Saturday, September 30, 2006

"types" of friends

Well today I am calling my "married" friends (triple Rs) for dinner. It is a bit more effort than calling normal friends because they can differentiate between good food and bad food (incidentally all my food cooked today is not that good - did too much experimentation:().
Well here is my type-list of friends:
- "Married" friends - they always come in even number unless they have kids. Generally come on time and leave on time. Basic requirements is that you need to get along well with both husband and wife and the kid should not hate you. Their availabilty is highest on Sat nights. If you visit them remember to take a bottle of wine and if they visit you remember to cook at least 3 course meal. Yes and please clean your apartment.
- "Rich" friends - These are the friends who have million dollar mansions overlooking golf course and lake. They are more or less normal people except that be prepared to be awed by their richness. If you go out to eat with them then be prepared to shell out at least 30-40 bucks. They never come to your place.
- "Hep" friends - These are the cool dudes and hot chicks. You have to wear your best - clothes and attitudes - to hang out with them. You should be able to talk about latest fad and best perfumes. You never cook indian food for them - olny exotic stuff. And yeah be prepared to have one wine bottle in your house if you are calling them over.
- "Office" friends - They are the friends whom you meet in the hallway, kitchen or cafeteria. They are your friends as long as you are in the office. They are mostly not in your group but understand what you are working on. They are not married (if they are then they enter the category of married friends). As a thumb rule I do not call these people to my apartment - no specific reason. As another thumb rule - I always tell them "I will call you to my apartment sometime". Incidentally they are the most dependendable group if you want to go out for dinner on a weekday night. They can help you with your RAS certificate renewal or guide you about debugging certain things at your work.
- "long distance" friends - These are the friends in US - you call (phone call) them on and off on weekends. You promise them that you will visit them in the next major holidays and they promise you vice versa :). They are the ones whom you know for long - long before you came to US. And yes you discuss your life's issues with them.
- "India" friends - Friends in India - twice in year phone calls - on respective b'days that is. And if no phone calls then twice in year mails. You be in touch through emails and orkut. The email activity pattern is essentially bursty. You don't mail for long then one of you mails saying that you are too busy in life and then you catch up on everything and then again there is a lull. They were your best friends at some point in your life and you are sure that once you get back to India you can catch up and resume being the best of friends sharing every significant and insignificant things.
- catch "..." friends/core friends - These are your core group of friends. They can come to your apartment without notice and vice versa. You need not clean your apartment for them. They will agree to eat plain dal and rice with papad. Most dependable category if you want to eat at home on a weekday/weekend. These are 2 am friends. You call them when you have an accident or when your doctor is sucking blood out of you. They are not married(else they will be part of married friends). They will drop/pick you up from airport. And yeah they are the ones you reserve your friday nights for ...

Bass bahut ho gaya.

Friday nights ...

They never had a special meaning to me - I have worked before but friday night was no different than any weekday night. In iitk, Friday night monday night sunday night - wat's the difference - we were in lab all the time.
It's only in seattle that friday night has started having a very special meaning to me. Some thumb rules of friday night:
- At 8 pm we have no idea what we are gonna do that night
- We eventually eat out (people count not less than 8)
- We watch a movie that more than half of us (to be conservative) have seen and are highly recommending (people count no less than 10) (unless of course on very rare occasions we goto theatre too).
- We never start the movie before 12 am.

I had lunch outside with few office folks (a full-blown buffet) but decided to succumb to have dinner at Indo-chinese place here and well I don't regret it at all inspite of the long wait and noisy surrounding.
And today we watched "Andaaz apna apna" something which we all had seen - some of us has seen it 10 days ago. I remember watching this movie few months ago in downtown at A's place and today A himself insisted that we watch that movie again.
And though during the movie I, G3, Skyler had our share of naps (skyler even snored) we all woke up for the climax. And well eventually I realize that it is not the food, nor the movie that defines the friday night entertainment. The fact that we all are together and having fun in company of people where we can be whomever we are, say things before thinking, command our whims, laugh at our own silly jokes, just lie on the couch with the legs on the table, be part of the conversation without saying any word, or sabotage the conversation with just our point of view, poke fun at a person without any guilt nor fear, or have their attention and concern when we have a scratch in our car - defines our friday night entertainment ...

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

scene 2

Don't even want to talk about scene 1

Nurse:"Wow that is lot of blood to take out. Do you pass out generally when you give blood?"
Voice in the head: "Let's find out"
Nurse:Let's try your left hand
Pokes one needle -"oops nothing coming out - let me poke it again" - pokes again - "hmm still not working - you are dehydrated" - pokes again - still no blood comes out - "not your lucky day huh?"
Voice in the head : "Tell me about it"
Nurse : "Let's try your right hand"
Pokes.
Nurse : "wow - finally its coming out - but it is very slow -you are very dehydrated. how many glasses of water did you have today?"
I : "I just had orange juice."
Voice in the head : "with lots of pulp"
Nurse : " Oh you should drink lots of water - especially today when you come for lab test"
Voice in the head : "Sorry didn't see you in my dreams last night so didnt know we were meeting today"
After a long pause -
I : "How much blood are we taking?"
Nurse : "5 testtubes - she is asking a lot out of you."
Voice in the head :oh
Nurse : " Are you feeling like fainting."
Voice in the head :no
Nurse : "Are you feeling okay"
Voice in the head :well..
Nurse : "There we go we are on our last one"
Voice in the head :ok
Nurse : "Once you get home drink lots of water"
Voice in the head :ok
Nurse : " And not just for blood tests but also generally drink lots of water"
Voice in the head :ok
Nurse : "Lots of people have fainted when we take out so much blood - remember always drink lots and lots of water"
Voice in the head : "ok - shutup"

P.S- presentation got postponed by 2 weeks ...

Monday, September 25, 2006

home alone

Am on a self-imposed exile - wanted to prepare for my presentation (at least start preparing for it) and thought if I continue to party my crazy way I will never get down to it. And though I was alone in my apartment on Sat from only 5 pm I realized how difficult it has become for me to stay alone at house (when was the last weekend eve when I was alone at my place?). Next day too, though I went for lunch at d's (watched the football too - I think seahawks are good at passing but their running needs TO improve :P) then to trader joes (got sushi) and mayuri (got pooram puri - ever eaten such a combination) and then P was here for some chai - by night inspite of having some good work to do I got really bored of my own company (and I thought I was an interesting person). Nonetheless I continued to work ..the following lines never sounded more true ...

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"


I can't believe I took this task up - inspite of having such a big fear of public speaking - am only fearless at public blogging - that's why I am - a half baked cookie - (finally managed to use my blog title somewhere - will explain it in detail someday - gotto get back to the work my Will is forcing me to get back to.)

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Failure to bend the spoon

A community in orkut:
http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=8122855

"This is a community for all people who tried to bend a spoon with their minds like the little girl in Matrix but failed to do so. The failure is attributed to lack of being a girl(things bend easily for you when you are a girl),any expertise on the matter,lack of governement funding or the pure ill luck that drives your life."

I know the owner of this community since he was born - seems like the kid has grown up ...

Saturday, September 23, 2006

You know you really haven't figured out things in life when ....

- Every morning you struggle to find your car keys. And if it is not your car keys then it is your home keys and if it is not your home keys then it is your office batch.
- You know you have 6 pair of socks but you can spot only 1 because you are wearing them and there is no trace of rest of the pairs anywhere.
- Ditto for the glasses and cups in your house.
- You never find your scissors when you need it but you know you had seen it when you were looking for your car keys.
- Your tea strainer not just blocks the tea leaves but also the tea.
- You go to safeway and buy potatoes thinking that you don't have one and when you come back you see that you have a sack of it and it is onions that you wanted.
- Similar confusion between ginger and green chillies.
- Yet you never use green chillies in your food.
- Your frozen vegetable packets cross the expiry date before you even opened them.
- Ditto for altoids you have in your car...
- You look frantically for your sports shoes all over the house and then you find it in your car trunk.
- You have a presentation to give to entire group this wed and you still haven't figured out what to talk about.
- You decide to have a relaxed early friday one week so decide to cook at home and chill and end up calling 6 friends at your place, watching movie, going to downtown, getting drunk, dancing in the pub, shouting on the streets, raiding your friend's house and taking away all his fav paintings and books (taking advantage of the fact that he is drunk too)and coming back and sleeping at 4.
- You have to go to a house warming party (time 12 pm) and you think it is at night while it is a lunch invitation.
- And the party is now ...

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

email signatures

What's up with people having email signatures. I mean what's the point dude! You saw a movie or you read a book, probably surfed on the internet and you liked something you read - you are enlightened - congratulations. I couldn't be happier for you. Let's celebrate - let's read it aloud, let's make banners, let's stick it up on the bedroom ceiling and bathroom doors, let's call mamma .. and then let's stop at that. Don't make me read that crap everytime I have to read anything from you.
I have mails from people in my inbox and if I sum the signature sent and sum the useful content (- the term useful is debatable) the size of the signatures would simply supersede the size of the useful content(and let me reiterate the term useful is debatable).

Well I stand guilty here - I myself had a bunch of signatures myself. Now to remember some (may be I should rank them in the order in which they tortured people):
1) "Don't sit at the edge of your seat - get over it" - What if the recipient was my prof.?
2) "If I am doing what I am doing then what am I doing" - what is that - an optical illusion- this is the crappiest and most embarassing of of all - but this was before I was mentally born so I can excuse myself for it.
3) "I was born intellligent but then I got educated" - That explains why you are so dumb. Anyways you lost on both counts if you ask me.
4) "The alchemist inspired-
"What is the world's biggest lie - the boy asked completely surprised"
It is that at some point in our life we lose control of our life ....blah blah ... - that is the worlds's biggest lie" -
If you are making me read this big signature then I guess I have lost control over my life and I don't think that is the world's biggest lie.
5) "Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes - that way you will be a mile away from them and you will have their shoes" - aha that explains your big shoe collection.
6) "It is now proven that the moon is not demonstrably there unless you see it" - Duh? What? Who?
7) My current signature: " Don't let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - so girlie what are you upto ;)?

Monday, September 18, 2006

jeene ke ishare

One of my fav songs (thanks ND for sending me its link in youtube)

Video + audio - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM4jR36H3Wo
Only audio - http://www.dhingana.com/albums.php?value=MzA3
Only lyrics - http://www.hindilyrix.com/songs/get_song_Jeene%20Ke%20Ishare.html

Beautiful lyrics and good picturization. Do listen to it if you are at home and not working.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Wanderer

Are we all wandering in this world - moving along - understanding something, assuming something, questioning a lot of things? Are we all nomads?

I move from one end to another,
But do I see the ends ...
When did I start, when will it end
Am I the ghost of this body
Or just a body...

Its dark and narrow
But I also feel the light
Its neither the sun nor the moon,
It's color has white
Or the lack of it...

Busy people make the walls of my passage
Have they reached their destination?
Or are they yet to start?
Are they moving?

I am none of them,
Or just like one of them ?
I can hear them all the time,
But I cant listen to them,
And they are there everywhere,
I am glad I am not alone,
But am I on my own ?

I am walking,
I dont know when to stop
Right now, I cannot ...
I want to reach my destination
Have I already reached it ?

I continue to walk
Why don't I feel tired ?
I don't want to look back,
But I can't see too much ahead, I want to see,
My one step leads to another and then to another
Is my every step only for the next step ..
I am moving through this passage
Is this passage made with my movement ?
Are these people making way for me,
Or I am here to walk along their way?
Can I pierce these people ... make my new way?
Will I find a new passage ... or will I lose my only passage ?
I want to reach my destination,
Is my destination I ?


This poem was written a while ago (thanks JK for reminding me abt it - I had lost it somewhere and finally found it in one of my inbox.
...must admit MB's following hindi translation is much better!


Hindi Translation by Milind Bhangar :)

Phirta raha hoon ek sirey sey doosrey,
par kya dikhta hai mujhey ant(end),
Kab shuru kiya, kab khatam hoga!!!
kya mein jism ki rooh hoon,
ya ek jism,jiski bisat nahi....
Kuch andherey aur patley rastey,
Mahsoos karta hoon par roshni,
Na woh chand hai na sooraj,
jiska rang hai shwet...
ya phir, kuch nahi....
har koi banata hai ek deewar mere rastey..
kya mili hai unko apni manzil??
ya, abhi shuruat baki hai...
kya woh kooch kar chukey hai apni manzil ki taraf?
haan, shayad mein unmein sey hoon..
shayad nahi!!!

Sunta hi rahtey hain zamaney walon ko..
magar aawaz nahi padti hai kaanon mein
woh hain, woh wahin hai,
haan, mein akeyla nahi hoon..
magar mein apney mein nahi hoon..

mein chalta jaa raha hoon,
kyonki, mein rukna nahi janta,
kya mein apni manzil par pahunch gaya...
ya, thodi door aur ...
mein chalta chala jaa raha hoon,
shayad thakna meri fitrat nahi,
mein peechey nahi jana chata,
dikh nahi raha kuch bhi ab mujhey, jo dekhna chata hoon..
ek manzil doosri ki taraf ishara karti hai...
us rah par nikal pada hoon,jo shayad mere liye hai,
yam mein uskey liye,
kya mujhey inkey saath jana hai,
ya. ye mere saath chalengey...
maaloom nai!!!

Thursday, September 14, 2006

india getting tech savvy

proof - parents got internet at home and I got an email from them.

The mail had the subject:
"WE HAVE GOT THE INTERNET"

And the content:
"Please send all your confedential matter on this ID so that we can read and tell every one."

..and that's how I started my morning. Lotsa folks wonder how I honed my pj cracking skills . Guyz it's in the blood :)

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

things of the day

In chronological order:

Request of the day - Please do not call me at 6 am. And incase you do please do not call me back at 7.30 am
Early morning Dream/nightmare of the day - I am a king and my fort is attacked and I have to run and I am looking for something called "gupt darwaaza"
Luxury of the day - Snoozing til 8.20 am
Wish of the day - Someone make me my morning cuppa of chai (with lots of ginger please)
Experiment of the day - From a friend V - "Not believing in God gives me more confidence and control in life" - so not believing in God today. "You don't exist - Did you hear that?"
Quote of the day - "Girls are not sexy, clothes ar sexy" - Courtesy Saurabh
Aha moment of the day - "Oh so my clothes are not sexy that's why ..."
Absent mindedness of the day - Forgetting my meticulously packed lunch box at home
Pity of the day - I eating my lunch (of palak dal and rice with tomato pickle- yes I drove back home and got my lunch box) and the person next to me eating bland pasta with too much marinara sauce ..(poor guy :( )
Concern of the day - The new London Fog coat that I bought and am wearing today is too long :(
Charity of the day - Smiled and said hi to someone who did not respond to my email
Surprise of the day - Went for 15 min meeting - came back to see M interviewing someone in my room. I know he was envious of my single office but no interviews please.
Car of the day - G3's cute new car
Becar of the day - AG without a car for a while - chotu thand shuru hone waali hai
Timepass of the day - Writing this particular blog entry
Realization of the day - I think that I think too much.
Line of the day - The simple joys of life, of taking a moment to appreciate the beauty around us, of going beyond our inhibitions and experiencing the unknown, of looking into a stranger's eyes and not shirking away, of meeting familiar faces and connecting with their lives, of living life in that moment to its fullest, is what really makes the days of our lives truly memorable.- courtesy abhi's blog
Blog of the day - Ghar se door
Shayari of the day (taken from sumit's blog - did you delete it? - i liked the smiley at the end of it):
"Bahut khoobsurat hai har baat lekin,
Agar dil bhi hota to kya baat hoti :)"

Song of the day - "She will be loved" Maroon5
Lyrics: "Beauty queen of only 18 she is
had some trouble with herself
He was always there to help her
She always belonged to someone else..."

Hope of the day - I will go to gym after this.

Monday, September 11, 2006

how long has it been?

Summer is over and fall is round the corner - there is a certain chill in the air - so time to abandon daily walks (till old redmond road - and that is far 35th street to 75th street) and get back to my gymming routine. And whoa - it had been 3 months now almost since I had given up the gym (and wonder how many pounds this equates to).
Things that changed in last 3 months:
1) The carpets are new and shining with more intrinsic design - fairly royal (infact indian royal)
2) The gym clothes are tighter :( - time for a new set.
3) The women's workout room is wiped out! That was surprise for me.
4) Mary, Aram, paramesh were not around
5) The chattering russian(?) gang was not in the Jacuzzi.

Things that didnt change:
1) Meeting atleast one person and having a formal chat.
2) I getting tired and giving up after 30 mins :(
3) Reading People's and O magazine while working out and being updated with latest fashion and yeah gossips
4) Seeing lots of S's friends (me knowing them (as I saw the fotos) but they not knowing me)
5) Seeing the punjabi girl working out diligently but not losing any weight.

Current Song - I had to fall to lose it all,
But in the end it doesn't even matter
(linkin park)
Current State - Remembering as a kid my bro playing this song in infinite loop early morning and I yelling at him to turn it off.. well not a bad song :)

If ... (poem by rudyard kipling)

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream -- and not make dreams your master;
If you can think and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings -- nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run --

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Please vote

No not for microsoft women's committee leader (who else is getting spammed for this) but for this sketch. My ex-manager is planning a house warming and I am thinking of giving this gift to him


This sketch for him beause i see him as a warrior. . Should I give it to him or do you think he will hate it...Please vote - you have till thu eve for this...

(Click on the foto to enlarge it) I will improve the right hand of this guy - became too small due to shortage of space :P

Picture courtesy : dami
Current song - mein hun don - CD courtesy - dami
Curesnt state - sleepy

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

ocean shores












Long drive, bright sun, cold water, big waves ...
Trip to the pacific ocean shore

Saturday, September 02, 2006

bad hair cut

Well this post is dedicated to all the people who have had a bad haircut once in their life AND were affected by it (mentally).

I remember as a kid I always had what lots of people would call a - "boy" cut. My doting mother called it diana cut. She was very particular about the fact that I look prim and proper and took great efforts in making sure that my haircut is done at the best beauty parlour in town. Mind you I never went to any aunty beauty parlour opened by a neighbour who had done some "shehnaz hussain beuaty treatment course". Well also remember that once she was busy and my dad took me and left me at one of those aunty parlours and said he will pick me up after 1 hour(He would prefer to be caught dead rather than being caught at a beauty parlour). Well I remember coming out with a sad face and my dad noticing my hair to be really badly cut. That was probably the first and last time in his life when he entered the beauty parlour to fire her (which he could not - and only shyly remarked "kaise baal kaat diye meri beti ke" (how did you cut my daughter's hair)). And well the beauty parlour lady instantly said "sorry". And that was the end and after that I and my dad came out. I remember for lot of days my cousin making fun of that hairstyle as "sorry cut" and me with all the complexes of a 14 year old girl thought that it was the biggest calamity that could strike any individual.
The next time it happened to me was in "chic beauty parlour". It is the best one in Nagpur and I still go to it. But once out of love she told me that she will give me a hairstyle that urmila matondkar has in the movie "bhoot" (ghost). Well the result was a hairstyle that urmila had in the movie after she was possessed. Funnily enough two of my friends V and K liked it went to the same place and came back looking equally frightening.

Today I realize that half of the people in your life are so self-absorbed that they do not even care how your hair looks. However if I have a bad haircut even today (being a girl (ahem woman) and that too with a reasonable vanity) I think I will just tell my manager that I will work from home till my hair grows back. Seems like the complexes haven't gone as yet!

Current song- app jaisa koi zindagi mein aaye
to baat ban jaye ;)
Current state- exhausted after a long day trip to ocean shores
Special mention - AG who came in the road trip and had a bad hair cut