Happy with life. Pleased with myself. Loving work. Trying to prioritise my needs and wants.Tired of setting up the house. Loves the new flat. Loves the cool breeze at night. Loves standing the balcony looking at the hills. Positive feelings. Cold in the AC. Sometimes cranky. Sometimes moody. Missing mom. Thinking too much. Wanting to buy another home. Making to-do lists. Hopes of winning a lottery. Hooked on to IPL. Rooting for Deccan Chargers. Meeting new people. Feeling old. Waking up early. Developing patience. Trying not to swear often. Hooked on to Text Twirl. Waiting for Lost. Waiting for the maternal instinct. Drinking too much coffee. Screwing my cousin's happiness. Not doing anything to lose weight. Raging a poke war in FB. Waiting for the launch of Iphone in India. Hasn't yet used the video cam at home. Saving money for the SLR. Wants a peaceful night's sleep. Will make chawal ka kheer on the weekend. Misses the bitching sessions. Misses Mumbai. Has found a new place to eat pork.
Loving these quotes:
There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all. :Peter F Drucker
Coffee, Chocolates,and Men - something are bette rich: Anonymous
- Location:Work, where else!
- Mood:
calm - Music:pings of IM chat windows
They lost the first match to the Kolkatta Knight Riders. Sad. I let SRK bask in that glory. Oh well, never mind there were 13 more to go. Then came the Delhi Daredevils. Sehwag wrapped up the match in 13 overs. Disgraceful.
Par kal raat ko full dil toot gaya. Itta galeez defend karte! Chee! Match ich nahi khelna wo howle loga.
A friend called as soon as the match was over and his first words were " I called you because, tuich mera gham samajh sakti" ( You are the only one who would understand my sorrow).We spoke about the match and talked about how we were the only Hyderabadi supporters in our offices.
And when you walk to work, you are greeted with "Kya fraud team hai" and "kya Deccan chargers jeetenge bole the. Kya hua" statements. I could as well support the Rajasthan Royals! The most underrated team has defeated Deccan Chargers and Kings XI.
And to other's who have been taking some interest in my support of the Deccan Chargers:
Chaitali: Yes, the lights did not go off because the Kolkatta team was not playing! :P
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
jayasankarvs - one more wisecrack from you, and you shall be out of my friend's list :P ( I am sure I will get enough now! )George: Hang in the there man, our players, err I mean prayers will be answered
Yet another friend wrote: http://walkersez.blogspot.com
teemus and yours truly have put up this poll. Please vote. Suggest new names, if you want to. We will love it.Poll #1176814 Re-Christening Deccan Chargers.
Open to: All, results viewable to: All
Note: Non-LJers cannot participate in the poll. We request you to leave a comment (on what your answer may be) and your name . Open to: All, results viewable to: All
What should they be called now?
View Answers
Deccan Chokers
1 (12.5%)
Dhakkan Chargers 4 (50.0%)
Deccan Chipmunks 0 (0.0%)
Lakshman and the Chipmunks 0 (0.0%)
Any other name? If yes, please share it with us. 3 (37.5%)
( And a pic )
- Location:Office
- Mood:
pissed off - Music:I thought it was over - The Feeling
Let me start with a confession. I miss Mumbai. No, I really do. After being the Mumbai basher for three and a half years and hating the city, five months out of Mumbai makes me realise what I miss. The crowd and the people for sure. The list, not necessarily in the same order:
1. Bandstand and the midnight coffees we had there
2. Inorbit Mall (specially because of Nando's Peri-Peri)
3. Goa Portugesa, Leopold, Cafe Mondegar, Lemon Grass, Just around the corner
4. My maid
So we took that plunge and moved to Pune. Its a small and nice city which offers houses that have a balcony. I can sit and enjoy the breeze in the evenings and watch the kids play in the park. Watch people jog along the joggers path and yet not get motivated to lose that fat. It ends right there.
I need to carry a stick with me to poke people around here to remind them that they were asked a question, or were asked to do something. I have never come across a more laid-back city (and to think I was proud to be a Hyderabadi!).
Most people here have no sense of humour, crack a joke and you are greeted with a blank look, and you squirm and wish the earth would swallow you up because you feel like an idiot in front of those people. The red lights at the signals make a wonderful showpiece that people rarely stop to admire. The cops from Mumbai should be got in here, at least the people might learn to drive the right way after the pockets are lighter with the chalaans.
We have FM. I was happy. They started 91.10 a few days ago. My joys were however short-lived. I just wish that the RJ's did not speak Marathi. After winning enough prizes in the FM contests in Mumbai, and setting the FM numbers on speed dial, I am scared to answer any questions in the FM contest here, because I am not sure if I understand what they asked.
The first familiar face in Pune was
astra1111 who came armed with my birthday gift ( the third copy of HP and the Deathly Hallows) and we bonded over Budweiser :) quizling 's visit certainly cheered me up. I wish he stayed with us for a longer time though :( I am now looking forward to jayasankarvs 's visit next week. And on the job front, a business week has been successfully completed at the new work-place. And my days of enjoyment have been taken over by meeting deadlines and trying to hex Monday's into Friday's as Hyacie always said. The new place got extra brownie points because they sent me a bouquet welcoming me to their "family". I like it. It made me look forward to joining them. It is time to pack the bags again, as my office is a long commute, and I don't particularly enjoy waking up early in the morning.
We intend to move closer to my work place. And with J travelling so often now, I would want a home closer to work. Talking about J, he travelled to UK and came back with lots of LUSH for me. Belated birthday and anniversary gifts, he said. And I never expected him to shop at LUSH. He never fails to surprise me with these gestures. I am so looking forward to his next visit, I have already made the next list :d
And finally the IPL kickstarts today, I am wondering if I shoud have told the new work-place that I would have preferred joining them after the IPL. *Wonders*
And after a long long time, its the Friday - Five time. :)
1. What is on your Outlook Calendar/to - do list today?
2. Look out of the nearest window. What do you see?
3. How many years old is your LJ? How many posts?
4. What types of audio gadgets do you own (ex. ipod etc)? Can you tell me one song I should listen to? (If you are nice, you can as well mail it to ljemails@gmail.com)
5. Have you ever stayed in a hostel? Did you like it? If you've never stayed in one, would you like to, and why?
( My answers )
- Location:Work
- Mood:
working
Yes. It's that time again when life has confused me. Here or there? This one or that one? Chennai or Hyderabad or Pune? Where do I need to go? J has got a job in Pune, but I have not. I have almost cleared that interview, and I can (hopefully) expect that offer in Chennai, the flipside is that J doesn't have a job in Chennai. Me, I got that job in Hyd, but it was not motivating enough.
I have an aversion towards Chennai, maybe its the language problem or the fact that I just don't like the city. Don't ask me why. There are somethings that you just dislike, for no rhyme or reason. This is one of the cases. J likes Chennai. You get the drift? Damn.
In other news:
1. We finally own a
2. Watched OSO and Sawariya! Yes, to sit through these two movies and survive is a great thing. And I survived!
3.I finally quit the extremely stressful job. Handling multiple projects totalling to double digits, is and won't be my forte. I don't think I can handle that kind of pressure and work on multiple million dollar projects. Its better to move on and do something you like, rather than work towrds making people like you. I was not cut out for that highly stressful job. People younger to me can cope with that stress, I was ashamed that I could not. But I am what I am, and I am happy that I quit. That is what matters the most to me. My peace of mind.
My life will no longer revolve around waiting for weekends, as Hyacie described me in her post, "Prats, whose life revolves around hexing Mondays to turn them into Fridays, but fails." Yes, I will miss that :(
4. I've got my to-do list ready with the things that I want to do before I leave Mumbai, and the next month would be focussing on just that.
Starting next week, I will be on a month long holiday. And hopefully by next week, we will also decide where we will go. Pune, it should be, hopefully.
*Sighs* Such is life. Decisions and more decisions.
- Location:Office
- Mood: ready to ho home :)
It is pure Potter mania. What else can you say when you get to watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix twice over the weekend gone by. The book was a bit boring, but the movie was interesting. Till now the only Harry Potter movies I have enjoyed are The Philosopher’s Stone and Order of the Phoenix. Yes, I liked Goblet of Fire for Viktor Krum, and that is all.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book releases on Saturday. I am looking forward to it, but am also sad that there won’t be any more Harry Potter books to look forward to. As a friend said, "I need to accept that there will be no more Harry Potter books to look forward to, so I shall start reading the Philosopher's Stone again." I shall wake up at 5 and reach the nearest book store by 5:30 so that I can buy the book early in the morning. I will stand in the line, shove the irritating kids out of my way and lay my hands on a copy of the book. I will call my friends at the exact time I have the book in my hand! Muaaaahaaaa. This is despite the fact that the book has been pre-ordered at least three months ago. I will not wait till Monday to get the book. I am unsure if I should read the book at a slower pace or compete reading it in one day. 785 pages of Potter. *sighs*.
J is very amused by all this. He has agreed to take me to the bookstore in the morning. He is such a sweetheart.
J is very amused by all this. He has agreed to take me to the bookstore in the morning. He is such a sweetheart.
Season 3 of LOST reaching me soon, I also have to watch that. It is going to be a packed weekend and I am actually looking forward to it! Thanks teemus.
teemus. Catch up with friends on Sunday. Hard Rock Café, here I am!
- Location:Office
The days of panic attacks are almost gone. Dozing off to sleep and waking up suddenly because you dreamt that you missed a deadline or were in a stinker conversation with client on the call will longer haunt me.
Here is a list of things that I want to do, not necessarily in the same order, but I hope to do all that I can in this list before the next week starts.
Things to do:
1. Take that two days off and catch up on my sleep.
2. Join the gym. Specially now that I have
redobsession for company. 3. Meet
sampadaand mona16104. Convince J to sponsor a massage at the spa.
5. Get a pedicure, facial and a head massage.
7. Enjoy Shopaholic and Baby, one of the numerous gifts given
redobsession who ensured that I was distracted and made to feel happy at least once in the day :) Thanks a ton for keeping me sane these two weeks.8. Cook some nice meals for J. He's been keeping quiet for the past two weeks and eating just about anything that the maid makes, without a fuss.
9. Head to Bandstand this weekend. Enjoy the cool breeze while sipping on cafe mocha.
10. Watch a movie (Sivaji is on the list)
11. Oh! And the most important part, go out shopping to cheer me up :)
- Location:Work
- Mood:
drained
Ummm....Even though it is not Friday, can I get to ask some questions?
Do you have any favourite songs?
Name three and tell me why you like them.
And if I do not have them, will you send them to me so that I can listen to them? (E-mail id can be found on the profile page)
Here goes my top 3: (I had to restrict to just three, but I have umpteen CD's full of songs, though not all would be my favourite, but I still like them)
1. With or Without you - U2 - I love Bono! That says it all!
2. Mausam - Mehnaz - This is probably the only song that she sang well. I like the song for its lyrics and the rhythm. I listen to this song almost everyday. My playlist is incomplete without this song.
3. Tubthumping - Chumbawumba - One of the most crazy songs I have heard, but it never fails to cheer me up. My way of listening to it - Full blast on the stereo and a bit of head banging. :)
Pssst. There is also Radio gaga by Queen, Winds of Change by Scorpions, Katara Katara from the movie Ijazzat, Love of Common people by Paul Young and more :D
Talking about music, I am totally hooked on to the not so new FM Fever 104. I found it quite accidentally while resetting the music channels in the car. They play the most awesome songs and it is a delight to listen to them because they do not have many ads and I also do not get to listen to Himesh bhai crooning all the time. On an average, every 6th song played on the other FM's is a Himesh song. I also won a prize for answering a question correctly :D Now the only thing is that the Fever 104 guys have not yet gotten back to me so I have no clue how I will be receiving the gift. Ummm, should I be cheap enough to call them and ask them when I could be receiving it?
( And below this cut lies a meme I liked.... )
- Location:Work
- Mood: busy
- Music:Everytime you go away - Paul Young
1. Are you happy with your current career? If you had a choice, which alternate career would you like to be in?
2. Which of these would you prefer - A fun job that does not give you the monies you would like, or a boring job that earns you more moolah?
3. Do you have autographs by famous people?
4. Flashback to a year ago. Are things better or worse than today?
5. Do you make wishes when you see a falling star, while blowing out the candles on the birthday cake or a fallen eyelash?
( Clickety click for my answers. )
- Location:Work
- Music:Durr - Strings
The rules of this meme are:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "I too am an egomaniac."
2. I respond by asking you five questions. You will answer them, because you like talking about yourself.
3. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
Answers to questions asked by
crabbycool----------------------------------------
1) What is your favorite type of exercise? How often do you exercise? What motivates you to exercise?
Jumping to conclusions seems to be my favourite exercise. I jump to conclusions all the time and anything and everything will make me jump to conclusions :P
Jokes apart, the wide waist and the double chin are indicators that I am not the *exercising* type.
2) List four things about yourself that you like, and will never change.
- Sleeping late on weekends
- Playing games on my laptop for hours together
- Being a voracious reader
- Ummmm, being a good friend and answering memes tagged by my friends to me :D
3) Amitabh or Aamir- take your pick, and give reasons.
Neither. I never liked commercial cinema as much as parallel cinema. But if I were still to choose, I would take AB, because I love the way the guy speaks.
4) How many impossible things have you ever done before breakfast?
That's an easy one, I donot eat breakfast :d
5) If you could mix your own icecream flavor, what would it be?
Hmmm...I cannot think of an ice cream flavour that I have never tried. However, as a kid, I grew up reading a lot of Enid Blyton. I remember Toffee Shock from the Faraway Tree. I would like to have an ice cream like that! Or maybe something like a Baileys Irish Cream Icecream. I love Baileys Irish Cream!
- Mood: tired
- Head to an Exhibition on Cartoons from over the world
- Follow that with an exhibition on photography
- Walk from NCPA to Colaba Causeway, buy stuff you may not use
- Decide that you are very tired, and head to Cafe Mondegar. Relax with chilled beer and a conversation marathon.
It helps being unemployed, once in a while :)
Thanks
redobsessionfor a fantastic day!- Music:Rose - Bette Midler
To top it all J is having an office party which meant that I was to spend the day alone. Sigh! Damn the offices that do not invite the spouses for the parties.
Just when I had myself comfortable, propping up pillows and settling down to read my book, J called. A friend was in Mumbai, staying at the Leela, and since he could not meet him, could I do the the same? Irked by the thought of getting out of home, just when I had made myself comfortable, irritated me. Nevertheless, I agreed.
At The Leela, after waiting for 5 minutes in the lobby...
Me: Where the hell is your friend? I have been in the lobby for the past 5 minutes. Does he have no sense of time? You know that I hate it when people are not punctual.
J: Hang on, I just got a call from him, he is at the health spa, can you go and meet him there?
Me: WTF, at the health spa, what do you take me to be? For all I care, he must be there getting a bloody massage done, and you want me to go and talk to him like that!
J: Don't get mad. Please meet him, he is a very close friend. Just go the health spa and ask for abc, and she will take you to him.
At the Health Spa.
Me: Hi! I am looking for Mr..... Can you please tell him that Mrs. Pratibha is here.
Lady at the counter: (checks register, turns to me with a big smile) You are Mrs. Pratibha Pal?
Me: Yes.
Lady: Here, please fill this form.
I take the form, fill in my name and I realise its the entry register for massages.
Sighing, I look at her and say, " I am not here for a massage, I am here to meet Mr. ABC. Can you please tell him that I am waiting for him.
Another lady comes to me and escorts me to a room. I enter the room and she smiles at me and says" You can undress here, the towels are on the rack."
WTF, does J know that these people want me to meet his pal wrapped in a towel! By now I am positively fuming. I walk back to the reception.
Me: Why do you want me to undress? I am here to meet someone! I am NOT here for a massage.
Lady: Madam you have a complimentarytwo hour aromatherapy massage with us for today.
Me: Look, I do not want a complimentary massage please, even though its a tempting offer, I am here to meet someone.
Mad at J, I make a call, and tell him through clenched teeth that his friend is an asshole. I bang the phone and wait at the reception. By now the lady at the reception is casting glances at me, positive that I am not quite right up there.
two minutes later....
Lady at the counter: Madam, actually this entire thing was a surprise for you by your husband as you anniversary gift, we do not know what he told you, but he is on the line right now, you could speak to him to confirm.
It took me a couple of seconds to realise that J had set this up on purpose, and that there was no friend, just his way of cooking up a story that I would fall for and getting me to the spa at The Leela. I was speechless for a while.
After a very long time I felt very special. It was the best anniversary gift I have ever received. J has this knack of coming up with the most amazing surprises. I did not even have an inkling that he had thought of something like this for me. I was touched. At times like this, I feel I am so lucky to have him as a part of my life. I want to be with him forever.
Two hours of heavenly aromatherapy massage, followed by exotic coconut and seaweed scrub, steam bath and a hot shower. Three hours of relaxation were a pure bliss. Sigh! I wish I could pamper myself every month like this. A card and a rose waiting for me just when I was about to leave. I have had the most amazing day of my life :)
As for times, when he is on his irritating best, well, let me leave that for another post! For now, a Happy Anniversary to me and J!
And just a note, for next week, its bye-bye mumbai and asalaam waleikum hyderbad. Cyberabaadi junta, does my visit qualify for an LJ meet?
- Location:Home
- Mood:
loved
- Location:Office
- Mood:
awake
27 days to go before I am on the *other* side of 30's. It seems like yesterday that I was upset about reaching the 30's! And its time to be 31 already! bah!
29 days to go and I am officially jobless. The thought of passing the two month notice period was a nightmare. And here I am, before I realised, a month is already flown by. And I hope the next 29 days pass by equally faster. Yes, it does get a tad boring when I have nothing to do, but I have learnt to pass my time:) I do admit that occasionally I am gripped with the fear on how am I going to pass my time. But then that is momentary.
31 days and we shall celebrate another new year. And we still have not decided what we want to do for the new year. Maybe it would be another night at home, which I would prefer than getting stuck in a traffic jam on the Mumbai roads.
Planning to watch Dhoom 2 tomorrow night, I hope that it is worth the money I have spent on the tickets. I'll miss Bigg Boss though :( I admit that I quite like watching that show.
Birthday wishes to
themadman</lj>. I am hoping that I move to Bangalore so that I can eat the mouth watering dishes at Shiok. Have a great day and an equally great year ahead. And before I forget, here are some pics from the wedding. These are mostly portrait pics of J and me. I exhausted the upload limit on flickr for the month, so I shall upload more over the weekend. And even though its a day early, have a great weekend everyone!
- Mood:
energetic - Music:Standing at the end of the line - Lobo
A month and ten days more, and I am officially jobless. Well, not that I have loads of work now, I am getting to work just to kill time and also because I have kind of exhausted my leaves for the year. So taking a leave = Loss of Pay. And considering that I do not plan to work for a while, every rupee counts.
The best part of being in the notice period is that you are no longer a part of those long boring meetings, but then there is also a flipside, there are not many ways to pass time. I have realised that playing games can be very boring. I mean how many times can you play scrabble with the computer? Some other games that can be played in the full version have to be downloaded, and we do not have the access to that. And well, Orkut has been blocked at work. Well, with eigty percent of the office crowd resorting to communicating with Orkut scraps and abandoning the official messenger, it was bound to happen.
How much can you chat? My official LJ chat partner seems to be in the hibernation mode. 
How much can you listen to songs? Passing nine hours at work on a no-work day can be very exhausting.
As usual, the weekend passed sooner than it should have. Seriously, they should extend the weekend break. We should be working just four days in a week. I was on a book shopping spree on the weekend. Picked up a couple of books.
Can you keep a secret by Sophie Kinsella
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Sleep No More by Greg Iles
Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
The Percy Jackson book is for ages 10 and up. I don't think it would make a difference if you added two decades to it. What the heck, I still love reading the Magic Faraway Tree. The total number of books to be read is now 34. Not bad. That should see me occupied for a month and half at least.
Damn I have another five and a half hours to kill. Sheesh! it is so damn boring! 
- Mood: happy
- Music:Waiting on the world to change - John Mayer
When you decide to leave a city, you get at least half a dozen calls everyday from consultants in the city you are staying in, giving you leads for jobs that you would want to do. And the hope that there may be jobs in other cities that you wish to relocate to crumbles when you do not get calls even after you have applied to dime a dozen jobs on various job sites. It gets more irritating when you have consultants from other cities calling you and asking you if you want to relocate to Mumbai! Don't these people ever check the resume before they call? And if that was not enough, you get mails from the HR of your own company.
( text )
- Music:Kawa Kawa - OST Monsoon Wedding
crabbycool pointed out and I didn't expect most of you to answer them as they would certainly lose the charm if they were so frequent. I generally remember questions that are worthy of listing as Friday Five just as I am about to sleep, but since getting out of the bed and making a note of the questions requires the effort of searching for a pen and a piece of paper I drop the idea. The next morning, I do not really remember what the questions were.
This one
rileen is for you, since you asked for it :P The Questions
1. If you were to have a child, have you already decided on its name?
2. Name a book that you loved to read as a child? Would you still read it now?
3. I met the author Gregory David Roberts! Which of your favourite author would you like to meet? (Yes, I am going to be gloating about the fact that I met him!)
4. What is it that you want to do right now?
5. Which brand do you swear by and why? Give us the url so that we can browse too!
( My answers, as usual )
While we were there, I managed to catch glimpse of the places I have been wanting to go...Leopold Cafe, Piccadilly's, Cafe Mondegar. I first read about Leopold cafe in the book Shantaram, and immediately I knew that it was a place that I wanted to visit. I pictured it to be a place that overlooked the Gateway Of India, and chairs in the open, where people relaxed while sipping their mug of chilled beer. I was heart broken when I saw the place. It could easily be missed and had it not been for bright yellow colured logo Leopold stiched on every waiter's shirt, I may have missed the place altogether. I made up my mind to visit the place on the weekend, as we were getting late for the client meet.
The weekend saw J and I, walking up and down Colaba Causeway and a lunch at Leopold. A chance encounter with the manager gave me the information that the author of Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts was visiting the place the next day. Torn between work and the encounter, I decided that it would not really harm scooting out of the office a couple of hours early, for I was not sure if I would ever get the chance to meet the author again.
And finally I did get to meet the guy. He is just awesome, I got about minutes to spend with him and we talked about the book and his future projects. I am in total awe of that guy. And I got my copy of the book signed by him and asked him if I could take a pic with him. Here is the pic. My week was made.
And in other news, I screwed up two potential offers that were thrown at me. The job entailed reloacting ti Bangalore. Well, the job was not what I wanted, but nevertheless I could have used it as a stop gap offer till I got the job that I was looking at. Such is life.
- Mood:
sick
When I was young, I remember my mom carefully picking out the right quantity of spices, roasting it with a bit of oil in a pan, checking if the heat was appropriate, cooling the spices and grinding them to a smooth paste that would be the base of the curry. I would sit next to mom and sometimes help her pour a bit of water into the paste that she was grinding. Mind you, that used to be a laborious task (not the pouring water, but the grinding) as close to 25 - 30 years ago, owning a mixer was a luxury. Once the paste was done, my mom would start with cooking the meal. I used to be in the kitchen as I would love the smell of her cooking and the curries. She would saute the onions till they were the right colour, add the ginger garlic paste, cook a bit more, add the tomatoes, the masalas, toss in the meat and cook it till they left the juices add the masala and put the lid of the pressure cooker. During the entire process the delicate smell of the spices would linger in the kitchen and I would love the smell of it. I used to wait eagerly till the customary 4 - 5 whistles blew and till mom would turn off the stove. It was an indication that the curry was ready. Just the curry with hot chappatis or rice would be a fantastic meal.
I loved to be close to mom when she used to cook, the smell of the spices sometimes clung to her saree and I would hold the pallu and sniff at it. My mom says that as a kid I used to throw a tantrum if the food was not cooked the right way.
( Memories and more on food...its a long long post )
- Location:Home
- Mood: happy
- Music:Beedi - Omkara
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