Another Change Coming Through...

To Another World...

Somebody please take me for a long drive on a good-weather day, or early in the morning, or late at night. A long, smooth, non-stop drive with the windows rolled down. I need to feel the wind in my hair. I will give you a big hug if you take me.

My Thing(s)

A kind of a New Year beginning in a week’s time, I am itching to do my customary new-year post today, so making it an excuse and going ahead with it right away.

# I tasted failure on the second day of the year. And I am quite proud of myself to have taken it in my stride.

# I got more piercings.

# Ran away on the day of my grand mom’s funeral.

# Got a job, left it too.

# Made new friends.

# Laughed every day (without fail) for three months.

# Got interested in photography big time!

# Got a lot of material things with my own hard-earned money.

# Gathered the courage and the sense to take a big risk.

# Got hospitalized again.

# Went live on radio.

# Got a byte on TV too.

# Came on a poster as well.

# Met Nitin, talked to the COO of MEOW too. :P

# Saw Abhishek Bachchan get married, and now hearing news of Aishwarya being pregnant with his kid. :(

# Continued my Delhi sightseeing alone.

# Experienced jealousy.

# Re-learned how to drive, got my first UNFAIR challan too.

# Spent about a month with barely talking to any friend.

# Also, spent hours together (as always) with some of the nicest people on this earth.

# Been more short-tempered than I probably ever was.

# Worked for something like 12 hours non-stop – that, of course, being my record so far. :)

# Became unbelievably comfortable with, what’s up?, dude!, fucker, and so forth. :D

# Got a pseudo denture, something called “night guard” from my dentist. This is because I grind my teeth too much in sleep. Pff!

# Fell in love with the treadmill.

# Got a tiny little crush too. Really, too tiny, but super-duper cute and charming! ;-)

# Travelled alone in the city at 10 in the night! Scary! :O

# Had my first party where I was out till beyond mid-night. But it was also, probably, the worst party I have ever attended.

# Adored little kids more than I ever have, and more than I ever thought I would at this age.

# Defect of the eyes has still not stabilized: 0.25 more for each eye. :/

# I am more proficient at computer/keyboard usage than I ever was. This office taught me a lot of Ctrl+Shift+N, Ctrl+Alt+F9, and so on. I am so happy that I don’t have to use the freakin mouse much now.

# Got to know myself better, became stronger, more sensible, more focused, and maybe more in-your-face [:P] too.

It has been a fairly good calendar year so far. I have had my share of ups and downs, success and failure, challenges and struggle, and in spite of the cribbing, I am quite content and happy in life. I realize that most things here are relative, and you have to have the right perspective to understand the world around you and to remain sane. So what if friends have found jobs that keep them happy, so what if other friends are where you want to be, so what if the crush’s girl friend has a better body! It’s all cool. I will get what I am supposed to get, I am at peace with what I (don’t) have right now [:)], and will hopefully be at peace with what I get in future too. :-)

Feeling better, much better. Adios!

Wondering....

I saw this in a school recently. There was something odd about the statement that struck me then and I have been wondering ever since what it is really supposed to mean. A half-conclusion that a friend and I reached upon was that in case of something negative, it is better for a child to get approval so that he/she does not develop inferiority complex. But, how is it supposed to act positively (as one of those many other things that go into development) for a kid? I don't remember when I stopped seeking approval, and how things used to be when I was a kid. Therefore, I ask you. Do you agree with this statement? If yes, why? Can you explain the phenomenon to me too?

Road Trips

I am hopeful that I will make some fun road trips in future, but during the last three months I have made some every day - from AIIMS to Main Sector Road, Gurgaon via Lado Sarai, Andheria More, MG Road and Sikandarpur, and then back to AIIMS. During these trips I got to know three women who are all completely different from me and from each other, and it is surprising how we all got along so well.

Today's was my last such trip. They had become an essential part of my weekdays. Monday mornings were given a perfect kickstart in the car, and the weekends were brought in on even better notes every Friday evening.

Two Mallus and two Punjus with an opinion about every possible thing under the sun started a routine in the first week of June. Each one was unsure how it would be to be with the same people for 8-10 hours inside the office and then travel together for 3 hours too. I personally was shit scared of the thought. I seriously thought that these women will drive me crazy. But a few days down the line we realised that however bad someone's mood at the time of climbing into the car be, it won't last more than 10 minutes thereafter. And to think that we've become so close in such a short span of time is quite unbelievable.

A little something about my carpool buddies...

Molly: Her world is her now almost two-year-old daughter, Jeslyn. So we all know what Bebo had for dinner last night, why she puked on Molly, why she likes her dad more and so on.

Molly also seems to have the bestest husband in the world. The man sounds perfect, and him being a psychologist is apparently a real advantage for them. Hmmm...any psycho students here? :D

She also has a great mother-in-law who, apart from being nice to her in general, keeps sending her presents from US. It's a perfect world, it seems. Don't you think?

But oh, Molly tortures her car's engine by absolutely never using the first gear. She also tortures the people in the backseat by breaking hard enough for us to keep ramming into the front seats every now and then. Aaaand she does not have a proper license! So you see what a risk-taker I have become in this little time.

Nevertheless, she is a real sweetheart. She was in a different department from the rest of us and so our workload was always different too. But she always used to sit and wait for us in the evenings if we had work. "Molly, do minute", "Molly, bas ye mail bhej doon", etc seemed like never-ending moments but she never complained.

I am sure she will do well in her new company too.

Avan: She is the bitch I was weary of in my initial days at work. And today I told her that I absolutely hated her from the beginning. But today she is also probably the one I seem to connect with the most. Her mannerisms are the most unique, her jokes are as sad as sad can get, she is as defective and retarded as me, and I don't know when she became Avan from Avantika for me. She shares her birthday with Bhaiya too.

She is our entertainment queen. Out of nowhere you will get a weird email from her and the next thing you know, some 4-5 systems are beeping non-stop as there is absolute crap being discussed in the loop. Whether it is a Sub that she is craving for, or she is upset that nobody asked her before going for lunch, we always need to be prepared to see some real drama.

Also, she is my mom's cooking's biggest fan. If, by any chance, I take rice to work and she does not get it, it means I will get looks for the rest of the day. So to save myself, I realised very early that it is best to carry extra food. That is why I am still alive to write all this today.

She is also the "future CEO" of some bigshot company. The woman is made for marketing and she surely will do it sometime soon.

I hope this laughter medicine of mine goes a long way and keeps in touch in times to come.

Lynn: She and I have nothing in common, except for a project about which we like to crib together. And we still manage to never run out of things to talk about. She is after my life because I roll my eyes too much, because I bought the same bag that we gifted her on her birthday, because I team up with Avantika to take her case, and because she apparently loves doing it even if she does not have a reason.

This headstrong Leo never admits her faults, and in the last three months we have heard her say, "Dude, we're new...it's all cool. How would we know that this needs to be done?" several times. And this is irrespective of everything, even if we know that it needs to be done. :D

Molly's rearview mirrors serve more as looking glasses for Lynn than they do what they are actually meant for. Tell Lynn that there's a hair on her shirt, or that she has put on weight, and the next thing you know...she is in the washroom!

She has seen every music video that has ever come out, and she has seen every soap/programme ever aired on Star World or Zee Cafe. She knows all the characters inside out.

She sits in the frontseat of the car, is a bad RJ (coz she plays all the songs that I don't like), and gets sadisitic pleasures every time Molly breaks and I & Avantika jerk forward.

"Lynn Bouselly from Research Data Delhi (a folder on our network)" was a cheap attempt at humour by Avan, and now everytime I think of Lynn's last name, this is what comes to my head.

She will kill me if and when she reads this!

But she is extremely sweet and helpful. I have bugged her a lot with silly doubts and she has always explained things patiently. Goes without saying, she is quite efficient at work. And our group is not complete without her.

This has been a rather long post. But Jun-Aug '07 were memorable days because of all these people. I don't want to forget this time.

Mithu and T

Yeah, I'm Free!

However deep the shit you’re in may be, there are some things that always take care of you. For the loss of 6 hours of urgent deadline work, an incredible project manager who stays at work till 1:00 a.m. to complete your work; for a sudden problem with your defective body, an ultra nice instructor at the gym; for career blues, nice older friends to advise; and for a fatigued mind, a not-so-new hobby of clicking pictures.
After getting over my disappointment of not getting the camera that I wanted, and still trying to understand the camera that I have got (and in the process fucking up some nice shots), I got back to clicking left, right and centre. Reminds me of the times when I used to shove my cam into all my friends’ faces in college or things around them and irritate them to the core! :-)

So, a little bit of nature, a little bit of culture, and a bit of random stuff makes up for a week of jpg files in my bag.

Yes, you will get to see most of it. :-)

Starting in reverse order, here I present the pictures that I clicked today. It’s Independence Day tomorrow, so I have been ‘in the mood’ since morning. Our regular petrol pump was beautifully decorated this morning, and I asked one of the guys there if they’re selling balloons n all too. They didn’t, but he gave me three balloons (you guess the colours) and I realized that it has been several years since I last phulaoed (lot of people heard this word in office today :P) a balloon.

At the entrance of my building :D

Made some colleagues pose too. :D


The fact that I worked for long hours yesterday, and that the border would have been a problem to cross after 5 p.m., we left early today and I thought of paying a visit to Dilli Haat. It’s a delight to see it during festive time. And Teej is celebrated in a big way here. There was dance, there was mehandi, and there were all kinds of food.
I went in, bought the bangles that I’d been wanting to since morning, clicked a lot of pictures, and felt happy!

Tiranga!!

The hippest and the most colourful drummer!

Jalebiii!!! :D

The most comfortable and flexible dancer! This smiling, friendly guy happily posed with the not-so-pretty lady, himself took my camera from my hands, showed it to all his friends, and very nicely handed it back. Fun!!! :-)

Before this, on Sunday, I ventured out into the green world and found...

Fuchsia? ;-)

Day & Night...on the same stem

The rest of the pictures are on my Flickr page. Hope to see you there too! :-)

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!
JAI HIND!

WWW

"Radio Gaga"

What could make for a better start to the weekend than to step into a restaurant and find Nitin sitting on the first table. Sudden excitement was hard to control. I bugged the other ten people at my table about how I'm a HUGE fan of his, but just couldn't get the courage to go up to him to say the same. Friends suggested that they'll do it if I don't, but I didn't want them to steal my thunder either. I kept turning my head in his direction but it was almost impossible to make myself get up.

He was with two other people, one woman and another guy who was shooting them on a professional camera. After about half hour of not doing anything, I saw that same woman come up to our table and ask if it was ok if they covered some footage of us. I thought maybe I should ask her but for some reason I was nervous and my voice did not reach her even though she was standing right next to me. I still managed to confirm if it really was him at the table. There interfered my dear friend AVANTIKA KAPOOR (who later insisted her name should come on my blog in caps) and told that woman that I'm Nitin's biggest fan!!!! :D :D

So the lady just waved to him and said that he has a fan here. THEN I walked up to him, said a nice hello, told him how crazy I am about him, how I love his voice, and so on. God I'm sure I looked completely smitten!! Also reminded him of the post that I'd written on his birthday and how he had made my day by leaving a comment on it later. It did not take much effort, he seemed to clearly remember my blog. And the man looked unbelievably down to earth. He kept saying 'god bless' just the way he does on radio, and I ended up telling him that I love the way he says those words too. Tch tch! He smiled graciously throughout. Such a sweetheart, man!!

Yeah, I acted kinda dumb but I love that guy!!! I am SOOO happy to have met him. :)) :)) :))

On the other hand, I am apparently interacting with the COO of Radio Today (MEOW FM) on this post of mine. Fun (and weird) stuff!

And nothing much beyond this as of now. Enough for now rather. :)