finally...

cant believe i recovered my account finally... so this is my post after a loooong time.. almost like from after-life... PS- i guess the new age of facebooks and the twitters have restricted my blog post/messages to short status messages with limited character space.. hopefully the bakwaas starts flowing soon :)

Life in Mumbai

Everyday on my way to the office, i encounter people from different facets of life.the pavement breakfast vendor who gives a short story on how each of his item is prepared hygienically( all the while scratching his legs, hands, some not mentionable), the middle aged lady at the bus stop who constantly carries out a mild banter about everything under the sun with her bus mate, the school kids who are having a chat about the latest cartoon being aired, so on and so forth... one common thread which connects all of them is their zest for enjoying yet another day.no matter how troubles or difficulties create hurdles, they all want to continue with their habitual routine with the same energy, same curiosity...people in mumbai are known for their speed or what i call madness...be it in the morning or midnight, people are always running for their life...their walking speed,the determined look in their faces makes me marvel on how on earth do they have soo much of energy..without doing anything worthwhile in life, i am left so tired at the end of the day...the good thing is after seeing them, a ray of energy seers through me, helping me take handle the hardships, keeping a smile on my face..

the life of a woman

the life of a woman is in a way entwined with that of a man. how much ever the feminist in me tries to defy this statement, deep down, she knows it is the truth. take our birth for instance..even though, it is the woman who gives birth, almost all the daughters are mesmerized with their fathers.till teenage, it is the father who catches the fantasy of the young girl. dropping off at school, helping her get ready in the morning, solving mathematical problems and of course, the occasional treats, the father is there in all...
younger brother....need to take care of him.... bring him up in a good way( hoping that he doesnt get misled by your behavior). being the guardian when he is getting ragged or just being his mentor whenever he is in distress.. a different role yet again..
first crush... first love...and the likes...if the guy is happy, you are jubilant.if he is sad, you are depressed. somehow the outcomes in his life has a greater impact on the girl's life.
marriage...this one according to me looks the most crucial in making or breaking a girl's life..,. out of the blue, you have to adjust to another set of relatives...their whims and fancies...caught between toeing the line and making everybody happy, the girl realizes that she is lost. amidst all the hue and cry created about the union, congruence and the likes, neither does she have her father to protect her nor does she have a brother's shoulder to lean on...her own friends at different stages in life cycle can no longer relate to the new problems faced by her... the husband himself is a new character..too early to trust and pour out your misgivings to...the mother suddenly starts treating her daughter as a grown up girl...faced with all these expectations from different quarters, she feels isolated, alone...

the inevitable

funny are the ways how the news of global economies, recession or down fall has a proportional effect in your personal life. with every rs depreciating, the amount of screaming which i get increases as i could have chosen to study abroad and not do charity in India...whenever rupee appreciates, i get to use my honed skills by using all the jargon so that i successfully shut the opponent's mouth...this has become a periodic cycle nowadays with the weak global policies.in the midst of this confusion, rises personal confusion and introspection cycle to make sure or convince urself tat watever u did was for the good of urself.Adding to this multi-ingredient soup, is the half baked opinions of my closest half baked friends( those who have managed to stick to me after innumerous incidents, etc ). And of course, how can i forget my own over time working brain? sometimes i just wish i can unplug my brain for sometime.

Cutting chai :)

One of the best and cheap ways to fill your stomach in Mumbai is having vada pav and a cup of cutting chai :)...this definitely fills up your stomach and doesnt empty ur wallet...i just love the taste of chai in the glasses...i know those are dirty...i know they probably contain more bacteria, virus than anything else...probably the unique taste comes from these...whats the point of safe guarding your body against all these bacteria anyways?

the top view

today i was sitting in the church gate station for close to an hour...so many people running on those 4 platforms...so many trains dishing out another truckload of people onto the platform...people getting a hurried snack in the various kiosks outlining the station...i just dint feel like i was part of the same crowd...i feel life would be far simpler if i just had a top view of life rather than take part in it...one minute you feel you know the destination...the very next minute you feel you have boarded the wrong local in the wrong line...people talk about how the destination remains the same but the path which you take differs with situation...what if the path remains the same but the destination keeps changing...the essential problem of every human being is that he thinks he is unique and different in comparison to the person next to him...so different set of problems which he perceives as more difficult and grit enduring than the others...different strategy...different levels of mood swings...at the end, when your life is beyond your control and it is going to end, do you realize that we are all the same...we are all trying to leave our mark in this life, some achieving it some not so...

absolutely nothing to do

its during this time that my mind absolutely stops working...i am sitting at home waiting for my joining date and enjoying every bit of it...what do i like the most?? the very fact that i can watch the television without feeling guilty about wasting time or feeling that there is something else to do...hostel life leaves you wishing for some other furniture to sit on other than your bed...so i find my sofa a welcome relief....this relief has become my second bed as i practically live on it with all my necessities at an arm's distance away from me...yeah, you get it..i have become a couch potato...simply amazing....read novels, eat every goddamn stuff which is in kitchen, try out recipes when you are in the mood, and well...sleep blissfully...i probably enjoy this time more for the very fact that i feel i will never get this time back...coming online to check mails by itself sounds like a job to me nowadays....i hardly feel like coming online, chat endlessly with my far flung friends because coming online and whiling away the time reminds me so much of my b school days and that gets me quickly into a depression...well, not quite a depression...close to it....so here i am...in a new world which just cant get more idealistic :D

serendipity

foggy days, cold winters..the view from the balcony seconded that...i see him across the table..a twinkle in his eyes,the upturned corner of his lip...i have been ranting about my roommate for the last half hour over a cup of coffee and a muffin..at the end of it when i managed to get a glimpse of his face, i knew he had not been listening to a syllable of it...my breath got caught half way,looking at those eyes offering a promise of something delightful, something i have been waiting for a long time, that something...sigh! all conversation and the grumbling vanished out of my mind and it became as blank as a sheet of paper...blank it was, waiting to be splashed with splendid colors in all possible shapes and designs..trepidation mixed with excitement,confluence of shyness and raunchy emotions, confused yet having a clear vision of what looked like the inevitable outcome, i sat mesmerized by the smile...my wicked brain started coming up with different conceptualizations...those eyes sensed what was going on in my brain and assured me just that...or probably more than that...hypnotized and unable to process or make any move, i nervously licked my lips awaiting the lead...a spark of desire intermingled with love i saw getting reflected in his eyes...he stood up suddenly...confused as always, with raised eyebrows conveying what i wanted to, i stood up too...he extended his hand waiting for me to take up the challenge...not to be the type to get intimidated ,i accepted it...hand in hand, we went inside...

The ugly truth

This is one of the movies which i keep returning to whenever i need a good laugh.Humor, romance, sexy actor..its got it all..i never have the habit of watching the entire movie the second time(without fast forwarding)barring KKHH.The funny thing is that this is the first english movie which i have seen roughly 5 times ..by 5 times, i mean watching the entire movie right through the bloopers...amazing chemistry between the lead pair.the dialogs are damn funny and the wicked look on Gerrard's face is worth a million...altogether, a nice movie with 2 good soundtracks...i love it :)
Fav lines
1. i like woman on top *wink
2. you will never know (LOL)
3. god too many to mention here!
ps: this is not a movie review. i saw it recently. so i thought i should share my thoughts on this flick...

blissful actions

1. walking barefoot on the grass which has overnight dew on it.
2. going out at 12 midnight for a Rs 5 ice cream
3. watching the sun rise in the beach,the sight of the waves crashing at the shore with a mild breeze playing with your hair
4. drinking a cup of hot chocolate on a chilling winter morning,looking out of the window at the encompassing white mist
5. riding a 220 cc pulsar on the ecr,complete with a leather jacket and the bowel shaking moment when you see the speedometer touch 100
6. waking up in a hill station,finding your cheeks to be so cold and face has never looked so fresh and energetic
7.waiting at the signal, the minute the signal turns green,rising the accelerator and rushing past others to lead the race.
8.waking up on a Monday morning realizing that its off today. truly blissful!

hypocritic corporate life

being new to the corporate world, i embarked on this journey with too many expectations and trepidation.when i saw the delhi office, i felt this is probably what i wanted to do, correction - this is all i wanted to do. after a short stay there, i landed up in Chennai, the ever traditional market. first day reporting in chennai office was beyond the levels of embarrassment. business formals strictly means trousers and a formal shirt. this is not to be interpreted as a loose( read ultra loose)ensemble in the form of salwar kameez. well, i provided enough entertainment to the sales people present here. they were practically amused to see a girl doing an mba and a girl wearing formals. reporting time was 9 , atleast that was what was given to me at the corporate office. by 10'30 people trickled in. before even they settled down for the day's work, coffee was served making me wonder what did we accomplish in 10 minutes for a cup of coffee... the day passed uneventfully( atleast from my side).. the next day i decided to change a bit and ended up in a kurti pyjama.. not a bad response... i felt awkward as in Delhi, if you dint wear a lipgloss you will be looked down upon and in Chennai, if you did, you will witness everyone staring at you as if you are a movie star...other than the dress aspect, i cant see whats the fascination the higher up officials have towards the percentage terms.. why cant people say 2 out of 5 people dint want it.. does everything has to be like 40% of the people dint like it , aahh roughly 25%, depends on various factors, in short no clear answers...when you are bored, call a meeting.. thats the only way these people amuse themselves.. wait a minute, a meeting is meaningless without a ppt.. even if you just have one sentence to report, put it in a ppt with an introduction slide and a thank you slide.. make sure you use jargons like business model, strategies,product portfolio,revenue models,blah blah... the best part : after 4 weeks, this morning my manager asked me for the acceptance rate of the public for the new product, my answer : roughly 80% sir!.. bingo! off the hat percentage and the best part is they accept it.. had i told them in actual terms, i would have been looked down upon! my lifestyle has also changed... consuming 4 yeah 4 cups of coffee per day,my slides contain more percentage terms than the pictiures which i initially used to prefer.... whatta life! welcome to the corporate world!

yet another scribbling

when i opened the main blogger page, i realised how long it has been since i penned down my last post. more than blogging, now i feel i am losing my control over the language after starting my mba. whether am learning enough hindi or not, my english has gone for a toss. i finally realised that mentally i might be criticizing them for their poor english and reality is that i myself have become like them.. so this is an attempt to regain the lost grounds...

mba jargon

few mundane facts came and hit me on the face. reason- two months into a B-school...few taken for granted things have become luxury goods...

1. seeing my colgate active salt toothpaste sends the colgate-palmolive's positioning and targeting strategies flying in my mind.
2. i just happened to fiddle with my strawberry lip balm and the artistic U of HUL came in my sight. a wave of their lifebuoy campaign for the rural India touched my shore of thought.
3. wrhen i saw the latest aircel advertisement, for once i thougt beyond surya and jothika.. i noticed whom they are appealing to and what regional connotations are present in the two minute ad which ranges from paniyaram( a south indian delicacy) to the posh setting of the house. the context of jothika being a house wife with a gal kid was brought forward well to connect the real and reel life..
4. magazines have started having a new meaning to them.. they have extended their horizon, moving beyond the filmfares and the stardusts.. now they mean business india,pitch,forbes
5. the gossip column has given way to the bull-dozing of the economic times..
6. ACs, sofa,four poster beds have become luxury goods which has put me in a different socio-economic class altogether.
7. seeing the dawn has become an accepted fact. good news- i am able to contact my US cousins and friends a lot easier.. there is no time difference..
8. a visit to the super market makes me think about the supply chain difficulties and the farm procurement of the firm
9. a cream biscuit triggers a train of thoughts about the points of parity and points of difference of the particular brand and which segment are they focussing on
10. previously people used to call me jus observant and finicky about details, i redefine it as "brand awareness" and call myself an" intelligent customer" :P
    
11. 
    

back to school!!!

business school!! what is a fresher with no hands on experience about the big,bad wolf doing here? no clue...nice..yes...intellectual..hmmm,yes..so much that it sometimes goes above my head... i thought of changing my stream from engineering to management cause being an engineer dint seem to give me any authority to take decisions or implement my views..after attending few hr sessions, i feel its the same bakwaas.. interaction,networking,blah,blah(no offence).. what are we tryin to achieve from a manager? why are we trying to cast everyone in the same mould??be diplomatic,socialise,accept other's decision,open yur mind...so on...in the whole process, i jus feel we lose contact with what we are down at heart.. for some people like me,its fine.. i do talk to a lot of people but couple of my friends find it weird to introduce and strike up a conversation jus for the ehck of it.. the best comedy is the hr people emphasising on their subjects being the key to success and the marketnng guru cuming up with innovative abuses to insult them for doing nothing other than talking...i am not biased agianst that race.. i am again caught between them... when in maths class,seeing probability... i feel i am more of a talking person like hr...hee.. when caught in an hr session,when i see the prof bring up a fake laugh and pretend to be so amiable(mayb she actually is but i always get this feeling hrs r nt to be taken for face value),i feel i am more of this brainy female... yet to decide what i am...

romantic treat!

the last sunday was the best sunday i have had in the recent past...it was a typical lazy day..enough food at disposal and a very comfortable sofa to lounge in and three movies back to back on the tv.. ddlj(dilwale dulhaniya le jayenge),kkhh(kuch kuch hota hai) and knph(kaho na pyaar hai)... they made my day.. nothing to beat shah rukh and his chemistry with kajol.. man, they rock!!

atidevin

she read so many novels that she ended up losing her mind. she had people call her ayvin(her real name was atidevin):she thought she was a princess(she was a peasant's daughter),she imagined herself to be yound and beautiful(she was forty years old).finally she invented a lover herself to whom she gave the name don quixote .she said don quixote had departed for far away kingdoms in search of adventures and danger,both to perform worthy deeds and to be able, on his return, to marry a damsel of her noble character.she spent all the time peering out of the window waiting for the return of the nonexistent knight.ayrus, a poor devil who loved her,struck on the diea of passing himself as don quixote.he put on an old suit of armour,mounted his horse and set forth to repeat the deeds which ayvin attributed to her lover.when sure of success of his strategy, he returned back to the town;ayvin had died

crazy life

final year project!!! these words might send a chill acroos many a spine but it seems to have absolutely no effect on this angelic devil! damn arrogant statement, i know! i have finally understood how a s/w employee goes about his work- clocking in nine and half hrs of work everyday,morning and evening one mug of tea,browsing through all the websites which dnt get blocked,realising that he has few tasks to be completed at 4 in the evening and staying at office till 9 (psst: we being gals.. dunno abt the guys though) .well, these are all few excerpts from my life in visteon... and i hope the list continues in the next post ;)

jaane tu - picture perfect

with great difficulty i got the tickets which compelled me in bunking college and catching the matinee show... i felt the movie was running in the same track as kkhh but shifted mid way and got inspired by our own kushi and finally the eneding was flicked from chalte chalte or sachin as they both involved airport scenes... on an optimist note, the movie is worth the money and the songs are awesome.. the picturisation of the first song is good.. genelia has finally cut down on her over pereformance and she is just fine in this movie.. the guy looks like aamir or is made to look like him for popularity is still in ambiguity.. but watever mayb the reason, he looks cute and hope he doesnt turn out to be a one film wonder..certain scenes are a bit obvious and jus as u try to stifle a yawn, it turns out to be good... one serious flaw according to me is that there is no reason why a horse should have a coverage for five whole minutes...arbaaz and sohail( i think.. nt sure which one of the sallu bhais) provided slap stick humour kind and the crown ultimately goes to nazurideen shah .. he manages to steal the show with fifteen minutes max of on screen time.. hats off!!! overall, its a paisa vasool movie.. gals can definitely go for imraan and guys( if u like genelia)....

heyya!!

exams have started and they r seriously drivin me crazy.. all i do nowadays is dusting the books and seeing the syllabus.. if i studied for half the amount of time which i spend in judging the massive syllabus, i wud have finished all five units... anna univ structure sucks big time!! and all the lecturers are such hypocrites that they ask us to read from foreign firangee authors and they actually teach from local authors.. my computer architecture maam even went to the extent of tellin us" amma, all this is not their in your hamachar so take down the notes" and those bloody flow charts were in namma charulatha publication... the very sight of k d prasad gives me undisturbed sleep for min. 5 hours... gawd!!! how will i ever manage??? hail charulatha publication and technical bakshi!!!

dont hit me!!

after a short holiday for three months, i am glad to announce that i have resumed blogging once again .... i realised that its time to resume my once upon a time fav' pass time .. right now, i feel my life is infested with records of all kind that i get dreams about A4 sheets and spiral bound records!! my sem exams are round the corner and i havent yet bought half the books.. after seeing the farewell party of the current fourth years, i am yet again caught in the deja vu of being a third year.. i dont wanna go to fourth year!!! it jus seems like yesterday when i joined this college and burst out into tears.. yeah, the same august 24,2005!!to think, three years have passed by in the blink of an eyelid. god!! i miss those first year days!! life is really funny or is it jus me? i am forever in the want of something higher in life at the cost of my age. i am at a loss for words right now... it feels like this is my first post... wanting to write loads but not being able to pen down the thoughtts effectively... and i would like to dedicate this blog to muthu for insulting me enough to make me come here and put up another post. hurray!!!