Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Uncivilized ......UGH!



Written about 2 months back...I just missed out publishing it! :-s

I've come to accept the fact that Bangalore has a LOOOONNNGG way to go in terms of CIVIC SENSE! I used to think there were SOME sane people out here....but I've been forced to do some rethinking!
What made me think so......Read the incident:

This happened a few days back; one evening on my way back home from work.
I ride back home every evening; and trust me..it's painful. Especially during summer, its awful! There are a zillion vehicles on the road and I always have the gifted spot of getting stuck right behind a huge bus at every d@mn signal. So with all that smoke and dust hovering all over my face, I raced through the crazy roads of B'lore!
At one of the junctions, I had to wait for about a minute before the signal turned green! Once it did; there was not just one but two morons; one in a Swaraj Mazda Van and the other on a bike who overtook me without a clear signal. Well, this is something which happens all the time.
Anyways;...the fun starts here! ...
There's a median in the center of the road. The driver of the Mazda zoomed towards it by manoeuvering the vehicle to the right while the guy on the bike had no option but to speed up and try and overtake the van. However, the highly intelligent driver of the Mazda accelerated further and once he got close to the median; SPAT an entire sack full of PAAN (supari...UGHHH!) ....little did he know that in less than a second all that $hit would be on the biker's face!!! YUCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKkk.....
And the blessed person that I am (GOSH!), I got to witness the entire series of events which lasted for less than a minute....EEks!!!
Probably the yuckiest minute of my life!!

The question here is not about WHY people out here SPIT while driving....(Well, in India people use the roads for anything...and I mean ANYTHING!!) Its more about why the HELL don't they look at the godd@mn rear-view mirror before spitting!! That's the LEAST they can do!!

Even this morning on my way to work, another guy in a Santro performs his early morning ritual by spitting on the road. I mean, I'm talking about EDUCATED, supposedly well-bred people, with classy jobs and hefty salaries....However, in terms of Civic Sense they have no idea about how irresponsible they are! ...ZILCH!

I guess, its about time that the leading fashion designers in the country came up with this ultra-trendy SPIT-PROOF outfit - that you can wear for all seasons! And yes, ..definately at a reasonable price! :-p...

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Board Games

I mentioned about board games in my previous post; so thought I should share my favorite board games till date:

1) Monopoly (the best ever!!)
2) Cluedo (amazing and exciting!)
3) Pictionary (Simply love this when I travel! Its fun to play this with a big group)
4) Carroms (hate it when I lose :-p )
5) Life (Time pass, monopoly is nicer!)
6) Scotland Yard (Fun to be the thief!)
7) Ludo :-) (when i'm really bored!)
8) Snakes and ladders
9) Chess (Only when the person I play with isn't as good as I am :-p...Unfortunately that's never the case)

Oh and this is for all the Tamil folks....I was amazed when I went to this Toy shop last week and actually saw Pallanguli in the entire stack of board games...Reminded me of the days when I just got introduced to the game. Used to play it with my paati (grandmom)...and loved it!! What's impressing is the very idea of the game and the fact that we used to play it with shells!! :-)
So it's out there in the market...go get one for yourself!! :-)

Happy GAMING!! :-)

Monotony.... (SIGH!)

What does it take to break the monotony of your daily routine?

...I have no idea??!!...I feel like I'm 60 without having the thought of what to do next :-s

Man, thoughts like this at my age is not such a great sign, is it? :-s
For the whole of last week (actually almost 3 weeks - I feel guilty for saying that) I've been trying to do something productive (Well, that's what I'm paid for you see). But somehow just haven't managed to get my mind tuned to WORK efficiently.
Just a few weeks back, I was so involved with work that I used to be glued to my monitor for hours together. I used to avoid going for tea breaks too; and now I keep looking at my watch every 15 min. I come every morning to work, and start talking about lunch :-s....Yeah, what a depressing life!! SIGH!

I've been playing a lot of Sudoku and also solving a lot of web puzzles...
For some reason, my colleagues and I were talking about the different kinds of board games we've played...And eversince I've been reading about them on wikipedia... :-s
Infact I'm thinking if I should bring some of them to work...to break the monotony!! But, not sure if I'll be the only one playing it eventually...SOB!!

I think I would have logged in to Facebook, linkedin, gmail about 10 times during the day....realise that its about time I started work, then decide to push it by another 10 min....and by the time I realise its 5pm and I'm done for the day! :-p ...

Right now...I'm listening to Rehna Tu - Delhi 6 and looking at some lovely pics on Facebook...
That reminds me ...isn't it time for my evening Chaii...
Got to run!! :-)
Ciao!

Monday, April 6, 2009

Back....after a long break!

I'm back.........after a long break....not exactly a well-deserved break, ..but a period of stress, long hours at work, sleepless nights, worries, tensions....blah, blah, blah...
And these rough yet exciting days will be back soon....even before I could realise it.. SIGH!!
So thought I'd make the most of my time (at work) by getting back to what I used to enjoy doing most...BLOGGING! This is how I reward myself for all those SINCERE hours of productive work that I've put in (Ok, I know I have a depressing life...DUH!)

Hmmm....now when you tend to break from the routine WRITING cycle (in my case that works both on the personal and professional front), there's always a tough task ahead of you - and that is to think of WHAT to write! :-)

I'm going to sum up all the events of the last few weeks....
(in no particular order)

1) Hmmm....Ahhhh...the OSCARS...!! I remember watching the event LIVE on TV...and it was time for me to head off to work...With much of disgust, I decided to leave...Arghh!!
Soon as I got to work, I got an SMS from my mom saying "Rahman won the Oscar for best musical score" ...
I felt on top of the world!! I was so happy and thrilled that he won it!! All that hard work had finally paid off!!
(However, I feel if Slumdog could fetch him an Oscar, what about the rest of the movies for which he's directed? ....I'll put down my thoughts on this in another post!)

2) My house renovation - I have stopped thinking about it...Things out here are way too hard to plan and I have no idea when I'm going shift. This is has taken the life out of me and my family. Our weekends have been highly exciting - Cemented walls, saw dust, paint-shopping, bathroom-accessories-shopping, lights, curtains, ...oh and a hell a lot of yelling at everyone who decides to do the work! Only if they DID, it would have saved us a lot of energy!!

3) Recession - This has been a tough month! Things have changed a lot at home and at work. And its getting awfully tough to accept the reality.....
I hate everything about the recession - there is just too much of change in every single thing that you do - and life isnt all that hunky-dory as it used to be!

4) Life at work - Hmmm....been tough for the last 2 months! Got to witness and experience a whole lot of things...but certainly worth the effort! Completed my first official release ...YAY!! ... but this was with a lot of compromise...fewer hrs spent with family, keeping in touch with friends was almost forgotten, stress levels were much higher, mood swings, late hrs at work and having to ride back home late (This place isnt all that safe!) ....anyways...!! I guess I'll be back to a similar routine in a few weeks...Sheesh!

5) A friend of mine got engaged! -- YAYYY...!!! Can't wait for her wedding!! :-)
A friend of mine is going to have a baby - YAYYYY again!! I think its a girl!! :-)

6) My trip to Kushalnagar - It was the best trip till date!! The most relaxing and fun-filled weekend in a long time! I had a great time!
Hogged like a pig, put on a few extra kilos (I don't feel bad about it!), went swimming (got tanned big time!...that's bothering me a bit!), played badminton, cricket, pampered the doggies there, played cards, carrom, chess, ...oh gosh! I did a whole lot of stuff!! It was amazing!! Next destination - thinking about OOty!! :-)

7) My summer cut - Got a hair cut....and really short...Its not that I look my age...but this certainly got me looking like a kid all over again....well, its to beat the heat!! ;-)

8) Talking about the heat - Oh man! What on earth is up with the weather? Its soaring out here...I hate it! And I hate riding to work in this heat! YUCK!!
Oh GOD, I can't wait to feel the rains! I don't even remember what its like when it RAINS!! Wahhhhhh!!! :-(

9) Shopping - I remember I had some gift coupons which I had to use within a week before the validity could expire. I thought I'd buy myself something upto what the coupons amounted to (considering the recession..blah blah)...and yes, I did..but slightly went overboard...I landed up shelling out an additional 4000 bucks! ...Well, you can say it was the stress and the fact that I hadnt shopped in a long time that I landed up doing this! DUH!

10) Miss my fiance way too much these days! Its killing! Nothing I could about it...SIGH!! :-(

11) Hmmm....banged my head on a garden seat while trying to rest my head...and eversince I've been having these awful headaches....OH GOD!! What's next???

There are a whole lot of other things that I want to write down...but beginning to feel hungry! I need to grab a quick bite...which would mean I need to leave work NOW - which would take me 45min - 1 hr to reach home....getting awfully sick in the traffic....Hmmphh!!
Signing off, Ciao!

Monday, February 16, 2009

Sardar's back!! Oye Paajii...



A Sardar and an American are seated next to each other on a flight from Los Angeles to New York. The American asks if he would like to play a fun-game.

The Sardar, tired, just wants to take a nap, so he politely declines and rolls over to the window to catch a few winks.

The American persists and explains that the game is easy and a lot of fun.

He says, “I ask you a question, and if you don’t know the answer, you pay me $5, and vice versa.”

Again, the Sardar declines and tries to get some sleep.

The American, now worked up, says, “Okay, if you don’t know the answer, you pay me $5, and if I don’t know the answer, I’ll pay you $500.”

This gets the sardar’s attention and, figuring there will be no end to this! torment, agrees to the game.

The American asks the first question, “What’s the distance from the earth to the moon?”

The Sardar doesn’t say a word, reaches into his wallet, pulls out a $5 bill and hands it to the American.

“Okay,” says the American, “Your turn.”

So the Sardar asks, “What goes up a hill with three legs and comes down with four legs?”

The American thinks about it. No answer. Puzzled, he takes out his laptop computer and searches all his references. No answer!

He taps into the air-phone with his modem and searches the Internet and the Library of Congress. No answer.
Frustrated, he sends e-mails to all his friends and co-workers.

Checks the input. All to no avail!

Finally, a long time later, he wakes the Sardar and hands him $500.

The Sardar thanks him and turns back to get his sleep.

The American, more than a little miffed, stirs the Sardar and asks,
“Well,
what’s the answer?”

Without a word, the Sardar reaches into his purse, hands the American $5, and
goes back to sleep!

—————————————————————————————
Once, two Sardars were feeling bored and decided to play a few games of chess to pass the time.
They were doing this for some time, when two more sardar friends dropped by. Seeing them play chess, they said - “Come on guys, we are feeling bored too. Let us play doubles!”

—————————————————————————————
Once a Sardarji went to the city of Mumbai for the first time to meet his father. His father had asked him to keep walking in the direction of the sunrise until he eventually reached hishouse. Since, the Sardarji was new to the city he decided to ask a passerby the direction in which the sun rose in Mumbai - east, west, north or south?The passerby who was also a Sardarji thought for some time and then said, “Main bhi is sheher mein naya aaya hoon!” ( I am also new in this city!)
—————————————————————————————
Our Sardar bhai is at the railway station. He asks a man “When will Rajdhani Express go from here”? Man Replies 12.30. “When will Punjab Express go from here”?Man Replies 10.30. “When will Deccan Queen go from here”? Man Replies 12.30. Thus the sardar goes on asking the schedule for all trains. Now the man gets fed up and asks whether he wants to go to Punjab by train or not.Sardar replies, “NO. I only want to cross the tracks!”
—————————————————————————————
Sardarji bought a brand new Maruti and decided to drive down from Amritsar, where he lived, to Jalandar to meet his friend. He reached there in a few hours. After spending a few days there, he decided to return, and called up his mother to expect him in the evening. But he didn’t reach in the evening and not the next day either. When he finally reached home on the third day, his distraught mother ran and asked him ” Arre Puttar, ki hoya?” (What Happened, My Son?)

The Sardarji got out, obviously very tired from a long journey, and said, “Oy, ye Marutti wale pagal hain, agge jaane waaste chaar gear banaate hain, aur pichche jaane waaste sirf ik?” (These Maruti Car people are crazy! They have four gears for going forward, but only one for going back!)
—————————————————————————————
One day a Sardar happened to see a marathon race.
"What the guys are doing?" asked the sardar.
"We are running a marathon. The winner will get a prize” replied one of the runners.
"Only the winner will get prize? Then why others are participating!!" , exclaimed the Sardar
—————————————————————————————
2 sardars were fixing a bomb in a car.
Sardar 1 : What would you do if the bomb explodes while fixing.
sardar 2 : Dont worry, I have one more.
—————————————————————————————
Sardar enters the kitchen and opens the sugarbox. He looks inside and closes it.Wife observes the whole episode.He again comes and does the same stuff. His wife then asks him "Why are you doing this?"
Sardar replies "Doctor told to check sugar level regularly".
—————————————————————————————
Two Sardars walk into a bar, and each of them order a drink. They go and sit down and start toasting and cheering, “51 days! 51 Days!!”
About five minutes later, another Sardar walks in; orders a drink, and joins the other two in the cheering.
Finally, another Sardar walks in with what looks like a picture. He puts the picture in the middle of the table, and starts cheering with the others, “51 days!51 days!!
The Bartender starts to get really curious, so he walks over to discover that the picture is a Puzzle.
He walks over to one of the Sardar and asks, “What on earth are you doing??"
"Well” the Sardar says, “Everyone thinks Sardars are so stupid, so we proved them wrong. On the box of this puzzle, it says 2-4 years, but we finished it in only 51 days!!!
—————————————————————————————
The doctor told a Sardarji that if he ran 8 kilometers a day for 300 days, he would lose 34 kilos. At the end of 300 days, the Sardarji called the doctor to report he had lost the weight,but he had a problem.”What’s the problem?” asked the doctor."I’m 2400 kms from home", replied the Sardar.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

An eventful day for TENNIS...



Sunday, 1st February 2009

An amazing day for TENNIS; but certainly a depressing day for all FedEx fans.
Just when we thought Roger missed the Wimbledon title by such a negligible margin(considering the manner in which he fought his way back, being 2 sets down), little did we know we were going to witness a similar result in the Australian Open.

And to add to the distressing result, all his fans had to witness something even more painful. Watch him CRY! :-( SOB!
"He cried and it was hard not to cry with him. The sight of Roger Federer’s lower lip trembling would have been enough to start most soft-hearted observers off, but by the time his tears started flowing, a far proportion of the 15,000 at Rod Laver Arena and the millions watching around the world were probably reaching for the tissues too. If that had not done the trick, then the sight of Rafael Nadal, his conqueror, putting his arm around him in friendly consolation, would have set off a worldwide outbreak of sniffles."

Australia being a nation which values mateship to such a great extent would not have got to witness an embodiment of true sportsmanship with a champion comforting another.

Roger was going great in the initial sets but faultered drastically towards the last set. Rafael blazed through the game like a lightening streak. He undoubtedly displayed a scene-stealing performance; broke Roger's serve on plenty occasions; made fewer unforced errors; the guy was simply at his BEST!

And then came the end to yet another final of the two most incredible tennis stars the sport has ever produced! Tough time for all Roger fans (including me) and it just got worse during the presentation ceremony. Being the runner-up he was called to the dais first. With all the adulation and applause from the audience, he exclaimed in absolute grief “God, it’s killing me" ; and the sobs took over! :-(

Fans all over the Rod Laver Arena were shocked; shocked to see their champion display a public outburst of emotion for the first time. And it was painful to see him struggle for words.
And then as Rafael was called to give his speech, the true sportsman that he is, he went up to Roger and reassured him with a hug.
Rog, sorry for today,” said Rafael, turning to his friend with genuine compassion in his voice. “I really know how you feel right now. Remember that you are a great champion and you are one of the best in history and you will beat Pete Sampras’ 14 titles for sure.”

Roger mustered a weak smile and nodded his appreciation, but the pain was still there on his face. It wasn’t long before the tears began to roll again.

Certainly one of the most eventful grand slams I've ever seen; and it really reflected on how passionate a champion is of his game!

Cheers to the champion(S) and to TENNIS!