acid attacks
Let there be no other young girl subjected to the brutal breast-ironing practice in West Africa
Let there be no more virgins sacrificed as sex-slaves in Ghana and genital mutilation of girl-child in Africa
Let the story of one more mother forced into prostitution be unheard of...

Skating his way to glory...

2010-03-04T23:40:00.000-05:00

Anup Yama is Asia’s number one and the world’s number six in roller-skating. Anup is also a professional Ice figure skater and is currently ranked first in India and third in Asia. The twenty four year old with his partner Avani, steered the nation towards a jubilant victory at the 13th Asian Roller Skating Championship (2008), in China. It was a huge victory for India after 20 long years. Besides, his individual success is three gold medals and two bronze medals at the same championship.

To read more about Anup, click here

urban farming and its benefits

2010-03-04T23:36:00.000-05:00

Urban farming or urban agriculture is a term used to indicate the cultivation of food and flowering crops in an urban or a peri-urban area. The mission behind these farms is to create extra produce for people in need and supplementing income by cropping unused open spaces of land. In western countries, urban farming is becoming another trend now and is taken up by several people for recreation and relaxation purposes. Communities and housing localities engage in urban farming to encourage greenery in the vicinity...

read more here

journalism for sale??

2010-02-15T07:46:00.000-05:00

wanted to share this article...

Telangana humor

2010-02-03T06:02:00.003-05:00

This is a direct lift from an email forward....

1. Narasimha Naidu - Narsing Yadav
2. Parugu - Uruku
3. Akkada Ammayi Ikkada Abbayi - Aada Pori Eeda Poragaadu
4. Siddu from Srikakulam - Mallesh from Malkajgiri
5. Chaala baavundi - Zabardastundi
6. Avunanna Kadanna - Au Malla Lee Malla
7. Sankranti - Bonalu
8. Ammayilu Abbayilu - Porlu Poragaallu
9. Palnati Brahmanaidu - Karimnagar KCR
10. Naari Naari Naduma Murari - Pori Pori Madhyana Tiwari
11. Chantabbai - Chinna poragadu
12. Kaumaram Puli - Kaumaram Sher
13. 47 rojulu - 47 dinalu
14. Seema Sastry - Telangana Sastry
15. Sorry naaku pellayyindi - sorry naaku laggamayyindi
16. Idiot – Dhed Dimak gaadu
17. Varudu – PENDLIKODUKU

and finally.....

18. POKIRI - FALTU BADKHOW

laadli...

2010-01-28T07:45:00.008-05:00

Everybody loves Life. Their life. No one has the right to steal life from anyone. Imagine sitting in a garden full of flowers and nipping a bud even before it could bloom into a beautiful flower. Neither do you have the right nor I or anyone else in this world.

I came across a video that was intended to create awareness against female foeticide. It really moved me. Laadli is an awareness campaign against female foeticide. It breaks my heart how those insensitive people can forget the womb they came from and kill their own daughters. My dad always told me daughters are a gift and daughters are the forces that bind the family. I am shocked to know that there are 27 lakh crimes related to sex determination in educated India!!In the rural sector, female infanticide is very common as the access to sex determination facilities is limited.

Many families are of the opinion that a girl is a burden on them. Since, a significant portion of one’s income needs to be spent in raising a child, education etc, a male child is preferred as they feel that their son will be the bread winner and will also look after them during old age; while a daughter is expected to get married and live with her in-laws. Moreover, the birth of a son is celebrated as he would continue the family name and would bring in dowry at the time of marriage. There are many existing laws to check the prevalence of such evils, but they are not enough to eradicate them. The existence of such discriminations can adversely affect the sex-ratio. A disturbed sex-ratio may perpetrate more crimes against women like rape, abduction, dowry harassment, trafficking etc.
Laws are not sufficient to protect women against such prejudices. Stringent implementation of the laws is required to tackle these evils. Campaigns and proper measures must be undertaken both by governmental and private organizations to create awareness at the grass root level. Men and women should be educated and made aware about the dangers of abortion and also the dangers an imbalanced sex-ratio can pose to the society at large. Strict enforcement of dowry act, proposing schemes for the benefit of girl-child, establishment of women self-help groups may also help to an extent.

Years ago, when a girl stole the two crystal peacocks that I got at the craft exhibition at school, I was so sad and bitter at her that I prayed she should flunk her math exam. I prayed that night and a number of nights that followed. all i cared for then was my crystal peacocks. Now, years later, the peacocks don't matter to me anymore, but i can't comprehend how someone can inflict pain on others. If only prayers had powers.. Stealing life is a great sin...and stealing someones life even before they get a chance to live it..a greater sin!!

I made my pledge and I hope you do it too...

the unbraidable braid??

2010-01-18T00:17:00.009-05:00

the nomadic mind that I have and the fact that it is like a bee flitting from one flower to another often frustrates me. What frustrates me even more is when a conclusion cannot be reached.
What frustrates me more and more is the fact that we are still a developing country blessed with an affluence of problems and fortunately or unfortunately, completely unaware of where/how to find the solution and if found, how to implement?

population explosion, pollution,poverty, lack of basic health care and infrastructure, corruption, lack of civic sense, unemployment, religious prejudices,child labor,sexual abuse of women and children, female infanticide and feticide and I bet a several hundred can be added to this list. I tried brainstorming to come up with measures that could be taken to eradicate all these and a million other unseen overlooked evils, but, couldn't comprehend as to where could the 'grassroot' level solution to all these problems be.

Awareness? education?

Most of these problems are entwined. In a bid to improve the literacy rate and bring down the unemployment rates, the govt has come up with so many schemes. Free and compulsory education until the age of 14, voucher scheme for girls etc etc. No amount of brain whacking can make me feel it is the sensible solution. Of what use are those initiatives and education when there is no implementation. Isn't forcing a kid, who is more interested in working in a mechanic shop to study is child labor in itself. If the kid is able to feed himself using those welding skills, how can that be child-labor? Off late, there has been a hue and cry about the negativity and inadequacy of our education system. According to a report by DNAindia, 57% of youth in India are unemployable and lack skills for productive employment. Unemployable as in lacking the basic skills that should be acquired through school and college education. Isn't that 'child-laborer' better off honing his skill set that running behind such useless degrees?

Sometimes, I think all the investments made into scientific research, urban infrastructure development are all justified. yet, at other times, I am of the opinion that that money should have been used in a more 'human'ly possible way.I thought may be educating women from rural India and the underprivileged sections of the society can be of some help. By education, i don't mean teaching them about the history or geography of India, but making them aware of the good and bad, benefits of good hygiene , showing them how to protect her kids from disease and dangers. How important a role she can play in bringing down dowry deaths,female infanticide and foetecide rate. But again, how important is all this to a woman or a family in poverty, that is more concerned about being able to provide for those two basic meals a day!

Poverty, they say is the root cause of most of the evils in India. There have been several schemes introduced by the nethas like one rural employment guarantee act where an adult member in the family is guaranteed 100 days of employment(unskilled manual work) during a financial year. And there are so many other schemes that would only provide temporary solutions. Wouldn't initiatives taken to provide skill based employment be more effective? I remember the old Chinese proverb that says teaching a man to fish will help him feed himself for the rest of his life. Will teaching the man to fish be a panacea to poverty? One such action is the Micro-financing institutions that have shown promising results. But, how many of those rag- to-riches stories be able to inspire them to think beyond.

And even if a change is brought, how certain is that change? With existent problems like sanitation issues, epidemics, lack of clean water and health care facilities, and more importantly, social bias and intolerance, and corruption, will that change be consistent? All these problems are like an entangled mess of creepers. A vicious cycle that may again point fingers towards bureaucracy. Now, again, from where do we start weeding in the farm?

We are buried so deep in the existing systems that with time, it will only become impossible for us to rise.

once more, please!

2010-01-17T23:18:00.003-05:00

Give me some sunshine
Give me some rain
Give me another chance..I wanna grow up once again..

I might have listened to this song a thousand times in the last one month and not once has it failed to flood me with memories of school and college life, friends from school & college, crushes, cat-fights, suspensions, ragging, all-nighters, and on and on and on...Not just the memories, it gets me thinking as to what I would change if I could grow up once again..I am sure each one of us would be able to relate to it..

i would love to know if, given a chance and you could grow up once again, what/how would you change (in) your life?

shame shame spencers!!

2010-01-13T12:43:00.003-05:00

My mum and I were shopping at spencers, Hyderabad today and during checkout we noticed that the instrument scanned a Rs.17 item as Rs.170. This is the second time that this kind of a thing has happened to us at Spencers in the last 2 months. When we complained, one of their representatives did rectify the error and return the amount but only after a wait of 15-20 minutes. In justification, he said that this kind of an error is common and happens almost 12-15 times EVERYDAY!!!

For a retail chain that claims to be "one of India's largest and fastest growing multi-format retailer with 250 stores, including 36 large format stores across 50 cities in India", isn't this a big problem and shouldn't they be working towards correcting it? I mean they have been in the business since 1996 and isn't it long enough for them to overcome sch problems. I was just thinking of all those times we were too lazy to check the bill and all those people who don't check their bills having faith in these retailers and their scanners..

Speaking about such stores, I think its time all these retail chains in India wake up and learn a lesson or two on customer satisfaction.

On another note, I just saw a 1 min telecast on sakshi TV that says " jagan e ra annitiki moolam aa jagan viluva teluskovatame maanava dharmam”.. i was totally surprised with that.. entha sontha channel aithe antha trumpet blowing avsarama?

Aaj kal ke bache!!!

2010-01-12T14:59:00.007-05:00

These days, thanks to my joblessness, I get to spend more time with my kid cousins and realized how creative they are. Creative not in terms of art but the way they make peace with angry elders. My 5 year old cousin, famous for his notoriety and dadagiri, started pating his chest gently and saying ' All is well, All is well' when my aunt was getting ready to give him a lashing. I was like 'waaaaaaaaaaaaat' and my aunt n I couldn't stop laughing at his actions. And then, to entertain us more with his antics, he started tapping his rear and singing "All is well" like it is done in the movie 3 idiots. Once, when I asked him what he did at school that day, he replied " My friend Avishtha wore a pink frock today. She was soooper." and to top it, he is such a big story teller that he comes up with so many stories showing off his dadagiri that I started calling him Fake-u. He is so mischievous and when ppl at home start shouting at him, he goes ' I am only 4 years, can you shout at me like that?'. And he makes such a cute face that you will not feel like punishing him or scolding him.

And then there is this another cousin who conveyed the news that he failed his social studies exam to his mom with all smiles. When my aunt started questioning him, he was like "Light Ma! What is there studying about wars and dead ppl. They should teach me about peace and gadgets instead."

I was shocked at his answer and was staring at him with my mouth wide open for a dozen mosquitoes to fly in and out, comfortably!! I know i sound cliched, but...

But then , I think I like their creative side..the creative excuses the come up with to evade scoldings and punishments and i wonder when this creativity starts taking a back-seat in our life. With time, I think we begin to stop thinking laterally, may be because of fear of being mocked at or maybe we become cautious. I think that is the age when everything stops being fun and we become more of robots and machines. Or do we start to lose the creative gene as we age? May be, schools kills our creativity instead of nurturing it... What say?

The last one week, I was busy with a workshop that I attended on soft-skills. All the participants were in their late 20s and 30s, and years since the last lecture they attended, would get restless within no time, and the trainer had the onus of preventing us from getting bored and this was when she used to come up with activities. One of them was building a limerick. Each one had to contribute one line and the end result had to be sensible.

Speaking of creativity or the lack of it, this was the best we could come up with..

The early morning sunshine
I could think of nothing but wine
which was not very fine
Because it is not made from pine
I still drank it coz its mine
and then, everything went out of line..

happy New year 2010!!

2010-01-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light;

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,

For those that here we see no more,

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;

Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,

The faithless coldness of the times;

Ring out, ring out thy mournful rhymes,

But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;

Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,

The larger heart, the kindlier hand;

Ring out the darkness of the land,

Ring in the Christ that is to be.

- Alfred Tennyson

2009-12-26T10:31:00.000-05:00

last night, I was in Liquids and it was an eye-opener to me. I was super-shocked to see the kind of crowd and their pdas. The major part of the crowd were college kids barely older than 18 or 19; cigarettes in one hand and alcohol in the other, swooning over their boyfriend/girlfriend totally unconcerned about the 100s of people around and like it was their bedroom..Hyderabad gave me a culture-shock, not US. It was like "falling from the chimney right into the pizza oven" like Vamsee put it.

What surprised me was how could the management not verify the age of the people before letting them in or serving them alcohol. S tells me that I will find more than 80% of the same crowd in Touch the very next day, i.e., Saturday. He also told me its like a ritual; Wednesdays at Dublin, Thursdays at bottles & Chimneys, Fridays at Liquids and so on...the cover charges are no less than 2000 bucks per head and I wonder how these kids can afford so much every single day!! And, I think most of them cant even bend their back to earn their booze or puff!

There are so many things to learn from the West, but, yet again, we are aping the West for all the wrong reasons. I am not against having fun. But, I am all for knowing where to draw the line. Or maybe, I feel a lot about unnecessary things? Whatever it is, pda is an absolute turn-off for me..

what do you think?

2009-11-29T00:37:00.008-05:00

Yesterday, I read this article about emigrant Indians finding it tough to come back home. A lil more than a week since coming back, I have already started doubting my decision. It is not just the pollution, traffic, infrastructure or lack of clean public toilets that makes me complain. Its the people here that turn me off. People in the family too. and the fact that my country is polluted with corrupt politicians.

K was gonna start fasting today cos his demands were falling on deaf ears. He was arrested (but Why!!??) and the result being a peaceful-fast unto death-turned ugly and damaged public property. what annoys me is dragging these dirty poli'tricks' to college campuses and students. the media is definitely creating a hype but cant these students realize that theey are being used as pawns to nourish the political ambitions of various political parties. There was one stupid guy in a maroon shirt standing in the balocny of a college hostel and pelting stones at policemen. He even went to the extent of drenching himself with one huge can of petrol/kerosene/whatever. I was waiting for him to strike a match and burn himself, but the coward dint have the guts to do so. I bet that sicko is gonna sit with a group of friends tonight, get sloshed and admire his onscreen beauty. How I wish these easily influenced-immatured 'kids' learnt a lesson or two from the movie Josh ( they are too stupid to think and learn from anywhere else)

When will our leaders realize that it is this kinda inefficient beaurocracy that disgusts resident and non-resident Indians. If it was a peaceful fast, then they should have let it continue peacefully. Another guy gives a statement saying they are taking all necessary steps to call in a bandh tomorrow. Fool! Does he have an idea how much loss it would create. Doesnt he realize that they are causing so much trouble to the property and people in the 'Telangana' region of the state for who they claim to be fighting for. As a fact, do they even know what the Telangana people want? Definitely not these raastha rokhos and bandhs and bloodshed. How did they even conclude people in this region want a separate state? .May be, the policemen should have let him fast unto death and he would have got a hero status tomorrow morning and a statue on Tank-bund three days from now. It would have saved so much money! Again, poli'tricks' and inept politicians.

and as Sirivennala Seetarama Sastry rightly put it...

2009-11-16T05:51:00.002-05:00

Nothing is permanent in life. Love, friendship, bullshit..everything fades with time. We build relations, make friendships, talk about being true friends, standing through thick and thin, offering a shoulder to cry and blah blah..all are compromises made to satisfy just one entity; The EGO. Once it is offended, love, affection, warmth, genuineness and all good things will cease to exist. Trust cant stand up against it either. Such is the ability of the EGO..it leaves an irreparable crack that makes you doubt everything. If only, grad school and life could teach us how to overpower it than meekly surrendering to that moment of self pride..

Tonight, as i sit sleepless, staring at the dark sky, another beautiful chapter in my life comes to an end. Its a different thing that the ending is not as beautiful as the beginning, but like always, I am happy I got to learn, accept and move with the vicissitudes of life!!

Before I sleep...

2009-10-27T15:12:00.002-04:00

I was reading about Preets random thoughts and found that I have similar thoughts racing in my mind..all the time...the only difference being my inability to articulate them like he did...

when you feel like reading what those thoughts might be.. here

i read somewhere that...

2009-10-17T21:16:00.001-04:00

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

for what was known as 'WE'.

2009-10-13T21:48:00.001-04:00

A story of hopes and dreams,
of a new life and making it big;
we came with a heavy heart leaving everyone behind
in oblivion to finding a family and a home away from home..
treading a new path holding hands
and not letting each other fall.
we fought;we patched up
we laughed; and cried together
we cursed and cussed others..
screw the rest, WE were the world for us..
the late night walks and the scary talks,
all the assumptions and presumptions;
letting down was a part of growing up
and could not dare to dream about letting go..

I don't have the power to change things;
I would not even if I did; For
if experience is the teacher,
the mistakes are the lessons from which we learned
Those two years,a precious part of my life
Spent with people more precious;
the memories will be cherished for long
and the friendship will be treasured for ever..

vision 2020...just an illusion??

2009-09-24T00:23:00.006-04:00

A co-worker's boyfriend had asked me how can I leave the land of opportunities and go back to India. "What is there in India?" these were his exact words. " what is there in India" that I am moving back to?

yes, there is corruption in India. There is pollution, population explosion, traffic jams, insensitivity,illiteracy, female foeticide and infanticide . There is lack of civic sense, lack of good organization and there is no cleanliness. We spit on the road and all the walls on the road are public urinals and men make graffiti with pee on all those walls. Haaa! tell me what isn't there in India. A lot of people I know don't want to go back to India for all those mentioned above and a lot more. And can we do anything about it? Yeah, we can fret about it and enjoy watching on-screen how the heroes fight these evils while we munch on our popcorn.

may be, my being a hypocrite has a lot to do with the country I come from. The country, the state, the social circle, the people who call themselves modern, but , in reality, are eons away from ounces of modernism. Their definition of modernism is wearing trendy clothes, driving fancy cars and having the latest electronic gadgets at their disposal. Oh yeah, and educating their girl child and not even another step beyond that. We bask in the glories of the past and take pride in the culture that we lost long ago.

I feel more proud when I talk about the US of A than India. I have seen family and friends from middle class households achieve so much here what they couldn't do back home for lack of opportunity. Opportunities are only for those people with paisa and power. Religion, reservation and recommendation is all I can think of when I think about India. The millionaire ex-minister's billionaire member of parliament son's industrialist son's son is by all means eligible for free education just because his great-great grandfather was treated bad a hundred years ago. It is very fair that a girl be attacked in broad day light on the streets of Bengaluru cos she fancies wearing jeans and a shirt and drives a car!! Anyone who has money can become a politician and a criminal record would be an asset. You have to bribe the govt for everything from getting a birth certificate to drivers license, to start a business and even to do charity work. Secularism, equality of gender,caste,class etc are all confined to books and the four walls of the classroom. We have more money in the Swiss bank than the rest of the world combined and our MPs get bonuses for raising questions in Parliament.

I know no country is perfect, but mine is just worse. As a matter of fact, its the people that make the country good or bad. We complain about everything. We dream about change. We talk about how things should be done and what should have not been done sitting thousands of miles away. But, we dont have the courage to be the change.. We can only talk and talk and talk but can't walk the talk. The first half of the life is spent making money and the second half complaining about the system. maybe a lifetime is just not enough to witness THE change. As long as I have known, I haven't asked HIM for anything..but tonight I will pray for the strength to be able to do better than just talking!

I learnt my lesson the hard way!!

2009-09-03T07:50:00.007-04:00

You should stick to what you are and shouldn't try to change yourself. When you are used to breaking rules, you should break them. For the first time in my life i wanted to follow the lab rules and not carry my food and drink inside the lab which made me lose my coffee;one hot tall perfectly brewed !! Like a good girl I left my tall beloved coffee outside the lab door and the janitor trashed my coffee and imagine what it is like when you have to survive the next 16 hours in the lab when the whole country is sleeping and you couldn't get enough of your divine cuppa that was supposed to keep you awake!!

I would have forgiven that janitor, if only she dint trash my bottle of water that was standing next to the coffee :(

I often wonder why all the experiences that teach something have to be bitter..may be they should add bitter to the list of synonyms of good coz I have been told since childhood bitter gourd is good. if bitter gourd is good, then what is potato? bliss? but, do we eat to live or live to eat? Aren't food, clothing and shelter the three basic necessities of life? Now doesn't this convey that we live to eat which also means that we should not look look at a meal like a meal but instead like something thatwe are living for...like a celebration!!

relationships & complications!

2009-08-29T16:27:00.011-04:00

Relationships baffle me. And, they complicate life. They end up making the already complex life more complex. F is of the opinion that when we are born with relationships like mum, dad, brother, sister etc, why should we be the choosers of this relationship called 'life partner'. With different pressures from all the directions,the process many a time ends up in an entangled mess and crippled relations that cannot be patched. it makes no sense to me when people end up breaking an X relation to make a Y relation work. And yeah, the broken hearts that cannot be mended and the the million $$$ question is how happy you are at the end of this drama. Methinks , just being born with the 'life partner' relation would purge out so much pain from the world.

I have always admired people who stood up for their happiness;people who knew what they want out of life and take the step to make it happen. If X had the guts to fight everyone for what X thought would make him happy, I would be there with X supporting and in awe of X. I often pity myself for being the silent spectator and not having courage to put down my feet on certain things I don't like or I don't want to do. No wonder I call myself 'the hypocrite'. Oh please, I cant take the entire blame. Maybe my country has rubbed off a little on me.

I think it has more to do with being a 2nd generation modernist and the 1st gen modernists are to be blamed for the misery of the 2nd gen. They let their son/daughter choose their career, which college to attend, what to wear etc etc, but when it comes to more important choices all the 101 uncles and aunts in the family interfere. Often, the 2nd gen are sandwiched between choosing the life they want and being labeled the black sheep of the family, finally ending up not living their life to satisfy the norms of the society. Oh yeah, man is a social animal.

From the very little I have seen, I think every new relation made marks the end of one. Friendships break. Or most of them..I am not talking abt the ones we are born with.Sometimes, the crack is so profound that it becomes impossible. It surprises me how easily people can take each other for granted. Though it may painful, I personally feel if a relation has to end, it should before things start reeking. May be this confusion will be solved when everyone thinks of their Life as the gift they should enjoy and realize that the next person is entitled to enjoy their 'gift of life' free from external interference and pressure and just try to move on enjoying their gift.

And yeah, a lil bit of courage will certainly help.

twenty something.....errrr!!!

2009-08-20T21:29:00.000-04:00

I don’t like being 24. I can’t be the naive i-don't-care attitude girl I was at 23. and I am not ready for the responsibilities of a 25 year old. Growing up is not fun and is not easy either and birthdays are a reminder that you are another year older. Another year closer to responsibilities. Another year closer to losing your life and living for others. Another year closer to death. And can it get worse than the noisy nosy neighborhood kids addressing you as aunty? I liked being 23 cos I kept telling myself that I am still on the nicer side of twenties ( no offense meant to those in their late twenties! its just that I don't want to call myself an older-twenty something). I can still tell early twenties for the next 10 months but someone told me that the months on the calendar appear closer than they are and that is the reason for all this cribbing…i am doing more thinking these days..may be this is what they call 'the quarter life crisis'.

They say what goes around comes around, a full circle. My kids would do to me what I did to my parents. I asked Ma why life has to go through that same vicious cycle again and again. I don't want my kids to not live up to my expectations and I dont wnat them to yell at me or fight with me. I also asked her why do we have to get married..live to keep people around us happy..abide by
norms of the society...take responsibility...and knowingly go through all that ordeal.... Am I ever going to get back 'MY' life again?

The ONLY good thing about all the thinking I had done is a heart to heart talk between mother and daughter and Ma told me that I lived up to her expectations and that she often tells dad that she is proud of me. I asked her why she never told me and she dint have answers!! typical mom ;)

And that made me a happy twenty-something :)

the world's most boring sunday ever..

2009-08-17T21:18:00.008-04:00

this post was due yesterday but I am writing it today cuz yesterday was supposed to be the world's most boring Sunday and you don't do interesting stuff like blogging on a boring Sunday. Imagine being stranded at home on a Sunday! Sigh!! yesterday was one such Sunday when everyone I knew in Tampa was out of town and my laptop was on a flight back home from Enfield. I was home alone :( Yes, the entire Sunday.. yeah I mean 24 hours!!

the only thing that happened apart from the 3 movies I watched continuously on TV, was mr.roach. He popped out of nowhere and my heart nearly skipped a beat. I hated him for doing that to me and for a moment I remembered Yancy Butler in 'The Ex' and took great pleasure in drowning him. I know I might have angered quite a few souls who care more about ducks, roaches than humans. Believe me, this is not jabbering. C at the gym said that she would brake for ducks and not humans. She mentioned very joyfully abt a news she read in the newspaper where a wife tied her husband to a chair and tortured him till he bled real bad! How can she have no value towards a human life? She is very opinionated and I hate her. Okay, coming back to Mr. Roach, I had no other option other than drowning him because ...... I hate roaches.

This post ends here and the purpose of this post is just to vent out that I was bored to death yesterday.. Well, I am glad the Sunday is over and my laptop is back and Mr.roach is drowned!!

Lets celebrate freedom!!!

2009-08-14T19:04:00.000-04:00

Its 15 August, 2009 ( its already the 15th in India) and 62 years since India became independent and my inbox is flooded with emails "lets celebrate 62 years of freedom/independence", "proud to be an Indian" and orkut is brimming with scraps that say" change your pic. put up a picture of our national flag..lets show the world we are united" and facebook is flooded with independence day messages....and I open my yahoo account to see yahoo celebrating Indian independence..united we stand...
So it is just this one day of the year that we realize the Indian in us..become overly patriotic overnight and theres jubilation and hullabaloo everywhere...fireworks display in some places and change of orkut profile pictures..the night clubs have happy hours to celebrate Indian independence with a shot of tequila ( not to forget the slice of lemon) and A.R.Rehman's Vande Maataram in the background..Reliance and TATA offering upto 1000 mins of Talktime...Westside offering aazadi mubaarak with a Rs.100 off on a purchase of 500!!

How about accepting all these benefits and doing just one thing in return ? May be each one of us should make a resolution of doing something for the country and sticking to it. It need not be very big , something that's within our reach and something that we could do. t's time we stop thinking what the country has done for us and start thinking what we can do for her.

For starters, may be we all could pledge against female foeticide.

here is an old ad, but a very inspiring one..

Happy Independence Day!

Dumb DNA :(

2009-08-05T17:08:00.007-04:00

lately, I have developed a good habit of following the news everyday (yes, I don’t leave an opportunity to brag. Anyways, why shouldn't I? This is my blog and I am the star here ;) ) and I came across a news video. The video showed kids in China being DNA tested at early ages like 3, so that parents can identify their hidden talents in the bud and leave no stone unturned in nurturing their teeny weeny celebrity talent and pave way for their future; say like training them to participate in the Olympics..the kids are sent to summer camps where their DNA is tested and a group of teachers observe them to see what talents they have and what they lack!! Isn’t this ridiculous? Why burden those innocent minds from such a tender age? I feel they have the rest of their lives to live under pressure to perform, stress and show off those talents. Can there be anything more cruel than snatching those angelic smiles and stealing their play time?

When I was a 3 yr old, success was successful completion of potty training. Achievements were crying my way to that chocolate box and not letting mommy feed me that green leafy stuff for dinner. The only talents I remember having as a three yr old were singing bah-bah goo-goo in broken words and scribbling on every piece of paper I could find( got smacked big time for taking my art to the wall) . And those talents neither made me a singer nor an artist .WTF! this is scary as this is more proof that I am bird-brained :(

I was wondering what would have the result been if my daddy dearest took me for the DNA test ??

Daddy: Doctor, can you please do 'THE' DNA test to identify my daughter's gamut of talents.. (dad praying that I be the multi-talented prodigal daughter)

Doctor:

The kid will not be tall, so she cant be a basketball player

The kid is not going to be slim and yeah, tall, so modeling ruled out

lack of creative side rules out creative professions like painting, writing, designing etc etc

No patience..so cant be a teacher

not really dexterous...so wouldn't be a good mechanic/pathologist/chemist

Not a good listener…so no doctor/psychology/counselor

Cannot argue… law is out of question

Shit scared of insects..so cannot be an entomologist

Lacks motherly instincts…so cannot be a gardener/nanny

does not seem to be very agile...cannot be a cheerleader/gymnast

Will be a computer illiterate… so no programming genius seen here

will suck at spellings...will be a disgrace at spell bee

Might be a little too lazy…and ...

Dad (nervous and sweating) : No.. don’t say that. You have ruled out almost everything. I hope there is something..Please, Doctor please,...

(sad music playing in the background;tears welling up in mom's eyes; the smart ass one year old in mom's lap laughing at the dumb older sibling)

Me, uncertain about the impending future shifting glances from dad's face to doctor uncle's face

Doctor: Sir, don’t lose hope. She can be an engineer!

Me flashes a big smile..the happy family goes home :)

2009-07-30T18:26:00.006-04:00

for the awsummm coffee that I make, a few friends are repaying back with a new venture very soon and here is the start...

25!

2009-07-26T02:53:00.010-04:00

If roaches had souls, I would have been haunted to death by now. No kidding!
I don't like men. I don't like them for what they are and for what they are not.
I am a bloody hypocrite.
I love to travel. Rio, Egypt, Savannah, Alaska, Greece,Seychelles; they are top on my list (not necessarily in the order mentioned)
I love food.period.
I hate exercising.period.
I would not mind spending the rest of my life eating, drinking, merry making and reading books when time permits.
I once had a brief crush on my boss ( NO! i am not gonna tell who/when/where)
I hate water rides. They make you wet, sticky and what not!
I wanted to be a teacher,an air hostess,pilot,astronaut,choreographer,fashion designer, IAS officer,entrepreneur, chef, gardener (in the same order as mentioned) and I ended up being an engineer.
I am dead scared of installing and uninstalling anti-virus on my computer :P
I love buddays..specially y(h)appy Buddays!! sigh! i eagerly wait for gifts :P
I am computer-illiterate.
I dream of developing a code someday. A code that would be an essentiality :)
I wish I could steal Jeeves.
I am grateful to US of A. I am very much in love with this country.
Ever heard of penny wise;pound foolish? I fall into that category.
I hate insects. I believe they have no reason to live. They live in homes that dont belong to them, feed on food that is not theirs and pay back with disease.
I stopped reading Paulo Coelho's Brida, cos I thought it was influencing me a bit too much.
Nice weather, a novel, Starbucks mocha frappuccino ( non-fat milk and no whipped cream), relaxing by the water and my vacation is all set...
I get nighmares about becoming toothless
Sleeping is an art. a warm comforter and an AC set to the right temperature are the fundamentals of the good-sleeping art.
I dint think I could come up with 22 things about me.
I am awesome.
I am awesomely awesome :)

Now please consider yourself tagged and leave a link to your blog in the comments section. I would love to know 25 things about u!!

Ciao...

10 ways to know if u are a shopoholic...

2009-07-20T17:08:00.013-04:00

1) if, while making plans to go out, the first thing you think about is hanging out at the mall
2) you empty the entire wardrobe looking for a shirt, dump all the clothes back and repeat the procedure the next(every) time you go out
3) when you have to keep digging through all those store credit cards looking for your drivers license
4) being seen in the same outfit twice is a crime and now this makes deciding what to wear for work today one of those most difficult decision you have ever taken
5) you have a wish list which grows at a rate faster than that at which items are marked off
6) you don't need 3 shots of tequila, just buying those cool shades will give you a happy high
7) when you end up spending $100.00 trying to save $15.00 using the 15 off 30 discount coupon on that 11th sweater that you want (it's not need) for winter which is 6 months from now
8) you have a chapstick, a lip gloss, a body lotion, a box of mint; one set in that black hobo bag, one in the green tote, one in the silver clutch, one in that red purse and blah blah
9) you are of the opinion that shopping is an esoteric art which only a few blessed ones like you could master

10) you don't need another reason, face the fact , accept it and respect it; 'you are a shopoholic'

welcome to the club of the distinguished few :)

Women here, there and everywhere...

2009-07-06T19:18:00.004-04:00

Neither have I lived in a lot of places nor have I already started going grey, but it is not beyond the comprehension of any woman (to be addressed as a girl has already started sounding annoying to me!) of any age to comprehend that women here, there, elsewhere and everywhere( yes, even if there were women on Venus) are no different. From the moment I landed here in the United States, and every new city I visit, the first thing I do is compare the women( its altogether a different thing that I end up checking their footwear and if they got a pedicure). Definitely women here in the US of A and the so called developed countries are more independent, self-respecting and self-loving and a lot more when compared to those back home. But, underneath the mask of independence and achievement are the same old layers of vulnerability, insecurity and uncertainty.

Don’t mistake me to be another 379,856th feminist. It is just that I haven’t come across any house-husband or dads who are home makers. I don’t deny that dads are loving and caring and the ‘my daddy strongest’ caption is still my favorite, but I am just surprised by the number of moms who have to give up careers to make their family ‘a happy family’ and if you are lucky enough, u still have the key but are the back-seat driver. I remember an incident from five to six years ago. Surf excel used to telecast an ad showing several men and women each carrying 2 buckets of water that they could save by using surf excel. I was watching this ad on TV at my aunt’s parents place sitting next to her dad when he goes “ beep! Dhimak karab ayinda veelaki. Em em chupistaro TV lo. **again beep** mogolu evaraina battalu uthukuthara?? Gaajulu eskuni kurchomanu intla” (“what the hell! What crap do they show on TV these days? Do men ever wash clothes at home? Ask them to wear bangles and sit at home.”) I was naïve, young and Miss. goody-shoes back then to argue with him(read elders) over it. I couldn’t help laughing and silently slipped out of the room and narrated this story to my aunt and both of us ended up laughing continuously. I am not generalizing all the men on the planet here, but it’s a sad fact that there are more men who think on those lines.

And after the few lucky women make it to work; we all know what they have to take. If all the above rantings are those present in the civilized world, then there is the other unfathomable barbaric side. I am not writing against men, it is just that I am shocked by the number of atrocities and discrimination women faced and still face. There is a not a single day that the newspapers don’t report a crime against women. Even 5 and 6 year old kids are not spared from the evil eye of debauchee. They say God could not be present everywhere and that is why he created ‘mother’ to fill the gap. If only disrespect towards women is considered disrespect towards HIM….

2009-07-05T15:11:00.010-04:00

This is no beauty pageant and I k'no'w we are no models, but would just love to know what can be changed to make this world a better place.

"If you got a chance to change something in the world, what would it be?"

lack of compassion?? tolerance?? poverty?? sham?? crime?? pretense?? corruption? greed?? disease?? suffering?? pain?? hatred??

though each new year starts with a hope of ringing out all the above and more..
each day begins with an eagerness to welcome all things good and kind..
and doesn't end without witnessing war, murder, female abuse in several form..
nevertheless, the fervent hope doesn't wither and the wish doesn't tether..

cuz tomorrow is another bright day..

"With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world!"

- Max Ehrmann

2009-06-28T17:04:00.003-04:00

When was the last time you told someone sorry for something you dint do and someone thinks you intentionally did that? Will that sorry mean victory to you or to the opposition? Does saying that SORRY make you guilty as charged?

'To err is human, to forgive is divine'. But, forgiving someone for something they dint do, can that be called divinity?

Does freedom really exist? Dictionary.com defines freedom (one of the several meanings) as " exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc.". If every move one makes in life is accompanied by unnecessary interference, implications and so on and so forth, isn't it incorrect to call oneself a free individual?

Tagged again!!

2009-02-10T20:27:00.004-05:00

tagged by Preets ..

Last movie seen in a theatre:

He is just not that into you.. ( i luuuvvved the movie)

What book are you reading?

The Appeal by John Grisham

Favorite board game:

Ashta-chamma :D

Favorite magazine:

Reader's Digest, WoW! Hyderabad for all the gossip...

Favorite smells:

changes with time... currently light blue by D & G ... and yeah, petrol, chai, coffee beans...

Favorite sound:

clacking of heels :P

Worst feeling in the world:

feeling constipated..

What is the first thing you think of when you wake up?

why do we have to wake up?

Favorite fast food place:

i love food.. and i love any place that serves good food.. no discrimination when it comes to food ;)

Future child’s name:

definitely starts with A..

Finish this statement, “If I had a lot of money I’d…”

do lots of shopping and visit Egypt, South Africa, Rio and Germany.

Do you drive fast?

'fast' is a relative term...

Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?

chee...

Storms - Cool or Scary?

Cool & Scary

Do you eat the stems on broccoli?

yes..

If you could dye your hair any color, what would be your choice?

pink highlights...

Name all the different cities/towns you have lived in:

Hyderabad, Cincinnati and Tampa..

Favorite sports to watch:

Nah!

One nice thing about the person who sent this to you:

Genuine , witty and funny! ( witty and funy are nice things too)

What’s under your bed?

I dont have a bed :(

Would you like to be born as yourself again?

Yes, but 4 inches taller...

Morning person or night owl?

night owl

Favorite place to relax:

Home..

Favorite pie:

......

Favorite ice cream flavor:

chocolatttttttt!!

You pass this tag to:

Balaji, Kallus, KK, sharmi, Harika

he came...he saw...he conquered :P

2008-11-10T21:59:00.001-05:00

she woke up with the first rays of sunshine touching her;
ready to meet him, eager to greet him
not knowing she would fall a prey to his charm and
would be held captivated by his magic...
is this love? she asked herself when she saw him
his first glance melting her..weakening her resolve
not to fall in love
the darkness and the tiny hints of light
all adding to the spell;he sat across her,
like a greek god, with eyes that twinkled wen he spoke..
was it the wine or was it his enchanting eyes..
that held her mesmerized..
that touched her deep in the heart..
they both sat staring at each other,
eyes locked and hand in hand..
hating the imminent dawn..praying that the earth stop rotating..
but lord! someone said all beautiful things come to an end
and the time had come to bid goodbye..
she dint stop him and let him go..
for he had come to teach her, the gift of love
and to show her, how wonderful it is to fall in love...

this one's for you Ma...

2008-09-01T10:21:00.005-04:00

M -Millions of stars, but you have always been the brightest and the guiding star for me...
O - On your toes since the day I was born and even now, 23 years later... Ma,
T- Thank you for the thousands of sacrifices you made for me and SORRY for the millions of tears I make you shed
H- "Honey, you are my priority" is what you say even now though we are thousands of miles apart
E - Enough tantrums I throw around all the time and I am amazed how you still bear each one with a smile
R- Rock on Mommy.. you rocked my cradle and you rule my world... I love you :)

avi's dedication..

2008-05-23T15:48:00.007-04:00

After reading my post, Avi, ,one of my jigri dost, a budding lyricist, wrote the same thing in Telugu and dedicated it to me :)

here it is...

naake theliyani sudigundaalu ventaaduthunte
manase polchaleni paristhithi edurukunte
endukila avthondo theliyani vintha vainam
thelisindokate yedaloni bhaaram
haayeega viharinche pakshini nenu kaanu
thelusu naa gundeki
santhi gaa saagipoye yeru ni kaane kaanu
thelusu naa kantiki
endukila avthondo theliyani vintha vainam
nanne nenu kolpoyina tharunam
kalonaina cheradanna vishwaasam
koti thaarala madhya kolpoyaanaa
yedaari payanam lo sunyamayyanaa
yegase sandrapu alalalo neeti bottu nenaa
nenu nanne gurthupatte veelu ledaa
endukila avthondo theliyani vintha vainam.....

For more of Avi's songs, check his album swasa.. this is my favorite..samayam... I know he rocks!! ;)

sisters!!!!

2007-12-28T19:22:00.002-05:00

I have recently read a novel called 'Sisters' by Danielle Steel. Its a book about four sisters, each in their world, thousands of miles apart , pursuing their professions, living their destinies, yet, tied together by a bond that only strengthened with time, how their lives are thrown into utter chaos when a tragedy strikes the family, and how these sisters come together in a time of disarray and the sacrifices they make in their professional and personal lives to rebuild their family after the misfortune..

the sisters move into an apartment and live together for a year and I so so wanted a life like theirs..i realized having a sister is so much fun.. I take great pleasure in quoting Amy Li , "Having a sister is like having a best friend you can't get rid of. You know whatever you do, they'll still be there." I have 5 such 'god given sisters' who have been with me through thick and thin. They have been my ray of sunshine on a cloudy day and have never let me down anytime...not even once!! My short stay at Mansa's place in little Rock resembles the lives of Danielle Steel's "Sisters" in so many ways and I bet I will not have such a wonderful time again..

This post is dedicated to my "Sisters" :):)

Mansa alias Maaaa'nassa'

Has been the nassa in my life and has given me nothing but unconditional love for the last 12 years..we have had our share of quarrels, but everytime we patched up,we became more and more fond of each other..we are like cheese and pizza..bread and butter..totally inseparable..always with me ..one i can always rely on.. according to Linda Goodman's star signs, cancer and virgo make the best of friends and may be its just written in the stars :P

Vidya aka Vidz/Sony

'Meri sony...meri tamanna..jhoot nahin mera pyaaaaar....'

my sweetie pie..the most boldest of us all, extremely adorable, the pampered kid among us..calls herself shrewd.. has been the support system for all of us from day one....daring and dashing..she is always there to fight for us..her presence itself gives a secured feeling..she is like the eldest sister and if vidz says so..thn it cant go wrong..a diva in the true'est' sense...

Vandana a.k.a vanduuuuu

one of my oldest friends..i have known her for the last 12 years..she is very unique and it is an understatement to say that she is just sweet..right from triple rides on her TVS dating back to the 1999s and the cooking sessions with her in Little Rock in the 2007, every moment spent wid her is a pleasant memory..no one can make me laugh like she does..she is a sweetheart..she was a sweetheart..she will always be a sweetheart..

Kavya a.k.a kaaaaaavu
Kaaaavu ...beauty wid 'half' brains....an expressionless face..has been my constant source of inspiration and motivation...has had a tremendous influence on me from the early stages of our friendship...the only sane girlie in d gang..the perfect agony aunt.. though would have been great if she spent a lil more time wid d junta..

Soumya a.k.a souminaaa

"the nautanki saali".. cincy's been so much fun because of her..there is never a dull moment when she is around..i never really thought I could get so close to anyone else other than vid, kav, mans n vand..she makes daily chores as boring as doing the dishes an entertaining activity..and the late night talks (i dont care the noise complaints from our neighbours) and the collaborative crying sessions ...awwww.. i would do anything for those..Thanks souminaa!!

I am what I am because of these wonderful women and cant imagine what I would be without them ...just want to let you guys know that I love you loads and mere miles between us cant do much!! Will always wait for the Dec 31sts....cheers...

3 girls, an infinity G 35 coupe and a mission..

2007-12-25T08:25:00.003-05:00

6:30PM, a chilly breeze making them shiver from head to toe, three girls, M, A, S set out on a mission to buy rice from the Indian Grocers, which closes at 7PM and is a good 8 mile drive from home..the girls embarked their 'adventure ride' with lots of excitement and proudly flaunting someone else's Infinity G35 Coupe," intensity captured in seductive form "..excitement as this is going to be their first ever 'only girl' drive after coming to the US..

They make it to the Indian Grocers in time but are disappointed to find it closed. ..more disappointment because V has already started preparing the shrimp curry she has been boasting about since morning and now there is no rice!!!..After racking their brains for a few minutes as to why it is closed they begin their return journey. On the way back home, they realize they need garlic, trash bags and the car needs fuel...A keeps looking to the right and S to the left for a gas station and finally they land in one thanking Almighty cos the car managed to the gas station..

Now what!! None of them have filled gas before. A has a little idea cos shez seen friends filling gas and poor S was trying to figure out driving rules by watching M drive and A navigate.
All the 3 girls get down to fill gas in one car.
Realize hand bag left in car.. So open the door again, retrieve bag and close the door.
Fuel tank on the other side :X:X:X
M gets into the car and drives around the pump.
In the meantime, A & S locate the slot to insert the card.
Follow instructions and glad everything is going 'fine'.
M trying to open the gas tank. The knob does not turn. Doesn't want to meddle more with boyfriend's car else she ends up breaking it and "hell hath no fury like a boyfriend angered".
Like a good girl M calls him up and asks which direction should the knob be turned so she can open it without breaking it.
Boyfriend in JFK airport since 10AM that morning waiting to board a 9PM flight to Motherland and totally frustrated!!
Irritated boyfriend mumbles something. gas tank opened.
Yippiee!!!
Notice that the 'pipe like thing' has two clutches; one should be held to fill gas and the second one to hold the first one.
Now when do we stop??? How many gallons does it take to fill the entire tank? Does it stop automatically? What do we do now?

Well, call boyfriend again.. boyfriend shouting, cursing.. M, A, S all trembling and shaking in the cold winter breeze wearing Tees with sleeves barely an inch long, flip flops on their feet.. so much for being stylish.. or rather trying to act stylish...

Finished filling gas, just about to take the highway. M is not sure if she close the gas tank properly. So the girls stop to check. A gets down to check it, gets into the car and buckles up the seat belt and is now doubtful if she checked properly. So she gets down and checks again to be doubly sure that the gas tank is closed properly.. In between all the drama, there are hysterical bouts of laughter.
S craves for a starbucks coffee so head to the nearest starbucks store..get down to find star bucks closed.
Another disappointment.
Go to harvest for garlic and trash bags only t realize every damn store is closed because its Christmas eve. Take the outlet from the parking garage to get on to the highway only to find that there are two solid yellow lines. Can two solid yellow lines be crossed or not. So girls pull to a side and wait for some car to exit though that exit. A young teenager in a jeep confidently crosses the 2 solid yellow lines and right when M starts doing the same A challenges it saying she read it somwhere that you cant do it.

So go round and round and round until they get onto the highway and drive a few miles before they realize they are going in the opposite direction and are on the Memphis highway.

Another hysterical bout of laughter..this time a little scared...

A trying to act superly calm and composed and advises M to take the nearest exit. Its dark, its eerie.. 3 girls in acar.. not a single soul in near proximity... perfect horror movie types setting.. A just recovering fro the effects of 'RING' is ultra panicked but too dignified to show it.. tells the girls to maintain calm and calls a friend for directions... cant call boyfriend...M had had enough for the day..after a lot of cruising around they are on the right track.
In a courageous and a dauntless, calm and composed unaffected manner, which required a lot of acting skills, A says " Its no big deal.. it happens all the time.. You shouldn't be worried as long as the tank's full and you have a mobile and a citicard..we would have visited Memphis..huh!!!"

Finally, at the end of the show-business, the girls are home with no rice, no garlic, no trashbags, no starbucks coffee and yes, a half empty gas tank!!!

Silence!!!

2007-12-02T20:17:00.000-05:00

was just browsing the net when I came across this wonderful quote..
"Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech." -- Martin Fraquhar Tupper

I was never a person of silence..it surprises me that all of a sudden i find quotes on silence sensible..n being silent does so much good especially when you are in a turmoil..for me, a few months ago, silence was spooky, silence was uncomfortable ..now it is reassuring..it takes so much strength and courage to remain calm, composed and yes, silent when everything and everybody is against you..this well timed silence has reinforced my belief in myself, that i am strong, courageous and indomitable.. mere words cant shake me anymore..

more quotes on silence that have influenced me ...

"Spiteful words can hurt your feelings but silence breaks your heart"

"Even silence speaks"

"Silence is a source of great strength"

2007-12-02T20:06:00.000-05:00

there is so much that is going on within me these days..
i dont know if i am happy or if i am sad
I dont know why i feel this way
for all i know something somewhere is really wrong...
I can no longer be the free-spirited bird that flies high in the sky
neither can I be the river that flows unperturbed
I know i cant be the real me anymore
for all i know something somewhere is really wrong...
somewhere I am lost, which I dont want to be
I dont want to be lost among the millions of stars..
I dont want to be a grain of sand in the vast desert
I dont want to be a drop in the ocean
all I want to be is 'ME'
I dont know why I cant,
cos I know something somewhere is really wrong...

2007-11-27T19:51:00.000-05:00

i miss India
i miss Hyderabad
i miss roadside pani puri
i miss the traffic in Hyderabad
i miss ammamma
i miss CBIT days
i miss paradise chicken biryani
i miss the pajama parties with vid,kav,vand n mans
i miss partiessssssss
i miss family get2gethers
i miss my cousins
i miss their birthdays
i miss bossing around my brother
i miss minerva dosas
i miss breaking rules
i miss my childhood
i miss d movie halls
i miss the constant honkings of cars
i miss autos!!! ( yes, i do)
i miss holi
i miss diwali
i miss sankranthi
i miss the late night chats with amma
i miss her scoldings
i miss fighting with her
i miss mom!! :(

I've been tagged!!!

2007-07-06T11:22:00.000-04:00

I really dint know what this tagging concept was until Preets tagged me. But I am glad he tagged me cos this is fun and I never really gave a thought as to which books have impressed me...I read a lot of Nancy Drew and Enid Blyton stuff as a kid..but what really got hooked me to this habit of reading books was 'Tell me your dreams' by Sidney Sheldon. I dont know what made me pick this book. As far as I can remember i borrowed this book from Ramya cos this was the same book Ramyakrishna asks for in the movie Iddarumitrulu ;)i know thats one strange reason but....
okay..there are many books that i like and selecting 3 among them was very difficult and here they are..
1) The Prodigal daughter.. loved the book..I simply adore Florentyna..and the relation she shared wid her father is simply touching and I can identify myself with her in this aspect..i have always been daddy's girl :)..cudnt help admiring her throughout the book..her willpower,determination n intrepid nature have all cast a spell on me..

2) The Alchemist..
Initially, i found the book a lil boring, but later on, I must admit, I was hooked to it. There are a few phrases in the book , which, knowingly or unknowingly, deep down, had a pronounced effect on me ; "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it..."..."The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon."..It is really an amazing book and tells you how wonderful it is when you listen to your heart..I know it is not something new or something that is known to few ( the word is esoteric), I simply liked the way Cohelo wove the story..

3)The naughtiest girl in the school..
This book by Enid Blyton was my childhood favourite..and yeah it till is..No particular reason why I love it so much

I also enjoy reading P.G.Wodehouse..the humor in his novels is simply irresistible...I have no words...and I would love to meet Bertie and Jeeves..and yes would be verry happy happy to marry the stupid sweet pakka bachelor Bertie..poor guy..has a tough time finding girls ;)

n nowwwwwwwwww....let me tag balaji n srikara....

indifference!!

2007-06-11T04:18:00.001-04:00

2007-06-08T09:51:00.000-04:00

I recently came across a hoarding that says..
I want..
a good career
dollar salary and
a job abroad....

why do people have a wrong notion that a good career is having a job abroad and earnings in dollars? is money the only factor that should be considered while choosing a career? Is it not important to acknowledge the satisfaction that you get from a job? is money everything in life? isnt happiness what we want out of life? does money bring happiness? is happiness something you can purchase from the store down the street? are money and happiness entwined? if yes, does it imply you are happy when you earn more? arent people with little money happy? why are people not ready to walk the extra mile to bond with fellowmen when they can toil hard to scale the mountains of name, fame and ofcourse money?? dont relations bring happiness to life? then why do people compromise relations for a little more luxury in life? why do i talk nonsense?

ummmmm...im loving it!!!

2007-06-06T05:01:00.000-04:00

it feels blessed to be back home after a hustling 9 months in the US of A... twas a surprise visit and dad n mum were speechless when i just walked in all of a sudden..their expressions were worth capturing,..(Lux kya scene hein types)and they cudnt resist showring me wid kisses..mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!
i have returned to my former lazy self with all the subtlety that i could manage..back to ghar kha khaana n fab india kurtis...glad that kutti has started acknowledging me after running away from me for the first two days...cant stop doting on him n simply love the way he calls me.." dhi....dhaa"( dhi= short for odhina..dhaa= come):)my homecoming has put few aunts back in their "match-making" métier( with no offence meant to all the aunts..i simply adore u guys for caring so much)...n paaaaaaani puri...nd srikanth i ve been eating your share of pani puris too:P..theres so much 2 say but its realy difficult to put into words what i feel at d moment..mmmm simply loving every moment of my stay here.. dont wanna go back!!:( how i wish that life had a pause button.. or i get the univeral remote control adam sandler managed to lay his hands on in the movie Click... click! click! n i would just fast forward the next one year of my masters..hmmmm remote or no remote life has to go on..just hoping to make d most out of my short trip..making my jaunt jaunty..geee....
n for all those who havent been to the bhagyanagaram in a while will post soon on wats new in the city..n d traffics sure gonna drive u crazy...beleive me sitting in d car scares me!!!!

2007-05-27T15:14:00.000-04:00

I have started enjoying working in the lab..Found a new way to make my work fun..a huge old box lying at a corner, supposedly called a computer, is being my saviour in d lab..d systems pretty old but my labmate was kind enough to hook up a very good pair of speakers to it( altec lansing..heard someone say that they are verry good..i have no clue):D...so this marks the beginning of another movie spree..yuppie...

just finished watching chukkalo chandrudu( siddharth rocks!!!) while preparing 125 sampling tubes!!!! gosh!! working in the lab is fun;)!!

zindagi sucks!!!

2007-05-21T02:31:00.000-04:00

aaaaaaaaghhhhhhhh...eeeeeeeee.......grrrrrrrrrrrrr.....mummmmy!!!!!
zindagi sucks!!! bigtime!!!
a term paper, a presentation, 4 lab reports n a take home due!!! gotta submit all those by tis saturday..am i a machine or wat?? i can see stars n planets all over...yeah naveen.. i can c ur planet zuzozga or bozo or wateva d crap u call it!!!i thot twas funny when ppl said all d nice things just dont fall into ur lap..u gotta work for it!!hmm thats wat i am doing now..just realisedw at masters in US really is..for 30 days of bliss i have to go thru so much..pooor me!! momma.. i really need u..missing u so much!! muaahhhh!!

3 more weeks 2 go!!!

2007-05-08T19:17:00.000-04:00

yippieeeee.... 22 days 2 go!!
cant wait till I set my feet in Hyderabad..back 2 home.. sweet home..my cozy dark orange n yellow cave of a room..daddy's hugs..mommas endless arguments...eliminator rides wid mah bro.. ghar kah khaana...mmmm mouth watering!!( the crappy stuff we cook here has already started tasting yucky n making me crave for mom's cookin)..granny's hot oil massages..lots of cuddles n kisses from my darlings kutti,vicky,anshu n ani... paradise chicken biryaniiii...shopping for junk on d streets of badi chowdi...kurtis at westside...taruniiii..pani puri at gappe-vappe n maharaja chat pav bhaji...midnight biryanis at green park..frankiesss...looking forward to meeting old fnds..endless chitchats at CCD until they shoo us away..movies at prasads not 2 forget d chicken sandwich n cuppa corn..ice creams at melting moments n alankritaaaaaaaaa ...constant leg pullings by my maamas.. uuummmmmm cant wait till I get back home...
n how i could I forget u my dearest kiny my first love...miss riding u so much..

buttt theres so much to do before i can pack my bags:(:(:(:(...one final exam 2 go..huge pile of lab reports 2 b submitted n a paper due..n my bacteria n my lab..yeah kis janam ka rishta hein mera tumare saath..will u ever let me go??:/:/:/ mummmmmy!!!! boo hoo..d clock doesnt seem 2 tick anymore.....

two things you should never forget!!!

2007-05-01T00:06:00.000-04:00

The following is not entirely my creation; I read it somewhere sometime ago..but just realised how true they are..
1) never make promises when you are happy
2) dont talk when you are angry...

my celebrity look alikes...:D..

2007-04-25T22:44:00.001-04:00

http://www.myheritage.com

In retrospect....

2007-04-13T18:38:00.000-04:00

Its 1AM and I am as excited and energized like I would normally be on a Saturday morning. I had a nice tete-a-tete with few of my friends...recollecting old memories,..our first few days in the US..exploring the campus..skeptical about taking directions from strangers ( cos we were scared that they would make out we were new to this place and thanks to the endless stories about mugging that we heard from various sources)..
Over the last seven months I have made a home away from home..built many new friendships..strengthened old ones..made my own decisions...learned that environmental engineers are the stewards of mother nature...last but not the least realized that my happiness comes before anything else.. BUT was so out of sync with so many things happening in India..dint care to find out what the political scenario was..India's presence globally, rupee's recent gain on the dollar..$$$.. never realized it though..
Holi, shivratri and Ugadi came and went..they were like any other day for me..nothing special..I dont even remember if I took a few minutes out of my schedule to offer prayers.. I know I am learning so much here but at the cost of what i learned for the last 21 years...my shyaamala dhandakam, manthra pushpam etc etc are all confined to books now..
I recently met someone who had asked me what Vande Maataram meant..I knew what the two words 'Vande Maataram' mean but I dont know the meaning of the song..Yes its our national song and I have been singing it day in and day out during the 12 years of my schooling but.. I wonder why I dint have the urge to know its meaning...I wonder how many of us know what exactly it means...
It just shows how busy I have been in my pursuit of happiness( PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS!!! too biiig a word:O...nah i dont think this is what that gives me happiness) that I have failed to perceive smaller things in life...failed miserably at marveling the beauty of the starry night and the enchantment in the spider's web after it rains!!! Oh hell I have never seen a wet spider's web and I dont know why Robin keeps talkin about it often in his book.
But yeah thats a good book to read..'The Monk who sold his Ferrari'..success from outside doesnt mean anything unless there is happiness from within..."Investing in yourself is the best investment"..."theres a difference between being well-off and well being"..liked the concepts a lot...and am so inspired by that book that i am gonna start a positive thoughts factory GIGO....good ideas in and good ideas out...dad keeps telling that often but i never really cared to follow that...but believe me it works!!!
Start everyday with a smile..greet everyone you come across and look at the cup and say that its half-full!!! Yes you have your positive thoughts factory running...

PS: I missed a small thing...."perati chettu vaidyaniki panikiraadani"....I agree with one of my friend Srikara who says that u dont need a Robin sharma or Paul Cohelo to tell you how to tranquilise yourself and to discover or regain your innerself, self assurance blah blah blah when u start living as said in our religion.

Water.....

2007-04-08T01:36:00.000-04:00

When I first came to the US, few of my seniors advised me not to drink hot water from the water tap. . Reason being lead contamination..The explanation they gave me was that water here was heated using lead. But, later i found out that that aint true and here's the real story. Most of the buildings here ( in most parts of US) are very old which means they have water pipes made of lead. When water stays stagnant in these pipes for hours together theres the problem of lead leaching into the water and this has an impact in the long run..It leads to lead accumulation in the body and we dont like a stranger within us..Do we?? Recently, while I was talking to my advisor I asked her what I should do rather what she did... She told me to simply leave the taps open for a few minutes before drinking water!!!!! This coming from an Environemntal Engineering prof is something not very commendable..When i asked her if there was some alternative to that she could nt think of any..
Everyday the water works department spends millions of dollars to make the water potable and just imagine thousands of homes simple letting gallons of water to simply run down the pipe to mix with the sewage to be sent for treatment again?? Does'nt it seem inane and ridiculous?? Washing down dollars down the drain!!
I wonder why these amreeki people dont have the concept of having separate drinking water mains. Is it unfathomable that they could save millions by bringing about a few changes in their water management system??
On an average the per capita water consumption in the US is around 102 gallons a day and that in most of the impoverished African countries is around 10-15gallons a day. It takes 15 liters of water to produce one ball of lettuce. People in water-starved Nigeria produce lettuce to export it to countries like UK !! sounds staaaange...Donno wat to say about that..weird weird world!! what about the millions they spend on transportation charges and the impact it has on the expeditiously decreasing resources???
"The 250 million U.S. residents living today have access to about the
same amount of water as U.S. residents did 200 years ago, when the
population was four million.
If present consumption patterns continue, two out of every three persons
on Earth will live in water-stressed conditions by the year 2025.
(THAT’S ONLY 23 YEARS!)."[ refer Jeff Gaffney] ( dont want to be sued for plagiarism)
This reminds me of few lines I read in an English text..The rhime of the ancient mariner

"Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink."
----Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Amazing India...

2007-04-07T22:46:00.000-04:00

If you ever get lost in India and want to find out where you are, this is the best way of doing just that.

Scenario 1

Two guys are fighting and a third guy comes along, then a fourth and they start arguing about who's right - you are in kolkata.

Scenario 2

Two guys are fighting and a third guy comes along, sees them and walks on - that's mumbai.

Scenario 3

Two guys are fighting and a third guy comes along & tries to make peace. The first two get together & beat him up - that's Delhi.

Scenario 4

Two guys are fighting. A crowd gathers to watch. A guy comes along and quietly opens a chai stall - that's ahmedabad.

Scenario 5

Two guys are fighting and a third guy comes. He writes a software program to solve the issue but the fight does not stop because of a bug in the program. That's Bangalore ...

Scenario 6

Two guys are fighting. a crowd gathers to watch. A guy comes along and quietly says that amma doesn't like all this nonsense. Peace comes in - that's chennai.

Scenario 7

Two guys are fighting. Both of them take time out and call their friends on mobile. Now 50 guys are fighting. You are in Hyderabad.

Scenario 8

Two guys are fighting. a crowd gathers to watch. Someone calls police. The police come and lathi charge all the people crowded there. Someone throws stones at the police. The police throw stones back at the crowd. some people are arrested. Damages to the shops nearby. Next
day, harthal and holiday declared by government ..You are very much in Lucknow, UP...

Newtons Three Laws of Graduation

2007-03-29T11:45:00.000-04:00

2007-03-26T14:05:00.000-04:00

I managed to watch an episode of Donald Trump's TV show 'The Apprentice'..u may think its wierd cos i have never watched d show earlier but...donno i cudnt watch it..may be cos i dont get time and more importantly maybe cos I dont have a TV..ok ok..before i wander away the only thng I wanted to let you guys know was that I watched d show and found it to be gr8888...donno if u guys ever watched it but dont miss it if u get a chance..
Its a must for all you would be managers, entrepreneurs , team leads etc etc...
I found it a lil ruthless..cold to be precise..but I guess dats how life is:( too bad lifes gotta be dat way...I wonder why did pandora open that damned box!!!! hmmm no point in blaming pandora..probably even i would have gave in to my curiosity if i were her...may be she shouldnt have opened the box wide open...she should have shut it in time not letting all the evils escape out...maybe we could have done with little evil...may be i find the thought of icecreams, candies and food growing on trees too tempting and blame pandora now... i feel its not pandora alone but mankind in general who deserves the blame..what if she let the evils out?? aint it we who are fostering it?? maybe pandora just sowed the seeds but we are nuturing it in our homes, in our hearts....with all d love for it and hatred and jealousy towards our fellowmen...how many of us know the joy in giving?? surely my GIS prof doesnt know it at all..i mean giving in the right sense...he gets no joy in giving grades...but he gets all d joy in the world in giving us assignments.....wat I realised now is that whatever i start writing, at the end it all boils down to acads,grades etc etc...gracious heavens!! the USA has brought so much change in me..i was not like this before nd I wudnt be like this here after....bindaas rehneka..tension nahin lenaka... "TAKE LITE!!!"( direct pic up from RGVs NISHABD)..
Secondly wat i realised is that I can never stick to a topic..i wander....maybe i was a nomad in my previous birth..now talkin not previous birth...forget it..maybe sumother time..

PS: i got a chance to visit Donald Trump's casino in Atlantic city yesterday nite... wonder if he became a millionaire after he started d casino or before...if you know let me know...

2007-03-06T18:50:00.000-05:00

watz happening????

2007-03-05T16:25:00.000-05:00

I hate Monday mornings!! Mondays are loooong.( fridays being the longesssssssssssssssst) and tiring too.. Every monday morning, I wake up with tears in my eyes..Firstly,because it marks the beginning of another week of the never-ending saga of my Masters study and secondly because we do sampling in my 'BIOFILMS' lab ( yeah I can c u smile...) on Mondays.I work hard..( Yeah u read it right...it cant be 'I hardly work' cos there is so much work to do:(() I bunked my bio and modelling class today..hoping to get some sleep cos i was supposed to be sick!! If Kavitha( the whizkid of the Environmental Engineering Class of 2006 at UC and my saviour wen it comes to homeworks) comes to know what I had been doing all along she would nt lend me her notes...She wud strt another of her rantings " U little girl U r so ........"

Now seriously I ponder..watz happening?? Why am I like this? Why cant I simply study wen everyone around me is studyin?? Wat makes me simply laugh at them? Am i normal or are they abnormal???(I know both mean d same and I cant be abnormal) Do ppl study so hard at Masters level? i thot grad students hardly study!!
Now here this is another addiction( blogging) as if I am falling short of addictions (Orkut being #1 in d list)!!!
God save Arpita Soma!!!

here comes little nothings...

2007-03-05T01:23:00.001-05:00

Well.. it aint a good time to start little nothings ( its 120 AM and I should be in the process of aquisition of knowledge on chemostats and activated sludge process for the bio exam i am takin this wednesday) but nevertheless it is here...
I have been yearning for a blog for d last one year seven months and twenty three days. I have created one and now I cant help cursing myself for creating one...most importantly for creating one at this time!!! grrrr!!!
Will get back to my books now and come back for my sweet little nothings asap....

ASAP....hmmmmm no wonder these acronyms have crept so much into our life..I was at a desk-staff inservice program today. The purpose of the program is to coordinate and train the desk staff working for The University of Cincinnati. Guess wat!!! we were being taught how to write good emails!!! Emails are full of acronyms and my ARCs are annoyed cos they are not able to make out the ABCs of the emails they get...Ever wondered wat MHOTY stands for??
mmmmmmmmmmmm....still scratchin ur head???

My Hats Off To You... sheeshh!!
Shannon is pissed off cos all she gets in emails is MHOTY, JLT, 1337, AICUY....
So we were taught how to write good emails( without using acronyms) at a desk staff in-service. How wierd!!
Isnt that supposed to be taught in some elementary english class??? Its the last week of the quarter and with so many projects and presentations due, how in the world did they ever think that ppl wud be glad to waste their time in learning how to write emails!!!
I would rather learn modelling toxic chemicals in lakes at this time..!!
Now this reminds me that I hafta learn modelling toxic chemicals in lakes for my exam tomorrow...so call it quits for nw..
But will be back soon...till then tata..