Alas! My past plans have gone down the drain, my hopes of any productivity at office have been flushed out! My desk is in clear view of all those who are in charge of keeping an eye on the ‘newbies’ at office.. So blogging, is slightly out of the question.
Yet, I have been at my slimiest best and I have tried to keep upbreast of most of what is happening in my little blog world. But I have to confess, I have been a little biased towards blogs that look innocent, even to a keen eye, like this one. Which reminds me, this has been the funniest news article I have read all week! Amrita Rao and her fan following in Peru! Hahaha! I am pretty sure there was one person who recognized Amrita Rao and said, "Hey, isn't she.. someone?" Fan following, indeed!
It now is officially ages since I touched a basketball or since I played badminton. I miss Bschool life like hell. My friends are all away and not completely fine. It pains me that life has to move on. But office is good fun too... new people and good food! And my daily dose of sport comes from Foosball! This Thursday, I played till my fingers bled.. and this is not an exaggeration!
Among other things, I have finally mustered enough courage to pick up "The Lord of the Rings". The sheer volume of pages and the microscopic font have together kept me away from the book for years now. I'm moving at a baby snail's pace of around 20 odd pages a day. Someday, 3 years from now, I'll blog about finishing the book. Sigh!
Big presentation coming up this week, after which we are new joinees no more! Hopefully, after that, life will get back to normal.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Updates
Monday, June 16, 2008
Crappy Birthday to me
(Warning : Major rant-level post coming up. Leave now if you can.)
People who know me well enough, know that I'm essentially a kid. And hence every year when May finishes up and the month of June sets in, I get visibly excited. After a wait of 365 days, my day would arrive soon. My birthday. But every year, I am disappointed. I have stopped convincing myself that bad birthdays are a coincidence. June 17th just seems jinxed for me every year. I always prepare myself for the worst, yet my birthday always fails to cheer me up. I guess that is why I still haven't grown up. I'm still waiting for my elusive happy birthday.
And don't think this depression has anything to do with growing a year older. As such, I have always been the youngest wherever I am. So, that has never mattered. It is just a mix of bad luck, bad timing and high expectations.
School : Invariably, school always used to start on June 15th. And hence, any hopes of getting new clothes would get quashed by my mom saying, "I got you a brand new uniform for your birthday." The general excitement of new books, disney labels, boring time tables and meeting long-lost friends (after 2 months) always used to take over my birthdays.
7 years ago : First day of college. Somehow after, "Hi! My name is Sumana", "Today is my birthday, wish me!" sounded inappropriate. Spent the whole day feeling down.
6 years ago : Vacation. Spent birthday alone at home.
5 years ago : Application time for B.Com. Was too busy filling forms to notice that my birthday flew away.
4 years ago : For a change, it was a nice birthday, until it promised to get even better. Just when I was walking out of college, a 'someone special' ran up to me and said, "Hey Su! I'm hungry, treat me!" I most willingly took him to a nearby eat out, let him order more than I could usually afford and sat silently across the table in anticipation. Maybe a gift, a card.. or a surprise! And then, he finished eating, I paid the bill, walked up to my bike and looked at him expectantly. "What!?", he asked. I started my bike and after one last look, I sped away. I waited till 12, no call... no message. He had no idea it was my birthday. He got the worst shouting of his life the next day, but that didn't change the fact that he completely ruined it for me.
3 years ago : My college scheduled "Personality Development Day" on June 17th and I spent half the day staring at a candle, performing breathing exercises and listening to Sanskrit mantras. But my friends had a surprise in store for me in the afternoon... which was... hold your breath.. "Booking a table at a not-so-good restaurant!!". So they asked me to walk in 15 minutes after they went in, just to make sure the table was free and voila! I got to sit at the head of the table and order food! Just when my bowl of noodles came in, I got a call and walked out to take it. By the time I came back, my food had disappeared into an unknown tummy. I called the waiter to order again, but he said that the kitchen was closed. My friends had planned that they would go dutch on the lunch and so I didn't get gifts. And I ended paying for the lunch as well. So came back home hungry, gift-free and penniless. I cried myself to sleep that night.
2 years ago : It was our 2nd day at XL. People hardly knew each other, but thanks to orkut a smattering of people wished me. So we went out for dinner, preceded by some shopping. At the end, I naturally asked for the bill and paid for it. That when someone asked, "Why are you paying?" "Errm, it is my birthday, I thought this was my treat?" ... Some silence. "Ok, your wish!" Bah! Terrible terrible birthday!
1 year ago : How I wish I was at XL! Instead, I was still 'interning'. But conveniently, it was a Sunday, so I spent half the day with who it mattered. But then, after a mishap of a lost train ticket and driving around on unknown roads searching for the elusive railway station to make it just in time for the train, who knew it was my birthday! (But still one of my better birthdays)
This year : New joinee at a new company. People hardly know my name, let alone my birthday. I'm spending the day in front of excel sheets, when my friends are in Mumbai, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and more Mumbai.
Another year, and I'm yet to cut my first birthday cake. Life sucks...
Happy Birthday to me.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Jobless, no more!
That is it. My last few hours as a jobless person. From tomorrow I join the Big Bad Corporate World. For the rest of my life (or at least for some years into the future), I shall be groaning to wake up every morning, crying as I wear uncomfortable formal clothes, limping with pointy heels, pretending to be a polite person and clambering up the steep organizational ladder. I have pressed my clothes, washed my hair, practiced my fake laugh and learnt to be diplomatic. But, I am still not prepared to start working. My last hopes of clinging on to being a kid are fast slipping away.
No more all-day-sitcom-watching, no more sleeping till noon, no more movie marathons, no more showers in the evening, no more reality TV shows till 2 in the night… no more blogging from my laptop at home.
From now on, I shall blog from my office. A new era beckons!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Nursery Crimes
The stress of joblessness, the effort in laziness and the weight of an empty wallet… so many times I yearn for something to take me back to the good ol’ days… of nothingness, of no worries… of nursery school! I don’t remember how my classroom looked, which fellow kids I kicked and which bullies made me cry… I don’t remember what I finger-painted, which stories I loved, nothing! But that was the best part about nursery school, wasn’t it? There was nothing we needed to remember.
Round the corner shining bright.
Red means stop,
Green means go,
Yellow means go, but slow!
Twinkle, twinkle traffic light,
Round the corner shining bright.”
If not now, when else would kids learn to let their minds roam free? Why curb creativity when they are 3? Rhymes about traffic lights? They probably would have stuff about paying their taxes next! One way to look at this would be that, it is probably to ensure good traffic sense in the next generation. But that’s a long shot… and such “reality show” versions of nursery rhymes are definitely not worth it!
At every corner, a useless sight!
Red means honk,
Yellow means go!
Green, errrm.. we really don’t know!
Twinkle, twinkle traffic light
At every corner, a useless sight!”
New age rhymes, buh!
Friday, May 16, 2008
The French Connection
This language is easily the biggest waste of paper and ink. Its random usage of alphabets to fill in even the simplest of words has puzzled me. Why? Why would one put in so many alphabets, if one has no intention of pronouncing them whatsoever! For example, “many” translates to beaucoup, which is pronounced as ‘bow-cu’. As an unwritten rule 40% of the alphabets in any given word are silent. Learning to speak French is more like, learning what not to speak in French. Hence, ‘Au revoir, tout le monde!’ (goodbye, everyone) is pronounced as “Aaar-wha! Thool-mo.” No wonder, half the Indians think Aishwarya Rai is attending the “Khan” film festival.
One little thing, that could have made this language much simpler for thool-mo, is the inclusion of a neutral gender. But no, every item in the universe is segregated as male and female… including articles, prepositions, adjectives and adverbs. Hence cars, bikes, houses and windows are all feminine. And Monsieur (miss-yore) Leo Tolstoy has apparently written ‘Guerre et Paix’, yes, both are feminine. What the rules for such segregation are, no one knows! The problem with this approach is the multiplicity of words in the dictionary. Hence, ‘big’ can be grand (grao), grande (grao), grands (grao) and grandes (grao).
Another area that absolutely stumped me was the numbers. The guy making up this language was so obviously lazy, he could only think of words up till 69. After which he decided to use multiplication and addition, instead. So ‘75’ in French is literally, ‘60 +15’ and '98' is… ‘4*20 + 10 + 8’. Yes, quatre-vingt dix huit. I’m not even going to tell you how to pronounce it.
And even with such a huge vocabulary, the French have decided that they have to pronounce every word like it has an invisible sex appeal. So a set of 5 words, all meaning radically different things can be pronounced the same way – dous, deux, de, des, du – all these spoken rapidly, sound identical! In the past, when I went to a café, with the crème de la crème and ordered a la carte I thought I was superior. But these are after all words we learnt within a week in class.
This morning, in a reading exercise, when I crossed my eyebrows in concentration, pursed my lips and confidently read out “foh yoh an-foh-may-cee-ohn” and looked up apprehensively at my instructor, she said, “Oh! Dear! That is English. It is pronounced, for your information”.
Clearly, French is not for everyone.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
My wonderwall
Various posters of Rahul Dravid have always adorned my walls. His pictures stuck haphazardly, some lying among closed pages in old unused books. His biography stands dusty, yet proud on my bookshelf. It seems like his ups and downs, matched mine several times. What began as a juvenile craze has grown into devoted admiration. Many years ago, my mom gave up on clearing my room off his presence. The Sachins and Sauravs of this country can pass. At home, Rahul Dravid is revered as no other.
When I was 9 years old, my Dad took me to a local state match. And apparently that was where I first saw him bat (claims my Dad). In the beginning it was probably just his good looks and that soft spot for a fellow Bangalorean that got me to watch him. I was too young to understand his game, to appreciate his finer skills. But over the past 12 years, his growth to the top and events after that is a tremendous story. Always in the shadow of the others, considered an underdog, pushed to unwanted roles by other captains, accused of being boring, blamed for many losses as a captain… he hasn’t had it as rosy as he should have. But his obvious determination, focus and skills are worth appreciating. Unquestionably, the best Indian batsman on foreign soil, the coolest mind in the harshest circumstances… and above all, a gentleman, both on and off the field, Rahul Dravid deserves praise of the highest level.
Watching him struggle with probably the weakest team in the IPL is disheartening. It’s a format that so obviously does not suit him. Losing in front of his home crowd, losing to his juniors from the national team, this could well probably be one of his toughest phases. But like every other time, I know that he will get through it. At some point, he will rise from where he is right now. And then I shall yell, “I told you so!” Don’t you dare write him off!
My hero, my inspiration… Rahul Dravid.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Endangered
According to palmistry, the length of the lifeline on our palms does not indicate our lifespan, but rather how well we live our lives. Nothing can actually guarantee us a long life. Just looking around, I can think of several ways that I can die today. Why! Within the next ten minutes there just might be a huge bomb crashing over my roof. Bangalore apparently is a recent target for some extremist groups, they are probably jealous of the weather. At any time, on any day there might be an attack on my city. I am certainly in danger right now.
Out on the roads it is even riskier. Making my way through all that traffic, especially amongst the most undisciplined drivers and potholed roads in the world, I can never actually say what is going to happen next? A speeding truck, an invisible hole, break failure, an accident waiting to occur.
Taking another human being’s life also seems much more convenient nowadays. I watch stuff on TV, I read the news, I’ve heard horror stories and I’ve seen incidents in front of me. A contract to kill apparently costs some Rs 5000 in Bangalore nowadays. Inflation, obviously has not affected the cost of such services. At home when I’m sleeping, or on the roads, I just might be killed intentionally. For some money, for being a woman… it seems so easy nowadays.
My unhealthy habits can strike at any time as well. The average age for a heart attack, for diabetes and several other maladies that I can’t even think of, has been coming down over the decades. The articles in the newspapers and the internet scare me everyday. The ice creams and chocolates that I innocently hog can come back and kill me, anytime. And even if I get myself to a safe place and ensure that none of these ever occur to me, nature always has a way, doesn’t it. It might be improbable for a Tsunami to strike my city or even a deadly volcano. But what about earthquakes? Floods? Nature’s fury is the deadliest of all. It spares none, nowhere.
Do I want to die? Of course, not! There is so much to do, so many places to see and so much life to live. But am I going to live as long as I want? That’s the million-dollar question.
