Workaholic(WHLC)

35+65+693+58+69596+6958+245+658+845+3215+651+856+11+25465+2554+32 -enter-
damn!
how come?
'here's ur tea dear'
35+65+693+58+69596+6958+245+658+845+3215+651+85.... tring! tring! tring! tring!
why don't you ever pick up the phone?!
Shh...damn...all over again...
35+65+693+58+69596+6958+245+658+845+3215...651...taxation..no, there has to be a reversal made...where's the voucher....
13.5 percent times 3 for 12 months...and then...
dyaddy! dyaddy! look at me....i am a spiderman!...dyaddy!...dyaddy? dyaaa...huunn..mommy...
why do you scare the child so much...can't you do those stuff at your office?
come, we will play...spiderman and superman...rite? dhishum...dhishum....
13.5 percent...tring, tring, tring...tring, tring, tring...
Hel-lu...mr. devdass association...this is the residence though...
Phone: think, we have met the right person...are you at your home computer sir? working on your office work?
WHLC: aaa....i ....actually...aaa...no......
Phone: don't move, don't try to escape...all routes will be closing...and we have surrounded your house...you have crossed the work limit hours per week...you are charged of working too much and contributing excessively to the annual GDP per capita... you will be penalized...to a forced vacation with your family to hawaii for the next three weeks...all costs born by the rehab....
WHLC: you can't do that...its a crime...i haven't finished the project yet...it's not fair...
Phone:don't make it any difficult for us...your computer will automatically shut off in the next 10mins. All your work-related files and folders will be sent to your office where you can find them after your vacation....thank you for listening patiently to us...enjoy your vacation!
WHLC: its not fair... oh my god...the computer is shutting off...someone stop it... help...this is...oh my god...someone...
Thus, the workholic was doomed to a three weeks' vacation to the much relief of his family. The WHLC however had torturous hours staring at the clear blue ocean and the sunny sky... i am sure he saw his project and his calculations on them too!

long time no ramble

Soliloquy: wish i knew my next station...i'd probably pull the bell right now... but i will just move on...and on and on...to see beyond the next corner, the next and the next...
the grey cells in the head seem to be numb and the fingers just lull over the black keys, to type in their own pace. the knots and bolts of the body seem to be chugging on their own, like an old train.
the situation is such- i don't know what i just said. i don't know what i am supposed to do. i called three extensions to get no reply and there is a desperate need to talk to someone on things you don't want to discuss.
n then the phone rings for me to give nonsensical replies like - i don't know and it seems so and guess it is right.
efficiencies and inefficiencies. effectiveness and ineffectiveness. management terms go haywire in the head to mix into potpourri of jargonless haphazard.

Information: Anil Ambani was voted the favorite businessman, Laxmi Mittal the favorite NRI and Sonia Gandhi the favorite politician...and yes, Amitabh the fav actor as usual -TOI-christmas day

Compliment: yesterday, got a strange kind of statement for me...it went - i like your way of communication, i think i have learned smthing myself - i was like ? ?

branding is deep deep deep...deeper than I ever thought it would be. its hectic. its tiring. its difficult and its meticulous. i don't do it. i see it being done - that's all the more difficult.

there are these 'thought ofthe day' that a friend of mine keeps posted me with each day, some are good ones like -

do what you want,
be who you are
and
say what you feel,
because
those who mind, don't matter
and
those who matter, don't mind


and a very applicable one:

Don't make promise when you are in joy.
Don't reply when you are sad.
Don't take decision when you are angry.
Think twice..., Act Wise.

n you go thinking like...hmmm......

the waiting

made the phone call
rambled through my handbag
stared at the ceiling
counted the overhead lights

analyzed all the paintings on the wall
read the famous sayings posted there

talked to the next stranger
listened to his woes

rambled the bag again
made a second call
stared enough at the clock
to see the minute-hand move

stared at the ceiling again
talked to the next stranger
passed a couple of smiles around
to get back v. few

i start thinking - what a world it is
all strangers around

jus then the door opens
the priest says - next!

ah! i sigh - the waiting is over

mandah:

the seasons of change...
the festive season...
tell me it's there...
now and forever...

celebrate daily smiles...
the fun and flavor...

the evenings subtle ...
and the mornings bright...

frivolous minds...
healthy smiles...
oh, naughty eyes...
tell me why...

oh, don wanna shed...
this state of mind.

the right glove

So the two of them were in search of the right glove as the title above rightly puts it. One of them was sweaty in the bright lit store and the other one cold. But both of them frantic of one common goal - finding the right glove. Now right here clearly creates a confusion - it was not the right as in "the correct one" but right as in the left and the right - the glove for the right hand. They were sure of the left one - the one they held - all chosen and decided - a sleek black leather glove - all alone on top of the rack -alone - set apart from the rest - to show it was the "chosen" one - waiting for its mate - the right one. The two of them had nothing else in mind - even if they did have smthing, it took a back seat at that moment to find the right glove. They looked for the glove among the other gloves, behind the othe gloves, beneath-under-above-between-below-beside- but the perfect match in the tiny heap of about 20pairs of gloves were not to be found. A few had already tied the knot- so that wen u thot u found the perfect match, it was already tied up with some other pair.
So as we searched for right pair, we became a lil philosophical, a lil pensive, a lil more tired, a lil irritated. Let's not buy a glove if we can't get a perfect match - said he. And the thot was contemplated - and processed - in the lil black box atop the neck. Nah - let's find the perfect match - left glove in the left hand and the right one in the right - they will be a lil different - after all, they have individual existence - their own idiosyncracies - they will be a lil different - and they will be together - that's the fun of it all - that's the joy! And the payment made, the a-lil-different-pair-of-gloves stayed in the bag contented to find the perfect match!

one word

Surely the anniversary of this li'l space is long past due...
Early morning today, i learnt the meaning of a word...zeitgeist.
i didn't know any such word was in existence. But surely it is, and quite a nice word it is... it means the spirit of the times...
Life has reached that crucial stage where one needs to make not just one but quite a few critical decisions. Decisions that would shape life forever.

there is a site called oneword.com...i have tried it a few times..it gives u certain second to write on a particular word....it's amazing how things come out of your mind in that time....it's fun to write and then to read someone's else's entry in that many seconds....

fizzy feelings

I am on my bed lying flat staring at the white ceiling. The bus whoozes towards me on the empty street, almost hits me and whoozes past me in the dark empty streets beyond. A next bus comes does the same. A motorbike, a cab, a car and a truck and the number increases as i stare at the white ceiling. And all of them almost hit me to taper into nothingness.

A fire at one end and a fool at other. I was pretty hit by that sms i got from a fren. Cigarette and a :colon and that phrase. A short sms that was, but quite solid.

Household work is the main stay for many women even today. But why do we feel so unproductive when on a puja day all we do is make diyo lights or prepare flower garlands or mithais?

smses and atms

shrtcuts r taking over the lng-routes
gve me a mssed call wen u're there.
wot? the mom asks in stark disgust.
not jus simple daily conversations like these, most momz are lost wen the kids be engrossed in the 'whose line is it anyway'z n 'hitchhiker's guide to galaxy'z ...
n the kids go bust xplaining them the sequences that it's monica who's married and ross who fell in love with rachel n it's phoebe who loves to sing...
n e ways,

todayz three:

1. cleaning cleaning...cleaning my room after such a long time... off its dust n mess
2. clicking pics with bro in the self-click mode
3. tihar shopping ... bhogatez, lakhamariz, swan-ma n masala (dry fruits)

copycat

M trying to copy smthing from a blog i came across a few weeks back. Courtsey to the blog...

Three good things today:

1. had lunch together with frens
2. the rain
3. live music

scramble

Shris has a new member in her family...a german shephard...she's called DJ - guess what it stands for ...Dashing Junior...her mom is called Dashing...
She said DJ will have her family reunion in Tihar when all her relatives who has DJ's kins will come to her place. Happy reunioun!
Bro asked me to draft a resignation letter...then i kept on thinking... how the hell does one write a resignation letter? it's a pretty irritating task for one who has never done it before.
One senior guy at work accidentally picked up my phone to praise it...but old model as it is...he couldn't say anything and said it's a nice blue... on which i replied ya, the phone's reception is good. What kind of conversation is that to pass the day?
Deep bright red... all of us three girls had deep bright red shirts on by accident... and we were telling melon he shud've had on his too... we could take a snap and frame it up to read... the redincidental day!
so tomoro could be a walk walk walking day for all-o-fuzz... something's brewing in the air...Probabale bandh ... we heard the rumour...
how can one get used to it? all of us kind of expect on the back of our minds that we'll have to walk to work in a gap of one month or so...coz it's all there...nothing of political nature has been settled ... not until the next meeting atleast... and then, all unsettled matters are brought to the streets...

cya 2moro

Too tired to post anything.

so here's a corrs lyrics ...courtesy: lyricsdomain.com

When your day is long
And the night
The night is yours alone
When you're sure you've had enough of this life
Well hang on

Don't let yourself go
Cause everybody cries
And everybody hurts
Sometimes

Sometimes everything is wrong
Now it's time to sing along
(When your day is night alone)
Hold on, hold on
(If you feel like letting go)
Hold on
If you think you've had too much of this life
Well hang on

Cause everybody hurts
Take comfort in your friends
Everybody hurts

Don't throw your hand
Oh, no
Don't throw your hand
When you feel like you're alone
No, no, no, you're not alone

If you're on your own
In this life
The days and nights are long
When you think you've had too much
Of this life
To hang on

Well, everybody hurts
Sometimes, everybody cries
And everybody hurts
Sometimes

And everybody hurts
Sometimes

So, hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on
(Everybody hurts
You are not alone)

pears and plums

Nice painting na? found it on blogs of note... you can even bid for it!
http://rebeccabischoff.blogspot.com/

Fruits: direct from wiki -

Fruit is a part of a tree or bush that contains seeds. It is often eaten as a food.

Most fruits we eat contain a lot of water. They contain natural sugar. They have a large amount of dietary fiber at the peel, seeds, and fibrous parts. All fruits contain iron, and they are very low in protein and fat content.

Sometimes "to bear fruit" also means "to produce results".

"Fruit" (or "rotten fruit") can also sometimes be slang for "a homosexual". I didn't know that!

Types of fruits:

• Citrus fruits
• Berry fruits
• Fleshy fruits
• Stone fruits

I found the list of berries of particular interest... didn't know there were so many types of berries! how many have you tried??

There's even Huckleberry...
nomenclature seems to have gone out of stock for any berry-berry name towards the end of the list!

Berries

Raspberries

• Blackberry, dewberry, boysenberry, and loganberry
  
• Raspberry,
  
• Cloudberry
  
• Wineberry
• Salmonberry
  
• Loganberry
  
• Thimbleberry
  

• Bearberry
• Bilberry
  
• Blueberry
  
• Crowberry
• Timberry
• Cranberry
  
• Huckleberry
  
• Lingonberry
  
• Strawberry Tree , not to be confused with the Strawberry
  

Other berries:

• Barberry
• Currant , red, black, and white types
• Elderberry
  
• Gooseberry
  
• Hackberry
  
• Honeysuckle: the berries of some species (called honeyberries) are edible, others are poisonous
  
• Mayapple
  
• Nannyberry
  
• Oregon grape
  
• Sea-buckthorn
  
• Sea Grape
  
• Wolfberry
  
• Mulberry
  

lampshades and cool green grass

That's my breakfast...
no, i am not on diet... jus love Citruses... is there a plural form to Citrus? don't know...
Anyways, back to the Cubicles (Kuh-beeh-kles) after so many days... to reply to all the greetings that came in.
This period between Dashain and Tihar is real lazy lazy days... coz there are two simultaneous things into play... one, the hangover from Dashain... other, the pre-holiday symptoms of Tihar...

Colorful Lampshades with a light evening music...
Cool wet green grass on a hot humid day...

Today was one of the most hectic days i have had in many many days... everything took place fast and furious... and had to skip lunch...
Shris jus called me on my cell... she is on the phone write now... and I listen to her day's happening...
which means i will have to go now...
have lost my power of multitasking!

What's that i smell in the air?

i read a short mail on paradigm shift by someone a few days back... and it took me back to one of my college days where we watched a video on a swiss watchmaker and how there was paradigm shift in the industry... so that the Japanese strode over them...
unrelated and insequential stuff like these were hitting my mind all morning... like i was trying to remember the lyrics of the song 'purani jeans' ... i had the whole song written down when our class sang it on the last day of school ...but had never quite understood the meaning!
the duck we were to sacrifice, bit me on my arm - an offensive snap actually... n then it was dead in a matter of minutes.... rather, it was sacrificed... i got pensive after that.. recovered a few times with a few glasses of coke....
i finally go the chance to sit down n finish 'tutor of history' sterday... i liked it unlike many comments i heard abt it.... all in all it has captured the sentiments of a Nepali... quite tastefully....
Last time i met nidhs, she commented that i had changed... haven't had a holistic conversation to find out how and to what extent....
haven't had... hadn't had... haven't had... is that right english? haven't had...if that sounds alright...should be right...
like last year... haven't touched the playing cards for a single hand this dashain.. it's difficult to resist but m learning a few techniques.... don't let others around u play, n it's easier to restrain urself... a selfish motive....but it's working...
m concentrating on using my time more productively... m reading voraciously whatever comes my way... it's necessary...coz i hardly get time to read n e other day...n there's so much to catch up... .... mom thinks i have gone crazy... sitting with a book - on a fine dashain, deserted day... ...yeh toh gayi!......for those not in kathmandu.... the roads are deserted.... shops are all closed... at least those around where i live.... very less traffic, pollution n noise....
n for those v. far off who are confused... it's nawami today... n it's tika day tomorrow!
So, Happy and Peaceful Dashami... that's all i can wish for now! Goodnite.

sterday

Was out at dinner sterday. Got a call while we were driving back - there's something outside our home. Few more calls, i find out a guy got killed in an accident with a truck on the bridge, and there are people burning tyres across the street so that no vehicle can pass.
How can anyone predict that a calm day would end like that at 10 o'clock at night? My parents were pretty worried - how are you getting home?
How do we go now? i asked my fren as she kept driving with a grave face. And the look on her face told me it was racing fast.
She took the extra pain to go on a roundabout to drop me by. Thanks to her. The bridge looked as if it was on fire. There were police and people on the road. Huh?

sparkles and smiles

wasting my time....
resting my mind....
here by the fireside
and the warm light of the love in her eyes....
(floyd)
sometimes all this seems like a dream....
as if you'd wake up one day and find urself in a different world....
n i try to imagine what that world is like...
may be this is a common feeling for all of us....
is it called deja vu? vu ja de? ja vu de?
i don't know...

we met nidhs for lunch sterday... in the middle of our conversations... her phone rang...
n by the look in her eyes , and the way she jumped to talk... i and hope everyone around too could say who it was on the other end!!
that spark in the eyes and the smile is just so revealing huh?
congrats dear!

Fud for thot

This could have been easily my fourth blank blog, wherein i come and stare at a blank screen to return untampered. And this could have been my any other day.

New Road was the most pathetic place to be in Kathmandu yesterday evening but surprizingly half the population seemed to be there - doing nothing but walking on the streets to make my every step a pain in the ***

I was telling my mom yesterday - 'Mom, you are the dream customer of every marketer'
If every customer psyche worked as vulnerable as yours, there would be no customer surveys hence. Believe me, she is excited at every corner to all the display of goods under the white tubelight. She doesn't need a repeated TVC, a jingle, an outdoor display or a POP to get her buying what she doesn't need. She will jump at the next chance to empty her wallet. That's because she has been so busy running about, she hardly has time to stop for a breath and shop for herself. 'She is so busy driving, she doesn't have time to fill gas!'

My friends, my colleauges, and my superiors at work ask me once in a while, what's your aim in life? And i look at them, my head reeling to find the perfect answer, to give them that stupid smile. I haven't thought about my life so hard to come up with an aim. I live everyday, one day and the other passes - i know i am living right. But am i going right? If after five years, i look back at this day - would i think then, i should have lived it differently - would i repent that i should have done this and not that? Frankly, i don't know. Today, do i repent at the days i spent two years back? One, i am still not that old to look back at my days or years. And, no, even if i look back, i don't. I didn't know what i'd become, where i would be. I am here and I am happy.

But if i start from a place and walk 20 kms, i'd definitely reach someplace very different. I walked a certain way, which way i don't know and i am lucky to have liked this place, but i may very easily have been crying at this day at what i am doing.

But just because i've worked hard to reach someplace doesn't mean i am on the right direction. If i'd put a direction to myself and worked that 20 kms on it to reach a certain aim i had in mind, i'd definitely have a benchmark to say whether i am happy with what i achieved, and lot of chances i'd reach a better place! But lots of us don't have an aim. We change everyday but are unaware of the direction of change - are we changing in the right direction?

Invariably we change. But just imagine that everyday change to be in the direction of the person we'd like to be 5 years hence. The conscious everyday change mentally, physically, socially, emotionally, ethically, logically - would it be the same as this directionless living we have everyday.

Where i am coming from, is the unconscious living and insensitive mind to a conscious living, and a sensitive mind - which would work towards not just an individual's happiness but also their growth. In turn, their happiness and growth would reflect the society's happiness and growth.

Conscious living could be the buzzword now, i don't know. But Ktm is definitely not on that trend. The chaotic mass of people i saw yesterday - was a disaster to all the buzz words of good living. But to end on a positive note, we will have to try. 'Turn the clock to zero...to start on a Brand New Day'. I just hope!

ramble on

As i was giving my blogspot add to a friend today, i was wondering what she would think of all the nonsensical blogs i have here... i got charged up then and there to make this place a little readworthy... which fizzled out in a few moments... no doubt.
But i am amazed at the different kinds of people we have in this world... and how each one of us have different expectations of each other, although if you ask of someone, ... they have a normal reply - i don't expect anything of this or you....
N when you actually don't do or do something that was a little wayward by your or the other person's standard, you actually get the dialogue going - i didn't expect this of you!...
which naturally diverts my mind to the more fundamental query of - what was that you expected of me... which keeps the argument going for sometime for sure.

i once started a book called The diving bell and the Butterfly... it's a fascinating book which i never got till finishing. .... it's written by a paralysed person whose only moving muscles were his left or the right eyelid (i can't remember which... i think it's the right). He dictated the whole book by blinking his eyelids to denote the alphabet he wanted written down.... that's quite a feat huh!! and the writer's a pretty accomplished fellow in his own field...
last week, i read a review on it in the TOI.... which made me reflect on so many incomplete tasks which i leave to get back to ... someday...
like learing the piano... learning to be a good swimmer, taking care of my diet and becoming more jolly....

Scenes from a Memory

too tired to write anything.... and sleepy.

listening to dream theatre, staring at the screen for some solace. The day's happening flash back to me and i feel dazed as if that wasn't me having lunch or standing on the aisle or waiting for the elevator or typing out an email. I had forgotton Oedipus was the name of a character too, 'oh, really? i never knew it', i had said.

'September is a busy month', I think as mom pour more oil on her palm to massage my head. I feel the sweet sensation of sleepiness and immense feel of tiredness and relaxation as she moves her hand on my scalp. I stare at the ET on my lap as she does it, trying to read the cartoon bubble - it then strikes me that it's weekend in India. I remember my unturned pages of THT that I forgot on my desktop, i visualize it all alone in the darkrooms on the 3rd floor.... tomorrow it's perishable already... it takes me to the QT classes where we calculated the average number of days to keep a perishable item ... and try to validate it with a daily newspaper....

gudnite.

Oh!gust

How was August?
Usual.
The month saw inflation peaking more than nine percent. It saw fluctuating stock prices, not that the stock exchange is so active here, still. The number of tourists increased. The monetrary policy was revised. Price hike in petroleum was taken back after two days of demonstrations and vandalism. Few other demonstrations took place each day in the valley which created disturbances in various parts of the city. August saw a few gold medals for the country. The winners rode through the city with praise and accolades in garland and tika. UN demanded a more systematic way of management of arms from both sides. August saw the draft constitution which was not well appreciated by few other constitutional experts, should i say? Last but not the least, the month end gave the depressing news to ready us for September - NEA is running at losses and we need to buy candles for the load shedded evenings.

What message is the authority giving us? If you demonstrate enough, like tapasya and the bardan from Mahadeva, you get what you wish for, is it? Don't take the policy as it comes out... wait for a revision? I can't believe a person can get used to such stuff... it's difficult to remember the rules already. Did someone ask for a strong political opinion?

Featured above: August sunset, terrace ropelines

flux

If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is present, does it make a sound?
I was flipping through my old books on advertising and i found the above line underlined in pencil. I must have liked it pretty well to have done so.

I sometimes wonder how people can write such philosophical lines which make you actually pause for a while and think, and make dumb people like me go - wow, solid man!

I wonder a lot actually.
It would have been a compliment, if it was said in a more positive way. Some great thinker once said - all philosophy begins with wonder.

The other thing i wondered about a few days back is how people like Richard Branson could be foolish enough to go on a balloon ride risking such precious life... but again, i got the answer after a pauseful think, to satisfy my own wonderings.... which i found on the title of his book - Screw it, Just Do it! , and my dumb mind said - that's why he went up on the balloon.

Those are big things i wonder about...but the small mind as i have, sometimes wonder about the smallest things...

food:
why do tasty food make us fat? or is it tasty becasue it makes us fat? or more probingly, why don't we like being fat? isn't it just the social norm to be slim and trim? why is the social norm like that? is it because it's more healthy to be slim and healthy? then why do people make tasty food that make us fat? shouldn't it be banned?
like movies which are not shown publicly
or books which corrupt the mind
or political opinions that are too leftist?

Give up at this point. you can continue if you like... it's just the question upon question. wondering over wondering.

Vegetables:
one of my friends term those people who don't stop-by-to-think as 'veggies' - which precisely remind me of bringles - you can think of any vegetable u like, i think of bringles because it's not my favorite food item... ... and i wonder whether it's justified to call these people who don't think on common sense issues as veggies - because you never know - maybe vegetables do think!!

Give up at this point, you can continue if you like ... but it's absurd... it's so absurd that i feel like deleting the whole thing so as not to embarass myself.

Oranges:
the other thing i wonder about are oranges.. and why there are not enough of those in the world.

Now "world" here refers to only 'my' world...
who cares about ROW anyways... ?? it's just for CNN or BBC ... or, say those whose business is directly affected by happenings in ROW - like maybe international marketers or manufacturers...
small people like me, have my own world.
Ya, so why not more oranges? i only think of oranges because i like oranges.
i so much like it, that i even wrote a piece on it - it's a different matter that the whole point i was trying to drive home had nothing to do with oranges... and i so much used oranges in driving home the point, that at the end, the only thing people remembered about the piece i wrote was oranges.
ya, so why not more oranges in the world? it's oranges for me but think of anything you like or want? it's always less of it - time, for instance and good company or for some, more money... peace of mind... or for the miss universe kind - world peace!... whatever,
you like it? you don't have enough of it. Or, do you like it because there's not enough of it? Wouldn't you like it if you had enough of it?

Give up at this point... you can continue if you like... and so on and so forth....


By this point in time, i must have sufficiently suceeded in convincing you the kind of mood i am in today - in a flux!
point conveyed. you can continue if you like...but there's nothing more to convey further than this. Goodnight.

! express urself ! type it out

the terms and conditions change...
it matters whether your fren has an exclusive folder in your name in the mailbox...
everytime my mobile set falls on his hand he checks what's the name i have on his number...
whose snap do you keep on your desktop...?
which colors do you use on the background... or which fonts do you use mostly...?
which sites do you visit most and how oftern do you go to them... do you surf from one site to other more oftern or are you the stagnant type to a few sites?
what are your behavioural patterns of using the keyboard while typing a piece? do you look at the keyboard? how oftern do you go to the backspace key... can you type the number on the second row without any mistakes?
how often do you go through a piece once you've typed it out?
do you read all the fwds: ? where do all the fwds: go once u've read or not-read them - personal folder or the trash...?

All the answers to these could say who is important in your life... and find your psychographics...
your behavioral patterns and how your mind is made up...
hmm.... i don't know where i am headed to .... or where i am coming from.... i just know -- that i am on the right track...

con-versations

table talks to chair all day... where is the sitter gone?
has he disappeared inside the cupboard while taking out the morning cups...
did he get lost in his wardrobe when deciding on clothes?

the jeans asks the zipper open
why you getting all rusty
where are those legs gone...
in some cotton suit?
has the tie stole them ?....
or a shiny black leather boot?

floyd asks morrison in awe....
where are the wires to connect me...
to the world a wide... and stations abound
morrision replies dazed as dumb...
some new headbanger... borrowed them...
for a while he said... until i saw his poster there...
where used to be mine...

-sucky poets number: do sho gyara

the customer is the queen!

I walked into a sweet store today – bright and nice – and I observed.

----- the shining white marble floor being constantly mopped-to-shine by an elderly looking gentlemen.. Bright lights all over – it hit the eyes so bright you couldn't make out wherefrom the lights are being thrown at you. Beautiful cakes of a variety of sweets – symmetrically arranged in their own stacks – apart from the bland square, round and the rectangle, I find the cylindrical, the diamond shaped, the apple shaped and the multi-colored more interesting. I find the usual pyramids of yellow and white shorter today, some popular ones finished to their last few pieces.

I go to the longest counter in front of me. The bespectacled look of the pot bellied gentlemen behind it makes me feel uneasy – he doesn't look like a typical salesperson – cheerful and welcoming. His appearance gave me an impression of an accountant – thick glasses on his nose – difficult-to-smile thick lips –like the one who would constantly pore over dull, dry numbers all day and bingo! be happy to find the unbalanced figure of five rupees twenty-five paisa amongst the pages and pages of printed data.

Anyways, I estimate my pieces of gulab jamun and barfi cubes to mutter out over the counter. Six gulab jamus, six pieces of kaju barfis and six buniya laddus I say pointing at the bright yellow balls with little white skirts. Haan he nods with a hindi whisper, and packs off for the lady before me – aur kya rakhu medam – his hand half way up in the air to take the single brown note the lady is offering. I repeat my order again - Six gulab jamus, six kaju barfis – missing out the buniyas purposefully – Dad reminded me to get as little mithais as possible – I like swiss rolls and some fruitcake maybe – not much mithai – he'd said. I wait as the literal gentle man, slowly and unwillingly pick a small branded box of his - while I get impatient. I feel him lulling over something.

One more customer hustle bustles in with her bored-by-shopping hubby, which I could see from the look on his face and more prominently the heavy white polythene bags slung on both hands. Two kilos please, I would order the variety, and you pack please, she orders in English as she surfs the well lit display. The lousy old man keep down the small box he'd opened for me and is energized to fill a kilo in each of his large boxes.

I throw both my hands in air with disgust and walk out of the place.

Two buildings down, I walk in another sweet shop, order my stuff, have it packed nicely and come back home satisfied – with the extra buniyas I had dropped off the list. But I'd never go to the brightly lit irritating store again which had gained my trust and confidence on my last visit. I'd stop few of my friends from going there. And I'd not order a few kilos if I wanted it some day. Rather, I'd walk to a smaller store two buildings down.

This made me reflect back to my marketing lecture days. And I conclude how true it was that we studied - it's the attitude and the warmth that differentiates and not the product you sell or how big your store is. It’s because I can get the chef, and I can get the right ingredients – to make the best buniyas in town - it's copycat-able ----- but just think – if I swagger to you as a customer each time I pass a buniya ball over the counter – how many of you would come back to me again?

This is what they teach us at B-schools and they teach us right. Customer is the Queen! If you walk into big names like Wal-Mart and Mc-Donald's they say, every customer counts – because you never know!

At last, it is not a good laddu, not a good chef, not bright white lights, not the colorful display, not the free welcome drink that brings in the customer – it's her state of mind when she leaves the store that brings her foot naturally back to your door to get that feeling with the product again – mind you, not the product – but the state of mind – the perception – and the feeling, is what gets the customer back. If she has that satisfied curve on her face when she walks out your door, go home my friend and sleep tonight – she's will come back again!

The question each salespeople need to ask themselves before the customer walks out that door of his - with or without a purchase is – will she come back again? Will she refer me or my product to one more friend? Because it all makes sense - and a very relevant business sense - it would not just reduce your cost line in saving money to reach new customers, it would definitely add value to your Brand and ultimately hit the more critical revenue numbers.

Note: I have used a she throughout this write up to refer to the Customer – as from a recent survey I read in one of the papers, more and more of the wallet share is moving to the gentler and the more emotional hand. In this new scenario, I strongly believe that we need to touch the feeling, the minds and the softer side of the customer sentiment ever more so often and more deeply than we have ever done before - because whatever preaching we give of new fundas in marketing, the base reality remains - - - the Customer is the Queen!

eyecandyVSblackteeth

i have a guest writer tonight.... i present ..............

when the dust settles, when the noise ends, when everything comes to an end for a new beginning, as everyday we go into the past, when it's perfectly useless to theorise about the future, arises the hero of the dark light, to brighten your teeth.

interlinked bullets

• My mind is in a state of flux with all the day's happenings flashing in front of me in micro seconds of thought - a slideshow as if being checked before the final presentation - phat...phat...phat...
• no rain.............
• started my day off with recalling yesterday's dialogues:
• what keeps a person going?
• what is that you seek in life? asked a friend of mine
  
• He gave me some time to think
  
• - happiness - i said in a monologue.
• then thought process on it:
• I have been thinking a lot of this question with a slight philosophical tilt...
• a little psychological tilt and a slight practical inclination too...
• and it does boil down to happiness and peace of mind basically ...
• no rain.......
• went through today's paper (out of: habit, interest and to avoid sense of miniscule guilt if i miss a major article or newspiece)
• There was an article on Spinoza and i was wondering what is this ancient guy doing on today's paper? But it was nice reading that his revolutionary thoughts are as new as they were when he first propounded them.
• put it aside and ...
• went to my old college notes to refer to some old numerical problems i may have done.
• Sums... and doodling went together then... dialogues exchanged between rows of seat under the unassuming eyes of the madam, neatly drawn landscapes, portraits, song lyrics, party plans...
  
• I look at the half scribbled financial problems and stare at the neatly printed balance sheets on pinkish pages of ET... would i have done something different so that i could have taken in more of the BS today?
  
• hmmm.....(thought)
• nay... i took in what i cud... i am taking in what i can... and i would what i can tomorrow...
• it's all boils down to happiness and peace of mind ... nah??
• drowsy...
  
• phone calls... traffic... phone calls...
  
• computer... phone calls.... laughter... drowsy... conversation.... drowsy... notes...
• calculations...drowsy... computer....phone call....
• Lunch time!!
• caught up with nidhi .... talk...talk ...talk... (i don't talk so much as i repeat those words here)
• nidhi is fine... she's enjoying... it's nice meeting her up after some long time... made few plans for weekend... nothing fixed...date, time..venue...plan....
  
• we have a superstition - A plan always fails... it's bad..
  
• but it does .... and it's proved us everytime...
• rush back... conversations... computer..phone calls...
  
• repeat....
• met up with frens for coffee... but we had coke... coke is universal... coffee is vague... brand!!
• drizzling rain....
• share with dad...share with mom... conversations
• nice day? nice day. what happened?
  
• blah..blah...blah...
• oh!!
• sneha calls up... chat...
• call up soni ... chat...
• i don't chat so much as it appears in here...
• full stop.
  
• m tired of remembering wot i did today. But it's said it's nice remembering a day's happenings sequentially... gud for memory power re....let's c if i can b a lil more specific with fresh grey cells tomoro....
  
• we shed so much skin that we are a totally new physical being in a year's time re... dat's what i hear!
  

corrupted minds

Many days have past... when i come after rambling here and there...
to this place again... i feel ... what is this place.... where have i been ...
as if returning to your home after a month's trip... you get a strange feeling of lostlessness and affinity in a remote way and happiness and that comforting feel...

This country needs help... serious help....a vacancy should have come in all the dailies by now:

Vacancy Announcement

A country rich in water and other natural resources needs as many young citizens between 16 to 35 years of age to steer around the fate of the country to peace and development. Candidate should possess following skills to take up developmental activities in all parts of the country and in later stages of career should show potential leadership skills to compete for top ministerial positions in the country.

Qualifications:
* can be educated or uneducated
*should know what a country is and what love of a country is
* can be of any nationality until he/she has proven concern for the country
* should not have previous record of destroying public property in any demonstrations
* should have clean record on bribery and corruption
* should not be affiliated to any leaders or names previously uttered for any kind of contradictions on bribery and corruptions

Positive attitude, lot of energy, and fresh ideas for cost saving and productivity will be an added advantage.

Note: The country believes in fair practice and does not discriminate in the selection process on grounds of sex, caste, or economic background.

Young, intelligent brains who have left the country are encouraged to apply

Prohibition: All citizens associated at any age and time with bribery or corruption related cases are prohibited to apply even with a fake certificate proving liable age.

alu paakeko

kalu went to buy alu.... and said to the shopkeeper "give me alu in a jhola"
shopkeeper said "i have no jhola for alu"
so kalu went to another alu ka dukan to buy alu... the shopkeeper's name was saalu...
this is not a continuation of the previous story... FYI...
it seems BAU makes life boring from one cell to other and from one cubicle to other... but no one is bored from one cubicle to other nor from one tubelight to other... they all enjoy changing work environ from one day to the next... and one color to other... chaning shades and changing music...

so kalu was frustrated wen he cudn't find the alu and went bac home to eat only dal and bhat which he ate in front of the TV. The TV was showing only news today with old people with caps on the mikes... it was budget budget they kept saying... now, what is budget kalu with no alu at the moment wondered because he had bought that TV 55months ago to watch 'dhishum dhishum' fight of sarukkhan like on movie 'koila'. But they didn't show saruk like on koila... it was all laila laila only... he was with yellow and red shirt around girls or on trains or on green nice picture like fields only... anyways there was no charuk on the channel, it was some old guy drinking water from time to time disturbing everything and giving long long speech ... reading it out from the paper because he cudn't memorize it all and some at the back of the audience were yawning... and some clapped the table from time to time .... they were very naughty...

since he could not see rani dancing on screen, he missed alu with his bhat even more... kalu had thought a lot about buying a bicycle recently. All his friends - bhalu and saalu had bike and he was the only one who had to run behind buses to get on the backside and get off with a lot of danger to skip the bus fare...but he thought - i will buy a bike in a few weeks... but first the alu in a jhola...
...not to be continued

flabbergasted

The clock hands flicked to 5, 21 as she descended the stairs with a sense of freshness - after a cool bath, perfumed talc, deo spray and a dab of roll-on - it made her look and smell fresh. Taking the keys from the floor where she'd let them fall last evening; she massaged the dog's head behind its ears as it hid its eyes already in a deep slumber. She came out of the house, looked left and then right, bit her lower lip and headed left. She didn’t know where she was going or where she wanted to go. She wanted to move and go somewhere, but the destination was unknown – the process was clear.

She walked, increased her pace slowly and in matter of about ten minutes she was jogging past the other early risers on the street. She could hear the heavy breathing and could feel her muscles flick as she threw each sneakered feet faster than the one before. Nothing stopped her now – the sweating, the breathing, the tiredness that slowly seeped up from her feet – nothing seemed to have a control and the feet moved forward like a train chugging without brakes. She slowed to a jog when she saw the familiar sign boards raised high above the others and panting heavily out of breath she entered the building.
(to be continued...)

prt

error

banana lassi

i order banana lassi from the list of drinks... others have coffee...
on my second sip... the glass slips between my fingers as i desperately try to control it ...
the glass topples over the table ... on my fren beside me...
b4 n e of us realize wots happened... she is on her feet ... her pants..shirt...bag ... n most of her stuff inside the bag ...now, in a different flavor...banana!!!
we dab pkts of napkin on her pants, her bag and inside her bag...
after the initial commotion we sit back quietly with the kathi rolls.... we take a few bites to roar up laughing our heads off at wot happended...

now that i think of it.... it was the day we got our appointment letter...
but more that it... banana lassi reminds me of a new bonding n a new life that we started off that day... all of us....
wot a 'food item' on the list to associate oneself with....
banana lassi!!! i order everytime i enter...

lunch

caught up with an old fren after abt 5 yrs... i called her up for lunch...
i don't think she understood n e thing i said in that one hour chat ... except a few comments on the sandwich, momo and banana lassi i was passing...
we parted- each wondering... which world does she live in??

freshen the start

5:30 every morn' i run and feel my own breath... panting...
it's good to jog in the fresh morn' air...
and am sure this is possible in n e part of the world...
yet, wen i take the fresh air early morn...
i realize wot i av been missing all this time... n n joy all the more...
a fresh start ........... every day.

jus a thought

Is it the lyrics of the song that matter? or the music? Both...
wen both of them are gud... it makes wonder... an analogy to everything in life perhaps...

sweet home alabama

Well, one more fren leaving for US this August... Alabama...
there's a song on Alabama.. i jus can't remember at the moment... hm..hm..hmm...
and the update is brain drain continues...

WC fever continues and is shooting high with fav Brasil and the British team out...
whoever's predicted the odds b4 the games shud be beating his head against n e wall available ...

If Portugal was to win the WC, there are a few odd-men-out who have put their sums on them... well, boys all the best!

flip flop

There is this lady - my neighbour... she is singing all religious songs from 6 in the morning for a whole hour or two with her prayer bells and everything possible ringing around ... she is not that old to be getting so much into prayer n that kind of stuff... as we have that notion - only the old people pray...she's middle aged lets say... and i respect her 'respect for god' and all the all mighty thing...but pls yaar one should think about the neighbours nah? in the spirit of Love thy neighbour...at least... otherwise when i am here in my room thinking of something to write ... all that enters the mind thru' open ears are the words... om jaigadisha haree... n jai jai jai mahadev... if i complain to elders in the house... it's definitely a +ve thing for them that some gud stuff going in my head 'stead of some jumbled words of a rock song or the constant striking of fingers on the keys... my logic is... if you praying... u pray silently nah why all the noise...

n e ways catching up on life... m back to work from a short training... had some substantial input from all day learning and lil work... took me back to college days for sometime... but snap back to reality... n dats wot we always do...

when we write ... n at some days or some points in time we have nothing to write on... or there is a wall which stops all flow of thinking to put words on the screen... it's called a Writer's Block...
for a change someone could come up with a Writer's Blog...

so, some may think i am back to my plop-plap... click clack kinda title again.. but i have flip flop for a very valid reason here.... which has been quite elusive till now...
ktm is all wet with rain rain and more rain.... so flip flop are your sandals on the wet streets... which go extra hard on those flipping and flopping.... n the catch is... only "u" hear and feel the flip flops of your own shoes or sandals... if you just stare at the people beneath you on the streets to get some of that flip flop sensation...no madam... sirjee, "you" need to be on the streets with a pair of sandals yourself for that cool new sensation f your sandals... flip flop... flip flop... flip flop... on the streets of cat-man-du... go get a pair NOW... wet it with all the puddles dats there... squeak it a lil... slip a lil n flip flop on... ...
so this wet season.... happy flip flopping to all... ...
smts i wonder... (read it as: at all times)... who gets my jokes? does n e one ever? or do i jus ramble on ... for the heck of it... question mark.

quack-quack

No comment on my posts for months and months… and yet I keep posting… I keep posting… and yet I keep posting… and I wonder from time to time… hmm…but I will keep posting and still will keep posting… so if you got the mood… pls read along… and I will happily keep posting. Be yourself, enjoy posting…oops reading.

This undated photo provided by the International Bird Rescue Research Center, shows an X-ray taken Sunday, May 21, 2006, of an injured duck with a broken wing. The International Bird Rescue Research Center in Cordelia. Calif., plans to raise funds with an unusual duck X-ray, which they say shows the clear image of what appears to be the face, or head, of an extraterrestrial alien in the bird's stomach. Unfortunately, the duck died quickly and quietly of its injuries. (AP Photo/International Bird Rescue Research Center, Marie Travers)

This-May

To be very apolitical, May saw the solid outcomes of the April movement. A lot has happened in the month of May… at least for the Nepalese… we got a PM after such a long time… but we got the same old PM… whom many shunned for his avarice. The peace talk was historic… the points agreed on were good… ceasefire, no bandhs, no chakka jams, no disturbance on the movement of food and essential goods. It all brings so much optimism in people's mind. We saw much more historic and truly amazing changes … royal powers were brought down to almost nothing… monarchy had never been so much diminished… the aura of the King never been so challenged. May saw some heartwrenching accidents… and spine-chilling robberies – three robberies in a week. Two banks looted, a house attacked…all daylight robberies in the heart of the capital.

Women's rights got some solid boosting in the HoR – Citizenship by a mother's name and a third reservations in state mechanisms...had been a long longed dream. All Nepalese had some take or the other… yet the euphoria doesn't seem to have seeped everywhere. Is it because we saw some extremely peaceful rallies on the street? Or is it just the heat creeping up our senses - or, has the senses got so creeped, the system's got heated? why are we yet not happy?

Its bad to end up with a question - especially on an issue like this. But i just wish someone had the answers - and i wish that someone to be the ones who take us forward... who are giving us these changes... where are we headed sir, please give direction?

98degreesFarenheit

World Cup Wall chart needs to be sent tomorrow with the probable wins, and i could win a Ferrari... at least it'd feel like i'd just won one...
it's intelligent gambling... we guess who wins... i get it right, i win... nice.
First time i laid my eyes on the schedule.. i chuckled to see Trinidad playing against Sweden... that land of Naipaul... interesting.
Serb&Mont... Togo... Ghana... does seem like some fresh play. Anyways, not a safe bet though... Would the cup go to Brazil? Spain? Argentina? France or stay home - Germany? Whom should i bet on? hmm... ...

Crime and Punishment

I am no one to judge the book by that famous author who can be barely spelled – Fyodor Dostoevsky – hope I'm right at that. However, each time I lend the book to some new enthusiast, it gets returned after a few flips. I had thoroughly enjoyed that book a few years back basking under the winter sun. And each time someone asks me for a nice book or a novel to read I happily offer C&P. how is it? What is it about? Is it good? Looks too fat!? There are the most frequent FAQs I get... And the less frequent ones are how long can I take to read it and I hope it is not too "classic" for me and have you really read it?

After the initial phase is over and I am successful in actually lending the book, it is just a matter of time that it lands safely in its coveted corner unruffled. And I wonder why people find it so uninteresting.

I don't answer most of the FAQs… 'Why don't you read it and then we can talk' I usually say... Because it basically is a murderer's psycho analysis … so subtly and intriguingly dealt… I can't just take in bits and pieces from it to analyze what is it about and who it is about… it is about Raskolnikov, the main character… and the whole story revolves around different other characters in his life and his psychology... and his life in the streets of Russia… and it's wonderful…the psycho analysis…

And I just don't understand why my friends just don't read it… I carry the book back and place it beside Anna Karenina… it's just been more than a year? I smile to myself… just about a year I borrowed Ms Anna? or has it been more…

positive thinking

no more phat phat... plok pak...pok pok... click clang.. and ding dong for all the few people in here...
and those few who miss it... will have to .... just miss it...
positive thinking... and all the vibes that come with it... robin sharma... is definitely a smooth writer... all the everyday tit bits of precious gem he scatters through the pages are beautiful... especially when one is caught in the web of busy-bee life schedule... then, all the small gestures need to be reminded and he does it so well.... positive thinking always is the main part of it... for easy thinking he gives the example of the green lust grass in the mind... no weeds ... no nothing... green lust grass of spring is the positive thinking mind whereon there is a lighthouse which shows you direction and a sumo wrestler which stands for the continuously improvement - kaizen... definetely i heard that word in management... total quality management... but mr. sharma beautifully brings it to everyday use ... to contiuously improve oneself... self development... compare yourself against you as of yesterday and not with others... he says. And that reminds me of one more professor we had.. Mr. Vyas... n e ways, you got the message... the book is a good read... a good mixture of a lot of titbits put together... though individually the lessons may have been brought to you at varied times by all sorts of people... robin puts it collated there and you could easily grab a bite to simplify your life... He has simple, very practical gyan on everyday stuff like from eating live food to thinking good thought and having a good laugh and staying physically fit and reading good books and waking up early and power of the will.
n e other time, i may not have enjoyed it this much... but given the country's situation... the mental weariness... the change in lifestyle... the rush and pressure... robin is definitely a glass of cool spring water on a sunny day... too cliche for a last sentence??... well, just take it.

PS. And ya, it would be a good book to gift someone if you are in that dilema stage of what to buy next for your book or non-book lover whoever... kid or a hubby or dad or grandmom. Its just abt 200 pgs.

phata phat

life is fast paced boss...
n i dont speak for myself... m talking of all the busy souls around ...
if u r in the same pace, u hardly notice them in the same lift... but you cud jus take a pause, zoom out and see the scintillating movements of these tie-suit-briefcased individuals. i start with 'whats the hurry boss?' n end up with a fear of the fast contagion. m already in the soup... waiting for the salt to seep in ...

invisible posts

Posted two posts in a frenzy of the morning on the 21st all on nepal and its brand. Didn't get posted :0!!??? shh0cckss... ... or r they posted under some 'invisible' mode... u never know what new thing comes on this screen, n u r caught unaware of it...

n e ways... bro's got into reed... so everyone's happy happy around the house... ... n,
why is everyone joining the gym from monday... is there something in the air or smth?? .........
life's fun when u enjoy work and people passing by say... i can see the glimmer in your eyes... that feels nice... you feel less tired at the end of the day ... have a goodnight's sleep... wake up with a smile stead of a frown...

... bro smiles as i wait for his book on hand... kingdom under seige... his smile means 'you aren't done with the one you have...n u r prying on mine...'

n i m reminded of that big fat book on the conna gathering dust - ms. karenina, as i fail every attempt on it... a saturday is just not enough and the next weekend, i just have to check out who was crying in the bed room ... so i never get past through the scence where the little girl is lifted on lap by the father while her brother looks on with timid eyes. ... n get reintroduced to the characters every weekend... i have borrowed the book for what like more than a yr now?

back to 77

After that short diversion into thinking of the country... back to the real world... where i enjoy outdoor meals with my family... after a nice day at work... this is real life fully controlled by the short diversion in the previous post. The very practical questions i take in everyday is not what you think of the country? it's like: so what are your other batchmates doing? almost every other person i meet ask me this and i have the number on my fingertips... ... people ask very non-sensical questions and brood about waste-matter... ' why did she say that to me?' ... 'and what could be his salary?' ... or ' what's your age?' .... but there have been very good books in the market these few years, on Nepal ... a few my fren recommends, which he thinks i will never read are - 'State of Nepal' and 'A Kingdom under seige'. But i will read them... and i will make the time for it.

People who have been to Kolkatta and Mumbai say to me... it's a beautiful coutry...
I simply give him a wide smile... he thinks i don't believe him. You go there once and you will know, you haven't been to these hot places... it's an AC dear ... i completely believe him.

People eye the country... because it definitely is a beautiful country... but look at the state.

Went back to country funda again...
But day by day what can i do? Do what i enjoy.. and work my best... and at the end ... Plan for a good friday with frens... because after a tiring week we all deserve it na?
Happy Monday!

point to ponder

Nepal ... a new brand??Nice thought buddy. i don't know who you are.. but it rather intrigued me... so i am taking this up ... why not? very probable possibility... brand is you and me and them... lets say u and me change the brand image... but who gonna change them to this image.. and brand identity... ?? (given it's the best one re)
but we can... doing our own bit... haina ra? Someone inspired me a few weeks back... young people like you should have a strong political thought... but we don't know what politics is do we? we are never taught civic sense, are we? we don't have the feeling that the bridges and road and all the tod-fod done ultimately comes back to us... ... fundamentals is wrong, then what's gonna happen?

all i am left is with questions... so become the answer ... be the change you want to see in the world... that's what mr. gandhi says haina? tara what's the catch? it's a catch 22 situation ke... .... pretty interesting... otherwise there are pretty good leaders ni.... khaita...

thinking by ...

Parliament restoration...
Equal opportunity to women re...
I will make you an offer you can't refuse, re .... Mario Puzo... thought for the day (TKP)...
and it was rocking yesterday.... presentation in a professional setting is rocking man.... out of the world... very different than the classroom claustrophobia.... it's good man!
and i was thinking about... brand ... brand... brand... who says branding is dead! where do they live? jupiter? pluto?

update

even the title seems like it is from some mundane workplace... the workplace is fine.. terrific actually... n it's been ages... i kno...
a few updates:
feeling: down.. with cough n cold... at this time of yr?! exactly! that's my point
reading: the monk who sold his ferrari... robin sharma... half way thru'...borrowed from a fren'...
work: as everything as ever... no time... all work...
other than work? : very little... tiny... actually nil...
family: minimum interaction... bro's got his I20 so all da best for him!
frens: sms... tel calls and bump into road kinda keep in touch... making new ones at work... from all diff kinda planets...
eat: tara's black tea in the morn'... tara's black tea in the afternoon... quick bite in the morn'... lunch, the only eaty thing... i don't kno what i have been doing at dinner time with half eye closed... guess i have been eating!

n e ways, the fact that i m here does prove that, m not so down as i sound up there.... trying to jive up though... consciously...

bak-bak-powk-powk

Can't just stare from your windows and spray water from the terrace,
come and join the revolution... say re those who come in bulks of thousands on the road...
and that made me thinking what am i going to cant when i go on the streets... do the evolution?
It's Vid's b'day tomorrow.... whoever's forgotten or was about to forget, pls take note.... it could be a curfew, so no rush, you can take all your time selecting a card or calling her up...

Talking about curfew, it heightens your sense of stagnancy and staleness...
It's true that friends have gone abroad and they got married and have kids... so much happening...but somehow, moving to and fro had given the perception that smthings happening in my life too... but curfew seems to prove halt, in a physical sense too making it more than literal... you are in front of the TV for 3hrs and stare at a book for the next 2... scrabble some letters up for next 1hr and smash on the keyboard for the 2.

ColdPlay was good on the storytellers...clock...scientist... Fix You...

You should know it's time for you to hit the power button on the remote when you start understanding the hindi songs and can differentiate one song from the next or/and find songs without one of these words: pyar, mohabaat, deewana and dil... ... or a permutation and combination of these: hawaa, saanse, dhadkan and ishq....

N e ways, here's a few lines to chuckle at....
undelivered thanks to: http://www.bitoffun.com

Work in the 00's

Top Ten Signs You Work in the 00's:

10.You lecture the neighborhood kids selling lemonade on ways to improve their process.

9. You get all excited when it's Saturday because you can wear sweats to work.

8. You refer to the tomatoes growing in your garden as "deliverables".

7. You find you really need PowerPoint to explain what you do for a living.

6. You normally eat out of vending machines and at the best restaurant in town in the same week.

5. You think that "progressing an action plan" and "calendarizing a project" are acceptable English phrases.

4. You know the people at the airport hotels better than your next-door neighbors.

3. You ask your friends to "think out of the box" when making plans for Friday night.

2. You think Einstein would have been more effective if he had put his ideas into a matrix. And the number one sign you work in the 'Nineties:

1. You think a "half day" means leaving at 5 o'clock (even if you work at home).

And, a few 1-liners:

So you're a feminist. Isn't that cute.

You're just jealous because the voices only talk to ME.

Cleverly Disguised As A Responsible Adult.

If You Can Read This, The Bitch Fell Off... [Seen On The Back Of A Biker's Vest]

If You Can Read This, Please Flip Me Back Over... [Seen Upside Down,On A Land Rover]

Cat: The Other White Meat.

You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.

Eat Right, Exercise, Die Anyway.

This Would Be Really Funny If It Weren't Happening To Me.

The Earth Is Full - Go Home. Peta - People Eating Tasty Animals. Illiterate? Write For Help. Some people are only alive because it is illegal to shoot them. If You Can't Dazzle Them With Brilliance, Riddle Them With Bullets. Body By Nautilus; Brain By Mattel. I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather...Not screaming and yelling, like the passengers in his car. Out of my mind...Back in five minutes Damned if I do, damned if I don't...so damnit I will! Accountants don't die they just lose there balance. Laugh alone and the world thinks you're an idiot

ripples

Life goes on like-normal today... no curfew on the streets for a change... you can walk around and just ramble on the street, enter a cafe and sip a bottle of coke, under the sun as if it's BAU... ... ...
the streets are the same. the cafe is the same, and the multinational-multi-billion-dollar -company produces the same coke... ...
all that is different, is my mind which come in different moods and different temparaments everytime i visit the store....

once, i come with a friend beside,
next time, I, alone,
once when the wind blows east,
and other to skip a storm,
today after curfew i come to you,
tomorrow to relish a day unknown.

Being political and holding a polis opinion seems to be the new trend around the corner esp with Rang de.... a big hit... and all that movement in the country. What does the youth think about all this thing? what do they want? how would they want to shape the country, that will be theirs to live in the next genre? are they for, whatevers going around? why are they so eager to leave everything and go on to some foreign land? why they refuse to hold an opinion on this? why are they scared to come upfront? ....... scared? first, let them hold an opnion beh.

who will ask them these? who will answer theirs in return?
are these just incessant blabbers or a point to discuss on?
m i being too serious on this? or do I just shrug it off?

leave it off.
so, the mouse has grown fatter and healthier by the day. The other day my dad sneaked up to the corner to check out on a few old magazines... Wooo!! did he get startled to see a mouse jump out...

quotai-quote

I had a mood to go through a few happiness quotes...

I like this one -

If only we'd stop trying to be happy we'd have a pretty good time. - Edith Wharton

Thank god someone said this. I can work on one of them - i already have the other.... what was it?
Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory. - Albert Schweitzer

I have always revered John Milton, though i have not read any of his works... great chap..so i hear...
The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven. - John Milton

I have no idea who she is... but kya deep baat hai...
It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day to day basis. - Margaret Bonnano.

Happiness, it seems to me, consists of two things: first, in being where you belong, and second -- and best -- in comfortably going through everyday life, that is, having had a good night's sleep and not being hurt by new shoes. - Theodor Fontane

Goodnite.

I am awake

It's the middle of the night. I wake up with a start from a nightmare. I remember the name of a few gods and ask them to dispel whatever bad i saw. Though i am an atheist at other times, or so i claim to be, I have the strong urge to pray to a few images that come to my mind. Because I'd do anything to cool myself down at these times, and dispel my nightmares of any consequences they might bring. And when I am more sane, I go back to the night and remember a saying. I think it was Dr. Radhakrishnan. He said, if there is no god, man(you) should create one. I always loved the saying. But at these times, I can actually feel it inside my head, as I create my own gods.

I remember quite a variety of them- Narasimha, Hanumana or Lord Krishna - as I am taught to do from my childhood whenever I have a nightmare. And so I do. But I still need a human voice or a human touch to solace me.

There is utter silence outside and a dog bark incessantly across my room. My senses become suddenly alert as I remember - Oh, man, there is a curfew outside. As I think this, a chopper flies quite low with a loud noise, hovers over a few points and flies south.

I then realize, I startled up from one nightmare to live in the next - which of the gods should I pray to now? I would do anything to dispel this one too.

'evening

There is little time and lot to do...
so what does a planner do?
plan as to make it "as effective and "as efficient as possible""
and the financer calculates and the poet looks for an ideal spot...
the consultant looks for the 'right person on the right job'...
the marketer scribbles for the click on the punch line...
but WE just keep looking for some more time...
a few more minutes under the quilt before sun dawn...
one more smile around the corner...
few more sips of coffee...
a few minutes more with friends...
one more kathi roll...
one more banana lassi... ;)
and one more joke...
so, definitely i enjoyed yesterday evening like n e thing...
though all we did was eat and chat...

Phloot!!

Click, Clack,
Click, Clack,
Click, Clack...
rings the hall with the on and off of the ballpoint pens on so many hands.
Click, Clack, Click, Clack... one of the refills in one of the pens in the hall is constantly being pushed in and out. The others join in.. Click, Clack, Click, Clack, click, Clack.

The speaker doesn't hear it. He is a thin bespectacled man with neatly combed hair, slightly graying at the corners, speaking in a low soft voice. He holds an old model of a Sheaffer pen - 1960s, the kinds you don't find the in the market these days. This, he points at the last row of kurta clad girls and beckons them to join Rama in the first few empty seats. The girls stick to their chairs at first but slowly bring up their thin bodies in crisp churridars and shuffle to the first row directly under the man's nose.

Silence. Click, Clack. He speaks something, "............................". Silence. Click, Clack.. click, clack.
Phloot!! goes the bubble gum. Silence. Someone has blown out a bubble gum and it makes an unintentional loud Phloot!! And this time he hears it. And the hall goes silent. And the ball pens go silent too. "Who was it?" he questions in a louder voice. Blank faces stare back at him.
After a few awkard moments of silence, he resumes his talk, "............................................" and the ball pens start again, click, clack, click, clack, click, clack ... ...

ors-crash

So, CRASH won the Oscars!
I definitely thought it was a good movie...
but Oscars?

excuse me?

"So, howz office" he asks me...
"ya, so so", i say.
"Enjoying?" he questions in a monotone
"Hmmm... ", I brood, which he takes a yes.

So, after much thought I left the book "A way in the world", quater way through. It was good. But, I had to take too many pauses, which disturbed its flow. I have started a new one by the same author - "A house for Mr. Biswas" and at the same time, out of curiosity I brought home "The Great Gatsby" and am flipping through it. So my reading is at a snail's speed these days - one page a day - that too if i have any energy left at the end of the day.

So, Shristy is the same old Shristy. She gives me the same smile she had three years ago, with the same twinkle in her eyes. And we are comfortable working with each other. It's like, thank god she's there and work's fun. I sure couldn't have handled one more stranger to de-strangify.

Underground

And there was more.

The questions had no sign of finishing up. The exam had started two hours before and the questions kept coming in, one after other. And she kept answering them one after other. She did not have time to think how long it took to answer the questions. All she had in mind was one minute=one complete question - and she did not want any incomplete ones. The black Dell with an slanted 'E' stared back at her with radio buttons all over.

'Continue' she clicked and waited for the page to load. The false ceilings gave the room a claustrophobic feel. The tubelights made it cold. The black monitors seemed professional and the whole atomosphere was serious.

She hardly remembered the farewell party she had a week ago, the glasses of wine she'd drink, the stubs of ciggis she'd put out.

She had forgotton that she would be celebrating her niece's b'day party that evening with a bunch of people she'd hardly met. And she had forgotten that she would be embarrased at her absent mindedness when everyone brought out neat parcels of colored gifts for the girl and she would be empty handed. At the moment all she thought of was the next question and the next minute.

That evening the niece waited for her aunt. The cake waited for the aunt. And the rest of the guests waited for her aunt. Even Tiger, the black Alsatian waited for the aunt. But the aunt was somewhere in the undergrounds, among insulated wires, biting her nails, waiting for the next question and praying for the next minute.

dozed by dose

Life is good :)
Just don't be too sensitive ...
block away the human sorrows of ROW...
and life is good.
Think about urself... just you...
and your goodness, your virtues and your interests...
and life is good.
You are happy.
You are successful and you get all the benefits...
life is good.
You smile and you dance...
you drink and you dine...
life is good.
a blue cruise...
a silver spoon...
an orange moon...
and life is good.
Good food...
Praise and laud...
twist and turn ...
and life is good.
With all the sorrows in the world,
with all the tears and cries,
with the pain and the sighs,
thank god, life is still good.

Mouse-licated

And i sniffed the familiar greenies. They had dried up. I sniffed them - one, two and three on her palms - all dried up from the same pod. I like them fresh and juicy. I ate a dozen the other day, I can still taste the juice. I ate one by one until i could eat no longer. And she game me some milk - it seemed stale, it had already turned into the jelly like thing that makes me sleep. However, I ate it because I liked it - it is my own color. I like all things my own color.

I then thought for a fitful sleep- a nice siesta. So, I started cleaning myself - I had hardly given two licks - and up I was airlifted. I hate it when people do that- all of a sudden. They pick me up by one palm and place me on the other as if I was one of those freaking battery run toys. I hate it when their hands are cold and want to yank off their fingers when they are wet.
She had two guests today and I was turned into a decorative piece - some said my eyes were pink, isn't that cute, and the other liked my tail - because they hadn't any? I could see she was all proud of me- all fattened up after last week's cheese treat on my b'day. Ya, I get a cheese treat on the ninth of each month. I can't tell her I was born on the sixth. She got me a month later on the ninth. So it is, the ninth.

I find it so irritating - it's sixth why should it be the ninth? I tried telling her by several techniques. I squeaked six times everytime she came in the room - she patted me - thought she'd got the message. But the 6th passed off with the normal meal and their comes cheese on the ninth. I came up with different schemes. The green peas she got for me - i arranged them in groups of six and waited for her to come and she and make my point - but i nibbled them at last when she hadn't the eyes to see it. Sometimes I wonder if she actually can see those peas she feeds me because her eyes are twenty times the size of it. Maybe she just feels them and tosses them around.

I did a few more things before i gave up - I jogged to and from the room six times had a long pause and did it again. Once, i circled her six times. I even tried giving her a lite bite six times. But she's as dumb as me. Think, i will have to at last learn the alphabets and the numbers.Oh god!such a dumb thing to do.

I gave up finally - and just wait for the ninth to get my treat. But i still think in my free time, the way to tell her of the sixth. Once, I got a crazy thought to shave my whiskers to leave just six on my cheeks - but on second thought, what if i got a rash? i had no after shaves around.... these days, i just ramble on how to get some after shaves... the father's? the brother's? should i pop-in in one of the stores? which brand again? so complicated... old spice?denim?... uff! why so many brands...

a dose of ramble

i don't chat often... i don't like the idea of words appearing on screen...talking to an inanimate monitor....
if my great great grandmom wud have seen me laughing at a monitor... she'd straight away head me to the mentals.... if they had n e in those days...
n e ways, Radhakrishnan starts his bk - Religion and Culture with ...The world has been shrinking at an increasing pace with the advance of communications and technology... and i talked with my fren half way across the globe as if she were beside me through this inanimate screen... and i was thrilled by the presence of her.. and it brought back good memories and we chuckled with the he he and ha ha typed all over...
and people fall in love with their web cams on .... and the voice chat thing....all these make face to face an old fashioned community... but i am one of the old fashioned ones... nothing beats the f2f thing....
one of my frens... actually two of my frens whose b'days just went by this jan... got a little cross... no cards.. u didn't wish me she said....
i don't like e-cards, i said... especially finding the right one... sending n e of them at random is irrelevant.... the process of choosing a good one is irritating.... you need to be lucky... n for me who is totally unfatalistic or is it infatalistic?...i don't have the patience...
and with all the customizing we talk in marketing... i jus wonder how much of it i get as a customer...
so there is this trend i find pretty interesting ... customizing reminds me of this....
the kathmandu market is all for one piece thing for a change... i got a gift for my friend... i wanted a ditto a few days later for another of my friends... and the lady at the counter says... no, we only make one piece.. that makes them special...wow!
and i bought a kurta piece... found it damaged... i want the ditto piece ... just exchanged for a good one.... no, says the bald man among the colorful dozen kurta pieces... they just come in one pieces, they are special.... in a rage, i felt like 'to hell with special... could some one pls bring the mass production back...'
but as soon as i thought of it ... i took back my thoughts... suddenly i remembered the chinese goods' inundation... how can n e one forget that... we are still trying to gasp for some air under it.