Dumb !

Ah, the innocence of it all !

My trysts with the upcoming generation is quite well known on this blog. So here's one more in the series.. on a sunny afternoon when I was baby sitting, my now favourite pass time..

The Lil one: Aunty, I would like a bubble bath !
Me: Uh, I don't think so, am not sure your mum is going to approve of it ! You have a cold..
The Lil one: But I feel like one..
Me: Right ! Let's call mama and ask her if it's OK to give you a bubble bath.

Did I confess to now believing age comes at a price ?? I go from room to room looking for that tiny communication instrument which is supposed to help me get in touch instantly.

I find the Lil one in the bedroom with my mobile. He looks ever so serious and means all business as he converses and with a final nod puts down the mobile, looks at me in the eye and with masked earnestness goes "Mama says she is OK for my bubble bath.."

I look at the mobile's blank screen suddenly remembering(warned you of my belief about age !) have been meaning to charge it for a few hours now. I meet his smile as memories of matching my mum's wits flood my mind when at a more intuitive age..

To live or not to

Yay, I love sneaking breaks at work when possible.. and this one is just before a team meet :o) !

Yesterday I passed this office on the way home, after a park walk - Co-operative Funeral Service. My first thought was, "people here even need to plan their funeral ?!?! Do we not leave it to our children by default and trust they would take care ?? Is it not a given we do our parents last rites ??" Yeah, that's the desi in me popping out and playing it's part.. but three and half years is a long time to be spent abroad especially if you have made only one trip back home in all the years.. the pardesi in me pops out next as expected, "What's wrong, why not do it ?? You can't seem to plan your birth but why not at least choose to be sent off in (your)style ??"

I continue thinking as I walk towards the lights. I conjure up this picture of me-no-more and suddenly wished to be burnt on sandalwood logs; could imagine people around the neighbourhood(of the crematorium of course !) sniff the air and comment, 'must have been such a sweet (smelling) person' !
As a rude reality check, I could also imagine suddenly the fodder it is likely to provide political & various other religious parties back home -
National Party One - "We need a reservation to help minorities access sandalwood more when they are gone.."
National Party Two - "We will ensure a sandalwood forest is created for the majorities, it's their land and deserve more even if no more !"
State Party One - "Sandalwood here belongs only to state-born, lets drive out everyone else after ensuring they contribute some more to help ease our sandalwood stocking budget.."
State Party Two - "We all would fast until death if no sandalwood after death assistance is provided to our neighbouring country which is another motherland to these state dwellers.."

Now shifts the scene in my mind to our media, we can never do without them, can we ! I began to sweat in spite of the chilly evening as I imagined every channel hosting chat shows about me-no-more(a person who loves to be alone in a crowd !)
"Enough is NEVER enough - a NRI's dream"
"Sandalwood Scandal vs Watergate Scandal"
Every paper in the country, digs into nooks & corners of my life to bring out some smashing headlines of my closet skeletons -
"She bought an ice-cream from Rs.5 found on the road, how immoral and unethical even when only seven !"
"She flunked her Maths(lets forget she was off ill and turned up to school to find it was an exam day), must have got through college by corruption. Please sign online petition for an enquiry into her examination results"
"CBI probing possible nexus between her and Veerappan, they were both Madrasi. (Aren't South Indians are ALL Madrasi ??)"

I reach my apartment and take the lift to friend-cum-neighbour's home, but my mind is still working out if-am-no-more facts...
The news obviously catches International attentions and I could envision the debate it was going to set off abroad too
"Migrants loot locals to die in style"
"Migrants to be made to pay for their death". Well, that's just what I thought I did !
"Let's call for a quota system on the number of migrants to be allowed to die"
"Let's tax all migrants who die in our country"

I knock on the door and my friend opens, smiles warmly and wishes "Happy B'day dear, come on in.."
Suddenly, it struck me life is more fun when you are living it than not ! I smiled :)

No Reservations :)

Here is one before the weekend and the party and the works creep on me... Guys, all working and non-working (including those pretending to) colleagues need a break, so how different can abnormal ME be ?? You got it ! Not far behind at all.. so enjoy this one while I go take myself for a walk soon in Lotus Land :o) ! Nah, green is not an allowed shade on this blog...

A good friend kindly forwarded this link, after having had her fair share of laughter am sure. As an avid reader of laughter columns of Readers Digest, I pass it on to you having myself cracked my side -

ASKING A GIRL OUT - BOLLYWOOD ISHTYLE !!

Expect the Unexpected !

Yeah.. I believe this one to be absolutely true.. !!

All of us wage our own battle(s) of WaterLoo (hehe, I loved coining this one..) everyday and so while on a mission to answer mine, see what I spotted !

Got your mind working like mine :p :p ??

Marketing a Dollar !

Hey, was over at a friend's place the other day and was having a casual chat with her hubby. He has been doing part time MBA from a top notch University and full of new ideas, strong opinions and loads of information from studying a variety of topics - hmmm, am reminded of my school days where something was learned every day to add to my knowledge database - almost history now ;) !

On brushing upon the US economy and weakening Dollar, he handed me a dollar and said, 'In Marketing terms Dollar is still not so weak..it is powerful !' He was quite right and you can see it for yourself below -

Obviously, it's not what you say but how you say what you say that matters ! In the right hands, you can see how far the Dollar can go :o) !

Spotted..

an AD urging everyone makes a holiday getaway...

'Dinner will be served... when the fish decide to bite..'

Now now, I have no intention of dieting while on holiday and am not so mentally sick as to wait for a fish to decide to end its life before I can grab a bite !!

Bah.. humbug !

Whoever said 'penny for your thoughts..' !!

I subscribe to Martin's expert tips in hope of saving a few quid. One of his nerdy notes jumped at me and cheered me up to realize we are all(well, almost ALL) millionaires !! Don't be surprised.. my discovery is for everyone to share..

Here is the nerdy note -
"Being a millionaire doesn’t mean you’re rich. The easy way is to convert £55 into 1,000,000 Iranian Rials or Indonesian Rupiah, or £31 for a million Vietnamese Dong. Sadly Zimbabwe's terrible turmoil has caused hyperinflation, meaning it’d cost only 0.012p for a million of its Dollars."

Yippeee, I could flip a few pennies rather than rack my brains to trick Chris Tarrant into signing the cheque for the magical number..

Glory be..

Sacrifice.. always thought this to be a powerfully sensitive word until I happened to read this article which proved me wrong and shattered my misconception. The author has made his point, loud and clear and Bips has done it again - hogged the limelight for her unselfish self !

AND to think there are soldiers in the army actually sacrificing their lives but do not get mentioned any place..what a bunch of losers!! Well, such is life I say !

How REALly reel !

What is it with stars and movie premiers ?? Do they think their movie might not get the thrust until they contribute star power to impress upon us ?? If that's a yes, is the movie about them or does it actually tell a story ?? I always believed story was the protagonist and Director, the Hero.

So, it was self shocking to find myself part of the overwhelmingly John Abrahamic crowd, cheering even at his poster. Sometimes it is surprising what friends can make you do; just sometimes it is surprising what you do for your friends :o) !

One could sense the crowd's feverish pitch when such statements are overheard -

'Wonder if he would walk in holding hands with Bipasha..' - I am sure this chap wanted to see Bipasha not John !!
'I hope he wears a tight T-Shirt..makes him look so macho !!' - The child looked about 10yrs old..
'Will I be allowed to touch him, else what am I waiting so long for??' - Her two daughters now giggle..

An agonizing(only for ME) 1.5hrs of wait enjoyed by the crowd as a privilege, a clean shaved, gel smoothed security personnel who was taking his duty to protect John from us a tad seriously, cleared his throat to announce - 'John says he is extremely sorry to have kept you all waiting and he promises to be here in two or three minutes..' Yeah, like John is his childhood friend !! The excitement now reaches electrifying levels, as every gadget capable of capturing any kind of image is fished out and strategically positioned to do their job !

Ear splitting screams from the upper deck confirmed what I had suspected - they had a better view than we on the ground floor did ! John arrived, clad in a fitting white Tee, much to the delight of the 'child' whose face now assumed the pallor of the fortune telling lady with her magic crystal ball. Countless(has nothing to do with my Maths allergy) hands reached out to grasp his extended ones as the screams now reached deafening levels. I took a step back to survey the crowd and for a silly moment contemplated asking - 'Any idea who the Chief Of the Army Staff of our country is ??'.. but do we care Deepak Kapoor !

What to THINK !

Still stuck in a meeting on Friday evening, having been thru the worst week ever at work, I was cursing my Manager for his habit of never wearing a watch when he commented thus to my colleague who was stalling us all giving no concrete reason whatsoever for his arguments -

Mate, do you think so or you believe so, I am not clear. If you think so then you will not want to accept our approach but if you believe so you will have a reason not wanting to adopt our approach.. we are waiting to hear..

Nice one. So am I but assuming when stopping with a thought and ascertaining when supplementing the thought with reasoning ?? If it's just a thought ideally does it result in blind leading the blind scenario ?? Too heavy for a Friday, eh ?? Perhaps I should have a think and come back ! :p

One for the road ??

Not sure if this is the greatest song ever written.. but it certainly made a 5 yr old by the aisle dance non-stop and got me interested(in the song of course !!)

03 - Ye Ishq Hai -...

Just do it !

Bought this for self, in a frenzied moment needing a bit of motivation and realized something - Self Motivation does not cost much ! ;)

Old wine in an older bottle ?!

After a nightmare time house hunting(believe me, this one's much tougher than witch-hunting), I zeroed in on an apartment having run out on time.. but that's besides the point..!

As a resident of a country proud of it's place in the prestigious G-8 summit, a reassuring standard of living is expected no doubt in this era of HD plasma screens but was gobsmacked to find such a rusty electric meter after having moved in

No surprises here, it can be operated with coins of only a particular denomination dropped one after the other in the designated coin slot followed by an anti-clockwise twist to the knob which brings about an increment to the visual counter. With no operation manual available handy, had to experiment awhile before bringing those lights alive !!

Let me put your doubts to rest ~ I do really reckon this contraption could well be on it's way to becoming an antique if retained a few extra years.. probably my landlady wishes to include it in her will perhaps.. but that's also besides the point.. !

Sweet Nothings !

Some days am lucky enough to get away with just over 8.5 hours at work. On one such occassion, walking on the station platform with my colleagues, to strategically position ourselves where the last car generally stops, an anecdote was born !

Colleague 1 with concern: So where is SHE(name modified for convenience), it's about time the train approaches !
Colleague 2 lightly adds: Oh, SHE might not make it you know.. SHE prefers to stay back and leave only when her Manager does..
Colleague 3, eyebrows perfectly arched looks at me with a slight bit of gleam suggesting we-might-be-onto-something-here look !
ME, tries to stare straight ahead hardly suppressing the smile already playing around the corner of my lips
Colleague 3 now excited: So how long has this been going on ??
Colleague 1 shaken as if out of her reverie now stammers: Oh ! Uh.. I mean.. well.. actually thats not what I meant.. Er, SHE likes to um, stay back and leave after her Manager does so she can impress.. ah, NO ! She simply leaves only after her Manager does.

Hurriedly makes her way to the approaching train while we follow with a twinkle in our eyes..

Hey, did I tell I hate gossip and work politics.. I am the apolitical kind :p ! Now you are feigning that look of shock, aren't you ?? Well well, what do I have to say now except to borrow my good friend's quote from her blog -

It is discouraging how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit

Tsk ! Tsk !